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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 05/09/05 WS MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall May 9, 2005 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Gary Papd, Bonny Bettman, Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor. Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. ITEMS FROM MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL, AND CITY MANAGER Mayor Piercy announced that May was American Wetlands Month. She noted that the West Eugene Wetlands Program was one of the largest wetlands restoration projects in the United States. Mayor Piercy reported that the federal Community Development Block Grant had been fully funded by Congress. Mayor Piercy announced that 2005 was the 50th year of service for McKenzie-Willamette Hospital. Mr. Poling thanked City staff, in particular Planner Allen Lowe, for conducting a tour of the city's mixed- use sites for the City Council and Planning Commission the previous Friday. Ms. Taylor noted that the previous day, May 8, was the anniversary of VE Day. She recalled that day, when she had walked from campus to downtown in bare feet and hugged everyone she encountered. Ms. Taylor said residents were complaining to her about the condition of the roads and asking why the City was not using the money from the gas tax for them. She indicated the need was greater than the demand. She anticipated she would hear more about Hilyard Street, which was too deteriorated to repair. Ms. Taylor suggested that the council employ the City's Facilities Reserve Fund to fix the roads as she considered that more urgent than a new City building. Ms. Taylor said that residents of Whitbeck Boulevard continued to be unhappy that their privately maintained road was not restored to the condition it had been in prior to new development. She said the City should either restore the road since it had authorized the work or force the contractor who damaged the road to do so. Ms. Taylor said that Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority (LRAPA) was in the process of hiring a new director. She said a new Eugene representative was supposed to be added to the board because of the city's growing population. However, the board wanted to appoint another at-large representative, which was MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 2005 Page 1 Work Session supposed to occur when there was an even number of members. With the new Eugene representative, there would be an even number without an at-large member. She did not think it wise to add an at-large member and asked the City Manager to direct legal counsel to provide the interim manager of LRAPA with legal advice. City Manager Dennis Taylor indicated he would get back to her with a response. Mr. Kelly congratulated the owners of Opus 6, a new art gallery that had recently opened in the parking structure on 7th Avenue across from the Hult Center, noting that they had done a first-class job on the space. He encouraged councilors to visit the business, which he understood was made possible in part by a loan from the City's Business Development Fund. Mr. Kelly reported that the Human Rights Commission's Gender Identity Work Group held its second public information event on May 5. About 20 speakers offered testimony in a very supportive environment. The group would have it final meeting on May 11, and would decide at that time whether to forward any code changes to the Human Rights Commission. Mr. Kelly said the Region 2050 effort was about to make a "big splash" in the form of a full-color insert that would go into all area newspapers very soon. The insert would outline three broad alternative ways in which the region might grow in the next 50 years. A series of community meetings would be held in each jurisdiction. The Eugene meeting was scheduled to occur on September 22 at the Lane County Fairgrounds. Mr. Pap6 thanked Planning Division and Public Works Department staff for the tour of mixed-use sites. Mr. Pap6 called the council's attention to the March edition of American City and County, which mentioned Eugene in an article on green buildings. He congratulated staff on the recognition and hoped more would come as the City worked toward its green certification. Mr. Pap6 said he and Ms. Ortiz attended the a meeting of the Oregon Passenger Rail Advisory Committee meeting the previous month and it looked as though the second passenger train could be retained. Mr. Pap6 noted he was the City's representative on the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) Board, and alerted the council that a question had come up about the appropriateness of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce's commissioning work from LCOG with regard to a study it was performing of the residential land supply. He said he would try to get the board to consider what it should be doing with regard to contracting, although he believed the information that would be provided in the report was needed. Ms. Ortiz said that the River Road Community Organization was conducting a forum on annexation that evening at 7 p.m. at the River Road School. Assistant City Manager Jim Carlson would attend the forum. Ms. Ortiz said that at the meeting of the Oregon Passenger Rail Advisory Committee, a representative of Union Pacific Railroad promised to provide her with a contact number for the railroad. Ms. Ortiz said she recently attended an event advocating for 100 percent access to the medical community for the uninsured. She said the working noninsured poor were the biggest focus. Ms. Ortiz said she spent a couple of hours at Station 2 with some firefighters and visited with some 9-1-1 operators. She said the facility was fabulous, and she termed it a pearl in the community. She was happy to MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 2005 Page 2 Work Session see the use the facility received. Responding to a request for clarification from Ms. Ortiz about a letter that Mayor Piercy received from Commissioner Bobby Green, Mr. Poling said he requested that City Manager Taylor develop a procedure allowing staff to provide