HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-04-12Meridian City Council Workshop April 12, 2016
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:00 p.m., Tuesday,
April 12, 2016, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de W eerd, Keith Bird, Joe Borton, Genesis
Milam, Ty Palmer, Anne Little Roberts and Luke Cavener.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jacy Jones, Jaycee Holman, Caleb Hood, Tom Barry,
Warren Stewart, Jamie Leslie, David Jones, Todd Lavoie, Crystal Ritchie and
Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X_ Anne Little Roberts _ Joe Borton
X__ Ty Palmer X_ Keith Bird
__X__ Genesis Milam __X__ Lucas Cavener
_X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: I am going to go ahead and start the meeting. I have never had to
start a meeting like that, but it's mainly for my Council Member and my city
attorney, so -- welcome to our City Council meeting. We appreciate all of you
being here. When one of our Council Members walked in he goes what did I
miss? What's going on. We have a lot of very special people here today and I
will get to that in just a moment. So, thank you for joining us. We appreciate you
being here. For the record it is Tuesday, April 12th. It's 3:00 o'clock. 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: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: Thank you. I really have to say that sounded awesome. So, thank
you. Item No. 3 is adoption of the agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
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April 12, 2016
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Bird: Under Consent Agenda, Item 5-L, the resolution number is 15-1131.
Under Ordinances, number 9-A, ordinance number is 15-1682. And B is
ordinance number 16-1683. And with that I move we accept the agenda as
published.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as published. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 4: Proclamation
A. Proclamation for April as Volunteer Month
De Weerd: Okay. I am going to move down to the podium. There is only one
way to do it, either you have your back to the audience or your back to City
Council. I know they have my back on this one, because this one is about you
all, our volunteers. It is Volunteer Appreciate Month and I appreciate all of you
being here. We -- I know I speak on behalf of myself and the City Council that
we could not be the city we are without the help of our citizen volunteers. Every
day when our residents walk into Meridian City Hall they are greeted by the
friendliest faces of our citizens that serve behind that counter. Our parks are
made safer because of our park ambassadors program and the friendly
volunteers that serve there. We have volunteers serving on every commission
and in many other operations of our city. We could not be the nation's best city
without you. So, if I could ask you all to give yourself a hand. Okay. So, I'm
going to ask all of our city volunteers if you would stand, because this
proclamation is for you. So, if you will, please, stand. Come on Frank, stand up.
Okay. Whereas our city's greatest resources are people and in the heart of all of
us lies the power to strengthen the fabric of our beloved community and
ultimately make the world a better place to live and whereas volunteers are the
Meridian rock stars who give freely of their time and talents to serve the people
around them and as they do their impact can be felt throughout our community
and whereas every day volunteers help shape our community and move it
forward in the right direction by serving on our boards, commissions, task forces,
and committees and whereas throughout the month of April we recognize those
who embrace a life of giving with active, energetic and engaged volunteerism
because our city departments, government could not fully function without our
volunteers and whereas the spirit of service is deeply embedded in Meridian's
culture, for the last year alone the city had 877 volunteers donate 18,714 to the
City of Meridian and, therefore, I, Mayor Tammy de Weerd, hereby proclaim April
2016 as Volunteer Appreciation Month here in the City of Meridian and we honor
the hard work and selfless dedication of the hundreds of volunteers who continue
to help the City of Meridian become and be a vibrant community and a premier
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April 12, 2016
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city to live, work, and raise our families. Thank you so much for joining us today.
We do have a small token of appreciation for you and let me -- so, last year we
told you we were nuts about you. Right? And so this year we decided the M&Ms
were -- were appropriate, because Much and Many thanks for all you do. We
appreciate you. And there is a note inside. This is for all of you. We also have a
pin that we hope -- last year you got a City of Meridian pin and for the newer
volunteers if you didn't get one, we would like to give you one of those, too. But
we have a new pin that says volunteers are the heart of our team. You're part of
our team and we are very proud to have you as one of us. So, thank you very
much. Again, let's give our volunteers a hand. Okay. Frank, do we need
everyone to come up here for a picture? Come on up.
(Pictures taken.)
De Weerd: And I will say to all of our volunteers you have paid your price. You
don't have to sit through one of our meetings.
Item 5: Consent Agenda
A. Approval of Award of Bid and Agreement to EXCELSIOR
CONSTRUCTION COMPANY for the “WELL 14 BUILDING
AND SITE UPGRADES - CONSTRUCTION” project for a
Not-To-Exceed amount of $74,970.00.
B. Approval of Professional Service Agreement with
Treasure Valley Youth Theater for "Aladdin Jr." and
"How to Eat Like a Child (and Other Ways to Avoid
Becoming a Grown Up)"
C. Approval of Award of Bid and Agreement to Riverside,
Inc for the “WELL 29 PRODUCTION WELL -
CONSTRUCTION” project for a Not-To-Exceed amount
of $232,295.00.
D. Lease Agreement for Concessions Operations at
Settlers Park Between the City of Meridian and Daisy's
Italian Ice and Gelati
E. Approval of the Police Department Ada Metro Special
Weapons and Tactics Team & Crisis Negotiation team
Mutual Assistance Compact
F. Sanitary Sewer And Water Main Easement Between The
City Of Meridian and WL Victory Crossing LLC
G. Amended Development Agreement for Primary Health
(MDA-H-2015-0045), with Travis Stroud and Rocky
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Mountain Companies, located at 1624 and 1648 N.W. 1st
bstreet, in the northeast 1/4 of Section 12, Township 3N.,
Range 1W.
H. Development Agreement for Calnon Properties-AZ,
CPAM (H-2015-0017) with Kostka & Calnon, LLC located
at 2215 W. Franklin Rd, in the Northern 1/2 of Section 14
Township 3 North, Range 1 West (Parcels
#S1214120710, S1214121134, S1214212622,
S1214121133 and S1214121172)
I. Findings Of Fact, Conclusions Of Law For Brinegar
Prairie Subdivision (H-2015-0046) By Suggs Community
Solutions Located 2220 N. Ten Mile Road Request:
Annexation And Zoning Of 23.46 Acres Of Land With An
R-8 Zoning District Request: Preliminary Plat Approval
Consisting Of Ninety-Four (94) Building Lots And
Thirteen (13) Common Lots On 22.6 Acres Of Land In A
Proposed R-8 Zoning District J. Findings Of Fact,
Conclusions Of Law for Swindell Subdivision (AZ-15-010
/RZ-15-011 / PP -15-013) by Volante Investments, LLLP
Located Northwest Corner of S. Locust Grove Road and
E. Overland Road Request: Annexation and Zoning of
15.07 Acres of Land with a C-C Zoning District
Request: Rezone of 0.57 of an Acre of Land and 5.09
Acres of Land from the C-G to the C-C Zoning District
Request: Preliminary Plat ApprovalConsisting of Seven
(7) Building Lots, One (1) Common Area Lot and One (1)
Other Lot on 20.03 Acres of Land in a Proposed C-C
Zoning District
K. Findings Of Fact, Conclusions Of Law for Logan Creek
(H-2015-0037) by Jim Jewett, JLJ, Inc. Located 4617 &
4620 S. Martinel Request: Preliminary Plat Approval
Consisting of Sixty-Eight (68) Building Lots, Eighteen
(18) Common Lots and Two (2) Other Lots on 21.76
Acres of Land in an R-4 Zoning District Request:
Modification to Development Agreement with AZ 14-016
to reflect modified site layout and updated provisions
L. Resolution No. 16-1131: A Resolution Approving A
Revised Purchasing Policy for the City of Meridian.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, Item No. 5 is our Consent Agenda.
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Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: As stated earlier, Item 5-L, the resolution number is 16-1131 and with that I
move we approve the Consent Agenda and for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to
attest.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. If
there is no discussion, Madam Clerk, it sure is nice seeing you at the end there.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 6: Community Items/Presentations
A. Meridian Development Corporation Annual Report
Presentation
De Weerd: Okay. Item 6-A is under Community Items/Presentations. Today we
have the Meridian Development Corporation here for their annual report to City
Council. Welcome, Dan and Ashley.
Basalone: Thank you very much, Mayor Tammy. Council President Bird and
Members of the City Council, special congratulations to the father of our newest
-- one of our newest citizens Luke Cavener. It's an honor to represent our
chairman Jim Escobar and the commissioners on MDC board of directors at this
annual presentation. You should have as part of your packet a copy of our
annual report. So, if you care to mark it up and ask questions at the end I will be
happy to try to answer them at that time. When the Meridian Development
Corporation was founded over 14 years ago as the urban renewal agency for the
City of Meridian by the City Council and Mayor, it was with the intent to revitalize
the downtown area in our rapidly growing city by removing blight and provide a
reinvigorated downtown for existing and new businesses. It was also the intent
of the resolution to recognize the history of Meridian and cherish our pioneer past
while embracing our urban future. While we still have a ways to go to fully
invigorate downtown, we are seeing every year the intended progress, both in
physical changes, but as importantly in the way that more and more citizens are
embracing downtown for culture, art, history, and our civic life. MDC proudly
supports concerts on Broadway, which provides free summer concerts for
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April 12, 2016
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thousands of citizens in our City Hall plaza and for the second year we will
support four concerts, which will be preceded by youth concerts to highlight our
many talented student musicians. MDC also continues to support the historic
walking tour field trips for over 2,000 Meridian third graders in cooperation with
the West Ada School District. We hope that you have noticed the art wraps on
street corner electrical boxes throughout the downtown area. These art wraps
highlight artwork by students from kindergarten to high school. With the opening
of Unbound, we finally have a library presence downtown and one which opens
all forms of technology to the imagination of our children and adults alike. Our
budget and our last fiscal year also provided seed money to start our new weekly
summer youth farmers market. This farmers market will focus on our student
agri-business entrepreneurs. If you attended our September 2015 inaugural
event you would have seen children from six to 18 selling their products with the
support of their families. We are justly proud of these activities, because they
meet our stated goal of maintaining a family friendly community. I might add that
none of these activities are accomplished in isolation from other government
entities. The staff of the City of Meridian, as well as the arts and history
commissions, the Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission, the library district, the
West Ada School District, our local FFA chapter, the Meridian Downtown
Business Association and our Meridian Chamber of Commerce all support family
and youth centered downtown activities. Our main capital project this year was
the construction of the Main Street islands. These provide an esthetic and
historical context for our downtown and I must add that the dedication ceremony
really was terrific yesterday and I saw it on the news last night. We are also
pleased that through our facade improvement grant process we were able to
work with Josh Everts to restore one of the original buildings on Idaho Street,
which had long been neglected. Our thanks to Josh for his investment in our
history and our future. New historic lighting supports the pedestrian traffic on
Main Street between Broadway and Pine and plans are currently underway with
ACHD to expand our pedestrian historic lighting on Pine Avenue from Main
Street to East 6th Street when the Pine Street improvement project is completed
in 2017. We have started budgeting for this project now. Our other major project
with ACHD is the installation of sidewalks on West 1st Street between Meridian
Elementary School and Broadway. This project will greatly enhance the safety of
students walking to and from school and as a property owner downtown I just
received my card from ACHD that says that will begin in 2017. In the coming
year you will see additional way finding signage. The signs will lead to downtown
and will include -- which will include a revitalized Idaho Street, which will be
transformed into a place with pedestrian friendly walkways and out door seating.
This project was championed by the Meridian Downtown Business Association
and local business owners. We owe a debt of thanks to property owner Marty
Shindler, who is in the audience -- Marty? For leading this project. As the
Council knows and hopefully all of our citizens know, MDC has always attempted
to pay as we go, rather than borrowing or bonding. Our projects are paid for by
the use of our existing property tax increment that has been in place since 2002.
We also have a tree replacement project, which continues in partnership with the
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City of Meridian parks and recreation department. To date we have replaced
over 40 aging trees and cracked curbs and sidewalks in our downtown area, with
about 15 remaining after this year's ten have been replaced and new grated
boxes installed. As any homeowner knows, maintaining your property is
ongoing. The same is true for city facilities and city infrastructure. Nothing lasts
forever in pristine condition. While much of what we are doing downtown is
playing catch up, we also have an eye to the future and the needs of the future.
That is why we are exploring the feasibility of public-private partnerships for a
hotel-conference center and a performing arts center. That is also why we
support the private development of underutilized Union Pacific property. We
know that it is a fact of life that our downtown could not be maintained as it was
50 years ago when only a few thousand people lived in the area. However, we
do know that with good planning and community involvement we can maintain
our historic small town America feel with a downtown that reflects historic values.
While we value all parts of our city new and old, it is our historic downtown that
gives Meridian its roots. We may be the second most populated city in Idaho, but
that growth is fairly recent and our small town feel remains. There is a reason
why Meridian is recognized as the best city of its size in the United States. Let
me end by thanking our many partners, especially the one year old Meridian
Downtown Business Association. Special recognition should be given to Joe
Kowazlowski for his leadership. Commissioners on the MDC board, like all city
commissions, are volunteers who gladly give of their time to promote a viable
downtown -- and, by the way, I was surprised an honored at the volunteer
ceremony earlier and I guess I stood up for all of our -- my fellows on MDC, but I
would like to name them by name. Jim Escobar. Dave Winder. Callie Zamzow.
Calvin Barrett. Eric Jensen. Kit Fitzgerald. Tammy de Weerd and Keith Bird.
Also our work could not be vision put to action without the expertise of our
Counsel Todd Lakey and our administrator Ashley Squyres. Thank you all for all
that you do for our city and for your courte sy this afternoon allowing us to make
this presentation. And now I will be happy to answer any of your questions and I
also ask Ashley if she will assist me if needed.
De Weerd: Thank you, Dan. Appreciate your involvement in MDC and as you
represent MDC on a number of different issues. So, we -- we enjoy seeing you
and love your energy and passion for our downtown. Council, any questions or
comments?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I'm going to ask a question for some other people. Dan, on our audit deal,
we -- we have 498,748 dollars lumped under operating expense. You want to tell
me -- or explain to the people what office and operating expenses is in large
part?
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Basalone: I don't have the budget right here with me. I wi ll ask Ashley to come
up and assist.
