HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/01/2006 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, MAY 1,2006
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225
Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, May 1, 2006 at 6:08 p.m., with Mayor Leiken
presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Fitch, Ballew, Lundberg, Ralston, Woodrow and
Pishioneri. Also present were Assistant City Manager Cynthia Pappas, City Attorney Joe Leahy,
City Recorder Amy Sowa and members ofthe staff.
I. Glenwood Fire Service Contract.
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Finance Director Bob Duey presented the staff report on this item. The City staff and the
Glenwood Water District Board have been in extended discussions concerning a new contract for
fIre and emergency services. A tentative agreement has been reached in the negotiations with the
Board Chair and the Glenwood Board is currently reviewing the proposal. Staff is
recommending that the Council authorize the City Manager to sign the proposed contract and
submit it to the Glenwood Board prior to their next regularly scheduled meeting.
In FY04, the City Council authorized updated fire and emergency services contracts with the
Willakenzie Fire District, the Rainbow Water District and tb,e Glenwood Water District
(Glenwood). The Willakenzie and Rainbow contracts have been in force since that time.
Glenwood took no action for just over 18 months and then since that time have remitted all
payments for services in a timely manner under the provisions of the previous contract. The City
has continued to bill Glenwood during this period under the provisions of the new contract. The
difference amounts to approximately $17,000 annually (equaling the 12% out-of-city charge that
Council requested to be included in all fire and emergency service contracts).
The contract as proposed includes concessions by both agencies. Staff is recommending that the
proposed contract's effective date is July 1,2005. The cost of fire services for FY03/04 and
FY04/05 would be considered under the previous contract terms and no additional funds would
be owed for those two years. Staff removed any reference to j oint capital proj ect funding. Staff
has also developed a formula within the pricing mechanics that recognizes and addresses the
effects of tax increment fmancing for the Glenwood Urban Renewal District on the taxing
structure of Glenwood. The proposed contract does include the inclusion of the 12% out-of-city
charge for the current and future years.
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. The Chair of the Glenwood Board has indicated that Glenwood will be approaching the SEDA
Board to ask for their support in having a future SUB water project in Glenwood, for which the
water district would be cost-sharing, declared an eligible project for SEDA funding. The
Glenwood Board may view this action as necessary for contract approval. The City staff
believes that these two issues are separate at this time.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
May 1, 2006
Page 2
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Mr. Duey said staff tried to keep the contract in sync with the other two Water Districts so it was
equitable among all three. He noted the differences between this contract and the contracts with
Rainbow Water District and Willakenzie Fire District. He discussed the terms in this contract to
make cost sharing between all three districts fair. He said this contract would be in front of the
Glenwood Water District Board during their May meeting. He noted that this would be brought
up to Council during the Regular Meeting for consideration and possible approval.
Councilor Ralston asked about the rates being frozen in regards to the Urban Renewal District.
Mr. Duey explained how the rate would be computed due to the inability to collect the additional
tax funds in Glenwood.
Councilor Ralston asked if this would prevent increasing the fees in the future.
Mr. Duey said the dollar value of the contract would change based on the cost of the service. It
was the ability of Glenwood Water District to raise that dollar amount based on the decrease in
taxes going to them because of the Urban Renewal District.
Councilor Pishioneri asked about the impact of this if property in the area sharply increased in
value.
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Mr. Duey said it would depend. If the value was through development, chances were the
development would be incorporated into the City and would no longer be in the district. The
property that remained unincorporated could increase in value based on surrounding
development.
Councilor Pishioneri asked how the worse case scenario would impact the City.
Mr. Duey said there was not much of a down side. He said the revenue being lost by the City
directly would still go into the Glenwood area for Urban Renewal. The money and resources
would still be acquired by one ofthe agencies the City was involved in and would be available
for projects and activities. He said there could be a small General Fund reduction.
Ms. Pappas said the downside was the length of time and amount of negotiations that took place
regarding this contract. More staff time was involved than should have occurred. Council could
determine that this action expired at a date certain if Glenwood Water District did not sign.
