Board Members Present: Dorothy Anderson, Peter Bartel, Susie Smith, Patrick Lanning, and Sandra Bishop.

Others present: Randy Berggren, JoAnn Andersen, Tom Buckhouse, Marty Douglass, Dick Helgeson, Jean Meyers, Jim Origliosso, Lance Robertson, Jim Wiley, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; Joe Sams, City of Eugene Minutes Recorder; and Scott Maben, Register-Guard.

GENERAL MANAGER'S GOAL DEVELOPMENT

General Manager Randy Berggren noted that he had received comments on goals from Vice President Bartel and Commissioner Smith. He said the next Board meeting's agenda had some time dedicated to continue the discussion. He expressed a desire to see the goals set by the end of January. He called for a discussion of the comments that had been submitted so far.

In response to a comment from President Anderson regarding specificity of the initial goals drafted by him, Mr. Berggren said the first draft was just a starting point to work from. He said the level of specificity was a Board decision.

Commissioner Smith said Mr. Berggren had indicated appropriate goals but noted that indicators of how the goals were achieved still needed to be established. She stressed that the Board needed to take certain actions in order for Mr. Berggren to succeed in his goals and needed to be held accountable for that. She opined that most if not all of Mr. Berggren's goals were measurable.

After a brief period of reviewing the comments of Vice President Bartel and Commissioner Smith, President Anderson called for roundtable comments on their ideas.

Commissioner Smith expressed favor for Vice President Bartel's comments regarding establishing a community presence.

President Anderson was in favor of establishing roles for both the Board and the General Manager.

Vice President Bartel commented that the General Manager was only as good as the organization. He said that Mr. Berggren could be judged on organizational measures taken to correct a problem or on his initiative to handle a problem on an individual level.

Mr. Berggren cited the dynamic nature of events in the past year and stressed that unforeseen events needed to be considered as well. He remarked that he could be rated on whether events could have been handled more proactively.

Commissioner Bishop said that the goals should be short and succinct.

In response to a question from President Anderson regarding a goal centered around building bench strength, Commissioner Smith said the item was very important but it was in a different class than the overarching goals around maintaining the utility. She stressed that the item was still very important but needed to be handled separately.

Commissioner Bishop raised concern over Commissioner Smith's proposed Goal 3. She said it was an ongoing work process but was not on the level of importance of a stated goal.

Commissioner Lanning said he had anticipated a discussion over process before getting to specifics. He reiterated Vice President Bartel's statement that accountability for the General Manager was for the utility its self. He stressed that the General Manager was more familiar than the Board with day-to-day operations of the utility. He expressed concern with the General Manager spending time monitoring things that the Board had listed as goals. He said the Board should be more concerned with process than with monitoring the day-to-day operations of the utility. He disagreed with Commissioner Bishop and stated that Commissioner Smith's Goal No. 3 was something that needed to kept.

Vice President Bartel commented that more importance should be placed on building a community presence for the utility.

Regarding goals for the General Manager, Vice President Bartel acknowledged the possibility of dynamic situations but noted that progress toward the year's established goals was a criterion that could be used to evaluate the General Manager.

Commissioner Lanning stressed the need for more of a strategic dialogue with the General Manager but not get to the point where the Board was defining the work of that position.

Vice President Bartel reiterated the importance of a goal centered on community presence. He said such a goal would be based on:

1. Building/Strengthening relationships with the City of Eugene

Vice President Bartel stressed the importance of overlooking problems and really work on strengthening the relationship between the utility and the City.

2. Maintaining maximum communication with the utility's customers.

There was general discussion over the process used to set goals. Vice President Bartel suggested finding out what items the General Manager thought were the most important items to monitor.

Mr. Berggren commented that the suggested Board goals were more in line with what he called "desired outcomes." He noted that his Goal No. 1 and 2 were almost identical to Commissioner Smith's intent. He stressed the importance of creating a strategy that could be tracked and reported on so the Board could be kept up to date on his progress.

Mr. Berggren said that Commissioner Smith's suggested Goal No. 4 was very close to his thinking on the matter.

Regarding bench strength, Mr. Berggren said he was most worried about that matter in the context of a limited training budget and the need for cross training of employees. He suggested that bench strength should be a strategy listed under Goal No 1.

Commissioner Smith expressed a desire to see a discussion around prioritizing goals for the upcoming year. She suggested that Board members list their top priorities for the year at the same time as defining goals.

Commissioner Bishop stressed the importance of not trying to get to specific on the first draft of the goals. She noted that the goals could be refined as time passed.

The work session adjourned at 7:25 p.m.

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Assistant Secretary President