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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-01-09Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2017. A workshop meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 9, 2017, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Members Present: Tammy De Weerd, Joe Borton, Genesis Milam, Ty Palmer, Luke Cavener, Anne Little Roberts and Treg Bernt. Others Present: Bill Nary, C.Jay Coles, Caleb Hood, Warren Stewart, Berle Stokes, Mark Niemeyer, Steve Siddoway, Mike Barton, 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: I will go ahead and welcome you to our City Council meeting. Thank you for joining us. For the record it is Tuesday, January 9th. It's two or three minutes after 3:00. Mr. Clerk, will you call roll. Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance De Weerd: Okay. Item 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 Agenda De Weerd: Item 3 is adoption of the agenda. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: There are no changes or additions to the agenda, so I move that we adopt agenda as published. Little Roberts: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 2 of 39 MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 4: Consent Agenda A. Approve Minutes of January 2, 2018 City Council Regular Meeting B. Subrecipient Agreement Between City Of Meridian and Boys & Girls Club of Ada County for PY 2017 Community Development Block Grant Funds in an amount not to exceed $10,000 C. Subrecipient Agreement Between City Of Meridian and Jesse Tree of Idaho, Inc. for PY 2017 Community Development Block Grant Funds in an amount not to exceed $2,250 D. Subrecipient Agreement Between City Of Meridian and NeighborWorks Boise for PY 2017 Community Development Block Grant Funds in an amount not to exceed $30,000 E. Subrecipient Agreement Between City Of Meridian and Meridian Food Bank for PY 2017 Community Development Block Grant Funds in an amount not to exceed $40,000 F. Subrecipient Agreement Between City Of Meridian and Ada County Housing Authority for PY 2017 Community Development Block Grant Funds in an amount not to exceed $55,000 G. Award of Bid and Approval of Agreement to THE EWING COMPANY for the "WRRF TERTIARY FILTER BUILDING A CRANE" project for a Not -To -Exceed amount of $64,831.00. H. City Financial Report for November 2017 (FY18) I. AP Invoices for Payment - $422,885.48 De Weerd: Item 4 is the Consent Agenda. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda as published for the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 3 of 39 Little Roberts: 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: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, absent; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 5: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. Item 6: Community Items/Presentations A. Idaho Humane Society Update for 2017 De Weerd: Item 6-A is a report on the Idaho Humane Society. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate you being here. Rosenthal: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Council Members. I definitely appreciate the opportunity to present some information on the previous fiscal year, how the Idaho Humane Society serves the City of Meridian and -- De Weerd: Jeff, if you can state your name for the record. Rosenthal: I'm Jeff Rosenthal. I'm the CEO of the Idaho Humane Society and -- De Weerd: Thank you. Rosenthal: -- again looking forward to presenting you some information on the previous fiscal year with the Idaho Humane Society's animal control work in the City of Meridian. Looking forward to the fiscal year we have currently entered into and -- and, then, as I understand it, I will be back in a month or so to talk about some future plans and what happens after our capital campaign, which will be another great opportunity. Well, I'm going to start off with just a look back. Animal trend lines from 1998 -- I think this should be encouraging to anyone in your position planning for your community. The news is all good in terms of animal trends. Dogs and cats entering the shelter system continue to decline over time and it's especially significant because during this time period we have seen over 50 percent population growth. We have over 150,000 more people in the valley. The Idaho Humane Society has increased its jurisdiction from unincorporated Ada county and Boise to now all the communities in Ada county and what's not included in there -- or what is included there in that dog number is about 1,400 dogs that we Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 4 of 39 transfer in from out of the area. So, as you are looking at your community and thinking as more people move in and we need more schools and more fire houses, what you probably don't need to plan for is more capacity for animals, because as we see this across -- it's not just an anomaly in Ada county, but across the whole northern tier of the United States as we see populations in metro areas increase in numbers we don't see the burden increasing on the animal shelters. So, that's good news and I think it supports the idea of consolidation of animal sheltering as we have seen happen here with the Idaho Humane Society. We also see it throughout the country where cities have joined together to form single animal shelters to serve multiple communities and, then, even, then, counties coming together to form regional shelters. As these numbers decline thanks to enforcement over time and spade and neuter. Looking specifically at Meridian and its stray admission shelter -- or its stray admission trends for cats and dogs, what it points to is a lot of stability. We don't see anything particularly exciting happening. Those numbers are staying pretty solid, to make up about 15 percent of the total stray animals we are taking into the Idaho Humane Society. So, in fiscal year 2017 we handled about 718 stray cats, 396 stray dogs, but additionally from owners -- from residents of Meridian we received an additional 195 cats, 140 dogs, rabbits, rats, Guinea pigs, parakeets, one domestic pig and numerous -- a few other animals in there, including some wildlife. So -- De Weerd: Dr. Rosenthal? Rosenthal: Yes. De Weerd: Do you delineate between feral cats and house cats? Rosenthal: We do. We do on the admission. We -- we temperament test all the animals in and over about -- about 50 percent of all the cats are actually feral cats in Ada county and I will get to some of that a little bit later in this presentation. Looking at all the sources -- all our jurisdictions for input by source, we see the trend also is going down with cats. A little bump there was actually from initially taking on the Meridian contract. For cats we see -- we are now at the lowest number of owner surrendered cats in our history. That's all good news and we initially -- throughout the year -- well, occasionally now have low enough numbers that we can actually reach out to some other communities and actually transfer in a few cats. Not very many, but that's a good trend as well. With dogs it's even more dramatic. Dramatic decrease in the number of stray dogs we have seen over time. Shelter transfers have become very important for the Idaho Humane Society. We reach out throughout the state of Idaho and bring in animals from other overcrowded, under -resourced shelters and even throughout the nation and we are also at the lowest number of owner -surrendered dogs in our history. And transferred dogs actually make up about a third of the dogs we shelter and approximately 50 percent that we adopt out actually originate from outside of Ada county. Now, in deriving our contract we split those costs up. So, there is Idaho Humane Society portion of our operations that we are funding and those include the costs that go into these transfers and, then, the strays are assessed to the various communities. So, numbers have stayed again pretty consistent between 2016 and '17. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 5 of 39 A little bit of a bump up. Sixty-two percent of our admissions were strays and animals seized by enforcement and 13 percent originated from other shelters and rescue organizations. Now outcomes. What happened to all the animals. We also have good news there. The outcome of cats in the shelter has improved with increased euthanasia numbers. Two thousand sixteen was actually our lowest euthanasia record -- year on record, but last year was pretty good as well. Adoptions of cats are, unfortunately, pretty static in our community. So, it points to the fact that you really can't adopt your way out of the cat overpopulation crisis. Other programs need to be utilized and in particular spade and neuter are so important. The percent of stray cats returned to owners is extremely low. It's about two percent of cats that we bring in from -- as strays actually find their way back to their owners. Now, a lot of those cats, as you point out, Mayor, don't have homes. Never been in homes. But that's the -- the national average is about two percent of that as well. Now, possibly next time we can talk a little bit about a new program that was implemented. It's a new community cat program that we received a large grant to fund and it addresses the cat population in a bit different way, returning certain cats back to the neighborhoods where they come from. I will talk a bit about that next time, but we have been up and running for about have a year and there results are really favorable so far. Dog euthanasia is also at an historical low and the percent of stray dogs returned to owners is about 64 percent of the strays that come in. That number -- that euthanasia number is down now below 500. 1 wouldn't expect that to decrease that much, frankly, over time, because there is certain -- there is just a certain number of animals in the community that I think will keep coming to us with cancer, with behavioral issues and so forth, and I think no matter how far we drive down these numbers we are still going to have a lot of folks that really choose to, for instance, drop off an animal with us, rather than take it to the veterinarian to be euthanized. So, I think we have driven that number down about as far as I think it's going to go with our population. And what specifically happened to the dogs and cats that came in from Meridian itself -- so, these are Meridian origin stay dogs and cats that came in in fiscal year 2017. We had a live release rate of 92 percent, which is terrific. That's really considered the definition of a no kill facility and considering the Idaho Humane Society is an open admission facility that takes in any animal, never turns an animal away, and that's pretty incredible. With cats we are at 52 percent. That's unfortunate, but it's also far above the national average for a live release rate for cats. Percent of stays returned to owner, about 62 percent found their way back to homes, and with cats six percent, which is actually pretty good for -- for cats. Percent of stray adopted 29 percent of dogs and 45 percent of the cats came in. So, good news overall for what happened with these strays that we brought in. Why do we have to euthanize dogs? Well, the most common reason is dangerous behavior. That makes up the most common reason why we just can't save a dog. When we have severe aggression issues with dogs there is very little we can do behaviorally to change that. So, aggression and bite cases and also socialization made up about 67 percent of the animals euthanized -- the dogs euthanized. And, then, untreatable medical conditions made up 28 percent and one thing you get with Idaho Humane Society is a tremendous veterinary capability. If you look around the country you really probably find there is just really a handful of shelters in the country that have the medical capabilities we have. We are very confident that we are saving every dog that we can possibly save at this point in terms of medical Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 6 of 39 issues. We have some treatable and curable medical conditions, like severe arthritis or diabetes that we also may choose it's more humane to euthanize the dog than to put them into another home. It's typically an elderly dog. Cats, a bit of a different situation. Forty-five percent of the cats we euthanized were feral and likely had never been domesticated or had lost their domestication and, then, additionally various behavior issues and contagious disease issues are much more significant with the cat population and much more problematic. And, then, the overall numbers can't be ignored as well, because although we may have a primary reason to euthanize a cat, the numbers coming in