Springfield City Council — November 15, 2021

0:04 all right i'm going to call the uh springfield city council work session to order with roll call mayor van gorden here councillors pitts here mo here bradley here woodrow air and pissionary yes thank you we have multiple items tonight which are all interviews it's everybody's favorite night here at city council looks like the first group up is for arts commission with emily good evening mayor and council um i'm emily david director of the library and the museum and i am here

0:50 to first introduce the candidate for the springfield arts commission so antonio uh jose antonio huerta is has applied for a second term he completed a partial term of i believe one year and um he is the one applicant to be interviewed this evening for the arts commission okay um before we are ready um i guess to clarify well one question and this may be a nancy question is the recommendation that we sort of do all the interviews for both nights and then settle on who goes to which board or do you want or should we be doing these as we go

1:35 well um mayor that's a good question because um i think overall in the process um there may be some candidates that um we have more applicants than open positions so um for for those where it's you know there's enough positions i think you could probably just go ahead and make that uh determination but it you may want also to it's up to to you really you may want to wait until you talk to everybody because if there is not an opening in in one particular area they may have an interest somewhere else too as we work through these boards and commissions all right so i'm going to look kind of around for the council for kind of head nods i think we just want to work our way through it especially places where

2:20 we don't have you know um where we don't have as many candidates as we do spots is maybe i'll check in and see if you guys want to head knob that this group looks good so that we don't end up at the end and have notes from 25 different you know folks to sort through um the other thing i was going to recommend tonight is just to let just just to let me ask all the questions so people can concentrate on um just writing notes that way we don't do the round robin um because there's a shorter list of questions right okay mayor just to clarify it with the arts commission there were three openings in one application and and antonio goes by antonio

3:09 um any other questions before we let antonio in here all right let's bring them on in antonio can you hear us i can hear you fine thank you hello um we're gonna go and do a quick round of introductions um and then we'll let uh then we'll we'll get to the questions so i'm sean van gorden i'm the mayor and we'll go by words real quick

4:01 i am damien pitts war one i'm steve mo ward two hurry rodney ward three hi antonio leonard stare award for merrily woodrow ward five no pationary on ward six which is the thurston area all right antonio the plan for tonight is i'm gonna ask the questions and these fine folks are gonna take some notes um so why are you interested in serving on the arts commission well um as a sort of newly uh resident of springfield i want to get in the community and particularly in the arts i think in general are um or

4:46 the the arts are underrepresented by people of color and um i would like to diversify share a little bit my experience um [Music] as an artist i am a charo or mexican horseman and i would love to bridge more connection and communication with the spanish-speaking community of springfield with the city so this this position is exciting for me on many levels um perfect could you describe your understanding of the role you will be serving on the arts commission and how it relates to the work on council

5:31 um i have um i have worked on or i have been on the arts commission for the past year i believe and while it is a learning process still i very much enjoy the the arts work and i think springfield has a lot of potential on many levels and again because of my particular interests in the arts and cultures this the idea of connecting bridging communication [Music] from the arts commission to the broader springfield community

6:17 is is a very strong interest to me and i'd love to see more underserved communities or more or people from underserved communities be more involved in these kinds of activities so i hope again it's it's a process but i hope that we can build more connections and i think the um serving on the arts commission provides an opportunity for that and what do you see as the current issues and challenges for the city of springfield as it relates to arts again i think the arts or um

7:03 people of color in general are chronically underrepresented particularly in the arts and um i think um the springfield or the city of springfield is no exception to that so again i'd love to to build more engagement and see see more people of color involved in the arts all right perfect um thank you so much we're going to let you go and then we're going to talk um a little bit about the appointment and then somebody will be in touch have a great night sounds good thank you very much

7:52 all right so um before we move on um i believe emily this was one one person for three spots correct so we're gonna yeah there's yeah there's two more spots i believe one is a partial um and one is a full term um yeah so i'm looking at the council to see if everybody's comfortable here or if they just want to wait on discussing it leonard i just wanted to say antonio has served the commission with distinction and he's a uh he's a mexican horseman i mean i i don't i don't see i don't see where i need to say anything else all right anybody else want to make some comments i see some thumbs up steve

8:38 we have a large latinx community in our our city and this would be a good addition to our arts for for their culture okay i'm kind of seeing some head nod so i uh corey yeah i'm totally supportive of reappointing um antonio to the arts commission all right so i think we can let him know and then you guys can plan on putting it on the agenda for the for a public hearing all right i think you are next with library advisory board emily you got the good deal you were both got yours back to back i'm actually one two and three tonight so you'll um here i am uh yes so this is for the library

9:23 advisory board uh we have two openings on the board one is a full term the other is the remaining two years of a term from somebody that had to leave earlier this year because they were moving we had three applicants one did withdraw because she got a new job so two applicants are interviewing tonight and the first one is robin louden hey everyone hello how are you good

10:09 well i'm gonna skip introduction since they didn't have you in the waiting room so i'm assuming you heard the uh first round if you will i did yes oh excellent um why are you interested in serving on the library advisory board yeah so i'm a public educator i'm a local public educator so personally very passionate about the library um and how it's not just a place for literacy but it provides a lot of other additional services um excuse me we're joined by both of my dogs as well tonight um so when i saw the opening um just it really fits into what i do i'm a special education teacher so in particular literacy is very important to

10:55 me and access to books and other services is important to me and then just personally the library during quarantine did kind of i don't know keep me very grounded and i feel like i owe it a debt of gratitude in some way but um yes that's those are my two main interests all right perfect describe your understanding of the role you'll serve on the library board and how it relates to the work on the council um that's a interesting question and so it's it's my understanding that the the library board kind of serves as like an advisory to the council so we would look at like policies and procedures and

11:41 then different fundraising goals um promotional access things like that um i think is like a special education teacher and a resident of springfield and a long time educator in the area you know i can bring a sense of how to like another community that could benefit from those services and advising on how to outreach to that community as well what do you see as current issues and challenges for the city of springfield related to library services i'm sure i mean i just think that like

12:26 usage and access are really key um i'm sure that we have you know a population that requires lots of supports that librarians are often providing and just making sure that those programs are well funded and that they're also accessible for a wider community so the disabled community the deaf and hard of hearing community the homeless community all of those different types of populations and how can we make sure that they have equal access to those services as well i'm sure it's a huge challenge right now all right great thank you very much

13:14 all right i think we're ready for the next person emily okay and so barbara von deither barbara i hope i pronounced your last name correctly is the next candidate hello barbara i'm working on it can you see me all right we can see you all right all right get that that light overhead all right how is everybody tonight oh we're doing great weren't you it stopped raining out here finally

14:02 all right are you ready for your questions i'm ready for my questions outstanding why are you interested in serving on the library advisory board uh i have been associated with libraries in my entire professional life um my first job was at utah state university as the assistant to the graduate dean and i was um monitoring all theses and dissertations that left the institution for the dean and my office was smack in the middle of the merrell library so i have a professional interest in libraries particularly the springfield library because of course now i am living in springfield and i'm on the outskirts um there isn't much room for springfield to expand much more

14:48 uh out the uh the parkway probably so the tax base is not going to increase that much that means your librarians who have done a wonderful job of getting the library through a pandemic this is only the second one since 20 18 let's see it would 1819 or 1918 it would be so the tax base is going to increase but when i look at the statistics for the library your wonderful librarians and the advisory board have brought this library through in one piece it's almost unbelievable you have the same staff as you had before you've got about the same amount of money it's apparently very well spent

15:35 however i think the library faces some problems coming up in the future as the population slightly changes here in springfield and there will need to be some adjustments to that collection and perhaps in the way services are rendered and i always like a challenge and i'd love to be in on that all right perfect can you describe your understanding of the role you will be serving on the library advisory board and how it relates to the work on council yes the lab usually an advisory board is not there to make decisions but to make suggestions um they take an overall view of the the way

16:21 the population in which it finds itself existing uh in other words the advisory board which is deliberately chosen from all over the city of springfield to make sure that each part of springfield is represented so what is the the objective of having them is to make sure that they understand and bring to the table the concerns of the specific area that they're representing me i'm representing the outskirts of springfield where there isn't much more growth to go but it's the only growth that springfield has available because almost everything else is in a flood plain so there will be a minor increase in the tax base coming into springfield from new construction

17:06 that means that the library is going to be constrained as are all public services by a budget that's not increasing it's going to be almost stable that's going to increase the pressure on everyone who is working for the library so again the advisory board is there to look at the overall situation in which the library finds itself takes into consideration all of the constituents parts of that and then comes up with advisement as to how the library should proceed to meet its commitments and what else do you see as current issues and challenges for the library number one is i think is going to be

17:52 budget as i said the tax base is not going to increase much because there isn't going to be that much new construction springfield is almost at build out uh out here where i am at the end of uh the bob stroud parkway there's a little bit of land to the left and the right of bob stroud parkway that can be built on but almost everything else is in a flood plain yes you can build in a flood plain but it imposes uh economic constraints on those who do it because the insurance and the floodplain is huge so i don't think we're going to see that much before springfield is theoretically at build out now what that means is no increase in the tax base or unless the taxes increase you're going to have to

18:38 go out and scrounge them up and you know how the public feel about raises in their taxes um i've talked to so many people through the years who don't understand that the taxes pay for the roads they drive on they pay for the schools those taxes pay for the police those taxes pay for the you know just about everything and people just take it for granted that those things are there they don't realize that the money they're sending in in taxes that's where it's coming from so they resent any kind of increase in the taxes because they don't understand that it's giving them the environment in which they find themselves um so without an increase in the tax base each person and each department of the city is going to have to

19:23 work very difficult very hard to stay within budget and find new ways to increase what they have now for the library is concerned i would perceive that donations and i'm not talking about books because most libraries get all the extra books they want uh as people donate their home libraries i remember we used to we used to had a problem with them but um as they as they become more constrained between increasing the collection and the fact that the tax base is not going to increase it's going to make uh every penny count is going to be a problem with with the library board and with the library staff

20:09 emily david by the way i want my commendations to her we're bringing this library through with eight employees what she started with it's unbelievable when i look through the statistics all i can see is a group of very nice people who have done a wonderful job bringing that library through a difficult time i'm impressed so my commendations to emily david for what she's done all right perfect that was the last question so we are going to let you go thank you so much for spending time with us and we will let you know what we decide okay thank you bye-bye oh god that was stupid

20:59 so just for the record i want to clarify that we do have 14 staff dedicated to the library specifically so that okay um do we want to talk about appointments now or do we want to uh wait on this one leonard um i'm i'm ready to talk about them now and jump into it what's your what's your all right so i um i i think uh you know what barbara is clearly very passionate about the budget about the city budget and i think it would be a great idea to have her back to apply for one of the positions on the budget committee when they come open um i was beginning to wonder if she was going to talk about books and uh she she

21:46 finally did and uh question number three but i think um that fine um you know robbins actually seems very passionate about education and books and i think that that might serve the library commission a little better emily sorry to interrupt i just wanted to make one clarifying point between the two candidates so barbara is from ward 5 and we have no representation from ward 5 and robin is from ward 3 and we do have a couple other people on the board who are from ward 3. um so i just wanted that to be part of the consideration all right thank you anybody else

22:36 yes go ahead merly yeah i think um barbara has had conversation i i enlisted her so i i'll i'll put my my name in there on that one uh looking for somebody to represent ward five um but i think barbara also got involved with talking to people in regards to the foundation which it makes her look at the budget and look at um issues regarding the library and and life and library services and stuff so i think that on her behalf i will clarify why her focus ended up being on that is that she attended some meetings and and her the conversation in regards to that so the focus from the meetings put her frame of mind into how do we how

23:22 do we keep and maintain and maybe even make better the library services that are available um so that that's that's her orient that was her orientation and that was that comes from conversation i had after she had gone to a meeting so just to clarify why that ended up being a focal point for her i'm comfortable with both applicants i think they i think they would both be do would do as well i support that joe thank you sean i'm totally fine with both applicants i think that she will add some diversification which we're all clamoring for within the committee and that um with her mind on even the

