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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,June 16, 2014 Page 14 Councilmember Etten opined that, while each may have some potential, there were limitations with the park buildings; and he didn't see many of those facilities with sufficient parking availability. While loving the conceptual idea of using the old fire station on Fairview Avenue, Councilmember Etten noted that it was a dis- aster to access due to other commercial properties in the area, and therefore pro- hibitive to him. Councilmember Etten noted that the lower level of City Hall was already spoken for to expand the Public Works/Engineering area. Whether the decision was to build or now, Councilmember Etten expressed his understanding that the space would inform whether or not it was desirable compared to remain- ing with the current situation. From his point of view, Councilmember Etten opined that he was in favor of parking the money but using more surplus, such as another $50,000 from the License Center operating surplus reserve reallocated to the 2015 budget: and if they needed the money, it could be reallocated from other open reserves. Until a location was selected, Councilmember Etten stated that such a scenario would be his preference. Mayor Roe questioned the need to have the discussion on locations as part of this budget discussion. Having just joined the City Council last year, along with Councilmember Etten, Councilmember Laliberte opined that, while she heard some rumblings about the License Center and built-up reserves, she did not recall being part of those discus- sions during that 1.5 year timeframe, but just a listener in the process. Councilmember Willmus advised that he agreed with the comments of Mayor Roe regarding the Levy and what was happening to residential property values due to the shift being experienced from commercial to residential properties, typi- cally cyclical and potentially swinging back as commercial values caught up. However, Councilmember Willmus stated that it was something to be seriously considered in using reserves to offset expenses during this time. Councilmember Willmus opined that this was especially true if the City Council continued to go down the road of increased staff expenses; opining that it would become more prudent to look at using revenue streams to offset some of those things. Mayor Roe noted that the discussion should be open to other areas as well as the License Center. Mayor Roe noted that the amounts or rates recovered from licenses, and the num- ber of transactions, was out of the City's control, and therefore, it made no sense to budget for optimistic happenings at the Center until a better trend was identi- fied. However, from an operational standpoint, Mayor Roe noted that there were additional revenues available from License Center reserves, since it continued to operate with an annual surplus that covered other costs. Mayor Roe suggested that the proposed new positions and COLA recommendations may inform the amount retained in the fund balance and how that may become part of the mix.