Springfield City Council — January 20, 2026

0:05 Going to call the Springfield City Council work session to order with roll call. Mayor Van Gordon >> here, >> councelor Weber here, councelor Mo >> here, >> councelor Rodley >> here, councelor Buck >> here, >> and councelor Stoutton. >> Uh, councelor Stout is excused for this evening. We have one item this evening which is the chain Springfield governments with Nancy Newton and the whole cast of folks including Chief Caveman. >> Yes, I will do introductions here in a moment. came up with queuing up the presentation. Thank you. >> So, while she's doing that, I'll get started. Good evening, mayor and counselors. I'm N uh city manager Nancy Newton, and with me is Springfield's team for working on this issue together. I want to thank and recognize this team, assistant city manager Neil Adi, finance

0:50 director Nathan Bell, city attorney Mary Bridges Smith, and fire chief Mike Kadan. I also want to thank all of the employees of Eugene Springfield Fire, including fire leadership, fire and rescue operations, medical and event services, community resilience and risk reduction, and finance administration. All of these dedicated professionals help keep our community safe, and they deserves the certainty about the future of their department. Today's work session focuses on the future governance structure of Eugene Springfield fire. This conversation reflects several years of study collaboration with the city of Eugene and multiple council discussions. Before moving into today's recommendation, I want to briefly ground us in how we arrived here because this is not a new issue. It is one that has matured to a decision point

1:42 and this works great. So, why are we here? Um, Springfield City Council has discussed uh ESF governance at several key points. On February 12th, 2024, you received an initial briefing on the governance review panel feasibility study process. March 3rd, 2024 at AP Triton presentation of preliminary findings. On July 1st, 2024, uh there was a council discussion on the final feasibility study. And again on November 10, 2025, uh, Fire Chief Caven gave a presentation comparing the intergovernmental agreement uh, entity, excuse me, and fire district models. Um, but since 2010, uh, Eugene's Pinkfield Fire has operated as a functionally consolidated department. Operationally,

2:28 this has worked well. However, ESF still relies on two councils, two budget processes, two personnel systems, and two administrative structures. And over time, this dual structure has created increasing challenges in coordination, staff capacity, long-term planning, and govern governance clarity. From Springfield's perspective, our governance needs can be summarized by four core concepts. Stability, growth, resources, and vision. Uh, first, stabil stability. So, Springfield needs a governance structure that supports predictable long-term decision-making. Under the current model, ESF operates with a functionally consolidated framework rather than a fully integrated department. And that limits long-term planning um and

3:15 stability means that having a structure that allows leadership, staff, and council to plan confidently for the future of fire and EMS struct services. Um secondly, uh as far as growth and stability, Springfield is a growing community. Our fire and emergency services must be able to scale up with our population growth, development, and increasing service demand. That requires a governance model that can adapt over time and not one that is constrained by um dual decision-making or short-term planning horizons. Uh third, uh we need resources and clarity. Uh we need a system that preserves uh provides clear, transparent, and predictable funding responsibilities. uh the current structure makes it difficult to align

4:01 service expectations with costs because budgeting occurs in two separate systems. In fact, we have two different t uh budget years. We have a we do an annual budget and Eugene does a banual budget. So that creates a additional workload for the department. A sustainable governance model would must clearly connect service levels, cost and accountability. Um finally, vision and representation. I wanted to touch on this because Springfield is a unique community. It's a community that really treasures its identity and representation and therefore wants to have a formal role in decision-m about priorities, investments, service delivery. So our residents can clearly see how their fire department is governed. So taken

4:47 together, these needs point to a structure that is stable over time, uh scalable with community growth, transparent in funding and accountability, and clear in preserving Springfield's role in boys. And this is the lens that we're looking at uh how government options should be evaluated. So let's talk about outcomes. This is a SCA uh the slide is directly from the AP Triton report and we'll talk about this. Um, early in the AP Triton process, the firm conducted extensive interviews with elected officials, city administrators, ESF leadership, and stakeholders from both cities. From that work, AP Triton identified a clear set of desired outcomes that both Eugene and Springfield agreed should guide the evaluation of governance options. These

5:33 outcomes are important because AP Triton did not begin with a preferred model. Instead, each option was measured against whether it could re be real realistically achieved the shared goals. So, first goal that we talked about was single governance administration. A central finding of the study is that the absence of a single governant governance and administrative structure is the root cause of many many of ESS challenges. Triton found that operating under two councils, two city managers, and two administrative systems creates daily inefficiencies and limits accountability. Any viable long-term solution must address this directly. Secondly, uh Triton AP Triton emphasized that the greatest benefit of ESS is not cost

6:19 savings alone, but the depth of service provided through integrated operations. These include improved process um response capacity, staffing flexibility, and the ability to manage both routine and large-scale emergencies. Um so governance change should look to preserve these operational gains. Uh third, oversight by old both cities is listed on there. Uh Springfield and Eugene both made it clear that they want to retain meaningful oversight of service levels, policy direction, and financial participation. uh AP Triton found models that remove city councils entire from governance such as a fire district raise significant concerns and do not align with the desired outcomes. Uh we wanted to have manageable financial impacts. Um costs have grown

7:05 faster than taxable value over time requiring cities to use broader fiscal tools and sustain service levels. So a successful governance model must allow cost to be managed predictably and transparently uh without creating uh too much of a dis disproportionate impact on either city. Um we also looked at the experience of our employees and this was incredibly important um to to both cities. uh our ESF employees work very well together um operationally the structure but how but having a dual employer structure creates frustration and inequity in in areas such as payroll benefits HR processes and discipline so improving the employee experience was identified as critical to

7:51 retention morale and long-term organizational health um we also look to res um reduce the strain on city administrative systems uh the current model requires a lot of duplication especially in finance, HR, IT, legal and procurement. Um so this level of complexity is inefficient and not sustainable particularly as our service demands increase. Uh and probably one of the most important aspects is uh long-term sus sustainability and planning. So, um, the AP Triton report emphasized that ESF's ability to plan long-term for staffing, facilities, apparatus, and funding is constrained under the current current agreement. Um, and so we need to find a model that supports multi-year planning and

8:37 provides confidence that agreed upon investments can be sustained. Um, taken together, these desired outcomes form the framework against which all government's options were evaluated. And the recommendation that we have tonight is based on which model most consistently meets those criterias and not on preference or on convenience. So I want to talk about uh these models and this will look familiar to you council once this slide moves forward. >> Did that turn it off or not? >> Are we that itch? Hey, thank you Alison for the assist. >> All right, you know, it always comes

9:22 down to the to the technology every time. >> So, as you see on the screen, there are five models that were uh considered. You'll notice that the ones in a lighter green um were ones that were evaluated and really determined not to be um optimal for for moving forward. Uh I think we all agree that staying as currently organized just isn't working for a number of reasons and and this has been a long time issue for the department. Uh we also looked at one city p providing service to the other. Um and that really doesn't kind of work for a number of ways as far as um who would do the contracting to whom and what would be the affiliated cost. Um we really talked about um there was a lot

10:09 of discussion in the community about model 4 uh establishing a fire district and that was discussed but it raised it also has concerns about re removing governance authority from city councils introducing tax compression risks for Springfield and presents unresolved questions about long-term financial sustainability. So due to those concerns this option was not recommended. So this leaves two options still on the table. Uh model three which is establish an intergovernmental entity which retains operational and consolidation while creating a single shared governance and administrative structure with formal representation from both cities or u model 5 which is dissolve the functional merger which would return both cities to independent fire departments with mutual

10:54 aid agreements. This option remains a fallback if a mutual acceptable joint governance solution cannot be reached. I think it's important to note that it's this option was kept on the table because, you know, if we had to do that, we need to say that publicly. It's obviously not what we prefer, but is still remaining um under consideration. So, I want to talk a little bit about why the IGE is recommended. Um, we are recommending this uh as a jointly created public entity formed by Springfield and Eugene to govern ESF. It's not a fire district does not levy taxes and it does not remove city

11:39 council authority. It creates a single governance and administrative framework with shared oversightes. The resolve resolves current governance issue, preserves Springfield's voice and supports long-term planning. Before I move to the next slide, I wanted to make sure that we touched a little bit about on some of the challenges that the department faces just on the day-to-day operational impacts when you have this kind of a functional consolidation but not fully merged. So I want to give Chief Caven an opportunity just if you want to provide a couple of examples of what you and you know the firefighters or administrative staff experience in real time when you're trying to work under this structure. Yeah, I appreciate that opportunity. Um, as mentioned, there

12:25 there are a bunch of deficiencies, but the reality is what we don't see behind the scenes uh the infrastructure that it takes uh to to put us on the right footing um when it comes to uh planning equipment purchases. Uh one shining example uh in recent years was our cardiac monitors, which are very important uh to patient evaluation, saving lives. uh were aging out and failing and one city was prepared uh in one budget to replace the other one wasn't ready yet. Some things changed in the next budget um where the cities weren't aligned once again and and it put a lot of pressure on the system to figure out how to bring that together. Ultimately, we leaned on a grant program um to help us bridge the gap. Um when we

13:12 think about bargaining our contracts, there's different processes for that and then implementation and payroll as things change. Um we just we have things that bundle up that take a tremendous amount of staff time away from uh planning for the future, planning for the threats, uh taking care of the workforce when we're busy uh trying to do paperwork and trying to do things that just come naturally in a single system with a single set of values and and way of of conducting their business. Um and the other one is is we continue to struggle with technology, people's access to the policies that guide the job. um to their mobile data terminals, charting systems, you name it, because they're again two different IT systems.

13:57 Um and they're things that are fixable, but not in the heat of the moment. When time matters for our people uh in the field and as every new program or or system changes, um it's another set of chasing our tails till we get it right, get it cleaned up, and get it addressed. Um, and so that's just a small snippet. Um, and tremendous work by uh the support and administrative staff who um try to prop it up behind the scenes uh both internally in the fire department and within both cities. But it's a lot of work and it's a lot of time to take away from both inside and outside the fire department. >> Yeah, I appreciate that, Chief. And I think that I appreciate also the emphasis on technology. uh that's not

14:42 going to get any easier and and and it's a important tool for fire service especially. So let's move forward. So some of the considerations for the that I wanted to talk about um first of all uh govern things we need to talk about well cities will need to agree on how the governing board is structured, how members are appointed and how decisions will be made for Springfield. This includes ensuring clear formal representation and an appropriate role in setting policy direction and priorities. Now, this is probably going to be one of the key decision points if the council determined to move forward in this direction. I will share with you that when the city of Eugene discussed this issue on December 10th, um they did

15:28 uh mention some preferences on how they thought that this should be addressed. So I encourage you to go and watch that uh work session with the Eugene city council. Um secondly would be cost sharing. Uh we will need to have agreement about how operating costs, capital investments and long-term liabilities are shared. Uh which would include determining how costs align with service levels and growth um insurance. This would ensure transparency and predictability for both service. Um no funding model is being approved tonight. However, this work would come back to council. Um, one of the reasons for that is that this is a very large issue and we want to have multiple touch points with you um, should we move uh, forward in this process. Uh, Chief Caven also talked a little bit about this next one

16:14 which is uh, employees and labor agreements. Uh, so transitioning employees to a new entity must be done carefully and in coordination with labor partners. Um, maintaining workforce stability and morale is a critical consideration here. Uh, fourth, support services and administration. And so decisions will need to be made about how services such as finance, HR, IT, fleet, legal um are provided for the IGA. And the goal in all of these situations would be to reduce duplication while maintaining service uh quality and accountability. So these considerations highlight why negotiations are necessary. Tonight's action does not commit the city to specific outcomes. It would authorize staff to work through these issues and return to council with concrete

16:59 proposals and decision points. I just wanted to give you a flavor of what the types of things that would be uh discussion and also to give you an idea of the magnitude of the work the scope scale timeline which leads us I think I forwarded to there we go. Thank you. This leads to our staff recommendation for this evening, which is to proceed with negotiations to form an intergovernmental entity for Eugene Springfield Fire. Um, looking at all of the options and really keeping in mind uh the the morale and cohesiveness of the employees working together. Um, I I really am not prepared to throw in the towel on trying to

