04/26/1982 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e - reviewed by the subcommittees by July 9; presented for a public hearing on July 10; and brought to the council for approval by July 31. Ms. Hofmann said that the two requests being made of the council were to hold a public hearing on the proposed three-phase business assistance program and to consider and approve recommended proposals at the end of July. Councilor Lindberg said he was not certain that the staff summary and the memorandum distributed at the meeting accurately represented the decision of the subcommittees. He felt that the consensus reached by the subcommittees was to place the three-phase business assistance proposal into competition with pro- posals submitted in response to the public requests for proposals (RFP's) and to evaluate the business assistance proposal along with all other proposals received. He said that the three-phase program might be the only program funded~ might receive a portion of the funding~ or might receive no funding at all~ dependent on the evaluation of the other proposals submitted. Councilor Obie said that his perception of the decision reached by the subcom- mittees was similar to that outlined by Councilor Lindberg. After further discussion of the points outlined by Councilor Lindberg, coun- cilors discussed whether a public hearing was needed at this time. Mayor Keller felt that it was important to hear from the public before a motion was made or a vote was taken on this item. Public hearing was opened. Jim Williams, 88677 Ermi Bee, Springfield, said that he had testified to the CDC and the EDTT on the economic development proposals and had submitted written testimony. He supported the idea of blending the CDBG economic development and small business assistance programs. He was especially supportive of the alloca- tion of economic development funds for cultural and destination point activi- ties. He made the following specific recommendations: 1) coordinate the marketing of local tourist attractions; 2) increase investment in those attrac- tions; 3) address the problem of lack of signing on freeways and in the City; and 4) blend economic diversification and small business assistance programs and stimulate private investment in them. Stephen Robinson~ 1400 High Street, No. B, said he is a member of the CDC and of the subcommittee that developed the recommendations before the council. He concurred with Councilor Lindberg's interpretation of the decision of the subcommittee and felt that the subcommittee had wanted the council to be aware of the business assistance proposal but had not anticipated the council's taking action on the proposal until the public has had time to study and comment on it. Mr. Robinson felt that a prime advantage of the three-phase development program was that it would concentrate resources in a given area and thereby stimulate economic activities. He was concerned with the process and felt it was impor- tant to make the public aware that implementation of the three-phase program would reduce the amount of CDBG funds available to private, non-profit organi- zations and others who might want to apply. He felt that special attention needed to be paid to ways of ensuring that the program will fulfill the HUD requirement of focusing benefits on low- and moderate-income people. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 26, 1982 Page 4