Awards Book
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Chairman and President<br />
—<br />
Tommy Joe Alexander was named Chairman and President of the Birmingham Water<br />
Works Board on January 18, 2018. Alexander comes from many different professional<br />
backgrounds and plans to channel his past into this position.<br />
Alexander was born during World War II and was raised in Irondale by his mother and<br />
grandparents, while his father served in the military. In an interview with The Tap,<br />
Alexander stated that his grandparents were very good people and helped raise him. “His<br />
grandmother was probably one of the best people I knew on this earth and she would<br />
help anybody and do anything to help.” That is where he learned his servanthood from,<br />
he wanted to be like her and help anyone possible.<br />
Alexander graduated from Leeds High School and went to study geology at Jacksonville<br />
State University. After his father returned from duty, he started a construction business in<br />
Huntsville, which Alexander left school to work for. They had more business and potential<br />
opportunities there than in Birmingham. Eventually, the construction market in Huntsville<br />
took a downturn, and Alexander made a career change. He took the opportunity to leave<br />
this sector and move into law enforcement with the Huntsville Police Department. “I’d<br />
never been a policeman but I needed a job, and I liked it,” he said.<br />
Alexander continued his career in law enforcement in Birmingham as a motor scout,<br />
which he described as “probably the most enjoyable job” of his life and eventually joined<br />
the department’s tactical unit. After training at Redstone Arsenal, he became a member<br />
of the first bomb squad in the state, he disarmed six bombs. He trained in his time with<br />
the department, he attended the SWAT school at the FBI Academy in Quantico, and<br />
learned how to combat street crime from the New York Police Department.<br />
After retiring from the Birmingham Police Department as a Sergeant, Alexander sought<br />
a new profession. He continued his pursuit of a geology degree at the University of<br />
Alabama at Birmingham, but instead accepted an offer from Sloss Industries to work on<br />
the Jefferson Warrior Railroad. After ten years, he was promoted to a management<br />
position, where he worked for another ten years before retiring again.<br />
He wasn’t done yet. In 2004, Alexander ran for Mayor of the City of Irondale, his<br />
childhood home. During his three terms, he counts the recruitment of the Auto Mall,<br />
the economic centerpiece of the city, among his top achievements. In addition,<br />
he was instrumental in convincing The University of Alabama Football Coach Nick<br />
Saban to bring his Mercedes-Benz dealership to the corner of Grants Mill Road and<br />
1-459.<br />
Alexander retired from his Mayoral position in 2014, but accepted an appointment<br />
to the Birmingham Water Works Board last year. He was appointed to the Board by<br />
the Jefferson County Mayors Association of 35 local municipalities, including the<br />
City of Birmingham and Irondale. Over the past year, he has gained an appreciation<br />
for the leadership of the board and the challenge of bringing various viewpoints to<br />
a cohesive vision.<br />
His tenure as mayor has given Alexander experience managing both a local<br />
municipality of approximately 13,000 residents and a water system with about<br />
3,000 customers. As with his mayorship, Alexander views his Chairman role not only<br />
as a leader but also as a servant.<br />
“You’re the leader. You have to go from one of the board members to the leader of<br />
the board, and sometimes that’s difficult, but I have had plenty of experience in<br />
leading,” he said. “When you’re serving water to 600,000 people, it’s also a servant<br />
role, and I’ll help our customers anyway I can. When I was the Mayor of Irondale,<br />
my office was open and people could come and talk to me, no matter if they were<br />
the richest or the poorest. I will help any of them, and that’s what I intend to do.”<br />
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