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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 02/08/05 PS MINUTES Eugene City Council Process Session Classroom 2, Fire/EMS/Police Training Facility 1705 West 2nd Avenue February 8, 2005 5:30 p.m. PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, Chris Pryor, Andrea Ortiz, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Gary Pap6, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling. Mayor Kitty Piercy called the City Council process session to order. A. WORK SESSION: City Council Process Session 1) Introduction/Icebreaker Facilitators Greta Utecht and Alicia Hayes introduced themselves to the council. Ms. Utecht asked councilors to participate in a short exercise as an icebreaker. She instructed the councilors to imagine they were, over the course of a dinner with friends ten years from the present, asked to share what one thing most symbolized their fulfilled public aspirations as a policy decision maker. Ms. Hayes cited, as an example, her service on the Human Rights Commission (HRC), which she had undertaken primarily to lobby for curb cuts in the Harlow neighborhood. She said now there were curb cuts from one end of the City to the other and staff had improved upon the design. Ms. Utecht shared her experience working in the division that licensed local businesses, including garbage haulers. She related that, at the time, there was little motivation to recycle, but now thanks to her efforts and the efforts of others, all garbage haulers provide recycling services. Ms. Ortiz said ten years from now she still wanted to work as an emergency room registered nurse, but that in ten years the hospital and all City services would reflect every facet of society, every color, and staff would be bilingual. Council, Public, and Government Affairs Manager Mary Walston stated that she was on the Board of Directors for Greenhill Humane Society. She said they were working on a low-cost spay and neuter clinic and she hoped that in ten years there would be a reduction in unwanted animals as a result. Mr. Pryor aspired to foster a high level of trust in City government and in the functionality of the City. Mr. Poling commented that he shared Mr. Pryor's aspiration, as did all of the councilors. He shared his vision of a 20-year supply of usable land and a computerized system that tracked it, in order to avoid the cost of a land inventory. MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 1 Process Session Mr. Kelly said he would want to leave behind a vibrant, 24-hour downtown, and an increase in affordable housing. He also wanted population growth to be absorbed without expansion of the urban growth boundary (UGB). Mr. Pap6 also shared having a vibrant downtown as a goal. He added that he wanted a new modem hospital to be built south of the river, the federal courthouse to be completed, the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) property to be redeveloped, and the issues involving the River Road/Santa Clara neighborhood to be resolved. City Manager Dennis Taylor said in ten years he would be celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary in his new accessible home in the downtown area where he was able to shop for all of his needs and added that when he looked around, he saw people of all ages enjoying the many amenities the downtown had to offer. Ms. Solomon arrived. Ms. Bettman wished to leave behind a fixed rail trolley system that connected the new hospital, the University neighborhood, the federal courthouse, and a new City Hall that featured separate offices for each city councilor. Ms. Solomon foresaw herself having dinner riverside on a concrete patio that was part of a mixed-use development overlooking the hospital and the river. Ms. Taylor wanted her legacy to be that all of the Amazon headwaters land was preserved as open space, including the Beverly property. Council Coordinator Lynda Rose hoped the City would become one of the most technologically advanced cities for disseminating information. She added that she would also love to live downtown. Mr. Poling remarked that any one of the councilors could pick any number of the different visions set forth. Mayor Piercy said she wanted the downtown to be revitalized and the City to be known as a regional arts center and a place that supported sustainable business practices. She wanted the citizens to feel great about Eugene as a community. 2) Review Operating Agreements/Shared Expectations Ms. Hayes divided the council into three small groups, with one new member in each group. Ms. Utecht noted that some discussion had already occurred via email. Mr. Kelly commented that six out of nine of the elected officials present %weated a long time" to adopt operating agreements. He wondered if this review could be done more efficiently by allowing the three new members to address the other six with their questions and comments regarding the agreements. Ms. Hayes said the small group portion would not take a long time. She felt the one-on-one format would allow people to ask all of their questions. She recognized the desire to remain in a larger group, but wished to create a format in which no one would hold back their questions. Ms. Taylor agreed with Mr. Kelly. MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 2 Process Session The councilors and mayor spent ten minutes discussing the operating agreements in groups of three. Ms. Utecht listed the topics of concern that came out of the email communications between councilors and staff, as follows: · Section 9.03 of the operating agreements; · Microphone time; · Motions to reconsider; · Parking (specific to Ms. Bettman). Ms. Walston explained that she had included Section 9.03: Representing City Positions and Personal Positions, on the back of the draft language for Section 9.03 for comparison purposes. She said she listened to the tape of the discussion on the issue and extrapolated the main points, from which she crafted the draft language. Mr. Kelly felt the draft language captured the council's intent, but wished Section 9.03 had been written more succinctly. He liked that it had been divided into three different paragraphs as there had been three separate concerns that needed to be addressed. His only concern lay in the paragraph regarding local intergovernmental bodies or advisory groups. He felt the sentence that directed councilors to inform the other members of the council of matters being considered by an intergovernmental body should contain the caveat ;if possible,' given that agendas sometimes did not arrive with adequate time to provide notice and receive direction on such policies. He commented that the last sentence of the second paragraph, which directed councilors to vote on matters with policy implications or budgetary considerations as per adopted City or council policy and direction, was a key point for him. Ms. Taylor said sometimes the council knew in advance what was being considered, as in the case of the Metropolitan Policy Committee (MPC). She advocated for holding a work session on MPC agenda items in order to solidify which direction the City Council representatives should take. Mayor Piercy asked Mr. Kelly to consider a situation in which he was in that voting position and, to the best of his ability, believed he was following City Council direction but had, in fact, misinterpreted the direction. Mr. Kelly responded that there were fuzzy areas sometimes and one did the best he or she could. Ms. Taylor commented that sometimes that just happened. Mr. Pryor related his experience as a representative of the School District 4J to the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG). He underscored that he spoke for himself in that capacity and not for the school board, unless specifically directed by the board to do so. Mr. Pryor remarked that it seemed unnecessary to list the different intergovernmental bodies and advisory groups given the definition. He also pointed out it was possible that a group could be left off the list. He recommended eliminating the list, noting that this alone would shorten the section by three sentences. Ms. Bettman said one reason this issue had been raised based on events at the MPC, and the former mayor and Ms. Bettman brought them to the council. She averred that councilors did not always have the time to check in with other councilors regarding their positions on issues, but where there was clear council policy she declared councilors should vote consistently based on the policy. She noted that legal counsel had indicated that there was no legal requirement for an elected representative to vote in any way other than how they wanted to. MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 3 Process Session Mr. Pryor said the principle was fine because the councilors were part of a larger representative body. Mr. Papd suggested the following change to the second sentence of the second paragraph of Section 9.03: ~The Mayor or councilors should inform the other members of the City Council of the matters being considered by the abe~ve ne~ted intergovernmental bodies, and to the greatest extent possible, seek direction from the City Council on issues directly pertaining to the City of Eugene,,, ..... ~,,.o,,~:~*:~ and adopted city policy." Mr. Papd also recommended making the following change to the fourth sentence of the third paragraph: ~Ifthere is existing City or Council policy, the voting delegate should ~vill vote in accordance with that policy." Mr. Kelly noted that the council needed to adopt the revised agreements via resolution in a regular session, but suggested the council move to approve the revision. Mr. Kelly, seconded by Mr. Poling, moved approval of the revisions, as discussed. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Continuing, Mr. Pap6 underscored that microphone time continued to be an issue. He hoped the council would be judicious with its time. He recalled a recent meeting at which members of the public who made time to testify at a public hearing were turned away because the preceding items on the agenda took too long due to copious discussion. Ms. Ortiz said she did not feel compelled to weigh in on agenda items all of the time. She declared that respect for public speakers was very important. Mayor Piercy commented that a tight schedule meant she should monitor and shorten comment time after the Public Forum. Ms. Taylor reiterated her objection to ending meetings at 10 p.m. She thought this rushed some items, adding that it was always better to postpone than to push something through without adequate discussion. She preferred to shorten the council's response time to the Public Forum than the speaker's time to testify. Mr. Kelly agreed that the problem arose sometimes but did not think it was as ubiquitous as some people thought it was. He pointed out that everyone was given an opportunity to speak in every round, should they so choose. He felt that a new rule regarding microphone time was not needed, rather he thought a combination of self-discipline and peer pressure, i.e., an after-meeting comment, would work to curtail microphone abuse. He asserted the meeting cited by Mr. Pap6 had an over-full agenda. Mr. Pryor said self-discipline would take care of the problem. He noted that most questions to staff could be dealt with prior to meetings and then meetings could be solely for the purpose of deliberation and comments. He remarked that he was unprepared to change the current system with time limits until he saw how long some comments were and also how focused they were utilizing a greater degree of self-discipline. Ms. Bettman opined that more expository material in agenda packets would reduce the need for council questions. She also wished that staff would limit its comments to its presentations. She said it had gotten to the point where staff was participating in the decision-making process and did not have a timer. She underscored her feelings that staff should be there to answer questions and not to exposit or rebut issues. MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 4 Process Session Additionally, she registered her opposition to one-minute rounds for council comments and questions. Ms. Taylor suggested the council try a meeting without the timer. She noted that former Mayor Jim Torrey had initially presided over meetings without timers. She thought it was undignified to be stopped by a buzzer. She posited that one might have more to say in the second or third round than the first. Ms. Solomon said she had come to appreciate having time limits. She disagreed that staff participated in discussions or rebutted the council. She stressed that staff members were the experts called upon to ensure the council received correct information. She commented that staff presentations had dramatically improved since the council goals session at which they had been asked to utilize PowerPoint presentations more and talk less. Mr. Kelly observed that the ~vibe" of the process session felt more like dialogue than posturing. He said he was ~jazzed about that." Mr. Kelly suggested experimenting with the timer and using it, but without the buzzer. He thought it would provide good feedback for councilors. Regarding staff, Mr. Kelly agreed presentations had improved. He said there were some staff members that were better than others at answering questions succinctly. City Manager Taylor asked if these comments pertained more to work sessions than regular sessions. Mr. Kelly replied that he was referring to work sessions. City Manager Taylor said he would convey these comments to the executive managers. Ms. Hayes suggested the meeting move on. She observed that the councilors supported trying a meeting without the buzzer. Mr. Pryor remarked that he liked staff participation. He averred that it helped to fill in all the pieces and facilitated the council's ability to make informed decisions. He said when all was said and done, only the councilors held the right to vote. Ms. Hayes surmised from the conversation that concerns regarding staff presentations were being addressed and had gotten somewhat better. Mr. Poling underscored that staff members come into a meeting having done the work on an issue. He felt sometimes staff might need to remind the council as to what direction the council was headed. He commented that some staff members had been ~dressed down" in the public eye and this had hampered their ability provide their best professional input. Mr. Pap~ also appreciated the timer being there. He advocated using the microphone with self-discipline and courtesy for everyone else there. Ms. Rose indicated it would not be a problem to disconnect the buzzer for a meeting. Ms. Bettman thought it might make more sense if councilors had a monthly cumulative time allotment. She said some issues required more deliberation. She commented that she would hold back off on an issue that was less important to her and speak at greater length to an important issue. She called the time limits ~artificial constraints." MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 5 Process Session Speaking to the issue of staff, Ms. Bettman opined it had more to do with staff "ideology and agenda." She opined staff members advocated for particular issues and discriminated against people who did not agree with them. She pointed out that staff people had an entire agenda item summary (ALS) and an uninterrupted presentation to "make their case." Ms. Ortiz liked having a timer and also the idea of a cumulative amount of time. However, she agreed with contentions that the one-minute time limit was unrealistic. She suggested rounds should go no lower than two minutes. Ms. Ortiz said interactions with staff worked best when it provided the facts and not direction. Ms. Taylor opined that staff members were sometimes trying to make policy and this was the job of the council. Mr. Kelly remarked that this sort of abuse was not widespread. He agreed with Ms. Ortiz that after a presentation, staff should only provide facts. Mr. Kelly averred that agenda packets were getting thinner. He pointed out that the agenda packet for the next work session at which the council would consider remanding an ordinance did not contain a copy of the ordinance. Mr. Pryor related his expectation that staff would have a position on an agenda item. He said elected officials relied upon this because the staff members were hired based on their expertise. He agreed, however, that staff members should draw the line at lobbying for a particular position. Ms. Utecht summarized the discussion, as follows: · The council would hold a work session without the buzzer; · Mayor Piercy would try to help draw attention to time limits; · It was suggested that people who attend a meeting to testify at a