Springfield City Council — November 17, 2025

0:09 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 Rodley >> here. >> Councelor Blackwell >> here. >> Councelor Buck present. And councelor Stout >> here. Thank you. >> Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of America and the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

0:54 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 during either of those times, please use the raise hand feature in Zoom. The order of public testimony is as follows. Anyone in person in the council chambers and then anyone um anyone on Zoom who has raised their virtual hand. First item, please. Mayor, the first item is Springfield upbeat. Item number one is the 2025 Heritage Awards recognition. And mayor, this is your item.

1:43 I've got to get to the citation. Jenna, do you want to come talk about the awards for a second? I'm going to put you on the spot while I'm getting organized. We didn't talk about this ahead of time. Yeah. Just give everybody a little bit of a backstory before I win. No. Is it on? Yeah. Um, thank you all. Um, I'm Jenna Fibby. I'm on historic commission and the museum committee. The Springfield Heritage Awards are a program to recognize uh stewardship within our community. uh stewardship of history heritage. Um we have two different categories. Um we have history maker awards and we have uh preservation excellence awards and uh history maker awards are kind of legacy awards to recognize people who have had a

2:28 significant impact on stewardship in the community people or organizations. And then the um preservation excellence award is to recognize specific projects. So we will have uh one from each category tonight. And >> thank you. >> Okay. I would have called Maddie, but I saw Maddie after I called her name. >> No, no sweat. Thanks. >> Thanks, Jenna. >> Okay, the plan here is the the award is actually on its way. So, I'm going to read the citations and we will have some people up for some pictures and when we get the award, we will get it out to you for the 2025 History Maker Award. It's the Nativity Ukrainian Catholic Church. So, and I'll read both of these citations and I'll come down. We can take some pictures. In recognition of their lasting stewardship of of the

3:15 Ukrainian culture and heritage in our community, we're pleased to recognize the congregation of the Nativity Ukrainian Catholic Church with the 2025 History Maker Award. For decades, the parish has been a vibrant heart, the vibrant heart of the Ukrainian identity in our city. The annual Summer Ukrainian Festival brings together folk dance, music, food, and storytelling for hundreds of residents. Members of the congregation recently spearheaded a street renaming initiative working with the city to formally uh change the spell of Ku Street in the Uke Village village neighborhood thus affirming the correct Ukrainian spelling. The congregation has not only strengthened the ties among the Ukrainians in Springfield and the Lane County region but also has enriched the city's collective heritage by advancing

4:02 advancing cultural literacy, inclusion and placemaking. and I congratulate you for this wellness deserve recognition. Can we get a hand for the Ukrainian church and it is a fantastic festival and I encourage you guys all to go next year for the 2025 preservation excellence award, the Lane County Monuments Project. So, we are proud to honor the Lane County Monuments Project with the 2025 Springfield Heritage Award for Preservation Excellence for its innovative work in documenting, interpreting, and preserving the stories behind Lane County's public monuments and art. Created through a partnership between the Lane County History Museum, the Springfield History Museum, and Wama

4:48 Lane, this digital storytelling initiative has made local heritage accessible to all by compiling 19 historic narratives. They explore the meanings, origins, and evolution of significant sites across the county, including seven in Springfield, such as the equestrian, the Lionus women's veter memorial, the Shankle House, and the Wamtt Heights Obelisk. The project invites residents to reflect on how these monuments shape our identity and understanding of our local history. And by blending research, community reflection, and storytelling, the Lane County Monuments Project exemplifies the spirit of pre preservation excellence, ensuring that diverse narratives of Springfield and Lane County continue to inform, inspire, and inspire generations

5:33 to come. Can we get an applause for the monuments project? All right. So, we're going to have you guys up for a second and then then we'll take a quick picture and then we'll get on to the next item on the Ukrainian church.

7:11 Okay. One, two, three. Perfect. Congratulations. All right. Thank you. Next item, please. >> The next item is the consent calendar. >> I move approval of the consent calendar. >> Second. >> Neil, could you call the vote, please? >> Yes. Councelor Rever, >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Bradley, >> yes. >> Councelor Blackwell, >> yes. >> Councelor Buck,

7:56 >> yes. And councelor Stout, >> yes. Thank you. Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. Next item is public hearings. You have one public hearing this evening. Public hearing number one is annexation of territory to the city of Springfield annexing five residential parcels located on the east side of 19th Street immediately to the north of the EW pathway. The subject parcels are currently addressed as 2355, 2389, and 240719th Street. This is a first reading and no action is required. Tom Severs is here for this item. All right, this item I've got a brand new script for that we've didn't Okay, before we start the staff report,

8:42 the assistant city attorney will provide a statement regarding the procedures for tonight's hearing. Before we hear the staff report, sorry, that's your part. The hearing tonight is characterized as a quasi judicial hearing. Quasi judicial means the applicant and the public are entitled to certain rights in this process. These rights include the rights to notice to present evidence to have a written decision based upon standards and to an impartial decisionmaker. Any person with an interest in this annexation may offer relevant oral or written testimony or both. If you want the city council to consider your testimony and to preserve your right to appeal the decision to the Oregon Landis Board of Appeals, you must testify orally or in writing to the city council before the council closes the record. You must raise an issue clearly enough so that people can understand

9:27 what it is and offer evidence in support of it. Or else you cannot raise that issue on appeal to the land use board of appeals. If you are the applicant, you must raise concerns about any condition of approval clearly enough to allow the city council to respond to preserve your right to seek damages in circuit court. If you feel you need more time to prepare prepare evidence or testimony for the city council, you can ask the council to hold open the record or to continue the hearing. You must make that request before the mayor closes the public portion of the hearing. Please make sure your testimony is related to the applicable criteria. The criteria for annexation are in Springfield Development Code section 514135 and um and the zoning map amendment criteria are in section 5.7140 and are described in more detail in the staff report posted in tonight's meeting packet and will be summarized by staff

10:12 in the presentation this evening. Last, Oregon land use law requires the city council act as an impartial decision maker. Counselors must disclose any exparte contacts or conflicts of interest related to this matter. A conflict of interest is a situation in which the decision maker, his or her family or their business would benefit or suffer by the decision maker's decision. An exparte contact is a communication to the decision maker that includes substantive issues regarding the application and occurs outside the public venue. Bias is an actual personal interest in the outcome of the decision or a prejudgment by the decision maker as to the outcome without regard to evidence and arguments submitted to the decision maker. Mayor, please query the c query the council about any exparte contact or and state any that you may have as well. >> All right, we'll start over with councelor Blackwell to state whether or

10:58 not they've had exparte contact. >> No exparte contact or conflicts of interest. >> Exparte contact or conflict of interest. >> No exparte contact or conflict of interest on this one. >> And I've had no exparte contact or conflicts of interest. No exparte contact or conflicts of interest. >> No exparte contact or conflicts of interest. >> Uh no exparte contact or conflicts of interest. >> All right, I think we are ready for the staff report.

11:47 All right. Good evening, mayor and city councilors. I am Tom Sever, senior planner with the current planning section. Tonight, the council is requested to consider an ordinance to annex an approximately 2.4 acre area that includes five residential parcels located between 19th and 20th Streets uh and just north of the e-web pathway. More specifically, the proposed annexation area is highlighted in yellow and is currently improved with three single unit dwellings. Two of the parcels requested for annexation are vacant. The applicants are the property owners and this application was initiated on September 9th, 2025 by submittal of the necessary application materials and payment of applicable fees. Concurrent with annexation of the

12:33 residential parcels, a segment of 20th Street, including the intersection of 20th and Auto Streets, is proposed to be annexed as well. Annexation of the adjoining public rideway, will facilitate future street improvements along the property frontage and the extension of key urban utilities through the annexation area from 19th Street to 20th Street. All right, the site is zoned R1 residential with the urbanizable fringe UF10 overlay seen here by the cross-hatching pattern. Uh, as you can see by the red dashed line, it is contiguous to the city limits along its western boundary. If annexation is approved, no other zoning

13:19 changes are requested except for the removal of the UF10 overlay. With annexation, the subject property will be removed from special districts such as the UF10 overlay depicted here by the absence of the cross-hatching and removal from service areas such as the Rainbow Water District. Again, no other zoning changes will occur with this application. There are four approval criteria for annexations in the Springfield Development Code, which were fully analyzed in the staff report and summarized as follows. Criterion A, within the UGB and contiguous to the city limits. As previously stated, the subject property is contiguous to the city limits along its western boundary.

14:04 The subject territory is within the city's UGB and is currently covered by the urbanizable fringe overlay. Criterion B, consistent with policies of the Springfield Comprehensive Plan and Metro Plan. Policies 27, 29, 33, 34, and 35 of the Springfield Comprehensive Plans urbanization element are met through this application as the annex land will be fully within the Springfield urban services area. As found today, the unannexed land is restricted and its residential development potential due to service limitations uh imposed by Lane County. Annexation will thereby enable the property the property to be fully developed in conformance with the long-term envisioned density of the R1 district including the allowance of the

14:50 full spectrum of middle housing types thus meeting the standards of statewide planning goal 10 as well criterion C within boundary for the minimum level of key urban facilities to be received in a timely and efficient manner policies 29 31 and 32 of the Springfield comprehensive plans urbanization element are met through this application as well. If annexation is approved, the subject territory can obtain key facilities and services from the 19th Street right ofway and these utilities would be extended eastward to the 20th Street or to 20th Street through future residential development. These facilities and services will include sanitary sewer connection, subwater and electric service, fire protection services from the Eugene

15:35 Springfield Fire Department, park and recreation services from Will Amalain, and police services from Springfield Police. Criterion D, the annexation agreement. An annexation agreement is the typical mechanism for mitigation of fiscal impacts to the city. The code allows for other mechanisms as approved by council. In this case, because the key urban facilities will need to be extended to and through the subject property to serve planned private residential development, the property owners will be executing an annexation agreement. The annexation agreement will detail the timing and financial responsibility for provisions of key urban facilities and services to the planned residential development area.

16:20 The annexation agreement will ensure that potential fiscal impacts to the city will be mitigated through the developer initiated extension of public utilities to serve the subject property. Because all applicable annexation criteria have been met and the annexation will help facilitate residential development and the provision of needed housing units, city staff recommends that this application be considered for approval by council. And again, this is only the first reading tonight. And thank you. I'm here for any questions you may have. Are there any questions before I open the public hearing? All right, I'm going to I'm going to now open the public hearing. Um the applicant uh will get to present first. I don't have any other cards except for

17:05 the applicant and I don't know where the Do you Do you still want to present? Okay. I don't think anybody's got any questions for you. Thank you. Um, so we'll now take public testimony. Please state your name and mailing address for the record and keep your comments to three minutes. I do not have any cards for this item. Neil, do we have anybody online? >> No hands for this item. >> All right, then I'm going to go to close the public hearing. And if I don't see a reason to leave and close the record, um, so this is a first reading only and there's no further action required. Thank you everybody. Next item please. Mayor, next item is

17:51 business from the audience. So the next item is going to be business from the from the audience. This is an opportunity for members of the public to speak directly to the city council on matters of concern or interest related to the city of Springfield. Each speaker will have three minutes to address the council. When your name is called, please come to the podium. Clearly state your name, your address, or award number for the record. Please note that this is not a question and answer period with the council in order for everyone to be heard. Council members and staff will not engage in discussion during this portion of the meeting. However, your input is valued and will be taken under consideration. We ask that all speakers maintain decorum and direct comments to the

18:36 council as a whole. If you have docu If you have documents to give to the council, please give them to the city recorder for distribution. Um, I'm going to call two at a time since we have uh a few cards. There's two seats up here. We'll go one person and then we'll go the the next and you're going to push the button um until it go the microphone goes green. James Langer and Dale Tron.

19:25 >> Good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Council. My name is James Lawinger. I live at 1950 South 57th Place in Springfield. I've recently read of the proposal to eventually bring a Sunday farmers market to Main Street for next June and the summertime. I believe you're right on the mark with that decision and as it will add vibrancy and be a booster for economic development and our valued downtown. Kudos to all of you. As you know, our library is a fine is a prime factor in being a thrust in solid economic development, too. And for the entire year, Monday through Saturday, every day all through the year, over 100,000 people come through our doors annually. And with our programs like

20:12 this summer's plaza events, even more out beyond the walls of the current library. volunteering on our library. I often hear families at the end of one of our GA events as they gather their belongings planning lunch with their children and family and shopping next is on their list for people going out onto Main Street. This library, your library, our library, is a supercharged piece of economic development. When I ponder the proposal, I can't help but think that establishing a Sunday farmers market and then forcing of a $500,000 budget cut 22% of the library budget with cuts in staff and hours and possibly shutting an

20:57 additional day of the week will severely damage a major piece of Main Street traffic and commerce each and every day the entire year going forward. damaging hopes for a stable economic improvement. I've often heard the phrase of a tax increase with guard rails as part of the budget tax solution provided by the task force. Guard rails. More appropriate than guard rails, I believe, are blinders. Blinders. Your task force presented a budget proposal with blinders. The inability to see the bigger picture. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dan. Go ahead. Hi, my name is Dale Tron. I live in Ward 2. Uh, tonight I'd like to encourage you

21:42 to establish a policy that the city will only collect and store information about its residents that is necessary to perform city functions. This is in reference to the flock cameras, but it's a bigger issue I think that that affects uh many areas that will arise in the future. This policy should recognize that privacy is an important asset that belongs to the people and any loss of privacy must be publicly debated and ultimately decided upon by elected officials. The Springfield police are interested in access to a tool which can quickly inform them of the location of certain cars that are implicated in criminal activities, may contain persons who are in imminent danger, or cars that have been reported stolen. A system that would provide this information could be

22:28 built by having cameras that read license plates and report to the police matches to a search list of of license numbers. Such a system would not require the collection and storage of any data beyond the hits reported to the police. I speak for no one but myself, but I believe that most people in Springfield would have little objection to such a system. The police however want to go further and have and they want a tool that will tell them where cars have been before they were implicated in a crime. While this tool would provide some information useful in investigating crimes, it requires the creation of a database recording the movements of everyone driving in Springfield. The flock cameras in our town were only active for one day and yet they captured

23:15 over 60,000 individual encounters with cars. That is an enormous amount of data, especially considering that it is nearly the number of residents in the city. Of this trove of data, how much could ever be expected to be of use to the police? Onetenth of 1% that would still be 60 cars. So how many cars in a day need to be tracked? How much invasion of privacy of the residents and visitors to Springfield should they suffer for such a small gain? The police want this tool, but they apparently don't consider the privacy of the public to be of any value. You could create a policy that requires city staff to weigh the value of the loss of privacy against the benefits

24:01 derived from collecting any sort of data. The implementation of this policy must recognize that the people who want the data will always tend to us underestimate the value of the loss of privacy imposed by its collection. Ultimately, you are in the best position to make the final judgment for situations like this where the loss of privacy is great. Thank you. >> Thank you. No clapping, please. Thank you. Please. No cheering from the crowd. Uh Mary Harwood and Karen Babcock.

25:01 >> Good evening. My name is Mary Harwood and I live at 738 Aspen Street in Springfield. I have been a patron of the Springfield Public Library since about 1975. That's the earliest I can remember being there. This was the library I brought my children to before they could even read. I'm also an educator with Springfield Public Schools. I support the elementary students who struggle to learn to read, the students at risk for reading failure. I'm here before you tonight to ask you to reconsider the proposed cuts to the library. A library is an essential part of a thriving community in Springfield. The library supports the critical work of the school district in educating our K12 students. The library support for schools goes beyond offering

25:47 books to read. There are audio books essential to students with dyslexia. In-person programming for children from toddler to teen activities for children during early release and no school days. Summer programming which prevents re uh learning loss and materials for teachers and classrooms. I'm deeply concerned that the city is asking just one department to bear the brunt of these steep, impactful budget cuts. Why should the library be the only department in the city to face budget cuts? The library is already the only department which regularly fundraises to maintain essential services. The likely impacts will reduce the library to a mere

26:32 storage room for old books with in without in-person programs for children with limited hours and staff. The budget committee's recommendations seem flawed and short-sighted. The city should be looking for innovative ways to bridge the gaps in the budget. Consider creating a library district for people who live within the urban growth boundary of Springfield or within the boundary of the Springfield school district. Many of these citizens would welcome an opportunity to access library services. There are many county tax slots peppered about within city limits that are excluded from your current tax base. This is just one logical option for the city to pursue to support the library without adding to

27:17 the burden of taxes for Springfield residents. I'll close with a reminder that libraries play a critical role in the economic vitality of communities, promote a sense of local connection, and advance understanding and shared community goals. Libraries are cornerstones of a thriving democracy. If this sounds familiar, it's because this is a paraphrase from the mayor's April 2025 proclamation for National Library Week. You already know that our library is invaluable to this community. Find ways to avoid cuts to the library. Mayor Van Gordon closed his proclamation

