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MDOT Southern District Transportation Commissioner Tom King joined The Extra Mile podcast to announce his retirement at the end of the current term, reflect on a 31-year career in public service and look ahead to what’s next.
Tune in to The Extra Mile presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Co-hosts Paul Katool and Will Craft take listeners inside the world of transportation infrastructure in Mississippi.
(Drew) MDOT presents The Extra Mile podcast.
(Paul) Welcome in to another edition of The Extra Mile podcast presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. I’m MDOT Digital Media Manger Paul Katool. And we gave Will Craft the day off. We’ve got MDOT Public Affairs Director Jas N Smith uh in with us today. Thanks so much for making the trip to Hattiesburg.
(Jas N) I’m glad to be here. Thanks, Paul.
(Paul) It’s awesome.
(Jas N) Special occasion.
(Paul) Absolutely. We have a very special guest today. We’ve got Southern District Transportation Commissioner Tom King in the house with us today. We’re actually in his office. There are some cool pictures in the background. Uh, just a little bit of information about Commissioner King.
He’s in his third term as Southern District Transportation Commissioner. He was first elected in 2012. He’s the chair of commission and uh really cool he also served in the Mississippi House of Representatives and the senate as well. So, uh, Commissioner King, thank you so much for hosting us today.
(Commissioner King) Thank you. Thank you for being here.
(Jas N) And we came down to your office because you have a message you’d like to get out and we thought the podcast would be a good way to get that out. So, tell us a little bit about why we’re here today, Commissioner.
(Commissioner King) Well, uh, I’d like to make an announcement. With much consideration through my family and talking to my family, my wife and family in prayer, I’ve decided not to seek re-election for 2023.
(Jas N) And so, are you planning on then retiring at the end of this current term in December of ‘23?
(Commissioner King) I do do uh and I will retire and plan on spending more time with my family and my wife and I doing a lot of traveling.
(Jas N) Well, you’ve had quite a career so far in public service um, you know obviously back in the late sixties in Vietnam. And then later on as Paul mentioned in starting in what was that nineteen 1993 in the House of Representatives. And then on to uh in 2000 on to the state senate and then coming on to the commission in 2012. That’s you by the end of your term you’re gonna be 31 years I believe.
(Commissioner King) That’s uh quite an honor to serve the people and I appreciate the support in all my friends have given me and the public has given me. It’s a you know, it’s a team effort. It’s the commission working with the legislature. And most of all heed the words that you hear from the public and uh and try to always be fair and do what’s right.
(Paul) Commissioner King, just a long story career um we do kind of want to take a take a look back a little bit and kind of talk about some of the uh your favorite kind of things you’ve done uh as your career as an elected official. Some of the uh things that stand out to you.
(Commissioner King) Well, it’s uh some of the things that stand out to me are just just dealing with the public and ribbon cuttings and remarks that people have made about many projects that we’ve done. And I know on one project particularly on the Coast uh we were doing it and two senior ladies said uh after it was over with “Do you mind we want to stay here and practice driving on this?” I said, “Not at all. Y’all drive as much as you want to.” I said, “Just obey those signs please.” So, that’s one that really stands out to me. But and they were so sincere about it. So, so it’s uh and I have many other stories like that that could be told. But and they were very serious.
(Jas N) Sure. You know and when you were serving in the legislature um there were a number of bills that you sponsored and authored. Um one of those that sticks out is the John Paul Frerer Bicycle Act um so tell us a little bit how that came about.
(Commissioner King) Well, that came about from uh John Paul Frerer was killed and his parents had come to the Capitol and and was asking for some legislation that regarding safety for bicycles. And we came up with that legislation through the with the attorneys and giving what we needed and all the information that they needed and where it happened. And it’s uh I think so not because it’s my bill, but it takes a team effort from all of the legislators that get behind you and worked with you from sub committee to full committee to the full delegation of the House of Representatives. And it was an honor to do that.
(Paul) Commissioner, you know, like you said, you know you have some time left in office.
(Commissioner King) I do.
(Paul) So, what are you kind of looking forward to doing the next year? Are there still some goals, objectives you want to accomplish as Southern Transportation Commissioner?
