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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/14/2014 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2014 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Library Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, April 14, 2014 at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors Wylie, 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. Council ate dinner at 5:30 p.m. The meeting started at 6:00 p.m. 1. Council Goal Setting Session. Mayor Lundberg said this Goal Setting is being held later in the year than usual, which was good because they had changed the direction of the meeting several times through the individual meetings. They landed on a format that allowed them to look at what they had been doing, what they had in the works, what they wanted to have in the works, and what they wanted to happen. She referred to the Goals and Strategic Plan and asked the Council to consider the Strategic Plan for another follow -up session. Copies would be provided for those that didn't have a set. The Council Operating Procedures were available at each of the council places. One of the topics discussed with the consultant, Stan Biles, was how the Council conducted business. There was still a lot of gray area regarding what the Council could talk about with each other. The second part of the meeting would be a chance for the councilors to talk about what they want to happen in Springfield. These would be identified as Special Emphasis Areas (SEA). Mr. Biles said he hoped the agenda developed for tonight's meeting would address most of the subjects raised during his individual meetings with each council member. He reviewed the agenda: Internal Council Operations The first topic will be an opportunity for the Council to identify and discuss what is working well and what needs to be improved. This may include any or all of the following: 1) the role and execution of the role by Council leadership; 2) the correct process for any member to raise a new issue; and 3) Council /staff working arrangements. The Council would like to be clearer in giving direction to staff and the Council would like to receive more timely updates on implementation of past Council direction. This was a chance to look back and also to the future. 2. Special Emphasis Areas The second topic is not intended as an opportunity to set new goals or to initiate new projects, but to have Council consider all that is going on with the many City plans, and select a small number of topics for "special emphasis" over the next year. Some Special Emphasis Areas (SEA) could include City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 2 downtown, Glenwood, specific neighborhoods, etc. It will be essential to define a desired outcome for each SEA that is different than what would have happened without the SEA designation. He will close the meeting by talking about next steps and who would do what, when and how the Council would be kept up -to -date on the implementation of any of the projects they identify. Council Operation: 1. What is working well now for the Council and City government? 2. What are the roles of the Council, both leadership and individuals? 3. How to raise new issues to the Council — what is the right way to do that in terms of process and protocol? 4. How to keep the Council informed in a timely manner both orally and in a written manner, about status of, implementation of higher priority subject areas. He asked Council to nominate what worked well in terms of Council operations: • Staff support ✓ responsiveness to Council ✓ good quality responses ✓ direct answers to questions ✓ good response to constituent issues from City Manager and staff • Mutual respect among councilors • Good deliberation • Soundjudgment • Leave working relationship intact • Respond well to the public ✓ listen well ✓ responsive ✓ provide or get information ✓ stay in tune with public • Practical Council and community ✓ results driven — focus on what can be accomplished ✓ don't become sidetracked with issues that don't impact Springfield ✓ pragmatic • Respect for the public and their views ✓ immediate follow -up from staff ✓ respect the public's nervousness and courage it takes to speak before Council • "We get things done" • Work well with other agencies — TEAM Springfield • Value staff contribution and information in preparation and distribution of Council packets • Diverse opinions, but value one another's views • Excellent legal counsel • Give up personal ownership when an issue comes before the Council • Councilors knew their role ✓ made hard decisions ✓ didn't get ahead of the public and what the public wanted Mr. Biles said this list of attributes is rare, but has been historic for this jurisdiction. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 3 Councilor Wylie recalled when she first joined the Council and was excited to get things done. She talked with a former councilor who advised her to say her piece, give her best argument, let the Council act, then let it go. That laid the groundwork for mutual support and respect. That was hard to learn and to practice. Mayor Lundberg said she had asked City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith to provide information on what the City Council can and can't do regarding communication. Ms. Smith said when thinking about elected officials communicating with each other, the overall principal was to remember that our form of government in the United States was to make decisions in public. They do that by meeting with a quorum, deliberate and make decisions. A few years ago, Lane County had a court case against them regarding a public meeting law violation. That made all elected officials overly cautious and made an impact on how Council communicated. She said the Council can communicate with one another in situations such as wanting to get an idea where one person was on a particular situationvThe issue arose when it looked like they had a quorum and were making decisions privately. Exchanging information is fine. It helps councilors know where someone is on a particular issue and prepare for the meeting. She discouraged them having conversations via email as those can easily get out of control with multiple people getting added to the string of emails. Email between councilors can often become problematic in that way as well as others. Meetings with less than a quorum of Council was fine as long as they all received consistent information from staff and did not formulate decisions. Councilor Brew asked if it would be a quorum issue if all of the Council showed up at a Chamber social event, but were not deliberating. Ms. Smith said it would not. Mayor Lundberg asked if the Council should steer clear of Council topics during those types of event. Ms. Smith said it would be practical to avoid those topics. They can sit together at those types of events, but need to be cautious of the appearance to others. She encouraged them to have conversations, but to be cautious that they are not deliberating outside of the public sphere or creating a document or record. Councilor Wylie said Council leadership had been talking about the Council being more involved in the process of decisions making and information flow. As Council President, she can call councilors but also encouraged other councilors to call her about issues, packet information, etc. She would like to open that door. Councilor Ralston said that used to occur, but he felt the Council had good communication so didn't see a need. Councilor Woodrow said she recalled the Council President calling her husband, former Councilor John Woodrow. She liked that as it gave the councilors an opportunity to get the background and experience from the Council President. The Mayor and Council President attended Agenda Review and received information from councilors that they could evaluate whether or not it is something that should come to the full Council. Councilor Wylie said sometimes information came to the Agenda Review meetings from the Mayor, City Manager and Niel Laudati, that was important to share. City of Springfield ' Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 4 Mayor Lundberg said the Council Operating Policies and Procedures were set up with a protocol for councilors to bring up new topics. They can first bring it to Council leadership who determines whether or not to bring it to the full Council. If Council leadership doesn't feel it should go to the full Council, the initiating councilor needs to get approval from a majority of the Council. It didn't come up often, but was important for them to know. It was good to have Council leadership vet those ideas. Councilor Woodrow said it saved time bringing it to Council leadership. Mr. Biles asked if there was a difference between the information that came from leadership, and when it would come from the Mayor and when it would come from the Council President. Mayor Lundberg said she calls when she feels it is something everyone needs to hear as needed. Councilor Wylie asked if more definition or support was needed regarding bringing items forward. Councilor Moore said she was not always clear why certain issues need to go through Council. She noted a recent misunderstanding about the bus going down South 42nd Street. She wasn't aware that needed to go to Council since Council didn't set Lane Transit District's (LTD) schedule. She was surprised she had circumvented the Council. Mayor Lundberg said if it is something that affects the community, it is a Council issue. if it is an individual issue, that is dealt with at the staff level. Council should be aware of community issues. Councilor Woodrow said by bringing that to Council, they could either muster support or see that it may not work or things need to be redefined. Mayor Lundberg said there may be some agreement or disagreement of what would be impactful to the community. That is why it should go through leadership. Councilor Moore said sometimes leadership doesn't want to go forward. Mayor Lundberg said if leadership didn't want to bring it forward, the councilor needs to contact the rest of the Council to see if they have support. Councilor Woodrow said some of the councilors may have more information on that particular subject that can then be shared. Getting everyone the information was important. After sharing and getting the information, they can determine whether or not ifs a good idea. Mayor Lundberg said generally something that is community-wide takes resources. Those type of things need to be conducted in a work session so the public has a chance to hear and weigh in on the subject. If there is support from the Council to bring it forward, that provides the public a chance to be involved. Councilor Brew said he was not always clear of who tracks those issues. He referred to a question he had about the agreement with Sanipac. Staff is going to bring that back to the Council on July 14 City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 5 Mayor Lundberg said sometimes those things need a head nod from the Council because it did mean more staff work to prepare the information to bring to Council. She will work on making sure the rest of the Council agrees to bring certain items forward. Councilor Woodrow said the Council members who bring up those items during a meeting also need to look to see if others are in agreement. Mayor Lundberg said it was appropriate to mention something in a work session for further discussion. Councilor Brew said he didn't know if there was a formal process. Mr. Biles said an individual request for action in a work session that doesn't have a formal motion for action or follow -up, needs to have a head nod from the rest of the Council before moving forward. The Mayor will look to the Council to see if they agree or not. He asked if Councilor Moore got her question answered. Councilor Moore said she didn't realize LTD's bus routes were a Council topic. It was explained that if it impacts the community it is a Council issue so that helped to clarify that question. She has no desire to circumvent the Council. Mr. Grimaldi clarified that if council leadership chose not to move an idea from a councilor forward, the councilor would take it to the other councilors. If they have support from the appropriate number from the Council supporting that idea, it goes forward. He asked about next steps. It was decided that the City Manager would bring it to Council leadership to let them know. Council leadership would then give final direction to staff. Discussion was held regarding the procedure in the Council Operating Policies and Procedures. Mr. Biles said the last item for this area of discussion was possible improvement in keeping Council better apprised of the status of issues brought forward by Council. Councilor Woodrow said they receive information regarding ongoing development projects in their Communication Packets. She suggested using that format to relay other information to the Council, with the last column listing the approximate date the issue would come back to Council. Councilor Moore agreed a type of matrix could be provided with a brief description of the information. Mayor Lundberg said Council leadership used to be the only ones to receive those development reports, and now it was provided to the full Council. The Communication Packet does have a lot of information and that is where she catches things. Some things need to be in the Communication Packet, but sometimes they need to be discussed in a work session. Discussion was held regarding the Consent Calendar. Councilor Brew clarified what Councilor Woodrow said about a chart for follow -up. Councilor Woodrow said a chart is very simple and concise, and shows what is being done City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 6 Mr. Grimaldi said some examples of topics that can go into that type of report are the Main Street projects and public events, the Council compensation discussion, the delay in the City Hall Plaza improvements due to the weather, etc. Councilor Woodrow suggested keeping the list to less than a dozen. Mr. Grimaldi said if staff is not tracking something the group thought was assigned as follow -up, they can call staff to ask about it. Councilor VanGordon said he would like enough information so they can clearly understand the topic. He would like to see a column showing the last thing done and the next step. Mr. Biles said it would be a snap shot of the project today, and a preview of when it was coming back to Council. Councilor Woodrow said the development reports have proven helpful for her when out in the public, providing her easy access to the information. Councilor Moore said it would be helpful when she attended the Mohawk Hawk meetings so she could report on things that might be of interest to them. Mr. Biles said it sounded like the Council wants to start small. Councilor Wylie said the Council kept busy with the inflow of information in the weekly meetings and it is easy to forget about some of the other things. She suggested the City Manager provide updates during the Council meeting of those projects. Having the information would help them to be better councilors. Mr. Biles asked how often Council would like the updates — weekly, monthly, quarterly. Councilor Wylie said she wants updates during each Council meeting done verbally. Discussion was held regarding whether the communication should be oral or in a written format Mayor Lundberg said it could be part of the Communication Packet or under the Consent Calendar. The councilors can call and ask questions independently if needed. She suggested a filter of some kind to keep