CC Minutes - 07/23/03 Process - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor Torrey suggested that the council read through the Eugene City Council Operating Agreements a page at a time and provide feedback, as per a suggestion from Mr. Kelly. Ms. Bettman commented that the language in the Introduction needed cleaning up, as it was not clear. Mr. Kelly recommended that 1.02 Work Sessions, be clarified so that readers would understand that the 15-minute rule applied to both work sessions and regular meetings. Mr. Pap8 suggested that 1.01 Time of Meetings provide for the possibility of change in the schedule. Mayor Torrey, seeing that there were no further objections to the first page of the document, declared it to be accepted with the aforementioned adjustments. Regarding 1.04 Notice of Meetings, Special Meetings, Emergency Meetings, Ms. Bettman requested clarification. Ms. Walston explained that any councilor could call a meeting, but should less than five show up there would not be a quorum and the meeting could not be held. Ms. Bettman asked what the definition of an emergency was. Mr. Kelly suggested that the council request a memorandum from staff and the City Attorney on this. Mayor Torrey pulled 1.04 Notice of Meetings, Special Meetings, Emergency Meetings. Regarding 1.05 Public Forum, Ms. Nathanson advocated for holding a discussion on Public Forum testimony from people who were non-Eugene residents. She felt that this was time-consuming. Mr. Taylor commented that some parameters could be set. Ms. Walston suggested that the council consider how fine it wanted to "split hairs" as there was a considerable amount of County land in the River Road area. Mr. Pap8 noted that some business owners in Eugene have residences outside of the city limits. Regarding 1.07 Executive Session, Mr. Pap8 related that he had been unhappy with how The Register-Guard had handled the executive session. Mayor Torrey noted that the council could exclude a reporter as a penalty. Ms. Nathanson stressed the importance of not discussing the information shared at an executive session with the press. Mayor Torrey added that it was allowable to leave such a session and speak on it, but that peer pressure not to do so would likely deter a person. Mr. Kelly commented that the language in 2. Placing Items on CouncilAgenda had improved, but it did not reflect the actual process. He suggested that the word "or" be placed between the two sentences in 2.01 Contact the City Managerso that it would be clear there were two different ways of accessing the City Manager regarding agenda items. He commented that 2.02 Council Pofl was awkward. He recommended that language be added at the beginning in lieu of the word "alternatively" that read "sometimes as a result of 2.01 the City Manager, Council President, or Mayor would decide that an item may be placed..." Ms. Bettman called this a "majority controlled agenda." She asserted that this would provide the mayor with twice as much power over the agenda. MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 23, 2003 Page 6 Work Session- Process Session