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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 01/14/08 Work Session M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room – City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon January 14, 2008 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. COMMITTEE REPORTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL AND CITY MANAGER Ms. Ortiz reminded the council and audience that there were many community celebrations planned for the observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Ms. Taylor stated she was disappointed with a memorandum stating that acquisition of natural park areas could be encumbered by negotiations for land, which she felt was contrary to council direction. She questioned why an executive session was necessary. She referred to an article in the December 14, 2007, issue of The Register Guard indicating the buffers for waterways had been reduced and said that was not a council action. City Manager pro tem Angel Jones was not certain what that was referring to and said she would check into the matter. Ms. Taylor conveyed the request of a constituent to pass a "no soliciting" ordinance. She said another constituent was upset that her garbage company would only reduce her fee if she was gone for two weeks or longer; a reduction for one week was not offered. She said a constituent had reported being the subject of threats and curses when he walked downtown. She noted that a fee on the sale of studded tires was determined to be legal and would request a work session on the subject. She recommended listening to a telecast of City Club speakers on the topic of conserving old growth timber. Ms. Bettman commented that the proposed basketball arena would require either a $50 million parking structure or many acres of surface area parking and there was no provision for needed parking in the $200 million plan for the arena. She said the University of Oregon had externalized its parking requirements and the impacts onto the City when Autzen Stadium was rebuilt. She hoped to avoid that problem with the basketball arena and asked for a briefing on the parking needs and how the City would assure they were part of the University's plan and not externalized onto City taxpayers. Mr. Clark thanked City Manager pro tem Jones for her memorandum regarding discussions that were contrary to the council's existing policy. He announced he had attended his first Police Commission meeting and conveyed the commission's gratitude to Ms. Ortiz for her years of service. Mr. Zelenka agreed the basketball arena plan did not adequately address parking needs and that was an issue of great concern to the Fairmount neighbors. He hoped the City could work with the University to protect MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 14, 2008 Page 1 Work Session the livability of adjacent neighborhoods. He said a seven-story building was being constructed at 19th Avenue and Alder Street and it would be a 212-unit apartment complex with 40 parking spaces. He said that was a concern to South University neighbors, but the building was consistent with the development code. He felt that refinement plans should be a higher priority consistent with council's neighborhood goal to protect livability through land use. Mr. Pryor thanked Public Works and the Planning and the Development Department for their efforts to work with a constituent to resolve problems related to changes to his property. Ms. Ortiz thanked those who had attended the State of the City event. She requested a work session related to the memorandum from Brian Obie concerning the Fifth Street Public Market. City Manager pro tem Jones reminded councilors of scheduled tours of the West Town on 8th Avenue development. She announced that Public Works engineering was now conditionally certified for federally funded transportation project development, making Eugene only the second local agency in the State to receive certification. She said that three parks properties identified in the 2006 parks bond measure had been acquired: Golden Gardens ponds acreage ($1.7 million), a key parcel to establishing a Santa Clara community park in the Madison Middle School vicinity ($865,000) and a parcel significant to the further development of Amazon Park ($579,000). She said the earned income tax credit program which the City helped to promote had returned $7 million to Lane County last year. She noted that a joint session with the Lane County Board of County Commissioners was scheduled for January 16; the meeting was for discussion purposes only. She thanked Hult Center staff for its exemplary work during the run of Riverdance, which was attended by 19,000 people. Ms. Taylor said she was pleased to see an award given to Michelle Mortenson recognizing her work assisting citizens. Mayor Piercy said that Project Homeless Connect was scheduled for February 7 and encouraged councilors to participate in that event. She said that a local collaboration was under way to explore alternatives to commingling for recycling plastic bags. B. WORK SESSION: Adoption of the 2008 Federal Priorities Project List (United Front) Intergovernmental Relations Manager Brenda Wilson presented the list of Eugene federal priorities proposed for inclusion on the master priorities list for the United Front strategy. She said staff had identified projects with federal funding opportunities and vetted those through the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (CCIGR) and based on those discussions a final list of proposed projects for the City of Eugene was provided to the CCIGR, which approved forwarding them to the council for approval. She reviewed each project on the list: ? Delta Ponds ? Metro Waterways General Investigative Study ? West Eugene Wetlands Environmental Education Center ? Forest Legacy ? Franklin Boulevard - Multiway Boulevard (NEPA request only) ? West Eugene Transportation Implementation ? Fire and EMS Simulator Lab MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 14, 2008 Page 2 Work Session ? Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization ? Beltline Corridor from River Road to Coburg Road ? West Bank Trail Extension Ms. Wilson said the Beltline Corridor project from River Road to Coburg Road was submitted to the CCIGR for consideration but the committee concluded the project was not ready for inclusion on the 2008 Eugene Federal priorities list. She said the West Bank Trail Extension request for $1.75 million was not included because Representative Peter DeFazio had strongly recommended the City seek funding from the State for that project. She said there would also be future opportunities to submit large transportation funding requests outside of the United Front effort. She said projects determined not ready for inclusion on the 2008 priorities list would be referred to the IGR Committee for possible inclusion on the SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization list. Mr. Clark said neighbors in the vicinity of the Delta Ponds area were convinced that clearing blackberries from the perimeter of the property by the US Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) had resulted in nutrias invading the neighborhood. He had been informed that wildlife abatement was the responsibility of the ACOE and hoped that issue could be addressed in future Delta Ponds work. Mr. Clark was under the impression that the Beltline corridor between River Road and Coburg Road was the council's highest transportation priority and asked why NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act) funding was being requested for West Eugene and Franklin Boulevard projects and not Beltline. Rob Inerfeld, Planning and Development Department, explained there were three steps a project went through to move from TransPlan to construction. He said first there needed to be a facility plan, followed by a NEPA process before the project was ready for construction; the facility planning process for Beltline from River Road to Coburg Road had been delayed because of Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) budget cuts. He said the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) had recommended the project as a top priority for funding in the FY10-13 State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). He said some of the NEPA process would be incorporated in facility planning to help expedite the project. He said that ODOT's budget deficit was being evenly distributed to regions across the State. Mr. Clark asked if the 2009 legislative session was likely to restore funding. Mr. Inerfeld said that ODOT had requested priorities from regions in anticipation of increased funding. Mr. Zelenka added that the MPC had asked staff to provide recommendations for local priority criteria to assist the MPC to objectively prioritize projects. Mr. Clark asked if the Delta Highway/Beltline project was dependent on County funds. Mr. Inerfeld responded that it was an ODOT project and could be entirely funded by ODOT, but the State would likely welcome County funding. Ms. Ortiz expressed dismay that the Beltline corridor project was not on the federal priorities list. Ms. Bettman hoped that staff recommendations to the MPC would reflect City Council policies on transportation priorities that elevated maintenance and preservation, and safety and efficiency over modernization and capacity. She questioned why the West Eugene Transportation Implementation project, which was the third priority, was being moved forward while the Beltline Corridor from River Road to Coburg Road project, which was the first priority, had been taken off the table. She asked for a full list of priorities from all of the United Front jurisdictions. She understood that Springfield had put forward two MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 14, 2008 Page 3 Work Session projects that were not in the current constrained RTP. She asked why the council was not approving the entire United Front project list, since other jurisdictions' projects impacted Eugene's projects. With respect to the council approving other jurisdictions' lists, City Manager pro tem Jones said that was not how the United Front process had been designed. She said jurisdictions agreed that projects on the United Front priorities list would not be in competition for the same funds and the full list was reviewed to assure that. She said she would convey the council's interest in reviewing the project list from a regional perspective, but there would need to be a mechanism for