CC Minutes - 12/07/09 Joint Elected Officials

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noted that to put a fire district into place would take approximately three years. He believed that if they had a more comprehensive solution, countywide or regionally in Central Lane County, they could potentially solve the problem. Commissioner Handy thanked the members of the task force. He had found the process to be informative. He also thanked the fire chiefs and the presidents of the two unions for participating in the conversation. Councilor Clark thanked the fire chiefs and their staffs for their participation, as well as the other elected officials. He believed the recommendations they had arrived at were a very good way to address the challenge presented by an ever decreasing reimbursement. He said the seven recommendations prioritized the service and set out the clear expectation that ambulance service was a core service that the general public expected the jurisdictions to provide, even if this meant applying some general fund support toward it. He thought the recommendations would provide them the opportunity to make the operations more efficient and to move forward with new innovations that would help to address the challenges at hand. He hoped that everyone could support the recommendations. Commissioner Sorenson wanted the seventh recommendation, which suggested that the public ambulance service provider agencies to continue to lobby the Oregon Legislature and United States Congress for larger- scale long-term solutions, to be reworded. He wanted more nuance. He did not like the word ‘lobby’ and preferred to say that they needed to “educate them on the effects of their current state and federal policies” on the local jurisdictions. He also wished to clarify that Lane County would not provide any general fund support and the first recommendation should pertain only to the two cities and Lane Rural. Chief Groves explained that the first recommendation pertained to the units of government that represented the three service providers. He believed it should be of concern to the Lane County Commissioners that all of the local ambulance service providers were experiencing the same challenges, as were all ambulance service providers across the country. Commissioner Sorenson asked what the other service providers that did not participate in the task force were doing to address the problem. Chief Groves replied that they were watching the task force and were interested in what the elected officials would do to take the next steps, as was the whole state. Mayor Piercy understood that the general fund support was intended only as a short-term solution to the funding shortfall; in the long-term the public would be better served if ambulance and fire services were supported by a combination of fees for services, Fire Med membership fees, and some form of dedicated tax support. Chief Groves clarified that the recommendation for the short-term general fund support was in recognition that the establishment of longer-term funding mechanisms could not be accomplished in the short-term. He added that the ambulance service deficit for the City of Eugene was projected to be approaching $900,000 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011. Commissioner Dwyer thanked the task force for their work. He considered it commendable that the jurisdictions were willing to look at consolidation. He said the problem in the past had been who would “rule” a consolidated district. He was happy, though, that the recommendation appeared to be a real effort to consolidate. He remarked that the problem with a public service district was that the people already felt they were paying taxes for these services and would perceive the district as a second tax for the same services. He said the concept of consolidation was sound because it reduced administrative costs. He MINUTES—Joint Elected Officials—Lane County, Springfield, December 7, 2009 Page 3 & Eugene