Mayor McClusky: New mayor has spent a lifetime in Homewood, said he hopes for increased engagement

Patrick McClusky, a Homewood resident since birth and City Council representative since 2009, was elected mayor of Homewood on Oct. 6.

McClusky didn’t know what to expect when he began campaigning for mayor, he said — he’d never had to run a campaign like this before.

“It was a little odd for me,” he said. “I’ve never really had to run a campaign because ...my first term I was appointed, and then my next two terms I was unopposed.”

In the 2012 and 2016 elections, McClusky did some early campaigning to keep his seat on the council representing Ward 3. But when the qualifying deadlines passed and no candidates chose to run against him, he was able to end the campaign. This campaign lasted much longer — from his first announcement in June, to discovering in August there would be a runoff election, to finally winning the election in October, this campaign lasted over four months.

“It was eye-opening,” he said. “The amount of support was absolutely overwhelming. I was so pleased to see so many people that thought I would do a good job and that they believed in the vision I would like to have for this city.”

A LIFETIME IN HOMEWOOD

McClusky was born at Brookwood Hospital in 1978. He grew up off of Columbiana Road, and his grandmother lived on the same street two houses down.

He graduated from Homewood High School in 1996. He was in the show choir and said it got popular around the same time he was in high school. He played varsity soccer for the school and was voted “Most School Spirit” his senior year.

Three of his four years at HHS, McClusky was involved with the Student Government Association.

“I liked being involved and being a part of what was going on in the school,” he said. “Talking with teachers and getting to work with different students — I’ve always been a real fan of people and working with people, so that seemed like a really good fit.”

One thing he remembers about his classmates from high school was how many people stayed in Homewood.

“It’s so funny to look back on how many people graduated from Homewood in the four years I was there, whether they were older than me or younger than me, that all live in Homewood now,” he said. “The friendships are something I cherish very much from Homewood.”

When McClusky’s grandmother died during his senior year, McClusky decided to become another lifetime resident of Homewood. He moved into his grandmother’s house while he attended college at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and he never left. He lives there now with his wife and three children.

“I could literally hit a nine iron out of my backyard and hit my old house,” he said. “I didn’t leave West Homewood at all.”

STRONGER THAN EVER

His mom was a teacher at Hall-Kent Elementary School, so McClusky decided to start college at UAB, majoring in education. He then swapped to a business major, but right before his senior year began, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 testicular cancer.

He had been having pain in his back for weeks but thought it was from working out, he said. He was walking through the former Bruno’s location at Wildwood Parkway with his then-fiancée, Leah, getting together somethings for his rehearsal dinner, which was to take place later the next day.

Suddenly, he fell to the ground in pain.

“I dropped like a stone,” he said. “I said, ‘OK, something’s wrong.’”

He and his fiancée went to the doctor the next day, which was the day of the rehearsal dinner and the day before their wedding.

“I said, ‘Hey doc, I just need some pain medicine or something. My back’s killing me. I’ve got to get through this wedding,’” McClusky said.

The doctor ordered a CT scan and discovered McClusky had cancer that had spread to his back, chest and lungs.

With that news in mind, McClusky still went to his rehearsal dinner and said he was able to focus on his wedding and his wife. They cut their honeymoon short by two days. It was too late to start radiation, bu tMcClusky’s oncologist said he wanted to start chemotherapy right away.

For the next four months, McClusky had chemotherapy treatments every day, but the effects and feeling of sickness lasted much longer, he said.

“We were troopers all the way through it,” he said. “Leah was an absolute saint for starting off her newly married life this way. It felt like we went through 30 years of marriage in the first six months. But we made it through, and there’s nothing we can’t handle now.”

McClusky has now been cancer-free for almost 19 years. He was too sick then to finish college, but when he started to feel better, his fraternity brother helped him get a job at a food service company called United Food Service. This kicked off his career in the food service industry, and now he is director of sales at an import foods company called Tsitalia.

“The opportunity to work for Tsitalia came up about six years ago, and I decided that I wanted to focus more on a very small, family-owned business,” he said.

GETTING INTO GOVERNMENT

When Mayor Scott McBrayer was elected in 2008, he asked JJ Bischoff to be his chief of staff. Bischoff had been on the City Council since 2000 representing Ward 3. McClusky said about 11 people interviewed for his seat on the council, and McClusky was chosen.

Other than helping out with the schools, McClusky hadn’t been involved much with the city government. But he figured he would give it a try, he said, and 11 years later, he looks back on his time on the council with affection.

“Some of the biggest things I’ve enjoyed are getting to meet so many people,” he said. “It’s really neat to actually get to meet your neighbors and to see how the city is run. It’s been a whirlwind of stuff the past 11 years, learning to be on different committees and going through the city budget and seeing how a city is actually run.

“Everybody talks about how Homewood is such a small community, and it is, but there area lot of people who make this city run the way it does. To get to meet so many of them and form relationships with them, it’s been a pleasure.”

Becoming mayor of Homewood has always somewhat been in the back of his mind, McClusky said. He started seriously thinking about it around October 2019.

“I thought, I’ll have done three terms on City Council, and it’s either time for me to step up or step off,” he said. “Why not try it and see how things go? And we’ll go from there.”

The first election was Aug. 25. Although McClusky received the most votes among three candidates, he did not reach 50% of the total vote. The runoff election was held Oct. 6. Out of 4,826 total votes, McClusky received 2,727 votes (57%). His opponent, Chris Lane, received 2,099 votes (43%).

McClusky said he wasn’t sure how the election would turn out. Runoff elections typically don’t have as much participation, he said. However, the Oct. 6 election had about as many voters as the Aug. 25 election.

“The people of Homewood just showed up,” he said. “I’m humbled by their decision, and I’m excited. I’m ready to get to work.”

Lane said he’s “not missing a beat” and will continue attending all City Council meetings and committee meetings.

“I hope the best for Patrick,” Lane said. “I hope he follows my platform — because he ran on a lot of my platform. I think he will do very well for the city.”

McClusky said one of the things he hopes residents will see over the next four years is increased engagement.

“My wife and I, we’re out in the community,” he said. “We go to the football games. We go to the show choir concerts. We’re at all the different festivals. You’re going to see me out in the community.

“I want people to stop and say hello to me and shake my hand and tell me, ‘Here’s a concern I’ve got.’ I think that’s something that’s been missing over the last couple of years.”

He would also like to see more cohesiveness between the mayor’s office and the City Council, he said.

“We’ve got a really good group — a much more diverse group now, which is fantastic,” he said. “I hope to see some different perspectives on how the city can do better for its residents and businesses.”

Two City Council seats were also on the ballot during the Oct. 6 runoff election. Andrew Wolverton won re-election in Ward 2 with 487 votes out of 919. Nick Sims will take McClusky’s seat in Ward 3, receiving 649 votes out of 1,205.

“Nick is one of those guys that has a completely different perspective,” McClusky said. “He’s got a great resume, and he’s got a lot of support. I think he’ll do a good job.”

The new mayor, City Council president and City Council representatives will take office Nov. 2.