CC Minutes - 11/16/05 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

In response to a question from Ms. Taylor, Mr. Carlson said SDCs could not be used for maintenance of parks and facilities due in part because the City did not have excess capacity in the parks and was not currently meeting all of the standards set for the community. In response to Mr. Pryor, Ms. Taylor said there was not a need for a definite list of parks to go to the voters, but rather the list should develop with community participation as things go along. She said the City should be buying the Santa Clara School but it was not on the list. The council deviated from the list in the past and it could do so again. People in the area supported acquisition of the school. She hoped the school board would consider making concessions just as the City of Eugene had done when the Eugene School District 4-J wanted properties or help with the sports fields. Mr. Papé agreed with Mr. Pryor that the PROS proposal needed to be vetted before going to the voters. As a member of the original PROS advisory committee in 1997, he recalled that the committee did not complete its work until four or five months ahead of the bond measure election. He disagreed with Ms. Taylor, in that although the original committee did not identify specific locations for parks or specific acquisitions, the committee did specifically outline how the funds would be used. This action was critical in passage of the bond measure by such a wide margin. He opined that the work could be completed in time for the November 2006 election. Mr. Papé said if Civic Stadium was a community asset, it was not up to Eugene School District 4-J or the Bethel School District to supply community-needed stadiums. Their missions were to educate our children. If the community needed a stadium, the City needed to step up and purchase it, rather than keeping the onus on the school district to retain and maintain it. In response to Mr. Papé’ comments, Ms. Bettman did not think the City should hold Eugene School District 4-J to a standard that the City did not itself adhere to. She said the City set aside money for capital expenditures and it was sacrosanct. There were times when the council eyed those funds for public safety and other types of services, but the organization and council had been unwilling to expend money that had been set aside for capital on operations. Ms. Solomon, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to approve the Tentative Election Schedule. Mr. Kelly, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to amend the motion to further direct the City Manager to bring specific project ideas early in the new year for a focused parks bond in 2006. The focus would be on time-sensitive items with low operations and maintenance costs. Mr. Kelly said passing this amendment was in no way deciding whether to go out to the voters with such a measure, but was asking staff to look at the draft project list and the Multi-Year Financial Plan to determine what projects could be included for review by the council. Mr. Papé said he would appreciate it if staff contacted Eugene School District 4-J to find out how the district used its capital moneys, and what it had as excess properties that could be disposed of. Ms. Bettman said she would support the amendment, but would make a subsequent motion to move the general obligation (GO) bonds for PROS and the local levy for PROS operating and maintenance costs to 2010. Otherwise, she would not be able to support the tentative schedule. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 16, 2005 Page 6 Work Session