By Kathy Korengel of the Union-Bulletin

What gets built in the city depends as much on the community as it does the City Council or city staff, City Manager Duane Cole said.

Staff can't just "sit down and say, `this is what (we're) building this year,''' he added. "It's much more dynamic than that.''

What floats first to the top of the barrel of needs depends on "when it becomes a Council and community priority. It takes a community-based effort to get these things done,'' Cole said.

To gauge community priorities, the Council listens "to needs and wants, written, from staff, what they hear on the street, what's written in the Comprehensive Plan and other plans.''

The Council also looks at what's going on with the city organization, Cole said.

Funding is another part of the puzzle. For instance, if "opportunity costs'' arise, such as the federal or state government offering to share the cost of a project, the project could move to the front of the line.

Once Council identifies a need, members start talking about funding it, Cole said. Options could include dipping into the general fund, which pays for basic services such as police, fire and the library. But as that fund already is stretched thin to provide services, tapping it for capital needs might mean cutting services.

The Council and staff research getting grants or donations. Another option is asking voters for a bond, which requires a 60 percent vote to pass. ``A 60 percent vote for anything is very difficult,'' Cole added.

Several other factors affect if, and when, needs are fulfilled, he said. These include the general state of the economy; whether the community perceives the project to be a high priority; whether the Council decides there are higher priorities; whether other districts, such as the School District, have higher priorities; and whether the costs, financially, are simply too great for the community to bear at the time the need comes before the public.

For all these reasons, and more, jurisdictions sometimes "can get along for years without bonding for projects,'' Cole said. He gave the example of Fire Station 2, recently built off Wilbur Avenue.

"For many years the old fire station was inadequate, but it was not until last year the project was finally completed,'' he said. "I am sure it was scheduled for a long time before the Council decided to ask the electorate for a bond. Sixty percent voter approval at an election with a validated turn-out is a very high bar.

Ultimately, the community often decides what gets built and what doesn't. "I've worked in a city that approved a tax limitation measure and a bond for a second fire station on the same ballot,'' Cole said.

"My notion is the community will purchase what it feels it wants and can afford. I think what people want gets funded, what they don't want or feel they can't afford does not.''