CC Minutes - 11/24/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Councilor Meisner felt the dates were "not terribly surprising." Given the weight of the month, he recommended the time be used wisely. He opined that half-days would not be the best use of time and, perhaps, a long one-day session would be the most preferable. Councilor Pap6 did not approve of pushing the sessions back any farther. He felt it to be as important as any other element of the council's charge, other than hiring the city manager and finalizing the budget. Roll call vote; the motion to approve Item B, the Tentative Working Agenda for the City Council, passed unanimously, 8:0. 3. PUBLIC HEARING AND POSSIBLE ACTION: An Ordinance Adopting the 2004 Tracking Instructions Handbook for the Toxics Right-To-Know Program City Manager Dennis Taylor asked Glen Potter, of Fire and Emergency Services, to speak about the subject of the present hearing. Mr. Potter stated that, with this ordinance, the staff and the Toxics Board were asking for readoption of the reporting instructions for those companies involved in the Toxics Right-To-Know Program. He noted that the council had adopted them several times previously. He said the board comes back, not on an annual basis, but for approval of substantive changes to the handbook, and there were two such changes proposed in the 2004 draft. Mayor Torrey, seeing no questions from the council, opened the public hearing. Terry Connolly, 1401 Willamette Street, speaking on behalf of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, conveyed the chamber's concern which lay not in the tracking but in the process for exemption in Section C of the ordinance. He questioned whether what was being proposed could realistically be accomplished by a company that sought exemption from the program. Mr. Connolly, noting that a company seeking exemption was required to pay for consultants as well as for the City to hire a toxicologist to review the consultant's report, asked what the cost of the latter would be. Mr. Connolly cited Oregon Revised Statute 453.370 (8), dictating that the procedures for exemption must allow an exemption from all or part of the program, and stated that the procedure exemptions presented before the council did not allow for exemption from "all" of the program Mr. Connolly asked how the City classified the approximately 30 companies that were charged fees for the program but were not required to report. He wanted to know if those companies were considered to be part of the program. If so, he asserted they would be denied the opportunity to seek exemption. If it were the City's position that these non-reporting companies who were being charged fees were not part of the program, Mr. Connolly asked what basis there was for charging the companies fees to fund the program to begin with. In regard to granting an exemption, Mr. Connolly noted that the instructions specified that the decision of the Toxics Board was final, but the board was not required to produce findings to support its decision. MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 24, 2003 Page 6 Regular Meeting