I just got back from the gym so I just saw this thread, and I am definetly an Elmer. As a matter of fact I am woven into many of the issues in your original thread in too many ways to count.

Hankster, to be clear, the city council makes something like $220 a month or something like that, so it wouldn't exactly be expanding gov't but in a town with the tiny budgets they are dealing with they would have to spend some time figuring out where the money comes from. Knowing many past and present members of the council very well, they make about $5 an hour to do it. Most of them do it out of a sense of civic pride, and nothing more. Sure, there are a few who work hard to push the interest of the few, but this years council is pretty well balanced IMO.

FleaFlicker - As far as the new muni-building goes, they do not have the money to do this, they are going to be asking for a loan. The whole thing stems from a report issued by a structural engineer about the existing firehall. It does not meet the code for a critical structure, and so must be upgraded. When they hired an architect to give them an estimate on the upgrades, the answer basically came back to tear it down and start over.

That started the chain reaction to the grandiose municipal development you see being proposed. Now, they have a designer under contract who will provide them a construction estimate, and they will search for a loan and/or grant to try and make it fit within their annual budgets. I think you will see several iterations of the new city hall design, until they reach one that works fiscally.

You also have to understand that the type of federal loans/grants (probably not going to get any grants) available for something like a public pool/skate park, are going to be different than those for essential facilities (fire/police). One is easier to apply for and get, can you guess which?

I go to a few meetings and hearings every now and then, and if you want on the docket it is easy enough to do.