HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/05/2017 Work Session (2) City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room.225 Fifth
Street. Springfield, Oregon, on Tuesday, September 5,2017 at 6 00 p.m , with Mayor Lundberg
presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Wylie(by conference phone), Moore,
Stoehr and Pishioneri.Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi. City Attorney Mary Bridget
Smith, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff
Councilor Woodrow was absent(excused)
1. McKenzie River Flood Maps.
Ken Vogeney, Emergency Manager, presented the staff report on this item. In February. 2008, FEMA
initiated a project in Lane County to update its Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps(DI IRMs) for the
McKenzie and Willamette Rivers The project scope involved re-delineating the 100-year floodplain
boundary to be consistent with current topography Mr Vogeney referred to the map of the area and
described the floodplain and the floodway It is important to note that this project did not include a
new flood study.only remapping the existing flood study to current topography. The 2008 project was
eventually tabled by FEMA, until this year when FEMA informed City staff that it was being picked
up again for the McKenzie River with a schedule to complete their process in 2018.
The current FEMA floodplain maps don't include the City's 42n° Street Levee as it exists,es en though
the maps do show it providing some flood control benefits based upon the standards in effect at the
time the original maps were prepared During remapping projects. levee owners are required to
demonstrate that their levees meet current federal standards to retain their accreditation and be mapped
as providing flood protection
The 42nd Street Levee runs along the east side of 42"d Street from Marcola Road to near the entrance to
the International Paper facility. Mr.Vogeney referred to a map showing the area currently protected by
the ley ee. Based upon preliminary review, staff has identified that the 42nd Street Levee is deficient in
several categories under the new federal standards for levee accreditation. FEMA has provided the
City with two approaches for incorporating the area protected by the Levee into the map update by
selecting one of the following options Pros isionally Accredited Levee(PAL)or Levee Seclusion
Mapping.
Based upon evaluation of these two options by the City's Engineer, Emergency Manager. Planning
Supervisor, Operations Supen isor and the DPW Director, staff recommends that the City Council
select the Levee Seclusion Mapping option. There is no current fiscal impact to the City for selecting
the Levee Seclusion Mapping option. This option provides the City additional time to secure
resources for the accreditation of the levee in the future. Mr Vogeney described hoth options in more
detail and why the City recommends the Levee Seclusion Mapping option.
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Council Work Session Minutes
September 5,2017
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Councilor Pishionen asked if this was mandated and if there were consequences if the City didn't do
anything He asked if doing nothing would affect the flood plain.
Mr.Vogeney said in the remapping update,there is a requirement to meet standards. lithe levee
doesn't meet standards,FEMA would de-accredit the levee and the area is mapped as if there is no
levee. FEMA decided to offer the two options presented The Levee Seclusion Area option does not
cost the City anything at this time. When the levee was originally constructed. it was to protect
primarily farmland. Today it protects a lot of homes and development
Councilor Pishioneri asked if the City has to do the update and if there would be a savings by doing it
Mr Vogeney said the City doesn't know where the new floodplain boundary w ill be with the FENIA
remapping
Planning Supervisor Jim Donoy an said the City has to participate in the program to get the discounted
flood rates for properties in the flood plain The fourth option. which was not outlined, is to do
nothing. if the City told FERIA we would not do anything, FEMA would proceed with mapping and
de-accreditation as If the levee didn't east at all. Although we know it has worked in the past(flood
of 1964 and flood of 19%), if during the analysis, they find deficiencies, approximately 7000
properties that are currently not considered in the flood plain or require flood insurance,would be in
the FEMA floodplain and would need flood insurance.
Councilor Stoehr asked if they would need to tear down the whole levee in order to add the 2 Y feet
needed to the height.
Mr Vogeney said because the as-built documentation is incomplete, we don't know if the Icyee is
structurally sound enough to add to it without a rebuild. His best guess is that it would need to be
completely rebuilt, but they won't know until they can do a full analysis.
Councilor Stoehr asked what it would cost to rebuild.
