COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The future of Memorial Hospital is one step closer to being decided after a city council meeting Tuesday afternoon.

After hours of debate the Colorado Springs City Council voted seven to two to place a measure on the November ballot regarding Memorial Hospital.

The measure will let voters decide if they want to remove a city ordinance that makes taxpayers liable if Memorial sustains any financial losses.

Dozens of people packed into City Hall Tuesday, leaving standing room only.

Several voiced their opinions about Memorial Hospital.

"Memorial's uncertain future has caused erratic swings in performance and has precipitated a downward spiral," one physician from Memorial said as he addressed city council.

He added that the uncertainty is leaving lasting negative effects.

"Memorial's uncertain future has negatively impacted the recruitment of new talent, both physicians and nurses. It's accelerated the exodus of good talent, of support personnel. The execution of future plans have been halted. Employee and physician morale is at an all time low, patient satisfaction scores are dismal," he said.

Several other physicians and Memorial employees spoke, pleading with city council to make a decision.

Those in favor of the ballot measure said by placing it up for vote council has moved Memorial one step closer to becoming a non-profit hospital, something multiple task forces have recommended.

But not everyone at the meeting was ready to take that step, and some requested a closer look at all the options.

"Right now I'm telling you ladies and gentlemen, we are not ready to vote on this because there are too many unanswered questions," said one man.

Mayor Steve Bach said the citizens deserve to hear more about other options besides turning Memorial into a not-for-profit 501 c 3.

"The citizens deserve to see a fair, open, and competitive process of bidding by qualified entities who want to run this hospital. To my knowledge, respectfully, that's not been done and the voters not city council should make the decision on this precious asset," Bach said.

After a lot of heated debate council voted in favor of placing the measure on the ballot, and the crowd erupted in applause.

"I feel very good about what's happened. I believe strongly that the hospital needs to move towards being a locally-owned, locally-controlled, non-governmental, not-for-profit hospital," Gregory Carlson, a physician at Memorial Hospital, said. "That will give us the ability to care for the patients of the region regardless of ability to pay. It will allow us to grow and become stronger and become better at taking care of the patients of Colorado Springs, and I think this was a positive step towards that goal."

Councilmember Jan Martin said while the ballot measure doesn't change anything about the management of the hospital, it opens them up for more options and sends a message to the community.

"I think we told Memorial Hospital, we told the employees, and we actually told the community and the citizens here's a timeline, here's the direction we're heading with Memorial Hospital and so everybody knows that we're on the same page," Martin said.

Councilmembers Lisa Czelatdko and Angela Dougan voted against the ballot measure.

Dougan said there are too many unanswered questions, and before they move forward she wants to look at all the options.

"What if the the Mayo clinic actually wants to join with us? We don't know because we haven't asked that question," Dougan said.

Several members of the crowd expressed frustration with Dougan's comments, shouting out that the research has already been done, but Dougan said she doesn't think a thorough enough job was completed.

"I'm sorry that task force one and two did not do their homework. I'm sorry that they didn't ask these questions, but we need to ask these questions before we give away one of our most favorite assets," she said.

Dougan added that she doesn't understand the crowd's reaction to the vote because it doesn't seem like they gained anything, and placing the measure on the ballot will cost taxpayers money.

"This is not asking 'do you want to move to a non-profit?' This is repealing an ordinance from 1949 that may or may not even be in effect since TABOR is around, so I don't understand why we're spending $175,000 of taxpayer money to ask a question that does nothing to move this forward," Dougan said.

Dougan said she's not opposed to moving forward and wants to see a decision made on Memorial, but doesn't think this ballot measure helps.

City council did agree Tuesday to take a closer look at other options for the hospital, such as leasing it.

They set a deadline of Dec. 31, to complete a Request For Proposal, or RFP. They said they want to have a ballot initiative ready by first quarter of next year.

Carlson said that resolution is more promising than the ballot measure.

"I'm actually more encouraged by the resolutions made by the city council that reflect both the appreciation of the need to be locally-controlled, locally-owned, leased to a not-for-profit company, and also the urgency involved that Memorial Hospital is weakened everyday that we delay movement on this action," Carlson said.

Carlson said he hopes voters take the opportunity in November to move Memorial forward.

"Vote yes for a number of reasons. First of all this actually is in line with our desire to limit our tax liabilities in this city and first and foremost that's what the ballot measure does. On a broader level it is again a step towards getting us to a locally owned, non-governmental, not-for-profit hospital. That's the best thing for our patients, that's the best thing for our children, and we need to get there. This is a step in getting there," Carlson said.