Mayor’s Minute: March 2020

I love Mountain Brook and, apparently, so do you!

As a lifelong resident of Mountain Brook, I fear I sometimes take our community for granted. This is an incredible place to live with its picturesque villages, many diverse eateries and multitude of unique shops. It’s a good idea to, every so often, see what our residents have to say about the job we are doing, so late last year we hired a national firm to perform a citywide resident satisfaction survey.

Having been in the mayor’s position for over three years, I know how great all our people are at their jobs. Our city manager, Sam Gaston, has done a wonderful job finding exceptional departmental leaders who, in turn, have done a great job of building their own teams. And it is “people” who make the difference … but even I was surprised at the survey results. The survey compared us to other surveyed communities across America with populations under 50,000 residents (we have 21,000 residents). Out of 35 categories measured, Mountain Brook ranked No. 1 in the nation in 19 categories!

Just a few ‘number-ones’ that stuck out for me were:

► Overall quality of life.

► Image of our city.

► Quality of public services.

► Quality of public library and services.

► Customer service received from city employees.

► Overall quality of local fire protection services and emergency medical services (EMS).

► Overall quality of local police protection.

► Mowing/trimming/maintenance along streets, sidewalks and other public areas.

Remember, in these categories, we are rated No. 1 in the nation! That is simply unprecedented!

Outsiders also noticed Mountain Brook. Business Insider magazine ranked Mountain Brook the second-best suburb in the nation. We are also listed No. 8 in the nation for percentage of adults with a college degree (85.1%) and No. 19 in the nation for highest mean family income.

This is a special place, and I’m proud to call Mountain Brook my home and have the opportunity to work with so many great city employees. If you see one of our police officers, firemen or city employees, please take a moment to thank them for their service. You’ll make their day.