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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 01/27/10 Work SessionMINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room City Hall 777 Pearl Street Eugene, Oregon January 27, 2010 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Mike Clark, Andrea Ortiz, Jennifer Solomon, Chris Pryor, George Poling, George Brown, Betty Taylor. Alan Zelenka participated by telephone. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. She thanked everyone for voting on the recent ballot measures. A. WORK SESSION: Downtown Public Safety Issues Mr. Ruiz stated that the Eugene Counts public input process had been undertaken and both downtown and downtown Public Safety had cropped up as recurring themes. He felt this pointed to the need to focus some resources "in that direction." He thought improving the downtown would also increase the number of jobs in that area. He hoped that the council would move forward on the recommendations. Executive Director of the Planning and Development Department Susan Muir reviewed the first slide in a PowerPoint presentation on Downtown Public Safety, which highlighted the Core Strategies. Hard copies of the PowerPoint slides were provided to everyone present. She stated that the primary focus of the present discussion was on the strategy related to public safety. Eugene Police Department (EPD) Chief Pete Kerns listed some of the task team members. He said one of the first things the task team had done had been to identify the things that needed to be changed and what parts of the situation contributed to the present state of the downtown area. He related that a big component lay in the lack of accountability in that there were not enough police officers or jail beds or other services. He observed that the illegal and unpleasant behavior was upsetting people who would come downtown to conduct business or spend time there. He said the task team had come up with more than 40 strategies worthy of consideration. He noted that they had received input from a wide array of people. In calling other municipalities across the country for information on how they had handled similar situations, they had been repeatedly referred to the City of Portland. He related that they had contacted Portland and made a field trip there. Chief Ferns stated that the council packets included both short -term and long -term strategies. He said the short --term strategies were those that they were already working on. He explained that there were a number of existing resources they could coordinate better, such as improving the lines of communication with the Department of Youth Services. He noted that there already existed closed - circuit cameras, owned by private businesses for their own security purposes, and the EPD could take greater advantage of those. He said EPD was in the process of taking an inventory of these resources. Chief Kerns related that a number of communities had restricted the sales of fortified wine and malt liquor. He explained that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) could make a change administratively that would enable the City Council to pass an ordinance that would prohibit the sale of MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 27, 2010 Page 1 Work Session such products. He said those communities that had passed such ordinances had seen a reduction in admissions to detox centers and emergency rooms as a result. Continuing, Chief Ferns explained that they did not have a way to understand behavior crime currently. He said it would not be a huge expense to set up software that would track these types of crimes. He noted that the EPD was working on a way to enhance its crime enforcement strategies. Ms. Muir stated that, based on the Portland model, they were putting forth the concept of assessing fees on vacant buildings. They planned to develop this idea and bring something back for the council's consideration. She said a map of the downtown district was included in the council packets so that the councilors could review it and potentially consider doing something different with the boundary. She related that they were also working with Downtown Eugene Incorporated (DEI) in partnership to come up with continued and enhanced ways of providing their services. Chief Kerns said a report was forthcoming in the fall on the effectiveness of the Downtown Safety Ordinance that would analyze what systematically was working and what was not. He stated that among other things, they would examine if the boundary was the right one and whether it was worthy of continuing or enhancing. Ms. Muir started a review of long -term strategies. Chief Ferns reiterated that the lack of accountability and jail space made it difficult to change some behaviors. He recommended adding ten jail beds as a long --term strategy. He also related that there was a type of facility used in a number of communities called "wet housing." He explained that it was an intermediate housing opportunity for people who would not be appropriately placed in the Eugene Mission or the Buckley House and that would save money by preventing emergency room visits. He stated that this would provide a safe place for someone with an alcohol or substance abuse issue. He noted that there was not an estimated cost because there were different models that they could utilize. Continuing, Chief Ferns highlighted the long -term strategy of creating downtown work