09/18/1989 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e Councilors spent some time discussing the purpose of the public forum and how to best allow the public to speak to elected officials. Several changes were considered: move the item to the end of the agenda; count the number of requests to speak and divide the allotted agenda time equally among them; restrict the number of times the same person can speak at the public forum; provide a more reasonable amount of public hearing time on topics of public interest; rely on the Mayor's judgment; rename the item "new issues forum;" provide citizens with opportunities to use the City's computer system to communicate with elected officials and staff; assign an administrative officer to hold public hearings for anyone with a message to deliver to the council; request the removal of signs from the" Council Chamber privately, before the meeting instead of during the meeting. Councilors decided not to make major structural changes in the public forum at this time, but agreed that more flexibility would enhance the public's perception of the council.s access i bil i ty. At this point, Mayor Miller called for a five-minute break. J. Council Committee on Funding for Local Arts Mr. Holmer reported a potential conflict among councilors in determining who should receive the revenue from a percentage increase in the Transient Room Tax. Mr. Rutan explained that the Sports Council may propose a .5 percent addition to the County Room Tax. Mr. Holmer asked whether support of the arts groups should come from a countywide increase or a City increase. e Mr, Boles discouraged a piecemeal approach to funding and said sports, recreational opportunities, and the arts are all part of the issue of tourism and their support should be coordinated as part of a coherent package. Ms. Schue said that the Arts Funding Committee is aware of the need for coordination, but she pointed out that arts groups fe~l an urgency to obtain additional funding quickly. Mr. Rutan reported that some representatives of the hotel industry support the establishment of a council to manage additional room tax revenue and to judge the worthiness of various projects to receive funding by their ability to fill rooms. Mr. Bennett said there is already some judgment about the quality of the arts in terms of contributions to the community as a whole. Ms. Schue said the Hult Center is to provide cultural opportunities for the taxpayers supporting it but some local arts groups feel that preference should be shown to local groups. They feel that by allowing nonlocal groups to use the facility, the revenues of local groups are reduced. Regarding the evaluation of the relative merits of various arts groups, Mr. Holmer said that because variety is attractive from an economic development perspective, perhaps a disproportionate amount of funding should go to those groups with the least chance of success otherwise, in order to preserve that variety. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 18, 1989 Page 4 Quarterly Process Session