01.15.20 City Council Work Session Minutes

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• Councilor Clark- expressed concern that randomizing speakers for Public Forum would still result in limiting newer voices who did not get the chance to speak to council; preferred limiting each speaker to 15 minutes per year. • Councilor Pryor - was supportive of a 60-minute Public Forum, given that it was longer than any other city, including Portland. • Councilor Zelenka - noted Eugene's Public Forum was more than twice the length of any other city; thought the repetition of speakers was not contributing to more knowledge and was getting in the way of council's business. • Councilor Yeh - thought the repetition of the same speakers was the biggest problem; was supportive of a 90-minute forum, but not a 60-minute forum; thought council's need for more work time was not necessarily due to the length of Public Forum. • Mayor Vinis - noted that 90 minutes was enough time for 45 speakers and that the upcoming discussion regarding randomization of speakers may be the time to address other issues. • Councilor Semple - thought limiting the speaking time to two minutes would still result in an overall reduction in Public Forum time; voiced concern about limiting accessibility to council; said she planned to make a friendly amendment for 90 minutes; the friendly was not accepted. • Councilor Clark- said council was very accessible to the public compared to legislative bodies of its type and size; thought Public Forum had become about performance rather than sharing new information and ideas with council. • Councilor Taylor - was supportive of a 90-minute Public Forum; thought one of the purposes of public forum was for people to talk to the community; opposed a 60-minute Public Forum. • Councilor Pryor - did not think Public Forum should be an opportunity for community members to speak to one another or provide entertainment for themselves or each other; agreed with Councilor Yeh that one of the problems was with the small number of speakers who came repeatedly and said he would be willing to have a 90-minute Public Forum as long as there was a variety of speakers making testimony that was effective, appropriate and addressed to City Council. • Councilor Semple - was concerned about free speech issues; questioned how limiting time would deal with repetitive speakers or those who wanted to entertain. MOTION TO AMEND and VOTE: Councilor Semple, seconded by Councilor Yeh, moved to amend the 60-minute Public Forum limit to 90 minutes. PASSED 5:2, Councilors Clark and Zelenka opposed. VOTE on AMENDED MOTION (with friendly amendment): PASSED 7:0 Mayor Vinis reminded council of the third motion on the table from the previous work session regarding randomizing the order of speakers at Public Forum. MOTION: Councilor Zelenka, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to randomize the order of people speaking once they've signed up. Council Discussion • Councilor Clark- asked for clarification on how randomizing of speakers might work; expressed concern about the motion not addressing the lack of variety of speakers. • Councilor Taylor - opposed the proposal to randomize speakers' names. • Councilor Zelenka - thought randomization would help with some of the equity and "gaming the system" issues; said the entertainers and repetitive speakers were still a MINUTES - Eugene City Council January 15, 2020 Page 2 Work Session