crews as part of sentencing for low -level crimes. Ms. Muir discussed the long --term strategy of including more seasonal and consistent lighting. Chief Kerns stated that the long -term strategy to improve policing would require the addition of nine Full Time Equivalent (FTE) police officers and also support staff. Ms. Muir added that they also saw enhancement of the Crisis Assistance Helping out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) in the downtown area as a long --term strategy. Ms. Muir said the items in the recommendation would cost a total of $2 million in ongoing funds and $200,000 in one -time costs. She added that the costs for some things, such as the "wet beds," were as yet unknown. Mayor Piercy asked if there would be a better way to address the lack of clean -up outside of bars as one short -term solution. Regarding behavior crimes, she commented that some people have ceased to report them because they do not think they will get a response. She suggested that they define for people that reporting them let the department know that the crimes were happening. MINUTES Eugene City Council January 27, 2010 Page 2 Work Session Mayor Piercy also expressed appreciation for the conversation on fees to vacant building owners.. She strongly encouraged a cooperative approach, rather than a regulatory approach. She agreed that even if a building was empty, it still needed to look good. Mr. Clark thanked everyone for the work they were doing to remedy the situation. He was glad to see that they were taking "badly needed innovative steps" to create more accountability for crime in the downtown area. He agreed with the Mayor regarding assessment of a fee on empty buildings. He had never been a fan of the idea that the City should assess a fee to someone who could not seem to get business going well enough to fill a building. Regarding the OLCC and special district issues, Mr. Clark wondered if there were any existing districts that could suffice. Chief Ferns responded that the first step would be to find out if OLCC was willing to grant Eugene the administrative authority to make such an ordinance. He said they would study the behaviors to determine where the best district would be. Mr. Clark asked how long they wanted to study this. Chief Kerns replied that it would be good to have something in place by summer. Mr. Clark asked if there was a specific reason the Volunteers in Policing were not being considered to help in enforcement of some kinds of things. Chief Kerns explained that in Oregon only law enforcement officers were allowed to enforce the laws. He said some volunteers could write parking citations for handicapped parking -space violations, but this would not address the problems they were trying to address. Continuing, Mr. Clark noted that Judge Wayne Allen had come before the Police Commission at its last meeting and stated that he could use an additional ten jail beds right now. He related that Judge Allen had indicated that he was letting people go at present who should be going to Jail. He asked if ten beds would be an adequate number in order to do extra work to do a better j ob. Chief Kerns replied that it was not adequate, but it was feasible. He thought that if those jail beds were used carefully, it could change the behavior in the downtown area. Mr.. Clark supported moving the strategies forward. He averred that they would have a positive effect. Ms. Taylor asked if they kept records of complaints that were called in to the EPD if there was no response. Chief Kerns replied that they did not. He said if they could implement the third strategy, Which sought to increase and implement automated behavior crime reporting and cameras, they would be able to develop a system internally that could do this. In response to a question from Ms. Taylor, Chief Kerns affirmed that volunteers could do the work it took to record calls. Ms. Taylor thought it was important to let people know that the calls were being recorded. Ms. Taylor asked if the Chief was considering hiring the new officers to patrol in the downtown area or did he intend to dispatch more experienced officers there. Chief Kerns replied that he would deploy more experienced officers. Ms. Taylor asked where the people who had been excluded from the downtown area were going. Chief Kerns responded that they could only track the behavior and not the people. He said some crimes, if they were aggressive in enforcing them, did not repeat anywhere else. He explained that those crimes required certain environmental conditions to happen in a certain place, but behavioral crimes were not subject to MINUTES Eugene City Council January 27, 2010 Page 3 Work Session environmental conditions because there were so many opportunities to engage in them in the downtown area. He averred that to be effective in reducing behavior crimes, they had to have enough officers to fluidly move where the behavior was happening. ' Ms. Taylor asked if any of the jail beds would be used for people who were not dangerous. Chief Kerns responded that there were so few jail beds that almost all of them had high risk offenders in them. He said the jail beds that the City leased were for defendants convicted of violent crimes. He added that there were no jail beds for non - violent offenders currently, though this could change with the opening of the Springfield jail. Ms. Taylor thought the idea of "wet beds" would be attractive to some people. She asked if this was