Springfield City Council — June 16, 2025

0:04 I'm going to call the Springfield City Council award session to order. And can we have roll call, please? Mayor Van Gordon here. Councelor Weber here. Councelor Mo here. Councelor Rodley here. Councelor Blackwell here. Councelor Doyle here. And councelor Stout here. Thank you. All right. Thank you everybody. We have two items for the work session this evening. The first one is street creation and classification with I believe and Jeremy and I hear it's Oregon surveyor of the year. That is correct. Thank you. Thank you for that acknowledgement. Um I get to um talk to uh you um can you hear this? Okay. Am I all right? Um about something that I really love and passionate about. And um let's get started.

0:56 Okay, we're going to get the um PowerPoint going here. Okay, excellent. Who owns the streets? Acquiring and disposing of city streets. I got to learn how to use this. I'm sorry. I apologize. Oh, on the side. Okay. I'm My apologies. Who owns the streets? Don't worry. We would all struggle the same spot. 1 million 108,800.

1:46 That is a big number. That represents 120 centerline miles of streets we have here in Springfield. And it's a big deal. It's a big deal because um one of the things that has changed in in how we acquire property or property rights or streets and some of that some of that has changed. Um before we used to um rely on consultants. Well, uh, we still do to some effect, but, uh, now that's kind of changing. So, I want to, um, I want the the council to understand what it is that the surveyor's department is doing, um, as as it relates to rightaway. So, this is going to be a really high level, but it's I'm going to

2:31 bring in a lot of information. So, I just want you to be prepared for I'm going to go really fast through this. But, um, if there's follow-up questions later on that, um, I'm more than happy to to answer those. But, let let me just, uh, po pose a a a question that I want you to think in your mind about streets. Is a street a liability or is it an asset? So, just think about that as we go through this. Okay. So, our public streets um um today's uh focus will be on public streets. It won't be on the private streets. So, we don't want to get in into that area today. Um they're usually dedicated or granted um to the city and

3:17 and usually held in trust by the city. Um once it's dedicated, street improvements are constructed in accordance with its classification. So here you So here I wanted to uh point out a couple projects that we uh are working on currently and one that we have um and one is an aspen and the other one's a um a collector which is centennial. So they they have different requirements um in construction. So here's today's uh road map or street map should should I say. Um, I want to go over um some terms, public versus a city. Um, some e um definitions of easements, how they're created and and the nature of those easements. Um,

4:04 acquisitions, how how we acquire uh right away uh either through de dedication or imminent domain. There's a couple different ways. And divestment, how do we get rid of it? So, sometimes we have a a street, we don't want it anymore, and we never created it. So, how do we get rid of it? We want to vacate it. We want to dispose of it. So we're going to start with terms. U that's number one. So one of the things that uh get it gets um kind of um confusing is the term between what is what is a city, what is a what is a public? We are a public entity, but we're not the public. So I want to make that clear because for the rest of this um conversation um we're going to have to be able to be very specific in what we mean by the public,

4:49 what we mean by by the city. City is a political organization and it's incorporated through the state. Public is just a general mass of people. So as we work through this, it's really important to understand that um the differentiation and sometimes we we use some of those words interchangeably and that's fine, but for purposes of this this discussion, let's let's keep those things to um differentiated easements. Okay. So we're going to get into easements. So we're going to start start at the very bottom here. We're going to talk about um uh what that means and how it relates to the public right away. So, let me ask another question. Um which is better to have um when it comes to streets, an an easement

5:34 or fee title? That's something to think about. All right. So, let's get into um just o overall some of the rights and interests in land. You have government, you have uh estates, and you have encumbrances. So um the main ones that we're going to be focusing on today as far as government's concerned is the police powers uh eminent domain and then as far as estates um we're going we're going to pretty much stay in the fee hold uh fee simple uh area and um as far as cumbrances we're going to stay with uh easement but just be aware that there's other types of of interest in land that we're not even going to discuss today. easement non-possess. It's a non-possessorary

6:20 uh interest in a land of another. Um it's usually very limited in its use. So it's very specific is what you can do on it. Um and oh it's a bundle uh it's part of the bundle of rights. So usually when you think about um all the rights that you have in land, we always think of a bundle bundle of sticks. So an easement is just one of those one of those bundle or one of those sticks. All right. So, creating a um the creation and nature of easements. Um for our discussions tonight, I'm not going to go into all the ways of creating it, but the ways that we do it here in the city specifically. There's uh easements are pertinent and there's easement and gross. And those are very very different. They have different purposes

7:05 and we use them both here in the city. Uh the pertinent is um um uh an easement that's benefits another property, not a person. And gross is a benefit of an of a person or an entity or or or something of that nature. So let's give it let's give you an example. So this would be a private access road, a driveway that crosses another person's land. Hang on one second. We got councelor Dwell. Can you back up on the easement part and and talk about that just for just slow down for just a real quick second? I hear. Keep going. One more. All right. So, the an easement given for the benefit of another party versus um one that benefits the owner personally. So, are you saying that an easement given for

7:52 the benefit of another property? H how does a city do that versus like we have a a wastewater line that runs through somebody's property and so we put an easement over that? Which which one is that? It would be ingross. Okay. So, so what what's an example of the benefit of another pro property that I don't understand? It would be like I'm I'm going to get to the example explain it. But yes, yeah, let me let me get to that. So, this is this is a really good question because um it's uh you just got to separate these things in in our mind. Okay. So, a private access easement so you create two estates um on a on um on a u a pertinent. So because the the reason why you're creating the the an estate is because you have a uh a servant estate and you have a dominant

8:37 estate. One is benefiting from that and one is a burdened by it. So in this instance here we have a city street and I need to get to my property. In order to get across uh this property um I have created an easement. So that the the the the easement of which um the driveway crosses is the servient estate and I uh and then the person who get receives that benefit is called the dominant estate. So the question here um that I would pose is um who who owns the land that crosses the the easement? Who owns that? You can think about that.

9:22 All right. So getting getting to to your question. Um did it switch? Okay, there we go. So this would be like the sewer easement question here. Sewer line crosses one or more lots comes out of the city. It c crosses a mult it could cross one or a multitude of them. So what this is what what the um the ement and gross is is it's to the city. It's to the person or to um um um an an entity. So like like the city or an individual person when that city or the independual person goes away the easement goes away under a pertinent it does not it you can transfer title and that easement will continue to go. So in this case same question who owns the

10:08 land the easement crosses. All right. So, here here's uh this next slide. Um we're going to um get a little bit um we're going to go back in history and um this is this kind of stuff that that I love to talk about. Okay. So, what you have right here is um an old Golo uh CAD cadastral map. It's from 1853 before we were a state. And on there you can see um that there is a road that goes to Oregon City. Now when immigrants used to come here, they used to go to uh Oregon City and then they'd follow the the uh the road uh down to our area down to Pleasanton and so on and so forth uh down to the

10:54 mines actually a little further. So um so in that case we're um we would look at that and oh I should also mention that uh you see uh Ebriggs um Elijah's uh um uh donation land claim. So this was a claim he had before we were a state. Um so you can see that the the roads are are kind of crossing in there. And so the question is is well who owns those roads? We're not even a state yet. So you have to so I want you to start thinking about some of this these questions here. There's no bonafide rights. Nobody has those yet. There's only promises that the government is making to these individuals.

