Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Protocol for Contingency Requests from Nonprofit Entities The council acknowledged that not all requests were from nonprofits, and it was noted that in the past, the council allocated $60,000 for such requests, which had been useful at times in leveraging other money. The council briefly discussed how the process worked in the past several years and the potential for establishing a grant fund with council-established criteria for allocation. There was general agreement that a process was needed. The council agreed to refer the issue and the suggestion for establishment of a grant fund to the Budget Committee for further discussion, which would also allow for public input. Scheduling Ongoing Issues Where no Action is Necessary Mayor Piercy sought direction regarding non-action items, asking when the council wanted to hear progress reports. Councilors discussed the current approach toward updates, which was to schedule a council work session or for staff to provide a memorandum. Councilors indicated interest in avoiding unnecessary work sessions, although Ms. Solomon suggested that informational work sessions, such as the one held on the Rivers to Ridges project, could be very useful. After a discussion of various approaches, including additional memorandum updates, City Manager monthly reports, written summaries, adding committee reports to each agenda, and open work session updates to provide an opportunity for council reaction and feedback, the council agreed to defer resolution of the issue to the City Manager and Mayor Piercy because it would likely affect the agenda-setting process. Mayor Piercy called for a brief meeting break. Policy Concerning Inviting People to Speak at Council Meetings Mr. Kelly spoke to the issue, noting that on occasion it was suggested that a person in the audience speak to the council to clarify a point. He suggested that the council needed to establish a policy addressing the issue because it did not behaved consistently in the past when such situations arose. He added that he was unsure the council could do anything but prohibit the practice. Councilors were split on the subject, with Mr. Kelly and Ms. Taylor preferring an outright prohibition on such speakers because of other opportunities that existed outside of work sessions to speak, while other councilors, including Mr. Solomon, Mr. Pryor, and Mr. Poling, were not prepared to eliminate the potential if councilors were seeking clarification on a point and the response could help them make a decision. Ms. Solomon did not think the issue arose frequently enough to be a problem. Ms. Ortiz indicated she also wanted to be able to ask people questions at work sessions. Ms. Bettman expressed concern about equity of opportunity and the potential loss of control of meetings. She pointed out that those invited to speak would only represent their own point of view. She thought staff generally had responses to councilors’ questions. She also agreed people had other opportunities outside work sessions for input. Mr. Papé suggested leaving the matter to the discretion of the Mayor, although he did not want such speaking opportunities to become venues for lobbying. Mr. Kelly pointed out that people could provide information to the council in advance of a meeting. He advocated for a policy to guide the Mayor. Mr. Poling supported deferring the issue to the Mayor. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 21, 2005 Page 2 Process Session