City Council - Regular Meeting

Apologies if my I didn't even I'm bringing it up. They're back over there again. 15th Street Washington there in the park. That's part of the park in front of you. Think I had as well. Huh? Oh, okay.

All right. Okay.

Thank you, Mindy. All right. Oh, there it is. Okay.

I have 70. And I'm going to go ahead and call this meeting to order. Will the recorder please call the role? Councelor Urban here. Councelor Height here. Councelor Lamman here. Councelor Merid here. Councelor Settlemire here. Councelor Wilson. We have a hand raised. Will that work, Mindy?

Yeah. Yeah. Councelor Wilson, I can uh see that you're logged on, so I'll just watch for your appearance uh here in a little bit and count you as in attendance. Mayor Solsby

here. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. Items to be added to the agenda. I see none. Special presentations? None. Appearance of interested citizens. This is a time for citizen comment. The council will first take comments addressing items not listed on the agenda for a maximum of 30 minutes. The council will then take comments addressing action items on the agenda for a maximum of 30 minutes. Individual speakers must be recognized by the presiding officer, provide their name, identify whether they are a city resident, and if so, their ward. Please limit comments to three minutes or less with council approval. Comments regarding any matter scheduled for a public hearing may be provided only during that hearing. The council will not make any decisions based on public comment. However, staff and council may choose to ask questions or comment following the conclusion of the citizens comments. Michelle Parsons.

Well, hello. Um, I'm here. I'm a local resident and u matter of fact, I just moved here. Um, not even this be a month this this month. Um, I've noticed some things. Um I have that are very much of a concern in the parks and also behind the Dair area there seems to be a lot of homeless activity. Uh Coiner Park I walked by there a couple days ago and there was a tent in the grass and um couple days after that it was still s still laying there. Also the gazeos, all three of the gazeos there at the Row River Trail entrance. Homeless I mean drug activity. Homeless activity. I took pictures. I don't know if any of interest if anybody wants to see those pictures. I'd be more than happy to share those. Um yeah, and also uh caddy corner of the dairy mart. Bunch of garbage. Yet again, a lot of homeless and drug activity. Um, I'm not just concerned for myself, but I'm concerned for other folks, too. That go to Coiner Park. You know, there's a there's kids that play there and, you know, the basketball courts or whatever else is there. You know, families with children, you know, coming through there. It not only looks horrible, but horrible for the town. I mean, it gives a town a horrible image, I think. Um, that's just my thoughts on that.

Thank you. You're welcome.

But, I'm sure glad that lady spoke before me. Anyway, I'm Butch Gabrielson. Uh, I know the chain of command. I was in service. So this morning I came down to talk to Corey. He was unavailable. Went to talk to Mike. He's unavailable. So I thought I'd come talk to their bosses. Uh Coiner Park. You got RVs parked over there on the street within the park. I mean, they step out of their RV, cross the sidewalk, they're in the park. To my knowledge, the revision I talked to Corey about this six, eight months ago on Beeper, and the gentleman called in behind me and said, uh, he was with the group that revised the ordinance. You're not supposed to camp within 200 ft of a uh a park or a playground. That was what I I I didn't I don't didn't read it, but that's what I was told. So, if that's the case, they shouldn't even be there, much less tagged for 72 hours around, go around the block a couple times and come back. I've got tenants over there that call me. And today I give them all your numbers because if it's up to me to fix it, you people just tell me I got your permission. But the thing is they've got little kids. None of these people have kids. Uh not the most desirable looking people. Neither am I. So I can understand that. But, uh,

they're a little fearful and, uh, it's a narrower street than most streets. I don't know if you're aware of that. When they back out of their driveway, sometimes they can't even back out of their driveway because their campers are sitting over there. So, anyway, something's got to be done. Any questions? Well, that tells me if you don't have a question, you don't care. So, uh, let's get to Karen because next time I come in here, I'll have the answers for the questions you didn't ask.

But I assure you, we care and we've definitely been working. Councelor Cedomire, um, I believe we spoke earlier today. Yes, we did. Um there is something coming up regarding that our item number nine on the agenda and so um it should already be there from the when they revise the old ordinance. We haven't we have something on the agenda. I it just I think it would be nice for you to if you can wait around for that and see how that goes because I'm not sure how it's going to go either. But we'll learn together. Okay. Thank you,

Councelor Merid. Thank you, Mayor. Um, Chief, could you uh clar clarify is the ordinance written so as to prevent camping within 200 feet of a park or playground? Yes.

All right. Um also, um to Miss Parsons, um the area at Dairy Mart is our designated uh overnight camping area. Um there has been recently signs added. I'm not sure if there's a different uh directive for enforcement, but normally the people when they left the camp when at 8:00 in the morning, they would move their things to the sidewalk across the street and wait until it was reopened. Now I'm noticing uh particularly one resident that is not extremely mobile is moving over to court uh Coiner Park and the signs seem to indicate that they were not to store any uh materials or possessions on city property on the sign I saw. And so I'm wondering are they being encouraged to move across the street into Coiner Park? Are they no longer allowed to leave their things there? and and while they attend to them is that air counselor Merida um we're spending a significant amount of time dealing with this. Um nobody's turning a blind eye to anything. Um we're not ignoring the problem. Um I can tell you that we've cleaned that up I don't even know how many times. Um, it happens with the police department and public works probably every 2 to 3 weeks, I would say, is a fair estimate at this point. Um, we clean it up, we go back, we clean it up, we go back. I mean, so we're putting a significant amount of resources towards all of those things that were mentioned here tonight. Um, but

we also have other calls for service. Um, we have other things that we're doing throughout the day. Um, and sometimes we have to prioritize those activities. And I was just looking at some numbers. Um, Friday there was 46 calls for service in a 24-h hour period, 37 on Saturday, another 44 on Sunday. So, there's two officers working. Um, Friday night, um, I got a phone call about 8 8:30. Um, ran out the door with a hoodie and a pair of jeans on to go cover some officers on a high-risisk call. That's how we're staffed. Um, that's the norm for this police department right now. So, um the officers are out there working really hard and the and the particular um uh the camper at uh Coiner Park was contacted at about 8:00 on Sunday night. Um I just double checked that and also the gentleman in the vehicle was contacted on Sunday night by our patrol officers. So, in between everything that they're doing, they are making contact and doing what they can do. Thank you for that clarification. I'm in no way in um asking you to do more. I'm asking has there been a change of s with the installation of the sign that I found actually in the middle of the street.

Um I'm wondering is that created movement away from that area? I when it was contained more it would be all right there but I I've noticed that certain individuals moving away from the area during the day and I'm wondering is that a new enforcement strategy and that might so give rise to what the resident is describing.