the list from getting too large. Perhaps items that the Council knows won't be coming back for a long time can be left off the list. Mr. Grimaldi said the list can be sorted so things that are changing are at the top. Mayor Lundberg said it takes the Council's time to read through them so keeping the list manageable would be helpful. Mr. Biles said there will be some different iterations of this type of communication. They can try them out and decide which works best. It sounded like Council was looking for a written document in summary form, short and to the point covering high priority items, which will be in the Communication Packet. It will explain what the project is and when it will be coming back to Council. Some of the criteria for these topics can include high priority for Council, legal or jurisdictional issues, City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14. 2014 Page 7 major public involvement efforts, and major development projects. Staff can get something put together in three weeks. Mr. Grimaldi said they will start with a small list. Councilor Moore didn't want to add too much work for staff Mr. Grimaldi said it will save time in the long run. He asked how often they wanted the report After discussion, Council decided they would like it weekly. Items with changes would be listed at the top and the changes noted in bold. Council took a break at 7:15pm Council reconvened at 7:21pm Mr. Laudati provided feedback from the Council stipend survey that was still underway. He read each question and the percent response. The survey, which was on Social Media, had been noted in a couple of Register Guard articles, and was reported by KEZI. Discussion was held regarding the results. It was not a scientific study, but had interesting results. Mr. Biles said the next topic of discussion is the designation of Special Emphasis Areas (SEA) for the next year. This is an opportunity for Council to choose the items they want to place special emphasis in the coming year. A designation might land weight to resource allocations or re- allocations. Councilor Woodrow said Glenwood came to mind. Mayor Lundberg suggested making it Glenwood Development. Councilor Woodrow said as a Council they should collectively champion Glenwood in the public arena. Mr. Biles asked if there was something new they wanted to focus on in Glenwood, or emphasize what had already been agreed upon. Councilor Woodrow said the proposal for the Glenwood Conference Center just came to Council and Council voted to authorize the City Manager to sign a letter of intent. She felt this project needed their focus. Councilor VanGordon said the most important thing going on in Glenwood is the Conference Center. There are a number of ways to promote this development, from staff to elected officials. if the Council decides to focus their attention on this project, they can then direct staff to focus on it as well. Councilor Brew agreed. He just needs to know what the Council needs to do and how. Mayor Lundberg said in the past, Gateway was the focus and then downtown. Glenwood has been an industrial area that was overlooked, but then Steve Moe suggested Springfield take it over from Eugene. Springfield took over Glenwood in the late 1990's. Developers who have been around for many years have been interested in a conference center in Glenwood. There is resistance to the idea of a conference center in Glenwood for a number of reasons. She felt it could have been more welcomed City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 8 than it was. Part of the resistance is that a convention center is needed, not a conference center. Funding is needed and that is why she had asked for the discussion with staff about the transient room tax (TRT) funds which have gone to many things, including the Lane Events Center. A conference center is being proposed, but a convention center is much larger. A convention center needs at least 250 rooms, and only 150 rooms are being proposed in the Glenwood development. Mr. Towery said Travel Lane County distinguished the two by size and layout. A convention center was 65,000 square feet of meeting room space, which was about 3 times the size of the proposal and 2 '/3 times larger than the space at the Hilton Eugene. For a convention center that size, a hotel needs 350 rooms. That is the perspective of Travel Lane County. Mayor Lundberg said the site could potentially hold a convention center. It is important to look at the resistance and also the opportunities to fulfill the need on a larger scale, This is the opportunity to dream of having a convention center. That would put the emphasis on Glenwood. One of the other arguments against the conference center in Glenwood is that there is nothing else going on in Glenwood. There is, however, other development in Glenwood as well as the rebuilding of Franklin Boulevard. This is an opportunity to look at other things and giving staff direction to focus on Glenwood. Getting the urban renewal area to improve and make progress is the key to success for the entire community. It is time to start turning things around. If people think they need a convention center, they need to find out if there is support and if they are willing to discuss