Cullman is going digital.

Initial plans to archive every city ordinance online — making them accessible to anyone via the city’s Web site — have been approved by the Cullman city council.

“This is a necessity that I feel will really bring us into the twenty-first century,” Mayor Max Townson said. “All of the ordinances will be attached to our Web site.”

The council approved approximately $15,000, over a two-year period, to get the project off the ground. The city will be working with the Municipal Code Corporation to put the ordinances online. The ordinances will be saved in a view-only PDF format. When finished, the database could total as many as 300 ordinances.

Townson said the project should be a great convenience for both Cullman citizens and city employees.

“I think it’s a good way to keep everyone informed,” he said. “For example, if someone wants to know something about a noise ordinance, they’ll be able to just pull it up online. It’s accessibility without paper and it cuts down on time, without needing someone to go to the books and pull it up.”

Though the plan has officially been approved, it will still be at least 12-14 months until the online archive goes live.

“It’ll take about a year to do it,” Townson said. “The main thing is, once it’s established, it will just be a process of keeping it updated. We’ll simply send them (Municipal Code Corporation) our new ordinances and they’ll add them.”

Once the project is finished, the city will pay Municipal Code Corporation approximately $400 per year to maintain and update the database.

The City of Cullman Web site can be found at http://www.cullmancity.org.

The council also:

‰ Approved a request for $939 in repairs to the public Wi-Fi at the Cullman County Museum, Depot Park and Festhalle Market Platz. Some of the equipment was damaged by recent storms.

‰ Approved a $905 bid with Moore Medical for medical supplies for the fire department.

‰ Approved $808 of fire department supplies, to be purchased from North America Fire Equipment Company (NAFECO). The supplies include RIT line kits an reflective traffic cones.

‰ Approved a $74 replacement printer for the municipal court.

‰ Approved a $300 Panasonic DVD recorder for the risk management department, to transfer safety video tapes to DVD.

‰ Approved $6,779 in supplies for the Cullman Police Department, which were paid for by an Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) grant. The supplies include rechargeable handheld lanterns, a diesel electric start generator, a six-slot handheld radio rapid charger and a 1,500 watt scene light.

‰ Approved a new $150 scanner/copier for the Cullman Police Department.

‰ Approved a new $100 flatbed scanner for the Cullman Police Department.

‰ Approved $2,000 for the Friends of Frankweiler Club.

‰ Approved $5,000 for the sanitation department for materials to build a privacy fence behind Buenavista Restaurant, with labor furnished by the sanitation department. “We’ll keep dumpsters and equipment behind it, so they won’t be seen as much by the public on the highway,” Townson said.

‰ Approved a $600 laser printer for the human resources office.

‰ Approved a $300 mobile roll file for the airport.

‰ Approved a $2,497 bid for an IBM AS400 computer system for the technology department. The bid has been awarded to Premise, Inc.

‰ Approved an ordinance to amend an annexation ordinance describing Steve Cummings’ property.

‰ Approved a resolution awarding the bid for a breathing-air compressor workstation for the fire department. The workstation was paid for by a 95 percent matching grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The city paid approximately $1,925 as a 5 percent match.

‰ Awarded a bid for a 4x4 utility vehicle for the police department. The vehicle was fully paid for by a grant from ADECA.

‰ Approved a $295 Holmatro Ram Support for a truck, for the fire department.

‰ Approved an AT&T; phone and network data system for $1,272 and $285 per month for the new fire station.

‰ Approved the board re-appointments of Bob Burns and Wendell Copeland to the planning commission.

‰ Approved the appointment of Hugh Harris to the CATS-55 board to replace Jeb Williamson, who resigned.

‰ Approved the appointment of Tony Townson to the Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals, to replace Doice Smith, who moved out of the county.

‰ Issued a certificate of recognition honoring Mike McCrory, a recently retired 30 year employee of the Street Department. McCrory retired on Jan 1., 2009. “We really appreciate all you have done for the city,” Townson said.

‰ Passed the Alabama Legislature and Alabama Congressional Delegation Support of Recycling resolution and heard from Pauly Rodney, representing Robbie L. Gordon, legislative aide. Rodney encouraged the city to pass the non-binding ordinance in support of recycling.



‰ Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 225.