Council working to f inish cycle trail after feedback

The Around The Mountains Cycle Trail project subcommittee will head into public excluded session tomorrow to discuss contracts for finishing the cycle trail.

When the council had public submissions on its 2018-2028 Long Term Plan earlier this year, it received strong feedback from the public to get the trail finished.

Southland District Mayor Gary Tong said the subcommittee was just dealing with the negotiations of contracts relating to the final stage of the trail.

Those prices would be incorporated into the business plan.

What the committee would be discussing would come out into the public arena, Tong said.

The Deloitte report released in 2016, an independent review of the cycle trail, identified a poorly constructed approved budget, inadequate monitoring of the project’s costs, poor governance and oversight and a shortage of appropriate skills to manage the project.

It was made it clear in the report that the council needed to be open and transparent, he said. ‘‘That’s what we’re doing.’’ Tong was hopeful work to finish the final leg of the trail would begin in the new year to have it ready for the next season.

The council has budgeted $126,000 to connect the trail to the Centre Hill and Mavora Lakes Roads to complete the trail from Centre Hill to Walter Peak.

To fund its $4.6 million share of costs for the trail, the council has opted for 100 per cent loan funding.

An option of installing a ‘‘userpays’’ model was also looked at but was not enforceable because of easement agreements on the trail, which prohibited commercial use for profit.