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<br />B. WORK SESSION: Update on EWEB Roosevelt Operations Center <br /> <br />Ms. Jones introduced Ken Beeson, manager of the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) Roosevelt project, to <br />present an update in anticipation of requesting financing authorization from the council. <br /> <br />Mr. Beeson presented an overview of the project to relocate EWEB operations and engineering functions to a new <br />site at Roosevelt Boulevard and Beltline. He said that the relocation was necessary because current facilities at the <br />downtown site needed replacement and the site was not adequate for long-term operations use. He said the Roosevelt <br />site was 52 acres and would consist of three buildings—Operations and Engineering, Fleet and Warehouse—and <br />there would be 250 employees at move-in. He said a variety of sustainability measures were incorporated into the <br />site and EWEB's design goal was LEED gold. He said the project budget approved by the EWEB Board of <br />Directors was $83.5 million, which represented a substantial cost reduction over prior estimates. He said it was an <br />"all in" budget and included construction costs, owners' costs and a variety of contingency and escalation costs. <br /> <br />Mr. Beeson reviewed the impact on water and electric rates of the full project cost of $83.5 million and a $55.5 <br />million cost that assumed proceeds from sale of the downtown site. He said the average increase for water and <br />electric combined was 1.14 percent, which equated to approximately $52 annually for the typical residential customer <br />in Eugene. He said the public review process had been lengthy and extensive and feedback from customers and <br />across the community demonstrated an interest in a project that was economical and incorporated sustainability <br />measures and application of the downtown site proceeds to the cost of the Roosevelt project. He said there was also <br />significant interest in what would happen with the vacated downtown property. <br /> <br />Mr. Beeson said the proposed debt issue was $85.5 million, which included financing costs and debt service reserve, <br />and would be accomplished under provisions of the Uniform Revenue Bond Act (URBA). He said a resolution <br />requesting authorization from the council to proceed with financing under URBA had received unanimous approval <br />from the EWEB Board of Directors on February 5, 2008, and would be presented to the council at its February 25 <br />meeting. <br /> <br />Ms. Piercy commended EWEB's work on alternative power, which had resulted in Eugene's designation as the fifth <br />greenest city in the country. She was pleased with the prospect of releasing the waterfront property for uses that <br />could benefit the entire community. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman expressed concern that the council had no oversight or authority with respect to its fiduciary role. She <br />did not question the need for EWEB's move or reasonableness of the project cost estimates, but she had not had any <br />ability to determine whether all of the costs should be bonded for or covered by internal reshuffling of priorities. She <br />said there had been no opportunity to examine whether the assumptions on which estimates were based were <br />appropriate. She wanted to make approval of the resolution contingent on voter approval. She questioned the <br />projected growth and other calculations related to project costs. She was also concerned that the council had no <br />authority over EWEB's rate-setting process or use of the proceeds from the downtown property. She said that some <br />customers received special rates and others had to make up the difference. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor asked if there were other sources of funds for the project besides rate increases, such as a reserve fund. <br />Mr. Beeson said there were reserves, but they were not adequate to fund the project. He said bonding a project of <br />this size would benefit customers by leveling the costs out over a longer period of time. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor asked if some entities received special, lower rates. Mr. Beeson replied that all rates were based on cost <br />of service; there were different classes of customers, but no one received special rates. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 13, 2008 Page 3 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />