City Council Minutes - 12/18/2012 Agenda Item No. a
Meeting of a . a Lo • a C/3
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TIGARD
City of Tigard
Tigard City Council Meeting Minutes
December 18, 2012
1. SPECIAL MEETING -December 18,2012
N
A. Mayor Dirksen called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.
B. Roll Call
Name Present Absent
Mayor Dirksen ✓
Council President Buehner ✓
Councilor Henderson ✓
Councilor Wilson ✓
Councilor Woodard ✓
C. Pledge of Allegiance
ED
2. MAYOR'S BLUE RIBBON TASK FORCE REPORT
Mayor Dirksen introduced this agenda item. The mayor brought the Blue Ribbon Task Force
together to consider different financial options the city might look to in the future. He referred
to his 2011 State of the City address where he summarized the city's financial situation and
challenges we were facing to our commitment in the city to maintain financial stability while still
providing the level of service the city organization and the citizens expect.
This group consisted of prominent citizens who reviewed the city's circumstances to determine
if there were possible courses of action that the city could take. Several Task Force members
were present to share the outcome of their work.
Assistant City Manager Newton served as the facilitator to the Task Force. The Task Force was
convened around the question: If Tigard were to acquire a new public dollar, what would it fund and
where would that come from? Ms. Newton said that, to a person,each member of the Task Force
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viewed the City of Tigard as a community. The city has a role in providing services to the
community and a role in making Tigard a great place to live and work.
Assistant City Manager Newton read the names of the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Task Force:
Barry Albertson Bob Smith
David Burke Fire Chief Michael Du ck
Dan Goodrich Jason Ro ers
Jessica Cousineau State Representative Margaret Doherty
Mark Haledman Melody Graeber
Mike Stevenson Sue Yesilada
Tom Woodruff Troy Mears
Finance and Information Services Department Director LaFrance said his role to the group was
to provide information they needed to develop their recommendations. Tonight the Task Force
will present their six recommendations.
Recommendation 1 —Financial Stability/Services— Presented by Task Force Member Dan
Goodrich:
• Strengths of the city for focus.
o A fiscally sound budget process.
o One of the lowest tax rates when compared to other cities in the region.
The residents of the city are unaware of these strengths. The Task Force believes that
the residents have confidence in the city. The budget process has resulted in high-level
services,even though we do have a low tax rate. With appropriate discussions and an
education process,the residents will retain their confidence and the city will establish
credibility to move forward.
• Fiscal problems are imminent due to compression factors inherent in the tax structure.
Additional revenue sources must be found to maintain and add services.
o The Task Force identified a process for the city to follow:
■ Communicate/educate/market to celebrate what we do well in managing
finances to do as much or more as any other community with less
money. Also assist local businesses by creating a positive community
environment to help build identity. 6
■ Communication should occur through multiple channels. The city
should plan a series of communications over a period of time to get the
message out in the media about what good jobs the city and businesses
are doing.
■ Community meetings, activities and focus group meetings—provide
opportunities for two-way communications.
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■ In time,when the good things that the city is doing become better
understood,then review the budget and how money is being spent.
Challenge people to help identify other things that we should be doing
and how we are going to pay for them—discover different revenues.
• Continue to work with the state to identify ways to fund local services.
Recommendation 2—Economic Development—Presented by Task Force Member Mike
Stevenson:
• Economic development and a healthy business sector are critical for a financially stable
and vibrant community.
• The city has a lot to offer businesses,but it needs to be more creative and proactive in
attracting quality businesses that citizens want,especially downtown.
• Engage the citizens to identify the types of business that will keep them here and
encourage them to shop locally.
• Positive interactions between the business community and city personnel are critical.
• The city should work to identify business types or clusters to attract new businesses and
develop the business community.
• Solicit input from the business community about Tigard's unique potential that makes it
attractive for investments.
