Springfield City Council — January 3, 2023

0:04 I'm going to call the Springfield City Council special regular session to order with roll call. Mayor Vin Gordon. Here. Councilor Moe. Here. Councilor Roddy. Here. Councilor Stair. Here. And Councilor Pishioneri. Here. All right. You want to call the first item? Yes, Mayor. The first item is the Springfield City Council members and Mayor's oath of office, and this is Mary Bridget Smith's item. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Tonight we're here to swear in new councilors for Ward 1, Michelle Weber, Ward 5, Victoria Doyle, and then for Mayor, Sean Van Gordon. So, typically we just do a really informal swearing in here. We can start with Ward 1, and then 5, and then move to the Mayor. And I brought a copy cuz I know it's hard to remember, so we'll go back and forth. Um

0:51 But, Councilor Weber, if you'd like to come up, we can start with that. Thank you. Work, Jesse. You're a professional. Thank you. Nice day. Yes. Okay. So, um if you can hear me okay, is this a good angle for pictures or do you need us or okay. All right. So, uh we'll start with Councilor Weber. As required by the charter, raise your right hand. As required by the charter, repeat after me. As required by the charter, I, Michelle Weber, do solemnly swear and affirm that I support the Constitution and the laws of the United States and the state of Oregon,

1:36 the Constitution and laws of the United States and the state of Oregon, and the charter, ordinances, and rules of procedures for the City of Springfield, and of the charter, ordinances, and rules of procedure for the City of Springfield, and that I will faithfully and honorably perform the duties of the office that I'm about to assume. And that I will faithfully and honorably perform the duties of the office that I am about to assume. Congratulations.

2:29 Okay, you're ready? All right, raise your right hand. As required by the charter I, Victoria Doyle do solemnly swear and affirm that I support the Constitution and the laws of the United States and the state of Oregon the Constitution and laws of the United States and the state of Oregon and the charter, ordinances, and rules of procedure for the city of Springfield and the of the charter, ordinances, and rules of procedure for the city of Springfield and that I will faithfully and honorably perform the duties of the office that I'm about to assume. And that I will faithfully and honorably perform the duties of the office that I am about to assume. Congratulations. Thank you.

3:37 All right. Oh, you conveniently have everybody standing there. I do, yeah. Okay, raise your hand. As required by the charter I, Sean Van Gordon do solemnly swear and affirm that I will support the Constitution and the laws of the United States and the state of Oregon the Constitution and the laws of the United States and the state of Oregon and of the charter, ordinances, and rules of procedure for the city of Springfield and of the charter, ordinances, rules of procedure for the city of Springfield and that I will faithfully and honorably perform the duties of the office that I am about to assume. And I will faithfully and honorably perform the duties of the office that I'm about to assume. Congratulations, counselor. Thank you.

4:24 No flowers for you, I guess. Actually, hey, see? All right, and that's all I have for this item. Thank you. Well, congratulations, everybody. Um, we only had one item for the special the special regular session, but I did want to give the new counselors a chance if they wanted to say anything or introduce the folks that joined them in into the crowd so that we didn't we got a little bit of time, so we didn't just sort of rush over cuz I noticed we got a lot of folks in the crowd. Michelle, who did you bring with you?

5:09 I brought my people. Well, my husband was quite busy texting many of my wonderful friends who have come to witness this tonight. I have in the front row, Liz Kaywood, Ted Voorhees, Terry Beyer, Lee Beyer, right behind Lee, we have John Hallgren, Joanne Hallgren, Cindy Destrude, Steve Destrude, and my husband, Bruce. And you all know Bonnie. She wasn't She just is here cuz she's awesome. It's good to see all of you folks. It's always good to see a city council old chamber that's full. Victoria. Well, I came with the most important person in that my husband who puts up with has been putting up with my political ways for the last 21 years and my mother Molly Hughes is actually on

5:54 Zoom because she's in Seattle so she's here watching. Well, we're Hi mom. We're glad to have your mother here. Thanks. All right, then we are going to adjourn and go over to the Jesse May room for our first work session in Jesse May room since 2020 and I don't know Neil do you want us us to stick around and take a group picture? That would be great. All right, so we are adjourned. Thank you so much. It's casual. We are all in person and so excited.