frequently do impact those decisions as well in terms of triaging cats. So, if we are seasonally overloaded with cats we have to make --we still have to make very difficult decisions. Whereas with dogs time and room is really never a factor anymore. We have more than enough capability to save dogs and keeping them for as long as we can, strictly in our foster program. So, different situation are -- now, looking at our field enforcement that we provide to Meridian, we had a little bit of an uptick in the number of incident and investigation responses that we conducted inside of Meridian. A little bit of an uptick in dog bites and attacks. Not much. It looks like about the same dogs that were barking in 2016 are still barking in '17. Cruelty and neglect, a little bit of an uptick there. And -- but, generally, a stability, not -- nothing to get too excited about. I don' think you have any disturbing trends or problems that are occurring in terms of, you know, peace in the community regarding animals. We are at ten FTEs for our field enforcement unit, which includes seven field officers, and that appears to be significant -- or sufficient at the moment to keep providing the same service. And, again, we do provide seven days per week, 24 hour coverage. A lot of information on this page, but just to tell you that -- or to reassure you that the Idaho Humane Society as a partner remains a very fiscally stable organization and fiscally responsible. We are also very diversified, but municipal and county animal control and sheltering contracts in 2017 equal 1,765,582 dollars, which was 22 percent of our total revenue or 30 percent of our operating budget. Meridian contract equals about 21 percent of the total contract income and we are able to hold our expenses within half a percent of budget, which is a good thing. History of the Meridian animal control contract. We started off in 2014, remained pretty stable -- well, through 2017. A bit of a bump in this next -- in this fiscal year. Current Meridian contract is at $3.48 per capita and I would challenge you, looking around the country, to find any comparable community or metro area that is achieving that low rate of animal control services. I do believe you can substantiate that you're getting very good value for the amount you're putting into the system here. The contract is allocated from our overall budget based on the proportion of animals handled and the staffers who are dedicated to animal control enforcement. So, for fiscal year 2018 our payroll is 3.7 million. We are allocating 1.4 million of that to our contract -- the overall contract. Our total for 2018 operations and maintenance is 2.2 million and 600,000 is allocated to the contract. So, again, based on those performance measures, Meridian contract comprises of 21 percent of that contract. It also turns out to closely correlate to the percent which Meridian makes up of the overall Ada county population. Contracts pay for the work that we, through looking at all the -- what we do holistically, can attribute to, quote, unquote, animal control enforcement and what is considered the responsibility of municipalities to provide basic services and, of course, field animal control officers. But we have many other programs and projects that are going on. We, Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 7 of 39 of course, take care of all of the relinquished pets from residents without charging our communities and transferred pets from other rescues and shelters and we have numerous special programs that also -- also benefit the community, including a growing education program, a pet food pantry that provides hundreds of thousands of pounds of food to Meals on Wheels and other needy folks in the community. Our adoptive program, which is a dog training program through three correctional facilities, our new whisker program, which is also done in the women's correctional facilities, they foster sick cats for us until they can be made ready for adoption. We have had this PetsMart adoption center, which has provided another outlet for adoption. It's actually being closed now in just preparation for having a new facility that will take on that role. Of course we -- we keep our costs down through fundraising. We have an amazing medical center that focuses on low income owners and provides care to folks that can't possibly afford veterinary care elsewhere and are a partner with Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine. We have a program to train senior students in medicine and surgery and we always have at least two students on site being trained through a contract with Washington State and increasingly, as our facility has aged, the majority of capital repairs and improvements, including vehicles and major building repairs and depreciation, have not been attributed to the animal control contracts either, something that we will be talking about some more in I think the next meeting as well and we are -- we are very excited to see our new facility under construction right now. It looks like we will be up and running in February or March in 2019. So, we have got some time, but this will be a facility that will really transform animal sheltering for the whole county and looking forward and excited to that. And with that I will stand for any questions. De Weerd: Thank you, Dr. Rosenthal. Council, any questions? Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: First, doctor, my apologies for being tardy to your presentation, but I appreciate the information you shared with us today. Can you share with us how many animal control officers that we had -- or you have as an organization and is there a percentage of them that focus solely on Meridian? Rosenthal: There are seven officers that are circulating in the field. At any given time there will be four of them in the field. Two of them specifically in the Meridian -- or near Meridian, but at any point you could have one of four able to respond, because we don't necessarily split -- we have six different beats, basically, in the county and so while a certain officer may concentrate in a certain area, the others may be able to respond based on what -- what proximity they are. So, they are always circulating in the field and our dispatcher simply figures out who is closest to the incident and, then, also on a triage basis how fast do we need to get there. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 8 of 39 Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. Can you walk us through -- if a Meridian citizen calls and says I have got a sick dog or I have got -- my neighbor's dog is barking, what does that process look like from the time they call until you arrive at -- at that particular address? Rosenthal: The call goes to our dispatcher. If it's after hours it will go through police dispatch and, then, be sent to an on-call officer. The dispatcher has -- it's a system that -- that the officers tap into and, then, we are monitoring at the shelter. It's an online dispatching program. It has all the calls on the board. There -- it will be an officer that's specifically focusing on Meridian at any given time. The call will probably be assigned to them, unless it makes more sense to assign it to somebody else based on what their call volume is and how close they are in proximity. If it's an emergency call, someone being attacked or an animal that's injured, animal in traffic, that's going to go to the top of the list and it doesn't really matter where people are, they are going to respond from wherever they are. Because of the way the roads work in Ada County, it doesn't always make sense for one officer to just simply do one municipality, because, frankly, it can be faster to get there from a different -- a different part of the county depending on how the roads are. Cavener: Madam Mayor, maybe one additional question. Talk to me a little bit about -- about timing. I have heard from some of our citizens who have been a little frustrated or concerned about the timing in terms of a response, thinking that it takes a long time for you guys to respond. I know that citizens as a whole always expect people to arrive much faster than would -- than is capable, but I'm curious -- if you could talk a little bit about what that looks like. Rosenthal: Well, again, it's -- it's a triage basis. Any priority call has to be cleared by the end of the day without question. There may be -- the only calls that -- that typically might be delayed until, for instance, the next day would be something like a barking dog complaint where we are, essentially, just -- but, again, that could also depend on the circumstances and the wants and needs of the community member. I can tell you, though, that, you know, our priority is to respond as quickly as possible and to clear the board every day and it depends on -- it just depends on what else might be going on, though, in the community. Cavener: Thank you. Rosenthal: We are able to track response times and we can run those numbers. Cavener: Madam Mayor? I guess I'm -- what's an average response time, then, for a call in Meridian? Rosenthal: Well, again, there is always an officer focusing on Meridian. It could be half an hour, an hour or two hours. It's hard to say exactly. I don't know what the average would be, but I could certainly find that out from our system. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 9 of 39 Cavener: I would love to see that. Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Ms. Milam. Milam: On an average how many calls are you getting per day? Rosenthal: Well, there is about 1,500 calls that come through from Meridian per year and last year we did overall about 8,500 calls. So, whatever that works out to per day. And those calls are all tracked. Those can all be provided to Meridian as well and all the detail on that can be provided, including the addresses. De Weerd: Any other questions from Council? Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Cavener. Cavener: I think what kind of had this whole presentation come about is because the police department had come on your guys' behalf and had asked for some additional dollars. You shared that on the slide. I'm bad at beating around the bush. You shared that you -- it looks like that intake is down. Can you share with us what's requiring the request for an increase in funds from the City of Meridian? Rosenthal: Certainly, Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener. Costs are simply up and many of the costs of IHS are fixed costs and not incremental costs that necessarily increase per animal handled. Now, obviously, costs do increase per animal, but not quite as much as you might think. Idaho Humane Society is plagued by extremely high turnover because of our inability to pay a living wage to the majority of our employees and it's a real priority of ours to get our employees up to a living wage. If you compare county and city positions with Idaho Humane Society positions, you will see a real disparity in what we pay our employees versus others. So, payroll has to increase and, then, again, operations and maintenance just go up every year and it's all apportioned based on the -- the use of the resource between the communities and I think, again, if you look at those numbers and compare them, for instance, to maybe peer communities you may look -- look at in terms of what they are paying for various things, you will be very pleased at what you're paying for animal control services, particularly with the level of service and the care the animals receive, which is -- particularly when it comes to the -- the medical end of things and the behavioral programs that go into making -- saving the animals and the save rate is really extraordinary compared to many places that you may look at. Cavener: Madam Mayor, comment if I may. I just wanted to share, Jeff, I have made calls on numerous of my constituents' behalf and who have found the service that I received when I called into the dispatch to be nothing short of exemplary. I really felt Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 10 of 39 that each person that I spoke to was wanting to get the situation resolved as fast as possible and I just think that speaks to the -- the talent that you are able to train -- it sounds like that maybe you have a little bit of turnover. So, I just wanted to pass it along. I have always found my interactions with your organization to be great. Rosenthal: Thank you very much and -- and I think it goes without saying that animal issues frequently involve disputes between neighbors. They become very emotional. We do everything we can to really mediate situations, but everyone at some point or another has been frustrated by -- by an issue regarding an animal, whether it's the neighbor's barking dog or something else going on or a cruelty situation. So, emotions do run high and we try to do the best we can. Cavener: Madam Mayor, maybe one question, either the gentleman or for legal or for PD. What -- what enforcement powers do you have? We have -- previously Meridian ran our own animal control and so that was through the police department and do you have police powers? Rosenthal: We are deputized as special officers under the Ada County Sheriff. We don't have the powers to detain anyone and we can't issue a search warrant, but we can issue citations. We can issue -- we can -- we enforce the state animal cruelty statutes and all the laws regarding animal care and control at statute level. All the local ordinances. When we need to issue a search warrant we need the assistance of the police to come with us and we can't detain anyone or arrest anyone, but we have full enforcement powers otherwise. Cavener: Madam Mayor. It would be great when you pass on some of that data -- I would be curious to know how many citations that your organization has written within our community as well. I wouldn't expect to put you on the spot to know that, but -- Rosenthal: Absolutely. Cavener: -- something I would love to see as. Rosenthal: Sure. De Weerd: And I guess, lieutenant, I would hope -- I know this generally comes up during the budget. It was missed with the retirement of Lieutenant Overton and trying to figure out what all he did. We found that out; right? If -- Council, if there is any data that you would like on this contract that we can be presenting in June as we do the budget request and that sort of thing and if we can get on a June budget request type of scenario, preferably May, so Council has it in June, but if we can also provide some of the numbers that this Council feels important to know as we look at how the contract is going, what kind of service we have, maybe even special circumstances. I -- I still remember one of our animal control officers and the story about the monster in the sandbox and it turned out to be a badger and, you know, the -- the mom was horrified, because she had her daughter talk about this monster in the sandbox and she felt pretty Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 11 of 39 -- pretty bad when she found out there was actually a monster in the sandbox. So, it wasn't being made up by her daughter. I -- we would love to know some of the things that -- that does present themselves to your -- your animal control officers and -- and just a little bit more -- you're the front line, you know what you're seeing in our community and our community loves dogs and we found that in the numbers that we get estimated through our citizen survey. We are fortunately seeing an increase in the number of those that register their dogs and -- and that allows us certain information, but the more data that you can provide as we look at contract renewals and budgeting - related issues is very helpful. So, we will get you the kind of information we would like. Berle, maybe we can find out some of those data points that have been used in the past, so we have something to go from. Thank you. Rosenthal: Thank you very much. De Weerd: Any other questions? Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Milam. Milam: Speaking of enforcement, I did get a call from a constituent who said that she received a misdemeanor for a barking dog and we looked -- I looked at code and didn't seen anything that would allow that to happen, so I don't know if there is a -- a way to look into that or should I have her call you? Rosenthal: Yeah. Call me. De Weerd: Did she get an infraction? But we changed our code -- Mr. Nary, when did -- when did we change? About three or -- three years ago? Nary: 2013. De Weerd: Okay. Milam: It's possible it was prior to that, Madam Mayor, but she's a doctor, with a misdemeanor on her record is really hard for her. So -- yeah. Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you so much for being here and we will see you next month. Rosenthal: Thank you very much. B. Idaho Avenue Request - Meridian Downtown Business Association (MDBA) De Weerd: Okay. Item 6-B is -- is our MBDA -- MDBA. Nick. We love acronyms. Thank you for joining us. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 12 of 39 Grove: Thanks. Hi, everybody. My name is Nick Grove. I am the tech library supervisor at Unbound and today I am here on behalf of the Meridian Downtown Business Association of which I am currently the president. Just wanted to come here and introduce myself in that capacity and let you know about our organization a little bit. We currently have 21 paid members representing the businesses in downtown Meridian, which is an increase from 91 percent of paid members from 2016. It's still a very low number of the businesses in our downtown core, but we are working on improving that in 2018 with a membership drive. Today I just wanted to come here, say hi, and also ask -- or talk about the Idaho Avenue project. The MDBA, the city and MDC went into an agreement in 2015. The Idaho Avenue project put furniture, planters and a bike rack on Idaho Avenue between Main Street and 2nd Avenue -- or 2nd Street and we have been in consultation with members of our organization and also other people that are on Idaho Avenue. Through surveys, meetings, and our meetings with MDBA we are asking to remove those furnishings from Idaho Avenue and return the striping of the street back to what it was in 2015. This was a project to create a placemaking atmosphere on Idaho Avenue. However, the business owners on that street have not seen the anticipated response that we were looking for and so they are asking that we return it back to the way it was. The furnishings are owned by the city and that is why we are coming to you asking you to remove the furnishings and, then, return the striping back to the way it was, so -- De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Nick. Council, questions? Mr. Palmer. Palmer: Madam Mayor. Remind me. Was the -- the parking and striping was it parallel before we did the change or was it like angled in? Grove: So -- and before this activity took place it was parallel, but it was parallel all the way to the sidewalk. This moved the parallel parking like ten feet towards the center line and, then, blue lines were created from the parking to the sidewalk and I believe it increased the parking space by two spots, but I could be off on that. Palmer: Madam Mayor? And maybe a question for anybody. Would it make more sense to do -- I don't know what the term is -- instead of parallel -- angled. Grove: So maybe Caleb -- a response. Hood: So, Madam Mayor, Councilman Palmer, we did broach that topic and so maybe just a little bit more of the story up to this point. In November we -- we invited the property owners there on Idaho Avenue, business owners, to come here to City Hall to talk about how successful this project was or what the next steps were with it and those types of things and at that time brought up there is other options. So, if this isn't successful there is other options we could do with maybe moving the decking all to be next to each other and give some -- you know, some part of the block a larger area. We talked about maybe doing 90 degree parking -- angle parking on the north side. The south side has three curb cuts, so it doesn't get very efficient that way with the curb cuts Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 13 of 39 there, but if you -- if you did 90 degree parking on the north side you could actually pick up a little bit more. I'm not going to say everybody wanted to revert back to the way it was, but a vast majority of folks that participated that we have heard from just wanted to go back to the way things were. So, we have options, six or seven of them developed, and none of them seemed to get much traction or certainly no consensus on that, except for just go back to parallel parking at the curb. De Weerd: I guess this really does demonstrate the lighter, quicker, cheaper as a way to see how things work before you make permanent changes that are very expensive. Can you tell me, Nick -- I don't know if it's been part of the discussion, but this test case -- what do the businesses do to help make it successful? The idea was a place to gather, you can have more activity out on the sidewalk. What efforts were done to encourage that to see how much we can do to make it successful? Grove: So, the MBDA has -- both in 2015 -- or 2016 and 2017 planted plants in the planters. There has been some activity from a couple of the businesses having activities out there, but there hasn't been a sustained activity from the businesses as we had anticipated. There are two restaurants on that street, which are the -- the type of businesses that would typically activate a space like that. The -- one of the businesses has changed directions and changed ownership during this course of time and there -- there wasn't the sustained activity that really would activate the space to its full extent. De Weerd: Council, other questions? Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Nick, I guess -- I didn't hear what the reason was that the MDBA wants to remove it. It sounds like there is -- currently there is additional parking for downtown, as well as -- I mean the outdoor seating -- what is -- why -- why does the -- the organization want to go back to the way it was? Grove: Some of the -- the two biggest concerns from the people that are on that street are that the street cannot be cleaned by ACHD, so -- they cannot get their equipment in between the planks that are there or the planters on the south side and so there is an accumulation of leaves and debris on the street and so it makes it more untidy for their customers. The second is somewhat of a -- from what businesses are telling us a concern about safety from people not knowing where to park or pulling in and out in incorrectly and so it's not as safe as they saw it before. So, those were the two biggest concerns that the people saw. Cavener: Thank you. De Weerd: Any other questions? Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 14 of 39 Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Nick, I don't want to take you off topic, but I know there were a lot of hopes -- and thank you for all that you have done in downtown and continue to do, but is there anything in the works to kind of replace this idea? Because I know there were a lot of hopes put on that this would make downtown more of a draw. Grove: We don't have anything to push forward at this point, but we are in discussions. Our organization will be doing a -- an election in February of new officers and so I would say that the new board will help direct that next phase starting in March. Along those lines, I would like to invite you to come to any of our meetings. We meet the fourth Friday of every month at 8:30 at Unbound, which is just across the street and we would love to have any of you come and join us on those discussions. De Weerd: Nick, you are always invited back and maybe to open that dialogue between the Council and the MDBA, it would be great if we could see you on occasion and maybe get an update on the direction that the business owners are going and -- and some of the events that -- that you're working on. I know your food and beverage committee has been active and just as a way to -- to keep them informed and engaged and -- and hopefully in attendance. Grove: I will -- I look forward to presenting in front of you more often. So, thank you. De Weerd: Very good. Okay. Thank you, Nick. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Oh. Mr. Borton. Borton: Nick, just to -- a parting comment. There is -- there is clearly desire on behalf of the -- the Council to assist the downtown however it can. There is a couple of ways that happens and sometimes if that happens, either starting from us or from some -- some planning institution that might be disconnected from the business owners themselves, to get solutions looking for a problem. Good intentions that might not work and maybe some of this might be a byproduct of that. But note for your organization and for the owners and share with them if -- if they have ideas rather than doing what -- what took place, but there might be a different option that they think would make their property and their business successful, bring it up and as an organization come and ask, articulate why that's a good reason. We have funded efforts to try and help before and if there is a better way to do it -- you know, the ultimate goal everyone shares is to help the downtown business and the existing ones thrive and new ones move in and the property owners, help them as well. So, if it falls onto one of the agenda discussions, know that there is definitely an interest on behalf of the city to assist if we can and we Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 15 of 39 look to the property owners who know best how to help their businesses thrive. Bring us some new ideas. Grove: Thank you. And we will -- we will definitely be doing that. So, thank you. Hood: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Caleb. Hood: Can I just -- first, I just want to -- I do appreciate Councilman Borton's comments to that end and I did ask the MDBA when they were contemplating what the next steps are with the decking and the planters in particular. I think we have -- I think we have got a place for the bike rack. Just to think about where maybe these assets can be reused in downtown, if there is a spot downtown. So, I hope that maybe they come up with an idea. There is just a couple other things and I -- I don't know that you have to make a decision on this right now. There is a request. But a couple of things to consider as you consider the MDBA's request that I just want to let you know about. So, when we put this in we did envision that it be that -- you know, a temporary demonstration project to see if it worked, with the hopes that maybe we found a cross-section that we could ask ACHD to rebuild when they did some maintenance on that road. That maintenance isn't scheduled until FY -19. So, if the decks and the planter are removed now, we have an agreement with ACHD that says we have to put it back, basically, the way we found it. So, if we pull the stuff up, we put some new paint down and order in some other paint and the parking hasn't really changed much, except for moving closer to the center line. But someone -- we would have to hire someone to go out there and take out that paint and put back tick marks to -- to redesignate where the parking stalls are and whatnot. I don't have any money to do that right now. So, if we do this in advance of ACHD's maintenance where they chip seal the roadway, we have got to do that ourselves. That's what our agreement with ACHD says is we put it back in the like condition. So, just something -- something to think about. There when I talked to them, you know, right now they don't paint anything, just because it's wintertime and the weather and whatnot, but we could -- could potentially ask ACHD for some help that way. They do have those materials and that equipment and they may be willing to help us out if we write a letter asking them to help us put it back in the same condition. So, just an option there that we could get it done this year or -- but it's going to -- it's going to take a little more than just some paint. Again, we have got to obliterate or take out the paint that's there. So, there could potentially be a budget amendment if we do this ahead of that. Just one other thing -- and this goes to the question about what have the businesses done. We did issue a permit earlier this year for Pauly's as well and I think that it was issued in the fall where it didn't make a whole lot of sense for them to use the outdoor dining and, honestly, I don't know if they still are going to pursue that in the spring, but they would be one business that -- that has shown some interest and there was even some interest from -- Rick and Julie were there -- to do some outdoor dining. But if the decking goes away they lose that opportunity, because the sidewalk is not wide enough to fit both pedestrian passageway and the decking. So, one final comment. I have talked with -- with both Steve and Mike about this and Parks is willing to store this stuff, Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 16 of 39 but not indefinitely. So, if it's something that -- we pull it up here in the spring or whenever it gets pulled up, a season or two or whatever they may be able to keep it under, but they won't be tripping on this long term. So, either we need to have an idea of what we are going to do with it or if we don't do anything within 24 months they can dispose of it or some direction to that point. They don't want to have to babysit this forever and ever and we forget about it and it just takes up room at Parks, so -- so, again, just some things to consider. I don't know if you're -- you're planning on making a decision today or not, but just some -- some more information to consider as we talk about this topic, so -- De Weerd: I think it would be helpful, Caleb, to -- even as Council makes decisions to remove that, if -- I think part of the options were consolidating the decking, so that maybe all the decking is in front of Pauly's to make it more than just one section, to know a little bit about what the options were, what the costs are, we are -- we are kind of giving up on this lighter, quicker, cheaper thing a year ahead of schedule and so didn't anticipate that cost to -- to be a part of it and to have the discussion with the MDBA on -- on that, because I -- I think that was -- I know that a lot of -- there is several key players that have changed since then, but with that request comes a cost and -- and we just don't know what the cost truly is. So, that would be helpful information to have prior to this Council making a decision. Because when they make that decision they are committing to the cost, so -- thank you, Nick. Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Maybe one more question for Nick -- and I think it really speaks to your comments, Mayor, which I appreciated -- is, Nick, maybe a question you could also take back to your organization is if that decking -- it kind of speaks to what Caleb talked about -- became permanent and if it's easier for ACHD to clean it, because to your point I recognize that is a dirty street and I have always wondered why and your comments today kind of speak to that, but if it was a more permanent fixture that was easier for ACHD to clean and maintain, would your organization's opinion change on it? Is their largest concern driven kind of by the cosmetics of it or were other issues at play? So, that may be something for you to take back to your board. I for one am not prepared or ready to made a decision on this today and know that this type of discussion makes it challenging to kind of have that back and forth, but those are some things that I would love to hear from -- from your board is are there scenarios which would make sense to keep it for them or not. Grove: I will take that back to them. Cavener: Thanks. Item 7: Department Reports Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 17 of 39 A. Quarterly Update from New Ventures Lab De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Okay. Item 7-A is our update from New Ventures Lab and so I will turn this mic over to Rick. Ritter: Rick Ritter with New Ventures Lab. Did you circulate it? Well, you all should have a handout. The first two pages of the report -- the current tenants -- occupancy and the open space and, then, there is some updates on tenants who are actually leaving and where they are going. There is a list of events and meetings by the month and, then, I have attached the calendar that shows those meetings and, then, following that there is a list of the predominant users that are on -- that you will see on the calendar. So, I guess I can give you a little summary. There are currently 12 companies that employ 29 people on site. An additional 44 either employees or contractors that are not in Meridian and, in fact, more than half of those are outside the United States. So, there is total employment there of about 73 people and that doesn't count the people that are down in the open space. The one thing I think you will find interesting about the open space is there is -- of the companies that are in that space only one is a -- is a Meridian company and the rest are all companies that are based in -- someplace else and they have an employee here in Meridian using the open space as -- primarily as their office space here. A little bit on the update as it will relate to a couple of comments I will make. Cooper Plumbing became a tenant 2017. They moved out at the end of December. They grew from one person to eight people and five vehicles and they purchased a shop in Nampa and moved out at the end of the month -- at the end of December. Marcus Soldier was a software company working with local realtors and they moved into some lower cost -- free office space at one of the -- at Involta. So, they are still in the -- in the market. Trout Jousters will move sometime in February and this probably is where I make some additional comment and maybe a little bit of -- and this applies to both Trout Jousters and Trash 11. So, we have been hours trying to find someplace to locate them and they really want to stay in downtown Meridian and we -- and even to the point of -- he was ready to purchase if we could find something to purchase and we had -- took a run at three different purchases and we were a day late and a dollar short on all three of those. He finally settled on a space on Overland between Locust Grove and Eagle Road turns. It turns out it was the same lady that bought all the property in downtime Meridian and he is going to lease from her and, in fact, we may actually get him back in the old chiropractor's office, because there was some conversation about whether he's out there or he ends up down in the old office on Pine and I think that goes to the conversation that -- and you probably heard this from me and from others -- that we have a definite need for office space in downtown and anything we can do to encourage that, facilitate that, would be useful, particularly as I have more people that get ready to leave the place, almost all of it will be office based and I hate to see those companies that we -- that started and grew in New Venture Lab be someplace other than downtown. So, that's an issue. So, whatever you can do to -- and when you get -- when you see office space, please, call me and tell me, because I have got people not only -- that are -- would be tenants here, but I have also got -- on a pretty regular basis I get people that come in looking for office space in downtown Meridian and they don't fit where we are at. So, having some place Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 18 of 39 to send them would be useful. One interesting development -- oh. And I do have a waiting list. I have got three companies -- four companies, actually, that are on a waiting list for office space. When Trout Jousters moves in February I have got people ready to move into that one and I have got another I think that will probably move out in March and I think it's likely that that will be full. We got to full occupancy in November and, then, it appears to me that we will probably be at that and a waiting list from here on out, just the way things are -- seem to be working. Any questions on that piece? De Weerd: Council, any questions? Ritter: On the event -- the events and meetings, we have had a lot of events. Two hundred and forty-three. And more than 60 percent of that is attributed to the Treasure Valley Children's Theater. As you look at the calendar you can see they are a pretty busy bunch and I might add that that's not even all of the stuff, because they are actually still doing stuff in three other churches in Meridian. So, while we have got a share of it, it's also taking place in other places. And, then, the -- you can see the others that are -- most of our -- most of our business in the event meeting space part of it is -- are things that meet monthly and I have put a list there on the monthly piece of it. And, then, the last piece is the financials and you will see revenue, expenses and gross profit. Questions? De Weerd: Thank you, Rick. Council, any questions? Little Roberts: Not a question, but just a statement. Thank you so much. I know how much hard work you have put into this and having those businesses downtown -- hopefully we can find space for. If they are not downtown, we can't find them space downtown, but thank you for getting them down there and growing them and all the hard work that you put into it. This is -- has been a vision for a long time and you have definitely brought it to fruition. So, thank you, Rick. Ritter: You're welcome. I might mentioned that I had a little short conversation with Caleb. I had a local business that had come in that's got -- that owns some property on State Street and we were -- he came in just to visit about what we were doing in the lab and I told him about the shortage of office space and he said, hmm, because two of these I guess are rentals and he -- I think he wants to get out of the rental business and so we had a -- a pretty decent conversation about the opportunity to do something with those in terms of office space. So, I'm going to connect him and Caleb and we are going to see if we can work them through the process and maybe get some conversion in some of that. I think that may be our only hope, because we seem to be struggling with, you know, getting an office building built in downtown Meridian and so I think we may have to -- that may be our only outlet for a little bit. De Weerd: Until construction costs come down slightly, huh? Any other questions? Bernt: Madam Mayor? Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 19 of 39 Bernt: That's okay. I'm new to this Council and just give me like a 30 second synopsis of what exactly you do over there. Ritter: So -- Bernt: Ora minute. Ritter: So, what I -- so, we are titled a hybrid co -working space, which means that we do -- we have open space, co -working space, which is -- you want to work for an hour or two hours or five hours during the day and you would rather be someplace other than a coffee shop, we have got tables and chairs set up in one section where you come in and grab a table and chairs. There is conference rooms. There is coffee. There is all of that. The balance of the -- so, that's a fairly significant part of this base. The second piece is all of the office spaces there is used like incubator space. And, then, the third piece is the -- is the -- what we call the events and meetings and we have three conference rooms that will go -- the smallest one you can do up to six, the next one is up to ten, the next is up to 20, and, then, we have what used to be the old -- the Council chambers, which is our bigger event space and we do meetings and events. All that's available to the people that are in the facility, but we, then, rent that out -- or not in all cases, but make it available to the community for what we call a collaboration, engagement center. Bernt: Madam Mayor? So, where does the bulk amount of your revenue come from? Ritter: Where does -- excuse me? Bernt: The bulk of your revenue come from. Ritter: The lion's share of it comes from the office space. You know, we make -- probably -- if you look at the revenue and run the percentages at this time, probably less than 20 percent of it comes from events and meeting rooms. And a lot of that is because we -- we attract a lot of nonprofits. For instance, all of the media groups that we have in there, those are all -- you know, they are -- my rule of thumb is -- is if somebody wants to hold a meeting and they are making money, I'm making money. If you're coming in and you're not making money, you know, like the American Cancer Society or the Chamber, folks like that, then, I do that as a community service. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Rick, could you tell us a little bit about Aaron Stanton. He's been a resident for a couple of weeks. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 20 of 39 Ritter: Oh. I skipped that, didn't I? I didn't get to that. So, one of the things we think is going to be a little bit -- we will do something to increase not only the foot traffic, but also the attraction of different ideas. For those that don't know, I spent -- before I came to Meridian I was with the Water Cooler in downtown Boise for six years and one of the -- the success story that came out of the Water Cooler was a company called Book Lamp that sold to Apple and Aaron has been at Apple for now almost six years and, in fact, actually, I left Apple in May and is now doing -- working with two venture capitalists in San Jose around virtual reality and augmented reality and, in fact, has launched a company that's a virtual reality game company and I have always had -- in the back of my head thought he's going to come back to Boise at some time or back to the Treasury Valley at some time, only he gave me a call at Christmastime and said, hey, I want to come up and -- I'm going to be in town and I want to have a conversation. So, he came out and the conversation we had was that he wanted to come to New Ventures Lab two weeks out of the month -- so, he will come up here from San Jose, spend two weeks out of the month, primarily work on the VA -- AR business that he is trying to develop and that he would be open to at least a portion of that time doing open office hours for entrepreneurs, not only in New Ventures Lab, but in the Treasure Valley. So, we will -- you will start to see advertisements about open office hours for Aaron Stanton and that's -- that's what it is. So, that's our -- that will be our entrepreneur and residence program. Little Roberts: Thank you. Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Rick, in your report you indicated that a business move to free office space in Boise. Is that prevalent? Is that a unique anomaly in that there is free space for businesses or is that something that is I guess also a concern or a competitor of what you offer? Ritter: I wouldn't -- I guess I consider that to be more of an anomaly. It just so happened that he has a really good relationship with people that run Involta and he's got servers located -- because he does big data search and stuff and I think what's going on is because he's paying for all of the servers that he's got in the building, when this deal with the realtors collapsed, they said they didn't want all that business to go away and they thought, well, maybe give him one of these spare offices that we have got, because they had got a lot of spare offices in that -- for those that haven't heard of that building, there are probably a half a dozen open offices there all the time and so they gave him one of those. So, I think it's an anomaly. And, you know, we -- we spent time working with the -- the Involta guys and talking to them and touring the facility and I -- no, I wouldn't consider that to be a competitor. Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. Rich, talk me through a little bit about this piece that I -- because this is not my subject matter expertise, but if I'm located, you know, at the lab and I have grown my business and I'm paying a really affordable low cost rate to Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 21 of 39 be in your facility, but now I have got to leave -- or I don't have to, but I need to leave because of growth space, but it's a huge lift in terms of cost, is that something that your tenants experience and how do they mitigate that? Because I -- I guess I get concerned that we -- we have this great, cool concept that is almost prohibiting their ability, because they are not prepared for the real world costs of being out -- outside of your lab. If it's almost counterproductive. So, I guess maybe if you can give me some insight on that piece. To me it's -- could you just help me get a good understanding about what's going on in our business community. Ritter: Sure. Well, let me start by saying it is not a surprise to them when they leave there. There is high potential their rent will be at least double what they are paying. You know, part of the whole process that we take them through is building not only the -- the product market fit, but also the business model and understanding that, you know, what you're paying in rent today being at the lab is -- is on the lower end of the commercial market even in downtown Meridian and not even in the commercial market in downtown Boise. Cavener: Right. Ritter: And so one of the things that we focus on as we build -- particularly the financial model is an understanding of the real cost that they are going experience, because most of them -- you know, we furnish printers and we furnish paper. We do janitorial. We do all that stuff that is going to be on them when they move out. So, we spend a lot of time working through what those financial models look like in -- you know, it's one thing to see what it looks like in the lab. It's a whole other thing to see what it looks like in what I refer to as the real world. Cavener: Sure. Ritter: So -- so, they are very cognizant and, like I said, with Trout Jousters, you know, he actually -- after he had been out a couple of weeks sort of looking around, he came back and he said, geez, I have got a deal here. He said, you know, you ought to be getting 600 dollars a month for that 400 dollar space that I'm in and I said if I would have charged you 600 dollars a month at the beginning you wouldn't be here. And that's -- and that's kind of the way -- in fact, if he had been around another two months he was due -- because the other thing we do is we do escalation at the end of each year and so -- and we don't intend -- you know, our goal would be to have people out certainly no later than the fourth year, but if -- like in Travis' case where it came a little sooner than that, we are working all the time to get them ready to go into the market, you know, and particularly around leasing equipment and leasing buildings and -- and dealing with phone companies and all of that sort of stuff -- is all stuff that we are helping them with. So, they are not babes in the woods when it comes time to leave. Cavener: Madam Mayor. So, Rick, I think this is a cool concept. I'm not an expert. You are the expert. Do you think this model is successful and that the lab is deemed a success right now? Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 22 of 39 Ritter: So, let me share with you a comment I got about a month before we actually opened a lab in June. I was in downtown Boise -- at a meeting in downtown Boise and -- and one of the folks that's still -- I won't mention any names, because he's still in downtown Boise, said, Ritter, you're absolutely crazy, because there isn't anybody out there that's starting a business. There are no millennials, it will never work. And here we are three years later and I have got as many -- almost as many millennials in the -- in our lab as they have got at Trailhead and I have got a waiting list of four companies. So, I will let you judge is it successful. Palmer: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Palmer. Palmer: Madam Mayor. Rick. I think busy for sure, but is -- is it successful? Are these companies -- I mean we have got -- just some examples here on your updates where all but one of them that have left or -- in other cities and one of them might be in Meridian in February. Or do we have any companies that -- I mean this is property that the city owns, that we are holding back from being on the tax rolls, to, hopefully, get some -- allow some businesses to begin or to grow to -- to be here, to be benefiting our citizens, since they own the building. Is that successful? Or is it busy? De Weerd: I think in September our community development update -- or maybe it was August -- Brenda talked about the low vacancy rates at historical levels and I think Rick has done everything he can to find space for these companies, but it's -- it's a rare commodity right now and that's what -- where I believe that Brenda has been working with some of our -- our employment centers, our office developments to do spec buildings, so we do have a place to put these -- these businesses. The fact that they are growing big enough to want to launch out -- we don't have a space for them to launch out into Meridian. Palmer: Madam Mayor? Madam Mayor, then, if we don't have somewhere to put them, if there is not a strong enough market for office space that people are out building spec office buildings, is it the best use of the building now to just kind of be hanging out waiting? De Weerd: I -- I guess the overall goal has been to help incubate and encourage entrepreneurial success and that this was a launch and certainly the -- the intent has always been to launch into downtown Meridian and there have been several projects that we had thought they could launch into that haven't come to fruition. So, I think the success and the intent behind the new venture lab is -- has shown it's successful in the launches that they have had. We just need to continue to work with our commercial real estate developers and get places that they can launch into. Ritter: Madam Mayor? So, Councilman Palmer I think -- the other part of the answer there is the first piece is the fact that we are -- those companies that are in there now Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 23 of 39 employ 29 employees that weren't in downtown Meridian before and so that's one piece. The second piece is when -- when we negotiated this deal, what, three, three and a half years ago, one of the things that I said to the Council, then, was and -- and, in