Tinker seeks second consecutive term on Tuscaloosa City Council
By Jacquelyn Kersh
District 7 Councilman William Tinker III wants to make sure projects get finished that he has already started.
Representing, neighborhoods in southeast, William Tinker III, is running for another four-year term.
Tinker was born and raised in a neighboring county to Tuscaloosa, Hale County.
After growing up in Sawyerville, he moved to Tuscaloosa.
He has two children, ages 18 and 33. His son went to school in Tuscaloosa and his daughter in Greensboro.
Police experience comes in handy
In 1980 Tinker started to work for the Tuscaloosa Police Department as a cop for 21½ years.
“Being a cop gave me experience because working with the city gives you an inside view of how the city operates,” Tinker said. “I understand not only what the police want, but what the city people want because I’ve been a city employee.”
After retiring from the TPD in 2002, he became an investigator for the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney’s office. He’s been chief investigator for five years.
Tinker also believes that being chief investigator has helped with his duties of being a councilman because it helps him know how to deal with the public.
Investigators have to make a case and put hard work into them which is similar mentality to making actions happen when I get phone calls, Tinker said.
Three projects to finish
Tinker is running for office again because there are three projects that he has started that he wants to see finished.
The Eighth Avenue project was started to improve flooding issues with rain water entering houses.
he Cherrydale Subdivision project has been started to stabilize the eroding creek in people’s back yards of the neighborhood.
The third project Tinker wants to see completed is the 37th Street project. He wants to add lanes and sidewalks wide enough for bikers. Over the past four years since Tinker has been in term, two people have been killed on that road and he wants to make it safer.
“I’ve learned from being in this position for four years that things take time, they don’t happen over night,” Tinker said.
Tinker’s biggest foreseen issue for next term is tax base revenue. It’s down 6 to 7 percent and he wants to bring it back up.