Laserfiche WebLink
Services Required by Oregon Revised Statutes Section 221.760 in Order to Receive State <br />Shared Revenues <br />Assistant City Manager Medary reported that the council was scheduled to take action on the proposed <br />fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget on June 27, 2011. <br />Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing. <br />Claire Syrett, 363 Adams Street, Chair of the City of Eugene Budget Committee, thanked City Manager <br />Jon Ruiz and City staff for their work preparing the FY 2012 budget and thanked the council for its work <br />with the citizen members of the committee to amend the proposed budget. She acknowledged that the <br />council had the authority to make further amendments to the budget but she asked the council to approve <br />the budget as passed by the committee in May. She believed the committee's efforts should be honored. <br />Ms. Syrett thanked outgoing Budget Committee member Terry McDonald for his long -time service on the <br />committee. <br />Gene Obersinner, 2923 Dry Creek Road, an employee of ShelterCare, thanked the council for its past <br />and continued support of human services funding. He expressed ShelterCare's support for the Budget <br />Committee's recommendation to provide an additional $150,000 to the Human Services Commission. He <br />said the funding would go a long way toward empowering his organization's clients to live more <br />independently. <br />John Barofsky, 2010 Hubbard Lane, thanked City staff and the City Council for their hard work on the <br />budget. He believed the recent budget review process had been a good one. He thanked Ms. Syrett for <br />her leadership of the committee and concurred with her remarks. Mr. Barofsky asked the council to be <br />clear if it intended to make additional changes to the budget to give the public an opportunity to respond. <br />Scott Olmos, 3765 Meadowview Street, President of the International Association of Fire Fighters <br />(IAFF), Local 851, recalled a past union president's warning to a past Budget Committee of the potential <br />the proposed closing of Fire Station 9 could result in an unfortunate accident, a prediction later proven <br />true by a fatality at Delta Ponds that occurred because it took the nearest fire company more than seven <br />minutes to arrive at the scene. A later analysis attributed that fatality to the response time coverage gap in <br />the area and a system wide drop in reliability and response time performance created by the absence of a <br />staffed fire company in the neighborhood. He emphasized the fact of the system wide drop. Mr. Olmos <br />said that Fire Station 2 was far busier than Fire Station 9, and the closure would have a greater impact on <br />the community. He said since the closure of Fire Station 9, the city's population and number of calls had <br />increased. Mr. Olmos did not think the community needed to relearn a painful lesson. He asked the <br />council to retain the fire company slated for elimination. <br />There being no other requests to speak, Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing. She thanked those who <br />spoke. She also thanked the Budget Committee, Ms. Syrett, and recognized Mr. McDonald's service. <br />Councilor Clark thanked Ms. Syrett and recognized Mr. McDonald's long -time service on the Budget <br />Committee. <br />Councilor Clark indicated he would likely offer the council a motion to restore staffing at Fire Station 2, <br />as well as modify the funding sources for jail beds and gang prevention. <br />Councilor Zelenka also thanked Ms. Syrett for her work as chair and thanked the other members of the <br />committee, particularly Mr. McDonald. <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 20, 2011 Page 2 <br />Public Hearing <br />