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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 12/13/10 Work SessionMINUTES City Council McNutt Room — Eugene City Hall 777 Pearl Street — Eugene, Oregon December 13, 2010 5:30 p.m. PRESENT: Mike Clark, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling, Chris Pryor, Andrea Ortiz, George Brown, Alan Zelenka. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the December 13, 2010, work session of the Eugene City Council to order. A. COMMITTEE REPORTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL, AND CITY MANAGER Mayor Piercy reported that she attended the recent Metropolitan Policy Committee (MPC) meeting and presented new Springfield Mayor Christine Lundberg with a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the Eugene City Council. She also reported that that the City of Eugene had purchased ten jail beds from the City of Springfield to support the Downtown Public Safety Strategy. Mayor Piercy thanked City Manager Jon Ruiz and the members of the Community Resource Group (CRG) who presented on the Envision Eugene process at the recent City Club meeting. Two Envision Eugene meetings were scheduled to occur that week. Mayor Piercy noted the International Human Rights Day event that occurred at the Baker Center on December 10. Mayor Piercy reported that the State of Oregon had received some additional high -speed rail funding reallocated to states to the federal government following the return of the money by Ohio and Wisconsin. Mayor Piercy said she was hosting a public forum on December 14 to discuss funding options to support the schools the following day at the Council Chamber. Mayor Piercy called the council's attention to the anniversary memorial scheduled to honor Thomas Egan and bring attention to homeless veterans scheduled for December 17. Mayor Piercy hoped councilors got a chance to visit the new Long House at Lane Community College. Mayor Piercy reported that the Human Services Commission had less money to distribute this year and there was community concern about some of the commission's allocation decisions. She referred those with concerns to the Board of County Commissioners, which had jurisdiction over the final allocations. Mr. Clark reported that he also congratulated Mayor Lundberg during a recent meeting. He said he attended the December 9 Police Commission meeting and believed the commission was getting closer to completing its long -term policy reviews. The commission heard a report from Eugene Police Chief Pete MINUTES— Eugene City Council December 13, 2010 Page 1 Work Session Kerns on the implementation of the Downtown Public Safety Zone. Several officers were present to answer questions about the use of the zone as well as about policy issues. Chief Kerns had shared his final version of the taser policy with the commission, which contained only one or two minor revisions of the text he received from the Police Commission. Mr. Poling reported that the Joint Locally Preferred Alternatives Committee met to discuss options for the West Eugene EmX extension. He hoped the council and community kept in mind that no route had been chosen, and the.no -build option was still on the table. Mr. Poling said the Board of Directors of Travel Lane County had met and heard a report that an effort would be made to repeal the law that established how the Transient Room Tax was allocated. New legislative would give authority to the county to make the determination on how those funds would be distributed. That could be devastating to Travel Lane County, which supported tourism in Lane County. Mr. Poling thanked Ms. Solomon for her service as a City Councilor and said he would miss having her at the council meeting table and the passion and compassion she brought to her work as a councilor. He recalled that four years before they ran for office in 2002 they had talked about running for the council together. It had been an honor to serve beside her. Ms. Solomon thanked Mr. Poling for his remarks and also thanked him for escorting her to her car after late night council meetings. Ms. Solomon reported that the Public Safety Coordinating Council (PSCC) met at the Springfield Justice Center and members were conducted on a tour of the facility. She commended the partnership demon- strated by the PSCC and said there were many opportunities for the group to do important things around public safety. She also served on the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MCWC) and termed the commission another model of intergovernmental cooperation. She encouraged other councilors to serve on the MCWC and learn more about that function. Ms. Solomon said she was also a member of the Human Services Commission (HSC), which was working under a new funding model. She hoped the new model was given a chance to work. She concluded by saying it had been a privilege to serve on all three groups, as well as on the Housing Policy Board. Mr. Brown had also attended the most recent Police Commission meeting as well as the International Human Rights Day event at the Baker Center on December 10. He said that it had been a celebration of progress and admonitions to keep working. It had been a well- attended event. Ms. Ortiz said she also attended the International Human Rights Day celebration and noted that the City's former Human Rights Program Director, Greg Rikhoff, had been honored for his work. Ms. Ortiz reported she was on the long -term budget committee for the Bethel School District, which had discussed the potential of a City tax measure as well as its plans for an operating bond for long -term maintenance. Mr. Zelenka reported that the University of Oregon singing group "On the Rocks" was appearing on the television show "Sing Off' and had made it through the first few competitive rounds. He had attended his last MPC meeting as the body's chair and had presented the MPC's annual report to the Lane Council of Governments Board of Directors. He asked that the report be provided to the council as well. Mr. Zelenka thanked the mayor for hosting the forum on school funding. He thought it would be an interesting and important conversation. He noted the Sustainability Commission was meeting the next day. Mr. Zelenka reported that he had met with some of the opponents of the West Eugene EmX extension and received a lot of input that gave him "food for thought." He also met with Eugene Water & MINUTES— Eugene City Council December 13, 2010 Page 2 Work Session Electric Board (EWEB) General Manager Roger Gray to discuss water master planning and the Veneta water contract. Mr. Zelenka also thanked Ms. Solomon for her service to the City and said he would miss her. Mr. Pryor reported that the Lane Council of Governments Board of Directors met the previous week and heard the report mentioned by Mr. Zelenka. He also attended a meeting of the Housing Policy Board and reported the board was seeking new members. He encouraged interested