Councilor Ballew said the normal three percent tax gain would go to SEDA if no development
went on in Glenwood, yet over time the City's expenses for fire services would increase. The
worse scenario would be no development in Glenwood. Any major development would be
annexed into the City and the District would lose that revenue.
Mr. Duey said the overall cost of the fire service contact could not change, but service costs
could increase. The cost of the contract itself could increase each year, but the City would only
lose the frozen value.
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Councilor Ballew expressed concerns about the rate being frozen and the impact on the revenue
the City could collect.
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
May I, 2006
Page 3
Mr. Duey said the rate could go up from year to year. There was room to adjust.
Councilor Ballew said Glenwood didn't have too many options for fire service, so they needed to
make a decision.
Mr. Duey said they were fairly close on the contract. He said the SEDA Board would probably
hear from the Glenwood Water Board soon about the potential for some common projects.
Councilor Fitch said she would like it put to a vote with acceptance prior to the end of May.
Mayor Leiken asked Chief Murphy how much money the City would lose if the other two
districts the City contracts with for fire service chose to take 18 months to negotiate their
contracts.
Chief Murphy said Mr. Duey was the lead negotiator on the [mancial portion and Chief Murphy
was the lead negotiator regarding the service delivery. All three districts had never argued that
they had not received proper services.
Mr. Duey said Rainbow's twelve percent equates to about $80,000 a year and Willakanzie's was
just over $25,000 per year. Glenwood's twelve percent was about $75,000.
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Mayor Leiken asked about the deficit our Fire and Life Safety was facing.
Mr. Duey said it was a few hundred thousand dollars.
Mayor Leiken agreed with the suggestion to go forward with a vote on this contract during the
Regular Meeting. This would be discussed during Business from the City Manager to allow
testimony from people during Business from the Audience.
2. Request for a Permit to Work Outside the Hours of7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on a Portion of the
Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway Proiect.
City Engineer Ken V ogeney presented the staff report on this item. Delta Construction Co. is
under contract with Lane County to construct the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. One provision
of that contract is that the contractor must comply with City ordinances, including the Noise
Ordinance (Section 5.220 of the Springfield Municipal Code), which limits noise from
construction activities to the hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A variance has previously been approved for sawcutting throughout the project. This work hour
extension request will not effect that variance, though sawcutting may extend longer into the
evenmg.
The Contractor has requested extended work hours of7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for a portion ofthe project
including the intersection at Hayden Bridge Way, and the portion of new roadway protected by
the new sound wall.
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
May 1, 2006
Page 4
The Contractor's request will help ensure that they can complete the intersection construction
within the 120-day time limit in the contract, and hopefully sooner. Under the current work
hours, when making significant concrete pours, the contractor must stop placing concrete by
about 4:00 p.m. (about 9 hours of work). If the contractor is able to extend the work hours until
8:00 p.m., concrete placement could continue until 6:00 p.m. This effectively allo~s for about
22% more work on those days of concrete pours. During the extended hours (after 6:00 pm) work
covered by this variance will most likely consist of clean-up, fInishing the concrete surface,
cle~ng and moving equipment and materials around the work area. The most noticeable sound
will likely be backup alarms.
The contractor originally asked for a longer work extension over the whole project and the entire
120 days. But after concerns were expressed by staff, the contractor revised the request,
clarifying that the extension will only be used for days of large concrete pours, when it has the
most benefit to the project, and be limited to the part of the project around the intersection.
Construction trucks may access the site via the old railroad grade and the portion of the parkway
protected by the new soundwall. Staff believes these revisions would limit the impact to project
neighbors, while hopefully reducing the overall project time.
There will be no financial impact from this permit. Staff supports this request.
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Mr. V ogeney said staff had been working on a notification and communication plan for this
project and all projects in this area. Question and Answer Fact Sheets would be mailed out to
everyone within a 'l1 mile radius of the projects. '
Councilor Ralston asked if the contractor had submitted several requests.
Mr. V ogeney said they had submitted a previous request for a variance up to 9:00p.m. for a
period of 120 days, but staff told the contractor they would not recommend approval to Council.