28:02 by encouraging citizens to visit the library to explore the wealth of resources available while they better hurry before those resources are gone. >> Thank you. >> My name is Karen Babcock. I live at 392 72nd Place in Springfield. I am here wearing two hats today. I too am an educator. This is my 29th year in teaching in Springfield public schools. I have also been a resident of Springfield, a proud citizen for all of my life. I am so proud of our downtown Springfield and what this community has grown to. I have a long memory. Um, we have a lot that we can be proud of. I am

28:48 here to ask you to reconsider the proposed budget cuts to our beloved public library. It seems very flawed and unclear to community members why one department is bearing the brunt of the budget cuts for our city. As my current role at Springfield Public Schools is a librarian, I currently oversee all of our school libraries and I work in close partnership with our public library. When people find out what I do, they ask me, "Does anybody go to libraries anymore?" And when people ask me that, I think two things. One, boy, this person

29:34 must be really privileged that they have all the resources that they need for entertainment, for information, and for technology. And then my second thought when I get asked that question is gosh, it's kind of sad that they don't know how modern libraries serve their communities. You guys know how modern libraries serve their communities. Slashing budgets for libraries has many unintended consequences. It is more than a storehouse of books. It is a vital piece of our community. When people attend the library, they bring their families. When people see families in

30:19 the downtown corridor, they feel safe to come here and spend money and attend businesses, to shop, and to dine. I could go on about what our public library provides to our students. You guys know that already. But what we need to consider is the financial impact on our community and to our local businesses when we slash library budgets. Libraries are a barometer of our communities. When we have a flourishing downtown, it is often accompanied by a flourishing library. When libraries are not flourishing,

31:05 downtown businesses suffer. I encourage you to visit your library, to look at all the programming and all the people who support your community. It is one of our last safe public spaces where everyone belongs. Please reconsider the budget cuts. >> Thank you. Uh, the next two people I have are Charlotte Beam and Paul Baker.

31:51 >> You can go. >> I'm Paul Baker, live at 2523rd Street in Springfield. Uh first I wanted to make a comment uh a gentleman who was talking about uh license plate tracking and reading. Uh I lived in Chicago for quite a while and Chicago police signed a contract with Palunteer which is one of Trump's biggest financial supporters. I think they're helping to they helped to tear down the part of the White House and and but anyway, they they've been handed a contract by the Trump administration to try to c centralize all data on individuals in the in this country. And I'm sure they're hooked into the same people who who

32:36 want to record license plates in Springfield and Eugene. So, just a work word of warning. When when when people like Trump can track you, find out what you're saying on social media, who you're associating with, where you're driving your car, gets real dangerous. That's not what I wanted to talk about, though. Uh, I I worked in Chicago. I had an ad agency and a a design research agency. One of our clients was the Vera Institute in New York City. They're the leading research organization when it comes to uh criminal justice and they did a study about 12 13 years ago I think right before the Springfield jail

33:23 was built and incidentally Springfield has the largest municipal jail in the in the state. Uh their study basically found out when you when you build a a jail in a small town, you have a lot of rooms, a lot of cells and each cell begs to be to be uh populated by an inmate. And uh police are pressured to uh arrest more people and when they do uh people lose their jobs, their families don't have support anymore. kids are raised much more likely to become crim criminals if they're raised in extremely poor uh so anyway they re you can look up very institute v a

34:11 instit in institute in New York City and and find that steady real it was highlighted in the New York Times that type of thing so anyway uh what's happened since uh Springfield built the the new jail has the crime rate gone down No, it uh the mayor was talking at the last meeting we had with just the mayor of hiring more officers to reduce overtime. Well, that's not what happens. You have more officers, you have more arrests, you have more going to court, you have more expenses. I'd much rather I think the the library will reduce crime much more than our current jail system will will reduce crime.

34:56 If I had more time, I'd talk more, but that's all the time I have. >> Thank you. >> My name is Charlotte Bim and I live at 731 Pava Street in Springfield and I am here about the library and um to support the library and I've been a patron there for 30 years. I think all of y'all know it's wonderful and the staff is great. Well, I've been on the um friends of library board. I was on it for two years and I was in charge of the membership and so I heard the stories of a lot of people that the library was so important to them and I also tracked how much money they gave and it's it's substantial. So when somebody said tonight that the library and the friends

35:42 does create does generate thousands of dollars a year for the library. There's all these community and we're all volunteer. So there's all these community members that are trying to get the library supported and I think that's really great and that's why it shouldn't be gutted anyway and but because I was on the friends I was behind the scenes and getting to know the staff and they're so committed and one other thing was I was sitting there listening to again somebody talk and this guy that was sitting there was talking about the cameras and he made that comment about 0.1% of the people I don't know that the data or something and it made me think about the situation in the country where 0.1%

36:28 of the people own more wealth than the lower 50%. So obviously in this country you have plenty of wealth concentrated in the top of the hierarchy. So I'm just wondering if this finance committee because this what I read on the friend's website was that the proposal was to do employee tax and so an employer tax. So this is like taxing the working people again. And I hope that that committee is looking at the people that have a lot of money in this town and making sure that they are paying for the services they are benefiting for from and all the working people that support them. I'm finished.

