Springfield City Council — October 17, 2022

0:04 I'm going to call this Springfield City Council regular session to order with roll call Mayor Van Gordon here councilor Pitts councilor Mo here councilor rodley here councilor stair here councilor Woodrow and Council pissioner here thank you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic as we begin our meeting tonight I would like to ask members of the audience who

0:49 are joining us by phone or 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're attending in person please complete the request to speak card located at the entrance of the council chambers and give it to the city recorder if you're joining us online with a tablet smartphone or computer in which to speak either of those times please raise your hand and use the raise hand feature in Zoom the order of public testimony is as follows anyone in person in the council chamber and then anyone who has raised a virtual hand and I'm gonna acknowledge that councilor Pitts has joined us and counselor Woodrow is

1:35 excused for the evening uh Neil how many folks do we have joining online approximately 15 attendees online and 35 ish in the room great uh first item please first item mayor is Springfield upbeat item number one is mayor's recognition National Forest Products week Proclamation all right I do have a proclamation for National National Forest uh products for a week that I'll go ahead and read whereas the City of Springfield is adjacent to thousands of Acres of sustainably sustainably managed working for us which provide renewable resources and raw materials to 28 critical value-added primary wood product manufacturers located in Lane County whereas forced

2:20 product manufacturers are 50 times more prevalent in Springfield and Eugene than ever the average U.S city whereas Lane County's land base is 85 percent forested and second in the second largest Forest produced producer of Timber in the state whereas actively managed Oregon working for us reduce the risk of wildfires and provide Community benefits like high paying jobs recreational opportunities and environmental benefits and whereas Forest sector jobs in Lane County pay on average 29 more than the average wage in Oregon whereas the city is proud to recognize Forest product manufacturers as priority employers and to be at the Forefront of supporting these employee employers as they continue to provide skill and living wage jobs for the spring field

3:06 community members and whereas the the week beginning of the third Sunday in October is recognized as National Forest uh uh Forest Products week I Sean Van Gordon the mayor of Springfield proclaimed the week beginning the third Sunday in October to be Forest Products week and ask the citizens of Springfield to utilize this week as an opportunity to recognize the value and importance of our Oregon working for us in the wood products manufacturers careers and products which are vital to our local economy and valued way of life and encourage other businesses organizations and public institutions to recognize a similar week so we've got a couple folks here from the wood uh wood products industry I know we've got Sierra Pacific here and I'm if you guys want to come up I'll join you and we're going to get a

3:51 picture taken and I'll hand out you cut and hand out copies of these resolutions I know we have forced uh Roseburg forest products here as well I don't know if we have any I didn't see Roseboro here is any other or any other Wood Products folks here all right we'll get them copies

4:54 and we'll get copies to the other force and uh Wood Products folks that were trying to come tonight um next item please mayor the next item is the consent calendar I'd like to make a motion that we approve the consent calendar second all right could you call the roll please yes councilor Pitts aye Mr Mo yes councilor Rodney Council stare aye councilor Woodrow and councilor Pictionary all right motion passes five yeses zero knows one absent next item please next item is public hearings you have two public hearings this evening public hearing number one is a fiscal year 23 supplemental budget one and Appropriations transfer this is resolution number two or resolution adjusting resources and requirements in

5:40 the following funds General Street special Revenue transient room tax Community Development building code fire local option Levy lease local option Levy Bond syncing development assessment and capital development projects Regional Wastewater Capital Street Capital sanitary sewer operations Regional Wastewater ambulance storm drainage operations Booth Kelly Regional fiber Consortium Insurance vehicle and Equipment SDC Administration and authorizing the transfer of Appropriations within the general fund from the city manager Office operating expense to enter fund transfer expense Neil o'bringer is here for the staff report good evening mayor and Council the this is the first supplemental budget of FY 23 it's our largest supplemental

6:26 typically uh and and that's because we include beginning cash carryover from the prior year as well as our beginning cash adjustments as well along with those carry forwards um so most of the items included here are routine in nature but staff have highlighted in the CBM those items which may be of interest to the council um and so there's a number of them so I won't go into detail but I'm happy to try and answer any questions you might have on on the CBM or any of the items are there any questions

