Agenda Packet 3-9-20 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES – Eugene City Council Work Session January 22, 2020 Page 1 MINUTES Eugene City Council Harris Hall, 125 East 8th Avenue Eugene, Oregon 97401 January 22, 2020 12:00 p.m. Councilors Present: Betty Taylor, Emily Semple, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Yeh, Mike Clark, Greg Evans Councilors Absent: Claire Syrett, Chris Pryor Mayor Vinis opened the January 22, 2020, meeting of the Eugene City Council. 1.Work Session: Eugene Water & Electric Board Water Storage and Transmission Improvements ProjectsCity Manager Pro Tem Sarah Medary introduced EWEB General Manager Frank Lawson whopresented background information to supplement future bond authorization requests for EWEBcapital improvements. Councilor Zelenka – said that EWEB water is the best tasting water on the West Coast; asked ifHawkins Reservoir has the same issues as the College Hill Reservoir; asked about the timelinefor projects and the status of the plan for creating a second/back-up source of water; askedabout the 89 million gallons of water in storage and how may days of water that would provide;talked about spreading out sides for emergency water; asked for an explanation of how manygallons of water per person per day are recommended in an emergency; reported that Salemhad an outbreak in their water supply that forced people to not drink the water and asked ifEugene was at risk for the same type of event. Councilor Taylor – reminded the council to account for emergency water for dogs; asked aboutthe 40th Avenue site, including what is there, what will be there and whether it will still provideopen space for the public to use; asked if stored emergency water should be changedperiodically; said that her sisters in Illinois pay less for water than her, but the quality is poor;asked how Eugene’s prices compare to others; asked if she should leave the water running for afew minutes before drinking; asked about the aesthetics and trees at the Potter and 36th streetlocation; said she’s glad EWEB is looking at ways to get water closer to where people live duringemergencies. Councilor Clark – said he’d like to the City Council and the EWEB Board to meet for aconversation; talked about how this item was pulled form the Consent Calendar to get moreinformation and have further conversation about it; said most people don’t think about thejurisdiction of the City versus EWEB when it comes to serving them and asked to know what theCity can do to make their mutual plans work better together; reminded the council that EWEBand the City serve the same folks; talked about grouping issues together during negotiations;said as time goes on there will be more community questions and wanted to discuss theimportance of shared goals. Councilor Evans – asked how EWEB handles issues related to people putting waste in the riverand how that affects the system; asked what agency enforces dumping along the river; askedabout EWEB’s customer assistance program and if there are other measures being taken tomake sure costs are held down for people who don’t have the resources to keep pace with theirbills; asked how EWEB works with the City around these issues; asked for an update aboutsmart meters and any information about the health of this technology. ATTACHMENT D March 9, 2020, Meeting - Item 2ACC Agenda - Page 13