Metro Committee for Citizen Involvement

Regular Committee

Call to Order & Approval of Agenda

Members Present: Ted Kyle (Chair), Norm Andreen, Kay Durtschi, Kathy Henton, Dick Jones, Jim Kimball, Leeanne MacColl, John Milliken, Darren Pennington, Bob Pung, Christine Roth, Pat Russell, Scott Seibert, Ray Sherwood, Elizabeth Tucker, Curt Winkler.

Members Absent: Donald Olson.

Also Present: Rex Burkholder, Metro Councilor; John Donovan, Council Communications Officer; Pat Merrick, Auditor’s Assistant; Moji Momeni; Rod Park, Metro Councilor; Cary Stacey, MCCI Staff; Lori Waldo, MCCI Applicant.

Chair Kyle opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Introductions

Approval of Agenda

Mr. Kimball asked the Chair to add an agenda item addressing membership in relation to Metro’s transition. Chair Kyle said the Membership Committee would address that issue. Mr. Pennington volunteered to be timekeeper.

Hearing no objections, Chair Kyle said the agenda stood approved.

Approval of May 15, 2002, Minutes

Ms. Durtschi asked that on page 5, paragraph 6, it be clarified that Mr. Ganoe was referring to the Clackamas Complete Communities Congress, not the Clackamas County Committee for Citizen Involvement (CCI).

Public Comment

Ms. Durtschi announced that past member Aleta Woodruff had had a poem published in the recent GreenScene.

Auditor Liaison Report

Pat Merrick, Auditor’s Administrative Assistant, announced that Camrynne Six, Auditor’s Administrative Assistant, had had a boy and was on maternity leave. She said the Auditor’s Office had released a report that day entitled: Metropolitan Exposition-Recreation Center – Portland Center for the Performing Arts Event Settlement Activities: System Works, Some Enhancements Are Needed. She said Auditor Alexis Dow would be presenting the report at Council the next day.

PIPG Revision Adoption

Mr. Donovan spoke to the draft Public Involvement Planning Guide (PIPG) presented at the May 15, 2002 Regular Meeting. He reviewed the PIPG Review Committee’s process. He spoke to the following themes in the document: increased flexibility; encouragement for innovation; increased proactive identification of opportunities; improved cooperation among Council staff, Department staff and MCCI members; and a streamlined document. He distributed a sheet of additional changes submitted by Mr. Kimball not included in the packet version, a copy of which is included as part of this record. Mr. Donovan reminded the group that if the document were to be adopted, the next steps would be for Council staff to write a resolution, attach the document to the resolution and forward it to Council. Mr. Russell asked if the PIPG Revision could be a point of information for the Metro Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC). Mr. Donovan responded that that could be done.

Ms. Durtschi said it was an excellent document. Mr. Andreen said the purpose of the process was to involve MCCI in a more structured way within Metro’s system. Mr. Seibert said that when he joined MCCI, the committee was unhappy with the Public Involvement Plan (PIP) process and didn’t feel tied to the agency. He said the group was looking for a way to change the culture so that the public involvement planning process was seamless and MCCI could provide value to Metro staff. He said he believed the document accomplished that goal. Mr. Kimball said that, after the process, he better understood MCCI’s aims to encourage citizen involvement and improve relations with staff.

Chair Kyle asked for a motion. Ms. Durtschi made a recommendation from the PIPG Review Committee to adopt the document.

Mr. Pennington thanked the committee for their work and Mr. Donovan’s willingness to take on the task. Mr. Jones spoke to the Metro Principles of Citizen Involvement and said the 6^th and 7^th principles could be opened up for challenge. Ms. Durtschi said the principles had already been adopted by the Metro Council in 1997 and they were included in the PIPG after they were adopted. Mr. Russell complimented the staff and subcommittee efforts behind the document. He spoke to the MCCI Diagram and said it was important for the members of the committees to understand what their role was. He said he had concerns that Metro was not forthcoming with deadlines. Mr. Kimball said he appreciated the efforts of the staff and that he appreciated Mr. Seibert’s contribution of a new checklist. Mr. Pennington said that the Metro Principles of Citizen Involvement might be used as an evaluative tool for MCCI.

