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would be possible to postpone action for further consideration. She asked staff if the planned burning was <br />scheduled for the fall. <br /> <br />Ms. Medary affirmed that the burning would not start until fall, but the permit process, putting the plans <br />together, and gaining the necessary approvals to move forward happened much earlier. <br /> <br />City Manager Taylor asked if the council intended to hold in abeyance action on the basis of testimony <br />from one person out of all of the people in the community after the public hearing and on the day of action. <br />He noted that most of the issues raised by the email had been resolved by staff response. He opined that if <br />the council delayed action every time one person weighed in on a public hearing it would make the political <br />process cumbersome and costly. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor stressed that it was two people and not one person that sent the email. <br /> <br />Ms. Medary said she had received a second email from that concerned citizen that asked why staff had not <br />included information published in a paper by the Oregon State University in the information provided to the <br />council. She reported that she had looked into this and the specific research and paper had been cited in <br />information given to the council that had been published by Ed Alverson, the ecologist working for the <br />Nature Conservancy. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor alleged that the director of the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) did not <br />know about the issue until she had called it to his attention. Ms. Medary responded that this was the fourth <br />five-year exception and the City had been working with LRAPA every year. Councilor Taylor countered <br />that the director was new. <br /> <br />In response to Councilor Taylor, Ms. Medary affirmed that prior to the burn, the Parks and Open Space <br />Division had to obtain permits from the Fire Department, LRAPA, and the Oregon Department of <br />Agriculture. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor reiterated her desire to wait two weeks before taking action. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor asked if there was no way to protect wildlife when conducting such a burn. Ms. Medary <br />replied that most things did move out of the way. <br /> <br />Councilor Kelly did not believe the council would learn anything substantive over the next two weeks. He <br />reiterated that LRAPA had to issue the permit. He expressed appreciation for the response that Parks and <br />Open Space Division staff provided, saying it had helped to “re-convince” him that if the goal was to <br />promote wetland health, this was the best way to do so. He averred that burning was working at “the broad <br />eco-system level.” He felt the larger issue that had been raised was how to increase public awareness of <br />every item of concern that came before the City Council. He commented that he did not know what <br />substantive step the council could take to increase public involvement. He noted that the new portal Web <br />site the City had instituted was purported to allow people to sign up on interest lists so that they would <br />receive an automatic email when a public hearing or action was coming up that might be of concern to <br />them. He asked for an update on how this was progressing. He added that publishing full page ads in the <br />Eugene Weekly and The Register-Guard would draw more interest in council actions but it would also cost <br />a great deal of money. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 26, 2006 Page 11 <br /> Regular Meeting <br /> <br />