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February 26, 2010 <br />Joint Elected Officials Meeting <br />City of Springfield <br />City of Eugene <br />Lane County <br /> <br />Page 10 of 13 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Commissioner Dwyer said Ms. Gaffney had done an excellent job. What made the program work was <br />the dedication of the people to the mission at-hand. He said there were a lot of politics involved in <br />building the current facility. He did what he had to do to make it happen, and that was what it would <br />take to make this work today. He felt a different model was needed other than the Tri-Agency model. <br />There were places and land available for a new facility which the County already owned. There were <br />tremendous opportunities with the private sector that needed to be explored. Ms. Gaffney was asking <br />the elected officials to explore the different models and the financing options. He noted that he and <br />Commissioner Stewart used their own funds several years ago to have an architect from Denver come <br />to Lane County. He felt the City of Eugene needed their own entrance for the spay/neuter clinic. There <br />were other things they could do in the near future to alleviate some of the issues. The Board was <br />committed to fixing animal regulation. He thanked Commissioner Fleenor for his assistance with this <br />even before he was on the Board. Commissioner Fleenor had a background in veterinary medicine and <br />had been a tremendous help. He would like the joint elected officials to work together for the common <br />good. There wasn’t anything they couldn’t do collectively if they were committed. <br /> <br />Commissioner Fleenor thanked Commissioner Dwyer for his comments. Pets were very important to <br />their owners and when the subject of animals was discussed, citizens came out to speak in large <br />numbers. He said he spoke with Mayor Piercy and Mr. Ruiz a few weeks ago and asked that this topic <br />be added to today’s agenda. He felt this meeting could be the forum in which they launched a <br />subcommittee to work together with the County to try to develop this community vision, rather than <br />the County packaging something they presented to the cities. The purpose of this on the agenda was to <br />see if there was interest. <br /> <br />Commissioner Handy said Lane County received many phone calls regarding animals. There was a lot <br />of passion from the community on this subject. The three jurisdictions had some challenging areas to <br />face in the next 20 to 30 years, but he felt this was one area which needed a common vision. There <br />were some revenue-generating opportunities worth looking into. Cost was a driver, but in the interest <br />of the public, it was important for the jurisdictions to find the funding. Ms. Gaffney could attend the <br />City Council meetings for Eugene and Springfield to discuss this further. It came down to the <br />accountability to the public sector involved in these support services. This was a great area in which to <br />come together. <br /> <br />Councilor Ralston asked what Greenhill did differently than the County, and how the County could <br />partner with them. <br /> <br />Ms. Gaffney said they did partner together in some ways now, and there might be other opportunities <br />to explore. Greenhill did some spay and neutering, as did the County, but their focus was adopting <br />animals out to families. Greenhill didn’t do any of the animal control function. The County worked <br />with Greenhill on feral cats now, and could partner with them on community education. The animals <br />that came into the County’s care were stray and homeless and the County did adopt those out to the <br />public. Some of them were transferred to Greenhill. <br /> <br />Councilor Ralston said that could be a way to continue to partner. He pointed out that the Springfield <br />City Council sent a letter to State representatives asking that the State of Oregon create a license plate <br /> <br />