17:44 create something that could work for for both of our cities and for the people that are doing the work. I think it's just good public policy to reduce these duplications and uh create a more efficient structure. So, let's talk about what your options are this evening. So, you could either decide to proceed with um negotiations. Um, you could also ask us for more information if you feel like you haven't received enough. Um, we we did a lot with tonight's packet, but there is still a lot to go over. Or you could uh provide staff an alternate direction on how you would like to proceed. All of those things are um important

18:32 um as we begin to um develop the framework and return to council with decision points. Um, we have a meeting scheduled with city of Eugene staff this week to discuss our respective council dis decisions. So, just so you know, we have markers out there already. I know that Eugene has a sense of urgency around this issue as do we. Um, so um before I conclude, I just want to do a a quick thank you uh to you, the mayor and council for prioritizing this important work. I also want to thank retired Eugene city manager Sarah Mandere who I greatly admire and respect. I look forward to working with Eugene's next city manager. I'm confident that uh Eugene has the internal capacity to make significant

19:17 progress on this issue while also on boarding a new city manager. It's a big job. Uh but I I know Jenny personally. I know she'll do a great job and I and we already have a great work uh respect for each other. So, whatever you decide this evening, it will require hard work and tough decisions, but people in Springfield aren't afraid of hard work. It's kind of what we do best. So, I will leave this up to you for discussion and questions. >> All right, questions or discussions? >> Uh, Council, >> I I don't really have any questions. I did watch the December 10th meeting uh of the Eugene Council and they they dove into this pretty well with some really really good questions. So I think a lot

20:02 of my questions that I would have asked were actually answered in that meeting. Um I do think that our best path forward is to try and see if we can come to an agreement that benefits both organizations, both cities and um is the best path forward for the folks that work in that environment today. I think it's really really important that as we're working through this they are top of mind and that we we work through this as quickly as we can. So with that I see that um Eugene is looking for a six-month time frame to kind of work through this and determine if this is the go forward path. Is that do you agree that the six-month time frame is a workable time frame? I think well there was a couple of key points that Eugene that the Eugene council discussed one of

20:47 which was what would happen in tonight's meeting right because uh they were we didn't yet have this conversation so I think uh one of their if we were looking at this as a decision tree uh one of their go no-go would be what does Springfield Council decide to do and how how do they want to proceed and then given that framework um you know they were looking for contingencies in either way. I think that six months is realistic to begin on some of the uh at least initial um discussion points. Um although they have a new city manager, I know the assistant city managers are both very well-versed on this topic. I know that our chief has been, you know, around the the department for a very

21:33 long time as well as our assistant city manager. So, I feel confident in our team. Also, we will have the assist assistant of the um city attorney's office. And so, I appreciate Mary Bridget being kind of stepping up to the plate, being willing to jump on board during this process. So, I feel like, you know, with the right um emphasis and prioritization, we can get there >> and if six months gets there, we can always revisit it. But yes, there's a lot of a lot of work involved here. So, >> yeah. >> Poster Rodley. Um, first of all, I know that I'm probably not gonna say anything that nobody has heard, but I just wanted to take because this has been a long process and I wanted to just say that it has been my honor and frustration.

22:19 >> You have to be part of this since the beginning. Um, we jumped in and it was many it was many it was a few years ago and I've joked it's been a few labor presidents and a couple of chiefs and um, but it has been I think such an important conversation to have and it has been sometimes and our meetings a little bit heated. We haven't always agreed on the things, but we kept working and working and working on it and putting the best interests of our employees and the people who receive services. And I just I there's been some touch and go where I wasn't sure we were going to get to this place. I absolutely support doing an um look forward to seeing all the things that we can work out with it and hope

23:04 that um for our firefighters and um responders who are in the room that they um want to thank them for sticking with us because I know there were probably some times when they would have been very happy to throw some tomatoes and shoes and everything else at us because it felt like we really got into sluggy. So, I just wanted to while I had a little platform to say, of course, I support this. Have absolute confidence that we'll be able to work out the pieces and if we don't, we just keep coming back to the table. That's one of the things I say about Springfield. We just work things until we get it right. And just wanted everybody to hear that it has been an absolute honor to be able to dig in and work on this to try to improve both the services and the ways that our firefighters are experiencing their work. So, I'm a thumbs up.

23:52 That's your book. >> Um, you know, I think this a ton of work has gone into this and I and I definitely appreciate that. Obviously, I'm been here for just a just a short little piece of this. Um, I think the things that I I really like about this and and I'm supportive of this model going forward is the opportunity for increas increased collaboration. I know that as somebody who grew up in this community, and when I say community, the Eugene Springfield, there was, you know, 20 years ago, there's a very clear divide. The river felt really wide. And we've done a lot of work over the course of time to kind of narrow that gap. So, it starts to feel like one community, and this is an opportunity for

24:38 taking that next step. And I really like that um we have that opportunity as well as some clarity and trans and trans transparity not only for the community but for the firefighters and all of that if they can kind of be governed um internally under one model everybody understands what's going on. I really like those those pieces of this and I'm excited about the model going forward. Uh, and I also recognize that the work isn't done. Um, going forward, this doesn't mean we're at an ending point. I think this is a great step, but there's many questions that still need to get answered. But I have a lot of confidence in our team and I have a lot of confidence that we have a shared value of wanting to get there.

25:28 Councor Mo, >> the thing I continue to bring up is I don't know how we're going to pay for this equitably for city of Springfield understand how they're going to do that. >> Yeah. Um I think that is a great question and when I went through all the material, councelor Mo, my my opinion is all those answers are through the process, right? like there's a lot of questions that everybody's going to still have that it just takes a minute for us to work through and talk through and frankly just sort of commit to, you know, staying at the table until the problem's solved. Um the I think the the work has been good so far. Um and I really appreciate our employees sticking along with us. It has been a long discussion to get this far. I'm eager to get to whatever's on the other side of

26:15 this, which you know is back to conversations about things like ambulances and, you know, regional wildfire and safety around our our neighborhoods. But I mean, this is the f getting this answer done and uh coalesed around is probably the the the next thing we've got to do before we get into all those long range planning conversations. So, I think you're you have our head nod, Nancy. Okay. >> Um, and then we will we will continue to work through these and you know, it's going to be a lot more conversations. So, I'm going to urge patience by everybody uh including I know there's several firefighters sitting behind us. It has taken a while and a lot of hard work to get this far and we will continue to make progress on this.

