HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2002-02-05 AM Of Lk"
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CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
' O )14' February 5, 2002
ORCGOM
Mayor Judie Hammerstad called the special City Council meeting to order at 7:33 a.m. on
February 5, 2002, in the City Council Chambers.
Present: Mayor Hammerstad, Councilors Turchi, Graham, McPeak, Hoffman, Rohde and
Schoen.
Staff Present: Doug Schmitz, City Manager; David Powell, City Attorney; Robyn Christie, City
Recorder; Dan Semrad, Fire Chief; Liz Jacob, Associate Planner
3. REVIEW EVENING AGENDA
Mayor Hammerstad said that she would review the adoption of the Council goals. She noted
Councilor Rohde would review the consent agenda.
Councilor Hoffman asked to pull Item 4.2.1, the trolley, for further discussion and visibility.
He spoke of discussing whether a public relations campaign for the next 5 to 10 years was
appropriate in terms of the trolley and the neighbors.
Mayor Hammerstad observed that the topic was not germane to the agreement with the Oregon
Electric Railway Society. She held that talking about the future of the trolley as a streetcar,
especially with the pull back of the transportation funds, and with respect to right-of-way and
public relations, seemed to be a larger discussion. Councilor Hoffman conceded the point but
asked to still pull it.
4.1.1 Fire Sprinklers
Councilor Graham asked for clarification on the expenditure of the grant monies. Dan
Semrad, Fire Chief, confirmed that, although the 17 facilities receiving the fire sprinklers
would only cost $164,000, the City could spend up to the full grant amount of$258,750. He
explained that 10% matching grant from the City was 10% of the total cost. He noted that the
$164,000 was only for the contract to put in the sprinklers (page 16); there were other fees that
would take more of the grant.
Chief Semrad indicated to Councilor Graham that the City did not jeopardize the grant by not
spending all of it. He said that staff might use an amendment process to bring the other houses
on board, once they finished these 17. He mentioned that they would start with the 10 houses in
the city and the 7 houses in the county.
Chief Semrad indicated to Mayor Hammerstad that there was one more house in the city. He
told Councilor Rohde that he would get a list to him of the 17 houses identified by staff for the
project.
4.2.3 Resolution 02-07
Councilor Hoffman asked for clarification on the 'zero cost' listed for this item. David Powell,
City Attorney, indicated that, while there was no cost to continue membership in the City
Country Insurance Services Trust, the City did pay an annual assessment. Doug Schmitz, City
Manager, said that the assessment was $377,000.
At Councilor Graham's request, Mr. Powell discussed the definitions of several insurance
terms, including risk management services, risk financing and loss control programs. He
indicated that risk management assessment provided recommendations on how to minimize
liabilities, while risk financing dealt with the underwriting insurance pool. Mr. Schmitz
City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 9
February 5, 2002
explained that loss control programs involved consultation with the City on how to improve
guardianship of assets, inventory control, etc.
Councilor Hoffman clarified that the insurance company worked with public agencies to reduce
the types of potential tort liability, such as police pursuits or false arrests or maintenance leaving
barricades on the sidewalks. Mr. Powell mentioned that the insurance company met annually
with the Finance Department to review ways to lower the City's risks and the claims that have
been paid.
Mayor Hammerstad noted a correction to the minutes: deletion of the last sentence in the sixth
paragraph on page 62 about accommodated traffic.
Councilor McPeak commented that she found the minutes of the Arts Downtown discussion
unhelpful in terms of what was said.
Mayor Hammerstad observed that the Council has thoroughly discussed the Waluga
Neighborhood Plan. She indicated that the Councilors had all the information in the packet that
they needed to make a decision on the neighborhood notice requirements forwarded from the
Planning Commission. She indicated to Councilor Turchi that they would vote on the Zoning
Code/Development Code consolidation tonight.
7.4 Density Guidelines
Mayor Hammerstad recounted her meeting with Councilor Hoffman and Planning
Commissioner Dan Vizzini, who made suggestions about how to get better participation and a
closer relationship with the public. She discussed their suggestion of putting some of the
comments made by the public at the hearing up on flip charts placed around the room in order to
illustrate that the Council did understand what their comments were.
Mayor Hammerstad said that, after receiving Mr. Vizzini's e-mail of many of the comments,
she perceived a potential problem: if the Council did not provide a verbatim account of the
public comments, people would say that the comments as written were incorrect or incomplete or
misunderstood. She indicated that she thought it was a good idea for future public hearings.
Mayor Hammerstad asked for Council feedback on using PowerPoint to display comments for
the audience. Councilor McPeak observed that a public discussion at tonight's meeting would
be contentious and consume a great deal of time. Mayor Hammerstad concurred, indicating
that the PowerPoint would be for information purposes only.
Mayor Hammerstad recalled that, in study sessions, the Council invited those with whom the
City has been working on a solution to a particular problem to the table to participate in the
discussion. She pointed out that in this case, the Council has not been working with the people
in the audience on a solution but rather the Council and the audience held two different points of
view. She held that the Council has heard many good comments in the hearing and many
comments based on misunderstanding. She spoke to the Council simply deliberating and making
the decision tonight.
Councilor McPeak held that it was apparent that the Council has been open on this matter to an
extreme degree. She indicated that, while she did not want to make this decision, she was as
ready to do so now as she could be. She said that repetitive statements of the same arguments
would not help her make a better decision.
Councilor Hoffman clarified that he and Mr. Vizzini had been thinking about how to engage
with the citizens, who had a different perspective of the same problem than the Council did. He
mentioned Mr. Vizzini's suggestion that, in the future, the Council try to engage people with
different opinions or perspectives in order to get their side and to understand their problem.
Councilor Hoffman commented that both he and Mr. Vizzini found last week's public hearing
lacking, in that it was neither public nor a hearing. He described it as a limited number of people
who had a vested interest in a particular ordinance, which they believed would apply to them
City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 9
February 5, 2002
uniquely. He pointed out that the audience did not believe that the Council was hearing them,
despite the Council's assurances that it did hear them.
Councilor Hoffman observed that being listened to and being agreed with were two radically
different concepts. He explained that that was why they came up with the idea of putting
comments up on poster board: it was a means to inform the audience that the Council did hear
and understand what they said, even though what they said was based on misunderstandings.
Councilor McPeak conceded that Councilor Hoffman made valid points but argued that the
Council hearing on this issue was better than other hearings held by the City. She stated that she
paid strict attention to the testimony, as did all the Councilors. She reiterated that she thought
that putting up one-sentence comments would be contentious, although a list summarizing the
testimony might be helpful. She spoke to the Council engaging fully as a group in discussing
what it thought were the most important points made.
Mayor Hammerstad observed that more than one sentence on a PowerPoint slide tended to blur
together, making it hard to read. She asked staff to provide to the Council copies of the
summary of comments e-mailed to her by Mr. Vizzini.
Councilor Graham commented that many times she has heard from people whose opinion
differed from hers that because she did not agree with them, she was not hearing them. She
spoke against the use of planning jargon, or `Plannese,' which was technical and unintelligible to
the average citizen. She asked to see a plain English paragraph underneath the required
technical language in the ordinance explaining what the technical language said.
Councilor Graham indicated that the comment charts would be helpful during the next
contentious hearing. She concurred with Councilor McPeak that using them at this point for this
matter was going too far. Mayor Hammerstad agreed that they would have to set up the use of
the charts early on in the process.
Mayor Hammerstad discussed the procedure she would like to follow this evening with the two
ordinances. She indicated that she would like a motion for the ordinance with the partition
language first in order to allow Council discussion of that issue, and then, should that fail, a
motion on the subdivision ordinance. She observed that it might be more comfortable to have
the discussion first before any motion. She asked the Council which procedure it preferred.
The Council discussed the procedure for the evening. Councilor Schoen asked Councilor
Hoffman why he had asked for the second ordinance with the partition language, as there had not
appeared to be any support for it at the last meeting. Councilor Hoffman said that he felt that
the Council owed it to the Planning Commission to discuss publicly the Commission's actual
recommendation, which the Council has not done. Mayor Hammerstad commented that that
would be a helpful discussion, which might help address the fear factor.
Item 8 Information from the Council
Councilor Rohde said that he had a brief report on the League of Oregon Cities Board meeting.
Councilor Hoffman agreed to provide a summary of the meeting that he and Councilor Rohde
attended on the regional industrial land supply.
Councilor Rohde presented a request from Don Back for a resolution from Lake Oswego in
support of adding a six-mile trail, extending from downtown Lake Oswego to the Hillsdale
Transit Center, to the Metro regional master plan of trails. He explained that Mr. Back headed a
volunteer organization that worked weekends on improving trails throughout southwest Portland;
adding this trail to the Metro list made it eligible for regional pathway development funds. He
mentioned that Mr. Back needed resolutions of support from Portland and Lake Oswego to take
to the Metro Council; Portland had already provided a resolution. He noted that the request
came at no cost to the City.
Councilor Graham indicated that she had some announcements.
City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 9
February 5, 2002
Item 8.1.1 Resolution 02-09
Mayor Hammerstad asked if the Council was comfortable with the Parks and Recreation
Advisory Board as a controlling influence on the joint aquatics center task force with West Linn.
Councilor Graham asked that the committee include students.
Item 8.1.2 Resolution 02-10
Councilor McPeak recalled that the Council had decided to site the art pieces only in the
downtown, and to inform the artists during the call for artists of the maximum amount of money
that the City had available to purchase a piece. She pointed out that neither of those issues were
addressed in the resolution (page 339) or the policy (page 341). She asked to change Step 1 to
`identify the downtown site' in order to reflect the Council decision.
Mr. Schmitz confirmed to Councilor McPeak that informing the artists about the amount of
money that the Council was willing to spend was not in the resolution. He suggested that they
meet after the meeting to discuss the Councilor's concerns.
Mayor Hammerstad asked to see Exhibit A laid out more clearly.
Citizen Comment
Mr. Schmitz advised the Council that someone affiliated with Westside Rider might testify
tonight about abandoning the City's existing skateboard park and developing a new one in town.
He indicated to Councilor Schoen that the group would have to raise private funds.
4. REVIEW FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
Mayor Hammerstad mentioned that the long-term housing issue was coming back to Council
from the Planning Commission with no changes in the way the Planning Commission had sent it
to the previous Council. She noted that at least one member of the previous Council had
vehemently opposed the item. She spoke to this Council having the option of dealing with or not
dealing with these sorts of items (i.e., requested by a different Council and coming back
unchanged).
Councilor Schoen recalled that the previous Council almost had consensus on the item but had
requested the Planning Commission to come back on the issue of the placement of assisted
housing. He held that the Commission had an obligation to respond to the Council's request for
information, rather than simply sending it back unchanged. He observed that doing so presented
the appearance of"The old Council did not like it but maybe the new one will."
Councilor Turchi said that he attended a Planning Commission meeting at which the
Commission discussed this item in detail. He indicated that the Commission made a good faith
effort to look at the Council's concerns but concluded that the original document addressed the
Council's concerns. He commented that the Commission had been somewhat frustrated in trying
to re-address issues that it felt the material already addressed.
Councilor Schoen recalled that the basic issue had been that the Council had felt that someone
should be able to retire within his/her existing neighborhood, if the space was available. He
indicated that it had ended up looking like the City was being politically correct in responding to
select neighborhoods as opposed to applying the placement of assisted living as a citywide issue.
Councilor Hoffman concurred that the Council had wanted to look at a person being able to
retire in place. He mentioned another concern that retirement homes and long term care houses
should not be relegated to arterials. He suggested meeting with the Planning Commission to
discuss the Council's philosophy and whether the Commission thought that what the Council
wanted would work.
The Council discussed whether to take the item off the February 19 agenda, pending a study
session with the Planning Commission, or to add it to the study session on variances scheduled
for February 12. Councilor Rohde spoke against holding another study session on the issue.
City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 9
February 5, 2002
He argued that the history and previous Council's discussions were sufficiently documented to
allow this Council to familiarize itself with the prior arguments. He spoke to holding the
discussion at the public hearing, along with a Planning Commission representative and a
Planning staff member. He referenced the additional staff time involved in a separate study
session.
Mayor Hammerstad discussed her dislike of bringing an item to the Council, which staff and
advisory committees have worked on, only for the Council to vote it down. She described it as
disrespectful. She spoke to taking an opportunity to make any changes desired by the Council in
order to craft an item for which the Council could vote.
Councilor Hoffman commented that he found it useful to talk directly with the Planning
Commissioners. He characterized the minutes as an interpretation of what was said, and
indicated that he preferred to hear from the individuals directly.
Councilor Turchi recalled that the issue had focused on where the potential sites were located,
the impact of large facilities in residential neighborhoods, and the accessibility of the facilities to
the rest of the community. He reiterated that the Planning Commission gave the matter a
thorough review in consideration of the values expressed by the previous Council, and concluded
that it could not do much more.
Councilor Turchi said that the Commission was not saying that it did not want retired people
living in the community. He held that they had tried to find a way to make siting these facilities
happen in a compatible manner with the resources in the community. He commented that he
thought that they did a nice job.
