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Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis claims victory in his bid to unseat Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato during an election night party at the Hoover Randle Home and Gardens on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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People gather for Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis' election night party for his mayoral campaign at the Hoover Randle Home and Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis speaks to the crowd at his mayoral election night party at the Hoover Randle Home and Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, with his wife, Stephanie, by his side.
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People gather for Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis' election night party for his mayoral campaign at the Hoover Randle Home and Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis thanks his wife, Stephanie, for her support and contributions to his mayoral campaign during an election night party at the Hoover Randle Home and Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis introduces his mayoral campaign team at an election night party at the Hoover Randle Home and Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis introduces his mayoral campaign team at an election night party at the Hoover Randle Home and Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis on Tuesday was victorious in his bid to unseat Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato.
With votes from 17 of 18 precincts counted, Derzis captured 7,254 votes (or 56%) compared to 5,713 votes (or 44%) for Brocato in the 2025 municipal election, according to unofficial results posted on the city’s website.
“What a night! The people of Hoover have spoken. We wanted change, baby, and we got it!,” Derzis told a packed crowd gathered for his election night party at the Hoover Randle Home and Gardens in Bluff Park.
“We’re bringing some energy back to the city,” Derzis said. “Tonight is not my victory. It’s a victory for all of us. When we began the journey six months ago at Patton Creek, what did I say? ‘The city looks tired.’ The people of Hoover spoke tonight. We’re waking this place up. … We’re going to make Hoover, Hoover again.”
In an interview with the Hoover Sun later in the evening, Derzis said there were numerous issues raised in his campaign that he believes resonated with voters.
“When I said the city looks tired, I think most people think that it does,” he said.
Throughout his campaign, Derzis hammered on the empty storefronts in places like the Patton Creek and Riverchase Galleria shopping centers, saying he believes the city needs to work more aggressively to fill those empty spaces and help redevelop those shopping centers.
Transparency in government was another big issue, he said. He’s tired of seeing residents come to City Council meetings and be made to look like a bad person because they’re asking questions about city government, he said.
Just Monday night, Council President John Lyda banged the gavel, asked a police officer to remove a resident and shut the council meeting down when the resident took longer than three minutes to read a statement he had prepared during the public comment section of the meeting.
“That’s not government for the people by the people,” Derzis said.
He plans to be very transparent and have more town halls to give people more opportunities to voice their concerns, he said.
And the issue that first really upset Derzis was the city’s failure to address residents’ problems with stormwater flooding, he said. In some cases, it may have been the city’s actions or the actions of someone else that contributed to the problem or caused it, he has said.
Derzis said he knew from the beginning it would be tough to beat Brocato, who has been in office for nine years, but he had a great team working with him to get the job done, he said.
Graphic by Melanie Viering
He also looks forward to working with a new City Council. There will be at least three new council members in November with the decisions by Lyda, Curt Posey and Sam Swiney not to run for re-election.
Derzis said it was very telling that four current City Council members endorsed him over Brocato. He has a talent for building relationships to get things done, he said. “We’re going to come together as one council, one mayor, one city focused on three things — strength, purpose, unity.” he said. “I’m ready to begin work tomorrow.
“Working with the council is a situation where you don’t have to agree all the time, but you can agree to disagree and try to find that common ground instead of constant bickering and that sort of thing,” he said. “I want to work with the council just like I’ve worked with other police departments and other leaders in the city to make things happen. I consider myself a doer, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to make things happen.”
Derzis also thanked the dedicated employees of the city of Hoover, especially those of the Hoover Police Department.
“I’m a leader, and I lead the men and women that are out there working their tails off to keep this community safe,” he said. “I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve got at least close to the lowest crime rate of cities of 100,000 people in the Southeast. … I want to bring that leadership skill of getting talented people to work together to make things happen (to the rest of the city). … We’re going to have success we have not seen in nine years.”
Derzis said in the next few days he’ll be announcing a transition team. “By the time we take office Nov. 3, that transition team’s going to be ready to hit the ground running and make things happen,” he said. “We’re not waiting.”
One of the first things he’s going to do is ask for a full forensic audit, he said. “I’m not going to take over a city this size with the type of budget that we’ve got until we can account for all the money and know exactly where it is.”
As for the people who didn’t vote for him, Derzis said he appreciates the fact they voted, even though they didn’t choose him.
“In four years, I hope they’ll see that I’ve made some good changes and positive results, and in four years they can say it worked out pretty well,” he said.
BROCATO CONCEDES
Brocato said that, certainly, he was disappointed in the election results.
“But I walk away proud with 53 years serving this city,” he said. “They gave me an opportunity in February of 1973 when I walked through the doors of the Hoover Volunteer Fire Department, and 42 years later, I became the mayor of this city and got to serve nine more years in that capacity. What an incredible honor it was and is. That can be never erased, and I’m grateful for it.”
Brocato said he wishes Derzis the best and certainly will work with him in the transition to a new administration and make sure Hoover continues to move forward in a great way.
Photo by Jon Anderson
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato waves to people outside the polling place at Hoover Fire Station No. 7 in Inverness on municipal election day — Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
When asked what he thought led to the election results, Brocato said there was probably $1 million spent in the mayor’s race. “That’s a lot to overcome,” he said. “There was a lot of negative material that went out, but I’m not going to focus on that. I don’t know what the reason is. We’re the No. 1 city in the state of Alabama. We’ve got a great economy going. Our schools are wonderful. Our crime rate is low. We just have so many wonderful things going on in the city.”
