Springfield City Council — April 8, 2024

0:03 I'm going to call the Springfield City Council work session to order with roll call Mayor Van Gordon here councelor Weber here councelor Mo here councelor rodley here councelor Blackwell here councelor Doyle here and councelor pisher thank you and councelor pisher is excused for the evening um we have four items the first one is bicycle pedestrian advisory committee interviews with Drew uh good evening city council Mr Mayor uh thanks for having me again hopefully this will be the last time you see me for bpack interviews for at least two years um so we've had one uh ongoing

0:48 multi-year vacancy and we've had one applicant apply to fill that seat uh Devon raly is here this evening to interview all right let's bring Devon on down thank them all right so on the way we usually do this as I let the folks introduce themselves then I'm going to ask you the couple of questions and then we'll let let you go for the evening okay um you want to start down there hi I'm Victoria Doyle um Ward five which is up around the I call it thirston light

1:34 right and I'm Cory rodley she her pronouns and I'm in w three which kind of goes right up the middle H lamit Hospital the middle of the city Sean Man Gordon the mayor I'm Steve Mo homeless resident award two my house burnt down oh goodness hi I'm Beth blackfell award four and you want to go Michelle hi Michelle Weber w one which is the Gateway North Springfield area right so what strength or skills would you bring to the bpack um I think the biggest is just my eagerness and passion to be a part of it um I've never been on a committee before for a city but I'm I'm very much want to

2:21 contribute in whatever way I can so you know I'm good with uh written communication for sure if there's ever something I can do to help with something that's going to be published um really anything I can do to help so you know I have quite a bit of experience uh as a as a bicyclist and pedestrian I walk and bike a lot um so being a voice for the community is definitely something that I can do how do you think the work of bpac improves our community

3:07 um mostly um I think advocating for the community and making sure that uh pedestrians and bicyclists are accommodated and considered um in road projects or other policies and programs that are going to be implemented and if you can make one positive change in Springfield what would it be um I'd have to say more bike Lanes you know more paths um just to help increase the safety of the community for bicyclists and pedestrians um and to really help you know grow the the community and the

3:52 culture of that kind of sustainable Transportation helps keep the city clean well thank you those were the three questions we had um we're going to go through all the interviews and then we'll talk about everybody and staff the staff will reach out with um okay with with an answer in next steps with you thank you okay all right thank you uh the next set of interviews was the Springfield police advisory committee good evening um Tiffany Monroe with the Springfield police advisory committee we have one vacancy for a cultural minority Community representative that's been open for

4:38 quite some time now we have one applicant tonight Josh agular thank you good good afternoon or good that was the first question well Josh I'm gonna skip the introduction since you were were here already um what perspective experience or expertise will you bring to the police advisory comme um so I'll bring a board experience uh currently I sit on the Bushnell University board I also sit on a Spanish Church board it's one of the longest active churches here in

5:23 Springfield and as of recently I was um board the director of um for Tri County Chamber of Commerce out there in junon city um also I I think I'm going to bring a fresh perspective uh that mirrors the aspirations and concerns of the Young Generation within Springfield assuring their voices are heard um and discussions about Public Safety um also my Hispanic descent offers a valuable lens um I also understand uh economic challenges uh growing up in the low-income family um has equipped me with firsthand Insight of socioeconomic challenges uh faced by many in our community um and also my commitment to

6:08 community engagement um I'm deeply committed to enhancing the community engagement and trust between the Springfield Police Department and the residence it serves what is your perception of the Springfield Police Department and have you had personal interactions with Springfield PD yeah I've been stopped many times no um no it's been a positive interaction um serving on the church board uh basically one of my I guess duties is to uh interact with you know with the uh police department there's been multiple times where I've had to call for assistance for disturbance very recently we had a robbery at 3:00 a.m. and uh the

6:53 police was there immediately uh they you know had their k9's and they did their job very efficiently um in handling that uh situation so my experience uh has definitely been positive um yeah what do you think the most important issues facing the Springfield Police Department are today um I think the police department does a great job um but I I think uh this could basically basically um we could say kind of encompasses mostly like on the national national uh stage of sometimes uh you know police departments don't have uh somebody who

7:38 can connect uh with groups of people of different backgrounds um different cultures um and so I think um you know I think having having me I guess be part of the uh advisory commune board I think I'm going to be able to bring that uh understanding of you know how um potential people have different background react to certain things and so I'll be able to provide some info on that some background on that and and you know an experience what do you think are the most important steps the police department could take to promote a positive relationship with the Springfield Community um I think uh I have uh I mean I have a couple of