11:39 So this this next uh this next uh one is um so now you now you're seeing the um original plat was in 1856 and that's in the lower left hand corner there. And that was something that um Ebriggs um uh platted but again where it's before statehood. So uh in that you can see that he uh has a road. Um you can see that he has alleys in there. So who's owning who owns those who owns those roads or oops I want to go back. I went too fast. Let's go back. Okay. Um so in 1872 after we became a state um it's um Springfield is uh is

12:24 platted. So this is the first plat before and and again you can see where um where um is it um Elias uh Elias Briggs um he has uh you can kind of see it where I have uh where I show where Main Street is. That's his old plat right there. So you can see that he's right next to Main Street there where today's Main Street is or uh Main Street and Mil Street and and of course that's also County Road 3 which was uh uh called Spores Ferry to Pleasant Hill. So again um who owns the road? So there's a little history there.

13:13 So what is uh Oops. So what does uh uh um our our code say about it? Our code says right away land acquired by purchase, reservation, dedication, force dedication, prescription or uh condemnation intended to be occupied by a street, crosswalk, uh railroad, electric transmission lines, oil or gas pipelines, water line, sanitary storm sewer, or other similar facilities. Well, that doesn't really get down to the essence of what it is. It tells you what you use it for. So, ma, uh, generally speaking, um, it's a right. It's a right away is basically an easement granted to the public under the jurisdiction and control of the city.

13:58 So, in a strict sense, it's it's it's it's really the right to pass over somebody else's land. Um, and in this in this instance here, I want you to um notice um all the improvements in in the street. Somebody brought this up. Um, and I was I think, okay, um, how do we answer this question? Who owns the trees? Who owns the street? Who owns the sewer? Who owns all the stuff that's in there? Obviously, somebody has to um maintain it and use it. Um, but who owns it? So, these are these are all questions that come up in right away all the time. All right. Acquisitions of public roads. And don't worry, we we'll get to a conclusion. I'm

14:44 asking lots of questions, but I'm just I want you to think about it as we're as we're moving through. Um so, we're going to move really quickly. So, acquisitions of public roads. So, um again, who owns road? So, acquiring land or interest, there's a few players I want to introduce you to. Um, there's the grtor who um who uh can convey the land. There's the grantee who can receive the land. And then there's oftentimes a trustee, someone that holds or manages the property for the benefit of another. A lot of times that would be the city. So, how do we how do we acquire these uh these rights in in the city? So there's

15:29 three three different ways that we do it. There's other ways that they can be acquired, but these are the ways that we do it here at at the at the city. Um there's open market, there's uh dedication and condemnation. So obviously open market is voluntary ded uh dedication is voluntary on the on the on the part of the grtor uh whereas a donation and then con condemnation um is an involuntary taking open market. So let's start with open market. Uh the biggest um aspect of uh open market is there's no undue compulsion. we don't uh we can't make you sell it to us and you don't have to sell it to us. So um so that's that's

16:16 the biggest thing. You have to have competent parties. Uh you have to mutual ascension um and it has to be lawful. Of course um the whole thing has to fall fall within the uh the conveyance uh document itself has to meet the statute of frauds. Um there has to be words of conveyance and you have to deliver and accept it. dedication. That's the second way we receive it. So, um so here here's a um here here's a definition. Um a dedication is an appropriation of land to a public use by the owner and accepted for such use on behalf of the public. And of there's two type two types here. There's common law and statutory. I'm going to talk about both.

17:02 Um but it must be a donation. Um, and it it must be expressed either through deed map or or a platt. So, here's a really really quickly a few principles of of dedication. Let's go through them. Oops, sorry, went too fast. Um, so there has to be an an offer or intention to dedicate. In other words, uh the owner has to want to give it to the to the city. Um one thing you should understand is uh most dedications um I don't know of any other examples. Um but most of them are easements um at least here in Oregon from what I

17:47 from what I've uh uh understood. Uh police powers. This is very important. the owner cannot impose restrictions um that would impair the police powers of the mun municipality um and fetile the fee of the property dedicated to the public uh will remain with the owner and then under statutory most uh our statutory law comes in RS92 um it's it doesn't supplant uh common law uh rather it's just another means of of of u dedication Um but one thing you should understand about uh statutory plat is uh Nolan Dolan um which is um uh has to do with forced dedications. There has to be a nexus and a rough

18:33 proportionality um in those uh the city can't require so that outside of those those realms. All right. Common law dedication. Um let's hear. Whoops. I went the wrong way. Okay. um usually done by a a deed and uh it needs to be uh expressed by a deed. Uh there must be an intent to donate. It must be for a public purpose and of course the city needs to accept it on behalf of the public. Here's here's one that we've done recently. Um Marcola Mill subdivisions. You have Pierce Parkway and Finia Street. Um and you'll notice um that on

19:19 the left hand side um in the boxed area there is a clear intent to dedicate. So you'll see that in there. And then on the right hand side around the circle you'll see um the city accepting it. And that is by by authority of the city council. I have the right to accept it on behalf of you. Um so that's what I do. I'll I'll accept the the roads and the streets and those so condom let's get on to condemnation law which is primarily what um uh one of the functions that the city has taken o over as far as not having to use consultants in in this matter or as much in the consulting area. So uh I want to

20:05 make uh make clear that there's two definitions. One is imminent domain. The other is condemnation. There's uh those are two different concepts. Imminent domain is our right a as as the government to take property. Condemnation is the process and ORS uh 35 explains that process. Oops. So, condemnation law, we have the Oregon Bill of Rights and we have the US Constitution. uh generally speaking um it we can't take it unless it's for a public purpose and we can't take unless there's just compensation. So that those are those are the two main uh areas that we have to um fulfill u before we we do that. But there's also statutes that um

20:50 also um uh tell us what we have to do. Um so in RS35 which is the condemnation um statute uh the property must be necessary um and the project must be planned and located in a manner which will be the most compatible with the greatest public good and the least private injury. Uh that's something that I talk to um as as we're going through the design phase. I talk to the engineers, the designers and I and I ask them often is this um is this uh uh designed in such a way that is most compatible with the greatest public good and the least private injury. Um resolution of necessity. We're required to uh you're required to

21:36 um pass a resolution of necessity that gives us that authority. Um and once we have that authority um the the statute also tells us that we um are required to come to an attemp attempt to come to an agreement before it goes to the condemnation process. So there's a lot of things that we can do in our negotiations on how we appro approach the landowner um and and and the compromises we can make um we can make before it gets there. there's always that threat. So, here here's a project that um I worked on when I was at the county. Um it was a uh condemnation project. Um there wasn't any project condemnation

22:21 that actually happened, but this one was through McDonald's. And as you can see, I just want to uh point out that you still have the same language that there is um um that they um that that the McDonald in this case it was McDonald's um that they um that they um sold sold it to the city and then in the same deed and this is just uh this is something the city has always has done um is the the deed itself also then dedicates it. So we don't bring it back to the council to dedicate it. It's just all done in one form. So they the um and this is the way I understand it anyway. We get we get the the rights from the from the owner to the city and then the city

23:07 dedicates that so it becomes a a rightaway. All right. So here's the fun part. It's time to part ways. So how do we get rid of these streets? car municipal code gives us a clue on how we're supposed to do it and it's in line with state statutes. Um that it has to be either initiated by the city council or by petition um in accordance with OS uh 271080. So basically it's an active uh an active legislation by the city council. So once it's vacated, what happens next? This is where the fun part begins. So, I've um you'll have to excuse me. Um but

23:52 here we go. Um so, we have a city street and here we are in a subdivision. On one side of the subdivision, we have lots one through five um owned by um various council members. And on the um right side, we have um lots uh excuse me, eight 8 through 10 um owned by um city managers. So the RS uh 271 says title to vacate areas. The title to a street or other public area vacated shall attached to the lands bordering bordering on such area in equal proportions. So what do you think's going to happen? See what's

24:37 happen. So we go we go to city council. They said yeah let's go ahead and vacate it. Uh we do all the necessary uh paperwork. Where was that land go? Everybody gets an equal proportion of it except there is an exception to that that rule because that rule is a presumption that everybody owns to the center of the robo. We don't know that. So, here we have we have Ellias Briggs and we have Isaac Briggs. And actually, the um um uh 10th Street is about where that donation land claim is. So, I put 10 Street in there. So, let's say Isaac Briggs decides he wants to dedicate uh 50 ft to

25:23 the to the public for um for a public road. So, what's what's what happens next? So, um, EliasBriggs sells oneacre portions to the council members and and then um the mayor gets um the other half. So, so what do you think happens here under um a common law dedication when you vacate it? Um the mayor gets everything. So they get uh he he gets uh the vacated portion because it came out of that property originally. So he gets it. So again, the presumption is ownership goes to centerline unless there's evidence to the contrary.

26:14 We're getting close. We're going to wrap this up and this is going to be quick. Um so what are those cases where the city owns the underlying fee title um but the the public has a right to access uh uh to use it. What happens? How do we how do we dispose of that? Um so the first part is uh we have to go uh before the um before the council to get uh to get it vacated. So once the the easement I is gone now it just now is the the the the fee title surfaces up. So in that case then we have to and this has happened just recently um then then the city council is going to have to u divest their their interest in that road. So um so that's a little bit more complicated but um in um other respects

27:01 if if uh the if the city didn't actually buy the fee title to the road um then uh the vacation itself would um just uh enure back to uh the the adjoining property owners and we don't have any problems here. So review, we learned some terms, we learned easements in general, we learned about acquisitions, we learned divestment uh very quickly. So that really um ends my presentation. I can entertain any I went through that very quickly. Um it's a lot of information. I just want to say thank you. Is there any questions? Uh, councelor Stone, do we have to initiate a vacation of the right of way before we

27:47 can divest of a road? So, let's say we want to we have a chunk of road and I and we want to I guess may maybe you can tease this out a little bit more. If we want to divest the vacate the right way on that, it would go back to the original property owners on either side. Correct. But how would are there examples within the city where the city actually owns the road underneath? Yes. And if we wanted to sell one of those, I mean, uh, you know, could we do we have to vac do we have to by statute vacate the right of way before we sell a piece of that road or is it just best practice? That that would be a legal question, but uh my my first thought is

28:32 is you own this fee, you could sell it. um you know it's encumbered it's an easement right so um going back to the uh servant for servant dominant property it's it's same concept there um well actually it's more uh in gross I I think but you still own the underlying fee so if I sold the property um the e the easement would would go go along along with it but you still own the underlying fee title to it so in my opinion in and I could be cor uh uh you know council could um um city attorneys can um have another opinion on it, but my opinion is that you when you as a matter of fact it it it is true when you sell a lot and

29:18 you own uh you presumably own to the center. So when you sell the lot, it everything goes with it. So lot one, you're you're getting everything to the center. So I would I would uh expect that or or understand that the same concept is is if I I could sell my interest in the street to somebody else. Now it's still encumbered. The the encumbrance is very heavy. It's got police powers. It's it's it's a very um it's very restrictive. It's one of the most restrictive easements you can have. So you still can't really do a whole lot. You can't do hard you can't do anything in it basically very little. You have very limited rights anyway. So

30:05 the fee title before you vacated it wouldn't wouldn't be worth anything. So yeah. All right. Anybody else? All right. Thank you very much. All right. We learned a ton. We will uh you know submit for our surveyor internship shortly. All right. Jeff Pascal with the camping update or I'm sorry, codifine temporary recreation vehicle occupancy. All right, good evening, mayor, counselors. Uh before I jump into my summary, I just want to thank the staff that are sitting here behind me because all of them helped prepare the documents in the packet that you have before you and pull that information and it it was critical in getting everything uh for

30:51 your review. Um, so I'm here tonight to uh discuss the temporary RV uh occupancy program um and then get guidance and direction from the council on moving forward um with a more permanent framework. Um as you'll recall, the program started back in 2020 um in response to the pandemic, the holiday farm fire, and a region our region's ongoing housing shortage. It was intended to be temporary stop gap measure to help people stay housed during the time of crisis. Um since then we've made a few adjustments. Um we include a re registration process that now shows 43 properties registered. Um 3 32 of them are currently housing an RV. Um and then over the past year we've had

31:38 a couple updates on this. I think all of those are listed in the packet and you've shown interest in considering a more permanent type idea and so we've got I I say three options for you. There's two listed in your packet for cottifying the program but always the council could exercise and in the pro exercise the decision to end the program. So there's always that option as always remains for the council. Um the first option is to codify the program in the municipal code. Um this will provide us a a clear uh enforcement tool and also a more stable framework. Um the second is to fold it into the ongoing development code update. Um which may allow for broader integration into the program or of the program. Um

32:23 staff's recommendation is option one. Um it provides us that clear um enforcability while also allowing for use of guidelines that can be updated more easily. um and obviously end the program more easily if the future council if this council or future councils decide to end the program. It's a lot easier than going through a land use process to update the development code. Um also we've been gathering data through registration, code enforcement, and occupant surveys. Um and while this isn't a comprehensive look just on the sheer volume of what we have, it does give us some insights. Uh most of the complaints we receive are are unregistered um RVs. Um and from the survey, many of the occupants report that they have access to most of the

33:09 things that are required in the guidelines, the uh sanitation, trash, that sort of thing. Um electricity, portable water. Um and and then again you'll see also when I reviewed the material a lot of the folks who are taking advantage and in the RV occupancy um say that they would have no other place to go if this program didn't exist. Um um one of the reasons we're here and one of the reasons we keep talking about this is enforcement is one of our toughest things because this isn't really we have a guidelines but it's not really adopted in any code. So, it just kind of leaves um code enforcement kind of with a their hand hands tied because unless there's another violation, there's not a real way to bring any of

33:55 the RVs if they're out of compliance into compliance um through our normal normal code and code enforcement. Um and finally, um I would like to thank councelor Stout for sending his questions and thoughts early. Um many of the areas he brought up and raised are areas that we're looking for guidance on policies. um things like a formal more formal way of permitting or registering. Do we want to have expiration dates and renewals on those permits similar to like the medical hardship or something like that and how you know if it's going to be a temporary program requiring screening or things like that because that was one of the things is I reviewed all of the materials. One of the one of the wasn't really a complaint from the neighbors was mostly it's just that screening. So, if we're requiring it, can is there a way to make it a little more uh or a little less obvious, things

34:42 like that, to where they're not peering into other people's backyards and just being um most people that did have them next to them acknowledged that the um valuable of the program, but did ask that question. What does temporary mean? So, um with that, happy to answer any questions. custom black wall. This might be next to impossible to have, but do you have any kind of data that says how many are are being utilized that are not registered? And if that's one of the main code enforcement things you get called for, what is the process to are they given a notice to register or what does that look like?

