Mayor Marty Handlon putting Alabaster on the map

by: Matt Haskins
The City of Alabaster is rapidly becoming one of the biggest cities in the Birmingham Metro.
In the past ten years the city of Alabaster has experienced its population grow from 15, 000 to nearly 30,000 residents.
In that span, the city has also experienced its budget grow from 9 million dollars to almost 25 million dollars
That's enormous growth.
With expansion like that the city of Alabaster needed the right infrastructure and Financial oversight to service the people that live there.

Mayor Handlon in her office

Mayor Handlon moved to Alabaster from Montgomery in 2006 and began her career in the city's government as an Internal Auditor for former Mayor David Frings, this experience helped her get an inside view of how things were being accounted for and felt like there needed to be more Financial oversight over the city.
With over 20 years of experience in Accounting and Financial Management she knew what she had to do, but when her position of Internal Auditor was terminated she felt like there was one needed along with other positions to ensure the financial growth of the city.
Handlon wanted to use her experience to guide the city in the right direction, so figured that if Mayor Frings wasn't leading the city in the right direction. She would.
And that's exactly what she did, winning the election with over 55 percent of the votes.
She immediately began with infrastructure by making sure the Police and Fire Departments, along with Parks and Recreation were fit to service the community.

Accounting, Finance, and Revenue Departments

In addition, Mayor Handlon hired a Financial Director and City Planner and filled vacant city government positions with highly qualified people to help guide growth.
A few projects happening now for the city include widening highway-119 to a four lane road. And current construction of a brand new 90-million dollar high school of 380-thousand square feet academic facility.
When construction of the new Thompson High School is complete in 2017, it will be the second biggest high school in Alabama.

Mayor Handlon will run for re-election in next August in hopes to continue the progress and growth she has made for the city in her first term.

For more information about the city as well as upcoming events and projects visit the city's website here .