THORSBY — There will be one less member of the Chilton County Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force — at least for now.

The Thorsby Town Council unanimously decided to suspend its payment to the task force due to projected lack of funding. Since its inception, Thorsby has given $5,000 to be a member of the task force while other municipalities allow officers to serve on the task force.

Mayor Dearl Hilyer said he didn’t see that the town could afford it right now because the town is expecting much lower revenues.

“Our money would be better spent in Thorsby,” he said.

Police Chief Ed Prady suggested that the town could later rejoin the task force if Thorsby is in better financial shape in the future.

Currently, the only members in the task force are the Chilton County Sheriff’s Department, Clanton Police and Jemison Police.

In other business, town employees will receive a paid day off Dec. 26. The council’s vote was 3-2. Those in favor of the day off were council members Willis Britt, Jean Nelson and Marvin Crumpton. Tara Jewell and Neil Benson voted no on the measure.

The move was made because town employees will already be off for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which falls on Wednesday and Thursday. Now the town will close for Christmas on the afternoon of Dec. 23 and will not reopen until the following Monday, Dec. 29.

The council also gave the OK for the fire department to go ahead with improvements to the fire training facility in preparation for recruiting school classes next month.