CC Minutes - 07/27/98 Work Session

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MINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room--City Hall July 27, 1998 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Pat Fart, Tim Laue, Bobby Lee, Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson, Laurie Swanson Gribskov, Betty Taylor Betty Taylor, Ken Tollenaar. COUNCILORS-ELECT: Gary Pape, Gary Rayor. COUNCIL CANDIDATE: David Kelley. I. CALL TO ORDER The adjourned July 22, 1998, Eugene City Council meeting was called to order at 11:30 a.m.; His Honor Mayor James D. Torrey presiding. II. WORK SESSION: CITY MANAGER PRO TEM RESPONSE TO COUNCIL'S STATEMENT OF EXPECTATIONS City Manager Jim Johnson recalled that the Mayor, the council, councilor-elects, and two council candidates on July 13 described expectations and qualifications of a city manager. He noted a July 22 public hearing held to gather input. Mr. Johnson said the meeting packet included summary information from all those meetings. He reviewed in detail his July 23, 1998, memorandum responding to the desired characteristics and expectations identified, which he said fell into the following six general categories: professionalism, experience, management style, elected official relations, community and intergovernmental relations, and personal characteristics. Finally, he summarized the City's situation as unique and explained why even though he would normally favor a recruitment process he should be appointed and a recruitment effort avoided despite major public sentiment to the contrary. Mayor Torrey indicated that the council on Wednesday would decide whether to make a decision and now was the time to ask questions of Mr. Johnson. Ms. Taylor expressed concern that the council was not taking enough time in the hiring of the city manager. She asked Mr. Johnson if he would point out council policy decisions that were in conflict with other adopted policies and what he would do with the City's legal services. Mr. Johnson indicated that he would certainly point out potential inconsistencies in council decisions and referred to his June 3, 1998 memorandum that explained his support for maintaining the current City Attorneys' Office contract. Mr. Pape called attention to the fact that the council was working with a 10-year old job description and believed it should be updated before taking any action. Mr. Johnson said the council was scheduled to take action on an updated job description at its July 29 work session. Minutes--Eugene City Council July 27, 1998 Page 1 5:30 p.m.