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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/06/2010 Work Session" i City of Springfield. , Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2010 The City of Springfield Council met in a work, session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth . - Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, December 6, 2010 at 6:15 p.m., .with Council President Dave Ralston presiding. .ATTENDANCE ~ ' .Present were Councilors Ralston, Lundberg, Wylie, Moore, Simmons, and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Joe Leahy, - City Recorder Amy Sowa, and members of the staff. 1. Website Enhancement Overview. Community. Relations Manager Niel Laudati presented the staff report on this item. A group of city . staff members started work on updating the look and feel of the city website to better align it with 'our marketing initiatives. Some of the goals were to improve usability through better navigation, enhanced ~. - search capability, refine the look of the main page. - so we could better utilize video and event updates - and updated site map. Additionally, staff hoped to reduce the amount of City. staff time spent maintaining the site, develop web site maintenance policies to prevent orphan -files and enhance support efforts. The City's website and email addresses had also been updated to www.springfield-or.gov to better align us with modern government agencies. Overview: ,1 • Hired e-Puerto to work with us to implement a re-design of the City web site to a more • contemporary design - $5,000 • Developed instant consistency as we migrate City pages into the new format • Eliminate existing outdated pages by purging extraneous files during the migration • Implement Content Management tools (Adobe Contribute CS4) ^ Provide site-specific training in Contribute CS4 ^ Implement document check-in/check-out • Designate a single .site administrator Mr. Laudati displayed some of the previous City websites from 2000 to present. He discussed some of the issues with those previous websites. He displayed the updated website page and described some of -the features of the new website. The new website was set up to make access to important information ` about the City easier for citizens. He displayed some of the pages regarding news or current events, Council agendas, Mayor/Council information, and others. Councilor Ralston said they got a great product for a good deal. City of Springfield ~ . . Council Work Session Minutes December 6, 2010 Page 2 Mr. Laudati commented on the wonderful help from the owner of e-Puerto, which made this possible: He said the goal was to have this live by Friday, December,l0 or Monday, December. l3, to allow staff from each department to check the forms. Councilor Pishioneri asked if the comments section was divided by department. He asked if the Police .Department had any forms for citizens to fill out online. ~ ' Chief Smith said they had volunteer forms online, but none of the crime reports. They still needed to receive those over the phone or in person. Councilor Pishioneri asked if having them online might save staff time. Chief Smith said it could possibly save some time, but only temporarily. He explained: Mr. Laudati said they did have a link to get to the information regarding reporting. Councilor Moore asked if there could be a live button on each councilor's- page that could connect the user with their email account. Mr. Melancon said .in the past, the Council didn't want that, but it could be done. Mr.' Laudati said staff could work on that. Councilor Lundberg asked about the community links. Mr. Laudati said they would be under "Partners". He spoke regarding social media pages and how this site would allow easier access to those pages. He also noted that the website name was changed at the request of the Council. The change better matched other government organizations and would now be `springfield-or.gov'. The Mayor and Councilors would be getting new business cards in about a week with the new address. Councilor Wylie said it looked very good. . 2. Emerald Empire Art Association Request. Community Development Manager John Tamulonis presented the staff report on this item. Mr. Tamulonis introduced the President of the Emerald Empire Art Association, Daryl Annette Swan and noted there were several other members of the Association in the audience. The Emerald Empire Art Association (EEAA) was requesting $9,500 to supplement their fundraising activities (now underway) to re-roof the leaking art center building before the end of January 2011 and avoid any substantial or further damage to the. building, second floor lease space, two major murals on the building's exterior, or attendance of art classes. EEAA had a record of prudent financing with reserves for both operations and emergencies. Yet those had been hit recently by both needed repairs (elevator) and revenue decreases from its art classes. EEAA had strong fundraising support overall and in current efforts to meet the costs of this repair they had raised over $5000 of their $9,500 goal. Fundraising efforts continued. . City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes " - ~ December 6, 2010 Page 3 . Staff and EEAA had researched other funding sources, but concluded that the project would be very unlikely to qualify (Community Development Block Grant), or funds were not available (State Historic Preservation Funds), or timing was outside of regular application and funding cycles. If Council was interested in assisting, at least two funding options provided reasonable sources.for support with varying repayments possible, including the following: Use Room Taz Funds: These had funded projects and events that increased revenue by bringing visitors to the area; as do the EEAA's art classes with. both instructors and visitors', coming to the area . for outstanding classes. The recent FIMBA Basketball Championships tournament, hard hit with a downturn in the economy, did need to cover some shortfall in revenue. Springfield and Eugene set aside $20;000 each to cover anticipated costs not covered by revenue. Springfield's final share of costs to cover the shortfall was $2,918.50, with $17,081.50 unobligated and available. . Request SEDA Funds: This had some minor precedence with past funding granted to A3 for their facility expansion and installation of exhibition windows. The Downtown Urban Renewal Plan identifies "Restoration and Rehabilitation" as project activities eligible for urban renewal funds. It should be noted that the EEAA does pay taxes to the City of Springfield, including the Downtown Urban Renewal Area, on the portions of their building occupied by for-profit tenants. Repayment Options: a. Grant: Would not need to be repaid b. Loan/Forgivable Loan: No interest or Simple annual interest rate at City's current rate of funds; repayment could be started later (say, January 2012); interest on the balance only until repaid; or .repaid if any sale of the building. Recommendation: Provide a Loan of $9,500 from room tax funds, no Interest, to be repaid if the building was sold to other-than-a-non-profit-Downtown-art-center entity. Mr. Tamulonis noted that there were no funds through the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) - forthese repairs, but a representative would be coming down at no cost to make sure the building integrity would be preserved with any of the necessary changes when fixing the roof. The School District had a device for measuring moisture that the EEAA was hoping they could use to determine . where the leak was going. Councilor Ralston asked if they had identified the leak area. Ms. Swan said they had stopped the leak temporarily. Mr. Tamulonis said the flashing on the building was at least 15 years old and it was a flat roof. ,. `Councilor Ralston asked the EEAA if they were confident they could raise the $9500. They believed they could. He pointed out. that January was a long ways away and there would be a lot of rain between now and then. He would rather stop further damage if they could get the repairs done sooner. He would suggest the City use room tax money that could be provided now to get it taken, care of immediately, and the EEAS could pay those funds back. Councilor Simmons said preserving the building was extremely important as an anchor in downtown. The City had about $17,000 of room tax funds left from the FIMBA event. The difficulty was that the roof issue was just one part of the issues of the building. The leak needed stopped, but then there was the supplemental issue. The EEAA hoped to hear from the SHPO people. in Salem about how they City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes December 6, 2010 Page. 4 ~ could dehumidify the building. There was already some damage to the west stucco wall, and there was damage in other parts of the structure. If they waited too long to take care of those things, there could be fungus that could destroy the building. He agreed they needed to try to get it done. The scheduling with the roofing company was another issue. They needed to look for satisfactory remedial work on _ the building to preserve it, which would be another issue that could be expensive. He agreed a loan to get the immediate repairs was best. The-$5000 they had raised would be gone quickly when looking to dehumidify the building. They would need support from all of the community. Tonight, they needed to deal with the roof issue. f Councilor Pishioneri said he supported the room tax funds, and getting, it started right away. He felt the EEAA should continue with their fund raising efforts, the City could allocate the $9500 as a forgivable loan, paid back only if the building was sold, with the rest of the funding as a no-interest. loan to be repaid with fundraising money. That would allow for some reserve money for potential mediation. Councilor Ralston said he expected the $9500 would be given to the EEAA. Mr. Tamulonis said it would be a gift, repaid only if they sold the building to something other than an Arts Association. Councilor Moore said the building belonged to the EEAA. He thought Councilor Simmons was indicating that if the City owned the building we would have further obligation. Councilor Simmons said he didn't intend for the City to buy the building, but rather as a community, everyone needed to come together to support this effort. He wanted them to get the roof fixed, and then get the advice necessary to fix the rest of the problems. He felt it needed community support, .similar to the Wildish. Councilor Lundberg said she was fine with the loan scenario as recommended. It was a community asset and a,historical building, so we had an obligation if we wanted to renew the downtown. The building also had our premiere mural on the side. She agreed the quicker an assessment of the full damage, the better. She noted the issue with the. old fire station in Thurston. She would like Council to be informed of what the Arts Center found out about further repair so the City or TEAM Springfield could assist. She would like to go forward with the loan. Mr. Tamulonis said he heard they wanted it done as-soon as possible. He asked if they were favorable of using more of the room tax than requested in order to get it done earlier, but with the balance as a loan that could be repaid from fundraising efforts. Yes. Councilor Wylie agreed that they needed to fix it as soon as possible, find the funding for them that was easy to access, and find out what else would need fixing. She also wanted the EEAA to work with Mr..Tamulonis on costs and other funding resources the EEAA could access. She would like to know the status of the roof project and the building needs so plan for the funding could be made.. ~ . ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:50 p.m. Minutes Recorder -Amy Sowa City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes . December 6, 2010 Page 5 Amy Sow City Rec~Srder