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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/03/2010 Regular City of Springfield Regular Meeting MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, MAY 3, 2010 The City of Springfield Council met in regular session in the Council Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, May 3,2010 at 7:10 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. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Leiken. SPRINGFIELD UPBEAT 1. ALS Awareness Month Proclamation. Mayor Leiken proclaimed Mayas ALS Awareness Month. Charlene Fauria, Executive Director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) was present to accept the Proclamation. Ms. Fauria said it was an honor to accept this,proclamation. She said ALS affected 30,000 now and 5000 every year. MDA covered 43 neuro-muscular diseases, but this was one of the worst because of the short life expectancy. It affected adults, usually 40-50 years old. MDA was the largest non-governmental funding source for a cure and treatments. 2. Silver Star Service Banner Day Proclamation. Mayor Leiken proclaimed May 1 Silver Star Service Banner Day and read from the proclamation. He said he was proud to make this proclamation. 3. Employee Recognition: Jan Henke, 20 Years of Service Ms. Jan Henke from the Public Works Department'was unable to attend tonight's council meeting. 4. Employee Recognition: Dean Bishop, 20 Years of Service. City Manager Gino Grimaldi introduced Dean Bishop from the Public Works Department. Mr. Bishop was a traffic signal technician and kept things running smoothly for the City. Mr. Grimaldi noted many of the accomplishments and innovative ideas that Mr. Bishop had produced during his time at the City. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3, 2010 Page 2 Mr. Bishop said he had been fortunate to work for the City of Springfield. People that worked for the City and lived in the City were wonderful. 5. Employee Recognition: Rod Lathrop, 1 0 Years of Service. City Manager Gino Grimaldi introduced Rod Lathrop, Information Technology Director. Mr. Lathrop introduced his wife, Amy and mother-in-law, who were in the audience. Mr. Grimaldi noted many of the accomplishments and projects Mr. Lathrop had been involved in during his 10 years with the City. He noted that Mr. Lathrop was also known for his fishing trips. Mr. Lathrop thanked the elected leadership. They did a wonderful job and were the best of any other place he had worked. Mayor Leiken noted that when Mr. Lathrop was hired, he took the place of Mr. Grimaldi who had been the Assistant City Manager/Information Technology Director at the time. CONSENT CALENDAR IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR RALSTON WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR LUNDBERG TO APPROVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 6 FOR AND 0 AGAINST. 1. Claims 2. Minutes a. April 12, 2010 - Council Goal Setting b; April 19, 2010 - Work Session c. April 19 , 2010 ~ Regular Meeting 3. Resolutions a. RESOLUTION NO. 10-20 - A RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT PROJECT P20512. 5TH STREET OVERLAY 2007 FROM 'G' STREET TO CENTENNIAL BL YD. b. RESOLUTION NO. 10-21 - A RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT PERMIT PROJECT P30520. RIVER HEIGHTS SUBDIVISION. 4. Ordinances 5. Other Routine Matters a. Amend an Agreement with Lane County, Dated July 1,2008, to Act as an Agent for the City for the Appraisal, Negotiations and Acquisition of Real Property. b. Award the Consultant Contract with KPFF Consulting Engineers for Project Management Services for Gateway/BeltlineIntersection Improvements, Unit I Add Lanes (P20474). c. Amend the Consultant Contract with CH2M Hill, Inc. for Final Design Services for Gateway/Beltline Intersection Improvements, Unit 1 Add Lanes (P20474). ITEMS REMOVED City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3, 2010 Page 3 PUBLIC HEARINGS - Pleas~ limit comments to 3 minutes. Request to speak cards are available at both entrances. Please present cards to City Recorder. Speakers may not yield their time to others. 1. Fiscal Year 2010-2011 One-Year Action Plan of the Eugene-Springfield Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development (City of Springfield Section). Housing Manager Kevin Ko presented the staffreport on this item. On or before May 15,2010, the Cities of Eugene and Springfield would submit to HUD a five-year Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development, effective July 1,2010 and expiring June 30,2015. One- Year Action Plans must be submitted to HUD prior to the beginning of each fiscal year as amendments to the five-year Consolidated Plan, and were designed to indicate how communities intended to fulfill the priorities established in the Consolidated Plan. This was the fITst One- Y ear Action Plan under the current Consolidated Plan. The City of Springfield received Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds as an entitlement community and HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds as a participant in a HOME consortium agreement with the City of Eugene. CDBG funds were awarded to communities who carried out community development activities directed towards neighborhood revitalization, economic development, and the provision of improved community facilities and services. HOME funding was a housing block grant program allocated to communities to be used for housing rehabilitation, new construction, acquisition and tenant based rental assistance activities. A public hearing was held on April 19, 2010, to review and consider seven applications for CDBG or HOME funding. Council approved funding for all seven projects. The FY2010-2011 One Year Action Plan included the CDBG and HOME funding allocations for projects and activities and must be approved by both the City of Springfield and City of Eugene prior to submission to HUD. In addition to the approved projects, a description of other activities that may be initiated was included in both the CDBG and HOME sections of the Action Plan. The public comment period for the City of Springfield section of the doqument concluded with the public hearing on May 3,2010. The City of Eugene section of the Plan was being adopted separately by the Eugene City Council. The combined Eugene-Springfield One- Year Action Plan would be submitted to HUD for review and acceptance on or before May 15, 2010. Mayor Leiken opened the public hearing. 1) No one appeared to speak. Mayor Leiken closed the public hearing. IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR RALSTON WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR LUNDBERG TO ADOPT THE SPRINGFIELD SECTION OF THE FY2010-2011 ONE- YEAR ACTION PLAN. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF6 FOR AND 0 AGAINST. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3, 2010 Page 4 2. Imposition of Sewer Fees on Assessed Properties. ORDINANCE NO.1 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 4.218(1) OF THE SPRINGFIELD MUNICIPAL CODE TO REPEAL THE REQUIREMENT TO PAY SANITARY SEWER USER FEES ONCE A PROPERTY HAS BEEN ASSESSED FOR SEWER CONSTRUCTION AND SETTING AN EFFECTIVE DATE NOTWITHSTANDING WHETHER THE PROPERTY OWNER HAS CONNECTED TO THE COLLECTOR SEWER (FIRST READING) Assistant Public Works Director Len Goodwin presented the staff report on this item. The Municipal Code required that if a property had been assessed for a local wastewater project, the financially responsible person would be billed for monthly sewer user fees, regardless of whether the property was connected to the local sewer. This obligation originated in the 1965 Municipal Code in Springfield and had been viewed as an inducement to encourage those who benefited from a wastewater LID to abandon septic service in favor of public sewers. Staff believed there were about 20 accounts paying fees because of this provision, and approximately 50 other accounts where staff had not yet documented that the premises were connected to the sewer system. A small number of other cities had similar provisions, while other cities, such as Eugene, required connection at the time an LID was constructed. The fmancial impact of repeal, assuming average usage statistics, would be an annual loss of revenue of approximately $204 per account. If all 70 accounts were affected by the repeal, the total annual local wastewater loss would be $14,208. While this had not been taken into account in the FY 10-11 user rate scenarios, the impact would appear to be de minimis. Staff believed that if the purpose of the provision was to induce connection, it appeared.to have served its purpose and may no longer be necessary. There were a number of cities in the State that did impose a similar ordinance, although now more cities tended to impose the requirement that that assessed property owner actually connect immediately. That was not something currently in the. Springfield Code. Repeal would be consistent with the Council's direction to explore all opportunities to reduce the economic impact of the Cherokee Drive Local Improvement District on benefitted residents. For those reasons, staff recommended that the draft ordinance repealing the provision be approved. If Council directed, staff would bring this back for a second reading and adoption. Councilor Simmons said in reading the repeal of the or~inance it raised a question. If he decided to turn offhis sewer, the removal of the requirement to connect, unless noted somewhere else in . the Code, created an interesting issue. He didn't believe he would then be required to pay. He asked if somewhere else in the Code would prevent him from doing that. Mr. Goodwin said there was a State Statute requiring the property owner to connect to the local sewer if it was within 300 feet. Even if a homeowner inserted a valve to close off the sewer, it would still be connected. The only way it would not be connected was if the property owner dug . up the connection and removed the pipe. That would be an issue for the City Attorney to determine whether or not they would need to connect. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3,2010 Page 5 City Attorney Joe Leahy said they would cross that bridge when got there. State law required connection. Mr. Goodwin saidhe did have experience in another City where someone tried to do that and they were still required to pay their sewer bill. Councilor Simmons said the State statute spoke on connection, but didn't say anything about disconnect or nonuse. Mr. Leahy said if someone was disconnected, they were not connected. Mayor Leiken opened the public hearing. 2) No one appeared to speak. Mayor Leiken closed the public hearing. NO ACTION REQUESTED. FIRST READING ONLY. , BUSINESS FROM THE AUDIENCE 1. Curtiss Greer. 357 55th Street. Springfield. OR. Mr. Greer said if the City charged fees on special interest groups (builders) in the full amount, it would be done slowly, applied over many months or a year or two. The subsidy from the ratepayers would be applied all at once to make up the difference. This did not reflect equal treatment as our founders spoke of by government. Mr. Greer said he also heard that Council just passed the One- Year Action Plan. He asked how they would be able to check if Spanish speaking people were citizens. That was in a Statute. Mr. Greer spoke regarding the proposed budget and a line item for FIMBA of $20,000. Those funds were there in case FIMBA didn't get adequate funding. He felt it was a bad idea to subsidize that event. 2. Shirley Gauthier. 538 West M Street. Springfield. OR. Ms. Gauthier said she moved to Springfield in 1990, and shortly after started attending the Human Rights Commission meetings. At that time, when our community needed a Human Rights Commission the most, it was disbanded. With the current incident with the racists emails, she would have liked to see her public officials at a press conference they called themselves, expressing that this had come to their attention, was being addressed swiftly, and those would be held responsible. She would rather have heard this from her public officials rather than reading about it. She had not yet heard public or elected officials publicly express outrage. She was saddened, then disgusted, to hear that the workplace climate left public employees feeling comfortable to . express their racism in such an open indoctrinated way. She was angry that the community did not have a Human Rights Commission to advocate for those in need. If employees felt so safe expressing their racism, she could only imagine how the victims of this racism felt when no one outside the workplace could challenge or address it. Springfield community members, residents, employers and visitors deserved a Human Rights Commission. This was a time for City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3,2010 Page 6 our community to express outrage that this had happened within our community. We would not tolerate it nor condone it. As a Springfield resident, she needed to know that her community members, herself, her family, her friends, were protected, respected and valued. All community members were held accountable for the climate of their community. To put a bandaid on this incident would not be adequate. The silence was deafening. She was here to ask her Mayor and her Councilors to speak out, create a Human Rights Commission and send a clear message that racism would not be tolerated in Springfield. 3. Michael Williams. 174 West K Street. Springfield. OR. Mr. Williams said he worked with the Springfield Alliance for Equality and Respect (SAFER) and was the Co-Chair of the Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC). He was appalled to read the Register Guard's account of the emails. He was skeptical at fITst, but that skeptisism disappeared as he continued to read the article. The employee that brought this to our attention was a hero of this community. He had provided us with the opportunity to address issues that went beyond City employees. None of us were beyond having the attitudes that were expressed, or telling the kinds of jokes that were told, but most people had better judgment than to do that in public. There was a gap between how we treated each other and how we spoke that needed to be addressed. He was glad to see that the Council would be taking up the issue and taking it seriously. One part of taking it seriously was to establish a Human Rights Commission in Springfield that could advocate in the workplace, in the City and in private, ways we could heal the divisions between our ethnic communities. Another aspect was the elected officials taking up leadership in our community, speaking in favor of those things that brought us together and built respect and honor, and speaking against those things that drove us apart and dishonored the speaker and those they spoke against. He asked that the Council establish a Human Rights Commission in Springfield and to exert not only their administrative authority, but political leadership in healing some of these wounds. There was a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a diversity and human rights consortium in the Eugene/Springfield/Lane County area. Members of the consortiUm would establish a common agenda to create an environment that supported equity, human rights, and diversity with each member agency, to create environments within public agencies that were more inclusive, and in which diversity was a priority. Springfield was a signatory of this memorandum. He asked that they take the steps necessary to make this reaL 4. Judv Harold~ 641 City View. Springfield. OR. Ms. Harold said she was a longtime resident of Springfield, and a retired employee from the Springfield Public Library. She was a founding member of SAFER, and formerly the Chair of the Springfield Human Rights Task Force. She was saddened by the racist and culturally insensitive emails that circulated unabated~ The statements had made our friends and neighbors feel poorly, and it had damaged our community. She appreciated the City Manager's response. She read that he was extremely disappointed, was taking to heart how to respond to the issues, that there would be more training, and she did have confidence that would happen. She suggested as part of that response that management explore the possibility of appointing and training an existing employee as a human rights specialist. She had felt that if there was a specialist trained, knowledgeable, visible and known to all employees, future egregious incidents would more likely be reported immediately. The specialist could be the point person for citizens who also had complaints regarding human rights. It took a great deal of courage to bring volatile issues forward. Having a staff point person who engendered trust and confidentiality and knowledge, would make this system work better. This staff person could investigate staff allegations or inappropriate behavior and make recommendations to management as how to City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3, 2010 Page 7 corr~ct the problem. She spoke regarding the person that did have the courage to come forward. She hoped there would be staff that continued to provide support for that person, as there would be a tremendous amount of pressure now and in the future for that person. If there was someone as a human rights assistant or specialist, that person would be helping in that regard. 