- [Announcer] Funding for this program was provided by... - [Male Announcer] Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory, and Florist, dedicated to helping you celebrate your life or the life of a loved one for over 85 years.

Chattanooga Funeral Home believes that each funeral should be as unique and memorable as the life being honored.

- [Announcer] This program is also made possible by support from viewers like you.

Thank you.

- [Lebovitz] This week, I talked with a man who spent his career investing in the city he loves.

- You know, I need a sense of belonging, and I mean, everybody does, but to a great extent, not having any extended family, I realized that in some broader sense, Chattanooga was my family.

And, you know, having been in New York, as amazing as New York was, you know, there was something about Chattanooga that I think I knew at that point that I always wanted to be part of, you know?

- [Lebovitz] Join me as I talk with newly elected mayor of Chattanooga, Tim Kelly, coming up next on "The A-List."

(upbeat instrumental music) - [Official] Mayor of the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

- As Mayor of the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

- [Official] During my- - In April of 2021, Tim Kelly was sworn in as mayor of the city of Chattanooga.

Though the title is still new, Tim's passion for his community was instilled in him at an early age.

Before making the transition to politics, He spent a lengthy career as a business owner and an entrepreneur, and his involvement in the nonprofit sector affirmed a heart for servant leadership in the city he calls home.

Now as the mayor, he's drawing on the skills he learned along the way.

- Well, Tim, Mayor Kelly, welcome to "The A-List."

- Thank you very much.

It's a pleasure and honor to be here.

- And I want to put it into context.

So, we were talking right before we started rolling, a year ago today that you actually announced you were running for mayor, and a month ago, just a month ago, that you were actually installed as mayor.

- Correct.

Yeah, that seems like- - So, that you took office.

- It seems like about 48 hours ago.

It's been the proverbial, I can't think of a better, you know, there's a tired old analogy, the old drinking from a fire hose thing or eating the elephant a bite at a time, but they both apply in this case, and time's flown by.

It's been a busy month.

- Well, Let's step back a second and talk about your childhood, and really, the path, the semi-unconventional path that led you to the seat you are in now.

You grew up in Chattanooga.

What was that like?

- Well, and you know, at the time, you know, you can't ask a fish about water, so what did I know about it, right?

I mean, it was a relatively conventional childhood, I think, certainly my early childhood.

My parents got divorced when I was, I think, 11.

That was not fun.

And I think that had shaped me in some significant ways.

You know, went to private school here, went to Baylor, and then, you know, was lucky enough to get an offer to go to Columbia on an honors scholarship, which again, I still think they got the wrong address some days, but took it, and New York, you know, changed me significantly for the better.

I talked a lot about that during the campaign, but, you know, Chattanooga was a very, very different city in my childhood, but at the time, of course, you know, there were a lot of things going on that I didn't realize as a child, that we only realized with the benefit of age and perspective.

- Like?

- Well, you know, we talked a lot in the campaign about structural racism, very frankly, and the relationship between black and white people in Chattanooga and what that looked like then versus now.

And, you know, I made, what I think in retrospect, was probably a Freudian slip about having grown up in a racist society in an interview that I did and got a lot of flack for that, but, you know, the fact of the matter is if you grew up then and you didn't realize, with the benefit of time and perspective, how messed up things were, then very frankly, you probably need to do a little reading or therapy or perspective or something, right?

So, again, that's a journey, I think, that a lot of white people are on and certainly will remain on, but that was the main thing, I think.

- So, what was the a-ha moment for you when you got to New York?

- Just realizing, I think, for the first time that I was, in some respects, if not literally, a minority, you know, which I'd never been in my life.

I came from a culture where I was a person from the dominant culture, and, you know, I didn't question anything about why the way things were or the hierarchy of the order of things, and I got to New York and it was a very, very different world.

It, it was the first time in my life that I began to, you know, I was no longer on the inside, and I was on the outside, or felt that I was, and it was uncomfortable, but it fundamentally switched the camera around and changed my perspective on things, and broadly speaking, you know.

- So, what propelled you to come back south?

Why would you not see kind of the beauty of that world and say, oh, this is where I want to be, versus see that and have this epiphany and go, okay, I'm gonna go back there.

Was it to be an agent of change, somehow?

- Well, I think in, with the benefit of, again, perspective perhaps, at the time, you know, both my parents, oddly, were only children, and so I had no aunts or uncles and no other family other than my sister, who at the time was was at Harvard and then was also in New York with me.

And at the time, the thing driving it was, there was a lot driving it, but the superficial thing driving it was, there was nobody else to run the family business.

And I thought, it had been my my mother's father's business, and, you know, my parents wanted me to do what I wanted to do, but to an extent, I felt that pull, and, you know, having been from such a small family, and again, I realize this for the benefit of hindsight that, you know, I need a sense of belonging, and I mean, everybody does, but to a great extent, not having any extended family, I realized that in some broader sense, Chattanooga was my family, and, you know, I remember the first time I flew back into Chattanooga on an airplane, I started crying, you know, because I realized how beautiful it was and how much it meant to me having been in New York.

As amazing as New York was, you know, there was something about Chattanooga that I think I knew at that point that I always wanted to be part of, you know?

And then the, you know, the leadership journey kind of was a bolt-on after that.

But I knew that, you know, Chattanooga had its hooks on me then, and I still love going back to New York.

I have a son in New York now, but, you know, Chattanooga will always be home.

- After returning to Chattanooga in 1989, fresh out of college, Tim began work at the car dealership his grandfather founded in 1936 where he learned some hard lessons on the job.

So, when you came back, you were pretty young to be part of the leadership of a family business, but it doesn't exactly work that way.

- No, yeah, my dad was a tough taskmaster.

He came from a military background, and he put me through the paces, you know.

I mean, it wasn't, here you go, here are the keys, Son.

I almost quit a couple of times, you know, because I got so mad, you know, and he was very military, you know.

If it was 8:30, it was, you know, the old people with military background know that five minutes early is 10 minutes late.

And, you know, I like sleeping late.

I had things going on.

I was a young man in my twenties and couldn't be bothered, but, you know, it was tough.

I mean, I love my dad a lot, miss him every day, but he was a tough boss and he put me through, you know, the ringer in just almost every role in the dealership, and eventually, you know, worked my way up, and about 10 years later, took over from him.

But also started working, you know, again, I realize now, I thought everybody did it, right?

But both my mom and my dad were very much involved in the public and nonprofit life in Chattanooga, not in an elected sense, but they both served on a lot of boards and were just involved, you know, in the civic fabric of the community.

And so when I got back here, I just, reflexive, I mean, part of it was, but it wasn't conscious.

It wasn't as though I thought, well, I've got do this now.

And just what I felt I needed to be doing, so I started getting involved in the nonprofit community pretty early, too.

- What did you love about the business aspect or what did you latch onto that prevented you from quitting all those times you wanted to?

- I mean, it sounds glib, but the people.

I mean, I really did.

I love talking to customers.

- That doesn't sound glib.

- Well, I mean, - To someone cynical.

I'm an optimist, Tim.

- Yeah, well, there's a lot of cynicism out there these days, but no, I really did, and oddly enough, because I didn't have much of a family, my grandfather was quite a character and knew a lot of people in Chattanooga, and a lot of people around the dealership knew him.

He died the year I was born, so in a weird way, it was like I would learn about my family that I never really had or knew from customers and saw that reflection back from them which I still, you know, I love.

You know, we talked about Napoleon Williams, about Donut, and he's one of those guys.

A dear old friend.

I've known him forever, and still about the car business.

Car business is full of characters.

We could have come up with at least one sitcom out of the cast of characters that we had working at that dealership and around dealerships around Chattanooga, but it was highly entertaining to say the least.

And in some respects, automobile dealerships are widely regarded to be the largest of small business, and so, you know, it was fun.

You know, there's definitely a game to it.

It was never really about money for me as it was about, you know, learning the game and doing it well.

And so, you know, went on to start other businesses because that is definitely a movable feast.

Once you get that part down in business, you can do anything with it.

