By Trent Moore
The Cullman Times
HOLLY POND —
Herman Nail, mayor of Holly Pond, loves it when a plan comes together.
After approving some emergency repairs for Governor’s Park at a recent town council meeting, the municipality was awarded a $15,200 Cullman County Community Development Commission (CCCDC) grant for the work Thursday night.
The CCCDC distributes funds provided to the county from state-collected monies from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and funds provided to the county from state alcohol sales taxes.
“We put in for this grant four months ago, and with the summer winding down we knew we had to get this work done soon,” Nail said. “So, we approved it last council meeting, prepared to pay for it ourselves if we had to, but we kept our fingers crossed we’d get the funding. Everything just fell in perfectly.”
The Holly Pond work was to the island in the large pond in the park behind the town hall, which had been deteriorating due to some problems with local wildlife.
“Muskrats had gotten out there under the ground and were tearing it up, and we were losing land out there on our island,” Nail said. “We’ve gotten rid of the muskrats, but the damage was done out there.”
A covered walking bridge leads to the small island, which houses a patio popular with locals for community events, and Nail said town leaders are making some changes to prevent future problems.
“We’re putting in some concrete blocks as a footer, filling it back out with dirt, and we’re going to raise the water level back up to compensate for that,” he said. “The island used to just run off into the water, and that’s why we were having problems.”
Once the repairs are complete in the coming months, Nail said they will represent the culmination of a new look for the town’s park facilities.
“All the way back when I first came into office I wanted to rehab the parks,” he said. “We’ve put new ceilings on our park gazebos, and painted just about everything in the park. These parks are for everybody to use.”
Town, school
receives funding
In addition to Holly Pond, the town of Dodge City and Cold Springs High School also received grants funds from the CCCDC this week. The commission awarded a total of approximately $30,700 in grants this months.
Cold Springs High School received a $10,000 grant to replace the old concession stand at the football field, which had numerous plumbing problems and roof leaks.
“These projects were very much a need in the community, and that’s what this commission was established for, to be a part of the community,” CCCDC member Staci Bryan said.
The town of Dodge City also received $5,500 for a project to purchase defibrillators for the town, which will be placed at the town hall and in a handful of Dodge City businesses.
“[Local business owner] Scott Edmondson helped start this, and we are placing defibrillators in the businesses of the town, so they’ll be available when needed,” Dodge City Mayor Tawana Canada said. “The businesses in the community had already donated enough money for two, and this will buy three more.”
The Dodge City town council donated $2,200 to purchase a defibrillator for the community center in honor of former Mayor Perry Ray, and Cullman Emergency Medical Services has already signed on to help the town with equipment training.
The CCCDC was created through a House bill passed in the Alabama Legislature in 2009, and according to an Alabama statute passed in 2006, all counties who receive certain monies were required to pass local legislation to distribute it.
The TVA money in question accounts for an extra 3 percent added to the 75 percent of funding north Alabama counties receive from TVA’s annual in-lieu-of-taxes payments to the state. The 3 percent is paid only to dry counties that are TVA customers.
The alcohol sales tax money is distributed to Cullman — despite being a dry county — because the Terri Pines Country Club meets certain criteria to legally sell alcohol. Since Terri Pines is allowed to sell alcohol, Cullman receives a portion of the state’s alcohol sales tax revenue.
As stipulated in the bill, 50 percent of the alcohol money is automatically dispersed among the municipalities based on population.
* Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 220.
