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By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer

The Thorsby City Council continued their discussion on the design of a mural by the Scandinavian flag court at the corner of Rebel Street and Minnesota Avenue.

Whitney Barlow passed out two new designs to the council that highlighted the Swedish flag colors, blue and yellow in the design. The council also had the three previous designs that highlighted fruit more and described what they wanted to see from the mural.

Barlow did a video call during the meeting with artist Presley Langley who will be painting the mural to help connect her with the council’s vision.

Council members mentioned highlighting more of the Scandinavian heritage of the city in the mural with some of the flags in the design. Councilwoman Tonya Ray presented an idea of having the flags on the left side of the mural followed by “Welcome to Thorsby.” Then, tying in peaches and strawberries into a small Swedish settlement on the right side of the mural.

The city crest and the slogan “A Scandinavian Colony in the South” were other ideas to be included in the mural.

The goal is to have the mural completed before the Swedish Festival on Oct. 8. Creating a gravel path to the mural, replacing the Scandinavian flags and repainting the historic marker was also discussed to brighten the area around mural. Barlow and Langley took the ideas from the council and will submit new designs at a future meeting.

Thorsby received three bids back on their janitorial services for town hall, the annex, Richard Wood Park and Helen Jenkins Chapel. A resolution to award the bid to C&C Cleaning was approved with Mayor Robert Hight and council members Marvin Crumpton and Glenn Littleton voting yes. Ray abstained from voting. Neil Benson and Justin Killingworth were absent from the meeting.

Also, during the meeting the council approved hiring a reserve police officer. The council also tabled issuing funds to the Thorsby Fire Department for replacing equipment that is about to, or has already met its 10-year shelf life. The funds would cover around 15 complete firefighting uniforms that includes helmets, jackets, pants, tanks and boots.

The council asked if the equipment could be purchased off the state bid list or if they will have to bid the equipment out.