After serving three terms on the Hartselle city council, Don Hall has decided to make a run for mayor.

Don Hall

Hall announced plans to seek the city’s highest elected office last week, saying he is already in the process of organizing a campaign.

The office attracted former Hartselle City Schools Superintendent Lee Hartsell to get in the race several weeks ago.

“My wife Debbie and I have talked about this and I have had a number of people ask me why I don’t run for mayor?” Hall said. “I decided if I was ever going to run for the office now’s the time.”

Hall is currently serving in his second consecutive term in Place 5 on the council, and served on the Hartselle Planning Commission from 1988 to 2000. He has been employed as an agent with Peck-Glasgow Insurance Agency since 1997. Previously, he was an agent for Allstate Insurance Company and an employee of the former Sivley Cotton Company.

Hall said his decision was influenced by Mayor Dwight Tankersley’s decision not to seek reelection and, if elected, will devote fulltime to discharging the duties of the office.

Hall said he would focus his attention on the following city needs if elected:

• The April 27 tornado outbreak in 2011 demonstrated the need for nine additional outdoor warning sirens to provide our citizens with advance warning of a potential weather, chemical or nu-clear disaster.

• To make downtown a more viable shopping district, we need to get the traffic out of downtown that doesn’t want to be there, and eliminate the flooding potential.

• With the construction of the new high school well underway, we need to complete Phase III of the Alabama 36 extension, connecting Alabama 36 to the CSX railroad bridge that was completed in January 2010, as quickly as possible.

• A new business park is under construction in the vicinity of our existing industrial park. To facilitate the movement of employees, material and the general pubic, Thompson Road needs major improvements.

• The intersections where Hayes Street, Nanceford Road and Vaughn Bridge Road intersect with U.S. 31 need to be redesigned and reconstructed.

• We need to seek out retail development that will be attractive to Interstate 65 travelers.

• We need to work with area medical providers to fulfill our need for an ER unit.

Hall, 58, attended F.E. Burleson Elementary School and is a 1972 graduate of Hartselle High School. He is also a graduate of Jacksonville State University where he earned a regular Army commission.

He graduated form the U.S. Army Ranger School in 1975 and the U.S. Army Airborne School in 1976. He completed the Army Infantry Officers Basic Course in 1976 and served with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., from 1976 to 1979. He graduated from the Army Advanced Course in 1987 and served with the 3rd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Tex., from 1979 to 1981.

Hall is a former Hartselle youth league baseball and basketball coach, served as vice president of Dixie Youth Baseball, is a past president of Hartselle Jaycees, president-elect of Hartselle Rotary Club and a volunteer fireman.

The son of the late Dr. Joe Edward Hall and Nancy Roberts Hall, he and his wife Deborah “Debbie” Morrow Hall are the parents of four sons: Justin Nix of San Diego, Calif.; Brandon Nix of Laverne, Tenn.; Ryan Nix of Tanner and Ben Hall of Nashville, Tenn.