By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council tabled for two weeks the potential acceptance of a grant to extend the GVI trail west behind homes on Kisiwa Village Road on the north side of the ditch. Councilwoman Sara Bagwell had concerns about the cost of the project. She also questioned the motives of those on the council who she believed would vote for the trail, which prompted a response from Nancy Soldner.
"Not only are we waiting on the property owners, we're also waiting on whether we have adequate communication with the people," Bagwell said. "Two, I would like to say that, none of you who are going to vote this and accept this are up for re-election. You have nothing, you're retiring, you have nothing to lose."
Soldner responded that such a comment was out of bounds. Jade Piros de Carvalho also disagreed with Bagwell.
"I disagree, Sara, with your contention that we're not accountable," Piros de Carvalho said. "I think that you can make decisions based on one meeting, or you can make decisions based on master plans and strategy and engagement with the community as a whole and there is always going to be tradeoffs. There's always going to be disagreements on to what the best decision is, but I don't think it's reflective of one of us not caring. I care deeply about this community. I know Nancy and Jon do and they are term limiting out, too, but we have heard for years from those in parks in recreation about the importance of investing in trails."
Bagwell's main contention at the beginning of the discussion, which was backed up by some of the citizens in the neighborhood where the new trail would be is that the trails the city has are not being maintained and so spending money on a new one seems counterproductive. Holly Cooprider crystallized the issue.
"My husband and I are very active, as far as running, walking, taking our dogs, biking," Cooprider said. "I love to bike. I will bike miles upon miles, but I will not use our trails. They are so worn, to me it's safer to be out on 43rd riding with traffic that's going 55, versus using our trails that we have that we cannot maintain right now."
The members of the neighborhood, who were uniformly against the idea, though for different reasons, said they would all be back in two weeks to register their complaints again.