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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-08-12 Work Session Minutes Deschutes County Board of Commissioners 1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701-1960 (541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org MINUTES OF WORK SESSION DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2009 ___________________________ Present were Commissioners Tammy Baney, Dennis R. Luke and Alan Unger. Also present were Dave Kanner, County Administrator; Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator; Tom Blust, Roger Olson and George Kolb, Road Department; Peter Gutowsky, Community Development; Katie Whitehall, Project Wildfire; Amy Waltz of The Nature Conservancy and the Deschutes National Forest; and Hillary Borrud of The Bulletin. Chair Baney opened the meeting at 1:35 p.m. 1. Discussion regarding The Fire Learning Network/Project Wildfire. Amy Waltz gave an overview of the item and a PowerPoint presentation on the mission of The Nature Conservancy, which is the largest private conservation nonprofit in the world. There are 23,000 household members in Oregon alone. The Nature Conservancy is based on science, government and public aspects, is non-confrontational and does not litigate, and tries to bring collaboration to the various issues. They are focusing on restoring fire-impacted areas in conjunction with the Forest Service and others involved in Project Wildfire. All are interested in the management of federal lands, and this can be controversial. Science shows that a lot of forests are not healthy at this time, but there is a lack of common vision to address the issue. There is a variety of objectives from the various groups, but knowledge of ecological processes and functions is missing. The Common Vision is “Principles of Restoration”, and having the stakeholders come together to prioritize and restore opportunities. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Page 1 of 6 Pages Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Page 2 of 6 Pages Developing the Principles of Restoration defines the areas of agreement that exist in public forest management. Principles are an important step towards consensus, resulting in reduced controversy on projects. The group will look at how to collaborate, restore processes within NRV (science-based), landscape scale, prioritize treatments, adaptive management, integrate ecologically, social and economic, plan sustainably, and build local capacity. Commissioner Baney asked if there are restrictions that impact this process. Ms. Waltz said that federal actions apply and whatever they do has to be supported in that regard. The next steps are developing broad consensus, and testing at a project level. Workshop goals for prioritizing would include the values from agencies and stakeholders. Some values overlap, but some do not. Katie Whitehall asked if the Board would want to move forward on approving a letter of agreement in principle at some point. They want the County to be aware of the good work being done in the partnership, and agree to cooperate. There will be a big signing in September of all agencies. Dave Kanner said that the letter could be addressed at a regular business meeting. 2. Discussion of Potential Rescission of Resolution No. 2006-049, Road Maintenance. Mr. Kanner stated that the Board has been requested by at least one special road district to rescind the resolution that holds off on road maintenance, and do maintenance on particular roads. He added that the Board wanted to discuss this further after the legislature had concluded its work. He recommended perhaps adding collector roads back in. Commissioner Baney said her biggest issue about this resolution is that the reasons why it was adopted have changed somewhat. Commissioner Unger said that he wants the legislature to keep trying to find other sources of road maintenance funds. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Page 3 of 6 Pages Commissioner Luke said that he feels that nothing much has changed. Timber funds will continue to decline, and increases in gas tax may not happen. George Kolb added that most subdivisions do not build arterials or collectors. George Kolb said that there are a bunch of roads that are not arterial roads but nevertheless handle a lot of traffic. Tom Blust said that part of the TSP process is to identify new collectors or arterials. Peter Gutowsky added that this might not be decided entirely based on the amount of traffic, but the location as well. There is some need for collaboration with the School Districts in regard to busing students. Commissioner Baney asked what direction the Board should go. Commissioner Unger wants clarity as to why this has to be done now. Mr. Blust said they could come up with traffic values but there could be other local roads that affect a wider area. It is hard to classify some roads as “local”. Commissioner Baney asked if there is a legal responsibility to maintain a road. A road district formation and responsibilities may not have been discussed at the time of the purchase of property. Mr. Blust said it involves a right of access. The County can be discretionary and the Board can decide on limitations through a public process. Commissioner Unger said that general funds cannot be spent on road