CC Minutes - 07/10/06 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Kelly said he had previously submitted minutes corrections. Mayor Piercy noted the corrections and deemed them, without objection, approved. Councilor Bettman ascertained from the City Manager that the PDD and the City Attorney would have a memorandum to the council regarding a potential Ballot Measure 37 compensation fund and a discussion on it would be forthcoming in the Tentative Working Agenda. She added that she had submitted corrections to the minutes electronically. Mayor Piercy deemed the corrections to the minutes, without objection, approved. Roll call vote; the motion to approve the Consent Calendar passed unanimously, 7:0. 3. PUBLIC HEARING POSSIBLE ACTION: and An Ordinance Concerning Regulation of Payday Loans and Adding Sections 3.550 through 3.560 to the Eugene Code, 1971; and Providing an Effective Date Jason Heuser, Intergovernmental Relations Manager for the City Manager’s Office, reviewed the discussion thus far; that staff and the council had discussed the approach that at least four and potentially five Oregon cities had taken to regulate the payday loan industry at the local level. He said the approach was uniform with the ordinance that was before the City Council for consideration at the present meeting. He underscored that the local ordinances did not overlap in any way with what the State Legislature had enacted during its special session at which it passed the interest rates cap. Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing. Pat Farr , 1929 Praslin Street, thanked the council for holding this public hearing on the payday loan ordinance. He thought it appalling that people would get stuck in the situation of being indebted to the payday loan industry. As the director of a local food bank, he could state that many of the thousands of Lane County residents that were in need of free food found themselves using this industry and compound- ing their need for food boxes for their families. He found it interesting that many of his clients used the services of others who happened to prey upon them to make excessive profits. He asserted that the profits of the payday loan industry did not stay in Eugene as most of the payday loan businesses had out-of-town owners. He said his wife, State Representative Debi Farr, chaired the committee that presented the legislation to the Oregon State House which was then ratified by the State Senate and signed into law by the Governor. He stated that this legislation provided some control on payday loan interest rates and some of the repayment requirements. He averred that though it was good legislation and had been backed up by “mountains of testimony,” a stronger message was needed Gary Gillespie , 2644 Kincaid Street, supported the payday loan ordinance. He said there was a direct cause and effect relationship between the huge number of payday loan operations in Oregon and the lack of effective regulation of the industry’s practices. He stated that Oregon was one of the least regulated states for payday loans. He underscored that there were more payday loan operations in Oregon than there were McDonald’s fast food establishments. He remarked that the rates charged by payday loan companies would “make a mafia don blush with embarrassment.” He said it was imperative that this ordinance and the effective sections be added to the Eugene Code because of the lack of regulation of the industry. He MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 10, 2006 Page 6 Regular Meeting