Item C: City Manager Evaluation - Laserfiche WebLink

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Willamette Street was converted to two-way traffic, from 13th and 18th avenues, to improve access as recommended by the Central Area Transportation Study adopted last year. Garden Way reopened as an improved major collector street with improvements that straightened out several dangerous curves, added bike lanes, sidewalks, a traffic roundabout and landscaped medians. Work continues on efforts to come up with a context-sensitive design for improvements to Crest Drive, Story Boulevard and Friendly Street as a collaborative effort with area residents. I am also disappointed that we have not yet achieved City Council's goal of siting a full-service hospital in central Eugene. We have continued to be a major factor in the emerging decision by McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center to explore locating to the current EWEB site. Our City team has worked steadily and diligently with both parties to mitigate concerns related to the property and the proposed sale agreement that is still under protracted negotiation. With the City Council's approval of an agreement to proceed with transportation planning for an underpass and the adoption of a FY06 budget that anticipates purchase of the riparian edge, development of a pedestrian-bicycle trail, and the underpass; we are poised to assist both McKenzie-Willamette and EWEB to complete the land transaction, removing yet another barrier to locating a hospital on the EWEB site. I remain confident that we will be successful in siting a top-notch hospital in a location that is both desirable and logically feasible. Construction is being completed ahead of schedule and within budget for Eugene's two new fire stations - the Downtown Station #1 at 13th and Willamette and the Santa Clara Station #11. We are looking forward to their grand openings this summer. Last July, we completed the new Garfield Police Facility, which now houses the Forensics Evidence Unit, Property Control Unit, and Quartermaster. In addition to providing improved functional and technical capabilities for these units, the new facility (together with the new Downtown Fire Station) achieves the goal of removing all full-time workers from unsafe and inadequate workspace conditions in the basement of City Hall. The new live fire training structure located at the City's Emergency Services Center at 2nd and Chambers will allow our firefighters to have essential live fire training for the facility's life span of approximately 50 years. Last fall, we celebrated the completion of the first phase of the renovation of the historic Eugene Depot. The project grew out of a vision developed by a citizen advisory group for the north end of downtown Eugene that saw the depot as an historic facility that could serve future transportation needs and create a civic destination. The 1908 rail depot and the 1955 mail shed addition is now a safe, beautiful, functional and convenient multi-modal transportation facility, accommodating train passengers, motorists, bus users, bicyclists, pedestrians and local Amtrak staff. We are also proud of the work that has been done to complete and prepare the draft Comprehensive Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan that the City Council will consider in September. This draft plan outlines community needs and service gaps and is another significant task that is nearing completion this year. Several park projects funded by the 1998 Parks and Open Space bond measure have been completed in the last year and work is underway on the landmark RiverPlay project in Skinner Butte and Alton Baker Park.