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addressing a broader range of issues would be conducted later in the year. <br /> <br />Mr. Papd announced that the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (CCIGR) would meet on <br />March 9, 2005, and there were a number of legislative issues to address. He invited councilors to attend. <br />He said the committee met at 9 a.m. every Thursday with locations to be announced. He thanked Mayor <br />Piercy for her efforts in Washington, DC, and expressed appreciation for all of the partner jurisdictions who <br />participated in the trip. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly remarked that he was impressed with the work of the CCIGR during the current legislative <br />session. He announced that the Human Rights Commission (HRC) was hosting an informal public outreach <br />session on the issue of gender identity protection code revisions on March 14, 2005. <br /> <br />City Manager Taylor noted that according to the Supreme Court's website the Public Employee Retirement <br />System (PERS) court case decision was likely to be announced on March 8, 2005, and that decision would <br />have budgetary implications for jurisdictions. <br /> <br />B. WORK SESSION: Possible Formation of a Fire District <br /> <br />City Manager Taylor stated that in December 2003, the council had asked staff to study the issue of <br />formation of a fire district and report back in a year. He introduced Fire Chief Tom Tallon to provide the <br />report. <br /> <br />Chief Tallon highlighted portions of a report presented to the League of Oregon Cities (LOC) that <br />demonstrated the challenges facing cities to provide essential services as a result of tax reform in the 1990s <br />and the proliferation of proposals to break up services into districts. He said the report pointed out that it <br />could create long-term pressure on cities' revenues through property tax compression. He noted information <br />in the agenda packet that indicated the City would lose approximately $80,000 in revenue from local option <br />levies due to tax compression in 2005. <br /> <br />Chief Tallon said that the City was guided by the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan <br />(Metro Plan), which designated that fire and emergency service delivery was logically provided by cities. <br />He said that the Metro Plan would need to be amended, a process typically taking six to twelve months, to <br />allow for a fire district. He reminded the council of a number of independent studies that had been <br />conducted: <br /> <br /> · Eugene was currently rated as a Class 2 city for purposes of property insurance by the Insurance <br /> Service Underwriters. <br /> · A performance study funded by Springfield in 2002 recommended against forming a fire district, <br /> identified capacity and circumstances that implied a promise of cooperative efficiencies, and deter- <br /> mined that the Eugene Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department was a well-mn agency <br /> that provided important fire and pre-hospital emergency services to the community. <br /> · Standards of Cover identified level of service, deployment of resources, location of stations, train- <br /> ing, prevention, and other measures. <br /> · An accreditation process currently being undergone by the department was concluding with a site <br /> visit in May 2005 to review 240 measurements upon which accreditation was based. <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 7, 2005 Page 2 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />