City Council Newsletter - 10/12/06

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efficiency and safety improvements for employees, renovation of the restaurants and gift shops at the airport, and improvements to customer service and ground transportation services including standards for taxis and the introduction of the airport door-to-door shuttle service. For more information, contact Bob Noble at 682-8352. Eugene Fire & EMS Emergency Response Preparation Eugene Fire & Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department personnel attended the National Association for Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) Conference in Las Vegas. Several tracks of classes were attended by Fire and EMS personnel, ranging from Disaster Medicine, EMS Training for Trainers, Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Fire Response classes. Valuable ideas and information were shared at the conference that will provide essential EMS training. With the 2008 Olympic Trials for Track and Field on the horizon, a primary focus for training EMS personnel is preparing for EMS response if there is an incident of national significance during the trails. For the next year, the goal is to focus on providing a solid foundation regarding triage, mass casualty care and decontamination to prepare personnel how to respond if there is an incident during the trials. Through early preparation and training, and learning from others who have responded to incidents of national significance, department personnel will be ready not only for this one big event, but will enhance the skills used in daily responses to multiple patient scenes and events. For more information, please contact EMS Chief JoAnna Kamppi at 682-7130. Asphalt Price Increases Reduce Scope of Pavement Preservation Work The escalating cost of crude oil over the past two years has impacted the City’s ability to preserve Eugene’s street system. Liquid asphalt, which is a residual of the crude oil distillation process, comprises 5% to 6% by weight of the asphalt concrete used to repave city streets, but constitutes more than one third of the ton price of asphalt concrete paving. Extreme variability in supply and demand of crude oil based products has led to a cost increase to liquid asphalt of over 75% since the beginning of 2006. The result of these costs has been an overall price spike in the costs of asphalt concrete in pavement preservation projects of approximately 54% in the last year. Other factors contributing to the overall rise in construction costs are increases in the operating cost of equipment due to high fuel prices and increased demand in materials both in the United States and overseas. The effect of these market forces has been a total project cost increase in the last year of approximately 39% to rehabilitate a street. For more information, please contact Matt Rodrigues at 682- 6036 or matt.j.rodrigues@ci.eugene.or.us. Fire Prevention Week This week begins the Eugene Fire & EMS Department’s annual participation in Fire Prevention Week. Fire departments across the country use this time to teach fire safety awareness to elementary students. The department will use this opportunity to send an engine or truck company to visit every public and private elementary school in our city. The target audience this year is the second grade level. In addition to the interaction and education that takes place with the students and teachers, the visits give firefighters a chance to familiarize themselves with each school from a fire suppression stand point. This building familiarization perspective proved valuable last week when fire companies fought a two-alarm fire at Meadow View Elementary School. For more information, please contact Acting Deputy Chief Operations Randy DeWitt at 682-7130. Wool Rug Hooking: Display and Demonstration at Eugene Public Library Eugene's own Dyed in the Wool Rug Hooking Guild shares a panorama of designs, colors, and textures on the walls of the Downtown Library's Magazines and Newspapers Room through the month of October. More than 100 hooked rugs and fabric art pieces made by local artisans are on exhibit. In addition, inside the Library’s display cases, the tools and materials used in this time-honored folk art are shown. Dyed in the Wool members will offer a free hands-on demonstration of traditional rug hooking on Saturday, October 21, 2 – 5 p.m., at the Downtown Library. Learn how homemade rugs are created, and hear the history of this early American craft that's described as “like painting with wool.” For more information, call the Eugene Public Library, 682-5450. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 October 16, 2006