HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/12/2010 Work SessionCity of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION M
- THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL H
MONDAY, JULY 12, 2010
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Library Meeting Roor
..Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, July 12, 2010 at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor Leiken pr
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Lundberg, Leezer, Ralston, ,Simmons,
Also present were Assistant City. Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Joe Leahy, ~
Attorney Mary Bridget .Smith, City Recorder Amy Sowa, and members of the staff
Councilor Wylie was absent (excused).
Mayor Leiken welcomed the Planning Commission to the meeting.
Planning Commissioner Johnny Kirschenmann opened the meeting of the Planning
Present were Commissioners Kirschenmann, Beyer, Moe, and Moore (6:OOpm).
. Commissioners Van Gordon, Smith, and Cross were absent.
TING OF
225 Fifth Street,
iding. .
t Pishioneri.
istant City
fission.
1. Downtown District Urban Design Plan and Implementation Strategy: Presentation of Downtown
Advisory Committee's Recommendations.
Mr. Towery said Planning Supervisor Linda Pauly and Citizen Advisory Committee'Chair John
Thomas were here to present this item.
Ms. Pauly said the Downtown Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) worked to develop strategies and
plans to revitalize Springfield's downtown. Council appointed the Downtown Urban Renewal
Advisory Committee (DURAC) and the Planning Commission.appointed them to play the citizen
advisory role in this planning process. Following Chair John Thomas's remarks, George Crandall, Don
Arambula and Jason Graf (Crandall Arambula) -the City's downtown revitalization consultants -
wouldpresent tfie~proposed Springfield Downtown District Urban Design Plan and Implementation
Strategy for the Council's consideration and discussion.
Mr. Thomas said many of the members of this committee were action oriented and wanted to have a
purpose. They were ready to look at a new mission, a mission of how to enhance the livability of
Springfield, how to build on the successes of the past, learn from the mistakes made, and bring
something together that would be results oriented and have measurable outcomes. They spent
considerable time reviewing. the Request for Proposals (RFP) that went out for the consultants and
were very pleased with Crandall Arambula and the work they had done. The consultant did plans with
measurable outcome opportunities. They had demonstrated that throughout the country. The other
. cities they had worked with had the same type of financial and political issues as Springfield, but had
been able to build considerable consensus with this committee. The CAC was well comprised, with a
good cross section of interests and involvement with a number of years of experience in city issues.
That was important. to bring those perspectives together to produce a good outcome.
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Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, 2010
Page 2
.Mr. Thomas said the CAC did have some issues, but all concerns were addressed internally or with the
assistance of Crandall Arambula. The CAC was 100% behind the plan being presented and could
answer any questions following the presentation. Some of the CAC members were in the audience and.
would be happy to share with the Council and Commission if appropriate and time allowed.
Mr. Crandall presented a power point presentation. The project purpose was revitalization of the
downtown core. He displayed a map of the study area. Although the main focus was downtown, the
relationship of the Glenwood area was also taken into account. He discussed the process -starting,
designing and implementing -which had been very thorough.
Mr. Crandall said the best downtowns had. catalyst projects. Urban planning should ble defined as "a
public action, catalyst projects that generated sustained and widespread private market reaction".
Where communities had been successful, they had used strategic public investment to stimulate the
private investment. Catalyst projects were strategically located, changed the public's ~iperception, and
produced revenue to offset the costs of improvements. The best downtowns had a great Main Street,
great retail, and great public space. Traditional Main Streets had great retail edge to edge with anchors
at each end and on-street parking. That formula was used by shopping malls. He provided examples of
how that had worked in other cities. He also noted other cities that had not used this formula and had
not been successful:
Mr. Crandall said the best downtowns had a great public space, such as a square. He noted the
characteristics of a great public space, such as being surrounded by buildings with active ground
floors. He referred to squares that were successful and those that were not. These examples provided
information on how to build great squares, great Main Streets, and great shopping streets. Sixty
percent of land inmost communities was owned by the private sector, but forty percent was publicly
owned, such as right-of--way and streets. Design of streets was important and to make successful
streets, pedestrians needed to be the number one priority. Investors were attracted to pedestrian
friendly streets. He provided examples of successful street designs. In Medford, there was a $ l OM
public investment required to create the amenity investors wanted to develop next to, and that would
stimulate about $140M in private investment. Because Medford did not have enough increment
:financing for the public space, the private investors said they would build the space and the City could
pay them back with the increment financing. He provided other examples of cities similar in size to
Springfield. He showed the Portland waterfront before it was changed. He noted that when the concept
of creating green space and reducing the lanes of traffic was presented, the traffic engineers warned
that reducing the lanes would be detrimental. The community wanted to reclaim the waterfront, they
reduced the lanes, and traffic was rerouted to other places. The before photo was from about 1968. The
. concepts Mr. Crandall had talked about could be used anywhere.
