Meet the Candidates: Mike McNabb

Smyrna’s general election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011 and a record 19 candidates are on the ballot. In their words, candidates will be introducing themselves here at Patch. Today, we have Ward 4 City Councilman Mike McNabb, who is running against Alex Bretch, Judith Causey Jones, and Charles “Corkey” Welch. 

It has been Mike's honor to serve the citizens of Smyrna as City Councilman for Ward 4 since 2004. Having grown up in Smyrna, Mike attended Green Acres Elementary, graduated from Osborne High and earned a degree in Industrial Engineering with high honor from Georgia Tech. 

While in college, Mike served on the Planning & Survey Committee at King Spring Baptist Church which was charged with examining the need to build a new sanctuary. Using census data and projections, Mike wrote a Smyrna community profile summary that became the basis for the decision to build the church gym and classroom addition rather than a new sanctuary. This was Mike's introduction to using projected future trends to establish how you need to invest to meet both current as well as long-term requirements.

Mike spent 18 years in the telecommunications industry at BellSouth, teaching capital budget analysis to executives nationally, serving as Engineering Employment Manager, and became Director of Bellsouth’s Technology Development Group, a research and development contract management group of 21 technical professionals. Moving to Nortel Networks for over 12 years, Mike's responsibilities encompassed technical sales, product management, strategic planning, capital budgeting, engineering, systems sales and account development for telecommunications carriers spread across four continents. Retiring from the telecommunications industry in 2002, Mike bought and renovated older single family  homes doing business as Classic Cottage Homes. He now works part time for Adventure Outdoors.

Wanting to serve the community that raised him, Mike ran for Smyrna City Council - Ward 4 in 2003 and was re-elected to a second term in 2007. Mike's wife of 27 years, Karleen Tinker McNabb, is a retired court administrator with the Eleventh Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals, and they have been blessed with three children: two grown sons - Scott, a senior project manager, Jeff who works with M.U.S.T. Ministeries, and a daughter, Anna, who attends Griffin Middle School. This year, they also became proud grandparents of baby Jackson. Mike is a member of the Smyrna Optimist Club, Smyrna Historical Society, and is an active member at The Church of the Apostles.

Both Mike and Karleen are actively involved in our Smyrna schools and their respective PTA’s. In addition to reading to students and participating in classrooms, Mike currently serves on the Board of the International Academy of Smyrna, whose five-year school charter was just renewed by the Cobb County School Board. Karleen is the Vice President of the Jessye Coleman Council of Smyrna PTA’s, who led our 18 local schools to win the GA PTA’s Council Membership award as the No. 1 School Council in Georgia for achieving the highest increase in PTA memberships and parent involvement for 2010-2011.

During his tenure as city councilman, Mike has served as Committee Chairman for Community Relations, the Library, Parks & Recreation, Public Works, Keep Smyrna Beautiful, and the Technology Steering Committee, for which the city won a national award for its new website design last year. Mike was the originator of the city educational initiatives that became the Mayor's Awards for Education as well as the Education/Vision Committee. Mike has also served as both Treasurer and Vice President of the Cobb Municipal Association.

Economic redevelopment for our businesses and neighborhood renovation for our aging housing stock are the top two issues facing our city. Both of these critical issues, redevelopment and renovation, have stalled due to severe lending restrictions placed upon the banking industry by the federal government. Smyrna is also facing the continuing increase in area traffic and the need for traffic calming and control within the city boundaries.

Experience combined with patience is what is required to move developments forward these days. As an example, Mike worked relentlessly for over two years with an experienced shopping center investor which has resulted in the construction of the largest, state-of-the-art Kroger grocery store in Georgia which will open later this year in Smyrna’s Ward 4 at The Crossings at Four Corners on South Cobb Drive. Mike also successfully negotiated the city purchase of the Legion’s land that provided the means for construction of the new American Legion Post 160 for our veterans while adding two new baseball fields to Brinkley Park.

During his time on Council, and especially in the face of the worst economic downturn since the Depression, Mike has worked diligently to keep Smyrna's taxes at the lowest rate they’ve been in 25 years. There have been no furloughs of any city police or fire department personnel. Along with the Council, Mike worked to curb Smyrna’s spending early after the economy stalled and found necessary yet appropriate ways to live with less city revenues. As a result, Smyrna's credit rating was upgraded to AA+ this past year – one of only thirteen cities in Georgia to earn this level of credit worthiness.

What is most needed in this upcoming November 8th election is the return of an experienced, strong City Council leader whose vision and goals will grow our community, balance the budget by doing more with less, make strategic decisions as we progress through these difficult economic years ahead, and who will continue to help our city move forward positively.

If you have any questions, concerns, or would just like to talk to Mike about Smyrna, please don’t hesitate to call him at 770-433-2505 or email at kmcnabb99@gmail.com.

It’s important we take pride in and continue to take care of our own city. One way we’re doing that in Smyrna is by sponsoring the second installment of “It’s My Park Day” on Saturday, Oct. 15 from 9 a.m. to noon, in which you, your neighbors, and volunteers are invited to bring your garden gloves, tools and a willing spirit and join us in sprucing and cleaning up litter in a Smyrna Park. For additional details, visit the city website at www.smyrnacity.com and look under “Upcoming Events.”