Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 10/08/03 WS MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room-City Hall October 8, 2003 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Gary Pap~, Scott Meisner, Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Bonny Bettman, Jennifer Solomon. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Nancy Nathanson, George Poling. Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION: City Manager Six-Month Review City Manager Dennis Taylor observed that he had been on the job for approximately six months and it was time for the City Council and the City Manager to discuss observations and accomplishments of that time. He said that the position of City Manager had been a professional and personal challenge and he had been honored and privileged to have been given the opportunity to take on that challenge. He said that he had inherited a great work force and an organization with a national reputation for excellence in many policy, service, and program areas. Mr. Taylor said that over the last six months he had worked hard to acquaint himself with City staff. He said he had been going out to meet with individual employees in their work spaces, adding that this was a practice he would continue throughout his tenure in order to get an understanding of the organization and its many intricacies. Mr. Taylor said he had also taken great care to reach out and be available to neighborhood groups and various stakeholders in the larger community. Mr. Taylor said he had tried to bring energy, endurance, sensitivity, flexibility, and optimism to the work. He said that he focused on the vision and values of the organizational and had used opportunities to demonstrate his commitment to democracy, public service, and professionalism. Mr. Taylor said he had worked hard to honor the City's value of diversity and would continue to do so. He had worked to create a shared responsibility team and to emphasize that every employee was a part of the larger team which was the City of Eugene. Mr. Taylor shared that during the past months he had worked to emphasize superior customer service, improve communications throughout the organization, improve communications between the community and the organization, forge stronger partnerships with private and public organizations, improve economic development, and foster a concept among departments and employees of the City being a team. He spoke in more detail about creating an organization that had a reputation for being good and helpful to work with in terms of economic development and on large projects such as the hospital or the new federal building. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 1 Work Session Mr. Taylor requested feedback from the council in order to clarify mutual expectations and criteria for a performance review, and to validate an evaluation process. He said he was pleased that the council had a tradition of annual performance reviews for the City Manager. He referred to the City Manager Performance Appraisal Form, copies of which were included in the agenda packet, and said he thought it would be a useful tool for the evaluation. Mr. Taylor said he welcomed both positive and negative feedback at any time, and while he thought a performance appraisal was best done in a private setting, he was comfortable with public discussions of evaluations as well. Mr. Taylor believed a performance evaluation was best done when the goals were mutually determined, the expectations were clear, and the performance discussion was focused. He suggested that mutual goals could be discussed in February when the council had set aside time to work on council goals. He said it would be very useful for him to have a list of council priorities for the next year or two so that he could prioritize his use of time and resources. Mr. Taylor concluded by saying that these first six months had been an exciting time for him and that he looked forward to his evaluation. Mr. Pap~ said he would give Mr. Taylor high marks for his performance so far as City Manager. He attributed those high marks to Mr. Taylor's attitude of openness to the organization and the community and his willingness to listen and learn about the City rather than presenting an attitude of thinking that he had all the answers. Mr. Pap~ commended Mr. Taylor again for his attitude and for his work ethic. He added that he hoped Mr. Taylor would begin to use the knowledge he had gained about the City and the community along with his experience in making decisions. Mr. Pap~ agreed that it would be important for the council to have clear expectations of the City Manager. Mr. Kelly said that he was pleased that Mr. Taylor was serving as City Manager. He was delighted that Mr. Taylor had an active interest in getting out into the organization as well as the community to talk to a lot of people with varying points of view. He said that he thought that this was critical. He added that he appreciated the times that Mr. Taylor had used his past experience to inform council discussions. Mr. Kelly said that he had experienced Mr. Taylor as being very forthright in one-on-one conversations and he hoped that Mr. Taylor would feel as comfortable in the months ahead to offer his point of view in the same forthright manner in public meetings. He said that an honest opinion statement would serve the councilors in making decisions. Mr. Kelly said he liked the performance appraisal form and thought it was a good broad tool. He added that he would be interested if Mr. Taylor thought that it needed revision in any way. Mr. Meisner said he had general expectations for a city manager and for Mr. Taylor specifically, which had been formed during his trip to Billings, Montana, to do a background check on Mr. Taylor. He said that Mr. Taylor was meeting all of his expectations at this time. Mr. Meisner said he really appreciated Mr. Taylor's "hands-on" approach with the City staff and with the community and his work to promote relationships with other jurisdictions. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 2 Work Session Mr. Meisner noted that there was a certain tension in the evaluation process in that Mr. Taylor was the council's only employee and any council concern or dissatisfaction with one department, manager, or program would be reflected in the evaluation. Mr. Meisner appreciated the suggestion of a dual goal-setting process in February. He added that with eight councilors, there could be some tension between what the council and Mr. Taylor agreed on as goals and what an individual councilor might want as goals for Mr. Taylor. Mr. Meisner said he looked forward to seeing reflections of Mr. Taylor's innovations and input into future deliberations, in particular in regards to the budget. Mr. Meisner said that he was satisfied with the performance appraisal form. Ms. Solomon said she thought that Mr. Taylor was doing an outstanding job and she enjoyed working with him. She particularly appreciated Mr. Taylor's efficient handling of constituent's concerns that she delegated to him. Further, she admired Mr. Taylor's desire to bring the council together as a group. She acknowledged that while it had been difficult she looked forward to continuing work on this issue. Mayor Torrey said that Mr. Taylor had some tremendous attributes. He seconded Mr. Kelly's remarks and added that Mr. Taylor's expertise was needed at the council table. He emphasized that Mr. Taylor was the professional and had been hired to provide expertise and guidance. He acknowledged that Mr. Taylor's early attitude of taking time to learn and not having all the answers immediately would serve him well. Mayor Torrey said that his comfort with Mr. Taylor as City Manager had grown since the day he was hired. He said Mr. Taylor had demonstrated his ability to balance the business community and the environmental community in such a way that no one would be able to criticize him. He concluded by saying he thought the council had made an excellent choice in hiring Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor said he had "hit the ground running" in terms of learning and listening. He acknowledged that in dealing with some of the difficult issues facing the City in the last six months, he had to defer to the City Council on policy direction. He was very gratified that the council had been willing to convene sessions to discuss how the council could work together more effectively. He said he would like to add to the performance appraisal form a council priority list that was a reflection of the entire body. Mr. Taylor said that he still thought it would be most useful if the performance appraisal could be done outside of the public forum in a more relaxed setting. He asked that each councilor fill out the form, but that the council try to create a composite evaluation and to speak with as close to a single voice as it could both in terms of expectations and feedback on performance. Mr. Taylor observed that as he got better at working with the council and understanding the issues, he would be more assertive at ~weighing in." He added, however, that his style had been to allow the council to set the policy directions and then to align the City's resources, program, and staff behind that direction. He stressed the importance of the council working to improve its ability to %teer" rather than to ~row" and to figure out its focus and priorities. He repeated his desire to have a list of council priorities not only for him but for the organization and community as well. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 3 Work Session Mr. Taylor said he had instituted a performance appraisal process with all of the executives and suggested that the performance period be aligned with the fiscal year. He said that perhaps the council would like to consider having his appraisal in July or August so that it would have the benefit of looking back over a budget year, a fiscal year, and a program year. Mr. Taylor indicated that every expectation he had before coming to Eugene had been met, both in the opportunity and the challenge of the job. Eugene, he observed, was a very passionate, energized, diverse community with a common goal of making it the best City it could be. The challenge was that Eugene's diverse population had different views about how to reach that common goal and the council and the City organization had to work together to achieve it. He said he thought that one of the reasons that Eugene had been recognized regionally and nationally was that the City had taken the time to have discussions along with the differences and the tension. He said he was happy to add his voice to this tradition. Ms. Taylor said she thought that conducting the performance evaluation in July was a good idea. She also suggested the council be allowed to give a brief evaluation after each meeting by use of a simple form. Ms. Taylor agreed that while everyone wanted Eugene to be the best City, not everyone would agree on what would make the best City or how to get there, although she thought that revitalizing downtown was a common goal. Ms. Taylor indicated that she was opposed to the City Manager giving opinions, saying it was up to the City Council to set policy and up to the City Manager to implement it. She said she thought that the City Manager should be cautious about giving opinions about policy. Ms. Taylor said it was too soon to evaluate the City Manager's performance, but added that she thought that he had done admirably in learning about the City and in getting out in the community. She said that it must be overwhelming to have so much to learn and to also have nine %osses." She thought that Mr. Taylor had created