resolving any disagreements. She said the United Front initiative was an effort to capitalize on the funding available to the region and did not involve policy; under the current process the council did not have the authority to approve or disapprove projects on another jurisdiction's list. Mr. Inerfeld pointed out that the two Springfield interchange projects had been moved from the RTP future list to the constrained list as part of the 2031 update and were now part of the current RTP constrained list. He said the West 11th Avenue was the council's second transportation priority and Beltline from Roosevelt Boulevard to West 11th Avenue was the third. He said staff was trying to combine those projects into one project for a future NEPA study and hoped to work on all three council priorities. Ms. Wilson added that funding for the Beltline Corridor project could also be placed on the SAFETEA-LU reauthorization list if necessary. Mr. Zelenka questioned why the Beltline Corridor project, which was the top regional priority, could not be added to the federal priorities list for NEPA process or construction funding to avoid delaying the project until FY10-13 STIP funding became available. He was also concerned with prioritizing the United Front list at the regional level to avoid competition among projects. He said the two new projects submitted by Springfield totaled $90 million, which clearly competed with the higher priority Beltline Corridor project. City Manager pro tem Jones emphasized that there was nothing that precluded a jurisdiction from lobbying independently for funding; the intent of United Front was to present a package of projects that did not compete against each other and would maximize funding coming to the region. She said the United Front process did not include a mechanism that would enable the list to be reviewed from a regional perspective, although that could be considered for the 2009 effort. Ms. Wilson added that the council could act to return the Beltline Corridor project to the City's 2008 federal priorities list. She said that was not precluded by Springfield's two projects. Mr. Zelenka suggested returning the Beltline Corridor project to the list. He said the purpose of the local criteria requested by the MPC was to assist in objectively developing priorities for the region and removing politics from the process to the greatest extent possible. He asked if the Beverly and Green properties would be eligible for the Forest Legacy Program. Ms. Wilson said the properties would be eligible for the program if the owners were willing sellers and staff could develop a plan for submitting them to the State as Forest Legacy projects. She said the Wildish property near Springfield would also be eligible. She said those projects would need to be submitted for the 2009 priorities list because the 2008 application period had closed. Mr. Pryor agreed that local criteria would be helpful in clarifying priorities. He understood United Front was a collaborative strategy among local jurisdictions and had not been formalized through an intergovern- mental agreement. He said it was based on good will among jurisdictions, not a legal mandate, and participation was voluntary. He said it was inappropriate for the council to attempt to impose its authority on other jurisdictions in the United Front process, which was working well as a coordinated effort that did MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 14, 2008 Page 4 Work Session not require mutual approval of projects. He would support adding the Beltline Corridor Project to the federal priorities list as it was the top priority and reiterated his opposition to efforts to impose the council's authority on the United Front strategy. Mayor Piercy commented that she had participated in the United Front effort for the past three years and lobbying efforts were for the entire package of projects. She felt that it would be helpful to clarify the process as presenting the priorities as those of individual jurisdictions, not the region. Mr. Clark said he would move to amend the proposed motion to add the Beltline Corridor project. He agreed with any efforts at the federal level to increase the funding available to the region as it did not appear the County would be helpful on transportation issues. He agreed with Mayor Piercy and Mr. Zelenka that the council should view the process as a complementary, not a competitive process, that could enhance the region's resources through cooperative efforts. Ms. Bettman stated that the United Front list was presented as regional priorities agreed upon by all jurisdictions. She questioned why the City of Eugene would lobby for other jurisdictions' projects if the council had not approved them. She said the issue was one of transportation, and therefore land use policies on behalf of a jurisdiction, and the council had a right to see the entire list and determine if it really represented regional priorities. She was not certain she could support moving forward with Eugene's list. She asked if the Division Avenue Bridge, which was added to the Beltline corridor project at the last minute, could be removed without impacting the project. Mr. Inerfeld said the request could be for $2.5 million and language would only address problems