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MINUTES <br />Eugene City Council <br />McNutt Room —City Hall <br />777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon <br />January 25, 2012 <br />Noon <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Brown, Pat Farr, Betty Taylor, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, <br />Mike Clark, Chris Pryor, Alan Zelenka. <br />Her. Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the January 25, 2012, work session of the Eugene City Council to <br />order. <br />A. WORK SESSION <br />An Ordinance Concerning Downtown Public Safety Zone; Amending Section 4.74 of the <br />Eugene Code, 1971; and Providing a Sunset Date <br />Lieutenant Sam Kamkar led the council through a PowerPoint presentation on the Downtown Public <br />Safety Zone (DPSZ) that included a review of all exclusion dispositions from October 2008 through <br />November 2011 and demographic information about people receiving exclusion orders. Police Chief Pete <br />Kerns and Prosecutor Dan Barkovic were also present for the item. <br />Lt. Kamkar recommended that the word "shall" in Section 4.875 be changed to "may," and that the sunset <br />in the ordinance be eliminated. <br />Councilors asked questions clarifying the details of the presentation. <br />Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. Farr, moved to have the manager bring back the ordinance <br />appropriately changed to reflect the staff recommendation. <br />Mr. Clark believed the zone had improved downtown safety conditions. He noted the Police Auditor had <br />received no complaints about the City's enforcement of the ordinance in the three years of the zone's <br />existence. He also noted that the Police Commission held a public forum to solicit public input on the <br />zone and subsequently recommended that the council extend the ordinance and remove the sunset. <br />Ms. Taylor suggested that the City suspend the zone for one year so it could determine how the addition <br />of more downtown officers affected crime rates. She wanted to know where those excluded from <br />downtown went and if they were arrested in some other place. She questioned whether those excluded <br />from downtown had sufficient faith in the system or even enough knowledge of it to pursue their options <br />under the law. <br />Mr. Poling believed the exclusion zone was working as planned and indicated support for the motion. <br />Mr. Farr asked for a list of other municipalities with similar zones. <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Pryor about the increase in crimes after the establishment of the zone, <br />Lt. Kamkar attributed the increase to having more officers available to respond to calls and the fact that <br />MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 25, 2012 Page 1 <br />Work Session <br />