HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-11-04Meridian City Council November 4, 2015
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m., Wednesday,
November 4, 2015, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Charlie Rountree, Keith Bird, David
Zaremba, Genesis Milam and Luke Cavener.
Members Absent: Joe Borton.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Bruce Chatterton, Clint Dolsby, Jeff Lavey,
Perry Palmer, Steve Siddoway and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X _ David Zaremba _ _ Joe Borton
X__ Charlie Rountree X_ Keith Bird
__X__ Genesis Milam __X__ Lucas Cavener
_X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: Okay. I would like to welcome all of you to our City Council meeting and for
the record this is Wednesday, not Tuesday. Thank you for joining us. It is 6:00 p.m. We
will start with roll call attendance, Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Thank you. Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join
us in the pledge to our flag.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Community Invocation by Larry Woodard with Ten Mile Christian
Church
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is our community invocation. Tonight we will be led by Larry
Woodard with Ten Mile Christian Church. I didn't say Cherry Lane this time. Thank you,
Larry, for joining us. It's always a pleasure havin g you. Oh. And I would ask everyone to
join us in the community invocation or take this as an opportunity for a moment of
reflection.
Woodard: Well, it's always a pleasure to be here and, actually, it's kind of nice to be here
tonight, because I thought that last night's elections nationwide gave us a little glimmer of
hope about the future of this country. So, I'm feeling pretty good tonight. So, let's play.
De Weerd: Me, too, Larry.
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November 4, 2015
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Woodard: Yeah. Even you squeaked by. Our dear Heavenly Father, as a nation we
have done some pretty dumb things that have hurt you. However, last night Americans
may have awakened to the threat our actions pose to the future and to our children.
Especially elections in Houston and Ohio remind us that good people are now aware of
cultural threats to our long held beliefs and just maybe things have changed for the good.
We thank you for the men who are stepping down as councilmen after a long run as city
leaders. They have done a great job and we thank them for their service to Meridian. We
congratulate Mayor Tammy for her reelection and the new Council women and men who
were elected yesterday. I pray that you will bless each of them for their service to others.
Indeed, give each of them wisdom and health as they serve in the years to come. Tonight
I am more optimistic about the future of our nation than I have been in a long time. May
people who believe in God continue to show leadership and commitment to this great
nation. As the weather changes and winter approaches there are people in this area who
still lack housing and food. There are families living in cars at night. We pray that
collectively we can help these folks find warmth and a good meal. As expressed at our
recent faith leaders luncheon there are already people in this city addressing these needs.
I pray tonight for -- that others will step forward and in closing I pray for all of our city
employees that keep this one of the finest cities that I have ever lived in and I have lived in
many, in Jesus' name, amen.
De Weerd: Thank you, Larry.
Woodard: You bet.
Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: And thank you for bringing Betty tonight. Item No. 4 is adoption of the
agenda.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Item 9-A, the resolution number is 15-1098. And Item 9-B is 15-1099. And I
will move to amend the agenda to add an Executive Session at the end of the meeting per
Idaho State Code 64-206(f) and with that amendment, Madam Mayor, and those additions
I move we approve the agenda.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as amended. All those
in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
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November 4, 2015
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Item 5: Consent Agenda
A. Approve Minutes of October 13, 2015 City Council Workshop
Meeting
B. Approve Minutes of October 13, 2015 City Council Joint Meeting
with the Parks and Recreation Department
C. Approve Minutes of October 20, 2015 City Council Meeting
D. Final Order for Approval: H-2015-0003 Hacienda Subdivision No.
5 by Jayo Investments, Inc. Located East Side of N,. Meridian
Road, Midway Between Chinden Boulevard and E. McMillan
Road Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of Forty-Nine (49)
Residential Lots and Nine (9) Common Lots on Approximately
9.51 Acres of Land in an R-8 Zoning District
E. Approval of Task Order 10618.A to CIVIL SURVEY
CONSULTANTS, INC. for the “WEST WASHINGTON ST – NW 4TH
TO NW 1ST STREET SEWER LINE REPLACEMENT - DESIGN”
Project for a Not-To-Exceed Amount of $58,998.00.
F. Approval of Change Order No. 1 to Task Order 10055.B to CH2M
Hill Engineers, Inc. for the “ UV DISINFECTION EXPANSION –
SERVICES DURING CONSTRUCTION” Project for a Not-To-
Exceed amount of $122,130.00
G. Approval of Change Order No. 1 to Task Order 10044 to CH2M
Hill Engineers, Inc. for the “ WRRF HEADWORKS CAPACITY
EXPANSION - DESIGN” Project for a Not-To-Exceed Amount of
$467,850.00
H. Professional Services Agreement Board Certified Physician
Services between the City of Meridian and Emergency
Responders Health Center
I. Professional Service Agreement for Traffic Box Wrap Art -
"Floating Above Air" by Madison Darby at Fairview and Main;
Sponsored by Alaska National Insurance
J. Professional Service Agreement for Traffic Box Wrap Art -
"Goals, Dream it, Believe it, Achieve it" by Hunter Deim at Pine
and Eagle; Sponsored by Alaska National Insurance
K. Hillsdale Elementary School Sewer and Water Easement
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November 4, 2015
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L. Caven Ridge Estates Sub. No. 1 Water Line Easement
M. Water Line Easement for Capital Idaho
De Weerd: Item 5 is our Consent Agenda.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda. Authorize the Clerk to attest and
the Mayor to sign.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Madam Clerk,
will you call roll.
Roll Call: Rountree, yea; Bird, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener,
yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 6: Department Reports
A. Mayor's Office: Mayor's Youth Advisory Council (MYAC) Update
De Weerd: Okay. Under Department Reports we have Brianna Siddoway here to give us
our report on the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council.
Siddoway: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, for the record my name is Brianna
Siddoway and I will be doing your Mayor's Youth Advisory Council City Council update
today. At this past meeting with the general council we held our subcommittee chair and
vice-chair elections. In the Teen Activities Committee we -- we elected a chair and a
vice-chair and with our Community Service and Government Affairs Committees we
elected a vice-chair for these. With Community Service we decided to take a trip you
could say to -- unBounded is right next to the children's theater here on Broadway and it's
a new technology library and we did this so that we could get the word out about this
library. I, myself, went there and it was a great experience. It's an amazing place to be
able to get your homework done. I had actually gone there to finish a photography
assignment and I took one of my brothers there and he was able to play and use some of
the new equipment that they have there. We encouraged to share on social media, like I
said, to get the word out, because we need -- we want more people to know about this,
this great resource. The Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, we hosted and produced the
2015 local elections candidate meet and greet and with the help of the Meridian Press and
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the Meridian Chamber of Commerce we helped to formulate questions to ask these
candidates. One of our biggest events, the trunker treat, was held and we had
approximately 10,000 people attend. It was a huge turnout and it was such a great
opportunity. We had about a hundred trunks and to get the spirits up we had a dance
party with our own Officer Gomez, who is also an advisor to MYAC. With this we also
raised some food for the Meridian Food Bank. We filled six barrels, which is
approximately 1,800 pounds of food. Also the Executive Council held a fundraiser for the
National League of Cities, which we will hopefully be attending in January and we rose
335 dollars -- sorry -- 355 dollars and in this fundraiser we sold water and Pappa John's
pizza and it was such a great experience. I myself was there selling pizza and it was
great to see all the people here in Meridian that I -- you know, most of them I had never
seen before. It was a really great opportunity. And I will now stand for questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bree. Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: A couple questions. Great presentation. Can you give me some insight as to
how many youth are participating on the youth council this year?
