Photo courtesy of Khristi Driver
Hoover Councilwoman Khristi Driver
Khristi Driver was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Hoover City Council 2½ years ago when Mike Shaw was elected to the state Legislature, and now she’s ready to go through the election process for the first time.
Driver this past week announced she’s putting her name on the ballot for the Council Place 4 seat she currently holds. “It’s something I feel called to do,” she said.
She believes she adds value to the council, she said. Her experience as a lawyer gives her some perspective that others don’t have, and she believes she works well with others behind the scenes to try to gain consensus on issues and ensure the council is thinking things through, she said.
“The only reason I wouldn’t run is fear of failure, and I decided not to live in a spirit of fear and let fear hold me back,” Driver said. “If the people want me to continue to serve, then that will happen. If not, I’ll understand that message and move on and do something else.”
Driver said the No. 1 job of local government is providing for public safety and supporting schools because those are the top two reasons people move to Hoover. Her other priorities have been to strategically invest in infrastructure, stimulate economic growth and redevelopment, enhance parks and entertainment, and foster collaboration, she said.
One of the actions of which she is most proud is the council’s commitment to fund just over half of the planned new Interstate 459 interchange just south of South Shades Crest Road. That project is expected to cost about $120 million, and Hoover has agreed to pay $61 million of that, including all the costs for land acquisition, utility relocation and engineering and 44% of the construction cost.
“Yes, it’s a lot of money, but it’s also important for the future of Hoover — for the the citizens who live in that area particularly, but also for all the visitors coming to the Hoover Met to be able to get in and out better for events and on a day-to-day basis,” Driver said.
She’s also proud of the council’s decision to preserve the full $17 million that had been dedicated for an arts center, but she said $17 won’t be enough to fund an arts center of the quality and caliber she believes the community should have.
Thus far, city leaders have been waiting for developers to bring a plan for an arts center, but what they need to do is figure out what they want in an arts center and let developers present competing proposals, she said. “It’s critical that we come up with a strategic plan for how we’re going to get from point A to point B,” she said.
And she doesn’t want a center just for performing arts; it should be inclusive of other art art forms, she said.
Driver also said that while some new development is great, residents have spoken clearly that they want to see more of a focus on redeveloping key areas in the city and some parts of town that could use a shot of new energy. The Riverchase Galleria and Patton Creek are the two most obvious areas, but there are others, including along Lorna Road.
She believes the council took a step in the right direction in April when it agreed to spend up to $4 million to fix a stormwater drainage problem along U.S. 31 at Riverchase Village to help resolve a lawsuit and flooding problems that have plagued both the shopping center and U.S. 31 during heavy rains.
Driver also was a key player in getting a $42 million economic incentive package together for the Riverwalk Village development in Riverchase, including an estimated $25.8 million in tax rebates to the private company doing the development, plus up to $16 million in cash payments over 10 years to help get the project started. That incentive package has been criticized by some people, but Driver said it was justified.
“There are some investments you need as a city that are for the big picture and long-term and strategic accomplishments,” she said. “I will not apologize for working to increase access to quality health care in Hoover. That was really the heart of why the city incentivized that development.”
Riverwalk Village is a great opportunity to make it more convenient for people in Hoover to get diagnostic testing and undergo outpatient surgeries and other procedures that they now must travel outside the city to receive, she said. And the city’s economic development consultant estimates Riverwalk Village will have a $2.5 billion economic impact over 10 years, she said.
Driver also said she would like to see city leaders do better at listening to people and working collaboratively among themselves and with other residents.
Driver, who recently turned 50, said she first moved to Hoover while she was in law school and lived in a townhome and apartment in the Inverness area from 1998 to 2001. She briefly moved to an apartment off John Hawkins Parkway in the Riverchase area and then to Pelham for a couple of years before moving back to Hoover in 2005. She lived in Trace Crossings for about 11 years and has been in The Preserve since 2016, she said.
She has a 20-year-old son who graduated from Hoover High in 2023 and now is at Troy University and a 15-year daughter studying music at the Alabama School of Fine Arts.
Driver obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Alabama in 1997 and a law degree from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in 2000.
She became an equity partner at the law firm of Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker, practicing civil defense litigation, before moving to the Southern Co. in 2011.
She was an attorney or managing attorney for Southern Company Services for three years, then served as the company’s compliance and concerns director and chief of staff to the Southern Co. general counsel. In 2018, she moved to Southern Nuclear Services, where she served as associate general counsel, and she now is the commercial operations and product director.
Driver also is a past president of the Hoover City Schools Foundation and has served as a board member of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce and president of the Hoover Downtown Redevelopment Authority. She was in the inaugural class of Leadership Hoover and now serves on its board of directors.
The Hoover municipal election is Aug. 26.
