CC Minutes - 03/15/99 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room--City Hall March 15, 1999 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Scott Meisner, Pat Fart, David Kelly, Bobby Lee, Nancy Nathanson, Gary Pap~, Gary Rayor, Betty Taylor. I. CALL TO ORDER The adjourned March 10, 1999, Eugene City Council meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m.; His Honor Mayor James D. Torrey presiding. II. PROCESS SESSION: GOALS SETTING Mary Walston, City Manager's Office, referred the council to the meeting packet and asked if there were anything not captured in the draft of the operating agreements. Mr. Kelly noted, as he had in a previous e-mail message to all members of the council, that it was not specifically stated in the operating agreements that council members would respond to public testimony given at public hearings immediately after closing the public hearing. The council asked that the section on public hearings should be clarified using language similar to that under the public forum but deleting the two-minute limit on council members. Ms. Nathanson said council members do not directly question people giving public testimony-- something that is done in other venues, e.g., Planning Commission meetings. She wondered if the council might want to allow itself that flexibility. Mr. Torrey asked the council to clarify its desire regarding time limits for members following public testimony at public hearings. Mr. Kelly recalled that the council's decision from the February work session was that council responses at the end of the public forum period would be limited to two minutes per member but there would be no limit set for comments by the council following a public hearing. Mr. Meisner said Mr. Kelly was correct. He commented that if the Planning Commission, in "the highly ritualistic and legalistic world of land use law," can find a way to clarify public testimony by allowing some interaction, the council should be able to do it if that is its decision. Mr. Farr said the issue for him was the amount of time the council spent in meetings and he preferred that council members needing additional information seek it outside that meeting. He noted the council's ground rule that action not be taken at public hearings, which allowed time for clarification of issues by individual members. Minutes-Eugene City Council March 15, 1999 Page 1 5:30 p.m.