HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/07/2009 Work Session (2)
MINUTES
Joint Elected Officials
Eugene and Springfield City Councils
Bascom- Tykeson Room-Eugene Public Library
I 00 West I Oth Avenue-Eugene, Oregon
December 7, 2009
Noon
PRESENT:
Eugene City Council: Mayor Kitty Piercy, Mike Clark, Jennifer Solomon,
Betty Taylor, George Poling, Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, Alan Zelen-
ka, George Brown, members.
Springfield City Council: Mayor Sid Leiken, Hillary Wylie, Dave Ralston, Terri
Leezer, Joe Pishioneri, Fred Simmons, members.
Board ofCo1l.nty Commissioners: Peter Sorenson, Faye Stewart, Bill Dwyer, Rob Handy, members.
Lane Rural Fire/Rescue District Pete Holmes, Kevin King, Ray Brown, John Baxter, board members.
ABSENT:
Springfield City Council: Christine Lundberg, member.
Board of County Commissioners: Bill Fleenor, member.
Lane Rural Fire/Rescue District Larry von Moos, member.
Also present were County Administrator Jeff Spartz, Eugene City Manager Jon Ruiz, and Springfield
City Manager Gino Grimaldi; Chief Randy Groves, Eugene Fire & Emergency Medical Services
Department; Chief Dennis Murphy, Fire & Life Safety Department, City of Springfield; Chief Dale
Borlund, Lane Rural Fire/Rescue District.
Board Chair Peter Sorenson convened the December 7, 2009, Board of County Commissioners meeting.
Board Chair Pete Holmes called the meeting of the Lane RuralFire/Rescue District to order.
Mayor Sid Leiken called the meeting of the Springfield City Council to order.
Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order.
1. AMBULANCE TRANSPORT FUNDING
Commissioner Sorenson stated that the materials for an item that would not be discussed, regarding the
Metro Plan work plan report, were included in the packets. He requested that the elected officials review
the report. He also wished to thank the staff for all of the agencies for the work that had gone into the
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organization of the present meeting. He asked the fire chiefs to speak to the first item on the agenda.
Eugene Fire Chief Groves stated that the issue had been discussed widely among the elected officials. He
wanted to review the report and recommendations that had come out of the work of the Ambulance
Transport System Joint Elected Officials Task Force. He noted that the fifth recommendation in the
Agenda Item Summary had included outdated language and asked that they refer to the language in the
report, on page 2. He asked the members of the task force to speak to the recommendations. He said the
task force had included Eugene Councilors Andrea Ortiz and Mike Clark, Springfield Councilors Dave
Ralston and Hillary Wylie, Lane Rural Fire/Rescue District President Larry von Moos, and County
Commissioner Rob Handy.
Councilor Ortiz thanked the chiefs and staff for the time they had put into the report. She said the issue
concerned her because the ambulance service had been able to pay for itself at one time and could not
now because of declining revenue. She understood that Medicare reimbursements were declining.
Chief Groves confirmed this. He said the reimbursements had been declining and would decline by
another 10 percent in urban areas and 20 percent in rural areas in January. He underscored that Medicare
was already compensating ambulances at a rate that was between $200 and $400 per call, which was not
even at the break-even point. He indicated that the departments were looking for short, medium, and
long-term solutions to the problem.
Councilor Ralston considered this to be a difficult issue, given that there were certain services the public
believed they were entitled to and had paid for already and this was one of them. He averred that
ambulance service was a core city service. He felt that the first three recommendations should "certainly"
be looked at. These were recommendations that all three jurisdictions be prepared to provide some
support for the service from general fund money, that the Cities of Eugene and Springfield authorize
initial steps toward a merger of the two fire departments, and that more sustainable funding options be
explored. Regarding the third recommendation, he observed that the funding options included a fire
service district or a levy. He noted that Springfield already struggled with two levies, one for fire and one
for police. He underscored his support for a merger of the two fire departments.
Councilor Wylie stated that the task force had held a number ofbi-monthly meetings and had considered
all aspects of the issue in as much detail as possible. She said they had reviewed the complex material
and tried to come up with ideas to solve the shortfall. She stressed that the task force had worked the
recommendations carefully with the information available to them in mind. She reiterated that if
Medicare and Medicaid paid just what it cost for ambulance transportation, the jurisdictions would not be
experiencing a shortfall. It seemed to her that the jurisdictions needed to be as frugal as possible and this
would mean that the fire departments should merge and that they should work on the development of a
proposal for a fire district "down the road."
Mr. King said Lane Rural was a special district dedicated to providing fire and rescue services. He noted
that they did not distinguish between fire rescue and ambulance service, which was why the district did
not hesitate to commit general funds to the service. He stated that because of being a special district, the
general fund revenue could only increase by three-percent in a year, but expenses were rising at a rate that
was closer to IS-percent which made it challenging to continue to rely on general fund support to
maintain their service. He related that they had looked into consolidation with other fire districts locally
and this could be of potential help, but it would take a similar amount of time to do this as it would to
form a new district. He noted that to put a fire district into place would take approximately three years.
He believed that if they had a more comprehensive solution, countywide or regionally in Central Lane
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County, they could potentially solve the problem.
Commissioner Handy thanked the members of the task force. He had found the process to be informa- .
tive. He also thanked the fire chiefs and the presidents of the two unions for participating in the
conversation.
Councilor Clark thanked the fire chiefs and their staffs for their participation, as well as the other elected
officials. He believed the recommendations they had arrived at were a very good way to address the
challenge presented by an ever decreasing reimbursement. He said the seven recommendations
prioritized the service and set out the clear expectation that ambulance service was a core service that the
general public expected the jurisdictions to provide, even if this meant applying some general fund
support toward it. He thought the recommendations would provide them the opportunity to make the
operations more efficient and to move forward with new innovations that would help to address the
challenges at hand. He hoped that everyone could support the recommendations.
Commissioner Sorenson wanted the seventh recommendation, which suggested that the public ambulance
service provider agencies to continue to lobby the Oregon Legislature and United States Congress for
larger-scale long-term solutions, to be reworded. He wanted more nuance. He did not like the word
'lobby' and preferred to say that they needed to "educate them on the effects of their current state and
federal policies" on the local jurisdictions. He also wished to clarify that Lane County would not provide
any general fund support and the first recommendation should pertain only to the two cities and Lane
Rural.
Chief Groves explained that the first recommendation pertained to the units of government that
represented the three service providers. He believed it should be of concern to the Lane County
Commissioners that all of the local ambulance service providers were experiencing the same challenges,
as were all ambulance service providers across the country.
Commissioner Sorenson asked what the other service providers that did not participate in the task force
were doing to address the problem. Chief Groves replied that they were watching the task force and were
interested in what the elected officials would do to take the next steps, as was the whole state.
Mayor Piercy understood that the general fund support was intended only as a short-term solution to the
funding shortfall; in the long-term the public would be better served if ambulance and fire services were
supported by a combination of fees for services, Fire Med membership fees, and some form of dedicated
tax support.
Chief Groves clarified that the recommendation for the short-term general fund support was in recogni-
tion that the establishment of longer-term funding mechanisms could not be accomplished in the short-
term. He added that the ambulance service deficit for the City of Eugene was projected to be approaching
$900,000 in Fiscal Year. (FY) 2011.
Commissioner Dwyer thanked the task force for their work. He considered it commendable that the
jurisdictions were willing to look at consolidation. He said the problem in the past had been who would
"rule" a consolidated district. He was happy, though, that the recommendation appeared to be a real
effort to consolidate. He remarked that the problem with a public service district was that the people
already felt they were paying taxes for these services and would perceive the district as a second tax for
the same services. He said the concept of consolidation was sound because it reduced administrative
costs. He underscored his feeling that the public would accept consolidation but would not accept
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"paying twice" for services.
Councilor Ralston said the intent was not to double charge, but to find out what the funding shortcoming
was and to figure out a fair taxing system spread out over Lane County, ifthat was the model they ended
up using. He believed that to do so could free up general fund money to be spent on something else. He
pointed out that if everyone in Lane County subscribed to Fire Med, the problem would be solved.
Councilor Ortiz wanted to ensure that the Joint Elected Officials (JEO) accomplished what they set out to
accomplish. She wanted to move on the fourth and sixth recommendations, which sought to enhance and
expand the marketing of Fire Med subscriptions and to move work forward as rapidly as possible
regarding provision of a regional mobile health care system with a report to elected officials by the end of
2010 respectively. She thought the seventh recommendation could move forward with the suggested
language change and including that they would use the United Front lobbying effort to convey their
message. Regarding the first recommendation, she had already made a motion in the City of Eugene to
look at how general fund dollars could be accessed and used in the short-term. She said the City of
Eugene would need to have a work session to discuss the fifth recommendation, which sought to have the
City of Eugene and Lane Rural analyze the possibility ofreconfiguring the boundaries of the coUnty's
Ambulance Service Areas (ASA), because a change in the ASAs would have financial impacts on the
City.
Eugene Councilor Poling thanked Councilor Ortiz for taking the lead on the work and said she had done
"an incredible job." He agreed that the seventh recommendation could be reworded to assign it to the
United Front to "educate and lobby" on the issue. The only recommendation that gave him pause was the
third one, in regard to finding more sustainable funding sources. He recalled the time he had worked for
Lane County, during which only one of numerous serial levies that had been put forward had passed. He
related that the levy had passed to augment funding to law enforcement, but the Board of Commissioners
had taken the exact amount of the money passed in the levy out of the funding for law enforcement and
placed it elsewhere. He advised the elected officials to be careful when putting forward serial levies or
special districts; they should be researched thoroughly. He supported Councilor Ortiz's recommendations
on .all seven items before them.
Commissioner Stewart thanked everyone for their hard work. He observed that though Fire Med was
only $S2 per year, it could be considered expensive by some people. He wondered ifthere would be a
way to set up payments. He also wondered if one area they could lobby for would be for Medicare to pay
the Fire Med costs.
Commissioner Stewart asked Mr. King if something could be done to reduce the IS-percent cost increase.
Mr. King replied that the increase was primarily attributable to personnel costs. He said firefighters
wanted Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) and health care costs had increased dramatically. He added
that a IS-percent increase from year to year had become the norm.
Chief Groves stated that Eugene firefighters were not receiving COLA's anywhere near IS-percent. He
also said they were experiencing an increase in uninsured people who were unable to pay their bills due to
the economic downturn which was attributed to the revenue decline along with reductions in Medicare
and Medicaid reimbursements.
Commissioner Stewart commented that it might be easier to pay $10 per month.
Councilor Ralston pointed out that a person could sign up for Fire Med insurance when being picked up
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by an ambulance for transport.
Councilor Clark looked forward to the opportunity to help support more Fire Med memberships. He
supported the sixth recommendation. He believed that they could fundamentally change how the
response system worked. He was not ready to "state flat out" that he was in support of creating a special
district. He said this was why the wording in the first recommendation indicated that they were in
agreement that ambulances provided a core service, that no one wanted to cut the service, and that they
were willing to provide some support from the general fund. He underscored that this was why they
wanted to indicate the willingness to study the idea of a district and to be educated about what could be
possible.
Eugene Councilor Betty Taylor opined that if ambulance transport was a core service, there should be
national health care. She averred that because it was a core service, the funding should come from the
general fund. She said they needed new sources of revenue and they needed to be more creative in
looking for them. She expressed concern that a special district would be more removed from the people
and would be "too much to keep track of' for citizens.
Eugene Councilor Zelenka ascertained from Chief Groves that the fire department had received no
general fund contributions and had been solely supported by fees for service through an enterprise fund
since 1981. He said the projected deficit could change; the numbers were analyzed from month to month
and lately ambulance usage had been down. He stated that the ambulance service had been stable and it
had not been impacted until the federal Balanced Budget Act had been enacted in 1998. He said it had
been further exacerbated in 2003 by the Medicaid Modernization Act. Reserve funds had been exhausted.
He stressed that they had adjusted their model a number of times in an effort to reduce and/or avoid costs.
He noted that they had brought in a private provider for non-emergency transport. He added that they had
not put any money into the Ambulance Replacement Fund for the current year because of cost-cutting
efforts.
