Springfield City Council — January 22, 2024

0:05 I'm going to call the city council work session to order with roll call. Mayor Ben Gordon. Here. Councilor Weber. Here. Councilor Moe. Here. Councilor Rodley. Here. Councilor Blackwell. Here. Councilor Doyle. Here. And Councilor Pishue. Here. Thank you. We've got two items for this work session. The first one is climate friendly areas update with Chelsea and Sandy. Good evening, Mayor and Council. So, it may seem a little weird to after this week be talking about futures. Um, but uh, we are here to talk about climate friendly areas. Um, and so the city has done along with El Cog some initial work to identify those.

0:51 We were last talking about the specifics of those with you in May. Um, and so we're here tonight to get some direction as we go forward and um, start our community engagement process. Uh, so we're looking for guidance on two questions. One, uh, the key messages that we had brought to you before. Um, you asked for those to be more plain language and so we've taken attempt at that. So, wanted to know if we've um, addressed your concerns with those key messages and then in terms of the climate friendly areas themselves, uh, we have the the four starting points, but we would like to I mean, staff recommends that we whittle those down a little bit um, before presenting them to

1:37 the public and we'll go into that in a little bit more detail. So, my name is Sandy Belson. I'm the comprehensive planning manager and with me tonight is Chelsea Hartman. She's going to be this um, project manager for this project going forward. Uh, so the uh, last time I was before you, we had three areas that we had identified as potentially climate-friendly areas downtown, the Glenwood Riverfront, and Gateway Riverbend. And these were based on um nodal development areas and other city policies that support uh mixed-use with high higher intensity uh development. Uh, you had asked could we look at Mohawk, which is also a nodal development area. It's not on an

2:23 existing frequent transit network, but we are planning frequent transit to serve that Mohawk area. So, we added that in. So, we have now four areas that we are looking at. Uh, for downtown, it's basically the urban renewal district um minus the steep slopes on the southern side of that district. Um and Glenwood has the Riverfront mixed-use areas. Uh, and then Mohawk and Riverbend, I think, are pretty self-explanatory. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Chelsea to take you through um the areas in a little bit more detail. So, hi. I'm Chelsea Hartman. It's nice to be back with you all on a different topic, so I won't have to say

3:08 comprehensive plan map clarification project a million times tonight. Um so, some other things I just want to talk about what we're doing right now with climate-friendly areas before I get into the specific question. We're working on creating a user-friendly summary of the climate-friendly area studies since it's hundreds of pages and very dense, so trying to pull out the really key takeaways to share with the community and you all soon. We're also working on drafting the community engagement plan, which will guide our communication and outreach throughout the project. Uh, that engagement plan will be reviewed and approved by our city's Committee for Citizen Involvement, which is our Planning Commission, next month. So, part of why we're here presenting the key messages is to get any input and refine those so they can be included in

3:54 that engagement plan. Um in determining which of the areas will be designated a climate-friendly area, staff will identify changes that are required to land use and zoning and to Springfield's comprehensive plan. We may also need to amend some of our neighborhood refinement plans depending on the location that's chosen. Ultimately, council will be the ones to formally designate one or more climate-friendly areas and adopt the corresponding plan and code amendments. If the selected area has uh properties outside the city limits, the Lane County Board of Commissioners will also be involved in the decision-making process. We're targeting to complete this project by the end of 2025, but the deadline agreed to by DLCD is 2026.

4:41 So, the CFA rules require that one or more climate-friendly area be designated that can accommodate 30% of our needed housing capacity. The current configuration of the potential downtown location can accommodate 47% of our needed housing capacity, while the potential Glenwood Riverfront can accommodate 29%, so almost our full need. Uh specifics of where and how we'll implement our climate-friendly areas will be vetted during the upcoming community outreach process with you all as well. One part of the CFA study examined how existing land use regulations align with the CFA rules, which helped us identify how our work can build on planning that Springfield has already done to identify

5:27 and address needs for our current mixed-use areas. The land use districts with the highest compliance with the CFA rules included Glenwood mixed-use plan districts, except for the employment mixed-use, mixed-use commercial, mixed-use residential, community commercial, and the medical services district with the nodal development overlay as well as Booth Kelly mixed use. The land use districts that had the lowest compliance with the rules included R1, heavy industrial, light medium industrial, and Glenwood employment mixed use since it does not allow residential. These districts were identified to either be considered for removal from the potential CFA locations or would require a lot more land use regulation

6:13 changes to comply with the rules. So, based on the findings, staff recommend that certain areas be removed from the potential climate-friendly area locations due to no or low compliance with the rules. This includes the R1 area, the Washburn Historic District, heavy industrial and light medium industrial areas, and the Glenwood employment mixed use area, as well as south of Franklin Boulevard. So, I'm going to walk through some of the maps just to give you a visual of what we're talking about here. Okay. And hopefully everyone can see that okay. See, there's like a little

6:58 bit of a delay. Um so, we're moving some or all of the areas that we're recommending tonight results in some of the changes to downtown, Glenwood Riverfront, and Mohawk, but no changes are being proposed for the Riverbend location. Based on any changes tonight, staff will update maps and our housing capacity calculations. So, this first map is showing the historic overlay district in downtown. Uh we are only recommending removing the Washburn area, so it's just kind of these overlaps on the northern side of the boundary, but we're keeping in the individual historic properties for now, but want to consider how to treat those as we move forward in the process.

7:44 The rest of downtown, so this is showing the existing zoning right now. Uh the dashed line is showing the current boundary for the climate friendly area that ELCOG identified working with us on the study. And the solid black line is showing our proposed boundary if we remove the zones that we're proposing to remove tonight. So, cutting out the industrial areas, R1, um and the historic our Washburn historic area. Downtown will have the most changes to the boundary that is being presented so far, um but we're not expecting it to change the capacity a lot since many of the zones aren't compliant with the rules. Glenwood's a little bit easier to visualize, so cutting off at Franklin

8:30 Boulevard and just focusing on the Franklin riverfront for the climate friendly area. Uh this was because we're want to remove the Glenwood employment mixed use since it's not compliant with the CFA requirements, and we can't have this little floating commercial mixed use area that's disjointed from the rest of the boundary. Mohawk has very minimal changes. It's this tiny little sliver of right of way that's zoned R1 as well as this vacated 16th Street right of way that's part of the McKenzie-Willamette parking area. Um so, those would be the only changes for Mohawk. And then RiverBend, no changes, but we still included the existing zoning map so you can see that.

