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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/09/2017 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINE ITS OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2017 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon,on Monday. October 9, 2017 at 5:34 p m., with May or Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were May or Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Wylie, 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 Bicycle and Pedestrian Ade isory Committee Inten iews. Senior Planner Emma Newman presented the staff report on this item I he Springfield Bicycle and Pedestrian Advison Committee(BPAC) currently has three voting members whose terms extend through the end of December 2018 There are currently six voting members whose terms expire at the end of December 2017 who are eligible for re-appointment(Allison Camp, Claudia Denton. Dada Robbins,Jeff Sakacsi, Kee in Schaper,and Robin Mayall). Members eligible for reappointment must also reapplk before they can be reappointed. Two former members resigned during 2017 due to MON ing and other commitments The committee bylaws state, "Applications shall he rex iewed and evaluated by Cite Staff and the Cdy Council. Committee positions shall be appointed by the City Council:. The by laws also state,-Membership of the Committee shall consist of 10-16 voting members._ Since there will only be three remaining N oting members as of the end of December 2017,the City is seeking to appoint enough voting committee members(at least 7)to fulfill minimal membership requirements, as well as possibly appoint a few additional oting members so that if resignations occur, additional mid-year recruitment would not be required. The bylaws would accommodate up to thirteen voting member appointments if the Council wished to appoint the maximum. If 13 Noting members were appointed, the total Noting membership would be sixteen. There are five additional liaison positions.which would result in the total Noting and non-Noting membership being twenty-one Because of scheduling, Sandy Coffin w ill need to be interviewed at a later date. Also.I lolly Rockwell called Ms Newman today and said she was not able to attend tonight. She will also be scheduled for the later date in the fall The Mayor and Council introduced themselves and then asked the follow ing questions of each applicant I. Why are you interested in serving on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advison Committee (BPAC)?(Mayor Lundberg) 2. Have you attended a BPAC meeting? If so, what were}our impressions?(Councilor Wylie) 3. Describe your familiarity with the City's walking and biking infrastructure and amenities. (Councilor Stoehr) City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 9.2017 Page 2 4. If you w cre queen/king for a day.and had the ability to do any project in the cm without concern of the cost,what would that project be?(Councilor Pishioneri) 5. Describe your experience as it relates to your desire to become a BPAC member (Councilor VanGordon) 6. What initiatives are you interested in working on if you are appointed as a BPAC member" (Councilor Woodrow) 7. What is it about pedestrian and bicycle issues that interests you most?(Councilor Moore) 6'15pm: the Council took a break after inten levy ing six of the candidates. 6 24pm: Council resumed their meeting. Council interviewed the remaining five candidates. Following the interviews,the Mayor and Council discussed the candidates Councilor Pishioneri suggested discussing the number of members on this committee at a future session. After discussion, the Council decided to keep the size as it is now. The Council chose to appoint all of those interviewed to the BPAC at the October 16, 2017 Council meeting Thev would like some of them to sen e 2 years and some to serve 3 years. That w ill mean amending the By laws Staff will bring the amended Bylaws to the Council during the October 16 Council meeting so they can be appro\ed prior to the appointments. Councilor directed Ms.Newman to assign the 2 and 3 y ear terms based on returning members and interest 2 Draft Springfield Look Economic Development Strategy Economic Development Manager Courtney Gnesel presented this item and displayed a power point. The work on the Springfield Look started about 6 months ago and has involved a lot of work by staff, the consultant Allison Larsen, and other stakeholders in looking at the values and goals of improving the economic prosperity in the community. Through this process,a lot of data has been gathered which is extremely\aluable Some common outcomes for economic development efforts include: ✓ increase earnings ✓ increase per capita income ✓ reduce poverty ✓ job creation(high-value, quality jobs based on wage levels and benefits) ✓ job retention(high-value, quality jobs based on wage levels and benefits) ✓ reduce unemployment ✓ increase tax revenues/growth of tax base ✓ stabilize Springfield's economy through economic cycles Ms. Gnesel referred to the project timeline for this project and noted that they were in about the last quarter. It is very exciting as all of the perceptions and discussion about data and trends starts to come into view in the next couple of months as we look forward into marketing and taking initiatives to market. Cit o(Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 9,2017 Page 3 They has e gone through the process of scoring where we are now, how competitive we are and what things need to be improved This helped with the discussion around priority initiatives. Some of the key areas being looked at are: sites, buildings: customer sen ice and permitting: and incentives. especially in industrial areas in need of infrastructure. Ms. Gnesel rev iewed the priority initiatives which were dei eloped through discussions with the Council, stakeholders and leadership. Although this is called a strategic plan, it is actually a work plan.The initiatives are rooted in tasks assigned to different people. They are currently building out expectations for timing to do those tasks The first priority