CC Minutes - 07/23/08 Work Session

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Mr. Zelenka wished to add his gratitude for the service of the departing members of the Police Commission. He also wanted to know how much an additional CAHOOTS van would cost. Chief Lehner responded that it would cost $70,000, not including operating costs. He noted that when the City of Springfield backed out from participating in the purchase of another van, the City of Eugene increased the hours of the existing CAHOOTS unit with the money it would have contributed to the second van. Mr. Zelenka asked who requested that the Police Commission help out with siting a new patrol facility. Chief Lehner replied that the council asked the Police Commission to do so. He explained that it was in the work plan for the overall City Hall project. In response to a follow-up question from Mr. Zelenka, Chief Lehner stated that the only decision that had been made was that it would be better not to have the police patrol facility inside the City Hall building but other than that, no site, downtown or otherwise, had been ruled out. Mr. Zelenka averred that it would be appropriate to bring the scope of that group back to the council to ensure that everyone was “on the same page.” Ms. Ortiz observed that the committee was conducting outreach not dissimilar to the committees that involved the communities of color and other committees. She thought the Police Commission was the “obvious arm” of the community to try and generate interest and get information out about police patrol facilities. She underscored that this was her understanding of the charge. Mr. Denner pointed out that Ms. Ortiz had volunteered to serve on the committee. Mr. Zelenka asked if Ms. Ortiz understood the options to include the existing City Hall site. Ms. Ortiz replied that the options included any property that the City owned. Mr. Zelenka noted that the existing site was a large lot and nothing would preclude the patrol facility for being constructed on it. Chief Lehner agreed. He said the only limitation, as he understood the council’s actions, was that the decision had been made that the main police patrol facility would not be part of the City Hall building. Ms. Ortiz reiterated that all of the recommendations would come back to the City Council for approval. Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to approve the Police Commission’s work plan for Fiscal Year 08. Ms. Bettman said she would want to see the language that was being cited. She did not remember that the council delegated to the Police Commission the work of garnering public input on the patrol facility siting process. She wanted to know what the council’s role would be after receiving the committee’s recommenda- tion. She indicated she would vote against the work plan until she had this information. Mr. Zelenka commented that he was uncertain as to what exactly the work plan included in regard to site selection. He indicated he would oppose the motion until he had a better understanding of it. Ms. Taylor also did not understand why the Police Commission would “be dealing” with the site selection. Mr. Denner explained that the charge of the Police Commission was to be the committee advisory to the EPD and the City Council, as well as the management team. He said based on the commission’s experience MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 23, 2007 Page 7 Work Session