Hoover City Council president pro-tempore Curt Posey will not seek reelection for a third term, telling 1819 News in a phone interview that he "believes in term limits" and is honoring the pledge he made when he ran in 2016.
"I agreed to do two terms. I think it's somebody else's turn. I've got a lot of things that I want to do personally and some projects I want to work on, so I just felt like it was time," he said.
As he walks away from Place 1, he's also endorsing Bluff Park resident Robin Schultz, the candidate he hopes will replace him.
Posey announced his candidacy in November 2015. He was first elected in 2016 and then reelected in 2020.
Posey said he's most proud of how much he accomplished in support of the arts during his time on the council, "Figuring out what we need to do, putting together an arts council, which spun off an arts foundation, and getting that going."
He explained, "In the second term, we were literally one vote away from building a performing arts center at Stadium Trace Village. Prior to that, we had gotten to the draft lease portion with Patton Creek, and even before that, Mike Shaw, John Lyda, and I went with Frank [Brocato] and Alan Rice and met with the Wilson family and with Brookfield at the Galleria and got close there as well, talking to him about it, performing arts in there where Sears is, so three times we got very close one with even within a vote."
"I hate we didn't get it done. I think that it's going to be done, and we're going to have that thing in Hoover that we need. It's just that, you know, that was really my passion. And I'm glad that I'm glad to see how far we fall forward. I wish I could have completed it. But I have no doubt that there are people that are running for council now and can and there are going to be involved in the process as well as the foundation, part of it that are gonna get this done."
He doesn't see a path forward with the current council to revive those efforts. At the last city council meeting, the council voted to reallocate $17 million of bond money meant for the performing arts center to sewer and infrastructure projects. They are expected to revisit the issue of replacing that funding at the upcoming meeting on April 21.
Posey said that after he leaves the council, he has committed to working with the Arts Foundation to help it get back on track and establish the public/private partnerships it will need to be successful.
He reflected on two predecessors who became mentors, John Greene and Gene Smith, noting that both retired differently. Greene made a clean break, whereas Smith has continued to attend meetings and stay involved. Smith has announced that he is seeking to return to the council this year.
Posey said that, like Smith, he intends to remain involved and make himself available to future councilors "to offer advice, advising young councilor members, not to say 'Hey, we did it this way. You need to do it this way, but to say, here are some things to think about.'"
He remains optimistic about the future of the council and those who are seeking to serve on it and says he is endorsing Robin Schultz to be his replacement, "If you're gonna serve the people, you've got to know who you're serving, what you're serving, and what's going on. What I like about him is he's plugged in. This is his third time running, and he's never backed away from being involved and being a voice for the people, and that's what you want for this seat. You want somebody who's going to serve the people and be there for the people, and if you're that way as a candidate, you're going to be that way as a counselor."
Posey credited Schultz with his work with The Hoover Channel and noted that he and Mike Shaw worked on adding cameras and microphones to the chamber.
He hopes the next council finds a way to work together again. He pointed out that following the shooting at the Galleria, he and other members of the council would stay after the meeting ended to make sure everyone's voices were heard. He said working through those challenges brought the council together: "That situation, the camaraderie, and everything was great. We lost that along the way."
He cited the "disjointedness," lack of information sharing and determination of who would participate in the Certificate of Need process as specific examples of the council not functioning as it should. He believes all councilors should have had the opportunity to be heard instead of just two. He explained that despite challenges, "the majority of us [the council] have stuck together."
Looking back at the way the members worked together during his time in office, he said, "We formed those friendships and formed those bonds before we even got into the office." He said to the candidates running now, "I hope they do. I hope that they get out. I know a lot of people will be running against each other, but you know that when you step foot in there, you've got a collaborative effort, and you're ready to roll and get things going for the citizens."
Posey and Schultz served together, volunteering as the co-leads of the Hoover Dad Brigade from 2020 to 2022 as co-leads at Simmons Middle School. The annual event is where dads, uncles, mentors, and other volunteers go to Hoover public schools to help spruce up the campuses before the school year begins.
In a phone interview following Posey's endorsement, Schultz told 1819 News, "I was very pro-Curt from the beginning. He has a servant's heart. He was very, very passionate about the arts, and that is something that I hope to carry on for him." Schultz went on to say that Posey's "knowledge of numbers was just phenomenal."
"I really wanted to thank Curt for his service over the last nine years. He's done a terrific job," he said.
He agrees with Posey that one of the new council's priorities will be working together again. On the campaign trail, Schultz said that the message he's hearing is that voters are looking to the future of the city and "want change."
Schultz will be facing Tanveer Patel in the race for Place 1. Patel announced in early February that she was running for city council but has not been seen at a meeting since, according to Schultz and other regular attendees.
Posey believes candidates need to attend meetings, explaining that's how he met Schultz in 2016, "What I did is I started going to council meetings and kind of plugging in. Some people just decide they're gonna run for council, and they don't attend council meetings, but I started going. That's where I met Robin and met a couple of other people. I started attending the council meetings and gaining a deeper understanding of how everything works in terms of a municipality."
Posey asked, "How are you going to go in there and take a look at things and say, 'Well, that works. I know how that works, but I can adjust it to this?' Or how are you going to change things if you're not engaged?"
The election is on August 26, 2025. Official qualifying dates begin on June 10 and end on June 24.
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