HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-12-12Meridian City Council Workshop December 12,
2017.
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:02 p.m., Tuesday,
December 12, 2017, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Keith Bird, Joe Borton, Ty Palmer, Luke
Cavener, Genesis Milam and Anne Little Roberts.
Others Present: Bill Nary, C.Jay Coles, Caleb Hood, Jeff Lavey, Mark Niemeyer,
Charlie Butterfield, Joe Bongiorno. Warren Stewart, Clint Dolsby, Mike Barton, Caleb
Hood, Steve Siddoway, Dave Tiede, Chris Pope, Keith Watts and Dean Willis
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X__ Anne Little Roberts X _ Joe Borton
X_ Ty Palmer X__ Keith Bird
__X___ Genesis, Milam __X___Lucas Cavener
__X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: Okay. I will go ahead and start tonight's -- or today's meeting. For the
record it is Tuesday, December 12th. It's a couple minutes after 3:00. We will start with
roll call attendance, Mr. Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: 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: Item 3 is adoption of the agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: On the agenda we have two ordinances, Ordinance 17-1756 and 17-1757. And
with that I move we adopt the agenda as published.
Borton: Second.
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December 12, 2017
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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: ALL AYES.
Item 4: Consent Agenda
A. Approve Minutes of November 28, 2017 City Council Regular
Meeting
B. Swindell Subdivision Sewer and Water Main Easement #2
C. Swindell Subdivision Sewer and Water Main Easement #3
D. Swindell Subdivision Sewer and Water Main Easement #4
E. Madden Subdivision Water Main Easement #1
F. Madden Subdivision Water Main Easement #2
G. Madden Subdivision Water Main Easement #3
H. Madden Subdivision Water Main Easement #4
I. Madden Subdivision Water Main Easement #5
J. Caven Ridge East Water Main Easement
K. Joint No. 2 Subdivision Phase 1 Easement Partial Release
L. Oaks South Subdivision No. 6 Pathway Agreement
M. Development Agreement for Sky Mesa Subdivision (H-2107-
0068) with Blackrock, LLC/Triple D Land and Livestock, LLC
and Sky Mesa Development, LLC located at 5899 S. Eagle
Road, in the east ½ of Section 32, Township 3 North, Range 1
East. (Parcel No.: R0988262000; R0988260164; and
R0988260490)
N. Development Agreement for Gensco (H-2017-0098) with Kobe,
LLC located at the northeast corner of N. Locust Grove Road
and E. Franklin Road, in the SW ¼ of Section 8, Township 3
North, Range 1 East. (Parcel No.: S1108336020)
O. Final Order for Brickyard Subdivision No. 3 (H-2017-0144) by
John Carpenter located at 3611 N. Centrepoint Way
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December 12, 2017
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P. Final Order for Brickyard Subdivision No. 4 (H-2017-0143) by
John Carpenter located at 3611 N. Centrepoint Way
Q. Final Order for Shelburne No. 2 (H-2017-0148) by Shelburne
Properties LLC Located East of S. Eagle Road on the South
Side of E. Zaldia Lane
R. Final Order for Oaks South Subdivision No. 7 (H-2017-0147) by
Toll ID I, LLC Located on the South Side of W. McMillan Road,
approximately 1/2 mile west of N. Black Cat Road
S. Final Order for Oaks South Subdivision No. 8 (H-2017-0146) by
Toll ID I, LLC Located on the South Side of W. McMillan Road,
approximately 1/2 mile west of N. Black Cat Road
T. Final Order for Rockbury Subdivision (H-2017-0131) by Rock
Harbor Church, Inc. located at 6437 N. Tree Haven Way
U. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for East Ridge Estates
Subdivision (H-2017-0129) by DevCo, LLC located north of E.
Lake Hazel Road, west of S. Eagle Road
V. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Swindell Subdivision
(H-2017-0145) by Volante Investments, LLLP is located off the
northwest corner of
S. Locust Grove Road and E. Overland Road
W. First Amendment To Agreement For Extension Of Domestic
Sewer Service Outside Meridian City Limits: 1035 E. Fairview
Avenue
X. Temporary Construction Easement for ACHD for Linder Road
Widening Project
Y. Resolution No. 17-2051: Accepting the 2018 Initial Point
Gallery Schedule Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda
Z. Professional Services Agreement For Concert Series
Production Services with WineGlass Arts Development for an
amount not to exceed $20,000
AA. AP Invoices for Payment - $1,218,727.61
De Weerd: Item 4 is the Consent Agenda.
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December 12, 2017
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Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approved the Consent Agenda as published 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, Mr. 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: ALL AYES.
Item 5: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda
De Weerd: There were no items move from the Consent Agenda.
Item 6: Community Items/Presentations
A. Invitation to City Council to View Meridian Historical Society
Collections by Lila Hill
De Weerd: So, we will move into Item 6-A, which is a community presentation. Thank
you, Lila, for joining us. If you want to pull the mic down.
Hill: I did not fix a presentation, because I know your time is valuable, but I would like to
invite all of you to come for a guided tour of the archives holdings, which we have in the
basement, which have been gathered in the past 30 years by volunteers and I think that
with -- we might let Keith come, too. I think he's done this once, but with several coming
on Council or that have not been to one of these, I think it would help the Council
perhaps to know where we have been, what we have, and what we are doing while we
are in there. So, set your own time. We could do it in two groups. We could do it
daytime. We could do it during vacation. So, just let us know what your pleasure is.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bird: Thank you, Lila.
De Weerd: Council, would you like April to maybe coordinate a couple of dates?
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Milam: That would be great.
Cavener: That would be great and perhaps maybe before one of our regular Council
meetings. We can do it earlier in the -- or later in the afternoon, but before our meeting.
De Weerd: Okay.
Cavener: That would be great. I'd love to come do that.
De Weerd: Okay.
Hill: We can do that.
De Weerd: Awesome. Well, that would mean probably we will look at a couple of dates
in January.
Hill: Okay. Sounds great.
De Weerd: Thank you, Lila.
Bird: Thanks, Lila.
B. Impact Fee Committee Presentation
De Weerd: Okay. Item 6-B under our impact fee committee for their presentation and I
think, Matt, you will be leading the discussion. Or did you know that?
Adams: Yes. Good afternoon. I apologize I woke up with a little bit of a cold, so you
have to take it easy on me today if you could.
De Weerd: Okay.
Adams: So, thanks for having us here today. I do have -- it's not just me, it's the Impact
Advisory -- Impact Fee Advisory Committee is the group -- most of us are here and also
to Todd Lavoie and Jenny Fields, which have -- they have been helping us a ton and
they have been excellent. So, the staff has been a super helpful part of our committee.
Most of the folks on our committee -- we have been on this group since 2013 or so and
we are going to talk to you today -- there we go. Perfect. Okay. So, you can see the
agenda there. Really, what we want to talk about -- so, in 2014 the -- we had a
consultant -- you had a consultant that came and presented a proposed rate for impact
fees and our role at the time of the committee -- we review those, we ask questions, we
worked with fire, parks and police to really try to understand and see what an
appropriate rate was. So, what has spurred this meeting is -- if you rewind way back to
2014, the Council accepted a slightly lower rate and our committee was -- was
surprised. We -- we actually didn't understand why -- we weren't sure why. So, we
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December 12, 2017
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thought we better get ourselves educated and understand the process better than we
did at that time. So, we have met quarterly ever since that rate adoption in '14. So, for
about three years we have been working really hard at getting educated and at
outreach. So, some of the things we have done -- we have done facility tours for parks,
fire and police and worked on getting a better understanding of what they do, what their
challenges are, what kind of facilities they are building and they own. We have had
presentations from Ada County Highway District on how they do their impact fees and
we have also had some presentations from the development community on what does it
-- what does it really cost to develop a project, because there is entitlements and there
is a lot of up front work that the general public doesn't necessarily understand and we
also, in the outreach side, we have attended one of the Building Contractors Association
meetings and presented some information to them as well. So, we have got a really
good 12 meetings or whatever it's been. Really understanding the process better. So,
after all that work and educating, we did decide that we -- maybe if you could advance
one. Let me back up. So, this -- so, to give you a little bit of background -- so, we have
been doing that education. Let's go back and these are the fees that you adopted in
2014 and just know -- nothing magical here, we just want to show you what they were.
Then next. This is what was proposed in 2014 and, then, we can see the side by side
for the next -- okay. So, you have there on the left, then, the adopted fees. On the right
the proposed fees. And, then, the difference down below. Okay. So, you can see that
there was a slight difference and a slight reduction in the recommended fee that was
accepted. The reason we are here today is we want to ask Council to kind of think
through -- take some time to think on this -- what was adopted and we want to propose
two options. We want to propose that at this time Council accepts the proposed fee that
we brought to you in 2014 and there is a couple of reasons why we want to do that. So,
we could go to our next slide. So, we know costs are up for everybody and this is not
unique to the City of Meridian and it's not unique to public agencies. The developers'
costs are up. Builders' costs are up. And as a city you're facing -- I don't want to call it
crisis level inflation, but the cost increases over the last three years are dramatic and
have a major impact. We just had a couple quick facts we wanted to share with you.
You know, a fire engine is up roughly seven percent. And we put this together a few
weeks ago. It might be eight percent now. I mean, you know, it's that kind of an
economy we are in that costs are ratcheting up quickly. Very quickly. Building square
footage. So, to design, permit, and construct a building, you know, we used to be
around 200, 220 dollars per square foot. And these are public buildings, not like a
house; right? If that number sounds high to you. But we are now looking at 300 dollars
a square foot. That's kind of the projection for what Station Seven might cost to
construct. And this is just in the three years, this increase. And, then, the last one there
is parks. So, the development -- to develop parks acreage at the time the fees were
adopted, we were estimating about 142,000 an acre and that's every bit of 200,000 an
acre now. So, just some examples. And I think -- I mean if any of you have bought a
home in the past three years or built anything, you know this real life in your lives and
you have experienced this. So, everyone in this community is being affected by these --
these costs. So, we as a committee have -- have talked this through a lot and we think
that Council has two options. So, we would like to ask that you weigh these two options
and, then, in January make a decision on how you would like to move forward. So, the
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two options that we see would be to adopt the 2014 proposed rate and there is a couple
of consequences or outcomes that occur if you do that. We think that it's going to help
the city meet the demands of our current growth. As you know, impact fees are a
mechanism by which growth pays for growth. Adopting those 2014 rates doesn't take
us back in time, but it would be adoption of those rates from today moving forward and it
would help us meet the demands of the current growth. It would help maintain levels of
service for fire, parks and police by putting new facilities in place for those growth areas.
We think that this would have a positive impact to the levy rate and, then, the other --
again, these aren't just a pros list, this is a cons list. We think that this would result in an
increased cost to builders and developers. So, that has to be considered in this
decision. Option two would be to retain the current rates and kind of in our session or
brainstorming we felt that the results of that could be the city would fall behind on the
demands of current growth for new facilities. There is a risk -- a real risk of loss of level
of service and there is also a negative impact to the levy rate through lost revenues,
which impact the General Fund. So, I mean there is a lot to weigh here. The
development community -- I think we -- I don't want to say we were naive to that
community the first time we brought these 2014 proposal rates to you, but that
community is the most vocal against a higher rate and we want you to know that we
have thought about that and we understand that there are some costs that are incurred
by that community that, hopefully, some of it they pass through, some of it they may be
able to collect on the price of the home, but some of it they cannot do that, it's a cost to
them. We are aware of that. However, the costs -- our task working for the city and the
whole community and the -- all of Meridian, not just the new folks that move in, but
including them, we feel like there is a bigger cost if we defer these revenues to the
greater community of Meridian. So, that's it. That's our presentation. And we -- we
really would like you to weigh the options, think through it, and then -- I mean ultimately
what we would love you -- for you to do is adopt the 2014 rates and we think that that
would result in moving forward in the best scenario for the City of Meridian. Okay. So,
we can answer any questions. I have got the whole team here. We have got Jenny
with us if we have got technical finance questions, which none of us are experts on that,
but any questions you have I would love to --
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Thank you, Matt. And just to note, two of our Council Members are new
and weren't part of the 2014 decision. Mr. Bird.
Bird: Matt, on the multi-family, we -- you're going to -- you want to charge for every door
on an apartment building the same as you're charging for a residence for the parks?
Adams: So --
Bird: And I -- and most of them have their own amenities. Most apartments aren't
family friendly I don't think -- not ever having lived in one I don't know, but we had to
come back -- I believe it was two or three years ago and reduce that down, because
that is -- that is not -- if they exist -- if the Council and the city don't want any more multi-
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family, this is a good way to keep it in. You can't -- you can't -- for every apartment door
get the same park impact fee that you do for a house?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I don't know if there was a --
De Weerd: I think there was a question there that maybe our parks director can -- can
address if Matt doesn't feel comfortable.
Adam: Councilman Bird, thanks for your comments. So, yes, the proposed rate is the
same for a single family residential unit and a multi-family on the proposed rate. So,
that's accurate. And the adopted rates were not. The multi-family was lower and I don't
know -- I guess I'm with you -- your comment. I'm not really sure how the demographics
are and who lives in an apartment versus a house. You know, just anecdote from
people I know, there is families, there is single people, there is people sharing
apartments and I'm not sure if we have ever seen or kept count who walks across to
Settlers -- you know, from an apartment versus a house. So, I don't know that. I know
that the parks director -- they have a number of acres per thousand people that they try
to maintain and I think that's just total population. I don't know that it's designated as
multi-family or single-family homes. But that's -- that's as far as I can go in an answer.
De Weerd: Okay. Well, we will ask Steve to join you there and --
Siddoway: Good afternoon, Council Members. So, my perspective on this is similar to
what we testified in 2014 and that is that I believe the families in apartments and the
families in single family homes all use parks and recreation services similarly. I think
they attend Movie Nights from apartments the way they attend Movie Nights from single
family homes. I would agree that they have some nice amenities at apartments, but we
also require open space and amenities in the single family home subdivisions as well.
So, those amenities add to our overall effective level of service, but the -- the total level
of service for the community I believe is equally shared by the families of Meridian
regardless of what type of dwelling they are in.
De Weerd: Yeah. I don't know if there any one study that can either confirm or -- or not
the -- the answer to that question. I do know some of the people that live in the -- the
apartments over by The Village and they love the proximity of the park. So, that -- that
kind of tells me, well, if they like that they must be using it, so --
Siddoway: I would also just point out that prior to 2014 they were the same, single
family, multi-family, and they were about 300 dollars more than what's even proposed
here. So, they have gone down from what they were even then. But they were the
same going into the 2014 presentation.
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De Weerd: Thank you. Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, thanks. Matt, did the committee contemplate -- I think the
word you used early on was a shortfall. Did the committee contemplate a third option
that would increase the rates to, essentially, capture the shortfall that's been created by
the Council's decision four years ago?
Adams: We did not -- and correct me if I'm wrong, guys, but, no, what we talked about
was -- because there is a -- there is kind of a -- there is lost opportunity -- lost revenues
that we did not capture the last three years. However, growth was up. So, some of the
actual collected money has a high number. It looks really high, just because growth
was very -- very rapid.
Cavener: Uh-huh.
Adams: What we looked at is -- we need to -- we think we need to capture the
proposed fees moving forward and we need to start our process at looking at what the
next impact fee might need to be at. So, that was the -- the only other thing we talked
about is that starting the process for the next level of impact fee.
De Weerd: And that's a good question, Mr. Cavener. I don't think we can go back and
collect something that -- to close the gap. I think the proposal is just moving from --
from January forward when you make the decision.
Cavener: Yeah.
De Weerd: I think that the -- the gap was part of your budget presentation. I believe
that Todd had shared what could have been collected and what was collected because
we didn't charge the full amount. Any other questions from Council?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Matt or maybe Jenny, do you have the ballpark figure of -- over those three
years what that revenue --
Fields: Madam Mayor and Members of the Council, yes, we have a ballpark. So, in FY-
2014, '15, and '16 the cumulative amount between the three departments is 1.7 million.
If you want a breakdown of the department I can also list that.
Borton: Madam Mayor, one other question for you, Matt. On the -- it sounded like in
your remarks that what we are seeing here -- the BBC research and the data that it was
based upon to maintain levels of service paid for by growth is what created these 2014
proposed impact fees. We took something less, which created a gap of 1.7 that the
General Fund filled in. Basically our existing residents paid for services caused by
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growth to that -- to the tune of about 1.7. But you also -- it sounded like you said the
underlying costs that the 2014 rates were based upon, cost of fire engines and park
acreage perhaps, those costs have gone up, too. So, is it accurate to say that not only
-- or have we lost impact fee revenue based on the 2014 price figures, but the costs to
provide those same levels of service has also gone up, so the -- the decision to not
utilize this proposed impact fee rates is even greater. Does that make sense? So, for
example, if -- if we were to adopt the 2014 proposed rates, those are based on old cost
figures that aren't necessarily current, so we tactically still might not be capturing the full
cost of growth, short of doing a BBC research again.
Adams: Right. Councilman Borton, Madam Mayor, I would agree. And what's really
hard to pin down is -- I think Station Seven is the next fire station that's actually getting
kicked off right now. Would it have started in 2015 if the rate structure that was
proposed would have been in place and, then, for '16; right? And, then, could you have
saved and maybe built it for 250 dollars a square foot and been collecting the full impact
fee that was recommended. So, you're right. So, we have a -- we have a not collected
amount and, then, we have this huge surge in cost, which we have -- we did not
calculate what that was. So, the 1.7 is not the full impact of that reduced fee adoption.
It's only part of it. So, the city has made up for that, though. I mean the city has still
moved forward with projects and has still provided levels of service and, you know, with
the new south regional park, things like that, it's just coming from a different source. It's
coming from folks like -- everybody on this committee who has lived here for a while, we
are all chipping in our fair share, maybe, but I live near Settlers and I generally use that
park. I paid an impact when I bought my house there. I don't know how often I will go
to the south regional park, which I guess in our opinion it should be built by funding from
new -- new residents, so -- so, yeah, you're right. There is a double effect of not
accepting those fees. Because it delays projects.
Borton: Madam Mayor? Is it a -- is it a fair summary to -- to oversimplify it to -- to pick a
philosophy of having that growth-related expense paid for by the growth or to simply
accept that current residence and the General Fund needs to cover some of those
expenses? You pick one lane or the other, basically. If you take less than -- assuming
the data behind the research is accurate, you pick the path that growth pays for it or you
just -- in door number two and say we are going to have -- pass some of those costs
onto our existing residents. And door number three, I guess, is agree to reduce our
level of service, which nobody -- isn't really a path anyone wants to pick. That's fair?
Adams: I think that's fair. That's in line with our discussions and thinking in our
committee meetings. Yes.
Borton: Madam Mayor? Last -- last comment. The accuracy of the assumptions in the
data that all this is based upon is critical and the work of the committee is outstanding
and the recommendations and the thorough vetting you guys do is really important -- it's
important to make sure that the decision, whatever it is, is accurate, best interest of the
city. I don't think that can happen -- certainly hard for us to do that without the work you
guys all slug through for years and years, quite frankly. So, thank you for all of that.
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Adams: Thank you.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, it doesn't have to be answered in the moment, unless
somebody knows the answer, but my question I guess would be how much has been
spent for the General Fund on parks that would have been used with impact fees had
they been available in that time period?
Adams: Councilman Palmer, I don't know the answer to that, but I know we have
discussed it and I -- Steve, do you know --
De Weerd: And we just are finishing up three parks that I know of that was built in that
-- that time period.
Siddoway: Yeah. And I need to verify this with Finance. I don't -- I think that the
construction dollars for the three parks that are in right now, the Keith Bird Legacy Park,
Reta Huskey Park and Hillsdale Park, which is still under construction, are all impact
fees. What came before you this summer, though, is -- there is a split between General
Fund and impact fees going toward the south Meridian regional park for -- for next year.
So, I think that the -- the current slate of parks are impact fees, but there is a split that
involves General Fund for the south Meridian park. I don't have the numbers in front of
me, but we can get those.
Palmer: Madam Mayor? So, then, the -- for the recommendation the -- the largest
dollar impact to -- to the recommended change is with parks, which has been able to --
with the exception of a future park, been able to cover building of parks with existing
impact fee schedule?
Siddoway: We are -- we -- we are using funds for those parks that would have gone
towards the south Meridian park. Because of the increased cost, because of the -- you
know, what would have been the account -- so, yes, we had an account that allowed us
to do those parks. That is true. But we are spending money that would have gone
towards south Meridian.
Palmer: Thanks.
De Weerd: Other questions? Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Did I understand correctly that at one point the impact fees were higher
than the last accepted impact fees?
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Adams: Yeah. Council Woman Little Roberts, Madam Mayor, yes, and I don't -- I don't
have that right in front of me and I don't think Jenny does either. Okay. We don't have
that, but the park specifically was higher previous to the 2014 adopted rates than it is
today. I don't know on fire and police.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? Matt, Jenny, could we get those just sent to us? That
would be great. Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions from Council? So, I know you had mentioned,
Matt, that this was informational and -- and that the impact fee committee was hoping
for some direction from Council next month. Did you have a particular agenda that you
were hoping to see that on?
Adams: Well, we -- I know that the timing of it -- Madam Mayor, good question -- is that
if we were to adopt in January, the earliest the fee mechanism could be adjusted and
put into place would be March of 2018. So, you know, our request that you look at this
and adopt it -- we would like it to go as quickly as possible, but we understand
December is wrapping up rapidly or coming to a close --
De Weerd: Well, we need a public hearing on that.
Adams: Right. So, we would want to get on an agenda for a January public hearing
and, then, have a formal agenda item and I think the question before you would be do
we adopt, from this point forward, the 2014 proposed impact fees. I mean there could
always be an interim step, but -- and we talked about that. I mean I want you to know
we had a lot of discussions in our committee group and at first I don't think everybody
really -- we had to work really hard to get to this point where we felt it was serious
enough and we all felt and had consensus that we would bring it to you. There were
people that were very worried about how it would impact builders and the development
community. So, I know it's -- it's a big question before the Council as well. So, I don't
think we wanted to impose a deadline on you, because we don't know what it takes for
you to weigh the decision and come to a conclusion. January seems appropriate, but
only if you have enough information before you to really make a determination.
De Weerd: So, Mr. Nary, what is the -- the soonest as with public noticing that this
could be put on for public hearing to solicit information or feedback from the citizens,
from those that it would impact, as well as provide that additional information?
