Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MInutes - 02/14/00 Meeting MINUTES Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber--City Hall February 14, 2000 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Nancy Nathanson, Pat Farr, Bobby Lee, Gary Rayor, Betty Taylor, David Kelly. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Gary PapS, Scott Meisner. Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1.PUBLIC FORUM T.L. McDonnell, 2795 Chuckanut Street, commented that there was no C-2 land available on which to relocate his business. He submitted a list of questions to the council and commented that C-2 uses should be allowed in C-1 zoning. He reiterated that there was no provision for additional C-2 zoning in the urban growth boundary. Steven Heslin, 440 1/2 Blair Boulevard, reported to the council that he had been taping a protest for "Cascadia Live" when he was handcuffed and had his tape confiscated by the Eugene Police. He cited Oregon Revised Statutes 44.510 to 44.540 and claimed that the police had been violating his civil liberties by keeping his video tape. He stressed how upset he was about the confiscation and called for the immediate return of his video tape. Councilor Rayor commented that The Register-Guard reported that Mr. Heslin had no press credentials but added that the City had declined to institute a press credential system. He went on to say that it was a serious problem when First Amendment rights were violated and called for the City Manager to look into the report. Mayor Torrey commented that after he had received a call from Mr. McDonnell, he could not find any C-2 zoned land either. He called for planning staff to review the available data and provide a report to council. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2000 Page 1 Regular Meeting 2.CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of Council Minutes for November 17, 1999, Work Session; January 12, 2000, Council Meeting; January 19, 2000, Joint Elected Officials Meeting; and the January 24, 2000, Council Meeting B. Approval and Appointment of Ad hoc Committee on Greater Downtown Visioning Councilor Lee, seconded by Councilor Taylor, moved to approve the items on the consent calendar. Councilor Kelly pulled item 2B from the consent calendar. Councilor Taylor offered a correction to paragraph 6 on page 6 of the minutes of November 17, 1999. She asked that the word "to" in the first sentence be deleted, and asked that the word "only" be inserted in sentence 2 between the words "cost"and "$2 million." Councilor Rayor offered a correction to the January 24, 2000 minutes on page 3. He said that he had suggested that the 15 acres purchased in the headwaters of Amazon Creek may have partially addressed Councilor Taylor's issues. Councilor Kelly said that the vote on page 1 of the January 19 minutes indicated a 5:0 vote, when it should have indicated a 6:0 vote. In response to a question from Councilor Kelly regarding the available number of slots on the Ad Hoc Committee on Greater Downtown Visioning, Mr. Lew Bowers said that there were 16 slots available. In response to Councilor Kelly's concerns about approving the committee membership with 7 slots still empty, Mr. Bowers replied that the council would be asking the approved members to choose people to fill the empty slots. Councilor Kelly raised concern over the charge of the committee. He said that the charge had been developed around council-approved work plans and was defined by those plans. He suggested striking subsections of the plan that got into specifics. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Taylor, moved to amend the charge of the committee to strike the balance of the charge starting with the phrase "Specific priority issues." Roll call vote; the amendment passed 5:1, with Councilor Farr in opposition. Councilor Lee, seconded by Councilor Farr, moved to amend the motion to appoint Gary Rayor to the committee. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 6:0. Councilor Nathanson clarified with Councilor Kelly that the intent of striking the section was not disagreement that any of those items should be discussed but to be sure that the committee would be discussing things in light of the work plan that was already adopted. Councilor Kelly MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2000 Page 2 Regular Meeting replied that they were appropriate issues that would be discussed but stressed the importance of using the work plan for a reference in the charge of the committee. Roll call vote; the main motion passed unanimously. 3.PUBLIC HEARING: AN ORDINANCE REFUNDING THE 1988 AIRPORT REVENUE BONDS Mayor Torrey opened the public hearing. Seeing no one wishing to speak on the issue, he closed the public hearing. City Manager Johnson noted that if council desired more information on the issue, staff was present to answer questions. 4.PUBLIC HEARING: AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE TRACKING INSTRUCTIONS FOR 2000 City Manager Johnson noted that staff was available for a presentation if council so desired. Mayor Torrey opened the public hearing. Seeing no one wishing to speak, he closed the public hearing and called for questions or comments from the council. None were put forth. 5.PUBLIC HEARING: A PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE EUGENE CITY CHARTER ON EUGENE WATER AND ELECTRIC BOARD TELECOMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY Para Berrian of the Administrative Services Department provided a presentation on the item to council. She reported that in 1997, the City Council provided the Eugene Water & Electric Board of Directors authority to construct a telecommunications infrastructure and operational network. She noted that in 1997 the council gave permission for the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) to lease excess capacity in the Phase 1 core system to help create revenue that would help fund a subsequent phase of construction to customers (Phase 2). She went on to say that in 1998-99 EVVEB shared its network in open meetings of the EVVEB board and throughout the community. Ms. Berrian said that in 1999, Phase 1 of the network was completed. Ms. Berrian said that in researching information for Phase 2, EWEB become convinced that broad charter authority, rather than a memorandum of understanding, would provide greater legal authority for the board to begin Phase 2 and would, as a voter mandate, illustrate public approval of EWEB's work. Mayor Torrey opened the public hearing. Ron Eachus, Salem, Oregon, spoke as chair of the Oregon Public Utility Commission. He stressed that he was not present to make any kind of a judgement on the validity or financial viability of proceeding. He noted that, statewide, only 3.9 percent of telecommunications service was being provided by competitive providers. He stressed the importance of allowing broad charter authority to allow more competition in the market. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2000 Page 3 Regular Meeting Sandra Bishop spoke as the Vice President of the EWEB Board of Directors. She urged the council to send the issue to the voters in May. She said that EVVEB was specifically requesting that the original charter language proposed be approved by the council. She said that the alternate language suggested by the City Attorney would not allow EWEB to build out a publicly owned telecommunications system. She stressed the importance of broad charter language to allow an accessible platform system that could be used by multiple competitive providers. She also stressed that EVVEB had no intention of providing content. Moving on, Ms. Bishop said that the public would have full ownership of the project and that EVVEB was going to pass a resolution to commit itself to the public process. She said that EVVEB would have as many public meetings and public hearings as needed for the public to know that it had full ownership of the project. She formally requested that the issue be put on the May 16 ballot. Peter Bartel, 2240 Agate Street, EWEB board member, commented that private companies could not deliver the services that people wanted and needed. He said that EWEB needed broad authority to provide universal access to the community. He called for the council to adopt the original charter language. Dorothy Anderson, 939 East 21st Avenue, EWEB board member, said that the country was entering a new era that would have an effect as great as that of the industrial revolution. She said that EWEB was searching for ways to best serve the customer. She stressed the importance of providing clear authority in the charter to avoid lawsuits that had plagued other public utilities trying to go into telecommunications. She urged the council to put the issue to the voters. Randy Berggren, General Manager of EVVEB, called for the council to put the issue to a vote. He stressed that EWEB needed broad charter authority to provide a service with universal access that was publicly owned. He added that the modified language suggested by the City Attorney would not meet EVVEB's needs to challenge any lawsuits brought against them. He stressed that EVVEB had no intention of providing content and was committed to the public process. Craig Curtis, 3690 West 12th Avenue, said that his e-commerce business was exploding but that the telecommunications service available in the city was less than the infrastructure in other cities. He stressed that EWEB's proposal was vital to the city to retain its current business community and promote new business as well. Jeff Miller, 2425 Lariat Meadows, raised concern over the direction taken by the council and EWEB. His concern was over the proposed charter amendment to clarify EWEB's authority to maintain municipal telecommunications infrastructure. He stressed that EWEB should be held accountable to all Eugene tax payers and not just EWEB rate payers. He raised concern about the impact on tax payers if the project failed and said that there should be a provision present in any ballot measure that would hold EWEB accountable every step of the way. He said that EWEB should be made to sign a franchise agreement for use of the right-of-way as other utilities would be. Scott Chambers, 86195 Berry Road, commented that Chambers Communications Corporation was currently opposed to the charter amendment. He said that the EWEB approach to telecommunications was flawed. He noted that the project was not fully functional and had no paying customers and that there had been no response to EWEB's request for proposals. He said MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2000 Page 4 Regular Meeting that there were far too many questions to grant EWEB any more authority at the current time, such as who was going to pay for the network. Debby Luppold, 3500 Southwest Bond Street, Vancouver, Washington, spoke as a representative from AT&T. She said that AT&T was opposed to EWEB's efforts. She said that telecommunications were best left to the private sector where risk was part of the investment cycle. She offered the help of AT&T to the City for deciding whether the charter amendment was good for the City. She stressed that EWEB should be held accountable to the City Council and its residents. She called for an equal playing field in competition with private industry. Jeff Bissonnette, Citizen's Utility Board of Oregon, urged the council to send the issue to the voters. He commented that US West and AT&T were essentially monopolies that controlled the infrastructure of the system and the content that was seen on the system. He called for the equal access to the system that the charter amendment would provide. David Trepp, 87086 Dukhober Road, spoke in favor of the charter amendment. He said that there should be equal access to high speed Internet in the City. He said that the charter amendment was important for keeping businesses in Eugene. Dennis Gabriel, 3359 Saint Kitts Avenue, representing Advanced Telecommunications Group, urged the council to send the issue to the voters. He said that he was a local exchange owner and needed to compete at the mercy of US West. He noted that there had been no movement by US West to increase the local fiber base. He stressed the importance of free and open access to broadband services. Orval Etter, 8080 Potter Street, said that the City Charter gave the City authority to go into telecommunications and delegate EWEB as an agent to the City to manage the system. He said the charter amendment was not necessary and that EWEB could already be authorized. He commented that direct legislation was less flexible than legislation that came from representative bodies and called for flexibility in authority. He wanted the City Council to be the delegating authority. Dan Harkins, 1270 Jacobs Drive, spoke of the absence of high-speed access in Eugene and said he was in favor of EWEB's proposal. He stressed the importance of allowing someone to take the initiative for telecommunications in the area. Les Moore, 2246 Birchwood Drive, spoke in favor of the charter amendment. He commented that it would be good for the school system and stressed the importance of equal access for students. Randy Prince, PO Box 927, Eugene, stressed the importance of providing universal public access to telecommunications and preventing monopolies by US West and AT&T. Laurence Riechman, 1211 Southwest 5th Avenue, Portland, spoke as a representative of US West. He spoke in opposition of the charter amendment and raised concern over a municipality entering the telecommunications market. He said that there was a conflict of interest with the City that would favor its own telecommunications and tax competing companies. Bill Kloss, PO Box 11906, Eugene spoke in favor of the charter amendment. He said that the current providers were working with a medium band closed-access model. He said that the EWEB model was a good one and spoke in favor of joint ventures with content providers. He stressed MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2000 Page 5 Regular Meeting the importance of a level playing field for smaller companies and for EWEB to have broad authority in charter language. Kevin Hornbuckle spoke in favor of the charter amendment and stressed the importance of having capacity for local providers. He wanted to put the issue before the voters. He urged the council to grant broad authority to EWEB. Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing and called for questions and comments from the councilors. He left the meeting at 8:50 p.m. Councilor Nathanson stated her strong support for a public utility providing high speed access for telecommunications. She commented that the number one goal for the telecommunications subcommittee in 1997 was that all city residents, businesses, and public institutions shall have access to the full range of telecommunications services at affordable rates. Councilor Nathanson went on to express her hope that the current council would continue to support universal and open access by allowing the provision to go to the voters. She stressed that telecommunications was a public utility. Councilor Kelly thanked those who provided testimony. He stated his support for the EWEB proposal and stressed that the City should not wait for private companies to provide universal access. He said that the question of EWEB providing content should be put to the voters. He stressed the importance of creditors having no claim to electric or water rate revenues during Phase 2 of the project. Councilor Taylor was in favor of the proposal. She called for information from staff on the possibility of authorizing EWEB without a vote. City Attorney Glenn Klein said that the current charter allowed all powers to the City Council including telecommunications. He said that the disadvantage was that the current charter was not clear on delegation of authority. In response to a question from Councilor Taylor regarding disadvantages, Mr. Berggren said that there was a high likelihood of legal challenges to EWEB's authority regarding telecommunications and that a clear statement of authority in the charter language would help to avoid those challenges. Councilor Fart raised concern over language flexibility in the charter. He wanted to know how long EWEB's fiber system would be viable and what would happen when it became obsolete and the charter language had to be revisited. Regarding subsidization of the fiber program by other EWEB services, Councilor Farr wanted to see in the charter amendment where subsidization would be ruled out. Finally, Councilor Fart called for information on the possibility of legal challenges of the City's ability to tax and regulate companies that were in direct fiber competition. Councilor Rayor said that he was generally supportive of EWEB's proposal. He wanted to see guarantees that rate payers would not subsidize the system. He called for a report from the City Attorney regarding the content issue and said that it should be voted on. He commented that MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2000 Page 6 Regular Meeting EWEB should be treated like any other utility and that it was incumbent upon the council to do that to ensure a level playing field. Councilor Fart called council attention to a letter in their packets from the president of the EWEB Board of Commissioners, urging the council not to allow the placement of the charter amendment in the May ballot without an EWEB agreement placing limits on its telecommunication involvement. Councilor Lee stated that council would be voting on the issue on February 28 and he would be in favor of referring the issue to the voters. 6.PUBLIC HEARING: PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT TO COMPENSATE THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL Councilor Lee opened the public hearing. Rob Zako, 1280 East 20th Avenue, noted that he was a member of the Citizen Committee on Mayor and Council Compensation, but stressed that he was speaking as a private citizen. He said that he was in favor of compensation since there were limits to volunteerism. Bruce Miller, 88 West 29th Avenue, called for the council to be generously compensated. He commented that quality people were needed for the City Council. He suggested offering quality amounts of money for hiring the best people for the job. Lazar Makyadath, 2067 Morning View, called for generous compensation for the City Council. Kevin Hornbuckle commented that it was easy for rich people to call for others to volunteer. He supported the idea of council compensation. Jim Hale, 1715 LindyAvenue, agreed with the previous speaker. He said that he had looked at other cities that were the same size as Eugene and that the vast majority of them paid their city council. He suggested focusing on the charter review first and examine how the role of the City Council might be changed by a charter amendment. Councilor Lee closed the public hearing. Councilor Rayor commented that his inclination was to put the issue on the May ballot because he did not see the advantage of the November ballot. 7.ACTION: AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING AN UPDATE TO THE EUGENE AIRPORT MASTER PLAN, A REFINEMENT PLAN OF THE EUGENE-SPRINGFIELD METROPOLITAN AREA GENERAL PLAN (METRO PLAN); AMENDING THE METRO PLAN DIAGRAM TO REDESIGNATE PROPERTY CONSISTENT WITH THE AIRPORT MASTER PLAN REFINEMENT PLAN DIAGRAM; AMENDING THE EUGENE-SPRINGFIELD METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORTATION PLAN AND PUBLIC FACILITIES PLAN TO ADD THE GREENHILL ROAD REALIGNMENT PROJECT; ADOPTING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2000 Page 7 Regular Meeting City Manager Johnson asked the council to consider Council Bill 4721, an ordinance adopting an update to the Eugene Airport Master Plan, a refinement plan of the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan (Metro Plan); amending the Metro Plan Diagram to redesignate property consistent with the Airport Master Plan Refinement Plan Diagram; amending the Eugene- Springfield Metropolitan Area Transportation Plan and Public Facilities Plan to add the Greenhill Road realignment project; adopting a severability clause; and providing an effective date. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Nathanson, moved that the bill, with unanimous consent of the council, be read a second time by council bill number only and that enactment be considered at that time. Councilor Rayor wanted the record to reflect that the City Manager had agreed that any major development at the airport that was non-aviation related would be brought to the council for approval. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Nathanson, moved to amend section 1 adopting the Eugene Airport Master Plan Update, to include amendments shown in attachments A-1 and A-2. The amendment passed unanimously. City Manager Johnson asked council to consider Council Bill 4721 by number only. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Nathanson, moved that the bill be approved and given final passage. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Johnson City Manager (Recorded by Joe Sams) MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2000 Page 8 Regular Meeting