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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 08/12/02 Work Session MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall August 12, 2002 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Nancy Nathanson, Pat Fart, Scott Meisner, Gary Rayor, Gary Pap~, Bonny Bettman. CITY COUNCIL MEETING Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. A.WORK SESSION: Items from Mayor, Council and City Manager Mr. Kelly said he had been involved in a committee to try to figure out ways to establish small business incubators. He said the committee had submitted a proposal, as part of the Lane County Use of Economic Development Dollars from the Lottery, and received a grant to do a business plan and feasibility study on small business incubators. Ms. Taylor said she appreciated the memorandum distributed to the council regarding the Housing Code. Ms. Taylor raised concern that the City employee who had made a complaint about management in the Library, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department was reputedly no longer working for the City. She suggested that the situation argued for the adoption of whistle blower protections and a performance auditor. She said she was disappointed to hear that the person being complained about was not the person investigated but the person who had made the complaint was being investigated. She stressed the importance of employees being listened to. Ms. Bettman said she had heard that the fire station on West 32nd Avenue was closed down for remodeling. She questioned why a four-year-old station needed remodeling and called for a report on the work done and its costs. Ms. Bettman thanked staff for its update on Corvallis Housing Code and the history that it defined. She said she had requested a housing code item be placed on a future work session list and called for a status report on when that would take place. Ms. Nathanson thanked the Neighborhood Services staff regarding City support for the Churchill Area Neighbors. She said she had recently attended a federal communications commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Local and State Government Advisory Committee meeting where the FCC discussed rate policy and stated that it could only talk about rates and not programming. She maintained that rates and programming were related, as channels were moved into more expensive or premium tiers and the value of the basic service declined while the MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 1 Work Session rate may stay the same. She cited the Telecommunications Service Priority Program and expressed her scepticism about the program because of its cost to local government for providers simply maintaining a list of key or essential services to restore in an emergency. Mr. Fart complimented Kate Rowles of the City Manager's Office on the work she had done as Council Coordinator. He said, to general applause, that she had been a wonderful addition to the council team and added that she would be missed tremendously when she moved on to her new work assignment. Mr. Fart noted that an item had been delayed from the agenda regarding use of air brakes inside the city limits. He stressed that the issue had not been dropped but just postponed. Mr. Rayor raised concern that Eugene's transportation system was in serious decline. He went on to say that Planning staff and citizens of Eugene should be vigilant in following the hearings held by Springfield regarding the new PeaceHealth Hospital location and its impacts on the transportation system in the metropolitan area. Mr. Pap~ thanked the City Manager for the August 7 letter that had gone to his constituents on Ayers Road. He said it was good to get the information out but raised concern over pedestrian and bicycle safety. City Manager Jim Carlson noted that there had been two appeals on the ballot title language for City Charter amendments. He said the appeals would be dealt with during the Wednesday work session. He noted that there was extra material distributed to councilors regarding a proposal for a business climate assessment for the City of Eugene. He said it was a potential next step in the work being done on economic development. He also said there was a response from the City Attorney on issues related to the transportation system maintenance fee. He said it was a quick response to legal issues raised in a letter received by the council the previous week. Mayor Torrey urged the council to take a look at the new Broadway development. He said it was a tremendous improvement. He also thanked the Parks Division for the work done at Gilham Park. He said that the City had shown what it could do with the 1998 Parks and Open Space ballot measure. B.WORK SESSION: Economic Development Tools and Actions Based on Sustainability City Manager Carlson noted that the topic of the discussion was part of the City Council's goals work plan. Mike Sullivan of the Planning and Development Department provided the staff presentation. He said staff had been given direction to develop a paper on potential economic development strategy actions and tools based on sustainability. He said the council's adopted description of sustainability had provided a balance between a stable and diverse economy and protection of natural resources. He said staff's initial objectives were: A. Maintain and enhance existing business development conditions that are conducive to sustaining the economic stability of the community. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 2 Work Session B. Encourage, through education, the introduction of sustainable business practices designed to make existing businesses more competitive and profitable. C. Encourage the growth of business and industry that incorporates sustainable practices. D. Create a collaborative, positive and sustainable business climate that can be marketed to attract new business investment to the community. With those objectives in mind, Mr. Sullivan said staff had set out a series of potential tools split into two broad categories: 1. Actions that the City could take independently. 