[0:11] This time I'd like to call to order the
August 24th, 2026 Jackson County
[0:16] Commission meeting.
Thanks for our members of our singing
[0:21] room river trail staff for being here
today and the opportunity to hear their
[0:26] the planning for Jackson County and we
will get to that in our business portion
[0:30] of the meeting today. At this time I
would like to ask Miss Turner, our
[0:34] county administrator, please call the
station.
[0:39] » Present.
>> Commissioner Kmer
[0:41] » present.
>> Commissioner Buckner.
[0:44] Commissioner McRide
>> present. We do have a quorum if everyone
[0:48] would please stand
[0:53] and commission.
[0:57] Thank you. Let's pray together. God
father, we come before you and it's
[1:02] appropriate at this time to just give
you blessings and and we're so thankful
[1:06] give you thanks for the natural beauty
of the county that we live in in this
[1:10] part of the country. Uh we have the
mountains, we have lakes, we have
[1:14] rivers, we have uh trees and forests.
And God, we're just so blessed to live
[1:20] in this part of the country that that is
so beautiful that you made it that way.
[1:24] God, we also pray that we will be good
stewards of the the outdoors that you've
[1:30] given us to enjoy and to uh to use for
our benefit. So God, we're thankful for
[1:36] all of these things. We're also
thankful, God, for the people of this
[1:38] county. We pray you'll continue to watch
over us all and guide us in Christ's
[1:42] name. Amen.
>> Attention to pledge. I pledge allegiance
[1:49] to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it
[1:54] stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
[2:00] for all.
[2:06] your uh packet is the agenda for
tonight's meeting. We do have two items
[2:12] in our mute business portion of the
meeting, two items that we discussed in
[2:17] the last fourth session. And as I
mentioned earlier, we kind of done item
[2:23] for discussion in our work session.
Uh with that, do I have a motion uh to
[2:29] approve the agenda for the commission
meeting August the 24th, 2026?
[2:35] Motion
>> second.
[2:37] » The motion. We have a second. All in
favor say I.
[2:40] » I.
>> Motion carried.
[2:42] » We don't have any awards or
presentations and no public comment
[2:46] tonight.
Directly into the new business portion
[2:50] of the meeting. In our last meeting, uh,
our EMA director Josh Whitum made a made
[2:59] a recommendation to surplus radio tower
and that would transition into radio uh,
[3:06] teams that are working in support of the
opportunity to discuss this with them.
[3:12] Uh, they think that they could be very
useful and helpful in what they're doing
[3:16] and their support of our emergency
management office. So, do I have a
[3:20] motion to surplus the radio tunnel from
EMA?
[3:23] » I make that motion.
>> We have a motion. Do we have a second?
[3:26] » Second.
>> We have a second. Any questions,
[3:29] discussion? If not, all in favor say I.
>> Motion carries. Thank you. Second item
[3:35] we have is regarding the 2027 county
transportation plan. Uh,
[3:42] our county engineer briefed that to us
at the last work session. you do have
[3:47] the uh copy sheet of the transportation
in your packets. This will be certainly
[3:53] forwarded to ALDOT and also it has to be
publicly posted
[3:58] for the public. Um give you a chance to
to look over that.
[4:07] So, do I have a motion to approve the FY
2027 county transportation plan?
[4:14] » Motion.
>> We have a motion. We have a second.
[4:17] » Second.
>> We have a second. Any questions or
[4:20] discussion? I I just want since Mr.
Campbell's not here, I just wanted for
[4:25] the record uh to make sure that as we
make this public that this is for safety
[4:31] and paving upgrades. And so it's it's
very it's very comprehensive program. Uh
[4:37] and so when when you look at the mileage
and divide the numbers, it's it's more
[4:42] than just putting asphalt on the road.
You know, this is uh in fact using the
[4:48] federal exchange funds we get as well as
the rebuild Alabama funds to support
[4:53] that federal grant that we have that is
specifically
[4:58] uh for the purpose of redoing a nine
roads across Jackson County for those
[5:02] exact purposes to make them safer. Um so
any other questions, comments?
[5:10] Um if not uh all in favor say I.
>> I.
[5:15] » Motion carries. Thank you. That's the
last item in our new business portion.
