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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, September 12, 2011 Page 18 Councilmember Willmus thanked the Fire Department and its Committees for getting the project to this point; and opined that the proposal was being responsive to taxpayers, and saved land acquisition costs, as well as freeing up other proper- ties to become tax-generating in the future. Councilmember Pust echoed thanks to the group; and opined that it was a great plan and it was in the right location; and expressed her enthusiasm for the geo- thermal portion and the overall project as an investment in the future. Council- member Pust clarified that her only objection is not seeking taxpayer approval for it, even though she support the project in general, and if it went to referendum, she would offer her enthusiastic support and assistance. Councilmember McGehee strongly expressed her responsibility to taxpayers; and concurred with the comments of Councilmember Johnson on her embarrassment that the City has not supported its staff and maintaining existing public assets. While expressing her apologies to the Fire Department staff for the moldy condi- tions, Councilmember McGehee opined that, unlike parks, this was not a pay-as- you-go project; and she felt strongly that this was a bond referendum question. Councilmember McGehee clarified that she supported the project,just not a bond issue without a public referendum. Councilmember Johnson clarified his position and distinction on how a referen- dum should and should not be used: that he would not approve a bond issue with- out a referendum for any new facility (e.g. a community center); however, he supported bond financing for maintaining or replacing existing facilities as should have already been prepared for in the City's CIP. Mayor Roe advised that he was very sympathetic and usually supportive of refe- rendums for borrowing; however, in this situation as well as the Parks bonding request, he came down on the side of what prior City Council's had not addressed in maintaining the City's CIP needs and resources. If the money had been ma- naged appropriately in the past, Mayor Roe opined that funds would already be in place to move forward with these capital needs without having a large impact to City taxpayers. Mayor Roe opined that the question came back to being that the longer the City waited to solve the problems, the more costly they became. If there was time this year to seek a public referendum, Mayor Roe advised that he would be very supportive of doing so; however, given the timing, he opined that he wasn't going to hold up the project another year, and would support it as it needed to be done. Councilmember Pust noted that she had asked to have this discussion way before the August referendum deadline; however, she opined that it had not been brought forward for a vote until the deadline had passed. While recognizing that there ap- peared to be a consensus on the Council that bonding was the route to go, Coun-