HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/12/2008 Work Session
City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
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THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
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MONDAY, MAY 12,2008
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The City of Springfield Council met in a work ~ession in the Library Meeting Room, 225 Fifth
Street; Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, May f2, 2008 at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor Leiken
presiding. .
ATTENDANCE
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Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Lupdberg, Wylie, Ballew, Ralston, Woodrow, and
Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff
Towery, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff.
Mayor Leiken noted that he would need to leave the meeting immediately following discussion
on the first item to attend an event in which he was scheduled to speak.
1. Reorganization Plan for the Ownership and Operation of the Wildish Community Theater.
City Manager Gino Grimaldi presented the staff report on this item. The Springfield Renaissance
Development Corporation (SRDC) owns and operates the Wildish Theater. While current
revenues have adequately supported ongoing operations, no significant progress has been made
to retire approximately $600,000 in debt. SRDC has proposed the creation of a new non-profit
organization to operate the theater and believes that the elimination of the debt is a key to long-
term success. The SRDC proposal would have I the City, Springfield School District and
Willamalane each contribute $200,000 toward the elimination of debt. In consideration, each
entity would become an owner of the facility, is guaranteed priority use of the theater, consistent
with current use patterns, and would appoint members of the new governing board~
At its meetings of March 24 and May 5, 2008, the City Council discussed the SRDC proposal
and provided guidance to staff regarding the future of the Wildish Theater. That guidance has
been used to prepare six alternatives (Attachment I in the agenda packet) for City Council
consideration. In addition to the six alternatives listed in Attachment I, the City CounCil has the
option of accepting the original SRDC proposal.
Resources are available from the funds collected related to the rezone of the former Chambers
property. Those funds were dedicated to the construction of South 320d Street improvements and
other economic development activities. Approximately $2.4 million remains, with about $2
million committed to other projects.
Mr. Grimaldi said tonight's discussion was a continuation of the discussion on this topic from
May 5,2008. He referred to the additional alternatives that had been added following Council
direction at the May 5 meeting: 5) City of Springfield contribution of $200,000 in the form of a
loan; and 6) do nothing.
Mayor Leiken said there had been discussion regarding the State forgiving a loan~
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Council Work Session Minutes
May 12,2008
Page 2
Mr. Grimaldi said the SRDC asked the partners to approach the State and ask that the $90,000+
loan be forgiven. There was concern that ifthere was another loan from another entity, it could
be difficult to get the State to forgive their loan. The City hadn't talked with the State about that.
Tom Draggoo, member of the SRDC, said he had no additional information; it was just a concern
of their board.
Councilor Pishioneri referred to the letter submitted by Mr. Draggoo and the SRDC regarding
that concern. He liked the idea of the City donating $100,000 with the other $100,000 was made
available as a potential grant. If the State opted to forgive the loan, it could be used as match
money. He didn't care for the $100,000 as a loan because he didn't want to charge interest on
that figure. He would also like to see that the $100,000 was dedicated to that building so the City
was not approached again. He felt it would be fair for the City to put those contingencies on the
funds.
Councilor Woodrow asked if there was any information from the School District or Willamalane
regarding this proposal.
Mr. Grimaldi said the School District had met in Executive Session. Bob Keefer, Superintendent
from Willamalane Parks and Recreation, and Lee Beyer, Willamalane Board Chair, were present
in the audience.
Mr. Beyer said the Willamalane Board reviewed the same proposal as was before the Council.
The Board supported the first two options, but had concerns similar to the SRDC. Having
another loan on the property made it difficult to ask the State to forgive a loan. His personal
concern was that if TEAM Springfield got involved, he wanted to make sure there were enough
resources to make it successful in the future. .
Councilor Woodrow felt the City should find a way to resolve this. He supported Willamalane
operating it in conjunction with the School District, but did not want the City to have ownership
of the facility due to the liabilities of ownership. He understood that the City had contributed a
large amount of CDBG funds, but this was an investment for downtown. He also noted the effort
in name and dollars from the Wildish family. They did it because they saw a good idea for the
downtown and he saw that, too. He didn't want the City to own it, but would be in favor of either
Option 2 or Councilor Pishioneri's idea to donate $100,000 and make the other $100,000
available for a grant should the State forgive their loan.
