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Ms. Taylor asked if island annexation would be more difficult without the boundary commission. Mr. <br />Carlson replied they would actually be simpler because island annexations currently had to be initiated by <br />the council, approved by the council and then forwarded to the boundary commission for additional public <br />hearing and review. He said if there was no boundary commission, the City Council would be the only <br />entity involved in the annexation. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor asked if the street would be annexed if only one property was involved. Mr. Carlson replied that <br />typically the street would not be involved unless the location was near or adjacent to other properties that <br />had already been annexed. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor asked if an island could incorporate as a city. Mr. Carlson said while nothing in the Metro Plan <br />prohibited that, it would be difficult because of the way services were provided. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor observed that some property owners were not aware of whether they were within the city limits. <br />She believed that citizens should have a right to control whether they were annexed. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka supported having a work session on the boundary commission issue. He understood there were <br />no forced annexations and the real issue was island annexations, which still concerned people even though <br />there was no plan for that type of annexation. He agreed that cities were the logical providers of services <br />and all of those properties should eventually come into the City; the issue was how and when. He said the <br />City should establish a process to build trust on both sides, including discussing the status of refinement <br />plans. He requested information from staff on the advantages and disadvantages of curb and gutter and <br />stormwater drainage ditches. He would agree with a motion to direct the City Manager to halt island <br />annexations as a good first step. <br /> <br />Ms. Solomon supported the City’s annexation policy as it made sense. She said that over time, all of the <br />property would need to be annexed but it was entirely voluntary at this point. She was comfortable that <br />there had been no island annexations in many years and did not envision that the current or future councils <br />would initiate them. She was reminded of the council’s earlier discussion of the transportation system and <br />the fact that over 40,000 of Eugene’s 80,000 jobs were held by people who did not live within the city limits. <br />She felt that people who used the roads and enjoyed services should be a part of the City and contribute to <br />the support of those services. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor asked if the reference to providing for the efficient delivery of city services was addressing all <br />services or focusing on specific services. Mr. Carlson said there were implications for all services, with <br />perhaps the exception of library services. He explained the difficulties and inefficiencies of having multiple <br />service providers and the problems that could create for emergency responders when there was confusion <br />over jurisdiction. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor asked if there were implications for public works costs if only portions of a street were annexed. <br />Mr. Carlson said there were issues but the City had a maintenance agreement with Lane County to identify <br />areas of maintenance responsibility; the agreement was adjusted annually to accommodate the annexation of <br />roads. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor asked if not annexing a street until all properties along it were annexed would be practical or <br />present insurmountable problems for police and fire services. Mr. Carlson said there was no legal <br />prohibition but there was a practical problem with respect to 911 dispatching if all of the properties were in <br />the City but the street was not. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council – Work Session January 24, 2007 Page 7 <br /> <br />