So Mayor Councelor Meriday um that's that's not an enforcement strategy. We don't direct people to go anywhere. Um, what we do is we open the camp gets opened at 5:00 in the evening. They're allowed to go in and they're allowed to lawfully be there till 8:00 in the morning. When we close it at 8:00 in the morning, they're free to go wherever they choose. We don't direct them to go one place or another. Um, we don't take an enforcement strategy of trying to to decide or try to um move them from one place to another um or direct them uh where to go. um we simply tell them that the camp is closed. Um they can't be there. It's up to them to to figure out where they want to go. Um but if they decide or they choose that if it's raining that day and they want to walk over and and spend time underneath the gazebo at Coiner Park, um they're lawfully allowed to do that. Um the same way with the gazebo, uh the shelter that we have at Trail Head Park, they're they're legally allowed to be in that park. So, um the fact that they camp overnight in our 12th Street camp doesn't prohibit them from using um city parks as long as their activities in those parks are lawful. If they're not lawful um and we get a call or we have the opportunity to uh to be proactive and we see that um the officers will address the illegal behavior. Um those things can be anything from disorderly conduct to offensive littering. So,

I do appreciate that that explanation. I was I was wondering because most what what what I've observed mostly was the minimum movement that they would just leave the camp and set up on the sidewalk. And then now I noticed that they were moving away and was wondering it just so happened that I had seen the sign and was wondering where they'd be encouraged to leave that area during the day. So, Mayor, council me, one of the things that uh that has been going on down there that um the city staff has worked to address, the police department mainly um but with the assistance of public works is um not allowing them to obstruct the use of of Lulu's dog park or trail head park, including the parking lot. Also, um not allowing them to obstruct the uh the use of the the lawful use of the sidewalk. So, um, the parking lot there is designed and was built for, uh, the community members to be able to drive their vehicles in, park their cars, and access either trail head park to get on the Row River Trail or to bring their dogs to Lulu's dog park. So, if they're in the middle of that parking lot and and their things are in a in a spread out in a way that vehicles can't uh access the park, then they're obstructing the uh the use of the park. So, um, we are asking them to move on if that's the case. Uh, so again, we're addressing the behavior. Um, and they they have many options for places they can go throughout the day. Um, and as long as they do so legally and lawfully, um, we're, you know, we're letting them know when their behavior is is unlawful and it violates either the city code or the or the OS.

Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you, Chief Andrew Gotautl.

My name is Andrew James Gotly. I am a 33-year resident of Cottage Grove. On July 4th in 2023, while the city was celebrating independence, your agents at Carry It Forward were taking mine. They gave me a 24-hour notice violating the 72-hour law, O RS195.505, and told me I could only keep what I could carry. They did this on a holiday when I couldn't get help or find storage. Because you failed to supervise Chris Mallister, I lost 20 years of my intellectual property that day. You're currently missing 1.6 6 million in your budget. Well, I'm missing my entire career because of your accounting errors. I'm serving a notice of tort claim tonight. I want full accountability, my property back, or restitution for my intellectual property and 20 years of my hard work. Thank you,

Ricky Crawford. I live on 120 I mean 106 North 16th Street right across from Safeway. Can you get closer? A little closer to the mic.

And um we have the homeless people that live in their cars which is a continuing effort out there. Been dealing with this for about three years over there since I've been there. And um started off handing them some money once in a while trying to be supportive. Bag of cans here and there. just ask them to keep the garbage picked up. That's all I ask. I said, "I don't mind you guys being out here. We don't all get a fair lot in life, you know, so I understand it. Some people struggle at times. It's continually getting worse. Um, I'm continually out there picking up garbage. Um, they'll be abusive of me if I park in the wrong way where they can't back into pick up their car or do whatever they feel like. I've had them yell at me and stuff like this constantly. Um, there's a lot of traffic that comes off of the bike path. I know, you know, you can stereotype. That's what I'm doing. I'm not making any accusations. I'm just sharing observations today that a lot of people that I would be a little nervous walking in an alley with are over there constantly with those cars that I'm seeing over there. They come, they knock on the window, they open the door, they reach inside, they shut the door, they leave. And um I I'm continually calling and pestering these guys over here when they have better things to be doing to come over and put a tag on them with that current system that's not really working. And I'll speak real quickly to the proposal on that as well. I really don't see that that's going to help because we come over and tagged them just a couple days ago. They shield his tag off the car about half an hour, an hour after they leave. He gets in his car and drives around the block three or four times, comes back three hours later and parks right back in the same spot. So, I don't know that the 24-hour thing is going to serve you very much for the issue that I'm having. I applaud the effort, but I think the only thing that's going to help in my little area would be some sort of a permit parking only. If they close it from 10:00 a.m. or 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. or something like that without having a permit, then we can do this in these areas where

we're having problem. I hear problems over at Conor Park. I'm most familiar with the ones where I'm at. Unfortunately, I would I would be willing to pay the $40 a year or whatever it is to get my permit so I could park my car over there during those hours in the off hours where they can't do that. Um, and I would I think you're going to probably if you do something like that, you're going to have to make it where only us residents can get those permits because otherwise they'll put together 40 bucks and go buy a permit and park over there in the same spot. And I think that that would also work for your RVs, people with boats and stuff. if I could only park in that with if I don't live within three blocks of that parking area or something like that, then that would allow something to do that. And I'm willing to sit down with you folks to come up with some better solutions to I'll travel to other cities to figure out what they're doing as well. I mean, I'm I'm all in on this, but I want to find solutions that work for everybody. Hopefully support the police a little better because I feel bad every time I call.

Thank you. public hearings. There are none consent agenda.

Mered uh proposed that the council adopt the consent agenda. Um, also like to recognize the Red Cross um and and the good work they do in our community.

That was a motion. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion with the second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you councelor resolutions and ordinances. Item A has been removed from the agenda and we will bring bringing that back at our next meeting. Item B, ordinance adopting zone change file number ZC4-25 for 78064 South 6th Street. Senior planning planner Lenny G.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, mayor and council. Um, on January 12th, 2026, the city council voted to approve the annexation of 78064 South 6th Street. Uh, it's map and tax law 20-03-33-33-0000900 0. Um, per section 18.04.090, the applicant is required to file a zone change application to convert from county zoning to city zoning prior to staff filing documentation with the Secretary of State. Currently this parcel is zoned uh by Lane County as AGT5 which is agriculture grazing timber grazing district. The applicant has requested that the R1 low density zone uh low density residential zone be applied to the parcel uh which is consistent with the current designation of L low density. Um, planning commission held a public hearing for this file on February 18th, voting 70 in favor of applying the R1 lowdensity residential zone to this parcel. Um, as the planning commission does not have the ability to adopt an ordinance, council is now being asked to ratify the planning commission's decision to approve this by adopting uh the prepared draft ordinance. Uh staff recommends that the city council holds the first vote on the attached ordinance for file ZC4-25. Uh the ordinance was prepared and has been available for at least one week prior to this meeting. This ordinance could be adopted at one meeting and staff recommends ratification of the planning commission's decision. Thank you.

Ordinance number. This will be ordinance number 3260. Did I say 6? Little dyslexia there. 3206. Thank you, councelor. Thank you, mayor. I'll be be careful because I have that, too. Um, I move that the city council adopt ordinance number 3206 amending the city of Cottage Grove municipal code title 14 land use the citywide zoning map for the parcel addressed as 78064 South 6th Street map tax lot 20-03-33-33-00900.

We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? Will the recorder please call the role? Councelor Settlemire. I. Councelor Wilson. I got a thumbs up. Thank you. Mayor Solsby. I. Councelor Merid. Hi. Councelor Hank. Hi. Councelor Irvin. Hi. Councelor Lamman. I motion carries unanimously.

Business from the city council. Optional parking amendment. Chief of police Corey Chase.

