Home Page


Mayor

Mayor Loretta Spencer
Mayor Spencer was sworn in on Monday, October 4, 2004. Her duties are:
Appoints ----- All city Department heads
Enacts ----- Ordinances/Resolutions/Orders
Proposes ----- Annual Budget
Approves ----- Financing of City operations
Authorizes --- Contracts on behalf of the City

Telephone: (256) 427-5000
Fax: (256) 427-5257
Address: 308 Fountain Circle
Huntsville, Alabama 35801
E-Mail: Mayor Spencer

Loretta Spencer was elected to her third term as Mayor of Huntsville on September 14, 2004. She is the first woman to be elected and twice re-elected to the position, culminating a long history of local public service

Mayor Loretta Spencer
Loretta P. Spencer was elected to her third term as Mayor of Huntsville on September 14, 2004 after two previous successful terms leading the city to new accomplishments. She is the first woman to be elected, and twice re-elected to the position. Her long history of local public service has served her well in office. Having lived in Huntsville since age 7, she not only has witnessed the growth of Huntsville, but also has taken a major part in its development by serving as a volunteer on many different boards of directors and commissions that work with the city in its planning. Mayor Spencer was mentored by Joe Davis, the former Huntsville mayor, during the late 1970s and 1980s. It was from Mayor Davis that Mayor Spencer learned the ins and outs of politics, but Mayor Spencer credits her extensive volunteer work for teaching her three major skills she needed to succeed as mayor: how to work as part of a team, how to accomplish a lot with a limited budget, and to always remember to thank people who have helped you, no matter how small the task. Her involvement and genuine concern for her fellow Huntsvillians are her personal trademarks. Mayor Spencer’s love for Huntsville is very evident in the beautification projects that have made the city so welcoming and vibrant. Many positive changes have taken place during her tenure as mayor including the addition of new retail, construction of new schools and growth of the city’s energetic economy. The downtown area of Huntsville has begun a much-needed revitalization, seeing new businesses locating there with Mayor Spencer's encouragement. The city’s long term goal of a downtown convention hotel has been realized, and with it will come a newly renovated area of downtown near the VBC and Big Spring Park. Her understanding of Huntsville’s potential is seen through her emphasis on economic growth and development. For example, Cummings Research Park has expanded to become the second largest research park in the United States. National news media have written about her success in recognizing the importance that the many different entities of Huntsville play in the economy: the military, the space industry, the computer related industries, and, above all, the small businesses that expand into tomorrow's large corporations. During Mayor Spencer’s second term, she played a major part in bringing new industry to Huntsville with the additions of the Target Distribution Center and Toyota’s V-8 engine plant to Huntsville’s diverse range of local businesses. Her third term will see the completion of the new downtown hotel, two new schools and the celebration of Huntsville’s bicentennial. The city continues to be selected by national publications as a premiere location for both business and quality of life. One of the most prestigious recognitions is being placed at #8 in the Forbes magazine 2004 list of Best Places for Business. Ranked alongside cities like Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Raleigh-Durham, Huntsville is the smallest city on the list. Mayor Spencer’s civic endeavors have included service on various local boards and agencies, including the Huntsville-Madison County Senior Center; Junior League of Huntsville, United Way, Cummings Research Park; Huntsville Land Trust: City of Huntsville Planning Commission; Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce; Community Free Clinic; Huntsville-Madison County Botanical Garden; Crimestoppers; Boys & Girls Club; Army Relations Committee; First United Methodist Church Administrative Committee; Von Braun Center Board of Control; and the Huntsville/Madison County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Mayor has also been honored with numerous awards including the Women Honoring Women Award for Community Service; National Space Club Community Service Award; Huntsville Education Association Friend of Education Award; Virginia Hamill Simms Award for Contribution to the Arts; Boy’s Club Medallion; Girl Scouts of North Alabama Scroll of Honor; Senior Center Path of Honor; Girls Inc. “She Knows Where She’s Going” Award; United Cerebral Palsy Johnny Evans Humanitarian Award; and Alpha Delta Kappa Sorority’s Outstanding Teacher Award. She was presented with a special recognition award in July 2001 from the Beautification Board for her personal efforts toward making Huntsville a more attractive place to live through community beautification efforts. A former teacher in the Huntsville City School System, Mayor Spencer received her B. S. in Elementary Education from the University of Alabama. Mayor Spencer is the proud Mother of two and grandmother of four.

