The Cullman City Council recognized Cullman Parks, Recreation and Sports Tourism Monday night for WildWater receiving the World Waterpark Association’s Leading Edge Award.

Awarded for the creative development of new themes, facilities, programs, services, or concepts, the Leading Edge Award had parks from across the globe competing to be named one of this year’s six recipients. CPRST Director Nathan Anderson said that his department was up against industry giants like Disney and Universal.

“Just to put this into perspective, Hong Kong had a park — a privately owned resort — Cancun, Nassau, Bahamas, Vietnam, and the only other park in the United States was Anaheim, California. So it’s kind of cool to be recognized amongst that. We’re the only public park, publicly owned and ran park, to be recognized for this. I could not be more proud of this team. It was challenging to say the least, but they really did a great job,” Anderson said.

Anderson also provided the council with attendance numbers for the parks first season. Anderson said that during the park’s first 12 weeks of operation, approximately 40,000 visitors from outside of the Cullman area visited the facility and accounted for 65 percent of the park’s attendance. Local support also increased roughly 30 percent over the course of the season to Anderson’s estimates. Council member Clint Hollingsworth said that he was pleased with the park’s performance and that the lessons learned over the course of its inaugural season should lead to an even better second year of operation.

“It’s gonna keep getting better and better. Like anything new, you have to adapt and evolve and make tweaks and adjustments. I think that’s what park and rec has done through the years, with everything that we’ve done, is they’ve never stopped, you know, trying to get better and make things better. I think this park here, we’ve learned a lot over this past summer, just going through things and trial and error. and so, I think next year will be even a better experience for folks coming out,” Hollingworth said.

Anderson said that one adjustment for the park moving forward would be that season passes would no longer be exclusive to Cullman Wellness and Aquatic Center members, but would instead be available for purchase by anyone wishing to do so. Anderson said that prices were still being determined, but that the most affordable time to purchase passes would be the day they are planned to go on sale, Black Friday.

The council also heard from Cullman City Schools Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff who presented his quarterly report. Kallhoff highlighted a recent report published by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) that showed the CCS system as having had the most growth in state assessment test scores over the past year. Kallhoff told the council that the percentages gained could be traced back to three key factors.

“Of course it’s the students that are eager to learn. They come to school early, ready to learn from our teachers. We have some of the best teachers in the state of Alabama, there’s no doubt about that. And, the families that support our school systems. So, we’re proud of that work,” Kallhoff said.

The council approved the continued support of CCS during their ongoing capital improvement projects at Cullman Middle and Primary schools — which Kallhoff said were now “moving vertically” — and presented Kallhoff with their annual contribution of $600,000.

In other business the council:

• Announced that the city’s hazardous waste disposal day would be taking place Nov. 5, from 8 a.m. until noon, but due to a previously scheduled event, the drop off site has been relocated to the Wildwater parking lot.
• Approved a special event permit from Greg Speegle of the Cullman Moose Lodge for their annual turkey shoot to take place every Saturday during Nov. and Dec.
• Approved a special event permit request from Shelia Haynes for a “Pray, then Vote” event at the courthouse sidewalks on Nov. 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. that will encourage citizens to pray and vote in the election.
• Held the first public reading of an ordinance to redefine definitions in the zoning ordinance to include dispensing sites for medical cannabis, event venues, gyms, and kennels.
• Held the first public reading of an ordinance to permitting special events located in the City of Cullman.