Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Mayor Piercy recognized the work that was being done to move the council’s goals forward, and looked forward to working with consultants and community members on making Eugene a great city for the arts and outdoors. Mayor Piercy said it was a real coup for Eugene to be name the site of the 2007 Olympic Trials and staff deserved credit for its participation in that effort. Mayor Piercy said she was pleased with the community outreach occurring in conjunction with a discussion of a new city hall. Mayor Piercy thanked the manager for his work with the City’s interjurisdictional partners in finding a collaborative way to resolve west Eugene traffic issues and protect wetlands. Mayor Piercy said in spite of recent disappointments in downtown, interest in the area remained strong and possibilities were good. She said that Eugene needed to ensure that downtown was safe and pleasant in the meantime. She looked forward to continued discussion of a permanent Farmers Market. Mayor Piercy commended staff for its continuing commitment to the council’s race and homelessness priorities, and for working to ensure Eugene was a welcoming community. She expressed appreciation that the manager was participating in one of the City Club’s study groups on race, and that he was willing to meet with those on both sides of an issue. Mayor Piercy expressed appreciation for the hiring of Susan Muir as Planning and Development Director. Ms. Muir was very pleasant to work with and open to new and improved levels of public engagement. Mayor Piercy also was happy to see that that manager took the council’s focus on neighborhood organiza- tions as a key means of effective communication. Mayor Piercy said that roads remained a major issue and she looked forward to working with the manager on that. Mayor Piercy expressed appreciation to the staff for its commitment to the council’s sustainability goals, and said it was time for Eugene to do more in conjunction with its intergovernmental partners. She said that Eugene needed to “move up to a whole new level of commitment” as it faced climate change and fuel shortages. Mayor Piercy called on the council for a second round of comments. Referring to statements that the manager had “nine bosses,” Ms. Bettman said the manager had one boss, the council. As far as she knew, there was no manager response to a single councilor’s request. Referring to Mr. Kelly’s remarks about policy governance, Ms. Bettman shared an anecdote about a long- time married couple where big decisions were made by the husband and small decisions were made by the wife; after many years, there had not been a big decision yet. Ms. Bettman said in terms of carrying out council policy, if the policy reflected the organization’s priority, it was carried out. If it did not, the policy was obstructed, was subjected to interpretation, or was not carried out. She said examples could be found in her evaluation. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 31, 2006 Page 5 Work Session