HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 3D: Ratification of IGR Meeting Minutes
ECC
UGENE ITY OUNCIL
AIS
GENDA TEM UMMARY
Ratification of Intergovernmental Relations Committee Actions of
November 21, 2006, January 16, 2007, and January 23, 2007
Meeting Date: February 12, 2007 Agenda Item Number: 3D
Department: City Manager’s Office Staff Contact: Brenda Wilson
www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 682-5049
ISSUE STATEMENT
This is an action item to ratify the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Relations (IGR)
Committee for the November 21, 2006, January 16, 2007, and January 23, 2007, meetings.
BACKGROUND
As a matter of procedure, the City Council is routinely asked to ratify the actions taken by the
Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Committee. This is done by submitting the minutes of each
committee to the council.
Actions on which the committee is not unanimous are brought before the full council for consideration.
For the meetings of November 21, 2006, and January 16, 2007, all decisions were unanimous. At the
January 23, 2007, meeting, there was one action on which were was not unanimity; this was HB2278,
relating to financing for transportation project. The staff recommendation on this bill was a “Priority 2,
Support.” A motion at the IGR Committee level to change the status to “Priority 2, Support with
amendments” passed 2:1 (Bettman, Taylor: Pryor). Staff from both Public Works and
Intergovernmental Relations will be available to provide additional information on this bill.
The minutes being considered are for the November 21, 2006, January 16, 2007, and January 23, 2007,
meetings.
RELATED CITY POLICIES
Ratification of IGR Committee actions is the making or affirming of the City of Eugene’s policy with
respect to Federal and State legislative issues or such other matters as may come to the council from the
committee.
COUNCIL OPTIONS
The council may ratify or decline to ratify the IGR Committee’s actions as set forth in the minutes of the
committee's meeting.
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CITY MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends ratification of the IGR Committee's actions as set forth in the minutes of the
committee's meeting and that there be a discussion on the decisions that were not unanimous.
SUGGESTED MOTION
Move to ratify the IGR Committee's actions as set forth in the minutes of the November 21, 2006,
meeting, January 16, 2007, meeting and January 23, 2007, meeting.
ATTACHMENTS
A. IGR Committee Minutes of November 21, 2006
B.IGR Committee Minutes of January 16, 2007
C.IGR Committee Minutes of January 23, 2007
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Staff Contact: Brenda Wilson
Telephone: 682-8441
Staff E-Mail: Brenda.s.wilson@ci.eugene.or.us
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NAME OF MEETING: Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations
DATE OF MEETING: November 21, 2006
TO: Mary Walston
RECORDED BY: Kimberly Young
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ATTACHMENT A
M I N U T E S
Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations
McNutt Room—Eugene City Hall
777 Pearl Street, Eugene, Oregon
November 21, 2006
2 p.m.
PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, Betty Taylor, members; Mary Walston, Jessica Cross, Alex Cuyler, City
Manager's Office; Mike Sullivan, Amanda Nobel, Planning and Development Department;
Eric Jones, Public Works Department.
ABSENT: Chris Pryor, member.
1. Call to Order and Review Agenda
Ms. Bettman called the meeting of the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (CCIGR) to
order.
2. Approval of Minutes
Ms. Taylor, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to approve the minutes of October 17, 2006.
Ms. Bettman asked that second sentence in paragraph 6 on page 2 be corrected to read (italicized text added;
struck text deleted) “He said the home builders association had been favored restrictions. . .” Ms. Bettman
referred to paragraph 9 on the same page and asked that the text be revised to read: “Ms. Bettman inquired
about the procedure for modifying the document for and who the target audience was.”
Referring to page 3 of the October 17 minutes, Ms. Bettman corrected paragraph 2 to read “. . .The City
supports removal of the prohibition of SDCs for schools, police, fire, and library, and preservation of while
preserving existing SDCs.”
Ms. Bettman asked the intent of the committee be more clearly reflected in the motion on page 6 so that it
read “Ms. Taylor, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to forward the resolution supporting the Endangered
Species Act to the City Council.”
The motion to adopt the amended minutes of October 17, 2006, passed unanimously, 2:0.
The committee considered the minutes of October 26, 2006.
Ms. Bettman referred to paragraph 4 on page 2 of the October 26 minutes and asked that the fourth sentence
be revised to read “Ms. Bettman feared that if the City supported legislation that supported assistance for
that higher income brackets, it would come at the expense of lower income brackets.” She also asked that
the last word in the paragraph be changed from “requirements” to “funding.”
MINUTES—Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations November 21, 2006 Page 1
Ms. Bettman asked that the paragraph 4 on page 3 of the minutes be changed to reflect the change the
committee made to the relevant legislative policy (“The City will continue to oppose proposals for
intensification of use in rural areas outside city urban growth boundaries.”)
Ms. Taylor, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to adopt the minutes of October 26, 2006, as
amended. The motion passed unanimously, 2:0.
3. Review of Grant Application
Mr. Sullivan was present to answer questions about the grant application. Ms. Bettman asked questions
clarifying the details of the grant, determining from Mr. Sullivan that the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) first funded environmental assessments and then the City could seek additional dollars for specific
site mitigation, that 15 percent of the grant would be used for administrative purposes, and that the City
would work with established neighborhood organizations and organizations such as the Toxics Alliance to
establish priority sites. He anticipated that staff would form a department advisory committee to advise
staff, and that would also include neighbors.
Responding to a question from Ms. Bettman, Mr. Sullivan recalled that the 108 grant application was
submitted to the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) approximately a year earlier; it was
approved by HUD for both urban renewal districts. However, to spend those dollars, the council must
approve each individual transaction, followed by HUD approval. The council had yet to act on a transac-
tion. He reminded the CCIGR that it had discussed the Brownfield Economic Development Initiative
(BEDI) with staff last year, and the City had received a $2 million BEDI grant in conjunction with the 108
grant, representing roughly 20 percent of all funds in the program. He anticipated that future 108
application would have a component that was 80 percent funded by the 108 grant and 20 percent funded by
BEDI.
Ms. Bettman asked if staff had identified likely sites. Mr. Sullivan said no. Staff’s original intent had been
to work with the owners of industrial properties in west Eugene and encourage them to think about
redevelopment and infill in those areas. Among the greatest barriers to infill in such areas was the threat of
environmental contamination or the presence of such contamination without knowledge of its extent.
However, the EPA did not find that compelling, and subsequently staff had expanded the boundaries of the
area to include commercial properties and the downtown core. The EPA was seeking a mix of private and
public properties and, for example, staff anticipated that the Eugene Water & Electric Board property might
require some analysis. Ms. Bettman asked if the neighborhoods would be involved in that process. Mr.
Sullivan said that under the grant criteria, public involvement prior to application submittal improved the
application’s chances of success. He said that neighbors would be involved early and throughout the
process.
Ms. Taylor asked who would be the subcontractor performing the assessments. Mr. Sullivan said that
assessments were generally performed by engineering firms with the appropriate expertise.
Ms. Taylor, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to approve the grant application. The mo-
tion passed unanimously, 2:0.
MINUTES—Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations November 21, 2006 Page 2
4. Update on United Front Plans
Ms. Walston said that representatives of Smith Dawson would be in town on December 5 at 10 a.m. to
discuss the City’s federal legislative priorities with Mayor Kitty Piercy. She did not anticipate that
Congress would do any more significant work during the remainder of the year given its lame duck status.
Ms. Walston believed that there could be additional funding opportunities with the new Congress.
