11/22/1982 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Miller noted that she had not attended the previous hearing on this e matter and asked for an opinion from the City Attorney regarding her ability to participate in the present deliberations. City Attorney Les Swanson responded that he believed, based on her having heard the testimony at the present hearing and on her having been present at the original meeting at which the criteria for selecting names for parts of the center were adopted, Ms. Miller should partici- pate in the deliberations. Mr. Lindberg asked staff to respond to the allegations made during public testimony that there were improprieties involved in the sewer fund inter- departmental loan to the Performing Arts Center. Assistant City Manager David Whitlow responded that the council had approved this interfund loan appropriation in October. He said that this type of loan process was used frequently in the City to cover cash flow deficits. Mr. Whitlow noted that the process was used for such items as covering lags in the flow of property tax payments, allowing the takeover of ambulance service by the City in the recent past, and, in the instance cited in public testimony, covering the time lag between payment of construction costs and receipt of funds from the Eugene Arts Foundation. Mr. Whitlow noted that the interfund loans were governed by State law, which required an audit of the funds. Councilor Wooten said she understood that Room Tax Funds were being used to subsidize the cost of tickets at the Hult Center for people in lower income brackets. Mr. Gleason said that the cost of all tickets was underwritten by the Room Tax funds and Eugene Arts Foundation operational subsidies. He noted that, for most productions at the center, 35 percent of the tickets were sold at a price below that actually needed to pay the full-share cost of the tickets. e Councilor Wooten requested that staff review that policy with the council and make information on the subsidies known to the public. Councilor Ball asked to what extent the proceedings of the Eugene Arts Foundation were required to be made public. Mr. Gleason responded that the endowment procedure was complex and involved information about the personal financial arrangements of the estates and trusts of donors. He said that for this reason, much of the work of the foundation was necessarily private. Mr. Gleason said that he had personally reviewed the cash flow statements of the foundation and found them to be all in order. Mayor Keller noted that the council had received an update on the foundation's proceedings at a dinner/work session meeting several months ago. He said the council could request another update if it wished. Councilor Ball asked if matters considered by the foundation other than the private estate matters referred to by Mr. Gleason, such as the general decision- making meetings of the foundation, were open to the public. Mayor Keller called on Benson Snyder, executive director of the Eugene Arts Foundation, to respond to this question. Mr. Snyder introduced Gary Williams, counsel to the foundation. Mr. Snyder said that the foundation was a public charity with non-profit charitable corporation status (501-C-3), and was, as such, required to maintain good stewardship. He said that forms filed by the foundation with the Internal Revenue Service, the State of Oregon, and the e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 22, 1982 Page 7