Minutes - 03/10/2008COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
MARCH 10, 2008
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0001 DATE. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, CITY OF WOODBURN,
COUNTY OF MARION, STATE OF OREGON, MARCH 10, 2008.
CONVENED. The meeting convened at 7:00 p.m. with Mayor Figley presiding.
0015 ROLL CALL.
Mayor Figley Present
Councilor Bjelland Present
Councilor Cox Present
Councilor Lonergan Present
Councilor McCallum Present
Councilor Nichols Present
Councilor Sifuentez Absent
Staff Present: City Administrator Brown, City Attorney Shields, Asst. City
Administrator Stevens, Public Works Director Brown, Community Development Director
Allen, Community Services Director Row, Finance Director Gillespie, Police Captain
Tennant, Public Works Manager Rohman, Recorder Tennant
0025 ANNOUNCEMENTS.
A) Filing period for Mayor and Council positions is open and certified nomination
petitions must be filed with the City Recorder by 5:00 p.m. on August 26, 2008.
Positions to be voted upon at the November 4, 2008 general election are as follows:
Mayor: At-large position (2-year term)
Councilor -Ward I: Precinct 815 (4-year term)
Councilor -Ward II: Precinct 825 (4-year term)
Councilor -Ward VI: Precinct 865 (4-year term)
Candidate filing information and forms are available at the City Recorder's office.
Mayor Figley also reminded the public that there is still one Budget Committee position
vacant and she encouraged interested citizens to consider submitting an application for
this position. Applications are available through the City Administrator's office.
0064 PROCLAMATION: iOHN BROWN DAY -MARCH 19.2008.
Mayor Figley stated that John Brown is leaving his position as City Administrator after
almost 10 years employment with the City. The public is invited to attend a reception on
March 19`'' either at City Hall between 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm or at Lupita's beginning at
6:00 p.m..
Mayor Figley read a proclamation declaring March 19, 2008 as John Brown Day within
the City wishing him well and thanking him for his many accomplishments as City
Administrator.
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0140 PRESENTATION• AQUATICS RISK MANAGMENT ASSESSMENT AND
RECOMMENDED IMPROVEMENTS.
Mayor Figley stated that this has been a topic of concern since there was a drowning
incident a couple of years ago and staff is providing this report to update the Council and
the public on what is being done to do things better in the future.
Community Services Director Row stated that this unfortunate drowning incident
occurred in May 2006 which prompted the City to take a much closer look at the Aquatic
Center operations to make sure that it is being operated in the safest possible manner.
The report before the Council consisted of an internal analysis, an analysis of Oregon
Administrative Rules pertaining to public swimming pools, an American Red Cross site
visit and consultation, and a meeting with the City's insurance carrier risk management
consultant. He stated that the report includes an analysis of the current situation, and in
many instances, the current situation had already evolved from the time of the incident
and while other improvements are in various stages of implementation. Of the seventeen
categories within the report, the Director reviewed the following more significant
categories in the report:
1) Screening, Hiring, and New Employee Orientation: Director Row stated that, even
though new employee skills have always been tested, there has never been a standardized
checklist in place to make sure that all employees meet the American Red Cross required
skills. This checklist is being developed by staff. In addition, new employees are
required to go through a job shadowing program whereby they work with an experienced
mentor already on staff for a minimum of 4 shifts and an improvement being made in this
program is that a job shadowing manual will be developed to make sure that the program
is fully implemented.
2) Staff certification: Improvement is being made in this category through the
development of a head lifeguard training course which will be developed in the coming
months and implemented by the end of spring or early summer. This course will train
those individuals who have been promoted into a head lifeguard position to better manage
facility wide emergency incidents, perform regular on-going maintenance and inspection
required by the facility, and learn basic supervision skills. When the facility is open,
there must be, at a minimum, a head lifeguard and/or a member of management on duty
to be responsible for the overall facility operations.
3) In-service training: This training has always been a part of the Aquatic Center staff
training program, however, staff will be taking the lifeguards from the point of just
having basic water rescue skills to train them to manage incidents that occur at the
facility. Staff tries to have in-service training done monthly but have not always met that
benchmark. There are at least 10 training sessions per year and an improvement in this
category is to do at least 12 training sessions a year. These training sessions are
mandatory for all employees and if an employee misses a session, they are required to
make it up and, if not, they are relieved from duty.
4) Life guard attentiveness, rotation, and scanning policies: Under state law, the Aquatic
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Center is required to have 1 lifeguard on duty for every 40 swimmers in the water. The
Center always meets, and generally exceeds, that requirement. Another guest protection
standard that the State recognizes is the 10/20 protection rule which dictates that the
Center has a sufficient number of lifeguards placed where they need to be in order to
recognize a swimmer in distress within 10 seconds and reach them and begin providing
care within 20 seconds from recognizing them. The Aquatic Center does meet both of
those standards. Studies have shown that fatigue reduces peripheral vision by about 30%
and staff has been implementing the following: (1) a strategy that recommends that
lifeguards change physical body position at least once every 10 minutes, (2) lifeguards
are rotating so that they are not at a station more than 30 minutes, and (3) lifeguards get a
10 minute break for every hour on deck. Red Cross has determined that they have found
a factor that is a significant contributor is a large number of catastrophic aquatics
incidents. This factor is known as RID -Recognition, Intrusion, Distraction -and staff is
committed to making sure that employees understand the dangers of the RID factor.
Policies have been developed and implemented to eliminate as much as possible that
factor from becoming a problem at the facility. Lastly, a lifeguard auditing program is
being developed whereby staff will systematically audit lifeguards on a regular basis,
document it, and correct problems immediately.
5) Location of lifeguard stations: It has been determined that there is a blind spot on the
northwest corner of the swimming pool next to the waterslide and it is the protrusion of
the slide that creates the blind spot. This area is visible to lifeguards on the north wall of
the pool but not to lifeguards stationed in other areas of the facility. A concave mirror
will be installed on the north wall of the pool. Another visibility issue is glare which is
an issue in every swimming pool however, our facility has a less significant glare than
most centers since there is not a lot of exterior light coming into the facility. It is
recommended that lifeguards incorporate some strategies to reduce the negative effects of
glare such as making greater use of the elevated lifeguarding platforms and employing
roving strategies so that they are moving around and looking at the water from different
angles.
