City Council Agenda Item

Mayor’s Briefing Paper

Date submitted to Mayor: 1/13/05  

Date to be heard by Council: 2/2/05    

Bureau contact and phone: Bryan Aptekar, 503/ 823-5594  

Please describe the ordinance (history, background, any other pertinent information):

Portland Parks & Recreation is in the middle of its skatepark siting project – looking around the entire City for potential sites to develop a system of skateparks. At the beginning of the project, PP&R hired Jeanne Lawson Associates, Inc. (JLA) to assist with the public involvement process, including facilitating public meetings, advisory committee meetings and advise on the public involvement approach. JLA was one of several firms available for hire through a flexible services contract (Contract # 34202) then administered by the Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI). PP&R hired JlA through this flexible services contract with a ‘not to exceed’ amount of $9,000.

ONI did not renew the flexible services contract when it expired at the end of June 2004, but our project had not ended. The Bureau of Purchases therefore approved (Amendment 1) an extension of the project, and switched management of the contract to PP&R until June 2005.

The project is still underway, but the importance of public involvement has only grown. Now, while PP&R manages the contract, the money available in the original contract is nearly used up. There are still a number of public meetings and committee meetings ahead before this project will be completed – likely by September 2005. These meetings could prove contentious and the assistance of an independent facilitator is critical.

This ordinance is intended to:

1.  extend the contract to allow for public involvement facilitation until the reasonable foreseeable duration of the project; and

2.  allow the contract to provide more funds to pay for these public involvement services. The project budget has the money to pay for these additional services.

Is this a routine Council item? Yes [X] No [ ] (Please explain below)

Consent Agenda [X] or Regular Agenda [ ]

Please attach a copy of the Budget Impact Statement.