Since the passing in January of former council member Andy Page, the Place 1 seat on the Cullman City Council has remained vacant. Asked in recent months about the council’s progress toward finding a replacement, Cullman mayor Woody Jacobs told The Times that the council could continue indefinitely with no one in the seat. Four members is more than the needed quorum to conduct business, he said, and none of the council members was in a particular hurry to usher in a fast replacement for a longtime colleague and friend.

On Monday, more than four months after Page’s death on Jan. 5, the council appointed his Place 1 successor: Cullman resident Brad Smith, whom Page defeated in a head-to-head race for the position during the 2020 municipal election.

Smith wasn’t present to witness the proceedings at Monday’s meeting — nor were Jacobs and council member Johnny Cook, both of whom were out of town. The three-person quorum of council members who were present approved Smith’s appointment, made at the recommendation of council member David Moss, Jr.

Smith is a Cullman native and 1997 graduate of Cullman High School. In his 2020 campaign, which netted him 1,551 votes to Page’s 1,830, Smith said he had attended the University of Alabama and made a marketing career, serving (as of 2020) as a senior account manager for Ready Mix USA covering the North Alabama area.

Smith’s appointment came late in what already had been a contentious Monday council meeting owing to an unrelated agenda item, and the council approved his appointment with little comment or fanfare. No announcement of a date for his swearing in was made Monday, though the council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 6.