CC Minutes - 12/01/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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then leave, as the airline had done in the early 1990s. He advocated for a discussion of commitment when such proposals were being made to business entities. Councilor Bettman supported the objective of bringing additional service to the City of Eugene. She agreed with Councilor Pap6's points, adding that only last week there had been an article in the Eugene paper that declared Delta Airlines to be on the brink of insolvency. She asserted that, as the City was taking on a risk, so should the airline. Councilor Poling echoed the points made by Councilors Meisner and Solomon. He underscored that the money in question was one-time General Fund money that had been set aside for a specific purpose. He noted that the last two times the funding had been used for this purpose, it had been a success. He remarked that the airline had initially proposed a guarantee of $2 million and, through negotiation, the City had reached agreement on the present figure. He added that the business community was also taking on a financial risk. He recognized the intent behind Councilor Pap6's motion, but urged the council to send a clear message that the council was behind the effort to secure Delta Airlines. Councilor Nathanson, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved to extend the meeting by five minutes. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 8:0. Councilor Nathanson conveyed her appreciation of the intent of the motion. However, she said the motion was late in coming and the council had not been able to analyze the implications or details of the motion. Negotiations were already in place and, as such, she would not support the motion at this time. She noted the council had asked the airport to be a self-supporting service and averred that should this be what the airport needed to achieve this, it should be granted and would ultimately become an investment in future budgets. Mayor Torrey indicated that, should there be a tie vote, he would vote in opposition to the motion. He reported that he had just returned from a all-day meeting in Portland on ways the State of Oregon could remain competitive. He asserted that Eugene must make itself accessible or it would lose the opportunity to provide resources for all of the services the council had just talked about providing in the budget the council had debated for 90 minutes. He opined that the City was a supply-and-demand community and the council did not have the luxury of dictating the terms of the debate. Though it would be nice to set the standards in the negotiation, he said the airline was holding ~the chips." He complimented Councilor Bettman for the motion she made regarding incentive funding for the hospital site. He likened that motion to the proposed revenue guarantee, stating that both sought to make the City more competitive. City Manager Taylor urged the council not to give this direction to staff at this time. He called it the wrong signal and predicted it would place the tentative agreement in jeopardy and eliminate the window of opportunity to provide access to Salt Lake City and other eastward destinations. Councilor Kelly objected to characterizing support for Councilor Papa's motion as being opposed to the provision of incentives. He reiterated that the motion was only to attain a longer commitment from the airline in return for the incentives. Roll call vote; the vote on the motion was a tie, 4:4; councilors Bettman, Kelly, Tay- lor, and Pap~ voting in favor, and councilors Solomon, Meisner, Nathanson, and Pol- MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 1, 2003 Page 18 Regular Meeting