Minutes - Council Work Session - 07/23/2024

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The meeting recessed at 6:48 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 8:02 p.m. 2.02: The Waterfront Park -2024 Ballot Question -Please Note: this case was moved from 2.3 to case 2.2. City Administrator Hagen reviewed the Staff report concerning a ballot question for the Waterfront Park. Mayor Kuzma stated that with what they learned about earlier this evening in the budget discussion, he would suggest putting this on pause to be brought back in the future once they get a better handle on the City's finances. He shared that he is excited for this project, but they do not have the funding for it right now. He said if they were to put this on a ballot question and the residents vote against it, then the project is dead. Councilmember Woestehoff asked where the $3,000,000 that is set aside for this is coming from. City Administrator Hagen shared that they have over $7,000,000 available that has been collected from projects City wide. He noted that this $3,000,000 came from development in the COR area. Councilmember Woestehoff noted that they could hypothetically build the splash pad with the money on hand if they do not move forward with the other aspects of the project. City Administrator Hagen said they could hypothetically move forward with just the splash pad. Councilmember Woestehoff said he would be more inclined to find out a way to build out the water play area and table the Community Center idea for future discussions. Councilmember Specht agreed. He shared that he hears from residents that they want a splash pad in the City and he would be interested in looking into anything that could bring this to the City. He noted that he is not in favor of entertaining the Community Center at this time. Councilmember Riley reiterated that now is not the best time to be spending more money on something like this. He added that he loves the idea of just moving forward with the splash pad with the available funds. Councilmember Musgrove shared that she mentioned the idea of just moving forward with the splash pad at previous meetings. She said she would like to wait to discuss the Community Center until after they have paid off City Hall, they are not just paying interest on the Public Works building, Highway 10 is completed,the water treatment plant is up and running,paying for the fire truck, and paying for the budget personnel costs. Councilmember Howell agreed with the other Councilmembers to not move forward with the Community Center aspect of this project until they have completed all the things that City Council Work Session/July 23, 2024 Page 8 of 12