The Hartselle City Council approved a new contract with Hartselle Utilities that will give the Hartselle Fire Department responsibility for testing and maintaining fire hydrants within the city.

The new contract will cost the city $1,037.37, which will save the city around $28,000 annually.

Mayor Don Hall said that in addition to the city’s savings, residents could also potentially see savings on their homeowners insurance. By allowing the fire department to maintain the hydrants, it could also help reduce the city’s ISO rating.

“It’s something that could benefit everybody in the end,” Hall said. “It will save us money in our annual budget, and everyone could see their insurance go down.”

Hartselle Fire Chief Daryl Fox said they would be able to handle the new workload without adding any additional personnel. His department would perform regular maintenance each year with flow testing every five years.

Through Oct. 2028, Hartselle Utilities will continue to help the city with the replacement, removal and repair of fire hydrants. Through Sept. 30, 2018, HU will foot 100 percent of the bill for replacing hydrants, but HU’s responsibilities will drop 20 percent every two years until the city is completely responsible for the fire hydrants.

However, all new hydrants on new construction, replacement and upgrades will be paid for by the city.

In other business, the council:

• selected Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood to engineer the recreational trails grant at Sparkman Park and Community Consultants to administer the $100,000 grant project. This is a Community Block Development Grant.

• authorized librarian Emily Love to apply for a $4,000 grant, which has a local 25 percent match that will be paid by the Friends of the Library if the library receives the grant.

• approved a special events permit for the Morgan County Sheriff’s Rodeo Parade April 4.

• appointed Lee Y. Greene Jr., Bill Evans and Franklin Gurney to the Board of Zoning Adjustment and Gracie Orr to the Cemetery Board.