- What did you soon realize or ever realize about the difference in running a business and running a family business, and running a business with your last name as the title, which adds, I would assume, an added pressure?

- It does, you know, because you take it very, very, I mean, your name is literally, you know, on the building, and so when you see products on the street, you know, for good or for bad, you take it very personally, and it makes that, I mean, I think it's made me a better, you know, what is it again now, a month?

I'm a politician now for a month, a year and a month, but you become a better listener, because, you know, in a retail business, it's all down to whether your customers are happy or not happy.

And again, there's nowhere to hide if your name's on the building.

It's you, you know.

It's a bit of a referendum on whether you are doing the best job you can possibly do or not and whether you're trying or not,.

I know a lot of people that work for sort of large nameless corporations, and it's easy to go home and check out and it's just not my problem.

It's just a job.

It's never just a job, you know, when it's your business and when your name's on the building.

- Though Tim would eventually put those skills to work as mayor of Chattanooga, he first the decision to branch out in business.

He began in 2001, putting a new spin on the family business by entering the power sports arena, but it was his passion for entrepreneurship that led him to expand into digital marketing and even co-founding a local brewery.

And of course, we can't forget...

So, I'll be in big trouble with all the soccer fans out there if I don't give you an opportunity to talk about CFC.

- Oh yeah.

I'm always, always happy to talk about it.

- Now, soccer, a forever love for you, or was that just a great opportunity to invest in, again, another startup that you knew was gonna have great appeal?

- It was both, which is why it was so great.

I mean, again, as I've said, other than my family, it's the thing that I love most and I'm most proud of.

And it was both.

I grew up playing soccer, played a little at Baylor as a goalkeeper, so I broke my fingers.

You can probably see that.

That was before goalkeepers wore gloves.

And then after I broke them, I quit, and which I regretted doing, and went to Columbia where they had a really, really good soccer team.

Never had a prayer of playing, but I never fell out of love with it.

I love the global aspect of it and the multicultural aspect of it.

I've always thought, still think that in many ways, you know, the fact that it's the world game, the world's game, rather, it's just such a universal solvent, right?

And then when you look at it from a gender perspective, boys and girls can play the same game on the same field at the same time.

You know, you can play it from eight to 80.

They play walking soccer, you know, in Europe as a way to, you know, there's obviously the physical exercise component.

There's the social-emotional piece of it that comes along with it.

There's a thousand reasons that I love it, and so when I got the phone call about potential of starting the team here, came from Sheldon Grizzle, who I've since, you know, become good friends with, and he said, you know, "Me and some guys were thinking about doing this, and you know Frank Burke who runs the stadium, and we've heard you love soccer."

And I said, yeah, I'm in.

You know, it was that quick, and within, yeah.

I mean, I want to say three or four months, we had a team on the field, and it's been a great journey, and I love it until the day I die.

- As you can see, the scope of Tim's business endeavors has touched many corners of this community, but the common thread has always been to invest in the place he loves.

And for a man who has spent his career seeking out new challenges and opportunities to make that investment, it should come as no surprise that his path would eventually lead him to City Hall.

So, when or who first planted the seed that you should go into politics?

(Mayor Kelly blows raspberry) - Man, I've been asked that a number of times, right?

And it was definitely a slow build, 'cause I was never that person.

Never ran for student council in school.

Never wanted to.

Never thought about it.

And really, frankly, thought that people that did were blowhards and people that I didn't particularly want to hang around with.

- Don't filter it, I mean... - Well, you can count on me to always tell you what I'm thinking, which my team absolutely hates, but it's, again, may sound like a line, but it's really not about politics per se as it is about as much about Chattanooga.

I really don't.

And now that I've been elected, I'll say it again for the people in the back.

I really don't have future political ambitions.

It's about trying to make, you know, picking up the Baton from Andy, my predecessor, and trying to drive Chattanooga towards fulfilling its, I think, real promise of being the best city in America.

And it is kind of one of those things when you look around and you go, you know, if not me, then who?

And if not now, then when?

And (blows raspberry) though here we are, I will say this.

I think it was a slow build in frustration.