Councilor Ballew said she agreed with Councilor Pishioneri. She said another possibility would
be to do a combination of the City donating $100,000 and loaning the urban renewal district
$lOO,OOO. The urban renewal district could then pass it through to the theater.
Mr. Grimaldi said staff could look into that. It would have to be part ofthe urban renewal plan.
Councilor Ballew said it would give the City a way to get back the $100,000. She liked the
suggestion of at least half of the $100,000 going into a reserve toward the building, making the
owner of the facility take responsibility. She would like assurance that it didn't become a school
or park facility, but a community facility.
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Council Work Session Minutes
May 12,2008
Page 3
Councilor Ralston said the City had put a lot of money into the theater. He would be agreeable to
$100,000 donation with $100,000 as a no-interest loan or grant with no specific time period for
payback.
Councilor Wylie said she agreed with Councilor Pishioneri and Ballew's ideas. She wanted to
see the .theater get off to a good start without debt.
Councilor Lundberg said she had thought about this issue a lot. The City had put a lot of money
into the theater and it was supposed to have been finished a long time ago. She was supportive of
the success of the theater. If our park district was part of the City, the theater would be part of
that department. She would have been happy with the park district taking it over themselves as a
cultural center. She would have liked the group to bring Council a proposal showing how they
would function operationally. The City was about to raise rates for streets and sewers and she
was more focused on the basic services. The theater would succeed with or without City funding.
Perhaps they could help later with Springfield Economic Development Agency (SEDA) funds.
She couldn't support the City giving any money at this time.
Mayor Leiken said Councilor Pishioneri's idea was out of box and interesting. He asked how the
rest of the Council felt about this proposal. There was not enough support from Council for a
$200,000 donation. The next step was for each agency to lobby or solicit the State to forgive the
$90,000+ loan.
Mr. Grimaldi asked if Council wanted dedication of the funds to the building included in the
agreement. Yes.
Councilor Ballew wanted to explore the option of putting the funds through SEDA.
Mr. Grimaldi asked if the new non-profit would get the benefit of the $100,000 grant.
Councilor Pishioneri said SRDC would receive the first $100,000 now. The second $100,000
could be used as leverage or matched funds if the State forgave their loan. He liked the idea of
converting those funds to SEDA funds, but that could be done on the City's end. He would like
to see that the building needs were taken care of, so they should earmark a good amount of
funding for maintenance.
Mayor Leiken said staff could look into passing the funds through SEDA, but if it took too much
time, he asked if Council would approve the $100,000 as a grant. SEDA could be used as a fall
back.
Councilor Pishioneri said if the State fell through and didn't forgive the debt, the City or SEDA
could loan the second $100,000.
Mr. Grimaldi said staff would incorporate Council's suggestions and bring an agreement back to
Council for consideration.
5:50 p.m.: Mayor Leiken left for the remainder of the meeting.
Council President Lundberg presided over the remainder of the meeting.
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Council Work Session Minutes
'May 12,2008
Page 4
2. Joint Meeting with the Springfield Arts Commission..
Arts Commission Chair Bob Winkleman called the Arts Commission meeting to order. He said
this was the annual opportunity for the Arts Commission to give the City Council an update on
everything the Arts Commission was doing and had planned for the future. The mission of the
Arts Commission was to present the arts to the citizens of Springfield to enrich their lives,
educate them, inspire them and to do it on a modest budget. He noted that he was very humbled
to be able to work with the current Arts Commission members.
The Arts Commission members introduced themselves: Chair Bob Winkleman, owner of
McKenzie PhotoWorks in Springfield and photographer; John Keskinen, musician; Don (Andy)
Anderson, water color artist and photographer; William (Aztec) Miller, wood craftsman and
sculpturist, with experience in art installation and production art; Charlene Eckman, retired art
teacher; Scott Wylie, building/remodeling designer and landscape designer, and public artist;
Sandra Dominguez, degree in arts management and artist in several mediums; and Carol Plaia,
studio artist doing three-dimensional sculpting for the most part. Carrie Schindele-Cupples staff
liaison for the Arts Commission and Youth Services Librarian, also introduced herself.
Chair Winkleman said every person on the commission had a great deal of experience and
knowledge. They all put in many hours of volunteer time and got others to volunteer.
