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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/14/2016 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY MARCH 14, 2016 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Library Meeting Room,225 Fifth Street, Springfield,Oregon,on Monday March 14,2016 at 5:30 p.m.,with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Wylie,Moore,Ralston, 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. 1. Historic Commission Interview. Jim Donovan,Planning Supervisor,presented the staff report on this item. There are four vacancies on the seven-member Historic Commission as a result of two term expirations and two resignations. After a 3-month recruitment period that closed on February 8, 2016, the Department received applications from Kristina Koenig,Mackenzie Karp and Jonathan Siegle. Ms.Koenig and Ms.Karp were interviewed at the Council Work Session held on February 22, 2016. Mr. Siegle will be interviewed tonight. The vacancies on the Historic Commission are a result of term expirations for Commissioners Dannie Helm and Kuri Gill,and the resignation of Commissioners Vincent Martorello and Kerry Barbero. Qualifications for membership on the Historic Commission include expertise in the fields of architecture,history,architectural history,planning, or archeology; residency within the Metro Plan boundaries;or as residents,electors, or property owners within Springfield. In addition,the Council shall solicit recommendations for appointment from Willamalane and School District#19(Municipal Code Section 2.502). The School District declined to recommend appointees to fill these vacancies; Willamalane recommended applicant Kristina Koenig to fill the vacancy created by Commissioner Martorello's resignation. State and Federal funding of the City's historic preservation activities stipulate that a majority of the Commissioners have professional qualifications in a field related to historic preservation. Two current members and two applicants possess these qualifications and also meet or partially meet the qualifications and standards set forth by the National Park Service regarding commissions(See Attachments 3 and 4). Mr. Siegle's education experience is in Architectural History and Cultural Anthropology,he resides in the Washburne District and has previously served on Springfield's Planning Commission and Historic Commission. Springfield Municipal Code Section 2.506 states that any vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired portion of the term of the member creating the vacancy, and Section 2.504 states that appointed members shall hold office for four years with the terms staggered to provide overlapping and continuity. The candidates appointed for a first term are eligible to serve for four years beginning on the date of appointment by City Council. The candidate appointed to fill Commissioner Martorello's i City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 2 vacancy is eligible to serve the remaining portion of this term,which expires on February 2, 2018. Appointment of Historic Commission applicants is currently scheduled for March 21, 2016. The Mayor and Council introduced themselves to Mr. Siegle. Council interviewed Mr. Siegle with the following questions: 1. Describe your professional and personal experience as it relates to your desire to become a Historic Commissioner. (Councilor Wylie) 2. Describe your familiarity with the City's historic resources. (Councilor Ralston) 3. What is it about Springfield's history that interests you most? (Councilor Pishioneri) 4. Why are you interested in serving on the Historic Commission? (Councilor Woodrow) 5. What initiatives are you interested in working on if you are appointed as a Commissioner? (Councilor VanGordon) 6. Have you attended a Historic Commission meeting?If so,what were your impressions? (Councilor Moore) Council discussed the qualifications of all three applicants and decided to appoint all three to the Historic Commission during the March 21, 2016 Council meeting. 2. Budget Committee Interviews. Bob Duey,Finance Director,presented the staff report on this item. Applicants are being sought to represent Wards 3, 5 and 6 where former committee members' terms expired. The recruitment for these vacancies opened on January 5, 2016 and closed on March 4,2016. No candidates applied for Ward 3 however an interim candidate has been identified for a one year term ending on December 31,2016. The appointee for both Ward 5 and Ward 6 will serve a three year term that will expire on December 31,2018. The Council is requested to interview three applicants.Budget Committee appointments are scheduled to be ratified at the Regular Session Meeting on March 21,2016. The Mayor and Council introduced themselves to the applicants(Nathan Mischel,Victoria Doyle, and Diana Alldredge)and asked them the following questions: 1. Describe your professional and personal experience as it relates to your desire to become a committee member. (Councilor Wylie) 2. If you were on the Budget Committee and were looking at one of the City's services to decide how much should be funded through general taxes and how much through specific fees on customers, what questions would you want to have answered in order to make your decision? (Councilor Ralston) 3. The Budget Committee meets on Tuesdays in April and May,generally for a total of four or five meetings. The meetings start at 5:30 or 6:00 and usually last three hours. There is occasionally a mid-year meeting in December or January. Will you be able to meet the time requirements of the Committee?