Nary: So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I couldn't give you a specific date. I
know there is a public hearing requirement. I think what the committee was looking for
was either today or at a meeting in early January the decision to move forward with the
public hearing. If the Council is comfortable with at least giving that direction, we can,
then, begin the noticing process. There is a three week process that's required for -- if
the decision is -- after the public hearing to, then, adjust the rate, there is a three week
process for that as well, because it has to go through three readings. We can
accelerate the readings for that. So, when you look at it from that perspective it takes
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about a month to increase the rates at the minimum once you have a hearing. So, if the
decision is today to move forward with a hearing, we can begin that process with the
clerk's office to get the noticing done. If the decision is to wait until January -- a January
meeting to make the decision to move forward, then, it just pushes it out a little further.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: January 16th is a -- you could have your public hearing at that time, couldn't you,
Bill? If we -- if we give the go ahead today that will give you plenty of time to get it out.
Nary: I'm getting the recommendation, yes, we can do that, Mr. Bird.
Bird: That's what -- I will speak for you guys. That's what I would do. Very good. You
guys will do very good.
De Weerd: Okay. So, Council, any -- any discussion on what you would like to see
happen?
Milam: Sounds good to me, Madam Mayor.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I'm supportive with moving forward with scheduling the public hearing for the
16th of January. I think it's the appropriate move.
Bird: Get the notices out.
Cavener: Hearing from the stakeholders, hear from the people in our community before
we make a decision.
De Weerd: Okay. Well, then, I think that our city attorney has a direction to move
forward on public notice on this and bring the recommendation to Council from the
Impact Fee Committee and in the interim Jenny will get the information that was
requested by Mrs. Little Roberts. Any additional information needed from Council?
Okay. Very good. Thank you. Maybe just -- Steve, if you can -- in response to
Councilman Palmer's question, get a summary on the parks that we have developed,
maybe how that compares to the CIP and the cost per acre and how many acres we did
develop versus how many we could have, so we know what we are borrowing into the
77 acre -- does that make sense? Okay.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: And on that, I don't know if -- if anyone's ever attempted to calculate it, but, you
know, we require ten percent open space and Council Woman Milam makes sure there
is tot lots everywhere. Those are parks -- so, I know that we are not calculating
currently into our -- our -- our parks -- thousand acre -- whatever it is. But, in reality,
they do exist, they are being used, and I'm curious to know how that would affect the
number that we all seem to -- what is this the most important thing in the world, so --
thanks.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you for your time. I know our impact fee committee is -- is
one of those -- you meet quarterly and you don't gain a whole lot of hoopla and -- but we
appreciate your -- your service to the community. I know that our citizens are
concerned about that growth pays for itself and you do drill into the details of that. So,
thank you for your service and we will see you next month.
C. Solid Waste Advisory Committee Report and Recommendation
of Two Community Recycling Fund Applications for Approval
De Weerd: Okay. 6-C is under our Solid Waste Advisory Committee and we have
Steve Cory here.
Cory: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I come here at the behest of the Solid
Waste Advisory Commission and as always we offer you our greetings and thank you
for the support that you give us. With your concurrence this year we went ahead and
opened a window to take applications from the community to -- for use of community
recycling funds. We had an opportunity this summer when the recycled market was
good and as a result of that the recycling fund had grown to the point where it was
44,650 dollars. I believe you would remember that we have commissioned a project,
which we brought before you already, to go ahead and purchase a Tapa leaf shaped
bench in the south regional park for 2,756. That's kind of reserved out of this. So, what
was available during this review process -- application process was 41,895 dollars. We
received two applications and the commission reviewed those, vetted them, and we are
bringing those to you for your consideration with do pass recommendations. I'm going
to go ahead and talk about each one individually. The first one is one brought to us by
Mike Barton. Well, before I say that, I should say -- I do want to call out Konard
McDannel with Republic Services, who provided us invaluable service during this time
to receive the applications and go ahead and make sure they were complete, so that
they were ready for our consideration and without the help of Republic Services and
Konard we would not have even gotten to this point.
De Weerd: Thank you, Konard.
Cory: Now, back to that. Mike Barton on behalf of the Parks Department brought an
application to request funding for liter receptacles for the south regional park and while
litter management in the City of Meridian isn't necessarily part of our charter, it's one
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that we are hearing things about, we know it was part of the community survey this
summer and what we do have on this is that the liter receptacles would be made of
recycled plastic material enhancing the market, similar to Trex stack and decking, but
the application asks for $9,702.25 to match 5,000 dollars -- or let's see -- 47 --
$4,702.25 matched in that request. A total of 14,404 dollars for the -- enhanced for the
whole project to go ahead and put in the liter receptacles and with that I'm going to go
ahead and call Mike Barton up here to go ahead and talk a little bit about the details of
the project.
De Weerd: Thank you, Steve. Hi, Mike.
Barton: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to
stand for questions and give you more details on this application. I think Steve did a
good job explaining what our ask is. It's for 35 recycled plastic slatted liter receptacles
for the new park in south Meridian. The total request is 9,700 dollars from the Solid
Waste Advisory Commission and we would provide a 4,700 dollar match towards that.
If this is -- if this is approved -- I know in the past SWAC has sponsored recycling
containers for parks, but we didn't -- we didn't complete an application for those
containers, because they don't meet the requirements of the program. There is no
recycled content in those containers, but what this will allow us to do is -- we will save
the money on liter receptacles that we can put towards recycled containers in the park.
I just wanted to clarify that. With that I will stand for any questions you might have.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions for Steve or Mike?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Barton: Thanks.
De Weerd: So, you're seeking Council's direction on your recommendation?
Cory: Correct.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Milam. Sorry.
Milam: Steve, do you want to present both of these and, then, ask our
recommendations or one at a time?
Cory: I certainly serve at the Council's pleasure. If you would like to go ahead and
consider both at the same time or one at a time, we can work either way.
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De Weerd: Yeah. I think you can present the other one as well and, then, entertain any
questions and Council could treat them both or separately.
Cory: Okay. The second application that we received was for use of a Conex style
shipping container that would be retrofitted such that it can be used as a -- a library. It
would go in the Hillsdale Park in the school area, be an auxiliary building to the school
and provide library services in the south Meridian area and in that case the total project
costs 25,000 dollars of that -- the community recycling fund would provide 15,000
dollars and the Meridian Library District would provide 10,000 dollars. So, this one is a
request for 15,000 dollars to facilitate the project and I'm going to go ahead and call
Gretchen up here to go ahead and give us a few more details about the project.
Klein: Hello.
De Weerd: Hi, Gretchen.
Klein: Hi, Madam Mayor, Council. Thank you for having us and to the council -- the
commission for considering the request. As he expressed, we are excited to think about
repurposing a shipping container to be able to provide children's library services at the
Hill. The project has been moving and evolving daily since we threw our hat in the ring
with our application. So, further detail continues to come every day, including today, in
terms of the slight location where we have been able to identify a spot to minimize
infrastructure, laying power cabling and things like that and the site that is working best
for the project is actually closer to the Howry Lane -- near the Y's entrance -- between
the school and the Y's entrance. We found a spot that will minimize the amount of
concrete we would have to pour and better leverage the site. So, that's kind of where
we are starting to shift to using the container. W e anticipate getting community
involvement. We will be launching a children's book drive to fill the container and we
are presently working -- this week they -- our meeting is scheduled with city staff as well
to review the project with Planning and Zoning and the building departments and so
forth. So, it's quickly moving. We anticipate being able to open in June if everything
goes as planned and be able to be there both when our summer reading program kicks
off, as well as when the other partners are opening their facilities to the community. So,
I would be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Hopefully I'm able to
answer them.
De Weerd: Thank you, Gretchen.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Milam.
Milam: This is such a unique and great project. You had some pictures -- do you have
any pictures with you that we could show everybody where the picture --
Klein: I have this that I can pass around. I guess I thought that was --
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Milam: C.Jay can probably put it up on the --
Klein: Yeah.
Milam: Just give it to C.Jay and he can stick it up so everybody can see it.
Klein: We -- Madam Mayor. We looked at some models from around the world. We
have been unable to identify any in the United States at this point, but we did find in
places like South Africa schools that were using shipping containers to create
classrooms where they were unable to build them and so we found some really colorful,
playful, fun models that we might be able to use as an inspiration and these are just
concepts, so we are still working with an architect to get a rendering that will meet the
building requirements, P&Z requirements and what will work on this site there. But
something to that effect, if he's been able to get that up. Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: A couple questions for you, Gretchen. First when it's time for the book drive,
please, give us all a call, I think we would all want to help with that.
Klein: Thank you.
Cavener: Regarding the shipping container, this is a question here for you or for Cory.
Who ultimately owns it? Whose -- whose asset is the shipping container?
Klein: That is a great question and because it's unusual there is -- we are still trying to
make sure we do our due diligence and understanding is it a building accessory or is it a
new facility and the intent is that it would be our object and we will be leasing the ground
from the Y in order to place it there. Does that answer the question? What we had in
the application was the Treasure Valley Children's Theater had offered to donate the
container they have, but we have -- with that particular offer we have been unable to
accept it, because no one has any storage and we don't have any place to put the
Children' Theater's things, because they don't have a space to store them themselves
and so we also priced out getting a donation of a shipping container and found that the
costs to do the work to make it habitable are just as much as purchasing one from a
company and having them kind of do the module approach to the construction of it. So,
the way it's been discussed with the Y is that it would be ours, we would be able to
move it in the future if that ever arose. We are still making sure we work through the
definitions of temporary facility versus permanent facility, but the hope would be, you
know, we could even work with the parks sometime to do something like that if we are
unable to build our branches and do something -- it doesn't have bathrooms. It's 300
square feet, so it's pretty small. We are calling it the tiny library, because it's tiny.
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De Weerd: It's like a tiny home, huh?
Klein: Exactly.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, a couple of questions. Gretchen, I recognize that we are in
the infant seed of the proposed programming time. I mean is this something that's
going to be open seven days a week? Is it going to be open on a limited schedule?
Any ideas as to when the public would be able to utilize the facility? The object I guess.
Klein: Yes. Councilman Cavener, thank you. We have mapped out -- we would like to
do a six day service, but the hours would not be -- we would not be able to operate it at
the same level that we do the existing branches, because we are using the same
resources to reallocate operational funds, but we do expect it to be open in some of the
peak times based on our normal usage. So, in the mornings, after school, Saturdays
and so we do have a temporary -- or not a temporary, preliminary hours of operation
scheduled and we are looking at probably closer like 20 hours a week versus 65 of a
fully functioning branch.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, one more if I may. I think I heard you say and I just want to
get clarification. This object would be placed on school district land, but you would own
it and so if it outlived its life span, the library is the one who is responsible for removing
it or reallocating it and the program --
Klein: It actually would be on the Y's -- the Y's property.
Cavener: The Y's property. Okay.
Klein: But right on the side where the school backs up on that area. And, yes, we
would, then, be responsible for moving it or -- you know.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions? Thank you, Gretchen.
Klein: Thank you. Thank you, again, to the commission as well.
Cory: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we do bring these two for your
consideration with a do pass recommendation and as a matter of information, if both of
them were approved there would still be 17,195 dollars in the community recycling fund.
The Solid Waste Advisory Commission has no intent or intentions on that 17,000 at this
time, but just for your information, that's where the fund would be after consideration.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Cory: Further questions?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Seeing none, I move that we approve the Solid Waste Advisory Committee's
recommendation for both of these applications.
Little Roberts: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and the second. Any discussion from Council? Okay. Mr.
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 so much and, again, thank you, Konard, Gretchen, Mike. Thank
you.
Cory: And thank you.
Item 7: Department Reports
A. Information Technology: Annual Department Report
De Weerd: 7-A under the Department Reports, we will start with our annual update with
Information Technology.
Tiede: Good afternoon, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Happy to be here
before you today. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to give you an update on the IT
Department and the services we offer and things that we have done over the last year
and things that are coming up. So, to get started, just to kind of give you a brief
overview of the services that we have in our IT Department to date and I'm going to go
through each one individually, but high level, we have our service desk, we have our
software engineering group, we have GIS services, our infrastructure services and,
then, business analysis and project management. This is our service desk team and we
have a couple of interns. Jared Day, our support intern. Nathan Montgomery, our
graphics intern. Stephanie Beck is our asset management coordinator. We have a
vacant position right now of a support tech. That's our help desk tier one position. And,
then, we have two support specialist, Ryan Dusenbury and Cliff Kessinger and, then,
our service desk manager Paul Masselli. So, our service desk is really our technical
support first line defense for anything that comes up technical supportwise from
hardware, software issue. The service desk also handles graphic design, as you can
see with our intern there and, then, we also handle purchasing and asset management
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for any technology-related items throughout the city. So, that is what our service desk
team does.
De Weerd: And I think Cliff has been on a whole one week or two?
Tiede: He is at -- I think a week and half.
Kessinger: Three.
De Weerd: Oh, my goodness. Time flies. Right?
Tiede: It sure does. It sure does. So, you will see some of them out here in the
audience, too, so you can kind of put a name and face if you would like. Next on my list
here we have our software engineering and GIS teams. We have three software
engineers -- full-time software engineers. Nick Phares, Dwain Nell, and Ryan Schafer.
We have our web developer Catherine Roebuck and, then, our software engineering
manager Mike Tanner and, then, for our GIS team we have Matt Hoffman, our GIS
analyst, and Doug Green, our GIS developer. So, our software engineering team
handles application development, which includes process improvement, support,
integration with other applications, third-party applications support whenever it really
gets into the weeds as far as technical things that we need to do integrationwise or
reportwise. Our GIS team really does mapping services, GIS analysis, and
development and that's used as tools for all the departments around the city to help
make decisions around their process and their business needs, so -- and, then, our web
developer handles our website and is continuing to migrate things over as we continue
that project, which I will get into in a little more detail later. And, then, kind of the last
group that we have is our infrastructure and systems analysis slash project manager
team. Eli Daniel is our network administrator.
De Weerd: And the thinker.
Tiede: Yeah. You like that picture?
De Weerd: Yeah.
Tiede: I had to put that one on there. I couldn't resist. I almost used it as a background
for the slide, but -- Jamie Beehn is our assistant administrator. Kristy Vigil is systems
analyst slash project manager and I am the CIO. For infrastructure we handle a lot of
the back end, which is servers, storage, network, any associated security. Kristi
handles our systems analysis and project management. That's really comprised of
business analysis, how do specific pieces of software meet the needs of business and
mesh with their processes. And, then, handling -- managing projects like that as we --
as they come up. And, then, myself, I like to tell people I sit around and watch YouTube
all day, but I really don't, so --
De Weerd: Yeah. Right.
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Tiede: This is the org chart of our department. It was a challenge getting it on one
slide, but it's there, so you can kind of see reporting structure and where people fit, so --
I wanted to next talk about some highlights from 2017, including kind of an update on
our Council Chambers, our cyber security assessment that we got funded last year.
One of the applications that we developed internally for a department, public records
request software, and, then, an effort done by our GIS group, along with Public Works
and a couple of other GIS power users. So, to get started our Council Chambers
technology refresh, you guys have all heard a lot about this over the last year. You
have been the -- the culprits of our -- our fun endeavors to make your lives easier
eventually. It's been -- it's been a bumpy road, but we feel like we have -- we have
made some nice improvements for our citizen viewing experience and audio
experience. We have heard very positive things as far as the experience in here for our
citizens. One specifically was, actually, Meridian Business Day when things were
actually configured and used the way they were supposed to, the experience people got
to hear and see things really well and that was a great -- great thing to hear. We have
made the streaming better, so the audio and video on that is better, but we have also
noticed an increase or uptick in viewership there. It's not consistent, but it does happen
from time to time and it's higher numbers than we were seeing a year and a half ago.
So, I think that through that -- those efforts we are reaching more people. So, that's
important. On that note we are also -- we are also able to do that same thing with other
commission meetings. You have probably heard that we have started doing that with
other commission meetings starting this month and we are also doing town halls and
some other meetings. So, anyway, good changes. We had a budget workshop in
which we saw how well the roundtable setting worked for this room. Very pleased with
that outcome. Really like the set up and I think all of you walked away with the same
positive experience, so that was definitely a positive thing. And, then, we have also --
one of the things that has really been pretty impressive working with the contractor that
we selected is the flexibility for customization. If you recall early on we had concerns
with mic lights, right, knowing whether mics are on or off and as you can see you have
something on screen now that shows as well if it's muted or unmuted. Those are the
types of flexibility for customization that we have in the system. We can go and
programmatically customize things. One of the other areas that we changed a lot was
for streaming. So, with the addition of adding additional commission meetings, that was
due to the ease of use that was programmed into the system and literally a couple clicks
and you can stream a meeting. So, anyway, some pretty powerful work or features in
the system overall. So, we are pretty pleased. The next item I wanted to address was
our cyber security assessment. So, this for FY-17 we asked for some funding to do a
cyber security assessment and this is ongoing costs. We are going to be doing efforts
all around cyber security, but the first one was this assessment. Our security is
described as above average, which was fantastic to hear, but we did walk away with
multiple takeaways and one of them on here in cyber security awareness training and
that's something that we have started to kick off throughout all city departments
currently. We have already put -- I think we are right around 250 employees that have
gone through cyber security awareness training. So, as you probably hear in the news
and see every day, there are breaches happening every day and this is just one more
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thing that we can do to help protect our citizens' information that we collect on a regular
basis to do business. So, great thing. We have a few other takeaways that we will be
tackling over the next year, year and a half or so. One is file sharing. We have a lot of
free third-party file sharing applications being used and we want to kind of streamline
that into one that is centrally managed, so we maintain ownership of that data and can
make sure that it is protected, maintained, et cetera. Identity management, which it
really comes down to passwords. As you know our password requirements are pretty
stringent and we would like to find a tool that can make that a little easier for people.
We have lots of -- lots of employees that manage multiple passwords to things they do
on a daily basis and it gets cumbersome. So, we are going to look for a solution for
that. And, then, monitoring some of our security devices on a more regular basis was
one of the last takeaways they gave us, so --
De Weerd: I do hope, Dave, though, if I'm ever stuck in a foreign country someone
does bail me out.
Tiede: So, if that e-mail comes from you we should respond?
De Weerd: Yes, please.
Tiede: Okay. We will keep that in mind.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Dave, if I could ask you a question on that. So, was there -- I guess you kind
of alluded to it in the takeaways, but is there anything that we were severely or relatively
lacking that needed addressing?
Tiede: The most severe item that they mentioned was the cyber security training.
That's something that has been pretty prominent across the industry for probably about
a year and a half or so and we hadn't touched on that at all and if you have seen the
breaches that have happened over the last few years, the big ones, I can tell you how
out of the ten big ones that have happened in the last three years eight of them have
been due to people like you and me that don't know any better clicking on things that we
think are actually legitimate; right? And due to that credentials or something is
compromised, data gets out there and so that was identified as the number one area
that we need to -- to do what we can immediately and so that's -- that's why we have
started with that. So, otherwise, all the other areas in here, they gave priority levels and
each of these was in the six to seven range. Ten was cyber security training, so -- the
next item I want to highlight was our public records request software that we developed
in partnership with the clerk's office and a few other departments throughout the city that
process these on a regular basis. The biggest take away that I think that we got out of
this was better tracking and visibility of public records requests typically have been sent
through e-mail and when we need to go track something down related to that it's been
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really hard and cumbersome to do, so -- but now we are still using that same easy
process of e-mail, but we capture it all and it's all accounted for and trackable and you
can see everything, which is very handy and useful for when those things come up and
we need to do a little bit of leg work to figure out what we actually responded with. We
do get quicker turnarounds. We -- we created a web-based portal where people can go
and submit a public records request, but when we -- when the public records request is
turned around with the information they requested, they can actually log into the system
and download whatever information they requested, assuming it's electronic. So, a little
bit better level of service there with getting turnarounds on public records requests.
Kind of alluded to the efficiency, easy use. We didn't change processes a lot. It
changed a little bit for a couple departments, but everyone else uses what they have
used forever and that they like, so -- and we will be rolling this out to our police
department as well, too, so currently in use by the clerk's office and all the departments
that kind of fill those public records requests. The next thing I wanted to mention was
our GIS database redesign and this is more of an internal thing, but there is some
implications to the public as well as we look forward for more web mapping features for
our citizens. One of the biggest takeaways that we have got is less down time when we
need to go edit data sets of GIS data, because a lot of times in the past those data sets
were locked and we couldn't get at them without taking systems down or having people
work after hours or things like that. So, with this redesign we are able to do that and
keep things up and running. Also with the redesign we implement the naming standard.
So, that people can find their data easier and also keeping things consistent and, then,
we designed this from the ground up for web mapping, so, again, going back a little bit
to the data sets locking and whatnot, we will be able to do more web mapping in the
future for our public, but also internally we will be able to do editable web mapping
which will actually reduce the amount of licensing that we need from the provider for our
GIS system, which is fantastic, so -- and, then, overall the system -- or the whole
environment is more reliable due to this. We don't have the -- the quirks and things that
we were dealing with, because of how we have segmented data and the diagram here
is -- just kind of shows you the segmentation of the various data sets. It's a little
confusing, but it gives a good idea of, hey, look, here is how we split things up to do
that, so that's thanks to our GIS team, but also our Public Works -- our Public Works
GIS team had a lot of help -- or a lot of involvement in this process and, then, Brian
McClure from the Community Development Department also was involved heavily. So,
it's a great cross-department effort that yielded great results, so -- okay. Next I want to
talk about some in-progress things and a few upcoming things. So, I was going to
highlight our strategic objective that we have, which is 3-C-3, talk about a couple server
and SAN replacements that we have in progress over the next year. Our website
redesigned that we have been working on on the back end for a while and will continue
and wrap up this in the next year and, then, the CFP software that we have been
working with Finance on and, then, a few fun requests that I just wanted to highlight.
So, our strategic objective 3-C-3 is to develop and influence technological and
communication contingency plans and programs for continuity in operations for the city.
So, for IT that really means how do we keep applications and services that our
departments rely on to do their jobs available when something comes up, right, and
there is a service interruption. The biggest component of this is our IT disaster recovery
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and continuity plan, which we are about 80 percent done with. I anticipate being done
with it in completion or fully complete in March and, then, we will be meeting with
departments to talk about prioritizations of their needs, because we can sit all day long
in a little box and try to figure out what we can influence, but in the end we support other
departments, we need to understand what their needs are and how -- how we bring
things up in a meaningful way that will work for everyone and, then, an assistant plan is
the next component that we have to work on, which, again, and to seek completion in
March and that is really geared around getting equipment that may have been damaged
or whatnot in a service disruption, but also if there is services or resources that we can
reach out to and help -- or help us to get things back up, who are those people. Identify
them. So, our server slash SAN replacement is moving along great. This is one of the
items that we funded this year. It is a big endeavor. There are hardware and software
components to it, but we -- we have taken the leap and moved toward hyper converters.
