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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/27/2009 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2009 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, April 27, 2009 at 5:32 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATIENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Lundberg, Wylie, Leezer, Ralston, and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, City Attorney Matt Cox, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilor Woodrow was absent (excused). Mayor Leiken noted that Councilor Woodrow was attending an awards presentation for his wife, Marilee Woodrow. I. Springfield Mill Race. Assistant Public Works Director Len Goodwin presented the staff report on this item. Since 1985, when the City acquired rights to the Springfield Mill Race, the Public Works Department has struggled with the maintenance of adequate flow. The pre-existing practice of entering the river with earth moving equipment is environmentally unsound and inefficient. State and Federal regulatory agencies have, with increasing vigor, insisted that the City fmd a better and more permanent alternative. Additionally, poor water quality in the Mill Pond and some reaches of the Mill Race have raised significant concerns regarding conditions for threatened fish species and . impacts to water quality in the Willamette River. The current design process contemplates that about July'l, 2009, the Corps will begin constructing the new diversion point and channel to, connect that diversion point to the Mill Race. That activity is Phase I. At that time the Corps can begin project construction as long as the City meets its local match. Because of the cost refinements and escalation and the Federal funding limitation, the City's match has grown to $3.975 million, of which approximately $2 million will be met through City property used for the project. Staff are exploring a number of alternatives to reduce this gap, including project changes. Since none of these alternatives is certain, staffhas also made provision for including sufficient funding in a stormwater revenue bond that will be issued in either FY 20 I 0 or 20 II to cover whatever portion of the match remains unmet. As an interim measure to provide cash until such time as those bonds are issued, staff are working with the Finance Department to secure a short term interfund loan from the proceeds of the recent local wastewater revenue bond sale. A portion of those proceeds to be used for the Jasper Trunk Sewer will not be required until either FY 2010 or 2011. Any short term loan would be repaid out of the Stormwater bond proceeds. Mr. Goodwin discussed the role the Mill Race Project had in the rehabilitation of downtown. The City had been ready to go forward with plans for the Mill Race over the past decade, but funds City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 27, 2009 Page 2 were not available. Agreements had been reached with property owners to purchase some properties along the Mill Race and work had been done with the Corps of Engineers. There were also many plans for recreational activities along the Mill Race in the downtown area. The Mill Race traced the history of Springfield, from its agricultural roots, to logging, to timber mills, to the urban setting, and into the Willamette River. Mr. Goodwin said he had received a call from the Corps of Engineers on Friday saying they had $1.3M in their FY09 budget for the Mill Race. The only thing left to meet the full $5M federal share was $IAM. During t~e United Front trip, those funds were requested. The Corps would be receiving a substantial amount of stimulus funds and he hoped they would receive that money to complete this project. The City now needed to come up with local match funds, which was more difficult now than it was ten years ago, in part because of the increase in costs for this project. There was little likelihood that the $5M maximum the federal government could contribute to one of these restoration projects would be changed. That left a $3.9M City match, with $2M of that in City-owned property. The City had some resources to cover part of that cost and project adjustments could be made. He referred to some of the adjustments outlined in the Council Briefmg Memo in agenda packet. He explained some of those adjustments and noted other adjustments that could be made. They wanted to develop this in a way to make it an attractive amenity for downtown. Mr. Goodwin noted the maintenance issues and regulatory requirements associated with the Mill Race. He said Merri Martz from Tetra Tech would also walk through the phases of this project. The groundbreaking was scheduled for late Mayor early June. The Congressional delegation, Council members, TEAM Springfield members, former City employee Ed Black, and others would be invited to that event. Maintenance Manager Brian Conlon spoke on maintenance of Mill Race. He recognized Greg Ferschweiller, supervisor in Maintenance, who had worked hard for the past twelve years working with property owners at industrial sites to maintain the flow. Mr. Conlonreferred to a slide presentation that Mr. Ferschweiller had put together for tonight's meeting. Mr. Conlon provided a history of the Mill Race and the responsibility of the City for maintenance of operations and flow. He talked about the many businesses that used the Mill Race and for what purpose. He discussed the use by the City of equipment to move rock from the Mill Race for flow. In about 1990, culverts were installed to help with flood control. At that time, there was plenty of flow at the Mill Race, by now there were only marginal flows. Mr. Conlon said the maintenance division was very happy that Phase 1 was going in, as it would reduce staff time and allow more time to work on stormwater elements of the Mill Race and less on the