Ms. Bettman indicated she would also attend the meeting with the representatives of Smith Dawson.
Ms. Walston reported that the United Front visit to Washington, DC, would occur on February 26, 2007.
5. Discussion of Process of Bill Review
Ms. Walston called attention to an outline of the bill review process distributed to committee members and
reviewed the process.
1. Five-day turnaround for staff review
2. Bills reviewed in chronological order, not by subject area
3. Priority 1, 2, 3 review order
4. Create a “Watch List?”
5. Consent Calendar approach
6. Feedback to staff on level/type of review
7. Reports available in PDF format
Ms. Walston said she would share the information with staff at the upcoming legislative coordinator
training.
The committee briefly discussed the prioritization process and Ms. Bettman noted that during the last
legislative session, she frequently requested a Priority 1 status be assigned to a bill in order to be able to
discuss the bill with staff, but that did not seem an efficient approach. Ms. Taylor said that she frequently
felt the committee needed more information about bills and the reasons behind the priorities recommended by
staff, and suggested that in its analysis of bills, staff discuss briefly why a bill was recommended as a
Priority 1. Ms. Walston agreed.
Ms. Bettman determined from Ms. Walston that generally, staff would be present at committee meetings
only for bills assigned a Priority 1 status and for those bills for which the committee indicated a desire for
additional information. The committee had no objection.
Ms. Walston suggested that staff send the staff analysis in PDF form to the committee via e-mail. Ms.
Bettman endorsed the suggestion and further recommended that the staff analysis include links to the text of
the bills being analyzed to facilitate the review process and reduce the need for staff to be present at
meetings. Ms. Walston indicated she would provide those links in the PDF document provided to the
CCIGR.
The committee accepted Ms. Walston’s recommendation that staff establish a bill “watch list.”
MINUTES—Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations November 21, 2006 Page 3
Ms. Walston invited other committee recommendations for process improvements. Ms. Bettman suggested
that Ms. Walston consult past minutes where the CCIGR discussed process issues.
Mr. Cuyler suggested that in the future, staff could provide the CCIGR with the names of the committees to
which bills were directed. Ms. Walston agreed.
Ms. Walston agreed to summarize the committee’s discussion for future distribution to members.
Ms. Taylor said the mayor had planned to come to the committee’s meeting to discuss potential sponsors for
bills of interest to the City. She suggested that the committee invited the mayor to a future meeting soon.
Ms. Walston said that she would ensure that future CCIGR meetings got on the mayor’s calendar.
6. Meeting Schedule for Legislative Session
The committee confirmed its meeting schedule during the legislative session, agreeing to meet weekly on
Tuesdays at noon, commencing in January 2007. Ms. Taylor noted her conflict on the second Tuesday, and
suggested the committee meet earlier that day.
The next meeting was scheduled for December 13 at 1:30 p.m.
Ms. Cross reported that to date, only one legislator had RSVP’d for the reception for the local legislative
delegation, Chris Edwards, and indicated she would do telephone calls to follow-up on those planning to
attend after the Thanksgiving holiday. The reception would be at the Oregon Electric Station and there
would be food and a no-host bar. Ms. Bettman requested that staff prepare a brief introductory script for
the mayor and bullet points regarding the City’s highest legislative priorities for her or another member of
the CCIGR to discuss. She suggested that Phil Barnhart be asked to discuss what people could expect from
the 2007 Oregon Legislature.
Ms. Bettman adjourned the meeting at 2:40 p.m.
(Recorded by Kimberly Young)
MINUTES—Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations November 21, 2006 Page 4
NAME OF MEETING: Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations
DATE OF MEETING: January 16, 2007
TO: Brenda Wilson, Jessica Cross
RECORDED BY: Ruth Atcherson
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Committee on Intergovernmental Relations\ccigr070116.doc
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ATTACHMENT B
M I N U T E S
Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations
McNutt Room—Eugene City Hall
January 16, 2007
12 p.m.
PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, chair; Betty Taylor, members; Kitty Piercy, Mayor; Brenda Wilson, Mary
Walston, Jessica Cross, Randi Zimmer, City Manager's Office; Glen Svendsen, Facilities Di-
vision; Billie Rathbun-Moser, Cultural Services Division.
ABSENT: Chris Pryor, member.
1. Call to Order and Review Agenda
Ms. Bettman called the meeting of the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (CCIGR) to
order. She noted that Mr. Pryor would not be able to make it. There were no changes to the agenda.
2. Review Grant Submissions
Glen Svendsen, Division Manager for the Facilities Division of the Central Services Department, reviewed
the Lane County Discretionary Grant application for a grant to fund the local match for the Eugene Depot
Phase 2 improvements funded by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A
Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) program. He explained that the grant was basically the same one that
had been submitted last year as staff continued to try to find non-city funds for the local match. He noted
that the Lane Transit District (LTD) board would be meeting on the following day to review the priorities on
the proposals.
Ms. Bettman asked him to explain the county discretionary funds. Mr. Svendsen replied that it was a
program under the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) that earmarked a certain amount of
funding level to different regions in the state and the LTD was the planning agency for the Lane County
area. He related that they had an Accessibility Committee that was comprised of a number of providers
within Lane County that convened and determined what the priorities were in order to make suggestions to
the state for how the money should be used. He said the focus was on elderly, disabled, and low-income
programs.
Ms. Bettman remarked that she found it difficult to discern what the projects were comprised of. Mr.
Svendsen responded that they were contained in the Lane Coordinated Transit Plan, which could be located
on the LTD Web site, and the projects were divided into three groups, of which only the Group 2 projects
were prioritized. He stated that the Group 3 projects were the inner-city projects that were submitted to the
state, and the Depot Phase 2 project had been categorized as an inner-city project.
MINUTES—Council Committee on Intergovernmental January 16, 2007 Page 1
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In response to another question from Ms. Bettman, Mr. Svendsen explained that the project sought to extend
the passenger ramp from the depot to the west behind the County Jail and to reconstruct the ramp to include
benches, lighting, and a usable paved service.
Ms. Bettman asked if the grant for a local match meant funding would come from ODOT funding from the
discretionary grant and no city funds. Mr. Svendsen replied that staff had asked for $200,000 in general
capital project money for the depot project in the Supplemental Budget 1 because they expected that some
things would arise that would not be eligible under either the program or the initial federal funding. In
response to another question, Mr. Svendsen affirmed that the money would be reimbursed if possible.
Ms. Bettman had tried to find the projects in the new Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and wondered if
they were there. Mr. Svendsen did not believe the depot project was listed in the CIP. Ms. Bettman asked
why. Mr. Svendsen responded that he was uncertain whether it had been listed in a prior CIP.
Ms. Bettman felt the CCIGR needed a page to update the project as “funding identified but not secured.”
She said one issue she had was that they were not trying to secure funding for a project that had already
been identified in the CIP as a priority.
Ms. Taylor, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to approve the grant application and it passed
unanimously, 2:0.
Billie Rathbun-Moser, Marketing and Public Relations Manager for the Hult Center for the Performing
Arts, reviewed a grant application for a Lane County Tourism Special Projects Grants that sought $10,000
to promote an “Only in Eugene” package in Portland for three events intended to help celebrate the Hult
th
Center’s 25 anniversary. She hoped to obtain the Oregon Symphony’s mailing list.
Ms. Taylor asked why a mailing would cost so much. Ms. Rathbun-Moser replied that the direct mailing
would go out twice and would cost close to $6,000. She explained that the flier would be “snazzy,” and the
rest of the money could be used to purchase some radio ads on the classical station in Portland.
Ms. Taylor asked if there was any reason to think that people in Portland would want to come down to the
City of Eugene for these events. Ms. Rathbun-Moser responded that the three attractions were not available
in Portland and were world-renowned classical acts.
Mayor Piercy was excited to hear that the Hult Center was doing outreach to Portland. She asked what
specifically they hoped to get in return for the investment. Ms. Rathbun-Moser related that they believed
they would be able to sell 200 tickets to Portlanders and this alone would be $10,000. She said this did not
take into account the money the people from Portland would spend on restaurants, shopping, and hotels.
She stated that the tourism grants were “all about rooms” and she had found three hotels that had availabil-
ity for the three different engagements and would be promoting them with the ticket sales so that it was a
package.
Ms. Bettman asked for a report after these events on whether that marketing had achieved the success rate
they anticipated. She asked if there was a contingency plan if the marketing director for the Oregon
Symphony declined to release the symphony’s mailing list. Ms. Rathbun-Moser replied that they would
purchase a targeted mailing list if they were unable to obtain the symphony’s list.
MINUTES—Council Committee on Intergovernmental January 16, 2007 Page 2
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Ms. Bettman asked why the CCIGR should support a grant application to the county. Ms. Walston
explained that the Hult Center for the Performing Arts grant required CCIGR approval because it was a city
facility.
Ms. Taylor, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to support the grant application. The motion
passed unanimously, 2:0.
3. United Front Trip
Ms. Wilson introduced herself. She provided an update on the priority list and the trip. She stated that the
deadline for submitting the projects to be included on the United Front priority list was later in the day. She
said the projects had to be submitted to Linda Lynch at LTD and then she would put together a final list that
the intergovernmental partners were to discuss on January 19. She indicated that the partners would
determine which projects would be included on a list to bring before the CCIGR for final approval. She
planned to bring the list to the CCIGR on January 23 for final review and approval.
Ms. Wilson reported that she had spoken with Smith Dawson in Washington, D.C. She said she would be
meeting with Ms. Lynch later in the week to go over the process of the trip, as Ms. Lynch would not be
attending the 2007 trip. She related that she would be taking on some of Ms. Lynch’s duties. She added
that a tentative agenda would be released prior to the trip but they would not receive the final agenda until
they arrived. She assured the CCIGR that the agenda would be complete and the schedule established by the
time they had arrived in Washington.
Ms. Taylor asked who would attend the January 19 meeting. Ms. Wilson replied that the meeting attendees
were comprised of the intergovernmental partners: Springfield Schools, LTD, the City of Springfield, the
Town of Coburg, Lane County, and the City of Eugene.
In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, Ms. Wilson affirmed that all those attending the meeting would
be staff.
In response to another question from Ms. Bettman, Ms. Wilson said the agenda would be basically the same
th
as the last one except for the West 11 Avenue study. She stated that there was a proposal to split the
study. She related that the Springfield School District had also submitted a request for inclusion on the
priority list for funding for an outdoor education program. She noted that the City of Eugene had been
working on its environmental education center for some time. She had been in discussion with the
Springfield Schools and would bring all of the information to the next meeting of the CCIGR.
Mayor Piercy asked if the Springfield School District had identified a pocket of money for the program.
Ms. Wilson affirmed that it did. She said she had spoken to Smith Dawson about this because to her and to
staff this looked like a competing request. However, she determined it was coming out of a “different bucket
of money.” She recalled that the City of Eugene was pushing its education center as a regional center.
Springfield contended that it would be a different study area: riparian instead of wetlands. She related that
they also maintained that the Eugene center was too far to drive for a field trip. She intended to find out
more about the request at the intergovernmental partners meeting. She noted that the district did not intend
to build a facility; rather, it wanted to build an informational trail system.
MINUTES—Council Committee on Intergovernmental January 16, 2007 Page 3
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Ms. Bettman said it brought up the issue of whether it was appropriate to bring just one school district
along. She averred that if the school district’s objective elevated to the level at which it was the City’s
objective as it was with the West Eugene education center this was a different situation.
Mayor Piercy observed that the Springfield School District had determined that this was a good way to get
some funding for its arts center and its arts program and had experienced success. She said Eugene’s school
districts had not really been interested in spending the money to pursue this as an avenue for funding
because they did not have a solid objective in mind. She did not believe that the districts opposed Spring-
field School District’s participation. She had some concern about this project because of its similarity. She
added that she felt it was cheaper to pay for school buses to go to the West Eugene center than it was to
develop their own program.
Ms. Bettman reiterated that the City of Eugene had presented the West Eugene education center as a multi-
jurisdictional regional facility. She said everyone had to agree to support everyone’s agenda. She posited
that it might not be the right time to introduce Springfield’s proposal given that all of the pieces were not yet
in place for the West Eugene facility.
In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, Ms. Wilson affirmed that the West Bank Trail would still be
on the list.
Mayor Piercy wondered if Springfield was asking for this as a piece of their recreation program. She
thought the riparian education project might be more of a Willamalane Recreational District endeavor. Ms.
Wilson responded that Willamalane was a partner in it. She noted that she had spoken with a Springfield
staff person and he shared concerns about the similarity between the proposals.
Mayor Piercy remarked that one of the things that had garnered the interest of the Oregon Senators in the
Rachel Carson Environmental Education Center had been its focus on education.
Ms. Bettman wondered if there would be a way for the City to fund a representative from the school district
for the United Front trip. Mayor Piercy responded that the school districts did not have an interest, though
they had the means to do so. She suggested they take letters from the school districts with them advocating
for the education center.
Ms. Wilson said she would contact the school districts.
Ms. Bettman asked who from the City of Eugene would be going on the trip aside from the Mayor and
herself. Ms. Wilson replied that she and City Manager Dennis Taylor and Natural Resource Manager Sarah
Medary would be accompanying the councilor and the Mayor.
4. Staff Recommendations for Legislation
Ms. Wilson pointed to the two memoranda she had included in the packet, one entitled Priority Assignments
and the other entitled Recommendations. She explained that the first memorandum was just for informa-
tion, but the second memorandum addressed the seven categories for recommendation. She stated that at
present there were four main categories and three subcategories.
In response to a question from Ms. Taylor, Ms. Wilson stated that the consideration that staff made in
making a priority 1, 2, or 3 assignment to support or oppose a bill had to do with financial resources,
MINUTES—Council Committee on Intergovernmental January 16, 2007 Page 4
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whether or not it impacted local control, and whether or not it was in line with or against a priority that had
been set by the City. She reiterated that a 1, 2, or 3 dictated the amount of staff resources that would be
deployed.
Ms. Taylor thought there had been a big emphasis on financial implications. Ms. Bettman concurred,
adding that it did not seem to take into account issues and positions. She recalled that they had identified
legislation as Priority 1 based on policy. Ms. Wilson offered to reword the memorandum. She said she
would bring it back to the next meeting of the CCIGR.
Regarding the recommendations, Ms. Wilson related that the subcategories had proven a little onerous for
staff. She conveyed staff’s recommendation to revert to the four main headings with a place for comments
on the sheet. She also thought it would make it easier when addressing the so-called “gut and stuff” bills.
Ms. Bettman averred that they had ended up in some tenuous positions and this was why they had created
the three subcategories. She said otherwise they could end up opposing a bill that they could support with
one small change. She did not believe this was more complicated.
