CC Minutes - 01/14/98 Work Session

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Ms. Nathanson reported on a workshop she attended entitled "The Business of Government: Banking on Productivity." She described a "productivity bank" established by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and said she would like to consider a similar approach in Eugene. Ms. Nathanson said that she had provided information about the workshop to the City Manager. Ms. Nathanson said that the National League of Cities has initiated a project entitled "Municipalities in Transition." She read a description of the project to the council and noted that Eugene was one of 22 participating in the project. Ms. Nathanson anticipated that the information resulting from the survey would help to focus the league's governing boards and policy committee on issues, as well as inform participants what cities were facing, how they were the same, and how they differed. She offered an example of the types of issues that were being discussed, mobility and migration. Ms. Nathanson said that, after consideration, she had concluded that Eugene saw issues differently than many other communities, but had some commonalities with other cities that also have universities. She said that suggested to her differences between communities were more attributable to environment than size. Responding to a question from Mr. Lee regarding national trends in local control, Ms. Nathanson confirmed it was an issue for participants. She said that it was important that the issue be addressed in writing instead of people merely complaining about unfunded mandates. Ms. Swanson Gribskov suggested that the government school described by Ms. Taylor seemed similar to Eugene's Police Academy, and the City might want to extend that effort in the future. II. LAND USE CODE UPDATE DISCUSSION Mr. Torrey reminded the council that he had recommended that four independent groups be asked to review the Land Use Code Update. He had made his recommendation because he had heard many comments about how complex the update was and how the community could benefit if the update received more scrutiny than was planned. Mr. Torrey said that often, the council and staff were so involved with such projects that about the time they were beginning to feel comfortable with the project the public was just beginning to hear about it. He hoped that the recommendation would result in an intensive review from divergent groups who could reach out to other sections of the community for feedback they could provide to the City in an organized fashion. Mr. Farr supported Mr. Torrey's recommendation, saying that he considered it one of the greatest steps the organization had ever taken toward citizen involvement. He looked forward to the results. Mr. Farr left the meeting at 11:55 a.m. Cathy Briner, Planning and Development Department, said that the Planning Commission endorsed Mr. Torrey's recommendation with the caveat that the review would postpone the adoption of the update through a period of heavy construction. The commission proposed to meet with the council in late April; following that meeting, the commission would hold the public hearings it had originally scheduled for February. Ms. Briner said that the commission also MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 14, 1998 Page 2 11:30 a.m.