HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/26/2009 Work Session
City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2009
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225
Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, October 26,2009 at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor Leiken
presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Ralston, Lundberg, Wylie, Leezer, Simmons, 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.
1. Police Planning Task Force Application Review.
Police Senior Analyst Mike Harman presented the staff report on this item. The Police Planning
Task Force had one Business Representative position open from the resignation of Mark Molina,
and one At-Large position open from the re-assignment of Fred Simmons to the Council Liaison.
The Task Force received two applications and interviewed both on October 8, 2009. The
subcommittee consisted of Fred Simmons, Stacey Doll and Dave Jacobson. The group
recommended appointing Wendy Polen as the Business Representative and Michelle Clough as
the At-Large Representative.
Council was scheduled to make formal appointments on November 2, 2009 for the two positions.
Councilor Simmons said both applicants were well qualified and good candidates. He
recommended appointment of both applicants.
2. Request to Convert Funds Awarded to Mainstream Housing in 2000 for the Provision of
Affordable Accessible Rental Housing from a Loan to a Grant.
Housing Assistant Jodi Peterson presented the staff report on this item. In funding year 2000 the
City of Springfield awarded $80,000 in HOME Investment Partnership (HOME) funds to
Mainstream Housing to purchase and make fully accessible one rental unit. Mainstream Housing
is a non-profit organization that assisted people with physical and developmental disabilities. In
the HOME Contract, staff structured the award as an $80,000 loan. The loan was interest free
with the ftrst payment commencing 10 years from the date the property was put in to service. The
first payment would be due January 5th, 2010.
Mainstream Housing purchased the home, at 5512 E Street in 2000 with the assistance of HOME
loan funds. The purchase of the home came out of a partnership with City staff to help a disabled
Springfield couple, Tony and Nicole Worley. The Worleys had been clients of the City housing
programs staff for several years and were on the verge of losing their home to a predatory lender.
City staff and the W orleys concluded that they could no longer afford to own a home and did not
. have the means to maintain their home. The search for alternative housing was hampered by the
need for a lift system to transfer the husband from bed to his wheelchair and other parts of the
house. Mainstream Housing stepped up and worked with staff to locate a suitable home to
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
October 26, 2009
Page 2
purchase. Mainstream then used their own program funds to make accessibility modifications and
agreed to grant the Worley's a "lifetime lease" on the rental unit. In February of 2000 the
Worley's moved into their new home.
Due to the low income of the occupants the property had always been subsidized by Mainstream
Housing. All income from the property had been used to pay insurance, property management
expenses, association dues and minor maintenance on the unit.
Ifthe City converted the HOME funds to a grant, Mainstream Housing would be able to continue
to provide affordable accessible rental housing to disabled very low-income tenants.
As a recipient of the HOME funds the City's primary purpose was to respond to the need for
affordable housing through capacity building and creating opportunities for furthering affordable
housing. This was primarily accomplished through partnerships with our non-profit affordable
housing providers. It was very difficult for non-profits, like Mainstream Housing, that provided
affordable housing to very low-income clients to make projects viable when there was debt
service on the project. The rents received were very low and many of the projects were service
enriched making operations more costly. In the ten years since this project was completed, staff
had become more aware of this and elected to grant funds to projects that served a very low-
income clientele. More recent examples of HOME grants were Habitat for Humanity Meyer
Park, and the St. Vincent de Paul's Royal Building and Aster Apartments.
Mainstream Housing was dedicated to creating affordable rental housing in Springfield. In
addition to this project, in 2003, they purchased and rehabilitated a c~e ridden and distressed
apartment complex, the Aquarius Apartments, on 5th Street. The apartment complex was now
well maintained and managed and the clients served there were thriving. Mainstream Housing
had subsidized operating shortfalls for the life of the project. If the funds were to remain a loan,
the City would collect $2,667 in payments each year for the next 30 years, starting January 2010.
The Council may elect to 1) convert the loan to a grant as requested, 2) defer repayment for
another ten years or other set period of time, 3) review the terms ofthe loan after the current
tenants no longer occupy the unit, or 4) leave the loan in place as recorded. Staff believed that
the funds would be better used to support the activities and services currently provided by
Mainstream Housing thus enabling them to continue to create affordable housing opportunities
for their special needs clients. Staff supported converting the HOME loan to a grant.
Councilor Pishioneri said these citizens were well deserving of this, but he hesitated supporting a
grant. He asked what would happen when they were no longer tenants.
Ms. Peterson said the housing would continue to be used for people with physical and
developmental disabilities. She noted that Matt Fadich from Mainstream Housing was in the
audience to answer any questions Council may have.
Councilor Pishioneri asked about NEDCO homes.
Ms. Peterson said homeownership projects were a little bit different. NEDCO built the house then
got paid back when someone purchased the home. The City then received a portion or all of the
funds back at that time. Mainstream Housing was for affordable rental housing, and they
maintained the property for that use for a specific amount of time.
Councilor Pishioneri asked about the maximum threshold for income.
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Council Work Session Minutes
October 26, 2009
Page 3
Mr. Fadich said there was an income level in order to qualify. Their mission was to support
affordable housing for people with developmental disabilities. Those were the conditions to
qualify. The property was maintained by Mainstream Housing.
Councilor Wylie asked if the City had a contract with Mainstream and if they were required in
that contract to keep the place rented to low income disabled people. Yes. She asked if the City
would get paid back if Mainstream sold the property.
Ms. Peterson said there were conditions that would address that. If they converted the loan to a
grant, the City would satisfy the trustee portion of the loan and record in its place some covenants
that would determine conditions pertaining to sale of the property.
Councilor Wylie said when she was with Willamette Family, they had a number of facilities that
were purchased with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds in Eugene that had specific
conditions.
Councilor Simmons said he had asked some questions of Housing Manager Kevin Kolast Friday,
regarding 50 1 (c)(3) status, Section 8 funds received, and future restrictions on sale and use of the
property. The concept of the loan proceeds coming back and being available to other participants
was a part of that process. He felt there were some facts he still needed. He wanted to know if
both people in the home were receiving Section 8 funds. The payment for the loan was about
$222 a month that went into the fund. Other landlords in the community were receiving Section 8
payments for people and were able to retire their debt in the process. He asked if there was no
participation from the occupant in the rental transaction as in other Section 8 housing.
Ms. Peterson said they were receiving Section 8 funds, although Mainstream Housing was limited
on the level of rent they could charge. The other properties were able to charge fair market rent.
Mainstream Housing was only able to charge $450 per unit.
Councilor Simmons said he would like to know the facts before making a decision. Mainstream
had done an excellent job in that unit and he was not opposed, but he wanted to see some facts
that lead to that decision of converting the loan to a grant. The city needed to be careful how they
spent their funds.
Councilor Lundberg said she had been a member of the Community Development Advisory
Committee (CDAC) for a number of years. Years ago, these were typically set up as loans, but
over time it became apparent that the people they were serving were not people that would have
the ability to repay the loans. She felt they were over-analyzing this topic. This would typically be
done as a grant now, and there were a number of grants awarded each year. This was not
different, but was set up in a different period of time. There were plenty of regulations and
restrictions in place to protect the City. She was very comfortable with this proposal.
Councilor Ralston confirmed that the first payment would be due in January if it was a loan and
the grant would not be repaid. That was correct. He supported affordable housing, but the City's
budget was tight. He was not inclined to convert this grant to a loan.
Councilor Pishioneri said the more he heard, the more supportive he became. He discussed the
increase in the homeowners' association charges.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
October 26, 2009
Page 4
Mr. Fadich described the location of the development which was originally built by Dwyer. The
homeowners' association maintained the grounds and paid the homeowner's insurance. The units
were attached to each other. The $100 per month was not abnormally high.
Mayor Leiken asked if we had taken something similar to this and converted it to a grant recently.
Ms. Peterson said the most recent ones had started out as grants, such as the Royal Building. They
hadn't done this type of conversion for a rental. They had recently converted a portion of a
homeownership loan to a grant.
