The Ames City Council approved funding Tuesday for the centralization of several of the city’s philanthropic organizations.

The Human Services Campus is a project that will locate several nonprofit social aid groups in a single building and enable them to share resources.

While fundraising is expected to help fund a significant portion of the expense in the future, the city is expected to allocate a total of $600,000 from the community development block fund to help acquire the property. This figure made a few of the council members question of the project, in particular about backup plans and current locations of the agencies interested.

“There’s a chance the location selected won’t be feasible, and I’d like to know where the money will go if that is the case,” said Jami Larson, 2nd Ward councilman.

Vanessa Baker-Latimer, housing coordinator for Ames, said if the location proved unfeasible, the money would go toward other projects in the consolidated plan for the fund, namely “curb replacement and housing improvement.”

Baker-Latimer gave a PowerPoint presentation about the status of the fund this year, saying that there was a little more than $1 million allocated to it.

Jim Popken, at-large councilman, voiced his concern that some of the organizations were already in ideal locations.

“I’ve heard several concerns about accessibility with moving those services out of downtown,” he said. “The strongest argument I’ve heard against this is the synergy of the groups downtown.”

Some council members, however, pointed out that the price tag was not new to them.

“This number was the number we first heard when this plan was first discussed,” said Ryan Doll, 3rd Ward councilman. “Why is it such a surprise now?”

After a vote, the council decided to approve the Human Services Campus and other projects in the fund 5-1, with at-large councilman Matthew Goodman the sole council member who voted against it.

“I just feel that we’re going about this in the wrong order, approving the money before we even know the site will work,” Goodman said.

Also discussed was partial city funding of the police department’s spring community relations campaign.

“Two years ago, we introduced Frank the Flamingo, and he was very popular,” said Ames Police Chief Chuck Cychosz. “We’re looking to bring him back in a new way. We want to stress safe parties for spring, building up to Veishea.”

The council approved giving up to $6,000 for the campaign by a vote of 6-0.

Finally, the upcoming aquatic center now has an image, as a site plan rendering was delivered at the meeting. The city expects to name the contractor for the project by April 8.