Siddoway: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, we have about 200 members. We had
400 people sign up and with the first meeting we had about 200 people come and, then,
when -- now that things are getting more serious and people are starting to listen more, so
we are trying to make our way to make people realize that this is a great opportunity. So,
we probably -- I might say we have 150 students, so --
Cavener: Great. A couple more, Mayor, if I may?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Cavener: I love the government affairs subcommittee. It's near and dear to my heart.
Every year it seems the government affairs committee takes on a new issue or challenge.
You guys are always ahead of things, especially down at the statehouse. What are your
guys' plans to focus on this year?
Siddoway: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, we are hoping to -- we got it
approved with the government affairs subcommittee to work on passing the seat belt law
again. We are, hopefully, making it a primary offense, instead of a secondary offense,
which it is right now.
Cavener: One more, Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Just a follow up on that. All three of the subcommittees developed first a list
in each of the subcommittees to consider. Then they voted on the list and invited on the
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November 4, 2015
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top three issues -- or community service projects or TAC events to have someone come in
and speak on the items on their list and so, then, they voted on those. So, that's how the
seat belt legislation came up and the second is an advocacy project and that advocacy
project is focused on teen suicide and so that will be their two focus areas in government
affairs. But there is a third activity, which is the participatory budgeting project that will
start after the beginning of the year. So, they are going to be very busy and I will tell you
that government affairs is the larger committee this year. It has a lot of participation, a lot
of passion on it, so you should see great energy and great ideas.
Cavener: Great. Bree, can you maybe go back one slide, because I want to make sure
that I saw something the right way. I happened to notice a gentleman wearing a Borah
High School letterman's jacket. I'm just curious. Do we have students participating that
are from -- from Borah?
Siddoway: Yeah. We do. We -- we invite anyone to come and people from everywhere
come to join our -- sorry -- the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, because we have such a
big group and people realize the energy that we have and everyone wants to be part of it
once they hear about what we have planned. Yeah.
Cavener: That's incredible. Kudos to you guys.
Siddoway: Thank you.
De Weerd: And, really, the qualification is a desire to serve the Meridian community. We
don't care where they live. If they want to serve our community, welcome to the fold. Are
there any other questions? Thank you for being here.
Siddoway: Thank you.
De W eerd: And thank you for bringing your fan club and we appreciate your leadership.
Siddoway: Thank you very much.
B. Mayor’s Office Department Report: Meridian Youth Farmers
Market logo Contest
De Weerd: Okay. Item No. 6-B is under our Meridian Youth Farmers Market. We have
Danyele here to talk about the logo contest.
Van Beek: Thank you, Madam Mayor and thank you Members of the Council for giving
me the opportunity to come before you and present an update about the Meridian Youth
Farmers Market and the Meridian Youth Farmers Market logo contest. To start things off,
I would like to present a short debrief about the Meridian Youth Farmers Market preview
party that took place on September 10th. We had about 14 youth vendors there. We had
music and entertainment performed by a youth rock band named Future Image. We had
demos there such as a see-through beehive and red worm composting and some of the
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comments that we did receive from the public -- and just while we were there is that they
are just pleased -- and it sounded by the results and that they love it and that they just see
the great, huge potential with this, as well as they love the idea of it being a great
leadership opportunity for a lot of the youth in Meridian. So, overall I'm excited to present
that. I feel and the majority of people feel that the Meridian Youth Farmers Market is
greatly backed by our community and we are excited for it to become a sustainable
program for everyone to enjoy. The farmers market preview party was a segue for the
full-blown farmers market that we will kickoff this next spring and we will be kicking it off at
the Dairy Days in June. It will start June 25th is the first Saturday and it will run through
the month of September, ending on the last Saturday, which is September 24th. As I said,
it will be Saturdays from 9:00 to 12:00 and it will be located here at the Meridian City Hall
plaza and in preparation for the farmers market from now until -- up until the kickoff event
at the Dairy Days, we will be offering a Meridian Youth Farmer Market workshop this
December to educate -- to get youth involvement, to educate them about what it will take
to be a youth vendor, as well as educate them about the responsibilities that they will have
to undergo when it comes to the State Tax Commission and the Central District Health, as
well as anything that is asked of them by the Department of Ag and weights and
measures division. We will -- starting in January we will have -- we are going to have
about three gardening classes. We will offer a panel that will be made up of a farm er,
rancher, and gardener. This is where the youth can come and they will just be able to
quiz each type of expert in their field and just gather information as they prepare to be
involved in the Youth Farmers Market. Then we will have a second workshop with the
state departments for anyone who misses first time. Then we will offer a vendor 101
class. This is just to help with education of how to present their booths, how to address
customers, how to count cash back, how to handle cash, how to engaged customers as a
goal of the vendor 101 class. And, then, right before the market we will have a market
orientation just where we go over the market rules and as part of this preparation for the
Meridian Youth Farmers Market we wanted to make sure that the momentum of the
preview party continued and so to create awareness -- to continue creating awareness
about next year's farmers market we thought of an idea to put out to the youth of Meridian
a Meridian Youth Farmers Market logo contest. One, we needed a logo to continue
forward to start branding, start recognition, and, then, two, like I said, we wanted to
continue spreading the word and we thought it -- no better way to, then, reach through our
youth, giving them another opportunity to get involved in the formulation of this youth
farmers market, since it is going to be youth vendors we thought it might be really fun to
engage the youth and ask them for their submissions for a logo. So, we had a total of 15
submissions. City employees went through each of the submissions and did choose one
and the chosen submission was drawn by Zachary Meyer and I -- so, I am here before
you to ask you to make -- to approve the agreement that has been started with the City of
Meridian and Zachary Meyer. So, I will stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
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November 4, 2015
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Cavener: A couple questions on the -- on the debrief. Danyele, what's your anticipated or
I guess average numbers that we saw at the kick off party? How many people do you
think were there for that?
Van Beek: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, I do not know a number, but I know
our goal was to be at 150 and I can definitely attest that there was more than that.
Cavener: Great. Follow up? How many vendors -- how many youth vendors were from
Meridian? Were they all from Meridian? Were they from -- all from Boise, Nampa, a
combination? Just curious.
Van Beek: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, they were not all from Meridian.
We had some from -- well, actually, most of them were from Meridian. We do have -- we
did have one in Nampa.
Cavener: Okay. Are there plans for any type of restrictions on any type of items that can
or can't be sold moving forward into next year?
Van Beek: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, I think it will be up to the sole
discretion of the youth vendor. I know that certain products, certain items definitely cause
more regulation on the part of the Department of Ag or Central District Health, so myself,
as well as Becky Brashears of the Epic Events and Gifts will be -- as we receive
applications from the youth of what they are wanting to sell, we will be approaching them
and explaining to them here is all the regulations for this, is this something that you're
going to be interested in moving forward, you know, offering alternatives to something
else that they want. But it's really -- we are really not going to discourage it, because it's
really up to them on how invested they want to be in pursuing making it available to do,
like eggs and meats, some of those items that do require extra regulations.
Cavener: Great.
