07/08/1974 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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and more broadly based than the previous C:;oals Gonference. She felt that the next update might gain even 'better representation from the community. Mrs. Niven suggested that if adoption of the report was delayed on the basis of charging staff and the Conference Committee to set up a system for getting in touch with people, it would also be necessary to determine a source of money for funding that activity, as well as decide ~ who wou Id be on the committee. She felt thos ewho had already served would not be - ,~ willing to continue. ' Councilman Williams echoed Mrs. Niven's sentiments. He felt, criticism of the Conference (0429) Committee for having no "blue collar" representation unfair and cited his unsuccessful experience on num;erous occasions trying to interest employes in submitting names for membership o~ various boards, agencies, or other types of community involvement. . He thought those people getting the Goals Conference togeth'erhad been faced with the s.ame s.ituation,~ no one would ,e:x:press. willingness. or giYe the time . 11r. W:illiams didn't think any fault' shouidoelaidto the Conference 'Committee of the Council for being deliberately exclusionary as to the people invited to participate. Councilman Murray pointed to the attempts to broaden participation in this Conference and (0467) felt representation was much better than in the previous one. He shared the frustrations of not always being suC'!cessful in trying to gain citizen participation, he ~&1d,~~_~Dd lie thought perhaps more could have been done at this time, recognizing that perhaps more time should have been spent on a different process for getting the Conference together. However, he was reluctant to eonsider delay in adoption ,of the Goals report since it seemed the opportunities had been available for participation. - -There had been a lot of community input and he thought to go into reverse at this point would not be giving consideration to those who did take part. tit' Councilwoman Campbell commented on the lead Eugene had taken in involving"ci tizens in - policy formation and said other cities were asking ,this city' for help in that regard. So even though there might be something lacking, she said, at least citizens had beeIl involved. Mr. Deutsch agreed that Eugene was a progressive city and said that his statement was not intended as a critique but as -a suggestion how to better the process for citizen involvement. He said that if the report was adopted now as official policy of the city, without reference to a process for citizen participation, there would be about the same 4ncrement in participation until the next update as since the las~, and he felt that would De inadequate. He said there were written reports to' the Goals Committee that did not appear in the final report, and he felt that ~ouldbe one of the devices for soliciting participation. ,In addition, he said he would like to see new efforts toward inclusion of participatory politics. Mayor Anderson asked Mr. Deutsch for one outstanding example the Council might follow to achieve participatory decision making. Mr. Deutsch answered 'that town hall meetings might be an example, saying the~ewere a_variety of ways to, achieve participation. ,He felt a specific effort should be ma~e to go to the Labor Council, senior,citizens, etc., but he didn't know what the result would be. In response to Mr. Anderson's inquiry, ~ Mr. Deutsch said he would be willing to prepare a document suggesting how participatory ~ decision making could be achieved but called attention to_the full-time city staff paid - to do that:~ype-Qf,work. Councilman McDonald noted small interest over the years on the part of citizens in attend- (0645) ing public meetings to discuss improvements or- other city activities. He felt the inference that the city was not trying to involve citizens was unj ustified. Councilwoman Campbell wondered whether proposed Priority 3 -Appointment of a social priorities committee - would help to involve other citizens. Mr. Fletcher said his suggestion that the Goals Conference was not inferring that labor people were not invited. ~ His point was that he felt '~t-. incumbent upon the city administration to go into the communi ty where people work and solicit their input. And hie was suggesting this as an alternative for gaining participation. He said the wQrking people do care about what is happening that affects their jobs, environment, etc., but pecausemany meetings are held during the':day most working people do not have the oppor~i.mity to attend. Mayor Anderson remarked that it seemed all were interested in achieving the same thing - broader participation - but there didn~t seem to be any new ideas on how to bring it about. He noted the limitations on Council members' time" too, when it came to when-~ and how many meetings could be attended. . _ Mrs. Niven called attention to one proposal in the Citizen Participation section ofthe'~ Goals report that the city should explore other mea~sthan the public hearing process for citizen participation - random samp;Le polls" small group discussion workshops, suggestion box. She suggested the Council might give special attention to, that proposal in adoption of the Goals repor't.'; She noted too th~t adoption~of the report would not preclude amendment of the Goals document prior to its next update. She didn't think postponement of adoption would be wise Because to do so awaiting input from Labor Council l'- 2"3"!> 7/8/74 - 2 " '~,