Springfield City Council — April 27, 2026

0:06 call this special regular session to order with roll call. Mayor Van Gordon. Here. Counselor Weber. >> Here. >> Counselor Mow. >> Here. >> Counselor Rodley. >> Here. >> Counselor Bäck. >> Here. >> And Counselor Stout. >> Here. >> Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. Our first item is business from the city attorney. It's the interim Ward 4 counselor oath of office, and Mary

0:51 Bridget Smith is here for this item. >> Uh good evening, Mayor and Council. We are going to swear in the uh Ward 4 interim counselor, Jill Quadros, and we'll just do it up here at the table. >> Perfect. >> Okay, raise your right hand. I, Jill Quadros, >> I, Jill Quadros, >> do solemnly swear and affirm >> that I will support the following: >> the Constitution and the laws of the

1:37 United States, >> the Constitution and the laws of the United States, >> the Constitution and the laws of the state of Oregon, >> the Constitution and the laws of the state of Oregon, >> the charter, ordinances, and rules of procedure for the city of Springfield, >> the charter, ordinances ordinances, and rules of procedure for the city of Springfield, >> and I will faithfully and honorably >> And I will faithfully and honorably >> perform the duties of Ward 4 counselor for the city of Springfield. >> Perform the duties of Ward 4 counselor for the city of Springfield. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you.

2:32 >> We've got two other things. >> Oh. Thank you. >> Uh uh Counselor Quadres, before they leave, would you mind introducing us to your family? >> My daughter, Oregon State University student, Sochi Quadres, and my husband, Assistant Superintendent of Ward 4, J Juan Quadres. >> Very nice to meet you.

3:29 >> Oh, you can put up your sign already. It's >> All right. And for the record, Counselor Quadres has joined us. Our next item, please. >> Mayor, the next item is Springfield Upbeat, the 2026 Emergency Medical Services Week proclamation. >> All right. I've got two proclamations to read. I also want to note that how many more people fire brought than PD for theirs. >> Open the plane. >> Oh. This is the EMS week proclamation. It is for May 17th through 23rd. Um whereas emergency medical services is a vital public service.

4:14 And whereas the members of the emergency medical services team are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. And whereas access to quality emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those experiencing sudden illness or injury. And whereas the emergency medical services systems consist of first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, dispatchers, firefighters, law enforcement, nurses, physicians, and trained members of the public. And whereas the emergency uh members of the emergency medical services team, whether career or volunteer, engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continued education to

4:59 enhance their life-saving skills. I, Sean Van Gordon, the mayor of Springfield, do hereby proclaim May 17th through 23rd as EMS week in Springfield and urge all residents to join me in uh this special observance.

6:26 >> So, who's joining us? Ryan as well. I will I'll just I'll just talk about it. Uh I'll I'll let everyone introduce themselves. It's a >> Talk to the coordinator. >> Yeah, I'll let everyone introduce themselves, but uh I'm Chris Basket. I'm the assistant chief of emergency operations for Eugene-Springfield Fire. >> I'm Jason Ryan, Captain Ryan. Uh been with Eugene-Springfield Fire Department for about 18 years. We are Engine 4 over on 5th Street in between Centennial and Q. >> I'm Sadia Thompson. I'm an engineer at Station 4 on B shift, and I've been with the department for about 5 years. >> And I'm Rebecca Fuller. I'm a probationary firefighter. Been with the department just over a year now.

7:13 >> And uh we just Right before we we uh stepped in, we lost our medic crew. Uh so, they may be joining us as well. But, we really appreciate the the proclamation. >> Well, we appreciate what you guys do, and anytime we get to see see the fire folks come down for a cup a couple of minutes, it it brings brings a little bit of joy for us, too. Very nice meeting you all. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next item, please. >> Mayor, the next item is National Police Week Proclamation, and this is your item. >> Uh National Police Week, this is from May 11th through 16th, 2026. Whereas there are more than 800,000 law enforcement officers serving in

7:58 communities across the United States, including dedicated members of Springfield Police uh Department who serve our community each and every day. Whereas since the first recorded death in 1786, more than 24,500 law enforcement officers in the United States have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Whereas the names of these dedicated public servants are engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. as a tribute to their courage and commitment. Whereas 363 fallen officers are being honored uh with the addition of their names to the National Law Enforcement Memorial this spring, including 109 officers killed in 2025 and 254 officers killed the previous year. Whereas the Candlelight Vigil is part of