[5:20] We'll now move to the work session. And
we are fortunate tonight to have the
[5:25] singing river trail uh team here tonight
to give us a brief on the Jackson the
[5:32] plan that they have been working now. I
think this has been going on for a
[5:35] little over a couple years
to for the opportunity to create some uh
[5:44] trails through Jackson County. That
would certainly be of great benefit to
[5:50] us. So, let me turn it over to you guys.
>> Good evening, commission. Thanks for
[5:54] having us tonight to tell you about the
Singing River Trail and this plan that
[5:58] we have here uh that Brian will tell you
a little bit more about later. But my
[6:02] name is Scott Graham. I'm the new trail
development project manager. I've been
[6:06] on the job now for about three months.
Before that, I was a project manager for
[6:10] Ducks Unlimited in Louisiana, but I'm
originally from North Alabama. I'm glad
[6:13] to be home and take part in such an
amazing project that's really going to
[6:17] transform North Alabama and Jackson
County because as y'all are well aware
[6:21] of, Jackson County is probably one of
the prettiest counties in North Alabama.
[6:25] and uh singing river trail really wants
to help y'all protect that and enhance
[6:29] the outdoor recreation opportunities
through it. And so if you're not
[6:33] familiar with the trail, it's going to
be a 200 plus mile long greenway system
[6:37] that runs across North Alabama, mostly
paralleling the Tennessee River. Um
[6:42] singing River is what the Native
Americans called the Tennessee River. Um
[6:46] we've got a neat little story in here
about how that came about if you want to
[6:49] read it. But what you have in front of
you is just a summary of the plan. And
[6:52] the full plan is about 80 pages that we
can get you electronically if you'd
[6:56] like. But uh eventually the singing
river trail is going to run from
[7:00] Bridgeport here in Jackson County across
the state all the way to Florence and
[7:05] it's going to connect multiple small
towns and large communities such as
[7:08] Huntsville, Decator, Florence and uh be
able to increase recreational assets uh
[7:14] provide economic opportunities for small
businesses,
[7:18] provide health benefits to local
residents as well as visitors alike. So,
[7:22] it's really just a win-win for everyone
to have these greenways and trails on
[7:25] the ground in your county. The reasons
we're here tonight is to ask y'all to
[7:31] formally adopt this plan. Um to to
review it and to have it have it in your
[7:36] back pocket so that when opportunities
come available for funding and whatnot,
[7:41] seeing River Trail is able to take
advantage of those opportunities without
[7:44] delay and actually put trails on the
ground and u and and make this plan go
[7:50] from paper to reality. Um, so with that,
like I said, I've been on the job for
[7:54] only three months now, but Brian King
with GMC did all the public outreach
[7:58] was, which was really extensive to
develop this plan. That was all done
[8:02] before I got here, so he can give you a
little bit more detail about that. But,
[8:06] uh, I would encourage you all to review
it and ask us any questions while we're
[8:09] here tonight. And, uh, Brian can take it
from here and maybe give you some
[8:12] details about the plan and what all we
have in store for Jackson Cafe.
[8:23] I'm Brian K. I am
the
[8:31] lead planner for Goodwin Mills Kwood,
vice president of planning at the time
[8:36] for GMC.
First of all, it has been an absolute
[8:41] honor to get paid to come explored
county and um I'm hooked and I just want
[8:50] to be um to make sure that other people
have that experience then come hooked uh
[8:58] with this county. Uh the the prayer to
open us up was a great segue into
[9:06] you know me preaching to the choir. You
know what you've got. Uh is this
[9:11] question of what do we do with that? And
what we want to talk about today is uh
[9:18] making sure you understand the
importance of trails move forward to
[9:22] unlock the tremendous amount of assets
you've got here in the county.
[9:28] So, uh, I want to talk briefly about why
Trails of Jackson County, uh, touch a
[9:35] little bit on the process,
highlight the route overview, and then
[9:40] talk about how we use
uh, this plant.
[9:45] So, again, just going to beat the dead
horse. Um,
[9:52] your county is the most uh unique county
in the state of Alabama, hands down, in
[9:58] my opinion.
Comes to topography,
[10:03] no question. Uh when it comes to um
natural resources,
[10:10] uh when it comes to public land, I
believe you've got the most public land
[10:16] percentage wise of any county in the
state. Um and you know, not to forget
[10:25] the the lake and the Tennessee River.
