HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/18/2007 Work Session
City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2007
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225
Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, June 18,2007 at 6:06 p.m., with Council President
Lundberg presiding.
ATIENDANCE
Present were Councilors Lundberg, Wylie, Ballew, Woodrow and Pishioneri. Also present were
City Manager Gino Grimaldi, City Attorneys Joe Leahy and Matt Cox, Clerk III Trudy Borrevik
andmembers of the staff.
Mayor Leiken and Councilor Ralston were absent (excused).
1. City Attorney Office Evaluation.
City Manager Gino Grimaldi presented the information on this item. The results ofthe annual
evaluation have been received, tabulated and are now ready for Council review and discussion
with the City Attorney's Office.
The firm of Leahy & Kieran received high marks recently during the annual review of its
performance of the city attorney duties which are summarized on Attachment 1. Twenty
evaluations were distributed; of those, 18 were returned indicating ratings of excellent, good and
did not observe. This annual evaluation represents the second year of a three year contract which
expires June 30, 2009.
Staff and the City Attorney's Office are currently in discussions regarding hours and rates for the
fiscal year 2007/08. Following those discussions, staffwi11 be presenting a request for Council
ratification of the City Attorney's contract on July 2.
City Attorney Joe Leahy stated he and Matt Cox had reviewed the evaluation and appreciated the
evaluation. Those areas that have need of improvement wi11 be taken to heart. He hadn't had
time to prepare an evaluation himself, so there weren't any comments regarding a little more
speed in areas where people needed more speed. He gave a brief outline of his fIrm and issues
they were currently experiencing. He advised Council that Meg Kieran had indicated a year ago
that she wanted to retire and go part time. She did that and had been acting "of counsel" for the
firm working three days a week. She recently advised that she was leaving the firm to take a
position elsewhere effective July 1,2007. Mr. Leahy said they wished her well. They had been
thinking of making a change in the firm before Ms. Kieran's announcement and had been
interviewing individuals for municipal, real estate and land use law. They also recently hired
Bi11 VanVactor, currently the administrator for Lane County, who recently announced his
retirement to join the firm. Mr. Leahy discussed the many assets Mr. VanVactor would bring to
their firm. Mr. Van Vactor would be joining the firm sometime between July 1 and December 31,
2007. They wi11 also be looking to hire another attorney to join the firm and would continue to
provide good service to the City of Springfield.
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Council Work Session Minutes
June 11, 2007
Page 2
Mr. Leahy said that over the last year and a half there were some City employees that had made
his job easier and more fun to work with that included: Bob Duey and Leslie Wilson in the
Finance Department; Bi11 Spiry in the Human Resources Department; Terri White, Linda Canty,
Jolie Smith and Len Goodwin from the Public Works Department; Brenda Jones and Sandy
Marx from the Development Services Department; Tom Boyatt from the Transportation
Department and John Tamulonis from the Economic Development Department. He said
Springfield wasn't three or four people deep in employees and getting the right employee was
beneficial. Springfield had good employees in these areas which made his job easier.
Councilor Ballew asked about reports that the Council used to receive about pending litigations.
Mr. Leahy stated this was something he was talking to the City Manager about today. The City
Attorney's office hadn't had a lot of pending cases. Most of the cases had been handled through
the City's insurance company. He said they would bring updated information to the Council
soon.
Councilor Pishioneri stated he appreciated everything the City Attorney's office had been doing
for the City and being receptive to his comments and input regarding matters.
Mr. Leahy said the current Council was great to work with.
Councilor Woodrow commented that he appreciated working with the City Attorney's office and
respected the work they did for the City.
Councilor Ballew asked if Mr. Leahy had plans to retire in the near future.
Mr. Leahy said he liked what he did and only hoped to cut back on his working hours. That was
the goal in hiring a new attorney.
Council Wylie thanked the City Attorney and commented that his job made her job easier. She
said she had great confidence in their office.
Councilor Lundberg stated that she had great confidence in the City Attorney's office and in
their knowledge and expertise and willingness to think outside the box about City matters and
affairs.
Council thanked Mr. Leahy and said they looked forward to working with him and his staff for
another year.
2. Status Report on Sanitary Sewer Facility Master Plan Update; Storm water Facility Master
Plan Update; and System Development Charge Amendments.
City Engineer Ken V ogeney presented the staff report on this item. The City's consultant for the
SSFMP, CH2M-Hill, has developed a computer model of the City's sanitary sewer system and is
now analyzing various flow scenarios for existing and future conditions. These scenarios are
used to identify existing and future deficiencies in the system and to evaluate the proposed
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 11,2007
Page 3
solutions for the deficiencies. The consultant is scheduled to deliver the draft results of the
analyses in July, with the final report being presented for Council adoption in November.
The SWFMP is also being developed by a consultant, URS, who has developed a computer
model of the City's stormwater system and is analyzing the existing and future stormwater
conditions. In addition, the analysis includes options for addressing water quality issues along
with the capacity issues. The consultant is scheduled to deliver the draft results of the analysis in
August, with the final report being presented for Council adoption in January.
Concurrent with the efforts to finalize the two Master Plans, staff will commence the process to
update the SDC Methodology and Project Lists. This effort wi11 entail using a Citizen Advisory
Committee (CAe) for policy discussions and a consultant to assist with the process. In addition,
the Public Facilities and Services Plan (PFSP), which is a refinement plan of the Metro Plan that
addresses the provision of urban services such as sanitary sewer, stormwater, drinking water and
electricity, wi11 need to be amended to incorporate the project descriptions from the SSFMP and
the SWFMP. Amending the PFSP wi11 require approval by the City of Eugene and Lane County
in addition to Springfield. Staff proposes to accomplish the PFSP update concurrent with the
other efforts described above so that the revised SDC's can become effective in Spring 2008.
Updating the SDC's for the local infrastructure as quickly as possible is a high priority for staff
considering the state of the City's funding for capital construction. The current SDC Project
Lists for local sanitary sewer and stormwater systems are based upon plans that were prepared in
the early 1980's. While the project lists were evaluated with the last SDC update in 2000, the
current and future infrastructure needs have changed significantly. Without up-to-date project
lists and construction costs, the City is under collecting the SDC's that could and should be
collected to support capital construction.
Councilor Ballew asked about the URS Consulting Group.
Mr. Vogeney gave a brief update on the company.
Councilor Ballew asked about the selection on the consultant and recommended that a notice be
sent to Debbie Galardi.
Mr. V ogeney said they had been having preliminary conversations with Ms. Galardi.
Councilor Ballew asked about modeling and if the City had been spending about $500,000 a year
for IN! repairs.
Mr. V ogeney said the IN! program was closer to $800,000 a year.
Councilor Ballew asked if this was useful in doing a better job of focusing the repairs.
Mr. V ogeney said that was correct. He explained.
Councilor Ballew referred to updating the public facilities and services plan in which drinking
w~ter and electricity wer~ included. She asked if the City was coordinating with Springfield
Utility Board (SUB) and if they had any issues.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 11, 2007
Page 4
Mr. V ogeney said they had not contacted SUB at this point and was not aware of any issues. He
said he would contact SUB.
Councilor Ballew suggested inviting a member of the Homebuilder's Association to be on the
Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAe).
Councilor Lundberg stated she would like Council to receive a list of the CAC.
Councilor Ballew asked about a bi11 that the Homebuilder's sponsored where schools received an
excise tax.
Assistant Public Works Director Len Goodwin provided background on the bill. That bi11 had
not yet gone forward.
Councilor Ballew asked if Eugene was doing anything different with their SDC's or doing
anything specific with their stormwater and sewer collection systems.
Environmental Services Manager Susie Smith provided comments about the Eugene process and
where Eugene was with their SDC's.
Mr. Grimaldi advised that the Mayor would not be joining the Council by phone for the regular
meeting, but that Councilor Ralston would be. He also asked if there were any questions
regarding the process for the Marcola Meadows public hearing.
Councilor Lundberg asked if everyone had a chance to review the amended agenda. Yes.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:38: pm.
Minutes Recorder - Trudy Borrevik
Attest:
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Amy So -
City Recorder
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