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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/12/2010 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, APRIL 12,2010 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session at Mookies' Northwest Grill, 400 International Way, Suite 150, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, April 12, 2010 at 5:00 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 Recorder Amy Sowa, and members of the staff. 1. Council Goal Setting. Mayor Leiken thanked Mookies' for the wonderful meal. He introduced Stan Biles who would be serving as the facilitatorfor tonight's goal setting. Mr. Biles was a former local elected official among many other things. . Mr. Biles noted that he had met individually with the Mayor and each of the councilors to set the agenda for tonight's goal setting session. The goal tonight was to create a casual environment, to hear updates on projects of interest to the Council, and an opportunity for Council members to discuss any thoughts, reactions or questions they had for staff. The Council would hear the fIrst two update items in the main restaurant area where they were currently seated, then move into the adjacent meeting room for the remainder of the meeting. Tonight was a special meeting for the Council, so he had asked staff to keep their presentations to a minimum, about 5 minutes, followed by time for Council to ask questions and discuss the topics. Strategic Plan: Mr. Biles introduced Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery who discussed the Strategic Plan. Mr. Towery said that last year's Goal Setting Session was reviewing the goals and adopting the Strategic Plari. for the organization. At that time, Council adopted the overall mission or vision to make Springfield "A Preferred Place to Live and Work", refmed the goals they had to a list of five (he recited those five goals), and adopted 41 measures around those five goals. Over the course of the year, staff had done their best to measure to the targets outlined last year. The budget document for the coming year had a lot of the detail behind those measures. Of the measures identified last year, staff would be recommending that twelve of those went away, and twenty-four additional measures would be added. There were a variety of reasons for those changes. He asked Council if they wanted the level of detail on these measures during a work session, and then meet again to refine and update the measures, or if they wanted to handle them all at once. Councilor Ralston asked if staff had decided which measures to remove and which to add. Mr. Towery said staffhad some recommendations for the Council. They would present the full document to the Council in legislative format so they could see the proposed changes before making their decision. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes Apri112,2010 Page 2 Councilor Ralston said he would like to see that during a Work Session, with time ahead of the meeting to review it. Mr. Towery said it was ready. Councilor Wylie said she would also like to see it and discuss the whole document. Some of the categories had been unclear, so she felt some explanation would be necessary. It was important for the Mayor and Council to understand the measures and goals. Mr. Towery said some of the proposed amendments did clarify the measures. He said he would schedule a work session in the next few weeks for Council to discuss this further. Mr. Biles asked Mr. Towery how he felt the Strategic Plan was working and if it was moving in the right direction. Mr. Towery said he felt it was moving in a good direction. One of the challenges was using the process improvement method for the process, as it was new to many of the staff. It didn't appear that many targets were met, but this method of strategic planning relied on the City's ability to remain nimble and flexible to move with the times. They were more interested in determining which measures worked and which did not. Some of the measures were changed as a reaction to changes in service based on budget decisions by Council last year. He felt this was a work in progress. Mr. Biles said he had done a lot of strategic planning for organizations. In reviewing the strategic plan for Springfield, he felt it was much better than average with the level of detail and direction. Over time, it would be of great value to the organization to manage. It was one of the better plans he had seen for a local government. Mayor Leiken said staff had heard the Mayor and Council say that in looking at the Strategic Plan, they wanted to remain flexible. What Springfield government did twenty years ago may not be what Springfield government needed to do today. They were setting the tone now for future elected officials. It was the right thing to do and remaining flexible was key~ Glenwood Uodate: Mr. Biles said the topic of G1enwood came up frequently in his meetings with the Mayor and Councilors individually. He introduced Planning Manager Greg Mott who would discuss this topic. Mr. Mott said staff had been working on the update of the Glenwood Refmement Plan for the past