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City Council Minutes - 01/31/2017 " Cites, Tigard = L rd City Council Special Meeting Agenda ary 31, 2017 1. BUSINESS MEETING A. At 8:17 p.m.Mayor Cook called the Tigard City Council special meeting to order. B. City Recorder Krager called the roll. Present Absent Councilor Anderson ✓ Mayor Cook ✓ Councilor Goodhouse ✓ Council President Snider ✓ Councilor Woodard ✓ C. Mayor Cook asked everyone to stand and join him in the Pledge of Allegiance. D. Call to Council and Staff for Non-Agenda Items -None. Mayor Cook said the two ballot titles will be discussed together and voted on separately. 2. REVIEW BALLOT MEASURE TITLE FOR CITY CENTER URBAN RENEWAL PLAN SUBSTANTIAL AMENDMENT Redevelopment Project Manager Farrelly gave the staff report on substantial amendment to the urban renewal plan.The proposal will expand the district by seven properties,adding a total of 37.7 acres to the existing urban renewal district.The latest draft before council has been reviewed by the city attorney and includes Councilor Goodhouse's comments with the exception that the words, "tax increment revenue"are still there. Council President Snider asked why and Redevelopment Project Manager Farrelly said that is what urban renewal is about and the City Charter makes reference to having to approve tax increment. Mayor Cook noted that the tax increment reference does not appear until the second to last paragraph. Council President Snider said the problem is that 95 percent of the public does not know what it means. Mayor Cook asked if the ballot title could read,"Due to a downturn in the economy,urban renewal district revenues are less than projected." City Attorney Rihala said there is more wiggle room in this ballot title than the Tigard Triangle ballot title. She said tax increment TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES—January 31, 2017 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 www.dgard-or.gov I Page 1 of 4 revenues tells what they are and this is the most transparent way to describe them but using the word revenues was satisfactory. Councilor Goodhouse suggested the sentence,"As a result of the economic downturn the urban renewal project did not accomplish the projected projects." He said the word taxes may make people think there will be new taxes rather than understanding what it is. Mayor Cook noted that this could be explained in the narrative which can be reached through the link. Mayor Cook noted that the words, "funding comes from capturing increased property taxes from new development,"while accurate for the urban renewal district makes it sound like there would be increased property taxes. City Manager Wine asked if the word"increased"is necessary and the consensus was that the word"increased"will be removed. Councilor Woodard said he did not want to change much except the titles. He suggested both captions say they require no new taxes. He also asked if the sentence, "The plan amendment would not increase the approved$22 million cap for the plan and would not impose new taxes,"could be placed at the bottom of the first paragraph. Council President Snider said if he learned anything from the recent failed gas tax measure is that what council puts on the ballot does not make sense to most people. This is an attempt to make complex city jargon into language normal voters would understand. City Attorney Rihala said she recognizes that but will go back and look at adding two dashes and the words,"Requires No New Taxes"to the caption. She has not seen this in a caption previously. City Manager Wine noted that two years ago the city put a very technical urban renewal amendment on the ballot and voters were able to understand it. She recommended sensitivity because Tigard voters have been able to understand what goes on in an urban renewal district. Councilor Goodhouse said people did not understand the gas tax ballot title even though council thought it was simple. Mayor Cook said he heard tonight at the council outreach event that the gas tax wording was too complicated. City Attorney Rihala will send a new draft to council and staff by the end of the week. 3. REVIEW BALLOT MEASURE TITLE FOR TIGARD TRIANGLE URBAN RENEWAL PLAN Senior Planner Shanks gave the staff report on this item. She said this measure implements a new urban renewal area so it is worded differently.This draft was jointly vetted by the city attorney and bond counsel. There are a few sentences that were complicated. The tax increment financing is highlighted in the question and is also mentioned in the summary with the information about no new taxes. She said there needs to be a discussion on the draft copy with Councilor Goodhouse's comments in the highlighted segment. He recommended that tax increment financing language be removed and added to the explanatory statement. City Attorney Rihala said she is not a fan of the words tax increment financing but the City Charter says if the city is going to use urban renewal,and TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES—January 31, 2017 