Springfield City Council — April 7, 2025

0:07 I would like to call the city council work session to order with roll call. Mayor Van Gordon, councelor Weber here, councelor Mo here, councelor Rodley here, councelor Blackwell here, councelor Doyle here, and councelor Stout here. Thank you. Okay, we have three items for this work session tonight. Uh first item is budget committee interviews. Jessica, come on up. Good evening, city council. My name is Jessica Mummy. I'm the city's budget and procurement manager here this evening for budget committee interviews. We have three candidates that originally applied to fill one vacant uh uh one vacancy on the budget committee. However, one of the uh

0:53 candidates has withdrawn their name from consideration. That candidate is Veronique or Ronnie. Applicants were sought to represent ward six on the budget committee and the vacancy was the result of a term expiration of the prior appointee Paul Selby. The appointee will serve a three-year term that will expire on December 31st, 2027. And any appointed member may be reappointed for one additional year, but no member may be appointed for more than two consecutive fullear terms. And then just briefly, the budget committee consists of all members of the city council and a like number of electors for a total of 12 committee members. And the citizen members may not be officers, agents, or employees of the city. And

1:38 finally, though it's been past practice of the city council to prefer one budget committee citizen member per ward, this is not a requirement of state law nor the city's bylaws. So, I guess then we're ready to interview our first candidate. Correct. And is it is it Weeble? Is that right, Joseph Weeble? I believe so. Okay. Hey. Hello. Hi. I'm I'm Council President Michelle Weber and I'm just going to before I start asking questions, I'm going to let my counselors run through them and introduce themselves.

2:24 All right, Alan Stout, City Council W 6 for Thirstston. Hi, Victoria Do 5. I'm right your next door neighbor in Thirstston. Corey Rodley, she her pronouns and I'm in W three. Steve Mo, w two. Hi, Beth Blackwell. Ward four. It's nice to meet you all. And my name is Joe Wyel. Um and um very excited to be here. Are you guys you're going to pose the questions to me and I'll go through. Okay. Yes. Yep. When Yep. We'll uh we'll take that approach and go from there to me. That's right. We're pretty easy to get along with. Okay. So,

3:11 question number one, why are you interested in serving on the budget committee? Um, so I'm, as long as I can remember, I've always been interested in what most people would call the boring stuff. And, um, and so like I remember even when I was a kid, um, I was in middle school when, you know, the great recession happened. And you know when I was in seventh eighth grade I was very interested to learn and understand why that happened you know and I remember you know just looking through on investipedia and Wikipedia and learning about financial markets and you know all the all the systemic things that happened that led to that event. And so

3:57 ever since I was a kid, I've been interested in topics like economics, public policy, finance, history. Um, and I can frequently be found reading um public policy documents, things about taxation, you know, public policy, economics, things of that nature. And so I'm very interested in in those topics and how public resources are allocated. And so, um, I think that in addition to that, I've always wanted to serve my community. And I think that this is a great place for me to, uh, to do that. And I think that, you know, I have an

4:43 aptitude for learning about these kinds of topics. Uh, and I and I enjoy it where I think a lot of people maybe wouldn't. Um, and so let's see. Yeah, I think I covered everything I had in my notes. Okay, great. Next question then. Um, while all of the Springfield services seem to have strong support from different areas of the community, it is often necessary to prioritize services for budgetary reasons. How would you go about the task of establishing priorities among services? Um, well, first I would think that it that it ought to be done in a in a systematic and a fair way that's

5:31 transparent. Um, and then, you know, would would establish some areas of of how you would some areas for how you would prioritize the different uh services. I'd probably come up with a framework for ranking them um essential versus non-essential and then kind of going down from there. Um and then I would prioritize um public safety and public health as the first order of things. And then um maybe if there's anything that is like a like a statutory requirement by state or federal law and then would give special

6:16 consideration for how services might affect certain vulnerable populations and then finally considering the long-term and short-term return on investment of the funds. Um and then you know after going through that kind of a process mentally or on paper um or both find out first if anything can be done more efficiently and then identify the low impact highcost items that could be considered uh for cutting. Okay, great. If you were on the budget committee and were looking at one of the city's services to decide how much should be funded through general taxes and how much through specific fees on customers, what questions would you want

7:01 to have answered in order to make your decision? Um, I would want to first get data on utilization of services and so I'd want to find out things like how much does it cost? What's the marginal cost, you know, the per unit cost of the service? um or what's the cost per person of the services just to divide it among all the customers of that service and then is it a service that we consider to be a public good so it's freely available to anybody who walks up to it and you know if so then would there be a free rider problem? Would there be problems with being able to collect the fee? Um that sort of thing. And then how much would it cost in that situation to administer

7:46 the collection of fees and how much would it cost to enforce rules so that fees get collected? Um and then you know what what segment of the population benefits from the service? Is it a small segment of the population or will the benefits be more spread out like roads you know pretty far spread out um would be an example. And then uh would the service promote economic growth um and then result in future uh uh revenue revenue growth? How do you think the work of the budget committee will improve our community? Well, I think that um it's very

8:31 important work um and the the fair allocation of resources is really important and I think it's really important that the the community is represented. you know, every corner of the community is represented. And so I think that the budget committee is going to help improve our our community by identifying areas where resources need to go and and maybe there are some areas where resources have been going that um no longer need as much uh today. And so I think that that is how the budget committee will um

9:20 improve our community. Great. Thank you very much. That was all the questions and All right. Thank you for for interviewing with us. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Hi Bob. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Many of you I I I know in this room, but my name is Bob Brew. Um, and I worked for the city of Springfield for many years and was on the planning commission

10:05 and later the city council. Okay, great. So, you've got some history here. All right. ready to get started? Yes. Okay. Why are you interested in serving on the budget committee? Well, thank you. So, I spent 35 years uh career in finance and public sector management. So, uh I believe this would be about my 32nd budget cycle that I that I went through. I think I have a a skill set that would be useful to the city. I I bring a lot of experience. I bring um some history in in prioritizing services, making tough decisions, and thinking outside of

10:50 the box in ways to make things happen that wouldn't necessarily be apparent. And I'd welcome the opportunity. While all of the Springfield services seem to have strong support from different areas of the community, it is often necessary to prioritize services for budgetary reasons. How would you go about the task of establishing priorities among services? Thank you. So I would prioritize services first looking at public safety. But that being said, public safety doesn't get a free ride. It's not all public safety before anything else. You have to look at each individual program individual or individual program and decide what is what who is it serving

11:35 and and how does it weigh versus other programs um from other departments. Um I would look at what services are um funded outside of the general fund. Uh, can those be um uh I don't want to say they're going to go off the table if they're funded outside the general fund, but are there ways that services can be reallocated so that they're more self-supporting, bringing up more in the general fund. In addition, I would look at who is being served. Uh how are they being served? Is it the greatest good for the greatest number in some cases? But also, as as

12:21 Joe said earlier, how are vulnerable populations being impacted by these services? It's never easy. Okay. If you were on the budget committee and were looking at one of the city's services to decide how much should be funded through general taxes and how much through specific fees on customers, what questions would you want to have answered in order to make your decision? Well, I'd want to The first question is primarily who benefits from the service? If it's something like a building permit where the person who's getting the building permit essentially is getting the bulk of the benefit from from that service, obviously that they should pay for all of it. If it's another service that everyone benefits from, for

13:06 instance, police or fire, then the cost should be spread. Uh and there are many cases like planning where it's a little bit of each and you have to figure out how that would be most equitably shared. How do you think the work of the budget committee will improve our community? Well, I think the reason that the legislature established the budget committee the way they did was to make sure that the citizens have a voice. I recognize that you are all folks that have day jobs and and do a lot of things outside of this, but you're also after a certain number of years on the on the council, you become

13:51 kind of expert in this kind of thing. And it helps to have fresh eyes onto the budget. And I think that's why the legislature decided that it made sense to have citizen members, people that aren't in this every day or every week. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Just go down the line and see what people are thinking. Councelor Blackwell, would you like to start? Uh, two excellent candidates, first of all, which makes this decision even tougher. Um, I feel

14:36 like you both have a good understanding and idea of budgets and how they work and experience and this is a tough one. If Yeah, if you have a thought on on uh I agree it's a tough one, but if you have a a choice, I'd love to hear it. My my choice would be the first candidate and I see him as a potential city counselor someday. He's he's starting out. He can go a long ways with his knowledge and his his curiosity about the city. Councelor Rodley, thank you. Um I also think these are two great candidates who both I think we're going to it's going

15:21 to be great either way. Um, I'm going to put Bob at number one and then um Joseph at number two for me. Thank you. Councelor Doyle. Uh, I agree with Councelor Rodley. I would put Bob number one and Joseph number two. Okay, Councelor Stout. Um, I I will echo um Councelor Mo's opinion on it. I would put Joseph as my number one and and certainly uh Bob is number two to make decisions. Oh. Oh. nuggets. Can I Well, plead our case. Yeah, let's let's just see where we land first and then

16:06 Yeah, go ahead. Did I'm sorry about I didn't hear your choice. Yeah, go ahead. I'm torn to be honest. I see uh first candidate as a little, you know, fresh and and somebody that might be just getting started out and given that opportunity, but I am um my vote is going to go for Bob, I think. Okay. And I actually get to be the one that makes the the final call here. um just the way the numbers worked out, the majority seems to be um in Bob's favor and I appreciate both candidates. I think they'd both be amazing on the on the budget committee and bring some really good perspective.

16:52 Um but I think I'm going to have to put my vote with Bob as well. That's it for that one. Yeah. Congratulations, Bob. You don't vote in work session, right? It goes on to the Yeah. Yeah. It'll come back on the consent calendar. Goes on the consent calendar. Correct. Yeah. Yep. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Jessica. That was really That was a tough one. Okay. Next, historic commission interviews. And Tom, come on up. I think this one hopefully will be a little a little easier on

17:38 us. Four vacancies and two applicants. Good afternoon, C or evening counselors. I guess it is afternoon as well, but good evening. I'm Tom Severs, uh, senior planner in the current planning section, also staff leaison to the historic commission. We have four openings on the historic commission and two applicants. I believe there two of the vacancies are open for a full four-year term. The other two uh due to um resignations have some more time left on them that would need to be uh run out. But for that we do have, you know, two full uh open seats, total of four with two applicants

18:25 here tonight. Um, first one I believe is Gary Jones. And then we also have Charlotte Helmer returning. She is a former uh historic commissioner. Uh, I'm not sure. I haven't looked behind me yet to see if she's here tonight. I'm fairly certain Gary is here as well, though. Okay. So, with these two applicants here, you're looking to fill the two fullyear terms. Yes, that's correct. Or the full terms, excuse me. And then recruitment for the other two vacancies will revisit that. We'll make another call for it. That's correct. All right. Okay,

19:13 Good evening. Uh, my name is Gary Jones. Gary, hold just a second. You'll want to push the microphone on. There you go. Perfect. Yeah, it's a lot greener now. Thank you. Yeah, my name is Gary Jones. I live at 1038 Diamond Street. I'm a relatively new arrival here coming up on a year of uh being a uh property owner and resident in Springfield. So, happy to answer your questions. And um looks like you could throw me out, but maybe I think they they I've been to the museum a few times and I think they do need people, you know. Okay, great. Well, we'll get started with some questions then if you're ready and yes,

19:58 go from there. Okay. What strengths or skills would you bring to the historic commission? Well, the strength would not be knowledge of the community, but a desire to gain a knowledge of the community. And I have been to the museum several times, and I've got a brief acquaintance with U. Maline McGra, who I see as a very talented professional and somebody who's got some good programs going, and I would like to help out in whatever way is best there. I have uh quite a long experience of working with nonprofits and special purpose districts in Washington state. I was a lawyer there for 45 years in the same community and

20:44 had uh everything from starting up many uh not for-p profofit kind of enterprises and being involved in community organizations. So, I I think um I've got experience in things like risk management, uh job descriptions, um how to meet legal requirements, uh contracting, budgeting, uh finance for small groups like this. And I believe I would be able to contribute. I mean, I'm not exactly sure at this point what all the needs are, but uh I I think my experience would be useful. Okay, great. How do you think the work

21:30 of the historic commission improves our community? I see it as being a really valuable entry point for groups that may be underrecognized. I think they've done a really excellent job of uh bringing forward uh Native American voices from the tribes around here and uh giving some uh a format for presentation of information about things that are important historically but also very current, you know, and have a good interface with the schools and young people as well as tourists or people that are just wanting to know more about Springfield. Okay. And if you could make one positive change in Springfield, what would it be?

22:15 Uh, I've been very impressed with the Milra project and I don't think it has a high enough profile. I I think that's a place where there could be some improvement both in terms of understanding how it relates to the history. I think it may have uh in fact a significant uh role to play in the work that you're doing with the um integration of your land use planning with the endangered species act. I see the mill race as being one of several places where there could be some recognition of work that's been done uh by Springfield that h that enhances the habitat and pro preserves the environment the the natural environment

23:00 uh in ways that are positive and that can be at least a potential source of mitigation and relief from some of the uh stress that I see your uh city coming under from FEMA and the Endangered Species Act problem. Okay, great. That was it. Just three questions and Okay, thank you so much for for taking time to come and interview with us. You're very welcome. Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Should I shut it off? I do not see Charlotte here tonight. Um, if possible, we would move this to the

23:46 next work session if if needed. Uh, I know she does work for ODOT, so good chance. Uh, she's tied up there. Yeah. Okay, great. But she is an existing or she has been in the position before, correct? Correct. Yes. Okay, great. How do we all feel about uh moving Gary into this? Yep. Good. Yep. All right, Gary, you you made it. You're in. Congrats. Okay. And that will also go on to the consent calendar for the next meeting for for a formal approval. Yes, ma'am. Is it possible to being the leazison for the historic commission? I can tell you that they really need the help and they really need people in there that come to the

24:32 meetings and that participate and are active. I know Tom takes on a ton and does a lot of extra stuff to make this work. So, I would be comfortable if that if the person who's on here that isn't if Charlotte is someone that he um agrees with having on, I would be comfortable with going ahead and not necessarily moving that, but like going ahead and okaying her to be a person that um we approve as well, especially with two additional open spots if that's possible. So, I'd look over to to the left over here for some advice on that. Did you say that Miss Helmer had been on the historic commission before? Yes,

25:17 that is correct. Her term ended uh this past December. Yeah. One thing we could do if there's consensus on the council this evening, um we could take that question to council leadership at the next agenda review. That's allowed under the rules. That would be and if they were okay with that, they could appoint her when they appoint um this person or they could just schedule for another interview. Awesome. Thank you. Okay. We can certainly bring it up at at Yeah. If there's head nods, we can bring it up at a gender review. Okay. Okay. Great. Okay. The last item for the work session is bike share check-in and Drew Larson.

26:12 All right. Good evening, council. Uh I'm Drew Larson, the senior transportation planner for the city of Springfield. And tonight, uh we are going to have a quick check-in on Bike Share. Um, essentially it launched April 19th of 2024. Uh, so we want to review the trips that started and/or ended in Springfield as well as the ongoing operating budget and plans for years two and three of the three-year pilot. So trips in 2024 about uh approximately 3/4 of the year uh weren't the highest. Um we had about 769 trips in total um from April 19th to December 31st, 2024. Um we didn't look at the numbers for this year uh yet because we were going to include them in

26:58 our second year check-in. Um so with those about 285 of those trips were actually within the Springfield service area. So that's our small downtown service area. um while twothirds of those trips uh were between Springfield and Eugene. So we saw approximately 500 trips between Eugene and Springfield, which is kind of what we anticipated with our small service area into downtown. Hopefully a little bit better than those numbers, but um you know, we're going to look at years two and three to try to bolster those. So, uh, for the operating budget, um, Cascadia Mobility, the operator of Peace Health Rides, projects about one, uh, 1 million50,000 to operate in 2025. Uh,

27:46 revenue from that comes from partnerships with Eugene Lane Transit District, uh, University of Orgon wrership revenue as well as grants. Uh we did provide a small portion of that last year, 16,500, uh with the understanding that we were only going to provide that funding for one year of the pilot while funding from some other entity was necessary for years two and three. And that's actually where LTD comes in. They did commit verbally last year to stepping in and they have recommitted this year. Um, with that they are looking to actually up the contribution per year to 50,000. That would be also look to increase the number of bikes into the Springfield

28:32 area. But with that, they are looking to expand the gateway service area. We do have one um hub up at Peace Health Hospital up there at um Riverbend. Sorry. Uh and so they're looking to expand that to kind of capture more of the gateway. I mean, anecdotally, I've been up at Target and seen a number of college students riding bike share in, and unfortunately, if they lock up at Target, they're getting penalized. It's like $25 to lock outside of the service area. So, I mean, it's happening up there already. So, they are looking to locate additional hubs probably at their MX station. Um, we are going to evaluate some other areas, not in the street, but somewhere on existing sidewalk or private property. talking to

29:19 either Target or other restaurants that have existing racks to do something similar that we've done in downtown is just, you know, slap a sticker and say, "Hey, you can lock bike or your bike share here at no cost." Uh, we do want to evaluate the downtown service area boundary. Uh, possibly expand it up towards Meadow Park where we have some higher density residential. Um, one thing I've learned about bike share over the last year is that um, most trips are begin at an origin. Origin are usually residential. We have a destination oriented service area. Downtown is an ending point, not necessarily a starting point for piece or for bike share. So, looking to capture a little bit more highdensity residential uh, outside of downtown. Um,

30:07 and looking to do that. Um, let's see. Anything else I missed? Uh, also with that $50,000 contribution from LTD for the next two years, I guess per year, so $100,000 contribution to bike share, they would be assigning or asking Cascadia Mobility to provide, you know, bike valet at certain events, possibly, you know, the the block party downtown. We typically paid or we paid for that last year out of the transportation, outreach, and education budget. Um, and so that's what we're looking to do for uh, years two and three of the pilot. Just looking to serve Springfield residents a little better with the service. Uh, we've established a baseline. So my plan would be, you know, we make these adjustments. I come back and do a check-in in year two. Um, and

30:53 then check in a little earlier about year three and determine whether or not if it's a a successful program. Okay. Thank you, Drew. I'm assuming there are some questions or comments. Go ahead, councelor Blackwell. So, I was encouraged to see the endonly number was higher than the start only if I'm interpreting the data right. So, more people are coming out of area Eugene into Springfield. Um, and when you mentioned the numbers, the total number that's kind of low. Uh, what's what's like the target number? What's the average that you're looking to hit? That's a great question. I'm not Yeah, I'm just looking to go up. Um I mean double is I think a very minimalistic goal. I think we can uh with the expansion of

31:39 the service area, a little bit more promotion, I think we could quadruple that number in year two. Council M. It's an essential program. We have to get it up. We have to get make it successful for the whole city. Councilor Stout. Um, this conversation's not about funding. It's just about, hey, where do we want to focus our attention to hopefully draw more people to use the service? Is that correct? Uh, yeah. So, it the council approved the three-year pilot with only one year of funding. Okay. And then putting, you know, finding additional funding to operate in Springfield was left up to the operator and myself to locate that at another

32:26 entity. So, we're not providing any additional funding for years two and three. Got it. So, my just one followup on this one though is is can you choose to spend the funds you have outside of just the operations of what you're doing? Because when I'm just doing some math, I'm seeing that the dollars per trip are pretty high. I mean, maybe higher than even an LTD bus ride is. I I'm just curious, could we spend it on things that incentivize people to use transit? My fundamental problem with public transit has always been public transit should take people that want to go somewhere places they want to go. And I'm wondering, is there anything else we could do? for example. I mean, I'm not not that I'm trying to take money out of Cascadia Mobility's pocket, but I'm really

33:12 interested in saying this area could use a little bit more paint and I want to paint this area so that we have greater visibility, so it's a safer crossing, so that more like people are more likely they're induced to use the bike. We're going to spend this money a little bit different way because I'm just seeing the numbers and I'm like, I'd really love those numbers to be higher. And I say that as somebody who used to use a a ride share bike just like this all the time. when I was living abroad. So, I like I appreciate them. I love them. That said, I really want to make sure we're spending those resources wisely. That's that's my only two cents and I I don't have a great response to that. Um you know that the peace health rides is is their funding is provided through various mechanisms.

33:57 you know, writership revenue, uh, federal grants that Eugene has. Uh, um, the University of Oregon provides a lot of funding for the Associated Students of University of Oregon. I keep wanting to say ASUM because that's I went to the University of Montana and it was the Associated Students of the University of Montana. So, it's really tricky for me. Um, but yeah, I agree that, you know, we providing the infrastructure and these types of things is great. um for transit and I I don't want to speak too much for LTD, but they I mean buses are kind of limited on where they can go. And so looking at this bike share, getting people that first and last mile connection, like how do I get for my residents to a transit stop when I live a mile away, there's a bike share, that makes that trip much easier. And so, you

34:44 know, we're not really providing a lot of funding. I mean, we're not providing any funding. um it is a regional priority, but know I do agree that having bike lanes and additional facilities, ADA curb ramps, those types of things to make that easier would is also a benefit. And did you want to take a moment to chime in for LTD? Absolutely. Yeah, thank you. Um good evening. My name is Eric Bryinstein, director of marketing for LTD. Um, and just wanted to provide some perspective from LTD on this topic and um, what you're saying is definitely top of mind for us. I think this really fits in with that and looking at how bike share can connect with transit more seamlessly so that as a system it

35:30 becomes more usable for everyone. Um, so this aligns with our long-term and short-term objectives um, to accomplish that. Councelor Doyle. Hi. So, I believe I was the only no vote when this originally happened and I'm still a pretty big critic of it. And in looking at the numbers, we can say, "Oh, the numbers are kind of high." The numbers are crazy high. Like, if you take the amount that we spent, $886,000, and we divide that by 700 trips, it's $1,100 a trip. We could buy everybody a new bike. Um, and even if you double those numbers, we're still looking at 668 bucks per trip. So, I don't see this as being I I get the

36:15 concept of getting of of having more transportation that's having that's getting people out of their cars and getting people to and fro. But, um, I think that our focus should be more on creating better bike paths and having safer streets and doing things like that so that people have their own bikes that they can ride and take where they need to go. and then safety on how do we protect those bikes since we have a lot of high theft that happens with bikes in our community. Like it's huge. And so I I always get frustrated when people say, "Well, we're not spending any money on this." Because the money comes from somewhere and that's somebody's taxes somewhere. whether it's a grant coming from the federal government or it's coming from LTD or it's coming from University of Oregon and through their tuitions or whatever, somebody is paying

37:00 that and it is people that are in our communities and stuff, you know, via however it comes in. So, I still I know it's a three-year program, but I'm still um skeptical. Council Rodley, thank you. So, thank you for this and um I actually am very impressed uh because we did say we're only going to put this little bit of money and we're only going to get a few bikes and let's see what we can do with it. So, I appreciate LTD stepping up and when um when I think of infrastructure and investing in infrastructure for the future and I think this is a little bit of what councelor Mo was getting to. This is a place that we invest if we want the infrastructure for people to be able to move around, particularly as we lean

37:46 into seaf communities. And I know when as part of our conversations were how do people get from their homes to the transit and such and um I know of a few folks who have kiddos who ride bicycles, but they don't have bicycles and they've used those bicycles, you know, for the adults so that they can go riding with their kiddos, which I think is another thing. Um, I like where the thinking is going in terms of the expansion. Um, when I'm thinking of, um, I was just at Meadow Park this past weekend with my grandkid and I'm telling you, the pickle ballers were coming and going all day all day long over there. So, I think the the how do we get to Gateway was part of the initial conversation, too. And I also have seen the bikes up there and I was like, wait, we don't have bikes at

38:32 Gateway. Um, so people are using them. And I remember part of the conversation was how do we bring folks from the university area that are riding bicycles over um and I know that there are bicycles there's some some housing there on MLK there's bicycles. So I think to me this is how do we continue to invest in this infrastructure and when we take the money and say this is per bike ride well we're paying for infrastructure right we're paying for bicycles we're paying for staff we're paying for outreach we're paying for the connecting with LTD. paying for all of that. Um, as opposed to just like a person getting on a bike and riding, you know, a mile or two. So, that was my long way of saying I have been a fan. I continue to be a fan. I appreciate you all scaling it and working with the diverse opinions and

39:18 folks that are up here to try to continue to invest in this infrastructure. So, I'm looking forward to seeing where we go in the next two years. Thank you. Okay. Um, I really appreciate the the steps that LTD is taking to to help expand the transportation network. Um, with the overarching goal of connecting people to a system, a bus system that can get them other places. Um, and I this is a part of that. Um, as far as paying for a bike for everybody, I mean, I understand the concept there. Um, but the only way we change that is to test the system and see if we can grow it. Um, and I personally don't I

40:05 don't have a place to put a bike in my house right now. I don't have anywhere to store it. So, for those of us in that in that situation, I think that this is an alternative to to owning a bike and not having a place to store it, maintain it, all of those different things that come with being a bike you a bike owner. Um, in general, I'm supportive of the idea. I think what we need to do is understand what does expanding to gateway mean like number of bikes kind of you know what are we looking at there as a starting point. I think maybe that helps us you know kind of get to a to a consensus. Um so I'm I'm not really sure on LTD's thoughts on this. Uh I know that they're going to take it over and they're going to work closely with us.

40:51 Um I mean we're currently assigned 25 bikes. I think they're looking to up that by 10 to 15 into our area. Maybe some reassignment of some downtown that unfortunately have collected dust over the last few months. Uh maybe even longer. So Eric, do you have any thoughts on numbers? Yeah, I don't have specific numbers in front of me right now. That's certainly something that we could identify. Um in addition, the additional funds we're looking to invest would also support additional outreach efforts to encourage utilization of the system and the bikes. um which we can utilize some of our own channels but also look beyond that in terms of additional community outreach to really promote the system. Okay. So, Drew, what? Oh, sorry. Okay.

41:37 Yes. Go ahead, counselor. One more comment thought. Yes. Um, just one last thing. Something that really helped me when I was an active user of the bike share was having the first hour be free actually and then being like having to pay an additional fee if I was using it for longer than an hour because that got me to pretty much every single uh location that I wanted to go. And I would literally check my trips based on where can I find a safe place to park it. So I'm like, "Oh, I'm taking a trip from my house to this store way, you know, at the other end of town." Great. You know, the bike paths and all that sort of thing. So just just for consideration, if there were to be a change, I would probably just say take off the first hour and then but make sure that people have a way to pay for if they are, you know, either parking it in the wrong spot or whatever else it is so that they uh things get turned back

42:23 in good condition. That's all. Thanks, Councelor Doyle. Just a really quick question. And you mentioned something about Target and I asked, could you clarify that because I when I was driving Uber and Lyft, I would make that trip from MLK and from the the apartments all the time taking the kids back and forth like to get groceries and what have you because that's the closest like kind of grocery store is at Walmart and that. So what were you saying that they get they would get ticketed or something $25 for parking there? Yeah. So bike share operates within a service area. If you lock up your bike outside of that service area, there is a $25 charge. Um, so like if I were to take a bike over to Roaring Rapids and lock it up there and not return it within a certain amount of time, I mean, I've done that once and I got an email

43:09 immediately that said, "Hey, you've locked up outside of the service area. If you return it immediately, we'll wave the $25 fee." So, it's a it's a way because if they lock it up outside of the service area, the operator has to go and get that bike and bring it back into the service area. And so, it's a way of covering those costs as well as disincentivizing people from just taking it all over Eugene and Springfield and just locking it up wherever. Um, so I mean, typically they they waved my first one. Uh, and so they're usually pretty pretty gracious with that. But yeah, if they lock up there currently and leave it there, it will be a $25 charge. And if they do it repeatedly, they they I mean, they might wave the first one, but they're not going to wave

43:54 the second, third, or fourth, right? So, there's no way to work with Eugene to where we could we could return their bikes and they could return ours to where we were able to make that a reciprocal thing. I'd be a little more I'd be a little more on board if I thought that this was something that we could utilize between the communities because there are a lot of like outlying areas like the Harlo Road area where that would be beneficial, right? And so I mean it is a regional system. So it is a I mean the operator Cascadia Mobility operates within Eugene and Springfield. We don't have differentiation between those two. Did I did I miss the question? I mean that if they rent the bike over at um what is the MLK area? The the student housing

44:41 over there. Yeah, Stadium. Yeah, exactly. And they ride over and they park it and they lock it while they go in and shop, they're fine as long as they take it back to their uh I mean if that if that's not possible, that is a problem. If it's not in a defined service area and at a hub, they would get locked up. And so currently gateway is not a service area. Okay, councelor Rodley, just to clarify, but we are talking about making it a service area. Correct. Which was the whole point of it is because that's being used that way. Um, currently they would pay the $25, but once it's we expand as we try this, then it is a way for them to come and go and not have to pay that. They can lock up. Great. as

45:27 long if once we expand there they will be able to park our park without any sort of fee. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? No. Okay, Drew, what what do you need to to leave? What do you need from us to uh I was mostly letting you know what we were up to and and a check-in on year 2024. I'll be back in a year. Okay. Thanks. Great. Perfect. Thank you all. That was our last work session item. So we will adjourn the work session and see everyone back in about 15 minutes for our regular session.

46:12 I would like to call the city council regular regular session to order with roll call. Councelor Weber here. Councelor Mo here. Councelor Rodley here. Councelor Blackwell here. Councelor Doyle here. And councelor Stout here. Thank you. Mayor Van Gordon is excused for the evening. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it There are two times designated for public testimony this evening under

46:57 public hearings and business from the audience. If you are attending in person, please complete the request to speak card located at the front of the council chambers and turn them into the city recorder. If you are joining us online with a tablet, smartphone, or computer and wish to speak 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? Anyone who has raised their virtual hand. First item, please. First item is Springfield Upbeat. You have two items under uh Springfield Upbeat. Item number one is Fair Housing Month Proclamation 2025. Whereas April 2025 marks the 57th anniversary of the signing of the Federal Fair Housing Act under the Civil Rights Act of 1968. And whereas the Fair

47:44 Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing. And whereas fundamentally fair housing means that every person has the right to live where they choose free from housing discrimination and hostility. And whereas this means that each one of us regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability has access to neighborhoods of opportunity where our children can attend quality schools. Our environment allows us to be healthy and economic opportunities are provided. And whereas the city of Springfield is committed to equal opportunity and affirmatively furthers fair housing. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Shawn Van Gordon, mayor of Springfield, do hereby proclaim April 2025 to be Fair Housing Month, and

48:30 encourage all Springfield residents to learn more about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act, and encourage residents to visit the Springfield History Museum's exhibit, Housing in Springfield and Beyond, which is open through June, to learn more about 130 years of housing history in Springfield and Oregon.

49:43 Okay, next. National Library Week. Whereas libraries provide the opportunity for everyone to pursue their passions and engage in lifelong learning, allowing them to live their best life. Whereas libraries have long served as trusted institutions for all members of the community regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic status. Whereas libraries strive to develop and maintain programs and collections that are as diverse as the populations they serve and ensure equity of access for all. Whereas libraries adapt to the everchanging needs of their communities, continually expanding their collections, services, and partnerships. Whereas libraries play a critical role in the economic vitality

50:28 of communities by providing internet and technology access, literacy skills, and support for job seekers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. Whereas libraries are accessible and inclusive places that promote a sense of local connection, advancing understanding, civic engagement, and shared community goals. Whereas libraries are cornerstones of democracy, promoting the free exchange of information and ideas for all. Whereas libraries, librarians, and library workers are joining library supporters and advocates across the nation to celebrate National Library Week. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Mayor Shawn Van Gordon, proclaim National Library Week, April 6 through 12, 2025. During this week, I encourage all

51:14 residents to visit their library to explore the wealth of resources available.

