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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 ~~~ -