The last Council meeting had an Agenda Item for the Bond Election. No back up information was posted online with the agenda item. It was the only workshop item that had nothing posted online with the Agenda Packet. Yet, the City Manager said they are trying to be as transparent as possible. Two Council Members raised concern with the presentation the City Manager gave and potential advocacy in the presentation. The City Manager is repeatedly calling out the lake as a project in an effort to sell the bonds while acknowledging there is nothing requiring the project to go forward. He said certain streets WILL be improved knowing that he cannot make such guarantee and that the Council decides how the funds are spent on the park and street bonds. For example, the city could say we added striping to all the roads listed in the bond proposition and now we can spend the money however we want because we improved the other streets listed. He then stated that they may not be approved and the bonds may not be issued. The City Manager also made it clear that they could do the minimum on each street listed in the bond proposition and if there are insufficient funds then not even issue the bonds for the other streets at all. He didnt say which streets would come first but that it would take at least ten years to issue bonds. Keep in mind that the City Manager appears to represent that the improvements are left up to the Staff to determine. It shows that the Staff is already thinking of ways around what voters are being told. When speaking of the parks, the City Manager stated these are things that could be done, i.e., nothing has to be done. Granted, some people have taken the comments of Staff and bond proponents to mean they were voting on those park projects or repairs of streets. Some of the City Managers comments at the Council Meeting are not supported and were not factual. He stated if the bonds are not approved you have to wait to the next election to vote on bonds again. That is false and not factually accurate. The Council could spend money on parks at the next Council Meeting regardless of whether the bond is approved or not.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 13:53:00 +0000
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