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
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City Recorder