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Swiney, Schultz to battle for Council Place 2 in runoff

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Photo by Erin Nelson.

Photo by Erin Nelson.

Photo by Erin Nelson.

Hoover voters will head back to the polls Oct. 6 to decide the winner of the only runoff for city elections this year.

The race is to fill the City Council Place 2 seat being given up by Council President Gene Smith, who lost his bid for mayor against the incumbent, Frank Brocato.

The two contenders for Place 2 are fellow Bluff Park residents Sam Swiney and Robin Schultz, who were the top two vote-getters among five candidates seeking Place 2 in the Aug. 25 election.

Swiney had the most votes the first time around, capturing 3,352 votes (or 27% of the total 12,381 votes cast in that race), compared to 3,119 votes (or 25%) for Schultz.

Ron Brown came in third with 2,376 votes (19%), followed by Dina Shunnarah with 1,773 votes (14%) and Mitzi Eaker with 1,761 votes (14%).

Swiney was the top-vote getter in six of the 13 polling sites and came in second in three more, while Schultz got the most votes at three polling places and came in second at nine others.

Shunnarah has thrown her support behind Swiney in the runoff, but as of early September, neither Brown nor Eaker had endorsed anyone.

Swiney said he was honored to be endorsed by Shunnarah. “I think she was a good candidate, and she’s a well-respected leader in Hoover,” he said.

He said he has nothing but respect for all four of the candidates who were in the first election for Place 2, including Schultz.

“I like Robin. I’ve known Robin for years,” Swiney said. “We both love Hoover. I think both of us have done good things for the city of Hoover.”

Schultz said he likes Swiney, too, and thinks he’s a good guy.

When it comes to city issues, Schultz and Swiney have had no glaring differences in their platforms.

When asked to name what their most important priorities would be as a councilman, both men talked about the need to continue strong support for public safety and Hoover schools, to invest in neighborhood needs, and to find new sources of revenue for the city.

Both said they were against the idea of defunding the Hoover Police Department and supported the way police have handled protesters. Both agreed they see a need to find ways to meet needs in eastern Hoover, where residents say they often feel isolated and distant from city services.

Both also stressed the importance of the Riverchase Galleria and finding a way to regain the confidence of shoppers, some of whom have become leery of the mall due to a few shootings in recent years. Both said they support the idea of tax incentives to either lure key tenants or stimulate redevelopment on the private property.

When asked if they would favor annexing an 833-acre development next to Deer Valley and Ross Bridge that has 2,800 homes proposed with it, both men said they would need to see a plan that would allow Hoover schools to serve students who lived there. Without a plan that school officials favored, annexation would not be advisable, they said. As of press time, the developer was not seeking annexation into Hoover.

Both Swiney and Schultz have been heavily involved in the Bluff Park community.

In 2006, Schultz founded bluffparkal.org to share information about and for the community. He helped lead a successful push for a police substation and better police presence in Bluff Park and helped organize neighborhood watches with Hoover police.

He was a youth baseball umpire at Hoover Sports Park West for 11 years and taught a college and career Sunday school class at Shades Crest Baptist Church.

Swiney co-founded the Bluff Park Christmas Parade and periodic Trucks on the Bluff food truck events in Bluff Park. He has also coached youth baseball, basketball and football, attends Shades Mountain Baptist Church where he has volunteered as a worship care leader and he currently is president of the Shades Mountain Park board.

Both Swiney and Schultz have been site leaders in the Hoover City Dad Brigade.

Schultz said he views Swiney as the “social director” for Bluff Park and considers himself to have been more involved in more complex issues that involve city government and the school system.

Schultz was a leader in the effort to get Hoover school buses restored after the school board voted in 2013 to eliminate them, and he unsuccessfully sought a seat on the school board in 2012, 2016 and 2017. He also served on the Hoover City Schools Foundation board from late 2016 until August 2019. He also discovered that Santek, the city’s waste disposal provider, was not taking all recyclables to the recycling center as is required in their contract.

“I’ve done what I needed to do in Bluff Park. I’ve done it successfully for the last two decades,” Schultz said. “Now it’s time to use that methodology and get it done for the rest of Hoover.”

But Swiney has had school system involvement as well. From 2017–2019, he served on an advocacy committee whose job was to reach out to members of the Legislature on behalf of issues that affect Hoover City Schools.

Swiney said he’s very open-minded about issues and knows how to put together a good team to make good decisions.

Losing to Smith by just 24 votes four years ago out of about 12,000 votes cast gave him all the confidence in the world to want to continue to serve the city, he said.

Both candidates said they want to represent not just Bluff Park, but every area of the city equally.

For box-by-box election results from the Aug. 25 election and more information about the Oct. 6 runoff, including information about polling places, registering to vote and absentee voting, go to hooveral.org/183/elections.

AUG. 25 RESULTS

*Oct. 6 runoff: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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