De Weerd: I think it's also important to note that the group has discussed a limited
number of adult produce vendors to give more certainty and regular ity on -- it is a farmers
market, they want produce, and so they are looking at a limited number of spaces for -- for
that to encourage families in particular and also limiting the number of booths in terms of
craft and arts. So, they want to stress that this is a farmers market for produce and that is
the priority.
Cavener: A couple other questions then, Madam Mayor --
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Cavener: -- either for you or for Danyele. You mentioned Epic Events. Is it the intent,
then, that they are the managing vendor for this project or is this really a city run project?
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November 4, 2015
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Van Beek: Madam Mayor and Councilman Cavener, we are -- so, the preview party we
were -- we had formulated a relationship with Becky Brashears of Epic Events and she
assisted in the coordination of that event and it is -- we will also continue that relationship
to coordinate the actual -- or actual farmers market then -- to then transition it into her
being the sole coordinator, sole planner of the event to the community members that will
take it over.
Cavener: Need clarification then. So, at the end of this year --
Van Beek: Yes.
Cavener: -- Epic Events would be the one that would be in charge of the youth farmers
market and it would no longer be a city program?
Van Beek: We will -- we will be continuing -- Madam Mayor and Councilman Cavener, we
will be continuing a relationship with them in the sense that I will be the city liaison for the
-- we will still have a hand in the youth farmers market and I will be the city liaison when it
comes to anything regarding our involvement.
Cavener: Okay.
Van Beek: So, I guess we will still have an involvement in the planning.
De Weerd: Our involvement will be as a sponsoring entity in particular, because they are
using the plaza and emptying the trash.
Cavener: Sure.
De Weerd: But looking for -- I believe that Becky is looking at considering a nonprofit to
also have aboard that would oversee this and as she moves forward that's the direction
that she has been looking at going in.
Cavener: Madam Mayor or Danyele, from a financial impact, a summer long farmers
market is something our community has asked for for a long time and I'm hopeful to see it
successful, but we have seen lots of iterations across the Treasure Valley start strong and
fade away. Do we have some assurances, then, with -- with Epic and with Becky that this
will be a weekly farmers market from the beginning of Dairy Days until the end of summer
until it's set to conclude?
De Weerd: I think, Mr. Cavener, you have seen from the number of partners at the table
that include FFA, the faith community, the school district that's looking at their culinary
arts, their construction group that will bring bird houses or planter boxes or other type of
things that -- there is a definite interest from the various groups that are into the
community gardener aspect to have it continuous -- even the faith community has seen
this as an opportunity to have their mission youth groups grow -- grow their produce and
have a way to fundraise -- to fund their mission groups. So, it's -- it's really taken legs and
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November 4, 2015
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so I think it's -- the success will be found in the number of partners you have. I know that
they were reaching out to the University of Idaho master gardeners program and
extension program, that 4-H was being brought into the fold and BUGS was here, which is
-- I can't remember what BUGS stand for, but there were a number of groups that are
really excited about this and because it's unique it doesn't necessarily compete with any of
the other markets, because of it's focus on our youth.
Cavener: Maybe just one more question and I -- I think I'm done. To your point about
partners. If I remember correctly, the kickoff was a result of the financial donation from
Blue Cross in conjunction with the High Five grant, if I'm correct on that? Will they have a
role in this moving forward then or they are a partner, they will be involved?
De Weerd: I guess I will let Danyele follow up on that, but they have been a partner
because they did buy the tables and canopies. The Boise Coop is also one of those that
has indicated a long-term interest in being a sponsor and I think there are others -- one of
the reasons we really wanted to kick it off during Dairy Days is to bring the dairy --
dairyman's association into it and look at Zamzow's and demonstration projects on
cooking and how to cook with healthy foods and -- and different types of demonstrations
on gardening and those kind of things. So, we have talked to Albertson's and others that
also have shown an interest in this healthy lifestyle for our youth.
Cavener: Great.
De Weerd: Do you have anything you want to add, Danyele?
Van Beek: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, was the original question asking if Blue
Cross of Idaho would continue partnership?
Cavener: Correct.
Van Beek: As of right now I can't say that they have -- or they will, outside of the
relationship we have with the High Five grant. It's definitely they have expressed to us
that they would offer community garden plots for our use, because they do have a
community garden there at their facility that there -- it was started for their employees. I
have discussed with Courtney Frost, my contact over there, if they would be willing to
open either a section or singular plots for any youth that needs a garden -- like they don't
have garden space in their backyard or they just need somewhere to go, but they want to
be a part of it and she said that they would definitely be more than willing to offer, because
they do have a huge community garden plot area. So, I can see that being a continued
partnership with them, but as a financial partner or anything else, that would definitely be
addressed in the future.
De Weerd: However, I guess the second phase of canopies and tables are coming soon,
too.
Cavener: Oh. Okay.
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De Weerd: Any other questions?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I won't ask as many. I don't know if you have covered it already. What are the
qualifications for the youth? Is there age limitations or --
Van Beek: Madam Mayor, Council Member Milam, the -- we are going to be accepting
school age. So, from like seven until 18 is kind of where we will be marketing as. But like
we have discussed, there will -- we will be doing 75 percent, 25 -- 75 percent youth
vendors, 25 percent adult vendors slash family vendors. So, that would -- that would kind
of change the age for -- it would address different ages for that -- those groups.
Milam: Madam Mayor? Is there a requirement for them to be there every week if they are
an approved vendor?
Van Beek: Madam Mayor, Council Member Milam, that was a concern that was brought
up at a recent youth farmers market planning meeting and we discussed that the youth
would not be obligated to make every single weekend because we are understand , one,
they may not have produce -- yeah. They may be growing produce that's harvested at the
end of the season, as opposed to the beginning of the season, or they have summertime
commitments -- prior summertime commitments, such as family vacations and such. So,
how typical farmers markets are ran is that no one is -- from my understanding and from
my research no farmers market demands or obligates everyone to come every week. It is
-- you can sign up for which weekends you can be there and which ones you cannot. And
that's where we decided to have the option to open it up to having 25 percent adult or
family vendors, because, then, that can, hopefully, offset and insure that it's a sustainable
market every week . Our goal is to have 25 vendors every week.
Milam: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further? Thank you, Danyele. And I do think that we have a
presentation for our youth -- our young artist and did you have a copy of his logo?
Van Beek: I do.
De Weerd: That maybe we can put it up on the Elmo thing. So, Zachary, you want to
come on up. So, as -- as we are loading up his -- his artwork, I do have a certificate and a
coin from the city to -- to give to you, Zachary. Do you go by Zachery or Zach?
Meyers: Zach.
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De Weerd: Good. And we are just really excited about your logo that you submitted,
because it -- as you can look at this -- this piece of art, we just really like how it said my
farmers market and -- or there is a lot of different things that you can do with it. So, it had
a lot of imagination. It definitely followed the theme of our farmers market. We are just
really excited about the possibilities of how we can use it and also how we can give you
credit, so that forever people will know that Zach Meyers is the artist of this piece of
artwork. So, Zachary, for that I have a certificate of recognition for your beautiful artwork
being chosen as the first Meridian Youth Farmers Market logo and we think the last and I
also have a City of Meridian coin that we don't give out very -- I'm very stingy about giving
that out. So, it's a small token of our appreciation for your submittal, for your imagination
and for being the winning entry. So, thank you for being here. Do you want to say
anything?
