Ironton Business Association members heard nominations from the floor last week in preparation for the election of a new slate of officers and the start of a new fiscal year.

Monday, October 16, 2000

Ironton Business Association members heard nominations from the floor last week in preparation for the election of a new slate of officers and the start of a new fiscal year.

Nominee for president is Betty Adkins. Nominees for a co-presidents are incumbents Lou Pyles and J.D. Carey. The vice president nominee is Mark Compston. Betty Adams is running for secretary, while Brent Pyles and John Schwab have each tossed in their hats for the treasurer’s post.

Voting on those IBA governing positions will take place later this year.

The IBA’s fiscal year begins in January, but three more months of work on current projects remain, members said.

Co-president Lou Pyles said IBA members are discussing a downtown revitalization project for this fall.

The group had initially hoped to get the city to agree to free parking during the fall shopping season to help with the revitalization project. The free parking was to coincide with an advertising campaign to attract shoppers.

Mrs. Pyles said that these plans were scaled back due to difficulties with the parking issue.

"I talked to the mayor, and he said that having free parking during the entire fall would be difficult," she said.

Instead, the IBA was able to free up the parking for the Friday after Thanksgiving to encourage holiday shopping downtown, she said.

Around that time, the IBA hopes to advertise to attract more shoppers from Ironton and from out of town, she added.

Members also discussed the current purchase of three trash cans for the downtown area.

The $500 steel receptacles soon will be installed in different places in the downtown area. A fourth receptacle will be purchased by the Ironton Rotary Club.

"One of the biggest complaints in town is that there is no place to throw trash away," Mrs. Pyles said. "We hope that this will give people a place to put their trash other than the street."

She added that the IBA hopes to buy more receptacles next year.