04/11/1984 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e Mayor Keller felt that a strong message should be sent to the Tourism Council, the Economic Development Commission, and the Governor. Ms. Schue felt that the refusal to fund the Olympic Scientific Congress implied that it was a Eugene rather than an Oregon project. City Manager Micheal Gleason stated he had recently met with the Coordinating Commission of the State Board of Higher Education. While the commission was allocated $1 million to match Portland consortium funds, he stated that the consortium has chosen over the past two years to give ten percent of the funds to the University of Oregon. He stated that no funding was given to the University's laser and computer programs, the funding going rather to Oregon State and Portland State, respectively. He stated that these actions pointed out that the State's focus was on the City of Portland. He stressed that the knowledge-based industries of the future are based around the universities rather than the deep-water port of Portland. He said the risk is for the City to become righteously indignant and become iso- lated, but he stressed that the barrier raised between Eugene and the State must be broken down. Ms. Wooten asked that staff draft a letter to be sent to the Governor, Tourism Council, and the Economic Development Commission to address these concerns. She felt the City's difficulty was that it has been undemanding, civil, and self-reliant, and therefore becoming increasingly ignored in terms of receiving State and Federal funds. She said the council IS attention must be focused on resolving the situation. Mayor Keller asked that Ms. Miller draft the letter to be included in the council packets on April 13. F. Impending Legislation on Industrial Revenue Bonds Councilor Holmer stated that he had been appointed to the Steering Committee for the National League of Cities Committee on Finance and Administration in Intergovernmental Relations (FAIR). He said the committee had focused its meeting the previous week on the impending legislation on industrial revenue bonds. He said the House of Representatives was about to pass a bill which would limit these bonds to $150 per capita in each state and would allow the state governments to allocate the bonds. Mr. Holmer said the general prin- ciple of the NLC was that the issuance of such bonds should be left to home-rule organizations such as the City Council. He said the NLC has directed the committee members to contact the members of the House Ways and Means Committee to convince them to eliminate the $150 limitation and to study other measures to correct misuse of the bonds. G. City Clean-Up Measures Because of the repeal of the Housing Code, Councilor Schue stated that some intermediate step short of the abatement procedures was needed to deal with properties that have become problems in the neighborhoods. Ms. Wooten said that Larry Reed and Mick Nolte of the Public Works Department had provided her with a draft of an intermediate policy. She suggested that the draft be distributed to the other councilors. City Manager Micheal Gleason stated that the council had previously directed staff to develop an instrument of inter- vention. He said that staff wi'l provide a report to the council, but he said the instrument will involve some cost to the City. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 11, 1984 Page 3