When the meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM sharp by Mayor Hooker, there was little to resemble a typical city council meeting. Unlike most meetings with usually less than fifteen people in the audience, this meeting had anywhere from 80 to 110 people. There seemed to be more feeling during the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, especially with, "One Nation Under God, with Liberty and Justice for All."

Not ironically, that seemed to be the theme of several of the speakers who took advantage of their public forum time.

Prior to the public forum, there was a presentation by Mr. Ken Nagao about the City Hall 2nd floor Project. It seemed Mr. Nagao realized that many people in the audience were not there to see the city hall project. He politely seemed to expedite his presentation and received a nice round of applause from the large audience. Next, Lane County Sheriff, Sgt. Doug Osborne gave a presentation about retrieving prescription drugs that were no longer being used. He was recommending that these drugs be removed and deposited anonymously at the sheriff's office to prevent misuse by teens. It was a brief presentation which ended with another round of applause from the audience.

Next, there was a presentation by City Attorney, Ken Jones, who outlined what a resolution should say for the "Racist Free Zone". He too received a polite round of applause. Before there was a vote, AJ O'Connell made a motion to amend the resolution to include, physically disadvantaged, sexual orientation, age, etc. This created a rather contentious discussion that ended with the other councilors agreeing with AJ. Unfortunately, a man in the audience screamed, "Atta boy AJ." This caught the audience and mayor by surprise. The mayor warned this man and the audience that disorderly outbursts would not be tolerated and he would clear the room. City Attorney, Ross Williamson then explained the new council rules Resolution 2011-19 that seems to take away from the councilors their right to enter items for the agenda. They would now have to go through Mark Shrives who would take it to the mayor who would bring it to the entire council to see if they wanted that item on the agenda. During this discussion with Ross Williamson, AJ O'Connell asked a question using the word WE, Councilor McCoy asked, "You keep saying we, who is we?" AJ responded, "We the people, the people I represent." The audience applauded and the mayor said,"That's it, Sheriff, clear the room." The audience was in shock, they couldn't believe what they just heard. Most got up and meandered towards the door. Lane County Commissioner Rob Handy who was in the audience waiting to speak, refused to leave the room. He obviously knew this was not the way to run a meeting and it appears he may have convinced Mark Shrives to resend the mayors order to clear the room. Mr. Shrives came to the meeting room exit door where many audience members were still standing in disbelief and announced that the meeting would resume at 8:05.

Evidently, it was ok to applaud the man who designed the over priced, far too large city hall, the Sheriff and City Attorney, but not OK for the audience members to applaud a councilor or the others who spoke at the podium. You would think the audience would be allowed to applaud the speakers as a first amendment right, freedom of expression. A few people caught themselves almost applauding and stopped before the mayor had the chance to clear the room once again. Would you believe this is the same mayor who said, "People should come to meetings and participate." You can participate as long as you agree with this mayor, it seems his slogan is, go along to get along. He actually was able to convince most of his councilors to give up the rights they once had regarding meetings. We will be telling you more about this in coming days.

While Hooker was not mayor when they started that "fund" just who's money does he think it was in the first place? In order for the city to "save" that kind of money, someone was being overcharged for something, guess who. Then he says, "If people would participate they would know what's going on. They should come to meetings."

Now, that does sound like a good idea, to participate, just how does that work these days? Can you call and discuss problems with your elected councilors? Are your councilors allowed to meet with you and discuss concerns? Not under this mayor, here is what he has to say about councilors talking city business with their constituents.

"You are free to have general conversations with myself or anyone on the council, but they will not be conversations discussing the day to day administration of the city. This is not and never has been the purpose of the mayor and council. In the past, some councilors have felt it was appropriate to circumvent the system and attempt to resolve issues without going through the proper process. This will no longer be happening. Day to day issues or concerns should be directed to the city administrator, not the mayor or councilors. Bob Hooker" Mayor

About, "Some councilors have felt it was appropriate to circumvent the system" These were councilors willing to talk with their constituants to understand better their concerns and problems. They were then able to relate their finding to the mayor and rest of the council to expedite solutions. This is no longer allowed in Creswell.

Here, in part, is what Mayor Piercy had to say when asked how she felt with her councilors meeting with individuals and groups.

"Each councilor is different and would have to address this themselves. All of them meet with numerous neighborhood associations on a regular basis to discuss neighborhood issues in their wards. Most also routinely deal with individual issues of concern and help facilitate city responses as appropriate. They are all pretty diligent about this. Some have more time available than others depending on their everyday work schedules. They also get invited to speak in various places and to work on issues with others of special interest to them. Kitty," Mayor of Eugene

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