The Thorsby Council accepted the resignation of Fire Chief James Conner and shortly after approved the promotion of Josh Parker to that position during its June 3 meeting.

Parker previously served as the town’s interim fire chief prior to Conner being hired in July 2018 after the termination of former chief Lee Gunn.

“He did a fine job as interim chief,” Thorsby Mayor Robert Hight said.

Conner’s resignation request was due to family reasons.

The vote to hire Parker was passed 3-1 with Councilman Glenn Littleton opposing. Councilman Marvin Crumpton was absent from the meeting.

“I think we need to advertise the position,” Littleton said.

The Council also unanimously approved an amendment to the recent pay scale reconfiguration for town employees.

Two bullet points were added after further evaluation of the pay scale agreement in the weeks following the initial approval.

The additions help insure that employees are justifiably paid based on the number of years they have worked for the town.

According to Hight, the bullets will help “keep us from going way over budget.”

Another discussion included employee insurance after certain members of the police department were asking for the town to look into how much they pay.

It was mentioned that they were hoping for the town to pay the insurance for an employee’s family.

However, that would be an increased chunk of money that would need further discussion before a proper decision is made.

“It’s something that would have to go through budget talks,” Littleton said. “There’s nothing we can do now.”

Little motioned that the topic be tabled, which was unanimously agreed upon by the rest of the Council.

The Council approved to pay for an advertisement in the Thorsby High School football program. The ad would cost $120.

The minutes from the May 20 Council meeting and May 7 planning commission meeting were approved, as well as payment of the town’s bills and transferring of funds.