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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCMinutes - 09/13/04 WS MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall September 13, 2004 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Gary Pap~. His Honor Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. ITEMS FROM MAYOR, COUNCIL, AND CITY MANAGER Mr. Kelly asked City Manager Dennis Taylor for the promised evaluation of the City's use of the CMGC (construction manager/general contractor) approach to the new Police Forensics building. Mr. Kelly said he had secured a copy of the American Planning Association's report entitled "Ecological Riverfront Design" from the Planning Division staff and had placed a copy in the Council Office for other councilors to review. He said that much of the report was applicable to urban areas restoring extensive old industrial areas, but there was also information about the challenges and environmental issues related to riverfront design. Ms. Taylor said she was recently contacted by a constituent concerned about the fact that Fox News was being broadcast at the airport. City Manager Taylor indicated that several residents brought the issue to the City's attention and Public Works Director Kurt Corey had prepared a memorandum regarding the issue. Ms. Taylor said she saw the memorandum but her concerns were not satisfied. Her constituent was unhappy that a particular media outlet was able to buy people's attention at the airport. Many people preferred silence to the constant noise of Fox News. She did not think residents need to be subjected to Fox News at the airport simply because it is free. Ms. Taylor wanted to know what the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations was thinking about in regards to the upcoming legislative session. She hoped the City could lobby to eliminate the "kicker." Ms. Taylor also thought the City should be working to halt State laws that interfere with local government, particularly with regard to local government funding. Speaking to the potential that the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) could relocate, Ms. Taylor said that it was suggested by some residents that EWEB relocate its administrative functions downtown, which sounded like a good idea to her and would benefit EWEB's customers and employees. She thought the council should think about the issue. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 13, 2004 Page 1 Work Session Ms. Taylor noted a memorandum received by the council regarding changes in street assessments and deferral fees, saying she believed it was unfair to require people to pay for street and alley improvements when they did not want them. She objected that fees were being increased considerably for those needing deferred payments, who were the most in-need residents to begin with. Ms. Taylor did not think most residents would know about the issue until the deadline for comments had passed, and suggested that the deadline be postponed and an effort be made to reach out to the neighborhood organizations so they could notify residents. City Manager Taylor indicated he would follow-up with Public Works staff on the legal notice requirements. Ms. Taylor requested that an effort be made in the minutes to distinguish more clearly between her remarks and those of the City Manager's. Ms. Bettman reminded the council and the public about upcoming public comment opportunities regarding the Police Department's complaint process: at the Jefferson-Westside Neighborhood Association meeting at the McNail-Reilly House on September 14 at 7:45 p.m.; at the shared Eugene Celebration booth of the Police Commission and Human Rights Commission at the Criterion Gallery at 35 West 8th Avenue on September 18-19 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; at the Cal Young Neighborhood Association meeting at the Sheldon Community Center on September 28 at 7 p.m.; and at the Petersen Barn on September 30 at 6:30 p.m. Mr. Poling announced that the deadline for submitting applications for City boards and commissions was September 24. He indicated a list of the openings could be found on the City's web site, and an application could be downloaded. Ms. Solomon had no items. Mr. Meisner announced the Amtrak depot dedication would occur on September 20, 2004, at 10 a.m., at the depot. He noted that Amtrak had been operating out of the remodeled depot since September 8. In addition, Amtrak and the City of Eugene were co-sponsoring a parade entry for the Eugene Celebration to publicize the grand opening. He invited other councilors to contact him or Eric Jones of Public Works if they wished to participate in the parade. Mr. Meisner announced a Eugene Library Foundation fundraiser on October 13 at which author Nancy Pearl would be featured. Mr. Meisner said the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations met the previous week and began the process of working with staff to revise the Legislative Policies document. He noted that the City did not generally take positions on State revenue positions unless they had a direct relationship to the City. He anticipated that the council would consider the Legislative Policies document prior to the winter holiday break. City Manager Taylor announced that Delta Airlines was adding a third daily flight to Salt Lake City as of February 2005. He said the Delta service had been a success to date. City Manager Taylor reported that the reconstruction of Garden Way was completed and ready in time for the previous week's University of Oregon football game. Unfortunately, the Ducks were not similarly ready. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 13, 2004 Page 2 Work Session Mayor Torrey said the Delta Ponds North Path Project kickoff, held earlier that day, was well-attended. He said the project was an example of how organizations such as the Rotary Club could make a difference in the community. He noted that representatives of the City's partners in the project, the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Land Management, as well as Mayor-elect Kitty Piercy, had been in attendance. Ms. Nathanson arrived. Mayor Torrey noted a law that was passed by the 2003 legislature mandating that speed limits in school zones be followed at all times if the speed limit in the area in question was 30 miles per hour or less, and that it be followed during school hours when posted speed limits were 35 miles per hour or more. He asked if there was something the Police Department could issue to the public to clarify the confusion that existed. Ms. Nathanson had no items. B. WORK SESSION: Risk Fund (Fund 622) Update City Manager Taylor introduced the item, reminding the council it had requested an update on the Risk and Health funds; at this time, staff would present information regarding the Risk Fund. A work session on the Health Fund was scheduled for October 14. The council was joined by Risk and Benefits Manager Myrnie Daut. She introduced Claims Manager Cathy Joseph and Ron Graybeal and Tim Clarke of JBL&K Risk Services, the City's insurance broker. Human Resources and Risk Services Director Lauren Chouinard and Finance Director Dee Ann Hardt were also present for the item. Ms. Daut provided a PowerPoint presentation regarding the City's Risk Fund, Fund 622. She noted the origin of the fund, an internal service fund, in an ordinance passed in 1978. She also noted the annual rate- setting process overseen by the Executive Management Team. All departments paid rates based on their experience. Ms. Daut said the lag between the rate-setting process and the time when rates took effect were a continuing issue with the fund in terms of the accuracy of rate projections. Ms. Daut enumerated the programs in the Risk Fund, including several insurance programs (liability, property/recoveries, Workers Compensation, unemployment), Safety/Loss Control/Environmental Services, and Emergency Management. Ms. Daut discussed the City's self-insured insurance programs, which included the Workers Compensation, liability, and unemployment insurance, saying that the City was self-insured for the first $500,000 of every claim in the first two categories and fully self-insured for the last category. She noted that the City had a single claim that exceeded the self-insured limit between fiscal year 1980 and the present. That was in the liability insurance program. Ms. Daut noted that the City also purchased excess insurance to address costs above the self-insured limits. She reported that the Oregon Tort Claims Act limited the City's liability to $200,000 per claimant or $500,000 per occurrence for state claims alone. Ms. Daut again noted the brokerage firm employed by the City, JBL&K Risk Services, and indicated the City also contracted with an actuary, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to assist it in determining reserve require- ments and what should be budgeted for claims annually. Because of the relatively small size of the program, a few claims could have a very significant impact on the projections and the budget. PricewaterhouseCoop- MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 13, 2004 Page 3 Work Session ers provided the City with projections twice annually on dates that allowed for a supplemental budget action if the projected reserve requirements were more than anticipated. Ms. Daut noted the fiscal year 2005 operating budget of $4 million, 70 percent of which was dedicated to claims and premiums, and the $5.8 million in reserves. She emphasized that those reserves did not appear in any budget document but were instead reflected in the City's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). Ms. Daut discussed some of the issues affecting the fund, mentioning insurance market cycles and the impact of the terrorist attacks of September 11,2001, on the insurance industry, which resulted both in high claims and investment losses. In terms of Workers Compensation, health insurance costs were rising and the work force was aging. That program also experienced claims volatility, as did the liability program. The liability program had experienced recent claims that exceeded any in recent history. Ms. Daut said the City faced unbudgeted costs in the unemployment program as a result of the extension of benefits at the state and federal level. Ms. Daut shared two bar chart comparisons to demonstrate the City's risk rate history and its risk insurance premium history, noting similarities between the two charts. She provided a brief overview of the City's recent claims history for the Workers Compensation and liability insurance programs and for %quity" claims and noted the City's five largest Workers Compensation and liability claims. Ms. Daut noted the availability of the City's Annual Insurance Marketing Manual and Annual Risk Report on the City's Internet and Intranet sites. Mayor Torrey solicited council comments and questions. Mr. Meisner asked if the cost of claims included the cost of defense by legal counsel. Ms. Daut clarified that the information she provided on the City's five largest claims included the settlement costs only. Mr. Meisner asked if rate-setting at the department level was a fine enough breakdown given the differences within individual departments and the services they provided. Ms. Daut said the City tracked information on a divisional basis but allocated the risk rate on a departmental basis, and if a department wished to allocate the rates internally on a different basis, they could because the information needed to do so was available. Ms. Taylor asked for information about the mandatory physical exams Ms. Daut had briefly mentioned in her presentation as a part of the City's costs. Ms. Daut clarified that potential police and fire employees were subject to mandatory pre-employment physicals, as well as some Public Works staff. The City paid for those costs. Mr. Kelly commended the presentation. He asked if staff or the consultants ever compared Eugene's experience to that of other Oregon jurisdictions or to jurisdictions in other states in terms of amount of claims paid or size of the Risk Fund per capita. He asked if that information could help determine if Eugene was more or less efficient. Ms. Daut said that Mr. Kelly's question touched on the subject of International City Managers Association (ICMA) benchmarking, a process in which Eugene was participating. The service measures used for the fund included ICMA measures. She said that was where staff would look for efficiency. In addition, the City looked to JBL&K, which worked with many other local governments in Oregon, for information about the types of coverage other jurisdictions were buying to handle risk. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 13, 2004 Page 4 Work Session Mr. Kelly asked if staff had any anecdotal sense of how Eugene's experience compared to that of Salem or Bend, for example. Ms. Daut said anecdotally, she thought Eugene had done well. Mr. Graybeal suggested the council could examine the studies and benchmarking done by the Public Risk and Insurance Manage- ment Association (PRIMA), which compared premium to population and total budget, for example. He said his firm planned to examine its customer base and attempt to benchmark different entities in the state to each other by schools, cities, counties, etc., to get a better understanding of that information. Mr. Kelly asked what sort of claims were federal claims as opposed to state claims. City Attorney Glenn Klein said typically, a civil rights claim was a good example of a federal claim. He said such things as unreasonable search and seizure or violation of due process also triggered such claims. In response to a follow-up question from Mr. Kelly, Mr. Klein said the Danebo Properties liability claim involved a claim of inverse condemnation, which are not limited by the Oregon Tort Claims Act. Ms. Nathanson asked who assigned the experience modifier for Workers Compensation. Ms. Daut indicated the numbers were set by the State of Oregon's Workers Compensation Division. Ms. Nathanson inferred from those numbers that Eugene's claims experience was a good one. Speaking to Mr. Kelly's interest in comparing Eugene's experience with liability and equity claims with that of other communities, Ms. Nathanson suggested that the services delivered by a particular jurisdiction and the condition of its assets had a bearing on the issue. She said there were many variables to consider. She asked if the ICMA tracked those variables. Ms. Daut indicated the organization tracked many variables. She said that the ICMA produced an array of data that broke information down by categories such as population, but she believed it required more investigation to determine if one was actually comparing ;;apples to apples." Ms. Daut said that in future risk reports, staff would fold in the ICMA benchmarks into its reporting on service measures, and would focus on mean and median numbers used in that process. Ms. Nathanson asked if the City was proactive in avoiding claims. Ms. Daut said the City had a very proactive safety program and had won recognition from the League of Oregon Cities for its good loss history. Almost every department had its own safety committee and there was also a joint labor- management safety committee overseeing those committees and the City's safety program. The issue of risk was discussed in employee orientation, and the message of loss control and prevention from both a liability and Workers Compensation perspective was consistent from the first day of employment. Ms. Nathanson said a good track record reflected the money and time the City spent on being safe and avoiding claims. She said what seemed most troublesome in regard to the Risk Fund was outside of the council's control. She asked if there was anything staff would advise the council to consider in terms of risk that it should be considering. Ms. Daut said she could not think of anything. She said that sometimes the council chose to take a risk, such as when it adopted the Telecommunications Ordinance, and that was appropriate as long as the council acknowledged the risk and considered the risk analysis in its decision making. Mayor Torrey hoped that eventually staff would find a point at which it could judge whether it was doing as well as it could. Speaking to the work session scheduled on the Health Fund, he said he would be interested in knowing about the experience of communities that expected their employees to share in the cost of medical insurance; had there been a difference in the experience when employees had more responsibility for their premiums. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 13, 2004 Page 5 Work Session Mayor Torrey asked the consultants to consider whether there were communities Eugene could learn from in terms of their experience with Workers Compensation and liability insurance. Mayor Torrey commended Ms. Daut for her work. C. EXECUTIVE SESSION Pursuant to Oregon Revised Statute 192.660(1)(h), the council entered into executive session. Mayor Torrey adjourned the executive session and the council entered back into the work session. Councilors agreed to consider the Consent Calendar scheduled for adoption at the regular meeting at this time. 2. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of City Council Minutes: - July 21, 2004, Work Session - July 26, 2004, Work Session - July 26, 2004, City Council Meeting - July 28, 2004, Work Session - August 9, 2004, Work Session - August 9, 2004, City Council Meeting - August 11, 2004, Work Session B. Approval of Tentative Working Agenda C. Initiation of Land Use Code Amendment to Create a Special Area Zone for the Historic Johansen-Moody House D. Resolution 4807 Authorizing Interim and Long Term Financing for Local Improvement Projects and Terminating the Authority Under Resolution No. 4602 E. Resolution 4808 Authorizing the Issuance and Sale of Trojan Project Revenue Bonds in the Aggregate Principal Amount Not to Exceed $55,000,000 for the Purpose of Refunding Trojan Nuclear Project Revenue Bonds, Series of 1977, and Providing for Related Matters F. Approval of Overseas Travel Request G. Consideration of Resolutions Regarding November 2, 2004, Statewide Ballot Measures: Resolution 4809 to Oppose the November 2004 General Election Ballot Measure 36 by the Eugene City Council and Resolution 4810 to Oppose the November 2004 General Election Ballot Measure 37 by the Eugene City Council Ms. Bettman, seconded by Mr. Poling, moved to adopt the Consent Calendar. Mr. Kelly and Ms. Bettman indicated they had submitted corrections to the minutes via e-mail. Mayor Torrey deemed the minutes corrections acceptable as submitted. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 13, 2004 Page 6 Work Session Mr. Poling pulled Item G. Roll call vote; the Consent Calendar, with the exception of Item G, passed unanimously, 7:0. Mayor Torrey adjourned the meeting at 7:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dennis M. Taylor City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 13, 2004 Page 7 Work Session