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Ms. Bettman thought the advantage of smaller wards outweighed the disadvantages of more <br />councilors, but she said she had heard no outcry from her constituents for such a change. She <br />thought the system was fundamentally good and that minor changes could be made to foster <br />fairness. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner said most of his thoughts had already been stated. He endorsed Ms. Nathanson's <br />remarks regarding campaign finance reform. He said if the City actually could preserve small <br />neighborhood-based wards with an increase in wards, he would be supportive, but noted the <br />boundaries of his own ward, one of the smallest in population, which was not a small, <br />homogeneous area. He did not see the recommendation as a remedy. Mr. Meisner said he did <br />not want to turn the council into a legislative format council. He said he felt the shift in numbers <br />on the Board of County Commissioners had been harmful for Lane County government. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey pointed out an increase in the number of councilors was likely to raise the profile and <br />influence of the mayor. He reported he received comment on the subject from one person, the <br />chair of the River Road/Santa Clara neighborhood association, who liked the recommendation <br />because he thought it might mean that the area became a common interest ward. <br /> <br /> The motion failed unanimously, 8:0. <br /> <br />Regarding EWEB, Mr. Meisner said that he raised the issue, and wanted clarification about the <br />comparative authority of the council and EWEB commissioners given the disagreement over the <br />text of the ballot measure related to fiber optic. He said that there was also a question of mutual <br />membership on the EWEB commission and other City groups. Mr. Meisner recommended that <br />staff seek clarification from the tape of that meeting. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman asked if there was anything in the charter related to campaign finance reform that <br />the committee should address, noting the council's interest in the topic was largely in what <br />administrative things could be done to streamline the process and get information to voters in a <br />timely fashion. She thought the committee needed to decide if there was a charter issue involved. <br /> <br /> Mr. Farr, seconded by Mr. PapS, moved to direct staff to prepare information <br /> and a resolution to place a charter amendment on a ballot to change the <br /> method of councilor election as follows: councilors would represent their <br /> wards, as currently, and would be selected by citywide election. <br /> <br />Mr. Farr said the approach was currently being used in Springfield. He suggested that the <br />approach might work against him personally, but he thought it important because the council was <br />making decisions that affected the entire city and the entire city should vote for each councilor. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly noted that the committee considered the concept but decided against forwarding a <br />recommendation to the council. He was not adverse to further discussion, but due to a lack of <br />time suggested the council table the issue. <br /> <br /> Mr. Kelly, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to table the motion. The motion <br /> passed unanimously, 8:0. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 18, 2001 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />