Laserfiche WebLink
City Manager Taylor asked City Attorney Jerry Lidz to speak to what would have to be done in order to <br />have a productive work session. <br /> <br />Mr. Lidz stated that the City’s authority to impose a moratorium on mobile home park closures was not <br />entirely clear. He felt the City likely had the authority to regulate such closures, though there was some <br />dispute about that. He said if the council decided to proceed with an ordinance to enact a moratorium it <br />would involve the usual ordinance process. <br /> <br />City Manager Taylor stated that the Housing Policy Board (HPB) had a subcommittee that had been <br />working on this. He recommended letting the subcommittee report on its findings. He added that at this <br />point he and the Mayor were looking at meetings toward the end of January for scheduling purposes as the <br />end-of-the-year docket was relatively full. He noted that Councilor Solomon served on the HPB subcom- <br />mittee on mobile home parks and asked her to speak about it. <br /> <br />Councilor Solomon stated that the subcommittee was working “eagerly” to bring proposals to the council in <br />early January so that it could keep the process moving forward and provide the protections that the tenants <br />deserve in the event of a mobile home park closure. <br /> <br />Councilor Kelly thanked Councilor Solomon for her work on this issue. <br /> <br />Councilor Ortiz echoed Councilor Kelly’s thanks and also thanked everyone who had testified. She <br />stressed that this issue was very important to her constituents as there were several mobile home parks in <br />her ward. Also, the issue of homelessness was very important to her. She said she was working on the <br />initiative to end homelessness in ten years and stressed the importance of trying not to have more homeless <br />people. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor called it an urgent matter and said the council should do whatever it could as quickly as it <br />could as it was important to prevent homelessness. <br /> <br />Councilor Papé thanked everyone who came down to testify. He concurred with Mr. Drix regarding the <br />two holes downtown. He said the City needed to find some good private investment in order to make them <br />into “two wholes.” <br /> <br />Councilor Papé also agreed with Mr. Cassidy that the council needed to improve relations with the EWEB <br />commissioners. <br /> <br />Regarding mobile home parks, Councilor Papé averred that the real solution needed to happen at the State <br />level. He wondered if this was part of the Council Committee for Intergovernmental Relations (CCIGR) <br />agenda. City Manager Taylor reminded him that it had been one of the amendments to the legislative <br />statement the council passed. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy acknowledged the work of Mr. Ferris and Mr. Harden, as they had worked on the mobile <br />home park issue for a long time. She encouraged them to persevere. She noted that people from the <br />Falconwood Park had come to the most recent Mayor’s “One-On-One” talk and she and Councilor Papé <br />encouraged them to come to the council meeting. She felt this was a venue to increase public awareness. <br />She also wanted them to know that bringing something to the attention of elected officials helped to further <br />one’s cause. She said while this did not mean that the problem was solved at this point, it did mean that <br />they had “gotten [the council] moving” on the issue. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 13, 2006 Page 5 <br /> Regular Meeting <br /> <br />