Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Roll call vote; the amendment passed unanimously, 7:0. Roll call vote; the amended motion passed unanimously, 7:0. 4. ACTION: Transfer of Water Pollution Control Facility Property from the City of Eugene to the Metropoli- tan Wastewater Management Commission Councilor Solomon, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to direct the City Manager to take the necessary steps to proceed with the transfer of approximately 95.56 acres of City- owned land to the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC), contin- gent upon MWMC’s agreement to convey to the City the right-of-way needed to complete the improvements abutting the MWMC site on River Avenue. Councilor Bettman indicated her support for the goal of the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), which was to transfer the sewerage facilities. She felt some factors were complicated, however, as some of the property was acquired with mixed funds and some of the property was originally owned locally or federally. She wished to transfer what was needed in order to take care of the right-of-way and assessment issue and to create the amount of property needed to facilitate the sewer treatment and the conditional use permit (CUP) projected expansion, while retaining the amount of property that she did not believe was necessary to transfer to “make it even.” Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to amend the motion to direct the City Manager to transfer only that portion of the 95.56 acres site that was bounded by River Avenue and the existing fence surrounding the water pollution control facilities on the other three sides. Councilor Bettman asserted that the riparian area outside of the fence was not necessary for the facility to expand or operate. She felt it was in the public benefit to retain the property. She acknowledged comments from staff that indicated there was a proportional benefit as two-thirds of the property was “strictly City property” and the larger proportion of ratepayers resided in Eugene. She felt those comments to be misleading. She asserted that the new capacity that a portion of rates was allocated for was not propor- tionally distributed as the communities that were growing faster were receiving a higher proportion of that benefit. Councilor Kelly asked why, from the MWMC staff perspective, the City of Eugene would not want to keep the excess property in its ownership or, if the MWMC wanted to keep it as a buffer, why would it not want the MWMC to pay a fee for it. Wastewater Division Director, Peter Ruffier, responded that in the 1977 IGA the partners agreed to transfer the existing wastewater facilities to the MWMC to complete the regional facilities and that a portion of the property that was contemplated being retained in the motion had been purchased with regional or non-City funds. He clarified that the portion to the east and a portion to the northeast had never originally been part of the Eugene wastewater treatment plant. Councilor Kelly asked if the 1977 IGA did not address a smaller transfer of property. Mr. Ruffier affirmed that it did not. He clarified that when the council had last revised the IGA, it revised the section that said it sought to facilitate completion of the process of transferring ownership of the existing facilities to complete the regional facilities. He related that over time, the City purchased or condemned the properties necessary MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 10, 2006 Page 9 Regular Meeting