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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/05/2007 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2007 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, March 5, 2007 at 6:00 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Lundberg, Ballew, Wylie, Ralston, Woodrow, and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Interim Assistant City Manager Mike Harman, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. 1. Budget Committee Interview. Budget Officer Bob Brew presented the staff report on this item. The Budget Committee has one vacancy in Ward 5, due to the December 31, 2006 term expiration of Budget Committee Member Daniel Bowie. Mr. Bowie has served two terms and is not eligible to reapply. The person appointed will serve a three year term which will expire on December 31, 2009. No applications were received in response to the news releases dated October 4 and November 15,2006. One application was received after the deadline of December 29,2006 and was approved for acceptance by the Mayor, Council President and City Manager without any further advertising. The Council is requested to interview one applicant for Ward 5 (Ms. Diana Garcia). The appointment is scheduled to be ratified at the Regular Session Meeting on March 5th (tonight). Council suggested making the questions shorter. Each Councilor chose the questions they would ask of the candidate. Mayor Leiken thanked Ms. Garcia for applying for this position. Ms. Garcia thanked Council for the opportunity to apply for this position. The Council interviewed Ms. Garcia. Ms. Garcia said her goal was to see the Council become independent from the bonds. She asked if there were ideas the Council had to become independent from the bonds. Mayor Leiken said Council had discussed this issue, but found it helpful to have the additional six members on the Budget Committee adding their ideas. He said it was difficult to set time limits on some of the goals to become independent of the bonds due to the reality of funding issues. . City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 5, 2007 Page 2 Council discussed Ms. Garcia's qualifications and recommended appointing Ms. Garcia to the Budget Committee during the Regular Meeting. Mr. Brew said Ms. Garcia would be attending the State of Oregon Department of Revenue Base Budget Training, and Mr. Brew and Mr. Duey would be going through the budget with her prior tothe first Budget Committee meeting. 2. Used Merchandise Dealer Ordinance - Automated Reporting Requirement. Police Chief Jerry Smith presented the staff report on this item. Eugene, Springfield and Lane County initiated an automated reporting pilot project in October, 2002 with voluntary participation of several secondhand stores in Eugene, Springfield and unincorporated Lane County. During the development of the draft ordinance, the participating law enforcement agencies met with secondhand store owners and managers for feedback on the proposed ordinance. There has been a mixed review from the dealers who are concerned about the additional costs to their businesses for implementing the program as well as a preferred vendor. Council has received correspondence from second hand business dealers expressing.their concerns on the matter. Council heard from a number of business owners affected by a proposed ordinance that would require Used Merchandise dealers to comply with an automated reporting system. Since the April 3, 2006 work session on this matter, the City of Eugene and Lane County have adopted ordinances requiring dealers to comply with automated reporting. The proposed process for implementing and operating the automated reporting system would be administered by the Eugene Police Department. The actual cost ($20,200) of automated reporting would be borne by the regulated secondhand stores, using a fee schedule based on the number of annual secondhand dealer transactions. It is anticipated that the annual cost to the individual secondhand store would range between $200-$700 per year. In the event that BWI receives the bid from an RFP issued by the City of Portland, we have been advised that the local automated program will be permitted to interface with the Portland data base. Chief Smith referred to the testimony provided by several second hand dealers last April. At that time, there was a suggestion that Springfield wait until Portland had implemented such a program and a concern was expressed regarding data being .routed through Canada. Portland's Request for Proposal (RFP) closed on March 1 and it would probably be about two years before a system was put into place. The proposal put out by Portland included a provision that Portland would become the proprietor of that system and Portland would own the information, rather than it being routed through BWI and back to the City of Springfield. He said it was likely that BWI would be the vendor to be awarded the bid from Portland. Portland assured Springfield that if they were successful in implementing the system, Springfield could integrate our system into theirs to exchange information. Chief Smith said the one part of the ordinance that would be different from Eugene's was an exception for businesses with very few transactions or dollar amounts. The cost would be born by the businesses and would bebased on volume. He said there were three fairly high volume businesses in Springfield. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 5, 2007 Page 3 Councilor Pishioneri said he liked the idea of reporting. Once the system was in place, the public perception of second hand dealers would be improved and it would also inhibit people from selling items that they didn't have the lawful authority to sell. He said he liked the idea of having the information locally and running it through our local AIRS system. He said it was good to work with the local dealers to fmd the best system. Councilor Woodrow asked if it would save the department any time if implemented. Chief Smith said it would save about twenty hours a week of staff time. Councilor Wylie said it was a step in the right direction. There was a crime problem and this reporting would help deter people selling stolen property. Councilor Ralston asked about Lane County. Chief Smith said Lane County had passed the ordinance and implemented it, but they had not yet enforced it. Councilor Ralston said if it was automated, there was no need for much enforcement. Chief Smith said he could not speak to why Lane County was not enforcing. Councilor Lundberg said she had owned a store that bought items. She said crime was not the issue. The issue was that the reporting system now in place was antiquated and it was time to upgrade to an efficient computer system. She said it was not often that stolen goods were sold to second hand dealers. Electronic reporting made a better system and made police work more efficient. She was very supportive of this ordinance. She said the City needed to be understanding to the businesses that needed to put out the money to implement. Councilor Wylie said having it automated could help finding stolen goods quicker. Councilor Ballew said she agreed with Councilor Lundberg that the current system was antiquated and was not efficient. The time it took for the dealer to write in information would be the same as entering it into a system. Chief Smith said he agreed. The Police would not expect a tremendous increase in recovery of stolen property for a couple of reasons. The items that were serialized could be checked now, and many people did not record serial numbers. It would be an increase in efficiency and storage space for the Police Department. Chief Smith asked if Council would like to include an exception to second hand dealers that sold less than 10 items a month or $250/month. He said those figures were arbitrary and up for Council discussion. Councilor Ralston asked how. the City would know if a business was doing a lot or a little if the business wasn't reporting. City of Springfield Council Wark Session Minutes March 5, 2007 Page 4 Chief Smith said the businesses were reporting the items, but some businesses only submitted a few slips each month. Without the exception, those businesses would be required to get a computer, internet access and pay the service and schedule. He said those businesses had other primary business rather than buying items. Councilor Pishioneri said he understood the volume and ticket value exception. He said the volume would be most important because of the time in each transaction. He discussed possibly having the businesses charge a transaction fee to recoup the money. Chief Smith said the businesses could charge such a fee without the ordinance. He said the second hand dealers were opposed to that because often the items they purchased were very low in value. Councilor Ballew said the purpose was not to duplicate the effort. She said if over the course of a year fifty businesses with minimal purchases were turning in slips, they would still be using staff time. That would need to be evaluated. The volume of the tickets that would have to be inputted should be considered rather than the number of items. Chief Smith said those that could remain on paper would submit those to the Police rather than Police picking them up. Councilor Lundberg said she would be supportive of having an exception for businesses that had very little in transactions. She was in favor of letting those businesses mail the slips to the Police, eliminating that step. Chief Smith said they would have to mail them in once they received the merchandise. Discussion was held regarding the exception for low volume businesses and if cost per item should be considered. Councilor Ralston asked about the monthly fees. Chief Smith said the fee assessed on the second hand dealers was per year and based on the number of transactions. Eugene was managing this program. A past concern was why Springfield businesses should pay the fee to Eugene. He said even if the businesses paid the City of Springfield, Springfield would have to turn around and pay the money to the City of Eugene since they were paying the contract with BWI. Councilor Ralston asked if it could be possible that merchants that had few transactions could still use system and have the fee waived. Chief Smith said they could not. He explained. The dealers would have to sign up to enter information into the system. ~ouncilor Ralston said this would save the City $40,000 - $50,000 a year, but having stragglers would still take time away from officers. He would prefer to go all or nothing. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 5, 2007 Page 5 Mayor Leiken noted that this item was taking more time than scheduled. He asked Chief Murphy about his item, which was next on the agenda. Chief Murphy said he could cover his item in ten minutes. Mayor Leiken said if needed, he would ask staff to bring this back for further discussion. He asked if this would be coming forward to a public hearing. Yes. '- Mr. Leahy said input may come in from the industry regarding electronic reporting. Council could change the exception number between the first and second reading based on input during the public hearing. Mayor Leiken said that would be helpful. Councilor Pishioneri discussed the exception numbers and values of transactions. He would like to hear from the industry regarding this issue and asked to have them submit correspondence prior to the public hearing if possible. Councilor Lundberg asked if staff could send out notice to the dealers long enough before the public hearing to allow them time to submit correspondence. Chief Smith said he would send out a letter to businesses. Correspondence could be sent to the Mayor and Council and/or the Police Chief. Mayor Leiken said staff could move forward and prepare for the public hearing. 