By DREW GRANTHUM/Staff Writer

The Maplesville Town Council selected a new manager for the Town’s senior center during a special meeting held Monday.

The council voted unanimously to hire Sandy Madsen for the position. Madsen previously served as the assistant director for the center. Councilwoman Patty Crocker was absent for the meeting.

Madsden, who was one of only two of the six applicants interviewed for the job, replaced Faye Hightower, the previous director who retired in early January.

In the meeting, members of the council cited Madsen’s familiarity and previous work with the center —11 years, Madsen told the council in her interview Monday — as well as rapport with the around 25 seniors who frequent the facility as reasons for her hire. Madsen had also been filling in as the center’s director since Hightower’s retirement.

“I think Sandy’s proven herself,” Mayor W.C. Hayes said. “I would like to see Sandy get the job because she’s been here a long time.”

Councilwoman Hilda Atchison said she agreed with Hayes.

“They know her, and she knows them,” she said.

Madsen’s duties as the center’s new director include responsibility for the preparation and submission of records to the Middle Area Agency on Aging (M4A), as well as the ability to interact with seniors and provide the attention and care required by those who attend the center.

Other duties include the responsibility of providing a daily program to entertain the seniors, order supplies, prepare plates from food provided by M4A and serve meals to the seniors, prepare and serve coffee and water to any seniors with a disability, the daily cleaning of the kitchen, bathroom and meeting areas of the center and assisting in any bathroom situation that arises, among others.

The position is a part-time (25 hours a week) position that pays $9 an hour, with a 25-cent raise every three months for one year, with council approval.

The start date for Madsen was on Tuesday, after being informed of her appointment to the position Monday night.