HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/25/2011 Work Sessionr
City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL GOAL SETTINGSESSION OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2011
The City of Springfield Council met in a Goal Setting Session in the Heron Room, Willamalane
Center for Sports and Recreation, 250 South 32nd Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, April 25,
2011 at 6:05 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors Pishioneri, VanGordon, Wylie, Moore, Ralston and
Woodrow. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City
Recorder Amy Sowa, and members of the staff.
1. Council Goal Setting.
Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery presented the staff report on this item. Council annually
conducted Goal Setting to ensure that its priorities reflected the direction of the community. This year,
Goal Setting had been divided into three segments. On March 28, Council focused on relationships,
and protocol of the Council as a group and as individuals. On April 4, Council reviewed the current
Citywide Strategic Plan to see the links between the Plan activities and measurements and the
Council's current goals and priorities.
Tonight's session, the third and last in the series, would focus on reviewing, amending if desired, and
setting the Council Goals for 2011. Formal adoption of the Goals would be scheduled for a regular
meeting.
The meeting will be facilitated by Stan Biles.
Mr. Biles noted that the objective of tonight's meeting was to 1) get all ideas out on the table; and 2)
select those Council wished staff to refine, research and bring back for discussion. Tonight was not
the night to do wordsmithing and tonight was not a night for final decisions.
Mr. Biles suggested that they try to remain at the higher level in their discussions. A goal was the end,
the result, "what" they wished to accomplish. Strategies were the means to an end, the action steps, the
activities and "how they wished to accomplish their goals". He provided an example.
Mr. Biles asked if the Council was comfortable with the objectives and other provisions for tonight.
Yes. Mr. Biles said he would go around the table and ask each member to nominate a goal. The goals
would be reviewed and grouped. Further discussion or direction to staff would follow.
Councilor Moore asked if the goals already established would remain as they were good goals.
Mr. Biles said if the Council wanted to change or delete the goals already in place, they could make
that recommendation. If there were no comments made on the existing goals, they would remain.
Mayor Lundberg said they first needed to have a discussion regarding events and emails, and have a
discussion regarding their goal on diversity. She said immigration laws were not something the City
Council or the. City of Springfield dealt with directly. They were laws outside of the City's purview.
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Personally, she didn't want to discriminate against any cultural group, and wanted to be welcoming to
all of the various cultures. Everyone had their backgrounds that they cherished and honored, and she
wanted to see them doing that around their goal of diversity. They needed to be humanitarian and
respectful when approaching any cultural"issues they took on as a City. A productive discussion was
needed so they could deal with this subject.
Councilor Wylie supported Mayor Lundberg's comments. She noted her own ethnic background, her
family traditions, and her cultural heritage of giving and loving. She supported not discriminating
against anyone.
Councilor Ralston said he was not discriminating against anyone except-people that were here
illegally. It had nothing to do with race. Latinos only made up 59% of the illegal people in the State of
Oregon. He had received a number of calls from Latinos who fully supported his comments. Those he
talked with wanted to know what they could do and he suggested they write letters. He felt others were
making it a discriminatory issue. He didn't feel public funds should be spent on people in our country
illegally, no matter what race they were. He knew that everyone had relatives that came from another
country at some point in history, but they came here to. become Americans. They had to learn out
language, our history and our culture. That didn't mean they had to give up their culture, but should be
Americans first. The Latinos that called him had done what they needed to become citizens, but those
that were here illegally were breaking laws and getting public assistance. He was bringing out this
issue that didn't have to do with whether or not they were Latino. He had a large number of people
that supported his view.
Councilor Wylie agreed there was a serious immigration problem, but the City Council couldn't do
anything about that. She had received comments from people who felt they weren't safe in Springfield
because of his comments.
Councilor Ralston felt he was trying to be silenced. From his comments, people had asked him what
they could do, such as contact their congressman or senators. They may need to approach Lane County
Board of Commissioners to suggest they revisit whether or not they ask for citizenship before giving
out'services.
Councilor Wylie said one of the problems Councilor Ralston brought up was services to those that
were not legal. Our Police, Fire and Library couldn't ask for that information.
Councilor Ralston said he had served on the Human Services Commission (HSC) for a number of
years. This year they were making drastic cuts to their service providers. He didn't feel they could cut
other places yet provide funding for Centro when they knew the majority of their clients were here
illegally. Centro didn't ask for citizenship, and it was also very difficult to tell who was legal or not
with fake identifications and social security cards. This was a serious problem and not saying anything
didn't solve the problem. Funding should go to people who were here legally first.
Councilor Wylie asked if he had a goal.
Councilor Ralston said it helped set in line a series of actions he hoped to take to get some legislation
passed. No one wanted to talk about it, but that didn't solve the problem. The State representatives
were not doing anything while thousands were taking jobs and using services that were meant for
American citizens, including Social Security.
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Councilor Moore said if they worked and received an ID number, they paid into Social Security, but
could not get it back unless they became a citizen. The issue for her was not whether someone was
legal or illegal. She read from the Rotary guides: 1) "Is it the truth?" -'some were the truth and others
were not documented truths; 2) "Is it fair to all concerned?"; 3) "Will it build goodwill and better
friendships" - she didn't feel it was building goodwill for the City of Springfield; 4) "Will it be
beneficial to all concerned' - she didn't feel it was beneficial to the City of Springfield. If someone
was in need, her first question was not whether they were legal, but how she could meet their need.
She received many comments from people who were feeling Springfield was saying they weren't
welcome. They may not have heard that he was saying the issue was illegal and legal, but they took it
to mean they weren't welcome and part of our community and she felt they were. She needed to
support all people regardless of their status.
Councilor Pishioneri said certain things were not running in the community, and there were things the
City Council had the ability to change and things they did not. It was a State law that public safety
officers could not ask a person's status. Change occurred with legislation, but didn't start from the
bottom. There was a lot of frustration because the City Council didn't have the power to make those
changes, but he felt their efforts should be on things that they could change and affect.
Mayor.Lundberg agreed there was criminal behavior by a lot of people that the City would like to get
a handle on, but then there were people caught in something. She acknowledged that Councilor
Ralston was very angry about this subject, and that anger spilled over on the rest of the Council and
the community. Sometimes when he spoke, people felt they were speaking on behalf of the City. The
other councilors then had to spend time clarifying their position. All of them would be willing to have
a conversation that might be a positive in a positive direction, but this came across as very negative. It
was painful for her and for the rest of the Council. The Council had a diversity goal and they needed to
talk about their goals. She hoped they could move forward in a positive way.
Councilor Woodrow said she did have positive as well as negative reactions to his comments, but even
those that agreed with him were concerned with the abrasive manner in which he spoke and would
have liked to have them stated without the emotion.
Councilor Ralston said he was hearing more negative comments during this meeting than he had heard
outside.
Councilor Wylie said she had received many negative comments.
Councilor Ralston said those people should be contacting him. He spoke for himself and never said he
was speaking for the Council.
Councilor VanGordon said it was a complicated issue. It was a good issue to bring up in the context of
the State and Federal level, but the City was not able to address. The problems in our community were
more pressing. The issue got lost because it was laid on Centro's door. The challenge to move forward
was to reaffirm the City's diversity goal and look for problems in our community that the Council
could affect.
Councilor Ralston said he never said it was Springfield's job to address. Centro was the one that went
to the media.
Councilor VanGordon said there was a lot of need in our community. As a City Councilor, he would
prefer to have discussions on the legal/illegal topic with those that had control over it. If they spend
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April 25, 2011
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their time worrying about who was accessing services and their documentation, they could lose
contact with a huge group of people that were positive influences in our community. Losing contact
with those people could have negative consequences on the City. The Council needed to look at their
goals, reaffirm the diversity goal and move forward.
Mr. Biles said he was hesitant to step into the policy discussion, but he wanted to make sure they were
able to get through the rest of their goals setting process. They had a diversity goal which was the goal
most recently adopted. He had not heard anything about changing that goal, only reaffirming support
for that goal. If they. were prepared, they could move on to the other goals and subjects.
Mr. Biles asked for goal nominees.
Councilor Woodrow introduced the following goal:
Civic Engagement, maintain unique identity of the Springfield community spirit by engaging and
encouraging the inclusive. participation of its diverse community in volunteerism, civic participation,
and community service. She wanted the community to feel they all belonged and that they would have
a voice for anything of interest. The more people were involved, the more encouraged they were to
speak up on any topic.
Councilor Moore introduced the following goal:
To include all of Springfield in Springfield by reaching out to all neighborhoods. She felt this fit well
with Councilor Woodrow's goal. There was emphasis on downtown and Glenwood, but she would
like to see business promoted in Thurston, Mohawk and Gateway as well. Sometimes it felt that the
eastern edge of Springfield didn't meet with the western edge of Springfield. She would like to bring
everyone to the table. She would also like to get youth involved in civic activities and committees
where appropriate. Youth and geographic inclusion were part of this goal. That inclusion would
involve City Hall, downtown, and the broader community.
Councilor Wylie said Springfield had business districts: Downtown, Mohawk, Gateway, Thurston,
and eventually Glenwood. She would like to have them network with Chamber support.
Councilor Moore noted that the Mohawk businesses did have a meeting once a month. People from
Thurston were talking about starting the same thing.
Mr. Biles said there were a lot of details at the strategy levels in the emails from Councilors Moore
and Woodrow. If Council wanted to move the two goals noted forward, they needed to include those
strategies and details.
Mayor Lundberg said she had an interest in neighborhoods, which may coincide with business
districts. As we grew, she wanted to look at ways to promote or assist our neighborhoods to develop.
Mr. Biles asked what she would like to achieve in the neighborhoods over the next 5-10 years through
this goal.
Mayor Lundberg said they first needed to make an assessment of what made a neighborhood. That
included business districts, schools, parks, faith community and all gathering places in the
neighborhood. Demographics were also important to know who made up particular areas. In the past,
the City focused on a neighborhood each year. During Spring Cleanup, they could ask people with
pickups to go into a neighborhood to help cleanup. The City had programs that helped people with
home repairs and yard care. For awhile the City's street program applied for CDBG funds to help
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improve a street in lower income neighborhoods where everyone on the street could qualify. Some
neighborhoods were more crime ridden than others. Part of it was assessing what the neighborhood
groups were. She would also like to look at the City's natural resources and promoting those more.
Mr. Biles suggested they discuss natural resources after going around the table once. He reviewed the
points on neighborhood improvements.
Councilor Moore said part of that was neighborhood identity and pride.
Councilor Woodrow said she didn't want to isolate neighborhoods. She gave the example of the
OPEN banners which were part of Springfield, yet had an identity with their location. They needed to
maintain that balance between the neighborhood and the whole Springfield community.
Councilor. Moore noted the exceptional transformation of Sellwood over the years and that it could be
done.
Councilor Pishioneri said the Council and the City would like to see these things, but many were not
in our grasp to make the change. Change, like that in Sellwood, came from private developers and
builders. The things mentioned so far could fit into the current goal "To Encourage Community and
Economic Development Revitalization". It was the City's job to help the people that would affect
those changes, and not stand in their way. He would like to eliminate road blocks to allow or
encourage those things to happen in each area.
Councilor Wylie said she would like to see Springfield business districts work together for advertising,
with Springfield as the destination. The City could encourage the City's Community Development
staff and those that worked with the Springfield Chamber.
Councilor Pishioneri said the City could keep an eye on the beat of the community, look at what's
working, and let the rest of the community know so those areas with success could lead by example.
Mr. Biles said part of these goals was to define the best role for the City. There were some strategies
where the City could be the direct provider, others in which they could be the facilitator, and others in
which the City didn't have control. If the Council wanted to go forward with this type of goal or
strategy, they would need to determine the best role for the City in terms of what they could do and
could afford.
Councilor Pishioneri referred to the goal "To Enhance Public Safety" and suggested adding to that
goal. The City had already taken steps by building the Jail and the Justice Center, but they needed to
look at increasing the public safety system. The Police Department had lost many positions, and he
didn't want to lose any more. Perhaps they could change it to "Increase Public Safety''.
Mr. Biles asked if there were any strategies to get there.
Councilor Pishioneri said funding was needed. It was important to keep it as a goal.
Mr. Biles said staff could also provide ideas for next steps and to develop strategies.
Councilor Pishioneri said they could look at alternative sentencing programs, such as work groups.
Councilor Woodrow asked about the economics of using work groups with the cost of supervision.
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Councilor Pishioneri said the County had 22 years of experience with this and could provide some
information. It cost.$78 per day per inmate at the Springfield Jail, so a crew of 10 would be $780, plus
supervision. There were funding streams for those types of program. Street funds could be used for
that type of setup. It was worth exploring.
Mayor Lundberg said she had used the Forest Work Camp members for projects.
Councilor Ralston said he liked the current goals. His number one priority was the first goal: "To
Offer Financially Responsible and Stable Government Services". He noted that the goal "To Enhance
Public Safety" was made before the Jail was built, but it still applied because they would like to find a
way to permanently fund Police services without the levies. He felt the goal could stay as written.
Councilor VanGordon said he would like to include technological innovation with.the first goal. There
was a technological component that went along with financial responsibility, such as the e-permitting
system. Using technology could help us provide potentially better service at a lower cost. The City
needed to make better use of information technology to maintain our service levels regardless of the
economy. As we became better at technological innovations, we isolated ourselves from the ups and
downs of swings in revenue.
Mr. Biles asked if there were other examples of technological innovation.
Councilor VanGordon• said centralizing accounts payable and looking at ways to conserve fuel in
public safety vehicles. He spoke regarding technology in police vehicles to enhance efficiency.
Mr. Biles said that during his interview with Councilor VanGordon he learned that UPS used
computer technology to notify the main station what maintenance or inspections were needed upon the
return of the trucks. They had discussed how that could be used for public safety or fleet vehicles.
Councilor Wylie brought up the tragedy of the Eugene police officer that was killed by the mentally ill
woman and noted the Jack of mental health services. Recently there was news that our telephones
could have GPS technology to track people. If only we had a better mental health system and that
police officer could have known this person had mental health issues. She recognized that the City
Council couldn't fix the mental health system. Tracking and helping to locate issues did need to be
looked at in some point. Her goal was "Seeking avenues to develop new revenue sources for the City".
She referred to a railroad that was developed and operated by Prineville to get their products to. the
market. The railroad made money for all of their businesses. They also ran a golf course and made
money on that endeavor as well. The City of Stayton ran the Oregon Gardens and made money. Cities
were doing business. With the green technology that's coming, including electric cars, the City of
Springfield should look into getting the franchise for electric charging stations. The City might be able
to get grants to develop the technology and build the stations. She couldn't bear to keep raising rates
on the citizens. Cities could go into business and develop revenue sources.
Councilor Wylie said she would like the Council to meet with the City Manager and Assistant City
Manager to look at the strategic plan. It seemed that there were a lot of measures the City was not
meeting and she wondered if they needed to look to see if their goals were something they could
achieve. If not, they needed to adjust their goals.
Mr. Biles said there were hundreds of cities in the country that were going into business. He asked if
the Council would like to take a break.
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There were just a few additional goals so they chose to continue.
Councilor Woodrow said her next goal was to create Springfield as a destination place that attracted
visitors and tourism. There were many things in Springfield that could be promoted.
Mr. Biles asked why she wanted to promote Springfield as a tourism destination.
