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Mr. Meisner said he would not support the motion. He said the mayor tried to do a very good job <br />of rotating councilors to different committees and the City Manager faced hard appointment <br />decisions as well but had the authority to make those decisions. He noted that some councilors <br />were not willing to serve on some committees. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor said some committees took longer to learn about than others. She also said that <br />councilors who wished to be on a certain committees should be taken into consideration. She <br />expressed doubts about the effectiveness about an arbitrary two-year limit on committee service. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly said he would not support the motion. He said he would have supported the motion if it <br />had a contained a small and specific list of committees. He encouraged Mr. Pap~ to think about <br />what such a list would contain. <br /> <br />Mr. Fart said he would not support the motion. He said there were some committees that had a <br />steep learning curve and needed longevity in membership. <br /> <br /> The motion failed, 5:3; Mr. Pap~, Ms. Nathanson and Ms. Bettman voting in <br /> favor. <br /> <br /> Mr. Meisner, seconded by Mr. Pap~, moved to extend the agenda item by 10 <br /> minutes. The vote on the motion was a 4:4 tie; Mr. Kelly, Ms. Taylor, Mr. <br /> Rayor, and Ms. Bettman voting no, and Ms. Nathanson, Mr. Meisner, Mr. <br /> Fart, and Mr. Pap~ voting yes. Mayor Torrey voted in support of the motion, <br /> and it passed on a final vote of 5:4. <br /> <br /> Mr. Meisner, seconded by Mr. Fart, moved to amend Section 2 Item 4 of the <br /> City Council Operating agreements to read: "Alternatively an item may not <br /> be placed on the council agenda by councilor request. A councilor may ask <br /> council support for a work session and staff shall then poll all councilors in <br /> writing to ask if the item should be placed on the council agenda. If, within <br /> ten working days of distribution of the poll, a majority of the council respond <br /> in the affirmative, the item shall be placed on the council agenda. A majority <br /> of the council, in this instance, is five councilors or four councilors in addition <br /> to the mayor." <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner noted that, at the current time, three councilors could request and get a work session <br />on any item. He said that the rule of three councilors that had been "massively abused" and <br />added that the entire group was not informed of requests and raised concern that there was a <br />minority control of the agenda which was resulting in items that were inappropriate for work <br />sessions. He said the motion would allow the council more control of its agendas within the <br />boundaries of a majority council process. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly raised concern that control of agendas was being ceded to the rule of the majority. He <br />said the whole point of having a minority request was that there was a chance to convince the <br />majority of councilors on an issue. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor was opposed to the motion. She said a requirement of five councilors to request a <br />work session would mean that a vote was already passed before an item was officially discussed <br />and voted on. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 14, 2002 Page 7 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />