HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/26/2006 Work Session
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City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2006
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225
Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, June 26,2006 at 5:33 p.m., with Council President
Woodrow presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Councilors Woodrow, Fitch, Ballew, Lundberg, and Pishioneri. Also present were
City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Cynthia Pappas, City Attorney Joe Leahy,
City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff.
Mayor Leiken and Councilor Ralston were absent (excused).
1. City Attorney Office Evaluation.
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Human Resources Director Bill Spiry presented the staff report on this item. The firm of Leahy
& Kieran received high marks recently during the annual review of its performance of the city
attorney duties which are summarized on Attachment 1. Twenty evaluations were distributed; of
those, 12 were returned indicating ratings of excellent and good. This annual evaluation
represents the first year of a three year contract which expires June 30, 2008.
Staff and the City Attorney's Office are currently in discussion regarding hours and rates for the
fiscal year 2006/07. Following those discussions, staff will be presenting a request for Council
ratification ofthe City Attorney's contract on July 17.
Mr. Spiry said staff appreciated the relationship with the City Attorney's office.
Councilor Woodrow thanked the City Attorney and staff for their professional service over the
past year.
Mr. Leahy said the City Attorneys appreciated this contract. They considered this ajob that they
loved to do and they were pleased the ratings were good and excellent. He said he always had
concerns about timing on certain issues. Sorting through the priorities sometimes meant that
some didn't get their service as quickly as possible. There was a lot going on in Springfield.
From the City Attorney's office perception calls from the City Manager's office and Council
were returned immediately. He said there were some comments regarding providing nice advice
or advice someone didn't want to hear. He said the job of the City Attorneys was to provide the
best advice they could based on analysis of the law and experience. He noted several transitions
in the City Attorney's office, including Christy Monson who was leaving their office.
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Ms. Kieran announced she was reducing her workload to three or four days a week. She said she
would be available for City work on a project basis as needed. She said it had been an amazing
effort working for the City, with some very satisfying arbitration results. She said her new
primary duties would not be for the City.
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 26, 2006
Page 2
Mr. Leahy said Ms. Kieran would be available for similar projects that she had done so well in
the past, such as major litigations and arbitrations.
Mr. Leahy said the retainer was a slight reduction reflecting last year's hours, but there was a
large increase in the last month ofthe year which could be reflected next year. He said he was
pleased with discussions with Mr. Grimaldi, Ms., Pappas, Mr. Spiry and Mr. Duey.
Councilor Ballew said Council was very pleased with the work they had done and they were all
very dear to the Council.
Mr. Leahy said those with the firm loved the City.
Councilor Fitch said the firm did a lot for the City. She asked who would be the contacts with
Ms. Kieran's transition. She asked what the next transaction would be. That would need to be
addressed down the road. Land use issues would continue to be challenging.
Mr. Leahy said in the attachment for the retainer to the City Manager's Office, he had listed the
attorney's telephone numbers and emails along with areas of responsibility for each staff
member. He said he would send that list to the Councilors. His goal would be to hire someone
else that would work in the area, depending on number of hours Ms. Kieran put in and other
factors.
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Councilor Lundberg said she had complete confidence in the firm and all of their work. She said
they not only had great abilities, but they understood Springfield, the Council and the goals. She
said she had always been pleased with everyone they had added. She referred to an ad in the
paper from the City of Eugene asking for committees to write opposing and supporting
arguments for their Voter's Pamphlet. She asked if that was legal.
Mr. Leahy said it was legal for City's to put out a Voter's Pamphlet and to provide neutral
information. As long as there was a balance of supporting and opposing views. The City of
Springfield provides a neutral document for distribution. For those that want to take a position,
the City recommends they form a Political Action Committee (PAC).
Councilor Pishioneri said the City Attorney's firm had a lot of integrity. He appreciated the
assistance he had received from the office and their respectful responsiveness. Ms. Kieran had
done a great job on land use issues and Mr. Leahy was always respectful.
Councilor Ballew asked about the State voters' pamphlet and if people got information included
in that publication merely by paying to have it included.
Mr. Leahy said that was correct.
Discussion was held regarding a City voters' pamphlet and costs involved.
Councilor Woodrow thanked Matt Cox for his service as well.
