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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/26/1990 Meeting e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council Council Chamber/McNutt Room--City Hall September 26, 1990 11 :30 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Emily Schue, Rob Bennett, Freeman Holmer, Roger Rutan, Debra Ehrman (until 12:30 p.m.), Ruth Bascom, Shawn Boles. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Bobby Green. The adjourned meeting of September 24, 1990, of the Eugene City Council was called to order by His Honor Mayor Jeff Miller. I. APPEAL OF BALLOT TITLE: WILLAMETTE STREET/BROADWAY INITIATIVE City Manager Mike Gleason introduced the topic. Bill Gary, City Attorney's Office, provided the staff report. He distributed e sections of the Eugene Code pertaining to this issue. He noted that a por- tion of State Statute regulating the number of words allowed in a ballot title supersedes the Eugene Code. Mr. Gary indicated that the Ballot Measure in question is a charter amendment relating to the Eugene Downtown Mall. The initiative measure was submitted several weeks ago, and a ballot title was prepared and certified. Duri ng the ballot title certification process, a typographical error was discovered in the initiative measure in which the word "access" had been typed as "assess." Ballot measure proponents were informed of the error, but took no action to correct it; the ballot title was certified with the error. Mr. Gary ex- plained that after ballot title certification, the proponents indicated a desire to correct the error. At that point, however, there is no provision to correct the measure. He said that the City Attorney's Office advised the proponents to either circulate the measure with the error or submit a new measure. Proponents chose to submit a new ballot measure and the City Attor- ney's Office was required to submit a new ballot title. Mr. Gary noted that the Eugene Code specifically affords the appellant the right to a public hearing but advised the council to hear testimony from the proponents and appellants of the measure. He also requested a chance to respond to any testimony submitted. Mr. Bennett acknowledged his potential conflict of interest on this issue because he owns a business which is located on the Eugene Downtown Mall. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 26, 1990 Page 1 -~~ e Noting that the Eugene Code only affords the appellant a hearing, Ms. Ehrman asked Mr. Gary about allowing measure proponents to testify on the measure. In response, Mr. Gary noted that the purpose of the hearing is to determine what is a fair and impartial ballot title. He felt that the testimony which will be presented from the measure proponents might make the council's deci- sion easier. Responding to a question from Ms. Schue, Mr. Gary acknowledged that a State Statute mandates that a ballot title submitted to voters in an election cycle shall not be so similar to another ballot title submitted in the same elec- tion cycle as to make it unduly confusing. He noted that several issues raised during ballot title consideration caused him to question whether the City Attorney's Office should submit a new ballot title. In particular, he said that he was informed that measure proponents were circulating additional petitions of the measure, but was uncertain about which version. Also, some concern was raised on behalf of measure proponents about whether the measure, if it was successful, would require that a portion of Broadway Street between Oak and Willamette streets be closed to traffic. Mr. Gary concluded that although it would be possible to rewrite the ballot title to respond to that concern, he chose to certify the original ballot title. Mr. Rutan asked whether measure proponents would be willing to make a change in the ballot title to respond to the appeal. In response, Mr. Gary said that because there is some disagreement between measure proponents and oppo- nents about what the ballot measure provides, he is doubtful that the two e parties would be able to reach an agreement on acceptable ballot title word- ing. The council agreed to hear testimony from both measure proponents and appel- lants. Mike Schwartz, 2390 Lariat Drive, testified in favor of changing ballot title wording. He felt that the measure, if successful, would clearly permit clo- sure to traffic of the section of Broadway Street in question. However, ballot title wording on this issue is unclear and should be rewritten to reflect the intent of the measure. Mr. Schwartz registered concern about the possible impact that street closure would have on First Interstate Bank. Gerry Gaydos, no address given, spoke on behalf of First Interstate Bank in favor of alternate ballot title wording. He concurred with Mr. Schwartz that the ballot title wording is unclear. He spoke about the negative impact street closure would have on First Interstate Bank and said that the ballot title should be rewritten to reflect that street closure would apply exclu- sively to additional vehicular traffic. Mr. Gaydos submitted a proposal for alternate ballot title wording that would clarify this issue. Doug DuPriest, speaking on behalf of Don Zadoff and the Save the Mall Commit- tee, testified against the appeal. In disagreement with Mr. Schwartz, he said that the ballot measure is clear in its intent not to create any addi- tional road closures and felt that the ballot title wording reflects this e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 26, 1990 Page 2 e fact. He urged the council to leave the ballot title as it is currently certified. Responding to public testimony, Mr. Gary said that the measure proponents and appellants are disputing what the ballot measure provides in terms of street access downtown. He acknowledged the ambiguous nature of the measure, and reminded the council that its role is to make a decision on the appeal based on what the council believes is an accurate reflection of what the measure says, not what it would do. Mr. Gary noted that if the council believes