a punishment. Chief Ferns replied that it was an alternative to the emergency room and other more expensive services. He said only a unique, discreet group of people would qualify for it. Mayor Piercy echoed this, noting that there were significant savings for services in case - managed apartments directed at people with substance abuse issues. Mr. Poling agreed that "wet beds" were a good idea. He felt it would provide a safe out and would allow the funds to be invested in rehabilitation services that could help a person to get out of that type of situation. Regarding adding jail beds, he asked if the $420,000 that they were estimated to cost had come from the County. Chief Ferns affirmed that this was the County's cost estimate. Mr. Poling asked if the chief had entered into preliminary conversations with the City of Springfield regarding Jail beds. Chief Kerns responded that the Municipal Court had discussed this with Springfield and it was not yet known whether the beds there would represent any significant savings. Mr. Poling noted that the Lane County Sheriff s Office used to keep a record of its calls for 90 days and asked if the EPD did this type of thing. Chief Kerns replied that they did not. He added that some crimes were not even recorded. Mr. Poling asked the chief to elaborate regarding the City's interaction with the OLCC. Chief Kerns said the City could not regulate the sales of alcohol; only OLCC had that authority. He explained that the OLCC would write an administrative rule that would enable Eugene to have an ordinance to prohibit the sale of certain types of beverages in certain areas of town. In response to follow -up questions from Mr. Poling, the chief explained that staff was currently discussing possible changes with OLCC. He noted that the City of Portland had been granted an administrative rule and it was considered a "success story." Mr. Poling remarked that the Downtown Exclusion Ordinance was going to sunset soon. Chief Kerns confirmed this. He said he would report back to the council on its effectiveness in the fall. Continuing, Mr. Poling commented that CAHOOTS did a great deal for the community and was an organization that did not receive enough recognition for the job that it did_ He wondered whether CAHOOTS had a way of breaking down the amount of activity or crime they responded to in the downtown area currently. He requested this information, if it was available. Ms. Ortiz appreciated all the work that the committee had done. She noted that they had been a diverse group of people. She agreed that CAHOOTS did a lot of work. She believed that if CAHOOTS had more resources, it could provide more services. She recalled that the whiteaker Neighborhood had experienced issues related to the sales of malt liquor during the previous summer and the EPD had engaged in a pilot MINUTES Eugene City Council January 27, 2010 Page 4 Work Session project with the markets there and the markets had discontinued the sale of these fortified alcohol products. Chief Kerns responded that there was no data on this yet. Ms. Ortiz suggested that they may want to pursue such an ordinance for the Highway 99 corridor, because it was also afflicted with issues related to such sales. She indicated her support for all of the recommendations. She added that she supported the "wet bed" idea. She averred that it would be valuable to the community to have this type of shelter with wrap -- around services in the area. Mr. Brown asked if the suggested expansion of the other security services would include giving them citation authority. Chief Kerns responded that it would not do that; rather it would encourage them to collect information and report crimes and, where appropriate, they could interrupt crimes. Mr. Brown agreed that fortified wine was a detriment. He said grocery stores throughout the area sold such products, but they also sold other wines and microbrews with a higher alcohol content. While he was sympathetic to the idea, he felt it would be "a little tricky." Mr. Zelenka thanked everyone who had worked on the item, and especially the task team members and the chief. He supported the short -term actions. He asked if there could be a citywide ban on fortified wine and malt liquors. Chief Kerns did not yet know what OLCC could permit. Mr. Zelenka did not want to push problems into areas where the fortified wines were not banned. Mr. Zelenka asked Chief Kerns to elaborate on the short -term item that included closed- circuit cameras. Chief Kerns said the City of Eugene already had some cameras in parks to monitor places where crime occurred. He explained that this would allow businesses and police to install cameras in places where crime was happening. He added that the presence of cameras served to deter crime and other communities had found it to be one of the most successful components in crime reduction. Mr. Zelenka asked if the estimated $100,000 was intended for cameras. Chief Kerns replied that the money would add cameras and a way for staff to monitor them. Mr. Zelenka asked how many cameras this would add. Chief Kerns said this would pay for a few initially, though they might be able to apply for grants and businesses could potentially supply some. Mr. Zelenka remarked that this item gave him pause. He also was not comfortable with the idea of assessing fees to vacant buildings. In response to a question from Mr. Zelenka, Ms. Muir explained that the item regarding DEI was intended to state