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Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Alex Wyatt speaks with Daniel Chaplin at a September City Council meeting where the council presented a proclamation recognizing October as Down Syndrome Acceptance Month.
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Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Alex Wyatt, who was council president until temporarily filling the role of mayor following Patrick McClusky’s retirement, looks to make city operations more efficient during his time in office.
Alex Wyatt never went looking to become mayor of Homewood, but nearly a decade of public service in the city’s government has landed him in the role.
Wyatt became mayor on Nov. 1 as Patrick McClusky retired from the position to spend more time with his family and pursue other opportunities. Wyatt told The Homewood Star he does not plan to run for the office in 2025, meaning this is a one-year-and-done term.
Entering the position amid a period of divisiveness over a vote to change the city government structure, a scandal involving stolen city funds and an unexpected change in public officials, Wyatt has his work cut out for him if he wishes to make progress in the next year.
“It’s not something I ever envisioned that I would ever be doing,” he said, “but at the same time, I am excited about it in the sense that it’s another opportunity to try to advance Homewood forward, make Homewood the best place that it can be for its residents and its businesses and the community.”
Coming off of a historic vote to alter the city’s form of government, Wyatt will lead Homewood through significant change as he finishes out the term in 2025.
Citizens voted to pass the city manager referendum on Sept. 24, with 1,787 voting yes and 1,565 voting no, so the city will transition to a city manager/council form of government on Nov. 3, 2025.
Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Alex Wyatt, who was council president until temporarily filling the role of mayor following Patrick McClusky’s retirement, looks to make city operations more efficient during his time in office.
Now, the council is looking to hire an interim city manager to help prepare the city for a smooth transition and to prevent Homewood from having a months-long void in the position as the next council and mayor work to hire the long-term city manager after they take office next year.
“I don’t want to speak for all of us but I think experience as a city or county manager is important -- someone who’s done that job and knows how to do it,” Wyatt said. “They can help us set up the city in the way it needs to be set up and function with that position. [We need] someone that can help us evaluate how to get a permanent person for that position and someone that has the training and qualifications in place so the city can benefit from that.”
While these changes may seem daunting, Wyatt has been involved in Homewood’s city government since July 2015, when he was selected to fill Heather Reid’s City Council seat representing Ward 4. He was elected for the seat again in 2016 before going on to run for council president in 2020. His time on the council, serving as president, president pro tempore and liaison to the library, Chamber of Commerce and Samford University, helped prepare him for the role.
Working as an attorney for the past two decades has also proved useful, but it’s the spirit of his council colleagues over the years that Wyatt said has been the most helpful.
“Everyone looks at everything through the prism of, ‘What do I think is best for Homewood?,’” Wyatt said of his fellow council members. “I have never served with anyone that I think is doing anything for the wrong reasons, or doing anything for personal reasons or anything else. Everyone that I have served with does what they think is best for Homewood, and what they think is best for Homewood may be different than what I think is best for Homewood, and that’s OK, but they’re doing it for that reason, and that is a testament to our city.”
Wyatt says working with such colleagues, citizens, businesses and the school board is the most rewarding thing about serving.
As for his motivation in getting involved in the city government, Wyatt and his family have been residents of Homewood since 2001. His love for the community and its people is what he said drove him to seek out the opportunity.
“Homewood had to that point — and has since — been very good to our family. We have loved living here. We’ve lived in the same house for the entire time,” Wyatt said. “We came back here and chose Homewood because we felt like Homewood was a unique place, between the community feel, between the schools, the diversity, we felt like Homewood offered something that other cities really couldn’t.”
Wyatt is a native of Mountain Brook, but he spent stints in Mobile, Tuscaloosa and Montgomery before returning to the Birmingham area. He received his bachelor’s degree from Spring Hill College and a juris doctorate degree from the University of Alabama School of Law.
Moving forward, Wyatt is hoping to lay the groundwork for a more efficient city government in the year he will serve as mayor, especially since he predicts a lot of turnover in the 2025 elections.
“There’s not a whole lot of time left in terms of, it takes a long time to get projects done and things of that sort,” he said. “But I think there’s enough time left for us to get the projects done that we need to get done, and to be somewhat of a place setter for the next council and mayor, whatever that looks like, and get the city to a place where everything’s where it should be to hand it off to the next group that comes in and try to make that transition as easy for them as possible.”
In the past year, the city has retired several department heads and had to fill those roles for city clerk, IT director and fleet management. They also hired former Birmingham finance director, Lester Smith, on Oct. 1 to take over as Homewood’s finance director after Robert Burgett retired and plead guilty to three counts of wire fraud on Oct. 23 after stealing nearly $950,000 from the city.
Wyatt said he hopes filling the role sets the tone for getting the city’s 12 departments in order and operating under a cohesive system.
After the year is up, Wyatt does not plan to run for reelection as mayor or council president, instead retiring from public office.
“I am retiring at the end of this term, which was always my plan, and I think I’m very proud of the work that we have done,” he said. “I will very proudly, and at the same time happily, hand it over to someone else next time. I think it’s time for someone else to start to do the two jobs that I’ve been doing, and I look forward to them doing that. But it’s something that has been immensely rewarding, and I look forward to doing it for one more year.”
