Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s decisive victory on Tuesday sets up a third and likely final term that could pit his fiscal conservative approach of governing against the pressure of a “legacy defining” project or moment.
Stimpson, following his victory, laid out to the media some of his goals for the next four years.
They include:
* A complete swap of the commercial airport from Mobile Regional in west Mobile to a site at the Brookley Aeroplex, south of downtown.
* Creation of a giant park at Brookley that sits on Mobile Bay.
* Annexation that would boost Mobile’s declining population.
* Creation of more opportunities for more affordable housing within the inner city including downtown Mobile.
Other high-profile projects dangling for the mayor’s attention: future of the Mobile Civic Center, waterfront development, synchronization of Airport Boulevard’s traffic signals, Africatown and its potential lure as a tourism attraction, and a new Interstate 10 bridge over the Mobile River.
“I truly believe we are on the cusp of doing some neat things in the city of Mobile,” Stimpson said.
But at the same time, the city’s stable financial picture following the COVID-19 pandemic, is worth celebrating. And getting out of debt, to some, appears to be an admirable cause.
Finance Director Bob Holt, during Wednesday’s council meeting, said the city has around $174 million remaining in outstanding debt, which could be paid off by 2029 or 2030.
“I think being debt free would be an awesome thing,” said Councilman John Williams. “We’d have to be among a simple handful (of cities) having this strong of a position. It’s something to be proud of on the council and with all of the administration.”
As tempting as maintaining a fiscal safety net might sound, it lacks the pizazz of embracing a project that a public official can be defined as a “legacy.”
Jonathan Gray, a campaign strategist based in Mobile, said he believes Stimpson has slightly less than 1,100 days to do something “he will be remembered for,” or which will define his legacy.
“There are some things on the horizon,” said Gray. “Will he be known for moving the Mobile airport? Possibly. You look back at Arthur Outlaw, and he’s known for the Convention Center. Mike Dow is the ‘String of Pearls’ mayor and arguably the Convention Center as well. What is important to me is what happens in the next four years.”
Stimpson will begin his third term with a strong voter mandate in that he finished with 63% of the votes on Tuesday, giving him the highest percentage won by someone in a mayor’s race since former Mayor Mike Dow was elected to a third term in office in 1997.
“The election is over, and it’s a nothingburger. The topic now on all minds is what will Sandy do?” Gray said.
Gray said for Stimpson, he really has three years remaining to finalize his 12 years as mayor. Stimpson, on Tuesday, said his third term – which begins on November 1 – will likely be his last one as mayor.
“The last year of being mayor is more about the next election,” Gray said. “He has three years. And there will be treacherous things – will Mobile continue to lose population to Baldwin County? Will the momentum remain in Baldwin County? You have more money invested in Baldwin than in Mobile on roads. But on the other hand, you look at the investment to the airport and on the Port of Mobile … how do you measure things and how does Sandy want to be remembered for that? I think Sandy will make some great decisions, but there is no doubt that there will be challenging decisions.”
Gray added, “the pressure is much higher than before.”
Fiscal conservatism
Part of that pressure is whether Stimpson sheds some of his fiscal conservatism during the next couple of years. When the mayor first took office, his goal was to streamline the city’s budget, make it more transparent and cut back on the tax money that was going to “performance contracts” that included non-profit organizations. His goal also included boosting investments into capital expenditures.
Stimpson, during his first term in office, vetoed the City Council’s approval of a 1 percentage point increase in the city’s sales tax that dedicated millions of dollars in revenues that has bolstered Mobile’s “Community Investment Plan,” or CIP for short. The council overrode that veto, and a capital plan has been in place ever since.
But the city continues to have looming deferred maintenance issues on roads and drainage within the aging neighborhoods. It’s not uncommon for some streets to flood following heavy downpours that often happen in Mobile.
The city has plenty of reserves built up. The cumulative surplus is $135 million, as of the end of July. The city’s target is to have $47 million as the targeted minimum to serve as a two-month reserve to cover unexpected costs or to assist during a difficult revenue year.
Gray said that as the city builds up a rainy-day fund, it’s worth noting that Stimpson’s potential political successor will be tempted to use the money for their own projects if it remains unspent during the next four years.
“I don’t care how many promises will get made,” Gray said. “If you leave someone with a slush or a rainy-day fund, it always gets spent. For Sandy, he has a challenge. He believes in fiscal conservative policy. He genuinely believes in his heart that is the right thing for the Mobile because the finances are solid. But he has to know, that the next person up will make those decisions (after he is out of office).”
Gray added, “It may be against his philosophy to do this, but there are a lot of places to spend that money and a lot of needs.”
Councilman Joel Daves said he estimates the city is spending $25 million a year on debt service that, if paid off, could be money be funneled back into the city coffers to finance infrastructure and other city needs. Stimpson, himself, said that continued work on basic city services – parks, road and sidewalk improvements, drainage – remain atop of the to do list for the next four years.
“When you are a public official … there is always a great demand to spend more,” said Daves, chairman of the council’s finance committee.
Council President Levon Manzie, who is seeking re-election during an October 5 runoff, has a different viewpoint. He said he believes a legacy project “certainly would be in order” for Stimpson.
“Good financial times, which we are in as a city, it’s incumbent for us to look at those big things we need to move the city’s trajectory forward,” Manzie said. “Things like the airport, the Civic Center and those once-in-a-quarter-lifetime projects. I’m in favor of that and am looking forward to interfacing with the administration on what those projects might look like so we can move this city and region forward.”
Councilwoman Bess Rich, who is leaving office on November 1, said that if the future council and Stimpson want to pursue a large public project, they need to get the public involved.
“The thing we usually fail is allowing the general public to have a firm seat at the table prior to implementation,” she said. As an example, Rich pointed to the GulfQuest Maritime Museum on the city’s waterfront, a massive structure that has been underutilized since its opening in 2015.
“GulfQuest is a prime example of moving forward without public input or a vote by referendum,” she added. “Until we make decisions bottom up instead of top down Mobile’s real potential will remain untapped.”
Council relationships
Stimpson will also have to work on new relationships with new faces on the City Council. During the past four years, those relationships had been soured at times. The council and the mayor’s office were involved in a lawsuit against each other that boiled down to differences of opinion the two sides had over their interpretation of the 1985 state law that created Mobile’s current council-mayor form of government, called the Zoghby Act.
The legal issues were settled in 2019.
At least three new members will be joining the seven-person council on November 1, a shift from four years ago when all the incumbents won re-election.
“Recognizing there will be three new members, we’ve discussed how we can educate them on what we are trying to do … to have a playbook for them,” Stimpson said. “They will get that internal coaching from the council, and we’ll give it to them from the perspective of the mayor and then see how we can continue to collaborate.”
Quin Hillyer, a Mobile-based senior commentary writer and editor for the Washington Examiner, sings high praises for Stimpson, calling him “one of the most effective mayors I have ever seen, anywhere.”
But Hillyer noted that there are “plenty of things he has begun” that need completion. A relationship with the new council will be key, he said.
“If he can get this newly reconstructed City Council to work with him, he could leave a legacy of a city monumentally transformed for the better,” Hillyer said.
If Stimpson can tackle some of the main projects he’s talking about, the mayor might deserve his own honor by the time 2025 rolls around.
“Particularly important will be what happens with the airport, the bayfront park, the Civic Center, the bridge – and the tax system,” he said. “If – a big ‘if’ – he nails down all five of those in the ‘success’ column, he may deserve a monument in his own honor as well.”
This story was updated at 5:25 p.m. on Friday, August 27, 2021, to include updated reserves data from the city of Mobile.
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