I served on a sign ordinance review board that made me realize we needed a lot of, you know, ordinance reform.

The 2016 election had a big impact on me.

Without getting too political, I just realized that, you know, if we didn't agree with the quality of political leadership in this country and that if you thought you could do a better job and you thought you were a decent person, probably everybody does, but that at some point, I mean, this was a bigger revelation for me.

I think it plagues a lot of people who've spent maybe, arguably, too much time in school.

You got to get out of your own head at some point and do it, right?

And get over yourself and get over your fear of failure and put your hat in the ring, you know, and just, and if you fail, you fail.

So, once that hit me, you know, it was off to the races from then.

- What would you tell yourself a year ago as you were starting the campaign that you wish you knew back then?

- I think it would probably revolve around making sure I took a little more time, stuck a little more time in the calendar for myself, 'cause I am arguably a workaholic.

I mean, again, prior to the doing this gig, you know, I was running five businesses at a time and working on three or four different nonprofit boards, and I love that.

I enjoy that.

But what I learned really quickly is that, A, there's a political industry, and B, if you hire people in that industry to, you know, you become the show pony.

They will saddle you up and ride you, and they'll book you up until you crack, right?

And so at some point, I would have told myself probably push back a little more and just say, you know what, I'm gonna take today off.

I'm gonna skip this one and I'll take my chances, you know, if things don't work out.

Because they're all betting on you, you know?

You become the, in some way, you become sort of a meta version of yourself.

You become this sort of abstract thing over and above you, Alison the person, and then it's like a balloon that floats off and carries you with it.

So, you have to build some firewalls around it and take time for yourself.

- But it seemed like you liked running.

A lot of people like serving.

Not everybody likes the running part.

- Well, you know, I guess I'm a fairly decent actor, because I didn't particularly enjoy running.

I mean, it's the serving that I like.

All I ever really wanted was a chance to do the job.

You know, the process of getting elected was just the, you know, I have to watch my language in here, but it was the sandwich that I had to eat in order to, the particularly distasteful sandwich I had to eat, to be able to do the job.

And so I'm glad that you thought that it looked like I was enjoying myself.

- Well, also, the admitted people person that you are, right?

That's your opportunity to physically, and of course we haven't even discussed the fact that you ran this election during a global pandemic, and so the glad-handing and the baby kissing was non-existent for the most part, and so you had to find other ways to get your name known and your reputation.

- So, I will say this.

I mean, that's a good observation, and won't surprise you to learn that I just looked at it like a startup, right?

The other interesting thing about it is we ran it as a straight-faced, honest to God, nonpartisan race.

I mean, I am a localist at heart.

It's one of the reasons I love this show and this station because I think we don't think intentionally enough or often enough about what is essentially local versus what gets piped in from elsewhere, and this is a classic example of that, right?

And so I think people under 40 don't seem to understand that there's a reason this is a nonpartisan race, that the soul of non-partisanism is localism.

If you look at what makes a place great, partisanship begins to fall away, right?

Good roads and good schools and good jobs, they're not red or blue.

I think it was Fiorello LaGuardia, who said, you know, getting the garbage taken out on time is not Republican or Democrat.

So, again, I looked at it like a startup.

I didn't have a party machine behind me on either side, so we literally just had to make it up as we went, which I love.

I love startups, you know, and I love creating things from, if not from scratch, from, you know, the basket cases, and that's what I saw it as.

So, we did get to do a lot of cool innovation from a marketing perspective, and I was not constrained by convention, and I think the fact that it was done, you know, in a pandemic, oddly enough, it was really hard.

I will say that.

I've done some hard things in my life.

It definitely is the hardest thing I've done, but I do think it was probably an advantage for us because I love nothing more than to try crazy stuff and, you know, experiment.

We got to do a lot of that.

- Though running a political campaign may have been a challenge, being elected mayor has allowed Tim the opportunity to combine his business acumen with his passion for servant leadership.

But being a public servant means being a public figure as well.

So, at this point, I mean, after running a campaign for a year, you're now a public figure.

There's almost nothing about you that isn't somewhere on paper and in an interview.

