KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — The Kings Mountain Gateway Trail will receive additional funds from Cleveland County after a bridge project was more costly than the nonprofit group anticipated.
County commissioners approved the $23,000 request during last week’s meeting by a 3-2 vote. Johnny Hutchins, Ronnie Hawkins and Eddie Holbrook voted in favor of the request, while Jason Falls and Mary Accor voted against it.
Accor said commissioners frequently get requests from various nonprofits asking for assistance, and those requests are not always approved.
She said she also wanted to stick to the goals commissioners had established for the budget, one of which was providing raises for county employees.
“It would have set precedent on directives we had already given … and there were other nonprofits in the county that had requested funds as well,” she said.
Accor said she also wanted more time.
“If it had gone through the budget process, we would have had time to look at it and see if it needed to go forward,” she said.
Falls, who also opposed the request, said the county does not operate the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail and that the nonprofit agency has its own board.
“I didn’t want to set (a) precedent with an organization that works with the county spending too much money and the county basically having to foot the bill,” Falls said. “It was a higher amount (than) originally allotted to the Gateway Trail.”
He said there was no time for discussion and the county was not aware of the additional cost until after all the allotted money had been spent.
“…we found out about it after the fact,” Falls said. “After the work had been done and the money has been spent, and then we’re asked to come up with some extra money. We didn’t have time to discuss it. They were coming to us to pay that bill.”
County planning director Bill McCarter said the two bridges, which are a part of the trail’s third phase, required more concrete than anticipated, which resulted in the extra cost.
McCarter said the county is the grant agency and provides matching funds based on the estimated construction cost.
Hutchins said the county was “put in an awkward situation.”
He said if the trail does not meet all the grant criteria, as the administrative agent, the county could be responsible for reimbursing the grant.
“They were instructed that it would happen no more,” Hutchins said.
Shirley Brutko, president of the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail, said the original design of the bridge would not have met code requirements.
“The bridge had to be very much more high quality than we expected,” Brutko said. “In order to get those grants and meet their requirements, we had to complete this section of the trail.”
She said she does not foresee the same situation happening again.
“We don’t need surprises like it’s going to cost so much more,” she said. “We’re going to have to be real careful of that.”
Brutko said the last two stages, which will connect the trail to Crowders Mountain State Park, will come from private donations, fundraisers and grants.
She said there is no scheduled completion date.
Eventually, the Carolina Thread Trail will connect the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail to Moss Lake, the city of Shelby, the Broad River Greenway and the South Mountains.
“It will be like our own Appalachian trail here in Cleveland County,” Brutko said.