Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Ms. Taylor noted that the Farmers’ Market was open and suggested that the City do something to better the parking situation. She suggested that a start was to stop charging the market for parking. Ms. Taylor spoke to the council’s inability to separate motions. She said that in the past, people were allowed to separate motions but now people were forced to vote for something they did not support because people would not vote to separate motions. As a result, she had to vote about things she thought was wrong, like the supervision of the police auditor, which was a concern to some people. There were people who were upset about the limitations placed by the council on the interim auditor, which she had to support in order to get the auditor reinstated. She thought that was wrong. She also wanted to repeal the limitations the council placed on the auditor and hoped that occurred. Mr. Zelenka said he had attended a performance of Spam-A-Lot at the Hult Center and could report that the arts were alive and well in downtown Eugene. He expressed appreciation that the Hult Center could attract such events. Mr. Zelenka said that the Fairmount Neighbors had discussed the Walnut Mixed Use Station at its most recent meeting. He announced the upcoming meetings of the Fairmount Neighbors, Laurelhill Valley Neighbors and Amazon Neighbors. Mr. Zelenka noted the upcoming public hearing on the budget before the Budget Committee on May 18. Mr. Zelenka said he and Mr. Clark met with Interim Police Auditor Dawn Reynolds to confirm that she was following council direction. He briefly overviewed the meeting and indicated that Ms. Reynolds was checking with the City Attorney’s Office to see if the IA Pro Data base was confidential. Ms. Reynolds was working with the Attorney’s Office to put together a list of what was and was not confidential. He thought the list would help quite a bit. The council officers had also checked in with Ms. Reynolds on her case load and learned more about her job. Mr. Zelenka noted the police auditor interviews scheduled the next day. Mr. Zelenka noted that he had also attended Mr. Woodrow’s memorial service and agreed he was a good man who loved Springfield and would be sorely missed. Mr. Poling thanked the members of the citizen panel interviews who participated in interviews of the police auditor candidates. Mr. Poling said that a recent piece in the newspaper had suggested that the council’s support for the police auditor was waning, which he believed was “180 degrees” from the truth. He said the Mayor and council had worked hard to identify the best possible candidate for the job and was committed to that goal. To say the council’s support had waned was “completely and absolutely” wrong. He emphasized the council and Mayor’s support for the program and said they were working hard to make the system work right. City Manager Ruiz reported that he had attended a recent meeting of the West University Neighborhood Association and while there were there were not many people in attendance, those who were present had been engaged. City Manager Ruiz said that the application period for the position of chief of police had closed and he would soon review the applications the City received. City Manager said he recently attended a meeting of the Arts and Business Alliance and thought the potential for the alliance was huge. The alliance had a committed group of citizens. He anticipated the council would hear more about the alliance in the future. MINUTES—City Council May 11, 2009 Page 3 Work Session