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seeing an “upswing” in drug dealing. He urged the council to continue its support for funding for the bicycle <br />patrols. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy closed the public forum and invited comments and questions from councilors. She noted, <br />regarding Mr. Gran’s testimony, that the topic had been brought up in the preceding work session and <br />Councilor Bettman had requested a memorandum on urban core bicycle patrols from Police Chief Bob <br />Lehner. <br /> <br />Councilor Solomon said she had polled her colleagues to determine if there was interest in having a <br />discussion on the city manager/city council form of government and there were not enough votes to devote a <br />work session to the subject. <br /> <br />Councilor Ortiz thanked everyone for coming to testify in the Public Forum. She said she was interested in <br />the testimony regarding fines to bicyclists. She thought there was some merit to Mr. Burchell’s suggestion. <br />She opined that there should be some bonus to people who choose to ride their bicycles. She requested a <br />copy of the fine structure for bicycle tickets. City Manager Dennis Taylor agreed to outline the rationale <br />behind the fines. He noted that a transportation subcommittee tried to address concerns about widening and <br />increasing the bicycle lanes. <br /> <br />Councilor Ortiz also wished to underscore her support for continued bicycle patrols of Monroe Park. <br /> <br />Councilor Bettman opined that the City was spending a lot to revitalize the downtown area and “if staff had <br />their way we would spend over $100 million to do it.” She noted her request for a memorandum from the <br />Police Chief regarding whether funding had changed for the bicycle patrols. <br /> <br />Councilor Bettman commented that she was “alarmed” to read that the Police Auditor had not been <br />monitoring investigations. She believed that the ordinance provided for the Police Auditor, in collaboration <br />with the Police Chief to work out the protocols regarding how this would happen. She wondered what <br />obstacle was preventing the Police Auditor from doing this job. <br /> <br />City Manager Taylor indicated that he would have City Attorney Sharon Rudnick speak to the council about <br />the bargaining sessions. <br /> <br />Councilor Bettman alleged that the EPEA was undermining oversight of the complaints against officers, <br />adding that this was discouraging to her. <br /> <br />Councilor Poling stated, in response to testimony on the EmX, that the council did not give any direction to <br />th <br />use West 11 Avenue as a transit corridor. He said he had made the recommendation to consider a West <br />Eugene route and that different possibilities be included in this initial consideration. He also clarified that <br />businesses did not shut down the Coburg Road route, the subcommittee stakeholder group which included <br />residents, business people, and elected officials had decided that having a route in the area would not work <br />for the commercial or residential areas along the corridor. <br /> <br />Councilor Poling thanked Councilor Solomon for her comments on polling the council about whether to have <br />a work session to discuss the form of government. He wished to underscore that neither Councilor Solomon <br />nor himself favored changing the current form of government. He said they wanted to have an open <br />discussion in public purview on the forms of government that were out there in order to make very clear <br />what the expectations were to the next city manager hired. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 11, 2007 Page 3 <br /> Regular Meeting <br /> <br />