Berlin Mayor Patrick Bates, left, speaks with the members of the Berlin Town Council, including, from left, Councilmen Jimbo Quick, Bruce Bentley and Don Bates.

BERLIN — The town of Berlin will be taking over the maintenance of its roads on May 1, and the Berlin Town Council prepared for that takeover with a few moves during Monday night’s meeting.

The council passed a resolution to enter into a cooperative maintenance agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation for growth management along the state right of way on U.S. 278. 

Berlin Mayor Patrick Bates said that agreement means the state will brush hog along the highway three times a year, but the agreement will let the town do its own work in addition to that. 

There are places that may need more work to prevent visibility issues, such as the area around the town’s Dollar General, so having the agreement in place will let the council work with a contractor to get the work done before the state is able to get to the area, Bates said. 

The council also agreed to enter into an agreement with the city of Cullman for maintenance of its traffic signal on U.S. 278. 

Bates said he has not received a quote from the city on how much they would charge for any repairs to the light, but the town would have to work with either Cullman or the state to maintain the light, so the council could still come back and go with an agreement with the state if the city’s price is too high. 

Along with the agreements for the highway and red light, the council also agreed to patch work along the five miles of roads that it will be taking over at the beginning of the month. 

The town will save a little money on road maintenance because the county recently finished patching County Road 1615, and that mile of work was done for around $1,000, Bates said. 

The council previously set aside $10,000 in this year’s budget for road maintenance, and its members approved a motion for Bates to pay the county no more than $5,000 to do patch work on the remaining four miles of Berlin’s roads as soon as the town takes them over. 

“If we just get a patch run in, in the short-term, that would be better than what we’ve had,” he said. 

The council also approved a few items for the upcoming placement of a modular office building that will serve as Berlin’s town hall. 

The council approved a bid of $5,254 with Tony Elrod of Cullman to install the septic system and a bid of $3,200 with Dustin Gilmore of Phenix City for the foundation for the building, and approved the spending of no more than $1,500 to purchase equipment from Ubiquiti to install security cameras at the town hall and at the town’s upcoming farmers market.