BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS’
REGULAR MEETING
May 18, 2011
Following HACSA
Commissioners’ Conference Room
APPROVED 7/12/2011
Commissioner Faye Stewart presided with Commissioners Jay Bozievich, Rob Handy, Sid Leiken and Pete Sorenson present. Acting County Administrator Alicia Hays, County Counsel Stephen Vorhes and Recording Secretary Melissa Zimmer were also present.
1. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
Stewart noted there are two letters prepared by the Intergovernmental Relations Manager under Emergency Business.
2. PUBLIC COMMENTS
John Brown, Eugene, stated his comments today are from him as a real estate professional. He stated that he has been in the community for over 60 years. He noted for the past 25 years he has had a good working relationship with the Lane County Assessor’s Office where he has spoken to the Board of Property Tax Appeals and he has met with staff and worked things out. He stated that this year things have changed. He commented that there is the most adversarial relationship in 25 years. He said there is no allowing working with people. He said when he prevailed, Assessment and Taxation had never gone to the magistrate except once. He stated that this year each one has gone to the magistrate. He asked the Board to contact the members of the Board of Property Tax Appeals and ask them about the atmosphere, ex parte communication and pressure from County staff to change the ruling after the hearings.
Dan Neal, Eugene, said he is an attorney and he has owned real property. He said he currently owns 20 properties and he is in contact with John Brown and David Carmichael about the valuations set and he followed their advice not to appeal things. He said this year has been a different experience. He wondered about decision making process the County is engaged in this year that deviates from the more rational decision making processes they have seen. He asked the Board to look into this and take action.
Mike Miller, Springfield, said he has been a real estate broker in Lane County since 1987 and he specializes in the evaluation of real property and selling it in Lane County. He said he sells residential properties and he owns investment properties. He indicated that he had appealed 24 tax appeals last year. He noted the last few years there has been a distinct change and adversarial relationship from County staff. He believes Assessment and Taxation are breaking some Oregon State Real Estate laws in their presentation of value. He thought something needs to be addressed.
David Carmichael, said he is an attorney who does property tax appeals. He noted that at the Department of Revenue a taxpayer cannot win an appeal without the assessor agreeing there is a likely error on the roll. He indicated that the appraiser is not getting back to him. He stated he is against appraiser filed appeals. He said the assessor can appeal tax payer reductions. He thought there were a disproportionate number of appeals.
Jim Pedergrass, said he is currently Chair of Long Tom Watershed Council. He said he is present to tell the Board about what their watershed council has been doing. He stated they were proud of the way they attracted and retained the broad diversity of stakeholders within their watershed. He recalled in the past year they have leveraged more than $600,000 in private, federal and state grants to allow them to do watershed restoration in the Long Tom Watershed. He added it is money that flows into Lane County and supports vendors they do business with. He said it has allowed them to maintain staff in a difficult economic climate and they are pleased with the focus they get from the constituents. He commented that they get people from all walks of life, but they all have a common goal to help restore the watershed at the Long Tom.
Jason Hunton, Junction City, reported that the Long Tom Watershed Council covers an area that starts in the South Hills of Eugene, almost to the city of Monroe. He said the friendly outreach of the Watershed Council engages in landowners to work in restoration projects is something they support and is voluntary. He said his family has done projects with the Watershed Council and they are cooperating in a pesticide watering program. He announced the annual meeting will be on September 17 at his house.
Dana Dedrick, said they have over 1300 members of the Watershed Council and over 100 active volunteers. She indicated they rotate their steering committee every three to four years and they have over 70 alumni in the watershed. She said they have been bringing in federal and state grants to track the migration of the local cut throat trout.
Mark Musgrove, Eugene, said his family owns Musgrove Mortuary and Cemeteries in Lane County. He was also concerned about the Assessor’s office. He said he sees unfair treatment of citizens in the community. He said they own Lane Memorial Gardens in West Eugene. He said it is a rectangular piece of property that has an undeveloped cemetery at the top and a developed cemetery at the bottom. He said they chose not to change the use of the cemetery but change the lot line from perpendicular to parallel to West 11th. He indicated that didn’t change the use or add any property. He reported that their tax bill went from $1,200 to $8,000. He said the property was purchased five years ago for about $750,000. He didn’t think cemeteries are worth more today than they were five years ago. He added that last year the cremation rate was 81 percent in Eugene and Springfield. He commented that not enough people are being buried. He appealed to the Board of Property Tax Appeals and they agreed with them and lowered their tax rate. He added that it cost them money and time to do that. He said now they are appealing the Board’s decision.
3. COMMISSIONERS’ RESPONSE TO PUBLIC COMMENTS AND/OR OTHER ISSUES AND REMONSTRANCE
Sorenson commented that he has interest in the fairness of the property tax appeals process. He said it allows the taxpayer to appeal to a neutral party. He thought they should have a review of the process of the individuals on the Board of the Property Tax Appeals and the decision. He said they have to sort it out.
Leiken said for the appeal issue, he wants to look into it further. He appreciated the Budget Committee coming to a decision last night and moving forward on the overall budget. He said it will be challenging.
Handy thanked the Watershed Council for coming out. He commented that business as usual doesn’t work in the forests or watersheds. He stated that economic development means that they have clean air and clean water and productive soils in Lane County for the times ahead they are moving into. With regard to the issues of the Board of Property Tax Appeals, he said it was a sensitive issue.
Bozievich also thanked the Watershed Council. He indicated that he would look into the Assessor’s issue. He recalled that last week Sorenson noted the Exxon Mobil Corporation posted $11 billion profit and Sorenson said he was sorry this exists. Bozievich talked about another large national corporation that posted a huge profit of $5.99 billion in the first three months of 2011. He said the profits were on sales of $24.67 billion or a profit margin of 24 cents on every dollar. He was happy about Apple recording such great results. He said Apple is the single largest holding by the Oregon Public Retirement System fund at $113 million. He said the earnings of companies that PERS has invested in are preventing further increases in Lane County’s rates as well as other public entities in Lane County, city of Eugene, District 4J and the University of Oregon. He said this reduces the demand on services for Lane County, preserving them for others that might be left out in the cold. He is happy they have profitable corporations because when corporations do well, Lane County does well.
Stewart thanked everyone who came to the meeting. He indicated that the Board wants a report back from the Assessor.
4. EMERGENCY BUSINESS
Letter for HB2049
Ben Nussbaum, Intergovernmental Relations, explained that he confirmed with Chuck Forster, Lane Workforce Partnership, that the most important part of the bill is Section 5 that will extend the time the people can receive aid from the Timber Assistance for Needy Family Program from 60 months to 48 months. He said the discussion in Salem is around an 18 month limit proposed by the governor. He indicated that would create more significant problems for the children in Lane County. He noted there are currently 3,465 who currently benefit from this assistance. He added this is seen as a last resort before homelessness.
MOTION: to approve sending the letter.
Handy MOVED, Leiken SECONDED.
VOTE: 5-0.
Letter for HB3165A
Nussbaum reported that EWEB and the Special Districts Association reached out to Lane County to ask for support for this issue. He said the Willamette Valley storage facilities are largely located in Lane County and their cities get water directly from some of these reservoirs. He noted that Senator Edwards is the co-chair of the Ways and Means Subcommittee. Nussbaum indicated that Senator Edwards plays an important role in the decision making process. Nussbaum explained that by the Board taking a position; it would allow Senator Edwards to see where the Board stands on the issue. He noted that federal agencies have expressed an intent to change the authorized use of water in the Willamette River Basin from irrigation to multi-purpose. He said it is important that local stakeholders be involved in the decisions as they move forward. He indicated it would require the Oregon Water Resources Department to engage in a deliberate process involving the stakeholders when addressing the issues of water right transfers.
Sorenson MOVED, Handy SECONDED.
Bozievich stated that this is an important bill. He noted currently the city of Eugene is on a single source of water for 70,000 and their options for other sources in the Willamette River in the summer time. He said it is an important bill to get access for drinking water and storage.
VOTE: 5-0.
5. CONSENT CALENDAR
A. Approval of Minutes:
April 13, 2011, HACSA, 11:30 a.m.
April 27, 2011, HACSA, 9:00 am.
B. County Administration
1) ORDER 11-5-18-1/ In the Matter of Transferring $2,000 from General Fund Operational Contingency to Materials and Services within General Expense to Support the National Association of Counties (NACo) Conference to be held in Portland, Oregon.
C. Public Works
1) ORDER 11-5-18-2/In the Matter of Filing a List of FY 11/12 Public Improvements Projects for Lane County Public Works Department with the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI).
MOTION: to approve the Consent Calendar.
Leiken MOVED, Handy SECONDED.
VOTE: 5-0.
6. COMMISSIONERS’ BUSINESS
a. ORDER 11-5-18-3/In the Matter of Ratifying the FY 11-12 Regional Wastewater Program (RWP) Budget and Capital Improvements Program (CIP) as Approved by the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC).
