3/13/17 Group Watch: Tuscaloosa Mayor Re-elected
Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox was re-elected this week to a fourth term by almost 90 percent of voters. Maddox thanked his supporters for ushering him victory in his first political challenge since 2005. Maddox bested four challengers for the mayor’s seat in 2005 after six-term Mayor Al Dupont chose not to seek re-election. Since then, Maddox has helped implement the Tuscaloosa Pre-K Initiative, which serves more than 250 at-risk preschoolers in nine schools, and the Tuscaloosa 311 non-emergency hotline system, which serves as a direct phone line to City Hall while monitoring and tracking everything from pothole complaints to garbage cart replacements. He also steered the city through the effects of a national economic downturn and guided Tuscaloosa’s recovery from the tornado of April 27, 2011, which is considered the most severe natural disaster the city has faced. His decision-making following the deadly storm that damaged or destroyed 12 percent of the city earned him the 2012 Municipal Leader of the Year by American City and County, a national publication that has focused on state and local government since 1909. He is a fellow with the Program on Crisis Leadership at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