• Pacific Highway is a major presence in the community. This road provides a major route
through the city;however,it is important that it should meet the requirements of City of
Tigard residents. The beautification of Pacific Highway could improve the overall image
of Tigard.
• More public/private investments are needed in the downtown to spur investments.
• Develop and implement a competitive economic development strategy engaging
members of the business community and citizens.
• Focus on strategies for specific areas.
• Find ways to leverage private investment.
• Emphasize with the citizens the importance of doing business locally.
• Establish a dedicated, full-time economic development staff position and an economic
development commission.
• Renew a focus on community aesthetics and beautification—through a public/private
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partnership.
18 Recommendation 3—Identity/Vision for the City of Tigard—Presented by Task Force
Member Melody Graeber:
• The city needs a strategic plan that clearly articulates what it hopes to accomplish and
supports the city's identify.
• Call for strong, constant and ongoing communication with the public.
• A strong community uniqueness will help create a connection for the people to be more
than just satisfied with Tigard as a place to live.
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• A vibrant downtown with a community gathering place is important for connecting
citizens to their community.
• Reinforce and strengthen the city's brand through signage,print materials and electronic
communication.
• Obtain a Tigard zipcode, distinct from Portland to help foster a stronger business
connection to the community. State Representative Margaret Doherty is exploring a
resolution for this issue.
Recommendation 4—Marketing/Education/Communication—Presented by Task Force
Member Representative Margaret Doherty:
• Common threads among all the recommendations from the Task Force include
addressing communication and promoting Tigard.
• Develop a communication strategy that does a better job celebrating what we do well
and,at the same time,conveys the financial realities without using"scare tactics."
• Tigard offers open processes to its citizens regarding how money is spent,how we
budget and how we develop programs.
• Ongoing communication to citizens is critical to address the financial future.
• The communication strategy would include what the city is currently doing along with
becoming more visible in community activities.
• The communication needs to be proactive. Services the city offers need to be marketed.
• The Task Force believes the city runs a "lean and mean" machine—we offer a lot of
services even though there have been cutbacks. People need to know what the
significant consequences have been with regard to cutbacks such as the closure of the
library on Thursdays and the reductions to many of the youth service programs. On
balance,Tigard continues to offer a great park system,many businesses are still open and
residents are safe.
• Work with the Tigard Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the success of businesses.
• Become more involved in events,including those that are school sponsored,and talk
directly to citizens who attend.
10 Recommendation 5—Partnerships —Presented by Task Force Member Troy Mears:
• Partnerships should be an integral part of the city's financial strategy. The city uses
partnerships in many forms throughout city operations.
• Continue to conduct periodic reviews of programs and services throughout the year.
• Citizen volunteers serve the city well;members of all the city boards and commissions are
volunteers.
• Potential for partnering with the Tigard-Tualatin School District on facility use.
• Develop a robust public/private partnership with a strategy for downtown development.
• Survey the citizens about interest in providing recreational opportunities or facilities through
partnerships.
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8 Recommendation 6—Next Public Dollar—Presented by Task Force Member Mike Duyck
• This was the fundamental question to the Task Force from the Mayor: 'Tf Tigard avere to
acquire a new public dollar, what would it fund and where would it come from?"
• The answer to this question will come from the community by implementing the
components of Task Force Recommendations. Ask the residents what they want to see in
the community—get very specific through surveys to determine what services are wanted
and needed. Provide information about how much services cost.
• During the economic downturn, the reductions the city has made have been admirable. The
city has done an exceptional job of reducing staff, staying within budget and running as
efficiently as possible. The committee feels there is not much more that can be "squeezed
out."
• Develop a cohesive strategy and the Task Force is supportive of looking at creating a
citywide strategic plan.
• The city has an outstanding group of citizens who are supportive of the city.
• Communication using multiple media cannot be over-emphasized.
• The Task Force unanimously concurred that the Tigard citizens have confidence in their
leadership that financial issues can be addressed based on past and current financial
challenges.
