Newsmaker of the Year: Nick Derzis grabbed the public’s attention with call to action

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As the calendar pages flipped to January 2025, there was just one confirmed candidate for mayor of Hoover in the 2025 election, and that was incumbent

Frank Brocato. But another name certainly was circulating as a potential challenger: Nick Derzis.

As momentum built in that direction, the 20-year police chief finally announced his candidacy in mid-March, and the Derzis train surged ahead full steam. It was a powerful push and one that Brocato could not stop, with Derzis achieving victory at the polls in August with 56% of the more than 17,000 votes cast.

The people had spoken, and they were ready for a change.

Derzis, pushing an agenda of economic development, greater transparency and public involvement, took over the mayor’s chair on Nov. 3 and earned the spot of Hoover’s Newsmaker of the Year for 2025.

MILITARY UPBRINGING

Derzis, 71, was born in Berlin, Germany — the son of a U.S. Army colonel. His family moved frequently, with stops in places such as Paris, Washington, D.C., New York City and Maryland. His father, Peter Derzis, at one point was commandant of the U.S. Army Intelligence School and was a demanding person, so Derzis grew up in a pretty strict environment, his brother, Pete Derzis, said in a campaign video.

Nick Derzis was always very competitive and showed leadership skills dating back to high school, his brother said. He was senior class president at Washington-Lee High School, a large school in Arlington, Virginia, and was an outstanding two-way football player, positioned at both running back and linebacker, his brother said.

Derzis always thought he would pursue a military career, but he moved to Alabama to enter the restaurant business with a relative who had the franchise for the Golden Rule restaurant in Irondale, he said. He worked there for a couple of years but decided to pursue law enforcement instead.

He was hired on with the Hoover Police Department in 1979, starting as a patrol officer and working his way up through the ranks. He was the department’s first public information officer and started the first neighborhood watch program.

Both of those were great ways to interface with the community and do community policing, Derzis said. It was in those early days that he learned the importance of police beat work — having officers who are familiar with certain areas so they notice when something or someone is out of place, he said.

Derzis looks back fondly on the 1980s and 1990s with the opening of the Riverchase Galleria and expansion of the city’s boundaries, both of which changed the dynamics of the city, he said. “Those really were fantastic times.”

He also recalls working the Bruno’s Memorial Classic golf tournament, now known as the Regions Tradition, as among some of his favorite memories with the Police Department.

That tournament provides great opportunities for police to interact with the public, and it also gave him a chance to meet a lot of pro golfers and quite a few celebrities, including Joe Namath, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Bobby Knight and Dan Quayle.

As a police officer, he also got the chance to meet Bob Hope at the Charley Boswell Celebrity Golf Classic at the Riverchase Country Club and President George Bush and his son, President George W. Bush, during their visits to Hoover.

“I always thought for a small town in Alabama, we really had a lot of things that were positive that occurred here,” he said.

Through the years, Derzis said he had a hand in establishing a lot of specialty units, such as the special response team, bomb squad, canine unit and school resource officers. He realized early that Hoover was having to ask other agencies for assistance with various tasks and that it’s better if you can have those special units in your own police department, he said.

Over the years, he’s had the privilege of working with many great men and women in law enforcement, he said.

“We built a culture over the years. Nobody does it like we do,” he said. “Everybody always went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure the Hoover community was very safe. It’s a culture we’ve had that I’m very proud of.”

He’s thankful that the community partners with police, which is not something every department can say, he said.

“We’ve got a very good rapport with our community,” and that has played a factor in keeping Hoover’s violent crime rate low, he said. “It’s remarkable when we can have eight to 10 robberies in 12 months for a city our size. Every year, we say we can’t continue those low numbers, but we’ve been able to.”

When Derzis started with Hoover police, the department had only about 15-17 sworn officers, he said. When he became chief 20 years ago, there were 139, and today, there are 195 sworn officers and 35 civilian employees, he said.

HARDEST CHALLENGES

Derzis said some of the biggest challenges over the years have been major incidents, such as a couple of shootings at the Riverchase Galleria and protests linked to national police incidents such as the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020.

Growing anti-police sentiment in some circles and some parts of the country made it tougher to recruit and retain officers, but those problems are beginning to improve as anti-police sentiment has subsided and pay for Hoover officers has increased, he said. He’s thankful the department never lowered its hiring standards, he said.

Another challenge for Derzis was when he was put on administrative leave with pay for almost 20 months in 1997 and 1998 after federal and state authorities identified him as a target of an investigation. He had served as acting chief for 18 months prior to that.

City officials questioned by investigators said they were asked about warrants, traffic citations, municipal bids and the overall integrity of department operations, but Derzis was never charged with any wrongdoing and returned to work as a captain in November 1998. He was promoted to assistant chief in December 1999 and then chief in January 2005.

Derzis said nobody ever told him why he was being investigated, but “I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong.” He felt vindicated when he was finally cleared, he said.

The pandemic also was a challenge because everybody was wearing masks and nobody wanted to talk or get close to other people, and the Police Department had to be careful to keep its personnel healthy, too, Derzis said.

