Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

Home Browse Search

September 14, 2009 Joint Elected Officials Meeting City of Springfield City of Eugene Lane County Page 13 of 14 forward that included working together as two decision making governing bodies. She wanted to try to find ways to make it work on a smaller scale. Mayor Leiken said it sounded like the task force thought moving forward with one Metro Plan was the way to go with some autonomy. He asked if this would need voter approval from all three jurisdictions if it went into a discussion regarding a district. Yes. Mayor Leiken said he had appreciated the third battalion concept and felt it worked well. He said it was important to look at this from a governing standpoint. He had known Chief Murphy for many years and would put a lot of faith in Chief Murphy’s judgment. The concept of cooperation had been outstanding. It would be important for him to hear from the leadership of the unions. If there was any issue with the unions, he would be inclined to be unsupportive. He agreed with Councilor Simmons that the elected officials would continue to look over staff’s shoulders as that was their job. He also agreed with Councilor Ortiz that we could not lower our service delivery. He needed to know if this would save dollars and cents in the long run. They needed to know they were making decisions that were prudent, while maintaining service deliveries. He said the cooperation between the two fire departments was outstanding. He felt these were the only public agencies that this would work with and it was worth looking into. Councilor Taylor asked who would be the Fire Chief and which City Manager would be making that decision. Councilor Taylor asked how difficult would it be to go back if a change was made and they determined it wasn’t working. Chief Groves recalled the consolidation of the Fire and Police Department in Eugene. When they deconsolidated, the most difficult part was building the staffing levels up for each department. It took about ten years to get the resources back to build up those positions. He felt they chose the wrong services to consolidate at that time, but felt these (fire departments) were the right services because they were like services. They were looking at doing more with less. Chief Murphy said Chief Groves had his support as the Chief if there were a merger. It was important for continuity. He believed that Springfielder’s would also support Chief Groves. It would also take a step of faith from Eugene to support our Fire Marshal, as they would most likely be the Fire Marshal for the merged department, as would be our Training Chief. There were three key retirements or turnovers: the Fire Marshal, the Training Chief and the Chief of the department. In those three people would be cost savings and continuity. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Leiken adjourned the meeting at 1:25 p.m. Minutes Recorder