it further. Councilor Ralston said a conference center was feasible and doable. Needing more hotel rooms is good for the surrounding area. He is not sure he would support a convention center. They need to deal with practicality of what can and can't be done. Councilor VanGordon said they may need to ask the developer if they had considered a large convention center. A conference center seems within reach compared to a convention center. Councilor Wylie said there was a range of conference center sizes. If there was a market for a mega convention center, it would have already been built. There is a tipping point that had been vetted by the developers. They can consider going a little larger or build on in the future. It had been a dream for a long time for Eugene to have a mega convention center, but it is not feasible at this time. She referred to the Mayor comment that some people argue there is nothing in Glenwood. The EmX line went through Glenwood, to the Gateway Mall, PeaceHealth at Riverbend, University of Oregon, and Eugene downtown. Councilor Brew asked if anyone was seriously talking about a convention center. He said there is an old saying that "Great is the enemy of good ". Mayor Lundberg said if it was just Springfield looking at this, there would be no issues. Councilor Woodrow said ten years ago, a large conference center didn't have the support or the developer. We are at a point that someone is interested in putting something there and she didn't want to see that go away. It will be a draw for other things to come into Glenwood. Mayor Lundberg said there is resistance out there. The Council can be very good cheerleaders for the conference center, but they only have a small part of the funding. Maybe the idea of a conference center that can be added to is something to consider. She is looking at ways for others to get to `yes'. She referred to the number of rooms to accommodate those using the conference center. Most people want the hotel at the same site as the conference so there were legitimate concerns. The Council needs City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 9 to look at what they can do, and what they are willing to do, to help the development in Glenwood as a whole. There are a number of other projects in town that staff is committed to working on. Some things might need to be moved to the back burner. They are still waiting to hear if the Federal government will approve either the shorter or longer process for Franklin Boulevard. She again noted that Springfield only has a small funding piece for the conference center and they are relying on others. Councilor Wylie asked if staff had talked with the developers to see if they have interest in doing a phased approach to add another 100 rooms at a later date. Mr. Towery said the developers indicated the conference center would generate other hotels in the area. It would be partly driven by the market. The developers spent a lot of time looking at meeting room demand. They might be interested in another project down the road. Mayor Lundberg said the developers opened the door for others to open a hotel. The Council needs to ask what they can do as a City to encourage development in Glenwood. She listed some other tools used to assist in downtown. Councilor Brew said the Springfield Economic Development Agency (SEDA) was already picking up SDCs for commercial development in Glenwood. Council could collectively throw themselves behind this and talk to Congressman DeFazio to try to get the Franklin Boulevard process moving. Mr. Grimaldi said there could be a public hearing before the Lane County Board of Commissioners. Galvanizing support from the right people would be of importance. Another general project related to Lane County is the transfer station and it will take political strength to convince the County to move that from Glenwood. One of the things already in the works is the request for funding through the Lane County ACT for funding for Franklin Boulevard. There would be opportunities as Council inserts themselves into those conversations. Councilor Ralston said he was supportive of doing things like that, but not of giving up all revenue to developers. They can't make people come here. Travel Lane County and the Lane Economic Committee could be out looking for people. Mayor Lundberg said work around mobile home parks is needed as well. The City took it to the Regional Solutions Team and she hadn't seen anything back from them. Mr. Grimaldi said the Regional Solutions Team was not currently staffed with a lead, but the Mayor can have influence on that. Mayor Lundberg said an aerial view of the hotel and conference center shows a mobile home park right next door. Having a solution for displacement of mobile home park residents was important. She will work with the Regional Solutions Team to get that back on the table for discussion. Councilor Wylie said the City didn't have a government relations specialist. Several staff have taken on parts of that role. The City should have done things differently with this project by talking with the Commissioners sooner. The City needs to have a strategy to know who to talk to, how to get the information in front of the right people, and