CC Minutes - 01/22/07 Work Session

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January 14 and reminded everyone that the route from Eugene to Springfield was the first phase of a regional route. He said the initial travel times might not be as short as hoped but this was the initial phase of the project and the long-term the goal of the system was to reduce the number of vehicles on the roadway and increase ridership. He thought that once people became accustomed to the new system and the second route running from downtown Springfield to the RiverBend complex was in operation, the impact would be visible. Ms. Ortiz stated that the retreat was enjoyable and productive and she appreciated the opportunity to th become better acquainted with the new council members. She acknowledged the 34 anniversary of the Roe versus Wade Supreme Court decision. She described the various Martin Luther King Day events that she attended in the community. She said the Police Commission identified several issues to work on during the coming year, including use of force, how police policies affect the mental health community, and policies related to domestic violence. She said the Police Department was implementing the new Lexipol policy development system. City Manager Dennis Taylor thanked the council on behalf of the executive management team for the time and energy it put into developing goals. He said the follow-up session to refine goals was scheduled for January 31 and apologized for the many meetings that had occurred during the week. He noted that new cameras were recently installed in the McNutt Room that would provide better resolution for streaming videos of council meeting. Ms. Bettman reminded councilors that when the library levy was placed on the ballot there was some discussion of cutting library services. From her perspective the City was in a more positive situation than it would have been if it had gone out with a full levy as she did not think it would have passed. She was grateful the voters passed the reduced levy and supported the principle of ramping it down and incorporating library services, which were ongoing services, into the General Fund. She said her motion was intended to address the concern expressed by councilors about preserving library services. Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to direct the City Manager to hold current library services harmless in the City Manager’s proposed budget and to the extent projections on future budgets are relevant, direct him to assume that the cur- rent level of library services and operations will continue without cuts or reduc- tions. Ms. Bettman said that library services was an ongoing service supported by the community and therefore was important to keep it in the budget. She reminded the council that the City Manager’s budget included many service additions that were processed and accepted before there was a decision regarding the Library and it was the City’s adopted financial policy that ongoing services would be funded through the budget before new services were added. She preferred to see all of the additions revisited and new services removed if necessary in order to hold the Library harmless. City Manager Taylor said the budget was still in the formative stages and there were $7.1 million in decision packages that included everything funded in the current level of service, such as additional police officers, police auditor, and park maintenance. He said the multi-year financial plan contained a strategy to incorporate $2.5 million per year over the next several years using reserves so that in three or four years library services would be fully funded within the projected budget. He said if the council wished to add recreation services at the level proposed by the Budget Committee or make progress on police staffing, an MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 22, 2007 Page 2 Work Session