The vault in the town of Thorsby’s storage building is overflowing with old documents.

Town Clerk Crystal Smith brought up the matter to the Thorsby Town Council during its meeting on Monday.

“We can’t even walk out there,” Smith explained.

An apparent solution was found in form of Shred-It, a document and hard drive destruction company, which has assisted businesses in proper data disposal in 18 countries and over the past 25 years.

It is a worldwide company with its nearest service center located in Birmingham.

According to Smith, the first step in the process is sending a letter to the Alabama Department of Archives and History to specify what can and cannot be disposed and whether Thorsby plans to burn, shred or recycle the material.

Councilman Glenn Littleton motioned for the Council to hire Shred-It once the town hears back from the state, while councilwoman Nicole Hilyer seconded the motion.

“A lot of it is just stuff that probably should have been taken care of a long time ago,” Smith said.

The cost of the venture would be $8 per box of documents and $15 per hard drive. The plan is to spend about $890 for Shred-It to come in and perform a one-time cleanup.

According to Smith, in order to ensure that this does not become a major problem once again down the road, the town will partner with the Shred-It to get a pair of consoles that only the town and the company will have keys to unlock.

The documents that are currently on the chopping block go as far back as 1988, with the most recent from 2012.

Once a certain year’s worth of documents reaches a point, it will be placed in one of the consoles to be carried away and properly disposed of.

“There’s a lot of information in there that doesn’t need to get out,” Smith said.

Also discussed during the meeting, mayor Jean Nelson informed the Council that a representative from Alabama Power would be in town at 2 p.m. on Friday to talk about the possibility of adding decorative lampposts.

The lights were planned to possibly accompany a new sidewalk that will be paved along a stretch of U.S. Highway 31 in the heart of Thorsby.

“We’ve been wanting to do it for a long time, but we had to figure out how to get the electricity to it,” Nelson said. “It will definitely add to our décor around here.”

Littleton motioned to transfer necessary funds and pay the bills, while councilman Marvin Crumpton seconded the motion.