Commissioner Jim Coppinger cruised to re-election this year with no primary or general election opposition, and now wants to build consensus on an even larger stage.
The former Chattanooga fire chief thinks his experience managing employees and budgets would translate well to the county mayor's job.
Coppinger, along with Commissioner Larry Henry and special assistant to the mayor Mike Carter, want to succeed Ramsey when he leaves the county Jan. 11 to become deputy governor and chief of staff for Gov.-elect Bill Haslam.
The county is also accepting other applicants for the job, which will be filled by a vote of Coppinger's fellow county commissioners. Commissioners plan to choose a new mayor on Dec. 27 and are taking applications through Dec. 17.
Coppinger, 55, represents County Commission District 3 and is the current commission pro-tem, also called the vice chairman, who along with the chairman acts as one of the commission's two presiding officials.
"We're poised at a really important time with economic development and job growth and I want to continue along those lines," Coppinger said.
Coppinger, a career firefighter now retired, has no outside business interests or other jobs, according to his financial disclosure forms.
Coppinger said his greatest accomplishment as a commissioner has been working with others, compromising and helping in the county's push for economic development.
He said he has worked with Ramsey, signing contracts for tax breaks that are expected to bring large industries such as Amazon.com to the area.
As a commissioner, he also has monitored county finances and chairman of the commission's finance committee, he said.
"It's just that overall ability to be able to work with others to come together to make some of the good economic development and job growth that's occurred here," he said.
Coppinger said he grew up on a farm on Cassandra Smith Road and currently lives in Valleybrook subdivision with his wife, Nina, who works as the choral director at Loftis Middle School. He joined the Chattanooga Fire Department in 1977 and became chief in 1997, holding that job for eight years.
Coppinger said his biggest accomplishment there was upgrading the department's Insurance Services Office rating to a Class 2, which put the fire department in the upper echelon of fire departments nationwide.
Jeff Eldridge, president of the Chattanooga Firefighters Association, noted that he and Coppinger had disagreements about labor issues but said overall he thought Coppinger did a good job as chief.
"He's easy to work with ... but if you got out of line, you were dealt with," Eldridge said.
According to newspaper archives, the Firefighters Association backed one of Coppinger's 2006 primary opponents, Terry Conley.
Deputy Chief Chris Adams also had good memories of his former boss.
"He was a very efficient manager, high energy, pro-active," Adams said. "He always strove for perfection and he made sure we strove for the same thing, because that's what he paid us for."
Not all of the memories from the 2006 campaign were rosy.
Al Smith, who ran against Coppinger in the 2006 Republican primary along with Conley, said Coppinger hasn't accomplished much during his time as a commissioner.
"If Jim Coppinger is chosen to be the mayor, I'm going to move out of his district," Smith said.
Conley remembers that Coppinger ran a clean race and was congenial toward him.
"I think he's done well," Conley said. "He's helped the schools out a lot, keeping up the roads around here has been decent."
When asked if Coppinger would make a good mayor, Conley said, "I can't say why he wouldn't be a good mayor."
Richard Wilson, a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said Coppinger's easy road to re-election shows he is popular in his district. He said the biggest challenge for both Coppinger and Henry, his fellow commissioner, will be getting enough votes from their seven remaining commissioners to win the job. Commissioners seeking the job cannot vote for themselves.
"They're both intelligent men," Wilson said. "I think Coppinger's record in running successfully would give him an edge in overall popularity, but the key popularity here is the popularity among the remaining members of the County Commission."
Contact staff writer Dan Whisenhunt at dwhisenhunt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6481. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DWhisenhunt.