Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

Home Browse Search

The motion passed, 6:2; Ms. Taylor and Ms. Bettman voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting of the Urban Renewal Agency and reconvened the City Council work session. C. WORK SESSION: City Council Goal – Police Initiative City Manager Taylor introduced Police Chief Robert Lehner to discuss the Police Initiative Council Goal and seek further guidance as the Eugene Police Department (EPD) action plan was developed. Chief Lehner discussed the first draft of an action plan to address the council’s strategic priority goal of increasing police staffing with a special focus on supporting community policing and reducing property crime. He provided a brief overview of earlier studies intended to determine the department’s staffing needs to provide policing services to the community and noted that a report from the Magellan Corporation, which addressed those staff issues, was included in the agenda packet. Chief Lehner said the first item on the action plan was to examine the Magellan Report in depth and gain an understanding of how various activities affected staffing needs. As an example, he said that while response times did have an impact on staffing, it was not as great as the impact of the types of calls to which the department responded. He said the department had not responded to routine traffic accidents for a very long time and that was a service expectation that existed in most other communities. He said the initial work would identify those policy decisions that needed to be made on behalf of the community and present them to the council. Chief Lehner stated that the County’s financial situation had a dramatic effect on the types of calls to which EPD responded and the nature of the response and that would be a major consideration in staffing decisions. He said the report also included a comprehensive discussion of the University of Oregon issue and its effect on the department’s ability to provide community policing services. He said the situation in Eugene was unique, and worse, than almost any other university jurisdiction in the country. He had begun a discussion with the University about policing services and shared costs. He said all of those issues would be presented to the Police Commission and the City Council for discussion and decisions about the level and mix of policing services to be provided. Mayor Piercy asked how the Police Commission interfaced with the report recommendations. She understood that the goal would be achieved incrementally over time, but wanted to see a “map” of how the department would move toward providing community policing. Chief Lehner said much of the Police Commission’s work over the last few years had been to provide input to the department’s strategic plan and those assumptions were built into the model Magellan Corporation used for its work. He said the depart- ment was at a substantial staffing deficit to reach its goals and the commission could play a critical role in focusing community discussion on what was important, as the appetite for services was greater than the department’s capacity. He felt the commission could help to manage public expectations. Ms. Bettman asked if the Police Commission would have an active role in analyzing data and identifying issues. Chief Lehner said the commission had not yet seen the data, but felt it was appropriate for the commission to discuss and prioritize services. Ms. Bettman asked if references to staffing meant staff in the entire department or only in the model components. Chief Lehner replied that meant staff in the whole department, as even the administrative MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 29, 2007 Page 8 Work Session