Ms. Wilson agreed that it was not unworkable. She thought clearer direction would aid the legislative
coordinators. She conveyed their confusion as to what exactly oppose/amend meant for them. She thought
some clarification of when and how this should be used would help.
Ms. Taylor averred that the CCIGR had made it clear what they meant by the subheadings. She said
sometimes they would not support a bill unless it was amended.
Ms. Wilson explained that to her a bill that they were unsure of was a ‘monitor’ bill; staff would monitor the
bill to see how “the wind blows it.” She related that some of the information staff was receiving from the
legislative coordinators was that they were not sure when to use the subheadings and the result was that the
staff recommendation was unclear as to exactly what they wanted. She thought more education would help
clear it up.
Mayor Piercy stressed that the issue was that a lot of the time the City did not have the power to amend a
bill. She said they were not the ones that were in charge of the bills so they did not get to amend them. Ms.
Taylor responded that then they would just not support the bill.
Ms. Wilson said this was the issue. She asked if they said that they would support a bill with an amend-
ment, if the amendment did not happen would they no longer support the bill?
Ms. Bettman recalled that their intention was to express support for the concept of a bill as long as it was
amended to change one small thing, such as where the funds should come from. She said usually the
amendment was a “deal killer.”
Ms. Wilson related that some staff thought ‘support/amend’ meant that they would support the bill with a
set of amendments and without the amendments they would oppose it. To her that was a bad bill. She
suggested that they say “we oppose it and here is why.”
Ms. Bettman averred that there were political reasons why some people did not want to oppose a bill. She
suggested they just refine the definitions and offered to help Ms. Wilson work on them.
MINUTES—Council Committee on Intergovernmental January 16, 2007 Page 5
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Mayor Piercy asked that the CCIGR consider whether a bill that could potentially be good but was not good
enough might be something they just wanted to track. She asked them to consider, within the limits of what
the staff could do, what if anything was important enough to be pushing for an amendment. She pointed out
that it was a great deal of work. She thought a lot of things might not be worth the effort of taking a
position on them.
Ms. Bettman agreed that made sense in a “general broad overview,” but they went through dozens and
dozens of bills at every meeting. She said they would only take a position regarding an amendment when
they knew an amendment was being considered. She averred that staff wanted to take a position on a lot of
the bills that she did not believe were elevated to the level of city policy. She believed that in a situation
wherein it was city policy, the City did need to take a position. She felt the subcategories gave staff a much
better direction.
Ms. Taylor did not think staff members needed to use the subcategories for prioritization. She thought that
would be the purview of the CCIGR.
Ms. Wilson said the subcategories were on the drop-down menu for staff’s recommendation on the bills.
She indicated that they could remove them.
Public Affairs Manager for the Public Works Department, Eric Jones, noted that when a bill was amended it
returned as an enrolled bill or a new bill. He stated that staff would then review it again. He said they
would send it back to the CCIGR with the note that it had been amended and whether staff thought it should
be opposed, supported, monitored, or a neutral stance should be taken on it. Ms. Bettman and Ms. Taylor
indicated this would work for them.
Mayor Piercy asked if there were any bills initiated by the departments. Ms. Wilson replied that there were
four bills initiated thus far, all from the Eugene Police Department (EPD) and with the permission of State
Senator Floyd Prozanski. She noted that the Oregon Sheriff’s Association and the Oregon Police Associa-
tion had also picked up the same concepts and she was uncertain which would take the lead. She said she
would bring them to the next CCIGR meeting.
Mayor Piercy averred that the EPD should have the CCIGR looking at the bills and Sen. Prozanski should
know what the policy makers thought about them. Ms. Wilson responded that those bills had not yet come
out of legislative counsel.
Ms. Bettman asked if any other department had initiated a bill. Ms. Wilson replied that there were no others
at this time.
Ms. Bettman agreed that things presented as legislation from the City should be reviewed by the CCIGR and
approved by the City council.
Ms. Wilson stated that the bills followed closely the policies that were adopted by the City in the city policy
book. She reiterated that the bills had not been assigned numbers and were not out of legislative counsel so
they were not exactly bills at this point. She indicated she would bring the bills to the January 23 meeting in
order to gain the final go ahead. She added that she understood there were problems with the language of
two of them. She said she would send the four original drafts to councilors. She explained that one was in
regard to polygraphs for new hires, one made fleeing from an officer using something other than a motorized
vehicle a misdemeanor, one was the elimination of the requirement of notification of a subject that he or she
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was being videotaped from a police vehicle, and the last one made it a failure to produce government issued
identification if it was in a person’s possession a crime.
Ms. Bettman thought they should look into creating a process for this. She felt a department should propose
its ideas for legislature and it should at least be placed on a council’s consent calendar for approval.
Ms. Wilson said they would work on a process. She noted that the CCIGR would review two bills that had
been introduced by the professional organizations, one having to do with the polygraph and the other that
sought to waive the requirement for notification of the use of vehicle-mounted video cameras and neither of
these had arisen from the City of Eugene.
Ms. Wilson asked whether the CCIGR preferred hard copies or email links to the bills. Ms. Taylor and Ms.
Bettman indicated a preference for links, but they requested hard copies of staff recommendations.
Ms. Taylor requested a list of legislators and staff, including email addresses and phone numbers. Ms.
Wilson agreed to provide this.
Ms. Bettman expressed interest in the field burning legislation that was planned to be introduced. She
wanted to see a draft as soon as it became available so that they could take a position on it. Ms. Wilson
responded that they had not seen the bill at this point. She said the only bill that had come from this region’s
delegation thus far was a bill that Senator Vicki Walker had introduced to eliminate the Boundary
Commission, Senate Bill 417.
In response to a question from Mayor Piercy, Ms. Wilson explained that Sen. Walker had made a campaign
promise to introduce this piece of legislation.
The meeting adjourned at 1:14 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Dennis M. Taylor
City Manager
(Recorded by Ruth Atcherson)
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NAME OF MEETING: Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations
DATE OF MEETING: January 23, 2007
TO: Brenda Wilson, Jessica Cross
RECORDED BY: Ruth Atcherson
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Committee on Intergovernmental Relations\ccigr070123.doc
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R O U T I N G I N F O R M A T I O N
1/29/07rma Draft to Staff
(Date & Initials)
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ATTACHMENT C
M I N U T E S
Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations
McNutt Room—Eugene City Hall
January 23, 2007
12 p.m.
PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, chair; Betty Taylor, Chris Pryor, members; Brenda Wilson, Jessica Cross,
Randi Zimmer, Mary Walston, City Manager's Office; Larry Hill, Finance Division; Glen
Svendsen, Facilities Division; Eric Jones, Fred McVey, Lacey Risdal, Public Works De-
partment; Mark Schoening, Steve Gallup, Engineering Division; Cathy Madison, Library,
Recreation, and Cultural Services Department; Peter Ruffier, Wastewater Management Divi-
sion; Char Mauch, Municipal Court; Ellwood Cushman, Eugene Police Department; Glen
Potter, Fire & Emergency Medical Services Department; Pam Berrian, Information Services
Division; Jerry Lidz, City Attorney; Keli Osborn, Planning Division; Sarah Medary, Parks
and Open Space Division.
1. Call to Order and Review Agenda
Ms. Bettman called the meeting of the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (CCIGR) to
order. Everyone present introduced themselves. There were no changes to the agenda. She requested to add
a time for items from staff to future agendas. She also asked that a short discussion of meeting schedule be
added after the approval of the minutes.