5. Sarita Lief. 17 4 West K Street. Springfield. OR. Ms. Lief said she agreed with those that had previously spoken. She added that it was extremely important that her Mayor and Council, in a public way, express the seriousness of this matter. She appreciated the matter was not swept under the rug. As far as creating a positive culture in the workplace, her experience at the postal service was that they had done a very good job for many years of creating positive climate. They took their role seriously as an equal opportunity employer. You could not be an equal opportunity employer unless you provided those employees a safe, positive and welcoming workplace. She thought process began with the City to make as many forceful statements as possible. She expected there would be a lot of tension for the people on the workplace floor, and polarization and recriminations. The whistle blower's life could be made miserable. The more the elected officials could take responsibility and make it public, the better it would he for all those employees to deal with. She didn't want to see a situation where all the blame went to the perpetrators. She wanted to see the people on top take responsibility as well. 6. Jack Kohler. 555 Main Street. Springfield. OR. Mr. Kohler was the owner of Sweety's Self Serve Frozen Yogurt on the corner of 6th and Main Streets. He distributed photos of downtown parking to the Mayor and Council. Parking was a real issue at the City. He outlined the problems and said he did have some solutions. He would be willing to discuss those further at some other time with the Council. The photos he presented were taken between 8:00am and 5:00pm. After about 5:30pm or 6:00pm, the lot was empty. City employees were parking in the two hour parking and in merchant areas. He did have a solution for that. There were a lot of vacant areas in the downtown that needed to be filled, and he felt there were some solutions for that. One of the main problems that he and other business owners had was that it was hard to open a business. He held interviews with VoID journalism students and had told them it was hard. He had suggestions to make it easy for businesses to get started. It was important to make this an easy place for a small business to get started as that would open the downtown area. Some of the photos distributed included photos of buildings in downtown Springfield. He asked if someone would think this was appealing. There was a lot of traffic going down Main Street, but people were not stopping. He had ideas on how to help. He heard another strip joint was going in downtown. That was something to consider, as we were getting a reputation. He had a solution for that as well. He distributed a photo of the front of his business as an example of something appealing. He said he was willing to meet with Council to share his ideas. 7. Jennifer Potter. 1211 M Street. Springfield. OR. Ms. Potter said she was a longtime member of SAFER, and a Springfield resident for twelve years. As a Springfield resident and taxpayer, she was embarrassed and outraged about the racist emails. She called on the Mayor and City Council to speak out against this. We didn't need to dwell on the past, but to look to the future and fmd a way to prevent such a thing from happening again. She called on the City to have a designated employee to be a point person for human rights issues and/or recreate a Human Rights Commission to work to prevent such misuse of City time and / money in the future. . City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3,2010 Page 8 8. Gary Ravor. 2373 Washington. Eugene. OR. Mr. Rayor said he was upset with the Register Guard article. In a work relationship, the employer (City) provided honorable work, salary and benefits, and fair work rules. They expected from their employees to put in honest time and respect the City and the citizens. This relationship, for this unit and for some of those people, was broken. These were good jobs. Either you had zero tolerance or you didn't. There was theft of time. There was serial maliciousness, intimidation, explicit images, racial slurs, jokes, and disparaging jokes on disabilities, sexual, the President, elected officials, and no amount of sensitivity training would help some people. He said when he called the City Manager's Office he was told they were not comfortable talking to him about what discipline would be taken. There were sensitivity people coming over from the University to rehabilitate, but he felt there was a serial problem. People went down this road because they did not respect the official and citizens. He took it personally. The City rolled out the crime and needed to roll out the punishment. The manager of this unit didn't manage and the ringleaders should be fired and that should be public. Last time he was here, was about five or seven years ago. He was very mad about this. 9. Mark Callahan. 