the council with notice of any City-related issues coming before the Board of County Commissioners so the council could provide direct input to the board via e-mail or send a councilor to appear at the meeting. City Manager Taylor said he would ensure the council received notice of such discussions in the future. Ms. Bettman determined from City Manager Taylor that generally, staff represented the council's positions before the Board of County Commissioners. City Manager Taylor said it was not hard to let the council know of such meetings. Ms. Bettman expressed appreciation for the news about the second passenger train. Ms. Bettman asked City Manager Taylor to find out if the public was reimbursed for the use of LCOG data when used by private entities. City Manager Taylor indicated he would follow up. Ms. Bettman thanked the Lane Transit District (LTD) and City staff for the tour of mixed-use sites, which seemed to raise more questions than answers. She indicated she would request a work session on the topic because there were initiatives coming from many different directions regarding the removal of obstacles to high-density development in neighborhoods. She believed the council needed to weigh in and at least hear about those initiatives. She said that staff was substituting the term ~mixed-use" for ~nodal" development, and those terms had different meanings. The council had not discussed the policy implications of that shift. Ms. Bettman said the Police Commission would hear from its subcommittees regarding its initial recommen- dations about police oversight on May 12. She noted the police union had 45 minutes on the agenda to discuss its position on police oversight. Mr. Pryor said he, Mayor Piercy, and Ms. Solomon attended a meeting of the Active Bethel Neighbors the previous week, and he thought the mayor had done a good job with her remarks to the group. Mr. Pryor said he, Ms. Ortiz, and new Springfield City Council Joe Pishioneri recently heard an interesting briefing from LTD staff regarding the Bus Rapid Transit program and the Emerald Express, or EMX. He expressed disappointment in having to miss the tour of mixed-use sites due to a last-minute conflict. Mr. Pryor noted his work with the Community Health Centers of Lane County, which was part of the Human Services Commission's program. Much of the center's funding comes through the commission from the federal government. Mr. Pryor commended the program, and noted that while it had one major clinic facility in Springfield it was also working through local schools to provide health care to youth and some seniors. Mr. Pryor said he was asked by the mayor to continue some of the work on parks and open space planning that had been begun by former Councilor Nancy Nathanson. The form that would take was unknown at this time. He wanted a collaborative and involved process, and promised the council frequent updates. He indicated his highest priority was getting the comprehensive plan adopted. MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 2005 Page 3 Work Session City Manager Taylor said he had spent considerable time thinking about the council's goal of promoting the arts and outdoors, and the First Friday Art Walk that occurred on May 6 was a wonderful example of the community's spirit around that goal. He further noted the recent track meet at Hayward Field, which was another important element of the council's goal. City Manager Taylor expressed appreciation for the work done by Chief Tom Tallon and Deputy Chief Ruth Obadal with regard to completing the site visit needed as the final step toward accreditation of the department. Mayor Piercy said she toured new Fire Station # 1 on Friday, and it was fabulous. Ms. Solomon arrived. B. WORK SESSION: Ratification of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission FY05-06 Regional Waste- water Program Budget and Capital Improvements Program Peter Ruffler of the City's Wastewater Division and General Director Susie Smith of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) joined the council for the item. Mr. Ruffler provided an overview of the proposed budget, noting the proposed rate increase of six-percent, which was anticipated as part of a multi-year strategy adopted by the commission the previous year. It would generate about $727,000 in revenue, $430,000 of which would go to operations, $265,000 to revenue bond requirements, and $32,000 for funding capital improvements directly. Mr. Ruffler reviewed flow breakdowns for residential and commercial users, and said the rate increase would be paid proportionately. Mr. Ruffler noted the addition of an FTE (full-time equivalent) staff person for bio solids management. Mr. Ruffler called the council's attention to the proposed capital budget and noted the new projects and their funding sources. Mr. Ruffler indicated the council could choose to ratify the budget or return it to the MWMC with questions or requested modifications. Mr. Ruffler noted that the Board of County Commissioners was scheduled to consider ratification of the budget on May 11; the Springfield council would consider the budget on June 20. The MWMC would adopt the final budget on June 23. Mayor Piercy solicited council comments and questions. Ms. Taylor asked if the council's action had the effect of ratifying the rate increase. Mr. Ruffler said yes. Ms. Taylor asked if the council could stop the increase. Mr. Ruffler said yes, if the council decided not to ratify the budget. The rate increase was needed to implement the budget before the council, so it was not MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 2005 Page 4 Work Session possible to separate the two actions. Ms. Bettman referred to page 23 of the operating budget and suggested that, due to a decrease in residential water use, the MWMC revenues also dropped, leading to the need for the rate increase. She asked why, since the rates were intended to cover usage and flow, they did not go down when water use went down. Mr. Ruffler indicated there was no correlation between less water usage and rates or linear relationship in terms ofwastewater treatment. Water is a carriage medium