14:12 And we are still on recording, so you won't hear the voice mail and all that. Okay. And do we know how sensitive the mics are? So, if people are having a chatter between themselves, They are definitely sensitive because they are for the whole room. They will pick up whispers. Okay. So, before we call e- this this meeting to order, just be aware, right, that the mics are really sensitive, so whispered conversations. I'm not leaving. I'm looking at you guys. I was clearly looking at Councilwoman Radney. I'm going to call the work session to order with roll call. Councilwoman Gordon? Here. Councilwoman Weaver? Here. Councilwoman Moore? Here. Councilwoman Radney? Here. Councilwoman Stover?

14:57 Here. Councilwoman Doyle? Here. And Councilman Christian? Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. We have one item for the work session tonight. It's the Alaina Regional Air Protection Agency presentation. Mr. Steve. Hey, Patrick. Everyone. Good to be here. That was the beginning. That's okay. These are the technical difficulties, but we are on track earlier. There you go. There is your page. 81 was your just your cover page. Okay, well, by way of introduction,

15:42 leave it right there. I just goes in there. Thank you. By way of introduction, um you know, my name is Ed Dietrich, the new El Rapha director. I've been with the agency since April of 2021 and um I believe it's not too long it will be 2 years. Um by way of introduction, my management and my at my environmental experience has taken place in three states now, with Virginia, Wyoming and Oregon. I have a BS in civil engineering, in case you're curious. I'm a I've been a professional engineer since 1994. I have over 36 years of environmental experience with 20 plus years in air quality alone. And I joined El Rapha in April what of 2021. I'd like to describe to you tonight the uh what I what the work that El Rapha

16:28 does. Some of you are familiar with this, some of you are new to what El Rapha does and the services we provide to all of Lane County and as well as city of Springfield and the importance of increasing our air our partnership with all of the partners that we do services for. I apologize. It's having a moment. Okay, you're okay. Well, I'll just pause there for a second till it comes up. I have slide three already, so need to be on slide two. There you go. Thank you. So, El Rapha is responsible for implementing the federal Clean Air Act in Lane County. The Clean Air Act was

17:13 signed in into law 1970 and with amendments happening in 1977 and 1990. The federal authority to protect and regulate air quality is passed to the state, which Oregon is in Oregon is held by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Air regulations must be at least as stringent as the authority is delegated from the national to the local level. Meaning LRAPA cannot be any less strict than DEQ and DEQ cannot be any less strict than EPA. In addition, Oregon DEQ can and has added additional regulations statewide. The Cleaner Air Oregon program is an example of more stringent regulation and LRAPA administers the state air programs very similar

17:58 to DEQ as well as Cleaner Air Oregon in Lane County. LRAPA has been delegated state and federal authority to monitor and to regulate protect air quality in Lane County. LRAPA is the only local air pollution control authority in Oregon. Five regional partners founded LRAPA in 1968 to do this important work locally, allowing complex rules and regulations to be implemented by an entity familiar with the area, its communities, and the businesses. And LRAPA's rules and regulations are closely aligned with the state rules and regulations. They should work, right?

18:43 Next slide. So, as LRAPA uses its authority and implements local, state, and federal rules and regulations, we also monitor air quality both the national ambient air quality standards, also called NAAQS criteria pollutants, and toxics, and implement strategies and programs to protect and improve air quality. We're proud of our ambient monitoring network, which consists of eight monitoring sites and is more extensive than what DEQ could be able to provide on their own. Our wrap up protects air quality by issuing a permit to businesses who emit pollution above the minimus levels. Our wrap up assures compliance with these permits through both announced and unannounced

19:28 inspections, source testing, complaint investigations, on-site facility emissions monitoring and reporting to get the data from the facilities to show compliance. Our agency strives to provide good, accurate, and timely information to the public and our partners on air related issues such as the air quality index or AQI on our website that some of you are already familiar with. And finally, our wrap up enforces our rules in Lane County to encourage and emphasize the importance of compliance and it also levels the playing field with industry. Our wrap up provides services to Lane County as this slide and the next one will

20:14 describe. Our wrap up's complaint intake um and detailed investigations into air quality is a service that's not provided to many Oregonians to the level of degree that Lane that Lane County enjoys. On average, our wrap up responds to at least 95% of all complaints that are submitted. Outdoor burning or backyard burning is an important tool for rural landowners to manage overgrown vegetation. Our wrap up manages the outdoor burning season to best assure smoke does not negatively impact neighbors and others. Fees collected from civil penalties are are annually forwarded to Lane County and generally that runs between 20 and $50,000 a year.

21:06 More on services, um stationary, commercial, and industrial businesses in Lane County who emit air pollution above a certain level, a certain threshold, is required to receive an air permit from LRAPA. Our local permitting program is more detailed and timely than you might see elsewhere. And incidentally, um, there's about 40 businesses in the city of Springfield alone that have a LRAPA air permit. Our ambient monitoring network is more extensive in Lane County because LRAPA exists. Um, for example, our agency has leveraged a a second air toxics monitor, of which is only nine in the whole state of Oregon, that would otherwise exist. So, LRAPA plans to use the second air toxics monitor and periodically move it

21:51 around in different places in in Lane County. Um, with in 19 in 20 in 2024, we plan to have that second air toxics monitor located somewhere in the city of Springfield. We're looking at citing that right now. And if if we're in the future. That will help us assess our progress on the Cleaner Air Oregon program because it's toxics-related. LRAPA ensures that Lane County's meeting the national ambient air quality standards for all six criteria pollutants, which I'm sure you're familiar with, particulate matter, NOx, SO2, lead, ozone, and carbon monoxide. Including in the Oakridge-Westfir area, which has had air quality issues for quite some time, for PM especially. And I'll cover that on the next slide.

22:42 So, what you see here, over the years had um LRAPA has worked closely with the city of Oakridge and nonprofits in the community, um, to implement programs to improve air quality in Oakridge. Um, the graph on this slide illustrates the reduction of PM2.5, which is the really small particulate matter. Um, at five of the eight LRAPA ambient air monitoring stations that I mentioned earlier, to include the Oakridge area, uh to below the EPA NAAQS National Ambient Air Quality Standards limit represented by the red horizontal line. So, that's the limit we're trying to stay below to be in compliance. The result is LRAPA has successfully requested EPA to redesignate the Oakridge-Westfir uh air shed from non-attainment to to of

23:29 the federal standard and so actually into attainment status for the PM2.5 pollutant. The timeline for the process, you know, spanned many years even before I was even here. So, I get to see the results of that labor and that effort. Uh since EPA designated the area as non-attainment non-attainment in 2009. So, from 2009 till actually September of 2022, it was non-attainment, but now it was with that redesignation is in attainment for the for PM2.5 and that's a great accomplishment by LRAPA and everybody that was involved to make that happen. And that work must continue because guess what? EPA's reviewing that standard right now and any day now they're going to come out with a new standard which more than likely will be lower than it is now.

24:20 In the last few years, wildfires have been a has seen a greater presence on the Oregon landscape. Uh LRAPA's closely involved with uh state and federal agencies such as the Oregon Department of uh Environmental Quality, the Lane County Public Health, the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Department of Forestry, and the US Forest Service, and wildfires uh fighters, and the National Weather Service um to forecast smoke movement as well as impacts. LRAPA can and does um issue air quality advisory in Lane County to inform the public when air quality will reach unhealthy levels. And so the map on the right here is actually from period of time when the Holiday Farm

25:05 Fire was closest to us. You know, we just recently gotten through the Cedar Creek Fire, which is which was pretty devastating for the Oak Ridge Westfir area. But much of the work, um done in Oak Ridge to improve air quality would not have been possible without funding from the EPA in the form of targeted air shed grants, or TAG. Um ARAP has been able to secure two TAGs. The first being in 2019 for two 4.9 million dollars, and the second in 2021 for 2.7 million dollars, for a grand total of 7.6. Um looking forward in time,

25:53 ARAP is preparing to maximize the agency's ability to bring federal dollars to the to the to the county. We recently hired We were in the process of hiring just a a month or so ago, but we've recently hired a finance grant analyst to pursue air-related grants uh from sources such as the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Environmental Justice uh communities, as well as over that are overburdened by air pollution. Um we also want to look for ways to collaborate with our partners like the City of Springfield um to seek out and apply for additional grant funding. ARAP's service to our to Lane County businesses remain a key focus um of agency activities. We strive to issue environmentally

