Springfield City Council — September 5, 2023

0:07 I'm going to call this Springfield City Council work session to order with roll call. Mayor Van Gordon. Here. Councilor Webber. Here. Councilor Moe. Councilor Roddy. Here. Councilor Blackwell. Here. Councilor Doyle. Here. And Councilor Pishioneri. Here. Thank you. And we know Councilor Moe is on his way. So, we have two items for the work session tonight. The first one is the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency interviews. It's a little bit of a mouthful. AJ, you look like you're the staff person here. I am the staff person. Um Would you like me to come to the table or am I okay from here? You can stay there. Okay, then. Um so, as requested, we extended the recruitment for um the Lane Regional Air

0:53 Protection Agency board members. Um we received three applications. Two of our applicants were confirmed for this evening, and um we may have a third. So, is there any questions or anything I can address? Okay. So, any questions for AJ before we pick questions? All right. Does anybody have a quite particular questions that they want to uh ask out of the list? I think you did really good doing them all last time. I just thought I'd throw that out there. I'm not inviting you all anymore or anything. All right, but you still have to introduce yourselves.

1:40 Okay. Um We are looking for Mike McFerlin. I can't hear. He did confirm, but I don't see him. If you would like, we can move on to Jared. Let's move on to Jared. Cuz I have confirmed Jared is here. Come on. You're going to be right here on this end. Hello, everyone. Hi. Hello, Jared. What's going on? I'm Jared Hensley. Well, thank you for making it. Yeah. We're going to go around and do a quick round of introductions, and apparently I get asked all the questions. Sounds good. All right. And Tori, if you want to

2:25 start Ward five. It's It's you, then. It's Oliver, ward one. Hello. Ben Laffel, ward four. Hello. Corey Radley, ward three. Pleasure. Sean Van Gordon, mayor. Drew Piscinari, first ward. Nice to meet you. Good evening. City manager. I'm Nela Daddy, assistant city manager. Nice to meet you. All right. You ready? We are. All right. Why are you interested in serving on the El Rappa Board of Directors? I Everywhere I live, I kind of look for an opportunity to get involved in the community. I have a young son, so typically that turns into coaching youth sports, which I do a lot of now. I'm Alton Thurston, as well. Um in the past, I also served on a historical preservation and architectural review board in

3:10 Steilacoom, Washington. I enjoyed that because it allowed me to get the community involvement as well as some education because a lot of my neighbors just saw that board as a nuisance cuz they didn't really know what it did, right? Uh when I saw the El Rappa uh opportunity and it was brought to my attention, I kind of thought that I could approach that the same way. Talking to a lot of my community members, they don't really know what El Rappa does or what it's founded upon, so I thought I could approach that in the same technical manner of, you know, having that community involvement, getting some education out there. Uh and I also want to bring a balance to the board that I see um being able to do myself what what allowed.

3:55 Can you describe your professional or any other personal experience as it relates to Al Rapha? Yeah, just to get it out there. I am the structural engineer for Roseburg. So I have some experience on that back end, right? But I am a structural engineer by trade. So everything I do is technically driven, factual data analysis pretty much every day. My day-to-day is data-driven analysis, right? So I'd like to bring that aspect to the board as well. It's just looking at the data, doing the research, making strong factual decisions. Could you please list areas of concerns you have about air quality, community development, or the environment in general? I

4:40 don't think I have anything original to say on that one that you guys haven't heard before, right? I uh I'm pretty level-headed on it. I mean, I do everything else everybody else does. I look at the global warming stuff. I look at the environmental concerns. I know what air quality does to help those processes along, right? But I know at the end of the day I'm kind of responsible for what I can do within my community, and I look to help with those things being personally responsible in in how I approach it. Perfect. Outside of the monthly Al Rapha meetings, what amount of volunteer time do you have to offer to Al Rapha? I don't know if I can give you an exact number on that. Right, yeah. Ballpark is

5:26 I would be willing and able to do whatever is necessary. There's any special projects or things that the board deems that they I should be on, I'll be willing to help with that. I'll put in the time to do the technical side of things, the research that's necessary, and the community involvement that's necessary to to make that happen. But I still have to coach my youth sports. It's in my blood. Can you give an example of your experience working with a committee? This one? I'm just kidding. Um outside of the historical preservation and architectural review board, my structural emphasis side, I have served on multiple international code council committees. I'm currently on two anti American National Scientific and um

6:11 anti standard committees the institute. Uh I actually leave in 2 weeks to go sit through a 3-day seminar for that stuff. So, I've served on ad hoc committees inside those systems. Uh I have written code change proposals, listened to those, done the rewriting and view reviews and voting uh on all of those councils as well. So, um outside of that, I mean, there's not much else that I can say on that one. Um please name one way you would help inform our community about El Rapha and its activities. Speaking of like sky writing? I'm just kidding there. And verbal, right? Um I just think that just like most of all you have looked everybody up that I I can put a name to in

6:56 uh social media and community presence is where it's at, right? I think that's the biggest thing is is getting out there and talking to our neighbors about it. I think and some of you've already heard this joke already, but most of my neighbors thought El Rapha was just a sound that a motorcycle made going down the street, right? Nobody really intended on what El Rapha did. And I think getting that positive enforcement out there and getting that knowledge of kind of what we do or what El Rapha does. I'm already on it, see? Um Uh would be the biggest thing is just get that community buy-in. How do you think the work of El Rapha will improve our city? I think it currently improves our community. I mean, down the line I only see it getting better, but I think taking control of how our community is

7:41 involved in our air pollution and and what goes about it is is huge. It takes it kind of out of the state hands and all those decisions that are made at the capital that we don't have a say in and puts it back into our communities. So we can take our businesses How you doing, sir? Our businesses, our my neighbors and ourselves and all of our decisions into account instead of just relying upon what other people say we can do. Right? Right. That was it. Getting Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you for your input, of course. I still don't have Mike. I've checked email and voicemail and I don't have a

8:27 message. I can see if he dialed in. Thank you. Before before we close interviews and sort of move on, that way we've checked everything. I don't have his name listed in our attendees list as well as um Alicia's. I don't have her, either. Okay. So I think it's up to us if we want to hold it open or if we want we can go ahead and deliberate on the one interview we had. Yeah, I'm okay with deliberating. Okay. Okay. So are you guys good? Are you guys concerned? Questions? I'm good. I'm disappointed for having our next meeting. Yeah, I'm good. Good. I'm I'm good. Yeah, good. I think he did a great job.

9:12 When is our next meeting? All right. So soon. All right. Let him know out of this giant pool him to him. It was a difficult choice. And he's really inspirational. scored higher than anybody else. Yeah, yeah, there you go. Highest score. Well, he still has going yes to us after we do this. so like can we not scare them off and then we can actually do it properly. He doesn't scare you. All right. So, Apparently I'm sorry. We're going to move on. We're going to move on to the the next item. It's administration administrative civil penalties with Charlie Kent.

10:00 What up? Sorry. We're in a different room, so adjusting. Yeah. Do you have the clicker for the department? No, but I'm going to help you. Okay. I will make it happen. Good evening, Council. Um again, my my name is Charlie Kent. Um before I I get into uh the presentation and some of the things we'd like to discuss today, I'd like to introduce um our awesome Brenda, who's our new code officer. Uh she's been with us 5 weeks. Uh and she comes straight out of a

10:45 corrections background, so we're slowly introducing the civil side of things. Uh but those hard skills are there, so it's uh um steep learning curve. She's doing a great job. So, very very excited to have her. Welcome. Welcome aboard. Thank you. I would have to arrest those people if they don't know their law. Oh, no, no. Um So, I'd also like to touch base um quickly with um our program timeline. Uh when I initially came to you in May, um I had a three-phase plan approach to how we were going to roll this out, and and we're getting there. We're on on track right now um with some of those key provisions. Um we're really working through those ACPs. I think uh we're going to make some great headway today.

11:31 Um we've been um, supporting the the the administrative side, so we've got a little bit more administrative support, uh, which has done done wonders. We've got a new officer on board. Uh, we're still working through some of those legacy policies and procedures, uh, the standard things that that we did back in the 2000s, um, that we really need to uh, to move forward with. So, think of instead of um, you know, we we used to send our film out to the the photo shop. Now we're going through iPads and and we're really streamlining that process. So, we're seeing uh, more efficiency, um, and uh, a better response, better level of service. Um, and additionally we're also working a little bit better with um, our

12:16 interdepartmental um, enforcement processes. So, what that means is how are we working with the fire marshal's office and the police department, with ESD, um, and those folks. Uh, so, um, I think we're on month three of a kind of a standing meeting with the fire marshal's office and the police department. Um, uh, really uh, the initial one was to kind of find our roles. Uh, the the second piece of that is what's the highest priority and and how can we make the most impact? Uh, how can we help each other, uh, not duplicate efforts, that sort of thing. Um, uh, so, we're making good progress. We've identified uh, vacant properties, um, as one of those uh, key components of a health and safety hazard. Um, and so in the coming months, um, I'll be coming back to you once I have

13:01 some data to to support those efforts and and what we're doing and what we'd like to do, um, there. But, right now we're still brainstorming, bringing that data together. In terms of um, it it's important to to understand or um, make a distinction between uh, the fire marshal's efforts or their office. Their efforts are are geared more towards commercial and industrial properties. Um, whereas those residential properties, we've got over 23,000 homes in the city of Springfield, we don't know how many are vacant or not, right? And there's no real easy way to quantify that, but we're trying to build build out that data a little bit. And and so there's no real strict regulation there and I think we can make a big impact doing that.

13:47 Um Okay. So, getting into the the administrative civil penalties, what I'd like to do is do a quick review of what they are and the difference between our current process and the administrative civil penalties, and I'll get through it pretty quickly. The the administrative civil administrative civil penalties process, think of it more as a parking ticket than a civil citation. This is much more effective for those prohibited parking violations or those violations which have a low barrier to resolution that we can immediately respond, knock on a door, say, "Hey, move your car, please." And and move on from there. These all these because of this type of response, this allows us more educational and outreach

14:34 approach. It puts us in the community, which which serves two purposes. It it really code enforcement, not a lot of people know that you can't park on your front lawn or some of the other code violations. They don't know the you know, that the ins and outs of that. That allows us to present that information. It also allows us to collect that that information, really be a data source for for you all, for for the city manager's office and for you know, the the executive team staff. There's a much faster intervention here. So, because it's a simpler process, there's a 3 to 5-day deadline post notification. And I'll get into that just a little bit later, but but essentially because

15:19 there's a the barrier to resolution, we're shortening the deadline considerably versus that two to three week deadline for a civil citation or the six week deadline for a trial before we actually get in front of the judge. And this can also progress to the judicial process. This This can serve as prior warning if we were to issue a citation. So hypothetically, if we were to go straight from parking on the front lawn and this is a chronic issue where we're not getting a response or someone still wants to pound sand, we can progress straight to a citation within still within the time frame of what we would ordinarily issue that citation. And again, I'll get into that, but essentially we're looking at a 45-day

16:04 into time to first trial versus a 60-day time to first trial, which is currently what we're what we use. The judicial process isn't without its place. This is much more effective for the higher order complicated type issues where we're looking at commercial businesses or industrial use. There's one that just came up today that is going to be a sewage issue much like we had a couple years ago and that was that was a big thing, right? And and it we really need kind of those legal mechanisms to contain that or to provide a good framework for that enforcement. The judicial process also insulates

16:50 staff. Part of what I'll be talking to you about today is the discretion required with administrative civil penalties. Essentially with an administrative civil penalty, it is a de facto guilty plea if we issue that citation. Very similar to like a parking violation that that I receive occasionally when I park out over three hours, right? It's it's we've got photographs to support it. You know, this isn't This isn't an argument. This is an order of law. Um that level of discretion shouldn't be applied necessarily to those complicated processes, right? Where we do need a legal finding or or perhaps we need a a third body. We need

17:36 the judge to render the decision so that that appeal can go to a higher court if required. Um and so again, there's there's some insulation that the process does provide to staff. And I think it's important to have both both avenues of approach. Um and once we're in the judicial process, the civil citation isn't the only one isn't the only legal mechanism that we use. Recently this year we we've conducted three or four abatement projects where I've obtained a search warrant or administrative warrant and then an order to abate. Basically asking the judge that probable cause does exist that this is a public health hazard or nuisance

18:21 violation that has to be resolved. There's an issue that um significantly affects neighborhoods or the public welfare and the judge signs off on that. So once once I issue that initial civil citation, they're aware of what's going on at that at that process and that that provides a little bit easier of a um resolution or an understanding towards that abatement if we were to go that direction. So some of those minor violations, again, private parking is the low-hanging fruit and so I'll throw it out there every time. Parking on your front lawn or outside of the driveway.

19:12 An an obscene amount of garbage. So you know, if the front yard's covered or if the backyard's covered, we may not This may not be the appropriate resolution. Um uh but um you know, if you've got uh overflowing garbage cans, um obstruction of the right-of-way. So, you know, parking your trailer in that grass strip between the sidewalk and the street is not okay. Those Those little Those little things that we do need to address, um but we don't necessarily need a court to enforce. Um fences, um odors, um uh stagnant water. So, it's very common to um have that leftover pool from the summer hanging out in your front yard. Um and uh and we've got deadlines there in terms of getting that resolved. Um and then uh uh stored vehicles are are inoperable inoperable vehicles.

20:02 Okay, this will be tricky. So, we've got uh several Okay. So, the the administrative civil penalties process starts exactly like the judicial process. Um there's a uh uh the goal is uh we have Once we receive a complaint, we've got a uh first inspection scheduled within 1 to 3 days. Um those 3 days really come up and this is the goal. It's not not our current standard uh or or you know, uh our current um response time. Um but should have an inspection scheduled the the day after we receive a complaint. Sometimes those 3 days come on uh long weekends or something along those lines. And so, there is administrative time lapse there. Um once we um uh complete that first inspection, if it's a valid complaint, um there will be a deadline of 3 to 5

20:47 days. And this is where um I am going to ask for some of uh your input on on this type of um uh the procedure of, you know, what what is appropriate, what's not. Um 3 to 5 days uh uh for that first order to comply. So, essentially that's going to be uh once we're on site, we validate the complaint and we will knock on your door or leave a a hand and resolve this in 3 to 5 days. Um, and then we go to the the follow-up inspection to that. And at that point you will receive a fix-it ticket um, off of that follow-up inspection. Um, the education piece is done. We're now to the enforcement piece. Um, and from that um, a 3 to 5-day deadline, we could adjust accordingly.

21:34 Depending on the the priority level and the amount of the fine, um, uh, there's a a matrix that I included in the Patrick or excuse me, in the in the um, packet, uh, which describes a little bit more. Um, it's progressive enforcement. So, your first ticket's going to be $25. Uh, the next ticket's going to be 50 and then we're going to double from there until it reaches a certain threshold that again, we can discuss uh, what's appropriate. Um, this is that that ongoing process. Um, uh, so those 10 to 14 days, imagine uh, uh, four fix-it tickets or or four different uh, communications with progressive enforcement. And then if we're not able to um, uh, resolve the violation, we would then move on to civil citation,

22:20 um, which takes um, uh, 14 to 21 days uh, to complete. 14 at the at the soonest if you receive it that day or if we hand it to you. Go ahead. Hello. Um, and then this is the um, the actual trial. Um, so from the reception of the the civil citation, um, you're arraigned, um, you will enter a plea of uh, guilty, not guilty, um, uh, or a plea of advance. Um, from there um, a trial is almost always set uh, for 21 to 30 days out, sometimes longer. So, I have a question about the days. Are these calendar days, days, uh business days?

23:06 Um my recommendation would be you're going to have to lengthen it, switch it to calendar days, right? Because that way you can get you have one standard, and you know, you can physically count calendar days, right? You don't have to be like, "Well, you know, is Tuesday a business day? Is Monday a business day?" You've got a bunch of minor holidays that are out there that, you know, like just having a calendar day window would be would be fine. You're going to have to add time to to to these to to these to account for that, but it would it's way more straightforward. All right, that first one could be one to five, next one could be Yeah. Five to 10, next one could be 10 to 14, and you know, so on and so forth. So, that way you have You have blocks of time to invest. Yep. Oh, sorry, Clark.

