Hoover council picks Sanford for Parks and Recreation Board, Cole for Library Board

The Hoover City Council tonight appointed Paul Sanford to the Hoover Parks and Recreation Board and Ruth Cole to the Hoover Library Board.

Sanford is filling the spot left from the resignation of Randy Lott and will complete the final five years of Lott’s term on the park board. Cole is replacing longtime Hoover Library Board member Michael Krawcheck, whose fifth four-year term ended in December.

Paul Sanford

Sanford, 50, lives in Cahaba River Estates and has been a Hoover resident for 20 years.

He spent many years serving in Hoover youth athletics, including 10 years on the board of the Hoover Athletic Association (many as treasurer) and as a member of the football steering committee for the Hoover Parks and Recreation Department, he said.

He is proud of the work the group did to increase participation in youth football by several hundred boys, he said.

Sanford also served as treasurer of the Buccaneer Touchdown Club the past couple of years and previously as the club’s president. He also was involved with the baseball booster club at Hoover High School.

Sanford and his wife, Donya, have four children: Thomas (a third-year medical student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham); Preston (a science teacher and football and baseball coach at Hoover High); Sarah (a junior member of the track team at Samford University); and Sam (a junior at Hoover High).

Sanford is the chief financial officer for the Barber Companies, where he has worked for 20 years. He also has served about 14 years on the board of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. He and his wife attend Riverchase Church of Christ.

Hoover Councilman John Lyda, the council’s liaison to the Parks and Recreation Board, said more than a dozen people applied for the park board vacancy.

Sanford brings the perfect mix of park and recreation experience and business acumen to the park board, Lyda said. He is just what the city needs to help make the Hoover Metropolitan Complex the best it can be, and his experience with land management will be useful as the city looks to develop areas near the new sports complex next to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, Lyda said.

Ruth Cole

Cole, 43, lives in Greystone and has been a Hoover resident about 12 years.

She is president of the Berry Middle School PTO this year and previously served as president of the Greystone Elementary PTA. She and her husband, Doug, have a daughter, Addison, who is an eighth-grader at Berry and a son, Cooper, who is a fifth-grader at Greystone.

She previously has worked as an accountant and as an accounting consultant for a Fortune 500 company.

She served on the Hoover school superintendent’s advisory committee and has been a Sunday school teacher, troop coordinator for American Heritage Girls Troop AL1720, First Priority Kids volunteer and a volunteer with the Delta Delta Delta sorority for at least 20 years.

Councilman Casey Middlebrooks, the council’s liaison to the Library Board and a former Hoover Public Library employee, said there were 12 applicants for the Library Board position and he believes Cole will be a great addition to the board because of her strong record of community involvement.

Cole said the Hoover Public Library is one of the pillars of the community and she looks forward to working with the staff and city officials in the years to come.