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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday,November 14, 2011 <br /> Page 22 <br /> money; and if there was competing interests in the City, the public should be <br /> privy to that discussion. <br /> Councilmember McGehee reiterated concerns expressed at previous meetings that <br /> this whole process was out of sync. <br /> Mayor Roe stated that there was not competition,just an allocation of projects be- <br /> ing funded with this initial bond issue; based on staff's perspective and staff-level <br /> discussions. Mayor Roe noted that, as staff indicated in their report, if the City <br /> Council chose to provide equal funding to the two (2) different projects at this <br /> point in time, there would be no issues with the projects, with arbitrage or the <br /> IRS. <br /> Council nember Johnson advised that he intended to support both projects to their <br /> fruition; and noted that while the Fire Station was estimated at $8 million total; <br /> the total parks allocation was estimated to be $19 million. <br /> Councilmember Willmus concurred, noting that they were all City needs,just dif- <br /> fering opinions in how best to allocate this first $10 million issue; and opined that <br /> by splitting it 50/50, it was not putting one department ahead of the other; and <br /> since both departments continued to perform their due diligence with their identi- <br /> fied projects; the Fire Department had admitted that they would not be spending <br /> $8 million between now and the first half of 2012. <br /> Councilmember Pust stated that, if this was the only public discussion before al- <br /> location, she needed the itemized list of park projects and their estimated costs <br /> read into the record; with City Manager Malinen proceeding to do so <br /> Mayor Roe noted that this City Council-approved plan was presented and ap- <br /> proved on October 10, 2011. <br /> Noting the land acquisition costs included in this list, Councilmember Pust stated <br /> that she had an issue with that; opining that the City Council couldn't just arbitrar- <br /> ily decide they were purchasing land for a certain dollar amount without public <br /> discussion or determination of whether it was available or without an appraisal. <br /> Councilmember Pust noted that there had yet to be any discussion with the School <br /> District, so why would the City want to set aside money for land purchases from <br /> them. Councilmember Pust noted that, when the parks allocation came forward, <br /> discussion was related to using it for maintenance of what the City currently had, <br /> and opined that it would be a mistake to use money upfront for parkland acquisi- <br /> tion instead of using it for maintenance of current facilities. <br /> Councilmember McGehee concurred with Councilmember Pust; stating that she <br /> was against this initially and continued to be opposed without additional public <br /> hearing. Councilmember McGehee noted that the City had a long history of not <br />