Mayor Christine Lundberg 2012 State of the City Address January 11 at 5:30 p.m. Wildish Theater – Downtown Springfield Welcome and thank you for being here tonight. It's wonderful to see all of you – we are so fortunate to live in this great community! This is my second State of the City address. My first full year as mayor has been one marked with challenges, new perspectives, laughter and pride. As a city and as a country we continue to be pushed to do things differently – to handle challenges with new methods never considered in the past. We continue working hard and when the economy turns Springfield will be ready to move full-speed ahead. During difficult times we must have a clear vision of the future. We have to have a mindset that lays out who we are. Springfield is a very resilient, strong community that stands up to challenges with a “no nonsense” approach. We are full of potential. We are hard-working and practical. We know how to work together towards outcomes that benefit everyone. In 2012 the State of the City of Springfield is confident. We will not give up and not give in. Our confidence is built on our strength and spirit. It is this confidence and spirit that also make our Council effective. And in this spirit of hard work, I want to thank my partners on the City Council. I am proud to serve with Councilors Joe Pishioneri, Dave Ralston, Hillary Wylie, Sheri Moore, Marilee Woodrow and Sean Van Gordon. Please stand and be recognized. Thank you to our local delegation for your work on behalf of our community. Congressman Peter Defazio, Senator Ron Wyden and Senator Jeff Merkely – thank you for your conviction to our community. 1 In the Oregon legislature, Senator Lee Beyer and Representative Terry Beyer thank you. I want to say thank you to the City’s executive team, who have also dedicated their careers to serving the public – Gino Grimaldi, Jeff Towery, Rod Lathrop, Jerry Smith, Bob Duey, Rob Everett, Greta Utecht, Niel Laudati, and Randy Groves. Thank you for your dedication. In the City Manager’s office, Julie, Amy, John, Courtney–and if all city staff in attendance could please stand to be recognized. I look forward to working with the Lane County board as they continue to find ways to provide the best services for our community. I particularly want to thank Commissioner Leiken. Just as he was an advocate for Springfield as mayor, he continues to be an advocate at the County and we most certainly appreciate your support, thank you Sid. I want to thank my partner in Eugene - Kitty Piercy. Who feels, as I do, that when both of our cities are strong and working together, we can provide better opportunities for our residents to succeed. Thank you for your support and cooperation over the last year. Finally to my family, my four children, thank you for your support - it means the world to me. One of the great things about Springfield is our many diverse neighborhoods each thriving with its own unique identity. Much of what we are striving for in terms of our neighborhoods already exists. We have the framework that makes our neighborhoods strong and gives them a vibrant personality. 2 My neighborhood has a grocery store down the street, surrounded by many small, local businesses. It has a nearby bike path that I use frequently to go running and easy access to local parks, playgrounds, schools and the EmX. Throughout Springfield we see strong neighborhood structures. Our community is like a quilt. Our neighborhoods are the patches, stitched together by our strength and our spirit. Join me as we take a closer look at a few of Springfield’s neighborhoods. Neighborhood Video: 5m30sec Doesn’t that look like a great place to call home! Taking care of our community members remains a high priority for Springfield, and 2011 provided opportunities for us to lend a hand. • Last year, Volunteers in Medicine relocated their low-cost medical clinic to mid- Springfield with assistance from the Community Development Block Grant program – often referred to as the CDBG program. • With help from CDBG, the neighborhood playground at Mt. Vernon School was made fully accessible with upgraded apparatus and by installing wheelchair friendly groundcover. • We assisted more than one hundred households with emergency home repairs and 12 very low-income homeowners with exterior maintenance issues. • The Afiya Apartments opened in Downtown, providing affordable rental housing for persons with severe developmental disabilities. • And we assisted more than 14,000 low-income residents with social services by allocating funding through the Human Services Commission. Springfield will continue to find ways to provide for those in need. 3 Another key component to healthy neighborhoods is small business. As a manager for a Springfield HVAC business, I understand how difficult it is for businesses to stay successful during these tough economic times. It is our businesses that create jobs, support other businesses and diversify our community. Our small businesses are vital to the health of our economy, and demonstrate Springfield’s passion for commerce and growth. I would like to thank our long-time partners in small business development – the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. Thank you to the Chamber Board and their great staff for building a community of Springfield businesses owners who are proud of their city. They continue to help tomorrow’s leaders with the inaugural Springfield Leadership Workshop. This workshop’s goal is to inform, motivate and educate our future leaders. I understand the inaugural class is in the audience today. Would you please stand. We continue working with property owners on development opportunities in Glenwood. And soon we will hold the final public hearing for the Glenwood Refinement Plan Update Project, establishing the vision for the future of Glenwood over the next 20-years. The vision and dedication of the private sector is impressive. I am looking forward to using urban renewal funds to help us bring new life to Glenwood. In the upcoming year we will need to transition from planning to doing. I believe we are ready to make that transition. In downtown, we have already transitioned from planning to doing. The acquisition of property for the downtown plaza is progressing. The implementation of the parking management plan will occur this summer, greatly improving the parking for downtown businesses. With financial assistance from the city, NEDCO is moving forward with the creation of a food hub and bringing 4 a year-round farmers market to downtown Springfield. An outstanding community partner, NEDCO has also brought renewed energy and vision to our downtown through the Main Street Program. Springfield won’t just wait for good economic news. We are taking steps to open up new land for economic development and growth. The Jasper Road trunk sewer is being constructed and will be ready by the end of 2015. This 11 million dollar project will serve several acres of land in the Jasper/Natron area. I would like to thank the City Council and the community for this important down payment toward future development. Also in 2012 we will complete our work to expand the urban growth boundary making approximately 600 acres of commercial and industrial property available for development. In 2012 I challenge city staff, the Chamber of Commerce, our Team Springfield Partners and other community organizations to form new partnerships to promote economic development in Springfield. We need to find new and innovative ways to grow and nourish existing businesses since they are the backbone of the community. I am confident that by listening carefully to the business community and forming new partnerships we will be able to grow our economy and provide much needed jobs to our citizens. This year the entire community of Springfield and Eugene faced a tragedy when Eugene Police Officer Chris Kilcullen was killed in the line of duty during a traffic stop. Officer Kilcullen’s death brought this community together and the outpouring of help and prayers from the people who live in Lane County was incredible. I pray for Chris’s family and hope they know that the Springfield community loves them. 5 Strengthening public safety has been a council goal in Springfield for a number of years. The most visible piece of our public safety puzzle – and the piece that most community members are interested in is our municipal jail. Voters expected results when the levy was passed. I can tell you now that in just under two years we have taken in more than three thousand seven hundred inmates. We’ve seen nearly a one-third drop in reported property crime rates and a $600,000 increase in fines collected. Our partners in Eugene lease space for 15 inmates. From what I understand the jail is not a popular place. No TV’s, no exercise equipment, and I doubt that anybody is clamoring to wear those cream sickle outfits. The city’s financial condition continues to be impacted by the recession. While the economy is beginning to show signs of life again, true economic recovery has yet to occur. This is placing a strain on city resources causing us to be more innovative, reduce costs further, and hit the problem head on. As always, we will continue to make the changes needed to balance our budget. When facing financial challenges the focus of the discussions is typically on the limitations of what we can accomplish. I believe that it is equally important to not lose sight of what we can accomplish with the resources available. Even in these difficult economic times we still have resources to improve the lives of our citizens and move our community forward. While we’ve faced many of the same development struggles seen in other communities, we have had our share of successes. The City is proud to have completed the Phase I Gateway/Beltline improvements this past construction season. This much needed project simply would not have been possible without several key partnerships over many years. In this day and age it is not possible to bring forward a successful large transportation project without flexible and 6 committed partners. In particular I would like to acknowledge the patience and commitment to success that the Gateway businesses and property owners brought to the table. I think I can rightly say that without this level of buy-in on the ground, the project could not have been designed or built. With financial assistance from our Federal delegation we managed construction of Phase 2 of the Springfield’s Mill Race ecosystem restoration project, completing a substantial portion of construction of that phase and getting us closer to a time when we can enjoy nature right here in downtown Springfield. Last year I stood at this podium and said that Springfield would be working hard on a recently added council goal: “Fostering an environment that values diversity and inclusion.” I am proud to report on our progress. Last year Springfield’s City Manager called for employees to join our new Diversity and Inclusion Committee. I’m happy to say that Springfield has a group of energized employees ready to work on diversity issues and help the City of Springfield better serve ALL residents. We have a Diversity and Inclusion Resources section on the front page of our website so residents have easy access to everything from getting information on available services to bidding on a city project. We’ve also increased our participation in a long-time staple of this community - the Martin Luther King, Jr. march and celebration which marks its 14th year in Springfield. I hope you join me on January 16, for the march and event at Springfield High School to get a first-hand look at how our students honor this great American - through essays, poetry and art. 7 We also continue to meet regularly with our partners in SAfER – the Springfield Alliance for Equality and Respect. They have been with us, providing guidance and support during this journey – and I thank them. And while our journey has really just begun, I would like to focus on what might be our biggest success in the area of inclusion through the last year. In September, REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking – awarded the Springfield Public Library with the Estela & Raul Mora Award. The Springfield Library, no stranger to the importance of celebrating different cultures, received this award for providing the most exemplary program celebrating Dia, or Children’s Book Day. This is a national award, with libraries from across the country competing for the honor. The Springfield Library is the smallest library to win this award and it is a testament to the work being doing in Springfield. Thank you all for your continued work on this important issue. We continue to find ways of doing things differently. Last year the resignation of two department heads presented the opportunity to evaluate both the Public Works and Development Services departments - with a focus on how to improve services to our customers. The two departments are now combined into one, a cost effective way to continue achieving our goals. And, we’ve done so much more: • We’ve gone paperless with our Agenda Packets, saving time and more than $10,000 per year in resources. • We launched a City website feature providing the public the ability to review and monitor the progress of planning applications and permits on line. 8 • We led a Development Input Process with the development community to improve and streamline development submittal requirements. • We’ve expanded our reach with social media. The City Manager’s Office, our Library, Springfield PD and Animal control offer daily interactions with our community. If you need to report a crime, or get information on your police department, yeah, we’ve got an app for that! Our police department is the first in the state to offer a Smartphone app allowing residents a new way to communicate with them. • We continue the functional consolidation of the Springfield and Eugene fire departments – a partnership that is saving money for our citizens. Our TEAM Springfield Partners had another successful year. Willamalane purchased and remodeled the Regional Sports Center and are already averaging more than 650 visits each day. Phase one of the Middle Fork Path is completed and will eventually take the river path from Clearwater Park to Dorris Ranch and beyond. We are also working closely with Willamalane for a Summer Solstice run and community party that will take place during the 2012 Olympic Track and Field Trials. So let’s put our running shoes on and show those athletes how Springfield throws a party. SUB continued to provide its customers with the lowest electric rates in Lane County. As a SUB customer, the average Springfield household saves more than $400 over similar households not served by SUB. Thank you for your partnerships – we appreciate your tremendous work. 9 Governor Kitzhaber joined Nancy Golden for Springfield’s annual State of the Schools Address, where he spoke about the state's education plans. I know Nancy is thrilled to once again be working full-time for our district, and the dedicated School Board will continue to play an integral part in the planning and implementation of the State’s education policy. Mike Donnelly, who's been at Centennial Elementary for 9 years and with the school district for more than 30 years, received the Distinguished Principal Award for the state of Oregon from the National Association of Elementary School Principals. And our kids keep bringing positive attention to our community, doing things like winning State Basketball championships! - We are very proud of our School District. 2011 was a challenging year, but we made some great achievements. Looking ahead to 2012 Springfield has every opportunity to take advantage of our strength, determination, and independence to grow our city. I am honored and excited to be your mayor and I look forward to continuing to work for this great city. We have yet to reach our full potential. Our best days are ahead. So now – I ask the citizens of Springfield to stand up and take part, Springfield is moving full-speed ahead! 10