361 Malen. Eugene. OR. Mr. Callahan said he was here because he hoped to represent Springfield and was running for Lane County Commissioner. When he fITst read this in the Register Guard, he was appalled. He used to work at Symantec and they had a zero tolerance policy. With those that disobeyed, they were walked out of the building within the hour. That needed to happen here. He said he was very high energy and a very proactive man of action. There should be no second chances for those that sent those emails or forwarded them. Those people should be immediately terminated, walked out of the building within the hour, with no severance pay, not put on administrative leave, with no future PERS, or future unemployment benefits. He proposed that the Council adopt and implement a zero tolerance policy in the future. Those that received the emails should be required to be trained to report and delete the emails without storing them electronically or hard copy, or be terminated immediately. COUNCIL RESPONSE Mayor Leiken said he did make a statement on KEZI. He said he appreciated the comments. This was serious and the Mayor and Council all understood how serious this was. This was an issue in the workplace and was the responsibility of the City Manager and staff. He understood the City had been without a Human Rights Commission for some time, before the current Mayor and Council were elected. He thanked Marion Malcomb for her email today. In 2003, during his State of the City address, he had asked SAFER to be the City's AdHoc Human Rights Commission in the absence such a commission at the City. They (SAFER) had been very proactive, and the City had met with them on various issues that had come up in the City. He appreciated that. The testimony regarding a Human Rights Commission or staff advocate was valid, especially the suggestion from Ms. Harold. That would be the responsibility of the City Manager and staff. He was not making any excuses. They all found these emails to be offensive and they were very upset. Springfield had made tremendous strides over the years, ahd this was very disappointing as it took us a step back. He assured the audience that the City Manager would be on top of this and changes were being made. The Mayor and City Council could not step in regarding employee discipline, which was the City Manager's responsibility. He thanked everyone for coming forward. He appreciated SAFER cQming in this evening. They had every right to criticize, but he thanked them for coming forward with constructive ideas. That was how the City could move City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3, 2010 Page 9 forward. SAFER understood the doors would continue to be wide open for discussion so we could move forward in a positive manner. He believed we were going to. Councilor Lundberg said it was legitimate for Council to say they were appalled and should have a zero tolerance policy. She thought the City had a staff person that was a liaison to the Human Rights Commission and SAFER who was the active body that looked out for these types of issues. She appreciated SAFER's work. Mr. Grimaldi said Janis Brew had held the role of human rights staff liaison. She had taken a position at Lane Community College (LCC) and that position was in the process of being filled. Councilor Lundberg said that person could be known to the employee base to report issues. She reiterated that they were appalled at what occurred. Councilor Simmons said it was clear that the issues around the emails were a violation of City policy. The City Manager was taking very positive and progressive steps on that issue. Ms. Harold's suggestion of a liaison staff member was excellent. The City had not been completely innocent in our community in the past. The comments made tonight were clear and to the point and the City should be very watchful in the future and take additional steps. The employees involved in this were already disciplined prior to the issue being. in the press. He felt uncomfortable with trash talk and felt it was inappropriate in the work and public environment. The activity was not condoned by the Council or the City Manager or the senior staff. We needed to be sure to step forward to ensure it didn't happen again. Many of those emails were from the internet and were circulating out on the internet, not generated by staff. They were certainly inappropriate to have that conduct. Councilor Simmons spoke regarding a business downtown. He had received a call about that . particular business (strip club) yesterday. Mr. Welch had assured the Council he was doing all he could to mitigate the problems at that bar, and now was taking an inappropriate course with that business. That needed to be looked at carefully. Councilor Wylie said she was outraged when she heard about the emails. She had been informed that the employees involved had been disciplined and the City did have a good policy. However, , it didn't help as the Councilors went about their business as representatives of the City, into the community. They were trying to project an image of Springfield's growth and Springfield's caring for the individual. Those employees had knocked that image down publicly. It outraged her because it looked like Springfield allowed it to happen. She knew Mr. Grimaldi would not let it continue and we would enforce our policies. The frequency of talk radio and the internet had escalated hate speech and actions. Sitting at the privacy of one's computer, it was easy to push a button and send something on, not feeling responsible. It took a greater person to take responsibility for their own action in this climate. When she became a city councilor she was told she was the liaison for the Human Rights Commission, but that the committee was no longer active. No one had told her about SAFER. She ,would like to see the Human Rights Commission re-activated and/or combined with SAFER to take a more active role. She knew her fellow councilors cared deeply about how they treated one other. There were good people on the Council and good people in the City, and good people that worked for us. Hate speech was evil and it needed to be stopped. The City would move ahead to make Springfield a better place to work. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3, 2010 Page 10 Councilor Pishioneri said he concurred with everything he had heard. This was despicable and there was a feeling of hurt and disappointment. Springfield was a close organization and our trust of our colleagues disappointed and hurt everyone. It didn't reflect the general organization. This organization from the policy makers on down had zero tolerance and it needed to be dealt with. When things happened, they must be dealt with, but that didn't show a picture of the organization. The organization was damaged, and the image of the City was damaged. We all needed to take this and move forward. He believed the Human Rights Commission needed to be reactivated and a swift and rapid response was needed. Springfield had made great strides over the last 30 years. When something like this re-emerged, it meant we may have let our guard down in certain areas. That was when we needed to step it up and react swiftly. The Council would be taking some actions and making them public. Councilor Leezer said she agreed. They were all devastated and embarrassed. She said she thought that everyone thought we were all just folks doing life and were all the same. It disrupted everything and she was very ashamed of what happened. She felt the City needed to reactivate the Human Rights Commission and have a staff liaison. The whistle blower needed to have someone to talk to so he was not threatened. That way if others saw something like this happen, they would not be afraid to come forward. It was very upsetting. Mayor Leiken thanked Mr. Grimaldi and staff. They were immediately proactive when this came forward. They sat down with the press and shared everything. Mr. Grimaldi immediately contacted the University of Oregon and also spoke with Henry Luvert (NAACP), to be proactive because he knew how unacceptable this was. Mayor Leiken thanked all those that testified and those in the audience. The elected officials did listen to them and he appreciated their time. Councilor Ralston said it was inappropriate in the workplace anywhere. FarWest Steel did not have a policy or a Human Rights Commission, but he was sure that if that would have happened there, the employee would have been fIred. He wanted everyone to know they had looked at this to make sure this would not happen again. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS 1. Correspondence from Jon and Lori Ellington, Springfield, Oregon Regarding the Cherokee Drive LID. (this correspondence is also included in the agenda packet for this item) 2. Correspondence from Robert Thomas, Springfield, Oregon Regarding the Cherokee Drive LID. (this correspondence is also included in the agenda packet for this item) IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR RALSTON WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR LUNDBERG TO ACCEPT THE CORRESPONDENCE FOR FILING. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 6 FOR AND o AGAINST. BIDS ORDINANCES 1. Second Reading of an Ordinance for Project P21032 - South 38th Street and Cherokee Drive and Vicinity. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3,2010 Page 11 ORDINANCE NO. 6254 - ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE REPORT OF THE CITY ENGINEER FOR IMPROVEMENTS ON SOUTH 38TH STREET AND CHEROKEE DRIVE AND VICINITY (P21032). City Engineer Ken Vogeney presented the staff report on this item. On April 5, 2010, staff presented the City Engineer's Report (Attachment 4 of the agenda packet) and associated Ordinance (Attachment 2 of the agenda packet) to Council at a public hearing for the first reading. Council heard testimony from those in support and against the project, and requested staff to' perform additional research in an attempt to ease the financial burden placed on property owners in the district prior to returning for the second reading of the Ordinance. The table in Attachment 3 summarized staff s research and Council's directions to date. Based upon the research performed and Council direction, the City Engineer's Report had been revised to reflect the following staff recommendations: . Set the interest rate on assessments to. 1 %; . Adjust various dates in the report; . Correctly state the previously recommended Maximum Assessment per Lot as $7,500 in Section 6. As discussed in further detail in Attachment 1 of the agenda packet, staff currently accepted plumbing permits from builders within subdivisions for new homes before the public subdivision improvements had been accepted by Council. Similarly, property owners within the LID may desire to obtain their plumbing permits before the public sewer was completed so that they could take advantage of the permit fees and SDCs at the rates in effect when they applied rather than the rates that were in effect after project completion. Since plumbing permits were valid for 180 days, staff recommended that Council direct staff to accept plumbing permit applications