Laserfiche WebLink
Ms. Ortiz said the council’s past fund provided money for some interesting projects. The Human Rights <br />Commission had a small budget for special requests and she hoped to see something similar established for <br />the council. She agreed that the Budget Committee should discuss the subject, and hoped that anything <br />established would be equitable and available for services for Eugene residents. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy suggested the discussion could serve to initiate a conversation with the Budget Committee. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman observed that the fund was dissolved in a “nano-second” but its reestablishment required years <br />of discussion. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from City Manager Taylor, Mr. Kelly said that in the past, $60,000 was allocated <br />to the fund, which was restricted to outside applicants and could not be used for City programs. The <br />maximum amount available to a single applicant was $5,000. <br /> <br /> <br />III. Public Forum/Public Hearing Protocol <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy noted a problem that occurred at the City Council meeting the previous week, when people <br />signed up for the public forum 15 minutes into the meeting, affecting the distribution of time allotted to each <br />speaker. She invited suggestions. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz did not think it was unrealistic for the council to give each person who came to speak the full three <br />minutes. She said that people worked hard on their testimony and then, when they arrived at the meeting, <br />found they only had two minutes. She acknowledged the council’s desire to end meetings on time and give <br />everyone a chance to speak, but reiterated that all should be given three minutes to speak. <br /> <br />Ms. Solomon said she would have liked the decision by the council to shorten the amount of time for <br />testimony to be made earlier on in the process. However, that meeting had been an unusual one and <br />“constituted a little bit of bad planning.” She wanted the council to do a better job of anticipating such <br />situations so it could tell the public as soon as possible if the meeting agenda changed. <br /> <br />Mr. Papé suggested electronic or telephone call-in sign-ups. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor agreed with Ms. Ortiz that the council should listen to everyone and everyone should get three <br />minutes. If the council had to stay longer, it should. Sometimes people were testifying for the first time and <br />had rehearsed their testimony. Then they were told they only had two minutes and had to decide quickly <br />what part of their testimony to leave out. She pointed out that frequently, people left the meeting early <br />before they were called to speak or simply agreed with the remarks of another. She suggested that if <br />anything was to be cut, it should be the council’s response to public comment. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly said that the public process was “messy” and took time. He said that the council mandated an end <br />time to its meetings about three years ago and decided to limit the time for the public forum. He suggested <br />the forum be extended to 90 minutes and people given three minutes to speak. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman agreed with Ms. Ortiz and said she was glad that the council was reconsidering the issue. She <br />said it is difficult for those who are not accomplished public speakers to edit their testimony “on the fly.” <br />She did not believe an electronic sign-up was the answer as it would disadvantage those from whom the <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 17, 2006 Page 4 <br /> Process Session <br /> <br />