CC Minutes - 11/24/99 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Kelly concurred with Mr. Fart that the motion to condemn Hyundai should have been offered after Mr. Fart had been informed, as a courtesy. He asked if he, as representative of the Housing Policy Board, should be consulted by other councilors wishing to make motions related to affordable housing. Ms. Nathanson suggested that as a courtesy, such contact should be made. Mr. Torrey recommended that, as a courtesy, councilors should inform the council's liaison to or representative of an advisory committee about their intent to offer a potentially controversial motion related to that councilor's area of interest or expertise. He said that did not affect councilors' rights to make motions. The council concurred. The council also concurred with a suggestion from Mr. Johnson that, as a general guideline, councilors would make a reasonable effort to get the text of their motion or the concepts behind a motion that might be made to the mayor and other councilors prior to the meeting at which the motion would be offered. Mr. Kelly suggested that motions could be offered at a work session but not considered until the next work session, when the motion would be the first item scheduled. Mr. Torrey said that such delay was not necessarily bad because it gave people time to educate themselves about the topic the motion was focused on. Responding to a concern expressed by Mr. Rayor about the process of getting an item on the agenda and the inadequacy of follow-up for his request for discussion of parking, Mr. Johnson recommended that councilors either document such requests or request that staff document them. A majority of councilor expressed support for adding a work session on the City's role in the provision of parking and downtown parking to the tentative working agenda. Mr. Rayor did not feel comfortable signing letters regarding issues not related to the City. He asked where such an approach stopped, adding that councilors can write letters as individuals. He suggested that people could act globally by, for example, keeping their own river clean, but the City would not spend any staff time to track water pollution in the Amazon River. Mr. Rayor said that the City Council could work on environmental issues, for example, through its consideration of TransPlan. Ms. Taylor said that many global issues were related to what the council did locally. She said that the resolution regarding the World Trade Organization she had wanted the council to consider merely stated that the organization should not have the right to dictate environmental, labor, and human rights standards to local governments. She recalled that she had also raised an issue related to development in the county outside the urban growth boundary and had been told that the City had no purview over the issue. She said that while the City had no purview over the development decision, it was certainly affected by the development and such development proposals were the City's business. Mr. Lee suggested that the council had not yet learned to problem-solve together. He said that he had worked with the mayor extensively on homeless and youth issues and the mayor had done a very good job in problem-solving with him. He hoped to get the entire council up to that level. Mr. Lee left the meeting. Mr. Kelly asked Mr. Johnson for a suggestion on how motions could be shared prior to a meeting. Mr. Johnson suggested that if councilors did not feel comfortable with e-mail, they could fax their motions to other councilors. Councilors discussed the suggestion. Ms. Nathanson proposed that MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 24, 1999 Page 6 4:30 p.m.