We -- traditionally we have broken out servers and storage and storage is one of the big
capital items that you see every five or so years and we married them back together
and so the big capital item will turn into medium items on a more regular basis and not a
big capital expenditure every five years. So, we get a lot of benefit on the back end as
far as the ease of administration and visibility into the system, what it's doing, which is
great for determining performance and where we need to go planningwise for the future
and how we support, you know, the various applications that we have for the city. It has
ER built in, that's even more robust than what we have right now at no additional cost,
so I'm not going to complain about that. And, then, as part of this on the software side
we actually will be migrating to a new version of W indows server and Sequal, which if
you remember was part of our replacement, because of our current version being end of
life here in just over a year, so -- you have a question?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Dave, thanks for like allowing the tour the other day again to kind of refresh me
on how things work up there and -- and we were talking about the server that we
replaced and this large expense. Can you refresh me on why we needed to do that as
opposed to going to the Cloud or -- or if they are two separate things all together?
Tiede: Absolutely. Council Member Palmer, Madam Mayor, we did look at Cloud-
based options and this is what -- what most people call a hybrid Cloud, because we are
-- we have flexibility to put things in the Cloud if we so see fit, but we can keep things on
premise in our own private Cloud as well. So, when we did a cost analysis slash
comparison of some of the options that we were looking at, the Cloud options came in
over a five year TCO of about 1.2 to 1.3 million dollars and our TCO for this was less
than half of that. So, that was a big contributing factor, especially realizing that from a
staff time standpoint we are not going to gain anything by going to the Cloud. We will
still need people to administer those. So, an interesting trend in the industry that we
have seen, probably more so in government than in the private sector, but having the
private sector as well, is the swing is back from the Cloud to on-premise systems for
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high transaction, high volume, mission critical applications, because of the nature of the
Cloud is based off of that software as a service model or whatever the service --
platform is the service and when you get into those higher volume, higher transaction-
based things the costs rise substantially. So, our TCO comparison wasn't even
incorporating those into consideration.
Palmer: Madam Mayor? So, what do we do that's -- that's high traffic, high -- high use
that --
Tiede: That would be considered a transaction? So, to give some context you have to
understand what a transaction is in the world of Cloud and, really, what it means is
anything that you put in you put in for free. Anything you get out, they charge you a
transaction fee. That doesn't matter if it's a record for a utility billing statement or if it's
an e-mail, there is a transaction fee. So, to give you an idea of some of the items that
we have that are high transaction or high kind of -- I want to say IO -- high volume like
that, our utility billing system, our GIS system has a lot in and out definitely. Our report
writing system that we have for law enforcement has a lot of volume in it. Just in
general the amount of data that we produce on a regular basis we -- to give you an idea
we -- we run throughout the three -- 30 gigs of e-mail data a month. So, just a high level
-- I can give you a lot more detail if you like.
Palmer: Thank you.
Tiede: So -- next on our list that I wanted to mention was our website redesign. This is
really more of a back end change moving away from a content management system
that we pay a provider for and, really, there is -- there is a lot of benefit in doing this.
So, we still have end users or employees that can maintain components of the website,
but we can maintain consistency across it a lot easier than what we have been able to
in the past. We are seeing way faster page load times. We are still transitioning. I
think we are around 60 percent'ish. We have better search engine optimization, which
means our results show up in search engines like Google more than they have in the
past and higher -- you know, higher in the list of results, which is important. And, then,
we have improved accessibility as well, because a lot of our old content wasn't
accessible by the ADA compliant requirements for browsers and accessibility. So, we
have been able to tackle that as part of this. As part of this that I didn't have here on the
site that we are also looking at how we can move away from the various service
providers we have for smaller sites around the city. We have -- we have a few different
ones. MADC and there is one for economic development and how we can migrate
these all over into this system and have it managed and under one roof, mitigating
those costs and having something that's easier to keep up to date and is more user
friendly for our citizens. So, overall very, very good improvement and we look forward
to seeing the end of where -- where it goes, so --
De Weerd: And constant improvements and that's great. Although I was in a meeting
within the last several months and I was told that the chamber has a higher rating than
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we do, that they come up first and I told them that we would make sure that that doesn't
happen again.
Tiede: We will take care of that. Yeah. We definitely need to take care of that.
De Weerd: I think they were bragging and, you know, I took it personally. But I knew
that probably you and your team would take it more personally than I did.
Tiede: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. The website is important to us. We are going to keep it
up there, so -- the next in progress project that I wanted to mention is comprehensive
financial plan software. I'm sure you have all heard a little bit about the comprehensive
financial plan and I can't really speak to that as well as Todd could, but I can speak to
some of the things that we are helping them accomplish with developing the software.
So, one of the things that you have probably heard Todd talk about when it comes to
budget or whatever is all of the manual processes that they have to go and create
spreadsheets and create a budget book. Well, as you can imagine the CFE is much the
same way. We have all these manual processes to collect data, so we are creating a
piece of software so they can centrally manage all of this, so departments will be able to
go into it, add their information, Finance will be able to see it -- anyway, it's just going to
be overall a vast improvement over what we have right now, because it will be centrally
managed and a lot easier. We are also building in prioritization information that will be
available at the department's fingertips, but also Finance visible, so that when we start
discussions around prioritization for the CFE we can know, hey, look here is some of
the reasoning behind it, rather than just having it on a spreadsheet that says, hey, look,
this is high or low or whatever, it will have information regarding why it's categorized as
such and, then, we will be able to see historical information. So, as, hey, look we have
completed items, we have added -- you know, we have this on the CFP, it went through
as an enhancement, it's gone now or it was cut and removed and maybe added later,
you will just see that visibility, which will be really nice. We really look forward to it,
because it will be a good improvement and hopefully lead us to the next steps with
budget software as well when Finance starts to look at that. We will give them ideas on
what will work and what won't, so -- the next item I wanted to mention was a few
replacement items we have on our CFP for FY -- this should say FY-2019, not 2018. I
apologize. It's actually for next year, not this year. But I wanted to bring them up,
because they are kind of important for us. One of the things we are looking at is a
network hardware replacement for our core network across the city. As you may or may
not know, we have fiber everywhere. That acts as our backbone for all connectivity
throughout the city and all departments use that, whether it's for phone services,
internet services, access back to the applications they use. That -- that core network
hardware is at the point where it is not serving its purpose anymore. One good example
of this actually happened about three weeks ago now and it is when we had an outage
in our police department, a network outage, and it was because of a piece of hardware -
- network hardware that failed because of its aging and, then, when it failed, our
resiliency -- redundancy didn't kick in because of the type of hardware we have. So, we
have already started down this path with some of the network and structure that we
purchased this year, but this will continue in FY-2019 and we actually have a little bit --
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may continue in 2020. So, anyway, it's important. The police department was down for
quite a while and we had quite the time getting them back up. We, obviously, had
contingency plans that we put in place and they were able to continue doing business
as usual, but we would like to make sure that we have the redundancy and resiliency in
place, so that those types of things don't happen and we can be prepared for them
better. So, that's one item. Another item is our Microsoft Office product that we use
across the city. That includes Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, which I'm using right
now. We are licensed across the city for the version 2010 and as you know the new
version is out and support for 2010 ends in -- I think it's just a year out -- over a year out
and so we need to get onto a more recent version. One option that we are considering
as part of that is Office 365. We are going to be doing some more research into that
just to see is there -- is there really a return on that investment, does it make sense,
because it is expensive. So, having used the product Office 365, it's a great platform, I
love it, and I have it personally, but for business it adds up really quick. I have friends in
education, however, and it is dirt cheap there. So, if you could get us to be an
educational organization that would be fantastic. On that same note, we also have our
back end -- or our exchange server, which is the e-mail services that we provide and
that also is in the same boat as our office. So, those are just a few items that you will
see in our CFP and will be coming through as replacements to this coming year.
Definitely wanted to mention the hardware, because the impact that we have seen to
police and we don't -- that's not -- we are not comfortable with providing that level of
service. We -- we really need to make sure that our emergency services have those
critical services when they need them, which is all the time, so with that I will stand for
questions. That was what I had prepared.
De Weerd: Thank you, Dave. Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: A couple questions. Dave, first, thanks to you and your team. I just -- you
guys are not always seen or heard, but I just know the work that you're doing to make
sure that our city runs efficiently and effectively and I just -- I think you guys are -- I have
always found when I have engaged or engage or interacted with your staff they are
incredibly accommodating and kind and are trying to find the solution before I even
know really what my question is. As it relates to the City Hall technology, has all of that
been complete? Are we pleased with things? Is there plans for new additions or
modules or any changes that we should be expecting to come from either you or the
clerk's office?
Tiede: At this point in time we consider the project complete. I would say that there are
a few little technical glitches here and there that come up and as those crop up we do
address them with the vendor. At this point when we -- when we sign the agreement
with them we also included a two year warranty period, so they are on the hook for -- for
fixes and changes as we see fit for no additional charge for -- through next December.
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At this point I don't anticipate a lot of those happening and I definitely don't anticipate
us, you know, asking for more funding for anything in the near future.
Cavener: Great. The second question. I saw in the news a city in Texas this week was
held up for ransomware and they were in a position where they had all of their files
backed up and so they were able to kind of tell the hackers to pack sand and recover
everything.
Tiede: Right.
Cavener: Are we -- are we in a similar position that we are protected should we have
that type of a scenario?
Tiede: We are. We will take further steps to continue to protect ourselves even more,
but at this point I can state that, yes, we are protected. We have had one occurrence
where we have seen it in practice and we were able to retrieve what we needed without
worrying about paying anyone additional ransom fees or whatnot, so --
Cavener: Fantastic. Thank you, Dave. Appreciate that.
De Weerd: Any additional questions?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. Have we had information stolen that somebody wanted some
money for?
Tiede: So, ransomware, if you're not familiar with it, it is basically a piece of malicious
software that gets put on your machine, usually by clicking on something accidentally
that maybe you shouldn't have, right, and what it does is it encrypts the files that you
have and holds them ransom and pops up with a message that says, hey, look, if you
want to access these files pay this money and we will unlock them for you. So, they
didn't have our data, but they had encrypted it.
Palmer: Okay.
Tiede: Again, we went to backups, we were fine, and it was -- it was a pretty minor
incident as far as what was -- you know, fell into that category for us. It was pretty
minor. It wasn't a major system by any means, but it does happen.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any other questions? Well, thank you, Dave, and thank you to
your team. They are seen and heard. They are seen lapping City Hall on an hourly
basis. They are heard often, because they are a group and a family of jokesters and so
it's an interesting and fun department that you lead and we appreciate everything you
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do. I know it's -- we constantly challenge you, but you step up to the challenge on a
daily basis and we know you do make our lives easier. So, thank you for that.
Tiede: Thank you, Madam Mayor.
B. City Clerk's Office: Annual Department Report
De Weerd: Okay. Item 7-B is under -- yes. Usually we don't ask for applause and that
kind of misbehavior, but in this case it's allowed.
Coles: Well, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the presentation may be viewable
to you, but at the moment it's not viewable on the screens -- on the TV. So, IT
conveniently was here in the room. So, they are checking on that.
De Weerd: This is one of the few glitches that --
Coles: One of the few glitches. Exactly. But with your permission I will move --
De Weerd: Please do.
Coles: -- forward. Okay. Very good. So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, it is
my pleasure to be in front of you today -- and now I lost the presentation down here. I
feel almost inadequate following Dave's presentation. His had nice graphics and arrows
-- mine don't quite have that level of graphics with them, but, nonetheless, we will move
forward. The picture there -- I wanted to show just a photo of a majority of our team.
Not everyone was available on that day we took that photo, but the Mayor went around
presenting to the various departments results of the city survey and came to our
department on that particular day. In this photo, though, in the front left was our youth
work life skills intern, Ella Kramer, whom I will talk about a little bit later in my
presentation. Moving on here. Just a quick overview of who we are. And, again,
following Dave's presentation, he took everyone's favorite photo of themselves, which is
their ID card photo, and put it in their presentation. I did not do that, but that's a photo of
our team building activity this year. We, as an office staff, went to the Escape Room in
Boise and our -- our challenge that day was to stop a terrorist attack that was happening
and as you can see by my face we didn't quite make it. We were about 30 seconds
from stopping the attack on that particular day, but it was a lot of fun. We learned a lot
about each other, our different skill sets, and, anyway, it was a good team building
activity. There is an overview of, again, our office staff, which I know some of them --
Nancy is here. Yea. Thank you, Nancy. They kind of joked that they would hide in
what we conveniently call the library, which is the room right off here and that they were
going to poke through and peer through that, but Nancy is here to join me today. You
see there vacant is our deputy city clerk position and we will talk about that for a few
minutes. Machelle Hill served the City of Meridian for 13 years. Some of that -- she
started, actually, as a temporary employee in Mayor Corrie's office and, then, she was
hired full time in the clerk's office and worked her way up to be the deputy city clerk.
She was here for 14 years. She served with four different city clerks and, unfortunately,
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she doesn't work for the city anymore. So, after 13 years she isn't with us here at the
city anymore. She takes a lot of institutional knowledge with her. We miss her dearly
every single day and we are looking to fill that position right now. And Nancy Radford is
here. She is our -- one of our assistant city clerks. She specializes in our licenses and
permits, temporary use permits. She has been here almost as long as Machelle was
here, just about that same amount of time. Sherry Finch, another one of our assistant
city clerks, and she specializes in our passports. She full time takes passport
appointments for us. Now, Charlene Way, another one of our assistant clerks, she
specializes in a lot of different things and currently right now she has helped to fill some
of the gap left without Machelle to work on land use applications and noticing with their
office. And, then, Hillary Bodnar is our commissions and committee specialist. She
joined us -- and you will see on the next slide, she joined us in December of last year,
which was just after I gave my presentation and report to you. So, it's really no surprise
that she's in our office now, because you have known that for just about a full year, but it
was in December of last year that she joined our office from the Finance Department
and she has primary responsibility of supporting the Meridian Arts Commission and the
Historic Preservation Commission. And, then, Barb Shiffer has been with the city for 15
years in many different departments and she is our administrative assistant in our
department and what a resource she is. She knows everyone in this building and
outside of this building and can direct you exactly where you need to go. Is very good
at answering those questions that come in from the public. Again, I mentioned these
are staffing changes. We miss Machelle and Hillary joined our team in December of
last year just after I gave my report to you. Here is a quick snapshot of what we do. It's
hard to capture everything that we do on one slide, but this kind of gives you an
overview of everything that we do. Our department really touches every single
department within the city in some way, shape, or form. We are involved in just about
all the information that comes into or out of City Hall, especially during meetings, such
as public meetings with Council or all of our commissions. So, I'm not going to read all
of those off to you. You can see them there. But we do a lot of different things for City
Hall and for the city. I will kind address some of these elements throughout the rest of
my presentation in some way, shape or form. One thing I do want to point out under
permits and licenses, you will see the last thing listed there is dog tags. Last year I had
reported to you that we were starting to take over that process of issuing those tags
from the police department. So, it's been about a full year that we have done that. We
are improving our process just about every single day, every single week in terms of
how we are providing the dog tags. We have several ideas of how to continue that into
the future, how we are going to reach out to the public to do that and inform them of that
requirement. If they have an animal how to renew those licenses to make it easier and I
will talk a little bit about that again as we continue this presentation. But that is
something that was relatively new to the clerk's office last year. We have a full year
under our belt and we have several vendors throughout the city that help us issue dog
tags, dog licenses, and they have been fantastic to work with and you will actually see
on some upcoming Council agendas on your consent agendas some renewals of those
agreements and contracts with our dog license vendors, so they can continue to provide
that service in partnership with us to the community. So, here is 2017 by the numbers
for the clerk's office of those things that we can quantify. There are some things we
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can't quantify in our office, but for those that we can I want to display those here to you.
So, land use applications. Again, the clerk's office is responsible for all land use
applications that require a public hearing. It is our responsibility to make sure those
notices happen and that the public meeting is held. So, when I put this together, which
was at the end of November, taking those numbers January through November, 148
land use applications, public hearing land use applications, had been submitted to the
city. That's up about ten percent from that same time frame last year. Number of
mailed notices. Those of the postcards that go out to the required radius for the public
hearing, 4,668. Now, I want to stop there for a moment. We had some discussion
recently about HOAs and their inclusion on the public hearing notices. I wanted to let
you know I -- I did speak with the Planning Department and that is currently happening -
- happening where we have that information. So, if there is a neighborhood that is
within that required radius to be noticed -- an HOA I should say within that -- within that
radius, then, the Planning Department seeks out that information and includes it on the
list to be noticed with our postcards. How that list is compiled is when a land use
application is submitted to the city it is submitted to Community Development. Planning
makes sure that the applicant has all of the required materials, everything is together,
then, they transmit it to our office with a list of neighbors that need to be notified. So, on
that list, if there is -- currently within that radius if there is an HOA, the Planning
Department is seeking out that information to include within the required notice that we
mail out. The next number on there you see Nextdoor notices. I don't know if notice is
the right word to use with Nextdoor, but since we started using Nextdoor as a form of
notice, which was about June and this number reflects around 40 projects, that's what
we had in that time frame, 71,035 notices through Nextdoor, which is -- that's how many
inboxes the notice has shown up in. There are about -- and Kaysee Emery in the
Mayor's office could give you this number, but I think 20 to 21 thousand registered users
within Meridian on Nextdoor and we sent out 71,000 public hearing notices using that
forum. So, next year I will be able to provide actual -- an update on that for over an
entire year and, then, the year after that be able to show you year over year kind of
some comparisons there. Public records requests. The city clerk's office is solely
responsible for public records requests in terms of receiving them, distributing them,
and, then, providing the information to the requester. Every department in the city has
responsibility for this, but it's all managed through the city clerk's office. Two hundred
and ninety through November that the city had received. Up 30 percent. So, in that
same time frame last year. And I think some of that has to do with not being able to find
the information they are looking for as easily as people would like it. So, that's
something I'm going to talk about here in a few slides is some updates that we in the
city clerk's office want to make in terms of ease of use of our website or our portion of
the website, ease of accessibility where public records are located, how they are
named. We just -- we want individuals and citizens to be able to find that information, if
that's what they are looking for, instead of needing to ask us. If they want to go find it,
they have the opportunity to do so without it being confusing to them. Licenses issued.
This is Nancy's realm. Five hundred and ninety two from January through the end of
November. Up about four percent from last year. And we anticipate that number to be
over 600 by year's end. Phone calls received into the city clerk's office. This is just the
main line into the city clerk's office. Over 24,000 phone calls received. I don't know
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how many call building services directly or utility building directly, but just into the clerk's
office over 24,000 phone calls into our office. And I can tell you more than half of the
time they are looking for building services or utility building, so we are directing those
phone calls elsewhere. And, then, passports processed. Up a large number this year.
Almost 35 percent increase from last year, 3,125, which equates to the revenue to the
city in that is 78,125 dollars. The state department has estimated that in this year they
will issue more passports than they have ever issued in the entirety of the passport
program and you can see 35 percent increase just for our office alone and Sherry is
mainly responsible for that. Everyone within our office -- or just about everyone in our
office is certified to be a passport agent, so we can answer questions when people
come to the counter, but the majority of the appointments Sherry takes. So, that's by
the numbers this year. So, we move into a snapshot. These are projects that we have
been involved in, things that we have done, if you will. So, city elections. We had a city
election this past year. City Hall has been an early voting location for just about every
election for the past couple of years. So, this year for the city general election, 559
individuals chose to early vote at our location here at City Hall. So, about 11 percent --
ten to 20 percent of registered voters in total in Meridian who voted in the election. Ten
percent of those cast their ballots early here at City Hall. And that trend followed fairly
well across the board in terms of Ada county at early voting locations from what I'm told
from Ada county elections. NovusAGENDA. That's been a pretty big project in the city
clerk's office over the past year. Council has had the opportunity over the last several
weeks to have access to a completed agenda and packet materials available through
Novus. We have done what I will call a soft launch into the public this past week. We
used -- when we mailed out or e-mailed out the agenda for the week to the public to our
subscribers on our e-mail list, we used the Novus link, instead of just using the pdf as
we have done in the past several years. So, kind of a soft launch to see if we are
getting any feedback from the public when they receive that, ease of use, accessibility,
to see if there is any tweaks that we need to make before we launch a full scale in terms
of making an announcement about it. We updated this past year the temporary use
code. We extended the time for temporary sales units from what was a 90 days
allowability to 120 days. So, we extended that time frame for temporary sales units.
We removed the need for citizens use permits in the right of way. Instead of needing
two different permits, a TUP and a citizens use, we removed the citizens use and now
you just need a temporary use permit and we did that in conjunction with ACHD to help
align our timelines and our process with ACHD. So, we changed the lead time from
what was 21 days to 30 days, because that is ACHD's timeline. So, someone came to
us at 24 days before and we said, oh, sure, you can do that and, then, at ACHD they
would say, no, you can't do that. So, we wanted to be good partners, so that those
applying for those permits weren't getting two sets of information. And, then, this past
year we executed the first ever citywide records destruction. It included all departments
within the city. Had never been done before. Some departments are still working
through that process to destroy those records that were approved to be destroyed,
because, as you can imagine, it's kind of a big feat when over the years your
department kind of did it every couple of years instead of needing to get on board and
do it once a year with all of the departments. In doing that some departments realized,
oh, no, we have some records that maybe the timelines we didn't anticipate, maybe it
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should have been 20 years, instead of 15 that we need to keep that or vice-versa.
Maybe we don't need to keep it -- why are we keeping this stuff that long? We only
need it five years, instead of ten years. So, we came back to you, Council, in the
summer, in July, and updated the records retention schedule, which I anticipate us
doing again next year, but as we make these tweaks with the departments, that those
will become fewer and far between to when we hone the schedule and each department
is satisfied for a couple of years, instead of needing to change it every single year. We
will also come back before Council in a couple of months for our second -- what I will
call annual now -- records destruction to include just about every department within the
city. The 2017 snapshot continued. I wanted to point out an easement process. So,
before when we would get easements on your agenda, they were hand delivered to the
clerk's office by paper. Trying to get away from the paper era and use this technology
that we have. So, in conjunction with IT and several other departments implemented
the use of Accella in terms of work flow. So, now when it comes to the clerk's office we
don't need a paper copy, we have an electronic copy, but every department has seen it
and signed off on it that needs to by the time the clerk's office sees it. Less paper and
it's much more efficient for all departments involved and especially our department.
Chambers technology. I only mention it here, not to steal Dave's thunder, but simply to
state that we in the clerk's office have been a major supporter of that project. We have
been heavily involved in that project and on Tuesday evening when something goes
wrong it's me you're looking at going what's going on here and Dave is not typically in
the room during the meeting. So, I have been heavily involved and working with IT to
understand the ins and outs of the technology, so that I can be a resource and,
hopefully, solve a problem if there is a problem during a meeting, quickly and efficiently.