8:23 ideas just written down it potentially the uh police department already does this but uh you know community policing initiatives implementing and expand community policing programs where officers are assigned to specific neighborhoods so that way they can become familiar uh faces and be able to build relationships with the residents uh also public engagement and transparency holding uh you know regular Town Hall meetings and provide forums where uh community members can voice or concerns ask questions and provide feedback directly to the police department um also youth engagement programs um involving police officers and local youth programs and lastly collaborating uh with Community um

9:10 organizations um I think partnering with uh local you know that would be partnering with local organizations schools faith-based groups and businesses to address Community issues collectively um I think these Partnerships can lead to uh innovative solutions to common problems and show that departments at you know committed to the well-being of the community thank you very much and we'll have the staff reach out after we make decisions uh the third set of interviews is Springfield Art commission interviews with Mindy Blinder thank you mayor good evening counselors mayor I'm Mindy Linder the liaison to the Springfield Arts

9:56 commission and it's my pleasure to bring to you two applicants who um are candidates for one vacancy the vacancy we currently have um for the first time since Co we actually have a mostly full commission with eight of nine members we do have one partial term vacancy with an expiration date of December 31st 2027 so it'll be a very robust partial term and the first of the two candidates is Keith Bennett thank you greetings everyone hello mayor and Keith I'm going to skip the introductions for you since uh you were here through the early part about it thank you sir why are you interested in serving on the Arts commission I have been involved with

10:41 Arts ever since I could walk and hold crayon and it's always been part of my life uh being an artist I graduated from uh University with a BFA in art I went into advertising for about 20 years after that I went into education which ends up being one of my most favorite things to do ended up getting Advanced degrees in instructional design and adult adult training and and teaching and I see now an opportunity here to meld the two together the art the community the education and being a u support resource for that within uh the City of

11:29 Springfield could you describe your understanding of the role you will have serving as an art commissioner and how it relates to the work of the council I was kind of hoping you might expand on that for me I did not have a chance to go to any of the meetings but I did read the last like six sets of a minute notes to get an understanding what's going on uh from my perception I I'll give you that and then you can correct me sure um is that this role helps you have a lot of assets and resources here in Spring Springfield that was the reason you know my wife and I located here we moved here 9 years ago and we liked the idea of the culture that was here and the things that were going on in the art community uh A3 High School I do a lot of mentoring there and

12:15 so my perception is that this rle is to help support those venues also perhaps to provide opportunities for diverse cult groups younger artists in the community utilizing the resources that you you already have here maybe augmenting it and I think Springfield's on a on a Tipping Point to where it could really Bloom uh further all right thank you um what do you see as current issues and challenges for the City of Springfield just pertaining to art oh you can take that as openly as as you want I was kidding that that was that was the reason why we moved here we we

13:00 looked at um at many different places but my wife and I really liked it here um because of the atmosphere the the size of the city the we just live down the street so we can walk to everything I love the idea of the restaurants I love the idea of the museum the emerald Art Center which I just recently joined because I saw that as an opportunity to give to the community and help the artist I love working with the students at A3 because I think one of the things that we miss here the opportunity for the younger artists ones that are blooming to help them to support what they're doing as they move forward finding a a role in the community and within their own life and what you can do as an artist all right great that was my last

13:47 question thank you so much oh thank you so much appreciate your time thank you all right everyone so our second candidate for the Springfield Arts commission single partial vacancy term is Leah so welcome Leah um I'm Sean Man Gordon I'm the mayor we're gonna go around do a quick round of introductions and then I'll ask you the questions hi I'm Victoria doy I'm the representative for w five Corey rodley she her pronouns I'm in Ward three Steve Mo word two Beth Blackwell word

14:34 four all right goad Michelle Michelle Weber word one why are you interested in serving on the Arts commission goodness well um I am an artist and I've been rather frustrated with the prospects in my past U I went to school for it I didn't really get any sort of Career Training with my f Fine Arts degree I got a bers in Fine Arts in 2013 what I am trying to do is step into the art world and help other people have better opportunities for art than I had when I first started

15:26 out could you describe your understanding of the role of the Arts commission and how it Rel to the work of the council I too am not so sure at this moment um I was only recently made aware of this opportunity and I was hoping to find out as I went along um I have not had an opportunity to sit in any of the meetings yet uh my current job has been a little bit busy but I hope to balance that a little bit better so I may have time for those and what do you see current issues and challenges for the City of Springfield City of Springfield I am seeing a lot of influence of art already you all the fun little murals that we're seeing the little art

