The sunny side of serving the city

Anyone who has attended Madison City Council meetings may have noticed most of the councilmen sipping on cans of Sun Drop throughout the meetings.

Councilman Tim Holcombe, District 1’s representative, happens to be the marketing manager for the Sun Drop company.

Tim Holcombe is not only the Madison Councilman who represents District 1, but also works as the marketing manager for the Sun Drop company.

Holcombe moved to Madison eight years ago after getting the job with Sun Drop.

Some of the aspects of being marketing manager that he particularly enjoys include interacting with customers, taking care of their concerns and selling new products.

Some parts of the job can be challenging, though.

“Any time you’re in sales you’re going to have challenges—when customers don’t get service, or your guy doesn’t do the job or you run out of product,” Holcombe said. “There’s any number of frustrations when you’re out there trying to sell.”

Holcombe and his wife Sharon have two children: their son Daniel and daughter Rosalie.

Sharon is a teacher at Monrovia Middle School. She has been teaching for 30 years.

After a few semesters at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Daniel was called for a tour of duty in Iraq and spent 15 months there. When he returned, he transferred to Auburn University. He graduated from Auburn in May.

Rosalie is an art major at the University of Montevallo. She is specializing in sculpture and will graduate in August.

In addition to his day job, Holcombe was elected to the Madison City Council in November 2008.

It all began when he was elected president of the Walden Homeowners Association back in 2004. He started attending Planning and Zoning Board meetings.

“I started attending City Council meetings and just got interested in the process,” Holcombe explained.

Aside from participating in Council meetings, there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes. Holcombe said he spends about 25 hours a week on city business.

He serves as the liaison to the Chamber of Commerce, fire department and school board. He attends all of their meetings.

“There’s always something going on,” Holcombe said. “If you do it and you really put your heart into it, there’s a lot of work involved.”

He said he enjoys seeing the progress the Council has made.

“Just seeing what we’ve been able to do and what we’ve been able to accomplish is very rewarding,” Holcombe said.

In what little free time he has, Holcombe said he enjoys riding motorcycles and working out at the Y. He also used to be an avid scuba diver.

Holcombe said he has enjoyed the ride of serving as a City Councilman.

He said it will be interesting to see what happens when district lines are re-drawn next year.

“Madison’s growing, and it’s certainly a dynamic city,” Holcombe said. “It’s really been fun, and I appreciate the people of District 1 allowing me to represent them.”