Former city councilor Steve Ammons running for county commission

A former Vestavia Hills City Council member is seeking to return to the field of public service, this time as a Jefferson County Commissioner.

Steve Ammons, who served on the City Council from 2008 to 2016, is seeking the soon to be vacant seat of District 5 Commissioner David Carrington, who determined not to run for re-election to seek a bid for governor, but has since dropped out.

Ammons said Carrington was the first person he spoke with about a possible run for the office, and after getting positive feedback from the commissioner, reached out to other contacts.

“I probably spent three weeks talking to folks to make sure it was going to be a viable campaign,” he said.

Ammons has been in the private sector after dropping out of the 2016 runoff for Place 3 on the City Council, but has not been absent from the Vestavia Hills community.

Currently, he is the owner and operator of Background IQ, an employment-screening company that does background checks for businesses.

Ammons is the founder and president of the Vestavia Hills Police Foundation, the current president of the Vestavia Hills Sunrise Rotary, a member of the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce and the vice president of the Mid-Alabama Republican Club.

The former city councilor said his involvement with the county's industrial development board brought him back to his time with the council and the work the group did to increase economic development in the city.

“It really kind of rekindle that fire to  want to be a part of economic development and work the process that we did so well on the city council,” he said.

If elected, he said his primary goal would be to foster multi-jurisdictional cooperation to create economic development opportunities all around his district and the rest of Jefferson County.

“I’d like to see the commission be that cultivating governing body for the municipalities,” he said. "I think there are ways we can work together."

Ammons said he hopes to take his experience as a city councilor and use it to push the county forward, while maintaining his belief in small government.

“I not only come at things from a municipal perspective and municipal experience, but from a business perspective,” he said.

Ammons will face State Rep. Jack Williams in the June 5 primary. Williams announced his bid for county commissioner in May 2017.

For more information about Ammons' campaign, visit steveammons.com.