From Aug. 25, 2020 until May 7, the Frank Brocato for Mayor Facebook page was silent. Then, with a logo and cover image change, the silence was broken as the mayor, embroiled in controversy, launched his reelection campaign.
In a video message posted on May 8, Brocato seemingly took credit for the best of Hoover without addressing any significant concerns facing the City.
In the post, Brocato said, "The facts don't lie: Hoover is hitting its stride! I'm proud to serve you as the Mayor of Hoover. We've worked every day to make Hoover one of the best places to live, work, and raise a family in Alabama."
Brocato's straight-to-social-media video campaign launch sharply contrasted with the widely attended event held by his opponent, police chief Nick Derzis.
Last year, the City of Hoover underwent a forensic audit that cost the City almost $250,000 and found that under Brocato's watch, "All of the Finance Department staff interviewed by Kroll were of the view that their teams were understaffed, lacked documented policies and procedures, and did not obtain formal training on their roles and responsibilities."
The report said, "The dearth of experience and apparent lack of accounting skills and resources within the Finance Department has been present for several years and continues today... The lack of a fiscal policies and procedures manual was also raised by BMSS as findings in both of their FY 2021 and FY 2022 audits. This finding was noted by BMSS in each of their Management Letters to the Mayor, City Council and Management of Hoover, as shown in the excerpt below."
Brocato continues to tout that the report found no crimes committed during the time window examined.
Recently, the City was forced to reallocate money slated for a performing arts center to cover the cost of what the mayor's office described as "dire" sewer and stormwater projects. The money was restored at the following meeting when the council agreed to amend and lower its reserve fund requirements.
The race is on track to be one of the most expensive in the City's history. The March campaign finance reports filed with the Alabama Secretary of State on April 1 show that Derzis raised $156,200.00 while Brocato raised $101,050 during that same period.
The April reports, due in May, showed that Derzis again outraised Brocato, bringing in the fourth highest amount in the state and giving him $100,252 more cash at the end of the reporting cycle than Brocato has.
Brocato's campaign website, which was reported in his April campaign and finance report as an in-kind contribution to his campaign by Hoover Planning and Zoning Board's Jason Lovoy's company Infomedia, says, "Frank is a forward-focused leader working to improve on the great strides already made for the City of Hoover. He has vision for watching trends that are occurring with a changing national, state and local landscape.
His opening message ends with the note, "He's ready to continue serving the City of Hoover and would be honored to serve the community for four more years."
The election will be held on August 26.
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