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From a practical sense, he said one of the reasons this had been considered early on was to allow the people <br />who wished to advocate for the bond to organize to do some of the work it would take to pass the bond <br />measure. <br /> <br />Councilor Papé believed the City should do more than conduct land acquisition for parks in order to gain <br />broad support for the bond measure. <br /> <br />Councilor Bettman asked if Councilor Poling’s answers to her questions were his own answers or if they <br />had come from staff. Councilor Poling responded that staff had advised him. He related that he made <br />some phone calls to garner additional information to the information he already had. <br /> <br />Councilor Bettman wanted some formal answers because taxpayers were paying for the field. She <br />wondered who was going to have the highest priority for using those fields and how the financing was <br />broken down. She also had some security issues. She said the other piece she needed “to get to yes” was a <br />more specific list of soccer field projects. She expressed concern that without specifically tying the fields <br />to school district property “one could turn up at Alton Baker Park.” She indicated she would support the <br />installation of synthetic soccer fields to support the amendment. <br /> <br />Councilor Pryor supported an increase in athletic fields, but he was leaning toward tabling the item for <br />further discussion. He said the total amount of money in the bond should be kept small and the council <br />should not keep adding to it for little projects. He indicated he would vote against the amendment at this <br />point in the interest of tabling. He advocated for a conversation in terms of what would be the best balance <br />of acquisition and recreation, open space, and parks projects. <br /> <br />Councilor Kelly did not doubt there were needs for a wide variety of facilities, as indicated in the Public <br />Forum testimony. He thought this conversation would be part of the project list. He was concerned that <br />the council would stray from its original intention of focusing the bond measure on acquisition and would <br />end up with a large omnibus measure that was too big to pass or it would end up with no measure at all. If <br />the bond measure became too big, he would vote against placing it on the ballot. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor called the need for land acquisition urgent, as the land would not wait. She was willing <br />to consider adding to the bond but would not consider reducing the amount dedicated for acquisition. She <br />asked if there was anything to prevent the council from discussing additions to the bond at a later date. <br /> <br />City Manager Taylor responded that he did not believe there would be anything wrong with the council <br />indicating its desire to conclude with a list of a certain size. He said the decision would not address what <br />would be placed on the ballot. He thought that all that was necessary to further the bond measure could be <br />done and the motion could be tabled at the present meeting. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor asked if the council could add to a more specific list of projects later in the process. Mr. <br />Lidz replied that it would not present a legal problem until the public information campaign had been <br />begun. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor indicated she would oppose the amendment. <br /> <br />Councilor Bettman agreed with Councilor Kelly. She offered a friendly amendment to include specific <br />direction on the number of fields involved and that the synthetic fields would be constructed on school <br />district property only. Councilor Poling accepted the friendly amendment. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 10, 2006 Page 11 <br /> Regular Meeting <br /> <br />