Enterprise Dispatch Blog

DASSEL, Mn — The future of the popular bike path between Dassel and Cokato appears more certain, following action by the Dassel City Council tonight.

The council was visited by Karl Townsend of the Dassel Township, who apprised the council of the rather dire situation of the path.

Portions of the path are in poor condition, partly since sections of it were constructed in ditches outside the road work area compacted by MnDOT, when it was first constructed. Other sections are in very good shape. From his experience in bituminous maintenance, he expressed concern about the path’s future, saying that another year of waiting would result in many sections being either rebuilt; or giving away the path entirely. It can’t wait another year, he said.

Townsend noted that three out of five entities have pledged to keep the bike path serviceable — the City of Cokato, Dassel Township, and the DC School District. The Dassel council opted to join this number that night, making it four out of five entities in favor of keeping the bike path in working order. The fifth entity that declined to participate was Cokato Township, which is where most of the path is located.

The path is not within the jurisdiction of MnDOT right of way, since the five entities signed an agreement for maintenance when the path was first constructed. The state will not contribute funds, Townsend said.

It should be noted that Collinwood Township, despite the lack of having direct frontage with the path, has committed $5,000 toward the path upkeep.

Due to the influence of Meeker County Commissioner Amy Wilde, engineer Ron Mortenson of Meeker County was willing to inspect the path without charge, and give an engineer’s perspective of its shape and needs. This resulted in an estimate of about $89,000 for repairs, which was more than expected, Townsend said. It was discovered that the area near the Cokato golf course near the sloughs is in the worst shape. “We’ll need to grind that down and start over,” he said.

Townsend reported that he has been working with others for three years on funding the bike path repairs and exhausted many government outlets for grant funding and the like. He’s been in contact with Sen. Steve Dille, and Rep. Dean Urdahl. “There’s basically nothing there,” he said. Recently, proponents of the path got excited about Pres. Barack Obama’s funding for “shovel ready” projects. They spent time filling out forms at Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office without success. “I don’t believe any local government entities got that money,” he said.

He proposed to have the four entities maintain 80 percent of the path, leaving out one mile of path. Four miles of the path will be repaired or redone. This will amount to a cost of $20,000 each for each of the four entities, leaving $10,000 left over. Of this amount, Collinwood Township will kick in $5,000 — leaving $5,000 for private fundraising endeavors, for those who are willing to do so. The Knights of Columbus have pledged $500, and Rotary has been approached, as well as the Dassel Chamber.

Nevertheless, the rescue of the path is on the fast track, with proponents not wasting time to allow another winter to break down the path as it stands. Townsend said that bids could be let as soon as Dassel gave its consent that night, with Cokato giving its approval that night as well (the Cokato Corn Carnival prompted Cokato to bump its meeting one week).

“We are prepared for this trail,” Administrator Myles McGrath told the council. “If we have the money,we should do it,” Council Member Bob Wilde observed. Mayor Mike Scanlon, who is an avid supporter of the path, was absent from the meeting that night. However, a motion to approve the figure of up to $20,000 for bike path maintenance was unanimous, with council members Wilde, Bob Lalone, Pat Haapala and Alesia Warner voting in favor.

The school has agreed to take on clerical duties and serve as the financial conduit for the project. A joint powers agreement will be drawn up and signed amongst the entities involved, which will include ongoing maintenance so that a crises of the bike path’s condition can be avoided in future.