CC Minutes - 02/08/05 PS - Laserfiche WebLink

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time crunch for the Budget Committee, which started the month after the interview process was completed. He also felt a procedure should be created to fill unexpected vacancies, such as a matrix of second choices. Ms. Bettman wanted a standardized process for vacancies as well. She appreciated Mr. Ortiz' comments regarding being open to appointing people with other strengths. She said that the City's current boards and commissions looked homogenous to her and advocated for more diversity in the council's selections. Regarding interview questions, Ms. Bettman indicated she would like to be able to ask follow-up questions. She also wished the applications could be made "more beautiful," adding that sometimes they were hard to read. Mayor Piercy asked if the applicants for the boards and commissions had preferences for who they wanted to serve. She thought it would be helpful for them to have guiding principles and to know who needed to be at the table. Ms. Solomon wished for a better distribution of ward constituents among such groups. She noted that only one person had applied from Ward 6. She felt Ms. Walston did a great job of providing the information on applicants regarding age, gender, race, and neighborhood. Mr. Pap6 said he always tried to look at ward distribution when selecting members for boards, committees, and commissions. He suggested the council have a work session to talk about improving the selection process and the questions they asked applicants. He thought the council should "scramble" the questions every year. Mr. Poling suggested that soliciting information from people currently on the boards, commissions, and committees regarding what they look for in a fellow member could ultimately narrow the scope and decrease diversity. Mayor Piercy countered that they could also recommend having different perspectives. She commented on the importance of having people with different income levels participate. Ms. Taylor did not think it mattered where people lived in the City. She advocated for having a variety of people with differences in philosophical stance and vocation sit on the committees. Mr. Pryor said he would look for diverse perspectives on a committee so that the results would come from a collaboration of different points of view. Ms. Utecht asked if a scheduled work session would include all aspects of this topic. Ms. Solomon preferred to "take a stab" at this topic in the next process session as opposed to a work session. Mr. Kelly was concerned that the next process session was not scheduled until April. He wanted to make sure there would be time to work through this. Regarding diversity, he agreed the council should seek to increase it in every aspect. He commented that deliberating in public sometimes caused constraint and wondered if personnel matters could extend to commissions, etc. He felt such deliberations should be held in executive session. City Manager Taylor said he would pose this question to legal counsel. Ms. Bettman believed there were many kinds of diversity that should be considered before geographic diversity. She asked to hear from staff as to whether other communities had found ways to create more diversity. She opined that councilors wanted people who represented their own points of view to be on the MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 9 Process Session