It’s official: Mayor George Flaggs Jr. is running for re-election.

He announced his candidacy for a second term at the start of Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

“I’ve had a lot of people ask me about it, so Feb. 7, 2017, at 12 o’clock I will qualify for re-election. High noon.”

Flaggs said after the meeting he decided to announce his candidacy “because I was hearing footsteps.”

He indicated several people have been mentioned as possible opponents but would not give any names.

“I’ve been knowing it (running again) for three or four months,” he said. “I’ve been fasting and praying, and when I finished the meditation, I made the decision. I think it’s for the good of the city and the employees and the department heads, that they need to know my intentions.”

Flaggs said about 95 percent of his supporters have asked him to run, and he has already had one fundraiser and plans another for June. He said some supporters of people he ran against in the 2013, now support him, “Especially the business community, and they’re asking to run because of what they see.

“The city has turned around and going in the direction where they think it’s time for some stability so that we can compete against those other cities. And I think for the most part they like my leadership.”

A former state legislator, Flaggs, 63, retired from the Mississippi Legislature in July 2012 after serving 25 years as representative from District 55, which covered Vicksburg, and ran for mayor.

He finished first in a six-candidate Democratic primary with 50.1 percent of the vote, then defeated Independent Daryl Hollingsworth in the general election in June 2013, getting 77.1 percent of the votes cast.