37:13 >> Thank you. Uh, last card that I have is Cali Aklind. Callie Ackland. Uh, word for resident. My address is on file. I'm here today as a library supporter. Mayor Van Gordon, when we met earlier this year, you told me that one of the most powerful things people can do is make their voice heard about the things that matter to them in Springfield. You assured me that counselors value public comments and that showing up and speaking at council meetings is one of

38:00 the best way for the people to get council to take action. For nearly 6 months now, Springfield residents have been doing just that. We've turned out in support of the library and asked council to please not cut the library funding quite so drastically. We packed the room at your city hall. We sent emails that have been ignored. But since the town hall in September, it's been radio silence from the city to the general public about the future of the library's budget. You've heard statistics about how libraries benefit communities, how they support economic development. You've heard personal stories from the families you serve, how they give students and parents important resources. You've heard the people ask you to save the library. But now, we've heard that the city still intends to move forward with cutting the

38:46 full $500,000. So today, I'm imploring you to increase the payroll tax by just 001% in order to generate an additional $400,000, which as councelor Stout said would plug a hole in the library funding. Counselors, you're making your directive to staff on the payroll tax in just a few weeks. And once it moves forward into the implementation phase, it'll be too late to save the library through the payroll tax as the guardrails prevent any increases for the next 3 years. Oregon's literacy rate is among the worst in the US. In the Springfield School District, only 31% of our third graders met grade level reading expectations. Please help our town and especially our

39:32 youth by saving the library. Thank you. >> Thank you. I do not have any other cards. Neil, do we have anybody online that wants to testify? >> Yes, we have one hand online. It's Cameron Stringfield. And Cameron, you should be able to unmute your microphone. >> All right. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Uh, hello. My name is Cameron Springfield. Uh, I don't live in Springfield, but I work in Springfield every week. Um, and I'm an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Uh, of course, I wanted to come here tonight to talk about Flock. Big surprise. Um, and what I wanted to talk about was the police and Flock both like to talk about the benefits of this

40:18 system. Um, and that sort of in their analysis, those benefits outweigh the cons. But I'd like to talk about the risks and the costs of this of this system and why we cannot afford either of the risks or the costs of this system. So with the risks of this system, of course, our main concern is the federal overreach. And there's this idea that I've seen sort of floating around that if we just uh take the data sharing down to just being Springfield or just being Eugene or just being Lane County, then that'll cut out any threat of federal overreach. But that's not actually true. Uh there's always informal requests to officers. One rogue officer can give away data to uh ICE or DHS. There might be uh procedures for

41:04 accountability, but it just takes one officer to put somebody's life in serious jeopardy. Uh and this has already happened to some extent in Eugene as they've uh been uh discovered to be racially profiling Romani people through their search terms. Um so there's already a problem there. It's also uh flock has been able to access these uh uh this flock database in sanctuary states like Washington and Illinois and a lot of the times they can just manage to get access to the data themselves because they actually own the data. Flock owns the data. This is something that the police constantly get wrong. Um but then on on the costs as well and and one more thing on the risks

41:49 that I'll say is that uh the federal government cannot clamp down on people via that data if that data is not collected in the first place. So the only real way to protect people 100% is to not collect that data in the first place. In terms of costs, I think you might have seen recently that there were flock cameras that were cut down in Springfield. There are flock cameras that have been damaged in Eugene. Um, which I don't support. For the record, I want you guys to take them down because that is going to cost us less in the long term. You have to replace these cameras. You have to subscribe to these cameras. If they want new bells and whistles, I'm sure you have to play pay more for that. Um, so this isn't

42:34 something that we can afford in the long term and we need that money in the long term for things like the library that people are bringing up tonight. Um, so there are ways to protect people. There are ways to solve crime. There's ways to keep Springfield a safe place for everybody to live and thrive that don't require drag net surveillance of everybody. And I hope that you make the decision to cancel the contract. Thank you. >> Thank you, Cameron. Neil, do we have anybody else? No other hands. Okay. Is there any council response? Councelor Rodley, >> thank you. I know even though I'm not there in person, um I'm ready to say something. Um and I'm not there tonight because I was gifted a cold by my lovely

43:19 granddaughter, but I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out and sharing. And I believe it was um Calie who said who was sort of highlighting the importance of community involvement and comments. And I cannot speak for everyone else, but I will tell you that emails and the postcards and things have not been ignored. Um I do try to answer emails. Sometimes I get a little bit behind, but I think all of that feedback is very helpful and I understand that in the process it can feel like things are landing um and we're not paying attention to them because we don't always have time to address it in meetings. However, I will speak for myself and say I'm getting them all. I am reading them all. I am taking into

44:04 account people's comments. I've even had face-toface meetings with people. So, it really is the engagement really is very important. um even though it might not feel great as we're working through the process and honestly we are still working through the process. Thank you. >> Anybody else? Councelor Buck. >> Um I just want to say that I I really appreciate the uh all all of you that have shown up to speak tonight, give us your opinions. Um when when cities work efficiently, we have a back and forth. We have people giving their opinion, informing us so we can do our job as best as possible for you guys. And um on

44:49 the subject of the library, I really appreciate the testimonies from the educators in particular, one of who um had an impact on my kid's life and my kid doesn't stop reading because of that particular educator. um regardless of whether she should be doing chores or whatnot, she's got a stack of books in her room and it and I have seen the value of the the library. So, we are paying attention and I think we have our own perspectives on how the library does impact folks. And so, I just wanted to to say that I really do appreciate everybody giving their two cents on how we can solve this problem together. All right. Anybody else? Um, thank you

45:36 so much for coming out. I've got a just a couple of followup items. Uh, maybe Nancy, you can help me with the flock cameras. We're still probably a couple of weeks before we hear back from the PD about that. Maybe a little bit longer. Mayor, I would need to um check the uh council calendar because I know I I don't know if we have it in an upcoming meeting prior to you going on recess in um early December. Um I would anticipate that if we were to have that discussion, it would be early part of uh next year. >> Okay. So, I think for folks that are commenting about flock, um we're listening. Uh the PD is taking that feedback into account. We're doing some follow-up with community groups now. It's going to come back to council at at

46:21 some point in the near future when we can uh get get organized and get it scheduled. Um and I'll work with Nancy to you know nail down nail down the date, but it it will come back. Uh the other comment I just wanted to make briefly around the library folks. Um, I think one of the things that, you know, and this came up at the library advisory board, uh, the la the last time we were there, is we just need to outline how this is going to happen going forward because my guess is that it feels like it this thing is just hanging out there and just understanding what's going to happen and why it's going to happen and how that decision is going to get made um, is something that could help help everybody. My assumption and I will talk to you know um is that we we will if

47:08 there's going to be any change to the library budget, it is going to come in the city manager's proposed budget which will be in the springtime. So that there is a process that has got public hearings that's got public input that will weigh and evaluate what we're doing what we're doing at that at that point. That is something we just have to get a little bit clearer and crisper. I know that the, you know, the library's got a lot of advocates in town. You know, there's a lot of people that sit up at this at this table that are um advocates for the library. It's just going to help people understand what's what's going to happen uh going forward. The other piece that I would just that I wanted to bring up is just the comment around, you know, departments and and their cuts. I understand this is a big cut for the

47:53 library. We're we're working through this. We're at the we're at the early part of this process. I would also just ask people to sort of back up over the last 10 years, pretty much every department in this in in the in city hall has seen or dealt with some sort of some sort of significant cut. And I know it feels pressing because the library is a high impact um uh department. It impacts a lot of people's lives and we take that seriously. But I also want to balance that with saying that like, you know, the city cities in Oregon have been struggling financially for a very long time. And we've seen when we've seen those cuts at police, we've seen those cuts at fire at certain

48:38 times. We've seen those cuts across city hall. Um, lastly, I would just encourage you folks, I know that this conversation around fiscal stability has taken a long time to develop. We're working forward through it. as quickly and as reasonably as possible. It is a hard topic. Please just continue to be patient. Continue to write us. I read all those emails. Every every green card that I get, you know, I have image for everybody else on city council to get. Your input is being read and evaluated as as we go as we go through uh go through this. So, thank you very much. Next item, please. Any other business from the city council?

49:25 The next item is business from the city manager. Um the first item under business from the city manager is the 52nd Street income qualified housing RFP review. Katie Carol is here for this item. >> All right. Hello. >> Hey Katie, before you get started, >> yes, >> I know we have a lot of folks. We would love to have you stay for the rest of the meeting, but it is also perfectly expected and normal that if for some reason you have to go, that would not be out of the out of the ordinary. >> You know, if you want to stay and listen to it, please. We we'd love we'd love to have you, but don't feel like you have to stay. >> Thank you. I do have photos, so that's exciting. It >> it is a cool project.

50:11 >> And I think we've almost delayed long enough to let Allison pull up the slides, too. Aha, there we are. >> Just trying to make it to 8:17, which is what I told Councelor Stout this >> 8:17. Okay, let's do it. Um, okay. Good evening, Marian Council. My name is Katie Carroll. I'm a housing analyst for the city. Um, tonight you're reviewing a proposal that was submitted through a request for proposals or RFP that the city ran um for developing a city-owned property on South 52nd Street. And that property is shown on the slide outlined in purple. Um it's a quarter acre residential property zoned R1 or lowdensity residential. The city acquired this property through a process allowed under state and county law um

50:56 that allows a county to transfer transfer tax foreclosed properties to a city so long as those properties are used for a public purpose for at least 20 years. Um here's a street level view of the property. Um in 2023, the city requested transfer of this property and one other one from the county for the public purpose of developing income qualified housing to serve households with incomes with low incomes, which is considered 80% of the area median income or below. Uh the council directed staff to request this property on South 52nd Street to be transferred for developing with home ownership housing specifically. And so to find a developer for the property, the city put out a an RFP this summer.

51:44 Um we worked with a consultant to review the RFP before it went out and then the consultant also reviewed the proposal that we received through the RFP to check the development assumptions. Um, separately of this, the city received a one-time allocation of federal home, sorry, federal ARPA dollars, American Rescue Plan Act, um, in 2021 for $620,000 specifically to support affordable housing development and enable home ownership opportunities for lowincome households. So, staff paired $100,000 of that ARPA allocation with this RFP to kind of help the project. um get off the ground. The RFP itself had a couple of

52:30 components. So there were minimum requirements that every propo proposal would have to meet. Those are listed on the left side of the slide. And then there were also um a set of scored criteria that were to be evaluated by a committee. Um there more details about the RFP process in the memo. And then there's a copy of the RFP if you really want to dive in. um as attachment 4. The city received one proposal to develop the property through the RFP and that was from Dev Northwest. Um their proposal was reviewed and scored by an evaluation committee made up of staff, a planning commissioner and a city councelor. Thank you, councelor Blackwell. Um couple of things about the proposal itself. So Dev Northwest is proposing to build six town houses on

53:16 the property. These would all be three-bedroom, two-b town houses um that are two stories. One would have a fully ADA accessible first floor and the rest would meet uh visit visitability standards for the first floor. All the units would have full-size kitchen appliances, laundry hookups, indoor and outdoor storage, energy efficient electric heating and cooling, an off- streetet parking space, and a backyard with a patio. and all the units would be made available for sale to income qualified households through a community land trust model or a CLT. Um, and how a CLT works is it separates ownership of the land from the improvements or the houses to make the houses more affordable both

54:03 upfront and then also to help manage affordability over time. So buyers would lease the land under their house from Dev Northwest through a renewable ground lease and the terms of that lease would help to ensure the affordability over time including um using a resale formula so that when someone goes to sell the home um some of that um appreciation in value is limited so that it can help preserve affordability over time for future buyers. And then here's kind of a bird's eyee view of the site plan. Um, while the homes are designed to meet the needs of families and people with mobility needs, Dev Northwest would not restrict kind of populationwise um, who could buy the

