Springfield City Council — October 3, 2022

0:06 all right I'm going to call the Springfield City Council work session to order with a roll call Mayor Van Gordon here councelor pittz councelor Mo here councelor rodley here councelor stair here councelor woodro and councelor pisher here thank you my councelor woodro is excused and uh Damian just hopped on can you hear us hi I'm here and and councelor pittz is here we have one item for the work session this evening it is a Springfield Municipal Court treatment initiative with judge Tierney and we're going to have the judge come up and take us

0:59 away I'm here today to discuss the treatment Court initiative and to request guidance as to whether or not this would be an Endeavor that is worth pursuit in the City of Springfield I have corresponded with Miss Knights and we have a PowerPoint to briefly address our road map for tonight and what I would like to request guidance upon briefly to ensure that all parties are aware of what treatment court is and the background we will discuss where it originates the pro the most U the most common crimes in the City of Springfield and how this court believes that a treatment Court would help Springfield the primary hurdle of course would be funding we'll have a brief

1:45 discussion about that how operations would work and the guidance that I'm requesting from you in reviewing the quickest way to really break down what a treatment court is I found two very quick videos from Nation from the National Drug Court Resource Center that will take 3 to four minutes of your time and should briefly lay out what a treatment court is

2:30 nice every morning as we bring in multimedia into our

3:25 hey Leonard can you can you hear it at all okay that's really small so we're we're going to bring the judge back up and have him give us the uh give us the cliff notes of the cliff notes here and we'll we'll continue to work through our our our technology challenges thank you these two videos they briefly break down what treatment courts are treatment courts are an alternative avenue versus the traditional Criminal Justice System versus placing and incarcerating an individual this places a person on probation with a treatment Court team that would include a supervised that would include a probation officer Court

4:11 supervisors dedicated treatment staff such as uh certified alcohol and drug counselor as well as a case manager and other ancillary individuals who would encourage an individual sobriety and treatment when an individual enters into treatment Court they engage in a contract with the court that they are going to do treatment Court as part of their probation instead of for example spending 90 days in custody the this type of treatment has been um established through uh first the first treatment Court occurred in about 1989 in Miami Florida there's a number of treatment courts throughout the country and essentially this method of encouragement has been shown to reduce

4:56 recidivism and to demonstrate a stronger community resource versus the traditional modes of incarceration I believe that um the second video would discuss how how drug courts work and essentially the criminal or the city prosecutor would find a particular charge that would apply to an individual now we all know that measure 110 decriminalize most drug possessions so this would would apply to property crimes and other crimes that have an ancillary basis in drug controlled substance abuse and or other drug issues once the city prosecutor identifies those particular cases they're referred and discussed with the

5:41 defense attorney and then a treatment Court can be an option this does not work for every individual but it will work for some and it will provide them with a treatment opportunity for the individuals who need dead treatment moving on to background here uh treatment courts have been established 1989 as stated earlier there are 26 in Oregon there are three in Lane County a veterans court a mental health court and a drug court those Target primarily downward departure cases and major felony property cases that come out of Lane County a number of counties in the state of Oregon have two or more treatment courts and they've been established throughout the nation a an example court for the City of

6:26 Springfield would include veterans and would really focus on menal Health as well as a substance abuse prong Miss kns uh we have some brief notes on Effectiveness as when I was researching this matter the Lyn County Oregon judicial Department was able to provide statistics that the number the costs using a treatment Court reduced the amount of money spent by a community from $96 a day to $9 a day when targeting the correct individuals I'll talk about high-risk High needs Matrix as well as how this program versus the

7:11 traditional criminal justice model of incarceration without Services reduces recidivism and equates to a different scenario where we have individuals that are effectively monitored by probation officers that'll be one of the keys that I talk about shortly and that would be a new prom where we we have a supervised uh a probation officer who supervises directly these high-risk High needs individuals and we address the highest category of offenders and I will discuss that as well numerous articles statistically showing that these type of program programs do work SS we'll we'll talk about now the the level of crimes here in the City of Springfield what might be interesting to the city council is the number of

7:57 arrests that we have 2021 241 duii arrests 2020 277 and before covid 336 duii arrests approximately a day I can attest that during this week I received a call every night for warrants regarding particular uh regarding particular duii calls and there certainly active and part of the uh Springfield Municipal Courts arraignment docket are daily duii calls the second the most primary charge is Criminal Trespass Criminal Trespass one and Criminal Trespass 2 duii is the second most commonly charged crime followed by

8:45 disorderly conduct with in the most recent data I have is 2019 with 320 arrests and theft in the third degree and theft in second degree with 511 combined arrests in 2019 as I prepared for this matter and I spoke to the Lane County District Attorney's office delivery possession and Manufacturing cases that came out of the city of Springfield is 751 over the course of 2019 to 2021 demonstrating that there is certainly a large drug population and need here in our community um we're also looking at the DUI matters that were charged within the city 217 in 2021 DUI cases 262 in 2020

9:32 and 338 in 2019 this nights now the problem here with these number of cases is that when an individual is placed within the city of Springfield's uh the Court's Juris jurisdiction the court is the primary probation officer I'm the individual that is responsible for making sure that they are paying their fees and or complying with any court ordered treatment however the problem here is that the court has very minimal treatment opportunities unless there's a duii which is required treatment under 813.010 there is no mandated substance abuse treatment the Court's primary issue here is that we see these

10:18 individuals who have this substance abuse problem cycle through our system and that is one of the primary Reasons I'm requesting guidance because I do not have a method or at least Le any opportunities to work on addressing this with our our community no engagement no direct engagement with individuals to encourage their their Community engage their Community involvement such as job services housing or education and statistics have shown that persistent incarceration does not necessarily interrupt the criminal cycle I can attest that I do see the same individuals very frequently this nice now focusing on why I'm requesting Guidance the court believes that a

11:03 treatment Court could benefit Springfield for a number of reasons and I would like to focus primarily on this risk need Matrix that we will also address but to briefly touch on a a court of this nature would focus on a number of individuals that are the highest risk highest need risk meaning they're most likely to continue their criminal activity need meaning they need services that person would come into the court either through a deal with the city prosecutor or because of the Court's own probation determination and be placed on supervised probation the key here is that we' have an officer that's dedicated to ensuring this individual is working on their sobriety working towards getting a job