for wastewater, so while a resident may use less water they were still contributing the same strength or even higher strength of waste, causing treatment costs to remain relatively even. The portion of the plant's expenses affected by conservation was pumping costs. Ms. Smith said that people would see some savings on the local side of the bill, which was where the conveyance system was reflected. Ms. Bettman determined from Mr. Ruffler that the positions in Public Works were reimbursed through the MWMC. Ms. Bettman asked how much the commercial rates were increasing. Mr. Ruffler said they were going up six percent as well. Ms. Bettman said her experience on the Public Works Rates Advisory Committee led her to believe that there was considerable ~wiggle room" in determining the capacity for new growth. She maintained that in general, Eugene was in the lower third of Oregon cities in terms of recovering the costs of growth through systems development charge (SDCs). Even if the SDC was consistent with the methodology, she suggested it could correctly be stated that the community was not recovering the costs of growth because staff could not develop a definitive allocation for SDCs. Ms. Smith said that the SDC methodology the MWMC forwarded to the two councils followed the new statutes effective in 2003. Those statutes laid out a procedure that required the commission to develop a project list. Every project on the list must be allocated across all the process components and each had an allocation to growth. A great deal of analysis of individual projects went in to determining what was needed for capacity for new growth. Ms. Smith said the MWMC secured the best consultants it could to evaluate the projects for the specific new capacity requirements for growth. There was no judgment call on the part of the commission to either lower the SDC or avoid full cost recovery. The analysis done was a technically objective analysis. Responding to a question from Mr. Pap~ about a proposed staffing shift, Mr. Ruffler said Eugene provided both regional and local services and the cost of regional services were paid by the MWMC. Each year staff looked back at the allocation of staff time and the projection for the next year, and adjusted the funding percentages accordingly. Mr. Pap~ asked if the increased work load in bio solids management could be addressed by the staffing increase proposed. Mr. Ruffler anticipated additional increases in staffing as subsequent phases were added to the bio cycle farm project. Ms. Smith said the added staff was also needed to empty and reline the lagoons on a more aggressive time line than originally foreseen. At the request of Mr. Pap~, Ms. Smith reviewed the changes to the reserves. Mr. Kelly asked if the SDC was covering the cost of growth. Ms. Smith said yes. Responding to a question from Mr. Kelly about the status of the court case involving the MWMC Facilities Plan, Ms. Smith said that the case was going to oral argument on May 16. Mr. Jewett said the judge MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 2005 Page 5 Work Session indicated it was his goal to have a decision by the end of June 2005. Mr. Kelly said nothing in the budget or capital budget was unexpected to him. He asked if either contained any deviation from the plan the council reviewed in 2004. Ms. Smith said no. Mayor Piercy called for a second round of comments and questions. Ms. Bettman asked if it was possible, given the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between Eugene, Springfield, and Lane County, that the SDC failed to provide full-cost recovery at some point in the 20-year plan. Ms. Smith said the Facilities Plan had scheduled updates every five years, and she anticipated that the projections would be adjusted accordingly. Ms. Bettman asked if anything in the IGA held the MWMC to the standard of full cost recovery. Ms Smith said the IGA laid out financing criteria. Those criteria have become the established principles in the financing plan, and they spoke to the need for full-cost recovery. Ms. Bettman asked what the SDC rate increase for residential development would be. Mr. Jewett indicated the regional rate went from about $500 to $945 for a single-family residence. Mayor Piercy called for a third round of comments and questions. Ms. Bettman referred to the reimbursement charge in Table 6 of the SDC methodology, and said the total reserve capacity was $62 million. That was capacity in the existing system that could be used to serve new development. She asked if the SDCs were set at a level that allowed the MWMC to recover the cost of projected capacity as well as the reimbursement component. Ms. Smith said everyone who paid an SDC paid an improvement fee and reimbursement fee component that allowed those costs to be covered. Mr. Poling, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to ratify the fiscal year 2005-2006 MWMC Regional Wastewater Program Budget and Capital Improvement Program. Mr. Pap~ offered as a hypothetical situation that Eugene had a better stormwater system than Springfield, and asked if staff could quantify the increased load that Springfield put on the system through failure to address infiltration and inflow (I&I). Ms. Smith said that during the development of the Wet Weather Flow Management Plan, staff built a model of the entire system and determined the most cost-effective I&I rehabilitation work and improvements needed to the plant to make the overall system the most cost-effective. As a result of the plan, the two cities had targeted different basins and targeted budget amounts based on system condition. A Eugene-Springfield staff team met quarterly to track how well that effort was going. Mr. Ruffler added that the plant monitors flows coming in from the different parts of the system, and it was more likely that there was a higher percentage of I&I coming from the Eugene than from Springfield. The motion passed unanimously. MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 2005 Page 6 Work Session C. WORK SESSION: An Ordinance Creating the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission as an Intergov- ernmental