WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners are being asked to fund the final phase of the county’s portion of the Western Reserve Greenway Bike Trail.

The trail is part of the larger Great Ohio Lake to River Bike Trail that runs from Lake Erie in Ashtabula to the Ohio River in East Liverpool.

“We are in the process of acquiring the three final properties from two property owners,” Zachary Svette, executive director of the Trumbull County MetroParks, said.

The two final property owners are Ohio Edison and Norfolk Southern Railroad.

Svette asked commissioners to place resolutions on their agenda over the next several weeks to provide funding for the acquisition of the final parcels needed to complete the bike trail.

“We have finished design work for the bike trail and have purchased 20 of 23 properties that were needed for the completion,” Svette said.

Attorneys for both owners have approved an agreement for the three properties and are waiting for approval by commissioners.

Trumbull County initially will provide 100% of the cost to obtain the right-of-way for the properties but will recoup 80% of those costs from the federal government as reimbursement.

Commiss_ioner Rick Hernandez on Tuesday said if the commissioners do not approve the match for the acquisition of the final properties, the county would be responsible for paying back approximately $1.4 million in federal funds awarded for the project.

“We have a grant covering the local match for the construction that was $875,000, so I would need 20% for the last two acquisitions,” Svette said.

The total ask is $138,248 for the Norfolk Southern property, so with the federal government paying 80% of that amount, the county would provide between $26,000 and $27,000.

“The other amount is about $12,000,” he said. “You’re talking about an almost $40,000 total outlay by the county once the federal government reimbursements are made.”

The county will receive the 80% reimbursement of its investment within 30 to 60 days after the payments are made, Svette said.

Trumbull County Planning Director Julie Green said the bike trail project has been in progress for more than 20 years.

“All of these funds for this project were committed by journal actions years ago,” Green said. “This is a project that has been going on for 24 years. Commissioners initiated it, funded it, pursued it and pushed it throughout. We are in the last phase of the bike trail. At every step, these were actions that were supported by the board of commissioners.

“Now that we are in the 11th hour, to not support it, in my opinion, would be a huge waste of taxpayer money,” she said.

Green said Svette already has obtained $500,000 for local matching funds for the construction of the final phases of the bike trail.

“We also have $325,000 from state capital appropriations as well,” Svette said.

Commissioner Denny Malloy questioned how much money has been set aside for the maintenance of the bike trail.

“That’s your yearly allocation,” Svette responded.

Malloy said there are areas of the bike trail that already need maintenance. Green said that typically no funds are available at the state level for recreational trail maintenance.

“This would cost more to stop than it would to proceed,” Svette said.

Hernandez said the Kimberly-Clark Corp. had mentioned it liked the idea of having the bike trail in the area.

Kimberly-Clark is considering a multimillion dollar construction project that may bring more than 400 jobs to the county if the corporation agrees to build a more than 1.1 million-square-foot facility in Howland and Warren townships.