HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 10/18/10 Public HearingMINUTES
Eugene City Council
Council Chamber — Eugene City Hall
777 Pearl Street — Eugene, Oregon
October 18, 2010
7:30 p.m.
COUNCILORS PRESENT: Alan Zelenka, Mike Clark, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, George
Poling, Chris Pryor, George Brown.
COUNCILORS ABSENT: Andrea Ortiz.
Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. She
wished Councilor Mike Clark and City Manager Jon Ruiz a Happy Birthday.
PUBLIC HEARING:
An Ordinance Concerning Personal Property Sale Procedures
City Manager Ruiz introduced the topic. He said the proposed ordinance amendment was necessary to
reflect changes to the Oregon Revised Statutes related to the posting and publishing of found property
prior to sale. The ordinance would reduce the City's costs by 75 percent.
Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing. There being no requests to speak, she closed the public hearing.
2. PUBLIC HEARING:
An Ordinance Concerning Citation Authority of University of Oregon Department of Public
Safety
City Manager Ruiz said the public hearing regarded amendments to Eugene Code Section 4.035 that
provided citation authority to University of Oregon Department of Public Safety ( UODPS) officers to
enforce sections of the Eugene Code. The proposed amendment would allow UODPS officers to issue
citations when the officer had a probable cause to believe that the person to be cited committed a violation
on property owned or leased by the University of Oregon. The ordinance did not extend other new
policing authority to UODPS officers.
Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing.
Carolyn McDermed, 2141 East 15` Avenue, asked the council to approve the ordinance as a "technical
fix" that allowed UODPS officers to use the statutory authority they already possessed to issue citations
under the Eugene Municipal Code. She said the authority granted by the City to the UODPS in November
2009 had reduced the duplication of workload between the Eugene Police Department (EPD) and UODPS
and had streamlined law enforcement on campus. UODPS officers had more time to spend proactively
patrolling the campus and developing trust -based policing practices with those who used the campus. The
ordinance would allow UODPS officers to conduct investigations of lower level quality of life crimes,
develop a probable cause arrest, and issue a citation for the crime independent of the EPD.
Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing and called on the Eugene Police Department for its position.
MINUTES— Eugene City Council October 18, 2010 _ Page 1
Public Hearing
Lieutenant Richard Stronach said the department supported the ordinance. It would result in time savings
for both agencies. He described a typical arrest and noted the redundancies that currently existed in the
system.
Councilor Brown asked why the City did not act in 2009 when it granted expanded authority to issue
citations to the UODPS. Lt. Stronach said the proposed changes were identified later as an oversight.
Councilor Brown determined from Lt. Stronach that an EPD officer would still be needed to respond to
the campus if a person had to be lodged in jail.
Speaking to the example used by Lt. Stronach, which involved a laptop stolen off - campus, Councilor
Brown said it appeared that under the ordinance, such thefts must occur on property in the control of the
University of Oregon for the ordinance to be effective. Lt. Stronach acknowledged that his example might
not have been the most appropriate one to illustrate the benefits of the ordinance. He anticipated that the
department would partner with UODPS to work through ordinance implementation issues.
Responding to a question from Councilor Zelenka, Lt. Stronach described how the ordinance would work
and distinguished violations from the probable cause situations related to crimes that could result in the
issuance of a citation by a UODPS officer.
Mayor Piercy asked what recourse one had if one thought they were incorrectly cited by UODPS. Lt.
Stronach said that person had recourse to the judgment of the court.
Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting of the Eugene City Council at 7:47 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Beth Forrest
City Recorder
(Recorded by Kimberly Young)
MINUTES— Eugene City Council October 18, 2010 Page 2
Public Hearing