11:49 in housing and not associating with other drug offenders Andor criminals and that they have to come back to court every week or every other week as the treatment needs dictate we believe that this model as it follows the drug court model would have provide direct accountability to the court we would be able to tackle this highest risk highest need of our population to make sure that these DUI offenses come down and we're targeting that or at least we're addressing the individuals who have that highest need as stated mandated treatment alcohol drug and mental health treatment emergence we'll talk about as well has indicated that they're happy to play a major role in this program to

12:34 discuss whether if there's guidance uh to discuss how they to discuss the treatment drug and mental health otherwise judge do you want to do you want us to hold our questions or I'm happy to have a a back and forth Leonard okay um thanks I'm I I'm I'm very much uh interested in this presentation I um I I wanted to find out on this mandated treatment that we're talking about is it going to be funded At All by the city or will the person in the drug court the uh the person that's being treated will they have to pay for it themselves counselor in one of my later slides we speak about funding and we

13:21 talk about how that would work certainly the goal is to have the individual maintain a job and become a dedicated taxpaying member of our community each individual will be different and I can certainly attest that restitution would always be required and whether or not court fees are required would be uh relate to each particular individual and their circumstances um I can tell in I can tell you Mr St that in my previous history that individuals usually had to pay some portion to show that they are demonstrating and maintaining a tax responsible association with our community it would so it would be sort of a sliding scale based on ability to pay to

14:06 pay Leonard I he's got about twoes he's got more more slides okay that's fine thank you and that mandated treatment that was stated an emergence would dictate the using their cadc as well as their mental health and drug counselors treatment to make sure that these individuals are progressing where ensuring clean time and we are making sure that they are becoming productive members of society the key here with the probation officer and with the court is that we're holding individuals accountable someone who is not appearing to the court will receive a warrant and we will make sure that we address that matter in the court now the key to this matter is the risk and need

14:52 Matrix so I know that this this is a new term most likely and that is risk and need Matrix is a is a screening system that is used throughout the country to identify the correct individuals as some counselors know there used to be a drug treatment Court of some kind in the City of Springfield this was a diversionary court that targeted the lowest risk and the lowest need that is the opposite of what we are looking for we want to Target the individuals that are most likely to commit egre egregious criminal actions in our city so we would use this management inventory to review and make sure we are targeting the correct

15:37 offenders Emer rodley mayor just a quick clarification because I don't see it in here would these folks be folks whose primary residences in Springfield or would it be people who have are just happen to get arrested in Springfield that question has not been asked uh counselor I believe that the crime that occurs in Springfield is what we need to address whether or not they live in Eugene would depend on their circumstances I I do not believe we'd want to limit limited geographically So my answer would be it could be individuals outside of Springfield as long as they can come to court and make sure that they can address their matters and my follow-up question around that would be then how or and maybe we haven't gotten that far

16:23 yet to think about um if someone is you know highest need highest risk there would be a good chance that perhaps they've also been arrested in another municipality or by someone else so how would we make sure that these were folks who were not getting these services and who are not going through drug court and say Eugene or somewhere else how would we are we going or are we going to do that so I have access to all those systems and what the first step in any type of these programs would be the assessment where the probation officer the court would screen to make sure that we're not uh duplicating any services we do work actively with Lane County Mental Health Court Lane County Drug Court Lane County veterans court now to make sure that if an individual is in Services we're letting them know that we have

17:08 them in custody and we are attempting to work with them we want to make sure that we know that Lane County has more resources that they can utilize there this would primarily be for individuals who have Springfield offenses we don't want to duplicate efforts thank you regarding that risk and need Matrix the risk is there like to likelihood to reoffend and the re re excuse me their recidivism likelihood and their need is a number of services in order to become productive members of society uh there was some concern regarding our panel whether or not we had that population that had a highrisk high need emergence

17:53 partnered with the court to screen individuals that were currently in the jail of those uh 20 people that were screened all 20 had a substance abuse disorder one was moderate six High 13 were very high that is not in the slides because that information came after I had already submitted regarding the needs 15 had moderate or severe needs while four denied any needs altogether so that is my my belief that the individuals we are currently have in custody are that right Matrix and the right individuals we want to address within our community while the court was addressing whether or not this would be appropriate the court contacted the

18:39 agencies that are on the screen to uh ascertain whether or not they would support said treatment court all of the agencies responded affirmatively that they would like to play a major part in this treatment Court will amid family treatment is the inpatient and outpatient provider emergence also provides and would be our primary contact lcbh uh particularly for this court veterans Legacy and Captain buckwald indicated that we could use that program for veterans that are interested and would be engaged potentially um almost a work program type of probationary process uh now Comm councelor stair getting to funding funding comes every April of

19:26 through the Bureau of Justice Administration

20:31 that would be my intention to continue to grow the court and continue to apply for funding nights uh in preparing for this we looked at some numbers and with the finance director went over some potential hypotheticals we've locked down the city prosecutor and defense attorney as matching 35 to 40,000 per year in this hypothetical court costs and time are still a little undetermined because we would need some new court staff qra which would be our case manager 37,000 and the biggest question would be the probation officer who we would have to work with the Springfield Police Department to ascertain how that would play a large role merant stated that they were not intend to U provide any

21:16 costs in the initial stages of of this court if there was to be a court and would continue to grow and to apply for funding with us so I am before the city Council today to request guidance as to whether or not a springfi treatment Court would be helpful and whether or not the court can continue to look down these Avenues I request guidance regarding and I'm happy to guidance regarding this issue and happy to answer any additional questions as to how I Envision this court and how it would work with the City of Springfield lonard um thanks for this presentation judge the only other question that I've got now is U will emergence provide

22:03 Mental Health and Drug Treatment Services absolutely uh yes one of the keys of this program is that it would be a dual diagnosis program meaning that we are focusing on individuals with a substance abuse disorder as well as a validated mental health disorder anything that's in the DSM emergence has contracted with the Lane County Mental Health program for a number of years and are able to address the ancillary mental health needs the throughout my studies I can report that most individuals that do have a substance abuse progam problem have mental health problems that correspond with their substance abuse