53:36 It's not a perfect fit. Thank you so much. Next item, please. Next item is the consent calendar. I would like to move approval of the consent calendar. Second. Uh, can we call the role, please? Yes. Councelor Weber, yes. Councelor Mo, yes. Councelor Rodley, yes. Councelor Blackwell, yes. Councelor Doyle, I. And Councelor Stout? Yes. Thank you. Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Uh, next item, please. Next item is

54:23 public hearings. You have two public hearings this evening. Public hearing number one is an ordinance adopting administrative civil penalties and public nuisance code amendments. This is ordinance number one, an ordinance amending Springfield's municipal code chapter 5 regarding public nuisances adopting standards and procedures for administrative civil penalties. And Charlie Ken is here for this item. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh uh my name is Charlie Kent. The item in front of you is a a request to conduct Am I tracking? Okay. Do I need to speak up? Okay. The item in front of you is a a request to conduct a public hearing and adopt not adopt an ordinance to

55:08 amend Springfield Chapter 5, excuse me, Springfield Municipal Code Chapter 5 addressing public nuisances, the adoption of standards and procedures for administrative civil penalties or ACPs and dangerous derelict or abandoned structures. Tonight's item includes the first reading and public hearing for the repeal and replacement of sections 5.0000, 5.002, 5.0 004 uh 5.008 and 5.6000 through 5.624 of the Springfield Municipal Code. This proposed ordinance represents a significant update to how we handle code enforcement and nuisance abatement in our community. The goal here is simple. Uh to create a more effective and equitable uh responsive code enforcement

55:53 uh framework that better serves the needs of Springfield's residents, neighborhoods or neighbors um and businesses. Our current code enforcement model is essentially a one-sizefits-all system that is labor intensive and often inefficient. It relies heavily on the court system to resolve even minor code violations which can lead to delays and added administrative burden and frustration uh both for city staff and the community. Under the proposed ordinance, we introduce ACPs as a tool uh to address minor violations more efficiently. This allows staff to respond quickly, apply proportional uh uh penalties, and resolve violations, excuse me, resolve issues before they come uh escalate into more serious or

56:39 chronic problems. It's worth noting that ACPs are not a new concept. Uh they are widely used across uh the state of Oregon and beyond um as a best business practice uh in modern code enforcement. They promote uh compliance through clear consequences and give the city the flexibility to tailor enforcement to the nature and the severity of the issue. Another critical component of this ordinance uh is the enhanced language and provisions targeting dangerous abandoned and derelic structures. Dangerous structures pose serious risks. Uh they attract illegal activity, create fire hazards, uh impact property values, and undermine the overall health and safety of our neighborhoods. The current code does not adequately address these issues. The proposed amendments add

57:26 clear definitions, objective standards, and a framework uh for registration and abatement. This this empowers the city to act more decisively and more fairly uh protecting the integrity of our community. Beyond ACPs and structure related provisions, uh the ordinance also includes important clarifications to the language of the nuisance code. Uh these updates aim to clarify the provisions uh ensure consistency and enforcement um and better align the code uh with the actual conditions uh of nuisance violations today. Uh conditions that may have not been uh clearly accounted for when the code was originally written. Uh from a financial perspective, the the full impact of this or ordinance isn't yet known. Um we do

58:12 however anticipate several key benefits uh namely a higher rate of recovery uh through higher rate of fine recovery through ACPs uh reduced reliance on court proceedings and a better cost recovery for inspection registration and abatement of dangerous abandoned and derelict structures. Um in essence we're creating a system that's right sizing the cost of code enforcement. the effort will be less burdensome on uh city staff uh uh and uh taxpayers and the defendants as well. Um at January, excuse me, at council's January 6th work session, um staff received some valuable feedback and clarifying questions. Uh no changes were proposed to the draft ordinance and council directed us to move forward uh with the public hearing

58:58 which we're conducting tonight. Um staff believe this ordinance reflects uh not only that direction uh but also a thoughtful balance between uh uh community protection, efficiency um and fairness. Um this ordinance is a meaningful step forward in uh modernizing our code enforcement uh approach. It allows us to be more responsive, efficient, and accountable to the needs of our community. Um, with that, I I appreciate your time tonight and consideration uh and turn this over to you for um either public hearing or or any questions. Councelor Doyle, thank you. I just want to first thank you so much. I know that you put a lot of work into this and that um that department has really had has

59:44 struggled with having the capacity to to manage what you've had to deal with. and I think you've done a really excellent job and I'm really um happy to be a part of being able to kind of put some of that back into your department and allow you to have that flexibility and that ability to get the job done um in the way that you see fit. So, I just wanted to give you those kudos. Thank you, Council Rodley. Thank you. Um I also want to share my appreciation. We've been talking about this for a while and you have been so diligent and um it's something that's we very much need in Springfield. You know, we've had um we've had deaths from abandoned buildings and um it's definitely a public safety cost. And so I just really appreciate you sticking with us as we've worked through this for the last I swear

1:00:29 it's been two years, but almost. Yeah. So nice job. And I know we're not voting on it yet, but um good job. Thank you. Councelor Stout. Um, again, I totally agree with my colleagues here, but I would also ask I'm wondering if it's possible to ask council u if we could review from the date of the adoption just have a one-year uh review of all the good things that have happened as a result of the changes and just so we can review the program. Is there something that needs tweaking? Is it working great? Is it working as expected? just so we can continue to I mean yeah I know you're doing so much work but um review as council and also go back to the voters and say yep we did this we did this right and here's all the positive or things we might have changed is that agreeable to council

1:01:20 yeah sounds like a great idea so excuse me and like an annual check-in for code enforcement sure absolutely any other questions comments okay I'm going to open in the public hearing. I have no cards for this item. Neil, are there any hands online? Does not appear we have any hands for this item. I'm going to close the public hearing. This is a first reading only with no action required. Thank you. Okay. Next item. Neil, do you want me to just move into that or you? Yeah, I can call that out. Next item is public hearing number two, liquor license endorsement for the renewal period 2025 through 2026. Robin Hullman is here for this item.

1:02:13 Good evening, council. I'm Robin Hullman with the Development and Public Works Community Development Division. Tonight is our annual visit of our liquor license renewal. 186 businesses provided by Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission are anticipated for renewal. Our renewal or our liquor licenses are governed by Springfield Municipal Code section 7.3 through 7304. This is included in your packet and outlines the criteria. One of the criteria listed is police activity. I'd like to thank police or Springfield police in their assistance with the detailed report. Within the report, police noticed that call volume was down comparable to the same time period of last year. No other concerns have been raised within the report. Therefore, staff recommends a positive approval by the council after the public

1:03:05 hearing. Any questions or comments from council? Okay. I just have um just a couple clarifying questions. Pedler and Oakshshire are both listed on that with the same address and um Sherry's is listed on there also and with their buildings closed. I'm just curious if they need to be on that list. So OLCC provided that list and this will raise the opportunity for the establishments to then contact OLCC and and then cancel their license. Okay, great. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay, I am going to open the public hearing. I have no cards for this item. Are there any hands online? Does not appear any Do we have any hands online for this item? I'm going to close the public hearing. Ready for a motion? I move to provide a recommendation to the

1:03:50 Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, OLCC. Second. Any discussion? Okay, seeing none, can we call for the vote, please? Yes. Councelor Weber, yes. Councelor Mo, yes. Councelor Bradley, yes. Councelor Blackwell, yes. Councelor Doyle. I councelor Stout. Yes. Thank you. Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. Item is business from the audience.

1:04:54 Okay. Okay. I have six cards here and we will start with Lizzie Utterback. Lizzy. Lizzy, can you turn the microphone on, please? First. Yes. I'm Lizzie Utterbach. I'm from Ward 3 and I am a library supporter. In the past, when I've addressed this council, it's often to be been to highlight areas for improvement. Um, but today I'm thrilled to speak in support of something Springfield has gotten right. The Springfield Public Library. The Springfield Public Library is truly the heart of our community. It serves as one of the few places in our city that brings together people of all ages,

1:05:40 genders, abilities, languages, political affiliations, and incomes. We are incredibly fortunate to have dedicated and professional librarians serving our community. The library offers more than just books. and provides access to DVDs, CDs, video games, periodicals, the internet, Wi-Fi hotspots, remote printing, database access, and educational and entertainmentbased programming. For example, I've personally used remote printing to print anything from boarding passes to government forms and resumes. I've also used my library card to access consumer reports when we were shopping for a used car. When my family moved to Springfield in 2008, we were going

1:06:26 through a tough time financially, like many others, maybe your family, too. And the library became our escape. It was a place where our daughter could pick out anything she wanted. We didn't have to say no to her. Uh we felt rich, not in money, but in the joy and opportunity it gave her family. I know many others in our community feel the same way. Beyond the personal and community impact, the library provides an incredible return on investment. Every dollar spent on public libraries generates significant e economic value in return. Libraries support workforce development, offer free access to resources that people would otherwise have to pay for, which in turn strengthens our local economy. Attendees of the summer concerts down at the

1:07:12 fountain and movies at the Wildish can often be found uh before and after the events supporting our local eeries. But the value of the Springfield Public Library isn't just measured in dollars. It is also seen in the way our library steps up during times of crisis. Think back to li last year's ice storm. Where did the city direct people to warm up, to charge their devices, and to access emergency resources? The Springfield Public Library. During wildfire season, where does the city direct people to escape the smoke? The Springfield Public Library. During extreme heat events, where does the city tell people to go to cool down? The Springfield Public Library. As we move into budget season,

1:07:59 what are you going to keep in mind? I hope it's the Springfield Public Library. Thank you. Good evening and thank you for having me. I am um a resident of Springfield, a frequent user of the library myself. Uh I'm a retired educator. I have a master's degree in child development with a specialty in literacy. I am here to testify that in

1:08:45 cases where families have no access to books, children are something like 75% less likely to graduate from high school. Toddlers who are read to by parents learn the meaning of printed words and concepts when they're very young. Three and four year olds pick this up as people read to them. Without access to books, children are at a great disadvantage at school, very likely not to graduate from high school, and often do not become productive citizens. Our library is sometimes the only place

1:09:30 people have access to literacy for little children. And it especially since our beautiful library has just redone the whole children's department. I'm just here to make sure everybody understands how ex important extremely important that is to the way our society functions as a whole keeping our children literate and in school. Thank you.

1:10:24 Is this all right? My name's Owen. Um I'm W three and uh I first of all I just want to thank you all for your time and for recognizing the library. Uh I've spoken here about the library before uh and how important uh it is. I've admitted to being a bit of a lite and appreciate having my hands on a book to be able to read it. I recognize the flow of technology in the future is leading us more and more into higher technology as being the way we do things. But um the space itself is so important and I guess that's the what the short amount of time I'd like to take today would be to talk about that. Um there's so many things that the library is more than books and uh it's one of the few public spaces we have for the opportunity to spend time with each

1:11:12 other in with our hobbies or uh interest groups. Um you know uh I don't know how things have been in the past but now this is at least in my experience this is one of the few places we have to do this. Um and that's just such an important thing and the library has supported uh that concept by running all kinds of programs which I have I have tried to go to as many as I I can um and they've been extremely helpful for me in my life. I've learned all kinds of things helping with from, you know, as as varied as, uh, hobbies that I like to work on, writing, uh, uh, that I've been working on to learning how to process death and dying, uh, and, you know,

1:11:59 talking with my parents about uh, moving on. And I mean, I don't know how else I would have been able to have these kinds of interactions if the library hadn't been running these programs. It's not something that I would have gone and sought out necessarily, but I mean, here it was. It's amazing programming. Uh, and I I just think that would be important to consider uh when thinking about the library, and it's something I wanted to celebrate about it. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to try this last name. Hopefully, I get close. Mike Quala. Yes, it's very good.

1:12:49 Uh, good evening, city councilors. Um, my name is Mike Quala. I'm a 35-y year resident of Ward 2 up on Kelly but um I've been trying without results to get city engineering and the maintenance department to evaluate the public wastewater line that serves my home. Uh, it's on a public easement across a neighbor's property. Too often, my phone calls and emails are not returned. I know people are busy, so I've tried to be really patient and often times wait 3 to four weeks for a response to a question or uh a request for information. Um, sometimes then I have to call or send another message to

1:13:34 get an answer. the engineering technician who I was in contact with originally mistakenly identified this line as a private line and said I was responsible for it um and then never contacted me with the mistaken information. It took two or three calls for me to call and find out that he'd made that improper assessment or improper uh description of my wastewater line. So when I built my house in 2005, I was assured by number of city employees among which the former city engineer Al Perroka, uh Dan Brown, um Don Rogers, the city

1:14:21 surveyor, that the line was public. And um so this really surprised me to see that this had been that this mistaken and determination had been uh made. But I finally got an acknowledgement that it is a city-owned line. And since it's about 60 years old and has not been maintained to my knowledge, I asked for a video inspection of the line which was agreed to. It's been a month now since the last contact I made with engineering and I've messaged engineering twice now without response. That's been three and a half weeks ago. The whole process of this started last September 2024. So it's been 8 months that I've been trying to

1:15:06 get this taken care of. Um, so I've uh I have a number of things that I'd like to have taken care of by the city in regard to this. And to be honest with you, the wastewater service, it's an essential utility for properties and the lack of correct data and inspection on this line needs to be corrected. The problems of along this line could result in costs of say like $600 for a minor inline repair to maybe $30,000 to replace the entire thing. Um I can't afford to have a mistake like that hanging over my house. So kind of as a

1:15:52 last resort, I've come here to the council to see if there's anything that I can have done with that. Um sorry to take up the time. I've got a handout here that's got um approximate timeline. Mike. Yeah. Um your 3m minute time is up. So Mark, are you taking notes back there? I have your address. Does it have your address on it? I have those address. Okay. All right. Okay. We we have folks taking notes to and follow up. Thank you so much.

1:16:49 While I was visiting the library this past weekend, I stopped to fill out one of the National Library Week cards asking what draws me to the library. I couldn't quite figure out how to respond, but I settled on our library feels like community to me. Partly, this is just factual. I run into more people that I know at the library than I do anywhere else, but partly this is more of a feeling. It feels like the beating heart of my Springfield. When we first moved to Springfield, the library was the first thing I went looking for, but we found it. and um living out near Riverbend near the Eugene border for a long time, it was the only thing pulling us downtown until those regular visits

1:17:34 turned into short downtown walks, which in turn finally convinced us to brave Main Street parking and explore farther and farther out. In the beginning, I came just for me and I would check out the antique stores while I was downtown. And then I came with my toddler and we would attend story time and make connections with other Springfield families. And then I came with my young children and they got to engage in all kinds of amazing programming. And then my kids got old enough we could engage in an even wider range of programming like movie screenings at the Wildish, which put The Wildish on the map for us. And uh now we go to all kinds of events there paired with pizza at Mesoluna.

1:18:19 And then my kids were old enough, I had time to give back, and I began volunteering my time serving on the library board. Now I have a routine focused on getting a little time to myself, which often looks like a visit to the library, a tuna melt at Lovelies, and a quick stop at Chuck and Alice. I couldn't quite figure out how to respond on that National Library Week card because libraries just draw me in. They just do. They're the draw. And it's the rest of Springfield that

1:19:19 Baldwin. Hi, my name is Tim Old Gene and I live in downtown Springfield. My wife and I are Springfield residents who have experience using the middle housing code to develop averagesiz lots. We have built three apartment units on the corner of Fourth and D Street and four apartment units on A Street. I am here tonight representing Porch House LLC, which is one of the developers that has applied for the home ARP funds for the lower street project. I wanted to highlight some of the strengths of the Porch House LLC project. We project strong cash flow on the project with an annual surplus of more than $40,000 after expenses. Porch House LLC will be providing five one-bedroom units, which is one more than the city asked for. Two

1:20:06 of these units will be fully ADA accessible. We will also provide four off- streetet parking spaces with an ADA van service lane. This is something residents in the lower street neighborhood asked us for. One neighbor said if it is possible to leave any input, it would be that developers that the developers plan for including as much off- streetet parking as possible. Street parking is already quite congested. Porch House will also take advantage of city provided incentives. Because we are building at least four units, we can apply for the Springfield property tax exemption. This property tax exemption will be effective for a 20-year period. Because we are building five units, city planning said

1:20:53 the fifth unit can be considered an ADU. We will pursue an ADU SEC waiver for the fifth unit. Another strength of our project is that we will not be taking any long-term debt that could hurt our short-term and long-term operations at the property. But I believe our biggest strength is that we will be directing $200,000 of the home art funds to go to our so social service provider HIV Alliance. We believe the spirit of the whole home art program was to give funds for development but also to give funds to a supportive service provider for specific services. Our supportive services provider will fund case

1:21:38 management, ongoing recovery support, housing assistance, life skills training, and mental health services that will directly benefit residents living at the property. In summary, our project will have stronger cash flow, provide more livable units, prov provide more off- streetet parking, will take advantage of city incentives, will not take on any long-term debt, and will give our supportive services provider $200,000 that will directly benefit the residents living at Laura Street. Thank you.

