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Assistant County Manager Tod Tentler will drop the assistant title after County Manager Mike Dobbs retires Sunday.

Tentler was unanimously approved at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting to succeed Dobbs as county manager.

“Being named Troup County manager is truly an honor,” Tentler said in a written statement. “I would like to thank the Board of Commissioners for the trust they have placed in me and for their support. I am very excited and proud of all the accomplishments the commission board has made over the past few years and look forward to Troup County continuing to be the envy of the state of Georgia.”

Tentler came from Columbus to Troup County as parks and recreation director in 1998. In July 2007 he received the additional duty of assistant county manager.

Tentler said the main challenges he will face as manager is overseeing the county during tough economic times. He added that national and state mandates coming down the line are putting more pressure on local governments to “pick up the slack.”

Tentler thanked Dobbs for “his dedication and loyalty to Troup County and its citizens.” He said he has learned a lot from Dobbs after serving as assistant county manager for the past five years.

“We are very fortunate in Troup County to have many talented department heads, elected officials and many first-class employees,” Tentler said. “We will strive to continue to give the citizens of Troup County quality services at the lowest possible cost. We will always be open and accessible to the citizens of this great county.”

The Parks and Recreation board will meet Monday and is expected to name a new director to succeed Tentler.

Also Tuesday, the commission approved rezonings for three properties requested by Broadway Group LLC: 2.91 acres at 94 and 112 Wares Cross Road from residential to commercial for an unspecified store and about 1.5 acres at 3836 Greenville Road for a store that representatives said would be a “dollar store”-type business.

During public hearings, the issue of the Greenville Road store brought divisive comments from residents in the Mountville community. A group asked the commissioners to approve the rezoning so residents of the community could have a local store instead of needing to drive into town, while residents mostly in the immediate area of the property opposed having the business next door.

“This particular dollar store would be a good thing for the Mountville area,” said James Morgan of Big Springs-Mountville Road, who said he didn’t want to travel far because his wife is sick. “We’re asking the commissioners to take this under consideration because we, the people of Mountville, consider this a great asset.”

However, one resident who lives near the site said the increase in truck traffic would be a dangerous addition to the trucks that already come to and from the landfill. Another said area residents want to keep Mountville a quiet community, which the store could disturb with increased traffic and more people congregating in the area.

The county planning and zoning board had unanimously recommended denying the application, but the commission has the final say on rezonings and unanimously approved it despite the planning board recommendation.