The Homewood mayor’s race features City Councilwoman Jennifer Andress running against former educator and perennial candidate Robin Litaker. The two offered different perspectives on the state of the city and what is needed as it moves forward, as discussed at the WBRC 6 candidate forum held on Tuesday.
Whichever candidate is elected on August 26 will be the city’s first-ever female mayor.
Andress has served two terms, totaling nine years, on the Homewood City Council. She was first elected in 2016 and then reelected in 2020. Throughout the forum, she focused on Homewood’s growth and success, as well as her record of listening to residents.
Litaker has never held office, but her run for mayor marks her fifth attempt at being elected since 2018. She first ran for the Public Service Commission in 2018, then again in 2020, and once more in 2022 before running for Congress in 2024. While none of those bids were successful, she has pivoted and set her sights on the mayor's race in her hometown.
For the City of Homewood, this election signifies a major shift in the mayor’s role following the change in government structure and the decrease in the size of the council.
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The candidates quickly set themselves apart in their opening remarks, with Andress highlighting the city’s success and health, saying, “[P]eople want to move here. They want to open their businesses here. They want to shop, eat, and recreate here. And none of this happened by accident. This success takes a lot of hard work by a lot of people, including city staff, department heads, city councilors, and mayor.”
At the same time, Litaker emphasized her resume and experience in the education system and as an executive, and her concerns with the state of the City’s financial shape and processes following multiple scathing audit reports and a felony conviction of the City’s former CFO.
Litaker was also critical of the way the City overall communicates, or rather, hasn't communicated with its residents, saying, “I don't know about you, but I'm tired of hearing about things right before they happen. Whether it's the Samford project, the new thing they just threw on us down here in Edgewood, folks, it's called strategic planning.”
The first question addressed the issue of fraud that took place, with Andress explaining how the City has responded to the incident and the audit findings and touting the change that she’s seen with the implementation of a new city manager. She closed by describing the city’s cash reserves versus its obligations, saying, “We are healthy. You all, do not do not accept fear. Do not accept that. They are not facts. We are healthy.”
Likater countered, “But that city manager is only going to be as good as the people who understand how those finances are supposed to work. I understand how government finances are supposed to work.”
When the issue of the Samford development was brought up, the two candidates differed on who knew what and when, with Litaker saying the project had been in the works for 3 ½ years while Andress noted that the first time it was public was the week before the February meeting.
Andress said that the process worked because residents were heard, and the project did not go forward. She addressed Litaker's issue with communication, saying that she will improve citywide communications by pointing to her record of keeping in touch with her constituents through regular email newsletters.
Other issues that were discussed included scooters, with Litaker wanting to ban them while Andress saying she wanted to focus on safety and working with parents.
The full forum can be viewed here:
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