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<br />e Mr. Holmer said this is why, two weeks ago, he urged that the council hold an <br /> executive session very soon. The Mayor indicated that the council would <br /> address this issue at the earliest opportunity. Mr. Holmer said he had <br /> expected that opportunity before now. He said he is raising the subject <br /> again because he fears that the intent is to defer council involvement until <br /> the negotiations have been concluded. Mr. Holmer felt that if this were to <br /> occur, the council would not have been an active participant in the shaping <br /> of long-term and expensive commitments for which the council must bear <br /> ultimate responsibility. <br /> Mr. Holmer urged that there be an executive session of the council to discuss <br /> with the manager the specifics of the negotiations he referred to in his <br /> confidential memoranda of August 25 and September 12. Mr. Holmer stated that <br /> if the council is presented with a completed agreement for its "rubber <br /> stamp," it will have been derelict in the discharge of its fiscal <br /> responsibility. <br /> Mr. Holmer moved, seconded by Mr. Boles, that the council meet <br /> in executive session before the conclusion of the <br /> negotiations and within the next week, to discuss with the <br /> manager the status of negotiations he referred to in his <br /> confidential memoranda to the Mayor and City Council. <br /> Mayor Miller did not feel the negotiations warranted an executive session. <br /> He said that a deal has not yet been put together and, once it has, it can be <br /> discussed in public. He did not think it would be too late for the council <br />e to discuss the proposal after it has been completed; he said the council can <br /> change or even reject the proposal if it so desires. <br /> Mr. Rutan did not favor an executive session. He felt that the parties <br /> involved in the negotiations understand that they are dealing with a public <br /> body and realize that the negotiations will not be complete until they have <br /> been approved by the council. Mr. Rutan thought that the council would be <br /> able to change any facet of the deal when it is ready for public review. Ms. <br /> Schue agreed. <br /> Mr. Holmer said that if the council is to be influential in the negotiations, <br /> rather than being presented with a finished deal, then it needs to be <br /> familiar with the issues at this point. He felt it would be too late for the <br /> council to influence the shape of the negotiations later. <br /> Mr. Boles suggested that one reason the council has not engaged in executive <br /> sessions in the past is that it has not been faced with many public/private <br /> negotiations and the delicacy associated with them. Mr. Boles stated that <br /> the council does not have a collective sense of the issues being addressed in <br /> the negotiations and thought that an executive session was warranted. <br /> The motion carried 5:3, with Mr. Green, Ms. Ehrman, Mr. <br /> Bennett, Mr. Holmer, and Mr. Boles voting in favor, and Mr. <br /> Rutan, Ms. Bascom, and Ms. Schue voting opposed. <br />e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 27, 1989 Page 3 <br />