Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-1015 REG MINMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING ASHLAND CITY COUNCIL October 15, 1985 ROLL CALL APPROVAL OF MINUTES PEDESTRIAN AWARD DOWNTOWN PARKING PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN PUBLIC HEARING Mayor Medaris led the Pledge of Allegiance and called the meeting to to order at 7:30 P.M. on the above date in the Council Chambers° Present were Elerath, Reid, Bennett, Acklin, Laws and Smith. Reid asked that the minutes of the regular meeting of October 1, 1985 be corrected to include her comments relative to challenging the parking survey saying if the office workers had been segregated in the survey it would have indicated that we have a traditional down~ town as opposed to a shopping mall. Smith moved to approve as cor- rected; Acklin seconded the motion which passed unanimously on voice vote. The Mayor noted that minutes of adjourned meeting and executive session of October 8, 1985 were not ready for consideration and would appear on the next agenda. Kirk Faulkner of the AAA presented the City with its 22nd consecutive pedestrian safety award and commending the Police Department and Traffic Safet Corf~nission for an effective pedestrian safety pro ram. Smith noted t~e Traffic gafety Comm. should be extended apprecia~ion. Laws requested that #8 under Ordinances be brought up in the event citizens were in attendance relative to the second reading of the ordinance on the subject and moved to postpone further action until the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors can be met with and a proposal for that body to have a one-year educational program dealing with the downtown parking problem be considered. Laws said there may be a need to go ahead with some of the other parts of the ordinance to generate monies to finance parking lots by improving existing facilities and perhaps adding as needed~ Acklin agreed with Laws and noted she has clarified some misconceptions in the past and will now reconsider her position. Smith seconded the motion, Medaris said he'd like to see the matter dealt with in a reasonable length of time. On roll call vote motion passed with Reid, Bennett, Acklin, Laws and Smith voting in favor. Elerath opposed. Almquist noted a letter had been received from Allen Drescher and asked it be made part of the record in the event the ordinance is reconsidered. The City Administrator reviewed the actions leading up to the public hearing on the Public Safety Plan which included study sessions and noted that the procedure began in January of 1983 as a result of the Goals & Objectives Session Council holds annually. Almquist said as a result of the goals session Council directed that the Administra- tive and Operating Divisions of the City be streamlined to become more efficient and economical° Almquist said that all departments were to h given a close review~ Almquist said that revenues are not coming in as they did and that planning is necessary now to avert crisis in the future. Almquist said the Public Safety concept was adopted after a long study by Resolution in October of 1983 creating the department and giving the plan a two year trial with a ~eport and action due by November, 1985. Almquist cautioned the audience to listen care- fully because of misinformation disseminated and misunderstandings about the combination plan. Almquist said the intent was to maintain service at the present level while either reducing costs or holding them at their present level. Almquist noted that Public Safety Department consists of 80% of the General Fund and is very labor intensive with 88% going to personnel in fire and 83% in Police. ..... continued 10/15/85 Po 1 PUBLIC HEARING cont. Public Safety Plan) Atmquist noted that in 1973-74 the budget was for $594,000 and has increased to $1,936,000 in fiscal year 83-84 or a total increase of 22% per year for a total increase of 225%° Almquist noted that the plan being adopted is in concept only and will be reviewed each year during the budget process° He noted that many meetings have been held with employees and is disappointed by the tactics being used by some personnel saying that input by employees has vigorously been sought by Public Safety administration including constructive criticism by both Unions during the two year interim trial period. Almquist read the agreement signed by the Fire Union° Almquist noted that because of illness and injuries in the Fire Department, a five man crew has been operating for the past 5 months, the manning level projected in the plano Public Safety Director Lively gave the background ef the Public Safety Plan since it was directed by Council at a Goals Session and noted that he has kept Council abreast of everything which has been going on to attain the goal of cutting costs while providing the public with a high level of service and safety. Lively said he has talked to personnel about the plan and that monthly staff meetings are held and a staff committee has been formed to encourage employee input~ Lively said he is pleased with some of the programs the department has come up with and cited the Volunteer and Fire Special- ist program° Lively said costs of overtime were very high and the Fire Specialist program helped cut down costs but still allowed for some overtime. Police Chief DaBon Barnard reported on the progress of the plan and said in spite of having people off due to injuries/illness that the same level of service has been provided even with an increase in calls for service the first six months of this year. Barnard said that one officer resigned in May and hasn't been replaced. Barnard said he has placed one officer on standby and he is a phone call or pager away. Barnard said the plan is working and will continue to work. Chief King reviewed the operation of the Fire Department as a result of initiation of augmenting regular personnel with Student Fire- fighters and Fire Specialists and said that he, Lively and the City Administrator travelled to several cities to check out programs implemented~ King noted that fire calls have decreased by 85% and credited extensive fire prevention program f~r the results. He noted that fire losses were at the lowest level since records have been kept by the department~ 10/15/85 P. 2 !gul~r Meeting Ashland City bouncii Iu/13/o3 ~. ~ PUBLIC HEARING cont~ (Public Safety Plan) King reviewed the scheduling and said that at present we have two shifts of six and one of five personnel° He said that the five person shift has been capable of handling emergencies so that the plan for having five has passed the test and will continue to work. King said there were errors in the hand-outs to the community and added that he was not given the report but secured his from the Daily Tidings. King agreed with the stress factor claimed by the firefighters but said that slightly over 1% of the firefighter's time is spent fighting structural fires~ King said probably 50% of the alarm response is for emergency medical services and the reduction to a five man com- plement would not affect medical response. King noted that Battalion Chiefs and Engineers fight fires~ As to response time, King said that the statistics are on the computer and that any location in the City can be reached in about 4~ minutes. King said the stats presented by the firefighters are in error in that they dontt include the engineers. King said if the statistics speak to a need for more employees he will come back and ask for them. On question of Smith relative to nature of injuries and whether they are all work-related, both King and Lively said the majority are not although two police officers were involved in a rear-end collision and are now back on the job. Almquist said that its not how many paid personnel you have waiting at the firehouse for a fire, but how many trained personnel are avail- able on the scene to actually attack the fire° He said that volunt- eers make up one million of this country's 1~2 million firefighters (83%) and that 70% of the cities in the nation rely on volunteer departments - especially the small cities° Almquist added that to say Ashland cannot function with a given number of fully paid firefighters augmented by paid off-duty firefighters and trained student fire- fighters is an unfounded conclusion. Reid expressed concern that student firefighters don't have the same basic training as regular firefighters and King said they have 88 hours of training and that it is not the policy to send rank and file firefighters outside the City for training. King said he has one fireflghter (Pfeifer) who started out as a student firefightero Reid asked that Chief Barnard make the response time file available to her for study° Barnard said he has not seen any change in the response time and explained the priority system saying that life and property in immediate danger would be number one etco, and that number 4 would be barking dog or lesser problem. Barnard explained that incidents after the fact are responded to as soon as time allows but are not monitored for response time. Reid asked about the training budget for police officers and Barnard said it is the same and that police officers are allowed to go to school of their choice and that there are two training days a month. Barnard added that classes are suspended in the summer because more instructors are available than students. Barnard said they train 9 months out of the year. Lively said both Chiefs put in for larger training budgets than received. 10/15/85 P. 3 PUBLIC HEARING cont. (Public Safety Plan) Labor Consultant Bodilly noted that the manning and organizations policies are spelled out in both union contracts as a basic man- agement right and both Unions have agreed. Bodilly read the management rights clause and briefed Council on the rest of the provisions as they relate to the grievance process to address any safety and work assignment issues. Bodilly further cautioned Council that to "negotiate" manning standards with either Union in a public hearing would jeopardize rights under the contracts. Reid asked Bodilly how many people were in the bargaining unit four years ago and the number today and Bodilly said he didn't know. Almquist reviewed the present manning and work schedule and the pro- posed scheduleo Acklin expressed concern that personnel not drop to below five firefighters for fear they would be overworked and Almquist noted that last year 750 calls were received which included medical, washdowns and various other calls - not necessarily fires° On question of Bennett as to who stays at the station when t~e crew is out, King said they rely on callback and automatic aid from other area Fire Departments° King said that he had fourteen people manning the fire at 348 Hardadine and that when the call came in his personnel were in a physical testing situation and noted that the call was receivad at 1:55 pom. by dispatch center; personnel checked in at 1:57 p.mo and arrived at the scene at 2':00 p.m. King said Disto 5 responded and an off-duty Battalion Chief responded to the Station. Police Officers' Union official Mike Snyder said they were not involved and had no input into the Plano Snyder challenged Chief Barnardts report on level of service saying that is is down for the past accord- ing to Patrolmen and Dispatchers° Snyder also said Chief Kingts report dealing with Oakridge, Tennessee's plan was in error and noted that Oakridge does not have a public safety plano Snyder said he was presenting the strong opposition to the Public Safety Plan by Union personnel and alleged there has been an increase in management cost and that manpower had been cut. Snyder then reviewed salaries of the bargaining unit~ Snyder added that the plan has created a morale problem. Snyder alleged that Union personnel are 100% in opposition to the plano Andrew Bedogne related his experiences as a student firefighter and expressed concern that the manning of the fire shifts at 5 personnel is inadequate for the needs of the City. Bedogne said it was the intent that student firefighters would augment the regular crew and said the fire specialist doesnit always arriv~ at the scene when needed and the initial attack is critical. On question by Laws on how many incidents Bedogne was the first to a fire, Bedogne said twice. Bedogne said that the training program conducted by Dan White is excellent. Bedogne said that time available would not permit him to get his fire science degree, but that he got the same training as a firefighter. Before Dennis Sigmon, 263 Tetra Street, was given an opportunity to speak, the City Administrator advised Council that Sigmon has a suit pending against the City° Sigmon alleged that service had been reduced and there arentt enough officers on the street° He said when ..... cont. 10/15/85 p. 4 Regular Meeting Ashland City Council PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN PUBLIC HEARING conto management was talking about combining that he recommended that the present Police Department be made into a new city hall but the suggestion was not accepted° Sigmon said there could be a cost savings by cross-training Battalion Chiefs and Sergeants and $540,000 could be saved in 5 years° Sigmon said the proposal he is making would provide monies to remodel the civic center complex with- out using revenue sharing monies° Anthony Nunes, 1052 Bellview, spoke for the Firefighterts Union saying that Firefighters are against reducedmanning and recommended that 6 firefighters be maintained on each shift. Nunes said the study done by the firefighters was developed with figures taken from the staff proposal of three years ago and said cost savings could be realized by phasing out three management positions created because of the Police/Fire merger. Nunes said the agreement called for personnel not to go below the 5 man level but that didn't mean that 6 would be better coverage° On question of Laws as to how Nunes perceives administrative positions, Nunes said people not doing shift work etco Acklin asked for an explanation relative to the figures Nunes referred to in his prepared statement. Nunes said they used a fire specialist's wage of $17,500 based on a yearly salary and the City Administrator explained error in the figures used by the Union. Laws said he did not have a copy~ Nunes said he had given the Director the study the day before and assumed it would have been passed on to the City Admin- istratoro Smith criticized the method used by personnelz of the Fire Department in distribution of scare tactics and emotional reporting along with an ad in the newspaper and said some of their actions bordered on the inflammatory° Smith said she would appreciate a more direct approach rather than an effort to generate publicity. Smith said Council