All right. Thank you, Mayor. Uh council. Um I think you guys have all hopefully had a chance to go over this and review this. I think the big change that we're looking at in this is um there's a couple of things on here. One of them is um whether or not we want to change the time limit from 72 hours to 24 hours. And I think that's the biggest um the biggest change that we're looking at. And we considered uh several things when it comes to RVs, trailers, boats, etc. Um so, uh one of the things that we looked at was with enforcement and consistency with enforcement, uh based on our limited resources. And so we have a part-time community service officer who does the bulk of um parking enforcement in addition to a number of other uh duties throughout the day. Uh but this is one of the duties assigned to the community service officer. So um the 72-hour posting uh is generally not conducive to a shift when you're here less than eight hours in your workday and generally like Monday through Thursday. So, the 24-hour time period uh theoretically would would help with the ability to tag those vehicles and then address them the following day within 24 hours. Um that could happen in that shortened uh work week. So, um but I think if you look in here, there's um there's also some considerations in here when we when uh we talk about what some of the the legal limitations to that are. And the uh the OS is is listed in here, which I know you guys are all familiar with uh 19550. Um but if if if the vehicle is is considered an established campsite, which is a really broadly defined term um in OS, um then then the 72-hour notice is

required. Um again, so we so we would revert back to 72 hours. Um, and that's in a lot of the cases that you heard here tonight from some of the the concerns from the citizens. So, um, so there's some some information in here to to consider. Um, you know, there's, um, you know, there's also, you know, again, um, one of the things that that I always hesitate to do is create unreal expectations of of what that looks like based on our resources and what we can actually um, keep up with and and realistically enforce based on our our limited staff. So,

councelor Urban.

Thank you, mayor. I recall, I know it's going to be totally different jurisdictions, but there was requirements uh for if you were camping in at a campsite in the national forest or uh or on BLM that you could be there for a couple of weeks, but then there was a distance requirement about how far you have to move from that site to spend another two weeks. I wonder if there's a similar concept that can be um applied within the municipality. So it's you don't have to you know you can't game the system in in terms of moving. So the mark on the tire just goes under if there's a a distance requirement. Has that been explored?

Mayor Councelor Irvin. Um I think again this you know this goes back to um we we have looked at that and I think this requirement is that you have to move you know there there's a a required distance that you have to move and you can't just like you said drive around the block come back and park or move it. Um but um again the challenge is is like how do we how do we consistently enforce that right? So, if they move from one place um and they're gone for two weeks and they move a mile down the road, they're in um they're in compliance with what we have, they come back a couple weeks later and they're back in the same spot. Uh we have to get right back there or or wherever they move to. If they're there and they and they park for two days, they're in violation again because they've been there more than 24 hours. So, we move them from one spot to another spot around the city. So, and and I don't think there's a legal way and and we can double check with Miss Connley. She's on uh line with us tonight. Um I don't know that there's an option for us to say that if you're if you're cited or you um or you're illegally parked in the city limits that you can't park back in the city limits. So, um again, we would be moving them around town. So,

and also my other question piggybacking on councelor Irvin is uh I if they have been there already for 72 hours then would that that would be established campsite would it not and then we'd have to give them by state 72 hours

so mayor the yeah that I mean that's that would likely be the case the established camping the way it's it's defined is loosely defined. So I don't think there's really a time where we can say they've been there for 48 hours or they've been there for 72 hours that it's then considered established. Um there's a reasonleness standard that we have to apply to that. But once if if it appears that it is is an established camp, then we have to give them 72 hours. So but what constitutes established um is a little bit less clear. Miss Connley, would you like to weigh in on that?

Well, I mean, as you just heard from Chief Chase, that is Oh, first off, can everybody hear me?

Okay, great. Um, it's an undefined term, so we don't know at all what established campsite means. Um, and the city of Eugene did have a case where they were trying to say that anything longer than 24 hours was established. So, if it was there for less than 24 hours, they were not giving 72 hours notice and a court found that wasn't reasonable. Um, but of course, they're looking at not just a parked car, they're looking at what's associated with the parked car, what would make it a campsite. So, um, the the officers are just being incredibly diligent, um, exercising their judgment. I I do want to point out though that the re not the recommended none of this is recommended that's that's an important point to make. This is just raising policy options for the council's consideration. Um, but of the draft language before you, the subb that would be new does say that a vehicle would have to be moved at least two blocks from the original parking location for at least 24 hours. So, I I believe that addresses councelor Urban's inquiry of whether such a timeline could be built into proposed legislation, and it's there. Merid Day.

Thank you, Mayor. Um I uh the the resident that expressed um a number of ideas. Um one was to designate a parking zone that would require a permit also suggested check with communities that have uh parking programs. We've heard the chief state that we do not have the personnel to enforce additional um uh traffic I mean parking violations. So I'm thinking larger here. Um I did live in a community where they had a very effective residential uh parking area because parking was a premium there. So, um, if you were a resident of that zone, then you got you applied for a parking permit. If you needed to park on the street, you had to show your registration that showed your your vehicle was registered at that address to receive the permit. So, you got the permit that allowed you to park unlimited in that zone. If you were using that zone as a visitor, you had two hours and then you had to move your vehicle or you would could be cited. So, if we establish parking zones throughout Cottage Grove, um, sold permits, how much how many vehicles would I guess we would need to figure out how many vehicles are parked on the street approximately, how much it would cost for a parking agent and scale the parking permit appropriately to to pay for either a parking enforcement or additional community service uh, officer that could enforce this and that way we could solve the problem by uh residential parking permit is an idea.

Councelor set. Well, and I'm wondering was that looked into it? I I don't see it as a recommendation, but the idea of parking permits, was there something that you can tell us that how that isn't a good idea? So, I'll I'll defer to Mike. He's got his hand up. Mr. Sarowine.

Well, good evening, your honor, members of the council. Um, we talked about a large number of options and we did talk about the idea of, so I call it zone parking. Uh, where you're allowed to park in a specific zone. Example I'd give you is people that maybe live uh around either Hayward Field um or you know, I still say MacArthur Court because I'm old uh you know in the university and so that you know during game times people wouldn't be able to park uh in their front of their houses. And so there are cities that have implemented zonal parking and I've I've worked in cities that do that. It's it's a big program and it does require a lot of administration both at the city hall level to issue permits, review people's applications for permits and then also to have, you know, somebody as a paring officer on the street. Now, if council would like, we could certainly put together, you know, some kind of a proposal for that, but understand that our current resources are not going to be able to support that program. It's going to have to be a completely self-funded, self-supported standalone program. And I would suspect given size of Cottage Grove, I mean, this is a a city of 12,000, not a city of 150,000. Uh it's going to be very difficult for us to cash flow from just permits only uh to cover the cost of an enforcement officer.

