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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/29/1990 Meeting e e - M I NUT E S Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session Wilder Room--Hilton Hotel May 29, 1990 5:30 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Jeff Miller; Roger Rutan, Shawn Boles, Rob Bennett, Emily Schue, Freeman Holmer, Ruth Bascom, Bobby Green, Debra Ehrman, councilors; Mike Gleason, staff. J. REPORT FROM COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES A. Audit Committee Mr. Holmer said that since the council was recommending elimination of the Audit Committee, it should be involved with appointment of the City Auditor. Mr. Gleason said currently the City Manager selects an auditor and the ap- pointment is reviewed by the Mayor. Mr. Rutan said that if the City were a traditional corporation he would agree with Mr. Holmer that the City Council should be involved in the selection of the City Auditor. However, he said that since the City is a public corpora- tion, the City Manager is bound by statutes and regulations. He pointed out that both he and the Mayor had participated in the most recent selection of an auditor. Mr. Gleason said it was important that the City have an effective audit and that the financial condition of the City get good public exposure. He said there were two key ingredients to the audit: 1) the standards by which the books are put together, which is tested for certification by the Government Finance Officer's Association Standards for the United States; and 2) the document must be public information. He suggested the council as a whole hold a work session with the auditor, rather than try to deal with the audit by committee. Mr. Bennett said he did not feel the Audit Committee was worthwhile because members should be prepared to contribute to the discussion on a technical basis and he did not think this was possible for most of the councilors. In addition, he said the Audit Committee was a substitute for performance audits which were preferable. Mr. Boles suggested that the City Manager inform the council well in advance the next time an auditor was to be selected. He said the council could decide at this time whether it preferred to deal with the selection as an ad hoc committee or as a body. He suggested the Audit Committee be disbanded in the interim. MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 1 ~ In response to a question from Mr. Holmer, Mr. Bennett said he would prefer that the council as a whole be involved with the performance audit. Mayor Miller summarized that the council wished to delete the Audit Committee and focus on the performance audit as a whole group. B. Boundary Commission Mr. Green said he had attended one Boundary Commission said if legal requirements allowed, the council should ship on this commission from three persons to one. In from Mr. Gleason, Mr. Boles said that if there were no council should not be represented on this commission. committee work increased the work load for councilors ed the council eliminate any committee work possible. meeting. Mr. Rutan decrease its member- response to a question legal requirement, the Mr. Rutan said council and staff, and suggest- C. Budget Committee Mr. Rutan said the Mayor should be a member of the Budget Committee. Ms. Bascom said it weakened the role of the Mayor for him not to be on this committee. Mayor Miller suggested statutory requirements for the committee be investigated. He said that if the Mayor were required to attend these meetings he should have a role on the committee. D. Citizen Involvement Committee e Mr. Bennett said the Committee on Committees felt that the Citizen Involve- ment Committee (CIC) was important to a community as diverse as Eugene. He suggested the City Council take a more active role in setting agendas for this committee, and be updated on its activities more often. He said the CIC's "Effective Citizen Involvement in Site Developmentll recommendation, on public-private partnerships at the City, was very important in terms of such projects as the Riverfront Research Park, but that the committee's recommen- dation would not work. He said the councilor on this committee should be careful how this kind of proposal was processed by the council. Mr. Boles said he was not sure if councilors could have been more up-to-date with this recommendation, except by attending eIC meetings. Mr. Bennett asked whether the CIC should find new ways for citizens to be publicly involved, or if its purpose was to delineate traditional methods of citizen involvement. Mr. Boles pointed out that the crc work plan could be approved or disapproved by the City Council. In response to a question from Ms. Bascom, Ms. Schue said the CIC had been created because of Senate Bill 100. She said land use planning legislation required that every city have a citizen involvement committee, although some cities had incorporated the committee into their planning commissions. She e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 2 - said Eugene had not chosen to do this. Ms. Schue said the recent vote on a new site for the Library showed the need to stimulate public discussion about how private-public partnership rules were changing. Mr. Rutan said the council should discuss the roles of committees at a later date and should be specific about its charge to all