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By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer

The Thorsby City Council approved a therapy dog to be used at the school. Police Chief Rodney Barnett presented a motion for the city to approve or deny a therapy dog for the school during the July 5 meeting of the council. The dog was donated by a community member to the school, and the dog will be taken care of by that person.

The Belgian Malinois, that has been trained properly and known as a friendly dog, would visit the school two or three times a week. The dog will assist with calming special needs or younger students that may be in distress.

Barnett also mentioned the dog could be trained to sniff out other problems in the school such as drugs. The council unanimously passed the motion to approve the therapy dog.

The council also approved hiring two part-time police officers.

The council took a look at new designs for the mural on the building at the corner of Rebel Street and Minnesota Avenue beside the flag court. The council brought up the concern of the side door on the building hindering the design of the mural. The two designs were denied by the council unanimously, but they want to continue to work towards having a painting on the building.

“I would like to move forward and do something,” Tonya Ray said. “People are doing these and stopping to take pictures, so it is a good thing to get people to come through.”

The council thanked the Thorsby Fire Department for their fireworks display on July 3. The council commented about the length of the show, which was just over 20 minutes, and how impressed they were with the turnout.

The Thorsby City Council approved their annual financial audit at their meeting on July 5. The audit showed a positive net equity of $3.3 million for the city during the year. Ray was the first to make a motion to pass the audit, and Justin Killingworth seconded. The council approved the audit unanimously.