Dexter Newby has been a Hinesville resident for most of the last 20 years and he is making another run for city council.

Newby, who just turned 50 years old, will run for the District 4 post in this year’s municipal election.

He is a substance abuse counselor at Recovery Place and the reason why he’s running is he wants to be part of the solution for the city and his neighborhood.

“I saw there were some needs that needed to be met,” he said, “and I wanted to be part of the solution and not part of the problem by staying stagnant. If you complain and don’t do anything about it, then you’re part of the problem.”

In speaking with his own neighbors and those in other neighborhoods, said he has found a lot of problems in the older neighborhoods.

“We have a lot of 30, 40-plus-year-old neighborhoods in District 4 that need attention,” Newby said. “Some of those issues have been brought to my attention. I’ve worked on them to get fixed and some that are not fixed are being looked into.”

Newby said much of what he is hearing from District 4 residents he talks with deals with infrastructure needs.

Drainage and ditches are among the priorities, along with sidewalks, which Newby also said is a safety issue.

“In some of our older neighborhoods, we don’t have any (sidewalks), so kids are walking in the streets,” he said.

Speeders in neighborhoods also is a concern, especially with children walking in the street because of a lack of a sidewalks, Newby pointed out.

“Safety is a big issue in a lot of our neighborhoods,” he said. “They’re worried about the safety of themselves, and the safety of their children.”

The Army brought Newby to Hinesville originally in 2001. He retired from the Army after three combat tours in 2012. Newby hails from Springfield, Kentucky, a small town about halfway between Lexington and Louisville.

“It’s a very small town,” he said. “Everybody knows everybody.”

After retiring from the military, “we decided to retire here and make this our new home,” Newby said.

He was working as a mechanic and taking courses in human services before he was laid off from his job. That opened his eyes and a door.

“What I was doing, it wasn’t in my spirit to do,” he said. “I started working for Pineland as a substance abuse counselor and fell in love with it. My grandfather and grandmother taught us to do service for other people because it’s the right thing to do. Helping others is what I was meant to do.”

Recovery Place also facilitates the accountability courts for counties in the Atlantic Judicial Circuit.

Newby ran for office in 2019 and said he’s learned persistence, patience and working harder from that campaign. He said he is getting out and talking to more people and being more active.

“I like talking to people anyway,” he said. “I’m not the kind to come around every four years. I’m active in the community.”

Now that he’s been in the community for most of the last 20 years, Newby said he hopes there are changes coming in the next 20.

“I would like to see us with more jobs with livable wages,” he said, “ring more jobs here where people can work here, stay here and spend more money here instead of working in Pooler or working in Savannah,and better infrastructure.”