As first reported by The Homewood Star, Tony Petelos, the former Hoover mayor and county manager of Jefferson County, told The Homewood Star he would consider coming out of retirement on an interim basis to lay the groundwork for a permanent hire.
“I’m a lifetime resident of Jefferson County and was able to set up a new form of government for Jefferson County, and would be able to do it for the City of Homewood,” he told The Star on Thursday, two days after voters approved the referendum authorizing the change in government.
Homewood voters on Tuesday authorized the city to change its form of government from a mayor/council format to a city manager/council structure. As part of that transition, the council plans to hire an interim manager to initiate changes and prepare for a full-time hire to be made by the next council and mayor. New leadership will take over after city elections in 2025.
Petelos, 71, retired from the county manager position of Jefferson County in 2021. Asked directly if he had talked to representatives from Homewood or interviewed for a role, Petelos declined to answer. He did tell The Star he would be happy to talk with Homewood’s City Council and learn more about their needs, and clarified he has no interest in the permanent city manager role.
Petelos, 71, said he has no interest in the permanent city manager role but would consider coming out of retirement on an interim basis to lay the groundwork for a permanent hire.
In April 2021, Petelos told the Hoover Sun, he thoroughly enjoyed being Hoover’s mayor and had a great leadership team surrounding him, particularly former Executive Director Allen Pate, who handled much of the day-to-day administration.
He has a lot of great memories from his time of mayor. Those include Hoover native Taylor Hicks winning season five of the “American Idol” singing competition and Hoover dancing instructor Fabian Sanchez appearing as a professional on “Dancing with the Stars,” not to mention all the SEC Baseball Tournaments, Regions Charity Classic golf tournaments, ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings.
He very fondly remembers when President George W. Bush visited the Hoover Public Safety Center in 2007 to see the city’s program for using ethanol in city vehicles while in town for a fundraiser for Gov. Bob Riley. Petelos said Bush invited him to ride in his limousine with him to the fundraiser, and he remembers thinking how proud his mother would have been of him.
Tuesday night, former Homewood mayoral candidate Chris Lane posted on Facebook that Petelos would be the choice to lead the transition.
“I’ve had several people ask me (about his name being linked to the role on social media),” said Petelos, a UAB graduate whose career in politics also includes serving in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1986-97. “I said, ‘Well, you know, I don’t know.’ I need more information before I can make any statement (on whether he would officially apply for the ro
Petelos would bring decades of experience to the role. He served as Hoover’s mayor from 2004-2011, leading the city through a period of dynamic growth. He then left to become Jefferson County’s first county manager in 2011, a move that stunned many observers considering the county was mired in controversy and lacking public trust after 22 county officials were imprisoned on corruption charges in the preceding years.
“We inherited a mess,” Petelos told the Hoover Sun in 2021, just before his retirement. “It was a challenge.”
“It was about as bad as I expected,” Petelos told The Sun, referring to the county’s condition when he came into the job. “The first six years were chaotic — issue after issue after issue.”
But by the time he retired, the county had emerged from bankruptcy and was in a much better position financially, with more than $100 million in general fund reserves and another $16 million in a “catastrophic” contingency fund, Petelos said.
Just several weeks ago, the City of Hoover underwent a forensic audit that shows that following Petelos’ term in office, the city went through a rough period with checks and balances failing to work the way they were intended, personal vendettas finding their way into meeting agendas, and squabbles between city councilors, the mayor, and the city attorney. If Petelo gets done in Homewood, he could go home and clean up the mess the current leadership has allowed to defile the pristine city hall he left. Could Petelos’ post-retirement include cleaning up a mess he worked hard to prevent.
