The Gardendale City Council has approved a new franchise agreement for the Fultondale Gas Board to sign — but whether or not that will happen remains to be seen.

The new franchise agreement, approved in Monday night’s regular session, is substantially the same as the previous one in place for more than two decades, with the same fees and business license taxes. The only significant change is a requirement that an additional representative from Gardendale — in this case, the current mayor — be installed in the board’s membership.

Currently, Gardendale has one representative on the board: former mayor Kenny Clemons.

Council President Stan Hogeland took the unusual step of reading the entire seven-page agreement aloud, word for word, before the council passed it unanimously. The new agreement now goes to Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery, who is also the superintendent of the gas utility, and its board.

Gardendale residents have complained about sharp hikes in the natural gas bills this winter, which prompted city officials to complain to the board. The gas board’s previous franchise agreement expired last year, and has not been renewed. Gardendale has since informed the board that it is operating in violation of the agreement, which stipulates a rate cap of 2½ above that charged by Alagasco, the state’s largest natural gas provider.

Last week, Lowery said in a published letter that the gas board had taken steps to reduce customers’ rates by 25 percent, which would take effect immediately. He said the decrease was made possible due to changes set out in a report by Kel-Air Energy Consulting. But one of the suggested changes was avoiding franchise agreements with Gardendale.

Before the council approved the new agreement, Gardendale resident Bob Brewis addressed the council, complaining about the gas rates and disputing Lowery’s assertion that rates would drop 25 percent.

“I spent Saturday reading and re-reading that [Kel-Air] report, and what I gleaned from it is we’ll get an immediate cut of 10½ percent — that’s 10½ percent, not 25 percent,” Brewis said, adding that the remainder would come from adjustments in the board’s pipe replacement program.

“They have already stated flatly that they have no intention of refunding the exorbitant increases that were overcharged last month,” Brewis said.

Brewis set up a Facebook group, Gardendale Citizens and Friends United, to solicit information from Fultondale Gas Board customers about how much their bills had increased recently. So far, more than 150 people had joined the group.

“These comments are from Fultondale and Mt. Olive, not just Gardendale,” Brewis said. “It appears that the Fultondale Gas Board is an equal opportunity inflictor of pain.”

In other business on Monday, the council approved the purchase of four new cars for the Gardendale Police Department.