MINUTES OF THE METRO COMMITTEE FOR CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT

REGULAR COMMITTEE

Wednesday, August 21, 2002

Room 370

Call to Order & Approval of Agenda

Members Present: Dennis Ganoe (Chair), Norm Andreen, Kay Durtschi, Jane Gillespie, Dick Jones, Ted Kyle, Darren Pennington, Christine Roth, Scott Seibert, Elizabeth Tucker, Lori Waldo.

Members Absent: Kathy Henton, Jim Kimball, John Milliken, Don Olson, Ray Sherwood.

Also Present: Moji Momeni, John Donovan, Council Communications Officer; Cary Stacey, MCCI Staff.

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

Introductions

Chair Ganoe asked everyone to introduce themselves for the good of the group. Mr. Pennington volunteered to be timekeeper.

Approval of Agenda

Approval of July 17, 2002, Minutes

Chair Report

Chair Ganoe spoke to an evaluation comment from the July 17, 2002, meeting expressing concern with the use of acronyms in discussion. He asked that members be sure to spell out acronyms for the benefit of the group. Ms. Roth said the Clackamas Committee for Citizen Involvement (CCI) was compiling a list of acronyms, which could be combined with the acronym list in the MCCI Member Handbook.

Chair Ganoe announced that the Membership Committee had moved from an ad hoc committee to become a standing committee.

Chair Ganoe announced that he was combining the Growth Management and Transportation subcommittees. He said he would want this new subcommittee to take an extra half hour to meet because of its size, and recommended they meet from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. He said the first order of business should be to decide on a permanent meeting time and a chair. Mr. Pennington asked for a piece of paper to go out in the next Regular Committee packet announcing the change. Mr. Jones suggested that the announcement be on a different colored piece of paper.

Chair Ganoe said that the Steering Committee had discussed having each subcommittee chair keep a binder of information to be passed on to each new chair. He said the Membership Committee binder would be used to keep track of membership, interview questions, and the application and interview processes. He said the binders would be a way to ensure that committees could keep apprised of previous work and document past processes and procedures. Ms. Tucker displayed a sample binder. Ms. Durtschi suggested that Public Involvement Plans (PIPs) be included in the binders. Ms. Tucker suggested that subcommittee minutes be included in the binders.

Retreat Agenda

Chair Ganoe said that Pam Peck, Senior Public Affairs Specialist, had agreed to be facilitator for the retreat. He spoke to the draft agenda included in the packet. Mr. Donovan said it would be worth having a discussion regarding the budget planning process prior to the retreat. Chair Ganoe said the meat of the retreat would be a workplan. Chair Ganoe said that last year’s goals should be included in the next committee packet. Mr. Kyle suggested discussing the Metro transition. Mr. Donovan suggested folding that discussion into the Budget Process Review/Update. Mr. Donovan said he might bring someone in to help address the transition discussion. Chair Ganoe asked subcommittee chairs to bring to the retreat a list of currently active PIPs and what work they were following. Chair Ganoe said the full committee would be able to go over the retreat agenda one more time before the retreat, and if there were any other suggestions to please contact the chair.

Curt Winkler Remembrance

Ms. Durtschi reported that the service for late MCCI member Curt Winkler had been very nice. She asked members to forward sympathy notes to Ms. Stacey to send to Mr. Winkler’s family.

Subcommittee Reports

Ms. Durtschi reported for the Growth Management Subcommittee that urban growth boundary (UGB) public hearings would be occurring in October. Mr. Donovan distributed the Let’s Talk Regional Conference Community Workshops Executive Summary, a copy of which is included as part of this record. Ms. Durtschi said Metro’s Fish & Wildlife Habitat Protection Program process was in its second step, which was the Environmental Social Economic Energy (ESEE) analysis. She said economic development was a major element being looked at for outreach.

Mr. Jones reported for the Transportation Subcommittee that it had been reviewing PIPs for the Powell/Foster Corridor and the South Corridor Transportation Alternatives Study. He said there might be a PIP for a Highway 217 study on how to improve traffic flow. He said the new Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Plan (MTIP) for 2004-2007 would be allocating $52 million for a variety of programs. He said that an objective would be to ensure that the dollars supported projects in centers, industrial areas, and areas inside the UGB with completed concept plans, such as Pleasant Valley. He said some funds would also go to projects in the financially constrained Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). Ms. Durtschi said that there would be a September survey of 300 people, which would provide results to feed into the AIM High School project involving students surveying other students and their parents. Mr. Jones said the high school project was part of the Powell/Foster PIP. Chair Ganoe asked if the public involvement that had occurred or was planned to occur was adequate, exceptional or poor. Ms. Durtschi said that plenty of public involvement was being done. Mr. Jones said the current public involvement looked adequate.

Ms. Tucker reported for the Parks Subcommittee that Ron Klein, Public Affairs Specialist, had given her a Public Involvement Plan Outline (PIPO) for the Trolley Trail, even though the PIPO form had technically not yet been approved. She said the subcommittee had suggested including senior citizens in the outreach efforts, and to make sure that official notification had gone out to neighborhood groups. Mr. Klein had suggested that the PIPO template include fields for staff contact numbers, and to have the form available in a fillable PDF file. She said the subcommittee had its goals ready for the retreat.

