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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 01/12/98 Meeting MINUTES Eugene City Council Council Chamber--City Hall January 12, 1998 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Pat Farr, Nancy Nathanson, Tim Laue, Scott Meisner, Bobby Lee, Betty Taylor, Laurie Swanson Gribskov, Ken Tollenaar. The January 12, 1998, meeting of the Eugene City Council was called to order at 7:30 p.m.; Mayor Jim Torrey presiding. PROCLAMATION Mayor Torrey read a proclamation in recognition of the tradition and future of the Eugene Police Department. ii. PUBLIC FORUM Hugh Prichard, 101 East Broadway, commended the mayor's proposal to solicit input on the Land Use Code update. He said that the result would be a better document. Mr. Prichard encouraged the council to accept the mayor's recommendation. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of the City Council Minutes of November 24, 1997, Dinner Work Session; and November 24, 1997, Meeting B. Resolution Calling for Public Hearing Concerning Proposed Withdrawal of Recently Annexed Proprties from Special Districts Res. No. 4551--A resolution calling a public hearing to consider proposed withdrawal of territory (McCowen, EC EU 97-50; Lockhart, EC EU 97-49; Benchmark Northwest, EC EU 97-52; Smith, EC EU 96-54; Scott, EC EU 97-55; Fleck, EC EU-97-63; Hawkins, EC EU 97-68; Gaudette, EC EU 97-78; Morthan Homes, EC EU 97-71; Phillips, EC EU 96-83; and Stuckey, EC EU 96-82) from the River Road Water District and River Road Park and Recreation District; proposed withdrawal of territories (Ott, C EU 96-35; Breeden Land Co, C EU 96-36; Foster, C EU 96-42; Cook, C EU 96-46; Presley, EC EU 97-51; Andersen, C EU 97-56; Andersen Development, C EU 97-58; Meier, C EU 97-74; Shephard, C EU 97-72; and Ruhoff, C EU 97-73) from the Santa Clara Water District; and proposed MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 12, 1998 Page 1 7:30 p.m. withdrawal of territory (Cooney, EC EU 97-80) from the Willamalane Park and Recreation District. C. Muncipal Judge Evaluation Process D. Appointment of Evaluation Committee for Municipal Court Judge E. Resolution Concerning a Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption Res. No. 4552--A resolution approving a multiple-unit property tax exemption for property located at Broadway and Charnelton Street, Eugene, OR, for Lorig Associates. Mr. Fart moved, seconded by Mr. Tollenaar, to approve the items on the City Council Consent Calendar. Mr. Meisner offered a correction to paragraph 10 on page 4 of the minutes of the 7:30 p.m. meeting on November 24. He asked that the first sentence be revised as follows (italicized text added; struck text deleted): "Mr. Meisner stated that he would reluctantly support the motion because he was concerned that both the Westec and Willow Creek properties should go through the plan amendment process o~* ..... ~ ...... ~*~'-~ ......... , ......,~..4 ,.. ~...,~. p~rce!s ~'- *~-~' There was no objection to the correction offered by Mr. Meisner. Ms. Taylor asked that item E be withdrawn from the Consent Calendar for separate action. There was no objection. The motion passed, 8:0 Ms. Taylor noted her continuing opposition to tax exemptions, particularly the tax exemption in question. Mr. Farr moved, seconded by Mr. Tollenaar, to approve Item 3(e) on the Consent Calendar. The motion passed, 7:1; Ms. Taylor voting no. The meeting adjourned to the McNutt Room at 7:35 p.m. III. WORK SESSION: DISCUSSION OF FUTURE FOCUS TASK FORCE OF LANE COUNTY Lane County Commissioner Bobby Green provided the council with handouts regarding the Future Focus Task Force. The handouts included a press release regarding the formation of the task force; a list of members of the task force; and a short news article on the task force's formation. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 12, 1998 Page 2 7:30 p.m. Mr. Green discussed the County's budget outlook, noting that the County was in the fifth year of the ten-year timber revenue guarantee, which expired in 2003. He said that the task force was formed to take an outside look at the current mix of County services, whether the County should provide other services, and how the County should pay for those services. Additionally, the task force would look at revenue issues. Mr. Green said that the task force membership was not based on area representation but rather included community leaders with broad experience in community affairs. He named each task force member and noted their professional backgrounds. Mr. Green invited the council members to attend task force meetings, which were open to the public. He anticipated that the task force would hold at least one public hearing regarding its recommendations. Ms. Nathanson noted that government was mandated to do things the private sector was not, and asked if the task force was considering those mandates in its discussions and the appropriate agency to deliver those services or the possiblity a consortium should provide the services. Mr. Green confirmed that the task force was looking at mandated services, and recognized that there was not much flexibility in the expenditure of nondiscretionary dollars. However, the task force wanted an understanding of how services worked together. He did not think the task force had reached the point of discussing whether there might be other agencies that could deliver County services more efficiently or appropriately. Ms. Nathanson asked if Mr. Green anticipated the task force wouild make such recommendations. Mr. Green believed that could occur, although the task force had been directed to make no changes that resulted in charter changes. Mr. Tollenaar said he was attending meetings of the task force as an interested individual. He discussed the traditional role of county government in Oregon and the fact counties had been the entity responsible for delivering