CC Minutes - 04/20/98 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Swanson Gribskov said she believed council forums held outside of City Hall had been positive, but was less sure about the value of scheduling regular meetings of the council off-site. She said she did not believe the extra cost was worth the value created. Mr. Laue said he did not believe there discernible value would be gained from holding council meetings outside of City Hall. He suggested such meetings would be more convenient to some, but less convenient to others. He also suggested that if regular meetings were held off-site, special attention would need to be given to widespread notification processes. Mr. Meisner said he was not enthusiastic about holding regular council meetings outside of City Hall because of notification concerns. He said he believed councilors were elected from a Ward, but that they represented the entire City, which was symbolized by holding meetings at City Hall. Mr. Tollenaar said that the increased cost of holding council meetings outside of City Hall had convinced him to not favor holding regular council meetings outside of City Hall. He said that the ease of using public transportation to the City Hall made holding meetings there valuable. Mayor Torrey asked councilors to informally express their opinion about whether to move forward the proposal to hold meetings of the City Council outside of City Hall. Councilors unanimously expressed the opinion that such a proposal should be given no further consideration. PERMANENT CITY MANAGER APPOINTMENT PROCESS Mayor Torrey reminded councilors of his previous recommendation that the process to appoint a new City Manager not begin until 1999. He asked that the council discuss the recommendation and seek consensus regarding the timing of a process. Ms. Taylor stated that she believed a process to appoint a new City Manager should begin immediately. Ms. Nathanson said that she believed a joint meeting of the City Council and Executive Managers such as described in the memorandum of Ms. Walston would be helpful in determining when a process for appointing a new City Manager should begin. Mr. Tollenaar said that he believed the current members of the City Council should appoint the new City Manager because: (1) long-term pro rem appointments were discouraged in the model charter for cities to avoid abuse of the Council-Manager system of municipal government; (2) the current council was best prepared to make the appointment and a new council would have at least two new members; and (3) an expensive and extensive recruitment process was not likely needed. He suggested that he supported beginning a process to appoint a new City Manager in the fall after a period of stabilization in City leadership. Ms. Nathanson left the meeting at 9:05 p.m. Mr. Fart said he had been convinced by comments of councilors to move from his previously held position of preferring to wait until January to begin a process to choose a new City Manager. He said he supported making a decision about a process after a joint meeting of the City Council and Executive Managers. Minutes--Eugene City Council April 20, 1998 Page 9 7:30 p.m.