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Mr. Meisner said that the two-minute limit for councilor response should be either be adhered to <br />by councilors or deleted. Mr. Kelly suggested that it be changed to three minutes. The council <br />concurred. <br /> <br />Public Hearings <br /> <br />The council confirmed the existing operating agreement related to public hearings with the <br />clarification that those wishing to speak must sign up to speak by the time the hearing <br />commenced. The council discussed the amount of time granted to speakers, and whether the <br />chair had discretion to change the time permitted for each speaker. The council agreed to <br />institutionalize the three-minute speaking limit for public hearings, which had been the tradition of <br />the council over the past few years. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey asked staff to investigate improvements to the microphone stands and possible <br />changes to the lighting system alerting people that their time to speak had expired. His specific <br />concern regarding the lighting system was that those speaking could not see the lights if they had <br />covered the microphone stand with papers. He thought it would be useful if the lights could be <br />seen by all in the chamber. <br /> <br />Overseas Travel <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly expressed concern about the public's perception of council and mayor travel to <br />overseas destinations in a financially constrained time, and proposed that any council and mayor <br />overseas travel be placed on the Consent Calendar for council approval in a televised meeting. <br />He noted the potential that travel to sister cities for councilors could be underwritten by Eugene <br />Sister Cities Foundation fund-raising efforts. The change would require a modification to the <br />travel guidelines on page 8 of the operating agreements. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner concurred with Mr. Kelly's concern regarding public perception. He thought it <br />inappropriate for the council to participate in overseas travel absent a conscious decision of the <br />council. However, he suggested that head nods regarding an overseas travel request could be <br />more apparent to the public than a decision on the Consent Calendar. <br /> <br />In response to a question from Mr. Pap~, Mayor Torrey anticipated that he would use mayoral <br />compensation to pay for any sister city trips he went on, adding that mayoral participation was <br />expected in sister city relationships. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor observed that there had been no foreign travel since she was elected to the council, <br />and she thought it appropriate that the council participated officially in delegations to Eugene's <br />sister cities. She thought the cost of such travel was a legitimate council expense. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson distinguished between sister city travel and other overseas travel, saying that <br />sister city travel had different expectations. She thought the previous process of approving <br />council travel was inadequate because it generally did not involve much discussion or public <br />oversight. However, the rationale for the travel was generally explained. Noting that overseas <br />travel could cost less than travel in the continent United States, Ms. Nathanson suggested that <br />the council focus on the money involved rather than the destination. Mr. Kelly believed both a <br />perception issue and money issue were involved. He wanted to address the perception issue <br />through conscious decision-making, and he did not particularly care how that occurred. If the <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 31, 2000 Page 4 <br /> Process Session <br /> <br /> <br />