Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-12-15 Joint ACHDMeridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 A Joint meeting of the Meridian City Council and ACHD Commission was called to order at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, December 15, 2015, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Members Present: Tammy, de Weerd, Charlie Rountree, Keith Bird, David Zaremba, Joe Borton, Genesis Milam and Luke Cavener. Roll-call Attendance: Roll call. X David Zaremba X _ Joe Borton X__ Charlie Rountree X_ Keith Bird __X__ Genesis Milam __X__ Lucas Cavener __ X_ Mayor Tammy de Weerd De Weerd: You guys have a quorum; right? Rountree: We do. De Weerd: Okay. Is everyone here that you are expecting? Hansen: We are expecting Commissioner Woods in just a few moments. He called from -- on route, said he would be a few minutes late. De Weerd: Are we expecting Genesis? Bird: She's coming. De Weerd: Okay. Well, we will go ahead and get started and for the record I will go ahead and call roll for City Council. De Weerd: And I will turn this over to Commissioner Hansen to call roll on his ACHD. Hansen: All right. We have Commissioner Goldthorpe and Arnold and Hansen here, so we have a quorum. De Weerd: Thank you so much. We appreciate these opportunities to get together with the ACHD commission. I apologize for the formal setting, but we couldn't get our stenographer here and we don't have an appropriate sound system to do it in the middle, so we apologize we have you all up here in a formal setting. We hope that doesn't inhibit dialogue. Hansen: Not at all. Item 1: Rail Corridor Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 2 of 22 De Weerd: Okay. Item No. 1 we wanted to discuss where we are at with the rail corridor planning. We have appreciated the involvement of your staff on the aerial -- the crossings of the arterials and -- and I think that we hope to now move forward into the next stage , but in order to do that we do need to have stronger partnerships and more involvement with the cities on both side of us and from Boise, but as our transportation agency here in Meridian we do need the lead ership of Ada County Highway District to be involved in exploring the -- the potential of the Rail With Trail. We think that logical first step is getting a pathway along the rail corridor and I don't know if we have covered the -- the fact that we have gotten no a couple of times from the Union Pacific, but that doesn't mean we will continue to get no. I will continue to ask anyway. But if we can't do it within the right of way we will do it outside the right of way and our staff have spent considerable time looking at what those opportunities are, what they look like, what kind of actions or next steps we would need and at this point they a re focusing on the first mile. So, with that said does staff have anything they want to add to that? Jay or Steve? We didn't practice this. And I -- my head is pretty dull right now. So, this is going to drive you all nuts. Siddoway: Well, I'd just walked in, so I don't know what all you covered , but we are excited about that the opportunity of a potential connection from Nampa to Boise along the rail corridor. I think part of the discussion that we are hoping to have is is there support with ACHD leadership. I know that it has been under discussion for some time with city leadership and we are hopeful that can make this -- we are trying to increase the partnerships, so we have reached out to both Boise and Nampa at staff level , we are trying to get the -- you know, direction from their elected officials as well, but we are hoping that we can form a coalition or a group that can help champion this cause a little further, so -- De Weerd: Thank you, Steve. And, frankly, we are excited to start in the middle. It will connect energy centers within our community and I think the rail corridor is extremely valuable and it's -- it should be a high occupancy opportunity. We also believe that it will take the pressure off of Fairview, so we would like that consideration for looking at it as an HOV opportunity that will maybe be a viable substitute to expanding Fairview and maybe even be a -- a more logical corridor than even State Street is for the HOV, because this is where the center of the population is. So, with that said I would ask Council if you have any additional comments that you would like to add to it, you know, or -- Mr. Rountree. Rountree: Madam Mayor, thank you. That particular corridor has been a subject of conversation for years. Usually it pops up in the discussion of public transportation, but I think it's -- it's an opportune corridor for the east-west movement of traffic, whether it be rail or rubber tire, it's the only undeveloped, if you will, corridor that we have left. It's fairly wide. It's underutilized. Certainly we have crossings that you have to contend with, but it is a wide open corridor at this point, with the exception of the trackage and it seems like it's an opportunity that keeps cropping up, but we need to build some kind of a coalition to work with the railroad and hopefully get them at least open to the discussion at this point. It's been a one-sided discussion. And, then, to see if we all together can move this, do something that could become a reality in the near future. Obviously it's not going to come rather quickly, as we would like, but if we don't start talking to the railroad as a group and Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 3 of 22 we just keep bringing it occasionally as a potential public transportation corridor, I don't think it's going to get much energy. So, it's -- it's something that we as a city have spent considerable time with in pathway planning, but I think the corridor provides an opportunity for something more than simply a pathway. That's my comment. De Weerd: Thank you. Hansen: Well, we have discussed it at the last meeting a little bit, I am very strongly in support of a Meridian leadership on this. I think you're totally right. It's the center of the valley. It goes to the heart of the city. You know, having lived in Boise when there was nothing downtown but an old rail corridor, there were no buildings. After the rails were taken up it was pretty dead in the '70s and '80s and they tore down all those buildings and it took a lot to get to a point where we could finally see some -- some investment and I think that's -- that's what you're trying to do and I think working in partnership -- I stand ready to help in any way I can. I can't speak for the other five commissioners, but I -- but what I heard last time, too, was very supportive. I'm a chronic optimist and I believe that if you're in business negotiations and saying no, to me that's just a request for more information and a little more time. So, to the extent that we can bring more support to the City of Meridian and for the rest of the Treasure Valley, I'd like to see ACHD in full partnership, because that whole corridor offers -- provides a whole opportunity for multi- use transportation -- not multi-use, but many forms of transportation and, of course, we have already decided, because we have adopted the Communities In Motion plan, that that's the high capacity corridor. It makes sense. It has the least complexity and that if we don't move on it, then, the pressure -- just like you have indicated, the pressure to widen and turn Fairview and other east-west corridors into mini freeways, we will just chop up the city and so I think it's -- it's not too soon for us to -- at a policy maker level to move forward in the planning process and, then, to say this is what we believe we can commit to and, then, ask for other commitments, both from the federal and state level, but also from the private sector to say let's make this work and, yeah, phase it in, whatever the pieces are that we can do first and be happy to go toe to toe with the current owner and if they are concerned about -- whatever their concerns are that have so far gotten to -- you know, let's figure out ways of working together. I'm speaking for myself as a -- as a highway commissioner and a policy maker, but also on the other end, you know, you say from a -- I see this corridor going from Micron, you know, basically to the Oregon line or at least to Caldwell and this is a corridor for people to use and develop. It's an economic asset as a transportation corridor. It's a real opportunity to -- it's complex, but I think everybody comes into the valley saying what are you doing, what's happening. Well -- you know. And I really do see this as -- this is where the epicenter is and the leadership that they have. So, I stand ready to help in any way and I'm sure my fellow commissioners would be happy to weigh in, especially our Commissioner from Meridian. Goldthorpe: Can I? Hansen: Absolutely. Goldthorpe: Madam Mayor, President. Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 4 of 22 De Weerd: Do you have your microphone on? Goldthorpe: Oh. It is now. De Weerd: Weren't you on our parks commission? Goldthorpe: Yes. De Weerd: Sorry. Goldthorpe: Once upon a time. Has Jay had the opportunity to visit and present his presentation to Boise staff? Jay? It's in the works. I know you haven't been to ACHD. I think that's a shame. I think before we leave today you should put your head together with Stacy and schedule yourself in. Madam Mayor, from your visits with the railroad how much better do you think those conversations will go once you have at least a verbal commitment from the ACHD commission to partner with this effort? De Weerd: I guess Commissioner Goldthorpe, I can't answer that. Goldthorpe: Is it mostly a show me the money type attitude that they might have before they start to soften or -- De Weerd: No. Because we are just asking for permission to have the pathway within their right of way and in exchange they would have recreational immunity and, again, we thought the -- Goldthorpe: And what funding was paying for the pathway? De Weerd: We would develop the pathway with ACHD money. Just thought I would tell you. But I think that at this point we have shown them what it could look like within their right of way. We haven't quite shown them a formal presentation of what it would look like outside their right of way. Outside the right of way they do not have recreational immunity and they would not have the same weight and input in terms of design and the secure measures and I think all of that should play into a compelling reason they should have it within their right of way. Goldthorpe: Are they still at least purporting to want to be partners with groups here in this valley? De Weerd: I think for those that were part of the discussion at COMPASS when the new person came on, he said he was willing to have a conversation. We have had a conversation with him. We will continue to have conversations with him. But I do think it -- now is the time that it just can't be Meridian having the conversation with them. It has to be our transportation agency and it needs to be two other cities on both side of us and we -- it's time to get serious about this. Goldthorpe: Okay. Another question. I know the study emphasized the impact on Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 5 of 22 Fairview, but I can't help but think that Franklin and Overland would be at least as impacted and looking forward to the COMPASS projection for 20 years, I think it would be really easy to pencil close to a billion dollars in infrastructure savings by having a more fully developed rail corridor. Would you think that's anywhere near accurate? De Weerd: I think that in light of what Councilman Rountree noted that this needs to be seen as a multi-modal corridor in terms of moving people, freight, and enough to -- whether the people are on bike , on foot, or on -- in transit bus -- rubber tire bus or what have you and I think we need to all be rowing in the same direction on that. Goldthorpe: Well, I will volunteer right now to help any way I can. De Weerd: Thank you. At this point we would love it to -- if we need to come and do a formal presentation to get a formal direction from Ada County Highway District commission to direct staff resources to work on this and we do need your leade rship as part of this effort. Hansen: Well -- and I know I commit from Boise's standpoint, because that needs to be a partner in this. It's to bring and to broker a relationship with that and to weigh in and bring in Nampa, as you say, the partners on either side. So, I echo the commitment that Commissioner Goldthorpe has made that move forward on this and anything I can do to involve the entire valley, with Meridian leading in this effort. Commissioner Woods is now present, so we have for four commissioners here. We are in the middle of a discussion on Meridian's leadership with Rails With Trails. If any of you want to add anything or --- Arnold: Thank you, Commissioner Hansen. I just want to add my support for this effort and I think it would be great if you would like to make a formal presentation and let us know what steps we can take to assist in that regard. I think we are on board. De Weerd: Thank you. Commissioner Woods. Woods: Thank you, Madam Mayor. De Weerd: Welcome. Woods: Thank you. My apologies for being late, but I would add my support as well. I think this has been something we have talked about for a long time in this valley and I think if we are going to get serious we -- we have to put the resources in. The railroad will say that they will talk to us all day long, but if we want to get somewhere, you know, we have to be smarter than just engaging in a little bit of talk, we got to be serious about it. So, I would like to see us expedite that effort as quickly as possible. If we need another meeting, fine. It sounds like we are all on board and maybe we need to just put some effort into taking it to the next level. De Weerd: Okay. If a formal presentation is needed we certain ly can do that. If it's not needed at this point we just would like your staff working with ours and certainly our Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 6 of 22 spokesperson and I think that Commissioner Goldthorpe would be perfect. Kent? Right? Goldthorpe: You bet. Hansen: I will volunteer and I commit to that, too. But, yeah, I thi nk you -- if we have some direction we will follow up at our meeting in January to flush that out and if there is a formal valley wide committee or something that you want to lead , we will be there at the policy level and with the support of the staff. De Weerd: Perfect. Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would just add that I think some of the VRT staff, Kelly Fairless and Mark Carnopis, were involved when VRT first started. At the time it was called ViaTrans, but they did some pretty thorough looking into the rail corridor and while it's sort of on hold, it's still on our list to use it for public transportation eventually and to make sure it's preserved. So, I would say when we really get down to the nuts and bolts they probably should be included in the conversation. De Weerd: Okay. Well, we need enthusiastic leaders and movers. So, anyone who is passionate and ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work on this is welcome at the table for sure. So, thank you. Anything else from Council or the commission? Hansen: Thank you for bringing it. Item 2: Highway 20/26 Improvements De Weerd: Okay. Anything further from staff? Okay. Item No. 2 is a discussion about Highway 20-26 improvements. We have put together a work group to focus on this next priority for our community in terms of state facilities and, commission, I would say in front of you you do have an outline as to the workgroup, their charter, and that has a little bit of the background, what their mission and purpose is and, then, it also details three sub committees as part of that outline to what each sub committee would do and what their -- their focus is regarding. Here is another area that we would appreciate some engagement and leadership in. I know that the urgency over or the discussion about the intersection of Linder and Chinden has -- has been brought to the commission. I met with your director. We had some discussion about this, but this is a community priority and certainly has been a priority of the neighbors to the west of us with Nampa and Caldwell as well. This corridor has been under study for as long as I have been Mayor, I swear, and without much action in terms of putting funding or funding for this needed improvement. So, just wanted to open it up for