Mayor Leiken said this was setting a little different precedent. He was supportive of this, but
would like staff to sit down and work out a policy for future requests. There needed to be some
parameters. He wanted to make sure the City was protected because they were dealing with
taxpayers' money. Something needed to be in place for future elected officials.
Councilor Ralston said his concern was that this was taxpayer money and was opening the door
for everyone to come and ask for a conversion on all loans.
Councilor Wylie asked if there were a lot of other loans.
Ms. Peterson said there were not a lot of loans on this type of project. The City had a lot of
affordable rental housing loans on housing that served a higher income population. Those .
property owners were able to charge a higher rate allowing them to pay the loans back.
Councilor Wylie asked ifthese were federal grant funds and if this project was within the
guidelines. Yes.
Councilor Leezer asked if this had been an interest free loan. Yes. She asked about taxes and was
told that this was a non-profit organization.
Councilor Simmons said it was exempt from taxes and stormwater fees because of the nature of
its use. He again said he would like more facts before moving forward, as well as a policy. He
was not opposed to the transaction, but wanted to establish precedence for the future. He
supported the programs run by our Housing Department.
Ms. Peterson said staff had a procedure and policy in mind for current requests, but this was
coming up ten years after the loan. Normally, the City had grant funds available for projects that
served extremely low income clientele.
Councilor Pishioneri said this was a good plan, and the loan should be converted to a grant. He
would like to have a policy in place. It was important to support those that needed support.
Councilor Lundberg said there were lots of rules around federal housing dollars. There was a
population that was low income now that had the opportunity to change that status and that
clientele would be good candidates for a loan. This population was very low income now and
would continue to be very low-income and need assistance. The City was very home ownership
oriented, but the City needed to look at rental assistance as ongoing especially during these
economic times. She trusted Ms. Peterson to look at each scenario and bring things that made
sense to the Council.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
October 26, 2009
Page 5
Mr. Grimaldi said staff could bring this back with more information. He referred to the options
listed in the AIS, including deferring this for another ten years. Council could set something up to
review this property when the current tenants left, or reject the proposal.
Councilor Wylie said when doing the policy it would be good to outline when something would
be a grant and when it would be a loan so there were guidelines for the future. She was
supportive.
Councilor Simmons said he was supportive of the action, but wanted to see the facts in the
process. When this was done, it was done on the basis of the loan because loan funds were
available. He couldn't vote in favor ofthis without those facts. He was not displeased with any of
the people involved.
Ms. Peterson said she had the information Councilor Simmons had requested.
Mr. Grimaldi said staff would bring this back during a regular meeting as early as next week with
the additional information as requested for formal approval. Formal approval was not required.
3. Ambulance Transport Task Force Update.
Fire Chief Dennis Murphy presented the staff report on this item. He thanked Councilors Ralston
and Wylie for attending the ATS/JEO meetings. The ATS/JEO Task Force was charged earlier
this year with the study of economic threats to ambulance transport providers in Central Lane
County. Councilors Ralston and Wylie represented Springfield on the Task Force. A report and
recommendations from the Task Force were due in late November for distribution to all members
ofthe JEO. The JEO meeting on December 7 would discuss this issue. The attached summary
was an early progress update on development of the November report.
The purpose of the A TS/JEO Task force was to make recommendations to the full JEO on
resolving economic threats to the Ambulance Transport Funds of Eugene Fire & EMS,
Springfield Fire & Life Safety and Lane Rural Fire/Rescue. These Central Lane ambulance
transport providers served nearly 3/4 of Lane County and over 80% of the population.
The attached progress update and summary included the most likely focus points to appear on the
November report as of now. The Task Force met at noon today and reviewed a draft report with
additional details.
The final study results and recommendations would be distributed to JEO members by late
November and presented to the full JEO at the December 7 meeting along with the results of a
closely related report on the feasibility of merging Eugene and Springfield Fire Departments. The
JEO would be asked to approve the first steps in a phased approach with measurable results and
timelines to resolve both issues.
Chief Murphy said others in the County were watching to see what could be done. He discussed
the issue due to the Medicare cuts and how that had affected ambulance service. He provided
details on the steps already taken as outlined in Attachment I in the agenda packet:
· Increased ambulance rates to a maximum "ceiling" amount.
· Reduced ambulance coverage for non-peak times.
· Cut costs for administrative staff, materials and supplies.
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Council Work Session Minutes
October 26, 2009
Page 6
. Since Eugene presently has approximately 80% of the area's extended medical care
facilities, non- emergency basic life support inter-facility ambulance calls have been
outsourced to a private contractor. These calls generally require a much lower level of
care and are reimbursed at the lowest rate. This matches a more appropriate level of
resource with particular non-emergent call types that do not require the skills and
. equipment of an emergency advanced life support, fIrefighter/paramedic unit.
· Springfield Fire & Life Safety staff has focused on maximizing existing revenue sources
for all three providers through expanding efforts of the joint FireMed program and
development of new revenue sources through Mobile Health Services research and
design.
All of the above things would not close the gap over the next 5-6 years. He noted the things the
task force had dismissed:
1. Continuing to raise ambulance rates on a regular basis. Although the rates continue to
rise, we have long since passed the point of diminishing returns. Too many patients are
covered by Medicare, and too many others are simply unable to pay. The full posted rate
is hardly ever actually collected.
2. Full privatization of the region's ambulance service has been eliminated as an option the
Task Team will consider. The Team has identified ambulance service as a core public
service, utilizing cross-trained firefighter/paramedics. Although a public/private
parthership has emerged in Eugene, and could potentially be expanded to other areas, the
quality of pre-hospital care will remain at the forefront of considerations.
The Task Force was reviewing various possible recommendations including:
1. That all three jurisdictions remain prepared to allocate a level of General Fund
support as necessary for the continued high-quality provision of this core service;
2. That the Eugene and Springfield City Councils request, jointly consider, and
ultimately support a formal proposal to form a new service district - or annex to an
existing district - in this region that would provide fire and medical emergency
response and medical transport services and that would have its own elected board
and taxing authority, eventually ending the need for City General Fund Support;
3. That the Lane County Board of Commissioners act to reconfigure the boundaries of
the county's Ambulance Service areas so as to provide for an urban-rural split
between Eugene and Lane Rural Fire/Rescue;
4. That work continue regarding the possible provision of a mobile health care system
in our area, with tiered levels of response (and cost) available to patients depending
on the nature of the emergency, with a report back to elected officials by the end of
calendar year 2010;
5. That promotion of FireMed memberships be enhanced; and
6. Public ambulance service providers continue to lobby Congress for relief.
Chief Murphy discussed each of the recommendations. The public was supportive ofFireMed
and had asked that they try anything else before going to the taxpayers.
Mayor Leiken thanked Councilors Wylie and Ralston for serving on this task force as it had been
an intense process. This wasn't resonating with the public the way it should. This issue should be
coming out as part of the health care reform discussion in Congress. It took the Sheriffs Office
being out of money before people listened. It would take a collapse before people realized there
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
October 26, 2009
Page 7
was a problem. Chief Murphy had outlined it well and Council understood the issue, but the
public did not understand the severity of the problem.
Councilor Ralston said although not part of the item tonight, a related topic was merging the fire
departments. Merging could be a temporary solution. He referred to Attachment 1, page 2 where
it stated, "all three jurisdictions remain prepared to allocate a level of General Fund support. . . ",
and he was not sure Springfield could promise that. Many citizens felt this was a major function
of what government should be doing such as public safety, sewer and roads. Forming a new
district was one way to address the issue, or annexing to another fIre district. Annexing to another
fIre district could be faster, but we would lose control because the existing district would have
their own board. If everyone joined FireMed, the problem would be solved, even with a reduced
rate of $30/year. He compared that cost to joining or forming a fIre district.