(Councilor Pishioneri) 4. While all of Springfield services seem to have strong support from different areas of the community, it is often necessary to prioritize services for budgetary reasons. How would you go about the task of establishing priorities among services? (Councilor Woodrow) City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 3 5. Why are you interested in serving on/continuing to serve on the Budget Committee?(Mayor Lundberg) 6. Describe your familiarity with the City's budget. (Councilor VanGordon) 7. Often times the members of the Budget Committee have different opinions on how the citizens' money should be spent. What is your experience with working as a member of a diverse group and helping to ensure that all opinions are heard and considered? (Councilor Moore) Council discussed the qualifications of each applicant and decided to appoint all three at the March 21, 2016 regular meeting. Mr.Mischel's appointment will be for one year only. 3. Master Fees and Charges Schedule—Spring 2016 Update. Bob Duey,Finance Director, presented the staff report on this item. Each year, Council and staff review existing fees and charges for appropriateness of rates for meeting cost recovery targets as well as reviewing for areas where new or additional fees should be considered. This spring of 2016 review will focus on updates for annual impacts of inflation,new fees and omissions as directed by Council. The City's schedule of fees and charges is established by Council action. The work in the spring of 2013 by the Council and staff consolidated past documents describing the City's various fees and the method for making changes into a single document titled Master Fees and Charges schedule. This document provides an easy reference for citizens,Councilors, and staff to identify the current fees authorized to be levied and collected by the City. Changes to the City of Springfield's fees and charges can be modified through action by the Council or staff. The most common of actions by the Council is by simple resolution. The authorization to levy the fee may be contained in the municipal, building,development,or fire codes, but the actual amount of the fee itself is established by resolution. These most commonly are brought to the Council with a public hearing and are adopted at that time. Other fees may be authorized by the municipal,building, development, or fire codes and the specific amount of the fee is also contained within that same code. In those cases,the respective code itself must be amended by ordinance and most commonly requires a public hearing, a first reading and a second reading prior to adoption. In this review,the following changes in the Master Fees and Charges Schedule are being considered: All fees and charges are examined by City staff to evaluate if a yearly adjustment should be considered. Most changes being identified are increases for a 2% Cost-of-Living-Adjustment(COLA) and/or minor changes in descriptions. However, for the proceeding fees and charges,either changes are being recommended above a 2% COLA,there are new fees, or there are significant changes in descriptions. Please note,the City Attorney's Office is working on the Recreational Marijuana and Growers/Processors fee,which will be effective this year. An Emergency Ordinance will be applied for to establish the municipal code and corresponding fees, so those fees are not reflected in this update. The City Manager's Office is reviewing the Downtown Parking Program and if there are recommendations to change the current fees,they will come to the Council in a separate action. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 4 Mr. Duey said setting fees and charges is important as they go through the Priority Based Budgeting (PBB)process. Staff has identified a list of fees and charges to go through this spring and fall to look at from a cost recovery standpoint and how should be paying fees. They expect to come back with those adjustments in October or November.He described some of the adjustments in fees. The Fire fee is a new fee to match both the Eugene and Springfield departments,keeping them consistent. Councilor Pishioneri asked about the Manufactured Dwelling Park License and why the category for over 100 spaces is per space, rather than a flat fee. The narrative has it written out per unit for all categories. Ms. Lewis said the Manufactured Dwelling Park License always had a flat rate,yet were inconsistent in each level. When trying to apply the COLA adjustment, she looked at what the per space rate was for the maximum number of spaces and apply the COLA so there would be a consistent COLA adjustment from year to year. She tried to match the per space rate as closely to what it was previously. Mr.Duey referred to Section 6: Building and Safety Fees. These are fees currently not in the fee schedule. Upon providing a draft of the revised Building and Safety Fees to the State of Oregon Building Code Division,we were found non-compliant. A number of additional charges were added to bring us into compliance. Fees were established based on local market rates. i Matthew Ruettgers said the permits are required per ORS. The State helped several jurisdictions add these into their fee schedule. Springfield staff did look at the market rate to set the fee. This could provide opportunity to combine permits for developers. Councilor Pishioneri asked about the CAD Reports under Section 5.He asked if this brought us to the same fee as Eugene uses.He said many jurisdictions have a one-time fee, plus a per page charge. Mr.Duey said this is different from Police Reports which do have a higher cost for the first four pages. The fee of.15/page for miscellaneous copies makes it consistent with other city departments. a Councilor Pishioneri asked if the City was planning on how to anticipate requests for digital copies. Ms. Smith asked if he was referring to data such as body cameras, etc. Yes. She said the Police Department is looking at a trial program. They would then need to draft a policy that would address data collection and providing for public records request as required by statute. She agreed it was a big issue that included storage and accessibility, and would be addressed. Other examples of digital records included audio recordings from meetings and building surveillance (both internal and external). Mr. Duey said he would contact the appropriate staff and add that to the Fall discussion. Councilor Moore asked about Rental Licenses on page 8 of Attachment 2 of the agenda packet. She asked for clarification. It is for rental properties starting at four-plexes and has been in place for a while. Councilor Moore said with such a minor increase, she wondered if it was worth changing. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 5 Mr. Duey said that is the challenge of being consistent and applying COLA's to everything. Some fees it didn't make sense to raise it to an odd amount, so they rounded it up or down. Mr. Grimaldi said Council had asked for smaller increases rather than waiting several years and making larger increases. Councilor VanGordon asked about the meeting room fee and when that was last increased. Mr. Duey said that fee had not been changed in some time. There are ongoing internal discussions about when to charge for meeting rooms and they try to keep it to a minimum. Mr. Grimaldi said we only charge when it is outside normal operating hours. Mr. Duey noted an error under Dog Licenses. There was an earlier discussion among staff about these fees.They decided not to look at it from a regional perspective and forgot to include a COLA increase. He asked if they wanted to look at making a COLA adjustment in the Fall, or a regional comparison. Councilor Woodrow said there was a separate meeting to discuss dog fees. Mayor Lundberg said she would like to see the COLA increase. Mr.Duey said they would bring back that COLA adjustment to dog license fees in the Fall. Staff will bring these updates back for adoption on March 21 during the Council meeting. Councilor Pishioneri asked for a definition of Watchdog. Mr.Duey said he would get that information and get back to the Council. Councilor VanGordon asked that when they look at cost recovery targets,they look at more than one year. Mr. Duey said the next discussion will look at a high level. Discussion was held regarding the number of Budget Committee meetings. Councilor Pishioneri said he would like to see a comparison of where Springfield is compared to other neighboring jurisdictions. Mr.Ruettgers said staff did an evaluation when they did a fee increase last year. They met with the HomeBuilders' Association and made an adjustment they were more comfortable with. When they did that,they did an analysis of the City of Eugene and Lane County's fees which showed that Springfield's fees landed in about the middle. He can put that information in a Communication Packet for the Council if they would like. Mr. Grimaldi asked if that analysis included System Development Charges(SDCs). Mr.Ruettgers said that is a different piece. Mr. Grimaldi said Springfield tends to be higher in SDCs. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 6 Mayor Lundberg said Willamalane also charges SDCs in Springfield,which adds to the full cost. Councilor Pishioneri said he would like a full picture of what it would cost someone to build in Springfield compared to what it would cost to build in Eugene. Mayor Lundberg said they had received that information in the past and Springfield is higher. 