Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Mr. Zelenka appreciated the revitalized leadership that Mr. Kinnison had brought to the Neighborhood Services program and further believed that the sense of community provided by the program and the various neighborhood associations had a variety of significant social and community benefits. He suggested that the Neighborhood Services program might be used to help the council understand the complicated processes involved in local land use practices. Mr. Zelenka asked Mr. Kinnison to provide more detailed information regarding the status of the various items listed in the Neighborhood Empowerment Action Plan. Mr. Kinnison replied that Neighborhood Services staff, in conjunction with other staff from the City's Planning Division, had been working over the last year to review the items in the action plan and research strategies from other communities that might be applied to the plan. He commented that staff was currently putting the finishing touches on a draft guide for the action plan processes and that after workshop meetings in December, one pilot strategy for one of the action plan items would be imple- mented in at least one local neighborhood after the first of the year. Mr. Zelenka asked how program staff would choose which pilot strategy would be implemented and in which neighborhood. Mr. Kinnison answered that the criteria used to determine such factors was still being established by Planning Division program staff Carolyn Weiss and Lorna Flormoe. Mr. Zelenka asked how the Neighborhood Services program might utilize additional funding beyond current levels. Mr. Kinnison replied that the while the program was adequately funded in the current budget cycle, it was likely that more funding would be needed later to help continue the Neighborhood Services' matching grant program. Mr. Kinnison, responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, noted that the number of outreach publications published by the neighborhood association depended on each group, but that the council's output goal of four public information pieces had been generally met by most of the neighborhood association groups. Mr. Clark thanked Mr. Kinnison and his colleagues and appreciated how the Neighborhood Services program had helped improve the livability of the community. Mr. Clark believed that some elements of local land use practices and neighborhood development created various conflicts in the community and suggested that the Neighborhood Services program might help the City be more prescriptive with "the rules of the game" in order to minimize such conflicts. Mr. Clark asked if neighborhood organizations were a specific legal entity under the direction of the City of Eugene or if they operated independently of the City organization. City Attorney Glenn Klein noted that while neighbor- hood organizations were not officially part of the City of Eugene, they were recognized in the City's charter as separate entities not subject to certain public laws. Mr. Pryor said that while the neighborhood organizations were not officially part of the City of Eugene their recognition under the City's charter carried a certain amount of value with respect to the responsibilities and advisory duties assumed by those groups. He hoped that the City would provide assistance and training to the neighborhood groups to ensure that the groups adequately represented the people living in their respective neighborhood areas. He further maintained that people satisfied with the state of their neighborhoods did not generally become active in their neighborhood organizations and that that it was often a challenge to motivate community members to become actively involved in local neighborhood groups. Mr. Kinnison responded to Mr. Pryor's comment and noted he knew of no neighborhood organizations that did not want to get more people involved. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 18, 2009 Page 5 Work Session