The contractor modified their request to the version that was before Council for approval.
Councilor Pishioneri said he would like to see weekly reports on any concerns and comments. If
he saw a high incident of complaints or concerns, he would want the City to suspend the permit.
He would like the neighborhood to know ahead of time that they could call the City if they felt
this extension negatively impacted their lives.
Ms. Pappas asked if Council wanted to receive the weekly updates in the Communication Packet.
Yes.
Councilor Woodrow asked about the timeline of this project and asked where the contractors
would be working.
Mr. V ogeney said the area in the intersection was the only area where the work would be done,
but the trucks driving up and down the entire corridor would be included in this variance.
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Councilor Lundberg said she had no issues, but wanted to get the word out to the neighbors. She
wanted to get this project fInished. She said she understood the timing issues when pouring
concrete. She noted complaints, not just from the noise of the equipment while work was being
conducted, but also from the noise of the workers arriving early, slamming their truck doors and
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
May 1, 2006
Page 5
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calling out to each other. She asked staff to have the contractor talk to their workers about being
considerate when arriving and leaving the job site. She said getting the project done quickly was
very important.
Councilor Fitch agreed the window of opportunity was small to get it done. She suggested that if
they did have to shut off Harlow Road/Hayden Bridge to consider something even more extended
so that closure would be for a shorter amount of time.
Mr. V ogeney noted that the original verbal request was to close the entire intersection for the
entire 120 days of construction. Staff brought that request to Council leadership, who opposed
that option. Staff had been working with the contractor to try to balance the impacts on the
residents and still allow them to meet their contractual obligations. The proposal before Council
was the result of those discussions.
Councilor Pishioneri said there was a difference between being at work and arriving at the job
site, as referred to by Councilor Lundberg. If that was a problem, the contractor could be limited
to their workers arriving at the allowed time, rather than starting to work at that time. That
would not be the best, but could be an option.
Ms. Pappas said the City would have a discussion with the contractor to talk to his workers about
being more considerate when arriving and leaving from the job site.
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Councilor Pishioneri said he just wanted them to be aware and to know that if complaints were
received, the City could change the times. He asked if this request was for part or all of the
roundabout.
Mr. Vogeney said the request was for the entire roundabout portion of the project.
Councilor Fitch asked how many days the intersection would be closed.
Mr. V ogeney said the intersection for the east/west movements would remain open at all times,
other than flagging for construction traffic.
Mr. Rodolf also responded. He said there could be one weekend day when the whole
intersection would be closed for striping. That closure would be well coordinated and noticed.
Mayor Leiken discussed sawcutting during those hours.
Mr. V ogeney said the request for sawcutting approved by Council in the past, was for the entire
project. This request was a separate request for concrete placement.
Mayor Leiken said Contractor Lee Babb had sent a letter to him stating his appreciation for the
Springfield staff and their professionalism.
3. Local Wastewater and Drainage User Rates.
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Ravi Brooksbank from the Environmental Services Department (ESD) presented the staff report
on this item. Each year, staff brings to Council proposed user rates for local wastewater and
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
May I, 2006
Page 6
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drainage programs. These rates are established to provide adequate revenue to fund operation and
maintenance (O&M) and the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) at the City of Springfield. In
addition to these rates, the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC)
develops user rates necessary to maintain the Regional Wastewater Program (RWP).
Last year, as part of the FY 05-06 budget development, Council was presented with several local
user rate options. During review of proposed user rates for FY 05-06, Council considered the
appropriate balance of user rate and system development charge funding needed to support the
proposed budget and unmet wastewater and drainage capital funding needs of the City.
The approach ultimately taken by the Council (beginning with the FY 05-06 fiscal year) was to
approve a two year phasing plan for user rate increases in an effort to collect adequate revenues
for unmet capital needs, and simultaneously mitigate the likelihood of a large rate spike. This
involved a local wastewater and drainage user rate increase of approximately 7 percent per year
over a two year period. Regional Wastewater user rates were reviewed by MWMC during work
sessions in April and approved at a public hearing on April 20th.