26:38 protective permits, air permits to confirm perform to existing rules and and our regulations that evolve through time. Our local efforts allow ARAP to pass a greater number of Lane County sources through the Cleaner Air Oregon program. Um which is I mentioned earlier is relatively new state air toxics permitting program which regulates sources based on potential health risk, which is the first time we've been able to do that. Um the sharing of information related to industry in Lane County is expanded due to the agency's ability to tailor and our outreach and our and our messaging to the needs of Lane County's communities.

27:24 So So in order to increase funding opportunities El Rapa is working to improve connections and relationship with our partners such as yourself. The first annual partner meeting we had took place in August of 2022. The meeting reviewed our intergovernmental agreement or IGA founding El Rapa. Uh it provided information on Rapa's financial structure and the importance of a maintenance of effort in our ability to do accomplish the work that we needed to do that we need to do in Lane County every day. The meeting also detailed ongoing grant efforts, public affair initiatives, and uh operational successes that and and other support services provided by El Rapa. At the bottom of the screen here you see all of those F&R board meeting that

28:09 attended the meeting. Neil, you the different Neil. The different Neil? Yes. All right. Yeah. Trick question. The Ian I Yes, sir. Yes. We look forward to seeing representatives in in for our 2023 meeting when we have it. And it will as well as any other meeting that our partners want us to attend and participate in. And lastly, we we did our website and launched it in on September 15th. The upgrade was in response to a lot provided by Lane County residents wishing for a more intuitive type of website where they can find things easier by uh getting direct access to important information presented in a simple and easy-to-understand format.

28:55 We're excited about the website. It's only been up for 3 months now or so and have already implemented a lot of the features that we got feedback on and we ask you to visit our website provide input. And with that that is the end of my presentation. I'll uh thank you for your time and interest and I'm interested in hearing from you and any questions you may have. Steve, thanks for the presentation. So, this PM2.5 standard that we attained, is it based on carbon? Is it based on carbon emissions or is it based on any kind of particulate matter that's in the air? It's based on particulate matter no matter what it is in the air. It's the really small stuff though. The

29:40 PM2.5 can get really deep into your lungs. So, whether it's carbon based or not, we're concerned about all of the pollutant. Okay, so PM2.5 is just how fine the particulate It's mean spherical diameter of the particulate of the matter itself. Okay. It used to be PM10. PM10's another standard is still in place. Very good. Um and it it it's bigger. Uh a lot of times the PM10 you can actually see it in the atmosphere a lot easier than you can see PM2.5. Got it. Okay. Thanks. Corey. I have a little bit of a different tangent. When you mentioned that you respond to complaints, what is the pro- there's probably a few processes, but I know we've had folks contact us about things that we referred them to. So, I'm curious what your process for responding

30:25 to complaints is. And maybe in some nuances around that, like if someone was a um a came repeatedly, maybe. Like how do how do would you go meet with them? Is it a letter? Like how do you all respond to complaints? Okay, so that's a That's a pretty big piece. than a red box. So, I got to get little pieces first. Our process is we intake intake the complaints either by phone, but most of the time we prefer complainants to file their complaint on on our website. Cuz it asks for some basic information that we have to have to do our next step, which is investigation after it's been assigned to one of our complaint investigators, which most of the time it's one of our three inspectors that cover the entire county. Um and depending on the nature of the

31:11 complaint, um a lot of times this take the outdoor burning is a very popular one certain times of the year. So, we'll have to go and um the information that we received to go look at the area that is been complained about. A lot of times it's a neighbor complain about their neighbor. So, we'll go look at the piece of property and see if we see any evidence of open burning cuz the first thing we're going to check is what time of year it is, what they're burning, and if they're in compliance with open burning open burning rules. Um sometimes the complaints come in and they're anonymous. Meaning that the complainant did not want to give their name, but we have to go investigate it anyway, um which does make it harder for us to get back with those that want to know what the results are. But, if you don't

