Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Mr. Clark agreed with Ms. Solomon that there were concerns with the committee’s activities. He pointed out that the City would likely have to fund a majority of the purchase in the absence of grant funding and with the expected public safety deficiencies in the City and County, it was appropriate to let the voters weigh in on how expenditures were prioritized. The motion failed, 5:3; Ms. Solomon, Mr. Clark and Mr. Poling voting in favor. Mr. Poling left the meeting at 6:05 p.m. B. WORK SESSION: City Response to Lane County Budget Crisis Mr. Ruiz stated that the work session had been scheduled in response to $47 million in anticipated cuts in the County’s budget, many of which would directly affect the people of Eugene. He said there were two levels of discussion: the immediate public safety and public health impacts and the long-term human investments. He said the work session would focus on immediate concerns and he hoped that the long-term discussions could focus on public/private partnerships to collaboratively address the full continuum of prevention, intervention and suppression and possible restructuring of how services were provided in the region. He said recommendations for service priorities were provided in the agenda item summary (AIS) in the event the council wished to move forward with funding some of the items to be cut. He introduced Police Chief Bob Lehner and Jim Carlson, Central Services, to discuss public safety issues and recom- mended funding strategies. Chief Lehner said Lane County was facing a public safety catastrophe and he was greatly concerned about the safety and long-term viability of the community. He used the analogy of a child’s game to illustrate how, while some services were regarded as higher priority, all services were interrelated in a public safety system and it was difficult to determine the consequences of cuts on the overall system. He said recommen- dations were based on an analysis to determine which service cuts would have the most immediate and severe impacts on life and safety in the community. He reviewed the following recommendations, which were prioritized in order of life and safety impacts: 1. Buckley House - $326,000 to fill current funding gap, potentially increased by $51,000 if Human Services Commission funds are not available 2. District Attorney – $450,000 contract to fund two prosecutors, support staff and associated equip- ment and supplies to prosecute City non-person felonies 3. County Jail - $650,000 to contract with Lane County to keep 48 jail beds open for the full year, rather than six months 5. Field Law Enforcement - $191,500 in one-time funding and $518,172 in new ongoing funding to fund and equipment four vacant officer positions Chief Lehner discussed the importance of prevention and treatment programs to the public safety system and emphasized that effective treatment did not occur without prosecution of the underlying offenses and jail space to enforce associated supervision. He said specific recommendations were not made regarding those programs because not enough information was available to understand the effect of cuts, not because they were not critical services. He emphasized that if prosecution of offenses did not occur through the district attorney’s office they would need to be prosecuted through municipal court. Mr. Carlson provided an overview of animal control issues. He said the City had not been involved in animal control for three decades; it had a joint program with Lane County and Springfield, although MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 12, 2008 Page 4 Work Session