Council appoints Travis, Grantham to BWWMH board

The Demopolis City Council appointed two members to the board at Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital Thursday evening.

After a 30-minute executive session, the council first entertained the motion of reappointing Webb Tutt to his expired board seat. Councilman Bill Meador’s motion for Tutt’s reappointment failed for lack of a second.

The council then appointed Dr. Judy Travis to the board by a 3-2 margin with Harris Nelson abstaining from the vote and Meador and Mayor Mike Grayson casting their ballots against the local physician.

The council then appointed RockTenn head man Jim Grantham to the board by a 3-0 margin with abstentions from Charles Jones, Mitchell Congress and Nelson.

Dr. Ronnie Chu had been nominated at the previous meeting but was never discussed in open forum Thursday as the two available spots were filled before his name was brought to the floor for consideration.

“I kind of thought that we could go with two doctors,” Jones, who nominated Chu at the council’s Dec. 20 meeting, later said in open forum. “I see now how the Russian roulette wheel plays. We didn’t even get to the second doctor. But I will know for the next time.”

The council also appointed four individuals to the Demopolis Park and Recreation Board. The city’s governing body began the discussion by unanimously reappointing Paul Willingham and Alfred Padilla. The group voted to appoint Joseph Bailey by a 6-0 margin and Rob Pearson by a 5-1 margin with only Congress voting against the local Certified Public Accountant. The council voted not to appoint Dexter Jones or Jason Perriman to the board.

The council also opened the nomination process for a Demopolis Water and Sewer Board seat that is currently held by Arthur Taylor, who will be up for reappointment at the Jan. 17 meeting. Cleveland Cole nominated Brian Brooker for consideration while Congress nominated Thomas Moore.