The Thorsby Town Council made a strong decision to control an important part of their municipality — their parks and recreation department.

Over the past year, trouble has developed with the finances stemming from apparent mismanagement and poor decision-making when it came to registration and sponsorship fees.

This is not an indictment of the members of the parks and recreation board as individuals, rather a reflection of the board as a whole.

If one or two individuals made poor decisions then the board showed a lack of proper authority to manage thousands upon thousands of dollars. The board — the entire board — should have been involved in key decisions that could have prevented an apparent financial meltdown.

The council made the right decision in taking back control. In the end, these elected officials are charged with properly managing the city’s money.

If they, as a council, decide a managing authority is not doing the job, then it is their job to make a change.

Thursday night, that change was made.

It is hard enough for parents these days to pay for their children to participate in little leagues. All they ask is that their children have fun, that their children are kept safe and that the dollars they spent are not wasted.

Thorsby Mayor Dearl Hilyer made a commitment after the council decided to disband the parks and recreation board that this “will not happen again” and that “this will not happen next year.” Let us hope not.