Nextdoor is noticing. I already talked about that, but that's something new that the
clerk's office has been involved in that we will I'm certain continue to do with the
recommendation of Council. Paws in the Park was our dog fair event that we had this
past year in May, which was much more successful than any of us really anticipated,
224 licenses issued that day. Our recommendation is to continue that event. It may not
look the same way as it did this past May. We are getting together and we are working
through some of those details to bring a recommendation to Council on what we would
like to do for that event, but our dog community seemed to really enjoy that event. So,
we want to continue in some way, shape or form that event. And, then, Ella Kramer, our
youth work life skills intern. I mentioned her before. And I wanted to point out some of
the work that she accomplished. We really wanted to get her involved in meaningful
work within our department. In the clerk's office there are some things we do that are
just -- they are simply mundane. There is no way around explaining it. And they need
to be done and they are important for the city. But we wanted to get Ella also involved
in some of the more interesting aspects of what we do and she is a youth commissioner
and so she already has this interest in city government and how it functions and what it
means. So, pointing out some of the highlights of her work over this past summer. She
link -- linked reference photos for 269 Meridian properties that are listed on the Idaho
historic sites inventory. To the Historic Preservation Commissions, ours, a tracking
spreadsheet. She took almost 200 -- almost 300, excuse me, photos and linked them
from the Idaho historic sites inventory to HPC's tracking spreadsheet. She took over 30
images for the public art collection and these are the images that are being uploaded to
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a citywide public art map that's being created by our IT Department. She researched
methods of building nonprofit memberships for the Meridian Historical Society. She
researched and compared comprehensive and strategic plans, paying close attention to
how strategic plans within the city relate to statewide plans and how commission
strategic plans fit within the citywide Comprehensive Plan to provide recommendations
on how those inter work and how those play together. She reviewed the Planning
Department's architectural standards manual and land use maps. She prepared
materials for the Dairy Days art show. She wrote minutes or helped to provide the
minutes for HPC and the arts commission meetings. She also created fliers. We have
a rotating banner -- what we call a rotating banner on the screen in the lobby. She
helped create some of those images or some of those sites that we did over the
summer months. She also created the revised map for the downtown walking tour
brochures that are now in print. So, we tried to provide her with some real world
experience, some things that we do that are a little more interesting aspects. Some of
the things that she did were some of the mundane things as well. But we hoped that we
provided her with a foundation for a further interest in local government. Some of the
things that are in progress. So, the public records request software application, Dave
spoke to that. We -- again I used the term soft launch for Novus earlier. I'm going to
use that term again. We have quietly turned this on, if you will, on our website. So,
when individuals want to request public records and they go to our website and the
online link, it's going to direct them to the page that Dave spoke about earlier. We --
again, we want to test this out. We have some frequent fliers that request public
records and that are good at providing us feedback. We want them as they use it to
provide that feedback to us before we announce, hey, we have this new way of
submitting public records requests and what that means, so -- and that's happened over
the course of this past week. We have taken in some requests and we have seen, oh,
we need to tweak a few things on how this looks. So, we are working through that
process. But in the next couple of months announcing there is a new way to request,
it's much more efficient to use and it's better tracking involved in terms of the requester
and also the city. Using Accella citizen's access, which is -- we called it ACA for permit
and license application issuance. This is bringing City Hall to the people, if you will. It
allows individuals from the comfort of their business or their home to submit
applications. Right now for alcohol catering permits and also dog license renewals.
And so we want to expand that list, but that's what we are working on right now. The
second -- I already mentioned the second, records destruction per our schedule.
Streaming commission meetings. Dave spoke to that in December every commission
that meets is going to stream their meeting to test out the kinks that may go along with
that and, then, again, the early part of 2018 make an announcement that every
commission meeting is available to be streamed -- or is streaming live and it's available
at your convenience to watch from home. And, then, also filling the deputy city clerk
position is something we are working on right now. Website update. So, as Dave
mentioned, they are doing a website overhaul, essentially, and especially on the back
end. For us in the clerk's office we want to -- the pages that we own that we maintain,
we want them to be user friendly, ease of access, especially in terms of public records
and the land use applications. So, we will, over the course of the -- the coming year,
make changes to our portion of the web page, mainly in how things are named, labeled,
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where they are located, how quickly you can access them and how many links or clicks
does it take for you to get there. I arrowed one here. The City Council video archive
link. That wasn't on the city clerk's portion of the web page until this past week. We put
that up there this past week. The -- the video archive link is -- there is a link to it on our
website, but if someone is looking for City Council information when they go to the
clerk's office web page, we want them to be able to access everything that's associated
with City Council meetings right there, instead of having to click to another part of the
website. So, they might be small changes that we end up making, but, hopefully,
meaningful changes. And, again, it's about ease of use, ease of access, how many
clicks does it take for someone to get there and to get the information they are looking
for. So, next year when I update you this will be something that I talk about. A brief
update -- update on our portion of the citywide strategic plan. We own three items.
They are all in the arts category. 5-C-1, is hundred percent complete and the Mayor
actually presented you the close-out report on that in October. 5-C-2 we are at 30
percent complete. This is to develop a plan to infuse art in public spaces. Anticipated
completion date is a year from now, December of 2018. And 5-C-3, connecting to the
artists and community is 85 percent complete at this point, with a September 2018
anticipated completion date. So, we are actively working our portion of the plan. Back
to 5-C-1. That is something, if you read that there, that really never ends. Hillary is
mainly responsible for -- for these items and that's something that can never end.
Tomorrow there might be a new grant that's available or new sponsorship opportunities
or a new funding mechanism. So, next year or in the coming years as this plan is
looked at and tweaked throughout the process with the Council, this is something that
we may want to explore in terms of how it -- how it reads or how it works or how it
functions, because this is something that we will continually do and update as new
opportunities become available. And, then, I would like to end with CARE value
successes in our office. So, I just took four comments that we have received in our
office throughout the year to show that we in the clerk's office understand -- try to
understand the Meridian Way and own the CARE values of the City of Meridian. I am
particularly proud of the third comment down on there. This came to our office after a
particularly interesting land use application and a vote had been taken and residents
thought that something had happened that actually didn't happen and so when they saw
continuing information to be provided about a particular application, they contacted our
office and said, wait a minute, what's going on, we thought this was completed, we
thought this was done. So, we explained to them the process and what had actually
happened and, then, they sent us this note back that the individual that sent this
represented an HOA and she sent that back to us and very appreciative of taking the
time to explain the process to them. So, I'm very proud of our office, especially for that
last one, but for all those comments and every day I can tell you the CARE values, the
Meridian Way, everyone in the clerk's office, we have a great team that take our job
seriously, that love this community and love interacting with the citizens in this
community. And with that I will tell you that we really try to do this there at the top and
not do those things at the bottom there. So, that's what we are really trying to do in the
clerk's office. I will stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, C.Jay. Council, any questions?
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Bird: Great presentation.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: C.Jay, you're doing a great job as the clerk. I just want you to know.
Coles: Thank you.
Cavener: It's just great to see you slide into position and I think you provide great
service and your department's just stellar. Question about dog licensing. I noticed you
called out some things were up, but you didn't necessarily talk about dog licensing. I
know that was the intent was that we were going to increase licensing. Has that
occurred?
Coles: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Cavener, thank you
for that question. So, the answer is, yes, that number is up. I do have that number on
one of my -- my notes. So, in 2016 the total amount of dog -- the total number of dog
licenses, 3,223. Currently -- again, this is through November -- 3,274. So, slightly up. I
am waiting for reports from a couple of our vendors to close out November and, then,
obviously, through December I can't tell you how many that will be.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, a couple more if I may. C.Jay, I know when I called City Hall
recently we were back to using the -- the automated phone system. I'm just curious is
that a permanent fixture now? I know maybe it's nitpicky. I just love the fact that it used
to be when we would call that we would be able to talk to somebody, as opposed to
have to go through an automated service.
Coles: Certainly. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Cavener, I
don't know if that is a permanent solution. I don't want to say, yep, that's permanent, we
are not changing that, but I can tell you with 24,000 phone calls over the course of an
entire year, being down a staff member since August, it does put a strain on the staff to
not have all the bodies available to answer phone calls and to direct them and, then, to
try and do the other work that we are associated with. So, I do know that what we tried
to do this time around in terms of the voicemail and automated answering, was to
provide I think several options up front of those that were requested most often, utility
billing, building services, passports and, then, obviously, the clerk's office being the last
-- last option there. Those three don't meet your needs, because those three seem to
be the majority of the phone calls that we receive.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, one additional one. C.Jay, I was going through and trying to
refresh my memory on a couple of decisions the Council made and had noticed that
some of the YouTube videos or the City Council meeting videos are missing. If we find
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that those are missing, is that a question directed to clerks? Is that a question directed
to Kaycee? Where do we need to go to make sure that those are restored?
Coles: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Cavener, so that
would be first directed to Kaycee, I believe, but we in the clerk's office aren't responsible
-- I shouldn't say responsible, but we don't upload the videos to YouTube. Kaycee
Emery and I believe her intern manage the YouTube portion of the video. We in the
clerk's office do have a hard copy, if you will, of the video, because we are required to
have the copy for so many years, but in terms of uploading to YouTube, we don't do that
in our office.
Cavener: Thanks.
De Weerd: And certainly feel free to just ask me and I will make sure your question
gets answered.
Cavener: Great. Thank you.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor and C.Jay, just want to say thank you, I think your team
does a great job. Every time I hear -- especially about passports, just doing an
awesome job and the customer service and I would like to say thank you so much for
NovusAGENDA. It has made life so much easier to look through and review minutes
and things like that. So, thank you very much for your work.
Coles: Thank you.
De Weerd: Any other questions from Council?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Just a comment or a suggestion maybe to take back to Hillary. I know that
sometimes up to Council we have had some consternation about the MAPS program.
So, a suggestion to maybe to rename it. I'm thinking Public Art Located in Meridian's
Entire Region or PALMER for short. Perhaps that might gain some more support. Just
-- just a suggestion.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
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Palmer: I fully endorse this idea and I may have to put some more thought into whether
I vote for it even. Come October.
De Weerd: If we call it the PALMER. Give it some serious thought.
Coles: I will take that back. Absolutely.
Cavener: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you to you and your team and, Nancy, you represent your entire
team. We know -- Nancy is -- is a great example of the customer care that you give in
your department where Nancy's herding cats with permitting, calling people, reminding
them of what they need to do and I have been told by numerous that have in particular
beer and wine or alcohol permits, that your phone calls are always welcome and
appreciated. So, thank you and your team, C.Jay, for -- for everything you do. I think
that you are often that first face of our team of our city and it's a very positive and
pleasant experience, a good face to have represent us.
Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I sometimes feel like that scene in Apollo 11 --
and I can't show it because of copyright issues, but just this -- or just NASA in general of
the critical work being done, but there is someone -- or a team of people in mission
control that are kind of operating to provide the information and what can you do, what
can't you do and here is what you should do and I feel like our team kind of operates at
that level sometime. So, I appreciate your comments. Like I say, we do have a great
team and, if I may, this will be probably my last time on the record to be able to thank
Council Member Bird for the wonderful leadership he's provided to the city, the
dedicated service and I'm someone that has some perspective of what it means to have
a family member in -- in service and so I know the sacrifice that it takes to be a public
servant and I appreciate your guidance, your leadership, and your mentorship of me
personally as I have taken this position. So, Council Member Bird, thank you very
much.
Bird: Thank you very much, C.Jay. I appreciate you. We are lucky to have you. Thank
you.
C. Legal: Proposed Updates to Nuisance Code
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Under 7-C is our legal team.
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. This is our update, because
it is -- if you recall, back in November Tom Baker, the supervisor of our code
enforcement unit, was here to explain some changes that we had made to update the
code to bring some of the processes in align with the code clearer -- in a clearer way
and the direction was to bring back the formal ordinance back in December. There was
a question that was raised at the end of the discussion that we wanted to make sure we
answered more fully before we put it on and would suggest, if everybody is comfortable
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with it, put it on next week for approval, but the question was in regards to the
abatement costs of properties and how does that get collected and at the time I
indicated that we did -- we tried to separate those out and we used to try to separate
that out and I found out after I made that comment that we had actually -- because the
law had allowed that change, we had been actually attaching those to those property
bills and allowing, then, people to create a payment plan process to do that. We looked
at other alternatives. I had Mrs. Kane, who all of you know is the champion of creating
these code updates and making sure they are current with whatever the state law is,
and we looked at all the other alternatives for the city in trying to collect those and,
again, we are not talking about a lot of these, we are talking about four or five a year of
abatements, whether it's accumulated trash or whether it's weeds, it's usually one of
those two. We have a fairly small budget to do that. We give lots and lots of notice to
people before we actually will do it. We, then, will do it and, then, we will give them lots
and lots of notice that it goes on their bills. We did talk to Ms. Glenn from the utility
billing division and asked, you know, have we ever had any issues with the collection
issues surrounding that or having a turnoff because of that and the answer is, no, we
have not turned off anybody in relation to abatement of that. Most of all of you know our
process to collect on your bills for your -- for you service, whether it's water, sewer,
trash or these few nuisance ones that are out there, has a lengthy process in the
collection piece as well. You have received notice. You receive another notice. You
receive another notice. And, then, we actually turn off your services. So, we haven't
had any issues with that. Again, she said we have had a number of folks over the years
that have worked it out through a payment plan process, they have always paid it and
using other methods, whether it's suing the individuals, whether it's attaching liens to
their property, either the city is going to incur greater expense to try to collect the
amount that's owed or potentially not receive it at all. So, it was our recommendation
from Legal that we continue with the process as it is. It does seem to be working. We
haven't had any issues. Again, we don't really have anybody that comes in and says,
you know, I will just pay for my water, but I'm not going to pay for that lawn service that
came and cleaned up all my weeds, that just doesn't happen. The reality is is that folks
have -- have been able to pay off those in a reasonable amount of time. We don't
extend it very long. We just give them a reasonable amount of time to make those
payments and get it done. Again, we haven't had a significant amount of collection
issues on the services side for the water and sewer and trash, so our recommendation
is to continue with that practice and trying to do it a different way would be probably
more cumbersome and more expensive than we are doing today. If you have any other
questions, hopefully, I can answer them. If not we would ask that we put this on for next
week for approval and just move it forward.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
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Bird: I feel if Legal thinks this is what they can defend and enact, great, I would go with
their recommendation and bring it forward next week on the Consent Agenda. The
resolution.
D. Community Development: Meridian's Slum and Blight Plan and
Area Designation
1. Resolution No.17-2052: A resolution approving submission
and adoption of the City of Meridian Slum and Blight Plan
and Area Designation to the United States Department of
Housing and Urban Development; authorizing the Mayor
and City Clerk to execute and attest the same on behalf of
the City of Meridian; and approving an effective date.
De Weerd: Okay. Well, we will bring it back. Okay. Item 7-B is under Community
Development and Chris Pope -- I will turn this over to him.
Pope: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, good to be -- to be before you again
tonight. Let's see if we can get this pulled up very quick. It's not up. Do I need to go
into the -- it was up before the meeting and it's now gone. Yeah. It's on the Council
presentations. Sorry for the delay here. I know you guys have one loaded agenda
tonight. Sorry to -- to burden that a little more with this. Okay. Today we are talking
about Meridian slum and blight plan. Super exciting topic. Talking about the
opportunity to designate an area of the community a redevelopment area and I will get
into what this all is and what it's about, why we are doing it and answer any questions
as we move on. This is kind of a complicated thing that might be hard to see the
purpose behind in some situations. But to kind of explain some of the -- the technical
background that we have, a reason why we are doing what's called a slum and blight
plan, in the community development world under HUD in their community and planning
development agency, the CDBG programs are allowed to put funding towards projects,
as you know, that will meet one of three main objectives. The first is helping those who
are low to moderate income -- giving them a benefit and that can be broken down by
area, by clientele served, based on economic development opportunities and job
creation and also housing activities. Any activity that we are considering a project or
considering funding utilizing CDBG funds has to fall into this category if we are hoping
to help LMI individuals in our community. The other two kind of buckets that we can
work with are the slum and blight bucket and an urgent need bucket. The urgent need
is an emergency-based fund where we can throw money at things, CDBG funds at
things that are urgent needs in our community. If there is flooding. If we have another
Snowmageddon going on. CDBG is a resource that can be used to help meet some of
those needs. There is a lot of flexibility when it comes to natural disasters specifically
that I don't think we have ever really talked about or utilized in our community before,
but it's something to know that it's there. I'm not going to talk about it more than today,
but know that it's there. But the slum and blight kind of bucket that we can work with is
designed to eradicate slum and blight in communities and this is done on an area basis
or on a spot basis or through urban renewal agencies. Well, we work in tandem with
our -- in tandem with our urban renewal agency and MDC here, so all of the money that
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is -- they are utilizing through their grants and through their process doesn't really cross
over into the CDBG world. What this means is that if the community has a slum or
blight-related project that they want to use CDBG funds for, currently they cannot. They
cannot -- we are at this point kind of stuck with no opportunity to utilize our funds for
slum and blight projects or for urgent need, because we have never done it before and
never really explored it. So, all that we have ever really been able to do is to focus on
projects that help those -- those projects that we are serving a majority of LMI clientele
or are providing some service or public facility in a specific area of the community that is
deemed to meet a certain standard of having a majority of LMI individuals who live in
that area. What this is going to do, this slum and blight, it gives us an opportunity to
kind of expand our vision, have more flexibility with what we want to do and where we
want to do it, utilizing these funds. So, to kind of explain the planning process here,
HUD requires us to do something to kind of figure out what is a slum and blight area,
what constitutes slum and blight, how are we defining that, HUD doesn't send down
federal workers to come and do that for us. Every community is different. They want to
know, well, what's slum and blight to Meridian, what are we experiencing here and how
can we figure that out. So, as part of this, utilizing funds from the program year 2014
funding year, this last year we got together and gathered stakeholders and, then, we
tried to figure out an area that we wanted to focus on for assessment to see where do
we want to try and target the potential use of some of these funds in our community.
Then we tried to figure out what the definitions were. HUD requires us to define what
slum and blight and deterioration and substandard areas are. We have to utilize local
and state code to figure that out. We can't just make it up and go with it. Code has to
determine how we do this assessment and what areas are even relevant to this
conversation. At this point HUD essentially says when you have determined your area,
when you have your stakeholders, you now have to go out and assess every single
property that is within your defined area, you have to do it based on the criteria that you
have defined and, then, you have to figure out exactly where each individual parcel is at
in terms of meeting or not meeting the code requirements or the definitions for slum,
blight, deterioration and substandard area. We, then, had to go out and do that work.
That's happened over -- early this summer with the help of a lot of different people and
for each thing that we find wrong for each property we have to take pictures and
document it and so this is -- again, this isn't something we are just making up they are
putting together, we have developed this form, this criteria for assessment, we, then,
have to document why we found it and include a picture for it. Then we have to come
together and look at the data and determine if this area even meets the eligibility
requirements that the federal government puts on -- on these areas and also the state
code puts on this type of process and, then, kind of what we are here to do today is to --
is to present the formal proposal and report and try to get it approved through City
Council and, then, hopefully, through the federal government moving forward. So, just a
kind of shout out to the participants here, we developed the slum and blight committee,
made up of members, including Ashley from MDC, Brenda, our economic development
coordinator, Brian, Caleb, myself from community development. Hillary, who was
representing the clerk's office, but also representing the historical society. Karen and
Keith from Finance and, then, we worked with consultants -- these last four names are
consultants from JUB Engineers based out of Boise, who kind did the project
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management and a lot of the legwork for this. So, what we are looking at here is the
assessment area and before I show you what -- exactly what we did this, to kind of
orient you towards CDBG, everything that's in green are the only area specific -- I guess
areas that qualify for use of CDBG funds in all of Meridian and you can see they are
pretty localized to this -- this main, more dense core that we have here around
downtown. Any particular census tract or block group has to have at least 35.7 percent
I think of LMI residents living within that area in order to qualify. So, everything you see
here in green is saying, hey, CDBG can fund any project that's going on in here as long
as it meets what we are trying to do with our consolidated plan. But what you see here
-- and I think that this should be obvious to everybody, is that the vast majority of
downtown and the areas around downtown, particularly east of it, are not covered by
any CDBG funding or related project. We simply can't put any money through CDBG
into the downtown redevelopment or any projects that we might consider or want to do
in that area. A lot of the efforts to revitalize downtown just can't be funded through our
program. So, MDC, as you see it in the purple little order there, is a definition of the --
the redevelopment area that MDC works under. But, again, we can't cross over funds
with that. Just because they have defined that area doesn't mean that we can work with
it with our program. So, what our group came together to -- communicate together and
determined that this area here in this orangy, brown color that kind of recaptures an
opportunity for us to utilize CDBG funds to assist any kind of potential future
development work that we might want to do in that main downtown core area.
Currently, again, when we get -- when we get a new census in a couple of years this
might change. We might see lower -- low, moderate income individuals, we might see a
percentage increase in that census track around downtown, which will make it easier for
us, but this -- essentially, this entire project is to enable us to assist in the revitalization
development of downtown, utilizing the funds through the Community Development
Block Grant program. So, this is our slum and blight area that we are looking at and I
want to make clear here that no one is calling this area a slum, no one is calling it
blighted, no one is calling it deteriorated and I think that there is a lot of misconception
about what that means. It just means that in terms of the way that HUD defines slum
and blight there are certain characteristics -- also the state of Idaho -- there are certain
characteristics that can lead to slum and blight and we have focused on this area for
studying assessment and to determine how we can potentially prevent that from
happening in our community. So, here is the state code. I'm not really going to get into
it and word by word, but just so you know what we are looking for, what state code says
is a substandard area, so if we don't find these things in the area that I just showed you
on the map, then, we can't even look at funding. This is just -- this is irrelevant. But we
have to do this assessment and study to figure it out. So, we are looking at conditions
that are conducive to ill health or endangering life, lacking -- or open spaces or facilities
that are lacking accessibility or usefulness, contributing to economic underdevelopment,
deterioration of structures or improvements, depreciation or disinvestment in the area.
