Bluff Park's Deer seeks transparency in bid for Hoover Council Place 6

James “J.D.” Deer Jr. said he’s a big fan of transparency in government, and that’s one reason he decided to run for the Hoover City Council this year.

He’s taking on Councilman Casey Middlebrooks in Hoover City Council Place 6 in the Aug. 25 city election.

Deer, who is originally from Baldwin County, analyzes data for a living and wants to make sure that information about city government is available to people and easy to access. He found it difficult to find and understand information about how to run for office, he said. “This stuff is all written by lawyers.”

Deer also is interested in reducing the city’s debt. “You should really run this like you run your family finances,” he said.

He said he found it interesting that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, city officials quickly were able to identify $15 million worth of expenses that could be cut out of the city’s budget.

To him, that was an indication that some of those expenses might not have been necessary in the first place. If that’s the case, it probably would have been better to use that money to pay off some of the city’s debt, he said. “We have to make sure we’re financially sound.”

Deer said another priority of his would be to continue focusing on technology issues. The city is doing a good job with that, but that work must move forward, he said.

MORE INNOVATION, LESS GOVERNMENT

He’d like the city to start an innovation contest, partnering with schools and other people to get ideas for ways to improve the community and solve problems. He believes strongly in looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives, he said.

The city could solicit donations from the private sector to help pay for such a contest, and he would be willing to donate the money he would receive for being a councilman for such an endeavor, he said.

Deer said, as a councilman, he also would work to support local businesses by looking to remove government rules and regulations that are too restrictive.

He also believes the city needs more options for internet service providers and thinks the city could work with private companies to develop a lower-cost citywide Wi-Fi system.

He agrees with the idea of removing sales, use and lease tax increases and a $2 nightly room fee for lodging facilities that were approved by the City Council two years ago.

“Businesses don’t pay taxes. All of that is passed on to the consumer,” he said. “That affects lower-income people more.”

As for the idea of “defunding police,” Deer said he’s not among those who want to get rid of the police, but he is in favor of “demilitarizing the police.”

He served in Iraq, and he doesn’t think the police need the same kind of armored vehicles in which he rolled into Iraq, nor the military uniforms or assault rifles in the back of every vehicle, he said.

Police today are asked to do too many jobs, and maybe they shouldn’t have all that on their plate, he said. “I don’t know how you do it, but it’s definitely a conversation to have.”

BACKGROUND

Deer, 38, grew up in Baldwin County, where he served as a lifeguard and on a junior fire department. He graduated from Daphne High School in 2000 and served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He moved back home, met his wife, and moved to Hoover in 2006.

He rejoined the Marines and worked in the anti-terrorism battalion in Bessemer for a few years and then took a civilian job working for an Air Force network operations squadron in Montgomery for about 3.5 years.

He then worked for Southern Company and ZarekIO in information technology and data analysis jobs before taking a job as a data scientist with the Parsons Inc. engineering firm in April.

Deer and his wife, Amy, have lived in Hoover since 2006, except for two years in Calera while he was working in Montgomery. They now live in Bluff Park and have two girls, ages 5 and 8, who are at Bluff Park Elementary.

Deer helped start the Students for Concealed Carry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham when he was taking classes there and later taught information technology workforce development classes for the I Am Bham group.

For more information about his campaign, go to jamesdeerjr.com or James Deer Jr. for Hoover City Council on Facebook.

See the complete list of candidates for Hoover mayor and Hoover City Council.