6) Zone for coverage: Lifeguards are trained which zones they are responsible for
protecting based on the number of lifeguards on duty. Detailed visual zone coverage
charts will be developed and posted in the lifeguard office and lifeguards will be trained
on visual zone coverage on a more regular basis.
7) Life jackets: Staff will be training lifeguards to pay more attention to those swimmers
wearing life jackets to insure that they are receiving the proper monitoring and assistance
in making sure that the life jackets are on properly.
Councilor Lonergan questioned if life jackets are voluntary or are lifeguards to determine
which swimmers should be wearing life jackets.
Director Row stated that life jackets are available for anyone that wants or needs one and
if a lifeguard sees that a swimmer could benefit from the use of one, staff will either make
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sure that the swimmer gets into shallower water or wears a life jacket. There are also
those cases where young people are in the pool for a long period of time and they get
fatigued which is another issue that lifeguards need to be aware as well.
8) Safety signs: Staff is developing new facility group rule signage in both English and
Spanish with these signs to be posted in the swimming pool area. In addition, staff will
be posting additional "no diving and no running" pictogram signs so those who cannot
read the language can see the picture and hopefully understand the intent of the message.
9) Visiting group policies: Improvements noted in this area are 1) groups will be required
to schedule one week in advance of their visit and 2) one adult person in the group will be
asked to perform a water watching task for every 20 swimmers they bring with them.
Staff will convey safety rules to the group including pool depths and life jackets usage.
Additionally, a water watcher program will be implemented whereby volunteers willing
to accept some responsibility will be paying closer attention to the water and alerting the
lifeguards of any problems that they recognize. Staff will continue to be vigilant as to
what is going on while swimmers are in the pool but these volunteers will provide an
extra set of eyes and pointing out potential problems.
Director Row stated that certain risks are inherent in operating an aquatic center and there
is nothing that can be done to eliminate all risks, however, the City is committed to
making sure that the Aquatic Center operates in the safest possible manner. This is an
on-going process of analysis, evaluation, recommendation and evaluation and staff will
continue to make improvements even after all of improvements noted in the report have
been made.
Councilor McCallum requested clarification of a group visiting the facility being asked to
provide a water watcher.
Director Row stated that the group would be bringing chaperones and the water watcher
program would be having chaperones specifically dedicated to sitting down in a certain
area of the facility and watching a certain area of the pool. He reminded the Council that
this would be voluntary and some chaperones may be reluctant to accept that level of
responsibility but staff has been trying this program since last May and it seems to be
going well.
Councilor McCallum questioned if the School District and the City still cooperate on the
4`'' grade school swim lessons that has been through Woodburn Together.
Director Row stated that this partnership between the City, Woodburn Together, and the
School District still exists.
Councilor Lonergan felt that this was an excellent report and staff has taken a proactive
approach on this issue.
0729 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE REPORT.
Don Judson, Executive Director, stated that the Greeter's Program will be held on
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March 14"' at Valley Pacific Floral and on March 21S` at the OGA golf course. On March
14`x, the Distinguished Service Award banquet will be held at Wellspring and tickets will
be available through March 10~'. Lastly, a special promotion will be held on April 19`t'
and 20"' involving merchants along Highway 99E with the celebration of the 60`''
anniversary of Al's Garden Center, Long Bros. is opening their newly remodeled store,
Heidi's Cafe will be having some specials, and the Chamber is talking to more merchants
interested in participating in a shopping extravaganza. This is the same weekend in
which a Wine Festival will be held at the tulip fields.
Director Judson stated last month it had been suggested to him after a Council meeting in
February that the Chamber members did not care about system development charges and,
after thinking about it, realized that his focus has been on Chamber solvency and trying to
get tourism funding in some logical fashion for the future. Since then, he has been
encouraging Chamber members to attend the Council meetings and show that they are
ready to be a partner in future reviews. He hoped that with the number of Chamber
members present at this meeting, the Council will see that they are ready to step up when
talking about issues affecting our community.
Mayor Figley expressed her appreciation in seeing the large number of individuals in the
audience and encouraged them to attend future meetings.
0830 WOODBURN SCHOOL DISTRICT REPORT.
Walt Blomberg, Superintendent, thanked Director Row for his report on the pool. He felt
that it was exceptionally well done and reiterated that they have had a strong partnership
with the pool regarding the 4`f' grade lessons and the After School program.. He reported
that the School District is engaged in a renewal of their Strategic Plan and have met with
staff members and a number of people within community to talk about the future of
Woodburn Schools and the direction the District should follow. A draft report will go
before the School Board in April and, once adopted, the report will discuss changes to be
made and their ideas of what should be accomplished over the next 5 years in future.
Another project recently done by the District was to survey the community about a
potential bond measure. The survey was on a $76.2 million proposal which would add 2
new K-8 grade buildings and one small high school. The cost for this bond proposal did
not meet with much favor from those surveyed since, for the most part, people do not
want to pay anymore taxes. They continue to look for an amount that would be palatable
and then explain the need and options that were looked at to the public between now and
November. Lastly, the Guys & Dolls performance at the High School last Thursday
through Saturday was an exceptional performance involving the Choir, Band, and many
actors/actresses.
0960 CONSENT AGENDA.
A) approve the Council meeting minutes of February 25, 2008;
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B) approve the Council special meeting/workshop minutes of February 19, 2008;
C) accept the Planning Commission minutes of February 28, 2008;
D) receive the Planning Project Tracking Sheet as of March 6, 2008;
E) receive the Building Activity Report for February 2008;
F) accept the report on the Intergovernmental Agreement with ODOT for environmental
Assessment on Highway 214 between Broughton Way and Park Avenue;
G) accept the informational report on the proposed property rental for farming operation
of Wastewater Treatment Plant;
H) accept the informational report on the Highway 214/Settlemier Avenue/ Boones Ferry
Road project update; and
I) receive the Animal Control Ordinance status report.
Councilor McCallum stated that he had received positive feedback on the draft animal
control ordinance and, in general, residents were very pleased with provisions relating to
dogs. He also stated that some residents did not understand why chickens would be
allowed under the ordinance.
