MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE

Wednesday, March 29, 2000

Council Chamber

Members Present:  Susan McLain (Chair), Bill Atherton (Vice Chair), Rod Monroe

Members Absent:  None

Also Present:    David Bragdon, Jon Kvistad, Rod Park, Ed Washington

Chair McLain called the meeting to order at 1:48 P.M.

1.  Consideration of the Minutes of March 15, 2000 Committee Meetings.

2.  Ordinance No. 00-847, For the Purpose of Adopting the Annual Budget for Fiscal Year 2000-01, making appropriations, and levying ad valorem taxes, and declaring an emergency.

Chair McLain announced that the Committee would start with General Fund amendments in the following order: Council, Executive, Growth Management, Parks and Transportation. . She began with a series of six Council amendments that had been presented earlier by Councilor Bragdon. Copies are included in the public record.

Councilor Bragdon said that his comments applied to all of his amendments. There was a need to tighten belts at the Council level; in most cases, and based on past experience, these items could be shaved without harming Council productivity.

Councilor Monroe felt it was shortsighted to eliminate the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) dues. He could support a reduction of the number of Councilors attending, but not the total elimination of Metro attendance. It was important for Metro to gather the information presented at the conferences. Since Metro was a leader in many of the issues covered, it was even more important to be available to the other attendees as a resource. Several inquiries about Metro hosting a conference in the next several years had been made at the conference last June.

Councilor Atherton felt that this sort of conference was often repetitive; perhaps Metro should attend every 2-years. He asked what NARC dues were used for. John Houser, Council Analyst, responded that dues went for general support of the NARC office in Washington DC; lobbying efforts on the memberships' behalf, particularly before Congress; and NARC-sponsored training and seminars. Since dues were based upon organization size, Metro paid at the highest level. Councilor Monroe asked if he would be able to move to restore this item or a part of it before full Council. Chair McLain answered yes.

Councilor Bragdon said that this amendment related only to the Regional Report, not to the Council meeting broadcasts. Councilor Kvistad said that this expenditure provided more public outreach for a very small sum. He had received a lot of positive response to the program. Chair McLain said she found value in the program too, but would vote no because this was a difficult budget year.

Councilor Bragdon said that this amendment reflected that utility service costs had been historically lower than budgeted.

Councilor Bragdon said that travel allocations had been cut back to last year's level and pledged to be sure the division of travel dollars was equitable. Councilor Kvistad asked how the original budget, proposed last November, compared to the current proposed budget. Jeff Stone, Council Chief of Staff, said that in order to meet the General Fund budget shortfall, $107k was cut from the Council budget. In addition, after reviewing the budget, it was determined that Council would underspend by $90k as Council had done in the past. Chair McLain asked staff to provide these numbers at a future meeting with a graph showing budgeted/proposed/spent. Councilor Monroe said the travel budget had been increased because it had been depleted within the first 6 months in FY 99-00. The travel line item actually reflected a slight increase from last year.

Councilor Bragdon said that this was a cut from the proposed budget, but still provided an enhanced level for staff development.

Councilor Bragdon said that this cut reflected the historic underspending of Councilor expense accounts in this line item.

Councilor Bragdon said that this cut reflected an analysis by Chris Billington, Council Office Manager, of what had been spent in previous years and what was likely to be spent this year.

Councilor Bragdon said that the public outreach vacancy had created an opportunity for the able Council Assistants to fill the void. He felt that with the staff reallocation of duties, the assistants had covered the departure of the outreach staff member admirably. Councilor Atherton concurred with Councilor Bragdon's assessment.

Councilor Bragdon said it was awkward to discuss cutting the salary of the Chief of Staff, who was highly valued, and underpaid in comparison to like positions within the Agency. This position had been recently reclassified, was at the bottom of the range and the budget reflected a merit pay increase, which Mr. Stone had declined. Council allowed a maximum of 4% merit pay, lower than the rest of the agency (7%). Councilor Monroe said he was troubled by this cut; and while he appreciated the personal belt-tightening, Mr. Stone was supervising at least one person who was paid a higher salary. Councilor Kvistad said that the position had been originally classified incorrectly, and regardless of Mr. Stone's agreement, the Committee should rethink the situation. Councilor Washington asked that they consider what the underlying message to the rest of the agency was in this action.