Mayor's Staff
Mayor Spencer’s Administrative Staff assists her in the daily activities of running the City of Huntsville. If you call the Mayor’s Office, you may be directed to one of the following individuals to assist you.

Terry Hatfield is the chief administrator under Mayor Spencer. He handles all policy and operational issues for the mayor as well as managing departmental and human resource issues.

Joe Vallely is responsible for economic development issues and opportunities.

Saundra Simmons is responsible for city employment activities, especially involving under-represented groups. She provides assistance in support of the Equal Employment Opportunity Program and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Melissa Bullard is responsible for communications activities in the mayor's office. She serves as media liaison and spokesperson, oversees correspondence and manages content of the city’s cable access channel.

Blake Hudson is the city’s videographer. His primary responsibility is to shoot and edit programming for the city’s cable access channel. He also assists city departments with video projects as needed.

Sharon King is responsible for city council paperwork and is assistant to Mr. Hatfield.

Carol Atchley is the mayor’s secretary and is responsible for setting the mayor’s schedule.

Joy McKee is responsible for the management and activities of Operation Green Team (OGT), Huntsville’s clean community initiative. She serves as director and is responsible for hosting educational events, clean-ups, and promoting recycling and a litter-free community to a variety of citizen groups, businesses and children.

Brian Walker assists Mrs. McKee with daily operations and community outreach at all events OGT participates in.

Priscilla Bone is the secretary for Operation Green Team.

Lana Stapler is the department secretary.

Mayor's Message
Huntsville was still a cotton market town of 16,000 people in 1950 when U.S. Sen. John Sparkman brought a band of German rocket scientists to Redstone Arsenal to develop rockets for the U.S. Army. The rest, as they say, is history. Huntsville has grown into the high-tech, family friendly community it is today. Our city is consistently named by national publications as one of the best places to live and work. Here are just a few of the reasons why.

Planning
Huntsville has been extremely fortunate throughout the years to have united support throughout the community in forming its vision and planning its future. I served as Chairman of the Planning Commission for many years before being elected Mayor, and I saw the cooperation first hand. Elected leaders, Redstone Arsenal Generals, NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center Directors, the Chamber of Commerce and community leaders have worked together for generations to see Huntsville’s present success and quality of life. The cooperation was there when Wernher von Braun brought his rocket team here, when the Army and NASA divided their missions, when a research university and a land grant university learned to live together, when the city bought hundreds of acres of land for a Research Park, and recently we’ve seen that cooperation extend to State government in the case of the Toyota project. The community support is there every time the City puts its resources towards attracting new opportunities. We have a can-do spirit in Huntsville. There’s enough credit to go around for everyone involved. We’re very excited for our future in Huntsville. We are planning for orderly growth. Sizeable projects are wonderful of course, but we have to make sure we provide basic services to our citizens. They have to know Huntsville is a safe place to work and live and raise a family. They have to know their children will receive a quality education. And our citizens have to feel like they have leaders that will always be looking to improve their quality of life. That’s a mission we have everyday for our citizens, not just for those prospects looking at Huntsville.

Growth Through Active Recruitment
The opening of Toyota’s engine plant establishes Huntsville as a destination site on the new automotive corridor developing in the South. The plant has created about 350 jobs, and will spur many more through the establishment of suppliers and possible plant expansion. We are also geographically located in the heart of the southeast U. S., and that has already landed us the Target Department Store Distribution Center which serves over 100 Target stores throughout the southeast. Huntsville has experienced tremendous retail growth in the past year. If you check with other cities in Alabama and with state government itself, you will find that Huntsville has been one of the exceptional cities in Alabama for retail sales growth and employment. While most cities and indeed state government has experienced flat or even negative growth in sales tax collections, Huntsville continues to do well. In October 2002, we saw the opening of Parkway Place Mall. This exciting upscale mall has become a destination for not only citizens of Huntsville, but residents in surrounding cities and counties. Many retail stores who have not been in our city are now located in the mall, and are enjoying great success and more new stores are on the way. The Parkway Place project is a wonderful example of a private-public partnership that has benefited our community in a variety of ways. Retail growth continues at a rapid pace in the western area of our city. New shops and restaurants are currently under construction with more announcements coming soon. The growth in this area is also evident through the increased construction of new homes. An especially exciting new project is the Providence development which will feature both residential and retail space in the same community neighborhood area. The City continues to pursue industrial recruitment of facilities that will contribute to the ad valorem tax base as well as provide employment opportunities. The encouragement of center city redevelopment and infill development also provide an expanded residential ad valorem tax base.

