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He said he understood that staff was of the opinion that while the work had been completed, it had not <br />been embraced across the board as City policy and had not been included in the economic development <br />strategies. He said other communities had adopted sustainability as a major component of doing business <br />and had done so very systematically and very comprehensively. <br /> <br />Mr. Bowerman said the activities of other communities should be considered. He said the Mayor's <br />Committee was not forging new ground while at the same time the City of Eugene was not so far behind <br />that it would not be able to join those who were working at the cutting edge of pressing issues in our <br />culture. <br /> <br />Mr. Kahle asked if the City's adopted statement of intent related to'practices for City departments or was <br />designed to apply to the types of businesses we were trying to attract. Mr. Bowerman replied it was not <br />specifically oriented to the committee's charge. Mr. Bowerman reviewed the sustainability principles he <br />had referred to. <br /> <br />Ms. Teninty asked Mr. Bowerman to provide some examples of Principle 7. Mr. Bowerman replied that <br />the real question when expending public resources for economic development was: do we do so in such as <br />way to get a quick bang for the buck that does not deliver over a long time, versus something that might <br />cost more up front but delivered long term results? He added that it was essential to develop criteria and <br />establish methodology to gauge the success of the criteria,' and to avoid arbitrary and capricious decisions. <br /> <br />Mr. Rexius asked how an acceptable and/or sustainable business was determined, what did sustainability <br />mean, and who would decide? He said he felt it was the job of the committee to develop policy and not to <br />decide what was sustainable. <br /> <br />Addressing Principle 6, Mr. Re'voal said skill level needed to be addressed when considering wage level. <br /> <br />Ms. Teninty said she understood that any business would do what it wanted to do, but she felt the <br />principles were relevant to the scarce public resources in economic development. Businesses would be <br />supported that did not create another need for public support, such as food stamps, because employees did <br />not earn enough money to support themselves. <br /> <br />Mr. Goldsmith said given the vagaries of sustainability as a concei3t, it confirmed the conflict that existed <br />in the community addressed by Mr. Bowerman. He added that susyainability represented a vague set of <br />ethics that formed the focal point for many discussions in the community. <br /> <br />Mr. Wanichek said his principles were different from those proposed by Mr. Bowerman related to <br />sustainability, pay scale of at least two times the minimum w~tge level, and the City Budget Committee. <br />He said as individual issues were debated by the committee, 'everyone's principles would be clarified. <br /> <br />Mr. Korth concurred with Mr. Wanichek's comments thatlit was difficult to create general principles in a <br />vague sense. He added when particular issues and policy standards were discussed, principles would <br />apply in those discussions. <br /> <br />Ms. Pierce said many of the principles, particularly 3-7, were reflective of a year's worth of discussion <br />that took place ten years ago on many of the same issues. At thaf time, concepts for use of City controlled <br />incentives to determine if incentives were warranted were identified, and what level of assistance would <br />be appropriate, depending upon on how the criteria were weighed. She said the recommendation at that <br /> <br />MINUTES--Mayor's Committee on Economic Development May 3, 2004 Page 3 <br /> <br /> <br />