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Ms. Taylor raised concern over the potential lack of time the City Manager would have to deal <br />with all council requests for information. She added her concern regarding not receiving the exact <br />information requested and said a councilor should be able to get information in any way possible. <br />She went on to say that citizen requests for information forwarded to her should go to the Public <br />Service Officer. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey said the process session was being held to define appropriate rules regarding <br />requests for information and noted that some councilors were taking up excessive staff time with <br />their requests. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly expressed his discomfort with the discussion. He reiterated his concern over efficiency <br />and suggested addressing particular instances of abuse of staff time rather than setting more <br />stringent rules for the entire council. He also reiterated Ms. Bettman's concern that outside <br />organizations would have easier access to information than the council. <br /> <br />Mr. Carlson stressed that he was not putting any new rules in place but only interpreting existing <br />guidelines. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner noted that he also referred citizen requests for information to the Public Service <br />Officer. <br /> <br />Mr. Carlson agreed that specific constituent issues should be taken to the Public Service Officer. <br /> <br />In response to a comment from Ms. Nathanson regarding addressing selective abuse of the process <br />and the cumulative effect of information requests, Mr. Carlson noted that requests that took <br />significant time were disruptive to staff and added that there was not a way to raise the issue of <br />abuse. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman said clarifying information with staff made meetings more efficient. She raised <br />concern over a possible logjam of questions going through the City Manager that would delay <br />information that was necessary for a meeting. She said that the process was fine the way it was. <br /> <br />Mr. Carlson reiterated that calling staff regarding an agenda item summary without going through <br />the City Manager's Office was perfectly appropriate, as long as it did not require a significant <br />amount of staff time or new research. <br /> <br />In response to a question from Ms. Bettman regarding information needed for councilors who <br />were members of particular committees, Mr. Carlson said a councilor's role on another committee <br />entitled them to deal with that committee's staff in a different way. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap~ commented that there had been abuse of the process or there would be no discussion <br />regarding the topic. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 17, 2002 Page 4 <br /> Process Session <br /> <br /> <br />