Councilor McPeak indicated that Councilor Turchi gave a fair summary of the previous
Council's arguments. She argued that the Council needed to deal with this issue, which was an
important issue to the community. She pointed out that the longer they waited, the less
opportunity there would be to site these facilities.
Councilor Rohde recalled the discussion he had with the Planning Commission at the time. He
described the Commission as coming to an `irrational NIMBYism' in the policy it eventually
developed and sent to Council. He indicated that what he heard was the Planning Commission
setting a direction that avoided taking the heat from the neighborhoods over placing elderly folks
in the community, rather than dealing with the issue of whether these facilities were compatible
with the neighborhoods or should be relegated to one of the four major arterials in Lake Oswego.
Mayor Hammerstad halted the discussion, as it was getting into sustentative argument. She
reiterated her contention that a study session was the better way to go. She pointed out that if
they did not come out of the study session with something that the Council was willing to adopt,
then the item needed more work.
Councilor Schoen asked that the Planning Commission address the issues and concerns of the
previous Council, rather than simply returning the item unchanged. Mayor Hammerstad asked
staff to identify what the need was in the community for assisted living facilities. She mentioned
reading that there was currently a glut.
The Council agreed by majority consensus to schedule a study session on February 12.
Mayor Hammerstad mentioned that they would find a place for the neighborhood planning
discussion, including plans passed and in progress. Councilor Hoffman asked staff to make
sure that all appropriate parties, including the neighborhood association chairs, were notified.
5. OTHER BUSINESS
5.1 Variances
Mayor Hammerstad observed that in the six-year history provided by staff, the majority of the
18 Class 2 variances granted were for commercial buildings, which the Council did not discuss
City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 9
February 5, 2002
at all. She commented that the Class 1 variances appeared to have the greatest impact on the
Planning Department workload. She suggested passing the Class 1 variances as a means of
streamlining the process, noting that they had no negative impact.
Mayor Hammerstad spoke to holding further discussion on the Class 2 variances and the
additional associated issues that the Council had yet to discuss. She asked for more information
on why the commercial buildings needed variances. She questioned whether there was a way to
streamline the process to make it more understandable to the City and the applicant. She
hypothesized that when people saw how streamlined the Class 1 variance process was, they
might decide to do a lesser modification that would fit under the Class 1 variance criteria.
Mayor Hammerstad discussed her preference for breaking down the major changes in land use
procedures into manageable pieces. She noted that staff tied the Class 1 and Class 2 variances
together under the new rationale but held that it was not impossible to separate them. She held
that it was easier to deal with one issue at a time, as opposed to two or three related issues
because those tended to taint each other.
Mayor Hammerstad asked, especially with respect to Code changes, if they could deal with one
issue without dealing with the others that complicated the matter. She cited the minimum
density guidelines as an example, in that they could pull apart the partition issue from the
subdivisions issue. She commented that if the Council did not pass the partition language, then it
might send it to the Infill Task Force because it did have associated compatibility issues, and the
Task Force has not looked beyond the individual infill regulations.
Councilor McPeak mentioned her concern that changing the variance procedures might
aggravate any discrepancy between actuality and the zoning around the lake. She asked if
dealing solely with the Class 1 variances would be less of a complication to the existing
situation.
Mr. Powell clarified the Mayor's proposal as adopting the criteria changes for the Class 1
variances but not for the Class 2 variances. He reviewed the existing Class 2 variances that
would remain in place. Mayor Hammerstad contended that changing the Class 1 variances
would not impact the zoning around the lake because it included only minor variances; anything
major remained a Class 2 variance.
Councilor McPeak asked which class most of the variances granted around the lake during the
six-year period fell into. Liz Jacob, Associate Planner, confirmed the Mayor's comment that
most were Class 1 variances. Mr. Powell commented that he could not tell from the history how
many of the variances would fall under the new Class 1 criteria. Ms. Jacob confirmed that the
new Class 1 variance allowed a smaller variance (e.g., 2 to 3 feet) than the current Class 1
variance (e.g., 5 to 8 feet).
Councilor McPeak asked if the proposed Class 1 effectively made it worse for property owners
around the lake by creating narrower limits, which inhibited the use of the expensive land. Ms.
Jacob clarified that, if Council adopted the new Class 1 variance criteria, then someone asking
for a variance that would have fallen under the old Class 1 criteria but did not meet the new
Class 1 criteria would simply fall under the Class 2 variance criteria, which would not change.
