CC Minutes - 05/13/08 Joint Elected Officials

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provide urban fire protection. He stressed that the departments had more than 50 years of seamless service delivery with the best interest of the citizens in mind. He believed they had achieved extraordinary things, adding that the area’s approach had been nationally acclaimed. He agreed that care had to be taken so that no jurisdiction subsidized another. He said the departments monitored the data, i.e. the number of fire calls in Eugene and in Springfield. He underscored that as the departments plan their growth it is with these numbers in mind. He averred that they functioned like an extended group without limiting the jurisdiction of Eugene over its fire department and Springfield over its fire department. He felt they were delivering services on the economy of scale that people want and expect from local government. Lane County District Attorney Doug Harcleroad said he had worked in the public safety system for 33 years and it was under more stress now than he had ever seen it. He underscored the importance of taking imminent action to correct the situation. He suggested the jurisdictions knock out some kind of agreement in time to rescind layoff notices. He felt there were so many good programs it would be easy to pick out some to support. He believed that collapse was coming soon and something would have to be done for the long range public safety of all of the citizens. Commissioner Stewart thanked everyone for their ideas. He sensed that there was some hope that they could save some things. He said it would not be possible to save the whole system as it was not possible to replace the entire $20 million that would be cut from the General Fund. Springfield City Councilor Wylie clarified the Buckley House figures in the handout: 1,310 people receiving services had come from 5,000 admissions. She stated that over 1,300 people had been provided detox services. Commissioner Stewart asked for suggestions on how to address this in the long term. He wanted to form a working group that included elected officials and representatives from each body. He believed that such a group would be best served by including managers and administrators, fire chiefs, police chiefs, the sheriff, the DA, and someone from the court system. Councilor Bettman suspected that this would become a special district, which could be a regional govern- ment entity. She believed this would create a taxing authority with no direct representation and opposed this. Councilor Ralston said they needed to attack the source of the problem by increasing revenue. He believed this could be accomplished by increasing logging and figuring out a different way to spend the dollars that were available. Commissioner Sorenson thought getting people together to talk about public safety was a good idea. He noted that the Public Safety Coordinating Council (PSCC) was such a legally mandated group. He recommended that they invite the PSCC to provide an update to the Joint Elected Officials and that they give the PSCC input. Councilor Taylor averred that more money was needed. She felt that there were already too many committees and commissions. She said they needed to look at whether they were still effective and whether there were some they could do without. She noted that the Eugene City Council held among its long-range goals that they would seek fair, adequate, and equitable financial resources. She did not think they had ever “gotten around” to discussing other resources and funds. She thought a County income tax could have been a good idea, if it had been “progressive.” She opined that it had been “regressive.” MINUTES—Joint Elected Officials— May 13, 2008 Page 8 Lane Board of County Commissioners and Eugene and Springfield City Councils