City Council finds way to compromise on auditor oversight.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 8/22/2006): In a story on Page D1 in Saturday's newspaper, City Councilor Bonny Bettman questioned putting "the public through the ordeal and expense of an election" to clarify the authority of Eugene's first police auditor. The quote attributed to Bettman left out the word "ordeal."

Headed for a fight over Eugene's first police auditor, the City Council last week did something unusual.

After a flurry of behind-the-scenes negotiations, it reached a compromise.

Councilors passed a resolution clarifying that the yet-to-be hired auditor has complete authority to hire, fire and supervise her own two-or-three person staff.

The resolution required a long weekend to hammer out and an intervention by two council confidants. It avoided a bitter debate between councilors who agreed with City Manager Dennis Taylor that he had ultimate authority over the auditor's employees, and councilors who thought last year's city charter change by voters took the city manager out of the picture.

"We were heading down the path to auditor wars," Mayor Kitty Piercy said.

But with help from Eugene attorney Art Johnson and Jack Roberts, director of the Lane Metro Partnership, the two sides ironed out their differences, changed words and eliminated phrases from competing proposals until most councilors were comfortable.

"It's been shown that Eugeneans can meet, negotiate, compromise and solve their problems," Johnson said.

The resolution passed 7-1, just before the council extended a job offer to its top police auditor candidate.

Piercy and councilors wanted to resolve the issue by Monday so the "auditor would get started on solid ground," Councilor David Kelly said.

But it almost didn't happen.

Voters last fall approved a charter amendment giving the council the authority to hire a police auditor and appoint a civilian review board. The auditor and review board will monitor complaint investigations against police officers. But the amendment didn't say who should hire the auditor's staff.

Taylor, relying on the opinions of city attorneys, in May signed an administrative order delegating the staff hiring, firing and supervising authority to the auditor.

But Taylor reserved the right to intervene if the auditor ran afoul of city policies.

That arrangement upset police auditor proponents.

Councilor Bonny Bettman, for example, said Taylor's approach would thwart the will of voters who thought they were creating an auditor's office completely independent of the city manager.

The city manager oversees the police department.

Bettman agreed with an opinion from Johnson, a private attorney, who said the charter amendment gave the council the authority over the auditor's staff.

Seeking to resolve the dispute, Piercy last Friday proposed that the council put a measure on the Nov. 7 election ballot to clarify that the auditor had the authority over the staff.

But that met resistance from Bettman. In an e-mail to Piercy, she questioned the need to "put the public through the expense of an election" when the council could pass a resolution clarifying that the auditor controlled the staff.

Councilors who backed the city manager's position didn't like the election idea, either.

Rushing a measure on the ballot at the last minute "would have muddied up the issue even more," Councilor George Poling said. "I just thought it was unnecessary."

Poling didn't like an early Bettman proposal because it would have taken precedence over Taylor's administrative order.

He also objected to a paragraph that said the authority to hire, fire and supervise the auditor's employees should reside with the City Council, not the city manager.

Proposals flew back and forth until Monday afternoon, right up to the beginning of the council meeting at 5:30 p.m. Later that night, councilors were to offer the auditor's job to Cristina Beamud, legal adviser to the Cambridge, Mass., police department.

Kelly helped write the resolution that ultimately was approved, moments before the council extended the job offer to Beamud.

Shorter than Bettman's proposal, the resolution says the auditor "shall have the exclusive authority to hire, supervise and to make all other employment decisions regarding the auditor's support staff."

"This is a classic example of people sharing a common goal and taking the time to find a middle path that could get everyone to the goal," Kelly said.

Councilor Gary Pape, who was in Portland and participated in the meeting by teleconference call, cast the only vote against the resolution. Pape, who had not taken part in the negotiations, said he probably would have voted the same way even if he had participated in the give and take.

He said he was still "disgusted" over a meeting in June that Bettman, Kelly, Piercy and other auditor proponents had with Johnson to discuss his legal opinion.

"I don't think it is the way to conduct the public's business," Pape said.

"I'm fine with what the city manager presented to us. I think it gives us all the latitude under our charter to get the job done."