HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/06/2006 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, FEBRUARY 6, 2006
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225
Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, February 6, 2006 at 6:02 p.m., with Mayor Leiken
presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Ballew, Lundberg, Fitch, Ralston, Woodrow, and
Pishioneri. Also present were Interim City Manager Cynthia Pappas, City Attorney Joe Leahy,
City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff.
Mayor Leiken asked Human Resources Director Bill Spiry to introduce his new guide dog.
Mr. Spiry introduced Gunner, his new guide dog. He asked that people not interact with Gunner
until he has become acclimated to his new position and duties.
I. Fire and Life Safety Fees and Charges.
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Fire Chief Dennis Murphy and Finance Director Bob Duey presented the staff report on this
item. In October and November 2005, a Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) met to
recommend options to resolve financial issues related to maintenance of current service levels in
Fire & Life Safety. The BRC recommended options to increase revenues by $636,000 annually
through a combination of raising existing fees and implementing new fees. The BRC report was
presented at a November 28 Council Work Session and again at a mid-year Budget Committee
meeting on December 6. Staffwas instructed to prepare revenue options for further Council
consideration.
The financial impact of the fees depends on which of the options Council may wish to
implement. A discussion of the type of fee and the amount of revenue estimated for each option
is included in the attachments. Fire engine response fees, federal grants, and ambulance account
services (billing) items are scheduled for a Council Work Session on February 13 and are not
included in this discussion. Attachment A shows all fees proposed.
Fire & Life Safety fees and charges options are an integral part of overall City revenues required
to balance the FY 06-07 budget.
Mr. Duey discussed the upcoming series of work sessions when staff would bring other fees to
the Council for consideration. He noted that more services were being moved to a fee-based way
offmancing due to less ability to increase tax. Tonight's discussion would focus on Fire and
Life Safety fees.
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Mr. Duey discussed the Budget Committee meeting on December 6,2005. The Budget
Committee directed staff to cut expenditures, look at raising revenue and use an appropriate level
of reserve to reduce the deficit. There were also meetings with the Fire and Life Safety Blue
Ribbon Panel where budget issues were discussed. The Blue Panel suggested using the proposed
fees for $636,000, the reduction in potential expenditure reductions with the dispatch service and
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Council Work Session Minutes
February 6, 2006
Page 2
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consider the remaining $264,000 as more of a global General Fund issue. Tonight's discussion
on Fire fees and future discussions on other fees and charges would be intertwined.
Chief Murphy referred to Attachment A, the summary of all proposed Fire and Life Safety fees
and charges. He said tonight's presentation would be short, allowing time for Council questions
and discussions. He discussed why the upcoming Fire and Life Safety Levy that would come to
the voters in November 2006 was included in the matrix of fees and charges. He said the First
Response Fee would be discussed on February 13, along with brief discussions on grants and
expanding the ambulance billing contract.
Chief Murphy referred to Attachment A, page 1 and discussed FireMed and the survey results
regarding possible increases in that fee. He said even an increase of $5 in the fee could lose the
department money because of the decrease in membership. He discussed many of those who
were current FireMed customers, including many elderly residents on fixed incomes. He
discussed the proposed increase in ambulance billing that would compliment the revenue
brought in by the increase in FireMed fees. Staff suggested raising FireMed $2 per membership
household, regardless of the size. The goal was to increase the FireMed fee slightly and also
increase membership.
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Chief Murphy discussed the next four options which were Fire Marshal activities and charges for
those activities. He noted that users could be identified for these activities and charged
accordingly for cost recovery. He said the revenue would go into the General Fund, but would
be collected from user groups. He discussed the Fire Code Compliance fees and explained how
the fees were created to charge only those that had to be revisited by the Fire Marshal for
noncompliance. The first visit by the Fire Marshal would be free. The goal was safety
compliance.
Mayor Leiken noted the difference between how the Springfield Fire Marshal handled
noncompliance issues compared to how Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
handled them. He felt the proposed fees for noncompliance were very fair.
Councilor Lundberg said recouping fees seemed appropriate. She liked the proposed Fire Code
Compliance system because it was a reward system. She said it was very helpful to have the Fire
Marshal come out to businesses and point out potential fire safety issues. She said it would give
businesses an incentive to comply.
Councilor Pishioneri asked if Fire and Life Safety had considered a home fire inspection for a
fee at the request of the homeowner.
