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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/28/1977 Meeting .' v . M I NUT E S EUGENE CITY COUNCIL September 28, 1977 Adjourned meeting from Itember 26, 1977, of the City Council of the City of Eugene, Oregon, was call ij to order by His Honor Mayor Gus Keller at 12 noon on September 28, 1977, at the King's Table, Oakway Mall with the following Council members present: Eric Haws, D. W. Hamel, Tom Williams, Ray Bradley, Jack Delay, Scott Lieuallen, Brian Obie, and Betty Smith. I. Items from Mayor and Council A. 1990 Plan Update--Mr. Bradley reported the Committee had met a couple of weeks ago and a report would be ready in a few weeks. The main item was Eugene/Springfield/Lane County ideas for a proposed revised workload plan. One concern was whether special srvice districts should provide services in urbanized areas. B. Peoples' Republic of China Nuclear Testing--Mr. Bradley expressed concern over the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, and felt Council should take either formal or informal action in opposition. Possibilities of informal action would be to notify the Congressional International Relations Committee through the Oregon Congressional e Delegation; formal action might be in the form of a resolution. Manager agreed to write a letter to the Oregon Congressional Delegation and a resolution would be brought back for Council consideration. C. Tri-A~ency Spay-Neuter Clinic--Mr. Delay expressed concern regarding the s1tuation of Springfield not participating, wondering if perhaps Lane County and Eugene should develop a new arrangement. Assistant Manager said the problems were being discussed at an administrative 1 eve 1 . Springfield felt Lane County should take the responsibility and pay the costs; Lane County evidently feels that if Springfield does not want to participate, it should be eliminated from the program. Staff feels it is a good program and hopes to see it continued. A report will be forthcoming to Council. D. Mayor's Bicycle Committee--Mayor Keller appointed Peggy Waite, 1356 West 12th Avenue. E. Recognition of Trude Kaufman. Resolution No. 2765--Recognizing Trude Kaufman for her contributions to the city was read by number and title. Mr. Hamel moved, seconded by Mr. Obie, to adopt the resolution. e 9/28/77--1 1'+3 --. "- . Mr. Haws wondered if this was a usual City practice. Manager replied . in cases of tangible contributions to the City, such a resolution was often adopted. Vote was taken on the motion which carried unanimously. F. Council Meeting Schedule Through December Manager noted problems existing for holding the following Council meetings: Wednesday, November 2; Monday, November 14; Wednesday, December 7; Monday December 26; and Wednesday, December 28. He sa i d there was a possibility of holding Monday night meetings on November 21 and December 19. He would report back to Council early in November for rescheduling. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, that Council not meet on the above five dates. Motion carried unanimously. G. Council Goals Discussion Dates Revised October 19, Economic Development, with Mr. Ed Whitelaw discussing a vehicle for economic development. Mr. Lieuallen wondered if Council would have an opportunity to discuss with Mr. Whitelaw some of his terms and concepts. John Porter, Planning Department, said Mr. Whitelaw intended to meet with Council one-half hour prior to the meeting in a workshop session. October 5, Transportion. Mr. Williams and Mr. Obie announced they e would not be at the October 5 meeting. Mr. Williams felt since he was representative of Council in this area, he would very much like to hear Council discussion. It was decided Council would discuss transportation on October 12. Mr. Porter said the discussion on October 12 would be a briefing session on the process and major elements of the plan. A printed document is being prepared which would answer questions Council might raise. Council would not be asked to make any decision on the 12th, but rather would be looking at the process to see if there were any alterations needed. Ms. Smith wondered if the document would be available by the 12th and if Council would be altering processes. Mr. Porter reviewed, the steps of adoption, noting the various groups taking part in developing the plan. It was hoped the process would be completed by July 1978. The presentation on the 12th will outline the steps in draft form, allowing Council to make any recommendations for alterations. Assistant Manager noted for Ms. Smith the printed document would not be available on that date but a charted draft would be available. e 9/28/77--2 lLflt - - - --- - - --- - , G. Parks Serial levy Funds--Memo Distributed. - Ed Smith, Parks, reviewed for Council the memo on administrative and acquisition costs. He said staff was confident there would be some grants available to help stretch the dollars for park land acquisition. Mr. Obie thanked Mr. Smith for answering his questions so well. II. Council Membership on Planning Commission's Citizen Advisory Committee Manager reviewed for Council this request which was made during the Council's approval of a Citizen Advisory Committee for the Planning Commission. The issue before Council was whether or not a Council member should participate on this committee. Mr. Bradley, who made the inital request, felt it was necessary for facilitating communication and implementing Council's concern to work at the grassroots level to be involved in this committee. Mr. Delay wondered if a Council member were on the committee, whether the committee might feel it could not act in independent manner. He saw no compelling reason for Council action on this matter at this time, noting the CAC could advise Council if it wished Council membership. Mr. Williams agreed with Mr. Delay's comments, noting a potential for dominance by Council on the committee. Mayor Keller noted the wish for Council to work at a grassroots level was an important point, but the very fact they are elected officials might lend toward a tendency to dominate the committee. Mr. Bradley wondered what kind of criteria determined when a Council - member would become a member of a committee or commission. Assistant Manager reviewed the historical pattern, noting there was a cycle of Council's high interest in a commission or committee when it's created and that interest wanes as the commission matures. Some committees have not had Council participation, but have acted independent and brought recom- mendations to Council. At other times commissions have done major re- search work for Council. Manager noted three areas of Council membership on committees: 1) a special ad hoc committee to study a special problem, ~ i.e., the Room Tax Committee; 2) a request from another jurisdiction such as l-COG or lane County to appoint a Council member; and 3) some cases where state law requires. Consensus of Council was that Manager would notify the CAC that no Council member would be appointed to the committee at this time; CAC would advise Council if it wished such membership. III. Prostitution Report--Memo and ordinance distributed to Council. Manager noted certain groups had requested the city to pursue the matter of prostitution and look into the ordinance now in effect in Portland. The ordinance before Council had been prepared as a result of those efforts. The actual effect of the ordinance would broaden the existing law, making it easier to enforce, and more applicable to prosecuting all e 9/28/77--3 7'+5 ------- , , persons involved in prostitution: The prostitutes, the pimps, and the . customers who are supporting the problem. Subsection 2 regarding loi- tering in a soliciting manner has been added so that an officer can make an arrest without having been solicited personally. This change alle- viates the necessity of extensive use of police decoys. Mr. Haws asked for clarification between the old and new ordinance. Assistant Manager replied the major difference was Subsection 2. Therese Engelmann, Vice President of the Women's Commission, said she saw there could be three classes of women affected: 1) The prostitute with a concern that the prostitute not be singled out as opposed to the customer or promoter; 2) Women hitchhikers, who may be in danger of being picked up on a loitering charge; and 3) Very nearsighted women, who might mistakenly wave at unknown persons. Pierce Brooks, Police Chief, said those were valid concerns. He felt the Eugene police could distinguish between hitchhikers and prostitutes. Safeguards would be set up to protect the hitchhiker which would preclude the officer from picking up such a person until the officer could make a determination. He felt there would be no problem with hitchhiking. Mr. Haws asked for clarification of the first sentence of Section 2 and how it related to the rest of the paragraph. Chief Brooks said one of the good things about this ordinance was that there is no particular target, that it would not be selective enforcement or just against women. He said the target has shifted to the customer, but the officers will arrest any - one of the three involved under the new ordinance. He noted the pimp was the most difficult to prosecute. He continued, this ordinance is written so that anyone can do anyone of the things listed and the Police Depart- ment can react properly. If a male customer is loitering, he can be picked up by an officer. Mr. Haws wondered if the ordinance had been taken from some other ordi- nance. Mr. Long replied Section 2 was a substitute equivalent to one in the Portland ordinance. It had been heard by the Court of Appeals and challenged on the basis of sex discrimination and vague content, but found to be constitutional in all respects. Mr. Haws then wondered if Section 2 could be deleted. Mr. Long replied the section was necessary to insure the ordinance was not over-broad. One issue involved in loitering is that it encompasses too much behaviour that is difficult to define. He felt without that section the ordinance may be invalid. In response to another question by Mr. Haws, Mr. Long replied the police officers have a great deal of discretion with or without this ordinance and there was not much that could be done to alleviate all concerns. He said the ordinance passes constitutional muster but could be abused like any other law. 9(?8f77--4 e 'l4b . . Mr. Delay said it appeared the recent actions by the Police Department had resulted in a very professional operation of cleaning up the problem without harassment, entrapment, and other traditional problems. He wondered