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Mr. Meisner agreed with Mr. Rayor about the importance of knowing more about who was responsible for parking in the area, creating and paying for it. He said that in other cities private companies built structured parking, but in Eugene it was the City government, and he was unsure that was wise. Regarding the issue of citizen input, Mr. Meisner said that the GSA did not operate in the same way as the City. He said that GSA did not involve the City in its deliberations, and had to be persuaded to notify the City of its decision prior to announcing it. He said that the proposed courthouse was very large and could be potentially a massive structure. For that reason, scale, compatibility, neighborhood impact was a concern to him. He said that GSA would make the final decision and was not subject to local zoning and building codes. He believed it was in the City's interest to keep the structure downtown. Mr. Meisner said he hoped the council would encourage GSA to look at other sites, and in particular the City Hall site. He agreed that selection of the City Hall site would have financial implications for the City. He did not think that GSA would cover all the costs involved, and there may be additional City moneys required. He agreed with Ms. Nathanson it would be beneficial to combine all City functions in one location, and the savings from dropping those leases and selling other property in downtown could help to offset those costs. He said the council should ask the GSA to rethink the decision, and consider appointing a council committee to discuss the issues raised by councilors. Mr. Pap6 agreed that a new courthouse was needed and it should be in Eugene. The current courthouse was functionally obsolete. He felt good about what the GSA intended to build, and did not want it to be in Springfield or in the periphery. He said that another priority was to vacate City Hall and get a new facility. He said that it was also functionally obsolete. He wanted a win-win situation where the federal government purchased the city hall site and the City was able to consolidate all functions in one location. He believed that would lead to greater efficiencies. Ms. Taylor said that the Fifth Street Market District needed to be preserved. She said many mistakes were made downtown and the City did not want to make another one. She said that it appeared there may be a possibility the decision about the location would change, and the federal government would be able to pay more than the value of the land. She suggested that there were other sites not being discussed. Ms. Taylor said she hoped the City did not sell the Sears building in a hurry. It was a good location, available by bus, and close to the new library and the Atrium building. She wanted to know more about what the City can do and what the federal government would pay for the site. Mr. Fart said he would like to send a message to the decision makers in the GSA that the council was very diverse and did not agree about many things. However, he believed the council was in agreement it wanted the federal courthouse in downtown Eugene, that it wanted the courthouse to fit into downtown, and that the courthouse was more appropriately located on the City Hall site than on the 5th Avenue site. He said that the council was in a position to make a plea rather than a decision. He said that the 5th Street district was a beautiful area and he did not think a courthouse would fit into the area. He believed that the courthouse would have better access in the City Hall location and it would be a more appropriate location. Mr. Torrey stated the council had received a considerable amount of e-mail correspondence regarding the topic. He said that now the council needed to make a choice regarding what it believed to be in the best interest of the city. Mr. Torrey believed there was an urgency to the situation, and that the position the council MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 22, 1999 Page 4 5:30 p.m.