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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Item - 2001-09-18 - Number 4.3 - 4.3 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO 09/18/01 AGENDA REPORT SUMMARY MEETING DATE: September 18, 2001 SUBJECT: Approval of Minutes from: 1. July 16, 2001, Council Retreat RECOMMENDED MOTION: Approve minutes as written (or as corrected if Council adds corrections to the motion) EST. FISCAL ATTACHMENTS: NOTICED (Date): IMPACT: Minutes from: • July 16, 2001, Council Retreat STAFF COST: $ Ordinance no.: BUDGETED: Y N Resolution no.: FUNDING SOURCE: Previous Council consideration: CITY M AGER /2. o/ signoff/dat el N:\Robyn\report minutes.doc 4.3. 1 09/18/01 MINUTES OF JULY 16, 2001 MID-YEAR REVIEW LAKE oswt `° July 16, 2001 CITY COUNCIL MID-YEAR REVIEW Mayor Judie Hammerstad called the City Council special meeting to order at 9:10 a.m. on July 16, 2001, in the City Council Chambers. Present: Mayor Hammerstad, Councilors Rohde, Schoen, Turchi, Graham, McPeak and Hoffman. Staff Present: Doug Schmitz, City Manager; David Powell, City Attorney; Jane McGarvin, Deputy City Recorder; Joe Hertzberg, Facilitator; Chris Jordan, Assistant City Manager; Jane Heisler, Community Planning Manager Joe Hertzberg, Facilitator, asked each Councilor to review the highlights and the lowlights of the last six months for him or herself. The Councilors generally mentioned their ability to form consensus, to cooperate in working towards their mutual goals, and to disagree in a respectful manner. Councilor Turchi mentioned 'the art of the possible.' Councilor Rohde held that the Council was doing an excellent job of preparing themselves for the decisions that came before them. Mayor Hammerstad reviewed the accomplishments of the Council in the last six months: starting the Farmer's Market, signing the Development and Disposition Agreement with Gramor for Block 138, continuing support for the trolley transitioning into a street car, upcoming approval of the second phase of the East End Redevelopment Plan (Foothills Road). She mentioned the library situation as a major negative situation. She described the Council's biggest challenge as developing credibility and trust among people who did not trust the City. She spoke to the Council taking leadership and persuading the community to join them in positioning the city for 2020. Doug Schmitz, City Manager, asked how far and how fast could the Council run (in the next 1.5 to 3.5 years remaining in its term) towards accomplishing whatever it wanted to accomplish in building the community. He noted that the Council's cohesiveness created in the City organization a sense that staff could do things and that they could pursue projects currently languishing. David Powell, City Attorney, observed that, not only has the Council gotten along, but it has done a great deal of hard work behind the scenes, which facilitated a smooth public process. He mentioned the staffs appreciation of the greater professionalism in the staff-Council relationship. The Council agreed that their decision not to meet the last week of the month has worked out well. 3. VISIONING Mr. Hertzberg pointed out that in order to accomplish tasks, the Council had to focus on both what was possible today and where it wanted to get to in the future. He led the Council in an exercise of describing what Lake Oswego would look like in 2021. Councilor Rohde saw the Portland Central City streetcar connection to downtown Lake Oswego at a transit center at State and A Avenue that intersected with a commuter rail line running from Milwaukie to McMinnville with continuing excursion cars out to the coast. He mentioned a lively mixed-use residential/commercial area in the Foothills area, reconnecting the city with the river. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 1 of 28 July 16, 2001 Councilor Rohde saw all citizens of Lake Oswego enjoying the Lake Grove Swim Park and possibly limited canoe access to the lake, which was clear and of high quality. He described Boones Ferry Road as a pedestrian friendly boulevard and three-story buildings on Block 137 brought to the street. He mentioned the developed open spaces and the pathway/nature trails network available for recreation. Councilor Rohde saw Millennium Park completed and all areas within the urban service boundary annexed to the city with sewer and other urban services provided by the City. He mentioned the police still responding to 'no call too small,' and no weapons fire since 2000. Councilor Schoen saw a pedestrian square developed between A and C and 2nd and 4`h, a park running along Lake Oswego's entire river front with a marina and pathways connecting to Portland and West Linn, and a mixed use development adjacent to the park. He mentioned extending A and C Avenues over Highway 43 with a park and ride on the other side. Councilor Schoen saw an 18-hole golf course at Luscher Farm (Councilor Rohde concurred) and Stafford beginning to develop in a reasonable manner controlled by City planning and consistent with Lake Oswego requirements. He agreed with Councilor Rohde's description of the streetcar and transportation facilities. Councilor Schoen spoke to solving the public facility problems and to generating sufficient revenues to continue to maintain the existing quality of life while developing the city to its fullest potential. Councilor Turchi concurred with many of the elements already mentioned about the river, transportation and the compact-shopping district. He spoke to fostering neighborhoods that were family-friendly and not so expensive that their own children could not afford to live here. He mentioned a certain degree of ethnic and religious diversity, and physical facilities, such as recreation centers, swimming pools, tennis centers and libraries. Councilor Turchi saw Lake Oswego expanding the Stafford area with its partners in creating a beautiful nature area. Councilor Graham spoke to maximizing the resources available to the City, from the open space in Stafford to the use of public facilities (such as the schools)to the use of the parks for community activities. She shared the dream for a transportation line connecting to the commuter rail in Wilsonville and to the fast rail up to Vancouver, BC Councilor Graham spoke of pursuing sustainability in looking at the long-term goal as opposed to focusing on the immediate. She concurred with Councilor Schoen about securing stable funding, mentioning in particular paying a good staff salaries sufficient to keep them at the City and funding street maintenance. Councilor Graham saw the Youth Council as a dynamic learning opportunity for the future political leaders who were now in high school. She mentioned downtown redevelopment and reclaiming the Willamette River waterfront, including a marina. She spoke of increased volunteerism in light of the City's inability to pay for everything and to retaining the diversity in the neighborhoods. She saw a unified community without the geographic divisions that existed today. Councilor McPeak read `headlines from the Lake Oswego Review': • Mayor Cathy Schroyer, along with many citizens from the now West side, providing community leadership in a more unified community; • Stafford annexed to Lake Oswego and developed in accordance with New Urbanism principles; • The new Lake Oswego Streetcar, in combination with regular street maintenance funding, eases congestion on Highway 43; • 30% of City employees live in Lake Oswego due to housing subsidies; and City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 2 of 28 July 16, 2001 • Celebrating the five year anniversary of the new library (location unknown) at the new plaza on the Westside. In looking forward to how far the City would go by 2020, Councilor Hoffman discussed how far Lake Oswego has come since 1980. He noted that the neighborhoods, such as Westlake that were built in the 1980s, would be 40 years old while the older neighborhoods today would be 70 to 80 years old in 2020. He indicated that this meant remodeling and infill pressure, which required a fair and open process that would hopefully utilize mediation in achieving compatible redevelopment, as opposed to the rigid land use proceedings used today. Councilor Hoffman saw good leaders from the public and private sectors helping neighborhoods develop the 'art of being a good neighbor.' He mentioned pathways connecting the neighborhoods as another component of developing a sense of community. He spoke of maximizing the open space that the City currently owned and increasing the City's holdings in Stafford, Tryon Creek and stream corridors. Councilor Hoffman saw the Stafford area within the urban growth boundary and undergoing SMART development that made it more similar to Lake Oswego than to West Linn. He mentioned seeing Luscher Farm developed, but not as an 18-hole golf course. Councilor Hoffman saw more corporate giving, volunteerism and partnerships with the school district and other civic groups. He mentioned a community center, an aquatic center and a library as well as the schools utilized for recreation. He saw Lake Oswego with the best infrastructure (water, sewer, storm water and roads),public facilities, staff and local officials in the region. He spoke of Lake Oswego leading the way at both Clackamas County and Metro. Councilor Hoffman saw more ability to shop in the Lake Oswego downtown. He mentioned connecting the plaza to the Lakewood Center with a boardwalk extending along the bay, and a river district. He saw traffic congestion increasing as the population increased and the number of cars per household increased,which created the challenge of creating the greatest community on the West Coast, even with the congestion. Councilor Hoffman mentioned a clear and clean lake with trout swimming in it and community access. Mayor Hammerstad read a statement describing why Lake Oswego was awarded the"Most Livable City in the U.S." award in 2020. She mentioned the achievement of its long-term goals and visions during the past 20 years. She described the completion of the redeveloped downtown area with excellent pedestrian and visual amenities and private development following public investment in the redevelopment of underutilized land. She listed the following specifics: • A walkway at the south end of the lake from the cabanas to the Lakewood Center; • The redevelopment of Blocks 136, 137 and 138 through public and private partnerships; • The development of a transit mall at State and A with rail and bus connections; • A park and ride with adequate parking space and a park on the top floor, which connects upper Lake Oswego to the lower area via an overpass over State Street; • A redeveloped new area of east of Highway 43, which provides below market housing (using state and federal funds) and a self-sufficient retail commercial area; • Pedestrian access and traffic control measures in the Lake Grove business district, which aid the surrounding businesses and make the area pleasantly accessible by the neighborhoods; • The development of guidelines for keeping infill in the aging neighborhoods compatible with the surrounding neighborhood; • Using public/private partnerships to provide a community center with a library, swimming pool and indoor recreation facilities; • A full range of open space and park facilities made possible by bond measures for purchasing open spaces, including a model pathway, system along the Willamette River from North Macadam to West Linn; City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 3 of 28 July 16, 2001 • The development of public-public partnerships with the school district and other jurisdictions to provide the highest quality of services in a variety of areas; • Using the best practices of SMART growth, sustainability and New Urbanism, Lake Oswego has provided services and accessed funding for the needs of the community, such as adding a streetcar line using the Willamette Shore railroad tracks that helped reduce congestion on Highway 43; and • Lake Oswego's commitment to community, as evidenced by the Council's use of advisory committees, neighborhood organizations and ad hoc task forces to help solve problems and suggest solutions, and its many activities that foster civic participation(Festival of the Arts, Farmer's Market, Arts Downtown). Mayor Hammerstad observed that the Council was in remarkable agreement on what each saw for the future of Lake Oswego. Mr. Powell concurred that the Council showed a commonality of ideas. He discussed encouraging an expansion of arts programs in order to make Lake Oswego into an entertainment and cultural center. He pointed out that doing so mixed well with redevelopment. He