MCCALLUM/COX... adopt the consent agenda as presented. The motion passed
unanimously.
1013 PUBLIC HEARING: TRAFFIC IMPACT FEE (TIF) (Continued from February
11, 2008 City Council meeting).
Mayor Figley opened the continuation of the Traffic Impact Fee update public hearing at
7:36 p.m.
Public Works Manager Rohman stated that after the February 11"' meeting, staff sent
notices to each property owner included in the interchange management area that would
be affected by the interchange management charge. He reviewed presentation materials
provided at the February 11, 2008 hearing on the study's purpose, policy
recommendations, key assumptions, and System Development Charges (SDC's)
comparison study. Staff feels that the that proposed SDC's (also known as TIF) fairly
and equitably allocates the cost of the City's transportation improvements for the next 20
years. It was a consensus of the Council at the November 2007 workshop to proceed
with the 50/50 split of the $5.5 million still owing to ODOT for the future interchange
improvement. At the February 11, 2008 meeting, Mr. Donaldson from Capital
Development indicated that the commercial cost had gone up significantly for
development along the interchange and, following the meeting, Mr. Donaldson had
provided him with potential developments that could occur on his property for the
purpose of calculating the proposed TIF's. He stated that he calculated costs for three
different developments: 1) a 155,000 sq. foot home improvement type of store under the
current rate would pay $1,211,000 while the proposed rate would increase to $1,247,000
($36,000 increase); 2) a 72,000 sq. foot specialty retail store under the current rate would
pay about $653,000 while the proposed rate would increase to $892,000 ($239,000
increase); and 3) a 75,000 sq. foot supermarket under the current rate would pay
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$1,162,000 while the proposed rate would decrease to $946,000 ($216,000 decrease). He
stated that supermarkets tend to spread their trips out fairly evenly throughout the day
which is why they have a high average daily traffic count and would pay a higher TIF
charge under the current rate structure. He stated that TIF's are due at the time a
building permit is issued and the amount of the fee is based on a square footage and,
based on the cost of construction, this fee tends to be relatively small. For example, an
industrial development might pay around $2 per square foot for the TIF while
commercial uses might pay between $4-$10 per square foot since they generate a higher
trip rate. He reiterated that staff feels that the new methodology is swell-conceived
plan, it provides a fair and equitable proportion of the traffic impact fees amongst the
undeveloped property still within the City, and it is not a hindrance to good quality
development that the City is looking for.
Councilor McCallum questioned if the City had received many written responses on this
issue.
Public Works Manager Rohman stated that two additional written responses had been
received prior to this meeting and they have been included in the in the agenda packet.
Councilor Lonergan stated that the one written response mentioned an objection to
widening the highway from Lincoln Street to the south city limits.
Public Works Manager Rohman stated the letter had inferred that ODOT had turned over
the responsibility of Highway 99E to the City. The City will be making a small
contribution towards a future improvement to that roadway but the State still retains
responsibility for Highway 99E.
1471 Wally Lien, Attorney representing Capital Development, stated that he had just recently
been retained to represent Capital Development on this issue, however, since this issue
may end up in a different venue, it is his responsibility to his client to enter a document
into the record so that the technical matters are taken care of for the future. He requested
a little more time and, understanding that the Council granted a continuance last month,
he has not been able to locate a traffic engineer to assist him with the methodology and to
provide an independent review. He provided the Mayor and Council with a memo
requesting the continuance along with legal issues that, in his opinion, bears some
additional discussion. He did not feel that there was an immediate need to rush to a
judgment and by waiting he hoped to avoid some issues once a final decision has been
made by the Council. He stated that the problem he ran into was that he has never seen
an IDC (Interchange Development Charge) before where an area is geographically
identified located both inside and outside of the current city limits but does not include
the entire City. In his opinion, this area is a special district that is assessed its own SDC
and then that charge is in addition to the normal city-wide SDC. He cited a state statute
that says when a special district is created and all of the property within the city limits is
not included, and in fact crosses geographical and jurisdictional boundaries from the City
into the County, the SDC is not the way that it gets done. A special transportation district
would be applicable which is governed by a different state statute (Chapter 267). He
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reiterated that a special transportation service district would be the applicable formation
process to follow and the fees to be charged would be a tax rather than a fee. He stated
that if it was assumed that the SDC is an appropriate mechanism, then there is a lack of
equity since that interchange has been poor for many years. He argued that property is
treated differently between the interchange area and the east side of town even though the
undeveloped land outside of the interchange area uses that same intersection and could
generate the same or more peak hour trips. Under the proposed methodology, the
property within the interchange district is treated differently because of its location and
those properties outside of the district get to use the interchange but do not have to pay
the additional charge. It is his belief that the proposed SDC is not a fair and equitable
charge. He also felt that there were some problems with the rationale in the text since
ORS 223 requires there to be substantial evidence and adequate findings and, if appealed,
Circuit Court looks at evidentiary support for what has been done. He felt that some of
the assumptions that were made may not be explained enough to substantiate findings. If
the IDC is eliminated from this mix and it is spread over entire city, then an equitable
charge would be applied to all undeveloped property. If the Council will not eliminate
the IDC, then he requested that the interchange district pay only one of the two charges
which may be the IDC instead of the SDC.
1874 Public Works Manager Rohman stated that the IDC was looked at very carefully and
there is nothing that prohibits the two different charges since, in the interchange
management area, it is just one fee composed of two different components. The
Transportation System Plan looked at land outside of the urban growth boundary but
within the proposed urban growth boundary expansion. The City will only be able to
collect fees on property that has been annexed into the City and development approval
given.
Councilor Cox question if any of this property that is outside of the city limits but within
the urban growth boundary that is within the IDC will be developed in the County.
Public Works Manager Rohman stated that someone could develop property in the
County but he does not see that happening since the property in the County does not have
any utility services available. A proposal could be made to the County but they are aware
of this being an expansion area and, as a practical matter, did not see development
happening in the IDC area.
Councilor Cox stated that a comment was made that property that was re-developed does
not pay but it was his understanding that re-developed property would pay if a change in
use would generate more traffic then it would pay the difference between the prior use
and the new use.
Manager Rohman confirmed that a developer maintained the same use with the same
square footage would not pay additional SDC's, however, property re-developed by
changing the use but maintaining the same square footage would pay the difference
between the two uses.
Councilor Cox stated that any change in use would have to come before the City for
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approval through the site development review process and, if there is an additional traffic
load imposed by the proposed development, then the City would be collecting the
difference at the time the development occurs. He stated that he is willing to adopt this
document except for the legal issues Mr. Lien has raised and he is not prepared to
disregard the arguments. He would like City Attorney Shields to look at this issue very
carefully and provide a report before it is brought to the Council for final consideration.
If it is determined that some other procedure is necessary, he would want the Council to
follow the other procedure. He also stated that the Council could authorize staff to draft
an ordinance but, before actual adoption, a report from the City Attorney be provided. In
regards to the suggestion of leaving the IDC off the table at this time and start
implementing the SDC's, he stated that he could foresee problems with authorizing one
but not the other in that the Council would need to go back and raise the city-wide SDC's
and it was his feeling that it should be done as a package at this time.
2120 John Donaldson, Capital Development, stated that his attorney identified a number of
technical issues that need further Council consideration. He stated that his company is
willing and eager to pay at least their share of SDC's and willing to pay more than their
share but they do not need to pay for one-half of the project which would, in effect, be
what the City would have them do if the proposed fees are enacted. He stated that on a
40-acre project, they have the ability to add a significantly large number of additional
stores. They had also provided Public Works Manager Rohman with a buildout of
significant office complex units in this area that, at one point, totaled up to $15 million in
fees if they were calculated the way the City has them. In another project that did a mix
of property calculated to $6-$7 million in fees. In his opinion, there is an inherent, unfair
imposition placed on them and he requested the Council not to close the door on
opportunities for jobs, further growth within the City, and goods and services that can be
provided to the community. Lastly, he did not know the rationale for getting this
completed but stated that there may be other things they can do to help the City in this
process if they had the ability to negotiate an amount of their fair share up front or
possibly make quarterly payments before any development ever occurs. He reiterated
that they want to be a good corporate citizen and are willing to pay more than their share
but are asking for some help from the City.
Mark Wolf, Woodburn, stated for the record that the comments he is making at this
hearing reflect his views and not that of the Chamber of Commerce. He stated that he
had no knowledge of the hearing that was held last month even though he is one of the
larger property owners in this City. As a developer of property in multiple states and
Asia, he spends a lot of time out of town but was unaware of the issue before the Council
until he saw a local newspaper article. He is very well aware of fees charged by different
jurisdictions and he considers SDC charges as a total package of all government fees and
into the cost of holding property. He has heard that Woodburn ranks 3`d worst in the
State of Oregon and he would argue that, with all of the fees, Woodburn is the last. He
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referred to the system development charges document that was prepared by the League of
Oregon Cities that talks about Woodburn. In his opinion, there are a lot of great
businesses in Woodburn that are struggling to survive due, in part, to up-front costs
much of which are passed on to the businesses by developers. He stated that he pays over
$200,000 annually in real estate taxes on two shopping centers he has in Woodburn. His
company looks at which towns to due business in and he understands that fees need to be
assessed to meet obligations but they are driven by market forces and rents, cost of land,
and system development fees are important to them. He cited different types of
businesses he has wanted to put into Woodburn but has not done it because of the fees
charged by the City. He stated that many different well-known businesses will not come
to Woodburn because of fees and because of, what they feel along with himself, an
unwelcome sign for business. With the upcoming election, he encouraged the public to
become involved in the upcoming election.
2414 David Christoff, Woodburn, thanked City Administrator Brown for 10 years service and
for the improvements he has made to our community. In regards to the proposed charges,
he felt that it was wisdom on Councilor Cox's part to take in as much as they can and it
would be wiser to get it done right rather than just to get it done.
Councilor McCallum questioned if City Attorney had time to research the issues
presented.
City Attorney Shields stated that he had just been served with the memo and his reaction
is similar to Manager Rohman's comments. However, he did feel that it would be
prudent to look at any legal issues that have been raised. Since this is not a land use
hearing, notice was given as required under the state statute and the Council continued
the hearing to this meeting. The Council could close hearing at this meeting and give the
staff some direction but no ordinance with the methodology and findings attached to it
would be in effect unless it is adopted. He stated that the initial distinction he sees
between a district and this issue is that this is a fee and no money for an SDC fee or
charge is imposed until it is developed. On the other hand, a special district asserts
jurisdiction outside of the jurisdiction.
2525 Councilor Cox stated that, as a legislative matter, the City has the power to look at
documents from any source even though the hearing may be closed. He cited as an
example whereby Attorney Lien could provide the Council with a report from a Traffic
Engineer then the Council could review that report before any action is taken.
Attorney Shields agreed that documents can be reviewed even after the close of the
hearing. He stated that the SDC Statute tacks the writ of review onto to this but he feels
that it is a legislative matter and the Council could look at material. presented.
2585 With no other individuals within the audience wishing to comment on the issue, Mayor
Figley declared the public hearing closed at 8:26 pm.
Councilor Bjelland felt that one issue to be addressed is the equity issue on how the City
arrived at an allocation of the $5.5 million within the TIF process for payment towards
the improvement of the I-5 interchange. He stated that, In looking at past history in
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attempting to equitably distribute costs to benefitting properties, the City often looked at
not exactly everyone paying the same but how the benefit flows to the different properties
involved. It should be very clear that those in the interchange district would benefit more
from the improvement of the interchange than improvements to Highway 99E, therefore,
those property owners receive a greater benefit and there should be some allocation of an
additional cost involved with the total traffic impact fee. Since the City has to work with
a given amount of dollars to fund all infrastructure needs through 2020 from increased
growth within the City and if that allocation process was eliminated, the City can only
change the total amount of dollars by reducing the projects to meet infrastructure needs or
for those infrastructure projects to come in at a lower costs. Assuming the costs do not
change and costs are reallocated, then everyone else in the City developing property
would see SDC fees higher than what is proposed. He stated that he had wrestled with
the 50/50 split and, in his opinion, there appears to be a reasonable allocation of benefits.
He referred to the three projects presented by Mr. Donaldson and, even with the
increased amount since his projects fall within the interchange management area, one
project increased by 1%, one project increased by 25°Io, and the third project decreased.
