CCMinutes - 05/24/04 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber--Eugene City Hall May 24, 2004 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Gary Papd, Jennifer Solomon. His Honor Mayor James D. Torrey called the regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. He noted that Ms. Solomon was excused for the first part of the meeting. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Torrey reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Bruce Miller, PO Box 50968, Eugene, shared photographs of improvements he believed were needed in downtown Eugene and noted he had provided copies of the photographs and a list of the members of Downtown Eugene, Inc. (DE1). He called for improvements in downtown and for DE1 to move to the Eugene Hilton Hotel. Mr. Miller said the City of Corvallis compiled a better directory of restaurants than Eugene. He thought the Eugene Chamber of Commerce ought to model theirs after it. Roxie Cuellar, 2053 Laura Street, Springfield, representing the Home Builders Association, wished to address Consent Calendar Item (C). She averred that the local jurisdictions had become ~lazy" about wastewater projects as there was an excellent Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) staff and the MWMC itself. She felt that, because there had been no large or controversial projects over the years, the budget and the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) list had come before the council and had been approved as proposed. She pointed out that the council was now considering $108 million in projects and thought the public should be involved, given it was such a large amount. She alleged that only one public hearing had been held and it had been held at 7:30 a.m. on a Thursday. She noted that wastewater treatment technology had evolved considerably since the last facility had been constructed and stressed the importance of allowing the community to carefully consider what sort of project would best serve it. Dennis Casady, P.O. Box 5028, did not believe the City of Eugene needed to create another bureaucracy to enforce the Tenant/Landlord law. He opined that current law included adequate housing standards and the tenant had mechanisms to ensure compliance, such as withholding rent or paying for something to be fixed and then deducting it from rent. He said it was spelled out in ORS 90.365. He noted the fear some tenants have of being evicted as a result of taking a landlord to court. He alleged it was unfounded as tenants were protected and had recourse in the event of unlawful eviction. He added that any cost a new enforcement mechanism would incur would be passed on to the tenant.