Springfield council hears county proposal to extend sewer lines

The Springfield City Council during a work session Monday, Jan. 5, talked about whether it supported expanding metropolitan wastewater services to Goshen, Creswell, Junction City and the Short Mountain Landfill.

The Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission is an intergovernmental agency with representation from Eugene, Springfield and Lane County that governs the regional sewer treatment system. 

The Lane County Board of Commissioners has been considering, for more than a decade, wastewater expansion to Goshen to increase economic vitality in the industrial area south of Springfield, Dan Hurley, Lane County’s public works director, said during the meeting.

“The residences there and industries are serviced by septic systems, which severely limit the growth potential for that area,” he said.

In 2015 the county commissioned a study on the feasibility of providing wastewater services in the area, which determined the best option was connecting to the existing Eugene-Springfield system, with a pipeline along Highway 99 being considered.

Because the county’s Short Mountain Landfill is close to Goshen (a few miles southeast), the new pipeline could be connected to transfer leachate from the landfill, Hurley said. Currently, the county uses trailer trucks to haul liquid waste from the landfill. 

The city of Creswell, about 5 miles south of Goshen, has since become interested in connecting to the metropolitan wastewater system as well, said Creswell City Manager Vincent Martorello during the meeting. Creswell’s wastewater treatment plant is currently unable to meet some requirements from the state Department of Environmental Quality and must build a new treatment facility or connect to the regional system. Otherwise, the city faces a moratorium on new housing.

Junction City north of Eugene also recently approached the county about connecting to the system, Hurley said.

“They’re looking at a similar situation with a moratorium on housing,” he said. 

Hurley said “it’s becoming more and more cost-prohibitive” for rural communities and small cities in Lane County to sustain wastewater systems. 

Extending the sewer lines would require an amendment to the Eugene-Springfield Metro Plan to allow wastewater services to be provided outside the urban growth boundary. The amendment would need approval from Eugene, Springfield and Lane County.

Hurley said the Eugene City Council will discuss the topic at a work session Jan. 21. After that, a joint planning commission meeting between Eugene, Springfield and Lane County will take place, followed by a joint public hearing before each jurisdiction deliberates and makes a decision. 

“’We’re trying to get through that before your summer break in July,” he said.

Construction costs for the sewer expansion, based on a 2023 estimate, range from $72.6 million to $79.9 million, according to a Lane County memo. The county is working with the state to identify potential funding sources.

Hurley said a 5% out-of-network ongoing charge is being considered for new users to prevent effects on existing ratepayers.

Mayor Sean VanGordon said he is “generally supportive.”

“I keep thinking about that question about affordability, and what actually makes it affordable to live in the rural part of Lane County,” he said. “And so I just want to kind of caveat that with going, OK, as this conversation develops, we’ve got to get it right for some of these smaller cities in a way that makes sense and gives them a path forward.”

Court of record

A new Oregon law that requires courts to notify a defendant of their right to have their case transferred to a court that records and preserves proceedings also prompted discussion during the council’s work session.

Springfield Municipal Court is not a such a “court of record,” Nathan Bell, the city’s finance director, told councilors.

House Bill 2460, which was passed by lawmakers during Oregon’s 2025 legislative session and went into effect Jan. 1, established the requirement. Because Lane County Circuit Court is a court of record, Springfield Municipal Court must notify defendants that they can transfer their case to that jurisdiction, Bell said.

Bell said the council can adopt an ordinance declaring the municipal court a court of record. The city would also need recording software and an additional court clerk. He said both of the city’s courtrooms already have recording equipment. 

The software has an annual cost of $10,400 for both courtrooms. The clerk position costs about $120,000 a year, he said.

Springfield Municipal Court has concurrent jurisdiction with Lane County Circuit Court over violations and misdemeanors committed in the city, according to the proposed ordinance. 

Because the city’s court does not maintain a recording of its proceedings, appeals from Springfield Municipal Court are litigated anew in Lane County Circuit, “which creates delay and redundant court proceedings,” the ordinance states.

The council held a first reading of the ordinance and a public hearing during its regular meeting following the work session. Nobody spoke during the public hearing. Councilors will vote on the matter in the future. 

Financial audit

Also during the work session, councilors heard from an auditor who had reviewed the city’s fiscal year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

“For the city, you got an unmodified opinion, which means I’m given reasonable assurance there are no material errors within your financial statements,” Ryan Pasquarella, of REDW Financial Advisors and CPAs, told the council. “(Springfield Economic Development Agency) got the same thing.”

Pasquarella said “one minor thing” that the auditors noted was that the city’s ambulance fund had a negative ending balance, which needed to be reported to the state. 

“A lot of that has to do with the payroll liabilities that are attached with it,” he said. 

According to the report, the negative fund balance was the result of the fund not receiving anticipated ambulance billing revenue. 

Meg Allocco, with the city’s finance department, said during the meeting that the city makes transfers from its general fund to help support the ambulance fund.

Pasquarella said the auditors also performed a federal compliance audit, which involved looking at coronavirus-related funds and community development block grants the city received and its compliance with rules related to those funds. He said the auditors had no findings related to how that money is being spent.

“The city has really got themselves in a good place with your finance department,” he said. 

The council voted to accept the report during its regular meeting.