Donald Lovette declared “the best is yet to come” to a roomful of gleeful supporters Tuesday night.
The chairman of the Liberty County Board of Commissioners won another four-year term in office during the November 5 general election, taking nearly 61% of the votes cast in his race against challenger Michael Navarro. Lovette received 13,722 votes to Navarro’s 8,796. Lovette won a fourth term as chairman of the county commission, having first won the post in 2012.
“In Liberty County, we have done so well as a It was a banner day for collective unit,” he said. “We’ve made several gains in our community at large. No one does it like Liberty County, and the potential is there to do so much more. We are looking forward to working with this great leadership team we have. We look forward to listening to people and moving this county forward and making it the premier county in Georgia.”
Will Bowman won re-election to a second four-year term as sheriff, fending off a challenge from Gary Eason. Bowman, who won the Democrat primary without a runoff against four other candidates, took nearly 63% of the 22,606 votes cast in his race, or 14,164, to Eason’s 8,442.
“It’s a weight off my shoulders knowing that the people in the Liberty County trust and believe and see what I’m trying to accomplish here,” Bowman said. “Thank you to my community. Thank you and congratulations to Liberty County, because we won tonight.
“I’m glad it’s over, but the work still has to be done.”
Tim Blount successfully unseated incumbent District 4 Commissioner Maxie Jones IV, taking almost two-thirds of 3,098 votes cast in that election. Blount outpolled Jones in early voting and in all four precincts, ending up with 2,008 votes.
Bowman said one pressing issue is to hire more deputies to put on the roads. The county also needs to work on its existing jail, he said.
“Right now, we need more officers,” the sheriff said. “Our community is a thriving community and it is growing so fast. We need to get more officers on the road. We need to expand our jail because the jail is aging. That would be a great thing for our community, to hold more inmate and to hold more federal inmates.”
Lovette also said he fully believes his statement to his supporters that the best is yet to come.
“We have just barely touched the surface of what we can do in Liberty County together,” he said. “We may have our differences but not enough to where we impede our progress. The proof is in the pudding. The things we have done are near miraculous. With that same team, that same energy, that same community support, I believe we can do it.
“The people who are here embrace it and those who are moving to our community embrace it,” Lovette continued. “That’s what I love the most – the people who are not native born, when they come here, they find something special and unique here that only Liberty County has. We can go anywhere from that. It’s priceless. It’s rare and it’s an honor for us to have that opportunity in Liberty County.”
Liberty voters narrowly rejected an extension of the transportation special local option sales tax, or TSPLOST, by a margin of less than 5%. It got 11,521 no votes to 10,459 votes in favor of its renewal.
Proponents of the TSPLOST said it would generate $76 million over its six-year term and the proceeds would be directed to road and drainage improvements.
“There are so many infrastructure improvements that need to be done,” a dismayed Lovette said. “Our infrastructure needs are outpacing our funding. TSPLOST helps us get a lot of major projects done.”
Some of the projects slated to receive funding from TSPLOST were nearly $5 million for Charles Frasier Boulevard improvements, $1.5 million for improvements to Islands Highway and $2 million for road concept and design work on the Hinesville 84 bypass. Other projects that were projected to get TSPLOST funding were new signals on E.G. Miles Parkway at the entrance to Griffin Park, at Pineland Avenue and at the entrance to Arlington Park, and a connector from Patriots Trail to the eastern end of General Stewart Way.
Lovette said he didn’t know when they could put the measure back on the ballot, but he wanted to do so as quickly as possible.
“We’ll go at it again,” he said. “We’ll educate, we’ll push it, we’ll promote it. We need that to move our community forward. A lot of the projects we have on the drawing board are depending on TSPLOST. We can do it without it, but it will be much more painful. We’re trying to be progressive and proactive. We can do it so much better with TSPLOST.”