HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/28/2010 Work SessionMI7v[JTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2010:
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Library Meeting Roomi 225 Fifth Street,
Springfield, Oregon; on Monday, Jurie 28, 20.10. at 5:33 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were. Mayor Leiken and Councilors Ralston, Lundberg, Wylie, Leezer, Simmons, and
Pishioneri. Also present were Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorneys Matt Cox and Joe
Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa, and members of the staff.
1. City Attorney Office Evaluation. ,
Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery presented the staff report on this item on behalf of Human
Resources Director Greta Utecht. The results of the annual evaluation had been received, tabulated and
were now ready for Council review and discussion with the City Attorney's Office.
_ The firm of Leahy, Van Vactor & Cox LLP received high marks recently during the annual review of
its performance of the city, attorney duties which were summarized on Attachment 1 of the agenda
packet.
The Annual City Attorney contract was scheduled for ratification at a Regular Session of Council on
Monday, July 6, 2010. .
Mayor Leiken asked Councilor Pishioneri for his input as Chair of the Finance/Judiciary Committee.
- Councilor Pishioneri said the City Attorney's Office had been very conscientious, responsive and done .
an outstanding job. .
Councilors Lundberg, and Simmons agreed.
Mr. Cox said they were pleased with the evaluation. They had been very busy especially with the
addition of the jail. He also noted that they were buying the building that they recently located in near
Island. Park. Thanks to Chief Smith and the Police the park was very safe and it was a very nice
.location. They were hoping to hire Taylor Murdoch in the fall. Mr. Murdoch was the son of a City
employee and had recently graduated from the University of Oregon Law School. He was taking the
bar this summer. He discussed some of the areas they were hoping Mr: Murdoch could assist.
Councilor Simmons said the City was well served.
Councilor Wylie said after several years being on the Council, she always felt good and had
confidence in the answers from the City Attorney's Office during their Council meet~~ings. She thanked
them for their service.
Councilor Pishioneri spoke regarding the jail. There had been a lot of work done by the City
Attorney's Office not only in the opening, but in the operation of the jail.. The Police Department did
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Council Work Session Minutes
June 28, 2010
Page 2
not have experience in running a jail and the City Attorney's Office did a great job in
through the process. There would be more things coming up in the next couple of ye~~
the jail, but the City Attorney's Office was doing a great job in preventing issues fror.~,
assisting them
rs pertaining to
~ arising.
Mr. Leahy said the voters in Springfield endorsed the jail, the Council had the vision to implement it,
and Chief Smith was pushing to get it done. All of those things were highly motivating factors and
. they were proud to work with the Chief on moving it forward. .
Councilor Lundberg said the law firm was also very community minded and that was not shown in
their evaluation. They were involved and participated in the rest of the community. That said a lot of
~, who they were and their status in professionalism. She thanked them for that.
Mayor Leiken concurred and noted Mr. Leahy's involvement with the Emerald Art Association. He
agreed that they had served the City well. He had appreciated the opportunity over the years to get to
know the attorneys. He thanked them for being open and honest..
Councilor Leezer agreed. She wondered if other cities had such as an amazing team for their legal
counsel. The Council never had to worry if something came up because.they knew they would be
covered and the information accurate.
2. .Downtown Parking Management Plan: Presentation of Advisory Committee's Recommendations.
Planning Supervisor Linda Pauly presented the staff report on this item. Ms. Pauly introduced Rick
Williams, the City's parking management consultant. Mr. Williams presented the findings of the
parking inventory and analysis and an overview of the proposed Parking Management Plan.
Committee members had been invited to attend the work session.
Over the past 13 months, Development Services staff had conducted a Downtown planning process..
A Downtown Citizen Advisory Committee was appointed to work with the City's consultant team
(Crandall Arambula and Rick Williams Consulting) to prepare a renewed vision and strategy for
revitalizing Downtown Springfield. A Downtown Parking Advisory Sub-committeeImet eight times
with the consultant team from July 2009 -April-2010 to discuss parking principles, issues, and.
recommendations. The Downtown Parking Management Plan was the work productof this process.
The plan addressed the key role of parking management in successful downtown revitalization and
included:
^ a parking inventory and utilization analysis;
^ a parking. demand analysis;
^ identification of opportunities to add 71 additional on-street parking spaces;
parking. management operating principles and strategy recommendations; and
^ a phased implementation schedule.
The concepts and strategies recommended by the Committee had been presented to an Oversight Team
consisting of City department managers, the Executive Team and to City of Springfield employees.
The Downtown Parking Management Plan completed Task 1 A of the. Downtown District Plan project
initiated by the Council on July 7, 2008. Adoption and implementation of the plan would support
Downtown's further development as a viable mixed use district by managing the public ,parking
supply to:
^ ensure sufficient on-street parking for customers of Downtown businesses;
^ accommodate the needs of all users.
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Council Work Session Minutes
June 28, 2010
Page 3
Downtown redevelopment was a key strategy for accommodating future growth.
Ms. Pauly said Mr. Williams had done an outstanding job and she appreciated his work. Tonight, they
would like to receive input from the Mayor and Council following the presentation.
Mr. Williams reviewed the seven study elements: Access; Priority. Customer; Priority Parking (On-
Street); Employee Parking. & Off -Street City Owned Supply; Understandability & Quality; Multi-
Modal Access; and Coordination. They had. compiled a lot of.data on the parking in Springfield and
had discussed the value statement and how to get more customers on the street. A comprehensive set
of guiding principles was developed which included value statements against which all strategies were
built. An implementation work plan was created that built on the success of.each preceding step.'
Public communications and outreach would be the next step.
Mr. Williams spoke regarding the~Parking Advisory Committee and their dedication to the project. A
land 'use inventory was done of the buildings in the study zones which relayed the, number of cars
parking downtown against the occupied building area. With that information, they could forecast
parking. needed with new development. In the downtown area there .were 1819 stalls. They did a 9
hour survey of each of those stalls and had used that to develop their data analysis.
Mr. Williams referred to a slide showing the .study zone and noted that every parking stall, both on and
ctff street, had been catalogued in that zone. The parking system was not yet formatted that best served
the area and was not working. The current system was not easy to use, especially for newcomers to the
downtown. He discussed the priorities the committee reviewed such ~as customer parking, on-street
parking, off-street parking, patron access, employee access, and the City's role in parking.
Mr. Williams said parking was a very emotional subject for people, so .they tried to b'e very objective
with the facts. He displayed a slide that showed formatting the parking supply. What was unusual
about Springfield was the high amount of no limit parking in downtown, particularly in an area where
the City wanted new retail, high turnover businesses. He discussed how they could look at the
formatting to determine if changes could be made. There were 1172 off-street parking stalls in
downtown, but a majority of them were in private control. The City owned 283 off-street stalls and
889 were owned privately. There were 647 on-street stalls in the study area.
Mr. Williams referred to a graph showing the entire study area on a typical day and discussed the
number of empty stalls during that time. There was a lot of flex in the system.. A map was displayed
that showed on-street peak hour occupancies. He discussed the .information on that map. The average
time stay downtown was 3 hours 29 minutes. Generally, in most downtowns, the average time stay on
the street was 1.4-1.6 hours. That suggested that a number of employees were parking on the street.
There was a lot of opportunity to grow the system to allow a lot more cars into the system. He
discussed turnover rate. A turnover rate was a measure of whether or not an environment was
conducive to attracting retail business. Basically, if the time stays downtown were calibrated for two
hours, they would turn over five times. When looking at how to manage downtown parking better to
attract .business, a turnover rate of five or higher was preferred. About 24-35% of all time stay zones
designated two-hours were violated due to no enforcement.