City committees. Mr. Holmer said every City project did not require deep public involvement. He said the CIC's main responsibility should be to determine how much citizen involvement was appropriate for the various affairs of the City. Ms. Bascom said the CIC needed to reclarify its purpose. E. Community Development Committee There was no discussion of this item which the Committee on Committees had recommended the City Council keep as one of its assignments. F. Council Committee on Economic Diversification Mr. Boles said he was not sure the council could afford to delete this com- mittee because it had created the City's economic diversification plan. Mr. Bennett said he felt this kind of activity should be carried out by the council as a whole. Mr. Holmer said the committee's work on special events had been important. However, he said the council needed to review completed staff work on this subject. Ms. Bascom agreed that the council should take over the work of this committee. e In response to a question from Mr. Boles, Mayor Miller said that if the Council Committee on Economic Diversification were deleted, the council as a whole would take on the issue of wetlands. Mr. Boles said the council needed to create a balance between council committee work and work which the council as a whole wished to pursue. Mr. Gleason suggested the council's work plan would help determine whether work should be assigned to committees or the whole council. G. County Room Tax Committee Ms. Ehrman said the work of this committee had been completed. H. Eugene Arts Foundation Board Mr. Holmer pointed out that the City Charter stated that the Mayor would appoint one member to this board, but not that the member had to be a coun- cilor. Mayor Miller said a councilor could be a member of this group without hi s appoi ntment. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 3 e I. EugenelSpringfield Convention and Visitors Bureau There was no discussion of this item which the Committee on Committees had recomended the City Council keep as one of its regular assignments. J. Eugene/Springfield Metropolitan Partnership The City Council agreed to keep this assignment as ;s and requested a report from John Lively at a future council work session. \ K. Joint Parks Committee Ms. Bascom said the council should continue to appoint two councilors to this committee. She pointed out that the work of the committee in upcoming years would include issues such as the development of Alton Baker Park. She said the council.s role in issues such as this should not be diminished by reduc- ing its membership to the Joint Parks Committee. She suggested that new councilors would get a good education about the City through their membership on the committee. Mr. Holmer suggested that the Downtown Commission and the Planning Commission were as important as the Joint Parks Committee. He said that if the Joint Parks Commission required the membership of two councilors, these committees did too. e Ms. Schue pointed out that if the council reduced its membership on the Joint Parks Committee. there would be more room for citizen-at-large representa- tion. She said the committee was a good citizen involvement experience for the public. Ms. Bascom suggested that the council encourage the Joint Parks Committee to increase its lay representation, and reduce Planning Commission membership. Mayor Miller said he heard consensus for reducing membership on this commit- tee to one councilor and for suggesting that the Planning Commission also consider reducing its representation to one, thus creating two additional positions for lay members. L. Joint Social Services Budget Committee The City Council agreed to keep representation on this committee as it is. M. Lane Council of Governments The City Council agreed to keep representation on this committee as it is. N. Lane County Shelton-McMurphey House Committee The City Council agreed with the recommendation of the Committee on Commit- tees to delete this committee for its assignments. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 4 e O. Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority The City Council directed staff to pursue changes to the State Statute to reduce membership from three councilors to two, and to contact the City of Springfield to see if they want to make the same change. \ P. Legislative Committee Mr. Rutan suggested council membership on this committee be reduced to two persons during ~on-session years. Ms. Schue said the role of the committee was being changed to include all of the City's intergovernmental relation- ships. She said the committee met on demand only. ( Mr. Gleason said the committee helped councilors learn about intergovernmen- tal issues. Mr. Holmer suggested the Legislative Committee change its name to the Inter- governmental Relations Committee in view of the expanded role of the group. Councilors agreed with this proposal. Mr. Boles said the Legislative Committee was one'of the hardest committees for him to track and review as a councilor. He suggested the council discuss which issues it wanted the Legislative Committee to pursue. Ms. Ehrman said three councilors served on the committee so that the council would be well represented. She said the committee did not always choose to prioritize ~ issues as staff requested. Mr. Bennett said he agreed with Mr. Boles that the Legislative Committee was difficult to track. He said he relied on the three councilors who served on the committee to keep him informed about the committee's work. Mr. Holmer pointed out that the committee had established basic guidelines and princi- ples which applied to all legislative review and that these guidelines were very useful. Q. Metro Wastewater Management Commission; Metropolitan Policy Com- mittee; Southern Willamette Private Industry Council Councilors agreed with the recommendation of the Committee on Committees to look for a more appropriate organizational structure to replace the current Metro Wastewater Management Commission; to retain the Metropolitan Policy Committee; and to eliminate council representation on the Southern Willamette Private Industry Council (SWPIC). They requested an annual report to the council from SWPIC. R. Social Goals Committee Mr. Bennett said it was important that the council always have a social goal. He said it was important that three councilors serve as members on the com- mittee because its housing goal was so complex. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 5 e Mr. Holmer said the focus of the Social Goals Committee was housing, but that the Coalition for Youth Gang Prevention and the Human Rights Task Force were also committees which focused on social goals. He asked if the Social Goals Committee should include social goals in addition to housing. Ms. Schue said the Social Goals Committee had become a housing committee and its members had expertise in housing issues. S. Tree Commission Councilors discussed and agreed to eliminate council representation on the commission. T. Community Coalition for Gang Prevention Mr. Green said this committee had been formed by concerned citizens. He said that since it had not been initiated by the council the issue of staffing was in question. He said the main purpose of the coalition at this time was community education because of the need to keep young people aware of gang activity, even though gang activity in Eugene is minimal. Ms. Ehrman asked if the coalition could be incorporated into the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC). Mr. Green said this was possible. e Mr. Gleason said the City provided staff support it might easily disappear without this support. committee had grass roots support, its logistics staff. for the coalition and that He said that although the were all handled by City Mr. Boles suggested that the council ask the City of Springfield, the 4J School District, and Lane County, to help staff the committee since all these groups are also affiliated with the coalition. Mr. Gleason said few local entities had the history of expending energy on grass roots organizations that the City of Eugene does. He said Human Rights Specialist Greg Rikhoff was doing most of the staff work for the anti-gang group. He said PSAC staff already had a full load, and that the issue was whether Mr. Rikhoff could continue to handle the additional work of the coalition. In response to a question from Ms. Ehrman, Mr. Green said he saw no end to the work of the coalition. Ms. Ehrman said she was concerned about its funding. Mr. Gleason said the work of the coalition was very important, but that Mr. Rikhoff was working about 50 hours a week and he was afraid of IIburning him out.1I He said that if the council decided it wanted to continue this re- source commitment, he would need to balance the workload issue within the organization. He said it was important not to abuse dedicated staff such as Mr. Rikhoff. Mr. Holmer said he was not certain that this committee required council involvement. Mr. Green said the council should consider what message it wanted to send the community in terms of its commitment to the coalition. . MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 6 e e e Ms. Bascom said new City Councilors should have the latitude to choose which issues they wished to become involved in. She suggested the council allow the coalition to continue to be staffed by the City, and stay informed about its progress. Mr. 'Bo)es suggested the council determine the coalition's costs and attempt to ~e~p it find other intergovernmental funding sources. He said the City should ho~ have to carry the full burden of the costs for a project which served the ent~e region. U. Downtown Development District Task Force It was suggested that representation on this committee be reduced from two councilors to one, with present members, Mr. Bennett and Ms. Ehrman, deciding which of them would remain on the committee. V. Fairgrounds Master Plan Ms. Ehrman said that although this committee had not yet met, it would meet in the future. She suggested the committee be represented by one councilor whose ward abutted the fairgrounds property. Mr. Boles said the council should encourage this committee to get started with its task. Mr. Gleason said he had discussed this situation with Lane County Administrator Jim Johnson and the problem was that the Fair Board was trying to deal with Fairgrounds management problems. He said the board would deal with the Fairgrounds master plan when this problem was resolved and would want the City to participate in this process. Mr. Rutan said the council should go on record by sending the board a memo from the Mayor, dated June 1, 1990, requesting that the master plan process get underway. Mayor Miller said he