Eugene councilors back plan to run fire department as jointly governed agency

The Eugene City Council voted on Wednesday to direct the city manager to begin the process of restructuring Eugene Springfield Fire to run as a jointly governed standalone agency, following years of work by the cities to restructure the shared department.

Under the functional consolidation that began in 2010, Eugene and Springfield share one department but maintain separate budgets and oversight. Most agree that the model is not working, causing inefficiencies at a time when the department is looking to bring in more funding. 

On Wednesday, Dec. 10, City Manager Sarah Medary recommended the department should run as an “intergovernmental entity,” governed by a board that she recommended include one seat for an elected representative from both Eugene and Springfield, and additional citizen member seats to balance proportional representation.

The fire chief should report directly to the board, she said. And in the event that the cities determine only elected officials should serve on the board, she “strongly recommend[s]” the same proportional representation.

The City Council approved the recommendation, directing the city manager to negotiate the core terms of an agreement with Springfield — whose City Council will discuss the proposal in January — and return to Eugene councilors in three months with an update.

That work will be done by interim city manager Matt Rodrigues and, later, by the next permanent city manager, as Wednesday’s meeting was Medary’s last before she retires. 

The recommendation is “really, truly the first step in planning for the future of emergency service delivery to the community,” Eugene Springfield Fire Chief Mike Caven said. “For me, it’s important that we maintain the momentum that we have, that our staff has built over the last year to prepare in their training and their development and the modernization of” the department.

Members of the firefighters union had advocated for a fire district — an entirely new government agency with its own independently elected board and property tax funding structure, like a park and recreation district — because it gives the department autonomy and a stable budget. 

Medary has said that the process of forming a fire district would take four to five years and would mean lost revenue for the city of Eugene because of property tax limits under state law.

Medary compared the “intergovernmental entity” model to that of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission, a regional agency responsible for operating the regional wastewater treatment plant and system. Restructuring to an intergovernmental entity will take more than two years, Medary has said. 

Annual payments by Eugene and Springfield, called member fees, would make up most of the the entity’s funding, because it doesn’t have taxing authority. Medary recommended that the member fee formula, which is still to be negotiated, be grounded in population, call volume and service delivery data. 

But she added that for the new structure to be successful, it must have the authority to explore and implement “fee-based or utility-style funding mechanisms” that offer long-term stability and reduce reliance on the growth of each city’s general fund. 

She has previously said those fees would be paid by all account holders based on square footage, including those that don’t pay property taxes, like the city of Eugene, nonprofit organizations and the University of Oregon.

An intergovernmental entity “without additional resources will not be sustainable,” Medary said. “Both cities should retain final approval on budgets that impact their individual city finances, in a manner similar to the [Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission].”

Medary recommended that Eugene should issue the required two-year notice for dissolving the current functional consolidation between departments if an intergovernmental entity agreement or “significant progress” cannot be made within the next six months. 

“While dissolution of the existing agreement is not the desired outcome, continued uncertainty would further strain the organization and our employees,” she said.