Ron Bitler , Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission, gave a presentation on the MWMC Budget for 11/12. (Copy in file). He said the MWMC approved this operating budget and capital improvement plan for FY 11/12 on April 8. He indicated that Eugene, Springfield and Lane County must ratify MWMC annual budget’s Capital Improvement Program.. He asked the Board of Commissioners to ratify the budget.
Bozievich noted there have been and continue to be legal challenges to the modeling of the watersheds, specifically failure to take into account riverbed interaction and the fact the thermal loads are almost non-existent downstream of where the discharges are due to interaction with the river bed. He believed that the staff at the commission is doing a wonderful job in managing people’s money. He said they have done everything they can to hold the rates down and they manage the treatment system in Eugene and Springfield very well.
MOTION: to approve ORDER 11-5-18-3.
Bozievich MOVED, Leiken SECONDED.
Leiken said he has worked closely with the Board at MWMC. He finds them to be a professional staff and a model regional partnership.
VOTE: 5-0.
7. HUMAN RESOURCES
a. DISCUSSION/Acting County Administrator Evaluation.
Madilyn Zike, Human Resources, recalled that last month the Board directed her to prepare an evaluation for the Acting County Administrator Liane Richardson and the Acting County Counsel. She indicated that she completed the evaluation on the Acting County Administrator. She discussed the process that she used. She sent out surveys to 39 respondents and 31 responded back. She said based on the evaluation, she discussed the responses. (Copy in file).
Stewart commented that for almost 75 percent of the categories Richardson received exceptional or excellent and 95 percent she meets expectations. He asked Zike how she would interpret the results.
Zike responded that this was a very successful evaluation. She said based on the respondents and their passion it was something that stood out for her. She added that often this is done in Executive Session, but it was done in an open session by mutual agreement. She said this was transparent so everyone could see how Richardson was evaluated.
Stewart commented that as Board Chair he has had the opportunity to work with Richardson closely. He has had many opportunities to see her operate with employees and with the budget. He has a great working relationship with her and he has been impressed by her passion of the position, the organization and her skills. He added that with her knowledge of the organization and what they are facing, she has stood tall to the challenge. He thought a majority of the Board saw the same in Richardson as he did. He was grateful that she wanted to take on this challenge.
Handy agreed that Richardson has potential for the job. He asked if Lane County had ever done an evaluation of an Acting County Administrator.
Zike talked to her staff and they didn’t recall one. She couldn’t find any documentation.
MOTION: that Human Resources conduct an open hiring process for the position of Lane County Administrator that could be funded through the HR budget and advertise throughout the western United States up to and including the Rocky Mountain regions so Lane County could have the most qualified and diverse pool of candidates for consideration.
Handy MOVED, Sorenson SECONDED.
Handy continues to advocate for an open hiring practice for every position in Lane County in accordance with law and compliance with the organization’s Diversity Action Plan. He said this was the same for the HACSA director’s position and the appointment of the Acting Sheriff and for the Permanent Director of Youth Services. He said when public money is being spent to pay for a position, people should have the right to apply for and compete for that position . He said it is sound public policy.
Sorenson had no comments regarding the evaluation. He wants to move the discussion beyond a review of the Acting County Administrator’s work to a process whereby the Board would set in motion an open announcement so people could apply for the position. He believed Richardson should apply for the position and based upon this review she would compete well. He believes they need to have a process beyond just an evaluation of an Acting County Administrator’s position. He recalled when the Board unanimously appointed Richardson as Acting County Administrator, he believed the sense of the then Board was that they needed to appoint an Acting County Administrator and someone who was immediately familiar with the organization. He thought once the budget process has been concluded, then they should set up a process for recruitment. He doesn’t think it should cost a lot of money. He said it needs to be done with some care.
Leiken has had experience going through a process of hiring a City Manager for the city of Springfield. He said they spent a tremendous amount of money and had an open process and chose nobody. He said it took one call to Ashland, Oregon to ask Gino Grimaldi to come back and he did and two weeks later he was named City Manager. He found the process to be fine. He recalled they brought in 46 people from around the country and narrowed it to three and they weren’t satisfied with any of them., He said what it took was someone familiar with the organization and who understood the culture of the organization. He said it was a good evaluation. He said he is realizing they have someone currently in place. He commented that he didn’t think people had the right to apply to this position, it is up to the Board of Commissioners to make the decision. He believes they are moving in a direction where he would be comfortable in appointing Richardson as permanent Administrator. He stated that what she has done in six months has been wonderful and her evaluation was glowing. He stated that it would save the taxpayers a tremendous amount of money. He said it is not whether someone has a right to apply, it is whether the Board of Commissioners is comfortable and ready to move forward with someone who in his view articulates well. He said Richardson has carried on exactly what the Board of Commissioners has expected. He said based on the absolute glowing evaluation, he is comfortable to appoint Richardson as the permanent administrator. He asked why they should disrupt this position now when ultimately that is where the Board will go and they could save $60,000 in taxpayer’s money.