would do this. Mr. Boles volunteered to serve as the council's representative to the Fair- grounds Master Plan Committee. He said he would ask for the council's help if necessary. W. Ferry Street Bridge Citizen Advisory Committee Ms. Ehrman suggested only one councilor be a member of this committee. The council agreed. X. Metropolitan Policy Committee Mr. Bennett said he had asked the Mayor to appoint him to this committee, but had been disappointed in the two meetings he attended. He said he supported the idea that elected officials of intergovernmental agencies should get to know one another and work together. However, he said the committee is not serving the purpose for which it was created. He said he feared a great deal of ground could be lost. MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 7 e Ms. Schue said the committee processed minor issues, but did not ever seem to get to major concerns. Y. Downtown Commission Mr. Rutan said three of the most important committees at the City were the Downtown Commission, the Planning Commission, and the Riverfront Research Park Commission. He said the council probably retained an unfilled ex offi- cio position on the Riverfront Research Park Commission since the position had been vacated by former councilor Cynthia Wooten. He suggested the coun- cil discuss having some kind of membership on all three bodies--probably as ad hoc, rather than voting, members. Mr. Rutan said the council should give top priority to downtown issues. Mr. Holmer said good representation on the three committees just mentioned by Mr. Rutan would help the council stay current with plans for the downtown area. Mr. Boles said the most difficult committees about which to stay informed were the Downtown Development District Task Force (ODD), the Downtown Commis- sion, and the Urban Renewal Agency. He said these committees were convoluted in terms of their mission, overlap, resources, and vision. e Mr. Bennett said the Downtown Commission had not worked out as a committee as well as had been hoped. He questioned whether the committee should continue to exist. Ms. Ehrman said ad hoc committees were created because of the council's need to share its work load. She said the council had given the Downtown Commission an extensive work plan. Mr. Bennett said the commission did not feel good about what it had accomplished in terms of its work plan. Mr. Rutan asked staff to outline all City committees, commissions, and boards (including the Urban Renewal Agency), which dealt with the issues of the downtown area. He asked that the outline include committee name, membership, major task assignments, and staffing. He said it would help the council set goals on downtown issues if it could see all of this information on one sheet of paper. Mr. Rutan suggested the Mayor ask the Riverfront Research Park Commission if a councilor could be a member of the group. He said this was an outstanding commission and the Riverfront Research Park was high priority for the commu- nity, but that the council did not spend any time working on this project. Mr. Miller said this issue would be on a council agenda in the future. II. DISCUSSION OF BUDGET COMMITTEE ROLE Ms. Schue said the Budget Committee had held a debriefing meeting at which time it created a list of seven items about which it needed more information. She said that before the June 5 Budget Meeting the council needed to deter- mine what line it wished to draw between itself and the Budget Committee. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 8 . Mr. Holmer said he had two major concerns in terms of .the issue of compensa- tion practices: 1) the level of compensation the council was willing to impose on the tax payers for the benefit of City employees; and 2) his belief that the City has over-budgeted for salaries. He said he could demonstrate salary over-budgeting based on the City's method of salary calculation and that the Budget Committee should discuss this issue. Mr. Gleason said compensation practices, and travel and training policies, were linked. He said it was valuable for the City Council, Budget Committee, and citizens to have consistent performance audits. However, he said he could not produce this information on the City's compensation practices, and travel and training policies, by June 5. Mr. Gleason said this information was necessary to help dispel possible community perception that City employees are overpaid. He suggested the council and the Budget Committee have a reasoned debate about this subject. Ms. Ehrman asked Mr. Holmer if he wanted to set a salary cap for City employ- ees. Mr. Holmer said salaries were over-budgeted by several hundred thousand dollars. He said this money should be budgeted more realistically. He said he would have liked to have discussed this issue in time to affect the 1990- 1991 budget, but this would mean the discussion would have to take place on June 5. e Ms. Ehrman asked Mr. Holmer how he wanted to change the budgeting process and if he wanted the council to sign-off on salary increase percentages. Mr. Holmer said his alternative budgeting model would have been to recalculate salaries based on the assumption that there could not be a full advancement of each employee to his or her maximum potential during the next 12 months. He said the several hundred thousand dollars saved by his method could be used to meet