Photo courtesy of Steve McClinton
Steve McClinton
Steve McClinton is seeking Hoover City Council Place 7.
Steve McClinton, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Hoover in 2016, this year is trying to replace John Greene in Hoover City Council Place 7.
Greene announced he is not seeking reelection after 12 years on the council, but his daughter, Alli Nations, also is seeking the Place 7 seat, along with Carin Mayo, in the Aug. 25 city election.
McClinton, who lives in Lake Cyrus and moved to Hoover from Birmingham in 1998, said he has a strong desire to help create a Hoover to which his kids and grandkids will want to return once they grow up and complete their education.
McClinton for 23 years managed people’s retirement accounts for Primerica and then Security Financial Advisors and said he has the financial acumen and leadership skills needed to help steer the city through tough financial times following the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting business shutdowns.
The economy was going strong, but the COVID-19 outbreak changed everything, he said. Now, city officials have to figure out a way to make sure the city and its businesses survive, he said.
Those “wants” that people have, such as an arts center, will have to take a back seat for a while until the economy recovers, McClinton said.
Also, McClinton said he wants to make the city more friendly to businesses. He said he disagreed with the tax and fee increases passed by the Hoover City Council in the current term. That included an increase in sales, use and lease taxes from 3% to 3.5%, a $2 per night lodging fee and an increase in building permit fees from $6 per $1,000 worth of value in construction to $8.50 per $1,000 worth of value ($750 increase on a $300,000 house).
Because of the recent decline in city revenues due to COVID-19, he doesn’t think the city should immediately reverse those decisions, but once the city recovers, the council needs to re-evaluate each of those decisions, McClinton said.
Also, the city needs to find a way to not be so dependent on retail for its economy and a way to fill the empty storefronts around the city, he said. “We have to adapt, or we’re going to die,” he said.
All of this has to be accomplished while keeping Hoover a great place to raise a family and making sure the school system remains great, McClinton said.
McClinton said he has a history of bringing people together to solve problems.
He served as president of the Hoover City Schools Foundation for a couple of years prior to running for mayor in 2016 and again this past year until taking a leave of absence from the board this month.
McClinton also has served on the boards for Hoover Helps, Hoover Neighborhood Bridges, Hoover YMCA, Destination Hoover International and Birmingham Children’s Theatre. He helped bring the Birmingham Children’s Theatre production of “Alice in Wonderland” to the Riverchase Galleria in June 2019 and helped facilitate an agreement for the YMCA to begin providing after-school care for Hoover City Schools.
McClinton, 51, grew up in Birmingham’s Roebuck community but has lived in Hoover since 1998, including four years in the Deer Valley community and the past 18 years in Lake Cyrus. He and his wife, Stephanie, have two children at Auburn University and one incoming eighth-grader at Bumpus Middle School.
McClinton graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and criminology in 1992, minoring in political science and history.
His career has been in the retirement planning business. He spent 20 years with Primerica and three to four years with Security Financial Advisors in Bessemer, managing more than $35 million for 255 families.
In 2017, he, City Council President Gene Smith and former Hoover school board member Earl Cooper founded a consulting company called Maven. That company this spring morphed into a company called Logic that markets and sells technology products, including scanning devices that detect the presence of fever and firearms from a distance.
McClinton also serves as vice president of sales for X.Labs, which produces some of those products.
For more information on McClinton, go to stevemcclintonforcitycouncil.com or Steve McClinton for Hoover City Council on Facebook.
Hoover's election for mayor and the seven City Council seats is scheduled for Aug. 25. Official qualifying takes place July 7-21.
This article was updated at 7:53 p.m. on June 22 to correct the year in which McClinton moved to Hoover and on July 21 to include that John Greene is not seeking re-election and that Alli Nations and Carin Mayo also are seeking the Place 7 seat.
