The Eugene City Council passed a motion directing the city manager to implement a revised Community Safety Initiative engagement process during its virtual work session Monday that took place over Zoom. 

The city council passed the engagement plan by a 7-1 vote, with only Councilor Betty Taylor voting in opposition.

The city council passed the Community Safety Payroll Tax Ordinance in June 2019 “to provide long-term funding for community safety services,” according to the city’s website. Some of the funding will go to the initiative passed on Monday night.

The city council passed two motions on July 20, 2020, seeking input from communities of color about community safety funding and police policies. Those motions include forming a police policy ad hoc committee and convening CSI workshops. The council discussed the initial workshop plan in September and met Monday to vote on the updated process and timeline.

Eugene Community Development Director Michael Kinnison listed the goals of the Community Safety Initiative during the Oct. 19 session:

• Ensure Black and Indigenous People of Color organizations and leaders understand the process and purpose of the CSI

• Provide a forum for BIPOC organizations and leaders to share priorities and needs for community safety and provide feedback on CSI

• Provide actionable information to the city council that can inform decisions on community safety that meets the entire community’s needs

In accordance with previous council feedback, Kinnison said, the process will now use smaller focus groups to engage BIPOC participants, follow a longer timeline to prioritize thoughtful engagement and provide multiple ways for community engagement. The CSI will focus on BIPOC communities, Kinnison said, but will still check in with the community at large.

Kinnison provided a list of community organizations to invite to join focus groups and attend webinars, including organizations like Black Unity, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and League of United Latin American Citizens. The list includes some religious and education-related organizations, and some that are not representative of the BIPOC community, Kinnison said. 

“We feel like, historically, their allyship with BIPOC community issues that impact them, as well as the BIPOC community, that it makes sense —  there’s a real strong nexus there,” Kinnison said. “So that’s why you will see some of them on the list.”

The CSI will include informational webinars to provide a baseline of understanding about the initiative, responses to questions from the webinar and small BIPOC focus groups of up to 10 people. Kinnison said City Manager Sarah Medary will also convene workshops open to the general public, as well as host a digital survey for BIPOC participants and others.

Kinnison said the content in the survey is undecided, and his team wants to wait for initial feedback from the BIPOC community after the webinars to inform the questions they’ll include.

Planning will occur in October, according to Kinnison’s presentation, with BIPOC engagement occurring in November and December. General public engagement will occur in January and February. Although the timeline takes place over four months, he said, CSI engagement with BIPOC specifically will just occur through the end of the year.

Several councilors expressed concerns about the accuracy of survey results, given that it will be posted online. Councilors also discussed the range of the survey, and Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis proposed including those who live and work in Eugene because the CSI is funded by payroll taxes.