23:51 And And were you done? No, not quite. Okay, cool. Um so, the uh I guess it's a question, process question for you as to what is your process when it comes to renter versus property owner, and that what type of notification are you talking about when you're talking about citations, etc.? So, you're implying that that is an in-contact type citation because you're not going to be able to cite a building. And so, are you requiring yourself to have in-person contact, or is it you're talking about you have like postal service contact, by mail, certified mail? But, I guess I want to

24:36 know I want to know what the the process is so I don't want to hear from landlords all over the city that are getting hammered in civil court because they have renters that are violating their rental policies or rental contracts, but yet that landlord is on the hook for it, and they don't know jack about it until all of a sudden it's it's it's an issue in court. Now they got to have to hire an attorney to try to reverse those actions and fix it, but they're they're so far along in the loop that we're in a point of no return up here. So, I want to know what the process is to They landlords should be protected. It's the renters that should be that

25:22 should be held accountable. So, how are we going to how are we going to approach that? Uh So, we're not going to do anything different than we don't already do. Uh Which which is a problem because what we do already is where landlords are calling and saying this is a problem. Just now finding out about this and all of a sudden I've got to I've got just two uh fines to pay. The the the facts are that um I've issued somewhere in the neighborhood of two to 300 um civil citations. Um you know, that's a very rough estimate. Um every single one of them um has had prior written uh notification uh per the code um uh which states that

26:07 um any It it it's up to the officer to uh provide that prior written notice. Uh we can't just issue a civil citation. Um so, every time that I've issued a notice or excuse me a a citation to a property owner, uh they have received prior written notification of that violation uh either through a notice of violation, a warning citation, or a final warning citation. Most of the time all three. Right, I understand that part, but I'm talking about your Are you talking about occupant contact? I am. Okay, and so the owner may not occupy the that address. You're right, Council Kushner. And and what we're looking for with administrative civil penalties is um resolving this

26:53 um at the lowest level possible in the most efficient way possible. Once we progress past the administrative civil penalties, we're looking at probably anywhere from 5 to 14, maybe 16 calendar days to resolve those. Following that, if the the renter did not receive the citation and I decided to issue a citation to the property owner. Exclusively, I would issue a notice of violation or a warning citation to that property owner explaining what the actual violations were, the required correction to do so, and then a deadline to comply with that. Now, it's very common and forgive me,

27:38 it's very common for those folks to to call me out and say, "Well, I had no idea my renter was doing this and that." And I'm more than happy to to work with those folks to extend deadlines or make accommodations. Often times, these parallel civil eviction cases. Yeah, and I I understand there and there's and I know of specific cases which you're talking about, but what I'm looking at too is that if you have if you're a landlord and you have a renter that is violating local ordinance or law, that is typically an automatic violation of a contract. That's really the the only hammer that the landlord has against the renter to make sure that

28:23 they are complying with law. Even though they're even though property owner owns the property, but they have a renter there that may be violating the law. The landlord has no control over who's parking there, etc., so to speak, but they're earlier than notified. So, what I'm saying is that can can you dual track that? The earliest as possible is it if you have if you go up and you identify the occupant or ask are you the landlord or are you the property owner and that's clear cut. I have no problem with this whatsoever. But if the person says no, I'm a renter, then that to me would be a red flag popping up saying, okay, I need to go to Arlid, look look up who's the property owner and notify this person simultaneously so that way it's not a

29:10 surprise at all ever to the landlord so they can actually start working with you and saying, okay, well, I'm going to look at the eviction process because I have Mr. Cannon over here that just says you're violating code instead of going, oh, 3 weeks ago you were contacted by the city and so now I got a 3-week catch-up time with that renter as a landlord. You see what I'm saying? I do, sir. So, is there is there a process in which we can close that gap, that communication gap to help landlords help the city by keeping the renters in compliance with city code? Um there's there's always a way, Council Krizanic. I it it's just going to add time. Okay.

29:57 That's what I'd like to see as a process for me. Corey. Thank you. I guess we've sort of took over with questions here in the middle. Um I and I remember when we talked about this before and I like seeing it all mapped out. My question and I find I've asked this before is just I'm just curious whether we have the capacity to do this cuz this looks like, you know, more touches and we're taking more time, which I think is great. Um and do we have the capacity internally to to work this plan? Um But could we get there? we could certainly get there, Council Brother, and we could we could do so at you know, a progressively.

30:43 I I think, you know, um the question is, you know, we we either have to get more FTE to to do what we currently are doing or we have to change process to a more efficient manner. So, I I don't have day data support this, but it's my experience and within the the process, my understanding of the process is that this will be a little bit more on the front end, but it will save loads of time on the back end. It will allow us to have higher volume of touches versus the more in-depth investigation or determination. The way

31:28 that I propose to restructure the program is those those more in-depth investigations would be handled by somebody who does not necessarily respond to these higher volume calls. Okay. I appreciate that. Victoria. Um I wasn't going to answer ask a question, but then after hearing Council Fisher area, I wanted to ask about this. Is there different levels because I would think if I was a landlord, I don't need to hear that somebody's got their basketball hoop in the right of way. I mean, that just seems like uh something that isn't relevant as a as a landlord versus something that's like garbage piled up or whatever, but I mean, it I don't know. It just seems like that

32:13 I understand the concern about the landlords, but I also worry that we're making that kind of is their responsibility to know what their tenants are doing, especially when it's visible for somebody else to complain about it, then there has to be some sort of responsibility there, but I just I just think that there's some stuff that's pretty minor that you might be responding to. I mean, I don't know how many of your stuff is more like minor cuz it sounds like a really good process to get those things out like you know, like the basketball hoops or or the garbage can not being put away or those kind of smaller things versus those big issues, are we Yeah. Um so, from the data that we've recorded this year, um uh about half, maybe 60% of our cases are considered low priority, what we would

32:59 call low priority. Um and uh those are the exactly as you said. We certainly can um explore um uh kind of maneuvering within that process to identify um different priority levels or or what um uh council thinks is, you know, those priority levels. I do have a slide up here uh where we go into uh those priority levels as well. Um Would you mind skipping forward a few, please? Well, there you go. So, I'm I'm glad you brought that up, Councilwoman Doyle. Um so, our complaint priority response currently, um as best we can do it right now with with the software that we have, uh we have um uh three priority levels uh for

33:46 that initial response. And so, that's for um just for the complaint right now. So, when we receive a complaint of a health or safety hazard, an emergency situation, or or something that, you know, removes accessibility um uh standards, uh those are higher priority. We need to get out there and um identify if that's a a valid or an invalid complaint, and then resolve that. That becomes um a higher priority. Unfortunately, those take the most time. Um uh typically. Um uh moderate priority cases are uh more geared towards public nuisances, um uh which are um you know, things that are stored uh clearly in public view, um you know, a a 3-month long garage sale or uh you know, there's uh you know, 17 cars parked on a piece of

34:32 property. You know, things like that where you know, we we've got some some pretty significant public nuisance impacts and then also some more egregious zoning violations. So, if your RV for instance is leaking gray water, you know, that would probably be a health and safety hazard. So, not a great example, excuse me. But but zoning violations where we're right in the setback or maybe we have a business that's operating outside of standards that could have some sort of impact there. And then those those minor zoning violations are the lower priority. So, think of like a shed that's 2 ft instead of 3 ft away from the fence. It's technically a violation, but that's not going to be a lights and

35:18 sirens type response. Private nuisances where we're impacting just one citizen or maybe it's a neighbor conflict. Parking violations and then you know, those administrative violations like business licensing or or something along those lines. Still stuff that we need to resolve, but not something that we need to hop right on. It just seems like that the the priority three and even priority twos could be resolved before it ever gets to the point of a landlord. Like it's it sounds like with the process that you're talking about putting in place, there's a high probability that you'd be able to resolve a lot of these long before they get to that stage. So, That's something I'd love to discuss. Um Yeah, Gerald. Joe. And I and I I see where you're getting as far as the amount of work,

36:03 but for example, you're using priority two as an example not to get a hold of a landlord if there's a public nuisance and zoning violations I think would be directly affect a landlord in their standing in that in that neighborhood. So, I think that's would be absolutely something where a landlord would be should be notified obviously one. Priority two obviously I think should be notified as soon as as ASAP immediately. And priority two is where you if you're going to I would have I'd be okay with officer discretion in a sense where you have some minor zoning violations or parking violations whatnot for you to go progressively with that renter dealing directly with that occupant as opposed to the landowner.

36:49 And if you if at some point at some point you're going to know that this isn't going to where you want it to go, then notification should be made right then. Say, "Okay, that's fine. We just As you know, we need to include as you should understand, we need to include the property owner in this and let them know that what's going on too so that way they don't have any surprises." It's a communication thing and and you know, it's the it's semantics one, two, and three, but to me the low priority is something where I think you should have the the ability to and and the responsibility to contact the landlord when you start to see that it doesn't seem to be going the direction you want it to go. Everything else should I think should be an automatic notification because especially the public nuisance and zoning violations, that's a

37:35 neighborhood thing and and landlords don't want to be known as one of those landlords if if their renters are causing nuisances to their neighbors. That's that's pretty big. I mean, as far as I'm a landlord as you you might be able to tell and that that would be huge to me if I have had a renter that's that negatively impacting a neighborhood. I want to know as absolutely as possible cuz I'd be on the phone that night. So, Charlie, like I know we're going to have more than one conversation about this before So, could you maybe develop this thread a little bit out and give it give us some a little bit more information about like cuz we're giving you a lots of feedback right now and as you develop the program, right? Like maybe maybe spend some time with the uh with the briefing memo that's kind of talking about talking about this issue.

