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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 01/21/09 Work Session NAME OF MEETING: Eugene City Council Work Session DATE OF MEETING: January 21, 2000 TO: Vicki Cox RECORDED BY: Wade Hicks = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = R O U T I N G I N F O R M A T I O N 2/2/09 wwh Draft to City Manager’s Office (Date & Initials) Draft Returned to Minutes Recording (Date & Initials) Draft Received by Minutes Recording (Date & Initials) Draft Proofed/Revised by Minutes Recording (Date & Initials) Draft Returned to City Manger’s Office (Date & Initials) 3/24/09vc Council Amendments Incorporated (Date & Initials) M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room – City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon January 21, 2009 12:00 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, Mike Clark, George Poling, Betty Taylor, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Solomon, George Brown COUNCILORS ABSENT: Andrea Ortiz Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session meeting of the Eugene City Council to order at 12:01 p.m. A. WORK SESSION – Adoption of Federal Priority Project Lists Intergovernmental Relations Manager Brenda Wilson provided a brief overview of the federal budget appropriations process, which she noted was under a continued resolution until March 6, 2009, and explained that the City and its regional United Front (UF) partners—Lane County, the City of Springfield, Lane Transit District, the City of Cottage Grove, the City of Coburg, the Springfield School District, and the Willamalane Parks and Recreation District—would be determining the regional project priorities to be addressed as part of the federal appropriations process. She noted that the City’s prioritizations were the result of discussions between City staff and the City’s federal lobbyists Smith, Dawson & Andrews and they were designed to not compete with similar federal funding allocations sought by the City’s partner agencies. Ms. Wilson additionally provided a brief overview of the federal government’s reauthorization of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) and described how the reauthorization would be used to allocate funds in accordance with the City’s recommended Federal Transportation Reauthorization Project List. Ms. Wilson noted that, because the federal allocations process was currently under a continuing resolution, Congress had not made any appropriations for FY09 and that subsequently the UF project lists for 2008 had gone unfunded. Ms. Wilson had very high expectations that several of those projects, particularly the Delta Ponds project, would eventually be funded once federal appropriations budgets had been passed. Ms. Wilson reported that all of those 2008 projects that had gone unfunded due to the continuing resolution were being carried over to the 2009 list with the exception of the West Eugene Environmental Education Center project, which had been removed due to the lack of supplemental funding for that project from the Willamette Resources and Educational Network (WREN). Ms. Wilson, responding to a question from Ms. Piercy, noted that not all of the projects listed on the 2009 Federal Priorities Project List and Federal Transportation Reauthorization Project List would necessarily qualify for federal economic stimulus funding. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 21, 2009 Page 1 Work Session Ms. Piercy commented that she had recently attended the Mayors Innovation Project and the United States Conference of Mayors conferences in Washington, D.C. and felt that those conferences had communicated a clear message that city governments would be instrumental in executing programs that would be funded by a federal economic stimulus package. She noted that the City of Eugene would need to be prepared to take advantage of the federal stimulus package and implement programs extremely rapidly. Ms. Wilson noted that there would be no earmarks included with any upcoming federal budget stimulus packages and that the stimulus funds would flow through traditional funding mechanisms. Ms. Wilson commented that she had received an email from the League of Oregon Cities that it had investigated what policy would be used in distributing federal stimulus funds through the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). She expressed that City staff had been diligent in communicating to state and federal agencies that Eugene had people and projects that were ready to be put to work once the federal stimulus package had been approved. Ms. Piercy noted that it appeared that stimulus funds relating to energy policies would come through in a manner similar to community development block grants. City Manager John Ruiz commented that City staff had begun having very productive conversations with CEO’s from other public agencies about how best to request, receive and utilize federal stimulus funds. Mr. Clark thanked Ms. Wilson for her efforts regarding the two lists before the council and asked if the lists indicated the relative value of one project to another. Ms. Wilson replied that the projects on the lists had only been determined not to compete with other UF regional partner projects and had not been prioritized any further. She commented that such prioritization was not currently necessary as part of the SAFETEA-LU reauthorization process, but that such a process could be undertaken if necessary. Mr. Clark expressed that he was happy that the lists being presented by staff did not appear to change any of the project priorities previously agreed upon by the council. Mr. Clark asked how the $50 million currently requested for the Beltline Corridor project request might affect the timeline of the project itself. Ms. Wilson answered that the Beltline Corridor was a phased project where the entire or major amount for the project was being requested up front to then be disbursed over a six-year period. Transportation Planning Manager Rob Inerfeld noted that the Beltline Corridor project was currently in the facility planning phase and that it was not currently known how much of the project the $50 million requested would actually cover. Mr. Inerfeld, responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, noted that the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) funding requested by the council from ODOT was likely to be funded by the state as part of its draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Ms. Wilson, responding to a question from Mr. Clark, reported that the Metro Waterways General Investigative Study that was part of the federal priorities project list was designed to determine planning for the Metro Waterways area. She did not know if the project was connected to any previous local waterway studies conducted by the City. Assistant City Manager Sarah Medary added that the Metro Waterways study was intended to provide a metropolitan-wide regional planning study that looked at all waterway projects in the area to identify priorities and determine project feasibility before continuing to fund projects such as the Meadowlark Prairie. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 21, 2009 Page 2 Work Session Ms. Wilson, in response to a question from Mr. Pryor, noted that most of the other funding for the West Eugene Environmental Education Center (WEEEC) from sources besides the City of Eugene and the WREN had been withdrawn, including the funding that had been dedicated by the 4J School District. Ms. Piercy noted that the 4J School District had recently indicated that they might restore funding to a portion of the WEEEC should economic conditions prove favorable. Mr. Zelenka noted that the Beltline Corridor project and the funds requested for the project would most likely be affected by the results of any EIS conducted to determine the environmental impact of such a project. Ms. Wilson, responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, noted that additional project priority lists from LTD and other UF regional partners would be made available to the council for review on January 23. Ms. Wilson, responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, reiterated that the projects in the two lists being presented to the council had not been prioritized relative to one another and that any projects considered competitive with other regional partner project prioritiy lists had not been included. Mr. Inerfeld, responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, described the differences between the projects being presented as part of the Federal Priorities Project List and those highway projects that had been prioritized as part of the Metropolitan Policy Committee’s efforts. Ms. Wilson briefly described the different processes involved in seeking funding at the state and federal levels, and noted that funding for the Beltline Road and Corridor Study was being sought at both levels. Ms. Wilson, responding to a request from Mr. Zelenka, noted descriptions of the current projects in the Federal Priorities Project List and the Federal Transportation Reauthorization Project List; descriptions for the newer projects had not yet been written. She added that full descriptions of those newer projects would be written up once the City’s congressional delegation process had been initiated. Ms. Taylor suggested that the City communicate with EWEB with regard to any local weatherization or energy efficiency initiatives that might take advantage of federal stimulus funding. Ms. Wilson, responding to a question from Ms. Taylor, reported that the City’s economic stimulus illustrative lists included several road preservation and maintenance projects that were ready to go and this had been communicated to ODOT to investigate how federal stimulus money might be distributed for such projects. Ms. Taylor hoped that the council would be given more opportunities in the future to make suggestions for projects to be included on the Federal Priorities Project List. Ms. Wilson, responding to a comment from Mr. Brown, reiterated that the federal funding appropriations process was under a continuing resolution that expired March 6, 2009, and that, as such, no City projects had received federal funding in 2008. Ms. Wilson, responding to a request for clarification from Mr. Brown, noted that the executive department staff to which the Federal Priorities Project List and the Federal Transportation Reauthorization Project List would eventually be presented, referred to those federal agencies that would best be able to make funding determinations regarding the City’s project priorities. She added that the City’s congressional delegation would also be presenting the lists to other potential federal funding sources such as the federal office of the U.S. Army Core of Engineers. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 21, 2009 Page 3 Work Session Ms. Wilson, responding to a request for clarification from Mr. Brown, noted that the City’s congressional delegation would not be seeking funding for any projects from the Federal Priorities Project List and the Federal Transportation Reauthorization Project List from the federal stimulus or any other economic recovery plan but would rather be seeking funds as part of the normal fiscal year federal appropriations process. She added that the projects from the lists would all be considered earmarks and as such could be funded only through the normal appropriations process and not as part of the economic stimulus package. Mr. Ruiz suggested that certain individual projects from the lists might be funded through federal stimulus grants outside of the normal appropriations process. Ms. Wilson noted that City staff and the council would be kept apprised of any such initiatives. Mr. Brown said that he saw no immediate public benefit from the City’s Franklin Boulevard project and suggested that any funding for such a project might be better used to fund local homeless shelters. Ms. Piercy replied that the Franklin Boulevard project was something that the City of Eugene had been working on for a long time in association with the City of Springfield and was part of long-standing efforts to increase the economic viability of the area. Ms. Piercy noted indications that proposed federal stimulus funding for cities would be categorized for environmental restoration, wastewater upgrades, inter-modal transportation, watershed development, housing, homelessness, law enforcement and several other concerns. She maintained that the guidelines for requesting and receiving federal stimulus funds had not been finalized yet, but that the City should be ready to act immediately once such funding became available. Mr. Inerfeld, responding to a question from Mr. Clark, noted that it would not be possible to expedite the timeline for the Beltline