MINUTES OF THE METRO COMMITTEE FOR CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT

REGULAR COMMITTEE

Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004

Room 270

Members Present:  Scott Seibert (Chair), Norm Andreen, Dresden Skees Gregory,

Moji Momeni, Christine Roth, Ed Ruttledge, Elizabeth Tucker, Skip White

Members Excused:  JC Kizak, Kathy Henton, Dick Jones, Darren Pennington

Members Absent:  David Bikman, Kate Schiele, Don Warner

Also Present:    Metro Councilor Brian Newman, David Posalski and Angela Rysdam (prospective MCCI members), Gina Whitehill-Baziuk, Cheryl Grant, Andy Cotugno and Jesse Beason (Metro staff), Mark Nelson (Clackamas County Water Commission)

Call to order/Introductions & Welcome/Appointment of Timekeeper

Chair Seibert called the meeting to order at 6:07 p.m. without a quorum. Members introduced themselves. Moji Momeni was appointed as timekeeper.

Approval of agenda

The agenda was approved.

Intergovernmental Agreements

Andy Cotugno, Planning Director, explained Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs). He said all federal transportation funds have to be approved by Metro. There are generally three categories of funds; one is Metro’s responsibility to allocate. For other two categories, TriMet and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has the responsibility to allocate the funds but Metro has to concur. Mr. Cotugno explained the process Metro goes through to set criteria and rank projects.

Ms. Skees Gregory asked how it could become a requirement for projects not funded with federal transportation dollars to have Metro sign off on the contract. Mr. Cotugno responded that there are existing requirements, but the best place for that conversation would be with the Transportation Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC) because that committee includes representatives from all of the jurisdictions and they manage those projects. He suggested going to TPAC to report experiences of inadequate public involvement. There was committee discussion regarding projects and ways to keep higher public involvement standards where Metro delegates projects. Mr. Cotugno recommended that in order to move in that direction, guidelines were needed as to what constitutes adequate public involvement as a first step. He added that local governments have planning obligations and they should also have guidelines for an adequate public involvement process, possibly from their CCIs.

Councilor Communication

Councilor Brian Newman reported that the council had been on recess for the past two weeks but was now back and hard at work and very busy with strategic planning as it relates to the budget. He explained the process and said there would be a public review of the budget. The committee had questions regarding whether setback designations for the Fish and Wildlife Habitat Protection program had been set. Councilor Newman said council had only identified a program outline at this time. He commented that the council had recently passed a resolution exempting single-family lots from some Goal 5 requirements. He said they were currently working through a “hard edge” process and that there would be some public involvement for that coming up soon.

Approval of Aug. 18, 2004 minutes

(NOTE: A quorum was present for the vote on the minutes.)

Chair report

Chair Seibert reviewed last meeting’s breakout sessions. He found it to be a good exercise, and according to the meeting evaluations, committee members concurred.

Chair Seibert noted the non-attendance and non-responsiveness of a current committee member.

A letter will be sent to Mr. Bikman informing him he has been removed from the committee.

Chair Seibert reviewed the applications of two potential members.

Legislation for Angela Rysdam and David Posalski will be drafted and sent to council

After some discussion it was decided that the December MCCI meetings will be canceled.

Department Liaison reports

Moji Momeni, Planning liaison, reported that the Highway 217 work is on track and moving along rapidly. He felt the public involvement piece of the project is outstanding. Ms. Whitehill-Baziuk shared a mock-up of the billboard that will be displayed on Highway 217 for the month of October directing people to the website to comment. There will be a virtual open house as well as some regular open houses.

Elizabeth Tucker, Solid Waste and Recycling liaison, said the Regional Solid Waste Management Plan (RSWMP) is currently in the second phase of being updated, including public events, discussions and questionnaires. Three public meetings are scheduled to gather comments and suggestions. There was discussion regarding hazardous waste disposal and mandatory recycling. Ms. Tucker said she will send the current Public Involvement Plan (PIP) to the committee

Christine Roth, Parks liaison, said she had nothing to report.

OCI Report

Gina Whitehill-Baziuk introduced Jesse Beason who has been working on updating the mapping process for the Fish and Wildlife Habitat program. Mr. Beason talked about the map correction process. He said the process allows people the opportunity to correct the maps and dispel any misconceptions they have about the inventory. There have been stream realignment corrections as well as corrections to the scale of some identified areas of wetlands and forest canopies. There was committee discussion regarding the notification process for affected parties. The actual mailings will be decided by the budget when the council finally identifies the habitat. He added there had been about 30 corrections but he had spent a lot of time explaining the process to people who had called.

Breakout sessions

•  Mission Statement Review

Vice Chair Andreen reported that their group was going to do some homework involving the mission statement and the responses to the Chair’s Six Questions and wanted an additional session next time to discuss their conclusions before they report to the full committee

•   Best Practices follow-up

Chair Seibert reported this group decided they wanted to know who was doing what at the local levels so they were going to continue to research this. They wanted to come back for a third time next month to continue their discussion and would probably come up with some sort of proposal to move forward then.

Citizen Involvement memo discussion

Christine Roth reviewed a memo that Bob Sweeney, a new member of the Metro Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) wrote after he had attended a meeting and was distressed by a number of issues which he included in the memo. Her interest in bringing the memo to MCCI was not so much the comments but his take on how Metro committees could work more efficiently. She thought it could be a good start for how to make meetings more hospitable and user friendly. She noted that some of the observations he made in his memo had been carried out by MPAC, i.e., that they had changed meeting rooms due to acoustical reasons. The committee thought he had some valid points.

Public comment/Roundtable

Chair Seibert read Kathy Henton’s e-mail comments for the record. Ms. Henton is still pushing a resolution through the Gresham city council in support of principles of public involvement. She is fairly confident the principles will be accepted. She said additional supporting arguments from MCCI members would still be appreciated.

Elizabeth Tucker said there is an 80% chance that she will be relocating to Connecticut in a few months.

Norm Andreen said they are looking at schools as a possibility for making planning decisions. They are seeking legal recommendation as to how to handle that. He noted it would affect the whole area. He added it would be interesting to see what happened.

Ed Ruttledge reported he had worked at the Clackamas County fair booth and had a nice evening there.

Skip White reported bird hunters on Sauvie Island had come in and shot at geese next to a house. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife told them when they complained that it was okay unless pellets hit a house. They also told island residents they can’t scare the geese away from their homes because that would be harassing the birds.

Christine Roth said Clackamas County opened their new office building with a grand ice cream social last Monday. She said it is a very nice building and will save the county a tone of money.

Adjourn

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Seibert adjourned the meeting at 8:07 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Grant

Office of Citizen Involvement

MCCI staff