Decatur Council President Ladner won't seek reelection as District 5 councilman
May 24—One term is enough for Decatur City Council President Jacob Ladner, who announced Friday that he will not seek reelection as the District 5 councilman.
Ladner said he has known for a while that he would not run and felt it was time, with the June 10 beginning of the qualifying period for the municipal election approaching, to make his announcement.
"I wanted to give potential candidates time to consider whether they want to run knowing that there's an open seat," Ladner said. "Hopefully, this will get more people interested."
So far, there haven't been any formal public announcements from potential candidates for District 5, located mainly between Beltline Road Southwest and Gordon Terry Parkway.
Ladner said several factors went into his decision not to run again. The 39-year-old has three young, active children. He is also chief executive officer of Thirdmark Capital, a commercial finance company that's 3 years old and growing.
He said former Councilman Greg Reeves gave him some advice in 2020 when he was considering running.
"Greg talked about having the mentality if I won that I was not going to run again," Ladner said. "He said that would really free you up, so you don't have to worry about whether you're making the right decisions just to get reelected."
Despite this mentality, he said it wasn't always definite that he would just serve one term.
Mayor Tab Bowling, who has had an occasionally rocky relationship with Ladner, said he's "disappointed (with the decision) but I understand."
The mayor complimented Ladner, saying he "has a good mind for business," but that working as council president takes a lot of time away from his family and company.
"I know people see what goes on during Monday's council meetings, but they don't see all of the other work that goes on," Bowling said. "They don't see us working with developers or making plans for other types of quality-of-life projects."
As president, Ladner has led the council during the almost 20 months of controversy following the Sept. 29, 2023, shooting death of Steve Perkins by a Decatur police officer.
The controversy included criticism of Ladner by Bowling and others for continuing the often loud and rowdy public comment periods at council meetings because some felt the sessions were having a negative impact on the city.
"No, that had no bearing on my decision on whether to run again or not," Ladner said.
Ladner and the council majority also pushed out Todd Pinion as police chief and hired Torry Mack, who starts June 2.
Sharonda Acklin, of Standing In Power, a social justice group group that has led many protests related to Perkins' death, said she's surprised that Ladner isn't running again.
"We wish him the best of luck on his future endeavors," Acklin said. "I think he did the best he could with the way he knew how to do it. He was open to hearing what the community had to say regarding the state of the city, whether or not that was put into action or taken outside of the words he heard."
Most recently, Ladner was criticized for pausing public comment at two council meetings and changing the public comment rules after a chaotic meeting that led to the arrest of six people in attendance. Bowling also banned the six from City Hall.
"I think he did the best he knew how with everything that's going on," Acklin said. "I believe making change to the public comment was to appease his higher-ups."
While he's not running again, Ladner said serving on the council for the last four and a half years "has been one of the greatest honors of my life," and he's "incredibly proud" of the accomplishments during this term.
He said he is proud of how aggressive this City Council has been. He mentioned the $98 million 3M Co. lawsuit settlement, which led to the ongoing construction of the new Wilson Morgan Recreation Center and multiple recreation facilities.
Bowling said he thinks the 3M settlement was the biggest accomplishment of Ladner's term. He said this set in motion Ladner's goal of making Decatur a leader in recreation again with the construction of the new sports facilities.
Ladner is council liaison to Decatur Utilities, and the utility is working on ending sanitary sewer overflows with a $165 million rate increase. Previously a problem that led to state fines, the city hasn't had a rain-induced sewer overflow in more than two years.
The city also made public infrastructure improvements like the new Morgan County-Decatur Farmers Market and a new downtown parking deck. The council built the deck as an incentive for a new Fairfield Inn by Marriott hotel.
The council under Ladner's leadership agreed to an incentive package that is bringing GreenPoint Ag's headquarters to Lee Street Northeast.
Ladner is also proud of the renewed focus on residential development.
"This led to more housing growth this term than in recent memory. People are choosing to make Decatur home — an encouraging sign of the city's momentum," he said.
He said that when he ran, he "wanted to change the attitude of waiting for things to happen. I hope this is a good thing, but I wanted to make things happen and change how aggressive we are."
Ladner said he hopes the next administration stays aggressive in adding quality-of-life attractions to the city.
"I hope it doesn't just sit around worrying about mowing the grass and paving the roads," Ladner said. "Those things need to occur, but I want them to make things happen."
He said several important projects are underway and will continue beyond his term. These include the Sixth Avenue streetscape, drainage improvements at Princeton Place, widening of Modaus Road and Bunny Lane, the planned $30 million Ingalls Harbor commercial and residential development and a hoped for additional Tennessee River bridge.
City leadership will change when the four-year term begins Nov. 3. Bowling is not seeking a third term. In addition to Ladner's decision, Councilman Billy Jackson is running for mayor after almost 29 years on the council. He has three announced opponents for mayor so far.
District 2 Councilman Kyle Pike is running again while Councilmen Carlton McMasters (District 3) and Hunter Pepper (District 4) have not announced their decisions. District 4 has two announced candidates, Pam Werstler and Angie Thom, and District 1 has one announced candidate, Terrance Adkins.
Qualifying for the municipal election is June 10-25 at the City Clerk's office. The registration fee is $50. The election is Aug. 26, with the runoff, if necessary, on Sept. 23.
— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432
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