35:30 I I don't know that we have a lot of information on I I mean I think we've had 22 complaints on RVs that probably weren't registered. I think one of the tools would be that there is a process if they want to occupy it, but I'll let Charlie speak to more how he handles those. Hi, Counselor. Uh Charlie Kent uh with Code Enforcement. Um I I don't have any definitive uh numbers for you. Uh the current process if a complaint is received about an occupied RV that's not registered um and otherwise in compliance is that we uh provide the registration information with a deadline to register or if it's out of compliance then we pursue that through uh the use uh the residential use of an RV. Uh council thank you thank you very much

36:15 for this. Um, I'm still in support of this as a affordable housing option, but one of the things I'm thinking about now after having been through a couple of years of reports and reading this um, and I and I know that we're really lean and I know that we don't have staff and it it seems like we're missing something on the front end in terms of some sort of navigation. Um, because it's we're we're we're approaching this based on um, complaints, right? and we try to get the information out there that people need to register. But I wonder if at some point if we look at if we're going to codify this or if we look at how this really becomes functional and controllable and not too expensive, having a person or some part of us that

37:03 helps people to navigate the process, who's out there looking at the ones that are not in compliance, who's who's helping the neighbors and all of that stuff. So that and maybe it's a matter of, you know, I was looking at the photos and I'm like some of these don't look that great. So maybe it's a matter of here's how you get this drivable. Here's how you get it licensed. Like that just sort of this proactive piece. Um and I realized that that's has not at all been the scope of this program. But if it is something that we're going to continue um getting a handle on exactly what we expect from it. Um, and it's not just about reg. Originally it was like we want to register this because we want to know what's out there and now it's like okay now we're now we know what's out there. So what do we want it to be

37:48 and how do we want it to be used in the city and how are we going to get that on the front end as opposed to just being complained on the back end. Thank you. Mr. Sto, I first of all thank you so much for your um comments and responses back. I really appreciate it. Um, but I I sent you like 11 questions and I was realizing even then I could have probably come up with another 20. And so I I think this is a really big topic and it's really crucial. I met a lot of people that their only option was to live in an RV next to their parents' home or something like that. Like I understand that and I feel that. I think it's really important to keep that in mind. I also think um you know over the overall livability and and and um

38:34 general upkeep of neighborhoods is also very important and so but it's just there's so many different pieces I might think and I think I'm saying this more as a comment uh to council is that this may be a topic we have to come back into a even longer work session to really or even a small task force and I hate to say that um but because there is so much to it and because we're talking about people's families their lives their livelihoods all these different pieces. That said, um generally speaking, I'm in favor of your suggestion of how to codify it. So, just so that we have the right framework to work with it, but I would also be in favor of um this having to revisit this once a year. So, at least so that we don't just kind of let it lag. We have to we have to be checking in on this and get it on the

39:19 agenda at some point to really think more deeply about. That's my comment. Thanks. Hi, Councelor Doyle. Um thank you. And I know we've we've already had a lot of talks about this topic and um I agree that we're calling it temporary, but it really what we're now talking about is it not being temporary. Um and so I'm I'm was a little disappointed that I didn't see any and maybe it's just I was think expecting too much, but I'd like I'd kind of like to know what the code enforcement changes would be. Like I'd like to see what were we planning on making as rules that are going to change um that are going to be part of code enforcement for RVs. Is there going to be a list similar to what uh councelor

40:05 Rodley said, which is the RVs have to be, you know, newer than 1999 or 2010 or whatever. And there has to be like some set rules on that. But I mean, I don't even know. I know that they were having to use the current code for like garbage and that type of stuff, but what are the rules that are going to be specific to this? Um because it's hard for me to say, "Yeah, we're going to codify this and then not know exactly what we're talking about." I appreciate that. I I think what I I think the goal we were looking for tonight was really that that affirmative direction that the council wants to codify this is that in the development code process that we're currently going through in the housing piece or in the recommended municipal code update. um with some of those kind of ideas and thoughts that you have if

40:51 of then um myself and staff can go back and work with the city attorney's office and then in the fall bring you back what you're asking for to discuss in a work session to react to to to um talk about what those recommendations would be in the code and those requirements. So that's I guess that's what um as staff we were seeking tonight was one those questions. Do you want us to move forward with codifying this? Which option? And then just um framework, you know, do you want us to work on some of how do we address some of the things we're hearing in the complaints from neighbors who have these next to them and what those thoughts would be to bring back into a draft code that the council then could discuss and make recommendations on before we bring a final version back for um adoption. And

41:36 for me, it feels like that's almost the cottifying it is almost like the cart before the horse. Like you're asking us to codify this, but yet we don't really know what we're codifying. And it in sense I'm I'm not really understanding what it is that I'm I'm saying. Yeah. Okay. We're going to allow these RVs to continue um and that you're going to continue to do compliance based on the existing code. like I'm not quite sure what I'm g I don't want to I don't want to approve something like be okay with something and then six months from now you bring back the thing for a work session and I'm like well we're already locked in now now we we've said this is permanent you know this is a thing well we're not going to codify it till after I mean that would be what the action the council would be taking is codifying it based on what we bring back to you so that nothing tonight is codifying it it's just what one that again that

42:23 question do you want us to move forward is the consensus to move forward with cottifying this if that's if that's the action the council wants us to take then we'll go back and and take that option back and we'll bring back another discussion that show that is here's the guideline here's the changes to the guidelines we recommend adopting as part of that code and then how we would work through enforcement with that okay and I'm I'm okay with that and I I also another piece that I that I'd like to see are um and it was a we all received a memo and I've talked to multiple people about the tiny homes the little because they're on wheels. So, they're kind of considered RVs, but yet they're far more advanced and intended to be a living space and stuff. So, I'm hoping that we might be able to work something in with that as well. If I'm going to sort of sign on to this, I'd like to

43:09 see, especially when we're talking about people needing a place to live and having it be something that's a little nicer and, you know, that neighbors might not be as, you know, uncomfortable with. Um, those tiny homes are pretty neat. And so, I'd like to see if maybe we could explore that as well. Council Weber, I'm in support of moving forward with option one and I agree with uh some of the comments, but this is bigger than a bread box. There's a lot involved in in making sure that we handle this in the best possible way. So, um I'm in support of moving forward and and having this conversation once we have, you know, more information to look at and making changes as we see fit. Okay. Uh, one of the Oh, that's wrong.

