Dwight Williams said he won’t change much from last fall’s campaign for a Henderson City Commission seat except for a greater push to get the vote out.
Only 37% of Henderson voters turned out for last fall’s election. He’s hoping with more attention to his getting the vote out, plus the interest from the presidential election and three school board seats locally, that more residents will vote.
As far as his talking points are concerned, Williams is still pushing for the commission and future commissions to spend money more wisely.
“Are we spending our taxpayers’ money wisely?” he said.
He’s all for the athletic complex that is currently being built on Airline Road, but still questions the $18.5 million price tag. He’s also worried about the money it will take to operate and maintain the athletic complex when there’s no budget line specifically for the park, he said.
If elected, Williams also wants to get to work on finding a way to help business owners currently operating out on the 41-strip. He said the coming of I-69 through the east side of the county bring changes to business on the strip and local officials need to fix that now, not after I-69 is finished.
He also spoke about homelessness in an interview with the Hendersonian and expressed concern about finding answers to this difficult problem. He said hiring a homeless case manager, which appears to be in the works for the Henderson County Homeless Coalition with funding from the city and county governments, is a good start. But the roots of homelessness need to be addressed, and even then, some won’t want any help, he said.
He applauded Pratt Paper landing here, but pointed out that bringing multimillion dollar development is not the only way to build economically. He wants Henderson to be more business friendly, or rid itself any perception of not being business friendly, so that more small businesses can land here and thrive.
Williams serves as Vice Chair of the Henderson City/County Airport Board, Vice Chair of the Henderson Community College Board and board member of the Henderson Housing Authority. He is a Rotary member and the Henderson County Republican Party chairman, among other community roles. He also was in the U.S. Army, retiring as a colonel after 30 years of service.
Williams lost to Nick Whitt in last fall’s election to fill the remaining year of an unexpired city commission term.
The field for the Henderson City Commission race is set. Tom Williams, Kelsey Hargis, Dwight Williams, Nick Whitt, Thomas and Pruitt will vie for the four seats. Because the number of candidates did not exceed eight, there will not be a May primary election for this race.
