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The Thorsby Council amended ordinance 174-A for 174-B, which will increase water rates by 5 percent. The rates will go into effect on July 1.

Under the new ordinance, the minimum monthly charge inside the town limits is $16 at a meter diameter of 3/4-inch, $22 at 1-inch, $52 at 2-inch and $77 at 3-inch. The monthly minimum for outside the town limits is an additional $2 to each amount.

A process has begun for future plans to have a new garbage truck roaming the streets of Thorsby, after the Town Council approved the purchase of a 2010 garage truck during its April 3 meeting.

The truck will be purchased from Panama City, Fla. and is a side-arm model that uses an automatic feature to lift and dump trashcans, which should only require one worker to operate.

This was just the first step in the process, which will not be implemented immediately.

In other news from the meeting, the Council:

• Declared the town’s limb truck open for sealed bids for 30 days.
• Passed a resolution for Public Works Director Terry Jackson to send the Municipal Water Pollution Annual Report for 2016 to ADEM.
• Approved the minutes from the previous meeting on March 20.
• Approved the bills and transferred the funds.