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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 02/14/01 Work Session MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session Hilyard Community Center February 14, 2001 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson, Pat Fart, Gary Rayor, Bonny Bettman, Gary Pap~. CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION A. Items from Mayor, Council, and City Manager Ms. Taylor said that she had been receiving a lot of calls from constituents who were concerned with the garbage rates going up as well, as with the yard debris program. Mr. Meisner took an opportunity to thank the participants of the Hates Crime Conference. He commented that he was especially moved by Judy Shepard's speech. He noted that there was still much work to be done in the community toward combating hate. Mr. Meisner called for a report from staff on the train station situation and the Shelton-McMurphy House. Ms. Nathanson called for a report on the Parks and Open Space Measure with information on how much of the budget had been spent. She raised concern that neighborhood parkland acquisition was not progressing fast enough. Regarding the schedule for approving the Land Use Code Update (LUCU), Ms. Nathanson said that the council should go with the February 26 option or discuss a staff-proposed alternative. City Manager Jim Johnson said that the discussion was scheduled for February 26. Mr. Kelly added that he had spoken with staff and said there would be a final staff recommendation on February 26, but noted that staff were working towards approval on that date with implementation at a later time after Ballot Measure 7 had been considered. Mr. Rayor called for a staff report on the Natural Resource Study and how it was affected by Ballot Measure 7. Mr. Kelly expressed his pleasure with the Hate Crimes Conference. Moving on, he noted that he wanted to approve LUCU as soon as possible. Regarding the fluctuating power market, Mr. Kelly suggested a discussion, with the Eugene Water and Electric Board, to address how to mitigate rate increases to Iow-income customers. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2001 Page 1 Work Session Mr. Kelly reported that the State was going to sell its office building. He said that the County had some interest in purchasing the site and constructing a new building and suggested that the City might work in cooperation with the County to construct the building jointly. Mr. Meisner commented that LUCU implementation would not necessarily increase the number of Measure 7 claims. He reiterated Mr. Kelly's desire to implement the new code as soon as possible. Mayor Torrey stressed the importance of the council deciding on a consistent public forum policy for its regular sessions. He said that he was embarrassed that it took more time to make a decision about how much time to allow for comment than it took for the actual public forum. He added that he did not want the time allowed to be changed from week-to-week, depending on who showed up to testify. Addressing school closures, Mayor Torrey said that the 4J School Board was requesting that there be no joint meeting at the current time as it had a very full meeting schedule. He noted that the school board welcomed councilors to attend regular school board meetings. Mayor Torrey called for a report from legal counsel on the impacts of Measure 7 on LUCU. He expressed concern over the potential financial impacts. Mayor Torrey indicated that he would leave the meeting at 6:30 p.m., Mr. Farr would leave at 7:30 p.m., and Mr. Pap8 would leave at 8 p.m. B. WORK SESSION: Council Goals - Goals Setting Session Margo Helphand provided a summary of the previous goal setting session. She said that the evening's meeting would continue the work on action priorities. 1. Accessible and Thriving Culture and Recreation - A community that offers an wide variety of opportunities for positive cultural, recreational and educational development for all. · Accomplish all needed activities, (design, funding, public involvement), in order to build a new library. Mr. Meisner commented that the commitment had been made and were being implemented. He noted that this would continue and said that the item was no longer an action priority. There was general consensus to strike the item from the list. · Ensure that community cultural resources are maintained Mr. Kelly was in favor of keeping the item on the list. He noted that there was an expected report from the Cultural Services Department Advisory Committee (DAC) that could spark some action priorities. He suggested that the item could be focused on the Cultural Services DAC report. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2001 Page 2 Work Session Ms. Bettman suggested language around monitoring and ensuring the integrity of recreational opportunities like the Cuthbert Amphitheater and the Hult Center. Mr. Farr said that the statement did not differentiate between private and public cultural resources. He noted that most of Eugene's movie theaters were closing down, but stressed that the City did not have a role in private industry's delivery of services. Ms. Taylor suggested adding language about concerts in the park. · Explore restoration of adult and senior recreation services Mr. Kelly noted that the item used to be a work plan item but had "vanished" at some point. Mr. Meisner raised concern that the goal was not connected to the issue of general fund stability. He called for information on how the restoration would be funded and suggested that language about funding be added to the item. 2. Effective, Accountable Municipal Government - A local government that works openly and respectfully with and for the community. Mr. Kelly suggested an additional action priority regarding local campaign finance reform. He remarked that the item was not necessarily within the charge of the Citizen Charter Review Committee. Ms. Nathanson commented that the issue was more for the Citizen Charter Review Committee or the Citizen Involvement Committee (CIC). Ms. Taylor said that campaign finance reform was a good thing to have in council goals, but added that the Citizen Charter Review Committee should examine the issue first. Mr. Meisner noted that voluntary limitations for campaign funding already existed. · Enhance citizen involvement Ms. Nathanson suggested striking the item. She noted that there had been a large effort to redo the neighborhood organization program and various other programs and the council should give the new programs time to be effective. Mr. Meisner reiterated that there were ongoing efforts but that there would be no new effort, so the item could be dropped from the action priority list. Ms. Bettman said that she was not opposed to striking the item but added that if the item was kept she would like to see language about the CIC. Mr. Fart commented that there could be more public comment before the CIC. He stressed the importance of ongoing efforts to encourage more public involvement. Mr. Meisner stressed the importance of getting better information to the public about City processes. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2001 Page 3 Work Session Mr. Pap~ stressed that citizen involvement was a continuing effort. Ms. Taylor said that the council should listen wherever and whenever citizens wanted to speak to them. She commented that she listened to people's comments wherever she was. Regarding the public forum at regular council sessions, Ms. Taylor said that everyone who had made an effort to show up to the council meeting should have an opportunity speak. She stressed the importance of encouraging citizen involvement. Ms. Bettman suggested language that reinforced existing roles and responsibilities of the ClC. She believed that the ClC was underutilized. She said that it was the council's and department head's responsibility to see that important issues were addressed by the committee. Planning and Development Department Director Paul Farmer noted that the City was ahead of schedule in neighborhood redesign. He added that not only were there more neighborhood organizations than ever before, their attendance was better than ever. Mayor Torrey said that ward redistricting would accomplish the goal of increasing public involvement. He stressed that it would be an achievable goal. He expressed a hope that the council would address the redistricting process in the near future. Mayor Torrey left the meeting at 6:30 p.m. Mr. Rayor raised a concern that more staff would be needed to handle more citizen involvement. Mr. Fart commented that the ClC needed to be more representative of the community and not have members advocating for a certain agenda. · Appoint a Charter Review Committee to consider Council compensation and other Charter issues Mr. Kelly said that it was not appropriate to drop the item. He noted that the committee would complete its process this year. He suggested language to the effect of reviewing the committee's recommendations and creating an implementation plan. · Implement a systemwide complaint information management system Ms. Nathanson stressed the importance of issue and resolution tracking. Mr. Rayor stressed that it was not information being managed, but complaints. He commented that simply tracking information without acting on it was a dead end. · Provide safe and efficient infrastructure Ms. Nathanson suggested adding language to address street safety, including red light running and speeding. Mr. Pap~ stressed the importance of critical planning for all City facilities. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2001 Page 4 Work Session Mr. Rayor suggested language that would streamline the process for smaller City projects. Mr. Kelly agreed with Mr. Rayor and commented that it was almost easier to get large projects done in the current system. Ms. Bettman also agreed and stressed the importance of setting priorities on how funds were spent. As an example, she cited a fence being built in Washington Park for which there was no real public demand when the money could have been used for critical maintenance of another facility. In response to a comment from Mr. Meisner regarding whether redistricting should be an action item, City Manager Johnson said that it should be on the list, even though it would be done anyway, because it was going to take a lot of extra effort and the decision would last for 10 years. Mr. Kelly called for a work session on redistricting strategy in the near future. 