CC Minutes - 10/13/08 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall October 13, 2008 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, Mike Clark, Andrea Ortiz, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, Alan Zelenka, George Poling. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Chris Pryor. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. John Brown , 101 East Broadway, Suite 101, thanked the City Councilors and Mayor for their commitment to the community. He stressed that he was not representing any board or commission of which he was a member. He stated that he was speaking from having served eight years on the Police Commission and chairing the Auditor/Civilian Review Board Subcommittee that had helped draft the ordinance. He averred that it was a good model and could work, but if the council did not intervene soon to stop the debate on what was right or what was legal, the entire process would be “doomed.” He underscored that he had traveled to the National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) conferences, as had Councilor Bettman. He felt he had learned the components that would make the auditor ordinance a success, as follows: ? It had to have adequate funding; ? It had to be non-politicized; ? There had to be buy-in from all of the parties involved. He did not think Eugene had those components. He urged the council to take the lead and do something to resolve things. He opined that the system was not functioning currently and people were getting frustrated. He declared that there was a lot of blame and no solutions; the council should find solutions instead of blame. He observed that too many people thought they had the answers. He believed the answers lay in the dialogue that had yet to occur. He recalled that during the process involved in formulating the draft there had been an incident that came about that caused some people to think the process should be accelerated. He said rather than accelerating the process they sat down, had a dialogue, and continued the process. He thought they had done it right; what they had passed on to the council was thought to be correct by the subcommittee, the Police Commission, the council, and the City Attorney. He now felt they had erred in not setting up a system to address problems as they arose. He underscored his desire to continue to honor what the voters had asked for, which was transparent civilian oversight. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 13, 2008 Page 1 Regular Meeting