9:17 Um and our question tonight is does Council agree with staff's recommendation to remove these areas from what we present moving forward as potential CFA locations, or does Council want to take a different approach? And as well as any input on the key messages that were included in your packet. All right. Thank you. Um, I have a question first about this. Is there a time limit on this in terms of the development? Like, we make a decision, but do we have to say we're going to turn this into this neighborhood by a certain date or it's just like we're working the process and this is like we have to select the areas first. Right. So, we are required to

10:03 put in place the policies and the development code regulations to allow the type of development required under the climate-friendly area rules. Um, but actual development is basically out of the city's control in terms of that timing. Great. Um, and then my second piece was I really appreciate y'all taking another stab at the communications piece and I'm looking forward to seeing that plan and how we're going to do that outreach cuz I know that that's sort of ongoing criticism that we get is like how do we do this outreach so that people know what's happening in real time. Um, so I appreciate that. Um, some of the things that I when I was looking at I was like, oh, we could still probably like pair it down a little bit. Um, and I think some of it

10:50 is um, I'm trying to think about how to say it. It's kind of around where we say this is the city and this is the state. I'm kind of fine with like this is the state, but maybe there's a way to be to work in more Springfield into the city pieces. Um, so that it's just a little bit less clinical and more like people see themselves in this communication. So, just thinking like how to bring it into the level of like, you know, I think most people would like the state is Oregon, but even that sounds a little bit adversarial of being like, I there's a couple places in there where you're like, the state legislature, but I love the parts where it's like Springfield and we list our neighborhoods. Just from a PR perspective that I think it just makes it more digestible for people to see themselves in it. That's all.

11:39 Anybody else, Beth? I just have a question so um I understand it clearly. So the numbers that you gave us for the housing capacity percentage, that was would be prior to these being removed. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay, thank you. So I have a question about the Riverbend one. Um to the area that the hospital sort of developing you know, always developing sort of clinic buildings, just being it what's the impact of those areas being in a climate-friendly area? Are you talking about where they're looking at the campus industrial and putting medical offices in that part? Um that's that would be outside the climate-friendly area. So basically no direct impact on this. I

12:27 mean, clearly we would be reaching out to the hospital to get their input on being designated a climate-friendly area and how that corresponds with their plans. Uh one of the tasks that we have in the work program that's um currently in draft form for the new consultants that are coming on is to have interviews with them and have those consultants be part of that. Um but in terms of what's happening outside the climate-friendly areas, I don't think there will be any direct impact in terms of what we decide. And um specific to Glenwood if you if you compare being in a climate-friendly area to our the north the work that CDOT's doing on the North

13:13 Glenwood development is there any drawback for the North Glenwood development being in a climate-friendly area? Um we would look to uh Alli to answer that question. I know Alli and I have been talking about this conceptually. I think right now we're not sure that there's anything very specific. Right now, looking at the zoning and the plan in place for Glenwood, that is the most compliant area in our city. So, that's a good sign and I think that's something we definitely want to consider as we move forward and look at more specific plan and code amendments and including the master plan team in those interviews and conversations. Okay. Like I'm fine with the revisions in the areas. Like, you know, in the areas that we cut out. Um and the talking points look good. I

13:59 mean, it's it's a pretty complicated it's a pretty complicated topic. You guys boiled it down as much as you could. Anybody else? All right. Did we miss a question that you guys wanted to talk about? So, when when are you going to be back before So, you're going to go away, start talking to the public, and then you're coming back in a couple of months? Sure. Okay. Aiming for some spring outreach and then coming back later this year. Okay. Perfect. Joe. Just a quick question. I'm sorry. The uh I guess just a blanket question of all these different plans, do you foresee or would property owners foresee what we're

14:45 doing here hinder what their future plans may be? And if that's the case, have we reached out to them before we take this any further? It's possible that it could hinder their plans. Um but, we haven't reached out to any property owners yet, but that is the next step. Right. That's our hope with that first round of outreach is to say, "These are the four areas we're looking at, getting those high-level like, is there support for this? Are there concerns with this? How are folks going to be impacted?" So, that we can potentially narrow the areas down that we're moving forward with. Yeah, I've got a lot I've got quite a bit of concern about the Peace Health area in regards to their 20-year plans. Don't I don't know, but I surely don't then speak even along

15:32 uh in the downtown area. I really hope that we we do a a concerted effort in regards to contacting them, so you know, six steps down the road, all of a sudden we have a storm, and if we can do some preemptive work in and you know the you know what I'm talking about. All the preemptive work you can do to minimize a predictable hurricane would be would be great. Otherwise, I'm okay with this as just as long as we do it right, then great. So, uh the next time that you'll actually get something on this, I think will be as a communication packet memo. When we have that areas at a glance document ready, we'll um include it for

16:18 your review, um so that you have that. It will be also um made available to the public. Um and then if you have specific questions when you get that packet, of course, you can communicate that through your city manager um back to us, and then we'll schedule a time to come back to you in the future when we have a little more to talk about. So, I wasn't quite done yet here. Joe First and then Steve. Yeah, just like be right what you Um No, I so you're talking about it would be made available to the public causes me a little bit of pause as opposed to will be given to the specific property owners, so I just want to make sure I was clear with that. Right. I think it will will be doing both. I mean, we'll be doing targeted outreach for like Peace Health, the

17:06 Glenwood developers, but it's also made available to the general public, so that they can weigh in as well. But yeah, I just we see that and as far as hey, we've been out here for 6 weeks or 6 months, and you're just now saying we don't want it. You know, just don't want to hear that. That but I appreciate it very much. Thank you. All right, and Steve. My ultimate goal has always been the enhancement of of Springfield, notably downtown, economically and globally. And we come along with these changes which we're going to have to do, but I hope we do them in such a way that the people out there accept it and work with us to make it a good deal so everybody looks at it in a positive way and comes in and helps helps build our city. So.

18:05 All right, so the next is the street capital bond. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everybody on a wonderful Monday. Um I'm Jeff Pascoe, community development director, here to discuss with you the street capital bond and what we've done so far since our last meeting in December um at the request of the council. So, since the last meeting we've had the um survey completed. Um and I have those results. I just got them last night, so apologies, that's why they're not in your packet.

18:50 I will get them to you in a communication packet so you can have the full executive report and all the data um to review here soon. Can you give us the uh the CliffNotes? Yep, I'm putting my plan here tonight is to kind of go through the high level of what we found out um and then get you the full report. Um first thing, so what I also have included in the packet for you is the draft project list that um the council approved or agreed to last meeting in December, um the draft ballot language and the draft resolution. Um a few key points um wherever the council decides to go and choose, we have to be filed no later than March 1st to make the May election. So, those are kind of the key. So, the

19:35 survey So, we did a telephone survey. It was conducted um between December 15th and com- and completed January 14th. That's why I just received this information last night. Um we had a great response, 400 interviews done, and 82% response rate. So, it's better than uh 2018. So, pretty pretty impressive with what we got in the information, so and and who they surveyed. Um I'm going to skip over um some of this. You'll get this in your report. It's just a population and and kind of key thing. So, um one thing I'll say, I looked at the 2018 survey results and and you can, too, cuz it's out there um in previous council packet, and I might just include it a copy of it just

20:20 so you could compare. One thing I'll say is the Springfield voters are very consistent. Uh so, they rated the streets almost exactly the same in that question as average, so pretty interesting. Um and similar to correction warranted when we tested potholes versus crack, you know, sealing, they rated what was the highest importance to them. Um the other key, so when I compared I looked at the kind of in 2018 we asked about a two a $15 million bond and a $10 million bond and also the 3-cent gas tax is what we tested with the um serve- respondents to the survey. Um this time we just asked about a $20 million bond. Um one of the key takeaways, so when they were kind of

21:05 uninformed just right out of the gate, asked would they approve a $20 million bond? Um likely yes vote was 46.5%. Very similar to the $15 million response in 2018. Just under 50% of I was actually lower about 40 41.5% to the $15 million. Um once they went through all the different conditions, um you know, half the streets in poor condition, the just the simple facts about our streets and what we would be doing with it that this money would be going not to street repair and dedicated solely to that that we would be reporting that support jumped up to 57.5% in favor of a $20 million bond. So I think that's a positive. What I take

21:51 away from that is we just have to put we put this out there. We have to do our work and we have to get the education and all of the information out just like we did last time. Um visiting with as many people as we can to get the information and the need in front of them and educate them about why we're doing this and and what this money would be dedicated for. Um so I found that as a positive versus last time with the $15 million bond, it only went up to after after they were informed, it only went up to 46.5% in favor. So I think that's a pretty good takeaway on this and that was my key takeaway. Um So the other thing is is what I took away from this and I I think you'll see too is that we also need to look at how

22:36 we message out to these folks cuz 80% of the respondents or 81% said they were unaware that we put out an annual report with the last bond. So that's working with our communication staff in this ever-changing multimedia world of how do we get the information out to the people and let them know where to find it cuz it is there. It's just how do we get that to them? Um and we got some key takeaways where that where they would most likely look for um that information. Um the key takeaways voters rate the city streets as average. Um they feel potholes need immediate attention, but cracks can wait. So, some of that is education on the full spectrum of what we do to our streets to preserve and maintain them and keep them functioning for as long as we can.

23:21 Um the uninformed support is insufficient to pass. As I said, 46.5%, but once they were informed of that support jumped up to 57.5%. So, um again, key takeaways we we need to make sure we do our our work um to get them informed. Um and so, those are the the kind of key things out of the um survey. Any questions? Victoria. Thank you very much for that. That's actually very encouraging to hear. Um I know that um Mayor Van Gordon when he was counselor Van Gordon and myself when I was on the budget committee, we did a lot of footwork. We did a lot of standing on street corners in front of

24:06 the um police station talking to people. We talked to people and engaged them a lot online, and it was sometimes quite contentious. Um and it's getting people to understand the value in that. And I think that the fact that you guys have done such a great job managing the first bond is going to really help. I think we've seen that in Eugene where they've been able to get bonds repeatedly because they do what they say they're going to do, and people actually see the work. Um I think that the other thing that's going to be important to kind of figure out is how do we work in the fact that 42nd Street is getting done, but it's differently cuz I think that's a street that people are really going to be like, but what about 42nd or 28th, right? Like those streets that are kind of main thoroughfares that maybe have some So, it might be important to to think about

24:51 those roads that may pop up that people will have questions about and why they're not on the list. Um But yeah, I'm super excited about about it getting going. I'm I'm going to be having a um a town hall in like March April in my for my um constituents and I think um Beth is as well and so we'll have an opportunity to educate people there. So we'll work with you on that. Uh yeah, I appreciate that and that's great. And I have the same takeaway as far as getting the message out about what we are doing because that was one of the um questions is last time roads that I thought were important, this is general voter, were not on the list and that's part of the I mean we kind of had that conversation here. We could go out and pick any road out there and it would be a great project. It's kind of what is

25:37 the right mix and and I think you're exactly right. We have to do a really good job working with our communications team and putting the materials together and and just getting all of that information and I'm I'm where there with you. I know um Brian Conlin and I attended several neighborhood meetings as well just to talk about what how we operate the streets, how we repair the streets and the importance of what we do and just getting that information in their hands before the vote. Okay, the only thing I thought we're there was going to be a list of sort of plan B streets. So they are all on the list. So the list is comprehensive and includes all of the plan B streets. So when I looked back at

26:22 the materials, basically the way it's written is it just includes the full list of streets and then we'll order those there in in kind of like priority order. Um so they they do include the list of streets that the council had selected um uh in December. And that would be the 36th Street, the Daisy Street and the 58th Street. I believe were the the uh were the second streets. Okay. But I will double check that and make sure I have that. I'll go back and and check the council notes from December and just make sure I have the full list as as what we decided before I bring you the the packet in February.

27:10 Great. Any other questions? I think we're probably ready to schedule the public hearing for it. So if you can find a spot I just sent an email. I thought I had it's looking for February 5th to get this in front. That way we have in case there's any hiccups on February 5th, we have another meeting before we hit March 1st. Thanks for your hard work on this, Jeff. Thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate all your work and efforts in in looking at all of this information cuz there's a lot there. So thank you very much. Thank you. I'm I'm going to adjourn the work session. We are not scheduled to go to the regular the special regular session until 6:30. So we will return on this link. You're adjourned.

28:04 I'm going to call the regular set the regular special city council session to order with roll call. Mayor Van Gordon. Here. Councilor Weber. Here. Councilor Moe. Here. Councilor Ridley. Here. Councilor Blackwell. Here. Councilor Doyle. Here. And Councilor Pechenaire. Here. Please join me for the pledge. States of to the republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Neal, can you share how many people are online tonight? Uh we have nine attendees virtually.

28:51 All right, first item, please. First item is the consent calendar. I move to approve the consent calendar. Second. Could you call the vote, please? Yes, Councillor Weber. Yes. Councillor Moe. Yes. Councillor Roddey. Yes. Councillor Blackwell. Yes. Councillor Doyle. Um yes. Uh this was a different item. Okay. Yes. And Councillor McEachern. I'm a yes, too. Thanks. Motion passes, six yeses, zero noes. Next item, please. Uh next item is the winter business from the city manager. Uh you have two items. The first one is winter ice storm emergency declaration ratification. This is resolution number one, a resolution

29:36 ratifying an amendment and amending the city of Springfield order declaring state of emergency issued on January 16th, 2024, and I have this item. Um do you need training on how the microphone works? Red is on. Uh good evening, uh Mayor and Council. My name is Neil Leddy. I'm your assistant city manager. Um joining me in a few moments here tonight will be Brian Conlin, our operations division director, uh Ben Gibson from operations, uh Chief Sheer, and Chief Caven. They'll all provide a brief updates on why we're here. Um for this item, under

30:22 uh city code, CMO can declare an emergency and then ask Council to ratify. Um local governments retain the authority and responsibility to respond to emergencies in their jurisdictions. If the response exceeds our abilities and mutual aid, then we can declare an emergency. Uh this allows for special powers and to ask for higher levels of government assistance and potentially reimbursement for the city's response costs. These are things like staffing, equipment, respite centers, hiring contractors, assisting with tree removal, um and temporary traffic solutions, for example. Um you have um the document in your packet, and if you don't have any questions, I can bring up

31:07 um our guests this evening to provide some updates. Yeah, I'll give a just a little bit of commentary. Um one of the things I asked the staff to do was just make some people available to provide us a chance to talk and ask questions about our response to the ice emergency next week. And I don't know if it would be, you know, easier for folks if, you know, we just put because we have to approve the the declaration of emergency, but I know we're going to want have some questions and want to hear some people. So, unless you guys have specific questions, maybe the best thing to do would be vote on the declaration and then we can bring some of these guys up. I can make a motion to adopt resolution number one.

31:52 Second. This is going to be weird. Can you call the vote? Councilor Weber. Yes. Councilor Moe. Yes. Councilor Rodli. Yes. Councilor Blackwell. Yes. Councilor Doyle. Yes. And Councilor Pishner. Yes, thank you. Resolution passes six yeses, zero noes. Um why don't you guys come on up and and while these folks are coming up to talk about this last week, I know we had some folks that might have been interested in public testimony and it wasn't scheduled. Can we see if they're online? Like I don't know who those nine folks are. May or may or maybe we can ask them to just raise their hands if they would like to get in the queue. Yeah. Okay. So, if if you're online, um we're going

32:39 to sort of call an audible here. We didn't have public testimony scheduled, but based on the size and scope of this event and the general interest in the community, um you know, we're willing to hear some public testimony tonight. So, if you were in the room, there's a card in the back that you need to fill out. And if then if we have somebody online, if that you could raise your hand and signal to uh Neil. All right. Let's talk about our operations. All right. Uh good evening, Mayor and City Council. So, it's been an interesting uh very worrying last week or so. I want to take us back a couple weeks. Uh probably Monday or Tuesday of last week, the operations division management

33:24 staff got together and we were looking at weather reports that indicated that we're going to have approximately a quarter of an inch of ice, a little bit of snow. And we were about evaluating uh you know, weather throughout that week, we readied our equipment to de-ice and sand and prepared potentially for maybe tree damage. Every time we have a little ice, we have a little bit of tree damage. Uh well, things changed on us pretty quickly. So, Ben and his crews were out Friday the night before putting down de-icing agent and doing a little bit of sanding on the flats. Uh And then things hit and we woke up to

34:11 uh the magnitude of not quite yet 10,000 trees, but I think after the later ice rain that we had, it exceeds 10,000 trees. So, I think it's important for the community to hear that we we do get prepared for these events. Uh even though we have a young staff, less experienced, they've been trained to be out in it and to actually operate the equipment. This exceeded our ability, this being the 3 in, you know, between two and two to three inches of ice exceeded our ability and our capacity to respond in a way that we typically pride ourselves to do. So, uh

34:57 Following that, one of the things that we did is we implemented an incident action plan on Monday and then actually been implemented an operational action plan on Saturday as we started working through things the best we could. And so we had several crews in, plenty of staff in to work on that Saturday, on Monday. We formally put out an incident or an action plan for our operational approach to what we were doing. We shared information the best we could. Communications was difficult because we put things out on social media platforms. Wi-Fi was down in areas. Telephones weren't being very effective. So, not making excuses, it's just we were doing

35:44 what I believe that we had the capacity to do and so One of the great things I think that occurred I think on Tuesday was our traffic traffic engineering group pulled together and staff completed a preliminary outage investigation of our traffic signal systems, rapid flashing rapid flashing beacons. I'm sorry, I'm a little tired. All of the traffic signals, of course, and then um Let's see. Also the street light cabinets. So, that, you know, we're in the middle of a project to update our street light system and ice and snow got

36:29 got at several of the poles. Uh we're you know, I'm really happy to report that a lot of the condition of our infrastructure, both the hardware and software, good you know, it's in good condition. We do have some street light poles down and also a couple signal poles that need some work. Um traffic lights came back on uh as well one of the things, let me back up. So, when the engineering group did their assessment, they communicated with Springfield Utility Board and I think that was a success. We are able to indicate our priorities on what we wanted to see come up first. And so uh and

37:14 the field staff was very good and managed reported they continue to work with us well on that. Several traffic lights came back online this week uh 52nd and high or 52nd and Highway 126 this week today and then already had come on. 54th and Main, 58th and Main, 5th and Centennial, 10th and Centennial, and Mohawk and Centennial. More will continue to come on and we'll work towards that. I think I'll turn it over to Ben and uh I want to tell you a little bit about this guy. Uh he's a senior manager for us. Uh a lot of passion, a lot of talent, and well coordinated our storm fight and continues to do so. We

37:59 have a lot of new initiatives through mutual aid and also working with Oregon Department of Forestry and contractors that he's bringing on board to help us with the tree debris. Uh good evening, Mayor, members of City Council. I am Ben Gibson, the manager in operations. Um so, they know on Saturday early morning we activated our Department Operations Center and started working at incident command. As Brian said, the level of event that we received was far beyond what we thought we were going to get. However, in working with the Northwest weather service, um we decided that the plan of action we needed to take beginning Friday was to

38:44 ready our entire winter fleet, which we did. We started calling crews in Saturday morning as the ice continued to fall. We anticipated we were going to start getting a lot of tree damage. It's something we've been through before with ice storms and so we're a bit familiar with the how that is going to impact our urban canopy. Just not to the level we saw. Currently, I have operations crews working in three teams, chipper teams. We have two dump truck teams and you'll see them throughout the city primarily in our arterial and collector roadways. Our goal there and in the beginning was to ensure that we could open all lanes

39:30 of travel for emergency services and for the utility workers that needed to be out and about. We did work with our utilities trying to gain them access to areas that they couldn't respond to. So we're able and successful in completing a lot of that work. Right now, we do have no roads closed that I'm aware of. Unless the South 70 is one. We have some issues up in the hills. Um but we we've opened all lanes of travel that that I am aware of. So if you do know of any, please let me know. Um now we're focusing on lane restrictions. There's a lot of debris on the side of the roads that you've seen, so we're trying to get, you know, a wider roadway

40:16 system Um also picking up that debris as we move along. So, you'll see us out in the MLK Beltline area. There's still a lot of work to do there. Pioneer Parkway. And we've got teams out in the Thurston Road area uh trying to focus on in the areas where schools are so we can get kids back into school. Um but that's really what my team is doing. We're focusing on arterial collector roadways. Uh we mainly started working to try and reach out to contractors so that we could get them in. We knew we were going to need a significant amount of help. And so, today um all of the contractors that we have been able to get a hold of are uh working. Um you'll see that we have some people in the downtown core area of

41:01 the Washburn District. We have a team of contractors out in the Thurston area. We um well, two of them two of the teams that are downtown, they were working together today to kind of get a handle on uh how they're going to operate and we'll deploy one of those um likely out further West Springfield up in the Gateway area. Um let's see. Let me talk a little bit about the uh the GIS map. Uh so, our GIS group uh really phenomenal. Uh we do a lot of our information management system through our GIS group. Uh they built a map that will be interactive. Uh it went out on the hub

41:48 today. Uh you know, the council of course and the public will be able to access it to see you know, to check out our progress and also to indicate and uh uh file customer service requests regarding anything that they would see. Uh they'll be our eyes on a little bit. We don't We don't have a crystal ball and we're not seeing everything. The neat thing about this map is though is that people will be able by color coding to see our progress during the clean up or lack thereof. Hopefully that we keep making headway with it and uh it also will provide uh documentation and cost accounting uh for FEMA if we're you know with our pursuits to get money uh back in for

42:35 total cost accounting of the event. Um so anything you want to add to that? Yeah, I think that uh I've been playing around with that map a lot today and trying to see how this going to help us. Uh all of our contractors um ODF they're also working with us. They all have access to this application so as they move through our street grid they will check off on whether or not uh it is they're still working whether this active work taking place and once they clear the street zone 100% they can check off on that map and it'll highlight it green. That is a public facing map now. Um so that you'll be able to monitor that as well. I will say um and the map just came up.

43:20 Uh it is a lot of red and um I'm going to be really happy when I start seeing a lot more green and hit that map. We have uh acquired a couple of additional dump sites so we have a location out East Springfield. We have our home base out South 16th uh where we can store debris. Um and also uh Lane Forest but we're leaving them alone right now because they're getting pretty overwhelmed with the amount of debris coming towards them. So we do have a couple of extra sites that we've got for our crews and contractors to be able to dump. Um let's see. And open it up for questions. Yeah, I think that's our report. Yes, open it up for questions. Yeah. Just a quick one. Um Ben

44:06 have you considered or is there a consideration or is there uh existence of a establishing a dump site where citizens can instead of trying to deal with the backed up lines for half a mile to get into Lane Forest Products, but a a site where citizens can actually put their debris in a large lot somewhere and later can be picked up and disposed of properly? So, we have had multiple discussions about that. Currently, we do not have that in their contracts with um any you know, with any properties releasing. That will be something we'll be discussing with the the executive team. Yeah, it's on tomorrow's agenda for the executive team to discuss it. We do have a site picked out that could accommodate something like that. I may be able to help

44:52 find areas that may not have cost. So. The one, I'll just put it out there, but it's not a for sure thing yet, but Brand S out on Bob Straub is a giant concrete lot facility that it actually has backing walls that would be incredible and would could handle probably the whole event uh uh tree damage. So, the Lane County EOC is and our staff in that EOC are working on putting something together, a contract with uh that location. Yeah, thank you. Perfect. Any other questions for Public Works? All right. Yeah, oh, Nancy. Thank you, Mayor. I was wondering if you

45:37 could uh give a little bit of comments to our community about some of the trees. We we did a drive-through the community with some elected officials looking at the assessing damages. I think people may be unaware that when a tree sustains damage, then that tree is dead. Can you can you talk a little bit about that and and what people should be looking for? Sure. Um it's a actually a super great point. Um and I'll put myself out there. I was not able to get out and look as much uh as a director we're in a lot of meetings and working through things and able to get out tonight with a contingent of people and it's evident there's a lot of barber chair trees that are just slashed

46:23 upside down limbs, you know, they're just pointing straight down. So, there are still tree hazards that exist throughout the city. It's you know, something we're going to be working at through our contracts and our own staff. But just a you know, a precaution for that to get out we'll do tomorrow is invite that into our social media and also get out with a PSA that people be really careful. We're clearing sidewalks to include through pedestrian travel. Trying to do the overhead work there yet when we're driving down the road we're looking up going well, we just had a contractor go through here and there's still some potential things that we need to be concerned about. Also what