Councelor could just maybe say some things that I feel are obvious. This is really frustrating. Um even the concept of putting additional burden on uh residents for a parking permit. Uh cost associated with it, time and effort and it still probably won't be effective to address the root issues and they'll they'll move around. um is is not something that as I think about it that I could get behind and support. Um I know that we're we're dealing with enforcement. There's there's a myriad of things um that one could be cited for um in these situations that we're seeing. And I think we just have a lack of uh resource for enforcement uh in many ways. I mean, I remember driving around. I used to get pulled over a fair amount as a young 20some year old and the number of things that they could find to pull me over and potentially sight me for uh including having loose items in the car because it produced a safety hazard. if a sudden, you know, defensive maneuver had to be. And I never cease to think about that when I drive by these vehicles. I'm like, there is nothing. Maybe it's not loose anymore because there's no room for anything to be loose, but I just think I think we should consider this, you know. Um, I don't know how

efficacious a change of 24 hours is going to be. I don't know if we're at the point where it's like what we ended up doing with a a single location, you know, that this is the designated place where you can park if that's wiser. Um, if you say because we because really you got to go down the list of what are the primary issues. We have public safety, safety in the neighborhoods, safety um concerns of just people want I mean we're trying to create a welcoming uh you know walkable town where you know kids can be out and about in relative reasonable you know expectation of safety and it's like we don't know I mean we're humans we're we live in community we're that doesn't look safe. Um, you know, I had a question about what are the standards for registered sex offenders. Um, when someone I think when they come to reside in a home, there's a registration process and there's a fixed place and there's a awareness. But what about in an RV? What about transient uh populations? Like these are they're practical real realities that we live with. And so it's not unreasonable to be like this is really concerning. Um so I I guess that's that's where I'm kind of at with it. I don't want to put any more burden on the residents. Let's it it's a proximity issue of you know turn your head. Yeah, it's a safety issue for families and and el and all all groups and uh what can we do along those lines of of

hearing the resident's concerns I guess in that way

I was in my office on Friday um when Mr. Crawford walked through the door and um city manager spoke with him as well and he was at his wits end and you all heard him talk that he has tried and tried and tried to work with people that are camping across from him and and I heard you and can relate and know how I would be if I was in that position and how frustrating it must be to have to go clean up messes when they leave and and not being kind to you. So, I get it it completely. Um and uh as you said, Greg, you know, you don't know if the 24 hours is going to be something that will work for Cottage Grove, but I do support it. I think it's a jumping off point and I I think to let people get too established in one spot in a residential neighborhood where no one knows who they are and when you have small children and I I I think about those things because you know your neighbors and you get to know your neighbors and a lot of times it's for that reason. So that, you know, I wouldn't let my kids go play at someone's house when they were little if I did not know their parents. And I don't if I didn't know who was camped across the street from me, that would be alarming. And um and that's why you pick your neighborhood and you know do your best to make sure that your children are safe. And so I hear what you're saying absolutely on that. And it's frustrating to think about having to get permits and have people pay a price to park in front of their own property, too. And I can see citizens getting really angry about that. And and so it's this balancing act, but yet at the same time, a few

people with bad behaviors and and let me make that clear. I'm talking about bad behavior. I'm not talking about people. It's bad behavior. And so people that are disrespectful to the people that are right across the street from them, that's not fair either. So, you know, expecting others to pick up after you. That's not fair. So, I wonder about putting something into effect for a short time, too. I mean, there's that kind of thing and just kind of see how it plays out. So, I think this is worth talking about. And I don't know if that's the perfect plan, but I think that we might want to explore something along those lines. And even if it's not a um a charge for it to the residents that live there, and I know what we're talking about is, well, this is going to up the cost of our city employees taking in permit process, and I get that. But so much of what we do in in any municipality is complaint driven. And so if you know there's no complaints, you're already getting complaints from when I spoke to Mr. Crawford, you know, you you guys are out there quite often. And so there's that. And so, you know, I just think that we should explore this a little bit further and and see where it goes, you know, because I I don't like seeing a citizen that is tried to be kind and tried to be good and and is so frustrated right now cuz that's not fair either. Councelor Cinemire,

is it even legal to talk about um something that uh was brought up was can we if we have a place for them to camp, for people to camp from dawn to dusk like tent campers, would that be an easier enforcement? Is that even legal when there's a vehicle involved? So, Mayor Councelor Settlemire, um, I think it would be, but again, I mean, I I mean, I I've shared with the council numerous times the amount of time and energy that we spend just on, you know, 10 to 12 individuals at 12th Street. And I'm my recommendation would not to be to create another opportunity like that that somebody has to manage it. Somebody has to open it at night. Somebody has to close it in the morning. Somebody has to allow them in in the evening. Somebody has to make sure they're out in the morning. Somebody has to be there to clean up the mess that's left behind. um whether they're issued a citation or not, um somebody has to clean up the mess that's left behind. So, police resources, public works resources, um we can't add any more to our plate in the police department. um with our current staffing and our current case load and the types of calls that we're that we're working on and that we're investigating, we have to prioritize what we do throughout the day. So, um and I don't know that we've got the

resources to manage something like that. In fact, I do know we don't have the resources as it stands now to manage something like that. Council serv and and just for us all to kind of understand that situation citations seem to be minimally effective to say the least. Uh you know ordinance violation um one certainly here and my understanding and correct this is wrong. It's also that way with motor vehicle violations, right? I mean, you can't even lose your license anymore. Mayor, Councelor Urban, um you can

um there's I mean, we could have a really long conversation about um the way things used to be with driving while suspended, driving uninsured, and all of those things. And and you're correct to um that things have changed. So, um, if you do get a certain number of citations, if you fail to appear on those citations, the judge can order a suspension of your license. But then what does that do? Um, years ago when I was on patrol as a young patrol officer and you were driving while suspended, um, you got pulled over, you got a citation, and your vehicle got impounded. We don't do that anymore. We, the law doesn't allow us to to do that anymore. So, um, that's a pretty effective way to keep somebody from driving, right? You take the tool they're using to commit the violation. Um, so to an extent, the citations rack up, the suspensions rack up. Um, in the annual report that I presented a couple weeks ago, one of the things that that kind of jumped off the page to me when it came to traffic enforcement was the number of uh licensing violations or non-moving violations, the number of suspended drivers and uninsured drivers that were citing. So, um, they're getting citations, but again, yeah, um, you know, what what is the effect? what is the impact of of issuing those citations? Um, so I just wanted it to be known for so we all kind of know. I mean, we sit here, we we we hear testimony from from our residents and go, at least I go, yeah, what do what can we do? What can we do? This is years and years of this. and

then through the you know be down there the the walk by the camps and a citation is issued and it's laughing I won't show up for this one either at court you know and then come down here at court to observe the judge and what was it 80% don't show up and so we just have basically the perfect ecosystem to just um you know to really take advantage of people and and and trash trash it down because everyone's hands are tied.