The Council felt that the peak hour trip process is a more appropriate way of allocating
costs to those businesses that are going to be expanding and providing greater traffic
volume onto the City's system, therefore needing additional improvements to the City's
traffic infrastructure. He stated that not everyone will be a winner in this type of situation
and it is incumbent upon the Council to most equitably distribute those costs in a fair
manner. He stated that he feels comfortable in the methodology that has been used to
arrive at these costs and, admittedly they would like to have all SDC's (water, sewer,
traffic, storm water, parks, schools) lower, but there is also an obligation to make sure
that people requiring more infrastructure within the City are paying their fair share and
not putting the burden on those people who are already here. Cities that have high
SDC's are primarily those cities that are growing and have new infrastructure needs over
the next 15-20 years. A need exists and yet people are reluctant to, and object to,
paying for these improvements and the Council has to attempt to balance all of those
issues to pay for future costs to support Woodburn's future.
Councilor Lonergan agreed with comments made by Councilor Bjelland and reminded
the public that the methodology has not been changed since 1999. In his opinion, the
proposed methodology seems to be a fair and equitable solution . In looking at the
comparative analysis with other cities, it appears that Woodburn fits in with what others
are charging.
Councilor McCallum also concurred with statements made by the Councilors. As
pointed out earlier, the Council can still take a look at this issue before an ordinance is
adopted.
Councilor Cox stated that Woodburn, as in any growing City, has a huge need for
improvement of public infrastructure and Woodburn needs road improvements. Money
to pay for these improvements cannot come from general taxes since there would be no
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voter support. Developers will need to pay increased fees to fund improvements. He
stated that he was sorry if these fees price Woodburn property out of the markets that
might otherwise be there but he felt that it would be irresponsible on the Council's part to
not raise the SDC fees and let everyone develop anyhow without providing the money to
pay for the improvements that a development would require and benefit from as an added
load on the City's public facilities. The Council wants to be responsible and equitable
about this issue and, in his opinion, the report in which the consultants, staff, and Council
has wrestled with for many months does about as good a good of job that could be done
under the circumstances. He is prepared to vote for this unless the City Attorney provides
a report that is different based on review of Attorney Lien's memo.
Mayor Figley stated that Woodburn is one of the first cities in the State of Oregon who
has been required to pay a significant share of the interchange improvements if the City
ever wants the interchange improved. The City's share needs to be paid in some manner
and they cannot come from the general taxpayer in our community. She feels that the
logic that came into the additional charge for interchange area development has to do
with the fact that businesses locate there for the visibility or freeway access. Those who
are not as concerned about that visibility can locate along Highway 99E or Highway 214.
The City will be required to pay $8 million toward interchange improvements and those
costs should not be sacrificed from general fund services to residents or businesses
already here in Woodburn rather these costs need to come from growth.
Councilor Bjelland stated that the Woodburn interchange was the first one in State of
Oregon to have the interchange management district applied which is why there are not
other incidences of having that occurred in the past. Because of Woodburn being the first
one to do this, we have improved Woodburn's chance of getting the interchange funded
over many other communities who also want to improve their interchange area. He also
stated that State transportation dollars are very scarce at this time but when dollars do
become available, Woodburn will have a much better chance of having our interchange
improved over other communities. He stated that having the interchange improved is
critical to the future economic development of Woodburn.
COX/MCCALLUM... approve the proposed methodology in amounts for the increase in
the system development charges which has been the subject of this hearing and instruct
staff to bring back an appropriate ordinance or resolution on this matter.
Councilor Bjelland stated that he would assume that the City Attorney will take an
opportunity to research the legal issues that have been raised to make sure that the
Council is on sound footing if they elect to move forward with the ordinance.
Attorney Shields stated that he will be looking at the legal issues brought forth and the
ordinance will be made available to them for review prior to Council consideration of any
final action. Also, interested members of the public will be given an opportunity to
comment when it comes before the Council.
Councilor Cox stated that his motion did not set a time limit but he would assume that
staff would act as soon as they can on this issue.
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Attorney Shields stated that legal issues do need to be looked at and the document will
include findings to substantiate their decision.
On roll call vote, the motion passed unanimously.
3308 COUNCIL BILL N0.2701-ORDINANCE LEVYING ASSESSMENTS FOR
THE IMPROVEMENTS OF COUNTRY CLUB ROAD BETWEEN BOONES
FERRY ROAD AND ASTOR WAY.
Councilor Cox introduced Council Bill No. 2701. The two readings of the bill were read
by title only since there were no objections from the Council. On roll call vote for final
passage, the bill passed unanimously. Mayor Figley declared Council Bill No. 2701 duly
passed.
3358 COUNCIL BILL N0.2702 -ORDINANCE LEVYING ASSESSMENTS FOR THE
IMPROVEMENTS OF WEST LINCOLN STREET BETWEEN CASCADE
DRIVE AND LEASURE STREET.
Council Bill No. 2702 was introduced by Councilor Cox. Recorder Tennant read the two
readings of the bill by title only since there were no objections from the Council. On roll
call vote for final passage, the bill passed unanimously. Mayor Figley declared Council
Bill No. 2702 duly passed.
3402 COUNCIL BILL N0.2703 -ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 1965
(THE SANITARY SEWER AND WATER SERVICES ORDINANCE) TO
PROVIDE FOR NEW DISCONNECTION PROCEDURES AND SETTING AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
Councilor Cox introduced Council Bill No. 2703. The two readings of the bill were read
by title only since there were no objections from the Council.
It was noted that the effective date of this ordinance is May 1, 2008.
On roll call vote for final passage, the bill passed unanimously. Mayor Figley declared
Council Bill No. 2703 duly passed.
3367 COUNCIL BILL N0.2704 -ORDINANCE REPEALING ORDINANCE N0.2368
(THE 2004-05 MASTER FEE SCHEDULE); ADOPTING THE 2007-08 REVISED
SCHEDULE OF FEES AND CHARGES FOR CITY SERVICES• PROVIDING
FOR THE ANNUAL REVIEW OF SAID FEE SCHEDULE• AND SETTING AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
Councilor Cox introduced Council Bill No. 2704. Recorder Tennant read the two
readings of the bill by title only since there were no objections from the Council.
