Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

Home Browse Search

or to discuss modifying the goal could expose the council or individual members to allegations of bias and affect its role in review of the pending application. He said the council determined at its retreat to retain the existing language and not comment on the substance of the goal until the pending application had been processed. Ms. Taylor stated she did not vote for the goal; by voting for it, the council did make a statement and staff might take that as permission to take action in certain ways. Mayor Piercy said it was important to have a full-service hospital in Eugene because of competition and choice and the future of the community. Ms. Ortiz asked if legal advice also cautioned against removing the goal. City Manager Taylor said the prohibition was against modifying or discussing the goal. Mr. Zelenka pointed out the goal was already in existence and reauthorizing it did not change its status. He said it was an aspirational goal to have a full-service hospital for competition and choice; it was not about siting or location. In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, City Manager Taylor indicated that the council did not readopt some of the previous goals as they had been accomplished. Ms. Bettman said she thought the constraint on discussing a hospital was significant because there were goals that the council did not readopt and readopting the hospital goal was a statement. She thought it was contradictory advice that the council could readopt a goal but not discuss it. Mr. Clark agreed that adopting a goal was an important policy decision. He suggested that when the hospital was discussed, tax-base be included as a topic along with competition and choice. The meeting adjourned at 1:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dennis M. Taylor City Manager (Recorded by Lynn Taylor) MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 31, 2007 Page 9 Work Session