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Mr. Pap6 said that Mr. Johnson had been taken by surprise by the recent complications related to the <br />construction of the East Bank Bicycle Path, and he thought that both he and Mr. Johnson should have been <br />more aware of the situation. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor agreed with Ms. Nathanson that the job was difficult when councilors had such diverse points of <br />view. She thought the manager should be both neutral as well as give the council his opinion if it was <br />related to the consequences of an action the council was contemplating. She did not think it appropriate for <br />the manager to influence the council's decisions. Ms. Taylor agreed as to the difficulty of securing <br />information from staff and said on one occasion, after trying repeatedly to get information about a date, she <br />asked Mr. Kelly if he could locate it in his filing system, and he did. In the absence of council clerical help <br />or offices, it would be good if the council had a way to get information right away, when it was needed. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor expressed concern that the council's goals were sometimes "twisted" to fit "what staff already <br />wanted to do." She thought in some cases the goals were broad enough to be interpreted any way one <br />wanted to interpret them. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor said the council received more options from staff than it did in the first two years of her term. <br />However, sometimes the council was told "you either you do this or do that, and this is the consequence if <br />you don't do this," and Ms. Taylor thought there were usually other approaches available. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey said in the past, he heard from the bargaining units and staff when they were upset with the <br />manager. He heard almost nothing but positive comments from the staff about the manager. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey said he also wanted staff to offer the council a wide range of options, but he wanted the <br />manager to tell the council what he, as the chief executive officer, believed was in the best interest of the <br />organization. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey recognized Mr. Johnson's high standing with his interjurisdictional peers and their apprecia- <br />tion of his willingness to work with them to find intergovernmental solutions. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey noted that Mr. Johnson could retire early in 2002 if he choose. He questioned where Eugene <br />would go to find a replacement for Mr. Johnson. He did not want the responsibility of selecting Mr. <br />Johnson's replacement. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey credited Mr. Johnson for bringing the federal courthouse to Eugene, and for his ability in <br />getting the appropriate level of Congressional involvement in that decision. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey said that Mr. Johnson spent more time with the council than any of his predecessors, and he <br />encouraged the council to discuss their issues with the manager in their one-on-one meetings. He said that <br />Mr. Johnson did an excellent job. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson asked Mr. Johnson about the organization's networking with the State. She said that often <br />the City was frustrated by State administrative or legislative action, and asked how much he worked with <br />other city managers around the state, and if Eugene could benefit from more participation from the League <br />of Oregon Cities (LOC) or a large cities group. Mr. Johnson said he had not spent much time with other <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />