MINUTES OF THE METRO COMMITTEE FOR CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT

REGULAR COMMITTEE

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Room 370A

Call to Order & Approval of Agenda

Members Present: Dennis Ganoe (Chair), Norm Andreen, Kay Durtschi, Jane Gillespie, Kathy Henton, Dick Jones, Jim Kimball, Ted Kyle, Christine Roth, Scott Seibert, Ray Sherwood, Elizabeth Tucker, Lori Waldo.

Members Absent: Darren Pennington.

Also Present: John Donovan, Council Communications Officer; Gina Whitehill-Baziuk, Public Involvement Planning Manager; Camrynne Six, Auditor’s Administrative Assistant; Cary Stacey, MCCI Staff; Shelly Washburn.

Chair Ganoe opened the meeting at 7:06 p.m.

Introductions

Chair Ganoe asked everyone to introduce themselves for the good of the group. Mr. Seibert was appointed as timekeeper.

Approval of Agenda

Approval of October 16, 2002, Minutes

Ms. Henton asked for clarification to page 3, paragraph 1, line 8. Ms. Durtschi spoke to page 4, 4^th paragraph and asked that the word “the” precede “scientific survey results.” Mr. Andreen spoke to his roundtable comment and asked that “Council members” be replaced with “Oregon City Commissioners”.

Auditor Liaison Report

Ms. Six announced that the October 2002 Auditor Report, Transfer Station Revenue Controls, reviewed revenue controls at Metro’s two solid waste transfer stations. Activities at these transfer stations were Metro’s largest operation, with revenues of more than $50 million in fiscal year 2002. She said there were three main areas of revenue controls: capturing revenue, controls over cash receipts and information systems. She said best practices were exemplified in most areas. She reminded the committee that all auditor reports were available online.

AIM High School Project

Ms. Whitehill-Baziuk introduced herself to the committee, saying she oversaw public outreach for Metro’s planning department. She said that in carrying out the Powell/Foster corridor study, the community in the area had proved difficult to reach as it was neither densely populated nor a high employment area. She said she had developed a program to approach AIM High School, which would involve the school’s administration, teachers, and parents along with providing a community service project for the students. She said the students were slated to give a presentation to the school board the next day. She introduced Shelly Washburn, who was the teacher for the project.

Ms. Washburn distributed a flyer which welcomed students to the project, a copy of which is included as part of this record. She said that the high school had a 50% dropout rate, but two students had waited to finish the Metro project before dropping out. She said it was a really successful project with some unexpected outcomes. She taught the students about Metro and had them design logos. Various Metro staff came in as guest speakers. The students observed activity on Powell Boulevard, learned the lingo for analyzing transportation issues, practiced survey writing and saw things in a new way.

She said the students ultimately conducted 400 interviews in an area from the I-205 exchange to Gresham. Elementary schools allowed for intercept interviews with parents of students. The AIM High School students asked questions about traffic flow, bus service and possible improvements. They practiced administering the survey ahead of time through role modeling, included with someone who didn’t speak English. The surveys were administered with help from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), the City of Portland, and Metro so that there would be an adult at every shift.

After the interviews, Ms. Washburn taught the students to tally results and represent them through graphs. She said that even though the students started out afraid of the process, they ended up feeling confident about themselves and inquiring about volunteer and career opportunities at Metro. She said it was a textbook case of community-based learning. The project contacted over 2000 parents, with the results to go out in a newsletter to the community.

Chair Report

Chair Ganoe said he would be giving his report on the 2002 MCCI Retreat to the Metro Council on December 10, 2002.

He proposed Saturday, May 3, 2003 for the next MCCI retreat and encouraged members to mark their calendars. Mr. Jones asked if there would be a conflict with the spring SOLV clean-up event. Mr. Kimball asked Ms. Stacey to send an email reminder to the group in a week.

Steering Committee Vacancy

Chair Ganoe said there was an at-large vacancy in the Steering Committee. Ms. Tucker asked if, considering the small size of the full committee, whether the vacant seat could be left open. Ms. Stacey read from the bylaws: “The Steering Committee shall consist of the Chair, Vice Chair and three additional MCCI members selected by a majority of MCCI along with the Subcommittee Chairs.” Chair Ganoe said the options were to change the bylaws or to proceed with the nominations. Mr. Seibert suggested postponing the discussion until the next month and have the Membership Committee propose changes to the bylaws.

Ms. Gillespie asked if the Membership Committee chair could also be a member of the Steering Committee. Chair Ganoe said that could be part of the Membership Committee’s proposal for changes to the bylaws.

Mr. Kyle said the bylaws outlined the process for changing the bylaws.

Mr. Sherwood said that the notice regarding the MCCI Bylaws would need to include the proposed changes. Ms. Stacey read from the bylaws: “Written notice of proposed amendment or repeal and the nature thereof shall have been given to the membership of the committee at least 30 days prior to the date of the meeting at which the amendments are to be considered.”

