3 chosen to fill vacancies on park, library, arts boards

The Hoover City Council recently appointed three people to fill vacancies on the city’s Parks and Recreation Board, Library Board and Arts Council.

Parks and Recreation Board

The council chose Hunter Bridwell to fill a spot on the Parks and Recreation Board. He is a project manager for American Cast Iron Pipe Co. who grew up in Hoover and recently moved back from McCalla with his wife. They live in the Green Valley community.

Bridwell said that, after moving to Hoover in 1993, he grew up playing sports in the city’s youth recreation leagues, including baseball at Shades Mountain Park, Hoover Sports Park Central and Hoover Sports Park East; basketball at the Hoover Recreation Center; and soccer at the Riverchase Sports Park. He made some lifelong friendships as a result of those experiences, he said.

“The parks of Hoover were where some of the greatest times of my childhood were spent, and I have always felt the parks are at the center of the community,” he said in a letter to the Hoover City Council offering himself for service.

As an adult, he has coached youth basketball and youth flag football teams based out of the Hoover YMCA and youth soccer for the Vestavia Soccer Club. Bridwell also currently serves as president of the Birmingham Track Club and has been director or co-director of two of the four races presented by the club.

He has worked with Red Mountain Park and the Freshwater Land Trust, trying to expand trail systems in the Birmingham-Hoover metro area and, as a new park board member, would like to assist with efforts to expand and build more trails in Hoover, connecting them to Hoover neighborhoods and other trail systems in the metro area, he said.

Bridwell has both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in marketing from the University of Alabama.

Library Board

The council chose Terry Lamar to fill a seat on the Library Board being vacated by Cherinita Ladd-Reese.

Lamar since April of 2022 has been serving as chief administrative officer for Hoover City Schools. Before that, he was the school district’s director of equity and educational initiatives since the fall of 2018, and prior to that he was principal of Bluff Park Elementary School for three years. He has been in education for 20 years and with Hoover City Schools since 2006, including stints at Berry and Bumpus middle schools and South Shades Crest Elementary.

Lamar said he wants to serve on the Hoover Library Board because he and his three children have been library users and he believes in the library’s mission of providing positive experiences for all people in the community. It’s more than just about reading books, he said.

Also, he went through Leadership Hoover with the library’s technology director, and her passion for the library motivated him to want to contribute as well, he said.

Lamar has a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the University of Alabama, a master’s degree in school counseling from the University of West Alabama and a doctorate in educational leadership from Samford University.

Arts Council

The council chose Tracy Dismukes to fill Julie Preskitt’s spot on the Hoover Arts Council.

Dismukes is a Realtor with ARC Realty and lives off Chapel Lane near Gwin Elementary School.

She has been heavily involved with the arts in the Hoover school system the past seven years, serving as publicity chairwoman for the Hoover High School band boosters the past three years and two years as treasurer of the Hoover High School choir boosters.

She was a vocal advocate for the new performing arts center that is under construction at Hoover High and said she would love to be a part of the creation of an arts center for the entire city if that idea comes to fruition.

With her son being active in the arts, she knows what the arts mean to the community and believes an arts center would be a wonderful amenity to add to the quality of life, she said. As a Realtor, she also knows that arts and entertainment offerings are a big draw for a city, she said.

Before becoming a Realtor in 2019, Dismukes worked more than 27 years as owner of the Collage designer consignment store. She also worked 12 years as an internal management consultant for SouthTrust Bank.

Dismukes has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Auburn University and a master’s degree in business administration from Samford University. She also served seven years on the Hoover Parent Teacher Council, four or five of them as an officer.