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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 10/20/08 Public HearingM I N U T E S Eugene City Council Public Hearing/Work Session Council Chamber 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon October 20, 2008 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, Andrea Ortiz, Mike Clark, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling, Betty Taylor, Alan Zelenka, Bonny Bettman. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC HEARING An Ordinance Amending the 1999 Street Classification Map and Classifying All of the Streets in the Crest Drive Area as Local Streets and An Ordinance Amending the 1999 Street Classification Map and Classifying Portions of Crest Drive, Storey Boulevard, and Friendly Street as Neighborhood Collectors and the Remaining Streets in the Crest Drive Area as Local Streets Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing and reviewed the procedures for providing testimony. Paul Moore , Potter Street, Eugene, said classification acknowledged actual traffic patterns and classified streets accordingly. He said classification as a neighborhood collector would not automatically increase the permitted speed to 35 miles per hour (mph). He said there were three criteria for increasing the speed limit: average daily trips, crash history and 85 percent of the vehicles were moving at a particular speed or less. A request from the City to change the speed limit had to demonstrate that those criteria were met; street classification was not a factor. th Deb Frisch , West 11 Avenue, stated that the Crest area neighbors were extraordinarily selfish as Storey Boulevard and Crest Drive were the main arterials facilitating the egress of bicyclists from Eugene onto the Lorane Highway and local vineyards. She said there was already uneasy tension between limousines on wine tasting tours and cyclists on that route and the selfish neighborhood association had persuaded the council that their space was more important than bicyclists’ right to a safe route. She cautioned the council about liability when a cyclist was killed. John Donovan , Crest Drive, Eugene, said the citizens of Crest Drive had worked for several years in good faith with City engineers to create a road plan that respected the topography and safety concerns of all the residents in the Crest Drive area and at the outset stated their desire for a low impact, slow road that not only served residents but visitors who came to the neighborhood. He said after all that effort City engineers continued to subvert the collaborative process because they preferred collector streets and intended to install a 20-foot roadbed. He said it was difficult to trust the democratic process. He said neighbors were asking for local streets that respected the terrain and topography instead of car-centric designs that had greater environmental impact and greater costs. He said bicyclists and pedestrians were safer where traffic was slow and low in volume. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 20, 2008 Page 1 Public Hearing Kathy Saranpa , Friendly Street, Eugene, said she was vice chair of the Crest Drive Neighborhood Association and a member of the Crest Drive Community Team Advisory Group, but was speaking as a private citizen. She spoke in support of local street designation for Crest Drive, Friendly Street and Storey Boulevard. She reviewed the history of neighborhood involvement in the street design process and said that local street designation made the most sense. She urged approval of the ordinance for local designation. Barbara Donovan , Crest Drive, Eugene, thanked the council for their support of efforts to keep the Crest neighborhood livable and reviewed the history of context-sensitive design work. She had thought that the context-sensitive design process meant that it would not be necessary to come before the council for permission to go slightly outside the guidelines for Eugene’s improvement standards. She said local street designation was central to the neighborhood’s values; local streets allowed traffic-calming efforts and collectors did not. She said even though residents were assured street design would not change with collector designation, it would open the door to future improvements. She urged the council to approve local street designation. Len Bailey , Friendly Street, Eugene, thanked the council for its support of the context-sensitive design process. He said Crest Drive area neighbors had worked hard to achieve local street designation, but City staff had refused to consider any designation other than collectors and had thwarted the process. He asked the council to vote to designate the neighborhood streets as local. John Rude , Courtney Place, Eugene, said he had been active in the context-sensitive design process. He related that several years ago the neighborhood had vehemently opposed collector street designation and that resulted in the design process, during which City engineers said that collector designation was off the table. The design work was based on the assumption of local street designation and with the intent of decreased pass-through traffic, slower speeds, enhanced livability, preservation of the neighborhood’s historical value and protection of the natural environment. He questioned why the council, given the City’s investment in the process to-date, would consider changing classification and redesigning streets based on collector designa- tion. He asked the council to uphold the integrity of the work and support local street designation. Sherie Hawley , Storey Boulevard, Eugene, displayed the large amount of materials accumulated over the past six years of work on the Crest Drive neighborhood street design process. She said much of the work focused on the core issue of classification in a context-sensitive design process. She said the basic question still remained: collector or local designation. She said higher traffic counts on neighborhood streets were the result of cut-through traffic and that would be eliminated with traffic-calming measures. She asked to have the streets designated as local streets so the designs could be completed. Dave Pompel , View Lane, Eugene, expressed concern about collector designation increasing speed on Crest Drive. He said residents along View Lane were blind to cars coming from the west on Crest Drive when pulling out of their driveways. He said any possibility of increasing speed on the street would put those who lived on View Lane at even greater risk and accidents were inevitable. Susan Stafford , Storey Boulevard, Eugene, reviewed the time, efforts and funds that had gone into context- sensitive street design. She said the intent was to improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and local residents. The potential 35 mph designation under collector status would ignore that work and be an insult to all of those who participated in it. She asked the council to approve the ordinance. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 20, 2008 Page 2 Public Hearing Randall McGowen , View Lane, Eugene, endorsed the majority of his neighbors’ comments. He was a regular cyclist on neighborhood streets and said collector designation would adversely impact users, particularly bicyclists. He said the streets should remain local and drivers should be encouraged to respect cyclists. He asked the council to respect the interests, ecology and culture of the neighborhood. Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing and invited comments from councilors. Councilor Taylor thanked those who spoke. She questioned why the council had been presented with two ordinances. City Engineer Mark Schoening explained that the council’s motion on April 14, 2008, had directed staff to return with a motion that classified all of the streets in the Crest Drive area as local streets. He said the second ordinance, following the street rating and classification system used for the entire City, classified portions of Crest Drive, Friendly Street and Storey Boulevard as neighborhood collectors and the remainder of the streets as local streets. He said that represented the staff’s professional and technical expertise based on classifications elsewhere throughout the city. Councilor Poling thanked staff for presenting both sides of the issue as part of the decision-making process. He said whether or not the council agreed with the staff recommendation, at least their decision would be informed by seeing both sides of the question. Councilor Clark also thanked those who spoke. He felt that given the information presented he needed to support the City’s commitment to the neighborhood in the context-sensitive design process. Mayor Piercy expressed her appreciation to those who testified for speaking with reason and respect for differences of opinion. 2. WORK SESSION Police Auditor Recruitment Process Councilor Pryor, seconded by Councilor Bettman, moved to approve the police auditor position description included in the packet. Alana Holmes, Human Resources, said the purpose of the work session was to review, and if necessary, revise the description. She said that Eric Middleton, a recruiter, felt that some parts of the job description could cause redundancies in the recruitment brochure and he was available by phone to discuss that. She distributed copies of Mr. Middleton’s recommended changes. Councilor Bettman asked for clarification of the recommended changes. Ms. Holmes explained that the sections highlighted in green were recommended for deletion from the job description within the brochure because they were redundant to the Ideal Candidate section already approved by the council. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to amend the job descrip- tion under the section Description from “receiving complaints” to “receiving and classifying complaints.” The motion passed, 8:0. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to amend the job descrip- tion under the section Supervision Received and Exercised to reflect language in the ordinance to read “Exercises exclusive authority to hire, supervise, and to make all MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 20, 2008 Page 3 Public Hearing other employment decisions regarding the auditor’s support staff.” The motion passed, 7:1; Councilor Clark voting no. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Zelenka, moved to amend the job de- scription under the section Examples of Duties to replace the second to last section with “Supervises auditor’s office staff, including: hiring and evaluations, schedul- ing and work assignments, monitoring and directing activities, coaching and train- ing.” The motion passed, 8:0. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to amend the job descrip- tion under the section Training to require a Juris Doctorate from an accredited uni- versity. The motion passed, 5:3; councilors Clark, Poling and Solomon voting no. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to amend the job descrip- tion under the section Examples of Duties to include “Coordinates and conducts education and outreach activities to inform the community about the complaint processing system.” City Attorney Jerome Lidz pointed out that the language was already included in the job description. Councilor Bettman withdrew her motion. Councilor Clark said there was a section that discussed the auditor’s duty to periodically make reports to the council, but it did not discuss entering into binding agreements of any nature such as the protocols negotiated with the police union and a requirement that those agreements be reviewed and affirmed by the council. He asked how such language might be crafted. Mr. Lidz replied that he was not certain the auditor’s role in negotiations with the police union was part of the auditor’s ongoing responsibilities. He said it represented a one-time situation in which the auditor and police chief agreed on certain protocols and that likely fell under the description in the ordinance of the responsibility of the chief and the auditor to cooperatively develop processes for handling complaints and exchanging information. He did not feel it needed to be addressed as a legal requirement in the position description but would draft language if the council wished to include it. Councilor Clark stated it was important to him to include in the job description as part of the pre-understood agreement of what the auditor’s role was. He felt the council should have some oversight if the auditor was in the process of negotiating a binding agreement of some nature. Mr. Lidz said he did not understand the auditor to have authority to bind the City in a collective bargaining arrangement and he did not believe that had occurred. Councilor Clark said he hoped the issue could be clarified at a later work session. Councilor Bettman commented that the job description said the duties were included, but not exclusive, and the description was not intended to be exhaustive, all inclusive or reflect the future. Councilor Zelenka said legally the police auditor had no authority to bind the City unless granted that authority by the council. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 20, 2008 Page 4 Public Hearing Councilor Pryor said he distinguished between duties and authority and that the job description did not in any way reduce the authority of the council. He said the auditor could not bind the City without the approval of the City Council. Councilor Clark asked if the Police Auditor had reported to the council after the fact when she previously negotiated protocols with the Police Chief and police union. Mayor Piercy recalled that the auditor had reported to the council upon successful completion of the negotiations. She did not believe that the council had requested that it review the agreement in advance or approve it upon completion. Councilor Clark said he wanted to be clear with the next auditor that the council wished to take a more active role in regular communication and supervision and that there were expectations regarding agreements. City Manager Jon Ruiz emphasized that the police auditor could not bind the City in any type of collective bargaining agreement; the city manager had that ability. He said the protocols more closely resembled agreements between department executives, but if the council wanted to be engaged in that process before the auditor came to an agreement with another part of the City organization it could require that. The motion passed, 8:0. Mr. Middleton reviewed and explained his recommended changes. There were no objections. Ms. Holmes described the next steps in the recruitment process. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jon Ruiz City Manager (Recorded by Lynn Taylor) MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 20, 2008 Page 5 Public Hearing