Mr Vogeney said his estimate is between $2.5M to $5M
Councilor Moore said we took this over from Lane County in 1983 and some of the property is not in
city jurisdiction but is in Lane Count) She asked if we had looked into cooperation between the City.
County or State for grants or other funding opportunities to fix the levee.
Mr Vogeney said as part of the analysis they involved Lane County land use planning staff so they are
aware of staffs recommendations. When the ley ee was constructed it was built by the United States
Department of Agriculture(USDA)Consenation Service in partnership with Lane County and
McKenzie Water Control District The Water Control District is no longer in existence,the USDA is
no longer authorized to spend money on ley ees and the Arm) Corps of Engineers is not interested
because they don't have anything into it There was a bill that recently went through that established a
revolving loan fund to help jurisdictions pay for upgrades to existing levees, but it would need to be
paid back Each time he approaches the state for disaster grant funding.he is told FEMA doesn't do
levees There is another grant program called"Flood Mitigation Grant", but you first have to have a
major flood to qualify. He continues to look for funding opportunities.
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Council Work Session Minutes
September 5,2017
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Councilor Moore asked if there had been any other structures built since 1996 that would lessen the
water behind the levee
Mr. Vogene} said in 1964, all of the dams were in place and operational except one dam which was
under construction at the time
Councilor VanGordon asked about the Channel 6 floodmapping that is currently underway.
Mr Vogeney said the mapping of Channel 6 will continue and won't be impacted by any change to
the floodmapping. In the event the McKenzie River through Springfield was remapped using the
natural valley approach as if the levee wasn't there,then the Channel 6 study doesn't do anything
because the new floodplain would be defined by the McKenzie River flooding through that area
instead of the channels Using the Seclusion Zone approach, Channel 6 would be applicable
Mr. Donovan said the current analysis of the McKenzie Ris er will continue and they will map through
this area w ith a regulatory box around the levee. The City would use that information while we w ork
on finding funds to analyze and determine what the levee needs. The area in that box would remain as
it is currently,with no change to its flood status
Mr.Vogeney said staff would continue to work on evaluating the les ee and making recommendations
to Council with how to update the levee to standards
Councilor VanGordon asked if the levee appears on any of our capital plans
Mr. Vogeney said it was on the Capital Improvement Program (CIP)for several years,to set aside
funds in order to do the analysis.
Councilor VanGordon said he is tine with the Seclusion Zone. He asked if we had funds set aside for
the analysis.
Mr.Vogeney said they did not. He has applied for federal funds, but if they receis ed that grant the
City would need to go through a National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA)review. The cost to do
that was prohibits e His target is to do the analysis work within the $250,000 and $300,000 range.
They can then proceed with further grant requests
Councilor VanGordon asked if we had a time line w ith the Seclusion Zone
Mr. Donovan said it would be about 2018 before the City received the correct mapping. Staff could
then come to Council for funding options and run it through the Budget Committee
Mr. Vogeney said they can pursue gathering information on the structure of the levee as they continue
to get the rest of the funds
Councilor VanGordon asked if we could look at taking smaller phases in order to determine what
needs to be done next
Councilor Pishioneri said he is concerned ith the analysis.which could lead to other deficiencies. He
asked if that would trigger something else that requires immediate action for legal protection.
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Council Work Session Minutes
September 5,'_017
Page 4
Mr Vogeney said there is that potential.
Mr Donoy an said finding something worse could actually move the City to the front of the line in
terms of funding, but would not guarantee funding
Councilor Pishioneri says he sees a lot of risk
Councilor Moore asked about the option of hiring additional engineering staff
Mr. Vogeney said if the Council wanted to do the PAL it would require us to hire additional staff
Councilor Moore said although there is currently no timeline for the third option,there is a chance that
FEMA could impose a timeline at some point.
Councilor Stoehr said he is concerned a large flood could be coming sooner rather than later He
would like to see an option that provided a time line if possible.
