Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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In response to a question from Councilor Clark, Mr. Lidz assured him that the motion would not change the council’s intent that the ordinance was a civil remedy and not a criminal punishment. The motion to amend passed, 5:3; councilors Bettman, Taylor and Solomon voting no. Councilor Taylor opined that the ordinance was unjust and unenforceable. She said the people who were excluded would not disappear and could cause problems elsewhere in the community. She sympathized with Betty Snowden. She said there were laws in place to address the offenses and the council should be discussing solutions to the problems, such as increasing the downtown police presence, using volunteers to help downtown, building a public restroom, providing shelter for the homeless and creating a center open to all youth. Councilor Bettman said she would not support the ordinance. She agreed there was unacceptable criminal behavior downtown, but could not support excluding people prior to conviction of a crime. She said the Police Department budget had been increased to address problems downtown and in urban parks, and asked how much money it would take for the police to respond to those issues. She felt there were many expenditures that were extraneous and the money could be put toward increasing patrol capacity. Councilor Zelenka said he could not support the ordinance as it was too broadly written as amended. Councilor Pryor said he did not want to have an exclusionary zone, but it was unconscionable what was happening to people downtown. He said it represented a collision between personal liberty and community good will and councilors would vote their conscience. He would reluctantly support the ordinance and hoped it would improve public safety in the downtown area. Councilor Taylor recommended that a committee of community members could be established to consider solutions to the problems downtown, instead of penalties. Councilor Clark expressed his appreciation for the thorough discussion of the issue. He did not see the ordinance as a solution for all of the problems downtown; it was a good first step. He asked Chief Lehner to respond by memorandum to Councilor Bettman’s question about what resources would be required to do an adequate job of community policing in the downtown core area. Councilor Bettman clarified that her question was how much money it would take before the council stopped hearing there were not enough resources to answer calls. Mayor Piercy said it would take many strategies to assure safety downtown, including more people and activities downtown, better enforcement of the law, working to stop hate speech and community collabora- tion to make the downtown area a place people wanted to be. The motion as amended passed, 5:3; councilors Taylor, Bettman and Zelenka vot- ing no. The meeting adjourned at 10:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jon Ruiz City Manager