7:11 all right um I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing I do not have any cards for this item is there anybody online wishing to speak to this mayor it appears we have no one for this item I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing and I would like to make a motion that we adopt resolution number two second Neil could you call the vote please yes counselor Pitts all right let's remove yes that's a Radley yes answer stair aye councilor Woodrow and councilor Pictionary aye motion carries uh five yeses zero knows one absent next item please your second public hearing is

7:57 illicit discharge detection and elimination that's the idde municipal code update this is ordinance number three an ordinance amending Springfield Municipal Code sections 4.370 and 4.372 relating to illicit discharge detection and elimination this is a first reading and Matt stouder is here for the staff report good evening mayor and Council um here tonight to request the council hold the public hearing and first reading of an ordinance to amend our Municipal Code related to illicit discharge and elimination so as you know after a long and arduous process Oregon DQ issued a an updated phase two stormwater permit to Springfield that became effective June 1 2021 that's going to require uh

8:43 Council to update uh our nullarian Municipal Code but also our development code for a variety of topics the first area that we brought before you tonight is was it discharge in elimination detection and elimination so all the updates are going to need to be completed prior to February of 2024 which will be corresponding with the end of our permit cycle uh I would note that most of the requirements of the updated permit were already Meeting those we're already doing those that are captured in our Municipal Code um and that's given you know to the maturity of our stormwater program so let's set in a different way uh we haven't identified any substantiated changes um resulting from our updated permit in this section there are however several non-substantial changes that we've

9:28 identified that better align with the Environmental Protection agencies illicit discharge model code and the revised permit these are also going to help clarify code requirements for the General Public attachment to in your package shows the proposed changes with legislative commentary provided by city attorney's office and I'm available for any questions that you might have okay um then I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing I do not have cards for this item uh is there anybody raising their hand to talk to this item here's we have no one for this item there all right I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing and there is no action requested for the evening

10:13 since it's a first reading only next item please next item is business from the audience all right we've got a couple of cards from folks in the room so okay all right I'm going to call folks up um and then you'll get three minutes um can you please state your name for the record and you know where you are located in the city uh Derek Smith James Derek Smith um currently residing at 24 30 35th Street Springfield and I'm just outside the city by a

11:00 couple houses technically have some concerns to do with the pond that's located uh next to Ambleside subdivision there between 31st roughly and uh 35th off of V Street the pond is dried up and there was quite a bit of vegetation that was decaying in the the empty Pawn here over the last month or two and also I have some concerns over the um maintenance of the storm water and stuff especially in the wintertime that occurs up toward the source of that pond which would be

11:45 near the Springfield School District bus garage and maintenance Administration buildings there off of 42nd Street over to the uh I guess you'd call it the on-ramp that goes uh onto the westbound freeway entrance there there's been some new construction over there in that particular area and stuff and I'm kind of wondering if that's affected what's going on I've been living in the neighborhood over there since 80 excuse me February of 81 and this is the first time that I've seen that particular Pond and the creek that feeds through their dry up like it has this year and I'm concerned with uh kind of the environment as well as some health concerns with uh

12:30 the you know when the introduction of the rains come and stuff fund both insects and the uh you know the I guess you'd call it the debris that's going to be washed Downstream and stuff I just wanted to bring that to your folks's attention to find out you know if anybody's managing this or who's responsible for the upkeep of that and so on thank you very much thank you yeah hello everybody my name is Donald Schindler I live at uh 2443 35th Street and I've lived there for uh 27 years I'm

13:18 Derek Snapper um I'm here to ask about the loss of our Duck Pond as well on V Street when you make a right onto B Street it's the almost the first thing you see when you pull into our neighborhood and it was always just a point of an incredible beauty fenced off with a white fence not a small pond actually actually quite large and a very very beautiful area for waterfall and we've had all kind of geese the geese come there every sort of animal uh would be there for over the over the past years and uh I never could never ever would have thought that uh that it would dry up and become a big

14:03 mud hole on an ice war that it is I'm not sure exactly what led to the loss of this water after so many decades and maybe some people have some more insight into that but if there was something that's possible to do to bring it back um it would be it would be wonderful it's it's a little bit sad because this duck pond it joins the Waterway that's near a small Bridge there and some of the Ducks and the animals that used to frequent the pond and enjoyed it so much they're trying to crowd into a spot that's not as not any bigger than what you have right here so it's uh it's it's it's a sad a sad thing that's happened there and it is taken from our

