Although the 2012 elections are still more than a year away, some local hopefuls are already announcing their candidacies, including Susan Smith, who said Friday she will run for the District 4 seat on the Atmore City Council.

Smith, who has served eight years as the lead nurse for the Escambia County Board of Education, said she felt it was important to make the announcement early in order to provide the community ample time to get to know her as a person.

“I want to have time for people to get to know me and for me to get to know them,” Smith said. “I think that if you wait until time to file, I’m just not sure people get to know what you’re all about and really what you stand for.”

As of now no other candidate has emerged to oppose Smith in the race for the city council seat now held by John Garrard. Smith said she is not focusing on competition but is instead working to understand what the people of Atmore want and need.

“I truly love Atmore and the people in Atmore,” she said. “I have a desire to see Atmore be a place that people, and especially young people, come back to. There are things that I am very interested in getting done, but I’m not planning on making any promises with the exception that I will promise to be fair and always seek what is best for Atmore and its citizens.”

Prior to her current position with the board of education, Smith spent 12 years as supervisor of blood services for the American Red Cross in the Atmore area and surrounding counties.

Smith, who is a former Atmore Rotarian, a past president of the United Fund and member of the 2012 class of Leadership Atmore, said she has become conscious of the many great aspects of the community as well as the issues she believes must be addressed.

Originally from Camden, S.C., Smith has spent the last 25 years living in Atmore and said she is now ready to aid in bringing positive changes to the city.

“Change comes whether we want change or we don’t want change,” she said. “It affects us as a whole, as a community and as a people. In government, when change comes, it affects our daily lives, and I have a desire to be a part of that change.”

Exactly what kind of change would come with her election, Smith said, would be something she would rely on the people of Atmore to dictate, but added she does believe in planning, setting goals and instituting common-sense ideas.

“I think that should come from the people and that’s what I’m willing to do is listen to the people,” Smith said. “My ideas of what need to change may not be their ideas and I think that’s where the community involvement comes in. And that’s one reason I’ve started so early is I want people to come to me and tell me what they think needs to be changed.”

Smith added some ideas she has to better Atmore would involve very little time or money but would pay big dividends for the community.

“I see things that need to be done that would cost little to noting,” she said. “I believe in planning and setting goals with the hope and the belief that those goals can be met.”

Some of those goals, she said, could include a community clean-up plan and implementing neighborhood watch systems.

With a little less than a year before the August municipal elections in 2012, Smith has given herself plenty of time to introduce the people of Atmore to her goals and ideas and will likely be more vocal as the political landscape evolves over the next year.

“I am a registered Democrat simply because I believe in voting,” Smith said of her political affiliations. “I like some of the things the Democrats do and I like some of the things the Republicans do, but I can tell you this. I’m not going to vote party either way.”

Smith has lived in Atmore for 25 years, along with her husband Clint, where they are members of First United Methodist Church.