“Otherwise you’re wasting your time.”
But at the council meeting, city attorney
Sharon Rudnick told elected officials, “the
council can’t legally exempt the auditor or
the board from the application of the col-
lective bargaining agreement. It’s illegal.”
That collective bargaining agreement,
previously arrived at without council di-
rection or approval, requires that the “per-
sonnel files of all employees shall be con-
sidered confidential in accordance with
Oregon’s Public Records law.” The city
has construed that phrase to mean it must
refuse to release almost all police discipli-
nary records. But it’s unclear how the city
arrived at its blanket assertions of secrecy
based on the contract and the law.
The Oregon Public Records law does
not require that the city keep any of the
records secret. It does not allow secrecy for
records pertaining to complaints where no
discipline was imposed. Where discipline
was imposed, the records may be withheld,
but only if the public interest in secrecy
outweighs the public interest in disclosure,
according to the law.
It remains unclear whether the inde-
pendent auditor is bound by the manager,
union and city attorney’s restrictive inter-
pretation of the union contract and state
records law or may follow an outside opin-
ion.
That’s what the council ended up doing
with the question of who controls the sup-
posedly independent auditor’s staff.
Earlier, City Manager Dennis Taylor and
his city attorney had claimed that the city
manager had legal authority over the inde-
pendent auditor’s staff despite the charter
amendment to create the independent
oversight function. But police oversight
supporters offered a more independent
legal interpretation, and the 5-4 progres-
sive council majority pushed to make po-
lice oversight independent.
The issue came up for a third discussion
Dec. 13. But Councilor George Poling, a
former sheriff’s deputy, withdrew a motion
to give the manager power over the audi-
tor. “I see the votes aren’t there,” he said.
The whole power struggle has left
councilors scratching their heads about
Eugene’s power structure. On the auditor
staff issue, the attorney appeared to repre-
sent the interests of the manager against
the council’s. Does the city attorney work
for the unelected manager or for the
elected council? The council voted to
schedule that “Who’s the client?” question
for a work session on Jan. 31.
— Alan Pittman
PECULIAR
GIFTING
Former Mayor Brian Obie was back at
City Club’s “Holiday Gifts” program Dec.
22 for an unusual second year in a row; but
this year, instead of offering bags of coal to
progressives in city government, the con-
tentious Obie dedicated his sooty gifts to
Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld for
their performance in the Iraq War. Obie did
manage to get in one dig at the council with
coal for Councilor Bonny Bettman for her
confrontation with former Assistant City
Manager Jim Carlson.
Every December, City Club hosts its
traditional program inviting community
members to respond to the question “If you
could give any gift to the community, what
would it be and why would you give it?”
Presenters this year in addition to Obie
were Suzanne Arlie, founder of Arlie &
Co.; Amelia Abel of Sheldon High
School’s life skills program; Dan
Williams, VP for administration at the UO;
Jenny Ulum, founder and CEO of The
Ulum Group; Dave Hauser, executive di-
rector of the Eugene Area Chamber of
Commerce; Caitriona Bolster of KWAX
radio; Mari Dole of Lane Independent
Living Alliance’s reading for the blind pro-
gram on the Internet; Jerry Diethelm, ar-
chitect; Alan Pittman, reporter for EW;
Diane Dietz, reporter for the R-G; George
Russell, 4J superintendent; Alan Zelenka
and Mike Clark, incoming city councilors;
and Rabbi Jonathan Seidel of the Or
HaGan Jewish Community.
Suzanne Arlie’s gift to the community
was sharing the vision and “super powers”
of her husband, John Musumeci, whom
she described as a champion for “truth, jus-
tice and expansion of the urban growth
boundary.”
Amelia Abel’s gift was for “all people
to look at people who are different and see
how they are left out.” She said as a person
with Down Syndrome, she is “tired of liv-
ing on the outside” of society.
Alan Pittman held forth a vision of a
trolley car returning to Eugene, a commu-
nity swimming pool and parklands along
the river.
Diane Dietz’s gift was “radical accept-
ance” of everything and everyone in
Eugene as part of what makes our town
unique.
George Russell’s gift was a pair of bifo-
cals to allow us to “see the details of what
Eugene is all about, and also see into the
distance for what Eugene can become.”
Jerry Diethelm liked the trolley idea
and noted that the “ST” in Willamette St.
should stand for Sustainable Trolley, one
that runs on “donated trans fat.” “Praise the
lard,” he said.
Other gifts included more civility and
humor in city government, bringing arts to
neighborhoods and jails, the joys of volun-
teering, a Nordstrom store, a downtown
carousel, a new slogan to replace “The
World’s Greatest City for the Arts and
Outdoors,” and “massive doses of Valium
in the water supply.”— Ted Taylor
NEIGHBORS
DEFEND
AMAZON
A public hearing about Green Valley
Glen dragged on for more than six hours
Dec. 13, revealing a deep schism between
the developer and neighborhood activists
who want to see the forested parcel pro-
tected. The meeting concerned a proposed
housing development on 40 acres in the
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DECEMBER 21, 2006 9