CC Minutes - 06/27/11 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Councilor Zelenka determined from Councilor Poling that the funding priorities he had laid out in his revised Section 3 were not all equal because the costs would vary so much. Councilor Poling believed the council would have to decide, if it got funding, what amounts went to what priorities. Councilor Zelenka interpreted Councilor Poling's response as calling for full funding to meet national standards for police and fire staffing to the degree that the other priorities could not be funded. Councilor Poling disagreed. He said he had suggested revising the section to read "Increase funding to the Fire and Police departments" without mention of bringing staffing levels up to national standards but Councilor Brown had been unwilling to accept that suggestion. Councilor Zelenka suggested that Councilor Poling eliminate the numbering in Section 3 to eliminate the implied priority order. Councilor Poling was unwilling to do so as he believed the council would only have to debate those priorities later. Councilor Zelenka did not agree with the priority order implied by Councilor Poling's revised Section 3 and reiterated his assumption about the effect of the resolution should any money arrive. He preferred Councilor Brown's Section 3 because it did not assume any priorities. He endorsed Councilor Ortiz's suggestion to add support for environmental clean -up and alternative energy programs to Councilor Poling's revised Section 3. Councilor Pryor said what he feared had happened; instead of talking about ending the war, the council was talking about spending money it did not have. It had substituted a discussion of budget priorities for a discussion of bringing the troops home. He found that unfortunate and urged the council to avoid it. Councilor Clark accepted a friendly amendment from Councilor Pryor to amend the motion to add support for environmental clean -up and alternative energy programs to Section 3 of the revised resolution. Councilor Farr suggested if Councilor Brown had wanted a more inclusive resolution, the mayor's resolution should have been acceptable. He believed the mayor's resolution covered all the needed points without a specific "laundry list" of services. Councilor Brown suggested there was more unanimity between Republicans and Democrats in Washington, DC, about the subject of bringing the troops home and returning the money to the states than there was on the council now. He believed the council had taken a straightforward resolution and made it complicated. He said that when the money arrived, the council could be specific about how to spend it. He could not support the amendment. Councilor Zelenka expressed support for the amendment. Councilor Ortiz expressed support for deleting the numbering in Councilor Poling's revised Section 3. At the request of Councilor Ortiz, City Attorney Klein summarized the revisions to the resolution as follows (italicized text added; struck text deleted): Section 3. The financial resources used to finance the war be redirected, if they become available to the City of Eugene, to the following priority list: 4) Full benefits for returning veterans and veterans of all wars, -2) Increase funding to and maintain perseniiel of the Eugene Police Department and the Eugene Fire and Emergency Services Department to meet national staffi s#andals, 3) Increase workforce development and job creation, 4) Rebuilding of our infrastructure, Public health and social safety net, which included.full benefits for veterans, sufficient funding for police and fire services to meet national standards, workforce development, MINUTES— Eugene City Council June 27, 2011 Page 7 Regular Meeting