several years. He described the area in Glenwood that was the focus of this plan. Since they started, they had gotten a citizen involvement plan adopted, a twenty member Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) appointed that represented nine different interest groups, and a Technical Advisory Committee (T AC) formed that included city staff and other agencies. The CAC went through a visioning exercise to focus ideas. From that, the consultant (Crandall Arambula) translated the vision into an actual land use plan for Franklin Boulevard and McVey Highway. The CAC had seen that work and provided comments. Staff had updated the existing conditions report regarding infrastructure, property ownerships, and the application of any planning efforts that would apply to Glenwood. Staff in the Environmental Services Division had recently completed the Wetlands Delineation and Goal 5 Resource Inventory and Riparian Assessment. There was a good fact base to go forward in applying the visions in the land use model. Glenwood had the actual potential to generate wealth because of its City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes Apri112,2010 Page 3 location between the two cities, the developable riverfront, the presence of the EmX, the presence of the University of Oregon (VoID), and the partnership with the redevelopment of downtown. Because of that, they could see development in this area unlike any in our area. Residential development along the riverfront at 100 units per acre was one possibility. The potential was untapped and unprecedented in the Eugene and Springfield area. Mr. Mott said staffwas also working on a feasibility study for a pedestrian crossing from downtown Springfield to Glenwood. This would help to establish the link between downtown and Glenwood. The CAC and staff had been meeting frequently on these items, and were working to bring a package to the public and the Council. They hoped to get into the public hearing process with both Planning Commissions after this Summer, and to the elected officials in the early part of 20 11. There were currently several other large projects that involved the planning commissions and the elected officials. Councilor Ralston asked about the 100 units per acre and how that would be configured. Mr. Mott discussed the building structure of such a building that would be about 85 feet in height. There would be potential for commercial on the ground floor and residential on top. Much would be determined by the market. This area was even more desirable than most of the riverfront property in Portland because of its location. There would be a nice bike path along the river to Eugene. Councilor Wylie asked how feasible the pedestrian bridge would be regarding cost. Community Development Manager John Tamulonis addressed her question. He said a pedestrian bridge from Glenwood to downtown would have a price range between $2.5M to $1 OM depending on how long it was, how large, or whether it was a hanging bridge ($2.5M) or independent ($10M). Councilor Wylie asked where the City would get funds for that type of project. Mr. Grimaldi said Federal funds could be available if the project were a priority. Transportation Manager Tom Boyatt said there were many other priorities at this time. Councilor Leezer asked if there had been an interest from developers in Glenwood. Mr. Mott said there had been some serious discussions with developers. The discussions were forward looking, not because there was something ready now. There were some limitations because of the current infrastructure. If someone came in with a large project ready to go, staff would work together to make that happen. It might not be an ideal circumstance for awhile, but could be a catalyst for other projects. The most important part of this plan was getting from where things were today to what Council wanted the vision to be, and everything in between to get there. It was very complicated. Mr. Grimaldi said the key to unlocking Glenwood when talking with developers was Franklin Boulevard and the intersection at Franklin/Mc V ey Highway. Once that was addressed, development would follow. Mayor Leiken asked about the Franklin/Highway 126 project in terms of Federal funding with United Front. There were developers looking at the potential with that corridor fixed. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes Apri112,2010 Page 4 Mr. Boyatt said Congressman DeFazio and Senators Wyden and Merkeley were forwarding the City's request to the Appropriations Committee for 2011. Other funds had been identified through SDCs and Lane Transit District. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEP A) process needed to be completed which was about a 15-18 month process. He discussed the cost for this analysis and the funding already secured that equaled about $750,000. They had a consultant under contract to identify all the hurdles. Once the funds were secured, they would need to demonstrate to the Federal highways that we could start and finish the project. 