Ms. Plaia gave a brief update of the City Hall Gallery. She said when she started she created
goals. The first goal was to produce a call for artists to get the Gallery scheduled for about
eighteen months. They were working on policies for the gallery and had been working with City
Attorney Joe Leahy on those. She explained the benefit of a policy. They had received positive
responses on the work that had been displayed in the gallery.
Chair Winkleman said all of their commission members put in a lot of volunteer hours, but none
more than Ms. Eckman.
Ms. Eckman reported on the Youth Art. Ms. Eckman said they had great collaboration within the
commission and with the schools. The school district had been very helpful in reaching out and
. helping with the Children's Art Show to make it a big success. There was an increase in entries
this year and every student that entered received a ribbon. Ms. Eckman and another Arts
Commissioner had created a poster for the show. She handed the poster around for the Council to
see. The school district didn't have any funding for art specialists, so by creating programs like
this through the Arts Commission, visual arts could be encouraged at all schools. The Arts
Commission taught a monthly class called the First Tuesday Craft Class.
Ms. Eckman said this was the second year for the Great Outdoor Art Contest. This was to
encourage anyone in our community to get out in July and create some art. Entrants started at
7:00am in the morning and worked on their project throughout the day. There was judging and
ribbons. They hoped for a larger turnout this year. A beautiful flyer was created with the help of
Arts Commissioner Andy Anderson and Willamalane. The Arts Commission was working with
Willamalane to make the event a success. Willamalane had been helping to advertise the event in
their fliers and there had been good stories in the Register Guard thanks to Niel Laudati and
Carrie Schindele-Cupples. These were wonderful progfamS for kids in Springfield.
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Council Work Session Minutes
May 12, 2008
Page 5
Chair Winkleman said l500 children excited about art was incredible. These were things that
Ms. Eckman on her own had brought to Springfield. '
Mr. Wylie reported on the Luigi Testa Sculpture Collection project. He said the artwork had
gone from place to place. Currently, the commission was focused on working with the citizens'
advisory committee and project management team on choice and situation of three to five
sculptures from this collection for the Justice Center. Luigi Testa was a well known artist from
San Francisco who specialized in sculptures made of steel. Two good examples of his pieces
were in the Library; one was a birdlike sculpture in the Children's section and the other was a
more imaginary creature. The commission was upgrading the documentation of the collection so
they could talk to businesses,. neighborhood organizations, and the school district about interest
in having an art piece. His involvement with the placement of this collection was based on his
involvement with public art. The Arts Commission had a long tradition of public art displays
such as in Art Alley.
Ms. Schindele-Cupples reported on the Puppet Festival. For the last two years, the Puppet
Festival had been held in the Wildish Theater. This year, over 950 people attended the Puppet
Festival at the theater. The Arts Commission helped make this event happen through funding and
volunteer work. The children started with a puppet making workshop, executing it into a play
which was then performed. Arts Commission members worked with the kids at all the
workshops and in the preparation and performance of the play.
Chair Winkleman said moving the Puppet Festival from the Willalamane Adult Center to the
Wildish Theater had been incredible.
Chair Winkleman said the Council gave the Arts Commission some additional funding last year.
The cqmmission was responsible for that portion of public funds and took the responsibility very
seriously. They chose to enact programs that did the most good and reached out to the most
people. This year the commission chose to use a large amount of those funds for the Heritage
Arts Grants. He explained the program. The commission was able to facilitate all requests this
year. He described some of the programs that received those funds, including the Springfield
High School (SHS) Drumline requesting funds to represent Springfield at a prestigious
conference.
Ms. Plaia said the only stipulation the commission had on the SHS Drumline grant was that they
would perform a free concert. Their concert was held at SHS and was standing room only.
Chair Winkleman said the commission had been able to create a web site at
www.springfieldartscommission.org They were linked in to the City of Springfield website and
the Springfield Public Library website. Their site listed a full calendar of events, projects
underway, murals around town, and also showcased what the commission did.
Mr. Keskinen said the website project took several years.
Chair Winkleman reported on upcoming projects. The Arts Commission had taken some of their
funds and earmarked it for another public mural project. The new Wynant's was approached, but
chose to fund their own mural.