31:57 want to give your name, and there's some reasons that people don't want to do that, we'll still log it into our system and what our investigation has revealed, and then what what if anything has occurred as far as from a compliance standpoint. From a right to stand point. In other words, if the open burning was not done in the right time of year, or they're burning something they shouldn't be burning, we're going to get with that landowner and give them um depending on the nature of what's being burned, either a a notice of a violation right away, or give them a chance to explain before we go forward with any kind of compliance um enforcement action. Okay. Then once it's to that point, you know, we follow the course related to

32:42 compliance and enforcement and there's different tools there to get the individual. Most of the time it ends up being a small fine maybe assessed. And then it it goes away unless they continue to do recurring um incidents that are not in compliance and then the enforcement gets escalated either more fines or more serious um actions. If we get repeat complainants in other words, the same person complains a lot sometimes they would complain more than once in a single day we actually uh logged all those complaints, but as far as investigation goes cuz a lot of times the complaints may be about the same thing, but just five or six times

33:27 we may only investigate once for all of those complaints. Okay, but in the end we're trying to get some kind of resolution on whether or not there's any substance to the complaint. Is there just my follow-up question. Is there any difference in the that process when you're dealing with businesses or individuals or is it pretty much the same like investigate Do you have different authority depending on whether it's on somebody's backyard or a business? The biggest difference That's a very good question. The biggest difference is if it's with a an industry more than likely they have an air permit that we can enforce against. Whereas a a homeowner that's just doing something illegal in their backyard it's not quite as severe and not as quite black and white when it comes to what the rules um say we have to do. You're not in compliance with a permit, the

34:12 permit kind of outlines what's going to happen pretty easily and what the resolution needs to be. Whereas with individual homeowners it may be some nuances that we have to explore with them on an individual basis. Thank you. I appreciate that. Just we know how I can explain it to people really know like what even will that do? So, yeah. The permit's a contract with industry that we have that they're going to meet our air requirements and if they know there's consequences for that. Victoria. Hi. Thanks so much for the presentation and this is my first time talking as a counselor here. That's good. How's that feel? It's a little nerve-wracking. So, uh my understanding is that we we are one of your partners of the five, correct? And don't all the partners pay into our app or like a they help fund

34:58 It's an annual a fee. So then why is all of the money that you collect on on fines going to Lane County and not coming back to the rest of the partners? That's a question maybe a new discussion you maybe need to have with Lane County. Okay. Um so just so you know, they're usually always going to be money related, so You want you have a State statute says it has to go to the county. Right now we're working with the county at least Joe Bernie has started a trigger the process or started the process because I asked the same thing and it's been a boogaboo for me for years. I sit on the board and I'm currently the board chair of right now. Um and what I saw as okay, if there's some enforcement within the city limits, why

35:44 does the county get the funding or fines from those penalties? And so that same question is being put forth through the process and so let's let's if there's a bunch coming out of Oak Ridge, then they should get the money from that, etc. So, uh right now the tough part is is getting some of that that spherical data to Lane County with that check and saying this is where it all emanated from. But it seems like if we're if the total amount that the partners are paying is less than $50,000, you just keep the fees As it's it's But then it's still not coming out of our budget. Right, but that's that that that that already is already in process and it's a matter of finding out how that can happen without costing more than what we're getting. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.

36:29 Well, I guess my question around that would be though, are we all paying the same amount? No, we're not. Do you have any more questions, Victoria? Yeah, well, is uh Cottage Grove and Oakridge still sharing a seat or didn't they used to did? they had their own They had their own now cuz long time ago they used to be Okay. They have been for years now. Yeah, they share. Okay. Yeah, I just wondered if we were all paying the same amount or if it was like based on your size or whatever. Population Population base. Also has the CPI index got to fluctuate from year to year, so that has effect on what the fees are. And as a matter of fact, um that's something that we're going to be discussing with the board uh next week.

37:14 But you know, so I'm just going to throw in some comments, you know, about Steve and about El Rapp uh um Steve was hired not that long ago. He's actually been doing a a very good job. He we've given him a list of tasks and things that we would like to see where El Rapp has shifted from the past administration there. And he's going through with with uh great precision. And the staff have come in behind him and hired a finance director. And there's there's really square away and it's and it's getting things more clear and the budget's more clear and instead of having somebody fog the area. And and we've given him a set of marching orders for this next year already. And so far we've been really pleased with the work and he's he's knowledgeable. He's he's uh

37:59 So far he can't do anything. Nothing but good. El Rapp has done really, really well. I appreciate that. My head's getting really big, right? You know, I'll shoot it down next week. So So the I guess the question that I had was really around the fire response and I know like both using technology and coordinating where the sort of the smoke has been hitting has It's really kind of like that has been an upside since the Holiday Farm fire or after. Like, you guys have been the sort of the stalwart of people understanding what is happening with air quality. When you think about um all the work that's been done around Oregon Oregon wildfires now from the county level to the state level, like, are you guys coordinating in any way or having conversations with Salem about what what are those response to those mega fires

38:44 look like? Are you at the table at all? Yeah, so um Not Not necessarily with Salem, but in the last fire that we I mentioned the Cedar Creek fire, the board and I actually put a letter together in support of what was going on in Oakridge to say, "Hey, every year that we have fires like this, some of the preparedness that needs to happen to help the the residents that are being and negatively affected, we need to have things in place instead of having to create them from scratch each time." So, that letter encouraged that as well as talking about the 35 to 40 days that Oakridge had to be above unhealthy air during that whole event and said, "Okay, when can we have a seat at the table?" As a matter of fact, it

39:29 did garner a reaction from Rick Rawl of the US Forest Service within last month and he's putting together as part of his assignment a way to get all of the interested parties as well as ARAPBA to the table to have that discussion. And I know I I know under the Governor Brown's administration, I don't know if that that position's going to stay. They have They brought like a fire coordinator or emergency planner into the governor's office, so there might be a a place for if that position still is around under under the new administration coordinate, but like you guys getting to the table and being part of the conversation, I think it's really important. And during the smoke uh management that was on one of my slides, ARAPBA has always always had a representative at those calls, whether they're daily or

40:15 weekly. Um the tough part is we're in a slightly different role because we're not first responders. But we provide data that helps the first responders with what they're going to do. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's Um, the other question that I that I had is how are how are you linked to when you think about permitting from a business perspective, right? Like one of the thing one of the challenges we have from an economic development side is just getting a clear story to businesses about what rules they need to follow. So, I know you guys just redid your website. Are is the information about what what businesses need to follow and maybe this is for the city staff on our on our website, right? So, like if if I'm a business and I touch the city website, am I automatically sort of

41:00 getting pointed back to L Rapid is somebody you you would eventually need to talk to? Good question. I haven't checked that to see how how that automatic that is. Let me take a look at that. And then uh the last question I had was really around the complaint process. Um, so one of the things that's been sort of top of mind for me lately is really thinking about challenging properties that we have for a number of reasons, right? Like and they could be air quality problems, they could be, you know, building codes, they could be any, you know, um any number of things. Is there a way that are you are you guys have sort of the frequent flyers that you see from an air quality perspective, are you have coming back and having that conversation and sharing that

41:46 information with the city staff so that if if those same properties are showing up for other code enforcement actions, we kind of have a broader picture of what's actually happening? Mhm. Okay. Um From a complaint standpoint, when we have a lot of complaints about one facility and it's in your jurisdiction, then yes, we're going to tell you that right away because a lot of times the complainant, if they're not getting the response they want, Mhm. they're going to quit coming to us and go to the city. Right. So, what we try to give that be proactive there and say, "Hey, here's what's coming and here's who we're dealing with." From a facilities From a From a facilities standpoint, like I said, we have our air permit permit that we can enforce upon that. If there is

42:34 What was the second part of your question? Um just how are you If you're sharing all that information with with with the city, because I think sometimes people that you're having challenges with may be people that city departments are having challenges with, right? So, it may give us a broader picture of what's actually happening in a neighborhood. guess the short answer is yes, but I'm trying to think of an example where we've done that outside of our regular course of business. Like, from an enforcement action standpoint, all of our enforcement actions are common knowledge and available to people to see. But, if we have particular facility or individual or some property owner that is becoming a nuisance not only from a compliance standpoint, but repeat offender, then yes, maybe we need to have a We don't have a

