TULL —William Davis of Tull accomplished two of his biggest goals last year.
“I wanted to retire as early as possible, but I would not retire until I had everything I owned paid for,” Davis said. “I paid off everything I owned in October of last year, and I retired in November.
“I don’t owe anybody anything. That worked out good.”
Davies worked for 28 years in law enforcement, including his last assignment at the Grant County Sheriff’s Office from 2007 to 2008. He recently worked for the state of Arkansas, doing maintenance, but his wife, Penny, got sick, and he decided he needed to be closer to home so he could take care of her.
“My law enforcement and state retirement gave me the means to go ahead and retire,” Davis said.
Upon hearing of Davis’ pending retirement, former Tull Mayor Jeff Westbrook approached him and asked Davis if he would consider running for the position.
“[Jeff] decided he wasn’t going to run for re-election,” Davis said. “We had wanted to make sure we got someone in here who had the best interests of the city and not somebody who just wanted a title.
“I went ahead and ran without opposition and took office Jan. 1.”
Davis said he has been working in county and city government for more than 40 years, so transitioning to mayor “wasn’t anything new to me.”
“It was just something that needed to be done,” he said. “But the Tull City Council has been great to work with and has been real supportive, and the community has accepted me well.
“So far, it is going really well.”
Davis said that even though it has only been a couple of months, he believes the city of Tull has already accomplished quite a bit.
“We put brand-new roofs on all the buildings, and we have started a road-maintenance project and a preventative-maintenance program on all the equipment,” Davis said. “We have restructured and rehired people to do the job more efficiently and better.
“Our main goal is just to make Tull the best community in Arkansas and for it to be clean and neat.”
One of the new part-time hires is Tull resident Nick Burton, who has known Davis for more than 25 years. Burton works as an electrician in Little Rock, but on Mondays, he helps the mayor. Davis described Burton as his “right-hand man.”
“[William] is more attentive and more energetic and active than our previous mayors,” Burton said. “I’m not trying to say anything bad about them, but a lot more has been done in this community in the past few months than in the past several years.”
Davis said being the mayor of Tull is a multitask job.
“One of the ladies in town called the other day, asking for her mailbox to be put back up,” Davis said. “That doesn’t fall under our duties, but we went and put her mailbox back up because she couldn’t do it herself.
“We are going to do whatever we can to help people in the community.”
Davis said he wants to “try to make it a better, cleaner place to live.”
“We do everything. You name it; we do it,” Davis said. “This office didn’t exist before the first of the year, but I did the ceiling and the floors myself.
“Nick has saved us thousands of dollars repairing the equipment, so we are able to cut and save, but also try to make it better, too.
Davis said following this interview that he and Burton were going to take a tractor and try to rebuild a road on the north side of town.
“I came aboard to help out this town,” Burton said. “I don’t mind helping out my community and volunteering my time at our churches.
“This town has been good to me. Why not help out?”
Davis said that in his time as mayor, he and Burton have helped change flat tires, jumped somebody’s car, patched roads, dug out drainage ditches and picked up trash.
Davis, 60, is originally from Benton, having graduated from Benton High School in 1977. He has a bachelor’s degree in emergency management.
He was in Tull serving warrants one day, and he stopped in the driveway that is now his property, saw the land was for sale, bought it and moved in. He has lived in Tull since 2000.
Davis has served in just about every capacity in law enforcement, including as chief of police of Bauxite from 2000 to 2007. He said his experience as an officer has helped him deal with the general public and their complaints.
“We have to serve our own cleanliness ordinances,” Davis said. “People will let garbage pile up in their yards, but because of my history in law enforcement — and all of them know I have been in law enforcement — they pretty much take it easy, and we don’t have a lot of resistance.”
Troy McDade has served on the City Council for more than 20 years. He said that so far, Davis is doing a good job and making improvements.
“We have been trying to improve on our roads every year,” said McDade, who has known Davis since he was the chief of police in Bauxite. “He is making sure the rights of way are clear and things of that nature.”
Nathan Welch has been a City Council member for five years but has known Davis for more than 15 years.
“He is outgoing and very community-centered,” Welch said. “He cares about his community, and he has lived a long life of public service.”
Welch said Davis is “absolutely a good fit for Tull.”
“He’s invested here, and he is interested in his town’s growth,” Welch said.
Davis said Tull has approximately 470 residents. He said that just last year, eight new families moved into the city limits.
“Our town also owns the water system for this area, and we maintain our water system as well,” Davis said. “We have over 800 customers on our water system.”
Davis is also a part-time concealed-carry-gun-permit instructor, having certified more than 4,000 people through his classes since 2005.
“When I was in law enforcement, I was a firing instructor, and by being an instructor anyway, I already had the training to do the handgun thing — all I needed was to pass the Arkansas State Police exam,” Davis said. “It has been good and has provided a second income, and I enjoy doing that.
“I have had a really good time doing it and have met a lot of good people that way.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.