Chair McLain spoke to the amendment to add the Water Consortium dues. She said the dues were less than those paid by the rest of the group, as Metro was the only non-water provider. Membership gave Metro input on water matters and supported the water conservation program. Water provision and supply were major issues when dealing with urban growth boundary and land use decisions. Councilor Kvistad felt that cutting dues to NARC, Rail-volution and other cuts while giving $13k to the Water Consortium was wrong. Councilor Atherton said that he was concerned that the Consortium had no clear understanding of the carrying capacity concept. Chair McLain said that the Consortium was currently working on a vision and mission statement that affirmed that they member could not usurp power from local communities or water providers. They were there to share information and cut redundancy between agencies. They had also begun to implement an emergency management system for water supply problems.

Councilor Kvistad protested that a minority of the Council was making decisions on budget issues. Chair McLain responded that amendments, whether recommended or not, could still be brought forward at Council for consideration. New amendments should be brought forward first at Committee in order for staff to have time to research funding sources and fiscal impacts.

Chair McLain said that this concluded all pending amendments to the Council budget. Next, Executive Office amendments would be reviewed. They are included in the public record.

Councilor Bragdon said this was a follow-up on Growth Management Committee work on Goal 5 and Title 3, and their discussion on how staff was mobilized for this work across the agency. This amendment was an attempt to reflect the integral role of this position. He had not yet read Executive Officer Mike Burton’s letter and attachment dated March 29. (It is included in the public record.) Chair McLain said that the attachment to Mr. Burton's letter was actually a response to Chair's request for an opinion from Financial Planning on how such a move could be done if this amendment passed.

Councilor Monroe asked if changing the position's funding to the allocation formula would make it easier or harder to fund the position's activities through Federal grants. Kathy Rutkowski, Financial Planning Analyst stated that allowable Federal grant costs included payroll, investment, budgeting and auditing. Executive Office, Councilors and their staffs were general government-type costs and could not be funded. Tony Mounts, Financial Planning Analyst, clarified that the position could be funded by a grant, but could not recover through any other grants from Transportation, etc. Councilor Monroe asked what the advantages of such a change would be. Chair McLain said she understood that it would benefit from greater coordination and cooperation in working with GM, since many of the position's programs resided there.

Councilor Monroe said that direct allocation would save some of the badly needed excise tax funding.

Councilor Kvistad said that this amendment addressed the new position that had been created in the Executive Office in a constrained fiscal environment. It dealt with the position, not the person, and the question was why was it needed? That was the bottom line. The Executive Office had cast about for something for this position to do. He heard today that it might deal with MPAC (Metropolitan Policy Advisory Committee) or maybe MERC (Metropolitan Exposition-Recreation Commission) or maybe or maybe. Mr. Warner had taken a major role in the Executive Office and was looking at fundamental changes in the way this agency was run. Potentially these changes were to be presented on the November ballot. He felt that this position was expensive and superfluous. He asked the Committee to vote aye for the amendment to eliminate it in next year's budget. Councilor Atherton reflected on the transition of the role of the Executive Office and how it fit in the scheme of this agency. In a sense what had taken place here had been experimental. Some of the original concerns Councilor Kvistad expressed had changed. This position provided an evolving service with the Executive Office functioning more as professional management; he felt the experiment should continue. It provided a communications and outreach service that was valuable, but it required Council participation. He would like to continue this level of expertise in the agency; therefore he would vote no.

Bruce Warner, Chief Operating Officer, said he did not agree with the proposed elimination of the position, but appreciated the diligence of the Council in reviewing opportunities for cost reductions. He reminded the Committee that the overall Executive Office budget was down almost 10% from last year ($195k). Downsizing was being accomplished by attrition; out of the 14-15 targeted positions to be eliminated, the agency was down to 2 remaining positions. A lot of effort had taken place to realign work and eliminate certain services and programs in the Executive Office. There had been some discussion as to how to best use Pete Sandrock, who filled this position. Since he was a new person in a new position his skill-set had helped his role evolve into the primary point of contact for senior non-elected officials at other jurisdictions. He headed the response team on Metro policy questions, coordinated work with all levels of County and City government and represented Metro to public affairs forums in the tri-county area. His office relied upon Mr. Sandrock as the systems thinker for this agency on program and policy development.

