Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 08/12/02 Meeting MINUTES Eugene City Council Regular Session McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall August 12, 2002 8 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Pat Fart, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, Gary Rayor, Gary Pap~, Bonny Bettman,. COUNCILORS ABSENT: CITY COUNCIL MEETING Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. He took an opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of the Weyerhaeuser volunteers who had helped finish a new dog park before its scheduled opening. 1.PUBLIC FORUM Slug Queen Darcy invited everyone to the 20th anniversary of the Slug Queen parade on August 20. She thanked Mayor Torrey for offering to host a luncheon for all of the past slug queens. Ellen Wojahn, 2136) McMillan Street, spoke in support of the youth services levy. She said the levy, as it currently was written, was not fair to charter school students. She stressed that charter schools needed as much funding as other schools and urged the council to review the levy language. JoAnne Smith, 105 East 47th Avenue, spoke of a pledge campaign to have legislators in Oregon to fund Oregon public schools in a sustainable and rational way. She submitted written material to the council. Anthony Gledhill, 2978 High Street, spoke in support of funding schools in a rational way. He stressed that it was more and more difficult for local districts to fund themselves. He noted that the current legislature was using cuts and one-time funding to allocate funds to schools. Jerry Crosby, 16)80 Lorane Highway, spoke in support in alarm companies and noted that the Eugene Police Department had abandoned the alarm permit and fee ordinance approved by the City Council without any notice or public comment and raised concern that the department was asking the industry to implement a verified response practice in 60 days. He urged the council to direct the City Manager to postpone implementation of the verified response policy until January 1, 2003. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 1 Regular Meeting Harry Able, 3031 Staff Drive, spoke in opposition to a living wage. He said it was very discriminatory to workers who were not working or contracting with the City. He raised concern that Eugene taxpayers would have to pay for better wages for City employees. Joe Gillian, 30300 Southwest Parkway Avenue, spoke on the transportation maintenance fee. He raised concern that the fee was really a property tax and it violated the uniformity clause of the Oregon constitution. He said the fee would set a bad precedent as it was proposed. Peter Desser, 623 South 44th Street, Springfield, spoke in support of postponing the implementation of the verified alarm response ordinance. He requested that the council direct the City Manager to order an extension of the implementation date until January 1 . Nick Llrhausen, 2858 Warren Street, speaking as the local post commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, expressed his appreciation for Mayor Torrey and the Police Department but raised concern over charges for police services at the Veterans Day parade. He suggested that the City partner with the Veterans Day Committee to avoid these charges. Laurel Laing, 87947 Applegate Court, Veneta, spoke representing the Lane County Veterans Day Parade. She noted that it cost a significant amount of money to put on a parade. She urged the City to support its veterans by waiving charges for police services during the parade. She said that in return for support, the veterans would put the City logo on its posters. Thomas Lang, 87947 Applegate Court, Veneta, spoke as a Vietnam veteran. He urged the council to help the living veterans by supporting the Veterans Day Parade. Joan Obie thanked the council for its support of the school funding levy. She said that by helping local schools the council was saving children. She expressed concern that the State of Oregon would not find sustainable funding for schools until there was a "train wreck" that forced it to address the issue. Nichole Pomiteer, representing Friends of the Children, reported that the national nonprofit organization had opened an office in Eugene. She said the organization supplied professional paid mentors to seriously at-risk children. She said the mentors guided students from first grade until graduation from high school. She thanked Eugene for being receptive to the program. Tim Anderson, 748 Goodpasture Island Road, urged postponing the verified response ordinance until January 1. Andy Peara, 410 East 34th Avenue, spoke on behalf of Eugene's charter schools. He submitted written material to the council. He spoke in support of the youth services levy and suggested an alternative allocation formula since the current formula was inequitable. He urged the council to reconsider the school levy to make it more equitable to charter schools. Berry Kessinger, 2825 Dapple Court, urged the council to reconsider the verified response ordinance. He said there were too many false alarms because the City had failed to enforce its existing policy. Mayor Torrey called for comments from the council. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 2 Regular Meeting In response to a question from Councilor Fart regarding the notice to postpone the verified response policy, City Manager Jim Carlson said the council could pass a motion to direct the City Manager to extend the implementation date if the council chose to do so. Councilor Fart, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved to postpone the implementation of the verified response policy until January 1, 2003. Councilor Nathanson said she would support the motion. In response to a question from Councilor Nathanson regarding the reason it had taken so long for the Eugene Police to implement the ordinance passed by the council, City Manager Carlson noted that it had taken time to develop a database of all alarm owners in the City and said that there had also been changes in the industry since the ordinance was passed that lead the department to believe that verified response was a more cost-effective way of approaching the problem. Acting Police Chief Thad Buchanan added that the delay was based on prep work and getting lists for registration and program development. He reiterated that more information on the industry had been collected to show that fee programs were not particularly successful and verified response was more effective. He stressed that out of 6,000 alarms responded to, only 10 actual arrests had been made because of the high number of false alarms. He commented that this was a ratio that could not be maintained when the organization was struggling for budget resources and staffing. He said private industry could provide an adequate response and noted that there were private security companies in the City that were willing and ready to provide the service. Councilor Bettman said she supported the verification system because police should only be responsive to legitimate calls and not false alarms. She raised concern that responding to so many false alarms might cause a safety issue for officers. She said the ordinance should be implemented as soon as possible. She said she would not support an extension to January. She said that verified response was a nationwide trend and opined that the change could not have come as a complete surprise to local security companies. She said she would only be willing to support an extension of 30 days. Councilor Kelly noted that the council had spent a lot of time working on the false alarm ordinance. He commented that things broke down when the department changed its mind but did not come back to the council and request revisions to the existing ordinance. He said he would support the motion. Councilor Pap~ remarked that the council was spending too much time on the issue. He suggested that the City Manager and the alarm industry get together and work out a time line for implementation. Councilor Fart withdrew his motion with the permission of the second. Councilor Bettman thanked those who testified and apologized to the few people at the end of the forum who had their time reduced to two minutes. Regarding the fees charged for police services during the Veterans Day Parade, Ms. Bettman said that when the fees were forgiven it meant that the services still had to be paid for by another source. She expressed her willingness to make a personal donation toward covering the cost of those fees. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 3 Regular Meeting Councilor Taylor apologized that some people did not get to speak for three minutes at the forum. She expressed her strong desire to let anyone who wished have three minutes to speak, no matter how long the Public Forum lasted. Councilor Kelly thanked those who spoke at the public forum. He requested that the City Manager provide a report on whether the council could take a position on the pledge program of the Oregon School Employees Association. Councilor Pap8 thanked Ms. Pomiteer for coming to the forum and introducing her organization to the council. Regarding the fees for the Veterans Day Parade, Councilor Pap8 noted that both he and Mayor Torrey were willing to donate one of their City paychecks to the Parade Fund. II.CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of Council Minutes: June 24, 2002, Work Session June 24, 2002, Regular Meeting June 26, 2002, Work Session July 8, 2002, Work Session July 8, 2002 Regular Meeting July 10, 2002 Work Session B. Approval of Tentative Working Agenda C. Approval of Community Development Block Grant Funding for Non-Profit Capital Projects D. Approval of Findings and Recommendations from the Hearings Official and Adoption of Resolution 4736 Forming a Local Improvement District for Paving, Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalk, Waste Water, Storm Water, Street Lights, and Trees, Irrigation and Landscaping on Legacy Street from Avalon Street to Babe Ruth Lane, and on Avalon Street from Legacy Street to Haviture Way. (Job # 3990) Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved to approve the items on the Consent Calendar. Mayor Torrey noted that minutes corrections did not have to be read aloud and could be submitted in written form into the record. City Attorney Glenn Klein verified that, as long as minutes corrections were submitted in writing to the entire council before the meeting, they did not need to be orally stated. Councilor Bettman offered written minutes corrections into the record. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 4 Regular Meeting Councilor Kelly submitted written minutes adjustments into the record. Councilor Farr pulled item C. Councilor Nathanson said she was unable to submit her minutes adjustment to the council in writing. She suggested an adjustment to the minutes of June 26, packet page 96. She suggested adding the words "... and not, at least, somewhat political." Roll call vote; the remaining items on the Consent Calendar passed unanimously. Regarding Item C, Councilor Farr read a list of projects that some of the Community Development Block Grant funding had aided. He cited projects by American Red Cross, Birth to Three, Buckley House, Catholic Community Services, Centro LatinoAmericano, and the Child Advocacy Center. Roll call vote; item C passed unanimously. III.PUBLIC HEARING AND POSSIBLE ACTION: An Ordinance Concerning Acts Prohibited at Night and Amending Section 4.680 of the Eugene Code, 1971 City Manager Carlson said that at the work session held on the item Councilor Meisner had asked to "level the playing field by allowing other modes of transportation be treated equally in the ordinance." He said that staff had chosen to restrict that level playing field to within the public right-of-way. He said that would not include bike paths or sidewalks in parks. He said that allowing access on bike paths or sidewalks meant that a park had essentially been opened. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding how the ordinance would affect events, City Manager Carlson said it would be up to the City Council to allow a later closing time for a park. City Attorney Glenn Klein added that the council could take action to exempt a special event from the ordinance. Mayor Torrey opened the public hearing. Andy Peara, 410 East 34th Avenue, spoke for Nearby Nature and other organizations that served as park hosts. He supported the interpretation that allowed for park host contracts to be served in parks. Seeing no on else wishing to speak, Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing. Councilor Meisner raised concern that the ordinance would prohibit cyclists and runners who chose not to be on the street. He stressed that the City urged the use of alternative modes of transportation and said that the ordinance would inhibit that movement. He said he would propose an amendment when the time for action had arrived. Councilor Fart reiterated Councilor Meisner's concerns. He said he would be in favor of Councilor Meisner's amendment. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 5 Regular Meeting Councilor Kelly noted that sometimes he bicycled to council meetings and the only way for him to bike home was through a park on a bike path. He raised concern that the ordinance would make it illegal for him to bike through a park if a meeting finished after 11 p.m. Councilor Taylor noted that a City ordinance already prohibited travel through the parks after 11 p.m. and therefore Councilor Kelly was already acting illegally when traveling through a park after that time. She also noted that if people came out of a concert at the Cuthbert Amphitheater and wanted to take the bike bridge across the river after 11 p.m. that would be illegal as well under the current ordinance. She expressed a desire to change the ordinance to allow for travel through parks after 11 p.m. In response to a question from Mayor Torrey regarding why he thought the desires of council were not appropriate from the standpoint of the Police Department, Chief Buchanan said the only way to effectively patrol the parks was visually. He said encouraging more activity in parks at night would necessitate more park patrols that the department could not afford. City Manager Carlson asked the council to consider Council Bill 4799, an ordinance concerning acts prohibited at night and amending section 4.680 of the Eugene Code, 1971. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved that the bill, with unanimous consent of the council be read a second time by council bill number only and that enactment be considered at that time. In response to a question from Councilor Farr regarding whether all of bike paths were lighted, City Manager Carlson said that the ones currently being constructed had associated lighting. Councilor Meisner, seconded by Councilor Fart, moved to amend the motion by changing Section 1(2) by adding the words: "...or officially designated bicycle paths and sidewalks." following the words "...within the public street right-of-way." Roll call vote; the amendment passed unanimously Roll call vote; the main motion passed unanimously. City Manager Carlson asked the council to consider Council Bill 4799, as amended, by number only. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved that the bill be approved and given final passage. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 6 Regular Meeting IV. ACTION: Resolution 4737 Calling a City Election on November 5, 2002, for the Purpose of Referring to the Legal Electors of the City of Eugene a Measure Authorizing a Four- Year Local Option Levy to Support Youth, Including School Related Activities Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor PapS, moved to approve Resolution 4737 calling an election on November 5, 2002, for the purpose of referring to the legal electors of the City of Eugene, a measure authorizing a four-year local option levy to support youth, including school-related activities. Councilor Rayor distributed a proposed motion related to charter schools in and outside of the city limits. Councilor Rayor, seconded by Councilor PapS, moved to amend the motion by striking the last sentence of Finding J and adding a Finding M that stated: "Charter and contract alternative programs located within 4J and Bethel school districts within the City limits shall receive from each district equitable amounts of levy funds" and add a Section 5 that stated "Findings K, L, and M are bound into this resolution." Councilor Rayor urged the council to approve the amendment. Mr. Klein said there was no problem in doing what