that there was a partnership in the district boundary and that they anticipated DEI continuing to be a "big player at the table." She said they wanted to ensure they were using the money that came in from the district in the best way. She noted, in response to a follow -up question, that the district took in approximately $250,000 per year. Mr. Zeler ka asked what portion of that came from the City and Ms. Muir indicated that she did not have that information with her but would get it. She noted that not all City facilities paid the fees; only a few did. Mr. Zelenka asked how the council would bring amendments to the Exclusion Zone ordinance. Chief Kerns replied that staff still needed to do the analysis, which included conferring with the Municipal Court judge, officers that worked downtown, and downtown businesses. MINUTES Eugene City Council January 27, 2010 Page 5 Work Session Ms. Solomon asked if automated behavior came reporting would involve telephone or electronic reporting. Chief Kerns replied that they needed to buy some hardware so that.crimes could be reported immediately and also the software that would allow people to report crimes online, as well as volunteers to receive those reports over the telephone. Ms. Solomon asked if there was a better way to provide services without using volunteers. She said she would be willing to pay a stipend to volunteers or other people to help the department. Chief Kerns responded that the program in Portland hired retired police officers to serve as security personnel. Ms. Solomon liked the idea of creating downtown work crews for crirninals. She was wondering if that could be moved to the list of short --term strategies. She also noted that one of the categories of focus for the effort to make downtown better included the aspects of the physical environment. She did not feel that much in the strategies addressed that. Chief Ferns replied that improved lighting and coordinating security and law enforcement services in the downtown area along with the add' dded police officers would improve the physical environment. Ms. Muir added that improving cleanliness would play a big part in improving the environment. Ms. Solomon asked if all of the recommendations had come from the committee. Chief Kerns responded that they were the strategies that received the most votes at one of the last meetings. Ms. Solomon requested to see "what fell off the list." Chief Kerns clarified that the list represented what the executive team had taken from the top 15 items that the task team had presented them with. Ms. Solomon had been impressed by the Eugene Advocates campaign and asked to what degree they had incorporated input from them into the document. Chief Kerns said he was familiar with their positions and they had informed his input into the discussion, but they did not gather the emails and share them with everyone on the team. Mr. Pryor said he was impressed with the work. He considered what he had heard so far to be indicative of broad support on the part of the council for the strategies. Regarding fortified beverages, he hoped that they could work exceptions or waivers into it so that they did not "throw the baby out with the bath water." He agreed with the intent of it. He acknowledged the desire to put some of these things into place before sui=er, but underscored that things with price tags would have to go before the Budget Committee. He said he would be willing to support all of the things that did not have a price tag or could be fundable within the resources already available. He believed that there were things on the list that they could do relatively easily. Mr. Pryor agreed that "wet beds" were beneficial, as long as they were implemented the right way and they were not just a "flop house." He thought this would be something they could do, especially if it reduced costs by reducing emergency room visits and j all bed use. He also supported the use of cameras, adding that they could be effective if used in the right way. Mayor Piercy asked if they had garnered youth input. Chief Kerns replied that a Department of Youth Services counselor had attended every meeting and she had brought a client who provided good input. He noted that a representative of Looking Class had also been present. Mayor Piercy remarked that the youth in the downtown area were a varied group and should not be lumped into one. Mr. Clark understood the importance of the use of cameras and automated technologies, but he wanted to express his concern about the "Big Brotheresque" feeling that it gave him. He wanted to move forward but wanted to check back and make sure that the tool was being used effectively and that it was doing MINUTES Eugene City Council January 27, 2010 Page 6 Work Session what it was supposed to do. He also wanted to ensure that they had the appropriate measurements and restrictions in place so that it would not be misused. Mr. dark remarked that the council had discussed the importance of strategic communications. He related that he understood, from talking with officers in the downtown area, that Portland had cracked down last summer and then people had come from Portland to Eugene in response to this. He said as they rolled out the short -term steps, he wanted to see a communications plan so that they let people know that the City was taking the situation seriously and was making a serious effort to reduce crime downtown. Mr. Clark also asked if there were any measurement