BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS'

REGULAR MEETING

November 9, 2005

Commissioners' Conference Room

following Board of Health

APPROVED 8/15/06

 

Commissioner Anna Morrison presided with Commissioners Bill Dwyer, Bobby Green, Sr., Peter Sorenson and Faye Stewart present.  County Administrator Bill Van Vactor, County Counsel Teresa Wilson and Recording Secretary Melissa Zimmer were also present.

 

1. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA

 

Item 9. b. was pulled and will come back in two weeks.  There will be two Emergency Business items.

 

2. PUBLIC COMMENTS

 

Ron Getter, Eugene, discussed local access roads.  He noted the access road with the house he has in Florence is approximately one mile long, 12 feet wide and is gravel.  He noted there are 40 homes and they have a loose unofficial road association that they ask for a voluntary $75 per year contribution to minimally maintain the road to fill the potholes.  He indicated the road is heavily used from May through October. He noted most of the homes are second homes, with six permanent residents.  He commented that the road was not very wide so there are passing issues. He said there is a concern about safety and liability.  He stated it was hard to maintain a mile of gravel when it gets that much use.  He said they took a vote by mail to ask homeowners if they would be willing to pay to have the road paved and 75% said they would, but they have no way to make it happen.  He said when they looked into the logistics of paving the road it was difficult.  He thought the Board should know there are heavily used roads that are not being maintained.  He said they were afraid that someone was going to get hurt because the road is heavily used.

 

Gloria Cunningham, Florence, stated they have approximately 80 families that live in the area of Collard Lake Road.  She noted that it is a local access road.  She said they provide the evacuation route for the smaller roads that go around the lake.  She noted in 1999 Collard Lake Road was paved.  She asked that the adjoining roads that are dangerous be repaired.  She said the roads are deteriorating.  She said there are potholes and loose gravel, making it a dangerous situation.  She said they are asking that the roads be repaired on a one-time basis, as that is what was done on Collard Lake Road and that is holding up.  She asked that the other roads be done on a one-time basis.  She got a petition signed that was submitted.  She said they are waiting to have their roads repaired by the County.

 

John Sundquist, Coburg, addressed pesticide issues.  He said he was at the meeting when the Policies and Procedures document was drawn up.  He was on the Vegetation Management Advisory Committee when Snowden inserted the language that pesticides would be used no matter what the cost would be.  He wanted to make sure that pesticides would not be considered as a last resort but in the normal course of things.  Sundquist commented that his issue is with pesticides in the spray truck.  He said it fogs along the side of road and it is the source of the lawsuits in the past.  He commented that it wasn’t necessary for the function of the roadsides to be maintained.  He recalled that Snowden mentioned getting more mowers.  Sundquist commented that Lane County has more mowers than ODOT.  He thought there was duplicity in the numbers in the reports.  He said the good news was that the County hadn’t sprayed in two years and no one was poisoned from the County.  He noted that private landowners are spraying in the County right of way without permits and the approval of the Public Works Department.  He indicated the changes of the ordinance were only going to deal with the spray truck but every change to the ordinance would reduce safety to the public.  He thought the County was heading in the right direction with the last resort policy and the new vegetation management coordinator.  He noted another issue is spraying the forest.  He wanted the Board of Commissioners to ask the health department to investigate and report back.

 

3. EMERGENCY BUSINESS

 

Stewart explained the issue is Lane County taking responsibility at a railroad crossing.  He said the state requires a government agency to provide upkeep and take responsibility for that crossing.

 

Dwyer asked how they separate this issue from local access roads.  He noted this is a private road.  He stated this was a specific problem with what is required with safety striping.  He said it is not something they do all the time.  He wanted to separate the broader subject of accepting local access roads from this issue.

 

Snowden said they don’t have any liability to maintain a local access road.  He said this was a local access road, owned by Wildish, and William’s Bakery is going to lease it.  He recalled the Board vacated a part of the right of way a couple of months ago so they could relocate the rail spur in a place that would better serve the future Williams Bakery.  He added as part of that relocated spur, ODOT Rail has to issue an order permitting a new crossing.  He said they require that a public road agency sign the agreement and the public road agency agree to continue maintenance into the future.  He said that Wildish has agreed to pay for the signing and pavement marking, that the County would otherwise have to do, associated with this crossing, as a one-time payment. He noted the agreement that is also attached to the packet material was put together to protect the County against any long term expenses to maintain the road or upgrade the crossing if the crossing needed to be upgraded in the future by ODOT rail.

