T-R FILE PHOTO A view of a trestle bridge along the Iowa River between Albion and Marshalltown that will be part of the Iowa River’s Edge Trail in Hardin and Marshall counties. The Marshall County Board of Supervisors met in a special session on Wednesday morning, but a request to commit $1 million toward paving the trail between Marshalltown and Albion was removed from the agenda and no action was taken.

The Marshall County Board of Supervisors held a special meeting on Wednesday morning, but the only item of business ended up being the hiring of a nurse at the sheriff’s office as part of the consent agenda because a funding request for the paving of the Iowa River’s Edge Trail from Marshalltown to Albion has been put on hold for the time being.

During a subsequent interview with the T-R, TRAILS Inc. President and At-Large Marshalltown City Councilor Jeff Schneider explained that after last week’s supervisors meeting, leaders from the organization, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) and the city decided the window was “too tight” along with the unknown status of other upcoming grants to push forward with applying for Destination Iowa funding, which was previously discussed when he asked the Board of Supervisors to commit $1 million toward the project.

“We decided that if we hold off another six months, we’ll become eligible for some other grant opportunities where we can leverage that money a little bit more. We still need participation from the county, though, in the magnitude that we were asking for — so $1 to $1.4 million to get to Albion,” Schneider said. “But the tight timeline was gonna make it too difficult, and there was just too much uncertainty. So we’re just keeping our powder dry for the next round.”

He added that they are still applying for a $2 million Transportation Alternatives Set Aside (TASA) grant through the Iowa DOT.

“If we get that, with the county’s contribution going toward the project, it’s a slam dunk, but there are other state rec trail and federal rec trail grants we’d like to pursue. And there’s always other opportunities that come up,” Schneider said.

He predicted that the request to the county would come back before the end of the year. And although it was no longer on the agenda Wednesday morning, two individuals — former Marshall County Supervisor Bill Patten and rural Marshalltown resident Harold Lanning — did take time to speak out against the funding request during the public comment period.

Patten, a Republican from rural Clemons who was elected in 2014 and held his seat for two terms before retiring, said he was not against the bicycle path, but he was against the supervisors being asked to help pay for it.

“That money has to come from property tax. That affects everybody who owns anything. If you’re a farmer, that affects you per acre, and that’s getting high,” he said. “When you’re up around the $40 per acre (range) just for the purpose of being able to own your farm, that’s pretty high priced.”

He said he had spoken to several of his neighbors in the northwest part of the county, and none of them were in favor of the supervisors spending money on the project. Even $1 million, Patten added, would not complete it, and there would likely be more funding requests in the future. He also questioned the claims that towns around the trail would “blossom” as they have in the Des Moines area until Marshall County grows and more good paying jobs are created.

Lanning was more pointed in his criticisms, describing himself as “totally opposed to bike trails” and instead urging the county government to focus on roads and bridges, including one on Vine Avenue near his residence.

“We’ve gotta deal with what we need rather than what we want, and I do that at home. I’d like to have a lot of things, but do I just want them or do I really need them? And I go with the needs. We’ve got a recession coming, in my opinion, so we need to be tightening our belt. And that’s what I’ve done is cut back on any unnecessary spending,” he said. “Do you ever talk to ordinary people (about) what they want? Bill has, I have. Bike trails is not a priority. Believe me, it’s not.”

He lambasted the city government in Marshalltown for doing “stupid things” and putting itself in a difficult financial position as opposed to the county. Lanning said he gets mad whenever he comes to town because of the condition of the streets, the lack of shopping and restaurants, and the smell from the JBS meatpacking plant.

“Those are the things they need to be putting their money into, not a slab of concrete out through the countryside,” he said.

Lanning wondered where the $1 million would come from and if county departments would have to reduce their staffing levels to cover the cost. He also claimed that the existing trails in Marshalltown and Marshall County are sparsely used and said the smell from the city was so offensive that it ruined his recent trip to the Dairy Queen.

Supervisor Jarret Heil clarified that the item had been pulled by the requester, and he didn’t believe it would come up again this year to his knowledge. No further action was taken, and the meeting was adjourned after about 15 minutes.