Ms. Tucker reported for the Membership Committee that she had created her chair binder. She said the committee was finalizing the member application with one question outstanding and that it was standardizing both a list of questions to ask every candidate and a list of desirable characteristics to use as a tie breaker. She said the committee was working on how to accommodate for the changes arising from Metro’s transition, and that she suggested prioritizing recruitment of certain areas.

Mr. Andreen reported for the Regional Environmental Management (REM) Subcommittee that it was reviewing five PIPs, and if people wanted to know more about them they should attend the meetings. He said he had reviewed the REM budget with Jan O’Dell, Senior Public Affairs Specialist, and had also received a department budget summary.

Chair Ganoe said that the Steering Committee needed to replace a member. Mr. Jones recommended waiting on volunteers until the new chair was selected for the Growth Management/Transportation Subcommittee. Ms. Tucker reminded the group that the Membership Committee would also need another member.

Chair Ganoe said there were a significant number of empty seats on Metro’s budget advisory committees. He said this might be an issue the Membership Committee could consider taking on.

Staff Report

Ms. Stacey distributed the August 21, 2002 Communications Report, a copy of which is included as part of this record. She said that the Let’s Talk Regional Conference Community Workshops full report was available on Metro’s website. She said she had copies of the Alternative Analysis study for those who were interested. She announced that there would be a clarification to the July 17, 2002 minutes, as per Mr. Sherwood’s request, reflecting that the film sponsored by Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) was an independent documentary.

Mr. Donovan announced that Ordinance 02-947 would be going before the Government Affairs Committee on September 12, 2002. He said he would like to see the ordinance addressed in the same timeframe as the Public Involvement Planning Guide (PIPG) that the full committee had approved in July. He said a report would be needed from Chair Ganoe or his designee to the Metro Council in September or October.

Public Comment

There was none.

Roundtable

Mr. Kyle said he was getting excited about the upcoming political season and was looking forward to new blood in West Linn.

Mr. Jones spoke to the new Segway machine and its accompanying logistical and legal questions. He said Bob Pung had been housebound due to wheelchair problems. He said the Trolley Trail was experiencing more and more traffic.

Ms. Roth said that the Clackamas CCI had had a good spot and lots of interest at the Clackamas County Fair. She said they were looking at developing a mentoring program for Citizen Participation Organizations (CPO’s) that were just getting off the ground or experiencing leadership difficulties.

Mr. Pennington said that CPO No. 5 was still on summer recess. He said Sherwood was doing revisions of roads that tied into Tonquin Road and that the local prison had done some road repair. He said people were realizing that repairing the road connections would increase their capacity. As far as he knew, there had not been any public involvement. He reported that the Washington County Planning Commission had removed the commuter rail project and reinstated the bypass in its plan.

Ms. Gillespie reported that her neighborhood association was on vacation. On August 31, 2002 her street would be having a block party. She said she had been receiving press releases from ONI and that she hoped to attend their economic development program the upcoming Saturday at Metro.

Ms. Waldo said she had hosted a barbecue for over 300 people in her neighborhood, which she had organized to promote the vote for a neighborhood park.

Ms. Tucker said she would be delivering the Metro spiel to the Roseway Neighborhood Board in September, using the Metro orientation video and materials distributed at the county fairs. She said there would be a free symphony concert in her neighborhood that Sunday. She said Portland State University professors were difficult to track down regarding her proposed simulation project. She said her Clackamas County Fair experience was enlightening.

Mr. Andreen said that he had done booth duty with Mr. Donovan at the Clackamas County Fair. He said the Clackamas County Planning Commission had had no meetings that summer and that nothing was going on in Beavercreek other than what was stimulated by Metro. Mr. Donovan said that the Clackamas County fair had elicited a lot of conversation regarding the UGB after the Executive Officer had released his recommendation.

Ms. Durtschi displayed a map of walking trails in Southwest Portland. She said the school district was preparing to sell property, which had created an upheaval in the city of Portland. She said National Night Out had occurred the previous Tuesday in which all neighborhoods had potlucks and picnics. She said Multnomah County Commissioners had eliminated the director of the Multnomah County Citizen Involvement Committee (CIC), and the committee didn’t know where it was going without its lead person. She said the charter had granted the CIC the prerogative to hire and fire its staff so there might be a legal battle. She felt there was a move across the country to eliminate some of the citizen involvement it had had in the past. She said she had an appointment with the auditor as a former chair of the CIC to evaluate where they were going to go with the current situation.

Mr. Ganoe said the North Clackamas Citizens Association was on summer hiatus until September.

Mr. Jones said he had attended the County Commissioner forum that day on the State of the County. He said the county commissioners were concerned that the county couldn’t continue to fund urban-level services and that they’d like to see more of the area become part of a city.

Mr. Donovan announced that on August 31, 2002, Metro Councilors and staff would be gathering to dedicate an open space to former Metro Councilor Judy Wyers.

Adjourn

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Ganoe adjourned the meeting at 8:45 p.m.

Prepared by,

Cary Stacey

Council Assistant