CCMinutes - 09/15/04 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall September 15, 2004 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Scott Meisner, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, and Gary Pap~ (listening via telephone, but not voting). COUNCILORS ABSENT: Nancy Nathanson. His Honor Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION Discussion of Proposed Lane County Public Safety District Assistant City Manager Jim Carlson explained that the work session was intended to discuss the impact of current budgetary constraints on public safety, and primarily prosecution, as the District Attorney's office had been forced to make reductions which had impacted the types of cases that were prosecuted. He said the new District Attorney had reviewed the types of cases that were going to be considered in circuit court and had determined the City was adequately served by the available prosecution and court services. However, he asserted there were still long-term structural issues related to the overall public safety system and many of those were at the County level. He stated the County had problems related to its revenue sources. He invited County Commissioner Bobby Green and County Sheriff Jan Clements to speak on a proposal the County had begun developing on the formation of a countywide public safety district. Ms. Taylor arrived. Commissioner Green thanked the City Council for the opportunity to discuss the proposal for a public safety district. He assured the council that the County was not asking for anything except for the opportunity to call upon the City Manager and the Police Chief for information that would help the County in the formation of such a district. He said the County was taking two approaches and the public safety district was one of them. He stated that the Board of County Commissioners had formed a Service Stabilization Task Force, comprised of nine citizen members, and it had met twice thus far. He read the charge of the citizen group aloud to the council, which was to help the County live within its means on an annual basis, to look at how to reduce the cost factors which drive the deficit, and to ;;right size" the organization, i.e. find the size that best meets need in service delivery stabilization. Included in the task force's charge, he said, was formula- tion of a recommendation on how many years the County should engage in the strategy that may ultimately come from its work. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 15, 2004 Page 1 Work Session