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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/22/1992 Meeting e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall April 22, 1992 11:30 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Shawn Boles, Bobby Green, Ruth Bascom (1:23 p.m), Debra Ehrman, Randy MacDonald, Paul Nicholson, Kaye Robinette, Roger Rutan. The special meeting of the Eugene City Council was called to order by Mayor Jeff Miller. e Bill Gary, City Attorney's Office, reminded the council of a lawsuit filed by David Sweet regarding the City's mall regulations as they applied to musicians. He reported to the council that Federal Magistrate Coffin dismissed the lawsuit "without leave to reprieve"; in other words, the judgment is final. The opinion of Judge Coffin indicated that Mr. Sweet misinterpreted the regulations: the regulations do not prohibit people from playing music on the mall but rather prohibit musicians from soliciting contributions or attracting audiences greater than 25 people. The magistrate dismissed the lawsuit against the law firm of Harrang, Swanson, and long as Mr. Sweet had no standing to sue the firm for negligence in drafting the ordinance. Mr. Green asked who was responsible for the City's court costs. Mr. Gary responded that the City would bear its own legal fees. The City could petition for attorney fees on the grounds that the lawsuit was without merit or frivolous. In the case in question, Mr. Gary did not believe that it would be worth the City's effort to attempt to recover its costs as the court would protect the right of Mr. Sweet to bring suit. Responding to a question from Mr. MacDonald, Mr. Gary said that there is a lawsuit pending in the tax courts brought by the City of Portland seeking a declaration that its methodology of calculating urban renewal taxes was correct. The City of Eugene had originally sought and obtained party status in the case due to staff concern about the effect of the decision on the its calculations. Subsequently, a group of Eugene citizens challenged the City's method of calculating tax assessments. Mr. Gary said that lawsuit had been withdrawn. The City is no longer a party to the Portland case but is monitoring the case and could participate as a friend of the court. City Manager Mike Gleason proposed that the council schedule a discussion on the issue of employee salaries and benefits for the meeting of April 29, 1992. The council agreed to Mr. Gleason's proposal. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council 11:30 a.m. April 22, 1992 Page 1 e e e I. WORK SESSION: EUGENE DECISIONS--DEVElOPMENT OF DETAILED STRATEGIES Professor Ed Weeks, University of Oregon, discussed the data collection instruments that would be used in the next round of publiC input for the Eugene Decisions process. He discussed the principles guiding the development of the survey: to provide the public with the facts and the context within which budget decisions will be made, to construct the data collection instruments in a way that mirrors the actual decision-making process, and to provide an instrument that does not constrain response. Mr. Weeks said that he is in the process of pretesting the survey. Mr. Weeks reviewed the structure of the tabloid survey. Responding to a question from Mr. MacDonald about a chart, Mr. Weeks said that the bars next to the tax choices represented responses from the public in the second round of public input. The responses indicated that 76 percent of respondents balanced the budget with additional revenues. However, no single revenue received a majority of support. Mr. Weeks said the survey introduces that information and asks for feedback. Mr. MacDonald questioned the utility of providing the respondents with what other people have supported. He suggested that tax equity and amount to be collected were more relevant. Mr. MacDonald expressed concern that the information would influence those respondents who tend to vote with the majority in order to be on the prevailing side. Mr. Boles referred to the document entitled "Alternative Revenue Options" and suggested that inclusion of that document would provide the information to respondents that Mr. MacDonald desired. Responding to a concern raised by Ms. Ehrman, Ms. Bellamy said that the language in the survey was preliminary and would be extensively reviewed by the Council Committee on Eugene Decisions (CCED). Mr. Weeks discussed the results of pretesting, noting that several respondents had expressed dissatisfaction regarding the inclusion of lower dollar service reductions and indicated a desire to proceed with those reductions without further discussion. Additionally, respondents complained about an inability to balance the budget through service reductions alone. Mr. Boles pointed out that the strategy components developed by the council for staff analysis did not total $8 million. He said that the CCED had discussed the possibility of adding a third strategy, Strategy C, based on council policy, showing the service reductions that would occur if voters reject a strategy at the polls. Responding to a question from Ms. Ehrman, Mr. Boles said that the council had given the community a version of Strategy C in the second round of public input in reduction strategies 1 and 2. Mr. Miller pointed out that subsequently, the council had reviewed and changed its financial policies. MINUTES--Eugene City Council 11 :30 a.m. Apri 1 22, 1992 Page 2 ~ Responding to a question from Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Boles said that no citizen, through round 2, has actually balanced the budget through service reductions. However, pretesting indicates people want that option. The strategy the community will be given would mirror council policy, but respondents could reorder the elements of the strategy; for example, a citizen might choose to reduce public safety. Mr. Nicholson argued that citizens would reject all the strategies and demand salary reductions and elimination of middle management positions. He believed that people would think the strategies were an "evasion of the real issue." Mr. Boles asked Mr. Nicholson how he would respond to that reaction. Mr. Nicholson said that the council had erred in not dealing with those issues. Due to a lack of time, Mr. Miller asked councilors to postpone discussion on the issue until the following Wednesday. He added that the perception that the council has not addressed the issue is incorrect. Mr. MacDonald