04/13/1981 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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M I NUT E S e Eugene City Council Trawler Restaurant Apr il 13, 1981 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Gretchen Miller, Cynthia Wooten, Mark Lindberg, Emily Schue, D. W. Hamel, Betty Smith, Brian Obie. Adjourned meeting of the City Council dinner meeting of the City of Eugene, Oregon, was called to order by Acting Mayor Gretchen Miller. Ms. Miller turned the meeting over to Councilor Wooten. Ms. Wooten reminded the council that at the last meeting Ms. Miller, Mr. Obie, and she had asked for a discussion on the City's role in economic development. She explained that she, Ms. Miller, and Mr. Farah, Planning Department, would supply information for the program. Ms. Wooten noted the information distributed on alternate economic development options that the council might want to pursue. ,e Ms. Wooten explained the need for increased employment in her ward. She had asked the State Employment Office for statistical information. The City of Eugene has had an increase in unemployment from 9.3 percent last year to 9.9 percent this year. The nation as a whole has an unemployment rate of 7.3 percent. Lane County's unemployment is 11 percent and Oregon's is 10.8 percent. The city has a labor force of approximately 50,000 people. This means 5,000 individuals are unemployed and more than 15,000 individuals county-wide. Bankruptcies are increasing at a phenomenal rate. There have been 125 small businesses which have filed since November 1, 1980. Deliberations need to be taken on all the recommendations before the council can recommend something to the Eugene Economic Development Committee or proceed with any kind of action. The same is true of the issue of housing, a housing policy, and downtown housing. Consensus was for a mini-council goal-setting session to be held in order to reconsider the issues of housing and economic development and to establish what the council's next steps will be. Ms. Miller referred to the booklet "Economic Development Strategies." She presented background information in order to bring the council up to date as to what is being done. The booklet was adopted by both the Economic Development Committee and the City Council last November. Ms. Miller said that the Economic Development Committee is a very well-balanced committee. Any recommendation that would come from the committee with an overwhelming affirmative vote would be satisfactory to the vast majority of citizens. This balance has resulted in some frustrations on the committee, making it difficult to reach consensus. The committee began meeting in July 1979. The first meeting of the Economic Development Committee was involved in informing the committee members of the City's goals and policies. The committee concurred that whatever they recommended should not cost the city any additional taxes. .If MINUTES--Eugene City Council Apri 1 13, 1981 Page 1 ~