 

Sorenson asked what the emergency was.

 

Snowden said they met with the City of Springfield, Wildish and Jack Roberts six months ago to discuss this issue.  He indicated the land around Newman Street and Nugget had been annexed to the City of Springfield.  He noted the roads were not annexed. He indicated Nugget and Newman are both access roads.  He recalled at that meeting they requested that the City of Springfield take jurisdiction, annex these roads and they would become city streets and the County would be out of this.  He noted the city declined to do it.  He indicated they were still involved because the roads are not annexed.

 

Stewart asked for it to be emergency business because there is a time frame.  He said the work season is becoming shorter and this needs to be done as soon as possible.

 

Snowden explained the order has to be signed by the Board because it commits the County to maintain a local access road into the future.  He said the policy in the past was that they were not maintaining the local access roads.

 

Sorenson asked if the County could get out of maintaining the rail crossing if there was non-performance by Wildish.

 

Snowden indicated that the proposal is that Wildish would reimburse them for installation of the initial signing and pavement markings.  He said they are in agreement with that.  He stated the disagreement is on the continuing obligation that the County would incur by signing the ODOT rail order which states they will maintain it into the future.

 

Stewart thought it was in the public’s best interest to maintain the crossing.  He said the Wildish Company agreed to pay for the initial signs and marking the pavement.  He thought they should maintain the crossing and not tie it to a piece of property.

 

Snowden said they recommended that the County maintain the rail crossing on a continuing basis, provided they receive reimbursement from Wildish for the maintenance.  He said that reimbursement by Wildish of the continuing maintenance is what is in question.

 

Wilson said when she looks at Exhibit C, (the proposed agreement between Wildish and Lane County) she reads it as saying Wildish will reimburse the County for everything, including the initial construction and maintenance activities.  She said the issue for the Board is whether they should be looking to Wildish to cover the maintenance piece.  She indicated if the Board adopted the document as it is, it would include assumption of the agreement.

 

Snowden indicated it would include the assumption of the maintenance and the provision for liquidated damages of $10,000 if Wildish doesn’t pay them in the future.  He added Lane County has to maintain it, and it includes the provision that the commitment to maintain will run with the land in perpetuity or until the City of Springfield takes ownership.

 

Steve Wildish, Eugene, said they are the facilitator in helping out Williams Bakery to get the railcars in so they could bring in their flour.  He indicated he had only seen the packet earlier in the day.  He said they are on a time frame and it is happening quickly.  He said there were concerns about the agreement.  He said they haven’t had time to discuss them.  He noted one provision of the County’s interest that needs to be protected and Wildish reimbursing the County for the future maintenance needs to be recorded as a land interest.  He commented that most of the tax lots along the spur are not using the rail, only the bakery is using it.  He said it is a complicated issue. He suggested they pay the up front costs and the County accept the maintenance cost.  He said they expect Springfield to annex this within the next five years.  He noted that Wildish has been in discussions with Springfield about that and they expect it to happen.  He said they want this to run in perpetuity.

 

Morrison said this came to the Board because of the construction season, to keep the project moving forward.  She asked if Wildish could work the issues out and still meet the timeline they are looking at.

 

Wildish thought it would cost more money and it would be more of a delay.  He said they agreed to reimburse the County for all of their costs.

 

Morrison suggested they discuss this in this afternoon’s meeting.

 

(This portion from the afternoon)

 

ORDER 05-11-9-12 Authorizing Expenditure of Road Funds on Newman Street, a Local Access Road, and for Construction and Maintenance Pursuant to Oregon Transportation Department Order Entered in RX 1264.

 

Snowden said he researched the resolution and included a revised board order that included reimbursement from Wildish.

 

Wilson explained that Wildish agreed to accept the responsibility that the County would assume under the ODOT order with construction and maintenance on local access roads.  She said the County would continue to do the kind of minimal inspection at the odd times when something comes up.  She indicated Wildish agreed to reimburse the County, but they had a disagreement with the liquidated damages.  She said they agreed to pay $3,500 that would cover any of the situations where there would be a cost in the long run.  They agreed that the agreement will not be recorded, it is an agreement to match the requirements in the ODOT order.  She noted that typically the County doesn’t enter into non-real property.  She stated in this instance they are incurring no obligations to Wildish, they don’t bind future Boards for budget issues and they are not incurring obligations that have budgetary implications.  She stated it was a low risk.  She recommended that Wildish reimburse the County’s recommendations to approve the order and agreement.