Councilor Woodrow said she wanted to encourage visitors and tourists to come to places such as the
medical centers (PeaceHealth and McKenzie Willamette), Emerald Art Center, the Art Walk, the
Wildish Theater, dog parks, Library, and Farmer's Market. Those people would-be more visitors than
tourists. She wanted that because it enhanced the image of Springfield.
Mr. Biles asked if there was an economic component to enhancing the image of Springfield. Yes. This
could be looked at as both a goal and a strategy.
Councilor Woodrow said room tax would also fall into this category. She would like to continue the
partnerships the City currently had with the Chamber to promote the City's image. Other
entertainment that was already in place included Summerfest, Parades, Fiesta Latina, Pet Fest, etc.
Mr. Biles said if this-was one of their goals, they could come up with new things.that would attract
people to the area.
Councilor Woodrow said the partnership with TEAM Springfield was also part of this.
Mr. Biles asked if tourism was in the Strategic Plan.
Mr. Towery said there were tourism related measures regarding expenditures of room tax dollars.
Councilor Moore said she would like to add sustainability to the goal "To Preserve the Hometown
Feel, Livability and Environmental Quality" and how the City could encourage conservation, reusing
and decreasing our carbon footprint. She would like to see how they could make that part of City'
services, encouraging citizens to become involved. It was a way to save money and the environment.
They could encourage modes of transportation such as bike and pedestrian trails. The concept of
buying locally and growing our own food was also part of this goal. She noted the proposal by
NEDCO to purchase the nearby church for a regional community food hub to produce food and also
provide the kitchen for canning and preserving. She spoke regarding healthy initiatives for children
and communities. The City was already doing a lot of this, but it was not being advertised.
Councilor Woodrow said it was important to encourage this, but they needed to be careful not to make
someone who couldn't afford to do some of those things feel guilty. There were ways people could
conserve and save money, but there were other things that did cost extra that not everyone could
afford.
Mr. Biles said tax credits for some of those cost saving things were -going down. He spoke regarding
local produce and a study showing that people in the Pacific Northwest were willing to pay a ten
percent premium for locally grown.
Councilor Pishioneri said those were all doable, but fit more as a strategy under the goal "To Preserve
the Hometown Feel". Sustainability may not be broad enough to be a new goal.
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Mr. Biles said for the-ideas that went forward, staff would look at the current Strategic Plan to
determine if the ideas were already addressed in the Plan, or could be pulled out as a separate strategy
or goal. Some things might be a strategy, but of such a priority that Council would want to pull it out
to become a goal. He asked them to give that some thought.
Councilor Ralston said he didn't like the word sustainability. It was hard to define and sounded like
Eugene. He felt we could be environmental without using a buzz word.
Mr. Biles said Council wanted to make sure their goals were clear and some words were difficult to
understand. He asked them to give thought to make sure the final form was clear. Sometimes it
became clear with the strategies associated and any narrative.
Councilor Moore said.the other goal she wanted to present was "Preventative, Healthy Living". When
at the hospital for a meeting, they spoke about the cost of providing health care and that preventative
medicine could help keep those costs under control. It could be a strategy, but she would like to see
Springfield as the place to come not only for health services, but also as a community that encouraged
healthy living through walking, biking, the Farmer's Market, etc.
Mr. Biles asked what would be the indicator of success.
Councilor Moore said if the City was known for healthy living, a healthy environment and beautiful
natural resources. She would like to encourage community health wellness.
Discussion was held regarding possible events or competitions for the community, including a weight
loss competition.
Councilor Wylie said the City did that for their employees.
Discussion was held.regarding the City's wellness program and that Council couldn't be included as it
was a paid benefit.
Mayor Lundberg said she would like the City to look for opportunities to partner and determine the
City's role in those opportunities. She used the example of Cabella's choosing to locate in Springfield
as the premier hunting/fishing/outdoor recreation site. They needed to figure out how they could
capitalize on that.. Springfield was a great location right along I-5 and we needed to capitalize on that.