16:15 shops I think that we could definitely use a lot more and I would hope to facilitate that um everywhere I've gone we've needed more uh I do not believe that we have innovation without creativity even for people people that aren't that don't consider themselves creative per se even if we provide that background it is going to help people uh I know that I've seen studies where rates of crime have gone down if we have cleanliness if we just have sidewalks that are clean and how much better of an influence would that be if people were being exposed to creativity every street corner that they want to that's what I would hope to see over here more however that looks all right that was the last

17:01 question okay thank you thank you so much all right thank you all right so we're going to go back to the top for B uh bpack so it's it's one person for one spot all right I'm seeing a thumbs up Michelle do you wanna do you have anything to add H thumbs up on that one all right there we go

17:47 thanks uh for spack it's one person for one role and and Michelle I'm I'm going to assume that if you have anything to add you will jump in here yeah I'm good with that candidate to all right thanks Tiffany and then for Arts commission we have to select one person to to finish what a rle go ahead I'll start um I think they're both great and I love that we have people who are artists who are interested um I'm leaning towards Keith because he lives and works in Springfield um whereas Leah lives in Eugene and works in Springfield um so that's I'm just slightly leaning but I'm not gonna it's wherever everybody goes

18:33 uh thank you want to go Victoria um I would have to agree I think that he shows a level of experience that would be really beneficial to the committee um I don't I think Leo would as well but I think that that um Keith has has a a skill set that he's brought along the way that I think he could really really help us out I don't really have any more to add to that other than I agree and they're both great candidates and but my vote would be for Kei I agree with Cory well there we go um and Michelle did you have anything to add yes Keith would be my choice as well all right I'm looking back at Mindy and head nodding to Keith she is good to

19:18 go and that is it for interviews for this evening and the last item is Master fees and charges everybody's favorite topic and with with Jessica good evening mayor and Council my name is Jessica mummy I am the city of Springfield's budget and procurement manager here this evening to continue the discussion on the annual update of the master fees and charges on February 26 the city's Finance director met with Council for guidance on an escalator percentage to use for the upcoming annual adjustment at that meeting

20:04 Council provided staff feedback to utilize a 5% escalation for fees driven by Staffing costs a 3.3% fee for those driven by CPI inflation and 2.6% for system development charges utilizing the construction cost index list in the engineering News Record please note that after this evening's work session Council will be presented with other considerations that may effect this version of the mfnc schedule you received in your meeting packet this evening the timeline for these considerations are as follows next week on the 15th the Santa Pac annual rate adjustment will be discussed um myself and Sam Kelly quatrro from the city manager's office will be here for that discussion and also another discussion on the housing diversity tax exemption

20:51 uh the week following will be the fiscal year 2425 Wastewater and storm water um local rates with Katherine Bishop and then following that will be a public hearing on the Wastewater and storm water rate adoption and finally on May 28th Mark Rust will be here to talk about planning and Engineering development fees staff has prepared a redlined version of the master fees and charges schedule based on the council feedback from SE or excuse me February 26th staff is requesting a review of the redlined version document and we'll integrate feedback from tonight's work session into a final version of that schedule we'll also inte create feedback from the other Council meetings mentioned just a moment ago and include those in the final schedule Finance staff will bring the final version of the schedule back

21:37 to council for a public hearing and final adoption on June 17th and with that I'll turn it over for discussion okay before I open this up for discussion so it's we have three conversations all three of those conversations are going to create one master fee schedule and then we'll have a hearing about the complete Master Fee schedule that is correct yes got it all right does anybody want to jump in here I think they're just looking for a head nod um I do have a fire question and um you know if you guys want to come back to me I did I did hear kind of a discussion about with while we were out chatting with with fire Crews about areas where we were dispatched to sort of assisted living homes to make some sort of you

22:24 know either help lift somebody up to check on somebody something like that is do you know do do we CH because we're not transporting them right do we charge or charge a fee for that it's a great question unfortunately I don't have the answer to that we're happy to bring it back I'm looking to see if any fire representatives are here and they're not we're more than happy to get that question answered for you okay perfect anybody else all right so I think this looks good okay great we'll see you soon all right thank you all right that was the last work session item I don't have the Ceda

23:09 schedule or is Ceda scheduled as approximate or is are we stuck okay so I'm going to adjourn uh the Springfield City Council work session and then we will reconvene for the uh for the C to work session or C to Executive session thank you