Mr. Arambula spoke regarding Springfield's downtown. During the first meeting with the CAC in
May of 2009, they discussed issues and concerns. Those issues were used as the dnver to develop
alternatives at the next meeting. Those concepts were reviewed by the CAC and the public, and one
was chosen and refined as part of the process. This was a very thorough process and the result was the
final preferred alternative. The CAC had endorsed the plan and had been instrumental in generating
the plan.
Mr. Arambula provided a summary of the plan. The plan called for a Mobility Orient) d Downtown,
meaning the downtown should. be a destination rather than a thoroughfare. The way to do that was to
focus all trips to the center of town. The idea was to capture. as many residents, employees and
shoppers that worked and lived in the area to the downtown. He referred to a rendenng of what the
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Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, 2010
Page 3
downtown could look like with a mix of old and new buildings.' They had included
as a source for housing, it was important in supporting the regional businesses.
~enwood because
Mr. Arambula said the fundamental concept of downtown started with a plaza, which should be the
focus for all development, especially retail. There needed to be a critical mass of retail. He discussed
Main Street and turning it back into atwo-way' street. South A and Franklin could be the mobility
corridor for the buses, trucks and other vehicles that needed to pass through downtown. He. discussed
protected bike lanes and the importance of having-those in this downtown area. They had looked at
every block in the study area, block by block, and came up with a build out. Over time, they felt the
City could get about $5l OM of investment in downtown at a minimum. With that build out, they had
developed a land use framework. He referred to a map showing the land uses in the study area. The
areas that were zoned retail could also include second story housing or offices. The map showed the
primary uses. The retail hot spot would be built around the public square, with fingers extending out
along Main Street and Pioneer Parkway. It was essential to have a pedestrian and transit oriented
downtown; but there would be those that drove downtown so adequate parking was needed. Rick
Williams, the parking consultant, was working on a parking plan. Mr. Williams and Crandall
Arambula had worked together and reinforced each other's work. There were place holders for civic
government; arts and cultural center; housing, commercial sites, such as auto dealers; and employment
for family wage jobs that could be located on South A Street.
Mr. Arambula said circulation was another part of this plan. There were two types of circulation. The
first was mobility framework for vehicles passing through that could take Pioneer Parkway or South A
Street. There. were some issues, especially at the base of the bridge and where the two roadways came
together. They were designating this area for a special traffic study that would require additional work
after the downtown plan was completed. He spoke regarding protected bikeways that would be
separated from auto traff c by a physical form, such as a curb or sidewalk. He noted examples of how
this could be accomplished. This system could increase ridership to about 30-40% ridership. That had
a profound affect regarding traffic downtown and with some of the changes, such as the conversion of
Main Street as a two-way street, could be quite viable.
Mr. Arambula spoke regarding the Glenwood connections. The plan suggested two ways to connect
downtown to Glenwood. The first would be a garden bridge similar to the DeFazio Bridge in Eugene.
The second way would be to connect to Main Street. Another idea related to transit. There were three
components: the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes; improvement to transit access streets, and a
placeholder for high speed rail. He noted the advantage to having a high speed rail location. The area
south of South A was amenable to that type of facility. The second part of the circulation piece was
livability which included streets that had a heavy emphasis on pedestrian, bicycle, and slow auto
traffic. He referred to a picture showing the vision of Main Street future development.
