The Marthasville Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to approve laying the sub-base of a walking trail leading up to and around the retention pond in Rusche Park during their meeting Wednesday, May 20.

Mayor David Lange brought up the matter, reminding the board that they had previously discussed building a walking trail or path along the retention pond. He initially suggested a 5-foot wide concrete sidewalk that would snake around the pond and go over the dam on the western side of the pond.

This led to a more extensive discussion of whether to use concrete or asphalt for the trail. During the discussion several of the board members discussed perhaps laying a sub-base first and then going out for bids on both asphalt and concrete to see which might be more cost efficient.

Alderman Chris DeVore said that if the city could at least get the sub-base laid it would make the next step easier.

Lange said that he would like to use Lamke Trenching & Excavating while they are still in town performing work on the Depot Street and 5th Street projects.

This led to a further discussion of creating walking paths from several close by city streets that would connect to the pond and the proposed walking trail around it.

Alderman Nicholas Lange suggested three paths leading to the pond. One would be from North Street heading east, which would then connect with a second path from the parking lot of the Grabs House Museum and Library. The two paths would connect to one another on the western end of the retention pond. A third path would then come west from Griswold Avenue and connect to the pond on its eastern edge.

Lange then made a motion to lay a sub-base of rock four to six inches thick and utilize Lamke under the city’s unit price bidding structure to perform the work. The sub-base would include not only the path around the pond, but also the three paths leading to the pond.

The board discussed waiting until the sub-base is complete before going out for bids on asphalt or concrete for the path as they wanted to wait until precise measurements were obtained through the process of laying the sub-base.

Also at last week’s meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve an ordinance to place a yield sign at the intersection of West Main and 1st Street, which had been discussed at previous meetings.

The board also unanimously voted to spend $500 to purchase U.S. flags to place on locations throughout the city to go with 46 flags that have already been placed on poles throughout the city.