Metro Committee for Citizen Involvement Regular Committee

Call to Order & Approval of Agenda.

Members Present: Norm Andreen, Kay Durtschi, Jim Kimball, Ted Kyle, Keith Parker, Bob Pung, Scott Seibert, and Meyer Siegel.  

Others Present:  Councilor Rex Burkholder; Councilor Rod Park; MCCI appointee Christine Roth, Camrynne Six, and Cary Stacey, MCCI Staff.

Members Absent: Joe Annett, Gil Cobb, Dennis Ganoe, Kathy Henton, Dick Jones, Leeanne MacColl, Darren Pennington, Pat Russell, Ray Sherwood, and Shannon Turk.  

Chair Kyle opened the meeting at 7:05 p.m. He asked for a moment of silence to reflect on the past week’s traumatic events, and to contemplate what a wonderful country the United States was to have citizens with a constitutional right to speak their mind and share it with their government.

Introductions.

Chair Kyle asked everyone to introduce themselves for the good of the group.

Approval of Agenda.

Hearing no revisions to the agenda, Chair Kyle proceeded to the next agenda item.

Approval of August 15, 2001, Minutes.

Public Comment.

Mr. Pung passed out a program flyer offering repairs and modifications to low-income homeowners, which is included as part of this record.

Council Liaison Report.

Councilor Burkholder said he was happy to attend the September 8, 2001, retreat and that it had prompted him to convene a group of Council staff and MCCI members to address MCCI issues in anticipation of upcoming budget priorities. He said Chair Kyle would be recruiting MCCI members to join the group, which would craft a proposal to go before Metro Council creating an Office of Citizen Involvement (OCI). He also wanted MCCI to talk about citizen involvement throughout the region.

He said the Council Retreat would take place September 25, 2001, from 11 am to 5 pm at the Portland Airport. Council, the Executive Officer and the Auditor would be discussing budget priorities as one of their major agenda items. He wanted the OCI to be a priority during the retreat.

He said that the final action on the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) would occur in Council the next day. He felt the process had gone better than in years past. Projects submitted by local jurisdictions had had public hearings before being submitted to Metro, resulting in a different mix of public involvement.

He handed out a schedule of the Green Ribbon Committee’s (GRC) upcoming meetings, which is included as part of this record, and encouraged members to attend and inform other citizens.

Chair Kyle thanked Councilor Burkholder on behalf of the committee for his full participation at the retreat.

Mr. Pung asked if the Zoo Celebration would be rescheduled. Councilor Burkholder said he hadn’t yet heard any new information.

Mr. Kimball asked about an unfavorable article about Metro in the Oregonian. Councilor Burkholder referred the question to Camrynne Six.

Auditor Liaison Report.

Camrynne Six, Auditor’s Administrative Assistant, presented the September, 2001 Oregon Zoo Construction Management Report, a copy of which is included as part of this record.

Mr. Kimball asked if there was a provision in the project budget to accommodate insufficient funds. Ms. Six referred to the report’s second recommendation to complete the Great Northwest Project. Mr. Kimball asked at what level project priorities would be determined. Councilor Burkholder said that priorities were currently determined at the Executive level, but that would soon change; Council was looking at ways to improve their in-house ability to better manage contracts.

Chair Kyle asked if any construction management professionals were involved in the audit. Ms. Six responded that the auditor who had helped with the project had had experience in auditing construction management projects.

Ms. Six announced that the audit plan for the work to be done in the next 12 to 18 months would be published that week, and that the status of audit recommendations was nearing completion.

Mr. Pung said that he would be interested to see an audit report on the status of money budgeted for citizen involvement.

Mr. Andreen asked if audit staff just did operational-type audits for Metro or if they also did financial audits. Ms. Six responded that financial audits were currently contracted out with KPMG LLP.

Coffee Talks Briefing.

Chair Kyle referred to the Responses to MCCI Questions regarding Coffee Talks and to the September 12, 2001, Communications Update.

Karen Withrow, Associate Public Affairs Specialist, distributed copies of the revised Coffee Talks Discussion Guide draft, which is included as part of this record. She said the Guide was close to completion, and its primary use would draw from the first two pages. The Introduction and Challenge statements were found to be adequate in focussing the conversation, and created a much simpler format for both the facilitator and the participants.

