Goodman OKs Trail Grant Resolution

In a tie vote broken by Mayor JR Fisher, the Goodman Board of Aldermen approved a resolution to apply for a Recreational Trails Program grant on Tuesday.

The board held an emergency meeting at 3 p.m. Tuesday, due to its regular meeting being canceled because of snow and its makeup meeting, which was to be Monday night, being canceled due to lack of a quorum. Aldermen Clay Sexson and Sammie Jo Goodson attended Tuesday’s meeting via phone calls.

The RTP grant is awarded through the Department of Natural Resources and is an 80/20 matching grant. If approved, the city’s portion would be roughly $16,000, Fisher said on Tuesday.

Sexson commented that, in his opinion, the last snowstorm demonstrated that the city has greater needs infrastructure-wise other than a trail.

Alderman Ron Johnson made a motion to approve the resolution, and Alderman Ed Tuomala seconded. Johnson and Tuomala voted yes, and Sexson and Goodson voted no. Fisher broke the tie by voting yes.

Following the meeting, City Clerk Georgia Holtz said donations for the project in the amount of $12,420 had already been collected, $8,125 of which came from the Goodman Betterment Club, and the rest from individual donors.

Fisher said he disagreed with Sexson’s comment on infrastructure, commenting that the trail grant funds would be separate from funds devoted to infrastructure needs.

“It absolutely made no sense to me why they would vote no to this. The perception they’re putting off to the community is really bad, I think,” he said. “I think a walking trail would be a fantastic addition to this baseball complex.”