Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Councilor Zelenka, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to adopt a Priority 1 Support posi- tion on House Bill 2184. Councilor Taylor explained that while she supported raising the amount of the deposit, the idea of state-run redemption centers had given her pause. She was worried that this would defeat the purpose by adding an extra step in the redemption process and therefore increasing the amount of containers that were tossed aside. She thought it would also increase the vehicle miles traveled. She could not imagine that there would be more than three redemption centers in the City. Councilor Zelenka asked who the sponsor was and how this affected the process of redeeming bottles and cans at grocery stores. Ms. Wilson reiterated that the bill had come out of a recommendation from the Bottle Bill Task Force, which had been meeting since 2007. She said the bill established a goal for an 80 percent return rate with an advisory committee to report back to the Legislature no later than February 1, 2017, to let them know how well it was working. She explained that part of the discussion from the task force was that the industry would set up the redemption centers. She acknowledged that at present it was not known how many centers there would be or how they would be set up. She underscored that if the redemption centers did not work the Legislature would take another look at the bill. In response to a follow-up question from Councilor Zelenka, Ms. Wilson stated that this bill would not shift the responsibility for redemption to the centers immediately. Roll call vote; the vote was a tie, 4:4; councilors Clark, Pryor, Ortiz, and Poling voting in favor and councilors Taylor, Zelenka, Solomon, and Brown voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy voted for adoption of a Priority 1 Support position on House Bill 2184 and the mo- tion passed. Councilor Zelenka, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to adopt a Neutral position on House Bill 2385. Roll call vote; the motion passed, 6:2; councilors Zelenka and Taylor vot- ing in opposition. Councilor Zelenka, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to adopt a Priority 3 Support posi- tion on House Bill 2239. Councilor Taylor averred that the City should adopt a Priority 3 Oppose stance because she believed it was an “invasion of civil liberties” to require someone to give blood or urine against their wishes. Councilor Zelenka related that he once had a good friend killed by a drunk driver and he took the matter “very seriously.” He felt, however, that blood tests were beyond a normal expectation and were an invasion of privacy. He indicated he would vote against the motion. Councilor Ortiz stated that this was not a bill that would require people at random to be subjected to blood tests. She said this would apply only to a group of people for whom the breathalyzer could not identify intoxication. She underscored that expert people who were trained to determine whether a person was under the influence of something would be brought in. She did not disagree that this was an invasion of privacy, but if a person had been pulled over and the officer could tell that the person was impaired, but could not tell what kind of inebriant had caused it, a blood or urine test would be the next step. Councilor Clark understood the value of ensuring that officers had all the tools they needed to make sure that the roadways were safe from people who were driving under the influence. He felt that the challenge was that they could not write a law that said a person had to give these things. He averred that instead the bill had to “back door” the requirement, by saying a person could not get a drivers’ license unless they MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 9, 2009 Page 8 Regular Meeting