Ms. Bettman asked if Ms. Wilson would put the legislative update on the agenda or whether the lack of an
update on the agenda simply meant there was no update. Ms. Wilson responded that she could provide an
update at the meetings or she could make it a newsletter that CCIGR members could read on their own time.
Mr. Pryor indicated he would appreciate having an update ahead of time and then if questions arose they
could be raised at the meeting. Ms. Bettman concurred as did Ms. Taylor.
Ms. Bettman stated that the CCIGR would review bills until 1:10 p.m. and then would move to the next
agenda item.
2. Legislative Bills Review
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HB 2278 – Relating to financing for transportation projects; and declaring an emergency.
Recommended Priority 2 Support
Mr. Jones explained that the bill related to the Connect Oregon Round 2 funding and had been introduced in
the legislature by the Governor. He said it had been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and
a hearing on the bill had been scheduled for January 29.
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Ms. Bettman noted that staff recommended expanding the definition of infrastructure to include air service.
She said the last Connect Oregon funding had gone to the airport. She asserted that the airport had “many
other sources of funding,” but the City had not been able to find funding for the depot project. She felt there
could be other projects that the City would want to fund. She questioned why the airport would be the
priority of the Public Works Department. Mr. Jones replied that it was important to think at the City level
what projects were likely or reasonable to move forward in order to ensure that the bill as it moved through
the session was written in a way that accommodated the set of projects the City would hope to be able to
apply for funding for.
Mr. Jones agreed that airport staff saw the ability to propose an airport project for funding as something
they would want to see, but the city staff would also like to see the bill written in such a way that the depot
project would qualify for such funding. He said another approach would be to see if the bill could give some
priority to projects that were advanced in the previous round but were not successful. He underscored that it
was up to the CCIGR to state the priorities for moving the bill ahead, keeping in mind that a focus on
projects would be the most effective way to influence legislation.
Ms. Bettman asked how modal equity was defined. Mr. Jones replied that modal equity simply meant that
an equal percentage of funding would be allocated to each of the four modes of transportation: air, rail,
public highways, and marine transportation.
Ms. Bettman indicated her willingness to support the bill with an amendment, but she wanted to stress that
she had a “huge problem” with utilizing funding based on projected lottery revenue. She averred that if the
State was going to engage in funding on the projected revenue, it should be allocated to high priority
projects.
Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to keep the bill at a Priority 2 and recommend
support with an amendment that would ensure the criteria would allow projects like the Eugene
Depot or other alternative mode projects that Eugene had in its Capital Improvement Program
or its multi-year financing plan to be given priority.
Mr. Pryor asked why the CCIGR would want to restrict it at this point, given that the City had its choice of
what it wanted to apply or not apply for without having to change substance of the bill.
Mr. Jones said the bill could be amended to say that it would specify projects that were identified in capital
improvement plans (CIPs) or in another adopted plan. He thought that could be part of the State legislation
or it could be part of an internal policy.
Ms. Bettman asserted that this was not the way it would work once the legislation and the criteria delineated
by it was in place. She stated that it was staff’s recommendation to amend it to expand the definition of
infrastructure to include air service; rather the focus should be on “alternative mode projects” that were in
existing plans.
Mr. Pryor reiterated his reluctance to change the criteria for the entire State based on what the City of
Eugene wanted.
Ms. Bettman questioned why the CCIGR would be working on a bill to begin with unless the committee was
working on it for the interests of Eugene. Mr. Pryor replied that they were working on how the City of
Eugene interfaced with the bill, but he did not want to dictate to Portland or Medford what they could apply
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for by changing the entire state law. He underscored that the City could just pick what it wanted to apply
for and leave the law as it was.
Ms. Bettman asked why then the CCIGR did not wish to take a neutral position on the bill. Mr. Pryor
responded by questioning why the City of Eugene would not want transportation legislation to go through.
Ms. Bettman replied that it brought up a policy issue for her because of how it was financed. She opined
that it was a very poor fiscal policy. She noted that it was obviously something that would have to come
before the council.
Ms. Taylor indicated she would support the motion. She added that the only reason they would do any of it
was that they were trying to protect the interests of the City.
The motion passed, 2:1; Mr. Pryor voting in opposition.
Ms. Wilson indicated she would attend the hearing and monitor the bill given that the council would not be
able to discuss it prior to the hearing.
Ms. Bettman stated that until the council was able to discuss it the recommended position was that of the
motion.
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HB 2035 – Relating to habitual traffic offenders.
Recommended Priority 3 Support
Ms. Taylor explained that she pulled this bill because she wanted to know why a Priority 3 support had been
recommended.
Ms. Wilson clarified that the bill would change current law so that driving privileges could be revoked for
15 moving violations within five years; currently the number of allowable violations within that period is 20.
Ms. Taylor said she did not want to discuss the bill.
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HB 2136 – Relating to appeals from judgments in violation proceedings.
Recommended Priority 3 Neutral or Drop
Ms. Wilson noted that Ms. Mauch had recommended the City drop it and City Attorney Jerry Lidz had
recommended that the CCIGR adopt a neutral stance in regard to this bill. She noted that the bill would
prevent the appeal from a judgment proceeding with an imposed fine of $500 or lower.
Ms. Taylor thought the CCIGR should oppose HB 2136 as all people should have a right to appeal a legal
judgment.
Ms. Mauch explained that the reason she had suggested it be dropped was that the City Municipal Court
saw very few appeals on violations at that level as the filing fee was over $200.
Ms. Bettman questioned the difference between ‘drop’ and ‘neutral.’ She opined that it would be nice if
people had the ability to appeal but she also thought, given the resources the City had, it was not prudent to
allow it to rise to the level as something the City wanted to put its legislative resources behind. She
ascertained from Mr. Pryor that he would not second a motion regarding the bill and noted that she would
also not provide a second.
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Ms. Wilson explained that ‘drop’ meant that the City would not even consider the bill because it would not
have an effect on the City either positive or negative and ‘neutral’ meant that although a bill may have an
effect the City did not have a position on it either way.
Mr. Pryor said if ‘neutral’ meant the City would not spend resources on it he would support taking a neutral
stance. Ms. Wilson responded that the difference for her was that when she was watching the bills move
through, she would not pay attention to those that were dropped but she would pay some attention to a bill
the City had taken a neutral stance on because such bills could change as they moved through the process.
Ms. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to drop the bill. The motion passed unanimously,
3:0.
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HB 2147 – Relating to denial of driving privileges of persons under 21 years of age and
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HB 2149 – Relating to penalties for violations of laws governing alcoholic beverages.
Recommended Priority 3 Support for both
Ms. Mauch explained that juvenile court could cause a drivers license suspension through the Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV) but the Municipal Court was not able to do so. She said the passage of HB 2147
would provide the Municipal Court with that ability.
Ms. Taylor asked what kinds of offenses could be penalized in this way. Ms. Mauch replied that for the
Municipal Court license suspensions could be a penalty for alcohol or marijuana possession citations under
the age of 20. Ms. Taylor indicated that she did not care to pursue any further discussion of HB 2147.
Ms. Taylor asked if HB 2149 included parents. Ms. Wilson replied that the bill added a provision that made
it so that a person who had violated the laws governing alcoholic beverages more than once could be
subjected at the court’s discretion to assessment to determine if that person is an alcoholic and, if so, the
person would be required to go into treatment.