• The Task Force members were secure in the city's determination and ability to ask for
recommendations from the community about city services,consider additional funding
options and then follow through.
• The Task Force sees incredible potential in the city to become a standout community in the
region.
10 Finance and Information Services Department Director LaFrance introduced additional
Task Force members present.
• Jessica Cousineau advised of her support and agreement with the Task Force members'
comments tonight.
• Tom Woodruff said he was somewhat disappointed that there was no "quick fix." The
concurrence of the Task Force was that there are ways that additional revenue can be
raised,while no one ever likes to see more taxes or fees. But,before considering
additional revenue,more work needs to be done in the community to make the case that
the city needs the funds and will use them wisely.
• Jason Rogers noted appreciation for being involved in the process. The Task Members
came into the process hoping to find a "silver bullet" that would answer the mayor's
fundamental question about what to fund should a new tax dollar be available. The
solution offered by the Task Force is a package of things that could become that"silver
bullet"if implemented collectively to move the city towards more prosperous times.
Task Force Member Duyck concluded the report from the group extending compliments to the
city for setting up the process.
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8 Mayor Dirksen said it is clear from the Task Force report that there is more work to do;
continued dialogue between this group and the council will be needed. He acknowledged Task
Force member Woodruff's comments about hoping to find a"silver bullet—a quick fix," and
while it would have been nice to find a solution, the mayor said he did not really expect to find
one. The city will embark on looking for ways to turn the Task Force's recommendations into
specific actions. The mayor opened the floor to the City Council for questions or comments.
• Councilor Wilson commented that the last time the city did something like this was for
the "Tigard Beyond Tomorrow"visioning project in the late 90's. He appreciates the
recommendations from the Task Force for specific actions the city can take. Councilor
Wilson said he was pleased to see a number of elements the city has been working on or
talking about starting.
• Councilor Henderson thanked the Task Force for their work. He supported the process
and,if feasible,would like to see a similar process undertaken annually. He agreed with
the importance of reaching out to the public to let them know what the city is doing and
to solicit what they want to see done. Councilor Henderson referred to common threads
of needs;i.e.,economic development and communication. He said he would be willing
to work on the recommendations proposed by the Task Force.
• Councilor Woodard commented on the wealth of good information provided in the
report. He said the report underscored for him that fundamental changes must be made.
He referred to the local,state and national hard economic climate and the need to be
prudent and to look at all types of opportunities. He appreciated the recommendation
to solicit input from the citizens. Councilor Woodard was happy to see the
recommendation to add to the city organization an individual with economic
development expertise to help identify policies and look for opportunities. He
supported the notion that recreation can provide opportunities to add to the economic
health of a community. He supported the concept of partnerships. He offered the idea
of real-time voting at certain venues to ask people to cast their vote on issues as one way
to deterniine the general will of the community.
• Council President Buehner thanked the Task Force for their hard work. She would like
to see the Task Force continue to work. She commented on the readability and valuable
information contained in the report and said she would like to see a copy mailed to every
citizen in Tigard to start the education process. One of the issues that will be
challenging will be the hiring of an economic development person or a recreation person
in light of the fiscal constraints being experienced by the city. She anticipates additional
budget-related issues coming from the state legislature affecting local governments in the
short term. This means the city needs to remain extremely fiscally conservative. Council
President Buehner said that while she agrees an effort should be made to educate people,
the primary emphasis is to share the financial realities the city is facing. "We can't cut
anymore...we can't cover up the shortfalls anymore..." The only way we can look to
fund other programs is for some sort of local option levy in the future. She said she
hoped some of the Task Force members would be willing to work on a strategy to assist
the city in putting together a plan for what is needed,including the possibility of a local
option levy proposal. She commented on the need to lobby at the state legislature to
take local option levies out of compression.