14:49 neighborhood uh like I say a point of beauty and uh uh and when people walk in the evening take walks it's a joyful thing because a lot of times they end up at the duck pond and so now we've got to look at them we do have some health concerns uh regarding it too because if you know when you get brackish water a little bit of water that might come from the in the winter that's a concern but uh if something could be done or someone could explain to me the loss and if it's possible to to get it back that would be that would be a really wonderful thing for our place thank you so Nancy um I know we've got still like probably six or seven more cards that are all

15:34 around this issue it might actually since the email came out about the issue could we call it maybe call an audible here and have one of the staff people just you know rehash and give us a quick update about what's actually happening with this Pond before we hear the rest of the public testimony so as far as our development staff I think they're available either Brian or Ben are yours okay so I'll stop the Public Public testimony timer and we'll give Ben more than three minutes if he needs it good evening mayor city council um for those in the audience that I've talked to over the past few weeks regarding this issue I am Ben Gibson service operations manager for City of Springfield uh currently the uh what

16:21 you're seeing with duck Haven Pond through the urban Slough is International Paper uh their water that we received through discharge in the summer months has been shut off um I'll back that up a little bit by saying that it was turned on about a week ago today we're receiving about a million gallons of water per minute uh per day excuse me um through the Irving Slough um one of the things that we're seeing right now is the fact that it had been dried for so long that we feel that the ground is just soaking up a lot of that water and it hasn't quite make yeah made it to duck Haven uh the purpose for them shutting that water off is because of

17:06 construction that is related to The Mark Cullum Meadows subdivision if you're familiar with that subdivision the Pierce ditch that runs from east to west through that subdivision has three Crossings three Street crossings that go across it as well as some Rehabilitation through that ditch and it had to be dry for that process to take place um so um once I got word through the developers and our development team to get that water back on we did I've been working with IP on this process we've actually asked them if they could to ramp up that flow today so it is currently running about 1.5 million gallons a day and it's hard to tell when exactly that water might get back into

17:52 duck Haven but we feel it may be when the rains come back this upcoming weekend into next week additionally um through this process we've been talking with people about the fact that IP is going through some environmental upgrades to their plant and after next year so through the summer which we believe is when construction might take place and there'll be an assumption on my part if that's actually going to happen through the summer but that's what we've been told is that they will have a 100 reduction in their non-contact cooling water discharge and no longer be receiving those flows and at the coming Summers currently we rely on International Paper for that water discharge in the summer months the other times of the year it would be because of

18:38 the river levels from the McKinsey are high as well as storm water during the wet weather season all right thanks for thank you thanks for that update um well I'm sure we'll be coming back to you here in a couple of in a couple of minutes sure thanks Ben thank you okay um and we'll we'll keep going through through this most of them are for for this for this issue so we're gonna keep running through them uh Judy DeForest so um good evening mayor and Council um I have been living on the slow since

19:23 1992. our backyard is part of the slew as far as we have property on the other side since we've been there we've had Greaves we've had Ducks we've had cranes blue herons egrets Greenback herons Kingfishers migratory birds as well so there is a migratory bird treaty act that this a lot of This falls under we've had baths crappie bluegill there's little the little mosquito eating Guppies carp this big otters salmon bullfrog deer dragonflies of every color and every this is the fourth time completely wiped out completely killed

20:09 this is not right we bought this property with this in our backyard it's beautiful um right now my backyard is destroyed we have Ivory nutria that has been living in that area that is in my fish ponds they've dug under my shed and I'm I'm not complaining they have to have somewhere to go there are a lot of people that bought houses in that neighborhood because of the slough it's absolutely beautiful um looking back at a contract that was between the City of Eugene as a steward for this area and warehouser stating if you look at the very back page um Oregon Division of State lands in the

20:55 City of Springfield Oregon will make every reasonable effort to explore study or otherwise find alternative sources of fresh water for the try for the Irving Slough Wetland system during low flow or during the months when and if adequate flow is anticipated to no longer be available through the discharges from warehouser so I'm here tonight to ask what can we do to help these animals I have pictures of deer standing in the dry bed looking for water and it's sad I want to stay where I'm at I love where I'm at but part of where I'm at it's because my love for the animals and I've been fighting for him for 30 years