discussion on any of your thoughts, where you currently are in your engagement on this and get any of your ideas on how we can work together to promote this needed improvement within the state. Hansen: Commissioner Woods? Woods: Madam Mayor and Members of Council, I appreciate you bringing this up. I Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 7 of 22 guess my thought on this, like the Mayor, it goes back some time. Back in 2006, 2007 we were studying this and the challenge that I recall at the time is that I TD was granting access at about an eighth of a mile frequency, at least on the far western end. I know that was a challenge we had with Caldwell when the new interchange was going in, they were granting access at an eighth of a mile and so if that pattern continued this was going to be a corridor that's not unlike Fairview, it's, you know, on the eastern side where we have access issues and so from my perspective I mean we -- I don't know what's changed. We got to get ITD -- if this is going to function as a corridor we got to -- we got to talk about access limitations and to me that just seems to be the most critical part of this right now is we don't have any control or how IT D grants, you know, access as we have land use development, so -- De Weerd: Well, at one time, Commissioner Woods, they -- they did have one and, in fact, that corridor was contemplated on the limit access , the frontage or backage roads that were needed to limit access to a half mile on the urban sections and the mile on -- on the others. So, unfortunately, they were challenged in court and I think the Fred Meyer kind of broke the mold on that one and Meridian at that time was kind of this lone voice out there saying all four corners needed to come together and design an access, so that we wouldn't be in the situation we are today. We could get three of the corners that were in our area of impact, but we couldn't get the fourth, and it's now the fourth corner that's yelling the loudest. Funny how that works, uh? So, it needs to be discussed, but -- outside of just the intersection. This is -- it's got a high accident rate. We -- it's -- the service level is bad. When they built the bridge -- and I promise I won't say the bridge to nowhere -- that dead ended into Chinden, it's just created even more of a mess. So, the more we can all work together to see how we can work with the state and talk about funding and you are the intersections that we connect with that, we need to see what the commitment level is of Ada County Highway District to make sure that when that improvement does happen that those intersections -- your portion of it, the local portion of it, is part of that consideration. Hansen: Commissioner Arnold. Arnold: Thank you. ACHD has been pushing ITD to try to get that corridor widened for years. The dilemma for us is that without improvements on the state system we have to spend local Ada County dollars to widen other corridors to accommodate traffic that really should be on the state highway. So, we are working in that regard, but so far it's been not very well received at ITD. They just have other priorities. De Weerd: And I guess the reason we put this on the agenda and gave you the charter of the work group -- again we are asking for your leadership on this. I am thrilled this year, Commissioner Arnold, that ACHD has been working on this and I know that Director Wong had noted that as well. But if we can join forces, bring other -- if you can help us in strategies to bring the right people to the table as well, if we are all working individually, it's not as effective as if we work collectively, so -- Hansen: Unless Commissioner Goldthorpe has anything to add. I just want to echo that. Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 8 of 22 As we have been watching this very carefully and, absolutely, this -- the implications of all the decisions that get made either in a vacuum or separately falls right back on the local taxpayer to pick up the consequences of addressing the transportation along that state highway corridor. We run into some similar issues on the -- on the Highway 44 corridor, even as it goes into Canyon county, which we technically don't have any control over, but, in fact, it doesn't stop at the county line. And, increasingly, 20-26 is going to be seen as the -- as a preferred alternative to the interstate into commuting in, so that's volume -- we can just expect those volumes to go up. I know that the connection with 16 is intended to create pressure to then connect 16 all the way down to the interstate, but that means -- simply means traffic will be coming from the other direction as well off 20-26. So, we have to be there, because we have a whole lot at stake and we could easily be consumed with the financial obligations of maintaining the ancillary system to that corridor if we aren't right there at the table, like you say, in a leadership role in partnership with Meridian. This is how it's got to be developed and if we have some legal issues we have to overcome, because we are going to be taken to court about access or other things, we got to address those in anticipation rather than in reaction and get a partnership with the legislature to say, okay, we need to -- we need some more tools, we need some more clarification, so that we can do this, because the cost will be very high. So, I'm very committed to seeing that. Again, it's an interplay of multiple agencies, state, federal and local agencies, that we know -- because the corridor is already identified in Communities In Motion as one of the most heavily developed in 20 years, 40 years, this will have -- we are already seeing that with the development, with the temple going up, we are seeing a lot of development moving up -- probably some of them probably faster than others. So, if they be on us when we adopt 20-26 -- what is it Communities In Motion 2045, we will probably have accelerated the growth numbers even more so in that area, right in the Linder and the 16 -- all those intersections along 20-26. So, we have got to do it now and I'm very committed to participating with you and I know that staff is, too, because they project -- I'm looking at our planners over there, they know it's coming. We may as well have the conversation at the policy level now. Commissioner Goldthorpe. Goldthorpe: Oh, I don't disagree. De Weerd: Commissioners Goldthorpe, you need to use -- Goldthorpe: Sorry. Getting myself too at ease. You know, I'm fully in support of this corridor being developed sensibly, intelligently and with the idea of the economic development aspect going forward and I know we have -- there is a stumbling block there at Linder and, you know, we were presented with an application that kind of stirred that pot pretty hard and, you know, I have even talked to the head of Fred Meyer, as a courtesy more than anything else, and I hope that we are -- I know that our joint effort will present a much better front to the state in this and that pretty much has to happen, but -- De Weerd: And I appreciate your statement and , you know, I know we have seen the full build out plan, but that's not affordable. We would like to get the phase one plan and we need to phase one plan yesterday. Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 9 of 22 Goldthorpe: Yeah. De Weerd: So -- Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: Again, thinking of who might be -- De Weerd: Is your mike on? Zaremba: It is on. De Weerd: Okay. Zaremba: Who might be other useful partners in this and I will say from experience I have lived in places where one or another transportation corridor simply broke down, because it was so overwhelmed. The business community and the development community get very concerned at that point and as Commissioner Hansen pointed out, we can't wait until that point to start solving this problem. So, I'm -- I'm suggesting that developer, council, or chamber of commerce along that whole route do have an interest in this corridor working well and should be included in the conversation. De Weerd: We do have a diverse group that is on the work group that includes the real estate association -- I don't know -- yeah, I think the BCA had a representative there that -- we have development there. We have the faith community. We have HOAs. We do not have the Eagle side yet. Wanted to make sure that we had all of our ducks in a row, but I think that -- that that is the next step is to get the other communities engaged. But right now we are -- we are evaluating that -- that section from Eagle Road to Highway 16. Caleb, do you want to add anything to this conversation? Hood: Maybe just one thing to note. Just this week Commissioner Baker did agree to join the task force, the charter that you have in front of you. So, ACHD is now -- or will be, after the first of the year, represented on a regular basis on the task force. So, that's the only note I want to make. De Weerd: Very good. Anything from Council? Hansen: I don't know if there is anything to the add from the staff -- is this on? Yeah. There we go. But in terms of ACHD is already engaged in the process -- and we have additional -- I know Commissioner Baker mentioned that, that she was -- she was committed to go through an area which she referenced. De Weerd: Commissioner Hansen, where does the priority of Chinden play in with prior -- with State Highway 44? Hansen: Well, in most of those cases, you know, you don't want to identify one priority over another. They are sort of -- both of them are growing, you know. Growth is growth. It's happening on both side of the river and the river, in fact, while it's a huge amenity, is Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 10 of 22 also an obstacle to moving north and south. So, to the extent that growth is happening in the northwest and in Middleton and north of the river, it's substantially impacting State Street and 44 and there is no other choice. Everything sort of funnels onto that. You, then, are also seeing that on 20-26. So, rather than one or the other, it's -- whether we like it or not, it's both, because growth is happening on both sides of the river. I think it's important that we help to broker the relationship, too, between Meridian and Eagle, because both cities are -- and Eagle has as much at stake in addressing issues on 20-26 as Meridian does on addressing issues on 44 and State Street. De Weerd: Caleb, have we been successful in getting the different traffic impact -- the data that we are trying to collect? Hood: Madam Mayor, I am working with COMPASS on acquiring that. The short answer is, no, I don't have all of that yet, but they are actively working on getting that information. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. I didn't know if it was an area that maybe ACHD can help us with numbers. Hood: Again, Madam Mayor, most of that is -- COMPASS has most of that in their clearing house of information, so I think that is what we need. Item 3: Truck Routes/Weight Limits De Weerd: Okay. If there is nothing further, I guess we will move to Item No. 3. On this one I might ask Mr. Rountree if -- if you want to introduce this. Rountree: Well, I think the issue that brought it forward, even though its been a concern for a number of years, is that the idea of the request for overweight or heavier weight truck traffic on the state system through the valley and what -- what's the potential impact on the local network. I don't believe ACHD at this point has any ordinance authority to control heavy weight vehicles on the local system, yet the local system certainly would be part of this request and even if you weren't, once the heavier vehicles are in the system, what's to keep them off the local network, such as they are doing now, because the state network is -- is at capacity and not being improved to any great degree. W ith the interchange on Ten Mile and the new Ten Mile section -- and, by the way, thank you very much, that -- the newest piece is working really well, but the speed limit is a little low. But other than that it's great. It's great. It's a terrific job and kudos to the contractor that kept traffic moving pretty well through the whole process. Anyway, back to the topic. You're seeing -- you're seeing commercial vehicles that have no business in Meridian, really no business in -- in Ada County using that facility. It's common to see a truck load of logs going up and down that corridor and there is neither a forest or a sawmill in Ada County. So, it's being used as a state corridor, because Eagle Road is at capacity and anybody who wants to get through the valley quicker is going to come to Ten Mile and go down Ten Mile to Chinden, which is how these topics kind of come together and, then, go on 16 and go north to where there might be a sawmill or any other cross-county or through county connections. It's just something that's been -- I have been observing for years, but the Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 11 of 22 number of truck traffic on the local network -- certainly they have to be there to the extent of providing services to the commerce and the businesses that are receiving their goods that way and it seems like there is ever increasing number of vehicles that probably are using the local network just as a matter of convenience , as well as construction vehicles that are getting bigger and bigger and longer and longer and I don't see them adding additional axles, but they are hauling tremendous quantities of aggregate and construction materials across the local network, which they have to do to get to businesses they are going in the county, but it -- ACHD has no control over weight limits or ordinance control. How do you address this, because I know you're not building roads, necessarily, to accommodate some of these heavier loads. I don't know what loads you're building them to. Much higher than they were originally built to, obviously, but the more -- the more axles, even though you might distribute the weight more, the more axle passes you have on those pavements, the more they are going to wear out and it's just a concern that I have been seeing and the question is, one, I know you have taken a position against the heavier load limits -- what's the status of that and is there something that you're entertaining at the staff level to maybe address this ever growing observation of more trucks and heavier trucks -- even currently allowed load limits in the state, which is a hundred and five five trucks on the local system. Hansen: Well, I think that might be a good point for staff to come in and weigh in. We did weigh in and had a -- what I thought a very well written letter to be completely consistent and mirrored the comments of Meridian and Boise and a number of other jurisdictions throughout the area. It's a piece of the equation. I'm always troubled, because when I was in the legislature, you know, a couple decades ago it was a real -- a balance between the -- the freight being hauled on the rail and freight being hauled on the roads and now it's almost like, well, the big freight is now no longer being hauled on the rail, for some reason it's out of the equation, so it's all on the roads. Maybe that's why we ought to move the rail corridor up so we can say let's figure out how to use it as multi-modal, including the prevention of shifting all the weight of through traffic onto -- onto the highway system with cars. So, I don't know if there is anything -- yeah, I think we are pretty copacetic in the way we are approaching this and that they ought to perceive that the local agencies -- because we bear that -- that cost, are pretty much all talking off of the same page. Unless I'm wrong on that. Commissioner Woods? Woods: I would just ask for concurrence from our legal staff, but my understanding is we do have regulatory authority. We have -- you know, the entities are required to come to us and get permission to do that and so, hopefully, we can address some of your fears and say we do have existing regular authority, but I would ask Mr. Price to -- De Weerd: Maybe regulatory, but maybe not enforcement. I think, then, the enforcement lies with us. Mr. Price. Price: Madam Mayor, President Hansen, Commissioners and Council, Steve Price, ACHD general counsel. We were involved intensely about a year ago when they did pass the -- attempted to pass the bill at the legislature and we were responsible for making sure that the locals could still be in a position to consent as to whether they would accept those Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 12 of 22 loads. Part of the legislation requires that any transporter who is doing -- and it has to -- has to get a permit from ITD and that permit requires them to get consent from the local jurisdiction. We were consistent at the legislature opposing it. The commission has been consistent with the board we are not interested in having those heavy truck loads in an urban environment, but you're absolutely right, Madam Mayor, our problem is we have statutory authority to set use standards, but it's the enforcement end of that and so if you're really wanting to tackle this we would have to come up with some joint program where you would be the enforcement arm of that and we would set the standards and that is something that we could do relatively easy and the fees would be able to pay for the program through jump scales, that type of enforcement. The Ada County sheriff already does that. But they need to upgrade it to work it through Ada County enforcement. But we don't have -- we don't have guns or badges. You guys do. De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I would comment on the mechanics of the heavy vehicles. As Councilman Rountree mentioned, they can add more axles and theoretically spread the weight out. I'm very familiar with buses that have double rear axles. I work with them all the time and I'm sure it would be the same with the trucks. The rear wheels don't flex or bend or steer, which means that one axle carries most of the weight -- when they are driving in a straight line that's not a problem, but when they go to turn, anything more than one rear axle is dragging sideways over the pavement and destroying the pavement. So, they call them drag axles because they drag and because the wheels don't steer something is moving sideways, which tears up the pavement, and just from a practical matter, as ACHD is responsible for the pavement, I would think you would want to limit -- limit the problem that that creates any way you can. Woods: I would just have a comment -- my view on this is a little bit different than my fellow commissioners, but, you know, as I'm listening to the -- the arguments on this from both sides, there is a tendency to think , well, if we don't allow these trucks, then, we don't have the weight and that's fundamentally not true. It's whether we have two truck trips versus one truck trip and how that weight is distributed and when you get into the analysis of what the effect is on pavement or on bridges, I will just say that the opinions on that differ pretty strongly and it's hard to determine exactly what -- what the impact is, at least from my perspective, as I have heard both sides, but I think the compelling argument is, you know, the compatibility of these vehicles with the rest of the community traffic -- I mean their starting ability is atrocious and their stopping ability is purported to be better, I don't know that I believe that. But I hang my hat on more the compatibility with community traffic and its impact and -- or compatibility with other vehicles more than I do just on the impact on pavement, because we are going to have that weight one way or the other, whether it's two trucks or one. You know, that's the reality of it. De Weerd: So, I guess my question is is there a defined truck route that Ada County Highway District has put together in terms of local roads? So, you're building them different or we need to look at land uses to -- to make sure that these are not traveling to heavily residential areas, but is there is a truck route map that I don't know about? Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 13 of 22 Woods: There is routes that the truckers have to follow that are rated -- if you have an 80,000 pound load or whatever, you have to be on the streets that can handle that and -- De Weerd: How do they know that? Woods: I'm not a trucker, but you know -- De Weerd: Do we know that? Staff? Hansen: I'm looking at Mr. Mills and he shook his head that we don't have -- we don't have specifically a -- Arnold: You know, the dilemma is we don't really have the authority to set truck routes just for trucks generally. We have signs that say truck route, but they are ignored on certain corridors, but we can't enforce them. The city probably could, but we can't. De Weerd: We all know that trucks are in a necessity and I'm sure they would like to know as well where they are welcome and how to move their loads around. Maybe we can work countywide and -- and the cities who probably have greater enforcement or the county, can work with Ada County Highway District and to determine those routes and -- and the enforcement thereof, if it's even possible. I guess this is all driven -- and I will get to you in a minute, Bruce. From the request for increased loads on Highway 20-26, which is already over capacity. We were concerned about the -- the heavier loads, but the question is where can they be and where is it logical for them to be? Mills: And Madam Mayor -- De Weerd: There you go, Bruce. Mills: The comment I wanted to make was we don't have a route for trucks per se. However, ITD has a route capacity map within Ada County and it's really based on the capacity of the bridges along the road, but it's not based on the pavement carrying capacity. So, that's the only map that's out there today within Ada County. Hansen: Mr. Mills, the rebuild of Broadway bridge will substantially improve the capacity of that particular bridge on our state highway system. Mills: Yes, it will. Hansen: Probably. De Weerd: And I guess the next question is are the cities ready for the size of trucks that that bridge will -- will accommodate going through that urban setting? Hansen: Yeah. That's the end of 2016. It's a challenge and I know COMPASS -- and will be good to pull in COMPASS. With the greater urbanization comes the greater need for Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 14 of 22 more freight, stuff, and the economic development that comes with the industrial development, the manufacturing and other that, then, demands freight. So, we hav e to address this and I know COMPASS has identified where some of that industrial development is going to take place and so the routes to that and whether and how that goes through areas that we don't want it as we are looking at other land uses. So, involving the projections of manufacturing development or industrial development in the -- in the next 20 years, 30 years, the COMPASS projection is critical. And, then, we can say this is -- okay, we just got to know that this is -- in order for us to have this development in this area of the valley we have to have a reasonable truck route and these are the limitations on it and -- and, then, reach a decision. Another reason to work closely together -- ordinance authority versus enforcement authority, working closely together and doing it in a way that -- that somebody doesn't get upset and go to the legislature and, then, take away that authority for both of us, because all the authority we have, both agencies, is through state law and as we have seen sometimes that gets taken away. De Weerd: So, what's the solution? Anyone? Mr. Rountree? Rountree: I wish I had a solution. To go along with Jim's comment, COMPASS is undertaking a freight corridor study that will be available for all of us to work with and work on. I don't know the status of that particular activity, but I know it's under way. The newest transportation act FAST Act, Fixing America's Surface Transportation, has an emphasis on freight corridors and though that's not specifically this item, it's at a piece of that and I think possibly in that program there might be an opportunity to identify freight corridors and establish standards and ultimately get to a point where there is a mutual understanding between the overlapping authorities of various agencies from setting standards to building surface transportation to the ultimate enforcement which would reside primarily at the city and county levels. So, I think the fix is yet to be able to be accomplished, because we don't have some of these things in place, but I think as these studies get completed we can have an opportunity to come together and take a hard look at it and ultimately come up with the appropriate vehicle standards of enforcement. Woods: If I can add to that. I mean I think one of the characteristics of these vehicles is there is their length and their tuning radius and so, you know, when I look at, you know, places where these loads are going to go, they are either going to pass through the valley and we need to have a mechanism by which we designate them to do that, but, then, if their actual destination is the valley -- so, for instance, if it's the -- the Winco distribution center, I mean it's the state system and, then, it's on to our system and so you wouldn't want to have to go in there and have to spend taxpayer money redoing those turn radiuses and redoing that infrastructure and the same might be true at the Village At Meridian, if they are going to receive those kinds of loads there, you know, that could be expensive to go in there and adjust those turn radiuses and provide for that kind of infrastructure and so -- I mean it is, you know, a worthy thing to be spending some time considering the impact of, but I don't think it's just weight, I think it -- you know, a lot of these vehicles it's the turn radius that -- you know, the issue that we want to be cognizant of. Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 15 of 22 De Weerd: Is there a staff member that perhaps can give us an update on where things are with COMPASS on the study? Do you know, Caleb? Hood: Madam Mayor, I don't have a detailed update for you. It is something that our transportation commission is tracking and has some members that are serving on that. It is later this year, though, so it just kicked off a few months ago and so, yeah, that's something in 2016 that will be available, as President Hansen mentioned, later to review. So, yeah, it's in process. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. So, this is just one of those items we would like to track and get an update, maybe, from our transportation commission. Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I was just going to comment that it's been suggested that the City of Meridian would need to enforce things that the ACHD has the ability to make a rule about, but City of Meridian would end up enforcing it. We actually do that on a number of things already. What comes to mind is a real simple one. Sidewalks that are in the right of way owned by ACHD, the nearby property owner is responsible for taking care of the sidewalk. Meridian enforces that. The sweeping and keeping tree roots out of them and plowing them when there is snow. Meridian enforces that, which is an ACHD rule. So, this is not out of precedent. It would be reasonable for Meridian to do that . I suppose the police department should weigh in on how much extra work that would be, but it's -- it's not that uncommon. We already have -- I think there is more examples than that one, but we do that already and to me that's not a problem. I will pose this as a question. We do have a member of our Meridian Transportation Commission in the audience, who has a connection with the trucking association and I just wonder whether we could ask him for a comment or if he would care to offer one. De Weerd: David, do you want to make any comment? On the record. Thank you for being here, by the way. Ballard: Madam Mayor, Members of ACHD and the Council, I wear several hats. I will just disclaim prejudice. I grew up as -- in a trucking family. Drove truck myself. And so that has supported me throughout my career. I sit on the board of directors of the Idaho Transportation -- or, excuse me, Idaho Trucking Association. Several comments that are near and dear. Yes, trucks would like to have a safe route. Being a driver myself, you don't want to be in congestion and traffic and you want to be able to get there and there are jobs. So, there are concerns about having an infrastructure. The transportation association has supported the legislation to build the roads and still -- Alan Dinkel, who was at the transportation commission a couple of months ago, has offered to make comments and weigh and deliver a position and there is always this balancing. You talk about the number of axles, the number of trips, the frequency, can you take less trucks off by increasing the weights. So, there is some balancing. There are some businesses that currently restrict. As I understand it, you cannot take a 53 foot trailer into The Village. The Village limits that to smaller trucks, 28 foot capacity. So, there may be more work there, but you're increasing the number of trucks that go in there. So, from the association's perspective, they would welcome the opportunity to have conversations and Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 16 of 22 bring in information and as to how this may be balanced, because they are -- we are members of the community, we raise families, we send our kids to school, we deliver products to everyone here and it's a very proud profession. So, again, I would welcome the opportunity to be engaged in those conversations, because it makes sense to be able to coordinate traffic and it is a concern if you see a lot of trucks going down Ten Mile. I saw that as soon as Ten Mile opened. I would say if I was driving again and I had that choice, I would probably go down Ten Mile instead of going down Eagle, just to stay out of the traffic. So, it's an issue of coordinating the congestion, if you will, and truckers are good stewards and they would like to continue to be part of that community, but any other questions or comments I would be happy to address them. De Weerd: David, are those -- is the association involved with the COMPASS effort? Ballard: Yes. To the extent that -- and there is a meeting this afternoon at 2:00 o'clock in the COMPASS building on the freight advisory committee. I am part of that group and I believe there is one other representative that would be part of that group. But, again, it's in the association's best interest to work through these discussions and see what -- you will have a solution that neither party likes, but it's a solution that you can live with, let me put it that way, so -- De Weerd: Any other questions for David? Well, we appreciate you as a resource on our transportation commission, because you do bring a valuable perspective and trained to find the balance, how to have a harmonious environment for all of the loads that travel through us. Ballard: Thank you. I appreciate it. De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Well, we will continue to follow the COMPASS activities and when they have an unusual report we will bring that back to Council and see if this is a topic that needs follow up with the commission as well. Hansen: Definitely. Item 4: ACHD Streetlight Policy Follow-up De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. I know the city had -- on Item No. 4 had sent some questions about the streetlight policy. Certainly there is a balance between the safety for vehicles and the safety for pedestrians in those areas and wanted to have a better understanding of the policy and who pays for this infrastructure and so we did respond via letter written. You might just -- I know Council got a copy of your -- your letter, but if you will reiterate your answer and -- Hansen: We have the expert here and -- it's Bruce again to talk about streetlight policy here on the -- and I think this is one where we just -- the more we talk and, then, within the priorities listed the community resources. Bruce. Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 17 of 22 Mills: Okay. Our current ACHD policy in Section 5107 talks about lighting of intersections and whenever we do one of our capital improvement projects we -- we make sure that the intersections are lighted, along with the policy or practice has been that near those intersections where there are turn lanes and tapers, we tend to light up not just the intersection, but also the approaches to the intersection on those projects and, then, for the length between intersections, half mile or a mile or whatever, we put in conduit on each side of the road with junction boxes and we use that for -- it's there for two purposes. One, we put in fiber optics to tie together all of our traffic signals and the second thing is it is there and available for the city if they choose to do lighting between the intersections and that's been our current practice. Additionally, we will put lighting on our capital projects at nonsignalized intersections when we are widening a road corridor and also whenever we put in pedestrian signals for crosswalks we will put lights at those locations. We also have a program I know recently -- and I know we are doing a joint project with Meridian on Cherry where we have had some federal funds that have been available for safety or we have been able to -- to partner with Meridian and get continuous lighting along certain corridors. The other thing as far as continuous lighting, say with ACHD funds, we have looked at it on a case-by-case basis to see if along the corridors are we getting a lot of nighttime or dark time accidents that occur. Primarily the majority of accidents actually occur at intersections, which I guess is no surprise to anyone and we do light those. But -- but we are starting to take a look at away from the intersections, what type of accidents occur there, what's the history been on those and that's where some of these programs with the federal funds are coming into play and we are able to use some of those funds and justify get ting those funds and putting in continuous lighting between them. So, that's kind of a quick overview. De Weerd: Well, there may be more specific questions, but I have an example and I have heard from several in the subdivision and off of Ten Mile and one of those I have heard from I actually have to ride in the car with them and listen to his comments, so I will just give you a for example. On Ten Mile now with -- and I will add to Councilman Rountree's compliments, thank you for that and also for the HAWK system. But people are missing the entrance into those subdivisions. The lighting is different. So, the lighting is now no longer vertical, so they are missing the intersections into their subdivision, because now the light is on this arm and it's now out into the street. So, the entrance into the subdivision is dark. And it is true, I wondered why he kept missing the entrance into the section and it's because it's no longer that vertical that lit up that street, it's now into Ten Mile and it's lighting up Ten Mile Road, but you can't see the road that intersects with it. Does that make sense? So, I know that's not really the purpose for why staff wanted this on there, but it's just an observation now if we are planning ingress and egress or whatever the words are. It's not working, because you can't see them. Wells: Madam President, if I could ask a clarifying questions. So, this is on Ten Mile where we have recently widened it and put in new lighting for the back streets. De Weerd: Yes. And so you have Ten Mile and Muirfield. You can't find Muirfield anymore and when you drive by the fire station you realize, oh, shoot, I missed it again. I, actually, don't miss it, but my husband does. Then last night I noticed that you can't see Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 18 of 22 Teter. If Teter didn't have the subdivision light on the waterfall you would drive right by that, because the light is on the other wide of the street, where the HAWK signal I think is. But there is no road on that side. The light is not lighting up these two entrances into the Links at Cherry Lane and that's the example I have for you, just because it's a more personal one. But to me if -- if our objective is to really let people know where these -- these roads are entering into the arterial, the faster speed arterial, it's not working. I don't know if anyone else has some examples, but I thought I would come with an example. At least it's for that safety aspect, if it is to try and find these roads that connect, you're not finding them and so now they are causing a conflict and I have seen it with other cars, so, anyway, that was my one example and I'm sure staff has the same question of -- if it's at intersections, is it a consistent policy or is it, as you mentioned, on a case by case and how can we have better dialogue as those decisions are being made from the community perspective. Mills: And, Madam President, I think typically on new roads where we are putting in lighting at nonsignalized intersections, they are -- they are typically at the more major mid mile collectors or something like that, as opposed to each individual subdivision road. So, I guess that's something we need to take a look at, but I'm not aware of the situation, but we will look at it, and, then, as we have our project team s when we are doing new roadway projects, then, I guess we need to look at these interim roads that aren't quite on a major collector and see if it also needs some sort of a treatment. As you say, sometimes maybe the -- the streetlight is placed across the road from the intersection and I don't know if it's lighting up the street sign well enough for people to see it or not. It sounds like in your two examples it's not. But perhaps even where that light is placed in which quadrant of the intersection can make a difference, so -- De Weerd: Right. Mills: I'm shooting in the dark, no pun intended right now, without knowing the exact -- without having the exact -- De Weerd: I just thought I would come with an example and it was perfect. Like I said, I have heard it from other residents, but the most frequent comment has come from my husband. So, I was able to use that example. Okay. Austin, am I missing any aspect of this conversation you wanted to have? You will have to come up. I saw your dilemma of, oh, can I do it from here. It's like no. Thank you, Bruce. Peterson: Well, really, I think we are just wanting to have a better understanding when we go into design our projects what aspects of ACHD do we look at, so that right away, we can do say a lighting study on our urban arterials and say, okay, what -- what do we need to light this roadway properly and then at that point we can also say, okay, now that we know what it will take to light it properly, we can work out who is going to pay for it and who is going to pay for what, but the city, apparently, doesn't have the resources to actually do a lighting study on all of these other arterials that are being widened and ACHD can help with that. Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 19 of 22 Hanson: I think Commissioner Woods' got a comment. Woods: Yeah. You know, I would -- you know, my view on this is that it's -- you know, one of these, you know, it's not my job, it's your job, kind of thing that just frustrate me sometimes when it comes to no government in general. At the end of the day it's streetlights. I mean that's what we do -- we are responsible for sidewalks, we are responsible for roadways and my own personal belief is, you know, we should take some responsibility for this, we should do some more, and I think we have an opportunity to -- to modify our policy if we want to, but, you know, in my mind, you know, that's -- you know, that's the service we provide and to some degree we can provide, you know, better efficiency to the taxpayers, because we do it quite a bit. So, what would be a better way to do it than the agency that does it very frequently and so from my perspective, you know, would we have to spend more money on it? Yeah. And a lot of lot things we have talked about today involves spending more money and we as a commission have to wrestle with that, prioritize it, and make decisions on that. But from my perspective I have never -- the streetlight financing it like a difference without distinction. You know, we -- we do roadways, we do streetlights, and we should take a look at that as a commission and see what we can do to do more of it. So, that's just my perspective. De Weerd: Yeah. I think -- so, what the city is asking -- and if -- as Austin mentioned, the lighting study and if it's not that, at least that we are -- we are involved in some regard to our police have a greater understanding of enforcing what happens on the roads, where some of those problem areas are, and we just want to be a part of it. It is in our community and we can bring a different perspective, so -- Hansen: Yeah. I would echo that -- probably not too difficult, but get in on the -- on the front end, identifying those areas where -- where there may or may not be a lighting issue. I know there is the flip side, which is if it's a residential area