Mr. Kyle, with approval from Mr. Jones, withdrew his motion.

OCI Update

Mr. Donovan thanked Kay Durtschi, Darren Pennington, Scott Seibert and Elizabeth Tucker for their work thus far with the Office of Citizen Involvement (OCI) Task Force. He outlined an aggressive timeframe in which a draft OCI workplan would be presented to MCCI’s Steering Committee, comments from the Steering Committee and task force members would be received and incorporated into a revised draft, and the revised draft would be presented to the full committee in December for consideration and possible approval.

He spoke to the work completed to date. After reviewing criteria developed in the Metro Communications Plan and in the Principles of Citizen Involvement, a draft workplan including a goal statement, objectives, target audiences and key messages had been developed. He said the task force had given feedback on the initial draft and had identified and prioritized potential activities for the OCI. He said physical aspects of the OCI still needed to be addressed.

Chair Ganoe encouraged everyone to read the task force’s revised draft when they received it and to be prepared to discuss it ahead of time.

Subcommittee Reports

Mr. Andreen reported for the Regional Environmental Management (REM) subcommittee that his subcommittee of one had received a presentation from Lee Barrett, Waste Reduction Outreach Manager, regarding waste reduction. There were two people present from Waste Management and one had challenged Mr. Barrett on some issues but did not add any ill-feeling to the conversation. He said the subcommittee would be looking at its five outstanding public involvement plans (PIPs).

Ms. Gillespie reported for the Parks subcommittee that the last meeting had had a good turnout. She said they had received an update on the Trolley Trail with a master plan expected by February or March 2003. She said the Greenspaces Master Plan, which conveyed a concept of interconnected system of parks in the region, would be going before the Metro Council in January 2003. She said the full committee would benefit from seeing the master plan. The subcommittee had brainstormed possible projects, using feedback from meetings she had had previously with Ron Klein, Public Affairs Specialist, and Councilor Rex Burkholder.

Ms. Durtschi reported for the Community Planning Subcommittee that they had received a Highway 217 work program based on estimated dollars that Metro would receive for the Highway 217 study. Local jurisdictions were submitting names for the project’s advisory committee. She said there were industry and freight concerns. She said the study was expected to kick off after January 1, 2003. The work program was subject to change once it had entered the federal register. Mr. Seibert said that since the program was part of a contract with ODOT, changes could not be easily made in terms of what was to be studied. Ms. Durtschi said a work program revision was expected in February 2003. She said the subcommittee had received a South Corridor Update and seen an ad for three focus groups to be held after January 1, 2003. She said the subcommittee had received an update on periodic review. Mr. Donovan distributed a press release regarding that day’s urban growth boundary (UGB) decisions, a copy of which is included as part of this record. Ms. Durtschi said there would be a Task 3 for periodic review, and that the subcommittee should receive a PIP for that. Mr. Donovan spoke to the areas recommended for expansion.

Ms. Tucker reported for the Membership Committee that the Motion for Acceptance in the regular committee packet was available for the full committee’s consideration. Ms. Waldo asked why there was a provision on the application pertaining to educational level. Ms. Tucker said it was a carryover from the original application. Chair Ganoe said that the full committee was to approve the documents and that wordsmithing could take place later. Mr. Kimball suggested addressing in one of the documents whether the applicant spoke a second language. Ms. Tucker said she thought that would be a bonus question. She said basic education should be a prerequisite, in order to learn and mentor on MCCI. Chair Ganoe spoke to Ms. Tucker’s motion for acceptance as a vote of confidence in the committee’s work. Ms. Tucker responded that the interview questions could be addressed internally. Mr. Seibert suggested removing the education question from application and crafting a question centered around expertise, knowledge and background. Ms. Tucker said she would like to come back with a question as suggested by Mr. Seibert before moving forward with the application. Mr. Kyle asked for the acronym REM to be spelled out and to remove the shading so that the form could be easily faxed or duplicated. Mr. Andreen said he felt the education question served to assess whether an applicant had basic skills to serve as a member.

Mr. Kimball asked if there was a place in the application to prompt for language facilities so that applicants could be identified as potential links to significant groups in their communities. Ms. Tucker said she could fit such a prompt onto the application, but since she wanted to keep the document as easy to fill out as possible, she preferred to address the language issue as an interview question.

Ms. Roth asked if the interview questions would be separate from the application. Chair Ganoe agreed. Mr. Seibert asked that space be made on the application for a phone number and email address.

Ms. Tucker reported that the Membership Committee had decided that her presence on the OCI Task Force would be the best avenue to answer questions about delegating membership-related tasks to the OCI.

Council Liaison Report

As Councilor Burkholder was absent, there was no Council Liaison Report. Mr. Donovan reminded the committee that the transition process was still underway and that the Metro Council would soon have a special retreat. Council President-Elect David Bragdon had appointed Mark Williams, current general manager of the Metropolitan Exposition-Recreation Commission (MERC) as interim Chief Operations Officer (COO). Ms. Tucker asked if there would be any public involvement with the selection of a COO. Mr. Donovan said the COO was an administrative position. The process for selecting the COO had not yet been established, but a search firm had been identified.