A loss of investment, population, or utilization of an area. So, we are talking about an
underutilization of area. Lots of open spaces is an underutilization of area, for an
example. Not in terms of parks or the value of open space, but having large lots that
have not been developed would be something that would be considered here and also
just anything that could possibly disadvantage or create an inability or a lack of
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attraction for private investment into the community and the area. It's something that
meets this particular code and it kind of goes to mention to kind of aggregate it more
simply, we are looking for physical deterioration of buildings and improvements, any
abandonment of properties. We didn't really look so much at high turnover rates, but
that is something that we can look at in terms of high vacancy rates and not really an
issue that we have in our community citywide, but that's something we could have
looked at. In addition, looking at environmental contamination or potential for
contamination and any -- any condition that can lead to danger or illness. So, what we
did is talked about all of this code, we took our area and we had to determine, well, how
are we actually going to assess -- how are we going to do this research, how are we
going to look at every single property within this area, which was I think almost 400 or
more properties and kind of judge them along this line. So, we have right here an
example of just a blank assessment form what was created by JUB with the help of the
committee that breaks it down into these six main factors. So, we are looking for
hazardous conditions and, then, over in the description you can see A, B, C, D, which
are specific things that we are looking for. Is there contamination? Are their walkways
or unfit in entries? Are we seeing fire hazards or electrical hazards that exist in the
community or in this particular property. We are also looking for faulty public displays or
signage. Graffiti would fall under this or abandoned -- abandoned signs or damaged
signs. In addition, damaged building elements, which you can see there is a lot of
things. Underutilized property. Property conditions where you might have problems
with a sidewalk or fences or other things. Broken windows, things like that. And, then,
any apparent code violations that exist on every property. So, we had to go to every
single property and fill out one of these forms and anytime we checked a box we had to
take a picture. So, we have all of this as kind of aggregated and we have created a GIS
map, so that anybody in the public, as soon as we -- you guys all -- as soon as we get
this approved through HUD we will put this online and anybody can access and so if
there is a property owner that's like, oh, I live in that area, what, is my home in poor
condition? I don't know. They can look up online, they can see exactly the pictures and
exactly the concerns and this is meant to be kind of a revolving project where the
committee will continue to meet over time where we can address the needs and change
things moving forward. So, this is kind of a development of something beyond just we
want to throw money into this area using CDBG, we also want to help actually revitalize
and change the development of -- of this area and allow the public to be able to see the
processes that we are going through in order to make assessments and to make
changes. So, the methodology here is of these factors, these main six factors, each
property is -- is given an overall rating score or a band score, if you will, based on the
number of contributing factors that come into play. So, if a property only has
landscaping problems but is good everywhere else, then, we consider it only having one
contributing factor and that's excellent and that happens, as you can see here on this
scale going down from excellent, good, fair and poor and what it comes down to is that
any property that falls within the fair or poor rating or having more than four contributing
factors would be considered qualifying for the slum and blight designation. So, that
means that we have got -- anything more than four is going to fall into the category of
meeting -- of meeting these definitions. So, in terms of determining eligibility at that
point -- so, after we have gone out, we have done all the assessment, we have all these
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ratings for all of the properties that are there, we have to assess all of them, obviously,
but, then, we need to know how many of them in terms of what percent of that entire
area is a fair or a poor assessment and at least 25 percent of them -- so, one quarter of
all the properties have to be fair or poor in order to meet the slum and blight
designation. It's a pretty low bar and it's a pretty flexible bar and it's relatively subjective
based on state and local code and HUD doesn't really say -- like if you're not walking
down the street and you're seeing broken windows everywhere and nobody's living over
here and all these things are -- this is just like a real slum, that's not what we are looking
at here. We are looking for conditions that could lead to slum and blight based on what
we have determined through the code. Well, what we actually saw was 37 percent of
that area. So, a little more than a third of that area that we defined is experiencing a fair
to poor rating on these standards, so -- and JUB put it in the plan, the findings of this
assessment establish a strong basis for defining the study area as a mix of older
properties and newer developments that present characteristics that are often as
associated with slum and blight. So, again, often associated -- we are not saying this is
slum, we are not saying this is blight, we are just seeing things that could lead to it. So,
here is a map of the findings here with the help of JUB and Brian and the planning
division here. This is kind of what it looks like and we will put this online and what the
tool is designed to do is you can literally click on any one of these parcels and, then,
see the form that's filled out and the picture associated, but you can see that the rail
corridor is kind of where we are having a lot of the -- the more deteriorated areas of this
slum and blight area, but you can look at this and feel free to look at this later. I have
got a lot more -- a lot more things that you can explore about this topic and issue. But
moving forward I would kind of like to highlight the things that we found the most. So,
the number one contributing factor to the slum and blight designation is damaged or
missing sidewalks and, again, you can see highlighted in yellow here every property
that was noted to have a sidewalk issue and that's quite a few, particularly as you're
heading out east in that area. The second -- the second biggest contributing factor was
facades or just damaged exterior to buildings and this can be all sorts of different things,
but particularly just the general appearance and the upkeep of the exterior of buildings.
And the third largest contributing factor is landscaping. So, this is just inconsistency or
lack of coordination or compliance with code based on landscaping. So, here are just
some pictures that I have noted to kind of give an example of what we are finding? So.
You can see an abandoned property on the top left here. There are a lot of things going
on here, but just to kind of see -- this is near the rail corridor that you can see that there
is a drainage issue, there is roof problems, there is broken windows, there is lots of
boarded up windows there. Just below that you see an obvious break in the sidewalk.
Dilapidated fences. Inconsistent landscaping, which doesn't seem like the biggest deal,
but there are a lot worse examples that we found in the community. And, then, open
waterways that present a hazard, both on property and off property in the right of way,
were something that -- we found a lot of open canals and different things were
considered to be on the dangerous or hazardous end. So, next steps of what we are
talking about today. So, today I will propose that you guys adopt the resolution that
approves this plan, but also formally designates the area that we have studied as a
redevelopment area. Both of those two processes are necessary for us to be able to
send this to HUD and, then, have them explore our process to make sure that we
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complied with their requirements. Tomorrow, assuming that we adopt that resolution, I
will be sending this off to HUD, we will get this approved and that opens a lot of doors
for us moving forward with this program. In 2018 we are going to start exploring actual
structured ways to -- to meet some of the needs in this area. In addition, every -- every
six months or so we are hoping to meet as a committee to discuss what the progress is
being made and kind of pull together the resources and stakeholders to see what we
need to do to really focus on this area. And, then, in 2022 we will kind of do this
process again to see what's happening and what the movement is going forward and,
then, every ten years -- so, in 2027 HUD requires us to do this all over again if we want
to maintain that designation, at which point we can expand the area, we can shrink it,
we can change our -- we can do whatever we want to do with it moving forward. We
would hope to do -- I guess I should say we had hoped to make a larger area for our
study area to look at different -- different things that are just beyond the downtown core.
But we didn't have the funding for it and we didn't have a lot of time to do that as well.
So, we were hoping to kind of start this off for the next ten years to see what are the
needs in this small area. I know it's a focus for a lot of different groups in the downtown
area. So, that's kind of what we are focusing on here. But with that, this crazy complex
thing, I will take your questions.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Chris, so does this give us an opportunity to request for funds to actually
resolve some of these things regarding facade -- I mean I know that that's an MDC
thing. Sidewalks and things like that, actually fix some of the things that you're
discovering need repaired and updated and beautification?
Pope: Madam Mayor, Council Member Little Roberts, yes, absolutely. That's why we
are doing this. We want people to recognize that downtown is an opportunity, that there
is funding available to start making changes and I don't think that -- there are so many
different stakeholders and groups that want to do some of these great and different
things in downtown, this opens the doors for that, that applicants can come left and right
and whether it's façade improvement or sidewalks, we can all facilitate that through
CDBG, assuming that this gets passed, both at the local and federal levels.
Little Roberts: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Chris, the property owners, are they informed of this designation that this
group has found and, if so, how is that communicated to them?
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Pope: So, Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, this is one of the -- the few things
that HUD requires that doesn't require a public input process and that's not to say that
we are not doing that, but without a formal designation of the area, it is something that
generally doesn't get put in front of the public to be discussed. If that's something the
Council finds expedient, we can -- we can go through that process, but this is something
that as soon as we -- we get an idea that we did the right thing, that HUD is okay to
approve, that we intend to reach out whole heartedly to every member of the community
there, holding an open house to make sure that the public is informed about this
assessment, that they know that they can access the records about the assessment on
their own property and that we are there to help kind of moving forward with that.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. Chris, I appreciate the -- the public outreach to
kind of open the doors and let the public come in. Is there a plan in place to
communicate directly with the property owners or is it just relying on them to be hearing
about this public outreach processing and to come and attend?
Pope: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, that's a very good question. In terms
of the property owners there listed in all of our records and databases, they are also
listed specifically on the forms that are utilized to do the assessment and we have not
done any outreach specifically to the property owners, so kind of like I mentioned, we
hope to do specific targeted work towards those property owners, assuming that there is
a designation made and this is explored further. We have that list in hand ready to
utilize doing any kind of public process that Council deems necessary and as I
mentioned, it is not required from the federal level, but -- but if you all would like us to do
any specific targeted outreach to the property owners, we will gladly do so.
Cavener: It should be, especially if we are --
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I echo Councilman Cavener's -- well, maybe not -- he didn't exactly express
concern, but it's a concern to me. I -- when it comes to using CDBG funds, I feel this is
a more appropriate use of it that I would be more likely to get behind, but I -- I would
hesitate to designate someone's property as slum and blight without having at the
minimum, you know, our postcards sent out that we do for notifications and certainly as
much notification as we can provide Nextdoor and whatnot to -- to request input. I
mean we recently experienced a situation where word got out that there was discussion
about the possibility of putting a fire station in a -- in a park and the major outcry that we
had from that. I fear deeming someone's property slum and blight without -- as a
government -- at least given them a chance to put some input, because it makes me
want to hide under the desk. So, I -- I love the idea, I love the move, but I think we need
take a step back and take that effort first and, then, move forward with it.
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Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: I agree. I definitely think that we should have a conversation with the
property owners, tenants, whoever we need to talk to regarding that, kind of along the
lines of maybe we did with -- and I know this was before your time -- with the split
corridor, that we have a meeting of those involved and, you know, explained what was
going on and things, because, like you had mentioned, the -- the terminology of slum
and blight and what we are trying to do, don't necessarily correlate and so I think it
would be great to have some type of facilitation where we can talk to those that are
impacted before we designate it.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further? So, what direction do you want tonight? What do
you see?
Pope: Well, that is on the screen. I propose to -- to approve and adopt the -- the
resolution. I will yield to you, Caleb. What are your thoughts on this?
Hood: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I'm not quite sure what we do or why
we are doing it necessarily. We can certainly put people on notice. As far as real
impacts -- I mean I understand there may be a negative, you know, connotation to
being designated slum and blight, but there is no real world -- there is no sirens going
off in my backyard if this actually happens; right? There is no -- it doesn't affect your
taxes or your insurance or -- if anything, it's positive; right? And we don't designate a
property, we are designating the area and as Chris kind of showed in a couple of slides,
there is an aggregate and we look and we say, hey, there is four properties in a row that
are missing sidewalk, that's where we should do a sidewalk project type of a thing or
facades, hey, these ones have some facade needs. I'm not saying let's not gather
some information, I'm just not quite sure how we would couch that or what type of
information we are asking the public for. It's a pretty technical analysis. I mean a lot of
it's taking pictures and documenting things, but are we asking them to review how we
have analyzed their property or if they like this concept or not. I mean here is, I guess,
where we get a little bit sideways with this potentially. We spent 19,000 dollars with a
consultant to develop this. I think we have to adopt something; right? And if you don't
want to adopt a slum and blight plan, I'm not quite sure -- and I'm going to probably
pass it to Christopher a little bit, but if the elements are there to designate it there --
again, if it's transparency and sharing this information, I think we can do that. I'm
wondering if there is a question there really for the public.
De Weerd: And I -- I guess just to add to that, this area has kind of -- technically
already been determined slum and blight through the urban renewal district, because
that is something that had to be demonstrated to -- to set an urban renewal district. So,
in essence, they are -- this area has already been labeled that, this just qualifies
additional efforts to be able to help give it more help or assistance.
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Pope: Madam Mayor, if I may. Looking at the map specifically you see five parcels of
land that are not currently in the urban redevelopment area. That would be considered
in this point. So, as was mentioned there have been processes that have been
underdone to define this area as a redevelopment area. That is what we will call this
and that's what it will be designated. It won't be designated slum and blight area, it will
be designated redevelopment area, which it is already designated, we just have to go
through this process in order to have HUD, then, be okay with that designation, on top
of what we have already discussed and what MDC does in this area.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I think to your point -- and Caleb's context is super important. People have a
better understanding of context with an urban rural district than they might in this
particular situation and so while I don't think any of us are saying, well, no, we are
worried about people not understanding, so we are not going to move forward with it, I
think our concern is making sure that those -- at least those within the area at least have
an invitation to a meeting where they have an opportunity to hear exactly the
presentation that you provided, so that I believe everyone in the room has -- has the
understanding of the context and how this is a positive thing and I think maybe even a
postcard wouldn't be able to sufficiently portray that, as much as maybe in an envelope
letter saying a little bit more of the basics than what you could just fit on a postcard
saying, but, here, we are going to have a meeting and fully explain it. We want your
input. We are doing this, but we are going to have a meeting anyway. We are having a
meeting and we want your input and here -- so, that we can explain the positive
outcomes and at least give them some warning before, then, we say, yeah, let's do it.
Pope: Madam Mayor, Council Member, Palmer, if I may, one of the -- one of the
thought processes -- and I kind of want to defend the department in our thinking with
this -- not only is it -- because we have discussed the idea of holding a public open
house to discuss these things with the property owners, but a lot of it is because there is
such intricacy and complexity with developing a plan like this and the bureaucracy that
we have to play with at the federal level. A lot of what we were hoping to do was to go
through Council with this and, then, make sure at the federal level that everything is
okay before we go to the public. The last thing that we want to do is go to the public
with something that is needing to be altered or changed particularly as Caleb alluded to
that we don't have the funding to, then, adjust. This is something that we can always
amend later, that we can always go back and -- and talk about as a Council in this
forum, after we get that input from the federal government and from the public and I
know that that kind of seems backward in a way and that's kind of the way that we are
trying to figure out how to ride, is we want to make sure we are doing this right based on
HUD standards, but we don't want to go to the public with something that is substandard
federally and, then, make adjustments before we really understand whether or not the
federal government will approve and accept the plan as it stands. So, our hope was to
be able to adopt the plan and designate the area, get feedback from the federal
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government, and, then, revisit it immediately with the public and, then, back here in this
forum. I don't know if that would address any of the concerns, but that's kind of the
reasoning that we are -- we are coming to you first.
Caleb: And, Madam Mayor, if I can just piggyback on that a little bit. I do think that
Chris's time and effort -- not that we can do whatever he asks us to do; right? But I do
think that the effort, really, would probably best be utilized in talking with these people
about the types of projects they envision in this area that could bring them up a little bit,
not so much on the front end about should we designate this area, but, really, talking
about here is what we have got approved, the types of projects we can do, where
should we do that in this general area and what type of -- again are the sidewalks or are
they facades or are they -- what do you think based on -- on this study. So, again, we
can -- we can -- and we can do it both, but we do have -- Chris isn't a full-time employee
and, again, that was just sort of our thought process with how this would move forward
post designation is really working with those property owners on what they would like to
see done here.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: So, I don't understand how this is a bad thing at all. I think this is a benefit to
the citizens, the homeowners. I happen to own a piece of property in this area. So, I
want to disclose that and if I had an opportunity to make improvements or to get some
help making improvements, I think that's great. Now, I would re -- I would recuse myself
in that and I don't think that's going to happen based on where my place is and what it
is, but I'm saying as an owner in this area and something here available to improve
even the area around my property, I think it's great and I wouldn't be -- it wouldn't hurt
my feelings at all because I already know that. It's not really anything new. Maybe
that's just because I'm here and I have seen the plans, you know, over the years, but I
think it's a positive thing, so I'm for it.
Pope: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Council Member Milam, if I can respond to that in the way
that -- we were hoping to kind of frame this discussion around the idea that there is now
a region of the community who could not and needs the opportunity to receive an extra
source of funding to meet the needs that are there, that now has an opportunity, more
so than framing it around we are designating your area as slum and blight and I
recognize that particularly in my role I have no control over the perception of individuals,
nor a clear act -- or responsibility of accountability that you all do to those property
owners and as Caleb said, we will do what we need to to do the due diligence for your
end and on our end, but we would propose and suggest that we move forward with the
adoption of the resolution based on what we have noted in this discussion.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
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Little Roberts: Chris, I definitely think that it's a great thing and --
De Weerd: Are -- is your mic on?
Little Roberts: Yes.
De Weerd: Okay.
Little Roberts: I definitely think that it's a great thing and if that's, you know, what you
need to do to finish the federal end of things in order to present it to the property owners
and it's already designated through MDC, I definitely -- as long as there is a plan
somewhere in there to -- to talk to the property owners, I definitely think that it should go
ahead and proceed, that not asking their permission -- I think that it's already
designated, let's get whatever help we can for them and improve that area.
Pope: Madam Mayor, Council Member Little Roberts, feel free to bind me to whatever
thing you need me to do. If we can move forward with this tonight, I will gladly push the
envelope over the next couple of weeks to make sure that your concerns are met, after
receiving feedback from the federal level.
Little Roberts: Follow up?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Chris, can you tell us how many property owners there are involved in
this designated area?
Pope: Madam Mayor, Council Member Little Roberts, I do not know off the top of my
head. I do have that number, though. I can provide that. I can provide you any
information based on this property -- those property owners. A lot of -- a lot of it is
owned by -- I don't know -- I would say probably 20 to 30 percent of the area is owned
by one or two groups, but beyond that -- there are individual property owners -- as you
can see there is a heavy little residential pocket there -- that we will definitely need to
reach out individually to those groups. I can get you that information, I just don't know
off the top of my head. I apologize for that.
Little Roberts: Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Chris, can you just share with us what the motivation is in at least taking
some action tonight, as opposed to, again, a little more slower, a little more thoughtful of
this and delaying it a couple weeks to allow you to reach out to the public? I hear where
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you're coming from and I just -- I need some better understanding as to why you're
asking us to approve this tonight.
Pope: Madam Mayor and Council Member Cavener, so kind of as noted, the -- we were
hoping to get feedback from the federal level, as this is designed to be a federal plan
and a federal designation, to make sure that our methodology was correct, that we
utilized the state code. Now, we did our due diligence to make sure that our process
was in line with what Nampa has done with their designation and Boise has done with
their designations, so we feel very confident, but I'm pretty comfortable going on the
record with this, but we have a very finicky representative at the Department of Housing
and Urban Development that I know is going to pick apart this plan to make sure we do
it exactly correct and I think that that feedback is very useful information for us to, then,
be able to take to the public without having that feedback where -- I can't say that we
are less confident in the plan that we are presenting, but we have an opportunity to be
more sure about what we are bringing to the public and being confident in the fullness of
what we are presenting is accurate and in line with all regulations and codes.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. I guess, then, maybe to rephrase the question, is
there anything that's requiring you to ask us to take action on this tonight before the end
of the year?
Pope: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, no.
Cavener: Okay. Thank you.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, this is going to backfire on us if we do this this way. I think we
need to hold it off until February, give us a chance to have a public meeting in January
-- late January through the holidays, be able to have as many people as possible attend
and, then, make the decision in early February.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other discussion?
Pope: Madam Mayor, if I may inject. Just -- just a procedural point that I think Caleb
and I will have to work with is that because there is no federally required public input
process, how we move forward with this will be kind of the seat of our pants. We have
to determine exactly what is appropriate and we have a lot of flexibility with that, but
without that structure it might be a little more difficult in time and labor intensive than we
would normally have or as expected. I know the city has regular procedures when it
comes to noticing and public input process and we will play with those how we need to,
but there is going to be an added level of work to this if we -- if we choose to do a public
forum prior to what we are talking about today, which is okay.
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Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: If a public forum or however it's structured is contemplated, is it anything more
than at the January workshop, for example, between now and, then, the postcard notice
goes to these property owners, whose address you have, 99 percent of which within
MDC have already been designated, but, nonetheless, it provided notice that on
January the 12th there is this economic development opportunity and designation that's
going to be discussed at Council at 3:00 o'clock, for example, just come and listen and
learn and get a better understanding of what's been done and that can be the
opportunity for them to appear and e-mail in advance again information or not appear or
whatever those people want to do to at least have an opportunity to learn about it, which
we can act.
Pope: Yeah. Madam Mayor. Madam Mayor, Council Member Borton, that's,
essentially, what we have envisioned on the discussions we have had previously about
how to structure moving forward with the adoption of a resolution and a designation
prior to a forum, post forum, whenever we are doing, that's what we would do is try to
have a -- just an open house where we have a little presentation to educate on what --
what we are doing here, what the opportunities are, and less so of a come tell us how
we did this wrong or how we did this right kind of thing. More of this is what the
opportunities are that are presented and more of a forum -- less of a forum, more of an
open house discussion.
Borton: Madam Mayor? The question I guess -- if -- is it more valuable, if we went that
route, to have that occur at a workshop or maybe another Tuesday, for us to be present
and if the public wants to ask questions with the Council and the Mayor here to see it
versus some separate meeting where you guys host an open house and, then, come
back and report to us what the -- I don't know -- kind of turn over to any suggestions
from Council as to -- if there is a desire to not do it today, what would that look like, to
be sensitive to the added workload?
Pope: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Council Member Borton, the discussions that Caleb and I
have had, if I can cite them, have been more along the lines of doing kind of a lunchtime
open house, picking an hour for a couple of days in one week next month, for example,
and just making a list, making sure everybody knows and come and show up, less of a
formal presentation with Council present in a workshop environment, but we will yield to
-- if this is the route that Council wants to go we will do what we need to there.