City Attorney Shields stated that the recommendation on the agenda does not match the
one in the staff report and there is a state statute (294.160) that says that the City does not
have to have a public hearing but public comment should be asked for when fees are
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proposed to be raised.
Mayor Figley stated that the proposed ordinance would increase the fee schedules in all
departments. It is a fairly lengthy document and did not know how many people have
had the time to look at the document in order to express an opinion or viewpoint but she
wanted to offer the audience an opportunity to anyone who would like to make a
statement. She stated that it has been the City's philosophy to try to have a lot of services
pay for themselves and what is subsidized is frequently in the arena of services for youth
and sometimes for other services which the Council believes should have some subsidy.
Don Judson, Chamber Executive Director, stated that no one in the Chamber has had an
opportunity to look at this ordinance, therefore it is difficult to have public comment. It
may or may not be significant but he hoped in the future the Chamber would receive a
copy of the agenda so that their members can have an opportunity to look at items up for
review .
Mayor Figley stated that most of the fees have a nominal increase primarily to account
for labor and service costs.
Councilor McCallum questioned if the Chamber was on the mailing list for agenda
materials.
Mr. Judson stated that he did not receive anything in the mail.
John Gervais, Woodburn Independent, stated that he does not receive anything until
Friday afternoon prior to the Monday Council meeting.
Mayor Figley reiterated that a lot of the fee increases are basic fees for services and are
mostly nominal changes due to cost of the living.
Councilor Bjelland took issue with the Mayor's statement in that he did not feel that the
proposed planning and development fees were nominal. He questioned staff as to how
the current cost of service was arrived at for some of these fees since some of them are at
33% rather than 100% current cost and he wondered if the City has seen 3 times the cost
of providing these services over the last 3 years or if there was some other method used to
determine the cost.
Finance Director Gillespie stated that the methodology in calculating the cost of service is
the same method used over last 4 or 5 years. Managers estimate how long it takes for a
certain class of employee on a specific fee, an extension on the number of hours times
hourly rate is calculated to apply labor costs, then factors are applied to account for
supplies and capital that looks at the budget and how supplies relate to labor for any
given division. These numbers are added together to come up with a fee that accounts for
100% of the City's cost to process a specific fee. The Planning area has some major
changes in the proposed fees. When the last fee schedule was approved in 2004, the
Council decided not to charge 100% for those planning fees. In this fee schedule, staff
went back to the Council's direction given in 1999 that said that the Council would like
to have the planning fees be self-supporting.
Councilor Lonergan questioned as to how staff communicates, if any, to the Council
during the course of year if a fee may be too high and may need to be reviewed to
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determine if any change should be considered by the Council.
Director Gillespie stated that in the parks division, staff tries to set the fees to reflect
market conditions and, cited for example, the aquatic center fees which have fees similar
to those in the area . He stated that trying to judge where the price point is can be very
hard and staff has been trying to find where the demand is to try and maximize the
revenue.
City Administrator Brown stated that the Community Services department is now
offering discounts on different kinds of fees and programs as a marketing tool to see if it
makes a difference in volume of users. During the year, any one of the City's department
heads can come in to talk about changing their fees either up or down as well as
proposing creative means of addressing the demand part of the curve. In respect to the
planning fees, it has always been acknowledged that those fees are high but the Council
has also talked about the price of development paying for itself and not having certain
benefits paid for by the general taxpayer. The Council has been swayed by arguments
about small projects paying a disproportionate share of a fee charge and the fee schedule
has been adjusted to slide a little in this regards before it goes off of the methodology and
equity that it is intended to be. He stated that the proposed fee schedule goes back to
setting a fee to recover costs.
Councilor Cox stated that all fees are nominal and in line with inflationary trends except
for planning fees and he has a lot of sticker shock on those proposed fees. Therefore, he
will be voting no on this ordinance so that it will not be put it into effect as of this
meeting. He agreed with Mr. Judson that people need to be alerted that the fees are going
up. He cited an example of a simple variance fee which would cost under the proposed
schedule $3,474 whereas before it was $1,769. He realizes that the City would like to
recover as much as possible and people getting the benefit should have to pay for it.
When talking about the kinds of applications that Community Development deals with,
no two applications are exactly alike and these estimates for cost of service are very
rough and cannot be applied to all categories. He is also inclined to think that the City
may not want to get 100% recovery because part of what the City is doing is not for the
benefit of that particular piece of property at all rather it is for benefit of the public as a
whole where the City is trying to protect the quality of development that goes on in our
community and to enforce our laws. It may be that the public as a whole should pay for a
portion of the cost if they want the Council to preserve the quality of things that go on
within the City. He stated that he is not criticizing the Community Development
Department but feels that he needs more information before he would agree with those
fees.
Councilor Bjelland stated that he has similar concerns and different kinds of variances
require the planning department to go through a series of steps in order to justify approval
of a variance. He did not know if there are different classifications of variances such as a
minor variance or a major variance thereby having two different fee structures supporting
those applications. The issue of variances has come up before and it was determined that
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it was high at that time and now the proposed ordinance would double the amount again.
He felt that it would be worthwhile to find out if there could be some way of classifying
variances that would allow for a tiered pricing structure.
4088 Administrator Brown stated that staff has been through this exercise in the past to try and
establish a sliding scale and they are willing to look at it again. There are some fees that
are included in this ordinance that staff would like to see adopted soon and cited the
previous agenda item which set some water fees that would go into effect May 1, 2008.
If the concern is focused solely on the planning fees, he suggested that those fees be
pulled out and the ordinance be amended to not address those at this time and staff can
then be given an opportunity to take a look at adjusting the planning fees to address
public benefit.
COX/NICHOLS.... amend Council Bill No. 2704 by deleting agenda pages 80, 81, and
82 from the fee' schedule attached . The motion passed unanimously.
On roll all vote for final passage, the bill passed unanimously as amended. Mayor Figley
declared Council Bill No. 2704 duly passed.
4174 COUNCIL BILL N0.2705 -RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE TRANSFER
OF OPERATING CONTINGENCY APPROPRIATIONS DURING FISCAL
YEAR 2007-08.
Council Bill No. 2705 was introduced by Councilor Cox. The bill was read by title only
since there were no objections from the Council. On roll call vote for final passage, the
bill passed unanimously. Mayor Figley declared Council Bill No. 2705 duly passed.