21:40 and I'm here to ask for help please thank you I'm going to add to that I also live in this neighborhood I'm on 32nd Street Lynn Nelson thank you sorry so I do not live on the Slough but there are people around the corner from me who do and they're very upset and every time I go outside they keep talking about wanting to do something about it they want me to send around a petition I call today and I talked to Ben

22:26 and he was very clear um that the Ursula is probably going to go away from what he said and so if that's the truth I'm I'm feeling like we're not exploring what other options there are I um am not an engineer so I I can't tell you what to do I made a suggestion that we could put a dam so that the water won't go into the neighboring neighborhood that is being built right now um talk to Steve Mo about that he said that the water it would go underneath that and and that's possible but there's got to be other resources you know whether it's somebody else that's willing to donate water or

23:13 if we can pump it from the Willamette River if that gets too low I don't know but I'd like to find out what our other sources of water could be thank you very much good evening I'm Joanne Allen I'm here to and I live on the water in Ambleside on 33rd Street I'm here to tell you about the water stoppage in the Irving Slough in July a project engineer from the massive Marcola road construction project asked the City of Springfield to stop the water flow from International Paper

23:58 it needed three days to work on pipes our city manager Ben Gibson got the call he called IP and IP shut off the water currently IP diverts water into the slough from June through October until the rain begins in the winter when the MacKenzie River gets high enough there is a Spillway where it goes into the slough the water was shut off in early August as the land dried up the fish in many forms of water and plant life began to die Heron both great blue and snowy egret were able to gobble frogs left without their homes Ducks deer raccoons nutria possums and river otter have been affected many have disappeared altogether as the water decreased more

24:45 distressed Wildlife from the new development has come to find water but little is to be found if this were going into your inbox it would be marked urgent the public outcry IP turned on the water on October 10th we have been told it is so dry that the main body of water in our Wetland will not see any of the water before the yearly shut off date of October 31st I a contract called a memorandum of understanding was made which you all now have a copy of between the City of Springfield Oregon Division of State lands and warehouser now IP in 1995 it states the city and state lands are responsible to find an alternative water

25:31 source if the day came when IP should stop discharging water what does all this mean the argument by the city or state that it's okay for these Wetlands to run dry is totally at odds with the recitals of this document and indeed the entire reason for this document suggests otherwise clearly the city and state recognize the importance of water in the Irving Slough or this mou would not exist the state and city agreed this day was a possibility and committed to prepare for it now after nearly 30 years IP has found another use for this water so what reasonable efforts has the city made find water it appears to me that no one until recently has given it much

26:16 thought the city needs a commitment to work with IP to keep the water on longer than October 31st to get our levels back up to normal can you look into tax incentives or permit reductions to IP to give them incentive to save our Wetland can you find a way to pump water from the McKenzie river to the Wetland in the summer months a president has been set by IP to pump 3 million gallons of water into this Loop can you get them to continue this thank you thank you Linda Carlock

27:06 I'm gonna approach it from my property taxes could you uh say where you're what part of the city you're from Springfield what area 22 74 33rd Street thank you go ahead and it's about the slew my property tax figures aren't important to you all and honestly they weren't to me either because my husband pays the bill for the house and the taxes are included however things have changed in my property landscape in just a short amount of time from June till now you see 25 feet of my property I'm taxed or is held in environmental hands which

27:52 says you can look but you can't touch they don't want disruption to the protective slew in ditch that I border and pay high taxes for with visible water and in the McKinsey ditch in the Irving Slough as for what is happening here this evening I'm saying the slough and ditch are dried up my property landscape has changed all who border the Irving Slough and McKinsey ditch landscape changed with no notification and it is ugly watching nature drying and scurrying about this event was proposed for progress in the

28:38 neighboring field across from Duck Haven for my 21 years of living on 33rd Street bordering the McKinsey ditch with water and the Irving Slough and with the climate change we all know goes on because that's how God made it the Irving slew and McKinsey ditch have never dried up like this and it has been for a month will you use my property tax for dollar tax dollar for water restoration to the Irving Slough or can I accept expect a tax refund or lower tax amount on my property for 2022 and 2023 a lower

29:25 property tax for all the folks who border the Irving Slough and McKenzie did would be a fair assessment my tax increase over the past 20 years is 2644 dollars I accept increase in plan accordingly but now I'm having a problem accepting an increase as I think it is unjust for the return our city has unsuccessfully Fair traded not to go without saying all the wildlife have once again been displaced or killed I'm upset and I feel really anguished over the haphazard consideration the

30:11 disregard for water and existing property your time's up thank you thank you um I think this is Dwayne reinick of I apologize for ranky I live at 23.87 32nd Street um it's a dirty shame to see those poor dicks that have to uh Wade through mud and they can't hardly get through it the dragons threw their old muddy and looked like hell um and they're going to be homeless uh pretty soon and apparently uh I'm sure IP is doesn't give a damn about it and uh uh

31:00 I think there's I've worked construction all my life and uh I've come across a lot of problems and they weren't doesn't look as seriously some of the things I've worked on and I think we could get together and see some way to either run a pipeline uh along without IP being involved or something through an environmental Grant or something to this effect that there's there's an answer out there that's probably a lot more simple than we think I think we just need to get together and sit down and have a workshop and uh I would like to be on any

31:46 Workshop that you might uh propose thank you thank you Chris McAllister Mr Mayor members are they canceled thank you for uh having me here my name is Chris McAllister I live at 1909 12th Street in Springfield I wanted to give a quick update in regards to some questions Council had asked earlier in the year that we had not been able to get to Us carry it Forward I am currently the executive director as of last month and uh would like to just share that uh councilor Woodrow had asked about how much our units cost to make and whereas it was an easy uh number two years ago at 6 000 or so because of plywood another cost with

32:31 inflation and supply chain issues on that same unit is approximately nine thousand dollars whereas we have shower units that we've been able to make for six thousand those are also nine thousand um these are designs that were built to be able to bring more mobility and fluidity to uh our engagement with our own house folks and so while I understand the trials and tribulations of those who are on the book The deduct upon I also know that our housing Gap is needed and so I hope that as we move forward and look into other projects that we consider these environmental issues as well part of the way that we will help the environment as well is by finding places for our people to be safe places we can make sure that we can control the environment to make sure the trash is dealt with in a humane way and be able to engage with people on a meaningful manner when Springfield has a

33:17 home for everybody we are stronger we when we have people here who feel like they're part of the community and feel heard they're your next taxpayers they're the ones who will support your levies and help keep your prisons or jails empty because we have things to fight for and we have things that we want to do and so these have been trying years we have been on a lot we've been through a lot as a community with the fires with covid and with just the isolation and so it's good to see this many people in these Chambers and it's good to be part of the solutions and so I just want to say thank you as winter comes up for everything that you all have done I want to recognize the city manager's office with a our city manager and uh staff being able to deploy in the field to drop off things to make sure

34:03 that our people are forgotten not forgotten and to look for spaces as we go every year trying to find a place when it's coldest and so we've helped support our fire people by making our streets available temporarily we've been able to help Advance our car camping programs to make sure that more spots are usable and this was done through the diligence and the dedication of our staff so our voices at Advocates and Advocates activists can only go so far it takes the staff that can hear us and understand the nuances and trials and tribulations so thank you to the council and thank you to the staff of Springfield thank you Chris Jerry Allen good evening I'm Jerry Allen I live at 2278 33rd Street

34:50 um tonight as my we had a neighbor who's just very elderly and she wanted to make sure that y'all saw this this used to be what it looked like in her yard and you I've I sent some pictures today did you guys all get those anyway okay this was some of this women close to her backyard because ours looks anyway like that too so it used to look like this so um you know today um okay a lot of the things is kind of repetitious there's been a lot of things you know already said but I'm just going to kind of stick to my notes here because I know where I'll end up anyway um I was surprised to see such a good out outcry tonight so anyway uh so tonight I've come to speak

35:37 about the serious problem that's developed by either neglect oversight incompetence or lack of concern and nobody willing to take charge and accept responsibility for the Irvings of the wetlands seems like it's just been we my wife has talked to all kinds of people y'all see the list of the names you probably have all been got a call from her I don't know I mean she's called everybody trying to find out what why this is all going on so uh we need to take care of it I don't know what what's the you know because where where the problems lying but on May 30th 1995 um a Danny Brown uh representative of the City of Springfield signed a memorandum of understanding between then

36:22 warehouser company and Oregon's division State lands in which in item three states that Oregon Division State lands and the City of Springfield now we're addressing you folks tonight uh we'll make every reasonable effort to explore study and otherwise find alternative sources of fresh water and you can see that's item three in this I am sure you guys all have a copy of this right so I won't go over it um I'm gonna run out of time anyway so anyway um so when you consider the fact that warehousers no longer here and now we're dealing with with International Paper uh regarding the water it's been more than 27 years since the contract was signed yeah I must ask where are we now really