Chief Murphy said other fire departments had done that. He said it was important to first cover
the business inspections with current staffmg levels, but would like to consider it long-term.
Discussion was held regarding a possible credit or rebate on homeowner's insurance for
successfully passing a fire inspection.
Councilor Fitch said insurance carriers often gave credits for certain things, but not for that.
Chief Murphy said staff could look into that option and would report back to Council before
anything was implemented.
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Council Work Session Minutes
February 6, 2006
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Councilor Fitch encouraged staff to put out information on ways homeowners could prevent fIres
in their home rather than going out and inspecting the homes. She discussed the possible
liability to the City if a home recently inspected by the Fire Marshal experienced a fIre.
Councilor Lundberg asked about assisted living centers that were home~based.
Fire Marshal A1 Gerard said they were not allowed to inspect adult foster care homes and apply
the Fire Code to them. He said the Fire Marshal's office was required by law to perform
consultation inspections, but were not allowed to enforce the law. The Fire Marshal's office was
not allowed to charge a fee for those inspections.
Chief Murphy said those facilities had their own incentive program through the licensing agency
for those facilities.
Councilor Ballew asked for clarification on the new Construction Square Footage Fee and the
Land Use Planning Fees.
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Chief Murphy referred to Attachment D, page 2, Section 2 - Fire Protection and Life Safety
Systems Plan Review. He said this related to commercial occupancies that put in special
systems as noted in the attachment. He said those special systems were currently being
inspected and funded by the General Fund. He said Council could determine whether or not a
fee should be charged for those special services. He discussed the advantages and disadvantages
of these fees. He discussed the New Construction Square Foot fee, which was listed in
Attachment D, page 1. He explained the purpose of that fee. He discussed the Additional Fire
Marshal Fees from Participation in Development Services Department (DSD) Planning, which
was listed on Attachment D, page 5. He said that was not something new, but might upset some
of those that would be affected. He said he contacted Roxie Cuellar from the HomeBui1ders'
Association (HBA) to see how she felt about this fee. Chief Murphy said she did not object.
Councilor Fitch asked about the number of ambulance runs.
Chief Murphy said over one half of all runs were senior citizens.
Councilor Fitch noted that the costwas not recovered on those runs because of Medicare and
Medicaid reductions. She asked if the group had considered a small increase in FireMed and
also a small deductible.
Chief Murphy said they did not look at a deductible, but that was something that may have been
understood by FireMed members.
Councilor Fitch discussed the growing number of people that would be in that senior group and
asked how the costs could go back to the large call group.
Chief Murphy said the possibility of a deductible hadn't been surveyed so they did not know the
reaction. He said the current FireMed fee was easy to understand and that was part of the
marketing. He noted the success ofFireMed in Springfield compared to others in the state. He
said it was important to survey members before any changes were made.
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Councilor Fitch said there were some who joined FireMed because it was a good thing and
others because they knew someone in their household would be using the service. She discussed
the subsidy for that population.
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Council Work Session Minutes
February 6, 2006
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Councilor Ballew said the Blue Ribbon Committee did discuss additional coverage for other
people in the household and charging for number of calls. She discussed the cost to the system if
people had no coverage at all, and that needed to be considered in looking at the FireMed
members. She said any increases or other costs associated with FireMed could be a loss of
membership and a loss of potential savings.
Councilor Fitch discussed the number of people on Medicare and the loss of revenue from that
population for the cost of the ambulance run.
Chief Murphy said Council needed to be comfortable with what was being proposed because it
would put Springfield up in the scale of what other cities were. charging. He noted the fees that
were set for the specific users. He noted the number of people that were FireMed members in
Oregon and that it had started in Springfield. He discussed Councilor Fitch's comments about
many of the FireMed members not carrying the weight of the costs and that she had a point.
Councilor Fitch said it was just something to be aware of.
Councilor Pishioneri asked what the payback would be for people that had to pay for services if
FireMed was not available.
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Chief Murphy said FireMed was originally created to allow all people access to ambulance
service. He discussed the history of FireMed. He said a FireMed member was two times more
likely to use an ambulance when they needed to than a non-member. He said according to the
consultant, the insurance reimbursement, including Medicare and Medicaid, was greater than the
cost of delivering that service out of the Fire Department that was already in place. He explained
the number of staff available for these calls. He said if the utilization dropped, the ambulance
calls dropped, but the number of fire engine calls would remain high because there was no
charge for that and no way to recover that. The General Fund system would still be working and
relieving the ambulances from a certain amount of workload which equaled money, as noted in
reports prepared in the early 1980's when FireMed was created.
Councilor Ballew asked about the ambulance rate. She said she didn't have a problem with the
figure shown if it was reflective of our actual costs.
Chief Murphy said the figure did reflect cost recovery.
Councilor Ballew asked if staff would be discussing the rest of the fees on February 13.
Chief Murphy said that was correct. Staff had allocated nearly an hour to discuss the First
Responder Fees with Council.
Councilor Ra1stonasked about decreasing expenses and asking for $100,000 from Eugene.
Chief Murphy said that was an expenditure reduction. Eugene was in their budget preparation on
the dispatch costs and Springfield was currently in dialogue with them on that issue.
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Councilor Fitch said she was supportive of the fee on the developers. She believed developers
would also support it because it was up front information on what was required. She gave an
example of information on regulations received too late.
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Council Work Session Minutes
February 6, 2006
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Ms. Pappas said staff would move forward on the proposed fees discussed this evening.
2. Mid-Year Budget Enhancement Request.
Community Services Manager Dave Puent presented the staff report on this item. The increase
in building permit and inspection activity in Springfield within the last several years has been
nothing short of astonishing. Although permit valuation reached a relatively high number for
Springfield in year 2004, it appears rather diminutive when compared to what occurred in 2005.
In 2004, the Community Services Division issued 662 structural permits with an associated
permit valuation of$68,896,6l2. In 2005, that number grew to 759 structural permits with an
assessed permit valuation of $407,723,835. Year after year the Division has been able to fmd
ways to meet the increase in service demands without a reduction in permit or inspection
services or an increase to existing staff. Many of the opportunities presented by the
implementation of innovative changes in how we conduct business no longer exist or are too
small to protect our ability to maintain the current level of permit and inspection services.
In budget year 2004-05, building services became an enterprise fund (224) and became solely
dependent on the revenue received from permit fees. The level of staffing would be directly tied
to the level of permit activity and the associated revenue generated. If revenue is not sufficient
to cover the cost of providing a certain level of services, services (staffing) would be directly
reduced. In fiscal year 2005-06, fund 224 began with a cash reserve of $768,699. Revenue
received to date through December for this fiscal year is $2,ll9,405, approximately 106 percent
of the entire fiscal year adopted budget for permit and inspections services.
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The outlook for building activity to remain strong for the next several years in our community is
extremely favorable. Adequate funding is available for the proposed FTE enhancements which
will reduce any immediate negative impact to the current level of permit and inspection services.
Mr. Puent noted the large volume of permits and other development work that had been done by
the department with only eight and a half staff. He discussed additiona11egis1ation and
regulations which had added to the work load. He discussed the changes in the Building Code
related to deferred submittals and noted ninety-nine percent were deferred submittals. Those
types of submittals were ongoing and time consuming. He discussed some additional vacancies
that caused shortages in the area of inspections, leaving no backup staff. He said there had been
eight and a half people on staff since 2000. He discussed efficiencies which had been done over
the years, but there was no longer room for additional efficiencies. He discussed twenty-four
hour inspection availability. He said staff was requesting a 1.25FTE. He described the positions
being requested.
Councilor Fitch said the cash revenue in Fund 224 was convincing and the promise that when
things slowed down, those positions would not remain. She said it was not good to stress out the
staff to the point where they could not handle the work load and get the work done in a timely
fashion. She said she was supportive as long as the number of applications was monitored and
the number of staff was warranted by those numbers.
Mr. Puent said the Building Code Fund was a dedicated fund and all permit activities were
funded by permit revenue. If permit revenue decreased, staff levels decreased.
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Councilor Pishioneri said he agreed and was very impressed with the staff and the workload they
had carried. He agreed that the need should dictate the number of staff.
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February 6, 2006
Page 6
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Councilor Ballew said she was supportive. She suggested staff prepare their reports in the future
showing more justification for adding more people. She said it should demonstrate the workload
and revenue offset.
Mayor Leiken said staff needed to also show the amount of work done by staff at home. He
noted the amount of work he knew Mr. Puent had taken home. He said that should not be
acceptable and the City should be in a position where staff should not have to take work home to
get it completed.
Council consensus was to approve the increase in FTE.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:58 pm.
Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa
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Attest:
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