27:01 Anybody else have anything else to add? All right. McNone in 27 minutes. That's the sign of like a fire hat to throw up. That's something like All right, I'm going to adjourn the work session. We are meeting for the regular session in council chambers, but we looks like we got about a half an hour. Thank you everybody.

0:03 He never >> I've got to do that at least once a once a meeting. Uh good evening everybody. I'm going to call the regular session of the Springfield City Council to order. Please can I have the roll call please? >> Gordon >> here. Councelor Weber >> here. >> Councelor Mo >> here. >> Councelor Rodley >> here. >> Councelor Buck >> here. And councelor Stout. Uh >> councelor Stout is excused for the evening. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. Yes, sir. To the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

0:51 >> There are two there are two designated items for public testimony this evening under public uh hearings and business from the audience. If you are attending in person, please complete the request to speak card located um at the front of the council chambers and turn them into the city recorder. If you're joining us with online with a tablet, smartphone, or computer and wish to speak at 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 anyone who has raised their virtual hand. Could I call the first item, please? First item is the consent calendar. >> That's me. I move for approval of the consent calendar.

1:36 >> Second. >> Anal, could you call the vote, please? >> Yes. Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Bradley, >> yes. >> Councelor Buck, >> yes. >> And councelor Stout. >> Uh, motion passes. Four yeses, one absent. Next item, please. You have two public hearings this evening. Public hearing number one is the 2025 through 2029 capital improvements program a community and reinvestment plan. Stan Petro is here for this item. >> Hello Mayor, city council. Stan Petro city engineer here. I'm back. I have a planning commission order and would like

2:22 to hold a public hearing for the CIP. answer any last questions. Um, as part of the attachments, I also included the citizen summary request and I sorted it by number of requests as well as I'm going forward putting dates in there, too. So, we'll have that in the future. All right. Does anybody have any questions? Okay, then I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. I do not have any cards for this item. Neil, do you have anybody on line for Zoom? >> Appears we have no hands for this item. Uh then I will close the public hearing. >> I move to adopt the 2027-2031 capital improvement program, a community reinvestment plan. >> Second.

3:07 >> Um Neil, could you call a vote, please? >> Yes. Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Bradley, >> yes. >> Councelor Buck, >> yes. >> Councelor Stout. Motion passes. Uh four yeses, zero nos, one absent. Next item, please. Thanks, Stan. >> Thank you. >> Your next item is the interim for counselor appointment process. Mary Bridget Smith is here for this item. All right. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I am here uh this evening to um talk again and present about the current vacancy in ward 4. Uh this evening uh

3:53 there is two purposes tonight. Excuse me. First, I'd like to talk a little bit about the process for um appointing an interim counselor and then uh conduct ask you to conduct a public hearing to see if there's any public input on that process and then ask the council to um for their input and then to vote to either approve or not approve that process. Before we start the public hearing, I just want to give some background on the Ward Ford vacancy. Um the process will mirror similar previous processes in that it will consist of an application period which will be approximately 30 days. Um and that will start um after you approve the process tonight if that's what you end up doing. Then the council will reconvene um and actually it'll be March

4:39 2nd instead of February 23rd with the applications that you have. The next part in the process is the um information gathering. So that will include an interview um and review of the applications. Depending on how many applications you have, you can decide to interview all candidates or only a number of them. That point really depends on the number of candidates you receive. Then you'll return in early April to conduct the interviews and the deliberation. And then you vote to appoint. the person actually doesn't start until they're sworn in, which would probably be at a subsequent public meeting after the vote. So, if we're on track for the process, we probably have a new counselor in interim counselor in

5:24 for Ward 4 um middle of April, which would be before budget. So, I think that um hopefully that count that schedule hold. You can decide throughout this process if um you want to leave the application period open longer or um have a second one. We can revisit that in March too. You'll have that kind of check-in point. Another issue with the ward for vacancy that I want to make sure that um the community is aware is that this situation uh the ward for uh councelor Blackwell um stepped away quite early in her uh term. So the person that you appoint this spring will serve through 2026 and then at the next general general bianial

6:11 election which is in November, the public will have an opportunity to elect a counselor who will serve the remaining two years of that term. So uh something to be aware for potential applicants and candidates and um that that's how the process will go for this and I want to make sure that people were aware of that as well. Uh, I'm happy to answer any questions and then um follow up after the public hearing. >> Council Rodley, >> I don't have a question. I just wanted to thank you for saying that because I think that's a little unique because often people run in May and Yeah. >> Um, so just want to make sure folks know and I also just I'm going to just channel former counselor Pitts. I really appreciate that we have added to the questionnaire or the application that

6:57 folks can submit a cover letter but not a resume so that we get everybody has a sort of equitable access. >> I thought of that too actually for some reason he's watching from Corvalos to say look we did make a change. So thank you for keeping that in there and um so that everybody has the a fair opportunity to share their pieces. So thanks. All right. Anybody else? I I have a a couple a couple of questions. So, could you go back to the filing um in the election time? Like, so they're not going to appear in May at all. So, we could have in you don't have to get 51% in November. It's just whoever gets the same amount of votes one election. Okay, perfect. The other question I have is if

7:43 you read the packet, it has swearing in the 27th. Um but budget committee is the following week. >> Do we have enough time and maybe this is a Nancy question to um do everything we need to do in that time period to get that person ready to go so that they're at a at budget on time feeling like they're ready to participate. Mayor, I think our current bug budget structure uh lends well to um letting somebody get up to speed on their own time, especially since we uh record our each department records their budget um talks about what their u department does and they give their budget presentations in video format. That gives you time to do that on your own pace. And of course, I will make myself available however is

8:30 needed um to bring whomever is appointed up to speed. Okay. Um, two other questions. The I think the first one is this isn't like we're hiring for somebody. So, we can add and subtract questions for people as we go along. Right. >> Are you talking about in the interview? >> Correct. >> Yeah. So, the interview um is an in-person interview. It's done in a public public meeting uh because all of these are done subject to public meeting laws. The questions that uh we'll have for you are very generic questions that you have used before. you have the ability to ask follow-up questions um and sort of probe into something in more depth. I do recommend you ask all of the candidates the same base questions and then you could go from there.

