CC Minutes - 02/23/98 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Klein reported that the City Manager had reorganized the operations of the City Recorder, moving it from the Administrative Services Department and creating a position of City Clerk/Recorder in the Office of the City Manager. He said the functions of City Recorder and City Finance Officer had previously been vested in a single person and that the City Code reflected the practice. He said he believed the ordinance to be considered was "housekeeping" in nature and enabled the current or other reorganization of the functions. He said Section 9 of the ordinance authorized the City Recorder, with the concurrence of the City Attorney, to make changes to the City Code, making its language gender neutral. Ms. Elmer explained how City Clerk/Recorder functions had been placed with those providing council support. In response to questions from Mr. Laue, she said election and contract recording functions would be included in responsibilities of the City Recorder. She said upgraded responsibilities would provide for a more active role for the City Clerk in providing citizen education functions. She said negotiation and financial elements of contracting would continue as City Finance Officer functions and that separating them from recording functions would improve their efficiency. Mr. Meisner said he did not believe background information given to councilors on the proposed ordinance amendments provided an adequate base for him to cast a fully informed vote. He asked if repealing Section 5 of the ordinance was recommended because its provisions were subsumed in Oregon Revised Statutes. Mr. Klein replied that provisions of the section regarding City records were amplified by a 100 page interpretation of the Attorney General and an administrative rule of the City Manager. Mr. Lee asked for information about how the City Manager had reached her decision to reorganize the functions of the City Recorder and Finance Officer, whether outsiders had been involved in the decision, whether the Bowling Report had been used as a basis for the decision, and whether interviews of councilors by the Service Improvement Director had been supportive of the decision. He asked how many other cities in Oregon had similar organizational structures. Ms. Elmer stated that she was unsure of how many Oregon cities had City Clerk/Recorder operations, but that the structure was common throughout the United States. Mr. Lee said he believed City Clerk positions were only efficient in smaller cities. He asked if Ms. Elmer was reorganizing City operations because she believed the previous structure was not functioning efficiently. Ms. Elmer stated that she believed splitting of institutional memory functions in the previous structure had been ineffective. She said changes were made to improve already good council agenda and support operations of the City and to improve outreach to citizens from the City Council. Mr. Lee asked if any recent evaluation had been done of City operations. Ms. Elmer replied that Tom Bowling had been engaged in consulting work with the City for a number of years and that some recent reorganizations had been based on his recommendations. Mr. Lee asked what the reorganization under consideration had cost. Ms. Elmer replied that preparation of the ordinance had been included in normal City Attorney contract fees. She said MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 23, 1998 Page 8 7:30 p.m.