Starkville Municipal Court Administrator Tony Rook filed paperwork with the Mississippi Secretary of State's office on Tuesday to qualify to run for the open Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk seat.
Rook was the first candidate to file paperwork and will run as an independent for the seat vacated by Glenn Hamilton, who resigned last week following a guilty plea to a felony drug charge stemming from an incident in Clay County.
Rook is a lifelong resident of Oktibbeha County and cited his 24 years of court experience as a quality that should show his qualifications to voters. He has served as court administrator and department head for the Starkville Municipal Court for the last 18 years.
"I look forward to putting my experience to use for the citizens of Starkville and Oktibbeha County by serving them as the Circuit Court Clerk," Rook said.
After serving for nearly two decades as court administrator, Rook told the SDN his experience should lend itself well to the office.
"I believe my experience supervising all administration operations for the Starkville Municipal Court over the last 18 years makes me uniquely qualified to supervise the administrative operations of the Circuit Court Clerk's office," Rook said.
During his time as court administrator, Rook supervised day-to-day operations of the court and supervised all full-time, staff including the Municipal Court Clerk and deputy clerks.
Before being appointed to the court administrator position, Rook worked for six years in law enforcement as a deputy sheriff for the Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Office and as a police officer for the Starkville Police Department.
The special election will be held on Nov. 7.