Photo courtesy of Robert Williams
Robert Williams is running for Hoover City Council Place 3.
When Capstone Communities and USS Real Estate came forward with a plan to add almost 300 apartments in The Preserve two years ago, Robert Williams and his wife, Sherri, were among a horde of residents who were staunchly opposed to the idea.
The opposition stalled the proposal before it could be heard by the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission, and it never came up for a vote. But Williams and quite a few others kept coming to zoning board and City Council meetings to keep a close eye on their city government.
Williams has been at nearly every one since then, and now he’s one of three candidates running for the Hoover City Council Place 3 seat being vacated by John Lyda. Liz Lane and Ashley Lovell are the other two.
Williams said the ordeal with the developers in The Preserve helped him realize just how important city government is.
“If I have something to offer the city, I want to give it,” he said. “If the people of the city of Hoover say ‘We don’t want you,’ then OK.”
But he believes his almost 40 years of experience as an attorney and eight years in the real estate industry could be beneficial for the City Council. Almost everything that comes before the council is related to real estate or law in one way or another, he said.
Williams said he believes the most important issue facing the city right now is maintaining a balance between growth of the city and the infrastructure and services needed to support residents.
“It’s what I call smart growth. We have to grow because if you’re not growing, you’re dying,” he said. “From the real estate side, we like that they’re building new houses, but from the city standpoint, I’m concerned that we are putting up too many houses for what the schools and the traffic can handle.”
That’s particularly true on the western side of town, down Stadium Trace Parkway, he said.
“We need to be cautious about how we’re building and how we’re growing, but then we also have to realize that a lot of the infrastructure of the city of Hoover, particularly the sewer system and some of the other public service systems, are getting some age on them, and we’re going to have to upgrade them and allow for all the additional businesses and homes that we have. Growth is great, but we’ve just got to make sure that we can support the people we’re bringing into this city.”
Stormwater is certainly a concern for a lot of people who are complaining about their homes or yards being flooded repeatedly, Williams said. Some city officials have replied that the city can’t address problems on private property unless it has a “public purpose,” but “if the city did something to cause the water to be on your land or allowed somebody else to have water on your land, then we ought to try to fix that,” Williams said.
“I believe the city bears the brunt of responsibility for stormwater control to the extent that it can execute that control,” he said. “We cannot anticipate unusual and sudden rainfall. I would support stronger measures when construction plans are approved to be as certain as possible that stormwater is honestly and fairly considered.”
Regarding education funding, Williams said the city needs to fully support its schools in any way possible. “The argument can be made that the two school systems in Jefferson County that often outrank Hoover have slightly higher millage rates,” he said. “If it is determined by the educational experts that a tax increase would significantly improve our educational system without wasteful spending, it should be strongly considered.”
Williams said that, for the most part, he thinks City Council members are doing the best job they can and he doesn’t have anything in particular to criticize them about, but city officials should always be looking for ways to do things better.
In this election, there definitely will be at least three new City Council members since Lyda, Curt Posey and Sam Swiney are not running for re-election, and there could be as many as five new members. Williams, who is 73, said he thinks his life experience would be pretty important to try to keep everything in line.
Williams started his professional life as an assistant professor of psychology at LaGrange College and then went to law school and spent nearly 40 years as an attorney defending doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases. When he retired from his law practice, he started helping his wife in her real estate business and has been doing real estate for eight years now, currently with RealtySouth.
For more information about Williams, go to williamsforhoover.com or Robert Williams for Hoover City Council on Facebook.
Learn more about the other two candidates for Hoover City Council Place 3 — Lane and Lovell.
