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Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 4 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Khristi Driver, Christian Coleman and Donna Mazur
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More than 200 people attended a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.
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Fourteen candidates for five Hoover City Council seats sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.
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Hoover Councilman Steve McClinton says a few words at the beginning of a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. McClinton was unopposed this year.
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More than 200 people attended a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.
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Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 5 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Derrick Murphy and Steve Lawrence.
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More than 200 people attended a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.
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More than 200 people attended a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.
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Fourteen candidates for five Hoover City Council seats sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.
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Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 1 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Robin Schultz and Tanveer Patel.
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More than 200 people attended a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.
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Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 3 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Liz Lane, Ashley Lovell and Robert Williams.
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Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 2 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Clint Bircheat, Kenneth Cox Jr., Copeland Johnson and Gene Smith.
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Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 2 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Clint Bircheat, Kenneth Cox Jr., Copeland Johnson and Gene Smith.
More than 200 people showed up for a 2025 municipal election forum for Hoover City Council candidates Tuesday night at Shades Crest Baptist Church in Bluff Park.
All 14 City Council candidates who will be on the Aug. 26 election ballot were there to answer questions submitted by the public. Topics ranged from education funding to addressing student enrollment growth, stormwater flooding, transparency in city government, campaign finances, empty commercial spaces and building an arts center for the city.
EDUCATION FUNDING
An educator who lives in the Pinewood community asked candidates what they would do to lower student-teacher ratios in Hoover schools and if they would favor expanding Hoover High, rezoning some students to Spain Park High or building a third high school.
Gene Smith, a candidate for Council Place 2, said if there is an immediate need for space at Hoover High School, school officials might need to look at adjusting high school attendance zones.
“It takes a while to design and build a third high school if that’s the direction the school system and the school board wants to go,” Smith said. “That’s not a council decision. The council might could help find funding to build that high school, but then once you get it built, the ongoing expense is the operational cost, and that goes on forever.”
As far as city funding, there are other ways the city could increase funding to the school system, Smith said. “We do need to look at the budgets tighter and closer and see what truly is available.”
Several candidates said the City Council needs to work with the school board to address that issue.
Liz Lane, a candidate for Council Place 3, said a parent-centered approach is in order. “The needs of our parents, teachers and students come first in this community,” Lane said. “Hoover is built on its schools. They are the backbone of our community, and we need to work to maintain schools that are welcoming, safe and inclusive.”
Photo by Jon Anderson
Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 3 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Liz Lane, Ashley Lovell and Robert Williams.
Ashley Lovell, another candidate for Council Place 3, said the Riverchase Career Connection Center is a wonderful opportunity to continue providing space for high school students who are interested in specific career tracks. Students from both high schools attend RC3 for a portion of their school days.
Lovell said she also thinks the City Council can address school system growth by making smart development decisions, ensuring that new houses aren’t added in areas where there is not infrastructure to accommodate them.
Robert Williams, the third candidate for Council Place 3, said there’s no quick or easy solution to addressing student enrollment growth. While new homes can be built in a year, new high schools can’t, he said. City officials need to listen to the experts — the school board, he said.
“They’re going to have to tell the council what they need, and we’re going to have to just suck it up and get them what they need — bring them the money and give them what they have to have because education is most important.”
Christian Coleman, a candidate for Council Place 4, said his wife, a high school teacher, in one year didn’t have her own classroom and had to float between different classrooms. She told him that the quality of her teaching suffered as a result of that, he said.
He would favor increasing city funding for schools and working with the school board to give teachers the tools they need to provide the best education possible.
“I don’t want to hear what you believe,” Coleman said. “Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you believe.”
Coleman noted that the city has been giving the school system much less money than it once did.
The city of Hoover for many years gave the school system 16% of sales and use tax revenues, which amounted to about $7 million in 2002 and would have amounted to $17.8 million in fiscal 2024. The city also provided building permit “front door” fees of $1,500 for each new home to the school system.
But city officials began to tinker with that model in 2002, at first keeping the building permit fees for the city and then in 2005 restoring the building permit fees but eliminating the 16 percent of sales and use taxes contribution.Instead, Mayor Tony Petelos and the City Council at the time decided to give schools a designated amount each year. For at least five years, that amount was $2 million a year, but a new City Council increased that from $2.5 million in 2016 to $5 million in 2017, and it has remained at that level since. The council also fully covers the cost of school resource officers.
Regarding a potential third high school in Hoover, Donna Mazur, another candidate for Council Place 4, said Tuesday night that when she served on the City Council 20 years ago, they had a commitment to get land for a third high school in Ross Bridge but were told a third high school would hurt the football teams by reducing the student populations.
Photo by Jon Anderson
Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 5 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Derrick Murphy and Steve Lawrence.
Steve Lawrence, a candidate for Place 5, said the school system has done a fantastic job, taking on no new debt since 2007 and reducing its overall debt by 27%. The city should provide additional funding for the school system, he said. Bluff Park Elementary is overcrowded and needs more classroom space, he said. But instead of building a new high school, attendance zones should be redrawn to put more students at Spain Park and use of RC3 should be expanded, Lawrence said.
Councilman Derrick Murphy, seeking re-election to Place 5, said that, as a former school board member, he understands the needs of the school system. However, to give more money to the school system, the city first needs to increase its overall revenues, Murphy said. Otherwise, funds would have to be cut from other essential services such as public safety, and he doesn’t want to do that, he said.
Robin Schultz, a candidate for Council Place 1, said the question about a third high school has been asked since at least 2007. The school district already has been through rezoning twice and expanded Hoover High School, he said. Decisions need to be made soon about where to put a third high school and how to fund it, he said.
ARTS CENTER
Candidates also were asked whether they supported the building of an arts center in Hoover.
