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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/19/2016 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD TUESDAY JANUARY 19,2016 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room,225 Fifth Street, Springfield,Oregon,on Tuesday January 19,2016 at 5:42 p.m.,with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon,Wylie,Moore,Woodrow and Pishioneri. 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 Ralston was absent(excused). The order of the meeting was changed due to the earlier start time. 1. Franklin Boulevard Project Update. Kristi Krueger,Principal Engineer,presented the staff report on this item. The City has continued to work on the design,right-of-way,and public outreach for the Phase 1 Franklin Boulevard reconstruction project. Staff will provide an update on the project. The project has completed the 30%design review and has recently received the 60%plans which are currently being reviewed by City staff,Lane Transit District,ODOT, and utility companies. The 60% design plans include elements such as the horizontal layout, swales,vertical cross-sections, access design,curve data,maintenance access locations,jointing, sidewalk and bike facility locations, conduit locations for power and LTD fiber,removal plans, drainage and stormwater plans,erosion control plans,contaminated soil disposal site location, landscape and irrigation plans,proposed sign details, striping plans, illumination plans,and EmX station shelter details and locations. Prior to the submittal of the 60%plans,an oblique view of the 30%design was submitted. In addition to the design plans,the City has continued to work with the Academy of Arts and Academics(A3) School regarding the sculptures for the double roundabout. The students have developed 3D renderings of the sculpture concept and also printed a 3D plastic image of the concept. A snapshot of the design concept is shown in attachment 3. In addition to working on the design concept,the students,their teacher,and Ms.Krueger made a presentation to the Springfield Arts Commission regarding the design concept. At the July 13,2015 Council meeting staff gave an update on the public outreach completed. Since that time staff held a meeting with the Ponderosa Mobile Village residents,held an open house, sent out two electronic updates to the interested parties list,and gave presentations to the Springfield Arts Commission,Chamber Economic Development Committee and Government Issues Committee,EmX Steering Committee,City Club,and the Lane Utility Coordinating Council. Staff will also be making presentations to the Springfield Rotary, Twin Rivers Rotary,the BRING board,and Springfield Forum shortly. A more detailed history of the public outreach for the project is now located on the project website at the following location http://newfranklinblvd.org/public-involvement/public-outreach- summary/. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 19,2016 Page 2 Three properties being acquired for the project are currently in negotiations. Staff is scheduled to make offers for the partial acquisitions in February. The goal is to have the acquisition process complete by July 2016, final plans submitted in June, advertise for the bid opening in July, and give the notice to proceed for construction in late August. The latest cost estimate that came in as part of the 60%plans which includes construction, design, construction engineering,utility relocation,right-of-way, and a 20%contingency shows the project over budget by roughly$5 million. The current funding for the project is a little over$11 million. At this time staff is proposing to complete the design of phase 1 and pursue a bid option to either build or not build the Mississippi intersection. At the time of the bid opening final ROW costs and the cost to build the project will be known. At that time the City can make a decision whether or not to build the Mississippi intersection. Councilor Wylie asked if we could start requesting funding for future phases now. Ms. Krueger said the 30%design has been completed for the full boulevard. Councilor Pishioneri said an extra road was on the oblique map. Ms. Krueger said that was from the 30%design when they were looking at access for ODOT between the two bridges. Mayor Lundberg said the extra$5M needed is based on the full design, right-of-way, and construction. Ms. Krueger said that was correct. They do have a 20%contingency in the budget. Discussion was held regarding the bike and pedestrian paths, and parking. Ms.Krueger showed on the map the different access points. Councilor Pishioneri asked if staff had looked at other ways to reduce the project cost by the $5M shortfall. Ms.Krueger said they had looked at all options, but were unable to come up with a project within the current budget without compromising the project. Councilor Pishioneri asked if the roundabouts are all one lane, and if they should have multiple lanes in the future. Ms.Krueger said in designing the roundabouts,they took into consideration future traffic. Mayor Lundberg noted the wait times at the intersection from I-105 and Coburg Road. Roundabouts can alleviate that issue, although are not considered a solution. We have roundabouts on our signature transit corridors to eliminate wait times at stop lights,which help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion. Ms.Krueger said during her presentations,people have been surprised that the roundabout at Hayden Bridge and Harlow Road has the same traffic as the Q Street intersection,yet the roundabout moves traffic through much more quickly. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 19,2016 Page 3 Mayor Lundberg said this was an update and staff would be moving forward. Ms.Krueger said they are currently in the right-of-way acquisition process and appraisal process for parcel acquisition. Mayor Lundberg said they were happy to be at this point in this project. 2. Fiscal Year 2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report(CAFR). Nathan Bell,Accounting Manager,presented the staff report on this item. Grove,Mueller& Swank,the City's independent auditors,have completed their audit of the City's Fiscal Year 2015 CAFR and have issued their opinion thereon. Chuck Swank and Ryan Pasquarella, of Grove,Mueller&Swank,will review the audit process,the Independent Auditor's Report,and the City's CAFR during the work session. As a preliminary summary for the Council's information, it was noted that the auditor's found no material weaknesses in the City's internal financial controls and they issued an"unmodified opinion" on the City's financial statements. This means that the City is properly accounting for its resources and using adequate financial controls to help prevent the improper use of those resources. Mr.Bell said the primary work for Finance goes from June through the end of December. They have a team of four staff members who work preparing this report.Having the auditors come in and go through all of the City's records makes staff better accountants and gives the City a better product. Mr. Swank said they issued a shorter letter this year that laid out the auditor's and City's responsibilities in this process to allow them to effectively audit the City.The process is made easier with the assistance of staff. The letter has no disagreements with management. Mr. Swank said they put two opinions in the financial statements:the first is the opinion of the financial statements; and the second regarding the requirements from the State and how the City complied.Both reports presented the best light with no findings. He referred to the basic budget information of the report. He referred to new accounting standards regarding the City's pension obligations.He explained how it was accounted for in the budget.He noted the changes coming in the PERS program that will affect the numbers. Mr.Pasquarella said everything discussed by Mr. Swank was the reporting mechanism.The contributions of the City and impacts on their budgetary schedules have not changed. Mr. Swank said the reports showed no noted violations. Councilor Moore referred to a section about implementing fees to cover costs. Often Council talks about fees that are needed to keep programs in the black that are not covered in the General Fund. Mr. Bell said the City does have control on sanitary sewer and stormwater fees. Some of the increase is due to revenues coming in as the City recovers from the recession. Mr. Grimaldi said there were other factors that affected our budget besides the tax cap.He explained. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 19,2016 Page 4 Mr. Swank said the concept of dividing financial statements in governmental functions(i.e. general government police,etc.)and business function where the revenue's purpose is to pay the expenses of operations. It's important for those,that the fee level for the utility operations cover that operation. Mayor Lundberg said there had been some issues with grant funds that came as a surprise to her and other Councilors.Those funds weren't accounted for well by those receiving those funds. She asked how they could have caught that earlier. Mr. Bell said that was a result from the Housing and Urban Development(HUD)audit.The City's auditors talked with the Federal auditors about those funds and decided to audit them again.That report will come to Council in a few weeks, and there will likely be a finding on that audit. Mayor Lundberg said Council would be discussing this at next week's work session and talking about how better to track those funds in the future. She hopes the reports will help the Council know how to move forward. Mr.Bell said the report was clear on what the City needs to do. Most of it is how the programs are managed. There are clear steps the City can take. Mayor Lundberg asked if the discussion next week should wait until they received the report. Mr.Grimaldi said that was not necessary. Mr. Swank said he would like to come back when that second audit was complete. Mayor Lundberg said that would help the Council set policy direction. Councilor Woodrow said next week's discussion will set the stage for that report. Councilor Moore referred to the letter in the report about all of the programs going on in Springfield. She is very grateful for that information. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:23 p.m. Minutes Recorder—Amy Sowa Christine L.Lundberg Mayor Attest: Amy a Sow City Recorder