BEAVERTON CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
APRIL 12, 2004

CALL TO ORDER:

The Regular Meeting of the Beaverton City Council was called to order by Mayor Rob Drake in the Forrest C. Soth City Council Chamber, 4755 SW Griffith Drive , Beaverton , Oregon , on Monday, April 12, 2004 , at 6:35 p.m.

ROLL CALL:

Present were Mayor Drake, Couns. Betty Bode, Dennis Doyle, Fred Ruby, Forrest Soth and Cathy Stanton. Also present were Chief of Staff Linda Adlard , City Attorney Alan Rappleyea , Assistant Finance Director Shirley Baron-Kelly, Community Development Director Joe Grillo , Engineering Director Tom Ramisch , Operations/Maintenance Director Gary Brentano , Library Director Ed House, Human Resources Director Nancy Bates, Police Captain Chris Gibson and City Recorder Sue Nelson .

PRESENTATIONS:

04061 - Overview of the Washington County Cooperative Library Services Levy of May 18, 2004 , Measure 34-77

Library Director Ed House introduced Eva Calcagno, Director, Washington County Cooperative Library Services (WCCLS).

Calcagno distributed a brochure concerning Measure 34-77, A Five-Year Washington County Library Operations Le vy that will be on the May 18, 2004 ballot. She explained the levy was part of a five-year financing plan for WCCLS; the County General Fund support was the largest revenue source for WCCLS and the levy proceeds would be the second largest source. She said the levy was a five-year property tax local-option levy for Fiscal Years 2004-05 through 2008-09; it had a fixed rate of $0.26/$1,000 assessed valuation and it was projected to be an additional $43.00/year for the average home assessment of $165,000. She said over the five-year period, $48 million would be levied.

Calcagno noted this was the same rate as the previous levy request in 2002, that lost by 611 votes. She said Measure 34-77 restored and maintained library services lost when the previous levy failed. She noted if the levy passed funding would become available in July, 2004. She said the levy would fund local library services, central support and outreach services that connected all the libraries to the Year 2009. She said services to be restored included library hours, materials purchases, and reference/youth/outreach programs.

Calcagno reviewed factors that impacted library services in Washington County . First, she said, four libraries remodeled o r b uilt new facilities in the last four years, two libraries had plans for new buildings in 2004 and 2005, five libraries were planning expansions or new branches between 2006-2009, and two new libraries may join WCCLS (North Plains and Gaston). She said this would occur within the timeframe of the new levy. She reviewed the statistics concerning library use and circulation increases when new or expanded libraries opened. She noted population growth over the last decade also resulted in an increase in the use and need for library services. She said over half of the County residents had library cards and in a telephone survey conducted in 2002, 59% of the respondents said they used the library monthly or more frequently. She said Oregon ranked second nationally in circulation per capita and Washington County 's circulation per capita was higher than Oregon 's; it was over twice the national average. She explained the projections for circulation increases during the time of this levy were estimated at an average of 8.5% annually. She said the projections were based on historical data for each library and were adjusted for the opening of new facilities where appropriate.

Calcagno explained the majority of the levied funds would be applied to the libraries to pay for operations (books, staffing, hours, services); the remaining 22% would be directed to central services which linked the libraries together (WILINET, electronic resources, inter-library deliveries, outreach to homebound residents, reference and youth support). She said if the levy failed there would be further reductions in hours, staffing, book purchases and programming, which would begin in July 2004. She noted if the levy failed, County funding for library services would be what it was in 2000-2001.

House explained because the library levy failed in 2002, Beaverton 's book budget was reduced over $200,000, staffing was reduced by 1.8 FTE and operating hours were reduced from 71 to 60 hours per week. He said if the levy failed in May, the Library would maintain its current level of service for one year; after that the City would need to look for other revenue or cut back services.

Coun. Soth asked what would be the difference in rate if the levy was projected on a monetary value rather than a tax rate.

Calcagno said she did not know the different rates; she noted $48 million over five years was an average of around $9 million per year.

Coun. Soth said when they went for a fixed money amount, the rate decreased over a period of time because of increased assessed value in properties. He wondered if that was projected in this case.

Calcagno replied the County's projections for growth and assessed value were fairly conservative at 3.5% the first year and it did not exceed 5% in the five-year period.

Coun. Ruby asked how the public had responded to the reduction in services; cuts in the hours of operation were tangible. He asked what feedback the City had from the community.