Councilor Rayor had suggested. In response to a question from Councilor Farr regarding whether the amendment would change the funding formula for schools, Mr. Klein said it would require an equitable amount. Councilor Fart said he would not support the amendment. He stressed the importance of making the levy as simple as possible so it would pass at the ballot. Councilor Meisner raised concern over possible litigation caused by the amendment. He said that K and L did not say shall happen but should happen. He said the wording would have no force of law. Councilor Kelly offered a friendly amendment to the amendment, which was accepted, to change "should" to "shall" in findings K and L, and add the words "based on existing allocation formula" to the end of Finding M. Councilor Kelly offered a friendly amendment to the amendment, which was accepted, to strike the words "within the city limits" in Finding M. Councilor Bettman said she would support the amendment. In response to a question from Councilor Pap8 regarding whether there was any work with the school districts to come up with a system to get funds to students inside the City boundaries, Jan Bohman of the City Manager's Office said there had been contact with the school districts but no other workable way, within the scope of the project, had been found to address concerns of fairness to all of the students. Councilor Pap8 suggested that the ordinance apply only to fee-based programs and then the fees of students who lived inside city limits could be abated. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 7 Regular Meeting Ms. Bohman noted that the requested action would have a discount for Eugene residents for all programs requiring a fee. In response to a question from Councilor Pap8 regarding whether the City could direct, request, or require the school districts to make more of their programs fee-based so fees could be discounted for in-city students, Ms. Bohman acknowledged that it would be possible but expressed a desire to have a member of the school district respond. Councilor Pap8 said he was particularly interested in getting financial help to the school districts but stressed that City taxpayer money should only go to Eugene residents. Councilor Taylor raised concern over discrimination against any students. She said if a student attended a school they should pay the same fees and have the same privileges as everyone else. In response to a question to representatives from the school district from Mayor Torrey regarding whether there was a reason the amendments should not be passed, Kent Hunsaker of the Bethel School District raised concern over the definition of "additional funding." Councilor Bettman changed her mind and said she would not support the amendments. She said it was up to the voters to decide whether the levy was good for the community. Councilor Kelly said he would support the amendment. Roll call vote; the amendment passed, 6:2; with Councilors Farr and Bettman voting in opposition. Mr. Klein suggested inserting in Finding L in the second line the following wording: "...beyond the amount anticipated for the four year period as of June 2002." Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor PapS, moved to amend the motion by inserting the language recommended by Mr. Klein. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding school budget cuts and when the restoration of funds would be, Ms. Bohman said there would not be any restoration in the first part of 2003. She said the school districts were planning to do partial restoration in mid-year if the bond passed. Roll call vote; the amendment passed unanimously. Speaking to the main motion, Councilor Farr expressed his pride that the council could affect the quality of the local schools. Councilor Rayor said he would not support the resolution because there was no contact with the State Legislature. He said the State Legislature was robbing school funding from the funding of the next two years. He said the State Legislature was handling its finances no better than Enron or World Com. He said the resolution would do nothing for Springfield or the 16 other Lane County school districts. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 8 Regular Meeting In response to a question from Councilor Nathanson regarding the rate per thousand dollars of property assessment, Barb Bellamy said the current youth levy was 21.5 cents and acknowledged that the proposed levy would be for 86 cents per $1,000. Councilor Meisner said he was troubled by the inequities in the levy and the school district's resistance to address those inequities for Eugene residents. He said passing the resolution at the local level enabled the school funding problem, on the State level, to continue which would be against the City's long-term interests. He remarked that he did not expect the legislature to come up with a responsible solution in the next session or the one after it. He said he would not support putting the levy on the ballot. Councilor Pap~ said a better forum for the issue would have been the Board of County Commissioners or the State Legislature. He said he would support the amended proposal. Councilor Fart said he would support the motion. Councilor Taylor said she would support the motion. Councilor Bettman said she would support the motion. She said it was not the time or the place for the City of Eugene to get in the middle of the discussion between charter schools and the school districts. She said that the resolution would, at best, buy an additional four years for the students