Councilor Zelenka considered the recommendations to be "pretty generic." He said Eugene was facing a
$7.5 million deficit and it was going to be challenging to balance the budget. He favored exploring more
sustainable public funding options but he was not in favor of forming a special district. He supported an
increase in marketing for the Fire Med subscriptions. Regarding the fifth recommendation, he shared
Councilor Ortiz' concerns about the potential cost impact a change in the ASA would have. He also
agreed that the seventh recommendation should include the United Front.
Mayor Piercy understood that Councilor Ortiz had suggested moving forward ,on the fourth and sixth
recommendations. She noted that the JEO had been working on the economic summit and on creating
more jobs, which would add revenue to the general fund. She thought they should take the rest ofthe
recommendations back to their individual jurisdictions for further consideration.
Mayor Leiken thanked the task force for their work and, in particular, Councilor Ortiz for her leadership
on this issue. He noted that Springfield Fire Med had launched an ad campaign that underscored the cost
difference between an ambulance ride and a Fire Med subscription and asked if it had generated results.
Springfield Fire Chief Murphy responded that they had seen a five-percent increase in subscriptions since
the last ad campaign. He said they were now working on a fundraising campaign meant to close the gap
between the current economic conditions and the future economic conditions. He related that the greatest
market penetration observed nationwide was 48 percent. He advised them not to bet on doubling the
membership. He stressed that they were enthusiastically pursuing an increase in membership and they
intended to keep doing so.
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In response to a follow-up question from Mayor Leiken, Chief Murphy said "virtually all" ambulance
transport services across the country were engaged in this type of conversation.
Mayor Leiken believed that the public was mostly unaware that ambulance transport services were
experiencing financial difficulty because they believed their taxes were paying for it. He said until the
issue resonated with the public, they could be challenged to get this message to the elected representatives
in Washington, D.C. unless the United Front could join with American Ambulance Association, the fire
chiefs, and the unions and "put a full court press" to stress that Congress needed to take care of the
MedicaidlMedicare reimbursement issue.
Eugene Councilor Pryor commented that it was "too bad" when a policy discussion had to be driven by
money. He observed that at one end of the continuum they had to determine how to prioritize limited
resources and at the other end they needed to determine what optimal level of service they should provide
and at what cost. He agreed that they should move the fourth and sixth recommendations forward
because he felt that it would keep the momentum going.
Commissioner Dwyer said they needed to be creative. He suggested that they consider issuing multiple
year subscriptions for Fire Med, for one thing. He observed that tax forms had a box to check to give a
deduction to the democrats or republicans and suggested that they see if it would be possible to allocate
such a deduction to Fire Med. He thought this could be lobbied for at the state level.
Councilor Ortiz, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to approve recommendation Nos.
4 and 6 as is; No.5 to be approved with the words 'upon direction of the Eugene City
Council' added to it; No.7 worded to indicate that the Joint Elected Officials would work
with their respective agencies to use the United Front to educate representatives about
and to promote support for long-term stable funding of Medicare reimbursement for am-
bulance transport.
Councilor Ortiz acknowledged that the first recommendation regarding the use of general funds as a
short-term funding solution would need to be worked out by the individual jurisdictions. She did not
want to leave the meeting without having made any progress, however. She noted that the task force had
discussed privatization of the service and determined that it would not be prudent to give up the jobs the
cities had and that raising rates was also not an option they wanted to discuss given how expensive it
already was.
Mayor Piercy suggested, given the time left in the meeting and the length of the agenda, that the JEO say
as a group that they believed the seven recommendations were worth pursuing and then refer them back
to the individual jurisdictions for their buy-off.
Eugene Councilor Brown said they had not discussed the recommendations at a Eugene City Council
work session. He could not support the second, third, and fifth recommendation without more explora-
tion.
Councilor Clark agreed with Councilor Ortiz - the JEO should move something forward. He reiterated
that the task force and staffhad spent many dozens of hours studying the options in order to put the
recommendations forward. He said if they could not approve the recommendations, then the body should
move to accept the recommendations.
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Councilor Taylor felt that the word 'accept' was sometimes turned into the word 'approve.' She thought
they should move on to the next agenda item.
Councilor Zelenka offered a friendly amendment to accept the recommendations and to
refer the seven recommendations to the three jurisdictions for further discussion and ac-
tion. Councilor Ortiz accepted the friendly amendment.