24:09 financing of it i think that that is be a valuable input in regards to conversations on that committee as opposed to everybody focused on one thing about you know people reading in books so i think there's more to the committee than just that so i support them both leonard are are there two openings yes yes then then absolutely both all right emily i think you've got your sort of marching orders to let them know and uh go ahead and uh write it up for the public hearing does the council want to make a recommendation on the two year versus the four year because one of them is a partial term

24:55 or do you want the board to do that joe i think i would recommend asking them which one would be interested in in the longer term than the shorter term to see and if you have a person that that prefers a longer term then i'm fine with that if you have a draw then i would ask to see if they have for example with the last applicant that potentially would be a great candidate for another committee that is more budget-focused but i would just ask them do you want to serve on the 4-2 and i'm good with either one that says either way all right okay outstanding

25:40 um i think we're ready for your third round so maddie mcgraw who's listed she has mondays off so i told her i'd be here anyway so i'm um i'm introducing the candidates for the museum committee and so the museum committee had three openings and received uh two applications uh from zach goza lewis and stacey roth stacy roth is reapplying she has had a um has completed a full term and i believe the first applicant is um uh let's see zach goes a lewis

26:26 hello zach hi mayor van gorden how are you today good how are you i'm doing well thank you um i'm gonna be asking the questions um so and then everybody else is going to be taking notes accordingly um are you ready to get started sure am thank you um why are you interested in serving on the museum committee looking at the mission of the committee i really identify with what they're trying to get across and not just getting folks into the actual physical space but being able to talk about the history and where the city has been where it's going and how we can use that as a really positive tool to connect the different populations i've been fortunate enough to hear the other folks have been interviewed and seeing the different areas the different communities that are growing i see that

27:11 museum being something that could be a centralized location utilized for events i know they do a lot of that already um but just having that space be more frequently traveled is the baseline but being able to take that and push it out for cultural events be in support and much like they did this month with the histam the hispanic heritage month excuse me for october being able to use that as a hub that when people say hey why are we doing this mirror well at the library we have an exhibit that talks about it you know at the museum we have an exhibit that talks about it so i see that there's just a lot of potential there um and see that there's a lot of things that hopefully i could be able to support with with my skill set and coming from a higher education background being at uo and also just being a springfield resident wanting to be involved i've lived here for about three and a half

27:56 years i moved to oregon four years ago and i just really find that there's a place within a library to utilize the museum apologies for that um that i would be able to utilize my skills and be in a good place to support the work they're doing all right um can you describe your understanding of the role you will have serving on the museum committee and how it relates to the work of the council absolutely um as i said i work in higher education and we love a good committee we love to have that involvement i serve on several at uo i'm one of the bigger ones is the campus planning committee and much like we would be doing here is we work within ourselves and hear different proposals and talk through different things but ultimately at the end of the day we provide recommendations up to the folks that are

28:42 the experts in that area so we bring in different contexts different areas of expertise and what we can do to ultimately advise and give a good suggestion i see that as the same thing within this position uh is being able to provide my content expertise and the ability i have i've got a pretty extensive history in marketing and corporate communications and pr and those sorts of things and community building and i feel like that really leans into what i could do to provide that context and to provide hey as a citizen but also someone as who works with young people and who recognizes the importance of folks recognizing their history how i can provide that context into consideration for the folks that ultimately make the decisions at the higher levels

29:28 great thank you um last question what do you see as current issues and challenges for the springfield museum i'm going to take a a gander a guest and say you know it's always going to be funding as something that is a non-profit base but is also you know donation based in what it does it's free to go in which i think is a fantastic resource and that should never change but finding and identifying donors people who would recognize the value how that can work in that's something that i do also within my work at uo and finding ways to get people into the space that was one of the first things when i moved to springfield that i was able to walk downtown from my apartment on pioneer parkway and go into the museum and be able to just walk through and just see and learn all of that and not just you know the simpsons aspect of it which was obviously needed as a kid in the 90s who grew up seeing that but seeing that there you know were

30:14 big springfield letters on the hill and reading about how mill street was main street and how all of these different things changed and it really just made me appreciate the city so much more as a new resident and i really want to encourage that for new folks who move to the area because we see that we see people come here and want to be a part of the community want to do things to improve it but recognizing that you can only improve what you know historically you've got to have an understanding and appreciation for what it is in order to want to make it better and i think that's what i see within is that if we can get more people to take a chance to see the space to know what springfield has been where it can grow that one location can do so much for new residents and i think that that's a huge opportunity

31:02 great thank you so much for your time thank you all thank you for your consideration we will let you know okay and i believe state stacey roth is in the zoom now so she's our next interview candidate hello stacy hi um i will be asking the questions tonight are you ready yes um why are you interested in continuing your service on the museum committee um i think the committee and the museum and maddie as a curator have really come a long way since she's been there they've got so much has been going on at the museum

31:48 and changed and improved but there's still a lot of work to be done and so i think for me to continue my term would just help me to see some of this stuff through that has already been started i'm born and raised in springfield and went on to college to get a history degree and so i have an interest in that area i've also volunteered at both the springfield museum and the lane county history museum so it's just kind of a side passion of mine and the being on the committee has been a really great opportunity to further that involvement and be involved in what the museum is doing and what they're trying to do in the future

32:34 um could you describe your understanding of the role you will have serving on the museum committee and how it relates uh to the work of the council yeah so that what we've been doing as the committee so far is really helping to support maddie and her work as the curator um and in supporting what she has as a vision for the museum and what what the council would like the museum to become and kind of taking those um ideas and putting them into place and so we as the committee have helped with different fundraising things and with the strategic plan and the implementation plan um and with different events that she has going on so i would expect that work to continue into the next term

33:23 and what you see is issues or challenges the museum is facing um i think covid was a big challenge for the museum obviously because they were closed and still working limited hours at this point so i think going forward as we get the covid situation under control will be a new challenge to kind of open back up to the public and do more events and outreach and build partnerships with other local organizations and business and also take on more fundraising with the library and on their own possibly you know starting new friends groups or what have you with the library and then always the museum's challenge is how to tell the history of springfield

34:11 in an inclusive way that makes it connect with all of the people of springfield and get them interested in history and also in the city right great thank you so much for your time um we will be in touch as we make our decision thank you um and emily i believe we have how many visit positions here two people for three positions right right okay um i'm looking at the council what do you guys think thumbs up yep yes i i see a lot of head nods for uh bringing them both forward so

34:58 those resumes have so much talent in them yeah exceptional yeah this committee has been amazing so um do you have what you need emily yeah that's all i need thank you so much are you sure you don't want to stay around for interview round number four i'm gonna let aaron take that one all right good night yeah you too thank you um so i'm here with the community development advisory committee we have four vacant positions uh we received three applicants uh for three of those positions are for

35:44 full uh four-year terms and one is for the remainder of a two-year term um so the three applicants the first one will be tinker slums um and i'll look to aj to see ya and aaron unfortunately i am not seeing her in the attendees list so if everyone's comfortable i do have savannah olsen um that i would be happy to pull up i think we're i think that would be a great idea great and i will continue to check the attendee list for tinker thank you

36:34 hello savannah hello all thank you for having us tonight to speak a little bit about these various committees well thank you for joining us um are you ready for the your first question i am why are you interested in serving on the cdac i think that my interest in the cdac is both professional and personal i am currently a masters of planning public policy and management student at the university of oregon and a full-time university of oregon employee in that education in that master's program in my education we of course cover a lot of material related to things like urban revitalization into you know the development of community spaces and how to do that in a way that benefits the community at large personally i'm also relatively local and

37:20 have lived in springfield for about a year now have lived in eugene for a long time and grew up relatively close to here and i see a lot of the the community needs um that we're that i you know i see that in my neighbors i see in our in springfield at large as being things that are very particularly relevant to this committee um so i think that i'm very interested in being involved um and contributing to my my local spaces and in helping our community to progress ideally in the ways that we all hope that it will in the next couple of decades thank you um could you describe your understanding of the role of cdac and how it relates to the work of the council yeah so i did a little bit of digging on

38:06 some of the more recent proposals that have been or looked at i was looking at some of the um some of the proposals about funding for home programs to support our own house populations so by my understanding this committee would largely be reviewing proposals like that uh in order to help make recommendations and um to the council about topics like uh unhoused population services um community development resources to support lower income neighborhoods low-income housing and topics like that which i think is something i'd be really excited to do a deeper dive into for springfield because it plays so well into my educational program and my personal interests and what do you see as your current the current issues and challenges for

38:52 the city of springfield i think that in terms of how it relates to this particular committee that springfield is facing a little bit of the same reckoning that the entire west coast is and that we are i think in oregon are at risk of turning into california and that we need to sort of look at how we would like our our neighborhoods to to develop and grow in ways that support the current populations that live there and not gentrify those populations out i think that we have an opportunity to do a lot of you know improvement and development of our neighborhoods and our community spaces uh but that doing that within the realm of um you know caution to our working-class families that currently

39:37 uh are present here is really essential and i think that that's also an incredibly difficult thing to do which is why it is going to be such a challenge as we as we do that kind of work in springfield all right um thank you so much for your time we'll let you know what we decide have a great night thank you in checking the attendee list um i still don't see tinker so i will pull up seth thompson perfect thank you

40:43 oh sorry about that can you guys hear me yes we can we can't see you yet all right sorry about that i was going thank you for having me hello seth thanks for being here um are you ready for your first question i am thank you why are you interested in serving on the cdac sure so um some quick background i grew up in uh thurston springfield um actually and uh so go through my whole life was a double duck so i have bachelors in journalism and communication from the university of oregon i worked in marketing and communications for about half a decade for local online online retailer and eugene i decided to go back to school and study uh community planning so i have a master's in community regional planning from the university of oregon

41:28 um and i basically the whole goal of of uh why i'm here today is to see if i can leverage my my skill set and the knowledge i have uh that to to aid the cdac and their goals and objectives which is in my opinion to provide better improved possible responsible housing opportunities for uh springfield citizens and so that's my primary focus today um real quick background about myself i'm currently an aviation planner for the oregon department of aviation um i've been there for almost two years um so it may sound like it's not related to housing in any way but um what i do on a regular basis is talk to counties cities uh basically municipalities all around oregon and um basically collaborate daily with

42:13 planners and so i understand basically how the language works i understand how code works and i have to basically read municipal code all the time to basically help the goals of my agency work with that of municipality and so i think that's kind of how i can kind of bring my applicability uh to this to this uh position uh prior to that i was a staff planner and associate planner with marion county up in salem and got to work a lot with local businesses um a lot of housing opportunities in the urban growth boundary of the city of salem um but a lot with you know just um everyday citizens farmers local businesses again it's basically helping them get to where they want to be in land use through land use and responsible land use planning

42:58 prior to that i was also a planning intern with lane county so i do have a little bit of local experience so again all of that the whole goal of my experience so far is to basically aid the cdac and pursuing his goals and obviously you know being from this town uh myself i want to see you succeed i've gotten to see you know just just so many uh so many new changes new good changes in both eugene and springfield since i was since i was small and i just want to further further expand that great thank you um can you describe your understanding of the role cdac has and how it relates uh to the work of the council sir sure so my my general uh understanding is the city receives hud's development block

43:44 ground funds and basically figures out how to allocate those uh responsibly for everything from housing opportunities uh to develop responsible development around the city and um the role of the cdac is my understanding we basically make recommendations to the city of council on how to allocate those funds um and so basically it sounds like uh the a council member current council number is present um i assume to kind of be the guiding light on the on the the on the committee uh and then the community members i'm from ward one um uh basically will provide their opinion based on their background and based on where they live and the goal is to get to a responsible conclusion

44:31 and what do you see as current issues and challenges around the work of the seat act for the city of springfield yeah um you know addressing affordable housing during the covered era i assume this is probably number one i have had an opportunity to review uh some minutes from a couple of the last city council meetings so i've gotten to see uh what's what's on the docket lately um and not just here but nationally it seems uh all the all the same so um and then number two is probably you know responsible land use development with limited land use inventory um so i have a pretty in-depth understanding of how oregon's planning program works i understand in depth how rubber growth boundaries work and how that relates to c limits and the complications with expansion and so forth so i get uh i get pretty well how that how the whole

45:17 process uh works and i understand that the city's probably in the middle of of dealing with that i've been following uh the newspaper just the the developments with the rfq for the glenwood river front development project and that has a ton of potential you know 99 acres is a lot to work with um but probably the toughest part is how to make the the toughest part of land is planning responsible and he's playing his organ is how to make the best use um but playing by the rules with an inventory okay and so um you know i stood at the the land use uh desk counter at marion county for for a year and so i understand you know the concerns and uh uh yeah just the concerns of everyday citizens and you know why they can't do something how they can do something so i

46:02 understand how to basically uh explain uh that process to everyday citizens um so the current challenges is basically trying to make uh springfield a place that a good place that accommodates the needs of both current springfield citizens and future citizens and um yeah affordable housing and responsible language development are probably number one and two i assume all right great thank you so much for your time um we will deliver today and somebody will let you know thank you so much doing one last check and at this time i still do not see a tinker

46:49 okay um so with the two folks that we have across four positions uh what what is your we're gonna have to go out for some more some more applicants obviously but what is your response to the the two folks we have joe i was confused whether we're selecting new employees or committee members but no they're meaning that they're very very well qualified and beyond so and plus when we have fewer applicants than positions then it really makes the decision-making process quite simple so yes

47:35 i'm good okay leonard i agree with counselor missionary it's an embarrassment of riches well let's take both of them all right steve i'm good too something i'm noticing all of our applicants tonight their university of oregon degrees they work the university of oregon or they're long-term springfield people that's wonderful anyway i support these two okay great um if unless anybody has any other comments i think we you've got all the info information you need right aaron yeah no thank you for these two i guess and maybe this isn't the right time to ask i know there's there are interviews next week i don't know if there's room

48:21 if we were to get a hold of tinker if there is room to interview them as well that night there there should there should be uh there should be room so i would be comfortable bringing tinker back if you can reschedule them okay great i'll try all right thank you so mayor um it appears our next um group is the historic commission unfortunately our staff person isn't here this evening um but as you can see from the ais there are currently two vacancies it appears we have one applicant um which i believe is leslie so um if the council is ready i am happy to get

49:08 that pulled up for you let's bring leslie on up hi hello um so uh we're gonna i'm gonna ask you a couple of questions and the rest of the council is gonna take some notes um are you ready to uh for your first question yes i am why are you interested in serving on the historic commission um i've actually wanted to do this since i moved to springfield i don't know six years ago um

49:53 i bought a house in the washburn and all of a sudden found myself in a house with a little plaque in the front and i started looking more and more into what that meant and i've it's been really fun kind of learning about the neighborhood and the history but even in the years i've moved here there's been a lot of change in the neighborhood and not the change is not good but it certainly shifts the stories people are telling and um it really kind of put into perspective how fast places do change how fast populations change and um how news stories get told so uh that's i think important in springfield in that what we preserve and what we mark as

50:38 history is just really important to reflect on i also work at the ufo in the geography department and another way i've kind of engaged with the information is to um i've actually signed walking tours using some of the information on the website i tried to do some other activities with this and i find that students it's not very engaging for students and i uh the stories feel very they're important and students like them but the materials are very kind of um i guess they're not engaging right and so i want to find ways i'm really interested in ways about how places tell stories about themselves and how you can kind of engage different populations in

51:23 that um and to be honest like this has been a big issue nationally not that we have the same kind of controversies here that other places have seen but it's really making people ask those questions like what are we preserving and why so all right so could you describe your understanding of the role of the historic commission and how it relates to the work of the council um [Music] so i have the historic commission meetings have actually been when i teach a class every term so i haven't actually seen any of the meetings but working with historic commission to me it it sounds like being able to bring

52:08 together kind of ideas i would say talking to the community and kind of bringing people together to make suggestions to what the city council does have jurisdiction or purview over and then but being able to really think about bringing people in talking to the historic commission and then deciding as a community how we want to move forward with that information and what are the current issues and challenges that you see regarding historic preservation for the city of springfield um so kind of kind of what i already said is is how we're putting how we're talking about springfield and how we're talking about the history of springfield which is great there's a lot of rich history

52:54 here but i think creating a more inclusive uh i keep using this word stories but creating that a more inclusive story that brings this really diverse community together in ways that uh i think are really needed um yeah that would be it okay um i'm gonna add one follow-up question based on your response sure um you mentioned that you teach a teacher class when the commission meets are you going forward are you able to attend uh the historic commission meetings so i asked about that when i was um applying for this and i was told that it might be possible to move those times i it's a

53:39 professional development or career readiness class that is taught college-wide so it's hard for me to change those times but i can figure things out too okay okay now i appreciate you uh adding some commentary to that yeah um we're gonna talk through this and then we will definitely let you know okay great thank you thanks you too all right what questions do you guys have or comments would it be possible to talk to the chair of the historic commission whoever that is just about how logistically difficult it would be to

54:26 adjust the start time of the meetings um i don't know damian i don't know if you have more information you can share on that is uh well they're at 10 o'clock so i don't go to them either i just you know if i need to speak to somebody or whatever i'll shoot an email can't really say i've done that much yet but i mean i do read the notes and i think that you know as we move forward and think about equity we're going to have people who can't be at all these meetings and that's what technology is for so let's use it for some good to be able to diversify these boards and commissions so yeah um if i can make a recommendation here and see what people think of this is maybe

55:12 we can let damien connect with the historic commission chair and kind of have a conversation about are they moving at 10 a.m is a hard meeting time for a group of volunteers to make everybody yeah yeah and maybe and before we before we just put um put somebody up maybe we we can have you give you a little bit of space to have that conversation and talk about the logistics of changing would that work sounds good yeah i'll do it i mean i i think they're pretty open because i mean i went to one or two meetings before they switched to 10 o'clock and so i'm sure that if they did a poll that it might be uh easy to move it uh but if not i mean i personally don't think that should be

55:57 a reason why somebody should be kept from being on it she looks like a great candidate yeah yeah i just want i just think maybe we should know what we're all getting into before the deals are done all right um are there any other comments all right aj so um what i'm hearing if with your permission is i will reach out to the staff person and see if we can send out a poll to the committee in regards to changing um their meeting time um intel i have information on that are you and i'm sorry if i missed it are you

56:43 holding off on on requesting an appointment yeah so let's hold like let's hold on the historic commission until uh until next monday we're gonna have end up having a longer conversation with um about uh committee appointments because that s pac uh committee appointments like they've got extra folks so i could see that the conversation after we interviewed them kind of going a couple of different ways um and maybe we could revisit this uh the historic commission at that point perfect thank you yeah uh i have a point of contention nobody else was asked they could make these meetings and so we can't assume that based off of them being in the afternoon that anybody who applied would be able to make the meetings and it just

57:28 happened that she was forthcoming with it and so if we're doing that for the historic commission then we need to do it for everybody it's only fair don't go ahead joe i i i have to agree i think you know we've always been trying to be accommodating but to switch the pitch for the organic whole organization because a meeting doesn't fit an applicant's schedule not that i'm saying she's not appropriate applicant but the schedule was there present prior to her application and that would be something if um i mean that's their determination i mean it's like if they can't make a meeting

58:13 they can't make a meeting and should not even be applying if they can't do it um otherwise again like damian said then if we're going to apply a special circumstance for one applicant then that's just every applicant that comes that that applies then should be given that same opportunity and we can start switching around to meetings all the time i don't i don't understand the logic behind it so that's just me all right and then we'll go to merrily i think i saw her hand wave here well i i hope i'm not putting words in counselor pitz's mouth but i think he was saying that you should go ahead and put her on the council despite the fact that she or on the uh commission despite the fact that she can't make the meetings is that right councilor pitts that's exactly what i was saying i mean

58:59 it's not like people are fighting to get on any of these committees as we see uh and if somebody wants to you know be a part of something we should give them an opportunity i'm gonna go merrily first and then joe yeah um first i just want to say that i didn't get the impression from her that she felt entitled yeah you know that she she didn't come across like well i can't make the meeting so you know she asked ahead of time if it was gonna if it would be possible um and so she's willing to see how it might work um and i think we owe her the same courtesy back um and if she gets on it and she finds out that she's not as purposeful in in

59:45 the position um because she doesn't have the time then she can make that you know she can make i get i feel comfortable that she could make that decision but at the same time a lot of these com committees historic commission included do things outside the meetings that she would be perfectly capable of uh taking care of so i i'm comfortable with going ahead and having her appointed and and see how it works joe and then i'll go back to steve yeah so it's on the application if they can make the meetings right and so and she indicated um i can see it here i think she indicated she can

1:00:31 but i and i'm not trying to exclude her leonard it just it just and i acknowledge what damian said maybe i just said it different words uh i'm just i'm okay with she wants to be on the committee i'm okay if she can make the meetings that's great um but i'm i'm just saying is i don't think we should shuffle meeting times around because one person may have difficulty making a meeting that's all i'm not i'm trying to exclude her and say hey join but but also keep in mind that if we're appointing this person and handing her off to where staff may now have to deal with an attendance issue then we're going to be faced with a shortage or another posting down the road that causes more staff time too that's fine but i just didn't want to see a bunch of

1:01:17 committee meetings reporting times and dates etc to be shifted around because we have a scheduling issue for one applicant when they know going in that these are preset meetings and times that's all all right steve uh i've been on a lot of committees and within the committee we will sometimes shift a little bit to make everybody get there on time and it happens a lot i'm sure it could happen in this situation too so i would let better be on there but the other comment about damien says about people being on committees and not having to go go to the meetings i don't like that because they vote on issues and if they haven't been at the meetings to get the information make a decision

1:02:03 uh that's awkward to me okay so let me recap what i've heard and see you know um if uh if i've got it right so it sounds like people like hey she's a great candidate right and the issue of scheduling just happened to come out based on her answer right so let's just all recognize that that it just we happen to stumble into this um it sounds like the preference of peop for folks is let's put her on the committee and then let the committee sort it out and if we still have if we if it turns into an issue if you will then we can figure it out at that point am i hearing i'm looking around and i'm yep and then okay aj it sounds like we have a change of plans got it

1:02:52 thank you very much don't worry we'll keep you on your toes all right um i think that was the last one so our regular meeting is not until seven so we will um i'm gonna adjourn this meeting we will be on the same link and then we can reconvene at seven we are adjourned thank you everybody okay

1:04:14 i'm going to call a city council work session to order our city council regular session to order with roll call mayor van gorden here councillor pitts here councillor mo here councillor rodley here counselor here councilor woodrow here and counselor pissionary here all right everybody please join me in the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america into the republic the republic for which it stands for understands one nation one nation under god indivisible indivisible with liberty and justice for all

1:05:01 as we begin our meeting tonight i would like to ask members of the audience who are joining us online to please keep yourselves on mute until you are called to provide public testimony there is one time this evening designated for public testimony and that will be listed as business from the audience on the agenda if you're joining us from uh online with a tablet smartphone or computer and wish to speak during that time please use your raised hand feature when the agenda item is called when we call on your on you please state your name and award our general location for the record all right next item please mayor the next item is springfield upbeat we have one item it's mayor's recognition

1:05:50 all right if you can bring it up and interim chief hipple if you wouldn't mind putting your camera up we have a surprise guest everybody it's chief heppel and [Music] trying to get my camera to come up

1:06:46 hey there we go hey well thanks for joining us i am going to ask neil because i don't have what we're bringing up is this the fire problem nancy wanted me to talk to you about mayor it was it was pressing sorry we're having a couple of technical difficulties on this side how how good you're seeing a show tune

1:07:32 uh chief apple to uh all right we're going to give it about 30 more seconds and then we're going to improvise we're going to go off script here um so as many of you guys as many people know uh chief heppel has been serving serving as the interim chief of the fire department um we brought him up here tonight as

1:08:18 part of mayor's recognition um so that we could present him for as a letter uh with a letter and uh thank you for all the additional work uh that's what we're working on bringing up right now so while we're waiting i'm gonna go ahead and read it and then i will open it up to the council to say um nice things about chief apple um because all right on behalf of the springfield city council and the city council a city of springfield leadership it's my honor tonight to recognize eugene springfield fire chief chris heppel's exemplary service as intern chief chief heppel was selected to serve as the interim fire chief and lead the department providing critical fire and life safety

1:09:03 services for the communities of springfield and eugene over two and a half years he served the challenges facing our committee communities reached historic heights chief heppel's experience commitment leadership our instrumental in helping to ensure our community's needs were always at the forefront of every decision during his tenure as interim chief heppel took the responsibility of incident command for coven 19 in the holiday farm emergency operations center he oversaw the rollout of cobit 19 vaccinations with eugene springfield fire personnel providing vaccine doses to more than 1900 individuals on-site at the emergency services

1:09:48 training center he was also at the helm for the oregon firestorm and supported an agency that went on eight wildfire configurations in one season in addition to leading during the pandemic in historic fire seasons chief heppel never lost sight of the day-to-day needs and goals he oversaw the replacement of critical fire safety equipment was instrumental in successful iaff contract negotiations and improved relationships with the rural fire service agencies through his work with the lane fire defense board he also developed budget a budget reduction lens for the department which focuses on sustaining vital internal support services expanding entry-level employment access

1:10:35 while maximizing employee retention and retaining direct service delivery he reallocated basic life support service personnel to the springfield community to improve service chief heppel is currently the second vice president for the oregon fire chiefs association and remains a dedicated public servant with eugene springfield fire for some leadership is a learned skill refined over years for chief heppel leadership's an innate skill set the communities of springfield and eugene have greatly benefited from it's an honor to know and work with chief heppel and i'm grateful we have the right leader at the right time to serve our communities thank you and i'm going to open this up here in a minute but i just wanted to

1:11:20 say on a personal level right it we're i'm really grateful that you've been leading the department the last two and a half years um and you know answering every question and helping us through some of the hardest times this community's ever known so thank you i'm merely yes um you kind of squeezed the whole career into two and a half years there's i don't think there's anything you didn't do in the last two and a half years or that you weren't confronted with in the last two and a half years and i i personally and speaking on behalf of the community springfield community couldn't be more grateful for the

1:12:05 responsiveness the um the personal touch that you put on everything and how much you cared um and the leadership because i know that there were times when i there have to have been times when you were just reaching out as much as in your own mind as to what to do next or how to make the next decision so i thank you very much you've been a phenomenal example for everybody underneath you um to see what can be done and how well it can be done so thank you and we're gonna miss having you as chief thank you council

1:12:52 chief i'm gonna i uh sorry i'm already gonna apologize but i'm gonna take a little bit of time um this man had uh i'm not gonna apologize i'm gonna take the time i need um this man had got this job dumping it dumped in his lap almost overnight he grabbed it i'm sure he said a few words and went okay well here we go and i gotta tell you now i during the fire for example the chief and i i was i was in his presence or every day um during that entire fire season pretty much without exception i think chris and i watched him perform and i watched him keep his he was steadfast and his

1:13:37 decisions were solid he didn't guess at anything they were solid but i'm also going to steal a little of his thunder because you know a guy like him uh the the our agency our firefighters um it wasn't it wasn't him it was our firefighters that did an exceptional job all the time and they did it for him as well as themselves he brought up that standard that um that made them shine and made them perform exceptionally and so my hat's off to the firefighters that work for him because they do respond like that and it causes and that's only because of that type of leadership that he displayed i'm very impressed i'm very impressed with our firefighters and i think that that he was a key component as to

1:14:23 how our firefighters performed because i got to tell you though just like cops they'll perform like their leadership performs really and so uh that being said so uh seeing him every day i i was just amazed as to how what an exceptional job he did and how much care he put into it and then moving from one catastrophe to the next and then to turn around and you ask the man to to be uh in a chief position for two and a half years which is brutally long to ask and darn near cruel to ask a person to perform in that position and then at that performance level for that length of time that in itself shows the stamina and the um the carry hash of this committee

1:15:09 regardless of his own personal uh well-being for that matter um so he put his his job our city before himself obviously um so if it sounds like i'm saying a lot of praise and etc um a whole bunch it's because that's exactly how i feel he he did an exceptional job and i and i watched it it wasn't someone else telling me it wasn't something that i've heard and it wasn't because something came out on the other end is oh okay we're okay now so he must have did a good job i watched it so i'll say as a witness that that we have an exceptional person here and that his staff are exceptional because of him there i'm done

1:15:59 so everything has been said i also deeply appreciate the leadership and the stability that chi pepple has brought to um a very challenging time and a somewhat challenging police depart or police department that a somewhat challenging fire and life safety department and in addition to what's been said i've also really appreciated the candid conversations prior to my joining council your presentations at budget committee and just being able to just talk about the real things in really accessible ways and not shy away from any of the challenging questions and talk about what was really happening and the real issues that were going on were is so

1:16:45 incredibly helpful for me and i also feel another way of serving the springfield community by letting us all see and be a part of that and um just trusting us with the real information and so i really appreciated that and i have said more than a couple times to nancy couldn't we just keep chief huppel and she has made it clear that that was not in your plans something can we just keep the chief he's doing such a great job so thank you i've appreciated working with you and i just wish you the very best yeah to what everybody else has said i just want to give my gratitude as well i there had to have been times that you were thinking i didn't sign up for any

1:17:30 of this um and so i want to say without um without any fear of seeming melodramatic at all you and your men and your i'm sorry your firefighters your your women as well um you you may have saved this town and so it i i feel immense gratitude toward all of you and um thanks for your service chief all right well we're going to get you a copy of the letter um you know and again really thank you so much um you know i appreciate you jumping on in in a in a moment you know to

1:18:17 to to be recognized yeah and thank you to uh your new mayor as well as some counselors and to the city manager nancy and uh it's been a privilege certainly it's just sit in this seat and dealership for a little while has been very educational and enlightening and you know expanded my own knowledge and experience and uh counselor missionary is right and that is it's the team that brought this whole thing together that that fundamental leadership could only to surround yourself with good people and they're going to take you to places and that's exactly what they did so certainly i tip my hat to the team and i look forward to continue working with that great team as well as all you all um here in the future

