HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 12/14/11 Work SessionMINUTES
Eugene City Council
McNutt Room —City Hall
777 Pearl Street — Eugene, Oregon
December 14, 2011
Noon
COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Mike Clark,
Chris Pryor, Alan Zelenka, Pat Farr. .
Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the December 14, 2011, work session of the Eugene City Council to
order and noted the agenda had been amended with the addition of a work session on Occupy Eugene.
A. WORK SESSION:
Occupy Eugene
City Manager Jon Ruiz reminded the council that it directed him to meet with representatives of Occupy
Eugene to discuss their response to the motion speaking to the future of the encampment that was
proposed by Mr. Zelenka on December 12. He called the council's attention to the responses the council
received earlier that day from Michael Carrigan and Lauren Regan on behalf of Occupy Eugene, which
reaffirmed the consensus of the General Assembly of Occupy Eugene to remain at Washington- Jefferson
Park until a permanent camp was established. City Manager Ruiz reported that Occupy Eugene had no
interest in working on a transition plan that did not result in a permanent camp and Occupy Eugene
representatives feared any interruption of the camp would mean occupants would lose the spirit of the
current camp. Occupy Eugene advocated for a third -party entity to provide outside reports and advice.
Police Chief Pete Kerns reported that Occupy Eugene was paying for gray water disposal and agreed to
pay the costs of the garage removal previously paid for by the City.
Chief Kerns reviewed a list of items proposed by the City to Occupy Eugene intended to improve the
safety of camp occupants and Eugene Police Department (EPD) officers. The list included a prohibition
on structures other than tents and called for tents to meet fire safety requirements. Organizers were asked
to resituate the tents on the sites so that they were no longer in clusters covered with tarps. The City also
asked that bows, crossbows, firearms, hatches, axes, and knives be added to the list of weapons prohibited
on the site. Chief Kerns acknowledged that Occupy Eugene expressed concern about a prohibition on
knives and hatches and agreed to further discussion. Occupy Eugene expressed no opposition on
prohibitions on alcoholic beverages and controlled substances, agreed that all propane, kerosene, and
gasoline heaters or generators must be code - compliant, and did not debate about compliance with other
State and local laws.
Chief Kerns reported that Occupy Eugene had asked the City to allow warming fires on the site;
allowance of such fires would require a change the City Code.
Chief Kerns said he recommended to Occupy Eugene representatives that they establish a clearly marked
area for children's tents and prohibit any adults from being with the children unless they were related or
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had status as a guardian. He proposed that the City erect construction lamps for increased night time
safety.
City Manager Ruiz spoke to Occupy Eugene's desire for open fires, saying that request could be
accommodated immediately if the council unanimously agreed to consider an ordinance changing the
code. Such an action required a public hearing and six councilors must vote affirmatively for the
ordinance to take effect. He called attention to a staff - prepared ordinance provided to .councilors that
amended the code to allow open fires at the Occupy Eugene site. City Manager Ruiz recommended that
the council allow fires for humanitarian purposes if it decided to grant the extension.
City Attorney Klein called the council's attention to another staff - prepared ordinance amending the code
to allow a tent to be defined as a vehicle for purposes of the Car Camping Program and indicated the
process to move forward was the same as described by City Manager Ruiz for the ordinance regarding
open fires.
City Attorney Klein then discussed the legal requirements for establishing a permanent camp in Eugene,
reporting that such a camp could only be established using the City's conditional use permit (CUP)
process, which took about 120 days in the absence of appeals to the Land Use Board of Appeals. He
estimated it would take four months from the date of the completed application to approval. Such a use
could be located only on C -4 or I -2 property. The existing site was zoned Public Lands. It would require
a code amendment to change the zoning. City Attorney Klein estimated that process would take four
months.
City Manager Ruiz contrasted the staff - prepared motion to Mr. Zelenka's motion of December 12.