Mr. Williams referred to a. chart showing the average turnover rate of Springfield compared to other
cities' downtown. There was efficiency in higher turnover because you could get more people in and
.out. He discussed the off-street supply. There were a high number of off-street parking stalls that were
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Council Work Session Minutes
June 28, 2010
Page 4
empty during the day. He referred to a map showing off-street parking: During an exercise of the heart
of downtown, they looked at occupancies. Between 11:OOam and noon, this zone was about 70%
occupied and the average time stay was 3 hours 20 minutes. There were 311 empty s i alls off-street in
the same core area. Many of those were pnvate facilities, which meant conversations needed to be
held with the private sector. There were 966,215 square feet of land uses within that study zone. About
869,000 square feet of that land use was occupied. Based on those figures, the City's true demand for
parking was about 1.1 stall per thousand square feet. This was a minimum number.
Mr. Williams discussed the key strategies the committee recommended in a near, mid and long-term
framework. The near-term framework was within a year and they believed the guiding principles and
priorities in the plan should be formalized as a policy element of the City's parking management. That
..way, councils in the future could make decisions against the strategies and provide information to
citizens regarding concerns. Springfield's downtown needed to centralize the parking decision making
around a single staff person supported by a formal part of the advisory committee, Tliere was a lot in
,the plan and a lot of work to do. ~ .
Mr. Williams said another strategy was to manage parking by zones. There were three sectors to the
downtown and they all operated differently. He explained. Each. of those zones needed to be managed
differently. There were operating principles,. priorities, and value statements established for each of
those zones in the plan. Another strategy was to manage to the 85% rule, which was an industry
standard that stated that when a parking supply achieved 85%, it needed to go to the next strategy in
the plan. Mr. Williams said they identified places in downtown where seventy-one stalls of parking
could be added back on the street. Those spots were currently no parking or loading zones. Not all of
those would need to be added back in, but some could. Zone A needed to be two-hour parking only,
and not for employees. Some of the other recommendations in the near-future included: establishing
an employee permit program; restriping the on-street system; and enforcing in Zone A..He explained
each of the strategies and why they were beneficial.
Mr. Williams spoke regarding mid-term strategies including: more communications with the business
community and citizen; managing City lots with fees for high occupancy; developing a residential
permit zone policy and program; negotiating shared use agreements with. private lots; implementing a
new signage package; developing and implementing limitations. on surface parking; and evaluating a
minimum parking ratio.
Mr. Williams spoke regarding long-term strategies including: strategically acquiring a surface parking
site in downtown; provide transit and transportation demand management (TDNi) incentive programs;
and put into place mode split targets for transit, bikes, walkers, and drive alone, correlate parking
regulations with correlate parking code with those modes; and be prepared to have a new supply of
parking when the need arose.
Mayor Leiken said the 2.87 turnover rate caught his attention. He noted the comparison with other
cities.
Councilor Lundberg said Mr. Williams addressed one of her questions regarding rE
important to accommodate people living in downtown. When she worked at the Cc
had to park several blocks away because there was no parking near the building. T.
a parking permit. She didn't want to promote people parking in short-term parking
'their vehicle to prevent ticketing. Employee parking needed to be reconsidered, as
of transportation. She said there was mention of disabled zones and loading zones.
cents. It was
qty; employees
~ also had to buy
d then moving
.11 as other modes .
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 28,.2010
Page 5
Mr. Williams said the plan went into more detail. on loading zones. Some loading zones might be
loading all day,. while others may only need to load and unload during specific times during the day.
Those loading zones could be used~for two hour parking during the other hours of the day.
Councilor Lundberg said she didn't see anything about different size stalls, such as compact,' as a way
to increase parking without having to add stalls..
Mr. Williams said they had learned in the industry that compact zones were not as effective as once
believed. He explained. .
' Councilor Lundberg said she liked the idea of different color striping for different lengths of parking.
It seemed like a great way to differentiate the parking zones.
Mr.' Williams said some cities put different color parking meters for different zones. It was a very
innovative concept and could be shown on a map as well as on the street: .
Councilor Lundberg asked about whether or not there was a place for 10 minute stalls for businesses
that just had customers that went in and out.
Mr. Williams said there were twenty-eight quick turn stalls. The plan recommended time limits for
each zone. Everything else was an exception and the City could determine those exceptions. Thirty
minute stalls could be re-evaluated to determine if they were correctly placed. He provided examples
of businesses that could have those short-term parking spaces. The plan called for standardizing the
.base zone, then creating an exception process through the parking advisory committee.
Councilor Lundberg said part of the issue was that vehicles were not cited for parking too long and
that should be a priority. She wanted to know the recommendations for safe and secure lighting,
especially for nighttime parking.
Mr. Williams said a supplemental to the. plan was coming forward that addressed the safety aspect.
Councilor Lundberg noted the issue of the traffic in downtown. She thought the three zones were a
great idea to maximize for those that needed on-street parking. It would also be important to work out
deals with private and public agencies to increase the overall parking in downtown. There needed to be
a lot of opportunities. She was pleased with the report.
Councilor Leezer asked how the time limits were enforced. She had heard someone had to go. around
marking tires. She asked if the fees would pay for an additional officer to patrol.
Mr. Williams said they would. There were a couple of ways to look at the fees to make sure they were
reasonable. The plan suggested the funds from those fees be placed into an enterpnse fund for
improvements in existing lots..
Councilor Leezer said she had been approached by, downtown businesses regarding the parking.' She
noted an area in downtown that would make a great parking lot.
Councilor Simmons said in the evaluation of the public controlled sites, the lot north of B Street~was
now in the parking control of the Police department and was not suitable for public access.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes.
June 28, 2010 ~ .
Page. 6
Mr. Williams said that lot was exempted when doing their evaluation.
Councilor Simmons spoke regarding the add-backs. They needed to consider security issues for
parking under City hall if something happened to the building. A couple of the add=backs were in the
EmX transit line. .
Mr. Williams said they compiled the list from what was there at the time: . .
Councilor Simmons said one of the stalls on Main Street between 8th and 9`~ was by the LTD stop that
was the last stop on the #11 line and was served by a 60-foot articulated bus. They wouldn't want to
unload wheelchairs into the middle of the street. There were a number of the add-backs that were
challenging, while others were very good. He noted one that was at the location of thle only mailbox on
the driver's side of the street. Mr. Williams noted that it would be a very short term parking space.
Councilor Simmons felt it would be a problem. He noted that other cities had restricted van-type
parking just_short of the stop signs for vision clearance. The concept of the loading zone limitation was
difficult because of the hours delivery trucks made their deliveries and pickups.
Mr. Williams said the plan did not propose removing any loading zones.
Councilor Simmons noted a couple of areas that were shown as public lots. One of those was used as a
business lot for the medical clinic, and the other was a vehicular parking lot for the Oregon
Department of Transportation (ODOT). -
Mr. Williams said they had data showing they were not fully used:
Councilor Simmons said that was assigned parking for their work trucks that were out during certain
hours in the day, but were there at night.
Mr. Williams said they had occupancy totals for them for the full study period and would recommend
the parking manager begin conversations with them.
Councilor Simmons said the general nature of the study was excellent. He thought thi area south of ,
South A Street should have been included because there were excellent opportunities there for all
downtown employees. If they could do away with the employee parking on-street, th~ parking
problem would be alleviated quickly. When the City closed the employee lots north of B Street
between Pioneer Parkway and 4~', they lost a lot of employee parking space. That, along with the
construction of the public safety facility, caused a change in behavior regarding parking. That had
never been corrected. He further discussed the area south of South A Street. In the parking analysis,
there was no discussion of the parking capacity of the Booth Kelly lot. That lot was used on game days
for shuttle service from LTD to Autzen Stadium.
Mr. Williams said he would like to do that as well, but was confined with the study area.
..Councilor Pishioneri discussed the turnover rates by city. He asked how many of the other cities didn't
have parking enforcement.
Mr. Williams noted those that did and those that did not.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 28, 2010
Page 7
Councilor Pishioneri said he would like to know how many citations per day would be issued in zones
A, B, and C if parking was enforced to the letter. In Eugene years ago,. there was permit parking for
downtown employees in colored zones. The further away from downtown the lot, the cheaper it was
for the employee. He asked what the valuation would be of parking if the City went to a permit
system. He asked if that would be an employee benefit or employee paid. There was parking provided
for some at the Justice Center, so there was an issue of making it equitable for all employees. He felt
they should consider parking enforcement by taking small steps at first. The downtown businesses
needed to be protected and steps needed to be taken to encourage more activity downtown:
.Mr. Williams said one of the guiding principles was to support existing businesses and also businesses
looking to locate downtown:
Councilor Lundberg said she was supportive of permits and where the funding would go. There were
private lots like those belonging to the school district and there. were also parking companies. She was
interested in the City getting income from either fines or permits for all downtown employees. There
was often concern for those trying to schedule a meeting downtown when all of the parking was only
two hour parking. She asked if the City owned any of the property south 'of South A Street.
Councilor Simmons said they had an opportunity to purchase property on South A, but did not
purchase it ~at the time. They could designate parking Zone A, and negotiate with LTD that all
employers in Zone A be allowed to purchase at a reduced price transit passes for then- employees. He .
didn't believe the City had ever done that, although they did pay for four or five City employee transit .
passes. There were innovative things to do and this opened the door..
,Further discussion took place on the benefits of providing transit passes to employee
Mayor Leiken asked if the figure that 90% of storefronts were occupied was accur
Mr. Williams said that was a surprise to them as well. It had been double checked.
Mayor Leiken said he liked the report and agreed Springfield was not being efficient sand effective
with our parking. They needed to maximize what we had before building structures. This was a way
that could help existing downtown businesses become more successful. Enforcement was the key as .
shown by the chart showing comparisons with successful cities. He thanked Mr. Williams, staff and
the committee. They had done a great job in identifying the key issues and understanding that
Springfield was not maximizing what we had regarding parking. On Thursday, he was at a meeting
with leadership from ODOT and they talked about access management. It was a good meeting and
ODOT seemed to understand that access management was important. Precedence. had been set as
Klamath Falls had phased in jurisdictional transfers. He also noted that OLCC~ called last week and
said they were interested in introducing legislation to give more power to cities regarding liquor
licenses. The timing of both of those things was perfect..
Councilor Ralston-asked how many employees there were downtown in all businessf
find out how many employees there were downtown, they could designate areas outs
for their parking. He was fine with limited enforcement, but he didn't want to go to e
Enforcing would get people. to change their behavior, but he didn't want to get to the
people were driven away because of parking meters. It all came down to managing tl
in place. All employees should park somewhere else to allow customers to park closE
businesses.
. If they could
ie the downtown
.W Vi11VU•
point where
parking already
to the
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 28, 2010
Page 8
Councilor Lundberg spoke regarding enforcement and said the education piece was alp
important. She asked how the enforcement was done.
Police Chief Smith said when they had parking enforcement downtown, it was done b`
foot. Several years ago, when the.'City lost animal control, they moved the parking pats
animal control. Marking tires, was very labor intensive. He explained.
Councilor Lundberg said they needed to look at Booth Kelly as a place to park. She no
proximity to the Mill Race from that site and the amenity that would soon become.
Councilor Pishioneri said he had been an employee in downtown Eugene for a number
discussed parking meters and timed parking. There were a number of downtown emplc
their timer so they could get to their meters. to add more money, and that would be prol
didn't want to see this as a revenue generator, but a way to provide customers to down'
businesses. Parking meters were often a deterrent, but marking tires was very labor irit~
didn't want to look at meters.
Mr. Williams noted the cities on the chart that,had meters. The plan was not calling for
there were areas where pay parking was provided that were off= street. One of the recor
the plan was to make one of those lots a premier lot.
very
an officer on
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meters, but
~rnendations in
Councilor Lundberg said there needed to be a .balance between parking meters and good enforcement.
Mr. Williams said there were options and they needed to provide off-street options if they did
aggressive enforcement. He explained. He loved the idea of .going south of South A Street.
Councilor Wylie said in order to make parking feasible for employees, they could make it punitive,
and then have lots for permit parking. They needed to offer good alternatives.
Councilor Leezer said the pay-to-park lot off of 7th Street was always full and had a waiting list. She
loved the idea of working with LTD, especially if employees knew parking would be enforced..
Councilor Simmons spoke regarding parking citation technology. and the efficiency of using that rather
than marking tires.
Development Services Director Bill Grile said this was an excellent first discussion with Council on
parking. Staff would like to meet further with Council to discuss some of the enforcement models. He
was hoping they would have had time to discuss the enforcement done at Hood. River. LTD did lease
space from Booth Kelly as part of the Park-N-Ride. There was some opportunity, bu't~~ perhaps not as
great as originally appeared.
Mayor Leiken noted that that area would be very busy once the extension of the EmX was completed.
Councilor Simmons asked for a map overlay of the `no parking requirement' zone in downtown for
new buildings.
Ms. Pauly said she would provide that to him.
.City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 28, 2010
Page 9
3. Fire Special Operating Levy.
Finance Director Bob Duey presented the staff report on this item. The City's current fire &life safety
operating levy would begin its final year on July 1 and expire on June 30, 2011.. To continue special
levy funding for the staffing of a fifth fire engine a new special levy must. be approved by Springfield
voters. Staff was recommending this issue be placed on the November 2, 2010' general election ballot.
The filing deadline- for this election was prior to the Council's return. from its August recess which
required that .any action be taken prior to recess during the month of July.
Mr. Duey noted that discussions about renewal were held right after the levy first passed in 2002. Staff
was hoping to put a financial plan in place to move this off the levy, but the turn in the economy had
prevented. that from happening. About a year and a half ago, staff started looking at the next renewal. .
As they discussed timing, the General Election on .November 2, 2010 seemed most logical. He
explained. Now was the best time to talk with Council regarding the ballot title for this levy. If
Council chose, following the work session, they could direct staff to bring it back on July 6 for final
approval.
Mr. Duey said in 2002; the rate was set at .36/$1000 and in 2006, the rate was set at .40/$1000. Staff
..was recommending a rate of .3 8/$1000 for the 2010 election. The original term of the levy was for
four years. With the modification to the double majority rules, they could go out, for afive-year levy.
The agenda packet included two ballot titles for Council to consider. He discussed each ballot title and
the changes made by the Secretary of State's.office. Staff recommended the language on the ballot title
in Exhibit A2, with the change to the last sentence in the Question to "This measure renews current
local option taxes". That language had been suggested by the Secretary of State's office. Because the
Secretary of State's office and the Department of Revenue had given staff different answers regarding
how the levy amounts were to be listed, staff would follow-up and provide the appropriate. language in
the final ballot title. They may need to include language regarding the average cost to someone with
home valued at $100,000.
Councilor Simmons asked if it was a revenue bill change that caused the Secretary
ask for different language.
Mr. Leahy said the Secretary of State's office had sent the ballot title back to staff
.language. He and Mr. Duey would call the Attorney General's election attorney to
discussed the difficulty in putting in figures requested by the Secretary of State's o
Mr. Duey said the Secretary of State's office said there was nothing in the statute to
language they were suggesting, but was something they wanted them to have in they
bring this back next week with the appropriate language.
Councilor Lundberg noted the benefit of showing the cost for an average homeown~
Mr. Duey said the reason the Secretary of State's office gave for providing that was
to citizens. The difficult part was determining. the value of a house due to the differE
assessed value and market value. -
State's office to
th additional
t clarification. He
ce. .
equine the
. Staff would
or full disclosure
ce between
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
June 28, 2010
- Page 10
Mr. Leahy said the other issue was that there.was the threat of a fine if the City didn't include that
language. Staff would ask the Secretary of State's office to put the requirement in writing.
