BERLIN — It’s not every day that a municipality votes to shrink its own footprint by de-annexing property contained within its corporate limits. But just such a rarity came before Berlin town leaders Monday, thanks to a request from a local resident.

At its regular February meeting, the Berlin town council voted in favor of de-annexing approximately 16 acres of private property on the town’s northern edge, agreeing with a request from owner Amy McGriff to allow two of her adjacent lots — one the site of a residence; the other a small business — to be classified as lying within unincorporated Cullman County.

With one council member absent, the remaining members voted unanimously for the de-annexation, with Mayor Patrick Bates saying he saw “no issue” preventing the council from agreeing with McGriff’s request.

The land lies along both County Road 1614 and County Road 747, the latter of which fronts property on either side that falls within Berlin’s corporate limits. Bates noted that only a small area of CR 747 road frontage would leave Berlin’s road maintenance footprint along with the slight reduction in the town’s size, while noting the uncommon nature of the move.

“I will say this: I have looked at all kinds of rules and regulations on de-annexation petitions from other municipalities from around the state — and even by the strictest definitions, this one does meet the requirements,” he said.

“It doesn’t affect us on [approving] future annexations. Aside from a little strip [of land], there are no roads that we’re losing maintenance of. The only issue is that it’s going to be brand new for us; we don’t know that a de-annexation has been processed in Cullman County before. So we’re going to drop this on the probate judge and see what happens.”

In other business at its regular meeting, the council:

• Approved adjusted vendor specifications and dates for this year’s upcoming opening of the Berlin Farmers Market.
• Approved bid specifications for both bush hogging and mowing of town property, before the council solicits bids for each service ahead of the 2023 maintenance season.
• Approved a measure allowing accumulated town employee sick leave time to be converted into cash payment at the time of that employee’s retirement.
• Amended the town’s business license ordinance to allow nonprofit organizations and public entities to obtain a blanket business license that would cover all guest vendors doing business at the licensed organization’s locally-hosted special event.
• Tabled until its next regular meeting an annexation request from property owners Eudon and Jane Bates.