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At the April 26 Troy City Council meeting, the council unanimously approved the appointment of Troy resident Zach Spann to serve as a member of the Troy City Schools Board of Education.

Spann will replace outgoing school board member Roxie Kitchens after she served four terms on the school board. Spann is a Troy University graduate and serves as the Director of Ministries at Troy Church. He and his wife, Fran, have three sons.

The council also approved the appointment of Dr. Robert Liljeberg to a seat on the Troy Hospital Health Care Authority. Liljeberg will be replacing Dr. Wilton McRae, who has served on the authority since its inception, as he steps down from that role.

In other business, the council approved the purchase of 15 new recycling trailers from Trailer World in Ozark. The purchase will be for five open top trailers at the cost of $3,868 each and 10 close top trailers at the cost of $4,158. The cardboard recycling trailers will be placed behind businesses in Troy for recycling purposes. The total cost of the purchase is $60,920 and will be completely paid for with grant money received from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

Additionally, the city entered into an agreement to take part in the new Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP), which is a new program funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The purpose of the program is to provide emergency assistance to low-income households for drinking water and wastewater services.

The council also approved a resolution to enter into an agreement to purchase two new fire trucks. Troy Fire Chief Michael Stephens said that if the city did not enter into an agreement to purchase the fire trucks before May the price would increase by $33,000 each, and that would be the third price increase on fire trucks this year alone. The agreement locks in the price but will not need to be paid for until the fire department receives the fire trucks, which is estimated to be a 22-month turnaround.

According to Stephens, once the fire department takes possession of the new trucks the current 2013 model fire trucks in service will move to a reserve role, while the current 1998 and 2004 trucks that are in reserves can then be sold. The purchase of a new utility truck for the utility department was also approved.

Also, the board approved the re-zoning of two properties from residential to commercial property. The first is the parking lot off of Charold Drive behind the old Troy Messenger building, while the second is a property on Elba Highway. This was the second reading of the resolution to re-zone these properties and a public hearing was held with no residents choosing to speak against it.

The next scheduled meeting of the Troy City Council is scheduled for 5 p.m. on May 10 at Troy City Hall.