By Trent Moore

Staff Writer



The city of Cullman no longer has a city planner.

City Planner Jim Fisher has resigned his position due to budgetary issues.

To finish up work on the ongoing Cullman comprehensive plan, he has signed a three month contract with the city. Once that work is completed, the position will no longer exist.

“The council’s projected budget has eliminated the department,” Cullman Mayor Don Green explained. “With the budget crunch, they didn’t feel like we could support it.”

Fisher became the first city planner for Cullman on June 12, 2006. His office operated with an approximate annual budget of $275,000, though that is a high estimate, Fisher said.

“It varies, because some things budgeted are also going to the street department and other places,” he said, noting how closely the city planner’s office worked with related city departments.

In a March 27, 2004 interview with The Times, Mayor Green discussed his thoughts on hiring a city planner, saying, “We haven’t hired a city planner before now because we felt we couldn’t afford it. Now, I don’t believe we can afford not to,”

Looking back, Green said he still believes the position is an extremely important one for the continued growth of the city, and added he is sorry to see it go.

“I was actually disappointed with the council’s decision,” he said. “ My personal view, I felt like we needed one when we hired one, and I believe it is still a very important office. He’s done some great things for this city, but at the same time — since we didn’t have the department until two and a half years ago — it was one of the things the council felt like they could do without.”

Outgoing city council person Ernest Hauk said the decision was a budgetary issue.

“It was felt the position needed to be vacated and Jim (Fisher) decided to resign, understanding the monetary concerns,” he said.

Council president Woody Jacobs reiterated that it was a move dictated by the upcoming budget.

“My understanding is that it is budgetary,” he said. “We talked about it in budgetary meetings. This council had gone in and looked at it, and that’s the reason we decided to do it. We needed to be the ones to do it.”

In his final three months on contract with the city, Fisher will work to tie up loose ends and projects his office has been working to complete.

“The council has decided not to fund the planning office, so I need to finish up the comprehensive plan,” he said. “I also have underway a set of refined subdivision regulations.”

Fisher added that the elimination of his position has created some difficulties and concerns.

“I’ll have to redraft that document,” he said of the subdivision proposal.

He also said the city needs to be cautious to not lose the information collected by his office about downtown via the Auburn Urban Design Studio and other efforts.

“Another thing that concerns me is that I have all of this data. We’re probably talking about $1 million worth of data if you went through a consulting firm. … We need to ensure this data doesn’t get lost.”

With so much in flux, Fisher said he was unsure what would happen with other projects his office has been working on, such as a proposed arts and culture center at the recently purchased Grief Brothers property.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “Honestly, I have no idea.”

Fisher said he is also in the midst of trying to acquire a new grant for the city, which he fears could possibly fall to the wayside.

“We were also working on an enhancement grant,” he said. “I guess only time will tell how it works out.”

With the city planner position no more, many duties handled by the office will be spread out to other departments, such as the economic development office and the building department.

“A lot will fall back into other departments,” Jacobs said. “It will all just be passed back around.”

Mayor-elect Max Townson noted that the decision was made entirely by the current city council, but added it is a measure he supports.

“That was their decision and we supported it,” he said of himself and the new, incoming city council.

Townson added that he and the incoming council people will address the matter — as well as the fate of projects such as the comprehensive plan and arts and culture center — after they take office on November 4.

“We’re still working on the budget,” he said, noting an issue that will be one of the first faced by the new council. “We don’t really know yet, because we haven’t even passed the budget.”

Incoming city council person Clint Hollingsworth agreed that the long-term city planning issue will be one of many addressed by the new council once they officially take office.

“I think we’re tossing a few things around,” he said. “I don’t think anything is definite and I’m sure we’ll probably have some decisions to make really soon. We’ll just have to look at it and see where we are and make a decision really soon on what we’ll do with that. It’s going to be a lean year and we’re just going to do the best we can to work on it.”

Fellow incoming council person Jenny Folsom noted the importance of planning, but agreed that no solid plans have been made this early.

“I do think planning is a very important initiative,” she said. “Being new, I don’t know exactly what we will do with that. It is something we’ll look very closely at, though.”

If the new mayor and council do decide to eventually reinstate the position, Fisher said he would be interested in continuing to work with the city.

“I’d certainly entertain ideas, but it will be up to the next council to approve,” he said.



‰ Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 225.