CC Minutes - 02/14/07 Work Session

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Ms. Taylor stated that she had a recent conversation with Ada Lee, owner of the Rock ‘N Rodeo property, who indicated she was unhappy that her property had been identified as a potential site and did not wish to sell. She said that Ms. Lee was in Hawaii and ill during much of the planning activities and only received notification after the council had voted to use her property. She felt the council should pause before proceeding with City Hall plans. Mr. Clark said he also had discussed the issue with Ms. Lee, who expressed the same concerns to him. He asked what activities were included in the bond measure strategy work in Phase 3A. Mr. Cohen replied the purpose was to understand what the public wanted and what might motivate them to support the project, specifically to analyze past bond measures and conduct very detailed public opinion research through focus groups and phone surveys. He said the intent was to determine public sentiment on a ward-by-ward basis. Mayor Piercy pointed out that the earlier public forums had narrowed the list of potential sites and the council indicated its preference, but no commitment had been made. Mr. Penwell said he had spoken to Ms. Lee three times in the last several months, following the council’s decision. He emphasized in those conversations that the process was underway and no decision on a site had been made, although a decision would occur at some point in the future. He said he conveyed the message that the City wished to work with willing sellers and was not interested in taking property. Mayor Piercy asked if Ms. Lee and Lane County were the only property owners involved with the site. Mr. Penwell said there were two other properties; he had spoken to one owner and the other property was undergoing a change of ownership. Mr. Pryor said that funds spent on a bond measure strategy should be for public information and feasibility purposes, not advocacy. He asked what activities were included in the $226,000 budgeted for public involvement tasks. He felt that an expenditure of that size should be well defined so the public would perceive it as appropriate and justified. Mr. Cohen responded that the tasks were a continuation of work begun in prior phases and included updating and continuing to maintain the website, responding to comments, building a database of interested persons, conducting tours of the existing City Hall, facilitating focus groups on a variety of topics, speakers bureau for neighborhood outreach, newsletters, flyers, media outreach, facilitating community forums, developing a traveling exhibit for community events and providing many hours of staff support. Dana Ing Crawford of Thomas Hacker Architects added that the intent was to be everywhere, to respond to the council, and to not just inform but bring the broadest amount of involve- ment to the project. Referring to the project schedule, Mr. Zelenka asked why focus groups and polling activities occurred later in the phase instead of at the beginning. He felt it would be better to ascertain public opinion earlier in the process so the council would know if there was little likelihood that the project would have community support. He was disappointed that Ms. Lee was not contacted before the council’s vote. Ms. Crawford replied that the intent of focus groups and polling was to find out what people cared about rather than solicit a “yes” or “no” response. She said indepth questions would determine what the community was interested in with respect to downtown that would motivate people to support the project. Mr. Cohen added that polling was an expensive process and a significant amount of research was required to obtain the data to inform the polling process. Mr. Zelenka felt there were a number of tasks that could occur after an assessment of public opinion. Mr. Penwell said the issues were so complex and interrelated it was difficult to address them separately. He said MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 14, 2007 Page 2 Work Session