9:15 >> Okay. And we're not at the end of the process, we're not required to pick like to pick somebody. We could go out again if we wanted to. Correct. Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, this is as flexible as it is as it can be for us to get to an answer so that you know to fill the seat for the public. >> That's correct. This is just the opportunity tonight for the public to weigh in on the process. >> Perfect. Councelor Weber, >> I do have a question, but I can ask it later if that's more appropriate about the questions that are on the application. >> Would you like me to go ahead and ask it now? >> Go for it. >> Um, it seems to me there used to be one that that was kind of a clarifying point that we're elected by individual wards, but but we represent the entire city in our deliberation, decision-m, all of those things. Um, I'd kind of like to

10:01 see that question come back just I think it's I think that's kind of an important thing for people to understand that that's kind of what the community is looking for from us is is a full representation >> and you'd like that addressed in the application um and then in the interview as well or just to make sure it's in the application and then we can see when we get to the interview. Um, I kind of think I'd like to see it in the interview and hear what those hear how people want to would address that that thought. >> Okay. >> Or that expectation. >> And then we can add a question to the written application that addresses that issue. >> Yeah, that would be great. Thank you. >> Then um what we'll do is after the public hearing, we can add that information to the motion. So I'll repeat that to you so we know it's on the record. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> All right. Oh, Buck. Um just kind of

10:50 wanted to throw in um a comment um with your question about you know getting somebody up to speed. Um as somebody who's currently in this learning curve um there's a lot there's a lot and so I think that when you start to conceptualize that keep in mind that it's not just the one item it's so many things. And so that's the only thing I would throw out there is it's jumping into the deep end of the pool and at some point you figure out which way is up. But just throwing that out there. >> All right. Um the other the other question I had is are we are we the folks that are responsible for checking

11:36 the actual location to make sure they're in the ward? Is that something we're doing? >> CMO does that. >> Okay, perfect. As usual, everything's covered. We've done This will be the third time following this process and and it gets easier as we go. Oh, great. I don't think we have any other questions. Um, I'm going to go and open the public hearing. I have two cards. The first one is Elliot Harwell. Uh, counselors. Uh my name is Elliot Harwell. I live in Ward 3. Uh uh first off, I wanted to thank councelor Weber for her comment about the question about the ward. Uh that is something uh that

12:23 the fact that you counselors are from wards but the entire city votes for them is I think something that is unique to Springfield and I'm appreciative of hearing that that part of our uniqueness is included in the interview process. Um the the reason I'm here commenting tonight is that the schedule that's laid out for the appointment of the ward 4 counselor is unusually long when compared to the schedules of other appointments. So, uh, Councelor Buck, your appointment process took 49 days from, um, September 8th, uh, which was when the council agreed on the process to your appointment on October 27th, um, Mayor Van Gordon, um, back in 2021

13:09 when the opening for Ward 1 happened, when your appointment to mayor uh, happened, uh, that was that process was 48 days from January 19th through March March 8th. The timeline that's laid out in this appointment process is 97 days from today until the actual appointment as laid out in the AIS, which is um twice as long as those two other appointments. The previous appointment to Ward 4 um when which councelor Blackwell was appointed uh was only 70 days. So longer than the other two, but still four full weeks shorter than the current process. Um, additionally, the t

13:55 the the I don't know the the the dates within the schedule are um a little wonky. The council will decide on who to interview on February 23rd, though it sounds like that that date may have changed and been pushed back to March. But the you don't interview anyone until April 6th. So five weeks difference there. Um in previous appointment processes, it is only been a week or has even been the same day. Um and then after you have interviewed people on April 6th, there is then two weeks until you deliberate on the results of those interviews. Now I understand that there's going to be things that are happening in the background. For instance, spring break happens during the month of March, but

14:42 and there's other really important things that are on the schedule such as you'll be discussing the payroll tax sometime in March and early April. But by the same token, it would strike me as really important to make certain that Ward 4 gets to have a voice in those in a timely manner. And then finally, uh, two of the five people up in front of me are running for higher office. And if they are elected, they will have appointment processes for those openings in 2027. And it would be nice to set a fast example for that as well. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Kelly Ack.

15:27 >> Good evening, mayor and city councilors. My name is Cali Ackland and I'm here today as a Ward 4 resident. Um Elliot and I actually have very uh similar sentiments to share, but we did calculate um based on different dates. It looks like uh I believe Elliot calculated based on the just the appointment process dates. Um I I looked through past city council uh meeting minutes and calculated for the entire vacancy period from the date of one counselor's resignation to the date of the following counselor's swearing in. Um but again, so we're sharing the same sentiment here. So in 2021 when Ward 1 was uh vacant uh because um councelor Van Gordon was appointed to mayor that seat was vacated on January 19th and then councelor Pittz was sworn in on March 8th. So that was 48 days with a

16:13 vacant seat in 2023 when the ward 4 vacancy um last happened. It was January 23rd that the last counselor resigned in April 24th that councelor Blackwell swore in and that was 91 days with a vacant seat. And then just a few months ago when we had the word five vacancy, it was August 5th that councelor Doyle resigned and October 27th that councelor Buck Soren and that was 83 days of vacancy and council was on summer recess for 28 of those days. With this proposed process for this W4 vacancy, uh councelor Blackwell's resignation went into effect on December 31st and the proposed swearing in date for the next counselor will be April 27th. This proposed process will leave the ward 4 seat vacant for 117 days, which

