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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/19/2011 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19; 2011 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, September 19, 2011 at 6:00 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors Pishioneri, VanGordon, Wylie, Moore, and Ralston. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilor Woodrow was absent (excused). 1. Budget Committee Interviews. Finance Director Bob Duey presented the staff report on this item. The Budget Committee had two vacancies in Ward 3 and in Ward 4, due to term expirations on December 31, 2011. The appointees would serve a three-year term that would expire on December 31, 2014. The Council was requested to interview two applicants. Budget Committee appointments were scheduled to be ratified at the Regular Session Meeting on October 3, 2011. Mr. Duey said they wanted to have the appointments early to make sure the new members were ready in time for the Mid-Year Budget Committee meeting in December. The Mayor and Council introduced themselves to the candidates. The Mayor and Council interviewed each applicant with-the following questions. Councilor VanGordon asked Question #3: Local governments, such as Springfield, are seeing a much delayed economic recovery as many revenue sources remain flat or continue to fall. If you were a member of the Budget Committee, what would be some of the ways you would look to control costs and still be responsive to the service expectations of our citizens? Councilor Ralston asked Question #2: While all of Springfield services seem to have strong support from different areas of the community, it is often necessary to prioritize services for budgetary reasons. How would you go about the task of establishing priorities among services? Councilor Pishioneri asked Question #5: If you were on the Budget Committee and were looking at one of the City's services to decide how much should be funded through general taxes and how much through specific fees on customers, what questions would you want to have answered in order to make your decision? Mayor Lundberg asked why the applicants were interested in serving on the Budget Committee City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes September 19, 2011 Page 2 Councilor Moore asked Question # 1: Describe some personal goals that you wish to achieve by serving on the Springfield Budget Committee. Councilor Wylie asked Question #6: One of the purposes of the Budget Committee is to get the citizens of Springfield involved in setting priorities for the City. Do you have any suggestions on how the City could raise the interest of your friends or co-workers in City government? Mayor Lundberg asked if the applicants had any questions of the Council. Mayor Lundberg thanked each of the candidates for applying. The Mayor and Council discussed the candidates. Council consensus was to move forward with the appointment of Pat Mahoney and Joseph Hammerton. 2. Relief Nursery. Assistant Public Works Director Len Goodwin presented the staff report on this item. The Relief Nursery had been attempting to construct a new facility at the corner of 42nd Street and Jasper Road, so that it may relocate its facility from Eugene. The total cost of the project was estimated at about $3 million. Like many non-profit agencies, the Nursery had struggled to fund this new development. Although they had engaged in a vigorous and effective fundraising campaign, they remained somewhat,short of their goals. Springfield staff had been working with the Nursery to attempt to minimize their cost of development, at least with respect to fees imposed by the City. In large part these fees were Systems Development Charges. By helping them adjust the design, incorporate improved stormwater management measures, and carefully assess the traffic impact of the facility, City staff had been able to identify ways that the SDCs could be reduced from $102 thousand to slightly over $61 thousand. Because of the value of this agency to the community, staff had sought additional ways to support their effort to relocate to Springfield. It appeared that the most appropriate way was to simply donate the sum of $50,000 to the agency's capital campaign. Mr. Goodwin explained the fund in which this money would come from. He noted that there were several members of the Relief Nursery in the audience that could answer questions. If Council chose to make this donation, this was the most appropriate way to make it happen. Councilor Moore asked where the Relief Nursery was in their fundraising efforts Mr. Goodwin said they are nearly done with their fundraising efforts and are nearly at a point to apply for building permits. Councilor Pishioneri said based on the spirit of the fund and the project, this could be a big benefit to the community and would encourage other economic activity. He thanked staff for looking at a way to help this organization. He did note that this was a one-time donation and they were not setting precedence. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes September 19, 2011 Page 3 Councilor VanGordon said he was comfortable moving forward. It was a good economic development opportunity. Councilor Moore noted that there had been comments from community members recently about Community Development Block Grant funds provided by the City to another non-profit organization. She asked if other agencies had an opportunity to bid for these funds and if not why it was different. She asked if the Council was making a social statement because the Relief Nursery assisted unwed mothers. Councilor Wylie noted that the Relief Nursery supported mothers wed and unwed. Mr. Goodwin said the CDBG funding was Federal funding with certain constraints. There was nothing that prohibited the Relief Nursery from applying for CDBG funds in the past or future. Councilor Ralston said he felt there was great value in the Relief Nursery, but he did feel this donation set precedence. He asked what happened if funds from this City account were not spent during the fiscal year. Mr. Duey said if it was not spent it would remain in that line item for the next fiscal year. Councilor Ralston said this was short-cutting the process that others had gone through for funding. Mr. Grimaldi said the funding came from the Bancroft Funds and would not be coming out of the General Fund. After this donation, there was still another $100,000 left in this fund. Mr. Leahy said the City sold the Relief Nursery the property with a stipulation that they build on the property within a certain amount of time. The City had already extended that timeline. Mayor Lundberg said the previous property owner had wanted to provide the funds they had as SDC credit to the Relief Nursery. That had not been allowed through the City's normal process at that time. There were a variety of things the City did to assist both non-profit and for-profit agencies. The Relief Nursery was putting a facility in Springfield and it was important for the City to support these services. There were a lot of factors that went into this decision that made a lot of sense. She noted the amount of CDBG funds that had been used in the past for a number of non-profits that had lead to wonderful projects in our community. Councilor Pishioneri asked if they had an estimate of when they might be ready for a groundbreaking once they received these funds. Irene Alltucker from the Relief Nursery said possibly spring or early summer of 2012. They were anticipating applying for their building permits in the next month or so. This funding was significant to their project. Councilor Moore said she was very supportive of the Relief Nursery, but just needed clarification on the other process. Mr. Grimaldi said this would be on the Consent Calendar at the next regular meeting for formal approval. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes September 19, 2011 Page 4 . ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:47 p.m. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa 6 9 4, ? ?- I I_e? ? Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest: iZ,y,u L/7L- Amy S a City Recorder