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The council discussed the three-minute rule for councilors during discussions at work sessions. <br />Mr. Kelly thanked staff for the timers. Mr. Meisner concurred. Ms. Taylor asked that the mayor <br />inform councilors when they had exceeded the three-minute time, in a manner similar to that he <br />used for the public forum. <br /> <br />Standing Items from the Council, Mayor, and City Manager <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor advocated for the agenda item "Items from the Council, Mayor, and City Manager" to <br />be twice monthly, and to be scheduled first on the agenda. Mr. Meisner concurred, suggesting <br />that the agenda item be scheduled on the second and fourth Wednesday meetings. Ms. <br />Nathanson said she appreciated that standing items were not abused. She believed it was better <br />to schedule the item more frequently than not as some issues raised by councilors were time- <br />sensitive. Councilors agreed to schedule standing items as an agenda item twice monthly, on <br />the second and fourth Wednesdays, and to revisit the issue at a future process session. <br /> <br />Public Comment <br /> <br />The council discussed the amount of time allotted to speakers at the Public Forum. Ms. <br />Nathanson drew the council's attention to the existing operating agreement, which indicated that <br />30 minutes would be divided among those wishing to speak, unless the council explicitly voted to <br />extend that time. She pointed out that the council was now accepting request to speak forms <br />until 8 p.m., which could also extend the Public Forum. She called for discussion of the issue, <br />and suggested one way to control the agenda was to refuse all request to speak forms after the <br />meeting began. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor believed that all those wishing to speak should be accommodated for whatever time <br />they wished to speak, and that the council should stay as long as necessary to hear them. She <br />did not support reducing speakers' times to two minutes each because most people who spoke <br />were inexperienced and it was difficult to summarize one's thoughts in such a short time. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner shared Ms. Nathanson's concerns and pointed out that other bodies did not accept <br />request to speak forms after a meeting started. He said that citizens should also demonstrate <br />some accountability and arrive at meetings on time to sign up to speak. That allowed the council <br />to tally the number of people wishing to speak and, by motion, extend the length of the forum. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly shared Ms. Taylor's concerns about shortening the time period for speaking but did not <br />think that the council should continue to accept request to speak forms after a certain point in <br />time, such as 7:45 p.m. He also believed that the council should make an explicit decision to <br />extend the time allotted for the forum if more people than could be accommodated within a half <br />hour wished to speak. There was general council concurrence. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey recommended that whatever rule the council established be clearly stated on a <br />large sign posted in the Council Chamber. The council agreed. Mr. Johnson indicated staff could <br />modify the request to speak forms as well to reflect the 7:45 p.m. cut-off. Mr. Meisner asked <br />that Mayor Torrey include mention of the cut-off time in his introductory remarks, and <br />recommended that staff provide that information to those calling City Hall about the forum. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly recommended that the second sentence in the section regarding the public forum be <br />deleted as superfluous. Other councilors agreed. <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 31, 2000 Page 3 <br /> Process Session <br /> <br /> <br />