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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,January 06, 2014 Page 13 asked individual Councilmembers if the majority was interested in opening the appointment up to the general public and no longer having City Council represen- tation on the HRA. Councilmember Laliberte opined that, due to the independent nature of the HRA with its own taxing authority, a City Council representative should serve on the HRA at all times. Councilmember Laliberte stated that removing that established precedent would not provide any level of comfort for her. Councilmembers Etten and McGehee concurred. Councilmember McGehee noted that she had offered to serve at the same time Councilmember Willmus was appointed to serve, and advised that she continued to retain that interest. Councilmember Etten asked Councilmember Willmus to elaborate how he felt having a Councilmember serve on the HRA. Councilmember Willmus advised that he had mixed feelings, concurring with Councilmembers Laliberte and McGehee's perspective with the taxing authority of the HRA, with the potential of setting up a situation where the HRA may lean on the Councilmember to see what direction they ultimately thought the City Council would go, creating some challenges since they are simply there as anoth- er voting member of the HRA, not the voice of the City Council. As long as the individual Councilmember serving on the HRA kept that in mind, Councilmem- ber Willmus opined that there should not be an issue. Given those comments, and the semi-independent nature of this government body, Councilmember Etten questioned what role the City Councilmember serves, whether positive or negative. Councilmember Etten noted that Councilmembers could watch the HRA meetings, but were not receiving a monthly report from Councilmember Willmus on the activities of the HRA, thereby no longer serving a purposeful conduit between the two bodies. Councilmember Laliberte noted that this could be a future function rather than the current situation. Councilmember Etten clarified that his intent was not to have a check on the HRA, nor did he support having the City Council with undue influence on HRA operations. Councilmember Willmus, in response to the HRA's taxing authority, clarified that an often overlooked detail is that the HRA's tax levy comes to the full City Coun- cil for affirmation before it was put on the books. While the City Council did not have control over the HRA's line item budget within the confines of the levy,