CC Minutes - 05/25/05 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Penwell reviewed Attachment B: City Hall~Police Building Action Plan. He felt the delay had served to make the action plan better. He hoped the council would authorize $30,000 for the Policy Advisement Phase of the plan. Mayor Piercy called for comments and questions from the council. Ms. Taylor thought good work had gone into the plan. She remarked that her continuing objection was that there had not been enough community involvement in such plans. Regarding Phase 1, she wanted more facts and figures. She said until the council decided whether to renovate the existing building or build a new building, she was not prepared to vote on the entire plan. She felt that community experts should be brought in as well as staff experts and the council should have more facts, more possibilities, and figures and not just opinions that said it would cost as much to renovate the existing building as to build a new one. She did not believe that the cost of renovation would be as much as the cost of new construction. She opined that a smaller police building should be built nearby and that the City Hall building should be renovated and expanded. She maintained that more community policing was needed. Ms. Bettman commented that it was essential that the discussion the City took to the community be focused. She hoped there would be as many councilors %n board" as possible. She recommended the council have its policy discussion first and make the ;;big decisions." Ms. Bettman thought the plan should continue be called the City Hall Master Plan. She agreed with Ms. Taylor that the initial decision should be whether to renovate or replace the structure and that a public component was integral to the discussion. She noted that she did not see delineation of the public process in the plan. Mayor Piercy ascertained from the council that there was general support for calling the plan the City Hall Master Plan. Mr. Kelly echoed Ms. Bettman's assessment that a fact-based decision was needed by the City Council prior to accessing public input. He remarked that his perception of public involvement in the first phase was simply to raise public awareness of what was being considered and take in input through normal channels such as email. He predicted that public interest in becoming involved would increase as the Phase 1 discussion moved into where a new building should be located, whether there should be one, and how it would mesh with the Downtown Plan. He liked the idea of a facilitated session but strongly recommended that councilors be briefed individually by the consultant team in order to be able to fully answer fundamental questions that may be asked of them. Mr. Pryor concurred. He liked the plan and how it was phased. Regarding Phase 1, he agreed that the sooner the public was involved, the smoother the process would go. He noted that under Resource Needs, $30,000 had been allocated for a facilitated session with the council. He thought this amount of money probably anticipated a need to do some sort of stakeholder involvement process. He wanted to focus on the process at this point, but averred that it would be prudent to involve the public early. Mr. Papd appreciated the commitment of staff to keep coming back with this item and called the plan the best planning effort to date. He supported the plan and indicated he would support the funding request. He MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 25, 2005 Page 2 Work Session