CC Minutes - 01/24/00 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Uriah Murray, 466 West 17th Avenue, urged the council to keep the program fee-supported. He commented that the people who did the polluting should pay for the program. He suggested that the fees could also be used to pay for non-toxic technology education. Robert O'Brien, 3525 Gilham Road, reiterated the comments made by Mr. Wostmann and Mr. Johnson. He urged the council to support the Toxics Board's proposal. Don Upson, 84851 McBeth Road, said that the voters did not vote for any of the proposals under consideration. He said that all of the presented options violated the voters' intent or the law. Mr. Upson called for a new vote on the issue. Jan Spencer, 1266 West 5th Avenue, suggested that the council should go with the proposal closest to the intent of the voters, and suggested that businesses pass the cost of the fees on to consumers. Glen Bjurling, 84805 Laughlin Road, said that the Toxics Right-to-Know Program was a bad idea and should be given up. He said that companies were constantly looking for less toxic chemicals to use in manufacturing. Holly Bogle, 625 East 18th Avenue, submitted and read a statement from Mary ©'Brien to the council. She commented that polluters should pay the fees and that the law only addressed two percent of the 70,000 chemicals currently used in manufacturing. Scott Whittier, 28828 Raven Oaks, said that fees based on the number of employees were not fair. He said that the fees would be a burden for the companies assessed and called for the council to put the matter to a public vote. Brent Lanz, 2098 Morning View, reiterated that a fee based on the number of a company's employees was not fair, and called for another public vote on the issue. Rob Handy, 455-1/2 River Road, said that the previous voters were educated enough to know what they wanted and that their intent was clear for keeping the program fee-supported. He commented that the council should not "punt" the issue back to the voters. David Hauser, 2168 Elkhorn Drive, said that the new fee structure was against voter intent and that the charter amendment could not be implemented. Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing. Councilor Kelly said the measure still stood as amended by the courts until there was a new vote. He called on people to work together to help solve the issue. He called for more staff analysis of the City Manager's proposal. Councilor Kelly went on to say that the right-to-know program was very different from State programs. He said it was the only program that required materials accounting. Councilor Kelly said that the idea that the public should pay because they buy products that require toxic chemicals to manufacture would have merit only if the labeling on the product informed the consumer of what toxic chemicals were used in its manufacture. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 24, 2000 Page 7 7:30 p.m.