4213 TOURISM AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GRANT.
Don Judson, Chamber Executive Director, stated that one of his challenges has been to
make sense out of the tourism funding. As the Woodburn Area Chamber of Commerce,
they have members outside of Woodburn thereby forming a regional tourism makes sense
to the Chamber. He stated that their proposal is fora 3-year plan to use Transient
Occupancy Tax (TOT) funds as seed money to create the regional tourism organization to
be known as WAVA (Woodburn Area Visitor's Association). In reviewing budget
information for Fiscal Year 2008-09, the City estimates TOT revenues of $215,000 and,
in the budget document, it indicates that one-third of that revenue (approximately
$70,000) is available for grant disbursement. He stated that their request is for $44,000
which is an amount similar to what has been received over the last several years. His
intent is to prove to the Council what that they can do with those funds. The Visitor's
Center will have to pay someone to oversee the facility operations and a portion of the
grants funds will be used to pay for this service. There are also costs to be incurred for
brochures, itineraries, and other tourism publications. A report will be provided to the
Council at the end of first year to show what has been done at the Center. They will then
evaluate at the end of year two and three to check on the status of the visitor's center.
Once they have been able to show the value of WAVA, he believes that they will see
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other businesses and organizations outside of Woodburn willing to contribute to WAVA.
He reiterated that the TOT funds would be used as tourism seed money in a separate
organization under the auspice of the Chamber.
Councilor McCallum questioned how many of the other Woodburn area businesses
contributed towards tourism in years past or are prepared to do it now because they think
it is valuable.
Mr. Judson stated that the Chamber has had some organizations pay to have their
brochures at the Visitor's Center but this has been a nominal amount. The Chamber has
not gone out to get operational support and they have just used TOT funds for operations.
Once WAVA gets started, they will be going out to talk to other Chambers and some
businesses on their tourism committee to see if they would like to be a member of
WAVA. He cited an example whereby some companies would like to be a part of the
Visitor Guide but have no reason to join the Chamber. Results will be reported to the
Council annually so that the Council can see a financial report along with the impacts the
Center has had on businesses within the community.
Councilor McCallum questioned who would overlook WAVA.
Mr. Judson stated that the Chamber's Vice President of Tourism, Darcy Ruef from Al's,
will be overlooking WAVA activities until he gets back in October.
Councilor McCallum questioned if this particular procedure follows the established
guidelines for awarding TOT funds.
City Administrator Brown stated that if the Council is interested in deviating from the
procedure followed in the past then the Council needs to make amendments to both the
ordinance and guidelines that were previously adopted. In both documents, the word
"competitive" would be removed or the Council would allow themselves the option of a
competitive or direct allocation to one or more organizations. He felt that a policy
decision should be made before April 1, 2008 since that is the date that the Council will
be moving forward with a competitive proposal process.
Councilor Cox stated that the amount requested by the Chamber is about 60°Io of the
tourism portion of the TOT.
Administrator Brown stated that TOT is divided into 9th's whereby 3/9th's is dedicated
to tourism and economic development. One-ninth (1/9th) stays with the City with the
other 2/9th's allocated out through the grant. Of the $70,000 mentioned previously, only
about $48,000 are funds that would be awarded as grants. The balance of the funds are
used for various City activities such as the July 4"' Fireworks and regional tourism
promotion.
Councilor Bjelland questioned if a budgetary issue is involved if a grant award is made
for subsequent years since funds are budgeted for on a fiscal year budget cycle.
Administrator Brown stated that he was not aware of any problems and each year the City
would need to re-budget funds in order to meet budget law requirements. He did not see
any problem with funding this proposal because it does seek to diminish the amount that
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it is asking for each year. Language in the grants should state that the actual amount
distributed on the basis of what is collected. Except for one year, the collections have
always been at what was projected and, even in the year it did not meet projected, the
City distributed what had been asked for. He suggested that City should still retain the
right to distribute what has been received rather than meeting a specific commitment
amount.
Mayor Figley stated that the larger commitment will reduce funds that might otherwise be
used to promote economic development within the City. Even though she is supportive
of tourism ,she did not want to sacrifice other opportunities if all funds are dedicated to
one source.
Councilor McCallum questioned the cost to operate the Visitor's Center.
Mr. Judson stated that, in this first year, they have budgeted $18,000 to hire a person to
work 20 hours per week to operate the Visitor's Center with the balance towards
brochures and other operational expenses. The staff member will also be coordinating
volunteers to be at the facility during hours of operation. He stated that the Chamber
believes tourism is a part of economic development which is another subject to be
discussing with the Council in the future. He stated that there are ways to make money
on tourism with the type of attractions that are within our local area.
Deb Yager, Chamber President, stated that they believe WAVA will begin to bridge the
disconnect that they feel is between Council and business with the Council being blamed
for not being business friendly and the Chamber being blamed for not being concerned
for livability in Woodburn. One of the things they look forward to in WAVA is a true
partnership between the Chamber and the City and to see viable results that will benefit
the livability of Woodburn by bringing in dollars, supporting daily itineraries, trips that
are either overnight in nature that will take visitors to not only take them to the outlying
areas of Woodburn but would also keep dollars spent within Woodburn.
Councilor Nichols questioned if a Board member oversees tourism and economic
development.
Ms. Yager stated that tourism falls under the responsibilities of Darcy Ruef as Vice
President. There will be an actual board formed with WAVA that will be a sub-
committee of the Chamber but WAVA will have separate financial accounting. They
will also be looking for WAVA memberhip and support outside of Woodburn but the
grant funds will provide the seed money to get this program started. She reiterated that
they will be looking for regional exposure plus some cooperative itineraries to encompass
a theme. Events and locations advertised include the Tulip Festival, OGA golf course,
drag strips, and nurseries.
Councilor McCallum expressed concern with the potential lack of travelers due to current
economic times. He also expressed concern about having a competitive process in the
past and felt that organizations should continue to have an opportunity to apply for grant
funds.
Mayor Figley stated that staff did receive some information on who has received grant
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funds in the past and feels that it is realistic that other organizations might apply if funds
were available.
