CC Minutes - 04/14/99 JEO - Laserfiche WebLink

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Nathanson thought the discussion was more of a beginning than a conclusion of information that was presented. She said a number of topics were raised and it was hard to guess which is the most pressing issue for the staff to work on and bring to them. She said there are at least three issues in every topic area that should be worked on to some degree. She said she is interested in doing something. On annexation, Weeldreyer noted that it is still looked upon as having emotion attached to it and needs to be approached carefully. She said there are historical lessons that can be learned from the Bethel area being annexed to Eugene. She added it took over a decade to get a library levy finally passed because so many citizens thought they were forced into the city to pay higher taxes, without having a say in the matter. She said for the citizens who are County residents in areas that are in urban transition, it would be respectful if they tried a kindlier, gentler approach to annexation. She added it will also be a cost to the current taxpayers to expand the large geographic area and extend the services. She said with regard to library services, there are some rural libraries that have been run by volunteers. She said she would not support creating a new taxing district that was countywide for a countywide library service district. She said with regard to police services in the Metro Area and the inequity of service levels in unincorporated areas, that issue comes up but there would be a value in looking at a Metropolitan Policing concept. She hoped that the PSCC would support this. She said for the County residents who are being charged because they have property that has a front footage, it is not fair to make them pay a large amount. She added it forces the residents to be in a position of having to subdivide their property and the road project tends to force that amount of growth in the particular area. She said equities need to be looked at and having more of these meetings would help. Kelly noted that earlier in the discussion, someone used the phrase, "perhaps some sort of special status is in order." He said he was leery of any phrase like that and is concerned that it would lead to an inequitable fiscal burden on current city residents. He said he agreed about the sensitivity of annexation and if there is outreach to the citizens in those areas from the County, it needs to be shown as a benefits cost equation. He said he would like to see some innovative ways to bring the services and costs to bear. Mayor Maine recommended that the Springfield Council process this discussion and start thinking about which areas were highest priority and bring those to the MPC meeting. She stated she was reluctant to hold these sessions every month, because they don't always have everyone at the table to get at the policy level. She recommended having a MPC meeting to do some individual processing and continue to speak and hold these meetings occasionally, but not as a way to set countywide policies. Green agreed that the MPC is the body where those issues could be brought for broader policy discussions. He said the citizens want to speak with their direct representatives. He Page 8 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T