Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 09/15/99 WS MINUTES Eugene City Council Sheldon Community Center--2445 Willakenzie Road September 15, 1999 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson, Pat Fart, Bobby Lee, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Gary Rayor, Gary Pap~. TOUR OF EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER DINNER WORK SESSION A. Tour of Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at Sheldon Fire Station The council toured the Emergency Operations Center. B.Items from Mayor, Council, and City Manager Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. Mr. Papd said that he had listened to the tape of the September 8 meeting during which sustainability was discussed. He said that he had been in the Grand Canyon the previous week, and had visited an Anasazi Indian site; the site had sustained a large population until for unknown reasons the people abandoned the area about 900 AD. Mr. Papd said that the visit made him wonder how much control the council really had about the topic. Ms. Nathanson passed. Mr. Rayor passed. Ms. Taylor requested information regarding the City's restrictions on construction occurring on slopes, questioning whether there were existing regulations or if new regulations should be considered. Mr. Lee reported that he was co-chair of the Complete Count Committee, which will handle the local census effort. He indicated he would update the council periodically on that effort, noting that the undercount in 1990 had cost Lane County communities approximately $17 million. He invited councilors to call him or Jan Bohman of the City Manager's Office with questions or concerns. Acting City Manager Warren Wong passed. Mr. Torrey reminded the council of the additional funding it had provided to the River House for at-risk youth programming. He said that the programming had been a success and many youth had been served. He thanked the council for the funding. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 15, 1999 Page 1 5:30 p.m. Mr. Torrey acknowledged the efforts of Mike Redding of the City Manager's Office and other staff responsible for the United Front lobbying effort. He said that the effort had led directly to the grant funding received by the local community from the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative. Mr. Torrey said that he had written a letter to Lane County and Oregon Department of Transportation regarding the Delta Highway/Beltline intersection asking that a resolution of the issue be expedited. He said that the two agencies were working on several options and an interim solution. Mr. Torrey asked Ms. Nathanson to undertake, as chair of the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, an effort to mitigate the loss of parking anticipated as a result of the federal courthouse site selection. Mr. Meisner reminded the council of the Library fund raising campaign kick-off on September 17. Ms. Nathanson reminded the council of the Safer Communities ballot measure kick-off happening the same day. C.Information and Action: Ordinance Amending Sections 7.010, 7.705, 7.715, 7.720, 7.725, and 7.740 of the Eugene Code, 1971; and Declaring an Emergency (Related to Systems Development Charges) Mr. Wong said that the council would consider Council Bill 4698, an ordinance amending sections 7.010, 7.705, 7.715, 7.720, 7.725, and 7.740 of the Eugene Code; and declaring an emergency. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, that the bill, with the unanimous consent of the council, be read the second time by council bill number only, and that enactment be considered at this time. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Mr. Wong said the council would consider Council Bill 4698 by number only. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, that the bill be approved and given final passage. Ms. Taylor asked why the issue was considered an emergency. City Engineer Les Lyle responded that staff wished to put the new rate into place as soon as possible, and without an emergency clause the new rate structure would take an additional 30 days to implement. Mr. Kelly added that the emergency clause allowed staff to include the rate change with other systems development charge adjustments that are being implemented at this time. He thanked staff for its work on the rate setting effort, saying the concerns raised by the council and public had been addressed. He anticipated that the Public Works Rates Advisory Committee (RAC) would address the philosophical issues raised by the council. Mr. Pap6 asked if the RAC would review the changes before the council. Mr. Lyle said yes, they were scheduled to do so on September 21, 1999. Mr. Meisner supported the motion, saying he was glad the RAC and staffwere willing to reexamine the issues that had been of concern to the council. Ms. Nathanson agreed. She said that it was important for the council MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 15, 1999 Page 2 5:30 p.m. to know the fiscal impacts of its decisions. She had visited the property that had been of concern in testimony on August 9, 1999, and said she was enthusiastic about the opportunity to review how City ordinances helped the community meet its growth management goals. She noted her ongoing concern about how government actions could contribute to unintended consequences. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Mr. Torrey reported that staffwas having a difficult time scheduling the council's process session. He asked the council officers to attempt to schedule the session. D.Work Session: Update on Y2K Activities Sue Cutsogeorge of the Administrative Services Department introduced members of the City's Year 2000 staff team: Mr. Wong, Phil Weiler of the City Manager's Office, Jeff Kurtz of Administrative Services Department, and Ruth Obadahl of the Fire Department. Ms. Cutsogeorge provided a general update on staff activities related to Y2K, and termed remediation progress satisfactory with no disruption of City services anticipated for those objects that the City controls. Contingency planning and testing were also occurring. Mr. Weiler reviewed the team's communication efforts. He described his participation in an emergency exercise conducted by Washington County and said it was good preparation for the City's exercise, scheduled to occur at the end of September. Mr. Torrey reported that he had been working with staff on a concept to use the student leaders from the five high schools to form teams of outreach volunteers to assist the elderly or disabled in coping with Year 2000. Mr. Torrey left the meeting at 6:30 p.m. Mr. Meisner assumed the chair. Mr. Meisner asked how many people were attending community presentations. Mr. Weiler said that the highest number of attendees was about 60, and the lowest 7. He said that close to 600 people had attended such events, and the effort was continuing. Mr. Kelly was disappointed by the fact the Lane/Metro Y2K Team was not stressing the preparedness message in its communications to the community. He said that the poster gave the message that government would take care of the problem and people did not need to worry. That was not the Federal Emergency Management Agency message, which was that government would not take care of people and they needed to prepare. Mr. Kelly said that the poster should state that citizens owe it to themselves to learn more about the Y2K situation. He suggested that the message telephone number needed review, because the message about electricity and water did not mention water. Mr. Weiler responded that there had been a spirited debate among representatives of the 19 participating agencies regarding the nature of the message. The County and City representatives felt that preparedness should be discussed, but that feeling was not shared. The major concern expressed by other agencies was about the possibility of scaring people. Mr. Weiler said that after the materials were displayed at the Lane County Fair, the City Manager's Office received a telephone call from a woman who was very, very frightened by the message. He had spent 40 minutes on the telephone with the citizen calming her fears. Mr. Weiler reiterated that it had been his preference to stress the issue of preparedness. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 15, 1999 Page 3 5:30 p.m. Mr. Kelly asked Mr. Kurtz for information about the status of the mainframe computer and programs not in the City's control, such as AIRS. Mr. Kurtz responded that an AIRS task force had formed in January and AIRS staff was issuing weekly updates on its progress in testing. He believed that AIRS would meet its target date for compliance. Regarding the RIS development and production region, Mr. Kurtz said that the agency had recently completed work on meeting compliance targets and was in the process of testing. Responding to a question from Mr. Lee, Mr. Kurtz said that no problems had arisen on September 9, 1999. Responding to a question from Mr. Lee, Mr. Wong said that implementing the Community Emergency Preparedness training was in progress and it was a major effort. Mr. Pap~ said that most residents were concerned more about the services provided by the Eugene Water & Electric Board rather than services provided by the City. He asked about the utility's status. Mr. Wong said that EWEB had conducted a drill the previous week, and all had gone well. He said he meets with EWEB staff responsible for Y2K compliance periodically and it was his understanding the utility was prepared. Mr. Pap~ said that EWEB should let people know that fact. Mr. Weiler reported that EWEB had done three inserts in The Register-Guard about Y2K issues and had conducted some open houses. Mr. Pap~ reiterated that EWEB should let people know it was prepared. Mr. Wong said that EWEB was not willing to make an absolute guarantee of electricity because of grid issues. Mr. Meisner asked how the local community would address issues that were national in origin, such as delays of Social Security checks, that might affect local residents. Mr. Weiler said that the local Red Cross had created an organization with representatives of all local Lane County social service agencies that was in the process of identifying services and service gaps. Mr. Weiler said that those agencies would assist local residents in cases such as that cited by Mr. Meisner. Ms. Obadahl provided an update on the Community Emergency Preparedness classes that were being conducted. Evaluations had been uniformly positive and classes were ongoing. Mr. Meisner asked if the City was recruiting participants to ensure that one person in each neighborhood was trained. Ms. Oberdahl said no. However, staff had attempted to schedule the training in all neighborhoods to attract all residents. Mr. Meisner asked staff to monitor participation and try to identify where training had not occurred. The meeting adjourned at 6:51 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Johnson City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 15, 1999 Page 4 5:30 p.m. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 15, 1999 Page 5 5:30 p.m.