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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 09/27/00 Work Session MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session Hilyard Center, 2580 Hilyard September 27, 2000 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, Pat Fart, Betty Taylor, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, David Kelly, Gary Rayor, Gary Pap~. CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION A. Items From Mayor and City Council Ms. Taylor raised concern over the recently constructed projections on Oak and Pearl streets. She noted that she had complaints from many of her constituents and added that she thought the projections were dangerous as well. Ms. Taylor also raised concern over construction projects being started without the proper permits being issued. She called for more meaningful penalties to help stop the problem. Mr. Kelly took an opportunity to thank the volunteers for the Eugene Celebration. Regarding the Beltline/Interstate 5 decision team, Mr. Kelly said that there had been a meeting earlier in the week and the team took recommendations from a larger stakeholder working group. He said that the alternatives for the interchange were narrowed from 11 down to 5 and the alternatives for the Interstate 5/Gateway intersection from 18 down to 7. He noted that one of the most significant political decisions was to drop all the alternatives that called for an access road cutting through a nearby mobile home park that housed primarily senior citizens. He said that the next step was for the Oregon Department of Transportation and CH2M Hill to work on the remaining alternatives based on criteria that the larger group had come up with. Mr. Fart said that he had received complaints about a single homeless camper who was taking part in illegal activities. He commented on the difficulty of removing an illegally parked camper. He emphasized that the homeless camper plan worked very well and that most complaints against homeless campers were unfounded but added that sometimes further action needed to be taken. City Manager Jim Johnson observed that some pockets of the City were more difficult in regard to homeless campers. Mr. Meisner said that the homeless camping program in his ward had not worked. He said that the program was created to limit camping and protect neighborhoods. He said that enforcement of the camping ordinance was a complaint-driven process and noted that Police Chief Jim Hill had agreed that when the neighbor involved was the City, police officers could initiate complaints. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 1 Work Session Mr. Rayor commented that October 3 was the date for the Human Services Commission retreat. He said that he would be late in attending but urged the addition of another councilor to the Human Services Commission. Mayor Torrey said that there was no sense in putting Ms. Bettman on the Human Services Commission in place of the departed Mr. Lee. He opined that by the time she was thoroughly informed on all the information, the last three months of Mr. Lee's term on the commission would be over. He called for volunteers from the council to attend the meetings of the Human Services Commission. He also called for council ideas for committee assignments as quickly as possible. Regarding the traffic projections on Oak Street, Mr. Rayor said that he was in favor of those and others in town. He believed that the city needed such traffic calming devices. Mr. Pap~ related that he had been attending games at the new sports complexes. He urged those present to attend the grand opening of the new sports complex at Cai Young. City Manager Johnson said that staff were examining the impacts of the traffic projections on Oak Street and added that City Engineer Les Lyle would make adjustments if they were needed. Mayor Torrey noted that he had received many complaints about the curb projections on Oak Street. He believed that if complaints were coming in after a few months then something should be done to change the situation. Mayor Torrey said that he also received complaints every month on the homeless camping issue. He said the ordinance had its faults but that the City definitely did not want to go back to how things were before the ordinance was implemented. He outlined the current complaint process. Regarding Symantec, Mayor Torrey stressed that it was going to be difficult to retain the company in its current downtown location. If it did not stay downtown, he hoped that council would be looking at options for revitalizing the area that Symantec could possibly vacate. Mr. Meisner took an opportunity to thank all of the staff who were involved in the opening the Bethel branch of the Eugene Library. B. Work Session City Manager Johnson noted that the reports that were being given were accurate through May. He said that the current meeting was the first available time to meet since then. He went on to say that the goals would continue to be worked on through 2001. City Manager Johnson said that the meeting was the beginning of the 2001-02 council goal process and encouraged a primary goal of financial stability. He noted that there were some large budget issues emerging. City Manager Johnson said that each of the department heads would give a five-minute report. After all of the reports were completed, there would be a question and answer period. Administrative Services Department Director Warren Wong addressed the council goal of Fair, Stable, and Adequate Resources. He noted that he would focus on the General Fund but warned that there were financial difficulties in other funds. As examples, he mentioned the Construction Permit Fund, the Road Fund, and the Emergency Medical Services Fund. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 2 Work Session Regarding the General Fund, Mr. Wong said that his department did an annual six-year financial forecast. He said that the latest forecast showed a slight deficit in the next fiscal year and increasingly larger deficits in the future years. He said that a $1.5 million dollar budget reduction was targeted for the next year. He said if that target were achieved, the General Fund would be stabilized for two or three years. He raised concern however, that there were many factors that could upset that equilibrium. Mr. Wong said that the $1.5 million dollar target was allocated to the departments that were funded by the General Fund. He noted that staff had tried to stay away from any public safety budget cuts since their budget was already very trim. He said that each department had been meeting with budget staff and coming up with strategies to take back to department executives. He said that the strategies would come to the Budget Committee and the City Council in November. Mr. Wang said that about 60 percent of the General Fund was supported by property taxes. He said that the current property tax system for the City, brought on by Ballot Measure 50, depended on two key variables. The first was Iow inflation and the second was development/growth. He warned that if either of the variables worked against the City, then the property tax system would not be able to generate the funds needed to support City services paid for by the General Fund. He noted that there had been increasing inflation across the board and that development/growth was slowing down. Mr. Wang predicted that the current revenue structure would have periodic downturns and the City was into one of those downturns until the structure was changed. Mr. Wong said that the kinds of cuts being proposed by staff would have a more severe impact on the public and the users of City services than the budget cuts of four years earlier. He said that there was no flexibility to absorb reductions. Regarding fiscal year 2001 (FY01), Mr. Wong mentioned that health insurance and fuel costs had gone up unexpectedly. He also mentioned that the City had to make provisions for the Public Utilities Commission ruling that US West/Qwest make rebates to customers. He said that US West/Qwest would not be paying for right-of-way until all of the rebates were paid. Regarding the next year and beyond, Mr. Wong said that there would be another PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) rate increase. He remarked that there were a number of ballot measures that could affect the City budget. He said that a "big issue" that would have to be dealt with in 2002 was the renewal of the Library Local Operating Levy. He added that there were other budget issues on the horizon. Chief Hill spoke on police issues. He focused on community-oriented policing, which was an integration of community members to solve community issues. He said that community policing was an ongoing process. Chief Hill said that the department was facing specific problems. The first was time availability of officers. The second issue was the loss of a grant-funded information gathering position. Chief Hill cited some of the ongoing community policing projects such as the prostitution task force and the Heroin Task Force. Regarding the Safer School Program, Chief Hill said that the crime prevention specialists had been hired and were working. He noted that the department's diversity recruitment and training efforts were ongoing. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 3 Work Session In closing, Chief Hill said that the Hobson Study indicated that 50 more officers were needed just to maintain the level of current service. He said that there were efforts to change the work schedule to align it more closely with the work that was needed. He said that without additional resources, the department's ability to continue at current levels of service would suffer. Fire Chief Tom Tallon reported for the Fire Department. He said that there were ten goals set by the council under the main heading of enhancing emergency preparedness. He reported that seven of the ten goals were completed and the rest were ongoing. As examples, he noted the completion of the City's emergency management plan, the opening of the Emergency Operations Center, and the community emergency preparedness training program. Chief Tallon reported that the EMS (Emergency Medical Services) system was one of the biggest issues facing the department. He said that the challenge would come from the impacts from changes made in the federal government under the Healthcare Financing Administration fee structures that would be implemented. He said that the result could mean as much as $1 million less to the City. He said that the EMS redesign was created to counter that potential loss. It was a shared project between Springfield and Eugene that would be completed by a goal date of January 2002. Chief Tallon said that the second biggest challenge would be the provision of ongoing services to the community in light of the severe financial forecast. He said that providing service to incorporated pads of Santa Clara was proving to be a challenge to the City administration. He stressed that the department did not have the staffing to meet the challenges that the council had set for the department. Director Paul Farmer reported for the Planning and Development Department. He reported that the cash flow problem for the Construction Permits Fund continued to be a serious problem. He said that all of the State fees had been raised to the maximum extent possible. Another 12 positions would be eliminated from the department. He reiterated the seriousness of the problem and said that staff had taken corrective action as quickly and responsibly as possible. Mr. Farmer said that Marsha Miller and her staff deserved a tremendous amount of thanks for their work. Mr. Farmer went on to say that the elimination of positions was causing serious problems in the diversity area because of the last in, first out policy. Mr. Farmer said that the Construction Permit Fund could be thought of as "the canary in the mine shaft." If the permit applications were not coming in at the counter, then growth was not happening in the City and taxes were not coming in. He reiterated Mr. Wong's remarks that the State of Oregon had created a situation where local government relied on growth. He commented that without growth, reduction in services would occur. Touching on nodal development, Mr. Farmer acknowledged that it was a major issue for the council. He said that staff was developing a more aggressive plan for its implementation around the city. Regarding affordable housing, Mr. Farmer said that there had been a brainstorming session to try to make things work better. He noted that getting tax credits was getting more and more difficult. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 4 Work Session City Engineer Les Lyle reported for the Public Works Department. He reported that the majority of the sports fields called for in the past bond issue were completed. He said that Bethel Community Park and Magnum Park were completed in the Bethel-Danebo area. Mr. Lyle said that the department was actively involved in open space acquisition. He reported that the department was in the process of acquiring nearly 100 acres of open space and future park sites. He cited University Commons as an example. He said that a report would be issued in October to keep the council up-to-date with what was happening. Regarding the future, Mr. Lyle said that the City would continue to acquire sites. He noted that a large site in Santa Clara was being reviewed. He added that several new park sites would be constructed. Regarding the Healthy Natural and Built environment, Mr. Lyle said the environmental policy team had completed the request for proposal (RFP) process and selected a consultant to do an environmental audit of the City's practices with an initial focus on the Endangered Species Act. He said that the effort would be ongoing over the next several months. Mr. Lyle said that the tree ordinance was being discussed as part of the Land Use Code Update. Regarding future activities, Mr. Lyle said that the department would continue to work on the adoption of the Stormwater Basin Plan and new development requirements. He added that they would be coming back to the Council for adoption of interim stream setback requirements. He added that stormwater management issues in Santa Clara was another issue the department was working on. Regarding safe and efficient infrastructure, Mr. Lyle said that several street projects were completed over the summer. He said that there was ongoing work on the arterial and collector street assessment policy. He added that staff was also working on transportation systems development charges with the Public Works Rates Advisory Committee. Director Angel Jones reported for the Library, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department (LRCS). Ms. Jones said that there wad progress in developing a comprehensive youth strategy. She said that one of the major highlights of the strategy was the Summer Fun For All Program. She said that, through her department's partnerships with other agencies, it was able to increase the number of sites from 10 to 15 and served 2472 individual youth with 82,000 hours of programming. She noted that this would not have been possible without the partnerships with other agencies. Ms. Jones said that, in the future, her department would continue to look at working with partner agencies as well as implementing the comprehensive youth strategy that was developed by the task force. She noted that funding would be a major challenge for LRCS since it depended on General Fund dollars. Ms. Jones said that the new library site would be ready for the contractor as soon as one was selected. She went on to say that the Bethel branch of the library had signed up 225 new library patrons. She said that this exceeded all anticipated goals for that branch. She added that she expected the same results for the Sheldon branch when it opened in November. She cautioned MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 5 Work Session that the branch libraries and the main library would not be able to continue to operate without the renewal of the library levy in 2002. Addressing the goal of ensuring that cultural community resources were maintained, Ms. Jones said that there were a number of concerts in the park as well as five events at the Cuthbert Amphitheater. She noted that her department was looking at strategies to increase the number of events at Cuthbert in the future. Regarding the Hult Center, Ms. Jones said that the Cultural Services Department Advisory Committee would have a draft report ready in October rather than by the February 2001 deadline. She said that the council would be notified of all progress made. Ms. Jones said that restoring adult and senior recreation services was very challenging because there were not sufficient funds to address priority youth services. She said that a core program review would be undertaken with other agencies that provided recreation services in the community. She said that there would be an upcoming report on core services that the services that the City should be providing. Director Lauren Chouinard reported for the Human Resources Department. Regarding the goal of completing an organization-wide survey including data analysis and reporting, he said that 2000 was the second year the survey had been issued. He said completed survey results would be