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Ms. Bettman commended the Eugene Police Department for its prompt and effective action in response to an <br />incident at North Eugene High School. She announced that Intergovernmental Relations Manager Jason <br />Heuser was leaving City employment for a position with Eugene Water & Electric Board as its legislative <br />liaison. She thanked Mr. Heuser for his effective and knowledgeable service. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor reported that the Human Services Commission met on October 16 and continued its discussion of <br />restructuring the commission to achieve efficiency and provide better service. He said a consultant would <br />assist in streamlining a very complicated system and the commission agreed that changes would be brought <br />back to their respective elected bodies. He noted that Eugene staff was given national recognition at a recent <br />parks conference in Seattle and many employees were teaching classes based on some of the City’s unique <br />programs. <br /> <br />Mr. Papé urged citizens to vote for the parks and open space ballot measure. He reminded the public that he <br />and Mayor Piercy would be at the Market of Choice at Delta Oaks on the evening of October 24 for a <br />conversation with citizens but would be unable to discuss issues related to hospital siting because of the land <br />use application likely to come before the council fairly soon. He said he intended to ask for an update or <br />work session on the River Road/Santa Clara area community park to discuss progress. <br /> <br />City Manager Taylor reported that he spent the afternoon helping the City of Florence interview candidates <br />for a new city manager. He was pleased with the quality of candidates. He related that he was recently <br />certified as a credentialed city manager by the International City/County Manager Association and noted <br />that Oregon had the most credentialed city managers per capita. <br /> <br /> <br />B. WORK SESSION: Alternative Mobility Standards <br /> <br />City Engineer Mark Schoening stated that the Oregon Highway Plan (OHP) included alternative mobility <br />standards (AMS) to address congestion in areas that did not meet adopted mobility standards. He <br />introduced Lane Council of Governments Transportation Planner Tom Schwetz to explain the process for <br />developing and adopting AMS. <br /> <br />Mr. Schwetz presented an overview of AMS with a PowerPoint presentation entitled “Balancing Regional <br />Mobility with a Vibrant Local Economy. He said development of AMS required local commitment to <br />specific actions and many of those were included in the Central Lane MPO Regional Transportation Plan <br />(RTP). He said congestion related to an excess of vehicles on a portion of roadway that resulted in speeds <br />that were slower than normal at certain times and could be characterized as both “good” and “bad” <br />congestion. He reviewed the positive and negative effects of congestion and said that congestion was a <br />consequence of growth in the economy and resulting increases in dwelling units and employment and growth <br />in urban levels of development and surrounding areas. <br /> <br />Mr. Schwetz identified a number of variables that contributed to daily congestion such as special events, <br />poor signal timing, bad weather, work zones and traffic incidents. He used a series of maps to illustrate <br />geographic, population, employment, dwelling unit density and vehicle trip growth in the Eugene-Springfield <br />metropolitan area. He also illustrated the mobility dependence of area roadways, both state and local, and <br />the locations of congestion currently and in 20 years. He said the next phase would be to discuss ways in <br />which congestion could be addressed. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 23, 2006 Page 2 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />