Latest news with #TabBowling
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With qualifying over, campaigning begins for municipal elections
Jun. 26—Running for office isn't cheap, and experienced politicians say the candidates who qualified for the 2025 municipal elections should be prepared for the campaign costs. Qualifying for the Aug. 26 elections ended Tuesday with 26 candidates entering Decatur's mayoral, City Council or Board of Education races. Qualifiers in five of the 11 races are unopposed, with five incumbents seeking reelection. The race to replace Mayor Tab Bowling, who is completing his second term and isn't running again, features four candidates: Billy Jackson, Kent Lawrence, Butch Matthews and Suzie Wiley. Bowling said Wednesday that he spent about $23,000 on his 2016 campaign and close to $50,000 in 2020. While his costs more than doubled, he said he was fortunate he didn't have to buy signs in the reelection campaign. District 5 Councilman Jacob Ladner, who also isn't seeking reelection, said he raised closed to $10,000, and he has about $30 left in his election account. "I spent it all on signs, door hangers, mailers, social media and a website," Ladner said. "I hired Heather Wilson as a consultant for about $1,000." Paige Bibbee has been through three campaigns. She ran unsuccessfully in 2008 for District 3 school board. She was elected to the City Council in 2016, but lost her reelection bid in 2020. Bibbee said she was more conservative than some candidates. She estimated she spent $5,000 to $6,000 on her campaigns because she didn't want to owe a contributor for a future vote on an issue. "I didn't take contributions, but I can see where someone in a council race could easily spend $9,000 or $10,000 if they solicit contributions," Bibbee said. She also said a mayoral candidate spending $50,000 on a campaign "is not out of the realm of possibility. Mayor is a pretty big step up from a city council race." All three said they see this year's campaign as different from the 2020 campaign because the previous race occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Going door to door, even during a hot summer campaign, has always been one of the most effective ways to campaigning, but personal contact was limited in 2020. Ladner said his campaign left a lot of door hangers and, since "most people didn't want to answer the door," he hoped he could catch them out in their yards and have a conversation. Don Kyle went through four mayoral campaigns, winning two and losing two. He spent close to $20,000 in his 2016 campaign. Kyle said he thinks door hangers were the most effective for him, particularly with the city's older residents. He said door hangers "might be the only time a resident thinks about you because they are so busy with their daily lives." While direct mail is necessary, he said it often gets lost in the junk mail that people receive. All four former or outgoing politicians agreed that it's important to take advantage of opportunities like city events and political forums to speak with people and talk about their platforms. Kyle said they tried to hit each home two or three times with a door hanger during the campaign and especially hit as many homes as possible two weekends before the election. That gives the electors plenty of time to put the election on their calendar, "so hopefully they won't forget," Kyle said. He said older residents aren't as tied in to social media, but it's a necessary tool in a campaign. "You still need to be active and constant on social media to reach the younger residents," Kyle said. While a higher percentage of older residents voted in past elections than younger voters, Kyle said he read a report this week that younger voters (ages 25-34) almost doubled in the New York City mayor's primary, which had in-person voting Tuesday. "That's amazing," Kyle said. "But trying to get younger people interested is very difficult." Kyle and Bibbee said one of the difficulties they had as incumbents was finding time to campaign while at the same time doing their job as mayor or councilwoman. "When I took the job I wanted to give it my all," Bibbee said. "I know of candidates who just abandoned their job for their campaign, and that's just not me." The upcoming municipal elections are a year later after the state Legislature passed a law in 2021 that pushed the term from four to five years, after which they will revert to every four years again. The change moves the municipal elections off of the even years when general and congressional midterm elections occur. Kyle said he's concerned that the change could create election fatigue and impact turnout, especially since he thinks municipal elections are more important than state and national elections. "I kind of wonder if people are kind of tired of elections," Kyle said. "We had the big one last year (presidential election) and the midterm is next year. It was a mistake (to move the municipal elections) because now there will be an election every three out of four years." Kyle said they moved the municipal elections because city clerks and probate judges complained that they were having trouble finding poll volunteers. Instead, he thinks they should have put the general and midterm election together with municipal elections. "That was probably too logical," Kyle said. Bowling said he doesn't think the date change will impact Decatur's turnout. He said the number of City Council and mayoral candidates shows the amount of interest in city issues. "It (the election change) might apply in the future, but right now in Decatur I think a lot of people are paying attention to the upcoming election," Bowling said. The election comes after almost two years of protests following the fatal Sept. 29, 2023, shooting of Steve Perkins by a Decatur police officer. While the city waits on the officer's murder trial, a review by a third-party consultant led to a police chief change. The city is also in the midst of growth as it tries to manage a large number of new subdivision developments and issues like build-to-rent homes and short-term rentals. Bibbee said she agrees with Bowling that this Decatur election will get plenty of attention, but said Kyle could be right about election weariness in the future. "There's so much going on in Decatur there's going to be a big push, although the turnout could depend on the weather too," Bibbee said. "The change may not impact this year, but people could have election fatigue for future elections." Bowling said he "perceives, and I could be wrong, some candidates are running on kind of an isolated agenda." He said City Council candidates should be aware that a lot of work goes into representing their districts if they're elected. — or 256-340-2432