submitted to the council in October. Mr. Chouinard said that the goal of developing an external communication plan was complete but had continuing progress. He said that there was now active recruitment in communities of color and help for people to understand how to apply for City jobs. Regarding the goal of working with City staff to increase the number of people of color on City boards, commissions, and on hiring panels for City jobs, Mr. Chouinard said that there were mixed results for this goal. He said that the current recruitment for boards and commissions had not produced an increase in the number of applicants who were people of color. He noted that the Human Rights Commission and the staff supporting the boards and commissions would meet in October or November to discuss a more comprehensive outreach effort. He noted that hiring panels for City positions had achieved racial and gender balance in almost every situation. He added that it would be an ongoing effort. Mr. Chouinard said that the goal of expanding the Human Rights Support System as intake service for complaints for all City departments had progressed in that a position had been added for the Human Rights Support System intake process. Mr. Chouinard said that the Education and Marketing Plan had been delayed from October because some of the staff resources had been very busy over the summer working on pilot programs such as the observer program. He said that it would be delayed until December 2000. Regarding continuing the work of the Citywide diversity advisory council and the department diversity committees for FY00, Mr. Chouinard said that it was an ongoing process. He highlighted the creation of a diversity measurement system to collect data for departments. He noted that there was a pilot project called the Discrimination Free Zone that would have a training program in the fall of 2000. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 6 Work Session Mr. Chouinard said that education was moving from awareness training toward skill building and policy issues in the organization. Regarding the goal of working with the Human Rights Commission to develop strategies to address and prevent hate crimes, Mr. Chouinard said there was a hate crimes conference that would be held in Eugene in February. Addressing cost drivers in the Human Resources/Risk Services area, Mr. Chouinard reiterated the information from Mr. Wong that the major costs were increases in health insurance and the increase in PERS. Assistant City Manager Jim Carlson reported for the City Manager's Office. Addressing the stable community growth and change goal, Mr. Carlson said that a resolution had been passed by the council to recruit a citizen committee for the Santa Clara Area. He said that he expected the first citizen meetings to be held prior to the council's December meeting on the topic. Mr. Carlson said that there was direction from the elected officials in the leadership group to get input from citizens in developing a work plan. He said that the resolution called for the process to go through June 2002. Regarding the Charter Review Committee, Mr. Carlson said that the strategy had been split into two parts. He said that the first part had been completed in May with the approval of the charter amendments for council compensation. He noted that appointing another committee for charter review was in the process of being completed. He said that recruitment would continue until October 31, 2000. He said that the charge of the committee had been developed and the activities of the committee would continue until December of 2001. He added that any changes to the charter would be put before the voters in May of 2002. Addressing the complaint information management system, Mr. Carlson said that there had not been as much progress as desired. He noted that there had been a review of current procedure and staff was planning to develop a Web-based access point on the existing City Web site that would give citizens access to the three most common complaint systems. He added that staff would meet with the councilors to refine and define what the expectations were for an improved complaint system. Mr. Carlson said that the issues for the City Manager's Office were employee turnover. He noted that the depth of experience in the intergovernmental relations area was not as much as could be desired. He noted that recruitment was going on for staff assistance in Salem and Eugene. Mr. Carlson cautioned that budget reductions in 2002 would mean decreased staff in the City Manager's Office. He said that this would impact the staff's ability to respond to special requests and to enhance services already offered. City Manager Johnson commented that much more time was needed to address the issues of all the departments but noted that staff had to be judicious with the time allotted. Mr. Meisner raised concern that there was no mention of how to solve the upcoming budget problems. He stressed that relying solely and indefinitely on property taxes would not be in the best interest of the City, and that alternate revenue sources must be considered for implementation. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 7 Work Session Regarding affordable housing, Mr. Meisner said that he wanted a comprehensive comparison with other cities regarding costs and profit margins. He said that the urban growth boundary could not be entirely blamed for the lack of affordable housing in the community. Regarding complaint tracking, Mr. Meisner said that nothing had really been done. He stressed that complaint management rather than complaint tracking needed to be implemented. He raised concern over a Web-based tracking system, saying that it was a solution to a different problem. Mr. Farr addressed the shortage of police officers. He suggested raising money by contracting out training operations. Mr. Farr expressed his pleasure at the success of the Bethel branch library. Mr. Kelly reiterated Mr. Meisner's concern over the need to address the revenue issue and the complaint management issue. He stressed the need to address "the broader issue." Mr. Kelly stressed the importance of having each department shoulder its share of budget cuts. He opined that he would be very tough on a budget that only had cuts in LRCS and the Planning Division. Ms. Nathanson raised concern with relying on dollar figures as a indicator of what was going on in the community in regard to construction and building. She called for more information on how many square feet were built and whether they were built out or up as well as how many lots were filled. Regarding LRCS, Ms. Nathanson called for more information on partnering with other agencies so that less City investment was required for programs. Ms. Nathanson raised concern that there were staff cuts at the same time as LUCU and the tree preservation ordinance were requiring so much staff time. Ms. Taylor said that nothing had been said about finding alternate sources of revenue. She stressed the need for discussion of alternative sources of money and suggested hiring a performance auditor. Mr. Rayor suggested an audit of the cost implications of council decisions. He called for a long- term plan on how measures could be developed faster, cheaper and better. Addressing alternate funds, Mr. Rayor commented that the Parking Fund was under-utilized as a source of revenue. City Manager Johnson commented that the Parking Fund added $700,000 a year to the General Fund. Mr. Pap8 said that it was not just growth that fed the General Fund but rejuvenation and redevelopment as well. Mr. Pap8 suggested that turning the management of the Cuthbert Amphitheater over to a private enterprise would help to get more events scheduled there. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 8 Work Session Mayor Torrey suggested looking at "best practices" methods as a source for complaint management. City Manager Johnson commented that City Manager's Office staff were working hard on complaint management but added that, in the whole scheme of things, if the General Fund problem was not fixed, a complaint management system would be the least of the City's worries. Mr. Fart commented that housing prices were comparable to other cities in the region and the real problem was the ratio of wages to housing costs. He stressed the importance of bringing up the average working wage in the city. Mr. Kelly pointed out that costs of LUCU and tree preservation could be addressed by associated land use fees. Regarding City Manager Johnson's comment about the complaint management system, Mr. Kelly remarked that it was the little things that aggravated the public. He added that if people could not find the right telephone number or office to complain to, they would show their displeasure at the ballot box. Ms. Taylor commented that she had very good service from the Eugene Police nonemergency line. She suggested that departments be instructed to give the extensions of their individual complaint offices. Ms. Nathanson commented that she had requested a meeting regarding streetlights in neighborhoods. She noted that the meeting still had not happened and expressed a desire to see that meeting happen. She complimented the work of the separate departments over the past year. Mr. Rayor commented that there was a failure to grasp the overall problem of staff positions. He stressed the importance of more diligence in intergovernmental agreements and fiscal responsibility. Mr. Meisner reiterated Mr. Kelly's comments about equal budget cuts for all departments. Regarding complaint management, Mr. Meisner raised concern that staff was coming up with a solution for a different problem by looking at complaint tracking. Mr. Meisner stressed the importance of seriously considering council goals when looking at contingency requests and additions. Ms. Bettman said that property taxes were not a good way of getting funds for the City. She remarked that the City could no longer artificially stimulate growth to keep money in the General Fund. She stressed the importance of making Eugene an attractive and livable place. She emphasized the importance of LUCU in that goal. Regarding the review of cost implications of council decisions, Ms. Bettman raised concern over the cost of trying to accommodate the parking problems for the University for over a year. She wondered how much money that had cost the City in staff time and other expenses. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 9 Work Session Mayor Torrey said that he continued to believe that a financial impact statement was needed whenever new requests came from council or staff. Mayor Torrey said that he had never seen so many people complimenting him on how well the City was doing. He urged the council not to lose sight of that. Jan Bohman of the City Manager's Office distributed written material regarding the goal-setting process for the next cycle. She said that the process would start with background information and noted that the process would start earlier and would be scaled back somewhat. She said that the community survey would be submitted to the council in December. She said that there was a tentatively scheduled meeting for December 13, when there would opportunities for discussion and added that there would be a goal setting session in late January. She said that this would be a weekend session. City Manager Johnson thanked the council for its time. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jim Johnson City Manager (Recorded by Joe Sams) MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 2000 Page 10 Work Session