Hood: And also, Madam Mayor, just -- I think maybe Councilman Borton is -- is thinking
about doing that before, though, approving the resolution. So, again, if you want to do
that before, we would -- me personally, I would rather just do it one time. So, if that's us
having that and reporting to you the findings -- I mean if your intent is to hear from the
public, then, you should probably hear from the public, not hear from us telling you what
the public said, but have the meeting here. But, again, we will -- I would rather not do it
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twice, though. I would rather not do something one evening or lunchtime or whatever
and, then, have -- duplicate that effort in front of you, essentially, again. So, if that's
what you want I guess -- I would propose we just do it -- whether it's a workshop or not I
don't even know, but we can do -- in the notice that goes out to people, try to do some
of that education on what this actually is. But I think it's going to be tough in a letter or
postcard to really explain this and certainly the presentation helps and we may be riling
a bunch of people up that -- we are trying to inform them, but we are not trying to -- I
don’t know how we do that in a written notice, you know, because some of the language
we would like to use in that notice or -- can inherently cause questions and they may
come here asking you for those answers, which is fair, because that's what we are
asking them to do, but --
Pope: Which is why we are glad we are before you, because -- yeah. Is whatever path
you all want to move forward with this, please, give us guided direction on exactly what
you're expecting, so we can ensure that every T is crossed.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Moving forward, I would err on the side that you're right and that the analysis
you did is right and approve it tonight and -- and still complete the January open house
forum -- opportunity to express the development tools that are now available to these
properties.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I guess I want to ping off of a comment that Caleb had made and that's that if
there is a concern that the public might be angry or upset about this process, then, I
would much rather hear them be angry and upset with us before we approve this thing,
than afterwards and so even if there is a hint of some concern about that, I think that we
should move forward with a public hearing. I agree with Caleb, not trying to have staff
scheduled multiple meetings that we don't know who is going to attend, so scheduling
this as part of our workshop in January -- maybe it's a packed house and if it's a packed
house that's great and maybe nobody shows. If nobody shows up, that's great,
because we did our due diligence by communicating with the public and the property
owners in this area that this designation is going to be applied and give them the
opportunity to come and talk to us. So, I will make a motion, then, that we continue this
item to the January workshop meeting, which is January the 8th, and schedule this for a
public hearing to allow the public to come and provide any testimony on this and to
request that staff send a postcard with appropriate messaging to the property owners
about what is set to occur and invite them to come and speak.
Palmer: If he means the 16th, I second it.
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Bird: The 9th.
Palmer: 9th?
Cavener: The 9th. Thank you.
Palmer: Second it.
Pope: I don't know if this changes anything, but I will be out of town on the 9th.
Cavener: Madam Mayor. Then I would -- I would amend my motion to change the date
from the 9th to the 16th.
Palmer: Second.
De Weerd: The second agrees? And the -- Chris, I guess the reason you're suggesting
it is -- is having to approve this to even know if needing and sharing this information is
going to make sense or not.
Pope: Yes.
De Weerd: Okay. Okay. Well, I have a motion and a second to continue this item to
the 9th of January. All those in favor?
Cavener: Madam Mayor, sorry to be --
De Weerd: I'm sorry. The 16th. Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Any opposed
say nay. Okay.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: And, Caleb and Chris, I think you could probably work with Kaycee and
maybe she can help you put together an information sheet that might help make a little
bit more sense as to what this is.
Pope: Okay. Sounds good. Thank you very much.
E. Community Development: Status Update of 2017
Comprehensive Plan Amendment
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Okay. Item 7-E is also under our community
development. I will turn this over Caleb.
Hood: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Been sitting over there too
long, so I thought I would stand at this time and haven't produced a PowerPoint either.
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I'm just going to kind of run through my -- my speaking points tonight, but feel free to
interrupt at any point in time if there is clarification or a question or whatever. Just as --
just the most recent background. On September 12th we were -- I was here in front of
you, gave a general outline and the scope of what the new Comprehensive Plan would
look like. You asked me to come back to this meeting. We have researched past
similar projects, both internally -- so, referenced before were the 2007 Ten Mile Specific
Area Plan, our 2006 and '7 South Meridian effort, as well as The Fields District and
looking at some of the contracts and RFPs that went out and scope of work that went
out. So, Brian's looked at a lot of those, as well as polling other agencies, like Eagle,
Boise and Kuna and we met with COMPASS as well and contacted them to talk about
similar projects that they have gone through in the recent past and some of them are
actually going through them now, just to get a better idea of what we are likely looking at
as far as budget goes and scope of work. We met with Finance, too. Keith. To better
understand the process and options for procurement, as well as a timeline from that
perspective as well. So, I'm going to share that information with you today. Based on
those -- on those meetings that I just mentioned, as well as some of the previous
direction and discussions we have had, I'm here tonight to just kind of give you that
outline of what I would recommend we do going forward. Really, what I'm looking for
from you is any red flags. I don't want to be spinning my wheels on going out and
having people respond to proposals if I'm not asking them for the right type of
information and the right product that we are asking for at the end of the day. So, I kind
of -- let's break that down into some bite size pieces for you right now, but here is the
first assumption I have. This is not just for me, but, again, for our future consultant --
would be that even though our community has certainly grown and changed in the last
five years, which is the last time we did a major update, but certainly the last 15 when
we adopted largely the same policy we have there. It's not entirely broken. We aren't
throwing the baby out with the bath water. There is still some good stuff in our current
comp plan that we are going to retain. So, that's kind of the first assumption and I see
some -- not everyone's good, that we aren't starting from scratch here, right, we got
some things there that we can certainly move forward and we will touch it all, but we
envision a lot of -- a substantial amount of what we have kind of staying in place. The
next -- just to kind of get head nods that I'm kind of looking for is talking with Finance
and, again, Brian, he's done a lot of research and looking into this. We are looking at
doing an RFP, with basically the qualifications built into that proposal. So, we are going
to be looking for firms that have specific experience and qualifications to do the specific
project. We are looking to find the right team that's a good fit for us. So, the ideal
consultant will have experience working with a diversity of
comprehensive plans and will be prepared to guide the city through the entire planning
process. Here are some qualifications we are going to be looking for in this RFP, a
website master or web portal -- again, we talked about this last time. Most people
coming to a meeting, even at 6:00 o'clock, it doesn't work well into most people's
schedule. So, having an online component is going to be a big deal. More about that
here just in a little bit, but somebody that has that -- a firm that has that experience to
set up a website and basically maintain it. Again, I have got a little bit more on that, but
that's kind of one of the main qualifications. Someone that's involved with public
engagement, that understands how -- how to get the word out and facilitate meetings.
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A transportation model or engineer. Someone at least -- at least familiar. Don't see that
being a huge component, but we definitely want to have somebody part of the team that
can do that. And, then, an economist. And I can't forget a planner. They are probably
going to have a planner on their team I would think, too, so -- so, the oversight. So, we
have talked about this, too, and we have had a little bit of change in this. We are
looking at the same steering committee and I mentioned this to you all before, we
envision just a steering committee and not the six or seven work groups that we talked
about before, just kind of kicking this around and how that would really work. It seems
like that might be overkill, at least to start. Now, if we get into this and that's what we
realize is that we should set up a work group to address that element or two or
whatever, we can do that, but we don't want to go out to shoot with that kind of
approach for -- for this planning exercise to start out with six or seven more groups. So,
the steering committee would be made up of elected officials, appointed officials, and
city staff, who will oversee the project, but the consultant should be able to guide the
project from there and the steering committee provides general guidance on the two
main elements and topics. So, this is another where I'm kind of looking for a head nod,
we have got really these two main themes, if you will, of the new comp plan. Strategic
growth management and public services, that's one. So, let me just -- strategic growth
management and public services. And the second one is transportation and economic
development. So, there is an and in both of those, but those are kind of the two main
themes or elements and a little bit more on those here in just a minute. Let me kind of
get through the oversight committee and structure first. So, this is also from the draft
scope. I just want to read this to you real quick. A manageable number of committees
and work groups should be created to divide the work as negotiated with a consultant
and city staff. Committees and work groups should include topical specialist, public
officials, city staff, agency partners and community stakeholders. So, I have already
engaged the transportation commission. They are kind of standing at the ready. Want
to be involved in this and willing to serve. Our Planning and Zoning Commission
members, at least some of them, could certainly be -- be part of this process, them as a
whole, just to name a couple of examples. We envision City Council workshops being
used to provide updates and obtain direction as needed. So, using, again, once a
month, if needed, come in, kind of provide status updates, if any. But you're all together
anyway, so that -- we thought that would be kind of a good way to -- to manage that.
Okay. So, here is really the three big elements where we really need some help going
forward and that's in the strategic growth management and public services realm and
just refresher, this is largely from the strategic plan and I'm going to read these out of
the strategic plan. Define and articulate the city's growth goals. Identify priority growth
areas and incentivize growth and development. Promote and guide desired growth with
investments and infrastructure and services ahead of growth. And complete rezoning in
targeted growth areas to direct types of development in alignment with growth goals.
So, those are four objectives that are out of the comp plan that we are going to put,
basically, directly into the -- not into the scope, but, basically, what we are going to be
guiding this process. Essentially what we envision with -- under strategic growth
management in public services is this outcome in the comp plan to provide the rules or
a matrix for where additional growth could occur, but wouldn't actually define those
areas on the ground. It would help decision makers understand comprehensive impacts
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of a project. So, the idea is to ensure that development isn't burdening existing or future
taxpayers, placing an undue stress on services, or it doesn't have to be subsidized.
Essentially making the best use of public funds and partnering on the right projects.
Obviously, these measures and matrix would have to be defined with the community
and with you all. I don't know what those are right now. That would be one of the first
things they would do and it wouldn't dictate -- we don't envision this being a scorecard
that dictates, you know, above a certain amount and it's an automatic approval, but it
just helps to provide more information on -- if it's the right type of project, right location,
at the right time, across multiple disciplines. Again, I envision a hierarchy in this, too.
Life safety stuff. You know, if -- if Fire Department says it's like seven minutes for us to
get there, that's going to be something that we can -- we can feed into this matrix and
say, well, maybe that's too far out. This fire station isn't planned in our CIP until 2020,
come back and see us in 2020, 2021, when the fire station is up and running. Just as
an example. Schools, roads, other life safety issues, et cetera, could be worked into
that. Again, just to reference the CIP in the consolidated financial plan would be --
those tools would be used developing this -- this matrix. But this general concept is a
big one that will drive a lot of the discussions for this comp plan update. So, again, I
wanted to just touch base on this one that's growth management kind of principle and
public infrastructure. I mean it really is a lot about services in the location,
developments proposed, and aligning those plans that we have -- not just as the city,
but with other agencies, ACHD and school district, to service those areas that can be
serviced. So, again, I will pause or look for head nods and -- or for anymore further
clarification on that. But that's kind of an overarching theme for this new comp plan is
we are not trying to necessarily manage growth or we are trying to understand our
impacts in growth and as we are going through the approval or entitlement process is
this the right time for that project in this location, so --
De Weerd: Any comment, feedback for Caleb? Do I hear a nod or head nodding?
Borton: Yeah. Somewhat. What you're reading, can you send that out?
Hood: Sure. Yeah. Sorry. I was still working on it last minute and I had hoped to have
had it to you last week to look at it ahead of time, but, yeah, absolutely. So, the second
big thing that I just kind of want to -- want to touch base on is transportation and
economic development. Not quite sure how this can be titled, but generally that would
-- those would be the -- the main things I would enter and this is -- this would be a land
use analysis in part to look at whether we have adequate housing opportunities to
attract and maintain a workforce necessary for the family wage jobs we seek to keep,
grow and attract. Part of this work should look at overall residential jobs balance on the
future land use map and whether we have enough planned land uses to support
targeted jobs and industries. So, I just want to pause there. So, at least a few of you
were up in McCall earlier this year where we talked about kind of the millennials and
transportation and this is really a lot of what came out of that conference looking at,
again, the upcoming workforce and what they are looking for in communities that they
are looking to get a job and kind of those amenities that go along with that. So, it's not
just housing. We called it -- it's economic development, but economic development is
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the workforce -- well, they live -- have to sleep, too, so they need housing. A kind of sub
objective of that task is to determine whether we are attracted to millennials and how we
might encourage housing along corridors with future public transportation. Where are
these corridors and how might we use these to target population demographics with
unique spending habits and lifestyle choices, which are critical to promote our
workforce. And just another kind of few related objectives that fall under this umbrella.
Rail corridor land use analysis. So, looking at land use intensities to support future
transit, transportation, and the right types of land uses along that corridor. Defining
future transit supported corridors in areas, which was kind of in the thought above. And,
then, develop a master mobility map, which I have already broached this topic with the
transportation commission and they would be more than happy to at least give that an
initial go. And then -- so, that's kind of transportation. So, again, I will pause just to kind
of make sure -- see if there is any questions kind of on that. And it's -- it is -- again, Mr.
Borton -- Councilman Borton, I don't mind sending this out to you. It is intentional today,
though, that I don't have the exact deliverables in a scope. We plan on negotiating this
with a consultant to some degree, but this is what we had planned at a high level to get
out of this project. But I don't have tasks and who does what, because I think there is
going to be some horse trading to stay in budget, but I will get there in a minute. So,
hopefully, what I'm -- what I'm explaining to you makes some sense, but it is sort of
abstract until we get to contract stage, have something to talk about as far as who does
what, so --
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: A scope question that -- that you can correct me on. Are you -- are you
suggesting that the scope of the project be less than an amendment to the comp plan
and what state code requires to be in it? All of those subtle limits will all be addressed?
Hood: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Councilman Borton, I'm sorry, I should have -- that's a
little bit more background, you know, into this. All 17 state required elements will be
addressed.
Borton: Okay.
Hood: These ones are -- and some of them are. You know, economic development,
transportation, housing, are some of those that the state requires. Some of them --
private property rights, national electric transmission corridors, we will touch them.
Agriculture. We will touch them, but we probably won't do a lot with them. So, I didn't
want to -- these are -- again, these are ones that are kind of nontraditional, if you will, or
at least something that I want to make sure that we are -- we are going to need some
more help from a consultant to help us analyze these things. We can't just do it in
house and so a lot of the bill that I envision from this consultant will be to address these
things that I'm highlighting for you today. But it will be kind of a traditional comp plan
update, but these ones are kind of in a little bit nontraditional elements, if you will. So,
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then, the third thing that -- again, kind of big ticket item, if you will, that -- that I envision
-- and this is what I talked about before is public involvement. So, you have to do your
traditional engagement, you know, things like open houses and town halls and sending
out mailers and those types of things, but as we discussed before, we would like to
have a web portal set up, so someone could go on, they could sign up to receive project
alerts, view regular content -- content updates, be challenged with questions or surveys,
provide input, respond to others ideas. So, you can drop a pin. You can comment on
someone else's idea. Oh, I like that idea or I don't or I support it, those types of things,
and, then, just view material. We envision potentially video snippets being uploaded of
meetings you couldn't make in person, do a 60 second summary, put that on the
website, you can catch up, you can comment, you can still fill out the survey -- you
know, it's -- again, if people can't make it into these traditional things -- we even hope
that it can be mobile friendly, although, again, we get into negotiations and I don't know
how much that's likely to cost, but that's something that we are going to put in there that,
hopefully, this firm can develop something that you can use on the go. I do want to just
pause to say certainly the final document -- I mean this is, you know, kind of a razz to
society. I don't -- I can't remember the last time someone asked for a hard copy of our
comp plan. So, really, it's going to be, you know, our final document is going to be, you
know, in design is pdf and put on the website. It's going to be -- it's going to be -- it's
going to be user friendly from the web. So, I just wanted to just kind of put that out
there, you know, that it will be online base, basically. Kind of the goal with this public
involvement process, when you go nontraditional means there will be an increase in the
transparency, broaden the base, enrich the content, sustain a conversation and save
money. No, we aren't saving money on that. We will spend more money, but, again,
we -- we think we can -- by broadening the base and sharing that information online it
will better the process and get more people involved, but it's probably not going to be
cheap. So, other tasks -- just to mention them real quick, that will be in there, but I don't
necessarily need a head nod, but rim area and policies will certainly be called out in the
scope of work and looking at -- at the southern rim and south Meridian and southwest.
The Fields District area. The Magic View-Woodbridge area, we haven't talked about
that in a little bit, but I would like -- need a little bit of help on that. So, there is just a
couple of other tasks that I thought -- so, to cut to the chase, time line and costs. Brian
is working right now -- it's -- on putting together some of these elements and it's
anticipated that a substantial portion of the work will be performed in fiscal year 2018,
but will most likely not be completed until later in FY-19. By this City Council, minus
Councilman Bird, obviously -- but that was the idea. We talked about -- I know we have
had some other conversations maybe about that, but we think it's best to go ahead and
-- you know, the goal would be to complete this, you know, fall to, you know -- if it's in
the summer it's great, but fall to winter of 2019. So, the RFP will be drafted and
completed by the end of the year. So, the end of this month we will have something to
Finance. Finance has two weeks to review, format, and get on the street. It's in a
formal deadline, but that's basically the timeline, again, was two weeks to review it and
format it and get it on the street. We would like to leave it open for about six weeks.
Once we receive -- you know, we have two weeks for our evaluation scoring team to
meet, discuss, and score the proposals -- and just real quick we envision, you know,
Community Development being involved. We would ask Parks and Public Works, and
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Council -- our Council liaison, if he's interested. I would like to have probably a
developer or two on -- on that group. We don't want to be too big with the evaluation
team, but those just kind of sit on -- those are some folks that we have already identified
as being on our scoring team. Two weeks to negotiate the scope and the contract with
our preferred consultant and, then, one week to get it on the City Council agenda, that
scope and contract with a budget amendment of around 150,000 dollars is we were --
what we were looking for here. So, looking -- just to kind of put that all in there, we will
be looking at the -- that puts us at about the March -- March workshop with that timeline
that I just went through or maybe sometime early April -- April if any of those things slip
a little bit. But certainly I think April is doable. We will shoot from March. So, again,
Brian McClure is -- is great. He -- he has agreed to kind of take the lead on this project,
so we are in good hands with getting, you know, this up and going and off the ground.
I'm certainly working closely with him on reviewing the scope and Finance, obviously,
but he's working on the evaluation criteria, identifying proposers to get this out to, to
encourage them to submit a proposal to us and any potential champions to it as you get
into this process, who do we want to have on some of these steering -- you know, other
sub committees that are part of our -- this process besides the general public. So, just
the last thing, Madam Mayor, is we don't have a catchy name or a way to market this
yet. So, it's just something else to think about. You know, it's called the PALMER plan,
I guess, if that doesn't get taken. He is my liaison right now, so maybe that works.
Growing together was thrown out there at one time. I don't know if we want to use that.
Meridian 2039 -- I mean kind of, you know, the Mayor is now changing her State of the
City address to, you know -- it used to be '59 or '29, so you could do Meridian 2039, it's
a 20 year plan. It's just off the wall; right? Year 2040, 2045, 2050, something different
that's catchy that -- what? What? Five 20 -- anyway. So, be thinking about that. So,
with that, Madam Mayor, Council, I will share this with you, I will clean it up a little bit. I
have got some notes in here, but I will share through the memo and --
De Weerd: Any further comments, questions, catchy phrases, ideas?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: No phrases, but should we consider for those that receive the RFP proposers
in teams? We would be looking for a single entity, but oftentimes these are done in
teams, which is challenging with an RFP process. Could we allow teams to submit?
Hood: Yeah. Absolutely. Madam Mayor. Yeah. We envision someone will be the lead
and put subs on their -- on their team. So, if you have any ideas about -- you know,
there is very few firms that have in-house all of those trades that I just mentioned. So,
they are going to have to put together teams, which is very frequent in our -- in our --
yeah, it's pretty common.
Borton: Madam Mayor. If we do that -- and I have been on one of those before, is an
RFP challenging to use that structure, as opposed to an RFQ, because the team
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doesn't yet know how to bid it? Because they don't really know how they are going to
divide up the work, but they are qualified as a collective group?
Hood: So, Madam Mayor, Councilman Borton, Keith asked me if he should be in here
and I said I think you can just watch it from your -- your PC and I know there is a lag, so
he probably won't be coming in, if he's paying attention, in time, but we did talk a little bit
about that. We talked about the -- the pros and cons of doing an RFQ first and, then,
doing an RFP. To just summarize that discussion, he didn't -- he did not recommend
that. He said that will do nothing but delay time. You can, essentially, put your
qualifications in an RFP and negotiate with -- again, you're going to have a lead, so they
are going to sub out -- I don't know how they do that. I have not been on that side of --
to figure out if their role gets more, but this role was left -- less as you negotiate that. I
think just what I know kind of about that, they just have relationships, generally
speaking, and they -- you know, they will charge by an hour, right, and so if it's 50 hours
of work or 500, I'm going to bill you at my billable hour. But, again, we discussed that to
a certain agreed. Not quite the way you just couched it, I mean I didn't say, well, we
have got multiple different trades, do we want to do an RFQ to look at that team as a
whole, but I think he understood kind of what we were doing and that we needed -- in
the RFP, yeah, just kind of state that in -- within the RFP itself.
Borton: Madam Mayor? And that's fine. If you guys have gone through it -- he's now
coming down. If you have gone into it it's -- let me tell you about Keith Watts. He said --
if you guys have addressed it, that's fine. He wants to probably respond. So long as
there is sufficient time -- the six weeks still allows -- RFPs are sometimes trickier to put
together than RFQs. If it allows ample time for them -- a team to collect and provide
meaningful input.
Watts: I think that would -- I think that's the reason for leaving it out so long. With an
RFQ process you're really going to be asking them to do two proposals and two
solicitations. That's going to extend your timeline and, really, they are going to be
basically doing the same work twice, because with an RFQ they are going to probably
put their proposal together anyway, know who they are going to work with when they
submit. And an RFQ is strictly qualifications. You're not going to ask them any
information with an RFQ about the project, you're going to tell them what the project
entails and you're going to ask them for their qualifications. So, you're not going to get
anything more than that. Then you're going to turn around and go back out for the short
list and you would issue an RFP to those folks.
Borton: Who are qualified?
Watts: Yeah. So, I mean it's give or take. I would prefer to do an RFP, do it one time,
don't make them do the work twice, and leave it out long enough, so they can put their
team together and give you a good response. I would ask -- Council, I guess I will throw
my two bits in, too. As far as in the procurement world, having an elected official sit on
your evaluation committee is highly regarded as a poor choice, because typically that
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elected official has the influence over the employees on a fair evaluation. So, we -- we
tend to be -- shy away from that.
Hood: Sorry, Mr. Palmer.
Cavener: Madam Mayor? Maybe a suggestion of a newly retired elected official as a
suggestion? Just a suggestion.
De Weerd: Did you say no?
Bird: I said --
Milam: That was maybe?
Bird: Maybe. Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I do agree with Keith, it's -- it's not only hard for the other people, but it's hard for
the elected official, too. You know, we -- whether we deserve it or not, we get set on a
pedestal on something like that and -- and our voice seems to ring louder than the
average. So, we might talk about it.
Watts: Thanks.
De Weerd: Thank you, Keith. Okay. Council, any further information needed? Okay.
Hood: I'm up next, too. That's why I'm just lingering. So, whenever you're ready.
J. Public Works: Proposed Update to MCC 9-4-24
De Weerd: Well, Council, I know Mr. Slyter is here and if we can move Item J up -- I
know this is riveting, but --
Freitag: Yes, it is, Madam Mayor. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, thank you
for your time this evening.
De Weerd: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Cavener.