So,
[10:32] how do we connect those? How do we make
uh the most return on that? And how do
[10:39] we make that most accessible to our
current residents? Um how can that apply
[10:46] to growth? Um both economically and
residentially and
[10:54] um how do we incorporate it in into what
we do um as as county. So, um, again,
[11:04] you know, we couldn't have asked for a
more unique place, uh, to to do a trail
[11:11] master plan. Your resources are endless
and and they're anchored by some
[11:19] phenomenal small towns that
really pair nicely with this rural trail
[11:26] mash plan. If you if you flip to this
page which circles on it.
[11:34] Um
so why are trails important?
[11:39] Trails are have a massive return on
investment. Uh and when I talk about
[11:47] return on investment I I speak of that
holistically. Um so I speak of the
[11:54] quality of life they provide. um the
assets to tourism. They increase
[12:00] property values.
They create jobs. They uh they allowing
[12:06] you to attract employers that may be on
the fence. Um and studies have uh
[12:14] surprisingly and literally shown that
there is stronger community pride when
[12:20] uh trails are present in a community.
So going back to actual literal return
[12:27] on investments um
we have looked at uh studies across the
[12:35] country and um studies have shown that
even in rural areas return on investment
[12:43] is at least 72%
of
[12:49] of construction cost and maintenance.
So, u significant return on investment,
[12:56] and we're not just talking, uh, big
cities. We're talking
[13:02] communities and counties of your scale.
That 72% return on investment is
[13:08] significant. Um, even more significant
is
[13:13] Silver Comet Trail, one highlight. It's
got a little more density to it, but
[13:18] they they're looking at over 400%
return on investment, which is
[13:26] astronomic.
So, the benefits of trails is immense.
[13:33] Uh and you you are at a time now uh
where trails
[13:40] can be incorporated into
into your processes into conversations
[13:48] with your county engineer um into your
grant decision making. And um I want to
[13:55] talk uh a little bit at the end about
how we're offering to to help with that.
[14:01] So when when we think about trails, I
want to challenge you to consider um
[14:08] consider thinking about trails like you
do um industrial
[14:14] uh site development um or just in
industrial recruitment because the
[14:21] benefits are equal and um they they both
follow the exact same. the the quality
[14:30] of recruitment you're able to get if
you've got natural assets and trails to
[14:35] connect them is significant. Does that
make sense?
[14:45] So, next we've just got a couple more
highlights for you. Um, more this last
[14:51] one is particular swamp rabbit and green
bull.
[14:56] It's is a very famous study uh but but
not necessarily
[15:02] uh as as rural as the trails we're
talking about today, but uh Tammy Trace
[15:09] Trail is a great example for y'all to
look at. 31 mile rural trail connecting
[15:16] five towns. Because of this farmers
markets opened, um concerts and
[15:22] festivals started happening and they
have documented their annual um impact
[15:30] specifically um before and after and
they found that uh the the annual
[15:39] ROI local impact is $2.8 million.
[15:47] So, um, turning the page here, uh, to
get to your proposed trail route. Um,
[15:54] first of all, I want to just highlight
the process that we've been through.
[15:58] This this has been a long time coming.
Um, but and the the process
[16:06] um needs to continue. I just want to say
that um it has been robust um to to
[16:14] bring us together here today. We've had
about 20 meetings um and those those
[16:24] meetings included the public. They've
been across the county. Um they've been
[16:29] with very uh enthusiastic people.
They've uh they've been with very
[16:37] enthusiastic
um elected officials, um mayors, um
[16:43] they've been with hunters. Um so we've
met with um at least 100 people
[16:51] throughout county and because of that
robust engagement, this trail alignment
[16:59] that you're seeing here has has changed
over a dozen times. I I don't know
[17:08] specifically
how many
[17:11] trail alignment, you know, where the
trail is actually traveling. Um how many
[17:17] times it's changed, but it has changed a
lot based on every single meeting we've
[17:23] heard. This this trail is your
community's trail. Does that make sense?
[17:32] So, um, what you have here is
in the yellow is the main spine, um,
[17:40] where
Miss Graham was talking about. This this
[17:45] is the proposed route from Bridgeport
beyond actually um, all the way to Gur.
