CC Minutes - 03/12/07 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Solomon asked staff to verify if the bill would change the language so that a project for $100,000 or less could not be subjected to the bid process. Mr. Klein replied that if it worked like the rest of the code, it referred to the minimum and not the maximum; in other words, the bid process would be optional for a project at that level. Councilor Solomon surmised that the City of Eugene could still require contracts to be bid out. She supported the idea. She felt pilot projects were ways of exploring a different way of doing business. She believed it to be a way to try something new without having to “cement it into an ordinance.” She averred that it was worth a try. She supported having more tools at the table that would help to save money. Councilor Clark said he wanted to support inventive ways of doing things in order to find cost savings in the process. Councilor Pryor said if one looked at Public Works law it was apparent that projects that cost $100,000 or less were already exempted from the bid requirements, with the exception of transportation projects. He explained that the bill sought to bring transportation projects in line with the rest of the public works projects. He disputed the notion that the bill sought to “somehow monkey with the limit.” He agreed that pilot projects encouraged innovation and were not mechanisms to “do things underhandedly.” He thought such projects were opportunities to be creative in procurement. He underscored that the laws from one year earlier had been put in place in part to improve the monitoring and thresholds. He believed the bill represented good changes to the contracting laws. Councilor Zelenka felt that the law indicated that all that had to be shown was a belief that a pilot project would save money. He thought the bill was written so broadly that anything could be considered a pilot project. Mayor Piercy was not convinced that the bill was onerous. She indicated she would oppose the position the CCIGR had taken. Roll call vote; the vote to support the recommendation of the Council Committee on Intergov- ernmental Relations to take a position to change the recommendation on HB 2140 to Priority 2 Oppose was a tie, 4:4; councilors Ortiz, Zelenka, Taylor, and Bettman voting in favor and councilors Pryor, Poling, Solomon, and Clark voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy voted in op- position and the staff recommendation of Priority 3 Support stood. Councilor Taylor noted that it was late in Washington, DC, and signed off. Councilor Pryor reiterated his belief that a close vote on CCIGR recommendation warranted a larger discussion at the council level. Councilor Zelenka commented that the CCIGR minutes were somewhat difficult to understand. He asked for a bill summary to aid in understanding what the bills were. Councilor Pryor stated that the CCIGR was presented with a large stack of bills and in most cases the staff recommendation was accepted. 5. ACTION: MINUTES—Eugene City Council March 12, 2007 Page 12 Regular Meeting