17:01 is quite a bit longer than previous vacancies. So, um, as a W4 constituent, I am here to just share a lot what what Elliot said. This seems really long and drawn out. Um, W4 constituents who'd been engaged with counselor Blackwell, who'd had conversations with her. Um, we've lost that representation. We've lost the counselor who was uh representing us for nearly three years and now we have no one directly representing our ward and our voices for nearly four full months. Of course, each of you represent and care about every single constituent in the city regardless of ward. But we do have these counselors representing representing each ward for a reason. So I understand that there's three weeks of spring break scheduled during this process, but surely this doesn't need to

17:46 take six weeks longer than the average. So, I'm asking you to proceed with this process through the February 23rd and March 2nd meetings and make your decision by March 9th so the interimm counselor can get sworn in and get right to work on the important issues that we're facing as soon as the council returns from spring break in April. As councelor Buck said, it's a lot of work to get up to speed and I'd like to see our award seat filled as soon as possible. Thank you. >> Thank you. I do not have any other cards for this item. Neil, do we have anybody online? No hands online for this item. >> Okay, I go and I'm going to close the public hearing and see if we have any discussion. Go ahead, councelor Rodley. >> I'm glad you came back. Well, let's talk about the timing. Like I'm sure there was some thought that went into it and

18:31 let's see if we can all dig in and see how we feel about that. >> Sure. >> Thank you. So this uh schedule is developed um with the um current council schedule um and there is a break in March um and that does create a gap in time. So that's why we um if you want the application process open for the 30 days which has been consistent with what we've done before then that gets you to the end of February. Um the problem we had schedule-wise with February 23rd was that we wouldn't have wouldn't be able to get those applications into the packet. Um because it's after the um packet deadline. The council could direct us though to still go back to that February 23rd date. We could get the applications to you and get them,

19:16 you know, sort of out. But that does that was why we came up with that. And really just that break in the middle of March just makes it challenging for schedule. Any other questions? Is is anything about the calendar binding here? I mean, I know we've like we've got to keep it out for 30 days. We're agreeing to that, but if we get to a point where we've got where we think we could go a little bit faster in the middle. Is that can we make that adjustment on our own or is the or is by adopting the process we're locking ourselves into dates? I don't think you're locking yourself into dates for um or let me rephrase that. I think that in terms of it would be prudent to lock in a date for the as the length of

20:01 having the application open so people who are interested in the position know how long they have to make their application. >> I think that is something that would be important for the public to know. I think once you get the applications in um and you know how many applicants you have and your interest in whether you want to interview everybody then that's where I think you have some flexibility in the calendar because you might be able to speed up um some of those uh options in terms of if you only have one or two interviews to do then that process would you could jump into deliberations more quickly. So you do have some flexibility there um once you get to that point where you know how many applicants you have. >> Go ahead.

20:46 So maybe just to say it out loud, what is our our timing and process for like noticing public meetings because it would be a public interview and so it' be helpful I think for us to know like if we decide how much leeway and I know I'm purposefully not looking at the city manager is also an issue and all the other things but just to help understand the flexibility and the pieces we would have to do if we were going to speed it up. So generally our packets are published on Thursday previous to the meeting on Monday. Public meetings require now a um used to be 24 hours but now it's 48 hours for a um public meeting. So um that is the bare minimum and we could um have the still have the meeting on the 23rd. It would just be getting the um

21:32 applications for everyone to see. Um this is just a short turnaround from the 20th to 23rd, but I think it's possible. I Yeah, go ahead. >> And then you can throw a shoe at me and I'll >> No, that's okay. >> The other thing I wanted to say out loud is I really appreciate the discussion about the timeline and in my experience so far, we have not had an abundance of candidates. So, we're often like, you know, we get to the end of that four weeks and we're all like scrambling and posting on social media and things like that. So, that's a piece too is trying to make sure that we get um I would love to speed it up and I also worry that we might not get as many great candidates as we would get. So, somewhere I think there's a balance in that and I just wanted to say out loud that we don't always get like seven people that want

22:17 to do it. So, that's it. >> So, when were you thinking about you were thinking about the second for the date for instead of the uh instead >> instead of the 23rd >> instead of the 23rd. Yeah. Um I think I would rather do it the second and my and my rationale right is if you look I think that the issue with when the applications become public is actually really is actually really important issue because if we try to do it the 23rd you're going to be handing us those applications and that is not going to be widely you know those applications are not going to be widely known by the public and especially with something this important we really need to have that information in a packet so the public can can download it and and see it and those names are, you know,

23:02 fully out there before we start talking about it. >> Okay. Um I do think what look like looking at where the second is if um if we we could have the opportunity to make you know move up deliberations especially if it's a small pool and I think we can make that decision sometime in the uh late February and you know in and early March if if that looks like it's going to be a small like if it's going to be a smaller pool. when uh when we replaced Word One a couple of years ago, it was like 10 different people. So, it took a little bit more organization. So, if um if people are supportive, I think I would rather >> publish that, make sure we get the applications out to the public, we talk about it, and then we kind of, you know, and then if we can move up the dates and

23:48 that's very doable, then we do that. And if we if it takes the extra time, it takes the extra time. >> Okay. >> All right. Any other feedback? >> Uh, go ahead, Councelor Buck. >> I think that um, you know, for those that are also interested in it, I mean, I I definitely appreciate, um, you know, wanting to make sure everybody has the Apple opportunity of that and the community gets a chance to look at that. It's also it's also kind of thinking about the applicants, too. It's it's like if you're if you're wanting to step up and do this work, you know, um giving people the opportunity to to keep

24:35 that time frame waiting to see what happens as short as possible, I mean, I I think is always is always helpful. I mean, you know, once people know, hey, you know, Joe put his application in, um you get lots of calls, you get lots of questions, and you have no idea how to answer those. So, you do put applicants in a spot where it's like, well, I'm getting calls from different people and and things like that expressing interest and um you're you're still kind of in limbo. So, shortening that time frame, I think keeping that as concise as possible. I I think just thinking about that, having gone through it recently, um is something I' I'd love for us to keep in mind. uh you know, it sounds

25:21 like we're going to do what we can, but I just point put that out there. >> All right. >> Can I um >> Sure. >> I just want to restate so I my direction and then I think I can formulate a motion uh if you're ready for that. So, the um the council is um interested in following the same process for the 30-day application window and then having the work session time on March 2nd to evaluate the number of applications and then the um dates for the interview and deliberations with an eye towards trying to um make it as expedient as possible. >> Does that sound >> Yes. >> Right. Okay. All right. So that means I

