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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 01/26/05 WS MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall January 26, 2005 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, Chris Pryor, Andrea Ortiz, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Gary Papd, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling. Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION: Adaptive Recreation City Manager Dennis Taylor introduced Sue Harnly, Recreation Manager, and Ren~e Grube, Recreation Services Director for the Library, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department. He said this work session was an opportunity for Ms. Hamly and Ms. Grube to explain the City of Eugene's Adaptive Recreation Services. Ms. Harnly began by introducing the program supervisors for Adaptive Recreation Services, Molly Elliott and Patty Prather. She explained that the City was the primary provider of such recreation services and sought to encourage people with disabilities to lead active lives. She said the program had been formerly called Specialized Recreation Services, but had been renamed Adaptive Recreation Services to reflect the current feeling that %pecial" was a separation with somewhat negative connotations. Ms. Harnly outlined the core service areas of the program, as follows: 1) Program services, which provide a full spectrum of programs to a wide range of people, 100 differ- ent programs in 2004 that served over 800 people 2) Resource and referral services, which include fielding calls, networking, and providing information 3) Inclusion services, in that all people are entitled, regardless of ability, to participate in activities of their choice and the service facilitates this participation 4) The volunteer program, an integral element of the programs as they extend resources and help to offer quality programs. Volunteers come from the University of Oregon, Lane Community College, and some from community service and a substance abuse recovery program, among others. Part- nerships are also developed with other agencies in the community. 5) Community education and networking, a constant for adaptive recreation staff. Staff often is at the table when issues about people with disabilities are discussed. Ms. Hamly said approximately 17 percent of the population of the City of Eugene have a disability of one sort or another, as Eugene is a livable city for people with disabilities. She shared several stories of people whose lives had benefited from Adaptive Recreation Services. In closing, Ms. Harnly thanked the council and staff for their support and, in particular, Ms. Elliott and Ms. Prather for their work for the program. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2005 Page 1 Work Session Mr. Pap6 emphasized that there was no question in his mind that these programs should be provided. He said the question, instead, was whether the resources were available to continue such programs. He pointed out that the next item on the agenda had to do with deficiencies in the City's fire service that were due to necessary budget choices. He commended the Adaptive Recreation Services but underscored that they were expensive programs. He asked staff how such programs would continue to be funded into the future. Ms. Grube responded that the program was supported by the General Fund. Participants did not tend to have a great deal of discretionary income. She stressed the value of the program in helping to keep people socialized and in their homes. In response to a question from Mr. Pap6, Ms. Harnly stated that the program received $500,000 from the General Fund and 20 percent of the cost was paid through fees. Mr. Pap6 commented that he appreciated the discussion on community partners. He asked if the United Way could help fund the programs. Ms. Grube responded that the program partnered with the United Way to provide some of the programs, but that United Way had not been asked to help pay for the City's adaptive recreation activities. Mr. Pap~ suggested quantifying the volunteer hours and delineating further partnerships to help the Budget Committee to understand how the $500,000 was being spent. Ms. Ortiz echoed Mr. Papa's request for more information regarding volunteer hours. She asked if there was a person dedicated to looking for other funding sources. Ms. Grube replied that there was not. Ms. Harnly stated, in response to a question from Ms. Ortiz, that community recreation was not able to access third-party reimbursement, e.g. insurance benefits, though staff did pursue smaller grants and funding mechanisms for programs. She noted one grant from Lane County that had run a specific program and only that program. Ms. Grube added that the City had partnered with the Lane Transit District (LTD) on a grant to acquire a vehicle for recreation services. Mr. Kelly cited the oft-repeated adage that a society is judged by how it cares for those who are least able to care for themselves. He felt adaptive recreation was a clear example of this. He averred it was a critical service and that the City of Eugene provided it very well. He noted that when cutting other recreational services during a previous budget cycle, adaptive recreation services had not been cut because it had been determined there were no comparable providers in the private sector that could take over. He asked if there were any other significant providers at this point. Ms. Harnly said there were none. Ms. Bettman valued the service adaptive recreation staff provided. She thanked staff for its dedication. She commented that people with family members with disabilities often had extraordinary expenses and opined the subsidy was ~worth it." Mr. Pryor called adaptive recreation the ~poor step-child even in the recreation world." He commented that corporations did not like to support such services and agencies such as United Way were already spread thin. He said it was something that one should %tep up to the plate" and find the money to do as it was not so much a recreation service as it was community development. He observed that, for a lot of children, this was how they learned to live and that it helped them to become a much more functional group of people. Mayor Piercy expressed appreciation for the presentation and for the work the staff did. She said the MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2005 Page 2 Work Session council should be conscious of its role in the community and that money for human services should not be thought of as a