Emily Featherston
As candidates introduced themselves at an early August meeting, the lone city councilor not running for re-election looked on with a smile.
When everyone had finished, he leaned into his microphone.
“And I’m Jim Sharp, and I’m still not running,” he said, getting a hearty laugh from the audience.
Sharp has held a place on the Vestavia Hills City Council since 2000, making him the longest-standing member of the council whose term ends this November.
“I’m honored and blessed to have served every citizen in Vestavia Hills the last 16 years,” Sharp said.
During that initial 2000 election, Sharp said he was approached by V3 – Vestavia Voters with Vision, a resident action group that wanted to make changes in the Vestavia Hills city government. After polling citizens, Sharp said the group discovered a number of issues that were important to residents, including long-range planning, economic development, recruitment of new businesses and changing the form of government.
Because his views lined up with V3’s, the group encouraged him to run, Sharp said.
In the 16 years since that first election, Sharp said he thinks the city has accomplished a number of those goals and more, from changing the city’s form of government and hiring a city manager to creating a city newsletter by coordinating with the school system and Chamber of Commerce.
Sharp said he also thinks the city has made strides economically, growing from only around 24 days of reserve funds to nearly 101 days, or $9.7 million, as well as a capital reserve fund.
“Economic development is going great, our communications with our city schools and our chamber of commerce is very good, and I just want to let people know that I appreciate the opportunity that I’ve had to represent Vestavia Hills,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed helping push Vestavia forward in a proactive stance.”
For the incoming mayor and city council, he said he hopes the city will continue to aggressively pursue continued economic development, following through on parks and recreation expansion and working to better coordinate with the school system.
“I look forward to our staff working so hard to work on the projects that are in place, because there are many.”
For any newly elected officials, Sharp said they will find a strong team at their disposal.
“Any new person to the council will find that the staff is unbeatable. We are blessed with the best police chief and fire chief and finance director, city clerk, city manager,” he said. “You couldn’t go pick a better staff.”
Now that much of his time will be freed up, Sharp said he is hoping to increase his efforts with the Chamber of Commerce, where he has served previously as a board member, and keep pushing the community forward.
“We are blessed to be in such a wonderful city such as Vestavia Hills,” he said.