Bozievich concurred with Leiken. He stated the County Administrator works directly for the Board of Commissioners. He said they are the hiring body and no matter what process they go through they hire the Administrator and they are the ones that have to be happy with their decision, not some large community input or process. He said they have to hold the County Administrator for achieving their goals. He was asked during the election process what he wanted in a County Administrator and the one thing he consistently said was someone who has the leadership that brings the employees toward a unified vision and mission of Lane County. He noted Richardson’s score of 90 percent exceeds or exceptional is great for leadership. He recalled they spent $70,000 on the last process that got them Jeff Spartz, the Eugene 4J School Board spent $70,000 and got them their current administrator and following the diversity process, both were white men. He said having an open process wouldn’t change that. He commented that they are looking at someone who is not only a woman but of Native American decent. He is not sure that diversity should be the only factor. He will be voting no on the motion and is hopeful they can establish some permanence in their leadership. He stated they are in a situation where there is a lot of turmoil. He added that they have to work with the unions on getting up to $4 million in concessions in the next several months to balance the budget the Budget Committee passed last night. He said they had to deal with a significant amount of personnel issues that were left over by the previous administration. He said they as a Board were voted in by the citizens to make the decision of hiring the administrator. He doesn’t think they need to spend $70,000 and several months when they have an excellent candidate sitting in the room right now who has demonstrated the ability. He thought it was a waste of taxpayer’s money to do anything else.
Stewart shared Bozievich and Leiken’s thoughts. He said what makes him a better person is to be told that he is wrong or made a mistake. When he was wrong, he appreciated the fact that Richardson let him know he was wrong. He said Richardson has the ability and comfort level to let him know. He is comfortable with making an appointment today. He said the financial piece is important. He didn’t think they could find anyone better than Richardson to help them move forward and do the work.
VOTE: 2-3 (Bozievich, Leiken, Stewart dissenting)
MOTION: to move the Board to direct the Human Resources Director to negotiate with the Acting County Administrators a contract to make her the permanent County Administrator.
Bozievich MOVED, Leiken SECONDED.
Handy said it behooves Lane County to elicit the most qualified pool of candidates for consideration because they have a lot of challenges ahead of them. He commented that professional communication is a must from an administrator to the commissioners. He looks forward to Richardson having success. He said he won’t be supporting the motion.
VOTE: 3-2 (Handy, Sorenson dissenting).
With regard to the evaluation of County Counsel, Zike indicated that it would take about three more weeks and she will use the same process as for Richardson.
8. COUNTY ADMINISTRATION
a. Announcements.
None.
b. REPORT/Lane Livability Consortium SMART Communities Project.
Andrea Riner, LCOG, indicated that she provided the Board more background as to why they pursued the grant and to what benefit would be provided to the entities in the consortium. She said it is a great opportunity for her and everyone at the table to sit down with people they don’t traditionally meet with outside of transportation or economic development and non-profits. She indicated that it is something the federal government has committed to with their partnership at the highest level. She said they are trying to reflect that at the local level and make the agencies eligible at the highest level for funding to move them over the next 20 year planning horizon. She responded to the questions the Board asked. (Copy in file). She said this is beneficial because there will be more autonomy and independence at the local level. She added that the ability to tie some significant livability components together regionally is more necessary as they move forward. She indicated that it is not land use. She added that it was planning with economic development and affordable housing and regional transportation.
Assistant County Counsel Marc Kardell indicated that he submitted a memo to the Board and doesn’t have anything more to add that would have addressed the legal issues from last week.
Handy asked what are some of the potentials with the project and if there were any concerns.
