Loading...
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. City of Springfield 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: ~.Jw-L Amy So - City Recorder '\