Meyers: Thank you.
C. Approval of Professional Services Agreement for Artwork for
Meridian Youth Farmers Market Logo created by Zachary Meyer
De Weerd: Okay. So, Council on Item 6-C is our professional services agreement for this
artwork and I would entertain any questions or ask for your action.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I move that we approve the professional services agreement for artwork for
Meridian Youth Farmers Market logo created by Zachary Meyer.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 6-C. Madam Clerk, will you
call roll.
Roll Call: Rountree, yea; Bird, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener,
yea.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Zach, thank you so much for being here with us tonight . Again, thank you for
participating. We are excited to use your artwork and share it with all the world to see
and, Danyele, thank you for your presentation and certainly your involvement with this.
We are excited about what it brings to our community and certainly what it brings to
building our youth and just excited about the possibility. So, thank you all for being here.
Item 7: Community Items/Presentations
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A. Request for Additional Time Extension and Waiver of Condition
for Pinebridge
De Weerd: Okay. Item 7-A is a request for a time extension and waiver of condition for
Pine Bridge. I will turn this over to Bruce Chatterton.
Chatterton: Madam Mayor, Council Members, last year the applicant requested a two
year time extension on the preliminary plat for Pine Bridge Subdivision. You granted that
request, but you included a condition that the applicant improve and landscape the planter
area in the middle of the roundabout in Pine Avenue, as indicated by the arrow.
De Weerd: Is your microphone on?
Chatterton: Oh.
De Weerd: Is it?
Chatterton: Can you hear me now?
De Weerd: That's better.
Chatterton: There was a condition that the applicant improve and landscape the planter
area in the middle of the roundabout in Pine Avenue prior to November 1st, 2015. The
applicant is now requesting an additional year to comply with this condition. This will allow
the time needed to develop an irrigation source and final landscape plan and obtain a
license agreement with ACHD for the landscaping improvement. I believe that Mr. Baker
is here to address the issue on behalf of the applicant.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Council, any questions for staff at this time? Okay. Dan
or Dennis? Okay. Such a rare treat to have you here. Welcome.
Baker: It's a rare treat for me, Madam Mayor and Members of the Meridian City Council.
I'm Dennis Baker, 250 South Beachwood, Suite 120, in Boise. I'm here representing D&B
Investments or D&B Development, whichever it is. I think it's Investments for this. And
requesting the extension of time and I will give the reasons in a minute and the waiver
condition on the requirement for completion of the roundabout landscaping by November
1 of this year. We have had a number of interested parties in our multi-family. We
presently have three different parties. One of them is a partner of mine -- an associate
partner of mine. We went to high school together back in the dark ages of Nampa High
School. Mr. Brandt. I think many people would know Don Brandt. He has been a partner
and a lifetime friend of mine for a long period of time. We played ball together at Nampa
High School and Nampa Junior High School and against each other in grade school. So,
have had a long partnership. Met with Mr. Brandt today. We are working on some plans
with him for the multi-family portion in this -- can Council see where -- yeah. Okay. In this
general area here of the multi-family -- for maybe 15 acres of townhomes that would have
a lot of common area landscaping and would need to be landscaped in conjunction with a
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November 4, 2015
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coordinated effort on the roundabout. We have some really good plans that we are
working on for that type of landscaping and we would like the time extension and the
waiver of the condition at this time as was given to us moments ago for the reasons of
working through ACHD and working up the landscape plan in conjunction with the multi-
family development. It's not only Mr. Brandt and I who are looking at that. I have an
interested party who like to also participate with us on that development. We would
probably come to Council and ask for the conditional use permit for not only the
townhomes, which are lesser density than what's allowed in that area, but would also
come with condo apartment area that would be in concert with that type of townhome
development. So, it's for those reasons that we would ask for that extension of time to
allow us to pull this together and come back to Council. I don't -- it's not my nature to -- to
do stick figure development, Charlie Brown type development where we end up putting
landscape up just to get landscape up and it isn't really a -- a good looking development
the way we like to do our landscaping. The fact that I own a nursery or that we have a
nursery with about 20,000 trees does aid us in our ability to do the landscaping and it
does keep me busy at 79, so -- doing -- doing all of the above. So, for these reasons,
Madam Mayor and Members of the Council, we would ask your permission to -- to accept
our request for an extension of time to pull this all together and get it done correctly.
De Weerd: Thank you, Dennis. Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Dennis -- and maybe you can walk me through this. The request was made a
year ago. What -- what's prevented you guys from starting that process 11 months ago?
Baker: Madam Mayor and Council Member Cavener, we have been in some negotiations
with a large scale developer who wanted to buy all of that ground. That would have been
something that we have worked on with them in part of the transaction, but near the last
moment of time in about May of this year they elected not to go forward with the purchase.
Approximately a hundred acres. And that left us with not enough time to get this pulled
together the way we wanted to and -- and since that period of time we have gone into
discussions with three different groups relative to the mul ti-family section, believing that
the multi-family section will help pull together the other aspects of retail and of office in
that Pine Bridge project. That's the best answer I could come up with.
Cavener: Appreciate it. Madam Mayor, maybe a question for -- for staff. Bruce, when we
did the time extension last year how many times did they come before us for a time
extension request?
Chatterton: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, I -- I honestly don't know. I do
know the applicant had originally requested a two year time extension that wasn't granted.
We granted the one year. I don't know how many previous time extensions this has been
through.
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November 4, 2015
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De Weerd: Three? This was the third? Or this is the third. This would be the fourth or
the third? Okay. Yeah. This is third. And this is just asking for the condition of the
landscaping to be reconsidered. Any other questions from Council? Thank you.
Baker: Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I don't want to sit here all night, so --
De Weerd: That's good.
Bird: -- so, I will make -- I will make a motion that we approve this time extension for
another year -- I move that we approve the time extension for the improvement of the
landscaping on the roundabout -- the middle of the roundabout for one year for DMB
Development or whatever it is.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to extend the time requirement on this request
for one year. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: Rountree, yea; Bird, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener,
nay.
De Weerd: Motion passes.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE NAY. ONE ABSENT.
B. Ada County 2025! Presentation Regarding the Update of Ada
County’s Comprehensive Plan and Strategic Business Plan
De Weerd: Item 7-B is -- Meg Leatherman is here with us tonight to talk about their
activities on their Ada County 2025. Thank you for being here, Meg.
Leatherman: Hello. Thank you so much, Madam Mayor, Council Members. It's great to
be here. This is my first time presenting here , so I might have some technological
challenges, because I do have a PowerPoint, but this is a really neat contraption. We
don't have this. This is real fancy, so let's see if I can figure it out. Oh, that's good. That's
a good sign; right? Okay. So, basically, I -- my name, again, is Megan Leatherman,
director of development services for Ada County and I have actually -- I have taken on an
assignment to lead what we are calling Ada County 2025. It has multiple things going on,
but it is a little bit out of the realm of what you probably would think the director of
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November 4, 2015
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development services does. So, I would just point out that it is an Ada County planning
process that includes all of the different offices and departments of Ada County, which is
quite vast. Anyways, I'm here today to basically give an overview of what we are doing.
We just kicked this off and, then, take any input or questions or suggestions that you all
might have. Let's see. So, what is Ada County 2025? It's a joint planning process --
basically a comprehensive plan update. Our comp plan was last done in 2007. At the
same time, though, we are also doing a strategic business plan, which is the first one that
has been done in Ada County, believe it or not. At least for all the different offices and
departments to be under the strategic business plan. So, it's not specific to one
department. About -- it's been about a year and a half ago where all the elected officials
in Ada County -- and there is nine of them, including the three county commissioners --
decided that it would be a good idea to unify under one vision and to align county
business operations under one plan, which to me is a quite historic taking -- undertaking
and also even just getting that support from all the elected officials is something to be
celebrated. W e have a coroner, a prosecutor, the sheriff, the three commissioners.
Prosecutor -- did I say that? Assessor and clerk of the court and they all have very
different needs and desires and so when it comes to operations and funding, they are
quite vast. So, just a high level process overview. This summer we started prep'ing and
did some internal interviews with leaders throughout the county, about 40, and, then,
during the state of the county we had a consultant that did just an analysis of existing
conditions very similar to probably a lot of what the city does when they start planning
processes, looking a demographics, looking at forecasting, population trends, that type of
thing and, then, our interviews are trailing off, but focused on service provision and what
people internally were thinking was going on. Right now we are at the point -- number
three in the visioning and strategic directions where we are -- have been working internally
on trying to craft a vision where everyone -- everyone at the county could operate under
and kind of drafting up some strategic directives and goals. After that we will move into
preliminary policies directions and, then, in September of next year our hope is to have
the draft comprehensive plan and the draft strategic business plan to present. Our
thought -- at least so far -- and, again, this is the -- nothing is completely set in stone. We
get together -- you know how it is with consultants and you kind of have to have
somewhat of an idea of what your planning processes are going to be to be able to bring
them on. But we are very open to, you know, input, changing direction of the process
potentially and -- you know, that's very important to us. So, thought -- the process could
change a little bit, but the thought was initially that the cities' involvements would come
and set forth to some degree where we would get -- draft some really -- draft policy
directions and, then, those that may impact the cities we would work with the cities to get
their feedback on those. That was what we had tentatively had planned. The last week
we kicked off some focus groups with six different I guess categories of stake holders.
We ended up getting about 80 -- 80 different individuals over two different -- two days of
different sessions where they were able to look at our state of the county report and, then,
provide us their input on issues and vision and whatnot. So, this is the state of the county
intent and forces report. That's the report they are talking about that's available at our
website adacounty2025.com. It goes over just governance, population, housing, common
land use, infrastructure, environment and hazard and risk, existing conditions and a little
bit of forecasting, which is kind of interesting, because it looks at the whole -- the whole
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November 4, 2015
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county, not just one city and it is just Ada County, where a lot of stuff that comes out of
COMPASS usually includes multiple counties. So, this is a little bit different. It has some
good data. So, I thought that might be good for you to know that's all there, too. So, like I
mentioned before, we -- we did the -- we did do interviews and did some work sessions
with county leaders and I was going to briefly go over some of the output of that. That's
really the meat -- the meat of the output that I could report on today, because, like I said,
we are just really at the beginning of the process. So, a lot of this will probably seem
redundant to the things you hear or that you would expect to see, but the first one kind of
falls along the theme I was out talking about was just uniting under one vision, getting all
different -- the different offices and departments with nine different elected officials and
also all the directors falling under one vision at the county and try to promote culture,
collaboration and helping build a better understanding of what Ada County does. We
realized not only that the public did not really have a good sense of that, but neither do our
employees. You know, we are all operating in so much of our own little world.
Understanding and proactively managing the projected growth on Ada County. So, long
term strategies to deliver our services more effectively categorized and prioritizing
investments, so one of the -- the key things here would be getting public input and that
was another reason why we really wanted to do the comp plan update at the same time
we are doing our business plan, so that we could get the public policies and -- that are
vetted by the public integrated with the strategic business plan and feeding those and they
play off of each other, so that way the business operations of the county are -- are
basically reflective of the community's needs and desires. In this one -- well, we will skip
this one. I just want to mention the areas of city impact also improving predictability within
and adjacent to areas of city impact and is also, you know, effects of projected growth and
the transportation system. One of the things that we have heard is that our comp plan
isn't very user friendly, so one really talks a lot about making our comprehensive plan, you
know, not just sitting on a shelf, having our leaders actually using it and making it so that
it's -- they do feel comfortable picking it up and they know what it means and where to find
things. Talking about what type of land use patterns and what type of growth is
appropriate in unincorporated Ada County, mainly outside of the areas of city impact. We,
obviously, have, you know, same as you all, that this is a public hearing where we get to
hear things, but, you know, expanding upon -- trying to expand upon our base of input on
-- so we can make better decisions about maybe what that should be. This will be one
that will be good to get the city's input on, but, basically, do we want to have some type of
subdivision option in unincorporated Ada County. We hear that a lot from developers,
even from sometimes the general public. Do we want to have agriculture preservation in
unincorporated Ada County. What would that look like? What does that mean? What
does rural mean? A lot of people say they want rural housing or they want rural
development. Well, what does that really mean? You know, kind of diving down a little bit
deeper into those types of things. We tend at Ada County to get also a lot of the sand and
gravel pits, so looking into those and maybe how we could do those a little bit better or
maybe where they would be located a little bit more appropriately. And, then, just, again, I
think all the elected officials and leaders of Ada County realize how important it is to
improve our engagement with the community and to collaborate regionally. Ada County
has the ability to be a regional leader, because we do work with all the different cities and
a lot of our services cross over into that -- cross boundaries, you know, and so, basically,
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November 4, 2015
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focusing on improving that and how. So, as I mentioned also earlier, we had focus groups
this past week without public engagement and that was really successful. But we also
have a lot of different opportunities for input. We have a website adacounty2025.com.
We do have a Twitter and Facebook, a lot of notifications going on on that and right now
on our website we actually can do the work session that we went through with the focus
groups. You can actually do that work session on the web right now and so we are
advertising to everyone to go to the site and you can see the report that has for forces and
trends and, then, also we have like a -- not like a blog, but kind of like that where you can
put what you think some of the opportunities are in Ada County, issues and opportunities
and, then, in a separate one where you can talk about what you think the vision of Ada
County should be and that actual piece is going to change. We have three different plans
kind of outreach initiatives and input that we are looking for and so this first one is up until
mid December and I think that's it. Again, I just wanted to provide a really high level
overview of what we are doing and, then, mainly just take questions or suggestions. We
really do value the input and the city and everything the city is doing. The more that we
can work together through this process the better I think and better represent the
community and, you know, I'm open to new ideas. You know, I think the sky's the limit,
so --
De Weerd: Thank you, Megan. Council, any questions or comments?
Bird: I have nothing. Very nice.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Meg, when you talk about infrastructure and services in your planning does
that process include the courts?
Leatherman: Madam Mayor, Council Member Rountree, yes. The comprehensive plan
wouldn't deal with that as much as it would as the strategic business plan would. So, I
had a meeting today with Larry Rainer who runs the trial court system and the strategic
business plan is kind of a nickname, but it will outline goals and initiatives and that will
actually be a sign to individuals. So, different initiatives and goals that may be wanting to
be undergone through the court system would be potentially outlined in that. So, that's
one way it would be represented. Did that answer that?
