CC Minutes - 06/27/05 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Braud explained that the jobs typically created in the program were entry-level production jobs and for such a job, $30,000 to $33,000 annually was an excellent wage. Councilor Taylor responded that the City had ;;plenty of entry-level jobs already" and did not need to subsidize jobs to increase the number. Councilor Bettman surmised that the council could "sit down with the County and establish criteria." She wondered if there would be no criteria, should the County not agree with the City when it voted on June 29. Mr. Braud affirmed this to be so. Councilor Bettman said the council had given the City Manager direction on this item three months earlier and now, three days before the zone would be approved or denied by the State, there was still uncertainty regarding the criteria. She declared that the council had agreed to an Enterprise Zone but only if standards were in place. She thought there would be no standards in place should the County not be in agreement with the City. She averred that staff had three months to make sure the standards had been placed in front of the City and the County in ~a timely way" so the council policy could be fulfilled. She remarked that she did not have a problem with the County, but rather had a problem with the follow-up from City staff %n very explicit direction on a very controversial issue." Councilor Bettman asked if the application for the Enterprise Zone could be withdrawn at this point. Mr. Braud replied that the City would have the opportunity to request withdrawal of its application before July 1. After July 1, he explained, it would have to be undertaken in the context of a zone termination. Councilor Bettman ascertained from Mr. Braud that the County Commissioners would take action at approximately 10:30 a.m. on June 29. She asked Mayor Piercy if she would be amenable to providing 15 minutes on the schedule during the council work session scheduled for Wednesday, June 29, to get an update from staff on the County's disposition of the Enterprise Zone so that the council could take the opportunity to withdraw the application if it deemed it necessary. She thought an application from a manufacturer could be processed without any community standards should the Board of Commissioners disagree with the City's standards and this would be inconsistent with council direction. Mayor Piercy said it was a possibility. She hoped that the Board of County Commissioners would recognize that the City Council had worked hard to reach this agreement. City Manager Taylor related that he had great expectations because throughout the process, City staff and County staff had been communicating about the conditioned application, the conditioned zone, and the process for interim standards while the City engaged in a more rigorous exploration of what the standards should be. He anticipated that the commissioners would adopt the interim standards in the same spirit that the City had pursued them and the two would move forward with the public process for making a recommendation to the two government bodies. He noted that when the first application had been submitted, it had seemed like a long shot, but now it seemed very likely that the City would be granted the Enterprise Zone. Councilor Kelly observed that the council had worked well together to come to a level of near consensus on the Enterprise Zone. He felt optimistic that this sense of cooperation would pervade at the Board of County Commissioners. He agreed, however, that 15 minutes should be set aside at the coming work session. MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 27, 2005 Page 8 Regular Session