Greg Mott, city of Springfield, responded that their city council will be talking about it next week at a work session. He expects that there will be questions. He said the underlying premise is the actions and decisions that can influence the budget process, public participation and decisions such as affordable housing in a way that is a sustainable process and outcome will be a benefit to the city of Springfield. He added that it is presuming it will concur and demonstrate that what they are doing adheres to the philosophy with their budget that they are going to make decisions that have long term positive effects on the budget decisions and long term positive effects on employment and housing opportunities and transportation choices. He stated that they work on that all the time. He added that this is bringing in additional participants
Stewart asked if the Board moves forward if they could incorporate Kardell’s concerns or recommended changes.
Kardell said it is on the IGA. He thought it works for both sides if the Board gives that direction.
Glenda Poling, Economic Development, said her staff and Riner’s staff have worked many hours on this. She stated that staff was supportive in changing some of the language from match in kind to leveraged resources for verified in kind contributions. She thought in their department that they would have a work product over the next three years that they can share with this consortium. She asked the Board to allow them join this consortium but she has raised the same concern about item c the prohibited use of funds. She indicated that it restricts the consortium from assisting businesses or industry to relocate to an area to the detriment of the communities where the business industry is currently located. She thought if they followed that philosophy they would have lost out on some of their most major employers. She didn’t want to sign on for something that restricts them with the businesses they currently have.
Sorenson asked what the communities receive and who keeps track of hours.
Kardell stated he wasn’t sure, but Economic Development understands there is a need to do that. In tracking the Board’s time Riner could work with Richardson or Zoe Gilstrap
Sorenson thought the project was worth pursuing and that Lane County needed to be a part of it. He asked what they need to do to make it happen so their role is clearly defined. He was okay with the language but he wanted to make sure there was language to track the contributions and who monitors it.
Riner reported that a portion of the grant is to help with that. She said the MPO funding they provide to the local jurisdictions require a match and they have to show it in every project they have for federal funds. She said their goal is to make it easy and not something to waste valuable dollars.
MOTION: to direct the County Administrator to sign an agreement substantially in a form described today on the IGA with the changes suggested and agreed to by LCOG staff and to come back with an order.
Sorenson MOVED, Handy SECONDED.
Leiken commented that this seemed to be more beneficial to Eugene and Springfield. He asked why she came to the County first.
Riner responded that she came to everyone simultaneously. She said they sent the MOU out to the agencies. She said it is not supposed to benefit one jurisdiction over another.
Bozievich indicated there was a portion that included preparing modeling to meet greenhouse gases. He asked how one of the deliverables that deals with land use is going to be dealt with. He recalled that Riner stated this was not a land use process.
Riner responded that developing the modeling is not developing land use recommendations, it is developing the technology that receives the land use input. She indicated it was not a decision making, but a scientific way of looking at the data. She said this particular piece of greenhouse gases is about setting the stage for the local jurisdictions to be able to do the work successfully as it is required. She added that they are not funding the entire program. She said it is about the ability to work together and what strategizes to use and the way to involve the public. She said it is not actually doing the work of scenario planning.
Bozievich said they need to think carefully about this. He was uncomfortable with the whole thing. He said not all of Lane County’s staff is even knowledgeable about the process. He said departments have had to play make up in the last week to learn about it. He noted there was language that needed to be changed in the IGA. He was uncomfortable about the prohibited use of funds relative to being able to do economic development processes for recruiting businesses to Lane County and having it prohibitive because it might be detrimental to some other community. He thought the entire piece around public involvement was duplicative. He thought this was something they would do normally in the course of business. He didn’t know if the HUD funding would be there in the future. He thought they were rushing into this. He said he will be voting no on the motion.
Stewart asked what to expect as an outcome.
Riner said they look at this as a significant training exercise, learning new techniques and ways of doing things on changes from the federal planning sources in the community and the way they make decisions. She believed they will have dozens of community members, staff and decision makers that have new information and perspective and new expertise that they think will make them successful.
Stewart asked what they are going to get in the end. He said they just had the Joint Elected Officials come up with an Economic Development Plan. He thought they should work on implementing that plan and moving forward with it. He asked what they are trying to achieve. He said they just formed an ACT for transportation. He stated they have all of this going on and he thinks this is a duplication. His biggest fear is they will go do this and it will be like the 2050 Plan. He doesn’t want to repeat it. He asked if they could bring this to the Joint Elected Officials meeting on Thursday in Springfield to get a response from the other cities.
Sorenson was okay to withdraw the motion if they can get it before the JEO or have it come back to the Board of Commissioners.
Kardell said an option is seeking authorization for the County Administrator to enter into the agreement following the two major cities signing the agreement.