Staff Report

Ms. Stacey distributed Ordinance 02-947A for members to insert in their Membership Handbooks, a copy of which is included as part of this record. She announced that she had a few bound copies of the Portland/Vancouver I-5 Transportation and Trade Partnership Final Strategic Plan for any interested members.

Public Comment

There was none.

Roundtable

Chair Ganoe said that he was being arrested by the Muscular Dystrophy Association on December 12, 2002 as a fundraising effort. He said the North Clackamas Citizens Association was keeping track of a hearings process about a 12½ acre parcel of land purchased by Centex Homes because a slight zoning change would be necessary.

Mr. Jones said that the next day’s newspaper would have an article about his local sewer district merging with the county sewer district without contacting the community. When Mr. Jones asked why there had been no contact with the community, the response was that citizens had impeded the process in the past.

Mr. Andreen said that the UGB hearings he had attended were well-organized, that the maps were good and that staff had done a good job answering questions. His criticisms, and criticisms from members of his Citizen Participation Organization (CPO) were as follows: 1) developers and city officials were given too much time to talk when regular citizens were cut off before the end of their three minute allotment for testimony, and 2) there was a perception that the only councilor listening to testimony was Bill Atherton, although he knew that was not true. He suggested that in the future the councilors take the time to ask some intelligent questions. He said Boardman Creek and Boardman Swamp were brought before the Clackamas County Planning Commission by request of Metro in terms of expanding the protected area around the creek from 25 to 50 feet. He said planning had to respond to some of Metro’s requests, but that with surrounding developments and corridors, Boardman Creek was just a ditch. He said Metro should make a presentation to the commission as to why they were making their request.

Ms. Waldo announced that 81% of the 596 households in her neighborhood voted yes on the proposed park for her neighborhood and that 92% households were part of the process. She said $487,000 worth of developments were forthcoming over the next five years. She said she had contacted the Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service’s Dina Pope through the Family Community Leadership program and had learned there was great infrastructure to provide leadership training to CPO and CCI members. She said it would not only be a good public relations move for Metro to get involved with such a course but that it would also give a boost to the service’s program. She said a March training was coming up. She said she had also contacted Linda Gray at the Washington County OSU Extension Service who was also very open and excited to see what she could contribute.

Mr. Seibert said he had seen the Metro candidates debate at the zoo and it was educational. He said that the polls had said up to 50% of voters knew nothing about Metro. He had attended the UGB hearing in Portland and was thrilled with the job done by staff, but was struck that those who were in attendance didn’t know they would be able to participate unless they were a significant landowner or were well-versed in public testimony. He said it felt awkward from the citizen involvement perspective. He said he had heard a number of comments from people in the audience about the uneven time allotments for testimony.

Ms. Henton said she had attended the Gresham UGB hearing and was disappointed with the turnout; she said there had been greater turnout at the Gresham Springwater public information meeting. She spoke to the grassroots effort to build a sports park in Gresham and said that Portland General Electric (PGE) had granted $25,000 to surface the playing fields. She distributed Gresham’s annual mayor’s report on citizen involvement, a copy of which is included as part of this record.

Ms. Gillespie said that the Rose City Park Neighborhood Association candidate’s fair had had a good turnout.

Mr. Kimball said that he had pushed for establishing and working on a committee attached to the Washington County CCI to address some of the loopholes that had let development proceed in unincorporated urban areas of Washington County without a provision for parks. He said that type of situation would arise when the area to be developed wasn’t annexed to the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District (THPRD). However, THPRD was basically Beaverton’s parks and recreation district. He said some headway was being made.

Ms. Roth asked MCCI, on behalf of the Clackamas CCI whether it was appropriate for an elected partisan legislator to serve on the CCI. MCCI members responded that they felt it was a bad idea.

Mr. Kyle said that at his day job he had put together an annual report on growth, and that the North Clackamas area growth rates had dropped to about half of what they had been in prior years.

Ms. Tucker said the Roseway Neighborhood Association’s December agenda was a Christmas party. She said the Sim Project had had its kick-off meeting the previous day and that representatives from various institutions, including OMSI and different schools, were interested in the project.

Mr. Donovan agreed that it had been a productive meeting and that the relationship between public participation and geography was starting to crystallize. He said a conference in July 2003 at Portland State University (PSU) would be looking at those issues with attendees from all over. He said the Sim Project group hoped to have something to present at the conference.

Ms. Durtschi spoke to a Portland Tribune article called, “Neighborhood Relations Under Microscope,” and said a guidelines book published by the city of Portland for neighborhood coalitions and associations was near completion. She said Portland was putting together another push to look at waterfront remapping.

Adjourn

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Ganoe adjourned the meeting at 9:09 p.m.

Prepared by,

Cary Stacey

Council Assistant