1'rot having the NEP A completed cost the City the recent grant request. Mr. Towery said these were large figures and Council would be hearing a lot of these large figures as discussions continued. The consultant told them that every dollar of public investment would leverage four to seven dollars of private investment. That meant that if the City built Franklin Boulevard for $50M, they could expect $200-$300M of private investment. The City of University Place in Washington was about the same size of Springfield and about four years ahead of Springfield in terms of redeveloping their community. They were committed to $50M public dollars and they had $200M in private investor dollars that would be spent in the next seven to ten years. Mr. Biles asked what the next decision point would be that would come before Council regarding Glenwood. Mr. Mott said he hoped to have a consensus from the CAC regarding the allocation or distribution of land uses along the two corridors, as well as implementation strategies on how to get there. Everyone could see how thing could change for the better in G lenwood, but bridging the gap between speculation and certainly was difficult. That would be the next discussion with Council about Glenwood at a work session, and would be later in the year. Council could refme any recommendations from the CAC. There was a broad expectation of a mixed-use center with a lot of residential, public attraction to commercial, and riverfront use. Mr. Biles said knowing the length of time it took to accumulate funding, etc. he hoped he would live to see the Glenwood vision come to fruition. The meeting moved into the interior meeting room. Downtown: Development Services Director Bill Grile spoke regarding downtown. About five years ago, the decision was made to go out with Request for Proposals (RFP) to select an urban design consultant to put together some ideas for a downtown development plan. The firm selected was Crandall Arambula. Mr. Grile distributed a handout with the summary of elements coming together through the consultant process. The plan was a City plan under the direction of the City Council. Mr. Grile noted that Rick Williams had also been selected as a parking consultant. Crandall Arambula had identified two types of two basic types of projects: (1) Catalyst Projects; and (2) Key Projects. He referred to page one of the handout which identified the "Catalyst Projects" identified by Crandall Arambula. Crandall Arambula was a visionary firm. George Crandall, principal of Crandall Arambula, believed that a plan that could not be implemented in five years was no plan, although some of the projects listed were not likely to happen in five years. Some of the challenges staff was working on included a feasibility analysis to help the committee come up with a solid, informed basis forrecommendations to bring to Council. Typically, the idea was to spend public money to stimulate City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 12, 2010 Page 5 private investment. Ideally, that happened at the same time. This plan would form the basis for the decisions about where the Council would like to invest money. Mr. Grile said Crandall Arambula had identified two key concenlS: (1) truck traffic on Main Street; and (2) the idea of a plaza on the lots directly west of Springfield Cleaners. He discussed each of those in more detail. They didn't want to see money going into something that didn't give a return in five , years. There would be recommendations in the plan that would be coming to Council for follow-up actions. Some of those related to design work, such as fa9ade standards, and the other would be more of a comprehensive traffic study. Mr. Grile discussed the parking study. The study had progressed with less anxiety about whether or not this could be implemented immediately. There were three phases of actions outlined in the handout, each with a different timeline. The committee was very impressed with Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams had worked with Mr. Grile in Coos Bay and had produced results cost effectively. There were solutions to parking that could be phased in, not requiring a parking structure for many years. There was not an urgent parking problem now. He outlined the Phase I implementation, including the appointment of a Downtown Parking Manager. Council would have the opportunity to consider the recommendations soon. The Crandall Arambula plan would be coming to Council by the end of the year with a recommendation. Councilor Pishioneri asked about parking enforcement. He discussed the enforcement system that was done in downtown Eugene many years ago focusing on employees parking too long in one spot. The enforcement of parking was now causing issues. Mr. Grile said he had a lot of experience with parking problems, and there was nothing worse than people complaining about parking. Often, when trying to fix the complaint of one group, it forced the problem to another area. Mr. Williams was recommending a Parking Advisory Committee that would deal with the parking issues. They could come to Council if needed. Unless the City had a clear plan and was consistently enforcing it, dealing with parking in a reactionary way was frustrating. There were different ways