“From the outside looking in, it seems as though there is this ‘Leesburg’ mentality. The majority of the population is down within a mile-and-a-half of the Dougherty County line,” he said.
While the center of Lee County government is in Leesburg, most of its population lives in an area further south, which has a distinct perspective but no true identity, he said.
“All of us at the bottom of the county, we’re not Albanians, but we’re not ‘Leesburgians’ either,” Muggridge said. “We look at things differently.”
Muggridge, 49, his wife and two children moved to Lee County from Albany 13 years ago for his son Josh, then 5, to attend public school there. Josh was recently named STAR student of Lee County High School. His youngest sister Bailey was born two years ago.
Though their roots were in Dougherty, the family embraced their new Lee County community, joining a Leesburg church and serving on local boards and committees.
Rick Muggridge seeks to unseat commissioner Morris Leverett, who served on the Leesburg City Council for 26 years before his 2004 first run for Lee County Commission from the Century District.
Muggridge said he hesitates to attend Lee Commission meetings, where he might be “looking over the shoulder” of a sitting board.
From his viewpoint near the Dougherty line, Muggridge said he appreciates the relationship between the two counties.
“When Bob’s (Candies) and Merck left Dougherty County, that hurt Lee County,” he said.
“Dougherty County’s continued success is incredibly important to Lee County, and to think otherwise is foolish.”
But as in any relationship, neither side should call the shots, he said.
“You don’t want one party to have all the power,” Muggridge said. “We’re not exactly married, but we’re next-door neighbors. Neighbors do things together, but they also do things for each other.”
On the Lee side of Ledo Road is Grand Island Golf Course, a “beautiful piece of property” in a “phenomenal location,” he said.
The Lee commission reversed a decision to price the course to sell earlier this year.
The publicly owned course not only operates in the red, but competes with private courses that don’t have the luxury of losing money, he said.
“Could we do other things there? Could we establish walking rails, put picnic tables there, do more things to Grand Island to make it more of an asset?” Muggridge said.