38:21 The question I had I looked at the three priorities was what Okay, so if ACP would be low priority case three stuff, right? That from one to three days before you can get out there. How fast do you respond if it's high priority? And then how fast do you respond if it's if it's medium priority? Um so um we follow the the uh complaint response. Um so that high priority is um day of next day. Okay. Um uh the moderate would be anywhere from three to to five days. Um uh right right now we're well beyond that. Um but I think a goal and and this will come in a little bit later as well with those expected customer service levels. Um but identifying that number, um I think three days is fair and um uh five

39:07 days is um uh I think three days is um uh outstanding and five days would be fair. So I guess my question is where does that ACP line sort of snap, right? It's definitely priority three is administrative process, right? Is some of the mod is So is the priority two in the upper civil action or is it in the judicial process or is it in the ACP process? Um to handle that that level of volume um uh that we get within the moderate. So um it it wouldn't be a high number of cases per month uh that I would consider high priority. Okay. Probably probably 90% of total cases

39:52 would be either moderate or low priority. And I think it would be much more efficient to handle those in a streamlined fashion through the ACP process, at least initially. Okay, so so priority three is ACP, priority two and above is essentially the the judicial process. Uh no. Um the judicial process and even um because it's a a very fast uh turnaround time, uh we could even uh administer the ECP process to those those higher priority. We had a person on site and issuing that civil penalty to them. Perfect. Thank you. In Council you spoke a little bit about discretion

40:38 in in terms of officer discretion and I'd like to dive into that just a little bit. Within the ECP process, there there's a couple different models. What what I showed you was a very simple matrix of three priorities with I think four different responses. So four different levels to to the low priority, three to the middle, two to the high. Within that, that would be baked into the framework of the code. So we wouldn't have necessarily any discretion in that initial fine amount. However, imagine if you do come into

41:24 a violation unintentionally or or through ignorance and through some reason you're not able to comply within 10 days and now you're looking at $350 of a ticket and it really was just a car being parked on the front lawn. You know, what level of discretion does the officer have to reduce that fine or to make it go away. You know, I call it a fix-it ticket for a reason. You know, a key up key piece of this is that outreach and that public education. If we're able to do that and perhaps, you know, save ourselves the next trip through friendship versus through throwing the hammer down, I think this would be a pretty good way to do that. Joe, and then we'll go to Victoria.

42:10 Sorry, I absolutely support a discretion model. Um if you look at our traffic guys, our traffic their goal is to reduce violations, keep the public safe, and educate drivers. When the officers come up and and to be able to issue a warning citation, say, "Okay, you got a warning citation. We're done." And they can move on, you can move on, case closed. But advise, if we see your face again and if something similar, you were going to get a ticket ticket. We're not going to have the discretion to warn it give you another warning. It's you're going to get a ticket. That to me is an education point that you can drill to anybody to say, "Hey, we're

42:55 willing to give you a warning. We're going to give you a But it's a We're talking documented written warning. We're not I'm not talking about the kind where you can walk up say, "Hey, this is a violation." You're saying, "Oh, yeah, I'm really sorry about that." That's That's just a That's just a a stop. But when you have someone that you want to take look at this issue and you actually initiate that action and you see that it's going to go in a direction where you believe it's going to go fine, I think you all should have the ability to say, "Okay, this is going to be a documented warning and and any other problems beyond this and it's it's not going to be like that. It's going to It's going to be elevated." So, I I would support that for you guys. I don't support you having the ability to adjust the fine amount. Traffic officers for you know,

43:41 enforcement, they never I've never seen that before. I've never seen different violations based on what the officer feels, the different violation amounts, cost amounts based on how the officer feels because I don't care who you are, someone can be held in contempt of cop and they're going to get a maximum fine. I've seen it. So, let's take that out of the Take that out of the equation and take that out of the equation for being accused of that and say, "No, this is our This is our scheduled fine amounts. This is our process. This is how much it is." And we have a process if you want to appeal it through the court, fine. But I I like the idea of being able to have that discretion to just just issue a documented warning and be done. Right there on the spot. Victoria? I agree completely. I I've been reading

44:26 this earlier and one of the things that drives me crazy when I'm in a business is when the person that I'm dealing with doesn't have the is not empowered to make a decision and they have to go get somebody else to go get an override to do what I need to have done. And so I think that it's really important that if we trust our employees, which is we should, um to do the right thing. They're out there hearing that story. They can see it. They know what's happening in that situation. So I absolutely um support the having your the officer be have discretion in being able to make those decisions cuz again you do have those folks that go, "Oh my gosh, I had no idea that that was you know, or I know I kind of knew that, but I you know, I was trying to you know, whatever." But there's a lot of us that would be like, "Okay, I'll fix it." And it's going to get done. And so we're going to see that. I just think that

45:12 the public can kind of get really frustrated with that hard line. Like you walk out there and here's your $25 ticket. You didn't even give me a chance, right? And so this is an opportunity for us to actually build a relationship in that in that sense as well. So I like it. Okay, anybody else? I know that two cents is that I mean you can look at it three ways. You got You got four fingers up. A A A straight-up verbal warning, written warning, citation. Your call. I I like this a lot and I I think the I think it's just how you write sort of the the the implementating, you know, operating procedure to guide employees to you know, the right direction, right?

45:58 Like so, you know, that we're not giving 27 written warnings, right? Like so I think the importance is to sort of if we go down that process to maintain solid documentation so that, you know, if people go out there and you know, it's like Oh, look, I've been out to see Joe 27 times, right? Like, maybe this needs to be something else. And the beauty behind that, too, is that you can base that on the egregiousness of the violation. As I'm not saying that this is, you know, like the old school use of force thing where you start here and end up over here. It's It's depend upon that contact, depend upon the egregiousness of the violation. You don't You're not I'm not saying you should be obligated to a verbal warning. I'm not saying you should be obligated to a written warning. I'm saying if you feel it's egregious enough and they need

46:43 a citation, write them up. That That's the amount of discretion I'm thinking you should have. I understand. Hopefully, that's what you're looking at, thinking about. Is that Hopefully, that's that's where you're at as far as what your goals are in regards to that. Well, I've I've got to be honest with you, Councilman Crishawna. Um when I go to court, the the judge asks for a recommendation every single time. And almost exclusively follows that recommendation. Um and that recommendation is sometimes a suspension of all fines um on the condition of no further violations within 1 year. I've said that a few times. Um the

47:28 Additionally, if we've come into compliance um you know, that that $1,000 ticket. So, we do have that that level of input with regard to the the judge where that that is followed. Yeah, and that's post citation. So, that's That's where it should be. I I think that's fine with that. So, I I I guess I I don't understand the difference between that aspect and and uh reducing fines if required. It's being able to eliminate stuff that makes it to court. Gives you that that's the discretion I'm talking about things before you even that contact by saying, "Hey, you shouldn't be doing this. You understand this is the code, and I'm not going to cite you, but I'm going to document a warning." That's not going to be

48:13 something that you need to get that you can fix while they're in court saying, "Hey, let's go ahead and forgive them of the fines, etc., etc." It would potentially eliminate any of that going making its way to court and and stuffing up the system with those type of cases. You have a puzzle book, I see. Well, I Yeah, I I I don't know I don't quite follow you there um with regard to stuffing up the court. Um uh we do initially have Technical term. Um uh during that first inspection, we take the educational approach. Um and um you know, that notice of violation of that order to comply within the 860 remodel um would be um you know, the

48:59 um I guess that voluntary opportunity to comply. We can extend that deadline, and and perhaps that would be hey, we you know, we come out on site and um well, the our battery's dead, and I got to wait till payday to get a um a car battery. Well, let's bump this out to next week. So, that's the level of discretion that we uh currently use within that deadline process. I I think if we remove any input to um uh the the quantity of the fine, uh we're we're intimately familiar with these um uh uh defendants or you know, with the community members. And And so, some of those fines are are incredibly prohibitive. Yeah, there's a disconnect here. I'm sorry. Can I talk? Um no, as far as I don't want to take that discretion if you'll be involved with reducing the fines, etc., then go

49:45 ahead. But when it gets to the court process with the judge, etc., I don't I'm not saying that at all. I I you should absolutely keep that. Yeah. And I'm but I'm trying to give you more discretion at the front end to potentially eliminate having things to proceed to getting to the court level. We're allowing you more discretion up front as well. Okay. Cuz we're not seeing. Okay. Yeah. I think I'm with you there, Kevin. I I just like to request a point of clarification cuz I've been listening along on this as well. I don't know if anybody else is a little bit lost. Um so I think what I am hearing the counselor say is and I think first you're saying concerns around subjectivity of the responding staff person. For instance, I'm having a bad day, so you're going to pay the full

50:31 fee. You know, you like how do you get consistency, I think, and fairness in the process, which is I think, you know, a good point. Um so I thought what I what I heard you say is you would not like staff to have that front end discretion to lower a fine. But rather that type of decision-making would happen in a hearing department. and and it could like I said, it could definitely be from from my lack of knowledge of some parts because my world is different in what from I just am ingrained. Um so yeah, I understand how you can under I think or how you can interpret what I was saying. But all and I'm not I guess the fine amount

51:17 when you assess that on the citation is that from a from a fixed bail schedule or fine schedule? Yes, it is. Okay. So I'm okay with that. That's what I said. So I didn't I misunderstood you by thinking, okay, well, if the fine says 350 here, well, this guy's totally nice. I think he's going to be fine, but I'm going to I'm going to issue it for 225. Then that's okay. That's what I did not want. Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Good call or Nancy. Okay, so just watching the clock. I know you got a whole other set of out like sort of performance measures that you want to talk to us about. Are you ready to move off of this into kind of some of those other areas that you need our input?

52:02 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think we covered this question quite quite well. I I was going to bring in an example of what I consider an overly burdensome discretionary policy that our partners in Lane County have that is really kind of hamstrung. There there's a multiplier. I think there's seven different multipliers that go along with the administrative penalty and it gets very sticky and there's six pages describing how to do this process. And so if we keep these things simple, that's what this is designed for. Yeah, clarity and simplicity matters a lot here. Absolutely. Um So if you can go back to the slide

52:49 before. There we go. So here are expected service levels and I think having an answer that the level or the question of discretion, this will really gear us towards you know the effectiveness of ACP and how to measure that. I can't give you the data to support these performance measures right now. Our software doesn't support it. Going back to the timeline, one thing that we are doing is that's that's kind of the number one for us right now in the in programs to get that software going so that we can get that data to you but also streamline some things. But in in terms of the two big service levels that are nationally used are that response time and then that

53:34 case case resolution time. And essentially we would base that response time off the that that response expectation off of that priority level. So, I mentioned it before, but a high priority would receive day over next day response, moderate 3 to 5 days, and then low 5 to whenever we can get there. You know, really depending and within that low priority we can also shuffle some things around, you know, accordingly. Do those sound like fair numbers to you? In terms of what what I'd like to to see and and, you know, again, we don't have data to support this, but these are kind

54:20 of the standards throughout the nation on what they what they do. Um Per capita wise, we don't have the officers that the national standards do. And so we're we're working towards some efficiencies, they can create some efficiencies, right? In order to make, you know, to to bolster that a little bit. But with within that context, I'd like to develop those those expected service levels or at least have an idea of that. So in the future time, we can come to you with this is this is something that we can make and this is an objective measurable statistic that we can use to define the success of the program. Yeah, so I've got a couple observations about it. One of them is understanding

55:05 that the baseline data that you have is probably worthless, right? Like just want to listen to this sort of system change between where you guys are now and where you want to go. So it sort of becomes really difficult to say, "Hey, did we improve at all?" etc. etc. The other piece to this is understanding if you if you select performance measures that each one of them has an incremental cost associated to the administrative and administration of the overall program, right? So I'm not necessarily sold on the difference between three and sort of five. and frankly, you know, public satisfaction's probably not going to be something that this program is very good at, right? Because nobody want like outside of the neighbors, right? They need it fixed. If we engage if someone engages with you, it's not going to be a very fun time.

55:51 Other than that, um I don't have a particular number, you know, in mind. If you If you started with looking, you know, operationally working through staff leadership, right? And came up with simply a Here's kind of the two we selected. Here's why, and here's, you know, the standard we want to hold ourselves to. I think that would probably be more useful to me than than necessarily need kind of artificially saying case resolution time 15 days, right? Because I just don't have enough experience with with those. And I guess the last thing, and then I'll open it up here, is some of these are running like 15, 16 days, and maybe 20 calendar days at at the best, right? So, from a program

56:37 perspective, if I've already you've already been into it 20 calendar days, the difference between of an additional hour, right? Or an additional day is frankly not that much. Um so, I I think understanding the flexibility, right? Like I care more about, hey, if you're if you Our goal is to close everything in 20 days, if it's taking us 90 days to close, right? That's sort of That's some sort of significance to to the overall program. But, if it's 20 days and you take 21 days, right? Like nobody needs to be, you know, pulling a hamstring trying to get the, you know, get it in under the wire at that point, right? Because people People care about the outcome, that the issue's resolved, right? Like they don't They're already 20 days into it, they're not going to be concerned that it's 21 days.

57:24 Um Corey first, and then Joe, and then I'm Salvatore over there. Thank you. And just to build on what you were saying, cuz I was looking at those, and and um one I remember last time when we talked about this about um that we don't really have that baseline data and that this is an opportunity for us to figure out what that is. And my question in these situations is always like to what end? So, what are we trying to get to? And in my mind we're trying to get to, you know, a livable community where people are, you know, looking out for each other and, you know, that are that are we don't have these garbage on the neighborhoods and things like that. So, and I completely agree with the mayor that each and every one of those we have to think about, you know, what's it going to take to collect that data to manage that and what is that going to look like? So,

58:09 I don't even know if the right expected service level is up there and also don't know that we can get that because it might be just too much of a burden. Like the things that I would be interested in knowing if we're going to be looking at this sort of as we grow this program long term, it's like are we seeing um more of these in certain neighborhoods? So, is Is that something we need to look at in terms of like the the socioeconomics or what's happening in a neighborhood or do we have neighborhoods where you have a lot of complaints? Because that feels like that's a place where we can sort of dig in with sort of policy and what do we What do we do to improve that neighborhood so that there's less of that? So, and so I realize that like this is two places that is not part of this, but it's like what are we trying to get to? Um and the

58:54 the repeat offenses is a little bit interesting to me and I'm also a little bit interested in that the complaint process and we talked about that before. Like do we have five people who complain on the all the time about their neighbors? So, I'm sort of interested in that and also know that that's one person's opinion which doesn't necessarily drive a whole process. It's just more like, okay, what are we trying to get to? Which to me feels like more livable neighborhoods, safer, things aren't leaking into the streets, all sorts of things. And I don't know that like response time gets us to that. Maybe a little bit compliance rate, but also like where is this happening and why? All right, Joe. Um I understand what the I like all the questions, but I'm also thinking about

59:40 okay, is it is it information that as a counselor should I be asking of staff in a sense where I'm thinking that I I think the executive director of your department should be asking of this. So, that way that executive director said my staff to Nancy, my staff are performing well and this is how they're performing. So, that way when we say Nancy, what the heck's going on? We're getting these emails for this, that, and the other thing. Nancy now has some some defense mechanism of This is what's been going on. This is what our response time has been. Our average response time to to complaints has been 6 days or you know, overall. Our compliance rate is way up, which is

1:00:26 great. And we And that may not be useful for us to have. Also, I personally as a counselor care about is that is our is our department that's hearing our code enforcement department doing their job? They're doing it well and efficiently. And are they taking care of problems? And so, as far as instead of creating more. So, uh And and And frankly, it's customer satisfaction to me. So, we have the public and they're satisfied and they're getting satisfied with proper responses and efficient responses. That's a check mark check mark for me. That's That's That's what I'm looking for. I think what you got are great. If I was your director, I'd be saying hey, things are great. I wouldn't be asking you those.

1:01:11 And then I would go over to the potentially the PD because I I definitely heard you say we don't have the capacity and the software to do this, but there's potential that the PD may have software or something. They're obviously tracking those types of that type of of data. So they may be a great info source for you or and or a resource that potentially could, you know, worked out contractually or whatever, you know, financially or whatever, but they I would hate to see something reinvented if we already are doing it in another area of the city. But that would be an interesting thing. So you got I was going to say the same way. I I I also have that question. Yeah, exactly. So I'm asking my I think that's great info.

1:01:56 I think it'd be great if we did a, you know, found out some annual stuff to at least get us educated on on what's our compliance or code compliance is doing, but I personally as a councilor don't know if I could even worry about that. You know, I shouldn't have to I shouldn't even need to have to know that. Victoria. Yeah, I kind of have to agree in that I when I was looking at this earlier and I was like, okay, metrics, what would I want to know? Like the time wasn't one of the things that I wrote down. I wrote down that I would like to have it, okay, this is how many people we came into contact with and they got it resolved right away. And this is how many people that we issued a written warning and they got it resolved in this amount of time. Like I was thinking more of like results. Like how how many how often are we getting because of this new process

1:02:42 getting this done before we have to cost people money, right? That's the number that I was interested in, like that in terms of success. Like if we're getting this done and not having to fine people and not having to go to the courts, then we're doing a good job. So that's kind of the number that I was looking at. Um is like how many get corrected before they ever have to go any further. So that's really the only number that I cared about. Um I think you guys know what timeline you have to work within and stuff like that, but I didn't think about the fact that people get frustrated when they're cuz I have one that I put in and then it's still not done. So I don't I don't know about that, but anyway, that's what I think I think it's cool just to see how well this works to getting stuff solved without having to make that financial cost to the people to people in the communities. What, Michelle?

1:03:27 Just Just a quick comment. As far as the timeframe, I agree. I think that you you guys know the job, you know the work that's out there. You kind of have a feel for what you're able to do today and as as this process evolves and becomes more you know, you get farther down the road and things hopefully start to improve with this educational process, right? And then you can focus on other parts and pieces and more, you know, complicated things more quickly, whatever. Like I think as you work through this, things just get easier and better and more efficient. That's the goal, right? So I think that's the success that you see and you kind of then maybe you can back your timelines, right? But I think we need to be realistic with what we can do today and not set expectations that are going

1:04:12 to frustrate or just not be achievable. So just kind of Like I would say you guys are the ones that know what that looks like today. Yeah. Joe. Yeah, just for me a success would be a great short annual part of the even part of the budgetary process when we're going through the budget sessions whatnot. Saying this is what our department's doing and our code enforcement has done this this year. So annual recap it tells the citizens that are citizens sitting in the budget committee what you folks are doing and if there's questions, I think it'd be great because the citizens are part of the budget committee, they would be questions they can ask more specifically that I I think this is it would be great annual info and and what you have the reins during the

1:04:58 during the year. Okay. Well, it's a follow-up question. Sure. Um how would council define the the uh the code program as successful then? What what metrics can I use? Um I love those. Yeah. I do. Except for number five. The uh One through four is good. I also think the backlog of inventory, like if um would probably be would probably be the the other one. Um Like, you know, I think depending on what those metrics are, I think everything you're you're hearing is really a desire for you to just work with, you know, the the city manager's office and the director of the department to find out what operationally sort of makes sense. Um

1:05:43 and let you guys sort of develop and define what what actually is success here. But like if the the number one conversations I get from people are like the time it takes, right? And I talk to a lot of folks for code enforcement. By the time they email us, they're frustrated. It's just encouraged them that it feels like it's herculean like it's a herculean task right before it gets resolved. And um just in just contact about what's happening with their with with their overall complaint. Um but I think you can you guys can go go back and sort of define what what is a success of this, you know, uh for this program.

1:06:28 Where do you want to go next? Uh the final slide. There. I guess the final countdown. Final countdown. Um so we do have some some additional uh topics to prioritize for for discussion. Um what I plan to bring you is uh a code language uh for the administrative civil penalties. Um a uh potentially an ordinance I would agree with the city uh attorney's office um for that if if approved. Um and then everything goes along with that. So the matrix, what we're going to do procedurally, what the uh potential cost is going to be uh with that. So so the the details. Um Following that, um the program objectives and strategic goals, is that something that council would like input on?

1:07:14 Yeah. It seems like have a draft, I think we will want to see a response to that. Okay. Um, I don't think you need to develop that with us, right? Just No, I got it. Yeah. Um, uh, additional code amendments, um, those are fairly far in the future, but discussion to have those with supporting data. Um, and and so I'm thinking next year, potentially cleaning up the nuisance code, um, and addressing any other discrepancies or weaknesses we have. So, you know, within like DHCP process, when we do adjust the the development code as well. So, some of those uh, additions. Got you. You just said that that triggered an

1:07:59 issue which comes to mind and I think you commented in regards to the selling of car parts, etc., etc., so that that activity in the park in a neighborhood. It doesn't really that type of thing is not really clearly defined in code as far as whether that's permissible or not, etc., etc. So, things like that when you come across would be, to me would be this is an opportune time to find areas, find those types of things where you can create your own tools within the code to effectively deal with those type of anomalies that pop up instead of trying to punt. That makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. And that's the goal, Councilmember is is to really, you know, I've been doing this almost 10 years and and there's some of those gaps

1:08:44 Would be good to That's what I would like to see is some of those gaps that are need to be filled. Great. Thank you. Um, first of all, I also I just want to reiterate like I really appreciate this attention to this because I think this is is this is really good work and I'm really looking forward to where we go with this. Um, and this kind of ties into a little bit with the maybe future code amendments. One of the things I'd be interested in cuz you've laid it out and we've we've put it on paper and we've all talked about it. It's just any any sort of barriers and things that come up that may and then again, that could feed into like, oh, we need to change the code because we don't actually have things that we can enforce or but I just wanted to go on record saying I'm very excited about this. I think this is good work and I'm looking forward to where it goes. Um, I'm interested in seeing what the financial plan for it is. Right, because

1:09:30 you're you're talking about a program that you're running for one to maybe three years here. Um, and just understanding the entire implications because sometimes we start down a road and then we go, oh, wait a minute, right? Like this maybe this maybe too much from a practicality perspective. Um, I'm really interested in you boiling this sort of up into some sort of strategic document for us like the housing folks do a really great job of just having a one pager saying, this is kind of what you agreed to, right? Like this is the like if we paint within these lines, right? We're you know, we're we're we're effectively good, right? So, just getting it summarized in a nice way and not waiting too long until we see the next update. Now, I understand scheduling, you know, matters and you having time to do the work, right? But, you know, probably in the

1:10:15 early winter is probably the probably the latest I would like to, you know, like to wait before before you come back and just keep this fresh keep this fresh for us. And, um, I guess there's a lot here. I think the two things I would want you to take away from this sometimes city governments are pretty conservative with how they develop language and, you know, programs, right? Like we can we can be innovative here, right? So, if you see something that, you know, we need to have a conversation about sort of fix some of the problems that, you know, you hear people constantly say, hey, that's an abrasion point. Let's try to fix it. And, right? Like and you don't have to boil the ocean, right? Like this just starting along this way. I I accept the fact that this could be four or five

1:11:01 conversations over the next couple of years just to keep iterating on this to get it where we want it to be. Right? So, don't I don't feel like you have to have everything perfect, launch it, and never change it again. Right? Just get started on something. Sure. Joe You know, on the financial aspect of things, I don't think I've heard about where you were uh where where Nancy's plan on this or Neil's whoever's doing it. Um has there been a business plan, so to speak, on how to finance uh the code enforcement section or group or whatever you want to call it? Um is it Are we internally mandating uh this program to be self-funded? Or are we looking at it as

1:11:47 mostly self-funded and we need other funding? I would like to see that that kind of breakdown because this all sounds great, but if if it's going to put financial strain on our general budget, then I don't know how much I could support it if it starts leaking into that. So, if it's a self-funded program, which can be I guess it's called an unfunded mandate on our on ourselves. But I would bet I really need to know financially and I know Shawn's been talking about the financial impact impact each one of these steps or each one of these processes are, but um just know that I would lose some sort I would start to weigh on my support if it starts looking like

1:12:34 it's going to impact our general fund. Mhm. So, Council Commissioner, I would say that, you know, right now this is kind of an information and data gathering to see, you know, the council's how the council feels about something a change this would be, you know, it's significant change, so obviously we would want to look at financial impact and and how that pencils out before we Yeah, yeah, and I'm definitely not saying you wouldn't. I'm just saying it's a And I don't Yeah. upfront. No surprises upfront. That's where I'm at. I'm also very protective of the children's fund, yes. All right, no surprises. So, we've given you a ton of input. Um is there anything else you want to bring up before we adjourn the meeting? Anything else you didn't talk about? No, thank you for the opportunity. All right, a good work. Yeah, let's do

1:13:19 that. Thank you so much. Mayor Erin, you know we have about 15 minutes before this thing is done with the regular session. I'm going to call the regular meeting of the Springville City Council to order with roll call. Mayor Van Gordon. Here. Councilor Wemberly. Here. Councilor Maughan. Here. Councilor Radley. Here. Councilor Blackwell. Here. Councilor Doyle. Here. And Councilor Christensen. Here. Thank you. All right, please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag 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.

