CC Minutes - 09/21/09 Public Hearing

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Public Hearing Council Chamber 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon September 21, 2009 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Alan Zelenka, Mike Clark, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Chris Pryor, Jennifer Solomon, Betty Taylor. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC HEARING An Ordinance Concerning Boards, Commissions and Committee; Amending Section 2.013 of the Eu- gene Code, 1971; and Providing for an Effective Date Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing and reviewed the procedures for providing testimony. Zachary Vishanoff , Eugene, stated that the Planning Commission should meet in the Downtown Library and televise its meetings in order to make then accessible to the public. He read the descriptions of public hearings items from the agenda and said the information was inadequate; providing more thorough explanations in plain English would encourage more people to get involved in issues at an earlier point if they understood what was being discussed. Mayor Piercy closed the hearing and called for comments from councilors. Councilor Zelenka agreed with Mr. Vishanoff about the need for better explanations of public hearing agenda items. While he agreed with the majority of councilors who supported the current interview process for boards and commissions applicants, he liked the model used by Eugene School District 4J and hoped aspects of it could be incorporated into the council’s process. Councilor Taylor also agreed that agendas could more clearly state the purpose of public hearings. She said it was a good idea to televise Planning Commission meetings. Mayor Piercy noted that 23 people had signed up to testify on the next agenda items, related to land use issues, so word was getting out to the community. She agreed the agenda language could be more explicit. Councilor Clark arrived at 7:35 p.m. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 21, 2009 Page 1 Public Hearing