22:48 problem thank you well with that being the case and um with the idea that nobody is not going to be eligible for this program based on an inability to pay I'm 100% in favor of this um and I I would favor giving this program all the money that's being requested thanks well hang onard the money yeah we're we're we're we're not to that we're we're not to that point I see all the city staff going wait a minute um but Corey um I don't know if I was my hand was up first s Damian but um first I just appreciate the detail that's in here and I appreciate all the sort of prep work and leg work and already sort of talking to Partners to see how we would fit in the

23:34 ecosystem um and this may be like nobody knows the answer to this but is there potentially um you know part of measure 110 was that there was supposed to be funding that came that was going to be for treatment um is this the sort of thing that maybe could be also funded or would we just fully fund this with the the the the federal funding and the local match I am not an expert on this counselor my understanding of measure 110 solely relates to the de decriminalization and the citations that are supposed to arise from the decriminalization per statute those have to go to Lane County Circuit Court cannot come to Springfield Municipal okay that's helpful

24:21 Damian uh good good presentation uh I definitely wish could have saw the video I know Council pire prefers pictures over words any day so uh there's that hey Pish but but no and off seriously I guess so some of the things that I wonder is how uh will bias be reduced in this program you know I see whether it's racial minorities or even you know people of low social economic class potentially not having access to this uh and and I just wonder you know what what will be done to eliminate a you know bias as far as you know selecting who does this that's one question two uh what type of benchmarks or or whatever

25:08 are in place uh that are going to do an assessment to see if this program is working it's going to be after six months a year all that stuff and three I mean one thing that you know I'm all about partnership and and I see that people who are in this position uh not only might be experience you know houselessness but also might be experienced joblessness with which actually might lead them to reverting back to some of their old ways and so I'm curious what are some of the Partnerships that might happen whether it be some type of you know skill building or career coaching or even you know housing I I know that that that's a grand you know wish but you know just thinking about how do we uh allow people

25:53 to be self- sustaining as well as healing at the same time counselor regarding your first question bias and diversity Dr gerin from the University of Oregon has previously provided diversity uh discussions about this particular issue and the nadcp National Association of drug court professionals has thoroughly engaged this the key to this is we make sure we have a blind resource where we're not looking at any soci soci economic and gender or race determinations when providing offers that is the key and that is one thing that nadcp requires programs do to ensure that there are not any racial or gender bias in our programs regarding

26:40 benchmarks per this uh per the grant if it we were to be accepted into said Grant we're required to follow up we're required to have data we're required to have an analyst to make sure that we are following the correct procedures and this is part of the grant the Court previously discussed this with uh Lane Council of governments and we certainly have we have connections to a professor at the American University who would work with us as an analyst as well as the already um wellknown experts that are down at El elog as it relates to joblessness and housing counselor this is actually my favorite part once you get to the third and fourth section of a treatment Court you start you have clean

27:27 time under your belt and this case manager who I mentioned briefly as part of the team their goal is to make sure that you're housed and make sure that you have a job we work with st V we would work with St Vincent depal we would work with sponsors we would work with a number of organizations to provide people with the jobs and the resources so that they could succeed um I our our model here would be using the Lane County treatment court and their services to assist us so that we do not have to reinvent the wheel but that would be one of the sources we use to provide for clients in

28:12 Springfield Steve uh I've always have a question like this you said we received a Federal grant for X number dollars what was that the example amount for 2022 was 700,000 700,000 for four years over four years that's always trick to me not receive that no no we did did yes we didn't no we did not well hypothetically right I I want to be clear okay we get we get this grant for $700,000 for four years and so that's you got to divide that by four right okay so it is as much as you think or hope but if we get that can we apply the next year for another Grant does do we get that Grant does it go on top of that How would how would that work coun

28:58 if we could go back to the I'm not sure if we can go back to the funding slide oh it's just just a question so the example in 2022 was the for implementing a treatment Court the bja Bureau of justice of administration would award a total of 700,000 over four years okay to a municipality okay that would be spread out as long as you met the benchmarks that were provided in the particular case I do not know what 2 23 will bring about how much money there will be over the course of the last 20 years the implementation uh funding has decreased because there are more and more treatment courts and it's just continuing funding that has continued to increase for example I can say that in

29:44 2021 two similar municipalities they both re received 550,000 what I can't what I could do in 2023 would be apply and we could see what we receive and then we see the numbers but I can't I cannot U imagine or I cannot provide any guess work as to what would be received yeah well what I'm speaking to is i' see I see a lot we get these grants for for X number of dollars and then suddenly they say it's over five years so that dilutes it quite a bit for for that year but but it makes us think we got a whole bunch of money when we really didn't so it spreads out that's all so um I've got a couple of questions here and

30:29 when when you think about the federal funding in the post four-year window right is it fairly consistent that courts are getting getting the additional operating funds or do we see some courts closed for lack of funding out after four years Mr Mayor in my in my research I've only seen the number of treatment courts go up throughout the country I have I do not have any data whether or not courts are closing I can tell a affirmatively that the money for continuing treatment courts is higher than starting treatment courts because they want them to keep continuing so when we think about um when when I see the added FTE on your slide right and then I think about like our match our match would come in the in

31:16 the in the additional sort of FTE and staff time is that correct we believe that the match would come from my time would come from technological resources and I think that there's a bit of a difference as to how much that would cost as we have staff and we have different positions certainly a finance director and city manager question um I'm supportive of uh continuing the conversation here right like and I think that's what we're that that we've come to like you know I know that counselor pisher went out and did a ton of additional research to support you guys through this um and but like right now Oregon's a washing drugs right and like is is we we look at property crime and you know sort of quality of life crimes

32:03 the the drug problem in the state is just continues to perpetuate itself into other other crimes measure one tends been a disaster um so I think the other question that I have is really related to not it's trying to get a holistic picture I know you guys are scheduled to come back again in a couple of weeks um we have a lot of mental health work that is sort of on the docket and I really want to understand right like flush out how how much time and energy and money that this is going to take to to operate in a timeline and then compare it with the bigger questions that we have because when uh with the extended contract in the um for medical services in the jail right and you know and I

32:49 know that there's another cahoot ask that is potentially out there and I'd really love to get a picture about what the additional investment that we're asking you know that we're asking for because it's not just $200,000 right like it's these two or three other things and then you know ideally and more this is more of a a Nancy question than it is you judge is some some options to potentially pay for it Cory just want to tag on to that that if we're if we're going to talk about this um you know and and I think I think just because of my like I think of it in terms of like a projects so if we're going to talk about this in terms of what is the overall um expenditure it' be really helpful also to get and it's not all on you but it just you know when we're talking about um whether it's a

33:34 disaster or unintended consequences of measure 110 um or just what the ecosystem looks like what the picture is what the need is in addition because this lays out really well what the what the need is around um these particular this particular population in AR us but if we're going to talk about that I would want to have that in a in a package with here's the need here's what the crime is actually looking like here's what the you know mental health is looking like and so all of all of it together which is a lot yeah and thanks for uh for contining bigger well and I I think it's more that understanding that the decision about a treatment court is got to be made in context of a lot of other work you know that the city's doing right now Joe thank you um excuse me very good

34:23 presentation that really outlines the information I have on it um I think that as far as whether or not Springfield can Springfield citizens that would be applicable to this type of treatment if there's enough of those folks around I I think that that's not an issue I think there is plenty um so that's a capacity issue I mean I should say that's a numbers issue and I don't think we're going to have a shortage so what we need to do is look at what's our capacity what you know how many can we in this program and that will help you now determine what our potential costs are and then

35:08 um look at where we're going to be what you know what and I think was it no it was uh my friend Damian he he brought that up in regards to um what are what are our check-in points what you know where is our road to success for for or when is the program going to be determined or if it could be determined if it's successful and what are those CR what's the criteria to determine its successfulness if that's the word so that's going to be that I think that's going to be key and I know that with our survey not that long ago the citizens of Springfield resoundingly said what is important to

35:54 them is to address our mental health needs and and drug addiction needs in our city uh in fact it stood out as the I think it was the most important thing over support with the police meaning they wanted to couple that with the police and I think this potentially would have um you know if we have the initial funding to get it off the ground that by going to the citizens you know even though we can apply to to uh doj or you know whatever the organizations are that would provide those funding that we can look to the citizens in case we have to have some sort of stop Gap and and say okay we've got this this is how many people we've have been treated

36:40 successfully our reci recidivism for those folks have been reduced by this much and uh we want to continue this citizens and so are you willing to help continue fund to this through the city you know through their tax dollars um I'm all about asking citizens as opposed to telling citizens and um I think that this is a a great U tool for our citizens for a general health of our community so I support it but I do think that the questions um that were brought up need to be addressed and so far I'm behind it I appreciate being able to uh be involved in that and um yeah great all right

37:29 Nancy thank you mayor thank you counselors and thank you judge for this informative presentation um you know it's interesting um I have over 20 years of experience in government primarily in counties and ordinarily when you have so I have had experience with treatment courts um mental health courts drug courts veterans courts even uh what they would call Community Court which is a lower level uh more of a social issues type of Court um there are a lot of factors that go into this that we need to flesh out a little bit more fully and um I'm certainly uh ready eager and willing to to um work with the judge on that and also I would want to of course uh involve our uh police chief chief sheer because this will have implications on Staffing we know that um

38:17 although we have made some positive strides in recruitment as of late we are still um underst staffed in our Police Department um and so tonight really this was just to bring this before you as a policy concept you know before we engage in a lot of research and time with the judge we know his time is very valuable that takes him away from the courtroom and some other um investment in in ping it out further I wanted to kind of gauge your temperature on this you know what I councelor commissionary I like your idea of you know what does our community feel about that I would certainly encourage people to contact the city if they have uh suggestions or ideas about uh a Court I will say though um I would want to talk to my colleague U Mr moisy in Lane

39:04 County and talk about their uh drug court utilization as a county um it's just an interesting uh Dynamic that we have in our city ordinarily some social services are usually at least in Oregon delivered by counties they have the structure in place they have the case managers they typically might have some social workers depending on the county um cities ordinarily haven't done that in the past it doesn't mean that you can't it just means that that hasn't been historically done so I just want to make sure that I want to look at that utilization um it's something that I've worked on and I know a lot about so um I would I think we could take this uh before you with a little bit more information about what what a real the

39:49 true cost would be my caveat and what I would like you to all remember is that you know one of my um guiding principles when when considering a a program especially a new program is the sustainability of the program and I'm not discounting the importance of this program and the need for this program so I want to be clear about that but I also want to to be able to be there for our community in the long term helping you know uh people so I don't want to set something up that that could potentially fail for uh lack of funding all right so the the two things I'm hearing is um is one of them is like this is just purely a temperature check to say hey you guys worked it as far as you possibly could without talking to us a little bit and you now we're going to

40:35 get some more information and sort of some some uh more uh yeah some some the harder questions are coming and the other qu the other thing about timing it be is becoming an issue it's going to take a little bit of time this isn't going to happen tomorrow that's correct thank you okay is there any other direction that you guys need any other questions anybody has Joe I was looking at the um funding window and that's typically in the spring and so is I mean what kind of jump start or you know where were you setting in the blocks for this in regards to taking advantage of it this this coming spring or at least to know okay we can move

41:21 forward or is this talk for another year counselor the court has completed everything the Court can complete we have the application ready we drafted a 20page paper we drafted all of these supplemental additions to this the only really question from the Court's perspective is the budget and how that would play Within the city I was prepared or I am prepared to apply as soon as it's open I have the document completed uh at any next council meeting I can Pro provide every document that would be provided to the Bureau of Justice great I kind of knew that but um so what I would like to see in order for me to um get behind that would be to look

42:09 at and I know this is is a Justified concern for Nancy is that the funding um where could it what what is you know hypothetical sources that we could look at that you know a uh a menu which the council can look at saying okay because we know you when you rob Peter to pay for Paul something's going to be dropping off potentially but I think the council and and it sounds like the council is very much in favor of this you know moving forward but I think the council would really appreciate a a menu so to speak of filling in the blanks financially as opposed to just

