06/06/1981 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e Don Murray summarized the ways council could get information. They should notify staff of their concerns and the questions they would like raised, or will raise at a meeting. They could move to postpone an item or limit the number and kinds of questions. Ms. Miller noted the need for questions to be asked of staff for the education of the public. She suggested councilors be very aware of what they were doing in this instance. Mr. lindberg suggested stating one's reason in asking the question and not having "hidden agendas." Councilors discussed the difficulty of going over the agendas with staff over the weekend. Mr. Gleason suggested a better way to format the council material in order to make perusal more efficient. He suggested an agenda summary, with tabs for the entire document, with summaries. - Ms. Miller suggested further discussion of format at a later meeting. Mr. Murray explained they were discussing different ways to be more efficient: the preliminary agenda, the way they asked questions, limiting the number and kinds of council questions, and changing the format of the reading material. They were now on item number 2, expanding/muddying the issues. Mr. Obie stressed that it was not necessary for individuals to explain their positions several times. He did not agree with the perception that council meetings were an arena for worldly debate and decision-making. There are a lot of issues; one reads the material and makes up one's mind. He suggested discus- sion occur between individual councilors on an informal basis prior to entering the decision-making framework of the council meeting. Mr. Lindberg expressed surprise at that remark. He felt that people had applauded the way the council could reach consensus/compromise through the process of debate. He continued to live with the hope of compromise. He tried to keep an open mind during discussion. He would often re-assess the issue during that process. Ms. Smith saw time as a problem with their full-time, unpaid positions. They needed to determine how much time they were willing to spend. Are they going to be full-time council members or will they give X-amount of hours and within that time frame? They want to do the job as quickly and efficiently as possible. Ms. Miller suggested Mr. Obie might have overstated his position. (He agreed it was "overclear.") Council often seeks a compromise. To come up with a different fall-back position requires working with staff. This can be very productive as opposed to restating a position. Mr. Murray explained council had shifted discussion from preliminary information prior to the council meeting. Now they were in the middle of the matter: to what extent do they use their time for debate? He heard that it was important to avoid repetition as a way to change an opinion. Rather, use the time to offer information, new insights, or new fall-back positions. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 6, 1981 Page 3