Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Councilor Solomon, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to adopt Resolution 4879 certifying that the City of Eugene provides the municipal services required by Ore- gon Revised Statutes Section 221.760. Roll call vote; the motion passed unani- mously, 8:0. Councilor Solomon, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to adopt Resolution 4880 adopting the Budget, making appropriations, determining, levying and categorizing the annual Ad Valorem Property Tax Levy for the City of Eugene for the Fiscal Year beginning July 1, 2006, and ending June 30, 2007. Councilor Solomon, seconded by Councilor Poling, moved to amend the motion by eliminating the appropriation for additional City Council staff and the reprioritiza- tion of $70,000 of the General Fund’s Capital transfer for the creation of council of- fices. Specifically, she moved to reduce the General Fund appropriation for the Central Services Department by $70,000 to increase the Reserve for Revenue Short- fall by the same amount, and to remove any directive to create council offices using General Capital resources. Councilor Solomon conveyed her concern that the appropriation for councilor offices and support staff passed without thoughtful analysis and discussion. She was very aware of how constrained space was in City Hall. She said the item only received five minutes of discussion late in the evening and two councilors were not present. She submitted that the council had a shared office and if councilors needed office hours then they should develop a schedule for the current office. She noted that the council was slated to receive offices in the new City Hall. She felt retrofitting the existing building was not a thoughtful way to use City money. Councilor Kelly opposed the amendment. He had been dismayed by what he considered to be “an orchestrated email campaign” on the issue. He wished to make it clear that the councilors would receive a room with partitions. He asserted that councilors spent 20 to 50 hours a week and as such he did not think it was unreasonable to want a desk, a phone, and someone to answer the phone. He acknowledged the space constraints at City Hall. He clarified that the motion did not specify that the space should be in City Hall. He suggested that space for the councilors could be found in the Atrium Building, 858 Pearl Street, th or the 4 floor of the Library. Regarding the administrative support, he did not think he was serving his constituents well when he spent a lot of his time filing his papers, playing “phone tag” with people trying to set appointments, and gathering materials. He thought with more administrative support he could spend “a heck of a lot” more time listening to his constituents, meeting with them, and advancing the policies of the City. With regard to the new City Hall, he predicted it would not be completed before 2010. He suspected it would serve the councilors well to have a cubicle in the meantime. Councilor Papé said he would support the amendment. He said he had used the shared office and felt it was underutilized. He thought it worked out well for meetings. However, he agreed that more administra- tive support was needed. He said it would be nice to have the phones answered by a person. Councilor Pryor apologized for not being at the Budget Committee meeting at which this issue was discussed. He had financial, logistical, and philosophical concerns about the amendment. He remarked that it was obvious that $70,000 was not an enormous amount of money in an overall City budget but it was real money from the taxpayers. He did not plan to use the office. He said he had a desk and a phone and the phone was paid for by the City. He preferred to use this money to fix a play structure in a park or buy asphalt for a road that needed repair. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 12, 2006 Page 10 Regular Meeting