37:07 are we just going to keep kicking the can down the road I mean I certainly hope not it's really become serious as you all become made aware and to finish up I just you know some questions of what reasonable efforts have been taken to explore study and otherwise find the alternative sources of fresh water who has been assigned this task for the last step 27 years and more importantly who is assigned to it now between cities of Springfield and the and you know and what documents did the city produce regarding the findings regarding their commitments under item three and what action does the city plan to take immediately to remedy the lack of water that they believe would impel the habitat you know I hope the city is not

37:54 planning to renege on their commitment and if so where is the documentation the reasons and and why I mean it's a serious thing your time's up thank you for your time thank you so much all right Neil do we have anybody online that wants to testify mayor it appears we do not have any hands up virtually all right thank you very much all right come back Ben oh you know all right so the water's on now right that is correct okay so when I read the memo and then I'll open it up to see if anybody's got other questions about it the issue is not the water today it's

38:39 gonna it's sort of filling back up the issue is in the future IP's gonna stop um pumping excess water because of their current uh DEQ permit is that accurate I think that the residents there now would say that it is a problem today because of where it is all kinds but um yes the larger problem being in the future when we no longer have that in the summer months okay and that and that's as early as 23 it could be in 20 in 24 they may not be pumping water as I understand uh the construction project will be finished in sometime 2023 uh and whenever that is done providing we've had our wet weather season return or the river levels rise

39:24 um we would continue to have water but if they finished that project beforehand not necessarily does anybody have other go ahead and Leonard yeah um I know that when the Planning Commission was considering the Marcola Meadows development um one of the Commissioners expressed some concerns about the water table and the impact um was there any was there any consideration given to ways to mitigate the impact at that time uh counselor stairwell we would have to get information for you on that from our development team or the um developers so all right um do you know right offhand if there would be any way to uh amend the DEQ that is causing IP to shut off

40:11 on the uh the pumping of the water on October 31st I do not I have talked with uh DEQ about this process that's happening uh the people I talked to weren't necessarily aware of this project but I'm sure somebody there is okay um well I I just like uh if you could just follow up with us on that we can do that counselor sir thank you so could we do this um I see a couple of things um for for the folks in the room you know um Ben and Brian were more than happy to meet with you and you know answer questions uh in the whole in the hallway I I hear a lot of questions that you folks still uh that you folks still have in taking

40:56 the opportunity to get a little bit of time with them and exchange cards so that we can we can keep the conversation going um I'm interested in a in a couple of things could we get maybe an updated memo once we talked once we talked to IP about what the uh you know if if their permit could be up you know updated at all I mean I think that that's a reasonable um that that's a reasonable ask yes no problem and then Mary Bridget could you look at the the 1995 mou and maybe add to that will do quite and check with DSL to see where they can be involved as well I have had a meeting with DSL and it has been about four or five months ago now regarding

41:41 this situation uh when I discuss this with them it was around the same time that I had first seen this mou as well I did not know it existed and the most the people that are there that they did not know it existed either those those employees are all since gone so we will continue to have conversations with them as well as all of our internal staff as well thank you and so possibly um it may involve some state level elected folks to be able to help us with this situation I mean I I sympathize with these folks and it's really hard to dream up water if it's not there it's not there however it if it was there before then that

42:26 means it could potentially be there again from the same Source but it has to have the cooperation of of the state agencies and it's not a Springfield thing it's it's much bigger than that so anything I could do to help it great but I think that that yeah I'm sure Brian sure Brian there's a sad irony to this is that um IP is working on their DQ permit right and so environmentally they're doing a great thing but environmentally there are consequences to their events right and I think the other piece to it is that the Irving slew water is actually pumped I don't know if that's clear to Property Owners we've had awesome conversations maybe they don't feel that

43:11 they're awesome but really good conversations and very respectful conversations with the constituency of the neighborhood and we can provide more information we can do more research and we will certainly do that we were informed from DSL that there wasn't really an alternative for us for natural water to make it to the slough and the current water is actually pumped right by IP into it and so they're gonna with their processed water changes uh they will discontinue that so I don't know if that helps right as a source it's a source it really boils down to it's a sources issue and as far as the statements made by the residents are accurate you know with uh effect and