Mike Burton, Executive Officer, reminded the Committee that this was an existing analyst intergovernmental position. When Mr. Burton was elected the Executive Office was considerably bigger than it was now. He had taken existing analyst positions and reshaped them to meet the changing needs of the agency. He agreed with Councilor Atherton that the agency was evolving to meet the regional needs of this area, but not that the work was experimental. Further reduction would cut into what the agency did, e.g. the impact functions. Councilor Atherton agreed that "experimental" was a poor choice of words. In his previous governmental experience he had seen the same sort of evolution and had grown to appreciate it. Councilor Kvistad said that in his experience when people showed up they never went away. One year Council saved $100k on their budget that was then used in the Executive Office to fund a new position, almost dollar for dollar. While Council was discussing whether that position was needed, someone was hired into it. While he thought this person had been a very good hire, he believed it was a political position and should go away. He believed that the work done was outside of the Metro framework. The Gun Show issue was a perfect example, and just one of many.

He had not seen the public affairs forum or MCCI activity involvement said to be part of the position. He did not go to MPAC, so he could not comment on involvement there. He felt that this position represented what was wrong with the agency, and why the Executive department needed to go away; they were unresponsive and this position in particular was unneeded. It was make-work, albeit important make-work, considering the budget situation. It was only the tip of the iceberg. Council had not delved into some of the systemic problems of this agency: 1) not well respected outside, 2) not doing exactly what it ought to be doing and 3) off on tangents that were not charter mandated. He cited the Salmon Recovery Plan - it was not a part of the Metro Charter. With 30-some public affairs people in this building he felt that cutting one position should not cause problems. He recommended an aye vote.

Chair McLain said she would vote no because she had seen cuts made and more work assigned due to the State Goal 5 and the 4(d) rule. She had seen some assistance to Council staff from the Executive Office and a more efficient communication team. It was working much better than it had ever worked before, pulling all of the agency's functions together more efficiently and eliminating redundancies. Councilor Atherton said he looked for more blending and coordination between the Executive and Council and this position was a real part of it. He did agree with Councilor Kvistad that the agency did not need a regional executive officer, but would not support the amendment.

Chair McLain said the next area for review was Growth Management (GM). Councilor Monroe had asked the department for a list of items and programs cut that they felt were important to bring back if funding could be found. These amendments spoke to two of the smaller items listed. Councilor Atherton moved to recommend Council adoption of GM Amendment #2. Chair McLain said GM amendment #2 worked with Metro Goal 5 issues and 4(d) Rule response. It allowed GM to publish a Stormwater Handbook. Councilor Kvistad said that these programs were cut because Metro had a deficit, not so that the monies could be reallocated to another area. One of the cuts was to deny a Council staff member the pay increase that staff said was deserved. Expense accounts, staff positions and travel budgets had been cut. To turn around and spend $35k on watershed planning stormwater handbooks was not the reason to make cuts to the Council budget. He said cut should be made because the agency had a $1.5 million deficit. The two amendments together were only $65k, but he didn’t think it was responsible to add anything more to the budget.

Councilor Atherton said in his previous public service a book was produced in practical urban activities, Traffic Calming, that was treasured throughout the world. That handbook had made him a fan of such booklets. While he did not know what was available in this field currently, if it was region-specific to our topography, climate, and the work Metro was trying to accomplish, he could see its value. Sherry Oeser, GM Manager, said that the idea was to use the Pleasant Valley/Damascus area as a how-to process on bringing new areas into the urban growth boundary (UGB). Other areas would find these lessons useful. Councilor Atherton asked why it focused on emerging urban settlement rather than the problems of existing urban areas. Mark Turpel, GM Long-range Planning Manager, said that the fundamental idea was that there were more opportunities in urbanizing areas for doing innovative things than in already settled areas. Councilor Atherton asked to withdraw his motion to approve GM #2 until he could do further study. Councilor Monroe asked if these two adds were the most important to GM.

Ms. Oeser said GM #1 was part of the Goal 5 uplands which was first priority and second priority included the handbook. Councilor Park commented that he would like to have GM #1 funds available due to the importance of educating the public. Chair McLain said she would withdraw the amendments for review by the Committee and bring them forward at the next meeting. Councilor Atherton asked how the Salmon Recovery Coordinator position fit into the public outreach work on GM #1. Ms. Oeser said it was primarily for postage, printing and direct mail notification, rather than staff.

Chair McLain went on to Transportation, as there were no other GM or Parks amendments.

