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was proof positive that the first “baby steps” had worked well. He was willing to move it forward. <br /> <br />Councilor Taylor said she would support a motion to refer the merger back to the individual city councils for <br />consideration. <br /> <br />Springfield Councilor Leezer had a lot of faith in the fire captains and everyone who had worked hard on <br />this proposal. She observed that the joint effort in the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission <br />(MWMC) had worked well. She supported whatever they needed to do to move the proposal forward. <br /> <br />Springfield Councilor Pishioneri supported a merger. He had a few reservations, but acknowledged that the <br />3- Battalion System had worked well. He said he would like to see a merger occur, but he would want to <br />closely monitor it by the week or month to understand the implications and benefits. He expressed some <br />concern about the “hundreds of years” of experience the two departments were losing through attrition. He <br />felt that if the merger did not work it would take a lot of resources and time to replace those individuals. <br /> <br />Chief Groves said his department was holding some critical vacancies open and Springfield was realizing <br />some vacancies and all of them would need to be filled one way or another. He stated that the vacancies <br />were also creating the opportunity to give a merger a shot, adding that they would not be making a <br />recommendation they did not believe would be beneficial. <br /> <br />Councilor Poling supported the recommendation “100 percent.” He indicated he would reluctantly support a <br />motion to send a merger proposal back to the individual councils for further discussion. He felt that they <br />were hearing the result of indepth thinking by people who had years and years of experience. He believed <br />they would pass up a great opportunity if they did not move forward on a merger, given the present <br />circumstances. He hoped they would continue to allow the fire unions some level of participation in the <br />discussion, if it was referred back to the councils. <br /> <br />Chief Groves noted that the unions had been involved in the process and both the International Association <br />of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) <br />had weighed in on the proposal. <br /> <br />Councilor Ortiz thought it was a good idea to discuss a merger. She had some concerns about the net effect <br />and felt they needed to hear from a bigger part of the community. She was not “100 percent certain” she <br />could support it and wondered if it was something they should take to the voters. She was concerned that <br />people were not aware that this was happening. <br /> <br />Chief Groves cited several examples of municipalities that had merged departments, including Tualatin <br />Valley and Clackamas County # 1 which had both been in operation in excess of 20 years. <br /> <br />Springfield Councilor Simmons supported moving forward with the merger. He had asked questions of both <br />Chief Groves and Chief Murphy regarding possible indirect public works costs and capital fund issues on <br />buildings and equipment, as well as a full and complete explanation of what could happen if there was a <br />compression issue. He said the firefighters were respected “on both sides of the river” and did a great job, <br />but they needed to ask questions about how the per capita costs would be allocated and how they were <br />allocated in the other models Chief Groves cited. <br /> <br />Chief Groves said they had tried to put this information into the templates, but it was difficult to build a <br />budget before the model for the merger had been decided upon. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Joint Elected Officials—Lane County, Springfield, December 7, 2009 Page 8 <br /> & Eugene <br /> <br />