Metro Committee for Citizen Involvement

Regular Committee

Call to Order & Approval of Agenda

Members Present: Dennis Ganoe (Chair), Kay Durtschi, Jane Gillespie, Kathy Henton, Dick Jones, Jim Kimball, Ted Kyle, Darren Pennington, Scott Seibert, Ray Sherwood, Elizabeth Tucker, Lori Waldo, Curt Winkler.

Members Absent: Norm Andreen, John Milliken, Donald Olson, Christine Roth.

Also Present: Rex Burkholder, Metro Councilor; Jim Karve; John Donovan, Council Communications Officer; Lainie Pennington; Cary Stacey, MCCI Staff.

Chair Ganoe opened the meeting at 7:03 p.m.

Introductions

Chair Ganoe asked everyone to introduce themselves for the good of the group. Vice-Chair Pennington agreed to be timekeeper.

Approval of Agenda

Chair Ganoe added a Subcommittee Reports agenda item to occur after the Staff Report.

Approval of June 19, 2002, Minutes

Chair Report

Chair Ganoe announced that the Steering Committee had decided not to address subcommittee structure until current issues with the Office of Citizen Involvement (OCI) were resolved. He said it had been requested that all subcommittees appoint new chairs. There was discussion about the Membership Committee. Ms. Tucker agreed to chair the committee. Chair Ganoe said that every MCCI member would need to be assigned to a subcommittee.

Chair Ganoe asked Ms. Stacey to contact Donald Olson, who had missed the last three regular meetings.

Subcommittee assignments were proposed as follows:

Growth Management: Norm Andreen, Kay Durtschi, Kathy Henton, Scott Seibert, Lori Waldo, Curt Winkler.

Membership: Dennis Ganoe, Kathy Henton, Elizabeth Tucker, Curt Winkler.

Parks: Jane Gillespie, Dick Jones, Ted Kyle, Christine Roth, Elizabeth Tucker.

Regional Environmental Management (REM) Norm Andreen, John Milliken, Darren Pennington, Scott Seibert.

Transportation: Kay Durtschi, Dick Jones, Jim Kimball, Ray Sherwood.

There was discussion about the election process for the Membership Committee. Ms. Stacey said that neither the current MCCI Bylaws nor the Policies and Procedures gave instruction for that election process. Mr. Pennington called for the question.

Chair Ganoe spoke to the guidelines for creating the Regular and Steering Committee agendas.

Ordinance No. 02-947

Mr. Donovan said the ordinance incorporated and clarified recommendations made by the MCCI Workgroup in May of 2002. Ms. Durtschi said it should be clear that what was in the packet should be labeled as a draft because it was not final. Mr. Donovan highlighted the key elements to be amended in the Metro Code. Ms. Waldo asked if the main purpose was to establish the OCI. Mr. Kyle said the Metro Code discussed the OCI and this ordinance addressed the relationship of MCCI to the OCI.

Ms. Durtschi addressed the last line stating that any current member could apply for any open seat, and said it should be clarified to reflect that that provision should only apply to members who had not yet reached the end of their term limits. Mr. Donovan said the Council Government Affairs Committee would be looking at the ordinance on July 25, 2002 and if they acted upon it, the Metro Council would address the ordinance on August 4, 2002. There was discussion about MCCI member terms in relation to the transition. Mr. Seibert suggested referring the issue to the Membership Committee. Councilor Burkholder said the Council could take under consideration MCCI’s intent to let current members serve until they’d reached their term limit of six years. Mr. Kyle said the key thing to change was whether or not someone could reapply if they had not yet fulfilled their minimum of six years on the committee.

Mr. Pennington said he felt the most important part of the document was that MCCI would be moving to Council supervision. Ms. Durtschi said she felt MCCI was giving up its right of ownership by turning itself over to the OCI. She said she felt MCCI should be leaders and not be subject to the OCI. She said there was no choice in terms of leadership when it came to OCI staff. She said the history of MCCI was different from the intent of the OCI and that MCCI should take the leadership role rather than advise the OCI. Mr. Kyle recommended that the proposed revised code language for the first sentence of 2.19.100(a) eliminate the parenthetical phrase “through the Office of Citizen Involvement –OCI.” He recommended that the second sentence be changed from “MCCI will advise the OCI” to “MCCI will advise the Metro Council and the OCI”.

Ms. Waldo said the language of the staff report made MCCI sound like it would play more of an auditing role. Mr. Jones said he didn’t feel MCCI would have any decision-making authority when it came to the OCI and that MCCI needed more independence, as it had in the past. Mr. Donovan said his understanding of the MCCI Workgroup Report was that there was a distinction between the MCCI and the OCI. He said the OCI would be accountable to the Council and would have two sets of responsibilities: supporting the Council and supporting MCCI. He said that the charter specified that MCCI was an advisory committee and that the OCI would ensure that MCCI’s advice would be clearly conveyed to the Council. He said both Council and MCCI would have the right to expect responsiveness from the OCI. Mr. Seibert said he was on the workgroup and it was clearly their intent that the OCI would perform duties for other parts of the organization, but that they wanted to ensure that the OCI was accountable to MCCI as well. He said that it would make MCCI accountable. Ms. Durtschi said she had a concern with the eighth whereas.

