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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MInutes - 08/10/09 Regular Meeting M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon August 10, 2009 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. CEREMONIAL MATTERS Proclamation: Eugene Firefighters Appreciation Week - Mayor Piercy read a proclamation declaring the week of August 23 to August 29, 2009, Eugene Firefighters Appreciation Week. She acknowledged that firefighters Bob Ritchey and Nathan Kunasek were present to receive a copy of the proclamation. The firefighters received a round of applause. City Manager Jon Ruiz noted that Captain Randall Groves was out of town and would have liked to have been present. He passed along Captain Groves’ heartfelt thanks to the firefighters. He commended the firefighters for their work, both in fire fighting and for fund raising efforts on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. 2. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Albert Brahimaj , 958 Lawrence, #1, owner of two businesses in the downtown area, stated that his hot dog cart was being affected by “homeless street kids” begging for change. He said the young people would become hostile when people refused to give them money and because of this people did not want to get their money out to buy food from his business. He averred that he had worked too hard to get where he was and to have what he had to let “these little hooligans” affect his business. He said if they hung out in front of his store he had the recourse of calling the police, but he could not call the police when they were hanging out in front of his stand. He related that he had been assaulted on the previous Friday. He had called the police and the police had arrested three young people. He noted his intention to press charges. He said the three had been released from jail on the previous day. He observed that he was a pretty big guy and if he was getting beat up, what would happen to a “little old lady” in that situation. th Samantha Chirillo , 157 East 27 Avenue, #3, thanked the council for moving forward with the Police Auditor ordinance revisions. She surmised that those who had attended the committee meetings seemed satisfied with the results. She asked the council to continue supporting the roles of the Police Auditor and the Civilian Review Board (CRB). She noted that she had witnessed the tasering incident of May, 2008, and had recently participated in the investigation. It had become apparent to her that the Police Auditor and CRB played an important role in overseeing those kinds of investigations and giving feedback to the council on them. She was concerned that the City was not suspending its use of tasers until they revised “how the MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 10, 2009 Page 1 Regular Meeting police operations work.” She felt communication and non-violent means needed to be “#1” before any use of tasers. She averred that their misuse would not change the ways police operations happen and the relationship between the police and the community. She believed there was more work to be done in this area. Zachary Vishanoff , Ward 3, observed that the Police Auditor ordinance changes were on the evening’s agenda. He believed that there had been a lot of complicated changes through the work of the Police Auditor Ordinance Review Committee (PAORC) and since then. He had been trying to follow the details of it and it was difficult and complicated. He averred that it would be a “healthier process” if, as the changes were made, there were periodic changes and some “level of effort” to discuss the details. He commented that he was lost. He understood that the PAORC had requested to be reconvened and this was not happening. He was interested in knowing why that request was “being ignored.” Mr. Vishanoff understood that the Oregon Research Institute (ORI) wanted to relocate to a property near the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) site. He was concerned that this would “open up a back door” in the Riverfront Research Park. He opined that there was not enough public discussion over whether that was a good idea. He noted that if one went to the Atrium Building and asked to see ORI plans and whether there would be a public hearing, the planning staff indicated that they did not know. He asserted that when staff did not know, the person requesting the information was required to pay $85 for staff to make a determina- tion whether a public hearing was needed and whether it was in compliance with the Riverfront Research Park master plan. He asked the council to ask the Planning Division to make a determination. Kimberly Gladen , 361 West Broadway, stated that she lived and worked in the downtown area and did not own a car. She believed that the downtown had a lot of potential but it had a “really bad problem” with security. She said there were a lot of people who were mentally ill in the downtown area. She attributed this to the last eight years of politics; a lot of programs had been eliminated. She averred that police would need to be trained to handle the mentally ill and homeless in a humane and kind way. She predicted that they would have a lot of wounded soldiers coming home from the war, which would increase the numbers of homeless and mentally ill people. She declared that these people were the “least of our brothers” and the most damaged people of society and damaging them further would not improve the situation. She believed that the problem with the downtown was directly related to the need to deal with these core social problems. She related that there was a person sleeping on Broadway in the old Rosewater Deli area until the mid- afternoon. She felt it was difficult for people to walk by and see that with their kids. She said seeing a police cruiser could make a person feel more secure or that there was a problem. She added that they would have to work harder to maintain a presence without adding to the carbon footprint of the force if the police facility moved across the river. She concluded by stressing that the downtown needed attention and the police needed to be more a part of the community. Tom Kamis , 856 Lincoln Street, #2, Ward 7, supported the retention and expansion of the parking exemption program. He related that he had received “amazing” feedback from customers and people who were downtown. He noted that someone had stressed the importance of asking the downtown businesses how they felt about