8:44 the National Police Week's observance this year between May 11th and 16th, 2026, a tradition that is established by joint resolution of the Congress in in 1962 when President Kennedy proclaimed May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day. And whereas the City of Springfield is proud to recognize the members of its law enforcement community whose daily service reflects the highest ideals of public safety, commit community trust, and personal courage. I, Sean Van Gordon, Mayor of Springfield, proclaim May 11th through 16th as National Police Officer Week in the City of Springfield and publicly salute the service of law enforcement officers in our community and in in communities across the nation. We call upon the residents to honor the service and sacrifice of law enforcement

9:30 officers, support those who serve us every day, and keep the families of fallen officers in our hearts.

10:30 And that looks like that last item for their special regular session. I'm going to adjourn the special regular session. And I'm going to call to order the work session with roll call. >> Mayor Ben Gordon. >> Here. >> Councilor Webber. >> Here. >> Councilor Moe. >> Here. >> Councilor Radley. >> Here. >> Councilor Quadros. >> Here. >> Councilor Buck. >> Here. >> And Councilor Stout. >> Here. >> Well, MB, do we have to wait? It is It is 5:30. >> The um it's not an approximate time, so we should wait till closer to 5:30 to actually start. >> All right, it it's posted for 5:45. >> Oh, okay. >> So, we are going to recess until 5:45.

11:15 Um so, please feel free to mingle among yourselves. And uh we will convene at 5:45. Uh Do you want to Do we need another roll call? All right. We're going call the roll again. >> Mayor Vining-Golden. >> Still here. >> Councilor Webber. >> Here. >> Councilor Mowat. >> Here. >> Councilor Roddey. >> I'm also still here. >> Councilor Quadros. >> Here. >> Councilor Buck. >> Yeah, I'm here. >> Councilor Stout. >> Still here. >> Okay, we still have one item. Master Fees and Charges update with Jeff Pascoe. >> Uh thank you, Mayor. Uh and thank you, Council, and welcome, Councilor Quadros.

12:00 Um tonight is the annual review for the city's Master Fees and Charges. I know probably getting tired of seeing me 3 weeks in a row with fees, but here I am and I think this will be the last one for a while till we hit our public hearings. Um so this is really another work session geared to get feedback on our Master Fees and Charges tonight. Um And so here is you'll see the outline for the presentation. We'll cover the background, the proposed changes, the rationale, um and then the impact. So Council establishes the fee schedule. Um it's a critical revenue source uh for core services uh that we provide across all departments.

12:45 Um fees are the fees are consolidated. This happened several years ago where all of the fees were consolidated into one master schedule. This is for ease of use by the public, staff, and also for review by the Council. Um the guiding principles that we use is the be fair, reasonable fee structure um with consideration for cost recov- recovery and community impact. Um the proposed changes, so we used two different escalators. Um one is our cost primarily driven by internal costs, our staffing costs, which was 4 and 1/2% and we discussed that previously um when we talked about the sewer user fees Um and also

13:31 a CPI for inflation which is 2.7 it's the West region there so you can see that the fees were reviewed by each department individually each fee was reviewed and most were increased by one of these two factors there is a limited number of fees that were adjusted above that standard escalator one of those being the ambulance transport fee to align with the actual cost of that service. Adjustments are targeted they're not necessarily uniform that's why you'll see some different if you were to go through and do the math you'll see some different changes and that's really driven by departments looking at their fees individually and where appropriate fees were rounded.

