It’s been three years in the making, but the clouds are finally parting on Berlin’s long-brewing plans to add a community storm shelter to its list of municipal services.

At its regular meeting Monday, the Berlin Town Council approved the solicitation of bids for a new shelter, which, when finished, will sit on town-owned property along County Road 1614 just a short walk across the driveway from the town hall.

It’s a move mayor Patrick Bates and the council have long been waiting for, after pursuing for years and eventually dropping shelter funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. With alternate grant funding recently furnished through an application from the North Alabama Regional Council of Governments (NARCOG), though, the town is at last prepared to award a bid on the project.

Bids for the shelter must be returned no later than July 17, which means the council could authorize work to get started at its next monthly meeting. the NARCOG-assisted grant provides $75,000 in funding for the shelter, with the town funding the project’s remaining cost.

In other business at its regular meeting, the council:

• Authorized St. John & Associates of Cullman to assist in applying for a flood control grant funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The grant, if awarded, would cover part of the cost of a project to replace a culvert along an access road to the TVA power substation near County Road 747.
• Authorized St. John & Associated to draft a preliminary plan for a community park on town-owned property adjacent to the Berlin Farmers Market. The council will assess potential costs of constructing a new park, as well as discuss its separate amenities — which could include a playground, walking paths, and a kids’ splash pad — based on the engineering firm’s design and estimates.
• Designated Saturday, July 22 as Sweet Grown Alabama Day at the Berlin Farmers Market, with planned festivities for families as a way to highlight locally-sourced produced grown by program participants.