Highway projects in order to take advantage of federal funding assistance. Ms. Wilson, responding to a question from Mr. Clark, noted that the Air Quality Monitoring Station project included on the Federal Project Priorities List was partially contingent upon funding commitments from the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority (LRAPA) and that it was currently unknown if the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) would fund the continued operation of such a project should LRAPA cease to exist. Mr. Clark was concerned that the City might be saddled with the responsibility of funding the operation of the project should the DEQ not step in. Mr. Clark restated that he would like the City to seriously consider using the EWEB administration building as a new city hall for Eugene once EWEB had relocated to its new administration building. He commented that the City should investigate the use of any available federal stimulus funds for such a purpose. Mr. Ruiz responded that the timing of such a project might be difficult to incorporate into any upcoming federal stimulus packages as it was his understanding that stimulus funds would be directed to more shovel-ready projects. Ms. Wilson suggested that it might be possible to add such a project to the City’s federal appropriations process for next year. Mr. Zelenka, responding to Mr. Brown’s previous comments regarding the Franklin Boulevard project, clarified the history of the project for Mr. Brown’s benefit, noting that as a joint enterprise between Eugene and Springfield it had been designed to address a variety of economic and community development concerns for the two cities. He added that there had been a significant amount of public input to the project. Mr. Zelenka asked Ms. Wilson to provide a brief written summary to the council regarding the funding situation surrounding the West Eugene Environmental Education Center project and WREN. Ms. Wilson answered that she would be happy to provide such information. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 21, 2009 Page 4 Work Session Ms. Wilson, responding to a request for clarification from Mr. Zelenka, noted that the 2009 Federal Priorities Project List consisted of projects that would be added to the list from the previous year. Ms. Wilson, responding to a request for clarification from Mr. Zelenka, described the nature of the Eugene Airport AIP FAA Reauthorization project. Ms. Wilson, responding to a comment from Mr. Zelenka, maintained that it would be important for City staff to be ready to take advantage of any federal stimulus funds that might be made available for projects from either of the lists being discussed. Mr. Ruiz added that it would be important to communicate effectively with the City’s regional partners to determine the best manner in which to use federal stimulus funding. Ms. Wilson and Mr. Ruiz noted that it was still to be determined precisely how any federal economic stimulus funds would be distributed to local governments. Ms. Wilson reminded the council that the lists for any federal stimulus projects would be separate from the lists presently being discussed and which were part of the normal federal appropriations process. Mr. Pryor said that he would like staff to provide the council with a better sense of where specifically the federal funding for each of the projects on the two lists would be coming from and in what amounts. He expressed concern that without such information, the City might seek funding for competing projects or interests. Ms. Wilson reiterated that City staff had already determined that none of the projects on the lists before the council were competing with one another for federal funding sources. Mr. Pryor indicated that such a factor needed to be made more explicit for the council. Ms. Wilson, responding to a request from Mr. Pryor, noted that she would be able to provide a summary of any applicable funding restrictions regarding the project lists as well as any restrictions that might apply toward federal stimulus funding. Ms. Taylor expressed that the council should make saving Civic Stadium a high priority. She said she would be against any ODOT- related initiatives that would build new roads in the area. Ms. Taylor agreed with Mr. Brown’s assessment that a homeless shelter should be a legitimate priority for the City, but noted that the process surrounding the Franklin Boulevard project was too far along to consider disposing of it. She maintained that the Air Quality Monitoring Station was an important project and was confused by statements that indicated a concern about LRAPA commitment to the project. Ms. Piercy recognized that the council had combined a discussion regarding stimulus funding with a discussion of the normal yearly federal appropriations process for City projects, but felt that it was important to do so. Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Mr. Clark, moved to adopt the Federal Priority Project List and the Federal Reauthorization Project List recommendations. The motion passed unanimously, 6:0. Ms. Wilson reminded the council that she would be traveling to Washington, D.C. in March to push for the projects on the lists that had been adopted by the council. Ms. Piercy commented that she had recently spoken with Congressman Peter DeFazio who had indicated to her that he would continue to pursue earmarks for projects that would be beneficial to the City of Eugene and surrounding areas. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 21, 2009 Page 5 Work Session Ms. Piercy reiterated her concern that the City make itself prepared to take immediate advantage of any economic recovery stimulus package that might become available in the near future. She added that she and the City Manager had begun organizing staff level meetings with the University of Oregon, Lane Community College, PeaceHealth, Eugene Water & Electric Board, Lane Transit District and other agencies to begin discussions on how best to use federal stimulus funds. Ms. Piercy noted her strong support for saving Civic Stadium as well as her concern for how efforts to improve or maintain the stadium would meet any applicable carbon emissions reduction criteria. Ms. Piercy adjourned the meeting at 1:18 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jon Ruiz City Manager (Recorded by Wade Hicks) MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 21, 2009 Page 6 Work Session