CC Minutes - 05/30/07 Work Session

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aspirational ideas in the Downtown Plan. He said those skills and knowledge were not necessarily available in the EWEB staff and providing technical assistance could assist with a unified approach. Ms. Taylor questioned how staff would frame policy issues. City Manager Taylor replied that meant identifying and highlighting policy decisions to be made by the council or EWEB board and making recommendations. Ms. Taylor asked if there were legal difficulties with the process suggested by Mr. Zelenka. Mr. Klein replied that Mr. Zelenka’s suggestion would not present any legal problems. He said if the council was interested in further exploring where the line was drawn with respect to demonstrating bias he would need to conduct further research. Ms. Taylor said she would appreciate having the additional research, but was still concerned with staff being involved in discussion of policy as that was strictly the council’s role. Commissioner Lanning remarked that the discussion of staff’s role in policy and implementation needed to be looked at not just from a legal perspective but also with respect to effectively moving the process forward. He said it was difficult to define that clearly in black and white and he asked the council to look at the leadership aspect instead of the black and white use of the word “policy.” He did not think the way that word was being used in the discussion was how most people would refer to it. Ms. Ortiz said the issue for her was about leaders in the community giving direction to staff about how they wanted to proceed. She said conversations in the community indicated some confusion about EWEB’s relationship to the City. She was pleased that staff was involved and that was consistent with direction from the council. She said policies were written and staff was not changing them; it was creating a plan that would be guided by those policies. She liked Mr. Zelenka’s suggestions and hoped that EWEB and the council could continue to meet and work together as community leaders. She said the riverfront property was an important site and it should not be left to one body to decide its future. She felt there was a difference between working with EWEB and working with an entity such as the hospital because EWEB was a public utility. Mayor Piercy said it was the City’s and EWEB’s job to work together for the best results for the commu- nity. She liked Mr. Zelenka’s suggestion for collaborating on the advisory team and consultant. She felt staff could help do the work and she wanted them to be involved in developing choices and options for the council. Mr. Clark expressed appreciation for the work of staff and the EWEB Board’s desire to collaborate with the City. He said the public expected both elected bodies to work together to ensure that a public asset was managed for the community’s benefit. He concurred with Mr. Zelenka’s comments and urged staff to work together on every issue where it did not raise legal concerns. He asked for an advisory memorandum from the city attorney on the legal issues related to collaboration and guidance on the council’s appropriate involvement. President Menegat reiterated Commissioner Farmer’s earlier comments that EWEB had moved toward a collaborative process because of what was heard at a previous meeting with the City Council and because of the benefit of having City staff working in conjunction with EWEB staff. He agreed that there were some aspects of collaboration in which the council and the board could not participate, but there were many others, such as developing the MOU, where it was possible. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 30, 2007 Page 5 Work Session