enforcement could happen. There could be private or non-profit parking. Enforcement would be for the sake of producing responsible behavior. Councilor Simmons said we did have a parking problem. With the closure of the City parking lot on B Street, City employees were parking under and around City Hall. Downtown business owners had complained about cars parking in front of their businesses for long periods of time. Mr. Grile said there was not a parking problem, but a behavior problem. There were spaces available if they were properly established and enforced. There was currently no consequence for parking longer than the posted amount of time. The City could solve the parking availability problem by enforcement and designating parking areas. One of the recommendations for the future was a fee in lieu of. If the owner of a building didn't want to provide off street parking for their development, they could pay a fee in lieu of providing that parking. That fee would go into a fund that helped to pay for lots or garages. Councilor Wylie would like the City to look into the L TD group pass program. She believed that L TD had done a traffic study when they put in the Springfield Station. Perhaps the City could use that data until an updated study could be conducted. She suggested contacting Stefano Viggiano at LTD. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 12, 2010 Page 6 Mayor Leiken said the biggest issue downtown was that Main Street was a state system. During the legislative session, the number one issue that went to the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) was the formula change, but the second was state systems through cities. The State did not allow access and wanted to shut down accessibility. He noted that it would be too costly for the City to take over jurisdiction of all of Main Street, but suggested asking ODOT if they would agree to the City taking jurisdiction of Main Street in the downtown Urban Renewal District only. Trucks were the biggest issue in redeveloping downtown. Mr. Grile said the group had spent time trying to figure out how to quantify that concern and package it so it could be fairly evaluated by ODOT. A follow-up study would be part of that. Mayor Leikensaid foot traffic was wanted in the downtown corridor to make it successful. It would be important to work something out with ODOT. Hwy 126 was the designated truck route. Mr. Boyatt said the Hwy 126 Expressway was a designated freight route. One of the fIrst things they would look at in the survey was origins and destinations. They would determine why those trucks were going downtown, identify those patterns, use baseline data, and find appropriate alternative routes. He discussed municipalities' authority of prohibiting truck traffic through town whether owned by the City or not. The first key piece was finding out where they were coming from and where they were gOIng. Councilor Lundberg said she agreed about the truck traffic on Main Street. The best thing that happened downtown was the schools because kids crossed where needed. That was the beginning of patterning for pedestrians. The bus station and the schools were key. We needed to get trucks and traffic controlled in downtown. Employee parking also needed to be accommodated because many people needed to get to their car after dark, especially in the winter. In order to have a nightlife downtown, they needed lighting downtown. Safety issues were also big. There was more momentum downtown than in any other area. There were groups with lots of enthusiasm. Councilor Ralston discussed the traffic issue and suggested Main Street as a two way vehicle road, with truck traffic on South A. There was a logistical problem with how to blend them at the bridge. He did not like enforcement of parking downtown, but was not sure how to resolve that. Two hour parking was sufficient for those people that were shopping, but there were people that lived and worked downtown that needed long term parking. He felt the parking could be figured out, but traffic would be much more difficult. Councilor Simmons said in order to get items delivered downtown by trucks, regular traffic needed to co-exist with trucks. He spoke regarding diagonal parking which had formerly been in place downtown. Adequate parking was needed for employees because many were part of the customer base for the downtown businesses. ODOT would be glad to turn over all of Main Street to the City, and if they did, the City could have more flexibility. He thought downtown was right on the edge of sparking. He noted several new projects downtown such as The Royal Building, Momma's Restaurant, and the new Thai Restaurant. When those businesses joined together and created an evening environment, they could see growth downtown. There was a parking problem. When the analysis was done years ago there were about 1400 spots, which was more than adequate. We now had the reverse problem. He didn't think truck traffic could be eliminated, but perhaps reduced. Councilor Leezer said she agreed with the Mayor that something needed to be done to get the semi trucks off Main Street. SRDC was looking at taking on the