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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/22/2002 Work Session . MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2002 The Springfield City Council met in work session on Monday, April 22, 2002 at Springfield City Hall, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Jesse Maine Meeting Room at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken, and Councilors Ballew, Fitch, Ralston and Simmons, Councilor Hatfield and Lundberg were absent (excused). Also present were City Manager Mike Kelly, Assistant City Manager Gino Grimaldi, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Attorney Meg Kieran, City Attorney Tim Harold, City Recorder Kim Krebs, and members of staff. 1. Node Site Selection Proiect. Planners Mark Metzger an~ Susanna Julber were present for the staff report. Mr. Metzger said the purpose of this work session is to present a briefing on the Oregon Transportation and Growth Management Program (TGM) sponsored Node Site Selection Project. He said TransPlan has identified 15 potential node sites in the Springfield area totaling almost 2000 acres. Springfield's initial responsibility under the Plan is to formally choose sites totaling about 400 acres for nodal development. He said at issue are which sites hold the most potential for successful development while accomplishing the transportation objectives envisioned in TransPlan. . Mr. Metzger highlighted the information contained in the Agenda Item Summary (ArS), as well as Attachment A "Springfield Nodal Site Selection Project, Project Summary" on an overhead proj ector. Mr. Metzger said they would bring a consultant on board for the final piece. They have two firms that have bid on this project. He said in terms of a timeline, staff would come back to Council on May 6 with a recommendation for a list of preliminary node sites. He said they hope to be fmished with the project at the end of July. By August or September staff would bring their fmal recommendation to the council. Mr. Metzger introduced Planner Susanna Julber. Ms. Julber referred to Attachment B-1 "TransPlan, Potential Nodal Development Areas" and presented an overhead. She said that the Planning Commission and Steering Committee liked the first six nodes, which is also what the council had expressed at a previous meeting. The nodes she is referring to are: the Gateway/Beltline node, the Peace Health node, Glenwood, Downtown Springfield, Mohawk and Jasper Natron north and south. The council had also shown interest in the Pierce node, but that did not come up at Planning or Steering Committee meetings. The Planning Commission was interested in node 9g, which is at 58th and Main. The Steering Committee showed an interest in the node on Harlow Road. As far as land use and compatibility issues, there are no constraint-free properties. She said the Gateway node and Glenwood are subject to flood plain issues. Ms. Julber said all ofthe service ability issues for Jasper Natron are short term. Once the road is in, it will open up a lot and help guide development in the future. Councilor Ballew asked Ms. Julber to explain 7-c, approximately 11.5 acres. . Ms. Julber explained that the 11.5 acres was wetlands within the nodes and adjacent to the nodes. Spririgfield City Council Minutes of Work Session - April 22, 2002. Page - 2 . Councilor Fitch said the top six sites total 748 acres, yet we only need 400. She asked Ms. Julber if after gaining citizen input, would staff be able to determine how they feel about the numbers now? Ms. Julber said the citizens on the committee are very much in favor of Nodal Development. Mr. Metzger said ofthese seven sites, just portions of the sites would be identified as a node. The consultant would be doing the design work, and would be reducing the number of acres within the node. Councilor Simmons asked regarding 9g, 58th and Main, are the wetlands primarily in the right of way for the Jasper Extension? He also asked about the Natron south and north. Ms. Julber said the wetlands are not in the right of way for the Jasper Extension, but more on Potato Hill, and would not affect the functionality of the node. Mr. Metzger said there are wetlands in the Natron soutb and north that need to be worked around. Councilor Simmons said if the city is going to contract with a consultant, it might be advantageous to have the consultant bring out points that we don't see and could possibly be integrated or incorporated into the process. He said they might have ideas that relate to sites other than those currently identified. He said we need to be open to creative development design or community needs that might arise. If we are going to have this node process, we will need to have more flexibility and be open to other ideas. . Councilor Ballew said there was a lot of anxiety from older residents during the development stages of the Mohawk Refmement Plan. She said she hopes during this process that citizens will be educated and have a clearer understanding of what the proposals are, and that there is would be no cost involved. Ms. Julber said she hoped that the consultants would be able to educate the public in that way. Mr. Metzger mentioned that there would be some state money expended locally to educate people in Springfield and Eugene on nodal development. Mayor Leiken said he is glad to hear that education of the public is part of the plan. Ms. Julber said that on May 6th staff would be looking for an affIrmation that these node sites will be focused on initially. Councilor Ballew suggested that after developing the list, staff might find that there is a lot of work involved. They may choose at that time to cut the list to two or three sites to begin with. Mr. Metzger said that by the end of this project in July or August, staff would be able to inform the council regarding which of the original six node sites are the most promising. Staff will then focus on those sites. . Councilor Ballew asked that the Historic District be excluded from the Nodal Development. . Springfield City Council Minutes of Work Session - April 22, 2002 Page - 3 . 2. City Attorney Evaluation. Human Resources Director Bill Spiry and Risk Manager Craig Gibons were present for the staff . report. Also present were City Attorney's Joe Leahy, Tim Harold; and Meg Kieran. Mr. Spiry said this is the time for the annual evaluation of the City Attorney's Office, and that Mr. Gibons has facilitated most of this evaluation process. Mr. Gibons said the Council Briefing Memorandum (CBM) and staff report highlight the scores and outcomes ofthe evaluation survey. He said there were no unsatisfactory scores. He said page 2 of the CBM reflects additional comments made on the evaluation. Those comments included the firm being extremely overworked, but in spite of that they do a good job. Mr. Gibons said there was nothing written in the comment section that would indicate there was a problem. He said everything written was very positive. Mr. Gibons said the usage of the City Attorney's office has been right on track for the budgeted hours this year. He said 170 hours a month were budgeted, and they are currently averaging 171 h()urs a month. He said the top users ofthe City Attorney's Office are the City Council, Development Services - Planning, Development Services - Housing, and the Human Resources Department. He said these departments account for 60% usage of the total number of hours. Councilor Ballew asked for an example of what usage the City Council has utilized the City Attorney's office. . City Attorney Joe Leahy said a large amount of the time this year was spent on the Federal Courthouse issue. He said they were effectuating council policy through economic development. He said also included in those numbers is attendance at the city council meetings themselves. Councilor Ballew said she is personally very pleased with the City Attorney's office, and that they provide excellent service. She asked if it would be useful to do some type of objective evaluation using some form of measurement or criteria. Mr. Spiry said City Manager Mike Kelly and he are putting together criteria on the City Manager evaluation, setting out some more specific performance expectations and measurements. He said we could use the same type of approach with the City Attorney. He said the difference in this case would be the City Attorney's office is being evaluated not only by the City Council, but also by the executives of this organization. It may be helpful to create a working committee from the members of the Executive Team and City Council to discuss and develop some criteria they would like to include. Councilor Fitch said it would also be beneficial to look at comparisons with other cities; how many hours of attorney time do they use for council and what is the percentage that can be resolved without going to court. That might be a way to determine if we are in the ballpark or if we use our legal staff more than others. She said it might not be crucial, but thought it was something worth considering. . Councilor Simmons said the procurement of professional services and the justification of the quality of selection may have some value. He is very happy with our city attorneys and has been for years. He fmds that the excellent ratings are redundant. He feels that if we are to pursue this, there must be some sort of quantifiable criteria for selection. Based on our record, we have done everything to reinforce the quality of service we are getting. Spririgfield City Council Minutes of Work Session - April 22, 2002 Page - 4 . Mayor Leiken said it is not crucial; we aren't necessarily talking about the immediate partners. It might be something we want to look at for the long-term future. Councilor Fitch said what we have historically is difficult to put a quantitative value on. The firm continues to pass its skills and knowledge on to each new partner giving us some continuation throughout time; that historic knowledge is invaluable. Mayor Leiken said we don't know what or who the future will bring; it just seems to be a good management tool. He said developing criteria is a good idea and would recommend that process take place. Councilor Fitch asked the City Attorney staff if there was something that is not currently being rated, that they feel should be included. Mr. Leahy said the evaluation form could be revised to allow room for more specific advice. He said when you have a general legal council; they might want to take more specific items or issues listed in order to obtain feedback on those specific issues. He said he would recommend not. included items that require a substantial amount of bookkeeping. He said in defense of this subjective form, it might be beneficial to create more benchmarks by having more specific items. Mr. Leahy said priorities are continually changing from day to day due to the daily interruptions, and this was a usual year again due to the Federal Courthouse issue. . Councilor Fitch said as Chair of the Judiciary Committee, she would not see this asa number one priority. She said she would like to have council take a look at the evaluation form, fine tune it by bringing in some of the ideas suggested tonight, and then bring it back to the Judiciary Committee. She would like to obtain feedback from one or more of the City Attorneys for review, and then bring it back to council. Mr. Spiry suggested a few members of the Executive Team be included as well. ) Councilor Ralston said it is important to note specific knowledge of community issues as part of the evaluation. Mr. Spiry said staff has specific job descriptions. One thing we could do in reviewing the attorney's contract would be to define some of the minimum qualifications and performance. expectations of this job. Councilor Ballew suggested someone from the City Attorney's office should be involved. It should be a cooperative effort. Ms. Kieran said the form focuses our energy on four main areas, and helps them understand the council's priorities. . . Mr. Harold said this process is important to the firm. As they look through it, it is wonderful that they have thirteen excellent or good marks. When he looks at the two places marked satisfactory, however, that is not good enough. He thinks that council deserves more than a satisfactory law firm and the areas marked satisfactory are areas the attorneys need to work on. What are important to them are the comments. There were two areas of concern, timeliness on ESA and other issues, and timeliness in the general legislative council. . . . Springfield City Council Minutes of Work Session - April 22, 2002 Page - 5 Mr. Leahy said he would like to talk to the department director in order to determine how they could improve in areas that are marked satisfactory. Mr. Harold said Mr. Gibons could assist the City Attorney's office in contacting the staff person . on this issue and working it out. He said the attorneys primarily work with the staff. In the evaluation, he reads in great detail the comments because that tells them what they need to improve. He said their goal is to receive all good and excellent markings, with no satisfactories. Mr. Leahy said that in the past, the attorneys did have more time to keep in touch with the staff regarding current projects. He said the last two years have been very busy and they have lost that luxury. He feels it would be something they could try to reinforce. . Mayor Leiken said this has been quite a year and thanked Mr. Harold, Ms. Kieran, and Mr. Leahy for the wonderful job done. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:25 p.m. Minute Recorder - Kim Krebs ATTEST: .... ~lLUt.0 UJW'ovJ .City Recorder c;-