CC Minutes - 11/25/98 Work Session

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the result of a small group of participants, did it accept that request as the official neighborhood point of view in developing the Capital Improvement Plan, or did it take into consideration individual citizen requests. She added she believed both should be taken into consideration, not just the organization's requests. Ms. Nathanson asked Mr. Johnson to comment on how to increase involvement on the part of both the neighborhood organizations and the self-initiated groups that form around specific issues. Ms. Nathanson questioned whether the president or chair of a neighborhood organization represented the position and opinion of an entire neighborhood, or did they serve as meeting facilitator and convenor. She suggested that the roles of members and how they related to each other and the council should be clarified. Mr. Farr agreed with Ms. Nathanson's comments. He also agreed with those who supported smaller groups. He said that if the City reduced the size of the groups he believed it would cut down on those self-initiated groups because they would feel closer to their neighborhood organization. He suggested that in some areas the middle schools might be a more appropriate focus. Ms. Swanson Gribskov supported the mission statement and the shift in emphasis identified by staff. She agreed with Mr. Torrey that the fifth bulleted item should be specific to neighborhood issues. Ms. Swanson Gribskov said that as a parent she received a newsletter from her child's elementary school twice monthly, and suggested that there might be opportunities for the program to piggyback on those existing newsletters and share costs. Ms. Swanson Gribskov suggested the council consider holding town hall forums, perhaps at the high schools, so that issues of wider scope could be discussed by more people. Ms. Taylor agreed with Mr. Tollenaar about the need for criteria for continued recognition of neighborhood organizations. She agreed with Ms. Nathanson that a neighborhood organization could not identify itself as representing an entire neighborhood's position. She did not believe that neighborhood organizations should establish policy, but they were an avenue for getting new ideas. People should be encouraged to express their opinions in the neighborhood organization setting to facilitate the exchange of ideas. Responding to the concept of focusing neighborhood groups around schools, Mr. Meisner pointed out that the core area lacked elementary schools, which could create awkward boundary lines. Regarding the newsletters, Mr. Meisner said that he was not willing to support more printing of newsletters unless they were disseminated to residents. He noted that he had not received a neighborhood newsletter since his election, nor had he received an invitation to attend an organization meeting. Regarding the mission statements, Mr. Meisner said that the NLC had developed a mission statement for neighborhood organizations, while the staff team's mission statement reflected, and the council had been discussing, a mission statement for a neighborhood program. Those MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 25, 1998 Page 9 11:30 a.m.