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<br />Mr. Brown suggested Eugene might want to take an approach similar to that used by the City of Portland <br />regarding the violations assessed by private lot operators. Mr. Petry distinguished between a time limit <br />violation and a failure to pay violation; Eugene’s time limit citation fine was $16 and a failure to pay <br />violation was $40. The fees charged by private operators were generally higher. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka requested a fee schedule for City of Eugene violations and a fee schedule for private lot <br />violations for the purposes of comparison. He also requested more information about the Portland model. <br />Mr. Petry said he would provide the council with a link to the Portland program’s Web page. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Ms. Taylor, City Attorney Jerome said people using a private lot <br />implicitly agreed to the terms and conditions of that use by parking in the lot. The citation issued by the <br />operator was actually a bill; a private operator could send the individual receiving the bill to small claims <br />court. Ms. Taylor wanted to protect people from what she believed was persecution related to their use of <br />private lots and asked how people defended themselves when harassed by collection agencies employed <br />by private operators. City Attorney Jerome acknowledged that such individuals might have to go to small <br />claims court. City Manager Ruiz suggested that the situation was no different from any other business <br />transaction; one was buying the right to park on a private lot and if one did not pay the fee, the lot <br />operator could pursue payment. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor continued to be opposed to private parties issuing citations and wanted the council to see <br />options regarding what it could do to protect people from towing and being harassed by parking lot <br />operators. She wanted options for doing something about predatory towing and private lot abuses. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz wanted to see more standardization among the practices of private lot operators. She asked that <br />the City involved the private lot operators in any such effort. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark questioned whether the City could institute an intervention that precluded the need for a <br />resident to go to small claims court and requested a scope of work for that. <br /> <br />City Manager Ruiz said staff would send out the link on the Portland model, review the discussion, and <br />determine if there was a path forward to share with the council. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 1:26 p.m. <br /> <br />Respectfully submitted, <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Beth Forrest <br />City Recorder <br /> <br />(Recorded by Kimberly Young) <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2011 Page 4 <br /> Work Session <br />