a good impression in his public appearances. Mr. Pap~ commended Mr. Taylor and the City organization for the candid way in which they handled the situation concerning two police officers who were dismissed for misconduct on duty. He added that he was disappointed with the results and process for hiring a new police chief for the City. He said that he hoped that the next process would be done differently and that the City would find a successful candidate. Mr. Pap~ said that sometimes he would appreciate a quicker response than a day or two when he called the City Manager. He added that he would work to become more proficient with his email in order to be easier to reach. Mr. Kelly said that more often than he would like, requests he had made to the City Manager would get lost. He said it was usually things that would come up in meetings or in one-on-one conversations and not in emails. He requested some sort of tracking for those requests so that there would be appropriate follow-up. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 4 Work Session Mr. Kelly indicated that in a few cases, there had seemed to be a disconnect between clear council direction and the staff response. He acknowledged that it was not a habitual problem, but thought that it would be beneficial if that loop were closed. In regard to input about policy, Mr. Kelly said it was understood that the council decided policy but he would appreciate Mr. Taylor's input in a policy discussion based on his practical experience. He would also appreciate Mr. Taylor giving the council a framework within which to work. Mayor Torrey expressed his concern that the City was feeling the pressure to hire a police chief and would move too quickly. He said he would much rather to take the time needed to get the very best person for the job, adding that Chief Thad Buchanan was doing a good job in the interim. Mayor Torrey was also concerned that the City was not doing a good job of staffing the Police Department appropriately with sufficient numbers of people on the street and that would create a problem for the City budget next year. He said the City should not accept a balancing and blending of the department needs at the expense of safety on Eugene's streets. Ms. Taylor said that she believed in open government and therefore disagreed about holding the performance evaluation in private. She thought the process session should also be open, which was why she objected to having them in different places. She said that in her opinion, being accessible and open were two paramount goals in government. Ms. Taylor said she was disappointed that a recruiter was used for the search for a police chief. She was also disappointed that the council was not involved in the process, adding that the council should be at least as aware of what was going on as people in the community. Mr. Meisner pointed out that at one time there was a goal to have City Council meetings out in different parts of the city. He acknowledged that there were merits to having one familiar place for meetings as well as to going out to other areas. Mr. Meisner noted that the council had very carefully made policy directions and budget decisions about creating more positions for police officers on the street. He said the council had funded two foot patrol officers in the Whiteaker neighborhood and shifted money for more traffic enforcement positions, and that all of those positions had been eliminated without even informing the council. He said that while he understood department and citywide needs, it was troubling to have positions taken away without discussion when the council had debated and made a very conscious decision to fund those positions. Mr. Taylor said that the performance evaluations in which he had been involved had always been public and that he was comfortable with that format. He said that would make it even more useful and important for councilors to fill out the evaluation form and try to synthesize the information in some consistent manner. Mr. Taylor said the only thing that he was disappointed over during the last six months was that the City had not yet hired a new police chief. He said he was fortified by the fact that Chief Buchanan was serving and he had committed to continuing in that role until a new police chief was hired. He said he and Chief Buchanan had decided to go ahead and make some decisions about filling vacant positions. They will also focus on the pressures on patrol by shortening some of the recruitment cycles in order to encourage already prepared police officers from other MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 5 Work Session jurisdictions to join the Eugene Police Department. Mr. Taylor emphasized that the most important decision that the City Manager would make was the executive leadership of the organization. He said that he was being very thoughtful and methodical in the process and he felt confident that the City would find the right person for the job. B. WORK SESSION: Pavement Preservation Program Update Mr. Taylor said that the update on the pavement preservation program was being made to give the council feedback on one of its policy directions. He said that the update would provide information about the program since the gas tax had been instituted. He introduced Public Works Director Kurt Corey. Mr. Corey gave a brief history of the pavement preservation program. He said that due to budget constraints, the City had been unable to adequately fund a capital pavement preservation program for a number of years. He said that with the approval and implementation of the local gas tax dedicated to capital pavement preservation, the Public Works Department was able to partially resume the program. Mr. Corey said that in 2003, the department contracted out five paving overlay projects: Echo Hollow Road (Royal Avenue to Dove Lane); 