43:20 I don't think we have a mechanism that you're trying to describe that automatically makes that happen. I don't know that needs to be automatically, but it may just need to be, you know, a place where if we're all connected a little bit that we'd be able to say, like, "Hey, if we're all chatting regularly, hey, this this thing keeps coming up. Is it coming up on sort of your side of the fence or or vice versa?" Right? Because it could happen on the city side, and then, you know, we could ask, "Hey, is that coming up on our office El Rapha's radar?" There have been times where we've had people come to our board meeting and make complaints, just to turn around and say, "Okay, um I'm also going to make that same complaint to this case, City of Springfield, for example." And we've given you a heads-up that that's going to happen then. Yeah, the I think our going procedure at that

44:05 point has been if it's an air quality complaint if somebody shows up at the at at city council is to refer them back to El Paso because you'll be our air authority. Thank you. I I was actually going to ask a question related to that and it would probably be in my fellow counselors here. What is the mechanism that we have for enforcement of uh a violation that would normally be El Paso's jurisdiction? I mean, do we have any? So, in other words, what we what we should do responsibly is refer them to El Paso. Okay. Yeah, that's what they have my user. Actually And and that's if I cuz I'm I don't know if people haven't asked, but why do we have El Paso? And that's a big deal because a lot of folks think about well, that's another

44:51 layer of government. And why are we why is this local agency being paid for by local monies when we have DEQ as a state authority that's paid to do this? And you you people wonder about that. I have to. And I and you know, everybody knows me that it's like I I don't like layers and I would just assume disband El Paso until I started looking at what we would have to do as a city if El Paso wasn't here. And I started thinking about what the city requirements would be, the enforcement end of things, the the measurement of things, air quality measurements, all of that that El Paso does, the city would have to do it. We would have to hire staff to do that.

45:36 And based on that, the cost that we give or the payment that we give to El Paso is a fraction of what it would cost if El Paso wasn't there and they're providing that entire service that DEQ would provide it, so to speak, but we would have to back in back fill it with all that information DEQ would require of us and it would cost us 10 times more or more. That's that's I went in there saying okay, I'll I'll go on a rapid board and I'm going to see about DEQ. helping this place." I didn't get very far in the moment. I didn't find it to learn about it. It's like, "You know, this is a great organization to have in our area." And there used to be three other local air agencies besides Amarillo, but this is the one that's left besides the DEQ.

46:22 And I remember I mentioned the eight monitoring sites and eight monitoring sites. If it was DEQ run only, you'd be you'd be lucky to have four of them. I mean, our quality monitoring exam. All right, any other questions? We appreciate you coming and uh giving us a primer on the uh on what you do as an agency. Thank you very much. Thank you. Don't be strangers, right? Great presentation. Thank you. How did you hear about Oak Ridge, Governor? Yeah, right. So, we have a very long time. We don't have anything else for the evening before we adjourn. Sure. Um we've got a little extra time planned to make it back over to the city because we're trying out new technology for the first time. So, I appreciate you guys

47:08 just being a little patient and giving us plenty of time to make sure everything's working. Anything for you, Sean. You're an inspiration, Jim. What is your agenda? I'm saying we need to file it.

51:14 We just We got about 30 seconds left. And we'll get started. I'm going to call the City Council regular session to order with roll call. Mayor Van Gordon. Here. Councilor Weber. Here. Councilor Moe. Here. Councilor Rodley. Here. Councilor Stehr. Here. Councilor Doyle. Here. And Councilor Pishner. Here. Thank you. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

52:08 As we begin our meeting tonight, I would like to ask members of the audience who are joining us by phone or online to please keep yourselves on mute until you are called to provide public testimony. There is one time to designated time for public testimony this evening under business from the audience. If you are attending in person, please complete the request to speak card located at the entrance of the city council chambers and give it to the city recorder. If you're joining us by tablet, smartphone, or computer and wish to speak either of those times, please raise use the raise hand feature in Zoom. The order of public testimony is as follows, any person in the council chambers and then anyone who's raised a virtual hand. And Neil, can you tell us how many folks are joining us tonight? Yes, Mayor, we have approximately 18 people in the council chambers and six

52:54 attendees online. Thank you. First item, please. First item is the consent calendar. I make I move that we approve the consent calendar. Second. Neil, could you call the roll, please? Yes, Council Weber. Yes. Council Moe. Yes. Council Roddy. Yes. Council Stehr. Yes. Council Doyle. Aye. And Council Pishue. Aye. Motion passes, six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. Uh you have no public hearings tonight, so your first item is business from the audience. I do not have any cards of this evening. Um is there anybody who's interested in speaking online? Uh does not look like we have any hands for this item. All right. Next item, please.