2. Actions or tools that could be pursued in collaboration with other agencies, institutions, or interests in the community. Mr. Sullivan said the City had a wide variety of core functions that allowed the best chance for the City to provide economic development opportunities. He stressed that the best economic development opportunities were based with the City's existing small businesses. Mr. Kelly complimented Mr. Sullivan and staff regarding the economic development plan. He raised concern that the amount of information in the plan would make in challenging for the council to work through it, but said the plan provided a good framework for moving forward. He stressed that economic development and sustaining the community needed to work hand in hand. Ms. Bettman raised concern that the proposed next steps were all too familiar. She said the key to economic development and sustainability was to provide core functions such as public safety, education, and livability. She said sustainable economic development needed to have outcomes that showed a demonstrable public benefit and said that one of the filter criteria should be a an accounting for all costs. She stressed the importance of pursuing the regionalization of the airport but added that increasing training/education funds for staff was important as well. In response to a question from Ms. Nathanson regarding commercial enterprises near the airport, Mr. Sullivan noted there were properties near the airport that could be developed with light industrial or commercial businesses that would help the economic viability of the airport. Ms. Nathanson commented that teaching sustainability was not something the City did well and said she did not want to push the City into a teaching role. She said the City should stick to what it did best. She said there was a lot of city policy that could be viewed as a model for private businesses. She cited heating and cooling practices and doing business electronically as examples. Mr. Meisner reiterated Mr. Kelly regarding combining sustainability and economic development. He said the City was part of a region and if it took action in isolation it would be less effective and the results would be of limited value. He stressed the importance of regionalization of the airport. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 3 Work Session Ms. Taylor opined that people of the City did not want to expand and bring in big businesses. She stressed the importance of having a variety of small businesses and helping them maintain a living wage. Mr. Farr maintained that the timber industry was a sustainable industry that was continually throttled by the State. He raised concern over the bent of the City to discourage businesses from coming to Eugene by excessive regulation. He stressed the importance of not adding layers of bureaucracy to City regulations. Mr. Rayor said he did not want the same old programs dressed in new titles. He said he wanted a specific list showing the differences between the program and older programs. He said he wanted Eugene to be different from any other city in the Northwest by developing economic plans to mix zoning. He stressed the importance of not developing car-dependent infrastructure. Mayor Torrey noted that everyone had their own definition of sustainability. He stressed the importance of recognizing businesses who were doing well environmentally and not demanding that they do business a certain way. He said if the City made it too hard to do business to do business in Eugene, then businesses would go elsewhere. Mr. Kelly said that recognizing businesses that were doing well was a great next step. He expressed a desire to see staff publicize area success stories so that people would know the kinds of things that were going on. He cautioned that incentives for businesses needed to be well targeted. Regarding Ms. Nathanson's concern that the City should not be put in a teaching role, Mr. Kelly suggested partnering with agencies that could fulfill a teaching role. Mr. Kelly, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to direct the City Manager to add a position devoted to sustainable economic development planning and implementation. Funding for the rest of fiscal year 2003 would come from the reserve for revenue shortfall. Funding would be included in the base budget for future years. The position would serve as the focal point for sustainable economic development work in the City in collaboration with other city staff and public and private organizations and individuals. Ms. Bettman raised concern with adding a position after the budget cycle. She said it would be useful to have someone who could do some cost benefit analysis of City programs. Mr. Meisner noted that there was no money to create a new position or to implement any programs. Ms. Taylor said she would not support the idea of creating a new position. She noted that money was already being allocated to the Metro Partnership. Mr. Farr stressed the importance of supporting businesses and attracting new businesses in the City instead of making things more difficult for existing businesses. He said he would oppose the motion. He said essential services needed to be taken care of first. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 4 Work Session City Manager Carlson spoke against the use of the Reserve for Revenue Shortfall as the specific source of money for the motion. He said the Budget Committee had agreed to reduce the General Fund expenditures by $375,000 and not increase beyond that amount in its ground rules for fiscal year (FY) 2003. He said taking money out of the Reserve for Revenue Shortfall would violate that agreement and cause the City to be in a deficit position going into FY04. He suggested that possible sources could be contingency funds or marginal beginning working capital for FY02. Mr. Rayor expressed a preference for new employees being either firefighters or police. He noted that there were private firms that could do the work suggested by Mr. Kelly. Mr. Pap~ noted that Governor John Kitzhaber's office had developed a definition of sustainability. He stressed the importance of having a common definition for the community. In response to a question from Mr. Pap~ regarding what factors of the report were most important for economic development in the City, Mr. Sullivan said that the City's core functions were very important to the community. He said supporting business investment was vitally important and added that an "economic development lens" on how infrastructure investments were made would add to the City's effectiveness. He went on to say that traditional tools used in the past were mentioned in the report but noted that those tools could be geographically targeted. He said that a tool like urban renewal would be necessary if the City were to implement nodal development. Mr. Sullivan added that business education could be an important strategy to promote sustainability and could be accomplished in partnership institutions in the community such as Lane Community College and University of Oregon. Mr. Pap~ stressed the importance of a regional economic development strategy as well as a defined economic development strategy that called for a mix of businesses. Ms. Nathanson said she would not support the motion. She noted that the Budget Committee had voted down just such a position during the budget process. She raised concern that the person in the proposed position would be subject to pressure from councilors with special projects. She added that the City lacked key tools to promote economic development. Mayor Torrey said the Land Use Code Update and its reference to nodal development limited construction in certain areas and forced mixed-use development. He said the City was doing a lot to promote smart growth and said it needed to recognize its own efforts. He said he would tend not to support the motion because there was no allocation to the Permit and Information Center to have a staff person who was able to talk about sustainability and the update. Mr. Kelly said he had put the motion on the floor because the council had only been paying lip service to economic development. He expressed his amazement that the council would talk about the importance of economic development but, at the same time, failed to devote even one staff person to it. Mr. Meisner, seconded by Mr. Rayor, moved to amend the motion by striking the first and second sentences and substituting the language: "1 moved to authorize the City Manager to expend up to the sum of $50,000 to contract for sustainable economic development planning and implementation planning services." MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 5 Work Session Mr. Fart, seconded by Mr. Meisner, moved to extend the discussion by 10 minutes. The vote on the motion was a 4:4 tie, Mr. Pap~, Mr. Fart, Mr. Meisner, and Ms. Nathanson voting in favor, and Mr. Kelly, Ms. Taylor, Ms. Bettman, and Mr. Rayor voting in opposition. Mayor Torrey voted in opposition to the motion, which failed on a final vote of 5:4. Regarding the amendment, Mr. Farr said he would be in favor of developing resources to economic development, but not in the particular fashion suggested by the motion. He expressed regret that the work session had been spent debating a late motion by an individual councilor and said that the council could have had a productive discussion regarding sustainability and economic development without having a motion on the floor. He stressed that there was no standard definition of sustainability and said there was a great deal to be done before the council decided on putting more layers of bureaucracy on the businesses in the community. The amendment passed, 7:1; Mr. Kelly voting in opposition. The main motion passed, 6:2; Mr. Fart and Ms. Nathanson voting in opposition. C.WORK SESSION: Living Wage Mr. Pap~ recused himself from the discussion. City Manager Carlson stressed that staff had no proposal or recommendation on the item at this time. He said there was a lot of information needed before staff could make a recommendation. He said there was little uniformity in such ordinances nationwide. Human Resource and Risk Services Department Director Lauren Chouinard provided the staff report for the item. He noted that there had not been a lot of research on the subject. He said there were over 80 communities with living wage standards, including 5 in the State of Oregon. He called attention to the written material included in the council meeting packet. He said a more in-depth analysis of the issue was still coming. Ms. Bettman said she would support an ordinance. She said that workers in the City deserved a wage that met their basic needs. She stressed that the money would stay in the community rather than providing millions of dollars in exemptions to multinational corporations that sent money out of the community. She suggested implementing the ordinance in phases. Ms. Nathanson supported the principal of the ordinance. She raised concern with living wage implementation. She noted that there was a wide discrepancy in what a proposed living wage ought to be and called for more information from staff regarding what the actual wage would be. Mr. Fart said it was absurd to suggest that an economic strategy should be predicated by government spending. He said he would vote in favor of the ordinance but reiterated staff's assertion that there was a lot more research to do on the subject. He said it was not the job of government to provide jobs as that was the role of private industry. Mr. Kelly said more research was a necessary next step. He expressed a hope to discuss policy at that particular work session. He read a letter in support of the living wage signed by MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 6 Work Session representatives Phil Barnhardt, Terry Byer, Al King, Vicki Walker, and Senators Susan Castillo, Tony Corcoran, and Bill Morrisette. He noted that 20 percent of Lane County residents had needed food boxes during the previous year and stressed that a living wage ordinance would help the working poor. Mr. Meisner