Letter to the Editor: Starr family endorses Mayor Ivey

Editor's note: This is a reader-submitted Letter to the Editor. To submit your own Letter to the Editor, send an email including your name and city of residence to janderson@starnespublishing.com.

In the game of life, as in the game of football, all of us want to associate with winners and our great city and its mayor, Gary Ivey, are proven winners. When my husband, Bart, and I decided to move to the Birmingham area in 1990, we chose Hoover in which to build our permanent home.

We have always been particularly impressed with the City of Hoover, and the quality of life it affords. Since 2011, Mayor Ivey has continued and enhanced the remarkable standards we appreciate.

Under his dynamic leadership, our city's finances have the highest bond rating (AAA) awarded by Wall Street. Hoover has been recognized as the #1 city to live in Alabama (top 30 nationally). Our unemployment rate is very low, our streets are among the safest in our state and our fire department has an ISO rating of 2 (Less than 1 percent of the fire departments in America achieve this excellent rating and it results in lower insurance rates for us).

Hoover schools are consistently ranked among the best in the state, by every measure. And our education system has $90 million in savings, while the minimum required for them to maintain is only $13 million. The $68 million in our general fund reserve is the largest of any school system in Alabama.

Gary Ivey is a truly committed public servant who has given his time and exceptional talent to lead our city in a positive, prosperous direction. My husband and I are proud of our Mayor’s performance and vision for the future.

I encourage you to join Bart and me, and our friends in re-electing Mayor Gary Ivey on Aug. 23.

Thank you and best wishes,

Cherry and Bart Starr