BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS'

REGULAR MEETING

January 16, 2008

9:00 a.m.

Commissioners’ Conference Room

APPROVED 2/13/2008

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

1. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA

Stewart added under Commissioners’ Business, an update and potential direction on the focus groups and polling for the Fairgrounds before the March 12 community meeting, under 7 c).

Item 3.B 1) on the Consent Calendar is a report and not an order.

2. PUBLIC COMMENTS

Jim Seaberry, Eugene, wanted the Board to focus on streets.  He said on April 19, 2006 there was a meeting in Harris Hall where 22 streets were vacated to the City of Eugene.  He read the ORS about transferring jurisdiction within cities.  He commented that this was okay in the past but it won’t be any more.  He thought it should be discussed when the Board has a work session.

Jim Dotson, Eugene, discussed ORS 191.040 as the standard between the County and the city.  He commented that Oregon cities do not have home rule authority to impose the same obligations outside their borders.  He said 190 agreements are a wall between cities and the county.  He noted when they allow the city to issue county’s building permits, the representative of the city transfers to an agent for the county and they could issue building permits as representing the County and cannot drag in any City of Eugene authority.

Jim Gillette, Eugene, said he came in for one more attempt to make a final offer.  He indicated that his case is coming up for a court date.  He commented that if the fine is unjust, he shouldn’t have to pay.  He thought the whole system was corrupt.  He said he already paid $1,000 and paid over $3,000 in permits for an agricultural building.  He stated the compliance department was biased against him.

Ann McLucas, Eugene, hoped the Board could discuss a reform that was retroactive.  She said Gillette has a good heart, a sense of justice and he is persistent.  She said he has been frustrated and depressed and it has been wearing on him.  She recommended that the Board settle this matter.

Lorane Still, Creswell, thanked the Board for the recognition award.  She asked Green not to run for mayor.

Zachary Vishinoff, Eugene, discussed plans for the University of Oregon shadow campus.  He noted there are problems, including the university not planning on having parking.  He wanted the city to go to Agate Hall and provide an open forum where the neighborhood could discuss the permit and possibly get their own transportation study done.   

3. CONSENT CALENDAR

A. Approval of Minutes:

December 12, 2006, Regular Meeting, 9:00 a.m.

November 20, 2007, Regular Meeting, 9:15 a.m.

December 5, 2007, Regular Meeting, 1:30 p.m.

January 2, 2008, State of the County, 10:00 a.m.

January 2, 2008, Regular Meeting, 1:30 p.m.

B. County Administration

1) ORDER 08-1-16-1/In the Matter of a Follow-Up Report From the EDSC Action on Video Lottery Protest from Versalogic Corporation and the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce.

C. Health and Human Services

1) ORDER 08-1-16-2/In the Matter of Applying for and Acceptance of a US Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women Arrest Grant for $400,000 and Delegating Authority to the County Administrator to Execute Grant Documents.

D. Public Works

1) ORDER 07-1-16-3/In the Matter of Constructing Improvements to Bolton Hill Road (County Road Number 1183) Between MP 0.00 and MP 0.653 Including Assessments and Notice of Pending Liens Against Adjacent Properties.

2) ORDER 07-1-16-4/In the Matter of Re-Appointing Two Members (Nancy Nichols and Jozef Siekiel-Zdzienicki) to the Lane County Planning Commission.

E. Board of Commissioners

1) ORDER 08-1-16-5/In the Matter of Appointing a Resident Commissioner to the HACSA Board of Commissioners.

2) ORDER 08-1-16-6/In the Matter of Appointing Representatives to Various Committees and Agencies.

3) ORDER 08-1-16-7/In the Matter of Appointing Liaisons to Various Committees and Agencies.

Sorenson requested 7 E. 3) be pulled for discussion.

MOTION: to approve the remainder of the Consent Calendar.

Fleenor MOVED, Sorenson SECONDED.

VOTE: 5-0.

7. 3. e)

Sorenson thanked staff for the addition of the Community for the Advancement of Human Rights.  He noted there was no timeline.  He thought the Board would need to get involved.

Sorenson, MOVED Fleenor SECONDED.

Sorenson asked which committees were required to name commissioners.  He wanted a memo on the status.

Wilson recalled they went through extensive work on the two orders to distinguish between an appointment and a liaison position.  She said these are all liaison functions that are being reflected by the order.

Fleenor asked if they are a liaison and not a voting member, if they could be marked absent. 

Dwyer stated that a commissioner is never absent.  He recommended contacting the chair or the minutes recorder to mark him excused.

Wilson said she could send an e-mail to the Department Directors to communicate with all of their staff where the commissioners are shown as liaison on the order; that in the minutes, attendance should be viewed in a liaison function and attendance should be marked either present or excused.

Sorenson wanted to have staff contact the commissioners via e-mail so they know when the meetings take place.

MOTION: to approve ORDER 08-1-16-7.

Sorenson MOVED, Fleenor SECONDED.

