Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MInutes - 04/09/01 Meeting MINUTES Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber--Eugene City Hall April 9, 2001 8p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Nancy Nathanson, Gary Rayor, Gary PapS, Bonny Bettman. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Pat Farr, Scott Meisner. CITY COUNCIL MEETING Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. 1.CEREMONIAL MATTERS Mayor Torrey read a proclamation declaring April 7, 2001, as Arbor Day in the City of Eugene. Mayor Torrey read a proclamation declaring April 19, 2001, as Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Day. Mayor Torrey read a proclamation declaring April 22, 2001, as National Volunteer Week. Mayor Torrey read a proclamation declaring the month of April 2001 as Child Abuse Prevention Month. 2. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Torrey reviewed the rules of the Public Forum and noted each speaker would have three minutes to offer testimony. Council members would have an opportunity to follow up with questions and comments. Randy Gicker, 336 Clark Street, described several personal encounters he and his son had with the Eugene Police Department that negatively affected his perception of City government. Mr. Gicker said that he subsequently had become a member of the Independent Police Review Project (IPRP). He reviewed the mission of the IPRP, which was to monitor police performance and policy in Eugene and report to the community. Sherry Franzen, 2635 Oak Street, identified herself as a founding member of IPRP. She called for an external police review process. Ms. Franzen described an encounter she had with a police officer after a call she made for assistance. The response was not satisfactory as the officer had refused to do his duty and enforce a restraining order. Ms. Franzen had not filed a complaint about the officer because she consistently MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 9, 2001 Page 1 Regular Meeting heard from others it was a "waste of time." Officers responding to a subsequent call for assistance responded professionally and she thanked them for a job well-done. Trish Binder, no address given, a member of the IPRP, asserted that people who spoke out against the police were retaliated against. She quoted from a letter to the editor that was critical of Mayor Torrey, printed in The Register-Cmard on April 7. Ms. Binder asked how the issue of racial profiling would be addressed when the police did not accurately report the race of those receiving citations. She criticized the police for requesting more funding. Libris Solar, 663 West 27th Avenue, member of the IPRP, urged citizens to exercise their freedoms and rights. He said that required citizens to define what behaviors for the police were acceptable. He described an encounter he experienced with the police during which the police demanded that people leave a celebration scene immediately without an opportunity for discussion. Police refused to allow women to call for a ride, and subsequently they had to walk home in cold weather and felt unsafe walking at such a late hour. He said that such treatment contributed to citizens' increased hostility toward the police. He urged people to file lawsuits when the police violated their rights and to employ witnesses and supporting documents in that effort. He also urged citizens to vote for an external review board because some people were not psychologically suited to be police officers and must be held accountable for their unjustified actions. Beverly Rowland, 1000 Clark Street, a member of the IPRP, discussed the work of the organization and its activities. She called for a more transparent review process of police actions independent of government oversight to address community policing problems. She hoped better community-police relations would result. Ms. Rowland said IPRP focused on community education and outreach and had sponsored several public forums. People came to the IPRP to report incidents of police misconduct. She said that over 4,600 Eugene voters had supported an external review project, and she thought with some modifications more Eugene voters would support such a process. Mike Clark, 2754 Cheryl Street, recent past president of the Eugene Active 20-30 Club, spoke on behalf of a proposed waiver of Alton Baker Park hours to allow the organization to hold a July 4 fire works demonstration. He described the organization, its charitable mission, the projects that supported that mission, and noted that the organization had conducted the fireworks event for 42 years, thanks to the community. Mr. Clark indicated the organization did not intend to use the fairgrounds in the future because it would cost money that would otherwise go to charity. The organization was not able to use the former venues for the event, and hoped to create a bigger community celebration that "piggybacked" on the council's focus on downtown and the river. John Lawrence, 1016 Ash Grove Loop, a member of the Eugene Active 20-30 Club, spoke in support of the waiver of park hours at Alton Baker Park and discussed the organization's plans to address the concerns raised by the East Alton Baker Park Citizen Advisory Committee, which included an on-site water truck, fire control technicians, and inspection of the area for the suitability of fireworks. A water main was located on the site. The fireworks vendor had inspected and approved the area. The organization had arranged for event parking to occur at Autzen Stadium. The Active 20-30 Club had worked with the City on traffic control issues, and the club would hire private security to patrol the park. The organization had also hired a professional events planner to address event logistics. Clean-up would be done by a hired organization the day following the event. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 9, 2001 Page 2 Regular Meeting Dave Hauser, Eugene Chamber of Commerce, 1401 Willamette Street, spoke in support of the League of Women Voters in developing criteria for redistricting ward boundaries in Eugene. He said that during the last redistricting effort, there had been no such input, and redistricting resulted in unfair representation for some areas of the community. He noted that there were five city councilors living south of the Willamette River and east of Chambers Street; areas of the highest growth were represented by three councilors alone, at odds with the Supreme Court's rulings on redistricting. He noted that further, all Planning Commission members and Eugene Water & Electric Board representatives lived south of the river. He was convinced that the situation was a result of creating ward boundaries that crossed natural features, such as the river. In addition, councilors were interested in drawing wards to protect their incumbencies, which resulted in redistricting that did not result in the principle of "one person, one vote." He encouraged that the league's recommendations be adopted. Micheal Roberts, 1919 Myers Road, a resident of Ward 5, noted that his councilor, Councilor Pap6, represented twice as many people as councilors from wards in the southern areas of the community. He said his ward was underpresented on the council. Councilors living in wards with fewer people had more time to meet with constituents, who were fewer in number. When it came to making committee appointments, councilors appointed those they knew, who lived in areas near them. He had encouraged many people living in his area to apply for appointed positions and they were not appointed. He endorsed the use of State law and the League of Women Voters' recommendations as a basis for redistricting. Bruce Miller, PO Box 50968, Eugene, advocated for the council to consider what to be done to improve conditions on West Broadway following the departure of Symantec. He said that business owners in the area were hanging on to survive, and could be threatened by the development of new commercial areas in the Chiquita area. He said that no incentives should be offered development in that area while conditions for commercial uses in West Broadway continued to be poor. He said he had developed a list of 95 businesses located within five blocks of Broadway and Willamette Street that failed in the last 40 months. He thought that was symptomatic of downtown's problems. Steven Erik Leppanen, 280 Conastoga Way, criticized the mayor for his Arbor Day Proclamation because "hundred year-old maples" had been destroyed because "Symantec needed the parking." He said that if PeaceHealth was to grow downtown it should do so on property it owned between Willamette and Charnelton streets and 13th and 12th avenues. That would help to revitalize the core, a council goal. Mr. Leppanen said the hospital should stay downtown to support that goal and to ensure that traffic congestion in the Ferry Street Bridge corridor did not get worse. David Hinkley, 1350 Lawrence Street, #6, said he was pro-mass transit as the best way of addressing the community's transportation issue. He endorsed the general concept of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as described on the Federal Transit Administration's Web site as the solution to those issues. He felt, however, that Lane Transit District's BRT proposal was the "death of transit" in Eugene, and its high costs, high visibility, and reduction in service would "play into the hands" of the anti-transit movement in Oregon. He asked the council to vote against Lane Transit District' BRT proposal. John Herberg, 568 Ferster Drive, encouraged the council to keep PeaceHealth downtown, and to ensure the community was not in this position in the future. He said that it currently made sense for the hospital to move outside the core because the market does not appropriately reflect costs. Businesses that moved to the MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 9, 2001 Page 3 Regular Meeting periphery increase the costs for other taxpayers. He suggested that the systems development charges be modified to include a geographic component that increased costs as development moved out from the urban core. Mayor Torrey closed the public forum and invited questions or comments from councilors. Councilor Papd encouraged the representatives of the IPRP to testify before the Police Commission. He said that the commission had effected some changes in the Police Department, although those changes may not be as fast as desired by some. He noted that commission meetings were every second Thursday at 6 p.m. Councilor Nathanson recalled receiving a letter from Ms. Rowland about an incident she was involved in, and recalled