MINUTES OF THE METRO COMMITTEE FOR CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT

REGULAR COMMITTEE

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Room 270

Members Present:  Norm Andreen (Vice Chair), Kathy Henton, JC Kizak, David Posalski, Christine Roth, Ed Ruttledge, Angela Rysdam, Skip White

Members Excused:  Scott Seibert (Chair), Dresden Skees Gregory, Dick Jones, Moji Momeni, Kate Schiele, Elizabeth Tucker

Members Absent:  Don Warner

Also Present:    Metro Councilor Susan McLain, Dwayne King (prospective MCCI member), Kathryn Harrington (interested citizen from Washington county), and Metro staff Gina Whitehill-Baziuk, Cheryl Grant, Kristin Hull, Ray Valone, and Mike Wetter

Call to order/Introductions & Welcome/Appointment of Timekeeper

Vice Chair Andreen called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. without a quorum present.

Approval of agenda

The agenda was approved.

Chair report

Vice Chair Andreen announced that Darren Pennington has resigned from the committee.

Approval of Sept. 1, 2004 minutes

[NOTE: a quorum was present for the vote.]

Department Liaison reports

Christine Roth, Parks liaison, said she had nothing new to report regarding the Cooper Mountain master plan, but would provide an update at the next meeting.

Councilor Communication

Councilor Susan McLain reviewed the DLCD staff report that would be used when the commission came to Metro during the first week of November. She said the commission had agreed with the council’s need assessment and the way they had developed their methodology. There were some housekeeping issues, including that they had forgotten to account for 133 acres of roads and streets, and questions about the Cornelius area, which DLCD felt went against protection of exclusive farm use (EFU) land. Other questions included the Helvetia and Evergreen areas and Langdon farm. She said they agreed with the council on Title 4. She said the council has 10 days to respond to the DLCD staff report which the commission will use to make their decision about whether to remand anything back when they come here November 3^rd and 4^th. She invited MCCI members to attend the hearing. In response to a question, Councilor McLain said if something is remanded back there will be another public process, new notification and new deadlines.

Councilor McLain discussed Councilors Bragdon and Park’s proposed Goal 5 resolution that would make any habitat included in the inventory voluntary and would include education programs and acquisition incentives. It would also take regulation by Metro off the table. There was committee discussion. Ed Ruttledge commented that it appeared to be a monumental shift from what Metro should be doing. He felt it was disingenuous and deserved a measure of comment as opposed to being a last minute idea. Councilor McLain did not feel it was a wicked plan, and thought Council President Bragdon had his heart in the right place.

Kathy Henton commented that it had been a sad day for public involvement at the Gresham city council meeting the previous evening, and said she appreciated and respected Kate Marx and Gina Whitehill-Baziuk for the change they had brought to the MCCI and public involvement at Metro.

OCI Report

•  Highway 217 study

Kristin Hull updated the committee on the Highway 217 study. She provided information about the virtual open house, available on Metro’s website and publicized through the use of a billboard on Highway 217. She updated the committee on the attendance and participation at a traditional open house at St. Bartholomew's Church on October 26. Ms. Hull clarified some misconceptions about the study that have been circulating within some communities. In particular, she assured the committee that no options have been eliminated and there is not a “favorite option” being discussed at this time. Ms. Hull added that she is scheduled to speak at the Beaverton CCI’s November meeting.

•  Damascus update

Ray Valone, community development planner, reviewed the Damascus/Boring concept plan with the committee. He explained that when it is finished, the local governments will take the concept plan and turn it into code. He noted that professional designers and citizens have begun to express their ideas for possible alternative plans for various areas. He said although his department had talked to every stakeholder they could think of in the past week and a half, there had not been as many participants at the October 9 charette as they had hoped for. He said the closing design workshop would be October 23 for public input.

•  St. Johns landfill update

Vice Chair Andreen distributed an update to the St. Johns landfill closure process, a copy of which is included with the permanent record of this meeting.

Strategic Planning Budget presentation

Mike Wetter from Council President David Bragdon’s office, reviewed the council’s strategic budget. He noted that it had become clear early on that there were a lot of questions about the role of Metro, and the Chief Financial Officer had wanted to see the agency be more strategic with their budget. He said the council is working through a process for a more strategic budget and felt now that they were developing program and operating goals, they were at a point where they could start talking to folks about the process. Mr. Ruttledge commended the council for attempting this process. He thought it would eventually be a great thing. Mr. Wetter commented that they were just getting the public involvement process going, and over the next 6 m or so there will be discussions with groups of stakeholders. He said the council had identified MCCI specifically for that public involvement process.

Ms. Whitehill-Baziuk reminded the committee about the Community Planning Day at OMSI and distributed posters for the event for committee members to take to their communities. She also told the committee about the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) workshop that will be held in Portland in the near future.

Clackamas County citizen involvement process

Christine Roth briefly reported on the most recent Clackamas County CCI meeting. She said she is waiting for some documents from that meeting which she will forward to the committee.

Public comment/Roundtable

Christine Roth reported an upcoming training session to discuss the role of the chair in a Citizen Participation Organization (CPO). She said she would bring back details at the next meeting.

JC Kizak said Multnomah County is holding their last budget forum this week. She advised members to check the county website for more information if they were interested in the ramifications of rescinding the Multnomah County income tax.

David Posalski commented that Councilor McLain had come to meet with the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce and the City of Hillsboro. He said there had been in depth discussions regarding some of the land use decisions the council had made made. He said the response of the Chamber at the meeting had been positive.

Skip White commented that after an incident with hunters, Sauvie Island residents have learned that shooting within 100’ of a house in unincorporated areas is a discretionary thing with a game warden and that hunting is allowable near their homes as long as the hunters were shooting from the water.

Norm Andreen reported that the Clackamas County planning commission had asked the county to form a committee made up of representatives from the county and various cities and school district employees to address the problem with growth and its effects on their area schools.

Kathy Henton added that the Gresham area was also not taking into account the affects of growth, i.e., on area hospitals. She reported that the Gresham City Council meeting the previous night had been very frustrating. After months of meetings to craft a good public involvement policy, the council gave two representatives from the CCI about 2 minutes to present their recommendations. The meeting was dismissed and no action was taken on the item. She was also upset that one of the councilors had wordsmithed their document without the CCI’s permission.

Kathryn Harrington, a citizen visitor, said she is from the Bethany area and had attended the MCCI meeting tonight because she had recently retired and was looking for ways to get involved. She said she had found the MCCI on the Metro website.

Adjourn

There being no further business before the committee, Vice Chair Andreen adjourned the meeting at 8:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Grant

Office of Citizen Involvement

MCCI staff