26:06 guess we would make that decision the second when we uh understood what >> yeah that's helpful I can come to you on the second I think once we know the number of applicants then we can come with some options in terms of um trying to get through the interviews most quickly and the deliberation and appointment process for example you could have you know let's say you do uh the interviews during the work session time you try and deliberate a little bit you have the regular session meeting that night then you go back into deliberations that same night so something like that to try and get the process to move along as much as we can >> and maybe this like if we get to a point where we've made a decision, right? Then that person, you know, people know who it is, right? That person can start watching the videos and getting prepared for budget committee and all the things. >> Yeah, they have to be um sworn in. I just put the next week as a council

26:51 meeting as an option, but you know, if we get to that point, we might be able to come up with something where we're able to swear them in earlier. >> Perfect. Okay. >> All right. I think we need a motion. So, I'll um state the motion and then uh if that works, you can um say same. So, uh I move to approve the W 4 vacancy process with the 30-day application period. Adding a question about uh counselors must live in Ward 4 but are elected by the uh entire city and uh moving the process as expediently as pro as possible um once the application period is over. So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Neil, could you call the vote, please? >> Yes. Councelor Weber,

27:36 >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Adley, >> yes. >> Councelor Buck, >> yes. >> Councelor Stout. >> Motion passes. Four yeses, zero nos, one uh absent. Next item, please. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Next item is business from the audience. >> I have one card this evening. It is from Pratt Deon. Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Brett Deon. I'm the president for IFFF Local 851 Lane Professional Firefighters. And I was recalling tonight uh it was 1986 October. My uh dad got on at 19 to use Springfield Fire and Life Safety. Uh my mother at the time was also on the volunteer fire department and an ER nurse. and I grew

28:23 up in a strong union family and one that was supported by this very community and I've seen many iterations of the fire department as it's moved forward. You know, as I come into this position as president of trying to continue that governance talk and to move us in that direction, um I appreciate the discussion that's happened tonight. I appreciate the work that's gone into it. I appreciate the work that will come forward and continuing that conversation. It's been a lot of work to get here. I appreciate that. I appreciate taking those steps and I want to say thank you from the union as far as making this a priority issue. There's been a lot on your agenda this year and I can appreciate that. But making this a priority has meant a lot to our membership and will certainly make a lot of difference for our communities. So, thank you um each and every one of you for your effort making sure this

29:08 continues forward. >> Thank you. I don't have any other cards for uh business from the audience. Neil, do we have anybody online? Uh >> no hands for this item. >> Okay. Next item, please. >> Any business from the city council? >> There any other business? Um, thank you. So, um, I put committee assignments at on everybody's desks. Um, I know that there are some notes. If you could please take a look and get back to me if you have any questions or clarifications. The big change that I've asked um asked for some help from from the staff with is uh that the staff will report back on a couple of these uh

29:54 committees while we're still waiting on a word counselor to allow us to kind of break up the workload a lot a lot more efficiently. So, thank you Nancy for uh volunteering some of the staff to make sure we get a regular regular input back from from uh from the committees. So, if you could take a look and see if you have questions. if the time doesn't work or maybe that's not a policy interest of yours. Um it would be good feedback to know and I do have the correction of councelor Stout is on VPAC and I missed that the first time around. I don't think we need a motion. They just need to head nod it. >> Yeah, this is a mayor's prerogative to appoint. So you're good.

30:41 >> Okay. Any other business from the council? I think we're ready for the next item, please. Next item is business from the city manager. Item number one is review of the home application. Katie Carroll is here and Aaron Highfield are here for this item. Good evening, mayor and council. Um, I'm Aaron Fefield here with Katie Carroll, both staff with the city's housing team.

31:27 We're here tonight with a proposal from Cornerstone Community Housing to develop Sawyer Station, a 40unit affordable housing development on a city-owned property using federal home funding. We are seeking council recommendation tonight regarding both the use of home funds as well as the transfer of the city-owned property. Darcy Phillips and Steve Oaks with Cornerstone are both in the audience tonight and available to answer questions. Um, so as I mentioned, this project is requesting about $1 million in home funding. The home program is a federal program administered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to expand affordable housing opportunities for low-income persons. For over 30 years, the cities of Eugene and Springfield has have received federal home funding allocations as a unified home consortium

32:13 with a targeted percentage of funds to be awarded to each jurisdiction. Eugene receives the home funds from HUD on behalf of the home consortium and is responsible for the oversight and administration of the funds. The consortium uses a competitive request for proposal process to award the home funds. Proposals are first reviewed by an evaluation committee. The committee reviews and scores each proposal against a series of criteria to determine whether the project is suitable for funding. The proposals in each jurisdiction also go to city council for their recommendation, which is what brings us here tonight. Final funding decisions are made by the home consortium governing board, which is made up of the mayors of Eugene and Springfield and one counselor from each city. Councelor Rodley currently represents Springfield on the board. So,

33:00 to talk about the city-owned site first, um the location is at 1566 Main Street. This is on the northwest corner of Maine and 16th. Um about two years ago, um at a January 2024 council meeting, council authorized the city manager to negotiate and execute the purchase of this property. It's 1.1 acres splitz zoned um between community commercial on the south and R1 residential on the north part of the property. The site is adjacent to a bus stop near a grocery store, other commercial uses, health clinics, a hospital, public schools, and a park. The city purchased the property using one-time federal ARPA funds, the American Rescue Plan Act, and

33:45 per the requirements of that funding, ARPA funds need to be used to were to be used to acquire land for income qualified housing to serve households with low incomes, in this case, below 80% area median income. City council then directed staff to offer the property with home funds in the 2024 home request for proposals. We did not receive any applications during that cycle. In 20 in the 2025 home request for proposal process, Springfield was able to combine multiple years of home funding and offer approximately $1 million in federal home funds for rental housing development as well as the property. This round, the consortium received one application for Springfield's home funds and city-owned city-owned property from Cornerstone Community Housing.

