CC Minutes - 03/12/07 Work Session

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room—Eugene City Hall March 12, 2007 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka, Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman (Ms. Taylor and Ms. Bett- man participated via speakerphone). Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. A. COMMITTEE REPORTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL, AND CITY MANAGER Mayor Piercy related that Ms. Taylor was in Washington, DC, representing the City of Eugene at the National League of Cities (NLC) conference. Mayor Piercy reported that Marina Rikovinova, a citizen of Eugene’s Sister City of Irkutsk, Russia, had visited during the previous week in order to attend the E-Law Conference at the University of Oregon. She said Ms. Rikovinova received an award for her work to protect Lake Baikal from an oil pipeline. Ms. Rikovinova had spoken with representatives of the City and of the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) regarding sustainability and how the City and its publicly owned utility could work with the Mayor of Irkutsk on some of these same issues. Mayor Piercy said she had helped to kick off the Climate Masters Program. She said Sarah Mazze was leading an effort to teach people how to assess their own carbon footprint, reduce it, and help others reduce theirs. She related that she had led a sustainability tour for state financial leaders. She thanked Connie Bennett, Glen Svendsen, Pat Farr, and Emily Proudfoot for helping with the tour. Mr. Clark thanked staff and especially Public Service Officer Michelle Mortensen, and Natural Resources Specialist Laurie Mullen, for taking the time to help him become educated about the problem people in Ward 5 were experiencing with the recent nutria population explosion in the Delta Ponds area. He said the people who lived in the Garden Isle Estates were experiencing an infestation of nutria. He appreciated staff’s work to address the problem. Ms. Solomon reported that she attended the Housing Policy Board (HPB) meeting. She said the HPB received its Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for affordable housing projects and was reviewing them. She stated that the HPB would make a recommendation to the City Council after the review. She noted that the HPB was also still moving forward on the manufactured housing park ordinance. Mr. Poling acknowledged a copy of the letter in council packets from Ada Lee indicating her unwillingness to sell her property. He asked if there would be a follow-up meeting in order to consider a change of plans MINUTES—Eugene City Council March 12, 2007 Page 1 Work Session