As Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson approached the one-year mark in office, he described a first term full of unexpected turns, from an ice storm and Ebola-related public anxiety to a city budget crisis that proved far worse than his administration anticipated heading into the job.
Stimpson, who left a career as an executive at Scotch Gulf Lumber to run for mayor, took office promising a “One Mobile” approach built around making the city the “safest, most business and family-friendly city in America by 2020.” Looking back on his first 12 months, he said the sheer number of surprises stood out most.
“I did not expect that we’d be dealing with a major ice storm or hysteria over Ebola,” Stimpson said. “But perhaps the biggest surprise was the precarious financial condition of the city and having to rescind the pay raise. We suspected there were problems, but it was far worse than we imagined.”
Stimpson said the transition from the private sector to city government proved more difficult than expected, largely because of how many competing interests slow down decisions that would move quickly in the business world. Still, he said his administration tried to govern the way it campaigned, staying focused on long-term priorities even as day-to-day crises competed for attention.
Among his top achievements, Stimpson pointed to getting “our fiscal house in order,” crediting Finance Director Paul Wesch and a newly formed Citizens Oversight Committee with bringing more transparency and accountability to how the city built its budget from the ground up. He acknowledged, however, that his administration underestimated how long it would take to drive change through what he called an “entrenched bureaucracy,” slowing progress on priorities like upgrading the city’s outdated computer systems and building new fire stations.
Looking ahead to his second year, Stimpson identified improving the city’s permitting process as the single biggest challenge tied to economic development and job growth, alongside completing a long-delayed technology upgrade and pushing city departments toward greater productivity.
Asked about his sometimes tense relationship with the Mobile City Council, including a budget dispute and a widely covered walkout during a fight over a Water Board appointment, Stimpson called the relationship “a work in progress,” grading it a C with an A for effort. He said he planned a retreat with council members aimed at improving communication going forward, while adding that he felt good about his individual relationships with council members.
Stimpson also touted new coalitions formed with mayors from Alabama’s other large cities, along with meetings he hosted early in his term with every mayor in both Mobile and Baldwin counties, some of whom he said had never before been invited to Government Plaza.
On big-ticket city assets like the Alabama Cruise Terminal, GulfQuest Maritime Museum, the Mobile Civic Center and the Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center, Stimpson declined to rank one above another, saying each faced its own unique challenges but that none of the problems were insurmountable.
Looking toward 2015, Stimpson said his administration’s long-range plan rested on three priorities: strengthening basic city services, improving neighborhoods and public spaces, and investing in long-term infrastructure, all built on a foundation of financial discipline and closer coordination with the City Council.