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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 12/09/02 Work Session MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall December 9, 2002 7 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: David Kelly, Gary Pap6, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, Pat Fart, Betty Taylor, Gary Rayor, Bonny Bettman. COUNCILORS ABSENT: CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. A. ITEMS FROM MAYOR, COUNCIL, AND CITY MANAGER Mr. Kelly said he had received a letter letting him know that, as a result of the City sponsorship of one of the ducks in the "Ducks on Parade" event, a significant contribution had been made to Food for Lane County. Regarding the Mayor's Aid position that had recently been established in the City Manager's Office, Ms. Bettman questioned the reasoning behind the position in a time of budget cuts and called for a list of duties that the job description would entail. Ms. Bettman noted that there had been a lot of discussion over the council action on the USA Patriot Act and mentioned that she had heard comments that the council had acted precipitously. She commented that the council had known about the resolution for weeks before the public hearing and the resolution its self had been revised according to feedback from councilors so it was consistent with council values. Regarding the Register Guard editorial regarding which part of the City supported money measures on the ballot, Ms. Bettman noted that the bulk of the support for those measures came from her, Ms. Taylor's and Mr. Kelly's wards. She said this was a representational issue and commented that, even though those wards were the most generous in supporting money measures for city services on the ballot, they were not being adequately represented because those three councilors were not enough to get an item on to the council agenda. She noted that the rule of having a majority of council consent to have an item on the agenda was disenfranchising the voters in those wards. Mr. Rayor noted that there were some houses being moved from the University of Oregon and noted that they were being used for infill of subdivided residential lots. He surmised that there would be more houses moved from the area to infill lots. He urged the council to be pro-infill so that those lots could be utilized. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 9, 2002 Page 1 Work Session Mr. Rayor commented that the council should be apprized of any land trades that the City was involved in. He opined that citizens of the city became nervous when the City was involved in land trades that were not publicized. Regarding the results of Measure 20-67, Mr. Rayor noted that the measure passed in three wards in South Eugene and actually forced five wards, that voted against it, to pay. He said he did not understand why those three wards did not believe that the school boards should take responsibility for the system and go to the proper authorities for funding matters. He raised concern that the rest of the City now had to pay a significant amount of funding for outside city residents. Mr. Fart noted that the evening's meeting was his last as a councilor. He said he would have fond memories of his time on the council. Mr. Fart noted that the council had not passed a unanimous resolution opposing the USA Patriot Act. He stated for the record that he was not present at that portion of the meeting and would have voted against the resolution. Ms. Taylor reiterated the comments of Ms. Bettman regarding representation in the City. Ms. Taylor said she had received positive comments from citizens regarding the passage of the resolution against portions of the Patriot Act. Ms. Taylor raised concern over the moving of houses in east University neighborhood and asked if there was anything the council could do to address the situation. City Manager Carlson said there were land use processes in place, noting that there were required land use process that the University had been required to go through with the siting of its child care center as well. Ms. Taylor commented that what was happening amounted to the destruction of that neighborhood and asked if there was a way to stop what the University was doing. City Manager Carlson noted that the property in question was owned by the University of Oregon. He said he could send a memo outlining the legal options of the city. Ms. Taylor requested a memo on legal options available to the City. Ms. Taylor related that she and Ms. Nathanson had recently attended the National League of Cities conference. She said the Human Development Steering Committee had decided to maintain strong support for temporary assistance of needy families as well as continuing opposition for federal money for marriage promotion, and to continue to express concern over unfunded mandates from the Federal Government. She cited special education funding as an example. Ms. Taylor said the topic that had been the most polemic was discussion of the proposal to rescind the current Haitian immigration policy. Mr. Pap~ said the newspapers had misrelated what the council had done regarding the USA Patriot Act. He said the council had not asked for the repeal of the Act but had asked to have it reviewed and revised to rescind MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 9, 2002 Page 2 Work Session the parts of the Act that were unconstitutional. He added that the City had been asked not to support with resources the portions of the Act that were unconstitutional. Mr. Pap6 said Greenleaf Village opened recently and complimented the quality of the low income homes in the development. Mr. Pap~ noted that the river bike path system would be completed within 25 days. He expressed his pleasure at the completion. He thanked former Mayor Ruth Bascom for her work on getting the path completed. Mr. Pap~ thanked Mary Walston, Vicki Stewart, and Beth Forrest for their work in filling in for the Council Coordinator position during the vacancy in that position. Ms. Nathanson highlighted what happened at the National League of Cities conference. She raised concern over the devolution of responsibility from the federal government to cities by discontinuing funding to programs and not helping to pay for homeland security costs. Ms. Nathanson said there could be a resource not yet utilized for getting help with tree planting activities in the City. She noted that the National Tree Trust was going through a change in how funds were allocated. She suggested that the urban forester should cooperate with local schools to write grants and secure funding for tree planting activities. Mayor Torrey noted that Ms. Nathanson had been elected to the board of directors of the National League of Cities. City Manager Carlson said interviews would begin for the budget committee and would end in January. City Manager Carlson noted that the books were being moved into the new library from the old location. Mr. Kelly said there were two separate issues in the east University area. The first was the issue of moving the houses owned by the University and the other was a change in some land use areas which would require a change to the Fairmount Special Area Study and would need to be approved by the City Council. The meeting adjourned at 7:27 p.m. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 9, 2002 Page 3 Work Session Respectfully submitted, James R. Carlson City Manager pro tem (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 9, 2002 Page 4 Work Session