1:14:19 We begin our meeting tonight. There are two designated times for public testimony this evening, under public hearings and business from the audience. If you are attending in person, please complete the request to speaker card located at the entrance, right over there. Uh and give them to the the city recorder. If you are joining online with a tablet, smartphone, or computer and wish to speak to either of those times, please use the raise hand feature in Zoom. The order of public testimony is as follows. Anyone in person in the council chambers? And then anyone who has raised a favorite for hands. And Neil, how many folks do we have online today? Uh we have four folks online today. All right. Great. First item, please. First item is Springfield Upbeat. Item number one is mayor's recognition. The 2023 Springfield Heritage Awards. And

1:15:05 mayor, this is your item. All right. So, I'm going to read the start of the program, uh like what the Heritage Awards are, and then we'll have some folks up and uh and hand them out. So, the Heritage Award program is from the Springfield Historic Commission in collaboration with the Springfield History Museum Committee. The awards are there to recognize significant achievements in stewardship of the visible and cultural heritage of Springfield, Oregon. These awards recognize a broad array of stewardship activities that increase awareness, appre- appreciation, and an inclusive perspective of local heritage. There are two award categories, the Preservation Excellence Award and the History Maker Award. While the Preservation Excellence Award is focused

1:15:50 on projects such as historic preservation and restoration, and the historic history maker award will focus on the person or entity that demonstrates the leadership in shaping and preserving and fostering appreciation of local heritage, the past, present, present, and future. All right. So, this year we're giving the his- History Maker Award out uh to Marta Clifford. Marta has devoted her life's work to bringing awareness of Native American issues in and around the city of Springfield. For the last three years, she has organized Poetry in the Park on National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's Day, an event to advocate for the end of violence against Native women and draw attention to the high rate of

1:16:35 disappearance and murders among Native Native people. Marta also acknowledge our collaborate with Willamette Lane, provided guidance on a on appropriate land acknowledgements, park signage, and conduct and conducting the Kalapuya Talking Stones tour for staff. In addition to all this and a full-time job, she is the elder in residence at the University of Oregon theater department and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Academic Residential Community in Springfield. She has developed the first Native America Native Theater Company in Eugene in Springfield. Whenever there is a community discussion regarding making improvements for indigenous and tribal representation in Springfield, Arlie is always there willing to assist, teach, and provide

1:17:20 feedback. She leads with joy, empathy, and compassion for all those around her. Congratulations, Arlie. We're going to have you and I know you were sitting right behind me. This one is for you. Congratulations. Thank you for so much for coming down. Thank you.

1:18:20 So, the next recipient for preservation excellence is 215 Main Street. The main goals of rehabilitating 215 Main Street were to remediate severe blight and uncover and restore a rare mid-century asset in Springfield and support downtown revitalization by creating a viable commercial space. The original Timber Tap restaurant was built in 1957, housed different restaurants over the years at the corner of Main Street and Pioneer Parkway. The facade was drastically altered in terms of color, material, and profile. It concealed the mid-century character of the original building. The project removed many layers of added material and revealed the original structure, paying homage to the classic diner and creating a commercial space

1:19:05 for Lease & Moe's Main Grill. The corner that has been transformed into an inviting and bustling eatery once again. So, I don't Is it Jordan that is here, or Jenna, are you accepting the award? Oh, come on, Jordan. That one's for you. Thank you. Added to Jenna's collection of awards.

1:19:52 Next item, please. Next item, we have no public hearings tonight, so the first item for The Next Item is business from the audience. All right. I have two cards for business from the audience. We're going to invite people up. If you're in the If you're joining us in the in the building, come up to sit up here. First one is Curtis Blankenship. You want to be up here? Yep. But, I just noticed that that it's that this item was canceled, but I just want to uh say, when you do consider um changing the municipal code I'm sorry. Could you state your name and location in the city for the record, please? Uh Curtis Blankenship, 1286 32nd Street. All right. So, when you do consider the the municipal code, I've made complaints

1:20:37 about noise, and but what I've come to realize is that it's basically a mental health issue in my case. The person next to me is a is a kind of a shut-in that other neighbors have called the police on, and then my other on the other side there there seems to be some family uh dispute. So, I was just hoping that you would consider having some kind of mental health option for um the prosecutor or the the city attorney to give as an option as as rather than than a fine to people. To to sort of a solutions approach. And then um I used to work for as a truck driver for IP International Paper over here. I'm curious, and I live right down the street from it, and I'm curious El

1:21:22 Rapha, when I've talked to them, they say that they do not monitor the air emissions from uh the mill at all. So, I would like to know, please, do you monitor the emissions, and what emissions do you monitor? And just as an aside, I'm with the low-power FM radio station over here. I am a I am with the press. So, I should have said that at the beginning, but yeah. Low- just a low-power FM small budding radio station. Thank you. I'm sorry. Perfect. So, is that all the testimony you have? Yes. Okay. If you want to go and take a seat, and then we'll we'll respond when we get through with all the testimony. Thank you. Uh the next person we have is Sandra Dilbeck. And you can take a seat. You don't have to sit sort of stand up in in front of us.

1:22:13 I am uh Sandra Dilbeck, and my address is 1130 South 42nd in Springfield. And I'm here tonight to um to show some interest in annexation. And I live uh our property is uh one property south of the nursery on Jasper Road and 42nd. My neighbor is here also. He's also interested, Steve Talkemeyer. We purchased our property in 1978 with the intent to subdivide. And um 23 years later, my husband who was a builder, Larry Talkemeyer, he passed away. And nothing happened even though we were

1:22:59 in talking to staff about what what the possibility would be. Um so as of today, 2023, it's been 45 years we've been trying to do this. Uh Jasper Road was widened and improved and all the utilities were brought right to our property line. So we would we'd be right in line to be annexed and that's what we were told when they widened Jasper Road. So our our feeling is that it would be a benefit to the city because there would be some new tax revenue generated. Um it would be cost effective for the city. We um

1:23:45 have thought given some thought to a tiny home subdivision. We have 10 acres. Um six to eight of which would be developed. So um do you have any questions of me? Uh Steve also has 10 acres to the east of our property. So it would be a total of 20 acres. I'm going to have a second. Uh thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. And that's the last card I have. Uh Neil, do you see any um any hands? No hands for this item. All right. So then we're going to go to council response and we'll go to Joe to talk about the L Rapha issue.

1:24:30 Just real quick, what are you talking about? IP, International Paper, there's 24/7 monitoring of of that entire facility and it's directly sent to L Rapha. And they're within compliance. Okay. Can you just give me is what is monitored? Yeah, you can contact L Rapha directly and they'll tell you what the particulate matters are. All right, cuz when I called them they they said that it was wasn't monitored at all, but I probably I only tried once and I'll try again. I guarantee it's it's monitored very closely. So It's Yeah, I couldn't imagine. Okay, thank you. So yeah, Kevin and actually if you want to call L Rapha, talk ask to speak to Travis Newsom directly and then tell him that I referred you to him. Okay. And then he'll give you that information. All right, perfect.

1:25:15 All right, for the annexation question, Neil, do you have a staff person that they can I'll follow up We'll we'll follow up with um with you tomorrow, Sam. Okay, good. Good. I spoke with the land use planner about a month ago and he suggested that I come and talk to you folks after your summer recess. So that's why I'm here. Well, it sounds like an exciting opportunity, um but we've got your number. Neil will call have somebody call you. And you are Neil? Yes, I'll give you a card. Okay. Okay. All right, is there any other council response? Next item, please. Any business from the city council? Yes. Go ahead. And I'm glad you didn't get eaten by a bear. I am, too. Uh so under committee appointments, I'd

1:26:01 like to make a motion and move to appoint Jerry Hensley to the as the citizen representative on L Rapha. Second. All right, Neil, may you call the roll, please? Yes, Council Weber. Yes. Council Mott. Yes. Council Roddy. Yes. Council Beckwell. Yes. Council Doyle Yes. and Council Piscinari Yes. All right, motion passes six yeses zero no's. Does anybody have any other business from the council? one point I just want to First of all, I want to thank everyone I mean and sharing tonight. We're back at it. Um I know that probably everybody knows this but I want to say it out loud. The Springfield Block Party is this Friday which is also part of the Second Friday Art Walk that we do in Springfield and

1:26:48 dedication of the new labor mural on the side of A3 which is gorgeous and that would be something I think that's taking place at 5:30 maybe my line. I think that's right. Okay. Just invite people to come out and celebrate Springfield. This Friday is going to be a great time to do that. Literally, we're closing Main Street. It's going to be awesome. Linden Stole will be here with that. He will? I think so. All right, anybody else got anything? All right, I know a couple of us are joining the University of Oregon tomorrow for their president's reception. So, I'm glad we're We've got a lot of folks coming. I have another event tomorrow night which is my 20th anniversary. So, Well, that's a smart move. Better than all the other nights, of course.