1:22:34 Harwell. Hello, my name is Elliot Harwell. I'm a Springfield resident in Ward 3. I'm also here as a supporter of local libraries. When I first moved here, uh it was the local library where I was able to print off my resume and get a job in town. And also the re the library is a place where every other week a group of trans and queer people are able to meet uh in the new rooms that were added thanks to the Springfield Library expansion. The Springfield Library and libraries in general are a really important heart and soul of our republic and our democracy. They're an important place where people can get information and in some and social services access to internet and

1:23:21 to printing. It's a net boon and joy for the community. I think one thing that is sort of implicit in the comments that you heard supporting the library earlier is that people are concerned about funding. There is a concern that uh alongside the the federal retrenchment away from funding different local projects and their general cutting of funding to libraries across the board that funding to the Springfield Library could also be hurt. And as such, people who are interested in the library are coming here to try to affirm the importance of it to our community before the budget season begins. By the same token, uh, a lot of citizens

1:24:06 are really concerned about what's going on right now. There's a great deal of angst and uncertainty as relates to our government, as relates to funding, as relates to how money is being spent or not spent, as the government is being taken apart. Um, and additionally, as a aside from just being a user of the library, I'm also a spokeswoman for the Trans Alliance of Plane County. I've spoken to you before. Uh, we continue as as an organization to be invested in making in pressing local government, county, and city to affirm uh that existing commitment to Oregon sanctuary laws and to expand those to cover trans and queer

1:24:51 people. City of Eugene back in 2017 passed Ordinance 2579 which affirmed ordinance protections for all Eugene residents. It would be nice if our city followed suit and did something similar. Right now there is great fear that people across the country can be whisked away, can be imprisoned without due process, can be disappeared, can have their rights taken away from them. It would be nice that people could use our local library without fear regardless of how they look or regardless of what they believe. Thank you.

1:25:41 Thank you. Any council response? Council Rodley. Thank you. I want to thank you all for coming out tonight. Um it was um I I also really appreciate all of the different things that folks brought forth. And the overarching theme is just how much people um love and care about Springfield and the services that we have here and want to just live and thrive and be safe in Springfield. And I I think it it takes something to come out on a Monday night. I know because I do it on the regular, but to come out um and share that in a very public way and to put your fears and your concerns out

1:26:27 for all the world to see. And I just really appreciate it because you could be anywhere else but you're here sharing that with us and sharing the things that are important to you which we do need to hear as we think about um what kind of a Springfield we want to be and where we want to put our attention and where we want to put our resources. So thank you. I just really appreciate it. And I neglected to ask if there were any hands online. There were no hands. Okay. Thank you. Any other council response? Okay, next item, please. Okay, next item is an ordinance. This is ordinance number um the first item is the Glenwood Riverfront annexation, second reading. This is ordinance number

1:27:14 two, an ordinance annexing certain territories in the Glenwood Riverfront. That's map 17-03-34-41 T tax lots 400 500 700 800 900 1,000300 and500 map 17-03-34-42. Those are TA tax slots 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1,200,300,400, 1500,600,700, 1800, 1900, 2,000, and

1:28:01 2100 to the city of Springfield withdrawing the same territory from the Glenwood Water District. adopting a severability clause and providing an effective date. This is a second reading and Tom Severs is here for this item. Good evening, mayor and counselors. I am Tom Sever, senior planner in the current planning section. This is the second reading of the Glenwood Riverfront annexation. There was one update to the staff report that was to remove the Willackenzie Rural Fire Protection District on Councelor Moe's direction. Uh it is only the Glennwood Water District serving that area. Thank you, Councelor Mo. Uh other than that, I yield the floor.

1:28:52 Okay. Uh motion, please. So excited to make this motion. I move to approve an ordinance annexing certain territory in the Glenwood Riverfront map 17-03-34-41 TLS4 tax lot. That's what that is. 400 500 700 800 900 1,000 1,300 1,500 MAP 17-03-34-42 Tax lots 100 200 300 400 500 501 502 503 504 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,200 1,300 1,400 1,500 1,600 1,700

1:29:41 1,800 1,900 22100 to the city of Springfield withdrawing the same territory from the Glenwood Water District adopting a severability clause and providing an effective date. I get the easy part. Second. Yes, Neil and Councelor Rodley get gold stars for that one for sure. Um, any council discussion, questions? I've been waiting a long time for this to happen. That would be yes. Okay. Can we call the roll, please? Yes. Councelor Councelor Weber, yes. Councelor Mo, yes. Councelor Rodley, yes. Councelor Blackwell, yes. Councelor Doyle, I. And Councelor Stout, yes. Thank you.

1:30:27 Motion passes. Six yeses, no. Zero nos. [Laughter] Yay. Next item. Any business from the city council? Hold that thought. Councelor Doyle, did you have I was just trying to remember if I needed to like report on some of the committees. I have been going to the planning commission um meetings and I know there was a an issue that came up last week um that's going to be coming before us and they um they decided to close the public hearing I believe and and take some more information. So more on that and then ews this week. So I'll wait for that for next week.

1:31:13 Okay. Okay. Any nothing. Okay. Uh, next item, please. Next item is business from the city manager. Item number one is the home ARP applications. And Katie Carroll is here for this item. And Aaron Fieldfield is also here for this item.

1:32:08 Great. Uh, good evening, counselors. Uh, Katie and I are excited to be here tonight with two housing development proposals for your consideration on a city-owned property at 1577 Laura Street. Because these proposals are requesting federal funds, I'm going to first review some of the requirements and the process around awarding these funds and then Katie is going to describe the two proposals. Um I am confirming that both applicants are in the room. So if there are questions later about the proposals um that seem better to direct to them, they are available. So, as you may recall, Springfield is part of the Eugene Springfield Home Consortium, which annually receives federal funds for the development of incomequalified rental housing from the

1:32:54 US Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD. In 2021, as part of the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, Eugene received additional one-time funds on behalf of the consortium called Home ARP funds. The purpose of home ARP is to support qualifying vulnerable populations through different eligible activities. After an extensive planning process, the consortium allocated home ARP funds to support affordable housing development projects and supportive services within those projects. The process being used to award home ARP funds is the same process used for awarding home funds that is outlined in the home IGA between the cities. In this case, the RFP is run by Eugene as the

1:33:39 lead for the consortium and the expert on home requirements. The RFP is usually open for a few months after which an evaluation committee meets to review and score the submitted proposals based on a set of criteria. In this case, they are listed in your memo. Before this evaluation meeting, committee members and Eugene and Springfield staff review the proposals and send clarifying questions to the applicants. The evaluation committee evaluates both each proposal on their own merits against the criteria outlined in the RFP. The committee's scores are shared with the city council along with the proposals and the council is asked to make a recommendation for funding to the home governing board. A decision is then officially made by the home governing

1:34:24 board which includes the mayors of each city and a counselor from each city in this case councelor Rodley. that decision is made based on the council recommendations. So, we'll keep it on this slide. Um, what's exciting and different for Springfield in this round is that we paired home ARP funds with a city-owned property. And that is the property on your screen. This is 1577 Laura Street just north of Centennial, just west of Pioneer Parkway. Uh due to the smaller size of the property, the funding available is sufficient to cover most of the construction costs, whereas traditional home projects are usually larger and need significant funding from other sources. So if you recall, 1577 Laura Street is a.17 acre residential

1:35:12 property that the city took ownership of from the county. The county has a process that allows them to transfer tax foreclosed land to the city for the purpose of developing incomequalified housing. In June 2023, council directed staff to request transfer of this property from the county for the development of incomequalified rental housing using home ARP funds and the county approved. And under this transfer agreement, a development on the property must serve incomequalified households for 20 years. So through this home ARP RFP, the consortium received two development proposals for this property. And this year, the evaluation committee included a counselor from each city, councelor Rodley in this case, and two community representatives, Dan Stro from

1:35:58 Toati Capital Management, which focuses on real estate investment and development, and Savannah Olsen from the Springfield's Community Development Advisory Committee. The committee sent clarifying questions to both proposals and both applicants were able to provide written responses to the committee ahead of the meeting. The evaluation committee then met on March 11th and scored the proposals against the criteria outlined in the RFP. Both proposals scored well and were deemed suitable for home ARP funding. And tonight we are bringing both proposals forward for council review. Cool. Thank you. Uh, next slide, Alison. All right. So, the first proposal, the Laura Apartments, was submitted by Dev

1:36:43 Northwest, which is a local nonprofit and a HUD designated community housing development organization or CHOTO. Um, they propose building three, sorry, three homes. The three homes would all be attached twostory houses that are all three bedrooms and one and a half baths. They're proposing to serve survivors of domestic violence, which was identified by the home consortium as one of two priority populations in this RFP. Dub Northwest proposal prioritized larger units over the number of units due to their preference for um serving families with children. In this project, all units would be for households with incomes below 80% of the area median income. and Dove Northwest

1:37:29 would partner with a local nonprofit, Hope and Safety Alliance, formerly known as Women's Space, um, to provide tenant referrals and supportive services. Next slide, please. So, this image showing on your screen is the site plan for the proposal. Um, if you did review the original application, um, please note that an updated site plan was submitted as to the evaluation committee as part of that process, and that's what's shown here. Um, each home would have a patio and then there would be a shared green space in the back and then there would be two on-site parking spaces at the front where the street is. Next slide. All right. So, the second proposal is the Laura Street Homes. This proposal was submitted by

1:38:15 Porch House LLC, which is a private local developer that has done some middle housing projects in Springfield. They are proposing building a cottage cluster with five homes. Three of the homes would be attached twostory homes and two would be detached one-story homes and all five would be onebedroom, one bath. Porch House LLC is proposing to serve individuals at greatest risk of housing instability with all units serving people living with HIV or AIDS. Four of the units would be for households with incomes below 50% of the area median income and one would be for households with incomes below 80% of the area median income. And Porch House LLC would partner with a local nonprofit HIV Alliance for tenant referrals and

1:39:01 supportive services. Next slide. All right. And this image on the screen is showing um Borch House LLC's proposed site plan. So, the three attached two-story units would be at the back of the property, furthest from the street, and then the two detached um singlestory units, which would be ADA accessible or kind of in the middle. And then at the front of the property, closest to the street would be four on-site parking spaces, including a van service lane, and then there would be a all the units would be around a common courtyard uh with storm water facilities. Next slide, please. All right. So, this slide just highlights some of the features of each proposal. A description of each proposal is in your

1:39:47 memo in attachment one. And then there are some more details summarized in attachment two, which also has a breakdown of the evaluation committee scores for each application that Aaron referenced earlier. Um, the applications are both requesting the same amount of home ARP funds. Um, Dev Northwest's proposal scored slightly higher at the evaluation committee based on their organizational experience. However, the committee found each proposal is suitable for funding. So, staff is um suggesting that the council may want to look at the type of housing, the number of units, and the target population um when thinking about what it wants to

1:40:32 prioritize. Okay. So the next step for council is to recommend a proposal to the home governing board for funding. Staff asked council is asking council to prioritize one of the proposals for funding but we are recommending that both proposals move forward to the governing board. Um there are a couple reasons for that. Um one working with federal funds is complex and this is a new funding source. Uh the two proposals have been scrutinized with all the available info um by Eugene and Springfield staff as well as the evaluation committee. However, with either proposal and as is true in most cases with home projects, there are some uncertainties and assumpt and assumptions which could create financial

1:41:17 or other complications making either project no longer viable. For some assurance, Eugene will not close on the funding until all HUD requirements are met because they have liability for the funds over the 15-year HomeARP affordability period. And Springfield, uh, we will not transfer the land to the developer until Eugene closes on that funding. So by recommending both proposals but prioritizing one, this gives the governing board flexibility to move to the second proposal should the prioritized proposal not be able to move forward. Um so the question that's outlined in your memo is does council want to recommend both proposals for funding to the home governing board and

1:42:02 if so which proposal does council want to prioritize for funding? The second question. Yeah, sorry. So the there are going to be two motions. The first speaking of the prioritization, the second motion has to do with the land um which is not a decision by the governing board but would be a decision by council to authorize the city manager to transfer the property. Okay. Uh questions, comments, thoughts? Councelor Doyle? Um it's really exciting that we have two and two that are so so well put together and stuff. That's fantastic. Um I am coming at it from um more of a personal um position because

1:42:48 um uh woman's space saved my life in the late '8s and so I have always been an advocate and I know that this council as a rule has um or not as a rule but over time has um prioritized women and children in um unhousing situations and different things like that. And so I would say I would be comfortable with um saying that both can move forward, but I would probably prioritize the um Alliance and the Dev Northwest application first. Councelor Black, welcome. Yeah, I think it's great to have two wonderful proposals. Um a need for both and I think I would definitely recommend that they both uh move forward. I would uh

1:43:35 over the two I would prioritize probably Dev Northwest because of the ninebedroom just looking at a bedroom count on that would would be my reasoning council mode council don't picking one of these is like picking a favorite child. Great work to all of you and I do concur with um my fellow counselors that I would still put Dev Northwest as my top.

1:44:23 Anyone else? I do have an opinion. Do you have one? Well, um I've I've gotten to work with us a lot, so and I'm part of it and help score it. So, I think they're both fantastic projects and both of them are whichever one we end up with is going to be fantastic. So, um and add to Springfield and exactly what we were trying to do with this project and um getting some land and throwing it in. So, um I don't have a priority. I was hoping that you all would come up with one because I feel like I've I've shared my voice a lot on this. Okay, councelor Doyle, just a quick question. If um if in in fact this works out where obviously one's going to get it then the other, is it possible to because we have

1:45:10 kind of a good plan on that one. We have another property that was out in 54th or something at the same time that we acquired. Has that already been No. So the it's on South 52nd is the one you're thinking of. Um, that one's actually almost double the size. It's a quarter of an acre. Okay. Um, so that's one piece. And then the other piece is in the proposal to the county, um, when we said this is what we want to take these properties over for, um, we specified South 52nd for homeownership and these are rental projects. Gotcha. Thank you. Okay. Any other thoughts before I weigh in? Okay. Um, again to to acknowledge all of the other comments, the they're

1:45:55 both really great projects. Um, but I also favor the Dev Northwest project. I'm ready to make a motion if you're ready to hear it. I am ready to hear it. All right. I move that we recommend both projects for home ARP funding to the home governing board with a priority on Dev Northwest Laura Apartments proposal. Second, we call for the vote, please. Yes. Councelor Weber, yes. Councelor Mo, yes. Councelor Rodley, yes. Councelor Blackwell, yes. Councelor Doyle, I. And Councelor Stout, yes. Thank you. All right. I have another motion. I would like to move to authorize the city

1:46:40 manager to negotiate and execute all necessary documents to transfer the city-owned property at 1577 Laura Street map and tax log number 17-03-27-41- 052000 to the applicant awarded home ARP funds by the home governing board. Second. Okay. Can we call the vote on that one? Yes. Councelor Weber. Yes. Councelor Mo. Yes. Councelor Rodley. Yes. Councelor Blackwell. Yes. Councelor Doyle. Hi. And councelor Stout. Yes. Thank. Yes. Ah. Yes. Thank you. Both motions passed. Six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. Any additional business from the city manager? Just a few items. Thank you. I

1:47:27 just wanted to mention earlier this evening uh council held interviews for uh potential members of our budget committee and historic commission. And I just wanted to mention how impressed I am continually with uh the people that live in our city and the experiences that they have. They were all incredibly impressive people and I'm proud uh that they will be part of our strong volunteer force in the city. Um secondly, uh you may have noticed that we had an annexation uh happen in tonight's meeting. Uh a very long motion. So, for those of you that might be watching and wondering why we do it this way, we're actually, you know, creating a public record here. And the

1:48:12 tax slots that were listed in that very long motion that councelor Rodley uh bravely took on uh is actually our Glenwood Riverfront um area that are we are now annexing into the city. And the next steps is to finalize our master plan for that area, which will be a wonderful um new uh addition to our city uh with a mixeduse development that will come uh before the council um at a later time. Uh councelor Mo was exactly right when he said that this was a long time in coming. In fact, the urban renewal district was formed in 2004. that gave us the tool uh necessary to get the funding to start assembling these parcels. And it was many many hours and

1:48:57 years of work by uh other council members, other staff members, too many for me to mention this evening, but I did want to note uh this very important moment in time for our city. Thank you. Any business from the city attorney? Uh no business. Thank you. Okay, we are adjourned. Thank you.

0:07 I would like to call the city council work session to order with roll call. >> Mayor Van Gordon, councelor Weber >> here, councelor Mo >> here, >> councelor Rodley >> here, >> councelor Blackwell >> here, >> councelor Doyle here, and councelor Stout >> here. Thank you. >> Okay, we have three items for this work session tonight. Uh first item is budget committee interviews. Jessica, come on up. Good evening, city council. My name is Jessica Mummy. I'm the city's budget and procurement manager here this evening for budget committee interviews. We have three candidates that originally applied to fill one vacant uh uh one vacancy on the budget committee.

0:52 However, one of the uh candidates has withdrawn their name from consideration. That candidate is Veronique or Ronnie. Applicants were sought to represent ward six on the budget committee and the vacancy was the result of a term expiration of the prior appointee Paul Selby. The appointee will serve a three-year term that will expire on December 31st, 2027. And any appointed member may be reappointed for one additional year, but no member may be appointed for more than two consecutive fullear terms. And then just briefly, the budget committee consists of all members of the city council and a like a number of electors for a total of 12 committee members. And the citizen members may not be officers, agents, or employees of the city. And

1:38 finally, though it's been past practice of the city council to prefer one budget committee citizen member per ward, this is not a requirement of state law nor the city's bylaws. So, I guess then we're ready to interview our first candidate. Correct. And is it is it Weeble? Is that right, Joseph Weeble? I believe so. Okay. >> Hey. >> Hello. >> Hi. I'm I'm Council President Michelle Weber and I'm just going to before I start asking questions, I'm going to let my counselors run through them and introduce themselves.

2:24 >> All right, Alan Stout, City Council W 6 for Thirstston. >> Hi, Victoria Do 5. I'm right your next door neighbor in Thirstston. >> Corey Rodley, she her pronouns and I'm in W three. >> Steve Mo, w two. Hi, Beth Blackwell. Ward four. >> It's nice to meet you all. And my name is Joe Wyel. Um and um very excited to be here. Are you guys you're going to pose the questions to me and I'll go through them. Okay. >> Yes. Yep. When Yep. We'll uh we'll take that approach and >> go from there. >> To me. >> That's right. We're pretty easy to get

3:09 along with. Okay. So, question number one, why are you interested in serving on the budget committee? >> Um, so I'm, as long as I can remember, I've always been interested in what most people would call the boring stuff. And, um, and so like I remember even when I was a kid, um, I was in middle school when, you know, the great recession happened. And you know when I was in seventh eighth grade I was very interested to learn and understand why that happened you know and I remember you know just looking through on investipedia and Wikipedia and learning about financial markets and you know all the all the systemic things that happened that led to that event. And so

3:57 ever since I was a kid, I've been interested in topics like economics, public policy, finance, history. Um, and I can frequently be found reading um public policy documents, things about taxation, you know, public policy, economics, things of that nature. And so I'm very interested in in those topics and how public resources are allocated. And so um I think that in addition to that, I've always wanted to serve my community. And I think that this is a great place for me to uh to do that. And

4:42 I think that, you know, I have an aptitude for learning about these kinds of topics. Uh, and I and I enjoy it where I think a lot of people maybe wouldn't. Um, and so let's see. Yeah, I think I covered everything I had in my notes. >> Okay, great. Next question then. Um, while all of the Springfield services seem to have strong support from different areas of the community, it is often necessary to prioritize services for budgetary reasons. How would you go about the task of establishing priorities among services? >> Um, well, first I would think that it that it ought to be done in a in a

5:27 systematic and a fair way that's transparent. Um, and then, you know, would would establish some areas of of how you would some areas for how you would prioritize the different uh services. I'd probably come up with a framework for ranking them um essential versus non-essential and then kind of going down from there. Um and then I would prioritize um public safety and public health as the first order of things. And then um maybe if there's anything that is like a like a statutory requirement by state or

6:12 federal law and then would give special consideration for how services might affect certain vulnerable populations and then finally considering the long-term and short-term return on investment of the funds. Um and then you know after going through that kind of a process mentally or on paper um or both find out first if anything can be done more efficiently and then identify the low impact highcost items that could be considered uh for cutting. >> Okay, great. If you were on the budget committee and were looking at one of the city's services to decide how much should be funded through general taxes

6:58 and how much through specific fees on customers, what questions would you want to have answered in order to make your decision? >> Um, I would want to first get data on utilization of services and so I'd want to find out things like how much does it cost? What's the marginal cost, you know, the per unit cost of the service? um or what's the cost per person of the services just to divide it among all the customers of that service and then is it a service that we consider to be a public good so it's freely available to anybody who walks up to it and you know if so then would there be a free rider problem? Would there be problems with being able to collect the fee? Um that sort of thing. And then how much would

7:44 it cost in that situation to administer the collection of fees and how much would it cost to enforce rules so that fees get collected? Um and then you know what what segment of the population benefits from the service? Is it a small segment of the population or will the benefits be more spread out like roads you know pretty far spread out um would be an example. And then uh would the service promote economic growth um and then result in future uh uh revenue revenue growth? >> How do you think the work of the budget committee will improve our community?

8:29 Well, I think that um it's very important work um and the the fair allocation of resources is really important and I think it's really important that the the community is represented. you know, every corner of the community is represented. And so I think that the budget committee is going to help improve our our community by identifying areas where resources need to go and and maybe there are some areas where resources have been going that um no longer need as much uh today. And so I think that that

9:16 is how the budget committee will um improve our community. >> Great. Thank you very much. That was all the questions and >> All right. >> Thank you for for interviewing with us. >> Thank you very much for the opportunity. Hi Bob. >> Nice to meet you. >> Many of you I I I know in this room, but my name is Bob Brew. Um, and I worked

10:02 for the city of Springfield for many years and was on the planning commission and later the city council. >> Okay, great. So, you've got some history here. All right. ready to get started? >> Yes. >> Okay. Why are you interested in serving on the budget committee? >> Well, thank you. So, I spent 35 years uh career in finance and public sector management. So, uh I believe this would be about my 32nd budget cycle that I that I went through. I think I have a a skill set that would be useful to the city. I I bring a lot of experience. I bring um some history in in prioritizing services, making tough decisions, and

10:49 thinking outside of the box in ways to make things happen that wouldn't necessarily be apparent. And I'd welcome the opportunity. >> While all of the Springfield services seem to have strong support from different areas of the community, it is often necessary to prioritize services for budgetary reasons. How would you go about the task of establishing priorities among services? >> Thank you. So I would prioritize services first looking at public safety. But that being said, public safety doesn't get a free ride. It's not all public safety before anything else. You have to look at each individual program individual or individual program and decide what is

11:34 what who is it serving and and how does it weigh versus other programs um from other departments. Um I would look at what services are um funded outside of the general fund. Uh, can those be um uh I don't want to say they're going to go off the table if they're funded outside the general fund, but are there ways that services can be reallocated so that they're more self-supporting, bringing up more in the general fund. In addition, I would look at who is being served. Uh how are they being served? Is it the greatest good for the greatest number in some cases? But also, as as

12:21 Joe said earlier, how are vulnerable populations being impacted by these services? It's never easy. >> Okay. If you were on the budget committee and were looking at one of the city's services to decide how much should be funded through general taxes and how much through specific fees on customers, what questions would you want to have answered in order to make your decision? >> Well, I'd want to The first question is primarily who benefits from the service? If it's something like a building permit where the person who's getting the building permit essentially is getting the bulk of the benefit from from that service, obviously that they should pay for all of it. If it's another service that everyone benefits from, for

13:06 instance, police or fire, then the cost should be spread. Uh and there are many cases like planning where it's a little bit of each and you have to figure out how that would be most equitably shared. >> How do you think the work of the budget committee will improve our community? >> Well, I think the reason that the legislature established the budget committee the way they did was to make sure that the citizens have a voice. I recognize that you are all folks that have day jobs and and do a lot of things outside of this, but you're also after a certain number of years on the on the council, you become

13:51 kind of expert in this kind of thing. And it helps to have fresh eyes onto the budget. And I think that's why the legislature decided that it made sense to have citizen members, people that aren't in this every day or every week. Okay, great. Thank you very much. >> Thank you for your time. >> Just go down the line and see what people are thinking. Councelor Blackwell, would you like to start? >> Uh, two excellent candidates, first of all, which makes this decision even tougher. Um, I feel like you both have a

14:36 good understanding and idea of budgets and how they work and experience and this is a tough one. If Yeah, if you have a thought on on uh I agree it's a tough one, but if you have a a choice, I'd love to hear it. My my choice would be the first candidate and I see him as a potential city counselor someday. He's he's starting out. He can go a long ways with his knowledge and his his curiosity about the city. >> Councelor Rodley, thank you. Um I also think these are two great candidates who both I think we're going to it's going

15:21 to be great either way. Um, I'm going to put Bob at number one and then um Joseph at number two for me. Thank you. Councelor Doyle. >> Uh, I agree with Councelor Rodley. I would put Bob number one and Joseph number two. Okay, Councelor Stout. >> Um, I I will echo um Councelor Mo's opinion on it. I would put Joseph as my number one and and certainly uh Bob is number two >> to make decisions. Oh. Oh. Nuggets. >> Can I Well, plead our case. >> Yeah. Let's just see where we land first and then Yeah. Go ahead. Did I'm sorry

16:08 about I didn't hear your choice. Yeah. Go ahead. >> I'm torn to be honest. I see uh first candidate as a little, you know, fresh and and somebody that might be just getting started out and given that opportunity, but I am um my vote is going to go for Bob, I think. >> Okay. And I actually get to be the one that makes the the final call here. um just the way the numbers worked out, the majority seems to be um in Bob's favor and I appreciate both candidates. I think they'd both be amazing on the on the budget committee and bring some really good perspective. Um but I think

16:53 I'm going to have to put my vote with Bob as well. That's it for that one. Yeah. Congratulations, Bob. You don't vote in work session, right? It goes on to the >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It'll come back on the consent calendar. >> Goes on the consent calendar. >> Correct. Yeah. Yep. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Jessica. That was really That was a tough one. >> Okay. Next, historic commission interviews. And Tom, come on up. I think this one hopefully will be a little a little easier on us.

17:39 Four vacancies and two applicants. >> Good afternoon, C or evening counselors. I guess it is afternoon as well, but good evening. I'm Tom Severs, uh, senior planner in the current planning section, also staff leaison to the historic commission. We have four openings on the historic commission and two applicants. I believe there two of the vacancies are open for a full four-year term. The other two uh due to um resignations have some more time left on them that would need to be uh run out. But for that we do have, you know, two full uh open seats, total of four with two applicants

18:25 here tonight. Um, first one I believe is Gary Jones. And then we also have Charlotte Helmer returning. She is a former uh historic commissioner. Uh, I'm not sure. I haven't looked behind me yet to see if she's here tonight. I'm fairly certain Gary is here as well, though. >> Okay. So, with these two applicants here, you're looking to fill the two fullyear terms. >> Yes, that's correct. >> Or the full terms, excuse me. And then recruitment for the other two vacancies will revisit that. >> We'll make another call for it. That's correct. >> All right. Okay,

19:13 >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Gary Jones. >> Gary, hold just a second. You'll want to push the microphone on. There you go. Perfect. >> Yeah, it's a lot greener now. Thank you. Yeah, my name is Gary Jones. I live at 1038 Diamond Street. I'm a relatively new arrival here coming up on a year of uh being a uh property owner and resident in Springfield. So, happy to answer your questions. And um looks like you could throw me out, but maybe I think they they I've been to the museum a few times and I think they do need people, you know. >> Okay, great. Well, we'll get started with some questions then if you're ready and

19:58 >> yes, >> go from there. Okay. What strengths or skills would you bring to the historic commission? Well, the strength would not be knowledge of the community, but a desire to gain a knowledge of the community. And I have been to the museum several times, and I've got a brief acquaintance with U. Maline McGra, who I see as a very talented professional and somebody who's got some good programs going, and I would like to help out in whatever way is best there. I have uh quite a long experience of working with nonprofits and special purpose districts in Washington state. I was a lawyer there for 45 years in the same community and

20:44 had uh everything from starting up many uh not for-p profofit kind of enterprises and being involved in community organizations. So, I I think um I've got experience in things like risk management, uh job descriptions, um how to meet legal requirements, uh contracting, budgeting, uh finance for small groups like this. And I believe I would be able to contribute. I mean, I'm not exactly sure at this point what all the needs are, but uh I I think my experience would be useful. >> Okay, great. How do you think the work

21:30 of the historic commission improves our community? >> I see it as being a really valuable entry point for groups that may be underrecognized. I think they've done a really excellent job of uh bringing forward uh Native American voices from the tribes around here and uh giving some uh a format for presentation of information about things that are important historically but also very current, you know, and have a good interface with the schools and young people as well as tourists or people that are just wanting to know more about Springfield. Okay. And if you could make one positive change in Springfield, what would it be?

22:15 >> Uh, I've been very impressed with the Milra project and I don't think it has a high enough profile. I I think that's a place where there could be some improvement both in terms of understanding how it relates to the history. I think it may have uh in fact a significant uh role to play in the work that you're doing with the um integration of your land use planning with the endangered species act. I see the mill race as being one of several places where there could be some recognition of work that's been done uh by Springfield that h that enhances the habitat and pro preserves the environment the the natural environment

23:00 uh in ways that are positive and that can be at least a potential source of mitigation and relief from some of the uh stress that I see your uh city coming under from FEMA and the Endangered Species Act problem. >> Okay, great. That was it. Just three questions and Okay, >> thank you so much for for taking time to come and interview with us. >> You're very welcome. Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. >> Should I shut it off? I do not see Charlotte here tonight. Um, if possible, we would move this to the

23:46 next work session if if needed. Uh, I know she does work for ODOT, so good chance. >> Uh, she's tied up there. Yeah. >> Okay, great. But she is an existing or she has been in the position before, correct? >> Correct. Yes. >> Okay, great. >> How do we all feel about uh moving Gary into this? Yep. Good. Yep. All right, Gary, you you made it. You're in. >> Congrats. Okay. And that will also go on to the consent calendar for the next meeting for for a formal approval. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Is it possible to being the leazison for the historic commission? I can tell you that they really need the help and they really need people in there that come to the

24:32 meetings and that participate and are active. I know Tom takes on a ton and does a lot of extra stuff to make this work. So, I would be comfortable if that if the person who's on here that isn't if Charlotte is someone that he um agrees with having on, I would be comfortable with going ahead and not necessarily moving that, but like going ahead and okaying her to be a person that um we approve as well, especially with two additional open spots if that's possible. So, I'd look over to to the left over here for some advice on that. >> Did you say that Miss Helmer had been on the historic commission before? >> Yes,

25:17 >> that is correct. Her term ended uh this past December. >> Yeah. One thing we could do if there's consensus on the council this evening, um we could take that question to council leadership at the next agenda review. That's allowed under the rules. That would be and if they were okay with that, they could appoint her when they appoint um this person or they could just schedule for another interview. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Okay. >> We can certainly bring it up at at >> Yeah. If there's head nods, we can bring it up at a gender review. >> Okay. Okay. Great. >> Okay. The last item for the work session is bike share check-in and Drew Larson.

