06/06/2000 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 6/6/2000 misinformation along with the attacks. Part of that misinformation was that people were being closed out, and that's not the case. If the ordinance had gone through, it didn't mean that there is 90% union and 10% non-union and aII of a sudden every contract in the city is going to be union. It's not that at all--it meant that on the one or two contracts a year that are big enough (that always have been union anyway), we would have extra protections. It was never his intent to close anyone out and he wouldn't do that. It was his intent to safeguard the best interests of the residents. Gemma Szabo, 30837 Bradley Road • She wants to know why Council would add more to the city's debt of $62 million. She said that there are a lot of places to put ball fields on vacant land the city owns. There is land right by the Rec Center. Why are she and her neighbors bothered all the time? She has been living there 49 years, and every time something has to be built it comes down there. The house the city wants to buy has a 13 foot hole in the backyard. She doesn't understand it, and wishes someone would explain it to her. This has made one of the neighbors sick. Why does the city want to do this to their lives? Mayor Musial said he has gone through this several times and the primary reason for purchasing this land is to preserve green space in the city for the future residents. Mrs. Szabo said, if the city didn't have a $62 million debt, she would say yes go ahead and buy. Mayor Musial answered, following that philosophy, we shouldn't be spending any money at all and we can't do that. We have streets to repair, we have improvements at the Rec Center. He thinks that green space is necessary too. The question has been asked: How much is this going to cost the residents? It's going to cost the residents roughly $2 a year for 20 years, based upon 11,000 home sites in the city. Actual cost to the average resident is very, very low. Mr. Miller said he certainly hopes this comes back into committee for further discussion. He asked if the $2 figure includes just purchasing the property? Mayor Musial said, "correct." Mr. Miller then noted it doesn't include leveling the land to a playable level instead of a 13 foot hole, it doesn't include clearing the property, it doesn't include opening the roadways in the area to make them more accessible. It's a real, real limited least amount situation and the money has to be borrowed to do it. Mayor Musial said the question was how much was it going to cost to purchase the land, and he gave the answer. Mr. Miller said the shape of the land is basically a bowling alley. He thinks the Mayor's figures only reflect that which would allow it to continue on as a bird sanctuary. We've got Bradley park right around the corner. As Mrs. Szabo and Mrs. Blankenburg mentioned, the city has needs right now that. If we have property and we have needs, we should be placing those needs with the property we currently have. If we need to borrow money, certainly it will be less than what we are looking at now. Who knows in 10 years what the financial situation of the city will be. Who knows if the city will ever acquire the other pieces. There are so many problems with this. Marty Sammon, 6539 MacKenzie Road • He has been a resident for 12 years, and for the last 10 years he has flooded. Everybody knows about it, but nothing seems to get done. He can't see spending $300,000 for a piece of property when the property around there isn't worth it. Why 16