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was too much into regulation and not enough into problem solving. She found the statement important. Ms. Nathanson referred to page 16, saying she found the conclusion that Eugene's practices were well within the norm of other jurisdictions and states to be worth noting. Responding to a question from Ms. Bettman regarding which recommendations the department planned to implement in the short-, medium-, and long-term, and if there were recommendations the department did not intend to implement, Mr. Coyle said that he did not know if the City could staff the code it now had in place. There were many standards, and once implemented, they must be measured, monitored, and reviewed. He estimated that sufficient staffing for the code required six planners, and the City had three planners. The City's current regulatory approach hampered the department's ability to be enabling, and if the City maintained that direction he doubted the department would be able to implement at least six of the recommendations. Ms. Bettman suggested that the department could easily evaluate the cost of implementing many of the operational recommendations. Those predicated on policy changes could be noted, and that could be part of the report. Ms. Bettman determined that Mr. Zucker looked at the extent to whether a policy was in ordinance form and the extent to which the community clearly understood the policy. For example, he had looked at the City's policies on growth and economic development, as well as all the process materials. He had attempted to understand, for example, what somebody who wanted to add a bedroom to their house went through: What was handed to them by City staff? How long did they wait for service? Did they find out where they needed to go? Could they find where they needed to go? Ms. Bettman said she was sorry to hear Mr. Zucker's answer because she had hoped for something different. She thought the intent of the audit was to look at staffing needs and turnaround times. She cited the American Heritage Dictionary definition of "audit," which was "an examination of records or accounts to check their accuracy." Ms. Bettman likened the report to the recent Business Climate Survey, which had centered mostly on industry's perceptions. Mr. Poling found it interesting that some of the comments made by those participating in the focus groups were the same comments the council heard in the Business Climate Survey and at the nodal development hearings, that is, that citizens do not feel involved in the process. He said the City needed to work on that. Mr. Poling noted the recommendation for planners as project managers and recalled discussion among the councilors about that prior to his joining the council. He suggested that cross-training of inspectors would be of great benefit and for more information about the status of that discussion. Mr. Coyle indicated he would provide the council with information on what had been done. Mr. Poling found the report informative and well-done and hoped the council took its recommendations to heart and implemented as many as possible as quickly as possible. Ms. Taylor asked if Mr. Coyle supported the recommendations. Mr. Coyle indicated he supported the majority of the recommendations. Speaking to the policy issue, Mr. Coyle cited Recommendation 55, "Shorten time goals for Type 1 permits and adjustments." He said that the issue of how many applications had been approved in contrast to how many had been denied had been raised several times by the council and Planning Commission. When staff walked away from that discussion, it did not know if the council wanted it to deny more applications, or if it was moving quickly enough. He said that was the policy issue the planners frequently faced. He said the department was trying to be consultative in nature with the goal of getting applications to approval. If the department was in disagreement with the developer, such applications could be discarded early. Mr. Coyle said that if the council wanted MINUTES - Eugene City Council June 25, 2003 Page 8 Work Session