26:12 >> All right. Good evening, council. Uh I'm Drew Larson, the senior transportation planner for the city of Springfield. And tonight, uh we are going to have a quick check-in on Bike Share. Um, essentially it launched April 19th of 2024. Uh, so we want to review the trips that started and/or ended in Springfield as well as the ongoing operating budget and plans for years two and three of the three-year pilot. So trips in 2024 about uh approximately 3/4 of the year uh weren't the highest. Um we had about 769 trips in total um from April 19th to December 31st, 2024. Um we didn't look at the numbers for this year uh yet because we were going to include them in

26:58 our second year check-in. Um so with those about 285 of those trips were actually within the Springfield service area. So that's our small downtown service area. um while twothirds of those trips uh were between Springfield and Eugene. So we saw approximately 500 trips between Eugene and Springfield, which is kind of what we anticipated with our small service area into downtown. Hopefully a little bit better than those numbers, but um you know, we're going to look at years two and three to try to bolster those. So, uh, for the operating budget, um, Cascadia Mobility, the operator of Peace Health Rides, projects about one, uh, 1 million50,000

27:43 to operate in 2025. Uh, revenue from that comes from partnerships with Eugene Lane Transit District, uh, University of Orgon wrership revenue as well as grants. Uh we did provide a small portion of that last year, 16,500, uh with the understanding that we were only going to provide that funding for one year of the pilot while funding from some other entity was necessary for years two and three. And that's actually where LTD comes in. They did commit verbally last year to stepping in and they have recommitted this year. Um, with that they are looking to actually up the contribution per year to 50,000. That would be also look to increase the

28:30 number of bikes into the Springfield area. But with that, they are looking to expand the gateway service area. We do have one um hub up at Peace Health Hospital up there at um Riverbend. Sorry. Uh and so they're looking to expand that to kind of capture more of the gateway. I mean, anecdotally, I've been up at Target and seen a number of college students riding bike share in, and unfortunately, if they lock up at Target, they're getting penalized. It's like $25 to lock outside of the service area. So, I mean, it's happening up there already. So, they are looking to locate additional hubs probably at their MX station. Um, we are going to evaluate some other areas, not in the street, but

29:15 somewhere on existing sidewalk or private property. talking to either Target or other restaurants that have existing racks to do something similar that we've done in downtown is just, you know, slap a sticker and say, "Hey, you can lock bike or your bike share here at no cost." Uh, we do want to evaluate the downtown service area boundary. Uh, possibly expand it up towards Meadow Park where we have some higher density residential. Um, one thing I've learned about bike share over the last year is that um, most trips are begin at an origin. Origin are usually residential. We have a destination oriented service area. Downtown is an ending point, not necessarily a starting point for piece or for bike share. So, looking to

30:02 capture a little bit more highdensity residential uh, outside of downtown. Um, and looking to do that. Um, let's see. Anything else I missed? Uh, also with that $50,000 contribution from LTD for the next two years, I guess per year, so $100,000 contribution to bike share, they would be assigning or asking Cascadia Mobility to provide, you know, bike valet at certain events, possibly, you know, the the block party downtown. We typically paid or we paid for that last year out of the transportation, outreach, and education budget. Um, and so that's what we're looking to do for uh, years two and three of the pilot. Just looking to serve Springfield residents a little better with the service. Uh, we've established a baseline. So my plan would be, you know,

30:48 we make these adjustments. I come back and do a check-in in year two. Um, and then check in a little earlier about year three and determine whether or not if it's a a successful program. >> Okay. Thank you, Drew. I'm assuming there are some questions or comments. Go ahead, councelor Blackwell. >> So, I was encouraged to see the endonly number was higher than the start only if I'm interpreting the data right. So, more people are coming out of area Eugene into Springfield. Um, and when you mentioned the numbers, the total number that's kind of low. Uh, what's what's like the target number? What's the average that you're looking to hit? >> That's a great question. I'm not Yeah, I'm just looking to go up. Um I mean

31:33 double is I think a very minimalistic goal. I think we can uh with the expansion of the service area, a little bit more promotion, I think we could quadruple that number in year two. >> Council Mo, >> it's an essential program. We have to get it up. We have to get make it successful for the whole city. Councilor Stout. >> Um, this conversation's not about funding. It's just about, hey, where do we want to focus our attention to hopefully draw more people to use the service? Is that correct? >> Uh, yeah. So, it the council approved the three-year pilot with only one year of funding. >> Okay. >> And then putting, you know, finding

32:19 additional funding to operate in Springfield was left up to the operator and myself to locate that at another entity. So, we're not providing any additional funding for years two and three. >> Got it. So, my just one followup on this one though is is can you choose to spend the funds you have outside of just the operations of what you're doing? Because when I'm just doing some math, I'm seeing that the dollars per trip are pretty high. I mean, maybe higher than even an LTD bus ride is. I I'm just curious, could we spend it on things that incentivize people to use transit? My fundamental problem with public transit has always been public transit should take people that want to go somewhere places they want to go. And

33:04 I'm wondering, is there anything else we could do? for example. I mean, I'm not not that I'm trying to take money out of Cascadia Mobility's pocket, but I'm really interested in saying this area could use a little bit more paint and I want to paint this area so that we have greater visibility, so it's a safer crossing, so that more like people are more likely, they're induced to use the bike. We're going to spend this money a little bit different way because I'm just seeing the numbers and I'm like, I'd really love those numbers to be higher. And I say that as somebody who used to use a a ride share bike just like this all the time when I was living abroad. So I like I appreciate them. I love them. That said, I really want to make sure we're spending those resources wisely. That's that's my only two cents and I I don't have a great response to

33:50 that. Um you know that the peace health rides is is their funding is provided through various mechanisms. you know, writership revenue, uh, federal grants that Eugene has. Uh, um, the University of Oregon provides a lot of funding for the Associated Students of University of Oregon. I keep wanting to say ASUM because that's I went to the University of Montana and it was the Associated Students of the University of Montana. So, it's really tricky for me. Um, but yeah, I agree that, you know, we providing the infrastructure and these types of things is great. um for transit and I I don't want to speak too much for LTD, but they I mean buses are kind of limited on where they can go. And so looking at this bike share, getting people that first and last mile

34:35 connection, like how do I get for my residents to a transit stop when I live a mile away, there's a bike share, that makes that trip much easier. And so, you know, we're not really providing a lot of funding. I mean, we're not providing any funding. um it is a regional priority, but know I do agree that having bike lanes and additional facilities, ADA curb ramps, those types of things to make that easier would is also a benefit. >> And did you want to take a moment to chime in for LTD? >> Absolutely. Yeah, thank you. Um good evening. My name is Eric Bryinstein, director of marketing for LTD. Um, and just wanted to provide some perspective from LTD on this topic and um, what you're saying is definitely top of mind

35:20 for us. I think this really fits in with that and looking at how bike share can connect with transit more seamlessly so that as a system it becomes more usable for everyone. Um, so this aligns with our long-term and short-term objectives um, to accomplish that. Councelor Doyle. >> Hi. So, I believe I was the only no vote when this originally happened and I'm still a pretty big critic of it. And in looking at the numbers, we can say, "Oh, the numbers are kind of high." The numbers are crazy high. Like, if you take the amount that we spent, $886,000, and we divide that by 700 trips, it's $1,100 a trip. We could buy everybody a new bike. Um, and even if you double

36:07 those numbers, we're still looking at 668 bucks per trip. So, I don't see this as being I I get the concept of getting of of having more transportation that's having that's getting people out of their cars and getting people to and fro. But, um, I think that our focus should be more on creating better bike paths and having safer streets and doing things like that so that people have their own bikes that they can ride and take where they need to go. and then safety on how do we protect those bikes since we have a lot of high theft that happens with bikes in our community. Like it's huge. And so I I always get frustrated when people say, "Well, we're not spending any money on this." Because the money comes from somewhere and that's somebody's taxes somewhere.

36:52 whether it's a grant coming from the federal government or it's coming from LTD or it's coming from University of Oregon and through their tuitions or whatever, somebody is paying that and it is people that are in our communities and stuff, you know, via however it comes in. So, I still I know it's a three-year program, but I'm still um skeptical. Council Rodley, >> thank you. So, thank you for this and um I actually am very impressed uh because we did say we're only going to put this little bit of money and we're only going to get a few bikes and let's see what we can do with it. So, I appreciate LTD stepping up and when um when I think of infrastructure and investing in infrastructure for the future and I

37:37 think this is a little bit of what councelor Mo was getting to. This is a place that we invest if we want the infrastructure for people to be able to move around, particularly as we lean into seaf communities. And I know when as part of our conversations were how do people get from their homes to the transit and such and um I know of a few folks who have kiddos who ride bicycles, but they don't have bicycles and they've used those bicycles, you know, for the adults so that they can go riding with their kiddos, which I think is another thing. Um, I like where the thinking is going in terms of the expansion. Um, when I'm thinking of, um, I was just at Meadow Park this past weekend with my grandkid and I'm telling you, the pickle ballers were coming and going all day

38:22 all day long over there. So, I think the the how do we get to Gateway was part of the initial conversation, too. And I also have seen the bikes up there and I was like, wait, we don't have bikes at Gateway. Um, so people are using them. And I remember part of the conversation was how do we bring folks from the university area that are riding bicycles over um and I know that there are bicycles there's some some housing there on MLK there's bicycles. So I think to me this is how do we continue to invest in this infrastructure and when we take the money and say this is per bike ride well we're paying for infrastructure right we're paying for bicycles we're paying for staff we're paying for outreach we're paying for the connecting with LTD. paying for all of that. Um, as opposed to just like a person getting on

39:07 a bike and riding, you know, a mile or two. So, that was my long way of saying I have been a fan. I continue to be a fan. I appreciate you all scaling it and working with the diverse opinions and folks that are up here to try to continue to invest in this infrastructure. So, I'm looking forward to seeing where we go in the next two years. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, I really appreciate the the steps that LTD is taking to to help expand the transportation network. Um, with the overarching goal of connecting people to a system, a bus system that can get them other places. Um, and I this is a part of that. Um, as far as

39:54 paying for a bike for everybody, I mean, I understand the concept there. Um, but the only way we change that is to test the system and see if we can grow it. Um, and I personally don't I don't have a place to put a bike in my house right now. I don't have anywhere to store it. So, for those of us in that in that situation, I think that this is an alternative to to owning a bike and not having a place to store it, maintain it, all of those different things that come with being a bike you a bike owner. Um, in general, I'm supportive of the idea. I think what we need to do is understand what does expanding to gateway mean like number of bikes kind of you know what are we looking at there as a starting point. I think maybe that helps us you know kind of get to a to a

40:40 consensus. Um so I'm I'm not really sure on LTD's thoughts on this. Uh I know that they're going to take it over and they're going to work closely with us. Um I mean we're currently assigned 25 bikes. I think they're looking to up that by 10 to 15 into our area. Maybe some reassignment of some downtown that unfortunately have collected dust over the last few months. Uh maybe even longer. So Eric, do you have any thoughts on numbers? >> Yeah, I don't have specific numbers in front of me right now. That's certainly something that we could identify. Um in addition, the additional funds we're looking to invest would also support additional outreach efforts to encourage utilization of the system and the bikes. um which we can utilize some of our own

41:28 channels but also look beyond that in terms of additional community outreach to really promote the system. >> Okay. So Drew, what oh sorry >> yes go ahead counc. >> Yes. >> Um just one last thing. Something that really helped me when I was an active user of the bike share was having the first hour be free actually and then being like having to pay an additional fee if I was using it for longer than an hour because that got me to pretty much every single uh location that I wanted to go and I would literally check my trips based on where can I find a safe place to park it. So I'm like, "Oh, I'm taking a trip from my house to this store way, you know, at the other end of town." Great. I know the bike paths and all that sort of thing. So just just for consideration if there were to be a change I would probably just say take

42:13 off the first hour and then but make sure that people have a way to pay for if they are you know either parking it in the wrong spot or whatever else it is so that they uh things get turned back in good condition. That's all. Thanks >> councelor Doyle. >> Just a really quick question. You mentioned something about Target and I asked, could you clarify that because I when I was driving Uber and Lyft, I would make that trip from MLK and from the the apartments all the time taking the kids back and forth like to get groceries and what have you because that's the closest like kind of grocery store is at Walmart and that. So, what were you saying that they get they would get ticketed or something $25 for parking there? >> Yeah. So, bike share operates within a service area. If you lock up your bike outside of that service area, there is a $25 charge. Um, so like if I were to

43:00 take a bike over to Roaring Rapids and lock it up there and not return it within a certain amount of time, I mean, I've done that once and I got an email immediately that said, "Hey, you've locked up outside of the service area. If you return it immediately, we'll wave the $25 fee." So, it's a it's a way because if they lock it up outside of the service area, the operator has to go and get that bike and bring it back into the service area. And so, it's a way of covering those costs as well as disincentivizing people from just taking it all over Eugene and Springfield and just locking it up wherever. Um, so I mean, typically they they waved my first one. Uh, and so they're usually pretty pretty gracious with that. But yeah, if they lock up there currently

43:46 and leave it there, it will be a $25 charge. And if they do it repeatedly, they I mean, they might wave the first one, but they're not going to wave the second, third, or fourth, >> right? So, there's no way to work with Eugene to where we could we could return their bikes and they could return ours to where we were able to make that a reciprocal thing. I'd be a little more I'd be a little more on board if I thought that this was something that we could utilize between the communities because there are a lot of like outlying areas like the Harlo Road area where that would be beneficial, >> right? And so I mean it is a regional system. So it is a I mean the operator Cascadia Mobility operates within Eugene and Springfield. We don't have differentiation between those two. Did I

44:31 did I miss the question? I mean that >> if they rent the bike over at um what is the MLK area? The the student housing over there. >> Yeah, Stadium. >> Yeah, exactly. And they ride over and they park it and they block it while they go in and shop, they're fine as long as they take it back to their >> uh I mean if that if that's not possible, that is a problem. >> If it's not in a defined service area and at a hub, they would get locked up. And so currently gateway is not a service area. >> Okay, councelor Rodley, just to clarify, but we are talking about making it a service area. Correct. >> Which was the whole point of it is because that's being used that way. Um,

45:17 currently they would pay the $25, but once it's we expand as we try this, then it is a way for them to come and go and not have to pay that. >> They can lock up. Great. as long if once we expand there they will be able to park our park without any sort of fee. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions, comments? No. Okay, Drew, what what do you need to to leave? What do you need from us to >> uh I was mostly letting you know what we were up to and and a check-in on year 2024. I'll be back in a year. >> Okay. Thanks. Great. Perfect. Thank you all. That was our last work session item. So we will adjourn the work session and see

46:03 everyone back in about 15 minutes for our regular session. >> I would like to call the city council regular regular session to order with roll call. >> Councelor Weber >> here. >> Councelor Mo >> here. Councelor Rodley >> here. >> Councelor Blackwell >> here. >> Councelor Doyle >> here. And councelor Stout >> here. Thank you. >> Mayor Van Gordon is excused for the evening. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stand

46:55 There are two times designated for public testimony this evening under public hearings and business from the audience. If you are attending in person, please complete the request to speak card located at the front of the council chambers and turn them into the city recorder. If you are joining us online with a tablet, smartphone, or computer and wish to speak 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? Anyone who has raised their virtual hand. First item, please. >> First item is Springfield Upbeat. You have two items under uh Springfield Upbeat. Item number one is Fair Housing Month Proclamation 2025. Whereas April 2025 marks the 57th anniversary of the signing of the Federal Fair Housing Act under the Civil

47:41 Rights Act of 1968. And whereas the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing. And whereas fundamentally fair housing means that every person has the right to live where they choose free from housing discrimination and hostility. And whereas this means that each one of us regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability, has access to neighborhoods of opportunity where our children can attend quality schools. Our environment allows us to be healthy and economic opportunities are provided. And whereas the city of Springfield is committed to equal opportunity and affirmatively furthers fair housing. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Shawn Van Gordon, mayor of Springfield, do

48:26 hereby proclaim April 2025 to be Fair Housing Month, and encourage all Springfield residents to learn more about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act, and encourage residents to visit the Springfield History Museum's exhibit, Housing in Springfield and Beyond, which is open through June, to learn more about 130 years of housing history in Springfield and Oregon.

49:43 Okay, next. National Library Week. Whereas libraries provide the opportunity for everyone to pursue their passions and engage in lifelong learning, allowing them to live their best life. Whereas libraries have long served as trusted institutions for all members of the community regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic status. Whereas libraries strive to develop and maintain programs and collections that are as diverse as the populations they serve and ensure equity of access for all. Whereas libraries adapt to the everanging needs of their communities, continually expanding their collections, services, and partnerships. Whereas libraries play a critical role in the economic vitality of communities

50:30 by providing internet and technology access, literacy skills, and support for job seekers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. Whereas libraries are accessible and inclusive places that promote a sense of local connection, advancing understanding, civic engagement, and shared community goals. Whereas libraries are cornerstones of democracy, promoting the free exchange of information and ideas for all. Whereas libraries, librarians, and library workers are joining library supporters and advocates across the nation to celebrate National Library Week. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Mayor Shawn Van Gordon, proclaim National Library Week, April 6 through 12, 2025. During this week, I encourage all residents to visit their library to

51:15 explore the wealth of resources available.

53:36 >> It's not a perfect fit. Thank you so much. Next item, please. >> Next item is the consent calendar. >> I would like to move approval of the consent calendar. >> Second. >> Uh, can we call the role, please? >> Yes. Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Rodley, >> yes. >> Councelor Blackwell, >> yes. >> Councelor Doyle, >> I. >> And Councelor Stout? Yes. Thank you. >> Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Uh, next item, please.

54:22 >> Next item is public hearings. You have two public hearings this evening. Public hearing number one is an ordinance adopting administrative civil penalties and public nuisance code amendments. This is ordinance number one, an ordinance amending Springfield's municipal code, chapter 5, regarding public nuisances adopting standards and procedures for administrative civil penalties. and Charlie Ken is here for this item. >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh uh my name is Charlie Kent. The item in front of you is a a request to conduct Am I tracking okay? Do I need to speak up? Okay. The item in front of you is a a request to conduct a public hearing and adopt not adopt an ordinance to

55:08 amend Springfield Chapter 5, excuse me, Springfield Municipal Code Chapter 5 addressing public nuisances, the adoption of standards and procedures for administrative civil penalties or ACPs and dangerous derelict or abandoned structures. Tonight's item includes the first reading and public hearing for the repeal and replacement of sections 5.0000, 5.002, 5.0 004 uh 5.008 and 5.6000 through 5.624 of the Springfield Municipal Code. This proposed ordinance represents a significant update to how we handle code enforcement and nuisance abatement in our community. The goal here is simple. Uh to create a more effective and equitable uh responsive code enforcement

55:53 uh framework that better serves the needs of Springfield's residents, neighborhoods or neighbors um and businesses. Our current code enforcement model is essentially a one-sizefits-all system that is labor intensive and often inefficient. It relies heavily on the court system to resolve even minor code violations which can lead to delays and added administrative burden and frustration uh both for city staff and the community. Under the proposed ordinance, we introduce ACPs as a tool uh to address minor violations more efficiently. This allows staff to respond quickly, apply proportional uh uh penalties, and resolve violations, excuse me, resolve issues before they come uh escalate into more serious or

56:39 chronic problems. It's worth noting that ACPs are not a new concept. Uh they are widely used across uh the state of Oregon and beyond um as a best business practice uh in modern code enforcement. They promote uh compliance through clear consequences and give the city the flexibility to tailor enforcement to the nature and the severity of the issue. Another critical component of this ordinance uh is the enhanced language and provisions targeting dangerous abandoned and derelic structures. Dangerous structures pose serious risks. Uh they attract illegal activity, create fire hazards, uh impact property values, and undermine the overall health and safety of our neighborhoods. The current code does not adequately address these issues. The proposed amendments add

57:26 clear definitions, objective standards, and a framework uh for registration and abatement. This this empowers the city to act more decisively and more fairly uh protecting the integrity of our community. Beyond ACPs and structure related provisions, uh the ordinance also includes important clarifications to the language of the nuisance code. Uh these updates aim to clarify the provisions uh ensure consistency and enforcement um and better align the code uh with the actual conditions uh of nuisance violations today. Uh conditions that may have not been uh clearly accounted for when the code was originally written. Uh from a financial perspective, the the full impact of this or ordinance isn't yet known. Um we do

58:12 however anticipate several key benefits uh namely a higher rate of recovery uh through higher rate of fine recovery through ACPs uh reduced reliance on court proceedings and a better cost recovery for inspection registration and abatement of dangerous abandoned and derelict structures. Um in essence we're creating a system that's right sizing the cost of code enforcement. the effort will be less burdensome on uh city staff uh uh and uh taxpayers and the defendants as well. Um at January, excuse me, at council's January 6th work session, um staff received some valuable feedback and clarifying questions. Uh no changes were proposed to the draft ordinance and council directed us to move forward uh with the public hearing

58:58 which we're conducting tonight. Um staff believe this ordinance reflects uh not only that direction uh but also a thoughtful balance between uh uh community protection, efficiency um and fairness. Um this ordinance is a meaningful step forward in uh modernizing our code enforcement uh approach. It allows us to be more responsive, efficient, and accountable to the needs of our community. Um, with that, I I appreciate your time tonight and consideration uh and turn this over to you for um either public hearing or or any questions. >> Councelor Doyle, >> thank you. I just want to first thank you so much. I know that you put a lot of work into this and that um that department has really had has struggled

59:44 with having the capacity to to manage what you've had to deal with. and I think you've done a really excellent job and I'm really um happy to be a part of being able to kind of put some of that back into your department and allow you to have that flexibility and that ability to get the job done um in the way that you see fit. So, I just wanted to give you those kudos. >> Thank you, >> Council Rodley. Thank you. Um I also want to share my appreciation. We've been talking about this for a while and you have been so diligent and um it's something that's we very much need in Springfield. You know, we've had um we've had deaths from abandoned buildings and um it's definitely a public safety cost. And so I just really appreciate you sticking with us as we've worked through this for the last I swear

1:00:29 it's been two years, but almost. Yeah. >> So nice job. And I know we're not voting on it yet, but um good job. Thank you. Councelor Stout. >> Um, again, I totally agree with my colleagues here, but I would also ask I'm wondering if it's possible to ask council u if we could review from the date of the adoption just have a one-year uh review of all the good things that have happened as a result of the changes and just so we can review the program. Is there something that needs tweaking? Is it working great? Is it working as expected? just so we can continue to I mean yeah I know you're doing so much work but um review as council and also go back to the voters and say yep we did this we did this right and here's all the positive or things we might have changed is that agreeable to council

1:01:19 >> yeah sounds like a great idea >> so excuse me and like an annual check-in for code enforcement sure absolutely >> any other questions comments okay I'm going to open in the public hearing. I have no cards for this item. Neil, are there any hands online? >> Does not appear we have any hands for this item. >> I'm going to close the public hearing. This is a first reading only with no action required. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next item. Neil, do you want me to just move into that or you? >> Yeah, I can call that out. Next item is public hearing number two, liquor license endorsement for the renewal period 2025 through 2026. Robin Hullman

1:02:04 is here for this item. >> Good evening, council. I'm Robin Hullman with the Development and Public Works Community Development Division. Tonight is our annual visit of our liquor license renewal. 186 businesses provided by Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission are anticipated for renewal. Our renewal or our liquor licenses are governed by Springfield Municipal Code section 7.3 through 7304. This is included in your packet and outlines the criteria. One of the criteria listed is police activity. I'd like to thank police or Springfield police in their assistance with the detailed report. Within the report, police noticed that call volume was down

1:02:49 comparable to the same time period of last year. No other concerns have been raised within the report. Therefore, staff recommends a positive approval by the council after the public hearing. Any questions or comments from council? >> Okay. I just have um just a couple clarifying questions. Pedler and Oakshshire are both listed on that with the same address and um Sherry's is listed on there also and with their buildings closed. I'm just curious if they need to be on that list. >> So OLCC provided that list and this will raise the opportunity for the establishments to then contact OLCC and and then cancel their license. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> You're welcome.

1:03:37 >> Okay, I am going to open the public hearing. I have no cards for this item. Are there any hands online? >> Does not appear any Do we have any hands online for this item? >> I'm going to close the public hearing. Ready for a motion? >> I move to provide a recommendation to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, OLCC. >> Second. Any discussion? Okay, seeing none, can we call for the vote, please? >> Yes. Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Bradley, >> yes. >> Councelor Blackwell, >> yes. Councelor Doyle. >> I. >> Councelor Stout. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. >> Item is business from the audience.

1:04:54 Okay. I have six cards here and we will start with Lizzie Utterback. Lizzy. Lizzy, can you turn the microphone on, please? First. >> Yes. I'm Lizzie Utterbach. I'm from Ward 3 and I am a library supporter. In the past, when I've addressed this council, it's often to be been to highlight areas for improvement. Um, but today I'm thrilled to speak in support of something Springfield has gotten right. The Springfield Public Library. The Springfield Public Library is truly the heart of our community. It serves as one of the few places in our city that brings together people of all ages,

1:05:39 genders, abilities, languages, political affiliations, and incomes. We are incredibly fortunate to have dedicated and professional librarians serving our community. The library offers more than just books. and provides access to DVDs, CDs, video games, periodicals, the internet, Wi-Fi hotspots, remote printing, database access, and educational and entertainmentbased programming. For example, I've personally used remote printing to print anything from boarding passes to government forms and resumes. I've also used my library card to access consumer reports when we were shopping for a used car. When my family moved to Springfield

1:06:24 in 2008, we were going through a tough time financially, like many others, maybe your family, too. And the library became our escape. It was a place where our daughter could pick out anything she wanted. We didn't have to say no to her. Uh we felt rich, not in money, but in the joy and opportunity it gave her family. I know many others in our community feel the same way. Beyond the personal and community impact, the library provides an incredible return on investment. Every dollar spent on public libraries generates significant e economic value in return. Libraries support workforce development, offer free access to resources that people would otherwise have to pay for, which in turn strengthens our local economy. Attendees

1:07:10 of the summer concerts down at the fountain and movies at the Wildish can often be found uh before and after the events supporting our local eeries. But the value of the Springfield Public Library isn't just measured in dollars. It is also seen in the way our library steps up during times of crisis. Think back to li last year's ice storm. Where did the city direct people to warm up, to charge their devices, and to access emergency resources? The Springfield Public Library. During wildfire season, where does the city direct people to escape the smoke? The Springfield Public Library. During extreme heat events, where does the city tell people to go to cool down? The

1:07:55 Springfield Public Library. As we move into budget season, what are you going to keep in mind? I hope it's the Springfield Public Library. Thank you. >> Good evening and thank you for having me. I am um a resident of Springfield, a frequent user of the library myself. Uh I'm a retired educator. I have a master's degree in child development with a specialty in literacy.

1:08:41 I am here to testify that in cases where families have no access to books, children are something like 75% less likely to graduate from high school. Toddlers who are read to by parents learn the meaning of printed words and concepts when they're very young. Three and four year olds pick this up as people read to them. Without access to books, children are at a great disadvantage at school, very likely not to graduate from high school, and often do not become productive citizens. Our

1:09:27 library is sometimes the only place people have access to literacy for little children. And it especially since our beautiful library has just redone the whole children's department. I'm just here to make sure everybody understands how ex important extremely important that is to the way our society functions as a whole keeping our children literate and in school. Thank you.

1:10:24 Is this all right? My name's Owen. Um I'm W three and uh I first of all I just want to thank you all for your time and for recognizing the library. Uh I've spoken here about the library before uh and how important uh it is. I've admitted to being a bit of a lite and appreciate having my hands on a book to be able to read it. I recognize the flow of technology in the future is leading us more and more into higher technology as being the way we do things. But um the space itself is so important and I guess that's the what the short amount of time I'd like to take today would be to talk about that. Um there's so many things that the library is more than books and uh it's one of the few public spaces we have for the opportunity to spend time with each

1:11:12 other in with our hobbies or uh interest groups. Um you know uh I don't know how things have been in the past but now this is at least in my experience this is one of the few places we have to do this. Um and that's just such an important thing and the library has supported uh that concept by running all kinds of programs which I have I have tried to go to as many as I I can um and they've been extremely helpful for me in my life. I've learned all kinds of things helping with from, you know, as as varied as, uh, hobbies that I like to work on, writing, uh, uh, that I've been working on to learning how to process death and dying, uh, and, you know,

1:11:59 talking with my parents about uh, moving on. And I mean, I don't know how else I would have been able to have these kinds of interactions if the library hadn't been running these programs. It's not something that I would have gone and sought out necessarily, but I mean, here it was. It's amazing programming. Uh, and I I just think that would be important to consider uh when thinking about the library, and it's something I wanted to celebrate about it. Thank you. >> Okay, I'm going to try this last name. Hopefully, I get close. Mike Quala. >> Yes, it's very good.

1:12:49 Uh, good evening, city councilors. Um, my name is Mike Quala. I'm a 35-y year resident of Ward 2 up on Kelly but um I've been trying without results to get city engineering and the maintenance department to evaluate the public wastewater line that serves my home. Uh, it's on a public easement across a neighbor's property. Too often, my phone calls and emails are not returned. I know people are busy, so I've tried to be really patient and often times wait 3 to four weeks for a response to a question or uh a request for information. Um, sometimes then I have to call or send another message to get

1:13:34 an answer. The engineering technician who I was in contact with originally mistakenly identified this line as a private line and said I was responsible for it. Um, and then never contacted me with the mistaken information. It took two or three calls for me to call and find out that he'd made that improper assessment or improper uh description of my wastewater line. So when I built my house in 2005, I was assured by number of city employees among which the former city engineer Al Perotka, uh Dan Brown, um Don Rogers, the city

1:14:21 surveyor, that the line was public. And um so this really surprised me to see that this had been that this mistaken and determination had been uh made. But I finally got an acknowledgement that it is a city-owned line. And since it's about 60 years old and has not been maintained to my knowledge, I asked for a video inspection of the line which was agreed to. It's been a month now since the last contact I made with engineering and I've messaged engineering twice now without response. That's been three and a half weeks ago. The whole process of this started last September 2024. So it's been 8 months that I've been trying to get this taken

1:15:07 care of. Um, so I've uh I have a number of things that I'd like to have taken care of by the city in regard to this. And to be honest with you, the wastewater service, it's an essential utility for properties and the lack of correct data and inspection on this line needs to be corrected. The problems of along this line could result in costs of say like $600 for a minor inline repair to maybe $30,000 to replace the entire thing. Um I can't afford to have a mistake like that hanging over my house. So kind of as a

1:15:52 last resort, I've come here to the council to see if there's anything that I can have done with that. Um sorry to take up the time. I've got a handout here that's got um approximate timeline, >> Mike. >> Yeah. >> Um your 3m minute time is up. So Mark, are you taking notes back there? >> I have your address. >> Does it have your address on it? >> I have those address. >> Okay. >> Okay. We we have folks taking notes to and follow up. Thank you so much.

1:16:49 While I was visiting the library this past weekend, I stopped to fill out one of the National Library Week cards asking what draws me to the library. I couldn't quite figure out how to respond, but I settled on our library feels like community to me. Partly, this is just factual. I run into more people that I know at the library than I do anywhere else, but partly this is more of a feeling. It feels like the beating heart of my Springfield. When we first moved to Springfield, the library was the first thing I went looking for, but we found it. and um living out near Riverbend near the Eugene border for a long time, it was the only thing pulling us downtown until those regular visits turned into short

1:17:36 downtown walks, which in turn finally convinced us to brave Main Street parking and explore farther and farther out. In the beginning, I came just for me and I would check out the antique stores while I was downtown. And then I came with my toddler and we would attend story time and make connections with other Springfield families. And then I came with my young children and they got to engage in all kinds of amazing programming. And then my kids got old enough we could engage in an even wider range of programming like movie screenings at the Wildish, which put The Wildish on the map for us. And uh now we go to all kinds of events there paired with pizza at Mesoluna. And then my kids were old enough, I had

1:18:21 time to give back, and I began volunteering my time serving on the library board. Now I have a routine focused on getting a little time to myself, which often looks like a visit to the library, a tuna melt at Lovelies, and a quick stop at Chuck and Alice. I couldn't quite figure out how to respond on that National Library Week card because libraries just draw me in. They just do. They're the draw and it's the rest of Springfield that benefits,

1:19:19 Hi, my name is Tim Old Gene and I live in downtown Springfield. My wife and I are Springfield residents who have experience using the middle housing code to develop averagesiz lots. We have built three apartment units on the corner of Fourth and D Street and four apartment units on A Street. I am here tonight representing Porch House LLC, which is one of the developers that has applied for the home ARP funds for the lower street project. I wanted to highlight some of the strengths of the Porch House LLC project. We project strong cash flow on the project with an annual surplus of more than $40,000 after expenses. Porch House LLC will be providing five one-bedroom units, which is one more

1:20:04 than the city asked for. Two of these units will be fully ADA accessible. We will also provide four off- streetet parking spaces with an ADA van service lane. This is something residents in the lower street neighborhood asked us for. One neighbor said if it is possible to leave any input, it would be that developers that the developers plan for including as much off- streetet parking as possible. Street parking is already quite congested. Porch House will also take advantage of city provided incentives. Because we are building at least four units, we can apply for the Springfield property tax exemption. This property tax exemption will be effective for a 20-year period.

1:20:49 Because we are building five units, city planning said the fifth unit can be considered an ADU. We will pursue an ADU SEC waiver for the fifth unit. Another strength of our project is that we will not be taking any long-term debt that could hurt our short-term and long-term operations at the property. But I believe our biggest strength is that we will be directing $200,000 of the home art funds to go to our so social service provider HIV Alliance. We believe the spirit of the whole home art program was to give funds for development but also to give funds to a supportive service provider for specific

1:21:34 services. Our supportive services provider will fund case management, ongoing recovery support, housing assistance, life skills training, and mental health services that will directly benefit residents living at the property. In summary, our project will have stronger cash flow, provide more livable units, prov provide more off- streetet parking, will take advantage of city incentives, will not take on any long-term debt, and will give our supportive services provider $200,000 that will directly benefit the residents living at Laura Street. Thank you.

