Sam Gaston marks 25th year as city manager

“If you’ll look around the country, or just look at the history in terms of city managers, city managers don’t tend to stay in a city maybe five, six years on average,” former Mountain Brook Fire Chief Robert Ezekiel said.

And this June, City Manager Sam Gaston celebrated not his fifth or 10th anniversary, but his 25th.

“When I came here, I thought I would be here probably, six to seven years and I would go on to another community,” Gaston said. “Next thing you know, it was 25 years.”

Gaston, a proud Auburn University alumnus, worked for a few different cities in planning and management roles, including Decatur, Gulf Shores, Anniston and Powder Springs, Georgia, before landing in Mountain Brook. 

While in Powder Springs, he said he knew the city manager’s position was opening soon in Mountain Brook, but he hadn’t planned on applying — until his former boss called.

“He said, ‘They really want somebody with Alabama experience, and we want you back in Alabama,’” Gaston said. He knew Mountain Brook as having a reputation for being one of the best communities in the state and the history of the city manager’s role in the community. He knew Mountain Brook valued professional management of the local government. 

“That was some of the draw,” he said. When his home in Alabama didn’t sell after working in Georgia for almost a year, Gaston decided to try for Mountain Brook.

“So out of 340 people who applied for the job, I was very fortunate to be one of six to be chosen for an interview,” he said. 

He was named the city manager of Mountain Brook in June 1993.

Gaston wears many hats, said City Clerk and Finance Director Steve Boone, who Gaston helped hire not long after he started for the city. He described Gaston’s amount of time with the city as “an anomaly.”

“He’s definitely the longest-serving city manager I’ve known,” Boone said.

In his time as city manager, he’s worked on projects such as village renovations, the Master Sidewalk Plan and the Cahaba River Walk, as well as expanding the city’s commerce through Overton Village, Cahaba Village and Lane Parke. 

Gaston said solving problems and crossing things off his to-do list each day is his favorite thing to do. But the development he’s most proud of?

“I think my proudest achievement is the outstanding staff we’ve built here and how they just really go the extra mile,” Gaston said. Because he hires department heads and occasionally sits in on interviews, he’s a key factor in deciding who is going to work for and represent the city’s government.

“Mountain Brook is a special place to work. The culture and philosophy are the cornerstones of what set this organization apart. This culture has not happened by accident,” Boone said. “Sam, along with the governing body, set the tone and course and provide the employees with the tools and support to function and serve at the highest level … I attribute much of this success to Sam.”

Ezekiel was another one of those individuals who Gaston hired, only months after he entered his role as city manager. Ezekiel said much of the atmosphere that is seen in City Hall now is thanks to Gaston, as he treats people there as a partner, not necessarily an employee.

“Sam is the kind of person who puts the needs of others before himself … He values other people, which is a great thing,” Ezekiel said. He said Gaston knows the names of everyone in the city, and regularly asks coworkers how their families are doing. Boone said Gaston “has never met a stranger.” It’s a quality that Ezekiel called both endearing and genuine, while noting Gaston is an excellent leader for the city.

“When things didn’t go right, Sam was always taking more than his share of the blame. And when things went well, he took less than his share of the credit,” Ezekiel said. “If you want to be a professional and working in a professional organization, that’s the environment you want to be in.”

As the city manager, Gaston works closely with all department heads on projects, proposals and questions and concerns. He’s the first person people call when they have a concern or problem within the city, and he’s likely able to either answer a question directly or reach out to someone who can. 

He’s always working towards improvement, in one way or another, but has found one obstacle.

“The biggest challenge has been the resistance to change. We have some people who think everything should stay the same,” he said. 

Over the years, Gaston has been part of the overarching project to improve the villages and the communities, while “still preserving what makes Mountain Brook special.” One project in particular that he remembers citizens reacting negatively toward is Cahaba Village. 

“I would say that the 95 percent of them today would say, ‘You know what, that turned out pretty well,’” he said. “And you have to admit now that that has turned out to be absolutely fantastic.”

Gaston said he enjoys the challenges his job presents to him and he’s thankful for the support that the Mountain Brook City Council and mayor have given him over the years. And with more than two decades down, he doesn’t plan on leaving any time soon.

“You know, 25 years, when you love what you do and you love the people you work with … 25 years goes by extremely fast. It seems like it’s been so much shorter of a period of time,” he said. “I plan on working several more years, and I hope whoever replaces me in the future will continue on and have the same passion and enthusiasm that I tried to display in my [time] here.”