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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (July 3, 2014)
ACTIVIST LERT • The Metropolitan Policy Committee will meet from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm Thursday, July 3, at Coburg City Hall and public comment time is early on the agenda. The panel deals with issues of local and regional transportation planning, air quality, cable TV and other metro issues. Find the agenda at lcog. org or call 682-4283. • New, reduced hours at the Eugene Public Library begin this week and on Sunday, July 6, the downtown library will be closed until 1 pm. Starting at 10 am that day, Friends of Eugene Public Library and the Eugene Public Library Foundation plan to greet library users who arrive at the closed facility. Volunteers will provide information about budget history, available restrooms in the area, and talk about library services. The three-hour reduction in downtown library hours is the result of city budget cuts for the fiscal year beginning July 1. • The Pastors for Peace Friendship Caravan to Cuba will stop in Corvallis for a fundraiser at noon Thursday, July 10, at Westminister House, 101 NW 23rd St. The caravan will stop overnight Friday, July 11, in Eugene and a potluck and presentation about challenging the embargo of Cuba will be from 6 to 8:30 pm Friday at the Latin American Solidarity Committee (LASC) office at 458 Blair Blvd. Call 485-8633 or email lasc@efn.org. • 350 Eugene’s summer MeetUp will be from 7 to 8:30 pm Thursday, July 10, at First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St. Presentations include resisting the southern Oregon Pacific Connector LNG export pipeline, divestment and Our Children’s Trust. Also on the agenda is supporting a carbon tax in Oregon. Contact Deb McGee and Patty Hine at 350eug@riseup. net. LANE COUNTY AREA SPRAY SCHEDULE • Oregon Department of Transportation is currently spraying roadsides. Call Tony Kilmer at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call (888) 996-8080 for herbicide application information. • Seneca Jones Timber Company, 461-6245, plans to aerially spray 57 acres near Douglas Creek and 15 acres near Battle Creek with glyphosate, imazapyr, metsulfuron methyl, methylated seed oil, non-ionic surfactant, Syl-Tac andd/or Sylgard. See ODF notice 2014-781-00632, call Brian Peterson at 935-2283 with questions. • Oregon Department of Forestry, Philomath office, plans to spray 20 miles of state owned forest roads throughout Benton County with glyphosate, 2,4-D ester, sulfometuron methyl, surfactant and/or triclopyr ester. See ODF notification 2014-455-00254, call Chris J. Humcke at 929-3266 with questions. • Lane County, 682-6900, is still applying an asphalt overlay to Horton Road. Hydrogen sulfide may be emitted from hot asphalt. Compiled by Jan Wroncy and Gary Hale, Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332, forestlanddwellers.org POLLUTION UPDATE Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments through 5 pm Tuesday, July 8, on the erosion and sediment control plan for construction at the new Malabon Elementary School, and through 5 pm Wednesday, July 9, on the erosion and sediment control plan for construction at Wedgewood Subdivision. Both projects are in Eugene. The new school is located at 1380 Taney St., and the subdivision is located at Gardenia and Grizzly avenues. Visit goo.gl/Yp4iAK for information on reviewing the plans and submitting comments. The city of Eugene sent a request for corrective action letter to Western Structures, Inc., June 19 for failing take required actions to address elevated pollutant levels in stormwater at the facility (located at 1381 Bailey Hill Rd.) in December and February. Doug Quirke/Oregon Clean Water Action Project 8 July 3, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com NEWS >>> CONTINUED FROM P. 6 ed in a timely fashion and the law is new. Sorenson says actions like a commissioner get- by UO’s Community Planning Workshop in 2010, ting records on a weekend leads to “the perception at estimates less than 5 percent of Lane County’s least that those in power get public records quickly.” $1.17 billion food market is produced locally. Mokrohisky says the county is seeking to “fos- The proposed task force would be largely fo- ter an environment of openness and transparency” cused on the economic side of food security. Its and is looking into improving access to public re- three main objectives would be: to summarize cords. He tells EW that the county’s public infor- what’s been done, develop a gap analysis and make mation officer, Anne Marie Levis, has been directed economic development and job creation recom- to contact the PIOs of other cities to see how they mendations. accommodate records requests. The city of Eugene A lot of work has already been done relating provides a computer terminal that the media and the to food security, according to Councilor George public can access and read certain emails directed to Brown, who is also the owner of downtown gro- the City Council and mayor. cery store The Kiva. “And really, the farmers and Mokrohisky says the county is looking to “bal- the food manufacturers make their decisions and ance the needs of the public and the media” with they’ve been doing a great job and I don’t know the need to keep certain types of records, such as that they really need our help.” personnel issues, confidential. Councilors will discuss food security during a Sorenson says that in addition to his concern work session at 5:30 pm Monday, Sept. 8, in Harris over public records, he has asked the county com- Hall at 125 E. 8th Ave. The council takes a summer missioner’s agenda team to look into “accessibility break from July 31 to Sept. 8. — Missy Corr to various buildings and public spaces.” He says, “I think when the government pays to have conference rooms and spaces built and use them for roughly one-third of the time, and there are other times those spaces can be used at nominal cost to the public.” Sorenson says that before Liane (Richardson) Inkster, the previous administrator, changed the pol- icy on use of county facilities, the public used areas The recent confusion over Commissioner Jay like Harris Hall and meeting rooms more often. Ac- Bozievich’s public records request for a list of bal- cording to a June 2 letter from Lane County’s capi- lots with signature problems has drawn attention to tal projects manager Brian Craner to Mokrohisky, what many see as an ongoing issue at Lane County: there is a one time a month usage restriction, which transparency and openness. Commissioner Pete can be waived, a $150 nonrefundable security de- Sorenson has asked the county to resume looking posit and a $350 refundable deposit to use Harris into the way it responds to public records requests Hall’s AV equipment, as well as into the plus $100 per micro- public’s ability to use phone. county facilities. Craner wrote that Bozievich’s elec- the county’s facilities tion campaign made a committee “found no public records request compelling reason for ballots with chal- to propose any revi- lenged signatures on — PETE SORENSON, LANE COUNTY COMMISSIONER sions” regulating the May 27. His challeng- use of Harris Hall and er, Dawn Lesley, as the county’s Public Service Building conference well as Faye Stewart’s challenger, Kevin Matthews, and meeting rooms. requested the list directly from the elections office Mokrohisky says he wants to look at the issue and received it by Friday, May 30, but Bozievich’s holistically and identify spaces and times that they campaign did not receive a cost estimate or the list. aren’t needed for city and county meetings to allow On Saturday, Bozievich contacted County Admin- groups that provide some kind of public benefit to istrator Steve Mokrohisky to complain, and County have a place to meet. He says this could also benefit Clerk Cheryl Betschart was soon dispatched to the the county, for example, by increasing patronage at office to provide the list. Getting the list is allowed Café 125, which is in the Public Service Building under a new change in state law making challenged and under new management. ballots public. Sorenson says, “Barriers have been erected that The county says the records were provided out- need to come down.” — Camilla Mortensen side of normal hours because the records were need- SORENSON CALLS FOR MORE LANE COUNTY TRANSPARENCY ‘ Barriers have been erected that need to come down.’