is always accessible. John d~Entremont reported on the newly organized Community Service Program saying that the program started with ten volunteers and now has over 100 from Talent, Phoenix and Medford along with Ashland° Among efforts of the volunteers, d'Entremont said work is done with Loaves & Fishes, Blood Pressure clinic, patrol of Watershed during the summer season, municipal court and the public library. d~Entre- mont said based on a minimum wage, the volunteers have already created a savings of over $22,000. Jackson County Sheriff Co W. Smith commended the City on the Public Safety approach taken and reviewed response time priorities. Smith said the service of the Police division has illustrated there is an adequate number of personnel and said the PUtLliC Safety Plan will work for Ashland and that the long term results should be considered° Tim Lytle expressed concern that the number of firefighters is inadequate to serve Ashland. Wayne Rowley recommended that Council seek out rank and file to get their feelings about the Public Safety Plan because dissatisfaction among the firefighters could result in their leaving the city and less qualified people will be picked up to take their place° 10/15/85 Po 5 Meeting Ashland City Council PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN PUBEIC HEARING cont, Joel Gonzales expressed concern with the number of officers available saying he was formerly a member of the department° On Reid's question as to when the reserve program was discontinued, Gonzales said in 1984. Bodilly advised that the program was discontinued due to Union opposition° Jack Nicholson spoke in opposition to the Public Safety Plan alleging that a disproportionate amount of money is going into Administration rather than for people working on the line. Roy Jorgenson, 862 Michelle, asked for a review of what made up the 226% increase over the ten year period~ He expressed concern that the firefighters are not getting increases and said he would pay more in property taxes to fund the police officers and firefighters. Don Lohr said he is concerned with the figures mentioned by the Union relative to the administration ratio of 1 to 1~5 between management and line personnel. Officer Bob Smith reviewed his responsibilities and said he enjoys working for the City of Ashland. Smith expressed concern that volunteers are contacting grade schools for safety training etc. because of the need to have officer's visibility. Smith said the calls coming into the station are prioritized but more officers are needed to avoid a decline in the level of service~ Reid asked Smith if reduced manning has changed the time it takes to solve cases and Smith said they still get solved. On Laws' question as to whether the workload is constant or whether there are times when more help is needed, and Smith said there is no way to predict. Elerath asked if Smith is for or against the public safety plan and he said the con- cept to save money is one no one could argue with° Smith said there are a lot of areas which could be worked on such as narcotics but there aren't enough personnel and the whole burden is on the detectives to solve these cases~ Chief Barnard said in the first six months of 1985 each police officer averaged 26~4 minutes at the scene on various calls. On Reid's question as to how many cases are being solved now compared to four years ago, Barnard said they are up 28%. A letter supporting the Public Safety Plan was read into the record from Charles and Linda Butler° At this point the public hearing was closed. Smith said she would like to consider the results of the public hear- ing and study further before making a decision° Reid agreed with that proposal saying she has more information to follow up. The Mayor noted that the testimony he had heard did not indicate that the pro- gram was not successful and urged that a decision be made° Laws moved to table until the next meeting to allow time for additional study; Acklin seconded the motion° Elerath commented that the problems aired seems to be more of a union vs management situation and expressed concern that there is so much anti-administration input by the Unions. Bennett said she would like to have more firefighters and police but realizes this is impossible and feels more time is needed to give the public hearing's input some thought° Council voted unanimously to table until November 5o Mayor Medaris expressed disappointment a decision was P.Mo) ~yor left the meetinR. 