HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/05/2017 Work Session City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth
Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, September 11,2017 at 5-30 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg
presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Wy lie, Moore, Stoehr.Woodrow and
Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi,City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, City
Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff
I. Overview of the 2017 Oregon Legislative Session.
Legislative and Public Affairs Manager Niel Laudati presented the staff report on this item. In
October of 2016,the Council laid out what they would like to see from legislative work through the
City Manager's Office One of the goals was to more actively engage the Mayor and Council in
legislative issues and give them opportunities to be part of the legislative work We wanted to protect
Springfield's interests, actively engage in transportation issues, and improve the working relationships
with our partners in Salem and locally.
A team was created citywide and the Legislative Committee which includes three councilors, met
more frequently with the Mayor joining them. Staff experts played an instrumental role in any of the
success we had The City has a contract with Elizabeth Howe who was the force at the legislature 24/7
when staff couldn't be there. She is v ery knowledgeable about all of the issues,and is well respected
by our delegation and others throughout the legislature. She provided opportunities where staff didn't
know they existed in terms of contacts and meetings.
This work opened up interactions with representatives in Springfield that we hadn't had in the past
Mr. Laudati described a situation where Representative Lively's office contacted the City to get some
information on a complicated bill. Sandy Belson, Erin Fifield and Greg Mott provided detailed
information quickly which Mr. Laudati was able to pros ide to Representative Lively s office.
Although this wasn't a priority bill for the City, it helped to build relationships and trust with our
representative. That happened on more than one occasion
This report summarizes the final status of priority bills at the end of the 2017 Oregon legislative
session
Springfield entered the session with five main support priorities.
1. Transportation(including funding for maintenance and 42nd Street)
2 Innovation and Economic Development(including TRT legislation)
3 Housing(including 'affordable workforce housing')
4. Finance(including ROW management and PERS Reform)
5 Forest Policy (including support for advance wood projects)
Priority highlights include'
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
September I I,2017
Page 2
42" Street in Springfield: A major priority for Springfield during the session,the City received $12
million for work related to the stretch of 42nd that draws heavy traffic from industry,commuters,
shoppers and businesses as a quick north-south route. Maintenance dollars were also secured within
HB 2017. Councilor VanGordon went to Salem with Elizabeth Howe and Eugene Mayor Vinis and
provided information to legislators for the 42" Street project.42"d Street is a main artery for the City
of Springfield for our large employers, and many other businesses. He thanked staff for helping to get
the information quickly
Economic Development: While our main focus was setting up for future projects/bills we did haye
success supporting HB2400 the transient lodging tax bill,we supported our local mills with our work
on HB 2269(Cleaner Air Oregon)and SB634 Woody Biomass as Green Energy hill, and we had
several conversations with legislators regarding Mass Timber Projects in Oregon, specifically the CIT
Parking Structure in Glenwood. Staff met with Representative Barnhart who spends a lot of time in
Springfield, but didn't understand how economic dey elopment was working or where some of our
large employment areas were located Staff met with him several times Elizabeth also scheduled
meetings for staff to meet with other representatives that were not from Springfield, but had an interest
in something of an interest to Springfield
Housing: Behind transportation, housing was the legislature's priority issue this session. There were
millions of dollars allocated to address homelessness Our staff provided information and feedback on
a number of bills that changed and evolved at a very fast pace.
Finance: This was a priority with telecommunications right-of-way. Comments from representatives
in Salem was that our staff,through Dey elopment and Public Works Director Anette Spickard, were
the fastest and provided the most detailed comments received from anyone.
Forest Policy: The City did help push through the Woody Biomass bill, and a lot of work was done
on CLT.
Mr. Laudati said he would like input on what worked or what the Council would like staff to do
differently.
Councilor Stoehr asked about the transient lodging tax and how much we got from that
Mr. Laudati said there is not a detailed amount, but it does give the City more flexibility with the
funding we do get from transient room tax(TRT).
Councilor Stoehr asked if there is a specific purpose for those funds.
Mr Laudati said it must go into things that will bring people to Springfield On occasion we can use
funds for police services for large events or games that bring large groups of people.
Councilor Stoehr asked if$12M for 42"d Street was enough for what was needed
Mr. Boyatt said they will know more once they get into project development. There are a lot of
unknowns in that area. Staff will stretch the funds as far as possible.
Councilor Stoehr said if possible.he would like to see something done on Olympic Street as well due
to the high volume of truck traffic on that road
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
September 11,2017
Page 3
Councilor Moore said she was invited to a thank you event for Safe Roads to School on September 15
from 5-8pm at bfcMenamins, which is for HB2017. The event is to thank Representative Lively and
others who had worked on that. She wash t sure how much of that funding was related to Springfield.
Mr. Boyatt said it is a statewide funding program for capital construction projects identified through
the Safe Routes to School investigation. It is $10M a year for the first few years.and then goes to
$15M per year In the past, we have had federal funding to identify gaps but not capital for
improvements. This is the state stepping up to provide the capital side to make it much safer for kids to
walk to school within a one-mile radius of schools. Springfield School District has a Safe Routes to
Schools coordinator and they have a long list of projects.
Councilor VanGordon said he likes seeing how we have succeeded.
Mr. Laudati said staff did the work and he took it up to Salem.
Councilor VanGordon says he likes to hear how quickly and thoroughly we respond to requests for
information. It is indicative of how Springfield operates. He referred to the housing discussion and
noted that through his research,pilot villages are too cumbersome He likes some of the ideas and
looks forward to the discussion of how to make it easier for communities Often, when the economy
gets better,the PERS discussion gets lost. He would like to make sure we continue to monitor the
discussion to determine where we can participate There is a lot of legislation about what to do with
current PERS requirements, but no discussion about how to have a pension plan that make sense for
future employees. He would like to continue to look at what we can do and where it needs to go to
remain sustainable
Councilor Moore said it was difficult in the short session to cover all of the issues Some issues may
not have totally failed,but didn't have time to get through the process. She hopes those things will
have more opportunity in the next session
Councilor Woodrow said she found it very helpful having the information all in one place. There were
a lot of people involved and this was a true collaboration Being able to pull the information together,
and working with Ms. Howe. shows Springfield as an active and innovative community. She
appreciates this format with everything in one place and feels it pros ides a jumping off point for how
to move forward in the coming year.
Councilor Wylie said she was very pleased to see the final position and outcome. Sometimes it takes a
couple of sessions to build support for certain bills With this information. staff is armed with who we
need to talk to in the coming year.
Ma}or Lundberg said likes the format. There w ill be other bills that will become priorities such as the
transient room tax funds. She is not expecting anything out of the short session.but agrees we need to
figure out the PERS issues as soon as possible. She met with Senator Beyer this afternoon and he was
pleased with progress made this year especially in transportation. She asked staff to keep an eye on
upcoming legislation and let Council know of anything of interest.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 5:51 p m.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
September I I.3017
Page 4
Minutes Recorder—Amv Sowa
jarChristine L. Lundberg
Mayor
Attest.
Amy Sow*J
City Recorder