the parking exemption. He wished to point out that there were only five businesses along the stretch in which the exemption was in place. He predicted it would take ten minutes to ask them. He said parking should be exempted in the downtown area. He opined that the City had opportunities to change the downtown core and the City Council had decided to “take away some development opportuni- ties.” He declared that the City had given up a big opportunity to have a lot of employers downtown when the City had “[done] away with that last possible build-up” of the downtown area. He did not think the City deserved any more money. He declared that if lack of funds was the issue that would keep the parking exemption from being in place for a longer period of time, the City Council would have to “learn to do without.” He underscored that the councilors were the City’s leaders and he believed that they should have MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 10, 2009 Page 2 Regular Meeting the vision to make the problems not happen. He opined that there was no reason to pay for parking downtown, noting that half of the businesses in the exemption zone were only open after 5 p.m. He asked the council what they were waiting for. He had seen more foot traffic since the exemption had been put into action. Mr. Kamis considered homeless youth downtown to be a big problem. He related that a 16-year-old had been assaulted by an inebriated man one week earlier and on August 7 he had walked out the back door of his business to discover a 40-year-old man “shooting up” a 14-year-old. He declared that there were always issues downtown and they needed another body there. He observed that if the City had funding for new police offices and a new city hall, it should have enough money to hire one more police officer. He added that Officer Tom Schulke was a great beat cop who knew all of the young people by name. He wished that Officer Schulke could be cloned. th Eugene Drix , 307½ East 14 Avenue, Ward 3, reiterated his love for Eugene. He observed that the one thing a person learned in the University was that they did not know it all. He said kids downtown were “just youth” who were “tired of what the preachers say and tired of what their parents say.” He likened it to a “bubbling cauldron of life.” He was not certain what to do about it. He commented that he was friendly with everyone from the councilors to street people. He related that he knew a former architect with a family who now collected cans for a living and slept in doorways. He said everyone had to keep an eye out for their neighbor. He declared that Eugene was a world class town and that people in Portland were starting to copy Eugene. Justin McBurnett , 4105 Fox Hollow Road, voiced his support for the community, the City Council, and community members including the police. He cited a couple of examples of when he had been thankful for the police. He recognized that the police were a valuable asset to the community, but he was “befuddled” to imagine that people who would do a good job for the community would not support transparency “in a sense that would make the community feel at ease.” He related that his three-year-old son had witnessed an incident involving police gunfire and was now afraid to go outside by himself. He wanted his son to grow up and trust the police. He thought citizens should be able to utilize the traffic cameras or to use their own cameras to monitor the police. Mayor Piercy closed the Public Forum and called for comments from the councilors. th Councilor Clark thanked everyone for their testimony. He noted that his office was located on 8 Avenue and Willamette Street. He understood what the downtown business owners were talking about because he saw it every day. He believed their first priority should be to dramatically enhance public safety downtown. He felt the City had made good strides toward that by adding bicycle officers full-time downtown and making room in the budget to allow more officers. He noted that he had brought up at the Budget Committee, along with Councilor Brown, an idea on how to pay for more public safety. He said if the business owners had ideas on what more they could do, they should contact him. Councilor Solomon thanked the downtown business owners for coming down. She averred that “all the visioning in the world” would be moot if they did not address the public safety situation first. She noted that Police Chief Pete Kerns was in the audience and added that she hoped he had taken notes from the testimony given. She also requested that staff provide some background information regarding the potential ORI project. Councilor Ortiz also wanted to thank everyone for coming down. She believed that policing in the downtown area needed to be part of a bigger picture. She opined that the children on the mall were there because they were “throwaway kids.” She asserted that it was part of their charge in the community to take MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 10, 2009 Page 3 Regular Meeting care of the people who were “our lesser brothers and sisters.” She said it was a challenge as a councilor to decide whether to spend more money on human services or on policing. She believed it was part of their charge to address the needs of those young people; they were the future and needed to have the opportunities to make productive citizens out of themselves. She remarked that it was hurtful to hear of these incidents involving the youth and it made her want to ask where their parents were. Councilor Clark agreed that there were a number of people downtown with no other place to go. He noted that Councilor Zelenka worked with the Safe & Sound program and Councilor Ortiz had worked with other programs that provided assistance. He wanted to be clear because the conversation so often steered toward the idea that the problem downtown was “just kids.” He said he was downtown every day and would bet anyone that the vast majority of people were over the age of 18. It was not kids causing problems, the problems were caused by predatory adults. He stressed that the public safety problem was due to people who came from other areas on purpose and to people who might have been from the area and were down there often. He declared that they should not talk about the problem as if it was only attributable to the youth. He said any of the officers that were downtown would substantiate this. He knew this because he talked to them every day. Mayor Piercy said they all knew the challenges that faced the downtown area and the City was working hard on the problems, as were the police officers in the area. She related that one thing they were trying to do as a strategy, was the Summer in the City program, which sought to fill up the downtown with good activity and positive energy. She agreed with Councilor Clark that the biggest trouble makers were not the young people. Mayor Piercy thanked Ms. Chirillo for speaking on behalf of the auditor ordinance revisions. She considered the revisions to be “one step further in a good direction.” She also wanted to thank Ms. Gladen for talking about both the potential of the downtown area and the challenges it faced. She expressed appreciation to the business owners in the downtown area and pledged to continue to do the best they could to support them in many ways, including parking. 3. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of City Council Minutes - May 11, 2009, City Council Meeting - May 26, 2009, City Council Meeting - June 8, 2009, City Council Meeting - June 10, 2009, Work Session - June 15, 2009, Public Hearing - June 22, 2009, Work Session B. Approval to Tentative Working Agenda C. Acceptance of Products Associated with Department of Land Conservation and Develop- ment Grant for Eugene Comprehensive Lands Assessment Councilor Zelenka, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to approve the Consent Calendar. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 8:0. 4. ACTION: An Ordinance Concerning the Police Auditor; Amending Sections 2.450, 2.452, 2.454, 2.456 of the Eugene Code, 1971; and Providing for an Effective Date for Implementation Mayor Piercy noted that the PAORC had made all of the meeting minutes available. MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 10, 2009 Page 4 Regular Meeting Councilor Zelenka, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved that the council adopt Council Bill 4998, an ordinance concerning the Police Auditor. Councilor Brown asked Police Auditor Mark Gissiner to confirm his recollection that the memorandum submitted to the council by Mr. Gissiner had indicated that he could not recall a case in Cincinnati in which an administrative investigation could not occur concurrently when it was appropriate to do so. Mr. Gissiner replied that the only time there was a consecutive issue had been instances when there were shots fired by police officers. He explained that in this case there was a criminal investigation first, followed by an administrative investigation. He recalled “one or two” times in which an officer was possibly being charged with criminal charges and the administrative case had been suspended until the criminal investigation was done. Councilor Brown did not think this had been much of an issue in Eugene either. Mr. Gissiner remarked that in the genesis of the auditor/police relationship there were some concerns about it, but they had gotten past this. Councilor Brown was amenable with all of the changes to the ordinance with the exception of the one regarding concurrency. He did not see the idea of a disagreement by the chief of police with the auditor having to go before a municipal court judge as a diminution of the auditor’s authority. He asked if the police chief in Cincinnati had ever disagreed with him regarding a concurrent investigation. Mr. Gissiner replied that he found it ironic that the issue of concurrency had been viewed as problematic more for the complainant than for the officer there and the argument in favor of consecutive versus concurrency in Eugene was more of a problem for the officer than for the complaint. It was unusual for him to see this couched in this way. He explained that because the complainant was not a trained observer, his or her version of events would be less likely to remain consistent throughout the process whereas a police officer was a trained observer and was much more likely to maintain consistency. He said in Eugene there was more concern about an officer being consistent through the process, which was the reverse of the situation in Cincinnati. Councilor Brown said he was a little concerned that the changes would present a diminution of the auditor’s power. Mr. Gissiner noted that the ordinance allowed the auditor to separately conduct an external investigation if he or she believed it was warranted. Councilor Ortiz was glad to be at this point in time, moving the revisions forward. She said if it did not work or problems arose, they could bring it back for further revision. Mayor Piercy explained that PAORC was not being reconvened because they had decided to wait until the new auditor was in place. Councilor Zelenka thanked the members of the PAORC for the hours they had contributed to the process and the “homework” associated with it. He noted that the committee had also heard a lot of public input and had held a public hearing. He believed that changes that were proposed closed loopholes, clarified rules, and made the office of the Police Auditor stronger. He averred that they were consistent with the two votes that the public had engaged in on the auditor ordinance. He supported the changes. Councilor Poling noted that in addition to the people that Councilor Zelenka had mentioned, there had also been a subcommittee of councilors that had worked on the final recommendation. He said they had MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 10, 2009 Page 5 Regular Meeting discussed and reviewed the recommendations and had done some wordsmithing to “smooth it out.” He believed this demonstrated the dedication and support to the Police Auditor position that the council possessed. Councilor Clark thanked the committee members for their work. He was glad they were finally done. He was happy that the ordinance was before the council. He observed that as they now had a nationally recognized police auditor and a much stronger ordinance in place. He felt this was the best opportunity they had “in a long time” to see successful police oversight. Councilor Zelenka took the opportunity to welcome Mr. Gissiner to the office of the Police Auditor. He said Mr. Gissiner had “hit the ground running.” He also wanted to thank Chief Kerns for the “great job” he had done in cooperating with both the past and present auditors. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 8:0. The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jon Ruiz City Manager (Recorded by Ruth Atcherson) MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 10, 2009 Page 6 Regular Meeting