Although he’s a retired Army officer, Hinesville Mayor-elect James Thomas uses a naval analogy to talk about his plan for the future of the city: “It’s like an aircraft carrier, it takes miles to make a turn. No sudden changes.
“When I was a commander, I never made drastic decisions when I took over a unit.”
The mayor-elect, victor in Tuesday’s runoff against Hinesville attorney Bob Pirkle, said his vision for Hinesville was the same one he had outlined in his campaign.
“From walking our community, I see we have to realize our community is much larger and much more diverse than we realize. We need to take steps to provide amenities; people here have lived everywhere.
“Because of the additional brigade and support units the Army is sending here, and other factors, we are going to grow rapidly. We need to plan for and accommodate that growth. With the new regional airport and other projects, new companies will be looking at us for locations. We need to pursue that.”
When employed at Fort Stewart, Thomas was project manager of the joint use civilian/military airport project which has lead to the new MidCoast Regional Airport at Wright Army Airfield..
Moving on to other plans, Thomas said Hinesville’s streets and other infrastructure need attention. He has a construction engineering background, but said that even a layman could see streets that need work.
The mayor-elect said arterial routes — Highways 84, 196, Airport Road and others — should receive state aid for improvements. “With the soldiers beginning to return in March, we need to work on our traffic problems.”
Thomas chairs the Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission, a job he will have to leave to become Hinesville’s chief executive officer.
Tuesday’s runoff was necessary because no candidate in the four-man mayor’s race got a majority in the Nov. 6 general election.
Two candidates eliminated in that vote were Billy Kitchings, who is retired, and Sampie Smith, a former county commissioner who is the county’s records management coordinator.