House explained they tried to make the cuts where it least impacted the public, such as one-half hour in the mornings, the late hour in the evening and Friday evenings which were slow. He said the feedback from the public was that the evening hours were primary hours; consequently, if the levy passed, those hours would be restored. He added the book budget was cut to eliminate esoteric type of items or more expensive materials.

Calcagno noted that while some belt tightening could be done, it was difficult to maintain it for a long period of time. She noted one example was the elimination of all capital purchases which included the planned upgrade of the computers. She noted at some point the equipment had to be upgraded.

Coun. Bode said she understood the challenge of obtaining the County vote. She asked if the collection reflected the cultural diversity that has developed in the City over the last five years.

House responded the Library staff was working on ensuring the collection was diverse. He noted they had a multi-lingual book collection and newspapers in other languages, including Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Farsi.

Coun. Bode asked if the language collections encompassed all ages.

House replied there were gaps in some of the collections due to lack of funding.

Coun. Stanton thanked them for their presentation and noted a discussion packet could be picked up at public libraries.

Coun. Doyle thanked them for their presentation. He urged everyone to exercise their right to vote. He asked the speakers how they would answer someone who said that the economy was better so the levy was not needed.

Calcagno explained that the use of libraries continued to increase on a daily basis.

Coun. Doyle added that as the economy rebounds, salaries have no impact on the funding source. He noted the state and federal governments do not help; property tax was the only option for funding.

Calcagno also noted the assessed value on a home would remain basically the same unless a major expansion was done, so the levy would remain the same.

Mayor Drake thanked them for the presentation.

04062 - Project Update - Beaverton Software-Focused Business Incubator

Economic Development Manager Janet Young presented the second update on the status of the Beaverton Software-Focused Business Incubator. She said they have been looking for space to house the incubator and dealing with legal issues on how the incubator would be structured.

Young explained staff toured a number of different real estate sites and developed criteria for the space needed. She said the primary goal was to locate the incubator in downtown Beaverton . She added this was a challenge because there was not a lot of office space available in downtown Beaverton and software companies wanted hard-wall space for security reasons. She said finding existing hard-wall space was a challenge and trying to retrofit existing open space was costly. She noted the sites were narrowed down to two or three and staff would be discussing options with landlords.

Young explained the Business Plan called for the incubator to be structured as a 503(c)(3) in the long-run. She noted it takes times to get this status established. She said the consultant advised that a common way to start an incubator was to be hosted by an existing 503(c)(3) that had a similar mission. She said they were currently examining the non-profit corporation created for the management of the public spaces at The Round and some other options that may be feasible.

Young stated one of the exciting things currently happening was the partnership being developed with the Software Association of Oregon (SAO). She said SAO was excited about this project and eager to work to accomplish this mission. She said SAO had strategic missions it was developing regarding assisting with the startup of software companies, so the incubator project aligned well with SAO's mission.

Coun. Stanton said she appreciated the information concerning the need for hard-walled space and agreed that would be a challenge.

CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONS:

Myles Bugbee, Beaverton , stated the Young Adult Room at the Library was great for teens. He said the YA Room had shelves of book for teens, computers to help with research and there was always a helpful librarian. He noted there was also a Teen Library Council, that was a group of 15 teens from the area, who discussed books and wrote book reviews and put on events for area youths. He noted the Teen Council put on an Earth Day Event to educate everyone about recycling. He said this was what was wonderful about the Library; people from all walks of life in the community could come to these events and teens were able to help and give back to the community. He said they also held an open microphone poetry event for those who expressed themselves through poetry. He said that after the last library levy failed the budget for these events was cut in half and also hours were cut; the impact affected him in a negative way. He said if Measure 34-77 did not pass there would be more cuts in these programs. He stressed the Library was very important because it served all the people in the community. He said he hoped the Council and Mayor would support the libraries because the libraries supported their communities.

Coun. Soth asked Bugbee if some of his peers were more comfortable expressing themselves through poetry or pictures, rather than spoken conversation.

Bugbee said that was correct and there was always a librarian in the Youth Room to help them through the learning areas they were handling.

Coun. Doyle thanked Bugbee for his comments and said it was encouraging to hear from the students. He said it was good to know people cared about the Library; Bugbee presented excellent reasons for supporting the levy.

Coun. Stanton asked what text books and grades the Beaverton School District had at the Homework Center .