1:19:12 all right next item please mayor the next item is the consent calendar somebody says anything we'll make a motion that we approve the consent calendar right again all right it's been moved by councillor mo and seconded by counselor missionary neil could you call the role please yes counselor pitts aye councilor mo yes council radley yes sponsor aye councillor woodrow yes encounter pissionary hi all right the motion passes six to zero next item please uh next item you have no public hearings this evening so your next item is business from the audience all right we'll give it a minute to see if there's any hands that pop up

1:20:03 and if you're interested in testifying now would be the time to raise your hand and neil can call you up i am not seeing anybody neil yes mayor we don't we do not appear to have any hands this evening for business from the audience okay uh next item please the next item then would be business from the city council any updates i'm looking around any updates from council all right very good on next item please the next item is business from the city manager there's two items the first one is the georgia pacific natural area 2021

1:20:49 master plan and monica sather is here for the staff report good evening mayor and counselors um i'll just take a moment to recap why we're here for this item the request before you to adopt the master plan comes from the city's co-ownership of the property along with willamalane and the springfield utility board the version of the master plan we discussed at the june 28th work session about whether the plan reflected the city's interest as a co-owner remains virtually unchanged since that work session and to recap those interests they were to make sure the plan afforded opportunities to maintain and improve water quality and adequate flow levels um especially with our streams and rivers adjacent to the property another interest was to manage

1:21:34 vegetation um another to manage and enhance wetlands to partner with our environmental services division on educating park visitors was another big one and lastly to make sure public access to the site remains convenient and improves while remaining safe and also respecting neighbors the only changes in the version proposed for adoption are the addition of the agency logos you see on the cover page um and as well uh a statement that clarifies the timeline for the equestrian pilot program which willamelain is continuing to evaluate an immediate outcome of adopting the master plan will provide the framework for the terms of the equestrian use in a longer term broader intergovernmental agreement for the property and that's

1:22:21 your next agenda item from the city attorney's office who will speak to the status of that agreement the longer term outcomes could be grant funding design changes we may see in the future and renaming the property if this gets adopted with that i'll just say thank you for your time this evening and for your time on this overall effort i can pull up any visuals with the document um included if helpful and wanted to mention we also have christina beau william elaine's project manager for the master plan and eric adams um the planning parks and facilities director at willamelain in attendance they're also available to answer questions if you have any and i'll leave it with that and want to open it up to any questions you have for us before making a motion

1:23:06 there any questions a document fantastic document a lot of work thank you and thank you to lamalene um they lifted that and yeah appreciate that very good um steve i think we're ready for a motion okay i'll make a motion that we proved a resolution adopting the georgia pacific natural area 2021 master plan second all right uh it's been moved by councillor mo and seconded by counselor pictionary i'm neil could you call the role please counselor pitts all right councilor mo yes council rodley yes councillor stare aye councillor woodrow yes and counselor pictionary all right

1:23:55 promotion passes six to zero next item please uh next time is any other business from the city manager thank you nancy then our next item is business from the city attorney we have one item there item number one extension of equestrian pilot project at the georgia pacific natural area christina kras is here for the staff report good evening mayor and council this is related to the item that you just voted on to adopt the master plan for the same property the georgia pacific natural area this is just a fourth extension of the intergovernmental agreement that we've had in place that allows the pilot

1:24:41 program for equestrian uses to continue we will um elaine and sub and the city will be working together on a long-term intergovernmental agreement for management of the property it will depend on the sub board's decision regarding whether they want to continue as joint owners or figure out a path forward with the city of molana lane as the only joint owners moving forward and there's no proposed changes to the intergovernmental agreement except the timeline this is um [Music] something that sometimes would be on consent calendar but wanted to make sure that it came after your approval of the master plan because if you didn't approve the master plan then we may make changes to the temporary iga i'm available for any questions that you might have

1:25:28 any questions i'm gonna try to raise my hand um but it was easier to just raise my hand so this is a pilot program and is it an existing pilot program um because i know there's been like equestrians on whatever whatever that lamborghini is and people riding horses down there so i'm curious as to how long it's been a pilot program how long it may continue to be about pilot program and this is all i'm asking all the questions i'm pulling a joke and um what what what are the issues that might be keeping it from becoming a not pilot program yeah i'm happy to answer those questions

1:26:14 so this was um originally put in place in may of 2020 um that was the first time the intergovernmental agreement um allowing for the pilot program before that there was uh apparently equestrian use that was ongoing without permission of any other property owners and so in response to feedback from the community well emily decided to ask for the city and and subs agreement to a pilot program to allow some temp at least on a non-permanently approved basis but a pilot basis the equestrian use so there's no change to the way that that has been going since may of 2020 that program has been extended in september of 2020 and then again in

1:26:59 january of this year to allow more time for the city of willamelain and sub to work together to figure out how long-term equestrian uses may or may not be allowed at the property and so that is what we will be working on in the next year now that the master plan is adopted that talks about how some of those equestrian uses might be accommodated it allows us to have a more specific discussion about what does that look like long term and what parties should have what role in that making that potentially permanent and the city council will ultimately approve um that long-term iga that will come before the council for um input and approval so we hope that within the next year that's that's the goal of this extension is to to allow a year and certainly if we get that agreement done earlier we

1:27:45 can terminate this um pilot program iga when the new new permanent iga takes effect and while lamalane and sub have already approved this fourth extension so we're the last to bring it to our approving approving entities thank you no problem all right are there any other questions joe you're on mute joe i decided to raise my hand to tease corey i don't have a question thanks [Laughter] don't be nervous there it's because you don't have a question if you had four questions you'd be all about it right hey you ready for me now

1:28:31 yes please always okay i'll make a motion and we authorize the city manager to execute an amendment to the intergovernmental agreement iga for a pilot project allowing the lima lane to provide escort services at the georgia pacific natural area i couldn't pronounce it you know what i mean second whatever he said all right it's been moved by councillor mo and seconded by counselor pictionary uh neil can you call the role please yes councillor pitts all right councilor mo yes council bradley yes councillor stare hi counselor woodrow yes and counselor pictionary all right all right promotion passes six to zero

1:29:16 um next item please any other business from the city attorney's office there is no other business all right then it sounds like we were done for the evening thanks everybody very much have a good night thank you good night everybody