MINUTES WASHINGTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS DECEMBER 8, 2009 CONVENED: 10:13 a.m. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS: Chairman Tom Brian Vice Chair Andy Duyck Commissioner Dick Schouten Commissioner Desari Strader Commissioner Roy Rogers STAFF: Robert Davis, County Administrator Rob Massar, Assistant County Administrator Dennis Mulvihill, Government Affairs Manager, CAO Philip Bransford, Communications Officer, CAO Dan Olsen, County Counsel Kathy Lehtola, Director, LUT Brent Curtis, Planning Division Manager, LUT Joanne Rice, Principal Planner, LUT Mike Dahlstrom, Program Educator, LUT Bill Gaffi, General Manager, CWS Margot Barnett, CPO Coordinator Jim Thiessen, Audiovisual Technician Barbara Hejtmanek, Recording Secretary PRESS: Jill Smith, The Oregonian Kurt Eckert, Hillsboro Argus APPROVAL OF MINUTES: November 24, 2009 Chairman Brian began this meeting by mentioning the memorial service being held later today in Tacoma to honor the four fallen police officers from Lakewood, Washington. He said that as a community—and a democracy—we benefit every day from the bravery and dedication of the men and women serving in our law enforcement agencies, including those serving here in Washington County. On behalf of the Board of County Commissioners, as it conducts its routine duty within our system of democracy, Chairman Brian asked that today’s meeting be dedicated in honor of the four Lakewood officers and their families. Commissioner Rogers felt this is an appropriate way for the Board to conduct today’s meeting. His heart went out to the families of the four officers who were needlessly killed. Commissioner Schouten agreed with this dedication. 1. CONSENT AGENDA It was moved to adopt the Consent Agenda. Motion – Rogers 2nd – Schouten Vote – 5-0 HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 1.a. MO 09-334 Approve Agreement with Oregon Health and Science University to Support Merlo Station High School Health Center (Approved Under Consent Agenda) 1.b. RO 09-100 Approve Amendment to the 2009-2010 Agreement with the State Health Division for Funding to Provide Public Health Services and Approve a Resolution and Order Increasing the Department Appropriation by $1,351,770 (Approved Under Consent Agenda) SUPPORT SERVICES 1.c. MO 09-335 Accept Bid/Award Purchase Order for Aerial Tree Trimming Truck for Fleet Management Division (Approved Under Consent Agenda) 2. ORAL COMMUNICATION (2 MINUTE OPPORTUNITY) Robert James Claus, 22211 SW Pacific Highway, Sherwood, Oregon, said that Sherwood has started a series of what are turning out to be extensive public hearings over major changes. He told the Board that he has documents that state that these changes are no one’s business—not even the citizens of Sherwood. Mr. Claus reported that 80,000 cars are coming to a light industrial property (57 acres in downtown) during the peak traffic period. He said that the city is in negotiation with Wal-mart, Kohl’s, WinCo, and a number of other mass merchandisers. Mr. Claus stated that this will be exactly what happened with Home Depot. He recalled the following sequence of events in that case: • Home Depot was light industrial. • The city manager and staff deemed the application complete. • They let it sit for 120 days. • Walt Hitchcock and the council sued and later fired the city manager. • They found out that they could do nothing about an application done that way. Mr. Claus held the opinion that this is exactly what has happened with Keith Mays and Jim Patterson. He said that the county needs to watch this because it plays a supportive role to other government agencies. Mr. Claus added that ODOT had no idea that this was going on. He regarded this as a major zoning shift and predicted that it will back traffic up on Roy Rogers, Tualatin Sherwood and 99-W. Mr. Claus believed that county staff will want to look into this and not play a supporting role because this will impact the entire county. He expressed support for the Board’s dedication of today’s meeting to the Lakewood officers. The Board now advanced agenda item 4.a. and considered it first. 4. COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE 4.a. MO 09-333 Approve Amendments to the Tigard Urban Service Agreement Joanne Rice stated that the amendments to the Tigard Urban Service Agreement are related just to the Exhibit regarding provisions of park and recreation services. She specified that this amendment would note the possibility of the creation of the proposed aquatic park and recreation district. Ms. Rice reported that this matter has been acted upon by Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District and the City of Tigard. She mentioned that Metro has yet to act on it. Ms. Rice explained that after this, the Board would conduct the public hearing on the proposed petition. It was moved to approve the amendment to Exhibit D of the Tigard Urban Service Agreement. Motion – Rogers 2nd – Duyck Vote – 5-0 3. PUBLIC HEARING – LAND USE AND TRANSPORTATION 3.a. MO 09-336 Consider the Proposed Formation of a Special District (Tigard-Tualatin Aquatic District) Joanne Rice observed that this is the second public hearing for the proposed petition to create an aquatic district to operate the two pools at the Tigard and Tualatin high schools. She reviewed that the Board continued the matter from November 24, 2009 in order to provide additional time to complete some steps. Ms. Rice reported that last evening, the City of Beaverton approved an endorsement to the petition. She said that the other outstanding issue that would need to be resolved before the Board should act on this matter is the amendments to the petitioners’ economic feasibility statement. Ms. Rice commented that the county has only just now determined that taxes would need to be levied in 2011, rather than 2010 as assumed in the economic feasibility statement. She requested that the Board continue this matter for one week to allow the petitioners time to submit additional information about the economic feasibility statement. Ms. Rice related that Kathy Stallkamp says that the petitioners have been working with the Special Service Districts in terms of how to go about addressing that. Chairman Brian said that it is the Board’s understanding that a continuation of one week does not provide much time and expressed the Board’s willingness to continue it additionally after next week. The public hearing was opened. Kathy Stallkamp, 17635 SW 131st, Tigard, Oregon, told the Board that the petitioners have already done some research in the event that they did not get money in 2010 for taxes. She said that they have already contacted the Special Districts of Oregon, worked out what the loan would be, and developed an economic feasibility statement. Ms. Stallkamp was prepared to turn that in within the next day. She stated that a few issues were just identified with the legal boundary by the Department of Revenue and so the petitioners will work on those. Ms. Stallkamp said that a continuation to next week will likely allow everything to be turned in to staff and approved by that time. Cheryl Coupe, 15855 SW Windham Terrace, Tigard, Oregon accompanied Ms. Stallkamp but did not have anything further to add. Chairman Brian thanked the women and said that the Board admires the citizen action exhibited by the petitioners in an effort to take care of needs in the community. He hoped that the details could be worked out in time for campaign season before the election. Commissioner Rogers commented that it seems as if these issues are a frustrating knit in the law. He asked if the county could contact the Department of Revenue on the petitioners’ behalf to see if we could get some kind of waiver or interpretation. Commissioner Rogers wanted to help the petitioners. Dan Olsen replied that the Office of County Counsel has been in contact with the Department of Revenue. He said that the Department of Revenue has not consistently applied the statute over time and added that this is one of the first times that it has really become an issue. Mr. Olsen stated that his office is talking with them about the possibility of the Department of Revenue issuing an order directing counties in terms of how the statute should be applied, which would have the advantage of addressing legal concerns and providing for statewide uniformity, which everyone wants. He said that the county has also had some conversations with the Special Districts Association about a possible legislative fix and what the impact of that might be. Mr. Olsen summarized that his office is working on the issue and he feels that there are some alternatives that would allow this to proceed further. He said that this is a case where we are talking about using the boundaries of an existing school district and that makes it a lot easier to suggest that this one ought to be allowed to go through. Commissioner Roger appreciated what staff has done. He said that it would be helpful if we could coordinate the efforts around this last little curve ball so that the petitioners know what is going on. Commissioner Rogers asked if the petitioners can contact the Office of County Counsel directly or if they must go through him. Dan Olsen responded that Brad Anderson and Chris Gilmore in his office have both had a lot of conversations with the proponents. He said that what we are doing now is trying to make sure that there is a Plan B and Plan C in place, even though we are all hoping that we can keep Plan A moving forward. It was moved to continue this public hearing to December 15, 2009. Motion – Rogers 2nd – Schouten Vote – 5-0 3.b.