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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/01/2010 Work SessionCity of Springfield. . Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF ` THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2010 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Roorn, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 6:15 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding: ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Ralston, Lundberg, Wylie, Simmons, and Pishioneri.. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, City Attorney Joe Leahy, .City Recorder Amy Sowa, and members of the staff. 1. Joint Work Session with the Police Planning Task Force (PPTF). Mayor Leiken welcomed the Police Planning Task Force (PPTF). He noted that Councilor Simmons was the Council liaison to this committee. Police Chief Jerry Smith presented the staff report on this item. He asked each of the members of the PPTF to introduce themselves. Those in attendance were Pat Mahoney, Chris Stole, Mechelle Clough, Jim Crist, Jack Martin, Diana Alldredge, and Quentin Hogan. The Police Planning Task Force was originally established in 1994 and charged with developing a long range strategic plan for police services. The PPTF was made permanent in 1996, and~was charged with providing citizen input regarding police policy matters and Long Range Plan implementation strategies. The group was currently working on an update to the Long Range Plan for Police Services, and would like Council input on measures for a successful municipal jail operation. Before starting on the presentation, Chief Smith reported on a bank robbery that occurred in Springfield the day before. The suspect was now in custody and a good amount of the money had been recovered. . Ms. Mahoney, Mr. Crist, and Ms. Stole discussed the opening of the jail and how it was doing since opening in January 2010. They referred to a power point presentation with the information. Ms. Mahoney discussed the history. of why and how the jail was built. Mr. Crist discussed the indicators showing the j ail was a benefit. Ms. Stole reviewed the financial situation of the jail and noted that it was doing better than expected. Bail posted since the opening of the jail had almost doubled and Court revenue had increased. The jail was having positive effects on the community, with a decrease in calls for services, a decrease in property crimes, and consequences for municipal offenders. In August the jail recorded its 1000' inmate. Councilor Pishioneri asked about the cost per bed and asked how many inmates the jail averaged per day. Chief Smith said they averaged about 50+ inmates. The Eugene Municipal Court would soon be renting some of our jail bed (about,l0 or 15) for $75 a day. City of Springfield Council. Work Session Minutes November 1, 2010 .Page 2 - Councilor Pishioneri asked about turnover of officers at the jail.. Chief Smith said they had no turnover to date. Councilor Wylie noted that the estimate of increased revenue to the court was .very close to the actual revenue: Chief Smith said they were confident they would surpass that figure by their. first anniversary, which was January 29, 2010. Councilor Wylie asked about the cost per day. Chief Smith said they charged $75 a day because that was closer to the actual cost. The study had suggested a cost of about $68 a. day. Chief Smith said. there were several ways to look at the costs. He explained. Councilor Wylie discussed the increase in revenue in the Courts..She asked to see a comparison after -their one year anniversary comparing .what was expected and what was actual revenue. Chief Smith said they could see things improving even more. At this time, bail money was going into a trust account until the suspect was convicted, at which time it converted to pay fines. There were a number of cases that had not yet been finalized, so that money was still intrust. Councilor Wylie asked if there were things they hadn't expected. Chief Smith said the medical experience was different than what was anticipated. Most of those were inmates with serious medical conditions, which would again~start going back to the Lane County Jail. Councilor Wylie said many mental health patients were out on the streets and only received treatment while in j ail. That was something our communities needed to cope with: Councilor Pishioneri said it was a societal issue. He discussed the affect on the Courts. They had anticipated an increase in trials, but that was not the case. Those arrested seemed to prefer paying their .fines rather than fighting. Court costs had decreased, with part of that being a savings in public - defender services. Chief Smith said that was correct and the workload had shifted in the prosecutor's office. They were busier preparing for arraignments. Those not yet exposed to .the Springfield system often plead not guilty, but then found they would prefer to' pay their fines rather than stay. Police brought in nine arrests this past Friday and Saturday nights: 6 on Friday and- 3 on Saturday. Of those nine arrested, eight of them posted bail. . Councilor Pishioneri said he had also brought someone in during the early morning ,hours. In Eugene, Springfield was lauded as the extra cog of operational plans for emergency management. He explained the process and which inmates were brought to the~Springfield Jail. It had worked very well. The Jail had a positive effect on the neighboring communities and the region. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 1, 2010 Page 3 ~ Mayor Leiken said in the report from Dave Frohnmayer and Jean Tate, the Springfield Jail was listed as an integral part of the system. He asked how the jail had affected the entire City of Springfield. Chief Smith said the crime rate had dropped and. reported crime. had dropped. He had expected more crimes reported because people had the hope of being able to put the person away. Out in the community, he was often asked how the jail was doing. There was a lot of excitement and interest. He felt it would be a year or two before we could say the jail had made a difference and why. `., Mayor Leiken said it was good to hear that property crime had dropped by a large amount. The Chief and Police Department should be .proud. Even before the j ail opened, the threat of the j ail made an impact. .Councilor Wylie said she was proud of the City of Springfield, the Police Department, the jail and .Chief Smith who had led the way. She was proud of the work we were doing: We had become an integral part of the public safety system. Councilor Ralston asked what percentage of those arrested were no shows before the jail opened. Chief Smith said he didn't have those figures, but it was very high. Now, once they post bail, they come back:to trial. If they failed to appear, the Court would issue a Failure to Appear warrant and forfeit their entire bail. He hadn't heard of anyone skipping bail, but it may have happened. Councilor Lundberg thanked the PPTF- for putting in volunteer hours on this committee. The Council was proud of all of the City committees because of the quality members. She asked what the PPTF thought Council should be thinking about and looking at~in the coming months. She referred to a letter that discussed how the Police Department might restructure itself to meet the expectations of the 21St Century population as we grew. Thanks to the jail and other proactive things that had been done, Springfield was in a good place. Ms. Mahoney referred to the Long Range Strategic Plan, which answered some of those questions. Councilor Lundberg asked if there were things in the Plan the PPTF wanted to highlight. Mr. Crist said during one of their last meetings, they discussed what the Police force would look like in the 21St century regarding technology. Some of the funding for police was levy based, and they discussed how that could be addressed. They also looked at better ways of doing business, not necessarily new ways, but better ways to save money. Councilor Simmons said Chief Smith, his staff and the PPTF had done a tremendous amount of work on the Long Range Plan. He felt it was critical to make sure our investigative staff was trained in cyber. crime and theft so we could deal with those types of issues. There were many cooperative ventures; but we needed to upgrade our training and that cost money. Funds may need to be dedicated for that type of training. Another issue that was very important to Councilor Simmons was the volunteer coordinator component that was part of the plan. Bringing the volunteer coordinator issue forward could provide a benefit in the near future for the community. They needed a coordinator to tie those things together, and that needed to be included in the budget at some point. The Chief and the officers on the street needed all the support, they could get such as electronic ticketing, etc. Those kinds of technical pieces got us a better value for our dollar. He appreciated the opportunity to be part of the PPTF. He noted that he had heard at the League of Oregon Cities (LOC) Conference that Washington City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 1, 2010 Page 4 ,, State Corrections might be getting out of the food business, and he. suggested the jail have a fallback. for their meals in case we lost our major source. He asked Councilor Pishioneri if that was correct. Councilor ~Pishioneri said they were expanding and doing well. Councilor Simmons said the jail was a good program. Councilor Ralston asked if the City police responded to calls in the unincorporated areas. Chief Smith said not unless there was a critical emergency.' There were mutual aid agreements with the Lane County Sheriff's office, the City of Eugene, and other cities in Lane County. During a recent home invasion in Oakridge; Springfield police and canines were sent to. Vida, where the assailant'was believed to have fled. The Springfield K-9 found the assailant. Councilor Ralston said people in that area called Lane County and got no response. He asked if we could have an agreement with the Sheriff's office to enforce in that area. Chief Smith said it would be challenging to get into a contract service for that area. He explained. , City Attorney Joe Leahy said our Police wouldn't be able to cite into the Municipal Court. The jurisdiction of the Municipal Court was limited to Springfield. . ,' Councilor Ralston asked if the police were still responding to non-emergencies. Chief Smith said their service had remained fairly constant over the last twenty years. One of the measurements that triggered response was part of the long range plan. The Plan was designed to look at future needs, including demonstrated need and finances. Demonstrated need would include more patrol officers because response time for emergency and priority one calls had degraded. Sometimes non-emergency calls stacked up for several hours. That delay reflected poorly on the Police Department and the City. He discussed factors that were included to look at the whole picture. Councilor Lundberg spoke regarding mutual aid. She asked if Springfield was reimbursed when Springfield Police assisted with certain situations in Eugene, such as the parties on campus. Chief Smith said they only helped when requested. Last weekend they didn't call Springfield Police, but did call on Lane County. Things that spontaneously occurred without prior warning sometimes required assistance from different agencies in different ways. He explained. There was no reimbursement. It was similar to the third battalion in the Fire Department. Mayor Leiken asked Finance Director Bob Duey when Royal Caribbean, Symantec second phase, and Franz Bakery started paying taxes after their enterprise zone expired. Mr. Duey said it would be next year. Mayor Leiken asked Mr. Duey to send information to the Mayor and Council on a breakdown of how much additional property revenue they would be paying. It would be good to have that information. Chief Smith pointed out a number of accomplishments of the PPTF. With their help, the Police Department had been able to have good positive media relationships. The passage of the 20021evy City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 1, 2010 Page 5 J allowed the department to implement the Community Service Office (CSO) program allowing them to offer services at a lower cost: The Police Department was highly visible to the public at safety fairs, with the bike patrol, the 4~' of July event, celebrations, parades, etc. They continued to provide the _ Citizens Police Academy, which was a very positive experience. The renewal of the levies in 2002 and 2006 had allowed them to increase the number of staff in several areas. Mobile computers in cars had relieved some workload from dispatch, but made the officers much more efficient. In 2007, the Police... Department ,got a new regional radio system to help interoperability. They enjoyed positive relationships with other law enforcement agencies. Springfield was not the only city to build a municipal jail. Lebanon was building a new jail and Beaverton was looking at the potential of building a jail. They were here tonight to ask the Council to endorse the Plan by resolution. It had not always been approved by resolution so it was up to the Council. Mayor Leiken asked Mr. Grimaldi to schedule that for discussion during the next Agenda Review meeting. He thanked the PPTF for attending. This was a very good partnership and was very much appreciated. Chief Smith added that the Police Department didn't have an official review board, but the PPTF had served as such since about 2000. Complaints were .brought before them for review. , ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:58 p.m. Minutes Recorder -Amy Sowa ~\ ~"~~ e Sidney ` .Leiken Mayor