that the measure would close the section of Broadway Street in question and feels that this should be included in the ballot title, he has prepared an alterna- tive draft. Responding to a question from Ms. Ehrman, Mr. Gary said that there is no document that clearly delineates the boundaries of the Eugene Downtown Mall. Responding to a request for clarification from Mr. Boles, Mr. Gary said that measure appellants believe that the phrase "no additional vehicular traffic" in Section 3 of the measure refers directly to Section 2 which would prohibit all vehicles "except for public emergency and utility vehicles." Mr. Holmer said that the current ballot title wording does not reflect that a public vote would be required in order to authorize additional vehicles on the section of Broadway Street in question. He felt that this is one of the primary aims of the measure and suggested that the ballot title be reworded to reflect this. e Ms. Schue asked how the measure would be interpreted with the current ballot title wording. Mr. Gary explained that if both the wording of the measure and ballot title were considered to be ambiguous, a judicial body would then be forced to question how the voters interpreted the measure. If the council elected to resolve this ambiguity in ballot title wording, it would serve as future reference for what the voters had intended. Ms. Ehrman asked whether the property in question is public or private prop- erty. Mr. Gleason responded that the road beds in front of First Interstate Bank are public right-of-way. Mr. Boles moved, seconded by Ms. Ehrman, to approve the ballot title as certified by the City Attorney's Office. Mr. Rutan moved, seconded by Ms. Schue, to amend the motion to include the addition of the phrase "other than existing ac- cess" in sentence two and "additional" in the last sentence of the ballot measure explanation. The amendment passed unan- imously, 6:0. Ms. Schue indicated her interest in rewording the ballot title to reflect the revised ballot explanation. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 26, 1990 Page 3 e Mr. Holmer moved, seconded by Mr. Rutan, to change the ballot title wording to the following: "Requires public vote to authorize additional vehicles on the downtown mall." Mr. Boles voiced his opposition to Mr. Holmer's wording. He expressed par- ticular concern with the meaning of the word "additional" and felt that the alternate wording would only increase confusion on the issue. Mr. Holmer's amendment passed 4:3, with Mayor Miller and coun- cilors Rutan, Holmer, and Bascom voting in favor; and council- ors Ehrman, Boles, and Schue voting against. The motion passed, 4:2; with councilors Bascom, Rutan, Holmer, and Schue voting in favor; and councilors Ehrman and Boles voting against. (The council adjourned from the Council Chamber and reconvened in the McNutt Room. ) II. WORK SESSION: COMMUNITY RESPONSE TEAM (CRT) EVALUATION City Manager Mike Gleason introduced the topic. He noted that last February when the council reviewed the CRT program, an update of the CRT evaluation was requested. The council was interested in seeing data from a full 12- e month period. It was agreed that the evaluation would focus on activities of the program partners and would not include additional survey data. This work session is intended to allow a discussion of the evaluation report and pro- vide an update on CRT activities. Tim Birr, Public Information Director, spoke on this issue. He stated that the CRT is one component of a more comprehensive Public Safety Advisory Com- mittee (PSAC) Long-Range Plan. CRT has been isolated for evaluation because it is ahead of other plan components; a comprehensive long-range plan evalua- tion is anticipated in the future. Mr. Birr recommended that future evalua- tions speak to the long-range plan as a whole rather than to individual com- ponents. Lieutenant Jim Hill, Department of Public Safety, indicated that he is avail- able for questions regarding the CRT evaluation. Ms. Bascom noted that it is indicated within the evaluation that the CAHOOTS van is in operation only 28 percent of the time and is tending to serve more mentally disturbed individuals. Noting that the van is extremely expensive to operate, she voiced concern with this low usage rate and suggested that perhaps the range of possible van uses might be expanded in the future to increase the rate of use. In response, Lieutenant Hill explained that the department is still integrat- ing this new component of public safety into the system as a whole and agreed that perhaps the wide range of possible uses for the CAHOOTS van have not yet e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 26, 1990 Page 4 e been recognized. He pointed out, however, that there is an optimal level of van usage; 100 percent use is not a good target. He explained that if the van was operating continuously, it would not be able to respond to urgent calls as needed. Lieutenant Hill spoke about the poor condition of the radio system in the van and said that the inability to communicate over the radio may have been an- other factor contributing to the low usage rate. He noted that a new van with an improved radio system has been ordered and is expected soon. Concerned with the low usage rate, Mr. Boles asked whether there is a docu- ment within the Public Safety Department that identifies some of the possible types of uses for the CAHOOTS van. Mr. Hill responded that there is such a document. Mr. Gleason said that it is not clear yet why van use has been so low, but asked the council to be sensitive to the tremendous amount of time which is required to effectively integrate a program of this size into DPS. He as- sured the council that the department is making headway on increasing van use. Mr. Boles expressed concern with the amount of time the CRT has been operat- ing with a poor radio system. He added that if the department desires effec- tive CRT integration, it should take any necessary measures which are re- qUired to make it easier. e Mr. Boles expressed his disappointment with the documentation