LINDEN — The City Council voted Tuesday night to appoint Tameka Dial to the previously vacant Board of Education seat. The move came in the form of a unanimous vote to validate the nomination and motion from council member Jan Cannon. Dial works with Alabama Southern’s adult education department.

The council also voted to accept the motion of a its planning committee, a recommendation to rezone the east side of the city’s industrial park from light industry to heavy industry.

The council also learned that the latest census numbers indicate the city’s population has dropped from 2,424 in the year 2000 to 2,123 according to the 2010 count. The drop represents a 12 percent loss in citizenship for the city.

Mayor Mitzi Gates reminded the council of a Thursday, March 10 community forum meeting that will allow citizens to discuss and ask questions regarding Linden’s forthcoming wifi internet connectivity, a technological advance that will be made possible by the city’s partnership with Blackbelt Technologies. That meeting is scheduled to take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Marengo County Courthouse.

Gates also informed those present that the Department of Transportation will hold a public involvement meeting Tuesday, March 29 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Marengo County Courthouse to discuss the possibility of adding lanes to US-43 from just north of SR-28 in Linden to US-80 in Demopolis.

The meeting will be conducted in an open house format and come exactly 24 hours after a similar meeting at Alabama Southern Community College in Thomasville that will be focused on four-laning US-43 from SR-5 in Thomasville to just south of Linden.