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It’s time for change!! The City of Birmingham will have a new mayor to be installed in November 2017 as a young 36-year old Randall Woodfin defeats the current mayor William Bell.

This young, educated millennial and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated has some new and fresh ideas to make the City of Birmingham a much better place for its residents.

His win for mayor makes him the youngest to hold the office since 1893.

Congratulations to the mayor-elect Randall Woodfin. We look forward to seeing the progress in the historic City of Birmingham.

Read more as reported by Biz Journals:

For the first time since 2010, Birmingham will have a new mayor.

Randall Woodfin, a city attorney and member of the Birmingham Board of Education, topped incumbent Mayor William Bell in Tuesday’s runoff. According to the city of Birmingham’s legal department, Woodfin will take office the fourth Tuesday in November (Nov. 28).

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Woodfin led Bell by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent.

Woodfin’s campaign focused on spreading revitalization and economic opportunities to Birmingham’s neighborhoods, reducing poverty and improving cooperation between the mayor’s office and the Birmingham City Council, among other issues.

““Birmingham. This is our moment. For the last year and six weeks, we have been on a journey not for what’s in my interest, but for what’s in our interest,” Woodfin said to supporters shortly after clinching the race. “This is a we, us and our moment.”

In our profile of Woodfin prior to the election, the mayor-elect said his goals include debt-free community college for Birmingham City School graduates, creating a Small Business Advisory Council and executing a citywide small business development plan modeled after Chicago’s small business growth plan to reduce red tape, expand access to capital, promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and increase support for Birmingham’s small businesses.

Woodfin told WBRC FOX6 News that his initial priorities will include looking at how the city spends its funds and a personnel assessment.

Bell’s tenure as mayor will be marked by leading the city during its downtown revitalization, playing a pivotal role in the development of Regions Field and Uptown and improving relations between the city and many in the business world. But that tenure also included some high-profile power struggles with the Birmingham City Council. And while downtown and neighborhoods like Lakeview, Avondale and others posted significant turnarounds, many residents of other neighborhoods were critical of the city as the revitalizations didn’t extend to their areas.

And Bell might not be the city of Birmingham’s only top leader to fall on Tuesday.

Birmingham City Council President was trailing challenger Darrell O’Quinn by a 52-48 margin with 18 of 19 boxes reporting in the District 5 race.

Among other races, Hunter Williams defeated incumbent Kim Rafferty for the City Council District 2 seat. In the District 9 race, John Hilliard held a slim 51-49 lead over Roderick Royal with nearly all ballots in.

Source: Biz Journals