Mr. Sherwood asked how the proposed membership reduction would make a committee more efficient. He said removing committee members would reduce citizen involvement. Mr. Kyle said that during his term as chair, 20 people would typically attend and that more work was done by a committee of that size. He said that committees that were too large tended to be unwieldy and didn’t accomplish much work. He said that the Metro Council felt MCCI was too large.

Election for Steering Committee

It was established that all three counties were represented by existing members. Ms. Gillespie, Mr. Seibert and Mr. Winkler volunteered to serve on the Steering Committee.

Auditor Liaison Report

Ms. Stacey announced that Pat Merrick, Auditor’s Administrative Assistant, was unable to attend the meeting. She said two reports had been completed: The Regional Environmental Management Department Solid Waste Management Framework is Sound and Financial Statement Audit Management Recommendations, and both reports were available electronically and were posted on the Metro website. She reported that the Auditor’s office was presently working on the annual Status of Recommendations report and the Annual Report for 2002. Both reports would be posted on the Metro Auditor’s webpage once completed. Ms. Durtschi requested that the Auditor give an update on its citizen advisory committee.

Council Liaison Report

Councilor Burkholder announced that Ms. Gillespie and Ms. Waldo had been approved as MCCI members the previous week. He said new Council Chambers cameras were in place and that live broadcasts of Council meetings and other events, such as brownbag presentations, would soon be available. Mr. Donovan said Council Staff would perform basic functions with the new cameras, but that meetings would not have public access quality without broadcast staff on hand.

He said refinement of the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) would be going before the Council Transportation Committee the next week and before the Metro Council the week after that. He said an extra month in the solicitation process would give jurisdictions extra time for citizen involvement. He said the budget committee, of which he was chair, was going through assumptions for the FY 03-04 budget. He said the budget was still in the hands of the Executive Office and the Metro Council would not be looking at the budget for that year. Chair Ganoe invited Councilor Burkholder to attend the next Steering Committee meeting to discuss aligning MCCI processes with the Metro budget process.

Ms. Gillespie asked if the Metro Council addressed budgeting during its retreat. Councilor Burkholder said it was difficult to set priorities on a budget of Metro’s size in an afternoon. Mr. Kyle said he would give to Chair Ganoe a copy of the FY 02-03 budget, which included letters from different committees regarding department budgets. He recommended having a legal briefing on how Oregon budget law applied tot hat process. Chair Ganoe said that the first item for the retreat would be a primer on the budgeting process. Mr. Kyle said that Oregon law specified that numbers couldn’t be shared with select citizens until they were shared with all citizens. Ms. Gillespie asked if Metro held public hearings on the budget. Mr. Kyle said yes, but by that time the budget was pretty well cooked. Mr. Pennington announced that he had received some information regarding an opening for the REM Budget Advisory Committee.

Staff Report

Ms. Stacey reminded the committee that the MCCI Retreat would occur on September 28, 2002. She distributed the July 17, 2002 communications update, a copy of which is included as part of this record.

Subcommittee Reports

Ms. Durtschi said the Growth Management Subcommittee had received a survey results summary from the urban growth boundary (UGB) workshops. She announced that there was one more meeting about Fish and Wildlife Habitat Protection, and reminded members that it fit into the UGB discussion. She said the Metro Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC) was dealing with industrial lands, set-asides and transportation issues that fit into the UGB. She announced that the subcommittee had received a revised Title 8 flowchart detailing in layman’s terms what to do if a local jurisdiction was not in compliance. She said another draft should be ready by the next subcommittee meeting.

Ms. Tucker said the Parks Subcommittee had received a Trolley Trail update and that Ron Klein, Public Affairs Specialist, had asked the subcommittee to use the new Public Involvement Plan Outline (PIPO) form as an experiment for this project. She said Metro Council priorities were focusing on trails, Goal 5 and the UGB so the Greenspaces Master Plan would be delayed.

Mr. Pennington said Mr. Andreen had agreed to be REM subcommittee chair. He said the subcommittee had discussed potential projects that might need citizen involvement. Jan O’Dell, Senior Public Affairs Specialist, had provided Mr. Andreen with her department’s budget.

Mr. Jones reported that Metro had recently received a value-pricing grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) which meant they could proceed with an 18-month study regarding adding a lane to Highway 217.

Public Comment

There was none.

