CC Minutes - 09/23/09 Process Session

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Assistant City Manager Sarah Medary related that a City employee was enrolled in the County’s classes. She said they had come up with an idea for a “City College” to provide this type of education for area residents. Mayor Piercy perceived that there had been a huge change in the way the City tried to garner public input and to educate the community. She cited the most recent meeting, at which a relatively broad group of people had provided testimony. She thought they should reach out for public input in “every place.” She was pleased at the work that City staff and its elected officials had been doing to increase it. Topic: Use of Council Office Space (Guidelines, Courtesies) Mr. Pryor understood that City staff could use more space. He wondered if the City Council really needed the amount of space it was allocated. He did not need a desk, though he acknowledged that some needed one. He thought this might present an opportunity to consolidate. He added that the meeting room had been invaluable to him. Mr. Brown and Ms. Ortiz indicated that they used the office and preferred to retain their desks. City Manager Jon Ruiz said no decision was warranted at this point as the need for more office space was not great at present. Mr. Zelenka stated that he used the space and he especially liked the conference room. He observed that as new councilors were elected, the use of the space would fluctuate and they could not predict who would use the City Hall office and who would use a home office. Ms. Ortiz suggested they strike the topic from the list. There were no objections to it. Topic: Meeting Safety Ms. Ortiz said she was concerned about a possible safety issue. She recalled a shooting in a council chamber in California that had happened several years earlier. While she did not believe that this would actually happen in Eugene, she wanted to be aware of this possibility. She preferred not to have a police officer present, however, and wondered if the Council Chamber was equipped with a panic button. Ms. Medary stated that some staff members present had the number for the Eugene Police Department (EPD) watch commander programmed in their cell phones. She felt that this was like having a panic button. She said when she had spoken to councilors about this concern, most indicated they did not want an officer to be tied up sitting in the room. She thought that in a situation in which they had an individual come to several council meetings who was “kind of scary,” it might be wise to increase security measures. Ms. Ortiz still felt that it would be a good idea to install a panic button that was directly linked to the 911 call center. MINUTES—City Council September 23, 2009 Page 4