Item B: City Council Process Session

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ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Work Session: City Council Processes Meeting Date: June 27, 2012 Agenda Item Number: B Department: Central Services Staff Contact: Beth Forrest www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5882 ISSUE STATEMENT This work session is part of an ongoing opportunity for the City Council to discuss how it conducts its business and for City staff to share information on matters potentially affecting council processes. The council meets periodically to talk about its processes and operating agreements. BACKGROUND Staffing, resource and technology changes offer opportunities to approach the work of the City differently. The offices of the Mayor, City Council and City Manager’s Office are slated to move to the Lane County Public Service Building (PSB) in late August, which will have impacts for work and conference spaces, as well as for public access and public meetings. Also, the pending turnover of the councilor representing Ward 6, given May’s election results, raises procedural questions about filling future council vacancies. This is the first of two summer sessions scheduled on council processes; the next is tentatively set for July 25. The issues to be covered in this session are the following:  Minutes and meeting records Records of City Council meetings are currently provided in the following forms: (1) webcast, transmitted live with closed-captioning, accessible on the City’s website for two years, then available on DVD at the Eugene Public Library; (2) detailed written minutes, usually available to council for approval within 4-6 weeks of the meeting and, upon adoption, posted to the City’s website; and (3) summary of motions, available to the council within one week of the meeting. Oregon’s Public Meetings Law requires that a public body have a sound, video or digital recording or written minutes of its meetings. A verbatim transcript or detailed minutes is not required; however, the record of a meeting, whether preserved in written minutes or as a sound, video or digital recording, must provide a “true reflection” of the meeting and must, at a minimum, contain the following information: - date, time, and location of meeting -members present; -motions, proposals, resolutions, orders, ordinances and measures and their disposition; -results of all votes and the vote of each member by name; -the general substance of any discussion on any matter; and -subject to Public Records Law, a reference to any document discussed at the meeting. S:\CMO\2012 Council Agendas\M120627\S120627B.doc