Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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develop a “law and order” reputation for those types of cases. He said matrixing was doubling and 40 percent of those sentenced to a road crew did not show up. He stressed the importance of being able to enforce penalties, otherwise the system was perceived as powerless. He asked the City to step forward and assure there were enough jail beds, courtrooms and staff to take care of quality of life cases. He said that traffic enforcement was now a much smaller part of the caseload and quality of life cases were steadily increasing. He said courts should not be vindictive, but should be taken seriously. Ms. Piercy asked how many additional jail beds were required. Judge Allen said 10 to 12 more beds, or around 30 beds total, would meet the court’s needs. He noted that Springfield was constructing a new jail and the judge and prosecutor were anxious for it to be completed. He felt that Springfield’s higher level of enforcement would probably drive some offenders to Eugene when the jail was opened. Ms. Piercy agreed that the City did not want to signal that people could do anything and there would be no consequences. She wanted the City to continue to be a good partner with Springfield and Lane County to shore up the public safety system, but agreed that Eugene needed to focus resources on its own problems as that was what citizens expected. Mr. Clark agreed with Judge Allen and asked for written proposals for the next budget cycle. He wanted an analysis of what level of resources was required to meet minimum needs and what was required to achieve optimal capacity. He said that many counties were experiencing similar public safety problems and hoped that the State would revoke Senate Bill 1145 and take more responsibility for offenders serving longer sentences to free up space in the County’s facility. Judge Allen agreed that reversing the effects of SB 1145 was a good first step and the State should take responsibility for a greater share of the problem. Mr. Clark asked the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (CCIGR) to consider lobbying the legislature to revoke SB 1145. He challenged Judge Allen to develop some creative ideas that the City could pursue during the next session. Ms. Taylor supported having Judge Allen report to the council periodically on court issues. She asked if the exclusion ordinance would place a greater burden on the court. Judge Allen said that would depend on the objective criteria that officers used to focus on the core problems. If that effort was successful he did not think it would impose a significant burden on the court, but he did not have a sense at this point of how many defendants the court would actually see. Judge Allen said there was a great need for more space for the court Ms. Taylor asked if people were locked up unnecessarily and related a situation in which a woman was jailed because of too many parking tickets. Judge Allen said that did not happen in municipal court. He assured the council that jail beds were not used unnecessarily. Ms. Taylor asked if work crews could be assigned to cleanup activities in the downtown area. Judge Allen said the City determined the assignment of work crews. He said Public Works managed the City’s crews and the council could indicate its priority for that work. Ms. Taylor asked if the City could use any of Springfield’s jail beds. Judge Allen said there had been some discussion of purchasing beds when the jail was constructed; however, the Springfield jail had limited use because it could not take female inmates or provide certain services. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 24, 2008 Page 3 Work Session