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· Unclear expectations for City Manager <br /> · Disrespectful communication <br /> · Inefficient use of council time <br /> <br />Other Comments <br /> <br /> · Doing better on goals, could use them more, use to consider whether to approve "pet <br /> projects" <br /> <br />Ms. Helphand noted the councilors' suggestions for improvement, and then reviewed some <br />suggestions she had developed: <br /> <br />City Council Suggestions for Improvement <br /> <br /> · More discipline in use of time: get to point, don't repeat, ask questions outside of <br /> meetings <br /> · Respectfulness-verbal and nonverbal: disagree on issues respectfully <br /> · Try to find common ground when possible. When not, move on respectfully. <br /> · Pay more attention to council goals, identify what is most important <br /> · Want more "push back" from the City Manager and staff <br /> <br />There was general agreement that the council needed more discussion about how the desired <br />"push back" from the manager and staff would actually work in practice. <br /> <br />Margot's Suggestions <br /> <br /> · One employee, one employer <br /> · Forge a link with the City Manager that is empowering and safe <br /> · Set a respectful tone <br /> · Discipline-personal and organizational <br /> · Listen to all perspectives, not just our own constituencies <br /> · Pay careful attention to the City Council process <br /> · Inclusion of one another <br /> <br />At Mr. Kelly's suggestion, Ms. Helphand added the following to the list of suggestions for <br />improvement: <br /> <br /> · PIP-Praise in Public, Problems in Private-how to deal with rancor, tone <br /> <br />The council spent several minutes discussing the areas identified as needing improvement. The <br />council agreed that it would attempt to address the issue of unclear expectations by directing the <br />manager to prepare a shod summary following discussion/action for certain agenda items stating <br />what the manager believed the council's direction to be; Ms. Helphand clarified that the summary <br />would not be required for every item, and if councilors disagreed with the manager's <br />interpretation, the item would be brought up again for discussion. Mr. Meisner wanted to know <br />how it would be resolved when councilors disagreed. The council briefly discussed how that could <br />occur, with a tentative focus on the use of e-mail, and agreed that resolution of that could occur <br />later. Ms. Taylor suggested that the summary be included in the front of the meeting packet. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 4, 2002 Page 2 <br /> Process Session <br /> <br /> <br />