Mr. Russell asked when the PIPG would go before Council. Mr. Donovan responded that once the schedule was known, it would be provided to the committee.

Election for Chair

Election for Vice Chair

Mr. Jones acknowledged that Mr. Ganoe had been nominated for chair and opened the floor for additional nominations. As there were no additional nominations, Mr. Andreen, with a second by Mr. Pennington, moved to close nominations for chair.

Mr. Jones acknowledged that Mr. Pennington had been nominated for vice-chair and opened the floor additional nominations. Mr. Pung nominated Ms. Henton for vice chair. Ms. Henton declined the nomination. Mr. Andreen moved, with a second by Mr. Russell, to close nominations for vice-chair.

Ms. Durtschi made a motion for a unanimous ballot to pass for both positions. Chair Kyle said that the record-keeper should be directed to cast a single ballot for the slate. Ms. Durtschi, with a second by Mr. Andreen, moved to cast a single ballot for the slate.

Chair Report

Chair Kyle said he would be presenting a report to the Metro Council on what had been accomplished over the last two years. He said Ms. Stacey could provide a verbatim transcript to those interested.

He called attention to Metro Council Ordinance 02-947 in the packet and said the Steering Committee would be discussing it in their next meeting. He said MCCI would have a chance to comment before the ordinance was addressed by the Governmental Affairs Committee. Mr. Pennington asked what the timeline was for the committee to make comments. Chair Kyle asked to postpone that discussion until other items were covered. It was suggested that committee members discuss the issue among themselves.

Staff Report

Ms. Stacey distributed an updated MCCI membership list and a Native Plants newsletter, copies of which are included as part of this record.

Mr. Russell asked about at-large membership in MCCI. Mr. Donovan said that that question would be answered after January 1, 2003.

Ms. Henton asked that Ms. Stacey email changes to the membership list to MCCI members. Mr. Kimball asked if there was a listserve capability. Mr. Pennington said he was trying to create a listserve group with Mr. Ganoe on yahoo.com. Mr. Seibert suggested that a listserve through Metro would offer more protection vis-à-vis public hearings.

Roundtable

Mr. Milliken thanked Metro for the orientation tour he had received. He said that Ms. Tucker had suggested a neighborhood tour of districts in an informal way. Ms. Tucker clarified her intent in that she wanted the district tours to help inform citizens on a strictly volunteer basis.

Council Liaison Report

Councilor Burkholder announced that Myron Orfield would be making a presentation on Metropolitics at Metro the next day. He said the Transportation Committee was working on a refinement of the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) process. He said the Metro Council and the advisory committees would review new criteria for how to spend federal dollars with the aim of increasing prosperity in the region and implementing the 2040 Concept. He said that process would also include a requirement that all projects from local jurisdictions go through an extended public hearing process. He said he had requested an Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) workshop in Portland, which would occur at Metro. He said he hoped the new cameras would be in place so that the discussion could be available to people throughout the region. Mr. Russell spoke to local coverage in the Oregonian and was concerned that those in unaffected areas might not know about the workshops.

Mr. Kimball asked for Councilor Burkholder’s thoughts on the UGB and Goal 5. Councilor Burkholder replied that the UGB decision would move forward at the end of the year. He said Goal 5 decisions would take place when they took place and that the Economic Technical Advisory Committee (ETAC) had been formed and would take a while. He said subregional analysis was dependent on the Land Conservation and Development Commission’s (LCDC) decision later that year. He said he believed neither the Goal 5 decisions nor the LCDC decision would affect the UGB decision.

Mr. Kimball asked about Councilor Burkholder’s thoughts on Executive Officer’s Mike Burton’s proposal to consider larger areas of the UGB. Councilor Burkholder said he thought the proposal was conceptual.

