Elected leaders of some cities and towns in Cullman County are voicing stern opposition to a proposed $30 million sports complex, noting the decay of area schools should be the priority of every dollar raised from a new half-cent sales tax.

Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett even went so far as to suggest that consolidating schools, instead of bandaging old problems, would be more economical and productive for students.

The Cullman County Commission approved a half-cent sales increase for education on March 12 upon the request of Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette and the board of education.

Barnette said the money would be used to upgrade facilities and improve safety at county schools, and toward a then-unknown Project X, which a week later was revealed to be the sports complex.

Before Project X was revealed, Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism Director Nathan Anderson announced an $18-$20 million indoor, multi-purpose sports complex. The next day Barnette called a press conference to announce his vision. He proposed to divert 30 percent of the half-cent sales tax and lodging tax from the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce into the project, as well as a 15-year bond issue.

The Hanceville City Council on Thursday adopted a resolution opposing the plan. Mayor Kenneth Nail said the potential for litigation remains an option.

Contacted Friday, Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett shared several thoughts about the proposal and what he believes is needed.

“I don’t want to offend anyone. I was in education 28 years and I know there is good intention in this. But there is always a but,” Bartlett said. “We have an elementary school that is nearly 100 years old and made of pine. It’s a kindling box. God help us if it ever catches fire. I pray that never happens.”

Jerry Bartlett

‘It’s inevitable we are going to have to start combining some schools. You can’t continue to bandage up these old buildings,. Someone is going to have to step up and do that instead of just kicking the can down the road. If you want schools like Cullman or Brewer or some of the others you know about, you are going to have to do this. Then we could have schools as good as anywhere else.’ — Jerry Bartlett

Bartlett also said the elementary school does not have a library, while the middle school is without a gymnasium.

“There are so many needs before we put $30 million into a sports complex,” Bartlett said. “I think we would get much more bang for the buck, if you want something centralized, with a state-of-art career technical center for all of the students of Cullman County and work directly in that program with Wallace State Community College.”

Bartlett also said aging schools are all over the county and money is spent just to keep them functional enough for classes.

“It’s inevitable we are going to have to start combining some schools. You can’t continue to bandage up these old buildings,” Bartlett said. “Someone is going to have to step up and do that instead of just kicking the can down the road. If you want schools like Cullman or Brewer or some of the others you know about, you are going to have to do this. Then we could have schools as good as anywhere else.”

Kenneth Nail

‘Our campus looks like hell. That’s why we can’t attract more people to the south end of the county. I know there was a mold problem in the elementary school at one time in the basement. That’s sealed up now, but I may ask the fire chief to inspect and send a mold expert with him. If he goes to inspect, he can’t be denied access.’ – Kenneth Nail

Nail echoed much of what Bartlett said about the condition of schools in his city.

“Our campus looks like hell. That’s why we can’t attract more people to the south end of the county,” Nail said. “I know there was a mold problem in the elementary school at one time in the basement. That’s sealed up now, but I may ask the fire chief to inspect and send a mold expert with him. If he goes to inspect, he can’t be denied access.”

Nail noted that the lunchroom schedule is inadequate for students because the facility is accommodating too many people. Some students have lunch as early as 10:30 a.m., while others are having to wait until 1 p.m. or later.

“We’re serving three communities. That’s Hanceville, Colony and Garden City and we have some of the worst facilities in the area,” Nail said. “This plan from the superintendent would also take residents out of the community for sports and that will hurt our businesses and Wallace State. After all that Wallace State does for the entire county, then you want to take away from them? Hell no, it’s not going to happen. We are not letting this go or let it die down.”

Nail said now that the new tax is approved it should all be spent on schools, not the sports complex.

“Their timing in passing the tax was bad. People were already upset about the gas tax, and then this was done without anyone knowing it was coming,” Nail said. “We’ve been asking for a new elementary school for five years, and we’re always told there is no money. These problems in our schools need to be the priority. It’s sad that an old school building has to be blown away by a tornado or burn before you can get a new school in this county.”

Both Nail and Bartlett praised developer Roy Drinkard for donating land for the project and caring about students. But they also said the entire amount of tax money needs to go to exiting problems.

Baileyton Mayor Johnny Dyar said he expects the tax and sports complex will be topics at the town council meeting Monday.

“I’m with Kenneth Nail 110 percent,” Dyar said. “We have Parkside School here, but I’m sure this would hurt a lot of the high schools in county.”

West Point Mayor Gerald Schafer said the county commission should have put the tax issue up for a vote of county residents. He said he didn’t want to comment more about this issue for now.

Barnette has said the sports center will generate money through tournaments and other events, eventually providing additional funding for schools. He said the majority of the half-cent sales tax will go directly to facilities upkeep and safety.

With 29 school campuses across the county, it has been hard to keep up all of the facilities to the best standards, and the additional funding from the tax will also go to facility upgrades on all of those campuses, he said.

Some of the planned upgrades include the replacement of window air conditioners with new air conditioners, cafeteria expansions at several schools, paving the parking lots and driveways across the county, new buildings like a greenhouse at Harmony and a home economics building at Holly Pond, Barnette said.

He said the school system is also working on a feasibility study on the Cullman Area Technology Academy to find what jobs are going to be available in the area in the future and tailor the career center’s programs to those jobs, whether that means changing its current programs, adding new ones or building on to some of the existing workshops to create more space.