4. Strategizing for Long-Term Fiscal Health. Michelle Lewis,Management Analyst, and Bob Duey,Finance Director,presented the staff report on this item. The City is beginning its third year using the methodology of priority-based budgeting as a tool to help focus the allocation of available resources to those services that help most to advance Community and Council goals. For this annual budget process to prove successful, it is important that the City has established long-term fiscal targets or performance measurements that support the long-term fiscal stability for both a consistent level of base services year after year and plan in advance for expanded or new and innovative services. This second work session reviews three proposed financial policies concerned with defining the elements that make up a fiscally healthy organization. Council is being asked to review and provide input on the proposed financial policies for adoption at a regular session. Transitioning from traditional to priority-based budgeting involves learning curves for annual budgeting as well as strategic planning,performance measurement, and evaluating long-term fiscal health of the organization. The ultimate goal is to be able to provide consistent services to City of Springfield citizens,now and in the future. In order to realistically assess that possibility,the City needs to objectively identify and establish its long-term fiscal health goals for 5, 10 or 20 years into the future. This discussion,the second in a series on Fiscal Health, is intended to review three proposed financial policies. Topics will include: • Purpose of Updating Policies • Rolling Schedule for Policy Updates • Policy Impacts to Fiscal Health o Categorizing Reserves o Diversifying Revenues o Seeking Excellence in Financial Reporting Staff s goal is that Council reviews the proposed policies for adoption at a regular session. Ms. Lewis presented a power point on this topic.Fiscal health requires prioritizing services and long- term strategizing. There have been no major revisions to the City's financial policies for over 22 years and Springfield's economic reality has shifted a lot since that time. She noted that$600,000,or about 1.7%of our operating expenditures or four days,had been set aside in the General Fund for emergency funds. The City's dependence on property tax revenue has increased over the past ten years. The City has an opportunity now to shape its fiscal health moving forward and financial policy updates can help make that happen. The objective in updating the financial policies is to develop a strategic long-term t approach to achieving fiscal health.Each of the policies should be meeting one or two of the following goals: t • Minimize the cost of government and reduce financial risk City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 7 • Maintain appropriate financial capacity for present and future needs • Ensure the legal use of financial resources through an effective system of internal controls There are 9 financial policies that the Government Finance Officers Association(GFOA) lists as essential or highly advisable. The City's present financial management policies only cover three pages, some conflict with current practices,are out of date, or ambiguously worded. The new policies are more robust and a lot easier to understand. Ms. Lewis reviewed the Reserve Policy.Although she is mainly talking about General Fund reserves, if the Council decides to adopt the Reserve Policy, staff will also be trying to establish these Reserve categories in other operating funds.The primary goal of this policy is to categorize reserves in order to help the City and bond rating agencies identify different financial priorities and determine if there is enough or not enough allocated to those different priorities. Our current City policy states "the City will maintain adequate cash reserves in both Contingency and Working Capital", but is not clear what that means.For the General Fund,the working capital needs to cover five months cash flow. For the General Fund,there is a revenue gap between July and when we receive the predominant amount of property tax revenues at the end of November and December. Staff is suggesting a higher contingency amount, up to 3%,which would cover roughly 7 days of normal General Fund activities in the event of an emergency. That would be just under twice the current amount. Councilor VanGordon asked how far our working capital drops during the period between July and November. Mr.Duey said it is close to about$900,000 between revenue coming in and our expenses going out. Councilor Ralston asked for the definition of working capital. Mr.Duey said it is mostly personnel. Mr. Grimaldi said there is a balance in the General Fund that can be put into these categories. Ms.Lewis said they were hoping to categorize the funds to make sure they have enough funds for the City's priorities. Mr.Duey said the figure they are coming up with may actually be less than what we are currently carrying. Ms.Lewis said the third category is the Revenue or Rate Stabilization. This is meant to cover unanticipated fluctuations in revenues or expenses.For the General Fund, it is revenue stabilization. Projections are made early in the budget cycle on property tax increases for the next several years. The revenue stabilization being suggested is a 1%difference in our projections versus the actuals we receive. That is meant to be over three years.For the General Fund revenue stabilization amount, staff is suggesting a$1M set aside to cover the potential shifts between our projections and actual amounts. Mr. Duey provided an example with property taxes. This type of fund could help the City get through those gaps and projections that are lower than expected. It can also help keep rate changes remain more steady rather than going up and down. i City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 8 Ms. Lewis said the remaining balance is represented by unrestricted reserves. Those fund are set aside for program development and unmet needs. Other funds have different circumstances, so categorization ensures that financial priorities are met. Mr. Duey said a good example of unrestricted revenues for the General Fund is looking at what is coming in the next three years that doesn't fit into the other categories. The Fire Levy is one example of something they are looking at moving into the General Fund over the next few years. Ms.Lewis said other parts of the Reserve Policy include how we will build up the reserves initially, how we re-establish the reserves once used, etc. Councilor VanGordon asked what kind of discussions had been held about the replenishment plan and how funds would be added back. ' Ms. Lewis said the replenishment policy they have discussed involves using one-time dollars to set up those amounts.Planning fees have been well above what was anticipated. Those extra dollars would be set aside to build up a reserve. Councilor VanGordon asked how the Council would know that is occurring. Mr. Duey said they would have line items and it would come to the Budget Committee for discussion. Mr. Grimaldi said in the past, it was difficult to show the contingencies. Having these policies in place will allow them to see them more clearly. "r Councilor VanGordon said it would be helpful to have it more distinct and brought to their attention. Councilor Wylie asked if things like equipment reserves per department would still remain separate. Mr. Duey said they are in a restricted reserve fund,which is an internal service fund managed by Finance. There are also restricted funds for particular capital projects. These won't interfere with those restricted funds. One of the projects staff will be undertaking is to look at those funds to make sure they are adequate. They will be kept separate from these four categories.Another advantage in having these types of policies in place is for bond rating. Staff is discussing the first three policies tonight,and will bring the other six policies to Council in the future,three at a time. I Mayor Lundberg said it will be simpler as long as they have clear definitions. The amount needed for each category, such as working capital, is easy to understand when presented with the amount needed to see us through a certain period of time.Rate stabilization is not as clear. Ms. Lewis said for rate stabilization, staff would explain how they get to a certain number by looking at projections compared to reality. Mr.Duey said their plan is to be consistent from year to year of what's normally used for a formula. He noted that compression is more of an issue. They need to consider adding something in their formula that not only addresses property taxes, but the effect of compression on our revenues. Councilor Moore asked about volatile funds and what factors were included when looking at how to fund the reserves. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 9 Mr. Duey said different funds have different volatile actions. They will look at each fund individually. Ms. Lewis spoke regarding the Revenue Policy. She said the current Revenue Policy says that the City will decrease dependence on property taxes,which hasn't been done. The concept of equitable funding is that services having a citywide benefit are financed with revenue sources generated from a broad base,and services where the customer determines the use are financed with user fees related to the level of service provided. She provided an example of a user-only service, such as a remodel. The purpose is to relieve the strain on the property taxes for services that only benefit a handful. Councilor Woodrow said in this scenario, it would appear a gas tax would fall into the equitable funding for street repair. Ms. Lewis said equitable funding is about the proportion of the revenue sources are paying for a particular service.The other piece is revenue diversification. The goal of revenue diversification is to maintain a good balance of revenue sources.Currently,the General Fund's three largest revenues are property taxes, internal charges, and in-lieu-of tax fees. These represent over three-quarters of the total revenues coming into the City. In order to reduce dependency on property taxes and diversify the revenue base,they could look at how to increase other portions of the fund.The City has the most control over fees for services, franchise fees,building code related fees, fire code related fees, and business licenses.Looking forward, it's important to plan the revenue areas the City hopes to provide a greater percentage of revenue, and recognize areas where percentages will decrease. She provided an example.Using the concepts of both revenue diversification and equitable financing,property taxes can be allocated more to citywide services as other revenues support more individual based services. Councilor Ralston said the only way to lower dependency on property taxes is to raise fees on everything else. That leads to those who say it is more expensive to build in Springfield. Mr.Duey said it is a balancing act in looking at revenues and expenditures. The