CC Minutes - 01/30/02 Work Session

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staff would then develop a financing plan that would rely on making approximately $1 million of additional cuts in existing General Fund services and dedicating $442,000 transfer to the Facility Reserves for the next 20 years and present the proposal to the City Council during FY03. He said selection of this option would delay the projects while staff prepared the necessary budget options for review by the council. Mr. Carlson said it was staff's recommendation that the Fire Department projects be funded with a combination of $13,030,000 of general obligation bonds and $440,000 from the Facility Reserves and that the general obligation bond measure be placed on the May ballot. He said staff further recommends that construction of the Police Department facility at Roosevelt be funded with $4,240,000 of the Facility Reserves. Referring to Attachment E of the meeting agenda packet, Acting Police Chief Thad Buchanan presented a brief overview of the proposed Roosevelt police facility, noting that it was intended to house the Property Control Unit and the Forensic Evidence Unit currently located in the basement of City Hall. He said the basement of City Hall was both inefficient and unsafe, largely due to seismic issues, cramped space, marginal ventilation, and the lack of natural light. Referring to Attachments D and F of the meeting agenda packet, Eugene Fire Chief Tom Tallon explained that there were currently four issues involving Phase 3 of the Fire Redeployment Plan: 1) construction of a downtown fire station; 2) development of specialized fire training props; 3) procurement of land for future fire station development; and 4) construction of a Santa Clara area fire station. Ms. Taylor expressed support for all of the proposals. She inquired as to the amount of funds in the Facility Reserves. Mr. Carlson responded that there would be $3.5 million in Facility Reserves at the end of FY02. He said FY03/04 Facility Reserves would be necessary to fund the Roosevelt police facility. With regard to the new Santa Clara fire station and new police facility, Mr. Rayor said he believed the need for the projects would be clearly understood by the public. He said the additional $16 per year in taxes for the average home would likely be acceptable to most tax payers. Mr. Meisner expressed concern regarding the proposed per square foot cost of the proposed police facility when compared to the new library. He said that although he supported placing the proposed projects on the May ballot, he questioned whether all of the proposals should be placed in a single bond measure. Ms. Bettman stated that the downtown fire station should be located within walking distance of City Hall. In response to a question from Mr. Rayor regarding whether land had been acquired for the new Roosevelt police facility, Mr. Carlson stated that the City had purchased two parcels and was MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 30, 2002 Page 8 Work Session