So, Mayor Councelor Irvin, um yeah, I don't have much to dispute that, right? Um and I can assure the council and the citizens in this community that um are frustrated that uh the police officers that are asked to do this job every day are are just as frustrated, if not more frustrated. So, um, we live here, too. Uh, and like I said, I've seen things evolve over my career. Um, and it seems like, uh, very few times, um, are we working in favor of, uh, the law enforcement officers or the hardworking men and women that live in the community. So, um, it's a challenge. Um we we have to stay within the parameters that the laws um are are written for. Um but um we're frustrated as well. It's really frustrating to arrest somebody 40 or 50 times in a year. Um and know like you said, um I mean sometimes they're throwing the citation away before the officer even gets back to their car. Um, so we've done a lot to try to get creative with what we have and to work within the system. Um, part of that is building the relationship with the district attorney's office, working with the sheriff's office um, to get some of those cases and some of those people held accountable um, through the circuit court and held in the Lane County Jail uh, serving sentences in the Lane County Jail. We've also seen an increase um uh in the number of bed spaces or or days of bed space being used at the Springfield Municipal Jail. So, I know some of those things are working. Um and Judge Fischer and I have talked uh several times uh since I've been here

about different things we can do. Um and again, all of this is new to us, right? The the the the goalpost is continually moving, if you will. And every time it does, we have to adjust and figure out, you know, what do we do um to legally hold people accountable for their actions. And so, um, as we continue to shift, we see improvements in some areas, but there's other areas where, you know, um, the law is is not in our favor. Councelor Hank,

I'm frustrated as well. I do a lot of traveling in the state of Oregon with my job and I've spent a lot of time in communities the same size of ours and I'm not seeing the same problems. Jacksonville, it's approximately the same population. Sisters, just two examples. And you know, what are they doing differently than us? Like what it doesn't is that something we can look at like can we ask them what are you doing because I go to Jacksonville and this is not what we see there. It's a beautiful town very similar to Cottage Grove and I'm just curious what are we doing wrong? I'm not you guys are doing a great job. Thank you so much. But what are we doing that's preventing us from having the same community? So, Mayor, councelor Hank, I think um you know, obviously every community is different and one of the things that I've seen because you're correct. I mean, you can go to different cities and and it looks much different. Um I think when you look at the resource constraints that are consistent across Lane County, um I think that's what you see in Lane County. you can drive to Eugene and um I was there this weekend and driving back just as you're as you're heading out of town um on the freeway and you look to the right I mean that just I mean almost literally sprung up overnight right um you know I was in Springfield just the other day and I'm seeing similar issues in Springfield um and again it comes back to um resources and I know some of the areas that you know when some of the case law or some of the uh the issues around the illegal camping and things like that, one of the things that they talk about in communities like Medford is that they have multiple different options. They have different places for people to go and how they're

funding those or where they're getting, you know, what what resources they're allocating to that. They have multiple different options. Um those aren't those aren't our reality here in Cottage Grove. So that it it looks a lot different. Um but I think you know for the most part you know every community in Oregon is having to deal with those same challenges with the OS um and some of those uh Supreme Court decisions and and how they've impacted us. But um again it's it's all going to be resource driven and how much we can put to that. And if we if we had a designated car camping site, again, resources, right? You could do that. Um, you could have somebody there that manages that. You could have law enforcement officers or community service officers and public works employees and and site managers to kind of oversee that and do that. But again, in our current situation with our budget and and the resources we have available to us here in Cottage Bro, um we we don't have the ability to do that right now. I would uh just like to touch on the issue of the trash left behind one more time too because uh I know I I've cleaned up several of the campsites and know that literally some of them were just biohazard and I know when you guys became police officers that was not in your job description and neither was it for public works and uh I think a 24-hour limit would definitely help alleviate when somebody hasn't been in one spot as long. And so I that's why I support it. And I don't know if council wants to go

to a vote to get that ball rolling and then still talk about other options. Mayor, can I add something to that? Absolutely.

Thank you, Mayor. Um I think to your point um when we moved from the previous model we had with 12th Street and Douglas Street that was one of the biggest challenges that we had was accumulation um that was creating that that hazardous situation. So, while we still see it, it's I mean, all of us who were here through all of that and see the change we've made now can can say that um without a doubt, it doesn't accumulate like it did. And and yes, we're still dealing with it to an extent, but not like what it was. So, um, and I think the reason for that is, um, you know, we're we're trying to be, uh, as diligent as we can in making sure that there isn't abandoned property and and, um, and accumulating property just left, um, for days on end in our city parks.

Councelor Sedmire. Smite,

I've had an opportunity to go to the camps almost weekly. The camp um behind Dairy Mart almost weekly for months now. Um each time I've had an opportunity to go to the camp, I've had a wonderful volunteer go with me. Um we were able to clean it up. Um there were maybe in that I don't know 40 times um that where there were people who would not get out of their tent during the time um I was there and we couldn't clean it up. There were definite pe um opportunities where we just had to go and either the public works had to do it or um city police had to intervene and do something with that. Um but at least every week um when I left that camp, it was a place where people could go back and feel okay about camping. We were able to clean it pretty darn well. Um the idea that the people there um are a hindrance um and it's and take energy where do they go like like has been mentioned if they had

a place to go many of them would be very would welcome very much the opportunity to go somewhere and get some help, do some things. Um there's many people I would say the majority of the people that are at the camp now um don't see a way out. Don't feel like they have options where they can go and be be able to move on. Um I'm frustrated too. I'm not sure what the answer is. I know that if there was a car parked across the street from me that kept on spewing garbage and all sorts of that thing um that I would be frustrated, but when one of the one of our speakers tonight said um if you guys can't handle it, I will handle it. um that causes me maybe more frustration and caution for the whatifs that may be coming if we leave tonight without any kind of idea of next steps. So, um I think I would like to go along with at least investigating the cost for the parking zones or some kind of thing where we don't leave tonight saying um let's change it from this many hours to

this many hours when under our current condition. I believe um Chief Chase, aren't I um correct in saying you don't think that that would help um see any real significance because of our current um staffing. Mayor, Councelor Settlemire, um there's a lot in in what you just said and I'll I'll address the last piece you just said about resources available from the police department. Um the reason for the 24 hours from 72 hours is because um we hope that that makes it a little bit more consistent for our community service officer, our one part-time community service officer to be able to address that um rather than having to monitor or track that for 72 hours to do it over a 24-h hour period. So, um, the other piece about resources is that I I I think there's some things that that are really important to clarify when we talk about resources. um we have resources available and and when we talk about some of our um community members that we are spending significant amounts of time with um there are programs for those who are um addicted to substances for those with untreated um behavioral health issues. um one of the biggest challenges for us is when they refuse those services over and over and over again. So um and that is something that is factual that we deal with uh when we have people who have criminal charges for trespassing. Some

of these things that we that we classify as quality of life crimes and we know that they also have addiction issues and we made those changes. The legislature made those changes. Um, and with us here in Lane County specifically making a good faith effort to stand up a deflection program, which we've done, and we've had some success stories, but we also have some people that we've continued to offer those services to, who either flat out refuse to take advantage of those resources that are there to help them with their addiction issues and to deal with those criminal charges that are pending against them. Um, so I think to characterize it as they they would take the opportunity to take advantage of resources if we offered it to them. Um, our police officers, my conversations with my staff, and I know because I've had those same interactions with my team, we've had the peer navigators from the deflection program here doing ride alongs with our police officers proactively reaching out to people. um and offering them services only to have them continually turn them away. So, and I and I do think that's an important point to clarify.

Thank you, Chief.

Mr. Honor, members of the council, uh two things. First, you know, it's very difficult to express how incredibly frustrated our police officers and our public works folks are working with this issue. Uh the chief's being polite, I'll be less polite. It has just been profoundly frustrating uh for our officers and for our public works employees dealing with this. Uh the second thing I would say is is that you know we can certainly bring you back a proposal for a zonal parking plan but understand that it's going to have to be a standalone program not utilizing the resources from our existing resources from our police department. we'll have to find a way to develop additional resources uh to put together a program that again has to be done here at city hall for people to get permits and then also enforcement out into the field. So, you know, we can certainly bring that to you. Um but you know, I just want to emphasize that it's not going to utilize any existing resources.