She indicated that the applicant would still have to go through the current process.
Councilor Hoffman discussed his discomfort with this `Band-aid' approach of accepting a new
Class 1 but keeping the old Class 2. He indicated that he would not be comfortable until he
understood how it fit into the Code. He mentioned his discomfort with making a community
wide decision for the benefit of half a dozen lots on the lake. He said that it bothered him that
they were trying to solve a specific problem with a community wide procedure and standard.
Councilor Hoffman argued that the purpose of the variance was not to make it easier to bend
the rules; the purpose was to protect the people who lived in the zone, and who held an
expectation that everyone else would follow the rules. He held that they had to be careful about
this because they lived in an infill community. He referenced the ongoing discussion of making
City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 9
February 5, 2002
infill more difficult for large houses on small lots. He said that he was not comfortable with
making infill easier by adopting an easier Class 1 variance criteria and keeping the easier Class 2
variance criteria.
Councilor Hoffman spoke to the Council taking as many study sessions as needed to understand
the big picture in terms of the various land use issues. He indicated that he had no problem with
dealing with a specific problem with the zone on the lake, noting that that would take a
Comprehensive Plan amendment.
Mayor Hammerstad reiterated that the new Class 1 variances were minor and had no negative
impact on the neighbors. She held that this was not changing the zoning. She concurred that
they were likely to see more Class 2 variance requests, as large enough former Class 1 variances
crossed over to Class 2. She agreed that looking at the zoning on the lake was a good idea.
Councilor Rohde pointed out that this issue was five years old. He recalled that originally staff
designed it to reduce the gray area and subjective thinking inherent in the variance criteria, as the
City's preference was for objective codes. He commented that he still sensed no urgency on this
subject; it was simply an area that staff could clean up in order to produce greater efficiency in
Planning.
Councilor Rohde spoke to delaying the matter for more discussion. He spoke of philosophical
questions concerning whether the Council wanted to reduce the gray area and its involvement (or
the Development Review Commission's involvement) in the interpretation of the variances.
Mayor Hammerstad commented that her sense from responses she received from other
Councilors was that removing this item from the agenda meant that it might not come back for a
long time. She commented that doing the Class 1 variances might help Planning and solve some
of the minor problems.
Councilor McPeak indicated that, while she understood Councilor Rohde's comments, she also
understood that Lake Oswego was way off the norm in terms of the numbers of variances it
granted; most jurisdictions granted fewer variances. She commented that she has changed her
mind from a year ago, and now felt that they should move towards more clarity. She said that
she was ready to do a limited Class 1 redefinition.
Councilor McPeak spoke to the need for this Council to address the basic zoning problems that
existed. She held that it was her duty to see if the present zoning was equitable. She
acknowledged that there was a process involved but commented that there were many basic
questions also. She agreed that the variance classes were tied together, and that they could deal
with them separately.
Councilor Turchi recalled that the issue that the Planning Commission had brought up was
`creeping zoning.' He described it as a situation in which the City granted a variance, which
became the new standard for which another variance was granted, which then became the new
standard, resulting in the eventual crumbling of the zoning laws. He indicated that he would like
to see that concern addressed. He commented that while he did not feel that he understood the
problem sufficiently to vote on it, neither did he want it to disappear for years. He spoke to
addressing it if they could.
Councilor Rohde disagreed that the variance process resulted in creeping zoning. He argued
that the reason Lake Oswego granted more variances than other jurisdictions was its stricter
development code. He held that anyone who wanted to exceed their more restrictive planning
and code requirements had to want to do so enough to go through the variance process. He
contended that other areas, with their less restrictive codes, allowed general development at a
level that Lake Oswego was not prepared to allow.
Councilor Rohde mentioned the philosophical question of whether the Council wanted more
restrictive codes that meant someone wanting to exceed the code really had to want to, or did it
want to loosen up the codes to allow an easier process for people to exceed the code.
City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 9
February 5, 2002
Councilor Turchi discussed his thoughts with respect to the earlier discussion on the Planning
Commission's recommendation on partitions. He commented that, while he would not vote for
the partition language as a further restriction to the density guidelines, he might vote for it as a
method to control infill and the volume of houses on properties. He expressed his concern that
voting no on the partition amendment, which he intended to do, would send the wrong message
because he might vote yes on it in a different context.