Mr. Arambula discussed the implementation strategy. The implementation should start with a few key
projects. There were limited public funds and one of the key components was to leverage enough
private development. He referred to the list of catalyst projects and key projects. Two of those projects
that needed to;be completed in the next few years were the public plaza and making Main Street and
two-way street: He described the Mill Plaza. The first thing the City would need to do was to secure
the three parcels for the plaza through options to allow a plaza to be built. There was a cost to these,
but they needed to look at what that investment leveraged. The plaza was estimated at $SM in public
investment, and could leverage about $80M in private investment. That was a very high return. He
discu~sed making Main Street atwo-way street. At a minimum, it should be two-lane from Mill Street
to 10 Street. They would also need to secure a public parking site. There was a perception of lack of
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Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, 2010
Page 4
parking downtown, and although that was not actually the case, the City did need to plan for success.
The City could first secure the site, and then phase in the parking. Parking structures were expensive,
but at some point may be needed. Springfield Utility Board (SUB) was currently in the proposed
. parking site location. ~ -
Mr. Arambula said there were other actions that could take place. The downtown plan and parking
management plan needed to be adopted. There also needed to be policy and regulatory updates to the
development code, development of downtown design guidelines, and downtown street standards. He
discussed some of those standards. An inventory of the leases and rates in downtown would need to be
done as well as a traffic study for the two-way Main Street, and the development of a high speed rail
plan.
Mr. Arambula referred to the public projects schedule. The key to successful implementation was to
move quickly. During the first 120 days, there were seven, things to do. He pointed out the rest of the
actions. to be done in 6 months,. one year, two to three years, and three to seven years.) Seven years was
the typical length of a plan. Generally, if it took more than seven years, the plan needled to be
reevaluated. He discussed the responsibilities of the City. There needed to be someone overseeing the
plan to make sure the plan moved forward, so the consultant recommended the CAC continue to meet
every six months or more to make sure things moved forward. -
Mayor Leiken thanked the consultants for their presentation. He thanked John Thomas for the work of
CAC. He suggested moving item #6 (Initiate Two-Way Main Street Transportation S~Itudy) to #2 on the
first 120 days List. Main Street was a state system. and he would like to get answers from ODOT if this
was doable or not.'He would also like to know how Klamath Falls was able to phase in jurisdictional
transfers. Now was the time for Springfield to move forward. He thought adopting the strategy was'
great and the work done was outstanding. He appreciated seeing the photos of the Portland riverfront
from the late 1960's and today. That was the type of opportunity available in Glenwood. He would
like a direct answer from ODOT on the two-way street issue and if they were willing to work with the
City. The large figures did not concern him because he understood that was needed. He appreciated
the work of the consultants, staff and the CAC.
Councilor Ralston said the plaza was doable. He agreed that getting Main Street to a two-way street
was important, but he was not sure how that could work from 10th Street. He liked the plan, but was
not sure about the high speed rail. That was very expensive and he was not sure he understood what it
was or if it was needed. He referred to putting pedestrian traffic first. He asked about people on bikes,
buying goods and transporting them. There would always be cars and a need for parking areas for
disabled people.
Mr. Graf said people used bikes for short trips. If there was a safe way to bicycle to town, people
would choose to ride.
Mr. Crandall said many people didn't ride because they didn't feel it was safe. They needed a
separated system so bikes were away from traffic and families felt safe. The City needed to be set up
for change that would be coming. Cities were now looking at protected bikeways to deduce
dependency on vehicles. It was all about safety and making sure there was a placeholder to be ready.
Mr. Arambula said a typical family made about 10 trips a day. Not all of those were shopping, but
included going to school or other facilities. Those types of trips could be increased with safe bikeways.
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Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, 2010
Page 5
Mr. Graf said safe routes to schools were part of that system..
Councilor Leezer thanked the consultants and the CAC. She asked who would be overseeing the plan
to make sure the City stayed on target. She agreed with moving up the target to do the two-way study
on Main Street.
Mr. Arambula said they had suggested the CAC would play a central role, as well as city staff. Some
cities had turnover of staff, so-the CAC was often more stable.