Squyres: I need to pull it up. You will have to excuse me for just a minute,
please. I apologize. We weren't anticipating that specific question. I have it
broken down in a spreadsheet from our accountant. That's what I'm looking for
at the moment. Could we go to other questions while I'm looking for this? I
apologize. It's a complicated spreadsheet. It's not what you think it is in terms of
salaries and professional contracts. It's much more in depth and beyond that. I
just need to find it. I apologize.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any other questions than the first stumper?
Cavener: I will go. Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Dan, first, thanks for your presentation.
Basalone: You're welcome.
Cavener: And as a former I guess board member of the MDC, you lose track of
all the things that you were working on over the course of a year, so I appreciate
the snapshot and really appreciate all the things you're doing to make a b igger
impact in downtown. I appreciate where you're headed for the future. What do
you anticipate is going to be your biggest challenge for the MDC over the next
year, three years, five years?
Bird: Well, three years to five years I think some of the projects that we are
starting in -- like, for instance, the Pine Avenue project isn't going to get started in
terms of actual construction until about 2017. So, I would see -- say if we are
talking about three years out, the main project would be the Pine Avenue project.
I think we are also looking at finishing the historic nature of downtown. We talked
about the historic street lighting, for instance, continuing it on -- up and down
Main Street from Franklin to Cherry Lane, for instance, and also what we do to
bring the southern part of our -- of our MDC boundaries into the downtown area.
For instance, the area south of Franklin Avenue, which already has some historic
lighting and so forth for around the speedway, but that's an integral part of
downtown as well and how you unify that. I think in terms of development, the
big thing that I see is what is going to be happening with the Union Pacific
property. That is the biggie, because with that being developed I think the whole
downtown area will be very robust. I -- also, as I mentioned in my remarks, if our
citizens really value a performing arts center and convention-hotel center
downtown, that would also be a great need for a city of 85,000 people.
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Squyres: Hi again. For the record Ashley Squyres, administrator for Meridian
Development Corporation. This is a very long list, so, please, bear with me. This
lists for operating expense includes public meeting expenses, our downtown tree
partnership, our streetscape project, which includes the Main Street islands and
the historical lighting. The downtown parking maintenance. Grounds
maintenance for 703, 713, North Main, the COMPASS, Valley Regional Transit
building. Our software license for our county software that is required. Our
downtown signage expenses. Any furniture -- street furniture, benches,
expenses that we have had. Special projects expenses. So, for example,
helping fund some of the feasibility studies for the multipurpose center would fall
underneath that category. Our internet, downtown WiFi. Our postage. Our
meeting expenses. Our training for Leadership Boise regional conference that
they have each year that we attend on behalf of MDC. Any legal notices that we
have to do in regards to our annual report, our audit and our budget. Our ICRMP
insurance. Our utilities for the buildings that we own. Our partnership for the
Nine Mile Flood plain study. Our branding that we unveiled yesterday. Facade
improvement program. Unbound. The tenant improvements that went along with
that. The youth box art. The signage and way finding. Our downtown kiosks.
The historical walking tour. And a variety of other little miscellaneous expenses.
This is how the auditors account for operating expenses. So, it is misleading. It
would seem to think that it would be salaries, contracts, et cetera, but it is quite
different. It's -- it's not what you would think.
Basalone: Yeah. There are only two salaries. Our administrator's salary and
our counsel's salary.
Bird: And they are not salaries, they are contracts.
Basalone: They are contracts. Yes.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: This is the way our audit is -- lump things together. As we put the budget
together it's just like we do at the city, there is line items for each deal and if you
will look through the city's audit, some of it's lumped together, too, so -- we have
the same auditors the city does.
Basalone: Uh-huh.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions from Council? Thank you, Dan.
Basalone: Thank you. I'm looking forward to the West Ada School District art
exhibit on April 21st where I hope, Tammy, you will be judging a painting again.
You selected a great one last year, so we can finish some of our art wraps.
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Thank you. Thank you all very much. And thank you for all that you do. I would
be very remiss if I didn't say our work with the city is probably one of the best I
have ever seen in my career of public service. Thank you.
B. Mayor’s Office: Resolution No. 16-1132: A Resolution Of
The Mayor And The City Council Of The City Of `
Meridian, Appointing Bonnie Zahn Griffith To Seat 4 Of
The Meridian Arts Commission; And Providing An
Effective Date
e Weerd: Okay. Council, on 6-B you have in front of you Resolution 16-1132.
This resolution is regarding the appointment of Bonnie Zahn Griffith to Seat 4 of
the Meridian Arts Commission. Council, you have her information in your packet
and I would tell you that Bonnie has already attended one of our meetings and
already jumped in there with both feet as an artist herself and someone that is
experienced with gallery presentations, having a gallery, being involved in a
number of community art events, she is going to be a dynamo on the arts
commission and add a whole different perspective. I don't think we can ever get
another Dwight Williams, but Bonnie has a lot of her strengths and great contacts
as well. I would stand for any questions.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I was thrilled to have Bonnie on the team and she has a lot to offer and
she showed up already, yeah, to meetings and put in her -- her two cents and
has been great already. Is it Zahn, though , or Zahn? Zahn. Okay. That's -- I
move that we approve Resolution No. 16-1132 appointing Bonnie Zahn Griffith to
Seat 4 of the Meridian Arts Commission.
Cavener: Second.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 6 -B. If there is no
discussion, Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. Thank you.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 7: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda
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De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 8: Department Reports
A. Finance Department Strategic Update
De Weerd: So, we will move into Item 8-A, which is under Department Reports
with our Finance Department and our CFO. Pardon? I think I'm just going to call
you Tom.
Bird: We will see how many slides he's got.
Cavener: We have got 12 slides, so --
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bird: That isn't fair to Tom.
Lavoie: Well, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, again, appreciate the
opportunity to present this to you. What we will do today is we are going to
present to you the annual strategic update for the Finance Department and it's
my honor to do this. Today we will present to you who the Finance Department
is. We have two new Council members. I'd like to take advantage of their
attention here and, hopefully, introduce them to who we are, what we do. We will
take a few minutes to do that before we get into where we are going and what we
have done. So, we will talk about achievements and accomplishments and, then,
we will look at some of the goals, the challenges, and the future projects for the
Finance Department and, then, at the very end we will stand for any questions.
So, the question is who is the Finance Department? Again, I'm proud to say that
the Finance Department is made up of three major divisions. The three major
divisions that we have are the accounting division. We have seven staff
members on them. We have the purchasing division. We have two staff
members there. Then we have the utility billing division. We have staff -- seven
staff members on that team. Again, I'm going to take a quick few minutes here
and, hopefully, make it quick. I'd like to introduce Council Member Little Roberts
and Council Member Palmer to our team. I'm going to go just left to right. I will
try to do my best here. Hopefully I catch everybody. We got -- we have Karie
Glenn. She is our utility billing manager. We have Hillary Bodnar. She's our arts
and cultural specialist. We have Vicki Sylvis. She is a utility billing admin. We
are Barb Davidson, utility billing clerk. We have Peter Framm, utility billing clerk.
We have Barb Null. We have -- she's our payroll. Accountant. We have Maria
Edwards. She is our billing administrator. We have Karen Winddell, she's our
accountant. We have Kathy Wanner, she is our purchasing buyer. We have
Cortni Kluckens, she's our accounts payable accountant. We have Jen Fields.
She's our senior accountant. We have Keith Watts. He is our purchasing
manager. And I think that is everybody that is here in attendance I think.
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Hopefully we will be able to introduce you to everybody else. That doesn't
represent everybody, but, again, thank you all for attending and hopefully you
have got a better idea of who -- faces to a name now for the finance division.
De Weerd: And there is one walking in the door.
Lavoie: Did we have one more walk in? There we are. Rita Cunningham, the
city controller. So, again, we would like to think in the Finance Department
everybody counts. Sorry. This is just beginning. Just the beginning. So, again,
now we are going to kind of briefly go over what we do. A lot of people wonder,
you know, what does Finance do. The next three slides should give you an idea
of what we provided for the city. W e, do do that, but a lot of people say we just
sit around and crunch numbers all day. There is truth to that. You know, we do
crunch numbers. But, you know, it's not the only thing we do. You know, like I
said, it is true to some extent. The Finance Department also counts beans as
people like to say. You know, we are proud to say we are the official bean
counters for the City of Meridian and we take that with honor. But, again, that's
not just the only thing that we do here at the city. We also do a few other things.
So, with all the fun and the pointing aside, you know, we are proud of what we
do, being number crunchers, being bean counters, but, again, the Finance
Department does deliver a number of services to the citizens, the Council, and
the fellow staff members. I'm going to try to go over them pretty quickly for you.
But we will start off with the utility billing division. The utility billing division is
managed and run by seven staff members. They are in charge of running,
managing and overseeing all utility bills for the City of Meridian. Right now we
run about 30,000 invoices a month on behalf of the city for all the citizens and the
business customers. They look at and manage all the transitions from property
owner to property owner. They do billing adjustments and they do all the account
management for all 30,000 customers on a monthly basis. So, those seven staff
members provide that for the city. We have the purchasing division. Again, two
staff members that to the best of their ability they try to keep the contracts and
the purchasing within compliance to all the state laws, all the bylaws. You know,
our goal is to make sure the purchasing for the City of Meridian is seamless,
smooth, and accurate. We try to keep ourselves out of trouble. So, that's their
main job is to make sure that everything follows within contract purchasing. The
next number of items -- those are all within our accounting division. So, the
payroll function of the accounting division is managed by one em ployee. We
have one employee that generates a monthly payroll for the City of Meridian
every single month, four hundred or so checks every single month. She
manages it. She oversees it. She runs it. It's amazing what one person can do.
So, we have Barb Holler -- sorry. Barb Knoll that runs that for us. Sorry.
De Weerd: And her hair is not gray. I mean that's awesome.
Lavoie: That is good. So, one person does that. Our accounts payable, again,
we have one person that manages and oversees the entire accounts payable
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function for the city. She works with about a dozen staff members throughout the
city and she manages all the paperwork that is pushed from the vendors to us on
a weekly basis. You know, it's a very large sheet and we have one pe rson that
does that for us. The next number of items -- the accounting -- general
accounting functions -- the annual financial audit, the compliance standards, the
monthly, quarterly, annual, daily, weekly reporting that we provide, the financial
analysis that is provided to not only the Council and the city Mayor and also the
city staff members, we do financial analysis on a wide array of items and, then,
we also provide the budgeting function for the city. Now, all of those functions
are provided with four staff members and we provide all these on a daily basis to
all the city staff members and we take pride in what we do and, again, we are
proud of the result that we provide with the three staff members that provide that
services to you and, then, last, but not least, we have the arts and culture
specialist. Hillary provides all the art and culture needs for the city. She
promotes, she plans, she promotes the -- the fun and great activities on a daily,
weekly, monthly basis. So, again, this hopefully gives, you know, Ann and Ty a
good idea of what the finance division provides to the city, the citizens, to the
Mayor and to fellow staff members for the city. So, with the job functions defined,
now we need to figure out how we deliver these jobs -- job expectations. So, the
Finance Department has the follow mission statement -- it's a little wordy, but in
general it defines the job functions that we have just talked about over the last
three slides. We want to point out that the Finance Department is committed to
providing financial customer services at the highest standards to those that we
serve. To make sure that we meet these commitments we strive for high ethical
and professional standards. We strive for integrity, transparency, leadership, just
to name a few. If we do that we know we will be able to deliver to all of our
customers a high standard of customer service. So, by obtaining our
commitments and our expectations to our customers we believe the Finance
Department will be able to deliver an annual clean audit to not only the Council,
but also to the citizens and to the fellow staff members. The Finance Department
takes great pride in getting a clean audit every single year. It's kind of like a
report card for us. Just like all of us when we went to school, we want all A's on
our report card, we want all A's on our annual report -- annual audit. The annual
audit is a learning experience for us in Finance. We look forward to it every year.
We learn from the information that the auditors give us. We learn from the
mistakes. We continue to get bigger and better at what we do and we continue
to deliver a clean audit and that's what we take pride in. The achievements .
Accomplishments. We are going to use the term here -- some of you may have
heard it called budget dollars at work. Now that you know what we do and who
we are, here are a few of the accomplishments or budget dollars at work items
that you have provided us over the few years that we would like to report on. We
will start off with the accounting division. The accounting -- you provided us with
a software program called DrillPoint that allowed us to automate various reports
on a monthly basis. I'm proud to say that these budget dollars that you provided
us we have now successfully integrated this software into our routine for the past
six months the monthly reports that you have received from Finance has been
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generated utilizing this tool. This tool automated all the reporting needs for you
on a monthly basis and we eliminated the human input and we have shut -- we
have trimmed down the processing time from eight hours a month to about 30
minutes. So, again, we appreciate it, we thank you for that and with this software
we will continue to look at efficiencies and integration, not just for the Finance
Department, but for all other departments within the city that can use such a tool
with their financial reporting. Another item that you have provided us in the past
is -- you actually provided us a full-time employee. The employee allowed us to
manage and develop a contract management database. This employee has now
taken the contract management database in conjunction with the other staff
members throughout the city and we have now been able to develop this contract
management database to assist the city staff and project managers with
managing all contract functions on a daily basis. Not only can they manage their
financial obligations, but they can manage their timeline obligations, the
compliance obligations, and the risk management obligations, just to name a few.
So, this database is available -- available to all city staff, available to Council,
Mayor -- again, it's a -- it's a one point stop for all contracts and obligations that
the city has engaged in and with that FTE that you provided us a few years ago,
we have now been able to successfully implement and utilize this software for the
last 12 months and we have various, numerous accounts, our contracts in this
database and we believe going forward this database wi ll be a very successful
tool for us to stay compliant and manage our risk and contracts on a daily basis.
A few other achievements. Purchasing division, as you're familiar with, we were
successful in rewriting the purchasing policy that you have seen over the last few
months. The purchase policy now makes the -- verifies that we follow state code,
verifies that we are following the best practices in the industry. It was developed
in collaboration with multiple departments. Public Works, Parks, Legal, t o name
a few. You know, the purchasing policy is a continually looking -- working on
improving the purchasing function for the entire city. W e want to try to make the
purchasing functions as seamless, smooth, and understandable at the end of
day. The utility billing division is under a large software implementation at this
moment. Again, a few years back you provided us funding to acquire new
software to replace our old software that was being -- getting to the point where it
was outgrown. This new software that was started -- project started in 2014 is
looking to go live in May-June of 2016 -- exactly. Agreed. Lots of hard work by
not only the utility billing team, but Public Works -- I mean every staff member
there. We have got IT involved. So many departments involved, we have put in
such time. We believe this tool is going to be very successful. It's going to be
able to handle the growth that we are experiencing here for the city a number of
years ahead, you know, and the great thing is the project is coming under budget
as well. So, that's to be very proud of. Again, we thank you for all those budget
dollars that you have provided us. Hopefully this kind of gives you an idea of
what we are doing with your budget dollars and next year we will give you an
another report of what you have provided us this year. So, again, thank you to
everybody that's put all the time in and all the efforts in achieving these projects
for you. Now we are going to talk about some goals, challenges, and projects.
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Now, all these items, goals. They are all projects and they are all challenges in
their own right. So, start off with the accounting division. We are going to see
this as a common thread within all the divisions. We are going to continue to
look at customer service improvements. We are going to work with the
departments, we are going to listen to them and we are going to figure out what
we can do better on a daily basis. There is an idea -- or there is a -- there is a
topic of a comprehensive financial plan. What this generally means is we are
going to take what we have and we are just going to kind of take it up a notch.
We have great tools now, but I think we can take the tools we have for future
modeling and growth projections and just take it up to the next level and that's
what we are going to label as the comprehensive financial plan. It's going to be a
multi-year growth and planning tool that's going to be available not only to the
Council, to the Mayor, but all of the directors and departme nts throughout the
city. There is going to be some discussions about a replacement fund. Again, a
replacement fund -- what we are going to do is the concept to consider setting up
the future council and future departments for success. As you know, we ha ve
put in a lot of infrastructure into the city over the last ten years. Well, someone is
going to have to replace that at some point in time. It might not be in our tenure,
but we want to see if we can set up the next council, the next departments for
success. So, we are going to start discussing possible options to look at setting
them up for success with funding mechanisms and replacement schedules, so,
again, the concept may help the future council with funding for replacements in
the future. A capital construction fund, the General Fund has one of these that
exists now. We are looking at possibly creating one for the Enterprise Fund. It
will work the same way and it's going to help the Enterprise Fund manage their
future growth construction needs with funding and cost management. We are
going to always -- always look at policy updates. That's a continuing daily basis.
You have heard this term before by the Mayor and myself, priority based
budgeting. It's still on our to do list. We are hoping to keep that moving forward.
With the strategic plan and the priorities of government that we have been
discussing, we believe that these two will work hand in hand and we will continue
to look at developing priority based budgeting for you. Budgeting software.
Again, right now we do -- we process the budget on an annual basis with
everybody's input. A lot of time and effort goes into this and we are looking at
getting software that can automate a lot of this. I looked up last year's file folder
system for the fiscal '16 budget development and we had 251 individual
documents in there. Now, I believe a software program could probably eliminate
a lot of that, so I think a software system would benefit us by eliminating 251
documents that we have to manage on a daily basis for the budget development.
On transparency reporting, again, you will see an enhancement presented by the
Finance Department to allow -- or to request some transparency reporting. This
will allow the citizens access to key data -- financial data points on the web and
we will present that to you. We think it's going to be a nice transparency system
for not only the system, but for Council and the city staff members to use on a
daily basis. Centric reporting is the reporting concept that we are working on in
Finance that's going to give, again, key data points to the citizens on a quick
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report that's going to work in conjunction with the transparency reporting. A
GASB statement -- what that represents is GASB is our -- our board -- the -- the
organization that governs what we do in finance, how we do it, the law that we
have to follow. Every year they give us new statements on what we have to
abide by. So, the Finance Department continually looks at these statements, we
learn from these statements and we have to adjust the way we do our books on
an annual basis. Performance measures. The performance measures -- this is
an item that we are looking at moving forward and developing, again, with the
level of service that we have now we a re looking at being able to develop how
much it costs -- how much does it cost for this level of service and we think that
performance measures and level of cost will be able to assist us in our future
planning, current planning, and how we want to move the city in the future.
Fiscal impact analysis. Again, another discussion point, another concept here is
for all decisions that we make in the future, what will it cost the departments. So,
if we approve Development A, what impact -- what fiscal impacts will that have
on Public Works, Fire, Police, HR? Again, we want to develop a tool that not
only the Council and Mayor, but also the departments on future developments
that can give them a tool that says X will happen if we do Y. So, again, more
concept tools that we are looking at developing. So, again, all goals, all
challenges and all projects in their own -- in their own means. Purchasing
division. Again, the comment were we are always continuing to look at customer
service improvements and believe we will do -- we will be successful at that.
Purchasing policy. Again, we just got the rewritten version approved -- ordinance
a little bit later. We are always going to continue to look at updating that if new
laws change -- if new laws change or if we need to do some adjustments for best
practices. We are going to have standard operating procedure updates based on
the policy updates that we have. We are going to work with all the departments
and make sure the operating procedures work for all departm ents involved for
the city. Vendor contractor guide to doing business with the City of Meridian in
the purchasing division Keith Watts and Kathy Lyons are working on making
communications with the city easier and more functional with the vendors
outside. Purchasing laws. Legislative internal committee. Again, Keith and
Kathy are working at the state level to work on changing or upgrading and
improving the current state purchasing laws to get them more up to date. They
are a little outdated in some opinions, but, again, they are continually looking at
working with the state to improve the purchasing laws for the state. And, then,
bid software again. Kind of like the budget software, we are looking at an
automated system that will assist not only the purchasing division, but all of the
departments involved with the setting up contracts and purchasing and all the
vendors out there. That way there is -- once they are to a location and made an
offer, that will help communicate the information not only from the city to the staff,
but also from the city to the vendors. Utility billing division. Again more customer
service improvements. We are going to continue to do that. But they got a big
task on their hands. They have this new software implementation that we are
hoping to go live in May and June. Been looking to -- you know, they are going
to have their hands full with making sure they utilize it to the fullest intent. We
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are going to work with the water division, the purchasing division, to name a few.
And what this -- before we go live we want to make sure that everything is
correct. We are going to triple check everything. We want to make sure that not
only the Council and the Mayor, but we want to make sure the Finance
Department does not receive 30,000 phone calls, because of an improper
implementation. So, we will take the proper amount of time, we will make sure
that the software is implemented correctly and accurately. So, that's a big task
on their hands. So, with that we presented who Finance is, what we do, and
what we have recently done with the improved budget that you have given us or
also known as the budget dollars at work and where we want to go. So, with that
we stand as the Finance Department for any questions, thoughts, comments or
concerns. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thanks, Todd. Great job. Council?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, Todd -- Tom, Todd, whatever you are going by today.
De Weerd: We are glad you weren't left out.
Palmer: When you mentioned fiscal impact statements for development, I think
that would be super awesome. I don't know if it would be part of it as well, if
you're already planning on it, but also not just cost impacts, but also revenue
impacts to development. When you get to that point that would be fantastic.
Lavoie: Madam Mayor, Council Member Palmer, that's a great idea. That is
definitely part of the entire impact. We are going to look at revenue , cost,
employees, impacts to services. We are going to try and develop a tool that will
try and encompass everything that we believe will be satisfactory -- a great tool
for the citizens -- city to use.
Palmer: Awesome. Well, we will start next week; right?
De Weerd: If you want it relevant, no. Any other questions?
Bird: Just a great report as usual.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird, do you want to say that on the record?
Bird: I said just a great report as usual from the Finance Department. They do a
great job for us. Appreciate it.
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De Weerd: Thank you. Yes, our hat's off to your team. We could see through
your organization that many hands make great work and although there is much
on your plates, we appreciate the attention to detail and what you do to make
sure that we stay on -- on the right track in checks and balances and keeping us
with clean audits and in the black. It's all very appreciated. And I just want to
say we give kudos to our Finance Department because they are often in front of
us. The department or division that's not often in front of us our utility billing and I
just want to let you all know I think that your job is the most misunderstood in the
city and probably -- I will not say, though, the most unappreciated. We
appreciate you. You are our unsung heroes. What you deal with every day is
just -- you are our heroes. I think that you deal with the side of city government
that maybe the next department that can understand it the most is our police
department. But people come into the office and -- especially on shut-off day.
They are not in the best mood and our staff deal with them with a helpful attitude,
an understanding approach, that they do protect the city's -- the city side of things
that someone has to pay for that cost of service and we -- we will work with our
citizens to the degree that we can in helping them find arrangements and those
kinds of things, but, Karie, if you will share with your team how much they are
appreciated we would appreciate that, too. So, good job. Todd, thank you.
Lavoie: W ell, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I appreciate the good
words and we will continue to do what we do and thanks for all the support and
time and I completely agree, the Finance team is pretty awesome.
De Weerd: Well, I did send a memo to Council saying this is his first report, his
first presentation, give him a hard time and, look, what -- what are you guys
doing?
Lavoie: I appreciate it.
De Weerd: Keith? Keith said he was going to help and --
Bird: Good boy.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Lavoie: Well, thank you.
B. Speed of Trust Update
De Weerd: Okay. Item 8-B. We ask, because our resident expert -- and that's
only because he's gone through the Speed of Trust more times than any of the
rest of us combined and is trained as a trainer, we asked him to give an overview
of the Speed of Trust as an update. We have also asked that each of the City
Council members that were participants to share a few impressions, if you would,
and, then, open it up for questions. Chief.
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Niemeyer: Perfect. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Good afternoon.
Just for the record let me say you were way too easy on Todd. Way too easy.
So -- actually, they do a great job. Yes. I will echo that. Thank you for a little bit
of time this afternoon. As the Mayor mentioned, I am here to do just a follow up
on Speed of Trust training that we had on March 14th. This all really -- the
history of this came about when the Mayor and the directors were at a strategic
leadership retreat for a day at Scentsy and the Mayor held up this book right here
and said this would be a great book to read. It's written by Stephen M.R. Covey.
If you have ever read Stephen R. Covey's books, Seven Habits, great writer,
speaker. The son was not gifted so much. And so I knew the book was going to
be a little bit dry, having gone through the course. So, my background in this is
ten years ago when I was working for Ada County Paramedics that agency was
going through a lot of political and financial turmoil. Darby Weston, who is now
the chief, found this program, brought in Lance Wycoff, who was actually working
for Covey Industries at the time, and had a two day course and really what it
helped do was guide the leadership team of that organization through some
pretty rough times, because we all learned how to speak the same language,
how to have those difficult conversations on issues and how to really move
forward as a team with common goals. So, I have been a part of that. When the
Mayor mentioned the book I pulled her aside at a break and said, you know, the
book's pretty dry, but there is a course out there that's really interactive and really
good and so working with Crystal Ritchie in HR we got a quote from Lance. He
has since left Covey and started up Sunlight Works. He's based out of Utah.
Still teaches all the Covey materials and the Covey classes, but started off on his
own educational consultant firm and it was good to kind of catch up with him
again ten years later from when I first saw him. So, really, the Speed of Trust
course is two parts. One is designed to look at yourself and look in the mirror
and say how do I compare against what my colleagues think, what my boss
things and what my subordinates think and that's all done through what's called a
TQ report or a trust quotient report. It's an online assessment that you go in and
do as an individual and, then, your colleagues and your peers and your boss do
the same and you can find areas where you're strong and you can find areas
where you can improve and so that's really the personal side of that and, then,
the organizational side is really that organizational trust building and there is
some tools that -- that Covey developed and I know some people thought we
were getting poker cards when we first got these little deck of cards, but the
cards are tools that you learn through the process and through the -- the training
that you can, then, utilize to walk through a hard conversation or a hard topic or
some issues that you're facing. There is also anothe r packet that we received,
it's got some CDs in it and also some self assessments stuff. When Crystal and I
got the quote from Lance -- he presented it in two forms. One was a one day
presentation of Speed of Trust, one was the two day course that I had been
through with Ada County. Due to some costs and some availability, the group
decided to do the one day. I think some of the directors were like let's put our
toes in the water first and see what this is all about. The feedback we received at
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the director's meeting after the training was it would have been nice to have day
two, actually. That would have continued on the conversation to get a little bit
more into the self assessment, the workbooks, and, then, you learn how to work
through some conversations and through some challenges or through the issues
that you may be facing to kind of use the tools that you gathered. So, with that --
the feedback from the directors was good. I know at Ada County -- I talked to
Darby Weston the other day about Speed of Trust. They have been using it for
the last ten years, ever since my first group went through that program. They
use it ever year. They refresh their -- their leadership team on that and every
new hire group that they bring in they run them thro ugh the Speed of Trust
course. So, it's kind of a culture that they have built there, which is some of the
challenges when you have trainings like this -- leadership trainings, that they are
just one offs, you kind of learn some things, and, then, you mov e on or you can
make a reoccurring thing every year. So, really, what the directors group --
leadership group was looking for you was feedback and to see what you though
of it. For those that were able to attend was it beneficial? Where would you like
to see it go from here? Would you like a day two? Would you like a continuation
of that -- that conversation. So, certainly open the feedback and kind of get your
thoughts and ideas.
De Weerd: Thank you, chief. I wanted to ask either Councilman Borton, Council
Bird, or Council Member Milam if you would like to give any feedback on what
you felt you gained from it and any of your impressions.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Chief, I have mixed feelings about the training. I did enjoy it. I thought it
was great as far as the team building exercise that we did. It was a lot of fun and
getting to know some of the -- the staff members -- or the directors and other
councilmen a little bit better in different terms. For that I liked it. I did learn that I
personally need to get to know each of you more. I felt there was some -- a
communication gap and I think that you don't really know who I am and where I
come from and I don't really know each of you and where you come from and
where your thoughts are. So, what I learned from that and my goal is to -- to
make an effort to build those relationships and to get to know you all better.
Bird: Thank you. Mr. Borton.