54:48 homes. You would just need to meet the income limits. And Dev Northwest proposal relies on a ward of 1.23 million in state lift funds to move forward. Um there are two opportunities to apply for those funds this bianium. Those are both in 2026. So if Dev Northwest is awarded this RFP, they would turn around and apply for those funds in January. And then if not awarded funds in that round, they would apply again in September. And then here, it's kind of hard to see here, but this is like an interior um layout of one of the units. Dove Northwest is also actively looking for another site in Springfield to pair with this as a scattered site community land trust, but those efforts are not keeping

55:33 this um from moving forward. And Dev Northwest as an agency has really extensive experience um developing and managing income qualified housing locally and regionally, including this community land trust home ownership model. They currently have 56 community land trust homes that are completed and as of their application to us another 48 that were fully funded and in development. And then kind of finally, as I mentioned before, um Dev Northwest proposal was scored by an evaluation committee. In order to move forward for your review, uh the proposal needed to achieve at least an average score of three for each of the RFP criterion. Um, and as you can

56:18 see in the very right column, they far exceeded that for all of them. Um, Dub Northwest is here in person and happy to answer any questions that you might have for them. And, uh, the request in front of you is to decide whether to award the city owned property on South 52nd Street and the 100,000 in ARPA funds to Dev Northwest to develop their proposal. And there is a recommended motion in the packet. And I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Does anybody have any questions? Uh, councelor Blewell. >> Um, not necessarily a question, but having been part of the evaluation committee, I got to dive pretty deep into into this one. And I want to say that overall I felt uh Dev Northwest uh set forth a really thorough packet. Um, they were great at answering any questions or concern that that popped up

57:04 that I had about the lift funding. And although there's never a project that doesn't have any risk, there is some risk to weigh in there. I feel like um I'm very comfortable moving forward with this. I think they have a proven track record and and I think they'll do great. So, >> Council Buck, >> um I just want to comment that one of the things that I really appreciate about this is the um in Dev Northwest proposal, they looked at things that that truly make sense to community members and and potential uh residents. Um things like parking and accessibility. parking um as as community may or may not know is is not a requirement. Um that's not something that they had to do, but they chose to

57:50 do it. And when we have partners that are choosing to do things that truly matter to our residents, um I really appreciate that. So those are the things that stood out is they did the things that matter to our residents, not just met bare minimum code. And so um I really appreciate that about Dev Northwest's proposal. Um, I actually have a question for for the Dev Northwest folks. >> I can get out of the way so you guys both can sit. >> We didn't want to let you out of here without getting a chance to It look It looks like a stunning project. Um, really happy with how it looks. I think

58:35 my question is around community land trust models and I think there are two and I think I've got two sort of distinct questions here. One of them is if I'm somebody who is you know buys a home in a community land trust like how hard it is it like is it really challenging to uh resell that home as I continue to sort of move through move through my you know journey or life. >> Yeah. Hi council mayor. Um my name is Nor Cronin. I'm the director of real estate development at Dev Northwest and I have here with me today Tara Hamby. She's one of our project managers that was working on this project. To answer your question, um unfortunately there are going to be a lot of families in the future that are going to be at 80% AMI or below. There's always going to be a

59:21 demand for this affordable uh home ownership opportunity. It is not hard to resell the homes at the price point that we have. there are plenty of families that are qualified to be able to do this, to be able to afford it. Um, there is, you know, the resale value is definitely a consideration. So, I think the beauty of the community land trust model is that it's not just affordable one time to the first buyer. It's affordable in perpetuity. Uh, and that's what's so exciting about it. It's we see this as um not always a long time. I'm going to buy this and this is going to be my position um where I create all of my wealth for my family moving forward. But we see this a lot as like a stepping stone for someone that's been trying to

1:00:06 get into the home ownership um realm as a way to help build generational wealth and wealth for their family. Um that this is kind of a stepping stone to then create some equity over the years as they uh pay down their mortgage. The house does appreciate. they were able to get some equity from that even with the resale value because incomes do go up over time. Um and then that is a a stepping stone that then they can get into um a non CLT home and that's how we see that happening and we don't see really any risk to having families to sell to in the future. >> Great. that that that is a great answer and that makes you know a lot of sense just to think that there's another step if somebody is in these home to um to to

1:00:53 when they go to sell. Now, when I think about just sort of people's overall balance sheet, net wealth, whatever term that you want to talk about it, um, one of the things that we're that you just sort of described and and these models are a little bit newer >> and so maybe we don't have as much information on it is are we seeing the they're appreciating but at a slower a slower rate, right? So, should I be thinking about this as a way of we get somebody into a stable home, they're having a reasonable rent, but also they're getting a little bit of appreciation as we're trying to get them to, you know, get them to build o overall net wealth. Is that accurate? >> Yes. I mean, so the home itself is going to appreciate. I mean, if they're going

1:01:38 to purchase the home at the initial sales price that we have at 230, if we did not have the restrictions on resale, they would be able to turn it around and sell it for a lot more. um they do appreciate and it's it's really based on income, right? So the way that we have the sales price set right now is based on income and our assumptions of the size family that's going to move in there and what that income level is capped at 80%. We're trying to deepen the affordability as much as we can. I think deep in the paper uh that we submitted uh we're trying to keep that at around 70% of AMI or below that that's paying no more than 35% of their gross income on their housing payment. And so when you look at how incomes

1:02:23 increase over time. So if someone in five years were to buy the home, they're able to afford more because their income's more. And that appreciation, not really the typical appreciation of real estate, but that difference in income level allows them to then sell the house for for more. And then whatever they're paying down on their mortgage, they they get that equity. >> Yeah. So, it's a appreciating at a little bit slower of a rate, but it's still helping sort of drive uh you know, drive uh people's uh total net wealth. Okay. >> Exactly. If I can add one more thing, we um we just rolled out at the state and Dev Northwest is working with other partners at the state to roll out a new mortgage product called Amplify. And what that does is it allows people to um

