CC Minutes - 07/14/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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would be an appropriate source for funding. She recommended having a higher fee for animals who were not neutered or spayed. Speaking to the transportation systems maintenance fee, Councilor Taylor reiterated her opposition to the fee. She supported its repeal, and suggested that the City collaborate with the County to maintain roads. Councilor Taylor expressed her support for the stream corridor acquisition, commenting that it was "one of the most important things" to do for the long-term good of the community. Councilor Solomon also thanked those present for their input. She stated, regarding the transportation systems maintenance fee, that she had served on the citizen committee that had provided the original recommendation to the members of the City Council. She emphasized that the committee had a very diverse membership and had carefully considered the matter for a year prior to making the recommendation. She shared her concern regarding the execution of the program. She said that she believed that the chamber would prevail in its petition drive and urged her fellow councilors to consider the impact of the outcome of such a ballot measure. Continuing, Councilor Solomon noted that the City of Springfield had repealed its fee, in part because of overtures the County had made to provide more help in street maintenance funding and that she had been informed that the County allegedly would make the same overtures to the City of Eugene provided there was not such a fee on the books to address local street maintenance. She likened that to blackmail. She opined that it was leap of faith to have confidence that the County would come to the table to have a discussion on such a collaboration. She stated that the chamber had expressed a willingness to facilitate the conversation between the County Commissioners and the City Council and, as such, this warranted a discussion at the council level. City Manager Dennis Taylor recommended that Councilor Solomon request a poll of her fellow councilors and that staff, pending a majority interest in revisiting the issue, would schedule a discussion for a work session some time in the near future. Councilor Kelly thanked the members of the public who came to speak. He reiterated that the citizen members of the Budget Committee, who were "not known as...flaming radicals," had spent more than a year working on this issue, sorting through a number of alternatives, and sought input from the chamber and other community members before recommending the transportation systems maintenance fee. He expressed dismay at the notion that other ideas and solutions were now cropping up. He questioned why these ideas had not been advanced when the committee and council were initially reviewing and working toward resolution of the issue. He noted that the Mayor had worked very hard with the County on this issue and had not made any progress. He wondered how this would "magically change" once the fee had been repealed, adding that one thing that would not change was the ever-growing backlog of road maintenance needs. He stressed that should the fee be repealed, there would be no plan "on the table" to MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 14, 2003 Page 6 Regular Meeting