CC Minutes - 10/08/03 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Papd said there was a need to have a better look at connecting the CIP, including roads and reconstruction, with the budget process on an annual basis. Ms. Bettman thanked Mr. Corey. She said it was a good feeling to see some of those jobs being completed. She appreciated the incorporation of pedestrian refuges into some of the projects. Ms. Bettman said she disagreed with the statement that budget constraints were the reason the City had a $96 million backlog of preservation projects. It was her opinion that the backlog was at $96 million because decisions had repeatedly been made to prioritize building new projects rather than preserve the existing system. She said then politically a crisis was created, liability was increased, and the decision was made to raise taxes when funds existed that could be used for preservation. She said that even though new projects were worthy, the question was how the City could redirect existing resources that could be used to preserve the current system. Ms. Bettman said that when reconstructing a street, there would be an opportunity to do a cost- analysis and to perhaps use new materials. She said she thought that it would be worthwhile looking at the costs of concrete versus asphalt. Mr. Meisner said he hoped the City was able to find a reasonable, sustainable, satisfactory funding solution in cooperation with its partners to replace the TSMF. Mr. Meisner asked if the City contracted on a per project basis with a bid or if it was possible for the City to take advantage of the current favorable contract rates with a service contract with a particular provider. Mr. Corey said that contractors were generally reluctant to do that because their costs were driven by the petroleum industry. Mr. Meisner asked if the council could receive some information about that option. In response to a question from Mr. Meisner, Mr. Corey said he would be receiving information about the collection of gas taxes in the middle of October, and would inform the council when he received the information. Ms. Taylor agreed with the idea to look at concrete and the idea to divert money from new roads to maintenance. Ms. Taylor said some of her constituents were concerned about the pedestrian refuge on 30th Avenue. She said it blocked the traffic coming from Lane Community College and turning south. She wondered why the refuge was not east of the intersection instead of west. Mr. Corey said that the refuge was placed there to meet the pedestrian crossing demand. He added that initially, part of the backup problem there was a function of the signal timing. He said that the signal had been retimed to avoid the backup problem and the situation had improved. Ms. Taylor supported the idea of a meeting with the county and encouraged people to not assume that it would not work. She said she did not think it was true that the County did not want to work with the City. Mayor Torrey said he would provide Mr. Corey with a copy of a mobility study from Texas. He asked Mr. Corey to have someone on his staff find and pull out the information about Eugene. He said the study did seem to indicate that Eugene could not just stop building new roads and that MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 8 Work Session