Even though Millersville Borough Council gave the go-ahead to form a Millersville 2020 group last October, that doesn't mean elected officials are ready to open up their pocketbooks to fund the initiative — at least not yet.

What was expected to be a routine approval of up to $7,000 in funds at council's Aug. 28 meeting instead turned into a spirited fracas with some members of council taking aim at the group in order to put the kibosh on future projects.

Elected officials eventually voted to table the request for money until the Sept. 25 council meeting.

The issue at hand concerns an Aug. 16 meeting in which Julie Fitzpatrick, special projects coordinator with the Pennsylvania Downtown Center in Harrisburg, discussed the idea of Millersville embarking on a series of five "public visioning sessions" in which members of the community come together to discuss issues like economic revitalization.

According to Fitzpatrick, in order to pay for the visioning sessions plus various consulting fees, the 2020 group would have to raise approximately $7,000.

At a previous 2020 group meeting, members of Millersville University and Penn Manor School District, as well as several members of the local business community, agreed to front a share of the money; however, because of laws relating to the state's Sunshine Act, elected borough officials must vote to appropriate money for such projects publicly.

"There are a lot of ifs, ands and buts in this, and I don't feel comfortable with them at all," council member Keith Kauffman said. "By approving this money, we'd be entering into a contract without establishing what exactly this Millersville 2020 group is or their purpose.

"We already have a planning and betterment committee, plus a countywide comprehensive plan with ideas and vision for moving forward," Kauffman said. "Plus, in my opinion, having a 'visioning statement' is something we could accomplish on our own without spending taxpayer dollars."

Last September Millersville Mayor Richard Moriarty came forward with his idea of having a 2020 group, saying he wanted members to work in sync with the borough's comprehensive plan, to develop and improve the borough's relationship with Millersville University and Penn Manor School District and to begin putting together an economic community development plan.

"I want Millersville to be the envy of other college towns, especially in regard to town/gown relations," Moriarty said last September. "This group can be a model for how different communities can work together."

Members of the group — made up of borough, school district and university representatives — have been meeting off and on throughout the previous nine months to discuss the goals of the group, as well as to hear presentations from state and local government officials.

The presentation from Fitzpatrick on Aug. 16 was the group's first meeting open to the public; at the Aug. 28 meeting, Moriarty was not able to be in attendance.

In a way of explaining the group to members of the public at the Aug. 16 meeting, Fitzpatrick called the 2020 group "a foundation for developing the future of the community."

"It's a way of coming together to talk about the community's needs, as well as … a springboard for considering what Millersville will look like 10 or even 20 years down the road," she said. "This is a process of looking at assets and then building off them … and in many cases, communities eventually decide to form a nonprofit community revitalization corporation, complete with executive committees and a board of directors."

That explanation, however, wasn't precise enough for council members Mike Kirkham or Jonathan Franze, who asked that council not vote to approve the funds until members are presented with more information.

"We're leaving ourselves wide open with this," Kirkham said. "We're spending taxpayer money, and we don't know where it's going."