CC Minutes - 04/17/02 Process - Laserfiche WebLink

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would limit confusion of the requests for information being handed down from the City Manager. He stressed that direct communication was much more efficient. Mr. Carlson stressed the need for all councilors to receive the same information. He said there would be no loss of efficiency/translation issues by the City Manager forwarding e-mailed requests to staff. He added that the same rule would apply to requests for information from the Eugene Budget Committee. Ms. Bettman raised concern that the rules about information requests to staff were a formal way of constraining the council. She said she needed more clarity on what kinds of questions were inappropriate to ask staff. In response to a question from Ms. Bettman regarding whether the same rules would apply to the mayor, Mr. Carlson confirmed that the same rules did apply. Ms. Bettman raised concern that members of other organizations in the community would have easier access to information than the council would have. She stressed that the same constraints should also apply to other organizations. Mr. Carlson said that the council played a different role in the City than other organizations. He stressed that the City Charter assigned a role to the City Manager who was the only employee of the council and that the council could not direct the work of other City employees. He acknowledged that if an answer could quickly be provided on the phone by an employee, with no additional work, then that would be an appropriate question to ask without routing the request through the City Manager. Mr. Meisner noted that sometimes it might be difficult to distinguish what would be an appropriate question but agreed with the points raised by the City Manager. He stressed that the policy was not a constraint but a gate keeping function that would allow all councilors to share the same information. In response to a question from Ms. Nathanson regarding e-mail confirmation of phone calls, Mr. Carlson noted that a simple clarification would not need an e-mail confirmation but a request for information that would take time to develop would need to be phoned or e-mailed into his office. In response to a question from Ms. Nathanson regarding exploring an issue before making an official request for information, Mr. Carlson expressed his willingness to help clarify issues with councilors. He stressed the importance of his being able to track requests for information so that answers could be shared with the entire council. Mr. Pap~ reiterated Ms. Bettman's comments/concerns regarding outside organizations having better access to information than the council. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 17, 2002 Page 3 Process Session