Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Assistant City Manager Carlson said that when he sent the e-mail he had been at home sick, and had intended to forward the e-mail to his wife Becky Carlson, the Administrative Division Manager of Public Works, to respond to Ms. Bettman’s question regarding the use of City funds for the Parks Foundation award ceremony. He clarified that City Manager Taylor had not been aware of the e-mail and had not received it. He said he attempted to recall the message but had been unable to do so. Assistant City Manager Carlson apologized again to Ms. Bettman for the content of the e-mail and accepted responsibility for his mistake. He reiterated that the manager knew nothing about it. City Manager Taylor questioned whether a process session was the appropriate forum for discussion of a specific personnel issue. Mr. Kelly said the subject was a delicate one but thought City Manager’s remarks were unfortunate in that he perceived them as setting an adversarial tone. He had no intention of discussing any individual, but the only place the council could discuss a personnel matter was in an open session. He did not think that the manager meant to suppress the discussion, but that was the message he gave. Mr. Kelly believed the issue was a broader one of the organizational culture. He said it was his perception as a sitting councilor that a distinct minority of city managers viewed elected officials as somewhere between irrelevant and a temporary annoyance. He did not think that was the way to foster a partnership. He hoped that City Manager Taylor could lead actively and do something that seriously addressed the issue of the council as a “side show” for some City staff. Mr. Kelly said he could understand that staff had professional experience he would never have, but the City Council and Mayor were in charge. City Manager Taylor indicated his concurrence with the remarks of Mr. Kelly and pointed out that every time he spoke to staff or groups he stressed the importance of elected officials being the heart of a legitimate democracy. In City settings, he frequently discussed the need for employees to respect reach other, and especially to show respect for those who choose to serve the community as elected officials. Ms. Bettman expressed skepticism that City Manager Taylor’s remarks were being reflected in the organization. She was still very unclear as to when City Manager Taylor had knowledge of the incident. City Manager Taylor said that he did not know about the e-mail at the time of the incident. He had been referring to another e-mail message when responding to Ms. Bettman the previous week. Ms. Bettman suggested that if City Manager Taylor did not know about the e-mail message, it meant that Assistant City Manager Carlson had not told him. She said that to attempt to keep the discussion at a high level when there were things going on behind the scenes might be comfortable, but it was not adding clarity to the issue. Mr. Papé said he found the incident disturbing. He said that he had been treated disrespectfully at times in the past by staff but acknowledged there were times he had treated staff disrespectfully, and those situations were resolved. He said that if one wanted to elicit respect, one had to treat others respectfully. He hoped he had made the appropriate apologies. He wished he had been more professional and that staff had been more appropriate and respectful with him. Ms. Ortiz said she had not been treated disrespectfully by staff. Speaking to the issue of two-way streets, she said that if she saw something she did not like, she had to go to the manager to address the issue. If she acted inappropriately, she would want to know, and she thought the existing system worsened the situation MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 17, 2006 Page 9 Process Session