Mayor Lundberg said flooding is a concern. It is not just the houses and roads,but the contaminants in
the area. The levee may hold a flood, but it won't hold in an earthquake. She is in favor of working on
some sort of timeline She asked staff to send out a memo to the Council outlining what would need to
be done
Councilor Wylie agreed She would like to have the analysis as soon as possible so they need to know
what needs to be done
2. In-I louse City Attorney Analysis
City Attorney Mary Bridget presented the staff report on this item 7 he ongoing cost to operate an in-
house City Attorney Office is similar to the cost of the second year of the current contract. However,
the amount of attorney time available would increase from 2,124 to approximately 4.000 hours
depending on the amount of vacation and sick leave used by the two attorneys This increased
capacity could be used to take on additional duties such as risk management, labor,
telecommunications law, and legal services for the Metropolitan Waste Management Commission
The City Attorney Office could develop expertise in other areas reducing the reliance and expense of
using outside Counsel.
The current City Charter requirement that the City Attorney reports directly to the Mayor and City
Council has sen ed the community very well providing the City Council and the city organization with
an independent review of legal issues. Bringing the City Attorney Office into the City would not alter
the current reporting relationship
Ms Smith said she worked with City staff to look at overall legal costs and what is outsourced There
area couple of areas that would require outside counsel. The budget would be a push if they went in-
house. Their office had planned to look ahead at small incremental increases, not large increases She
noted that the contract with Springfield Utility Board (SUB) is about 16%the size of the City's
contract.
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Council Work Session Minutes
September 5.2017
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Councilor Moore said the biggest advantage is the continuity. She wondered what other cities close to
our size had in-house attorneys. Springfield continues to grow and has mote obligations She
appreciates the continuity and sees many advantages.
Councilor Stoehr said he is not sure how the contract works if they go in-house and if there is a cap on
the number of hours. lie asked if there would still be a cap on hours for in-house attorneys.
Mr. Grimaldi said generally they track their hours for the contract,and if they go over the projected
hours,the contract is adjusted the following years. If they go in-house,the City w ill gel more hours
and capacity from the City Attorney. It is very unlikely we would go oyer those hours.
Ms Smith said they base the current contract on 2100 hours, but an in-house attorney would pros ide
more hours. In-house they would be hours worked, which is slightly different. The City Attorney
would have a contract with Council for a full-time salary position, like that of the City Manager. The
Assistant City Attorney and legal assistant would be full-time employees of the City They would
likely track their time, but only to determine where they spend their time.
Councilor VanGordon said he is supportive of going forward with an in-house city attorney He wants
to make sure they fill the additional hours with the best possible use. Council would have a contract
with the City Attorney who would hire her support who would be City employees.
Mr. Grimaldi said it would be just like the City Manager, who has a contract with the City Council and
is responsible for hiring the employees.
Councilor Wylie said she is still on the fence. She sees pros and cons both ways.
Mr. Grimaldi said staff needs direction so they can implement the change, if that is the direction of the
Council, in July 2018.
Ms. Smith said their current contract expires June 30,2018 She would like as much time as possible
for the firm to make plans if they make this transition
Mr Grimaldi said the first step would he negotiating a contract with the City Attorney.
Mayor Lundberg said she is supportive of bringing the City Attorney in-house.
Councilor Pishioneri said he likes the idea, but also sees both sides 1 here aren't necessarily savings,
but we are getting more for our dollar. Typically private contracts are less costly so he wants to make
sure this is not taking us to a more expensive place with insurance and PERS costs included
Mr Duey said he assumed the increased cost for the three staff members would increase his long-
range projections the same as others.
Councilor Pishioneri said he thinks it is great, but has concerns.
The Mayor and Council supported moving the attorney in-house
ADJOURNMENT
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
September 5.2017
Page 6
The meeting was adjourned at 6:51 p in.
Minutes Recorder—Am) Soea
CChristine L Lundberg
Mayor
Attest.
&n1 4C LLIGL
Amy So
City Recorder