43:57 impact uh this was a little early but this is a window into what will likely happen over the next year or two Steve property owner on the North side is a lambling Park District now I don't know if they have any experience that could help get into this thank you so yeah if you could really like meet with them and summarize what and maybe recommend some some next steps I know this is a little like we're still getting uh we're still getting a lot of information from a lot of potential stakeholders and I know that there's State lands involved deq's involved IPS involved I know everybody's trying to do the right thing yep right and understanding that this is an impact to

44:42 the to the environment of the city Nancy did you have anything bad this um you know I'm really sensitive to the concerns of the homeowners and I I think this Council knows no secret that I'm an animal lover as well um you know this is one of those um situations where I want to make sure that we manage expectations because we are talking about water um Oregon does have very strict requirements about if you're trying to divert water or otherwise interfere in a water pathway um it obviously I don't know the history I wasn't here in the 90s um you know sometimes you have a a waterway that develops and it's not a naturally occurring Waterway so it

45:28 doesn't have it's a different type of dynamic so you know I look at other areas where drought has severely impacted people's ability to to live and and get actual well water so this is this is a I believe you know a multiplicity of factors uh climate change being one of them you know IPS discharge permitting being another so um I think it would be um unrealistic to think that we would be able to pump water from anywhere ever in in Oregon to divert to a neighborhood Slough as much as we may love the how beautiful it is and for the and for the Wildlife it's just I want to be clear about that and kind of honest about what what is possible and what isn't um

46:15 because even if we had all the political parties you know in line and willing it's it's a we can't really control water I wish we could produce more I'm sorry thank you for that for that call out because it that is accurate go ahead Joe yeah and even water rights are sold out so I mean you can't just all of a sudden start pumping things out of our Rivers so it's very complex and and again it it it's a rough deal but I don't see an easy fix Oregon's Constitution is water rights to the state I think Naval build Waters and um it's smaller than I don't know what this means yeah it's you have a bull tube or McKenzie all

47:01 right Leonard so if um the if this is a state level issue what we should probably do at the city level is talk to our state legislators I mean would that be would that be the next step I I think the challenge is going to be at the end of the like at the end of the day right like we're IP is the one that's filling it in the in the uh dry months from essentially industrial you you know supplied water and that there's not the state is not going to let us divert 3 million gallons out of the McKinsey River in the dry season to fill to fill this so maybe but I think letting these folks do a little bit of digging in a little bit of research about where what the potential option is but I think for the for the folks from the from from the

47:48 community just understanding that this is a really high hurdle and I let them work on it let them dig on it a little bit um and find out some more information all right anybody else go ahead yes uh we will continue to be transparent with our conversations with IP and we have been and we will continue to be so yeah uh unfortunately sometimes they look like the villain and they've been very good with communicating with us so and the root cause of their environment like them doing the environmental upgrade is to use less water right okay exactly so for for the folks in the in the room um like the staff is gonna meet you in

48:35 the hall and they'll give you a chance to answer them to answer some more q a from you if you're interested um they're going to get us some more information and then we'll have to take it from there all right thank you thank you mayor council thanks to everyone who testified tonight all right next item please mayor the next item is ordinances we have one ordinance tonight an ordinance amending Springfield Municipal Code section 5.134 regarding bicycle operation and storage within City Hall and this is ordinance number four an ordinance amending the Springfield Municipal Code section 5.134 and adopting a severability clause Mary Bridget Smith is here for the staff report uh good evening mayor and Council I'm here tonight for a minor proposed edit

49:20 to our Municipal Code it's to allow for city employees to transport and store their bikes above the bottom of city hall uh in an effort to encourage commuting um by bike and also to keep bikes safe when they're stored underneath City Hall they tend to get stolen or vandalized so still would prohibit bicycles or skateboards or those kinds of items being ridden here through the top of city hall or in the steps but just a little more flexibility for employees and staff members to store bikes while they're here first reading tonight no public hearing and no action are there any other questions uh Joe how many have been stolen uh you know that I don't know