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Council Work Session Minutes
May 12,2008
Page 6
Mr. Keskinen said he had a concept of a teen rock concert series at the Wildish Theaterthat
could be repeated annually. There were many musicians in this area; young musicians that were
nearly professional quality. In February, he went to one of the middle schools for Career Day and
talked about his pastime of playing guitar and playing in a band when he was a teenager. The
vision was to have a rock concert series workshop on four consecutive Saturdays.
Ms. Eckman said since the commission was not funding a mural this year, they were looking for
guidance on placement of art and how to showcase Luigi Testa's artwork. They had talked about
having a show of his work in the City Hall lobby area so people could see them in person.
Ms. Plaia said she too had experience in purchasing and placing art works. Proper installation,
maintenance and storage of them were important. The cost to install this type of artwork was
very expensive.
Councilor Ralston asked how long a commissioner had to be off before they could reapply. One
year. He asked what it would cost to install the artwork discussed.
Ms. Plaia said to do it properly, it could run about $4000-$5000 for outdoor installation.
Mr. Miller said if they could use City personnel, they could cut the cost.
Ms. Schindele-Cupples said they would install three pieces at the Justice Center with funds
available.
Councilor Ralston said the Arts Commission could also do fundraising. He suggested charging a
low fee for attendance at the rock concert series and other events.
Councilor Ballew asked if the Arts Commission had ever met with the Springfield Museum
Board.
Ms. Schindele-Cupples said she had interaction with the new director, but did not meet on a
regular basis.
Councilor Ballew said it could be a venue for some things.
Ms. Plaia said they had heard the Museum Board had instructed the new director not to schedule
any more art shows, only historical, but they couldn't confirm.
Councilor Lundberg thanked the commission for coming and sharing.
Councilor Pishioneri asked if the commission had considered the centers of roundabouts for
displaying artwork. They might possibly be able to use some of the construction funds to help
install the artwork. It could be a way to identify each roundabout.
Chair Winkleman said they had discussed that during on of their Arts Commission meetings.
One of the issues was the space available at each roundabout.
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Council Work Session Minutes
May 12,2008
Page 7
Ms. Plaia noted the new EmX stations that had incorporated art into necessary items such as
railings.
Councilor Pishioneri suggested having art included in the engineering of new construction
projects.
Chair Winkelman said the commission was working with staff on those things.
Council President Lundberg again thanked the commission for joining Council this evening. It
was enjoyable to get caught up on their activities.
Chair Winkleman adjourned the Arts Commission.
3. Update of Construction Proiects that will Affect Traffic Patterns Throughout the City During
the Upcoming Construction Season.
Civil Engineer Jeff Paschall presented the staff report on this item. During the upcoming
construction season there is the possibility that approximately 23 projects will be in the midst of
construction throughout the City. These projects are a combination of City, County, and private
projects. They range in scope from large street construction (i.e. 69th Street Reconstruction) to
small traffic signal projects. A map (Attachment A) is provided and shows that the projects are
scattered throughout the City.
Of the upcoming projects, 13 are Private Improvement Projects (PIP) which are currently under
review and should be approved and ready for construction this summer. The rest of the projects
are the City's capital improvement construction projects and the County's Bob Straub Parkway
project. A table (Attachment B in the agenda packet) is included which gives some details of
each project.
Many of theses projects will impact traffic flow throughout the City during the summer months.
Mr. Paschall highlighted several of the projects noted on the map and attached list. The slurry
seal project was not yet on the schedule, but would be going on this summer.
Councilor Ballew asked for a recap of the Bob Straub Parkway.
Mr. Paschall explained the projec~.
Councilor Woodrow asked about the intersection at Mt. Vernon and Bob Straub Parkway. He
referred to letters sent to the Council from some of the neighbors in that area. There had been a .
lot of discussion with City staff and the County. At this time, the County did not intend to put a
stop light or even a four-way arterial stop at this location. The engineer with the County said at
this time the intersection didn't warrant a traffic signal. Everyone that lived on South 59th or in
the new development on the east side of the parkway had only one exit, which was on the Bob
Straub Parkway. The Bob Straub Parkway would go between two residential neighborhoods and
there were bus stops, parks, and more residential being built. There was a tremendous amount of
traffic that would prohibit those residents from getting onto the Bob Straub parkway from South
59th Street. Those living on South 58th and South 57th would also access at that location. His main
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Council Work Session Minutes
May 12,2008
Page 8
concern was the number of people there currently; many which were young families with kids. It
was difficult for buses to go in and out of those neighborhoods. It was difficult for kids to get to
the park. In addition, truck traffic was allowed on Bob Straub Parkway.