Rountree: So -- if I might. As you interviewed and done that work, what -- what did you
come away with in terms of their desires, their vision for the courts?
Leatherman: Well, I -- Madam Mayor, Council Member Rountree, from what I can tell
right now it's kind of in a holding pattern due to just some decisions that need to be made
with the City of Meridian and Garden City and the way -- what I am looking at wanting -- I
guess have resolution in that would be good for me for what I'm trying to do just
because --
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 19 of 30
Rountree: Good for all of us.
Leatherman: -- it affects -- you know, we have a space issue going on at the courthouse
right now. That's one of the reasons -- one of the things that spurred this. You know, if
we were -- if we were to no longer be providing court services to certain municipalities,
then, that may free up those types of rippling eff ects. But, you know, I don't -- from what I
know from what I have been told is that there is not a decision yet and so it's kind of in a
holding pattern.
Rountree: So, as you develop the strategic business plan, et cetera, et cetera, to
implement or further refine your vision your bullet point there was to promote a culture of
collaboration. Is that going to be woven through the strategic business plan, as well as
the comprehensive plan?
Leatherman: Madam Mayor, Council Member, yes, that's the intent in the elected -- now,
the elected officials are all very supportive of that. It's an interesting dynamic with the
court system, since Larry works -- technically works for the state. Larry Reiner runs the
court. The clerk of the court, you know, is also integral in that and, then, also the board,
because they control the budget. So, that specific issue is quite complicated with the
individuals that are involved and -- but that's why we are doing this, so --
Rountree: And at what point and how will the various customers, if you will, or
constituents of the county have input to that process?
Leatherman: There is a different -- for this specific issue, Madam Mayor -- sorry, Madam
Mayor --
Rountree: Development of the strategic business plan.
Leatherman: Once we -- our thought was -- again, we are open to, you know,
suggestions for altering this, but our thought was once we had some draft kind of
initiatives or policy directives that we would, then, involve those that were potentially
affected or could have some expertise to help us in crafting them.
Rountree: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Well, thank you, Meg. It doesn't look like
Mr. Cavener is going to ask any.
Leatherman: Thank you for your time and if you think of something later, please, contact
me, let me know. Anytime. Thank you.
C. Cooperative Agreement With Valley Regional Transit - Annual
Assessment and Service Contribution
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 20 of 30
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item 7-C is -- VRT is here this evening. This is regarding
our cooperative agreement with VRT and their annual assessment and service
contribution, as well Kelly is here to follow up on the discussion that we had last week.
Thank you for joining us, Kelly.
Fairless: Thanks, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. And my remarks tonight are
really primarily on the topic of transportation for seniors and persons with disabilities and,
then, I'm happy to answer any other questions that you would have about the agreement
as well. First I want to apologize for the frustration that the city's experienced around the
implementation of this project and I have worked with -- and tried to address those
personally to whatever level they have been brought to my attention and, again, I'm really
sorry about the frustration. We have been spending the last week really looking at kind of
what can we do in the near term to address those issues. Just a quick overview of the --
kind of where we were prior to 2013 and where things are today and how they are
different. My understanding is the City of Meridian provided funding directly to Meridian
Senior Center at about 20,000 a year and with the intention to support transportation. We
brought to you a couple years ago a proposal for how to leverage a new funding source
that's available in our region. It's Federal Transit Administration dollars under Section
5310 that are matched at 80 percent federal, 20 percent local. At the time when we
proposed that and started implementing that I don't think I ever imagined that it would take
two years to get the grant through the Federal Transit Administration and I know Council
Member Rountree probably is wondering why I would be so naive, but appreciate that I
said that first. Yeah. So, that really created a bit of a challenge for us, because the
agreement with the City of Meridian was to pay the local match portion of the grant and
we haven't had the grant, so we haven't done a lot of marketing of the service, because I
didn't know when we would have the dollars in the bank to be able to fully implement the
program. We did and have had an agreement with the City of Meridian senior center to
provide the trips and there has been about three -- this last year there was 3,078 trips that
the City of Meridian senior center provided and, then, when the federal dollars came in,
which is October, we did finally get all of those issues resolved. Just let you know,
because this was a new way of doing this program I understand from my contacts at the
Federal Transit Administration that it was an issue all over the country trying to get these
dollars obligated. So, we funded a lot of the trips for the Meridian senior center. The local
funding -- we actually had around seven to nine thousand dollars from the Area Agency
On Aging funding and so that was providing some of the match as well. So, starting in
October we began building capacity to serve the need better. We have been using some
of our other community transportation services. We have a program called Veteran's Van
and Village Van and they have stepped up and provided some of those trips that we have
been able to schedule and, then, we are also working with -- we have -- actually, in the
last few days have looked at a couple of other options where we are expanding the
availability of a program under the supportive housing, innovative partnership to expand
their availability in Meridian as well. So, there will be more capacity there. We are looking
at our equipment capacity, some of our limitations have been the available of equipment
and so there are some dollars that we have carried forward from the previous year and we
are in the process of evaluating a longer term solution for regional transportation for
seniors and people with disabilities and we are reserving some of those carry forward
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
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funds to be able to purchase more equipment for the solutions that are being developed
under that project that will also serve the need in the City of Meridian. We have had
failures in our own internal communications and how we have communicated to the
passenger. I think sometimes one of the confusions -- the primary confusion has been
maybe explaining too much about all the different providers, instead of saying we are
going to get you a ride and your ride will be there this day, trying to help people
understand how we are delivering that ride and I think that caused a lot of confusion, so
that we believe has been corrected through better communication tools with our customer
service staff. So, as I mentioned, the federal funding is now available. We are expanding
the capacity through other community partners. We did have a meeting with Uber and are
talking to them about a safety net for offering some opportunities when we cannot find
some of these other more community based options, that they might be available. That
might require us to change the agreement with the City of Meridian a little bit, because our
agreement states that it's for a local match and I don't think we could operate under an
Uber model with the same federal funding, but, again, for those trips that we really can't
find any other capacity for, that could be an affordable alternative and that's ongoing.
And, then, in the long term we are working on -- we have a committee -- it's a community
based committee and the project is called Access To Independence and it's, again,
looking at longer term sustainable solution for transportation for older adults and persons
with disabilities. Right now the -- the group is looking at two alternative solutions that we
are taking through a testing phase. One is called Transportation Volunteer Credit Bank
where we create a volunteer bank where people can donate their time and, then, they also
put that time in a bank and sometime they may want transportation. So, it's -- if you have
heard of Village to Village is another model that communities have used. So, a village
based model for coordinating volunteer services and, then, the other is called A Lifestyle
Service Van, which is very similar somewhat to what senior centers are doing, but this
would be a bit more expanded and -- and, then, address to particular locations and also
some of the things that we found that prevent older adults and people with disabilities from
wanting to use public transportation services is just the fear of the unknown and another
element of this solution is a test ride where people could actually go out and test ride, you
know, get comfortable with the driver and kind of like a travel training sort of element to it.
So, we are testing those. I have also -- I had a meeting with Ken Corder today to identify
more of Meridian specific community based work group. We have been talking about this.
