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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 4 of 13 <br /> <br /> <br />would be a question of how to encourage people to want to bring jobs here. She was curious about <br />how to address the basic skills of young people when the budgets for the schools were in trouble. <br /> <br />Councilor Pryor said there were still things that could be worked on, but this was a great document. <br />The Regional Prosperity Council could continue that work. It was important that the team be made up <br />of all the elected officials. The educational component was important. The last time they had gone <br />through this, one of the areas that was critically involved was a network with the community colleges. <br />That system was still in place and could easily be reinvigorated. They could learn from what had been <br />done before¸ but they needed to be careful of the steps taken during these tough economic times. <br />Things were going to be different when the economy improved. <br /> <br />Councilor Wylie said it was painful to see businesses in the downtown areas closing and suffering. <br />She would like a segment in the plan to bring in a team with resources to resuscitate a business that <br />was starting to fail. It would be difficult to create new jobs when the existing jobs were failing. If they <br />had a system, they could send in a team to analyze the situation. <br /> <br />Councilor Clark said this may not be a perfect plan for all, but was a very good plan. It was not just a <br />Eugene plan, but a regional plan and respected the jurisdictional differences. He appreciated the <br />chance to serve on the subcommittee and the hard work of everyone at the summit. This gave them a <br />roadmap to begin and could be adjusted as they went. He was anxious to get moving and to act. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor said she was concerned when they talked about attracting new business because she <br />wanted to sustain the homegrown businesses. The businesses were good, the focus should be on them, <br />and those which were in trouble should be assisted. She was skeptical about creating 20,000 new jobs. <br />There should be jobs for the people here, but quality of life would suffer if too many people were <br />attracted to the area. Before creating a Prosperity Council, she wanted to be clear what that group <br />would do that no one else was currently doing. Once a group was created, it was difficult to remove it. <br /> <br />Commissioner Dwyer said he was a proven skeptic. A well-run business had assistance from other <br />sources such as the bank. Smart people could produce things competitively and would succeed. The <br />international market was the competition and it had low or no environmental, labor, or wage standards, <br />and national companies were rewarded for working with them. Policies were totally wrong. When <br />things were tight, costs needed to be cut back. It was good to do something. The community had a <br />great future and he was optimistic. He discussed technology advances. He thanked staff for their <br />efforts. <br /> <br />Commissioner Fleenor said from listening to the others comments, there was some interest in moving <br />forward even though the document was not perfect. Entrepreneurs didn’t quit after their first failure. <br />He would like to see this move forward. He asked Mayor Leiken what the process was to move <br />forward, such as a motion. <br /> <br />Mayor Leiken said there were still several folks waiting to speak. There were three suggested motions <br />in the packet for the elected officials to consider. <br /> <br />Councilor Pryor said he agreed they should move forward. For this body of policy makers, part of <br />what had slowed their progress in the past was coming to a consensus of policy. As they moved down <br /> <br />