tools built into it so that they would know what measure of success they would achieve. Chief Kerns replied that the automated behavior crime reporting and cameras coupled with the crime measurement instruments they already had would help measure the success. Ms. Muir added that when staff looked at developing each of the strategies, they had included ideas on how they could start looking at measurements. In response to a follow -up question from Mr. Clark, Chief Kerns stated that establishing an umbrella organization would be the first phase of a many -phase evolution. He said it was there that they would identify -the measurements and how they could collect them. He added that Portland was tracking how many instances of graffiti were reported and when they were cleaned up, litter they picked up including needles, and the number of behavior crimes they saw, among other things. Ms. Ortiz asked if the work crews to clean up downtown could be brought forward, if there were resources for it. Mr. Ruiz responded that there was money in the Council Contingency Fund, but it would be preferable to ensure that they built ongoing funding into the budget for it. Ms. Ortiz expressed an interest to move this to the short -term list. Municipal Court Administrator Jeff Perry stated that they had spoken with Lane County Corrections about the concept of a community service program in the downtown area. He related that they were confident the project could be created quickly. Ms. Ortiz asked if the downtown area had experienced an increase in the level of crimes that would qualify for programs within the Department of Justice, such as the Weed and Seed program. She noted that the Weed and Seed program had been very successful in the Bethel area. Chief Kerns agreed to look into it. Mr. Brown agreed that automated crime reporting was a good idea. In response to questions regarding DEI, Ms. Muir indicated that she would provide a memorandum outlining the cost of the services and who paid what portions of it. Mr. Zelenka asked for more detail regarding how cameras would be deployed; how they would be used and by whom? Mr. Zelenka asked if all of the nine officers that were being requested would be exclusively for the downtown area. Chief Kerns replied that the EPD wanted to draw up a district for them to work in that they felt would address the problems that they wanted to address. He thought the district should be larger than the current Downtown Exclusion Zone. MINUTES Eugene City Council January 27, 2010 Page 7 Work Session Mr. Zelenka supported having it move more toward the University area. He added that he was glad to see CAHOOTS included in the list. He commended the service for its good work. Ms. Muir stated that page 89 of the council packet included the recommendations from the task team. She pointed out several that had been carved through, noting that staff had tried to create a practical plan for each item brought forward. Mr. Zelenka was not certain he fully understood the implications of including funding options for the long --term strategies in the manager's proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 budget, as the suggested motion stated. He asked what was meant by this. Mr. Ruiz responded that the discussion would be continued at the February 10 work session on all of the downtown area. He said they would bring more specific information on the funding options to that meeting, along with a specific recommendation. Mr. Zelenka said his vote for the long -term strategies was to get a better understanding of the costs and how the City could pay for them, including the tradeoffs they would be making. Ms. Taylor echoed Mr. Zelenka's concern regarding the second part of the motion. She expressed concern that any ordinance restricting the sale of fortified liquor might affect the ability to purchase port wine or sherry and wondered how exceptions would be included. Chief Kerns said they would look at examples of how other communities handled it. Ms. Taylor thought that having parole and probation services spread out over several buildings would help reduce the concentration of clients in the area. Mayor Piercy agreed with Mr. Clark regarding communication. She said it was important to communicate to the public about what they were doing and to communicate to possible offenders about what would be happening in the community. She thought this would specifically affect some of the predators in the downtown area. She remarked that once these strategies had been implemented she thought they should have a report card that delineated the strategies and how effective they had been. She added her feeling that the City should connect to the County's efforts.. She also wanted to retain flexibility for officer assignments and did not want increased presence to be limited only to the downtown area. Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to direct the City Manager to implement the short -term strategies and item 9 from the long -term strategies, a strategy to create downtown work crews and probation involving clean up of the downtown area, and to include funding options for the long -term strategies in the manager's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011. The motion passed unanimously, 5 :0. The meeting adjourned at 1:24 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jon Ruiz City Manager (Recorded by Ruth Atcheison) MINUTES Eugene City Council January 27, 2010 Page 8 Work Session