Laserfiche WebLink
Metadata
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015 Laserfiche. All rights reserved.
Mr. Ruffler said demand was a mixture of growth and the need to meet more stringent federal permit <br />limits. He was unsure of the exact percentage attributable to growth. Ms. Taylor was concerned about the <br />potential of the City subsidizing growth and suggested that was happening more than once because of the <br />council's intent to adopt an enterprise zone. Mr. Jewett indicated that of the $144 million in new projects, <br />$57.8 would be paid for by growth manifested through the collection of SDCs. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy called for a second round of comments and questions. <br /> <br />Mr. Papb continued to object to the section of the agreement that gave the MWMC the power to set rates <br />without the approval of the governing bodies or the MPC. He would also eliminate the text related to <br />access to bond markets and meeting bond covenants and allow for a review of the MWMC's opinion by a <br />different, independent body such as the MPC. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Pap6, Mr. Ruffler said that the MWMC would go through a public <br />process to adopt a budget and forward the budget to the two cities for ratification. Each city went through <br />a separate process to adopt the budget. Eugene adopted the rates administratively, and the information <br />was provided to rate payers in advance of adoption, but no public hearing occurred. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Pap6 about what was being done to address the issues of infiltration <br />and inflow, Mr. Ruffler said the two communities had worked with the MWMC to establish programs for <br />each city to address infiltration and inflow. <br /> <br /> Ms. Bettman, seconded by Mr. Kelly, moved to extend the item for five minutes. The mo- <br /> tion passed unanimously. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz assured the viewing public that the City was not considering the IGA because it wanted to, but <br />because it had to in order to meet certain federal permitting requirements. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Ms. Bettman, Ms. Smith said the term "connection fees" had been replaced <br />by "systems development charges." That change was made through the IGA. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman did not believe that the figure cited by Mr. Jewett regarding the capacity needed for new <br />development would fulfill the needs of all such new development. She maintained that the project list <br />contained unfunded new capacity that rate payers would be required to subsidize. She determined from <br />Mr. Ruffler that the MWMC set the SDC rates for regional wastewater SDCs. The cities established the <br />local wastewater rate. City Manager Taylor noted that the three governing bodies reviewed the SDC and <br />must also adopt it. Ms. Bettman maintained she was told the reason the City could not increase its SDCs <br />for capacity was because the rates were set at a regional level, and the IGA required the City to have rates <br />that were consistent with Springfield's.. She reiterated that the IGA was inconsistent with the City's <br />Growth Management Study policies, and asked the manager for input on how the IGA could be made <br />consistent with those policies. <br /> <br />City Manager Taylor did not know the answer to Ms. Bettman's question, and assured the council that the <br />IGA was the best effort of the three jurisdictions, their bond counsels, and their attorneys to create a <br />mechanism by which the MWMC could go to the bond market and successfully sell bonds. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly suggested that staff generate some information about how much of the project list contained in <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 11, 2005 Page 8 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />