Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/23/1990 Meeting e e e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session Black Angus Restaurant April 23, 1990 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Shawn Boles, Emily Schue, Debra Ehrman, Roger Rutan, Rob Bennett, Bobby Green, Freeman Holmer, Ruth Bascom. The adjourned meeting of April 18, 1990, of the Eugene City Council was called to order by His Honor Mayor Jeff Miller. Councilors discussed the evening's agenda and agreed to identify three goals to focus on for the next six months. Another objective chosen for the evening was a review of all committees and commissions, and council assignments to these bodies. I. GENERAL DISCUSSION OF GOALS AND COMMITTEES Mr. Miller referred to a list of 80 work load items staff had identified that would corne before the council within the next six months. Ms. Schue said she was concerned about financing so many work items. Mr. Rutan said it was important in business to have three main goals in mind at all times. He suggested this prioritization of goals would be helpful to the council also. Mr. Boles said the council needed a method for setting goals. He suggested that staff present work item alternatives to the council. Ms. Schue said the council initiated committees, such as the Tree Commission, without knowing if it would be able to fund committee recommendations. She suggested the council provide committees with clearer direction of their purpose and council's expectations of them. Mr. Holmer said the council should give committees a specific task, for which the council could take leadership; such as a committee to choose a library site. He agreed with Mr. Rutan that if the council had three main goals it would do a better job. Mr. Green said councilors should give careful consideration to which committees they could most effectively serve on and how many councilors were needed on each. Mr. Boles said the council must be disciplined in deciding whether a committee should be ad hoc or a standing committee. He said the Human Rights Task Force had been meeting for a long time, and suggested the council should attempt to create more short-term committees. He said it MINUTES--Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session April 23, 1990 Page 1 e sometimes took committees so long to process issues that the council had forgotten the original intent of the committee by the time a report was issued. Mr. Rutan said the council did not have enough interaction with the Downtown Commission and suggested councilors start an "adopt a Downtown Commissioner" program. He further suggested 15 minutes of each council meeting be dedicated to an update from a commission. Mr. Rutan said the Council Committee on Economic Diversification (CCED) should be disbanded because all economic development could be handled by the council. Ms. Bascom said Mr. Rutan had not attended a CCED meeting in three months and was, therefore, unaware that the committee was doing important work. She said the committee had pursued a useful process, but that it was possible the committee could be disbanded now that the special events issue had been addressed. Ms. Bascom said the council's agenda should include a work item related to the environment, and that the community was ahead of the council on this issue. Mr. Holmer suggested that City representation on the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission be delegated to staff. In addition, he said citizens working on the Willakenzie Refinement Plan were not receiving enough staff support. e Mr. Bennett said the CCED's work on special events had been good, but the group could have been more task-oriented. He said the Tree Commission was useful, but it had gone into issues beyond its work scope. Mr. Rutan suggested the council use every third Monday night to review its work plan. He said every councilor could take responsibility for a certain area of the work plan, although no area would be exclusively assigned to just one councilor. Ms. Schue said that who was assigned to which task would make a great deal of difference politically. Mr. Rutan said two or more people could represent each area. Ms. Ehrman suggested the statute mandating representation for the lane Regional Air Pollution Authority (LRAPA) be changed from the present requirement that it be staffed by three City Councilors. Mr. Miller suggested staff bring the council a list of goals and a work program, and that the council begin working on committees at its next available Monday meeting. Mr. Bennett said the council should begin to set goals at this meeting. Mr. Holmer recommended that the Committee on Committees work on the committee issue. Mr. Boles said goals should be reviewed with staffing and budgeting in mind. He suggested the council's annual goal-setting session be held in September, at which time the council could review the citizen involvement survey. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session April 23, 1990 Page 2 e Mr. Rutan said the council's year began with the City's fiscal year on July 1. He said the council could choose to set goals at any point during the year. Mr. Gleason explained that, in general. the council set goals expecting that they would be accomplished within one year. He said councilors tended to defer to the committees they established to handle individual issues. He said it would be inappropriate for staff to set goals for the council, and that a common complaint by the public was that staff was over-involved with council affairs. Ms. Schue said the council should provide the public with realistic expectations. She said the council would probably be unable to fund Human Rights Task Force recommendations. Mr. Holmer said he would prefer to update goals on a quarterly basis. He said setting goals in September made good sense in terms of the budgetary cycle. Mr. Boles said that before pursuing issues on their own, councilors should always get the support of the council. Mr. Green said the council should be specific about its expectations of committees. He said he and the Mayor had been put in an awkward position by the council because neither they, nor the Human Rights Task Force, had received clear directions from the council. Ms. Ehrman said it was possible that the council sometimes created committees to delay decisions on some issues. e Mr. Rutan said that as a group the council did a good job. but needed to set more realistic time limits. Ms. Bascom said the council needed its annual goal-setting session for such issues as expansion of the airport. II. CITY COUNCIL GOALS A. Public Safety Mr. Boles said the Community Response Team (CRT) was reviewing the idea of establishing a Westside substation. He said Eugene Police Lieutenant Jim Hill had asked that a committee be formed to study this issue. and the committee had been appointed. He said the concept. at the very least, should be studied. Mr. Rutan said the substation was not a council goal. Ms. Ehrman said the CRT was the council's focus and the Whiteaker substation was a component of the CRT. Mr. Gleason suggested the council review the CRT1s methodology on a quarterly basis. Mr. Holmer said he felt the council's goal. in terms of the Department of Public Safety (DPS). was to review the department's Long-Range Plan. - MINUTES--Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session April 23. 1990 Page 3 e Ms. Bascom said the council should review the issue of placing a CRT substation in the Whiteaker neighborhood. Ms. Schue said the council should vote on this issue. Mr. Boles pointed out that the City had not spent any money on the project. In response to earlier comments by Mr. Gleason, Mr. Bennett said it was healthy to hear that the council was accomplishing many of its goals. He said it would be helpful to get a report from DPS about whether the council had done enough toward the approval of the long-range plan. Mr. Boles suggested the council schedule extra Monday meetings to discuss DPS issues, such as redeployment of fire stations, CRT, and the long-range plan. Ms. Ehrman suggested it might be helpful if staff reported to the council on goal achievement within their departments. Mr. Gleason said this was acceptable to him, and Mr. Miller suggested Wednesday meetings be used for this purpose. Mr. Holmer said he did not want staff to give oral reports on written material. Mr. Rutan said it was helpful to have regular communication with staff on certain issues. Ms. Schue suggested staff ask the council for their questions and comments on written material. Mr. Rutan pointed out that all of the councilors read the material in their packets. e B. Economic Development Mr. Boles said this topic included special events and wetlands. Mr. Gleason said the goal should include the Industrial Lands Task Force. He said the council needed to develop a matrix between agendas, committees, and goals. Mr. Holmer said the Industrial lands Task Force should be segregated from the industrial lands wetlands issue. Mr. Gleason said staff had spent a great deal of time on these issues through the involvement of the Planning Commission and other City groups. He said the council could have helped staff avoid confusion about the focus of these studies by providing clearer direction. Mr. Bennett said he had lobbied strongly on behalf of an update of the Metro Plan, but this suggestion had not received the approval of a majority of County Commissioners. Ms. Schue pointed out that the City had to coordinate with Springfield and the County on the Metro Plan, and these two other bodies had not wanted to fund an update. She said the study of industrial lands was a compromise, and had evolved into the wetlands study. She said this process had created confusion. Ms. Bascom said the economic development issue was too huge to track. Mr. Green suggested the council have both short-term and long-term goals for economic development. Ms. Ehrman suggested several updates on each goal be presented at the council's quarterly meetings. Mr. Miller requested that the council prioritize its goals. Mr. Boles suggested several criteria for goal setting, including: 1) does the council have control over the issue; 2) can the goal be accomplished; 3) is there more than one primary objective in the goal . MINUTES--Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session April 23, 1990 Page 4 e area; 4) can the goal be reconciled with other council goals; and 5) will it be possible to ascertain that accomplishments have been made. (The council took a ten-minute break at 7:15 p.m.) During the break, councilors voted for their top three goals. Goals selected \ were Downtown, library, and Financial Stability. -, C. Downtown Mr. Rutan said downtown issues should have priority for discussion at this night's meeting. Mr. Boles said the council had focused on the Retail Task Force.~e said the task force had issued four main recommendations on: 1) the retail-tenant mix; 2) property owners; 3) design elements; and 4) policie~for the City Council. '\ Mr. Rutan said retail was 25-percent of the downtown issue. He said other issues included transit, commercial, and government needs. Mr. Holmer said the council should be clear about its objective on the retail/tenant mix. e Mr. Rutan said strategies to revitalize the downtown area were needed, whether they were a result of Downtown Commission or Retail Task Force work. Mr. Boles said the task force plan would be completed by mid-summer. The focus of the plan will be the Downtown District redesign. Mr. Gleason said the task force was told to create a visual design process which explained the redesign plan. He said the council would determine an action plan based on the task force plan. Mr. Rutan said the council should establish a goal in relation to downtown issues. Mr. Boles said the council's goal was to decide on an action plan by November. He said the council had two options--a vote in November, or a ratification vote in March. He said he favored the ratification vote. Mr. Gleason said staff would attempt to get information to the council in time for a decision to be made about whether the issue should get on the November or March ballot. Mr. Rutan said the council should not attempt to rush the public's understanding of downtown issues. D. Library Mr. Rutan said site, design, and funding measures for the Library should be submitted to the voters. Mr. Boles said he agreed, and suggested a citizen survey on these issues be conducted. Mr. Miller said the survey from the last Library vote showed a diversity of opinions. Mr. Green said the council needed to determine where the Library fit in its short- and long-range plans. Mr. Bennett said he wanted a chance to sell the community on whatever Library plan the council chose. Mr. Boles said options could be submitted to the public in the form of a survey. He said the selection of a Library site could go to the voters as a ratification measure. Mr. Holmer said the council should recommend a Library site. Ms. Schue said site and funding - MINUTES--Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session April 23, 1990 Page 5 e should be separate issues. She said people should be educated about the site first. Mr. Rutan said the council should begin work on the Library immediately. He said the process could be incremental, involving public hearings and education. He said the council should set a deadline for the issuance of its Library proposal. Ms. Ehrman said selection of a Library site should corne first. She said City Librarian Jim Meeks had pointed out that a community has a close, personal attachment to the specific location of its library. She said the council should pursue a staged process which allowed the public to help make the site decision. Mr. Bennett said he had not given up on the existing Library site. He suggested the council might not have investigated this possibility enough. Ms. Bascom said the information from a previous Library study was conclusive that the present site was not feasible. Mr. Holmer said the cost of a site could not be separated from site selection because the cost would affect what type of building the City could afford. Mr. Miller said the council should take the time to reach agreement about a library site. Mr. Holmer agreed and said the chosen site should be taken to the voters. Mr. Rutan suggested the council set a goal that its selection of a Library site be on a ballot by November 1990. e An informal vote was taken on location of a new library at Broadway and Charnel ton streets, and it received five votes. Mr. Holmer and Mr. Bennett said that although they would not vote in favor of this site, they also would not oppose it. Mr. Boles said the site selection should be decided at least 60 days before the November election to allow time for public education. He said the City needed to resolve a State issue about providing the voters with alternatives. Ms. Schue said the council must let the public know that they would be involved in the selection of a Library site. Mr. Gleason asked if the council wanted to review the Sears building as a potential Library site. Mr. Bennett said he was concerned that the council did not have consensus on a site. He said that although he would not object to the site at Broadway and Charnel ton streets, he was not a strong supporter of the site because its cost was between $16 million-$19 million. Mr. Green pointed out that voters were upset with the council's last Library site selection because they would not have owned the building. Mr. Boles said the council had to agree on a site if it expected the community to support its decision. He said the issue was clouded by funding concerns. Mr. Miller said it could be difficult to reach council unanimity for a site. Mr. Rutan said he supported the choice of the site at Broadway and Charnel ton e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session April 23, 1990 Page 6 e e e streets because it offered a good downtown location, and the cost to the public would be reduced which was an important aspect to this site. Ms. Bascom said that the last time the council had discussed a Library site it had told staff it did not want to review all the information pertaining to site selection again. She asked if councilors had changed their minds about this. Ms. Ehrman said the council should review all information about Library sites again, including information about the Sears building. Mr. Green said he was interested in Sears as a possible site for the library. Mr. Gleason said he would collect all existing information about possible Library sites and present the alternatives to the council. E. Financial Stability Mr. Rutan said the council did not have solutions for future financial shortfalls in the City budget. He suggested the council review the City's long-term financial process, i.e., revenue sources, prioritization, etc. He said the council was in a good position now to develop financial strategies. Mr. Boles said the citizen survey would be funded, and how it should be funded. funding included how to pay to maintain services. include questions about what should He said political questions about services, and how to fund additional Ms. Bascom said the reason councilors had supported this subject as a goal ranged from a desire to reduce City services, to the belief that additional revenue sources should be found. Mr. Rutan said the budget was balanced between revenue and expenses. He said he no longer believed that State funding was feasible. He said the council must set funding priorities and decide what services the City should provide. In response to a question from Ms. Bascom about whether new revenues would have to be found for the Library, Mr. Rutan said the Capital Improvement Program budget was dwindling. Mr. Holmer said every year the City found one-time only funding sources. He suggested that a user fee would provide additional revenues for the City. He said the City had added services without knowing how to pay for them, and that the recommendations of the Skateboard Task Team should not have been allowed to proceed as far as they had. Mr. Boles said it was the responsibility of municipal officials to find funding sources. Ms. Schue said that she attended many meetings with State officials and had not given up on the possibility that the City would receive some State funds. She said she was working with the State on a package which would be beneficial to all the cities in the state. Mr. Rutan said community growth must be balanced with financial stability. He said annexations would affect finances. He said increased systems MINUTES--Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session April 23, 1990 Page 7 e development charges should be considered. Mr. Boles said the council should discuss the issue of cost externalization. Mr. Gleason said Mr. Rutan had pointed out to him that his City budget report should have been focused more on the council, rather than the Budget Committee. He said he regretted that the Budget Committee had the impression that he wanted it to correct City budget problems. He said the council must decide what level of services the City should provide. Mr. Bennett asked if the council had redetermined its goals at this meeting. He said it must decide how it would be accountable for each of its original goals. Mr. Rutan suggested the council had determined its three top goals, with other lesser goals. Mr. Bennett asked if the council intended him to continue working intensely on the housing issue. Mr. Gleason said the top three council goals would receive increased staff emphasis, although other work for the council would also continue. He said a formalized process for linking council goals to the council agenda was needed. He suggested a process was needed to provide a staff ranking of subjects, and for determining which staff issues should be presented to the council as potential goals. Mr. Boles said the remaining eight goals on the council's list of eleven goals were being integrated into the natural business of the City, and had been set in motion, although they were not high-priority items. e In response to a comment by Mr. Green, Mr. Boles said the Citizen Involvement Committee was conscious of the need to maintain citizen involvement in all areas of the City. III. LIST OF COMMITTEES FOR COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES' CONSIDERATION The council decided that some committees should be reviewed by the Committee on Committees to determine if they should be ended, or council representation on them should be altered. The following committees were included: Audit Committee Citizen Involvement Committee Council Committee on Economic Diversification County Room Tax Committee Eugene Arts Foundation Board Joint Parks Committee Lane County Shelton-McMurphey House Committee Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission Social Goals Committee South Willamette Private Industry Council Tree Commission Community Coalition for Gang Prevention Downtown District Task Force e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session April 23, 1990 Page 8 e e e Development Fee Project Retail Management Committee Human Rights Task Force The council also asked that the following committees be added to the list of standing committees: Downtown Commission Planning Commission Urban Renewal Agency Mr. Boles said the council was undergoing a serious system change and should schedule a separate set of Monday meetings to discuss this. Mr. Rutan suggested the council meet from 5:30-7:30 p.m. with mandatory adjournment. Mr. Gleason said the council had an extremely large work schedule for the next quarter and recommended it hold a meeting on Monday, May 23, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. to discuss system changes. The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ..# ./ /}'H I~-? /I't-~;?~ -.S""1 Micheal Gleason City Manager (Recorded by Kris Bloch) mncc 042390 MINUTES--Eugene City Council Quarterly Process Session April 23, 1990 Page 9