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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/13/2005 Work Session . City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, JUNE 13,2005. The City of Springfield council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, June 13,2005 at 5:32 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Ballew, Ralston, Fitch, Lundberg, Woodrow and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Mike Kelly, Assistant City Manager Cynthia Pappas, City Attorney Meg Kieran, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. 1. City Manager Recruitment 2005 Update. Human Resources Director Bill Spiry presented the staff report on this item. During this briefing, the council sub-committee and Human Resource Director will provide council with an overview of work to date and discuss the projected timeline. . The firm of Bob Murray & Associates of Roseville CA has been selected to conduct the recruitment of Springfield's next City Manager. Mr. Murray is scheduled to formally begin his work with council on June 27. On that date he will meet with each councilor and the Mayor separately to gather information for profile development, to be followed that same evening with a council work session. Mr. Murray has forwarded the attached letter (included in the agenda packet) outlining the information needed to begin his work, and the requested materials are being prepared and forwarded to him. This letter also outlines the questions he will explore with members of council in this phase of the process. Based upon Mr. Murray's preliminary projections, the duration of the City Manager recruitment is anticipated to be four to five months. Posting of the position is anticipated to occur by mid- July. The contract with Bob Murray & Associates, which will provide for the scope and specific timeline associated with the process, is being prepared at this time. Mr. Spiry said Mr. Murray would be meeting with City Manager Mike Kelly on July 28 and the Executive Team later that morning. Mr. Spiry further discussed the estimated timeline of the recruitment process. Finalists could be brought to council sometime in September, followed by interviews in October and an appointment in early November. This timeline is an estimate only and could be subject to change. Councilor Fitch referred to the letter from the consultant regarding screening of the applicants and asked whether or not the subcommittee would have a chance to review all applications. Mr. Spiry said that was up to the council. Typically, the consultant would cut down the number of applicants from fifty or sixty to less than ten. Mr. Murray would explain this process during the June 27 work session. If the subcommittee or council as a whole would like to review most or all applications, they could choose to do so. He said there were reasons the consultant preferred to narrow down the number of candidates. He explained. . Councilor Lundberg said the subcommittee felt that all applications should be available for their review in the Human Resources Department. Feedback from council to the consultant would be important to allow council to provide direction. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 13, 2005 Page 2 . Councilor Ballew discussed why the subcommittee chose Mr. Murray, including the fact that he was a good listener. Councilor Fitch further discussed Mr. Murray's letter. She discussed a concern she had regarding the comment in the letter about 'convincing' someone they would want this position. Discussion was held regarding the pool of applicants the consultant could offer. Mayor Leiken said the June 27 meeting would be crucial in letting Mr. Murray know what council wanted. Councilor Ballew suggested council review the letter from Mr. Murray and consider what their comments would be to each question. This would give them an opportunity to be prepared with their comments at the June 27 meeting. Councilor Lundberg agreed. Mr. Spiry distributed Exhibit A from the Draft Murray Agreement with the City of Springfield, Scope of Services. Councilor Pishioneri asked if all the work listed on the scope of services was available for council's review, such as background checks. . Mr. Spiry said background checks were not normally available for public review and may be kept confidential. Councilor Pishioneri asked about references. Mr. Spiry said a report would probably be available in a packet format with other information by Mr. Murray to assist council in making their decision. Discussion was held regarding the difference between background checks and reference checks. Councilor Fitch asked the subcommittee about the interview process. Councilor Lundberg said the subcommittee would be looking for direction from the whole council to determine which groups would be interviewing the applicants and the style of the interview process. Discussion was held regarding various interview processes. Councilor Fitch discussed the unique position of the City Manager as the one employee that reported directly to the council. She appreciated the fact that Mr. Kelly would be meeting with Mr. Murray. He had mentored two others who had gone on to become city managers and had a lot of expertise to offer. Councilor Ballew said there would be a number of highly qualified applicants. . City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 13, 2005 Page 3 . Councilor Lundberg noted that Mr. Murray had contracted with Eugene for their City Manager search and through that process had gained a good understanding of the dynamics of Springfield and Eugene. 2. FY 06 Budget Public Hearing Update. Finance Director Bob Duey presented the staff report on this item. The Budget Committee approved and forwarded on to the City Council a recommended budget for the year beginning July 1,2005. The budget as provided in the agenda packet included the changes recommended by the Budget Committee. The budget also included recommendations by management for certain fee increases that would be reviewed by council after the beginning of the fiscal year. The work session provided council with the opportunity to review the changes and the fee increases prior to fmal adoption. . Mr. Duey referred to Attachment A, page 1 included in the agenda packet. He said the proposed budget was $213,000,000 and the approved budget listed on the attachment was $242,072,011. He said the increase in the budget was due to the nearly $26,000,000 bond measure for the justice center and the possible loan of $1.5M to the urban renewal district. He discussed the summarized actions taken by the Budget Committee to adjust the budget as proposed by the City Manager prior to its approval as listed in Attachment A included in the agenda packet. He discussed including the bond sale into the budget and why staff chose to have it included. He said staff would be coming to council on June 20 with a request for resolution to sell $4M in bonds for the justice center. This would fund the preliminary design work and preconstruction work. He noted that the $4M would not be used for construction of the jail, but for preliminary design and preconstruction for the entire facility only. Councilor Fitch asked how much of the $4M in bonds would be part of the planning of the jail. Mr. Duey said it was difficult to separate at this time because the entire facility would be designed at one time. The construction costs could be separated, but not the design costs. He explained the original resolution. Mr. Kelly said the resolution stated that it was only construction of the jail itself that would wait until funding for the operations of the jail was found. Design could begin immediately. Mr. Duey continued discussion on the summarized actions. Councilor Lundberg asked to see the summary or issue paper from the Museum showing what they would be doing with the additional funding. Councilor Woodrow said he was in favor of the public information officer (PIO) being a full- time position. He discussed the option listed in Attachment A, page 2 included in the agenda packet. . Councilor Lundberg discussed public perception if the city were to fund this position without having funding for the operation of the jail. She discussed this position's role in assisting with campaigns and that it may not look appropriate following the failure of the recent Utility Tax measure. She said she would fund the jail operations before she would fund a full-time PIO. She discussed the legislative issues and how staff handles those now. She said she came from a public relations background and knew how valuable that position was, but didn't feel the timing was right. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 13, 2005 Page 4 . Mayor Leiken said most of the public believed the Mayor was a paid position, so it was difficult to identify public perception. He said he didn't feel it was appropriate to discuss the campaign and the PIO at the same time. He noted that Springfield was the 8th largest city in Oregon and had no PIO. Every department in the city would benefit from a citywide PIO. He said it was important to filter the information on all of the upcoming development and other issues coming into Springfield and a PIO could filter that information. He gave additional reasons he felt a full- time PIO would benefit Springfield. Councilor Ballew said much of what the Mayor addressed was the job of the City Manager. She didn't feel a full-time PIO was needed at this time. Councilor Woodrow discussed his position in favor of funding a full-time PIO position. Councilor Lundberg said a PIO was a position to assist with campaigns for the city. . Mr. Kelly said this discussion was important. He responded to Councilor Lundberg's comment regarding a PIO's function in a campaign. He discussed having a point person to get out the neutral information to the citizens on city measures and the number of times the Mayor and councilors were asked to speak before groups. He gave other examples. He explained the advantage of having a PIO with the upcoming growth in our community, rather than having different staff members try to cover different issues. He discussed the other functions of a PIO, such as work with intergovernmental agencies, handling external issues and internal communications. If council was comfortable with a reactive form of responding to issues, a PIO would not be needed. He explained. He said it was a good thing to do and money well spent to have someone talk with the public about what Springfield was doing. He said he asked every department head if they would be willing to reduce another position in order to maintain this position in future years and they agreed it was that important. He asked council if they wanted staff to return with funding options to be brought back to council on June 20. Councilor Pishioneri asked about the reduction that would be needed to fund the full-time PIO position and where that would come from. Mr. Kelly discussed the options for funding they would consider rather than the General Fund. Councilor Lundberg reminded council that the Budget Committee did approve a half-time PIO position. Councilor Pishioneri said he would like Mr. Kelly to bring forward options for funding this full- time. Councilor Fitch also asked for optional funding to bring this to a full-time position. She explained her reasons she would support a full-time PIO. Councilor Lundberg and Councilor Ballew said the level of funding was for a department head or manager type position. . Councilor Ralston said he was pleased to see the D.A.R.E. Program funded, but would want it funded for the long term. He questioned the importance of a full-time PIO, but said he would support the position as long as the D.A.R.E. Program could be funded. . City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 13, 2005 Page 5 Mayor Leiken discussed the issues with the legislature. :He recommended that the PIO have a strong lobbying background. He asked about the League of Oregon Cities (LOC), the dues paid and the benefits of belonging. The city would be better served by having an internal employee working with the legislators. Mr. Kelly said staff would seek council's direction of what the position ofa PIO would entail. He discussed other functions of a pro position. He said there had been a lot of interest in this type of position from members of the community and the city over the last five years. He said he would bring forth the information council requested on funding options. Councilor Ballew asked if it would be appropriate for Mr. Kelly, who would be retiring soon, to hire a PIO. Mayor Leiken asked about Lane Metro Partnership and the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) terms, including the lottery funds from the county. He discussed the decline in lottery funds from the county. He asked where Lane County was regarding their contribution to the Lane Metro Partnership. He questioned why the cities, who were struggling financially, were being asked to continue to fund more when the county contributed less. . Mr. Kelly.'said a partnership evaluation was being done and he would be writing a letter to John Lively, Director of the Lane Metro Partnership, with input regarding the partnership this week. He asked council to provide input for that letter and noted that staff would be very candid in their evaluation. He discussed the letter received a couple of months ago from Lane Metro Partnership Director John Lively to the Mayor and Mike Kelly asking for a three-year commitment. That was not part of the discussion with the Budget Committee, but was presented as a one-year request. Mr. Kelly discussed the contract and the escape clause with notice of a set number of days. Mayor Leiken said when he served as interim Director of the Lane Metro Partnership, it was specifically to address the intergovernmental agreement with the cities of Eugene and Springfield and Lane County. Mr. Kelly said that was correct. The county continued to contribute their dues, but had not continued to allocate lottery funds to the Lane Metro Partnership. Councilor Woodrow said he recalled that the intent of the Budget Committee was to fund the Lane Metro Partnership for one year and have staff look at options for future years. Mr. Kelly said that was correct. Councilor Lundberg discussed the D.A.R.E. funding and asked for clarification on how it was to be split between the School District and the city. Mr. Duey said there were differing opinions of what occurred at the Budget Committee meeting. He explained how the city and the School District interpreted the discussion and how they worked out the funding for each agency as noted on Attachment A, page 3 included in the agenda packet. . Councilor Lundberg asked if the city's funding was contingent upon the School Board approving the School District's portion of the funding for the D.A.R.E. Program. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 13, 2005 Page 6 . That was correct. Councilor Ralston noted that Officer Gilmore had already raised $25,000 and had other fundraising events scheduled. Mr. Kelly said the School District was not sure if they would be able to fund the D.A.R.E. Program in the following year and asked that additional fund raising beyond what was already scheduled not be held to raise expectations. Councilor Fitch asked that through TEAM Springfield, a subcommittee be formed to research how successful D.A.R.E. had been and if there were other programs in place that had better outcomes with less cost. She suggested that information be brought back to the board and council by January 2006, well in advance of the budget process. Councilor Lundberg discussed the need for any program to fit into the health curriculum of the school. Councilor Ballew said there could be other cost cutting measures within the D.A.R.E. Program. Councilor Ralston agreed, but suggested councilors attend the D.A.R.E. graduations to see the impact this program had on the students. Mr. Duey discussed the EMS Fund. . Councilor Ballew expressed concern over decisions relating to large amounts of money being made by staff. Mr. Duey said everything on the list had been approved by the Budget Committee. Councilor Ballew said using General Fund money to solve the EMS Fund deficit was not a good solution. Mr. Duey said it would be a one time transfer. He said the consultant would bring other new revenue options to fund the EMS program. He said he would need further council direction to address the EMS issue. Councilor Fitch said it would be a long discussion. Mr. Duey said prior to council's summer recess, staff would bring back options for council on the last two options. Mr. Kelly said it was up to council to determine during the June 20 meeting if they would like to adopt the proposed budget regarding the EMS Fund. He discussed the use of reserves, reductions and new revenue to balance the budget. Council would be able to make a decision regarding the consultant's recommendations for funding of the EMS Program during their August meeting. . Councilor Pishioneri noted the training position that was not to be filled and if the loss of the training meant that some of the firefighters would not be in compliance regarding number of training hours. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 13, 2005 Page 7 . Fire Chief Murphy said they were in compliance, but at risk of falling behind. He said staff would come before council if they were at risk of not meeting minimum standards to seek direction. The EMS consultant would be coming forward to council on August 1,2005. Options for a balanced budget would be proposed at that time and it would be council's decision on which options to use. Councilor Ralston asked if one option would be to privatize EMS. Chief Murphy said that would be one of the options proposed. There were models in Oregon for that proposal. 3. Justice Center Programming Consultant Contract. Project Manager Carole Knapel presented the staff report on this item. There are a limited number of qualified consultant firms which can perform this specialized work. Staff proposed that the city negotiate a sole source contract with Liebert and Associates. In order for an architect to begin the design of the Justice Center, a Functional Program must be developed. This Program document will be a narrative description of all the activities, programs and services which will occur in the new facility. The most efficient adjacencies for operation and staffmg of the facility will be developed as a component of this work. The work done in functional programming is focused on the interior functions of the facility and does not limit the design options which will be developed by the project architect during the design phase. The estimated cost for this work is approximately $100,000. . In April 2005, the city sent a project planning team to the National Institute of Corrections to attend a four-day training session on the planning of new facilities. One of the instructors of that course was Dennis Liebert of Liebert and Associates. Members of the city's team had the opportunity to work with Mr. Liebert in this intensive training session and found him to be a highly qualified and experienced programmer. Mr. Liebert has provided programming services to jurisdictions throughout the country and he has been highly recommended by former clients. The proposed schedule of activities indicates that planning work must begin immediately. A sole source contract for the development of the functional program will allow for this work to proceed immediately and for this document to be available for the architectural design as soon as the architect is selected. If the City Council authorizes the use of the sole source procurement, staff will negotiate a contract which will be scheduled for council action on June 20, 2005. Ms. Knapel referred to the Justice Center Proposed Project Schedule included in the agenda packet as Attachment A. The work done in functional programming is focused on the interior functions of the facility and does not limit the design options which will be developed by the project architect during the design phase. Councilor Fitch asked about the definition of sole source contract under the new public contract ordinance. . Ms. Kieran said findings would need to be included with the resolution to approve the contract. One finding would be special expertise for this type of project and the other finding would be for special knowledge of the city. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 13, 2005 Page 8 . Councilor Fitch questioned why the city was not going forward with the request for proposal (RFP). Ms. Knapel said time was the biggest factor. Putting out an RFP would move the timeline out about six to eight weeks. Ms. Kieran said the most helpful information for the legal counsel would be the consultant's resume or some other document showing the consultant's expertise. Mr. Fitch said it would also be important to point out why an equally qualified candidate would not be able to get the contract. Ms. Kieran said the city attorney's office would bring something consistent with the new state procurement laws. Councilor Pishioneri said the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) was the national standard and those that were put there to represent them and educate others were highly skilled and top professionals. Their expertise was far and above others outside that training field. Councilor Fitch said she was concerned about perception and being in compliance with the public contracting law. . Councilor Ballew said sole source was a concern for her as well. She said the work plan seemed to be fifty percent interviews with the Police Chief and other police officers and fifty percent the consultant's expertise and meeting the needs of the police department. Ms. Knapel said that was correct. She said Mr. Liebert formerly ran a jail facility, worked as a consultant for a number of years and was highly expert in this type of project. Much of the job of the consultant would include interviews with the Police Chief and staff regarding the issues and needs. She said he knew what needed to be included and could provide ideas on how those things could be accomplished. Councilor Ballew said the consultant's contribution would actually be closer to seventy percent with his expertise. Ms. Knapel said the consultant could also provide contacts with other agencies that had done this type of project. Councilor Ballew asked for the definition of "PAPA" under Task Names. Ms. Knapel said it referred to Post Acknowledgement Plan Amendment (PAP A). She said the plan and zoning for the site currently under consideration was not entirely the best for the facility planned. Some plan amendments and rezoning may need to be done. She explained the other Tasks listed on the schedule. Councilor Fitch said if sole source could be justified, bring it back to council for approval. If it could not be justified, she recommended staff put out an RFP with a short timeline. . ADJOURNMENT . . . ~ City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 13, 2005 Page 9 The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 pm. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa r- -~p Mayor Attest: ~~e~~ A my SQma. City Recorder --