HOOVER — The Republican Women of North Shelby County hosted a full house for their July meeting featuring Hoover Police chief and mayoral candidate Nick Derzis, followed by introductory speeches from 10 candidates for five of the seven city council seats.
Diane Caldwell and Charlotte Meadows hosted the meeting, encouraging members to listen and share with their friends and neighbors what they learned about the candidates and motivating them to get out the vote.
Incumbent Mayor Frank Brocato spoke to the group at a previous meeting.
Derzis began his speech with some biographical details before discussing the success he’s achieved at the Hoover Police Department. According to the statistics, Derzis says his team has made Hoover one of the safest cities in the southeastern United States for its size.
“There's no question that the city we live in is one of the best in Alabama,” Derzis said. “The fact that we get some of these national awards, one of the top cities in the country, one of the top cities in the state.”
He explained his role in those recent awards, “There are two things that they look at. The two main ingredients in those are safety; people want to move to communities that they feel are safe. Number two, they want a good educational system, and our educational system is really fantastic. As mayor, we’re going to do everything we can to enhance that system.”
Derzis then addressed some of the main reasons he’s running while focusing on the fact that Brocato has had nine years to improve upon them and hasn’t. He spoke about parts of the city that “look tired,” such as around Patton Creek and the Galleria.
“I hate to drive through the Galleria, they don’t maintain it, it is a horrible looking deal," he explained. "And it takes relationships, it takes getting out of City Hall, and not taking pictures of everybody, but actually going out and meeting with people and saying, hey, we can do better than this."
He said one of the factors that led him to run was a sense of indifference and complacency in the city about stormwater and flooding.
Leaning on his solution, he said, “It takes relationships. And we all have kinds of relationships. I feel like as the police chief, I have had relationships for the 20 and a half years that I've been there, I've had great relationships, Republican Senators with Republican legislators, I've been endorsed by the State Attorney Steve Marshall, who I hope to be the next, I expect to be the next U.S. Senator."
He then went through his full list of endorsements, pointing out he's been endorsed by the majority of the current sitting city councilmembers, the previous mayor and many others.
SEE: 'Let us embrace the change we need' — Majority of Hoover City Council endorses Nick Derzis for mayor
One of the biggest strengths, Derzis says, he’ll bring with him from the police department to the mayor’s office is his planning skills. “We have a fantastic city, but we've got to plan, and I see no plan.”
“My deal with our staff every day is that if you fail to plan, your plan will fail, right? You don't plan, it's gonna fail. And for nine years, I don't see a plan,” Derzis said.
The example Derzis gave, the performing arts center, which Brocato promised but did not deliver, went well beyond the timeline and caused budgetary concerns that required the city to move funds around or face penalties related to the bond they intended to us to fund it.
RELATED: Hoover City Council votes to reallocate Performing Arts Center money for 'critical' sewer needs
After describing that the council will see changes following this election cycle, too, with three open seats and two incumbents being challenged, he suggested that the city will have a fresh start.
“We're going to invigorate," Derzis declared. "We're going to have positive things happen.”
Derzis said one of his priorities will be breathing new life into parts of the city that have been neglected for the last nine years. He spoke about beautification to make something welcoming that residents can be proud of.
“Let me tell you, nothing worse than driving from a statement and Hoover, Alabama, down 31, and you've got on your left-hand side, you've got a gas station that’s been vacant for 10 years. It’s all concrete," he outlined. "That’s got to change.”
"I want people to feel proud driving into our city, not a concrete jungle," Derzis added.
Several times, Derzis plugged a Q&A video series he’s doing called Nick at Night.
The election will be held on August 26. Information about the election calendar and polling places from the City of Hoover Elections website.
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