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Home My WebLink About07/13/2009 Work Session . . . ; City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, JULY 13, 2009 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, July 13,2009 at 5:32 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Lundberg, Wylie, Leezer, Ralston, and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Bill Van Vactor, Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. l. Ward 5 City Council Position Interviews. City Manager Gino Grimaldi presented the staff report on this item. Due to the death of Councilor John Woodrow on April 28, 2009, the Ward 5 City Council position is vacant and was chosen to be filled through a recruitment/appointment process. An application period was opened and two applications were received. It is the City Council's policy to interview proposed appointees to council. In response to council direction, the City Manager's Office initiated the recruitment process for the vacant Ward 5 position. The attached news release and application packet were prepared and available for distribution beginning June 8, 2009. Application packets were due to the City Manager's Office by June 26,2009 and are attached for your review and consideration. Two applications were received by the closing deadline. The appointee will fill the remainder of Councilor Woodrow's term, which expires December 31, 2010. If the person appointed chooses to run for another term, the primary election for this position will be held in May of 20 1 O. The chosen applicant for the Ward 5 position will be ratified at the City Council regular meeting on July 20,2009. Mr. Grimaldi noted that the expiration date of the council position should have been 2010, instead of2012 as noted in the agenda packet. The incorrect date was also listed on the advertisement. The Mayor and Council chose the questions they would be asking of each candidate. l. Mayor Leiken: What are the primary reasons for your interest in the Ward 5 City Council position? 2. Councilor Pishioneri: What unique abilities or experiences would you bring to the Council? 3. Councilor Ralston: What do you like best about Springfield and why? 4. Councilor Pishioneri: If there were three things in Springfield you were permitted to do, whether it be to add, eliminate or change anything, what would those be? ' . . . ; City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes July 13,2009 Page 2 5. Councilor Leezer: What have you done to further your vision for Springfield? 6. Councilor Lundberg: Since there are six City Council positions, what do you believe are the advantages and disadvantages of collective decision making and shared -leadership? 7. Councilor Ralston: Councilors are elected citywide rather than by ward. What advantages or disadvantages do you see with that process? 8. Councilor Wylie: What is your greatest life accomplishment to date? Mayor Leiken welcomed the candidates and thanked them both for applying. The Mayor and Council interviewed Jodi Barnhart. The Mayor and Council interviewed Fred Simmons. At the end of the interviews, Mayor Leiken asked the candidates if they had questions of the Mayor and Council. Following the interviews, Council noted they were disappointed there were only two candidates. Following the interviews, Council discussed the qualifications of the two candidates and the value of each. Mayor Leiken noted his experience worldng with Mr. Simmons when he served on the Council in the late 1990's early 2000's. Mr. Grimaldi said they could re-open the recruitment if they chose over the summer recess. Mayor Leiken noted the importance of appointing someone before the recess so they could get oriented on some of the issues. Councilor Pishioneri discussed his thoughts regarding experience and delaying the appointment. Mayor Leiken said if this was opened up for additional candidates, it was Council's responsibility to look for interested people. Councilor Lundberg said this appointment was for a year and a half and she would prefer to go with experience. She would like to encourage Ms. Barnhart to apply for another committee. Councilor Ralston noted that he also served with Mr. Simmons in the past. He agreed experience was needed with the issues facing the Council in the near future. Councilor Leezer agreed. Discussion was held regarding whether or not to re-advertise. The question came up of whether or not the Council would be liable if they did not appoint at this time, but let it go to election. Mr. Van Vactor read from the Charter which stated "A vacancy in the Councilor in the position of Mayor shall be filled by appointment by a majority of the Council." He felt that was clear that an appointment needed to be made. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes July 13, 2009 Page 3 . Each of the councilors gave their thoughts on which candidate to appoint. Council consensus was to appoint Fred Simmons during the July 20 Council meeting. 2. Follow-up Conversation to the June 1. 2009 Joint Elected Officials Decision to Preserve the Metro Plan through Specific Amendments. Planning Manager Greg Mott presented the staff report on this item. The joint elected officials (JEO) culminated a three-year discussion of regional planning issues and governance concerns with a decision to address these matters through amendment rather than dissolution of the Metro Plan. The JEO identified four general categories in the Plan that require some level of revision as a baseline for continued support of the Metro Plan (see Attachment 1). In addition, each governing body agreed that any other provisions of the Plan that are unresponsive to, or in some way obstruct, achievement of community goals should be identified and included in a regional work plan amending the Metro Plan. . This work session discussion provides the Council with an opportunity to identify any provisions of the Metro Plan that have presented the Council. with difficulties or unsatisfactory outcomes as a result of implementation actions. Although these circumstances have rarely occurred outside the topic of autonomy, the eminent adoption ofHB 3337 measures and the willingness of the regional partners to try and resolve inter-governmental issues represents an excellent opportunity to undertake additional changes as identified and directed by Council. The Attachments to this AIS provide information to assist this work session discussion. Mr. Mott referred to Attachment 1 in the agenda packet regarding suggested changes to the Metro Plan based on JEO subcommittee meetings. He wanted to check in with Council to see if they had other issues they would like included when this came to the full JEO in the fall. He explained the issues which included overarching policies that identified and addressed regional issues, autonomy, jurisdictional issues, and dispute resolution. If Council thought of other issues they wanted to address, they could email him over the summer. The suggested changes could go forward on their own track. He explained. Councilor Pishioneri said several commissioners had concern about the area between city limits and the UGB and limited representation. Services in that area were also brought up. He asked if that was addressed. Mr. Mott said that would be addressed in item c on Attachment l. There was the urban transition area and the plan boundary area. The question about jurisdiction was regarded differently between elected officials. Council was not as concerned about the area outside the UGH. For those citizens living between city limits and the UGB, the City and County had partnered together well and gotten along fme. He was not sure of the genesis of that issue. There was a provision in the urban transition agreement with the LCBC that an impartial hearings official would be used for everything that wasn't legislative. . Councilor Ralston said this was straight forward. He noted how these issues were identified. He agreed that a dispute resolution process should be put in place. He was comfortable with the way this was laid out. . . . r ,.t City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes July 13, 2009 Page 4 Councilor Lundberg asked about dispute resolution. The Metropolitan Policy Committee (MPC) did not currently have a true dispute resolution process and this would be the issue. Each jurisdiction was working with policy documents and they couldn't compromise completely on everything. Mr. Mott said in the past, MPC worked well. Subcommittees were formed and resolution was found. In the late 1990's that stopped working. He noted the role of the MPC now. He felt the quarterly JEO meetings were to discuss these things since they were no longer being discussed at MPC. He hoped there was a solution that would work. There would be some options presented. Councilor Lundberg said there were enough big decision points that dispute resolution was critical. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:48 p.m. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa Attest: