LINDEN &8212; The city council approved by a majority vote the hiring of Scott McClure, who has served in the capacity of interim police chief since July, as police chief on a permanent basis.

McClure returned to Linden &8212; where he had begun his career in 1993 &8212; in 2000 after taking a position with the Thomaston Police Department and eventually reaching the position of police chief there.

Previously, the city received approximately 10 applications for the position and chose to interview five candidates. Only three candidates were interviewed: McClure, Marengo County Sheriff&8217;s Deputy Mike Huckabee and Demopolis Police Officer Leslie Hines.

Last week the council held a second round of interviews for the top two candidates. After an executive session at their meeting Tuesday, three councilmen voted in favor of McClure hiring and two were opposed.

Marengo County Economic Development Authority

At the council&8217;s previous meeting, Councilwoman Mitzi Gates recommended the council nominate Kathryn Friday of the Marengo County Cooperative Extension System and Councilman William Curry to serve on the Marengo County Economic Development Authority, which the council approved.

The appointments, however, came before the bylaws were provided to the council and before they were adopted, which is required before any municipality can appoint members to the board of the economic development authority.

At Tuesday&8217;s meeting, Gates retracted her actions, saying it was an &8220;egregious mistake&8221; on her part and that her nominations were &8220;premature.&8221; She further stated she had only worked on the &8220;periphery&8221; of the efforts and did not intend to make such an error.

The Marengo County EDA is expected to have a 19-member board, with each board appointment being based on a municipality&8217;s financial contribution and its relative population.

The Linden City Council, which has pledged $15,000, will have two appointments to the board and the Linden Industrial Development Board will have one appointment.

Gates then provided the council with a draft of the by laws, and they are expected to discuss them at their next council meeting on Dec. 4.