Ms. Taylor did not believe that a 20-year-old who had a drink should be subjected to an assessment.
Mr. Pryor disagreed. He noted that he had worked with alcoholics and even young people could be
alcoholics.
Ms. Taylor said she had been with groups of “very respectable people” with which a 19-year-old or a 20-
year-old might have a drink and she surmised that some of the people in the room had been in a similar
situation.
In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, Ms. Mauch said the bill cleaned up some language and it
authorized the “treatment piece” the Municipal Court struggled with. She related that the City’s court was
impacted by alcohol abuse in the community and they had worked a lot with deferred prosecution programs
for the first offense. She stressed that this would not change as the bill only referred to second and
consecutive offenses. She noted that if a person was under 21 and was drinking alcohol, he or she was
breaking the law in most environments.
Ms. Bettman noted that the bill said the court “may order,” which gave the court discretion.
Ms. Taylor averred that 21 was a “ridiculous” age limit.
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Ms. Mauch noted that the language was changing from “may” to “shall.”
Ms. Bettman ascertained that there would not be a second to a motion to change the stand on the bill.
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HB 2321 – Relating to court-ordered license suspension.
Recommended Priority 3 Support
Ms. Mauch explained that the bill was seeking to extend the statute of limitations to 10 years for the DMV.
She said Municipal Court could take action again at the end of five years to renotify the DMV but the work
load at court in order to do that prohibited it. She underscored that people do respond to taking care of
outstanding court matters when there was a drivers license suspension in effect and that the court strove to
work with people. She stated that there were processes by which people could make payments.
Ms. Taylor said she was thinking of poor people who could not afford to pay the fine and that upon occasion
a person received a fine that was not “just.” Ms. Mauch responded that a person who could not afford the
fine could pursue alternatives such as community service or the road crew.
Ms. Taylor thought it was “horrible” that a person would have to work on the road crew.
Ms. Bettman said in the effort to get through dozens of bills, if it appeared there would not be a second to a
motion to change the priority or stance on a bill the CCIGR should move on and the committee member who
felt strongly about such a bill should pull it for council discussion. She ascertained that there would be no
second to a motion to change the stance on HB 2321..
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HB 2353 – Relating to juvenile court jurisdiction over pregnant women.
Recommended to Drop
Ms. Taylor had pulled the bill, but she indicated she was amenable to keeping the stance as a ‘drop.’
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HB 2357 – Relating to the courts.
Recommended Priority 3 Support
Ms. Mauch explained that electronic signatures were becoming “the reality.” She said what was outlined in
the bill was a direction the Municipal Court was looking at pursuing and was also the course other courts
the City court interacted with were charting. She stated that because of the Chief Justice all of the necessary
checks and balances were in place and this bill would allow the Municipal Court to have the necessary laws
in place to change to electronic signatures.
Ms. Bettman said she was “fine” with the electronic signature component of the bill. Her concern lay with
the potential for the elimination of records once there was an electronic copy. Ms. Mauch responded that
this applied to the Circuit Court and would not apply to the Municipal Court. She offered to research it
further.
Ms. Bettman suggested that they monitor the bill.
Ms. Pryor asked if the bill specified the time period records would be retained and then destroyed. Ms.
Mauch replied that she was uncertain. She noted that the court archivist and the administrator were coming
together to determine this.
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Ms. Bettman asked that HB 2357 be pulled so that Ms. Mauch could return with more information.
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SB 126 – Relating to satisfaction of monetary obligations imposed in judgment for benefit of
victim.
Recommended Priority 3 Support
Ms. Bettman said the bill seemed to give different treatment to people who had resources and people who did
not have resources; the record could be expunged if one had enough money to pay one’s fines and
obligations.
Ms. Mauch explained that the court supported it because the court was looking out for the benefit of the
victim. She said if someone was damaged by a crime there would at least be an effort to resolve it prior to
being able to get the charge off the record.
Ms. Bettman moved that the CCIGR remain neutral on SB 126.
Mr. Pryor asked if it was common to provide an alternative for someone who could not meet his or her
financial obligations. Ms. Mauch replied that the court did try to provide alternatives in the case of a
monetary issue such as community service, but the alternatives would not pay restitution to a victim. She
said a person who filed to have his or her record expunged and who had not paid restitution to a victim as
ordered in a court proceeding, under this bill, would not be able to do so until the restitution issue had been
addressed.
Ms. Taylor provided a second. The motion passed unanimously, 3:0.
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HB 2335 – Relating to evidence
Recommended to Drop
Ms. Bettman asked why the recommendation was to drop the bill. Ms. Mauch responded that the Municipal
Court did not handle cases the bill would apply to.
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HB 2336 – Relating to expunction
Recommended to Drop
Ms. Mauch explained that the recommendation to drop on HB 2336 was for the same reason.
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HB 5048 – Relating to financial administration of the Department of Transportation
Recommended to Drop
Ms. Mauch stated that the Municipal Court did not request a lot of data from the Department of Transporta-
tion, so there was no monetary impact. She noted that the City of Eugene also charged the types of fees the
bill would affect in the Department of Transportation.
Ms. Bettman ascertained that the fees were for accessing information. She asked if the Municipal Court
would be the only venue for which the bill would have an effect. Ms. Mauch replied that it would apply to
anyone requesting information from the DMV. Ms. Bettman thought the Eugene Police Department (EPD)
and the Department of Public Works might have an interest in reviewing the bill. She asked that the bill be
pulled so that it could be reviewed to determine if it would cost the City more money.
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HB 2123 – Relating to judicial review of rules.
Recommended to Drop
Mr. Lidz explained that the court would not declare an official challenge to a rule. He said the bill would
tell the court that it should look only at whether a rule on its face is unconstitutional and not to ask if there
was a situation that could be imagined wherein the rule as applied would be unconstitutional. He stated that
this was consistent with how the court would review a statute or an ordinance. He did not believe it was a
change in the law and he was uncertain as to why the Attorney General thought this bill was necessary.
Ms. Bettman was amenable to leave the stance on the bill as a ‘drop.’
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HB 2314 – Relating to collection of debt.
Recommended Priority 3 Support
Ms. Taylor said the bill disturbed her because she believed collection agencies “put a person so much in
debt” that it would be contrary to city policies for not making people homeless, as an example.
Mr. Hill explained that the City did occasionally use a private collection agency for collection of debts, but
the collection agency kept a percentage of the debt as payment for its service. He said the bill would allow
the City to recover part of all of the cost of collecting the debt.
Ms. Taylor averred that it just increased a person’s debt.
Mr. Pryor asked how often the City had to utilize such an agency. Mr. Hill replied that it was an infrequent
occurrence.
Mr. Pryor asked how large the debt tended to be. Mr. Hill was uncertain.
The CCIGR agreed to take no position on it and pull the bill until more was known.
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HB 2413 – Relating to business transactions of public bodies.
Recommended Priority 3 Support from two staff members and Priority 3 Oppose from another
staff-member and the City Attorney
Ms. Bettman felt the bill looked like it was anti-Union.
Mr. Hill said the bill would prohibit public contracting agencies including cities from including as a
condition of a public contract the involvement of a labor union. He noted that this was not a practice the
City engaged in as the City did not issue contracts that spoke to labor union membership. He stated that the
bill itself did violate the principle of home rule authority that was strongly stated in the legislative policies
document and it also created a private right of action. He asked the City Attorney to speak to the latter.
Mr. Lidz related that his concern with the private right of action was that the bill not only prohibited the
City from adopting a certain policy, but it required it to enforce the legislative policy with regard to all of its
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contractors and any grant recipients. He said if the City failed to comply it could be the potential defendant
in a lawsuit and would be at risk for attorney fees.
Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved recommend a Priority 2 Oppose stand on the bill.
The motion passed unanimously, 3:0.
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SB 46 – Relating to Oregon pre-kindergarten program.
Recommended to Drop
Mr. Hill explained that he had been assigned to review three bills that related to pre-kindergarten or the
Headstart program. He said it appeared there would be multiple pieces of legislation submitted and in
addition the Governor had a substantial improvement to education funding in his proposed budget though he
had yet to present it. He recommended that the City, in pursuing its legislative policy in support of the
School District 4J and the Bethel School District in delivering public education generally and also
specifically to improve the condition of low-income children who benefit from Headstart and pre-
kindergarten in particular, take a position of support of the Governor’s proposals which were also supported
by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Susan Castillo.
Ms. Bettman indicated she was satisfied with the recommendation.
?
HB 2024 – Relating to Oregon pre-kindergarten program.
Recommended to Drop
Ms. Bettman asked if there was any possibility of pursuing some of the $40 million involved in the bill to
purchase a portion of the Mt. Pisgah property. Ms. Wilson replied that the house bill established a
maximum limit for the payment from the economic development fund for Oregon pre-kindergarten
programs.
Ms. Bettman said her impression from reading the bill was that there was not previously a line item for these
expenditures.
Ms. Bettman, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to change the recommendation to ‘monitor.’ The
motion passed unanimously, 3:0.
?
HB 2217 – Relating to corporate minimum taxes.
Recommended to Drop
Mr. Hill explained that this bill had been requested by the Governor and that it would increase the corporate
minimum tax and apply it to Oregon Headstart, the Oregon Opportunity Grant Program, and workforce
development programs.
Ms. Bettman asked why staff was recommending that the bill be dropped. Mr. Hill replied that he had
suggested ‘drop’ because there was no policy direction on what revenue sources the State should pursue to
fund policy issues the City would like to see accomplished. He was uncomfortable making a recommenda-
tion without such direction.
Ms. Bettman noted that there was a legislative policy that indicated the City’s desire for an increase in the
corporate minimum tax, but Mr. Hill was correct that the council had not designated what the revenue
should be spent on.
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In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, Ms. Wilson indicated that the bill was not scheduled for a
hearing in the coming week.
Ms. Bettman was inclined to support the bill and to give it a higher priority.
Mr. Pryor said he would like additional information.
Ms. Bettman asked what the Oregon Opportunity Grant program was. No one knew the answer to that
question. She asked to pull the bill for further discussion.
?
HB 2347 – Related to mental health funding.
Recommended Priority 1 Monitor
Mr. Hill stated that the bill would increase taxes on beer and wine and the City currently received revenue
from the source. An increase would fund the additional activity proposed in the bill and would not affect the
City’s current revenue. He recommended the bill be monitored so that no amendments were attached that
would reduce the City’s revenue. He stressed that it was an important source of revenue for the City and
was projected to provide approximately $2.5 million in fiscal year (FY) 08.
Ms. Bettman acknowledged the specific legislative policies the City had that supported increases in that tax.
She believed that the fact that the State would take on more mental health treatment would help the City,
even if not explicitly.
Ms. Bettman, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to change the recommendation to ‘support’ with
the caveat that the City would support it as long as it did not result in reduced revenue from the
tax to the City of Eugene. The motion passed unanimously, 3:0.
?
SB 184 –Relating to revenues derived from sales of alcoholic beverages.
Recommended Priority 1 Oppose
Mr. Hill said this bill would reduce the City’s revenue, as well as the County’s revenue, by diverting two
percent of the gross revenues from the sale of distilled liquors to mental health and drug treatment services.
He noted that the Governor had introduced the bill as part of his budget to improve mental health funding.
He commented that it would be at the expense of local government. He felt the bill could be amended to
increase the tax revenue from the sale of liquor in order to fund the improved services.
Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to oppose the bill with the amendment that the
City would be held harmless in terms of revenue share. The motion passed unanimously, 3:0.
?
SB 173 – Relating to disclosure of tax information.
Recommended Priority 2 Support
Mr. Hill explained that currently the State was allowed to share information with the federal government,
but there was no provision to allow the sharing of the information with local jurisdiction that imposed a local
income tax.
Mr. Pryor ascertained that only someone with taxing authority could gain the information.
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Ms. Bettman, who had brought the bill up for discussion, was satisfied by the explanation.
?
SB 48 – Relating to corporate tax revenues in excess of estimates.
Recommended Priority 2 Support
Ms. Bettman averred that the bill would create revenue that the City did not have access to presently as it
was donating the funding strictly to a capital account for education, which meant it could only be used for
infrastructure. She wished to support it with an amendment that indicated that funds should be available for
preservation and maintenance of infrastructure.
Mr. Pryor noted that it may not be legal under Ballot Measure 47 to use the money for maintenance and
preservation.
Mr. Hill thought, given the source of the money, that it could be allowed to be used for capital preservation
and maintenance. He offered to look into it.
Ms. Bettman moved to change it to Priority 1 Support with the amendment that the money be
used for maintenance and preservation. There was no second but both Ms. Taylor and Mr.
Pryor supported the motion.
?
SB 43 – Relating to property taxes.
Recommended Priority 3 Drop
Ms. Bettman asked for clarification of the language. Mr. Hill explained that it was staff’s perception that
the bill only applied to delinquent property taxes. He suggested that the CCIGR postpone action until staff
could confirm this.
Ms. Bettman, seconded Ms. Taylor, moved to direct staff to monitor SB 43. The motion passed
unanimously, 3:0.
Mr. Pryor noted that it was past 1:10 p.m. Ms. Bettman said the CCIGR would address one more bill and
she apologized to staff who had attended the meeting at the CCIGR’s request and had not been called to the
table due to time constraints.
?
SB 117 – Relating to telephone solicitations.
Recommended Priority 3 Neutral
Ms. Taylor asked why the City did not wish to support SB 117. Ms. Berrian replied that the bill looked like
it was “housekeeping” in nature. She said unless a bill overtly affected the City she would not encourage
taking a position on it. She related that she had suggested a neutral approach to “keep it in the hopper” so it
would not fall out of sight.
Ms. Bettman agreed that the bill did not directly affect the City and that the City should not apply much in
the way of resources to it.
Ms. Bettman asked Ms. Wilson to highlight the bills that the council had pulled and to expand the
information provided by staff on the bills in order to streamline the process.
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3. United Front Priorities List
Ms. Wilson explained that the list in the attachment entitled United Front 2007 Federal Priorities – FY
2008 Draft was a draft, but the United Front group believed it to be the final list. She said four main items
on the list would be submitted or worked on by the City of Eugene and the items at the bottom were items
that would be brought up but would not be included in the Legislative Priority Book. She related that the
book would include a page or more on the items at the top of the draft.
Ms. Wilson discussed the West Bank Trail project which had increased in price due to escalating construc-
th
tion costs. She noted that the West 11 Corridor Planning was a new project request. She said there was
word that Representative DeFazio’s office had specifically requested that the City ask for monies for the
project.
Additionally, Ms. Wilson reported that the Springfield School District had voluntarily removed its proposed
environmental education project from the list and had asked the City of Eugene to let them know in the
future when a good time to place the project would be.
