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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 09/17/07 Community Forum M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Community Forum Council Chamber—City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon September 17, 2007 7 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the Eugene City Council Community Forum to order. She under- scored the value that the City Council placed on community input. 1. COMMUNITY FORUM: City Manager Recruitment Assistant City Manager Pro Tem Scott Luell stated that the council had convened to receive input from the community on the qualifications a City Manager should possess and for the job description. Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules for speaking and opened the Community Forum. st Bob Peters , 1444 East 21 Street, expressed confidence that those hiring the next City Manager would know what genuine qualification that person would need. He believed that in order for the City to be truly involved it needed to make the neighborhood association program function. He averred that it needed to be enabled so that all of the neighborhood associations would have adequate support from the City for all of what they do. He felt the City needed a City Manager who was used to working with the neighborhood associations. He also thought the City should recruit someone who was competent and able to withstand “what may seem to be unreasonable and severe criticism.” th Charles Snyder , 990 West 12 Avenue, said if the City was going to make neighborhood groups function it would need to find someone to manage it that had a proven record of doing that sort of thing. He thought MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 17, 2007 Page 1 Community Forum there had been a “little bit of slippage” between the council’s policy decisions and implementation. He felt it would be better if the council had more sway with “some of the implementation” of policy. Betty Snowden , P.O. Box 5166, related that she had received many phone calls from the community. She shared that some of the phone calls included input that the City Council was a “hard body to work with” and that no matter who was hired “it would probably be for naught.” She had heard input that some had lost faith in the local government. She said it seemed there were more people who were concerned with development than with who would be leading the City. Ms. Snowden said what she was looking for in a City Manager was someone who showed leadership, who knew the community, who had integrity, and who did not run from adversity. She averred that a City Manager needed to know the community in order to provide good leadership. She stated that any leader had to be able to stand and make tough decisions through adverse conditions. She felt the City Manager should be someone who believed in including all citizens in the process. She declared that everyone in the community needed to part of the process. She thought the City Manager should be someone who could work with anyone regardless of a person’s belief, of how they feel or look or “what color they are.” Lastly, she said, the next City Manager should be someone who understood the “bottom line” and the intricacies of the city budgets. Councilor Solomon arrived. Lisa Warnes , 5020 Nectar Way, indicated her agreement with the previous speakers. She believed that there needed to be more balance in the City Manager’s position. She opined that she had seen things in the past be “heavily slanted” toward development interests. She wanted more of a focus on community and environmental issues. She averred that a City Manager should, when given a task by the City Council, do it regardless of whether he or she agrees with it. She advised the City Council not to tolerate it if the City Manager did not follow through. Majeska Seese-Green , P.O. Box 1214, hoped the City would find a City Manager who was willing to have a city government that was “really” a City Manager/City Council form of government. She recalled hearing about that structure of government at a City Club meeting at which Ken Tolenaar spoke. She understood MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 17, 2007 Page 2 Community Forum that the form of government did create some tension in the community, adding that this was how she thought it should be. Ms. Seese-Green said she wanted the next City Manager to understand the necessity of the neighborhood associations and to have a relationship with the City and be supported by the City. She averred that the City Manager also had to be independent and autonomous from the City. She believed that a lot of the people who were involved with neighborhoods felt that the relationship with neighborhood associations was of high importance for a City Manager. David Hinkley , 1350 Lawrence Street, #1, declared that the next City Manager needed to have a thick skin and the “backbone to say the truth even when people did not want to hear it.” He underscored the importance of public participation to the citizens of Eugene. He said the new City Manager needed to enthusiastically embrace the concept of public participation and this participation must happen before a decision was made and not afterwards. He averred that a City Manager needed to “have a strong hand on the reins.” He said if the City Manager needed to “replace one of the horses” the City Council must back the manager. He thought a City Manager should plan on a tenure of four to five years. He opined that having a long-term City Manager created a situation whereby city employees had not experienced a transition to different management and this created difficulties with that situation. Rich Gaston , 2281 Wisconsin Street, stated that he had served on the Budget Committee. He shared his impression that the City Manager carried a lot of weight in the budget process. He advocated for having a financially conservative person to guide the City through that process. He averred that deficits should only be brought forward because of special needs. He also wished to advocate for the institution of some kind of independent performance auditor for the City of Eugene. He believed that it would be good to have someone who had worked with that kind of system and appreciated the checks and balances. He shared his great respect for city staff. He said if projections were correct the City was in for tougher fiscal times. Jan Wostmann , 2645 Riverview Street, noted his service as co-chair of the Neighborhood Leaders Council. He said the first characteristic he hoped those hiring the City Manager would look for was someone who was comfortable with the idea that Eugene was composed of neighborhoods that had distinct needs. He felt the delivery of services was best tailored to the individual neighborhoods. He did not believe it was a given for a City Manager to think along those lines. He added that as a part of that the next City Manager should MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 17, 2007 Page 3 Community Forum have had some experience with neighborhood associations as part of the structure of the community. He believed it important to maintain an open style of communication with ordinary citizens. He averred that the City should be open for inspection and willing to operate in a transparent manner. He reiterated that the City Council made the policy and the City Manager implemented it; it was critical for the candidate for City Manager to understand this. He added that the City of Eugene was reaching a point in the scope of its government that it needed a performance auditor. Mayor Piercy called for a short break at 7:24 p.m. She reconvened the meeting at 7:35 p.m. Moshe Immerman , 2590½ Washington Street, thanked the council for holding the community forum. He believed it was a privilege to have the job as City Manager and that Eugene deserved someone that was extraordinary. The thought the interim City Manager would make a good candidate. Mr. Immerman said candidates for City Manager should know the Toxic Right to Know ordinance. He believed that Tasers could be used for torture and asserted that the current version of the Eugene Police Department (EPD) draft guidelines allowed it. He averred that any candidate should be asked to weigh in on this issue. He also suggested that the New York Police Department had an “international intelligence unit” that had come to the Eugene Police Department in order to “invade certain public groups” to try to prevent “something from happening.” He wanted to know what potential candidates for City Manager thought about this. Mr. Immerman thought a new City Manager should be asked in some detail as to how he or she felt about holding the current pattern of keeping the City Council “externalized.” He believed that having an external process created conflicts of interest. Mayor Piercy closed the Community Forum and thanked everyone for their testimony. Councilor Ortiz thanked everyone who spoke. She noted that there would still be opportunities to provide input Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 7:39 p.m. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 17, 2007 Page 4 Community Forum Respectfully submitted, Angel Jones City Manager Pro Tem (Recorded by Ruth Atcherson) MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 17, 2007 Page 5 Community Forum