Roundtable

Ms. Tucker announced that the Roseway Neighborhood Association meeting had hosted a representative from the Oregon Symphony in anticipation of its free concert at the Roseway Neighborfair. She said that the association’s Infill Subcommittee had researched original platting of the neighborhood and discovered that 50 by 100 foot lots could legally be split into 25 by 100 foot lots for development. She said she had met with Mr. Donovan and Mike Hoglund, Regional Planning Director, to discuss a Metro simulation project in collaboration with Portland State University.

Ms. Durtschi said she had attended Metro’s Natural Garden Tour and that, although there wasn’t enough time to go to all that gardens, it had been very interesting. Mr. Donovan said that notices for the tour went out in April and that it booked up quickly. She said that a trail map for westside Portland similar to the bicycle map was available for $5 and she would bring some next time. She said the map had been developed by the Southwest Trails Committee, which used transportation dollars for the project. She said Portland had just received one of three federal grants ensuring a computer for every classroom in its schools.

Ms. Henton announced that Gresham had a new city manager, Rob Fussell. She said that at the last Gresham City Council meeting, Metro had presented a summary of Gresham acreage. She felt that Metro was not recognizing Gresham’s need for jobs and industrial land. She was concerned that even though Gresham was saying they had too many residential units, they had approved a 3-story vinyl-clad maximum-density apartment complex at a failed intersection, directly across from a middle school, with unimproved streets and no sidewalk. She said the city had denied the neighborhood’s appeal of the project. She said she had been vocal for the last several years regarding the quality of development in Gresham and she would be a citizen participant in Gresham’s Comprehensive Plan.

Mr. Sherwood said that Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement had released a video regarding gentrification in Northeast Portland, which would be available for viewing the next weekend.

Councilor Burkholder said that the citizen involvement process for reconstruction of the St. John’s Bridge had entailed informing citizens what was being done without taking comments. He said a new committee had been set up to make improvements better for bicyclists and pedestrians. He said it had taken a heavy hand to get the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to respond.

Mr. Kimball suggested that MCCI dream up some kind of award for best or worst citizen involvement in the tri-county area.

Mr. Winkler said that if anyone needed information about the Metropolitan region, he traversed the area on a daily basis.

Mr. Pennington said the city of Wilsonville was having trouble building a civic center on disputed property. He said he was hoping to provide an online MCCI Roundtable group in which members could discuss issues more in-depth and at their own pace, but that the project was currently on hold. He said the fight over Coffee Creek Correctional Facility was due more due to the process than because of it was a neighbor. He said the Wilsonville City Council and Planning Commission would be hearing from Metro Planning Director Andy Cotugno regarding UGB expansion in the area.

Mr. Jones thanked Councilor Burkholder for solving the zoo’s funding woes the day after he had learned of them. He said his neighborhood association had problems with the 120 day rule all the time. He said he would have an op-ed piece in the Oregonian regarding whether Oak Grove should become a city, be merged into a neighboring city, or remain unincorporated. He said the focus of the piece would be that if people’s lives would change, they should be involved early in the process. He spoke about funding for libraries.

Ms. Waldo said her Citizen Participation Organization (CPO) was concerned about a neighborhood proposed to be built atop a high-pressure gas line. Since no laws addressed existing high pressure gas lines, the neighborhood would be going through. She had attended an advocacy class sponsored by Family Community Leadership and would try to get them to come to her CPO and educate members on how to get involved with the system at the right time and place.

Ms. Gillespie said she was glad to be a part of MCCI. She had been attending the Rose City Park Neighborhood Association and had joined its board. She said she had enjoyed the orientation tour and would be showing the orientation video to her neighborhood association. There was an upcoming picnic for her neighborhood association in the next month.

Mr. Seibert said he wanted to add a workplan item addressing how other jurisdictions did public involvement. He said it would dovetail nicely with recognizing good or bad jobs on public involvement.

Mr. Donovan said Mr. Pennington’s online discussion group proposal had raised some legal issues. He said that MCCI members were all quasi-official members, and that they could violate public meeting law if more than half the group gathered physically, electronically or by speakerphone. He said MCCI had to follow state meetings law because they advised the Metro Council. He said that a good topic for an ongoing education piece could address the legality of what MCCI could or could not do. He said that a posting site for information items might be able to happen but there were still accessibility issues. Chair Ganoe said that that issue would be addressed in the Steering Committee.

Ms. Stacey announced that there were several Metro orientation videos available for MCCI member check-out.

Chair Ganoe spoke to the Ross Island Sand & Gravel Reclamation Plan. He said he was responsible for posting information regarding the project onto the web, and that if anyone had access problems to please let him know.

Ms. Tucker said she would be delivering a spiel on Metro at the next Roseway Association Board meeting.

Adjourn

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Ganoe adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m.

Prepared by,

Cary Stacey

Council Assistant