Andy Cotugno, Transportation Director, submitted a memo, FY 2000-01 Budget Technical Amendments/Add Package with Transportation Amendment #1. Copies are included in the public record. Councilor Atherton asked the circumstances of the person changing to part-time from a full-time position. Mr. Cotugno responded that the person was looking at career changes with a different type of work activity and his desire could be accommodated with this FTE restoration in another area. It allowed the person to do something different and allowed Transportation to include a lower level position to provide help on a variety of projects. Councilor Atherton asked if this was consistent with the agency mission and department efficiency. Mr. Cotugno responded that it actually helped make the department more efficient.

Councilor Atherton said he had some concern for designations on the bike map. He had rescued a family on the Highway 43 bike path. He felt that this bike path should be in red and have a skull and crossbones on it. He did not want to vote to reprint it until some indication was made of how dangerous that area was. Mr. Cotugno responded that the Bike Map was a users guide for all bike paths available and were not all contiguous, but used less safe connectors to be used at the bikers own risk. In that area Highway 43 was the only connector available, but agreed that 43 was not a safe route. Chair McLain suggested that Mr. Cotugno should look at the map to see what could be done to make unsafe areas as clear as possible. Councilor Monroe agreed that it was a very dangerous route for pedestrians and bicyclists. Metro needed to find a way to get bikers to and from the Lake Oswego area bike paths. He supported Councilor Atherton's concern.

John Houser, Council Analyst, asked what programs the FTE would be used for. Mr. Cotugno answered that it would fill in for the .4 FTE that was being cut out in RTP (Regional Transportation Planning). The position dealt with alternative modes, local governments interface and incorporating the RTP into local transportation plans. The second area was to reinforce other projects, e.g. the 217 and South Corridor studies, the travel forecasting area, etc. Mr. Cotugno noted that he might have technical amendments coming forward at a later date. It was dependent on grant applications that were still out. He also had included a list of Add packages as requested by Councilor Monroe.

Councilor Monroe requested that Mr. Houser prepare amendments to cover add package priorities 1, 2 and 3. He had previously prepared an amendment for item #4 in the memo - Rail-volution. Chair McLain suggested that these four should be set over to April 3 as “carryover amendments”, along with her Amendment #2. Copies of the amendments are included in the public record. . Chair McLain spoke to Amendment #2 which would eliminate the schools program and fund these four amendments instead. While she supported the school program, the grant application made in conjunction with the program had been denied. Without grant money the program was underfunded; it needed further review in light of that. For now the remaining dollars could be used for other, higher priorities. Councilor Monroe said that Amendment #3 would restore the funding for Rail-volution. A copy is included in the public record. He said that Metro was one of the original founders; it was now an international event for city participation for effective use of rail for inter-city and intra-city. He felt it would be a tragedy if Metro did not continue to participate. Mr. Cotugno cautioned that .1 FTE of the $12k was for staff and he could not remove that .1 FTE, he could only reassign. That meant there was a saving of only $3,200 in materials and curriculum reprinting costs. Chair McLain said she agreed and had addressed that point in her amendment. Councilor Atherton asked Mr. Houser to prepare an amendment for Willamette Shores Trolley, Add item #7.

Chair McLain asked that the Committee revisit Parks for a moment. Councilor Bragdon proposed adding Regional Parks and Greenspaces budget note. It would reflect the volunteer hours and its monetary value given to the program. Next year it was anticipated that 125k hours with a value of $124 million would be donated to the program. The note directed staff to continue to leverage that support and report back to Council on progress.

Councilor Atherton asked why it should be put in as a budget note, as the value of volunteer hours was usually used for grants and publications. He did not see the relevance in this context. Chair McLain said that Councilor Bragdon had explained that many times dollars spent were compared to dollars saved. Council needed to recognize the value of volunteers and what the program really cost when these hours were included. Councilor Bragdon added that the Collins Foundation, as part of a grant application from Metro, had asked for official substantiation of what other parties were contributing to the program.

Chair McLain said that next the Committee would consider the Zoo. She asked the analysts where they were in the question and answer process. Michael Morrissey, Council Analyst spoke to Council Analyst Questions for Oregon Zoo. A copy is included in the public record. He had not had time to review the responses, but he had not found any really troublesome issues. There were some issues he wished to clarify.