Freitag: Just a very -- just a very quick update on this and, then, however you want to
proceed. So, last workshop last month Kyle Radek brought to you the recommended
language changes regarding our wastewater user charges in our city code. At the
conclusion of that presentation, which was very thorough and you all sat through that,
he sent -- he sent that to you in e-mail form, asked for any additional feedback. We did
not receive any from you. We also provided that feedback to Mr. Slyter. He had an
opportunity to provide us with comment on that. He did. We met again as a team,
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applied the comments that Mr. Slyter had to the proposed draft changes and the
ordinance. We, as a team right now, are comfortable that the draft changes to that
ordinance address the comments that Mr. Slyter had. So, really, that is kind of our
update as to where we are at right at the moment. So, I will pause there and stand for
questions if you have any.
De Weerd: Council, any questions for Alex? Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. Can you give us an idea what some of the alterations since
were?
Freitag: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Palmer, we have made
no changes from the language that Kyle presented to you last month. It is the exact
same document at this point.
De Weerd: Okay. Mr. Slyter have any comments?
Slyter: Possibly if I could just understand or --
De Weerd: Sir, if you can just repeat your name --
Slyter: Merlin Slyter. Possibly if I could just understand or hear the -- the reasoning that
the committee used in not looking at the sentence that I suggested as a change to their
draft. Is that possible?
De Weerd: And -- and you're suggestion -- your suggested change --
Slyter: The language -- I believe, if I have the draft -- correct draft -- is this correct?
Freitag: That looks like our draft. Yeah. Uh-huh.
Slyter: Paragraph two, default wastewater use cap. In any instance where the
customer's wastewater use calculates to less than 1,000 gallons per month or there is
no customer data to calculate a wastewater use cap, the default wastewater use cap
shall be applied and I just thought that the phrase -- where there is no customer data to
calculate a wastewater use cap -- was too vague. W hy wasn't there any customer
data? It could have been because the system of the city to collect the data failed.
De Weerd: Okay. We will --
Slyter: And that would be -- that would not be the fault of the customer. So, why
shouldn't that just be clarified a little bit better as to why there would be no customer
data and there probably wouldn't be any customer data because they didn't hold an
account the previous winter.
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Freitag: So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we did discuss that. It's true,
there could have been a malfunction in the next section, on section three under that --
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Slyter.
Freitag: -- we do allow for the customer to request an adjustment. There is a process
for that. So, we felt in those rare circumstances where that situation might exist, they
would simply do what they have always done, which is request a billing adjustment
through MUBS and we would investigate and adjust accordingly, so --
De Weerd: And I think that Kyle had addressed that.
Freitag: He did.
Slyter: So, that was the question I had and I hadn't gotten any feedback on reasons for
and against.
De Weerd: Okay.
Slyter: I proposed other changes. I don't know if your committee changed --
Freitag: Kyle did, actually.
De Weerd: If you can work through me.
Slyter: I'm sorry.
De Weerd: So, we would love to have a conversation going on at the podium, but it's --
it's hard to follow in the public record. So, your -- what are all your questions and, then,
we will ask Alex to kind of address it.
Slyter: I had -- I had proposed that that phrase be changed to read: Default wastewater
use cap. In any instance where the waste -- customer's wastewater use cap calculates
to less than 1,000 gallons per month or whether the account was not held by or for the
current customer at the same location such that a wastewater use cap has not been
calculated -- instead of the phrase: Where there was no customer data.
De Weerd: Okay.
Slyter: Simply says how or why there would be no customer data. Didn't have an
account there the previous winter. And I just go for more -- personally I go for more
clarity, understanding exactly what is being attempted to be said and I think that's a little
clearer. People that don't know the process wouldn't understand why there wouldn't be
any customer data and this would explain why there -- that possibility exists.
De Weerd: Okay. And did you have another question?
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Slyter: No. That was -- that was the only clarification that I suggested to their draft.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you very much.
Freitag: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I think we just took the position on this
that simple is better and in the case of any kind of dispute regarding the data that is
read from the meter, the customer has the opportunity, as drafted here, to bring that up
with MUBS at that time. So, it really was kind of a catch all. We felt like it was just the
right approach, rather than trying to -- working every potential scenario into the
ordinance language, we just took the simplistic approach, so --
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions for Mr. -- either Slyter or for Alex?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Cavener: Alex, I'm trying to walk through this as a customer if I was experiencing this
and it sounds to me as you presented it it would require me as the customer to take
extra leg work to bring to light if there was a glitch or an error on the equipment, as
opposed to what I'm hearing from Mr. Slyter, which is the onus is on the city to prove
that it was accurate. I guess just looking at it from a customer standpoint to ask our
citizens to go through an extra hop to me just seems cumbersome. I appreciate where
your intent is coming from to try and make the -- the code as easy to understand, but I
just think that from a -- from a customer standpoint we shouldn't be making our citizens
jump through extra hoops to justify if there was an error or an issue with the city.
Freitag: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Cavener, I would agree
with you and in any case like what is being described here, the customer simply would
pick up a phone and talk to our MUBS department, say, hey, I don't think my data is
correct in this situation and that begins this process. There isn't really -- there is a
formal process where if they don't agree with the answer that they get from our MUBS
department they can appeal that to a sense, but this is simply a, hey, I'm not sure this is
accurate, can you help me out, and we allow for that in the ordinance. So, that was
really kind of the approach we took on the whole thing. I don't know that there is -- there
is an extra hoop or anything that we are making them jump through, it's really just a --
this is a -- if you see something odd on your bill, you're allowed to call, we are willing to
talk with you about that and kind of go from there, so --
De Weerd: And it has triggered the conversation and there has been a number of
different influencers that have led to it. Any other questions from Council? Okay.
Slyter: Madam Mayor. I just wanted to thank the Council and you personally for taking
the issue up. It was a surprise.
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De Weerd: Thank you. We oftentimes we don't know something needs clarified or is
broken until someone brings it to the attention and I appreciate that you worked with
staff and that staff really put their heads together to find something that works for -- as
broadly and as specifically as possible. So, thank you for your feedback. So, Council,
are you comfortable? This is a proposed update. I -- do we need any Council action?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I still have to bring the ordinance and
actually put it on the agenda --
De Weerd: Okay.
Nary: -- at a future meeting.
De Weerd: And -- but you're comfortable with just where we are?
Nary: Yes. We will put it on next week.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. And thank you. Appreciate the update. And thank you
for your time. You have had to sit through a lot to get to this point and I apologize I
didn't move this up earlier.
F. Community Development: Rim Policies Update
De Weerd: So, we will be back to Item F. Caleb.
Hood: Thank you, Madam Mayor. This may be a record item for me. Just a quick
update. So, a refresher. On November 14 there was a comp plan text amendment
hearing. You all voted to continue that to February, so that additional outreach with
stakeholders could happen. You asked us to come back today with an updated plan.
And it's pretty high level, because there is a pending public hearing again in February,
but Public Works, in analyzing some of the impact that some of these policies could
have on some of their infrastructure and sewer sheds, and we will be bringing that back
later next year, we did meet on December 6th -- that was just last week -- with three
members of the BCA, as well as three members of the Southern Rim Coalition, to kind
of just understand everybody's perspective, see if there is any common ground or what
the issues of contention may be and we have, as you all are aware, a larger stakeholder
meeting on January 3rd in City Hall here to explain the draft policies in the rim areas,
both the north and the south rim. So, really the direction or just concurrence I need
from you is we do plan on noticing those neighbors via Nextdoor, as well as letters out
to about 200 unique property owners in the next few business days, if you're okay with
that approach. Now, the folks that would be getting a notice are those that have two
acres or more and are within -- I do have some exhibits if you want me to pull them up.
But are within either one of the proposed rim areas. If you have two acres or more,
you're in the rim area, we will send you a notice, as well as any other subdivisions that
have HOAs in there. So, we will use the HOAs to help get the word out to the rest of
their constituents, but we are not going to send it to every single lot. We are going to
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send it to their HOA or property manager or whatever. So, again, that's going to equate
to -- we have identified 26 subdivisions with known HOAs and 244 properties that are
the two acres or larger. The reason that number drops is because you have somebody
that owns four or five acre parcels. There is only one when it gets around 200
postcards going -- or letters going out. So, again, if you're okay with that, that gives
them about two or three weeks to put it on their calendar before our meeting on the 3rd.
We ask again that you don't participate, because you will be asked in February to
actually make a decision on this -- this topic. So, if you're okay with that update -- if you
want more I can provide more, but that's kind of where we are at.
De Weerd: Council, any further information needed? Thank you, Caleb. We
appreciate your brief presentation.
G. Fire Department: Proposed Update to Public Fireworks Display
Permit
De Weerd: Okay. Item 7-G is under our Fire Department.
Bongiorno: Madam Mayor and City Council, I also have a quick one. I brought this
draft proposal amendment ordinance to you last month. The goal of my ordinance was
to bring the fire departments in the valley to where we are all on the same playing field
when it comes to ordinances. So, this ordinance mirrors what our neighbors, Boise, are
doing and, then, I'm sharing this with our other neighbors around us as well. So, we are
all on the same page. Council Member Borton asked me if I had shown this ordinance
to the fire -- the provider of the fireworks themselves and I had not, so I have since then
contacted the local vendors that -- of the fireworks company and I contacted the
company themselves out of San Diego, sent them copies of the ordinance. I talked with
the local rep. Nobody had any comments on it. They were good with what we had. So,
with Council's direction I'd like to bring this back next week or whenever it's convenient
as an ordinance to be approved.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions, concerns?
Bird: Sounds good to me.
De Weerd: Sounds good.
Bongiorno: Thank you.
H. Fire Department: Station #6 Architectural Update
De Weerd: Thank you. And Item H is our -- an update on Fire Station No. 6 on the
architectural selection. Charlie.
Butterfield: Madam Mayor, City Council, thank you for your time. So, I'm here to give a
few updates on the Station 6 and moving forward. As I believe was mentioned last
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week by Chief Niemeyer, we are moving forward with the Overland location and moving
away from the Bear Creek location. We have -- we have completed the request for
qualifications. We have gone through that process, which ultimately led to a roster of
three architectural firms. We had a total of ten architectural firms that submitted in the
RFQ process and in the scoring and a review of those ten applications, resulting in
down to the three finalists was a combined effort of multiple fire chiefs, because this
roster is for multiple fire departments to go from Meridian, Star, Eagle, Nampa, Kuna
and Caldwell fire departments, all were involved in that process coming down to the
three architectural firms. The one architectural firm that was picked was Rice Miller
Fergus out of Seattle area. They have experience in designing well over 200 fire
stations and they are also combined with another local architectural firm that teamed up
and that's the firm that we will be working with. The consensus among the fire chiefs as
they went to the scoring and part of this whole process of having multiple fire
departments and multiple fire chiefs involved in this is that, essentially, a fire station can
be used by -- the same design could be used by multiple different fire departments. So,
what we were curious about is there a cost savings. If we are all -- with multiple fire
departments and multiple fire chiefs are designing similar fire stations, three apparatus
bays, the same kind of living quarters, same sleeping quarters for fire stations, same
kitchen, same living, can we realize a cost savings by having -- especially a large firm
like that come in, design the same fire station for two jurisdictions, would we -- would we
realize some money savings from that and what we learned is that the Caldwell Fire
Department, along with us, is both -- we are both moving into the design phase of a fire
station right now. So, the contract that we got back from -- from this conjoined firm of
these two different architectural firms, realized a cost savings to the city of 55,000
dollars by having this joint effort. So, we save 55,000 dollars and the City of Caldwell
saves 55,000 dollars by this joint effort on the contract that is coming forward. That
contract is currently in review by Keith Watts and Legal and should be coming to you
shortly. So, I think it's important to recognize that these efforts that have been being
done on the fire -- the fire service and with these other fire departments is actually going
to be realizing some cost savings. Also we currently are working through the RFQ
process, requests for qualifications, for a general contractor construction manager.
That RFQ has recently gone out and ended. Multiple firms have submitted their RFQ,
so that -- again, the multiple -- all the fire chiefs will be getting together and scoring
those to come up with a roster and from that roster anyone of the departments can
choose the top three finalists of that RFQ. That is currently in the works. We will,
beginning later this week, to start with planning staff and begin the annexation process
for the Overland property. So, that, along with the conditional use permit, will be coming
shortly and, then, also we have a station design committee that includes myself and,
then, three of the line firefighters, because they are ultimately the ones that will be living
in the station, so making sure that they have input on the design process, the living
quarters is very important as well. So, we do have that committee in place. We are
researching different other departments that have built fire stations and understanding
some of what they have done, best practices, and what the crews, again, ultimately will
be living in those stations like about other new fire stations. I think that's a really
important part. So, a brief overview of where we are at on the Station 6 process, but be
happy to stand for any questions.
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De Weerd: Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Who is the local architectural firm?
Butterfield: Pivot North. That's the local architectural firm. Pivot North.
Bird: Where are they out of?
Butterfield: Boise.
Bird: Boise? Never heard of them. Just a word of warning. Having spent 42 years
working, these architects that come from the south and from the coast sometimes don't
understand the variation of temperature degrees we have in Boise, Idaho. You live in
an area that goes from 40 to 90, like they do on the coast of stuff, and California and,
then, we go from 20 below to 110 above, just a word of caution.
Butterfield: Thank you for the advice.
De Weerd: Any questions or comments? Okay. Well, personally, I think it's exciting
that by working with others you can find some cost savings. These cautionary words of
advice are very valuable and I think we probably have been capturing a number of
comments from our current stations to also pay attention to in the feature stations that
we -- we have. So, if there is nothing further, thank you, we appreciate your update.
Butterfield: Thank you.
I. Legal: Small Cell Agreement Discussion
De Weerd: Okay. To our Legal team. You can talk small cells. Exciting. Keep it brief.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I will try to keep it brief. We have met
with the Verizon -- the Verizon folks that you have heard from previously. They have
answered a lot of the technical questions that we had brought to you a couple of months
ago that we had concerns with and I think it's still going to be an ongoing process, but
we have reached a couple of issues that I provided to you that we need some direction
or some clarity on and I welcome if Warren or Caleb have any specifics that I may miss,
that they could raise to help us get this contract kind of completed, at least to an initial --
initial form with Verizon. We have looked at a number of them, but the couple of
questions that we have is one is the process. We talked a lot about process with you as
do we want a lot of up front process with the public. Again, these are light poles that go
in both residential areas, as well as in commercial areas. The residential areas
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currently, because they go in right of ways and they go in areas that not -- they don't go
on private property, they go in the right of way, we don't have a tremendously large
process. We have identification of locations every year as part of the budget process,
we have a certain amount of money that gets allocated for these, then, the Public Works
Department works with various neighborhoods and the Police Department. I think you
have heard before, you know, we identify areas that need lighting and so that's done on
an annual basis and there is a list that they create out of that and, then, they go through
a long process of getting those installed over the course of one fiscal year. We didn't
anticipate adding greater to that particular part of the process to add these to it. These
are on city facilities, on city poles. We didn't envision having a tremendous public input,
because we didn't get -- we didn't send out a huge notice or do an application or a land
use application to put the poles in in the first place, to add the antenna to the pole, we
didn't anticipate doing that. Now, if that's the direction you would prefer, that's fine, we
will need to figure how that works. In talking with Verizon, they indicated that they, in
working with other cities, it takes them somewhere between -- and I will probably get the
numbers wrong, but at least a year to as much as two years to actually identify
locations, work with the cities on -- on putting those -- those antennas or devices onto
the city infrastructure, doing the construction, adding them to it, so it's a pretty elongated
process for them anyway to do it, but if that was the direction you would like, that's
something we wanted some clarity on, if you wanted us to do more than what's already
being done for the poles themselves. Secondarily, in the neighborhoods we talked
about designs. So, in the neighborhoods, in residential areas and residential zones, on
residential streets, we have primarily one pole style. So, it seems like it's pretty easy to
work with Verizon to identify that type that we would, then, allow in a residential zone,
because it has to be compatible and they have gone so far as saying they actually
purchased the same poles that are just heavier in strength and ability to hold these
antenna devices on them in a safer manner than just a standard light pole. So, they
look the same, they are just constructed slightly differently, and once they have
identified that, was able, then, to replace the existing pole with their new pole. If you
want us to do more design outreach, that was an early discussion, do you want public
input in the commercial areas, there is a variety of different types of things. We
anticipated that to be the negotiating part of the contract, but if you want us to do some
sort of public outreach first, that was the direction we were seeking, because, again, it's
going to be so situationally specific to the type of commercial area and what could be
there and the only difference we could identify internally that we felt we would allow in
commercial areas and not allowed it necessarily in residential areas, is -- and the term I
know -- one of the terms they use is battery backup and I don't have a picture -- well,
actually, I can provide C.Jay with a picture to put up. You may or may not have noticed
this in these photos when they provided them -- as he's putting that up -- in our
discussion internally we felt that the battery backup they said that -- Verizon told us they
wouldn't need them in most cases, but they do occasionally need them and if you look
at this picture, when he gets it up, it's a fairly large device that seemed to us to make
more sense in a commercial zone and didn't make a lot of sense to us -- it's this third
picture, the one that's got the blue sky in the background and a single pole, that thing on
the grass that looks like a refrigerator, that's part of that device. So, they didn't highlight
that in the conversation that we had, but they did with us and so that was something we
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felt -- we already have people that are frustrated sometimes mowing around a pole, they
probably don't want to mow around a giant box in their yard. So, we felt that we would
not allow those to be in neighborhoods and we would consider them, depending on the
circumstance, in a commercial area, because in a parking lot or something else you
could protect them and they probably wouldn't be as obtrusive. But they definitely were
something we were concerned with in the neighborhood. Ground based equipment is
the other term for them. But -- and they vary in type and they vary in size, but they
generally are about the size of a refrigerator and so we felt they were fairly large ones to
allow in somebody's yard with everything else. Again, if you think we should, again,
open this up to the public to participate -- again, I don't know that they can give us
specific examples -- I mean if you look at this picture right here, there is four different
types than just this one -- there are five different types just in this one picture and I think
they are always going to be situationally specific to the area, the location. You know,
this one here they really like to highlight, this is a kiosk that they created in San
Francisco. This one here, the second picture, is -- is an antenna on the top of it and the
whole thing looks like a kiosk. You wouldn't be able to tell it was anything, other than a
kiosk. So, there is, obviously, a lot of variety they can do, but we felt in the
neighborhoods there is really one and in the commercial areas we would create some
level of flexibility for the city to determine what could be there. This one's more of a
heads up on the FirstNet. I indicated that to you, we discussed it with them, it really
wasn't a -- a great discussion topic. FirstNet is a national vendor that's been accepted
by the federal government and now has been accepted by the state government and
that's all it is. The state has indicated they would join the FirstNet program when it
becomes available. It's for emergency responders. That is the most I know about it. I
don't know that even our first responders know more -- much more about it than that,
because it's still in flux and still in development and so I don't know that there is a lot to
it. We did ask Verizon did -- was there a concern that there could be conflict between
them and, to be honest, they didn't really want to discuss it. They really felt like it really
was so speculative as to what that would look like and when it would occur and if it
would occur, that they really didn't feel it was necessary to address it in this agreement.
I don't have enough information about it to address it, I just wanted you to be aware that
there may be some issues that may supersede us doing this or supersede allowing
them in certain areas, but, again, I don't know if we will even know when that occurs, so
--
De Weerd: It looks like the chiefs have heard of it.
Nary: Well, I know they have heard of it.
Niemeyer: Madam Mayor, Council, yes, Chief Lavey and I have both heard of it. I
serve on the board of the Western Fire Chiefs, so I actually went to FirstNet
headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. So, several years ago -- five years ago the federal
government said we want a dedicated nationwide broadband network for public safety
to solve some of the communication issues that were going on. They put out an RFQ
for proposals for a cellular provider to provide this high speed broadband network and
AT&T was the winning bid. It should not affect what we are talking about here. This is
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specifically for public safety only. It involves preemption and priority. Those two words
have been thrown around a lot. Basically in times of crisis like what they are seeing in
Los Angeles under this broadband system public safety responders get priority on the
cellular network for communication purposes. So, it should not affect this at all.
FirstNet and AT&T that build out here in Idaho is still about two to three years away.
The governor opting in simply meant that it gives the opportunity for Idaho departments
to opt into the AT&T system. Under the federal law if we would not have opted in, Idaho
would have had to build out its own public safety broadband network to the tunes of lots
of millions of dollars that we don't have and so -- and maintain it. So, that's the -- that's
the gist with FirstNet.
Nary: And the question that we asked -- and this is where I think, again, they really
didn't anticipate really -- incorporated this into the agreement is is there the potential
that a FirstNet need would supersede the existing need of this antenna on a particular
structure and, if so, we, then, have it removed to allow the FirstNet need to basically --
and their answer was no. So, their answer was once they have -- we have agreed to
put it there, we couldn't simply decide we didn't want it any longer without some -- I
mean maybe there is -- I think there is some room for some time table that we would
renew this license agreement, but their view was there would be a significant financial
investment by them to put the structure in and they didn't want the city, after making that
investment, six months, a year, two years, five years to say we just don't want that there
anymore. Now, again, it's a license agreement, so I think we are going to have to build
in some ability to renew it and that we still have the discretion to not renew it at some
point in the future, but that was the context of the FirstNet question. So, I think that's
going to be part of the conversation going forward, I just wanted you to be aware of that,
that we raise it in that context and I agree with the chief, I don't know that it really is
really that relevant to that, but when they also said they wouldn't be very agreeable to
us simply saying we no longer will allow you to do that, I guess that will be an issue we
will talk about. Just wanted you to be aware.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Of course government would create an all-powerful technological system and
name it something that sounds a lot like Sky Net. No movie buffs in the room?
Milam: Madam Mayor? Oh.
Nary: My last item -- and, again, I will take everybody's input -- is the licensing fee. So,
in our -- in the corresponding jurisdictions ACHD and Boise city are the only ones that
have agreements currently. There are some application fees, which for us are pretty
formulaic in how we come up with those. We haven't really gone through that process
to determine that, but there would be an application fee. ACHD breaks their application
fee up into the type of facility they want to have, where they want it, if they want that
battery backup as part of it there is another fee that attaches to it. So, there is some
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other tiered fees that we think -- but the other piece is the actual license fee. ACHD has
a 750 dollar license fee. That's when it includes the ground -- the battery backup on the
ground. It also has an escalation clause annually. Boise city's is 400 dollars and they
don't have the battery backup issue, they just allow whatever -- whatever you ask for,
400 bucks is it. I don't have any clarity as to how we would determine what it is. You
heard them tell you a hundred dollars. I don't know that a hundred dollars is
reasonable, but that's an issue that we will have to address with them, but I -- if you had
any suggestions or input about that I'd appreciate it. If I forgot anything for other
committees and welcome the input, but those are the issues we had and we think if we
get at least in some of the direction here we get a draft to them here in the next few
weeks and move this along a little quicker.
