The Minonk City Council discussed plans for developing the Miner's
Trail at their Monday night council meeting. Mayor Bill Koos said one
of the primary reasons for putting in the Moran Street extension was
not only to have a street through there, but to connect all of the
parks through a nice trail. The mayor said we were able to connect
Veteran’s Park, Sutton’s Park, and New Millennia Park with the new
street. He said the next step is to start connecting the park system
over to the Westside Park. The mayor said, "Hopefully in the future we
will have a downtown Railroad/Coal Mine Museum somewhere located in the
downtown area. We would like a way for people to be able to walk
throughout the entire city as there are a lot of walkers in the City of
Minonk."
Mayor Koos further stated that in order to accomplish a Miner’s Trail
the next leg is basically coming from Veteran’s Park to New Millennia
Park and coming all the way up through Sutton’s Park. The mayor added,
"We have been putting this in the budget for a couple of years and
several things come to mind that we have to do in order for us to get
this accomplished. One, I would like to make this the priority of the
next year’s budget as far as the recreational activity goes with the
Miner’s Trail and being able to connect these parks. It will take the
input of the several committees (Parks & Recreation, 4th of July)
on how we want to put Miner’s Trail through Sutton’s Park."
Mayor Koos said the other question is do we want a hard
surface versus a rock surface? He said a stone surface is more
economical, but it limits the use of the trail by excluding inline
skaters and skateboarders. Cost versus utility has to be balanced out.
He concluded by saying, "These are all questions we need to start
asking ourselves and getting everybody together and getting input as
this is going to take some time to accomplish."
Alderman Sean Cunningham said that he felt we should move forward with this project.
Mayor Koos asked City Administrator Trent Smith to meet with the
various committees and get input and check on the cost of various
surfaces for Miner’s Trail.
Downtown landscaping discussed
Mayor Koos said that the corner of Chestnut and Fifth Streets is an
open area that needs to be made more attractive. The mayor wants to
redesign the whole corner to give it a much more pleasant look. He
added, "We have a drawing of this design somewhere and this is going to
take a lot of people working together. We need to get the input of
various committees (Parade of Lights, 4th of July) on what we should be
doing on that corner and it is going to take some time."
Koos reported that the City has put $12,500 away for this project
in the budget. He also stated that there is a lot of work that needs to
be done in the downtown area as far as landscaping goes. He said, "That
intersection of Chestnut and Fifth Streets is a focal point of this
community. Financially the City is in shape now that we can start to
maybe do some of these projects that have a lot of aesthetic value and
function value to the community. We need to get the City Administrator
moving with the various committees to get input before the budget
process starts for next year." It was agreed to have Trent Smith report
back at the second meeting in October with his input received from the
various committees concerned.
Public Comments
Bill Bane (618 Cynthia Street) asked if there was any possibility on
getting any grant money to help with the costs on the Miner’s Trail
Extension.
Mayor Koos responded that yes there was and that is one of the reasons that we need to get going on this project.
City Council Comments
Alderman Fortner said that while we
are looking at sprucing up the downtown we might want to look into
finding some money somewhere to get some new scoreboards out at the
ball fields. He said, "A lot of people come to town and that is what
they see, broken down scoreboards at our ball fields."
City Administrator Trent Smith responded that the City is looking into the issue.
Mayor's Comments
Mayor Koos said that at the previous
meeting he said the racetrack drawing would be in our hands within 30
days. He said, "Hopefully by the next meeting we will have something to
report on."