Bozievich said he sees within this agreement to be part of a consortium, agreement to the principles underlined in the consortium that is a policy decision. He added within that are agreements toward what they consider are sustainable cities and other initiatives around triple bottom line and in doing that they are committing the County to a policy direction that he is not comfortable with. He said it rarely brings into account private property rights when they talk about transportation, economic development, affordable housing and land use. He is not comfortable signing onto this, he would rather walk away.
Leiken was interested to hear where Eugene and Springfield are. He said he has no idea where the city councils are with this. He said if they were going to vote today, he would have been a no. He wanted to know what the benefits are to the cities versus Lane County.
Stewart wanted to place 15 minutes on the Joint Elected Officials meeting and have a discussion there.
Sorenson thought more discussion would be helpful. He added it to his motion.
Bozievich stated they needed to make a motion to table this until the JEO. He recommended making a motion to table until the JEO.
MOTION: to postpone action until Thursday May 26.
Sorenson MOVED, Handy SECONDED.
VOTE: 4-1 (Bozievich dissenting).
9. COUNTY COUNSEL
a. Announcements
10. PUBLIC WORKS
a. DISCUSSION AND ORDER No. 11-5-18-4/In the Matter of Electing Whether or Not to Hear Arguments on an Appeal of a Hearings Official's Decision upon remand, limited to approving the septic system capability, for a Group Care Home (file PA 09-5314/Teen Challenge).
Jerry Kendall, Land Management, recalled that the original proposal was for a group care home, located on Bailey Hill Road He noted the original approval by the Hearings Official in January 2010 was highly contested and two neighboring property owners forwarded the appeal onto LUBA. He indicated there were five assignments of error and LUBA agreed with the Hearings Official’s four assignments. He added the fifth assignment had to do with care and capacity standards in the Rural Residential Zone. He reported that LUBA agreed with the Hearings Official in terms of well water but disagreed with adequate evidence to show that the new proposal could be accommodated by its existing septic system that would have adequate area for replacement of a drain field. He indicated that the item came back to the Board in December and remanded it down to the Hearings Official. He added that the Hearings’ Official took in 67 exhibits and 300 more pages of testimony and made his decision on April 7, proving the septic capacity issue .
Kendall noted in front of the Board is to elect to hear for Lane Code 14.600 and because septic is specific to soil types on properties, topography, contours and encumbrances from structures, staff feels that none of the four standards are applicable. He said it will not reoccur with frequency and there is no need for policy guidance and no unique environmental resources and neither the Planning Director nor Hearings Official recommend the Board electing to hear this item.
Kendall explained that he changed his option after looking into the record after he first prepared the packet and now shifted to an Option 2 recommendation, affirmation, without expressly agreeing. He reported that the appellants that are taking this to LUBA expressly asked the Board not to elect to hear it so they can proceed directly to LUBA.
MOTION: to approve ORDER No. 11-5-18-4 for Option 2.
Handy MOVED, Leiken SECONDED.
VOTE: 5-0.
11. COMMISSIONERS' ANNOUNCEMENTS
Stewart said the Lane Workforce Partnership has gone through an interesting last few months. He noted when the federal government was wrestling with their budget, at one time there was no funding included for workforce partnerships. He noted that has changed and it looked like they were planning for a 25 percent reduction in next year’s budget. He noted that it was over $2 million and lowers them to $6 million for resources. He indicated it is impacting all areas. He indicated the organization is proposing cutting 11 positions
Sorenson announced on Friday May 20, 2011 there will be a program at the City Club of Eugene on marine reserves off of the Oregon Coast. He said he will be making a presentation.
Bozievich announced that the state lifted its temporary stay on issuing bonds and issued $9.2 million for the continued infrastructure and improvements for the Junction City Hospital and prison site. He added that it enables the future relocation of Grain Millers to the adjacent site.
Stewart reported this past week the Bridge Division in ODOT issued a letter to the Dearborn Island Water District. He said the bridge is being closed and it impacts between 12 and 15 individual private landowners on the island. He said they won’t be able to access their property with a vehicle. He said they have been able to use the bridge because it had a three ton weight limit, but they do not have emergency service to their property now. He said they might be able to acquire some bridge runners from ODOT and they hope they can get it fixed for less than $500,000. He encouraged them to explore their options as in individual district and their authority to access money. He said it is their bridge and staff said they don’t have the money to help them.
12. EXECUTIVE SESSION as per ORS 192.660
None.
13. OTHER BUSINESS
None.
There being no further business, Commissioner Stewart adjourned at 1:45 p.m.
Melissa Zimmer
Recording Secretary