53:43 The next item, you have two items under a business from the city council. Item number one is committee appointments. And this is um mayor and council committee assignments. And Mayor Van Gordon, this is your item. All right. Thank you. The uh committee assignments are in the packet. Um this version includes all the feedback that I've gotten. There were a couple people that wanted to be uh an an an alternate and then somebody who had a request for a different item. Unless you guys have something you want to talk about, I believe we have to approve it by uh by motion, right, Mary Bridget? Take a look at the agenda. It is an assignment from uh the mayor. Hm, so.

54:28 Um so, I don't think technically it does need a motion. I don't know what you think, AJ, but it's assigned by the mayor, so. Yeah. Yeah, if you're agreed, it's fine to do. Okay. Then we are good. Um so, the the staff's going to transmit this to all the other partners, um and then those liaisons are going to reach out to you guys individually. Okay. Next item, please. Next item of new business from the council is city council president appointment. Mayor, this is your item along with Nancy Newton. And I can jump in here with some process before um this matter goes farther because we do this just sort of every few years, just long enough of a gap to forget how to do it, I think. So, uh the charter and the council operating policies and procedures provide that the council will elect a

55:13 council president in the uh first meeting in January in odd years. It's a vote by a simple majority, which is out of the councilors here before uh votes. The mayor would break the tie electively. The process that um we can employ tonight is to take that mayor can take nominations. You can self-nominate or you can be nominated by someone else. Nominations don't need seconds. Sometimes people will second as a way to show support, but it's not necessary. Um once nominations are closed, then uh Neil will call for the vote. He'll call your name, and then just vote by saying the name of the person that you want to vote for. I think that's probably the most efficient way to do it. Keep in mind that uh the number of nominations, you know, if um we need a simple majority vote to carry the vote. If you

56:00 have six nominations, that can make it a little bit tricky if you each vote for yourself. So, just keep that in mind if that is in fact what happens. Um and if we um keep working through the voting and can't get to a simple majority, we can kind of keep working from there. But, um that's the quick and dirty on electing the council president. It's just like the House of Representatives. That's so I'll hopefully hopefully this will be smoother. That was my joke to make, Steve. Hopefully, it's not going to take us 2 hours to call to to call the name. Um before I open it up for any nominations, I wanted to give folks a chance to ask either process questions, process questions about the role, questions for Mary Bridget, or just general discussion. Corey. I actually just want to thank Steve,

56:46 Counselor Mow, for having done such a great job in the last 2 years and coming back in from being virtual and coming back into the chamber. So, thank you for being willing to do that during a time of transition. I appreciate you. You've been great help to me, Corey. Thank you so much. Any other questions? All right. Then, I'll start taking nominations. Leonard. Um I'd like to uh nominate Counselor Rodley. I'd like to nominate Joe Piccinini. Second.

57:35 So, I'll say your name again as Mary Bridget mentioned and just say the person that you would like to vote for, Counselor Webber. Uh, Counselor Pishnery. Counselor Moe. Pishnery. Counselor Rodli. I'm going to vote for myself, Rodli. Counselor Stehr. Counselor Rodli. Counselor Doyle. Joe. And Counselor Pishnery. Sure. Yes, thanks. So, I have it as Counselor Pishnery by four votes and Corey Rodli by two votes. So, Counselor Pishnery will be the new Council President. Thank you, everyone. All right. Next item, please. Any business from the city manager?

58:20 No business this evening. Thank you. And any business from the city attorney? No, no business tonight. Thank you. All right. Then, we are adjourned for the evening. Thank you, everybody. In person. I mean