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Ms. Solomon supported shifting costs to the URA to pay the Parking Fund debt, which would allow the <br />Parking Fund to contribute to the General Fund to pay for police. She wanted more understanding of the <br />impact on community services. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka also supported the VA hospital being located downtown. It was a high priority for him and he <br />thought it would be good for both downtown and local veterans. He hoped the City was doing all it could to <br />bring it downtown. Mr. Zelenka wanted to eliminate the General Fund option and indicated there were no <br />tradeoffs he could envision supporting in that regard. <br /> <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, City Attorney Glenn Klein clarified the points in the <br />memorandum he prepared for the council regarding urban renewal, and agreed to follow up with the Oregon <br />Department of Revenue on a question regarding the implications of expanding the downtown district or <br />increasing its indebtedness level for a new VA hospital downtown after June 30, 2010. Mr. Zelenka asked <br />under what circumstances the tax base would be calculated to the current assessment level. Mr. Klein <br />believed the City could adopt a new plan and reset the base but would have to wait for increases in assessed <br />value to receive the incremental increase. He agreed to follow up on that question as well. <br /> <br />Speaking to the funding mechanisms under consideration, Mr. Zelenka did not want another divisive <br />community fight about the use of urban renewal for the downtown area. He preferred the path of least <br />resistance that gained the most community support. He thought several mechanisms could achieve the same <br />or similar results without divisiveness, and encouraged the council to focus on them. He acknowledged they <br />might not be the most cost-effective, but could be the most politically acceptable. <br /> <br />Mr. Brown opposed the use of urban renewal for the identified projects, except for what was left in the fund. <br />He found all the projects mentioned to be interesting and important but did not think they could be <br />accomplished at the same time. He advocated for a focus on the Beam project and the LCC downtown <br />campus project as a way to address the major eyesore areas of downtown. He questioned spending money <br />on a federal project and suggested that the VA hospital should be in the purview of Peace Health and the <br />General Services Administration (GSA). He questioned why the City would be involved given that Peace <br />Health would continue to own the property. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark suggested to Mr. Brown the value of the VA hospital would be the number of people it would <br />draw downtown, and a synergy could be created by the close proximity of an LCC campus with a nursing <br />program. He was less excited about the Beam project because the City had already contributed a great deal <br />of money without getting the pit filled. He hoped Beam could find tenants because he did not want to see the <br />City end up in the role of tenanting the building. Mr. Clark was more focused on ensuring the City did what <br />it could to encourage LCC and the GSA. He was willing to consider urban renewal to pay for that effort. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark suggested the City consider the idea of turning the existing meters into art opportunities for local <br />artists that could be contributed to voluntarily. <br /> <br />Ms. Solomon determined from staff that the Parking Fund could realize $700,000 to $800,000 annually <br />until the fund debt was paid off in 2018. Mr. Zelenka asked that the number actually available be double- <br />checked given the other existing demands on the fund. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka suggested that each funding mechanism had an economy of scale that required it to be matched <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—City Council January 11, 2010 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />