HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/01/2010 RegularCity of Springfield '
Regular Meeting
_. MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF
' THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2010
The City of Springfield Council met in regular session in the Council Meeting Room, 225 Fifth
Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 7:00 p.m., with Mayor Leiken
presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Ralston, Lundberg, Wylie, Simmons, Pishioneri, and
Moore. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder
Amy Sowa, and members of the .staff.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Leiken.
BUSINESS FROM CITY COUNCIL
1. Committee Appointments
a. Ward 3 City Councilor~Appointment. .
City Manager Gino Grimaldi presented-the staff report on this item. Due to the resignation of
Councilor Tem Leezer, the Ward 3 City Council position was vacant..On September 23, 2010,
the position was advertised and applications were received through the closing date of October 8,
.2010. Two applications were received.
On October 25, 2010, council interviewed both candidates and, by consensus, chose Sheri Moore
to be appointed to the Ward 3 position. According to the City Council's operating policies and
procedures, this appointment must now be ratified.
IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCIIOR RALSTON WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR
LUNDBERG TO RATIFY THE APPOINTMENT OF SHERI MOORE TO THE WARD 3
CITY COUNCIL POSITION. TAE MOTION PASSED WTH A VOTE OF 5 FOR AND 0
AGAINST. .
.City Attorney Joe Leahy administered the Oath of Office to Sheri Moore.
Councilor Moore introduced her family who was in the audience.
Councilor Moore joined the Council at the dais for the rest of the meeting.
SPRINGFIELD UPBEAT
City of Springfield
Council Regular Meeting Minutes
November 1, 2~J10
Page 2 . .
CONSENT CALENDAR
IT WAS MOVED BY COUNCILOR RALSTON WITH A SECOND BY COUNCILOR
LUNDBERG TO APPROVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR. THE MOTION PASSED
WITH A VOTE OF 6 FOR AND 0 AGAINST.
1. Claims
2. Minutes
a. October 18, 2010 -Work Session
b. October 18, 2010 -Regular Meeting
3. Resolutions
4. Ordinances
5. Other Routine Matters
a.. Authorize City Manager to Ratify Collective Bargaining Agreement Reopener with
AFSCME Local 1148. ~ '
b. Approve the Glenwood Connector Path Intergovernmental Agreement Between the City
of Springfield and Oregon Department of Transportation and Authorize the City Manager
to Execute the Agreement on Behalf of the City.
ITEMS REMOVED t
PUBLIC HEARINGS -Please limit comments to 3 minutes. Request to speak cards are available
at both entrances. Please present cards to City Recorder. ,Speakers may
not yield their time to others.
None
BUSINESS FROM THE AUDIENCE
None.
COUNCIL RESPONSE
CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS
BIDS.
.ORDINANCES ~ .
1. Springfield Ambulance Ordinance Revision.
ORDINANCE NO. 1- AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SPRINGFIELD AMENDING CHAPTER 7 "BUSINESS AMBULANCE AND
~~
City of Springfield
Council Regular Meeting Minutes
November 1, 2010 ~
Page 3
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES", SECTION 7.036 "EXEMPT PERSONS AND
ACTIVITIES" TO ADD A NEW EXEMPTION FOR VEHICLES OPERATED BY
ANOTHER MUNICIPALITY PURSUANT TO AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL
AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD. (FIRST READING
Deputy Chief of Operations Mark Walker presented the staff report on this item. The Springfield
Municipal Code provided that no person shall establish, maintain, or operate an ambulance or
other emergency medical services business within the City unless a license for that use was
obtained from the City.
Because Eugene and Springfield operated with a consolidated emergency response system known
as the Three Battalion System, Eugene ambulances occasionally operated in Springfield's
ambulance service area. Additionally, Eugene subcontracted non-emergency responses with a
private contractor who may respond in Springfield. Springfield was currently negotiating an IGA
with Eugene to provide non-emergency transports for Springf eld on a trial basis using their .
private contractor. The Code change requested was to include these operational changes under
,Section 7 of the Code.
The intent was to address an increase in non-,emergency Springfield ambulance calls that were
generated by recent amendments to Lane County Code Chapter 18. (The amendments clarified
that Springfield Fire & Life Safety was the sole authorized ambulance service provider in its
geographic Ambulance Service Area, or ASA.) By extending Eugene's contract with a private
provider to Springfield, the dual-role emergency resources of Springfield Fire & Life Safety
would be more available in the community for emergency response. The trial period would be
used to evaluate system improvements and impact on the Ambulance Transport Fund.
