Called to action
When asked to serve, Trussville’s Buddy Aydelette feels like it’s his duty to say yes.
The former two-term city councilman and longtime board member in the Department of Youth Services was recently appointed by the city to fill a vacancy on the Trussville Utilities Board.
He fills the seat vacated by Gordon Flynn, who retired from the board in December after nearly 40 years of service.
“Trussville is a great place to serve in any capacity. ... The bottom line is, either you’re asked to serve or run to give back to the community. I’m tickled to be able to do it and be involved with the board,” said Aydelette, 61. “If you’re asked to serve, in my opinion, you don’t say no to stuff like that.”
Aydelette previously served as the City Council’s liaison to the Utilities Board during his second term as councilman between 2008-12.
He said it was a definite “yes” when he was approached about the position by Mayor Buddy Choat and Mike Strength, director of Trussville Gas and Water.
“I’m looking forward to working with Buddy Aydelette as we strive to provide great water and gas service to the community,” Strength said. Buddy’s prior experience on the city council and as liaison to the utilities board will give him unique insight and also lead to an easy transition.”
It’s just the latest in more than 20 years of saying “yes” for the former University of Alabama and professional football player.
After helping lead the Crimson Tide to back-to-back national titles in 1978 and 1979, Aydelette was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1980.
He relocated to Trussville in 1984 to play for the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League and has remained in the area since, other than a short stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1987 and 1988 before injury ended his playing career.
Following football, Aydelette spent more than 20 years working in various marketing and development roles in the health industry for Eastern Health Systems at Medical Center East, and then St. Vincent’s East, before spending a short stint with Tenet Health at Brookwood Medical Center.
This led to positions in the local Rotary and Chamber of Commerce, including a stint as chamber president.
His time in the health industry opened the door for his first public services appointment to the advisory board of the Jefferson County Youth Service Vacca Campus more than 20 years ago.
He was then appointed to the Trussville City Council in 2005 to finish out the term of John Garrison, and in 2012, Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Aydelette as the representative from Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District to serve on the Alabama Department of Youth Services board.
Aydelette, who currently works as a service associate at Serra Toyota, said his time on the local and state DYS advisory boards has been rewarding.
“That’s one area the people of Alabama don’t realize what a good job the state of Alabama does with the Department of Youth Services,” Aydelette said. “DYS is very well run. Over these last five or six years the number of kids in the DYS is going down, down, down, which is a good thing. I don’t think the number of problems is going down, it’s that they’re being taken care of in community programs. It’s rewarding to be a part of that.”
Similarly, Aydelette is looking forward to tell others the positives of Trussville’s utilities.
“We have good utilities here that are well run. My hope is that over the next few years, or however long it’s going to be, that we have the chance to highlight how good our utilities board is. That we should be the example that a lot look to, and I think we will be,” Aydelette said.
Aydelette will serve with Leland Dockery, director; Don Evans, vice chairman; Teddy Gilmer, director; and A.H. Wright, director.
“We’re the eyes and ears of the community. If they want to relay something to the organization, that is our role,” he said.
Aydelette and his wife, Becky, have two grown daughters, Lindsey Howell and Lauren Cooley, both of Trussville. Each daughter has a son and a daughter, yielding four grandchildren for the Aydelettes.