42:54 okay we're all going to put all of our eggs in one basket we're going to go for that you know Grant after this one and that's what we're going to do I'd like to be able to see a plan A B and C so I can look for other Grant sources and see what other communities right like at Lane County you know they've got the natat the need assessment tool the um the rat which is a risk assessment tool I don't know if they still use those to to but there's you know Lan County there's courts out there that can uh that you know the public owns that material and there's no reason why they can't help or step in and provide that material to save some of the uh what we're looking at here and some of the cost and the time

43:43 involved okay um I think there's a still a lot of questions um I appreciate the fact you've gotten us you know this far right which is just simply you know hey here's a here's a majority of the information here's what we learned what do you think um but I know we're a long way from uh a long way from the finish line and I want to put one other plug in here that is like we do kind of live in a you know um in a system right so this is what you brought us is the most standard form of the way to do this I can tell you I would be open to as you do more research you know if if you guys need to tweak it to make sure that it works and can happen in a in a you know in particular for spren field um I'm open to that right we do not have to do the standard way of doing things we can we can tweak it we can add we can

44:29 subtract um I'm open to other options when we see this again thank you Mr Mayor all right always good to see you judge um I know we don't get to see you enough you know but we'll we'll find some time for you to come back and just talk about court operations with us thank you Mr Mayor thank you counc thank you good job okay that is our only item for uh for the work session tonight we will be on the same link for the regular session and I'm going to look at the time and we are going to be back in 13 minutes so I'm going to adjourn us we are going to go on mute and then Talk Amongst yourselves and we'll be back in 13 minutes thank

45:15 you I'd like to call the regular session of the Springfield City Council to order with a roll call Mayor Van Gordon here councelor pittz here councelor Mo here councel rodley here councelor stair here councelor woodro and coun pisher here thank you councelor woodro is excused for the evening please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge alleg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and for all As We Begin our meeting tonight I would like to ask members of the audience who are joining us by phone or

46:00 online to please keep yourselves on mute until you are called to provide public testimony there are two times designated for public testimony this evening under public hearings and business from the audience if you are attending in person please complete the request to speak card located at the entrance of the council chambers and give them to the city recorder if you are joining us with tablet smartphone or computer and you wish to speak at either of those times please use the raised hand feature in Zoom the order of the public testimony is as follows anyone in person in the council chambers and then anyone who has raised their hand Neil could you let us know how many people are joining us this evening yes mayor we have approximately 19 folks in person and 15 attendees

46:47 online thank you first item please first item is Springfield upbeat you have two items under Springfield upbeat item number one is mayor's recognition domestic VI Awareness Month Proclamation and mayor this is your item I've got to get organized here so whereas home should be a safe and trustworthy place but for too many oregonians it is fraught with Terror due to domestic violence whereas domestic violence affects not only the person that's being abused but also children neighbors friends families co-workers Faith communities and others seen or hearing abuse can be particularly terrifying for for children and people with trauma histories and children witnessing violence is recognized as a

47:32 form of abuse itself and whereas the hope and safety Alliance continues to provide safety hope and healing to domestic violence survivors of all genders through advocacy and support uh support and focus on education prevention and has served thousands of people in Ling County for more than 45 years and whereas the impact and cost of domestic violence is wide ranging and devastating directly affecting indiv ual children and Society in this community and throughout the United States I Sean Van Gordon the mayor of Springfield uh proclaimed that October 2022 is the domestic violence Awareness Month in Springfield and urge all people to actively participate in the scheduled activities and programs and work towards eradicating domestic violence improving

48:18 victim safety and holding perpetuator uh perpetrators of domestic abuse accountable for their actions and against individuals individual victims in our society I believe we have Kim LAX here to accept the

49:06 right and I believe next one is me too yes the next item is manufacturing month Proclamation whereas manufacturing fuels organs economic growth and creates jobs and whereas manufacturing helps helped the nation overcome covid-19 and created products we use every day and whereas emerging Technologies such as 3D printing unmanned aerial Vehicles solar cells robotics wave buoys and wind turbine components provide high paying jobs for oregonians and whereas they're not only vital to our economy but essential for our local communities and whereas in demand college degrees in manufacturing the manufacturing sector including engineering computer science

49:51 business economics math and Welding whereas the City of Springfield and many other organizations are committed to developing a high-quality manufacturing Workforce ready for rewarding careers and making organ products Ian Van Gordon mayor of Springfield Proclaim October 7th 2022 in Springfield manufacturing month and urge all residents to participate in the observance and what makes this industry so Innovative and we have Bonnie and AAL here two of our fa you know favorite

50:50 coming well while they're exiting I'm just going to make a plug about you know manufacturing and its importance in Springfield we're still a community that makes things and you know we work really really hard and you know anytime we can talk about the importance of manufacturing and making Goods in our city it's a good thing next item please mayor the next item is the consent calendar I would like to make a motion that we approve the consent counc second NE could you call the RO please yes councelor pittz all councelor mo yes councel r yes councelor stair Hi councelor woodro and councelor pisher hi the motion passes five yeses zero Nos and one

51:37 abstention absence next item please next item is public hearings you have two public hearings tonight public hearing number one is annexation of territory to the City of Springfield Annex 26 Acres of residential property located at 1279 Janice Street that's map 1703 3422 ha slot 211 and concurrently Annex the intersection of Asen Street and Janice Street a segment of Janice Street and Janice court again this is ordinance number three an ordinance annexing certain territory that's 1279 Janice Street and public rights of way for the intersection of Aspen Street and Janice Street an approximately 339 foot long segment of Janice Street and Janice

52:22 Court to the City of Springfield and will llan Park and Recreation district with drawing the same territory from the rainbow water district and adopting a severability clause this is a first reading and Andy limbert is here for the staff report yes good evening mayor and counselors happy to be here in person I just want to bring up a couple Maps this is a property that's in Far West Springfield um at Janice Street just uh east of the intersection with Aspen Street this is one of three projects um areas that the city has identified for extension of public sewer and the purpose of this annexation is to facilitate connection of a house located at 1279 Janis Street to city sewer due to a failed septic system on the property uh the property does not

53:08 currently abut the city limits and so the annexation of the right of way for Janice Street as well as Janice Court uh will bring the city limits to um a but this property um the extension of the city sew anticipated for later this year

54:29 in regards to doing this now as opposed to Property Owners attempting to do it later at a cost I would say absolutely um because the city is pre-installing the sewer lines uh both East West along Janice Street and then a North connection into Janice Court also sewer laterals will be provided for those properties um at no cost to the property owners this time um should they wish to connect they still would need to anex and pay the necessary fees but installation of the public line would not be the responsibility of um one or more of the residents there which is a a significant cost to bear so excuse me historically we've charged for that

55:15 right under state law um if the city were not to sponsor this extension the property owner would be responsible for at least extending from the inter section of Aspen and Janice that's the nearest connection point across their property Frontage um so about 150 feet of line um that's a a significant cost uh to repair the street and install public sewer line um it may be more than the property owner could really financially bear um um it's a um adult home um so it's it you know it's it's an adult home so it's um the city has used this and I

56:01 think maybe Jeff can explain used um sewer uh assessment fees in order to identify areas where strategically um extending the sewer would benefit at least one property owner immediately and potentially others down the line um because we're seeing an increasing a number of requests for annexation due to filled septics in these neighborhoods so correct me if I'm wrong we allowed a I don't want I'm using the wrong term but I'm thinking tax District but it was called a um a what I can I can just what was the name of it again local improvement district local improvement district so it's at Li and with the LI we had a neighborhood

56:49 that was north of Jasper Road by the school Cherokee Cherokee area that those folks had to become members of that local improvement district and it and it costs them so um what we're doing so the council's approved through the CIP uh program for local sewer extensions so these property owners are still paying their portion of the project when they connect so those are the fees that Andy's um talking about so they still are paying there in lie of Assessments so the local improvement district they would have paid an assessment these folks when they connect will have to pay an inl of assessment which means they'll pay in essence their portion which is very equivalent to a local improvement district the difference is this

57:34 individual property owner would have had to pay if they couldn't get participation from their neighbors would have had to fund a whole public Improvement project which is that 150 feet of public line with no reimbursement no and I get that I guess the only point I'm making is that I wanted to make sure that we are consistent and not kind of hammer in one neighborhood saying okay if you want to do this it's going to cost you and then us coming over to this neighborhood in Janice saying hey things are different now and and we'll got you covered which to me would not be fair to the people that have paid through an LS although I I I mean I I don't I'm not trying to be a proponent of hammering every property

58:20 owner that wants to join into our system or in the city but it but I'd like to keep think or like to be able to make sure that we're being correct no I I would view these as very similar situations the difference is instead of all of the homeowners paying their assessment this time they'll pay when they have to connect when their septic fails thank you very much are there other any other questions thanks J okay I think we're ready to open the public hearing I'm gonna open the public hearing uh I have no cards for this item Neil do we have any hands

59:58 th place to the City of Springfield and willaman Park and Recreation District withdra withdrawing the same territory from the Willakenzie rural Fire Protection District adopting a severability clause and providing an effective date this is a first reading and Andy lbert is here for the staff report thank you similar to the previous annexation this site is in South Springfield uh we actually had a recent annexation for failed septic just to the east um about a block um so counselors may recall that um recent annexation request in this case um it's kind of an inverted L um the property is at the corner the intersection of IDE Street and South 4th Place um it is requesting annexation due to failed septic system um the extension of the public

1:00:44 sewer will be from the City Limits line uh to the east um which is kind of at the the end of the L portion uh that's where the city um sewer syst system currently terminates it also was extended um due to uh in order to facilitate construction on those two properties which are on the north side of the street where the City Limits line kind of jogs around them um so this annexation will allow for extension of the public sewer line Eastward and then Southward it's to serve the property right at the corner at 9:32 South 4th Place it also will facilitate connection to some vacant properties on the north

1:01:29 side of the street and other properties in the vicinity that are not currently annexed that may request annexation the future due to failed septic and again this is a second uh within a block and a half distance approximately um that has requested annexation in the last year or so staff did um talked to actually a number of people that were out um in the neighborhood when we posted the site with um public hearing signs so did speak to some of the folks in the neighborhood to and was able to relate to them the purpose of the annexation um and the fact that annexation of the street rights away did not constitute annexation of their property uh so by that uh there wasn't

1:02:16 any written comments we did have a couple of phone calls as well U just inquiring about the nature of the annexation and again whether it constituted annexation of the Jason properties which it does not and so staff reminded um the people that were making inquiries that it is a pawn request um and that's been council's practice for for decades um the purpose is annexation again to to connect to uh city services and I'd be happy to answer any questions and again the same um circumstances apply in this case it would have been almost 300 feet of sewer that the property owner would have had to extend uh it just barely uh was under the threshold of state law requiring annexation uh so this would um allow for

1:03:02 them they have paid the their proportionate share of the fees but they don't have to front end the cost of a significant project in this case Joe so just to help me with this m with the map on H page two of two so I'm trying to understand where the City Limits line that are north south and then from uh uh osad Street North and then along osad Street and heading south towards Jasper and then East along Jasper and it looks like the properties on the east side of South 4th are in the city or is I mean I'm trying to figure because yellow takes out the lines yeah it's a little it's a little

1:03:48 hard so in this case Jasper road is inside the city limits the property at the corner of the sort of the northwest corner of um filbert Lane and is it filbert yeah filbert Lane and Jasper road that was recently annexed so the City Limits line runs around the edge of their property and so Mount Vernon Elementary School is inside the property inside the city limits um there's properties on um Horus street that are inside property across the street from 9:30 to South 40th Place to the north and just slightly diagonally kind we call it kitty corner I guess you'd say right that is inside the city limits and so it would be technically contiguous to the city limits because of just an