Borton: Madam Mayor. I thought the class was fantastic and near the end we
started to get into some of the more meatier substantive valuable components of
it. I bring -- I keep the cards here, actually, and kind of look at a different one.
The show loyalty one kind of embodies some of the appreciation of the
volunteers, to utility billing, and try to see how these behaviors can be embodied
in what we do. I think the opportunity for us to -- Council Woman Milam's
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comments to use maybe some of the examples of what we go through up here
with the directors in those discussions we started to do. I'm open to the idea of
doing it annually and using these examples from the prior year and these
behaviors to help everybody work together and at least understand each other,
even if we disagree. There is a lot of opportunities where we might not
appreciate -- at least for me might not appreciate the perspective of where a
department might be headed and why and vice-versa. I think this invited us to
have those conversations and share each other's perspective of -- and also kind
of keep focused on doing things the right way for the right reasons. We touched
on that quite a bit and there were several behaviors that were discussed that we
can all embody. So, I thought it was great. The second day I don't know whether
or not that's necessary or not. I'm not really certain what the day entailed, but the
idea of doing it annually -- great. I mean anytime -- it's really the only time we
have gotten the directors and Council together. We had a fantastic opportunity to
kind of talk candidly and learn about each other, to Genesis' point. So, I thought
it was great.
De Weerd: And I do think there were a couple of key things that came out in
building that understanding of how people take information and give it back as
well, which I thought was very valuable. Mr. Bird.
Bird: Yeah. When we first got this and they sent out that deal to us to fill out and
stuff and, of course, being the computer genius that I am, I was able to do my
survey, but I couldn't cut and paste and get it to anybody else, so I was probably
lucky, I didn't get any bad returns. I didn't get any. When I -- when I originally --
after I read that stuff I thought, you know, do I really want to participate and I
thought, you know, it's a duty to do it and I -- I don't know -- after getting into it --
about a half hour into it I thought, you know, I don't think that we -- I think not only
directors, but I think anybody that's got any authority at all within the city -- a day
course of that would be fantastic. I don't know if I would want to go through it on
an annual basis. I would definitely every two years do it. I think one day -- I'm
like Councilman Borton, I think one day would be sufficient. But I -- it -- to be
truthful with you, it surprised me of wh at -- the substance we got out of it and I --
you know, it just -- I thought it was well worth the time spent and when I went in
there I thought -- in fact, I will be truthful with you, I don't know if I told Genesis or
not, I said I might get sick halfway through the point, you know. But I -- but, no,
the longer I got into it the more I enjoyed it. I think it's a great program. But I'm
not sure we want to just limit it to elected officials and directors, to be truthful with
you.
Niemeyer: That's great feedback.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
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Milam: So, I probably should leave this out, but just like to give you the negative
feedback, what kind of -- so, every time Covey came on the screen I just had to
look at Jaycee and laugh.
Niemeyer: That's why we didn't read the book.
Milam: So, yeah, the rest of the presentation was good, but he was something
else. Yeah. Anyway --
De Weerd: Well, he speaks and presents himself on video better than he writes.
So, we will put it that way.
Milam: We don't need to read the book then.
De Weerd: I will say that I know the disappointment has been expressed on --
from a couple that were not able to attend and also from the development --
developer's team that we didn't have a full Council and so we did want to give an
overview of how it went, ask the Council members who were not able to be there
if -- what your desire is. Do you -- I guess we can wait a year. Would you want
to have someone bring you up to speed? I don't know how that would work. But
we could explore whatever your interest is and bring something back and would
ask you all for your comments.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: I was unable to attend. I had planned on it and was ill that
morning. No one would have wanted me to attend. And I would love an
opportunity to be brought up to speed. I had done the forms and sent out several
of them and would love an opportunity.
De Weerd: Okay. And I know Councilman Cavener also sent out the -- the
survey and -- and participated on that side. Did you?
Cavener: Yeah. Madam Mayor? I guess I would yield to those Council
members that were in attendance. I think I have been pretty vocal in my
confusion, frustration about the way this event was organized. It made it
challenging to participate. But if it's something that a particular department wants
to include as part of their budget for next year, I'm open to exploring that. If --
again, as I wasn't able to attend, I have to yield to those that did participate and
their feedback it seems like it's a fairly significant investment both in terms of the
training and in terms of all directors for an entire day. Like I said, I wasn't there,
so it's hard for me to say, yes, this is absolutely worth it. Just like it's not easy for
me to say I don't think it's worth spending time on.
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De Weerd: Okay. Any comment?
Palmer: Madam Mayor, having not been there, again, like Luke said, I -- I don't
know whether it was worth it or not, but a whole day -- you know, I can pull those
out when it's, you know, something significant when you don't have to do it. The
public meeting serves, but, you know, maybe for a team building activity I
probably would still not participate if it's a full day thing in the future.
De Weerd: We appreciate your honesty. I would say that team building and
building trust and building -- having a better idea of how people accept their
information, ask their questions -- one of the things that we learn over time is the
more effort we put up front the less we are reacting, because reacting takes a lot
more time and it's important that you trust our directors. They are leading multi-
million dollar functions of the divisions and departments of our city and vice-
versa. Those relationships are critical and key to being a premier city to live,
work, and raise our families in. So, we challenged ourselves to raise these
efforts up to that next level and I think working as a team -- and that doesn't
mean always agreeing, but it also means we learn how to disagree, too, and
continue to do the work on behalf of our citizens that they expect us to do in
working together.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I don't know if Mark -- he can probably bring the three that didn't go up to
speed, but I don't think you're going to get up to speed really until you -- unless
you go through the class with Lance. And I'm like Luke, I -- I was under the
perception that it was something in the Fire Department or something going
originally and, then, get this thing and I'm going -- I don't know about the Fire
Department, but anyway -- I truly wound up enjoying it, but I think to be brought
up to speed you have to go through the deal, because it's a complete course. If
you miss out any steps you miss out and that's my opinion.
Niemeyer: And I would agree with you, Councilman Bird. It's pretty tough in just
a couple hours to cover all of that material. It really is a one day going through
the whole process.
De Weerd: Or the group activity.
Niemeyer: Yes.
De Weerd: That was the true team building part.
Niemeyer: This room was on top that day, weren't we.
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De Weerd: Well, yeah. It was all about Todd. I guess that's why we were so
easy on him today. Any further discussion?
Milam: So, on the -- thinking about -- listening to everybody's comments, I did
enjoy the class. However, I don't know that it -- I don't know what else is out
there as far as other team building, trust building kind of classes, so I would say
something -- we should do something, but I'm not necessarily convinced that this
particular training would be the -- be the one and maybe is it, I'm not saying it
isn't either, but I would kind of like to know what else is out there. I didn't like the
way this one began.
De Weerd: Okay. I know Robert has some packets for -- okay. Well, I don't
think that we have a clear idea of where we are going. We will -- I think, chief, if
you could follow up with Council Member Little Roberts and kind of give an
overview and maybe walk her through the survey that she received feedback on
and maybe what's in that packet and that sort of thing. And I did challenge our
directors to -- we have done a couple of different leadership activities and
exercises and I do think it's time to come with a unified approach to the
leadership development and whether it's strength based leadership, whether it's
the Speed of Trust, there is a number of different models is to bring a
recommendation back and have a discussion in follow up to this one on what we
would like to see in a recommendation in moving forward, so --
Bird: And I will figure out how to cut and paste --
De Weerd: And this time Council Member Bird will help you.
Niemeyer: Thank you.
C. Information Services: Discussion of City Council Chambers
Technology Replacement
De Weerd: Thanks, chief. Okay. 8-C is under Information Services. Hi, Dave.
We are getting all of our newbies up here.
Tiede: You are.
De Weerd: Breaking you in. Welcome and we appreciate you being with us.
Tiede: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I am
here to talk to you about this very room, the city council chambers and the
technology therein. See if I can make this work. Really to start off I want to
highlight that everything in this room, the TVs, the microphones, the speakers,
the streaming is about communication. Communication of these meetings that
we have here, communication of commissioner meetings, whatever it be, the tool
in these -- in this facility is about communication and that's really what we are
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talking about here. We want to make sure that we have effective communication
and communication tools that are easy to use. To give you some background,
we have had a lot of feedback over the past many years that tools in this room
are not effective and they aren't easy to use. Some examples are the smart
board, which you have probably heard some frustrations of. The microphones in
front of you, that you have to really get up into the hear yourself or for others to
hear you. The streaming, which the quality is not the best on. You can hear
people at least, but you can't really see them. Anyway, those are some of the
pieces of feedback that we have received over the years. So, a bit into this
background. Much of the infrastructure in this room was put in when this building
was constructed. That makes it about eight and a half years old. A few things
were added on later, such as the Tricaster, which enabled the streaming piece.
We have updated your screens to try to lower them, so they are not blocking your
view and people's view of you, et cetera. But for the most part the technology is
getting out of date. We anticipated that the technology would need refreshed at
some point in time. We feel like that point in time may be now. So, moving on. I
mentioned a couple new issues. Here is a few more. These are only -- this is
only a partial list of issues. The system can be difficult to operate. There is
challenges with the smart board, audio feedback and volume. We have had a lot
of problems with the streaming as far as getting the audio levels proper in the
stream, but also in this very room making it so the people in the back of the room
can hear what you guys are saying and not creating feedback issues and that
goes back to multiple pieces in the system. It's not just the microphones, it's not
just the speakers, it's the combination of those and the rack back there that
actually does the amplification, does the noise cancellation, et cetera.
De Weerd: Well -- and the system we put in place was Ralph. If Ralph couldn't
hear us he would go like this and when he could, you know, it was like this and
he hasn't been here and so our system broke.
Tiede: That makes it challenging. Can we get Ralph back?
De Weerd: He finally is here tonight.
Tiede: Great. Well, maybe I should stop at that.
De Weerd: Well, we found that Ralph is not always reliable in his attendance, so
we need a system, because, you know, Ralph has told me he does not want to
be our backup.
Tiede: He does not. Okay. That's a fair assessment. Well, we feel, again, that
these communication tools are key to the City Council, to other boards and
commissions that take place in this room and so that's why we brought this to
your attention. Microphones and other points that's of concern is the muting. Be
nice to be able to do some more muting, having a little bit more control there, so
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that side bars or side conversations aren't always on record when they aren't
meant to be.
De Weerd: Well, they are not supposed to have side bar conversations.
Tiede: Well, that --
De Weerd: So, I want them to be -- I want them to hear everything.
Tiede: Would you like lapel mikes that --
De Weerd: I would like to have like in the interview things that -- or in the state
capital building that when the microphone is one it lights up, so, then, I don't have
to ask the council members if they remembered to turn their mike on.
Tiede: That is one of the things -- one of the pieces of feedback, something that
is more visible on the microphones knowing, hey, it's hot. Streaming I
mentioned. The equipment is getting older and is starting to fail. We are having
issues with it on a regular basis. You have probably noticed there has been a few
times where our streaming has stopped and we have tried to scramble to get it
back up and working again. Roundtable meetings, which is something that's
been kind of a new requirement for budget hearings and whatno t, are not too
very effective in this room at this point and that's something that we see more of
a need for moving forward. It's a very good way to sit in a good discussion
setting with different departments and directors and discuss really the things that
are important to us regarding the budget. And, then, also audience, we have had
concerns from citizens saying visibility in the back with these screens isn't that
great, especially when you get a lot of information on the screen. So, just a few
issues that we are highlighting here. We have quite a list, as you can imagine.
So, the process that we have gone through to this point is we have gathered a
bunch of the feedback, kind of compiled it, and started to make a list of
requirements. We have sat down with various departments, directors, basically
our stakeholders, the people that use this technology to try to understand what
the needs are and build requirements off of those needs and, then, also prioritize
those requirements. From there we took those requirements and we said, hey,
look, let's go see what other -- what other agencies are doing, you know. Are
there things that we can learn from? Are there things that they did well, things
that we can improve on? Are there pitfalls that we want to avoid? We toured a
few local facilities. We saw city of Eagle, city of Boise, and ACHD's meeting
rooms and saw some of the things that they liked and some of the things they
don't like. So, all to kind of give us an idea of what we would be looking for if we
were to do something like this. After that we met with some vendors to get some
budgetary numbers, just to get a feel for what replacing the technology in this
room would look like. It's not cheap, I can tell you that. At this point we feel like
we have gathered requirements. We would like to make recommendation to
move forward with addressing the various issues that have been identified and I
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can provide you with a full list of those if you would like to see them. But,
obviously, we would be looking to address items such as the smart board, the
mikes and volume feedback issues. Audio and viewing, streaming, roundtable
meetings. Even being able to do streaming in the Council chamber -- or the
Council conference room if needed or maybe in Conference A and B with a
mobile type option for streaming. But in the end trying to make our
communication tool more effective and easier to use for the people that use them
and really get our message out when these types of events happen, so -- we are
looking at a projected cost of 300,000 dollars for everything. Like I said, not
cheap. We could do pieces and see where we go from there. The down side to
that is that there is a -- some of the big key issues, like the volume levels and the
feedback problems that we have in this room, are going to take a big chunk of
that money to fix. We are probably talking -- for the volume and mikes and
everything, around 100,000 dollars alone, if not a little more. So, we could try to
piecemeal it and see how we feel with different things moving forward, but what
we don't want is we don't want to spend a bunch of money and, then, feel like we
have the same problems and so at this point we would strongly recommend
trying to move forward with the full -- the full project. W e have looked at doing
this as an enhancement, but during that time we also talked to some other
departments and talked to Finance at one point and they mentioned some
funding that was set aside for capital projects for this facility, for City Hall, and so
that -- that funding could be available to us. That is money that has been
available for a few years now. It was really meant for capital projects within the
facility as far as repairs or tenant improvements or things like that. So, that could
be one option. But, obviously, an enhancement is another option. That funding
that I mentioned, there are no projects slated for at this point. There is nothing
earmarked for it. At this point I believe the plan will be to return it to the fund
balance at the end of this fiscal year. But we do have an opportunity to use it for
a project like this if so desired. So, what we are in front of you today to ask is
where do we go from here. We can seek approval to use this funding if you
would like. We could do it as an enhancement. We could take pieces of the
project and try to address certain requirements or certain areas that are a
problem or we can try to do all of them. We want your feedback. We want to
know what you guys think is best. But, again, with -- keeping in mind that really
what we are talking about is the effective communication to our citizens and to all
us of.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any comments, questions, feedback? I do know we
would like to see if we could move forward on this and ha ve it available for our
budget workshop.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
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Milam: I think particularly to me important is the roundtable -- availability for the
roundtable discussions. We have tried to have several meetings with other
commissions and it's been very difficult. So, I think that will be a great
improvement. But I didn't hear you mention anything about my standing desk.
My request. Thank you.
Tiede: Council Member Milam, thank you for -- Members of the Council, thank
you for the feedback. We definitely want to make sure we address everything.
That projected cost that we have does encompass all the requirements that we
gathered, which includes being able to display things better in a roundtable
meeting, but also capture it via streaming, better audio, so microphones that are
-- something that we can set at a table. We will have la pel mikes as an option,
that actually work, things of that nature. So, that is one of our requirements and
something that's key to this project.
De Weerd: But I will say it does fall short of your treadmill, stand up, work
station. Sorry. That was cost prohibitive.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. Dave, question. When it comes to the roundtable ide a,
having not been through the budget workshops yet, not knowing what -- how it
would work, ideally what the plan would be, how would it work with the table?
Are you guys looking at some kind of a giant collapsible conference table or a set
of tables, throwing a sheet over it? What's the plan? What would it look like?
De Weerd: It doesn't get even as fancy as the sheet over it. It's just the tables.
Milam: Bunch of tables put together.
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Tiede: Council Member Palmer, Members of Council, Madam Mayor, it would be
tables. We have tables, actually, that we have used in the past and we actually
have some other tables that we have put aside and they would just be put out in
this general central area. The idea behind the technolo gy, though, is something
that is versatile enough that we can adapt to those needs, whether here in the
middle or if it's here we will have cameras, rather than placement where they are
at right now, they would be in key areas in this room, so that we can adjust based
off the need and, then, also, again, the wireless mikes and having something that
gives you kind of the same experience we have there, but in -- where ever you
need to be in the room, so --
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De Weerd: Yeah. I think it's important not only just for the budget workshop, but
as we do joint meetings with either -- some of our partner agencies, with Ada
County Highway District, or Ada County Commission, MDC, Planning and
Zoning, it would be a little bit more conducive to discussion, even having the joint
meeting that we are going to have later today, is to sit around the table in that
format. It just is -- is not possible. As well, I know the -- the public really
struggles during public hearings hearing what is being said by the Council, so I
am constantly on top of you to sit next to your microphone and speak into it.
That's why I count on Dean to say would you turn on your mike. Sorry. I though t
that was funny. We would just like to be a more professional organization and be
able to capture the public comments.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I concur. I -- that's a huge number and I really don't like big numbers
with dollar signs in front of them, but one of the biggest things for me is
transparency and so whatever we can do to make what we -- what happens in
this room more accessible, whether they are able to come to the meeting or not, I
am all in favor of making whatever we have got to do happen so that we can be
as visible as possible in any situation that takes place in this room.
Tiede: Councilman Palmer, I do agree it is a big number. One thing that we will
do as part of this is we will make sure we do a -- a competitive process, so there
will be an RFP that goes out there on the streets and we will make s ure that it's
as competitive as possible, because it is a lot of money. So, we want to make
sure it's done right and responsible with taxpayer dollars.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Dave, can you talk us through a little bit more about this 300,000
dollars that has been available for capital improvements? I guess I'm -- I'm
struggling right now with wrapping my head around AV upgrades as capital
improvements and so I'm hoping that someone who is a subject matter expert
can -- can help talk me through this.
Tiede: I have a subject matter expert right here.
Cavener: I saw him perk right up.
Lavoie: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, your question is a very valid
question. It's a question that Dave and I have been talking about. Again, the
funds are available for capital improvements for the City Hall infrastructure. Not
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until we have the detailed idea -- or detailed scope of what's going to be acquired
-- hence why David used the word could use the money. We have to see what's
going to be acquired and whether or not it's allowable and meets the
classification of capital threshold. Again, buying a laptop does not meet our
capital threshold. So, again, we want to be able to see the details, but we did
offer it Dave as an option if the plan, the scope, does meet the allowable items,
we could consider using those funds, but not until we see the scope and see the
details will we be able to deliver you a true answer, yes, we can or, no, we
cannot use those funds.
Cavener: Thanks.
De Weerd: And this system was supposed to have a ten year life to it and it -- it
just has fallen short of what we had anticipated.
Bird: It's only two years off.
De Weerd: It's -- yeah. Actually, a year and a half off, so -- to be technical.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: David, if we give you the go ahead when is this going to be done, as the
Mayor mentioned something about budget hearings and I'm going that's only a
few months away.
Tiede: Council Member Bird, if we got approval we would start working on an
RFP process as soon as we could and, again, try to gauge whether or not that
would meet that capital project funding and, if not, then, we would have to
proceed with an enhancement that would be part of the budget process.
Bird: So, what you're asking for today, David, is a go ahead to come back and
get final approval, if you can meet -- if it meets the money available.
Tiede: Correct.
Bird: Is that right? Am I right?
Tiede: Correct.
Bird: Thanks, David.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
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Borton: It would be my preference -- sorry. Sorry, Dean.
Bird: His ears just went --
Borton: I screwed that up.
De Weerd: We do appreciate your extra effort.
Borton: It would be my preference to include the full amount as an
enhancement. For the purpose of building your budget now -- you might be
doing that already. Whether some or all of that can be reallocated down the road
when you get to final details into the existing capital projects, that's fine, but for
the purpose of building the budget I would include it all.
Tiede: Council Member Borton, that is absolutely doable. We can include that.
Borton: And I think you have got even better success. I mean you use the word
refresh, it's not a budget enhancement or expenditure, it's a refresh. So, for
every department if you're going to spend funds and it's a refresh of this or
refresh of -- that was pretty good.
De Weerd: Refresh.
Borton: Refresh of --
Bird: That's what my computer says and I don't know what that means.
Borton: And I agree with Councilman Palmer with regards to the purposes,
making this accessible to everybody, not only the -- the employees, but all the
members of the public. Absolutely critical.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I'd have to agree with Councilman Borton. As much as I would love to
see these improvements happen last week, I really think it needs to come
through as an enhancement. If we are -- if we are even questioning if it falls
within a capital improvement, then, let's just be transparent, bring it back as an
enhancement. I'd like to see the -- the pieces and the assumed dollar cost
associated with that. If there is an ability to do some immediate fixes,
replacement mikes right now, I'm on board with something along those lines. But
if we are looking at a 300,000 dollar price tag for the whole project build out,
then, I would like to see it come back as an enhancement, which is part of the
budget.
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Tiede: Council Member Cavener, that is a fair decision. So, if that is the
direction of the City Council that's what we will do.
De Weerd: Well, what we don't want to do is waste money. We don't want
band-aids. We need a fix. We already know the system does not work well and
-- and, unfortunately, unless I have Robert sitting in back of the room and wave
at us every time you speak on if he can hear them or not, it's not reliable and
when we get up here having our discussion I try and remember to remind people
to speak into their mikes, but I'm not always paying attention to that, I'm listening
to what they are saying. So, I just think we already know our system doesn't
work and we don't want to ban d-aide it. If you will bring a recommendation back.
It sounds like Council is ready for a recommendation and -- and what kind of
process moving forward the budget enhancement -- it will bring transparency
whatever funding mechanism we -- we approach, but how -- how soon do you
think that that will come back?
Tiede: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, it depends, really, on what
direction you would like us to go, as far as an enhancement or try to pursue the
other funds. It sounds like the direction I have been given is to come back with
an enhancement. Is that an accurate statement?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I don't -- I have been hearing mixed -- totally mixed messages as well, so
I'm not sure the way that Councilman Cavener interpreted what Councilman
Borton said was different from the way that I did, so --
De Weerd: Come back with a cost -- come back with a cost and if we have the
funds currently available -- we know it's capital and if we need an enhancement,
come back with an enhancement at the time you come back with the update.
Tiede: Okay. At this point I would say that this projected cost is as good as we
are going to get until we go out to RFP and we cannot go out to RFP without
having funds allocated as far as I know.
De Weerd: Good job. You just have to stand up and he -- he already heard you.
Okay. Council, are you comfortable moving forward with an RFP?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
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Palmer: I -- I'd rather it be as an enhancement. I mean we made it sound really
dismal. The microphone is working. I assume it's streaming. The room is not
falling apart. I think, you know, we are okay to, you know, do it through the
budget process. That's my preference.
De Weerd: And wait until next year?
Palmer: Yeah.
De Weerd: Okay.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Well, I -- my feeling is that we have the money -- if the money is
available, if this counts as a capital. If the equipment does -- if it does qualify,
then, I would be okay moving forward sooner and, then, if not, then, bring it
forward as an enhancement through the budget.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Well, I'd -- I'd like to see it come in as an enhancement, too, but if we have
got the money sitting there that we -- that we put aside years ago for stuff like this
so that we didn't have to have enhancements every year, and the money is pretty
transparent out there, it comes out every year in the audit and everything else,
I'm like Councilwoman Milam, if we can get this done sooner the better, because
I think most of us -- and I'm probably the least high tech person on this Council,
but I do understand that prices change about every month and data and stuff
changes about every month. So, I'd like to see -- at least come back with a pretty
firm cost and see what it is and at that point we can make the decision whether to
enhance it or finance it if it -- if it meets the criteria for capital improvement.
De Weerd: So, I guess the big thing is let's put it on next week. Let's figure out if
it's a capital cost and we will bring that back. You have as firm a cost you're
going to get until it goes out for an RFP and -- but we will -- we will bring back
next week on -- if this qualifies as a capital expense, because we can't put it out
until we have a funding stream available for it. So, if Council agrees we will have
this on next week. Nod of heads?
Cavener: Madam Mayor, maybe a question for Todd.
De Weerd: Okay.
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Cavener: Todd, if -- if we take this through the budget process as an
enhancement in the summer and we -- the Council, after hearing from public
testimony the Council decides this is something we would want to include, at that
point could we go out for an RFP? Because the Council's already budgeted for
it?
Lavoie: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, I'm going to lean on Keith Watts
here just to double check, but as we stated I believe we cannot go -- we should
not go out to an RFP until we have the budgetary dollars appropriated by the city
Council. So, not until you appropriate the funds, which would be October 1
officially, would Keith Watts be allowed to move forward with an RFP.
De Weerd: This is a team approach.
Watts: Councilman Cavener, Madam Mayor, Council, once the budget is set I
would feel comfortable with going out for the RFP. We are looking at six to eight
weeks from start of RFP to award date, contract date. I would want to back that
up to try to be ready to go October 1 if that was going to come back as an
enhancement, so we could place the order October 1. That would be my goal. If
-- if it's decided that the funds are available now, then, we could go out
immediately and we would be looking at around eight weeks before we awarded.
Once the RFP is put together and out to the street. I know -- I can understand
David's is in a tough position, because he's got an estimate. He can't get a much
better estimate unless you guys do an RFP and it's just not fair to our vendors to
have them go through this effort to do it and nobody is going to hold their prices
in technology for any amount of time, so --
De Weerd: They are usually good for 30 days.
Watts: Correct.
Cavener: Thanks.
Holman: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Jaycee.
Holman: If I may weigh in and part of the reason that I came forward with this
proposal with Dave and had him work with Todd on it is because we have got a
couple pieces of equipment that were my main concern, being the smart board
and the Tricaster. They are starting to work sometimes intermittently , which is
usually a precursor to failure. So, my concern is either one of those pieces fails
before October 1 and the RFP process and going through all this, I don't want to
end up with a piecemeal project to where now we are operating under an
emergency. We have to try to hurry up and find some smart board that plugs in
that maybe doesn't work effectively with a consolidated system when you're
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looking at it holistically as a whole project. Now all the pieces work together and
everything was planned effectively. So, I realize that both those pieces could
continue to work intermittently from now until, you know, two years from now, but
that was my main concern was trying to bring it forward now is to avoid having
two expensive pieces of equipment fail an d, then, trying to emergency piecemeal
and band-aide a piece in there, so --
De Weerd: We could rent something.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Borton.
Borton: This might speed it up somewhat. If -- if staff determined that what's
going to be incorporated in this qualifies as a capital project as we have defined
it, and the funds that are available for that, if that determination is made it doesn't
necessarily need to come back to Council to tell us that. If that's the
determination, then, I would suggest you go forward and develop the RFP and
that is what comes back to Council.
Bird: Yeah. That's right.
Borton: Because if staff says it's -- it's a capital project, we are not going to say
it's not. I don't -- I'm not. Right? We trust your judgment. So, if that's what it
truly is and it's funded appropriately, then, just bring back the RFP and we will get
after it. And, if not, then, we go through the enhancement process.
De Weerd: Okay. That sounds fair.
Tiede: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, that's what we will proceed with.
We will determine if that funding can be used and bring it back to you next week.
De Weerd: Okay. Great.
Tiede: Thank you. Appreciate your time.
D. Information Services: Budget Amendment for Agenda
Manager Replacement Software Purchase for the Not-to-
Exceed Amount of $18,950.00
De Weerd: Thank you, Dave. Okay. Our next item is information services. Is
that you, too?
Jones: That was me.
De Weerd: Oh, over there. It's like where did that voice come from.
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Jones: I'm hiding over here. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we have a
budget amendment in front of you to purchase replacement software for our
Agenda Manager. Agenda Manager is the system and the tool that we use to
create our agenda packets and the agendas that you see. We have been using
it for about eight years. The system includes work flows so that documents that
you have in front of you have all been thoroughly reviewed and vetted before
they appear before Council and they have allowed us to export items into the sort
of tidy packets that you all use. It is a laser fiche product. Laser fiche is the
system that we use for our archiving of our documents. It's -- you use searchable
documents, which is their external version of that laser fiche product. In the last
12 to 18 months we have had a decrease in the functionality of that software.
When it breaks errors occur. We call their tech company and oftentimes their
tech company is unable to help us. More often than not is is our IT team who is
able to fix that for us and get us back on track. In addition to that, laser fiche is
preparing to sunset Agenda Manager, which means they are going to phase it
out and no longer support it at all and because we knew that was coming we
chose not to pay our maintenance fee for this particular year. All of that being
said, laser fiche has now sort of put the pressure on us that we -- we will need to
pay the maintenance fee with them or lose Agenda Manager all toge ther. So, we
have some choices. We can pay that maintenance fee, it's about 2,100 dollars,
and that will buy us time until FY-17 we can come back with an enhancement to
purchase another software. We have to know, though, that if we go ahead and
spend that money and we have problems in the next couple of months, we will
not receive any tech support from laser fiche. So, it's an important detail. So,
where we are standing it appears like a waste of money. Once we make the
decision one way or another to notify a laser fiche of these intentions we,
basically, have 60 days to migrate to a new system before they disconnect us
from the server and we lose access to the software. So, we started looking at
other options. We have looked at three different software options. We looked at
Granicus, which is a system used by the city of Eagle. The system was really
expensive and it complicated processes that we have already simplified and felt
a little like going backwards. I think if we were maybe in a different position or
different size city it might be a good fit. But it just wasn't for us. We looked at
Accella, the legislative management module of that. As you know we have
Accella land management that we use for all of our planning and zoning project
files. That system was really expensive, about -- a little more than 50,000 dollars
annually and it doesn't seamlessly transition with our laser fiche software or with
their existing Accella modules. So, we would still be doing data entry on both
sides. And, then, the other one that we looked at was NovusAGENDA, which is
the budget amendment that we are proposing for you. So, the yearly cost of that
is 18,950 dollars. We were impressed with the demo of Novus and I think that I
sent you the link on Friday, so you might have had an opportunity to kind of look
at an overly brief demo of that. But there is some benefits specifically for use in
this room. For Council and Commissioners you have the ability to review the
documents in the system in advance and take personal notes. You can view the
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entire packet in one document using bookmarks, as opposed to the folder
structure that we use now. The benefit of that is that you can navigate around on
it in a much easier fashion and it's mobile compatible, you can be working off of
your iPad or your iPhone, you don't have to be sitting in front of your desktop to
do it, which I know is really helpful for most of us in the wor ld that we live in now.
It also allows for electronic voting, which I know is something that we have talked
about in the past. There is additional benefits for the public. It allows a really
nice online streaming. The way that they do it it allows the citizen to see the
presenter and the presentation in kind of a split screen or it allows the citizen to
see the presenter and the agenda, so that they can follow along with where we
are at. As we move through the agenda books are created in the system so that
when the video is up loaded to the website the agenda items become linked --
hyperlinked, so you can look at the agenda and a citizen can click on a specific
item on the agenda and watch just that clip from the video, which I think for public
hearing would be beneficial. They don't have to fast forward through two or three
hours of footage to get that little five minute clip that they are interested in. It's
also searchable. So, anything that we put into the system becomes searchable.
So, if you type in key words Well 27, for example, you would received all
agendas, all backup documents and all videos associated with that search term.
So, for public transparency I think it would be a huge win for us. And, then, on
the staff side, obviously, because we want it to be beneficial for our team as well,
it does integrate with laser fiche, so it will reduce staff time archiving records. It
will continue to help us move toward paperless packets and electronic
signatures. We have fully customized our workflows, which is going to be a huge
benefit for us. There is still a lot of things -- budget amendments are a good
example of this where we walked the hard copy around the building, which is just
not the most efficient way to do business and I think Finance would probably love
another option. So, we can develop work flows not only for different m eetings,
but for different types of documents as well and it also allows for automatic
meeting noticing, so when we are -- when we finalize the agenda now we e-mail
it to you independently and, then, we also post it on website and we do our RSS
feed on our website and, then, we use a separate tool to do an e -mail out to the
citizens who signed up for that subscription and, then, we still post it. So, it's
about four steps to make that public contact in addition to putting all the
information in a searchable document system that you use and this would allow
us to do it in one click. So, when the packet is done it would automatically post
to all of those systems. NovusAGENDA is currently deployed at over 300
locations in the U.S. It's got clients that range in size from the city of Los Angeles
down to like the city of Vale, Colorado. So, we have got a good span of
population size. I reached out to 25 of their current customers. Commonalities
between all of the responses basically highlighted on Novus' exceptional service,
quick response time, mobile device compatibility and citizen engagement. I have
specific feedback if you're interest in any of that. But across the board everybody
that is using it or that we have heard responses from seem to really appreciate it
and have appreciated that their citizens are allowed to engage in a way now that
weren't able to before. So, after researching options and speaking to current
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customers, we think Novus is probably the best fit for our current business model
and we do understand that handling this through a budget amendment is not
ideal or I could call it a refresh, but I know it's not ideal, but it doesn't also seem
fiscally responsible for us to go ahead and pay to do maintenance on a software
that we are not going to receive maintenance or support from. So, all of that
being said, I'm happy to go with whatever direction and insight you want. So, I'm
here to stand for questions and I have additional information if you're interested.
De Weerd: I think anything that's going to make that packet easier to search is --
is like hallelujah. As you were trying to find the letter from the school district and
you have 72 pages to -- to flip through and you still don't find it --
Jones: Agreed. And it's a lot of work on our side to creating that. So, you would
-- it looks -- appears like you would be able to view the agenda. You would click
on Item 5-A and you would see the documents specific to that and I meant that's
-- the citizen would be able to see on their side as well.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, I viewed the demo of it online and one thing that stood
out to me is that it's not pretty. It's not shiny at all, which leads me to believe that
it's -- they spent more time in building in functionality than making it pretty so they
could sell it and so I -- unless there is any other questions -- because I jumped in
there -- all right. Then, Madam Mayor, I move we approve the budget
amendment for -- to replace the Agenda Manager software, the amount not to
exceed 18,950 dollars.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-D. Any discussion?
Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
E. Public Works: Budget Amendment for FY2016 in the
Not-to-Exceed Amount of $275,000.00 for the
Construction of a Water Treatment Facility at Well
#27
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De Weerd: Just a note, budget amendments can't be pretty. I think, Warren,
that's your cue. Item 8-E under Public Works.
Stewart: Well, I got some pictures for you in this budget amendment and you
can be the judge. So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I put together just
a small presentation to go along with this. I know that the budget amendment
that we are requesting is a little bit substantial, so we wanted to make sure we
gave you an opportunity -- or I gave -- provided an opportunity for some of the
Council members who may not be familiar with the well head treatment program
to understand where that came from, a little bit of history behind it. I will try and
make it quick. I know you guys are anxious to move on to other things, so -- but I
did want to make sure that we provided good information for folks. I wanted to
make sure you have the information you need to make a good decision. So, just
the agenda, we are going to talk a little bit about the background, about the
budget amendment itself, the schedule and the cost and, then, provide
opportunity for questions. So, many of you have seen our actual diagram and --
well, I guess it's not a diagram, it's an actual physical display that we had up in
our conference room upstairs that shows our aqu ifer. These are actual well
cuttings from one of the wells that we had drilled that basically describes the
aquifer underneath the City of Meridian and just to kind of give you a real quick
overview of the challenges that we have there, there is -- there is a shallow
aquifer centrally down to four to six hundred feet and, then, there is a deeper
aquifer below that. In the upper aquifer we run into challenges with high radio
nuclides, nitrogen or nitrates, which are contaminants that are regulated by the
EPA and we have to be able to get underneath the maximum recommended
contaminant levels for those things. In those upper aquifers that can be
challenging. In the lower aquifer we run into other contaminants. Iron and
manganese and sulfur smelling gas tha t you -- ammonia and H2S gas that
smells kind of like rotten eggs, which can be taste and odor issues for the
citizens of the City of Meridian. Iron and manganese are secondary M CLs and
what that means is the EPA has not set absolute maximum contaminant levels
that you can have. They set recommendations as far as the contaminant levels
that you can have, whereas radio nuclides there is an actual limit that we have to
be able to meet. So, the challenge we have is when we go around the City of
Meridian and we drill these wells, we have to find the best balance and in some
locations we have real problems with the upper aquifer in finding good quality
water and so we have to go to the lower aquifer. That puts us down in the zone
where we can get iron and manganese precipitation and what happens is when
we bring that water up -- actually, that iron and manganese is in solution down in
the ground. When we bring it up we are required to hit it with chlorine, because
we have to have the chlorine residuals to go through the distribution system to
make sure that we kill any bacteria in the distribution system. When you hit that
water with chlorine, the iron and manganese precipitate out. Now, there are no
known health concerns with iron and manganese. However, they do cause taste
and odor issues and the EPA is considering or looking at the possibility of having
an actual MCL for manganese in the future. So, it's something that we have to
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keep an eye on. Brown water or the iron and manganese that precipitates out of
our water when we bring it up and hit it with chlorine, is the largest source of
customer complaints in our water system. These photographs actually were
taken by a customer and sent to us. They are probably associated with one of
our flushing operations that we tell people that this is something that you will
experience. But, nevertheless, this is what can happen and what -- what this
does is it can stain -- if it happens over a prolonged period of time it can stain
your plumbing fixtures, it can stain sidewalks. We have actually had claims
against the city for the fact that it stained clothing in dry cleaner operations and
things like that, so -- and in other situations. So, it has been a source of some
actual claims against the city. So, it's something that we felt like we needed to
address. It actually causes taste and odor issues, as you might imagine.
De Weerd: We used to give out Reddit or something like that.
Stewart: Right. Another picture here to the right of the -- of this little slide shows
the water. That's actually coming out of our distribution system in a flushing
operation and you can see it's nearly black. That's manganese precipitation in
water. Now, generally speaking, when we have typical usage during the day, the
velocity of the water through these pipes isn't sufficient to really stir that up. But
anytime we had an incident, whether it be a fire flow related incident or a flushing
incident, it stirs this sediment up and as you can see it can cause some real ugly
looking water. So, in 2012 the Public Works Department brought a presentation
to the City Council and said this is a concern, we get a lot of complaints from
citizens, it's an issue out there, what would you like us to do and we, essentially,
decided on a course of action at that time to improve or treat the water that
comes out of these wells with treatment systems. In addition to that we started
development of what we call a uni-directional flushing program. It's a more
robust flushing program than we currently use that allows us to scour the system
more thoroughly and remove these contaminants out of the pipes. We have
been in the development of that uni-directional flushing program. It's a lot bigger
deal than it might seem on the outset and we are getting close to the point where
we can implement that and we also started treating the wells in pressure zone
two. Pressure zone two is the largest pressure zone in the City of Meridian. It
serves the most customers. It also has some of the wells that are most affected
by iron and manganese, so it seemed like the appropriate thing to do. If we can
get all of pressure zone two cleaned up, then, we will essentially -- it will allow us
to do two things, one, reduce those immediate concerns to the customer s and,
secondly, once we get these precipitants so that they don't get out in the pipes,
we can do this uni-directional flushing program in pressure zone two and clean
that out really well and, hopefully, that that will really mitigate future issues and
concerns with regards to brown water if you will. We have completed two
projects in that effort so far. That's Well 21 and Well 19. Those projects have
been done and the results have been excellent. Water quality coming out of
those wells has been significantly improved and we are now able to utilize those
wells as primary sources of water, rather than occasional sources of water, which
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does a couple of things. One, it allows us to take the load off a few of the other
wells in the system that were -- we were essentially overpumping and when you
overpump the well you risk drawing in other contaminants in there that you may
not see otherwise. So, this is really going to help us to maintain the quality not
only of the water coming out of these wells, but I think actually prolong the wells
that we are using instead. So, just a little bit of a schedule. So, Well 27 is a --
the project is a two year project and year one was in 2015 we completed pilot
testing. We also completed, essentially, equipment procurement. So, what that
second bullet there is is equipment performance specifications. We had to write
up some specifications so we could go out for bid for the actual filter equipment
itself. So, that has been and the filter equipment has been purchased. It's
actually being built. It's going to be ready to ship out relatively soon. We also --
well, that was, essentially, what was done in year two. In year -- or in year one.
In year two, 2016, we designed the building and the other things around the fi lter.
These filters are all -- the manufacturer of these filters all do them -- do them --
do them just a little bit different, so we have to get the filter purchased, they have
to be able to show us exactly what they are going to put in, then, we can bui ld all
the other infrastructure to fit it or around it. So, that design is under contract.
The design piece of it has actually been done. The design consultant has two
more pieces of that, which would essentially be SDCs and some inspection
services. SDC stands for services during construction and some inspection
work. There is also some special inspections that will be required for this
particular project. The money has also been obligated. So, the one thing that is
pending is the construction of the actual filter building and the piping and other
things associated with the new filter. So, getting to the -- the meat of this story,
the original budget amendment for 2016 was based on information that we had
on the other two filter projects which we had done. However, that had to be done
last year during the budgetary process. So, almost this time of year last year.
And a lot of the information around the actual filter tank size and everything else
hadn't been determined yet. So, we had to get that information. Now that we
have that information we understand that this filter is going to be significantly
larger than some of the other ones that we have. It's going to require a bigger
building and other facilities that go along with that. We also know that the
construction environment right now is pretty busy and we have been seeing
prices go up on a lot of the projects that we have been doing. So, we had -- in
the 600,000 dollars to start with we have 68,000 dollars in obligations for design
consultant and for special inspections, which leaves the available funds for about
532,000. We bid the project out. The low bidder for the project turned in a bid of
734,000, leaving us with a deficit of about 202,000 dollars just to get the contract
awarded. We have included a ten percent contingency fee in there. This is not --
well, money that the contractor sees, these are monies that we have available for
unforeseen conditions. If we don't need that money it remains in the Enterprise
Fund and would require additional Council action in order to spend it. But it's
unwise to embark on a project of this size having every dollar already spent to
start with. So, we feel it's important. We know that our budget amendment
process is a timely process and rightfully so. It takes time to evaluate these
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things. So, we want to make sure that if we run into something unexpected on
the job site during construction, that we can address that in a timely fashion,
otherwise, we actually can end up spending more cost and delay damages and
contractor's fees and the potential change over would cost in the first place. So,
the total budget amendment request is for 275,000 dollars to go ahead and
complete this project. One of the other things that I think is -- is good to note,
excuse me, when you could look at the actual cost per gall on of the three
projects or the two that we have completed compared to this one, the actual cost
per gallon of this project, even though it's more expensive overall than the other
two projects, the cost per gallon falls right in the middle. So, I think the value that
we are getting for the customer is actually there. We are getting a good value for
the money and so with that I will stand for any questions and ask for your
support.