We had the Gateway destination and beautiful natural resources. We had the Travel Lane County in
Springfield. The rivers were our defining borders and we didn't take the opportunity to promote
ourselves. Most of the ideas brought up tonight did fit within current Council Goals, but Partnerships
were not listed as a goal and perhaps should be.
Councilor Ralston suggested "Use Partnership and Teamwork to Accomplish City Goals".
Mayor Lundberg said looking at our natural resources could also be part of the economic development
and promotion piece.
Mr. Biles said capitalizing on opportunities was broad. He asked if they wanted to focus more to
capitalize on natural resource opportunities.
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Mayor Lundberg said she wanted to capitalize on anything. She Teminded Council that they needed to
remember that the Strategic Plan became the work plan for the employees. She said Council may need
to prioritize within the goals.
Councilor Pishioneri said the branding of Travel Lane County was studied and it was determined that
people thought of Eugene before Springfield. There was a huge opportunity because every time
someone stayed in the City more than four hours, they would go out to eat, and every time they drove
more than a few hours, they needed to fill up with gas. Cabella's was a stimulus for other economic
activities and we needed to embrace our visitors. The City of Springfield was underestimated. He felt
the City had relied too heavily on Travel Lane County and the Chamber of Commerce. Natural
resources were valuable for our community.
Councilor Woodrow said the slogan "Proud History/Bright Future" was great for last year during the
City's 125th Anniversary. She asked if something could be created that identified Springfield for what
we were and became part of our logo.
Councilor Pishioneri said geographic identification was where they got Eugene Coast to Cascades.
Tourism was where the dollars were at for additional funds.
Mr. Biles said the ideas presented were a mix of goals and strategies. Some were new,, some were
close to the current Strategic Plan, and some could clarify or replace strategies.. Without additional
revenues, all goals would not be reached anytime soon. Council needed to determine their core goals
and strategies. Once they set their goals, they would look at strategies that could be undertaken. He
asked Mr. Grimaldi and Mr. Towery to discuss their thoughts about the next steps.
Mr. Grimaldi said there were a lot of fun and exciting things that had been discussed this evening. He
liked the impact it could have on the citizens in the community and put the City in a great position to
improve the lives of the people that lived in our community. He also liked the perspective of
partnership and bringing the community in to help with these things. There may be a need for
prioritization. He would like to bring this back to Council sometime in May.
Mr. Biles asked Council if they wanted the ideas to go back to staff for review and analysis and bring
them back next month. He asked if there were any that they didn't want to go forward at all.
Mayor Lundberg said she would like to determine which of the ideas fit into the existing goals or
strategies, and leave the. current goals intact. She would like staff to sort those things out for the next
meeting.
Councilor Woodrow agreed.
Councilor Ralston said he felt all of the ideas would fit inside our current goals. If anything was left, it
could be a new goal. They may also find they need to do some wordsmithing of the existing goals.
Councilor Wylie said some of the current goals were so tightly constructed; she would like them
wordsmithed so they had a different angle. The City had grown and times had changed. They could
add some new goals and then condense.
Mr. Towery said there was nothing presented tonight that concerned him. Red lights (on the Strategic
Plan) served as a motivation to do better. Some of the red lights were because the goals or targets were
set too high. There was nothing here staff couldn't communicate within the existing goals and
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Strategic Plan. There were things that in their aspiration and perspective weren't adequately
represented in the existing plan, so there was work to do.
Councilor Moore thanked the older councilors that listened to the new councilors' ideas, and staff for
listening. She had been very impressed with the process.
Mr. Piles said he had enjoyed working with the councilors. The merger of the wisdom of returning
councilors with the creativity of the newer councilors was what kept an organization and community
at its peak of performance. This process had captured both of those in a positive way that would pay
off for a long time.
Mayor Lundberg thought this was great and she was enthusiastic about where they were and where
they were going.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:10 p.m.
Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa
Attest:
Amy So
City Rec der
Christine L. Lundberg
Mayor