1VIr. Judson stated that this was one reason why they had shown in their proposal a
decreasing amount of TOT funds. This puts the pressure on the Chamber in that they
will have to go out and raise money if WAVA is to meet their budget. They also
recognize that it is hard to commit for three years but it is also hard to plan for tourism if
you do not know if you have any money at all in the following year. Their goal is to have
an idea as to what they will have for a budget knowing that they will have to raise half of
the revenue at some point.
Councilor McCallum stated that they may still need to be in a competitive process for
future years if the results do not warrant future dollars.
Mr. Judson realized that results are not always what one would envision but they are
looking for a partnership to try and make this project work. He briefly cited the
statistics on the number of visitors to our community and their goal is to try and figure
out how these visitors can stay in our community and provide some tourism dollars to the
local businesses. In regards to the WAVA budget, there will be a large first year expense
in developing and printing brochures with future years be a lesser expense since only
dates or minor changes will be made to the brochures.
Councilor Cox stated that he would be willing to commit $44,000 this year without the
competitive process because he believes that the Chamber has performed a valuable
service in the past and, despite some of the problems they have had, they have been very
responsible about facing those problems and moving forward. He was not prepared to
make a legal commitment to continue for years 2 or 3 but is willing to make a morale
commitment in that if results are as good as predicted, then the Chamber could plan on
his support.
Councilor Nichols felt that some type of assurance should be given for the second year.
He stated that the Chamber is more active in their businesses to try and get them moving,
they support each other, and have support from businesses from outside of the area. He
expressed his feeling that the Council should guarantee them something for the second
year and was confident that they would show the Council that the Center is worth funding
with TOT funds.
Councilor McCallum stated that if things work out then the money will be there for the
Chamber. He also stated that he would like to see other organizations be at least in a
competitive situation for some tourism funding. He expressed his desire for the City and
Chamber to work together on this issue and to look at economic development.
Mr. Judson stated that the Chamber is re-forming their economic development
committee but he would like to get the Visitor's Center project started first since they feel
that tourism is important to our community. He stated that he would like a commitment
towards tourism but he also realized that if they are not doing a good job then funds may
not be allocated in future years.
Councilor Bjelland stated that he is very supportive of the effort and, given the fact that
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the City Administrator will soon be leaving and an interim Administrator will be
appointed, he is supportive of anon-competitive grant for this year. He also feels an
obligation to continue support in the future provided that it continues to be successful.
TOT dollars are coming from tourists and the Council needs to see that a significant
portion of those dollars go back to continue increasing tourism within the area.
Councilor Lonergan stated that the City has given the Chamber $40,000 each year over
the last 6 years and he strongly encouraged the Council to continue funding their tourism
program. He would also like to strength relationship between the City and Chamber and
go for the three year commitment.
Councilor McCallum stated that the City has given the Chamber almost $250,000 over
last 6 years but he would like to see what one year will provide before further dollars are
committed.
5715 COX/MCCALLUM... approve a grant from the TOT funds of $44,000 for fiscal year
2008-09 subject to availability of funds collected and instruct staff to take a look at the
City ordinance and regulations on anon-competitive basis and any amendments that are
required to accomplish that legally be brought back to the Council in due course and he
suggested that it would be helpful if the division between economic development and
tourism be more flexible from year to year. The motion passed unanimously.
City Administrator stated that the way the money has actually been distributed is through
a fee for services contract which has been on the basis of reimbursement of costs. Part of
this proposal has to do with giving the money up-front rather than reimbursement so that
they have some money to work with since this is a new organization. He assumed that
the Council would still want a contract with the Chamber and some amendments would
be made to the guidelines and contract in eliminating the reimbursement clause.
5859 CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT.
A) Administrator Brown reported that five recruitment firms had returned proposals and
it appears that there are 3 fully responsive proposals with some provisions regarding
interim administrator services as part of the proposals. He did not see a clear winner and
will most likely require some additional discussion with them through an interview
process.
Mayor Figley stated that she would like some assistance from one or two Councilors to
go through the proposals with the City Administrator, Assistant City Administrator, and
herself over the next couple of weeks. Councilors Lonergan and Bjelland stated that they
would be willing to review the proposals.
B) Administrator Brown expressed his thanks to the community for their support over the
years.
6059 MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS.
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Councilor Nichols expressed his pleasure in working with Administrator Brown and
stated that he will be missed within the City's organization. He also thanked the Council
for supporting the Chamber on the tourism project but he firmly believes that the
Chamber now has a handle on this project and the City will see a lot growth from them.
Councilor Lonergan also wished Administrator Brown the best for the future. He
mentioned that the two trees on Second Street which recently came up before the council
had been removed and both trees had diseased stumps. A maple tree that was over 100
years old was just recently removed on Third Street but this tree was located just outside
of the right-of-way. He thanked Police Officer Williams who looked up the code and
found that the property owners had the right to take the tree down since it was inside the
property line. He stated that it was also found that the tree was rotten. He would rather
see these old trees still standing since they are a part of Woodburn's history and the
downtown. He also knows that there is an effort to try and preserve these historical trees
but did not feel that there is an answer to this issue.
Councilor McCallum stated that following a process is necessary but also reminded the
public that residents have a stewardship which needs to be kept in mind. He thanked
Public Works Director Brown for his Friday Facts which provides one more way of
keeping the Council informed. He also stated that he will miss Administrator Brown but
is also glad that the City has great management staff and is a little less worried until such
time as a new Administrator is hired.
Councilor Bjelland stated that Administrator Brown's shoes will be hard to fill and he
hoped that the City will be able to attract someone that will be able to do anything close
as to what he has done for the City. He expressed his appreciation to Administrator
Brown for everything he has done over the past 10 years.
Councilor Cox stated that he will be out of town on John Brown Day but he has made
arrangements to have lunch with Administrator Brown in lieu of attending the reception.
He stated that he shared everybody else's feelings about what a valuable man and good
friend he has been.
Mayor Figley concurred with comments made and stated that he will be truly missed.
She wished him the very best and stated that Woodburn is a better community for having
him as City Administrator.
6399 AD.TOURNMENT.
MCCALLUM/LONERGAN... meeting be adjourned. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 9:50 pm.
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ATTEST
Mary Te t, Recorder
City of Woodburn, Oregon
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