Name: Clint Bircheat
Position sought: Hoover City Council Place 2
Age: 36
Residence: Southpointe; lived in Hoover eight years
Political experience: First run for public office; Shelby County GOP Executive Committee
Professional experience: Fifteen years in cybersecurity; currently head of information security for Naphcare health care company
Civic experience: Formerly Southpointe Homeowners Association president for several years; active in ministries at Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover City Dad Brigade and other Hoover City Schools activities
Education: Bachelor’s degree in information systems, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2012
Website/social media: Clint Bircheat for City Council Place 2 — Hoover, Alabama on Facebook
Q: Why are you running for this office, and what qualifies you to serve your community?
When I see the disconnect between the council, the mayor and his staff, I realize achieving success is deeply hampered by a lack of unity and mutual respect. My common sense approach and level demeanor with years of professional experience are valuable. The council is a governing board with trusted assignments: create laws and policy, maintain fiscally conservative balanced budgets, foster economic growth promoting attractive spaces and logistical synergy, keep our public safety a top priority, and appoint qualified citizens to various boards.
Q: What do you believe is the most important issue facing Hoover today, and why?
Mounting debt with a lack of strategic vision and subsequent planning. It becomes challenging when the city continues to spend without real economic growth. Rising costs and debt servicing have hamstrung our ability to be able to bear economic downturns, incentivize new business deals, invest more into our schools’ and public safety, and attractions like parks and municipal buildings. About 10 cents of every dollar is going to debt; it used to be 2 or 3.
Q: What is one specific initiative or policy you would champion if elected, and why is it a priority?
Working in the technology and health care sector, I see exciting start-ups or mid-sized businesses looking for places to plant roots. Hoover is a great place for these businesses, and the people that work in them will want to live in communities like ours. I want to attract new businesses and bring in new folks to a lot of these homes so they can shop at our stores, eat at our restaurants and reinvest in our community.
Q: Do you believe the city is adding homes too quickly, too slowly or at the right pace, and what would you want to do, if anything, to affect that pace?
Our roads and schools are at or over capacity in some cases. We need to continue to build homes at a competitive pace to spur on our local economy. However, we must do this in light of capacity of our infrastructure, schools, engineering capabilities, market demands locally and macroeconomic factors. We also need to continue to reinvest in the aging parts of our city and encourage investment in existing homes that carry rich history.
Q: What responsibility does the city have regarding stormwater control, and would you do anything differently than has been done thus far?
Each case is unique and requires a different amount of involvement by the city. In some cases, there are areas where the city could be in a public-private partnership or be some aid in the process. The city should take a forward, out-front approach to helping people solve the problems they’re having rather than just wiping their hands of it and ignoring or belittling valid concerns.
Q: What is your vision for the city in five years?
I want to build a place that my kids can grow up and be excited to call home, and they’ll come back or stay. We are living on the fruit of hard work from people of the last few decades. I hope to at least bring in something that carries on the great story and reinvents us for the next 50 years. This requires keeping top performing schools, safe streets and flourishing commercial developments.
Q: How would you ensure transparency and trust in government?
Start with financial transparency so that everyone can see where every tax dollar is stewarded in plain reporting. Next, the council should have informal meetings that allow people time to express their full view in a respectful manner and be provided a timely answer. Lastly, we need to expand the meeting minutes details and digital record retention of council meetings so that years from now, the thoughts and views can be recalled by future decision makers.
Q: Does Hoover need a property tax increase for its school system, and why do you feel that way?
No new taxes, but that isn’t the sole decision of the council. Hoover’s millage tax, compared to other communities, is appropriate. There seems to be enough money to meet the majority of needs in our schools. I don’t believe there’s a need for a new millage tax to support our schools. Rather, the city should continue to save in a manner that allows increased revenue from sales taxes to be sent to our school system and its growing needs.
Bircheat is facing Copeland Johnson, Gene Smith, and Kenneth Cox Jr. for the Place 2 council seat, and elections are Aug. 26. To see Johnson's views on key issues, click here. To see Smith's views on key issues, click here. To see Cox Jr.'s views on key issues, click here.
