10/26/1983 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Gleason said the council had a set practice of establishing policies and adopting budgets and then expecting performance. He said the City Attorney would e assure that staff's actions were constitutional and in 1 ine wi th the council's di rectives. He said the council might be unaware of the traditional relationship between the council and the areas of investment recruitment and finance develop- ment, adding that the City was already involved in the Bancroft Program. He explained that this program, as well as others, was performed by staff and was never seen by the council except within the budget. He said the council had fel t strongly enough about economic developnent to establ ish a subcommi ttee to study that subject. Mr. Gleason said the council was creating tension by wanting to undo goals or budgets that mitigate the relationship. He said the council should re-debate the issue of economic developnent in regard to the goals to clearly decide on the elements of that program. He said he felt the program was going well and did not feel that it was altogether untraditional, and that the City addressed both public and private sides of the issue. Councilor Smith said she was prepared to adopt the memorandum, stating that it clarified the questions raised. She said there was no need to further discuss the issue if the council was not ready to adopt the agreement. Councilor Lindberg said he felt the discussion was misdirected, stating that no one disagreed that the City was in the business of economic developnent. He sai d he was concerned that the memorandum contai ned two sections, the fi rst outlining the sovereignty of the involved parties, and the second which outlined those areas of partnership which required some debate. He said he felt that community promotion should be included in the second section. e Councilor Ball said he was not opposed to defining the council's role in the area of economic developnent, but he was uncomfortable with defining the rol es in the private sector or in giving de facto recognition to particul ar parties in the private sector as the spokespersons for the community. He sa i d the council should not be defining the roles of the private sector because there existed some parties involved in economic development who were not included in the ag reement. Councilor Holmer said his concerns were stated by Mr. Lindberg and he hoped that there would be some room for a minor amendment as suggested by Mr. Lindberg when the council moved to adopt the agreement. Ms. Wooten said that the other involved parties had already adopted the agreement and therefore it might not be appropriate to make any unilateral amendments. She supported proceeding with the agreement as written. She sai d she agreed wi th Mr. Ball that more thought shoul d be given to the pl ayers in economic developnent. She suggested discussing the issue more during the Goal Session that weekend. Councilor Schue said she recognized the difficulty in focusing on a single issue and she admired the efforts of the diverse groups in developing the agreement. She said she was convinced that the council was not permanently bound by the agreement and that changes could be made. She felt the agreement was a step forward and that the council should accept it. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 26, 1983 Page 8