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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/13/1991 Meeting e e e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room--City Hall February 13, 1991 11:30 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Roger Rutan, Shawn Boles, Ruth Bascom, Randy MacDonald, Kaye Robinette, Paul Nicholson (after 12:45 p.m.). COUNCILORS ABSENT: Bobby Green, Debra Ehrman. The adjourned meeting of February 11, 1991, of the Eugene City Council was called to order by His Honor Mayor Jeff Miller. I. ITEMS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL, MAYOR, AND CITY MANAGER A. Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) Request for Authorization Randy Bergren, EWEB Executive Director, requested authorization from the council on behalf of EWEB to make available to the public factual information pertaining to the upcoming bond election. Mr. Rutan moved, seconded by Mr. Boles, to request EWEB to provide reports and information to voters on the March 26, 1991, revenue bond measure in a manner consistent with all election laws and standards. Responding to a question from Mr. Robinette, Sharon Rudnick, City Attorney's Office, said that the motion was crafte9 in an attempt to protect the City from any liability regarding the factual accuracy of the information provid- ed. Responding to a comment from Mr. Boles, Mr. Bergren said that it is EWEB's understanding that all election costs associated with this measure would be borne by EWEB. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 5:0. B. Fairgrounds Master Plan Mr. Boles commented on the lack of progress thus far on the Fairgrounds Mas- ter Plan and requested that the council take action to get this plan under way. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 13, 1991 Page 1 e Mr. Gleason agreed on the need to move forward with this plan but reminded the council to be aware of the time commitment that will be required. He asked that the council allow staff enough time to establish a work program for a comprehensive plan of this nature. At Ms. Bascom's suggestion, the council agreed to request a report from the Metro Policy Committee (MPC) at its March meeting on the progress that is being made on the plan. C. Unhappy Visitor Mr. Boles requested that staff look into a complaint received from a resident of Bend who voiced concerns with the manner in which she was treated as a visitor to Eugene. If her concerns are well-founded, he requested that the council send a letter of apology to her. D. Electric Automobiles e Mr. Boles remarked that he recently had the opportunity to borrow an electri- cally powered automobile and suggested that this type of vehicle might satis- fy the transportation needs for some City departments. He asked for council willingness to ask the City Manager to look at fleet service purchase re- quirements to determine whether it might be feasible for the City to purchase similar vehicles. He noted that this would be a good opportunity for the council to take a lead in its transportation goal. Mayor Miller said that the City should also examine the environmental trade- offs which might be associated with electric-vehicle usage. The council agreed to take a preliminary look into the purchase of electric vehicles, but indicated an unwillingness to commit a significant amount of staff time. E. Councilor Absence Mr. Rutan indicated that he may be unable to attend council meetings the week of February 25 because of business reasons. F. Committee to Review State Mandates Mr. Rutan reported that the work of the committee to examine State mandates has been completed and will be made available soon. He noted that as a re- sult of legislation crafted, the City stands to benefit financially. He commended City staff and State Senator Larry Campbell for their superior involvement on this committee. G. Contact with Governor's Office Mr. Rutan indicated that he had an opportunity to meet with Kevin Smith, local liaison to the Governor's Office. He communicated the message that the e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 13, 1991 Page 2 e City wants to be involved positively in the solutions to decreased funding resulting from Ballot Measure 5. H. Governor's Arts Awards In response to an inquiry from Ms. Bascom, Pam Berrian, City Manager's Of- fice, indicated that the council's request for analysis on this funding re- quest is scheduled to come before the council at its February 20 work ses- sion. I. Housing Dedication Ceremony Ms. Bascom announced that a dedication ceremony for six new units of family shelter housing is scheduled for February 26 at 1 p.m.. She invited all councilors to attend. J. Upcoming Recycling Conference Ms. Bascom noted that she recently received literature on a recycling confer- ence that is scheduled to take place in Seattle. She noted that a discussion of composting will be featured at this meeting and suggested that some City staff might be able to attend the conference and bring back information about this issue. K. Cable Franchise e Responding to comment from Ms. Bascom, Mr. Gleason said that the report on the cable franchise issue which is being presented at the MPC meeting will provide a recommendation of staff from the three jurisdictions. He noted that he supports the recommendation to franchise this service and felt that the proposal is an improvement over past agreements. Responding to a question from Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Gleason said that the City has examined the possibility of operating its own cable system; the large initial capital investment that is required has discouraged the City from moving in this direction. Mr. Boles suggested that the Legislative Committee may wish to discuss the possibility of encouraging Federal authorities to revert cable system control to the municipalities. L. Friendly Area Neighbors Mr. MacDonald updated the council on activities taking place in his ward. He noted that an activity program to be offered this spring and summer at the Westmoreland Community Center will be entirely fee-supportive. He also men- tioned that an election to fill vacancies on the executive board of this organization was held and described this group as an active, interested neighborhood. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 13, 1991 Page 3 e M. Letter from a Constituent Regarding Post Office Parking Mr. MacDonald asked staff to respond to a letter he recently received from Larry Schantz regarding parking near the main post office. II. WORK SESSION: DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY LONG-RANGE PLAN e Richard Green, Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC), updated the council on revisions which have been made to the "Partnerships for Public Safety" program, Public Safety's Long-Range Plan. The purpose of this work session is to elicit feedback from council on the plan prior to final plan adoption. He introduced Jan Gund, PSAC Vice-Chair and Chair of the PSAC Long-Range Planning Committee, who was present to answer questions. Mr. Green explained that the long-range plan is based on a partnership model of public safety. Based on extensive community feedback, the plan has been revised and programs within the plan have been detailed and prioritized into an eight-point action plan. He enumerated the eight points of the plan as follows: community-oriented policing, prevention, education, community ser- vice specialists, fire/EMS redeployment, public safety stations, metro coor- dination, and training and employee development. Mr. Green provided some specific examples of plan components which have been extremely successful and emphasized the plan's potential to make a dramatic impact in the community. He also noted that plan evaluation and revision are critical components to the plan's success. Mr. Green pointed out that the department feels that the public safety strat- egies laid out in the plan are interrelated and asked that the council not "special track" certain plan components. He also noted that in light of the current financial situation, the department recognizes that the plan may require a phased-in approach to funding. Because of the emphasis on the comprehensive nature of this plan, the department has not provided the coun- cil with prioritization recommendations. Mr. Green urged the council not to accept the plan without a strong commitment to its implementation and fund- ing. He emphasized that without such a comprehensive strategy, the long-term financial costs of public safety will be far more expensive. Mr. Green commended the council for its decisive leadership in finding inno- vate approaches to public safety. Voicing concern with community-oriented policing, Mr. Nicholson asked what assurances are made in this plan to ensure that a citizen's right to presumed innocence would be protected. Mr. Green responded that that the community service component of the plan is particularly suited for dealing with that concern, noting that the agencies involved are specialists particularly suit- ed for dealing with certain types of populations. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 13, 1991 Page 4 e In light of the predictions for public safety costs without this type of strategy, Mr. Boles asked whether it would be appropriate to hold the plan in abeyance until the City can identify all funding sources. Mr. Green respond- ed that it would not be practical to take such an action. Responding to a question from Mr. Boles, Ms. Gund said that she feels that the success of the Community Resource Center has been actively demonstrated. e Mr. Rutan expressed his support for the plan and noted that the strategic financial planning process that the council will soon be undertaking is key in helping the City determine how it will implement and fund this plan. Responding to a question from Mr. Robinette, Mr. Green said that because the department firmly believes that the eight points of the plan rely on each other, it has given the council full discretion to make decision on project phasing. Mr. MacDonald echoed support for the plan. He noted that crucial to the success of the plan will be involvement of all members within the the organ- ization in plan implementation and asked about the degree of employee in- volvement in the planning process. In response, Deputy Chief Bill Deforrest, said that the department recognizes the need for plan involvement and has made a concerted effort to engender support for the plan among department employees. Mr. Nicholson noted that the plan indicates its intent to get at the "root causes" of public safety problems. He cautioned that the City should not make statements such as this that go further than the charge of the Depart- ment of Public Safety. Mr. Gleason said that vast majority of interventions from social service agencies have to do with addictions and detoxifications. It has been proven that these people can be cured through clinical intervention as opposed to police intervention. To adopt an approach to public safety other than this comprehensive approach would be very short-sighted. Mr. Boles noted that by accepting this integrated approach to public safety, the City will be implicitly agreeing to the identification of funding re- sources for social services as well as for public safety. Mayor Miller noted that it will be incumbent upon the City to encourage the State to meet its social service obligations. Responding to a comment from Ms. Bascom, Mr. Green said that it is clear in this plan that police services have to be customized to respond to individual needs within the community. Ms. Bascom said that she is not convinced that there is adequate evidence to support the statement that this strategy to public safety will result ulti- mately in reduced costs. She felt that this type of statement reduces the credibility of the plan. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 13, 1991 Page 5 e Responding to Ms. Bascom's comment, Mr. Gleason said that while the current projections for reduced costs may not seem accurate, the scenario of escalat- ing costs that are projected with the reactive model to public safety are accurate. Furthermore, if the Department of Public Safety continues to move forward in this reactive model, it will reach a point after which it will no longer be able to meet the demand for services. Mr. MacDonald echoed concerns raised earlier about the State's declining participation in social service funding. He noted that the Federal govern- ment recently awarded Washington DC a grant for $100,000 for community polic- ing and urged the council to seek similar funding for this program. Mr. Robinette recognized the problem that exists around the provision of emergency services in the community and commented on the need to conduct the strategic financial planning process in a comprehensive manner. Mr. Nicholson commented that the success of the components that have been implemented so far may have resulted from the involvement of public safety employees who have a demonstrated interest and/or commitment to new ways of policing. He questioned whether the plan would continue to be successful when implemented on a large scale. In response, Mr. Green noted that the hiring practice is sensitive to this concern. He also noted that this plan has strong support from the management of the organization. Mr. Boles requested that the plan be expanded to include the costs associated with social service components in order to recognize it may not be possible to fund these with municipal resources, but look to other sources of funding. Mr. MacDonald agreed, suggesting that it might be possible to mitigate some State funding cuts by demonstrating a need for particular social services. Mr. Nicholson noted that in its present form, the plan places some of the civic responsibility for public safety on non-public agencies. He voiced concern with the ramifications this could have in the future in terms of the City's authority to deliver these services. e III. APPROVAL OF 1991 FEDERAL PRIORITIES Mr. Rutan provided the council with a brief overview of the City's 1991 Fed- eral priorities as recommended by the Intergovernmental Relations Committee. The recommended priorities this year are continuations of issues the City has pursued in the recent past and represent substantial financial opportunity for this area. The top priorities this year are Ferry Street Bridge con- struction, Eugene Transit Station construction, wetlands acquisition and construction, and housing. Mr. Rutan noted that, as in previous years, the City's "short list" of prior- ities is Eugene-specific, but included a component of national issues in which the City has a particular interest. The list is targeted to legisla- tion which Congress is likely to take action on in 1991. The list also in- - MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 13, 1991 Page 6 e cludes priority Federal agenda items from the Lane Transit District, Eugene School District 4J, and the University of Oregon. Ms. Bascom commented that the "short-list" approach has been a cornerstone of Eugene's effectiveness at the Federal level. In light of this, she expressed concern with the number of items which the City has agreed to work on in conjunction with the school district and suggested that the school district focus on one item. She also expressed a concern about the "families in cri- sis/early childhood education" program, in light of the University of Ore- gon's recent budgetary decisions. Mr. Nicholson asked whether the City has any assurance from the University of Oregon that the Center for Housing Innovation will provide direct benefit to the community. He suggested that the council may want to encourage the Uni- versity to move away from theory and into construction. Mr. Rutan reminded Mr. Nicholson that this project is a continuation of an issue which has been pursued in the past and assured him that the University has put forth much effort in this area. e With respect to joint efforts with the University, Mr. Boles spoke about the need for an integrated approach to housing in the community. He suggested that the University's funding request be integrated within the City's housing goal. In dOing so, however, the City needs to be able to demonstrate how this specific project relates to the City's overall housing goals. Mr. MacDonald said that he is discouraged with the University's limited re- sponse to the lack of available funds for student housing. He agreed on the importance of integrating the City's and the University's housing goals. Aside from its list of priorities, Mr. Boles suggested that the City initiate some preliminary discussions with other members of the delegation about re- gional approaches to high-speed rail. The council gave its consent to this suggestion. Mr. MacDonald also asked that the City take a preliminary look at applying for grant moneys for the Public Safety Long-Range Plan and an preliminary effort be made to seeking grant funds from the the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for a comprehensive emergency shelter and transition- al housing package. The council agreed to this suggestion. Mr. Rutan moved, seconded by Mr. Boles, to approve the 1991 Federal Priorities as amended. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 6:0. Responding to question from Ms. Bascom, Mr. Rutan said that the Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery Act will be on the City's list of other issues. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 13, 1991 Page 7 e IV. APPROVAL OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL MINUTES OF JANUARY 28, 1991 Mr. Rutan moved, seconded by Mr. Boles, to approve the minutes of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee of January 28, 1991. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 6:0. The meeting adjourned at 1:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~f.~' Micheal Gleason City Manager (Recorded by Traci Northman) mncc 021391-1130 e e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 13, 1991 Page B