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control it through the bond authorization, it seems like the whole CIP might be • meaningless unless there's some tie-in to resources. RAY: explore there? TAKAHASHI: ! think the difficulty is there's a lot of federal projects that we go after. We need to have an appropriation available, although funding may still be questionable, to be able to apply for the federal programs. RAY: Right. But you don't know what's coming around the bend, so you have to have the appropriation to possibly be able to take advantage of it. I guess that's what I was getting at. Is there any avenue we might TAKAHASHI: That's right. BALOG: My wife and I watched that whole CIP stuff on Tey, and what you're saying is if you're restrictive in the list, and you don't have possible funds to commit your share to apply for these federal monies, then you can't even get those monies for possible projects. RAY: You can't apply unless the appropriation is there. BALOG: Yes, so ! think it has to be cleaned up a lot because my wife, who • very rarely enjoys County government, or any government, couldn't believe that some of the Council people couldn't understand that the County needs funds in their possession, or possible funds, to apply, and the Council couldn't get it. I mean, it's cut and dried. TAKAHASHI: I guess now that there's nine Council Member districts, they need to be responsive to their constituents. I mean, I can understand that because work for the Council. And in that effort, things get looked at, not as a county -wide issue, what is in the best interest of the County as a whole. It's gets whittled down to what's in the best interest of my district. What must I deliver to my district, so, again, you go back to how do you address that this is one County, not nine single member districts. For the well-being of the County to excel, you need all nine districts pulling in the same direction. Some districts may need to forego some things this year but they'll make it up in the long run, and with two year terms, it becomes very difficult for the Council Members to accept they all need to deliver in a timely basis. 10-11. With the number of suits that get filed against even Council Members, Mayor, there is a concern that the Charter just says when an officer knowingly authorizes to make payrnents in violation of the Charter, there are consequences. And I've come across situations where we do partnering with community organizations. In their 36