Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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examine alternatives. She thought it might be less expensive if the City did the billing in-house, particularly if it intended to add additional fees for other purposes to the bill. Councilor Bettman shared a graph she had distributed showing declining systems development charge (SDC) revenues and advocated for the council to re-establish the Rates Advisory Committee to reconsider the SDC rate. She also thought the council should have rates calculated to guarantee Eugene rate payers did not subsidize the cost of capacity needed to serve new development. She also was concerned that the budget and capital improvement program presented to the council did not include the expansion of the urban growth boundary anticipated by Springfield, and the rate increases did not anticipate the additional acreage contemplated to be added by that city to its boundary. The collection of SDC’s was not jurisdictionally proportional. Explosive growth was not included, and in 2010 ratepayers were already subsidizing growth due to the drop in SDC revenues. Mr. Ruiz said that he had directed staff to work with Springfield on the process of updating the SDC’s in accordance with City Council policy. Councilor Bettman expressed appreciation. She said the MWMC jurisdictional agreement contained a policy that ratepayers would not subsidize the cost of new capacity. If the City began now to modify the rates that would be a good thing. Roll call vote; the motion to adopt Item C passed unanimously, 8:0. Speaking to Item D, Councilor Clark expressed discomfort with seeking the amount being requested in the grant because while he favored acquiring the property in question, he was not sure the property was worth the amount stated in the AIS because of testimony the advisory committee received about the value of the property and so would vote no. Ms. Ortiz asked about the council’s authority in terms of grant applications. Parks and Open Space Manager Johnny Medlin recalled the instruction staff received from the council in January as it related to the grant, which it interpreted as authority to move forward. For that reason, the grant was not forwarded to the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. Mr. Zelenka supported the resolution and commended staff for its work on the grant. He noted that several appraisals had been made of the properties in question and it was difficult to compare them because they were based on different factors. He thought the grant used the best information the council had available. He said that appraisals were not a science. He encouraged other councilors to vote for it. Councilor Solomon said she had opposed the project from its inception. She asked if the City would secure another appraisal. Mr. Medlin said staff had received no direction from the council to do so. Councilor Solomon agreed with the remarks of Councilor Clark. She thought the property overvalued and unfair to those who might also be seeking the grant funding. She would not like it if another community tried to do the same thing to Eugene. Councilor Taylor believed the appraisal was a separate topic from the grant. She questioned why the item was on the agenda given that the council had already approved grants. She said the council did not have to approve grants that did not include a match. Mr. Medlin reported that the State Parks and Recreation Department required such a resolution. MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 28, 2008 Page 3 Work Session