43:57 I'm always I'm always the quiet one. I I support temporary housing. RVs being parked in industrial or commercial spaces, u residences, that's sort of iffy, but those people need a place temporarily. It's their life or on the street. We need to be able to make sure that we keep that from happening if we can. So the best we best way we can to allow that to happen I support. All right. One of the questions that I had and maybe this is a question for you Charlie is we talked about how many complaints we've had. We talked about how many um uh registrations we have and how many RVs that are actually out there. Do you have a sense of how many there are

44:42 actually out there in the wild? Come on up. And we're not holding you to a precise answer. If is it over 10,000? Is it under 500? Right? Like I'm I'm just looking to kind of put it in a box of Sorry about that. I I think it's safe to say um uh one per block uh would be a rough estimate. Um, but again, I also am I don't drive around the the nice neighborhoods uh uh that that you know I I'm I respond to complaints and so um uh you know there's several on a block or there's none on a block but I think very

45:27 very roughly uh one per block. So I'm not sure exactly what that number would be. Um, and okay, so that's that's good that's good feedback because my part of the city, right, in my area, I don't see them at all. Right. So, and I don't randomly go driving down every uh uh residential area in the in the in the city. But, um, the other question I have is when you see them in the wild, are they when how many are actually in the rideway? or when you say one per block, is it some of them in the rightway or is it some of them like they're all tucked back in the in the broader pictures? Um, yes. So, that's either uh in parking lots that's specifically on private property. Uh, so I'm not considering the

46:13 um uh those parked in the right way. And how many have other site issues like if you know and I know you're just observing from the street but like when I read it like the things I automatically get concerned about are sort of trash trash waste water all those types of things. Do you have a sense of how many actually would have those types of issues just from you or your folks kind of seeing that area? Um I' I'd say the the violations would there would be um auxiliary violations uh more often than not. Um however, again, I I go back to uh it's a very specific pattern uh when I'm responding to complaints about RVs. Uh uh so uh

46:59 generally speaking, I I think that violations exist at those sites um as well. And can you give me an example of like the most common that you would would see? And again, I know this is just anecdotal. Sure. Um, uh, prohibited parking, uh, would be, um, largely the the main one. So that's parking, um, in between the the front facade of a structure and the primary street. Um, so parking next to a driveway um, or uh, in the front yard um, or extending over the right of way. So that that would be obstructing the the city sidewalk. Um uh and then the the second piece would be either uh stored vehicles or more vehicles than that location can support

47:45 which spills over into the ride ofway as well, which I'm u not necessarily I don't regulate the rideway um uh except when it's a stored vehicle. So an inoperable vehicle, excuse me. Okay. Thank you. So, I think my um my takes a couple um I've I've got a couple different takes. I think the medical program is really an important part of that. So, when we talk about not putting it in the development code, but instead of codifying it, right, having a slight like a a different more specific track around the medical program, that's something we've historically had. The other thing when I look at the pictures, um, I do see, you know, issues that like obviously wastewater is something that, you know, I'm would be concerned about, but also the age of these vehicles. A

48:31 lot of them look like they're outside of their um outside of the lifespan of other vehicles. And I think that's a big issue and I would love to like hear more about them, right? because if they're not habitable, I don't know that they should be allowed for, you know, for for a residence, right? Because these things are RVs are not designed to be permanent structures. uh screening is a thing that I see a lot like a lot of different issues about you know um you know and I'm thinking about this purely from a from a codifying perspective and I think I like and the other thing that I think would be interesting to know about is if this started as an emergency program right and when we saw the code update a few

49:18 weeks ago they talked about a requirement that you know we allow RVs for emergencies but again when you think about like how we put it in into the code. I'm thinking about, okay, how do we make some decisions around how the city manager goes through that sort of process so if we have another holiday and fire event, it's a little bit more streamlined more broadly. Um, I'm worried about the size and scope of this thing. And I think I'm gonna and I know you're gonna bring back information and we're going to talk about it, but if if they're out there in the level that Charlie's describing and I think about all the site issues that people are talking about up here, like I don't know that like what's the financial impact of us codifying that program becomes a big

50:04 question in my mind because we don't really have the code enforcement staff. This isn't one code complaint, right? this is perpetually a lot of code complaints and if it's going to be you know additional FTEES then that then the question I uh then that I would have is like what's the revenue source for those FTES that you know and I think those are just normal program development perspectives so I've got big questions here I think you just getting through the the meeting with hey look you know don't put it in the development code right like let's make it let's not make moral and use decisions. Um and maybe I don't know that you got to write out the whole like have it mock you know

50:50 code here. You could just maybe bring some of these issues to us and let us weigh in a little bit more might be might be more helpful instead of having to go through a a lot of work and have us have a lot more questions. Does anybody else have All right, perfect. Thank you. That sounds like a plan. Thanks, Jeeoff. All right, we are adjourned till 7 o'clock. All right, I'm going to call the Springfield City Council regular session to order with roll call. Mayor Van Gordon here. Councelor Weber here. Councelor Mo here. Councelor Bradley here. Councelor Blackwell here.

51:35 Councelor Doyle here. And councelor Stout here. Thank you. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republicy There are two times for uh designated for public testimony this evening under public hearings and business from the audience. If you are attending in

52:21 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're joining us online with a tablet, smartphone, or computer and wish to speak for either of those times, please use the raise hand feature in Zoom. The order of public testimony is as follows. Anyone who's in the council chambers or anyone who has raised their virtual hand. First item, please. Mayor, the first item is uh celebrating Thirsten softball's second place finish in the state championship. stand up. Uh, you can sit right there and there's microphones to turn on. We may have to get you a set another chair.

53:06 Just move move something around like you own the place. They won't stop me. And then you push the button for green. And make sure you introduce yourselves. Uh, my name is Carl Oan. I'm the assistant coach at Thirstston High School. Head coach Jeff Lidle is um coaching an all-star eight and nineman camp in the Grand Oregon right now. So I'll be representing our team. With me I have Gabby Montes. She is our senior uh shortstop and uh with her also as Casey Ogan who is our senior pitcher um that led every game just about this year in the circle. So, super proud of the the ladies and thank you for giving this opportunity to to come and celebrate um all of their hard work, their success

53:52 that they had this season. Um like you said, historic. This is the first time in Thirstston High School history that a team has advanced past the first round of the state playoffs and the first trophy that will be placed in the Thirstston High School trophy case. Um so that dates back quite a long time. I don't know when Thirstston started playing softball, but I can tell you in the OSAA records when they started recording in 1976. Uh it is the most wins um the highest place finish that they've ever had. Um as they started the season, Jeff and I kind of we got through a tournament down in Medford and we played really well and we kind of were talking to each other like, you know, this could be something

54:37 special this year. and they kept winning and they set a goal to be league champions. And when we hit about the midpoint of the season, um there was there was a an event that happened. I know many of you are aware of the the tragedy that happened for the UCCC softball program. Uh head coach Jamie Strins was a mentor and coach to many of these young ladies. Um so that was a difficult difficult time for our team. It happened in a very critical time of the season and sorry, the team could have just folded and we would have understood completely. Um, we played a game two days after Jaime's passing and the girls were playing through tears on the field. Uh we did

55:24 not do well that day, but it galvanized our team at that time to not just play the game um for the wins and losses, but to play for each other, to play for a higher purpose. And through that and through her strength and and having her with us this season, we did special things. And um so proud of these young women for what they've done. uh not just the wins, but how they came together and overcame adversity. Um lifted each other up, played for each other. They didn't play for stats. And believe me, there were some crazy good stats this year. Um we had five all-state players. We had every starter on our roster receive league honors this

56:11 year, which is a first time ever again for Thirstston High School. the first time we've had more than three allstate players on a team. Um, so they did great things. Um, I'm going to let Gabby and Casey each say a little something about about the team and what this season meant to them. No, you got that. This one. Yeah, I just think he covered a lot of it, but this season was really special for us. just the bond we had, which I don't think like the coaches can speak on that because obviously like they're not in the locker room with us. They're not on the field with us. And so for us to be able to step away from them and be together the way that we were was honestly amazing. Like it was a joy to come to practice. It was a joy to play

56:57 with these girls. And I think that really helped this season. Um, for me it's just kind of crazy that we're like here at all because it it feels like it was just hanging out with friends more than it was going to practice. We were spending we were spending two hours just talking and there happened to be physical activity. Like that that's what it was. That's what it was. Um, and then being at the state championship, it was just like that's when it was real and like win or lose, I just couldn't be happier to be where I was with the people I was with.

57:43 Thank you. And thank you for this opportunity to to celebrate their accomplishments. Does uh anybody from council want to jump in here? Go ahead. As a fellow Colt and softball player, really proud of all of you. It's so exciting to watch the season. So congratulations. Thank you. You and as your counselor for Ward Six where Thirstston is we Yes, we are all proud of you and you've all given us an extra little dose of hope and encouragement and support. So you're doing way more than you even know for our whole community. So thank you for your great efforts this week or this year, excuse me. Thank you. And as another quote from a long long time ago, um again, very very proud of you. Now, do you are the girls required to keep a

58:28 certain GPA or um scores? Yeah, they they do have to um the bar honestly isn't set terribly high. Uh they have to have a a two-point average and passing five, you know, passing five classes with a two-point average. Now, we as coaches and expectations as a program, uh, we don't accept that as a standard. Okay? So, you know, we want the girls to achieve the best. I don't know if if we did a tally, but we never have any problems with grade cards. We don't have anybody that's happened to being checked on. Many of our our players are honor students. Um, that's awesome. Get great grades and that reflects on their work ethic and everything else they've done. Well, and I think that very much what you said is that yeah,

59:13 it's a sport and it's you want to win and what have you, but the teamwork, learning to work together with others is so important and it sounds like you guys got it nailed. So, right on. Glad you're here. Thank you, Council Member. I am not a thirst and cold, but I am really proud of all of you. Great job. And sounds like you had a fantastic year and and overcame a lot of different challenges and kudos to you for that. Thank you. Well, we're proud of you and it means a lot that you guys went this far and hearing that a little bit of the story of the entire team. Um, my daughters enjoyed going to the last two games. They had a blast. Um, you know, and that was, you know, exciting, uh, as a parent to see. So, thank you so much for it. We

59:59 are going to take, we're going to have the whole group up and take a picture. I'm looking at the PIO for instructions. Do you want me to have the council come down or do you want What's that? Okay. Well, we're following instructions. Proceed to the well and we're going to have your whole team up. We'll take a giant picture. And you know, if you guys want to stay for the budget hearing, you're more than welcome to.

1:01:08 I'm sure right here

1:02:21 Next item, please. The next item is the consent calendar. I make a motion that we accept the consent calendar. Second. Could you call the vote, Neil? Yes. Councelor Weber, yes. Councelor Lowe, yes. Thank you. Councelor Bradley, yes. Councelor Brow, yes. Councelor Doyle, I. And Councelor Stout, yes. Thank you. Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. Next item is public hearings. You have three public hearings this evening. The first public hearing is fiscal year 2025 2026. The fiscal year 26 city budget adoption. Nathan Bell is here for this item.

1:03:09 All right. Uh good evening, mayor and council. Uh on the evenings of May 12th, 13th, and 14th of this year, uh the city's budget committee met, uh to consider and recommend a budget, uh the fiscal year 26 budget to council. Uh the resolution and exhibit in front of you uh this evening is such budget. Uh staff is requesting that you conduct a public hearing and take action on this item. Are there any questions about the budget? Okay, I'm going to go and open the public hearing. I don't think I've got any cards. Hold on. I do not have any cards for this item. Neil, do we have anybody online?

1:04:13 Um, okay. Come on up. you. So I if you're talking about uh just if you're wanting to speak to the this year's budget, are you wanting to speak to this uh to the conversation around the fiscal stability task force? Then you you checked the right box originally. So So perfect. We got you in the right spot. So we'll get we'll come to you here in a minute. Neil, do we have anybody on the uh No hands online for this item. All right, I'm going to close the public hearing. I move to adopt a resolution adopting the fiscal year 2025 2026 FY26 city of

1:05:00 Springfield budget making appropriations and imposing and categorizing the taxes. Second. Neil, could you call the vote, please? Yes. Councelor Weber, yes. Councelor Mo, yes. Councelor Rodley, yes. Yes. Councelor Blackwell. Yes. Councelor Doyle. I. And councelor Stout. Yes. Thank you. All right. Motion passes. Six yeses. Zero nos. Next item, please. Public hearing number two is a resolution certifying the city's eligibility to receive state shared revenue from cigarette, marijuana, gas, and liquor taxes. Jessica Mummy is here for this item. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Jessica Mummy. I'm the city's budget and procurement manager here this evening for the public hearing on state

1:05:45 shared revenue. State of Oregon law provides that cities that are located within counties that have 100,000 or more residents. That's according to the most recent 10-year federal census uh must provide four or more municipal services in order to be eligible to receive state shared revenue. And those revenues are from cigarette, marijuana, liquor, and highway taxes. The list of municipal services that satisfy the requirement are as follows. Providing police protection, fire protection, street construction, maintenance and lighting, sanitary sewers, storm sewers, planning, zoning, and subdivision control, and or at least one utility service. The city of Springfield provides six of these seven services in

1:06:31 the list. And quickly, just as a quick reminder from the budget committee presentation, state shared revenue accounts for approximately $2 million in the general fund, 5 million in the street fund, and $100,000 in special revenue fund. Questions? All right, then I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. I don't have any cards for this item. Neil, do we have anybody online? No hands for this item. Um, I close the public hearing. I move to adopt a resolution of the common council of the city of Springfield certifying eligibility for state shared revenues from cigarette, marijuana, gas, and liquor taxes and

1:07:16 approving the city of Springfield's participation in the state revenue sharing program. Second. Could you hold 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. Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. Your third public hearing is the fiscal year 25 supplemental budget number three. And Jessica Mummy is here for this item as well. Good evening again, Mayor and Council. Jessica Mummy, budget and procurement manager. For the record, I'm here this evening for a public hearing on supplemental budget number three. Council is adjusted at various times during the year to review and approve adjustments to the annual budget. These changes reflect changes in planned activities to recognize new

1:08:03 revenues or make other required changes. This is the last of three fiscal year 25 supplemental budget requests to come before council. Just a couple of supplemental budget 3 activities I wanted to highlight for you this evening. One is to recognize new revenues um in our transient lodging tax fund. Um this is from the state of Oregon. the state of Oregon needed to make some corrections to which hotels um were we were receiving transit lodging tax revenue from. This accounts for about $400,000 in new revenue that we're recognizing. We also needed to decrease our general fund contingency by about $171,000 due to overtime trending higher in fire and life safety. We recognized two $2,000 in donations. These were received

1:08:50 for the treatment court um incentives for participants. And finally, we're in um asking to increase development and public works capital project expenditures. And this is to fund accessibility enhancements for the west entrance restroom for um ADA needs. That's everything. Uh thank you. Uh are there any questions? All right. I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. I don't have any cards for this item. Neil, do we have anybody online? No hands for this item. All right, I'm going to go I close the public hearing. I move to adopt a resolution adjusting resources and requirements in the following funds. General street special

1:09:35 revenue, transit lodging tax, community development, fire local option levy, development projects, street capital, ambulance, storm drainage operations and vehicles and equipment. Second. Could you call 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. Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. Next item is business from the audience. Right. I've got a couple of cards. Uh, when I call your name, please come up to the microphone. You'll have three minutes. Um, and state your name and location for the record. James Londir.

1:10:31 Good evening. James Longinger, 1950 South 57th Place, Springfield, Oregon 97478. Mr. Mayor, council members, attempting to measure results of any governmental bureaucratic agency can be complicated, such as it is with school districts here and across America. We touched on this at our last council meeting in terms of progress being made with K to2 literacy. Yes, national, state, and district data show a continuing lack of improvement in K to2 literacy. A huge critical factor for all was the effect of COVID closing schools and the dramatic effect had then which continues today for K to2 students. There has been no improvement over precoid scores and we remain with a

1:11:16 10 to 12% deficit since 2018. And there are many other factors to be considering. Nearly half of Springfield's K to2 students come from economically challenged homes. And the recent King Lane County point in time counts shows 237 homeless county students with 130 being unsheltered. And let us not forget that the state's funding for education has placed us number 41 out of 50 states. There's much more, but what is the Springfield Library doing to help promote literacy? First, we curate and purchase quality, diverse books for families and children. Next, we continue with regularly scheduled popular story times for all ages that are designed to demonstrate

1:12:02 early literacy activities in talking, singing, and reading. Our summer reading program, just launched a week ago, is a highly successful program for all ages, focusing on early reading, literacy activities, and library programs with free books for children. So far, nearly 350 pre-readers to adults have signed up during that first week. This summer, we will continue our summer popups in underserved communities with free by bilingual, Spanish, and English books for young children. And we will continue tableabling at community outreach events with free children's books and information about the library's resources. And there's our 30 yards of the bring them backs collection whereby anybody visiting the library without

1:12:48 cash or a library card can take home books, enjoy them, bring them back and a great way to get more books into the home. Studies have shown that children having access to books in the home is linked to school success. We have so many ways to help parents build skills to interact with their children through early literacy activities. We must keep these programs staffed and budgeted and working to improve literacy in Springfield. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Uh Jenny Hman, thank you. I'm nervous. I wore these for you. Ghost Steelers. Yeah, that's almost brought my towel. No.

1:13:34 When I retired three years ago and started volunteering for the museum and library, I was amazed at how many people use the library. There's constantly books being reshelved. Citizens are at tables learning languages, reading the newspaper, doing research, getting help with their cell phones. The computers are in use as well as the printers for those without the means to own them. Yes, the literary rate literacy rate is falling. It's really concerning. it worsened since um 2001 when No Child Left Behind came about and with confusion for educators and the quote unquote standardized testing. Um and then in 2015 when every student succeeds, it sounds like it hasn't done

1:14:21 much to improve the um education of our kids. And I was telling my grandson today, it was so frustrating just to see so many misspelled words on articles that I read on Google and it's, you know, even parcels, things that we get in the mail. It's things are misspelled. It's like literacy is awful. Um, it's not the library's job, I know, to teach literacy. However, it is the library's job to be here. Its job is to be here for the young ones who come to listen to stories. It's here for all ages to browse the shelves, take part in the many opportunities the Springfield Library offers. It's where minds grow. I walked through the team meeting last week um and saw kids playing chess um

1:15:09 and even overheard some teens talking about solar power and I was like when I was a teen I don't remember what I was talking about but it wasn't that kind of stuff. We can't lose this and we can't lose the people that are leading these children. We have to be there for our community. Growing up in Pittsburgh, um with an appreciation for Andrew Carnegi, what he's done for libraries around the country, let's remember one of his quotes, a library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. and I just I plead with you find a way to reduce this $500,000 loss in funding. Um, as a volunteer, I intend to step up. I intend to give more of my

1:15:55 time and do what I can and encourage other people to do so. But please, let's don't cut 500 from us, please. Thank you. Hey, Jenny, before you go, say your name and location for the record. Told you I was nervous. Jenny Horn, 63163rd Street, um Springfield. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Stout for re for um representing us. The next person is Robin Len. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and City Council. My name is Robin Luden. I'm the current chairperson of the library advisory board. I'm my address is 1147B

1:16:41 Street, uh resident of Ward 3. Um you have a copy of the letter I'll be reading from today. So, thank you for your time. Um we as a Springfield Public Library Advisory Board serving as a liaison between the public and the library are writing to express our concern regarding the proposed $500,000 reduction to the library budget. We understand the challenges involved in balancing the city's financial needs and we see that you have difficult decisions to make. However, we simply ask that the council consider the broad and long-term implications these cuts could have on the 40% of Springfield households that regularly choose to have a library card and our community as a whole. For many, the Springfield Public Library is one of

1:17:26 Springfield's most visible and accessible public services. It contributes a positive image to our city hall, serves a vital role in drawing people downtown, and alongside the Springfield Museum's presence on Main Street, supports the city's many efforts um in revitalization. The proposed budget cuts mean a further reduction in hours as well as services and programming um and a significant cut to staffing as well, resulting in less trips downtown, less gatherings in the plaza, and less foot traffic overall in Springfield. With 13 staff positions, the library currently has a.22 FTE per thousand population served, while the state median is.5 FTE per thousand. Despite this staffing level, our library has been able to partner with our school

1:18:11 district and local businesses to the fullest extent possible and build community partnerships that stretch those resources and services. Much of this programming and community work is grant funded, such as the summer plaza events. A loss of three staff, which is what the $500,000 reduction would include, um will result in a reduction in capacity to apply for this funding and to hold these programs. Our library shows up for our community in many ways and spaces as possible, providing key services that many individuals and families rely on. Beyond being a place to borrow books, the library provides free early literacy programming, access to public computers and Wi-Fi, employment and housing resources, resume and job application support, and community meeting spaces.

1:18:57 In times of emergency, it is the library that serves as a gathering space for our community. The resources help community members find jobs, build skills, connect with others, and support their families. This is particularly valuable for those who may not have access to these services or spaces elsewhere. We recognize the city must make hard choices with limited resources. Our hope is that the city council will look closely at how the $500,000 cut will impact the community, not just for those holding library cards, but for the city as a whole. Our library serves an essential role. finding ways to preserve those essential offerings even in a constrained budget year will be a valuable investment in Springfield's future. Thank you.

