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Mr. Kelly referred to the committee's recommendations for possible referrals to the voters, and <br />determined from the committee representatives that they believed the housekeeping items could be <br />forwarded to the voters as a single package. The committee had not forwarded a <br />recommendation on the packaging of the other items, believing that was the council's purview. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor asked if the use of the phrase that Eugene had "enjoyed" the council/manager form of <br />government was a typographic error. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Ms. Taylor regarding how the reorganization of departments could <br />be controlled through the budget process, Mr. Johnson said that the largest "stick" the council had <br />was its ability to deny funding. He said that a past reorganization had been objected to by some <br />councilors, but a majority had not joined together to say "and we are not going to allocate the <br />money to make it happen." He believed the council had considerable authority through the budget <br />process, although it was a "stick or hammer." Ms. Taylor disagreed as to how the process would <br />work. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor wanted council involvement in the selection of department directors. Mr. Johnson said <br />that he chose at one point to involve the council and the involvement was ineffective, so he did not <br />do that again. He said that the council could easily develop a process that provided for more <br />involvement in hiring, but that raised the issue of the council's role in a manager form of <br />government when that was generally the role of the city manager. He said that staff could develop <br />more ideas with direction. Ms. Taylor wondered why the committee did not come up with more <br />on the topic, and if it discussed the fact community members were involved on hiring panels while <br />councilors were not. Mr. Tollenaar said that the committee was cognizant it was considering the <br />issues in light of the fact the council voted, 6:2, that the committee was not to consider changes in <br />the council/manager form of government. He said the authority to hire department directors was <br />so close to the essence of the city manager's role in a council/manager government that the <br />committee agreed that the council could not become directly involved in that decision-making <br />process without destroying a very essential part of the whole system. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson asked if the committee discussed other approaches to the composition of the audit <br />committee, given the addition to the council's work load that would result. Ms. Colbath said no; <br />the committee did not discuss many examples. The committee had discussed how best to create a <br />committee balance through which the auditor would not feel unduly influenced by any party. She <br />offered to share a audit committee resolution from Jackson County. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson asked if the committee had considered a title for new Section 32(2) to distinguish <br />the new type of ordinance from an emergency ordinance. Mr. Wells indicated that during <br />discussion it was referred to as an "expedited" ordinance. Ms. Nathanson questioned whether the <br />word "necessary" in the last sentence of the CCRC could as well be "preferable" given that the <br />council often expedites something because it was a good idea, but not, strictly speaking, necessary. <br /> Mr. Tollenaar suggested the council could change the word. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 14, 2002 Page 9 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />