CC Minutes - 02/10/10 Work Session

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MINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room City Hall 777 Pearl Street Eugene, Oregon February 10, 2010 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Alan Zelenka, Mike Clark, Andrea Ortiz, Jennifer Solomon, Chris Pryor, George Poling, George Brown, Betty Taylor. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. She announced that Committee Reports and Items of Interest would occur at the end of the meeting, time permitting, as Mr. Poling would need to leave the meeting early and wished to be present for as much of the downtown projects discussion as possible. She expressed her appreciation to City Manager Jon Ruiz and staff for their responsiveness to the council's direction and providing a holistic approach to public safety and development in downtown. A. WORK SESSION: Downtown Projects — Tools Mr. Ruiz stated that the suggested motion provided to the council had been revised to incorporate issues raised by Mr. Zelenka relating to purchasing cameras and providing an analysis of general obligation bonds and a local option levy. He used a slide presentation to provide an overview of strategies to foster a vibrant downtown and boost the local economy. He noted that parking would be discussed in a separate work session. He summarized the projects and funding mechanisms reflected in the suggested motion. Mr. Ruiz explained that the funding proposal would not affect the City's base allocation to the Human Services Commission (HSQ and would include an additional $500,000 allocation for downtown safety net services. He emphasized that use of urban renewal funds would be limited to safety, the Lane Community College (LCC) project, the Farmers' Market and Veterans' Affairs clinic. The Urban Renewal Agency Board would approve each project, expenditures would be reviewed annually by a community panel and the urban renewal district would end after projects were completed. He reviewed the future work sessions scheduled to address specific strategies and projects and stressed that the council's action on the suggested motion would direct staff to prepare materials for a future work session on the urban renewal district; it would not initiate action on the district. Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to direct the City Manager to: 1. Regarding the Downtown Safety Initiative: a. Use $100,000 of one -time existing urban renewal dollars to purchase and install additional lighting downtown and $100,000 of one -time dollars (half from telecomm and half from existing urban renewal) to purchase automated behavior crime reporting software and cameras, but only after the council approves the manager's plan for number, location, use and on- going costs of the cameras, after considering the cameras' expected effec- tiveness in deterring crime; MINUTES Eugene City Council February 10, 2010 Page 1 Work Session