Ivey to attend AL 157 completion ceremony

Apr. 19—The City of Cullman announced Governor Kay Ivey is scheduled to attend a commencement ceremony, celebrating the completion of AL Hwy. 157's lane expansion project on May 1.

"The main thing, and most everybody knows this, is you can drive on 157 now," Mayor Woody Jacobs said during the City of Cullman council meeting on Monday.

Jacobs said the majority of barrels sectioning off the highway's newly constructed additional lanes are now removed and only he expected "minor traffic disruptions" when crews begin to place the permanent striping onto the road's surface.

Jacobs invited the public to attend a "small dedication ceremony," tentatively planned for May 1 and shared Ivey was planning to be in attendance.

Also, at Monday's meeting, the council held a public hearing to amend the permitted uses of non-residential zoning districts. Prior to the meeting, executive assistant to the mayor, Leanne West said this amendment would limit the construction of new commercial car washes to the B-1 district. West said prior to the amendment, the zoning ordinance allowed for car washes in the B-1, B-2 and B-3 districts.

With no members of the public in attendance to speak either for or against the amendment, the council elected to suspend the rules requiring two public readings of the ordinance and acted to approve it.

Council President Jenny Folsom shared the city's financial report for the first two quarters of FY2023, which showed a 15% increase in general fund revenue when compared to last year's report.

City expenses also decreased by 11%, but Folsom said this drop was intentional, with the city executing a relatively small number of capital projects in preparation to begin the bidding project for the new civic center, which Folsom said would take place in late May or June.

In other business the council:

* Applied for CDBG and ARC grants to improve and resurface a portion of County Road 222.

* Adopted the 2023 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday (Third weekend in July).