Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Mr. Solomon asked what the next steps would be. Ms. Lampman said the report and recommendations would be presented to the Springfield City Council and staff would work with Lane County on the scan. Mr. Clark offered a friendly amendment to allow staff to proceed with cooperating with Lane County on the scan of homeless issues. Mr. Zelenka accepted the friendly amendment and added language to have staff follow up on the five recommendations in the Agenda Item Summary. Mr. Clark accepted the added language. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Ms. Piercy hoped that part of the discussion would address the issue of laws that prevent people from sitting or lying down in public. She clarified that the council’s discussion was not implying that homeless people necessarily engage in criminal activities. She emphasized that the community was not prepared with an emergency shelter plan to take care of people during severe weather incidents. Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Zelenka, moved to work with community partners to address an emergency plan for shelter. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. C. WORK SESSION: Civic Stadium Mr. Ruiz stated that the Ems had indicated that Civic Stadium no longer fit the needs and requirements of profes- sional baseball and to bring the stadium up to those standards would cost between $10 and $15 million. He said the Ems were in discussion with the University of Oregon about use of the University’s new baseball facility. He asked for an indication of the council’s wishes with respect to Civic Stadium. He said the City was not in a position to make an investment of that magnitude given its current budget situation, but could play a role in facilitating an ongoing discussion of the reuse of Civic Stadium and the property on which it was located. Mr. Clark said he had met with the Save Civic Stadium group and thanked them for their efforts. He said the stadium was an asset to the community and the City should help find creative ways to save it, but those could not be at the expense of the City or the 4J School District. He believed there was an opportunity for the City to partner with other organizations to find another use for the stadium, such as a regional youth sports facility, but whatever use occurred had to be at a minimum revenue neutral with a plan to create a revenue stream that would benefit the school district as long as it continued to own the property. He did not want the district to have to choose between closing a school and keeping a sports field open. Mr. Pryor was encouraged by the proposals coming forward, which were creative, flexible and visionary. He recognized that declaring the property surplus and selling it was an effort by the financially strapped school district to take advantage of an opportunity to improve its fiscal circumstances. He envisioned a partnership between the City and school district to explore options and endorsing use of the property was a good start. He agreed with Mr. Ruiz that the City was not in a financial position to acquire the property, renovate it or undertake a long-term maintenance obligation. He was mindful that the property was donated to the school district for recreation and educational purposes and efforts to save the stadium needed to take that into consideration. Ms. Taylor observed that Civic Stadium had historical significance to many people. She said the City should make it clear it did not have the power to keep the Ems at the stadium. She was not averse to spending some of the “people’s” money to help save the stadium. Mr. Poling wanted to see Civic Stadium saved, but the City could not afford to do that. He was in favor of a public/private partnership to preserve the stadium and was interested in ways the City could help the Save Civic Stadium group’s efforts. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 26, 2009 Page 5 Work Session