CC Minutes - 09/27/99 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Warren Wong, Acting City Manager, said that the resolution was a renewal of an existing franchise that expired in September. Staff corrected one item in the draft ordinance prior to the meeting. Becky Koble of the Administrative Services Department noted that councilors had been supplied with a replacement of section 6. She said that the replacement was the result of discussions of the draft ordinance at the time the original draft went to print. She recommended that the new wording be inserted to replace the original draft. Mr. Kelly confirmed that the nine numbered policy issues, listed in the briefing document, were reflected in the franchise agreement. He also asked about Oregon Administrative Rules requiring gas providers to pass on to customers everything above three percent, and to itemize it separately. Staff replied that there was a legislative effort, a few years ago, to pass anything above three percent on to the rate payers. The council had opposed that effort; nonetheless, Oregon Administrative Rules now contain that requirement. Ms. Nathanson asked the significance of amending the wording for section 6. Staff replied that the wording was an attempt to introduce consistency between franchises for a clearly defined term. Mr. Klein added that an example of the word change was in section 3 of the document. In response to a question from Mr. Meisner regarding the wording of the amended section 6, Mr. Klein said that the company was worried by the possibility that the City, although it had never done so, might try to require the company to pay if the removal or relocation was necessary because a new development was going in. He said that the company relied on State administrative rules to say that it could not pass on that cost on to the entire customer base; instead the private developer should pay for it. He went on to say that the revised section 6 was intended to say where the change is being made, because it is necessary for the public, the company shall pay for it. Mr. Meisner asked if the City would qualify as a property owner in a particular circumstance. He wanted to know if there were circumstances where the City would be forced to bear such an expense. Mr. Klein replied that what was intended was, if the City needed something to be relocated, for whatever reason, it would be at the company's expense. He offered a suggestion for an amendment that would clarify by adding the word "private" in the phrase "shall unnecessarily inconvenience the public or private property owners." Mr. Rayor questioned whether there should be wording in the ordinance covering liability. Mr. Klein said that section 8 of the ordinance addressed those concerns. Staff introduced Mr. Ron ©pitz, the Southern Willamette Valley District Manager for Northwest Natural. Mayor Torrey opened the public hearing. Mr. ©pitz made himself available for questions and commended City staff for the job it had done working with Northwest Natural. Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing and called for council comments/questions. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 1999 Page 4 7:30 p.m.