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 26, 2006
Page 3
2. City Liability Insurance Renewal.
Human Resources Director Bill Spiry and Human Resources Manager Ardis Belknap presented
the staff report on this item. The City contracts for liability, property and workers compensation
coverage on an annual basis and seeks renewal bids in anticipation of the June 30 contract
expirations. Currently the carrier for City liability insurance is Trident, Affiliated FM Insurance
Company for property coverage, and SAIF for workers compensation. The City's insurance
broker, JBL&K, has received acceptable renewal proposals for property and workers
compensation coverage, but bids for liability coverage have not yet been secured. In May of this
year, the City was notified by Trident that they would not renew coverage for the City's Law
Enforcement Liability. While only part of the City's liability coverage, Law Enforcement
Liability represents a significant area of overall risk. JBL&K has aggressively sought bids over
the past three months for Law Enforcement Liability as a separate contract and for liability
coverage including Law Enforcement Liability, with no success. Typically the City would have
bids for liability coverage secured by this point in the renewal cycle.
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Based on ongoing discussions between the City's insurance broker and the City County
Insurance System (CCIS), we do anticipate that CCIS will submit a proposal for coverage to the
City on or about June 22. In that eventthis proposal will be reviewed and staffwill be prepared
to make recommendation to Council during this briefing. However, there is some possibility that
the City may not receive a satisfactory bid to provide coverage. In the event the City either does
not receive a bid, or if the bids received do not sufficiently meet liability coverage needs of the
City, staff would recommend that the City self-insure its liability risks to ensure that the City is
sufficiently protected. Self-insurance would not be the preferred method for achieving this
protection, but in the absence of a carrier providing insurance coverage it would be necessary.
Preparation for this contingency is in progress, and it is estimated that the City would need to
establish a reserve of between $300,000 and $500,000 based on the City's history of claims. In
addition to this reserve for self-insurance, a third party administration and excess insurance
would be necessary as well as supplementary support staffing for the additional administration
involved.
Mr. Spiry introduced Ardis Belknap, Human Resources Manager, and Ron Cutter from JBL&K.
He said a bid had come in from Trident that could be plausible in part, but was not the
recommended option.
Mr. Cutter discussed the three scenarios that were considered: 1) maintain the coverage from
Trident, taking the Police Liability portion to another insurance company; 2) change to City
County Insurance Services (CCIS); or 3) become self-insured. He said he and City staff would
recommend staying with the' current carrier for property and crime insurance. He distributed a
chart showing the Premium Summary. He explained the figures on the chart. He discussed the
fee charged by JBL&K. He noted that the bid from Trident to cover everything would be
substantially higher in cost and inferior than the other options. He discussed the benefits of the
CCIS coverage.
Mr. Spiry discussed the deductible amount and said there was probably only one year the City
had exceeded $100,000.
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 26, 2006
Page 4
Mr. Cutter said that should be factored in to be conservative. He discussed the self-insured
option under Clarendon and the high costs that could mean for the City. He said there would be
less risk to the City if they went with CCIS. He discussed other costs that would be involved
with self-insurance. He said if that was the only option, it could be done, but it would be risky.
Self-insurance could be a good thing in the future, but he would recommend working up to it
rather than being forced into it. The recommendation was to go with CCIS.
Councilor Lundberg referred to page 6 in the handout and asked about Risk Management training
events. She asked how often those trainings would be and what they would involve.
Mr. Cutter said CCIS offered $15,000 for risk management training as a conditional incentive.
He explained different training opportunities such as driver simulators and other training for
police officers. The City can use the $15,000 as they choose for risk management training.
CCIS would be requiring the City to participate in Law Enforcement training events, plus other
regional risk management training events. He said there would not be a significant amount of
time involved, perhaps six to eight hours of training per quarter including travel time. CCIS was
looking for a commitment to have the partnership. He said he had told CCIS that the City of
Springfield was motivated to be involved in the trainings and take advantage of the risk
management opportunities. He said he appreciated the conditions CCIS offered and he viewed
them as an opportunity to improve the City's risk management program.
Councilor Lundberg asked why Springfield wasn't originally going to be offered this option.
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Mr.Cutter said it was due to the number of losses Springfield had experienced. CCIS saw the
loss history and wanted to make sure the City got their losses under control.
Mr. Grimaldi noted the impact a significant event in the Police Department had on our insurance
last year.
Ms. Belknap said staff just received the bids on Thursday.
Mr. Cutter said ifhe knew CCIS would give a reasonable option, staff may not have gotten
quotes from some ofthe other companies. "
Councilor Fitch said Mr. Cutter and JBL&K were a top ranked firm. She said they had gone a
long way to make sure this could happen. She asked why the City was keeping some coverage
through Trident. '
Mr. Cutter said that was only an option. Staff was recommending that all coverage would be
moved to CCIS.
Councilor Fitch asked about any change in property deductible.
Mr. Cutter said it was the same program, and the premium actually went down. They received
no bid from CCIS on property. He said if all property coverage was moved to CCIS, the City
would lose the blanket coverage. He explained.
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Councilor Fitch asked how the risk management training would be monitored.
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 26, 2006
Page 5
Ms. Belknap said a Risk Management Committee was recently formed and approved by the
Executive Session. That committee would be put into place in the next month and they would
monitor this training and make recommendations. The committee would consist of the City
Manager's Office, the Chief of Police, the Fire Chief, Public Works Director, Human Resources
Director and a non-voting member from each of the four Safety Committees. The committee
could help make recommendations and assist the departments with the time issues and how to
spend the training dollars. Staff created a claims tracking system which would give the Risk
Management Committee full information regarding the claims, the department it was from, the
root cause and other information.
Councilor Ballew asked about the auto insurance. She said it seemed high from CCIS.
Mr. Cutter suggested looking at the total figures rather than the line items. He explained what
was included in the CCIS figure for auto compared to the self-insured.
Councilor Ballew asked about the aggregate deductible.
Mr. Cutter explained.
Councilor Ballew asked about the number of hours that would be spent on the risk training.
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Mr. Cutter said it would only be one representative attending the training and then sharing the
information with the other staff during a staff meeting.
Ms. Belknap further explained. She said the $15,000 was required to be spent on training.
Councilor Pishioneri said the CCIS proposal looked attractive. He appreciated that CCIS wanted
the City to improve and was willing to provide a mechanism to do that. He clarified that the
$15,000 for training was supplementary to training provided by them as an organization. He
asked how and if that would impact Chief Smith's budget.
Mr. Spiry said it was difficult to anticipate. He said there could be some recommendations from
the training that would involve personnel time.
Councilor Lundberg asked if Council could be provided a report mid-year from the data source
staff was compiling.
Mr. Spiry said staff could provide a variety of reports to meet that need.
Councilor Fitch reminded Council that Council sets the policies, but the staff were the
professionals. She confirmed that no names or descriptions would be disclosed.
Councilor Lundberg said some of this could be policy issues and some would be budget issues.
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Ms. Belknap said normally staff did not come to Council with the insurance renewal. They
brought it this time because of the fear of having to become self-insured. She said a mid-year
recap would be beneficial to make sure staff was on track. She said whatever training was done
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 26, 2006
Page 6
to affect the City's liability would also positively affect the City's Worker's Compensation. She
explained. Overall it would be good for the City.
Councilor Ballew asked to have information on what steps were needed for the City to become
self-insured during the mid-year report.
Staff said they would provide that information.
Mr. Cutter discussed the last page of the handout regarding Worker's Compensation and staying
with State Accident and Insurance Fund (SAIF). He noted the three areas that were encompassed
in Worker's Compo
Councilor Fitch asked about reimbursement for non-disabling claims.
Ms. Belknap said they were pursuing those.
Councilor Ballew discussed criticism SAIF had received in the past.
Mr. Cutter said because SAIF was a quasi-governmental entity they were often targeted. He said
Liberty and CCIS were both good options as well. Staff felt that loss control services and risk
management services offered by SAIF were worth sticking with.
Councilor Ballew said CCIS seemed to be the best deal.
Discussion was held regarding this issue coming to Council for their decision on Tuesday, June
27.
Mr. Cutter said he could talk with Council about self-insurance at some point in the future. He
said if Council had any questions, they could contact him through Ms. Belknap or Mr. Spiry.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:25 pm.
Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa
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