By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – The Columbiana City Council approved eight appointments to the city’s Industrial Development Board at an Aug. 6 meeting.

The IDB consists of no fewer than seven members who serve staggered six-year terms.

The board meets on an as-needed basis and makes recommendations to the City Council on matters such as incentives for new businesses coming to the city, Mayor Stancil Handley said.

The new IDB appointments are as follows:

• Bill Justice, term to expire Aug. 1, 2025.
• Tom Walton, term to expire Aug. 1, 2025.
• Bentley Farr, term to expire Aug. 1, 2021.
• Grady Parsons, term to expire Aug. 1, 2023.
• Gary Hetzel, term to expire Aug. 1, 2025.
• Joel Dixon, term to expire Aug. 1, 2023.
• Corley Ellis, term to expire Aug. 1, 2021.
• Bobby Madison, term to expire Aug. 1, 2025.

The City Council also approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an MOA with the Middle Alabama Area Agency on Aging for food at the Columbiana Senior Center.

“M4A provides Meals on Wheels and congregate meals to our seniors,” Senior Center Director Ali Payne said. “We serve about 50-55 meals every day.”

Payne said contracting with M4A keeps the senior center’s meal prices low, at about $2 per person for each meal.

“The benefit of the contract is we can cancel this at any time,” Payne said.