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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/29/1991 Meeting e e e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room--City Hall May 29, 1991 11:30 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Roger Rutan, Shawn Boles, Ruth Bascom, Bobby Green, Randy MacDonald, Kaye Robinette, Paul Nicholson COUNCILORS ABSENT: Debra Ehrman Executive Managers and commission members who would be participating with the council and Mayor in the June 3 leadership SWOT were invited to attend this meeting. Those present included: Cheryle Hawkins, Ken Tollenaar, Anne Morrow, Ed Smith, Abe Farkas, Christine Andersen, Warren Wong, Bob Schutz, and Sandra Franklin. The adjourned meeting of May 28, 1991, of the Eugene City Council was called to order by His Honor Mayor Jeff Miller. I. EUGENE DECISIONS ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN PRESENTATION Barbara Bellamy, City Manager's Office, updated the council on the Eugene Decisions process. She indicated that the council is working concurrently on phases one and two of the process. Phase two of the process, the environmen- tal scan, involves gathering information about where the City is today and identifying trends affecting it in the future. Ms. Bellamy gave a presentation highlighting the information gathered in the environmental scan. As a part of the environmental scan process, City staff and citizens have participated in meetings in which they brainstormed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) affecting City ser- vices. The City has contracted with the lane Council of Governments (l-COG) to conduct the environmental scan and then document key issues for each ser- vice area. Responding to a question from Mr. MacDonald, Ms. Bellamy said that feedback from participants about the SWOT process has been very positive. Jim Carlson, l-COG, highlighted the information gathered for the environmen- tal scan in preparation for the council's June 3 leadership SWOT. The focus of the SWOT will be to identify issues facing the City Council and City Man- ager as leaders of the City organization. MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 29, 1991 Page 1 e e e Mr. Carlson listed the major external trends that are expected to affect the City's service delivery system in the future. These include population in- creases; geographic expansion of the City's service territory; continued economic growth and diversification; and demographic changes, including an increasing proportion of youth, seniors, and minorities. Regarding the anticipated increase in ethnic and minority populations, Mr. MacDonald asked about the types of support services that will be needed in the local area. In response, Mr. Carlson said that the greatest population increase is expected to occur within the Hispanic population which means greater demand for Spanish support services. He also pointed out that the local Asian population is steadily increasing in our community, and as this occurs, the demand for Asian support services will also increase. Responding to a question from Mr. Boles, Abe Farkas, Development Director, said that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has institut- ed stricter language interpretation and accessibility requirements which will affect City services in a variety of ways in the future. Mr. Carlson said that as a result of the decline in Federal, State, and Coun- ty involvement in social service programs, the City has had to adopt a more active role in social service provision in areas such as housing, public safety, and youth recreation. This increased local participation has affect- ed both the council's workload as well as that of local government as a whole. Mr. Carlson said that an increase in Federal environmental mandates are also expected to impact the City in the future. Included in this are the clean water act, clean air act, legislation governing hazardous materials, and asbestos abatement. In addition to ehvironmental mandates, the City will also need to address issues raised by other Federal and State mandates, such as disabled access, emergency communications, and land use and building per- mit requirements. Mr. Boles commented that although the City is currently in attainment with respect to Federal clean air standards, there is increasing evidence that even meeting attainment standards will be inadequate to protect citizens' health and safety. Mr. Carlson said that increased partnership efforts between the City and other entities can help the City meet its service needs more efficiently in the future. He explained that there is a trend in city governments toward increased intergovernmental involvement in problem-solving activities. Spe- cifically, he highlighted the cooperative efforts which have been formed in the Partnerships for Public Safety plan. Mr. Carlson outlined partnership efforts currently taking place between the City and the private sector which have occurred in areas such as police, recreation, development, and cultural services. i Mr. Carlson pointed out that cooperative efforts between individual citizens and local government can also affect the City's ability to deliver services. MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 29, 1991 Page 2 e Such cooperative efforts can reduce the costs of providing services and im- prove the level of services that can be provided. Such cooperative efforts can extend into education; can include citizen participation in low-cost solutions (smoke detectors); or can mean that local government requires indi- vidual citizens to bear the burden of responsibility for the provision of services which benefit them directly, such as sidewalk construction and sewer service line maintenance. Mr. Carlson said that specific qualities within the internal structure of the organization will be of a great benefit in the future. Specifically, the organization's ability to accommodate change and its highly qualified and well-trained staff have been identified as strong assets which will benefit it in the future. In addition, the operating equipment and basic utility infrastructure have also been viewed as assets. Mr. Carlson pointed out that inadequate maintenance of City facilities and insufficient funds for opera- tion were two areas identified in the SWOT analysis as detrimental to the organization and should be corrected in the future. e Mr. Boles commented that while the basic financing structures for operating are in place, they are incomplete and noted that the City does not currently have the financing structures in place to replace its infrastructure. Mr. Boles remarked that the environmental analysis is incomplete because it has neglected to address the environmental long-term carrying capacity is- sues, such as air and water quality or the availability of fossil fuels. He said that it will be critical to address these issues if the City is going to meet its Eugene Decisions goal of creating a comprehensive and sustainable service system. Mr. MacDonald agreed with Mr. Boles and said that such additional information would be helpful for all jurisdictions to consider when they begin work on the comprehensive update of the Metropolitan Plan. Noting the already complex nature of the Eugene Decisions process, Mr. Rutan cautioned the council about allowing issues such as long-term carrying capac- ities to complicate the decision-making process. He agreed that the council should be provided with information on the limitations of its physical re- sources in order to make informed decisions. Mr. Carlson agreed with Mr. MacDonald, that the most appropriate place to view carrying capacity issues is in a comprehensive review of both the Metro Plan and the TransPlan. Warren Wong, Administrative Services Director, briefed the council on finan- cial information received in the SWOT analysis. He noted that the City has begun to expand its use of the fee-far-service system and has shifted away from General Fund financing of many services. For the most part, funds sup- ported by special revenues or enterprise funds are in good condition. Mr. Wong said that staff has closely examined the impacts of Ballot Measure 5 on City services. In an examination of all City user fees and charges, none e MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 29, 1991 Page 3 e e e have been identified that would be defined as a property tax and that would be subject to the $10 cap. He noted, however, that the downtown development "right to own property" tax and tax increment might be affected. Further evaluation is also being done on the City's ability to generate revenue through local improvement districts (lID), formerly referred to as Bancrofting. One solution being considered to replace lID monies is through the levying of assessment bonds. Mr. Wong said that the existing funding sources are insufficient to support the current level of public services to maintain existing facilities. This applies to the General Fund, as well as other funds. He provided the council with an update of the City's six-year financial forecast and highlighted projections of the best- and worst-case scenarios with respect to Ballot Measure 5 and the impacts it would have on the City's financial resources. In order to maintain a sustainable service system under the best-case scenar- io, the City would have to cut $4.5 million from its budget before FY93; in the worse-case scenario, it would have to cut $6.5 million. Responding to a question from Mr. MacDonald, Mr. Wong said that under the worse-case scenario, property values would have to grow at a rate of 8.5 percent annually to maintain a tax base under the $10 cap. Eugene is already above the $10 cap in this fiscal year, but because of the projected increases in assessed property values in the next fiscal year, Eugene will not likely be above the cap. In response to a question from Ms. Bascom, Mr. Wong said that the City does not have the data to determine whether other cities in Oregon are also above the $10 cap. Ms. Bascom observed that if other cities are above the cap, Eugene might be able to explore the possibility of involving other cities in an effort to get the State legislature to take action. Ms. Bellamy explained the process for the leadership SWOT on June 3. Partic- ipants in the administrative SWOT will be divided into two groups--one group will identify strengths and threats and the other will identify weaknesses and opportunities. Mr. MacDonald questioned the grouping of the categories and noted that it makes more sense to group the strengths with the weaknesses and the opportu- nities with the threats. Ms. Bellamy pointed out that strengths and weak- nesses are an internal focus; opportunities and threats are an external fo- cus. Categories were grouped in this way to provide each participant with an opportunity to work on both an internal and external focus area. The council discussed the possibility of regrouping the category areas, but agreed to go with the staff recommendation. (The council recessed for five minutes at 12:55 p.m.) II. ITEMS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL, MAYOR, AND CITY MANAGER A. Purchase of Schaefers Building MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 29, 1991 Page 4 e Mr. MacDonald indicated that the lane Council of Governements (l-COG) recent- ly directed its staff to negotiate for the acquisition of the Schaffers Building. He said that purchase of this building would be important for