Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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support for the effort at some level. She reported that the WEC had already completed a significant amount of work, including white papers, a website, establishing committees, obtaining funding, hiring facilitators, and identifying consultants. She said that funding included $5,000 each from Lane Transit District (LTD) and the City of Eugene, environmental interests and business interests for a total of $20,000 in seed money. Mr. Zako said the WEC purpose statement was to address transportation and livability problems in West Eugene and try to identify solutions that the community would accept and want to implement. He said the focus was on West Eugene near West 11th Avenue and the commercial area there, but the scope of work actually focused on the impact of issues in a broader geographic area that extended from downtown Eugene to Veneta and from the ridgeline to the airport. He said the WEC work plan took into consideration the other planning efforts in progress, such as scoping for LTD's extension of EmX along West 11th Avenue. Mr. Gaydos thanked Rob Zako, Kevin Matthews, Rusty Rexius, and Kitty Piercy for their support and contributions to the collaborative effort and recognized the financial contributions to the project from jurisdictions and groups. Ms. Solomon arrived at 5:50 p.m. Mr. Gaydos said one of the challenges was coordinating long- and short-term planning efforts and developing recommendations that complimented each other. He emphasized that the WEC recognized the authority of the LTD Board of Directors and the Eugene City Council and was acting as an advisory body, not a decision-making one. He felt the WEC could provide valuable assistance to the agencies by reflecting the community perspective and encouraging them to look creatively at their own processes. He said LTD was driven by federal requirements and environmental policies, but appreciated the opportunity to participate in and be assisted by the WEC in its planning process. Mr. Pryor stated that he became involved with the WEC at the point when the grassroots effort was transitioning to a formal West Eugene Collaborative. He was amazed at the people who had come together to work on the same issue and his immediate impression was that it was not “business as usual.” He said the diverse group stayed together by a common commitment from every member and needed to survive by common support from government partners, business, and other significant interests in the community. He said one purpose of the meeting was to discuss the mechanisms and safeguards that were in place to ensure the investment of public funds. He urged endorsement of the WEC because it represented an organic and dynamic approach to issues in West Eugene that represented the diverse and major interests in the community. He described it as a government/private partnership that was working well and contributed constructive participation to jurisdictions official processes at a level not seen before. Mr. Pryor emphasized that the WEC understood its advisory role and recognized the authority of elected and appointed officials. He said the WEC process was parallel and complimentary to the work of jurisdictions and would use the same data sources; having government partners would ensure the processes did not lose touch. He hoped the council would demonstrate leadership to other partners by providing financial support for the WEC that indicated support for the effort and a belief that it would provide effective advice. He said a request for $40,000 would be forthcoming and the intent of the workshop was to provide information on the collaborative and address any questions from the council. Ms. Proudfoot said the collaborative was responsive to TransPlan Goal #1 related to integration of transportation and land use. She identified the options available to the council as set forth in the AIS. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 4, 2007 Page 2 Work Session