1~/15/85~ gular Meeting Ashia~d Cicy bouncil iU~ij/oJ ~.i Howard Miller Sewer Request O/S City Dean~s Rideabout Request A memo was read from the City Administrator relative to a sewer request for connection outside the City from Howard Miller and recommending that an areawide solution for the problem be sought by using the pro- cess implemented in the Fordyce area by calling neighbors together to plan for annexation of the area property° Miller's letter was reviewed and Smith noted that the sewer line there is almost to capacity. AIm- quest said he will investigate and report back. A letter from Dean Spencer was read describing his proposed route for tour service and reviewed his plan to advertise by a sign on the roof of his vehicle and the distribution of cards with photographs and descriptive writing of the tour being offered. Spencer's letter noted that he would operate 4 days a week - Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 A.M~ to 4:00 P.M. Elerath asked Perkins if he would con- sider hiring p~ople like Spencer as part of his franchise operation had Spencer gone to him instead of Council and Perkins said he would not because there are so many things involved in connection with the taxi business and it would createlots of additional expense. Perkins mentioned the tours already being offered and said that traffic con- gestion and parking problems should be a big consider~tien in coming to a decision. Perkins said he is interested in the number and kind of vehicles and they could pass as taxis. Perkins said if his company experienced any drop in business it would be difficult to make up. Plans for parking the tour vehicle were discussed and Laws wondered if there would be adequate space where the horse carriages are allowed to park by the information booth~ The proposed sign was discussed by Council and Fregonese noted that the sign ordinance doesn't include a criteria for signs on vehicles° Reid said she saw the additional busin- ess impacting her income since her husband does tours on busses. Smith wondered if number of such tours could be limited if this one is approved. On Reid's question of the City Attorney as to whether the City would be liable in the event of an accident, Salter said he didn't think so. Reid said she would abstain from voting because of husbandfs business conducting tours° Reid said that we don't have signs on cars now and Spencer said that the sign will be removed during the tour and will look like any other vehicle. Perkins said if Council approves one request he doesn't see how it could refuse to license others. Perkins said that insurance would be necessary to cover the City because the franchise calls for it for his cab business° Salter said the franchise ordinance makes the insurance requirement. Acklin said it would seem to her that if Spencer has to come to Council for approval it wouldn't be violating the taxi ordinance. Council denied request saying that a policy should be formulated to preclude the number of requests etc. and invited Spencer to come back should his request go along with new policy. Acklin said she would see what input should could get from the Visitors & Convention Bureau. Elerath said he wants to protect the taxi franchise. 10/15/85 L 7 ular Meeting AshlanO UiE~ CourteLi IUlt~/O~ ~ 8 Repair of Sidewalks Uncollectible Utility Bills Transportation Util- ity Resolution Review Community Development Grant from Oro Arts Public Forum Public Safety Ord. Parking Restrictions Ordinance Improvement of Water St. Parking Ordinance Improvement of Ridge Road Ordinance Fordyce Annexation Ordinance Fordyce Withdrawal from JCFD #5 Fordyce Annexation Rezoning Ordinance Downtown Parking Ord. Oak & N~ Pioneer Park- ing Restrictions Res~ Postponed Postponed The City Administrator asked Council to review the draft ordinance and resolution proposing the establishment of a transportation utility fee and return comments in writing for further consideration. The proposal to apply for a Grant from Oregon Arts Commission for the Winburn Way building was reviewed and Acklin moved to approve; Reid seconded the motion which passed unanimously on voice vote° No comment° Tabled. First reading postponed° Postponement of first reading~ Second reading by title only was given an ordinance ordering improve- ment of Ridge Road under the Bancroft Act and Acklin moved to adopt; Bennett seconded the motion which passed unanimously on voice vote° Second reading by title only was given an ordinance rezoning recently annexed land (Fordyce Street Annexation) and Elerath oved to adopt; the motion passed unanimously with no objection. Ac~]n seconded; Second reading by title only was given an ordinance withdrawing land from Jackson County Fire Dist. NO. 5 (Fordyce St. Annexation) and Smith moved to adopt; Acklin seconded and since there was no objection the motion passed unanimously. Second reading by title only was given an ordinance rezoning recently annexed land (Fordyce) and Acklin moved to adopt; Reid seconded the motion and since there was no objection, motion passed unanimously° Postponed~ Postponed. 10/15/85 po 8 Meeting Ashland City Counc~i iU/l)/~) F. ~ Public Safety Res. Serena St. Clair Adjournment Tabled. Reid asked that Serena St. Clair be put on next agenda for appreciation~ The meeting adjourned at 11:45 pom~ ~an E~ Franklin Zity Recorder Lo Gordon Medaris Mayor 10/15/85 P. 9