current budget needs. Mr. Bennett said the council needed to review the procedure the City uses to budget salaries. He said this discussion should involve technical informa- tion, not whether the City was paying its employees too much. Ms. Bascom said Mr. Holmer had raised the issue of how salaries were calcu- lated at the last Budget Committee meeting and that after listening to both him and Mr. Gleason, the committee voted not to pursue Mr. Holmer1s concern at that time. Mr. Holmer said the intent had been to discuss the issue at the June 5 Budget Committee meeting. Mayor Miller said Mr. Gleason seemed to be saying that this issue could be discussed, but not as soon as June 5. Mr. Gleason said that to effectively deal with the concept Mr. Holmer wanted to discuss, he would need to go through a specific set of explanations, i.e., recruitment market, journey wages, etc. He said the discussion would have to be detailed. He said that if at least five councilors wanted to discuss this, he would be willing to give a presentation on how wages were set at the City. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 9 . If Mr. Holmer's proposal were followed, Mr. Gleason said a presentation on future salary increases would have to be given in executive session, and that this would destroy the City's bargaining position because media people would be present. He said there had been no major labor disputes at the City since he had been named City Manager. Mayor Miller said the two main issues being discussed seemed to be management versus policy, and council involvement with personnel issues. He said the budget issues being discussed might cause the council to become involved with personnel matters. Ms. Bascom pointed out that the council was supposed to be deciding which issues the Budget Committee should discuss at its June 5 meeting. Mr. Boles said the issue was what items the council wanted on the Budget Committee's work plan. He said the committee could provide support for the council, particularly in terms of the Transient Room Tax, the Airport earnings report, long-range financial planning, and a facilities study. Ms. Ehrman said the council was asking Mr. Gleason about the process of arriving at salary decisions, not about specific numbers. She said she was curious about what factors were involved in the salary process. Mr. Gleason said that to answer questions about the salary process he would have to make a major presentation because there were no simple answers. e Mr. Holmer said he was concerned about the process used to budget for sala- ries. Mr. Rutan said he agreed with Mr. Boles about which items the Budget Commit- tee should consider, with the exception of long-range financial planning which he said the council should review, and then take to the committee. Ms. Schue pointed out that all councilors were members of the Budget Commit- tee and were creating work for themselves. Ms. Bascom asked if some items could be tabled until the first Supplemental Budget meeting. Ms. Ehrman said the Budget Committee wanted direction from the whether it should be involved with the Airport Earnings Report. committee needed to know whether the council had made a policy this. council about She said the decision about Mayor Miller said the council needed to determine the specific role of the Budget Committee in terms of its relationship to the City Council. Mr. Gleason said the Budget Committee was the council plus lay members. He said the committee developed its work program around the council's schedule. He said the question was whether the council wanted to review certain budget issues before involving lay members. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 10 e e e Mr. Gleason said the council needed to review compensation practices and travel and training policies for City employees, but this could not be done by June 5. Joan Rich, a lay member of the Budget Committee, said the committee wanted a debrief on June 5. She said lay representatives on the committee wanted to discuss how they should be involved in the City1s budgeting process. III. FOCUSING WORK ON KEY COUNCIL GOALS i , ; Mr. Rutan suggested that the council would be more effective if: 1) its expectations of the City Manager and staff were put in writing, particularly in terms of processing issues which result in recommendations; 2) guidelines were written on when the City Council should get involved in City issues, i.e., a sensitivity index involving dollar amounts, community involvement, etc.; 3) a process were formalized about how issues are brought to the coun- cil; 4) staff would strongly discourage council involvement in certain is- sues; and 5) a new work plan were developed which called for three Monday meetings a month, public hearings at 7 p.m., instead of 7:30 p.m., and 5:30 dinner meetings were reduced in number. Mr. Boles said he supported Mr. Rutan1s suggestions. He said the staff memo on these recommendations should include the suggestion that information which is given to anyone councilor should be given to all councilors. Mr. Gleason suggested that the council hold two goal-setting sessions, one in September and another after new councilors have been seated. The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Micheal Gleason (Recorded by Kris Bloch) mnccc 052990 MINUTES--Eugene City Council Monthly Process Session May 29, 1990 Page 11