fact, I asked for a five year lease and they said, no, we will give you a three year lease and, then, they wanted to know, well, how soon are you going to have companies coming out of there and I said, well, based on my experience at the Water Cooler, the tech center, and the innovation center, it will be late in the third year and early in the fourth year before we have anything of -- of substance come out of there. We are ahead of that schedule. The problem is -- and I addressed the problem when we first did this. I said the big problem we have got -- because as I looked at putting this together, I came back and I said to the Council, my bigger concern is that there is no place -- absolutely no place to put these companies when -- if and when they graduate. That part of it hasn't changed. Initially I didn't see that, really, as a part of my job, but in the last year I have spent almost as much time -- well, maybe not as much time -- hunting for office space in downtown Meridian to put these people, knowing that they were going to -- they were going to be coming out and so I don't have the -- you know, if somebody would build -- would build a building -- in fact, that we -- part of the conversation I had earlier today that I'm going to look to Caleb -- is that -- that was a -- a local developer coming into my office and having just general conversation, up comes the office space question and the conversation immediately goes -- well, maybe I should turn that residential into office. You know. That's not work that I signed up to do necessarily as a part of this. My job was to start and grow companies. So, if I got to do that to keep them downtown Meridian, I guess I will go do that. But that's -- but that's really the issue. So, from the -- you know, how do you -- how do you say success at this? Twelve companies with 29 employees that are here in Meridian, you know, keeping them in the Meridian vicinity is the best I can do until I can figure out how to solve what's going on downtown. Palmer: Thanks. Bernt: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: And I guess it's not just the 29 employees, it's also the 243 events that are going on -- Ritter: Exactly. De Weerd: -- and drawing people downtown, too. Mr. Bernt. Bernt: Madam Mayor. Mr. Ritter. So, just -- just for my personal knowledge, do you have a contract? Ritter: With the city? Bernt: Yes. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 24 of 39 Ritter: Yes. Bernt: What -- Ritter: Base -- Bernt: Base? Okay. What is that? I'm not sure what -- Ritter: It's a -- well, let's see. We just converted it and it has no expiration, except that it has a 90 day out clause for each of the parties. So, I'm living 90 days -- I'm living three months at a time. Bernt: Got it. That's all I need. Thank you. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? 9IaviTf=- aMOiMRMra:no 07;;r,10 Little Roberts: Madam Mayor. Rick. I know that this isn't something that you had planned to report on, but I think one of the benefits is what you offer to other downtown businesses, where you have consulted and helped with them and I know that that's, basically, proximity, but the one that -- and I can't think of their name, but One Fast Focus I know comes to mind. They have had -- you know, used your office space, as well as co -working and things like that. Are there any other businesses that come to mind or can the whole kind of synergy that you provide downtown, can you give us a 30 second download on it? Ritter: Well, I think the big piece -- and I don't track the daily and weekly in the open space, but most days of the week there are somewhere between one and six people in that space and most of those folks are running businesses from home, primarily in Meridian, although it's kind of interesting, one of the new -- one of the newest monthly members is -- comes to me from Trailhead in downtown Boise, which I thought was kind of an interesting poke in the eye and -- and -- and that's the business that's been forced to develop, mostly because people don't understand what co -working space is. You know, I have actually put -- changed the sign out in front of the building, so people get a sense of flexible workspace and you would be surprised how many times people come in and say I had no idea that I could come here and work for four hours in an afternoon, instead of going to the coffee shop or going to the library or going someplace else. So, that business will continue to grow over time, as we -- you know, as more people become aware of us. You would think after three years there would be more awareness, but there isn't. And I -- quite frankly, this is not the first time I have run into this problem with awareness and we are being newly discovered almost weekly. Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: And the benefit, too, of having Unbound just -- Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 25 of 39 Ritter: Right. De Weerd: -- across the parking lot, has been also -- Ritter: I get a lot of business from Nick's place. De Weerd: Yeah. Ms. Milam. Milam: Rick, you know, when you first started this, you know, of course the concept is great, but you know, I struggle to wonder how successful you would be. You know, you have been there three years now and based on things that I have heard, that your numbers -- the amount of utilization you're getting, I consider you a huge asset to this community and I appreciate what you're doing. I'm looking at your numbers as a business person, I wouldn't do it. So, if anyone of you want to give him -- Rick a hard time, there is not a whole lot of profit in this. You're doing this because you love what you do and you really truly care about the businesses and what you're doing for the community, so thanks a lot. Ritter: Yes. Thank you. Other questions? Am I dismissed now? De Weerd: You are officially dismissed. Ritter: Thank you. B. Presentation of Bid Results and Award of AIA 132 Agreements to the prime contractors for the "South Meridian Regional Park" to multiple contractors per the schedule below for a Not - To -Exceed total amount of $3,857,861.72. These awards are the result of the Formal IFB issued November 17, 2017 and opened December 19th. Thirty bids were received for the fourteen different bid packages. BP1 — Knife River Corporation $1,587,382.72 BP2 — Franz Witte Landscape Contracting $ 710,327.00 BP3 — Anvil Fence Company $ 149,500.00 BP4 — Landon Enterprises, LLC $ 563,910.00 BP5 — Walker Fox Brick & Block, Inc. $ 72,250.00 BP6 — Outland Steel, Inc. $ 39,670.00 BP7 — Leighton Enterprises, Inc. $ 37,190.00 BP8 — Signature Roofing $ 66,312.00 BP9 — D&A Door & Specialties, Inc. $ 36,720.00 BP12 — SBI Contracting, Inc. $ 13,730.00 BP13 — LuckyDog Recreation $ 59,750.00 BP14 — DeBest Plumbing, Inc. $ 108,950.00 BP15 — TVR, Inc. $ 26,300.00 Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 26 of 39 BP16 —Power Plus, Inc. $ 385,870.00 De Weerd: Thank you, Rick. On a very positive note. Okay. Item 7-B is a presentation of bid results on our south Meridian park and I will turn this to Mike. Barton: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of Council. I am here this afternoon to ask for your -- your contract award to begin phase one of the new park in south Meridian. We are -- we are really excited and -- but before I do, I have a short presentation just to kind of give you some background information on some of the process and the bidding process and where we -- where we went in design and some of the decisions we made along the way to get us to where we are now. If you remember I was in front of you in November and kind of discussed some of the budget items that, you know, our budget and anticipation of bidding that we thought we were going to have and where we started at 13 million and came down from there. So, some of what I want to talk about this afternoon is -- is that process and the project schedule, as well as those cost reduction items that I talked about. Some of the things that are being put into a future phase and some that are in this phase. Also our bid strategy. The bid results, of course. We have an overall post bid project budget to share now that we have firm numbers and, then, there is also a softball field lighting discussion that I wanted to talk to you about. Should we go to LED lights or stick with Metal Halide and, then, there is some future contract items that you need to be aware of that I want to share and, then, ask for a contract award. So, just kind of diving in and, really, I mean I'm here to have a conversation and a discussion and just stop me at any time if you have questions. Please, feel free to jump right in, as opposed to waiting until the end. So, as you can see from this -- the process was really started with our park system master plan in 2015 and that's where we did our public surveys, our stakeholder interviews. We had that robust process of -- you know, we identified what are our future needs with park services and what do our citizens want to see in a park. We also targeted three specific sites for future parks and we did concept plans at that time. We did a concept plan for the Margaret Aldape property in north Meridian that's going to be on the river. Also the Borup-Bottles property on Cherry Lane and, then, this piece on Lake Hazel was part of that concept planning. So, during that process we had those surveys and stakeholder meetings. We had, you know, brought it to the Commission, brought it to the Council. We had public open houses. So, from that we developed a concept design and, then, really, that's what -- that's what drove that. So, in 2016 we started really getting into the nuts and bolts of design. We took that -- that -- you know, really that site -- how that site was developed as the -- the next regional park is the citizens in south Meridian -- frankly, they feel underserved. They may not be per acres per thousand, but they don't have a regional park in south Meridian. They don't have a Settler's Park or a Kleiner Park and that's really what the -- were the demand and where a lot of the growth is going. So, that's why that site was chosen. So, as we started through that design process in 2016, we worked into the schematic design. We took that original concept that had softball fields and, you know, destination playground and it had a pond and it had all this stuff -- and the picture looked really great and we had a lot of cool things in there that are really expensive, so we took that -- we refined it into more of a schematic design that was a little bit more realistic, that could match the anticipated budget Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 27 of 39 amount that we saw, so as we started working through that process, obviously, we were -- we were gathering numbers and coming back and making design refinements and all along the way we included both the Parks Commission and had the neighborhood meetings. Through that process we had two neighborhood meetings. We presented to the Commission four different times and Council three times. So, where we are today is we have a -- obviously, a completed set of plans in October that we put out to bid and that brings us to our bidding and award. But kind of in between times we -- just so the Council is aware, we are working on a name for the park and we have been discussing that at the commission level right now. There is -- we brought three different names, we whittled it down to two and we are -- we are going back next month to talk about it again, along with some graphics. So, we will be bringing that forward to the Council here in the next few months and if anybody's curious -- I can see -- so, of the three different names that were -- that were out there that kind of made the cut were Inspiration Park, Highland Park, because it sits on the ridge, and, then, also Exploration Park. And Exploration Park right now is the one that's kind of gaining momentum. Because of the discovery theme and the learning landscape component of this park, that exploration where kids can go and explore different items that will come as time goes on and the park develops those educational items. So, we are getting there. We wanted to -- like I said, get it kind of vetted at the commission level, get some graphics maybe to go along with it and, then, bring it forward to the Council. The other two items are just kind of a timeline of construction if the contracts are awarded. We are ready to break ground in a few weeks and we think we can be substantially complete by the end of this year and summer '19 have the park opening once the grass has established enough to allow people to get on it. So, like I mentioned, some of the cost reduction things that we went through -- and a lot of this stuff was done during schematic design before the budget process. The blue -- the blue graphs kind of show the schematic design estimates and where we were in the beginning with that. We took that program that had five softball fields, 50 acres. It had a pond. It had all these things. And we quickly realized that it's not affordable. That a lot of these items, although they are not out of the design, they will come in future phases. The first phase is the backbone of the park. It's the infrastructure. It's the road improvements. It's all -- it's all those items. So, some of things that were taken out or taken out of this phase and we think they are going in in future phases -- possibility of a pond. A deck overlook. A couple of picnic shelters. Two or three more softball fields. An off -leash area for dog owners to run their dog. A mini -- kind of a pocket dog park. Asphalt trails. The maintenance shop is not in this phase. That would be in a future phase. Right now we are going to -- we plan on servicing the park, just a traveling crew would leave our maintenance facility on Lanark and travel and maintain. We might have a little gravel courtyard or something to store some stuff, but no shop. We eliminated a restroom. The other thing we did that was a huge part of this is we took and we looked at the items that we absolutely had to have and we did that value engineering to bring those costs down. Bringing those costs down go with some of the decisions we made during design and it also goes in with some of the bid strategy and that's what I want to talk about next. So, that bid strategy that allowed us to get to where we are today, is bid -- bid the project in the winter when people -- during the off season where they have time to look at it, they are trying to put things on their schedule for the next season. We sent the bids to 133 contractors, Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 28 of 39 specifically mailed bids to them. There is -- 16 different bid packages were issued. We got responses on 14 bid packages from -- 14 bid packages, with a total of 30 bids. There were two bid packages that we didn't get any bids. They were relatively small. It's painting and drywall. So, the big ones we had a good response. The biggest bid package is the site work and we received four bids on that one. So, you can see from that strategy these are the bids that came in. These are the -- these are contracts that we are asking for award today. But the thing that I want to point out is because of that -- that strategy in winter bidding and -- and getting it out into advertising the bids properly, there was a difference just on this amount. There was a difference of 1.1 million dollars between the high bids and the low bids. So, some of the bids -- like the site work, Knife River, who is a well-known contractor, they do big road projects and they were -- they were 350,000 dollars less than the second bidder, so -- I mean some of this is just -- we were -- we were a little bit apprehensive, because of all the -- the talk that you heard about construction costs are up and people are busy and we are not getting bids and this is -- you know, it's almost felt like a gift. So, our overall post -bid project budget, we have a total budget of 6.75 million dollars and if we go down the list of what's still to come, construction cost estimate included --and you see the construction cost estimate is slightly higher than the bid awards and that's because we need to pay for the two bid packages that we didn't get results on, which are painting and drywall, and we -- we have roughly a 100,000 dollar allowance in there to negotiate with. Because we didn't get the bids we can negotiate with whoever we want at this point to get good pricing. So, the other items that are noteworthy are the -- the destination playground, sand and water play, and the splash pad. We put out an RFP a year and a half ago to work with a -- we interviewed and went through a lengthy process to determine which recreational playground supplier we want to work with and have install this and we have a winning bidder, but we don't have an exact design and we have a good idea, but we don't have an exact design and number at this point, so we are just kind of working through that process, too. We will go back to the commission with the design, we will go back to Council with a design, show them this is what we intend to do. We can include you every step of the way. We can include you in the end. I mean you let us -- let us know what your desire is and we are happy to, you know, part way through, hey, this is in what -- kind of what we are thinking. So, we have that yet to come. We have an allowance for signage. Some artwork. Environmental interpretation. Some of those learning landscape components that will go into this. There is also probably more than likely an ACHD road trust amount that we will be liable for and, then, general conditions, construction contingency and, then, construction management fee. Right now we are -- if you add that up we are 169,000 dollars over budget. We think the contingency and the general conditions will -- is -- are well funded. They are funded enough to -- there will be enough savings there to make up that 169,000 dollars. So, when I was in front of you in November I talked about the possibility of a potential budget amendment. Right now we don't need one. So, we can move forward with construction. No budget amendment. We can save that -- you know, we will make up that 169,000 dollars with savings in general conditions, just the time of year. If we move through the summer there won't be any winter -- winter conditions that we need to pay for, blankets and heating and that kind of stuff. So, we think we will easily make that up. So, there is one thing that needs some discussion. The two softball fields are lit. We bid -- the lights Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 29 of 39 were an add alternate. The bids that are in the contract award right now are for Metal Halide lights. They are not for LED lights. The LED lights would be a 225,000 dollar up charge over the Metal Halide. Some of the pros, obviously, are lower energy. They are less glare. They have longer lasting bulbs. You know, how much less energy it's kind of a -- it's kind of an unknown. We contacted Idaho Power to possibly convert the lights at Storey Park to LED, because Idaho Power offers rebates. They told us they wouldn't offer any rebates, because they don't run long enough to see a substantial -- enough savings for them to pay for LEDs. So, obviously, the cons -- or the cost -- just the up- front cost of the LED lights -- but we wanted to -- we want to at least bring that forward, so, you know, if there is discussion later, hey, why didn't -- you know, LEDs are the greatest thing ever and why -- you know, what -- you know, we would love to have them, but they are money, so I guess I'm going to pause right there for discussion. If we -- if the Council directs us to approve the contract with the LEDs, we can come back with a budget amendment out of impact fees for 225,000 dollars and I will pause right there. Bernt: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bernt. Bernt: Question. So, what is -- what do the ball players think about the LED lights versus normal lights? Do they care? Barton: I -- Bernt: Any word on the street? Barton: I don't have that information. I know the LED lights have a -- they have a mid range mounted -- I mean one of the -- so, some of -- some of -- I mean the real benefit is -- they are less glare. Bernt: Right. Barton: In LED light they have different shrouds on them, so the light almost -- it drops a little closer to the -- Bernt: But doesn't it take longer for it to like get to full capacity with LED light? Barton: Is there is a little warm up time. Yeah. It does have a mid -- mid mounted light there, which helps with some of the balls at lower -- ground balls. I mean we heard the presentation and, you know, some of it is like -- you can -- I get they are going to tell you what sounds cool, but -- Bernt: It seems like -- you know, is it a big deal? We could spend that 225,000 dollars on some shelter. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 30 of 39 Barton: On some shelter? De Weerd: That was a leading question. Barton: The overall cost of the project -- so, here is -- here is the other thing to consider. If we do this on this field, we want to do it on the other field. So, it's not 225,000, it's 500. Or if we have five fields at 750. So, see how it -- I mean it just kind of keeps going. I mean if we -- but we wanted to at least bring it up, because if someone says, you know, LED lights are the greatest thing ever and they save so much energy, why didn't you do that. Well, I will leave it there. Bernt: Thank you. De Weerd: Other questions? Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Mike, what's the cost for the lights as in the bid? The Halogen lights -- I guess the lights as presented, what is the cost? Barton: So, the Metal Halide lights were 195,890. And then -- and, then, we also add construction management to that. So, they are about 200. Cavener: Thanks. Barton: You're welcome. Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Milam. Milam: Are we just talking about the lights right now? Barton: Just -- Milam: You only want questions on lights? Or comments? I don't think we need to double the cost of our lights. That's my opinion. If Idaho Power doesn't think it's worth it, then, I don't think it's worth it, too. Palmer: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Palmer. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 31 of 39 Palmer: I think I missed a figure. What -- what do building the lights as planned -- total costs for all the lights? Barton: Great question. So, the light poles, the bases and -- the installation of the poles and bases is 200,000 dollars. Palmer: Total for all the fields you -- Barton: Not total, because there is -- because -- Bernt: There is only one. Barton: -- part of it -- part of the electrical bid had conduits in it. So, if we couldn't afford the add alternate, we could at least get the conduits in the ground. So, that's not fully loaded. So, I don't have that exact number, but the light -- the amount that's in the electrical contract right now is 200,000 for the ball field. Palmer: Madam Mayor? Madam Mayor, I guess the reason I'm asking is because I still don't want to do any baseball fields or like them. I just want to put grass, put something cooler later when we can afford it. But when we do a baseball field, that's what it's going to be and that's not going to change. And I understand that it's our most popular sport, that everyone and their dog wants it -- especially the dogs, because it's a great enclosed space to let your dog run off leash. That's about the only time I'm out there. I guess -- I don't know. I'm sure baseball games happen, but not when I have been at a park, it's just been an off leash area, but -- I understand that all took place before I was elected and I try to keep in mind -- ask some questions, because there is things that have happened since you got here that are a long time before they will actually take place, but the longer it goes between now and when the construction happens, the more solidified everyone is and that's what's going to happen. So, I just want them gone, but -- just throwing that out there. De Weerd: Any other comments or questions? It sounds like the direction thus far is to stay with the bid that we currently have as related to the lighted fields. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: I would agree. The math can be done to determine the -- recapture of the additional cost. And if it's not 10,000 dollars a year of savings, which I doubt it would be, regardless of whether Idaho Power would reimburse you, even with our limited use, you could -- you could come up with a pretty good guestimate on the annual savings, I imagine it's much less than 10,000 year. Barton: It probably is. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 32 of 39 Borton: So, you're well over 30 plus years to recapture the cost, so -- Barton: Yeah. Borton: -- it doesn't make sense. Barton: That's -- fair enough. That's -- yeah. De Weerd: Thank you for the update. We do have a bid in front of Council. Keith is also here if you have any questions regarding process or -- but thank you for this thorough update. We appreciate that. And we are very excited to hear about your bid returns. Barton: Yeah. Just -- just to kind of bring up a couple -- just one more thing is that some of the future contracts that we will be bringing forward are for the drywall and the painting, which is acoustical assemblies -- or the drywall and acoustical assemblies and painting, the playground splash pad, sand and water play, some of the artwork, the road trust and, then, a purchase order for construction management and general conditions and, like I said earlier, those are all accounted for in the -- in the budget right now -- in the post -bid budget. So, I guess with that I'm asking for your approval on our prime contracts. Milam: Madam Mayor? DIMUTZ=RM TUM Ti11115. 