 

Morrison asked what happens if and when Springfield takes over jurisdiction.  She wanted to make sure there was a tracking mechanism that is cancelled out.

 

Wilson responded in the event that Springfield doesn’t take over, Wildish would continue the work deemed necessary.

 

MOTION: to approve ORDER 05-11-9-12.

 

Dwyer MOVED, Stewart SECONDED.

 

VOTE: 5-0.

 

4. COMMISSIONERS' REMONSTRANCE

 

Sorenson said there is a major Wal-Mart movie coming out and the director Robert Greenwald is coming to Eugene.

 

5. COMMISSIONERS' BUSINESS

 

None.

 

6. COUNTY ADMINISTRATION

 

a. Announcements

 

Van Vactor reported that Performance Counts would take place on December 1.  He indicated they are wrapping up the charitable contribution campaign.

 

7. PUBLIC WORKS

 

a. STATUS REPORT/I-5/Willamette Crossing.

 

Tom Stinchfield, Public Works, explained that this is a report on the I-5 Franklin Boulevard interchange.

 

Tom Boyatt, ODOT, reported next steps include a subsequent elected officials briefing for Eugene on November 14 and for Springfield on November 21.  He said they have planned public open houses to provide the information.  He said there is a meeting on December 1 at Springfield City Hall, December 5 at the Northwest Youth Corps Building and December 8, to be determined in Eugene.  He noted their intent is to set up meetings with the three elected bodies early next year to come back with the decision on whether to pursue a refinement planning process for a project like this.  He explained that this project is not the bridge replacement project, it is a high level look at the interchange project. 

 

Dwyer asked at the MPC that ODOT provide a list of the constraints, and the federal rules and laws that prohibit the types of things they are trying to do.  He didn’t think there would be an interchange built at the Franklin Boulevard because of the topography and highway rules.  He thought it should be in Glenwood.  He didn’t think two things would be built at the same time.  He wanted to know what kind of federal law changes were going to be made to amend the rules. 

 

Boyatt stated he would e-mail the link to the additional access to the interstate system policy.  He brought an excerpt from the Oregon Highway Plan that is the major improvements policy.  He said the purpose of this effort is to give the three elected bodies enough information to decide a refinement planning effort that would lead to a preferred interchange alternative.

 

Morrison stated they need to know what type of federal constraints or requirements are there.  She said they would work around those in regard to what they are going to design.

 

Boyatt said it was high level and intentionally designed to find out if the Refinement Plan has merit or not.  He said it would redirect the traffic that is using the existing system to get to their same destinations on I-5, 126, and Beltline Highway.  He noted there is a significant list of project issues.  He commented that with enough money and political support, anything could be built.  He said their consultants tell them that around the country there are different projects that had been able to move forward even with certain challenges. He said there are issues with topography, utilities and major power lines.  He said there is a railroad that runs through it. He added the Willamette River is there and there are issues with that.  He noted there are species and resource issues and some wetlands.  He commented there is a complex project at the river.  He said the policy issues they are noting, but they haven’t done the work to find out what the impact might be to a particular alternative.  He noted the interchange concepts do not appear at this level to solve a pure transportation problem. 

 

Green commented that with the cost it was a high level planning exercise.  He wasn’t hopeful the numbers would go down.

 

Boyatt didn’t ask for a decision.  He wanted to hear from the constituents and bring it back to the elected bodies to choose to make a decision on whether to go to a Refinement Plan to pursue a preferred alternative.

 

Stinchfield indicated this would be brought back to the Board in January of February.

 

Boyatt said they will go to the other elected bodies and give the same briefing and they want to take the information public and bring them back to the Board to provide a framework.

 

b. ORDER 05-11-9-1/In the Matter of Awarding Annual Trashbuster Awards.

 

Morrison read the ordinance into the record.

 

MOTION: to approve ORDER 05-11-9-1.

 

Dwyer MOVED, Stewart SECONDED.

 

VOTE: 5-0.

 

c. WORK SESSION/Legal Implications Associated with Policies Concerning Regulation of Local Access Roads.

 

Snowden recalled there were two items the Board asked for:  a discussion about the obligation to warn about the potential hazards on local access roads and Dwyer’s request as to which roads have gates on them.

