Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Ms. Ortiz said she had attended the Golden Gardens tour and thought it was nice. She had also attended the fundraiser for Food for Lane County and had been impressed by the generosity displayed by the people who attended the event. Ms. Ortiz noted that she would be attending the National League of Cities. She requested that the public hearing on the River Road annexation issue be postponed. Continuing, Ms. Ortiz commended the Emergency Medical Services report. She felt that it had been well done and she hoped it was on line for the community to review. She averred that Chief Randy Groves had done a good job of recruiting people to replace those who had retired. Ms. Ortiz reported that the council had conducted interviews for boards, commissions, and committees the previous week and would be interviewing more people. Mayor Piercy noted that City Manager pro tem Angel Jones was absent as she was attending the Interna- tional City Managers Association (ICMA) conference and that Acting Assistant City Manager Scott Luell would be sitting in for her. Mr. Pryor reminded the council of his proposed motion regarding the West Eugene Collaborative and the Mayor asked him to place the motion on the table. Mr. Pryor, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved that the council: (1) authorize $40,000 from the council contingency fund to support facilitation of and technical studies for the voluntary and advisory group known as West Eugene Collaborative; (2) authorize the city manager to make staff available to provide additional support for the West Eugene Collaborative; and (3) request the West Eugene Collaborative to report back to the council and other governing bodies with recommendations for consideration on the West Eugene Corridor study. Ms. Bettman had hoped that this item would be postponed until the West Eugene Collaborative (WEC) had the opportunity to address her concerns. She indicated her opposition to the motion. She took issue with the operating agreements as they indicated some flexibility to evolve with time. She felt this would mean that the agreements could be changed at any time. She averred that the WEC had outlined no parameters for accountability. She alleged that the WEC was “top heavy” with business interests and agency staff. Ms. Ortiz requested staff input. Emily Proudfoot, Landscape Architect for the Public Works Engineering Division, stated that the group had met as the WEC for six months and prior to that they had evolved from the Eugene Round Table, a group of individuals with broad-based interests. She said when the council had given direction to move forward on th the West 11 Corridor Study she had been invited to the group to discuss the study. She related that the group indicated it was interested in this topic and had asked who should be at the table. She explained that the group had solicited individuals from a broad spectrum of groups to participate in the WEC. She reported that at the first meeting the members were asked to look around and see if anyone was missing that should be there. She said since they had begun meeting they had developed a work program that they were on schedule with and were being facilitated by John Highland and Dennis Donald from the Osprey Group, which had been selected out of three recommended facilitators and paid for by $20,000 in seed money contributed by four of the member groups. She noted that an additional $7,200 had been contributed since then. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 8, 2007 Page 3 Work Session