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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/09/2012 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2012 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine, Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, January 9, 2012 at 5:32 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, Assistant City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. 1. Planning Commission Interviews. Planning Manager Greg Mott presented the staff report on this item. The City received three (3) applications for one (1) vacancy during a five week recruitment process. The Mayor and Council chose the questions they would be asking of the applicants. Mr. Mott noted the circumstances around the vacancy due to the unexpected death of Frank Cross. He noted some of the many positive things that Mr. Cross had instituted as Chair of the Planning Commission. It had been a pleasure to work with Mr. Cross. Mr. Mott noted the two options available for the Council to make regarding appointment of the new member; either until May 2012 or for four years through May 2016. The Mayor and Council interviewed the following applicants: • Mr. Nephi Perry • Mr. Timothy Vohs • Ms. Joany C. Armstead The Mayor and Council introduced themselves and asked the following questions of the applicants: • Mayor Lundberg: Why would you like to be on the Planning Commission? • Councilor Wylie: How would you recommend balancing the community's need for attractive commercial and industrial development with the rights of property owners? • Councilor Woodrow: What role do you think the Planning Commission should have with the revitalization of downtown? • Councilor Moore: The Planning. Commission generally meets two evenings each month and additional evening meetings are sometimes necessary. There are also materials to be reviewed in advance of these meetings that may take a couple of hours to read. Given your work and/or family demands, can you fully participate as a Commission member? • Councilor Pishioneri: Springfield and Eugene have or will adopt individual, city -wide refinement plans of the Metro Plan, including separate urban growth boundaries. Do you City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 9, 2012 Page 2 believe this move towards individual plans and away from regional planning is in the best interests of Springfield? Are there any land use issues that should continue to rely on regional, joint decision - making among Springfield, Eugene and Lane County elected officials? Councilor Ralston: What is your general understanding of the relationship between the Planning Commission and City Staff, the Planning Commission and the City Council? Councilor VanGordon: How familiar are you with planning laws and policies and the purpose they serve in Springfield's land use decision making process? If your experience with these laws is limited, what actions would you take to become more familiar so that you can function fully as a Planning Commissioner? Mr. Perry asked how the Mayor and Councilors got started in public service and became City Councilors. Mr. Vohs had no questions of the Council. He noted that he had worked with Frank Cross on the Community Development Advisory Committee (CDAC) and during that time had developed an admiration for his knowledge of the subject matter, his demeanor, and his approach to business, and he would miss his contribution in the future. If chosen, Mr. Vohs said he would remain on the Planning Commission for the duration of the term. Ms. Armstead had no questions, but noted how much she appreciated the Council for their service. The Councilors discussed the candidates and their qualifications. It was noted that all three candidates had strengths and were well qualified for the position. They recommended Timothy Vohs be appointed to the Planning Commission. Council asked staff to. encourage Mr. Perry and Ms. Armstead to apply for other volunteer positions with the City. The Council decision on appointments was scheduled for the Regular Meeting Tuesday, January 17, 2012. 2. 2011 Annual Financial Report. Finance Director Bob Duey presented the staff report on this item. He introduced Tom Glogau of Grove, Mueller & Swank, who would review the audit process, the Independent Auditor's Report, and the City's CAFR during the work session. In accordance with Oregon Statues and the City's charter, the City was required to complete an annual audit and financial statement. The report would be presented to the City Council at the January 17, 2012 regular meeting on the consent calendar. Grove, Mueller & Swank, the City's independent auditors, had completed their audit of the City's 2010/2011 CAFR and had issued their opinion thereon. As a preliminary summary for the Council's information, the auditor's found no material weaknesses in the City's internal financial controls and they issued an "unqualified opinion" on the City's financial statements. This meant that the City was properly accounting for its resources and using adequate financial controls to help prevent the improper use of those resources. Mr. Glogau provided a handout with the overview of the report and noted some of the highlights. The measures on the handout included unrestricted net assets, capital asset conditions, debt to assets, quick City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 9, 2012 Page 3 ratio, change in net assets, and debt service coverage. The City had maintained a strong financial situation over the last year. He also noted that the information from the Finance Department was good data and readily available to the auditors. Councilor Pishioneri asked about the grant funds noted in paragraph 3 of the Deficiencies Letter. Mr. Duey said the amount was an employee's fringe benefit that was charged to grant funding that should not have been. It was a very small amount. Mr. Glogau explained further. Mr. Duey said the adjustment would be made once they received permission from the Federal Government. Councilor Moore thanked staff for their hard work and for keeping the Council informed. Council took a five minute break at 6:45pm. Council resumed meeting at 6:53pm. ` 3. Progress Report for Main Street Pedestrian Crossings. Transportation. Planning Engineer Michael Liebler presented the staff report on this item. He introduced Carl Deaton, project manager from Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) who was available to answer questions. As a result of the Main Street Safety Study several pedestrian crossing projects were proposed along Main Street. Council endorsed the study early last year. Pedestrian crossing project progress had been made with advanced plans currently being produced for the 43rd Street/44th Street crossing. This crossing was scheduled to be advertised.for bids on March 8, 2012 with construction in the summer of 2012. In addition, construction of a second crossing was expected in the summer of 2013. Additional projects were being planned, vetted, and designed into the future as ODOT scheduled project development. Funds for implementation'were available in ODOT's Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP). .Challenges with business access concerns, project scheduling requirements, and other design . considerations had slowed the implementation of recommended improvement projects. City staff continued to work with ODOT, LTD, business and property owners, and concerned citizens to implement and develop safe crossing alternatives along Main Street. Mr. Liebler discussed the power point presentation that was included in the agenda packet. The Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) had granted ODOT $1M in State Bicycle/Pedestrian funds for pedestrian crossing improvements following a safety study along Main Street. The study identified 8 pedestrian crossings similar to the pedestrian crossings near 51St Street along Main, the first crossing constructed. ODOT identified 3 of the 7 remaining projects for evaluation and construction, with targeted construction in summer of 2012 including 34th Street, 41" Street, and 43rd /44th Streets. The 34th Street and. 41 St Street crossings were postponed to the next construction cycle due to issues with business access. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 9, 2012 Page 4 Mr. Liebler discussed the 43rd /44th Street crossing. There was a high concentration of pedestrian accidents located in this area with three fatalities. He explained where the original location for the crossing was sited. When the crossing was first sited, they realized more evaluation was needed to address a number of issues such as business access. He noted some of those issues as shown on page 5 of the power point slide (Attachment 2 of the agenda packet). He discussed some of the other options that were drawn out for this crossing. The other options also had issues that Mr. Liebler explained. Staff from the City and ODOT met with property and business owners to try to resolve some of the issues. He explained some of the options that were a result of that meeting. There were still concerns that were trying to be addressed. These issues showed how difficult it was to site a crossing due to the number of stakeholders in the area and the concerns of each. Mr. Liebler said the process goals of this effort included early buy -in from surrounding land owners and businesses, and to provide safe. crossings at study locations which minimized impacts to surrounding properties and businesses. The understanding was that leaving things status quo was unacceptable, so ODOT and City staff were trying to work with business and property owners as much as possible to address concerns. With any alternative, there would be impacts. In considering the entire evaluation process, a lot of time had been involved. They were now at a point where they needed guidance from Council on how to progress and move forward. Councilor Moore asked if they considered moving the crossing further west. Mr. Liebler said there were considerations of moving the crossing to the west, but that also affected business access and bus locations. Mr. Deaton said to the west were a lot of accesses to properties. with only one access that would be affected. That also put the crossing closer to the intersection of 43rd Street; which would. limit median space for vehicle storage for turning. Councilor Moore asked if the right -of -way for Main Street had been fully utilized. Mr. Liebler said the right -of -way was very small along this area of Main Street. The drawing of the original crossing was included in Attachment 2 of the agenda packet. Mr. Liebler said the other option shown was the far -east option. Councilor Ralston said he stopped by to look at the RV Store and their issues. He noted the issue of the length of the vehicles going into their site. He felt that was more of an issue than single access. He felt moving the crossing one way or another could resolve the issue. Mr. Liebler said one of the options they had worked on with the property owner was to move the access further west and the island further east,, which would allow the longer vehicles to make the turns. They had resolution on that option when they first talked with the property owner; but he had since pulled back from that option so further evaluation was being done. There were valid concerns and staff continued to work with property owners on a solution. There were still impacts, but they were less than impacts for other properties. Staff would work very hard to mitigate as many of those impacts as possible. Councilor Ralston said the crossing could be in front of the coffee shop. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 9, 2012 Page 5 Mr. Liebler said moving it in any direction caused other impacts. The best they could do was to measure the impacts and be as fair as possible. There would likely be calls' on all of the future crossings .as they would all include impacts of some type. Councilor Woodrow said when they met with the property owners, they looked closely at all options. Councilor Pishioneri thanked staff for their work. He also appreciated the involvement of the businesses. in that area. Safety of the citizens was the primary goal and concern. He would like to give staff the ability to work towards the best resolution. Councilor Moore said she assumed all of this would lend itself to slowing traffic down to some extent in the whole area. She noted how difficult it was to locate access to some of the businesses, and that it could be a benefit to businesses to have. traffic slowed down. It was scary to cross Main Street and pedestrian safety was the goal. She knew someone that was killed on Main Street and she thanked staff and ODOT for their work on this project. Councilor Woodrow said she had been very appreciative of everything she had been involved with in this project. It was important to recognize that there were three sets of stakeholders in this project besides the City: 1) A community looking for something to be done to address the safety issue; 2) . ODOT concerned with the traffic flow along Main Street; and 3) Businesses trying to address this without hurting their business. It was a balancing act and everyone had come to the table trying to find the best solution. It was important to recognize that everyone had tried to talk and work this out and find a balance. In the long run, once the eight crossings were in place, it would create a pattern that would be safer for pedestrians and drivers. With the new crossing at 51 St Street, she had become more aware of the crossing and pedestrians. It was moving in a good direction. Councilor VanGordon said for him it took going to the site and looking at the options. He appreciated staff and the councilors for taking the time to be involved in this project. Leaving it status quo was not acceptable. Building the partnerships between the stakeholders to find the best plan possible was very important and he encouraged staff to continue working with those stakeholders. It was also important to make sure the businesses stayed in business. Councilor Wylie agreed with Councilor VanGordon. Mayor Lundberg said she would like to look at this as an opportunity to look at that stretch of Main Street for pedestrians, cross connections, better signage, and broader openings to the businesses. It was a chance to be proactive in looking at how we wanted Main Street to look in the future. It would be better for pedestrians and businesses, and make the area more attractive. She knew that the other crossings would be very difficult. She encouraged staff to continue to work with the business owners to try to find resolution. 4. Sanipac Rate Increase and Volunteer Food Waste Program. Assistant Public Works Director Len Goodwin presented the staff report on this item. Staff from Sanipac that were present in the audience were General Manager Scott Johnson, Joe Wonderlick, Candelaria Sevcik and Adam Balough. Sanipac, the City's franchise hauler for solid waste, had requested an increase of 9.95 percent for residential and 7.95 percent for commercial hauling rates and to add a voluntary Food Waste diversion program for commercial customers. Finance Department and City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 9, 2012 Page 6 Public Works staff had reviewed the request and found it appeared to be reasonable, given the period of time since the last rate increase. Sanipac's rates had not increased since July 2009, when Sanipac passed through a fee increase imposed by Lane County to cover disposal of waste at the Short Mountain Landfill. Prior to that, the last increase in Sanipac rates occurred in May 2008. During that time, consumer prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, all Urban Consumers (Portland —Salem MSA), had increased by 6.79 percent. At the time of the 2008 adjustment, staff concluded that the increase at that time would provide an appropriate rate of return for a minimum of two years. Under the proposed increase, the rate for a 35 gallon container would increase $1.43, from $14.45 to $15.88, and for a 65 gallon container $2.09 from $20.95 to $23.04. For comparison purposes, the equivalent rates in Eugene, allowing for the $1.50 recycling credit, which was built into Eugene's rates, would be $21.45 for a 35 gallon container and $38.55 for a 65 gallon container. Rates for other cities were shown in the Council Briefing Memorandum Sanipac also proposed to institute a food waste diversion program as a service to its commercial accounts. This program, (which began in Eugene in November 2011) would allow Sanipac to divert food waste away from the land fill and allow participants to reduce the size of their trash containers. The rate for commercial food waste containers would be 20% less than a comparable trash container. A 1 yard food waste container would cost $65.52, and a 1 yard trash container would be $79.40. This program could allow a business to cut costs .by reducing the size of the trash container as a result of adding a food waste container. Staff recommended that Council approve the 7.95 percent increase in commercial and 9.95 percent in residential for San- ipac's hauler's portion of the solid waste collection rates for all categories of waste collection. Staff also recommended that the voluntary Food Waste program be made available to commercial clients. Mr. Goodwin noted that any increase during this economy was not a good thing, but the rate proposed was reasonable based on the financial situation of Sanipac. Councilor Woodrow asked if providing a discount for the food waste program was financially viable for Sanipac. Mr. Goodwin noted the many ways it could help to save money for Sanipac. Councilor Woodrow said she was in favor of the food waste program. She asked how long the proposed increase could remain viable before they needed to come back for another increase. Mr. Goodwin said it appeared to be viable for about three years. Councilor Ralston asked what percentage of Sanipac's increase was related to personnel cost. Mr. Goodwin said the overall percentage of personnel costs over the last three or four years was about 14 V2 percent. They were expecting about a 3 to 5 percent increase in the future. Councilor Ralston said other people were losing their jobs and taking pay cuts, and this increase was not acceptable. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 9, 2012 Page 7 Councilor Wylie said the effort to reduce the impact on the landfill should be lauded, but the increase on residential rate was another rate increase on our citizens. She felt a study on how much all rates paid by citizens had increased should be done. Sanipac's costs had increased, but the citizen's income had not increased. She was supportive of the land fill issue, .but not supportive of the. rate increase on residents during this tough economic situation. Councilor Moore asked if there were options for bi- weekly pickup for the 20 gallon cart and what was that cost. Mr. Johnson said there was not a bi- weekly for the 20 gallon cart, but there was a bi- weekly option for the 3 5 gallon cart. The bi- weekly for the 3 5 gallon cart was $10 /month. Mr. Goodwin said Attachment 3, although labeled Yard Debris, was for garbage rates. Councilor Moore said she wanted to encourage people to recycle more. She would like more of those options provided for individuals. She agreed with Councilor Wylie that increases on citizens were difficult. It was important that people had their garbage picked up, but she wanted options available. Mr. Johnson said only about 30 percent of the customers used the yard debris program. Sanipac could promote that service more to help people offset the cost by people downsizing their trash. Councilor Moore asked if they had figures on how many recycled. Mr. Johnson said at least two- thirds or more of those with service. Councilor Moore asked why the charge for the .2 yard container was so high in comparison to Eugene and other cities. Mr. Goodwin said Springfield's rate structure supported residential at the expense of commercial cost. It was somewhat opposite in Eugene where residential costs were higher. Mr. Grimaldi said that historically Eugene had gone through an elaborate rate analysis and had separated commercial from residential. Councilor VanGordon said he was surprised that depressed recyclable commodity values were included in the mix of key operating cost increases for Sanipac. He noted the amount of employee compensation that was being passed along to the citizens. He. would like to hear how they could keep the next increase from being ten percent to cover employee costs in the future. He understood there were increased employee costs, but the challenge was investing the money in away to offset some of those costs. Mr. Johnson said the employee costs included more than just salary, such as health insurance and benefits. Fuel was the second highest cost of doing business. The personnel increase looked large because of the number of years since the last increase. They did continue to work through efficiencies and rerouting to maintain stable rates. Councilor VanGordon asked what the employee raises in their contracts had been. Mr. Johnson said they had matched the consumer price index (CPI). City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 9, 2012 Page 8 Councilor VanGordon said moving forward we would still expect to see raises based on CPI. Mr. Johnson said they would try to manage the costs to the best of their ability. The commodity piece was also a big factor for them. He explained. Councilor VanGordon expressed his concern regarding linking commodity costs with personnel. Commodities seemed too variable to be used. Candelaria Sevcik from Sanipac said they looked at what market analysts anticipated regarding the fluctuation of commodities over the next few years. Historically, they did come back every three or four years. She acknowledged that those prices did fluctuate. Councilor VanGordon said he could see why the proposal was written, but felt the mid -range was a better choice. Councilor Pishioneri said he had seen the changes in labor and costs. He noted that the net operating income projections were significantly higher in the future which made him think the increase was too much-. He noted the many small increases citizens faced with all of the fees they were being charged that added up to a large amount. Sanipac had done a wonderful job for Springfield. He would expect that they would come to Springfield with the lowest figures they could come up with for their new rates. Mr. Goodwin said it sounded like Council wanted to look at an increase somewhere between the low and high range. Councilor Pishioneri said he would suggest Sanipac come back with a proposal that wasn't such a large increase. Councilor Woodrow said this was a lot when added to the other fee increases. She asked if it would be possible .to offer an alternative for single person households that did not generate a lot of waste, such as a bi- weekly pick up of the 20 gallon can at a discounted rate. She understood the rational for a rate increase. Mr. Johnson said they would need to look further into that option. Joe Wonderlick from Sanipac said they did have some alternatives such as the yard debris program. They could work with the customer service staff to find other solutions to better fit customers' needs. He noted alternatives used in other cities. Mr. Johnson said picking up a 20 gallon cart still required trucks to make the runs and gather the recycling. Springfield should be proud of their rates, and Sanipac would try to maintain good rates. Their staff would brainstorm some ideas. Mayor Lundberg said she would like Sanipac to bring some alternatives back to Council, and also a mid -range increase .rather than the high -range increase. Mr. Goodwin said he would meet with Sanipac to work on those objectives. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 9, 2012 Page 9 ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:04 p.m. Minutes Recorder — Amy Sowa ' Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest: 0 b'ZtJ�L Amy So City Recorder