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Agenda Item - 2001-08-07 - Number 4.4 - CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO 4.4 AGENDA REPORT SUMMARY 08/07/01 MEETING DATE: August 7, 2001 SUBJECT: Approval of Minutes from: 1. July 3, 2001, morning meeting 2. July 3, 2001, regular meeting 3. July 9, 2001, information session 4. July 10, 2001, special meeting 5. July 17, 2001, morning meeting 6. July 17, 2001, joint meeting with NRAB 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 3, 2001, morning meeting • July 3, 2001, regular meeting STAFF COST: $ • July 9, 2001, information Ordinance no.: BUDGETED: session • July 10, 2001, special meeting Y N • July 17, 2001, morning Resolution no.: meeting FUNDING SOURCE: • July 17, 2001,joint meeting with NRAB Previous Council consideration: :::CITY NAGER al ° f signoff/date 4 3 \\FINANCE\DATA\INFOSVC\Robyn\report minutes.doc OE 1-AKE OS ��- Public Affairs Department OREGON TO: Judie Hammerstad, Mayor Members of the City Council FROM: Robyn Christie, City Recorder SUBJECT: Correction to Minutes DATE: August 7, 2001 C: Douglas J.Schmitz,David Powell Minutes The following corrections have been made to the minutes on the consent agenda for the August 7, 2001 Council meeting. Please make the motion to approve minutes as corrected. Date of Minutes Page Correction July 3, 2001 Morning Meeting 2 of 12 Change from 26.87 to 2687 Minutes (48) July 3, 2001 Morning Meeting 3 of 12 Correct spelling from Mary Anne to Marianne Minutes (49) July 3, 2001 Morning Meeting 3 of 12 Change sentence from "she received the same Minutes (49) call"to "they had received a similar call" July 17, 2001 Morning Meeting 8 of 9 Change in 2nd paragraph from"aspect or"to Minutes (104) "aspect of' \\FINANCE\DATA\INFOSVC\Robyn\min memo.doc a good thing in terms of restructuring the overall management of the City. She said that, although it left some overlap, they could ride through those areas until retirements occurred; at that point,they would not fill the extra management positions. Councilor McPeak asked if Ms. Deardorff could include a review of the entire health care cost aspect of personnel costs in her work with the consultant and start putting in place whatever the City needed to do in order to change its approach to that issue. Ms. Deardorff indicated that one reason it was important to look at wages now was that, in the fall, they would work with the benefits committee and a benefits consultant to look at that very issue. Ms. Deardorff explained that by linking the compensation and the benefits, it became clear that the City needed to shift the costs into the employee's pocket. She noted that one option was changing the plan, although people liked the Lake Oswego benefit structure. She mentioned that a few years ago the City switched provider companies in order to keep the benefits whole. Ms. Deardorff held that one of the ways to sell the shift to employees was to be able to say that the City made market adjustments to wages in order to compensate people at the top of the market; this offset the City's request that the employees start paying some of the benefits costs out of their own pocket. She indicated that the change was inevitable, and that the employees recognized that a change was coming. Councilor McPeak observed that the comparables were still valid as all the other cities were doing the same thing. Ms. Deardorff concurred. She mentioned hearing that Tualatin, in addition to giving a cost of living increase, was requiring employees in all positions to contribute towards their health insurance,which was the first time Tualatin has had to do that. She held that Lake Oswego was headed in the same direction in the future. Councilor Graham mentioned that she knew from her husband, who was a union member that a major issue in contract talks, were health benefits. She indicated that everyone recognized that health care costs were not simply increasing; they were escalating to the point where employees were talking about lower salary compensation in exchange for the employers covering medical costs. She observed that cost of a hospital visit could quickly outpace increased compensation. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned another factor of the tax implications; an employer paying medical benefits and lower salaries created a better tax package. She indicated to Councilor McPeak that she thought that they could combine the strategies but they had to do so in a way that benefited the employee in terms of what he/she took home in his/her pocket. She supported looking at other methods of compensation, such as other benefits. She questioned whether these other benefits were meaningful to employees at all, and if so, were they meaningful to only those employees in the upper brackets and not to those in the lower brackets. Ms.Deardorff indicated that they did encourage deferred compensation participation, as sometimes that did have a minimal effect on an employee's take home pay. She reiterated that their work with the benefits committee would provide necessary information for the January discussion with respect to potential plan changes. She described the flexible spending account program offered by the City, which was similar to deferred compensation. She observed that they could use that program to help employees pay their premiums. Councilor Turchi mentioned that the School District has cut back on employee health care benefits. He observed that the Council could be ridiculed if it asked to reduce employees' health care benefits or employees to share the higher cost while maintaining the employees in a sick building. Ms. Deardorff concurred that that was a hot issue for City employees at this time. Councilor Hoffman indicated that he supported paying City management personnel at this higher level as a reasonable action, and that he generally supported the rates. He asked to see a more detailed explanation of the comparables in the proposal, as the data drove the conclusion. He asked for reasons why staff used certain cities and did not use other cities. Councilor Graham referenced the paragraph discussing costs implications and people gaining money because of attrition. She asked how long would the City use this `Band-Aid' approach. She conceded that they saved $93,000 in the short term but argued that this approach did not City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 9 July 17, 2001 There were no corrections to the minutes. • Citizen Comment Councilor Turchi advised the Council that Marianne Carter called him last night and informed him that several people would come to the meeting tonight to represent the under high school age football community, which was concerned about whether or not they would have a place to play this summer. Mayor Hammerstad and Councilor Graham each indicated that they had received similar calls. Mayor Hammerstad reviewed her intended remarks at the meeting to inform the public of the upcoming Executive Session discussion of