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City Manager Taylor asked if the suggested start and stop times would work for councilors. <br /> Mr. Kelly could not make it on Friday until 10 a.m. <br /> Ms. Bettman had conflicts on both days. She said she could make arrangements to stay later on February <br /> 25 and asked if the council could agree to a later start time on February 26, such as 10:30 a.m. <br /> Mr. Pryor felt the council might not need the entire time it had scheduled for the session. <br /> Ms. Solomon stated that she had to be finished at 5 p.m. on Friday, February 26. <br /> Mr. Pape expressed his frustration that the council still had difficulty setting aside this time. He was <br /> opposed to cutting the time back. <br /> 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 <br /> p.m. on Saturday. <br /> Ms. Taylor declared the session to be "way too long." <br /> Ms. Beaman observed that the session had been shorter in 2004 and asked why it had been scheduled for <br /> longer this year. <br /> City Manager Taylor responded that they were shooting for two days of retreat time and if it ended earlier, <br /> then this would be a reward for the work. He felt the time set aside would provide ample parameters to <br /> cover the ground the council needed to cover. <br /> Ms. Bettman thought it would be a good compromise to go with the times suggested by Mr. Kelly. <br /> Mr. Kelly asked that the tentative schedule be circulated to the Mayor and City Council for comments <br /> once it had been submitted by the facilitator. <br /> Mr. Pape stressed that the City had hired a qualified facilitator and though the councilors might think <br /> items on her agenda were superfluous, they were likely borne of good ideas. <br /> Ms. Beaman recalled that the councilors had jettisoned a visioning exercise in the previous year's <br /> strategic planning session. She encouraged staff to recommend to the facilitator that she get right to the <br /> issues. <br /> Ms. Solomon recommended that the council be open and receptive to doing business in another way. She <br /> was reluctant to cut the facilitator short. She appreciated the opportunity to work with her and encouraged <br /> her colleagues not to be too picky about the agenda.. <br /> Regarding the role of executives at the retreat, Mr. Kelly registered his opposition to allowing the mayor <br /> to vote on the internal decision making process. <br /> Mr. Pryor agreed with Mr. Kelly's logic but thought it more compelling to have the mayor be part of the <br /> team. <br /> Mayor Piercy said the facilitator was thinking that full participation did not have a bearing on the final <br /> <br /> MINUTES-Eugene City Council February 8, 2005 Page 11 <br /> Process Session <br /> _ <br /> _ _ _ <br /> <br />