Councilor Lundberg liked the plan. She felt it looked like it was something many of them had
envisioned. She agreed that something needed to be done about Main Street. It was very inconvenient
to have it one way with large trucks, and was not conducive to pedestrian friendly traffic. She asked
how the City got going on having someone oversee this and having a parking manager. It was up to
the City and the Council to support staffing. The parking manager implied city staff.. The business
association seemed to flounder without some sort of coordinated effort and that needed to be staff.
They needed to make it a priority for TEAM Springfield because all of the public entities owned
property in downtown. During one of their summer TEAM Springfield meetings, they had talked
about having that focus and prioritizing CDBG funding for downtown projects. She asked how other
cities garnered the funding for staff.
Mr. Crandall said it was all about momentum. That's why they had scheduled the catalyst projects and
key projects. There was focus with this plan. There did need to be someone who coo ~dinated with the
CAC. He noted how the key staff person in Nebraska had retired, but there were a couple of other key
people on the staff that kept the momentum going. It was important to identify more than one person
in the City to take care of this plan. There needed to be people at the. City who were designated so
people knew who to go to.
Mr. Arambula said the City needed to focus on the catalyst and key projects because the recruitment
strategy did no good if there was nothing to recruit them to. Private investment may assist in other.
ways at some point. The City didn't need to do everything now, but needed to remain focused.
~~
Mr. Crandall said the City's transportation department was very busy, so it was up to the Council to
establish priorities for them. ,
Mr. Arambula said there was always pressure on budgets. There would be a need to prioritize projects
and funding. The City was going through a Transportation System Plan (.TSP) and this was the
appropriate time to look at where funding was spent.
Commissioner'Moe said he was on the CAC and Mr. Thomas did a wonderful job as chair. He spoke
regarding high speed rail. Discussions were currently on the southern part of Eugene, and he felt
Springfield should be involved in that discussion now. The plan sited a parking lot at the current
location of SUB and he noted that SUB had talked about relocating. He felt the City needed to
encourage SUB to build their new facility in downtown. He said he had been around for a long time,
and he really wanted to see downtown Springfield move forward. He felt they should move forward,
build the plaza, and get Main Street to two-way. He didn't feel the City should use the down economy
as an excuse, but to start now.
Councilor Simmons said this was a transitional planning opportunity. He discussed the modes of
transportation used in European countries. This nation had been building in the same direction since its
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Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, 2010
Page 6
inception and this was our opportunity to use our best intelligence.and create a village that was part of
the 21St century and beyond. He agreed with the high speed rail concept.. Bike riders 'm the Netherlands
were as big. of consumer as Americans. This plan had potential. He discussed the GatewayBeltline
intersection and how that should have been changed earlier to. make it a better system. The downtown
had a foundation to make it better. This was a good product: He discussed the ease of transportation in
European countries. If the City wanted to make Main Street atwo-way street, we couild make it a two-
way street. This was Springfield's community and these plans would be readily accepted by our
citizens.
Commissioner Kirschenmann said this was awesome and the CAC had done a lot of work. He asked a
couple of questions on behalf of one of the planning commissioners who was not abl to attend.
• He asked if any of the $80M of catalyst funds was from the tax measure passed several years
.ago or if it was all private. It was all private.
• He also asked if the high speed rail discussion was just to petition for a Springfield stop.
Mr. Crandall said it would be part of the discussion. It was easier to be part of the discussion if they
had a location and an idea. A recent article said high speed rail was the future of this country and this
positioned Springfield to be part of that discussion.
Mr. Arambula said they did a fair amount of rail design in the United States and- in Canada. The rail
systems took a lot of land and Springfield was well suited. The consultants suggested) this site because
they were not sure what Eugene had as a proposal. The region was looking for a place to leverage the
most out of its investment of a high speed rail station. When looking at the land, they] found a lot of
underutilized industrial sites. This site had the right components and could be a placeholder if nothing
else.
Commissioner Kirschenmann asked what type of activities would take place at the Mill Plaza.
Mr. Crandall said they looked first for retail and restaurants on the ground floor. Often events got
scheduled in the plaza because it was a large open space. If the plaza became very successful, the City
would need an event coordinator.
Mr. Arambula said it would provide an advantage from a real estate perspective.
