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NO DECEMBER MEETING DUE TO HOLIDAYS
Next Meeting January 27, 2026 @ 7PM at the St. Charles School, Peru
Nickel Plate Trail Minutes
November 25, 2025
Attendees: Ted Cox, Steve Gough, Gloyd Johnson, David Cota, Bill Shewman, Doug Martin, Joe Vernon, Navy Vernon, Dan McCarthy, Phil Hart, Tim Finster, Mike Kuepper, Tom Bennett, Sam Goodman, Bill Hanson, Terry Hanson, Jeff Kassebaum, Bill Wilson
The meeting began at 7:00 PM at the St Charles School in Peru. After introductions, Steve moved to accept the minutes, seconded by Bill, motion carried.
Steve presented the treasurer’s report. Steve summarized the transactions. $1500 donations, interest was 190.85. Expenses were 771.02. YTD income is 53,538.54. Expenses are 30,046.34. Steve listed the funds available to the NPT. Steve presented an overview of the budget for the upcoming next level trail project. Expenses for the MAC Tail were engineering, gravel, Gaunt & son for paving. The MAC balance is getting low with much work to go. The paving is completed from Bunker Hill to McGrawsville. There will be additional grant money available. Jeff motioned to approve, Ted 2nd, motion carried.
Joe reported on the “round-up” program. Arby’s in Peru put the NPT on the program in November. Joe explained how the Round-Up program works. A big thanks goes out to Joe Vernon making this available to the NPT. To date $800 has been collected through Arby’s.
Dan reported what we’ve been doing to update our website. Our web hosting has been costing about $200/mo. We’ve had a quote to update our site for 10K. Dan has found a source’s daughter-in-law who has experience in this area and volunteered to update our site internally which at this time will not cost anything. The design has been started and has been looked at by the website committee. There was some discussion about the approval that was passed by the board but then we are going in a different direction due to cost. We want to make sure we follow a procedure when it has been approved. It’s agreed better communication needs to happen when decisions are made. The weak point of our current site is old maps and information.
Jeff reported on the work that we did in October on the problem area near Birmingham. IMI donated twenty tons of gravel and Miami Trucking donated the hauling. Ten volunteers worked. We were able to improve the deep cracks by filling in with the donated gravel. Jeff is asking for help in Howard County to cut back brush that is encroaching on the trail.
Ted discussed the modifications on the trailer. Dave discussed the possibility of an additional blower covering the southern part of the trail which would allow anyone to hook up and blow the south trail.
Navi reported that she met with the “map” people with a list of items that need to be changed. Navi discussed the problems with getting all the information on one sheet. A discussion followed about railroad vs actual miles and how we should go about displaying. Railroad miles were originally used because they were fixed and easy to identify when the trail was being built. An exceptionally long discussion ensued. It’s important to get this solved to move on with the new map. Jeff brought up the signage along the trail that needs to be updated/completed.
To help with getting information and updates concerning the trail out to folks that have a great interest in the trail, Ted volunteered to take a stab at publishing a newsletter.
We still need to finish the Cassville bridge approaches. There has been a proposal to put in posts that will allow us to backfill with rock. My question is, are we still headed in this direction, and has there been any progress?
Ted reported volunteer hours from: Dan McCarthy, Ted Cox, Bill Willard, Brian Reinhart, Tim Finster, Steve Wolfe, Dave Campbell, Jeff Kassebaum, Navi Vernon, Joe Vernon, Jim Lahman, Pat O’Neil, Steve Campbell, Noah Spencer, Steve Gough. Hours worked in October were 209, hours worked in September were 181.3, total hours worked since July 2025 is 835.8.
October 13th Dave, Jeff, and Ted spent the day working with Panhandle volunteers at Star City grinding upheavals and sealing cracks. We are hoping to collaborate with the Panhandle folks on common issues that may help all of us. We taught them how to grind the upheavals to enable them to do this type of work on their own.
It is extremely important that volunteers, when working on the trail, report to dispatch and advise them of who, when, where, and what you will be doing. We had an incident in Fulton Co where a homeowner reported a vehicle on the trail. The sheriff’s department had to check it out, taking valuable time away from their duties. It is also important that you only drive on the trail when there is a purpose.
Joe had NPT volunteer hats made that are now available to the volunteers. Also, Joe reported and displayed the holiday cards that Bill Shewman designed and made in a brief period. NPT will send these cards to donors, volunteers, and supporters of the NPT. Huge thank you to Bill Shewman for sharing his talents and skills with the NPT.
Mike is still working with Peru for the Peru connector. Mike does this to keep the grant in force. Mike also discussed the extension from Bunker Hill to Grissom. Mike made progress on acquiring a parcel of land and the engineering work that is progressing.
Mike expressed his thanks to all the volunteers and all the work that is going on and how we are growing with new members that are doing much to update our systems.
Adjournment motion by Ted, seconded by Steve; meeting ended at 8:39 PM.
Respectfully,
Ted Cox
Next meeting: January 27th @ 7:00 PM St. Charles School, Peru
Q: How do bicycles help the environment?
A: By recycling!
