Known for tooling around town in his open-sided electric car, Mayor Jim Baskett is now riding into the sunset, or at least towards the nearest fishing hole.
First sworn into office seven months before the 1996 Olympics, Baskett ran his last commission meeting Monday night. Late in the evening, his eyes barely dry, Baskett looked up and said, “I thought that after 20 years I’d know what to say at this moment. Well, thanks to all of you.”
He spent a decade as Mayor Pro Tem, and that last three as Mayor, replacing Bill Floyd in Jan. 2013.
Now 68, Baskett moved to Decatur in 1973 to pursue his doctorate in Christian ethics at Emory University. He recalled the Decatur of that era as not only a far different place, but also a city staring at a bleak future.
“Back then,” he said, “the sidewalks rolled up at 5 o’ clock, and downtown at night could be scary. The plan was to tear down downtown and build high-rise office towers. The thinking was that small-town America was dead.”
Baskett got involved with city politics nearly a decade before joining the commission. He led the movement that helped save Decatur’s library, turning the tiny one-story cottage into the multi-story facility it is today, with a gleaming ground-floor auditorium and double deck parking in back.
By then the city was deeply committed to its 1982 Town Center Plan, which included preserving downtown’s historic structures and ensuring no new building taller than the historic courthouse would ever get built.
Baskett’s verbal leadership style could occasionally employ sarcasm and irony, or even a lightning flash of temper, especially if a public speaker played fast and loose with facts. But as fellow long-time commissioner Fred Boykin pointed out Monday, no one was more devoted to his city.
“I’ve admired your way with words, and your thoughtfulness,” Boykin said during the meeting. “I’ve admired your ability to look at the details, but I especially appreciate your honesty, commitment and advocating for community needs.”
Tony Powers will replace Baskett on the commission while Brian Smith takes over for interim Commissioner Bill Bolling. The new mayor will be chosen Jan. 4.
Decatur is the only metro Atlanta city that doesn’t popularly elect its mayor, annually appointing the position from among its five-person commission.
After City Hall had cleared out Monday, Baskett was asked how much Decatur has changed during his long tenure in the public spotlight.
“Nowadays we take for granted citizen engagement in Decatur,” he said. “But it was minimal two decades ago. I think as a commission we’ve done a lot better job with public engagement.
“The generation before me,” he added, “had an authoritarian view of government and leadership. I think my generation — we’ve built the collaborative leadership model.
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