Longtime Local Nonprofit Leader Seeks Northport Mayor’s Office

A decades-long resident of the Tuscaloosa area who has been heavily involved in some of its most impactful nonprofits is running to be mayor of Northport, where he wants to be a unifying voice for the city.

In a Monday interview with the Thread, candidate Roland Lewis said he is a St. Louis native who moved to Tuscaloosa in 1991 to study at Stillman College. He earned two bachelor's degrees there and also met his future wife - they eventually moved to Northport, and have raised three sons and a daughter together.

Lewis, who also earned a Master's from the University of West Alabama, became very involved in local nonprofits, including a leadership role at Tuscaloosa's One Place, before moving into his current 10-year role as the District Director of the Black Warrior Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

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Lewis said that, being raised in the city, he didn't have a deep connection to scouting until he was raising his boys.

"When I became a professional scouter, I saw firsthand how the program changed the lives of youth. And from that moment, I made sure that my children were part of the program," Lewis said. "I have two sons who earned the rank of Eagle Scout now, because I understood that the program changed their way of life, changed how they think."

His experience in local organizations has given Lewis expertise in making and maintaining partnerships to secure support for TOP and the BWC. He hopes that will translate into being an effective mayor.

"In my mind, the mayor is a leader. He or she is the person who can do collaborative work, reach across the aisle, and bring everybody together for one cause," Lewis said. "I have 20-plus years of experience in community service work, nonprofits, and for-profits, bringing people together for a common cause."

Lewis also has some city government experience after four and a half years on Northport's Planning and Zoning Commission and almost three years on its Civil Service Board.

You can't talk about the August 26th elections without mentioning University Beach, the $350 million lagoon resort the council rushed to approve and partner in last year. Lewis said that the ship has sailed, and the next mayor and council should focus on making sure the city's infrastructure can support a project of that scale and that the developers behind it stick to their promises.

"As leaders of this fine community, we have to make sure that we begin to do a better job in communicating what the plans are for the city - the communication should have been better," Lewis said. "I believe we also have to listen to what our constituents are saying and how they feel. But if we go back to the first thing, communicating, we can hopefully resolve those issues."

Lewis also serves as executive pastor at Cornerstone Baptist Church.

Voters can learn more about Lewis at his website and explore the details of his campaign there. The biggest ask he had was that people who are concerned about the future of Northport just show up and vote.

"Everything I have built my platform on is going to go back to the basics of trust and integrity. We want to make sure that the residents of Northport trust our leaders and understand that we have integrity and we're going to do what's best for the entire city," Lewis said. "I also want to encourage our voters and our residents to go out and vote on August 26th from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. With a turnout of less than 10 percent in our local elections, it doesn't make sense for us to continue arguing about things and then not participate. We have to make our voices are heard, and for your voice to be heard, we have to go to the polls and express those voices."

Northport's municipal elections will be held on August 26, 2025. Four of five city council seats and the mayor's office are up for vote. Check out our just-launched coverage hub for those races here.

Any incumbent or challenging candidate seeking coverage on the Thread is invited to reach the editor at stephen.dethrage@townsquaremedia.com.

For updates on those races and more, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.