 

Snowden indicated that the explanation for a local access road is outside of a city that is subject to the exercise of jurisdiction by a county governing body in the same manner as a county road except as follows:  the county and its officers are not liable for failure to improve the local access road or to keep it in repair. He stated they had been spending money on local access roads without Board authorization for years in administration work.  He said they had never come back to the Board to get clarification on whether they wanted them to continue or treat the investigations different.  He asked the Board if they as a county have an obligation to warn of potential hazardous situations on local access roads.  He noted that legal counsel in their opinion said they did have an obligation to warn.

 

Morrison asked what they were going to define as a hazardous situation.

 

Snowden responded that depended on their investigation.  He said they have to determine from the caller whether they believe it is something that demands their immediate attention and if not, then the response is they don’t maintain local access roads.  He said if there is some question about it, they would send someone on site to investigate and that is when they incur expenses. He said depending upon the seriousness, there would be different options that they could follow.  He added if it appears to be an immediate threat, they would sign or barricade it.

 

Morrison asked what the county was doing with people who were putting up stop signs that didn’t meet the criteria.  She asked if the people have to be told how much they have to overlay if they asphalt.

 

Snowden said it would depend on the specific circumstances. He stated they were not issuing facility permits on local access roads other than to utilities.

 

Celia Barry, Public Works, explained that they have requirements for land divisions to meet standards and there are standards for local access roads.  She said they have to look at specific situations, as each is different.  She commented that there are no new local access roads that are created, they are usually private roads.

 

Wilson noted that the County is not liable for the maintenance and repair of local access roads.

 

Morrison was concerned about a local access road going out to a local highway.

 

Snowden said there were two definitions of a local access road:  a state statute and a county definition.  He indicated that both stated the right of way has to be deeded to the County for public use and Lane Code said the Board has to accept it.  He added that the state statute states that there has to be notice placed in a public location or public place.  He said in Lane County they have 120 miles of local access roads that they have accepted that might fall under the ORS definition. He said a local access road has nothing to do with volume.

 

Green commented that there was an effort to have Collard Lake brought into the county system for maintenance and repairs.  He indicated that there was an old document where the board had agreed to do a one-time expenditure 

 

Snowden commented that there were no local access roads inside of city limits.  He said it could be called a local road, but it is not a local access road.  He indicated the issue today is that a strict interpretation of ORS 368.031 states that they should not be spending any county road fund money on any local access road without Board authorization.  He asked the Board if they wanted to pass a blanket board order that allows them to do administration and investigation of potential hazards on local access roads or to keep doing what they were doing without telling the Board, or for them not to do it at all.  He added if they don’t do anything at all that it would create a liability problem.

 

Green wanted an administrative investigation.

 

Snowden indicated that if there was a fix, then they would come back as a separate item.   He said they would come back with an order to that effect.

 

There was consensus for that.

 

Snowden stated he would come back with a Board order. 

 

Dwyer asked if a facilities permit was needed to replace a gate.

 

Snowden responded that if it is in a County road, it was.  He said if someone put up a gate on a local access road, they would be impeding the public’s ability to use that road.

 

Dwyer asked if a facility permit is required from another government entity.

 

Snowden said not for Lane County.

 

Dwyer asked if those gates were non-government and did not have a facility permit, if they would be in violation.

 

Simas said that could be correct.

 

Dwyer said there  were many gates that were across public roads that were not authorized to be there and had no legal rights or facilities to do so.

 

Morrison asked why there was still a gate on Duncan Island Road when they asked for it to be taken down.

 

Simas thought the gates were down.  He noted the list was based on the 2002 road book that was the most recent one he had.

 

Dwyer said his goal was to get gates out when people put gates across a road to control access when they had no authority to do so.  He said he wanted those gates removed.  He wanted to send a letter to those people telling them a gate is there and there is no legal right to have that gate and the gate needed to be removed or Lane County would remove the gate at their expense.

 

Snowden said they will enter into a discussion with them and if there appears to be a compelling reason to issue a facilities permit, he asked if he should come back to the Board.

 

Morrison commented that this road should be in Lane County’s system and if it means extending their overlays by another year in order to cover the cost, it would eliminate frustration and staff time.  She didn’t know why there was an unwillingness to do it.  She added that some of the local access roads they paved and maintained until the early 90’s.

 

Dwyer stated that they shouldn’t allow local access roads.  He said if people want to find a way to develop their property without a facility permit by utilizing the local access road, develop it, and have the taxpayers pick it up is a bad situation for the public.  He added if the Secure Rural Schools money goes away, they wouldn’t be able to maintain the public roads, let alone the private roads.  He didn’t agree to accepting local access roads when people built them to operate and maintain them so the County could accept the responsibility.

