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HomeMy WebLinkAbout180912 WSMINUTES – Eugene City Council September 12, 2018 Page 1 Work Session M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Harris Hall, 125 East 8th Avenue Eugene, Oregon 97401 September 12, 2018 12:00 p.m. Councilors Present: Emily Semple, Betty Taylor, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Yeh, Mike Clark, Claire Syrett, Chris Pyror Councilors Absent: Greg Evans Mayor Vinis opened the September 12, 2018, Work Session of the Eugene City Council. 1. WORK SESSION: Marginalized Voices Report and Recommendations Equity Accessibility Analyst Katie Babits, along with Bonnie Souza and Ib Hamide of the Human Rights Commission, gave a report about marginalized voices, specifically findings from the WeCU Work Group. Council Discussion • Appreciate the amount of thoughtful work that went into the report and presentation, and thankful to everyone that was involved organizing and participating. • This work is helping us move towards the goal of helping the community understand each other’s experiences and creating a safe and welcoming community. • Believe it is important that the council take a position to support the recommendations put forth by the WeCU work group. • Supportive of the recommendations, would like to dig deeper on the second recommendation and think about what message we should be sending when putting together a rapid response. • Can use the communication opportunity to alter the unconscious actions or complicity that occurs, can help change the frame of reference. • Most interested in the rapid response recommendation because it seems like something that would be cheap and easy, but want to know what it would look like or entail. • Interested in hearing more about what a multicultural center looks like, what it would do, and how it would be operated. • Question asked about a group that used to help people understand each other that presenter Ib Hamide had been a part of. • If the City develops a cultural liaison position, that person should also act as a Sister City liaison. • Consider using Ceremonial Matters portion of the council meeting as an opportunity to invite individuals to come and inform people about special holidays, etc. • We neglect the relationships with the Native Americans who were here before all of us and we should learn more about their customs. • Questions asked about what would constitute an “other threatening act” and when a response would be solicited. • Challenged the Human Rights Commission members to think of that definition differently and think about how we can stand together more frequently on all fronts. • Interested in other goals including the website and want to hear from the work group what they imagine having on the website. MINUTES – Eugene City Council September 12, 2018 Page 2 Work Session • Designated physical spaces is something that could happen quickly, but consider what kind of spaces are they going to be, how they make people feel safe, and how it would be different from anything available now. • Request made for a list of spaces that could be used now. • Staff is moving forward on the initiative of recognizing 20 cultures by 2021, and it may be a shortcut to establishing a multi-cultural center. 2. WORK SESSION: City Council Process Session City Manager’s Office Division Manager Becky DeWitt and City Recorder Beth Forrest gave an overview of the process work session, including goals, information items, and options for consideration and discussion. Council Discussion • Concerned that a two-tiered work session request process would lead to one councilor feeling satisfied by the answers received, but others still wanting to have a dialogue. • Would like to see the introduction of resolutions put into a formal policy like a work session poll because it’s currently an ad-hoc process that can move forward without consensus. • Work sessions are requested by a councilors because they want council to have a public discussion about an idea, not necessarily because there are questions. • A conversation can be had about streamlining work sessions and how to get through them quicker once they have been scheduled. • Questions asked about the two-hour rule and asking for staff help. If something is going to take a significant amount of time, then it should be put forth by the council as a body. • Appreciate the responsiveness from staff on the mayor and council email list. • A further screen for holding a work session is unnecessary as most work session requests are put forth to discuss creating or changing a policy and couldn’t be answered with a simple document. • It is awkward that you cannot respond to something someone has said on the spot and instead have to wait until your turn in the queue. • “No surprises” policy continues to be relevant; try to reaffirm dedication to as much lead time as possible. • Concerns expressed about when work sessions are added to the end of a meeting, when additional work sessions are added, and when time is extended during a meeting. • Important to keep public hearings at 7:30 p.m. because that is what the public is used to. MOTION AND VOTE: Councilor Clark, seconded by Councilor Taylor, moved to extend 10 minutes. PASSED 7:0 Council Discussion • Clarification requested about why the cost estimate for a City-employed minutes recorder was so high. • Frustration expressed that current minutes are available later than when needed and have so little information in them. • Would like to have other options than re-watching the tape to get answers about meetings because it takes too long. • Consider sharing draft minutes with Council once available, whether or not a packet or meeting is upcoming. • Prefer minutes the way they used to be, which provided what people said with context and a sense of what was being talked about. • It would be nice to have minutes that reflect a sense of council intent. • Suggestion made to keyword indexing the webcast to find things easier within the video.