City of Jefferson

CITY OF JEFFERSON

Regular Council Meeting

February 25, 2016

COUNCILORS PRESENT: Dave Beyerl, Judi Day, Dave Jones, Walt Perry, Mike Myers, Patrick McKenzie, Tracy Vaughan

COUNCILORS ABSENT: None

STAFF PRESENT: Deanna Donato, City Clerk; Deputy Steve Duncan & Sergeant Bill Sherburn of MCSO

I. MEETING CALL TO ORDER/FLAG SALUTE - Mayor McKenzie called the meeting to order at 6:30pm and led in the flag salute.

Prior to the Visitor section, the Mayor referred to the public meeting law, stating that unless there was a public hearing on the agenda for a specific topic, other items were not up for open discussion between the Council and audience. Standard protocol for a citizen would be to find a Councilor to voice their concerns to, which they then would relay to the entire Council at a public meeting, noting also that the Council was not obligated to respond at that time without properly researching the matter. The intent was to keep the meetings moving along. He reminded everybody that the matter was brought up at the January meeting and Council voted in agreement to bring the meetings more in line with public meeting laws.

II. VISITORS

Chris Giffin, Main St. - commented that she appreciated those who step up to be on the Council, as it was a hard job that required a strong spine and the understanding that you would not make everyone happy. The job required you to listen to the voices from the community to make a better community and she felt when she came to meetings 10yrs ago, the Council was more open to the community voices. She thought the Mayor’s rule suppressed the voices of dissention within the community and was alienating those that still volunteered. She commented that prior Mayor Myers was able to handle the back and forth conversations and felt the rule was just pulled out to work for the Council today, but questioned the next time something came up, noting that she thought the Council was going in the wrong direction.

Councilor Day commented that it was not an arbitrary rule; more of a rule for a formal meeting, noting the meetings weren’t town hall meetings, it was City business. Having attended various City Council meetings in other cities, she commented that she’d never seen the constant back and forth input, conversation, interruptions from the audience anywhere else and all they were trying to do was assemble a sense of order. To that, Chris Giffin responded that she felt like it was a power trip for the Council, as it had never been enforced before.

Dennis Persons, Talbot Rd. - He thought perhaps the City should hold more town hall type meetings for citizens to be able to bring up various topics. Switching gears, he asked Council for 5 minutes to discuss the topic of marijuana facilities, noting that he thought the Planning Commission was misinformed about what they voted on. He would like the Council to discuss it on an upcoming agenda and have it go out to the public for a vote. Councilor Beyerl clarified that the City never took any action on marijuana, as it was only a land use ordinance that was adopted, which laid out where facilities could/couldn’t be located, and other regulations. They made no decisions on banning or accepting it so it did not need to go to a vote on the ballot. Councilor Vaughan explained that it was her understanding that the vote of the people already happened at the state level; therefore, local Planning Commissions created regulations to decide where these types of facilities could be placed within their cities and that was it. Dennis Persons provided his explanations on what he knew from his involvement with Marion County Planning and he still believed it needed to go to voters for approval. Councilor Beyerl commented that if citizens want the subject brought up then they were free to do that, but the Council was not saying yes or no to a ban.

Nancy Hamby, Alder Ct. - Going back to the public meeting law discussion, she commented that she felt the Mayor was doing a huge disservice to the community by not allowing them to speak. If the meeting was not moving along then it was up to the Mayor to move it along, and thought the rules should be the same for all. She thought that having a Councilor speak for her was like the telephone game and things could easily get distorted. She thought the rule should be reversed. Mayor McKenzie responded that it was not his sole decision, as it was previously discussed amongst the entire Council. He did believe the community should be heard and there was a place for that. He, like several other Councilors, were fairly new and still learning how things worked, which was why he brought it up to the Council and it was decided upon at that meeting, as all agreed to tighten the ship. Councilor Day clarified her point, that she’d never been to a meeting discussing business where the audience was allowed to interject.

Councilor Myers commented that he wasn’t sure he understood how it would be working when they discussed it at the January meeting. He noted the Council received the agenda a week in advance and questioned the process for one to ask about a topic on the agenda, but thought they should be able to come to some sort of balance. Councilor Beyerl suggested amending it to allow discussion as long as it was short and orderly. Councilor Perry noted there were two meetings a month and wondered about using the worksessions as community discussion times. Councilor Jones noted that according to Oregon public meeting law, visitor input was not required. The rule was not intended to take away community input, but to allow the Mayor control. Councilor Vaughan commented that she didn’t have the luxury of visiting with community members during the week, due to her schedule, so she felt like Council meetings was her chance to hear the community and thought the rule should be amended some. Dave Jones, referring to the minutes of the January meeting when the topic was discussed, said it was for discussion that went on longer than 3 minutes or was repeated multiple times on a subject, pointing out that it was not intended to stop the entire community input, just manage it. He also noted there was no actual vote on the matter, as the rules were already adopted rules of the City Council; it was a consensus of the Council to start following them.

Mayor McKenzie summarized, noting that what he was hearing from the Council at that time was orderly input after each subject could happen, as long as business was taking place and moving forward. Therefore, going forward, he noted discussion could happen, but it must be orderly and not disruptive and citizens must be patient so that Council could discuss their business.

III. OLD BUSINESS

3.1 Street Lighting - no updates

3.2 Resolution #996, Setting Fees and Policies for Development Applications and Repealing Resolution #976 - Councilor Myers moved to adopt as presented and Councilor Beyerl seconded. All in favor: Ayes - 6, Opposed - 0. APPROVED.

3.3 Councilor’s Project Prioritization

Councilor Beyerl inquired about contacting DEQ to see if they would allow the City to put something over the surface of the old gas station property, without breaking the surface in any way. He commented that it would be nice if they could pave over it and use it for parking lot if nothing else, but anything to make it more presentable would be good. He was advised to contact staff for contact information at DEQ and given the permission from the Council to make some inquiries about the property and report back to Council. Councilor Vaughan volunteered to help if needed as well.

Councilor Myers was tasked to reach out to the high school art teacher about designing new banners, then staff could find out costs of durable materials.

Mayor McKenzie spoke on the COPS grant and asked Sgt. Sherburn to provide the Council with information. Sgt. Sherburn briefly explained how the grant worked and indicated their County grant writer was willing to write the grant and help the City in any way. He recommended filling out the application early so there would be time if something needed re-done. He explained a few years ago when the City looked at the grant, the timing wasn’t right, as the federal dollars weren’t available due to all the budget restraints. The Mayor indicated he was trying to get the school district to pitch in and help fund an additional officer, since they responded to the high school and middle school often. Councilor Beyerl requested to see the commitment from the school district in writing if they were going to be onboard with it. Councilor Myers would like to see a projected budget and see where funds could be pulled from. Council also was interested in seeing more information on the grant before committing. Staff was directed to bring the subject back to a future meeting.

IV. NEW BUSINESS

4.1 FOL Street Closure Request for Scavenger Hunt - Councilor Beyerl moved to approve; Councilor Myers seconded. All in favor: Ayes - 6, Opposed - 0. APPROVED.

V. DISCUSSION/INFORMATION

5.1 Info on Governor’s Transportation Vision Forum - FYI, no discussion

5.2 Memo Re: Water Bill Inserts

Councilor Myers questioned the actual cost to the City and did not see an issue with it. Councilor Perry was concerned about access to personal information, which the City Clerk explained all water bills were folded and inserted first, before any other group so there was nothing to be seen. Councilor Vaughan thought the fee was acceptable and suggested that the same group should not be allowed to include an insert two months in a row. Chris Giffin of FOL, commenting from the audience, found it hard to believe that their group should have to pay the fee, when they were giving the City a new Library and requested the fees be waived for the FOL. There was discussion about how the City couldn’t charge some and not others and the suggestion to only allow non-profit groups the ability to insert. In the end it was decided there would be only one insert per month; only non-profit groups could insert; no group could insert consecutive months unless there was nothing else to insert; there would be no fee charged.

VI. CONSENT AGENDA - Councilor Beyerl moved to approve; Councilor Myers seconded. All in favor: Ayes - 6, Opposed - 0. APPROVED.

VII. COMMITTEE/DEPARTMENT UPDATES

Library: it was noted the tree out front of City Hall was not a marker and was dead

Planning - recruiting applicants

Chamber - no new info

Building Comm - site plan documents would be submitted to the City in the next week

LAC - Albany historical society member provided education and info to the group

MPO - drafts plans will be combined and adopted next month and given to the feds; Public meeting at the Albany Public Library on March 9th to view documents

Fire - an architect was there to assess the needs; volunteers read a letter to the board apologizing; meeting moved into executive session

School - working on wellness grant for staff; each building awarded a $4,000 grant to involve students; Issues on handling marijuana and looking to rewrite school policy to address it. Tracy Vaughan shared that Albany schools were having the same issue and suggested they work with the juvenile department when rewriting policy; will begin selecting an employee of the month per building rather than one for the entire district

FOL - goal to submit plans to City by next week and be at Planning Commission in April

Parks & Rec - no new info

MWACT - discussion on transportation to the east and north of us; looking at joint possibility with Albany transit.

VIII. COUNCIL COMMENTS

Councilor Vaughan commented that she really enjoyed the things at the Community Center, noting how busy it always was.

IX. CALENDAR CHANGES - none

X. ADJOURNMENT - Councilor Myers moved to adjourn. Councilor Vaughan seconded. All were in favor and the meeting adjourned at 8:36pm.

MINUTES APPROVED this 28th day of April, 2016.

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Patrick McKenzie, Mayor

ATTEST:

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Sarah Cook, City Recorder

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