CCMinutes - 11/22/04 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Pap~ agreed with Mr. Carlson that no funds should be invested in the current City Hall beyond the need to keep it serviceable until a replacement was built. He commended the City for systematically saving for a new police station and City Hall but said efforts to educate the public and obtain support for the projects had not been successful. He said that Public Works had done a good job of gaining public support for $90 million to maintain and preserve roads. He said the public could question why the one-time payments from Qwest, as well as other funds in the Facility Reserve, were not being applied to roads. Mr. Carlson agreed that most of the Facility Reserve funds had been or could be General Funds. He said the council would need to make some difficult choices about whether to use those funds for new facilities or roads. Ms. Taylor concurred with Mr. Papd's comments. She pointed out that the overwhelming majority of voters had said no to the bond measure to partially fund the civic center vision project. She said that given the urgent need for road repairs, the wise action would be to transfer the Facility Reserve funds to the road fund and then discuss how and when to build a new police facility with the involvement of the public. Ms. Nathanson said the need for a new police facility was longstanding and should not be put off. She said that those people who had discussed the bond measure with her had said no to the extras like downtown design improvements and beautification. She did not think it was right to leave public safety in a vulnerable position if providing for public safety was the most important thing to be done for the community and the highest priority. She said waiting another five or six years for completion of another planning process was too long. She said the funds were available and while public information and discussion had not been adequate to gain public support, perhaps the council had not demonstrated sufficient commitment to public safety and building a new police facility. She encouraged the council to move ahead to both complete the master plan and begin planning for using savings to build the needed facility; incremental implementation of projects was a better approach than waiting several years to ask the voters for funds to achieve the entire civic vision. Ms. Bettman disagreed with the suggestion to take internal funds saved for replacement of capital facilities to pay for road improvements; the council was equally responsible for both. She said her position remained unchanged: the City had an obligation to replace City Hall and the police station and should make planning responsibly for those new facilities its highest priority. She said that co-locating police and City Hall functions should be investigated, but it was preferable to build two facilities on the same site. She said that the project should be simple and not mix the civic vision with replacement of a major City facility and if done in two years would allow for additional savings to offset the eventual cost of the project. She commented that the estimated cost of a new facility seemed high compared to similar facilities in other communities. Mr. Meisner remarked that the council and the City had ignored building reserve issues for many decades and consequently had not saved for building replacement prior to 2000. He expressed concern that if the building reserve funds were not ~%cked down" they would be used for other purposes. He noted that some police functions were housed at the Lincoln Street location and asked if they could be moved back into the space to be vacated at City Hall once the new fire station was completed as much of their space need was for equipment and vehicle storage. He said that would also free the Lincoln Street property for sale. Facility Management Division Manager Glen Svendsen replied that was possible, although the council had indicated in an earlier work session that it did not want to pursue that option. Mr. Meisner said he was suggesting the move as an interim measure. With respect to the sale and acquisition of property, he said the City had a practice of %elling low, buying high" and urged a change. Mr. Kelly agreed with Ms. Bettman's comments about the council's responsibility for both facilities and MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 22, 2004 Page 3 Work Session