05/12/1975 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e Councilman Hamel wondered if there was a way out if the EDA made other arrangements to cover their commercial interests, was there some way the money could be returned to the city. Assistant Manager said that a contract for services is always made up on allocation of room tax funds. In this case it would cover particular circumstances, how the individual's time would be used, etc., to make sure the public funds were spent for public purposes. If some situation arose where the monies were returned, they would go back into the room tax fund. Councilwoman Beal was concerned that with a mall manager completely under the super- vision of the EDA commercial interests other than those connected with downtown businesses would not have the opportunity to operate on the mall. She wondered about license fees for commercial activities there. Mayor Anderson answered that the permit system was pretty well owrked out and in complete control of the city, no mall manager would be able to assume control over use of the mall. Assistant Manager added that anyone wanting to engage in a commercial activity on the mall must have a permit, hiring of a mall manager would not change that provision unless the Council made a change in the code. Vince Farina, member of the Downtown Association and the Downtown Development District, expressed dismay at apparent distrust of the downtown business people and what they were trying to do. He said the EDA now employed a mall manager who was performing both functions, covering commercial activities as well as the cultural and recreational type. He reminded the Council that all of the businesses in the downtown mall area would be subject to license fees through city code provisions. Also, they would auto- matically be members of the Downtown Association. And this proposal presented by EDA was to expand those uses into the mall area and make them more meaningful. e Vote was taken on the motion to provide for a half-time city position through allocation of $6,000 room tax funds. Motion defeated - Council members Murray, Beal, Haws, and Shirey voting aye; Council members Keller, Williams, Bradley, Hamel, and Mayor Anderson voting no. (II-A-3) Councilwoman Shirey changed her vote to "no," saying she had pushed the wrong button on the voting mechanism. The result was defeat of the motion - Council members Murray, Beal, and Haws voting no; Council members Keller, Williams, Bradley, Hamel, and Shirey voting no. D. Mall Activity Permit was requested by Catherine Anne Lichty to sell cut flowers from a small cart on the downtown mall from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. five days a week. Copies of the application and sections of the code governing mall activi- ties were previously distributed to Council members. Mrs. Bea1 moved seconded by Mr. Murray to approve the application. Corom 4/30/75 Approve Vince Farina, member of the Eugene Downtown Association, wondered why the applicant would not be subject to the same business license taxes paid by other businessmen in the downtown area. Assistant Manager noted the permit fee provided for in the code, although it was not specifically described as "in lieu of property taxes." Also, that few commercial activities had been tried on the mall and fees had been waived because they were beginning ventures and it was desired to see how they would work. He said the Council had the prerogative of treating this permit either way. e Councilwoman Beal suggested Ms. Lichty might report her profit over the summer months to give the city an idea of an appropriate license fee for that type of activity. Mr. Hamel thought this activity was pertinent to the issue of hiring a mall manager, that a manager could see that commercial activities were not started without payment of the same license fees paid by the businessmen. Mayor Anderson thought the downtown group would be involved in this aspect since it had next to a mandate to develop activities to extend the existing businesses into the mall area and it was assumed some positive program would be initiated. Vote was taken on the motion to approve the application. carried unanimously. Motion 25.8, - 5/12/75 - 13