Councilor Ralston underscored that the task force had spent four hours a month working on the report and
recommendations. He likened this to having the Planning Commission do the leg work on a planning
issue so that the council would not have to delve into it. He believed that the recommendations were
stated vaguely enough that it would tie no one's hands. He supported moving the recommendations
forward to the next step; the JEO should accomplish something.
Mayor Piercy called for a vote of the Eugene City Council. The council voted unanim-
ously, 8:0, to approve the motion.
Mayor Leiken called for a vote of the Springfield City Council. The council voted un-
animously, 5:0, to approve the motion.
Mr. Holmes called for a vote of the Lane Rural Fire/Rescue District. The district board
voted 3: I to pass the motion, with Mr. Brown dissenting.
2. PROPOSED MERGER OF FIRE DEPARTMENTS
Chief Murphy stated that the departments were before the JEO to recommend a functional consolidation
of the Springfield and Eugene fire and rescue departments. He explained that the employees of the two
cities would still be employed in the same way and a system that crossed geo-political boundaries had
already been in place since 2007 and had operated daily without incident. He cited training and the fire
marshal's office as examples of areas in which consolidation could mean cost reductions. He related that
they had engaged a consultant, brought this before the Eugene Chamber, Springfield Chamber and the
City Club, and had convened public forums to gain input on the potential consolidation. They had heard
a lot of support for beginning the process in order to determine whether a merger was something they
should pursue. He stated that because of the vacancies that already exist and anticipated vacancies, some
major functions would be done under the direction of Eugene and some under the direction of Springfield;
they were seeking joint leadership on the merger. He noted that the suggested timeline was something the
elected officials could modify at will.
Chief Murphy pointed out that maintaining the current vacancies would save $600,000 in FYlOIFYII and
$850,000 in the following fiscal year. He said if they failed to deliver the savings, this would be evidence
that the merger was not working well. He stressed that they were only recommending that they initiate
the process, with phase one serving only to analyze and develop the proposal. If there was a phase two,
which was a plan to implement the merger, it would be at the direction of the elected officials.
Councilor Zelenka felt a need to discuss the proposal in a City of Eugene council work session as they
had not engaged in this conversation yet. He was not prepared at the present meeting to say yes or no.
Councilor Clark agreed that it would take future study at the City Council level, but he believed the
merger was a good idea from what he had learned so far through the task force work. He thought making
people safe with the money at hand would be an efficient use of resources. He averred that the 3-
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Battalion System was proof positive that the first "baby steps" had worked well. He was willing to move
it forward.
Councilor Taylor said she would support a motion to refer the merger back to the individual city councils
for consideration.
Springfield Councilor Leezer had a lot of faith in the fire captains and everyone who had worked hard on
this proposal. She observed that the joint effort in the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commis-
sion (MWMC) had worked well. She supported whatever they needed to do to move the proposal
forward.
Springfield Councilor Pishioneri supported a merger. He had a few reservations, but acknowledged that
the 3- Battalion System had worked well. He said he would like to see a merger occur, but he would want
to closely monitor it by the week or month to understand the implications and benefits. He expressed
some concern about the "hundreds of years" of experience the two departments were losing through
attrition. He felt that if the merger did not work it would take a lot of resources and time to replace those
individuals.
Chief Groves said his department was holding some critical vacancies open and Springfield was realizing
some vacancies and all of them would need to be filled one way or another. He stated that the vacancies
were also creating the opportunity to give a merger a shot, adding that they would not be making a
recommendation they did not believe would be beneficial.
Councilor Poling supported the recommendation "100 percent." He indicated he would reluctantly
support a motion to send a merger proposal back to the individual councils for further discussion. He felt
that they were hearing the result of indepth thinking by people who had years and years of experience.
He believed they would pass up a great opportunity ifthey did not move forward on a merger, given the
present circumstances. He hoped they would continue to allow the fire unions some level of participation
in the discussion, if it was referred back to the councils.
Chief Groves noted that the unions had been involved in the process and both the International Associa-
tion of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME) had weighed in on the proposal.