1:22:35 Hello, my name is Elliot Harwell. I'm a Springfield resident in Ward 3. I'm also here as a supporter of local libraries. When I first moved here, uh it was the local library where I was able to print off my resume and get a job in town. And also the re the library is a place where every other week a group of trans and queer people are able to meet uh in the new rooms that were added thanks to the Springfield Library expansion. The Springfield Library and libraries in general are a really important heart and soul of our republic and our democracy. They're an important place where people can get information and in some and social services access to internet and

1:23:21 to printing. It's a net boon and joy for the community. I think one thing that is sort of implicit in the comments that you heard supporting the library earlier is that people are concerned about funding. There is a concern that uh alongside the the federal retrenchment away from funding different local projects and their general cutting of funding to libraries across the board that funding to the Springfield Library could also be hurt. And as such, people who are interested in the library are coming here to try to affirm the importance of it to our community before the budget season begins. By the same token, uh, a lot of citizens

1:24:06 are really concerned about what's going on right now. There's a great deal of angst and uncertainty as relates to our government, as relates to funding, as relates to how money is being spent or not spent, as the government is being taken apart. Um, and additionally, as a aside from just being a user of the library, I'm also a spokeswoman for the Trans Alliance of Plane County. I've spoken to you before. Uh, we continue as as an organization to be invested in making in pressing local government, county, and city to affirm uh that existing commitment to Oregon sanctuary laws and to expand those to cover trans and queer

1:24:51 people. City of Eugene back in 2017 passed Ordinance 2579 which affirmed ordinance protections for all Eugene residents. It would be nice if our city followed suit and did something similar. Right now there is great fear that people across the country can be whisked away, can be imprisoned without due process, can be disappeared, can have their rights taken away from them. It would be nice that people could use our local library without fear regardless of how they look or regardless of what they believe. Thank you.

1:25:41 >> Thank you. Any council response? >> Council Rodley. >> Thank you. I want to thank you all for coming out tonight. Um it was um I I also really appreciate all of the different things that folks brought forth. And the overarching theme is just how much people um love and care about Springfield and the services that we have here and want to just live and thrive and be safe in Springfield. And I I think it it takes something to come out on a Monday night. I know because I do it on the regular, but to come out um and share that in a very public way and to put your fears and your concerns out

1:26:27 for all the world to see. And I just really appreciate it because you could be anywhere else but you're here sharing that with us and sharing the things that are important to you which we do need to hear as we think about um what kind of a Springfield we want to be and where we want to put our attention and where we want to put our resources. So thank you. I just really appreciate it. >> And I neglected to ask if there were any hands online. >> There were no hands. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other council response? Okay, next item, please. >> Okay, next item is an ordinance. This is ordinance number um the first item is the Glenwood Riverfront annexation, second reading. This is ordinance number

1:27:14 two, an ordinance annexing certain territories in the Glenwood Riverfront. That's map 17-03-34-41 T tax lots 400 500 700 800 900 1,000300 and500 map 17-03-34-42 those are TA tax slots 100 200 300 400 500 501 502 503 504 600 00 700 800 900 1,1200300400500600700

1:28:02 1800 1900 2 and2100 to the city of Springfield withdrawing the same territory from the Glenwood Water District adopting a severability clause and providing an effective date. This is the second reading and Tom Severs is here for this item. Good evening, mayor and counselors. I am Tom Sever, senior planner in the current planning section. This is the second reading of the Glenwood Riverfront annexation. There was one update to the staff report that was to remove the Willil Kenzie Rural Fire Protection District. On Councelor Mo's direction, uh it is only the Glennwood Water District serving that area. Thank you, Councelor Mo. Uh other than that, I yield the floor.

1:28:52 Okay. Uh motion, please. >> So excited to make this motion. I move to approve an ordinance annexing certain territory in the Glenwood Riverfront map 17-03-34-41 TLS4 tax lot. That's what that is. 400 500 700 800 900 1,00 1,300 1,500 MAP 17-03-34-42 Tax lots 100 200 300 400 500 501 502 503 504 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,200 1,300 1,400 1,500 1,600 1,700 1,800 1,900

1:29:43 22100 to the city of Springfield withdrawing the same territory from the Glenwood Water District adopting a severability clause and providing an effective date. >> I get the easy part. Second. >> Yes, Neil and Councelor Rodley get gold stars for that one for sure. Um, any council discussion, questions? I've been waiting a long time for this to happen. That would be yes. >> Okay. Can we call the roles, please? >> Yes. Councelor Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Rodley, >> yes. >> Councelor Blackwell, >> yes. >> Councelor Doyle, >> I. >> And Councelor Stout, >> yes. Thank you. >> Motion passes. Six yeses, no. Zero nos.

1:30:31 Yay. Next item. Any business from the city council? >> Hold that thought. Councelor Doyle, did you have >> I was just trying to remember if I needed to like report on some of the committees. I have been going to the planning commission um meetings and I know there was a an issue that came up last week um that's going to be coming before us and they um they decided to close the public hearing I believe and and take some more information. So more on that and then ews this week. So I'll wait for that for next week. Okay. Okay. Any

1:31:17 nothing. Okay. Uh, next item, please. >> Next item is business from the city manager. Item number one is the home ARP applications. And Katie Carroll is here for this item. >> And Aaron Fieldfield is also here for this item.

1:32:08 Great. Uh, good evening, counselors. Uh, Katie and I are excited to be here tonight with two housing development proposals for your consideration on a city-owned property at 1577 Laura Street. Because these proposals are requesting federal funds, I'm going to first review some of the requirements and the process around awarding these funds and then Katie is going to describe the two proposals. Um I am confirming that both applicants are in the room. So if there are questions later about the proposals um that seem better to direct to them, they are available. So, as you may recall, Springfield is part of the Eugene Springfield Home Consortium, which annually receives federal funds for the development of incomequalified rental housing from the

1:32:54 US Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD. In 2021, as part of the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, Eugene received additional one-time funds on behalf of the consortium called Home ARP funds. The purpose of home ARP is to support qualifying vulnerable populations through different eligible activities. After an extensive planning process, the consortium allocated home ARP funds to support affordable housing development projects and supportive services within those projects. The process being used to award home ARP funds is the same process used for awarding home funds that is outlined in the home IGA between the cities. In this case, the RFP is run by Eugene as the

1:33:39 lead for the consortium and the expert on home requirements. The RFP is usually open for a few months after which an evaluation committee meets to review and score the submitted proposals based on a set of criteria. In this case, they are listed in your memo. Before this evaluation meeting, committee members and Eugene and Springfield staff review the proposals and send clarifying questions to the applicants. The evaluation committee evaluates both each proposal on their own merits against the criteria outlined in the RFP. The committee's scores are shared with the city council along with the proposals and the council is asked to make a recommendation for funding to the home governing board. A decision is then officially made by the home governing

1:34:24 board which includes the mayors of each city and a counselor from each city in this case councelor Rodley. that decision is made based on the council recommendations. So, we'll keep it on this slide. Um, what's exciting and different for Springfield in this round is that we paired home ARP funds with a city-owned property. And that is the property on your screen. This is 1577 Laura Street just north of Centennial, just west of Pioneer Parkway. Uh due to the smaller size of the property, the funding available is sufficient to cover most of the construction costs, whereas traditional home projects are usually larger and need significant funding from other sources. So if you recall, 1577 Laura Street is a.17 acre residential

1:35:12 property that the city took ownership of from the county. The county has a process that allows them to transfer tax foreclosed land to the city for the purpose of developing incomequalified housing. In June 2023, council directed staff to request transfer of this property from the county for the development of incomequalified rental housing using home ARP funds and the county approved. And under this transfer agreement, a development on the property must serve incomequalified households for 20 years. So through this home ARP RFP, the consortium received two development proposals for this property. And this year, the evaluation committee included a counselor from each city, councelor Rodley in this case, and two community representatives, Dan Stro from

1:35:58 Toati Capital Management, which focuses on real estate investment and development, and Savannah Olsen from the Springfield's Community Development Advisory Committee. The committee sent clarifying questions to both proposals and both applicants were able to provide written responses to the committee ahead of the meeting. The evaluation committee then met on March 11th and scored the proposals against the criteria outlined in the RFP. Both proposals scored well and were deemed suitable for home ARP funding. And tonight we are bringing both proposals forward for council review. >> Cool. Thank you. Uh, next slide, Alison. All right. So, the first proposal, the Laura Apartments, was submitted by Dev

1:36:43 Northwest, which is a local nonprofit and a HUD designated community housing development organization or CHOTO. Um, they propose building three, sorry, three homes. The three homes would all be attached twostory houses that are all three bedrooms and one and a half baths. They're proposing to serve survivors of domestic violence, which was identified by the home consortium as one of two priority populations in this RFP. Dub Northwest proposal prioritized larger units over the number of units due to their preference for um serving families with children. In this project, all units would be for households with incomes below 80% of the area median income. and Dove Northwest would partner

1:37:30 with a local nonprofit, Hope and Safety Alliance, formerly known as Women's Space, um, to provide tenant referrals and supportive services. Next slide, please. So, this image showing on your screen is the site plan for the proposal. Um, if you did review the original application, um, please note that an updated site plan was submitted as to the evaluation committee as part of that process, and that's what's shown here. Um, each home would have a patio and then there would be a shared green space in the back and then there would be two on-site parking spaces at the front where the street is. Next slide. All right. So, the second proposal is the Laura Street Homes. This proposal was submitted by Porch House

1:38:16 LLC, which is a private local developer that has done some middle housing projects in Springfield. They are proposing building a cottage cluster with five homes. Three of the homes would be attached twostory homes and two would be detached one-story homes and all five would be onebedroom, one bath. Porch House LLC is proposing to serve individuals at greatest risk of housing instability with all units serving people living with HIV or AIDS. Four of the units would be for households with incomes below 50% of the area median income and one would be for households with incomes below 80% of the area median income. And Porch House LLC would partner with a local nonprofit HIV Alliance for tenant referrals and

1:39:01 supportive services. Next slide. All right. And this image on the screen is showing um Borch House LLC's proposed site plan. So, the three attached two-story units would be at the back of the property, furthest from the street, and then the two detached um singlestory units, which would be ADA accessible or kind of in the middle. And then at the front of the property, closest to the street would be four on-site parking spaces, including a van service lane, and then there would be a all the units would be around a common courtyard uh with storm water facilities. Next slide, please. All right. So, this slide just highlights some of the features of each proposal. A description of each proposal is in your memo in

1:39:47 attachment one. And then there are some more details summarized in attachment two, which also has a breakdown of the evaluation committee scores for each application that Aaron referenced earlier. Um, the applications are both requesting the same amount of home ARP funds. Um, Dev Northwest's proposal scored slightly higher at the evaluation committee based on their organizational experience. However, the committee found each proposal is suitable for funding. So, staff is um suggesting that the council may want to look at the type of housing, the number of units, and the target population um when thinking about what it wants to prioritize.

1:40:33 Okay. So the next step for council is to recommend a proposal to the home governing board for funding. Staff asked council is asking council to prioritize one of the proposals for funding but we are recommending that both proposals move forward to the governing board. Um there are a couple reasons for that. Um one working with federal funds is complex and this is a new funding source. Uh the two proposals have been scrutinized with all the available info um by Eugene and Springfield staff as well as the evaluation committee. However, with either proposal and as is true in most cases with home projects, there are some uncertainties and assumpt and assumptions which could create financial or other complications making

1:41:19 either project no longer viable. For some assurance, Eugene will not close on the funding until all HUD requirements are met because they have liability for the funds over the 15-year HomeARP affordability period. And Springfield, uh, we will not transfer the land to the developer until Eugene closes on that funding. So by recommending both proposals but prioritizing one, this gives the governing board flexibility to move to the second proposal should the prioritized proposal not be able to move forward. Um so the question that's outlined in your memo is does council want to recommend both proposals for funding to the home governing board and if so which proposal does council want

1:42:05 to prioritize for funding? >> The second question. >> Yeah, sorry. So the there are going to be two motions. The first speaking of the prioritization, the second motion has to do with the land um which is not a decision by the governing board but would be a decision by council to authorize the city manager to transfer the property. >> Okay. Uh questions, comments, thoughts? Councelor Doyle? >> Um it's really exciting that we have two and two that are so so well put together and stuff. That's fantastic. Um I am coming at it from um more of a personal um position because um

1:42:50 uh woman's space saved my life in the late '8s and so I have always been an advocate and I know that this council as a rule has um or not as a rule but over time has um prioritized women and children in um unhousing situations and different things like that. And so I would say I would be comfortable with um saying that both can move forward, but I would probably prioritize the um Alliance and the Dev Northwest application first. >> Councelor Black, welcome. >> Yeah, I think it's great to have two wonderful proposals. Um a need for both and I think I would definitely recommend that they both uh move forward. I would

1:43:35 uh over the two I would prioritize probably Dev Northwest because of the ninebedroom. Just looking at a bedroom count on that would would be my reasoning. Okay. Council mode, do you have any council rings? Oh, sorry. counselor st >> picking one of these is like picking a favorite child. Great work to all of you and I do concur with um my fellow counselors that I would still put Dev Northwest as my top.

1:44:25 >> Anyone else? What? I do have an opinion. Do you have one? Well, um, I've I've gotten to work with us a lot, so and I'm part of it and help score it. So, I think they're both fantastic projects and both of them are whichever one we end up with is going to be fantastic. So, um, and add to Springfield and exactly what we were trying to do with this project and, um, getting some land and throwing it in. So, um, I don't have a priority. I was hoping that you all would come up with one because I feel like I've I've shared my voice a lot on this. >> Okay, councelor Doyle, just a quick question. If um if in in fact this works out where obviously one's going to get it then the other, is it possible to because we have kind of a good plan on

1:45:11 that one. We have another property that was out in 54th or something at the same time that we acquired. Has that already been >> No. So the it's on South 52nd is the one you're thinking of. Um, that one's actually almost double the size. It's a quarter of an acre. Okay. Um, so that's one piece. And then the other piece is in the proposal to the county, um, when we said this is what we want to take these properties over for, um, we specified South 52nd for homeownership and these are rental projects. >> Gotcha. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other thoughts before I weigh in? >> Okay. Um, again to to acknowledge all of the other comments, the they're both really great projects. Um, but I also

1:45:58 favor the Dev Northwest project. >> I'm ready to make a motion if you're ready to hear it. >> I am ready to hear it. All right. I move that we recommend both projects for home ARP funding to the home governing board with a priority on Dev Northwest Laura Apartments proposal. Second, >> we call for the vote, please. >> Yes. Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Rodley, >> yes. >> Councelor Blackwell, >> yes. >> Councelor Doyle, >> I. >> And Councelor Stout, >> yes. Thank you. >> All right. I have another motion. I would like to move to authorize the city manager to negotiate and execute all necessary documents to transfer the

1:46:44 city-owned property at 1577 Laura Street map and tax log number 17-03-27-41- 052000 to the applicant awarded home ARP funds by the home governing board. >> Second. >> Okay. Can we call the vote on that one? Yes. Councelor Weber. >> Yes. >> Councelor Mo. >> Yes. >> Councelor Rodley. >> Yes. >> Councelor Blackwell. >> Yes. >> Councelor Doyle. >> Hi. >> And councelor Stout. >> Yes. Thank. >> Yes. Ah. Yes. Thank you. >> Both motions passed. Six yeses, zero nos. >> Next item, please. >> Any additional business from the city manager? >> Just a few items. Thank you. I just wanted to mention earlier this evening

1:47:30 uh council held interviews for uh potential members of our budget committee and historic commission. And I just wanted to mention how impressed I am continually with uh the people that live in our city and the experiences that they have. They were all incredibly impressive people and I'm proud uh that they will be part of our strong volunteer force in the city. Um secondly, uh you may have noticed that we had an annexation uh happen in tonight's meeting. Uh a very long motion. So, for those of you that might be watching and wondering why we do it this way, we're actually, you know, creating a public record here. And the tax slots that were listed in that very long motion that councelor Rodley uh

1:48:16 bravely took on uh is actually our Glenwood Riverfront um area that are we are now annexing into the city. And the next steps is to finalize our master plan for that area, which will be a wonderful um new uh addition to our city uh with a mixeduse development that will come uh before the council um at a later time. Uh councelor Mo was exactly right when he said that this was a long time in coming. In fact, the urban renewal district was formed in 2004. that gave us the tool uh necessary to get the funding to start assembling these parcels. And it was many many hours and years of work by uh other council members, other staff members, too many

1:49:02 for me to mention this evening, but I did want to note uh this very important moment in time for our city. Thank you. >> Any business from the city attorney? >> Uh no business. Thank you. >> Okay, we are adjourned. Thank you.