3. FireMed Program Update. Fire Chief Dennis Murphy and FireMed Coordinator Bart Noll presented the staff report on this item. The FireMed program is making several changes for the 2007 FireMed membership campaign, April I - June 30, 2007. Eugene Fire & EMS has rejoined the FireMed partnership with Lane Rural Fire/Rescue and Springfield Fire & Life Safety. FireMed also negotiated a marketing partnership with REACH Air Medical Services, Inc. to provide an air ambulance option to FireMed members. REACH operates a helicopter from the Corvallis airport. The addition of Eugene Fire & EMS and REACH, Inc. adds $243,000 to the FireMed budget which significantly enhances the ability to add new members and achieve a successful campaign. The financial impact of these changes depends on the success of the revised FireMed campaign. A supplemental budget request will include the budget increases later this month. Funding for the increases in spending will come from FireMed's new partners and be applied to increased promotional efforts. If the marketing campaign is successful as anticipated, membership will increase, providing benefits to more citizens and enhancing ambulance operating revenue for all of the FireMed partners. FireMed selected Ad Group, through an RFP process, as the marketing and advertising campaign manager for the 2007 campaign. Ad Group staff members have worked for FireMed locally as well as with other agencies, since the inception of FireMed in 1986. They last worked for our FireMed program in 1999. We expect that Ad Group's expertise and the larger marketing budget will bring FireMed out of its recent loss of membership, and provide new growth. By continuing a quality marketing program, the membership growth should continue into the future. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 5, 2007 Page 6 The air ambulance option will provide FireMed with better access to younger, working-age members. Active, younger, people have more need of air ambulance service. Their exposure to costs of all ambulance service is also higher due to increases in co-pays and deductibles in health insurance plans. REACH offered PireMed a preferred membership rate, not offered to other partners, that makes the combined ground plus air ambulance membership package very attractive. FireMed will still offer a ground ambulance-only membership option for those who do not choose to add air ambulance. FireMed will also revive the JobCare program last offered in 2004. JobCare offers a $5 discounted membership through employers. Employers may choose to add to the discount or pay the entire membership fee for their employees. This program had over 800 members in 2004, after only three years of existence. JobCare also has the potential to stimulate membership growth among younger members in the future. .ChiefMurphy introduced Bart Noll, the new FireMed coordinator. He reviewed the new information as outlined in the agenda item summary. Partnership funds would be used to collectively market FireMed. That would come to Council through the supplemental process in March 2007. He discussed the JobCare program. He said the goal for this year was to increase the number of community households' that enjoyed the benefit of FireMed, to enhance the benefits of FireMed, to improve the revenue for operations, and reduce the cost per membership. Councilor Ballew confirmed that this agreement was only for marketing, not billing or an agreement to serve each others' clients. Mr. Noll said that was correct. Councilor Ralston asked what the FireMed fees would be for this year. Mr. Noll said they were $52., Councilor Ralston asked about the JobCare program. Mr. Noll said there were options for each employer on how they used the program. The employer could pay a poftion or the entire fee, or the employee could pay the cost less the discount. Councilor Ralston said that was a great marketing idea. Councilor Wylie said this was good business. She asked about helicopter service at RiverBend. Chief Murphy said helicopter service at RiverBend would increase. He explained how the membership worked for helicopter ambulance service. The current Sacred Heart site and the McKenzie Willamette Hospital both had ambulance landing capability. The new RiverBend would be set up to handle it as well. Councilor Lundberg asked what the qenefit of JobCare would be for the employer. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 5, 2007 Page 7 Mr. Noll said it was a benefit for the employees. JobCare offered FireMed membership and filled a gap in the health insurance. It was a benefit that employers could provide to their employees with no cost to the employer if they chose. Chief Murphy said the trade would be that FireMed may put up a poster at the business or put fliers in with other employee mailers. It would help to make the employer look good. Councilor Pishioneri welcomed Bart Noll and thanked them for the information. He said this was good news and the JobCare program was great. He asked about employees that received the JobCare benefit and then left the business shortly after. He asked if the benefit followed the employee. Chief Murphy said they could discuss this with employers. Mayor Leiken congratulated them on this partnership. Mr. Noll said the marketing contract would be on the Consent Calendar on March 19. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 pm. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa c.. ( Attest: ~a~ City Recorder