job is figuring out the balance between what services should cost less and which services can generate more revenue. Mayor Lundberg said when someone does a remodel,they are increasing the value of their home, which increases the property tax. She would assume that 75%of the 6% increase between 2015-2016 was personnel costs.Part of what they need to do is decrease the cost of government. If they are going to raise fees,they need to offer enough to make it worthwhile. We are always trying to decrease those costs, such as saving money on our health insurance.If we are growing 6%in costs every year,yet it is not all from personnel,where is that increase coming from and is there a way to reduce or control that increase?That is something to keep in mind. Councilor Wylie asked if we knew the PERS increase in the coming year. Mr. Duey said there was no increase on July 1,2016, but there would be an increase on July 1,2017 of approximately$500,000. They lowered the PERS rate for the current two-year period due to the legislative action,but because it was overturned,we have to pay back the reduction plus increase moving forward. It is been built into the projections for the next few years. Councilor Wylie asked about an automobile tax compared with a vehicle registration tax. She asked if any cities were doing an automobile tax. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 10 Mr. Duey said different states do different ways. Some states set the license fee on the value of the vehicle.He doesn't know of any city in Oregon implementing that tax.He is not sure if cities can do that. Council was generally not in support of considering that tax. Councilor Moore said the efficiencies are going to make the difference. She gave examples in some of the City's departments where efficiencies through technology have been implemented. Mr. Duey said Springfield has been a lean service level city for many years. Since 2009,the City has lost between 60-70 employees,adding about 20 into the Jail. The efficiencies they are finding now just allow services to be provided that we have not been able to do,not necessarily to add new projects. We are at a point where it is difficult to see ways to reduce staff more.About 70%of the General Fund is from property taxes,and about 75%of General Fund is public safety. Councilor VanGordon said he agreed with Councilor Moore. He is waiting to see how all of these will tie together to create a long-term strategy that will improve our fiscal health. Some of it is structural and some is efficiencies. Structurally we are looking to find a way to change our revenue picture by the $800,000-$1M.The challenge is that costs are growing faster than our revenues. Mr.Duey said the General Fund property taxes are growing two to three percent a year, and costs are growing about five percent.They are looking at how to close that gap for the next two to four years in the future. Councilor VanGordon said it will be a multi-year process,but will be well worth it. Mayor Lundberg said they are in agreement that they need to find that balance through policy direction. Councilor Moore said this is a way of redefining how they look at funds,rather than how to decrease or increase. Mr. Duey said they are looking now for establishing targets. Councilor Moore said she hears of cities that go bankrupt and she wonders how that happens. Mr. Duey keeps the Council well informed and aware of our funds. Mr.Duey said 2007-2008 was the healthiest the City's budget has been since he has worked here,and then the recession hit.Many of the goals from 2007-2008 were put on hold in order to weather the recession.We are now trying to come out of the recession. The City of Eugene got out of the recession a couple of years ahead of Springfield.Now that we are working our way out of the recession,this is our chance to look at a longer path of where we want to go. Mayor Lundberg said the Council needs to give policy direction to staff. We have had an affordable housing target,but not a high-end housing target and they pay more property taxes. She also noted some challenges with businesses and growing that tax base. One way to increase our revenues is to increase our property tax base, and commercial is a good way to do that. Ms.Lewis discussed the Accounting,Auditing and Financial Reporting Policy. The update is to make it more robust and to include obtaining the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence for Financial City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 14,2016 Page 11 Reporting.The City receives this consistently, but by putting it on the policy,we can be consistent for the long-term.From Council direction,they have discussed the fund structure. Mr.Duey said they have cut 12 funds,making it more transparent and simplified.He provided an example. Ms. Lewis said staff will continue to review existing policies,revise and incorporate best practices, clarify and improve, and implement revised policies. Council directed staff to bring the three policies presented tonight to the regular meeting for adoption. They thanked staff for all of their hard work. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Minutes Recorder—Amy Sowa Christine L.Lundberg Mayor Attest: Amy So City Recorder