[17:53] I mean,
>> and so this this main spine is designed
[17:57] to um be that main corridor um that
connects essentially state line to state
[18:05] line. Um what is unique
about this countywide trail master plan
[18:16] is essentially you've gotten u two trail
plans in one. This hasn't happened in
[18:23] any other county in SRT's footprint. Um
we just couldn't help ourselves when we
[18:32] noticed how much public land you've got.
And so with that um you have an ex a
[18:40] proposed extensive network of natural
trails um through Puff and Planch.
[18:48] This uh is extremely important
for what we call lowhanging fruit
[18:55] because
to take a
[18:59] just just to be candid and kind of talk
through this um a lot of implementation
[19:05] has been focused on the cities because
that that's where the infrastructure is.
[19:11] That's where um you've got a tighter
knit network of destinations. And so,
[19:19] um, so trail connections, um, can be
built
[19:23] at at two, you know, two miles or less
to get from point A to point B. With the
[19:32] county, that that's a different story,
isn't it? Because you're the the length
[19:39] um that we're talking about and in a
main spine at least is a lot longer. And
[19:45] so you need much more of a trail culture
to be built um instead of
[19:53] that needs to happen prior to you
deciding for a $10 million expenditure
[20:00] for instance. You know, you're you're
not building a trail to nowhere. Um, so
[20:06] you you naturally need to
to nurture and we need to nurture
[20:13] together a a more robust community of
outdoor centric um destinations, which
[20:24] you certainly have, but we just need to
continue to to nurture
[20:30] Jackson County as that destination and
and continue to build
[20:37] um you as
as that trail resource. And we we see in
[20:46] doing that
um we need to start
[20:52] realistically with the natural trail
system. Does that make sense?
[20:59] The cost there is is much smaller. uh
the the network of potential vendors is
[21:08] is much greater and you can truly plug
into to through a more robust
[21:14] partnership as opposed to uh building a
trail on a county road.
[21:24] With that said, I think it it's still
very important to um to identify funding
[21:31] annually. to look at um the state
senator's discretionary funding and and
[21:39] the like and we'll talk about that. But
but I just wanted to emphasize that um
[21:45] the natural trail system uh in the
northern part of the county is is a
[21:51] logical and important first step to help
you build that trail.
[21:57] If we look at North Georgia for
instance, you know, they're they're just
[22:04] as rural as we are and and the only
talkable to that landscape is Jackson
[22:12] County. And we can see the the economic
impact of tourism uh in North Georgia.
[22:22] And I really want um and and hope you
agree that
[22:30] that level or some level of elevated
outdoor tourism would be a huge impact
[22:38] um to to your local citizens.
And because you are
[22:44] between the um
between two very prominent uh metros
[22:52] that are full of outdoor enthusiasts,
they just need a reason and we just need
[22:58] to market um what what resources we're
able to scrap together and and slowly
[23:06] build that because if if they come in on
the weekends, spend spend some money and
[23:12] go home. That is
the definition of the most return on
[23:20] investment um for your community for
your humanity
[23:27] for your citizens quality of life
because tourism is the is the greenest
[23:35] um
form of uh economic development that is
[23:43] by green I mean um money and and also
just ease of operations.
[23:52] We all good on that?
>> So
[23:57] we've we've outlined a couple of fail
topologies here. This is not extensive.
[24:03] We I just wanted to throw in a couple of
what
[24:08] you'll see in the full master plan.
We've got Buffford's iPads. Um we've got
[24:15] on street improvements and then we've
got uh low traffic uh farm to market
[24:22] roads.
Just wanted to quickly give you a sense
[24:28] of that.
So what do we do now?
[24:32] Again, this is a formal request to adopt
uh the Jackson County Trail Master Plan.
[24:44] This plan is a tool and not a mandate.
There is is no money obligations tied to
[24:54] adopting this plan.
there is no money obligated
[25:00] um to adopting this program. So um as a
tool this serves to as a roadmap for
[25:11] trail investment. This positions us to
go after state federal funding including
[25:17] TAP atri
um and
[25:23] a number of other things.
funding opportunities including even
[25:29] earmarks. Uh this helps guide the county
engineer. Um this this
[25:40] operates as a reminder um to what I call
the big wants policy. If we're doing a
[25:48] lively and uh it does not hurt to
remember this and just at a quick glance
[25:58] talk to somebody and see if there is an
opportunity for for
[26:06] and the like. Um,
>> this also, um, is just a reference
[26:13] point, um, for trail opportunities to
staff, to, uh, you as a commission, and
[26:20] to future commissioners
um, to encapsulate all the work that's
[26:26] been done. And um
and again this is a plan and these are
[26:36] trails that were built by your citizens.
So um what I want to also say is
[26:45] with this process
um
[26:49] we're not done. We're not done. We would
like to continue to work with you. Um
[26:57] uh SRT is a phenomenal group. Um their
their mission is to uh share grant
[27:06] opportunities. Um their mission is to
not plan projects. So this this is a
[27:17] fraction of of what their goal is. Their
goal is to put trails on the ground. and
[27:23] say this is just a a means to an end.
Does that make sense? They're not in the
[27:29] business of making 80page documents.
They're uh they're currently
[27:36] building doing construction documents um
and signing about 70 miles of trails
[27:45] across the state right now. and we just
want to make sure that we're putting you
[27:53] um in best position possible uh to be
next on that list. Um, so we're we've
[28:01] already had several conversations uh at
the state house uh about Jackson County
[28:07] and the potential to to unlock um some
of that public land for
[28:16] trails for recreational use that's uh
that would add to the the hunting um
[28:24] that you're already experiencing.
Um, and
[28:28] we just we just want to reiterate again
that we would like you to consider us
[28:36] almost like on on call staff. Um, please
please
[28:42] we will reach out and and ask if you're
interested in opportunities, but um we
[28:50] we would like to come back and and do
updates. Um, we would like to just have
[28:56] a working relationship with you because
we we talked about the process like it's
[29:03] over when a plan is adopted. It's not.
We we would like to
[29:11] um invite you to join us in our passion
for trails and even even a certain
[29:20] percentage and just um you use us. We
we're asking you to to use this. Um your
[29:28] your resources are immense
and a big next step is to
[29:37] just peel off those lowhanging fruit
opportunities and put some trails on
[29:42] there.
Um I'm I'm open to I'm not going to dive
[29:48] into the specific routes. Um it's it's
70 miles plus
[29:55] um probably another 70 plus of natural
trails that we've outlined. But um any
[30:02] any questions for me outside of AJ is
what I'm told guys.
[30:08] A uh a quick question.
>> Um will any of the trail route uh
[30:17] involve using our county roads uh as a
portion of the trail where they all be
[30:23] to the side of the trail or the road,
excuse me. Long longterm
[30:31] they would all be side paths. short term
um we would be interested in um in
[30:40] throughout your engineering process to
identify
[30:45] potential
opportunities for for bike lanes. So but
[30:50] but long term the answer is is protected
side use. So, like I'm looking at this
[30:59] map. You said you didn't want to discuss
RS, but down I guess at 67 down the
[31:03] Langston Road. Is that like a spur?
>> What page?
[31:07] » I'm on this page.
>> Okay.
[31:09] » And you had like a you had like a spur.
>> What box is
[31:14] » dotted line
right along the Tennessee River where
[31:18] it's leading down the section
or below section there? That's the lakes
[31:24] and roads to the southeast. Yeah, it
runs down along the river.
[31:29] » Yeah,
>> that's right.
[31:31] » Is that what we were planning there?
>> Um, so
[31:38] we did map out
going to section. Um, we're also working
[31:46] uh
uh Marshall County is uh will be the
[31:53] last county trail plan and we're and so
that will be firmed up um in in our
[32:02] second pass. But but yes, that
>> yeah, I don't think I'm making myself
[32:08] clear. This one is right when you cross
the bridge. Yes, sir. You would turn
[32:13] right and go along the river side.
>> Correct.
[32:16] » Would y'all be going down that road or
to the side of the How? Because there's
[32:21] not a lot of room on that road.
>> There's not
[32:23] » not a lot at all.
>> It's
[32:27] the connection between Scottsboro and
Gunnersville will will be um
[32:33] » will be a challenge. It's gorgeous, but
it will be a challenge.
[32:37] » We want that area to be utilized. It's
beautiful and we we're all for it. But
[32:41] that is one of my favorite routes.
>> I love that route. I grew up there.
[32:46] » Um Yes, sir. We've looked at that and
and we we went so far as as to price out
[32:54] um extending the u rip wrap, you know,
because there's a lot of not bridges,
[33:02] but you know, rip wrap highway
cutthroughs and and Gunnersville has has
[33:09] been surprisingly successful at at
getting those done. So there there is a
[33:16] strong local presence uh precedent for
for that route.
[33:25] » Okay. Other questions?
>> Let me ask um I know you've been working
[33:32] across the state. Uh you talked to some
of your successes so far that is you
[33:39] have worked with some of the communities
west of us. I think you guys have been
[33:43] involved with some of them for a couple
years. Sure.
[33:49] » So, we've had a lot of success uh with
existing trails on the ground that we're
[33:55] like you call that new route. We're
going to sign those put our signs out
[33:59] and bring awareness to the trail and uh
bring bring that brand to those
[34:04] communities so that when opportunities
come to build new trails, they'll be
[34:07] familiar with what Singing River Trail
is and and how that can come to their
[34:12] community and benefit it. Um, but in
particular, we've got some trails on the
[34:16] ground in Florence. Um, we've got some
trails that are wrapping up in Leon,
[34:20] Alabama right now. That's a downtown
corridor segment was funed through a tap
[34:24] grant. Um, and Decatur or before we get
to Decator, we have Courtland that's
[34:29] about to go to construction. That's
another downtown segment. It's going to
[34:33] be sidewalk street improvement. Um,
connecting downtown to one of their
[34:37] parks. indicator. We actually had a $18
million grant that got clawed back
[34:41] unfortunately through Doge. Um but
before it all got clawed back, we had
[34:46] two million allocated already. And so
that's going towards research and a
[34:50] study to see how we can update existing
trails within Decar. Um particularly on
[34:54] the Bill Sims trail, which is an
existing trail route that Decar wants to
[34:59] improve. We have existing trails on the
ground in Athens as well as the Richard
[35:05] Martin Trail. They'll connect from the
Tennessee line uh down to Athens and
[35:10] then in Huntsville. They're one of our
main supporters, our original
[35:13] supporters. Um there's extensive amount
of greenways there that we're working to
[35:17] connect with the city of Huntsville as
well as uh the Land Trust of North
[35:21] Alabama, which is a partner through
Huntsville to help get those greenways
[35:25] built by helping with eastern
acquisition. And then Gurley is actually
[35:29] about to kick off construction as well.
They have another TAP grant to do a
[35:32] downtown segment. It's going to go from
their downtown to a park. And uh here in
[35:37] Jackson County, we're making some
headway in Bridgeport as well as here in
[35:41] Scottsboro, talking with local officials
like yourself. Um but Jackson County is
[35:46] one of our newest counties. So we're
we're still getting the ball rolling on
[35:49] a lot of projects here. And like he
said, we do have our master plan to be
[35:54] completed of our eight counties. That'll
be in Marshall County. We hope to get
[35:58] that funded and uh get that research and
outreach going here in the next couple
[36:02] of months. Get our last master plan done
in Marshall County. That'll give them
[36:07] that have a plan for all eight counties
to work in. I believe in in plan for
[36:13] Scottsboro connected Will to City Park
and uh and then kayak opportunities
[36:21] across the county park. So it's it's
you're integrating I think Tennessee
[36:26] River Line into your plan. That's
correct. The trail,
[36:32] » right? So Tennessee Riverline is a a
great counterpart to us. They're their
[36:36] own separate nonprofit as you know. Um
but we we often get confused because we
[36:40] kind of have the same same I guess
mission to increase outdoor recreation
[36:45] and whatnot, but they stay on the river.
We we stay on the land for the most
[36:49] part. But wherever we meet on the
riverfront, we do work together to do
[36:52] co-branding and awareness for our trails
and uh make sure that we're not
[36:57] duplicating efforts. So, we're in close
close communication with sing or
[37:01] Tennessee River Line.
>> My last my last question, it it seems
[37:06] and tell me if I'm wrong, for you to be
able to go after federal and state
[37:12] funding, you you need an adoption of
your plan.
[37:15] » That's correct.
>> That's correct. as well as an updated
[37:19] plan. So, we're actually updating our
original master plan right now. That was
[37:23] for the the original idea for this whole
trail which was only three counties to
[37:28] connect the Calhoun campuses in
Huntsville, Decator as well as the Athen
[37:31] State University campus. So, that was
Limestone, Madison, and Morgan counties.
[37:35] it blew up from three counties now to
eight counties because there's people
[37:39] are so on board with the idea and uh so
we're actually updating that master plan
[37:43] here this fall and uh we can like you
said take that to go get some bigger
[37:48] funding from the state as well as
federal funding. So one of our internal
[37:52] goals for the singing river trail was to
have 60% of the plan done in five years
[37:57] and the way that that's going to be done
is through our existing trails that are
[38:00] on the ground that we are going to put
signs on and activate those trails. So,
[38:04] sounds ambitious ambitious, but it's
very doable. And so, we're going to hope
[38:09] to have that done in five years. And
then once that's done, we can move
[38:12] forward with a maybe a bigger ask for
funding to do some more connections
[38:16] within towns and connect then connecting
towns to each other.
[38:20] » All right. You have a question.
and with their help, you know, um it
[38:27] sounds like they putting signs on
existing trail networks, but really
[38:33] they're they're opening up um trails
that may not be known by a lot of people
[38:41] um to a much bigger audience. And so so
the that trail usage just goes up and
[38:50] those studies have shown that people who
use trails um stay longer, spend more
[38:57] locally um and then again um they go
home
[39:05] » and y'all maintain the trails and or
y'all hire that. How does that work?
[39:10] » So like you said, these trails are your
community trails. We want this this plan
[39:14] is not set in stone. Like you said, the
alignments change. So once con it goes
[39:19] to construction and we decide on an
alignment, uh it'll pro it'll most
[39:23] likely be down to the community level to
maintain these trucks is the majority of
[39:28] them within city limits are going to be
on a public ement, right? And so one of
[39:32] our future goals through the Sing River
Trails to have a maintenance endowment
[39:36] that we can help cities with. That's
definitely something we want to do and
[39:39] help with. Um but and when we do get to
that point, um we we do factor in annual
[39:47] maintenance as as part of cost. So it
it's it's not an unknown variable when
[39:53] we do get to that point. But again,
early wins here is continuing to work
[39:59] with the state, being able, you know,
we've got another meeting coming up. Um
[40:05] it's the date's not set yet, but um to
be able to say, you know, David, um this
[40:12] trail was made by the county. It's just
been adopted by the county. And for the
[40:16] state to truly know that um we we're
supporting y'all um when we when we talk
[40:22] to them,
that's really important.
[40:26] » Okay.
Uh if there are no more questions, um
[40:32] they're asking that we would adopt the
singing railroad trail plan for Jackson
[40:37] County. Uh it's not a financial um
obligation.
[40:44] Uh are we okay putting this on the new
business for the next meeting?
[40:51] Okay, we will do that. really appreciate
you guys being here and thanks everyone.
[40:58] » Thank you for your time.
>> Yes. Thank you all for having us. Thank
[41:00] you.
>> Thank you.
[41:03] » It's the last item in our work session.
We'll go to the staff county
[41:12] attorney.
>> Okay. Thank you,
[41:14] » Jere. Anything Josh? Anything else?
Okay. Uh so we'll now move for the
[41:21] comment from the commission. Uh
commissioner welcome district.
[41:26] » I just want to thank everybody for
coming out today and I don't have
[41:28] anything else to add. Thank you sir.
>> Uh District 4 Commissioner McBride echo
[41:33] sentiment um thank you to all our
employees for all hard work they put
[41:37] into our county. Thank you guys for
coming and presenting to us.
[41:42] » District two Mr. K. I'd like to remind
you of a fella that little girl had the
[41:47] accident
been a good while. She's in Texas at a
[41:51] rehab center, new rehab center and
reports for her getting she is making
[41:56] some health
[42:00] district one the commissioner's goal.
>> Uh I was able to go down and attend the
[42:04] ACCA conference last week. had a good
networking session with the other
[42:07] commissioners and uh had um good session
on learning about the some of the new
[42:13] laws Bose law and ways the county those
affect the county and and looking
[42:20] forward to sharing what's learned with
the rest of commission.
[42:25] » Okay, I don't have anything to add with
that. Uh we will uh the next meeting is
[42:31] scheduled for September the 14th. Uh
meeting will be here.
[42:39] Uh at this time we need to move into an
executive session to have a discussion
[42:45] regarding pending litigation.
So do I held a motion to move into
[42:52] effect.
Have
[42:54] » a motion. We have a second.
could have stepped on before.
[43:00] Thank you.