Education
Huntsville has for many years provided local support for education in addition to the basic funding provided by the State. Additional local taxes have allowed Huntsville to hire more teachers and offer an expanded, broader based curriculum for our students. In recent years, city government has taken a more innovative approach to helping our school system toward its education mission by establishing three TIFs (tax increment finance districts) to generate funds for education. TIFs redirect the new growth of property taxes toward new City projects. We have dedicated a substantial portion of that new revenue towards local education. The first educational project to benefit from a TIF is Huntsville High School, our city’s oldest high school. It is currently being completely rebuilt on the existing campus. Another TIF is funding two new schools in the growing western area of Huntsville. Plans are progressing for a new K-8 school and a high school. And yet another TIF is helping several schools in the northern area of Huntsville (near the Toyota plant) with capital improvement needs.

Economy
The strength of our local economy continues to be Huntsville’s Center of Excellence in high technology, professional and technical services; in short our brainpower. Our scientists, our engineers, and our dedicated workforce are all extremely important for federal programs related to national defense and space exploration. They are also key for many Fortune 500 companies and homegrown firms in the aerospace and electronics industry. Those constant federal dollars are vital in a global economy where we have seen quite a bit of volatility in recent months and years. Our Federal programs alone manage more than $15 billion dollars annually.

A Strong National Defense Commitment
And in closing, I would also quickly add, with the recent war in Iraq and the increasing concern over homeland security, our national defense is a mission that will and should remain the number one priority of the Federal Government. Huntsville has an outstanding sixty-year relationship with the U. S. Army, and our city is fully committed to support the very important role Redstone Arsenal has as part of that mission. Technology developed right here in our city was key to the success our forces achieved in Iraq. In addition, city government, along with many other city organizations, will work alongside Redstone Arsenal officials to prepare for upcoming BRAC inspections. Huntsville has a very proud role in this nation’s mission to defend our citizens and our soil and want to preserve the army base that helped shape the future of our great community.
As we move toward the celebration of Huntsville’s Bicentennial Anniversary in 2005, it is a very exciting time to be Mayor of this great city. We are proud of her rich heritage and the growth we have experienced. Yet, we are just becoming aware of the enormous potential that exists to mold Huntsville into the greatest city in America.

Customer Service
The Customer Service Center exists to help you get information, solve problems, or resolve complaints regarding any City of Huntsville department. Call (256)535-CITY, the one-stop phone number for all your City questions. Use this web site for easy access to the information and service you need. You can fill out an on-line request form, look up a phone number, and much more.

Telephone: (256) 535-2489
Fax: (256) 427-5257
Address: 308 Fountain Circle
Huntsville, Alabama 35801

Operation Green Team
Founded in 1977, Operation Green Team was originally known as the Huntsville Madison County Clean Community Office. It is a city-funded organization governed by a volunteer board of directors. This board meets monthly to plan strategies and projects aimed at accomplishing its goals and objectives, which center around education and beautification efforts, maintaining a sustained litter reduction, and improving waste handling practices in the community. Operation Green Team endeavors to make Huntsville a role model for the state, region and Nation in terms of landscape beauty, cleanliness, and environmental consciousness. A new name, new logo, and new mascots were recently developed to symbolize fresh, new ideas and progressiveness, and, as the name implies, "team work". But one thing that hasn't changed is Operation Green Team's continued affiliation with Keep America Beautiful, Inc., which is a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving waste handling practices in American communities. Through this affiliation, Operation Green Team is able to offer curricula that teach our youth how to manage the waste we produce, intelligently and responsibly. Operation Green Team's Coordinator and mascots are available for appearances at schools, youth and organizational events, or corporate events. Call our office if you or your group would like to become a part of the team. Remember Huntsville belongs to all of us, and it's up to all of us to Keep Huntsville beautiful.