Chief Kerns responded to a question previously asked by Ms. Ortiz regarding the City's costs for the
events of June 1, 1997, reporting that the police response cost $20,000, which would be $32,000 in
today's dollars. Ms. Ortiz requested the cost of associated lawsuits for a better a sense of the overall costs
associated with that event.
Mayor Piercy solicited council comments and questions.
Mr. Clark suggested it was not productive to discuss a transition when Occupy Eugene was not interested
in such a transition. It was clear to him that the community that had been created was the protest, and in
its absence the organizers were unwilling to do anything else; the encampment was the point. It would
require a lengthy process to establish a permanent camp if a site could even be identified. Mr. Clark was
unwilling to wait for months while Occupy Eugene developed a solution it found acceptable.
Mr. Farr said if the proposed motion passed he would support both staff - prepared ordinances. He was
concerned about amount of money the council was being asked to spend on the transition.
Mr. Poling indicated there were elements of the motion he could support but acknowledged the
considerable constituent feedback he received demanding the camp be relocated or shut down. He
understood the issues involved and sympathized with both the homeless and the original intent of the
Occupy movement. Mr. Poling agreed there things that were wrong. Some of them the council could
address locally and others it could not.
Mr. Poling expressed support for maintaining the December 15 deadline while the council continued to
work on issues the City could address without taking money from the parks, Buckley House, and the
Road Fund. He believed there were more residents counting on those funds than there were camping in
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the park. They were demanding the council spend their money wisely and did not consider the proposal a
wise use of money. Mr. Poling pointed out that local media polling indicated overwhelming support for
ending the encampment. Many residents who contacted him said they initially supported the encampment
but no longer did. He also spoke to many experts who indicated such camps do not work to solve the
homeless problem. Mr. Poling believed it was time for the council to do what must be done to reclaim
the park as well as to reclaim its focus on what it was supposed to be doing rather than being guided by
outside parties.
Mr. Poling disagreed with City Manager Ruiz's desire to defer a decision to end the encampment to the
council rather than end it on his own but did not blame him. He said the council created the situation and
now needed to fix it.
Mayor Piercy suggested that residents held strong positions, both pro and con, about the basic political
principles espoused by Occupy Eugene and that those feelings had continued even when the homeless
element was added should surprise no one. She discounted media polls as nonscientific and suggested
they were responded to by people who tended to be against things.
Mayor Piercy said the homeless issue had been a long -time problem and long before the encampment was
established the City was receiving complaints about the homeless from all over the community. Occupy
Eugene had tried to address those problems in its own way. The City was now faced with what it would
do as a result of that work. She did not think the issue was supposed to be politicized or a taking sides
situation but one that called on all councilors to use their deepest wisdom in addressing the social issue of
homelessness.
Ms. Ortiz maintained that media polls were responded to by those who had homes, computers, and
televisions to watch, and were not working two or three jobs. She considered such polls a snapshot of
people's opinions in time. The input she received was 80 percent in favor of maintaining the
encampment.
Ms. Ortiz had no objections to continuing the encampment because it brought attention to the problems of
the homeless. She acknowledged the cost involved and was challenged by the recommendation to take
money away from Buckley House. However, she supported the manager's recommendation.
Mr. Brown acknowledged that the last homeless camp did not work but suggested that did not mean
another homeless a camp might not succeed now given the community's support for the Occupy Eugene
encampment. He advocated for future discussion on the subject. Mr. Brown asked that the
recommendations of the Council Committee on Human Services Funding be moved up on the council's
agenda to inform future discussions of funding for homeless services.
Mr. Zelenka agreed with the mayor that there were strong feelings about Occupy Eugene on all sides. He
also discounted media polls as meaningless and nonscientific. He believed that Occupy Eugene had
highlighted the issue of homelessness. Before Occupy Eugene the homeless were scattered and hidden.
The problems and costs remained, but they were just hidden and in different places. He suggested the
council now had an opportunity to make an incremental difference in the homeless issue.
