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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/04/2013 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2013 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, March 4, 2013 at 5:58 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mavor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Moore, Ralston, Woodrow and Brew. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilor Wylie was absent (excused). 1. 2014 -2018 Capital Improvement Program, A Community Reinvestment Plan. Supervising Civil Engineer Jeff Paschall presented the staff report on this item. The draft City of Springfield 2014 -2018 CIP, A Community Reinvestment Plan, was reviewed at the Planning Commissions February 5, 2013 work session meeting. The Commission voted to recommend Council approval of the plan at their February 20, 2013 meeting. The CIP attempted to balance the use of scarce capital construction funds with the long list of infrastructure needs for our community. It was not a document with budget authority, but served as a guide for programming funds and planning the annual workload of Development and Public Works staff. There were a few new projects proposed in the next five years of programmed funding, and the City had completed several projects from previous years capital plans and staff was making significant headway on several of the projects from last years plan. These items were detailed in the Council Briefing Memorandum included in the agenda packet. Mr. Paschall presented a power point presentation of the CIP. The Hansen Asset Management system helped to identify the capital improvement projects needed in the City. Mr. Paschall noted the comments received from the public, one from a school principal and one from a woman in the Rainbow Street neighborhood. He reviewed projects that had been completed or were currently underway. He described projects scheduled for 2013 -2014, projects scheduled for design in 2014 and projects scheduled for planning in 2014. Mr. Paschall reviewed the unfunded and underfunded high priorities for 2014 -2018 including street preservation and reconstruction, wire theft remediation, ADA transition project, building preservation, downtown lighting, light pole testing, and drainage. Councilor Moore said some of the items on that list, such as downtown pedestrian lighting, seemed much less expensive than the larger construction projects. She asked if we were looking at other ways to come up with funding for these projects. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 4, 2013 Page 2 Mr. Paschall said the actual cost for pedestrian lighting was anywhere from $15,000-$20,000 per light. Adding the design and other factors added up to a large amount. Mayor Lundberg said they were looking at interim ways to address the issues and said a figure had been provided of about $10,000 per block. More focus was needed on design standards before those types of improvements were scheduled. Once the design standards were finalized, the City could ask store owners to participate and they could also look at other funding options such as Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). Councilor Ralston said many of the bids were coming in lower than anticipated due to the economy. He would be willing to go to the voters with a bond saving we could get more things done now at less of an expense than if we waited. Councilor Woodrow asked if delaying Jasper Phase III and N would mean it would cost more when they went back to finish those phases. Mr. Paschall said that was quite possible. The City put in the first two miles in 2004 with the hope that developers would put in what was needed as they developed. That became too cost prohibitive so the City had extended the line which was now at the developable property. The next step was up to developers. The City would have the design and would have purchased the easements, but would not be constructing at this time. Councilor Woodrow asked when construction might be on those phases. Mr. Paschall said it depended on the development climate. There was some interest from developers, at the current end of the line. He was not sure how much further that would be going. Staff looked at their priorities and determined that Glenwood and the Franklin Boulevard was a higher priority. Phase II got to the last pump station and the carrier pipe was at the location of a possible new school. Councilor Woodrow asked where prioritization was coming from for the ADA Transition Project. Mr. Paschall said some of it came from legislature and court rulings. The City was trying to prioritize the needs and updating our ADA Facilities Transition Plan. As projects were being scheduled, ADA compliance was being included. There were other incidents where the issue needed addressed outside of other projects. Some of the concerns were generated by citizens through Transportation. Mr. Paschall reviewed the new projects identified in the 2014 -2018 CIP. Councilor Moore asked where the Weyerhaeuser Haul Road was located. Mr. Paschall pointed it out on the map. Mr. Goodwin explained the plans for that area. Mr. Paschall reviewed a chart showing the 2014 -2018 Capital Funding Summary. The City was able to get a lot of work done with limited funds, in part because of the bidding climate. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 4. 2013 Page 3 Councilor Brew asked if putting a hold on the Jasper Trunk. Sewer to work on Franklin Boulevard jeopardized the bond funds. Mr. Goodwin said the Franklin Boulevard was also listed on the bond so it was a reasonable use. Mr. Paschall noted the capital funding outlook. There was a need to identify a stable funding source for street and transportation projects. Councilor Woodrow asked what a stable funding source might include. Mr. Paschall said a bond could be helpful, but may not address all preservation projects. He explained. When the gas tax first went into effect, the City was doing about $1 M worth of slurry seal projects annually just trying to keep up on the City's collector and arterial system. Regularly scheduled slurry seals had not been done since 2007. Mr. Goodwin said our annual preservation need currently was approximately $1.6M per year and the backlog of preservation projects would cost about $8 - $1 OM. Councilor Moore asked about a user fee that might stabilize funding. She recalled a discussion about that in the past. Mr. Goodwin said the last time Council reviewed that topic, they considered a bond or user fee. At that time, it was recommended that the City engage the community to inform them of the needs. Staff had been out in the community addressing that and would bring information back to the Council later this Spring for further direction. Mayor Lundberg said the sewer system had a lot of work that needed done for maintenance and repair. We could fix the main lines, but we still had the laterals that needed addressed. Those would need to be addressed at some time and would be very expensive. Councilor Ralston said fees were not a popular idea. He would prefer to educate the public about a bond and take care of it that way. Mayor Lundberg said the legislature was looking at lengthening terms for operating levies. She asked if slurry seals fell under operating levies. Mr. Goodwin said possibly. Mayor Lundberg said elected officials could advocate at the legislature for that. Councilor Brew said the CIP was masterfully done and easily understood. He commended staff on a job well job. 2. Wastewater System Capacity, Management, Operations, and Maintenance Discussion. Environmental Services Manager Ron Bittler and Maintenance Manager Brian Conlon presented the staff report on this item. The wastewater conveyance systems managed by the cities of Springfield and Eugene functioned together to convey our community's wastewater to the regional facilities for treatment prior to discharge to the Willamette River. Staff in both cities working together had City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 4, 2013 Page 4 determined that implementation of coordinated Capacity, Management, Operations; and Maintenance (CMOM) programs was the best way to cost effectively preserve the function and condition of the public infrastructure; protect the public health and environment, and ensure regulatory compliance. Effective management of the wastewater conveyance systems involved flow monitoring, condition assessment, maintenance, and equipment rehabilitation and replacement activities as well as capital investment to address future development. As such, there were multiple disciplines involved including operations, engineering; technical services (geographical information systems) and data management staff. Accordingly, staff recognized the need for a framework that integrated these functions under a single proactive planning and management system. CMOM provided this framework. Capacity Management Operations and Maintenance (CMOM) was an industry- accepted approach applied by agencies around the country to adaptively manage their wastewater collection infrastructure. Because the CMOM approach offered many benefits to both Springfield and Eugene, and because both collection systems functioned together and tied into the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) regional system, Springfield and Eugene staff were coordinating the development of their respective CMOM programs. Staff anticipated benefits to the community from this approach including improved wastewater infrastructure performance, protection of the regional wastewater treatment system against excessive wet weather flows and associated operational costs, efficient infrastructure planning for future development, a defensible regulatory compliance strategy, improved protection of the public and environment from exposure to sewer overflows and backups. Mr. Bittler noted that Josh Newman was the project manager on the MWMC side for this project. Mr. Bittler reviewed the 2012 Wet Weather Flow Management Plan (WWFMP) and how it was used to determine work to be done in the system. Mr. Conlon explained the work done by operations using this plan. They hoped that through CMOM, staff could develop an internal ability to assess the data and direct the projects. Through the WWFMP, twelve basins (nearly 18 miles) were rehabbed, including a pump station in Gateway. More had been done recently through the Sewer Collection System Master