CC Minutes - 02/26/07 Work Session

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room—Eugene City Hall February 26, 2007 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman (via speaker- phone for item C), George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka. In the absence of Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy, Ms. Ortiz called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. COMMITTEE REPORTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL, AND CITY MANAGER Mr. Pryor reported he attended the most recent meeting of the Lane Council of Governments Board of Directors and heard a presentation on how rural communities could be more effective. He also attended the West Eugene Forum meeting, during which participants worked on a problem/purpose statement. Mr. Pryor reported that earlier that day, he attended the Human Services Commission meeting and learned that given the uncertainty of the renewal of the federal Rural Schools Safety Act, Lane County was preparing two budgets, one of which was a “doomsday” budget that would close entire departments. He said the situation was very serious and was not confined to Lane County. Ms. Solomon asked Acting City Manager Angel Jones to ensure the council had a work session regarding City’s experience with the implementation of the Rental Housing Code. Ms. Taylor indicated she would be absent from the next two meetings as she would be in Washington, DC. She spoke to the development proposal the council would consider in her absence, and questioned if City Manager Dennis Taylor had reviewed all the options regarding the downtown properties. Ms. Taylor urged that the council accept the Beam proposal and use downtown urban renewal funds to buy the Centre Court building. She found the Beam proposal better than the others under consideration because it would renovate an important corner of downtown. Additionally, it would not threaten existing, viable businesses in downtown. She thought the City should do all it could to nurture and assist downtown businesses and incrementally improve those parts of downtown that were not working. Ms. Taylor believed the City would need guarantees from those making the Beam proposal and should protect the offices holding Farmer’s Market and Saturday Market. Mr. Poling shared Ms. Solomon’s interest in having a work session on the Rental Housing Code. He recalled that the council agreed to revisit the fee at some point and requested a review after the first year of implementation. Staff requested two years, so information regarding a full year’s experience with of revenues was available, and that would be after July 1. Mr. Poling wanted to look at the fees collected, MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 26, 2007 Page 1 Work Session