stressed the importance of reinforcing the steps already taken to address organizational efficiences. Mr. Weeks said his pretesting indicated a continued public preoccupation with employee compensation and a perception of excessive administrative staff. Mr. Robinette spoke of the importance of community input into the process. However, he said he vacilated between wanting to know what the community would support in terms of somewhat severe cuts and the fear that the community would charge the council with having already made a decision or with providing a scenario that provided no options outside additional taxes. He supported Mr. Boles' suggestion for a Strategy C. ~ Mr. Robinette said that Strategy A is not actually a strategy package with a minimal impact on revenues. He said that the council should determine the actual themes for the strategy packages, re-examine the packages to ensure that they reflect the themes, or add a Strategy C as suggested by Mr. Boles to create more distinct choices. Mr. Boles said that it appeared to him that the council was heading toward creation of three strategies. Strategy A, minimal impact on revenues, may not include enough reductions to satisfy some council members. However, Mr. Boles pointed out the reductions in the strategy were those six councilors could agree upon and support. Strategy B was the type of community the council would like to see with adequate funding. He suggested that involved fewer reductions in service and enhancements such as the library. Mr. Boles said that Strategy C was a budget balanced solely through service reductions. Mr. Gleason suggested that Strategy C, alternatively, could maximize all the approaches for "doing things differently" and then include service reductions to balance the budget. He added that such a scenario was about $1.5 million different from a pure reduction strategy. Mr. Gleason said that if Strategy C was a reduction strategy, it should reflect the direction from the surveys. He suggested that the result of a strategy incorporating reductions and e MINUTES--Eugene City Council 11:30 a.m. April 22, 1992 Page 3 e suggestions for "doing things differently" and user fees might be a $6 million reduction rather than an $8 million reduction. e Mr. Nicholson said that it was important to bring the community along in the process. He maintained that the council was not putting the information in a sufficiently broad context. He said that the community will have to see concrete evidence of how other concerns such as salaries and efficiency are being addressed. If people do not see that information, they will believe they are being given a false alternative. Mr. Robinette said that information would be provided in the tabloid. Mr. MacDonald suggested that the tabloid include a section that outlines the concerns the council heard from the citizens regarding administrative efficiency and employee salaries and how the council is responding to those concerns. He said that the tabloid should also refer to the Chamber of Commerce report regarding compensation. Mr. Nicholson said that the tabloid should also discuss the expected public input process for those issues. Mr. Boles said that the council should recognize that it is sending a difficult message for the community to respond to. None of the alternatives are good news for the electorate. He referred to public anger and dissatisfaction with different levels of government, and forewarned the council to be prepared for that response. Mr. Gleason said that he would like to continue to have the Chamber of Commerce involved in the ongoing discussions about compensation and benefits. He said that the issue is complex and requires accurate analysis and objectivity. He said that the chamber has indicated interest in continued participation. The council indicated its approval of adding a Strategy C as proposed by Mr. Boles and modified by Mr. Gleason. Ms. Bellamy distributed copies of a handout listing excluded strategies. The council reviewed the components of Strategy B to ensure it reflected the previously identified theme. John O'Connor, City Manager's Office, served as facilitator for the review. The council conducted straw polls to indicate support for inclusion of each component. Subsequently, the council deleted the following components: 140 (reduce General Fund support for animal control), 144A, 154 (recover 40 percent of full costs for swimming pools by instituting incremental fee increases), 136 (reduce General Fund support for landscaping/park trees/Hendricks Park by $200,000), 114 (reduce Transient Room Tax support for Sister Cities Program, privatize program). Responding to a question from Mr. Green, Mr. Farkas said that there had been discussion with the County regarding the possibility of consolidating plan checking and building permit activities. The council requested more information about the impact of implementing strategy component 108 {reduce General Fund support by increasing base rental e MINUTES--Eugene City Council 11:30 a.m. April 22, 1992 Page 4 e e e rates for commercial and nonprofit groups}. The council asked staff to provide information about the revenue that would be generated by implementing Option 2 ($520 base per use charge for nonprofit groups) and by rates of $100 and $250 per use for nonprofit groups. The council discussed enhancements for addition to Strategy Package B. Mr. Boles proposed an adjustment to the affordable housing enhancement (component 302) by an additional $200,000. The council accepted Mr. Boles's adjustment and included the enhancement in the strategy package. The council referred discussion of component 303 (building permits/plan checking) to the Building Construction Advisory Committee. Ms. Bascom arrived at the meeting (1:23 p.m.) The council added components 306 (library information system), 304 (new library with branches), 308 (full funding of human needs per lane County assessment), 311 (community policing), and 307 (four-minute response for public safety services 80 percent of the time to the population of the city as of January 1, 1992) to Strategy Package B. The council directed staff to provide it with information regarding the costs of components 311 and 307 at the scheduled evening meeting. Mr. Rutan and Mr. Maconald left the meeting at 1:45 p.m. The council meeting adjourned at 1:47 p.m. ~~F~ ~~~!ror- City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MNCC 042292-1130 MINUTES--Eugene City Council 11 :30 a.m. April 22, 1992 Page 5