Entity; and Providing an Effective Date; and A Resolution Approving the Issuance of Revenue Bonds by the Metropolitan Wastewater Man- agement Commission; and Providing an Effective Date Mr. Ruffler and City Attorney Glenn Klein joined the council for the item. Mr. Ruffler reviewed the changes made to the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) in response to the council's comments at earlier work sessions. He referred any bond-related questions to City Finance staff Sue Cutsogeorge. Mr. Ruffler reported the Springfield City Council adopted the amendments to the IGA on May 2. The Board of County Commissioners was scheduled to have a first reading of the ordinance on May 18, and a second reading and public hearing on June 1. Mr. Ruffler noted that a public hearing before the council was scheduled to occur later that night, with final action scheduled for May 23. Mayor Piercy solicited council comments and questions. Responding to a question from Mr. Kelly about the authority of the MWMC to direct user rate revenues to the bond covenants rather than systems development charge revenues even if the differential was SDC- eligible, Mr. Klein confirmed the MWMC could choose to fund the entire difference needed to meet bond covenants from user rates. Nothing in the IGA required the MWMC to fund part of the difference from SDCs. Ms. Smith pointed out that there were financial planning criteria in the IGA related to equity across user classes and the other principles that made it unlikely that MWMC would take that approach. Mr. Kelly posited the possibility that the current council would not be in place to oversee the issue in the future and a future MWMC body could take another approach by changing the financial policies. Mr. Jewett suggested that overlooked the existing text in Section 3(f) that mandated the MWMC to take certain considerations into account in dealing with the financial plan. Ms. Bettman indicated that she was not satisfied by Mr. Jewett's answer and asked staff to prepare an amendment calling for full-cost recovery. Ms. Bettman indicated she would also request an amendment to Item 1 on page 4 of the IGA related to full- cost recovery; an amendment to change Item 4 to replace the phrase ;;promoting equity" with ;;ensuring equity"; and an amendment replacing ;;promoting" with ;;ensuring" in Item 5. Mr. Kelly suggested that Section 3(d) of the IGA could be amended to address the issue of full-cost recovery. Ms. Bettman asked why Lane County was a party to the IGA. Mr. Ruffler said that the County participated as the funding mechanism through a county service district. The local bonds needed to match the federal grants have been paid off, so the county service district was no longer collecting revenue for that purpose. City Manager Taylor added that the Board of County Commissioners had considered changing the IGA to eliminate its participation, but given the need to get to the bond market, there was agreement to keep the structure intact and revisit the idea later. The board had also expressed some interest in working through some of the issues with Eugene and Springfield that must be addressed to add the City of Coburg to the MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 2005 Page 7 Work Session IGA. Ms. Bettman disagreed with that approach, saying it prejudiced the Coburg study and almost predicated the outcome. The cities were providing the service and needed staff, and the inclusion of Lane County complicated negotiations between the cities and provided the board with an opportunity to veto the actions of the two cities. She wanted to see an amendment to the IGA that removed the County from the agreement. Mr. Pap6 expressed concern about the element of the IGA that gave the MWMC ultimate authority over rates. Mr. Ruffler clarified that the IGA gave the commission the ultimate authority in determining rates necessary to repay the bonds. The governing bodies could request reconsideration. If the MWMC refused to reconsider the rates, the issue would be referred to the Metropolitan Policy Committee for resolution. Responding to a question from Mr. Pap6, Ms. Smith said that any additional changes adopted by Eugene would be referred to Springfield for adoption. Mr. Pap6 questioned whether Eugene could force a full-cost recovery policy on Springfield. Mayor Piercy called for a second round of council comments and questions. Ms. Bettman noted that growth was expected throughout the community, with a slighter higher amount attributed to Springfield. There was no differential in the SDC for a development based on its location. In other words, more growth was happening in Springfield, and if that community decided to collect a lower local SDC, the loss would be made up in user fees from ratepayers, and Eugene ratepayers will be paying for growth in Springfield. For that reason, the IGA had to be modified to call for 100 percent cost recovery from SDCs. Mayor Piercy determined that Mr. Klein and Mr. Jewett believed it was legal for the council to hold a single public hearing on the two MWMC items. Responding to a question from Ms. Taylor, Mr. Ruffler confirmed that the amendment of the IGA required the consent of the County. City Manager Taylor added there was sentiment on the part of the board to discuss that with the two cities. Mayor Piercy recognized Ms. Bettman for a third round of questions. Ms. Bettman determined from Ms. Smith that properties must annex to one of the two cities to receive service from the MWMC. Ms. Bettman asked if the home builders were suing over the project list, the rates, or the SDCs. Mr. Jewett said the homebuilders were suing over all those things. They were suing over adoption of the facilities plan, the 309 list, the SDC methodology, and the manner in which rates were calculated. The home builders were also challenging amendments to the comprehensive plan and facilities plan. Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 7:01 p.m. Respectfully submitted, MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 2005 Page 8 Work Session Dennis M. Taylor City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 2005 Page 9 Work Session