CC Minutes - 03/11/09 Work Session

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after the dinner. Continuing, Ms. Ortiz stated that the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) had met on the previous day. She said the agency had been discussing the make-up of the board and the budget, and remarked that it was “all very controversial” because of funding issues. She related that LRAPA planned a public meeting for April 2 to talk about the Seneca Sawmill Sustainable Energy Project. She said comments and questions could be submitted to the LRAPA Web site. She stated that the agency also planned to monitor the air quality around the schools in the Bethel neighborhood. Mr. Pryor regretted that he had missed the Neighborhood Summit. He had attended Project Homeless Connect, however, calling it a “tremendous event.” He said just the volunteer support alone was gratifying. He noted that the Housing Policy Board had met two weeks earlier and was working on a number of federal issues regarding grants and funding applications. He related that the board was trying to ensure that the region received its share of any funding that was coming from the federal government. Ms. Taylor reported that she had attended the Southeast Neighbors meeting the previous night and the group talked “a lot” about sustainability. She shared that the group was happy that the City was involved in sustainability. She had also attended the Human Services Commission (HSC) meeting. She said they needed money. Ms. Taylor thought the Neighborhood Summit had been “great.” She had noticed that the facilitators were doing a good job. She related that someone had asked if the council really supported “neighborhood empowerment” and she had responded that she thought it did. Ms. Taylor stated that she continued to receive telephone calls and emails from the people who live in the Crest Drive neighborhood, and now she was hearing from people who did not live in the neighborhood, who were concerned about the people who were being assessed for street improvements there. She asserted that there was a widespread belief that the street assessments for the Crest Drive area were “just not fair.” She continued to hope that the City could find “some money to help,” perhaps by delaying some of the capital improvement program (CIP) projects and using some of that money. Ms. Taylor said the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (CCIGR) was scheduled to meet immediately following the council work session. Ms. Solomon had missed the Neighborhood Summit. She explained that her family was hosting a foreign exchange student and the student played for Willamette High School girls’ basketball team, which had won the state tournament over the weekend. She reminded the people of the Bethel community that the next meeting of the Active Bethel Citizens (ABC) was scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on March 18 at Petersen Barn. She noted that the ABC newsletter contained an agenda. Ms. Solomon related that both the Public Safety Coordinating Council (PSCC) and the HSC planned to meet over the council break. She planned to report on both when the council reconvened after the break. Ms. Solomon had come across a couple of articles about the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and its impact on state government. She said the articles indicated that PERS was generating less money and cities would have to pick up the slack. She had not heard anything about this as it related to the City’s budget and how this would be accounted for. She hoped to get some information on this before the budget meetings. She expressed nervousness about having only six budget meetings, with only four weeks from the MINUTES—Eugene City Council March 11, 2009 Page 2 Work Session