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the council direct staff to ensure that motions were distributed to all councilors. That way a <br />councilor only needed to make a single telephone call to staff. Mr. Johnson indicated staff would <br />discuss the proposal and return with a recommendation for the process. <br /> <br />The council took a brief break. <br /> <br />The council discussed Mr. Kelly's proposal to schedule action on motions not previously <br />scheduled for action at the following work session. Mr. Pap~ pointed out that a tabled motion had <br />precedence. The council agreed with a suggestion from Mr. Johnson that it use discretion in <br />determining when to take action on a motion and avoid establishing a rigid process. Mr. Kelly <br />suggested the possibility of extending Wednesday work sessions by one-half hour. The council <br />agreed that it needed to recognize the impact of tabling a motion to a following meeting on the <br />next meeting's agenda and the time required to complete the meeting. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner advocated that the council return to its previous practice of being explicit about <br />extending time for each agenda item. There was general concurrence. <br /> <br />The council discussed the time limits now in place for comments. Mr. Meisner suggested <br />councilors provide each other with feedback regarding the time used for comments. Mr. Torrey <br />suggested that councilors attempt to identify their key points when they spoke. Mr. Farr said that <br />being courteous would help. Ms. Nathanson said that each councilor has certain issues about <br />which they were passionate. She said that she did provide input into every topic before the <br />council and was unsure how she would react to being told she spoke too long if she spoke only <br />one time during a meeting. <br /> <br />Mr. Johnson asked if the council wanted a staff person to track the time each councilor spoke and <br />to signal councilors after they spoke for three minutes. There was support for the idea. Ms. <br />Helphand said summarized that councilors should acknowledge that not all councilors talked the <br />same amount and should identify their key points. The council should be explicit if it decided to <br />extend time on an item, although that action did not have to be formal. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor expressed dismay at the concept of extending Wednesday work sessions when she <br />had not planned on evening meetings when she ran for office. She said that all-evening meetings <br />would keep some people from running for a seat on the council. Ms. Taylor observed that many <br />councilors come late and leave early, and she felt compelled to stay at one meeting rather than <br />attend a neighborhood meeting because she was concerned about the loss of a quorum. She <br />said that if any work session was extended it should be the Monday work session because the <br />regular public meeting was often shod. <br /> <br />Mr. Rayor did not support extending meetings because he believed it would cause quorum <br />problems. He said that the mayor kept the council on task and could provide councilors with a <br />"heads up" on the time remaining for an agenda item. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly noted his support for the mayor's practice of eliciting councilors' comments in an initial <br />"bullet round." Mr. Torrey acknowledged Mr. Rayor for suggesting the idea to him. <br /> <br />Ms. Helphand reviewed the decisions arrived at during the meeting. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 24, 1999 Page 7 <br /> 4:30 p.m. <br /> <br /> <br />