Mr. Parker asked who was facilitating the sessions. Ms. Withrow responded that Metro staff and 25 volunteer professional facilitators would be facilitating the sessions.

Mr. Kimball asked what contact the Communications Team had made with Washington County CPO’s. Ms. Withrow responded that Metro had been contacted by several CPO’s, some of whom had already scheduled a Coffee Talk. She said she had left messages with other CPO’s and she would call Linda Gray and Pat Updike to reinforce the contact. She said Councilors were mentioning Coffee Talks at speaking engagements, a mailing had gone out, and the League of Women Voters was intending that every branch of their organization have a Coffee Talk.

Mr. Seibert asked if there was a way to categorize how people had heard of Coffee Talks. Ms. Withrow said she would look into adding that piece to the project.

Mr. Kimball asked when the public information poll’s county-by-county results would be available, and asked that Ms. Withrow supply any new information for the next MCCI packet. Ms. Withrow assented.

Councilor Burkholder asked if the Davis & Hibbits slide show was on the website. Ms. Withrow said she would check to make sure.

Mr. Andreen asked for clarification of the new format. Ms. Withrow said that a focus group, composed of people who were aware of Metro as a government but were unaware of Metro’s programs, had tested the new format. Without guidance, the group was able to bring up relevant issues, and two or three additional groups led this way had worked beautifully. In the event that other groups did not independently bring up relevant issues, a list of probing questions would be provided to the facilitator, along with directions on how to use the charts to prompt the conversation. Mr. Andreen said that he thought a good job had been done of narrowing down the Guide. Councilor Burkholder said he believed the format would work.

Mr. Pung how responses from Coffee Talks would be documented. Ms. Withrow said there would be a final report summarizing the notes from each Coffee Talk. She cautioned that not all Coffee Talks would be completed by November 30, 2001. Business groups were showing interest, including those approached for sponsorship – In those cases, the Coffee Talks would occur after the holiday season. Mr. Andreen asked how the input would be recorded. Ms. Withrow said that staff or volunteers would be taking notes on a flip chart.

Mr. Kimball asked about the goal of the Coffee Talks – which was more important, communication to citizens or feedback to Metro? Ms. Withrow said that feedback was the main goal, but the Guide held a tremendous amount of information that would educate Coffee Talk participants after the event.

Chair Kyle commended the Coffee Talks effort. He said even though there wasn’t a Public Involvement Plan (PIP) for the Coffee Talks, the information in the September 12, 2001, Communications Update should outline the process. He asked if the group really wanted a PIP for the project. From the retreat, he believed MCCI monitoring processes needed to be reevaluated, including assessing the current viability of the PIP form and Guide. He reminded the group that Coffee Talks were one component of a broader program.

Mr. Andreen said the project timeline was more reasonable. Chair Kyle said that the more successful this technique was, the longer it would take, and that this effort was a good example of thinking out-of-the-box. He asked the group if they were comfortable with the Coffee Talks. Mr. Kimball said it seemed innovative. Mr. Parker said it was an aggressive way to go after feedback. Ms. Durtschi said she’d like to see where the Coffee Talks were being held. Ms. Roth said she’s like to see who actually attended Coffee Talks. Chair Kyle said he would be curious to see what groups wanted Coffee Talks but couldn’t do so within the timeframe.

Mr. Kimball asked if this was a larger budget effort than usual. Chair Kyle said his understanding was that the budget reflected a conglomeration of other outreach projects. Mr. Seibert said that the aggressive search for sponsors and grants was notable.

Mr. Kimball asked the Chair to communicate MCCI’s opinions on Coffee Talks to Council. Chair Kyle said he would send Council a memorandum to that effect.

Business.

Retreat Review and Follow-up.

Chair Kyle referred to the September 8, 2001, MCCI Retreat Notes. He noted that the ground rule “assume others have good motives” had worked very well at the retreat, and that MCCI could do a better job of applying this rule to their relations with Metro.

Mr. Andreen spoke to the notes from the "Monitor and Advise" Breakout Group. Mr. Siegel spoke to the notes from the "Improve Communication with Citizens/Website" Breakout Group. Chair Kyle spoke to the notes from the "Report Back to Community" and "Oversight by the Council" Breakout Groups.

