https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Subscribe to GovPro
    • Manage GovPro Subscription
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
acc.com

Administration


2012 Municipal Leader of the Year: Building a championship team

  • Written by
  • 28th November 2012
Mayor Walter Maddox created a disaster recovery plan that led Tuscaloosa, Ala., through one of the most tragic events in its history.

What is in this article?

  • 2012 Municipal Leader of the Year: Building a championship team
  • Relief efforts followed the plan
  • Leadership shines beyond disaster
  • City efforts serve as a model for the nation
Photo of Walter Maddox

2012 Municipal Leader of the Year: Building a championship team

A version of this article appeared in the November 2012 print issue with the headline: Building a championship team.

Though it’s almost a year and a half since a tornado ripped through her home in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Virginia Johnson still becomes emotional when she recalls her despair at the enormous damage to her neighborhood and her appreciation for the leadership of Mayor Walter Maddox, who spearheaded the city’s response to one of the nation’s worst natural disasters.

With one-third of her home in shambles and massive debris all around, she says she wondered how her neighborhood would ever recover from the massive storm. Yet, almost immediately, the city began organizing resources to clean up and then rebuild, and she attributes its effort to the foresight and energy of Mayor Maddox.

“He showed leadership before, during and after the tornado,” Johnson says. “The first few days were very emotional. We couldn’t see how we could come back. He was not only able to help us rebuild, but he helped lift the spirits of our neighborhood.”

Without doubt, April 27, 2011, was one of the most tragic days in the history of the city. On that day, a massive tornado, with winds topping 190 miles per hour, went on a six-mile long, mile-wide rampage through the city, killing more than 50 people, destroying more than 1,200 homes and damaging another 4,000. In all, the storm’s wrath inflicted more than $60 million in damage. (A total of 64 deaths and 1,500 injuries are attributed to the tornado, when the surrounding communities are included. In all of Alabama, 253 were killed.)

Maddox’s vision began with FEMA training

Yet, today, city leaders as well as its 93,000 residents, speak optimistically about the city’s future and the performance of city employees in the midst of an overwhelming natural disaster. And, above all, they give credit for the city’s resilience to Mayor Walter Maddox.

“I’ve worked with the mayor since he came on the city council and I know that he is a man of vision,” says Harrison Taylor, the president of the city council. “But until the tornado hit, I had no idea of the leader that he had become. The Mayor stood tall.”

For his leadership before, during and since the natural disaster and his vision to make Tuscaloosa a model New South city, American City and County magazine has chosen Mayor Walter Maddox its Municipal Leader of the Year.

While the mayor’s efforts in the immediate aftermath of the tornado have drawn the highest praise, he is also saluted for his partnership with the University of Alabama, which is located in the city, and his dedication to all areas of the city, including those in underdeveloped neighborhoods.

“He’s a fair man,” Taylor adds. “He will not do favors for one part of the city over another part. Every part of the city is treated equally. He’s that kind of mayor.”

It is the city’s response to the tornado that impresses those familiar with disaster recovery efforts. Maddox is often commended for his foresight in successfully seeking and receiving a grant to send 70 Tuscaloosa city and area staff to Maryland for a week long emergency training session in 2009, run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). During the training, FEMA staff simulated site-specific disasters to assess how well officials from Tuscaloosa and surrounding neighborhoods implemented its plan. For the next two years, the staff held quarterly practice sessions.

The training became invaluable when initial weather reports on the morning of April 27 warned that a strong storm was headed for Tuscaloosa. By noontime, when radar showed that the city faced a direct hit, the mayor activated the city’s Incident Command team, ready for such a moment. When the tornado struck at 5:13 p.m., the Incident Command team was already assembled and prepared.

But they could hardly expect the damage that the storm had wrought, leveling whole neighborhoods, ripping giant trees out by their roots and gashing roads. The city’s water treatment plant was disabled. There were gas leaks and small fires.

The wreckage was enormous. By the time the cleanup was completed, the city had collected enough debris to fill the University of Alabama’s 101,000 seat Bryant-Denny Stadium, the nation’s fifth largest, five times from the grass to the top of the lights.

RELATED PODCAST: Tuscaloosa, Ala., mayor discusses tornado recovery

Dennis E. Kizziah, who is the executive director of FEMA’s Mississippi Recovery Office, says the city’s work in meeting the community needs ranks among the best recovery programs he has ever seen in his 16 years with FEMA, which includes responding to 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

“I was astounded and impressed by the amount of incident preparedness,” Kizziah says. “I’ve never seen such a team assembled to respond at that level in my career. I can’t say how impressed I was.”

Assigned by FEMA to coordinate the federal response to the disaster, Kizziah says he was struck by the mayor’s “leadership and his ability to inspire” his team. “I’ve been around the country and around the world and he is still held in high regard with me and my staff with how he led the city,” Kizziah says.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Relief efforts followed the plan
Tags: Administration Public Safety Article

One comment

  1. Avatar Anonymous 27th August 2013 @ 3:42 pm
    Reply

    I wish I could say this was
    I wish I could say this was true for all tornado victims!!!!! I think I lot of us got pushed to side to focus on the news worthy story!! I still would like to know how so many victims that I talk too says they turned to city for help only to receive lies and the run around.. But the news has no mention of these victims only the stories that make it seem like they did such a wonderful job helping victims!!!! Haha I know first hand what the city of tuscaloosa thinks about SOME of its citizens!!!

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Three ways the public sector can minimize remote workforce PC refresh headaches
  • Chicago becomes first city to use free COVID-19 vaccine scheduling tool for cities and states
  • UPDATED: Mask mandates, water upgrades, new transit part of Tampa’s plan for hosting pandemic-era Super Bowl
  • Reno-Talkspace partnership offers free mental services to residents

White papers


Discover How Public Sector Officials are Monitoring and Managing Overtime in This New White Paper

22nd February 2021

How to Assemble a Successful Government Grant Proposal

5th February 2021

The Rise of Procurement’s Next Normal

5th February 2021
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities winner: El Paso County, Texas’ pretrial justice modernization dlvr.it/Rv4GKL

6th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

A city’s innovative downtown master plan sees future in local, inclusive placemaking dlvr.it/Rv3SfM

5th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities winner: Gainesville, Fla. closes Dignity Village and houses its homeless population dlvr.it/Rv1GS2

5th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities Winner: South Bay Cities Council of Governments’ South Bay Fiber Network dlvr.it/Rv10b7

5th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

Senate American Rescue Plan includes more than $60 million in direct aid for counties dlvr.it/RtzvBK

4th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

ASCE releases 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure dlvr.it/Rtvck5

3rd March 2021
AmerCityCounty

Updating the assessor report: A new approach dlvr.it/RttvDv

3rd March 2021
AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities winner: Phases 2 and 3 of Minot, N.D.’s Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Plan dlvr.it/RtrWMC

3rd March 2021

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X