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APR 5 L BOOK 7 PAGE69 perpetual maintenance of the gardens. If it goes to a referendum, they are anticipating going for .75 mills, which would generate, one time only, $3 -million. That would put half a mill into the endowment fund to start with. If the County Commission wants to go another way, they are optimistic that they can go out and raise $1 -million for that endowment so that the basic operation of the gardens can be maintained for a long time to come. Chairman Wheeler had some strong feelings about this matter in a couple of areas. He felt that sometimes we have to almost lose something before we realize how valuable it is to us. The community has had time to come to realize its value, and the interest in saving the Gardens has grown tremendously. He, personally, is very supportive of acquiring these lands for public use, but as a Commissioner, he will not vote to buy that property without holding a referendum. He believed a referendum would pass overwhelmingly, and that the majority of the people in this community would be supportive when given all the facts. Chairman Wheeler preferred to hear a Motion to proceed immediately with drafting an ordinance and have the necessary public hearings to hold a referendum and moving forward on this and educate the community as to why we should acquire the gardens and the wetlands. Commissioner Bowman felt we need to have staff prepare a package on this before going to referendum, but Chairman Wheeler believed we could do them simultaneously,and come back within a week or so with the necessary wording to go on the ballot. Commissioner Scurlock agreed that if you educate the people real well on the benefits of a project, they will vote for it, and he didn't want to see a referendum fail simply because we didn't put all our ducks in a row in a mad rush to meet Mr. Ewing's timeframe. Chairman Wheeler suggested tabling this for two weeks, but Commissioner Scurlock wanted to vote on his Motion. 20