47:08 Nancy's pointing out is there are some trees that will become hazard trees because they really need to be taken out as opposed to trimmed or trimmed up. So, we need to evaluate that more fully and get information about that out out as well. Victoria. I just want to say thank you. I mean, I can't even imagine what you guys must have been going through and we all as a community have been going through that. But I think people need to realize how hard you guys are working and how much we appreciate what you've done. I mean, we're all feeling this together and for for not only ourselves, but for our community and and I just I just want to make sure that you know how much we value and appreciate what you're doing. I heard you I was at the

47:53 the Lane County meeting um, um, I think Sunday and was hearing you give your report, very professional and very um, thorough. So, thank you guys so much for what you do for us. Thank you. Really helps, too, I'll say, to have an engaged council. Uh, that throughout the week, and uh, I want to call out Neil. Uh, he never looks for anything, you know, anything big. Don't put the light on me. Uh, he ran an event uh, that dealt with the organization, not just operations, and uh, and PD and fire. So, really, really uh, felt supported throughout. I also appreciate your comment. Really appreciate it. Um, this this event like this is damaging as they are, it anchors

48:38 in me, you know, my love for Springfield, and just seeing the community members out, you know, cleaning up their own yards, and um, And our I, you know, I personally got to work alongside some of our firefighters, and our police officers, and it's it's awesome. And thank you. Chow. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but you guys um, flat rocked it and far it I mean, I just you know, the firefighters, the police, but I was going to save my accolades for them after they're doing their thing. But, but yeah, Neil, uh, from our perspective, at least from my perspective as a city councilor, Neil's communication to us, with us, was was nothing short of of of

49:23 phenomenal. And that um, the reports that we got were very detailed to where I don't think I ever asked any follow-up from his emails. I sit, you know, with additional questions. They were just thorough. And me seeing you guys, I mean, I live a battery for this storm, and uh, to watching you guys work, and um, to see you cut trees, And we've been through this the story I keep telling and maybe you can tell it. What was getting into the the operation shack the first day like? I I may have grown this story a little bit so you may have to to ground me back again. There's the blowtorch. Yeah, so my I needed to respond early in

50:10 the morning roughly 6:00 a.m. I think I got deployed at 5:00. The problem we had with our gates is the way they sit on the rollers and they're chain operated. It took about 45 minutes just for us to be able to get in because luckily and I don't know how it happened but our rear gate forward towards the mechanic shop in our back happened to get stuck open. So I was able to go get a blowtorch so that I hit it and start torching our gates up front so I get in. Yeah, and and I know we we're going to hear from police and you know fire here in a minute but I often tell that story at the kind of give people some perspective of the event that we were operating in. We're dealing with a city that was every surface had two to three inches of ice in it which was a really challenging

50:55 operating environment for folks and you guys kept working and we really appreciated it. Steve As a city, it's our job to protect our citizens from events like this. But we can protect them against 98% but this is the 2% that got us. And we did nothing wrong subjugating a lot of flak. I know that. And it's not their fault either. This was overwhelming for everybody and they've done a wonderful job. I had a personal interaction with Springfield Police Department, Springfield Fire Department which was the best not the best in the world because of circumstances but I'm going to tell you they are the best and and uh

51:40 so don't don't talk bad about the city. We have done a good job. All right. Who's coming up next, Neil? Uh we can probably have both Chiefs up. That would be great. There's two seats. Both Chiefs up. They get along very well, so. Is this some sort of band? Rock crushes scissors. You're up, Mike.

52:26 Hey, Ken, you crushed them. Uh Chief. Uh good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh thanks for having us and giving us an opportunity to just briefly talk on uh what we experienced throughout this storm. Uh similar to operations, uh our crews prepare ahead of time for events like this. Uh we talk about, you know, when do we deploy extra staffing? We keep people queued up, ready to understand, prepare for extra time to come to work, make sure all of our chains are in place, um and teach a lot of young ambulance drivers how to use chains and drive, and get them new chains throughout the shifts. Um so, uh without further ado, as you might imagine, we were quite busy. I really appreciated uh Neil's help in getting the message out, kind of what was going

53:12 on with fire in the heat of uh our experience, but just to put it in perspective uh real quickly, uh through the week of uh January 14th, uh we experienced 1,664 calls for service, Eugene-Springfield Fire. 530 of those here in the city of Springfield. Um that's 3,000 separate unit dispatches. Our busiest day, we saw 608 unit dispatches, 225 of those here in the city of Springfield. Uh we transported 587 people in our community. Uh we had 241 fire responses, 118 of those in Springfield. Unfortunately, uh a number

53:57 of those here in Springfield uh were people's homes who were dealing with the the lengthy duration of power outage and for various reasons having fires our fire crews are on another house fire in Thurston right now as we speak. Uh there's a garage fire on I believe 68th Street. Uh they got it under control relatively quickly, but they're cleaning that up right now. Uh carbon monoxide response is another key indicator. Uh 19 of those uh in the last week, 12 of those here in the city of Springfield. And so that should indicate where the bulk of our community was experienced kind of longer duration power outages. Um you've heard us talk a lot of it about uh the hospital closures and moving around. Uh we had a lot of challenges getting ambulances freed up.

54:43 Um there was one point in time where we had uh 38 calls for service pending and no resources to send to them. Um at times it would take uh several minutes. We'd actually requested a second uh ambulance to uh um Council Most fire and took a half an hour before one came available at one of the hospitals to get there. Um during that time we had a battalion chief that we hired on overtime throughout the kind of peak of this event to go into Central Lane 911 who were doing uh yeoman's work to keep answering the phones. They were sleeping on the floor over there in dispatch and did an amazing job. Um but it made a big difference having somebody to take on the liability and responsibility of a decision to say

55:28 who's going to get a resource. Um that proved very valuable throughout this storm. We stood up two squads which are two uh two-person uh crews that are in four-wheel drive pickup trucks that have some saws and medical equipment and all the things to get to more places quickly. We had one of those deployed out of a gateway station. It spent most of its time in central and eastern Springfield. Not really one that goes back to the station to take a break. Not that anybody got a break during this event, but they kept very busy. We did a two-person crew to do some welfare checks. I think on day three up in Councillor Pishner's neighborhood when we recognized when our crew from the Thurston station sent us some pictures kind of showed what it's like to travel

56:14 around and and so they helped do some damage assessments for us in that space. And even to this day the truck company Tower 3 over 28th and Centennial is borrowing a four-wheel drive pickup truck from the city of Eugene that's set up with extra equipment, ladders, medical stuff so that they can get into some of our neighborhoods that still have some low-hanging trees and and residual issues. And so we continue to be creative and flexible to to answer the call. But at the end of the day we had no significant injuries to our crews throughout this event despite crawling up hills to get to people. No significant vehicle damage despite again a very young workforce that hasn't experienced this before. All in all you know I can tell you it was a a very different storm. Tail of

57:00 two cities, right? Um it hit different. Rain different. Ice pellets in Eugene didn't hang on the trees the same way. But nonetheless the system was incredibly busy. We were able to flex our resources to where they they needed to be and really appreciate Springfield, Neals, ability to pull our team together and Chief Shear kind of a constant communications. What do we need? Where do we need it? How can we be flexible? So I have a great amount of pride in uh city's leadership and the staff that that work here. Joe. Chief, your people are awesome. Just saying. No, I I I I I I watched

57:45 um we had neighbor across the street, broken bones, and I sat and I watched not sat, but I was looking at the end of my driveway as I see a fire truck I think it's I know I'm probably going to mess up the term I it's like a wildland firefighting engine that's got like tall and and it's all-wheel drive, chained up with his Yeah, so our brush trucks that we use during the summer, they keep chains on them throughout the winter periods just in case these things happen. Yeah. Saw him trying to make it up the hill. Um he got up past my driveway and almost past the next door neighbor's driveway and then it stopped making forward progress uphill and started going downhill. And started going sideways downhill. Ooh.

58:30 And I'm like I'm looking at that going, "Oh, lord." And I could just And I know who's down at the bottom of the hill. I'm thinking I hope they're out of the house. But they were able to control it and then and they slipped it into my neighbor's driveway, which was flat, and that's like that is amazing. And this young guy gets out of the truck and I was just I By the time I was getting up there, I just wanted to say, "Please, you know, be careful, guys. Don't He looked at me and he says, "We're being careful." Okay, I'll back out. So But I mean, and then the ambulance comes up, they do the same thing. All wheels are spinning, sparks, and and they almost go sideways, and but they You know what? They they stuck with it, they worked together, they were able to come out of there they safely, and um they ended up having to come back later to

59:15 pick the guy up that did, you know, injured man, but um they were just to watch that and it's like they worked perfectly as a team. They communicated and I cannot believe that our trucks, the city's trucks, were able to get out of there unscathed because nothing else was unscathed. Nothing. Yeah. So, I mean, just so So, my hat's off to your crew and everything that I've heard from residents in the area the Thurston area and whatnot, I've got nothing but high high regards and and and same for me. Appreciate that feedback. And you can tell him, when you see him, if you can, just tell him I I understand he was being careful, so. And you reported it to the chief. Yes. Chief Sherer.

1:00:00 Good evening, Mayor and Councilors. Uh thanks for the opportunity to share a brief update about SPD's efforts during the last week of the storm. Uh I want I also brought Lieutenant Pete Kirkpatrick, who runs our patrol operations division, with me and Sergeant Justin Myers, who among other things runs our SWAT team. Uh we pulled some statistics to share with you covering the time span from midnight on Friday night the 12th through midnight on Friday the 19th that I want to share with you. Uh during that time, we responded to 202 calls of down power lines, 83 calls for public assistance that included everything from driving people to hotels or warming shelters to responding to calls that otherwise might be for CAHOOTS because they were unavailable to respond in the city of Springfield for the majority of this event. We went on 176 welfare check calls, 182 calls regarding trees down.

1:00:45 We responded to 82 traffic-related calls, which included disabled vehicles, crashes, and traffic hazards. So, during that time frame, we had 1,480 calls for service. Um and pulling the the data out of there, it looks like over 700 of those calls were storm-related during that time frame. Uh our officers were obviously extremely busy um taking not only the regular calls for service, but the calls that were specific to the storm. We had officers dispatched, members of our record division sleeping between shifts in the station, even in their cars in the parking lot, so they could be available to help. Some of those members even had severe damage to their own houses, no power at home, and left their families at home while they were staying at work. Uh we supplemented our patrol strength by reassigning our detectives on some of

1:01:30 those days. We sent them out in uniform to patrol and aid and provide support as needed. Uh members of the command staff also spent time out in the communities. Um in some of the most impacted areas to just to try to be a visible representative of the city and support the greater ongoing city effort that was happening. Uh we purchased a bunch of blankets and cases of water. We distributed those to people up in the hills as we as we as they needed it cuz they were just unable to get out and get get down to the stores. Uh our SWAT team what spent what normally be their training day last week uh on the community as well, where they helped residents clear debris from their driveways and some roadways, again providing a visible and tangible show of support and effort uh to represent the overall city effort. Um our new volunteer downtown patrol, which we just started about 3 weeks ago,

1:02:16 they insisted on coming in this week, so they came in on Friday to provide that visible presence downtown because we had so many officers assigned to other things. Um moving forward, we're essentially back to normal business, if you could call it that, uh for calls for service right now. Um we're doing our best to remain vigilant around the houses that are unoccupied because of the severe storm damage, cuz we know some of the risk that's involved with that, so we're very aware of that and doing extra patrols there. That's going to require a real strong community effort to be the eyes and the ears, cuz we can't be there all the time. So, the neighbors around those houses that they know where there's nobody home, please call and and pay close attention to that on our behalf. Um there are people that taking advantage. I mean, we're actively at the moment working a case where a a lot of generators were stolen. I don't want to

1:03:01 overshare too much because we're probably in the process of making an custody as we speak. Um but there are people that have taken advantage and we're actively working those cases right now. Um before I conclude, I want to give a shout out to Nathan Bell and his team, because when the city lost power and almost lost the city servers, So, when he came in in the middle of the night to keep the city running and for us to have the ability to dispatch and do the work that we need to do, it's critically important for Nate and his team. And so, I can't say thank you enough for that. Um and similar some of the remarks of Chief Cave, I mean the partnership, I mean we found the little ladies in their houses and we couldn't get them out cuz we couldn't we walked up to them and you were able to get one of your rigs up there and get them out for us. So, it was a very close partnership for the throughout the whole event. It was great. Um and I just want to close with saying how proud I am of the members of SPD in

1:03:46 particular. I mean, they really went over the top and leaned in and did whatever it took to get the job done, whether it's pulling out a chainsaw and doing something they might not normally otherwise do. I mean, they were just more than willing to step up and help out and help the people of Springfield. I could be more proud. Michelle. No questions, just comment. And I was saving mine until we heard from from everybody um because collectively you all are just awesome, right? This is a huge event that happened to our city. A lot of people are suffering and I know every single one of you is sitting there thinking, what could we do differently? How can we do better the next time? I know you're all thinking about that and today isn't the day for that. Today is the day to be really proud of the work that you've done here.