contribution. She averred that services such as adaptive recreation services were a piece of Eugene's livability and tourism; Eugene drew people to it because it was this kind of city. City Manager Taylor acknowledged that the City was meeting a need, but said there was more need than the City could meet. He hoped the presentation would help provide more visibility for the programs to both potential program users and to the council. He noted that Lane County Senior and Disabled Services was falling victim to the State budget shortfalls. He anticipated this would increase the need for some of the adaptive recreation services. Mr. Poling, noting the length of time the recreation staff members had worked for the City, commented that one needed to remember that the City had valued employees who put in much of their life in this work. He said when the City had a person in a specific department for a long time it should prepare for the person's departure so that the institutional memory would not be lost. Mr. Pap~ concurred. Mr. Pap~ acknowledged that United Way had more programs to fund than funds to spend. He remarked that it was not so much whether the City should continue these services, but rather how such services could be continued. Ms. Harnly remarked, in closing, that when staff did fundraising, people saw recreation services as the City of Eugene and did not perceive a great need on the part of the City for more money. B. WORK SESSION: Fire and Emergency Medical Service Standards of Response Coverage City Manager Taylor recalled that the City had undergone a process as part of the Public Works Depart- ment accreditation. The results were so valuable in terms of service provision that the City was now engaged in a similar process with the Fire and Emergency Medical Services (Fire/EMS). He introduced Fire Chief Tom Tallon and asked him to speak to the standards of coverage. Chief Tallon said the standards of coverage had been presented in 2003 as a way a community could measure existing risk and then plan to cover that risk and also as a piece toward the larger goal of getting national accreditation. He noted that out of several thousand fire departments, less than 200 nationwide had attained accreditation, a national standard supported by the International City Managers Association (ICMA), International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the Insurance Service Office (ISa). He said the accreditation helped the ISa to determine local insurance rates. He stated that Chief Ruth abadal had been working on this process and asked her to speak about it. Chief Obadal said Fire/EMS was currently considered an applicant City. This consisted of a very thorough self-analysis which, after a year, was now completed. She stated that the Standards of Cover document was required to be submitted along with the department's Strategic Plan. She explained that the next step consisted of an assignment of a peer review panel to conduct a site visit. She shared the goal of Eugene Fire/EMS, which was to complete the process before summer. Chief abadal discussed the Eugene Fire & EMS Department Standards of Coverage, December, 2004, noting that the document was an updated version of the one presented to the council in 2003. She reported that response time goals were spelled out in Section 5. She said the document indicated what level of service the community could expect. She indicated that should current goals be unattainable, the department would not reach accreditation. She stated Section 12 included recommendations to improve the level of service and MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2005 Page 3 Work Session that these remain unchanged from the earlier version. Ms. Bettman thanked staff for the comprehensive and comprehensible documents. She asked if whether the council voted to approve the plan or voted to accept the plan would make a difference in the accreditation process. City Manager Taylor responded that it did not. Chief Tallon clarified that if the council accepted the document, it would then be acknowledging that the Fire Department was using this process to measure risk and making recommendations on how to cover that risk. Ms. Bettman said that response time was a key issue for her. She cited two instances in her experience as a registered nurse wherein response time had made a tremendous difference in the outcome for a patient. She objected to the fact that the goals for response time were greater than the need. She observed that the national standard was a four-minute response, but all incidents in Eugene were averaging at least nine minutes for a response. She pointed out that last year's goal was a six-and-a-half minute response time. Mr. Kelly also complimented the document, calling it detailed. He would support a motion to accept the document. He felt uneasy about supporting a motion to approve the document given the changed goals for response time. He thought standards were being relaxed as last year the goal had been a six-and-a-half minute response time 90 percent of the time and now the goal had been changed to a seven-minute response time 80 percent of the time. He asked why the response time goals had been changed. Responding to Mr. Kelly, Chief Obadal stated that the former goals could not be met. She said it had been hoped this could be improved operationally and the department had not been able to do so. She acknowl- edged the goals had been relaxed but reiterated that it was because the goals need to be attainable. She related that the Accreditation Commission required the department to look at the both the department's response and the call-in response times. She said when all the components were added up it looked like a long time. In response to another question from Mr. Kelly, Chief Obadal stated that the change in the percentage of time response times were achieved had been a result of understanding what different standards were across the country and also because this was the percentage that the department could achieve. She noted that she had seen, in her peer review capacity, departments with a goal to achieve a good response time 70 percent of the time. Chief Tallon added that the change in response time goals had largely been due to Chief Obadal's work as an assessor with other departments and her understanding of the requirements for accreditation. He thought the factor that was most telling for the decision-makers was the response reliability as a city. He cited pages 71 and 72 which provided three years of data per station. He said, since 