14:20 Um one thing to notice inflation is still impacting us in fact our services are staffing and materials and um and when fees are lagging we're we that impacts other funds so if we're trying to keep and provide the same level of service and we're not collecting the revenue then we're we're tapping into other funds such as the general fund regular revenues or some of the user fees which we discussed last week. Um impact so this table really shows you what the impact of 1% is so if you know for every change in 1% this is what you see as the impact in revenue so if we

15:05 were to reduce the fees by 1% the proposed fees by 1% across all budgets or all funds you would see potentially a $69,000 impact negative if we were to increase them by 1% you'd see a $69,000 increase and again that's across all the funds. The um biggest impact would be to the general fund um and the building code fund. So, those are the two primary drivers, and some of those are our building fees and and our planning fees. Um one thing um that you'll note in your memo information provided and so in provided through this table is just something to consider for the council um

15:50 just bringing this for awareness and to get guidance, but merchant fees. So, those fees that we the city are is absorbing for credit card purchases. So, if somebody comes in say to our development services counter and they pay for a building permit, which some of them are tens of thousands of dollars and they use a credit card, currently that's the city's of a- absorbing that 3% 3.5% fee on all of those credit card purchases. And so, on this this um slide you really see what that historical data is. Now, prior to COVID that 2002 2019-2020, we had a policy where we capped what a credit card purchase could be. I believe it if I recall right, it was around $10,000 was the max purchase on a credit card. And after that, there that used an

16:35 alternative method. Typically, they they paid by check. Um and so, when COVID hit, in order to kind of still facilitate doing business and kind of we were closed, we could we removed that cap to kind of facilitate that online. And we've never reinstated that cap and so, you can kind of see what that trend is looking like and um and you see that spike in FY22, and that was when we had a lot of building um and land use applications going on. That was kind of that peak, but we're still seeing an upward trend with a projection of $190,000 in merchant fees again next year. And again, like I said, that's it's really convenient for people to purchase their fees or pay for any service that they're getting with the city with a credit card. Um we have the ability through our

17:20 online tools that if if the council wants, we could come up with other methods beyond credit card um similar to other businesses. I think the other thing that we've noticed is as staff as we look around a lot of other agencies are starting to pass that service fee on to that credit card user and similar to a lot of businesses as well. So, just something for the council to consider. Um with that, that's kind of it for my presentation. And just like I said, looking to get guidance from the council. Planning or public hearing is scheduled for June and then you'll see all of the fees wrapped up and and the previous fees that we discussed before this. >> Thanks for the presentation. Um I have some questions about some of

18:06 those graphs. Um So, I I noticed that the the the the it's kind of kind of choppy. It goes up and down. Um and and so that makes sense that it correlates with the Stripe fees um and the the credit card processing fees on that last slide. But with um but I noticed that we we saw kind of an up and down trend on the CPI and then the labor rate as well. And I'm I'm just curious what's um what's impacting those those numbers going going up and down cuz it looks like they're inconsistent. It was I think it was like the second slide. Um one more back. Yeah. So, we go from 22 to 1.6 and then we jump up and then

18:53 we're down, we're up, we're up. Yeah, I'm just curious on the labor rate and um what's what's contributing to that. >> Well, I might ask Nathan to come up and help me speak to that or Jessica, but I believe in FY22 that was prior to the last compensation plan that was approved by the council. Uh but again I'd probably ask the city manager. And and sorry guys, I get it. He's bringing up their finance merit badge for the next >> I appreciate it. Thank you, Nathan. >> Yes. Welcome Council so I can't explain it just off the top of my head exactly but what I can say to you is we have four labor contracts and

19:38 those labor contracts expire at different points in time and so you're seeing fluctuations probably related to a lot of those contracts being renewed across all four groups at varying rates. We got hit hard by inflation throughout the pandemic years and I think that's where you really saw that come in in fiscal years 23, 24 and 25. We're hoping that that inflation will start to kind of come down but it's hard to say with a lot of the events that are happening right now. >> Councilor Roddy. >> Thank you. I have a few things. So cut me off if I go over. The ambulance transport fee now if if folks have insurance that is

20:25 billable so that doesn't right we we we can bill on that. The ambulance transport fee. >> Hey, someone else up. >> We have the ambulance. >> So much about this that I'm getting dangerous cuz I know what I know and I don't know what I don't know. I'm just trying to understand how different fees impact different populations of people. >> Microphone on. >> Hello, John Fallot with Eugene Springfield Fire. As far as if they if somebody has insurance, insurance will reimburse us typically up to a set amount as per the insurance. And then the individual would be required to pay a copay if they have fire med for example, that would cover