Section 7.036 of the Springfield Municipal Code .provided .for certain persons and activities which
were exempt from the requirements for license as well as other requirements of Sections 7.030-
7.078 "Ambulance and Emergency Medical Services".
The Department of Fire and Life Safety recommended that "vehicles operated by another
municipality pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Springfield or vehicles
operated by,a subcontractor of another municipality which municipality had entered into an
intergovernmental agreement with the City of Springfield for the provision of ambulance
services" be added to the list of exempt persons and activities set forth in Section 7.036.
Councilor Simmons said he was supportive of the cleanup of the language regarding the
ambulances from the City of Eugene. He had concerns regarding the private contractor. We
.charged the City of Eugene with issuing our taxi cab licenses as an example of a cooperative
venture. If they had a private contractor operating within the City of Springfield, the City may not
be protected by the tort limits. He wanted to be sure that this non-municipally operated transport
. was clear in the ordinance. He would be opposed to the inclusion of that unless there was some
clarity provided that protected the City and its residents.
Mr. Walker said in the current plan under an IGA, the City of Eugene and their subcontractor
provided additional services for Springfield in the tiered response. The language was designed so
the subcontractor. was included. There were pieces of that agreement that dealt with the legal
questions. He would look into it more to provide an answer to Councilor Simmons question.
City of Springfield
Council Regular Meeting Minutes
November 1, 2010
Page 4
Mr. Leahy said he drafted this ordinance specifically to address the situation Councilor Simmons
had expressed concern about. There was a draft of an intergovernmental agreement that had been
negotiated between the City of Springfield and City of Eugene which would be .presented to the
Council for approval. They were separate documents.
Councilor Simmons said he wanted them. separated in a way that was clear.
Mr. Leahy said this was to address a temporary interim situation. There was an IGA that Council
would see and have a chance to approve.
Mr. Walker said the change in the code was specifically for the exemption of the licensing of
ambulances. They didn't want to open up the City for criticism for allowing someone to come in
and run calls in our service area until the license question was answered.
Councilor Pishioneri clarified that Springfield would be allowing a private service provider to
.operate within Springfield, which would decrease the workload our current resources had. He
asked if there was additional cost to the citizens of Springfield.-
Mr. Walker said the private provider would be:charging their services to the user: The City would
not be paying for those services.
Councilor Pishioneri asked if any Springfield citizen would have to pay more either through taxes
or through services rendered, or would they realize a savings. .
Mr. Walker said the private provider's base rate was lower than the City's because of their rating.
The hospital to hospital calls would all be at the same rate, which would be cost neutral. The
private provider would also recognize FireMed.
Mr. Leahy noted this was for non-,emergency calls only.
Councilor Pishioneri understood that, but wasn't feeling good about a private provider coming
into Springfield unless there was a cost savings to citizens.
Mr. Walker said for the most part it would be cost neutral. The private pay for those transports
out of the hospital would be slightly lower than the City's charge so there could.be some cost
savings to the citizens for those services. From hospital to hospital; the cost would be the same. A
patient with FireMed would have no co-pay. A small segment would get a decrease in cost. The
limitations set would be hospital out patients only. All other non-emergency calls would be
handled by Springfield and Eugene.
Councilor Pishioneri asked if there would be a significant decrease in workload to warrant current
staffing.
Mr. Walker said the increase. in workload would bring staffing back to the levels they were in
June 2010. Since the Lane County Chapter 18 revisions were made, the department had seen
about 50 calls per month increase to the Medic 5 unit in Gateway. The others had remained
stable.. Their concern was if the medic units were out on hospital calls and unavailable for
emergency calls. It was not feasible to spread those calls out because they were from RiverBend.
City of Springfield
Council Regular Meeting Minutes
November 1, 2010
Page 5
NO ACTION REQUESTED. FIRST READING ONLY.
BUSINESS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL,
BUSINESS FROM THE CITY MANAGER
BUSINESS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY
ADJOL:TRNMENT
The meeting was' adjourned at approximately 7:24 p.m.
'_ Minutes Recorder Amy Sowa .
_ C~ i
Sidney . Leiken
Mayor
Attest:
~`"
City Reco er
~~~ -