Hood: Madam Mayor, I don't know -- I don't think Mr. Nary forgot anything, but I would
-- just a couple of quick things. One, I want to thank him just for getting this back on
your agenda. It was on mine to do and, yeah, I'm not going to make excuses, but I do
thank him for writing this up and presenting it to you. I do want to tie a couple of things
in his memo to you tonight, as well as the direction we need from you, at least from my
world and design and process are really, really related in this and this -- I think this
restates what Mr. Nary just went through. We need some more direction and I'm even
going to relate this back to a conversation you had earlier tonight about the slum and
blight plan. Are we cart before the horse before we ask the public if this is something
they want to see potentially in front of their house and I don't know the answer to that,
but do we want to do more public outreach on these and have them pick from a -- you
know, a slew of options and say, boy, only option four -- maybe it's three and four or
three, four and five or whatever -- and pre-approve these with -- and, then, again, going
forward everyone understands there is potential that if Verizon says they need one,
there is potential that this goes in front of my house or do we want to wait until it's in
front of my house and allow that person an opportunity to come and say don't put that in
front of my house, those microwaves are going to give cancer, so that's really the --
what it breaks down for me is whatever that process is, a public involvement and
transparency, let's do that up front, right? I don't want to be approving these
administratively and, then, we get the feedback later on that -- and I know Public Works
kind of deals with us a little bit with streetlights, too. But, again, the process and design
I think we could roll into one. I will just also plant one other seed in that. We are going
to probably have to change our code a little bit to allow these. So, there will be some
public involvement process with that. But, like a lot of the things we do, we aren't going
to send letters to 30,000 households, we are going to put it in the newspaper, we are
going to put it on Nextdoor, so the chances of us really advertising this and really getting
people involved -- I mean it is what it is, we do the best we can, but if -- through that
UDC process you could maybe get some feedback, too, before entering into this
contract or you could run those concurrently --
De Weerd: But, Caleb, aren't you creating a false hope. It's already allowed in ACHD
right of way. So, you go through this effort, you have neighbors weighing in and, then,
they get something different and right in front of their house anyway because it happens
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to be in the ACHD authority. So, I'm afraid I'm not following -- we will have two different
processes here from what I understand.
Nary: Well, yes, Madam Mayor, I -- and you have hit it on the head. I think that's been
our internal discussion and that's where I think what -- what I was suggesting is we treat
these the same as we treat the light poles themselves. So, I will wait to see what it
looks like, but the street I live on, it has a construction project underway that I received a
postcard in the mail telling me they were going to put streetlights on my street. There
are ten, either streetlights or transformers, that are being installed on my street. No one
asked me if they were okay. I had actually offered my yard as an alternative site and it's
not -- no one took me up on it. But nobody asked me to put any of those streetlights. I
can see a couple of them for my front, but, you know, that's fine, but they are all in the
right of way, so what I was hesitant -- and I agree with Caleb that in a residential zone if
we negotiate with them saying there is only one pole that we use in residential streets,
not collectors and arterials, but residential streets, there is only one style that we use.
Therefore, tell us what you want to put on that and that's what has to go on those poles
if you want to do this. It takes away a lot of that conversation, because what I was
concerned with is what you kind of raised is we are going to have a secondary process
and, really, the motivation of the individual is -- I don't really want the antenna, but I
really want them to take the pole out and we are already going to put the pole in
anyway. So, this is just an attachment to it. And, again, some of them look very
innocuous, like in these pictures, that I don't know you could tell the difference versus
that, versus one -- like the one -- the very first picture that looks like some sort of array
of something on the top of that pole might be different, but most don't. So, that's what
we are trying to narrow it down is treat it like the pole, create the same process that we
would allow the poles to go in in the first place, narrow down the types and, then, give
some discretion in the commercial zones because the locations are different or arterials
and collectors, because it's different. But really narrow it down in residential zones, but
not create a whole other level of expectation from folks that we are going to come out
against this antenna when the reality is they just don't like the pole and they are going to
get the pole anyway.
De Weerd: I don't like the box.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. Bill, so would their plan be to replace a pole or to just modify
an existing pole, if it's somewhere where they want to put one where there is a pole?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Council Member Palmer -- and Warren can correct me if I'm
wrong. What it sounded to me was that they -- they have existing poles that they can
model to the ones that we use. They are just heavier in construction and be able to,
then, hold those antennas on their safer and so their intent is to make them look exactly
the same, but they would be their poles that -- so, I think -- you know, again, we talked
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about two different things. Existing poles they would, then, have to replace them. New
construction. We were going to put poles in, they -- they ask to put them on, instead of
putting in ours -- and that was kind of where we were looking at leveraging more, they
are going to put their pole into that location, we could, then, take the one we were going
to put in and maybe put it somewhere else. But they would provide them -- and, in fact,
they talked about in damage -- I mean these do get run into, we get a few run into every
year, and they would, then, come out, they take the devices off of it, they would replace
the pole with their pole, they would work with us on the construction of putting it back up
and all of that and, then, put their device back on it. So, they were pretty amenable to
all of that. Like I said, we didn't get into the real narrow specifics of one in this type of
area, you know, maybe two or three in a commercial area, only one in residential, we
didn't get into that. I wanted to get some clarity from all of you before we went to that
crowd.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. Bill, I thought that's how I heard you say it. I think we keep it
as simple as possible and -- I mean that makes sense. We have a set of approved
styles, especially in residential, as you pointed out, and I think in the cases where they
want to put a box and do one in a commercial area, that I think if we can craft it that we
-- or that the property owner would have to approve, I think that makes sense. But just
keep it at simple, not having to have a public hearing process every time we want to
replace a pole with one of these style ones, because, like you said, they are --
especially if it looks like the existing pole and is just slightly modified with, you know,
one of these simple, innocuous versions.
Nary: To be honest, Madam Mayor and Council, I mean the -- the addition in the
residential zones, that additional box was our concern. We felt if you're going to get any
complaints, that's what you'd get. If you look at that same picture, there is a device
halfway up the pole. So, some of them they said they actually will be able to put the
additional backup on the pole itself and there is a variety of what we have, if you look at
this -- the one right in the middle of the page, there is two of them and those are, again,
are battery backups on the pole itself. Can't really tell much difference from the pole.
So, there is ways they can do it and they were pretty amenable to it, but I didn't want to
run into a hitch without at least getting some clarity from all of you that we were on the
right track of saying, yeah, the neighborhoods probably don't want this big thing and it
may not ever be necessary, but certainly in the larger ones, yeah, there is another
example, again, it's on the top of the pole, if you look along that you can see in that
picture there is a couple of two or three different devices that are attached to the poles.
So, again, same thing, those are the backups that they think they could use most of the
time.
De Weerd: And -- and the -- the concern has been what these emit and from what I
understand it doesn't emit anything more than your cell phone.
Nary: So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you know, you're correct. So, there
is two -- there is two issues there. There is a perception in the public about these types
of devices and what impacts they may cause. What they tell us is is that it doesn't emit
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those types of things. What the FCC has told us is we can't consider it anyway. So, we
get that testimony a lot of times at Planning and Zoning, because they are required to
have a CUP to put these up, that is oftentime what the public will testify about and we
have case law, as well as a federal law that says we cannot consider that anyway. So,
whether it does or doesn't, we are not allowed to use that as a consideration to not allow
them anyway.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I'm not a fan of this at all. I know I have already kind of let you know that. I
don't think we should allow them in the subdivisions, in the residential area specifically.
I don't think it adds much benefit to our citizens, our city, and its -- it just seems like a lot
of hassle for a lot of nothing as far as I'm concerned.
De Weerd: Well, in most states they will preempt anything local that isn't already
existing and they have been doing that across the country. So, this is technology that is
coming and you have an opportunity to either help guide it and see what is -- is
appropriate for your -- for your community or you can wait until they do a preemption bill
and you will be told and I can give you examples.
Nary: And, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I mean our secondary concern that
we have discussed as a group and as discussed with you is either without at least trying
to -- trying to come up with something reasonable, like the Mayor just said. There is
either potential for preemption, there is going to be a desire to put more of these poles
up, the larger poles, because they are going to still need the coverage, the people are
still going to want that, or their alternative, which I -- I don't foresee this, but the
alternative for the -- the carrier is to, then, go to individual property owners and get
them on their house, instead of in -- on a light pole. And, then, you're still going to have
the same issue in the neighborhoods, you're going to have a lot of antennas on people's
houses that you may or may not like. So, we figured this was sort of a happy medium to
at least find that, but we had these -- you know, a few issues that we had wanted some
clarity from all of you, that you were comfortable with and I think we can get a draft to
them here shortly.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Bill, any discussion about limits, how many cell providers can connect to a
pole or are we limiting it to one carrier per pole? At one point I think in the presentation
that the representative from Verizon talked about multiple carriers connecting to the
poles.
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Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Cavener, so what --
what we discussed was that question on could we have at least two. I think there is a
point where just engineeringwise it's probably not logical. But could have two. And the
response I got -- and I -- if I'm -- I don't think I'm incorrect -- was, yes, we could have
two, but we don't really want two. And so every time this issue came up, usually the
secondary response is, well, we could put two, but, you know, there is another pole 50
feet down the street and so I don't know until we get to the details if that's going to be an
issue, but they told us more than once that two could work on one facility, but two was
probably it. If there is more than that it's probably not safe.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. Bill, I appreciate that Verizon has kind of been the
one leading this and I assume that's who we have been working with directly. Have we
had any communication with any of the other cellular providers that are -- that serve our
area and do we have any indication about their plans? I think that Verizon sounds like
they are the leader in this, but I just -- I guess I get a little cautious about that we are
kind of building a plan based on what one specific business wants to see occur.
Nary: So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Cavener, funny
you ask. So, as I think I might have mentioned to you earlier, I volunteered to be on an
AIC committee to look at this on a statewide scale for other cities and creating probably
templates or standardized contracts for other cities to use, so I have a meeting
scheduled for -- I think either this Thursday or next Thursday, I don't remember, but I
have a meeting scheduled. One of the people on that committee, who saw my name on
that, called me and said I represent AT&T, what's this about, and so I explained what
we were doing and he was concerned about the Mayor's concern about preemption and
whether we were going to exclude or create a franchise or those types of things. We
weren't doing any of that. We were looking at contracts. We were following the lead
that ACHD and Boise city had already started. That's what we were looking for. So,
they are at least aware there is a statewide push for this to at least create a model for
the state, at least to the AIC process. So, it was -- so, that was AT&T. I would imagine
we will see on the providers I think at this meeting -- I think Sprint might have been
invited to that one as well. I'm not certain.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Bill, have they given you any indication like how often -- how frequent the
poles are? Is it like one per neighborhood? A hundred per neighborhood? I mean --
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Little Roberts, so we
asked that question and I think the Council asked the question, too. Tells us where you
are going to put these. They give us a small number, 50, 60'ish --
De Weerd: Three hundred.
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Nary: -- up to a couple hundred eventually, but it is proprietary to them as to where they
are going currently, so they wouldn't tell us. I would anticipate once we have a contract
in place and if we need some ordinance updates to make it all fit together, we will start
seeing applications for some of these and clearly they will identify where they would like
to put these, but it, obviously, isn't an urgent need. I think it's a future need, enough that
if it takes them a year or two to get there, but they certainly haven't told us, you know,
which part of the city they are looking at at all, just everywhere or a specific area.
De Weerd: And I think that Councilman Palmer had asked how many of these poles do
we have and there was like 5,000. So, this will be a real small percentage with this
particular carrier at first, so --
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I can't remember when it was, right, I can pull it out, but I conducted a very
informal poll on my Facebook and just to solicit people's comments, it was like, hey,
here is an idea that's been floated, what do you think, and, as I remember it, a hundred
percent of the people that responded were like, absolutely, I'm tired of not being able to
talk on my cell phone in my house, so -- and I talked to a number of people being on our
HOA board, talked to a number of our residents, and everyone was like, oh, yeah, bring
it on. Again, very informal, just random people. But I haven't found anybody who
objects, other than some in the room.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: This work continues, I guess. This is just an update. We can continue to talk
about it.
Nary: It sounded to me like, Council Member Borton, that our committee's thought
process on what would make the most sense for the city is comfortable to all of you and
that's kind of what we will communicate back to them on what we would like, what we
would not like and, then, again, we are only talking about a draft; right? We are not
talking about a final product yet, so if we run into more hiccups we will let you know.
Milam: Madam Mayor? You really cover the placing, so I guess if you are going to gio
through this my vote would be like 10,000 dollars each. Make it worthwhile.
Nary: I'm sticking at 750, but I mean we will --
Milam: Wow. That's like nothing.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: One of the challenges going forward is if there is a request to have practically
exclusive use of a public asset in undisclosed locations in perpetuity. That could be
problematic. Not -- difficult to price. Not have resolved that.
De Weerd: That will be a topic of discussion.
Nary: Thank you.
K. Public Works: Budget Amendment for FY2018 in the Amount
of $20,000 for Completion of the Well 29 Project
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you for the update. Thank you, Bill. Public Works. Warren.
Stewart: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the next item on the agenda is a
budget amendment for Well 29. Well 29 is nearing completion. There were three items
that we need to add to this project in order to get it completed. One of them is the
addition of ceramic bearings to the pump. We have determined recently that there is a
problem with stray current causing premature failure of the metal bearings in some of
the pumps. To combat that or to eliminate that, if we put these ceramic bearings in,
instead of the metal bearings, we don't have that deterioration and we get a lot longer
life out of a pump. Additionally, we have used a lot of painted floors in our well houses
before. The last couple of well houses we have started putting these epoxy floors in.
They are much more durable. They last a lot longer. They are less susceptible to the
chemicals that we use in the well houses and so we wanted to upgrade this well house,
this new one, so that it included an epoxy floor and also there was some changes that
needed to be made to the facia and to the soffit. The total is about 20,000 dollars. We
have an existing well that is also being constructed as Well 30. It's almost complete.
We are actually going to realize some savings in that. We are going to come in under
budget by about 130,000 dollars. Although we can do a G500 right now, because
Finance won't let us until that well is completely closed out, we do propose that,
essentially, we will offset what we are asking for in Well 29 with this 20,000 dollar
budget amendment with the savings that we will have out of Well 30, which will be
approximately 130,000 dollars. With that I will stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Warren. Council, any questions?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: It seems like this is the appropriate way to go, even if you could have done the
-- the transfer that might have been simpler, even if it's a budget amendment process, it
does bring to light if there is unforeseen additional expenses on one project, you will still
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December 12, 2017
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in your close-out report share the savings on the other project, but it's nice to see where
additional expenditures are being allocated.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I would echo Council Member Borton's comments and just call attention again
to the fine work the Public Works Department does. In their memo they attached their
budget amendment, so that we -- Council had a better opportunity to dive a little bit
deeper before this was presented to us and I appreciate that. Unless there is no other
comments, I would move that we approve the budget amendment for 20,000 dollars for
the completion of the Well 29 project.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: Have a motion and a second to approve Item 7-K. Any discussion? Mr.
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: ALL AYES.
L. Public Works: Budget Amendment for FY2018 in the Amount
of $77,500 for L2 Excavation LLC'S Contract for the Collection
Equipment Facility Construction Project
De Weerd: Item 7-L is also under Public Works.
Dolsby: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council --
De Weerd: Oh, Clint.
Dolsby: Thank you. The next item is a --
De Weerd: That's not a normal position.
Dolsby: Yeah. It is not the normal place I would sit, but the other seats were taken.
Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, this next item is a budget amendment for the
collection facility at the Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility. This facility is under
construction to house the collections trucks and cleaner trucks that we have out at the
plant.
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De Weerd: And where is this facility? What did you call it?
Dolsby: The collections equipment facility. It's right --
De Weerd: Is that like the wastewater treatment plant you're talking about?
Dolsby: Yes.
De Weerd: Okay.
Dolsby: It's just past the RV dump when you get out to the plant, so where it's located.
It's under construction now, but back in fiscal year '17 we approved a budget of 275,000
for this project. We bid the construction last fiscal year and all of the bids that we
received were over the project budget. So, we talked to purchasing and they authorized
us to go and negotiate a contract with the lowest bidder and we were able to negotiate a
contract underneath the project budget, but it was just barely under the project budget,
so it didn't leave any contingency for change orders. During the construction we ran
into some things. The highlights -- the larger change that we ran into are unsuitable soil
conditions under the concrete slab for the building, about 15,000 dollars. We have got -
- during construction we also discovered that the existing storm water retainage basin
that we were going to discharge the storm water into wasn't adequately sized to handle
the storm water, so we had to add an additional basin. And the other change we made
that was significant was that the asphalt that we were going to put in front of the
building, so the approach to the building wasn't thick enough to accommodate the large
collections vehicles, so we wanted to replace it with a six inch concrete apron, which
would last for -- for a long time, so they could drive vehicles up there. With that I will
stand for any questions on this amendment.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, seeing none, I move that we approve the budget amendment
for an amount of 77,500 for the collection equipment facility construction project.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 7-L. If there is no discussion,
Mr. 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.
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Item 8: Ordinances
A. Ordinance No.17-1756: (Sky Mesa Subdivision H-2017-0078)
An Ordinance of the City of Meridian granting annexation and
zoning of all of the Parcels of Land located in the E ½ of
Section 32, Township 3 North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian,
Ada County, Idaho, as described in the attached Exhibit “A”;
Annexing Certain Lands and Territory, 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 of Said Lands of 54.01 Acres of Land from RUT
to R-4 (Medium Low Density Residential District)(26.57 acres)
and R-8 (Medium Density Residential District)(27.44 acres) and
the Rezone of 38.87 Acres of Land from R-2 (Low Density
Residential District) to R- 4 (Medium Low Density Residential
District); 6.26 Acres of Land from R-2 (Low Density Residential
District) to R-8 (Medium Density Residential District); and .88
acres from R-4 (Medium Low Density Residential District) to R-
8 (Medium 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 for An Effective
Date.
De Weerd: Item 8-A is Ordinance 17-1756. Mr. Clerk, will you, please, read this by
title.
Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 17-1756, Sky Mesa
Subdivision file number H-2017-0078, an ordinance of the City of Meridian granting
annexation and zoning of all of the parcels of land located in the E ½ of Section 32,
Township 3 North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, Ada county, Idaho, as described in
the attached Exhibit “A”; annexing certain lands and territory, 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 of said lands of 54.01 acres of land from RUT to R-4 (Medium Low Density
Residential District)(26.57 acres) and R-8 (Medium Density Residential District)(27.44
acres) and the rezone of 38.87 acres of Land from R-2 (Low Density Residential
District) to R-4 (Medium Low Density Residential District); 6.26 acres of Land from R-2
(Low Density Residential District) to R-8 (Medium Density Residential District); and .88
acres from R-4 (Medium Low Density Residential District) to R-8 (Medium 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
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December 12, 2017
Page 83 of 87
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 for an effective
date.
De Weerd: You have heard this read by title. Is there anyone who would like to hear it
right in its entirety? Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, seeing none, I move we approve Ordinance No. 17-1756 with
suspension of rules.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the ordinance under 8-A. Mr.
Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll call: Bird, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, nay; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts,
yea.
De Weerd: The ayes have it.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE NAY.
B. Ordinance No. 17-1757: (Gensco H-2017-0098) An Ordinance of
the City of Meridian granting the re-zone of Land lying in the W
½ of the SW ¼ of the SW ¼ of Section 8, Township 3 North,
Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, Ada County, Idaho, as
described in the attached Exhibit “A”; Annexing Certain Lands
and Territory, 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 of Said Lands
from C-G (General Commercial District) to I-L (Light Industrial
District) in the Meridian City Code; Providing that Copies
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda Tuesday, December 12,
2017 – Page 5 of 5 All materials presented at public meetings
shall become property of the City of Meridian. Anyone desiring
accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or
hearing, please contact the City Clerk’s Office at 888-4433 at
least 48 hours prior to the public meeting. 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 for
An Effective Date.
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December 12, 2017
Page 84 of 87
De Weerd: Item 8-B is Ordinance 17-1757. Mr. Clerk, will you, please, read this by
title.
Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 17-1757, Gensco,
file H-2017-0098, an Ordinance of the City of Meridian granting the re-zone of land lying
in the W ½ of the SW ¼ of the SW ¼ of Section 8, Township 3 North, Range 1 East,
Boise Meridian, Ada county, Idaho, as described in the attached Exhibit “A”; annexing
certain lands and territory, 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 of said lands from C-G
(General Commercial District) to I-L (Light Industrial 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 for an effective date.
De Weerd: Okay. Seeing that no one wants to hear this read, do I have a motion?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I move we approve Ordinance No. 17-1757 with suspension of rules.
Milam: Second.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-B. Mr. 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.
Item 9: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Council, any items under nine?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
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December 12, 2017
Page 85 of 87
Palmer: Madam Mayor, my name is an acronym and it’s the last name as kind of seen
today.
De Weerd: I will try and remember that.
Palmer: The property behind us here by the tracks. Someone today mentioned to me
that they were interested in purchasing it. I don't know what -- why we don't get rid of it.
We have talked to the past about disposing of it, so I think if there is someone interested
in buying it, we should have a discussion on it.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further?
Coles: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Clerk.
Coles: I just wanted to inform the Mayor and Council that recently there was a request
to have a joint meeting with Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission to do
some training and some education. Working with the planning division and with legal,
we are targeting the February workshop -- or, excuse me, after the February workshop
for Council. So, there will be a February workshop meeting, following that meeting
having a joint meeting with Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission to do
some education and some training at that time. So, I just wanted to put that on your
radar.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. And just a reminder that Councilman Bird's retirement
event is on the 19th from 4:00 to 5:00 here at City Hall. Remarks at 4:30'ish.
Item 10: Executive Session per Idaho State Code 74-206(1)(a): To consider
hiring a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent,
wherein the respective qualities of individuals are to be evaluated in
order to fill a particular vacancy or need and 74-206(1)(c): To acquire
an interest in real property which is not owned by a public agency.
De Weerd: Okay. Item 10 is the Executive Session.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we go into Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 74-206
(1)(a),(1)(c).
Cavener: Second.
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December 12, 2017
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De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adjourn into Executive Session. Mr. 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: ALL AYES.
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS: (7:17 p.m. to 9:26 p.m.)
De Weerd: Okay.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I move we adjourn.
De Weerd: No.
Palmer: Oh. Come out of Executive Session.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to come out of Executive Session. All those
in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Bird: Now you can adjourn.
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, I move we adjourn.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor.
All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:26 P.M.
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(AUDIO
ILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
MAYOR TAWVY DE WEERD
ATTEST:
C. JAY CHOLES, TTY CLERK
DATE APPROVED