(Commissioner King) Well, I we’d like we need to concentrate on on finishing some jobs that we have and fund these jobs. And as always, uh safety is our main priority at MDOT. And anything that’s had regards to safety such as our bridges just try to try to finish all those projects that we can and do what the public needs and do everything again that we can do to accommodate the public and make sure that safety’s placed first.
(Jas N) Do you just going back to just your career here at MDOT do you have any um particular memories or times that MDOT and transportation commission that you are especially proud of?
(Commissioner King) Well, uh especially proud of what we’ve done with the lottery money uh making it putting all that lottery money that we receive on the two-lane highways much needed much needed with the lack of funding that we’ve had in the past. And with the legislature’s help we’ve been able to to do that. Some of those highways haven’t been worked on in 18 years and receiving that money we’re able to do that and work on that.
(Jas N) And then you were one of the commissioners and in fact chair of the commission when MDOT hired Brad White as executive director um tell me a few things about how that came about.
(Commissioner King) Well, uh Melinda McGrath who was past executive director resigned or retired rather and uh we put out you know for to replace her and we had many applications and people wanted to be the executive director of MDOT. And uh, we received one from Brad White and it was a no-brainer. After we interviewed him, he was a no-brainer. He did a great job in the interview. His resume was was was great and uh he’s a great executive director doing a great job and I’m very proud of our hire.
(Paul) There’s no doubt there’s no doubt about that. So, Jas N, unless you have anything else uh we have a fun question that we like to ask our guest. This is one that Will Craft came up with. Uh, so, we know that you drive the highways and interstates in south Mississippi and the whole state. So, you probably have some favorite places to eat or favorite cuisines you like to eat. So, can you give us some information on that?
(Commissioner King) One of my favorite places would be eating seafood on the Coast. That’s that’s what I like. So, every time I go to the Coast I try to eat a little seafood. And that’s that’s a lot at least twice a week.
(Jas N) And what’s your favorite kind of seafood? I mean there’s shrimp.
(Commissioner King) Shrimp. Oh yeah.
(Jas N) And how do you take your shrimp? Do you want it boiled, you want it fried, you want it
(Commissioner King) Every way. It doesn’t matter. Whatever the grilled, fried, boiled. I love it.
(Jas N) I love it. I love it. I’m right there with you.
(Paul) Excellent stuff. Well, Commissioner King, again thank you so much for hosting us and kind of getting your announcement out. Uh just again a long storied career in public service and we we appreciate you everything you do and have done. And we know that Mississippians have as well.
(Commissioner King) Well, thank you very much. It’s been an honor to serve the public and uh I appreciate all the support that people have given me. And uh I’ve always been fair. If you do what’s right, you don’t have a problem sleeping. And I feel like that’s what I’ve done throughout my career.
(Jas N) And I second that, Paul. Um, you know, I’ve known you for awhile now. We’ve worked together on a lot of projects. And if there’s one thing that I can say about Commissioner King is that he is fair and he is straightforward. If he’s going to do something, he’ll tell you he can do it. And if he’s not able to do it, he’ll tell you why. And you can always count on Commissioner King to stick by what he says. He’s a man of his word and a gentleman. And so, I appreciate very much the opportunity to work with you as much as I have. And I look forward to this final year of your career being a part of that.
(Commissioner King) Well, thank you. I’ve got another year to go so, we’ll uh have a lot
(Jas N) Still a lot of stuff to do.
(Commissioner King) of fun next year. Also there’s a lot of we have a lot of challenges ahead of us and hopefully we can meet those challenges.
(Jas N) Great.
(Paul) There you go. There you go. Thank you again, Commissioner King. We’ll go ahead and wrap things up. I want to thank all our listeners out there for tuning in to The Extra Mile podcast. Remember you can watch and listen to episodes by visiting gomdot.com forward slash the extra mile. We want to thank our producer Katey Hornsby, our editor Drew Hall. They of course always make the treck when we travel and they do a lot behind the scenes for us. Remember to follow us on social media @MississippiDOT, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram the whole the whole thing. And without further ado, let’s just wrap things up. Remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.