Councilor Pishioneri said it looked like we were adding 9% in the total amount raised by this levy. He
asked what drove that 9% for the same package, and if the City was asking for more money for the
same service. He discussed that total amount. He felt it would be easier for citizens to accept a
decrease of .04 to the 2002 rate of .36/$1000, which would bring in about the same amount of money
as the last levy.
Mr. Duey noted the discrepancy in the figures in the Council Briefing Memorandum..
Councilor Pishioneri said he could support .36/$1000, but not .38/$1000 because of that increase.
Councilor Ralston said he agreed with bringing this forward to the November 2010 and making it a
five-year levy. He also agreed that the wording should be changed to whatever the Secretary of State's
office determined was required. As a taxpayer, he would be happy to support a levy that stayed the
same at .40/$1000 as it had over the last four years. The total amount was higher because of increase
in labor costs and benefits. The labor contracts were coming due and he would rather have abuilt-in
buffer rather than be short of funds.
Councilor Lundberg asked if staff could present the amount at .36, .38 and .40/$1000. The climate for
ballot measures was difficult now, so she would prefer making a reduction. She noted the School
District's recent measure in which they kept the levy the same as the original levy and it passed. .
Mr. Duey handed out a replacement page showing the updated figures per year of the levy. The overall
cost of service had not changed, but rather the way he had calculated the levy. He explained the
figures on the sheet. The rate per thousand needed to pay for the service was between .3 7 and .3 8.
Dropping. the levy to .37/$1000 would not impact the figures much: The department would also have
vacancy controls and vacancies.
Councilor Pishioneri said as a property owner, he knew the value of his home went up each year,
which meant the amount per thousand was now higher. In that sense,. this was not status quo and he
felt this shouldn't be a money generator for the City. He wanted to know specific cos~lts'for the service.
There were many people that were still unemployed and he felt the City needed to look at lowering the
levy cost. He would support .36/$1000. The odds of the levy passing were not good i~f the.. City didn't
show we were cutting back.
Councilor Ralston asked about the cost of the service and probable increases.
Mr. Duey noted the costs included in the levy amount. With a fixed levy, more would be collected the .
first year then the other years. This amount also took into consideration the cash carryover.
Mayor Leiken asked if staff could put together information on :36, .38 and .40 and bring that back next
week. The City needed to show we were being prudent with the taxpayers' dollars. ~ .
Mr. Duey said it could work with .36/$1000. The diff culty was that there was a lot of speculation over
the five year period regarding costs.
Mayor Leiken said the City needed to look at the assumptions and anticipate those costs
City of Springfield ~ -
Council Work Session Minutes
June 28, 2010
Page 11
Councilor Pishioneri said he would also like to see information regarding .37/$1000.
Mayor Leikeri said Council could meet on this one more time if needed. They would be willing to
come in for a special regular meeting if needed. He wanted to make sure Council was comfortable -
-with the amount.
Councilor Lundberg said her assumption was that .38 kept the City at the exact same level. She would
like to see as close as possible what services were covered at each of the rates.
-
Mr. Duey said no matter what rate was chosen, the City would provide the exact services that were
currently in place, but would manage them differently. -
Councilor Lundberg said she thought .38/$1000 kept things status. quo without taking from another
source. ..
Councilor Pishioneri asked Mr. Duey to justify the 9% increase when showing the costs at each rate.
He noted the high cost of overtime. The rates should just cover the costs. needed.
Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery said staff would craft the alternatives and projected costs.
Mayor Leiken reminded staff that if needed, Council would be willing to hold a Special Regular
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Councilor Ralston wanted to.know-the projected costs to make sure they matched the levy amount.
Mr. Duey said that was part of the calculations in determining the amount. He explained.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:34 p.m.
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Sidney - . Leiken
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Amy So v -
City Rec rder