Councilor Ralston noted that the other elected officials that served on the A TS task force were
Eugene City Councilors Mike Clark and Andrea Ortiz, Lane County Commissioner Rob Handy,
and Springfield City Councilors Hillary Wylie and Dave Ralston. Commissioner Handy had
stated that Lane County was talking about a public safety district, and could possibly want to
combine it with a fire district That would be a problem and could overwhelm the citizens of Lane
County. The focus needed to be on one thing that could be accomplished. The alternative was for
the City to stop having the service. Most fIre personnel were dual trained for fIre rescue and
ambulance transport. The task force had eliminated some things, but there was still a lot on the
table. This needed to be framed to gain public support.
Discussion was held regarding property taxes.
Councilor Wylie said even with a house paid off, people still needed to pay their taxes and the
Council needed to remember that when adding taxes to taxpayers. Chief Murphy did a good job
presenting this issue. This was a service that must be provided in our community, and there was
no easy answer. It cost more money than we had. They knew the Medicare and Medicaid
reimbursements were the big issues. She had talked with Congressman DeFazio and other State
representatives and would continue to do that, but it was unlikely that issue would be resolved.
Councilor Wylie said the best thing to do would be to move forward on a series of things over a
long period of time. They needed to continue to push FireMed, and to continue with General
Fund support until other things got into place. The task force would be looking at the merger for
short term savings. Long term for our community may be forming a district. The Chief told the
task force today that the City Managers and County Administrator could provide steps that could
be taken. There were no easy answers. The City would have to make a commitment to move
ahead step by step. Raising our fees wasn't a solution. She relayed a phone call she received from
someone on a fixed income, with no insurance and who didn't qualify for Medicaid that had
received a large bill for the ambulance. Springfield had good partners in Eugene and Lane
County, but she was concerned about Commissioner Handy's statement regarding a public safety
district.
Mayor Leiken said they couldn't look at a district because the County would need to be included.
They needed to show the taxpayers that they would continue to receive good service and savings
if a merger occurred. The cost savings because of the overhead issue would be critical to show the
citizens. He spoke with union leadership about this issue and was glad to see that management
and the union were in agreement.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
October 26, 2009
Page 8
Councilor Wylie said she believed in Chief Murphy and Chief Groves and their commitment to
quality of service. We wanted that quality of service and people to be cared for by trained and
committed firefighters.
Councilor Lundberg said in looking over the task force recommendations, she was supportive of
using General Funds for this service, even if for the short term. It was a legitimate expense. She
was curious about Board's look at an urban-rural split and what that would mean. She also
referred to mobile health care and noted that information on that would not be available until the
end of201O. She asked if Eugene was the only one doing the mobile health care at this time.
Chief Murphy said Eugene had implemented one small facet. They had outsourced their
ambulance and billing. He acknowledged their efforts to try to meet their patient's needs with
something that cost less.
Councilor Ralston said it was a matter of degree of service. The initial phone call would
determine the service needed.
Councilor Lundberg said it looked like there was a lot of thinking outside the box. She agreed
with the Mayor to look at a merger rather than forming a district. She had reservations about
special districts. She would like information about what the two meant.
Councilor Ralston said a merger would be merging of the Eugene and Springfield fire
departments and taking away duplications and saving about $800,000 a year. That would be a
temporary solution. For the long term, they would need to possibly look at either creating a fire
district or annexing to an existing fire district. He was in favor of merging the two departments.
He was concerned about allocating General Fund money because there were many other things
the City needed to pay for in the near future. The option would include looking at other services
the City provided that were not core services.
Councilor Lundberg said it was pivotal to think about a special district. The County would be part
of a district in terms of Metro Area plan. The merger would be just Eugene and Springfield.
Mr. Grimaldi said the County would be involved in the Metro Plan decision. Their involvement.
in the actual district would depend on several factors. If they formed a separate district it would
be governed by a separate board, not the County or the City.
Mayor Leiken noted the issues when getting Lane County involved.
Councilor Lundberg said they needed to be clear in the long term fix who would be involved.