I think this was the conversation we had with our planning team that's been working with
us on Meridian transportation and this is going to look specifically at -- at a more Meridian
focus solution for -- for transportation and what's exciting about this project is it truly is
community driven. We are going to invite a variety of stakeholders and advocates and
people who are interested in this issue, youth and older adults and people with disabilities,
nonprofits, roll up our sleeves and really start with a blank slate, instead of trying to make
things that already exist work, what -- what would this look like and you really kind of start
with unlimited resources and, then, do the testing to figure out out of all those solutions
what could actually be desirable to the customer, operationally feasible and financially
viable. So, with that, Madam Mayor, I would stand to answer any questions.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 22 of 30
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Kelly, it looks like in this agreement that we could wind up paying in excess of
207,000 dollars. Tell me outside of the corridor runs that we have two or three times a
day and we have, what, two or three stops in the City of Meridian, what do we get for that?
Our base dues is 117,000 plus. We don't get anything off of the corridor and you're telling
us that we are going to get the senior thing all -- start getting them some rides and, then,
it's up to -- it's up to us and you guys to decide what we are going to do with that Saturday
Fun bus that didn't come out to be a fun bus. But, anyway, just explain for that 117,000
what our taxpayers get for that.
Fairless: Madam Mayor, Council Member Bird, the way that the -- the assessments are
calculated is the -- there is a regional assessment, which is -- covers the overhead of
Valley Regional Transit, the call center, the support for the board and the organization and
that's on a per capita basis. That is the -- what we call the regional assessment. Then
there is the funding for the operations that is -- does -- it is Meridian's portion of the inter-
county service and that's based on a combination of population and number of stops that
are within the City of Meridian. So, that you're sharing the cost of that route with Caldwell,
Nampa, Ada County, Canyon county, as well as I believe those -- and those are the
primary funders for those inter-county routes. Boise State and CWI also fund some
portion of those routes and they have their own route as well that they fund that serves
both of those campuses. So, that's direct service that is -- we calculate based on the City
of Meridian's participation and the accessibility. The 42 operates all day. It serves the St.
Luke's Hospital here in Meridian and it also serves to downtown Boise and to Boise State
University as well and it doesn't serve some of the business centers along that -- near the
interstate as well. So, that does get off of the interstate and actually serves some of the
local -- local routes. We are looking at our route structure for -- that's under the small
urban program, which is housed in Nampa and Caldwell. That's where that funding
source is. So, that's what's funding that particular service and so we are doing an
analysis of the western Ada and Canyon county routes and we will be offering
suggestions for how to change those routes and looking at the -- the structure and funding
as well.
Bird: Thank you.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Maybe I'm more confused now, Kelly. I'm sorry. So, basically, we are paying
about a hundred thousand dollars for VRT administration?
Fairless: Madam Mayor, Councilman Milam, I apologize, I don't have those figures in front
of me and I should have brought those. My -- I don't think you're paying a hundred
thousand dollars for -- it's based on a per capita and I know -- I think that the City of Boise
might be paying around that amount for regional. So, that hundred thousand is a
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November 4, 2015
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combination, I think, of those -- that regional assessment and the dues. But, again, I don't
have that document in front of me.
Milam: Do you know how many Meridian riders -- the ridership for Meridian is?
Fairless: We know that there are stops in Meridian and I know that there -- people are
using those. How many actual Meridian residents using those I can't tell you. We don't
ask for people to show their ID, we just know what's going on at the stops and I know that
we had to move the one stop that was at the Axiom for the construction. It's over at
Lowe's and I think it's still an active stop. And, then, I do want to explain -- and I meant to
follow up -- that the other funding -- and there is about 90,000 when you count the 30,000
for the senior center and the 60,000 that we are factoring in in our proposal to you in the
next few months on how we would use those dollars going forward.
Milam: Madam Mayor? So, as far as the senior center goes, Kelly, the -- so, the 30,000
dollars would cover approximately 10,000 rides; is that correct?
Fairless: It would -- well, it would cover -- trying to think if it's -- yeah, it would be about
that, because it would be about three dollars per ride. Yeah.
Milam: And how many have we had?
Fairless: In this last year there was 3,078.
Milam: Okay.
Fairless: Yeah.
Milam: So -- but we are only paying for the actual rides?
Fairless: You're only paying for the rides that happen and most of that 3,078 rides the
local match was funded through the Area Agency On Aging dollars. We prioritized that
source over City of Meridian source just to -- because it was available and their focus at
the Area Agency On Aging is probably more towards nutrition and so we felt like those
trips also covered that a little bit more, because that's really what the senior center is
focusing their transportation on is meals for the senior center.
Milam: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: But isn't ridership restricted to only an economic -- some economic criteria? I
thought they limited who they picked up.
Fairless: Madam Mayor, I have not found anywhere where there is an actual -- any policy
that limits that. My understanding is a few years ago the Area Agency On Aging cut their
funding for transportation and I think that the -- that -- I believe it was Sage and, then
ICOG had made some restrictions on what trips they would fund based on the fact that
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 24 of 30
they were having to cut their funding back, but we were not told we had to have -- when it
was -- came through the commission on aging we were not told there was any limitation
on that.
De Weerd: And I know that at one time you were looking at larger buses from -- on the 42
route, because by the time it got to Meridian there was standing room only and so our
citizens -- if they took that as an option were -- were very limited in their -- the space that
was available on the buses as well and not really able to sit down. Has that been
addressed?
Fairless: Yeah. Madam Mayor, since that time we actually now have 40 foot buses on
the -- those routes and so that -- the buses before were a combination of 28 foot buses
and 35 foot buses and with the 40 foot buses we were able to handle capacity, so --
De Weerd: That's great. Any -- Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Just a couple clarification points. Kelly, if I'm doing my math correctly, when
you speak about the 3,078 trips, a trip count -- the vehicle picks a person up, takes them
to the senior center, that's -- that's one trip; correct?
Fairless: Uh-huh.
Cavener: Okay. And maybe jumping back to Councilwoman Milam's point -- or inquiry -- I
wouldn't expect you to know how many Meridian residents hop on your buses at any given
date, but I would be curious to have an average of how many people get on at those stops
in Meridian or get off at those stops. Sure, they might live in Kuna, but they are parking
their car in Meridian, but do you have numbers for that, averages that you could share
with us?
Fairless: Off the top of my head I don't, but I can provide those to you.
Cavener: I would like to see that.
Fairless: Yeah.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Kelly --
Fairless: Uh-huh.
Bird: And -- I didn't want to imply that anything with that fun bus was your guys or us or
anybody else, it just didn't take off and hopefully we can find something -- hopefully we
can find something better to do with that 60,000 in transportation. The thing that -- you go
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 25 of 30
over by the mall and there is buses, pickups and everything going all the time. I just don't
see that out at the Villages or Crossroads or something and we are getting to be -- that's
getting to be a pretty large area. Is there any way that that can be -- we can work
something in where the buses are out there for the people that are -- or some of the buses
are taking people out to that location? I don't -- I don't see them out in that area much,
Kelly.
Fairless: Madam Mayor, Council Member Bird, that -- the amount of service that's
provided in the city of Boise -- and that's -- are funded by city of Boise general fund
dollars. They put in about six million a year to -- a little more than six million a year to fund
those services and so I would love to see that level of service in Meridian. The limitation
we have is in finding a funding source that it's going to be a lot more than 200,000 dollars
a year to be able to provide that level and so, you know, that's really the limiting factor for
us is funding.
