The Cullman County Courthouse is shown in July 2015.

Informing residents of what the Cullman County Road Department will or won’t remove from roadside rights of way has shifted away from informal policy and toward an official one, thanks to the adoption of removal guidelines at this week’s county commission meeting.

In a split 2-1 vote, the three-member commission agreed to make official the internal right-of-way guidelines the road department already had in place. Most notably, the guidelines specify that the department is not responsible for clearing trash from rights of way that property owners have placed there, and that property owners can be investigated and penalized for attempting to dispose of waste in such a way.

Associate commissioner Garry Marchman cast the lone vote against adopting the guidelines, saying the measure had been placed on the meeting agenda in haste and that he had not had an opportunity to review them.

The move is the latest in a series of steps the commission has recently taken to codify internal policies at the road department, in an effort to offer the public definitive statements on what the road department is and isn’t responsible for. In July, the commission similarly made official the road department’s standing guidelines for widening county roads.

In other business at its regular meeting, the commission:

– Adopted a resolution approving revised procurement procedures of the Federal Transit Administration, raising the minimum purchase amount required for submitting documentation from agencies that receive federal funds.

– Approved the revised procurement procedures for the Cullman Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS).

– Set a public hearing for Sept. 25 at 10 a.m. to hear comment concerning the commission’s application for the FY 2018 Community Development Block Grant program.

– Renewed the Association of County Commissioners of Alabama (ACCA) workers’ compensation insurance premium through Sept. 30, 2021.

– Authorized payment for the workers’ compensation agreement for a contract period from Oct. 1 2018 to Oct. 1 2019 for $517,900.37.

– Approved payment of ACCA dues for FY 2019 for $8,407.

– Authorized the commission chairman and Cullman EMA director to sign off on an annual Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) for $42,572. The grant provides the EMA’s federal contribution to operating expenses.

– Authorized the commission chairman and EMA director to sign off on Emergency Management Performance Grant supplemental funding for $12,000.

– Authorized the EMA director to sign a memorandum of understanding between the North Central Alabama Regional Council of Governments (NARCOG) and the Cullman County EMA for disaster and emergency management services.

– Authorized the commission chairman to sign a long-term detention contract with the Alabama Department of Youth Services for FY 2019, securing two funded beds at the Tennessee Valley Detention Center for the coming year.

– Surplussed a 2007 Dodge Dakota pickup from the reappraisal department to be sold on govdeals.com.

– Extended an ongoing service bid for the vehicle fleet of the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office to Santex, DBA Havoline Xpress Lube.

– Awarded a low bid for cold laid plant mix for the Cullman County Road Department to Good Hope Contracting.

– Awarded a low bid for emulsified asphalt to Ergon Emulsions of Mississippi.

– Awarded a low bid for corrugated plastic pipe to Bear Block of Cullman.

– Awarded a $400,000 tax abatement to NAFCO Industries as an incentive on a $4 million capital improvement project.

– Awarded an initial abatement of $149,104 to an unnamed local industry for a $5,734,750 “Project Purple” facility expansion. The expansion, which commissioners said would be announced soon, is expected to create more than 50 new local jobs at wages of $21 per hour or higher. The ongoing abatement is expected to cost the county a total of $281,000 in waived taxes over the course of its multi-year award.

– Tabled a measure to discuss the status of a volunteer doing work on the county’s behalf at Smith Lake Park.

The next regular commission meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 25 in the commission meeting room of the Cullman County Courthouse. An 8:30 a.m. work session in the commission conference room will precede the meeting.

Benjamin Bullard can be reached by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 145.