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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

CALERA – Calera City Council member Kenny Dale Cost announced his campaign to become the next mayor of the city of Calera on Thursday, April 24.

Cost has served on the Calera City Council since his election in 2020 where he received 78 votes.

According to an official press release, Cost is a local homebuilder and has worked to be known as a problem solver and hard worker during his time on the Calera Council while supporting local businesses and schools.

“Over the past year, I have been contacted by citizens from throughout the community who wanted a change in the mayor’s office and encouraged me to run,” Cost said. “I sincerely believe that it is time for our city to have a different style of leadership. Cooperation, accountability and listening to the citizens as to what they want our city to be are important aspects of helping Calera grow in the right direction.”

Cost complimented the local schools and stressed the importance of small businesses in building the town while preserving the characteristics that make Calera a great place to live.

“Calera really is a great place to live for people of all ages. That is a rare quality for a city and we need to keep that character while making sure we are working together to keep growing,” Cost said. “Business, education and government leaders need to work together, not against each other. That is what will make us successful.”

In addition to the mayor and City Council seats being up for reelection, the city of Calera’s form of government will change after the next municipal election. The Calera City Council approved a resolution to make the mayor a non-voting member of the council during a meeting on Aug. 19, 2024.

After cities in Alabama surpass a population of 12,000, the mayor no longer sits on the council or has voting power on the council and instead has veto power. In the 2020 decennial federal census, Calera had 16,494 inhabitants. Most of Calera’s surrounding municipalities have already moved on to this form of government, including Alabaster, Pelham and Helena.

Following the next election, a presiding officer, such as a city council president, will take on several of the responsibilities the mayor currently handles.

The Calera City Council has also discussed the possibility of pursuing a council-manager government which would require approval of Calera citizens through a vote as well as a petition with signatures from residents who voted in the last election.

The municipal election for 2025 will take place on Aug. 26.