Mr. Russell asked about a clinical policy position paper on funding at the federal level and asked if Metro was trying to reach a strategy consensus with Tri-Met. Councilor Burkholder replied that the paper was a compilation of a variety of issues, such as Tri-Met and the streetcar, coming before both the Metro Council and the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) for review.

Ms. Durtschi asked about a summary of the election results. Mr. Donovan said counties had just finished finalizing the results and that when a summary was available, it would be presented to the committee. Mr. Pennington asked if Mr. Burton’s presentation was similar to the staff report. Councilor Burkholder responded that Mr. Burton’s made his recommendation based on his understanding from staff. Mr. Andreen spoke to the June 19, 2002 Oregonian article about Mike Burton’s proposal. He said the proposal was the sort of thing that upset people about Metro.

Recognition

Departing members Ms. MacColl, Mr. Pung and Mr. Russell were recognized for their contributions to the committee. Chair Kyle was recognized for his term of service.

Roundtable

Mr. Milliken said that he was interested in understanding more about Metro, what was happening in other districts, and what was relevant to him in his own district.

Ms. Durtschi announced that Jim Zehren was resigning from his position as Multnomah County representative on the Metro Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC). She said she had recently received the Portland Curbsider, which was a quarterly publication. She asked members to read the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) proposed rule amendment information in their packet. She said there had been an article in the June 15, 2002 Oregonian regarding the urban/rural divide, which she said was very important coverage. She thanked Chair Kyle for all his hard work.

Mr. Andreen said that on June 25, 2002, the Complete Communities Task Force would have its final meeting and he anticipated dynamic ideas for citizen involvement in Clackamas County. He said that for the last two months the Clackamas County Planning Commission had not had much to do.

Ms. Henton shared feedback from citizens who had attended the Damascus public session.

Mr. Seibert said that he was concerned that many of the Metro services on the new member orientation tour lacked branding clearly identifying them with Metro. He said he found the tour very valuable.

Ms. Tucker said she would be acting as a link to her neighborhood association regarding Metro information. She said a neighborhood association subcommittee had proposed that the city of Portland create off-leash dog areas in every park. She said the neighborhood association had expressed interest in communicating with their Metro Councilor.

Ms. Stacey announced that the county fairs were fast approaching and encouraged MCCI members to sign up for a shift.

Ms. MacColl reported that a recent trip to Slovenia had shown her lovely examples of multi-modal planning. She announced that her son would be working with the Washington County Vision Action Network.

Mr. Pung thanked his wife for her support of his service with MCCI. He encouraged everyone to keep up the good work.

Mr. Jones announced that he had taken his grandchildren to the zoo that morning and that a number of amenities had been closed for lack of funds until July 1, 2002. He said that the Trolley Trail Open House had been very successful with about 150 attendees.

Mr. Pennington said that Rudy Kadlub of Costa Pacific Homes was gathering ideas and would be providing drafts of the concept for their Dammasch property project. He said development was hinging on transportation issues.

Ms. Waldo announced that the Tualitan Hills Parks and Recreation District (THPRD) had approved a park for her neighborhood and she would need to conduct a public relations campaign with her neighbors to ensure its success. She said she would be attending a seminar with the Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service.

Ms. Roth said things were quiet in Clackamas County.

Mr. Kimball said he was concerned about the financial prospects for Metro’s pioneer cemeteries.

Mr. Russell thanked Chair Kyle for his efforts over the past two years. He said Washington County’s transportation plan was going into effect and was a contentious issue throughout the county. He said the Beaverton City Council had recently addressed, without conclusion, how appeals should be handled at the council level. He reported that a school district proposal for a bus barn adjacent to luxury homes had been denied by the council on appeal. He said another school district had proposed a K-5 school for 2500 children.

Mr. Winkler said the U.S. Census Bureau website provided important demographic information from the year 2000 census.

Adjourn

There being no further business before the committee, Vice-Chair Pennington adjourned the meeting at 9:15 p.m.

Prepared by,

Cary Stacey

Council Assistant