The Hoover Chamber of Commerce hosted Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos and a packed house at the Hoover Country Club on Thursday for Hoover’s inaugural “State of the City” address. During his address, Mayor Petelos voiced his strong support for a county manager position for Jefferson County. Petelos mentioned Shelby County’s near-brush with bankruptcy and how the county has prospered since the creation of a county manager position, currently held by Alex Dudchock.
Petelos noted that Wall Street banks made the same pitch to Hoover to get them to switch from stable fixed rate bonds to variable auction rate bonds – the same bonds that Jefferson County officials ultimately chose. However, Hoover rejected these sales pitches because of the advice it received from its Finance Department. Almost certainly a qualified, professional county manager in Jefferson County, providing objective advice on the risks of such bond transactions, would have reached the same conclusion Hoover did. That’s one of the many reasons the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce has made the creation of a Jefferson County manager its top state legislative priority for 2009.
Representative Paul DeMarco, along with a bi-partisan coalition of Jefferson County legislators, is expected to introduce a strong county manager bill in the Alabama House during the 2009 regular session. Senator Jabo Waggoner will introduce the companion bill in the Senate. In the meantime, check here for future action involving county manager legislation. And please contact your state representatives and state senators to voice your support for a county manager form of government for Jefferson County. You can find information on your representatives and senators by visiting www.legislature.state.al.us.
1 Comment
December 23, 2008 at 4:05 PM
[...] The Caputo Report noted last week, the City of Hoover, with the help and advice of a professional city finance director, avoided the [...]