CC Minutes - 04/10/06 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Poling, seconded by Councilor Solomon, moved to amend Item C, a resolution placing the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space bond measure on the November 2006, bal- lot, by: 1) Adding a new recital D to read: “Development of artificial playing fields in con- junction with the school districts also presents another opportunity to partner with other public entities. This opportunity is one that may not exist in the future;” 2) Re-letter “D” to “E” in the recitals; 3) Amend Section 1 to change “$20,410,000” to “25,490,000” and to change “parks projects” to “parks, recreation, and open space projects,” and 4) Amend the title of the resolution by changing $20,410,000 to $25,490,000. Councilor Poling proposed that this be included in the bond measure for the purpose of adding synthetic playing surfaces to five schools: Cal Young Middle School, Madison Middle School, Jefferson Middle School, either Roosevelt or Spencer Butte Middle School, and Willamette High School, the only high school that does not have a synthetic playing field. He stressed the importance of the synthetic fields in this area as they were the only fields that could be used in any weather and for multiple games. He related that the organizations that used the fields included AYSO, KidSports, the schools themselves, lacrosse leagues, and City leagues. He said scheduling was arranged by a users committee, with the School District 4J reserving its fields during school hours and the hours immediately after school and the City reserved the fields the rest of the time. He stated that fees for using the fields were paid to offset the operational costs, with some of the money being sent to booster programs at the schools. Maintenance, though conducted by a school employee, was paid for in a 50/50 arrangement with the school district. He added that it was difficult to charge a non-resident user fee to people living outside of the city limits, given that the school districts had students who were from outside of the city. Councilor Kelly conveyed his concern with the form of the resolution. He felt it did not hold a guarantee that the money would be used for buying synthetic fields. He wished to place the list of sites that such fields would be installed at into the resolution language. City Attorney Jerry Lidz said the kind of change Councilor Kelly was proposing would require the City to consult with bond counsel. He suggested that one approach would be to take Councilor Poling’s amendment first and then direct the City Manager to go to the bond counsel to change the language to include athletic fields in the project list with some specificity. Councilor Papé appreciated Councilor Poling’s amendment but he thought it was premature. He commented that one of the things that helped the bond measure of 1998 to pass was the informational piece sent to the voters that specified what the money would be spent on. He understood some of the fields needed to be rebuilt. City Manager Taylor clarified that the fields needed some repair and maintenance but he was not aware of a need to rebuild. He offered to get a specific estimate about the work that was needed and the associated costs. Councilor Papé said the City should be sure it was maintaining the existing fields. He favored tabling the amendment and coming back for more discussion on this item. He asked how long the council had before it would jeopardize the timeline for the ballot. City Manager Taylor replied that from a legal perspective, the council had the opportunity to wait until the last meeting before the council break scheduled in August. MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 10, 2006 Page 10 Regular Meeting