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<br />M I N U T E S <br /> <br /> <br />Eugene City Council <br />Regular Session <br />Council Chamber—City Hall <br /> <br /> July 18, 2005 <br /> 7:30 p.m. <br /> <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Bonny Bettman, David Kelly, Gary <br />Papé, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Andrea Ortiz. <br /> <br /> <br />Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy convened the meeting of the City Council. <br /> <br /> <br />1. PUBLIC FORUM <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy welcomed everyone to the City Council meeting and observed that 18 people signed up for the <br />Public Forum. <br /> <br />Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Taylor, moved to hold the Public Forum for 50 <br />minutes, given the number of people who were signed up to speak. Roll call vote; the <br />motion passed unanimously, 7:0. (Councilor Solomon had not yet reached the dais.) <br /> <br />Councilor Solomon arrived. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. <br /> <br />G. Scott Purcell <br />, 3425 Strathmore Place, spoke in support of the proposed enterprise zone. He stated that <br />he was a Certified Public Accountant and Chief Financial Officer for two mid-sized businesses. He said <br />that the former zone created more than 1,500 new jobs for the community and helped a significant number <br />of small and mid-sized businesses expand and become more stable. He urged the council to adopt the <br />resolution before them. He underscored that the businesses that utilized enterprise zone incentives helped to <br />foster a more lucrative tax base for the City of Eugene; those taxes helped to pay for City services. He <br />declared that by encouraging new investments today, the zone added money to the City coffers “tomorrow,” <br />a “wise financial decision.” <br /> <br />Mr. Purcell asked the council to be thoughtful when considering whether to reward existing businesses as <br />well as new businesses for the jobs they provided. He opined that a failure to take into account the existing <br />jobs would be disrespectful to existing businesses “that create this great community we live in” and would <br />encourage them to leave. He said the resolution appeared to be a compromise between the County and the <br />City and urged the council to “stop pointing the finger at Lane County.” He noted the County agreed to a <br />more restricted map, job quality standards, and made headway on the cap. He asked the council to work <br />with the Lane Board of County Commissioners and stop taking actions that “impair our reputation” and put <br />the community at economic risk. He hoped the council would work with the Governor’s vision for Oregon <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 18, 2005 Page 1 <br /> Regular Session <br /> <br />