Bugbee said the YA Room was for 6 th through 12 th Grades. He said he worried about tomorrow's teens who might not have as great a library as he had and he wanted the Measure to pass.

Coun. Bode asked him what grade he was in and what school he attended.

Bugbee said he was in eighth grade and he was home-schooled.

Dot Lukins said she was the representative for Beaverton for the 34-77 Levy. She asked the public to get in touch with her if they wanted to help or needed information; she could be reached at 503- 524-7470 or dlukins@europa.com .

Coun. Stanton encouraged everyone to vote on the Measure.

Lukins stressed that during bad times libraries were more important; when difficulties were occurring around the world, people needed to take responsibility for their local world.

Henry Kane, Beaverton , said people who would be forced to annex into the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District and pay increased taxes, would probably not vote in favor of the library levy because they could not afford both. He said he would be filing papers regarding the Park District annexation issue, which he thought was an open-and-shut case based on the recent Tuefel annexation that was correctly annexed to the City. He noted the District had not handled its procedure correctly; the District should withdraw its annexation and redo everything correctly.

Mayor Drake noted there were Boy Scouts in the audience and welcomed them.

Tyler Eveson, Troop 591, from the Church of the Latter Day Saints, Beaverton , said they were working on their Citizenship and Community Merit Badges.

COUNCIL ITEMS:

Coun. Soth said at the National League of Cities Conference an item discussed was free trade agreements and land use laws that would impact all cities and the federal and state governments. He noted officials were trying to persuade Congress to review this issue to see what could be done to preserve local rules and regulations. He said more information would be available later in the year.

Coun. Stanton said on Sunday, April 25, 2004 , a Volunteer Plaque would be unveiled at the Beaverton Library that would list the volunteers who worked on various committees to construct the new Library.

Coun. Doyle welcomed back the National Guard units who just returned from Iraq . He thanked them for their service.

STAFF ITEMS:

There were none.

ACTION ITEM:

04063 - Authorize Mayor to Sign IGA with Clean Water Services for the Cooperative Operation of Sanitary Sewer, Storm and Surface Water Facilities

Operations Director Gary Brentano explained a new NPDES permit was issued to Clean Water Services (CWS), by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, for the operation of wastewater treatment and storm/surface water drainage facilities in this region. He noted the City provided maintenance and operation services for that portion of the CWS system that was within the City limits, under the terms of an intergovernmental agreement with CWS. He said the new permit issued to CWS was one of the first of its kind in the nation; the permit focused on a rive r b asin rather than facilities or individual cities. He said the permit was directed toward the management of storm and surface water flows into the Tualatin River . He said this was a fundamental shift in DEQ's policy, in response to federal s tand ards. He noted CWS was contemplating a series of improvements, in cooperation with the cities, to improve overall water quality in the Tualatin River Basin ; more would be learned about this in the next year.

Brentano explained that under the new agreement, the agencies will focus regionally on control/maintenance of storm and sewer facilities using a creek-and-basin approach, as opposed to a city approach. As an example, he said, the City would focus reducing the flow of pollutants into the Beaverton and Summer Creeks; the City would have more enforcement authority to ensure that what happened at one point on a creek was consistent at all points upstream. He explained the proposed agreement focused on a restructuring of maintenance service areas to focus on the basin. He said that as the City grew through annexations, it would negotiate a price for services with CWS; CWS would continue to provide those services to the residents in a manner consistent with what was done today. He said that saved the City the cost of acquiring new equipment and transferring personnel, which would benefit the City financially and organizationally.

Coun. Ruby said he remembered reading about this in the newspaper and asked if this was good for Beaverton .

Brentano explained CWS had done a good job and this permit was the first of its kind in the nation. He said traditionally in the area of storm water, agencies focused on best management practices, meaning they did everything they could do to reach a certain level of pollutants in discharge. He said with this new permit, the EPA was now focusing on total maximum daily load in a stream or river. He said that meant they set s tand ards that cannot be exceeded; unde r b est management practices the s tand ards could be exceeded. He said the unification of the entire group of facilities focused on the good job CWS had done and it represented the total maximum daily load as a group in the Tualatin River .

Coun. Soth said these subjects had been discussed at the League of Oregon Cities Water Committee for the past two years. He said Washington County was unique because it was the only county in Oregon entirely served by one basin, which made it ideal for this situation.

