CULLMAN, Ala. – The Cullman City Council on Monday evening recognized Council President Jenny Folsom’s birthday with balloons. It also heard from Councilman Brad Smith, chair of the public safety committee, who shared his thoughts on the weekend’s Rock the South event and the teamwork necessary to pull off an event of its magnitude.
“Most people know that this weekend was Rock the South. I had the opportunity, I was invited by (Cullman Police) Chief (Kenny) Culpepper and (Cullman Fire) Chief (Brian) Bradbury, to see some of the behind the scenes to see how they put this thing together as far as taking care of everyone that attends,” said Smith. “It is very, very impressive and a well-oiled machine, a lot of ins and outs of this that I certainly did not understand, but I really thank them for taking me and showing me a lot of it.”
He continued, “I also want to say thank you to the sheriff’s office and other agencies that come from other counties, the (Alabama State) Troopers, everybody. It takes a lot of people to put an event of that size on. The real impressive thing is the fire, police, sheriff’s department, everything coming together to work seamlessly is really cool to see. I think that’s what makes Cullman special.”
Councilman Clint Hollingsworth agreed with Smith’s sentiment, saying, “Cullman’s got a lot of great things going on and it’s all the people that make it happen. We appreciate all that you guys do.”
Hollingsworth also reminded everyone that 2nd Fridays will be this Friday, Aug. 12, from 5-10 p.m. along First Avenue in the Warehouse District and north.
Mayor Woody Jacobs said that, if all goes as planned, Second Avenue Northeast is expected to be open in time for the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 10. Also, the traffic signal at the intersection of U.S. Highway 278 and U.S. Highway 31 will be inoperable on Wednesday evening beginning at 7 p.m. for repairs. Cullman police officers will be directing traffic, as the outage is expected to last for several hours.
In other business, the following resolutions were approved:
- Bid for a work truck to Eckenrod Ford in the amount of $49,237
- Bid for a single-axle dump truck to Nextran in the amount of $118,543
- Apply for ARC funding to make improvements at Depot Park
The council held its annual vote to approve the City’s Transportation Plan, which is necessary for the use of Rebuild Alabama Act funds. The 2019 Rebuild Alabama Act provides transportation infrastructure funding via the state’s gas tax increase. The funds available to the City of Cullman are only to be used for road and bridge construction, maintenance, improvement and replacement in areas maintained by the City.
The following roads were serviced via funding from the Rebuild Alabama Act, the gas tax, in the past fiscal year:
- Resurfacing of Main Avenue West from Highway 69 to U.S. Highway 278
- Resurfacing of Graham Street Southwest from Alabama Highway 69 to Main Avenue Southwest
- Resurfacing of Logan Street Southwest from Main Avenue Southwest to Logan Avenue Southwest
- Resurfacing of Waterford Drive Northwest
- Resurfacing of Seven Bark Drive Northwest
- Resurfacing of Quail Run Drive Northwest
- Resurfacing of Pinehill Drive Northwest
- Resurfacing of Whispering Pines Drive Northwest
- Resurfacing of Rocky Waters Circle Northwest
- Resurfacing of 30-foot-wide alley past Fairway Drive off Pinehill Drive
- Resurfacing of Fairway Drive
- Resurfacing of Viewpoint Circle, except concrete entranceway
- Resurfacing of Augusta Trail Northwest
- Resurfacing of Wedgewood Circle Northwest
- Resurfacing of Greenview Circle Northwest
- Resurfacing of Bent Green Circle Northwest
The list for this year’s projects will be available soon and an update will be provided.
The Cullman City Council meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at Cullman City Hall. The public is encouraged to attend.