Councilor Woodrow requested Council authorize staff to bring Council information on installing
a traffic light at that location. The County would not put a light in at this time, but were putting
the conduit in. With the conduit in place, it would be a cost savings if the City put a light in after
construction. He felt this was a serious safety issue. He said the multi-use path was only on one
side of street and people would be crossing to use it. The distance across that intersection was
.seventy-seven feet. He didn't want to wait until there was a tragedy before acting.
Councilor Ralston asked about the cost.
Mr. Grimaldi said a range of costs had been given between $90,000 - $200,000.
Councilor Ralston said he would like to see this move forward sooner than later. A lot of
development was planned in that area.
Councilor Pishioneri said it made sense, but he would like to see what the City was currently
doing regarding other safety issues in Springfield. If staff time was taken to do this, what other
safety issue would they be pulled away from? He didn't want this done at the cost of some other
worthwhile safety project. He wanted to know where the funds would be taken from.
Councilor Ralston asked about Project P21002 (traffic signal modification at 14th and E Streets)
on the proj ect list. It was noted that Council directed staff to put it back in.
Councilor Ballew asked if the traffic count provided by Lane County at the Bob Straub
intersection was accurate.
Mr. Barnett said the County's study covered the issue very well and was somewhat conservative
towards the possibility of a signal. He explained.
Councilor Ballew said this was designed to be an expressway, not pedestrian friendly even
though it went through some residential.
Councilor Woodrow said when he bought his home in this area, he was told the expressway
would never be built. If residents from South 59th had another way out, there wOlildn't be a
concern, but there was no other exit.
Councilor Wylie asked if this was part of the planning or had been considered before.
Mr. Barnett said the initial discussion during planning was where connection points would be
permitted. Mt. Vernon pre-existed and was a logical connection point. The next intersection
north was signalized because ofa contractual agreement with Weyerhaeuser. Daisy Street was
also a collector road and was chosen for another connection. The intent was not to signalize
anything in the interim and allow traffic to develop and make a determination for signaling at
that time.
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Council Work Session Minutes
May 12,2008
Page 9
Councilor Wylie asked if that had been evaluated recently.
Mr. Barnett said the County did an evaluation at Mt. Vernon. That study showed that in 2009 the
warrants would not be met; nor in 2012. Other alternatives had not yet been pursued, such as
improving site distance, warning signs, relocating stop signs, flashing beacons, creating a four-
way stop, restricting turning movements, lighting, or installing a roundabout.
Councilor Woodrow said Daisy Street had other accesses to Main Street; Mt. Vernon did not. He
discussed the intersection at Mt. Vernon and how it had gone from no stop sign toa four-way
stop because of growth and development in the area. He felt a four-way arterial stop on Bob
Straub would make things worse because of the speed limit of 45 mph on that road. He discussed
the residents that lived in that area, including senior citizens and families with children. He
appreciated the consideration of other alternatives, but did not feel they would be effective.
Council President Lundberg asked if staff could present alternatives to Council including the cost
for each. The Council was on a tight timeline if they wanted to do something now. She asked for
Council feedback regarding this issue.
Councilor Ballew said the City had limited resources.
Councilor Ralston said it was a compelling argument. Staff could provide a fifteen minute work
session to present the figures and options.
Public Works Director Dan Brown said he had talked with the Public Works Director from Lane
County and they discussed two things: 1) funding - the City would need to pay for a signal; and
2) convincing the Lane County Board of Commissioners to install a signal since the intersection
didn't meet warrants. The Board of Commissioners would likely ask the City to sign an
intergovernmental agreement (IGA) indemnifying the County against impacts of an unwarranted
signal, such as an accident. Staff could work with County staff to address the Board's concerns
before locating funding.
Councilor Wylie said Council needed to see the alternatives first to make a decision, and then
discuss politics and money.
Mr. Brown said this was a County road so the County had the final say, even if the City paid for
the signal.
Councilor Woodrow asked if once Jasper Road was annexed, the City would have jurisdiction of
the parkway.
Mr. Brown said it would not.
Councilor Lundberg said Council could look at the alternatives and funds needed for
jurisdictional transfer, along with the pros and cons and what we would lose. Staff could bring
back that information for Council.
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Council Work Session Minutes
May 12,2008
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Councilor Ralston asked about the signal modification at Marcola Road. He didn't see any street
projects along with the Lowe's development. He felt that traffic signal modification would be the
responsibility of that development.
Mr. Paschall said the reason he hadn't shown the potential PIP was that the developer hadn't yet
submitted their plans.
Councilor Ralston asked if the City had money budgeted for that traffic signal intersection. If the
developer ended up paying for that modification, it would free up that money for other things.
Mr. Barnett said the modification of the signal at Marcola Road would cost much less than
putting in a new signal at Bob Straub Parkway. The objective of the Marcola Road project was to
take the protected only left turn and turn it into a protected permissive lane to improve mobility.
It was not part of the Marcola Meadows project because that development didn't impact that
signal to a degree that would require this modification. The development would diminish level of
. .
service to a degree.
Councilor Ralston had another commitment and left the meeting (7:09pm).
4. Wastewater User Fees for Fiscal Year 08-09.
Environmental Services Manager Susie Smith presented the staff report on this item. The current
rates for local and regional wastewater user fees were adopted by the City Council in May of 2007.
At current rates, the wastewater user fees will not produce sufficient revenue to fully fund the
proposed FY 08-09 budget, the adopted Capital Improvements Program (CIP), and additional
wastewater capital projects identified in the newly updated draft Wastewater Facilities Master Plan
(Master Plan). An evaluation of alternative rate increase options is presented in the attached
Council Briefmg Memorandum.
Regional Wastewater User Fees. The MWMC adopted an 11 % regional wastewater user fee
increase following a public hearing on March 27th, and has forwarded the FY 08-09 rates to
Eugene and Springfield for implementation consistent with the MWMC intergovernmental
agreement. The new rates will increase the average monthly residential bill by about $1.56.
These rates were reviewed by the City Council at its April 7th work session and will be
incorporated into the schedule of combined wastewater user fees to become effective July 1 st.
For additional background on MWMC's adopted FY 08-09 user fees, please refer to the April 7th
Agenda Item Summary and attachments.
Local Wastewater User Fees. The Council is requested to consider options for an increase in
local wastewater fees ranging from 10% to 21.7%. The impacts of these rate options range from
$l.3l to $2.86 on an average monthly residential bill. The local wastewater capital program is
the primary factor driving the need for increases of this magnitude. The 10% option (Option 1)
would fund the adopted CIP and mandatory rehabilitation projects. The 21.7% option (Option 2)
. would ensure for projects in the draft Master Plan, including discretionary projects to support
new development. Option 3 provides the Council with flexibility to establish a user rate at a
level between Option 1 and Option 2 in order to reserve the ability to construct capital projects
needed for community growth.
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May 12,2008
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An option of less than a 10% increase is not presented. A less than lO% increase would generate
insufficient revenue to fund currently adopted CIP projects, such as the Jasper Trunk Sewer and
sewer rehabilitation needed to avoid sewage overflows to streets, properties and waterways. The
adequacy of a 10% user fee increase (Option 1) will also rely on significant increases in system
development charges (SDCs) due to an expanded list ofSDC-eligible projects. Options 2 and 3
assume the same SDC charges and revenues as Option 1. An evaluation of these options, along
with responses to questions from the Council at their April 7th work session, is provided in the
attached Council Briefmg Memorandum.
Staff seeks Council guidance in preparing a schedule of user fees for FY 08-09, and in
determining whether the user fee rates should generate sufficient revenue to enable construction
of discretionary capital projects identified in the draft Master Plan. This guidance will assist staff
in finalizing the draft Master Plan for Council consideration, and in developing a draft schedule
of combined (regional and local) wastewater user fees for review at a public hearing scheduled
for June 2nd.
Ms. Smith acknowledged the many public works employees that worked on this. She referred to
the information in the Council memorandum in the agenda packet. User rates from the local
wastewater program generated about $4.3M and the SDCs about $230,000. The ratio was about
70% user rates to 30% SDCs. She referred to the table on page 4 which showed the projects in
the current five-year CIP. There were insufficient funds through rates and SDCs to fund all ofthe
CIP projects. The new Master Plan identified another $39M in capital projects.
