The significance of housing and economic development led the Philomath City Council on Monday night to establish a new advisory committee that will focus on those very issues.
Although the committee was ultimately formed on a unanimous decision minus one absent councilor, the composition of the group was debated for several minutes.
Councilor Matt Lehman, who first came up with the suggestion for the committee during a November Strategic Plan update discussion, balked at the city manager’s idea of forming the group with only community members and no City Council representation.
“I feel like there’s an opportunity here in that the City Council’s been focusing on this for a while and I don’t want to lose that momentum or emphasis … by starting from scratch,” Lehman said.
Workman’s recommendation was to establish the group as an ad-hoc advisory board. But Lehman, along with a few others who voiced similar thoughts, had envisioned the committee as a joint council-community effort.
“As a City Council, we’ve stated we want to do something to address housing and economic development and this almost feels like we’re saying, ‘OK, let’s go round up eight or 10 people in the community and see if they can do something about it’ instead of us taking the bull by the horns and doing something about it as a council and inviting members of the community to have a more direct involvement in that process rather than just public comments or listening to meetings,” Lehman said.
Councilor Christopher McMorran had a similar take and referred to election season back when candidates mentioned housing and economic development as key topics. As such, he wondered if the council would basically be delegating a top priority to a community member-only committee.
McMorran had other views that favored a joint effort and in addition, Councilor Jessica Andrade said she believed an idea behind forming the committee was so there could be meaningful conversations with representatives of various community organizations to address those needs and concerns.
Lehman suggested that the committee be structured to include three councilors and five seats for individuals or organizations.
During the discussion, Workman stuck to his original recommendation and expressed concerns over the increased time commitment that would be required of councilors along with the fear that public input could be watered down.
Workman pointed to topics that could be tackled by the committee right away, a list that included the development of city-owned downtown lots for mixed-use housing, recommending incentive programs for the redevelopment of the downtown area, providing input on tourism strategies and several others.
Mayor Chas Jones made a motion to approve the committee as presented with community members only. Lehman seconded but added with the idea that the committee’s composition would be revisited in six months to see how it’s working.
The vote ended in a 3-3 tie with yes votes from Jones, Lehman and Diane Crocker, and no votes from Andrade, McMorran and Ruth Causey. Teresa Nielson was not able to attend the meeting so with the stalemate, the motion failed.
Lehman followed with a motion to form the committee with three councilors and between five and 11 citizens or representatives of organizations. The vote passed unanimously.
In other news out of the Jan. 8 meeting:
• The mayor opened the meeting by presenting certificates of appreciation to volunteers who completed committee terms: Candy Koetz and Spencer Irwin on the Budget Committee; Dale Collins and Rose Bricker on the Park Advisory Board; and Van Hunsaker and Josiah Jessen on the Planning Commission.
• Jones went through committee and representative assignments for city councilors and all were approved on unanimous votes. The only changes involved Nielson as a representative to the Philomath Youth Activities Club and Andrade in a new role for the city as a representative to the Benton County Home, Opportunity, Planning and Equity Advisory Board.
• The council approved the appointments of Hunsaker and Jessen to four-year terms on the Planning Commission.
• The council approved the appointment of Deanna Montiel to the Budget Committee. The committee still has one position available and the city plans to advertise the position.
• The council approved the appointments of Bricker and Owen Cass to three-year terms on the Park Advisory Board.
• The council discussed an intergovernmental agreement related to the ePermit System and Services with the state’s Department of Consumer and Business Services, Building Codes Division. Workman explained that the state updated contract language because of additional software requirements to accommodate the implementation of an electronic plan review. Questions came up during the discussion to the point that the council agreed to delay a vote.
• The council unanimously voted to move forward with repairs to the new water reservoir and for the city manager to work with the contractor, HP Civil Inc., on the execution of an agreement. (Separate story to be published at a later date).
• The council established the 2024 rates for the city’s system development charges on a 6-0 vote. A 2.58% increase, which was based on an average construction cost index, means that for a typical residential home in Philomath, the total SDCs would cost $30,543, up from last year’s $29,608.
• The council canceled plans to go into executive session.
The City Council plans to meet again later this month at 6 p.m. Jan. 22.
