Photo by staff.
Trussville Mayor Buddy Choat stands outside of Trussville City Hall.
As 2024 draws to a close, we’re highlighting some of the top newsmakers in Trussville from this year as part of our Newsmaker of the Year series. Today, we’re announcing our Newsmaker of the Year: Buddy Choat.
Revisit our feature on Choat from November here.
Trussville Mayor Buddy Choat will not seek re-election in 2025.
Choat announced his decision during his state of the city address at the October Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon, a week after an eye-opening vacation.
Choat and his wife, Ginny, traveled with one of their daughters, Katie, to Nova Scotia in Canada, to see the sights and experience the culture of the Celtic Colours International Festival.
“We had time to get away and just be up there and see the different part of the world that I’d never dreamed I’d go to,” Choat said. “I got my first passport. I’ve never even had a passport to travel anywhere. So, I thought, ‘This is pretty cool,’ and not that we’re going to travel every day or every month, but just to have that flexibility to be able to kind of get in the car and go somewhere or do something.”
Choat has been in the workforce for 50 years. Like anyone else, it was just time. He has grandsons and wants to experience all retirement life has to offer. Choat had discussed with family not running for re-election in 2025, but the trip to Nova Scotia served as a final push.
“If I was going to make the announcement, I didn’t know what was the best time,” Choat said. “I don’t know whether to wait until after the first of the year. You don’t want too many people to maybe get involved too early, too late, or whatever. But I was at peace with it, and I felt like, ‘Hey, let’s just go ahead and say it and let people know.’ I just felt like getting away during that that time kind of helped me kind of make that decision more solid.”
Choat was first elected as mayor in 2016 and then again in 2020. He previously served two terms on the Trussville City Council from 2008 until his election as mayor.
Choat said major accomplishments during his tenure include the Valley Road extension road and downtown redevelopment, the latter of which dominated much of his mayoral run. After 16 years of elected city service, it was time.
“When there’s change, there are concerns,” Choat said. “I’m not concerned. I think we’ve got a lot of great potential leaders in this city. We are in our third class of Leadership Trussville right now and the first two classes, and this one is no exception, we’ve just been able to find that there is a lot of potential here to keep Trussville moving forward. So, I just felt like the time was right. I thought I might do it, but then people kept asking me, and I just want to go ahead and get it over with and say, ‘Hey, listen, I think it's best for me and the city for me to step aside,’ and we've got a year to get done what we can do, and then there'd be time for somebody else to take over.”
