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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/11/2013 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, February 11, 2013 at 5:36 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Wylie, Moore, Ralston, Woodrow and Brew. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Matt Cox, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. 1. Joint Meeting with the Police Planning Task Force. Police Planning Task Force (PPTF) Chair Pat Mahoney introduced the rest of the PPTF committee members in attendance: Diana Alldredge (Vice- Chair); Fred Simmons; Jack Martin; Quentin Hogan; Mechelle Clough; Christine Stole; and Wendy Polen. Ms. Mahoney thanked the Mayor and Council for meeting with the PPTF. The PPTF was originally established in 1994 and charged with developing a long range strategic plan for police services. Two years ago the PPTF presented the third update to that plan and they continued to make progress. The operating levy had increased the number of police officers; call takers, dispatchers and Community Service Officers available to the public, as well as the Jail operations. Property crime rate were considerably lower making our community safer due to the jail. Ms. Alldredge noted that last November Springfield citizens again passed an operating levy providing funds for almost a third of the Police Department staffing, including the Jail. During the three years the Jail had operated, the crime rate had declined and the operating budget remained basically what was estimated during planning. Previous discussions included ways to measure successful jail operations. Bail postings and fine collections were up and bed rentals were adequate, but not as robust as anticipated. The daily housing fee was not always imposed by the Judges and the PPTF members would like to encourage the Judges to impose fees even at reduced rates which would help the financial viability of the Jail. The Springfield Jail was the envy of many who were frustrated with the difficulty with funding and the ability to keep people incarcerated long enough to make an impact on future behavior. The impression from the community and Springfield residents was that our homes and streets were safer and they were thankful for City leadership. Ms. Clough said the department conducted a citizen survey each year to measure community attitudes in terms of safety. Past surveys had reported that over 90 % of residents were satisfied with the services provided by the Police Department and that the department's speed of response numbers were improving. The survey also indicated that the impact of the Jail had been significant and that people felt safer. the overall quality of life had been improving, and that offenders were being held accountable. This year's survey was currently underway and the results would help shape their work in the coming year. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes February 11,.2013 Neel Mr. Martin said as well as serving on the PPTF, he also volunteered as a fleet maintenance volunteer several times a week. There were about 8 volunteers who washed the cars and made sure they were restocked with supplies several times a week. This service helped save the patrol officers a lot of time. The new Chevy Caprice patrol cars were now in service. The PPTF had a voice in helping decide which vehicle would replace the older Crown Victoria's when Ford announced they were going out of the fleet business. Last year, the PPTF saw a presentation on the different options and had a good discussion about what the department should consider in a new vehicle. The transition was going very well and the department had just ordered the next round of Chevy's. He was one of the people that drove the vehicles down from the dealership and said they drove nicely. Ms. Stole spoke about reducing dependency on the Public Safety Levy. The department had been very fortunate to have the support of the City Council and the voters as they had successfully passed each successive operating levy. The department relied on the levy more and more as the General Fund continued to struggle through the rough economy. The PPTF was pleased to learn that the Council had set a new goal to reduce future dependency on an operating levy. The PPTF would like to work with the Council to identify strategies and opportunities to do this, and while they didn't believe they could eliminate the need for the levy entirely, over the next five years they hoped to make some progress. They would like to talk about ideas the Council had and ways they could help to set goals and action plans that might move the department away from needing to pass a ballot measure every four or five years. They knew that someday the economy would change, hopefully for the better, and someday the public would like to put their dollars for other priorities. They would like to be ready to continue to meet the public safety needs of the community well into the future. Chief Smith said he was very grateful to the citizens that sat on the PPTF and the work they did for the department. The department brought complaints that were lodged against members of the department or the operations of the department to the PPTF. The PPTF had been very helpful in policy review to insure it made sense. The survey was very helpful to the department and they had been surprised by the number of people who said they had contact with the Police Department. The long range planning was helpful as a tool to guide the department into the future. He was also grateful for the work the PPTF had done on the levy. Mayor Lundberg noted that the City budget process would be starting up soon so now was a good time to start looking at alternatives for moving the Police Department off of the levy. Councilor Moore asked staff to provide clarification on that goal for the Council. Mr. Grimaldi said Council had decided to discuss it in more detail during the budget process. Councilor Brew said there was a bill in the legislature that proposed removing the cap on local option levies. He noted that similar legislation had been presented for many years and cautioned against relying on that change. He would like Council to make their plans regardless of what the legislature did in that regard. He asked about the bed rentals and why the City of Eugene and Lane County didn't take more advantage of leasing beds from the Springfield .fail. Chief Smith said Lane County would first use their own facility. It was most likely an issue of funds for the City of Eugene. Eugene did have 15 beds available in Springfield that they could rent. Mr. Harman said Eugene was averaging about 10 bed rentals City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes February 11, 2013 Page 3 Chief Smith said when the Eugene Police Department arrested someone, they took them to Lane County Jail. Springfield was renting beds to other police agencies such as Oakridge and Junction City, but those were sporadic and only as needed. Councilor Brew asked if they bad ideas in how to increase use. If they continued to look at this business model, they needed to dial back their expectations on future bed rental income. Mr. Simmons said the Council had approved a daily use fee, but the Justice Committee had not evoked any pressure on the Judges to implement that in a way that would help trim that operational burden. It was true they wouldn't be