initiative is City Competitiveness Development and Public Works Director Anette Spickard is lead on this initiative with a team including staff from planning/permit counter,economic development, Springfield Utility Board,developers as needed and potentially a graduate school intern. The goal is to create a clear and consistent way to expedite development approval. Doing this will improve the perception of doing the business in Springfield to greater, and will make it easier on staff. Some of the tasks associated w ith this initiative include changing the organizational culture, assessing current practices and best practices,getting clarity of process and timelines and establishing an advocate. Staff w ill need to he trained on the process and w ill work to build relationships and celebrate wins and success stories. lie metrics for this initiate e include number of best practices researched and number of developer outreach meetings Councilor VanGordon asked if the Development Code rewrite was included in this plan. his. Spickard said it will he a separate,but parallel, initiative The department is currently running on the hare minimum of staffing, so if we want to gear up to he a world class development sen ice with one-on-one time,the concept of having an advocate would mean changing the structure of staff. The Development Code update is another structural change, but is on the legal side of rewriting the Code. This initiative is about changing how we do the staffing and work with developers on a personal level Councilor VanGordon said being a world class organization has to be built on the Development Code rewrite They NN ill hay e to work together. Ms. Spickard agreed and said liming is i en' important Councilor VanGordon said this was not constructive enough and felt it could go further. He noted the goal of reducing the timeline to 1/3 from 31 and asked if that number was based on anything. Mr Griesel said it was based on feedback from the private sector It was also staff looking at a mix of how long it typically can take and the legal requirements with notice. etc. There was an expectation that we could get closer to the legal notice requirement assuming completeness During that discussion,they needed to make sure they were doing what was needed to communicate completeness. It pulls itself apart into customer service. That is where the idea of an advocate that would stay with the dei elopment through the whole process arose. That is a different way of adjusting development from the beginning. Councilor VanGordon said there are good elements to this, but he wants to look at how we can he better than other communities. Ms Griesel said these timelines are spread over 5 y ears Some of this includes things we can easili do now This one plays out over a period of years. It could be that we ramp up to shorter time frames. City of Springfield Council Woik Session Minutes October 9,2017 Page 4 Councilor VanGordon said he was fine with that. It is really easy to look at the current process and how to improve, but we need to look at possibly changing the process rather than just improving on the old process. This is business focused, but he wants to include the technology piece, which is critical. When looking at outcome measures, he would have liked to see an industry standard matrix for customer satisfaction and look at the private market. Ile also felt they should look at the final outcome of'Minimize # issues raised above department level"and try to address that at the front line with the first point of contact There are probably about 5 net performance goals, but this is a great start. Councilor Moore said she would like to see some sort of mechanism to get feedback from developers. Ms Spickard said they have been working on a list of strategies to accomplish the goal of getting dey eloper feedback. It includes a combination of reaching out to people the City has worked with in the past 6 months, looking at how to interact with people going forward, where there are decision points to talk with people.how things went, and a variety of sun eys to get better feedback. NIr. Grimaldi said staff would be sharing more about that with the Council at a future meeting Councilor Stoehr said perhaps they could add a metric showing that an issue not only got resols ed, but was resolved to the person's satisfaction. Councilor Pishioneri liked the new strategy for establishing an advocate That is very innovative. It will be important for that advocate to play a significant role in seeing and speaking out about road blocks and how to create change in the process Ms Griesel said they do have a sequential order of how these things arc put into place Staff will first look at best practices and where things like this have been successful elsewhere so they can determine the most effective way to utilize that position. Currently,projects have an assigned planner and they do a great job. This position could be built on existing talent, or could be something completely new Councilor Pishioneri said he sees a difference between an assigned planner and an advocate Councilor Woodrow said her overall reaction was a timeline and chronology, and those arc outlined in this process She is looking for ways to identify the w ins so they know when they get there. Ms. Griesel said in the"Why"we are doing this, they are identifying the win They are being intentional that the story is told not just by staff.but by the businesses ne work with Councilor Woodrow said she is looking for something measurable Ms. Griesel said they can refine some of these pieces to provide that measurement. The big measurement w ill be a growing economy'and tax base. Councilor Woodrow gave an example of a measurement of efficiencies. Ms. Griesel said they could do that through the customer service piece. Mayor Lundberg said likes the advocate. She asked if it would be one person City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 9,_017 Page 5 Ms Spickard said she based the cost estimate on one FTE,but it hasn't been determined yet. Ms Gnesel said that would come out of the research they do for an adv