that the coun- cil received for the CRT evaluation. In particular, he felt that the evalua- tion did not contain the type of information necessary to measure CRT program success for offender diversion from the court system. Mr. Hill responded that the type of statistical information in question is hard to obtain be- cause it would be difficult to determine which individuals would have been sent to jail if they had not otherwise been redirected to the sobering sta- tion. Hillary Larsen, Buckley House, said that part of the success of the integrat- ed CAHOOTS van/Buckley House program can be demonstrated by the substantial increase in the number of individuals brought to the sobering station by the CAHOOTS van rather than by a police officer. She also noted that the in- creased demand for enrollment into the detoxification program is demonstra- tive of the success of these programs. Richard Greene, PSAC Chair, provided the council with an update of the CRT Long-Range Plan. On behalf of Eugene citizens, he thanked the council for recognizing the importance of a community-based policing program and identi- fying the resources necessary for program initiation. Mr. Greene indicated that PSAC would be providing the council with a report this fall on future program implementation strategies and projected needs for budget increases. PSAC is projecting that an additional 6-8 percent increase over baseline funding will be needed to continue its programs this fall. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 26, 1990 Page 5 e Ms. Bascom observed that the number of CRT response calls has increased dra- matically in the West University Neighborhood (WUN) and asked for a response. Mr. Gleason said that he does not believe the decreased criminal activity in the Eugene Downtown Mall area is directly related to the increased activity in the West University Neighborhood. He noted that community-based policing intervention has worked well for the mall; a similar type of intervention strategy should be planned for the WUN area. He also said that police foot patrols have been started in the WUN area to help monitor and control the problem. Mr. Greene described the type of criminal activity which now exists in the WUN. He stated that many citizens are intimidated by this type of activity and, as a result, have indicated their reluctance and/or refusal to shop there. Mr. Bennett acknowledged that to the extent to which it has been described, the degree of criminal activity in the WUN will require new intervention strategies. He commented, however, that intense urban areas by nature tend to attract this type of activity. Mr. Boles spoke about the importance of providing educational programs for landlords to inform them of their rights and responsibilities with respect to the type of tenants they allow on their property. Responding to a question from Mr. Bennett, Mr. Greene said that funding for e the foot patrols is being shared by the University, the City, and the busi- ness merchants in the WUN area. Merchants have agreed to share in the ex- pense of this program because of the urgent need to correct the problem. Ms. Bascom commented that the CRT is still a relatively new program and said that she would be interested in evaluating this component of the CRT program for an additional year. Mr. Boles requested that the council be presented in February with an update on the usage of the CAHOOTS van. III. ITEMS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL, MAYOR, AND CITY MANAGER A. Scheduling Issues Mr. Gleason commented that although a delay of the Human Rights Task Force report was requested, he recommends that the council retain this item on its October 8 work session agenda as originally planned. The council agreed to this suggestion. Mr. Gleason noted that the public hearing on the Developmental Services Fi- nances Study has been scheduled for October 22. Mr. Gleason asked the council if it would be willing to move the starting time of its October 1 Financial Planning Work Session ahead one hour to begin at 4:30 p.m. The council agreed to this suggestion. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 26, 1990 Page 6 e B. Report from Staff Regarding the Overpark Mr. Holmer distributed copies of a memo from himself to council regarding the recent news article in The Register-Guard about the possibility of the City selling the Overpark parking garage. He asked staff to make a presentation to the council on this issue. C. Increased Need for Applicants for Boards and Commissions Mr. Miller spoke on the need to increase public awareness of the vacant posi- tions on various boards and commissions. Mr. Boles suggested that councilors make such an announcement in conjunction with library presentations. The council discussed the possibility of extending the appointment process to respond to additional applications which might be received. It agreed to extend the application deadline by one week. D. City Manager Evaluation Mr. Gleason asked if the council would be willing to use its October 15 Work Planning Session for the City Manager evaluation. The council offered its support for this suggestion. Mr. Boles also suggested that a council discus- sion on the library redesign be scheduled for that date. E. 8th and Willamette Request For Proposal (RFP) e Mr. Gleason said that prospective 8th and Willamette site developers have indicated that they are having difficulty negotiating funding packages with financial institutions. They have requested a 90-day extension of the RFP deadline. The council agreed to do so with the understanding that it would not be interested in granting any additional extension requests. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Bennett, to extend the 8th and Willamette RFP deadline by 90 days. The motion carried unanimously, 6:0. The meeting of the Eugene City Council adjourned at 1:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~ft- ;z . ....., Micheal Gleason City Manager (Recorded by Traci Northman) mncc 092690 e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 26, 1990 Page 7