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Session 1316, Minutes Page 8 October 11, 1982 Mr. Lieberman asked why the matter of approval was so urgent at this time. Mr. 01- lendorff said there was urgency insofar as favorable prices for repair have already been obtained (for Linden Avenue), and several weeks have been required to reach an agreement on specifications. The construction season was near the end and the prices quoted will not be valid in the spring. He thought it was important that the Council adopt a policy before the City got into the rebuilding of streets, not- ing that it would be difficult to implement a policy of asking citizens to share a small portion of the :cost if a number of streets had already been done with the City paying the full amount. Mr, Lieberman said it concerned him that citizens would be asked to pay for street reconstruction which past citizens had already paid for. Mr. Ollendorff pointed out that the Council, in writing, has promised that the City will maintain the streets; however, there has not been a policy of what would be done when the street was beyond maintenance and actually needed to be reconstructed. He said a limit of a certain number of years could be inserted in the policy, i.e., no one would be assessed for a minimum of perhaps 20 years. Mrs. Thompson said this issue should be taken up with the residents who would be in- volved, and perhaps a public hearing should be called. Mr. Ollendorff said City ordinances already required that a public hearing must be held prior to assessments on property for improvements, and that would continue to be true if the proposed policy was adopted. Mr. Adams said this policy represented a departure, philosophically, from the path the City has followed fcr some time--that is, he felt the impression has been left that the City would take care of the street once it was improved and residents had shared in the cost. He was also concerned about another bond election for streets. Mr. Lieberman said he felt Mro Ollendorff had misinterpreted Mrs. Thompson's re- marks.. He understood her to say that a public hearing should be held before the policy was set. Mrs. Thompson said that was correct. Mro Ollendorff said he was suggesting that the policy in the future would be identi- cal to what it has been for the past twenty years. He pointed out that the policy established by Councii on street improvements has not been subject to public hear- ings; only specific assessments on specific properties have been subject to them. Mro Lieberman said that was correct, but up to now maintenance has been a City re- sponsibility. Mr. Ollendorff said that maintenance would still be a City responsi- bility, but when maintenance was no longer possible, costs of rebuilding the street should be shared with the property owner. Mrs. Metcalfe said Mr. Lieberman was correct in his assumption that what was being proposed was a new policy; however, the procedures would be the same as the proced- ures used in the current policy. The policy would not be imposed on residents with- out holding a public hearing, She said the age of the City must be considered-- certain areas were becoming very old and some of the streets will eventually need to be completely rebuilt, and the City did not have the resources to do that. The Council must decide whether or not it was going to treat that situation as mainte- nance, but she felt it really was not, Mrs. Metcalfe moved approval of the policy as outlined by Mr. Ollendorff. Mr. Schoomer seconded the motion. Mr. Lieberman asked if he could get a statement from the City Manager stating that this policy would cover only residential streets as identified in the Code, and not