spoke of using the river for transportation and a local bus system that allowed people to get around Lake Oswego itself using mass transit. Mr. Powell concurred that it would be nice to see Stafford develop in accordance with the principles of New Urbanism. He spoke to expanding the downtown vision beyond the East End and Foothills Road. He mentioned the importance of the tree code in maintaining the green canopy over the 20 years. He discussed the City maintaining the level of citizen access and impact on policy that it had now, even if it expanded into Stafford in 20 years. Chris Jordan,Assistant City Manager, saw the impacts of the Open Space Master Plan in green ways, green boulevards, landscaped medians, tree preservation and pathways set back from the roads. He mentioned neighborhoods with their own character. He spoke of open spaces in Stafford developed for passive use, and development in keeping with the Lake Oswego character of green spaces,trees and mixed densities. Mr. Jordan saw civic facilities, such as an aquatics center and new library. He hoped that they would have found ways to solve the congestion problem by 2021 beyond building more roads. He spoke to a sense of community that moved past the geographic boundaries, as the community demonstrated at the recent Fourth of July celebration. Jane Heisler, Community Planning Manager, concurred with Mayor Hammerstad that the Council described a significant number of common visions. She characterized the most frequent element mentioned as `choice:' increasing choice in park usage, park types,transportation, neighborhood types, etc. She spoke to retaining the government's responsiveness to its citizens, whether the issue was infill or the tree code. Ms. Heisler held that both the Eastside and Westside of town were unique and special. She spoke to capitalizing on having two parts of town. She mentioned opportunities to increase mixed use in the neighborhood commercial areas, such as at Pilkington and Lakeview, at Bryant and Lakeview or at South Shore and McVey Mr. Schmitz spoke of an overhaul of the City Charter in the form of government changes. He mentioned different Boards and Commissions than the existing ones, which addressed telecommunications, housing and social issues. He saw a green necklace of trails throughout the city, Tryon Creek linked to the riverfront, a Riverwalk from Tryon Creek to West Linn, and trails connecting Old River Road to Stafford and the Tualatin River. Mr. Schmitz mentioned possibly annexing Dunthorpe as a neighborhood. He discussed the various ways they might use their limited land to maximize recreational opportunities, such as putting a lid over Country Club between the two schools and providing a safe pedestrian City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 4 of 28 July 16, 2001 pathway. He spoke of generating their own electricity by tapping into the headwaters at the City water treatment plant at Gladstone. Mr. Schmitz discussed the historic landscape at the Lake Oswego entrance at Marylhurst, which he held they should preserve as a transition zone into Lake Oswego. He spoke of turning the 12- block Stampher Road area near the bay at the foot of Tryon Creek into a recreational campus with a marina, a boardwalk, restaurants, and pool and tennis courts. Mr. Schmitz described a new arts and cultural center to replace the aging Lakewood Center. He saw the east end of Lakewood Bay free of buildings with a promenade from the old bank building to the north shore and Millennium Park. He mentioned an in-city transit system. Mr. Schmitz characterized Lake Oswego as the 'Rome of the Northwest.' He spoke of capitalizing on water,the ingredient essential to the essence of the community, with its two rivers and a lake. He suggested having a water element at the Boones Ferry/Terwilliger entrance to the city. • Red Flags Mr. Hertzberg asked if any one heard anything mentioned that triggered a red flag. Councilors McPeak and Turchi each said no to Councilor Rohde's suggestion of a golf course at Luscher Farm. Councilor Schoen spoke to putting housing on the existing and obsolete golf course while expanding the other golf course to serve as a revenue generator. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned her experience at the County with their high initial investment in a golf course scheduled to open next spring, which could pay for all the parks programs in Clackamas County. She commented that she did not know that a new golf course was the highest priority for the community. Mr. Hertzberg asked the Council members to place dots next to the vision items where each felt the Council's energy should be spent. • Stafford Councilor McPeak indicated that, although she did not want Stafford in the city, when the time came that it might come in, she did not want them trying to recreate what they now liked about Lake Oswego. She spoke to taking the opportunity to create new neighborhoods that would provide both density and a good life using the ideas of New Urbanism. She argued that they could keep the Stafford area beautiful without R-15 zoning. Councilor Schoen commented that he thought that people would be surprised at how little density Stafford yielded, given the buffer zones now required for stream corridors and the amount of open space that the City already owned. He held that it would be a challenge to develop density under any circumstances. Mayor Hammerstad noted the upcoming opportunity to address this issue with the Metro Council. She indicated that the City's argument about keeping Stafford out of the urban growth boundary rested on a lack of productivity, that developing it would not garner the number of housing units that Metro was looking for. She mentioned the City's concentration on purchasing open space, its desire to plan the area with the concepts of SMART growth,New Urbanism and sustainability, and the City's desire to have jurisdiction. Councilor Graham spoke to paying attention to the plans of other cities for their areas within Stafford that would impact Lake Oswego, such as the second Kruse Way area Tualatin wanted to create but without the ambience and preservation of open space. Councilor McPeak agreed that they needed to work out the various problems but spoke to keeping in mind that locating jobs in the area close to the housing would reduce the potential traffic congestion at the bridge. • Moving towards the future City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 5 of 28 July 16, 2001 Mr. Hertzberg asked the Council members to write down the one thing that the Council could do in the next 1.5 years that would make the biggest difference in moving them towards the common vision of the future. Councilor Turchi spoke to acquiring the financial and physical resources they needed in order to allow these things to happen. Councilor Graham read `Keeping in mind the money remaining for purchase of open space and moving quickly on acquisition, we forge ahead with the redevelopment of the entire downtown on this side of Lake Oswego." Mayor Hammerstad spoke to engaging the public effectively with the goal of developing community and financial support for these future projects. She described `effectively' as making the public feel as though they had a genuine contribution to the process. Councilor Rohde held that the Council's ability to expand the redevelopment district would accomplish three items on the list: the transit, the river district and the Foothills Road area mixed use development. Councilor McPeak concurred with Councilor Rohde that the expansion of the redevelopment district was key. She commented that Councilor Turchi's comment was a good basic view of what must underlie any of the Council's selections. Councilor Schoen agreed that the expansion of the Eastside redevelopment district was the one single thing they needed to do to move forward. Councilor Hoffman discussed creating community support through a community visioning process modeled after the Oregon visioning project. Mr. Hertzberg summarized the list as acquiring the resources, marshalling the resources and forging ahead on the critical expansion of the redevelopment district. He concurred that community support would be essential in order to accomplish these things. Mr. Hertzberg directed the discussion back to the future vision,per Councilor Turchi's request. Councilor Turchi pointed out that a tangible system, such as a river district or a pathway, affected people once it was built. He spoke to first building the kinds of things that made for a higher quality of life, as opposed to starting by identifying what people needed or wanted. He referenced Mr. Schmitz's comments about reorganizing the City government in hypothesizing a structure that dealt with the human quality of living in a city, and how the government could influence that. He held that it would accomplish the same objective but start in a different place. Councilor Turchi noted Councilor Hoffman's approach of starting with the vision of what the people needed and wanted and what the City could do to encourage that. He held that that approach could also yield tangible results. He suggested working in both directions, starting from the tangibles and from the vision. Councilor Schoen commented that, while he concurred with citizen involvement,the Council needed to take leadership and move forward with things that improved the quality of life in Lake Oswego, even when a minority fought to prevent change. He recalled the discussion of the redevelopment of Blocks 136, 137 and 138 two years ago, which a group of people opposed because they did not want Lake Oswego to change from a village of 15,000. Mayor Hammerstad recounted the City of Milwaukie's 1995 visioning process, which the City felt had been successful in getting citizen input from the neighborhoods. Yet,when the tangible offer of light rail through Milwaukie came, three members of the City Council who had engaged in the visioning process and thought they had been close to the grass roots were recalled. She said that soured her on the visioning process because it took an enormous amount of time, energy and money but in the end, it did not make any difference. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 6 of 28 July 16, 2001 Mayor Hammerstad discussed the role of leadership in taking advantage of opportunities to improve people's lives while not getting so far out in front that the leaders lost everyone. Mr. Hertzberg directed the discussion to identifying concrete ways to engage the public. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned Councilor Hoffman's suggestion that the Council members go to different groups to hear different opinions than they usually heard. She pointed out that if people did not know what was going on,then they made up what was going on, so it was important for the City to make the information available first. She indicated that she did not want to have the same thing happen with the redevelopment district as happened with the library. She commented that, while she was not enthusiastic about the visioning process, she did want to talk about how to engage the public effectively in order to reach the goal. Councilor Rohde described the Council reaching a conclusion on its goal, presenting a unified message, and engaging the public with its leadership as an effective means of reaching the goal. Councilor McPeak concurred. She described it as a combination of being brave enough to take the risk and hope that they could educate the public to understand the idea. She spoke of the ability to acknowledge when the public did not want something, to give it up and to move on as an essential element of the process. Mayor Hammerstad observed that they needed to be careful about who `they' was, as it could be simply a small group of people pressuring the Council and talking with the media on a given issue. She discussed the importance of going through a public process. She pointed out that they needed to find the balance between providing leadership and engaging the public so that the people did not feel like a Council proposal was a done deal and that the Council would not listen to them. Councilor Hoffman spoke to the Council agreeing as a group on what the common factors were in whatever process it used. He mentioned tax money being a primary factor needed to get projects done, which meant that they had to get the community to support their projects. He described going out to the community leaders or establishing a task force for community leaders who were movers and shakers in the private sector as ways of doing these things. Councilor Graham spoke to making sure that people understood that the things that the Council has accomplished in the past came out of the Council working towards its vision. She discussed the two reactions the community had to.Council actions. Some people laughed at things that the Council did, such as the traffic-calming device at the entrance to First Addition or Arts Downtown, while others supported those same actions. Councilor Graham observed that the reality was that the Council could not satisfy all of the people all of the time. She held that, whether or not the public shared the Council's vision, the Council needed to keep pursuing its goals. Councilor Rohde commented that with Arts Downtown, Councilor Hoffman proposed the idea and worked to muster the forces to accomplish it, rather than asking if the City should do it. He spoke to the Council defining what it wanted to do and then working with the appropriate people to make sure that it was successful. He concurred with Councilor McPeak that the Council took a risk in proceeding with Arts Downtown. Councilor Schoen spoke to using the Crandall/Arambula study to introduce to the community the Council's vision of how to build the Lake Oswego community. Councilor Hoffman commented that the Arts Downtown project was a success because Mr. Schmitz came up with the money and the staff. Councilor McPeak disagreed that that was the reason for its success, arguing that if it had been a bad idea,the money would have proven that. It had to be a good idea initially in order to be so successful. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 7 of 28 July 16, 2001 Mr. Hertzberg directed the discussion to the question of how to find the balance between exercising leadership and vision and inspiring the community support necessary to get the financial support to implement the vision. Councilor McPeak discussed the two recent successes of Arts Downtown and the Farmers Market. She pointed out that most people would have opposed both of them but Mr. Schmitz had a vision for the market and Councilor Hoffman had a vision for Arts Downtown. She spoke to the Council deciding which battle it wanted to fight. She held that there had to be a limited number and that they should pick ones that the Council thought had a reasonable chance of success. Councilor Rohde described two important elements in the Arts Downtown and the Farmers Market: a small investment by the City resulting in a huge investment by outside contributors. He spoke to the City continuing to use its limited resources to facilitate outside contributions that were far in excess of what the City could do itself. Councilor Turchi spoke to thinking bigger as opposed to smaller. He cited the School District promising something to everyone in its latest bond measure along with a promise to engage the community in the process of deciding how to spend the money. He listed the streets and infrastructure, human capital, investing in recreation, intellectual capital of the community and beautification of the community as examples of the kinds of things that would tie together into a broader net that people would support if the City did a good job. Councilor McPeak concurred but reiterated that the Council needed to pick its battles because of the unlimited possibilities. Councilor Graham referenced Councilor Rohde's comment about the small amount of money invested in Arts Downtown. She indicated that that was not a universal majority feeling, as she was hearing people question the City `wasting' $25,000 on the project. Mayor Hammerstad commented that she thought that the Council was still on track with the goals it set in January. She mentioned the Council's realization over the last six months that, while they could accomplish some things by simply saying that they were going to do them, there might also be a price to pay. Councilor Rohde commented that one reason why the Council has gotten along so well was because it has not had to make a major controversial decision yet. He indicated that he thought it possible that the redevelopment issue might bring out an angry public. 4. 2001 COUNCIL GOALS Mr. Hertzberg indicated that they would go through each of the goals, hear an update from staff on the current status and decide if they needed to make any modifications, additions or deletions. I. Transportation A. To come to agreement on a funding mechanism for streets in 2001 Councilor McPeak mentioned her concern that the Council has made no headway on this goal, referencing the negative press about Portland. Councilor Rohde explained that the Council had to wait until after the legislature adjourned because there had been attempts to integrate the preemption of local authority to implement street utility fees into some last minute bills. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned talking with Mr. Schmitz about using a citizens panel selected at random to look at the range of transportation options available as a means of finding out whether educating citizens and providing them information would yield a recommendation from citizens for a street utility fee. She indicated to Councilor McPeak that she thought they could get the citizen input by the end of the year, and that they would ask the Transportation Advisory Board separately for its recommendation. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 8 of 28 July 16, 2001 B. To reach a regional agreement on the Willamette Shore Rail line in 2001 Councilor Rohde contended that they have begun to achieve this regional agreement. He cited the $500,000 they would receive for the feasibility study as evidence that the region agreed to give the railway a high priority. He noted that the line was in the Regional Transportation Plan with solid support from Metro, Tri-Met and Portland for its use as a transportation corridor. He observed that what they have not done is get,agreement on funding the annual maintenance. Mayor Hammerstad described the $500,000 and bringing Tri-Met on board as two major pieces they achieved this year. She spoke to working harder on another important part, getting their partners to contribute towards the line maintenance. Councilor Rohde clarified that the only partner not on board was Multnomah County. He said that the problem was that the Council's policy said that unless everyone was on board, neither was Lake Oswego. He suggested talking with Multnomah County Commission Chair Diane Lynn now that Multnomah County approved its budget. Councilor Rohde spoke to initiating the work on the commuter rail this year. He noted that the funding sources were in place for the Wilsonville-Beaverton commuter rail line. He observed that while the Sherwood-Milwaukie commuter rail project was a long way off, they needed to ride the wave of commuter rail success so that those behind the Wilsonville-Beaverton line did not forget that they supported them at the regional table and that the Sherwood-Milwaukie line was a logical extension of their program. Mr. Hertzberg noted that the missing piece in accomplishing this 2001 goal was getting financial support from Multnomah County for the maintenance. C. Adopt mode split/connectivity Ms. Heisler reported that the Planning Commission had a work session on this issue and asked staff to bring it back in August for a public hearing. She indicated that the staff did come up with alternate language that was acceptable to Metro. She mentioned the recommendations to remove the maps, which apparently had been a sticking point. She said that the Commission agreed to postpone the developments allowed ministerially, such as gazebos and detached garages, which would have been included in the connectivity review. Councilors Schoen and McPeak each indicated that he/she could vote for the proposal now. D. Make a decision on funding for street calming devices Councilor McPeak noted that the Council made this decision. II. Open Space/Parks and Recreation A. Open Space acquisitions Mr. Schmitz reported that they have spent$2 million and had $2 million left to spend. B. Adopt Open Space Master Plan Mr. Hertzberg noted that the Council accomplished this goal. C. Adopt Parks and Recreation Master Plan Mr. Jordan reported that the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board was meeting on the plan next week, which it intended to follow with a joint meeting of PRAB, Natural Resources Advisory Board and Team Sports Advisory Committee before sending it to the Council. D. Adopt Canal Acres Plan Mr. Hertzberg noted that the Council accomplished this goal. III. City/LOSD Common Interests A. Joint Library City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 9 of 28 July 16, 2001 Councilor McPeak requested that those Council members who have not read the 1995 consultant study on the library do so. Mayor Hammerstad noted that it was seven years old. Councilor Hoffman mentioned Mr. Jordan's analysis of the possible sites. Councilor Turchi said that he would like to see that report. Mayor Hammerstad said that she and Mr. Schmitz would meet with Lake Oswego School District Chair Marianne Carter and Superintendent Bill Korach to discuss the composition of the joint task force to look at the library. She expressed her hope that those applying would represent a wide variety of backgrounds and points of view. She commented that the issues that the Library Board did not look at because it disagreed with the concept still needed to be looked at. Mayor Hammerstad agreed to Councilor Rohde's suggestion to change the wording of the goal to say, "explore the feasibility of a joint library." Councilor Rohde pointed out that"joint library"by itself implied that the goal was to build a joint library. The Council discussed the timeline. Mayor Hammerstad indicated that the District has said that they would design the library to accommodate a possible joint community library but if that did not happen, they could adjust to a larger library. Councilor McPeak questioned how they could obtain people for the Task Force who have not already made up their minds on the library. ,Mayor Hammerstad said that they would use an open application process. She observed that there was a lot of interest in this issue. Mayor Hammerstad commented that, as far as the well being of the city was concerned, having a joint library with the District did not matter because most people were happy with the current library; it was the Library Advisory Board that wanted a new library. She noted that there was not a hue and cry for more library services, which indicated that this joint library might not happen. Mayor Hammerstad indicated that she saw a joint library as a logical community use coming out of the $85 million bond that would serve the community and enhance the services. She held that if this was not something that was sought after by the community, then it did not have to happen, as it did not rise to the level of importance of clean water or a redevelopment district. Councilor Schoen commented that the worse case scenario was ending up with 94 additional computer stations, which the City could probably make arrangements for the public to use. Councilor Graham reported that, with the departure of Martin Jacobs from the Library Advisory Board, her sense was that the newest members were receptive to exploring an enhanced-shared facility and the others were willing to work with it. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned hearing that Ben Sostrin was contemplating resigning also. Mr. Hertzberg asked what specific action was the Council taking towards the goal of exploring the feasibility of a joint library. Mayor Hammerstad said that they were meeting with the School District to appoint a task force to take an independent look at the feasibility of a joint library. She indicated that the District designed their library to accommodate the possibility of a shared library. Mayor Hammerstad said that the City would have the task force applications out in three weeks. She mentioned a task force report by the end of the year with a Council decision in the first quarter of next year, following public hearings. She confirmed that the Council would approve the setting up of the task force on August 7; the School Board would do the same at its meeting. She indicated that the Library Advisory Board would be represented on the task force. Councilor Graham commented that they could not ignore the ex-members of the Library Advisory Board, as indicated by the"Letter to the Editor" last Thursday. She confirmed to Councilor Schoen that the remaining members have apparently agreed to study the issue but observed that it was still a festering issue. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 10 of 28 July 16, 2001 Councilor Rohde commented that the exterior influences regarding the library might be what were necessary in order to answer the question of whether they needed a new library. He said that he got no sense from the community that the general populace thought that the city needed a new library. He mentioned his suspicion that, had they continued the bi-annual community surveys, the results would have continued to rate the library highest among all City facilities. Councilor Graham mentioned hearing the library directors talk about expanding services, which the Friends and the Library Advisory Board interpreted as the City needed a new library to provide those services rather than figuring out how to expand services within the existing library. She said that the library world was talking about the need for a library but the public was oblivious to the possibilities because they were happy with the way it was. Mr. Hertzberg confirmed to Mayor Hammerstad that at the meeting on the library that he facilitated over a year ago, there was no consensus, only numerous different opinions. Councilor Turchi spoke to taking advantage of the library facilities at the School District in order to take the pressure off the City library at different times during the day. He mentioned the evenings and weekends when the students used the City library. He noted that there might be other projects that they needed to build first. Councilor Turchi discussed his skepticism about a joint library. He said that he agreed with the District comment that it was not certain that it wanted patrons using the library during the day when school was in session. He pointed out that such a restriction would preclude a shared use library from being a full-service library for the community. He spoke to looking at it as a smaller stopgap measure for sustaining the current library until they could prioritize a list of the projects that they wanted to do. Councilor McPeak indicated that she was not certain in her own mind that they should proceed, which was why she liked Councilor Rohde's rephrasing of the goal to "explore the feasibility of a joint library." She said that she did not think that the Council has had the discussion yet. Councilor Turchi commented that he was not certain either, although he saw some value to their patrons with the City helping to keep it open so that the students did not have to drive to Portland. Mayor Hammerstad observed that whenever the Council moved forward on something, such as the redevelopment district,there would be naysayers. She cautioned the Council not to give up too soon, and to explore the feasibility in order to get good information on the pros and cons. She remarked that if it turned out that the library was something that the public was genuinely not interested in,then it was not worth proceeding on. However, if there was interest and it was feasible, then she urged the Council to stay with it. Councilor Hoffman spoke to waiting until the first quarter of next year to learn the results of the feasibility research, and then possibly using that as a launching pad for a new library/community center. Mr. Hertzberg noted that the goal was for the Council to reach a decision by December 31. B. New Joint Use Agreement Mr. Schmitz indicated that they were waiting on the School District's decision. C. Consider Fire Protection Retrofit for Schools Mr. Powell said that staff needed to meet with Dr. Korach on the technical aspects of the intergovernmental agreement. He indicated to Councilor Schoen that the Council already decided on the funding for the retrofit. He confirmed to Councilor Rohde that the goal was to sign the agreement. He reviewed the process that would result in a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign the agreement. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 11 of 28 July 16, 2001 Mr. Schmitz stated that the IGA told the District that the City was willing to put up "X" amount of money towards retrofitting the facilities as they went through remodeling. The City would have to make budget appropriations in subsequent years. He indicated to Councilor Rohde that the goal was now to finalize the IGA with the District. D. Identify long-term common interests Mayor Hammerstad reported that the Lake Oswego School District Liaison Committee (herself, Councilor Schoen and Mr. Schmitz)has been meeting quarterly as a small joint work group with their respective counterparts at the District. She mentioned Mr. Powell's request to remove this committee as a formal Council committee. Councilor Rohde moved to remove the Lake Oswego School District Committee from the lists of the Council committees and to repeal any express or implied appointments to such committee because communications between the Mayor and the City Manager and their School District counterparts were informal and did not require a quorum and did not constitute a public body, and operated to make decisions or recommendations to the City Council, the relaying of such communications as a committee was inaccurate and misleading. Councilor McPeak seconded the motion. Mr. Powell indicated to Councilor Hoffman that this came up because a citizen asked why the City did not notice the meetings of this committee. He pointed out that listing it as an inter- governmental committee conveyed the impression that it was an appointed body, which by quorum could make recommendations, as opposed to an informal meeting of the Mayor and the City Manager with their counterparts in the District. Mr. Powell explained that removing it from the list effectively dissolved the committee. He noted that the Mayor and the City Manager could meet with their District counterparts whenever they wanted to anyway. A voice vote was taken and the motion passed with Mayor Hammerstad, Councilors Graham, Hoffman,McPeak,Rohde, Schoen and Turchi voting in favor. [7-0] IV. East End A. New East End Plan Mr. Schmitz said that the plan was underway; the goal remained to adopt it by the end of the year. He informed Councilor Hoffman that the next consultant report was due in September. He indicated that the plan would mention the expansion of the renewal district, as would the Foothills plan, but they were not the same thing. He confirmed to Councilor Rohde that staff did work out a timeline to update the plan by the end of the year. Mayor Hammerstad confirmed that the expansion of the district was separate from adopting the East End plan. She indicated that next year the Council would have the goal to expand the district,which would include a public process. Councilor Schoen asked how they could adopt a new East End plan before expanding the district. Mr. Schmitz said that they could state in the plan that a goal was to expand the district; it was similar to stating in the Comprehensive Plan that the City had a goal of annexing territory. He indicated to Councilor Rohde that they could not adopt the expansion by the end of the year because of the time required to go through the process. B. Reach agreement on Block 138 Mr. Hertzberg noted that the Council accomplished this goal. C. First Street between A and B Avenues redesign. Mr. Schmitz said that staff scheduled the bid award at a special LORA meeting in two weeks; the project would start in August. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 12 of 28 July 16, 2001 D. Attempt to reach agreement on street improvements on the west side of First Avenue between Millennium Plaza Park and A Avenue Mr. Schmitz indicated that this goal might not be attainable this year; the Mayor would continue her conversations with Mr. Wizer. V. E-Government Mr. Schmitz noted that the budget was approved for some of the equipment. Jane McGarvin, Deputy City Recorder, indicated that they have purchased the scanner but it was not hooked up yet. Mr. Jordan reported that the budget summaries of all the funds were on line. He mentioned that the lien searches,which used to be done by paper,were now done on the Internet,which meant a reduction in manpower. Ms. Heisler indicated to Councilor McPeak that the City website had a link to neighborhood pages, which was available to neighborhood associations. She clarified that the City was doing the five or six neighborhood pages currently available. She said that the Historic Review Advisory Board page was online and staff was working on pages for the Natural Resources Advisory Board and the Planning Commission. Councilor McPeak mentioned a request from a citizen that the City make neighborhood news, such a new signal light, easy to find on its website. She suggested including a link to ongoing construction projects also. Mr. Jordan commented that there was an art to creating homepages with appropriate links but not so cluttered that it was confusing and people stopped using it. VI. Neighborhood Livability and Community Context A. Adopt density guidelines Ms. Heisler indicated that the Planning Commission would look at this issue again soon. B. Adopt neighborhood plans Mayor Hammerstad commented that after the meeting with the County Commission, she thought that there were things that they could do in the adoption of the Lake Forest plan. She suggested that they look at responsibilities when they gave the plan to the County. Councilor Rohde asked for discussion of adopting the regulatory language necessary for the implementation of the neighborhood plans. He recalled that this was a concern of all the prior plans passed: the regulatory language was in the plans but not codified. He clarified to Councilor Schoen that he was talking about a different issue than the Lake Forest issues on unincorporated County land that the Council needed to review with the County. Ms. Heisler recalled that the Planning Commission held a work session on neighborhood notification, one of the primary concerns of the Lake Grove neighborhood. She said that the Commission would have another work session to look at what regulatory pieces have been suggested in all the plans and to see which different processes would be feasible for the whole community. Ms. Heisler mentioned that Lake Grove's request for building orientation guidelines related directly to the Infill Task Force, which was looking at that issue. She indicated that the other major concern of Lake Grove was design guidelines specifically for the West End Commercial District. She said that staff has applied for a TGM grant to work on that. Ms. Heisler observed that, given the Council discussions on Lake Forest and its discussion with the County, staff needed to work with the County staff to craft language that was more in line with what the County could do, and to include an annexation piece with a timeline. Councilor City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 13 of 28 July 16, 2001 Schoen commented that he thought that the County Commissioners challenged the City to bring the language to them for their review. Mayor Hammerstad concurred, noting that there was a disconnect between the Commissioners and the County staff She spoke to putting the responsibility on the Commissioners and to stop doing their thinking for them. She noted that Waluga had similar problems to Lake Forest. Ms. Heisler reported that staff was making some revisions based on Associate Planner Sid Sin's meeting with the Waluga Steering Committee. She mentioned that the TAB supported one of Waluga's transportation issues but not the other. Councilor Rohde pointed out that they have not addressed his issue. He reiterated that what he has heard from First Addition and Lake Grove is that the Council only went halfway with the adoption of their plans. Mr. Powell concurred that there was a sub-issue because of the specific elements, such as the notification process and the design guidelines. He discussed the long-range picture of whether to revamp the Comprehensive Plan and to take out all the regulatory policies used as criteria for major developments, and to codify as regulations whichever policies they wanted to apply. He held that it was a worthy project but noted that it would not be done by the end of the year, as the Planning Commission needed to go over it first. Councilor Rohde recalled that it was been six years since the City initiated the neighborhood planning process. He suggested holding a meeting to discuss the entire concept of neighborhood planning, including what the Council's expectations were in the beginning versus where the program was now. Councilor Hoffman concurred that holding such a discussion would be worthwhile. He observed that, for some of them, the concept of neighborhood planning might be a little different from what it was six years ago. He mentioned Mayor Hammerstad's concern about the `balkanization' of Lake Oswego and each neighborhood having its own rules. He pointed out that something codified as a City regulation had the force of law as opposed to the suggestions of guidelines. Councilor McPeak observed that six years ago they began the discussion with good faith on all sides; over time,they learned that there were some problems that the City could get into with codifying parts of the neighborhood plans. She commented that the Council unintentionally misled the neighborhoods. She supported holding a discussion soon. Councilor Turchi characterized the issue as whether or not the neighborhood plans negated the overall Comprehensive Plan. He said that the question was should the Council tell the neighborhoods to look at the Comprehensive Plan and develop their plans within that umbrella or should the Council allow the neighborhoods to go beyond the Comprehensive Plan if they felt it was inadequate to protect their neighborhood. Councilor Schoen noted that the Council challenged the last few neighborhood plans to be more cognizant of the Comprehensive Plan so that the neighborhoods did not include regulatory information in their plans. Councilor Hoffman placed this issue in the first or second quarter of next year. He mentioned that the Infill Task Force would give the Council some guidelines in terms of what the problem was. He observed that the neighborhoods were trying to protect themselves against change. He noted that some Councilors saw the Comprehensive plan as the bible of development as opposed to the neighborhood plans. Councilor Rohde spoke to bringing in some of those who were involved six years ago, such as Tom Coffee, to recall what the expectations were at the beginning of the program. He indicated to Councilor Schoen that he was not talking about revising the Comprehensive Plan next year. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 14 of 28 July 16, 2001 He reiterated that it would be valuable to the Council to have a study session on the overall neighborhood planning process, including the historical perspective. The Council agreed on holding a study session in the fall, including staff presentation of the various issues. Mayor Hammerstad suggested engaging the Planning Commission in that discussion to provide context and the public view. Mr. Powell mentioned a two-step discussion: the neighborhood plan issue and what they should put in the Code. C. Revise Zoning Code Variances Ms. Heisler recalled that the Lake Corporation would not support the variance language prepared by staff. She indicated that staff pursued contacting the Lake Corporation and gave them some research they had done on shoreline management zoning. The Lake Corporation was now very interested in obtaining its own zone. She said that the Corporation would contact the City when they finished studying the matter. Ms. Heisler posed the question: if the Council thought that the variance language was a good piece of legislation that should be in place, how important was it to wait for the Lake Corporation's support? She said that many people in the community and the developers supported it as a better process; the only stumbling block has been the Lake Corporation. Mayor Hammerstad commented that the conversations she has had with Lake Corporation members indicated that the City has done a good education job because they were beginning to see that the idea had merit. Councilor Rohde indicated that he preferred to wait on taking action until the City heard back from the Lake Corporation on whether they would support it. Mayor Hammerstad concurred, noting that the City has let the Corporation believe that it would have some input. Ms. Heisler indicated to Councilor Schoen that this new language outlining a process in the criteria for dealing with variances would apply citywide, including First Addition and Lake Grove. Mr. Powell said that the basic change was simplifying the process for the simple variances; the bigger variances would be harder to get. Ms. Heisler indicated to Councilor Schoen that the height and footprint issues in First Addition and Lake Grove would be addressed through the Infill Task Force recommendations. D. Adopt Pathways program Mr. Jordan indicated that the Council has started moving in the direction of adopting a pathways program. The Council did appropriate some money for this program, which historically has focused on the pedestrian safety issues near schools. He mentioned the Engineering Department meetings with the School District representatives to discuss how to connect pathways around the schools. He noted the funding for the pathway at Palisades. E. Traffic calming Mr. Hertzberg noted that the Council addressed this goal earlier. F. Compatibility Ms. Heisler said that the Infill Task Force, set up by Council, would hold its third meeting this Thursday. She reported that they looked in depth at what was going on in First Addition and Lake Grove and discussed the pros and cons of design guidelines versus zoning standards. She indicated that they were still on track to finish their report to the Planning Commission and the Development Review Commission, which should have their recommendations for the Council by the end of the year. Ms. Heisler confirmed that the adoption of the recommendations in the first quarter of next year would be more realistic than adoption by the end of the year. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 15 of 28 July 16, 2001 Ms. Heisler indicated to Councilor Graham that the meetings have had excellent attendance with the alternatives showing up in addition to the committee members. Councilor Graham mentioned hearing at LONAC that these meetings were not well attended. Ms. Heisler said that the only representative who has not shown up was the builder representative, Jim Morton. Councilor Schoen suggested contacting Mr. Morton to ask him to send someone else if he could not make it. G. Initiate affordable housing guidelines Mr. Hertzberg suggested asking Mr. Schmitz about this goal when he returned. • Mr. Hertzberg recessed the meeting for lunch at 12:05 p.m. • Mayor Hammerstad reconvened the meeting at 1:10 p.m. 4. 2001 COUNCIL GOALS VI. Neighborhood Livability and Community Context G. Initiate affordable housing guidelines Doug Schmitz, City Manager, reported that Mr. Bunch has not done much on the affordable housing question, as he has been working on sustainability and the Foothills Road project. He indicated that Mr. Bunch would start looking for sites for affordable housing once he returned from vacation. Councilor Hoffman clarified to Councilor Turchi that the standard mentioned by Mr. Schmitz was not a Metro requirement but rather a suggestion that each city within the Metro region accept a certain percentage of affordable housing. Councilor Rohde indicated to Councilor Graham that the bill Portland Commissioner Eric Sten supported never made it out of committee. He mentioned that affordable housing was a topic at the Livable Oregon conference. He said that when he spoke up at the breakout session about the issue of Lake Oswego and affordable housing, one affordable housing developer was shocked to hear that Lake Oswego was interested in discussing the issue. He said that she gave him some information and offered to make a presentation to the Council on affordable housing projects she has done in the region. Councilor Rohde commented that much of that discussion focused on the need to redefine the debate, similar to the need to redefine the density debate. He noted that most people linked affordable housing to housing projects and drug use; when agencies called it `cheaper housing' or some other term, they found greater acceptance of it. 5. BOARD AND COMMISSIONS A. Youth Council Councilor Turchi reported that he and Councilor Hoffman would meet during the first two weeks of August to look at the guidelines and figure out a process for next year. B. Initial Interview process Mr. Hertzberg noted the three sub-issues revolving around boards and commissions: the initial interview process, the reappointment process and term limits. Mayor Hammerstad noted that this was a continuation of the January discussion, now that they have had the appointment process in place for a while. She recalled the two points of view: Councilor Rohde's preference to interview everyone versus using a paper screening method or a preliminary screening method by the advisory board when there were many applicants. She spoke in support of paper or preliminary screening. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes' Page 16 of 28 July 16, 2001 Councilor McPeak spoke to the process involving more Councilors. She favored a paper screening process, observing that when she served on the interview committee, she could have predicted which applicants would be selected based on the paperwork. She said that they would not need the paper screening process unless they received enough applications to spread the interviews over two days, something that has happened only once. Councilor McPeak held that the community would be better served with term limits. Councilor Hoffman indicated that he had no problem reducing the number of applicants to three to six based upon their application forms. He spoke to his frustration with having only 10 to 15 minutes to talk to people. He said that he preferred having 15 to 20 minutes to talk to three people as opposed to 15 minutes to talk to six or more people. He said that, like Councilor McPeak, he would like to talk to the first three or four applicants. Councilor Rohde argued that, from the perspective of the applicants, the process of meeting face-to-face with the Council as part of getting on a Board or Commission was valuable. He contended that using a paper-screening process hurt the Council's interaction with the community more than it helped the Council's scheduling problem. He spoke to the Council getting over its scheduling problem and doing the right thing, which was interviewing all the applicants. He argued that there was value to the Council in interviewing everyone in terms of asking questions not answered by reading the resume. Councilor Graham concurred with Councilor Rohde that they should interview all applicants. She pointed out that this was not like applying for a college where an applicant either met the criteria or did not meet it; this was for an open community participation, and the action of applying indicated interest on the part of the applicant. Councilor Graham said that she preferred talking to people because not everyone communicated effectively in writing. She indicated that, in her experience, her opinion based on the application could change after talking to the person. She spoke to spending whatever time was necessary to interview the applicants. Mayor Hammerstad argued that taking the time necessary was nice in theory but did not work in practice. She observed that the Council has held up some appointments for months because it could not get enough people to interview in a timely manner. Councilor Rohde disagreed that it hurt to delay the appointments. He said that the only time in his five years on the Council that there has been a problem with the interviews was this year with the overwhelming number of applications for the Transportation Advisory Board. He argued that that high number of applicants was the exception, and not the rule. Councilor Schoen discussed his frustration with the mechanics of the process. He spoke to interviewing people in the mornings as well as the evenings. Councilor Turchi noted that he could take on more of the interviewing now. He discussed his frustration with the lack of consistency in the interviews. He commented that he did not think that the Council knew what it was looking for or asked questions that would elicit the appropriate responses. He indicated that he did not think that the interviews in which he participated were well done. Councilor Rohde concurred. He argued that the interview process allowed the Council to determine whether an applicant was compatible, which was not something it could determine by reading the application. He agreed that they needed decide before the interviews what they were looking for and to ask the same questions of each applicant. Councilor Graham agreed with Councilor Schoen on scheduling some interviews in the mornings in order to avoid two to three hours of marathon interviewing in the evening. Councilor McPeak clarified that she was not suggesting that they select people based on the paperwork; she was suggesting that they keep the interview numbers below a certain maximum City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 17 of 28 July 16, 2001 by using a paper screening process. She spoke in support of a