Ms. Bettman asked if there had not been an issue in the State Legislature that pertained to expanding the
ability to have Forest Legacy money applied to land outside of the urban growth boundary (UGB). She
asked if that had “worked its way through the legislature” and if it had done so, she wondered why the City
was not sponsoring a bill to do so. Ms. Wilson responded that the bill would be introduced by State
Representative Paul Holvey and the bill had been called a “slam dunk.” She understood that there were
some eastern Oregon legislators that had bills they planned to introduce, but no one had seen the bills to
date. She said if the CCIGR did have a concept it wished to introduced, it needed to be at the Legislative
Counsel by January 26.
Ms. Bettman wanted to “get more strongly” behind that bill and suggested, to make it more palatable, that
the language should say that it would expand “outside the UGB if it completes a system or provides a link.”
Ms. Wilson reiterated that staff had not seen the bill and that once it was released from the Legislative
Counsel, the bill would be brought to staff to be reviewed and then before the CCIGR.
Ms. Medary added that the way the bill was presently worded it would lift the UGB restriction but it would
not have the language that Ms. Bettman was suggesting. She noted that she would not want to place that
kind of limit on it, unless she intended to expand it to indicate that it would be part of a master plan. She
recommended waiting until the language of the bill was known. She related that the Oregon Recreation and
Parks Association had a couple of agenda items that were its highest priority and the Forest Legacy was one
of them.
Ms. Bettman asked if anyone knew where the bill would be when the United Front group left. Ms. Wilson
replied that it was in the hands of Legislative Counsel and it was her understanding that the back-up of bills
waiting to go into editing was “huge.”
Ms. Bettman asked why the item entitled Secure Rural Schools Legislation Reauthorization would not have
a page in the book. Ms. Medary responded that some of the items listed under Other Items would be listed
in the book. She explained that the ones listed above Other Items had appropriations requests and the items
listed below that heading would have a page in the book with no accompanying appropriation request.
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Ms. Bettman asked why there was no reference to the 2008 Olympic Trials. Ms. Wilson responded that
staff had chosen to keep the event out of the book because there was a lot of confusion about it. She said
she had a meeting set up with the University of Oregon and other local government entities to discuss who
would be doing what, because it seemed at this point that no one was coordinating.
Ms. Bettman opined that it was a lost opportunity. She felt it would be the “perfect thing to lobby for” at
the United Front. She averred that the area needed more money for additional public safety services and
security for the event. She said it would benefit all three jurisdictions and all three of them would be
involved.
Ms. Wilson did not believe they were missing an opportunity to discuss the Olympic Trials. She had done
some research about it and believed that there was potential that asking about it would bring the area “a lot
more than it bargained for.” She said it appeared that the federal government would come in and take over
the planning and execution of the security. She indicated that staff was doing more research on it. She
related that she had spoken to Smith Dawson about it and he had offered to “set something up” while the
delegation was in Washington, D.C., as long as the City knew exactly what it was asking for.
Mr. Pryor advocated for moving Secure Rural Schools up on the list. He underscored that it was not just
the County’s issue. He also wished to indicate that he was “fine with the content” of the EPD bills.
Mr. Pryor left the meeting at 1:32 p.m.
In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, Ms. Wilson said it was her understanding that the United Front
group had agreed that the projects they were bringing forward were not competing interests and that now
was a good time to ask for the appropriations out of the Transportation, Community, and System Preserva-
tion (TCSP) fund especially given that the region had “some good committee placements” at this time.
Ms. Bettman asked if staff thought the McKenzie River Path was not competing with the West Bank Trail.
Ms. Wilson replied that the group had engaged in much discussion over that. She underscored that the way
the projects were being presented, the West Bank Trail stood out as the one gap that needed to be finished to
complete a trail section while the McKenzie River Path was the beginning of a new project. The group had
concluded the latter would not compete for the money.
Ms. Bettman disagreed. She commented that the decision was supposed to be united but it seemed that it
had been unilateral. She also wondered how the Pioneer Parkway EmX project had increased from an $8
million project to a $29.6 million project. She asked if she was the only one who wondered at the increase.
She asked if anyone knew “who had changed the number and why.” Ms. Wilson responded that she had not
seen the fact sheet for the projects submitted for the book.
Ms. Bettman asked what the committee should do with its input. It seemed to her that the CCIGR “just
[gave its] input and it does not matter” because the decisions had already been made. She asked who made
the decisions. Ms. Wilson replied that the United Front group made the decisions in regard to the project
list.
Ms. Bettman observed that the group was “all staff.” She asked if the CCIGR would have an opportunity to
put a memorandum in the council packet in order to get council feedback on the process. She suggested that
she could bring it up at the next council meeting, scheduled for February 12.
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Ms. Taylor thought this was a good idea. She suggested that right after the United Front lobby trip the
CCIGR should begin planning for the next year’s trip in order to see if the CCIGR could have more
influence on it.
Ms. Bettman commented that it did not make sense to do it that way because it took a while for the
appropriations to work through the legislative process and the answer as to whether there would be a result
from the lobbying would not be known that early in the process. She understood that an agreement between
jurisdictions as to what they would support and that they would look for common ground was supposed to
be made. She did not believe they were to take things forward that were competing interests and she felt
there were competing interests in this list.
Ms. Wilson offered to bring back further information on the McKenzie River Path. She reiterated that the
United Front lobby group agreed that the project did not compete with the West Bank Trail.
Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to adopt the recommendation for priorities and
recommendations from staff for all bills that had not been pulled and all of the bills that were
discussed and acted upon at the meeting. The motion passed unanimously, 2:0.
Mr. Schoening pointed out that the funding that had gone into the TCSP program had historically been
earmarked but there had been a decision to not allow earmarks in 2007. He stated that the Oregon
Department of Transportation (ODOT) at the end of the previous week, through the Federal Highways
Administration (FHWA), had solicited applications. Staff wanted to take the City’s two projects, the West
th
Bank Trail and the West 11 Corridor Planning, on a parallel track and would put in a letter of interest to
ODOT and the FHWA as well as the United Front. He asked for CCIGR approval of the proposal.
Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved approval of the Eugene projects in the United
Front federal priorities for Fiscal Year 08. The motion passed unanimously, 2:0.
4. Eugene Police Department Bills
Ms. Bettman ascertained that the CCIGR was satisfied with staff’s explanation of the bills and there were
no objections to allowing them to proceed. She thanked Ms. Wilson for including the information in the
CCIGR material.
5. Priority Assignments for Legislative Tracking
Ms. Bettman ascertained that both she and Ms. Taylor approved of the priority assignments for legislative
tracking as presented.
6. Approval of Minutes – November 21, 2006 Meeting
Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved approval of the minutes from the meeting of the
Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations held on November 21, 2006, as written.
The motion passed unanimously, 2:0.
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Ms. Wilson asked, regarding the bills that the CCIGR had requested additional information, if the CCIGR
wished for staff to gather the information and email it to members. Ms. Bettman replied that it would be
better if the information was put into the CCIGR packets as they were going to be discussed in the meeting
anyway.
Ms. Wilson proposed to send the CCIGR members a spread sheet with three columns, one for each member,
and they could mark next to the bill number which ones they wished to review. Ms. Bettman agreed that it
would be a good way to process their information.
The meeting adjourned at 1:44 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Dennis M. Taylor
City Manager
(Recorded by Ruth Atcherson)
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