With that said, though, what would someone watching this be surprised to learn about you now?

(Mayor Kelly laughs) - That's a really good question.

I'm a lot weirder than people realize.

Again, I was a religion major for three years, and then turned that into, you know, I went to my advisor and I was like, you know, my faith kind of evolved over the course of that time, and I eventually, it said, I don't want to study this anymore.

I mean, I'll never not continue to read and study, but I don't want to study it from an academic perspective, and what can I do with it?

And so that's how it became a comparative literature major.

He was like, well, if you take some anthropology and put it with this.

But, you know, studied Hinduism and Buddhism for, you know, three solid years with one of the best, most revered scholars in the world, a guy named William Theodore de Bary, and for a hot second there, you know, but I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but it was fascinating.

People probably wouldn't suspected that a car dealer would have that sort of an academic background.

I'm a drummer, you know.

I've played the drums since I was, gosh, three years old.

I can remember there are pictures of me clutching drumsticks when I was two or three, and by the time I got to be 11 or 12, my mom finally broke down and bought, and said, "Fine, I'll take him."

Bought a used set of drums.

And so I've probably been in seven different bands in the course of my life.

- I heard you actually played with the band that accompanied Leslie Jordan, who was also a guest on the show, when he played at the Vine Street Market to earn his money for LA.

- It's a great story.

It's a really great story.

When I was 15, and my parents were divorced, so I had a hardship permit, so I could drive at 15, which all my friends thought was great, and it was a consolation prize for dealing with divorced parents.

And my dad said, you need to get a job, and I'm not going to give you a job.

Your first job, you gotta go get it.

And looked in the paper and, you know, busboy, Vine Street Market, and it was when the Vine Street Market was on Vine Street.

- [Lebovitz] Right.

- And Leslie was a server, and I just knew he was the short guy, you know.

I didn't really know anything, you know, but come to find out, you know, Leslie, he's trying to move to LA and become an actor.

Okay.

And somebody told them that I play the drums.

I was in a band then.

And so he did this vaudeville show where he raised the money to go to LA, and I think he ended up raising a couple thousand bucks, and it was a short-run show.

And I did it, I loved it.

I loved it, because what they would do is after the show, they would take me and they'd buy me beer, you know, and which I thought was the greatest thing in the history of the world at the time.

I was way underage, but, you know, that's the truth.

And then years later, I saw Leslie on the television.

I'm like, I know that guy, and I actually just ran into him at McKamey, at an event at McKamey a while back, and he said, I introduced him, and he just, I thought he was going to faint.

It was like, wow.

Apparently, I was the only member of that band that he had not yet sort of reconnected with, and I think it really surprised him to learn that I was running for mayor, and so, small world, indeed - Small world, indeed.

And finally, for anybody watching this, what do you want them to know about Tim Kelly the mayor?

- That I just want what's best for Chattanooga.

I really do.

Again, I don't have future political ambitions.

Not to say that that couldn't happen in some future possible universe, but the only thing I want is to make Chattanooga the best city that it can be, and I'm working hard every day, you know, to make that happen.

A lot of it is, you know, frankly, boring, thankless administrative sort of stuff, but, you know, and I think Chattanooga has a really incredible opportunity with the intersection of a lot of new technology that's coming in and the industry of sustainability.

So, you know, it's an exciting time to be in Chattanooga.

I feel incredibly fortunate in many ways.

I feel bad for Andy because he caught the tail end of the, you know, of the pandemic, which was a hard road for a politician, but I'm extremely optimistic about Chattanooga's future, and, you know, we just want people to know that I'm gonna be working as hard as I can every day to make it a better place.

- Well, thank you.

Thank you for your service and thank you for being on "The A-List."

- Thank you for having me.

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- [Announcer] Funding for this program was provided by... - [Male Announcer] Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory, and Florist, dedicated to helping you celebrate your life or the life of a loved one for over 85 years.

Chattanooga Funeral Home believes that each funeral should be as unique and memorable as the life being honored.

- [Announcer] This program is also made possible by support from viewers like you.

Thank you.