10.30.2019 City Council Work Session Minutes

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MINUTES Eugene City Council and Eugene Urban Renewal Agency Harris Hall, 125 East 8th Avenue Eugene, Oregon 97401 October 30, 2019 12:00 p.m. Councilors Present: Betty Taylor, Emily Semple, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Yeh, Greg Evans (via phone), Claire Syrett, Chris Pryor Councilors Absent: Mike Clark Mayor Vinis opened the October 30, 2019, work session of the Eugene City Council. City Manager Pro Tern Sarah Medary thanked partners at Lane County and St. Vincent de Paul for quickly working together to open a warming center. She reminded people that both branch libraries and community centers are open for drop -in warming during the day. 1. WORK SESSION: Downtown Fiber Project Update Economic Development Planner Anne Fifield gave an update about the completion of the downtown fiber project and its positive impacts. Council Discussion: • Councilor Pryor - said he remembers the fiber project vision and initial conversation that started 25 years ago and now the results are being seen; thanked Milo Mecham for his contributions to this vision. • Councilor Syrett - said she's excited to see such success for a project that could have appeared a risky investment when started; said she's excited to see the employment opportunities and products that have come out of this; expressed desire to see the next phase of this project scoped out, expanding to residential and other areas of the city. • Councilor Zelenka - said this project has been worth the investment of resources, noting the jobs it has created and the revitalization of downtown; talked about this originally being a hub - and -spoke conversation with the downtown as the hub and asked how the City will expand to the spokes and what the costs will be; asked about potential public -private partnerships; said he'd like to see a rate of return on the investment made. • Councilor Semple - said she's happy to hear how successful the fiber project has been and would also like to see what it would take to expand the network; talked about the goal of putting utilities underground, acknowledging how expensive that is; expressed desire to look for feasibly opportunities to do so; said she's interested in keeping the internet publicly owned to be affordable and available to more people. • Councilor Pryor - talked about the policy decisions around fiber and how they have been relatively easy to this point, but they will likely get harder as the City thinks about the ultimate goal of getting high-speed fiber into homes. • Councilor Evans - said he thinks 4J has access to the fiber network right now but wondered if there are plans to connect the Bethel School District; said there may be federal dollars to support the connection to rural communities, such as a partnership with Junction City. MINUTES - Eugene City Council October 30, 2019 Page 1 Work Session