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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, June 9, 2008 Page 13 Mayor Klausing questioned if there would be any further savings realized by go- ingbeyond the arena itself. City Manager Malinen opined that, by authorizing this contract, it didn't commit the City to doing additional geothermal in the campus, but that it would just be putting the wells and field in place for that potential expansion above and beyond the existing arena; and would save costs for additional mobilization and any re- bidding of future field work and soil borings. Mr. Malinen advised that by doing the work now, it provided a benefit for redundancy for the existing system, while allowing future expansion of the system in the long-term. Councilmember Ihlan opined that by issuing equipment certificates, it would ce- rate anopportunity for the City to go around the levy limit and proceed without voter approval. Mr. Miller advised that either a General Obligation Bond or an Equipment Cer- tificate issue was appropriate for this project and was more of a philosophical dis- cussion; however, noted that the City would be bound by the wishes of the voter, whether to proceed or not to proceed, and may create a challenge as to the future operations of the arena and existing equipment failure. Councilmember Roe noted that the equipment certificates would be used for the purpose of maintaining an existing facility, not building a new facility. City Attorney Jay Squires briefly spoke to the general provisions of Minnesota Statute Chapter 475 on incurring debt, noting that equipment certificates were an exception, giving authority to the City Council in such a circumstance as this to utilize this funding tool. Public Comment Al Sands, 2612 Aldine Mr. Sands urged the City Council to seek voter approval as a standing policy, and not to exclude voters when committing their funds. Mr. Sands opined that the City should do the project, then issue the certificates. Mr. Miller advised that an option would be to wait until after the project had been completed before issuing the certificates. Councilmember Ihlan suggested that the City issue a General Obligation Bond in the future covering more than one project, with voter approval. Mr. Miller advised that he would need to seek advice of the City's bond counsel before making a recommendation on a bond issue with a large disparity. City Attorney Squires opined that, in theory, the City would be seeking voter ap- proval for voter debt, and seeking authorization for various projects; however, if