lighting issues, from Pioneer Parkway City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 12, 2010 Page 7 West to '10th Street and near the Springfield Station. Traffic Engineer Brian Barnett had told them it would take about $IM because some conduit was already in place. If they moved truck traffic to South A Street, that would affect the bus station pedestrian traffic. It was nice to have a sidewalk cafe, but with the truck traffic, it was too noisy. Some businesses were talking about staying open Friday nights, but they needed adequate lighting. Councilor Pishioneri said there was energy with businesses that wanted to invest downtown. That was their job, and it was the City's job to facilitate. He discussed truck traffic downtown and said that it had been discussed to make South A a business route. There was no truck access to the freeway other than at 420d Street or 28th Street. A 28th Street overpass at the expressway should be looked into further as an option and exception. It would help mitigate problems downtown. He would support routing truck traffic to South A. Businesses did complain about City employees parking in front of their business taking up their spaces. Planned enforcement was needed. Mr. Biles asked Mr. Grile if the truck traffic and parking issues were on the table to be addressed by the CAC and consultant. Mr. Grile said they were. These were not new issues. There were very complex decisions that needed to be made. Staff wanted to help the CAC make informed choices about the best use of public money. He acknowledged that there was a parking problem. The City wanted a visionary plan with aspiration and didn't want to put money into something that wouldn't bring a return for 30 years. The parking management plan would have little cost for the City and have significant results. The CAC was looking at issues brought forward by the Council. Mr. Biles reminded Council that they still had Economic Development and Finances to discuss. Councilor Wylie said Springfield was not the only City in the State with our Main Street a highway. If a bypass was available, trucks were to use the bypass. A complex problem like this could have numerous solutions. They needed to talk with legislators about these issues. Councilor Lundberg said several times a year Main Street was blocked for different parades and events. She asked where traffic was routed when Main Street was closed. Police Chief Jerry Smith said they were directed to Highway 126 at 520d and 420d Street. Councilor Lundberg said that showed that it was possible. Councilor Ralston said 28th Street should have an off-ramp to alleviate traffic problems. Land was available in that area and engineering technology could make it possible. We needed to get ODOT to be flexible on this issue. Mayor Leiken said we were in a good position for transportation with Representative Terry Beyer as the Transportation Committee Chair. One of the things discussed during the Transportation Policy Committee meetings was what could be done legislatively to ease the pain of cities around the State that had State highways going through their downtown. Mr. Biles asked what would be coming to Council before the end of the year. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 12, 2010 Page 8 Mr. Grile said staff would bring everything to the Council. There was nothing in the Crandall Arambula plan about rezones. They believed the transformation of downtown could include high costs. Economic Develooment: John Tamulonis, Community Development Manager, spoke regarding Economic Development. He said there were four areas to consider when looking at economic development: (1) Preparing for the Economic Rebound; (2) Preparing Sites and Systems; (3) Responding to Development Needs and Business Inquiries; and (4) What else to do. He provided a handout to the Mayor and Council outlining those four areas and briefly discussed each. In preparing for the economic rebound, they were completing the work on HB3337 through the Commercial/Industrial Buildable Lands Study and other analysis. Staff was also updating the Glenwood Refmement Plan, the Glenwood Riverfront Plan and the Downtown Plan. A survey of Glenwood businesses had been done to determine how many there were and how many employees at each, to determine vacancy rates. He noted the low rents in downtown, which often attracted low rent businesses. There was, however, some redevelopment that was positive. A Regional Economic Summit was held in which they were looking for some regional congruence on some of the issues that might be agreeable to all parties in the region. He used recruitment as an example. A summary of information from that summit had been drafted. Many of the strategies needed to be ongoing, not just something done during an economic downturn. He also noted that the Enterprise Zone application had been submitted. In preparing sites and systems, property in Glenwood had been surveyed, grant applications had been submitted for different projects, and electric vehicle charging stations were being evaluated. He discussed some of the property in Glenwood and how issues related to annexation and environmental concerns could be addressed through regional strategies. The City bought the Department ()f Administrative Services (DAS) property and staff was working on the use of that property for access and drainage. He discussed some of the grants applied for by the City. A company was looking for charging stations throughout Oregon and Washington, and he was providing information regarding possible locations in Springfield. Some steps the City had taken in responding to development needs and business inquiries included providing quick and robust information, implementing the OPEN Banner program in downtown and the Mohawk area, and working with the private sector to identify workable solutions and recruit new business and industry. New proposals had been received from businesses and organizations in Springfield, Glenwood and Downtown. He spoke regarding the Veteran's Administration (VA) Clinic that was looking to locate in the Eugene/Springfield area. Mr. Tamulonis said staff would continue to develop new ideas to improve development. Staff had attended an Impervious Surface Seminar via teleconference. Other training had included GIS and green industry training. Another approach was to determine whether or not projects were feasible from a market point of view. Councilor Wylie said she appreciated the presentation. She noted that the Register Guard had a section where people voted for their favorite business or restaurant, etc. Roaring Rapids was rated 1 st and 2nd in several different categories. They were a Glenwood business which was encouraging and showed that people would drive to places they wanted to eat or shop. The City needed a fail-safe program for City of Springfield ~ Council Work Session Minutes April 12, 2010 Page 9 new businesses. She wanted to know if there was some way for the City to support those businesses. It was difficult to see businesses going out of business so quickly. Councilor Leezer said the Springfield Renaissance Development Corporation (SRDC) was working with NEDCO to establish an incubator for new businesses which would include resources and classes. She discussed the grant for the fIre station and the upcoming merger of the Fire Department with Eugene. Mayor Leiken asked when the CIBL study might be complete, including appeals. At this time, the Wildish property was the largest urban site in the Eugene/Springfield area. There were no other large sites in this area and this was the second largest metro area in the State. Mr. Grile said a week from Tuesday the Planning Commissions from Springfield and Lane County would begin deliberating on the CIBL. It would then go to the County Commissioners and the Council. He noted the length of time it had taken them to make a decision on the PFSP, so thought it could be up to a year and a half. Mr. Mott said it was unlikely they would get a consensus from the County, but hopefully a majority approval this summer. It would then go to the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) for comments, then the Court of Appeals. There was discussion at the state level of changing the rules for the Court of Appeals so it would be more like the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). Mayor Leiken said a close friend and Oregon Mayor, Tom Hughes, would likely be the next president of Metro. He hoped this Council would be ready to tackle the 'no growth' groups. The City was doing everything possible, but many people would be lined up to stop this process. He discussed the health care cluster opportunities and the need for available 50 acres sites. He noted that the Governor's race would be very important for economic development. Councilor Ralston said he had met with many businesses regarding site plan review charges. He felt that the Development Code was stifling growth. If we wanted to stimulate economic development, we needed to streamline our process. Councilor Simmons said every developer and business from the beginning of time had complained about requirements. He did agree that some of the requirements were somewhat ridiculous. He would change the site plan review process to reduce costs, but felt those types of suggestions to change the Development Code needed to be presented and discussed. Councilor Lundberg said she was pro economic development and she agreed that health care clusters were an important part of that. The Councilors needed to watch the legislature, Governor and watchdog groups. Council had the closest ties to making change in those types of things and it should be a priority for the Council. They should keep track at the legislative level of things the local elected officials could impact through testimony, etc. Community Relations Manager Niel Laudati had relayed that type of information to the Council in the past. Springfield had been very good with big business, but maybe needed to work on their relationship with small businesses. She wanted Springfield to stay as business friendly as possible. If there were changes to the Development Code, she wanted to make sure the Council was aware of the issues. They needed to make those changes as needed to remain business friendly. It was a Council issue to be at the forefront of economic development. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 12, 2010 Page 10 Mayor Leiken spoke regarding charging stations. Because Oregon was a property tax state, he asked if there was opportunity for charging stations in our area. Mr. Tamulonis said these were to test the feasibility in the long run. They were looking at people that drove 12,000 miles and where those people would need a charging station, such as along the 1-5 corridor. He described different routes and topping off stations versus full charge stations. The cost was about $8000 for a topping off station. Mayor Leiken said whatever we could do to accommodate business growth would help with our property tax base. The VA Clinic was a great idea even though they didn't pay taxes because the economic redevelopment opportunity around it was tremendous. The CffiL would be key for economic growth. Councilor Wylie felt the City would be remiss if we didn't keep track of the charging stations. Electric vehicles were getting very close to mainstream. Glenwood could be good place for these types of stations. The City had to stay on top of this technology. Mr. Towery said Bob Jean was the recently retired City Manager of University Place, Washington. The City was bringing him down in.late May to early June to provide a staff workshop around our Glenwood and Downtown work. He asked the Council if they would like him to schedule some time for Mr. Jean to make a presentation to them during a work session about the work done in University Place and the policy issues addressed for the $250M project they were working on. They could do that in conjunction with the staff presentation, separately or not at all. Councilor Pishioneri said he would fIrst like to see what Mr. Jean presented to the staff to see if it was worthwhile. Councilor Lundberg said she always liked goal setting because it brought about excitement about building the community and going forward. The Council had to deal with a lot of painful things recently that cost a lot of money. Any opportunity to be in a visioning mode was exciting. She would like a work session with Mr. Jean. Councilor Leezer said she would like a work session. They were dealing with hard times and it would be nice to see other ways things were approached. Mr. Towery said they were just starting construction on the work in University Place. They had been in the planning and early development stages since 2003-2004. They had installed the transportation backbone. The title of Mr. Jean's presentation was "How to do Placement When There Was No Place". He described University Place which was about the same size as Springfield. Staff could pull together some resources and have Mr. Jean scope out a work session presentation. Mayor Leiken said he would like to have a work session with Mr. Jean. The City had been trying to reinvent ourselves, and it would be good to hear from somebody that was doing that. He asked that staff schedule plenty of time for this presentation. Mr. Biles asked when this might be scheduled. Mr. Towery said Mr. Jean would be available between May 15 and June 4,2010. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 12, 2010 Page 11 The group took a 10 minute break. Mr. Biles said during his meetings with the Mayor and Council, the subject of both short term and long term finances came out. City Finances: Mr. Grimaldi said the Budget Committee would hold about four meeting from April 27 through May 18, 2010. There were three issues he wanted to alert the Council to regarding the City budget. The budget was doing o.k. and the proposed budget provided the same services to the citizens in the last year. They were not dipping into the General Fund reserves and departments had made reductions of about two percent. Staff paid attention to things Council wanted them to continue doing such as replacing fIre apparatus and making investments in our facilities. The fIrst of the three issues he wanted to talk with the Council about was the Ambulance Service. Due to the Medicare reimbursement issues, the Ambulance Service was not able to sustain without GF money. That couldn't be sustained with cuts or trimming employees. They were looking at things that could have a big impact on this fund including the merger with the City of Eugene. Another was a mobile health care system which Chief Murphy was working on. They needed to focus on big changes to fix the budget. The second issue in the budget was the condition of the City's infrastructure, the streets. The City was falling behind in terms of repair on the streets. Trimming the budget here and there was not going to fix the budget. At some point in the future, the City would need to talk to the citizens about what they wanted the City to do about this issue. The third issue was the sewer and stormwater infrastructure. That type of infrastructure was needed to bring in new business. In the past, the City had paid as they went, but we were now in debt fmancing, which caused pressure on user rates. Funding infrastructure for new development would be a challenge while trying to reduce the impact on users. Mayor Leiken asked about the Transportation hill. He asked if there had been enough growth in the economy to see the increase in the gas tax. Mr. Goodwin said it would probably be January 1, 2011. It required two quarters of consecutive, positive employment growth and we had not yet had such a quarter. It would either be second or third quarter growth triggering the payment on January 'I, or it would trigger automatically on January 1, 2011. Once the tax was annualized fully, probably about 2012, the City would receive about $600,000-$700,000. On the current gas tax, the City received a little over $lM on the local 'gas tax, and about $2.2M on the State gas tax. The new State total would be about $2.8M or $2.9M. Mayor Leiken asked how that would affect the City regarding consistency in our Street Fund. Public Works Director Susie Smith said in order to get a balance in the Street Fund budget in FY09/10, the City cut about $1.5M. The City had about $.5M in preservation work they needed to do to keep our target, and that had not been done for two. years. It would take awhile to transition and add back some of those things. Mr. Grimaldi said for the fIrst time ever, they were moving funds from the General Fund to the Street Fund in the proposed budget. Mayor Leiken said the most challenging part was marketing for funds for streets. They were a large asset for the community, but difficult to get support. He noted the marketing strategy by Toyota. He City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes Apri112,2010 Page 12 would like to see if there was a way we could continue to market our brand and our health care. It all went hand and hand with fmance. Mr. Biles asked if Mr. Grimaldi needed anything further. Councilor Lundberg said as they went into the budget process, there would be new people on the Budget Committee. There was a large learning curve and she wanted to make sure the debt service issue was made as simple as possible. Councilor Wylie said streets and sewers were difficult issues. Springfield was not the only city dealing with this issue. We needed to continue to look to see if anyone was coming up with solutions, and finding ways to use Federal and State funds. She suggested contacting the National League of Cities (NLC). Ms. Smith and Mr. Goodwin were very creative, but there might be other ideas out there. She noted the good suggestions that came from the Ambulance Transport Committee. She would like an assertive effort on these issues. Mr. Grimaldi said the programs the City used to rely on for infrastructure were no longer available. Councilor Simmons said discussions needed to be held regarding the requirement for Davis-Bacon wages. Storm water, sanitary and street funds were coming from local ratepayers. When we had a limited amount of resources available, we needed to start thinking about trimming some of those costs. One way to do that was through trimming the prevailing wage. There were going to be raises in regional rates, local sanitary sewer rates, and undoubtedly in the storm sewer user rate. The bond counsel required a set amount of cash flow. There was a growing percentage of people that couldn't pay their bills. We needed more money and a reduction of costs. These were tough issues to deal with and we needed to look at creative revenues and cost containment. Next year would be a tough year. Mr. Grimaldi said if the economy did not improve, next year's budget would be tough. If the economy floundered, it would be very bad. Councilor Simmons said the economy would improve, but the cost of raw materials would exceed the growth in our potential revenue. He noted the decay of the outer fascia of City Hall and was concerned that the City had not set aside adequate funds for maintaining the new Justice Center for its life cycle. Those funds should be set aside now. The City was restraining the budget, but not putting resources where needed. Ms. Smith said the City Hall fascia was scheduled to be replaced this summer. Mr. Biles said he had assured the City Manager that the meeting would end on time. He summarized the outcome of the meeting and noted that a work session would be scheduled for the Strategic Plan. A work session would also be scheduled for a presentation on economic development by Mr. Jean from University Place, Washington. Mr. Biles acknowledged staff that arranged the accommodations and those that gave their presentations briefly, yet comprehensively. He noted it had been a pleasure working with this group. Springfield, through the City Manager's Office, Council and staff, was willing to take risks to plan for the future. Springfield was one of the few organizations he had worked for that was positioning itself for recovery. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes April 12, 2010 Page 13 Mayor Leiken thanked Mr. Biles for his assistance. This was one of the more productive goal setting sessions they had experienced, and he felt it was helpful to have a former elected official as the facilitator. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned 7:58 p.m. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa c/ Attest: ~~ Amy Sow City Reco tier