operational end. He also noted that the City had been at the mercy of the court and other federal agencies to allow the City to move rock to allow for minimal flow. Ms. Smith said there were beautiful reaches of the Mill Race, but the downtown was decaying. She wanted to make sure staff made themselves available to give new councilors a tour of the Mill Race. She spoke regarding the environmental benefit and obligation of the City on this project. There had been a lot of decline and decay in the lower reaches of the Mill Race in terms of water quality and soil quality, and it was a bad situation. Two of the problems of the Willamette River were temperature, driven by fish habitat needs, and bacteria. She discussed those issues. This project would allow the City to clean out sediments, transport pollutants and restore the ability to have this a fish run that was a passable, cool, fishable stream. Early modeling showed that the temperature from the beginning to the outfall at the Willamette could be reduced City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 27, 2009 Page 3 by twelve degrees Fahrenheit. She described how this project connected with the City's Stormwater Master Plan. The City's obligation didn't stop with the matching requirement, but also extended to cleaning up the discharges. Some ofthe SMP projects were linked to that. She explained some of those sites. Once we made the initial investment, the ,City needed to maintain it so it did not decay. ' Councilor Leezer asked if the City was being charged by the Environmental Protection Agency (EP A) due to warm conditions and bacteria levels. Ms. Smith said no, but the City did have an obligation to clean it up. The EP A and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) could take some steps if we failed to clean it up. In signing the cooperative agreement with the Corps, the City entered into an obligation to clean it up as part of the contract for the grant. Mr. Goodwin said the City hadn't been fined yet because they knew the City was working on the project. Mayor Leiken said sometimes we lost sight that a large portion of this Mill Race was hand dug by the founder of Springfield, Elias Briggs. In his opinion, the recreational part needed to be front and center. He would like to get a bronze statue or plaque of Elias Briggs in the area so people could understand the integral part the Mill Race played in our history. He appreciated the technical part as well, but this was part of our history. It was a great project. Councilor Pishioneri agreed and said he had really enjoyed taking a tour of the Mill Race. He asked how involved the Oregon Department ofFish and Wildlife (ODFW) was fmancially. He was concerned about the regulatory end of things in terms of fishing and whether or not that would be allowed by the ODFW. Ms. Smith said ODFW's fish biologist had been very involved with this process. His initial inclination was to make the City screen the Mill Race. That's where the City had to build the components to the project that would have assurances the water quality would be improved and the temperature dropped. The Mill Race had steelhead, cutthroat trout, salmon, and many fish oriented interests involved in this project. Having the side channel habitats was something ODFW wanted. Councilor Pishioneri said he understood the importance to ODFW, but questioned whether or not fishing regulations could be imposed that would not allow fishing along the Mill Race. He asked about temperature reduction credits through the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA). Ms. Smith said the City was hoping for TMDL credits, which were similar to the ODA credits. That would be something for the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC). Councilor Wylie said she would like to take the tour ofthe Mill Race. Councilors Leezer and Ralston said they would also like to go. Councilor Wylie asked if the City could use room tax dollars for a partial match. Mr. Goodwin said it was probably legal, but the City may not have the resources available in that fund. If the revenue was there, it could be a possibility. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 27, 2009 Page 4 Ms. Smith said staff was looking at other grant resources. There still could be grant dollars to offset the City's requirements. Mr. Goodwin spoke of one such grant. Ms. Martz referred to maps displayed in the room and said Phase I was scheduled to start at Clearwater Park and would continue on for about a mile on the upper end of the Mill Race. The upper area was very forested and full of beautiful habitat. The key elements of Phase I would be to excavate a new inlet that would go under Clearwater Lane through a large culvert, and follow the old river alignment along the Booth Kelly revetment. It would then swing back into the existing Mill Race just downstream from the existing culverts. There would be a similar constricted channel feature to maintain flood control. She pointed out an area that would be re- vegetated. Additional features in Clearwater Park would be constructed. There was an existing stormwater outfall that discharged upstream of the mill ramp that would be moved upstream a couple hundred feet. There would be some bank protection that occurred along with that. As part of the project, a portion of a new parking lot would be constructed as part of a new boat ramp planned by Willamalane. There would also be parking for the future Middle Fork/Willamette trail. head. Ms. Martz described Phase II, which was focused on the Mill Pond area in downtown. The primary feature there was removal of the dam, and re~creating a channel that went through the pond area and a looped trail with a boardwalk. There would be a few additional re-vegetation features before the Mill Race went into the pond. Once the dam was removed, they would need to reconstruct the diversion to Gorrie Creek that Springfield Utility Board (SUB) uses to water up their well fields. Mr. Goodwin said when the City acquired the property from McKenzie Forest Products for the eastern end of the Mill Race, we also acquired a substantial amount of property along the north bank of the Mill Race to be developed as stormwater management facilities for relieving downtown and treating the water before it re-entered the Mill Race. That was not part of the federal project, but part of the Mill Race rehabilitation that was in our SMP and would be done in the future. Councilor Pishioneri asked if the culvert at Clearwater would be the fish friendly style with rock in the bottom. Ms. Martz said it was. She explained further. Mayor Leiken said this was one of the projects that didn't get much flash, but was one ofthe proud moments in Springfield and during his tenure. Councilor Lundberg was co-chair of the political action committee (PAC) that brought in the funds for this in 1994. He thanked staff for their great work. 2. Delaying the Opening of the Municipal Jail. Police Chief Jerry Smith presented the staff report on this item. The City of Springfield is nearing completion and construction ofthe Municipal Jail, a component of the Criminal Justice Center. A budget has been developed that includes funding from an operating levy renewed by City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 27, 2009 Page 5 voters in 2006. The Municipal Jail should be operationally functional by NovemberlDecember of 2009. During a recent work session, Council asked if there would be cost savings by delaying the opening ofthe Municipal Jail. Chief Smith referred to the memorandum in the agenda packet that described funding and the amount that could be saved. Money could be saved, but there were other consequences. The issue for him became complicated due to staffmg and the potential of leasing beds. The Police Department had gone through a recruitment and hiring process which was very labor intensive. They had identified staffing, offered jobs to many who would be working in the jail, three of whom had been on board since December. The uncertified staff needed to go through the Corrections Academy, and the only academy scheduled in the future was June 8, 2009. They had anticipated bringing the uncertified staff on board on June 1 to get them into that academy. There were no other academies scheduled by the State at this time. The Police Department wanted those with certification to start on August 1, right after the academy so all staff could then train together. The jail facility was scheduled to open in December and they needed the facility for one month before opening. The funding model did not change whether opening was delayed or not, but if delayed, there would be no product during the next budget preparation season for other government agencies to plan for regarding leasing beds. Councilor Pishioneri asked if the City had any letters of intent or intergovernmental agreements (IGA) from anyone. Chief Smith said they did not. He had been approached verbally by other agencies. Councilor Pishioneri said he wanted to know what kind of demand for leasing beds there would be if the jail opened on schedule and what percentage of the 100 beds were potential income. Chief Smith said the consultant (ECONorthwest) came up with a $700,000 figure. Theoretically, the City could fmd other agencies to lease the beds without using it ourselves. Mr. Grimaldi said the lease income was planned for FYI2. Councilor Lundberg said the City didn't need to delay the opening. She had no interest in delaying the opening of the jail because people voted for the jail. She didn't want to delay this because people were very anxious to have the jail opened to impact crime. She didn't feel it would be fair to put this off since it was something people voted for and were paying for through the levy. Councilor Pishioneri discussed the length of the levy and that delaying the opening of the jail could create savings for the City that could prolong viability of the jail. Delaying it one year could allow it to stay open for another year with those funds. Chief Smith said he was anxious to get the jail open and successful so Council could determine whether or not to go forward with a levy for renewal. If so, they needed to show a product with success. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 27, 2009 Page 6 Councilor Ralston said he agreed with Councilor Lundberg, and was not interested in delaying the opening the jail. The savings were minimal and would be made up by leasing the beds out and bringing in fmes. Mayor Leiken agreed. He thanked Councilor Pishioneri. As an elected official, he had a certain expertise in this area and he respected that. It was important to bring forth all issues. He did agree with Councilor Lundberg that when the bond measure passed, it was because of the jail. From that perspective, it would be very important that this opened in a timely manner. It was important, however, to look at this from an objective point of view. Councilor Pishioneri said that had been a learning curve for him as well, as he had never opened a jail. He understood that the Chief was in a difficult position with the timing of the certification, although certification didn't need to occur until one year after the jail opened. The problem was that the State hadn't determined a future schedule for training, so the Chief had nothing to plan for. He recognized the difficulty in sending people to training once the jail was opened because of limited staffmg to cover those that were gone. He realized the staffing was very lean. He appreciated the tough spot Chief Smith was in, but he would continue to question this all the way to make sure it was done right. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6: 17 p.m. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa Attest: