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Eugene council directs staff to prepare charter language updates to remove antiquated gendered terms
Summary
Council voted 8-0 to ask staff to draft a resolution and schedule a work session to update antiquated language in the City Charter, primarily to address gendered pronouns; councilors said broader items such as defining "core services" require more public engagement.
The Eugene City Council voted 8-0 on Sept. 24 to direct the city manager to draft a resolution and schedule a work session to address antiquated language in the City Charter, with councilors citing gendered pronouns as a primary target for cleanup.
Jason Dedrick presented staff research showing that two of the comparison cities had amended their charters to address pronouns and that no city in the sample had defined "core services" in its charter. Several councilors said basic language updates to remove gender-specific pronouns or archaic phrasing are appropriate to include if other charter amendments go to the ballot, while more substantive changes — such as adding a charter definition of the city's core services or changing the overall level of detail in the charter — would require broader deliberation and public review.
Councilors Kaczynski and Leach said they supported limited language cleanup but opposed moving forward with larger structural changes without community engagement. City Manager Madari also noted staff had observed language in some charters that carried race- or gender-related implications and said a targeted cleanup could be relatively straightforward.
Council President Evans moved the instruction to staff; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously, 8-0. Staff will return with draft language and a work-session schedule so council can deliberate whether to refer amendments to voters or pursue other avenues.