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• Councilor Henderson said the information from the Task Force comes at the exact time
that it is needed since the city is headed into its new budget cycle and council goal
setting. He expressed thanks for Assistant City Manager Newton's facilitation of the
group—her expertise and knowledge of the city's history provided a good foundation
for the group's charge.
> Assistant City Manager Newton introduced Task Force Member Barry Albertson who was
also present.
Ms. Newton said that staff hoped the City Council would accept the Task Force Report and
work with staff to start implementing the recommendations.
8 Motion by Council President Buehner, seconded by Councilor Wilson, to accept the
Mayor's Blue Ribbon Task Force Report and take a look at implementing the recommendations.
The motion was approved by a unanimous vote of City Council present.
Mayor Dirksen Yes
Council President Buehner Yes
Councilor Henderson Yes
Councilor Wilson Yes
Councilor Woodard Yes
Mayor Dirksen thanked the members of the Task Force. The mayor presented each of the
members a certificate of acknowledgement.
18
3. COUNCIL WILSON'S FAREWELL REMARKS
This meeting is the final council meeting for Councilor Wilson. Councilor Wilson said,initially,
he was disinclined to give a final talk but decided he would like to say a few things "from the
heart." His farewell remarks are paraphrased and attached (Attachment 1).
> Non Agenda—Presentation to Mayor Dirksen: Dirksen Nature Park
Councilor Wilson made a special presentation to Mayor Dirksen. The mayor was unavailable for
the council meeting held December 11, 2012. The council took action that night to honor
Mayor Dirksen's accomplishments to the City of Tigard. The council, through Resolution No.
12-52, named the Summer Creek Property the "Dirksen Nature Park." This 48-acre property,
bordered by Fowler Middle School,Tiedeman Avenue and Tigard Street will soon become
Tigard's largest nature park and the second largest city park.
Mayor Dirksen thanked Councilor Wilson for his comments. He expressed his appreciation for
such a "startling and stunning tribute."
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i
4. MAYOR DIRKSEN'S FAREWELL REMARKS
This is Mayor Dirksen's final council meeting as mayor. A copy of his farewell remarks is
attached.
8:49 p.m.
5. ADJOURNMENT
Motion by Council President Buehner, seconded by Councilor Wilson,to adjourn the meeting.
The motion was approved by a unanimous vote of City Council present.
Mayor Dirksen Yes
Council President Buehner Yes
Councilor Henderson Yes
Councilor Wilson Yes
Councilor Woodard Yes
Catherine Wheatley,City Recorder
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Attachment 1 —Councilor Wilson's farewell remarks—December 18, 2012
Councilor Wilson opened his remarks saying that over his 19 years'of service to the city he has done
a lot of talking;therefore,his initial reaction was to be disinclined to give a final talk. Upon
reflection,however,he decided he would like to say a few things "from the heart." Below is a
paraphrased transcription of his remarks:
We have had a really good run here. When I think of everything we have accomplished,it is
personally gratifying even if not everyone knows everything that went into it—to see an
intersection improved,a new park,a new logo or whatever it might be. Everything that we
have done has been a team effort—the mayor,council, city manager, staff and a lot of great
volunteers.The mayor and I in recent weeks interviewed a group of new people who want
to get involved. I have been impressed with the quality of people who volunteer to
participate. The community is a reflection of its people. If you take a little island country
with no resources such as Singapore and think about why that country is successful...well,
it's because of the people who live there. The government is a reflection of that.
As I move on,I will not miss the late nights at meetings and reading enormous volumes of
material. What I will miss is the people;we have a great city staff and we all should be proud
of them.
A good part of the reason that we have had a great run,is because we have had stability on
the council,especially in the seat of mayor. As you all know,we had two mayors struggle
with lengthy terminal illnesses while in office and it is difficult under those circumstances.
Over our whole history, the average mayor served three years;Craig served ten years. Ten
years with a bad mayor isn't necessarily going to be a great thing (laughter). Craig has been
an exceptional mayor. I think one of the best decisions that we made was to hire him half-
time so he could `get out there.'