1991, each year the response reliability had gone down. He called attention, in particular, to the Valley River area which had lost an engine company due to funding issues. He underscored that response time had increased due to the growth of the community, an increase in the frequency of incidents, and the spread of population into the Santa Clara area. As a point of information, he stated that there were very few, if any, departments in the United States that had a response time of four minutes 90 percent of the time, though the national standard suggested that response time. Mr. Pap~ lauded the document. He noted that on page 3 it said Eugene had received a Class II fire suppression rating. He asked what a Class I rating would be. Chief Tallon responded that this was the ISO rating upon which homeowners and business insurance rates were partially based. He said, nation-wide, he thought there were less than ten Class I fire departments and less than 90 that were Class II. He stated that fire departments were proud to be rated Class II and that some paint it on the sides of their fire trucks. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2005 Page 4 Work Session Mr. Pap6 asked the City Manager to comment on the Valley River Fire Station and whether funding would be allocated to restore the engine company. City Manager Taylor responded that it would be addressed in the Budget Committee process. He affirmed that it was part of the department's strategy to improve the level of service. Mr. Pap6 called the council's attention to page 82, which discussed the Valley River Station. Mr. Papd asked if the Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighters (ARFF) was included in the graphs on pages 28 and 29. Chief Obadal affirmed that ARFF was included. In response to a question from Mr. Papd, she stated that the numbers could be separated out. In response to another question from Mr. Papd, Chief Obadal explained that the Federal Aviation Admini- stration (FAA) required the ARFF firefighters to remain at the airport when it is open for commercial flights and did not allow them to supplement other fire resources. Ms. Ortiz thanked staff for the document. She asked if it included all levels of transport. Chief Obadal replied that it only included Code 3 transports. Chief Tallon stated, in response to another question from Ms. Ortiz, that different jurisdictions had different levels of EMS, but they could all apply for accreditation. He clarified that a jurisdiction either contracted with a transport service or had its own ambulances, but the call response time was the same. Ms. Taylor was alarmed by the suggestion that goals should be revised. She acknowledged that demand had exceeded resources and, as such, would accept the report but would not support a motion to approve it. She averred that City policies exacerbated the problem by encouraging sprawl and opined that this contributed to the slower response time. Chief Tallon reiterated that accepting the document would meet the intent of the application. Ms. Bettman indicated she would amend the motion, when it was placed on the table, so that it indicated the council ~acknowledged receipt of the report" rather than ~accepted it." She did not wish to allow anyone to infer that the City Council embraced these goals. She did not blame the department and, in fact, thought the department was excellent. She called it a City Council and organizational issue of resources. She felt the organization had campaigned relentlessly for road maintenance funds and asked why there was not a similar relentless advocacy for improved response times. She supported most of the recommendations in the document. She declared she would be looking for funding mechanisms to improve funding for the department and to restore the engine company to Station 9 in the Valley River area. Ms. Bettman pointed out that there were now goals for ambulance transport without the call processing time that seemed long, such as ten minutes 85 percent of the time in Zone 1 and 20 minutes 85 percent of the time in Zone 2. She felt those goals needed revision. Chief Obadal responded that those times and goals were set by Lane County and not the Eugene Fire/EMS Department. Mr. Kelly clarified that the all incident goals and the structure fire goals were set by the City. He commented that he could not underscore enough that the department was great. He acknowledged there were not enough resources. He supported Ms. Bettman's language that indicated acknowledgement of receipt of the document. Mr. Pap6 recommended that the City Council look at the four-minute response time at its annual goal setting MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2005 Page 5 Work Session meeting, currently set for late February. He observed that some of the response time had been slowed by traffic calming and asked if there were some modes of traffic calming that were better for response time than others. Chief Obadal responded that traffic calming generally meant traffic slowing. She said she worked closely with transportation planners to try to minimize the impact on emergency response. She noted that speed humps created more of an obstacle than some other modes of traffic calming. Mr. Pap6, noting the CMS reimbursement, asked if this was an issue to take up with when lobbying Congress with the United Front lobbying group. Chief Tallon recommended that they lobby to change the fee regulation. Mr. Pap6 said he would bring this before the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations as a first step. Mr. Poling ascertained that a change in the wording would not affect the accreditation process. Mr. Poling, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to acknowledge receipt of the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department updated Standards of Response Coverage. Ms. Ortiz related that she had done "ridealongs" with paramedics. She said four minutes was an impossible goal. She encouraged councilors to take a "ridealong." Ms. Bettman shared her aggravation regarding the people who do not pull over when ambulances or fire engines were passing. Mr. Poling commented that this was not a problem only for the City of Eugene. He agreed that people needed to get out of the way of emergency vehicles. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. The meeting adjourned at 1:27 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dennis M. Taylor City Manager (Recorded by Ruth Atcherson) MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2005 Page 6 Work Session