councilors to look into the work of the board, which was working on its next round of affordable housing grants. Mr. Pryor said he attended the Oregon Business Plan Leadership Summit in Portland. The message he heard was that people could not expect economic development to occur as it did before. A new conversa- tion was necessary. He said the good news was that Eugene was a catalyst and leader in how some of the issues discussed were addressed. He cited budgeting for outcomes as an example, saying Eugene was the only city in Oregon using that approach. He believed there were tremendous opportunities ahead, but the state could not approach issues in the same manner as in the past. Ms. Taylor reported that she met some neighborhood leaders to discuss the proposed street assessment policies. They were enthusiastic about the proposals. Ms. Taylor reported that she had received a call from a constituent who was facing a street assessment and learned that when applying for low- income status, the City considered last year's earnings instead of current earnings. She questioned why that was the case. City Manager Jon Ruiz said he would follow up with more information. Ms. Taylor said she had attended a meeting of the McKenzie Watershed Council, which continued to work on restoration projects. Several property owners who lived along the McKenzie River were in attendance at the last watershed council meeting and they were still upset about Lane County's riparian and floodplain ordinance proposals. Some planned to join the watershed council. She said that represent- atives of Lane County and EWEB who were present had offered to meet the property owners to discuss their concerns. City Manager Ruiz reported that he had also attended the International Human Rights Day event and had been able to recognize several employees for their work. B. WORK SESSION: Adoption of Federal Priorities Intergovernmental Relations Director Brenda Wilson was present for the item. She reminded the council that it adopted a priority list on an annual basis to guide the City in its lobbying efforts. She also reminded the council that the Republican Party had assumed control of the United States House of Representatives and had agreed to ban earmarks. The Senate failed to reach a similar agreement but she anticipated that earmarks would be rare. Ms. Wilson reviewed the projects endorsed by the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. Councilors asked questions to clarify the details of the projects. Ms. Ortiz expressed interest in adding a project to upgrade the approaches to the Highway 99 bridge to the list of transportation projects for which the City would seek funding. Ms. Wilson indicated that the City planned to host a tour in the spring for staff of Representative Peter DeFazio. MINUTES— Eugene City Council December 13, 2010 Page 3 Work Session Responding to a question from Mr. Clark about the Eugene Depot - Vehicular Loop project identified among the 2011 federal appropriation requests, Ms. Wilson said the funding would pay for a process to look at practical alternatives; no alternative had been decided upon. Mr. Clark supported the project as long as it did not presuppose a solution. Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to adopt the 2011 Federal Priority Project list. recommendations. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. C. ACTION: Adoption of Resolution 5018 Authorizing Exception to the Limited Neighborhood Recogni- tion Policy for the River Road and Santa Clara Community Organizations City Manager Ruiz introduced the item, saying the resolution would allow neighborhood organizations to continue to keep their members informed about issues of importance and allow the River Road and Santa Clara organizations to compete in the Strategic Neighborhood Assessment Process (SNAP) with other neighborhood organizations. Neighborhood Services Manager Michael Kinnison was also present to answer questions. Mr. Clark supported the resolution. He said residents of River Road and Santa Clara were working closely together and hoped to develop a more detailed neighborhood refinement plan. He said residents of the area wanted a resident -led discussion about transition issues and he thought the proposal was a way to accomplish that. He emphasized the importance of communicating with residents in the area through newsletters. Ms. Solomon questioned how a new planning effort would differ from the 2006 effort, which resulted in a report that to her knowledge had sat on a shelf because she was unaware of any follow -up. She said that Mr. Clark's reference to transition issues presupposed that such a transition would happen, and she questioned that. She did not think that residents were supportive of transitioning to City jurisdiction. She believed the City's funds were better directed at neighborhood organizations within the city. Ms. Ortiz supported the resolution because of the considerable history of resistance to the concept of annexation that existed in River Road /Santa Clara and the need to build trust with residents. Mr. Zelenka determined from Mr. Kinnison that the staff time commitment was likely to be 15 -20 hours a week for four to six months. At Mr. Zelenka's request, Mr. Kinnison described the SNAP, terming it an organizing tool for neighborhoods. Mr. Zelenka concurred with Ms. Ortiz's remarks and said he would support the resolution. Mayor Piercy also supported the resolution but wanted some sort of formal recognition from the two neighborhood associations that the City was stepping forward as a collaborative partner. Mr. Clark believed it was time to "start a new chapter" with River Road /Santa Clara. In response to Ms. Solomon's remarks, Mr. Clark suggested the resolution provided a route for implementing the 2006 study. Mr. Pryor believed more conversation was needed to build on the work done in 2006. He supported taking as collaborative an approach as possible to what he considered as the next iteration of a longer process to overcome past bad memories on the part of residents. MINUTES— Eugene City Council December 13, 2010 Page 4 Work Session Ms. Taylor regretted that the area in question had not incorporated as a city or annexed a long time ago. She found the current checkerboard annexation pattern "crazy." Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to adopt Resolution 5018 authorizing excep- tions to the limited recognition policies for River Road and Santa Clara community organ- izations allowing for participation in the SNAP program and continued expenditure of Special Assessment Bond Funds for printing and mailing of neighborhood publications to noncity addresses. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Mayor Piercy adjourned the work session at 6:52 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beth Forrest City Recorder (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES— Eugene City Council December 13, 2010 Page 5 Work Session