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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 02/04/02 Work Session MINUTES Eugene City Council Process Session Morse Ranch-595 Crest Drive, Eugene, Oregon February 4, 2002 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, Gary Rayor, Gary Pap~, Bonny Bettman, Par Farr. CITY COUNCIL PROCESS SESSION Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. The council was joined by facilitator Margot Helphand. City Manager Jim Johnson, Assistant City Manager Jim Carlson, Council, Public, and Government Affairs Manager Mary Walston, Senior Analyst Jan Bohman, and Council Coordinator Kate Rowles were also present. Mr. Johnson indicated to the council that, because it had been unable to reach a settlement with the property owner of the AutoCraft parcel, the City will be filing a condemnation action in court later in the week. He said that the council would hear a more extensive briefing at its executive session on February 11. Ms. Helphand reviewed the proposed agenda: · Share Findings/Summary From City Councilor Interviews · Ideas for Improvement · Meeting Outcomes · Margot's Report and Suggestions · Process Issue Discussion · Next Steps Councilors voiced no objections to the proposed agenda. Ms. Helphand reviewed flip charts listing what councilors believed was working well, and what needed improvement. What'~ Working · We take our roles seriously · We generally stay informed, attend, prepare · Council committees are well chartered · We highly respect the way the mayor manages our meetings · We generally govern through policies Needs Improvement MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 4, 2002 Page 1 Process Session · Unclear expectations for City Manager · Disrespectful communication · Inefficient use of council time Other Comments · Doing better on goals, could use them more, use to consider whether to approve "pet projects" Ms. Helphand noted the councilors' suggestions for improvement, and then reviewed some suggestions she had developed: City Council Suggestions for Improvement · More discipline in use of time: get to point, don't repeat, ask questions outside of meetings · Respectfulness-verbal and nonverbal: disagree on issues respectfully · Try to find common ground when possible. When not, move on respectfully. · Pay more attention to council goals, identify what is most important · Want more "push back" from the City Manager and staff There was general agreement that the council needed more discussion about how the desired "push back" from the manager and staff would actually work in practice. Margot's Suggestions · One employee, one employer · Forge a link with the City Manager that is empowering and safe · Set a respectful tone · Discipline-personal and organizational · Listen to all perspectives, not just our own constituencies · Pay careful attention to the City Council process · Inclusion of one another At Mr. Kelly's suggestion, Ms. Helphand added the following to the list of suggestions for improvement: · PIP-Praise in Public, Problems in Private-how to deal with rancor, tone The council spent several minutes discussing the areas identified as needing improvement. The council agreed that it would attempt to address the issue of unclear expectations by directing the manager to prepare a shod summary following discussion/action for certain agenda items stating what the manager believed the council's direction to be; Ms. Helphand clarified that the summary would not be required for every item, and if councilors disagreed with the manager's interpretation, the item would be brought up again for discussion. Mr. Meisner wanted to know how it would be resolved when councilors disagreed. The council briefly discussed how that could occur, with a tentative focus on the use of e-mail, and agreed that resolution of that could occur later. Ms. Taylor suggested that the summary be included in the front of the meeting packet. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 4, 2002 Page 2 Process Session The council took a brief recess. The council moved onto discussion of the process issues previously identified in interviews conducted by Ms. Helphand. Ms. Helphand reviewed the issues: Process Issues · Committee assignments · Time limits- three-minute rule · Agendas-length and density · Joint meetings with other jurisdictions · Hearings and taking action · City Council development · Howwe communicate · Drafting motion language "on the fly" · Role of president/vice president · Request for postponement · Request to separate pads of a motion The council continued its discussion of inefficient use of time by discussing its use of time at council meetings, in particular the use of the three-minute rule. Councilors discussed the amount of time needed for adequate discussion of the issues and the appropriate amount of time to allocate to agenda items on a crowded agenda. Councilors considered suggestions for managing meetings, including suggestions to allot a cumulative speaking time limit for councilors for each agenda item, to allot councilors speaking time in three rounds, with declining time in each round, to approve agendas on council Consent Calendars, to extend Wednesday meetings, to ask questions of staff prior to meetings when possible, to limit staff comments and ensure staff does not read the packet material to the council, to reconstitute the Council Officers Committee to oversee agendas, to charge the officers and mayor to work with staff on a process to handle unwieldy agenda items, to get the packet more quickly, and to rely on the mayor to adjust speaking times when necessary. Mr. Fart left the meeting at 7:40 p.m. After discussion, the council agreed that staff should be concise when making presentations, that the agenda time should match the agenda item complexity, and Wednesday noon meetings would not be extended unless there was unanimous support. Speaking to the suggestion for reconstituting the Council Officers Committee, Ms. Walston recalled that the committee had been eliminated because so many councilors attended meetings, creating quorum issues. Speaking to the suggestion for getting agenda packets sooner, Mr. Carlson noted the complications created by emerging issues, legal deadlines, and the council's already crowded agendas. Responding to a request for direction from Ms. Rowles, the council agreed that the speaker's timer would be shut off when staff was responding to questions. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 4, 2002 Page 3 Process Session Regarding the issue of asking questions before the meeting, Ms. Bettman said that she often called staff to ask questions before meetings but was unable to reach them; on other occasions, she wanted to ensure that the answer to her questions were reflected in the public record. The council briefly discussed the issue of using a motion to close debate; there appeared to be agreement that while it was preferable to avoid the use of such parliamentary approaches, it should be available for use without reproach or objection. In an attempt to find some common ground among councilors, Ms. Helphand conducted a straw poll, which indicated that five people (Nathanson, Torrey, Meisner, Rayor, PapS) supported the use of rounds with declining time limits (first round, three minutes, second round, two minutes, third, round one minute) and three people were opposed (Taylor, Kelly, Bettman). The council agreed to move on to the next topic, Mr. Meisner observing that there did not seem to be any support for any kind of rule as it related to speaking. Mr. Johnson pointed out that the council could, by motion, establish a rule for speaking at any meeting. The council discussed the issue of requesting postponement of action, and agreed that any councilor could, in advance of a meeting, request the vote be postponed. It was unclear when the decision involved was made. There was general agreement that the ground rules needed to be revised to be more explicit about the process involved. Regarding the issue of separating a motion, Mayor Torrey indicated his belief that there was not a problem, and that councilors had the right to separate motions if there was council support. Regarding the issue of drafting motion language "on the fly," Mr. Johnson suggested that the council not take away its ability to do so, and commended Mr. Kelly for the work he had done in making the Hynix-related motions. Speaking to the two-hour rule, Mayor Torrey said that all councilors should be able to see the results of the work requested by councilors under the rule. There was general concurrence. The following issues were identified for further follow-up: Bin-Issues to Come Back To · Role and expectations of councilors on committees · Requests from individual councilors to City Manager-two-hour rule · From work sessions, City Council requests to staff for more information, more work · ^sk questions outside of meetings · Timeliness · PIP-how to deal with rancor, tone · Role of President-communicating outside of meetings · "Push back" from City Manager-how that would work Ms. Helphand acknowledged the council had been unable to complete all items on the agenda and encouraged the council to meet again in a process session soon, suggesting April or May. She recommended that the council discuss the two-hour rule again soon, as well as initiate MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 4, 2002 Page 4 Process Session discussions with the interim City Manager about the rule and about how he or she could best "push back." Mr. Kelly suggested that during the council break in March, the interim manager conduct one-on- one interviews with the council and mayor, and a process session be scheduled immediately after the break. Ms. Helphand endorsed the suggestion. Ms. Helphand said that councilors interested in the topic of policy governance might want to consider attending the National League of Cities Leadership Institute in June. She suggested that the council might also want to consider bringing in other expertise or going to other conferences. Mr. Johnson recommended that the council bring in a third party to work on the issues, and do so as a group. Ms. Taylor suggested that the council officers could brainstorm ideas to share with the full council. Ms. Walston indicated that staff would work on possible changes to the packet in terms of its availability, and commended Ms. Rowles for the work she did in putting council agendas together, saying it was an art rather than a science. Mayor Torrey adjourned the meeting at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Johnson City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 4, 2002 Page 5 Process Session