able to collect the full $60 /day fee from everyone, but some cities were collecting a percentage of the fee which added up to a substantial amount. If someone owed the City of Springfield money, they would have to pay at some point. He felt the Justice Committee needed to look at this and encourage the Judges to implement some of the fee. There was inhibition on phone charges because of the new FCC bill. To make the levy go away, they had to find ways to make up the shortfall. He felt that if the Judges imposed that fee, they would collect a fair amount of funds and it would discourage those people that had money from doing crimes in the City of Springfield. Mayor Lundberg asked Chief Smith to address the use fee and what was being imposed. Chief Smith said occasionally the daily fee was imposed. By statute, the Court needed to consider financial ability to pay of the defendant and the fee could not be imposed until sentencing. At the time the Judge rendered the sentence, they could also impose the fee based on the ability to pay. Chief Smith had talked with Judge Strickland about this and pointed out that those defendants that were able to pay for drugs, had money to pay part of their fee. Mayor Lundberg said perhaps the Finance /Judiciary Committee meeting should meet to discuss this topic. Mr. Harman said the daily fee was bringing in about $7000 -$8000 per year, rather than the $25,000 that was projected. Councilor Wylie asked if the PPTF had brainstormed ideas to raise funds to replace the levy. She had thought of several ideas including asking the City Attorney to look into what was required to pass a local beer /wine tax. Other thoughts included gun permit fees, ammunition fees, and entertainment taxes for places that served alcohol. Councilor Ralston felt there was no direct correlation between gun fees and crimes being committed. He felt their needed to be a correlation between the fee and the service. Councilor Wylie said most crimes were committed while people were on alcohol or had guns. Funds needed to be raised. The department had good support from the public and she didn't want to alienate the citizens, but they had to start somewhere. Ms. Stole said a Springfield police officer won an award for the most DUI arrests. She asked if the funds from those arrests came to the City. Chief Smith said the Court prescribed where the fees went. There were surcharges for the State, County and City. He noted that the jail housing fee was at the bottom of the list so when people paid their fines, it went to the other fees first. The funds that did come in to the City went to the General City of Sprin .gfield Council Work Session Minutes February 11. 2013 Page 4 Fund, not to the Police Department. Part of the funding model was to look at the difference between what was brought in prior to the Jail opening and now. That money was funded by the General Fund each year. The levy was not just a jail levy as more than half of those funds went to police services directly. The levies started in 2002 and if the department lost those levies, we would be back to less than 1980 staffing. The levy was very important for the success of City. Mayor Lundberg said the beer and wine tax was fairly small and a local tax would likely be opposed by the Restaurant Association and others, There could be some momentum if some funds were earmarked from the State tax to address issues such as mental health and addiction. She thought she had heard there was another look at doing that during the current legislative session. It would be beneficial if the Council collectively showed support for something like that even though it was not tied directly to the Jail. Those things did affect officers and the need for jail space. She would like to collectively be kept aware of that topic in the legislature and possibly testify in Salem. Oregon was low in terms of the beer and wine tax. Councilor Wylie said she had lobbied for a beer and wine tax unsuccessfully in the past, but felt the time had come. There was a representative that wanted to put forward a mental health bill with the beer and wine tax. The State knew how much the local communities were suffering, especially with the Rural Schools Act not being fruitful. If local communities could impose a wine and beer tax, it would be hard for the lobbyists to impact each community that was putting something on the ballot. The State wouldn't give up their right to tax. The time could be now because of our low rate of tax on beer and wine. Councilor Moore said she was thinking about a safety taxing district. The City served people outside the City in the UGB, even ifjust by patrolling. She asked if there was a possibility for Springfield and other cities to join with the County in putting a safety measure on the ballot and sharing the revenue. Springfield did benefit from the public safety provided by the County. Ms. Stole said Washington had done away with State Liquor Stores. She asked how they were handling the tax there. Mr. Grimaldi said they were still collecting the tax. The unintended consequence was that the cost of liquor was higher than prior to changing to privatization so many people were coming to Oregon to purchase liquor. Councilor Brew said he didn't know if Lane County's levy would pass. He had been a proponent in favor of a fire district, but not for Police. It would be interesting to explore the idea of a jail district and providing jail services to local police departments at no cost. Because it would be spread over a large, yet less populated area, the costs could be lower. Mayor Lundberg said rural communities had no coverage at all, so like our fire department, people could pay extra to have our patrol respond. They could have agreements with water districts and could charge for the patrols. There seemed to be some support from the rural communities for the County levy as long as it was only for the jail. If that measure passed, Lane County could have more capacity and Springfield could offer patrol services. In an emergency, Springfield responded anyway because no one else would. Councilor Brew said there was a bill before the legislature that would enable water districts to contract for police or fire services. He wasn't sure if that was limited to contracting with counties only. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes February_ 11. 2013 Paee 5 Chief Smith said the department had considered the idea of selling police services in the UGB. They currently contracted with Willamalane for services in their parks outside the UGB. Councilor Simmons reminded them of compression with special taxing districts. He noted the consequences of reaching compression and reminded them to be careful when looking at districts. Mr. Grimaldi said there was a possible connection between the creation of a fire district and retiring the Police levy. If a fire district was formed, the fire levy would go away and there would be money left over in the General Fund that could be applied to the Police levy. It would mean higher taxes for the citizens and may not eliminate everything. Mayor Lundberg said this had been a very productive conversation with a lot of good ideas shared. The Council appreciated the hard work of the PPTF members and understood it was a big commitment. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:14 p.m. Minutes Recorder — Amy Sowa Christine L. Lundber Mayor Attest: G9YI Amy So City Recorder