The Eugene City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to direct the city manager to begin negotiating core terms with Springfield to form an intergovernmental entity (IGE) to govern regional fire and emergency medical services.

City Manager Sarah Madari recommended the IGE after consultant AP Triton reviewed five governance options and identified vulnerabilities in a standalone fire district, particularly around funding and stability. “Today, I'm going to be recommending we transition to an intergovernmental entity model,” Madari said during the work session.

Madari said the IGE would be a new municipal corporation with powers delegated by member cities, and she proposed three priority areas for negotiations: board governance and proportional representation, financial participation and cost-sharing, and command and administrative clarity. She emphasized the need for the entity to have sustainable revenue tools rather than relying solely on member cities’ general funds.

Chief Kaven, who addressed the council after Madari, said the merged organization employs more than 300 people and described recent staffing and training gains, noting the department had onboarded 72 new employees and supported 109 academy experiences over the past year. “We’ve been operating at our limits for the last several years,” he said, urging momentum on a stable governance model.

Councilors voiced broad support for beginning negotiations while also pressing for safeguards and clarity. Councilor Randy Groves warned the existing two-year notice requirement to dissolve the current intergovernmental agreement could create protracted uncertainty and said he would not want to “wait six months to serve the notice” if Springfield shows no appetite to move forward. Several councilors asked that funding arrangements, program scope (for example, alternative-response programs), and protections for staff and service continuity be central in negotiations.

Madari proposed a timeline that includes a three-month check-in with council and continuing negotiations over the next six months; she said the current IGA requires a two-year notice to dissolve and that council should be prepared to act if negotiations fail to secure the three key deal points.

Councilor Leach moved the directive to negotiate core terms consistent with Attachment D and to return with a progress update in three months; the motion was seconded and passed 7-0. The council did not adopt any final governance documents at the session; it instructed staff to begin negotiations and report back.

What happens next: city staff will begin negotiating the IGE terms with Springfield, with a scheduled progress update to Eugene City Council in approximately three months. Springfield’s council is expected to consider the issue in January, and the cities will continue to coordinate through AP Triton and staff-level meetings.