Marthasville’s city officials plan to withdraw from a partnership with the Marthasville Area Chamber of Commerce, in which the groups jointly leased the property for depot buildings on the Katy Trail.The change comes after Mayor David Lange declined to renew the city’s participation in the lease, despite a vote from the Marthasville Board of Aldermen to do so. The city and Chamber both lease the property from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR), at the cost of having to cut the grass and maintain bathrooms for the trail.The 15-year lease agreement is set to expire at the end of June. The Chamber signaled its intention to renew the lease in March, and asked city leaders to do the same. Although aldermen initially agreed, Lange vetoed the decision, saying the lease is a bad deal for taxpayers.“DNR already cleans bathrooms up and down the Katy Trail. Why should the citizens of Marthasville pay twice for the bathrooms to get cleaned at their trailhead?” Lange asked.The mayor said the city answers to taxpayers and has an obligation to ensure taxes are being spent on core issues like maintaining roads, water and sewer. Because of that, he said it’s hard to justify spending taxpayers’ money on facilities that are owned by DNR or the Chamber.Chamber takes overChamber President Pam Jensen told the board of aldermen April 17 that the Chamber would be fine taking sole responsibility for the lease.Jensen later commented to The Record that she would be more comfortable with the Chamber maintaining the depot on its own, rather than pushing the city into an unenthusiastic partnership.However, Jensen did ask the board of aldermen to agree for the city to cut the grass at the depot grounds for no charge. She said the Chamber doesn’t have the equipment to mow or much funding to pay for the service.Jensen told The Record that the depot benefits all of Marthasville by providing quality park facilities and drawing visitors along the Katy Trail.“It’s one of the few original depots that are on the Katy Trail. ... It’s the original specs, right down to the paint. It’s such a treasure for the city to have,” she said.The facilities also include outdoor educational displays and it is one of the nicer trailheads, she added.In the future, Jensen expressed interest in having the depot be used for more local events, and welcomes anyone to contact the Chamber with ideas.Although aldermen seemed receptive to keeping the grass cut, their negotiation with Chamber members was terse at times. Members of each group expressed frustrations about the equity of various partnerships between the city and the Chamber. The entities often work together to host public events, such as free outdoor concerts organized by the Chamber and held at city parks.Eventually, aldermen agreed in principle to provide grass cutting at least through the end of this year, with East Ward Alderman Nick Lange insisting that there be a written agreement before the city makes a formal commitment.Jensen said she is grateful for the cooperation, and is waiting to see what the city drafts for the agreement.Mayor Lange said he supports continued cooperation with community groups like the Chamber of Commerce, but in a way that is responsible with taxpayers’ money.“The city needs to support all the area civic groups, which we do. We provide the pavilion and property for all the Concerts in the Park to the Chamber for free,” for example, Lange said. That kind of cooperation has little financial impact on the city budget.When the DNR lease agreement for the depot first came about, it was because the Chamber needed the city’s participation to get a grant to pay for moving the main depot building from its original location to the trailhead, Lange explained. The ground was leased from DNR, but the Chamber owned the building.Once the grant was finalized and the city was no longer needed, Lange said city leaders at the time should have allowed the Chamber to take full responsibility for its own building.

The depot building at the Marthasville trailhead along the Katy Trail.

Record photo/Cindy Gladden