21:11 whatever the insurance does not cover. Medicaid, Medicare those there are write downs. So there's immediate chop off the top and 78% of our >> Yeah. >> runs are Medicaid and Medicare. In FY25 it was 77%. >> So even by raising it up to the full amount of what it cost to do the transport, we're still not being fully recouped for the service. Great. >> Okay. >> So that was one of the questions. The other thing I was going to say was about that um that cap. I don't know about anybody else, but I would very much be interested in looking at that or do we add additional like payment transfers that are less

21:57 expensive on us cuz you know, that's a fair amount of money, right? To get up to $200,000 or whatever that we're paying in fees. And I know we're trying to make it as easy as possible for folks, but also you know, I think I'm open to looking at different things around there. And then just because I've been known on this for 2 weeks and I know we're going to come back and talk about the um the MWMC fee, I know. Um I I've been thinking like and maybe you'll bring it back and be like here's what would happen if you did 3%. Here's what would happen. And I don't want to make a whole bunch of work for people, but I just feel like that 5% is just and for three or four years is a hard hit. And then the other thing I wanted to say is I'm thinking about all these different fees in different places and

22:42 how they impact people. When you remind me when you bring this back, it comes as a package. So we either have to vote for all of them or if I would say I don't like that one but I will vote for all the rest of these What's what what are my options? What's what's my pick a fee look like? >> Well, I I guess even though we jump back a week previous week to the wastewater stormwater. So, I would say for the MWMC fees, those were voted on and I that's just a ratification, I believe, by the council. So, I I don't want to speak for Matt necessarily, but >> in this package. >> It's not in this package. It does that public hearing was separate with MWMC, and so it's not really part of um the public hearing for this. Um

23:27 the public hearing for the wastewater stormwater fees is separate. So, you will have an opportunity to give further direction. We would have opportunity if if there was consensus from the council that they wanted us you wanted us to go back and look at that more. We have more time because we could get it on in June cuz we are coming in May. So, we'll caveat that. Um with this package, we're coming back in June, so time would be very limited to get that done before. So, any direction that is consensus from the council tonight would be very helpful to bring back a complete package in June. Um and then to go back to fire, one thing I would note is on the fire mid the fire mid fees did not go up. So, as far as that goes. So, if people with that ambulance transport the one thing if they're they want to get

24:12 fire mid, that fee did not go up this year. >> Okay. Thank you. >> It's over. >> Thank you. So, I understand all of the uh different fee adjustments and and I'm comfortable with those. And forgive me if I missed this, but did you have some thoughts on I am concerned about the the credit card fees that we're absorbing. Do we have some thoughts on or suggestions or pick one kind of idea for how to do that? >> Um well, thoughts are either we come up with a percentage to bring to the council. We would work with the city attorney's office and in finance because in one thing we would want to make that across all city departments, not just planning and building. Um I I I I guess I have two recommendations. Either we go back as Councillor Ridley brought up to

24:58 the cap. So, we're still absorbing the fee, but it it reduces that potential. Um or, you know, as it is it like it is a convenience fee for folks to use cuz we can set up other alternatives for I mean, just like anything we can have them import input their banking information and do a check, you know, electronic check or something like that. So, there are ways we could work to set up our online tool so that they could still make an online payment. They don't have to come into our counter and and come in with a paper check. So, we we could work on those tools, I think. And that way, if they still want to use their credit card, that's their choice. And it really only affects those folks who are It's not like you know, you have that decision point. Do I want to use my credit card? Is it worth it to get for me to get those rewards or not?

25:43 >> I kind of like that path because that impacts only those that are paying by credit card and not others that are paying by other means. Just my my thoughts there. >> Um I think I would be open to uh looking at a floor before we start charging it, right? Like the transactions across the city or go all sizes. I think we're probably more after the $10,000 transactions. Um but to me, right? Like if we could if we could explore a floor, that would make a lot of sense because it then those day-to-day transactions from either small businesses or citizens, maybe it doesn't have to feel so abrasive. >> Okay. Um I think we're

26:28 Are we saying yes to the guidance here as far as the package to bring back to us? I I'm seeing head nods, Jeff. Is >> All right. Perfect. Thank you. >> All right. Any other comments? I think we're good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> This is our only item, and we are adjourned.