number that could be handled by a small group of Councilors in one interview session as opposed to multiple sessions. She contended that one session presented a fairer appearance than multiple sessions. Councilor Turchi concurred with Councilor Rohde's point that the applicants believed that they were doing the City a favor, and not vice versa. He pointed out that telling someone who came in to do the Council a favor that the Council did not want to talk to him/her did not present a good appearance. Mayor Hammerstad suggested a process whereby the interview committee for a board met to do some pre-screening based on the applications and at the same time developed questions and decided what it was looking for. She held that this would be a more efficient way to interview for an advisory committee. She mentioned that, even if they did not exceed a reasonable number of applications, the committee could meet prior to the interviews to develop the questions. Mayor Hammerstad explained that she was looking to make this process as efficient as possible while obtaining the best people they could. She commented that they did not want to tell someone that the City would keep his/her resume on file if the Council were never going to consider them. She characterized the current process as time consuming and tedious. She indicated that she supported Councilor McPeak's suggested alternative but included more in the pre-screening process. Councilor McPeak moved to limit the number of candidates who would have actual interviews for Board and Commission vacancies to eight by means of a review of the applications by all Council members. There was no second. Councilor McPeak clarified to Councilor Rohde that the process she had in mind was to create a matrix and to interview those who got the top eight votes. She held that they did not need to discuss the paperwork, as they could all make up their own minds. Councilor Schoen indicated that he did not want to limit the number of applicants interviewed. He concurred with Councilor Rohde that if people took the time to apply to serve on a Board or Commission, then the Council had an obligation to listen to them, no matter how poorly qualified they might be. He pointed out that this was a small community and word would get around if some people were not selected to begin with. Mr. Hertzberg noted that there appeared to be general agreement that everyone should be interviewed. He directed the discussion to the pre-interview process. Mayor Hammerstad pointed out that those who did not want to limit the interviews needed to be willing to commit the time necessary to conduct the interviews, as presently the burden was falling on a couple of people. Mr. Hertzberg mentioned Councilor Schoen's suggestion to hold interviews in the morning and Councilor Turchi's statement that he had more time available now. Mayor Hammerstad suggested that whoever was on the interview committee also commit to taking time to decide among the committee members what they were looking for on the Board and develop their questions. Councilor Rohde asked if the Council as a whole should discuss what it expected on its boards and give direction to the interview committee. Mayor Hammerstad suggested that the members not on the interview committee give input on what they would like to see when Shirley sent out the recruitment for the interview committee. Councilor Graham asked if there was a way to schedule the evening interviews so that they did not conflict with the meeting nights of Boards and Commissions. She observed that sometimes there was a conflict for a Council liaison between doing the interviews and attending their Board or Commission meeting. Councilor McPeak remarked that that would be tough to do. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 18 of 28 July 16, 2001 C. Reappointment process and term limits Councilor McPeak indicated that, while she did not favor term limits for elected officials (as they had to go through the elections process periodically), she felt that the Boards and Commission appointments were an entirely different situation. She observed that not re- appointing someone to a Board and Commission was so awkward that the Council tended simply to reappoint people if they applied for reappointment. She argued that term limits would help alleviate that problem. She clarified to Councilor Turchi that she meant a term limit of two terms of three years. Mayor Hammerstad held that term limits worked well except when a Board or Commission had a lot of turnover, especially on a complicated committee like the Development Review Commission or the Planning Commission,because they lost the historical perspective. She spoke to allowing an exception to the two-term limit for special circumstances as decided by the Council. Mayor Hammerstad indicated to Councilor Graham that staggering the terms did not necessarily take care of that problem because members resigned early. She assured Councilor McPeak that, in her experience, the exception did not become the rule when allowed as a bridge where necessary. Councilor Rohde recalled that the Council has refreshened Boards and Commissions when necessary, although it was not an easy thing to do. He argued that the Council should not hide behind term limits to do its dirty work but rather it should accept its responsibility to move people off boards when they were no longer productive members of that board. Councilor Hoffman discussed his frustration with feeling obligated to reappoint two candidates reapplying for appointment when two other new candidates might be better qualified. He spoke in support of term limits as a way to get fresh views on the Board, as six years was a long time for one person. Councilor Schoen spoke in support of term limits with the codicil that the Council could reappoint under special circumstances. Councilor Graham indicated her support of a two-term limit. She suggested reducing the term length from three years to two years. Councilor Turchi indicated that if they reduced the term length, then he would support limiting the number of interviews. He spoke to including a statement in the information sent out to applicants that it was the Council's policy to bring in new people to the committees; if the Council had an opportunity to appoint new people over re-appointing current members, it would do so. Councilor Rohde pointed out that few of those on the Boards and Commissions have served for more than two terms. He questioned whether this was really a problem, as the turnover was relatively high. He argued that they did not have a problem with people sitting on a Board for a decade, as people could get burnt out with the Boards and Commissions too. Mr. Hertzberg summarized the suggested alternatives: a two-term limit with an exception under extraordinary circumstances, and articulating,a preference for new people over re-appointing existing members. Mayor Hammerstad spoke against a two-year term length. She argued that it took people awhile to get up to speed,particularly on the technical committees. She questioned articulating a preference for new people, as sometimes they might prefer someone with experience, the technical knowledge and the knowledge of the Comprehensive Plan to a new person. Councilor Graham observed those members of the Development Review Commission and the Planning Commission needs more experience. She asked if they could leave those two Commissions as three-year terms and reduce all the others to two-year terms. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 19 of 28 July 16, 2001 Councilor McPeak commented that Councilor Turchi's point about increased interviewing responsibilities was a significant negative to her. Councilor Schoen moved to adopt a Boards and Commissions term limit of two consecutive terms of three years each, unless there were special considerations as determined by the City Council. Councilor McPeak seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and the motion passed with Mayor Hammerstad, Councilors Schoen,McPeak and Hoffman voting in favor. Councilors Rohde, Turchi and Graham voted against the motion. [4-3] Mayor Hammerstad mentioned Councilor Rohde's suggestion that people asking for reappointment be required to submit new applications, unless their application was less than six months old. The Council had no objections. Dave Powell, City Attorney, asked if the Council was establishing a two-term limit by policy or by ordinance change. He suggested doing it by policy, as that gave the Council greater flexibility to change it. The Council agreed that it was a policy change. The Council discussed Councilor Rohde's question of whether this policy should apply beginning this date forward or should it grandfather in those already in the second term. Councilor McPeak pointed out that if the policy did not begin now, it would take a long time to make the policy change. Councilor Graham supported beginning the policy now. The Council discussed Councilor Hoffman's suggestion to get input from the Board chairs on the question of term limits. Councilor Hoffman commented that the Mayor could talk to the Board chairs at the scheduled meeting. He indicated that if many of the chairs were upset by the notion, then he would rethink his vote. Councilor McPeak wondered whether asking the Boards for their input after the Council made its decision raised the question of who was in charge. She argued that the obligation of the Council was to do what it thought was best for the City. Councilor Hoffman said that he has been thinking about the Council's relationships with the Boards, and Councilor Rohde's compassion in not excluding by resume. He reiterated his suggestion that the Mayor meet with the Board chairs to ask for their input on these issues of concern to the Council. Councilor Hoffman moved to rescind the previous vote. Councilor McPeak seconded the motion. A voice vote was taken and the motion passed with Mayor Hammerstad, Councilors Graham, Hoffman,McPeak,Rohde, Schoen and Turchi voting in favor. [7-0] Mr. Hertzberg commented that what just happened was not a failure, rather it was a success in that the Council had the ability to recognize that it had made a mistake. Councilor McPeak suggested that the Council revisit this issue the morning after the Mayor and Mr. Schmitz met with the Board and Commission chairs. Mayor Hammerstad indicated that any Councilor was welcome to attend the:meeting,which would probably be in September. Councilor Hoffman recalled that Mayor Klammer met with the board chairs three times a year in order to provide an opportunity for the board chairs to hear what the other boards were doing. He said that he and Councilor Rohde attended simply to listen. He suggested that Councilors attending this meeting between Mayor Hammerstad and the board chairs just listen. D. Relationship between the Council and the Boards and Commissions 1. Orientation and Training Mr. Powell mentioned that they had a Board and Commission training session two years ago, at which they discussed the open meeting law. He indicated that usually staff handed the new members an information packet; there was no formal orientation program. He said that usually they went into more detail with the Planning Commission, Development Review Commission and Community Forestry Commission, as those commissions dealt with adjudicated matters. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes, Page 20 of 28 July 16, 2001 Councilor McPeak spoke to addressing the need to communicate to the Boards and Commissions what the Council's view of their role was. She suggested a statement as opposed to a training session. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned the statement staff developed last year, which the Council handed out to the Library Advisory Board at their joint meeting. The Council discussed the need for a new member orientation process for the Boards and Commissions. Councilor Rohde noted that the Chamber had a new member orientation every six months; the Council could do something similar. Jane Heisler, Community Planning Manager,mentioned that she usually spent three hours with each new Planning Commissioner going over what the packet did not cover, such as the individual City projects and what the Commission was currently working on. Councilor Rohde suggested a half-day training session with two hours on the commonalties shared by all the Boards and Commissions, and individual breakout sessions conducted by staff for each Board and Commission. 