Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett speaks to the members of the Good Hope City Council during Monday’s meeting.

GOOD HOPE — The Good Hope City Council approved the purchase Monday night of the five-acre piece of property containing the former Cotton Gin Restaurant. 

The council approved the purchase of the property, located on Lindsey Road, from landowner Elliot Morgan for the appraised price of $500,000. As part of the sale, the city purchased the land, restaurant building and restaurant equipment.

City Planner Corey Harbison said the city purchased the land with the intent to bring a restaurant into the space, and the city would be willing to sell or lease the purchase to a restauranteur who is interested. 

He said there have already been a few interested parties who wanted to open a restaurant there, so the hope is that someone will do so in the near future.

“We’ve got several people that we hope to work with and hopefully get a restaurant or something in there for the city,” he said. 

Councilwoman Susan Eller made a motion to table the consideration of the purchase until the council’s next meeting, but no council members seconded that motion. After Councilman Greg Brown made the motion to approve the purchase, the motion passed 4-1 with Eller voting in the negative.

In other business, the council approved the renewal of the city’s AirMedCare coverage at a price of $9,400, which enables any Good Hope resident to receive a medical flight at no charge as long as they are in the Cullman County limits. 

The council also passed a motion recognizing the last weekend of February as a Severe Weather Preparedness Tax Holiday, and waived the city’s half-cent sales tax for that weekend for any purchases of any severe weather preparedness supplies such as batteries, radios, and other items. The full list of exempt items can be found at revenue.alabama.gov/sales-use/sales-tax-holidays/