The Council may direct staff to further refme the proposed user rate schedule prior to the public
hearing and possible adoption at the May 15th Council meeting. Additional information on the
local and regional user rates is provided in the attached Council Briefmg Memo included in the
agenda packet.
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. Ms. Brooksbank introduced herself to the Council and said she had been with the City only six
months. She discussed the two options presented to Council last year regarding user rates and
the regional increases. The increase in cost of steel and other building materials had caused a
larger increase than was previously planned. She discussed the increase in user rates. She
referred to Attachment A and an updated Attachment B, which was distributed to the Mayor and
Council. She discussed a chart that had been distributed, showing the Average Residential
Wastewater and SDC User Fees for other cities in Oregon. She explained the chart.
Springfield's rates were somewhere in the middle compared to other cities in Oregon.
Mayor Leiken said there was no need to compare Springfield to Eugene in this regard. He
referred to an article in the Register Guard regarding Royal Caribbean being one of ten LEEDS '
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings in Oregon. He also noted
that the new Armory would also be LEEDS certified. He said Springfield was adding
environmental protection and had more than $400M in development. He said he had discussed
that with one of the candidates for Governor, who was very surprised. He said the increases
were minimal, but added a definite service. He said he had no issue with this increase.
Councilor Lundberg asked what the original cost was for the expansion of the treatment plant.
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Environmental Services Manager Susie Smith said in 2004 dollars it was $144M, understanding
that every year an inflationary factor was projected. She discussed the projection based on the
new higher construction costs. Ms. Smith said the Facilities Plan was always dated in 2004
dollars, understanding that whatever the inflationary factor was going to hit would increase that
amount. It had to be benchmarked the year everything was processed. She said staff had always
made it clear that the project amount of$144M was in 2004 dollars, not the inflated value
projected over the twenty years.
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
May 1, 2006
Page 7
Councilor Lundberg said she would love to see Coburgjoin MWMC and charge them enough
extra to make it equitable. She said the area was growing and if other neighboring communities
could be charged, the gap would be covered. She discussed the difference between being able to
increase fees to generate revenue, but having to go out for levies to collect revenue for other
services such as police and fire. She felt that we should consider other communities joining
MWMC if it could make sense.
Councilor Pishioneri noted that Bend was removed from the chart and he asked why.
Ms. Smith said it was removed because they had different issues.
Councilor Ballew noted that it would need to be planned if additional users were added to the
system. MWMC could only discharge a certain amount with the permit currently in place. She
said nothing was simple.
Mayor Leiken asked if Portland went through legal issues due to lack of capacity. Yes.
Councilor Fitch said by doing this in increments of two years at a time and breaking it up, the
City was better able to look at those construction costs as they changed. She said it was better
doing it this way rather than a sudden increase.
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Councilor Ballew said the intent was to use user rates and borrowed money. She discussed the
balance of existing money and the borrowed money.
Councilor Pitch said it may be time to look at the SDC's again.
Councilor Ballew said that could be in the works.
Ms. Smith said the Commission just approved modifications to the methodology to enable
automatic inflationary increases and two years of catch-up. The Commission would be
reviewing a near 12 percent increase for inflation at their May meeting. If approved, it would
come to Council for consideration.
Councilor Ralston asked if the reason our rates were higher than Eugene's was that Springfield
had a higher debt service. He asked if having twice as much development in Springfield would
help reduce the time needed to payoff the debt or lower the rates.
Mr. Duey said there were too many other factors to answer that question at this time. The new
development would cause additional needs for infrastructure, etc.
Ms. Smith said the debt service payment was fixed for twenty years and was at an advantageous
rate that was very low. When more revenues were received from SDC's, that enabled the City to
fund more in the Capital Improvement Program which included many new projects. If the City
chose not to do some of the capital improvement projects, they could lower the rates.
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ADJOURNMENT
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
May 1, 2006
Page 8
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:52 pm.
Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa
idne)' '.Y. -L-eiken John Woodrow
~r Council President
Attest:
~l"WlL
City Recorder