Councilwoman Khristi Driver, who was appointed to Place 4 in 2022 and now is seeking re-election, said she is proud to be part of a council that set aside $17 million for an arts center in 2023 but said $17 million is not nearly enough to build the type of facility that Hoover residents want and deserve.
She also wants such a facility to accommodate a variety of art activities, not just performing arts, she said. What the city is lacking is a long-term plan on how to accomplish something that has been a goal of many for so long, and she wants to be a part of developing that strategic plan, she said.
Coleman, who has a master’s degree in poetry, said he certainly supports a performing arts center and doesn’t think the problem is a lack of money, but a lack of will. He lived in New Orleans for a while, which he described as a vibrant city with a lot of unique experiences provided by the arts.
“A city is more than just a place to put retail stores,” he said. “We could have museums. We could have sculpture gardens. We could have paintings on the street. We could have murals on the walls. We could have live music. If you want to fill Patton Creek, for example, we could fill it with art.”
Mazur said she is originally from New York and greatly misses the culture of performing arts that was in New York City, from the theater to the opera and the ballet. “We deserve to have it here.”
Murphy said if Hoover wants to be bold and brave, it needs to build an arts center. But it’s going to take a public-private partnership.
“That’s the only way that’s going to make this happen,” Murphy said. “The city cannot fund 100% of these multimillion-dollar projects and be able to take care of fire and police.”
Lawrence said before committing more money for an arts center, the city needs to get a true handle on its finances. He would like the council to ask for an audit by the state auditor first. Also, Hoover already has committed to fund 50% of the construction cost for the new Interstate 459 interchange being built near the South Shades Crest Road overpass, but it doesn’t have a final cost, Lawrence said. With construction costs rising, he wants to make sure the city can handle that expense before committing more money for an arts center, he said.
Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 2 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Clint Bircheat, Kenneth Cox Jr., Copeland Johnson and Gene Smith.
Clint Bircheat, a candidate for Place 2, said that, as a former three-sport athlete, thespian and church choir member, he thinks Hoover needs something for everyone in the city. While $17 million has been set aside for an arts center, he believes it likely will take $45 million or so. “Let’s figure it out.”
Kenneth Cox, another candidate for Place 2, said Hoover is well invested in athletics but needs to be equally invested in the arts. A lot of people have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into planning for an arts center and waited a long time for it to become a reality, he said. Some have been patient and others maybe not so patient, he said. He is results-oriented, but he also believes in obtaining wise counsel before moving forward, he said.
Copeland Johnson, another candidate for Place 2, said he initially went to college on arts scholarships and that, if the finances are good enough for an arts center, he supports the idea.
Smith said, like Murphy, an arts center needs to be a public-private partnership. He supports the idea of one that caters to all facets of art and is large enough to attract some of these tribute bands that now play in downtown Birmingham. Possibly, it should be tied to an entertainment district that gives the arts patrons close proximity to other places to go and spend their money.
TRANSPARENCY
Candidates also were asked what they would do to ensure transparency and inclusive decision making in city government.
Tanveer Patel, a candidate for Place 1, said she is advocating for the creation of an artificial intelligence-powered open government portal that would allow people to more easily get information about city government and communicate with city government about issues.
It would include live engagement for real-time questions and answers during council meetings and an independent seven-member citizen oversight committee to audit transparency and ensure institutional accountability.
Photo by Jon Anderson
Candidates for Hoover City Council Place 1 sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. From left are Robin Schultz and Tanveer Patel.
Her opponent, Schultz, said he has “walked the walk” in regard to transparency. He launched a website, Facebook page and YouTube channel called The Hoover Channel in early 2023 after the city of Hoover removed five years’ worth of videos of City Council and zoning board meetings from the city’s YouTube channel and stopped livestreaming and recording the general public comment portion of each council meeting.
He found all the removed videos and posted them on his site so everyone could have access to them for reference, and he also started livestreaming and recording City Council meetings himself. He believes the videos serve an important role to document history and to help hold city officials accountable for things they have said and done, he said.
AUDIENCE RESPONSE
Phyllis Stone, a resident of the Creekside sector of Trace Crossings, said she thought Tuesday night’s forum was great. She liked the short, quick answers (candidates had one minute to answer questions), and everyone seemed very well prepared.
Candidates have spent a lot of money on campaign signs, but this allowed her to hear from them firsthand how they felt about the issues, she said.
Wayne Allen, a Riverchase resident, said he was particularly glad to hear more about the city’s financial issues and the forensic audit that was done on city finances. “I’m just interested in where the money is going basically,” he said.
He doesn’t understand why the first priority isn’t fixing the stormwater problems that are leading to flooding of people’s homes and property, he said.
“Before anybody talks about spending money on an arts center, they need to take care of those homeowners,” Allen said.
Photo by Jon Anderson
Fourteen candidates for five Hoover City Council seats sit ready to answer questions at a Hoover City Council election forum at Shades Crest Baptist Church on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.
Tuesday night’s election forum was put on by a committee of Hoover residents from various neighborhoods, including Bluff Park, Monte D’Oro, Riverchase and Ross Bridge. The same group is putting on a forum with the two candidates for mayor — current Mayor Frank Brocato and Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis — on Thursday night at 7 p.m., again at Shades Crest Baptist Church at 452 Park Ave. in Bluff Park.
See a video of Tuesday night’s complete forum on The Hoover Channel Facebook page.
Next week, the Hoover Sun, Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce and League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham are putting on a Hoover election forum with candidates for mayor and City Council at the Hoover City Schools Performing Arts Center at Hoover High School on Thursday, Aug. 14.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:25 a.m. on Aug. 6 to indicate that the city of Hoover now covers the full cost of school resource officers.