VOTE: 5-0.

5. EMERGENCY BUSINESS

None.

6. COMMISSIONERS' REMONSTRANCE  

None.

7. COMMISSIONERS' BUSINESS

a. DISCUSSION/Direction for Internal Auditor to Look at Purchase and Disposition of Euthanasia Solution (Schedule 1 Narcotic).

Fleenor said they are trying to transition the animal facility to a Save Adoptable Animal philosophy.  He said they have been trying to determine the level of euthanasia that had taken place in the past and to have a process where they could have an accounting move forward..  He became aware that they were not tracking the animals by their weight.  He said it would make it difficult to have a protocol that would track the use of euthanasia solution that is a Schedule 1 Narcotic.  He indicated an issue came up where they have a process that they determine how much of the killing solution is used by body weight.  He wanted to set up a process and protocol to track the amount of killing solution per disposed body weight.  He asked Stewart Bolinger, Auditor, if this was appropriate. 

Dwyer thought the weight was critical and they needed to set standards.  He asked how much time was involved and for Bolinger to quantify what it would take to develop the methodology and protocols that are going to be successful.

Bolinger commented that he is trying to formulate audit proposals for the coming year.  He wanted 30 days for time to research the basic standards for all of the custody controls for controlled substances in the County and come back with his whole audit plan and make it one of the proposals for the Board to consider for the year.  He indicated that some of the controlled substances are actively audited by the state.  He thought this would be an easy assignment.

Green said there is an advisory committee and many issues might come out of their work plan for a recommendation to be made to the Board.  He said as they go forward, he hoped the advisory committee would take this and bring it back to the Board in a systematic way.

Sorenson was in favor of Bolinger doing this.

Green said when Bolinger comes back to the Board he wants to see what other priorities subside.

b. DISCUSSION/Oregon Sesquicentennial.

Stewart reported that the legislature is going to be asked to appropriate some funds that communities could apply for.  Green distributed a letter asking if the Board was trying to do anything to celebrate the occasion.  He asked if they should get together a team to help celebrate the 150 year event.

Sorenson thought they should get a letter out to the Lane County legislative delegation urging them to support the appropriation to the Oregon 150 program.  He said they have to actively involve the Lane County Historical Museum.  He added they should ask Kari Westlund from CVALCO to help promote Lane County as a visitor designation.  He also thought Mike McKenzie-Bahr and the covered bridge program should be involved.

Stewart also thought the Parks Department should be involved with the covered bridges.

Dwyer said they need to send a letter to city partners about the process the legislature is going through and ask to identify within their community what they could do to celebrate the 150th anniversary.

Stewart asked Spartz to draft a letter to the legislators for Lane County and he would draft a letter to CVALCO and the cities.

c. Fairgrounds

Stewart stated today at agenda setting this item came up.  He indicated it is a report back on what Amber Fossen, Public Information Officer, found out about the direction on forming the six focus groups, the polling and the community meeting set for March 12.

Fossen reported that she did research on the fairgrounds outreach.  She hadn’t received all of the quotes.  She noted the quotes she received were around $17,000 for just the focus groups.  She said to add polling will take it over $30,000.  She indicated the high end figure is about $80,000.  She said she heard the timeframe is tight and in order to do the polling first, they would have to conclude with the focus group component by February 1.  She indicated there is a question of timing.  She added they could always do polling later.  She spoke with the budget department and there is no money allocated for this process.  She didn’t know where the money would come from for the project. She said the money could possibly come from dipping in the reserves.

Sorenson asked if they could drop back to three focus groups: urban, rural and fair users.

Green didn’t think there was an urgency to do this.  He wanted to do this after budgeting and if they could identify the funding, then go ahead with this.

Fleenor was in favor of having more focus groups so they reach into the community deeper to get the citizen involvement.  He wanted to do the job correctly to get the citizen input.

Stewart indicated that they should put the effort into focus groups and then they could narrow the polling.

Dwyer said they needed to start identifying possible sources of money.  He thought TRT could be a possibility.  He thought the fairgrounds could fund the effort.  He was in favor of having six focus groups.

Sorenson wanted to have three focus groups as they would obtain the information faster.  He said they don’t have the money and what they should be working on is the overall funding picture for Lane County government.

Fossen’s concern was where the funding would come from.  She indicated there was not clarity to the funding.  She asked if the Board was prepared to go into the reserves.

Dwyer wanted to use the TRT money that the fairgrounds has.

Wilson said that TRT is already swept to the fairgrounds.  She said they are using the money they had to be programmed for some other uses..

Stewart indicated there was consensus to have four focus groups: two rural, a metro and one for the vendors. He said Fossen will come back after the focus group with a report to the Board and then a poll could follow.  He said they need to explore funding options and report back to the Board.

d. Joint Elected Officials Meeting – Delta Sand and Gravel

Dwyer said he read an article that if they don’t agree on Delta Sand and Gravel that it goes to MPC.  He said MPC was not designed for resolution.  He said the city council tells their MPC delegates how to vote.  He indicated if a majority of the city council is a no, it is a stalemate.  He said it requires a majority of all parties except ODOT, LTD and Coburg.  He asked if the Board could change their vote to no and state the reason was because they didn’t like the process and citizens are entitled to have it decided one way or another and the MPC process doesn’t settle anything but rather delays things.

