Selma appointed three members to its City School Board with a secret ballot at last night’s meeting.

Deborah Howard, Ben Givhan and Dr. David Hodo are the newest board members.

Councilwoman Dr. Geraldine Allen, chair of the City Council’s Administrative Committee, brought six applicants for the three open positions.

The council voted on the six, using numbers instead of the applicants names.

The names of the other three weren’t released.

Of the six voted on, they were each assigned a number, from one to six.

“I was very pleased with the process,” Councilwoman Bennie Ruth Crenshaw said.

Crenshaw was one of several members who attended the original screening process held by the Administrative Committee.

For the three positions available, 29 applied.

Allen said that the screening process took two days, well into the night on both days.

Some 18 applicants were interviewed by the Committee and various council members on the first night and 11 on the second.

The new board members will take office at the beginning of next year.

Allen also brought information regarding the city’s smoking ordinance to the Council during her committee report.

The committee suggested making the ordinance a choice ordinance, where an establishment has an option to be either smoking or non-smoking.