1:04:32 So, thank you so much. Right. Thank you. I also wanted to save all of my appreciation. And I really appreciate what Councilwoman said. I think that um that everyone in this room and beyond it just wants to you know, we we acknowledge the the suffering and that we were all under prepared for this and it was more than anybody expected and has not impacted everybody in the city the same way, clearly because we've had people working around the clock um and we still have people without power and I think it's just important for us to say, yes, we we were all in this and we experienced it differently. And additionally, um I also am so incredibly grateful and incredibly proud of our staff.

1:05:19 Um what everybody said about Neil is absolutely true. We were getting constant information so that we could then share that information, which I know my colleagues and I were constantly trying to get the information out to people as best we could. And and I think that the folks who are not in this room, it was to hear about Nate coming in to save the servers and to hear about um the people that are not necessarily part of the city, you know, our bus drivers and the people who are showing up at grocery stores and you know, all of the people that pitched in and Springfield to just take care of each other. And so I just want you all to know how much we appreciate you and I know that that doesn't always come in the event. We're hearing from the people who are the most scared and the most crabby. Um and that hopefully we will

1:06:05 all look back at this and and say we did a really great job and we learned a lot of things that we can do better um the next time, which I know those those are conversations we're all having is like, okay, what do we take? How do we do better? And how do we celebrate the amazing community that we have and the folks that have been willing to step up and go above and beyond. So thank you to all of you. Joe. Yes, thank you. You know, there was it was a time where um in my spot by my house, which I couldn't leave because my truck was frozen solid to the driveway and a and a few trees in the way, but uh I saw the chief and the deputy chief walking down 70th with studded boots and

1:06:51 looking and checking neighbors and what and and I I I had to look two or three times. Is that Is that Chief Shear? And I'm like, it is. And I said, you better not fall and break your skull because we can't afford to lose you. And I was like, don't but you know, that just he just you don't see any of you have you know, we have a city attorney over there that that goes out and and does her own thing making door-to-door contact with folks. I saw the assistant city attorney I don't know what day this is. Um this morning. And she's out there with her husband moving brush off the street. And I I didn't I didn't know she I thought she might have lived there and I'm going do you live here? And she said, "No."

1:07:36 Okay, I just clean up and I realized that the street I went down was all marked off with yellow tape with all the brush that was piled up to help people miss those from being hit by cars. But this I mean but it doesn't none of these surprise me. Your folks I mean saw that they got the stories of our officers out there probably some of your guys with chainsaws. I never want I've tested police tests before and have passed them great, but never once was I asked to start up a chainsaw. So, these guys I mean it just I could go on and on and you know, the our staff is just truly I have a whole different vision and and view of our staff and I'm so proud to be part of this organization. And you know, our council are here.

1:08:21 They're out going around. She's out there asking if people wanted water and she'll deliver them. You know, so and we got people that are manning this the respite centers here that are on our council. It's not like they you know, they don't volunteer very many hours in the first place, right? So, but you see that and it just so proud um to be part of this to be part of this group and and you guys are every one of you Ben and and Brian and and everybody Andy Chief um and Mike, you guys are should be very very proud and I always as leadership here of the city there's nothing we couldn't we can't say enough about you guys. You just did yourself well and we're really proud and very proud to support you. So, that's from the bottom of my heart.

1:09:14 I don't really have a lot or anything really to add to that other than I just want to say thank you as well, and I'm so grateful. And you know, if there's a silver lining at all, it just kind of brings me back to remind me of how proud and and grateful that I've am about living in Springfield and how strong I feel that our community is and always comes together when we need to. So, thank you. All right. Continue. Here we go. Thank you, Mayor. You know, I I just want to take a minute. I have uh mixed feelings. Um on one hand, I I I was heartbreaking for me to not be here in this community with all of you when this was going down. Um but yet on the other hand, um I knew I

1:10:01 was absolutely confident that our staff would um be so dedicated. They're so talented, and they it just they never failed to surprise me with um how their commitment to the city, their leadership. I never have to ask them to do anything. They're already doing it. They're already thinking about it. And the care that they demonstrate toward this community is is it makes me very proud. Um and so, you know, I think the best thing that you can do it it as a leader is try to hire the most talented people you can find, and um I I think we really do have that here in Springfield. So, I just wanted to thank uh Neil uh for being uh acting city manager um in my absence. Thank you for that. Um and for all of our department directors um

1:10:47 and our staff and volunteers, as well as our city attorney's office, you know, you putting together emergency declarations, doing all of the the coordination necessary. There's a lot of logistics that come into play when there is an emergency, um especially one that um tends to build because then your state declarations and therefore, you know, we might I don't know if we'll meet the threshold of an of a of a federal uh emergency. That's yet to be seen. Um and we will continue to put information out, but I think it's important to um acknowledge that. I also want to convey um you know, my sincere uh feelings of um empathy for our uh community and for people that have sustained real losses um to property, uh harm to themselves, to their families, um and that are

1:11:33 really struggling right now. And I just wanted to let you know that my heart is with you. Thank you. Well, I I mean, I I think we can't overstate the impact of this community, right? Like there's so many people there's we still have neighbors that are out of power and still sitting in the cold. And until we finish the recovery, right? We that include you know, that includes getting them power and you know, getting their water turned back on. And then there's the next step. There's how many people have thrown out thousands of dollars of food associated to that. So, well I keep coming back to the fact that there's we were operating in a place where there

1:12:18 was 2 to 3 inches of ice on the entire city. Every surface for like 3 days. And we had to keep everybody safe. And we had to respond to a list of emergencies, right? That you know, that included car wrecks all the way through house fires and dangerous situations. And I'm just exceptionally proud of you guys. And I know there'll be a chance for us to kind of learn from emergency management and you know, take some of the smart earning knowledge and sort of you know, put it down on a piece of paper, but that's for a couple weeks with time and perspective. But I'm just really grateful for all for all the work you guys did this week. Thank you.

1:13:06 I don't think there was any public comment. Uh there's no public comment. Yep. All right. Thank you. Thank you.