06/06/1981 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e should explain their position even though it was repetitious. At times there is value to repetition. A middle ground should be struck by using judgment. Ms. Wooten suggested, on perfunctory matters, that discussion could be limited. She agreed with Mr. lindberg. Mr. Hamel suggested that the council's officers lead in complimenting the City staff and others, with one general remark on behalf of the entire council, rather than seven compliments. Mr. Murray summarized the hopes for the session. Ms. Miller and Mr. Obie hoped to identify off-agenda items. Ms. Smith noted the councilors had discussed having a mid-year "mini-goal session." She wished to establish a time schedule for it. She stressed its importance since City staff is taking direction from the goals of the council. Ms. Miller wished to address the question of what items should be brought up and discussed at the council meeting versus items that need to be brought up and discussed with the staff before the meeting. Mr. Obie agreed that there were "off-agenda items" occurring in the meetings. Ms. Wooten pointed out that things can occur in the discussion that would cause questions to be raised. Mr. Lindberg said a case in point is the assessment policy, which has probably been reviewed four times in the last ten years. It appeared that the reviews occurred three months after new councilors were elected. He wanted to streamline the process but, at the same time, he was refusing to be intimidated by his own ignorance, knowing that in the long run they will collectively be a better council because he was willing to be stupid at the beginning and raise the issues and questions. Councilor Hamel suggested contacting staff for answers to questions. Ms. Wooten was also concerned about the face value inequities in the assessment policy, which because of lack of understanding in overall policy, seemed to draw the council into long discussions. Ms. Miller explained that it was entirely appropriate to call staff to find out what's going on about an issue coming before the council. If information is generated, questions can be asked of staff in the council meeting. Another point is that if a councilor feels unprepared to vote on the issue until further policy discussion, he or she can call staff and ask the consequences of postpone- ment, then make a motion for postponement on the general grounds of inadequate information. Members did not want to limit the asking of questions; they did want to eliminate the asking of the same question several times. Follow-up questions could be asked of staff after the meeting. Ms. Miller noted that at times councilors will ask a question of staff and receive an answer to a different question. MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 6, 1981 Page 2