08/31/1977 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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-- ------ the Planning Commission, and as a result of the hearing, he felt an e independent group should be established. It was not the intention to make this a neighborhood leaders' committee. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, to accept the recommen- dation of the Planning Commission. Mr. Delay said he would vote no on the motion. He felt it important that the committee have a sense of independence and be responsible to City Council. He also felt it important to get this committee active and functioning as soon as possible. Mr. Obie said he would vote for the motion. He thought the pyramid approach through the proper channels, especially in regard to dealing with the specific land-use problems, was best and the group should be working directly with the Planning Commission. He felt the City Council was always open and available for citizens to make their wishes known. Mr. Lieuallen said he would vote no on this motion. He cited a low level of confidence in local government and in all levels of government, and creat:ilng an independent ci ti zens group woul d be a move in the right direction toward improving confidence. He also felt there might be a conflict of interest in the Commission, and expressed concern regarding the workload of the Commission. e Mr. Delay noted Council was talking about citizen participation and said he would feel more comfortable with an independent body reporting directly to Council. He asked what does citizen parti- cipation mean if you ignore citizen participation, citing the in- volvement of the evaluation committee and its recommendations that were being ignored. Mr. Bradley requested, seconded by Mr. Delay, to schedule a publiC hearing September 26 for more publiC testimony. Mr. Obie had the impression that once public hearing had been opened, an item could not be held over at that point. He requested counsel to clarify at what point the Council could decide to hold an item over. Stan Long, City Attorney's office, said his understanding of Council's intentions was any time prior to a vote an item could be held over by request of two Councilors. Mr. Williams did not think that was the intent of the Council. He felt the intent was that if an item was considered by two Councilors to be important to have public partici- pation, then it would be held over. He did not feel it fair to go through two or three hours of staff time and public participation only to hold an item over for final decision. Mr. Long reminded Council he had raised that point and Council had discussed the matter when the Bylaws were changed. His understanding was that the majority of Council intended to have an item set over at any time prior to a vote. Mr. Delay did not see the problem, saying he felt this was an important e 8/31/77--7 lo58