Ms. Smith said staff considered what had to be done and what the City wanted to do. She
discussed the projects that had to be done. The first increase in Option 1 included the sewer work
that had to be done, including the $ll.5M Jasper Trunk Line and Gray J acqua Infrastructure
because they are in the current CIP. Glenwood infrastructure was assumed to be funded from
urban renewal funds. Option 1 would increase the average residential bill about $1.30 per month
(10 % sewer user increase). She noted that the SDCs under the current methodology would go up
over 100%. She referred to the chart at the bottom of page 6, Attachment A showing the user
fees and SDCs over a five year period under Option 1. She discussed last year's rate increase.
This rate, revenues and cash flow assumed no big increases in operations except a modest three
percent.
Ms. Smith said Option 2 was an increase of about 21.7% for user rates, translating to an
additional $2.86 on the average residential monthly bill.
Councilor Wylie asked what Option 2 would pay for.
Ms. Smith said it would pay for the entire Master Plan package of $60M. With either option, a
significant amount would need to be borrowed for projects on the front end. She explained the
differences between Options 1 and 2. She referred to the summary table of discretionary projects
in the middle of page 6 of attachment A in the agenda packet. Staff s recommendation was
Option 3 which covered things that had to be done, plus $lM to allow Council to react to
development needs and program one or part of the projects on the discretionary projects list. She
further discussed the discretionary projects. Some of the costs could be recouped through other
funding, such as assessments or a reimbursement district. In order to get projects underground
and enable development to occur, cash would have to be fronted.
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Council Work Session Minutes
May 12, 2008
Page 12
. Ms. Smith said there were many city and county administrators throughout Oregon facing these
same issues. She noted some of the large increases being proposed by other cities. She referred
to the comparator chart on page 7 of attachment A in the agenda packet, which was based on
Option 1. She also referred to Exhibit 4 in attachment A, which showed the Combined
Residential SDCs and Total Monthly Wastewater Fees by City. She noted that there were maps
on the wall and Civil Engineer Matt Stouder was available to answer questions regarding the
master plan projects. Other rate scenarios had been run in the event the Council wanted to
unfund the Jasper Trunk sewer.
Ms. Smith said staff was requesting direction from Council to choose an option for staff to use to
draft the schedule for the June 2 public hearing. She distributed a document showing an average
SUB residential bill at the current rates and with the proposed rate change.
Councilor Woodrow asked which capital projects would be funded under Option 3.
Ms. Smith said Option 3 would fund all Option 1 projects, plus provide an additional $lM to use
for projects as needed for development. She gave an example.
Mr. Grimaldi said that was the type of flexibility the City had in the past.
Councilor Woodrow said SDCs needed to be considered as well. Existing users shouldn't be
funding development fully. .
Ms. Smith said staff was in the process of reviewing and adopting new SDC methodology and
would bring that to Council at a later date.
Councilor Woodrow said he would be in favor of Option 3.
Councilor Wylie asked about the additional amount in Option 3.
Ms. Smith said the extra for the $IM would be added to Option 1.
Civil Engineer Jeff Paschall discussed the handout he created that showed those options. Once
the Bob Straub Parkway was completed, the sewer was the last key to development in that area.
Councilor Wylie would like to do what we needed to do now, rather than wait as costs went up.
The City needed to meet current and future needs. This was necessary.
Councilor Ballew said she liked Option 3 because it was a compromise. There were a lot of
things not known, such as how fast the City could do this work. She agreed that money would
need to be borrowed. Regarding the SDC rate modeling, she believed that growth should pay its
own way, although it probably wouldn't be able to pay it fully. As staff developed the SDCs,
they needed to remember they were selling capacity in the system. Option 3 worked for a start.
She would expect staff to come back again with updates, news and a calendar of events.
Councilor Pishioneri said Option 3 made sense.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
May 12, 2008
Page 13
Councilor Lundberg said she had given this a lot of consideration. She would want all areas
(Glenwood, Jasper Natron, Gateway, Mohawk, etc.) to have opportunities to be successful. She
prefers Option 3. She appreciated the extra effort by staff because it made it more sellable.
Council consensus was to move forward with Option 3.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 pm.
Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa
Attest:
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City Recorder