1:04:33 intervening right of way does allow for continuity so it does not need to have the right of way annexed in order to be technically contiguous but in order for the city to install um sewer lines um without having to do an extra territorial extension or something annexation of the rights of way was deemed to be um exped in this case to so the ones on one's north south on South 40th Place the homes that are lots that are running north south along that street on both sides of the street are outside the city limits okay yeah including the property requesting annexation um the city of Limits line then runs north um what what five or six properties to the West so there's

1:05:19 properties on kind of the western portion of pinion Street and elad Street those are inside the city limits but this is a fairly large large contiguous area that's unincorporated right now very much appreciate it Leonard thank you uh then thanks for this presentation Andy uh if I'm reading it correctly um filbert Lane is also outside of the city limits is that correct or is it inside uh it's actually the filbert Lane RightWay is actually inside City Limits inside City Limits save the one property at the corner with Jasper Road um the properties then running North along the west side of the street are outside as well as properties uh there's three I believe on the east

1:06:04 side those are also outside City Limits okay is the is is the basic thrust of having the streets inside the city limits and the tax Lots outside of the city limits does it um tend to minimize our tax revenue on those lots I was yes if this if the properties have not yet annexed to the city limits they would not be part of the city's tax base that's okay but the sewage lines the water lines those are probably at least partly under the street right yeah they'll be entirely under the street uh for the public owned portion the laterals May extend into or close to the private property line um at the street

1:06:50 Frontage will be installed with the project but annexation City would be required for uh properties to actually connect okay but but they would be able to access any pipes or any kind of water or utilities that was um above the street right that's correct okay that sounds okay that that's all I got are there any other questions all right I think we're ready to open the public hearing I do not have any cards for this item uh Neil are there any hands raised uh mayor no hands for this item I I'm going to close the public hearing um

1:07:35 this is no action required first reading only next item please next item is business from the audience I do not have any cards for business from the audience Neil do we have anybody raising their hand just give folks another I'm not seeing any hands for business from the audience next item please uh next item is business from the city council item number one committee appointments uh Planning Commission appointments and this is Sandy bson with the staff

1:08:31 good evening mayor and Council when when you get pulled up from a panelist or to be a panelist there you're like blanked out for a minute or it seems like a minute so um I assume I'm up now we we are ready for you now and you are in the right city council meeting with the right Council thank you my name is Sandy bson I'm the comprehensive planning manager here tonight to request your action on appointing two planning Commissioners to fill vacancies um you had interviewed uh last week and your discussion indicated an interest in appointing Stephen schmunk and Seth Thomas to fill those terms um immediately with an expiration of December 31st

1:09:24 2026 all right um Mary Bridget I know that there was some additional information when we were at Council last week um we we discussed Seth's appointment for uh in relation to seedak right and it sounds like there was more information about what Steve's uh Steve's status is with the budget committee could you fill us in so that everybody has it um Stephen schmunk who applied to be on the Planning Commission is actually also on the budget committee he has um his term is almost over he has one more year on his term but um it's a three commitment and I thought his term was done so I didn't mention it last week but he does have one more year left on his term and I know that was a subject of discussion for um uh the other candidate Mr Seth Miller I think it is so just wanted to make sure you

1:10:09 were clear on that your operating policy say when possible people won't serve on more than one committee um but only one year left you okay over there Sor sorry Mary Bridget we're losing we need to be we we're losing control over here um all right Leonard I um I agree with councilor rodley I think we need to hold everybody to the same standard I mean if if if Mr schmunk wants to serve on the Planning Commission he should resign from the budget committee and I don't Joe I had a conversation with him he's he's totally fine with stepping down from that but he he'll officially

1:10:54 let us know whenever we need it it's it's moot okay there we have all the information and we got it settled do you realize how hard it is to get people on some of these committees you're picking him off anyway I guess ready for me well well hang on one second Damian hold up so wasn't the other person on cedak correct and I and I think they've agreed to step down if they go to Planning Commission do we think or do we know I mean I I think we know I need know uh we know they're they're stepping down they they already know it so that means that we have to find somebody else for seed act sooner or later which means another seat's opening up correct is

1:11:41 that correct correct and I think the other relevant piece of information is my count when I saw that email was the four budget committee we were going to be looking to fill four budget committee we'll be recruiting for Budget committee anyway yep okay good Damian are you good or you have anything else yeah so just making sure so are we saying that because one person is not planning on uh stepping down that we won't be appointing them and then the other person we have whether is it in writing is it a conversation I mean what uh do we have proof that that person is planning on stepping down so I'm going to go through this then have the staff

1:12:26 keep me honest if uh if that if I you know I don't have all the information I think after the meeting last week we had a conversation with Seth and Seth told us that he you know essentially that if he was appointed he would agree to resign from the first committee based on our operating procedures since then everybody remembered that Steve had an additional year and a conversation's been have with the with Steve that's been the same been along those same lines which is hey once we appoint you expectation would be for you to step down um and that's kind of how we got to this point today because there were some questions about whether not we were treating everybody sort of the same way um but the plan right now would be if we appoint if we approve the motion um then both folks are going to

1:13:13 step down from their current assignments that okay Damon not really but I mean whatever I I just I don't know like I I just I see this being a bigger issue and yes I do agree that it is hard for us to appoint people but I mean to find people to do this but I just I you know I don't like people using different boards to step up uh I mean and it I don't know I mean there are a lot of deeper issues that I think we need to be prepared to discuss but yeah I just don't have a good feeling about any of this to be

1:14:05 honest Steve okay then I would like to make a motion that we app appoint Stephen schmunk and Seth Thompson to the Planning Commission with terms that begin immediately and expire December 31st 2026 second NE could you call the role please yes councelor pittz no councelor mo yes councelor rodley yes councelor stair counc woodro and councelor pisher yay uh motion passes for yeses one no and one absent next item please any other business from the city council is there any other business Corey I have something um thank you I just wanted to uh I have some appreciation for lieutenant George Crawley and um

1:14:52 Sergeant I think he's a Sergeant officer Cody LAN um who are two of our SPD officers who took time last week to sit down with me um because I wanted to have a better understanding of what some of the challenges are um that are happening for constituents and folks who live in ward 3 and Beyond Springfield and so it was very helpful that they took that time and we sat and chatted and I shared what I was hearing from Neighbors and they shared um some of the unintended consequences of measure 110 and just sort of the overall ecosystem because we've heard from constituents who had concerns about what is happening because people are seeing there's there's a difference and so I just wanted to express my appreciation for that and to encourage folks who are watching if you