in the Beltline corridor and the need for improvements to address safety and congestion issues without mentioning the Division Avenue Bridge. Ms. Bettman argued that the bridge could be brought forward during the NEPA process. Mr. Inerfeld pointed out that the NEPA process was designed to look at all alternatives and the Division Avenue Bridge was in TransPlan as a future project. Ms. Bettman remarked that she would support anything that moved the three priority projects forward. She asked why the Green property could not be substituted for one of the current Forest Legacy projects. Ms. Wilson explained that the application process to get a project on the State Forest Legacy list closed on October 1, 2007; the project would be submitted for the 2009 list, but there was no opportunity to submit or substitute a project at this point because the State's list had already been submitted to the Regional Office for prioritization. In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, Mr. Inerfeld said the Franklin Boulevard-Multiway Boulevard project would be a collaborative effort with Springfield and Lane Transit District (LTD) and the concept was a multi-way boulevard from the Springfield Bridge to Onyx Street, at which point it would become a streetscape enhancement project. He said the current request was for $5 million in NEPA funding. He said the partnership with Springfield and LTD made the project stronger and more appealing. Ms. Bettman stated that the United Front process did not reflect priorities and jurisdictions were proposing "half-baked" projects simply to request funding. She could not support the process. Mr. Zelenka observed that the NEPA process was intended to scope the alternatives and realize a fully developed proposal. He intended to offer amendments to the motion. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 14, 2008 Page 5 Work Session Ms. Taylor asked whether new projects proposed by Springfield would place Eugene projects lower on the priorities list and compete for the same funds. Ms. Wilson replied that the proposed priorities lists from all jurisdictions were reviewed in the summer to determine there was no competition for funding and those lists could not be expanded, only reduced. She said the two projects from Springfield were on the proposed priorities list and not added later. Ms. Taylor hoped that the process could be discussed well in advance next year. She asked if Forest Legacy funds could be used to reimburse the City for the acquisition of property with other funds. Ms. Wilson said that replacement of funds already spent was not allowed. Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to adopt the 2008 Federal Priorities Pro- ject List. Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to amend the motion by adding $2.5 mil- lion for the Beltline Corridor NEPA study. The motion to amend passed unani- mously, 8:0. Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to amend the motion to include ap- plication for Forest Legacy grant for the Beverly and Green properties in 2009. The motion to amendment passed unanimously, 8:0. Ms. Bettman said the 2007 priorities list included a request from Springfield for $1.5 million for the Franklin Boulevard corridor study to upgrade to urban standards and Eugene’s request for $500,000 for a West 11th Avenue corridor study. She asked if the West 11th Avenue study had been eliminated. Mr. Inerfeld replied that the City received $150,000 in Surface Transportation Program-Urban (STP-U) through the MPC process and that was adequate to conduct the study. Ms. Bettman asked why Eugene was requesting funding for the Franklin Boulevard-Multiway Corridor project instead of Springfield or LTD. Ms. Wilson said that Eugene’s federal lobbyists felt there was a greater chance of success if the jurisdictions combined NEPA requests into one request. She said the council would be approving the inclusion of Eugene's NEPA request in LTD's request for $5 million in NEPA funding. The motion as amended passed, 7:1; Ms. Bettman voting in opposition. Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved that the United Front list be rechar- acterized as jurisdictional priorities instead of regional priorities. Ms. Bettman reiterated her objection to lobbying for other jurisdictions' projects when the council could not approve them and said the intent of her motion was to give Eugene's United Front representatives direction on how to lobby for funds in Washington, DC. City Manager pro tem Jones said that while there was not agreement that the list was a regional document, there was agreement that even if a jurisdiction did not support an item on the list, it would not lobby against it. She emphasized that United Front was a funding initiative and not a policy process and changes would be required to shift from funding to a policy and regional focus. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 14, 2008 Page 6 Work Session Ms. Bettman said she did not object to the policy of not opposing other jurisdictions' projects, but it was not fair or correct that those were represented as Eugene's priorities. She said in the past Eugene representatives were put in the position of lobbying for other jurisdictions' priorities without any idea of the council's position on them. Ms. Ortiz remarked that there was more to the issue and the Mayor and CCIGR chair, who would be Eugene's United Front representatives, were clear about the council's intent. She did not feel a motion was necessary. She said the term "united front" meant that local jurisdictions moved forward together and perhaps the name should be changed if that was no longer the intent. Mayor Piercy said her intent was to clarify in the 2008 federal priorities document what it represented. Ms. Bettman said her motion was meant to articulate that the council was not giving its United Front representatives the ability to endorse projects that it had not approved. Mr. Clark remarked that the mayor of Springfield had missed a flight and was unable to participate in the 2007 United Front trip and Mayor Piercy had generously agreed to lobby for Springfield's priorities in his absence. He felt that was a good thing to do as it promoted regional harmony and was a cooperative effort. He would not support the motion. The motion failed, 3:5; Ms. Bettman, Ms. Taylor and Mr. Zelenka voting in favor. C. WORK SESSION: City Manager Recruitment Human Resources Manager Lauren Chouinard referred to the agenda packet materials representing data sorted to compare city manager total compensation from major Oregon cities and from selected cities in western states and to compare local public CEO compensation. Ms. Bettman expressed her interest in a system that would be competitive in attracting an excellent candidate and it appeared the City's pay scale was out of sync with other cities, although she was not certain how to establish a threshold commensurate with the candidate's current salary. She said that beyond that the six steps could be utilized. Mr. Chouinard said that the vast majority of city manager positions did not have a salary range or steps; the salary was negotiated with the candidate and annual raises were decided based on merit. He said in some cases a cost-of-living adjustment was included. He noted that the City's compensation was not consistent with the broader regional market, which could make it difficult to compete. He said deferred compensation was also an area of inconsistency and suggested that any adjustments be made in salary and deferred compensation. Ms. Bettman said it appeared preferable to not establish a range, but rather negotiate on a case-by-case basis with a candidate. She was inclined to support Option C. Ms. Ortiz said she also was in favor of Option C. She did not support an automatic cost-of-living adjustment and agreed that deferred compensation was desirable. Mr. Clark said he could support Option C as it provided the greatest degree of flexibility, but asked councilors to bear in mind that it was acceptable to offer a lower salary than other cities as Eugene offered so many other amenities to residents. He characterized it as the "green paycheck." MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 14, 2008 Page 7 Work Session Ms. Taylor agreed with abolishing the six-step salary range. She agreed with Mr. Clark that it was not necessary to increase the salary to attract candidates as the recruitment had been completed. Mr. Pryor supported Option C and elimination of the six-step salary range. He agreed that Eugene was a desirable community, but the "green paycheck" only went so far and the salary range should be competitive and not rely too heavily on the beauty of the community. Mr. Zelenka said he preferred Option C. He asked staff to provide a list of the perquisites provided by other cities. He said the salary range appeared to be fairly consistent, but deferred compensation was substan- tially out of sync with other cities, as was the auto allowance, and those should be brought up to the Oregon median. Mayor Piercy said she supported Option C. Ms. Bettman commented that the green component was not applicable as the applicant would be asked to commit almost all of his or her time to the job and have little opportunity to take advantage of community amenities. She felt that many applicants were attracted because the council had indicated it was willing to renegotiate the salary. Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to adjust compensation for the city man- ager position as described in Option C. Ms. Bettman asked how pay raises would be negotiated without established steps. She said the council would need to establish specific performance goals against which to evaluate the candidate. She recom- mended that the next work session on city manager recruitment address creating a performance evaluation tool. Mr. Chouinard said one of the contract elements would be the process for granting pay raises or cost- of-living adjustments and staff could provide examples of language used by other jurisdictions. The motion passed, 7:0. Mr. Pryor was out of the room and did not vote. Mr. Chouinard distributed copies of scheduling options and reviewed them with the council. Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to approve scheduling Option 2. The motion passed 6:0; Ms. Taylor and Mr. Zelenka abstaining. The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Angel Jones City Manager pro tem (Recorded by Lynn Taylor) MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 14, 2008 Page 8 Work Session