Mr. Zelenka agreed with Mr. Poling that experts did not believe a permanent camp would work because
the dysfunctional occupants would take over. He wished Occupy Eugene success but he was skeptical
about the outcome. He reconfirmed the timing of the CUP application process with City Attorney Klein.
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Ms. Taylor concurred with Occupy Eugene's suggestion that the council postpone its decision to January
9 because she felt the proposal was too sudden for people to come up with a plan. She also pointed out
the weather would be colder in January and questioned what would change between now and the
deadline, which she did not support. She asked staff to define "transitional services." City Manager Ruiz
envisioned that the City would develop more near -term ways to help people who were camping move to
legal shelters. He pointed to the staff recommendation to expand the camping ordinance to define tents as
vehicles and to establish a temporary wet housing facility as examples of transitional services. In the
meantime, the task force would develop other strategies. Ms. Taylor questioned whether there would be
sufficient legal shelters. She supported the recommendation to expand the car camping program.
Mr. Pryor commended Occupy Eugene for drawing attention to the plight of the homelessness. He did
not want to return to a situation where the homeless went back into the bushes and under the bridges.
However, he had been clear with representatives of Occupy Eugene that he did not support a permanent
camp. He wanted to work with Occupy Eugene in a meaningful and effective way but did not think a
permanent homeless camp was the solution. Mr. Pryor said that raised the question of the purpose of the
extension and its results. He did not support an extension intended to provide time for a permanent camp
location to be found. He did support an extension that allowed time for the homeless now living at the
Occupy Eugene encampment to transition into more appropriate situations.
Mayor Piercy observed that she was not hearing sufficient council support for a permanent camp. She
interpreted that as meaning that extending the exemption to the camping ban did not mean an extension to
create a process for a permanent camp but rather an extension to create time for a transition.
Mr. Clark questioned Occupy Eugene's willingness to leave Washington- Jefferson Park site. He pointed
to Occupy Eugene's Facebook site, where posters had demanded the City work with it to make
substantive changes and threatened that if it did not, they would protest where and when they wanted for
as long as they wanted. He believed if the council approved the exemption it would be "kicking the can"
45 days down the road days to another impasse. Mr. Clark believed the funding being spent on Occupy
Eugene could be much better spent serving the larger community. He pointed out the council had not yet
addressed the long -term costs of the police coverage required for Occupy Eugene.
Mr. Farr did not think the subject of homelessness was a political issue. He believed it was a human
condition issue that transcended politics.
Speaking to the subject of media polls, Mr. Farr noted that a scientific poll had been conducted that
indicated about 35 percent of Eugene residents approved the City's expenditures on Occupy Eugene.
Mr. Farr noted the community's long history of work on the homeless, beginning in 1947. He believed
that Eugene residents were keenly aware of the problem of homelessness and had done a lot about it. He
referred the council and audience to a five -page chronology of the City's work on homelessness that
could be found on his Web site, Forum Lane.
Mr. Farr questioned the nexus between the funding proposed and the service to be funded. He suggested
that the funding come from the next year's public safety and human services budgets rather than already
funded capital programs.
Mr. Brown believed the council had been asked to approve a straightforward, sensible, rational plan for
transitioning the homeless now staying at the Occupy Eugene encampment. He did not know or care
what the Occupy Eugene organizers would do. He was focused on the needs of the street youth and the
homeless. He did not think the council needed to get into the topic of a permanent camp because the task
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force could discuss that subject. He believed a wet bed facility represented a step forward and would
result in a tremendous savings. He suggested the lack of a wet bed facility contributed to the failure of
the City's previous homeless camping program.
Mr. Brown expressed concern that 45 days was not sufficient time for a resolution to be reached.
Mr. Zelenka agreed with Mr. Farr that the issue regarded the human condition. Speaking to Mr. Brown's
remarks that the task force could discuss a permanent camp, Mr. Zelenka pointed out the lengthy time line
associated with that process and concluded that such a camp was not an option with the timeline
contemplated.
Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Mr. Brown, moved that the council create a community task
force on homelessness, to be appointed by the mayor, to develop a set of
recommendations over the next 90 days for council consideration, with the task force
composed of council members, Occupy Eugene representatives, non - profit agencies, and
other community members;
Authorize the City Manager to create, or contract, with a non - profit agency for a short-
term site, like an Egan Warming Center, for the rest of winter specifically for chronic
homeless with behavioral and additional issues that would be open seven days per week
from approximately 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.;
Authorize the City Manager to contract with one or more nonprofit agencies to lead an
effort to mobilize and coordinate transitional human services for homeless who are now
camping at Washington - Jefferson Park, including an expansion of the car camping
program;
Authorize the City Manager to spend up to $300,000 for transitional services for people
camped at the Occupy Eugene site and for police and other City services at the Occupy
Eugene site, with the first $35,000 coming from Council Contingency, the next $100,000
from funds approved in Supplemental Budget #I for parks maintenance, the next
$100,000 from the funds approved in Supplemental Budget #I for street maintenance,
and the final $65,000 from the funds approved in Supplemental Budget #1 for Buckley
House and street gang issues;
Amend the council's November 9 motion to extend the exemption under Section 4.815 of
the Eugene Code one final time until noon on January 29 and direct the City Manager to
ensure all campsites are removed from Washington- Jefferson Park as soon as practicable
after the January 29 ending date; and
Direct the City Manager to request that the mayor schedule an emergency meeting of the
council to consider revocation of the exemption if the City Manager believes the Occupy
Eugene camp poses an immediate or ongoing risk to public health or safety.
Responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka about how the City could improve safety at the encampment,
City Manager Ruiz reminded the council of the list reviewed by Chief Kerns and anticipated that as the
list was implemented safety conditions would improve and the demand on City resources would decrease.
Mr. Zelenka reiterated that he was not supportive of extensions intended to lead toward a permanent camp
because he believed the time line involved was unrealistic.
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Mr. Pryor asked Mr. Zelenka what benefit he perceived from extending the camp to January 29. Mr.,
Zelenka suggested that the added time would allow the council to discuss the potential of a permanent
camp. Mr. Pryor was willing to extend the deadline to early January to help in the transition but he did
not support the later date because he did not support establishment of a permanent camp. He sought to
establish a meaningful transition period that would allow the homeless at the camp to receive services and
suggested January 11 instead. Mr. Zelenka and Mr. Brown accepted Mr. Pryor's suggestion as a friendly
amendment to the motion with the expectation that the council would discuss the subject on January 9.
Ms. Ortiz supported the earlier date. She asked what would happen if the homeless at the site did not
want to transition to another situation. She was not interested in seeking a permanent camp site but did
not object to allowing Occupy Eugene to stay in place for a while. She determined from City Attorney
Klein that the City did not own any sites that were appropriately zoned for use as a camp.
Mr. Clark supported a transition period. He did not think the council could just "slam the door" on
Occupy Eugene, although he acknowledged he had heard from many constituents who wanted the City to
do just that. While he did not think that was reasonable, he reiterated his concern that the council would
find itself in the exact same position in four weeks. He believed the council was capitulating to Occupy
Eugene in a way that was both reckless and irresponsible. It was reckless to put more people the
encampment in danger because of poor safety conditions and bad weather, and irresponsible to redirect
funding already dedicated to other services to help the homeless campers at Occupy Eugene transition to
other situations when they refused to.
Ms. Taylor pointed out that Occupy Eugene had never asked the City for money but instead relied on
donations. She did not support the sources identified for transition assistance and agreed with Mr. Farr
that the funding should come from human services. She suggested that "everything is political."
Ms. Taylor moved that the council postpone voting until January 9.
The motion died for lack of a second.
Mr. Brown clarified he was not advocating for a permanent camp right now. He mentioned the
possibility because of the community's past experience because he thought it might be a discussion topic
for the community task force. Mr. Brown perceived the manager's proposal as calm, reasonable, and
sensible. It addressed an unusual situation that the council had not faced before. He did not think that it
was capitulation to work with Occupy Eugene. He emphasized the transitional nature of the proposal. He
reiterated his concerns about the proposed deadline and suggested the council be prepared to extend the
deadline another 45 days.
Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. Poling, moved to extend the meeting for 15 minutes. The
motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Poling, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to separate the motion. The motion passed,
7:1; Mr. Brown voting no.
The council considered the first element of the motion:
That the council create a community task force on homelessness, to be appointed by the
mayor, to develop a set of recommendations over the next 90 days for council
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consideration, with the task force composed of council members, Occupy Eugene
representatives, non - profit agencies, and other community members.
Mr. Farr said the reality was that the homeless in Occupy Eugene were homeless before and would be
homeless when the encampment was gone. He recommended that the Council Committee on
Homelessness and Youth be reformed to consider the issues that had been highlighted by Occupy Eugene
in a controlled environment with individuals who could actually make binding agreements with the City.
Mr. Clark understood the challenges faced by the homeless and was willing to address those challenges in
a structured, council -based manner. He was not willing to have a discussion with those who insisted the
City "negotiate or else."
Mayor Piercy emphasized the proposed task force would be a City creation.
The vote on the motion was a 4:4 tie; councilors Ortiz, Pryor, Zelenka, and Brown voting
yes, and councilors Taylor, Poling, Clark, and Farr voting no. Mayor Piercy cast a vote
in support of the motion and it passed on a final vote of 5:4.
The council considered the second element of the motion.
Authorize the City Manager to create or contract with a non - profit agency for a short-
term site, like an Egan Warming Center, for the rest of winter specifically for chronic
homeless with behavioral and additional issues that would be open seven days per week
from approximately 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Responding to a question from Mr. Poling, City Manager Ruiz did not envision the City would create a
new nonprofit agency to provide the services contemplated, but rather would contract with a nonprofit for
a temporary wet bed facility. He anticipated a cost of $40,000 to $50,000.
Mayor Piercy believed the reference in the motion to "additional issues" should actually be to "addiction
issues."
Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. Poling, moved to amend the motion to remove the words
"create or" and to replace "additional issues" with the phrase "addiction issues" and to
direct the dollar figure to be $35,000 maximum from Council Contingency.
Mr. Clark believed the coming winter would be cold and he perceived the motion as a humanitarian effort
to expand the Egan Warming Center program.
Mr. Pryor pointed out that Egan Warming Center was operated by St. Vincent de Paul in various
locations. The current contract was for about $50,000 and he doubted the City could provide the service
with less than that. He recommended the motion be revised to indicate the manager was authorized to
spend up to $100,000. Mr. Pryor further proposed that the additional $65,000 would come from the
funding approved for parks maintenance in Supplemental Budget #1. Mr. Clark and Mr. Poling accepted
that as a friendly amendment to the amendment.
Mr. Brown believed it was a mistake to put a dollar amount on the proposed facility. He pointed out the
facility was a new mechanism for the community that would require very specialized supervision and the
City had no real concept of the need. He suggested that such details be left to the task force.
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Mr. Poling expressed concern about the impact of the motion on parks maintenance. He considered it a
poor management of funds to use that funding given the many people who used City parks. He predicted
the City would find itself with the same gap in funding for parks maintenance it faced with road
maintenance with the result that some of the parks will be in such poor condition they would be unusable.
Responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka about the cost of the proposed wet bed facility, City Manager
Ruiz believed the facility would easily cost $50,000 for three months. If the council placed a dollar limit
on the service, staff would design it accordingly.
Mr. Zelenka pointed out to Mr. Brown that the proposed facility would be operational before the task
force met.
The amendment to the motion passed, 5:3; councilors Taylor, Poling, and Farr voting no.
The amended motion passed, 5:3 councilors Taylor, Poling, and Farr voting no.
Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to extend the meeting for another 15 minutes.
The motion passed unanimously, 8:0.
The council considered the third element of the motion.