and the residents that are already there, we go in and ask for lighting, you run into the problem of people saying I don't want that lighting going into my living room or my bedroom or whatever. So, a number of these ought to be anticipated. Okay, what's the lighting situation in the mid mile, quarter mile, whatever, and as they come in on a case by case basis it's just like Mr. Mills said, this may be eligible for state to -- resources from the fed or we may have to do it from a community program, in which case it's your priority, you know, because there is only so much. So, well, this sidewalk is not that critical, but this sidewalk is critical, so maybe we could do -- if we together we can figure out the priority. We can't maybe come from nowhere, but we do know that we have these competing issues around both community safety and around the public's reaction to lighting, especially if you a pproach neighborhood areas and there is quite a number of neighborhoods and older neighborhoods that are like, well, we do not want -- or we want very, you know, low impact lighting that doesn't produce a whole lot of bright lights through our windows and the technology is there to do that. And, like Bruce said, we have the conduit in the new areas. The challenge is oftentimes not in the newer areas, it's in the older areas where there is safety issues that we really do need some lighting and negotiate those, but the conduit is there. I mean that's the biggest expense and, of course, you pay the light bill, so the -- once the initial capital outlay has been incorporated -- perhaps some of it could be even Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 20 of 22 included. I don't know. Maybe I'm speaking out of school within the development agreement -- we need better lighting coming into the subdivisions. And that gets included, but you play a part as well. De Weerd: Well, the lighting was adequate and, then, the road was expanded and now the lighting is just different. Hansen: Yeah. Although we do -- when we anticipate an expansion of an arterial, we actually expect the developer to give the right of way and other things for the anticipation of a lighting. Even an observe for lighting as the roadway grows, may or may not be inappropriate. De Weerd: See, I already know that Director Wong is going to be driving that road tonight. Hansen: And every -- and everyone -- De Weerd: Do you want a passenger? Hansen: And, obviously, it's been addressed in the commercial areas, then, you get into your side ordinances with -- where there is plenty of commercial signs that light up -- they have certainly an intent to tell people that this is the area. Oftentimes we don't even need as much lighting as we are getting from all the signs that are promoting the commercial developments. De Weerd: Any comment? Mrs. Milam. Milam: Madam Mayor, just to be the Devil's Advocate on this one, I'm just curious, if you can look at it from an unbiased point of view , the next time you're driving there in the dark and see if the lighting is maybe better for Ten Mile in general, just not for your personal entrance into your subdivision. I know at my subdivision there is no lighting -- I drove by when our subdivision light went out -- that's the same way how I can find our street from the stub -- the internal subdivision has lighting around the rocks and entry and so when those lights went out I missed and so I'm just not sure if that is -- should be the job of -- the roadway lighting should be what's best for the roadway itself, maybe people walking by, and a subdivision should be in charge of making it visible to see the road that your -- the subdivision itself. De Weerd: I don't personally care. I was giving an example of -- if the goal is to find these -- these intersections, it's not working. So, I don't care what the solution is, I was just giving an example. Hansen: The principal goal of our lighting policy is (unintelligible). But to the extent that we can enhance the (unintelligible) appropriate. Item 5: Closing Remarks Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 21 of 22 De Weerd: Okay. Anything for the good of the order? We have gone through our agenda and I would open it up to Council and Commission. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I would just comment that we have thanked ACHD for the work on Ten Mile, but I just want to thank ACHD for the relationship that we have between Meridian and Ten Mile. You're very generous with your staff time, meeting with our staff and with us, and it's been a very productive relationship I think. I have appreciated it very much. De Weerd: Thank you, David. Hansen: Well, I just want to extend my thanks to the -- to the City Council. I think we could probably raise some money for every time your counselor wears an outrageous tie. Pretty much every time I see him he has something pretty outrageous and the other is I want to say thank you two for the service and we will miss you in your roles as council members, Council Member Zaremba and Council Member Rountree, and I know that the Mayor probably has a role for you already in mind following your retirement and we look forward to working with a new council members, one of whom is right here today as we go forward and I hope that we will now commit to -- again, we will host over at ACHD and to do this at least every six months. It was about six, eight months ago that we last met, so we are committed to do that and we are more than happy to host and if we can pin a date down as soon as possible we will get it on our calendar and tie into perhaps one of our regular work sessions. Are there any comments from the other commissioners? De Weerd: Anything further? Cavener: Madam Mayor, if I may. Just to echo on the comments earlier, I really like the word a season of collaboration and I hope that other municipalities across the county can -- can look to us here today as the -- the standard for our working together for the betterment of all of our community members. So, thank you all f or being here and, again, to echo Councilman Zaremba's comments, about the generosity with your staff time, we have enjoyed working alongside them and enjoy having Justin here in our Council meetings, he provides the art and the science along with all the things that you do. So, thank you very much. We appreciate it. De Weerd: We work really hard to give Justin a hard time when he's here, just to make him feel like his time was well spent and so -- Justin, do we do a good enough job on that? Hansen: We give him a hard time. Cavener; So, he probably feels like he's coming home. Meridian City Council - ACHD Commission Joint Meeting December 15, 2015 Page 22 of 22 Bird: We don't keep him here as late we used to keep Bruce. Our meetings don't go as late. Poor old Bruce, he used to sit in after midnight with us. De Weerd: I don't know. We gave him a meeting worth it a couple week ago, so -- I think we might be getting into that season again. We do appreciate the collaboration and as you saw from the agenda items, we need to work together, and it's all about that collaboration. I do appreciate the relationship our staff have together and I think that is near to the relationships of the commission and the council. We appreciate you as a community partner and as a transportation leader and we look forward to continuing that collaborative relationship and as we tackle some of the more complicated issues, not just in terms of the infrastructure itself, but the funding and we want you to know that when you need from us you have it. Thank you for being here and thank you to staff and -- on both ends. We appreciate it. Okay. With that I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Bird: So moved. De Weerd: I have a motion and -- Cavener: Second. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: And a second. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. De Weerd: Council meeting is adjourned. Mr. Hansen. Hansen: And by unanimous consent, unless there is an objection, the commission meeting is adjourned as well. And happy holidays. De Weerd: Yeah. Merry Christmas. MEETING ADJOURNED AT P.M. (AUDIO RCGORDING.ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR A Y De WE RD a DATE APPROVED ATTEST: JA)"OEE(OOLMAN, CITY CLE 0 0 r City of I P,,[I PIAT SEl . Ar