the issue and the Council's efforts to solve the problem. Mr. Jordan suggested that the Mayor announce that staff would attend the Teams Sports Advisory Committee's meeting Monday night to report on anything public that came out of the Executive Session. Councilor Rohde argued for holding the Executive Session in advance of the meeting tonight in order to allow the Council to respond to the community's concern. Mayor Hammerstad concurred. Mr. Powell noted that staff was meeting with Dick Alexander at 4 p.m. to discuss the Field Turf situation, which was why staff moved the Executive Session from the morning meeting to 6:30 p.m. or following the evening meeting. Mayor Hammerstad suggested moving the Executive Session from 6:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mr. Powell indicated that the Council continuing a morning Executive Session to this evening addressed the noticing problems. Mr. Powell advised the Council that John Cox intended to discuss the issue of cars with for sale signs that were parked in the right-of-way, and to ask the Council to pass an ordinance to prohibit those. He recalled that the during the early 1990s the Council rescinded an ordinance prohibiting for sale signs on cars because of an incident in which someone driving around with a for sale sign on the car, parked, went into the bank, and came back to a citation on the car, which the individual thought was silly. Mr. Powell observed that the problem was that the City could not regulate the content of the signs that it allowed. He indicated that he needed to finish his research into the question. He noted that the Council typically did not respond during citizen comment. He suggested that the Council ask staff to bring back a report on the issues involved. Councilor Schoen asked how the City delineated between the bike lanes and the parking areas. He mentioned two SUVs parked at McVey and South Shore all day with for sale signs on them in what he thought should be the bike lane. Mr. Powell explained that it was illegal to park in a properly marked bike lane but not in an unmarked area. Councilor McPeak spoke in support of finding a way to regulate this offensive practice. • Councilor Reports Councilors McPeak, Rohde and Mayor Hammerstad indicated that each had a report to make. Councilor Graham said that she had an announcement regarding two Youth Councilors. Councilor Rohde agreed to that Mayor's request that he report on the concert series. 4. REVIEW FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Mayor Hammerstad advised the Council that Representative Richard Develin called her yesterday to inform her that the transportation package at the legislature (HB 2408) was in danger of going down at the Senate because the Senate decided to include in it the bill pre- empting local governments from doing street utility fees. Mr. Schmitz indicated to Mayor Hammerstad that the invoice from the National League of Cities conference was part of the budget and did not need specific Council approval for payment. City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 12 July 3, 2001 updated regulations. Mr. Schmitz agreed that it was a future decision. He mentioned that the current regulations did allow the exception of consumption of alcohol in the Center dining room, when offered for sale by an approved contractor. Mayor Hammerstad confirmed to Councilor Turchi that this ordinance would allow a family member of age, and with a one-time event temporary permit from the OLCC but no training, to serve alcoholic beverages at a private event in Millennium Park. Councilor Turchi asked why allow this at Millennium Park and not at other parks. Mayor Hammerstad explained that the City was under a time crunch with Millennium Park because the concert series was starting, whereas they had more time to consider other parks. Councilor Schoen pointed out that the issue with other parks was that they were surrounded by neighborhoods whereas the noise and activities at Millennium Park were confined to a specific area. Mayor Hammerstad spoke to pulling this item for further discussion tonight in order to allow the citizens to hear the Council discussion and the decision. Councilor Turchi said that he did not have a problem with people bringing beer and wine to a concert at Millennium Park but he saw a difference between a relatively small group of people bringing their own alcoholic beverages and a large event where they should have trained alcohol servers. Mr. Schmitz suggested splitting the issue into two parts: one part dealing with the events Councilor Turchi referred to (for future discussion) and the other part dealing with the concert provision (for a decision tonight). Mr. Powell indicated that the Council could pass an amended resolution tonight. The Council agreed by consensus Item 4.3.2, Financial Policies Councilor McPeak explained that her question did not relate to the changes themselves, rather she needed clarification on No. 3 under Revenue Policies (page 37), which spoke of establishing all user charged fees at a level related to the full costs. She asked if the City's subsidies on utility bills for low-income people contradicted this policy. Chris Jordan, Assistant City Manager, indicated that the low-income subsidy was the exception to the rule. He spoke to continuing the City's current practice for this subsidy. He concurred that the City's objective for the rest of its fees and charges was full cost recovery. Mayor Hammerstad observed that they set the fees to recover the full cost of the service, which included the subsidies. Councilor McPeak asked for clarification on the `annual balancing' referred to under No. 1 under expenditure policies. Mr. Jordan mentioned that the State required cities to adopt a budget annually. He explained that the City currently operated under an annual budget, although in the past it did use a biennial budget with the second year as a planning budget. Mr. Powell recalled a bill at the legislature to allow bi-annual budgeting. He said he would track that and see what happened to it. Councilor McPeak indicated that if the Council did have the option of a biennial budget, there were a couple of things that she would like to discuss. • Item 4.2.1, Springbrook Creek restoration project Councilor Graham asked where the 2687 foot section was located and why the City was working on that particular section. Mr. Schmitz said that it was the section behind the Spring Village and the Taste of China restaurant. He indicated that the neighbors asked the City to work on that section because of the sloughing that occurred during the City's work on Mountain Park in previous years. • Item 4.3.1, authorizing the Mayor to sign an intergovernmental agreement with Clackamas County for mediation services Councilor Graham referenced date stamp page 19. Mayor Hammerstad confirmed to Councilor Graham that the city was billed for mediation services. City Council Morning Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 12 July 3, 2001