human services in the community. He believed there was logic in such an approach. Mr. Tollenaar was impressed to the extent to which Eugene, by default, was becoming a significant player in service delivery, but he was not comfortable with it. Mr. Tollenaar was concerned that there was a lack of support demonstrated by the County for the urban transition agreements. He said that the task force should examine the situation and recommend whether the agreements should be dropped or revised. Mr. Tollenaar said that he was impressed by the membership of the task force and believe it was fully capable of taking a broad look at County service delivery. Mr. Green said that the urban transition agreement should be reexamined, and he had requested that the Metropolitan Policy Committee discuss the agreements. Regarding human services delivery, Mr. Green said that he had argued as a City Councilor that the County should put in more money, and as a commissioner now wanted the cities to increase their contributions. He agreed that there was a need to increase the dollars available but was unsure how much more was needed. He pointed out that Eugene, as the county's largest city, had the largest percentage of need. Mr. Green said that citizens were asking for seamless services, and did not really care about the source of the service. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 12, 1998 Page 3 7:30 p.m. Mr. Meisner said that the council needed to ask itself the same questions the Future Focus Task Force was discussing. He said that community vision for Eugene often included community goals that become government goals, and he was unsure the City could afford to take that approach given the current financial situation. Mr. Green said that it required the political will of the elected officials to exercise the discipline needed to focus on a few, doable goals. There will always be emerging needs and challenges, but if elected officials had the discipline to stay the course and not take on more than can be funded, the public would have greater faith in government. Ms. Swanson Gribskov said that it was important to maintain communication with the Future Focus Task Force because its recommendations could have implications for other decisions, such as those being made by the Public Safety Coordinating Council. Mr. Lee questioned how the task force could accomplish all it had been asked to do in the time given it. He endorsed the goal of a customer-focused, customer-driven government with the flexibility of the private sector, and asked Mr. Green to let the council know if the task force figured out how that could be accomplished. Mr. Green suggested that the task force might not find all the answers, but its work could set the stage for future discussions about the subject. He said that local government needed to act more proactively rather than reactively. Mr. Torrey did not think the task force's time line would allow the level of discussion envisioned by the council. He observed that many people, including himself, sometimes thought Lane County included everything but Eugene. Mr. Torrey noted that the board was dominated by nonmetropolitan commissioners. He said that the City provided social services because it did not think they would be provided if it was left up to the County. Mr. Torrey wanted more discussion about human services being the responsibility of the County. Mr. Green suggested that, alternatively, the commission had to consider that Lane County was more than just Eugene and Springfield, and respond to rural demands. However, he thought the point well-taken, and agreed that there might be opportunities to discuss shifting responsibilities in the area of human service delivery. However, he pointed out that there was a lack of coordination and information about what was available already. Sometimes the issue was not money, but how the money was best spent. Mr. Laue said that it appeared that Lane County would be in a deficit situation for some time, and he questioned how the commissioners intended to address that. He said that Eugene got into the field of human services delivery not because it wanted to, but because it was the only entity that could afford to. The County has steadily lost funding for 15 years. He asked Mr. Green about the long-term outlook. Mr. Green said that he could only discuss the next year, when a $2.5 million deficit was anticipated. He said that he was unable to predict the future beyond that point. Mr. Green pointed out that Lane County had been managing its resources well in a deficit mode. He agreed it was not the best atmosphere because of the impact on organization morale, and said he was not sure how the commission would manage the situation. Mr. Green said that if the County took on no new services it was in a stable financial environment for the time being. Mr. Torrey said that realistically, what the County was not able to provide, the City often had to provide. He was very concerned about the County's budget situation in future years. Mr. Laue said that the County had serious capacity issues in its criminal justice system. There was no effective short-term sanctions to deal with offenders, and unless that was addressed the MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 12, 1998 Page 4 7:30 p.m. situation would continue to deterioriate. Local government was less able to respond to calls for service, and when it did the miscreants were loose in 24 hours. Mr. Green concurred, and said he hoped the elected officials could do something to reverse that trend. He said that the challenge would continue to exist, and continued dialogue between the cities and County was essential. The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Vicki Elmer City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) r:1998~adm~cis~cc980 ~ ~ 2m2 MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 12, 1998 Page 5 7:30 p.m.