HomeMy WebLinkAbout190408 WSMINUTES – Eugene City Council Work Session April 8, 2019 Page 1
MINUTES
Eugene City Council
Harris Hall, 125 East 8th Avenue
Eugene, Oregon 97401
April 8, 2019
5:30 p.m.
Councilors Present: Emily Semple, Jennifer Yeh, Alan Zelenka, Mike Clark, Chris Pryor, Greg Evans, Betty Taylor, and Claire Syrett (via phone) Mayor Vinis opened the March 8, 2019, work session of the Eugene City Council.
1.Committee Reports and Items of Interest
•Councilor Taylor – Reported on League of Cities work with Councilor Evans; expressedconcern about EWEB policies regarding missed payments; suggested working towardsFederal subsidies for Amtrak.
•Councilor Semple – Expressed concern regarding oil cars in Eugene; spoke about onlineresources for tree inspections; expressed continued interest in downtown day center;expressed concern for changes in Saturday Market operations and communications.
•Mayor Vinis – Mentioned work being done at Hunsaker and Beaver Lane to make areasafer; shared about future attendance to Walkability Conference regarding Vision Zero;discussed work on TAC report recommendation implementation; discussed attendanceto Prepare Out Loud; gave kudos to various City staff working on projects.
2.Community Safety InitiativeAssistant City Manager Kristie Hammit, Fire Chief Joe Zaludek, Police Chief Chris Skinner,and Senior Financial Analyst Maurizio Bottalico provided information about a possiblepayroll tax structure to fund the Community Safety service system gaps.
(Councilor Zelenka arrived at 6:10 p.m.; Councilor Syrett called in at 6:15 p.m.)Council Discussion:
•Councilor Clark – inquired about the amounts of the library levy and parks levy andbond; expressed concern about the order of needs funded and the mechanism forfunding community safety but would like community safety needs prioritized.
•Councilor Evans – expressed support for the proposed mechanism; cited personalanecdote about need for services; suggested there is not another mechanism availableto meet the need for community safety; asked about the net affect of investment onemergency calls.
•Councilor Taylor – expressed desire for public shelter downtown; expresseddisagreement with Councilor Clark stating that libraries and parks are a matter ofcommunity safety; expressed concerns about equity of payroll tax; suggested use oftransient tax instead of a payroll tax and supported lobbying the state to repurposestate transient tax dollars.
•Councilor Pryor- stated the need to do something quickly and create responsivenesswithin the City; cited work to view options for funding mechanism and expressed beliefthat a payroll tax works; voiced a desire to focus on what can be done rather than whatcan’t be done.