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Mr. Kelly agreed this was administrative clean-up. He reiterated his disappointment that the Citizen Involvement Committee (CIC) had been defunded. He declared the CIC to be a focal point for public participation. Ms. Taylor opined the action was a "burial" and not a clean-up. Ms. Bettman opposed the dissolution of the CIC. She underscored that the intention of the CIC was to increase citizen involvement in a multitude of projects. Regarding the land use issue mandated by the State, Ms. Bettman asserted the Planning Commission had not reviewed a citizen involvement plan for minor land use code amendments. She asked how the Planning Commission was going to approach it at this point. Planning and Development Executive Director Tom Coyle responded that for the minor code amendment process, Planning Division staff would notify the community and home builders and would hold a work session. He stressed that the 12- to 18- month process had not started at this point. He explained that the citizen involvement component of the land use process would begin subsequent to the City Council approval of the prioritization of the Planning Division work plan. Ms. Nathanson asked if the City provided advice to various departments on how to create an ad or a handout to solicit citizen involvement. Mr. Taylor replied that, since 1976, the ideas and expertise that the CIC articulated were well-embedded in City practices. He felt many of the ideas were incorporated into how the City conducted business on a regular basis. In response to a question from Ms. Nathanson, Mr. Taylor said staff would encourage that any inadequate notices be brought to their attention. Mr. Pap~ reiterated that continuing the CIC with a limited budget would continue the diminishing results from it. He felt the City internet was a tremendous resource for citizen involvement in City processes. He was also pleased with the complaint response process at City Hall. He could not agree with the contention that the dissolution of the CIC meant the death of citizen involvement, and added obviously such involvement had not ceased. Mr. Pap~, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to extend time for this discussion by five minutes. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Ms. Taylor asked how home builders were notified. Mr. Coyle responded that they were notified via e- mail. Ms. Taylor averred that a more equitable system of noticing would require the Lane County Homebuilders Association to be noticed through a quarter-page ad like the rest of the citizenry. She asserted many people do not read the newspaper or have access to the internet. She felt the CIC ensured that dedicated citizens from the voters' pool participated in the decision process. Mr. Meisner supported the motion. He stated that citizen involvement had been most impacted by a City Council decision in 1992 which eliminated "dozens" of committees and, by virtue of this elimination, curtailed citizen access to involvement. He related that every year the CIC had been asked to look at new and different ways of reaching out to citizens and every year the committee responded that it would need additional funding to do so. Mr. Meisner expressed hope the City not only consider existing best practices but, was also is imaginative in looking for new ways to inform and attract citizens to involvement. He agreed with Ms. Taylor that the internet did not reach everyone. He opined that, in practice, use of the voter pool resulted in the same people participating on committees. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 11, 2004 Page 5 Work Session