noted that the ordinance was not a minimum wage law but was only proposed for City employees and City contracts. He noted that none of the people who signed the letter read by Mr. Kelly had proposed a living wage in the State legislature. He raised concern that the City could not pay for wage increases and suggested that the issue needed to be handled by the State. He noted that, of the five cities in Oregon that had implemented such an ordinance, two had excluded their own employees outright and a third did not include half-time employees or excluded temporary employees. Mr. Rayor said he strongly supported the concept of a living wage. He said there were two issues. The level of the living wage definition and key provisions and exemptions. He said the cost to the City could be reasonable and the higher wages would go back into the community. Ms. Taylor said everyone deserved a living wage and said that the City should do its part. She opined that increased wages would improve employee loyalty and productivity. She read part of a letter from a union representative named Stefan Ostrach, which stated that committing the City to pay a living wage would contribute to economic development. Mayor Torrey distributed a sheet of questions and read the ones he thought were most important: 1. How many City of Eugene employees did not qualify for a living wage as suggested? 2. What would be the impact of bracketing compensation levels? Would increasing lower level employee wages drive executive wages up? 3. Would a living wage ordinance preclude the City from privatization of its services in the future? City Manager Carlson said there was a definite intent that the City could not privatize its services to save money but could privatize if the workers were included in the living wage ordinance. Mayor Torrey said he had talked with other mayors in cities that had enacted living wage ordinances and remarked that, in all cases, the mayors had said they wished they had known more about the effects of a living wage ordinance before implementing it. He noted that the City of Corvallis had to alter its ordinance because it could not afford to pay a person with a disability at the compensation level they were being asked to pay. In response to a question from Mayor Torrey regarding what the City of Springfield was doing to address the living wage issue, City Manager Carlson said that nothing was being done in Springfield to address the living wage issue. Mr. Kelly suggested that the City of Eugene could profit by the experience of the other cities that had enacted living wage ordinances. He suggested using a defined metric that would stop the implementation of the ordinance if the financial health of the City became endangered. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 7 Work Session Ms. Nathanson noted that working poor were eligible for a variety of social service benefits. She raised concern that adoption of the living wage ordinance at the expense of the local taxpayer would shift the burden from State and federal social service agencies. Ms. Nathanson also raised concern that such an ordinance would make local businesses less competitive in bidding for contracts. Ms. Bettman said there was a reduction in poverty in cities where a living wage ordinance had been enacted. She remarked that there would only be a ripple effect on wages for those workers who were within a dollar or two of the amount defined by the living wage ordinance. She noted that every job that did not pay a living wage was publicly subsidized by social service agencies that provided Iow cost housing, food and other necessities. Mr. Rayor suggested talking to other jurisdictions more about the issue. He raised concern with mixing the issue with union bargaining units. He said that employees who had other recourse to representation should be excluded. Mayor Torrey raised concern that a living wage ordinance would cause layoffs because the City could not afford to pay for it. He said the layoffs would harm the very people that the ordinance was meant to help because it would be lower level employees that would be laid off first. He urged the council to be cautious of the consequences of its discussion. He raised concern that too much talk over a living wage ordinance could hurt the chances of the State minimum wage going up after the November election. Mr. Kelly, seconded by Mr. Fart, moved to direct the City Manager to return to the council, in time for inclusion in FY04 budget building, with draft options for a living wage ordinance. Options should be included for phased implementation, and for a trigger to pause future phases if the financial health of the City worsened. The City manager should also study the financial impacts of the options, and propose several different ways to fund such impact. Mr. Kelly said he supported moving forward with the motion. He stressed that moving forward with the issue meant being able to answer difficult questions from the community. Mr. Meisner offered a friendly amendment, which was accepted as long as it did not adversely impact the motion's timeline, to use the citizen members of the Budget Committee as a review board to consider and develop options presented by staff. Ms. Nathanson supported referring the matter to the Budget Committee. Ms. Taylor expressed a preference not to see the matter go through the Budget Committee. She said that she would still vote for the motion but objected to the delay involved in referring it to the Budget Committee. In response to a question from City Manager Carlson regarding what items on the budget committee work plan should be cut to pay for the living wage ordinance, Mr. Fart said the council would want to hear his recommendations regarding cuts. He expressed his trust in Mr. Carlson to make decisions. The motion passed unanimously as amended. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 8 Work Session The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Carlson City Manager pro rem (Recorded by Joe Sams) MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 9 Work Session