De Weerd: Thanks, Warren. Council, any questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Seeing no questions, I move that we approve the budget amendment not to
exceed 275,000 for construction of water treatment facility of Well 27.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-E. Any discussion
from Council? Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you, Warren.
Stewart: Thank you. Appreciate it.
F. Approval of Award of Bid and Agreement to
CHALLENGER COMPANIES for the “WELL 27
TREATMENT FACILITY - CONSTRUCTION” project for a
Not-To-Exceed amount of $733,182.54
De Weerd: Item 8-F is approval of the award of bid and agreement to Challenger
Companies for Well 27 treatment facility construction. Is anyone going to make
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any comment on that or going to just leave it up to the Council to make up their
own?
Barry: Madam Mayor, we were just a little excited there, so we are back for
more.
Stewart: I apologize. I actually meant to say something about that at the end of
the last item, but item number two is the actual award of the contract for the
budget for the associate project, which we just discussed as part of the budget
amendment, so --
De Weerd: I would have made up something much more colorful, but --
Stewart: Sorry.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Warren, how many -- how many bids did we have?
Stewart: I would have to look and see. Eight. It sounds like we had eight bids.
Bird: And we go from the 733 to what?
Stewart: Do you guys recall what the highest bid was?
Watts: Councilman Bird, Madam Mayor, Council Members, I don't have the bid
abstract in front of me, but I believe it was over a million dollars our high bid. It
was substantially higher and we had several right around this area, but I know
our range was pretty vast.
Bird: Mr. Watts, when -- I'd like to go back to the old way of doing this. When we
have -- on your cover letter, put down three bids. If we got three bids put down
the three bids --
Watts: Okay.
Bird: -- the one and the next two, so -- so the other councilmen and the people --
I know, because I -- I'm the liaison this year to that group, but let the other people
see how the bids are coming and how -- how it's doing, so -- and it just takes a
couple more lines.
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Watts: Yeah. And Councilman Bird and Council Members, that is our typical
process. This was an anomaly, because it came as a department report instead
of -- when the purchasing department typically submits that you get all those
documents and I'm not sure if those were not employees --
De Weerd: It's on page 17.
Watts: Okay. It should be in your packet. It should have all the information.
Bird: Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Watts: Sure.
Bird: If there is no more questions, I will make a motion, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move that we approve the contract and agreement with Challenger
Companies for Well 27 treatment facility for the sum of $733,182.54.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8 -F. Any discussion
from Council? Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
G. Human Resources: Benefit Costs for the FY2017 Budget
De Weerd: Item 8-G is under our Human Resource Department. This is
presentation number two in a series of three. Welcome back.
Ritchie: Thank you.
De Weerd: We like this HR-Finance team.
Ritchie: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, thank you again for having us this
evening. As the Mayor stated, this is part two of our on the road show for the
month of April presenting information for budget considerations and budget
discussions. So, tonight we are going to talk about healthcare benefits. Tonight
we are specifically going to focus on our group health and related benefits policy.
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The purpose of our benefit committee meeting. The factors of our healthcare
benefits. We are going to discuss with you and share with you an overview of
our current healthcare plans. We are going to provide you some wellness
program statistics. We are also going to show you some information on what we
are doing to prepare for FY-17 and, then, we are going to wrap up with some
action reminders and, of course, stand for questions. So, again, we
communicated this last week, but, again, we are going to be providing you a lot
of information to consider tonight. The topics that we are bringing forward to you
this month do have significant budgetary impacts. The reason we are coming
before you earlier on in the process is to give you an opportunity to process the
information that we are sharing with you and to also give you an opportunity to
ask us any questions that you may have and, then, Todd and I will come back at
the end of the month to answer any questions and, of course, to receive your
direction and feedback. Or direction. Excuse me. So, topic for this evening is
healthcare benefits and we do have a policy in place that supports our benefit
program. It's policy number 5.1. This is our group healthcare and related benefit
policy. The purpose of this policy is to insure that all available benefits -- or to
outline available benefits to all eligible city employees. As an overview the city is
to provide eligible employees here at the city a comprehensive health, vision,
dental, life, short and long term disability insurance, along with voluntary life
insurance plans, deferred compensation and limited disability programs, 401(k),
and a cafeteria plan. So, a portion of the premiums to be paid are to be paid by
the city employees, as well as a portion by the city itself. Each eligible employee
receives benefit information during their new hire orientation. They have ample
opportunity at times to visit with us here in human resources, specifically
Christena Barney, our benefits administrator, answer any questions that they
have. She's available to help them enroll in their benefits and they get that
process in a timely manner. We define our eligible employees via our policy
handbook as full-time or seasonal employees who work more than 30 hours per
week for more than six months. Those are the individuals who are considered
benefit eligible at this time. One thing to keep in mind is that our benefits are
subject to change, which is why we revisit the plan from the packages every year
and the benefits are also not guaranteed from year to year. So, we do have a
benefits committee in place. The benefits committee has been in place for at
least 12 years, if not more. The members have changed from year to year. Here
is a listing of our current committee. We have Christena Barney from Human
Resources, Tom Barry from Public Works, Rita Cunningham from our Finance
Department, Todd Lavoie from our Finance Department, Bill Nary from our Legal
Department, Barb Knoll from our Finance Department, myself, Robert Simison
from the Mayor's Office, Eric Strolberg from the Police Department, Scott Warren
from the Fire Department and, then, we also have Merser, who are our external
consultants. That would be Lois -- excuse me -- Lois Morritts and Denice Bunch.
So, the purpose of the committee is to develop a cost effective and
comprehensive or competitive benefit plan as defined by the city's strategic plan.
So, one of the things here is that in order to continue to attract and retain high
caliber employees and be a premier employer here in the city, we must have a
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competitive and effective and benefit program in place. So, here are the goals of
the benefit committee. It's to create a competitive benefit package that will attract
and retain our employees, manage costs for the city, as well as for the
employees that is sustainable. Remain compliant with the Affordable Car e Act
and provide employees a choice. We do partner with a benefit broker. The
benefit broker that we used is Mercer Health and Benefits and they have been
our broker since 2007. They provide market trends, market comparisons,
statistics, guidance and advice on the many various aspects that make up our
comprehensive benefit package here at the city. They are also assisting and
guiding and educating the committee members themselves, so that we are in a
good position to make the best benefit decisions possible for the city, as well as
for our employees. So, here are the factors of our healthcare benefits. We
provide the employee a choice -- employees a choice. It is ACA compliant. It's
fair and competitive. It's fiscally responsible. It allows us to attract and retain
high caliber employees and in addition to that we consider the experience rating.
So, what I would like to share with you now is a little bit of an overview of our
health plan. So, our current health plans that we offer, one of them is a
traditional PPO plan. We also offer a high deductible health plan, along with a
health savings account. The city's contribution to that savings -- health savings
account is a thousand -- excuse me -- a thousand dollars per year for employees
only. Fifteen hundred dollars per year for employees, plus one, or 2,000 dollars
per year for employee plus two and/or a family. The health savings account
contribution is not guaranteed each year. The contribution amount is the
difference between the premium from the PPO and the high deductible health
plan and the city's cost is equitable, regardless of what plan the employee
chooses. As it relates to premiums, historically the city has paid for the
employee medical coverage premium for all of our employees and, then, a
significant portion of the cost for dependants. We did make a slight change for
2016. Prior to 2016 we had 80-20 coverage splits and when we moved into 2016
we went with a 75-25 percent split. Employee -- we do have an employee
coverage premium of 40 dollars. That 40 dollars was instituted in 2016. Our
employees do receive the opportunity to obtain a premium discount, allowing
them to buy down their employee premium to zero with their participation in our
wellness program and if they are a nontobacco user. So, here is a little bit of an
overview of our 2016 numbers as it relates to our employee premiums. Currently
we have 287 city employees paying zero for their employee medical premiums,
because they are in wellness and nontobacco -- they receive the wellness and
nontobacco discount. We have 65 employees paying a 15 dollar employee
medical premium. They receive that non-tobacco discount. We have three
employees paying a 25 dollar employee medical premium. They receive the
wellness discount. And, then, we have 11 employees who pay the full 40 dollar
medical premium. They do not receive a discount. The nontobacco discount is
available to employees that are tobacco users who enroll in and complete a
tobacco cessation program, either within three months of the new plan year or
within -- excuse me -- or within their hire date. The wellness discount is available
to those employees that complete an annual biometric screening, select how
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they get those discounts. In front of you what you have now are a little bit of
wellness program statistics. There in the first chart that you have at the top, this
is the percentage of participation that we have made for several years and what
you will see here is that the participation has been growing since 2011, 2012.
The second chart that you have in f ront of you is our participation numbers year
over year going back from 2011, 2012 to 2015. And what this information is
sharing with you is that -- it shows an increase in participation from our
employees here at the city, a decrease in their sick leave usage and a decrease
in our overall experience rating. So, let's talk a little bit about ratings and rates.
So, the city's medical premium stats are based on the experience rating. The
experience rating is a calculation that's derived from the premiums paid versus
claims paid. So, in essence, if our premiums paid are higher than the m edical
claims paid out, then, we have an experience rating below a hundred percent
and vice-versa, if our premiums are lower than the medical claims paid out, then,
we have an experience rating of over a hundred percent and ideally an optimal
experience rating for the city would be at 85 percent or lower. So, you have a
graph there at the bottom that shares with you the medical benefit analysis year
over year from 2012 to 2015 and you will see that our current medical experience
rating is at -- or in 2015 it was at 102 -- a little bit over 102 percent.
Lavoie: Thank you, Crystal. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I'm going
to -- excuse me. I'm going to present to you three slides that will give a general
overview of the finances that the city has incurred over the last number of years.
This will give you general information of what we are spending our benefit dollars
on for the medical benefits. Again, the slide here, what we have is the benefit
dollars by distribution. We work with our medical provider and also Mercer, our
broker, to get us this information. So, this information is straight from the medical
providers. We just consolidated it in our house here. So, between the Finance
Department and the HR Department we put these stats together and what you're
looking at here is from 2003 to 2015 the total cost to the city for providing the
medical benefit coverage -- you will see three categories. One is employee, one
is spouse, and one is child. So, if we look at 2015, these are the actual dollars
provided to the employee, to the spouse, to the child by claim for 2015. So, in
2015 the employees submitted 1.62 million dollars worth of claims. The spouse
submitted 1.15 million dollars worth of claims and the children, the dependents,
submitted 990,000 dollars worth of claims for medical coverage for 2015. So,
you can see how the numbers of claims are growth over the years and that's due
to, obviously, a higher staff number and higher medical costs. Oops. There we
go. Here is another presentation of the medical cost. What this slide shows you
is the distribution of dollars by relation. So, if we go to 2015 again, what this tells
you is of all the dollars that we have had in claims, 43 percent of all the claim
dollars went to the employee, 31 percent of all the claim dollars in 2015 went
towards the spouse and, then, 26 percent of all the claim dollars went to the
child. So, again, this is information to help you give us direction and guidance,
hopefully by the end of the month. Again we are available for any questions if
you need more statistics between the HR Department and the Finance
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April 12, 2016
Page 48 of 57
Department and the medical provider, we should be able to get you any data that
could help support your decisions and guidance for our April 26 meeting. And,
then, the last slide here is a total cost and a graph -- in a bar graph setting with
additional information of 2016's current budget and what we project 2017 total
budget to be for the upcoming budget year that we are discussing right now. So,
you can see it's -- it's still growing and that's because we are adding more FTEs
and we are growing the cost of the medical coverage, as Crystal stated. A CA
has increases, so, again, more information for you to help make a decision on
which way we should go for fiscal year 2017 in the two departments available to
you for questions. I'm going to hand it back to Crystal.
Ritchie: Thank you, Todd.
De Weerd: Hey, Todd. So, that was just for medical insurance?
Lavoie: Madam Mayor, this particular slide right here? This particular slide right
here represents the cumulative cost of the entire benefits --
De Weerd: Wellness benefits package.
Lavoie: That's everything. The prior two slides were just the medical benefits.
This was inclusive of everything.
De Weerd: Can you maybe follow up and give a cost per employee per month
breakdown? I know it's just an average.
Lavoie: So, Madam Mayor, if I can just clarify that. You're saying cost per
employee per month. Do you want this --
De Weerd: I would like medical insurance and the total benefit package.
Bird: Take the 5.7 and divide it by the employees.
De Weerd: I think Todd probably knows how to --
Bird: Yeah. I know he does.
De Weerd: -- split the beans on the --
Bird: He asked a question.
Lavoie: Count the beans, crunch the numbers? Madam Mayor, we will go ahead
and get this to you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
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Page 49 of 57
Ritchie: Thank you, Todd. So, here is what we are doing -- excuse me -- for the
FY-17 planning and preparing. What we are doing now. This is the work that we
have been collectively working with our benefit committee, along with the
Finance Department. So, our benefits committee reconvened in January and we
started discussing the different options that were available and our plans for FY-
17. We are working towards no plan design changes for FY-17, with a possible
increase to the health savings account contribution. We are looking to go out to
market for medical and FSA, which is your flexible spending account and
COBRA Administration Services this year. We are looking and asking and
communicating to you for a nine percent budget place holder based on our 102
percent experience rating. Again, that's just a place holder. Five percent of that
nine percent right off the top is to cover our ACA, Affordable Care Act, pass
through surcharge. The surcharge is assessed to assist with the cost of ACA
compliance and you will see their additional treatment, the IRS recording, those
types of things. Yes. Got to love that. The actual renewal rates will not be
available to us until June, so, again, the information that we are bringing forward
now are just a little bit of placeholders and projections. We are going to continue
to work over the next several months on the benefit package. We will continue to
worth with Mercer who is our broker and we will come back to you in June with
the final renewal rates. We will continue to monitor and provide that formal
recommendation once the information is available. So, just as a reminder, it's a
lot of information that we shared with you in a small amount of time this
afternoon. Todd and I will be back on the 26th for your guidance and direction
and, of course, if you have any questions we will stand for those questions this
evening. I have also asked our benefits administrator Christena Barney to join us
for any questions that you may have, as she's been more directly tied to the
benefits committee and these efforts than I have, until a few months ago. So,
with that we thank you very much and we will stand for your questions.
