Trust, Transparency, Integrity, Leadership
Where we are as a city
Since 2007 I've attended the majority of the Hoover City Council work sessions and Council meetings, as well as the majority of the Hoover Board of Education Regular meetings. I've seen much of what goes on behind the scenes, having established a good relationship with members of the Council and members of the Board of Education.
At times I do see one thing missing in the City Government of Hoover:
Transparency and Trust
In 2022 the City of Hoover stopped streaming their meetings in their entirety on the city's You Tube Channel. They also deleted all of their previously recorded meetings that were available on YouTube.
After discovering this, I spent months searching for the deleted videos and was able to locate them. Once I did, I downloaded them, then created The Hoover Channel. I uploaded all of the missing videos to The Hoover Channel's YouTube channel. Now the city leaders who were responsible for the deletion could no longer do that. In March 2023 I began to livestream Council meetings in their entirety, and uploaded them to our YouTube channel. As a Councilor, I will insure that the actions that happened in 2022 are not repeated.
In the past five years we also witnessed an erosion of trust between the mayor, the Council President, and the other Council members. Many Council members hid what was happening behind the scenes in order to avoid retribution. That will no longer happen if I'm elected. Trust must be reestablished not only between the city government and the residents of Hoover, but also between the members of the city government.
Integrity and Leadership
One thing I've found out about running for office is that you must show your accomplishments. Since 2006 I've tried very hard to not put my name out there when I do something for the community because it's my feeling that when you do something for the community or city or an individual, it's not about self-recognition, but about the action itself. Here a few of my accomplishments over the years:
1. After founding BluffParkAL.org in 2006, I was able to get the Bluff Park Police Sub-Station opened, even after we were told by Mayor Petelos that it could not be done. This substation provides a place where the HPD officer who patrols Bluff Park can go to write reports, take a break, meet with residents without having to go all the way to the Highway 31 station. Ross Bridge has seen an uptick in police calls, but it has no substation. One of my first goals is to get a substation in Ross Bridge.
2. I recommended, and finally got approved, the reduction in size of the area that Bluff Park's HPD office has to patrol. The old "beat" or zone that he/she patrolled was Patton Chapel Road from Hwy. 31 to Shades Crest Road to the Vestavia city limit on Alford to I-65 south to Hwy. 31 to Patton Chapel Road. As you can see, a huge area. Today is from Simmons north. We've cut it in half, and thus reduced response time.
3. One of the big events in Bluff Park is the Shades Crest Baptist Church High Country 5K race. Several years ago the city notified SCBC that they could no longer have the race in Bluff Park, that it had to be moved to either the Met or Veteran's Park. After some phone calls and e-mails, I was able to convince the city to keep it in Bluff Park and it will remain here for as long as they want to have it.
4. I've worked with Hoover City Schools in providing computers at no charge to low-income children by forming Learning to Be The Light, which is wholly funded by my company PC Medics of Alabama. We refurbish and deliver complete Windows 7 Professional PCs and we install Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business on them. the PCs are for the student to keep. If they are juniors or seniors in high school, we also give them a laptop at no charge.
5. In 2015, after much outcry from Bluff Park residents about the deplorable conditions on the Piggly Wiggly side of the Shades Mountain Plaza, I put together a web site to show the conditions, and then presented to the council photos of SMP. I was able to get them to add businesses to the Public Nuisance Ordinance to hold landlords accountable for how their property looked, even though council members said it would never happen due to the business friendly environment that Hoover has. I got it done and it looks far better now.
6. I've spoken over and over again in front of the city council and the Board of Education on behalf of the lack of school funding, at some points getting into debates with both council members and Board members, showing their lack of support. I've done this since 2007.
7. Through my actions, I was able to get the process of how Board members get appointed changed. Prior to 2008, it was a simple, non-transparent process. After shinning a light on the process, they (the council) they changed it to a formal, application-based process, with interviews, background checks, and the Board members were vetted much better than before, when they were using the good ol' boy method.
8. When former Hoover City Schools Superintendent Andy Craig recommended that school buses be eliminated in July 2013, a group of us began to fight publicly for the restoration, but at every turn took we ran into a road block. Then, in September 2013 I contacted the Alabama Association of School Boards and spoke with their executive director. I asked her if she knew what was going on in Hoover with the buses. She did. I asked if she knew if there was anything that could be done. She explained to me that Hoover, like other Boards, work under Robert's Rules of Order. Because of that, once an Action Item is approved by a majority of the Board, it cannot be reversed UNLESS some things are done. First, a member of the Yes voters (the vote was 4-1 in favor of doing away with the buses, with Derrick voting No) must make a motion to rescind the Action. Another member must then second the motion, and then it must be approved by a majority of the Board. If this was done, the Action would be reversed. I presented this to then President Paulette Pearson at the September 2013 Board meeting. She did not want to do it at the time, and was looking at alternatives. Once the DOJ got involved, it became clear that this was the only way out. At the December 2013 Board meeting, my solution was implemented. You could say that through my actions contributed to saving the buses, but many people contributed time and effort to get it to that point.
11. During rezoning I spoke up for areas that were not as vocal as Bluff Park, including the Quail Run section of Hoover. I spoke on their behalf at rezoning meetings that involved their area.
12. I was a member of the Hoover City Schools Superintendent's Advisory Council and sat on the Technology Board.
13. I served on the Board of Directors of the Hoover City Schools Foundation from 2016 until 2019. While on the Foundation, I was on the Grants Committee, the Student Board Committee, the Events Committee, and was the co-chair of the Governance Committee.
14. I've been privileged to serve on the Dad Brigade for the past nine years, working at Berry Middle School, Trace Crossings Elementary School, Simmons Middle School, and Hoover High School. This is a fantastic annual event put on by Councilor Derrick Murphy to help out our schools.
15. Since 2018 I've been a coach for the Hoover Parks and Recreation Youth Flag Football League. In 2018 our team made the front page of the New York Times. Click here to see the front page.
16. I created The Hoover Channel, which streams Hoover City Council meetings on our Facebook page and makes them available for all to see on The Hoover Channel's YouTube channel.
I've lived in Hoover for over 36 years and have been active with the city and the schools for a good portion of that time. I had a child non-stop in the school system from 1992, when my oldest started Kindergarten to 2014, when my youngest graduated from HHS, and now have two grandchildren in the system. I've been there since the lack of funding began, and will continue to make Hoover City Schools funding a priority, as well as making sure our outstanding Hoover Police Department and our ISO 1 Rated Hoover Fire Department have the resources they need.