ocate. It was noted that the request for an advocate Caine from the deselopment community Ms. Griesel said in all of the initiatives,the people around the table were looking at the feedback from the Council and businesses. The team felt that more was needed so an advocate could he successful It got built out because the staff doing the work knows it's more than lust adv ocating. Councilor Pishioneri said the advocate needs to put themseh es in the shoes of the developer to come up with the best way to get a positive end result. Councilor VanGordon said this is really difficult,especially with limited public resources I1's important to keep an agile mind set as they mo\e forward and understand that it may go through several iterations I hey should run it like a start-up As long as they continue moving forward, it will ser\e Dey elopment and Public Works and the community better. Mat or Lundberg said they need to remain nimble Council needs to decide if they want to prioritize the Development Code update. Mr. Grimaldi said discussion on the Development Code update is scheduled for Noy ember 6 Mayor Lundberg said it needs to go hand in hand with this plan. Ms Griesel said these ideas are all interconnected The question is how the economic development program can work better with the initiatives. Ms. Griesel said the next initiative is for Minimum Development Standards and Planning Supervisor Jim Donovan is the lead The development standards were developed over 30 years ago and things and technologies have changed Staff looked at what they were doing and how they could make things easier and proside innovation. This moved more quickly and with more energy than expected It is not going to be easy and will involve codifying changes to the standards,eliminating some process, easing tip on the restrictive nature of it and advertising what we are doing This needs to be part of the v,ork done by the Development Ady isory Committee Ms Spickard said this is a subset of the bigger Development Code update. They will need to discuss the basic expectation of how the City should look. Any changes will go to the Planning Commission and then the Council. Mayor Lundberg said they want standards, but not something that prohibits development Ms. Griesel said staff w as willing to go through and look for way s to change. Ms. Griesel said the metrics involve discussions w ith the Council about what we are hoping to accomplish through these updates Ultimately it gets back to the timeline and how that can be shortened to make the process easier for development. Ms. Griesel spoke regarding Strategic Dey elopment of Priority Sites which she serves as lead. This includes discussion about sites being ready to receive interested companies or expansions,mostly for City of Springfield Conned Work Session Minutes Octobei 9,2017 Page 6 employment land It also includes being aware of those sites and hay ing healthy relationships yy ith those land owners,and looking at the utilities,transportation and other amenities. It helps the City be more competitive when responding to prospective companies who want to come to Springfield or expand in Springfield This is an ongoing core actiy ity that is already being done. Councilor VanGordon said this w ill gather a lot of information. When it comes to economic development, they need to figure out a way for people to access the appropriate information w rthout hay ing to contact city hall Ms. Griesel said website generation is part of this project and would include mapping tools There is an intent to link to other agencies and resources. Staff is still working on relationships with property oyw ners to encourage them to allow the City to populate some of those sites, communicating why it is a mutual benefit for the property owner. Councilor Moore said some of the sites have zoning already in place, such as Marcola Meadows and it seems that it has limited development. They need to look at how the City can be prepared to change directions and zoning. Ms Griesel said Marcola Meadows doesn't necessarily fit in her area because it is residential and commercial They do talk about way s to be nimble without having to go through major land use processes. Some of this initiative is to say we are going to do this more often and look at the barriers. Mr. Grimaldi said when the) have a property owner that doesn't know what they want to do with the property, it can be difficult to move it forward When property ownership changes,there is an opportunity to work w ith them. Ms. Griesel said they will do site assessments and engage with property owners. They can then look at what to adjust to give flexibility. Mayor Lundberg said due to the length of time they hay e been in tonight's meeting, the) need to look at the agenda and determine how to adjust the schedule. Mr. Grimaldi said they could move the Downtown Loan Program scheduled for the SEDA Board to another date. The Chamber request item w ill remain He asked how many more of the initiatives the Council would like to review. Ms. Gnesel said she could focus on initiatives with the partner agencies and say e those she is lead on for a later meeting Mayor Lundberg said if they are making changes and making initiatives, she doesn't like focusing on traded sector. There are other things like healthcare that provide liw ing wage jobs in our community. Ms Griesel said part of the plan includes looking at target industries, and healthcare could fit more broadly' in that realm. The plan allows some flexibility There is a prioritization of traded sector, not an elimination of other sectors Mayor Lundberg said the Commercial Industrial Buildable Lands ICIBL) study' included acreage for a sector strategy which included healthcare It is an economic drier in our community. Ms. Griesel said they can talk about that in more detail when they talk more initiatiy es Cit) of Spiingtield Couns/I Work Session Minutes Octobei 9,2017 Page 7 Ms. Griesel said one of the other places that got a lot of energy w as the Innovation Hub initiatiy e. It could work in a number of ways including shared office space for incubation businesses, programming and anchor spaces Some other needs identified included meeting spaces and ongoing mentoring. I here was also awareness that the Library and fiber optic project play s into how this site is successful. 'this was an initiative that the Springfield Chamber championed on with some of our businesses and regional leaders Vonnie Mikkelson, Executiy e Director of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce is the lead, supported by the City. TAO, FertiLab/RAIN Eugene, the Springfield Library and Springfield Utility Board (SUB). There will he discussions of w hal some other communities are doing and at some point the community will be asked Mayor Lundberg said it is a concept That has a lot of interpretation. It would be helpful to see some real-lite examples of innovation hubs. Ms Griesel said one of the first steps of the team is to go out and identify real-world examples The first step is to build examples of where it exists and is working well. Councilor VanGordon said when it comes to innoy anon type hubs,there may be a secondary work item understanding medium size capacity He felt that how this is being inestigated is good. Ms. Griesel referred to the initiative Springfield telecommunications Enhancement Project(STEP), with Springfield Utility Board Superintendent Jeff Nelson as lead. This is a very intense effort and work is already starting. This is likely the most detailed plan so far of all the 'naiad y es. This is a significant initiative with some assessment of current infrastructure,current partnerships.market needs and capacity There is also substantial capital buildout as they look at if and where an exchange might fit and where it connects to sent the community. They continue talking with fiber pros iders in the community while talking about full fiber buildout as one initiative. The near term initiative of getting the fiber turned on to neighborhoods in certain locations continues to be a priority at SUB. This is one of the most energized initiatives and everyone is very excited about it The City asks questions as public space owners about where the logical location is to provide access for the equipment needed. There may be some discussions as SUB starts to outline the actual plan for infrastructure coordination and a formal agreement Mayor Lundberg thanked the SUB Board for recognizing the potential and stepping into the 2I" century Mr Nelson said the SUB Board is behind this project If it turns out this is not a priority for the Council, SUB will continue moving forward. As this goes forward,there are elements in this realm that are beyond SUB's control and reside solely within the City, such as requirements associated with fiber ducts within new development and attachments to buildings and street light. Those things will need to be addressed with the Cit as they arise. Councilor VanGordon said he is glad to see SUB here This is one of the most exciting opportunities and one of the most important things for economic growth He asked that they ey aluate medium to large industrial size complexes that hay e many tech machines. Ms. Griesel said the residential piece is also important for affordable internet access and education City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 9,2017 Page 8 Ms. Griesel said the next few initiatives—Real Estate Product Development, Partner Economic Development Team, and Business Retention and Expansion—arc her initiath es which will be discussed at a later meeting. Ms. Griesel referred to the next initiate e, Industry Conference. I he lead for this mrtiatne,Janis Ross from fravel Lane County(TLC), was unable to attend tonight's meeting, so TLC Executh e Director Kari Westlund was attending in her place. This initiative is to hold industry conferences in Springfield which are aligned to industry of focus. They will be making an intentional outreach to bid on conferences ''hey would also assess current conference movement to find out where there are gaps, and how we can showcase our area. It is a learning experience. Ms. Westlund said this is about going a step further than just looking at conferences and visitor spending. It is about looking at innov anon within targeted sectors and bringing those people to the community They hay e had some success in this through the University of Oregon bringing in industries they have interest in. It is a great blueprint to use in Springfield for industry such as advanced wood products.healthcare and other targeted industries. Councilor Stoehr asked what the biggest conference site was in Springfield. It was noted that there are no large conference sites in Springfield. Ms.Griescl said they would determine how to talk in more detail about the other pieces. Those discussed tonight were more special project initiatives. Many of the others are things that staff is already doing and they are working on getting more clarity around them. There are some tools coming with this process such as customer management software to track who we talk to, what the) tell us, and things we're learning. That information will allow us to create some metrics about touchpoints in the community that can be reported back to Council. It also helps our other partners be more prepared when speaking to those same businesses There is also a metropolitan comparate e tool that allows the Cit\ to get industry, business and site specific and talk w ith the company about what they need to do in our location,comparing it to the industry location of our competitor. It allows staff to be able to address the strengths of our community when talking to businesses, and also show us where we are not as competith e. It has helped already and some realtors are asking for this information. The process of storytelling has already started. She re\iewed the timeline while Ms. Larsen is here. Work will begin to happen in the next few months. Mayor Lundberg thanked the leads for attending the meeting. 3. Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce WorkReadv Sponsorship City Manager Gino Grimaldi presented the staff report on this item. The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has been an active partner in workforce development and is planning to increase its efforts regarding workforce development as well as increasing its involvement in economic development activities such as the Springfield Look and sector strategies. Tonight.they are requesting funding for the WorkReadv program The major components of the WorkReadv initiative are the following career ready programs dex eloped in conjunction with Springfield Public Schools: Middle School Career Day (Grade 8): Career Exploration at Lane Community College(Grades 9 and 10); and Career Connect(Grades I I and 12) The WorkReadv initiate a also includes the establishment of Career and Technical Education (CTE)to advance, enhance and grow. WorkReadv programs, college and career readiness,and local CTE Lit) of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 9,2017 Page 9 curricula in our schools. The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce's fundraising goal for this program is $50,000. Mr Grimaldi introduced Vonnie Mikkelsen,the Executive Director of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. Ms Mikkelscn said the Chamber has spent the last year redefining and re-eny isioning the work done by the Chamber. She noted that many of their discussions have been similar to what the Council has discussed this evening: focusing on not just improving on things they are not doing that well,but looking at how to hone in to efficient, effective ways of doing things They have reorganized themselves around mission-focused priorities. The mission of the Springfield Chamber is business and economic development, as well as quality of life for our community Through this process,they have uncovered opportunities and shifted resources. One of those opportunities has been finding a shared and common goal with small. medium and large businesses and industries—workforce and labor, and filling local jobs needed for those businesses to succeed and grow with skilled trained workforce. As a priority, they are partnering with Lane Workforce Partnership, Lane Connected, and industry partners Locally they are honing in on the 11,000 students in our Springfield Public Schools, specifically the 4000-5000 students in grades 8-12. They hear from their educational partners that eighth grade is the premier place to engage with students. That is where they are being introduced to career and technical education and where the opportunity is to increase graduation rates They also hear the same thing from the industry. Manufacturing and other trades also want to meet with students. Ms Mikkelsen explained Why WorkReadr' A skilled, educated and qualified workforce is fundamental to a strong economy. Through this program, they w dl wrap around the robust Career and Technical Education(CTE)offerings in the Springfield Public Schools to improve the high school graduation rates This will open the doors to industry to connect with schools and students. Their goal ON er the next year tis to connect 2000 students in grades 8-I 2 to over 100 local employers and educational institutions through WorkReadr programs Ultimate!), they w ill strengthen local education-industry partnerships that cultivate a pool of local talent w ith the skills,education and qualifications necessary to fill family wage jobs fundamental to a strong economy The three core programs in this effort are: • Middle School Career Day for all 8'h graders in the Springfield Public Schools. This introduces the students to college and career conversations, provides an expo-style experience, and provides a soft skills component where every student comes practiced and prepared for mock inten iews with business voIunteers • Career Exploration which is offered to 9th and 10th graders in the Springfield Public Schools. This will be held at Lane Community College (LCC)with over 170 students attending. The students will be v isiting 6 different LCC programs and meeting with 20 business leaders. She noted the programs that would be part of this es ent. • Career Connect which is offered to 111E and 12th graders in the Springfield Public Schools. The students will have the opportunity to network with industry leaders and interview for available internships, apprenticeships and job openings. She noted some comments from students who attended the event last year. 1 he Chamber has also established a Career and Technical Education Fund that will fund programs based on the input from the sponsors and impact investors. She referred to the Manufacturing Day event which was held on October 6 This event connected 16 high schools from Lane County and 185 Cin of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October o,2017 Page 10 students with ft manufacturing companies and 8+regional partners. This event was a big success and had a big impact on the students. Councilor Moore asked %here the funding w ill come from. Mr. Grimaldi said it would be a budget transfer from reser Cs. Councilor Stoehr asked if there had been any thought given to which careers are the most automation proof. Ms. Mikkelsen said many of the tours were at wood and paper companies which include skills in computer science.engineering and auto mechanics. Technology is Integrated in all manufacturing Councilor Vantiordon said he is comfortable going forward. It is important to talk to the workforce about what the next 20}ears is going to look like from a workforce perspective People will need to be nimble enough to move into different careers Councilor Woodrow said she is excited to track this and hear the feedback from the students and how this affects their future. It is important for students to be work ready. Councilor Moore said she appreciated the goal of Increasing the graduation rate. It is vent' important. Mayor Lundberg said there are great partnerships with the schools, the City and the Chamber. Students can be working towards a career in high school. She is supportive of getting our kids out there and learning ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p m. Minutes Recorder—Amy Sowa Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest' Amy So .�Y��"°` City Recorder