34:31 >> I'm going to talk a little bit about the proposal. So, um, as Aaron mentioned, Sawyer Station would be a 40 unit apartment, um, building made up actually of three threestory buildings that are connected by breezeways and situated around an outdoor courtyard, similar to Cornerstone's recently completed Alma apartments on 16th and Q. Um, the units would be a mix of one and two bedrooms. 39 of the units would be reserved for households at 60% of the area median income or below. And then one unit would serve a household at 50% of the area median income or below. Two units would be fully accessible for people with mobility disabilities. One would be accessible for people with hearing and

35:17 visual disabilities. And then 10 additional units would be visitable and adaptable for people with physical disabilities. Uh, per the home program requirements, the project would need to be affordable for at least 20 years. However, the city's code requirements for building income qualified housing on commercial property, and the state funds cornerstone plans to pursue require even longer affordability periods. There's not a specific target population for the project beyond the income qualification. Um, Cornerstone would serve as both the owner and the service provider, and all residents would have access to on-site services. The full development cost is estimated at approximately $16 million. Um, and I think Erin mentioned this, but

36:02 Cornerstone um is requesting Springfield's full home allocation. The majority of the remaining funds would come from the Oregon Housing and Community Services OCS Lyft program. Um, and there would also be a private bank loan among other sources. A little bit of an aside about state lift funds. Um, all of the available state lift funds are currently allocated right now. So, the project would need to wait for the next bion bienium to hopefully receive funds. Um, however, timing is dependent on how much the legislature allocates towards that program. Cornerstone is very experienced and very experienced with home funds having just finished the Alma Apartments and they would be partnering with the same architecture firm Ral Broka on this

36:49 project and then I'll give it back to Aaron to talk about next steps. Yeah. So, tonight council is being asked to make a funding recommendation to the home governing board. Uh the governing board will then meet on February 2nd uh to tentatively award the home funds um based on the evaluation committee scores as well as the council recommendation. Uh additional steps are needed before the property can be transferred and funds can be used. Um the chosen developer will need to secure the remaining financing and meet all HUD regulations as a condition of the home award. Uh, as Katie mentioned, Cornerstone does plan to apply for state lift funds, but conservatively we're anticipating an award in 2027, which

37:36 would put construction starting at the end of 2027. Um, so after all home funding conditions are met, City of Eugene would execute the home agreement. Um, and we would plan to transfer the property at the same time. So, um, tonight we're seeking your recommendation. You've got two motions in your packet, both related to the home funding as well as um the property itself. >> Are there any questions? >> Um can the zoning be put together satisfied? >> Yeah, so the zoning as it is is okay for income qualified housing. the city, I think it was last year, adopted um code updates required by state law to allow affordable housing in areas that

38:21 otherwise wouldn't. So, it's fine as is. >> Um so, I think the plan would be to keep the building entirely in the commercial area. >> Councelor Rodley, >> thank you. Um between the work session and tonight, I kind of feel like it's my birthday. I'm just going to say because these are both things that I've worked so hard on and and um I get to take this opportunity to just glow about people. I just really want to appreciate Aaron and the team for leaning in because when I got on council and we got the money, I was like, "Let's buy land. Let's buy land. Let's do some land banking." And I don't know if all of you have noticed, but the county is now like, "Let's do land banking." I'm like, "You want to be cool like Springfield?" But um and this is exactly the dream. Um, love that this

39:09 is in Ward 3. This was one of those properties we all drove by and we're like, I could see something there. Love that Cornerstone is going to do it and after the the project that they just did. So, I just um I hope that my colleagues will also appreciate this. This is exactly what we say we want to do in Springfield. Um, and I've loved that you have all kind of let me like lead you on this wild way of how do we do new things and just leaned into it so hard. So, um, and I love getting to be a part of the home consortium so that we can do this collaborative work. So, I completely support this. And I just wanted to take the time to thank you all for all of the hard work behind the scenes of making making the dream happen. And I can't wait till we help those people living in those apartments.

39:55 >> And I think you echo a lot of the sentiment that we all have. Anybody else want to jump in? Um, on top of that, I a apartments looks great and I'm really excited about the opportunity to work with Cornerstone again in this community. Um, the name of this Sawyer uh station, I thought it was a nice nod to our our timber heritage and um that that that subtle touch was not lost on me. So, I really do appreciate it. I think we're ready for a motion. I move to authorize the city manager to negotiate and execute all necessary documents to transfer the city-owned property at 1566 Main Street, map and tax lot number 17-03-36-31-04702

40:43 to Cornerstone Community Housing to develop Sawyer Station. >> I will second that. >> Neil, could you hold a vote, please? >> Yes. Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor Mo, >> yes. >> Councelor Bradley, >> yes. Councelor Buck. >> Yes. >> And councelor Stout. >> Motion passes. Four yeses, zero nos, one absent. Next item, please. >> Oh, Mayor, sorry. We had there was one more motion related to the um recommendation to the home governing board. It might not have made it in. >> Yeah, there's a recommendation. >> Please, it didn't make the It didn't make the agenda. >> We can read it if that's modeled after the city attorney. If that works. Um, I recommend Cornerstone Community Housing Sawyer Station proposal to the home governing board for home funding.

41:30 >> So moved. >> Second. >> Could you call a vote again? >> Yes. Councelor Weber, >> yes. >> Councelor No, >> yes. >> Councelor Rodley, >> yes. >> Councelor Buck, >> yes. >> And councelor Stout. >> Motion passes. Four yeses, zero nos, one absent. Thank you. Next item, please. >> Any other business from the city manager? Just want to take a moment to thank Erin and Katie for their excellent work on this project. I'm really happy to see this moving forward in our community and I'm also pleased with the design of this. So, thank you Cornerstone for being mindful that affordable housing can also look good and and and people should feel good about living there. And so I really appreciate the thoughtfulness, also the community gathering spaces in the middle of the

42:16 residences to encourage people to, you know, connect with each other. Um, I just think it's a really great design and I'm looking forward to having that in our city. That is all. >> Any business from the city attorney? Uh, >> no business. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you everybody. We are adjourned for the evening. Have a good night.