Council me um for shortterm um I'm not sure planner crow um to change current um parking like if it's no designated parking I mean there's no restriction on the parking to add a 30 minute zone or a a 2hour zone what the process would be for that

sure uh mayor councelor Mary um I actually just spoke with Carrie about this um it is something that would be brought to city council um is my understanding so it's out of the land use side of things um unless it's tied to like a conditional use permit or something like that. So for particular hot issue, hot areas such as the Safeway area, maybe that might be a short-term solution for those areas that seem to be a con and can a a gathering place for consistent misuse to declare that a short-term parking and uh issue a or or by permit for residents in that particular zone. That might solve that. But again, it'll deflect to some other area, I'm sure. But at least it could give those residents some relief.

Council ser um what if we have a I'm assuming these these notices whether it be 24 hours if we go with that is that if there is a violation of that there's a towing associated. Is that correct,

Mayor Councelor Urban? That is correct. So if if they're in violation, what what that allows the community service officer to do is put the notice on there. The notice essentially um letting them know that if it's there in 24 hours, it'll be impounded. Okay. So if we if we did a similar um kind of blanket wide thinking about a citywide there's you know 24hour kind of camp park beyond that it is complaint driven and if you are if you can demonstrate if you're a resident if there's residence you know we'd have to talk about what that might be where there's the registration shows that that um you don't you could come in and it wouldn't be any cost. It would be you know the I don't know if the court administers uh like the citation uh but it would be dismissed if you can demonstrate that you're um a resident. Would there be something like that where it's not so ownorous to stand up a new department? Um and maybe we can explore something along those lines. And all of these things are switches that, you know, potentially could be turned on and off if they become really problematic. But maybe maybe we don't have to overthink it too much. Maybe it's like, hey, you can't park here in Cottage Grove for more than 24 hours um anywhere and it's complaint driven. Mayor U councelor Irvin I think yeah to your point when you're talking about complaint driven right because we I mean if you were to drive around the city of Cottage Grove and we're not talking about um the circumstances that we see over by Safeway but if you drive through a residential neighborhood somebody has their boat parked there um and they park their boat in front of their house

because they don't have room for it in their driveway but they take it up fishing you know multiple times throughout the Um, so they just leave it parked on the, you know, on the street in front of the residents. If if this changes to 24 hours, they're in violation as well. So, um, so they're they would be subject to tag and and impoundment as well, right? Because it would apply to all, uh, vehicles parked on the street. So, um, but again, to your point about complaint driven, I mean, I we've talked about our staffing levels. We're not staffed to go send somebody out every day um to go and when we talk about two-hour zones and 30 minute parking and things like that. Um, we have zones like that already downtown, um, we don't have anybody to go enforce that. So, um, and as Mr. Sour Wine said, you know, that to to do that would need to be like a standalone program. So, I guess to your point of of just simplifying it and saying, "Hey, this is what it is." Um, just know that if your neighbor complains, right, um, that your boat or your RV, whatever, is parked on the street for more than 24 hours and somebody calls that in, if we can get somebody over there, that's what we're going to do. That would be a complaint that would come in. We would go do that. So, this response that's these are the unintended con consequences that we really do want to try to avoid because I could see that vindictive city neighbor being more of a nuisance than a an RV park across. Um but

but at the same time what the other thing that councelor Urban said is that is it possible to put something on a citation that says if you can come and prove this is your house that you're parked in front of or if then you still have if you're not home for a certain amount of time then you get towed and then you have impound fees and then you have get ited out of impound fees. So that does get sticky. But

mayor, to your point, um I think all of those things are options, right? And I think all all that would be as a matter of process with um with the court and that would be something for uh Judge Fischer to weigh in on, but he would have the discretion to be able to do that, right? If they if they come in and contest the citation or they're able to provide some sort of mitigating um information, then yeah, and and we could have that program in place. those those exist for other things um as well in other in other courts and in other communities. So, Councelor Lamman,

Madame Mayor, Council, uh so real quick, uh Councelor Hank had mentioned Sisters and another small town. Uh I did some quick research on them. They don't open a warming shelter unless it's 20 or below. We open ours at 38 39. The unhoused populace in the sisters area primarily relies on central Oregon towns Bend Redmond because they have the resources. Unfortunately, Cottage Grove and us, we are dealing with the consequences of our own actions. We have in a way condoned the homeless population coming to Cottage Grove as we experienced with our camps that we had to close down. Unfortunately, we can't just wave a wand and have a utopian society. That would be awesome because then the neighbor's dog poop wouldn't be in my yard either. But we can't. It has always been an issue where you cannot legislate behavior. You can't do it. The individuals who habitually keep moving from one spot to another back to the same spot again has become a learned behavior that they can continue to just get away with it. I think I'm not condoning anyone going out and and harassing people, but for a lot of the people in this community, it's become a norm. You drive by a Safeway, there's all the rigs

parked again. You become numb to it over time. And I think it's just kind of like a a wild animal with miners can can attest to it. You get a bear that keeps coming into your camp, you got to scare it away. Got to keep harassing it over and over and over again. Eventually, it's not going to want to stay there. I don't know if the police department can make it a routine to do a daily drive-thru. Let them know that, hey, we're here. We're watching you. Um, but I definitely think we need to look at doing something to help mitigate the situation with the least possible impact on the the tenants, the homeowners, because I think doing permits is just going to cause an extra undue hardship onto them having to come down and say, "Hey, I need a permit to be able to park in front of my house or my my in-laws are coming in for a week. They just got cited. I need to prove that they were here. It adds an extra undue burden onto the ones who are following the rules. And it seems like that ends up being the case. Anytime a body tries to make things better is they actually make things harder on the ones following the rules. So it is a very fine line that we need to try to tow on how do we make things better without making it worse on the ones who aren't breaking the rules. I would love to see in theory us change it to a 24-hour policy, but realistically unless we have some sort of enforcement

mechanism to keep them from coming back in a couple days or a week, they're just going to keep coming back. There's no way to prevent it. I love this country when we have a lot of freedoms and liberties and we can't infringe on people's liberties to right to movement to travel. So realistically, what are we supposed to do when you you can't tell them no, you can't go here? Councelor Merida.

Thank you, Mayor. I just a couple of observations. Um, Sisters and, uh, Jacksonville, neither are directly on the I-5 corridor. That's I think our primarily attraction for people in vehicles is we're on freeway and you can if you get this far and roll off, there you are. And um, so that's the other the others are you're considerably off the main beaten track. Uh, second, I believe in our Friday agenda session, if we were to tow and impound an RV, it would be approximately $5,000 to dispose of, I believe, was the number mentioned.

Yeah, I mean, that was included in the memo that was provided to the council. Uh, when we do, you know, tow a vehicle and we need to dispose of it, often times, uh, it's not like we can turn around and sell it for sell it. uh we end up paying money to have it disposed and some of the vehicles that we've seized were fairly bad shape in a number of different ways. Councelor Satire,

I sure would like us not to make a decision tonight. Um, my two offers I think would be and I think maybe it would just feel better letting it go for two weeks, invite the community to come with ideas for us to think about. Um perhaps the people who are interested in doing um zone parking could maybe talk with neighbors and see, you know, like would everybody on your block want to do it? Or perhaps some of us that represent zones can go and just do that in places that they see where this is a problem. And I don't know, just if if we vote for this 24-hour thing and then we leave and hope that things don't blow up again um without more input, I I think that we will hear about things very soon. I'm serving.

Thank you, Mayor. I guess I would propose, you know, my hesitation on the 24 hours is because I want things fixed. That's not reality. It's not going to happen. It is a um it is a meaningful action that mitigates potentially to a small degree the accumulation issue uh potentially. So, I'm willing to give that a go. Uh see how that works. not sidelining the other conversations. Um I want to I want to hear what can we do neighborhood to neighborhood. This the idea about if there's different signage. Uh that's great. Um all the all the things we just threw out a lot of stuff today. Um but maybe we can kind of come together on what what what we should direct staff to actually come back with at at a future meeting. maybe we can kind of rank rank those things of what is of most interest. Um but in the meantime, I um I don't know if this needs to be by motion or by consensus um for for an action item of the 24hour. Yeah, your honor, members of the council, uh, as a practical matter, what we would need is for you to direct city staff to return with, you know, an ordinance to amend the code and we certainly can do that. Uh, if the council would like us to, uh, you don't have anything in front of you this evening to vote on, if that makes sense. Uh, and you know, if you direct us, we'll bring that back. And if you have other ideas that you'd like us to take a look at, like I said, we're we're happy to put together a zonal parking plan. Um, but you know, understand that it's it's going to have to be essentially standalone, not utilizing existing either police or public works resources.

Councelor Smire

and that's kind of what I was trying to say is I think it would be nice to collect more information and maybe if we can just throw out uh we were brought today $40 for a zone thing. Is that something that the majority of the people that we talk to and that will come and talk to us next week um would favor something like $40 and and then take a look at that or and maybe we can Yeah, I'll bet you we can figure out how many houses there are in Cottage Grove pretty easy and which of those neighborhoods might be interested. in a zone and figure out what that price might be to actually and I guess is there such a thing as private security companies that do things like this kind of enforcement.

Sorry, Mayor Councelor Settlemire. Um, I mean, we we had a contract with a private security company previously that was assisting with um when we um to shift our business model at the 12th Street camp. So, um but again, um if you're going to pay a security company, you know, we could probably hire a community service officer to do the same function. So, I mean, they're they're not cheap. I'll just put it that way.

So, do we have a consensus to um have staff look at the 20 do an ordinance for 24 hours and then also look at what it would look like to do zonal parking?

I'm I'm curious for the Madame Mayor Council. uh to the police chief. I'm curious if you might have an answer to when it comes to the habitual street side camping. Is it more prevalent around the commercial type areas like the parks, uh grocery stores, or is it still somewhat prevalent in the residential areas also? So, Mayor Councelor Lamman, um I mean I think what we heard here tonight is the bulk of our our issue here in Cottage Grove. Um so it is more prevalent around our parks and in the business areas. Um I I think we get sporadic calls here and there in different residential areas. So and then again we try to address them as best we can when those complaints come in. Elvin,

I I I'm in favor of of having the staff come back with an ordinance and and laying out this options as well as doing research on the other items that we've we've talked about. A an anecdote just came to mind again of I mean it was a city employee that had a one of these RVs burst into flames in front of her house and they were concerned about you know losing their house. At what point or judgment call is a imminently, you know, dangerous vehicle come into play for for 24 or 72-hour kind of situations? How how do those determinations get made and can they be leaned on? So, Mayor Councelor Irvin, um if there's a a a distinct and articulable um hazard, then we don't have to wait the 24 or the 72 hours. We can deal with that hazard. Um again, those are I mean, they're subjective. So it, you know, the officer, the community service officer or the police officer. Um, and if we're going to impound something under that statute, it has to be a police officer, not a nonsworn uh community service officer. Um, but that is something that we can use if if there is um a road hazard. But we've got to be able to articulate those facts and if there's a danger um that that that vehicle that particular vehicle poses, then yes, we can address it. immediately.

Councelor Lamman, so to finish my my question there, uh, so if we were to implement a no overnight parking like 1000 p.m. to 6 a.m., let's just say around the the parks and Safeway. What would be the uh implementation to not have people parked there? Would we need to still give them the the notice or could they be towed on the spot if they're in violation of that?

Mayor, Councelor Lamman, if if there was something like that in place, the the there's a couple of things in play. if you if you have it uh an ordinance that restricts them from being in one area, um there has to be another area for them to go. So, it's it's the similar concept to us having our designated uh campsite where um rather than um camping in Coiner Park, which was something that we didn't want to do, we want to maintain our parks um for our community members and everybody to be able to use. So in order to exclude camping in Coiner Park, you have to have another spot uh where they can lawfully go. So if we if we create an exclusion zone um you know in in downtown or around the parks or you know um industrial areas or whatnot, uh then there there's going to need to be another place for them to lawfully go. um if if they're using those vehicles for um for purposes of of camping or to house themselves. So, in the instance of somebody's RV, boat um you know, that's just parked in front of their resident, it's an unoccupied motor home or travel trailer or or fishing boat or whatever. um then you know we can we can enforce that differently and I don't know if uh if Carrie wants to weigh in on that or not. Um if if you have any thoughts on that Carrie?

No I think you just identified the practical issues that uh we had discussed through with staff. I had prop I you know we talked through all of these different options that are being discussed today and they have upsides and downsides and the downside of creating zones as you push the parking elsewhere and we're I was told there isn't a place in town where anybody would want to concentrate um on street parking. Councelor Settlemire,

I'm sorry, but just so essentially the biggest issues we've heard about tonight with on the side of Coiner Park and by Safeway. So, is that an issue where it's pretty much like eight vehicles maybe at the most that we're chasing around our community? Mayor Councelor Settlemire. Um I don't I don't know the exact number. Those aren't the only vehicles. There's a concentration of them there next to Safeway and and for whatever reason there's a couple of them that keep making their way back over to Coiner Park. Um and I know uh you know for a fact that um at one point or another uh it's been addressed with each of those vehicles. So um but there is you know that group that for whatever reason that's the area that they can continue to come back to. So um where they go once they move along for a short period of time um I don't I don't know for sure

councelor settler. So, I guess I don't quite see why we wouldn't ask them to not be able to park on the streets, but invite them to go and park behind Dairy Mart in those parking places right next to the camp. Um cuz kind of for the same thing, we're seeing the people from the camp move over to city park and people see them way more readily at the city park than back by the camp. Um, we what would it look like if if the they were back by Dair?

Councelor Sedar, we've actually done that and when they were camping over there in the gravel and we saw the population grow exponentially. Is there a way to only have the people that we site have permission to park back there? Mayor, councelor Settlemire, I I don't know how you how you do something like that. I'm not I'm not exactly sure what what you're asking. Council Lamman,

if some I I guess I mean, hypothetically, if somebody gets a citation for parking, then they have permission to go I mean, my son parks in front of my house. If he gets a citation because he's there for longer than 24 hours, then do we just tell him to go park his car down at 12th Street overnight? I mean, that's what I'm I'm I'm not sure what you're getting at. And who manages that? So and who who manages the the the process for that I guess would be my question. I would like to see us move forward just in the essence of time. We I

But can I just I sure would hate to have the city spend their time looking into parking zones for us at this point. until we can wrap our minds around any kind of fee or how we would use it. Um, if we want to move forward with doing a 24-hour thing, I think that's fine. But it feels like we would waste our time on a parking zone thing. Um, unless we could flush it out some. Do we want to still look at different avenues that the city could suggest the staff counselor?