We have tangible accomplishments, such as streets and parks. But,there are also a lot of
intangible accomplishments that are not measureable—the facts are that under Craig's
tenure,we have raised the profile of Tigard regionally. People around the region know that
Tigard is a player and that is in part because Craig has been `out there.' When he announced
that he was stepping down,I was really disappointed to hear that. Craig has been a good
friend. It put me in a difficult position—my term was up. I needed to determine whether to
run for councilor again, run for mayor or quit. I felt that I did not want to quit and I
thought that since I had been the longest serving councilor I should run for mayor. I don't
regret that decision. We could have appointed a mayor,but I do believe that it is important
for voters to have a choice. They made their choice and I respect that.
As we went through the campaign, there were not a lot of differences between John Cook
and me in policy issues. In reflecting on the mayoral race one theme came up in my mind as
the deciding factor. John made a comment somewhere during the campaign about how he
would like to hold coffee meetings—go to a coffee shop and be available for citizens to
come talk to him. When he said that, I thought, `John,you know being mayor is a job.' But,
reflecting on that,I realize that John's right about that—I was focusing on being sort of the
technocrat: governing,getting stuff done and thinking that my experience was the most
important thing. I think that John, during that whole 19 years' time,was developing
Councilor Nick Wilson—Farewell Remarks
December 18,2012—Page 1
relationships with people. That proved to be the deciding factor. John mentioned after the
election that he had 100 people out there helping him. I was thinking I did not have that
kind of support—and if John can muster 100 people to put out signs for him, then he can
muster 100 people or more to get things done for the city. That is what leadership is all
about—it's to get people to do things and to move them all in the same direction. I am
excited to watch things unfold and, `John,I will be watching you!' (laughter)
That concludes my remarks. I will be around and I am looking forward to relaxing a little bit
and being on the sidelines.
I:\adm\cathy\ccm\2012\draft minutes\12 december\121211 farewell remarks-councilor wilson.docx
Councilor Nick Wilson—Farewell Remarks
December 18,2012 Page 2
wVL,--
TigardFarewell
December 2012
Dear friends, colleagues, and neighbors —
Thank you for coming tonight and joining me on this special evening.
When someone starts a journey, they usually have a good idea of their destination, of
where they will end up. But when I began my public service in Tigard, I could not
have imagined that it would lead here. Who could have guessed, when I agreed to
coach my kindergarten-aged son's soccer team, that it would lead to being the Mayor
of Tigard? But when you get involved, and you continue to see a need, and when you
apparently lack the ability to say, "no", the opportunities just continue to present
themselves.
When I look back at the last 12 years, I think of the things we've accomplished, and
the people I've met and worked with. I remember Mayor Jim Nicoli, who was mayor
when I was elected to council in 2000, and Joyce Patton,who taught me so much
about how to ask the right questions, and Paul Hunt, and Ken Scheckla, and my old
friend Brian Moore,who I first met when we coached our sons and their friends in
basketball ten years before. The Council then was considering the need for a new
library. The old one was way too small and though much loved by the community it
no longer could meet the people's needs. Of course, it would cost money, and the
challenge was defining the people's vision to design a project the people would
support. The City had just come off of an unsuccessful road improvement bond
measure campaign and was concerned they didn't have the confidence of the people.
Of course, we were successful and the new library has been a blessing to the
community for several years. In the process we learned a lot about community
engagement and listening.
When Mayor NIcoh died and Jim Griffiths became Mayor, our downtown business
owners were trying to create a new Enterprise Zone to revitalize Tigard's downtown.
They were not successful, but this led the Mayor and me to conceive the idea of the
Downtown Task Force to create a Downtown Improvement Plan that could be
supported by the business community as well as the rest of the City. Eventually the
people approved the Downtown Urban Renewal District. While it's still in its early
years, we've started to make improvements and we are beginning to exercise the great
potential for what downtown will gradually become.