Commissioner Beyer said at first he was skeptical, but there were some interesting t~ngs. The figures
for private to public investment were the same as what he had always thought were needed. He was
pleased to see NW 23'~ in their presentation, although it was at a different scale. He referred to Boise,
Idaho and said the key was to have wide sidewalks and outdoor cafes.. He was glad to hear the Mayor
wanting to talk with ODOT. The City needed to decide if they were willing to take over Main Street
and he thought they should take it all the way from Glenwood to 52nd Street. It could Abe phased, but
the City should commit to that whole. stretch. The streets and the plaza were the most) important. It was
a good plan, but he was still somewhat skeptical that our community had that much capacity. .
Commissioner Moore said while recently in Portland along the waterfront, she was amazed by the
change from years ago. She asked about retail and noted the number of antique shops already in
downtown.
Councilor Ralston asked about the update to the Development Code, and if there would be a different
design standard for downtown than the rest of the City,
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Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, 2010 .
Page 7 _
Mr. Crandall said that was likely to be correct. The City wanted to be disciplined in the downtown so
it was right. ~ . . .
. Councilor,Ralston asked about the funding for developing the financial strategy.
Mr. Crandall said the figure..for the complete build out depended on options for property and other
factors. It was a big number, but reasonable. The City didn't need to start to build until they had a
private investor committed to building next to it. He gave the example of Racine, Wisconsin.
Mr. Arambula said in Racine, they secured a location with a sign "future civic plaza". The plaza site
would cost Springfield about $SM, and the total build out would be about $5 l OM.
Councilor Ralston said the City needed to identify the catalyst project.
. Mr. Crandall .said they had designed the buildings around the plaza, and they knew what worked for
.office or housing. If the City got a partial commitment for that, it should pay for itself.
Mr. Arambula provided examples.
Mayor Leiken askedrif this was not why the City asked voters for urban renewal in downtown. Urban
renewal was a twenty year plan.
Mr. Towery said tax increment financing was a significant tool to implement this plan. In a number of
plans by Crandall Arambula, urban renewal had not been part of the funding. Depending on the
amount of private investment, the City could be looking at about $75-$128M. He referred to the ,,
presentation to Council recently by Bob Jean. These were big numbers over a period of time.
Mayor Leiken said these were uncertain times financially. Commercial investors were not able to
invest in our community at this time. That would be changing and investors would want to invest, so it
was very important for the City to have momentum. The City needed to make sure. we would be
attractive for private investors.
Mr. Thomas said Springfield had already demonstrated this could be done. In the 197~0's, we had the
north Springfield plan for Gateway. He noted the growth and economic turnaround that had happened
there. The City needed to have the plan in place. Springfield had already done this, where other cities
had not.
Councilor Pishioneri referredtho page 16 of the draft plan. He was concerned that in the drawing of the
building between Mill and 10 Streets there were 'few older buildings left and a large number of new
buildings. Springfield was proud of their historic district and he didn't want to raze buildings that were
part of our heritage. Eugene had very few buildings that showed their history.
Mr. Arambula said they tried not to target any historic buildings, but only buildings such as gas
stations; parking lots or other buildings in disrepair. They tried to build on Springfield's strengths and
agreed the historic fabric of downtown was important. .
Mr. Crandall said the historic buildings were what made Springfield unique.
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Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, .2010
Page 8
Mr. Arambula added that the new structures needed to complement the historic
Councilor Pishioneri said he had talked several years ago with the Development .Services Director
about~~design standards. He agreed that .Main Street needed to be a two-way street and he could see that
happening at 10~' Street. He was very supportive.
Mayor Leiken thanked the consultants again for their presentation. He liked keeping the CAC working
on this and felt they would focus on downtown. He also wanted to keep Ms. Pauly involved as the
staff person. He was glad Mr. Thomas' brought up the growth of Gateway, which had proved there was
a vision.. Once the City moved towards that vision in downtown, we could move forward and things
could be accomplished. ~ ~
,~
7:OSpm -Council took a short break. '
7:09pm -Council resumed the work session.
2. Fire Special Operating Levy.
Finance Director Bob Duey presented the staff report on this item. The City Council previously
,discussed the issue of asking voters to renew the current fire special operating levy and directed staff
to prepare the necessary resolution and ballot title to place this issue on the November 02, 2010 ballot.
The two outstanding issues were the rate per thousand of assessed valuation voters would be asked to
approve and any final edits to be made in the ballot title. Staff would provide an overview of the
financial information to assist in identifying a preferred levy tax rate and a recommendation on the
wording for the ballot title. To continue special levy funding after June 30, 2011 for the staffing of a
fifth fire engine, a new special levy must be approved by Springfield voters.
. Mr. Duey said they hoped to-have the ballot title ready for Council's July 19, 2010 Council meeting
for formal adoption. He said tonight they would be discussing the rate per thousand a~~nd also the
language suggested by the Secretary of State's (SOS) office.
Mr. Duey said he tried to address the concerns brought up at last week's work session regarding the
cost of the levy and the different proposed rates in the council briefing memorandum in the agenda
packet. There were three tables in the packet. The table on page 2 outlined the cost of the service over
the five year period. These costs were broken down into the different services, and the assumptions
used to determine some of those costs. The second table on page 3 showed the comparison of where
the value of the levy had been in years. past. He discussed those amounts and also the estimated
amounts for FY2012. He explained how the totals compared with each figure. To maintain current
costs, the amount of .375/$1000 was the mid-point. Either .37/$1000 or :38/$1000 would be
. appropriate amounts to cover costs.
.Councilor Ralston said~this information was very helpful and what he was looking for. At .37/$1000,
the City ran into a slight deficit and he didn't want to be there. He was fine with .38/$1000 because it
left enough leeway for unforeseen costs. It was too important to leave that station open.
Councilor Pishioneri referred to the expenses shown on page 2 of Attachment 1. He asked how
dispatch had increased 50% over four years.
Mr: Duey- said it was an increase of 7% each year. Compounded, that came to 50% over four years
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes ~ '
July 12, 2010 .
Page 9
Councilor Pisluoneri said for FY 16, there would be nine people that would share $1
wages and fringes for FY 16. ,
Mr. Duey said two things occurred in overtime. The choice had been made that the
to 12 people. The department had chosen to hire 9 people with overtime. He explair.
said it was divided by the full FTE of 12 people.
Councilor Pishioneri said the department had gotten into a situation where overtime
factor in the levy staff, so overtime couldn't be reduced for regular staff.
Mr. Duey said the overtime for all the stations was done the same:
for overtime
y authorized up
the figures and
used as a
Councilor Pishioneri said he was not comfortable with that. As a voter, he was not sure he could go
with .37/$1000 or .38/$1000. Based on the numbers given, he would be fine going with .375/$1000 if
that was possible. If not, he could support .38/$1000.
Mr. Duey said he had never had a conversation about'/Z penny. They could ask Fire & Life Safety not
to spend over .375/$1000.
Councilor Simmons asked about the carryover expected at the end of this year.
Mr. Duey said there would be about half a million from the last levy.
Councilor Simmons noted the amount of carryover from the current levy, and said hel would prefer to
lower the upcoming levy amount and plan on' balancing with that amount. He was more inclined to
look at .37/$100.0 and trying to economize. The public understood the need of being frugal. He was
appreciative of what the bargaining unit did last year in holding the line. He felt the City would have
enough to cover services at .37/$1000, and he didn't want to have a deficit.
Councilor Ralston said it could still leave a deficit because the carryover was already considered.
Councilor Simmons. said .37/$1000 was the fairer way to go.
Mr. Duey said staff was capable of covering costs with .37/$1000.
.Councilor Lundberg said she would be fine with .36/$1000. The City recently tried to pass the gas tax
at .02 and that failed. Voters were sensitive to pennies and this.was not the time to bell asking. For the
first time, she was concerned about the levy passing. Fire & Life Safety was a popular service in the
City, but with the interim merger, people expected we didn't need the levy because of cost savings.
Spnngfield had always been a conservative city and factored in the variables. She was not worried
about covering costs because~finance had done a fine job. Going with .37/$1000 was as high as she
would go.
Councilor Pishioneri said he was glad Councilors Simmons and Lundberg expressed their concerns.
He also had concern about voter confidence and the perception that the merger was saving the City
enough money. He felt that .36/$1000 was the ,fairest. He confirmed that staff had said they would
make it work. Correct.