Councilor Pishioneri said he understood the task force eliminated the option of full privatization,
but he wouldn't be supportive of a new district because it could cause more administrative costs
and duplicative services. He asked about the overtime spent by the City on firefighters. He asked
if the other private services Eugene had outsourced were operated 24/7. Yes. If those staff didn't
have housing provided, there could be cost savings. He asked how much savings the City would
have if our department didn't have to pay for housing and living expenses. He asked if the unions
would also merge or would the Springfield union be competing with the Eugene union each
contract season. The ideas sounded tangible, but he felt a district would be voted down. There
was a huge cost for special districts. The citizens deserved the best care, but things needed to be
looked at differently.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
October 26,2009
Page 9
Councilor Ralston explained why the task force eliminated the privatization option. The
firefighters and paramedics were paid whether or not they were on a call. If we privatized that
service we would lose one-third of our firefighters because they were paramedics/frrefighters. It
was a non-option going to full privatization because we had specially trained people that
performed a valuable service.
Mayor Leiken asked what type of interest there was from City Club members when Chief
Murphy and Chief Groves spoke to that group.
Chief Murphy said the presentation was available online. There were people lined up with
questions representing a diversity of the audience. The most enthusiastic reaction was during the
description of mobile health services as true health care reform. They showed enthusiasm for
FireMed and health care reform. The group seemed to think it was a good idea to eliminate
duplication through a merger. He noted that merging the departments did not presuppose a fire
district. If the elected officials were interested in having the City Managers move forward in
steps, a group of representatives from Eugene and Springfield could visit Alameda, California,
which had a model similar to our Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC).
They had one department, merged from two very different cities.with different cultures. The
representatives could also visit fire district models in the Portland area and speak with those
people about why they were doing what they were doing and how things worked. The U.S.
Conference of Mayors had a model program in Alameda County that he thought would be of
interest. It was nine years old and was a success. It was a joint governance model and not a
special district. If the cities went with that model, the legislature should be involved to support
that type of merger. The Eugene Chamber did a clear standup evaluation of which option they
supported. They favored the creation of two different types of special districts: a health care
district; or a frre district. They then could solve the ambulance problem.
Mayor Leiken asked if they had talked with rotary groups and suggested they talk with
Springfield organizations. The rotaries were the movers and shakers in the community. This was
still not resonating with the average citizens and the media coverage had been focused on sound
bites but not the actual issue. Council understood the issue. Having the chiefs do the presentations
to the local service groups gave this a lot of credibility
Councilor Ralston said people thought the City was covering this as a core service and didn't
understand how there could be a problem. He asked Chief Murphy how many personnel were on
a frre truck ready to go.
Chief Murphy said there were three on a fire engine.
Councilor Ralston said they needed those three to respond to a fire. The fact that they were dual
trained as paramedics and could answer those types of calls when not fighting frre was an asset. It
wouldn't make sense to remove the paramedics because we would still need to have three
frrefighters on duty all the time.
Councilor Pishioneri asked how many were at the station.
Chief Murphy said two ofthe stations had three, and three stations had five.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
October 26, 2009
Page 10
Councilor Simmons said the concept of going to the private transport such as in Portland, could
be a disaster. Alameda had an innovative program and he thought we could do something similar
in our area. He was not in favor of taxing citizens at a high rate. He had faith in Chief Murphy
and the task force, and none in Congress regarding Medicare. We had to solve it here locally. He
referred to a book regarding special districts in California. The model that replaced the one in
Alameda was superior to the previous model, and we should learn from the new model. The cost
would be slightly higher than what we pay, but the service was high quality. It was not likely a
fire district would pass. Once citizens saw what Congress was doing for health care, citizens
would support local government doing it right. We had an opportunity to do something better.
Councilor Ralston said we were doing this in Springfield style as leaders. A fIre district would
solve a number of problems, not just the ambulance system. The City had a fIre levy up for
renewal in November 2010 and a fIre district could eliminate the need for our levy.
Mayor Leiken said the issue would be having the Lane County Board involved in a district.
Councilor Ralston said with a good group of commissioners, it could work well.
Councilor Pishioneri said this had been a great conversation.
Mr. Grimaldi said there would be more opportunities to discuss this topic.
Councilor Ralston said it was the job ofthe elected officials serving on the task force to educate
the rest of the councils and board to make informed decisions. This was something that needed
action soon.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned 7:06 p.m.
Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa
Attest:
AmY~
City Recorder