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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/03/2005 Regular . City of Springfield Regular Meeting MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY OCTOBER 3, 2005 The City of Springfield council met in regular session in the Council Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, October 3,2005, at 7:00 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Woodrow, Ballew, Fitch, and Lundberg. Also present were City Manager Mike Kelly, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilors Ralston and Pishioneri were absent (excused). PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Leiken. SPRINGFIELD UPBEAT . 1. Presentation to Springfield Fire and Life Safety. Chief Murphy discussed the importance of controlling and stopping a fire before there is great loss of property. He said that along with loss of property often goes loss of jobs. He referred to the fire in Sutherlin that closed down the entire mill. He discussed fire prevention efforts and fire suppression. He discussed the ambulance workers who become firefighters when needed. He discussed the efforts to control the fire at Bi-Mart and that it was able to reopen after just fifty- one days; Fire Chief Dennis Murphy introduced Don Leber from the Mohawk Bi-Mart. Mr. Leber thanked the council for their time and attention. He said service organizations were often taken for granted. He said when Bi-Mart reopened their store in September following the restoration after the fire, they acknowledged the firefighters who helped to save their store. He said it was critical to keep their stores going and open. He said with their quick reaction time, Springfield firefighters suppressed the fire enough to prevent a lot of fire damage. There was only smoke damage. Employees were able to get the store cleaned and restocked in fifty-one days. None of the employees lost their jobs because they were able to get their store reopened so quickly and he commended the firefighters for their actions. He read from a plaque that he presented to Springfield's Fire and Life Safety: "Bi-Mart would like to recognize Springfield Fire and Life Safety Department for their quick response and professional manner in suppressing the fire and saving the Bi-Mart store on July 18, 2005. Our deepest gratitude for your outstanding efforts." Councilor Ballew thanked Bi-Mart for working so quickly to get their store opened. She said she loved the store. . City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 3, 2005 Page 2 . Mr. Leber said this event proved to them how important they were to the community, as they had always considered the community important to the store. He said they were fortunate to be able to reopen their pharmacy within a couple of days. CONSENT CALENDAR IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR WOODROW WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR LUNDBERG TO APPROVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 4 FOR AND 0 AGAINST (2 ABSENT - RALSTON AND PISmONERI). a. Claims --' b. Minutes a. September 12,2005 - Work Session b. September 19, 2005 - Work Session c. September 19, 2005 - Regular Meeting d. September 26, 2005 - Work Session e. September 26, 2005 - Special Regular Meeting c. Resolutions . d. Ordinances e. Other Routine Matters PUBLIC HEARINGS BUSINESS FROM THE AUDIENCE COUNCIL RESPONSE CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS 1. Correspondence from David Calderwood, 28104 Spencer Creek Road, Eugene, OR Regarding the Lane County Ordinance 19-04 for Work Session September 26 (Note: This item is actually scheduled for Council's October 10,2005 Work Session.) 2. Correspondence from David Calderwood, 28104 Spencer Creek Road, Eugene, OR . Regarding Mandatory Rabies Reporting. IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR WOODROW WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR LUNDBERG TO ACCEPT THE CORRESPONDENCE FOR FILING. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 4 FOR AND 0 AGAINST (2 ABSENT - RALSTON AND PISmONERI). BIDS . ORDINANCES City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 3, 2005 Page 3 . BUSINESS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL 1. Committee Appointments a. Springfield Justice Center - Confirm Appointments for the Citizen Advisory Committee (CAe). Project Assistant Susanna Julber presented the staff report on this item. The City Council conducted interviews with the applicants for the Justice Center CAC on September 26, and chose five citizens to serve on the committee. As part of the planning for the Springfield Justice Center, the CAC will provide input throughout the design process in regard to the outward design of the facility and its relationship to downtown Springfield. The city received thirteen applications for the Justice Center CAC, and the council interviewed ten people. Two applicants dropped out of the process, and one applicant did not come to the interviews. There are five vacancies on the CAC. Following the interviews with CAC applicants on September 26, the council conducted deliberations and tentatively chose five applicants. However, council directed staff to wait to notify CAC applicants until a project architect was chosen. A project architect is expected to be chosen on October 3, pending reference checks. . Discussion was held regarding why the names of the five were not listed in the agenda packet. There had been a question about one of the applicants pending the selection ofthe architect. IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR WOODROW WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR LUNDBERG TO APPOINT JIM ECKMAN, ELDON SmELDS, MAREN TOMBLIN, JOHN TUTTLE, AND SCOTT OLSON TO THE JUSTICE CENTER CITIZEN ADVISORY COMMITTEE. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 4 FOR AND 0 AGAINST (2 ABSENT - RALSTON AND PISmONERI) 2. Business from Council a. Committee Reports 1 ~ Councilor Woodrow reported on the City/County Public Safety Task Force. He said Commissioner Stewart brought forward a proposal for a sales tax dedicated to public safety and removing the funding for public safety out of the County General Fund and into this dedicated fund. The tax would exclude medicine, groceries and motel tax. If it included funding for the Springfield Jail, Councilor Woodrow would strongly recommend council put forth a resolution in support. If it did not, council should discuss it further. . Councilor Lundberg said the proposal currently included the recommendation for the $2M for the Springfield Jail. Eugene did not vote in support of the proposed measure and wanted more information regarding the operations. The proposed measure City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 3, 2005 Page 4 . included a commitment to fifty beds for county use and fifty beds exclusively for Springfield. Many details still needed to be worked out. She said Springfield Police Chief Smith, Eugene Police Chief Lehner and Lane County Sheriff Burger would be working out the details regarding operations. It was still unknown whether or not the County Commissioners would enact this on their own or if it would be referred directly to the voters. Councilor Ballew said a sales tax was a good idea, but Springfield didn't even know who was in business in Springfield. Exercising a sales tax may be difficult. Councilor Fitch said she agreed. Payroll taxes were mentioned and that was currently in place and in use. A sales tax had been voted down by voters in Oregon over and over. Payroll taxes were already in place. She said weighing public safety and the Justice Center against a few cents of a payroll tax would be better. Councilor Lundberg said there was a survey and one of the taxes that was palatable was the sales tax. Part of the proposal included a reduction in property taxes by $1 per $1000 in lieu of changing to the sales tax. There could be the potential for savings for some people. She agreed the mechanism may not be there. The other tax that had support was a gross receipts tax, which had similar issues as a sales tax. The proposal was to the commissioners as a recommendation. She referred to Ron Chastain who had expertise in this area. . Councilor Woodrow said the proposal included a one percent sales tax for three years. After three years, it would go back to the voters as a permanent tax. It could not be increased above one percent without a vote. He agreed that it was difficult to implement without a business registry. Other committee members suggested Springfield implement a business registry. Ifthe County Commissioners go forward with the proposal, more information would be given to the council. Mr. Kelly said the task force of Chief Smith, Chief Lehner and Sheriff Burger would need to bring back the detailed information regarding jail operations to the County Commissioners so they could consider it for a first reading by October 18th or 19th. This would allow time for an initiative petition to be filed in time to put it on the May 2006 ballot. There was not a lot of time. He discussed the split of how many jail beds Springfield would allow other cities to use. and how many would be solely reserved for Springfield. The task force would look at what would work out financially and equitably and consider sentencing guidelines and the types of prisoners it may house. Mr. Kelly said he instructed the task force to do the best they could do and give it serious attention. Councilor Woodrow said the suggestion to the commissioners was to enact this without taking it to a vote. The timeframe Mr. Kelly discussed would allow time for the measure to be referred to the voters and still be on the May ballot. Councilor Ballew asked for clarification of what they would vote on in May. . Councilor Woodrow said the proposal for a one percent sales tax dedicated to publicsafety would be the issue on the May 2006 ballot. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 3, 2005 Page 5 . Councilor Ballew said there had not been a lot of support for the county in past elections. Councilor Lundberg said if the county measure failed on the May ballot, the city could still draft something specifically for the November ballot. Springfield and Eugene will both have other measures on the November ballot and did not want the county measure to be a competing measure at that time. Mr. Kelly said unless the county measure passed in May, Springfield would need to put something on the November ballot. Mr. Kelly said his view on this measure was that citizens could be concerned that the tax would be increased if presented as a temporary tax. If the county referred the measure, he felt they should make it a Charter amendment so it was firm. Councilor Lundberg said the committee was made up of twelve members from around the county. She said for the most part, everyone got along and came up with a solution that most agreed upon. She said it was not a bad exercise in many ways. There was a lot of compromise. Mayor Leiken acknowledged County Commissioner Faye Stewart for his efforts. Councilor Fitch thanked both Springfield councilors who served. . Mayor Leiken said as different proposals for the jail were drafted, it would be important to remember that the citizens voted for a one hundred bed jail. He suggested holding town hall meetings to hear from the citizens on whether or not they approved of the proposal. He thanked Councilors Lundberg and Woodrow for their service on this committee. 2. Councilor Fitch reported on the Pacific Program she would be attending on October 6, 7 and 8. It would be an alumni program on Collaborative Leadership. She said Commissioner Stewart would be attending the week long program, so she hoped to have an opportunity to see him at the dinner on Thursday night. She said she would report on this conference at the next council meeting. 3. Mayor Leiken said he was Bobby Green's fill-in for the all area's transportation meeting. Commissioner Stewart also attended. He discussed the projects that were helpful to Springfield, such as the I-5/Beltline interchange and the I-5/Franklin proposed interchanges. b. Other Business 1. Japanese American Art Memorial. . Mayor Leiken discussed this item. The City Recorder noted that the Mayor had been asked to give a quote or letter in support of this project. Mayor Leiken said it was still unclear to him what exactly they wanted and why. The project was being done in Eugene. He said he wanted perspective from the council. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 3, 2005 Page 6 . Council discussed this issue. It was an important memorial, but it was unclear what they were wanting. Council directed the City Recorder to get more information regarding the organization asking for the support. The Mayor suggested contacting Nancy Smith from Smith Family Bookstore for that information. 2. League of Oregon Cities Conference - Voting Delegate Designation. The League of Oregon Cities (LOC) Annual Conference will be held on November 10- 12, 2005 in Eugene. Council needs to appoint a delegate and an alternate who are mandated to attend. Other councilors are welcome to attend as well. IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR WOODROW WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR BALLEW TO APPOINT THE MAYOR AS THE VOTING DELEGATE. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 4 FOR AND 0 AGAINST (2 ABSENT - RALSTON AND PISHIONERI) BUSINESS FROM THE CITY MANAGER 1. Springfield Justice Center - Recommended Architect. . The city received seven proposals in response to the Request for Proposals for the Springfield Justice Center. The selection committee, comprised of two City Councilors (non-voting members), one Planning Commissioner, two Police Department representatives, one City Prosecutor representative, one Courts representative, two representatives from the Citizens Advisory Committee (who are already appointed to the CAC because of their involvement on the Police Planning Task Force), the Assistant City Manager, the Project Manager, the Assistant Project Manager, and the City's Justice Programming Consultant reviewed the proposals on September 14, and decided to interview five firms. The selection committee conducted interviews with the five architectural firms on September 27. There was consensus from the group as to the top-ranked firms. Staff is conducting reference checks and will provide council with a recommendation at the October 3 meeting. Ms. Knapel said she was here for council direction on negotiation of a contract with an architectural firm to design the Justice Center project. She explained the RFP process and how the selection committee came to make a recommendation. The selection committee unanimously selected the firm of Robinson and Sherwood to recommend to the council for negotiation of the contract. IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR WOODROW WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR LUNDBERG TO ACCEPT NEGOTIATION OF CONTRACT TO ROBINSON AND SHERWOOD ARCHITECTURAL FIRM. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 4 FOR AND 0 AGAINST (2 ABSENT -RALSTON AND PISHIONERI). . BUSINESS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 3, 2005 Page 7 . ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:34 p.m. Minutes Recorder Amy Sowa (' ( ~:::P Mayor Attest: City~~ . . --.