CC Minutes - 11/08/06 Work Session

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The maker and second accepted the friendly amendment. Mr. Papé asked if the United Front agenda had been prepared. Ms. Bettman replied that it had and it basically duplicated the agenda from the previous year. The motion to amend passed, as amended, 7:0. Mr. Kelly said he hoped the legislative document could be revised and rewritten. He noted that it had not been substantially reviewed and revised since 2001. Ms. Walston said she would put it on the agenda for the CCIGR in 2008. Mr. Kelly said on page 17 there was a new boldface-type recommendation to support removal of the corporate minimum tax. He was uncertain what the intent was. Ms. Bettman explained that the committee sought to remove the cap. Mr. Kelly did not believe there was a cap; rather there was a floor on the tax that was “very, very low.” He asked if the intent was to “raise the floor.” Ms. Bettman affirmed that this was the intent. Mr. Kelly, seconded by Mr. Papé, moved to amend the language, as follows: “Support increase of the corporate minimum income tax.” The motion to amend passed unanimously, 7:0. Mr. Kelly said he had noticed something was missing from previous documents. He explained that previously the council advocated for making municipal court a court of record. Ms. Walston clarified that this was a successful action as the municipal court could now be a court of record; it was now up to the City to pass an ordinance to enact this at the local level, and that this would also require the installation of some recording equipment Mr. Kelly thanked councilors-elect Alan Zelenka and Mike Clark for their attentiveness to the council meetings over the past months. Mayor Piercy added her post-election congratulations to them. Mr. Kelly observed that there had been a recommendation in past legislative documents that had been stricken that read, as follows: “Support proposals to increase the number of signatures required for initiative constitutional amend- ment.” He asked why it had been struck. He believed a constitutional amendment merited a higher threshold. Ms. Bettman agreed that there was a downside to the threshold. But her sense was to leave the initiative process alone. She felt, on balance, it was a “good thing.” Mr. Kelly, seconded by Mr. Papé, moved to restore the recommendation on page 73 of the document. Ms. Taylor said she believed that really powerful people could get a lot of signatures for a ballot measure, but somebody “down the street who has an idea” was not as able to do so. She supported leaving it out of the document because she wanted to protect the democratic process. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 8, 2006 Page 6 Work Session