“The people wanted a change, and I’m OK with that,” Brocato said. “I’m proud of the way I’m leaving the city. They’re in great financial shape. Some incredible projects sitting there on the drawing board that are waiting to just get pushed across the line — with the I-459 interchange being one.”
The Riverwalk Village outpatient surgery and diagnostics center in Riverchase is going to be a phenomenal, life-changing development for the city, and Riverchase as a whole will be a health care leader with research and development, he said.
“I’ve been out there for nine years working hard and trying to diversify our economy from a retail economy,” he said.
There were a lot of empty office buildings along the U.S. 280 corridor, and now those areas are thriving, have new development coming in and are about to be redesignated as a Tech 280 corridor, Brocato said. Additionally, the City Council on Monday night awarded a $21 million contract for the construction of a major expansion of the National Computer Forensics Institute at the Hoover Public Safety Center, he said.
“We’re leaving it in good shape,” Brocato said. “I am perfectly fine. I never thought in February of 1973 as a 20-year-old kid walking in that door that one day I would be the mayor of this city. It has been the greatest honor of my life. I didn’t think there was a greater job than being on the Fire Department and being able to serve folks like that, but being the mayor was absolutely incredible. … Thank you, Hoover.”
VOTER COMMENTS
Jerry Nesmith of Riverchase said he voted for Derzis because he just thought it was time for new leadership. “After a while, I think we get all complacent, and I don’t think the transparency has been there quite as much, so I just think we need some new transparency,” Nesmith said.
His wife, Pat Nesmith, said that under Brocato’s leadership, the city has been allowing too many new homes to be built too quickly and not doing enough about stormwater flooding.
Plus, Brocato seemed to let the City Council do whatever it wanted, she said. “I just think the current mayor is not a strong leader,” she said. “I think we need some strength.”
Conrad Howell of the Caldwell Crossings community said he voted for Brocato even though he had heard some negative things about him recently.
“He’s done a pretty good job … Hoover’s done well under his two terms,” Howell said. “I hear a lot of scuttlebutt, but you always hear a lot of scuttlebutt with politicians.”
He felt some things with the Riverwalk Village development weren’t handled properly and that Brocato sometimes plays politics, “but at least he’s a known entity. I think he puts a good face on Hoover.”
Barbara Edwards of the Southlake community said she voted for Brocato because she knows him. Even though there have been some questionable issues come up, “I still feel like he’s done a good job for the city,” she said. “I think the city has grown a lot under his leadership.”
Trudi Bartow of Riverchase said she went back and forth on her support for Brocato and Derzis but in the end went with Derzis. One of the key factors was Derzis’ aggressive stance on empty spaces in shopping centers like Patton Creek and the Riverchase Galleria, she said.
“Other cities have all this retail that we don’t,” she said. ““It’s kind of just fallen by the wayside, it seems.”
Alesia Sims of Riverchase said Brocato has done an OK job as mayor, but “after a while, you just get some new blood.” She loves former Mayor Tony Petelos and was impressed that Petelos endorsed Derzis, she said.
CITY COUNCIL RACES
In the five contested City Council races on the ballot Tuesday, candidates coming away with wins were Robin Schultz in Council Place 1, incumbent Khristi Driver in Council Place 4 and incumbent Derrick Murphy in Council Place 5.
Kenneth Cox Jr. and Gene Smith appear headed for a Sept. 23 runoff in Council Place 2, and Ashley Lovell appeared to narrowly miss an outright win in Council Place 3 and be forced into a runoff with Liz Lane. However, vote totals from St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church were not showing on the city's website as of 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, so that determination was unclear.
Here are the unofficial results for all the Hoover races with 17 of 18 precincts reporting:
Photo by Jon Anderson
Ashley Lovell, left, a candidate for Hoover City Council Place 3, campaigns at the polling site at Inverness Fire Station No. 7 in Hoover, Alabama, on municipal election day — Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
Mayor:
- Frank Brocato — 7,322 votes (44%)
- Nick Derzis — 9,172 votes (56%)
Council Place 1:
- Tanveer Patel — 5451 votes (35%)
- Robin Schultz — 10,304 votes (65%)
Council Place 2:
- Clint Bircheat — 3,778 votes (25%)
- Kenneth Cox Jr. — 5,144 votes (33%)
- Copeland Johnson — 1,862 votes (12%)
- Gene Smith — 4,602 votes (30%)
Council Place 3:
- Liz Lane — 4,399 votes (28%)
- Ashley Lovell — 7,747 votes (50%)
- Robert Williams — 3,347 votes (22%)
Council Place 4:
- Christian Coleman — 3,791 votes (25%)
- Khristi Driver — 9,214 votes (61%)
- Donna Mazur — 2,018 votes (13%)
Council Place 5:
- Steve Lawrence — 5,905 votes (38%)
- Derrick Murphy — 9,504 votes (62%)
These numbers will be updated as returns are made available.
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Campaign signs welcome voters to Hoover Fire Station No. 7 in Inverness for the 2025 municipal election on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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Campaign signs line U.S. 31 near the entrance to the polling place at Riverchase Church of Christ on municipal election day — Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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Campaign signs line U.S. 31 near the entrance to the polling place at Riverchase Church of Christ on municipal election day — Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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Campaign signs line U.S. 31 near the entrance to the polling place at Riverchase Church of Christ on municipal election day — Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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Campaign signs line U.S. 31 near the entrance to the polling place at Riverchase Church of Christ on municipal election day — Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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Campaign signs line the entrance to Riverchase Church of Christ, which is being used as a polling place on municipal election day — Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
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A sign welcomes voters to Riverchase Church of Christ, which was one of 17 polling places for the 2025 municipal election on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