18th Avenue (Bailey Hill Road to Josh Street); 29th Avenue (Willamette Street to Lorane Highway); 30th Avenue (Hilyard Street to Agate Street); and Amazon Parkway (29th Avenue to Hilyard Street). A contract was also awarded for repairs to portions of Cal Young and Gilham roads. That work was scheduled to be done during the 2004 construction season. Mr. Corey gave a PowerPoint presentation titled ~2003 Pavement Preservation Program." Councilors were also provided copies of the presentation slides. Mr. Corey said that the program goals were: · Slow or reverse the rate of deterioration · Address the backlog as effectively as possible · Make the most efficient use of program revenues · Provide benefit throughout the city Mr. Corey explained that pavement would lose about 40 percent of its quality during the first 15 years of its life and the next 40 percent drop in quality would occur over as few as two to four years following that. The City, therefore, tried to schedule work at the 40 percent drop in condition so that a cost-effective maintenance strategy could be applied, such as an overlay. He said beyond that point, the project would probably demand reconstruction and would greatly increase in cost. Mr. Corey said that project selection criteria included Overall Condition Index (OCI) rating, street classification, traffic volumes, age of the street, previous maintenance history, and other factors. He noted that almost two-thirds of the Eugene street system was more than 15 years old. Mr. Corey presented statistics and pictures of the five projects completed in 2003. He noted that the 30th Avenue project included a separately funded and previously planned pedestrian crossing improvement at the Alder Street intersection. He explained that coordinating activities like this helped to stretch resources and minimize the disruption. Mr. Corey said that all of the construction was completed by local contractors and the City also employed significant assistance from outside specialists. He said the 2003 program amounted to about $2.7 million with $2 MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 6 Work Session million of the funding coming from the gas tax and $700,000 from transportation systems development charges (SDC). Mr. Corey pointed out that the City would have had to spend $10 to $12 million more on these projects if it had waited two or three years. Mr. Corey reviewed the chronology of key funding actions beginning with the recommendation from the citizen members of the Budget Committee charged with looking at transportation funding that the City institute a $9 million a year street preservation program. He said since that time, budget activities and capital improvement plans had been adopted all contemplating a full implementation of the $9 million program. He said the council adopted ordinances establishing the three-cent local option gas tax and creating a Transportation Systems Maintenance Fee (TSMF). He said a local option gas tax had been implemented, but under pressure and criticism from the Lane County Board of Commissioners and a threat from the Chamber of Commerce to sponsor an initiative petition on the TSMF, the council repealed that ordinance. This left a big gap in the funding for the capital preservation program. Mr. Corey reminded the council of the following quote from the citizen members of the Eugene Budget Committee: Providing adequate funding for ongoing annual preservation activity is critical to prevent preservation backlogs from accumulating in the future. Mr. Corey said that with the current backlog at $96,226,395, and with spending at least $3.5 million a year, the backlog would grow by about $5 million per year absent additional resources to the program. He said that he looked forward to future conversations about the funding needs. Mr. Corey briefly reviewed 2004 projects and projects that had been delayed due to lack of funds. He concluded by saying that the program was better off than it was two years ago, but the backlog would continue to grow. He provided phone numbers and a website for further information. Mr. Kelly thanked Mr. Corey and Mark Schoening for Mr. Schoening's memorandum to the Metropolitan Policy Committee calling for accommodation of the Eugene City Council's direction of flexible allocation of the STPU funding for preservation projects. He said that he was glad the council gave clear direction and that staff was supporting that direction. Mr. Kelly asked if there was any update from the county as to when discussion of transportation funding would be discussed. He wondered if the meeting of mayors from around the county had taken place. Mr. Corey said that meeting had been scheduled for November 25. Mr. Pap6 asked if Public Works had done any life-cycle costing for asphalt versus other materials such as concrete, stone, bricks, etc. Mr. Corey said it all came down to an analysis of the street that was being repaired. He noted that a concrete intersection had been put in on the intersection of Bertlesen and Roosevelt streets. He said he would caution against general policy direction as to technical standards. He emphasized that the existing transportation network would determine some of what would be practical. He said the department always considered first costs, maintenance costs, life-cycle as design decisions were made about new construction. In response to a question from Mr. Pap6, Mr. Corey said that the department was more pro-active than prescriptive in working with utilities to mitigate the impact of cutting into streets. He said that department staff had regular utility coordinating meetings to make sure that the need to get into newly constructed or newly overlayed streets was at an absolute practical minimum. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 7 Work Session Mr. Papd said there was a need to have a better look at connecting the CIP, including roads and reconstruction, with the budget process on an annual basis. Ms. Bettman thanked Mr. Corey. She said it was a good feeling to see some of those jobs being completed. She appreciated the incorporation of pedestrian refuges into some of the projects. Ms. Bettman said she disagreed with the statement that budget constraints were the reason the City had a $96 million backlog of preservation projects. It was her opinion that the backlog was at $96 million because decisions had repeatedly been made to prioritize building new projects rather than preserve the existing system. She said then politically a crisis was created, liability was increased, and the decision was made to raise taxes when funds existed that could be used for preservation. She said that even though new projects were worthy, the question was how the City could redirect existing resources that could be used to preserve the current system. Ms. Bettman said that when reconstructing a street, there would be an opportunity to do a cost- analysis and to perhaps use new materials. She said she thought that it would be worthwhile looking at the costs of concrete versus asphalt. Mr. Meisner said he hoped the City was able to find a reasonable, sustainable, satisfactory funding solution in cooperation with its partners to replace the TSMF. Mr. Meisner asked if the City contracted on a per project basis with a bid or if it was possible for the City to take advantage of the current favorable contract rates with a service contract with a particular provider. Mr. Corey said that contractors were generally reluctant to do that because their costs were driven by the petroleum industry. Mr. Meisner asked if the council could receive some information about that option. In response to a question from Mr. Meisner, Mr. Corey said he would be receiving information about the collection of gas taxes in the middle of October, and would inform the council when he received the information. Ms. Taylor agreed with the idea to look at concrete and the idea to divert money from new roads to maintenance. Ms. Taylor said some of her constituents were concerned about the pedestrian refuge on 30th Avenue. She said it blocked the traffic coming from Lane Community College and turning south. She wondered why the refuge was not east of the intersection instead of west. Mr. Corey said that the refuge was placed there to meet the pedestrian crossing demand. He added that initially, part of the backup problem there was a function of the signal timing. He said that the signal had been retimed to avoid the backup problem and the situation had improved. Ms. Taylor supported the idea of a meeting with the county and encouraged people to not assume that it would not work. She said she did not think it was true that the County did not want to work with the City. Mayor Torrey said he would provide Mr. Corey with a copy of a mobility study from Texas. He asked Mr. Corey to have someone on his staff find and pull out the information about Eugene. He said the study did seem to indicate that Eugene could not just stop building new roads and that MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 8 Work Session congestion did create problems. He said he would report the council's decision to the Metropolitan Policy Committee (MPC) but he would also tell them that he thought the Chad Drive extension should be built. He said it was imperative to find a way to balance expenditures between congestion reduction and operations, maintenance, and preservation. Mr. Pap~ asked Mr. Corey to keep reminding the council and the community that the City had a problem and it was not getting any better. Mr. Kelly asked that when looking at the Texas study, the council keep in mind the difference between percentages and absolutes. He explained that in terms of previous congestion, the congestion in Eugene was increasing, but in comparison Eugene's streets were not nearly as congested as that of a lot of other cities. In response to a question from Mr. Kelly, Mayor Torrey said he would vote yes on Ms. Bettman's motion at the MPC meeting, but that he would indicate he thought it was a mistake. He said he would vote yes on the initial motion as a courtesy to the council and added that he did not think that he was required to do so. Mr. Kelly said that he did understand the importance of the Chad Drive project, but the focus now needed to be placed on preservation. Ms. Bettman said she disagreed that building new roads was the only way to handle congestion. She said the Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds were a very small amount of money that could be used for preservation whereas there were many funding sources for new roads. She said that available funding sources should be used to take care of the investment that tax payers had already made on infrastructure before building new infrastructure. Ms. Bettman said she appreciated the mayor's statement that he would follow the council's wishes and vote yes on her motion to prioritize the STP funds for preservation at the MPC meeting. She wanted to flag the mayor's statement that he did not think he had to vote with the council's decision. She asked the City Attorney to consider this statement in terms of the council's process agreements and the role of a councilor who had been assigned to a particular committee. She thought that a council representative's vote should be consistent with council votes on policy decisions. Mayor Torrey urged councilors who had good working relationships with the County commissioners to talk to them and ask how they were feeling about transportation funding. Mayor Torrey adjourned the meeting at 1:27 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dennis Taylor, City Manager (Recorded by Elise Self) MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 8, 2003 Page 9 Work Session