Photo by Jon Anderson
200615_Curt_Posey
Curt Posey is running for a second term in Hoover City Council Place 1.
Hoover Councilman Curt Posey said he’s seeking a second term on the council in this year’s city election because, while he and his colleagues have accomplished some of what they set out to do four years ago, there still is more to do.
“I want to finish the job,” the 43-year-old Bluff Park resident said.
One of the big goals he and other council members had four years ago was to increase funding for Hoover City Schools, and they did that in March 2017, when the council boosted the city’s contribution to the school system from $2.5 million to $5 million a year, in addition to paying for all the school resource officers.
Posey also wants the city to get an arts center. The council in 2018 created the Hoover Arts Council as a first step toward that but so far has been unable to identify funding.
Posey said he believes it likely is a $40 million project. The COVID-19 outbreak and resulting business shutdowns likely will make an arts center unrealistic in the near future, but the city might be able to find money for such a project in 2022, when the city pays off some of its debt and its annual debt payments are scheduled to decline, Posey said.
He believes there is demand in the arts community for such a facility, with numerous arts-related groups looking for a place to call home and interested in the Hoover market.
There are several infrastructure and road projects that still need to get done and likely will need additional funding, too, Posey said. Those include the Valleydale Road widening and improvements at Hoover ballparks, where some of the lighting is outdated, he said.
Other priorities of his include bringing back the Freedom Fest Fourth of July celebration, looking for creative ways to redevelop Hoover retail properties for multiple purposes and continuing to revitalize older neighborhoods.
In the past four years, the city has focused a lot of energy in Bluff Park and Monte D’Oro, and he could see some attention shifting to areas such as Green Valley (Star Lake renovation) and Riverchase, he said.
Posey, a supervisor for the lecture center and 32 conference spaces at Children’s of Alabama hospital, is a lifelong resident of Hoover and graduated from Hoover High School in 1995. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, concentrating in broadcast communications.
Posey worked six years in studio production for WBRC Channel 6, WTTO Channel 21, WABM Channel 68 and WTVM Channel 13 and then three years as a producer and editor for Diamond Studios in Birmingham before moving to Children’s of Alabama hospital in 2006.
He and his wife, Emily, have a daughter going into the eighth grade at Simmons Middle School and a son entering fifth grade at Bluff Park Elementary School.
Posey serves as the City Council liaison to the Hoover Arts Council, is board of trustees chairman and recruitment advisor for the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity at UAB, teaches 2-year-olds in Sunday School at Hunter Street Baptist Church and is a volunteer performer with the Birmingham Ballet. He formerly served as a youth coach with the Hoover Soccer Club.
Hoover’s election for mayor and the seven City Council seats is scheduled for Aug. 25. Official qualifying takes place July 7-21.
For more information about Posey’s campaign, go to his Facebook page at Curt Posey Hoover City Council Place 1.