public hearing that looked to be ultimately postponed due to time constraints be sent home earlier than at the end of the meeting; · Ms. Bettman and Ms. Taylor talked about the possibility of having a cumulative amount of time to speak to issues; · Some councilors felt the one-minute rounds for comments and questions should be eliminated. Ms. Utecht noted that Mr. Pap6 included Robert's Rules of Order on his list of concerns. Mr. Pap6 clarified that his concern was particular to the act of reconsidering a motion. He stated that should the maker of the motion not be present and/or not informed 24 hours prior to the motion to reconsider, then the motion should be tabled. Mr. Kelly thought it could be brought up and tabled again. He said a motion to reconsider meant something unusual was going on. He felt there were two rules in place that addressed this - one that dictated that a councilor with a motion needed to let staff know in advance and the other that said a councilor could request in writing that a motion not be considered in their absence. Mr. Poling asked how one would know in advance if a motion to reconsider "came out of left field." Ms. Rose read the clause from the operating agreements that governed such motions and it was determined that Mr. Papa's concern was addressed. MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 6 Process Session Mr. Poling was not sure how to address the issue. He felt the language would still allow someone to make a motion to reconsider at a meeting at which the councilor who made the original motion was absent. Ms. Bettman said if one had the intent to get the motion out there but found it not possible to do so, parliamentary rules should not be imposed upon the body. She thought such a situation was only a remote instance and if it happened it was up to the council to decide whether or not to proceed with the motion depending on the circumstances. She felt there had only been a few instances under which a councilor had been specifically undermined, but given that former Mayor Torrey was no longer in office she asserted this was not likely to happen anymore. Ms. Taylor commented that things of this nature had occurred in the past. Mr. Pap6 acceded that clarifying rules were not necessary at this time. Ms. Hayes noted that the last item to be discussed under the operating agreements was parking. Ms. Bettman discussed her difficulties in finding parking for meetings and the number of parking tickets she received given that meetings were sometimes unpredictably long. Mr. Poling suggested a universal parking permit. He registered his offense at the last sentence in the memorandum on parking that indicated the annual cost was $6,000. Mr. Kelly thought the 4A parking permit could serve as the universal permit. City Manager Taylor asked if it would be possible to create a special parking key for the councilors or, perhaps, coupons. Mr. Kelly thought a parking key that would work in the meters could end up costing more. City Manager Taylor also suggested a parking decal that would allow councilors to park in all City- owned and managed parking spaces. He indicated he would investigate the possibilities. Ms. Utecht asked the councilors if they wished to work on the Shared Expectations List. Ms. Taylor and Mr. Kelly indicated their preference not to work on it. Mr. Poling thought Mr. Pryor and Ms. Ortiz could ask the senior members of the council clarifying questions if they wanted to. Ms. Ortiz asked if the list had been distilled from a larger list. She requested a copy of the larger list. Mayor Piercy commented that the expectations might not be shared given that they were not actually adopted. Ms. Utecht commented that there was a lengthy discussion on the expectations in September 2003. She asked that Ms. Rose provide the three new members with copies of the full discussion. Should they feel a need to further discuss the list, she suggested they bring the list to the next process session. Ms. Hayes called for a ten-minute break. 3) Boards and Commissions Process Ms. Walston explained that the Boards and Commissions process existed on two levels, the ;;macro level," MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 7 Process Session as dictated by code, and the "micro level," consisting of the council's process to set up interviews and timelines. She noted that some interview questions were redundant and there had been some confusion as to who should be interviewed and with other aspects of the interviews. She said there had not been a comprehensive look at the Boards and Commissions process and the codes that govern them in twelve years. Ms. Taylor thought the questioning process was artificial. She opined that the same questions were not appropriate for every person. She wondered if some questions could be improvised and whether the process could be made more informal. She commented that the person ended up being judged by the quality of the interview. Mr. Kelly averred that being articulate in an interview demonstrated how articulate a person would be in their capacity as an appointed member of a group. He supported printing the schedule of interviews up front. He advocated for building in %verflow" for the interviews. Mr. Kelly alleged that some votes were not counted correctly in the last round of appointees. He also commented that councilors should make a commitment to attend all of the interviews. Regarding the interview questions, Mr. Kelly noted that the council inevitably changed the questions prior to interviews. He suggested the questions be provided in advance to the council. He felt two or