Tuesday’s landslide election linking Memorial Health System with University of Colorado Hospital marks the end of one long road and the beginning of another.

The 83 percent majority in favor of Colorado Springs leasing Memorial to UCH wasn’t just a strong mandate, it was an important one. When you’re electing a local four-year office holder the strength of the majority doesn’t matter much, but in the case of leasing the hospital, a landslide is important because the community is not going to have another bite at this apple anytime soon.

“I’ve never seen a vote quite this big,” Mayor Steve Bach said. “Eighty-three percent is a mandate.”

Here’s hoping the 17 percent will view the lease more favorably as time passes.

Memorial will become part of a Front Range network of hospitals. The flagship of that network is University of Colorado Hospital, which Bach called “the number one teaching hospital in the United States.”

The possibilities of a medical school connection with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs sometime in the future are exciting, but nothing will happen overnight.

In this case, the work can’t begin until the paperwork is done. Pam Shockley-Zalabak, chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, said Memorial and UCD will begin work in September on a memorandum of understanding — a complicated document that will shape the relationship.

That relationship is expected to bring solid economic benefits to Colorado Springs in the long-term. But the city will reap cash quite soon — $259 million in up-front payments and $5.6 million a year after that.

Bach noted that money will “build a trust fund, really, to help the citizens of our community.”

Bach has battled the City Council over its governance of Colorado Springs Utilities and is facing the huge challenge of how to handle a $500 million backlog of deferred stormwater work. He said the way the hospital decision was reached “should be a model for how we deal with our enterprises in the future.”

While it would be great if we could all share our toys, the stormwater challenges and the Utilities issues are different political beasts. One reason the Memorial vote was a landslide is that voters knew voting ‘yes’ wasn’t going to cost them a dime.

The political professionals who put the campaign together did a nice job, recognizing early that an apolitical issue didn’t belong on a general election ballot. Let’s face it: Aside from finances, this was the right way to go and voters saw that.

Truth is always a much easier sell.

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Listen to Barry Noreen on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM at 6:35 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Contact him at 636-0363 or barry.noreen@gazettedev.gazette.com