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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/22/2008 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2008 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Tuesday, January 22,2008 at 6:03 p.m., with Council President Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Councilors Lundberg, Wylie, Ballew, Ralston, Woodrow, and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Attorney Matt Cox, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Mayor Leiken absent (excused). 1. 2008 Proiect Homeless Connect for Lane County (PHC). Housing Manager Kevin Ko presented the staff report on this item. The 2008 Project Homeless Connect for Lane County (PHC) event will be taking place at the Lane Events Center on Thursday, February 7, 2008. The first PHC event for our area was held a year ago, and exceeded all expectations by providing services for over 1000 homeless and at-risk persons. With the success oflast year's event, organizers are expecting a larger turnout this year. A few of the many services that will be provided at the PHC event this year include food, haircuts, bicycle repair, medical and dental services, homeless services, benefits and Veterans' Administration services. Mayor Leiken is an Honorary Chairperson for this year's event, along with Mayor Piercy of Eugene and County Commissioner Stewart. The City of Springfield is contributing staff and CDBG financial assistance to this event. Housing Programs Specialist Kevin Ko is the Logistics Coordinator for PHC, and he is responsible for setting up the facility to accommodate the numerous agencies, services, guests and volunteers that are expected. Kevin is also responsible for setting up and managing the bicycle repair and exchange area. New for this year, reconditioned bicycles will be available for exchange if a guest has a bicycle that is broken or beyond repair. Local bike shops are participating by collecting donated bicycles and reconditioning them at their expense. Please see attachment 2 for more information about this service. The Springfield Library will be contributing good quality used paperback books and children's books to the event. These will be available free to homeless and at-risk guests, and will surely help to brighten the spirits of those who attend this event. Last year, over 300 community volunteers helped with Project Homeless Connect. We anticipate the need for 450+ volunteers for the 2008 PHC event. The success of this year's event will depend on the recruiting enough volunteers to meet the demand. Please refer to Attachment 3 for information about how to volunteer for the event, and other ways that the community can help make the 2008 event a success. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 22, 2008 Page 2 Mr. Ko said volunteers were still needed for this event. He discussed the many services available for those in need during this event. ' Councilor Ralston asked about funding from Springfield. Mr. Ko said the City contributed $2500 from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) . funds as an administrative action. He explained why it came before Council last year. Councilor Ralston asked that Council approve it if this was going to be the standard donation each year. Councilor Ballew asked how the homeless were being notified of the event. Mr. Ko explained some of the notifications and said the outreach was done by one ofthe other agencies. Councilor Pishioneri said he attended last year and it was very rewarding. He discussed some of the services provided. He said he would be attending again this year and could try to get additional volunteers. He fully supported the financial support from the City. There were nearly 600 children from Springfield that were homeless based on last year's count. The City had an obligation to minimize that. Good job to all involved. Councilor Lundberg asked if the School District and Willamalane were involved. Mr. Ko said the Springfield School District was involved, but he wasn't sure about Willamalane. Councilor Lundberg asked for brochures or posters that could be posted at her worksite. Mr. Ko said he would bring over some posters for CounCil before they left for the evening. 2. Plan for the Investigation ofthe Use of Deadly Force by Police Officers. Police Chief Jerry Smith presented the staff report on this item. Chief Smith introduced District Attorney Doug Harcleroad, Lane County Sheriff Russ Burger and Oregon State Lieutenant Mike Bloom who were present in the audience. Senate Bill 111 passed by the 2007 Legislative Session requires that each county adopt a plan for the investigative response to "officer involved shootings." The legislation prescribes the constituency of the Planning Authority, specific elements that must be included in the plan and requires that the plan be completed and approved by two thirds of the governing bodies in the county. The plan must also be approved by the Attorney General after the Councils approve the plan on or before July 1,2008. A public hearing was conducted by Lane County District Attorney Doug Harcleroad on December 17, 2007 at Harris Hall. The plan as constructed will have no impact upon the process used by the City of Springfield Police Department with respect to the investigation of officer involved shootings. Springfield has requested an outside investigation of these incidents as a matter of practice. Mental health, City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 22, 2008 Page 3 debriefings and other elements in the plan are consistent with the practices employed by the City of Springfield. Chief Smith noted that this plan did not change anything the Springfield Police currently did in these situations. He discussed the plan further. The plan and statute required a public education component. Work was underway to increase that component from the current practice. Councilor Ballew said not all cities in Lane County were on the signature page of the plan. She asked if some cities did not have a Police Department. Chief Smith said that was correct. Councilor Woodrow congratulated all those involved in preparing this plan. Councilor Pishioneri said he had read through this plan several times and had provided comments to the Planning Authority. He agreed that the process was still the same, but the plan provided a written document for the public to see. Councilor Wylie said she too had read it thoroughly and felt it was good work. 3. Fee and Charges Work Session. Budget Officer Bob Brew presented the staff report on this item. The City of Springfield imposes a variety of discretionary fees and charges on Springfield citizens and on those wishing to do business within the City limits. Council directed staff to present general information on theses charges with special emphasis on cost recovery efforts. Income from the City's various fees and charges are an important part of the revenue stream needed to operate the City. The cost of providing the services associated with some of these fees and charges is easily determined. For other charges, it is more difficult. For several years, City staff have worked on developing a cost-recovery model for land use activities. The City now recovers a significantly higher proportion of its costs on these types of permit fees. The City's schedules of fees and charges are brought before Council at least once per year. A draft calendar of this process is attached. Mr. Brew explained some of the fees and how they were affected by State or Federal rules. He explained cost recovery models. He said currently the City was at about 70 percent cost recovery for FY07. The target was about 75 percent. He explained how that percentage could vary. Councilor Ballew said if our fees seemed high, it could be because other jurisdictions hadn't yet taken advantage of their fees. She referred to new electronic timecards and asked if that helped with cost recovery. Mr. Duey said the same level of detail and amount of records were still maintained. Phase 1 was intended to make it easier for employees to track their time for general activities. They had not City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 22, 2008 Page 4 yet gone to the level of requesting that cost recovery be reached with the timecards. The amount of work it would take on a daily basis by staff to do that would be extensive. Councilor Ballew asked if staff could do quarterly or annual check on cost recovery for that system. Mr. Duey said they could try to do that on a periodic basis. The electronic entry was to make it easier for the staff entering their time. Councilor Ballew expressed concern that we were only recovering fifty-five percent in other areas. Councilor Pishioneri referred to PeopleSoft and the programs available on that system. He gave an example. Mr. Duey said the City used the County PeopleSoft program. Public Works used it for details such as project costs. Each department used the level of detail to suit their work situation. Councilor Pishioneri noted the feature on PeopleSoft that could be used on projects for multiple departments. Mr. Duey said they would work with Development Services to see what level they could use in that program. Councilor Ballew asked about reference to a three percent annual increase in fees and if Mr. Duey was reluctant to do that. Mr. Duey said he was not reluctant to implement that increase. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:26 pm. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa . ~' \'>'b . ~ '} :~-;;r '~'/ ~ Attest: ~kwtL Amy So City Re rder