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Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, 2010
Page 10 '
Mr. Duey said in the next couple of years, the economy could turn around, which could help with the
revenue.
Councilor Pishioneri agreed and said anything built now, would be assessed on current valuation.
Councilor Leezer said she supported .36/$1000 and noted that it would be hard to get. voter support.
She asked if there was a backup plan if the levy didn't pass.
Mr. Duey said that was something Council needed to discuss before going out for a vote.
Mayor Leiken. asked Mr. Duey how comfortable he was with .36/$1000.
Mr. Duey said staff would manage services. Each of the figures considered were closie enough that
they could make them work. He noted the variables of assessed value, personnel contracts and the
merger.
Mayor Leiken said he agreed with the public's perception of the merger. This was voted on by the
public and could be difficult. It would be up to the public.
Councilor Ralston said he was not concerned about asking voters to support this. He discussed a tragic
incident that occurred when this fire station was not staffed. He didn't feel this could be compared to
the gas tax as they were completely different things. People were just opposed to gas taxes. He
couldn't support anything that was not sum zero. If there was a deficit, he asked where cuts would be
made. He referred.to the merger and said people understood that the savings from that were just a short.,
term fix for a larger problem. The City still needed a station at 28~' Street in order to serve the City. He
would support anything that would come out to what we needed.
. Councilor Simmons asked if there was any danger of compression.
Mr. Duey said. we had minor compression now, but not much. The. only risk would be if another entity
had a levy of a higher amount.
Councilor Lundberg referred to Councilor Ralston's comment about the merger, and said the public
didn't have time to understand the issues such as the merger like the Council did. She did have a
concern .on that. The figures from Mr. Duey were based on projections so she would still approve
.36/$1000. .
Councilor Simmons asked about the final language on ballot title.
Mayor Leiken first confirmed that the Council supported .36/$1000 except Councilor Ralston. Yes.
Councilor Simmons asked about the assessed value.
Mr. Duey said the assessed value was now being escalated on direction of the State. The ballot title
could go forward as it was written in the agenda packet. The Secretary of State's (SOTS) office had
asked the City to add a sentence regarding the annual cost ,and total cost to someone in an average
home. There was no requirement or law, but the SOS felt it better presented information to the public.
As an example, the sentence could say something like, "Springfield homeowners with an estimated
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, 2010
Page 11
home value of $150,000 would owe $ over the first year and $ over five years". It was
Council's choice whether or not to add that type of sentence.
Councilor.Simmons expressed concern for the number of words and asked if it replaced any other
language.
Mr. Duey said it would~be the last sentence. There was a lot of room for additional language on the
ballot title. The confusion could occur regarding real market value and assessed value. The SOS ~ \
offered to put their request in writing.
Councilor Pishioneri said he thought it added clarity. He noted that the' ballot title didn't say anything
about ambulances.
Mr. Duey said it would not pay for ambulance.
Mr. Leahy felt additional language to that affect might make it confusing. It had not been put in the
previous ballot titles.
Mr. Towery said the Language would provide information for a typical house. A lot of homes were
worth less and lot. of homes were worth more, so it might not necessarily be transparent for a large
number of homeowners. The City could spend some effort on the education regarding that rather than
adding it to the ballot title.
Councilor Pishioneri said if the home's value was less than $150,000, the tax would be less, or if the
value was more,.the tax would be more. He asked if a tax calculator could be added to the City's
website.
Mr..Towery said the City could provide that in the informational materials and on the website.
Mr. Duey said someone would need to determine the assessed value based on the market value. If the
City added that sentence, they would need to run it by the SOS.
Councilor Lundberg said- she was fine with the sentence. Citizens could figure out an approximate
cost. She would like it kept at one sentence.
Mayor Leiken said he would not add the sentence, but was fine if that was Council's direction.
Councilor Lundberg asked if Mr. Duey thought this was the direction the SOS was going (including
this type of explanatory sentences).
Mr. Duey said it was difficult to say.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:35 p.m.
Minutes Recorder -Amy Sowa
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
July 12, 2010
Page 12
Attest:
. Amy So
City Re rder