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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/01/2012 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WOZZK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPR[N GFIELD C7TY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2012 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, October 1, 201 2 at 6.02 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding_ ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors Pishioneri, VanGordon, Wylie. Moore and Woodrow. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Matthew Cox, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff_ Councilor Ralston was absent. (excused). 1- 201 5 -201 8 Statewide Tr- -sportation Improvement Program (STIP) Priorities Updates. Transportation Manager Tom Boyatt presented the staff report on this itexrx_ City and W illamalane staff met to coordinate our respective STIP applications in order to be most competitive for funding. Council was asked to consider and provide direction to City's MPC and Lane ACT representatives on the following priority of projects, with the recommended mutual support agreement below_ City Priorities: I _ Franklin Blvd_ Phase I Construction, $5 - $6 million 2- 42 °a St. Improvements, $ I m 3. Weyerhaeuser Haul Rd. Acquisition, $I million Will ---lane Priority= I _ Mill Races Path, S_ Second to S 32— St_ $2 million Willamalane had a capital bond pending in the Novem bar election which included funding for the Mill Race Path segment described above for STIP funding_ This Mill Race Path segment was critical in connecting people from downtown to south - central Springfield, and eventually to the Middles Fork Path_ It was proiect #4.1 6 and 4.1 7 in the Draft Park and Recreation Comprehensive Plan. Should the bond be successful, then Willamalane proposed to drop the request for STIP funding and Join the City as a co- applicant for the Weyerhaeuser Haul Road request. Should the bond fail, then City staff recommended dropping the Weyerhaeuser 1-Iau1 Road application and instead becoming a co- applicant with Willamalane for the Mill Race Path ST111 request. In this way, both agencies were able to collaborate in support of community priorities. Mr. Boyatt said Councilor Woodrow had inquired about the location oftbe Weyerhaeuser Haul Road. This road started at 48th and Main Street, crossed Bob Straub Parkway south of 57- Street then out to the urban growth boundary (UGB) intersecting near Wallace Creek Road_ It then continued out Further. He could provide a picture of the road_ Councilor Woodrow asked what the trail was to look like when it was done City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 1, 2012 Page 2 Mr. Boyatt said inside the UGB it would be a multi -use path most of the way, with street segments in the Natron area. That segment wasn't envisioned as a high speed arterial. Councilor Woodrow asked if it would cause a lot of ground interference. Mr. Vogeney said it would depend on the number of lanes and sidewalk. They would use the existing road as much as possible. Councilor Woodrow said that segment ran behind her house. She was concerned because of water damage that had occurred from the MountainGate development. Mr. Boyatt said they were just looking at acquisition now. Before they undertook any design, staff would be back before Council several times to discuss the project. Mayor Lundberg asked how the road related to off -road biking or the Ridgeline Trail. Rebecca Gershow, Senior Planner from Willamalane, said the Ridgeline Trail would be a soft surface hiking and mountain biking trail. The Weyerhaeuser Road would be a paved multi -use off - street path. It may intersect at some points, but it was not part of the Ridgeline Trail. Mayor Lundberg said she was looking to make sure it had some recreational purpose for the City. She asked what the priority level of this trail was for the City versus the uses of the Mill Race. Mr. Boyatt said both projects would provide opportunities for recreation, but would also provide a lot of mobility for non - drivers. It was possible the Mill Race Path extension could come out of the bond measure and the Weyerhaeuser Haul Road through the STIP funds. The outcome of the bond would determine the first step. Mayor Lundberg asked if staff was comfortable that these projects fit into the parameters of the STIP funding grants. Mr. Boyatt said the STIP funds weren't available until 2016. Staff was working with Willamalane and Weyerhaeuser regarding acquisition of the Haul Road so that may actually occur before 2016. They were keeping their options open. Mayor Lundberg said she had interest in accommodating mountain biking in an urban setting. She wanted to know where a trail might be that could accommodate that sport. Ms. Gershow said the Thurston Ridgeline Trail was on Willamalane's bond priority list, but not on their schedule. Mill Race was the top path project and seemed to be more competitive for STIP than the Thurston trail. Mayor Lundberg said she didn't want to lose site of the Thurston Ridgeline Trail because she wanted to corner the market outside of Portland for mountain biking as an urban opportunity. She would like to look at ways the City could work with Willamalane for funding for that type of trail. Council was good with the options presented by staff. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 1, 2012 Page 3 2. Ambulance Fund Stabilization. Fire Chief Randall Groves presented the staff report on this item. On May 24, 2012 the Ambulance Transport System Joint Elected Officials Task Force reported to the JEO their findings and recommendations regarding stabilization of the ambulance system in Springfield and Eugene. The Task Force presented the JEO with three options: Do nothing. Jurisdictions would remain responsible for providing and funding ambulance transport within its assigned Ambulance Service Areas (ASA). Privatize. The Cities of Eugene and Springfield currently contract with a private provider for non - emergency transport. Under this contract, the Cities remain responsible for the service provided within the ASA. Under full privatization, the public would not only relinquish quality control, but also the emergency response versatility afforded by the firefighter /paramedics now staffing local ambulances. The goal would be to find the equilibrium point between these two ends of the public /private partnership spectrum. Form Ambulance Transport District. A new limited special - purpose district could be formed in central Lane County, or the region could annex to an existing health district to provide ambulance service. These options require governance by an elected board of directors. Alternatively, a county service district could be established. This type of entity would be governed by the Lane County Board of Commissioners. Forming a district requires an affirmative vote of the electorate within the proposed district. Staff was seeking direction from Council on what option(s) they would like to pursue to stabilize the Ambulance Fund. Chief Groves said they would make it through FY2013 balanced, but were projecting a deficit going into FY2014. Staff would be back before Council during the mid -year budget meeting regarding that deficit once they had refined the numbers. The two councilor representatives from Springfield were Councilors Woodrow and VanGordon. The previous task force had Councilors Ralston and Wylie as representatives. Every recommendation from the first task force was implemented which was part of the reason they were balanced for this current year. The problem had been generated by changes in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Our area had a high percentage of Medicare and Medicaid recipients, and the Fire Department lost money on each of those transports. The Medicare and Medicaid issue affected both public and private ambulance systems. The Fire Department had a good relationship with the Rural Metro contract which had helped with capacity issues and continued to be part of a long -term solution. It took most of a year to get that system in place, but was now one of the tools that could help control some of the issues. He felt the longer term solution was having flexibility and being able to move things around as needed, but only so much of that could be done. Chief Groves said the current task force brought forth three possible options. He explained each option. The third option of an ambulance district was in existence in Western Lane. He discussed the pros and cons of each option. The Task Force also looked at going with a larger Fire District, but stayed with the focus of Ambulance Transport only. They had done about everything they could. Councilor Moore asked who would have the deficit in 2014 — Springfield/Eugene or Springfield alone Chief Groves said Springfield. Eugene would have a deficit, but probably not until FY2015. The City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 1, 2012 . Page 4 configuration of payer mix was slightly different in Eugene. There were fewer resources on the streets per population which he wouldn't recommend going to in Springfield. They would all be in the same deficit scenario within a year of each other. Tonight he was talking specifically about Springfield. He would be talking to Eugene next week. Councilor Pishioneri said Option #1 wasn't really an option as it would be irresponsible. Option #3 for a fire district didn't appeal to him at all, but he didn't really feel Option #2 was great either. He asked if the quality response and emergency response would be guided through the Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Chief Groves said under State statute the responsibility for assigning service areas and setting those standards was with the County. The cities would relinquish control of that piece. The reason they had control over Rural Metro was because they operated under the auspices of our ambulance service. Rural Metro answered to the Fire Departments and met our standards set by our medical director. Councilor Pishioneri said it was an assumption. Yes. The City had the fiduciary responsibility to look at all options and go forward with finding ways to provide service to our citizens and save money. Councilor Wylie said Springfield had more low- income people than many cities around the State. Lane County was the highest area in the State of low- income citizens. She suggested working with our legislative body to get some increased State support for areas that had a greater number of food stamp recipients and see if we could get some kind of additional health plan money for our area. A bill would need to be drafted and supported by legislature. She was not totally opposed at looking at privatization, but regardless they would need more funds to provide the service. She asked if a Fire District was beina considered. Chief Groves said discussion had been held about a Fire District, but the Ambulance Task Force stayed away from that as their goal was the ambulance piece. Councilor Wylie said when she was on the committee there was some interest and they did talk about a Fire District. She felt that the details of the merger needed to be accomplished first. If they looked at a Fire District, she didn't want a separate Ambulance District. A Fire District could help them identify a stream of funds that would be stable. She wasn't done looking for State and Federal funds for our need. We were getting hit harder than others in Oregon due to our low- income population. Chief Groves said they had continued to lobby at the State and Federal level through associations, United Front and legislators. He had written numerous letters on behalf of both cities trying to address the reimbursement levels. There was a comparison done in the Register Guard that looked at the percentage of Medicare and Medicaid patients in our area compared to Corvallis and Bend and we were significantly higher. The department would serve that population regardless of funding, but it was a larger percentage of that population that used the ambulance service as a defacto medical clinic. That was also a drain on both hospitals and emergency facilities. Councilor Woodrow said a Fire District did come up in their meeting, but the ambulance was so much more of a high priority that needed addressed immediately. She liked the idea of pursuing State and Federal funds, but she would like stability in those funds. She asked about Chief Groves' remark about versatility. She asked him how he would characterize that flexibility. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 1, 2012 Page 5 Chief Groves said both cities had evolved and developed their response systems based on the ambulance being part of the service. That was why there were firefighters /paramedics on those units. They would lose that with privatization. Both cities had done that, although Springfield was more reliant on firefighter /paramedics on the ambulance than Eugene due to the ratio of firefighter /paramedics to firefighters on the suppression equipment. They could figure out a way to pull that together, but there was not a good solution after looking at this problem. The Federal Government didn't have good answers either. One of the reasons the reimbursements from the Federal Government had been cut by so much was because the problem was overwhelming at the Federal level as well. Councilor Pishioneri said he was frustrated with the system in place. It seemed statewide there was a patchwork about how this was done. It seemed that statewide there were combinations of systems that worked better than others, but there hadn't been any significant change in how we did business here in a number of years. The merger was significant, but we had still not changed the way we did business and the cost was the same no matter how many ambulance runs were made. He was at a loss of how to find savings other than personnel cost and cost cutting. The costs could be adjusted down through some privatization because their costs were less than the City's. He didn't want to go too far in one direction because we got what we paid for and serving the citizens was most important. Chief Groves said they had tried some different things such as bringing in a private provider despite some pushback. Both firefighters unions would like to see the department increase how they were using Rural Metro now, but they had to be careful not to sink the system further. As call volumes increased, Rural Metro or another private provider would be needed. A tiered system that matched the resource level made sense and would mean more control for the department over the 9 -1 -1 call center and how calls were moved around. Former Fire Chief Dennis Murphy, working through the City of Springfield, had applied for a Bloomberg Grant for Mobile Health Care. Although the cities had no funds to provide for this initiative, he applauded his efforts as Mobile Health Care was the ultimate tiered health system and would get at some of the calls they were currently receiving from people that didn't know where else to turn and weren't seeking preventative care. One of the biggest problems faced statewide were people not seeking preventative care. Councilor VanGordon said one of the first questions on the Ambulance Task Force was the cost per transport. It was important to recognize that would remain relatively flat. They had done a great job of controlling costs and he wanted to recognize the effort by staff. He was not sure that all the jurisdictions agreed on a Fire District and that's why it was pushed aside. There were some politically hard choices between privatization and going to an Ambulance District. From here, he felt the best strategy should be some check -in points. He would also suggest the task force meet again for an update sometime during the first quarter of next year to talk about Mobile Health Care and other new initiatives. There were many moving pieces out there and he would like to hear more about them before making a decision. Chief Murphy had a great idea and with support from the Council and community, that could have a big impact. He asked about Eugene using Rural Metro for some scene work and asked if that was happening in Springfield. Chief Groves said Eugene just started that about 3 -4 months ago, but that would be one of the future steps for Springfield. Currently, Springfield was able to handle the call load. The most recent change on the Springfield side was to ask Metro Rural to take some return transports from a hospital back to a care facility. They were able to modify the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Rural Metro to increase those return calls. On the Eugene side it was making a difference. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 1, 2012 Page 6 Councilor VanGordon said there was an opportunity to determine how we serviced the lower priority calls through Rural Metro. Chief Groves said that was correct. One of the pieces in Chief Murphy's proposal was for reimbursement rates from Medicare to increase in the test area because of funds saved on the other end. Right now, some people were being transported because there was nothing else that could be done with them. This program got at that issue. Chief Murphy had been looking for funding for that project, but it had been difficult in these economic times. Councilor VanGordon said waiting was the best idea. There were other ideas from the fire merger that would also provide savings. There were so many things out there he felt they needed to wait to see what potential other ideas were out there to try. It was important to do something, but he felt their effort would be better served a little later. He would like to watch the grant funding to see the actual size of the funding gap. Councilor Wylie asked if they had statistics regarding Medicare and Medicaid patients, insured people with FireMed, insured people without FireMed and the uninsured. She asked if they