Meet Ward 4 Representative Alex Wyatt

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Alex Wyatt was named the new Ward 4 representative at the June 22 city council meeting. He was chosen out of a field of 11 candidates and will be sworn in on July 13 prior to the council meeting. Before he takes office, Wyatt sat down with The Homewood Star to talk about why he applied for the position and what he’s excited about.

Tell us about your life here in Homewood.

I moved here about 14 years ago with my wife [Megan] and my then four or five-year-old daughter [Riordan].

When we decided to move back [from Mobile], we looked around, and this was where I wanted to live. We’ve been here ever since and now have our son [Ander] as well. My daughter’s gone through and graduated, my son will be in seventh grade this fall and we’ve just loved it. We’ve loved everything about it, and it’s been great to us.

What made you decide to apply for the open Ward 4 position?

After 14 years of taking from Homewood, I thought it was probably time to start giving something back. It’s something I’ve been interested in and wanted to see if I could help give something back to Homewood and help it take its next step in the evolution of the city.

What will you bring to the council?

What I hope to bring, at least, is that by trade, I’m an attorney and do litigation and mediation. Clients or parties that I’m not representing come to me with challenges and say, “How can we solve these? What are the answers to these? How can we make things better?”

That’s what I’m hoping to do with Homewood as well. Whatever challenges come up, that I’m able to offer my insight and bring people together and find a resolution to it.

Are there any particular issues you’d like to bring before the council?

There are always going to be unexpected issues that come up that citizens are and should bring up. I think Homewood also has some large, overarching issues that I think the council recognizes, and I hope to help them deal with.

The average age of the Homewood population is dropping significantly, which is a wonderful thing. This is a great issue to have, but what it means is we have a whole lot more school-age children… Everything sort of gets multiplied, and so Homewood will need to deal with that.

We need to continue to work on making Homewood the best city that it can be, and making it that way for everyone.

How will this council role complement your positions with the Homewood City Schools Foundation, the Homewood Athletic Foundation and the Safe and Healthy Homewood Coalition?

What has always been good about Homewood is that we have all these organizations with all these people involved, and we should take advantage of that.

The hope and desire is that we get the best people in the best positions, and then we work together to achieve whatever we need to.

What do you think of your fellow Ward 4 representative, Barry Smith?

I’ve actually known Barry for a while. We have sons the same age, and so I think a lot of Barry. Barry and I have been on organizations together and obviously have watched our sons grow up together, even though they went to different elementary schools.

I think the world of her. She’s such a hard worker and she’s good at getting people involved and organizing. I just couldn’t say anything nicer about her.

What would you like your new constituents to know?

First and foremost, I think I’d like them to know that I’m available. Whenever they need me – whether it’s something that just affects their property or something that affects the city as a whole – I’m available to them and I’m there to listen and to serve them.

Secondly, I’d just like them to know that I’m passionate about Homewood. I love Homewood and have lived here for what feels like a long time, at least. I feel I know Homewood. I love my neighbors, I love the other citizens of Homewood.

I’m passionate about taking that and building on it and making Homewood even better.

What are you looking forward to about your swearing in on July 13?

I’m just looking forward to getting it done and being able to hit the ground running. I’m sort of anxious to get things started and to help Barry out because I know she’s doing it all by herself for Ward 4. I’m looking forward to helping her and the other council people out and to just get moving as fast as we can.

To contact Alex Wyatt, email awyatt@pljpc.com.