CC Minutes - 11/10/08 Work Session

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Mayor Piercy commented that Sen. Wyden’s press conference had also been in regard to the subsequent job creation which undertaking major transportation items would bring about. Mayor Piercy asked Ms. Ortiz to place her motion on the table. Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Zelenka, moved to direct staff to continue to work with prop- erty owners affected by the Maple Street/Elmira Road project to attempt to further address their concerns, with the goal of maintaining the 2009 construction start. Ms. Ortiz underscored the need for Elmira Road to be updated. She said staff had done a lot of good work, but the property owners had concerns with the road designs and wanted the opportunity to meet further with Public Works staff to discuss them. She had received a petition with 200 signatures from area residents. Mr. Pryor appreciated all of the work that staff had done and that there was a construction schedule that needed to be met. He said his point was that he was not interested in creating boutique streets; there must be standards in place. He did not feel this meant the need to discuss the changes with the neighbors was negated. Ms. Bettman would not consider the streets “boutique;” she would consider them unique. She was inclined to support the motion. She had “briefly perused” the materials and noticed that one of the items that was listed to cut in order to come up with $4 million in cuts was the Crest Drive work with the neighborhood. She asked if they were taking one away and putting another one in its place. Mark Schoening, City Engineer for the Public Works Department, explained that the material in the council packet was illustrative of the things they might be able to afford. He said Crest Drive had a specific appropriation. He related that the Elmira Road project was being funded separate from the Road Fund because a portion of it would be assessed and the portion that was not assessed would come out of Systems Development Charges (SDCs). He assured Ms. Bettman that it would not impact the Crest Drive project. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. B. WORK SESSION: Police Auditor and Civilian Review Board Report Ms. Taylor joined the meeting by telephone at 5:54 p.m. Dawn Reynolds, Interim Police Auditor, thanked the council for sending her and two members of the Civilian Review Board (CRB) to the NACOLE conference. She called it a very valuable experience. She also thanked Mr. Ruiz for encouraging Acting Police Chief Kerns to send two officers. She noted that Councilor Ortiz and Tamara Miller, chair for the Police Commission, had also gone to the conference. She said they had returned with a lot of good material. She noted that Vicki Cox had joined the Police Auditor’s office after having worked for the City Manager’s Office and expressed appreciation for her work. Ms. Reynolds reported that they had participated in a panel at the conference as one of the smallest cities and one of the few hybrid systems i.e. one with both an auditor and a CRB. She provided a power point presentation about the auditor’s office, its purpose, and its process. She stated that the bulk of complaints were service complaints, or complaints of rudeness or mishandling of property. She said no officers had MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 10, 2008 Page 3 Work Session