had a larger number of all- insured. Chief Groves said about 17 -19% of the patients were fully paying for the service. To fully fund the service it would cost about $600 to transport if everyone could pay. They now charged $1600 because the majority were not able to pay the full amount. Councilor Wylie asked about the National Health Plan and if it would help. Chief Groves said little attention had been given to the ambulance industry. A lot of attention had been with primary care physicians and some with hospitals. Emergency Rooms and Ambulance were not seeing any results. Councilor Wylie said there was a broad population that didn't have insurance, which caused lot of misuse of the Emergency Room and Ambulance. If they could solve those problems, it could help the situation. Chief Groves said it was the inappropriate use along with the fear of litigation. Councilor Moore said she spoke with the Senior Forum and was told that Springfield did have a private ambulance system at one time that went bankrupt. They asked her what private company would take up ambulance service when it was so expensive to provide. She also called and talked with Western Lane County Florence Fire District and Ambulance District. if we were to spread a taxing district over a broader base it could take in all of Lane County. During the League of Oregon Cities (LOC) conference, it was mentioned that agencies would need to look at mergers and consolidations as a means of saving money. She was not comfortable looking at which direction to move at this time, but was interested to hear what was happening in other cities. She wasn't sure how much research was done on the Task Force, but she would like to get as much information as possible. Chief Groves said they had looked into it extensively locally and through national organizations. Generally, those that were doing the best were those with the most support. He referred to the ambulance service that had gone out of business in the past. The City department had about 8 -10 hours notice when they closed. The department had to borrow ambulances on loan and took over the service City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 1, 2012 Page 7 on the fly. That was in 1981. As that private company had started to run into more financial challenges, their service degraded. When the departments took it over they sought to make it the best service possible. In 1985, the department was recognized nationally for service and they had worked hard to continue that high level of service. That success may have hurt them financially because they had always put the welfare of the patient as the highest priority, which did have a cost associated. They could afford to do that in the early days because of the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that covered the cost. Councilor VanGordon asked about the amount of the grant applied for by Chief Murphy. He would like to see the bullet points on his proposal. Mr. Towery said the grand prize was $5M and there were four $1M prizes as well. Three hundred and five cities had submitted applications. The grantor was New York Mayor Bloomberg from his private funds. The Chief was asking for the grand prize of $5M. Mayor Lundberg said there was so much that the Council was not clear about so no specific direction would be provided tonight. There was some interest in privatization and interest in looking at smaller districts and there was the grant opportunity. The answer was more complex than the three options. Chief Groves said he was hoping for clear direction, but understood where they were and would continue to look for more options and continue on the course. More would be presented during the mid -year budget presentation and during the FY2014 budget process. He would be meeting with the City's budget team to sort out some things and would see what direction he received from the Eugene City Council and would report back on that. He felt it was important to keep that level of connectivity between the two cities and he hoped they could find a common solution. There may be more solutions regarding deployment, but they still had a big problem. Mayor Lundberg said we were looking at the merger and other pieces that seemed to be on a dual course. Putting the fire merger priority out there first was important so they could see where that would lead them. Council needed more information about privatization, ambulance special districts and compression. Chief Groves said the Ambulance Task Force (ATF) had received all of that information. He said all ambulance services were interested in looking for a county -wide solution. Western Lane had a taxing district they would like to roll into a larger system for more standardized local service. Mayor Lundberg said they could keep the options presented, but with more information to base their decisions. Chief Groves said ATF as a group, even with all of the information, still struggled with a decision. That was why they chose to present options rather than a recommendation. Councilor Pishioneri asked if there was a solution of going through the LOC or other statewide organizations to look at a consortium for a bigger scale response. Chief Groves said the Oregon Ambulance Association was very active. but he had not pursued LOC. The Oregon Ambulance Association and American Ambulance Association were consortiums of private and public working together to try to come up with solutions with some small effect. He would City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 1, 2012 Page 8 continue to look at those organizations. The problem was that this was one of many problems throughout the state and country and was often overlooked. Mayor Lundberg said they appreciated all of the hard work by staff and the ATF. They wanted to find the best solution as soon as possible. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Minutes Recorder — Amy Sowa Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest: amt Sc-u1-- Amy Sow City Recorder