County Commission | The Magazine October 2017 | Page 40

COUNTY FAMILY FEATURE
Longest-serving Commissioner
Gets Ahead of the Game
Y
es, he is currently Alabama’s
longest-serving county
commissioner.
Yes, he is probate judge and
chairman, a once widespread
combination of duties that today
is only found in a dozen other
Alabama counties.
And yes, he served as Association
president in another century, taking
the helm in 1995.
But it would be a mistake to cast
Hardy McCollum as a throwback to
another era. If people think economic
development has only become a
priority for commissioners of the
“new millennium,” they need to meet
him. He’s been focused on jobs for
Tuscaloosa County for more than
40 years.
When McCollum was first elected
in 1976, the county was having to
borrow money to make payroll. A
paper mill – the county’s second
largest employer – had just closed,
and a pipe foundry, another major
employer, was on its last legs.
“Inherit that sort of thing, and
you better be looking to job creation,”
said McCollum, who was born
and raised in Tuscaloosa. “When I
graduated from the university, I had
to look outside of my community
for a job because there weren’t any
real opportunities. At that point in
time, as hokey as it may sound, I
was committed that if I could ever do
anything about it, I would.”
40 | COUNTY COMMISSION
So, he traveled
the world with
industrial recruiting
teams, helping to
land the first foreign
company in the mid-
1980s. It was 1993
when Mercedes-
Benz announced it
would open a plant
in Vance.
“I’m very
proud of the
accomplishments
we’ve had as a
community with
bringing the likes
of Nucor Steel,
Mercedes and
JVC,” McCollum
said. “I can go on
and on about the
transformation within
our community, and
Judge Hardy McCollum
the impact some
served as the
of those decisions
1995-96 ACCA president.
have had on the
entire state of Alabama.”
Today auto manufacturing employs
40,000 in Alabama, up from just a few
thousand before Mercedes-Benz.
This fall the company announced another
billion-dollar investment in the state,
including a global logistics hub to be
located in Bibb County.
The state’s reputation shines quite a bit
brighter after the economic development of
the last quarter century, and McCollum has
Tuscaloosa
County