of the district. She expressed a hope that in that time legislators who truly supported the State's schools would be elected. Councilor Nathanson said she would support the motion. She said the most persuasive argument was that student activities such as music and physical education would be restored, as well as librarians, school nurses, and counselors would not be there except for the proposed funding measure. Mayor Torrey said he supported Governor John Kitzhaber's position on his recent budget vetoes but noted that he also supported overturning the vetoes because the school districts were not equipped to deal with the implications of those vetoes. He said the message behind the veto was the right message and added that the State Legislature had let Oregon's children down by simply walking away from the issue of education. He opined that the State Legislature in 2003 would walk away from the issue again. He expressed a hope that Oregon's citizens would take an example from Eugene's citizens and recognize that it was time for citizens to take the initiative before the voters of Oregon to find an appropriate way to fund education on a sustainable basis. He said he did not believe the two-party system in Salem had the courage to deal with the issue but stressed that the children of the State should not be held responsible for that lack of courage. He urged the council to support the measure. Mayor Torrey said he would spend the following year working with the legislature on ways to fund education. He reiterated that the State Legislature had failed the children of Oregon by walking away from the issue and added that the legislators should be ashamed of themselves. Roll call vote; the motion passed, 6:2; councilors Rayor and Meisner voting in opposition. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved to authorize the expenditure of not more than $5,000 from the General Fund contingency MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 9 Regular Meeting account for neutral public information related to the proposed measure for the November 5, 2002, election. Roll call vote; the motion passed, 7:1; Councilor Rayor voting in opposition. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Farr, moved to appoint Betsy Boyd, a Bethel area representative, and a City Councilor to be named by the council officers, to the proponent committee for the measure. Roll call vote; the motion passed, 7:1; Councilor Rayor voting in opposition. V. ACTION: Resolution 4738 Concerning the City of Eugene's Commitment to Retirement System Reform Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor PapS, moved to approve Resolution 4738 concerning the City of Eugene's commitment to retirement system reform. Councilor Bettman raised concern over wholesale approval of anything the legislature came up with. She said she would not support the motion. She acknowledged that the PERS situation had put the City in a delicate financial situation, but said that the way the resolution was worded it would support any reform that the legislature put forward. She opined that the legislature was on the side of business and not advocating for workers, and raised concern over what kind of reform would be endorsed by the resolution. She suggested more specific wording. Councilor Taylor said she would not support the motion. She said the wording sounded like a condemnation of public service workers. She said she did not advocate backing out on promises made to workers throughout their careers. Councilor Kelly opined that the resolution was specific and was supportive of the rights of public employees. He said he would support the motion. Councilor Rayor said the resolution only addressed future earnings. He said the system, as it was currently, was broken and was a serious problem. He said a no vote was fiscally irresponsible. Councilor Meisner said the resolution in no way took away from the retirement system of public employees. He said he would support the motion. Councilor Farr expressed a desire for more information on the issue. Councilor Pap8 thanked Councilor Rayor for bringing the issue forward. He expressed his willingness to try anything to fix the PERS problem. Councilor Rayor offered a friendly amendment, which was accepted, to strike the language in Section 5 regarding the approval of the City Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations and insert a statement that a copy of the resolution would be forwarded to each member of both houses of the State Legislature. Councilor Taylor expressed a desire for more information. She raised concern over not hearing from people with a different point of view. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 10 Regular Meeting Councilor Meisner asked if Councilor Taylor could vote on the issue as a current PERS beneficiary. City Attorney Glenn Klein indicated that Councilor Taylor had, at most, a potential conflict of interest, and she could declare that conflict and continue to participate in the discussion. Councilor Taylor declared a potential conflict of interest since she received $150 monthly from PERS. Councilor Nathanson declared a potential conflict of interest since she too was enrolled in the PERS program. Councilor Kelly declared a potential conflict of interest since he invested part of his council compensation in PERS. Mayor Torrey declared that he was also investing part of his wages in the PERS retirement system. Mayor Torrey suggested changing the PERS rules for new employees at some future date. He raised concern over breaking a contract with employees but noted that there was no obligation to use the PERS program, as it was structured currently, with new employees. Roll call vote; the motion passed, 5:3; councilors Fart, Taylor and Bettman voting in opposition. VI.ACTION: An Ordinance Concerning Transportation System Maintenance Fees and Adding Sections 7.750 through 7.795 to the Eugene Code, 1971 City Manager Carlson asked the council to consider Council Bill 4800, an ordinance concerning transportation system maintenance fees and adding Sections 7.750 through 7.795 to the Eugene Code, 1971. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved that the bill, with unanimous consent of the council, be read a second time by council bill number only and that enactment be considered at that time. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Bettman, moved to amend the motion by changing the proposed definition of "transportation system" in Section 7.755 to provide the wording shown in the council meeting packet and to amend 7.750(2) of the Eugene Code, 1971 by striking the word "all." Councilor Kelly said the passage of the amendment was critical to his positive vote for the main motion. Councilor Taylor said she would support the amendment. She noted that she would be against the main motion but said that the amendment would improve the main motion if passed. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 11 Regular Meeting In response to a question from Councilor Meisner regarding an analysis of the amended motion, Public Works Director Kurt Corey said the ordinance, as initially proposed, did provide the council more latitude but said he had no disagreement with Councilor Kelly's observations. Councilor Meisner said he would support the amendment. Councilor Bettman offered a friendly amendment to the amendment, which was accepted, to delete the terms "ways and lanes" and "related facilities" from the language of the amendment. Roll call vote; the amendment, as amended, passed unanimously. In response to a question from Councilor Farr regarding Springfield's action, Mr. Corey said the City of Springfield was moving ahead on a similar track in terms of transportation funding. He noted that its first order of business would be consideration of a local option gas tax. He said Springfield would schedule its discussions on the tax for around the first part of October. He said the current direction from the Springfield City Council was for its staff to develop the monthly fee component strategy over the next year. Councilor Farr raised concern over creating an imbalance for Eugene businesses by putting in additional regulations that were not occurring in nearby areas. He expressed a hope to come up with a county or statewide alternative. He said he would vote against the motion. Councilor Taylor said the fee was a regressive tax and she would vote against it. She said it should be a combination of gas tax and vehicle registration fee. She said a gas tax could be coordinated with Springfield and both cities could urge the County to pass a similar fee. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Taylor, moved to amend the motion by changing the caption to read: "An ordinance concerning transportation system maintenance fees and adding Section 7.750 through 7.795 to the Eugene Code, 1971 and providing an effective date"; and add a new Section 3 to read: "Section 3: Not withstanding the effective date of ordinances provided in the Eugene Charter of 1976, this ordinance shall not become effective until it is approved by the electors of the City. If this ordinance is not approved by June 30, 2003, it is automatically repealed on that date." Councilor Bettman noted that the item would not have to be on the November ballot and would have some extra time to be well established before the May ballot. She opined that the fee was a tax and would be viewed by citizens as a service that the City should provide under existing taxes. She stressed the importance of putting the item in front of the voters of the City. Councilor Meisner said he would not support the amendment as it was proposed. He said the council had to have the courage of its convictions and pass the motion if it desired to. He said everything the council did was subject to referendum and noted that if the voters disagreed with the decision they could pass a referendum petition. Councilor Kelly reiterated Councilor Meisner. He added that the process had started 18 months ago. He said it was not a complete solution but it was the best that could be done and stressed that the council needed to take leadership responsibility. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 12 Regular Meeting Councilor Pap~ concurred with the remarks of councilors Meisner and Kelly. Roll call vote; the amendment to the motion failed, 6:2; councilors Bettman and Taylor voting in favor. Councilor Rayor, seconded by Councilor Bettman, moved to amend the motion by changing Section 7.750(2). He suggested striking the word "operate" and substitute "maintain and preserve elements of the City's transportation system." He also added a Subsection 3 which would say the following: "The priority purpose of this ordinance is to reduce the back log of pavement deterioration as measured by the City's pavement condition index." Councilor Kelly raised concern with the legal and practical implications of the amendment. In response to a question from Councilor Kelly regarding how the amendment would affect the Public Works Department, Mr. Corey said operations addressed some of the aspects of street maintenance such as street signs, striping, labor costs and other things that were not maintenance and preservation. In response to a question from Councilor Kelly regarding the priority for dealing with the road problem backlog, Councilor Rayor said the whole point of the fee was to address the backlog but noted that this was not mentioned in the ordinance the way it was written. He stressed that the ordinance should be tied to the pavement condition index. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding the use of the word "operations" in the ordinance and whether funding could be used for ongoing public works staffing, Mr. Corey said the previous amendment, approved by the council, was specific as to what revenues from the funding source would be used for. He said the previous motion was self-explanatory and should stand on its own. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding whether Mr. Corey was saying that the funding could not be used for ongoing Public Works staffing, Mr. Corey said there would be overhead costs associated with the program which would translate into staffing. He noted that staffing had been a part of the discussion for the previous ten months. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding whether Mr. Corey was saying that there would be staffing costs above and beyond what was associated with the costs of maintenance and preservation, Mr. Corey said, to the best of his understanding of the question, the answer would be yes. He raised concern that the question was getting restated and added that the program, particularly as amended, was for an overlay and slurry seal program of the existing transportation network including the necessary administrative costs to accommodate that, nothing more and nothing less. Councilor Meisner said he would oppose the amendment. He said that "operate" was not a word used in isolation in the ordinance and was to operate and maintain all transportation-related components located on City owned property, City rights-of-way, City easements, or which the City was contractually or legally obligated to operate and maintain. He said he was comfortable with the existing language. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 13 Regular Meeting In response to a question from Councilor Pap~ regarding whether the question would be covered in the yearly budget process, City Manager Carlson said it would, and added that the budget process would be another opportunity, each and every year, for the resources to appropriated. The amendment failed, 5:3; councilors Rayor, Nathanson, and Fart voting in support. Councilor Farr said he would oppose the main motion. He said it would create an uneven playing field for Eugene businesses. Councilor Bettman said she would oppose the main motion because it was an ordinance that could be amended at any time, which meant that a large pot of money was being created that could be redirected to anything a majority of the council decided to redirect it to. She added that a County gas tax should be considered first since, if the gas tax was not passed, the transportation maintenance fee would be even higher than what was initially proposed. She went on to note that there was no sunset date for the ordinance. She said that passage of the motion would facilitate the dysfunction of a system which continually built new roads when it could not maintain existing infrastructure. Councilor Kelly reiterated that the process had started 18 months ago and noted that if the motion failed it would be at least a year before a new proposal was constructed which would mean an addition $10 - $15 million added to the backlog. He said he had not seen an alternative that was both legal and practical to administer. City Manager Carlson said the issue was the key finance issue facing the City of Eugene. He stressed the fact that it was the most important finance issue that the city had before it, aside from PERS. He said it was the first opportunity for the City to have a locally funded transportation revenue source. He urged action on the issue. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding the timeline for appealing the issue and putting it on the ballot, Mr. Klein said a person would have 30 days in which to gather the necessary signatures to refer the item to the ballot. If the necessary number of signatures were obtained, the ordinance would be presented to the council, which would have an opportunity to repeal it. If the council did not repeal the ordinance, it would go on the ballot and would not take effect until it was voted on. Councilor Bettman asked if the contract for collecting the fee was granted to the local public utility, could a person's water and electricity be shut off if the fee were not paid? City Manager Carlson said that was a possible outcome but noted that, in practice, there were other means of compelling collection. Councilor Fart reiterated his concern that the council was making it more difficult for businesses to operate inside the City of Eugene. Roll call vote; the vote on the motion was a 4:4 tie; councilors Pap~, Kelly, Meisner and Rayor voting in favor, and councilors Nathanson, Fart, Taylor, and Bettman voting in opposition. Mayor Torrey voted in opposition, and the motion failed on a final vote of 5:4. The meeting adjourned at 11:15 p.m. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 14 Regular Meeting Respectfully submitted, James R. Carlson City Manager pro tern (Recorded by Joe Sams) MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 12, 2002 Page 15 Regular Meeting