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