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pepper enters and then withdraws from mayor's race
Jun. 24—Councilman Hunter Pepper jumped into the mayor's race on the final day of qualifying for the 2025 municipal election, and then dropped out before the race began. Pepper said in a text message, "Method to the Madness," that he "qualified for mayor to prove a point. Anyone with $50 (or for free) can walk into the clerk's office, 'qualify' for mayor and get 15 minutes of fame..." Pepper's withdrawal leaves four candidates to replace Mayor Tab Bowling, who chose not to run after two terms. The candidates are Billy Jackson, Kent Lawrence, Butch Matthews and Suzie Wiley. Announcing last week that he planned to run again, Pepper also pulled out of the District 4 City Council race. In a social media post Tuesday afternoon, he wrote, "Our city needs leadership that i do not have the ability or knowledge to give." Pepper, 23, was 18 when elected. Candidates who have qualified to represent District 4 in Southwest Decatur are Sarah French, Joshua Horton, Jason Putman, Angie Thom and Pam Werstler. — or 256-340-2432
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Improvements to begin on Flying Dragon Disc Golf Course
May 30—Hall of Fame Course Design will begin to update and improve the Flying Dragon Disc Golf Course, located at the Jack Allen Recreation Complex, next week. The Decatur City Council approved a resolution Monday to allow Mayor Tab Bowling to sign a contract with the company. Hall of Fame first provided the city with a description of the scope of work in January. "It's basically just giving the course a refresh and making it more playable and safer," said Lavone Wolfe, owner of Hall of Fame Course Design. "We hope that it will help it get a lot more use." Wolfe estimated the project will take between four and eight weeks, depending on weather conditions. The scope of work contract estimates the project's total cost to be $114,312. The city received a grant for $100,000 from Alabama Mountains, Rivers and Valleys. The additional $14,000 will come from the Community Development grant-matching budget. "We have a ton of quality of life, recreation projects going on, so I think it shows that not everything is a $52 million rec center," said Councilman Kyle Pike. "Some things are as small as a $100,000 improvement to a disc golf course." In February, the city broke ground on the new Wilson Morgan Park recreation center, the largest Parks and Recreation project in progress. Pike said the disc golf course update is another way to support the varying hobbies of Decatur residents. Wolfe will focus improvements primarily on holes 11 through 18, including walkways. Updates will include installing new concrete tee pads, refurbishing the targets, adding new signs and removing boulders. The improvements will make the course more navigable, safer and easier to play on, Wolfe said. Players have requested upgrades to the course in recent years, largely because of the difficulty seeing targets and walking through the course. "It's to the point that it really needs it," Wolfe said. Hall of Fame first installed the Flying Dragon Course in 2012. Wolfe, a Disc Golf Hall of Fame inductee, has designed or built more than 78 courses in the Southeast. Brad Phillips, Decatur's director of Information Systems, is an avid disc golfer. He enjoys traveling to different disc golf courses in the area and spoke highly of Wolfe's work. The disc golf community in north Alabama has been on the rise in recent years, Phillips said. "With (these updates), I expect the playing on that course to go way up," Wolfe said. Decatur has two other disc golf courses: the Outback, at Central Park, and Riverside, at Rhodes Ferry Park. — or 256-340-2437
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State of the City: Mayor cites massive budget growth during his terms
Apr. 18—A lot has changed for Mayor Tab Bowling and the city of Decatur during his four and a half years, but few things have changed more than the city budget. During his final State of the City, an annual breakfast held by the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, Bowling reviewed on Thursday his two-term tenure that ends in November. He is not running for reelection. Wade Weaver, chamber public policy committee chairman, moderated the presentation. Bowling called serving as mayor "my dream job. It has been a privilege to serve this town in a way not many others have had, and we're not yet to the end." He reviewed a period of tremendous growth for the city that included new hotels and homes, downtown changes, the $98 million settlement with 3M Co., the COVID-19 pandemic, and major updates to parks and recreation facilities. Bowling took a moment in the breakfast before over 300 people at the Doubletree by Hilton Decatur Riverfront to apologize for refusing to attend last year's State of the City. He chose not to attend because of a disagreement over the presentation and Council President Jacob Ladner's participation. "Last year I made a bad decision," Bowling said. "While I didn't like what was being done, I didn't handle it properly, and I did not come and do one of my