2. Significant issues to discuss with individual Boards and Commissions The Council discussed Councilor Rohde's suggestion of inviting a different board each week to have dinner with the Council prior to the Council meetings. Councilor Rohde pointed out that it would be an 18-week rotation. Councilors Hoffman and McPeak held that meeting once a year with some of the Boards was sufficient. Councilor Hoffman suggested that the Mayor ask the chairs how often they wanted to meet with the Council. Councilor Rohde suggested that the Mayor simply inform the Board chairs that they could request a dinner meeting. Councilors Hoffman and McPeak agreed that that was a better idea. a. Planning Commission/Development Review Commission Councilor Hoffman spoke to the Council continuing to meet with these two groups periodically to discuss land use issues, as they needed to be on the same wavelength with them. He mentioned the frustration experienced last year by everyone when the Council kept remanding these Commissions' recommendations. Mayor Hammerstad suggested meeting with them twice a year. b. Historic Review Advisory Board Councilor Rohde discussed the disconnect that the HRAB felt with the Council. He explained that the Board was not certain what it should be doing, as the 1995 legislature took away its authority. He commented that, although this Council supported historic homes and buildings as an important element in the community, the Board needed direction on what it could do to entice people to preserve historic homes and buildings. Councilor Graham suggested that the Board explore whether the new bill in the House might help with historic preservation. Councilor Rohde said that the Board had ideas on what to do; the Council needed to decide whether to let them proceed. He reiterated that the Board felt that it had no connection with the Council and that the Council did not understand the issues. He indicated that the Board would like to act with the support and encouragement of the Council. Councilor Rohde discussed a project that the Board was interested in: working out a contractual arrangement with a building inspector who knew how to inspect older buildings because the 1998 Building Code had ridiculous expectations for a renovated 1910 home. He mentioned finding ways to reduce the expense to those preserving historic buildings by eliminating inspection fees. He reiterated that, because the Board no longer had its `stick' of statutory authority, it wanted to know what `carrots' it could implement at the City to encourage the protection of older buildings. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 21 of 28 July 16, 2001 Mayor Hammerstad suggested that this was another topic for the meeting with the Board chairs. She confirmed to Mr. Hertzberg that she would discuss with the Board chair what the Board wanted to do and how it wanted to connect with the Council. c. Natural Resources Advisory Board Councilor Hoffman mentioned that he was caught off guard and offended by a statement that was critical of the Council for not involving the NRAB earlier in the budget process. He said that he talked to Jonathan Snell and Chris Roth, and concluded that there was a disconnect with the Board. He remarked that he has had the perception for years that the NRAB had a chip on its shoulder and saw the Council as an adversary. He indicated that he told Mr. Snell and Ms. Roth that this Council was the most supportive of any of the Councils. Councilor Schoen mentioned that the NRAB did not change their meeting nights from Tuesday. He agreed that the major issue for the Board was the budget and the Council not funding the park. Christ Jordan,Assistant City Manager,reported that he met with NRAB the week before the budget came to Council and thought that he had appeased them during their discussion about money for Bryant Woods. He commented that he too had been surprised by the comment. He described it as a process question, in that by the time staff put the budget together and took it to the Budget Committee, the budget was on a fast track. He indicated that staff could not move the process back to January, which meant that this would be a continuing issue with NRAB. Councilor McPeak asked if the City made it easy to get input from various groups before the budget process began. She mentioned hearing from another group that they had not known how to ask for money in the budget process at the right time. Councilor Schoen described the problem at the NRAB as the Board feeling that the City would fund Bryant Woods in the CIP for the full $1 million. He commented that the Council told the Board that the City did not have $1 million for Bryant Woods or any of the other projects that the Council would like to fund. Mr. Hertzberg summarized the two issues under discussion: was there a better way for the Council to communicate about the budget process to all interested parties, and what needed to be done to communicate more effectively with NRAB at this time? The Council discussed Councilor Rohde's suggestion that it reconfigure the Budget Committee so that the citizen members were the chairs of the advisory boards. Mr. Powell said that he could find out. He indicated that the statute mandated that the Budget Committee have the same number of citizen members as City Councilors but it did not say anything about the citizen members not being the chairs of committees. Mr. Jordan spoke to addressing the NRAB issue through better education of the Boards and Commissions with respect to the actual budget process. He pointed out that the City Manager put the budget together, and not the Council. Since the City Manager sent his budget to the Budget Committee in March or April, those with requests needed to give their input to the City Manager or the Council before then, as it was difficult to make major changes to the budget after that point. Councilor Graham suggested including information on the budget process in the Boards and Commission orientation. She mentioned a one-page information sheet outlining the budget process and timeline sent to each advisory board member in a timely fashion. Councilor McPeak suggested meeting with NRAB soon. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned the dinner meeting with NRAB scheduled for tomorrow. Councilor Hoffman commented that he foresaw issues coming up on which NRAB might take a stricter position than the Council wanted to take. He spoke to using Tuesday night to make sure that the Board was on track with the Council, and that they understood what each other wanted. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 22 of 28 July 16, 2001 d. Transportation Advisory Board Councilor Rohde described the issue with TAB as the Board was new and did not know how it fit in. He mentioned that the Board was upset that the City made decisions on transportation items without asking for its opinion, such as the traffic circle at 4th Street and C Avenue and the curb extension on Evergreen Street. He suggested holding a 'what does the Council expect from it' conversation with the Board. He noted the probable joint meeting of the Council and the Board to hear the presentation on the Boones Ferry Corridor Study. e. Library Advisory Board Councilor Schoen restated Mayor Hammerstad's description of the issue: the Council challenged the Board to present an evaluation of the pros and cons of the shared use facility, which the Board has accepted. Mr. Schmitz mentioned the issue of the `Board government in exile' (John Broderick and Martin Jacobs) as an issue that the Council needed to discuss with the existing Board. Mayor Hammerstad confirmed Councilor Graham's assessment that the current Board, following a number of resignations, was willing to look at the issues involved with the shared library as well as issues of improved service at the current library. She concurred with Mr. Schmitz that those who resigned would remain active on the library issue; how to deal with that situation was another question. Councilor Schoen concurred with Mayor Hammerstad that the library opposition would be analogous to the downtown redevelopment opposition. He observed that it was the same people. Councilor McPeak mentioned her belief that,with respect to the redevelopment opposition, the City failed to make the facts known, and there was a lot of misinformation as a result. She spoke to the City doing a good job of presenting the truth in the public arena, and ignoring the `government in exile' while keeping the information flowing. Councilor Graham concurred that there was misinformation out there with respect to the shared use library. She reported that, at the last meeting, when she kept using the words `shared use' and `let's explore',the Board members acted like they had never heard those words before. She spoke to the Council continually repeating the phrase `shared use exploration.' Councilor Graham suggested including a Library Advisory Board member on the joint Task Force. She pointed out that the two things that the Board saw as a goal were not things that they could get involved in. She spoke to having the Board take on more important issues within the library, such as increased senior community outreach, and helping the Board return to the goals it presented in January. Councilor Rohde asked if the City needed a Library Advisory Board. Mr. Hertzberg pointed out that the Board did deal with policy questions. Councilor Graham held that the Board should get involved in issues like pornography in the library and Internet filters. She mentioned her understanding that the library currently allowed some chat room use, which was a violation of library policy. Councilor McPeak spoke to the Council not having a policy on reappointing Youth Councilors in order to open the opportunity up to more students. Mayor Hammerstad said that she agreed, except for this year. She held that the Council did not give this year's Youth Councilors the kind of opportunity that they should have had; if any wanted to reapply for next year,that was fine. She concurred with one-year appointments open to juniors and seniors. Mr. Schmitz raised a pink flag on the Arts Commission. He speculated that the Commission would enter choppy waters in the next 12 months regarding an expansion of the Arts Downtown program on the West End. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 23 of 28 July 16, 2001 The Council indicated that it was not interested in revising the East End Development Committee,per Councilor Rohde's inquiry. Councilor Hoffman suggested waiting to see what the consultant said. • Mr. Hertzberg recessed the meeting for a five-minute break. • Mr. Hertzberg reconvened the meeting. 6. REMAINING ISSUES A. Unsung Heroes Councilor Graham referenced her e-mail asking the Council to recommend names for the Selection Task Force, which the Mayor would appoint. She said that the Task Force would meet on October 15 and October 22 to review the application forms. She reviewed the advertising for the program and distribution of the nomination forms around the community with an application deadline date of October 14. She indicated that the Task Force would present its recommendations to the Council in November and the Council would present the awards at the December 4 meeting to the three to five people chosen as `Unsung Heroes.' B. Arts Awards Mr. Schmitz reported that he talked with the Mayor and the Arts Commission co-chairs about holding a fall event to recognize people who have contributed to the evolution, development or financial expense of the arts. He said that the Arts Commission was so overwhelmed by the Festival of the Arts and Arts Downtown that they preferred to wait until next year and to hold it at some other time than the fall. C. Sister City Mayor Hammerstad recalled that the Budget Committee defunded the sister city program. She mentioned that Yoshikawa was still contacting her and continuing the relationship. She discussed her feeling that it was rude and disrespectful for Lake Oswego to tell Yoshikawa to go away and not bother them any more, and she was not willing to do that. She pled for some sensitivity and support of this cultural exchange relationship that the City has fostered. Mayor Hammerstad indicated that,barring a creative way to respectfully discontinue the relationship, she needed suggestions on how to continue the relationship on a limited basis and how to provide Yoshikawa visitors with some hospitality. Councilor Turchi recommended getting advice on how to end this relationship in a way that saved face for both sides. He referenced his experience in teaching global studies and attending workshops on how to teach the differences between the two cultures in stating that the differences were complicated enough that they needed advice. Mr. Jordan indicated to Councilor Schoen that the program was funded at $4,500 in the