Councilor Ortiz thought it was a good idea to discuss a merger. She had some concerns about the net
effect and felt they needed to hear from a bigger part of the community. She was not" 1 00 percent
certain" she could support it and wondered if it was something they should take to the voters. She was
concerned that people were not aware that this was happening.
Chief Groves cited several examples of municipalities that had merged departments, including Tualatin
Valley and Clackamas County # I which had both been in operation in excess of 20 years.
Springfield Councilor Simmons supported moving forward with the merger. He had asked questions of
both Chief Groves and Chief Murphy regarding possible indirect public works costs and capital fund
issues on buildings and equipment, as well as a full and complete explanation of what could happen if
there was a compression issue. He said the firefighters were respected "on both sides of the river" and did
a great job, but they needed to ask questions about how the per capita costs would be allocated and how
they were allocated in the other models Chief Groves cited.
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Chief Groves said they had tried to put this information into the templates, but it was difficult to build a
budget before the model for the merger had been decided upon.
Eugene Councilor Solomon supported "this opportunity." She averred that the elected officials would be
doing their communities an "enormous disservice" to not follow through.
Councilor Ralston called it a "no brainer." He said it presented an opportunity to save needed general
fund dollars. He felt there were only two options - to either authorize consolidation or to authorize the
City Managers to take the initial steps toward consolidation. He wanted to move forward on one of those
two options.
Councilor Wylie noted that Chief Murphy was retiring in June and this added some pressure to move
forward. She had spoken with both of the chiefs and a union representative and all of them had indicated
strong support for the merger. This had eased her reticence. She understood that the City Managers
could move forward with Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs) that would put the merger together piece
by piece, and would allow them to "test the water" and not fill some of the vacant positions. She
underscored thatthis was a way to save $1 million and pointed out how much the JEO hated to go to the
voters for more money.
Councilor Pryor felt that the 3- Battalion System had worked very well. He had heard some sentiment in
the room that the operations had become so efficient that it had gotten ahead of the policy makers. He
said the policy makers needed to work as fast as the fire agencies had. He agreed that the elected officials
needed to discuss it more and to seek more input from the community. He supported Councilor Zelenka's
suggestion to do this.
Mayor Leiken stated that the Springfield City Council had engaged in initial conversations with
representatives of the Springfield Fire & Life Safety Department. He thanked both fire chiefs for their
work, calling it ''true leadership" and "thinking out of the box." He said the concept for the merger was
valid, especially given that it was based on the 3- Battalion System. He had heard support from the
firefighters and from their leadership. He was prepared to move forward on this.
Mayor Piercy expressed appreciation for the work that had gone into it. She averred that as much as she
cared about the money savings, it was the provision of services she was most concerned about. She
wanted to talk to the community in order to hear from them what best thing could come from a merger
and what they were worried about. She said they needed to listen to the questions about what they would
be losing and what essence of the communities they might lose.
Chief Groves said they had tried to garner this kind of input in their nine public forums. He related that
people were supportive in general and he, personally, had received no negative feedback about the
proposal. He said the fire and life safety services between the two communities lined up "perfectly."
Commissioner Sorenson remarked that they could look for other efficiencies in roads and transportation
and in law enforcement and corrections.
Councilor Zelenka thanked the Chiefs. He noted that the Eugene City Council was talking about the
ambulance service in January and requested that a discussion of a potential merger be placed on a work
session agenda.
Councilor Zelenka, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to accept and forward the report
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and recommendation to the Eugene City Council for a work session and action. The Eu-
gene City Council passed the motion unanimously, 8:0.
Councilor Pishioneri, seconded by Councilor Ralston, moved to authorize the City Man-
gers to take initial steps toward functional consolidation with follow-up reports to deter-
mine the future direction of it. The Springfield City Council passed the motion unanim-
ously,S:O.
Commissioner Sorenson adjourned the meeting of the Lane Board of County Commissioners at 1:54 p.m.
Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting of the Eugene City Council at 1 :54 p.m.
Mayor Leiken adjourned the meeting of the Springfield City Council at I:S4 p.m.
Board Vice Chair Pete Holmes adjourned the meeting of the Lane Rural Fire/Rescue District at I :S4 p.m.
(Recorded by Ruth Atcherson)
Attest
Ci~d~
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