if the last operation that was executed was not sufficient and asked Chief Brooks' feeling if it was necessary to move in this direction with the new ordinance. Chief Brooks replied the ordinance would make operations easier, more efficient, and more effective. He said operations similar to the last one would become more and more expensive. Under the . new ordinance, the Police Department could have prevented the operation from going to the level it had. He continued that since the last operation, the problem seems to be well cleaned up, with the exception of one 17-year old. He said under the new ordinance it would be possible to check this one female for loitering. Assistant Manager noted staff did not feel Police Department employees should have to act as decoys on the streets to solve this problem. Mr. Long said an evidentiary problem existed wherein attempts to prosecute under the present ordinance makes necessary the use of decoys to get at the customers; the new ordi nance woul d make it easier to prosecute customers who loiter for the purpose of finding prostitutes. In response to a question from Mr. lieuallen, Chief Brooks said this approach had been used successfully in Portland. Also, he felt the problem had dramatically decreased since last fall. Mr. lieuallen then expressed a concern that the new ordinance might allow police officers to harass certain elements of the community, i.e, blacks. He continued he would feel more comfortable in making a decision if he had more time to study the new ordinance. e Mr. Bradley wondered if the problem were cleared out of downtown Eugene, whether it would emerge some place else. Chief Brooks said he did not know but his opinion was that for all practical purposes, the problem had been reduced to zero. He noted his real concern was regarding the after- effects of prostitution involving more serious crimes. He hoped the problem had been completely cleared out of Eugene and said the Police Department was able to be effective because it acted before prostitution had become a more serious problem. Mr. Bradley then wondered if any consideration had been given to providing resources for different life styles for the prostitutes involved. Chief Brooks replied that was out of the hands of the Police Department but he felt there were some agencies in Eugene which could assist. Mr. Bradley then wondered if the Section 2 had been referred to the ACLU, and wondered if Council wished to make such a referral. Chief Brooks said he felt AClU was probably aware of the ordinance. Mr. Bradley then expressed his philosophy of being opposed to the ordinance because of the restrictiveness on a person's liberty and freedom. He wondered if instead of arresting, whether the Police Department could use its misdemeanor citation to cite them into court. Chief Brooks replied he would have no objections; in fact, that had been used on a number of occasions already. However, he would like that left to the arresting officer's discretion. e 9/28/77--5 7'+1 ~- - - - I . Mr. Long said presently, as a matter of state law, the officer had the discretion for use of citations, but the ascertation must be made of who ,-. the person is and where that person lives. One of the things that occa- sionallyoccurs is the arrested person will not tell the police officer either name or address. This prevents the police officer from doing anything and would tend to make the law difficult to enforce, with those least willing to cooperate escaping prosecution. Mr. Haws expressed concern about Section 2, citing an example of a person standing and talking to a prostitute, thinking about using her services, but not finalizing that action, and how the police officer would make a determination in such a case. Mr. Long read from the ordinance the first sentence under Se~tion 2, noting because of that subject, "loitering," it is necessary to set up certain criteria to define which Section 2 continues to do. If there is some otherwise innocent behavior involved, the officer has the discretion to allow the person to explain those actions. He also noted there would have to be repeated actions. Mr. Haws expressed concern about a fine line;being drawn, and wondered if this ordinance did not go too far. Mayor Keller said some judgment had to be involved and the Chief was telling Council that guidelines would be established. He felt Council should have faith in the staff itself, however, noting there was no guarantee about anything. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Bradley, the ordinance be referred to the Human Rights Council for more input and support. Mr. Delay expressed concern of the time involved. He felt there was a e need for more pUblic comment and suggested scheduling the ordinance for a public hearing at the next Monday meeting. Mr. Bradl~y withdrew his second to the motion. Mr. Delay requested, seconded by Mr. Lieuallen, to defer action on the ordinance to October 10 for a public hearing. Mr. Lieuallen requested attorney provide a report of court actions regarding the Portland prostitution ordinance. IV. Request for acquisition of property, Parks Department, Hawkins Heights and Highland Oaks vici:nity (Memo distributed) Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel to authorize City Manager to exercise option for purchase of property in Hawkins Heights and Highland Oaks vicinity for park purposes (Lot 5400). Roll call vote. Motion carried unanimously. V. Discussion of City policy on spraying and public notification--Information di s tri buted. I Mr. Obie left the meeting. 9/28/77--6 ,e lLf8 -- --- . . . . Mr. Lieuallen said the request had come from constituents and their concern of practices used by jurisdictions regarding use of chemical spraying in areas where children might be contaminated, or along country roads (where blackberries might be sprayed, picked, and eaten without knowledge). Also, there was concern ,of spraying and the resultant runoff into streams. Ann Tattersall, 1385 Bailey Avenue, expressed some concerns: That employees are not adequately trained in the use of pesticides; that spraying of Laurelwood Golf Course drifts onto other properties; pesti- cides used in parks and the question of safety of people who might be exposed; the spraying of blackberries along country roads and the resul- tant eating of those blackberries. She said the main concern was people coming into contact with these chemicals without their awareness. She requested the City use some notification to property owners and post in public places to make sure people are not exposed without being aware. Manager noted that if this group had a proposal, the Council would be willing to look at it. Melvin Erickson, 18150 Highway 36, Blatchley, said a meeting would be held next Monday with Commissioner Wood's staff to draft a proposed ordinance for Lane County on this issue. Ed Smith referred to memo distributed to Council noting there was only one chemical used which was on the restricted list. The use of that e chemical was for street trees, in which holes were dug around the root system of the tree, the chemical poured in, and then covered up. He said as far as notification to the public, in the case of laurelwood, the fertilizer was applied in ,very controlled situations with climatic factors ideal, such as no wind. He said it would be difficult to give notification under those circumstances. He said most property owners are familiar with Parks operations. He noted also that Parks does not spray blackberries and does not use 245-T. He said the staff was continually trying to find new substitutes and are willing to eliminate the use of sprays altogether if they could find proper substitutes. As far as the training and safety, he said staff was continually improving in this area. Mr. Lieuallen expressed thanks to the staff and was satisfied with the response. He said he would continue to follow this item through the County. VI. Resolution transferring funds for Sunday opening of library--Memo distributed. Resolution No. 2761--Transferring $2,600 from Personnel Services to Materials and Supplies was read by number and title. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel to adopt the resolution. Roll call vote. Motion carried unanimously. e 9/28/77--7 IlfCf . . . VII. Improvement Petitions . Resolution No. 2762--Authorizing initiating process for paving, sanitary sewer, and storm sewer within Foxwood Subdivision was read by number and, title. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, to adopt the resolution. Motion carried unanimously. Resolution No. 2763--Authorizing initiating process for paving and sanitary sewer construction on Lindley lane from Bardell Avenue to 200 feet north was read by number and title. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, to adopt the resolution. Motion carried unanimously. VIII. li uor license A lication--Change of Ownership: One O'Clock Market, 698 West 6th PS , from Barney & Mary McCaskill to William and Rozena Stonefield. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, to forward with approval to OlCC. Motion carried unanimously. IX. Ordinance placing bond issue for airport ($900,000) on November ballot Council Bill 1549--Authorizing placing bond issue of $900,000 on November . 8, 1977, ballot for airport improvements was read by council bill number and title only, there being no Council member present requesting it be read in full. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, that the bill be read the second time by council bill number only, with unanimous consent of the Council, and that enactment be considered at this time. Motion carried unanimously and the bill was read the second time by council bill number only. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, that the bi 11 be approved and given final passage. Roll call vote. All Council members present voting aye, the bill was declared passed and numbered 18056. Resolution No. 2764--Submitting to voters of Eugene ballot measure author- izing issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount of $900,000 for purpose of funding City's share of airport improvement costs was read by number and title. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, to adopt the resolution. Roll call vote. Motion carried unanimously. 9/.28/77--8 e 150 . . . - x. Approval of Minutes Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, to approve Council minutes for September 21, 1977. Roll call vote. Motion carried unanimously. Upon motion duly made, seconded, and passed, the meeting was adjourned to O~J~ Charl es 1. e City Manager CTH:DT/jpCM21a20 - e 9/28/77--9 1St