past. Councilor Schoen spoke in favor of continuing the program with funding at a lower level of $3,000 a year. He concurred with Councilor Turchi that if Lake Oswego refused gifts from Yoshikawa, Yoshikawa lost face and Lake Oswego looked bad. He held that the relationship did have value, even if it was not a trading relationship. Councilor McPeak recalled that the Budget Committee discussed this issue and made a decision on it. She conceded that the Council had the authority to change that decision. She mentioned reading in the Metroscape magazine from the PSU Department of Urban Studies that the Portland Sister City program used only private funding, and no government funding. She characterized that as a superior way to continue the program. Councilor McPeak held that they could find a way to end the relationship without hurt feelings. She observed that the Council has been trying to back away from this decision ever since it was made, which made it questionable as to whether the Council wanted to end the relationship. She City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 24 of 28 July 16, 2001 indicated that she did not think that the relationship was worth the $4,500. She spoke to the Council being wary that the demands made on the City by its sister city would only get bigger. She pointed out that only a small part of Lake Oswego has supported this program, which told her that it was not important to their city. Councilor Rohde said that he had thought it had been a mistake to defund the program and that the program had never been properly structured in the first place. He recalled that it was an extension of an arrangement that Lake Oswego had with a Chilean city. He concurred with Councilor Turchi that they should talk to people at Portland State in order to find out what it would take to operate a minimal sister city relationship. He spoke of funding the program at $5,000. Mayor Hammerstad asked Councilor Turchi to meet with someone at Portland State to figure out what the Council could do. She noted that, while the Councilors did not need to go to Yoshikawa, she knew that the Yoshikawa people wanted to keep coming to Lake Oswego for things like the Lake Run. She commented that it sounded like it would take a small amount of money and effort on the Council's part. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned that the Yoshikawa people wanted to send art to the Festival, which was fine, but they also wanted Lake Oswego to send things to them; the City did not want to do so because of the shipping costs. She,indicated that what seemed best to her was to tell them that Lake Oswego did not have the money budgeted to participate but the Council would still welcome their visits. Councilor Rohde suggested talking to the Beaverton and Portland Sister City offices, as they might have good advice on how a small city like Lake Oswego could still have a fruitful relationship. D. Council Corner Councilor Graham described this as a column in the Review, similar to the Hello LO articles written by the Council, in which the Councilor writing the column could discuss current events or future vision. She spoke to the Council discussing what to write about and sharing the duty. Mayor Hammerstad indicated that the Review was willing to publish a column every couple of weeks. She pointed out that the problem for the Council was that it was one more thing to do. She asked if the Council wanted to postpone doing this or drop it entirely. Councilor Graham suggested revisiting the issue in January while continuing to write the OpEd pieces as needed. E. Council Expenses Mayor Hammerstad recalled that the Council expenses budget was reduced this year from $4,000 per person to $3,000. She mentioned that they already had reservations at a hotel in Washington, D.C. She cautioned the Council that they would go through the money quickly if they were not careful. Councilor McPeak mentioned that Mr. Schmitz told her that the Council could not carry over a balance from year to year. She explained that her idea was to allow each Councilor to accumulate up to two years worth, which would provide them with greater flexibility in planning a two-year budget. She spoke of another possibility of pooling the $21,000, so that what one Councilor did not spend would be available to another Councilor. Mayor Hammerstad indicated to Councilor Hoffman that it was barely possible to do the Washington, D.C. conference and the November League of Cities conference on$3,000. Councilor Hoffman suggested rethinking the $3,000 limit. Councilor Graham spoke in support of individual Councilor accounts as opposed to a pool. She asked to see what she has spent so that she could decide what she could do with the remainder. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 25 of 28 July 16, 2001 Councilor Rohde observed that one of the first things often cut from a budget was training and development. He argued that doing so did not help the organization or make it better able to cope with the changes necessary in government. He described the two benefits to attending regional and state conferences: the things that the Councilors learned, and the value of Lake Oswego's representation at the conferences. Councilor Rohde pointed out that there was no structure for the cities of Clackamas County to contribute towards the cost of his going to the National League of Cities conference early in order to lobby as a member of the JPACT delegation on behalf of transportation for the region; therefore, Lake Oswego bore the entire cost. He argued that the his being there has enabled him to have a Lake Oswego influence as well, citing his discussions with congressional representatives about the Willamette Shore Rail line and their hope to get it all federally funded. Councilor Rohde held that the name of Lake Oswego appearing on the list of attending cities at these different conferences added to the City's reputation as a player at the table at the state level. Councilor McPeak asked for a fuller discussion of this issue in public. Mayor Hammerstad said that she would schedule another discussion. Councilor Schoen stated his opposition to carrying anything over. He argued for looking at each budget annually. He held that if they could justify increased travel expenses at the end of the year, then they should increase the allocation in the next year's budget. He spoke to figuring out what events the Council needed to attend and to establishing a bottom line. Councilor Turchi suggested allocating a certain amount of money to each Councilor to attend conferences, and allocating another amount of money for those conferences to which the City needed to send a representative delegate. Mayor Hammerstad indicated that she discussed this idea with Mr. Schmitz earlier, and it might be a possibility. Mayor Hammerstad asked Mr. Schmitz to provide the Council with an accounting of what it spent last year. F. Volunteerism Councilor Rohde discussed the opportunities for volunteerism that he had identified. He mentioned that a possible Eagle Scout project had been turning the informal pathway following the right-of-way easement on a North Shore property that went to up to Middlecrest into a formal pathway in conjunction with the construction of a house on that property. He suggested mustering volunteers to clear out the blackberries and trees from the area along the railroad tracks from Cabana Lane to Berwick Road in order to turn it into a walking area. Councilor Rohde described removing the volunteer trees from an area at the intersection of Summit Road and Iron Mountain Boulevard, and restoring it to the open area that it used to be for use as a gravel parking lot for those walking the trails. He mentioned re-establishing the wetlands on the land the City owned east of the Hunt Club and using it as an overflow drain and settling area. Councilor Rohde spoke to the City identifying places in the community that it could improve through a one-day volunteer project,using numerous volunteers overseen by a staff person. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned that several groups have contacted her wanting to do volunteer projects, such as the Boy Scouts and the Rotary Club. She pointed out that by master planning the parks, the City had ready-made volunteer projects that it could hand out to Eagle Scouts and others interested in volunteering. She spoke to the City being more aggressive in soliciting volunteers. Councilor Turchi suggested offering projects to the high schools, as they both required Legacy projects by their seniors. Councilor Hoffman suggested establishing a Volunteer Action Board or a Volunteer Coordinator to coordinate the projects with the volunteers. City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 26 of 28 July 16, 2001 Ms. Heisler indicated to Mayor Hammerstad that the natural resources staff person working on volunteer and community outreach concentrated on open space and trail projects; the position was for five months only. Councilor Hoffman suggested asking the Chamber Leadership class to develop an institutional way to connect community projects with community volunteers. Mr. Hertzberg said that he worked for two years as a volunteer coordinator. He concurred with Councilor Hoffman that establishing the connection between the people and the projects was the critical element. 7. FINAL COMMENTS Mayor Hammerstad mentioned her interest in hiking all the trails in Lake Oswego this summer. She suggested establishing a hiking group on either Wednesday afternoons or Friday mornings. Councilor Hoffman asked where they were with the long-range visioning process. He noted that they discussed it for two hours, and that Mayor Hammerstad was uncomfortable with a visioning project under the Oregon Visioning Plan because of the experience of Milwaukie. He held that there had to be a way to move forward towards a vision. Councilor Hoffman described the Oregon model of a four-step visioning process, as outlined by the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association. He said that the organization had a list of Oregon cities where the process was successful. He asked how did they get from where they were today to the vision they discussed earlier. Mayor Hammerstad indicated that Councilor Hoffman's comments with respect to the Council's direction disturbed her. She described what they did today as verifying where they were. She concurred that they did not say that they wanted to do a visioning process. She held that they did have a direction, citing their goals and their intentions for next year with respect to neighborhood planning and the redevelopment district. Mr. Hertzberg clarified that his intent in this session had been to get a sense of the Council's visioning but not to go beyond that into a formal structure. Councilor Rohde commented that he was not as concerned with the grand vision as Councilor Hoffman was. He spoke to establishing small visions that people could get their hands around and moving forward with those. Councilor Turchi described Councilor Hoffman's concern as finding a process that helped Lake Oswego come together as a community to share points of view. He commented that he was not certain that the end product was that important, as whatever came out of a formal visioning process tended to be generic and of limited helpfulness. Councilor Hoffman pointed out that the items listed on the wall cost money, such as purchasing more open space or building a community center/library. He indicated that those were the big things that he would like to see done. He questioned how they fostered family friendly diverse affordable neighborhoods, other than through the Infill Task Force. He observed that the recreation center kept coming back up but he did not know how they would fund it. Councilor Hoffman spoke to the Council discussing money and how much the community could afford. He referenced the School District bond in questioning if there was room in the 15,000 households in Lake Oswego for another$10 to $20 million bond. He proposed, as an example, that Lake Oswego have the best infrastructure in the Metro region. He asked how did they reach that goal. Mr. Hertzberg mentioned the agreement that public engagement was essential to obtaining what they needed in the short run. 6. OTHER 7. ADJOURNMENT City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 27 of 28 July 16, 2001 Mayor Hammerstad adjourned the meeting at 3:12 p.m. Respectfully submitted, q/ei e. a, *6,,P'241( ki/k-‘ C�arvin Deputy City Recorder APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL: ON Judie Hammerstad, Mayor City Council Mid-Year Review Minutes Page 28 of 28 July 16, 2001