develop a strategy. She was glad to volunteer to work with staff and the Mayor to do some of that, but they needed assignments and a strategy. Councilor Brew asked if Council could get a list of the projects Lane County TRT's have funded., City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 10 Councilor Moore asked about the process for an economic development agency Mr. Grimaldi said John Lively was taking care of leads coming from the State. There is a change in the State's approach to economic development to centralize it more in Salem. Members of our region need to sit down with those from the State to determine that working relationship. Jointly with the two Chambers, a consultant was hired to work through a process. They are close to landing on a governance model for a new organization, although it will not be ready by July 1, 2014. They are working on an interim solution. Councilor Moore said the City out to be on the University of Oregon's (UO) doorstep reminding them that we are here and close. She knows the UO wants to partner with Springfield, so they need to be a key player. Mayor Lundberg said the UO does want to be part of Springfield. Councilor Moore said the City ought to continue to remind the UO of our willingness to partner with them. She discussed one of her ideas. The Simpsons are an international draw and the City has never taken on promoting that in our City. She asked if they have ever contacted Matt Groenig to see if 20,' Century Fox would like to build some type of entertainment area based on the Simpsons, perhaps at Booth Kelly. She would like to pursue that as an international draw. Councilor Woodrow said her concern is that once they set something up, it would be old news and lose steam. She agreed it is a draw. People that came into the Chamber office often asked about the Simpsons. She is not sure she wants Springfield's draw to be the Simpsons. Mr. Biles said clearly Glenwood is the top priority, but there is a lot of work to be done. He asked if there are any other nominations for a SEA or if they want to focus exclusively on Glenwood. Councilor Wylie said they need to start sowing seeds for a new Library. She noted the beautiful Library in Monroe. Councilor Ralston said he will support it if they knew the taxpayers want to pay. Councilor Woodrow said there is a good Library Board and seeds have been sown. The Sustainable City Year (SCY) program generated plans and ideas that are energizing. She heard a lot of positive comments about those plans. Continuing to get that word out will be a benefit. Councilor VanGordon agreed. He is not sure they are ready to start pushing for a new building, but first need to work on other things to push this and build a case. Building a new Library or anything new in downtown is exciting; however, citizens told the Library Board that the most important thing is open hours. As they went into Budget season, there may be an opportunity to impact open hours, starting down the road to discussions of a new building. He asked if there was a significant difference in what can get done if the Council chose to make Glenwood the most important thing this year. Mr. Grimaldi said there is a lot of work to do in Glenwood, such as Phase 11 of the Glenwood Refinement Plan, improvement of McVay Highway, and the EmX. There is plenty to do in Glenwood. If the Council chose Glenwood, it will change the focus and staff will do things differently. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page I I Councilor VanGordon said that is something to consider. Leaving Glenwood on the list will give them an opportunity to really focus the conversation and get something accomplished. That is appealing to him. They went through this exercise last year, and not everything has been delivered at this point. He asked how last year's list will be connected to this year's list so things aren't missed. Mr. Grimaldi reviewed the list from last year and what has been accomplished. Some are two -year goals and still in the works. Councilor VanGordon said he didn't want to lose those things from last year's list. Mr. Grimaldi said nothing on that list would stop. Mr. Biles said in response to Councilor VanGordon's question about things getting done in Glenwood, it is up to the Council as decision makers for policy, resources and staff time. In the next 12 months, Glenwood won't be redeveloped, but Council can come up with specific deliverables in developing strategies and plans for Glenwood. He provided the following examples: have a financial plan approved for a conference /convention center; or have the Federal government letter regarding grant funding. If this is Council's goal, they can back it up with allocation of funds, actions and policies. Councilor Wylie spoke regarding lighting, parks and streets in Glenwood. Perhaps there is a park parcel that can be started sooner, or lighting that can be put into Glenwood sooner than originally planned. The new 1 -5 bridge has a large landscaping area at the base to meet up with the bike path. They need to make an effort to match some of these things up. By making this a priority, they can move these projects forward. At the same time, they need to market to developers and get information to the