Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 10/26/09 Work Session M I N U T E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room—City Hall—777 Pearl Street Eugene, Oregon October 26, 2009 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Alan Zelenka, Mike Clark, Andrea Ortiz, Jennifer Solomon, Chris Pryor, George Poling, George Brown, Betty Taylor. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. A. COMMITTEE REPORTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL, AND CITY MANAGER Ms. Piercy described her participation in National Make a Difference Day activities, related to fire safety improvements. She announced that the Public Works Department had received the 2009 Transportation Safety Award for its Bailey Hill Road project and Eugene had been designated as a gold level bike friendly community. She reminded the public that the neighborhood survey could still be taken. She also reported on her attendance at a performance at the Hult Center that connected with other people around the world on the issue of climate change, a pumpkin-carving contest and a town hall meeting on domestic violence. She met with visitors from Korea regarding their possible purchase of the Hynix facility. Mr. Clark thanked the Chamber of Commerce for its Business-to-Business Expo, which was a very successful event to encourage the local economy. He conveyed a request from the Police Auditor for the council to consider the idea that whenever there was a community impact case the auditor would make a presentation to the full council. He noted that he would be “principal for a day” at Cal Young Middle School on October 27. Mr. Pryor also expressed his appreciation for the Business-to-Business Expo. He felt the recent community forum went well. He said he attended the Explore Oregon tour at the University of Oregon and found the information very interesting. Ms. Taylor said she had attended a symphony concert for fourth- and fifth-graders and the students were very well behaved. She would be “principal for a day” at South Eugene High School. She asked to have formation of a committee to review the City’s assessment policies as an item on a future agenda. She said the Human Services Commission budget was stable thanks to federal stimulus funds, but funds for human services, particularly for the homeless population, were still inadequate. She hoped the Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Committee would focus on legislation to establish homeless shelters throughout the state. She said the IGR would begin reviewing bills that were supported, but not passed, during the last session with the intent of seeing those bills in the 2011 legislative session. She said examples were bills related to counties to enacting vehicle registration fees without a vote, right of return to an equivalent job after family leave, increasing funding for footpaths and bicycle trails, and removal of the prohibition on real estate transfer taxes. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 26, 2009 Page 1 Work Session Ms. Ortiz thanked staff for their efforts in support of the Business-to-Business Expo. She attended a River Road Community Organization meeting at which there was a comprehensive presentation on permaculture and sustainable living. She said the recommendations from the ambulance subcommittee were being finalized. She was grateful that Eugene was such a walkable city after a recent visit to Austin, Texas. Mr. Brown said he also attended the climate change event at the Hult Center and was pleased to see the large number of people downtown, particularly families with children. He also attended a benefit for the Community Alliance of Lane County and a Best of Eugene awards ceremony. He said the Planning Commission was primarily focused on infill compatibility standards at its recent meeting and thanked outgoing commissioners Philip Carroll and John Lawless for their service. Ms. Solomon announced that Active Bethel Citizens would meet on October 27. Mr. Poling encouraged the public to attend meetings of the Lane Transit District EmX Steering Committee and provide testimony. He said the Gateway EmX project was on time and on budget, with modifications to accommodate PeaceHealth’s development plans and change bus traffic patterns at the downtown station. He attended the Travel Lane County meeting at Driftwood Shores in Florence and a Cal Young Neighborhood Association meeting. Mr. Zelenka said he had met with representatives of the Korean firm interested in purchasing the Hynix property for use as a solar facility. He said the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Greenhouse Gas Tax Force held it first meeting in Salem and staff would determine the best way to provide the council with updates on the task force’s activities. He was pleased that the efforts of many in the community and City organization had resulted in a gold level designation of Eugene as a bike-friendly community. He was also pleased that the City Manager was forming a street repair review committee to determine compliance with the provisions of the bond measure and with Public Works Department’s receipt of an award for innovative and sustainable paving practices. He attended meetings of the South University Neighbors and the Sustainability Commission. City Manager Jon Ruiz announced the Arts and Business Alliance breakfast on November 6 to discuss activities during the past year and plans for the future. He said that Pete Kerns would be officially sworn in as police chief on November 6 and the first Budget Committee meeting was scheduled for November 2. He had attended a Lane Transit District strategic planning session and found it very informative. He thanked the street repair program project management and engineering team and the crime prevention team for their efforts during the past year. Mr. Clark thanked Ms. Piercy and Mr. Ruiz for scheduling a work session on downtown public safety and commended the Eugene Police Department for solving several major crimes quickly. Ms. Piercy added that she had attended a public arts workshop and noted that the Kiva had been selected as the best downtown business. She drew the council’s attention to a letter from Representative Nancy Nathanson congratulating the City for its recognition as a member of the Regional Fiber Consortium. B. WORK SESSION: Eugene Counts Update MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 26, 2009 Page 2 Work Session Mr. Ruiz introduced Terrie Monroe, City Manager’s Office, to present the update on Eugene Counts, which was a part of the council’s ongoing conversation about goals and visions and engaging the community in that process. Ms. Monroe used a slide presentation to provide a mid-course status report on Eugene Counts. She said Eugene Counts was the way that council goals were connected to concrete results the community wanted to see. She reviewed samples of responses when the community was asked what it envisioned for each of the following goals: ? Safe community ? Sustainable development ? Accessible and thriving culture and recreation ? Effective and accountable municipal government ? Fair, stable and adequate financial resources Ms. Monroe said that common results and common aspirations from diverse perspectives began to emerge as the responses were analyzed. She reviewed the data collection strategies that used multiple modes to obtain information from the community; particularly from those people who did not typically talk to the City Council and whose voices were not usually heard. She described the qualitative analysis methods that would be applied to data with quantitative rigor. She said the process would result in top ranked results for each of the goals and a set of outcomes and suggested measures, which would be presented to the council in December. She stressed there was still time for the public to provide input to Eugene Counts. She would provide survey packets to council members to distribute when they attended community events. Ms. Piercy asked about the use of focus groups in the process. Ms. Monroe replied that a recruiter was used to draw representative samples of people for focus groups. Mr. Clark thanked staff for their work on Eugene Counts. He hoped the project would be a useful tool for establishing priorities in the budget process and looked forward to having an informative tool for analyzing services and associated values and identifying the highest priorities. He asked how the City Manager envisioned using the results to guide budget decisions. Mr. Ruiz said the Eugene Counts results would be available in time to inform his budget decisions and the Budget Committee’s work; information would be provided to the Budget Committee as it became available. He said the data would be used in service profiles and priorities, and to identify gaps and fill them sustainably. He would provide a more detailed explanation at the Budget Committee meeting. Mr. Pryor was pleased with Eugene Counts and said, while informative data was very useful in the budget process, it should work in tandem with the Budget Committee process and not dominate it. He hoped that a sense of the larger priorities within the five goals would emerge from Eugene Counts. In response to a question from Mr. Zelenka, Ms. Monroe said approximately 800 responses had been received to date. Mr. Brown asked about the source of random samples for focus groups. Ms. Monroe replied that the usual source was voter lists and the optimal size for a focus group was 10 to 12 people. She said there would be two focus groups for the population to be surveyed. Ms. Piercy observed that people’s priorities shifted over time as issues emerged in the community. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 26, 2009 Page 3 Work Session Ms. Taylor asked if staff had contacted all of the neighborhood associations. Ms. Monroe said presenta- tions had been made to some groups and all neighborhood leaders had been invited to participate. Ms. Piercy commended staff’s participation in the community forum. She felt the Eugene Counts initiative was very important. Mr. Clark asked if responses were being filtered to determine if they came from Eugene residents. Ms. Monroe said survey respondents were asked to provide their zip codes. . CONSENT CALENDAR C A. Approval of City Council Minutes of September 9, 2009, Work Session B. Approval of Tentative Working Agenda C. Adoption of Resolution 4989 Affirming the City’s Commitment to Human Rights and Choice in Mental Health Care Councilor Zelenka, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to approve the items on the Consent Calendar. Mr. Brown pulled Item C for discussion. Items A and B on the Consent Calendar were approved unanimously, 8:0. Mr. Brown spoke in support of the City’s commitment to human rights and thanked those in the community who had worked on the initiative. Mr. Clark thanked Hugh Massengill for his work on human rights and mental health care choice. Item C on the Consent Calendar was approved unanimously, 8:0. The meeting adjourned at 6:22 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jon Ruiz City Manager (Recorded by Lynn Taylor) MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 26, 2009 Page 4 Work Session