1:15:38 also have questions you're concerned you're like what how does this impact me in my neighborhood what does it mean if I have complaints please reach out to them we need people to call and share what's going on in their neighborhood we need people to share call ask questions and and get involved because that makes it really challenging for us to make these changes that we all talk about that we want if we don't really have these conversations with each other and really know what's going on so I just want to take a little time to appreciate that and to encourage people to reach out to SPD if you have questions reach out to the non-emergency line if you are concerned about things that are happening in your neighborhood please call let them know because we we can't do anything if we don't know thank

1:16:24 you all right thank you anybody else I have two quick updates um please make take the time to read your email because um our human resources uh director and extraordinaire is sending out information about um about evaluations for our employees so that's those dates are coming up you can tell how close I read it because in a in in a pinch you know I couldn't recall the date but um it it's always helpful to the to the staff that we get that stuff done before they have to you know chase us down and make sure it's turned out turned in on time yes and that is why I'm looking at you counselor pisher when um second thing would be October 21st the mayor's review um there's an

1:17:10 opportunity you know it is a combination between Springfield rotary and the emerald Art Center so once you there the tickets are $75 a piece you have a reception in the emerald art center and then you move down to the um you move to the wildish theater for a night of uh entertainment there's four acts just to be clear I know Cory's going to ask me I am not seeing in the riew I'm not performing anything I I I am a uh bystander and the money goes to the the art center not you correct correct it is going to be split between the charitable arm for Springfield rotary and the um and the emerald Art Center next item please

1:17:55 uh next item is business from the city manager item number one is acceptance of project P 21157 which is the Mohawk and Olympic Street overlay this would be resolution number one a resolution to accept city project P 21157 Mohawk and Olympic Street overlay and Jeff Pascal is here for the staff report thank you good evening uh mayor and counselors Jeff Pascal community development director um before you tonight is a resolution to accept the Capital Street Capital preservation project for Mohawk Boulevard and Olympic um they are the fourth and fifth segments of nine that were funded through the voter approved 2018 Street Bond um the project was managed by Christy Krueger she couldn't

1:18:40 be here tonight unfortunately um it was designed and inspected by Dal a local um consultant engineering firm and constructed by wildish and I can answer any questions if you like are there any questions all right every time we talk about the street Bond um it's exciting right this is one of this is a great news story for public works and the um the Investments that we're making in our streets and every place every time I talk to somebody out in in Mohawk and Olympic they complement how smooth and you know nice the uh the Finish street is so great job Corey um I also I just want to add because I don't have a question but this is this is my neighborhood and I drive Mohawk and I drive Olympic and and

1:19:25 I drive Centennial almost every day um and I believe I might have told the mayor this that I think we're also seeing some some renovated businesses and we've had some you know we've had a new dental office that's moved in near the hospital and we're seeing some new restaurants mov in there and I like to believe that it's because of this investment and want to thank the voters of Springfield um and if you get a chance to drive there or go to the waming Swim Center which I also try to do four times a week just so you all know um it's it's wonderful and it's it's newly painted and it's there's there's sort of protections to keep folks from running out in the middle of the street and to sort of slow the traffic down so it just looks great and I think it's a great investment in that

1:20:10 neighborhood and we're starting to see growth in that neighborhood as well so thank you voters and thank you team that managed it all right Steve Corey just said what I'm thinking or want to say is that Improvement to Mohawk enhances the whole neighborhood you drive through there and it's just a beautiful part of the city now it always was but it's much more now all right ready now I'm ready now okay so uh resolution a res resolution to accept city project P 21157 Mohawk and Olympic Street overlay second Neil can you call the vote please yes councelor pittz hi councelor MO yes

1:20:55 councelor rodley yes councelor stair Hi councelor woodro and councelor pisher hi motion passes five yeses zero Nos and one absent next item please any other business from the city manager yes uh thank you uh just a couple of quick items one I just wanted to correct for the record um that Cody Lane is actually a sergeant in Police Department however councilor R it's okay this is a fairly recent development but I I happen to know Sergeant Lane and I think he's doing great job and of course Lieutenant Crawley has been with our department a long time and they're both excellent represent representatives for the department so um my thanks to them for uh going out and and talking about these issues in your uh District also you can also tell that we're all a bunch of government nerds because we're so

1:21:40 excited about a street project um but I'm excited about it because I love it when we can keep our promises to our voters and I want to thank the voters for believing in your city and that we can get it done for you and I also want to thank wildish construction for just the excellent excellent work they did on that project it looks fabulous so if you're wondering while we're all geeking out about this go to our uh website look at the materials you have to scroll all the way to the bottom but we do have some before and after photos that look really great that's all I have Joe can't pass it up now sorry they did a great job I one one part of that in particular where they increase the Q the traffic Q turn lane Southbound for on Mo on Mohawk

1:22:27 as you approach Olympic it allows for a lot more vehicles to be queued up without blocking Mohawk even though that's so busy it's still blocking Mohawk but I really appreciate the responsiveness I was jumping up and down about it for quite a while and to see that in place it's really helped moving that traffic through that area so we really good job Steve something different than this I should have said it earlier but I got an email today something about economic development director in the works I can I can comment out that um we're making all sorts of breaking news well I I don't I'm not quite ready with breaking news yet we have we have made a an offer to a candidate we had a great

1:23:13 pool of applicants um and that the person has accepted our offer we're we're putting together um a nice kind of release that we're going to put out to the community of course you to the council first but we need to get that kind of approved by the candidate before we uh launch it um because news travels fast in this town I've learned um the other thing is I also want to congratulate uh Jeff Pascal for his appointment to community development director all right well congratulations Jeff we are pretty excited it feel things are moving so fast around here it feels like old news at this point um any other questions before all right next item

1:23:58 please any business from the city attorney no no business thank you all right that was a that was it for the evening um thank you so much everybody have a great night I'm going to adjourn us you're adjourned