The idea of filling in the city’s pedestrian network, in areas where more than 50 percent of the block already has sidewalks, has been on the table for years and is called for in the 2004 comprehensive development plan.

However, no one has been able to get a grip on the issue of who pays. The commissioners are debating three options: either the city pays, the homeowner pays or a split arrangement with the homeowners paying for part and the city paying for part.

Commissioners Stan Mills and Lorraine Zellers have volunteered to take the lead in further studying whether the city wants to fill in discontinuous sidewalks. Mills said he and Zellers are going to start work on an outline to move forward, including discussion of payment options.

At the Sept. 18 meeting, Commissioner Pat Coluzzi recommended putting the discussion off until the economy improves, possibly revisiting the subject in a year. She said the city does need to fill in its discontinuous sidewalks.

During and after the meeting, Mayor Sam Cooper said filling in the sidewalks is not a high priority for him.

“It’s not an issue I would be pursuing,” he said.

Cooper said it would be nice to fill in the sidewalks, but there are more problems involved besides cost, such as regrading and possible tree removal.

In addition, he said, there’s the matter of in what order the city would fill in the 24 pegged areas without complete sidewalks. Cooper said the sidewalks that need to be done are the ones that are likely to be the most expensive.

Finally, there is the matter of if the city could pay for sidewalks at all, given that the city has been tightening its budget.

“All those things make it complicated,” he said.

City Manager Greg Ferrese suggested passing an ordinance stating that if one of the properties on the list of 24 is sold, then the new owner must pay for filling in the sidewalks.

“At least we’re moving in the right direction, because we have been talking about this since 2004. It’s a start,” he said.

Business owner and former commissioner Bitsy Cochran, whose mother owns one of the properties without a sidewalk, said, “She’s willing to start tomorrow and fix her sidewalk, but we’re waiting on you guys, because we hear in discussion that you may pay half or you may not pay half. There’s got to be some kind of compromise here. You ought to make a decision.”