Authorize the City Manager to contract with one or more nonprofit agencies to lead an
effort to mobilize and coordinate transitional human services for homeless who are now
camping at Washington- Jefferson Park, including an expansion of the car camping
program.
Mr. Clark said he would vote against the motion because he did not believe the Occupy Eugene
participants would take advantage of transitional services.
The motion passed, 5:3; councilors Poling, Clark, and Farr voting no.
The council considered the fourth element of the motion.
Authorize the City Manager to spend up to $300,000 for transitional services for people
camped at the Occupy Eugene site and for police and other City services at the Occupy
Eugene site, with the first $35,000 coming from Council Contingency, the next $100,000
from funds approved in Supplemental Budget #1 for parks maintenance, the next
$100,000 from the funds approved in Supplemental Budget #I for street maintenance,
and the final $65,000 from the funds approved in Supplemental Budget #1 for Buckley
House and street gang issues.
Councilors acknowledged that the amounts involved in the motion had changed because of their action on
the second element. City Attorney Klein recommended that the motion be revised to refer to $200,000
for transitional services, $35,000 from parks maintenance, $100,000 from street maintenance, and
$65,000 from the funds approved for Buckley House, so the motion now read (struck text deleted;
italicized text bolded):
Authorize the City Manager to spend up to $200,000 $30q,00 for transitional services
for people camped at the Occupy Eugene site and for police and other City services at the
Occupy Eugene site, with the first $35, 000 coming from Goune ' Genfin ene , the •,.�, f
MINUTES— Eugene City Council December 14, 2011 Page 8
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funds approved in Supplemental Budget #1 for parks maintenance, the
next $100, 000 from the funds approved in Supplemental Budget #1 for street
maintenance, and the final $65, 000 from the funds approved in Supplemental Budget 91
for Buckley House and street gang issues.
Ms. Ortiz determined from Assistant City Manager Sarah Medary that the motion would not impact the
City's funding commitment for Buckley House.
Mr. Farr believed the funding sources identified were outrageous.
Mr. Clark agreed with Mr. Farr, saying they were both outrageous and wrong. The council had already
debated the expenditures involved and the only thing that had changed since its decisions was Lane
County's decreasing ability to fund Buckley House. He said the motion put Buckley House at risk and he
did not support it.
Mr. Poling believed that the council would be sending a terrible message if it passed the motion. The
average resident did not understand public budgeting and how dollars were earmarked for specific
purposes, and when residents heard the City planned to spend $100,000 from the Road Fund they were
less likely to support a road repair bond. He believed the expenditures in question needed to remain in
place.
Responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, Ms. Cutsogeorge recalled that the Budget Committee
adopted a motion that provided $450,000 for Buckley House and gang prevention, with those
expenditures to be determined by the manager. Mr. Zelenka suggested that the funding could come from
the amount needed for gang prevention, leaving Buckley House untouched. City Manager Ruiz
concurred.
Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to amend the motion to remove the reference
to Buckley House.
Mr. Pryor determined from City Manager Ruiz that he recommended the revenue sources being discussed
because they were already appropriated in the budget and accounted for in the forecast. A different
funding source would merely add to the City's revenue gap. Mr. Pryor further determined that the
proposed amount was predicated on the January 29 date. Mr. Pryor asked if a January 11 deadline
decreased those costs. City Manager Ruiz believed that the money the City spent on public safety could
go down somewhat.
Mr. Clark, seconded by, Mr. Brown, moved to extend the meeting for ten minutes. The
motion passed, 7:1; Mr. Farr voting no.
Responding to a suggestion from Mr. Zelenka that the fund sources be left to the manager's discretion,
City Manager Ruiz indicated he was likely to employ the same funding sources if given that direction.
Mr. Zelenka shared some of Mr. Poling's concern about the public perception of the shift from Road
Funds. City Manager Ruiz pointed out the council could use more of funding intended for gang
prevention. Mr. Zelenka preferred that course.