Assistant County Counsel Stephen Vorhes was concerned how it would play out with the Courts.  He indicated if the positions of the council and Board don’t change, it could move to MPC and if they get no resolution, under city code it comes back and the planning director issues a final decision denying the application because of the lack of agreement.  He added that it takes identical votes to change the Metro Plan.  His concern is if the County joins in a denial, they would join in the defense of the denial.

8. COUNTY ADMINISTRATION

a. Announcements

None.

b. ORDER 08-1-16-8/In the Matter of Approving Allocations Totaling $185,127 for 2007-08 Rural Tourism Marketing Program (RTMP) Projects in the Cities of Oakridge, Lowell, Westfir, Coburg, Cottage Grove, Veneta, Creswell, Junction City, Florence, Dunes City, and Services in the McKenzie River Valley.

Heather Edwards, Economic and Community Development, reported that this is this year’s disbursement of the Rural Tourism Marketing Program funding and their proposed activities.  She said the funding for the City of Dunes City is allocated and they will be submitting their work plan.

Sorenson asked if there was any controversy.

There was none.

MOTION: to approve ORDER 08-1-16-8.

Sorenson MOVED, Dwyer SECONDED.

VOTE: 4-0 (Green out of room).

9. PUBLIC WORKS

a. REPORT BACK ODOT Update Report from Area 5 Manager

Sonny Chickering, ODOT, said Dwyer forwarded a public inquiry to ODOT about lighting on Highway 126. He reported they had responded to the constituent question. He added the second item is the public involvement policy that ODOT is updating with all OTC and ODOT activities.  He said it had raised interest at the MPO level because public involvement has been a topic for them.  He indicated that ODOT is currently putting together a strategy for disposing of the parcels that were acquired for use on the West Eugene Parkway.  He said now that the project has been cancelled, the expectation by ODOT policy is that any parcels that are not immediately adjacent to an existing state highway or have an identified project use will be surplus.  His concern was with several planning efforts in the west Eugene area for transportation improvements, that one group would come to the conclusion that counted on utilizing that corridor only to find out that ODOT had disposed of it.  He said they had not implemented the plan.  He indicated they would accept input up to February 1.  He said they would complete their recommendation to the region manager at that time.

Green asked about the disposition of properties along the western corridor.  He thought there was a process of right of first refusal from a state and federal level.

Chickering explained that several of the parcels obtained for the West Eugene Parkway were purchased with a condition that allowed the seller to have first right of refusal if the project didn’t proceed by a certain date or was cancelled.  He said there are two parcels where that process has begun.  He added both of the property owners wish to purchase their property back.  He said it is around the Fifth Street and Conger area. He noted other properties would be surplus.  He added that state law has a process for surplus properties.

Sorenson wanted to know about the construction of the freeway interchanges in Springfield and the involvement of ODOT in the LTD study about a fare-less bus system.

Stewart requested reducing the existing speed limit to Milepost 24 at the fish hatchery.  He said it is a dangerous area to get on Highway 126 and it is prudent to try to reduce the speed in the area.  He asked what the plan was in the future for the bridge east of Walterville and widening it.

Fleenor stated that people in Walton also wanted the speed lowered.  

10. HUMAN RESOURCES

a. ORDER 08-1-16-9/In the Matter of Ratifying the Tentative Agreement Between Lane County and the Federation of Oregon Parole and Probation Officers, Parole & Probation Unit.  

MOTION: to approve ORDER 08-1-16-9.

Dwyer MOVED, Green SECONDED.

VOTE: 5-0.

11. CORRESPONDENCE TO THE BOARD

None.

12. COMMISSIONERS' ANNOUNCEMENTS

Fleenor announced he would be holding a meeting at the Rodeo Steakhouse for a community dialogue in Junction City.

Green indicated that AOC will collect the data for the OSU research about the financial picture in the likelihood they do not receive Secure Rural Schools funding.

Sorenson stated he held a public meeting at Crest Elementary School about the public concern of locating a home for developmentally disabled people, some of whom have been convicted of sex crimes.  He announced that he arranged a meeting with Senator Meg Burton Cahill on January 24.

Stewart announced that on January 24 Cassidy and Associates is coming to meet with the Board on Secure Rural Schools.  He reported t hat he met with Jenny from BLM and discussed the WOPR.  He said next Wednesday he will be attending a meeting in Salem at noon and will have to leave the Board meeting early.

13. EXECUTIVE SESSION as per ORS 192.660

None.

There being no further business, Commissioner Stewart recessed the meeting at 11:55 a.m.

Melissa Zimmer

Recording Secretary