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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/06/1978 Meeting . ~~INlJTES e EUGENE CITY COUNCIL September 6, 1978 ------ ----_._._~_._--- Ad~ourned meetinq from August 30, 1978, of the City Council of the City of Eugene, Oreqon, was called to order by His Honor Mayor Gus Keller, September 6, 1978, at 12 Noon, King's Table, Oakw~y Mall, with the followinq Councilors oresent: TOJ11 ~lilliams, Eric Haws, Jack Delay, Scott Lieual1en, Brian Obie, and Betty Smith; Councilors D. W. Hamel and Ray Bradley were absent. I. ITEMS FROM MAYOR AND COUNCIL A. Update on CETA Ms. Smith said at the Lane County Commissioners' meeting held earlier today, the decision was made to delay action on the priori~y list. Each Commissioner will cOJ11pile his own priority list, with more discussion to be held next week. Mr. Obie asked that Council be provided a copy of the priority list for approval, adoption, or perusal. Ms. Smith indicated she would e be meeting with Ga~y Long, Personnel Director, mmediately following Council meeting today. A list would be made available for Council's nerusal. Mr. Delay expressed concern regardinq the process in that a committee had made a recommendation that the City basically supports. He wondered about the advisability of various individuals or juris- dictions making separate priority lists. Mr. Obie said he was also concerned about that process, as well as whether or not the City should be involved in the CETA proqram involvinq tax dollars. ~1s. Smi th sai d she fel t the commi ttee process had been very thorouqh in rating proposals and felt secure in its recommendations. She was concerned that the County Commissioners had the final approval for the various projects. The priority list will be made available for Council. B. Letter Received from Don Oiment Regarding Alton Baker and Skinner's Butte Parks Mr. Obie requested an official response from staff. e 9/6/78--1 bO'f C. f-moloyment Traininq Advisory Committee (ETAC) . Mayor Keller distributed the followina recommended list of appoint- e ments to the committee; Betty Smith, City Councilor; Liz Heath, Non-profit; Jonathan \/est, Education; Irv Fletcher, Labor; Ray McIver, Business; George Russell, Minority; Rosemary Battori, Women. He requested Councilors alert him as to any concerns about the recommendations for aopointment, as he planned to contact the individuals this week. In response to a question from Mr. Obie, Ms. Smith said the City was allowed to appoint seven of the 21 persons to serve on this committee. ETAC will be serving as an advisory committee for CETA project selection and local policy development. D. Mayor's Absence Mayor Kell er will be out of town Wednesday, September 20. E. Meeting Announcements - Manaqer made the following announcements: Joint Planning Commission/City Council meeting, Monday, September 18, 11:30 a.m., Thunderbird Motor Inn, with Wes Kvarsten, LCDC, in atten- dance to discuss the metro update planninq program. City Council tour of tree farms and discussion of herbicide spray e issue, Seotember 13, Wednesday, following a Council meeting. City Council work session, Friday, September 15, at ~Jayne Morse Ranch. F. Aqenda Adjustments Manager said Item III, public hearing on an easement vacation, should be postponed as staff was still negotiating with property owners. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Ms. Smith, to postpone the easement vacation public hearing for Welch-Nesbitt (EV 78-3) to September 20. Motion carried unanimously. G. Minorities Commission Appointment Manager noted receipt of a letter of resignation from Victoria Wallace and staff recommended appointment of alternate Chip Lazenby, 1730 High Street, to fill the vacancy. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Mr. Lieuallen, to accept the resignation andaopoint Mr. Lazenby for a term ending 1-1-79. Motion carried unanimously. - 9/6178--2 605 II. RECOGNITION OF TWO WILLAKENZIE NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS--t1emo, letters e and map distributed. Manager commented the two neighborhood organizations were a result of a desire to split the one Willakenzie neighborhood group into two. Laurie Loehr, 1312 Piper Lane, Cal Young Neighborhood Association, said the group has been very enthusiastic, and had received valuable infor- mation from the other neighborhood groups. The emphasis of this group would be on parks in the area. Bart Bardwell, 45 Rustic Place, said the existing or9anization had been so large that it was difficult to cover the problems in the area. He felt the decision to split the qroup would make it a more workable program. Mr. Delay, reqarding the recent budget not including additional funds for increased workload of neighborhood orqanization efforts in the City Manager's office, wondered whether or not the addition of the two new neiqhborhood groups would add even more to that workload. t1anaqe r sa i d it would increase the mailing bills and create an additional newsletter to be published. Ruth Miller and Beth Campbell, Neighborhood Liaison, indicated it would increase the workload somewhat, but it was something of which they were aware. Mr. Delay said he did support the split, as that was what the people in the neighborhoods wanted. However, he was discouraged at the increase of neighborhood organizations, as he felt that would lead to a dilution of their efforts. He hoped that trend would not continue in the future. t~r. Obi e noted for ~1r. Delay that e in his neighborhood, the Hawkins Highlands and Churchill neighborhood organizations were speaking of merginq, so it could offset such dilution. Res. No. 2992--Withdrawing recognition from Willakenzie Neighborhood Organization was read by number and title. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Mr. Lieuallen, to adopt the reso- lution. Motion carried unanimously. Res. No. 2993--Approving and accepting Charter for Harlow Neighbors was read by number and title. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Mr. Lieuallen, to adopt the reso- lution. Motion carried unanimously. Res. No. 2994--Approvinq and acceptinq Charter for Cal Young Neighbor- hood Association was read by number and title. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Mr. Lieuallen, to adopt the resolution. Motion carried unanimously. III. CONSIDERATION OF FLUORIDATION ISSUE--Materials distributed. Manager said the matter had come before Council today because of the Sentember 7 deadline for referring the matter to the November election e and placing it on the ballot. Secondly, he reviewed for Council its 9/6/78--3 '0& past action which brouqht Council to this point. In April 1977, Council had passed a resolution which was Dart of the process of nutting -- on the ballot the fluoridation referendum in June, 1977, at the request of various qroups who wanted the ordinance authorizinq fluoridation of the water repealed. That ordinance had originated in November 1976, when fluoridation was authorized, followed by the referendum and repeal. One of the conditions for putting the issue on the ballot in June was imposed upon its~lf by Council in its saying, regardless of the outcome of the June election, the issue would be placed on the November 1978 ballot. He said Council had the ontion of repealinq Resolution 2657 and not continuing with the effort, changing the date for an election, or following the resolution for the ~Iovember 1978 election. Mr. Haws felt the main issue was how Council would deal with placing before the voters referendum issues~ He felt it necessary for Council to adopt a policy to follow. Mr. Obie had voted in favor of the November 1978 election ballot measure, even though now he felt that Council's decision at that time was a mistake. He felt he would vote for placing it on the November 1978 ballot at this time, as the people are expecting to have the chance to vote. Otherwise, if Council had taken other action, voters in the community would have had the opportunity to circulate a petition to place the issue on a ballot themselves. Mr. Williams agreed with Mr. Haws that the issue is not fluoridation, but rather, how the Council is going to deal with such issues on an - overa 11 bas is. He favored a Charter amendment to deal with the State 1 aw requi rement by perhaps all owi ng Council to put such issues only on the next statewide election. Jovce Benjamin, Ci~y Attorney's office, said that could be done either by ordi~ance or Charter amendment. Mr. Delay agreed with Mr. Williams in that Council should try to ensure initiative oetitions are placed on elections wherein there would be a a lar"e turnout of voters. However, he felt the real issue was for the Council to remove itself from the business of placing such issues on the ballot entirely and leave that responsibility up to the voters of the community. He noted he would also support a Charter amendment to place such issues on a qeneral election ballot. He favored taking no action today, and further felt Council should own up to its mistakes, noting he felt it had been a mistake in the beginning for Council to be involved. Ms. Smith felt some ob 1 i ga t i on to the voters in the commun i ty who thou gh t they woul d have the two opportunities to vote on thi s issue. She felt she would support the original recommendation, and also supported the concept of having any initiative petition placed on a general election ballot. ~1r. Haws felt Council should not have placed the issue on the ballot in the first place. He exoressed beinq personally opposed to the issue, but felt it was in Council's best interest at this time to place the issue back on the ballot for voter consideration. -- 9/6/78--4 '01 . Bob Martens, 1457 East 22nd, read results of the last fluoride election e by percentages by wards. He noted the low turnout profile in the City for special elections, i.e., the Civic Center Commission, and the recent City budget election. He did not want to see the Council place the issue on the ballot, as he felt that would be unfair to allow the proponents to use the bureaucratic system. He felt they should have to use the same process as the opponents to this issue did in order to place it on the ba 11 ot. Minnie Schmidt, 2605 Lawrence, felt the City Council should remove itself from the business of putting fluoride issues on the ballot. She read an article from the Oregonian newspaper reqarding the harmful effects of fluoride. She objected to fluoride because of the ill effects to persons. She felt having fluoride in the water would infringe on the rights of people who did not want it. She would like for Council not to place the issue on the ballot now or at any other time. r.ls. Herman Hendershott, 2288 Potter, showed pi ctures of the harmful effects of fluoride on animals. .She referred to a case being heard in Pittsburgh which may have dynamic imoact on fluoride in water systems. She cited scientific evidence against the use of fluoride. Rega rdi ng a vote now, she felt it would be unfair to place the issue on the ballot when those against having fluoride had had to work very hard and spend large amounts of money to have it placed on the ballot. She felt that would be undemocratic, and the proponents should have to go through the same process. -- Mr. Delay moved to table the issue. Ms. Benjamin explained to Council that would leave an old fluoride ordinance section in the code, and it was necessary for Council, in any event, to repeal that particular section of the code relating to fluoridated water. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by ~1r. Li eua 11 en, to select a set of actions which would repeal the fluoride section from the code and fail to place the issue on the ballot. Mr. Oelay, with consent of the second, withdrew his motion. C. B. 1754--Relating to fluoridation of domestic water supply of the City; repealing Ord. No. 17594 and present Section 2.916 of Code, 1971; and declaring an emergency was read by council bill number and title only, there being no Councilor present requesting that it be read in full. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Mr. Lieuallen, that the bill be read the second time by council bill number only, with unani- mous consent of the Council, and that enactment be considered at this time. e 9/6/78--5 ~O8 Ms. Benjamin clarified for Council that originally the Council had . adopted the amendment to the code to fluoridate the water. Voters e had referred that ordinance to the people for a vote at the special election in June 1977. However, that section was still part of the Code, even though it had been repealed by the people. She reques ted Council pass thi's ordi nance to remove it from the Code and thus follow the 1977 election mandate. Vote was taken on the motion which carried unanimously and the council bill was read the second time by council bill number only. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Mr. Lieuallen, that the bill be approved and given final passage. Roll call vote. All Councilors present votinq aye, the bill was declared passed and numbered 18264. - Ms. Benjamin said when Council called the special election by Reso- lution 2657, that no matter what the outcome of the election June 1977, there would be another election on the fluoride issue November 1978. She said at this time, Council could adopt the ordinance which would enact the fluoride ordinance and refer it to the voters. However, if Council wished to take another direction, it would need to rescind Section 1 of Resolution 2657. A third possible action would be to table the whole matter, which would leave Council with a resolution indicatinq it would call a special election on fluoride. A short recess was taken. -- Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Mr. Lieuallen, to rescind Section 1, Resolution 2657. The motion was defeated with Haws, Smith, Obie and Williams voting no; Delay and Lieuallen voting aye. Assistant Manager spoke to Mr. Penfold in the Lane County Elections Department. Mr. Penfold indicated he is bound by State law to receive by 5:00 p.m., September 7, the ballot measure. He could not handle a separate City election on the same day. If Council were to call a special City election, the City would have to go through the process of creating an election board and pollinq places, which would dupli- cate the County's election process. Ms. Smith indicated her opposition to that situation. In response to a question from Mr. Obie, Ms. Benjamin said if the matter were tabled, the Council would have an inconsistent resolution, and she was not sure of the implications. Some discussion was held regarding the publication of Council's discus- sion of the agenda item today. It was indicated the aqenda item had been distributed to the news~apers Friday precedinq this Wednesday Council meetinQ. Also, the radio newscasters had broadcast that the issue would be discussed. - 9/6/78--6 bO'l . , C. B. 1755--Relatinq to fluoridation of domestic water supply of the e City; adding a new Section 2.196 to Code, 1971; and providinq for an effective date was read by number and title only, there being no Councilor present requesting it be read in full. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Mr. Williams, that the bill be read the second time by council bi 11 number only, wi th unani- mous consent of the Council, and that enactment be considered at th i s time. Motion was defeated with Smith, Obie, Delay, and Lieuallen voting no; Haws and Williams voting aye. Mr. Williams moved, seconded by Mr. Delay, to reconsider the motion repealing Section 1, Resolution 2657. Mr. Williams felt it was necessary for Council to clean up this section of the Code. Mr. Obie said he had changed his mind in voting for repealing this section. He felt that the persons who were proponents for the fluoride issue had had sufficient notice to attend the meeting and make their wishes known. He felt since there had been no such testimony today, that in effect removed his previous argument regarding interest level and responsibility to the voters to place it on the November ballot. Therefore, he would support this motion. Vote was taken on the motion to reconsider which carried unanimously. e Vote was taken on the motion which carried unanimously. Staff will provide for Council's consideration a policy oroposal for limiting placing initiative petitions to qeneral election ballots. Mr. Haws left the meeting. IV. AMENDMENT TO GRANT AGREEMENT FOR IMPROVEMENTS AT MAHLON SWEET FIELD Res. No. 2995--Authorizing aporoval and acceptance of Amendment No. 2 to Grant Agreement for Airport Development Project 6-41-0018-04 was read by number and title. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Ms. Smith, to adopt the resolution. Roll call vote. Motion carried unanimously. V. TRANSFER OF PROPERTY TO SPRINGFIELD--Materials distributed. Manager said the transf~r would include all Euqene jurisdictional property north of the river, east of 1-5, and a section of Alton Baker Park. This would place all this land in Springfield's jurisdiction. e 9/6/78--7 ~'O J Res. No. 2996--~commending to Boundary Commission the transfer of certain property from the jurisdiction of Eugene to e Springfield was read by number and title. Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Ms. Smith, to adopt the resolution. Ro 11 call vote. Motion carried unanimously. VI. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Delay moved, seconded by Ms. Smith, to aoorove minutes of August 30, 1978. Roll call vote. Motion carried unanimously. VI I. DISCUSSION OF PROPERTY TAX LIMITATION PROPOSALS--Outline materials distributed. In discussing the process, Paget Engen explained the House and Senate had reappointed the committee of 21 legislators who had met last week to prepare a package for legislative consideration. All bills are now being introduced on the House side. The House portion of the committee is meeting to hear the bills, with the Senate sitting in. The House committee will make amendments, act on those, and send the entire package to the floor for House approval and passage to the Senate. Next, the Senate will send the package back to the same subcommittee for hearings, action, and then send it back to the floor of the Senate. If the version is the same as proposed by the House, the package will then be adooted. If there are differences, presumably the differences will be worked out by a committee. She said today the joint committee is holding public hearings and a work e session is scheduled for 2:30. The public hearings have included general citizen input and other legislators, who are not members of the committee, presenting their ideas. She said the committee was working with Governor vetoes, and there seemed to be quite a number of overrides operating. She felt those should be completed today. The outline which had been distributed to Council included all the provisions in the package from the subcommittee which met last week. She gave no predictions on any changes. However, she indicated there would undoubtedly be some provisions for renters; and that some state and local limitations would be included. Mayor Keller wondered if there had been anything done which would tie the growth of local governments to what the State is doing for itself. Ms. Engen said that idea is generating support. However, she said the big issue today was the difference between the Governor's original proposal of a $25,000 homestead exemption, as opposed to the proposal in the Legislature now of the State paying one half of property taxes up to $1,500 limit. e ~II 9/6/78--8 . . In response to a Question from Ms. Smith, Ms~ Enaen said she had been e takinq stances which she felt the Council would suoport: 1) that any kind of limitation should not include a Citv's bondinq capacity: 2) that there should be some sort of local Qovernment override by the vote of the peoole: 1) that if qeneral oneratinq expenses were included, there should be very careful consideration as to what that would mean at the local level. Manaaer noted the local oovernments are supportinq a position that defi- nition of the local qovernment limitation be done by leqislative act rather than constitutional, so it could be dealt with in the next leqis- lature if nroblems should arise. Reflardinq the bondinq capacity, he said anv system which uses a rate as a basis will hurt the bondinq caoacity in terms of economic development and bond increment fundinq. IX. DISCUSSION OF TH~ BUDGET PROCESS FOR 1979-80 This discussion will be delayed for another Council meetinq. Upon motion duly made, seconded, and passed, the meetinq was adjourned. ~en~~ City Manaqer -- DT:nq/ml/CM25b1 e 9/6/78--9 b'l