Curt Posey defeats Trey Lott in Hoover Council Place 1 runoff

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Bluff Park resident Curt Posey scored a solid victory over Greystone resident and former Hoover Councilman Trey Lott to win the runoff for Hoover City Council Place 1 today.

Posey captured 2,555 votes, or 77 percent of the 3,303 votes cast in the race, compared to 748, or 23 percent for Lott, according to complete but unofficial results from the Hoover city clerk’s office.

Posey, who had less than a 1 percentage point margin over Lott in the Aug. 23 election, said tonight he thought the runoff would be much closer.

“I really thought it was going to be tight — neck and neck,” Posey said. “The margin was a great surprise. I’m humbled by the margin.”

He thanked his supporters for coming out strong in the runoff.

“I was very concerned and worried that nobody was going to come out to vote. I was wrong,” he said. “I’m very overwhelmed with the amount of people who did.”

'It's a new day for Hoover'

Posey said when he first started getting more involved in the school rezoning fight a couple of years ago, he never thought he would end up running for City Council and getting elected.

“We started going to City Council meetings, and I just kept going, and the more I was going, the more I wasn’t happy with what I was seeing, so I decided to do something about it,” Posey said. “Now we’re in a position to where we’ve got a slate of new councilmen and a new mayor that are going to work together to straighten some things out, and it’s a new day for Hoover.”

Posey said he looks forward to representing Hoover residents and having town hall meetings that get more Hoover residents involved in their government. “I’m ready to get to work,” he said.

Lott called Posey to concede the race and congratulate him on the victory.

“My voters didn’t show up. His did,” Lott said in an interview later. “He ran a good campaign. I hope he’ll do a great job for Hoover. I wish him the best of luck.”

Posey was the top vote-getter in the Aug. 23 election, garnering 5,256 votes (41.2 percent) to Lott’s 5,176 votes (40.6 percent). Councilman Joe Rives, who was appointed to fill Lott’s seat when Lott resigned from the council in January 2015 to temporarily move to Alabaster, had 2,321 votes (18 percent) on Aug. 23.

Posey said he thought getting more than 3,300 people to the polls for the runoff was an amazing turnout for a runoff, especially when there was only one runoff among all the city races. Lott said the turnout was low, and “with a low turnout, you never know what’s going to happen.”

Posey wins 11 of 13 polling places

Posey won 11 of the 13 polling places, losing only at Greystone Fire Station No. 8 and the Greystone Farms Clubhouse. Lott, who lives in Greystone, won at the fire station with 105 votes to Posey’s 69, and at the clubhouse with 41 votes to Posey’s 29.

Several voters there said they liked the idea of having someone from their neighborhood and the eastern side of Hoover on the City Council. “I just feel like he’s in our area, so he’ll look out for us,” Greystone resident Joyce Hill said after voting for Lott.

Tommy McLendon, another Greystone resident, said he has known Lott for years and thinks he did a great job when he was on the City Council. He said Lott did nothing controversial or scandalous and always seemed to take logical and thoughtful positions.

But not every Greystone voter supported Lott. Greystone resident Bill Whitfield was among those who voted for Posey.

“It’s time for the incumbents to go,” Whitfield said, noting he counts Lott as an incumbent because Lott served on the council for 10 years before resigning.

“They didn’t treat the school system right,” Whitfield said of the incumbents. They didn’t provide enough funding for Hoover schools, he said.

Carie Pavlov of Lake Cyrus also said Posey seemed to be more supportive of the school district than Lott. “That was my key determination for this election,” Pavlov said.

John Jenkins, who lives in the Southwood section of Russet Woods, also voted for Posey. He said he thinks a lot of Hoover residents have been “asleep at the wheel” in recent years when it comes to city government.

He loves Hoover and had two daughters go through the Hoover school system with good success, but he wants to see that same success for his grandchildren, he said.

He’s concerned that current city leaders and Lott allowed a lot of development without proper planning to ensure that the school system can accommodate the growth and stay strong and healthy, he said.

It also seems that current city leaders have been making decisions without listening to and involving the public enough, Jenkins said.

“I think we need fresh blood,” he said. “I just think it’s time for a change.”

See complete results for every polling place on the city of Hoover website.

See results from the Aug. 23 election, including the mayor's race and other six City Council seats, here.

This article was updated several times with additional voter comments and election details.