1:27:34 All right, next item, please. Any business from the city manager? No. And business from the city attorney? We have one item an ordinance I'm number one ordinance amending Springfield municipal code regarding criminal misdemeanors and violations and state traffic offenses. Mary Bridget Smith is here for this item. Let me read the ordinance. I'm sorry. Ordinance number one an ordinance amending Springfield municipal code sections 5.300, 5.104, 6.000 and 6.002 and adopting a severability ordinance. Uh good evening, Mayor and Council. Mary Bridget Smith, your city attorney. I'm here this evening uh on an item that I come back to you on periodically. It is

1:28:19 uh the municipal code uh incorporates state criminal misdemeanor and violation statutes so they can be prosecuted in Springfield Municipal Court. So, these would be misdemeanor crimes or violations that have occurred within the city limits. And periodically, I come to you and ask you to re-adopt those statutes as a way to make sure that you are aware of the um adoption of those criminal statutes because those get enforced in a court. And it's also an opportunity to talk to you about any changes in criminal law that have occurred uh over the last legislative session. So, this legislative session um obviously was a bit unusual. There was not a lot of criminal um statutes um that were bills that were adopted. There were two um

1:29:04 applicable, I think, to Springfield, which should be there's a street racing um misdemeanor now uh related to um reckless driving. And then the other and that was a response from uh that's a statewide statute that's been adopted, but it's now going to be prosecuted in Springfield Municipal Court. And then also filling a gap for DUIIs for um having any impairing any impairing substance to be able to be a basis for a DUII. I guess there was a gap for some over-the-counter medicines and then other behavior like glue sniffing. So, now any impairing substance can be the source of a um DUII in Oregon. So, I'll be back to you um at your next regular session to ask you to um pass the ordinance to re-adopt the um

1:29:50 criminal code. Um the other sort of issue that's out there in terms of criminal law as we're seeing a lot of um attention and media attention about Measure 110. Um still thinking that there will be some um legislative um attention to do in the next session. Um but that is really sort of what's out there in terms of criminal municipal um, issues. So, I'll take any questions that you have or give us time for me to look into things. Do you have any questions? All right. So, uh, the one thing um, I thought the write-up about Measure 110 was really good. Um, I I will tell you I am interested in pursuing a, you know, a couple of a couple of different things. One of them is a resolution from the council asking

1:30:36 for, I don't know, reform or repeal, right? We got to work on the language, um, to go up to the uh, to go to the legislature and sort of support our legislative delegation as they talk about reforms next year. Okay. Uh, the second thing I think is really important. I know Portland's pursuing a ordinance that would ban the public use of drugs and I know it's got to have a like trigger ordinance portion to it. I think we should look at putting one of those in place as well. I agree. Um, you know, and there's a lot of talk at the legislature about it, but at least we're in a little bit position as uh, the city on saying that I think we're in a big drug city, right? If you're addicted, you need to get help and you need to get treatment. And then and then I think I would be supportive of just a broader conversation with the PD

1:31:22 um, and just reporting back to us on, you know, what actual other tools around fentanyl use, other drug use that that they would potentially need. And or Well, you you said a couple of things I was going to say, so now, good job. So, I will once again mansplain over the top. You know, I'm not really going to do that. Um, I also have been really paying attention to this and and following what's happening in different areas and it does sound like the legislature wants to take this up in the next session, but what that looks like, I don't know. Um, and think that uh, particularly one of the things that I've talked with the mayor about is, you know, I'm really interested in how do we get really clear about the difference between someone who is unhoused and criminal behavior and I think that's

1:32:08 gotten very muddied with some of the unintended unintended consequences of measure 110 and would also because I had a conversation maybe about a year ago with some of our officers around what was happening with enforcement and measure 110. I also would be really interested in having some work session or whatever we need to do to find out how that's looking and what we need to do. Um cuz I just wanted to second all of that that I think we do need to to figure out how to pay attention to this at the Springfield level. So can I ask a couple questions to make sure that I Sure. take this direction kind of the correct way. So it sounds like the council is interested in looking at a resolution

1:32:55 that would be some sort of public statement either to repeal or um change measure 110. Um a public statement out. And then the second item would be potentially um seeing something similar to what Portland's doing and this isn't the best way to term it but like a trigger ordinance which would be like you know upon whatever resolution at the happens at the state level then our ordinance would kick in that would potentially allow um some kind of um more criminalization or penalty for drug use on public property. Yes. Does that sound right? If I can't walk down Main Street with a cocktail, I shouldn't be able to walk down Shouldn't be able to smoke fentanyl. Got it. Okay. Yes. And I just want to Oh sorry you didn't get to follow up there. Um I think that and I know that I know

1:33:41 that we have different opinions about repeal or reform measure 110 um cuz I'm always you know hesitant to want to repeal something that was passed by the majority of the voters. However, um I do think that um the when we have this conversation that it's also important to know like some of the hiccups are just about the intention was that funding was going to go into um so that folks could get help and so that we could put money into recovery services. So it would be interesting to know like in reality that's what some of the conversations I've been having with our legislative delegation is like what is actually happening with that and whether people are uh whether organizations are getting that funding cuz I think some

1:34:26 organizations are but whether it's happening locally I would really interested in that cuz I think that's part of the conversation. Cuz if we were to all go on and say we want to repeal this and it would impact some of the um the services in our in our communities that I think could be problematic. So I would just want that to be part of the conversation. I was just going to say the other way. Yes, that we just like no and then they're like wait with this we use this funding to build out this whatever or we're planning to. I think there's an understanding um that you know, whatever that statement is we may have to just talk about you know, refining or crafting the words very carefully to make sure that we understand what we what we all mean, right? Like so Okay. And then so on that with that part of the direction I'm thinking it probably would be helpful if we went

1:35:13 back and talked with our um folks who do legislative and lobbying work in certain terms of timing and what would be most impactful for the next session so the time you know, to make sure that that's that it's done in a way where you can make an impact um or be as impactful as you can be I guess. I'm just thinking in terms of when the next session is and when you're going to so we can we can come back to you with some ideas about timing and not just do something right away because I know it's a big issue right now but we might want to we might want to think about being strategic about that I guess I would say. Okay. I think that's that's fair, right? Like timing matters and we're you know, getting the right you know, the right point. Um and then tell me again what you're looking for from like law enforcement or from the courts in terms of

1:35:58 are you looking for their experiences for what they're saying in terms of drug-related crimes or Some of the Some of the I'm looking for two things. And, you know, and recognizing that this is, you know, that they That was the premise here. One of them is one can is such so in the um the uh public sphere right now that we are sort of to keep telling stories anecdotally about like something that we heard this one time, right? I'm looking for more of a broader you know, sort of fact-based right? What are we actually seeing that is a policy-making body that we can is a little bit firmer so that, you know, when we're sharing stories about this that we're kind of you know, not not just repeating but

1:36:44 instead actually talking about the challenges this community faces. So, examples of challenges that are probably rooted in some data and some information but challenges that are occurring for law enforcement or even just other areas of the city in terms of the impact it's having on livability. Uh those kinds of things. Is that Am I getting close? Okay. And the second thing is understanding that there was a lot of talk about this public use of drugs conversation that picked up statewide probably over the summer. And I think it's a interesting idea, it's the right idea. But, I recognize we may not have the only answers that PD and the judge and the prosecutor need. So, I'm asking people to spend maybe another couple of minutes just simply talking about it and going, "Okay, you know, is there something else that we can do? Like is there another tool that

1:37:31 would, you know, more broadly either, you know, promote treatment, allow um allow the right kind of interaction for for some reason from a PD perspective. Um, just understanding that like I'm I don't work patrol every single day or drugs every single day, right? Then, you know, if if there's another sort of option to get at a tool that could help move people more towards treatment and getting them off drugs. So, that could be anything from information that they have at their hands or the I'm blanking on the name of the drug though that people can take to reduce Yeah. Okay. Narcan. Narcan, thank you. I carry it. Yeah, as an Uber driver. I carry it in my car. I'm more worried about that than I am about me throwing up in my car anymore.

1:38:17 Yeah. Go ahead, Corey. Um Go on. Um I was even call on somebody else to stop you. No, it was something cuz you uh the things that you said and I was like, "No, there was another piece that I wanted to know." Oh, one of the things that I some of the the pushback that I've read about about having a public ordinance is that it would it would push people into uh public restrooms or other like inside of buildings in public areas. And so, that would when we have that conversation, that would be a piece that would be interesting for me to hear from um SPD is to know like does that create like the fires? Does that create more challenges in terms of policing um if we're pushing people indoors in some

1:39:02 public spaces or if we just need to know that as part of it as we look at it. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, apparently we just had a little Does anybody else have comments or suggestions or is everybody comfortable with that kind of general direction? Okay. All right. So, I think what I'm thinking then is I'm digging around and trying to get some information and see how that looks and if it is ready for the council's level of viewing. Do you know what I mean? I mean, that may be some of the work we do and then also at the at the same time looking at some kind of public statement about Measure 110 from the council um in connection with being effective for whatever happens in the next legislative session. Yeah. And I I know we're not going to solve all of this problem on our own, but like

1:39:48 we need to position ourselves with the community, make sure the PD have the tools, the fire fire hats, the tools, and we're actually talking to this community about like what kinds of like that's serious challenges and then problem. I think fire is another, um, important area to talk with. Yes. I think it might be advantageous or helpful if you reach out and contact Blaine McDonough in regards to this because of the amount of public spaces that we don't have that they do and to get their input so they can jump on board with us and help perhaps be a partner in regards to moving something forward. Okay, TJ. Okay. All right. Okay. All right.

1:40:34 Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you very good. Okay. All right. That we are adjourned. Thank you everybody.