After deal, Kreck Trail is no more
Back in 2010 a host of volunteers got together and made a path through Loren Kreck’s property along the Flathead River near the Old Red Bridge.
Kreck, a noted environmentalist, blessed the trail as a way to continue access to the Flathead River. Once the trail was finished, the easement was taken over by the city.
But Kreck passed away and the family sold his estate to the Cahill family, and the trail became a problem for them. They claimed there was vandalism and even a sexual assault along the trail.
The trail was also incomplete — a small section of land never had a legal easement, which, in effect, made it a dead-end path.
On Monday night, the city council voted unanimously to sell the easement back to Inge Cahill for $4,260 in a deal brokered by city attorney Justin Breck and the Cahills’ attorney Terry N. Trieweiler.
The funds covered the city’s previous costs associated with the trail.
The vote to sell the path back to the Cahills came with some regret from Mayor Don Barnhart, who knew Kreck well.
He noted it was a well-intentioned idea that, “unfortunately went sideways.”
Barnhart said he’d like to see the settlement funds go toward building a path down to the river on the south side of the Old Red Bridge, where the city already has a park.
In other news:
- Council accepted longtime city judge Susan “Tina” Gordon’s resignation. Gordon will retire in December after 29.5 years on the Columbia Falls bench.
- The council got a look at the city’s preliminary budget. The general fund remains fairly flat at about $3 million. The city street and lighting assessments will remain the same at $301,000 and $33,298. One big ticket item in this year’s budget is $80,000 to repair the overflow ditch to the Cedar Creek Dam, which leaks when the water is high onto the CFAC property.
- Council decided not to change its ordinance on pigs. A resident was recently told she could not have a pig at her house because it was in violation of city code that says no pigs of any sort are allowed in the city. Some cities, however, do allow pot-bellied pigs, which are smaller. The council wasn’t interested in changing the city law to accommodate smaller pigs.
- The council OK’d a loan agreement with Glacier Bank to finance $340,000 of the Riverwood Special Improvement District for 20 years at an interest rate of 4.16 percent. The total for the project is about $1.2 million, but the remainder is paid for out of city sewer and water funds. The project is well underway and is about 50 percent complete.