right people to get some redevelopment going. If they make it their focus, they can put their energy behind it to get things moving. Mayor Lundberg said the Council was the leadership of the City and it is up to them to set that direction. They need to look at what is the most beneficial for the community. By saying this is the priority, it will prioritize staff work. Other things will fill in as needed. They can look at other things, such as Library hours during budget, but Glenwood is the area they want to do something. They now had an impetus and interest so this was good timing. Councilor Woodrow said Eugene is now booming, but it took getting one or two things in place as a magnet drawing in other development. They can do that in Glenwood and talk to people to see what interest they might have in bringing something into Glenwood. They have already created conversations and could take advantage of that conversation to talk to people. Everyone she talked with last week is positive about seeing the topic of Glenwood on the table. Councilor Brew said the budget is coming up in the next couple of weeks. He asked Mr. Grimaldi if he could bring some recommendations for ways to re- allocated funds to projects in Glenwood. It would be nice to see the eight or ten Glenwood projects in a work plan and where the Council is needed and can get involved to leverage the different things. Mr. Grimaldi said an option is to use additional resources from the City's reserves. Mayor Lundberg said she would also like information on things currently being done that could be downsized or re- prioritized. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 12 Mr. Grimaldi said they could be time differently, or moved around to give Glenwood more attention. Some of those came from the Council such as the Historic District plan. Councilor Moore said she would like to have something done in Glenwood to make it more welcoming when the young athletes come into Springfield from Eugene this summer during the World Junior Championships. She suggested signs or flags. Mayor Lundberg said maybe they could have something on the LTD bus stops. Mr. Biles asked what Council wanted to happen next. Mayor Lundberg said the first step is putting together the list of projects in a Communication Packet. Mr. Towery said they can also have the City Manager report on topics during the regular meeting under Business from the City Manager. They can get the information in advance. Councilor Wylie recommended they look at forming a Glenwood Subcommittee with assignments. Councilor Moore said they need to bring all of the public along in the Council's vision. Councilor Woodrow said she agrees, but the need to be careful of what is brought to the public so they didn't set up unrealistic expectations. The Council needs to know first what they are doing before putting anything out to the public. Mayor Lundberg said the Glenwood Refinement Plan has some nice pictures of what the Council wants Glenwood to look like and it was an approved document. She suggested putting those up along the blank wall in the City Hall lobby. The pictures will help show the Council's vision of Glenwood. Mr. Biles asked if Glenwood will be the only priority. Council agreed that Glenwood will be their one priority. Councilor Brew asked that they continue to move forward with the downtown lighting project. Council agreed they would continue moving forward with the current project list. Mr. Grimaldi said the project list will be put in the May 5 City Council Communication Packet, and he can discuss it during the May 5 Council meeting. Mayor Lundberg said the Lane County Board of Commissioners (LCBC) will be talking about the conference center in the next week or two so May will be a good time for a check -in. Councilor Moore suggested having an update on Glenwood every week during the work session for about 5 minutes. Mayor Lundberg said it will be good to get those updates because people will start calling as some of the bigger projects get underway in Glenwood. Mr. Grimaldi said getting an understanding of the questions and concerns of the LCBC regarding the conference center will be helpful during the next discussion with Council. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 14, 2014 Page 13 Mayor Lundberg said she wanted to get make sure the Council got good, solid and consistent information about the conference center including financial information, hotel rooms, etc. It will be prudent to get that information to the Council so they can provide informed answers. Mr. Biles reviewed the next steps: 1. Council progress report at the first Council meeting in May (May 5) 2. The City Manager will recommend options for Council consideration reallocating resources to Glenwood 3. May 5 written information will be provided in the packet on Glenwood projects 4. Late April or early May (after LCBC discussion) will be next opportunity for the full Council to meeting publicly and discuss next steps in Glenwood ✓ Exploration by the Council to create a Glenwood subcommittee ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:38 p.m. Minutes Recorder —Amy Sowa J Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest: Q�rl �d'UJ /�- Amy Sow City Recorder