MINUTES OF THE METRO COMMITTEE FOR CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT

REGULAR COMMITTEE

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Room 270

Members Present:  Elizabeth Tucker (Chair), Norm Andreen, Kathy Henton, Moji Momeni, Darren Pennington, Christine Roth, Ed Ruttledge, Scott Seibert, Kate Schiele,

Members Absent:  David Bikman, Dresden Skees Gregory, Dick Jones, JC Kizak, Don Warner, Skip White

Also Present:    Gina Whitehill-Baziuk, Cheryl Grant, Kate Marx, Janice Larson, Rod Park

Call to order/Introductions & Welcome/Appointment of Timekeeper

Chair Tucker called the meeting to order at 6:03. Darren Pennington was appointed timekeeper.

Approval of agenda

The review of exterior sign and lobby design studies will be heard first.

Approval of June 16, 2004 minutes

Review of exterior sign and lobby design studies

Janice Larson, Creative Services Manager, reviewed goals of a study completed by Creative Services and Building Services staff about how to improve the lobby’s first impressions for visitors. It is also important as an information and service center for the 300 employees who work in the building. The study was handed out and the committee conducted a brief walking tour of the lobby. Of the six recommendations in the study, committee members were the most enthusiastic about installing a literature display cabinet for the accessible, centralized display of Metro publications, replacing the Human Resource sign, and providing additional ADA access information at the bottom of the Grand Avenue stairs. Committee members also suggested a photo display showing the variety of Metro activities and a display featuring the names of Metro’s local partners, elected officials and committee members.

Chair Tucker requested that committee members review the study and e-mail comments to her before the next meeting.

Councilor communication

Rod Park, Councilor from District 1, responded to questions from the committee regarding whether citizen involvement efforts were well done during the 2002 and 2004 industrial lands processes. He said it was hard to determine as the two were sort of disconnected even though they were part of the same process. His personal disappointment was that there was not a consistent message to the public that adequately explained exception lands. He said the lesson there was to learn to present information to the public in such a way that they did not forget everything by the end of the process. The 2002 work had stressed the criteria the council was required to look at, and they had expected that knowledge to carry over to the 2004 work. It was noted by the committee that citizen involvement and outreach must be a constant, endless loop, because at each location they were educating a different group of people. Information does not always register with folks unless it has immediate affects in their own back yard. The committee agreed that citizens have an obligation to find out what is going on in their neighborhoods. They felt Metro does a better job of outreach and notification than any other public agency in the state and citizens have a responsibility to pay attention. Councilor Park agreed that citizens have that responsibility and added that part of the council’s job is figuring out how to make education of the public easier as information had been presented in a variety of ways and still some people said they didn’t know what was happening.

There was discussion of how to prevent future incidents like the cutting of the trees in Wood Village due to a citizen’s fear of Metro taking their property for wildlife protection. Councilor Park responded that one way was to push local jurisdictions to have tree cutting ordinances in place as some, not many, already do. He noted that fear control is difficult. The council doesn’t even know what the outcome of their fish and wildlife habitat protection work will be at this point. They have only gone through the first two steps of a three-step process and now are starting to work on the program. He said the perception that what is outlined as habitat will be protected is not true. They now have to decide how much of it will actually be protected. He said MCCI could help by getting the word out about the process and that local jurisdictions have up to 2 years to implement the actual plan when it is determined.

There was discussion regarding the standard response of local jurisdictions that they are doing certain things because Metro is making them do it. And Metro says they are guided to do certain things by the state. Councilor Park responded to questions about acreage requirements for lands brought into the boundary. The amount of property has to be based on a study that takes into account historical data and standard industrial codes and translating that to acreage requirements for what they think will be needed for the future.

Election of Officers

Norm Andreen explained the election process. The floor was opened to nominations for Chair of the committee.

Norm Andreen nominated Scott Seibert for Chair. The nomination was seconded by Ed Ruttledge. There were no other nominations for this position.

Mr. Andreen opened the floor to nominations for Vice Chair.

Darren Pennington nominated Moji Momeni for Vice Chair of the committee. Mr. Ruttledge seconded the nomination.

Elizabeth Tucker nominated Norm Andreen for Vice Chair of the committee. Kathy Henton seconded the nomination.

Norm Andreen was elected Vice Chair of the committee.

Chair Seibert suggested the following members to the Steering Committee:

 Liaison to Planning – Moji Momeni

 Liaison to Parks – Christine Roth

 Liaison to Solid Waste and Recycling – Elizabeth Tucker

 At-large members – Ed Ruttledge, Kathy Henton

Subcommittee structure discussion

The committee discussed the subcommittee structure. The goal of having subcommittees was to get information back to the full committee but that has not been functioning since the change in committee structure. A few ideas, such as having a report at each meeting about activities in different departments, were discussed. The ideas will be discussed and decided upon at the Steering Committee meeting

Public comment/Roundtable

Kathy Henton shared information about the Springwater Community Plan project managed by the City of Gresham in conjunction with Multnomah County (see handouts included in the permanent record of this meeting)

Adjourn

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Tucker adjourned the meeting at 7:49 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Grant

Office of Citizen Involvement

MCCI staff