CC Minutes - 10/11/99 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Rick Szakalski, 2115 Brittany Street, discussed the effort it took to place a disabled person in an employment position. He suggested that the City of Eugene was not doing all it could to place disabled people in City jobs, and asked the City Council to direct the City Manager to do more, maintaining that in five years his agency had been unable to place a disabled person in a City job. Mr. Szakalski invited the councilors to learn more about his program. Mr. Szakalski expressed appreciation that the council had not gone through the symbolic act of getting in wheel chairs or feigning blindness for Barrier Awareness Day. He said that disabled people did not go out into the community on "day one." Fred Piper, 2790 Garfield Street, identified himself as a local artist and commended the mayor for his support of the Shelton McMurphy Johnson House. He presented the mayor with a drawing of the Shelton McMurphy Johnson House and the council with copies of the drawing. Mr. Piper stressed the architectural importance of the structure, and suggested it be painted in order to preserve it. In response to Mr. Szakalski, Mr. Lee said that he took his criticism seriously. He had been looking for some sort of bench marking to ensure that the City's employees were representative of the community. He believed the disabled were under represented in the organization. Mr. Lee suggested that the Human Rights Commission be asked to follow up on the issue. Mr. Kelly concurred with Mr. Lee, noting his own experience with disabilities in his family. He asked Mr. Szakalski what organization he worked with. Mr. Szakalski said that he was with Alternative Work Concepts. Mr. Kelly endorsed Mr. Lee's request and asked that the manager report back to the council on the City's past and current efforts to hire and retain disabled employees. 3. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of City Council Minutes July 26, 1999 Work Session; September 13, 1999 Work Session; September 13, 1999 Council Meeting; September 15, 1999 Work Session B. Approval of Resolution 4606 Authorizing the Transfer of Funds from the Reserve for Encumbrances to Departments and to Non-Departmental Reserves and Balance Available Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Mr. Fart, to approve the Consent Calendar. Mr. Kelly, Ms. Taylor and Mr. Rayor asked that item A, Approval of City Council Minutes, be pulled from the Consent Calendar. Mr. Kelly offered the following correction to the last paragraph on page 3 of the minutes of September 15 (struck text deleted, italicized text added): "He said that the poster gave the message that government would ,-,ct take care of the problem and people did not need to worry. That was not the Federal Emergency Management Agency message, which was that government would not take care of people and they needed to prepare." MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 11, 1999 Page 2 7:30 p.m.