It seemed as though nobody really wanted to take up the discussion of the cities purchasing the old COM TECH building on Communication Blvd. Mr. Fertic really had several good questions about purchasing the property and building. He asked questions about spending over 3MILLION DOLLARS at this time when the economy is in distress. He said, many of our citizens are having to tighten their belts, and I think they expect us to be prudent with their tax dollars also. His words seemed to fall on three council members deaf ears.

Mr. Griffin also asked the city staff about other properties to purchase or lease that might save us tax payers money. He also ask the city manager if any thought had been given to sharing, or leasing the property that sheriff Hansel is going to be using as a maintenance center. The city staff didn’t have many answers for most of his questions. Seems they hadn’t given much thought to that idea.

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There were several citizens which did get up and express their displeasure about the cities buying property so close to HWY-192. One citizen asked about generating a lot more traffic for that area. Another person suggested that the city would be taking taxable property off the cities tax roll. Someone ask what impact this city owned maintenance building would have on the newly formed CRA and just how it would fit in with the CRA’S HWY-192 project. The answer, nobody had asked them!! It looks to me that our city officials are right back into the swing of BUY AND SPEND!!

Can any of us remember anything else that our council just had to purchase without consulting anyone about it? Maybe the property at the corner on New York Avenue and Lakeshore Drive! What a lump of well I’ll just say -COAL that is to us taxpayers. It seems our other council members just had an ITCH to spend some of our money tonight!!

Don’t get me wrong, I do think the city needs to do something. The cities underground fuel tanks need to be replaced. My only problem is the price we will be paying for replacement tanks in the ground would be much less than buying the COM TECH property.
I’m sure that we all have heard the saying “YOU DON’T THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATH WATER!” There seems to be just to many other options out there besides spending over 3 MILLION DOLLARS……COME ON COUNCIL MEMBERS …….smartness counts once in a while, especially when we the taxpayers are watching! ! ! !