Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Councilor Bettman declared that the City of Eugene was in the county and its roads were county roads. She asserted that any road repair done on city roads was a benefit to the county. She ascertained from Mr. Snowden that there was no legal constraint on a potential swap between Lane County and the City of Eugene. Mr. Snowden related that one thing the County hoped would be brought before the Legislature in the coming year was a look at the utility’s use of county road right-of-way for free. He said the County would like to see legislation passed that would allow remuneration for the use of this right-of-way. Councilor Bettman remarked that it would be “nice” if the County also adopted Systems Development Charges (SDCs) for transportation. Mr. Snowden replied that the County was looking at SDCs for a reimbursement basis in the rural area. He stated that Lane County was in the process of hiring a consultant to help put this together so that if the County wanted to expand it to include an area inside the city limits, it could do that as well. He noted that such SDCs in the rural areas would not bring in much revenue because there was not much development there. Councilor Bettman averred that there were projects such as the Chad Drive project that were building new capacity and were using money that could be “freed up” for other purposes if there had been SDCs. Commissioner Fleenor stressed that collaborative efforts were welcomed by the County. He hoped the cities could work well with the County in the coming years. He pointed out that Lane County was not just islands of municipalities in the rural areas, everyone was interconnected. He underscored that no one knew if an animal taken off the streets was from Eugene or another jurisdiction. He believed that everyone needed to look at the situation from a countywide perspective and he wanted to encourage as much cooperation as possible. Commissioner Stewart expressed appreciation for the thought that has gone into both the Springfield and Eugene budget processes. He asked if money exchanged in a swap would be stipulated for Eugene services only. Councilor Taylor said an even trade of money should be unstipulated. Mayor Piercy said this had been considered in a preliminary discussion and had not been vetted in the City’s Budget Committee. She stated that the City of Eugene understood it was a city within a county. She felt these challenges were providing the opportunity to improve services. Commissioner Sorenson, seconded by Commissioner Dwyer, moved to direct the County Administrator to work with the Cities of Eugene and Springfield on an Intergovernmental Agreement for the possible transfer of Road Funds to the cities in exchange for a like amount of General Funds. Commissioner Dwyer agreed that this was a creative way of looking at funding but he was not certain whether it would be perceived as subterfuge. He underscored that the County contained 1,430 miles of roads and 400 bridges. He stated that it might seem like there was a surplus in the Road Funds but he cautioned against being “too creative” with that money. He stressed that the County was obligated to maintain its roads. He noted that there was no countywide gas tax, the money that had come from the Legislature would sunset after the present year, and the money from timber receipts for the LCSO would sunset in 2013. He declared that everyone lived in the community together and there were no boundaries for “crooks.” He averred that Lane County had become “easy pickings” because criminals knew they could not MINUTES—Joint Elected Officials— May 13, 2008 Page 5 Lane Board of County Commissioners and Eugene and Springfield City Councils