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