Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Roll call vote; the motion to amend passed, 6:2; councilors Solomon and Poling voting in opposition. Roll call vote; the amended motion passed, 6:2; councilors Solomon and Poling voting in opposition. Councilor Solomon, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to direct the City Manager to prepare a budget proposal to implement the recommendations of the Sustainable Business Initiative in the City Manager’s proposed Fiscal Year 08 budget. Councilor Solomon stressed that she was very supportive of the SBI initiative. She noted that the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce had a parallel effort on sustainable business practices while the task force had been meeting, through which she learned a lot. However, she felt this motion circumvented the budget process. In response to a question from Councilor Kelly, City Manager Taylor stated that if the motion was passed as it was recommended, the result would be a decision package that he would submit for consideration for the Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08) budget. He noted that there were many competing elements in the upcoming budget. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Bettman, moved to substitute for the motion on the table a motion to direct the City Manager to include funding for the sustainability ini- tiatives in the FY08 Proposed Budget. Councilor Kelly averred that the Budget Committee routinely discussed things that were already in the budget and could change the funding if it was necessary. He declared that the SBI was taking on work that would have the government and community of Eugene “take a small role in increasing the chance that human life will continue on this planet for a reasonable period of time.” He believed that putting funding for 1.5 full time equivalent (FTE) employees into a budget of an organization with 1,200 to 1,300 employees was not “outrageously prioritized.” Councilor Papé could not support the amendment. He wanted to see the council give direction that there would be a decision package for the Budget Committee that would include the sustainability initiatives so that both the committee and the community could determine whether and at what level to support it. Councilor Bettman declared that the council needed to commit financial resources to the SBI efforts. She believed it was important for communities to take a “positive step in the right direction.” She said the amendment would direct the City Manager to consider it a high enough priority to include in the proposed budget. Councilor Pryor observed that it was not “what you do but how you do it.” He wanted to talk about the funding before he made a commitment to it and this was ensconced in the original motion. Councilor Kelly reiterated that including it in the budget made a strong statement in support of sustainabil- ity. Roll call vote; the vote on the amendment was a tie, 4:4; councilors Taylor, Bettman, Kelly, and Ortiz voting in support and councilors Poling, Solomon, Papé, and Pryor voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy voted in favor of the motion and it passed on a final vote of 5:4. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 23, 2006 Page 7 Regular Meeting