1:19:59 Hello. Hello. My name is Elliot Harwell. I live in W 3. Uh you heard from me two weeks ago. Uh, it's a pleasure to see you all again counselors. I'm here once again to advocate for the local library. Um, I appreciate the city council's passage of the proposed budget earlier today. Um, uh, maintains the existing library funding levels, which is great and good. No, I don't think anyone who's advocating for the library is advocating for is worried about this fiscal year. We are concerned about the fis the fiscal stability task force call to cut $500,000. Um, we're also, you know, concerned that, uh, some of the current funding of the library appears to be partially frozen in so far as they are unable to fill, um, empty positions right now. Um, and I did have one counselor last time question the how well libraries help

1:20:48 literacy, which is a really bad place to start in terms of trying to convince you all that libraries are important. Um what I could say councelor Doyle is is that other people have already spoken but that uh the effects of co and uh on literacy rates even and even before co are felt across the nation. It's not up to the library alone to answer the decrease in literacy but it is certainly an important component of fighting for literacy among our youth especially among our least welloff. Um the the other thing is is that um as has already been mentioned, our library as it currently exists has a third of the staffing levels that we might expect

1:21:33 from a similarly from a from a library that served a similarly sized population. In the fiscal stability task force report, it compared us to Corvallis. Uh Corvalis, which has a population of 60,400 people, has 47 full-time library staff, while we with a population just slightly over at 63,000 have at least as per the the libraries the fiscal stability task force's report have only 17. So for a similarly sized population we have almost onethird of what they have and that also absolutely affects what the library can and do can can provide. What I'd like to conclude with is by

1:22:20 behind me on this wall states the city council's goals. Absolutely. Maintaining safety and fiscal responsibility are among them, but so is promoting and enhancing our hometown feel while focusing on livability and environmental quality as well as fostering an environment that values diversity and inclusion. And while I recognize the absolute importance that police and fire have in this and public safety does, we I do urge us as Springfieldians to imagine a city and a future that is more than just safety and provides an ability for people that live here to have a sense of their hometown and to be able to grow and become the best versions of themselves through libraries. Thank you.

1:23:05 Thank you, Marshia Anderson. Okay, you're on. So, uh, name and location for the record. Marsha Anderson and the location is 1034 L Street, just north of the Springfield High School. And I do thank you for the opportunity to talk to you today. My husband and I moved to Springfield about 18 months ago

1:23:50 after visiting about 15 cities in Oregon looking for a place to settle down. And in every community, one of the first stops that we made was the public library. If a community had a great library, it was a sign that the community cared about learning, about children, and about education. if the library was only open for limited hours or with limited staff and programs, it was a sign that something was really lacking in that community. So, that was one of the things that we judged a community by. We chose Springfield because it seemed to be a community that is growing, that is thriving, and that is caring about people.

1:24:37 During the past 18 months, I've used the library in the following ways. We used the internet connection after we first moved here, and we didn't have a connection. We used that same connection and the library space to do a remote closing on the sale of our house. I've used it for printing documents on a regular basis because our printer is not robust. I've used it for photo copies. I've used some of the online databases for research. And I've tried the Mango Lango MA mango language learning programs. It's great fun, but it's a lot of work.

1:25:22 And we joined some of the community read activities last year. I've enjoyed the summer programs last year, the Springfield uh film programs, and I've checked out a lot of ebooks and audio books from the library. And I've even checked out print books and DVDs, old-fashioned as they are. I love to read, but I have neither the funds nor the space nor the desire to accumulate a collection of books that I can easily borrow instead. I truly consider the library to be the heart of the community and it makes downtown much more accessible, much more

1:26:10 friendly and interesting. And I also consider the library to be a necessity, not a luxury. So making any drastic cuts to the budget will impact not only the people who use the library, but also the community as a whole. So please consider this as you work on next year's budget. And thank you for your time. Thank you. That was the last card I had. Neil, do we have anybody online with their hand up? No hands for this item. Mayor. Okay. Is there anybody who want would like some council response? Councelor Stout. First of all, thank you all so much for your testimony regarding

1:26:56 the library. I mean, my wife takes my kids and I take my kids sometimes on uh Saturdays especially, but um we just we do truly treasure it. And I I just wanted to throw one thing into the mix. I think that um certainly Corvalis has an opportunity because they are in part funded by a levy to support their library funds. And I don't think any of our I think all of our council have just really treasured the passion and the desire that every one of you who have testified have for the library and we want to be supportive of that. um we have to look at hard numbers, but we also truly want to support what it is. And I hope that same passion is felt throughout the entirety of Springfield so that perhaps as one option. I'm not speaking for our council, but just

1:27:42 please know that we I think we are are truly have the library is extremely important to the hearts of all of us here. So that's all I want to say. Thanks. Anybody else? Councelor Rodley. Thank you. I just want to thank you all for coming out. It's I'm I'm appreciating seeing similar and different faces each time. So, I know you all are are talking and and really staying engaged with this and I believe that's what the mayor asked last time. We are really at the beginning of this conversation and you all receive that information when we receive that information and so continuing to stay engaged and continuing to send emails and continuing to come and and share all of the ways that the library is important to you matters. Um, it matters a lot to me and

1:28:29 I love seeing you all come because I also am a huge library fan. So, thank you for taking time out of your Monday night to come and talk to us. All right, anybody else? All right. Uh, thank you everybody for coming. Um, there's just two brief points that, you know, I will I want to draw your attention to. Councelor Rodley uh stole my thunder here a little bit that we are at the beginning of this conversation. We are going to talk about this again on June 30th. It is in a work session. It is we are probably not going to finalize any decisions until the fall. So just to give you a sense of the context of how early we are in this and this is the same uh feedback I I've given all community groups about um this process is please read the report, keep sending

1:29:16 us feedback because this is how we all get to a point of um how we go for how we go forward here. Uh, one of the questions I will have, you know, for the staff on in the um in the uh on the 30th is really talking to us about the earliest time that we could schedule an actual vote on this so that everybody's got some clarity about, okay, we're talking about it. We're getting more information. We're talking to the public. We're going to reach out over the summer, but when's the actual place that we are planning on making a decision so that we, you know, so that we can take more public testimony about it. The other other thing I would like to call people's attention to and Robin had this in her letter is the proposed budget cut means a further reduction in hours etc for services programming results to less traffic in in the plaza

1:30:02 etc. This is this got to a question that I that I really do have. Um I don't know that we can say what the cut is at this point. Right? That is a question that I will have for the city manager on the 30th and I don't know that she's going to be ready to answer at that point is to really as we talk about this and try to understand the impact is to get more certainty around you know what what this would potentially look like that that just stood out to me. It's a thing I've been I've been thinking about is like, okay, if we go down this path, what does that actually mean so people have some certainty about how to respond to it? Sure. You know, the other thing that we might want to consider is regardless of whether this happens or not, um the levy option is something we should all be

1:30:48 thinking about. Um because that Corvalis levy passed by a very large number, the community wanted to support that. I think it was close to 70%. um and it had to do with um pools and different things that obviously are part of a lama lane. So um it didn't seem like a lot of money, but it looked like it was what's helping keep them funded. So regardless of where we land, it's something that maybe we should still and all of you might want to be thinking about in terms of getting something on the ballot for um for the community so that we're not running at 17 people versus 44 and that kind of thing. So Uh, next item under business from the city council is planning commission appointment. Sandy Bellson is here for

1:31:33 this item. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh, Sandy Bellson, comprehensive planning manager. you've interviewed two applicants for the planning commission position and at your work session last time um you uh recommended that we bring forth Cali Auckland. Um so I'm ready for a motion and you can make your decision. Any questions? Okay. I move to appoint Cali Aklland to the planning commission vacancy for the position with a term ending December 31st, 2026. Excuse me. Second. Could you

1:32:20 hold 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. Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. Next item is business from the city manager. Before I hand it over to city manager Newton, I just wanted to note for the record during the um supplemental budget, the TLT allocation was a direct result of the miscommunication over the city of Springfield zip code in the Glenwood area and those hotels still carry a Eugene zip code, which is why the funding was misallocated. Uh, thank you for pointing that out and reminding us and I I we have pointed that out to the federal delegation.

1:33:07 All right, I'll pass it over to city manager Newton. No business. Thank you. Any business from the city attorney? No business. Thank you. Right. Thank you everybody. or a drip.