from property owners within the LID after the Council awarded the construction contract to the low bidder, and then allow them to connect to the new public sewer after the contractor completed their work. Mr. V ogeney reviewed the questions brought forward by Council. These were addressed on page 2 of Attachment I. Council had asked staff to resurvey the neighborhood for eligibility under Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding as an overall district. A new survey was sent out and staff received a response of 24 postcards of the 45 property owners. Of that,ll of the property owners were possibly eligible. That indicated that less than 51 % of the property owners were eligible. Council had asked staff to look at lowering sewer connection fees by $1000. The connection fees in Springfield consisted of two charges: 1) the plumbing permit; and 2) the system development charges (SDC). If Council were to choose an option to reduce the SDC for this neighborhood, the cost difference would need to be made up by user rates. When they met with Council on January 25 during a work session, Council directed staff not to establish a special SDC rate for this neighborhood. Staff recommendation was to collect the SDCs at the rate in effect at the time of connection. Staff did request that Council direct staff to accept plumbing permit applications, which remained in effect for 180 days, from property owners after the Council awarded the construction contract to the lowest responsive bidder. This would allow the property owner to pay the SDCs at the time of the permit, and still allow them 6 months to hook up. Mr. V ogeney said CoUncil had also asked staff to do some additional searching for other State funds. City staff had contacted staff at Housing and Community Services and learned that they had a very limited funding supply. In the past, they had CDBG funds available for individual City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3,2010 Page 12 property owners, which was the same program the City offered. The other program through Housing and Community- Services was a program they funded through St. Vincent DePaul (SVDP) under their rural housing program. Staff contacted SVDP and found that the program was not available to property owners inside city limits. Mr. Vogeney said the last item was the financing rate on the assessments. The City's current earning rate was about .55%. In looking at that, staff was recommending an interest rate of 1 %. That would allow flexibility over the ten year term in case the earning rate increased. On page 4 of Attachment 1 was a chart showing what the ten year total payment would be at the three different rates. Staff recommended setting the rate at 1 %. Mr. Vogeney said revisions had been made to the April 5, 2010 City Engineer's Report. Primarily, those were administrative revisions, but also included setting the interest rate at 1 % and setting the maximum assessment. He noted that he had one minor administrative correction. His copy showed two page 1 ' s and two page 3' s. That would be corrected in the fmal document. He referred to the three page table provided to Council with a summary of all of the different fmancing options staff looked at, plus a summary of Council direction from the previous meetings. Councilor Ralston asked about the SDCs and plumbing permit. He asked what the combined total of those costs were. Civil Engineer Clayton McEachern said the plumbing permit was about $150 and the SDC at the current rates was about $3500. Councilor Ralston asked about the maximum assessment of $7500. Mr. V ogeney said that would be the maximum cost assessed to a property after the project was complete, and included the public project to build the public system. The property owner would be responsible for 100% of the private construction. Councilor Ralston asked if the SDC and plumbing fees were in addition to the $7500. Yes. Councilor Lundberg said she was assuming they would be going forward with this tonight to give closure to those neighbors. The average citizen had trouble knowing what all this meant. She asked, with Council concurrence, that whatever was decided was put into something concise so the homeowners understood their options. Mr. Vogeney said some of the property owners would be able to qualify for CDBG to help them with their private costs. Councilor Lundberg said that was something the homeowners needed to know. They also needed to know how to find all of the options. She wanted staff to provide something short, concise, clear, and as simple as possible. Mr. Vogeney said all of the property owners received the agenda packet for tonight's meeting. With Council direction, staff could provide a summary to the property owners with the final action in an easy to understand format. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3, 2010 Page 13 Councilor Ralston said he was happy they looked at the interest rate reduction. He still wanted to reduce the hookup fee by $1000 because he felt this was a long standing issue. Councilor Simmons asked if sewer hook-up fee could be put on a Bancroft loan. Mr. Vogeneysaid for single family residential, the sewer SDC could be fmanced over ten years. The City's fmancing rate for SDC financing was fixed at 7.9% Mr. Grimaldi reminded Council that the loss in revenue equated to a 1 % increase in sewer rates. Councilor Simmons said in looking at the chart, a reduction was beneficial for those residents, but would affect the rest of the citizens by charging higher rates. The City had already taken the deferrals of the SDCs to benefit future homebuyers. If we deferred the cost on the sewer connection, everyone else had to make it up. To mitigate it was appropriate, but he did not favor taking those additional dollars. Whether Council reduced the fees or not, they needed to understand what they were doing. They had to represent all of the ratepayers and not just the residents in this neighborhood. He understood Councilor Ralston's point of view, but he didn't feel it would be fair to the other rate payers in Springfield. Giving the 1 % percent interest rate was appropriate, but not deferring costs. He asked if the City would work with a contractor who could be on site and achieve an economy of scale for the private connection. Mr. V ogeney said they would not be putting that in the contract with a contractor, but the contract would not prohibit the contractor from making a separate contract with property owners for the private work. Staff had heard from several property owners who were meeting with contractors and looking to go together with their neighbors to share the cost. Councilor Simmons said while the street was open would be th~.most cost effective time to do the connections. IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR PISHIONERI WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR LUNDBERG TO ADOPT ORDINANCE NO. 6254. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 5 FOR AND 1 AGAINST (RALSTON). BUSINESS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL 1. Committee Appointments a. Historic Commission Appointment. Development Services Director Bill Grile presented the staff report on this item. The Springfield Historic Commission had one vacancy as a result of Sean Van Gordon's resignation. It was necessary to fill the vacancy at this time. The City received one application for the vacancy from Kimarie Lamb. The Council interviewed Ms. Lamb at the April 26, 20 I 0 Work Session. At the Work Session, the Council decided to appoint Ms. Lamb to fill the vacancy. Appointments to the Historic Commission must be confIrmed during a Regular Session. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3,2010 Page 14 IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCaOR RALSTON WITH A SECOND BY COUNCaOR LUNDBERG TO APPOINT KIMARIE LAMB TO THE mSTORIC COMMISSION WITH A TERM EXPIRING MAY 2, 2014. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 6 FOR AND 0 AGAINST. b. Police Planning Task Force (PPTF) Appointments. Police Chief Jerry Smith presented the staff report on this item. The Police Planning Task Force had two at-large positions open due to term expirations of Dave Jacobson and Don Moloney. Dave Jacobson was eligible for re-appointment for a second four-year term. The PPTF received five applications, including an application from current member Dave Jacobson for re-appointment. The recommendation of the PPTF was to-re-appoint Dave Jacobson. New applications were received from Diana Alldredge, Jerry Brown, Ken Hutchison, and Christine Stole. A subcommittee of the PPTF interviewed the four applicants, all of whom were extremely qualified, on March 8. After deliberation, the group recommended appointing Diana Alldredge as the At-Large Representative. IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCaOR RALSTON WITH A SECOND BY COUNCaOR LUNDBERG TO RE-APPOINT DAVE JACOBSON AND APPOINT DIANA ALLDREDGE TO THE POLICE PLANNING TASK FORCE (PPTF) WITH TERMS EXPIRING MAY 3,2014. THE MOTION PASSED WITH A VOTE OF 6 FOR AND 0 AGAINST. 2. Business from Council a. Committee Reports 1. Mayor Leiken said he participated in two ribbon cuttings in Springfield, Manna Boards in Thurston and Chase Flower and Gifts. Both were young business owners and he congratulated them for opening their businesses. J Mayor Leiken said he attended a birthday party for Stella, the oldest living citizen in Springfield, who turned 105. He said she was quite peppy. He also met a man that was 103 and a woman that was 100. He had a great time. Stella liked to play BINGO and cards. 2. Councilor Pishioneri reported on the McKenzie Watershed Council (MWC). There was a movement to eliminate all catchable restocking of trout on the McKenzie River and to go to native fishery only for catch and release. This was being supported by Trout Unlimited, a University professor, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODF&W) and a couple of special interest groups. The MWC had a consensus decision making process, and he was ready to hold this up. There was serious biological work being done and it could be a possibility in the future. Businesses on the river were very concerned of being shut down if something like this was passed. Any given month, about $1.2M was spent at those businesses during fishing season, much of that from visitors out of state. If anyone on the Council heard of any groups that were moving in that direction, he would like to know. City of Springfield Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 3,2010 Page 15 BUSINESS FROM THE CITY MANAGER Mr. Grimaldi said the comments from the Mayor and City Council regarding the emails were taken seriously. He was seeing some change in the organization, including a level of awareness, which was one of the most important changes that could occur in our organization. They realized there was room for improvement and they would continue to work to improve in the coming weeks and ongoing into the future. Mayor Leiken said many of those staff were considered friends, and that was what hurt most. BUSINESS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:32 p.m. Minutes Recorder Amy Sowa Attest: CitY~