HERMANN — Local governments will be involved in helping Missouri State Parks Department personnel develop the Rock Island Trail, said a trio of parks staffers Thursday morning in providing an update on the trail to the Gasconade County Commission.

“We’ve been meeting with all the communities along the Rock Island Trail,” said Melanie Smith, the agency’s deputy regional director.

Those cities through which the trail runs could serve as trailheads, such as McKittrick serves on the Katy Trail, she said. The meetings involve discussions about such projects as parking facilities, access to water, restrooms and the installation of information depots.

Agreements are being crafted with cities and private property owners whose land adjoins the trail to allow construction of parking areas, she said. The update on the trail came during last week’s Commission session at Owensville City Hall.

The Rock Island Trail will accommodate hikers and bicycle riders and, in some cases, horseback riders. One issue facing parks personnel, Smith said, is finding the space needed to accommodate horse trailers. The trail will be a day-use trail, meaning it will be available during daylight hours, she added.

Also, noted the department’s Ron Bentch, the agency will be working with communities along the trail on plans for economic development related to the trail.

How long it will take to get the trail ready for use is unclear.

“We don’t have a great estimated timeline,” Smith said. It was noted, however, that a master plan for the Rock Island Trail is in the works and the agency hopes to have the master plan completed by the middle of this month.

Parks officials expect that 70 percent of the users of the trail will be local residents while about 30 percent will be so-called “cross-state” users. Parks Department officials are looking to the Katy Trail traffic to get some idea of how heavily used the Rock Island Trail might be. The agency staffers said there were 600,000 visitors to the Katy Trail last year.

What would have been a major chunk of funding for the trail — $69 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money allocated to state government — was yanked from the state operating budget in the final days of this year’s Missouri General Assembly session, thwarting Gov. Mike Parson’s plan to make the trail perhaps his administration’s most visible accomplishment. The GOP-dominated legislature pulled that funding as the final hours ticked down.

The Parks Department does have at its disposal $1 million raised by the State Parks Foundation. Some of that money will be used for paying five staff people, including two park rangers.

The agency is continuing to search for grant money that could be used to develop the trail, they told the Commission.

The Parks Department staffers also made their presentation Thursday night to Bland elected officials and the community’s appointed park board representatives.

In other matters at the Commission meeting, County Treasurer Mike Feagan reported that Granny’s Cafe in Bland will be receiving $30,500 in ARPA money that it was approved for at an earlier session.  The cafe was in danger of having its ARPA fund revoked for not having a county business license.

“Our ARPA-business license  deal was taken care of and I’m cutting them a check today,” Feagan said.

Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel, R-Hermann, noted that consulting engineering firm Archer-Elgin has been contacted about developing plans for an elevator at the courthouse.

Several county officials attended the first-of-the-month session in Owensville — Assessor Paul Schulte and Deputy Assessor Julia Baker; County Collector Shawn Schlottach; and Sheriff Scott Eiler. 

Also on hand were Dave Slater of Swiss, one of three Republicans running to succeed Miskel as presiding commissioner, and State Rep. Bruce Sassmann, R-Bland.

Regarding Eiler, prior to the session, the sheriff clarified that he does not plan to hire six new deputies. Rather, he plans to hire only three. He initially planned to hire them with revenue generated by the newly adopted half-cent countywide law enforcement sales tax. But, he said, those hires will be made with grant money obtained through the Missouri Department of Public Safety. After the 3-year grant ends, those deputies would then be paid with funds from the law enforcement sales tax.