Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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oversight of the police needed to be independent of the police and the independence should start with the committee. She opined that there had been “obvious resistance” from the EPD to the oversight. She asked why they should believe that the police officers on the committee would fully cooperate with the provisions to give the Police Auditor the “full power they need to do their job.” She wanted the City to have a police department that everyone could trust. She added that she was happy to see that Mr. Alsup would be serving on the committee. She reiterated her unhappiness that the public hearing and action on the motion set forth by Councilor Bettman was being delayed. Boz Van Houten , 3110 University Street, supported Councilor Bettman’s motion to amend the police auditor ordinance. He believed it would not serve the public interest to have further delays in the process. He also opposed having members of the police department sit on the committee. Tamara Miller , 293 East Anchor Avenue, supported the motion to form a committee to work through the issues that had been brought up by Councilor Bettman’s motion to amend the ordinance. She said the oversight system in this community had included a great deal of input on both the ordinance and the recent amendment. She felt the voters in the community had grown to expect to have a voice in it. She had voted for the recent amendment and it “did not mean what some people are interpreting it to mean.” She cautioned against interpreting 65 percent support for the amendment as meaning one thing. She stressed that Eugene had a fledgling oversight system and there would be changes to it. She averred that it was “not a race, there was not an emergency.” She felt that taking a few extra months to vet the issues would not “make or break” the oversight system in this community. She thought it would provide a chance to fully examine the proposed changes and the ramifications and legal implications of those changes. She found it interesting that many of the issues that had been placed on the table had also been vetted through the creation of the oversight system. She said most of the issues had been looked at before and would now be revisited. She considered this wasteful. She believed that having the same stakeholders at the table as were at the table when the ordinance was created was the “right thing to do.” She felt there was a small chance that this would help the City to avoid liability in the future and it could create a situation wherein there would be less grievances filed by the police union. She believed this was something the community could take some extra months to do. Jack Radey , 2230 Garfield Street, averred that everyone was facing hard times in this country and there would be more crime. He said the community needed a police department that could function well. He opined that the EPD felt it was above the law. He thought it was essential that the people had faith and trust that the EPD was working for them and not against them. He felt that the oversight ordinance was an attempt to increase that faith and trust, but he believed that the committee would study it “some more” and including a couple members of the police department in the process was akin to allowing the fox in the henhouse. He called the delay a “great tactic.” He urged the council to move on it because “if the cancer on the law enforcement was not removed” it would not shrink. Kathleen Piper , 2230 Garfield Street, commented that they needed to keep their “eye on the prize,” which was a police department where the role of the police was to uphold the law with officers that were peace officers. She felt that all segments of the community had lost their faith in the police department. She averred that if the government of the community could not take appropriate measures to restore accountability to the police department, the people would lose their faith in city government. She thought it was important that the police obeyed the law and did not escalate violence in the community. She opined that the committee was “stacked.” She added that she would hate to see the issue “studied into oblivion.” th Brian Michaels , 259 East 5 Avenue, stated that he was an attorney. He believed that the citizens had spoken in support of independent oversight. He opined that the police department had only disrespect for the office of the auditor and the process, and had rejected the process. He declared that “they had attacked” MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 24, 2008 Page 3 Regular Meeting