Council tables measure to expand Special Events District, holds Rock the South debriefing

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W.C. Mann

CULLMAN – The Cullman City Council met Monday evening with a single item on its agenda, and that was tabled until next month.  Thanks to Rock the South (RTS), though, they still had plenty to talk about.

The skipped item was a public hearing and second reading of Ordinance No. 2017-12, that would extend the Festhalle/Depot Park District (Special Events District) to encompass more of the downtown area along First Avenue Northwest. That measure had not yet been reviewed but the City Planning Commission, and so was tabled until the council’s next meeting on July 10.

Instead, the council heard reports on RTS from the Cullman Police Department’s Lt. Jeff Warnke, who served as the incident commander for the event, and Cullman Parks and Recreation (CP&R) Director Nathan Anderson.

Warnke happily began, “I am happy to report that the Cullman Police Department did survive Rock the South!”

He went on to share statistics:

  • 52 arrests, 23 of which were for consumption or possession of alcohol by minors
  • More than 100 persons ejected from the park

“In relation to the large number of people that were there over the two-day period, that’s a very small percentage of people that misbehaved to the point that we had to get involved.  Overall, it was quite a success.  We had a lot of help from our partners: with ALEA (Alabama Law Enforcement Agency), with the Hanceville Police Department, and with the Cullman County Sheriff’s Department helping us.”

Warnke’s report to the Council did not include two cases of marijuana possession and the most serious case, in which a man identified as Dakota Saint was charged with second-degree sodomy of a minor. That case is still under investigation. See http://qrne.ws/arrests.

Cullman Fire Rescue Chief Edward Reinhardt was not present, but Councilman Andy Page gave a brief report on information he sent in.  The CFR saw:

  • 379 walk-up patients
  • 77 patients treated in the on-site medical tent
  • 456 total patient contacts

Anderson reported, “The cleanup efforts went well.  Thank you, mayor, for helping us with that.  He was out there for hours, literally sweating and getting sunburned, picking up trash.  And the street department, Scotty and his guys stepped in; Shane (RTS Founder Shane Quick) and Nathan (Baugh) were right in the middle of it, too- my team, and we hired a company that helped.  We walked down all the streets, walked down to Lowe’s- that was cleaned up.

“We met with a consultant today on the fields (soccer and baseball).  He’s confident we’ll get it all back.  The baseball fields we’re looking at within three weeks.  Rock the South, as always, has agreed to pay for all of it.”

Anderson pointed out that RTS paid for $10,000 worth of preventative measures ahead of the event, but that the event also suffered from a “worst case scenario” on Saturday.  He estimated the crowd size to be approximately 30,000 per day, noting that Saturday’s weather evacuation made that day’s count more difficult to ascertain.  He also stated that RTS gave CP&R a check for $64,000 “and some change” toward the agency’s Connected Park playground project.

“They’ve helped us raise money for that the last three years,” said Anderson, “and, all in all, we’re sitting, just from RTS, around $130,000.”

In other business

City Clerk Wes Moore was not present for the meeting, and the council voted Gail Busby to serve in his absence.

After announcing the resignation of Lona Heatherly from the CP&R board, the council voted to appoint Will Harding to take her place.

The Cullman City Council will hold its next meeting on Monday, July 10, at 7 p.m. in the city hall auditorium.  The public is invited to attend.

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