Ms. Jacob mentioned that the exceptions process used by most other jurisdictions in their
development process corresponded to the proposed Class 1 minor variances. She reiterated that
the minor variances had no impact. She indicated to Mayor Hammerstad that she thought they
could pass something similar to the exceptions process without calling it Class 1 variances,
although the Lake Oswego Code already had an Exceptions section, so they would have to find
another name.
Ms. Jacob observed that it was onerous on an applicant, who needed to increase his/her
driveway grade above the 20%, to go through the whole variance process when the variance
would only affect his/her property.
Mayor Hammerstad reiterated that what she was trying to achieve was a way to make it easier
for people to make the minor adjustments that had no negative impact on their neighbors or on
the zoning. She argued that people should be able to do a minimal amount of paperwork in
getting Planning's blessing on something minor. She commented that it would likely be a
common occurrence.
Mayor Hammerstad said that she thought that the Council was not interested in encouraging
major variances that were outside the allowance of the zone, or if the Council did allow that, it
wanted to see it done in a separate process. Ms. Jacob indicated to the Mayor that she thought
staff could do that.
Councilor Graham mentioned her concern with how these changes would affect infill and the
job of the Infill Task Force. She asked staff to rewrite the information in simple English so that
she could understand it and explain it to anyone who asked her about it. She indicated that it was
fine with her if they needed to separate the Class 1 and Class 2 variances.
Councilor Turchi asked why make Class 1 variances a rule at all, if it was merely perfunctory.
Mr. Powell explained that it was not perfunctory; it required an analysis of whether there would
be a negative impact on the surrounding properties. He observed that the assumption was that
there would not be any impact but the ordinance did give the neighbors the opportunity to say
whether they saw an impact or not. He summarized the staff position as there were two levels
beyond the ideal of the Code: the first was going just a little further beyond the Code (as long as
it did not hurt the neighbors), while the second was going through the complete variance process.
Mr. Powell referenced the exceptions suggestion. He indicated that the same thing was
accomplished by simply keeping the current Class 2 criteria. He said that it would take some
work but staff could call Class 1 variances `exceptions' as opposed to variances. He reiterated
that essentially the proposed Class 1 variances were exceptions with the added hoop of making
sure that the request did not harm a neighbor. Ms. Jacob concurred.
Mayor Hammerstad summarized the Council direction as moving forward with the Class 1
variances (or exceptions) and doing the Class 2 variances later and in a more understandable
way. She indicated that staff would return to Council on February 12.
5.2 Non-agenda items
Mayor Hammerstad referenced the Council's discussion during Mr. Schmitz's evaluation of
the Council doing the Big 5 for training purposes. She noted that Ms. Deardorff obtained a cost
estimate of$4,000 (less than $500 per Councilor). She recommended that the Council do it. She
described it as an excellent training tool to see how the Councilors' styles meshed with each
other and how they could more efficiently and understandably work with each other. She held
City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 9
February 5, 2002
that the value they would get out of it for the money spent was equivalent to attending some of
the meetings that the Council went to.
Councilor Hoffman indicated that he thought it was a good idea and little money but he did
have a concern with public perception. He noted that this Council was the best Council in the
last 10 years in terms of working well together. He questioned what the public would think of
the Council spending $4,000 on leadership training when the City was in a budget crisis and
cutting wherever it could.
Councilor Schoen discussed his concern with this exercise. He held that they had a fully
functioning Council; talking to a psychologist might mess it all up. He said that he saw no
purpose to the exercise and would excuse himself, as he would not be returning to the Council
next year.
Councilor Graham held that it was not appropriate to ask the City to spend $4,000 during a
budget crunch. She indicated that she was not that enthusiastic about the exercise.
Councilor McPeak commented that it would be an interesting exercise, although she doubted
that it would actually change anything. She spoke to spending the money out of the budgeted
Council training funds, if there was any left over, but not to spending anything extra. Mayor
Hammerstad suggested doing the exercise after the new people came on Council. She
confirmed to Councilor McPeak that they would have to budget for it.
Mayor Hammerstad mentioned the upcoming ESEE analysis for Title 5. Mr. Schmitz
indicated that there were eight stream and two tree analyses. Mayor Hammerstad said that they
would schedule them on an ongoing basis, a couple at a time, as the state required the City to go
through them.
6. EXECUTIVE SESSION
7. RETURN TO OPEN SESSION
8. ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Hammerstad adjourned the meeting at 8:50 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Robyn Chri ie
City Recorder
APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL:
ON March 5, 2002
ii0h/
Jud' ammerstad, Mayor
City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 9 of 9
February 5, 2002