His tenure with the Police Department has “been a good ride,” Derzis said.

When he first became a patrol officer 45 years ago, he loved that his office was his patrol car and he didn’t have to sit behind a desk, he said. As he has moved up the ranks, there has been a lot more desk work, but he’s not complaining, he said.

“The mission has always been to put the bad guys in jail, and that hasn’t changed,” he said. “We did it, and we’re still doing it and going to keep doing it.”

He never imagined he would one day be sitting in the mayor’s chair, but so many people he admired encouraged him to

run, and he’s excited about the challenges ahead, he said.

One of the biggest challenges is finding a way to reinvigorate the Riverchase Galleria and Patton Creek shopping centers, he said. He and his transition team already have been having conversations with owners on the two campuses, he said.

“Failure is not an option with this plan,” Derzis said. “We have to have those places vibrant. The goal is to make Hoover a vibrant spot again. I know we can get it back. We’ve got to get that one domino. If we can get that one big shot in the arm … you’ll see other dominos fall.”

He’s excited about the new City Council members and looks forward to working with them, he said.

WHAT MADE DERZIS ATTRACTIVE?

Facing a two-term incumbent in a mayoral election was not an easy task, but political observers in Hoover say Derzis had the right background, abilities and vision to pull out the victory.

Tony Petelos, who served as Hoover’s mayor from 2004 to 2011 and who recommended Derzis for the police chief job, said Derzis has done an excellent job as chief.

“He’s had some tough cases in Hoover and has handled them with a lot of respect. He handled them with a lot of courage,” Petelos said, referring to a 2018 fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man at the Galleria by a police officer and the false kidnapping report by Carlee Russell in 2023.

The Hoover Police Department was “pretty sad” when Derzis took it over in 2005, Petelos said. Derzis has hired and promoted well and upgraded the department’s equipment, he said.

Also, Derzis is a “stand-up guy” who will listen and communicate, Petelos said.

“He’s going to be very transparent to the public,” Petelos said. “For a city to be successful, the mayor and City Council — they have to communicate, and they have to work together. He understands that, and he’s going to do that. … He’s not going to get everything he wants, but he’s going to work with them.”

Allen Pate, who served as Hoover’s executive director under five mayors until retiring in early 2017, said he would not have envisioned Derzis becoming mayor 20 or even 10 years ago and at first questioned whether Derzis was making the right decision to run for mayor. But he knows Derzis is capable and supported him in that decision, he said.

Derzis knows all the department heads, has a good feeling for how the city runs, is an excellent planner and has a can-do attitude, Pate said.

“If something is presented to him and it makes sense, I think he will find a way to do it and make it happen,” Pate said.

Hoover isn’t growing like it did in the past, and Derzis’ campaign talk about reinvigorating the city struck a chord with residents, Pate said.

“I think we’ll see the city get reimagined more like it was in the ’80s and ’90s and hopefully begin to see some revenue increases again,” Pate said. “I think Nick can do it. … I think he will make something happen at the Galleria and Patton Creek. I think he will be able to work with the developers to get it going again. … I think six months from now, our city will probably be a different place from what it is today.”

Bob Lochamy, a former radio personality and political consultant who unsuccessfully ran for Hoover mayor in 2000, said he was surprised when Derzis announced his mayoral campaign in March, mostly because he hated to see Derzis leave the Police Department after doing such a good job over the decades.

Lochamy supported Brocato in the campaign but said after Derzis won, he reconciled with the idea that the city would be OK under Derzis’ leadership. He should be able to transfer his leadership abilities to the broader role of mayor, Lochamy said.

One of the things that made Derzis attractive to voters was his call for change, Lochamy said. “I think people responded to that — some fresh energy.”

Anybody can call for change, but Derzis brought both competence and confidence, Lochamy said. “He was a proven commodity in our community.”

MARCHING ORDERS

Derzis, on his second day on the job, held a luncheon for city employees and laid out the marching orders from the new administration. He thanked employees for their hard work but said expectations moving forward will be higher.

“We’re not here to maintain the status quo or simply continue doing things the same way. We’re here to improve. We’re here to innovate,” Derzis said. “We want to serve the citizens of Hoover at a level of excellence that reflects their trust in us.

“As the CEO of the company, I want to be crystal clear about the standard of excellence that I expect from the organization,” Derzis said. “Excellence is not a destination that we reach once and then just coast. Excellence is a daily commitment. It’s showing up with a purpose. It’s taking pride in our work — no matter how big or small the task is. It’s understanding that the citizen standing in front of you deserves your best, your full attention, your respect, your effort and professionalism. I believe every interaction between a city employee and a citizen is an opportunity — an opportunity to restore faith in government, an opportunity to solve a problem, an opportunity to show that you clearly care about the people we serve.”

Derzis challenged city employees to work with a servant’s heart, to plan ahead and think strategically.

“I’m asking for that extra effort and attention to detail that prevents mistakes, to follow up and ensure that a problem gets solved, the initiative that anticipates what our citizens need before they have to ask for it,” Derzis said. “That’s the difference between good and great, and that’s what separates ordinary cities from great ones.”