three of the same questions should be asked of every interviewee and then the council should be able to reserve the right to ask other questions. Ms. Walston pointed out, for new members, that some committees required an application, a supplemental questionnaire, and the interview. Mr. Kelly thought there was much redundancy between the supplemental questionnaire and the interview questions. He suggested that a single distinct application be created for the ~weightier" groups, such as the Human Rights Commission, Planning Commission, and Budget Committee. Ms. Ortiz thought a little redundancy in the line of questioning was acceptable. However, she also felt that to fully engage the community, it was important to occasionally overlook a small lack of expertise or a lack of articulateness. She liked the idea of formulating applications that pertained to the particular groups. She asked, though, if there was a legal rationale for having the same questions. Mr. Poling commented that he had sat on hundreds of interview panels and all of them were obligated to ask the same questions of every applicant. He was also curious as to whether there was a legal rationale for doing so in this situation. Ms. Utecht surmised that there would be less exposure with volunteers because they did not receive a financial benefit as a result of being selected. She commented that one would have to be careful to ensure the same objectives were addressed. She said that the selection of an applicant based on a question asked only of that person could be problematic. Mr. Poling advocated for asking the same questions for all applicants. Mr. Kelly said the only instance in which he would want to ask an individual a unique question would be to respond to a unique response on an application or supplemental questionnaire. Mr. Poling recommended the application process begin earlier. He said the current process resulted in a MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 8 Process Session time crunch for the Budget Committee, which started the month after the interview process was completed. He also felt a procedure should be created to fill unexpected vacancies, such as a matrix of second choices. Ms. Bettman wanted a standardized process for vacancies as well. She appreciated Mr. Ortiz' comments regarding being open to appointing people with other strengths. She said that the City's current boards and commissions looked homogenous to her and advocated for more diversity in the council's selections. Regarding interview questions, Ms. Bettman indicated she would like to be able to ask follow-up questions. She also wished the applications could be made "more beautiful," adding that sometimes they were hard to read. Mayor Piercy asked if the applicants for the boards and commissions had preferences for who they wanted to serve. She thought it would be helpful for them to have guiding principles and to know who needed to be at the table. Ms. Solomon wished for a better distribution of ward constituents among such groups. She noted that only one person had applied from Ward 6. She felt Ms. Walston did a great job of providing the information on applicants regarding age, gender, race, and neighborhood. Mr. Pap6 said he always tried to look at ward distribution when selecting members for boards, committees, and commissions. He suggested the council have a work session to talk about improving the selection process and the questions they asked applicants. He thought the council should "scramble" the questions every year. Mr. Poling suggested that soliciting information from people currently on the boards, commissions, and committees regarding what they look for in a fellow member could ultimately narrow the scope and decrease diversity. Mayor Piercy countered that they could also recommend having different perspectives. She commented on the importance of having people with different income levels participate. Ms. Taylor did not think it mattered where people lived in the City. She advocated for having a variety of people with differences in philosophical stance and vocation sit on the committees. Mr. Pryor said he would look for diverse perspectives on a committee so that the results would come from a collaboration of different points of view. Ms. Utecht asked if a scheduled work session would include all aspects of this topic. Ms. Solomon preferred to "take a stab" at this topic in the next process session as opposed to a work session. Mr. Kelly was concerned that the next process session was not scheduled until April. He wanted to make sure there would be time to work through this. Regarding diversity, he agreed the council should seek to increase it in every aspect. He commented that deliberating in public sometimes caused constraint and wondered if personnel matters could extend to commissions, etc. He felt such deliberations should be held in executive session. City Manager Taylor said he would pose this question to legal counsel. Ms. Bettman believed there were many kinds of diversity that should be considered before geographic diversity. She asked to hear from staff as to whether other communities had found ways to create more diversity. She opined that councilors wanted people who represented their own points of view to be on the MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 9 Process Session boards and commissions. Mayor Piercy remarked that people could have more than one quality, and regardless of where they fell on the political spectrum, a person added something unique to the committee process. Mr. Pryor liked the distinction between the work sessions and