De Weerd: Crystal, I guess just clarification. You're going out to bid on the
health -- the prime pay or --
Ritchie: Yes. So, the --
De Weerd: Okay. So, not for our health insurance --
Ritchie: We are going out to market for medical -- for our medical insurance. We
are currently with Blue Cross and we are going to go out to market and see what
else is available --
De Weerd: Okay.
Ritchie: -- for us.
De Weerd: But not for our benefits consultants?
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April 12, 2016
Page 50 of 57
Ritchie: No, not for Mercer.
De Weerd: Okay.
Ritchie: Not at all.
De Weerd: Okay. Any questions from Council?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De W eerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: One question. When you were outlining -- I think it was the first slide.
You talked about a cafeteria plan. I just -- I have never heard that before. I'm
just -- it piqued my interest. What's a cafeteria plan and are we providing a
sufficient cafeteria plan?
De Weerd: It doesn't have anything to do with food.
Ritchie: Madam Mayor, Mr. Cavener, a cafeteria plan is simply the flexible
spending plan.
Cavener: Okay. Great. Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions? I hope this information is helpful. If
there is any additional need for data we would appreciate just letting us know and
we will get that out to all of you.
Cavener: This has been great.
Bird: Great.
Cavener: Madam Mayor. These monthly or weekly breakdowns for the budget
for me is so helpful to digest each piece, look at it, hear from the expert. So,
Madam Mayor, thank you. HR manager. CFO. Christena. Thank you all. We
appreciate it.
De Weerd: We appreciate having the opportunity to sit down with all of you and
get a better idea of the information that would be helpful. So, yes, thank you.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, I'm disappointed we didn't get an update on Joe from
last time.
De Weerd: Joe. Tom. What the heck.
Cavener: Just making up names as we go.
Meridian City Council Workshop
April 12, 2016
Page 51 of 57
H. Mayor’s Office: Request for Letter of Support - I-84,
Northside Boulevard to Franklin Boulevard, TIGER and
FAST LANE Grant Application
De Weerd: Okay. Council, Item No. 8-H is a letter that's in your packet. Last
year we made this request -- or we had a request by COMPASS to support this
TIGER grant application that is for the Idaho Transportation Department fast lane
grant and it's -- it's similar to last year's letter and it's the highest unfunded
COMPASS priority at this point and I just want you to know there were no
Meridian specific projects. I wanted to make sure you knew that they had made
that request and would like to go ahead and support funding through this grant
unless there is any objections.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, this one is hard for me. I love big roads. I think a bigger
road would be fantastic in Nampa. As I understand it, TIGER is the offspring of
the stimulus, which I think was highly destructive to our country and so I -- if the
Council wants us to sign it I'm happy to do so, but I -- well, I will do so, but I -- you
know, we talk so much about how awesome we are that we don't go into debt,
that we don't spend taxpayer money that we are going to ask them to pay back
later, but now we are wanting to send a letter that we want to rest of the country
to invest in debt on our children to expand roads in the county to our neighbor.
That's my three and a half cents, with a penny and a half of interest.
De Weerd: And I think that many on this -- this Council would agree with you.
Whether this is an application or it's selected for the grant, the grant dollars are
dedicated. It would just mean our project doesn't get it and some other project
does. So, I guess for -- I will advocate for the hundreds of thousands of cars on
I-84 that travel between the Oregon border and Boise and beyond that get
bottlenecked where the widening project ends and I have heard from the mayors
on that end of the valley how destructive that is and we know it firsthand,
because we saw it at the bottleneck that was created with the Meridian
interchange and so we don't have to send it. I think we would be the only agency
that doesn't.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: While I agree with Councilman Palmer one hundred percent, I also -- what
you just stated is true. That money is going to be spent. It's already been
committed. My great, great grandkids are already in debt up to their eyeballs
thanks to the federal boys, but -- so, it is a bottleneck and if it's available I think
Meridian City Council Workshop
April 12, 2016
Page 52 of 57
that we should -- I would be one to tell the Mayor to sign the letter and get it sent.
Think we need a motion?
De Weerd: I don't think we need a motion. Just if there is any issue on -- other
than we hate debt.
Little Roberts: Somebody is going to get the money. Let it be them.
I. Legal Department: Discussion and Update Regarding
Reenacting Title 1, Chapter 7, Section 10, Meridian City
Code, Repealing Request for Reconsideration and
Reenacting as a Procedure for Request for
Reconsideration
De Weerd: Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Item 8-I. Mr. Nary.
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. On your agenda 9-A
is a proposed ordinance. We -- in 2008 we as a city decided that we needed to
have some method in our land use decisions to allow people to come and
request reconsideration prior to going to district court. It was intended to try to fix
small errors, information that maybe we needed more of. It was, basically, a stop
gap measure that we created locally to maybe avoid some costly expensive
litigation. We haven't had very many cases that are appealed to the district court,
but this really asks for consideration probably over the course of a year we may
have a couple or three. The legislature probably took my lead and decided to
create their own. So, the legislature actually created a statute in the Local Land
Use Planning Act that requires now that you do request reconsiderat ion and so
my original intent was to simply just repeal it and take it out and just follow the
state's lead, but the state didn't create any process or procedure on how to do it.
All it does is state that you have to do it and that you have to follow, ess entially,
the local rules for it. So, it seemed more logical to them -- amend ours or
essentially repeal it and replace it with the procedure. So, ours has a little bit
more flexibility for people to request it. This one doesn't, but it is what the stat e
statute has put into place. So, we do -- all I'm asking you to do is review it, if
you're comfortable with it it's just a procedural thing you can approve the
ordinance tonight. If you would like a little more time, since you haven't had an
opportunity to consider this, we can certainly move it over to a future meeting.
There is no urgency. We have had one recent request for reconsideration that
doesn't meet even our original ordinance, nor the state's ordinance, so it really
doesn't qualify, and it's not timely either. I mean it's premature. So, I have
reached out to that person and advised them of that. But in this one, again, it's
really just creating a procedure, so that we people in the Clerk's Office and the
Planning Department would know how to refer somebody to here is how you
follow what the state code requires. Do you have any questions?
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Nary. Any questions from Council?.
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April 12, 2016
Page 53 of 57
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: As part of the -- the review and it coming back, some of the language --
it's just some suggested additions to it. Under the one, two, three, four listings
there, under three we want to be clear to the applicant that their request -- it's not
inviting them to provide new information that wasn't originally provided. So, I
don't -- it uses the word deficiencies. We don't want to encourage an applicant to
say, you know, you made the wrong decision, because you failed to
consideration this additional information. And so maybe that paragraph three
can be -- or that item three can be described a little more to at least tell them we
are not asking for new information that wasn't already presented for the
reconsideration. Number four, just from a timing perspective if the -- if the
request is received by the clerk's office on a Friday or, heck, even a Monday, you
don't want to have to hear it the day after. The next available Tuesday. That's
probably not the intent of that. But I was more concerned with making sure an
applicant who is requesting is -- is crystal clear what needs to be included in the
application.
Bird: Yeah.
Borton: And, then, six, this is just for more discussion maybe at a later time. I
wasn't certain if no testimony and additional evidence is presented, the request is
before us -- let's say it's a denied annexation, all right, or some -- some sizable
project and is the action of the Council to reconsider -- is it one where we would
say, okay, we want to reconsider it, so let's set this for an another hearing and
perhaps gather more information. It's not necessarily a decision do we want to
reconsider it and like vote right now to change the vote on the project. I wasn't
certain with paragraph six if that's spelled out enough, so when it comes before
us we are not -- we might want to reconsider it, it doesn't mean we are going to
change our mind or is the -- the obligation of the Council when it comes back
before us, are we to right then on that letter decide whether we are changing our
mind or not.
De Weerd: Yeah. And -- and the process has been that you consider the letter
of request for reconsideration and, then, that -- if -- if the Council feels that the
letter raises enough questions that you want to rehear it, then, it goes back
through your process. I don't know if that's captured in this well enough or -- or
not. It really doesn't talk about that process.
Nary: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Borton,
so the -- the language is a little sketchy, because this is what the statute says.
This isn't my words. So, in number three that's exactly what the statute requires
and that -- number five is an addition that we had already added that is silent in
Meridian City Council Workshop
April 12, 2016
Page 54 of 57
the statute, but it's clear to additional -- it's not another hearing. So, that's why I
put that in number five, so no additional evidence would be brought. The number
six again is exactly what the statute says and I agree with the Mayor from a
practical standpoint. I think what the legislature is trying to say is a ffirm, reverse,
or modify and that last clause after compliance with the applicable procedural
standards. So, if the modification is we want to hear it again, then, you would
have to go back through the noticing process and renotice it. If your decision is
as you have pointed out what specific deficiency -- which means they have to
actually not just say we don't like your decision, they have to say you errored by
not doing X, whatever that is. The only other thing I could add to your -- and I
could make some of these changes and bring it back, but -- or maybe make it a
little cleaner or clearer. The one place where you couldn't do that is in an
annexation, because an annexation isn't governed by the Local Land Use
Planning Act, it's covered by the annexation statute in Title 50. So, the
underlying denials could be theoretically appealed, but you can't -- since you
don't have any grounds on the annexation unless you can show some bias, it
would fall necessarily under this specific clause, but I can do a little bit of cleanup
and maybe bring it back to you next week and see if that makes it better or I
could extend it two -- out for two weeks, you have a little more time to review it,
whichever your preference is.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
Borton: Either way, Madam Mayor, as long as it's clear to the -- and maybe the
application with planning that they fill out has a little more of a narrative of the
process, just so long as our practice is identified somewhere so they know what
to expect.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I would feel more comfortable if Bill would reword it.
De Weerd: Bring it back.
Bird: Get it back. Bring it back. Bring it back so everybody is -- feels -- knows
exactly what it says and what it means.
De Weerd: Okay.
Nary: I will do that.
Item 9: Ordinances
Meridian City Council Workshop
April 12, 2016
Page 55 of 57
A. Ordinance No. 16-1682: An Ordinance Repealing and
Reenacting Title 1, Chapter 7, Section 10, Meridian City
Code, Repealing Request for Reconsideration and
Reenacting as a Procedure for Request for
Reconsideration; Providing for a Waiver of the Reading
Rules; and Providing an Effective Date
De Weerd: Thank you for the discussion on that item. 9-A is the proposed
ordinance. Do we need a motion to continue that?
Nary: Yes, ma'am.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we continue the proposed ordinance 16-1682, until April 26th.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to continue this item to April 26th --
and not 19th? So, that gives you two weeks? All those in favor say aye. All
ayes. Motion carried. Let it be noted that Councilman Palmer was out of the
room for that vote.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
B. Ordinance No. 16-1683: An Ordinance of the City of
Meridian (H-2016-0017) Granting the Annexation and
Zoning of 55.55 Acres of Land with the C-C (Community
Business District) (32.84 acres); TN-R (Traditional
Neighborhood Residential) (8.95 acres); TN-C
(Traditional Neighborhood Commercial (6.54 acres); and
R-40 (High Density Residential) (7.22 acres) Zoning
Districts in the Meridian City Code. The Property is a
Parcel of Land Situate in the Northwest Quarter of the
Northeast Quarter and in the Northeast Quarter of the
Northwest Quarter of Section 14, Township 3 North,
Range 1 West, Boise, Ada County, Idaho; and Providing
an Effective Date
De Weerd: Item 9-B is Ordinance 16-1683. Madam Clerk, will you, please, read
this ordinance by title only.
Meridian City Council Workshop
April 12, 2016
Page 56 of 57
Jones: Thank you, Madam Mayor. An Ordinance H-2015-0017 for annexation,
rezone of a parcel of land being a parcel of land situated in the northwest quarter
of the northeast quarter and in the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of
Section 14, Township 3 North, Range 1 West, Boise meridian, Ada County,
Idaho, as described in Attachment A and annexing certain lands and territories
situated in Ada County, Idaho, and adjacent and contiguous to the corporate
limits of the City of Meridian, as requested by the City of Meridian, establishing
and determining the land use zoning classification for said lands from RUT to
C-C, community business district, TN-R, traditional neighborhood residential
district; TN-C, traditional neighborhood district; and R-40, high density residential
district in the Meridian City Code, providing that copies of this ordinance shall be
filed with the Ada County assessor, the Ada County recorder, and the Idaho
State Tax Commission as required by law and providing for a summary of the
ordinance and providing for a waiver of the reading rules and providing an
effective date.
De Weerd: You have heard this ordinance read by title. Is there anyone that
would like to hear it read in it's entirety? Seeing none --
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I move that we approve Ordinance No. 16-1683 with suspension of rules.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-B. If there is no
discussion, Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Council, I would let you know that tonight I will be representing our
city at 9:00 o'clock at Gowen Field to say goodbye to the men and women of the
Idaho National Air Guard as they deploy. Their families will be gatherin g at 9:00
and -- it's a three hour event, so just -- I wanted to let you know that we will
probably have some of our residents that will be deploying tonight and so keep
them in your thoughts.
Item 10: Future Meeting Topics
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April 12, 2016
Page 57 of 57
De Weerd: Any items for consideration under Item 10 for Future Meeting
Topics? No? Okay. I would entertain a motion to close our regular meeting.
Bird: So moved.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:49 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
_______________________________ ______/______/______
MAYOR TAMMY DE WEERD DATE APPROVED
ATTEST:
_____________________________________
JACY JONES, CITY CLERK
Meridian City Council Workshop
April 12, 2016
Page 57 of 57
De Weerd: Any items for consideration under Item 10 for Future Meeting
Topics? No? Okay. I would entertain a motion to close our regular meeting.
Bird: So moved.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:49 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
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