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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 01/26/00 Work Session MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--City Hall January 26, 2000 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bobby Lee, Betty Taylor, Nancy Nathanson, Pat Farr, Scott Meisner, David Kelly, Gary Rayor, Gary PapS. In the absence of Mayor James D. Torrey, Council President Bobby Lee called the meeting to order. A. Items from the Council, Mayor, and City Manager Ms. Nathanson expressed appreciation to Public Works Department staff for paying attention to several problem roads in her ward. Ms. Nathanson provided City Manager Jim Johnson with a copy of a letter she had received from Public Technology, Inc. The letter regarded a grant the firm had from the Office of Justice Programs to publish a guidebook for local governments on model local governance structures that will help facilitate the integration of criminal justice and public safety records system. The letter solicited the City's participation in a survey and information gathering. She expressed hope the City would participate and benefit. Mr. Kelly reported he would be attending the American Planning Association National Conference in April. Mr. Kelly requested council head nods on direction to the Planning Commission Planning staff to begin work on height limits in the north part of downtown. The council indicated support. Ms. Taylor called for a department advisory committee made up of representatives from all parts of town to address the issue of speeding. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 1 Ms. Taylor noted her previous request that any newsletter sent out by the City include information about neighborhood meetings, and she had recently received newsletters without that information. Ms. Taylor said she hoped the council would soon form a committee to review the entire charter. She asked if it was true that the City was already beginning an examination of the charter at the request of the mayor. Mr. Johnson was not aware of any such effort. Mr. Lee thanked Chief Jim Hill for his participation in the recent People's Forum. He said that leadership was shown when people leave their own areas of comfort and attempt to relate to members of the community who do not share their views. He expressed appreciation for Chief Hill's leadership in this area. Mr. Farr circulated his battalion badge from the Oregon National Guard and reported that Charlie Company had been shipped out to Kuwait the previous day to guard Patriot missile sites. A ceremony commemorating the departure had been held at Lane Community College. He noted his disappointment at the lack of media coverage of the event. He said that it was the first time in a while that local units had been shipped oversees. Mr. Farr expressed pride that he had worn the battalion badge in common with those who had shipped out. Mr. Farr said that the Human Rights Commission recently heard a presentation on prostitution, particularly teen prostitution. The scope of the issue was quite alarming, but he believed if the City took a leadership role something could be done about it. Mr. Farr asked the City Manager to prepare a work session on the subject for the City Council at a future meeting. He suggested that the work session include information on how to discourage the solicitation of prostitutes. Mr. Farr mentioned the extension of Beltline over Royal Avenue, which would result in Royal Avenue becoming a local street and improve conditions along the street for residents. Mr. Meisner suggested that the council might want to have the Police Commission work on the issue of prostitution first because it was hearing about the problem from citizens. The commission would discuss the subject later in the meeting with the council as part of the work program review. He agreed that prostitution was a problem locally, particularly in his ward, and he received telephone calls from constituents on a nearly daily basis. Mr. Farr clarified that he was requesting an informational work session. Mr. Meisner expressed a concern that having a council work session would raise public expectations that the council was going to find a quick solution to the problem. Mr. Meisner agreed with Ms. Taylor that a full charter review effort was needed. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 2 Mr. Meisner noted the loss of trees in Sladden Park due to severe windstorms in past years, and shared information with the council about a replacement tree planting effort that occurred on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. He thanked staff for the effort. Mr. Pap8 provided an update on the Police/Fire Building Task Force, saying that the task force was concentrating on police facilities at this point and had developed preliminary square footage estimates for a facility. He believed that the task force's work would be complete in time to put a measure on the May ballot. Mr. Pap8 expressed disappointment that the Ferry Street Bridge project was not completed and requested an update from staff. Mr. Johnson indicated that such an update would be provided to all councilors. Responding to a request for direction from Mr. Johnson, three or more councilors indicated support for scheduling a work session on charter review. Mr. Farr indicated he would submit his request for a work session on prostitution in writing. Mr. Rayor said he had been contacted by a constituent who asked why the City could not hire more traffic patrol officers as they would be largely self-supporting. He requested information about the percentage of the patrol service supported by traffic fines. Chief Hill said he would provide that information to Mr. Rayor. B. Joint Work Session with the Police Commission and Adoption of the Police Commission Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2000 Chief Hill introduced the chair of the Police Commission, Munir Katul. Dr. Katul noted that the commission had been appointed in June 1999. He described the composition of the commission, which included councilors Meisner and PapS. Dr. Katul said that the commission had adopted bylaws, a mission statement, goals, and had developed a work plan. The work plan had been provided to the council previously. Dr. Katul asked the council to discuss the role of the commission concerning revisions to the City Code or changes in Police Department policy. He also requested approval of the process proposed by the commission for amending its work plan to address issues that arise during the course of the year. Mr. Pap8 complimented Terry Smith of the Police Department on the job he had done in staffing the commission. At Mr. PapS's request, the commissioners introduced themselves and mentioned their professional backgrounds. Councilors introduced themselves and noted the wards they represented. Dr. Katul commended the cooperation of Chief Hill and the Police Department. He said that the department had been both helpful and open. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 3 Mr. Kelly endorsed the commission's review of proposed code changes. He said that the commission, because of its broad diversity of membership, could be a first check-in for the public on proposed code changes. Regarding unforeseen issues that might arise, Mr. Kelly asked the commission if there would ever be an unforeseen issue that needed attention before the commission could check in with the council about adding it to the work program. He suggested that with the concurrence of a majority of commissioners, the commission could "get in front of the council" in such cases and begin to work. Mr. Meisner believed that the answer to Mr. Kelly's question depended on the demands the council made of the commission. He said that if the commission's work load was full enough to require two meetings a month, it might be necessary to create a mechanism such as that suggested by Mr. Kelly. Charles Dalton of the Police Commission noted that many citizens had been waiting for some time for the commission to be formed to address many high priority topics for the community. He thought the commission should be proactive rather than reactive to crisis. Mr. Dalton said that some of the existing issues were going to be very difficult to address already. He was reluctant to add more work to the commission's work load given that fact. Mr. Kelly said that the point was well-taken. Dr. Katul agreed with Mr. Dalton's remarks. He emphasized the commission's interest in doing things well. He said that if the commission found that there was an issue not on the work plan it needed to address, it would check in with the council. He advocated for trust and flexibility between the council and commission. Commissioner John Brown wanted the commission to have the flexibility to respond to public input. He emphasized the importance of being responsive to the public and ensuring people feel heard. Mr. Lee said it was his experience that work plans were flexible and could accommodate minor new work items. Dr. Katul clarified that issues such as the landlord-tenant repeat call response and photo radar were not on the work plan because the commission was unsure the council wanted it to address them. He said that they could be added or addressed on an ad hoc basis. Mr. Smith said that such medium-level policy issues such as ordinance review had not competed well as work plan items given the many higher profile issues the public was waiting for the commission to address. He said the council could request that the commission review ordinances after those high priority items were completed, or request that the commission add meetings if an item could not be deferred. Ms. Nathanson suggested that Section 4(c) of the implementing ordinance provided direction on the issue as it indicated that the commission was to review and make MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 4 recommendations on police policies, practices, and priorities for consistency with community values. Mr. Meisner agreed, and encouraged the council to read the commission's carefully drafted mission statement. Mr. Pap~ perceived the commission as being proactive rather than reactive, and believed it needed to be attuned to the issues of importance to the community. He did not think it was the commission's job to "second guess what happened on the streets last week." Mr. Farr concurred. Mr. Meisner introduced Rita Molina, another member of the commission who had just arrived at the meeting. Mr. Meisner agreed that a proactive commission was preferable, but pointed out that there will be some situations where it will have to be responsive. Police Commissioner Floyd Prozanksi concurred with Mr. Meisner. He said that in developing the mission statement, the commission agreed that the ordinance gave it the power to examine policies. He said that the commission would not be a "Monday morning quarterback," but suggested situations may arise that require the commission to look at policies in place or consider new policies. Ms. Taylor moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, that the role of the Police Commission concerning changes in City Code and/or Police Department policy shall be to: a) review and/or develop code and/or policy; b) take public comments; and c) make recommendations to the Police Chief and City Council. Ms. Nathanson said the motion established legislative history that ensured the word "policy" was interpreted broadly to include both City code and department policy. She asked if administrative rules were covered by the motion. Mr. Johnson said it depends, but generally those rules were nonpolicy in nature. He noted that administrative rules were the purview of the manager, but indicated that if there was a policy issue underlying an administrative rule, he might seek council direction. Mr. Pap~ supported the motion as the wisest course of action. Mr. Meisner noted that the motion retained the council's authority while giving the commission freedom to act proactively. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 5 Mr. Johnson likened the Police Commission's role to the Planning Commission's role in reviewing ordinances and polices. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Ms. Taylor moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, that the Eugene Police Commission, in response to an unforeseen issue, shall request an amendment of the adopted work plan at a timely council meeting to allow the commission to work on the new issue. The work plan amendment shall describe for the council how the commission intends to work on the issue and how this affects the other items in the approved work plan. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Ms. Taylor moved, seconded by Mr. Farr, to approve the Eugene Police Commission's proposed fiscal year 2000 work plan. Mr. Kelly noted that an upcoming commission work program item was looking at next steps in community policing, and hoped that the examination included a look at the current role of substations and their role in community policing. Mr. Kelly referred to the future issues list and advocated for earlier discussion of the issue of video taping by the police and the public. He said that the work plan did not include any mention of the issue of inappropriate undercover and surveillance activities, such as undercover officers at Human Rights Commission meetings, and suggested that the commission consider adding it as a work program item. Mr. Rayor said that people with grievances about the police can come to the council and testify at the public forum, and he wanted the council to keep that responsibility. He thought that the policy issues that arose from such incidents were more properly the purview of the commission. Mr. Rayor said he would like to see the police's handling of the alternative press added to the work plan. Mr. Farr endorsed the work plan. He suggested the commission consider holding a joint meeting with the Human Rights Commission soon. Police Commissioner Carla Newbre did not think that the work program was complete and asked the council to suggest work program items. Commissioner Tim Laue cautioned the council that it was unlikely the commission would be able to finish all the items already on the six-month work plan. Mr. Meisner concurred. He said that it should be made clear whether the council's suggested work plan items were just suggestions, or if they were amendments to the work plan. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 6 Ms. Nathanson pointed out that a citizen initiating a complaint could do so immediately by contacting the Human Rights Program. She said that citizens did not need to wait for the council to meet before presenting a grievance about the Police Department to the City. Mr. Johnson added that the department also had a complaint system in place. Dr. Katul noted the chairs of the Human Rights Commission and the Police Commission would probably meet during the next week to discuss working together. He suggested that the commission could meet more frequently or form subcommittees to address additional items. He added that would require more staff support, and the council should be aware of that. Mr. Farr endorsed a joint meeting between the two commissions to open a dialogue between commissioners. Mr. Kelly encouraged the commission to report to the council between work plan reviews. He also encouraged the commission to take advantage of the department's Web site when possible. Dr. Katul clarified that the commission had a Web site that included its agendas and meeting minutes. Mr. Meisner supported a mid-year report as suggested by Mr. Kelly. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. C. Work Session to Report and Update on City Boards, Commissions, and Committees This item was postponed to February 14. D. Work Session: 1999-2000 City Council Goals Progress Report Mr. Johnson noted that the department directors were present to answer questions about goals related to their departments. Jan Bohman of the City Manager's Office led the council through a review of progress made on the council's 1999-2000 goals. Responding to a question from Ms. Nathanson, Mr. Johnson said that it was likely the Budget Committee would discuss the loss of funding for the Community Service Officer at the downtown substation, which was illustrative of the trend in funding. Mr. Kelly expressed hope that the monthly policing reports could be provided to the council on a periodic basis in the future, if not monthly. He requested a copy of the August monthly report. Chief Hill noted that the report was being reformatted for easier reading. Mr. Meisner questioned identifying the neighborhood substation goal as making progress when there was no money to fund such stations. Mr. Farr noted that a site had been identified in Bethel as a location for a substation, and officers could now use MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 7 it to fill out reports. He suggested that would help maintain a greater police presence in west Eugene, and he was satisfied that progress had been made in that area. Responding to a question from Mr. PapS, Chief Hill said that the City had not evaluated the effectiveness of the Officers in the Schools Program for some time. He said that the Safe/Healthy Student Schools Grant includes funding for an expansion of the Safer Schools into elementary schools and also funds for an evaluation of that part of the program. He said that the staff could provide incident reports. Mr. Meisner requested an update on the Library, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department's program for youth arts, recently described in The Register-Guard. He also requested an update on the Public Safety Coordinating Council. Mr. Farr referring to the goal related to sustainable communities and said he saw nothing related to affordable housing under the goal. He hoped that was because affordable housing was an implicit goal in the council's work plan. Mr. Johnson pointed out that affordable housing was specifically mentioned on page 18 of the goals document; in fact, the entire page was devoted to the subject. Mr. Farr said it was important the council continued to work on the topic. He averred that the small communities around Eugene were "rapidly getting larger" because people could not afford to buy a house in Eugene and were buying houses in those communities and driving Eugene to work, threatening the healthy natural and built environment with automobile emissions. Mr. Kelly strongly urged the Planning and Development Department and City Manager to bring the Budget Committee a budget that allowed the City to implement studies such as the North End Scoping Group study rather than leaving them on the shelf. Mr. Kelly pointed out that page 13 of the document indicated the council would review code, policy, and administrative strategies to achieve nodal development by March 2000, and noted that no work session was yet scheduled on the tentative working agenda. Mr. Kelly referred to page 15 and 16 of the document and said that several open space and park projects had slipped in time, and he requested a general overview of the reasons for delay for each project. He noted his particular concern about delaying open space acquisitions. Public Works Department Director Christine Andersen indicated she would follow-up. Ms. Taylor shared Mr. Kelly's concerns about the delay in open space acquisitions. Mr. Meisner asked if the City was proceeding with acquisition of the train station. Ms. Andersen said yes, and described progress on the acquisition. Responding to a MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 8 question from Mr. PapS, she confirmed that the City had discussed the sale with the owner of the property. Referring to page 25 of the document, Mr. Meisner asked if the council's motion regarding the match for the downtown was specific to the Park Blocks. Mr. Kelly clarified that the background for the motion was specific to the Parks Blocks and one other unspecified site. Mr. Meisner believed the council had been adamant in its discussion that it did not want all the money to be used for consultants and for the City "to just do something." Mr. Farmer said that the money was not just for consultants and analysis, but also for implementation. Mr. Meisner wanted the majority of the money to be spent on implementation. Also referring to page 25, Mr. Rayor requested an update on the Riverfront Research Park. Mr. Johnson said that the Riverfront Research Commission had sunsetted. He had met with representatives of the University to discuss negotiations for what he termed a separation agreement. Nothing was completed, and no money was planned for expenditure in the area. Those discussions had included consideration of land exchanges. Mr. Rayor wanted to use whatever leverage the City Council had as the Urban Renewal Agency to preserve open space in the riverfront area north of the railroad tracks. Mr. Johnson responded that, given that the land was already covered by an approved conditional use permit and the City did not plan to contribute any money to the University, he did not know what leverage the council had. Responding to a question from Mr. Lee, Mr. Johnson indicated he would provide the council with copies of the memorandum of understanding establishing the interagency team that was addressing issues related to the Endangered Species Act; a work session was scheduled for February 23. Mr. Meisner averred that the neighborhood newsletters were promoting the Neighborhood Matching Grants Program with inaccurate information stating that residents would not have to contribute any money. He expressed concern about the many delayed projects in the goal of Effective, Accountable Municipal Government, and stated that "it was not acceptable" to him, and "something was really wrong here." He did not understand why the council was not receiving reports about the neighborhood boundary or organizational issues. Mr. Johnson said he would ensure the council received that update. Mr. Lee pointed out that the council went through the progress review to get the type of information requested by Mr. Meisner. Mr. Kelly said that the work plan item related to the charter review for mayor and council compensation did not include the broader review of other charter elements, and he thought that should be included as a separate work plan item. Mr. Johnson agreed. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 9 Responding to a question from Ms. Nathanson, Mr. Johnson anticipated a cross- department team would look at the issue of developing a system wide complaint information management system, not just the City's Public Service Officer. Mr. Meisner encouraged staff to ensure that there was single entry point for all complaints, even though they may cross departments. Mr. Meisner encouraged staff to examine Springfield's telephone government pages as an example of a user-friendly telephone listing. Mr. Lee maintained that the City lacked a long-range financial plan to deal with future funding gaps and asked Administrative Services Department Director Warren Wong what steps the council needed to take now to address the long-term funding gap. Mr. Wong reminded the City Council that it had reviewed the six-year financial forecast in November 1999, and at that time he had stated that the long-term picture was heavily dependent on economic health and growth. The City had received the assessed value exceptions value information from the County, which had added about $400,000 to property tax collections. He said that nothing had changed; at some point the General Fund would be insufficient. As staff reviewed the budget, it identified several big ticket items for which there was no funding and had discussed alternative funding sources, such as a transportation utility fee. Mr. Wong said that the council will have to take some sort of structural action, perhaps with the assistance of a council committee. Mr. Johnson said that another issue was how to fund road maintenance in the future, given the uncertain future of the gas tax increase and Lane County's continued threats to stop its gas tax contributions to Lane County cities. Mr. Kelly emphasized the council's full work plan and suggested that the council make the subject of long-term financial stability a major work plan item in the fall. He added that he did not want to use a committee approach to the topic. Ms. Taylor agreed. She said that the City should look at other taxing sources. Ms. Taylor said that she thought the council had eliminated any further discussion of a transportation utility fee. Mr. Johnson said that he had not received direction from the council that the staff should not examine the possibility. Rather, he had heard the council express concerns about the approach and suggest that staff attempt to better the concept. He asked the council for direction. Mr. Meisner said that he did not recall the council placing a permanent bar on discussion of the option. Mr. Meisner also shared Mr. Lee's concern about the long-range financial picture and said he also did not want to use a committee approach toward the topic. He emphasized an interest in long-term solutions that could potentially replace the property tax. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 10 Mr. Rayor agreed that the council had not precluded further discussion of the transportation utility fee. He noted that he had encountered an interesting discussion of transportation utility fees on the Web and indicated he would share that information with staff and the council if possible. The council sang "Happy Birthday" to Mr. Meisner and Planning and Development Department Director Paul Farmer. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Johnson City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 11