Minutes - Council - 04/23/2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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however, there is likely not enough in this fund to pay for the entire project plus others that will come up. She reiterated that she does not support this project moving forward at this time. Councilmember Specht said he loves the idea of the splash pad and a Community Center. He noted that Andover received a lot of backlash for their Community Center as the residents did not feel like they were able to give enough feedback. He said if they were to move forward with this project then he would like it to be on the ballot for the residents to be able to vote on and share their opinions on. He added that he is not in favor of bonding for this project. He shared he would be in support of spending some funds to get a more accurate cost estimate for this project so they can put it on a ballot to get it in front of the residents. Councilmember Howell shared her concerns with comparing this project to the $18,000,000 to $20,000,000 that has been spent on the parks as this project will require bonding. She said it is frustrating to even compare the two as the other parks projects were paid for with existing funds and this project would be paid for with money the City does not already have. She noted that in the current economic climate, she finds this project to be irresponsible. She added that she also finds it irresponsible to spend $270,000 on a schematic design for this project. She said she does not support putting a question on the ballot for this. Councilmember Olson shared that this project is very exciting; however, he does not believe that the City is at a point in time where they are ready to move forward with this and it does not make sense to spend the $270,000 just to get a more accurate project cost to put on the ballot. He added that he does not like the idea of bonding for this. He said he assumes the residents would not like to see what this would cost them after the last tax increase. Acting Mayor Riley said if they want to ask a ballot question on this project then they would need to get the more accurate cost estimates. Councilmember Olson asked if they would still be looking at putting a question on the ballot if they do not approve Staff to move forward with spending the $270,000 to get the schematic design. Acting Mayor Riley said the Council could discuss this more at a future Work Session to see if they still wanted to put a question on the ballot. City Administrator Hagen said they can discuss the next steps of this project without the schematic design to see the best way to move forward. The Council reached a consensus to not move forward with authorizing the schematic design of The Waterfront community building. 7.02: Adopt Resolution #24-121 Establishing a $370,140 Budget and Approving the Playground Installation for The Hollow Parks and Assistant Public Works Director Riverblood reviewed the Staff report concerning the playground installation at The Hollow. City Council / April 23, 2024 Page 5 of 8