Yes, I would encourage the staff to look at all options. Um zone parking, um restricted restricted parking in problem areas, alternative parking areas. Um, also I think as part I was going to bring it up in concerns of council, but it seems to fit here well instead. Um, as the chief explained over and over from almost the beginning, we do not have resources to attack the quality of life issues. And that's what brings the residents here most to complain is quality of life issues. trash, uh, graffiti, um, you know, violations, smalltime violations, dogs, signs, trash, and yards. Uh so uh the solution that the chief proposed was hiring additional community service officers and that would be able to devote their time and energy into addressing these quality of life issues. So one of the proposals that we heard was to add a utility fee to pay for it. I know that's not a popular option, but that was a a quick fix to bring this uh re relief to quality of life issues. Regardless of how it's financed, we do need to satisfy our citizens a way to address quality of life issues and that's going to require boots on the ground and uh we have to figure out some way to pay for that. So, if a residential parking program could deliver that, which I doubt, but you

know, we need some way to pay for that additional help to get to these uh quality of life issues, right? Do we have a consensus to move this forward? You don't want to explore Can you give me some idea of what kind of staff time we're asking between now and when you could get back to explore all of these options?

Um well, mayor and council, um as far as the 24hour change to the parking, you know, I think the language is included in the memo that you have in front of you, so that certainly could be moved into an ordinance you could approve. Um and staff, you know, I kind of doubt we'll have anything for you by your next council meeting if that's the question, but we can certainly put together a proposal for a zonal parking plan. Um we're not reinventing the wheel here. Uh I've worked for other cities that have zonal parking plans. You know, Jean, Springfield, other cities around us um have zonal parking plans in place. It's certainly something we can bring back to you as an option. My personal opinion is I think we owe it to the citizens to look at all our options and because obviously what we're doing has not been working. So, uh I would be in support of that. Wilson's in support. Do I have to say it? I support that as well. Council Mary Das

I support looking at the options as long as it doesn't entail imposing fees on anyone. Look at the options. Well, thank you your honor, members of the council. Staff will return with the ordinance and also with a proposal. And as I said, I doubt we'll have it available by your next council. It's going to take some time to put it together. Thank you. All right. Concerns from council.

Uh would be interested in learning about the progress that we've made on the housing front. Um in terms of what we have as housing stock, single family, multifamily, um you know, apartments, the the different types of housing, um and as well as the permits that we have, kind of the history of, you know, where we are in terms of what's coming up, um along those lines. I mentioned it on Friday, but that's a number I'm interested in in in relation to uh our progress towards the stated goals of the housing needs analysis of 2018. Anyone else? Well, I just want to remind everyone this coming Monday, Community Center. It's the first call for volunteers for our big wild dogs festival in 2027 and the 50th anniversary celebration of Animal House. I hope you guys can all make it. It's going to be fun and there's going to be a lot of committees you can join if you wish to. All right, I don't see anyone else. All right, report from city manager.

Well, good evening, your honor, members of the city council. Oh, yeah. Why don't we go ahead and pass this on? Uh, council members have asked me for additional information about utility fees and I sent an email out to council members earlier today and you know there is no official list of all of the cities in Oregon what they are or aren't charging for utility fees. Uh, a group of city managers that we've kind of taken upon ourselves to try to create that list. uh what I what I emailed to you and then uh you're getting in paper form has you know about four dozen different cities and what they currently have uh as their fees. Now let me be really clear about this guys. No one is being asked to make any decisions about utility fees tonight. There is not going to be a utility fee proposal included in the budget that city staff is proposing. But as we have previously discussed, after we get through this budget process um in a July August timeline, um would like to have a conversation with city council uh about utility fees and the things that they could potentially uh you know be utilized for. But again, this is just information only. It was requested by council members that they wanted to know what was going on in other cities. And you know, this is kind of a moving target. Um it's a snapshot in time. Anytime you put together a list like this, it's going to change uh fairly quickly for different cities. I think in the email I sent to you, I noted a couple of cities that are considering changes that are already included in here. So again, this is information for council. Um if you have any questions, be happy to take them.

Any questions?

Thank you, your honor. That would conclude my report. Thank you. Report from the city attorney.

Hey, I'm not muted. Um, so the legislature has session the short session that's closed. Um, and I did promise to keep you guys updated on kind of the big ticket items. I'm sure that some, if not many, all of you have been watching the League of Oregon Cities weekly updates. Um, and so if you have, you're already apprised of most of what I'm going to cover. But I I'll so I'll do it quickly. If there are questions, we can circle back either tonight or in a future meeting. Um so there there was the correction for the Oregon Government Ethics Committee um Commission's uh priv prior decision that we've talked about from May of 2025 that prohibited uh counselors and other elected officials, other public officials from enjoying beverages and food provided by the their entity. So that is now a an express exception to the government ethics limits as well as merch of up to $100 in a year. So you can now accept that free of guilt or concern. Um they've also added a member of the Oregon Government Ethics Commission must have experience in local government. So that's exciting and helpful. you'll have a voice at the table when they're talking to public officials considering complaints again against public officials. Um the transient lodging tax division, you guys have some hotels in town, so this will this matters to you. doesn't matter to some of my clients, but it is shifted from a 7030 split from 70% of uh TLT revenue coming in to be spent on um um recreational uh tourist related facilities and promotion to 50/50. So 50% now can go in your your general fund and 50% on um tourism

related facilities and promotion. So that's that's going to be helpful for that bottom line um for your budgets. Uh serial meetings, we have some clarity around what constitutes serial meetings. So now when you're reading an article that's potentially about city business, unless of course it's a quasi judicial matter in a land use case, but anything else that potentially could be come before your city as a policy matter that can't the fact that you read it that information gathering not a serial meeting and some of OGC's decisions in this last year in particular has been they have been concerning. So the legislature tried to address that. Um on the other hand though of course you get a little you you lose a little uh grievances public meetings grievances instead of being filed within 30 days used to be the requirement it will now be 90 days. So um citizens who have concerns that public meetings were not held properly or violated various provisions of the public meetings law that timeline has increased to 90 days. Um, the one thing that I did not pick up on in those LOC legislative updates is the omnibus housing bill that did pass limits all and this one is important for your planning department. Um, just like limited land use decisions last go around now any applications that are coming in front of your city have a limited process. Notice is limited. No public hearings. This is for any application that impacts housing or trees. Um appeals. No appeals. The notice of decision only goes to the applicant and only the applicant can appeal a decision

to LUBA. So no more neighbor involvement really in housing applications. that will drastically change the goal one look um in local communities throughout Oregon. But I think that's enough. Does anybody have questions? Any questions? No questions, Carrie. Thank you. Wonderful. Yeah. Thanks for letting me be here. Items removed from the consent agenda. There are none. So this meeting is adjourned.