Plan, including the Basin 22 Rehab, capacity enhancements at 58h Street Trunk, and 10 and N Street project. He noted other repairs done and replacements of manholes that were leaking. Mr. Bittler said MWMC was also working on a major capital improvement program with the regional facility. Much of this work had been done to meet the Oregon Bacteria Standard by the deadline of January 1, 2010. He reviewed some of Springfield's accomplishments in that effort. Eugene, Springfield and MWMC all completed their projects in time to meet the deadline. He reviewed regulatory impacts from 1996 to 2011 regarding a prohibition of overflows. Councilor Ralston said overflows would occur from time to time. He asked how that was regulated. Mr. Bittler said the agency was to report when they had an overflow. He discussed the process in getting to the CMOM from the WWFMP. The regional policy team included public works management teams, engineering staff, and operations staff from the cities of Springfield and Eugene. Ciry of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 4. 2013 Page 5 The CMOM was created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the intent of making it a rule in the early 2000's. It didn't become a rule, but became an adopted standard within the industry as a good tool for managing collection systems. The CMOM fulfilled two obligations: provided framework to manage the system that was adaptive; and fulfilled the permit obligation required for the inflow /filtration (UI) reduction program. Mr. Conlon said in practical terms; the City had been doing CMOM effectively for years, however not in a formalized program. The difference was that this was a powerful asset management tool and took all of the disciplines staff used in doing their work. It also included billing and financing strategies, as well as prioritization of construction and rehabilitation projects. This program should not cost any additional funds to the City. They could develop CMOM internally and adapt it to the City's needs. Mr. Bittler reviewed what the CMOM did to help provide a framework for utility management based on the Plan-Do- Check -Act effort. He explained further. He concurred that operations staff had been doing a lot of this work already, but this tied it all together in a useful planning tool. Mr. Conlon said if the Cite was to be audited, having this program in place would help us with the regulators showing that we had a plan to support the work being done. Mr. Bittler said in DEQ's directives to their staff when determining how to take an enforcement action, they recognized CMOM as a benefit to the organization. They could levy a fine based on how an agency was performing. Mr. Conlon said one of the great outcomes of the WWFMP projects was that we only had 3 overflow incidents and none were caused by a wet weather event. One was caused by resin in the line, one was vandalism, and one was plugged by roots. Mr. Bittler discussed why CMOM was a good tool to use for the City and MWMC. He reviewed the eight elements of CMOM that would be used as an assessment tool. Mr. Newman had been writing a guidance document that would be the regional effort that would tie everyone together as they were all under one permit. They would then have the ability to implement the management system and provide annual reporting, which was required. Mr. Conlon said they were currently doing gap analysis. Councilor Woodrow said the flexibility of CMOM kept things below the maximum of what was being spent on the W WFMP. It provided flexibility to adapt to current needs and funding. Mr. Bittler said that was one of the strengths of the CMOM. Councilor Brew asked if current construction techniques and materials were less susceptible to M than old materials. Mr. Bittler said yes the new materials were much better. He didn't have figures,. but CH2M Hill was under contract to evaluate all of the inflow data and look at the flow improvements in Eugene and Springfield since improvements had been made. They hadn't had any winter or storm related SSO's since the projects were finished; however, they were seeing significant increases to the regional treatment plant. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 4, 2013 Page 6 Mr. Conlon said they found that effective inspection and construction made a difference. Councilor Moore asked about flow measurement and if there was a way to determine that for residential residents. Mr. Bittler said through pre and post flow monitoring of both the private and public side, they could have an expectation of how much removal they would get be rehabbing the public sector. If that expectation was not reached, it could indicate an issue with the private lateral. Councilor Moore asked if staff was doing any of that. Mr. Conlon said not for private residential. They had done some smoke testing that provided some information on lateral flow. Mr. Bittler said the CMOM program would look at private laterals. It may be a challenge going forward regionally, but the regional wastewater policy team would continue that discussion. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:58 p.m. Minutes Recorder — Amy, Sowa Christine L. undberg L� Mayor Attest: D W GL- Amv Sod4 City, Recorder