the stability of downtown. B. American With Disabilities Act Mr. MacDonald said that he was recently contacted by the Executive Director of the State Disabilities Commission who has asked how Eugene is planning to respond to the requirements of the American With Disabilities Act. Mr. MacDonald suggested that this issue should be discussed by the council within the context of the Eugene Decisions environmental scan. C. Grazing at Buford Park Mr. MacDonald said that local residents have protested the grazing activities which are permitted in Buford Park, a publicly owned park located near Mount Pisgah. He advocated for placing a prohibition on grazing in the park and said he would be testifying before the County Parks Commission to this ef- fect. He asked whether the council was interested in taking a similar posi- tion on the issue. e Ms. Bascom pointed out that grazing has some advantages, such as reducing the grass and plant population thereby reducing fire hazards. She said that the council should gather more information on the issue before taking a position. The council agreed. D. Defeat of Ballot Measure 20-02 Mr. MacDonald read a letter recently submitted in The Register-Guard encour- aging the community to accept the defeat of the downtown mall redesign and urging the council to continue planning for the future of downtown. Mr. MacDonald said that he hopes the council will continue to demonstrate its leadership on this issue and pursue other strategies for downtown, specifi- cally those outlined in the Retail Task Force plan. Responding to a question from Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Miller said that regard- less of the vote on the mall redesign, he continues to support fully the relocation of the library to the Sears bUilding downtown. Mr. Green noted that the City of Sacramento has reconstructed its downtown area into a very vital area and said that he has asked staff to secure infor- mation from that city with respect to their design plan. E. Negative Option Marketing Mr. MacDonald indicated that Springfield Utility Board's (SUB) General Manag- er Steve ludland recently sent a letter to TCI cable company expressing his outrage with Tel's decision to use negative option marketing, a technique recently employed by TCI in which customers are charged for an additional e MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 29, 1991 Page 5 e e e channel unless they indicate that they do not want it. Mr. MacDonald de- scribed this as a devious marketing practice and asked for council interest in following SUB's lead with respect to this issue. Mr. Boles suggested that the council review eXisting laws regarding this marketing technique to determine whether such a practice is even legal. The council directed the City Manager to send a letter to TCI on behalf of the City Council expressing its opposition to the marketing technique and urging TCI to cease such marketing activity. F. Performance Audit Mr. MacDonald questioned the decision to defer the performance audit of the Administrative Services Division until after the Eugene Decisions process. He said that an audit of administrative operations is an important component of the Eugene Decisions process and is needed to build community trust in the efficiency of City operations. Acting Assistant City Manager Linda Norris said that the ASD performance audit was recommended to be delayed somewhat, primarily because City staff was experiencing difficulty finding a consultant team with the experience necessary to conduct an evaluation of this nature. She said staff members were exploring ways to complete an analysis of administration in a time line that was compatible with the Eugene Decisions process. G. Bicycle Commute Day Mr. Green shared with the council a note he recently received from Diane Bishop thanking councilors for participating in Bicycle Commute Day. She considered the May 9 celebration a tremendous success. H. Pesticide Spraying in North Eugene Mr. Green said that citizens in his ward have recently voiced concerns with pesticide spraying that has occurred recently in North Eugene. He said that he has spoken with both parties involved about the problem; there is some question about whether the airplane involved in the spraying was flying in accordance with all Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. Mr. Green asked for council permission to direct the City Manager to engage in a dialog with both parties to resolve the issue. Mr. Green said that if this issue cannot be resolved through negotiation, he might consider pursuing an ordinance that would regulating pesticide spraying. The council authorized the City Manager to enter into negotiations with the parties involved to resolve the issue. Mr. MacDonald pointed out that a bill being introduced in the legislature this session would prohibit cities from crafting legislation governing this type of activity. He suggested that the council ask for more information on the proposed legislation on this issue from the Intergovernmental Relations MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 29, 1991 Page 6 e e e Division (IGR) and, if necessary, direct IGR to lobby in opposition to such legislation. I. History of Eugene Museum Mr. Green remarked that Eugene does not have a local museum that depicts the history of Eugene and suggested that such a museum might be located in the downtown area. J. Process Session Scheduling The council agreed to schedule a process session for Wednesday, June 5 at 5:30 p.m. The meeting adjourned at 1:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, .~~~ .'1 Micheal Gleason City Manager (Recorded by Traci Northman) mncc 052991-1130 MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 29, 1991 Page 7