Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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B. WORK SESSION: City of Eugene Naming Policy City Manager Jon Ruiz invited Mayor and Council Support Manager Beth Forrest to the table to present the item. Using PowerPoint Ms. Forrest provided a brief overview of the policy. Copies of the code regarding naming were included in the agenda item summary (AIS). She stated that there were three elements to naming: transparency, fiscal responsibility, and public engagement. She said in the proposed policy, staff had outlined several specifications for notifying the public and the different methods available for "getting the word out." She noted that the council last discussed the naming policy in 2004. She reviewed the steps proposed for the naming process, from the proposed naming through an appointed committee and its process to a recommendation to the council for approval. Ms. Taylor agreed that naming something after a person should only happen if the person was dead or retired. She opposed placing a naming item on the Consent Calendar. She was also opposed to renaming anything that already had a name. Mr. Clark commended Ms. Forrest for her work. He agreed that a naming item should not be on the consent calendar. He said naming something for someone sought to honor that person and placing such an item on the consent calendar would defeat that purpose. He understood that renaming streets was in the code specifically and asked why there was a reason not to put their naming policy into code. Ms. Forrest did not know. She explained that in looking at the policies and codes of other jurisdictions regarding naming, it was done both ways. Mr. Clark observed that street naming was handled by an ad hoc committee of the Planning Commission. He wondered if any thought had been given to putting place or facility names to the Planning Commission and, if not, whether there was any reason not to do so. Mr. Ruiz thought it would not impact the Planning Commission work plan as place or facility naming was an infrequent occurrence. Mr. Pryor expressed his appreciation for the work Ms. Forrest had done. He thought it was very thoughtful and that it would serve the City well. He did not think the policy needed to be changed. He was concerned about disagreement among committee members on a name. He also would not want to close the door on renaming places, as circumstances could change, though he would only want to rename a place under extraordinary circumstances. Ms. Ortiz thanked Ms. Forrest for her work. She supported having an appointed committee. She would want to have some councilor say-so in the makeup of the committee so that it was geographically and demographically representative. She was amenable to restricting naming to commemorating people who had retired or passed on. She added that one of the reasons she had decided to run for City Council was because of the issues that the renaming of a street to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard had raised for people. She felt there seemed to be a lack of understanding as to why the naming was so important. She said it was a changing world, the demographics were changing, and young people would want to put their footprint on the City. Mr. Zelenka echoed appreciation for Ms. Forrest's work. He wondered if any jurisdictions just used existing committees to work on naming as opposed to forming an ad hoc committee. Ms. Forrest responded that she was not certain of the answer but she did know that one jurisdiction had a standing naming committee. MINUTES—City Council May 19, 2010 Page 3