On Tuesday, a runoff election will decide who will take the reins as mayor of Century for the next four years. The race is putting a spotlight on some of the problems plaguing the small town in northern Escambia County and hopes for its future.
The race started out with four candidates. Still in the race are incumbent Freddie McCall and final challenger Henry Hawkins.
Freddie McCall has deep roots in Century.
“My family was raised here,” said McCall. “My father moved from Brewton, Alabama down, met my mother and married her here in Century, and he worked for years over at the Alger-Sullivan Sawmill as a boiler operator.”
McCall says he started throwing newspapers in town when he was nine years old. He went on to work in the gas station business. He currently owns a station in nearby Flomaton, Alabama, as well as two aviation companies that support the oil industry.
He was elected to the Century Town Council 13 years ago and is now seeking his third and, and he says, last term as Mayor.
“This town is my town; it’s been good to me,” McCall said. “I do it for my town because I love my town and I owe it to my town, and we got a lot of things going.”
“Century can be better than what it is; it’s time for a change,” said Hawkins, who is also a former Town Councilman.
Hawkins is a Pensacola native, who married a woman from Century after he first started pastoring at a church in Flomaton. He’s now lived in the town for 13 years.
Hawkins is seeking his first term as mayor and, if elected, would be the first African American to hold the office.
“With this big move that’s going on, we need to put ourselves in a position to help to get our people jobs to make Century a better place to live, and just to be better all around,” Hawkins said.
The “move” Hawkins is referring to is the boom in the aviation industry with the Airbus aircraft assembly facility in Mobile. He says Century, which is one of the poorest communities in Florida, should be booming, too. And, that means working to improve education and training opportunities for residents to get the skills they need to land jobs when they become available.
“A company’s not going to hire somebody that doesn’t have a high school diploma and then depending on the job that they come, they need folks that are qualified to do it,” said Hawkins. “So, if we’re looking at bringing in a manufacturing company, they need to train our people in that area of manufacturing.”
Currently, Hawkins is an adjunct instructor at the relatively new Century campus of Pensacola State College, which is offering a variety of certification programs, including welding, nursing assistant, and hospitality and tourism management.
Incumbent Mayor Freddie McCall says some of those new training programs have paid off, with residents getting jobs at the plant in Mobile. At the same time, there are efforts to spur economic development within the town, such as searching for a tenant for the old Helicopter Technology Building and starting a small business incubator.
“We’ve got a 135-acre industrial park. If we can start them off in that incubator and grow them big enough to move out into the park, we got some grants available,” said McCall. “We can get some buildings built and hopefully get some small businesses in here.”
Another issue high on both candidates’ priority list is clean up and recovery following the EF-3 tornado that ripped through the small town in February.
“Right now, we got this long-term recovery and we’ve got about 9 houses that we’re fixing to start building and hopefully, more to come,” said McCall, noting that they have access to some SHIP money through the state of Florida that will be distributed to residents who apply and qualify.
McCall also referenced the need for help from United Way and faith-based organizations in the community to furnish some building materials. “That we’ll still be able to help most everybody,” he said.
But, Hawkins has a different view of the tornado recovery and the extent to which assistance is being available in different parts of town.
“If you go through Century, you can still see the devastation from the tornado,” said Hawkins. “Some people cannot help themselves and we need to step in as a community to help them to get the areas cleaned and then look for ways to get the money to help them rebuild. Again, Century is one of the poorest areas in the state of Florida, so everybody doesn’t have insurance. So, we got to take it upon ourselves to help them.”
When it comes to growing their small town, which has a population of just over 1600 people, both agree the loss of their public schools and community hospital are hurdles. And, they both disagree with a 2015 Haas Center study concluding the town was not ready for a hotel or motel.
Hawkins says a place to stay overnight would be beneficial to families of inmates at the state prison in Century. And, McCall says others traveling through the town might stop for the night if they had the option.
And, while they have different ideas about how to get there, their vision for Century’s future has a central theme...
McCall says his vision starts with ‘jobs.’ “We’ve got to have some jobs here to be able to keep our kids here,” he said. “I’m aware of it, they’re growing up and having to move out to make a living. But, they always come back home. So we want to have a nice beautiful place, a home atmosphere for them to come back to.”
“I envision Century being booming; 10 years from now, I envision Century to be on the map, utilizing all the assets that we have,” said Hawkins, calling on a collective effort to move the town forward. “There’s a lot that Century has to offer, but yet, we’ve got to explore what we have to offer to get folks to come.”
Henry Hawkins and Freddie McCall are candidates for Mayor of Century. Early voting is underway, and continues through 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5. The final day to vote in their runoff is this Tuesday, Nov. 8.
