New places to walk, run and ride a bike throughout Hamilton County and Webster City will be outlined in a new trails master plan.

On Monday, the City Council started the planning process by hiring a firm to do the work.

The council voted unanimously to hire Shive-Hattery Inc., of West Des Moines, at a cost of $21,800. Money from the city’s hotel/motel tax will cover $18,500 of the cost.

”We’ll be working closely with the county,” said Interim City Manager Kent Harfst.

The project will include developing a master plan for the Hamilton County trails network. It will also include a study of the potential for extending the Boone River Recreation Trail to Kendall Young Park. Harfst, who is the diector of recreation and public grounds, said that extension would go north along White Fox Road.

The council also agreed to seek bids for the creation of new entrance signs for the city. The metal signs will feature the city’s new logo, which has the letters ”WC” and the words ”Webster City.”

The signs will be placed on existing stone bases on Superior Street at the southern city limits, East Second Street at the eastern city limits and West Second Street on the western city limits.

The council also entered an agreement with Hamilton County to get sections of two city streets repaved next year at the same time the county is repaving its end of the same roads.

One of those streets is MacKinley Kantor Drive, which becomes Hamilton County road R27 outside the city limits. Hamilton County plans to repave R27 all the way to the border with Wright County. Inside the city limits, 2,471 feet of MacKinley Kantor Drive will be repaved.

Also next year, the county plans to repave its portion of North Des Moines Street from 210th Street to the city limits. Inside the city limits, 1,336 feet of North Des Moines Street will be resurfaced.

The estimated cost to the city is $250,000 for both streets.

”This is a great opportunity for us to take advantage of an economy of scale,” Public Works Director Ken Wetzler said. ”I don’t think we could get this work done any cheaper.”