Pat Donahue/Times-EnterpriseThomasville City Council at-large member Don Sims greets attendees after a forum held Tuesday night. 

THOMASVILLE — Incumbent Thomasville City Council at-large member Don Sims said interest remains strong in the former Caterpillar building the city purchased.

Sims answered a number of questions at a forum Tuesday night as early voting for his seat is under way, including queries on the Roses property, streets and the Caterpillar building. 

“It is a tremendous asset,” Sims said, adding it is a “Cadillac” of an industrial building.

Sims said there are two prospects looking at the building and said there have been more prospects on the site from the state in his 30 years of industrial development.

“I’ll guarantee we’ll get someone in there, and it will be a major coup when we do,” he said. 

Sims, the former executive director of the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce, cautioned landing someone for the old Caterpillar building “won’t happen overnight,” adding it “took nine months of work to land Caterpillar.

He said the basic concept of industrial development is that 80 percent of prospects want to see a building.

“As much as we think Thomasville is a tremendous place to live,“ Sims said, “it’s still naive to think that an industry is going to come here because we have a great quality of life.”

While the facility could easily accommodate a warehouse operation, Sims said the goal is a manufacturer. Caterpillar paid the city $1 million a year in utilities, he said.  

Sims and challenger Todd Mobley are in a runoff for the post. Mobley, the leading vote-getter in the general election, did not to attend the forum.

In a lengthy post on his Facebook page, Mobley derided the forum as “fake” and was being staged by those sympathetic to the Sims campaign. Mobley also said he told the event organizers before Thanksgiving he could not attend because of his son’s basketball game that night.

“Their plan was to trick voters into thinking there was a real forum that I somehow skipped out on or that I’m afraid to face the public,” Mobley posted. “They are liars. I’m out everyday facing voters, unlike Don the last four years, hence him being in this pickle to begin with.”

Mobley said the Sims campaign included people on flyers promoting the forum as a fake “host committee” who did not give them permission to do so. 

“One of the individuals was very upset, called me to complain and called out the Sims campaign publicly,” he posted.

Sims said he would entertain having a private company submit request for proposals on the Roses site. An earlier plan called for a 68,000 square foot facility with an events center at a cost of $22 million, he said. 

“The community got a dose of culture shock,” Sims said. 

Work with the city’s consultants on the ongoing comprehensive plan showed that only about 20 percent of those who responded backed an events center.

“It is a terrific piece of property,” Sims said. “It is within walking distance of downtown. That very much appeals to millennials, who want smaller properties. We’re going to offer that as proposals for people to come in and see what they can do.”

Sims also said the streetscape plans for the portion of West Jackson Street from Madison Street to Remington Avenue could be a model for what else happens.

“I think we’re going to have to take in sections like that,” he said. “We are going to have to spend some money and get some telephone poles and get some utilities underground. It’s a big project but I think it’s one we need to undertake.”

Sims also said at the city could apply for facade grants it has used in downtown for work on West Jackson.

“I very much want to have the input of the business community there,” he said. 

Major work on Remington Avenue also is being planned, Sims said. 

The city has reinstated money in the budget for a city housing person, Sims said, and the city is working to produce affordable housing in certain areas. There are currently 467 houses that either are uninhabitable or in a great state of disrepair.

“We have a great challenge in housing here,” he said.

The city also has put in $84,000 worth of improvements at Weston Park and will be looking to upgrade the parking there, Sims said. The city also will be looking at the sidewalks and in some stretches the lack thereof along Magnolia.

“We are engaging a community that believes it has been underserved, and I agree,” he said.

Sims also said he would like the city to become a destination for retirees.

He also seemed to lament the current climate of the municipal elections.

“We have a  division in this political race that we have never seen in Thomasville before,” he said. “Our political races have been civil in the past. And this one has gotten pretty tough. I’m concerned young people will look at service on the city council is something they don’t want to bother with.”

Editor Pat Donahue can be reached at (229) 226-2400 ext. 1806.