The City Council on Tuesday afternoon filled five vacancies on the seven member Health, Education and Housing Facilities Board.
The new members will be BettyeLynn Smith, Dana Perry, Lloyd Longnion and Nicole Osborne. Hicks Armor was reappointed.
The board had been unable to meet recently because it could not get a quorum.
There were 14 applicants after the Council advertised the vacancies. Two others applied too late and one was ineligible because he is a city employee. Another was not registered to vote.
The council will be filling three vacancies on the Transportation Board. There are two expired terms and one vacancy.
Applications are due at the council office by noon on Feb. 13. The council will make the choices on Feb. 17.
There is no requirement that members live in the city, but council members indicated they prefer to have city residents.
Councilman Yusuf Hakeem said he would like the council to have several appointments to the Enterprise Center board, but Councilman Moses Freeman advised against it, saying board appointees should have no obligations to those who appoint them.
He said, "Do we want to go down that road to have appointees to all agencies we give money to?"
Councilman Freeman said council appointees "if they are responsible to us, then they can't do their job." He said that would "create politics and personality conflicts."
He said, "If we're going to monkey around with boards, we're going to tear this place apart."
Councilman Hakeem said it was idealistic to think that council members do not stay in touch with board appointees.
He said, "We are all very pleased with the direction the city is moving regarding investments from the private sector and innovation coming to our city. The Industrial Development Board and the Health, Education and Housing Facility Bored are examples of entities playing a major role in Chattanooga's future.
"I would place the Enterprise Center in the same category because of its impact on technology and innovation in our city. Also, it is an entity that has and will continue to request funding in the future.
"As major stakeholders, we should have appointees on that board. Therefore, I'm asking that council adopt a resolution requesting the following of the Enterprise Center Board: that a percentage of the city of Chattanooga appointments to their board be made by the City Council."