the process sessions. He found the process session to be the most helpful and useful meeting he had participated in thus far. He did not mind waiting until April to finish addressing the issue. Ms. Utecht asked the mayor and councilors how they wished to proceed. After some discussion on whether to schedule an additional earlier process session, the council decided to have staff work on the results from the discussion and bring the extrapolation back to the council process session scheduled for Monday, April 18. Mr. Pap6 objected to allowing this topic to take up the whole process session. Ms. Ortiz said it was an important topic. She wanted to do it right so that the results would have a long shelf life and did not want to limit the process. Mr. Pap~ suggested splitting the issue and addressing one piece in the process session and one piece in a work session. Ms. Taylor advocated for devoting the process session to this issue. Mr. Kelly stated that there was formalized code language for standardized commissions and committees, but there was nothing like that for committees formed by the mayor. He thought there should be some kind of guiding language for mayor's committees. He opined there was some value in bounding what a mayor's committee could be. He noted that the council had approved the nominations for former Mayor Torrey's Economic Development Committee. He likened it to the Senate approving the President's nominations and advocated for continuing this confirmation role. Mayor Piercy said while she recognized why the issue had arisen, she only had a couple of things under her charge, the ability to weigh in on the agenda and the right to form committees (with the caveat that budget considerations had to be weighed), and the rest of her job was %howing up." She was concerned about being constrained, especially given that any recommendations or proposed actions that resulted from a committee would come before the council anyway. Ms. Taylor concurred with Mr. Kelly. She remarked that the council was %xpected" to support the results from such committees. She felt a committee should bring ideas but not have the assumption that the council would automatically support them. Mr. Pap~ said he would not put limitations on the mayor's committees. Mr. Pryor called it a great check and balance. He thought it was an interesting conversation but did not want to constrain the rights of the executive branch. Ms. Utecht observed that Mr. Kelly and Ms. Taylor were the only councilors interested in discussing this item further. Mr. Kelly suggested the item be ~parked" until fall 2005. MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 10 Process Session 4) Strategic Planning Session City Manager Taylor asked if the suggested start and stop times would work for councilors. Mr. Kelly could not make it on Friday until 10 a.m. Ms. Bettman had conflicts on both days. She said she could make arrangements to stay later on February 25 and asked if the council could agree to a later start time on February 26, such as 10:30 a.m. Mr. Pryor felt the council might not need the entire time it had scheduled for the session. Ms. Solomon stated that she had to be finished at 5 p.m. on Friday, February 25. Mr. Papd expressed his frustration that the council still had difficulty setting aside this time. He was opposed to cutting the time back. Mr. Kelly proposed the session be scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Ms. Taylor declared the session to be ~way too long." Ms. Bettman observed that the session had been shorter in 2004 and asked why it had been scheduled for longer this year. City Manager Taylor responded that they were hoping for two full days of retreat time and if it ended earlier, then this would be a reward for the work. He felt the time set aside would provide ample parameters to cover the ground the council needed to cover. Ms. Bettman thought it would be a good compromise to go with the times suggested by Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kelly asked that the tentative schedule be circulated to the mayor and City Council for comments, once it had been submitted by the facilitator. Mr. Papd stressed that the City had hired a qualified facilitator and though the councilors might think items on her agenda were superfluous, they were likely borne of good ideas. Ms. Bettman recalled that the councilors had jettisoned a visioning exercise in the previous year's strategic planning session. She encouraged staff to recommend to the facilitator that she get right to the issues. Ms. Solomon recommended that the council be open and receptive to doing business in another way. She was reluctant to cut the facilitator short. She appreciated the opportunity to work with her and encouraged her colleagues not to be too picky about the agenda. Regarding the role of executives at the retreat, Mr. Kelly registered his opposition to allowing the mayor to vote on the internal decision-making process. Mr. Pryor agreed with Mr. Kelly's logic but thought it more compelling to have the mayor be part of the team. MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 11 Process Session Mayor Piercy said the facilitator was thinking that full participation did not have a bearing on the final vote. City Manager Taylor concurred, stating that the results from the planning session would come before the council for the final vote. The meeting adjourned at 8:31 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dennis M. Taylor City Manager (Recorded by Ruth Atcherson) MINUTES-- Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 12 Process Session