Council appoints members to library and park boards

Making appointments to the city's various boards is one of the city council's major responsibilities, and at Monday night's regular meeting, the decision wasn't taken lightly.

The council made appointments to the library board as well as the parks and recreation board after spending multiple days interviewing several candidates for each.

Appointees to the library board serve for four years, while those appointed to the parks and recreation board serve for five.

At Monday's meeting, council voted 4-1 in favor of Mayor Ashley Curry's recommendation to reappoint Ashley Tucker Hicks to the library board, with Kimberly Cook voting against.

Curry referenced Hicks' experience with the library and the recommendations from the library staff and other board members.

In addition to already serving on the board, Hicks is a seventh grade English teacher at Pizitz Middle School, an attribute that Place 4 Councilor George Pierce said he thought was important to note.

Cook said that while she agreed that Hicks had the experience and qualifications to serve well, she had concerns that there would again be no board members who reside in Cahaba Heights or Liberty Park.

“I think there is a reason to have some representation from other parts of the city,” she said.

With Cahaba Heights and Liberty Park so geographically removed from where the Library in the Forest is located, Cook said she saw value in adding someone "with a different perspective" to keep residents of those areas in mind.

Cook's recommendation was to appoint Greg Laughlin, who in addition to being an associate professor at Cumberland School of Law, is also the library director at the school's law library.

Place 3 Councilor Paul Head said he recognized that for all board appointments, reappointing someone is a major decision.

“To me there needs to be a compelling reason why you would reappoint someone,” he said, and added that in this case, he believed that Hicks' experience and involvement in her time on the board merited another appointment.

Councilors briefly discussed the issue of representation from different neighborhoods on various city boards, with Pierce arguing that as the council is appointed at large, he expects appointees to serve the entire community equally.

Cook clarified her statement, saying that while representation was important to her, she mainly wanted to express her belief that adding new perspectives to city boards would benefit all.

For the parks and recreation board, the council voted unanimously to appoint Kirk McCulley to the position.

Head reiterated that the council was proud that so many members of the community applied for the position, and encouraged those that were not appointed to continue to find places within parks and recreation to serve.

Other Council Business:

• The council approved a retail liquor license for Taco Tech, located at 2409 Acton Road.
• The measure to fund the replacement of the white-way lights along U.S. 31 was postponed.
• City Treasurer Melvin Turner, III reported on the end-of-year financial reports, and reported that after pre-paying some debt service, the city ended the 2016 fiscal year with a $423,701 surplus and with $10.2 million in the city's emergency fund.