CC Minutes - 06/25/07 City Council Meeting

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In response to a question from Councilor Bettman, Ms. Wilson stated that it had a good chance of passing in the Senate, with only the Hillsboro parking facility being at issue. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to amend the position from a Pri- ority 3 Oppose to a Priority 3 Support. There was some discussion on being neutral on the bill. Councilor Bettman responded that it probably would not be a good idea to take a neutral position on the bill and then later ask for some of the streetcar funding. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Roll call vote; the main motion, as amended, passed unanimously, 7:0; Councilor Solomon had temporarily left the dais. Councilor Bettman asked if the City could apply for funding for a study for streetcars. She requested a memorandum outlining the eligibility requirements and the timelines for applying for such funding. Councilor Bettman asked why the City of Eugene was paying the majority of the match for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant. Emergency Program Manager Joe Rizzi responded that funding for the first 2005 COPS grant totaled $4,387,000 of which $3 million was grant funding from the federal government and $1 million was a local match. He said at the time the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) contributed $1.1 million; the City of Eugene contributed $95,000 as did the City of Springfield and Lane County. He noted that the City of Eugene had utilized telecommunications fund money for its portion of the match. He stated that the project would be completed in February 2008. He explained the increase in capacity the project would provide when completed with the aid of a map. He said it would increase public safety “tremendously” because a police officer in a medium density building would now be able to communicate with dispatch without having to go outside of the building. In response to a follow-up question from Councilor Bettman, Mr. Rizzi explained that the City of Eugene and its partners had been invited to apply again for the same COPS grant. He said they had been pleased to have another opportunity and that they would seek to add the Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to the system. He stated that they would be able to communicate with each other and also would be able to communicate from the interior of buildings. He reported that the partners for the second phase were the City of Eugene Police and Fire & EMS Departments, Central Lane 911 Communications, the City of Springfield, Springfield Fire and Life Safety Department, Lane County Sheriff’s Office, EWEB, Lane Rural Fire Rescue, Lane County Fire District 1, Santa Clara Fire District, and the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG). He related that they had broken down the amount of the backbone of the system so that each organization would pay a proportionate amount and the amount each paid for radios was solely based on the number of radios they were purchasing. He stressed that the reason the City of Eugene was paying the largest portion was because it was purchasing more radio units than any other jurisdiction. Councilor Bettman said she had thought the grant given in 2005 had covered all aspects of public safety for the City of Eugene. Mr. Rizzi responded that the 2005 grant had been specifically for law enforcement; the present grant opened it up for fire safety personnel as well. He said they hoped to overlay the fire department on top of the same system that had been built so that the same backbone would be used but the channels would be increased. He noted that the Fire Department had a system dating to the 1970s that had been designed for 3,000 calls per year whereas the department currently received 20,000 calls per year. He MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 10 Regular Meeting