Path would be start for bigger trail network in City of Stanley

Coming before the Council for review at its March 7 meeting, the proposed bike trail moved forward with a 5 -4 vote, with four members for the trail, four against, and Mayor Al Haas casting the tie-breaker–after some initial abstentions and Council commentary. With motion made by Jacob Huff and seconded by Holly Kitchellf for the bike trail partners to move forward with further action, these were the respective council member votes: In favor

Holly Kitchell Jacob Huff Mike Henke Mark Fitzsimmons Against Rick Hodowanic Kevin Hendrickson Jason Meyer Laurie Foster With an equally split council the decisive vote was made by the head of the city government, also known as Mayor Al Haas.

“Al?” City Clerk/Treasurer Nicole Thiel asked the mayor for his input.

After initially choosing to abstain as Mark Fitzsimmon had before then voting yes, the mayor broke the council tie by voting in favor of the Fitzsimmons had sought to abstain on the grounds that he he was on the Committe, a try which didn’t ultimately pass muster with the others, as Fitzsimmons didn’t stand to gain personally and committees were deemed part of Council life. Abstaining from a vote, wasn’t meant ot be a cop out.

Among the reasons given by those Council members who voted in favor fo the trail, were that while some 120 letters had been sent out regarding the parking ban along parts of Eighth, Park, and Sixth Avenues, only five showed up to speak against. Do the math and it came out to four percent of those noticed, with the sentiment that those in favor or who didn’t have an opinion were less likely to show.

"Maybe if it was 50, but five?" Hufff asked as he shared that the trail went right past his house and that he was fine with it. Hendrickson, meanwhile, shared that while he wasn’t against the trail, “I can’t vote yes if I’m representing my constituents,” he said, a ‘no’ vote then being made along with the others.