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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MInutes - 01/08/03 SOC MINUTES Eugene City Council State of the City Eugene Hilton and Conference Center-Two Eugene Centre January 8, 2003 11:30 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, Gary PapS, Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Jennifer Solomon. STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting of the City Council to order. I.WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS City Council President David Kelly welcomed those present and introduced members of the City Council. II.MUSIC The South Eugene High School Jazz Band, under the direction of Ron Black, performed a musical selection. II.RECOGNITION OF OUTGOING CITY COUNCILORS Mayor Torrey recognized the contributions of outgoing City Councilors Pat Farr and Gary Rayor. III.ADMINISTRATION OF THE OATH OF OFFICE City Recorder Kate Fieland administered the oath of office to councilors Kelly, Poling, PapS, and Solomon. IV. RECOGNITION AWARDS Mayor Torrey presented a Community Service award to Beverly Farfan, organizer of the annual Free Community Thanksgiving Dinner. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 9, 2002 Page 1 State of the City Mayor Torrey presented Employee Recognition Awards to Jon Carson of the Central Services Department; Jennifer Curry of the Eugene Police Department; and Scott Olmos of Fire & Emergency Medical Services. Mayor Torrey presented Youth Leadership Awards to Maria Montes of Willamette High School and Quinn Wilhelmi of South Eugene High School. V. STATE OF THE CITY Mayor Torrey reviewed milestones for the year 2002. He noted the opening of the new library and acknowledged Mr. Meisner's contributions to realizing that goal. He reported that Broadway was reopened. He reported that the East Bank Bike Path was completed and acknowledged the contribution of former Mayor Ruth Bascom to the City's bicycle system, noting the path would be named for Ms. Bascom. Mayor Torrey noted the opening of the Bethel Skateboard Park; the approval of funding for the downtown fire station and property acquisition; and the fact the funding for the Police Property Control and Crime Lab facility was secured and property for the facility purchased. Mayor Torrey noted efforts currently underway, including a business climate survey and follow-up focus groups, and acknowledged Mr. Kelly's contribution to that effort. He also noted the completion of the Courthouse District Concept Plan and the work of councilors Nathanson, Meisner, and Bettman on the plan. He anticipated further work on southeast and southwest hospital coverage, specifically, an emergency room south of the river; further work on the City's parks and open space planning efforts and completion of the 1998 levy and the City's commitment to provide a major North Eugene area Park. Mayor Torrey reported that the West Eugene Parkway was going through the planning process, and noted the contribution of Mr. Farr to that effort. He said that work was progressing on Delta Ponds, and acknowledged Mr. PapS's work to make that area a park. Mayor Torrey called for keeping Mac Court in Eugene and in downtown. Mayor Torrey said that confronting today's challenges will require the City to find new ways to meet the challenges of government at all levels. He pointed out that 4,000 children attending school in Eugene could not check out a book from the new library or either of the two branch libraries because they live outside the city limits. He reminded those in attendance the City faced the same issue with Measure 20-37, the after-school levy, and last year's 20-67 school levy. In both cases voters agreed to underwrite the costs of out-of-town students but he believed the basic issue of fairness to the Eugene taxpayer could not be ignored any longer. He said the City must deal with the question of who will pay for this service. It was time to face up to this situation and do something about it. Mayor Torrey asked the City Council to join him in asking the City Manager and his staff to return with creative solutions that will allow the City to make its library system available to all children as well as to others who could not afford the annual $80 non- resident fee. Mayor Torrey complimented the Lane Library League for its efforts to find ways of providing library services throughout all of Lane County and called on City staff to assist that effort. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 9, 2002 Page 2 State of the City Mayor Torrey addressed the issue of transportation funding, saying it should not be an "us against them" situation. He called for new and more efficient ways to meet transportation challenges. He said the City needed help from its Congressional delegation, the State Legislature, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and the Lane Board of County Commissioners for additional funding for the I-5 Beltline project and for funding for transportation solutions to connect the new federal courthouse to downtown Eugene. Mayor Torrey addressed the issue of funding for road maintenance, saying that the Eugene and Springfield city councils have been criticized in some quarters for the decision they made to fund the maintenance of basic road systems. He assured those present the decision was not taken lightly. He indicated willingness to consider other solutions to solve the road maintenance problem. He offered to work with Eugene's governmental partners to reduce or totally replace the recently adopted transportation system maintenance fee by: 1) seeking a statewide gas tax dedicated to maintaining existing roads; 2) seeking a statewide studded tire fee with proceeds used to maintain existing roads; and 3) developing a Lane County Road Maintenance Plan that would put all road related funds, from all sources including the existing dollars in the Lane County Road Fund that come to Lane County and the cities within Lane County, into one Road Maintainance Fund. He pointed out that the urban and rural parts of the county were all part of one big Lane County. Mayor Torrey acknowledged a distribution formula would have to be negotiated and agreed upon between the Lane County Board of Commissioners and the various Lane County city governments. He envisioned the creation of a countywide road maintenance department that would handle all road maintenance for both Lane County and the cities within Lane County. He said his proposal was not "business as usual" but he did not believe the community could afford "business as usual" solutions. Regarding Ballot Measure 20-67, the local school funding measure, Mayor Torrey said that it was never intended to be the final solution. It was and continued to be a way to fill the gap locally while the citizens waited for the legislature and new governor to create an equitable and sustainable funding source for education in Oregon. He said that Eugene citizens stepped up when they voted for Ballot Measure 20-67 but he did not feel the job was done. He acknowledged the efforts of councilors Bettman, Farr, and Kelly in the passage of the measure. Mayor Torrey reported that he was already beginning to hear comments from legislators that they did not know if they would have time to deal with the many issues facing the state, such as PERS, the economy, and education funding. He acknowledged the difficulty of the challenge facing the State legislature but said that failure to meet the challenge was not acceptable. He said that in November, the League of Oregon Cities unanimously voted to ask the legislature to deal with the issue of the school funding during this legislative session and to provide the voters of Oregon an opportunity to vote on a plan no later than November 2004. He termed the league's proposal reasonable. Mayor Torrey said that he would visit every Oregon county seat over the next four months to ask the local mayor, county commissioners, school superintendents and local business and school supporters for their support in asking their local State Representatives and State Senators to get this important job done before they adjourn this year. Mayor Torrey concluded his remarks by saying that this year, perhaps more than any of the previous years, we truly have miles to go before we sleep. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 9, 2002 Page 3 State of the City Mayor Torrey thanked those in attendance. VII.ADJOURN Mayor Torrey adjourned the meeting at 1:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Carlson City Manager pro rem (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 9, 2002 Page 4 State of the City