CC Minutes - 10/27/08 Work Session

Home Browse Search

Mr. Poling reminded everyone to vote on November 4. He attended, along with Ms. Piercy, the ribbon- cutting ceremony for the Interstate 5 flyover. He was also awaiting a response to an inquiry on Creekside Park. Mr. Pryor echoed Mr. Poling’s reminder to vote. He also attended the ceremony opening the new flyover and had recently returned from a visit to Eugene’s sister city of Kakegawa, Japan. He was very impressed by the bullet train as an efficient form of transportation. Ms. Piercy noted that when someone engaged in behavior defined in the ordinance they received a notice that they might be excluded from the downtown area, but that exclusion did not occur until that decision was made by a judge. Mr. Ruiz concurred that the basketball arena process was a good model of bringing concerned parties to the table to mitigate neighborhood concerns. He said the arts and business alliance was a positive coalition in the community. He took responsibility for decisions regarding the City’s Spay and Neuter Clinic and asked people to direct their concerns to him, not the finance director. He said Assistant City Manager, Sarah Medary, would be initiating a community discussion about an affordable and accessible spay and neuter program. B. WORK SESSION: Whistleblower Protections Mary Walston, City Manager’s Office, referred to a summary of existing State and federal whistleblower protection laws prepared by the City Attorney. She said a municipal ordinance from Seattle, Washington, was also referenced. She noted in 2002 the charter review committee had considered the issue and there was some discussion of holding a work session, but the council voted not to go forward with it. She said the agenda item summary included a list of questions that would need to be answered should the council wish to move forward with an ordinance. She asked City Attorney Jerome Lidz to address the legal framework of whistleblower protections. Mr. Lidz cited current State law that made it an unlawful employment practice for a public employer to retaliate against anyone who reported certain actions or discourage employees from reporting those activities. He said enforcement was by the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI). He asked what problem the council wanted to address and what it wanted the City to do that was different than State law. He cautioned that the City’s process could not be interposed between the whistleblower and BOLI by requiring the person to go through the City first, although it could make an avenue available to register those concerns with the City voluntarily. He said the 2002 discussion could be translated into an ordinance, but again cautioned that the process would need to be voluntary. Ms. Bettman said whistleblower protection would foster integrity in the organization. She asked what steps an employee would take to report a violation to BOLI and how many complaints had been lodged in the last five years. Mr. Lidz said he did not know the number of complaints that had been lodged. If an employee wished to complain, they would obtain a form from BOLI to complete and submit. Ms. Bettman asked if the City had any documentation of complaints or retaliation. Ms. Walston said she was not aware of a central record; complaints were typically referred to Human Resources or department heads and she did not have access to that data. City Manager Jon Ruiz indicated that in his experience employees pursued complaints in different ways; complaints were reported through the chain of command, MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 27, 2008 Page 2 Work Session