Dollar general will break ground in Thorsby

Published 9:34 pm Monday, February 21, 2011

Dirt will be moved as soon as Wednesday at the site of Thorsby’s new Dollar General store.

The town council approved the last step of the project Monday — by approving a resolution that the town will be responsible for adjusting traffic lights to accommodate higher traffic the store will bring in.

The council had to approve the resolution in order for the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) to sign off on the project.

“The business will purchase the property tomorrow, and dirt will be moved Wednesday,” said Mayor Dearl Hilyer.

In other business, Rep. Kurt Wallace and Sen. Cam Ward were brought in to assist with speeding up the town’s railroad safety project.

Hilyer met with Wallace on Thursday to discuss the prolonged process, which has been pushed back numerous times since it was to begin in 2007.

“There are numerous start dates before I was even in office,” said Hilyer. “I’m getting them involved, and we will see how that goes.”

Also, the town is looking to become a city as early as the spring after they receive their census numbers.

“I saw that we are well over 2,000 in population, which will trigger us as a city,” said Hilyer.

The council also approved updates to the employee handbook and the adoption of a prosecutor’s report of action.

The town prosecutor will complete a report for each case and let the town clerk know about the status of each case, so if someone calls town hall and asks about their case, staff at Town Hall will be able to pull it up.