Jones County District 3 commissioner faces opposition

Jones County's District 3 commissioner faces opposition from a political newcomer.

Jim Bean, who is retired from BellSouth, is running against incumbent Tommy Robinson in the May 24 Republican primary. With no Democrats running, the winner of the primary will take the seat.

Robinson, who is retired from J.M. Huber, is in his second term in office. He said if he is re-elected, he would like to work with other commissioners to return to the proper chain of command.

Robinson said Chairman Preston Hawkins and some other commissioners meddle too much in county departments. Department heads are supposed to answer to County Administrator Mike Underwood, Robinson said, and Underwood answers to the commission.

But he said Hawkins in particular "micromanages" the departments.

"The chairman and some others think they know more than everybody else, and they intimidate people into doing what they want," Robinson said. "People are afraid for their jobs, and you can't work in that kind of environment."

Hawkins declined comment.

The public works budget has been increasing significantly while Hawkins has been in office, Robinson said. Robinson said he wants to start cutting back in that area.

Specifically, he wants to eliminate the public works road construction crew and contract out those jobs instead. Robinson said he isn't aware of another county that has its own road construction crew, although he added he hasn't researched it.

By contracting out the work, Robinson said, the county would be paying only as needed as opposed to the ongoing cost of its own crew.

"It would be more economical in the long run," he said.

He said he would not seek to lay anyone off but would cut jobs through attrition.

Bean said friends urged him to run for the office out of concern that the board often could not seem to find consensus to get things done.

"It seems like the ones up there don't get along," he said. "I get along with about anybody."

He said one of his priorities would be to try to improve the county's mostly volunteer fire department. The department has only a couple of full-time firefighters, he said, and most stations are not staffed. He would like to have a firefighter on duty at each station to speed up the time to answer calls.

He said in the past a fire tax of $20 per property owner has been proposed, and Bean said he supports that.

"I think it would benefit everybody if they had a few more on regular so they can have somebody to man these fire stations," he said. "I think in the long run it would pay off by saving on insurance."

He said he also want to attract more industry to the county, but he expressed skepticism about the county's undeveloped industrial park.

"I just don't think the location is that great, and everybody I've talked to feels the same way," he said.

A third candidate dropped out of the race after qualifying. William "Lee" Brown Sr. said he dropped out because both he and his wife work for the Department of Homeland Security. He said he was not forced to drop out, but after discussing it with his supervisor, they both decided there could be potential conflicts if he served on the commission.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

Jones County Commission District 3 candidates

Name: Tommy Robinson

Age: 64

Occupation: Retired from J.M. Huber

Political experience: Commissioner for seven years

Name: Jim Bean

Age: 69

Occupation: Retired from BellSouth

Political experience: None

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Jones County District 3 commissioner faces opposition ."