CC Minutes - 06/23/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Planning and Development Department using $70,000 from the Reserve for Revenue Shortfall in FY04. Councilor Solomon said fees could only legally be charged for services leading to a permit. She said the current funding ratio was 96/4 with 96 percent of the funding being provided by permit fees. She said providing information to the public was part of doing business for the City, given the complicated nature of the city building code. Councilor Meisner said no matter how much money was provided for the PIC, he received nothing but complaints about it. He raised concern that if there were no cuts there would be no motivation to improve the service of the center. He stressed that the service at the PIC needed to change. In response to a question from Councilor Kelly regarding the nature of the motion, City Manager Taylor said the intent of the motion was to set broader guidelines and keep the discussion at the highest level. He said he preferred giving the department the resources rather than targeting a specific program. He said there had been improvements in the PIC and staff were working hard to improve the service even more. He said the amendment would restore the budget that was recommended by the City Manager on April 14. Councilor Kelly said he would not support the amendment. He remarked that the motion was more broad than restoring funding to the PIC. Councilor Bettman said the last task force for PIC met in 1998 and it had decided on a goal to achieve full cost recovery from permits. She said that permit costs subsidizing general information services was a myth. She said there was a public benefit to providing information but reiterated Councilor Meisner's comments regarding complaints about the PIC. Mayor Torrey expressed a hope that the amendment would pass. He said that the more hurdles placed in front of people who were trying to develop in the community, the less people would want to develop in Eugene. He urged the council to have the courage to pass the amendment. Councilor Solomon remarked that Eugene was ranked poorly as a business friendly environment. She noted that people needed general information just to know where to start on a permit process. Councilor Bettman said the service was already being provided. She said the resources for funding were already there but not being used efficiently. Councilor Kelly said he would not support the amendment. Councilor Meisner said he would vote against the amendment. He said he would be more likely to support it if the funding came from another program rather than the Reserve for Revenue Shortfall. Councilor Taylor said she would not support the amendment. She expressed a hope that the department would allocate resources in such a way as to provide necessary information. City Manager Taylor said the Budget Committee motion to take funding from the Permit and Information Center and allocate it to the Safe and Sound program and came at a time when the PIC was the subject of process improvement studies and had experienced budget reductions for the last two budget cycles. He said he had been present at each of the work stations at the PIC and had seen the detailed general information that was needed before getting a permit. He said MINUTES Eugene City Council June 23, 2003 Page 7 Regular Meeting