Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Responding to a question from Mr. Papé, City Manager Taylor indicated that the tentative working agenda changed on a weekly basis, depending on the action that occurred that week. He worked with the Mayor on a weekly basis to set future agendas. Mr. Papé said it sounded like the Mayor and manager had a process, but he did not know how it worked. Mayor Piercy briefly explained the process of reviewing and revising the tentative working agenda. V. Councilor Polls for Work Sessions—Timing for Getting Them on the Tentative Agenda Mr. Papé wanted criteria for how quickly items added to the agenda were scheduled for discussion, saying that he had successfully polled for a work session item and then had to advocate for it to be added. Mr. Pryor said that it appeared that Mr. Papé needed to talk to the Mayor and manager. Mr. Kelly said he had experienced such a delay in getting an item on the agenda and suggested that once a poll occurred, the item be scheduled at someplace even if the schedule had to be adjusted later. City Manager Taylor said that was what generally happened. Mr. Kelly believed what happened to Mr. Papé was an oversight. Mr. Kelly asked if the council really needed ten working days to reply to a poll for an agenda item. He suggested five days was more appropriate. Mr. Pryor suggested that even if items could not be scheduled, they could be listed at the end of the tentative working agenda. City Manager Taylor indicated that a date could be assigned. Mr. Papé asked if the operating agreements could be amended to reflect the discussion. There was no objection. The council took a ten-minute meeting break. VI. City Council/Staff Relations and Its Implications for the Organization, Council, and the Electorate Ms. Shepard called the council’s attention to the City’s Respectful Work Environment policy. Ms. Bettman recalled her e-mail correspondence with the City Manager regarding what she considered to be an offensive e-mail from Assistant City Manager Carlson. The manager indicated to her that he considered the e-mail to be offensive as well but he had been unable to talk to Assistant Manager Carlson about it because he was out of town, and would talk to him when he returned. She had asked at the April 10 meeting when the manager had knowledge of the e-mail, and it was her recollection that he indicated he knew about it for about a month. She found that disturbing, because to her knowledge, City Manager Taylor had not taken any action. Ms. Bettman perceived the e-mail as evidence of a larger, underlying problem. She suggested the manager was tacitly approving such conduct by taking no action and that the e-mail was “the tip of the iceberg.” Ms. Bettman said that the council had to act on record, and went on to assert that City staff had the ability to keep its e-mail hidden from the public and from the council. That was not a “level playing field.” She was not interested in policy rhetoric or a scripted apology; she wanted to see genuine reform. Assistant City Manager Carlson apologized for the disrespectful e-mail he sent Ms. Bettman and for any offense he caused. He took responsibility and said he attempted to treat all with respect. Sending the e-mail had not represented normal behavior for him. He regretted he had been unable to be present at the meeting last week to address the issue but had been out of town caring for an ailing relative. MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 17, 2006 Page 8 Process Session