Mr. Clark reiterated his belief the motion was irresponsible. He pointed out the community had a
growing gang problem, which was an immediate public safety issue, and the council had wisely chosen to
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provide some funding to the EPD to address it. He objected to changing that direction because of
pressure from Occupy Eugene.
The amendment to the motion passed, 6:2; Mr. Farr and Mr. Poling voting no.
The vote on the amended motion was a 4:4 tie; councilors Ortiz, Pryor, Zelenka, and
Brown voting yes, and councilors Taylor, Clark, Poling, and Farr voting no. Mayor
Piercy cast a vote of support for the motion and it passed on a final vote of 5:4.
The council considered the fifth element of the motion.
Amend the council's November 9 motion to extend the exemption under Section 4.815 of
the Eugene Code one final time until noon on January 11 and direct the City Manager to
ensure all campsites are removed from Washington- Jefferson Park as soon as practicable
after the January 11 ending date.
Mr. Poling, seconded by Mr. Clark, moved to amend the motion to direct the City
Manager to ensure that all camp sites are removed from Washington- Jefferson Park no
later than seven calendar days after the December 15 deadline.
Mr. Poling said the issues that Occupy Eugene had raised did not require that people camp outside.
Mr. Clark believed the motion was the responsible thing for the council to do; otherwise, he feared the
council was "playing Russian roulette with people's safety."
The amendment to the motion failed, 5:3; councilors Poling, Clark, and Farr voting yes.
Mr. Brown expressed concern that January 11 might not be enough time. While he hoped it was, he
wanted to be sure that the council had the opportunity to consider such an extension.
Ms. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Brown, moved to change the deadline to February 28. The
motion failed, 6:2; councilors Taylor and Brown voting yes.
The motion passed, 5:3; councilors Poling, Clark, and Farr voting no.
The council considered the sixth element of the motion.
Direct the City Manager to request that the mayor schedule an emergency meeting of the
council to consider revocation of the exemption if the City Manager believes the Occupy
Eugene camp poses an immediate or ongoing risk to public health or safety.
Mr. Poling noted that many councilors might be unavailable over the holidays and questioned if the
motion was necessary. He believed the City Manager could make that decision. He asked the manager
what threshold would trigger a revocation. City Manager Ruiz suggested it was likely no single incident
but rather the totality of the camp's condition that would cause him to request an emergency meeting. He
would work with Occupy Eugene to ensure that conditions for campers and the police were as safe as
possible and consider the situation on a day -to -day basis.
City Attorney Klein noted that only the council had the authority to revoke the exemption.
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Mr. Clark wanted the council to define the threshold for the City Manager and wanted the manager to
make the decision in accordance with that threshold. He did not want to remove the manager from the
decision loop, however, given the manager's administrative responsibilities. City Manager Ruiz
acknowledged that was generally his preferred position. He felt the decision would have policy
implications that only the council could decide and his decision would be as contentious as a council
decision.
Ms. Ortiz indicated support for the motion because she felt the council had responsibility to make the
decisions involved. Mr. Zelenka concurred.
Mr. Brown also supported the motion. He said the council was elected to make such decisions.
The motion passed, 5:3; councilors Poling, Clark, and Farr voting no.
Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Brown, moved to extend the meeting for 15 minutes. The
motion passed, 7:1; Mr. Clark voting no.
Council Coordinator Beth Forrest distributed copies of a draft emergency ordinance temporarily allowing
tent camping in areas where car camping was permitted and a draft emergency ordinance that provided an
exemption to the ban on open fires.
City Attorney Klein asked if all the councilors were willing to proceed with the proposed emergency
ordinance with abbreviated notice to the audience. Mr. Poling declined to proceed. City Attorney Klein
said in that case, the council could not move forward.
B. WORK SESSION:
Envision Eugene — Implementation
Due to a lack of time, this item was not addressed.
Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 2:12 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
/3,t� 1,,,t
Beth Forrest
City Recorder
(Recorded by Kimberly Young)
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