They say that art imitates life, or maybe it is vice versa, but Hollie Berry’s art career indirectly led into her political life as a Red Bank commissioner and now mayor.
Actually, it was a slowdown in art shows due to the pandemic that resulted in her hand holding a commission gavel as well as a propane torch she uses in her artwork to burn images into wood.
But she is enjoying her change of pace in how she has spent her time over the last three years, including being selected by the full commission to serve as mayor.
“Being mayor is not a fulltime job,” she said as she looked at her career to date in an interview Wednesday at the Meeting House coffee shop by Dayton Boulevard and Morrison Springs Road.
“But I do put in fulltime hours, and I describe myself as a fulltime mayor and part-time artist.”
And how she ended up in the Chattanooga area and later Red Bank beginning a little over 10 years ago was, like her jump into elected political office, also somewhat roundabout and unexpected.
Raised in Houston as the child of a family in the oil industry and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, she and her electrical engineer husband, Rudy Elizondo, visited Tennessee on a vacation and loved it.
“When he graduated, he could go anywhere he wanted and we chose Chattanooga for the beauty, outdoors and friendly people, and the four seasons and relative walkability compared to Houston,” she said, adding that Houston is a car-focused community with wide freeways.
They had initially moved to the North Shore area, but later relocated to a home in the southern end of Red Bank/White Oak that had been built in 1922 but was moved to its current location in 1977 when the easement work on the extension to Corridor J/U.S. Highway 27 was beginning.
“One of the things that drew us was the character of the older homes,” she said.
She was not one of those who grew up being active in student government or dreaming of one day running for political office. But she had helped friend and former Hamilton County school board member Kathy Lennon in her race, and Ms. Lennon was the one who encouraged Ms. Berry to run.
Running for Ms. Berry came about due to two factors, both of which were unfortunate. First, Red Bank Commissioner Terry Pope had died suddenly in 2019, and Tyler Howell was appointed to his seat. After Mr. Howell planned to run for the seat in 2020 in a special election for the remainder of Mr. Pope’s term and was initially unopposed, Ms. Lennon encouraged Ms. Berry to run to give voters an option.
Also, the coronavirus pandemic had hit in March 2020, and all of Ms. Berry’s planned art shows to sell her works were canceled, suddenly giving her all kinds of free time after having a full calendar of events planned. So, she weighed everything and decided to focus for the time being a little more on canvasing the neighborhood instead of on any art canvas.
“She talked me into it,” Ms. Berry said. “I thought that if I am ever going to do something like this, now is the time.”
As she looked at potentially running and while campaigning, she realized that Red Bank had a lot of people who had moved into the community and, like her, had not even reached middle age yet.
“I encountered dozens of people in their late 20s and early 30s who talked about loving the community and the neighborly feel and had bought their home from an original owner,” she said. “There are a lot of people moving into the community who are drawn to the outdoor access of Hamilton County. And as recently as 5 or 10 years ago, you wouldn’t see many people walking on the streets.”
After beating Mr. Howell in 2020 and after she began looking further at the community, she realized it is indeed changing somewhat with all the newer and younger residents, adding, “This ZIP code – 37415 – is one of the most rapidly shifting demographics.”
With the homes overall seeming by reputation less expensive than those in North Chattanooga, not only are people moving into Red Bank, but so also are many of the commercial amenities people have enjoyed closer to the North Shore areas and downtown. Ms. Berry cited such newer businesses as the Clever Ale House, the Mustard Seed gifts store, Irie Jamaican Cuisine, and Chattanooga Seafood Co. As a former Texan from near the Gulf coast, who has missed fresh seafood, Ms. Berry said she is especially happy about the latter business.
Also, such established businesses as Bread & Butter bakery and the Italian restaurant, Pizzeria Cortile, along with the planned commercial and residential complex in the former Sav A Lot shopping center, have added to the trendy appeal of the landlocked town north of downtown Chattanooga.
On the other side, because some longtime residents were used to a more conservative feel to the community over several previous decades, and due to the political leanings that get into all races nowadays, the candidates were being scrutinized in mailers and discussions in 2022.
Who was progressive and who was conservative, people asked while also looking at broader issues. Ms. Berry, who by then was already mayor, did win re-election last year with another comfortable win, this time over Dari Owens.
While Ms. Berry did not volunteer her political leanings in the interview, nor was she asked, she did say she was sincerely working hard for the entire community to make it better for all. And she sounded more like a finance administrator who had been working for a government entity for 20 years with the way she could recite detailed background on issues and matters of interest for the commission amid a somewhat soft tone of talking.
And so far, she is greatly enjoying the job, despite the hard work required and the fact that she is a volunteer with no city office and no city mayoral assistant, both of which she said surprise people who want to meet with her as mayor.
“Being in local political office is fulfilling, exhausting, gratifying and frustrating all at once,” she said with a laugh.
She admitted that she does get surprisingly only a few phone calls as mayor, but she gets plenty of emails and messages via social media about matters and tries to stay on top of all of them.
“That’s what I’m here for,” she said, adding that she does get a $300 monthly stipend for what is supposed to be a part-time, mostly volunteer position. “People can (contact) me about how they want their community to run better.”
Besides serving as mayor and commissioner, she also tries to serve Red Bank as a member of the regional transportation planning organization and attends the Red Bank/Signal Mountain Chamber of Commerce meetings when she can.
The Red Bank commission meets on the first and third Tuesday evenings of each month. The vice mayor is Stefanie Dalton, who first ran when Ms. Berry did, and they have encouraged and supported each other. The other commissioners are Pete Phillips, Jamie Fairbanks-Harvey and Hayes Wilkinson, while the fulltime city manager is Martin Granum.
Ms. Berry said the commission has a good mix of genders and ages represented.
Regarding how she tries to bring a community together that seems to have numerous viewpoints, as do a lot of communities, she said she and the others are trying to do this in part by having a master plan for the city with a mission statement.
As part of that, they are looking at transportation, small site planning and possibly hiring Red Bank’s first parks and recreation director.
Related to the latter realm, a big issue in Red Bank is what to do with the now-vacant and grass-covered land on Dayton Boulevard where the former Red Bank Middle School sat. Some citizens have advocated for it to be turned into park space, with signs saying “Save our Central Park” dotting a few Red Bank yards. Along the same line, the city of Red Bank needs to get back in compliance with federal officials after some former parkland was used for the newer Red Bank Middle School off Morrison Springs Road, she said.
While not offering her opinion or hopes, Ms. Berry did say the Dayton Boulevard site is a great opportunity and that a chance exists that at least some of the space could be turned into parkland.
“We are going to take public input and take in the needs for the city and see how the 12 acres can best be utilized,” she said. “It’s a very rare opportunity for a landlocked city to have 12 acres and to get to decide what to do with it.
“We want to make sure this once-in-a-generation opportunity is not squandered. It’s an incredible opportunity and very unusual for a city like ours to have this opportunity.”
While focusing on Red Bank and getting to spend less time on her artwork that over the years has also included oil paintings, paintings of horses, and murals, she is enjoying her work on the urban canvas of Red Bank and looking at ways to make the city better.
She has even been responsible for the arrival of a new resident to Red Bank later this year – her and her husband’s first child scheduled to be born in early August.
Ms. Berry also said she is not interested at present in pursuing a higher office but likes serving Red Bank and seeing how she can help make a more direct difference in her community than might be possible with an office representing a larger area.
“I like it here,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to make an impact on the neighborhood.”
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To listen to Mayor Hollie Berry discuss her enjoyment in serving Red Bank, Click
here.