The county may scale down the extent of its involvement in the Blazing Star Bike Trail, at least until this fall, when the funding for the project gets started.

County Administrator Ron Gabrielsen said during the county board meeting Tuesday that he would recommend the county hold off on the project.

An attempt to fund the construction between Hayward and Austin through a $600,000 state bonding request was stopped by Gov. Jesse Ventura’s veto in the last legislative session.

&uot;There is no money,&uot; said Gabrielsen. &uot;Is it good investment for the county to use our resources and spend the Highway Engineer’s time on it?&uot;

The cities of Albert Lea and Austin formed a joint-powers board to administer the project. The City of Hayward also joined the bandwagon. Freeborn County refused to participate in the joint-powers board along with Mower County, but decided to send Highway Engineer Sue Miller as an ex-officio board member.

Gabrielsen said he was concerned that Miller has been asked to contribute too much to the planning, and that she needs to spend time on work for the county. &uot;Why do we even have a meeting before nothing is decided about the budget?&uot; Gabrielsen said.

Miller pointed out that an application for a grant requires labor-intensive studies, but some federal programs would require the county to be a fiscal agent.

Commissioner Dan Belshan, who represents the region the trail would run through, opposed the retraction, saying, &uot;We should keep things moving forward.&uot;