50:06 I can find out that'd be good info Nancy I'm I'm we can get that information from you uh Council missionary but I I wanted to bring I asked for this change in City Hall uh for a couple of reasons one I think it's important uh to promote the wellness of our employees to anything we can do to reduce carbon emissions is all to the good um it didn't make sense to me that we couldn't bring bikes up especially I'm I am somebody who likes cycling and I know it's a very expensive investment uh with the Advent of electric bikes uh it's very possible to spend thousands of dollars on a bike and I wouldn't certainly feel comfortable leaving it in kind of a caged area downstairs um so really I was really looking at

50:52 this most mostly as a wellness and also just a preventative measure for our employees I think it's been well received it's one of those small things that we can do to help promote Wellness in our employees and I think electric bikes have enabled more people to enjoy uh commuting by bike that may not have been able to physically do that in the past so I hope that more people will be committing my bike and that and that's great but if you're coming at it at me with saying we're going to do this try to reduce the crime and having bikes not stolen as opposed to which you just said I'm more convinced with what you just said that was the reason that I asked for it to begin with um

51:37 no it's for the wellness Factor well that's what I'm saying it seemed like for me an easy thing that we could do for our employees to show that we value their overall health and I get it I don't I support that I just I don't know I guess I'm making my I don't think they're mutually exclusive yeah I'm just saying this the approach okay any other questions I have I have one clarification so that the resolution refers to designated area like is that just back in the offices or is okay so that's just something that you said administratively yes mayor um we already have an administrative policy around this that we've enacted um the policy requires that employees uh put their bike in a work area not in a

52:22 public area that it does not impede the public access within City Hall nor does it block a safety act access or fire uh door employees also recognize that they are responsible for the safe keeping of their bicycle or any valuables there too and that the city has no liability for any bicycles in within City Hall okay great um any other questions all right oh I don't even think it's for a public hearing all right no action needed it is the first reading next item place next item is any business from the city council or Rodney I always come with the list um first everybody's left but I just wanted to thank everyone for coming down and sharing their concerns

53:07 um and being in person and I just I just appreciate folks taking the time to do that um secondly tomorrow October 18th is the last day to register to vote or to update so if anybody's listening and hasn't please do so that you can vote um and then the other thing I I'm feeling it in a Joyful Way and I hope other people are starting to notice that things are opening up and we're having events and we're going to have Halloween at City Hall and there's been more things to do um and I just want to encourage folks to get out and do things I want to just encourage people to you know support local businesses try the new restaurants that are opening you know there's a new little Bakery down at the antique store

53:52 on and so just get out do things come to things um come to the whatever the mayor's thing the there's our show just come and do the things because it feels so great to be out doing things in person and I just want to encourage folks to do that thank you all right anybody else or the record it's the mayor's review and I and I want to reassure counselor rodley I am not singing dancing or doing stand-up the mayor's thing oh thanks um okay I got a couple of of quick items um and I'm I'm looking over at AJ so she can get me the right date when I get down to the added meeting here in a minute um October 24th we will um I believe Joe you are hunting that week

54:37 yeah so we Pro likely are going to be down to four folks and I'm just asking everybody to triple check their calendar to ensure that because we need everybody that night for us to have a meeting um if does it anybody have any other conflicts that I don't know about and you don't have to tell me the the details I just want to make sure we have enough folks here to do business okay done um AJ can you what's the date for that for the is it like December 12th for that so we had a request last week at um at uh at Agenda review to add an additional meeting in December

55:22 specifically to get the judges and City uh who was the judges and City attorney City attorney evaluations done likely that would be December 12th we could do it in person we can do it remote um but like from a from a scheduling perspective we have a lot of new counselors showing up in January uh we want to try to get this all done because the new folks have not necessarily um you know been here to review everybody's performance does anybody have an issue question concern about adding a meeting the 12th and it's going to be a single item like Nancy's promise not to find another item for us to process so it would come in it would probably be an executive session for the entire uh entire time

56:11 we're not taking off we're just getting an extra it's an extra bonus meeting so we are good there thanks we're not in a good try I'm not having you sit next to your union representative anymore all right uh Friday we're expecting the the mayor's review is Friday so for counselors that have not decided to come that is the uh that is the event to uh support the emerald Arts Center and the rotary charitable Foundation to do good things throughout that throughout the city so please get your tickets or AJ is going to bug you to make sure that you have tickets and show up on Friday I think that is all I had all right anybody else going once next

56:59 item please any business from the city manager no further business this evening thank you and Business from The City attorney uh no business we are adjourned thank you everybody