By Quin Hillyer at The Washington Examiner;

As the rest of the country fights ever more loudly over statues, race, history, presidential deportment, and just about anything else, the city of Mobile, Ala. on Tuesday re-elected a smiling, upbeat, unifying mayor after four years of significant accomplishments.

Mayor Sandy Stimpson is an example of politics and civic leadership done right. Other politicians should emulate him….

[Later in the column]….

Stimpson inherited somewhat of a financial mess in city government. The city’s bonded indebtedness pushed the limit of sustainability, Mobile did not maintain the supposedly-required reserve/rainy day fund, and it had a backlog of “infrastructure” needs with no money directly dedicated to roads, parks, and the like.

Stimpson worked to unify a somewhat fractious City Council, and together, they achieved admirable results. Four years later, the debt load has been reduced by $72 million (about a third), the reserve fund stands at $20 million (for an annual budget of about $250 million), $21 million is dedicated annually to infrastructure improvements throughout the city, police and fire departments have received several raises and a large supply of new vehicles, and both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have upgraded Mobile’s once-dodgy credit ratings while publicly praising the mayor’s “improved management practices.”…

[Still later in the article]:

Most remarkably, Stimpson has done this with an almost perpetual smile on his face, with a staff made up of people of varying races and ideologies (core managerial competence being the byword), and with only a few early, transitional public hiccups.

Most remarkably, Stimpson has done this with an almost perpetual smile on his face, with a staff made up of people of varying races and ideologies (core managerial competence being the byword), and with only a few early, transitional public hiccups…

[The full column, including a reference to Jack Kemp, is here.]  

 

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