that there was also a problem with the way the courts had handled the situation. She requested the manager to provide that communication again to the council for its review. Councilor Nathanson noted her own concern about the lack of residents from the west and north areas of Eugene on the Planning Commission and said the council had worked proactively to get participation from those areas, and had been unsuccessful so far. She said that such representation was important. Councilor Kelly said he would also comment on the park hours waiver during consideration of the Consent Calendar. Councilor Kelly noted that the City Manager planned to form a staff team to work with PeaceHealth about the issues related to a potential hospital move. That effort would involve himself and Councilor Bettman. Councilor Kelly addressed comments regarding redistricting. To Mr. Roberts, he said that he did not know the majority of the people he had voted to appoint. He looked to the issue of geographic dispersal when the merits of two candidates were equal. He noted, however, that the City received fewer applications from those areas. Councilor Kelly addressed Mr. Hauser's statements about the current ward system, saying it was required by law to be equitable at the time it was adopted. What had gone wrong with the system was the fact that growth had occurred in north and west Eugene, and that would be addressed when redistricting occurred. He did not understand the comments that the ward system was broken because natural features were crossed. He thought his ward provided him with a wider variety of comment because its boundaries crossed the Willamette River. Councilor Rayor said the City attempted to make internal police process improvements all the time, and the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations tracked bills that affected policing in the community to ensure they were fair. Regarding the subject of redistricting, he suggested that the issue would be affected by the council's actions on the recommendations of the Citizen Charter Review Committee. He anticipated that boundaries would shift significantly. He said he took geography into consideration when making decisions about appointments, and added he attempted to represent everyone. 3. DISCUSSION OF CHARTER REVIEW ISSUES City Manager Jim Johnson indicated he had no issues to raise at this time. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 9, 2001 Page 4 Regular Meeting 4. CONSENT CALENDAR. A. Approval of Council Minutes 1. February 20, 2001, Joint Officials Meeting 2. February 21,2001, Work Session 3. February 26, 2001, Work Session 4. February 26, 2001, City Council Meeting 5. February 28, 2001, Work Session 6. March 3,2001, Work Session 7. March 5,2001, Work Session 8. March 5,2001, City Council Meeting B. Approval of Tentative Working Agenda C Ratification of Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations Actions D. Exemption to Alton Baker Park Hours E. Approval of Neighborhood Organization Name Change F. A Resolution Supporting Application for State of Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Local Government Grant Matching Funds for Parks Councilor Bettman pulled the March 5 work session, March 5 regular meeting minutes, and Item D. Referring to page 4 of the work session minutes of March 5, she asked that the following correction be made to the last sentence in paragraph 5 (deleted text struck, italicized text added): "...she thought the street configuration ....~..~; ~' ~'~w ,~'~ ~., ........ ~,,...,,~ ~ would encourage a higher speed limit." Referring to the regular meeting minutes of March 5, Ms. Bettman asked that the second sentence be modified as follows: "...the agricultural land in question was special as there was were similar soils throughout the area..." Mayor Torrey determined there were no objections to the corrections offered by Councilor Bettman. Councilor Kelly also wished to pull Item B. Councilor Nathanson pulled Item E, and had a correction to the work session minutes of February 21,2001. She asked that the fifth sentence in paragraph 8 on page 6 be revised to read (deleted text struck; italicized text added): "She did not think that there was always a one-size fits-all solution appropriate for ever every situation." Referring to page 7 of the work session minutes of March 5, Councilor Nathanson asked that the last sentence in paragraph 2 be amended to read "...noting that on her collector street there were tm-ns curves that prevented motorists from seeing the bicyclists in the bicycle lane..." Mayor Torrey determined there were no objections to the corrections offered by Councilor Nathanson. Roll call vote; the motion to approve the Consent Calendar minus items B, D, and E passed unanimously, 6:0. Referring to Item B, the Tentative Working Agenda, Councilor Kelly suggested that the meeting with the school district on June 25 be moved to a date that could accommodate a longer meeting. Mr. Johnson believed that the time indicated was in error. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 9, 2001 Page 5 Regular Meeting Roll call vote; Item B passed unanimously. Councilor Bettman wanted to postpone action on Item D, Exemption of Alton Baker Park Hours, until the City could determine the event could be safely managed at the site in question. She had monitored the event when it was held in her neighborhood and believed it had impacts that she thought could be more safely monitored in an urban setting, such as parking and personal fireworks use. Councilor Bettman questioned how the area to be cleaned up would be defined. She thought the fire hazard would be extreme because of the dry grass, and the parking issue compounded by the number of people using the park and the fact the park could not be reached by all sides by emergency vehicles. Councilor Kelly said if economics were the primary motivation, he hoped the organization would go back to the fairgrounds. He was also concerned about the potential of fire because of the park setting, adding he was more concerned about unsupervised personal use of fireworks than about the organized fireworks. He noted that the Fire & Emergency Medical Services Department had only heard about the proposal last week and had no further time to investigate the situation. He suggested that representatives of the Active 20-30 representatives attempt to meet with the co-chairs of the East Alton Baker Park Citizen Planning Committee to discuss the committee's concerns. Councilor Kelly was also concerned about the impact of the event on the heels of the heavily attended Arts in the Vineyard event and asked for feedback on that issue from Parks staff. He also asked if alcohol would be served at the fireworks event. Councilor Nathanson noted her concern about spectator use of fireworks and personal safety. She had attended the fireworks event when held at Autzen Stadium and the fairgrounds and had been frightened at the stadium by the amount of fireworks going off around her. The same problem did not appear to occur at the fairgrounds. She questioned whether the Active 20-30 Club could monitor the personal use of fireworks and requested feedback from the City Manager on that topic. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, to table Item D. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 6:0. Councilor Nathanson said she hoped the council could respond quickly to the organization's request. Speaking to Item E, Councilor Nathanson acknowledged the name change as another step in implementing neighborhood redesign. She complemented staff and the participants in the neighborhood program. Roll call vote; Item E passed unanimously, 6:0. 5. ACTION: APPROVAL OF 2001-2002 FUNDING ALLOCATIONS FOR FEDERAL COMMUNITY BLOCK GRANT AND HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAMS Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved to approve the One-Year Action Plans for use of federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnership Program Funds. Councilor Nathanson noted Springfield's use of its HOME funding as compared to Eugene's, and clarified that while there was no line item allocation for services related to home ownership or housing counseling, the MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 9, 2001 Page 6 Regular Meeting nonprofit agencies receiving the operating funds from both jurisdictions can use the funding for a variety of activities, including counseling for first-time homeowners. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 6:0. 6. ACTION: A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE USER FEES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING JULY 1,2001 Mr. Johnson noted that Glen Potter of the Eugene Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department was present to answer questions. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved to adopt Resolution 4667 establishing hazardous substance user fees for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2001. Responding to a question from Councilor Pap6, City Attorney Glenn Klein said he believed that the resolution before the council was lawful. He noted that the litigation regarding the charter amendment was ongoing. Roll call vote; the motion passed, 5:1; Councilor Nathanson voting no. 7. WORK SESSION: DOWNTOWN/WILLAMETTE RIVER/FRANKLIN BOULEVARD VISIONING PROCESS The council returned to the second agenda item on the earlier work session agenda, which was a work session on the Downtown/Willamette River/Franklin Boulevard Visioning Project. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved that a re-appropriation be submitted in the June 2001 supplemental budget of $30,000 from loan repayment proceeds to support the preliminary design of Broadway, between Charnelton and Oak. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 6:0. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved that a contingency request of $70,000 be prepared for FY01 to support the immediate start-up of the Downtown Plan update and planning and analysis work on Vision Implementation Tools. Councilor Rayor determined from Mike Sullivan of Planning and Development Department that the funding would be allocated to implementation of the activities and projects approved by the council. Mr. Sullivan noted that there was some funding in the budget to go forward with work on the Downtown Plan. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 6:0. The meeting adjourned at 9:16 p.m. Respectfully submitted, MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 9, 2001 Page 7 Regular Meeting James R. Johnson City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 9, 2001 Page 8 Regular Meeting