 

Van Vactor suggested that Bieda could possibly discuss with the Legislative Committee an amendment to the statute that discusses no liability that would authorize expenditures for purpose of administration so Public Works would be comfortable with the time spent and the issuance of permits.

 

Dwyer thought that was an excellent idea.

 

With regard to the inventory question, Barry said she had a call from Florence.  She noted they have an adopted TSP that does not have the local access roads in that inventory.  She said they have a computerized system that has a record of those roads.  She said because they were not supposed to spend money on them, they did not spend time in putting them into the TSP.  She said in dealing with the roads being improved, she noted there was another option that was already provided for in the code, a local improvement district.  She said they have language that would allow special assessments for people to get the roads improved if 60% of the residents sign a petition.  She added that they could have them improved to the local access road standards that are minimal, instead of dealing with the situation of having them brought in the County road system.  She added they have a policy in the TSP that says they are going to encourage the formation of local improvement districts.  She heard some people comment that they would be willing to do that, but they didn’t have a method to do it because they don’t have a program in place.  She indicated it was something they could possibly do.

 

Morrison commented that Public Works has direction with regard to the agenda item.

 

8. CONSENT CALENDAR

 

A. Approval of Minutes:

June 29, 2005, Regular Meeting, 9:00 a.m.

June 29, 2005, Regular Meeting, 1:30 p.m.

October 26, 2005, Regular Meeting, 1:30 p.m.

 

B. County Administration

 

1) Letter in Support of LCOG's Application to USDA Rural Development for Intermediary Relending Program Loan.

 

2) ORDER 05-11-9-11/In the Matter of Discussions Regarding Transferring the Oregon State Police to County Government.

 

C. Public Works

 

1) ORDER 05-11-9-2/In the Matter of Accepting a Right of Way Grant from the Bureau of Land Management to be Used as a Public Road Easement for Templeton Road (County Road Number 1011) (16-06-13).

 

2) ORDER 05-11-9-3/In the Matter of Accepting a Right of Way Grant from the Bureau of Land Management to be Used as a Public Road Easement for Quaglia Road (County Road Number 1063) (21-03-02).

 

3) ORDER 05-11-9-4/In the Matter of Releasing, Dedicating and Accepting Parcel “C” of the Third Addition to Green Briar Park, a Parcel of County Owned Real Estate, as Right of Way for County Road Number 2050 (Oroyan Avenue) (17-04-02-13).

 

4) ORDER 05-11-9-5/In the Matter of Releasing, Dedicating and Accepting Parcels “B” and “C” of the Plat of Scottdale, Parcels of County Owned Real Estate, as Right of Way for County Road Number 2050 (Oroyan Avenue) (17-04-02-13).

 

5) ORDER 05-11-9-6/In the Matter of Accepting a Right of Way Grant from the Bureau of Land Management to be Used as a Public Road Easement for Hills Creek Road (County Road Number 353) (18-01-15 & 21).

 

D. Management Services

 

1) ORDER 05-11-9-7/In the Matter of Approving a Project Work Plan, Time Line and Budget for a Classification & Compensation Study for Lane County's Non-Represented Supervisory and Management Employees.

 

MOTION: to approve the Consent Calendar.

 

Dwyer MOVED, Stewart SECONDED.

 

VOTE: 5-0.

 

9. MANAGEMENT SERVICES

 

a. ORDER 05-11-9-8/In the Matter of Creating the Classification and Salary Range for the Community Health Nurse 1.

 

MOTION: to approve ORDER 05-11-9-8.

 

Dwyer MOVED, Stewart SECONDED.

 

VOTE: 5-0.

 

b. ORDER 05-11-9-9/In the Matter of Establishing the Department of Human Resources, Creating Classifications for Human Resources Department Director and Assistant County Administrator (ACA), Establishing 1.0 FTE ACA Position, Addressing Compensation of ACA and County Administrator, and Amending the Lane Manual. (PULLED)

 

10. CORRESPONDENCE TO THE BOARD

 

None.

 

11. COMMISSIONERS' ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

None.

 

12 EXECUTIVE SESSION as per ORS 192.660

 

None.

 

13 OTHER BUSINESS

 

None.

 

There being no further business, Commissioner Morrison recessed the meeting at 12:00 p.m.

 

 

Melissa Zimmer

Recording Secretary