Kathy Kiaunis, Deputy Zoo Director, spoke to Response to Council Analyst Questions for Oregon Zoo. A copy is included in the public record. She said the transfer of $2 million was unrelated to the Great Northwest exhibit. That project was funded by a bond issue and supplemented by fund raising. The exhibit would open July 8. Chair McLain said that after Mr. Morrissey reviewed the Zoo response there would be further discussion at the April 3 meeting. Councilor Bragdon asked if it would help to have a similar note about volunteer dollars. Ms. Kiaunis said that the Zoo tracked and used the figures in the annual foundation report. It was used in their grant applications as well. Councilor Atherton asked about the costs of fundraising activities and the amount they hoped to raise through it. Ms. Kiaunis said that Foundation overhead was charged to the foundation. She said that costs were In line with similar fund raising costs, but she did not have the exact figures. Chair McLain thanked her for coming. She then asked for an update on Regional Environmental Management (REM)

Mr. Houser responded that he had distributed his questions to REM staff today and would get together with them later this week and update the Committee at the April 3 meeting. Chair McLain directed staff to try to talk to REM staff by Friday so that the material would be in the packet for review prior to the meeting. She also wanted any possible amendments to be included in the packet. Mr. Houser said he was sure that could be done. Chair McLain asked that he highlight REM issues April 3 with full discussion April 12. Councilor Bragdon said that he had received some letters on waiver of fees for bulky waste and asked if questions had been asked on that issue. Mr. Houser said that he had asked three questions regarding that issue: 1) Was the full $100k spent each year, 2) What amount was devoted to the Portland bulky waste program this year and 3) Estimate the full cost of the City of Portland program. Chair McLain asked Mr. Houser to find out if any subsidies had been given to other areas besides Portland. Illegal dumping left sofas, etc. just outside the right-of-way on private property where Washington County would not pick up.

Chair McLain said that MERC discussion would be held April 3, just after Zoo discussion. There were no amendments ready for review at this time. Councilor Monroe mentioned that the Transportation and Operations Committee meetings April 4 and 5 had been cancelled, so he would be available if further meetings needed to be added. He was excused from meeting April 12 due to other commitments and asked if one of these times could be used instead. Chair McLain said that she would like to keep these dates available, but preferred to not give up the April 12 date. Councilor Bragdon was available ex officio to sit in for Councilor Monroe with his approval. Councilor Monroe agreed. Councilor Bragdon noted that April 6 Council meeting was also expected to be over by 3:30 PM. Mr. Houser mentioned the public notice requirements. Chair McLain said that as the April 3 agenda needed revision, a possible continuance to April 4, 5 and 6 could be noticed at that time. She asked the clerk to check with Dan Cooper, Metro General Counsel, to be sure these arrangements met legal requirements.

The Committee agreed to hold the next meeting April 3 and begin with consideration of all General Fund amendments held over from today for a vote. This would complete the General Fund segment of the budget. The Committee then planned to go forward with Support Services/Miscellaneous Funds Questions/Issues/Responses.

3.  Councilor Communications

Councilor Bragdon said the chair ran a very complex process in a very inclusive manner. He felt in light of Councilor Kvistad's earlier comments that it should be noted on the record. In addition, in order to dispel any implication that this Committee was designed for ideological purposes or to censor full participation of the Council, he appointed Councilor Kvistad to the Committee. If an additional member was required, he said that Councilor Washington had agreed to join as well. Anyone was free to bring amendments to Council. To give staff adequate time for analysis, everyone had been asked to bring amendments before this Committee first, but that did not preclude further discussion. Even so, amendments could be brought forward initially at Council, but there would be no guarantee that staff would have sufficient time for analysis.

Councilor Atherton said that regarding his earlier conversation on Highway 43 and the Bike Map, he had learned in previous public service the dangers of advertising things as safe. It could result in liability and result in huge judgements; it was not a joke. Mr. Cotugno noted that separated bike paths were obviously the safest. The map also ranked streets as to danger levels. Highway 43 was rated in red and red was listed as “Caution, dangerous intersections, steep grades”. Councilor Atherton and Chair McLain said that perhaps “use at your own risk” might be added when the map was reprinted. Councilor Monroe said it seemed to him that anyone reading this map could see that this was the most negative rating available and would not want to take small children on this route. The problem was that there was no other reasonable way to get from one path to the other by bicycle. He thought the map was accurate and thanked Mr. Cotugno for bringing the map in for review.

There being no further business before the Committee, Chair McLain adjourned the meeting at 4:27 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Weathers

Council Assistant

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF MARCH 29, 2000

The following have been included as part of the official public record:

i:\minutes\2000\budget&finance/03290bdm.doc