3. Fair, Stable, and Adequate Financial Resources -A local government whose ongoing financial resources are based on a fair and equitable system of taxation and are adequate to deliver municipal services · Maintain General Fund Stability Mr. Meisner stressed the importance of capturing the principles involved in the statement. He said that this would include a comprehensive look at everything the City provides, looking at ways to enhance services, and looking at alternate sources of revenue. Mr. Kelly reiterated the importance of looking at the entire range of services that the general fund provided as well as looking for alternative sources of revenue. Ms. Nathanson suggested examining whether citizens were satisfied with the services provided before looking at restoring services from the past. Mr. Rayor stressed the importance of examining the public demand for specific services before funding those services. Ms. Bettman did not want to go to voters for more money unless a very real need was demonstrated. She was in favor of focusing revenues on existing needs. She suggested wording that would implement a prioritization of available revenue, resource allocations, and essential services, especially maintenance and preservation of existing transportation infrastructure. She stressed the importance of focusing revenues on existing needs. Mr. Carlson commented that there were mixed messages from the public on what programs they wanted funding. He added that a comprehensive review had already been done at the time of Ballot Measure 47/50. Ms. Nathanson raised concern with funding programs that provided service to people from outside the city. She commented that more money for programs needed to come from Eugene's metro partners. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2001 Page 5 Work Session Mr. Rayor suggested looking at regional services that the City solely provided and either justify them or sunset them. · Structure and implement financing for library construction There was general consensus to strike this item from the list. · Structure and implement sale of parks and open space bonds There was general consensus to strike this item from the list. C. REVISIONS Ms. Helphand went over the action items that had been previously approved by the council. Councilors offered wording changes to the items. 1. Safe Community Ms. Nathanson suggested adding wording about improving street safety with an emphasis on speeding and red light abuse. · Enhance efforts to create a welcoming community for people of color and disadvantaged Mr. Kelly suggested talking to Greg Rikhoff of the Human Rights Commission and getting information from the outcome of the recent Hate Crimes Conference. · Enhance Emergency Preparedness Mr. Kelly wanted to see "prevention of hillside fire danger" brought up to an action priority. Ms. Bettman commented that emergency preparedness meant a readiness for all emergencies. · Support Public Safety Coordinating Council (PSCC) efforts to identify and consolidate intergovernmental public safety elements Mr. Meisner raised concern with the word "support" being in the statement. He did not want to simply assume the City would support the PSCC. He called for the item to be removed and made into a more regional issue with funding from all of the metro partners. 2. Sustainable Community Growth and Change Ms. Nathanson provided a list of items she wished added to the list: 1. Explore a new approach to code enforcement MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2001 Page 6 Work Session Ms. Nathanson noted that code enforcement staff had been cut back. She said that zoning violations could result in declining neighborhoods, lapses in public safety, and neighborhood disputes. She expressed a desire to see a new way to handle nuisance complaints. 2. Increase home ownership/rental ratio Ms. Nathanson said that this would improve livability and safety in the West University Neighborhood. 3. Make significant, tangible progress in implementing the council-adopted North End Scoping Group recommendations There was general consensus in making the scoping group suggestion into an action item. · Develop and implement a downtown fixed rail trolley Ms. Nathanson suggested changing the wording to "Develop a plan for a downtown fixed rail trolley." · Complete implementation of POS bond measure There was general consensus to change the wording to "Implement years 3-4 of the POS bond measure." · Foster affordable housing, including subsidized and Iow-income housing Ms. Bettman stressed the importance of defining and distinguishing between affordable housing as opposed to Iow-income housing. She said that the City could not afford to waive systems development charges and permit fees for affordable housing. · Promote economic development to generate quality jobs Mr. Kelly suggested rewording the statement to "Create and Implement economic development policies." 3. Healthy, Natural and Built Environment · Secure adequate funding for operation, maintenance and preservation of transportation system There was general consensus to move/categorize the item under the "Finance" heading. Ms. Helphand said that staff would work on the revisions suggested by the council and have them available for council input on March 3. Mr. Meisner expressed his desire to see a council work plan by April. City Manager Johnson noted that there were 203 items on the last work plan which precluded implementation of many of the items listed. He stressed the importance of only having the most vital items on the next work plan. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2001 Page 7 Work Session The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Johnson City Manager (Recorded by Joe Sams) MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2001 Page 8 Work Session