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ATTACHMENT A <br />M I N U T E S <br /> <br /> <br />City Council <br />Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall <br />777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon <br /> <br /> May 10, 2010 <br /> 7:30 p.m. <br /> <br />PRESENT: Alan Zelenka, Mike Clark, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling, Chris Pryor, George <br />Brown, members. <br /> <br />ABSENT: Andrea Ortiz. <br /> <br />Mayor Kitty Piercy called the regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. <br /> <br />1. PUBLIC FORUM <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. <br /> <br />Mary Leighton <br />, 4046 Normandy Way, Network Charter School, asked the council to direct staff to negotiate a lease <br />agreement between the City and Network Charter School (NCS) for 858 Pearl Street. She said the City’s asking <br />price was more than the property was worth. The school had offered to pay for a new appraisal and appraiser <br />Richard Duncan had offered to review the old appraisal at no cost. Ms. Leighton acknowledged it was not the City’s <br />job to find the school a home, but suggested that leasing the building to the school was an opportunity to do <br />something that was under the council’s control and it could turn what was currently an economic liability into an <br />asset. The school’s occupancy would generate funding for the City and provide needed work for the construction <br />community to bring it up to code. Ms. Leighton said the lease was an opportunity to add materially to a vibrant <br />downtown and show support for students who wanted to be downtown. <br /> <br />Jerry Diethelm <br />, 2652 Agate Street, asked the council to help keep the NCS downtown and to direct staff to find a <br />mutually acceptable agreement for a lease for the property at 858 Pearl Street. The school would be out of business <br />by the end of June unless it could find a place to occupy. He believed the site could be made to work and emphasized <br />that the school wanted to remain downtown. He suggested the situation called for council direction to create the <br />financial fit to make it work. He believed urban renewal could impact the school in a positive way. He thought the <br />City’s investment in NCS would pay off in many ways, including providing more eyes on the street and creating <br />educational partnerships with Lane Community College. It would help the City reduce its carbon footprint. <br /> <br />th <br />Wendy McKenzie <br />, 290 East 38 Avenue, NCS, provided some history about the school’s move from the Whiteaker <br />neighborhood to downtown and noted the many places in Lane County that students came from to attend the school. <br />She emphasized the importance of keeping the school downtown to facilitate students’ movement to other educational <br />sites, such as Nearby Nature in Alton Baker Park. She suggested that the City could work with the school as it had <br />done with Nearby Nature to facilitate the transaction. <br /> <br />Daniel Sellers <br />, 1008 Crocker Lane, a student at NCS, spoke of the importance of the school to students who did not <br />fit into the traditional school system. He thought the school belonged downtown, should stay downtown, and the <br />council could help with that. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—City Council April 14, 2010 Page 1 <br /> <br />