Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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September 14, 2009 Joint Elected Officials Meeting City of Springfield City of Eugene Lane County Page 7 of 14 Councilor Brown said he had researched the Eugene urban renewal district and had come across a strategic plan from 1982 that included many of these same things. He asked how successful that plan had been for economic development. Mayor Piercy said she hoped to hold a Willamette Angel Conference in Eugene as was held in Corvallis. Also, the business school at the UofO had expressed interest in working with the cities. Commissioner Fleenor said good work from staff on this; it was a focused approach. During his community dialogues he had learned that citizens, especially small businesses, felt they were always fighting government. He wanted to take this seriously. As a small businessman, he had also felt it was a fight. The elected officials’ role was to remove the obstacles to reduce the burden on small businesses. He didn’t see that in this paper. Other than that, he felt they were right on track. Councilor Clark expressed appreciation for the chance to serve as a representative on the subcommittee. He thanked the staff and task force for their hard work refining their discussions into workable opportunities. The need for elected officials to do their part to stabilize and grow the local economy was very urgent. He was looking forward to the summit. He would vote for option 1 to move things along through the process. He had some specific ideas on how to implement some of the tactics. Councilor Wylie said she was grateful for the good work and good direction. She noted that when the Springfield Council visited the UofO nano-lab, she found that by sharing information they could discover projects that each was working on. The lab had grants and techniques to help one another and the cities. The key was good relationships and communication. Commissioner Dwyer thanked staff for their work. He quoted Oregon’s motto “She flies by her own wings”. He felt it was not government’s job to create private sector jobs. If the opportunity and amenities were there, development would come. He referred to partnering with the UofO Many things were utilized using public money and he was not supportive of public funds for that use. Using public money to develop a product should benefit all of the public. He was around in 1981 when the document referred to by Councilor Brown was drafted which then formed the Lane Metro Partnership. There were other tax benefits that helped at that time. He explained. He asked how far government needed to go to entice businesses to succeed. He wasn’t sure it was the government’s responsibility. He had been to the Angel Conferences and felt it all lead to who would bring in the money. Banks wanted sure returns as investors. It was good to have these discussions. Commissioner Handy thanked his colleagues who worked on the committee, as well as staff for working with community members. He was excited about the work force development, and other aspects of this plan. There was enough detail to articulate the values, but also enough flexibility for creativity. He urged the elected officials to modify and go with option 2 in order to hold the economic summit before choosing a plan. Following the input from the summit, modifications could be made if needed. He felt modifications could be made under Strategy #4, Land and Physical Infrastructure and Strategy #6, Targeted Industries. Small business was the backbone of the community, and local businesses, both small and large, needed to be given priority. They couldn’t just do business as usual. Strategy #4 was not pointing enough to the role brownsfields and density would play when talking about available lands. Many businesses could function on 5-10 acres. He referred to the targeted industries and felt the industry