duties in providing a State of the City and, for that, to the chamber and the chamber members, I'm very sorry." Bowling said his first budget in fiscal 2016 was $58.2 million, and then he showed how it grew yearly to $98.4 million in fiscal 2025. "Next year, I think we'll say triple digits as we go into the (fiscal) 2026 budget," the mayor said. He pointed out that the city celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2020, so it took 100 years to reach $58.2 million. "It's incredible that, even though we're conservative with our spending, that the budget increase has almost doubled," Bowling said. He attributed the burgeoning budget to multiple factors, including benefiting from north Alabama's growth with the new Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant and Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Huntsville. Among the other factors were the Decatur-Morgan County's job growth, hiring a chief financial officer, "flat budgeting" and jumpstarting the city's residential growth, which he attributed to a chamber initiative launched in 2018. Walton Ashwander, of Rogers Group, is a Decatur native whose company now does a lot of work for the city, including handling its annual paving contract. He said after the meeting that the city's budget growth was the thing that stood out in the mayor's presentation. "That budget growth is phenomenal," Ashwander said. "It's great that money grew that quickly. It must be a massive undertaking to deal with that kind of money." Bowling said after the meeting that he considers two intertwined issues the proudest points in his service as mayor. The first is the $98 million environmental settlement with 3M, which he said will actually grow because 3M "is spending a lot of money on cleaning up our landfill." He said the second is the $35 million bond issue allowing the city to build major upgrades to parks and recreation facilities. The city is building indoor tennis and pickleball courts for $2.5 million, turning the Point Mallard Ice Complex into an event center for $3.5 million, building an eight-field ball field complex for $17 million and, finally, building a $52.5 million recreation center at Wilson Morgan Park. Bowling said the City Council "wanted to return to a time when Decatur was known for its recreation." Even though he has six months left as mayor, he pointed out there's still a lot of work to be done. The City Council is in the process of filling multiple director openings in Planning, Parks and Recreation, Youth Services and searching for a new police chief. "We have so many projects, and we're short staffed," Bowling said. "It will be all hands on deck, especially since there will be more projects announced soon." Bowling said they're still working on getting $4 million to $5 million for a second study for another Tennessee River bridge. He said this study will look at which routes are environmentally feasible. It will also eliminate the routes that don't create an additional pathway around Alabama 20/U.S. 31. Decatur paid $1 million and also received a $1 million federal grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission for the first phase of the study. The city recently paid $450,000 for 0.2 of an acre at Alabama 67 and Upper River Road for right of way for intersection improvements. Hwy. 67 Used Furniture and Appliances was in this building, but Bowling said the city will demolish "the old block building any day now, and then the next phase can begin." Bowling said the new Renasant Bank is a great new part of the gateway into Sixth Avenue Southeast, and the city will start soon on the Sixth Avenue streetscape project between Wilson Street Northeast and Prospect Drive Southeast. He said they've moved most of the utilities underground. "If you see one wire hanging on our telephone poles, the only wires remaining belong to Temple Electric, which controls the traffic signals," Bowling said. The wires will eventually go into cobra traffic lights, which hang from curved poles over the road rather than power lines. "This will be very appealing," Bowling said. Bowling said he has been working with the Tennessee Valley Authority and would still like to see a lodge built at Point Mallard Park north of the event center. — or 256-340-2432
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Deactur historical marker replaced after damage
DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — A Decatur historical marker commemorating African American Heritage has been replaced after it was damaged last month. The African American Heritage marker in Old Town Decatur has been replaced after it was damaged on March 24. MLF competition canceled following deadly multi-boat accident on Lewis Smith Lake The marker chronicles the forgotten contributions of African Americans to the City of Decatur, going back to before the city was incorporated. Established in 1821, Old Town was the home of many prominent African Americans and black-owned businesses before Urban Renewal took over in the 1970s. Decatur was incorporated in 1826. A spokesperson for the Decatur Preservation originally said it would take a year to get a new marker and the replacement would likely cost thousands. Historian Peggy Towns, who helped get the original marker placed, thanked Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling for helping get the marker quickly replaced. SHERIFF: Son kills father in Lauderdale County murder-suicide The mayor told News 19's Archie Snowden that he simply knew the right person to call for help. 'Nothing beats having reliable friends,' Bowling said. 'When I learned about this unfortunate incident, I knew which friend to call.' Decatur Police said last month they were investigating what caused the damage to the marker but had not determined if it had been damaged intentionally or accidentally. Authorities said on Tuesday that there were no updates in that investigation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