Concurrently, we were looking for an alternative way to find money for much needed
street and road maintenance and improvements. Again we assembled a group of
citizens, the Transportation Financing Strategies Task Force, to explore the different
options and make a recommendation to Council. While the initial plan was to find a
source of funding for capital improvements, what we discovered was that
maintenance of existing streets was eating up potential improvement dollars, so
instead the recommendation was to consider creating a Street Maintenance Fee. It's
always difficult to convince citizens to agree to new fees,but once we had held several
open houses and we showed people how little it would cost and what it would
accomplish, the small opposition just melted away. Encouraged by that success, and
continuing to hear from residents the importance of reducing traffic congestion,we
also created a local gas tax to raise money to do specific road improvement projects.
The idea was so popular that though there was a group that tried to repeal it, they
failed to even get enough signatures to refer it to the ballot. Councilors Nick Wilson
and Sydney Sherwood, now Sydney Webb, both shared my commitment to
transportation improvements. In her own unique style, Sydney declared that creating
the new revenue source was "a no-brainer". The citizen task force that recommended
the gas tax (do you see a pattern here?) has since been made a permanent citizen
Transportation Commission that reviews transportation needs and approves projects
for gas tax funding. "Tom Woodruff had joined the Council by then. He has a real
heart for inclusive collaboration and he taught us a lot about public engagement.
Tigard's other great need was for more parks. The first time I came before the Tigard
City Council was as President of the Tigard Soccer Club, telling the Council we
needed more parks and open space for our citizens to use, especially for our children
to play in. When I joined Council in January 2001,Tigard had just 288 acres of parks
and open space — not nearly enough. The Council, including new Councilor. Gretchen
Buehner, agreed. Today,by making it a priority, some incredibly creative work by staff
and council, and the passage by the citizens of a $17M parks bond, we now have over
500 acres and we'll have more before we're done! Our future plans include more land
purchases around the city and the creation of a public plaza space in our Downtown.
Currently, in addition to everything else, we are on our way toward fulfilling a 20-year
dream of Tigard having its own water source. Partnering with the City of Lake
Oswego, ul 2016 we'll have a new treatment plant and supply system that will serve
the needs of both our cities for the foreseeable future.
Yes, it's been quite a journey for a regular guy from Klickitat,Washington, but it's not
over yet. As with many journeys, the end of one is just the beginning of another. In
three weeks I will take my oath of office as a member of the Metro Council,
overseeing land use and transportation planning for the Region, as well as running
popular public assets like the Zoo, the Convention Center, and performance venues
.like the Schnitz and the Keller Auditorium. There I will represent,in addition to
Tigard, South Beaverton, a small part of Aloha, and the unincorporated areas of south
Washington County,in addition to the Cities of Tualatin, Sherwood, and Wilsonville.
In this way I will continue to serve the residents of Tigard as well as our larger
community.
As I leave office, I would like to share with you my continued vision for the future of
Tigard. First, we should keep doing the things we are doing, and continue forward on
the projects and programs in which we are now engaged. Some of them will mean
change, and change is scary. Tigard today is a wonderful place and we must work to
preserve it, but preserving what we have means being prepared for the future. Life is
change. To stop changing is to begin dying. This is true for individuals but is just as
true for communities. I like to tell students that government has two jobs — to provide
services today, and to plan for the future. If we idealize the past or let our thinking
remain trapped in the present, if we fail to have a vision for Tigard's future or fail to
act on that vision, not only will we not gain what we could, but we will risk losing
what we have. While we, and by "we" I don't mean just the City or the just the
Council but rather "we" the entire Tigard community, while we should always act
with thoughtful caution, we must keep moving forward if we are to successfully meet
the challenges of the future. As always, to achieve this we must strive to work
together. Then Tigard will be able to rise to its full potential while remaining "A Place
to Call Home".
God Bless you all, and God Bless the City of Tigard