BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS'

REGULAR MEETING

November 28, 2007

1:30 p.m.

Commissioners' Conference Room

APPROVED 12/1/2009

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

  17. PUBLIC WORKS

a. REPORT BACK Review of Road Fund.

Ollie Snowden, Public Works, reported that they are in the process of working on the Fin Plan. (Copy in file).  He said they are assuming that either HR 3058 and/or the Wyden amendment for Secure Rural Schools will be approved and they are assuming the $9.9 million from SB 994 will stick.  He said they would assume their current level of service except that they continue to have the decreasing capital improvement program.  He added that they are proposing increases in their preservation budget because they are finding the increased cost of materials means they are unable to keep up.  He commented that they are still facing a structural deficit in the general fund because their overall operating costs continue to increase. He indicated that the road fund balance is okay for about three years before it starts to drop off unless they change the services or add revenue by 2013 they will need to make changes.

Stewart thought they would have time if they thought capital improvement projects were important to move forward.  He agreed to move forward with some of the projects.  He thought the projects should be discussed with the Roads Advisory Committee.  He asked about the letters to the city on the 994 project list recommendation.

Snowden responded that the letter didn’t go out because they had to regroup after they talked to AOC.  He said the original concept was that they would share the money with the cities and the cities could use it on their streets.  He added that AOC said that was not the legislative intent.

Sorenson asked if there was an alternative to the road funds without the renewal of SRS.

Snowden reviewed their budget at a one year extension.  He noted that if nothing comes through, they would have to make big cuts.  He said if they only get a one year extension, he suggested they look at serious cuts.  He added that they still have the 2009 session of the legislature.  He said if they come through with a big package they would see revenue and they could look for a transition period where they wouldn’t make drastic cuts until they see what the legislature does.  He recommended going through the services they provide to see if there are some they should no longer do. He proposed drawing the reserve down to continue their same level of service until either Secure Rural Schools is really dead or they know what the legislature will be doing before they get into making major cuts.  He indicated that they eliminated 15 positions and transferred four positions out of the road fund to a different fund and they are planning to use the reserve for the current level of service.

b. REPORT BACK to Board on progress of the Waste Management Division's Nuisance Abatement Program.

Jeff Bishop, Waste Management, distributed information including maps from June 1, 2006 to November 27, 2007.  (Copy in file).

c. ORDER 07-11-28-5/In the Matter of Authorizing the County Administrator to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Eugene Authorizing $40,000 from the Road Fund and Lane County Participation in the West Eugene Collaborative Process.

Ollie Snowden, Public Works, reported that he was asked to prepare a board order that would authorize the transfer of $40,000 to the city for support of the West Eugene Collaborative Process.  He distributed a memo that listed potential conditions the Board might want to attach. He indicated that a lot of this was pulled from the prospectus by the West Eugene Collaborative in July.  Snowden read the order into the record.  He noted there is no Attachment A.  He said the city has asked for $40,000 and it is his understanding that this will enable the process to continue for six months and if the Board provides the funds, they might not want to include conditions.  He thought they could have the County’s financial participation be conditioned on some definable outcome at the end of six months.  He recommended the Board choose someone to participate on the committee.

Stewart indicated that he would be willing to sit on the committee.

Snowden said they will change the last whereas if the Board designates Stewart.

Fleenor supported the board order and requested to add the caveat that the WEC process must concurrently address congestion and safety issues on Highway 126 from Greenhill Road to Territorial Highway.  He wanted to ensure this County funding is used for facilitation versus technical analysis.

Mayor Kitty Piercy, city of Eugene, indicated there is technical work being done currently on the short term solutions when it comes to the input on the Em Ex route in West Eugene.  She said the only issue she has with the word “concurrently” is that they would be doing this within 18 months.

MOTION:  to approve ORDER 07-11-28-5 stating in the order that Stewart represents Lane County in the WEC process.

Sorenson MOVED, Fleenor SECONDED.

Green stated he won’t support this as it is not a good use of public dollars on this process.

Dwyer questioned whether it is legal under the Constitution.  He said it is a stretch when they say a study group qualifies under Article 9, Section 3 a.  He said he won’t stand in the way of this.

Wilson recalled that Dwyer raised the issue of the use of the road funds.  She said that any IGA they entered into with the city of Eugene or other cities that involves the transfer of road funds contains language that requires that the road funds be used for constitutionally permissible purposes and has the city indemnify the County in the use of the funds.  She said they will ensure the funds are used for appropriate purposes.

Sorenson said he wanted to give this a chance.

Stewart said he wanted to be optimistic.  He commented that they won’t get anywhere if they don’t try.

Dwyer thought they could successfully argue that this process is not a planning process.  He said they are planning to see where they can plan.  He indicated that he was not bringing that issue today. 

VOTE: 4-1 (Green dissenting).

Dwyer stated that he was serving notice of possible reconsideration.

d. Coordination Population Estimated Process

Stewart recalled that the public came to the Board asking them to take over the coordinated population estimate process.  He reported that they had expanded the public input period and outreach to the citizens to accommodate the needs and concerns of the citizens.

Sorenson asked if the LCOG Board of Directors were going forward with adoption of the new population projections. 