Coun. Doyle asked if there was anything in the agreement they should be cognizant of or anything that might mean additional cost to the City for services.

Brentano replied that CWS was currently in the process of reviewing its rates and the allocation of the revenue between the District and the cities. He said the City would watch that closely as staff believed the City currently received adequate resources from monthly fees to provide the services. He said they did not know the total impact for additional maintenance responsibilities. He said the City did a good job of cleaning catch basins and managing pollution control structures. He said new s tand ards that set an absolute limit would place a burden on the City, but the burden was unknown at this time. He noted the future was unclea r b ecause CWS had 12-14 months to formulate a plan to deal with the issue of improving water quality. He said the agreement preserved the relationship that existed up to this point; it strengthened the City's ability to do source control enforcement and it helped define issues related to future annexations.

Mayor Drake added CWS was a good partner and did a good job. He said the grinding would come next year as CWS and the cities discussed revenue allocations. He noted any change in revenue would have to be reflective of the work assignment the City was given. He said the goal was to serve Beaverton residents well.

Coun. Stanton asked if she was correct in her analysis that there was more definition of responsibilities and there was more flexibility in future negotiations.

Brentano said that was their hope; to manage the Tualatin Basin one needed strong, effective local partners. He said the new permit raised new issues so it was a learning experience for everyone. He said the agreement was the first step.

Coun. Stanton referred to page 48, concerning "Inside City and Outside Areas of Assigned Service" and asked if that meant some future annexation.

Brentano replied that was correct. If an area such as Bethany annexed to the City, CWS would continue to provide service to the residents in a manner consistent with the City's standards; the revenue allocation would be split and the City would pay CWS the cost of providing this service to those residents.

Coun. Stanton thanked staff for their work with CWS.

Coun. Soth MOVED, SECONDED by Coun. Bode that Council approve Agenda Bill 04063 authorizing the Mayor to sign the intergovernmental agreement with Clean Water Services. Couns. Bode, Doyle, Ruby, Soth and Stanton voting AYE, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously. (5:0)

ORDINANCES:
Suspend Rules:

Coun. Soth MOVED, SECONDED by Coun. Stanton, that the rules be suspended, and that the ordinances embodied in Agenda Bills 04064 and 04065 be read for the first time by title only at this meeting, and for the second time by title only at the next regular meeting of the Council. Couns. Bode, Doyle, Soth, Ruby and Stanton voting AYE, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously. (5:0)

First Reading :
City Attorney Alan Rappleyea read the following ordinances for the first time by title only:

04064 - An Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 2050, the Development Code, Chapter 20 (Land Use) and 90 (Definitions); TA 2004-0002 ( Regional Center Commuter Rail Text Amendments) (Ordinance No. 4295)

04065 - An Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 4187, Figure III-I, the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Map and Ordinance No. 2050, the Zoning Map for Property Located at 1250 NW Waterhouse Avenue, CPA 2003-0018/ZMA 2003-0020 (Ordinance No. 4296)

Second Reading :
Rappleyea explained staff was recommending a revision to Ordinance No. 4294 (Agenda Bill 04059) to add an emergency clause to this ordinance which would make the ordinance effective upon passage.

Coun. Soth MOVED, SECONDED by Coun. Ruby that Council amend the ordinance embodied in Agenda Bill 04059 to include an emergency clause and that the City Attorney read the wording for that emergency clause.

Rappleyea read Section 3 the emergency clause, that was added to the ordinance, in its entirety.

Coun. Soth MOVED, SECONDED by Coun. Ruby that the ordinance embodied in Agenda Bill 04059 be amended as read by the City Attorney. Couns. Bode, Doyle, Ruby and Soth voting AYE, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously. (4:0) Coun. Stanton was not present for the vote.

04059 - An Ordinance Adopting TA 2004-0001 to Amend Development Code Section 10.70 (Enforcement) (Ordinance No. 4294) (Amended to include Section 3. Emergency Clause to make Ordinance effective upon passage.)

Coun. Soth MOVED, SECONDED by Coun. Ruby, that the ordinance embodied in Agenda Bill 04059 as amended, now pass. Roll call vote. Couns. Bode, Doyle, Ruby and Soth voting AYE, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously. (4:0) Coun. Stanton was not present for the vote.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

APPROVAL:

Approved this 19th day of April, 2004.

__________________________________
Rob Drake, Mayor