1:03:09 essentially just pay down their mortgage a lot faster. It gives them a 30-year amortization, but they're only paying it over 20 years, if I'm getting that correct. Um and then they're able to just pay down their mortgage faster. And so they're because of that, you know, you're not getting as much equity in the home because it's still restricted, they are able to pay their mortgage down a lot faster than a typical uh mortgage. >> Oh, okay. Yeah, I would love to see more information about it. Um, Councelor Rodley, did do you have questions for them? Can I let them go? I know you had a comment you wanted to make. >> No questions, just comments. >> Okay, go ahead. Um, I love this this project. It ticks a lot of boxes that we've been talking

1:03:55 about for years that are really important. Getting folks into home ownership in Springfield. Um, the accessibility, as y'all know, is always a challenge to find accessible housing for folks. And just the the increased density in a residential neighborhood. All of this is great and Dev Northwest is great. And so I just really appreciate this project and it's just it I get so excited because it's it's been a journey and part of our sort of plotting dream of getting property and I just appreciate our housing team for finding property in all of these ways that we can then leverage into this housing is just been all part of this like plotting intentional plan to

1:04:40 increase housing at all levels so that people can live and purchase and grow in Springfield and I just really appreciate it. So, thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Corey. Thanks, team Dev Northwest, too. The project looks great. Corey, I think we're ready for a motion. >> Thank you. And thank you for letting me make it because I'm so passionate about this. I would like to authorize the city manager to negotiate and execute all necessary documents to award 100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds and to transfer the South 52nd Street property map and tax lot number 17-02-33-34-00800

1:05:28 to Dev Northwest to develop six town homes to be sold to incomequalified buyers. as outlined in the city's request for proposals and Dev Northwest proposal. >> Second, >> you call the vote no. >> Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Bradley, >> yes. >> Councelor Blackwell, >> yes. >> Councelor Buck, I councelor Stout, >> yes. Thank you. >> Motion passes. Six yeses, zero nos. Next item, please. Next item is ratification of contract with service employees international union SEIU. Chamez is here for this item.

1:06:15 >> Good evening again, mayor and council. Uh so I am Chambers, the director of human resources, and I am here because staff has concluded its negotiations with SEIU for a three-year successor contract. Um before I go further, I do want to take just a brief moment and acknowledge uh my appreciation for both the management team and in in particular the union's bargaining team who uh worked very collaboratively with us uh on the management side to address uh many of the issues that council had given us regarding guidance on this contract. Um and uh we are very excited uh that they were able to ratify this contract on their end last Thursday. Uh, and so with that, I am here to ask for a motion to authorize or not authorize the city manager to execute the ratified three-year collective bargain agreement with SEIU. And I'll pause for any

1:07:00 questions. >> Are there any questions? >> I move to authorize the city manager to execute the ratified three-year collective bargaining agreement with SEIU. >> Second. >> Neil, could you call the vote, please? Yes. Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor Low, >> yes. Yes. Councelor Bradley, >> yes. >> Councelor Blackwell, >> yes. >> Councelor Buck, >> yes. >> And councelor Stout, >> yes. Thank you. >> Motion passes. Six yeses, zero knows. Next item, please. Any other business from the city manager? >> Yes. One quick item. Uh this evening, the mayor alluded to uh our budget process in the city, and I wanted to elaborate a little bit further on that process. In Oregon, we are required to submit a balanced budget every every

1:07:46 year. Um all of our employees and in this case the uh discussion was in relation to the library. So I'll tailor my comments to that circumstance. Um all of library employees are fully funded in their positions through the end of this fiscal year which is June 30. Um which ends on June 30 and 2026. Um, part of my role is to submit a proposed budget to the budget committee and then the budget committee which is comprised of 12 community members that are appointed by this governing body uh deliberates on the budget and makes any recommendations or changes um and holds uh public hearing uh for the budget

1:08:31 which then proceeds to the council and then at that time the mayor and council can make adjustments. ments um or not. It depends on you know the process and and where we are at the time. Um then it is subsequently adopted and then there's a legal process for assessing t taxes and distributing uh revenues that the city can collect. Um I just want to be clear about the timelines because we're talking about a process that really begins in earnest in March. I've already been in conversations with the library director about the potential um implications in the budget. I personally think it's important to uh try to uh look at what is kind of a worst case

1:09:16 scenario uh type of view and then it's in my opinion is better to add back and to cut further when you're um in the budget process. Um, all city departments have sustained cuts throughout the years. Um, I since my tenure here that began in 2020, it's very reluctant and and remain reluctant to make cuts to our library. That was the last department that I asked to make a cut for. There were years where other departments sustained cuts and the library was held harmless. So we are all sharing in this um in this cut in this reduced revenue environment. Um I know that this council has been actively working on the long-term financial s sustainability for

1:10:04 the city because nobody wants to be here. Nobody wants to have these conversations and nobody wants to do this. Reminds me of that show on Netflix. Nobody wants this. However, it is where we are right now in Oregon's funding model. So, more to come on that, but I just wanted to communicate with this council uh where we are presently and how that will line up in the calendar. And one final thought is that, you know, although yes, as a percentage, these this cut is um is a significant cut. I'm not trying to pretend that it is otherwise. However, I'm working with the library director diligently on this and my hope and intent is to preserve our library. You know, um we're not talking about closing an entire service to our community and I wanted to be

1:10:51 clear on that. Um I this this level of cut would not have or should not have that level of um of impact to actually close the library and have no resources. whatsoever to the to the community. So, I think that's also important. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any business from the city attorney? >> No business. >> All right. Thank you everybody. Have a good night.