Photo courtesy of Kimberly Cook
Kimberly Cook is seeking election to Vestavia Hills Council Place 2.
Kimberly Cook has been serving as a member of the Vestavia Hills City Council for nine years, and now she’s asking voters to give her another four years in the Aug. 26 municipal election.
Cook is facing a challenge from Karl Julian for her Place 2 seat on the council.
She said she has thoroughly enjoyed these past nine years because they have given her an opportunity to meet so many more people in the city.
“The more I have gotten to know people, the more I’ve grown to love our city — the whole city, not just my neighborhood,” Cook said. “It’s been a pleasure.”
And there are some important projects that she still wants to address, especially the redevelopment of the lower part of U.S. 31, she said. “I want to see some real progress down there,” she said.
There also are important projects that need to be completed in Liberty Park, Cook said. A lot of the increases in revenue coming to the city right now are due to the growth in The Bray at Liberty Park and the Medical Properties Trust construction project in Liberty Park, she said.
And it’s only right that that money be used to make sure that part of town receives equitable city services, she said. There are issues with police and fire response times in Liberty Park and Altadena, and those need to be addressed, she said.
And if there is enough money in the budget for a library facility next to the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex, she wants to see that project come to fruition as well, she said.
“I serve the entire city. I don’t play favorites, but when it comes to my neighborhood, sometimes it has been forgotten,” Cook said. “We want to have parity across the city. We want to have the same things in all our schools. We want to have the same things in terms of our police presence. That’s something I’ve been pursuing this whole time.”
Cook said she was one of the primary people pushing for parity among foreign language, robotics and math team programs in Vestavia’s middle schools before she got elected, and achieving that parity has helped build unity in the city. She wants to see that continue, she said.
Cook said one of the things of which she is most proud from the past nine years on the council is the steps the city has taken to increase transparency in city finances. Under the leadership of City Manager Jeff Downes and Assistant City Manager Cinnamon McCulley, the city’s website has been revamped and now includes an online budget book and financial transparency portal that makes information readily available for the public without having to ask and wait for it.
The school system, after the defeat of its property tax increase proposal in 2023, followed suit and has made more of its financial information available online as well, she said.
Cook said she also is proud of the many infrastructure, park and school projects the city has been able to undertake with its Community Spaces Plan and the way city officials went about coming up with that plan.
The city held 33 town hall meetings and spent two years listening to people and drafting that plan, which included raising the city’s sales tax by one penny on the dollar in 2018. By the time it came up for a vote, not a single person spoke against it, Cook said.
“People knew what the money was going for, and they approved of it,” she said.
Initially, it was just a park improvement plan, but after listening to people, plans also were added to improve the stormwater infrastructure, sidewalks and street paving, and one-fourth of the extra sales tax revenue was set aside for schools, she said.
Some of the new projects included the total revamping of Wald Park to include a new aquatic complex, athletic fields, amphitheater, pavilions and dog park and the conversion of the former Gold’s Gym into a new Civic Center, plus renovations at the Cahaba Heights Athletic Complex and construction of a new New Merkel House for senior citizens.
The city also has been able to contribute money toward the refurbishing of Hoover’s old Berry Middle School that has become Vestavia’s Pizitz Middle School, as well as replacing the artificial turf on Vestavia Hills High School’s Buddy Anderson Field, among other school system projects.
“It’s important for people to understand that that money was not just for parks,” Cook said.
Cook was among proponents of a property tax increase for schools that failed to pass in 2023, but she said she now has heard loud and clear that residents don’t want such an increase.
She has emphasized that only voters can approve a property tax increase.
Now, “what we can do for the school system is keep growing our economy,” and make sure that residential growth doesn’t negatively impact the schools, Cook said.
She said The Bray at Liberty Park will have a minimal impact on schools and yet provide an estimated $120 million to the school system over 25 years.
Some people have complained that Cook, who is very active in Republican politics and also is the City Council’s liaison to the school board, has been trying to pack the school board with conservatives. Cook has maintained she doesn’t use politics as a litmus test when considering school board candidates. She also noted she is just one of five council members who vote on school board appointments and that the council on at least two occasions has not selected her top choice for the school board.
“My primary focus in appointing is finding the very best person in that particular pool of applicants for that particular board, whether it’s school board or planning and zoning or something else,” Cook said. “For school board, I’m looking for diversity of school zone and relevant professional and life experience. Most of all, I want a person who is respected and engaged in the community — someone the community trusts.”
Cook said she also thinks it’s important to have council members who are supportive of the school board and superintendent.
“We have a very good superintendent,” she said. “We have come a long way in terms of transparency and in terms of making good decisions, and I would hate to see that change.”
