Frank Owens, who served on Rincon’s city council beginning in 1990, is seeking a council seat in the upcoming November elections.  

“I enjoyed it the whole time I was in there,” he said of his stint on council. “And I don’t mind getting beat. I just wish when people run for stuff, they’d run on their own merits and try not to fabricate negative stuff.”

Owens said some of the matters conducted by council during his time could have been handled differently.

“Everybody new is going to save the world,” he said. “Like this water mess that we fought for five or six years — the ‘Magnificent 3’ is what I called them (competing candidates) — told everybody how dumb we were, how we should’ve did this and could’ve done that. I got a 3-year-old granddaughter that can tell people what they should have done.

“I think everybody that’s ever been a councilman in a small place like this tries to do the right thing. You’re not gonna fight the EPD and beat them.”

Owens also said that Gov. Sonny Perdue lied to Rincon officials in a meeting with state Environmental Protection Division director Dr. Carol Couch.

“I’ll tell the world that in front of him,” Owens said. “There was a room full of us and we had the rules, but when we met, he didn’t follow (any) of the rules that he had set.”

Owens said there wasn’t one single thing that caused him to run for a council seat this term, but cited several areas that he thinks needs more attention from the city. He said the house numbering system is inconsistent in places and that can lead to confusion for first responder units trying to locate someone in trouble.

“When you’re sitting out here and you’re not involved, you’ve got a lot of nuts running the city,” Owens said. After I won that (term) after about 3 or 4 months, I was at the council that night just thinking, I said, ‘you know — I’m one of those nuts now.’”

Another area that he would like to see addressed in a better manner by city staff is how people are treated when confronted about ordinance problems, such as keeping lots cleared. He also would like to see the addition of more traffic lights but said he knows from experience that it’s not always fast or easy to get that done.

He also said that he’s a big believer in talking with other cities of similar size so Rincon can avoid some of the problems they have encountered and follow their examples in areas that have been successful.