maintenance. Mr. Kanner added that property taxes could not be spent on this unless they are subject to distribution to districts. Mr. Blust and Mr. Kanner will work on defining solutions and how to proceed. Mr. Kanner said the one sure way to save money is to not treat the roads, but that means some may have to return to gravel. Those need to be identified. Commissioner Tammy said that she does not see a dire situation now. Mr. Kanner said that preservation overlay project funding is on a downward spiral, and whatever is available in the future will not cover what needs to be done, considering also the expected higher cost of materials. Mr. Blust said that they have not let roads go back to gravel in the past, but eventually when maintenance is not continued, the pavement breaks up so has to be removed, and gravel added. There is a cost associated with that. The timeline is unknown, as it depends on use, climate and the type of soil. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Page 4 of 6 Pages Mr. Kolb said that local improvement district roads, paid for by the residents, need to be kept up, as this was a promise to those people when they paid for it. Mr. Kanner said that some kind of priority list needs to be established. Commissioner Luke stated that professionals who deal with the roads need to make recommendations, which the Board may want to support. Commissioner Baney said that many citizens might question the County’s support and funding for 19th Street if it is not a road they would use. Choices have to be made, and returning any road to gravel is a choice to be made as well. By investing in 19th Street, the County may end up with additional gas tax revenue. She is not sold on the fact that roads need to be turned back to gravel. If some roads are identified that fit this, she would like to hear about them. Commissioner Luke said there needs to be a priority list and they need to figure out what makes sense. Commissioner Unger added that through the TSP process it may be easier to see how the roads fit together. Mr. Blust explained that the TSP would not get into the smaller details on local roads; this would require a separate analysis. The language is about not accepting new roads and which ones can demand priority for maintenance dollars. Commissioner Baney said that if the gas tax is repealed, the fund will be upside down. Commissioner Luke said that there needs to be widespread support throughout the County as they go forward. Mr. Kanner stated that over the course of the next two or three years, it might be wise to forgo maintenance on some roads until it is known whether some future funding source may become available. Staff will produce a priority list for review. A resolution revising the previous one will address the funding that is expected to offset some provisions in the previous resolution. _________________________________ In regard to administrative review of a bridge in a special road district, they were aware of possible objections to the work being done and there have been issues in the past. Normally if there is opposition, it would go before a hearings officer. Commissioner Luke said that the County does not have jurisdiction over special road districts. There are State agencies that have a say in how wide a culvert can be, the potential impacts on the river and fish, etc. Commissioner Baney would like the district members to take the lead and work it out as a district first. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Page 5 of 6 Pages _________________________________ Commissioner Baney attended a meeting in Tumalo regarding ODOT’s suggestions and residents’ concerns about traffic issues there. The biggest point seems to be that they want people to slow down when going through the area, whether or not there is a light. Commissioner Luke said that ODOT has several preferred solutions but none have been selected yet. Some people will not be satisfied with the decision no matter what it is. Eventually there would be an overpass, but this is years out. There are some possible traffic calming solutions if the money can be found. Commissioner Baney said they offered one main option, which might not have set well with the community. This would be a short-term option; no long-term solutions have been firmly identified. Commissioner Luke stated that there is a long-term solution but the location of that solution has not been identified. Some people think a signal light can be done for $200,000, but it was pointed out that a similar intersection in La Pine cost over $1 million. They did talk about ways to slow traffic through visual impacts. Commissioner Baney said the comprehensive plan update should address uses that can impact traffic flow, and how existing businesses might be impacted by these changes. Commissioner Unger stated that since there is no funding for long-term solutions, some short-term solutions should be put in place. Commissioner Luke pointed out that this is an investment that may not make sense for the long-term. 3. Other Items. 4. Executive Session, under ORS 192.660(2)(h), Pending or Threatened Litigation. The Board went into executive session at 3:05 p.m. 5. Executive Session, under ORS 192.660(2)(i), Review/Evaluation of Employee Performance. This item will be addressed at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 9.