Bird: I knew that's what you was going to tell me, because I knew Boise --
Fairless: I know. You probably wish I had come up with a different answer. I would like
to.
Bird: We all wish we had more dollars.
Fairless: Yeah.
De Weerd: Well, I look forward to the participation with our seniors and trying to figure out
-- because we do get seniors that keep call and the senior center won't provide them a
ride and if they won't provide them a ride it's difficult to justify what we are funding, so --
finding solutions.
Fairless: Right. Thank you.
Item 8: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda
De Weerd: Okay. There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda, so -- oh, do
you want to take action on --
Rountree: The agreement.
De Weerd: -- the agreement.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I move we approve the cooperative agreement with Valley Regional Transit,
which includes the annual assessment and service contribution.
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 26 of 30
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 7-C. Any discussion? Madam
Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: Rountree, yea; Bird, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener,
yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 9: Continued Department Reports
A. Mayor's Office: Resolution No. 15-1098: A Resolution of the
Mayor and City Council Reappointing Blaine Johnston to Seat 2
and Frank Thomason to Seat 3 of the Historic Preservation
Commission and Appointing Josh Evarts to Seat 5 of the
Meridian Historic Preservation Commission
De Weerd: Item 9-A is Resolution 15-1098. Council, this is reappointing Blaine Johnston
to Seat 2 and Frank Thomason to Seat 3, as well as appointing Josh Evarts to Seat 5. I
would entertain any questions that you might have.
Rountree: Madam Mayor, just a question. Do these fall under the new commission
ordinance?
Nary: Yes, sir.
Rountree: Thank you.
De Weerd: Any other questions? I guess I should ask if -- we have already asked if they
are willing to serve and so -- I will only ask them to speak after you have taken action.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we approve Item 9-A, Resolution No. 15-1098.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-A. Any discussion? Madam
Clerk, will you call roll.
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 27 of 30
Roll Call: Rountree, yea; Bird, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener,
yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Josh, would you like to make any comments? We couldn't tell, but you were
wiggling in your seat kind of like I see in a classroom, but --
Evarts: Madam Mayor, City Council Members, thank you for this opportunity to serve.
When Mayor Tammy reached out to me and asked me how she could get her hooks to
me in public service I told her that I wanted to find out where Frank was working as his
executive assistant and join him there. No. My passion for history, people, stories and
the buildings we get to observe those things of our history is deep. Obviously, the things
that I'm looking to bring to this commission are, number one, a deep understanding of
what a value proposition is. Outside of my passion for history, I spent the first 20 years of
my professional career building technology companies, starting them, growing them and
selling them and that value model is really, really important, because that was the
enrichment that allowed me to serve my customers, enrich them, to enrich my employees
and shareholders. So, as I took on like the project of the Meridian Bank and Exchange,
that was a very unpopular project. It was a dilapidated building that was falling into further
disrepair. Somebody really needed to dive in and look at it and go, okay, what really has
to be done and so nine months later we are now doing work and bringing that thing back
to life. But if there is not a value proposition there that can be created, then, it's very, very
difficult to deliver those things. The second thing that I'm really passionate about is
looking at the future. So, I think that the reason that I got to buy the Heritage building in
2013 were guys like Howard Foley and Al Lance, you know, back in the late '70s, early
'80s, decided that that building was worth renovating and worth making an investment in,
not knowing that 35 years later they would be, you know, welcoming a young kilt wearing
Scottish Irishman to buy their building from them. So -- yeah. So, I want to keep an eye
on the future knowing that I will probably flame out in less than ten years, so I need to
make sure that I'm leaving a legacy for my children and everything like that. So, those are
my passions. I'm excited to serve in this capacity. I'm grateful for my wife who puts up
with all of this, so thank you.
De Weerd: She must have a lot of patience. You have a lot of passion there.
Rountree: I just thank you for the willingness to serve and it sounds like we are going to
benefit greatly.
Evarts: I couldn't pass on the salary. I got to tell you. Like when I saw the compensation
package I got pretty excited. So, thank you guys.
De Weerd: That was my sales job, Josh.
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 28 of 30
Evarts: Yeah. I know. I'm getting now twice what Frank got, so that was really the
clincher, so --
De Weerd: Twice of nothing is nothing.
Evarts: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
Bird: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you for being here. Frank, would you like to -- can you follow that?
No, you need to do it on the record. I think you newspapermen know all about the re cord,
so --
Thomason: Madam Mayor and Council Members, I would just like to thank Josh, as
Charlie did, for his willingness to serve and note that the first ten years are the most
difficult. Thank you.
Rountree: We want to see you in a kilt as well.
De Weerd: Thank you for being here tonight and sitting through the whole agenda to
make your comments and certainly, Josh, we appreciate your interest in preserving our
history and the investment you have made in our downtown as well.
B. Mayor's Office: Resolution No. 15-1099: A Resolution Re-
Appointing Matt Stoll and Jo Greer to the Meridian Parks and
Recreation Commission and Appointing Craig Robinson to the
Meridian Parks and Recreation Commission
De Weerd: Item No. 9-B is Resolution 15-1-99. These are to reappoint Matt Stoll and Jo
Greer to the parks commission and appointing Craig Robinson to the commission's open
seat. I would entertain any motion -- or any questions you might have.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: If there isn't any question, I move we approve 9-B, Resolution 15-1099.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-B. Although I doubt you
have any questions. I would ask Madam Clerk to call roll.
Roll Call: Rountree, yea; Bird, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener,
yea.
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 29 of 30
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 10: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Council, any items for future agendas?
Item 11: Executive Session per Idaho State Code 74 -206 (c)(d)(i): (c) To Conduct
Deliberations Concerning Labor Negotiations or to Acquire an Interest
in Real Property, Which is Not Owned by a Public Agency, (d) To
Consider Records that are Exempt from Disclosure as Provided in
Chapter 3, Title 9, Idaho Code, AND (i) To engage in communications
with a representative of the public agency's risk manager or insurance
provider to discuss the adjustment of a pending claim or prevention of
a claim imminently likely to be filed
Amended the agenda to add an Executive Session per Idaho State
Code 74-206 (f): To Consider and Advise Its Legal Representatives in
Pending Litigation
De Weerd: Seeing none, I would entertain a motion on Item 11 to adjourn into Executive
Session.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we go into Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 74-206(c),(d),(f) and
(i).
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adjourn into Executive Session. Madam
Clerk, will you, please, call roll.
Roll Call: Rountree, yea; Bird, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener,
yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (7:32 p.m. to 9:20 p.m.)
Rountree: I move we come out of Executive Session.
Meridian City Council
November 4, 2015
Page 30 of 30
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Bird: I move we --
Rountree: Before we -- before we dismiss.
Bird: Oh.
Rountree: There was an inquiry about changing the time for --
(End of recording.)
De Weerd: Okay.
Rountree: Can we do that? The reason being I got a call from this very quiet voice --
poppy, can you come to my Thanksgiving school room celebration. You bet, Carlyn. And,
then, I looked at the calendar.
Bird: That's the main thing.
Rountree: And I have got to get to Utah and back. So, if we can do it at 5:00 1 can get
back.
Bird: Okay.
Milam: Oh, my gosh.
De Weerd: Got it. Okay. I would entertain a motion to adjourn.
Bird: So moved.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:20 P.M.
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