CC Minutes - 10/26/98 Work Session

Home Browse Search

MINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room--City Hall October 26, 1998 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Pat Fart, Tim Laue, Bobby Lee, Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson, Laurie Swanson Gribskov, Betty Taylor Betty Taylor, Ken Tollenaar. I. CALL TO ORDER The adjourned October 21, 1998, Eugene City Council meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m.; His Honor Mayor James D. Torrey presiding. II. REPORT FROM THE COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE Warren Wong, Administrative Services Director, called on Ms. Nathanson to introduce the topic. Ms. Nathanson recalled that this was raised as a communication issue--how the City of Eugene works to communicate to and with citizens on a variety of levels. When the council identified as one of its goals "to work on community information, education, and involvement strategy," she said, the council had all of those things in mind. She highlighted other activities that focused on communication issues and led to the work of the Council Committee on Citizen Involvement and Organizational Change. Ms. Nathanson described the committee's process and said it last met in August 1998, concluding by saying that its work was complete and forwarding its report to the full council. Beth Bridges, City Manager's Office, described in detail the process used by staff in developing the citizen involvement strategic plan, including focus groups, citizen panels, individual council interviews, and staff input. She reviewed the six goals, noting that they are the framework for the plan. She then discussed the plan's six strategies, noting that they were not ranked in priority order: 1) public information; 2) collaborative input; 3) sharing decisions; 4) neighborhood program redesign; 5) volunteer programs; and 6) common purpose/improved processes. Mr. Tollenaar said that one of the most important ideas has been omitted under collaborative input-- citizens providing input do not get any feedback from the organization. He suggested developing an approach for council discussion after a public hearing. Ms. Bridges said the idea was included as a priority work activity within the next three years, but was not listed as an activity for the first year, pending the council's input. Addressing a question from Mr. Meisner about the goal "contribute to people feeling connected to the community," Ms. Bridges said one of the ways to help people feel connected to the community was to engage citizens in volunteering. Mr. Meisner said it would be useful to state the assumption that the City government is a part of the community. He expressed concern that MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 26, 1998 Page 1 5:30 p.m.