A new beginning is set to take place in Germantown following the Nov. 3 election.
Residents will vote on a new city mayor for the first time in 12 years. Longtime mayor Mike Palazzolo announced in June he isn’t seeking reelectionat the end of his term. Palazzolo has servedas Germantown mayor since 2014.
Two candidates face-off for open mayoral seat
Two mayoral candidates vying for the open role are Tony Salvaggio, who currently serves in Position 5 on the Germantown Board of Mayor and Alderman, and Edgar Babian, former deputy chief of the Germantown Fire Department.
Salvaggio has served on Germantown BMA since being elected in November 2024. He’s also involved in other civic duties, including serving as liaison on the planning commission. Salvaggio told the Commercial Appeal if he is elected as mayor
that he will remove himself from serving on the planning commission.
He has a family history of serving Germantown. Salvaggio’s father, Charles Salvaggio, was the city’s mayor from 1989-94. He also passed down a longtime notable family business.
Tony Salvaggio is the owner of Memphis Door and Hardware, which his father and mother started in 1972 in Germantown. Salvaggio noted he has run the company since he was 19. He also runs Germantown homebuilder firm Salvaggio Group.
It appeared at one point that Salvaggio would be running for the mayor seat unopposed until Babian decided in late July to run for mayor. Babian has some history running for office. He was the Republican candidate for District 85 of the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2010. He was defeated by Democrat Johnnie Turner in the November general election in 2010.
Babian spent 40 years with the Germantown Fire Department and 11 years as fire chief of the Rossville Fire Department. During his time as deputy chief of the Germantown Fire Department, Babian said he was in charge of the budget.
“I welcome the competition, and my competitor is a great guy,” Salvaggio said. “Quite frankly, I’m glad someone is running. It forces me to get there and forces me to tell my story. At the end of the day, I’m not going to just walk into the position. I’m going to earn it.”
Here is a closer look at Salvaggio and Babian, including what issues they want to address if elected as Germantown’s next mayor.
Edgar Babian wants to continue serving Germantown
Babian named the city's sanitation contract, the need to rezone along Forest-Hill Irene at Winchester and the future of Germantown schools as top priorities to tackle if elected as mayor.
If elected, Babian said his initial priority is to review the city’s sanitation contract. Several residents expressed frustration during the May board meeting about the sanitation increases. Babian talked about how he is having to pay $14.11 a month for recycling when he doesn’t use the service. He doesn’t feel he or residents should see a charge on their bill if they don't use a service.
Babian said with the sanitation contract there is a built-in cost increase each year, and the cost is going to be even higher in the next five to 10 years.
“The sanitation contract needs to be revisited,” Babian said. “It is broken down to each type of service. I think if you don’t want to do recycling, you should not have to. Some people have asked if they could opt out of the cities' service and get their own. I would be for that.”
Additionally, Babian said the area south of Winchester Road off of Forest-Hill Ireneneeds to be Germantown instead of Memphis.
“Then we need to bring in an upscale development and possibly a grocery store that is not Kroger,” Babian said.
Babian said the future of the 3G’s schools are a great concern to him.
School concerns: 'Think outside the box'
In 2022, Shelby County and Germantown reached an agreement that allowed the city to regain Germantown Elementary School and Germantown Middle School. The agreement also called for Germantown to help Memphis-Shelby County Schools sell the Germantown High School building.
“We are getting the elementary and middle schools back in January of 2032, but don’t have enough kids to occupy them as a normal school,” Babian said. “The school system needs to figure out what is the best fate for them. “If the (Shelby) County does not sell the high school by January 2032, the school system gets them back.
"I would like it turned into an upscale technical school. I would get rid some of the old buildings and make it a modern facility. We have to think out of the box.”
Babian said there needs to be places designed for the kids to do things that are note necessary sports related.
"They need gathering locations, places they can be a part of developing the areas in conjunction with the school system," he said.
Why Babian joined the race: 'Advocate for citizens'
According to Babian, he believes city government needs to be working for the "people not the special interest." It was an agreement that was broken that pushed Babian to put his name in the hat for Germantown mayor.
As the president of the Winchester Forest Hill Estates homeowner association since 2002, Babian was upset by the changes developers made at Goodwin Farms, which is a new residential subdivision adjacent to his neighborhood, Winchester Forest Hill Estates. His decision to run came after the suburb’s planning commission as well as the BMA approved changes at Goodwin Farms.
“The big problem with the subdivision is it connects into us in two different locations,” Babian said. “The agreement we had with the developers, or the only agreement that we’ve gotten to keep out of the whole thing, was they would not connect into our subdivision until phase nine ... . They didn’t honor any of the agreements.
"With them not honoring our agreements, I had no choice. If you’re listening to the builders over the citizens, somebody has to be an advocate for the citizens.”
Get to know Salvaggio's top issues
According to Salvaggio, his top priorities are public safety, schools and fiscal responsibility. He said it’s crucial that the public safety department know the city will fund them appropriately to keep citizens safe.
When it comes to schools, Salvaggio believes it’s significant that the city re-establish a solid partnership with the Germantown Municipal School District.
“I first plan for both sides to sit down early within my terms and re-establish lines of communication,” Salvaggio said. “I feel like the lines of communications are strained. I think there is sense that the two boards don’t want to be partners, but I know they do.”
School funding, Houston renovations
One of the major ongoing issues is the renovations to Houston High School. Approximately $10 million was earmarked for upgrades to Houston High School as part of the 2026-27 budget. However, the school district's original request was $100 million over 10 years.
“They have obviously identified Houston High School as being at the top of the list of needs for their school system,” Salvaggio said. “I respect that, and I agree with that. I think what I’m going to bring, as a fresh set of eyes, is going to be a new perspective on funding. It’s going to require thinking outside of the box. They have a $100 million ask and that’s unobtainable in our budget. So, how can we make big differences in different bites and that’s going to be public-private partnerships; and it’s going to be looking at grant opportunities as well as looking at corporate enthusiasm to figure out ways they can become involved.”
Another issue that Salvaggio plans to tackle is the city’s sanitation services. Germantown residents are paying higher fees for sanitation pickup because of the board’s approval in May of a sanitation contract with Waste Pro, in which the company was the only bidder.
If elected, Salvaggio said his approach would bring a multi-bid mandate policy to the board in response to the sanitation contract.
“We ended up with one bidder, and I see that as not a deficiency on procurement, [but] as a deficiency on policy,” he said. I want to put a policy in place that if that happens in the future, there’s a protocol that goes into effect immediately that puts us back in the market and makes the bid more competitive.”
Budget-driven decisions
Salvaggio acknowledged that his decision to run for mayor stemmed from his concern about the city’s budget. He said when he decided to run for alderman, he started studying the previous budgets and understanding how they work. He also tried to dissect the difference between a municipal budget from a private sector budget.
Salvaggio said he presented eight amendments to the fiscal year 2025 budget, which he knew that those amendments weren't going to pass. However, Salvaggio thought this was his opportunity to bring what he felt was transparency and accountability to the citizens.
“I think the city of Germantown does a lot things really well and do the majority of things really well,” Salvaggio said. “But going through the budget process and seeing how it was done, I felt disconnected from the administration and from the mayor ... . I felt as though I wasn't really able to get the information I needed prior to the budget, and that bothered me. I think an alderman needs more than one or two sessions of just listening to the staff tell us what's going to happen, and I was just not real keen on the process."
Salvaggio later thought he wasn’t going to accomplish what he set out to do by just being a Germantown alderman for the next three-and-half years.
“Given this opportunity by the citizens, and I felt as though I was just spinning my wheels,” Salvaggio said. “I had a hard conversation with my family, and I don’t want to do this for three-and-half-years in this capacity. I decided that for me to be able to truly accomplish what I think Germantown needs, the time is now and the time is right [to run for mayor].”
Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Corey.Davis@commercialappeal.com or 901-293-1610.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Babian and Salvaggio to face off for Germantown mayor in Nov. 3 election