George Kloppel, LCOG, believed they were going forward based on the Board’s request.  He recommended to the Board that they not proceed as had been scheduled with an adoption action, but to keep the record open and continue the public hearing.  He added the LCOG Board acted on the Board of Commissioners recommendation to advise the cities to seek additional public comment.

Sorenson asked if Kloppel saw the letter from Attorney Doug DuPriest saying that Lane County was opposed to the adoption of the LCOG forecast or that Lane County would reassert its authority and take the authority and transfer it back from LCOG to Lane County.  He asked Kloppel if they preferred for Lane County not to take back that authority and for them not to object to the population forecast.

Kloppel believed that LCOG by experience and tradition is in a good position to carry the task out on behalf of the County and the cities to do a coordinated population forecast.  He believed that they are the right body to do it and if the County thought otherwise, that would be okay.

Sorenson asked Wilson if Lane County could take it back.

Wilson indicated that he gave it to Assistant County Counsel Steve Vorhes and the review hasn’t occurred and it wasn’t on the agenda.

Sorenson asked if Vorhes could get back to the Board on the legal issue.

Van Vactor commented that besides the legal issues there is the practical issue of staff and resources.  He said that LCOG doesn’t get any compensation.  He added that if Lane County were to assume the task, he didn’t know where they would get the expertise and staff to handle it.  He stated that currently they don’t have the capability of the organization.

Dwyer indicated the Board response was not directed at LCOG.  He said people who lived in the various cities didn’t think they had the opportunity to talk about it as an agenda item at their level.  He wanted to see a list of all the cities and what actions they have taken to satisfy their concerns.

Bob Swank, LCOG, said since the request, the cities of Oakridge, Creswell, and Florence have conducted public hearings and adopted a resolution supporting the forecast.  He added that Junction City is scheduled to do that in December.  He noted the city of Veneta stated they have discussed it but did not conduct a public hearing.

Dwyer asked if they were required to adopt the forecasts or if they could exclude those groups that didn’t want to be part of it.

Kloppel responded that it is a coordinated countywide population forecast.

Swank explained that the only cities that have changes from the ones that were adopted in 2005 are the cities he just listed.  He stated the rest of the cities accepted the existing adopted numbers.

Kloppel commented that the concept of a coordinated population forecast is part science and part participatory process between the County and the cities.  He indicated that a number of meetings have been held to engage in the process as a collective.

Fleenor wanted to defer discussion until next week and have all the information in front of them.

Stewart was not afraid to have the conversation.  He thought it was inappropriate to change the process in the middle because a couple of people came to public comment.  He commented that the person who is really pushing this owns about 40 percent of the buildable property in the urban growth boundary in Lowell and it is to her advantage not to see the urban growth boundary moved.  He thought instead of changing the process in the middle and go by rules people have prescribed to, that if they want to take over the coordinated population estimated business, to start the process at a new date so they can explain the rules to everyone as they move forward.  He added that this Board directed more public input.  He believed that Lowell and Veneta had the matter on their agenda and allowed for public comment.  He added that other entities had public hearings.  He believed the intent of the Board was to get more input into the process and that desire has been met. 

Van Vactor recalled that Fleenor wanted information.  He wanted to know what type of information.

Fleenor asked how much it would cost the County to get the function back and what the elements involved would be.

Swank indicated that it had been a year long process and it was initiated at the request of four cities.  He said they have been using city administrators as the primary oversight committee. He estimated that there has been two months of staff work involved.

Fleenor explained that the purpose of his interest is to look at some of the legacy practices that had been going on for several decades and look at it in a contemporary perspective to see if they need to do something different and where they are headed.

18. COMMISSIONERS' ANNOUNCEMENTS

Fleenor announced that he was participating in the Ocean Policy Advisory Committee meeting.

Dwyer reported that the $5,000 from the Board leveraged $5,000 from the community for food..  He noted that so far he has raised $22,000.  He said he is having a meeting tomorrow with Food for Lane County and St. Vincent de Paul to coordinate the event that will be held on December 13 at 10:00 a.m. at Food for Lane County.

Stewart attended the RIB meeting on Monday and they adopted a priority list.  He announced the retirement of Bill Van Vactor and Don Nichols.  

20. CORRESPONDENCE TO THE BOARD

Request from Port of Siuslaw Letter

Dwyer thought they needed to have the County Administrator and planning staff to see where they are in terms of compliance and report back to the Board with options that are available to them, including the possible extension of the timeline.

Fleenor thought they needed to have an objective evaluation and where they need to be in five years in order to satisfy the deed requirements.

Stewart indicated that Jeff Spartz would do the research and report back to the Board.

21. OTHER BUSINESS

Discussion of Intergovernmental Relations Program

Stewart reported that Tony Bieda’s last day will be December 14.  He asked Bieda to make suggestions on what they need to be tracking and how they should proceed forward with Secure Rural Schools, United Front and Special Session, to help them plan for the future.

Bieda explained the IGR functions.  He also discussed the United Front and the 2008 Special Session.

Greta Utecht, Human Resources, discussed posting Bieda’s position.

There being no further business, Commissioner Stewart adjourned the meeting at 4:10 p.m.

Melissa Zimmer