MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE

Tuesday, April 17, 2001

Council Chamber

Members Present:  Susan McLain (Chair), Carl Hosticka (Vice Chair), Bill Atherton, David Bragdon, Rex Burkholder, Rod Monroe, Rod Park

Members Absent:   None

Chair McLain called the meeting to order at 1:37 PM.

1.  Consideration of the Minutes of April 11 and 12, 2001 Budget and Finance Committee Meetings.

Chair McLain noted that minutes for April 12 were not available at this time. Councilor Bragdon said he liked the fact that the clerk noted when Councilors were absent from the vote.

2.  Ordinance No. 01-891 For the Purpose of Adopting the Annual Budget for Fiscal Year 2001-02, Making Appropriations, and Levying ad valorem Taxes, and Declaring an Emergency.

Chair McLain noted that Technical Amendments were acted on at the last meeting. Budget Amendment #5 and Budget Notes Council #16 and Auditor #6 were still to be reviewed. Copies of FY 2001-02 Proposed Budget Updated with Budget Committee Actions through April 12, 2001 for amendments and budget notes and new amendments and budget notes are included in the public record of the meeting. All other amendments/budget notes had been acted on or withdrawn.

Councilor Burkholder spoke to Auditor Budget Note #6. It would answer some of Council’s concerns on getting information in order to understand and evaluate the programs carried out by the Auditor. Chair McLain read a letter from the Council to Alexis Dow, Auditor, and Ms. Dow read a letter from her to Council into the public record. Copies are included in the public record of the meeting. Councilor Bragdon recognized the independence of each elected official's role in the government and applauded the letters of understanding. Councilor Park asked if there was currently a follow-up evaluation of the amount of savings realized due to implementation of audit recommendations. Ms. Dow responded that her office reviewed audits and departments’ implementation of those recommendations once a year. In some cases there was no way to quantify results, especially on performance audits. The results were published in the Auditor’s Annual Report.

Councilor Burkholder spoke to Council Amendment #5. Councilor Hosticka thought that Metro had an even bigger role in terms of policy making on a number of important issues facing the region. He hoped it was neither precluded nor ignored by these words that were focussed mostly on the operation of the agency. Councilor Park said that within the context of the budget process he felt it was fine.

Chair McLain spoke to Budget Note #16. Councilor Bragdon said that what was particularly of concern was the number of items Deloitte & Touche listed in the recurring category. Ms Dow said that they actually finished their work, including management’s response, in December-January. In the future she expected the report in the February-March time frame. Councilor Burkholder asked if Metro had a master schedule of budget notes with prioritization. Peggy Coats, Council Analyst, noted that for global budget notes most of the reporting back had been requested to occur prior to November 30, 2001 when the next budget process began. This allowed Council to decide if it wished to fund further study in the next fiscal year. Pete Sandrock, Chief Operating Officer, said that he was prepared to report back to Council with a plan to address this issue within 60 days. Chair McLain felt that was a reasonable timeframe and asked Ms. Coats to report back to the committee on the global notes after consulting with staff about the most reasonable timeframe for responses.

Chair McLain noted that this completed the discussion on amendments and budget notes. Councilor Monroe asked for a five minute recess. When the committee reconvened Councilor Atherton asked to reconsider Council Amendment #1. A copy is included in the public record of the meeting.

Councilor Atherton said that Andy Cotugno had been unable to address the committee prior to the previous vote on NARC (National Association of Regional Councils). Several weeks ago he attended a session for elected leaders from throughout the State where there was considerable interest in regionalism in other areas, especially Salem-Kaiser, Eugene-Lane County and Corvallis and Bend areas. Andy Cotugno, Planning Director, noted that he had been asked to testify since he had recent experience on NARC-related issues. NARC was doing regional business on air and water quality and aging issues. It provided a pool of expertise that had proved useful to Metro in the past. NARC had two major conferences/year (Federal level policy issues in the Spring and a general membership conference in the Fall, along with many smaller, topical forums at other times). NARC was fundamentally about regionalism.

Councilor Bragdon said that Council had to weigh priorities. While funding for NARC was cut, $15k had been added for the 2040 reengagement. He asked Mr. Cotugno how he compared the value of 2040 reengagement to NARC. Mr. Cotugno said Metro’s life depended on 2040 reengagement. Councilor Park noted that $35k had been requested from Council for 2040 reengagement; if an additional $9k was available to spend, he would rather put it there, closer to home. He said Metro was still doing Rail-volution and participating in the Cascade Conference in Vancouver, both outside of the Metro region.

Chair McLain asked if there was any other business before the budget committee. There was none.

3.  Resolution No. 01-3056, For the Purpose of Approving the FY 2001-02 Budget and Transmitting the Approved Budget to the Tax Supervising and Conservation Commission.

Chair McLain said that TSCC (Tax Supervising and Conservation Commission) would hold a hearing on Metro’s budget Thursday, June 14, at 4:00 PM in the Council Annex. Councilor Burkholder commended the Chair for taking the committee through a thorough and useful examination of the budget. He appreciated the process as a new Councilor. Councilor Hosticka noted that out of a $4 million budget there was disagreement on only $50k. It showed a high level of agreement on the basic thrust of the agency.

4.  Councilor Communications

Councilor Monroe noted that Washington County Commuter Rail bill was voted out of committee this morning. It went to Ways and Means committee next. Regional Transportation Authority discussions were ongoing; and were close to resolution. Mr. Cotugno had asked Grace Crunican, former head of ODOT to work on Metro’s behalf at the legislature.

Councilor Bragdon said that Mike Hoglund would come back to Council again to finish his discussion of 2040 reinvolvement. He reported that the joint meeting of the Reapportionment Task Force and the CCI (Citizens Advisory Committee) resulted in a conceptual map that is quite different than the Metro staff draft and Councilor Monroe’s proposal. Public meetings would take place in May. Councilor Monroe added that in testing the CAC reapportionment proposal it was 40% unbalanced. He and staff were trying to adjust the districts while following its+0000 recommendations as closely as possible.

Chair McLain adjourned the meeting at 3:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Weathers

Council Assistant

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF APRIL 18, 2001

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

-

i:\minutes\2001\budget&finance/041701bdm.doc