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

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congestion did create problems. He said he would report the council's decision to the Metropolitan Policy Committee (MPC) but he would also tell them that he thought the Chad Drive extension should be built. He said it was imperative to find a way to balance expenditures between congestion reduction and operations, maintenance, and preservation. Mr. Pap~ asked Mr. Corey to keep reminding the council and the community that the City had a problem and it was not getting any better. Mr. Kelly asked that when looking at the Texas study, the council keep in mind the difference between percentages and absolutes. He explained that in terms of previous congestion, the congestion in Eugene was increasing, but in comparison Eugene's streets were not nearly as congested as that of a lot of other cities. In response to a question from Mr. Kelly, Mayor Torrey said he would vote yes on Ms. Bettman's motion at the MPC meeting, but that he would indicate he thought it was a mistake. He said he would vote yes on the initial motion as a courtesy to the council and added that he did not think that he was required to do so. Mr. Kelly said that he did understand the importance of the Chad Drive project, but the focus now needed to be placed on preservation. Ms. Bettman said she disagreed that building new roads was the only way to handle congestion. She said the Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds were a very small amount of money that could be used for preservation whereas there were many funding sources for new roads. She said that available funding sources should be used to take care of the investment that tax payers had already made on infrastructure before building new infrastructure. Ms. Bettman said she appreciated the mayor's statement that he would follow the council's wishes and vote yes on her motion to prioritize the STP funds for preservation at the MPC meeting. She wanted to flag the mayor's statement that he did not think he had to vote with the council's decision. She asked the City Attorney to consider this statement in terms of the council's process agreements and the role of a councilor who had been assigned to a particular committee. She thought that a council representative's vote should be consistent with council votes on policy decisions. Mayor Torrey urged councilors who had good working relationships with the County commissioners to talk to them and ask how they were feeling about transportation funding. Mayor Torrey adjourned the meeting at 1:27 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dennis Taylor, City Manager (Recorded by Elise Self) MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 9 Work Session