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 2 of 4 TIF will be a component of it,voters have to approve the tax increment financing. Our bond counsel felt strongly in being as explicit as possible that this is what that authorization is for. Councilor Goodhouse asked if it has to be part of the question. Council President Snider argued that council has a job to educate the public and that is more important to them than bond counsel's opinion. Senior Planner Shanks said due to citizen outreach funding provided by a grant there is money for consultant expertise that focuses on education. While she is also not a fan of the words tax increment financing,the materials focus on educating the public on what this means. She said the city has opportunities to reach out and is preparing an educational video and other website material and creating communication opportunities to reach groups of people. Mayor Cook said every time the city puts forward a ballot title,our attorneys have stated that the three sections (caption,question and summary) comprise the title. He said it should not matter where in the title the words are if it is all part of the title. City Attorney Rihala said she thought it was all right to take tax increment out of the question but somewhere in the ballot title it needs to say that the city is asking people to approve tax increment financing. The bond counsel is concerned the voters need to know what they are approving and this is the language that allows the city to bond later on. Mayor Cook commented that it would be there but not in the front. Mayor Cook said there are people in the city who do not know where the Tigard Triangle is. Council President Snider suggested adding to the question next to the word Triangle,"the area between 99W,217 and I-5."There was a question about I-5 being one word and City Attorney Rihala said as long as there is not a hyphen it is one word. In the summary,Mayor Cook suggested taking out,"no new taxes would be imposed"because it sounds like taxes are imposed. This sentence will be removed. He also requested removal of the word"increased"between the words capturing and taxes. He concurred that the area marked in grey on the draft could come out. Senior Planner Shanks mentioned that she attached a statistically-valid survey to the agenda item summary that was designed to help with development of the ballot title and an education campaign. On page 11 she pointed out that people read a long statement and their response was positive. A quick statement got a positive support at 70 percent but the long statement was 54 percent of a sample size of 300 Tigard voters. City Manager Wine said to add,"Tax increment financing does this by giving a portion of the taxes collected from within the area to the urban renewal agency to fix specific problems in the area." Mayor Cook said he liked that statement. Redevelopment Project Manager Farrelly suggested saying tax increment financing funding comes from capturing property taxes from new development and increased property values in the urban renewal area. Council President Snider asked about the words multi-modal and the consensus was to remove that phrase. Mayor Cook suggested bullet on small business support be removed. There was some confusion over versions being reviewed and Senior Planner Shanks clarified the correct wording. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —January 31, 2017 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 www.dgard-or.gov I Page 3 of 4 Mr. Farrelly suggested using verbs such as walking and bicycling. Council President Snider suggested that be combined in bullet point two. Bullet points agreed on were: • Red Rock Creek restoration,focusing on water quality and public access • New streets and sidewalks, focusing on safe walking and cycling • Major sewer repairs to address public health • Intersection improvements, focusing on traffic congestion • New trails and parks Senior Planner Shanks said there is a link to the plan and she asked City Attorney Rihala if there could be a link to the video. Councilor Goodhouse requested shorter link names. City Attorney Rihala said the video is being vetted by the Secretary of State's office and if safe harbor is given it can be accessed through a link. Council President Snider asked if the county elections office allows QR codes which would eliminate the need to type in any link. City Attorney Rihala said she will find out. City Attorney Rihala will send out an email to council with the new language by the end of the week. 4. NON AGENDA ITEMS None. • EXECUTIVE SESSION: None scheduled. 5. ADJOURNMENT At 9:04 p.m. Council President Snider moved for adjournment. Councilor Goodhouse seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Yes No Councilor Anderson ✓ Mayor Cook ✓ Councilor Goodhouse ✓ Council President Snider ✓ Councilor Woodard ✓ Carol A. Krager,City Recorder Attest John L. C(1k,Mayor Date TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES—January 31, 2017 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 www.dgard-or.gov I Page 4 of 4