New Search
were hard to read. <br /> Mayor Piercy asked if the commissions, etc., had goals for who they wanted to serve. She thought it <br /> would be helpful for them to have guiding principles and to know who needed to be at the. table. <br /> Ms. Solomon wished for a better distribution of Ward constituents among such groups. She noted that <br /> only one person had applied from her ward, Ward 6. She felt Ms. Walston did a great job of providing the <br /> information on applicants regarding age, gender, race, and neighborhood. <br /> Mr. Pape said he .always tried to look at Ward distribution when selecting members for boards, commit- <br /> tees, and commissions. He suggested the council have a work session to talk about improving the <br /> selection process and the questions they asked applicants. He thought they should scramble the questions <br /> every year. <br /> Mr. Poling suggested that soliciting information from people currently on the boards, commissions, and <br /> committees regarding what they look for in a fellow member could ultimately narrow the scope and <br /> decrease diversity. <br /> Mayor Piercy countered that they could also recommend having different perspectives. She commented <br /> on the importance of having people with different income levels participate. <br /> Ms. Taylor did not think it mattered where people lived in the City. She advocated for having a variety of <br /> people with differences in philosophical stance and vocation sit on the committees. <br /> Mr. Pryor said he would look for diverse perspectives on a committee so that the results would come from <br /> a collaboration of different points of view. <br /> Ms. Utecht asked if a scheduled work session would include all aspects of this topic. <br /> Ms. Solomon preferred to "take a stab" at this topic in the next process session as opposed to a work <br /> session. <br /> Mr. Kelly was concerned that the next process session was not scheduled until April. He wanted to make <br /> sure there would be time to work through this. Regarding diversity, he agreed the council should seek to <br /> increase it in every aspect. He commented that deliberating in public sometimes caused constraint and <br /> wondered if personnel matters could extend to commissions, etc. He felt such deliberations should be <br /> held in executive session. <br /> City Manager Taylor said he would pose this question to legal counsel. <br /> Ms. Bettman believed there were lots of kinds of diversity that should be considered before geographic <br /> diversity. She asked to hear from staff as to whether other communities had found ways to create more <br /> diversity. She opined that councilors wanted people who represented their own points of view to be on <br /> the boards and commissions. <br /> Mayor Piercy remarked that people could have more than one quality and regardless of where they fell on <br /> the political spectrum, a person added something unique to the committee process. <br /> Mr. Pryor liked the distinction between the work sessions and the process sessions. He found the process <br /> session to be the most helpful and useful meeting he had participated in thus far. He did not mind waiting <br /> MINUTES-Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 9 <br /> Process Session <br /> <br /> _ <br /> <br />