We Don’t Believe in Big Government

I attended the City Council meeting of 8/24. Highlights included approval of a large home day care center and a solar panel array. Former Councilmember Coppola asked the Council to appoint someone else in the community other than themselves to some of the commissions and boards created by the council. Acting Manager Suiter asked for input on the budget process calendar for 2011, but got no response. The ballot initiative to abolish the URA was approved by the City Council for inclusion in the November vote. (Just to be clear, the City Council acted to create the URA in May. Last night’s action puts the item on the ballot for voters to decide. A “YES” vote means you want to get rid of the URA. A “NO” vote means you want to keep the URA. The Council wasn’t saying they agree or not, they were just putting the item on the ballot for voters to decide.) There was some sort of preference item added to the November ballot after the legal session broke up. Something about asking homeowners a non-binding survey question as to whether they would rather have other water providers provide water to the community, or if they want to take a chance with the City doing it (the City has ZERO experience in these matters), or maybe none of the above, or something like that. Never heard of it before, so who knows what that is all about?

I invited two community leaders to attend a baseball game to talk about the URA. Some folks think the URA is a good idea, and don’t understand why other folks don’t like it. Some folks don’t like the idea, and don’t understand why other folks created the URA. I thought that maybe inviting these leaders to attend a baseball game could help to build a social relationship before diving into the pros and cons of the URA situation. The City’s consultant said the URA would be slightly positive to the County, but the County’s consultant said forgone tax revenues are over $17 million. Who knows where truth lies on projections that stretch out over decades, but it's safe to say there is no consensus on what the URA would bring. There is an arbitration process going on so another lawsuit over the matter will not have to be filed. I hope cooler heads prevail, Solomon can watch over the process, and both sides can come to agreement without spending even more money on legal fees. The folks thinking the URA should go away have a website. The City can't have an opinion on the issue one way or another, though individual members of Council can.

There was talk of putting the HOA takeover back on the Council’s agenda. I was hoping this notion had died. The City wants to save money by taking over all the functions of the subassociations – the folks who run your swimming pools, get your grass cut, get your trash collected, remove snow, appoint your architecture control committees – tasks like that where service levels vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. Saving money sounds good, but this idea was not well thought out. Our HOAs already do business with management firms who do business with a number of clients. Economies of scale have already been achieved. One reason given for our roads being in bad shape is the trash trucks running over them. The thought is, “If only we could consolidate garbage service, the roads would be better.” There is room for consolidation if numerous trash companies serve one subassociation. We faced this issue ten years ago in HOA, and addressed it easily, without forming a City. The Master Association could address this issue, if it chose to, but even that is likely not necessary. We also tried to share grass cutting services between the Metro District and some of the HOAs with a sizable amount of grass. We were told no thanks, “We don’t believe in big government.” Regretfully, homework was not done to ask the HOAs if they wanted to be consolidated by the City. It was just assumed of course this is a great idea. This is another tenet of incorporation that is not going to be a glorious as promised. Instead of trying to save a couple bucks on HOA consolidation, maybe we should spend the time figuring how to raise the tens of millions of dollars that may be needed in the not too distant future to keep our existing City assets in good order. Think about that the next time your run over a bumpy patch in the road.