Council endorses hiring facilitator.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

Eugene needs a business-friendly bureaucrat, the Eugene City Council signaled Wednesday.

Councilors gave an early endorsement to a proposed facilitator who would help businesses get permits and otherwise navigate the city's regulatory maze. Now the council just needs to find the money for the hire.

The 5-2 endorsement came in a work session after a debate on whether the position is needed and how to fund it.

Council President Bonny Bettman was skeptical. The city contributes to the Lane Metro Partnership for economic development, she said, and has people within its planning department, including director Tom Coyle, whose job is to help businesses.

"If we have people to perform these functions and we are still falling short, I need to see some demonstrable evidence that throwing more money at the problem will fix it," Bettman said.

Councilor Betty Taylor said the city has plenty of other needs, including hiring inspectors to enforce nuisance codes.

If the city wants to hire a business facilitator, it should employ someone who will promote sustainable, or environmentally friendly, businesses, she said.

Councilor Nancy Nathanson, who pitched the idea of a business aide in her unsuccessful bid for mayor, said the position would not simply be another layer of unhelpful bureaucracy.

"I think it is a way to find a path through the bureaucracy," she said.

Much of the council's discussion focused on how the city would find the estimated $80,000 to $100,000 annually to pay for the facilitator.

Some councilors got grumpy when City Manager Dennis Taylor said it was too early in the process of putting together next year's budget to say where the money would come from.

"There is value in the idea, but I am very dismayed by all the `I don't know' answers," Councilor David Kelly said.

At Kelly's suggestion, the council directed Taylor to return next year with possible ways to pay for the facilitator. They want to revisit the subject before Taylor puts together the proposed 2006 fiscal year budget.

"I want to understand the consequences of that decision on the budget," Kelly said.

Nathanson, Kelly and councilors Scott Meisner, Gary Pape, and Jennifer Solomon voted to endorse the business facilitator position.

Bettman and Taylor were opposed.

The idea for the facilitator came from Mayor Jim Torrey's economic development committee.

The council, also in generally split votes, previously endorsed the committee's calls to simplify Eugene's complex land use rules, to determine if the metro area has enough commercial and industrial land, and to re-apply to the state for an enterprise zone in the western and northern parts of the city, where qualified companies could get tax breaks in exchange for creating jobs.