Chair Kyle clarified that there were not yet any concrete proposals regarding these issues. He spoke to the next steps, saying that he and Councilor Burkholder had met before September 19, 2001. He said that a list of active PIPs and projects would be part of the next General Meeting packet. His follow-up with the whole committee was the current agenda item. He said he was working on the annual report to be presented to Council in October.

He said that, overall, the retreat was very positive. Mr. Andreen added that the retreat helped define how MCCI could have a role in the Metro process. Chair Kyle said he thought the OCI could have a more active role in the process.

Mr. Kimball asked what the "Bin" was. Chair Kyle responded that it was the place to store topics that the Retreat had no time to address. He spoke to the items in the Bin.

Chair Kyle referred to the workgroup Councilor Burkholder had mentioned in his report. He said he was taken aback that MCCI’s reputation was impeding its effectiveness, and that the situation should be rectified. Mr. Seibert said his experience with involvement was to build coalitions with people he wanted to influence. He said that as Metro reevaluated its structure during transition, there was a perfect opportunity for MCCI to build a partnership with Metro.

Councilor Park said he would listen to MCCI’s input when it came to policy decisions, but if it came to lobbying on how he should vote, that's where he drew the line. He was interested in hearing what kind of citizen involvement had occurred in a process. Chair Kyle said he felt MCCI was aware that the only policy advice they would have would be in the area of citizen involvement. He cited the subcommittee restructuring ordinance as an example. He added that members who were not at the retreat would be asked to work on the follow-up tasks.

Subcommittee Reports.

Mr. Kimball reported from the Parks Subcommittee that the Blue Lake Plan would be slightly delayed in going to Council, but was close to completion. He said the Green Ribbon Committee (GRC) had been meeting intensively, and passed out a summary of the GRC’s public involvement process, a copy of which is included as part of this record. He said the committee’s hardest task was to recommend a funding source, and that this was where public involvement would prove very important.

Mr. Seibert asked about the Regional Conference in the Growth Management Notes. Ms. Durtschi responded that after smaller conversations raised common issues, a regional conference would address those issues. She reported that Mark Turpel, Long-Range Planning Manager, gave a Goal 5 update with some good maps. By October 17^th, the Natural Resources Committee would decide whether criteria was adequate or not, and take testimony. Council vote on the criteria

By October 17, 2001, there should be a Council vote on choosing floodplain criteria. By December 13, 2001, there should be enough information for Council to decide on which regional sites to study in detail. Citizen involvement should occur between October and December of 2001, and a PIP would be available at the next meeting.

MCCI Staff Report.

Ms. Stacey referred to items 1 and 4 on the September 19, 2001, Staff Report. She announced that Christine Roth’s appointment to MCCI would go before Council for approval the next day. She announced that the Metro Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) had a recent opening to represent Multnomah County. The nominee would have to come recommended from Multnomah County Committee for Citizen Involvement (CCI).

Chair Report.

None.

Round Table.

Ms. Durtschi said she was concerned her son would be involved in potential action as a result of national events.

Mr. Andreen said that the retreat was extremely well-done, and a lot of valuable information and thoughts came out of it. He said there had not been one mention of MCCI giving any sort of influence in regards to policy – discussion had revolved strictly around how MCCI could become part of the process and help the process along.

Councilor Park said he was sorry he had missed the retreat. He had been dealing with his own family situation.

Mr. Seibert said that, as a new member, he really appreciated the retreat members’ ability to have an honest perspective. He requested having mentor and a subcommittee assigned. Chair Kyle said he’d give Mr. Seibert a call.

Ms. Roth said she was sorry she missed the retreat. She said she would be announcing the Coffee Talks at Clackamas County CCI’s upcoming semi-annual CPO chair meeting.

Mr. Kimball asked about the scope of the chapter synopsis in the September 19, 2001, Staff Report. Ms. Stacey explained the scope of the book and the chapter.

Mr. Parker said his neighborhood association would be having a Coffee Talk and he would take notes and report back.

Chair Kyle said that the events of the past week threw into sharp relief that our country’s strength was rooted in democracy. He thanked everyone for their participation.

Adjourn.

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Kyle adjourned the meeting at 9:03 p.m.

Prepared by,

Cary Stacey

Council Assistant

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 19, 2001

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