Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Mr. Clark took note of the council's recent discussions regarding the need to have representative groups involved in processes like the minor code amendments to mitigate potential conflicts. He felt the list of people invited to participate was reasonably well balanced and most of the items recommended for white papers were from the NLC, although that body was distinct from the neighborhood associates. He supported gathering input from the associations during the next steps. He also noted that with the exception of two items, the remainder of the amendments on the list came from the council. In response to a question from Mr. Zelenka, Mr. Nystrom explained that the downtown amendments process arose from an earlier effort to examine existing and potential tools for downtown; recommendations were forwarded to the council, which identified the issues it wished to see addressed. Ms. Taylor asked how "resident" was defined when identified as the source of an amendment. Mr. Nystrom said that the process was open to anyone who wished to comment and "resident" defined an individual who was not associated with or representing a specific group. B. WORK SESSION: City Council Goal – Enhance Understand of Race Issues and Improve Race Relationships Action Plan Update Human Resources Executive Director Lauren Chouinard described the purpose of the work session to review a more detailed version of the action plan and obtain assistance from the council on the following: ? Prioritization of action items. ? Elimination of mid-long range action item #4 and the work session associated with it. ? Identification of council champions for each of the action items. ? Discussion of potential funding source(s). Ms. Bettman listed items 2, 9 and 10 as important to her. She said she had anticipated a comprehensive update on recruitment and hiring as well as things that occurred in the City and metropolitan area that the council should know about. She wanted to receive status reports three or four times a year, including information on key, high profile issues. She agreed with the suggestion to eliminate the work session. Ms. Ortiz said it was of critical importance to her that a strategic plan be created, supported by the council and have staff resources assigned to it. She said the plan should include many of the action items in the staff report. She said the community had been clear about the desire for a cultural center that could be used by many groups and cultures. She said her priorities were items 1 and 7. She was agreeable to eliminating item 4, but wanted that addressed in the strategic plan. She also placed importance on dedicating funds to the work and establishing a budget process that aligned funding with the City's values, as well as holding ongoing discussions with communities of color. She said that items 11 and 12 were also essential. Mr. Zelenka said item 1, creating a strategic plan and institutionalizing it within the organization, was his highest priority, followed by items 11 and 12. He emphasized the need to meet with communities of color on a regular basis in the mid- and long-term and agreed to dropping item 4. Mr. Pryor was supportive of the idea of a cultural center, but the purpose should be to facilitate conversa- tions and interactions between people. He felt that communication and interaction was the key and his is only concern with eliminating item 4 was whether that would eliminate an opportunity to have that conversation, although study circles and forums could be better opportunities to increase communication and understanding than a council work session. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 10, 2007 Page 3 Work Session