CULLMAN, Ala. – The Cullman County Commission Tuesday morning adopted its annual transportation plan for FY2020, which includes the repaving of County Road 1141 and County Road 1428. The commission will also be submitting two applications for Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program 2 (ATRIP-2) funding for other road projects.
The transportation plan projects will be paid for in part by new revenue from Gov. Kay Ivey’s Rebuild Alabama Act, passed by the Alabama Legislature this year. Every year, counties and municipalities will be required to adopt a plan that clearly outlines how state transportation money from the new 10-cent fuel tax increase revenue will be spent.
County Engineer John Lang described the plan as an “accountability measure.”
Approximately $723,000 will be going toward County Road 1141 and $418,000 toward County Road 1428. The full plan will be posted on the County’s website.
ATRIP-2 money is the state’s portion of the fuel tax revenue that will be awarded to chosen applicants by the ATRIP-2 committee. Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman sits on the eight-person ATRIP-2 committee.
The County will be submitting applications for ATRIP-2 funds for County Road 1564/Welcome Road/Fire Station Road on the east side of the county and County Road 223 on the west side.
Gudger attended Tuesday’s meeting and addressed the commission, saying, “We (ATRIP-2 Committee) meet Sept.13, just so you guys know. After that, I’m not sure if we will know at that meeting or the October meeting if we will know what’s awarded and what’s not. As soon as I know, I will call each one of you so that you will know before anybody else does on your particular plans. I know this money is coming in and coming to this county and you are using it wisely.”
The commission also approved the application for FY2020 FAA Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds for Cullman Regional Airport. The grant will go toward the airport’s runway project. The project will complete the airport’s five-year plan laid out in 2014 and started in 2015.The runway grant is a 90/5/5 grant with a cost near $3.5 million.
Cullman Regional Airport General Manager Ben Harrison also requested and received up to $65,000 in additional funds to purchase close to 32 acres of land west of the airport. The City of Cullman approved the same request Monday night at the Cullman City Council meeting.
Harrison explained, “The land would be helping us with an approach, it would be helping us with some economic development area and the TVA has looked at the land and (it) would qualify for some economic development growth in the future.”
Harrison added, “This land also has been appraised by the FAA guidelines so potentially down the road, we could ask for reimbursement on this property. That’s probably going to be a 7-10-year process, but it has been set up where it could be set up for reimbursement.”
Commissioner Garry Marchman abstained from voting on the additional airport funding, resulting in Chairman Kenneth Walker casting the second vote needed to approve the request.
Marchman praised Harrison for his excellent work at the airport but said, “I’m not sure it’s the right thing to do with $65,000 right now.”
Walker had a different perspective, saying, “You are looking at in the future of getting this $65,000 reimbursed by the FAA. The report we got from the TVA about the industrial development was huge. Another thing we need to look at is the City of Cullman is running out of land for industrial development so this would be a huge joint effort between the County and the City.”
Walker added, “I see the future of economic development at the airport and I know you went to Atlanta a few months ago and there’s another huge new business that could be coming our way.”
In other business, the commission approved the following agenda items:
- Authorized Walker and County Attorney Chad Floyd to sign a consent order on behalf of the Cullman County Commission in civil action No. CV 2019-900323
- Bid No. 1270 extension- Cold Laid Plant Mix to Good Hope Contracting
- Bid No. 1289 extension- Emulsified Asphalt to Ergon
- Bid No. 1290 extension- Corrugated Plastic Pipe to Bear Concrete Products
- Bid No. 1268 extension- Service for Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and other departments’ vehicles to Santex-Havoline Express Lube
The next commission work session will be Tuesday, Sept.10, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. followed by the commission meeting at 10 a.m. in the commission meeting room.
Copyright 2019 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