1 Milam: I have a couple questions first. Mike, so you're -- currently with the bids that you received, 169,000 dollars overbudget, but you have cut out a couple shelters, a bathroom, a tot lot, and some other things. Barton: Correct. Milam: And you have bids that came in 1.1 million dollars less than the lowest came back. So, where is the discrepancy? Barton: So -- Milam: From the original budget -- Barton: Yeah. No -- but from the -- from the schematic design we -- we -- and through the schematic design and design development prior to the budget hearings we got updated costs -- like an opinion of cost from both our consultant and the construction manager. We kind of matched those two together and we said we are over budget. We need to start scaling back and one of the reasons that we -- you know, we -- when we first went into design we had those -- this program that was fully loaded with five fields and -- and all these different amenities and we had to -- through the help of the Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 33 of 39 commission start to scale back and one of the expenses of doing this park right now is the -- this the backbone for future phases. So, there are -- there are costs in phase one that won't be realized in phase two. I think it's important to note, too, that I was kind of looking back at our most recent park construction and this park is -- right now is -- with the project budget at 259,000 dollars per acre. The last three -- well, the two that we did and the third one that's going to open early -- early summer or late spring, at Reta Huskey Park it was 288,000 dollars an acre, 267,000 dollars an acre at Keith Bird Park and, then, 220,000 an acre for Hillsdale. So, this 259,000 dollars an acre is right in line with that and the thing that -- that those parks -- we didn't have to build -- we didn't -- it was a -- the lot was already there for us. I mean it had power. It had sewer. It had water there. All the utilities were brought in. We need to bring utilities down here and do that. So, I'm -- I'm excited for the bids and -- and the process that we went through to control our costs and to get this thing down and -- and be comparable. If not a little bit less. Really it doesn't show up on paper, but it is a little bit less than our most current park construction projects. Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Milam: Mike, I hear you and I agree, you know, the larger the acreage the less it's going to be, because a lot less if it has stuff on it; right? You got a lot more open space, which, you know, makes it less per acre and I know that is probably frustrating every time you come before us we want to change a park around, but -- the schematic -- so, the schematic is so off because of inflation or that doesn't take that in -- just why -- I'm going back to the discrepancy between the schematic and where we are today and why we are cutting shelters out, because that's one of the most important parts of a park I think. Barton: Madam Mayor -- that's -- that's a great question and -- so, there is a shelter in -- in this phase. It's funded. It's a 30 by 40. It's the biggest shelter. So, the other two -- there was a 20 by 20 and, then, I believe a 20 by 30 and we want nothing more than to add those amenities. In fact, in our -- in our CIP we will have a budget request for next -- next fiscal year two -- the first thing we want to do is add shelters, because if we put a destination playground in and sand and water and all those cool things, people want to have picnics. I mean it really is one of our most popular things and that's the first thing -- at least my opinion that's the first thing on the list. In fact, if there is savings in some of this contingency over and above the 169,000 dollars, I would -- I would go out and get a change order for a picnic shelter. I mean I think it would be awesome. We just -- some of these things are a casualty of high prices and -- and we want nothing more than to provide all the amenities that people want and we know picnic shelters are one of those -- the most popular items. De Weerd: Any other questions? Okay. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 34 of 39 De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: If we have covered our discussion, I would like the honor of making the motion that we approve the bid results and go ahead and award for the south Meridian park, not to exceed $3,857,861.72. Milam: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? You need to have the motion state the individual bids separate. Watts: That is the way we have done the bids, yes, ma'am. Little Roberts: If I may amend it -- the motion -- so, you need them each listed as -- like BP1, Knife River Corporation and the amounts? Watts: Yes, please. Little Roberts: $1,587,382.72. BP2 — Franz Witte Landscape Contracting, $710,327.00. BP3 — Anvil Fence Company, $149,500.00. BP4 — Landon Enterprises, LLC, $563,910.00. BP5 — Walker Fox Brick & Block, $72,250.00. BP6 — Outland Steel, Inc., $39,670.00. BP7 — Leighton Enterprises, $37,190.00. BP8 — Signature Roofing $66,312.00. BP9 — D&A Door & Specialties, Inc., $36,720.00. BP12 — SBI Contracting, Inc., $13,730.00. BP13 — Lucky Dog Recreation, $59,750.00. BP14 — DeBest Plumbing, Inc., $108,950.00. BP15 — TVR, Inc., $26,300.00. BP16 — Power Plus, Inc. $385,870.00. De Weerd: Thank you. Does the second agree with the change? Milam: Second agrees. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Any discussion? Mr. Clerk, will you call roll. Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Barton: Thank you. C. City Council Department Liaison and Commission Appointments Resolution No. 18-2056: A Resolution Of The Mayor And The City Council Of The City Of Meridian Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 35 of 39 Approving City Council President's Appointments Of City Council Members To Serve As Department Liaisons, Committee Members, Commission Ex -Officio Members, And City Area Contacts, And Providing An Effective Date. De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item 7-C is appointments for liaisons and the commissions and I will turn this over to Mr. Borton. Borton: Thank you, Madam Mayor. We have I believe back in October jostled the committee assignments and city area designations a bit and with the addition of Mr. Bernt on the City Council, he is assigned to and will be taking over those responsibilities from Councilman Bird, serving as the ex -officio on the parks and rec commission, as well as serving as the Council representative on the golf course committee, which Councilman Bird had -- had done as well and he will also be taking over city area designation of one, which I believe also was Mr. Bird's. Everyone else's positions that had begun in October would remain the same. So, this resolution is to memorialize the appointment of each of us to our assorted commissions and committees and our city area designations. Everyone else is staying as is as they began in October. De Weerd: And, Council, you will note that the addition was the internal committees as we wanted to have those noted for the record. So, those aren't -- those are internal to the city. Borton: Correct. De Weerd: Okay. Any questions? Okay. Resolution 18-2056 needs a motion to approve. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: I move that we approve the resolution 18-2056 appointing the liaison and commission appointments. Cavener: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Palmer: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Palmer. Palmer: I don't know if anyone else has an opinion, but I -- in my super long history of having experience with transitions of liaison assignments, liked it better when it was at the -- the change of the year. I understand the idea and the value of starting at the Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 36 of 39 beginning of a fiscal year, but I think it makes it awkward, should we ever get to a position where we have a new councilman coming on board, where a certain assignment, whoever was in that seat prior to, might not be the best or most appropriate to just pass on to whoever the new guy is, which would, then, make it extra weird to shift other things around three months into liaison assignments. So, it would be my preference to go back to doing these changes in January, instead of this October. But, again, I don't know if anyone else has an opinion or if they like it. Cavener: Madam Mayor? I will just share my -- since we are -- I guess we are talking -- waxing poetic philosophically about liaison roles, I appreciate the liaison roles following the fiscal year. I know, as someone who been involved with the department and maybe not having as much time to get involved in having a strong understanding of the department needs, getting those extra three months for me is critical. I think that these aren't set in stone and every calendar year after an election the president and the vice- president have the opportunity to work with the Mayor and the other Council Members, the department directors, determine what's best for each department and those changes could happen on the calendar or they could happen more frequently, depending on the needs of the Council Members and their department directors. So, I support leaving it as is, but I'm open to further critiques and criticisms and questions as the years go on, if anyone has any other thoughts to share. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: I agree with Councilman Cavener. It's been, I believe, a benefit for me to get in and learning more about the police and their future budget needs and I think those three months have been very helpful when we are already headed quickly toward the budget session. De Weerd: Okay. We do need a vote. Do we have a motion? Cavener: And a second. De Weerd: Okay. Mr. Clerk. Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 37 of 39 Borton: To follow up on -- on the assignments, one of the things that -- that I'd like us to do, perhaps starting in the February workshop, these committees have some pretty important activities within them at times and for each workshop to have us have an opportunity to share a little update from the commission, some of them -- you know, SWAC, for example, has got some -- some big activities and the recycle issues we have addressed, that -- if there is opportunities to bring issues to us, just to be aware of, that we will use the workshop as a chance to share briefly what's going on within the commission itself. Not a report with regards to our role as a liaison with our city departments, but with our external committees, so I think we will try that with the February workshop and just give us a chance to keep us all informed. De Weerd: Thank you. I know that when we talked about that it would be important to -- if there is anything of note on your liaison appointments, but certainly those regional committees, it helps to have all informed as to what's going on. Just to -- we didn't have a chance to talk, Mr. Borton, but on the list -- I was just at Garden City's swearing in of their -- their Council and their committee assignments and the Mayor noted on their list what he serves on as well. So, I might add that next time -- next fall when we bring that. So, as we do our monthly updates you have something to track it. Okay. Item 8: Ordinances A. Ordinance No. 18-1760: An Ordinance To Amend The Municipal Code Of The City Of Meridian, County Of Ada, State Of Idaho, Amending Title 10, Chapter 7, Section 12(E)(2), Meridian City Code, Known As The Meridian Impact Fee Ordinance Fee Schedule; To Provide For An Amendment To The Police, Fire, And Parks And Recreation Impact Fee Schedules; And Providing An Effective Date. De Weerd: Item 8-A is Ordinance 18-1760. Mr. Clerk, will you, please, read this by title. Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 18-1760: An Ordinance to amend the Municipal Code of the City of Meridian, County of Ada, State Of Idaho, amending Title 10, Chapter 7, Section 12(E)(2), Meridian City Code, known as the Meridian Impact Fee Ordinance Fee Schedule; to provide for an amendment to the Police, Fire, and Parks and Recreation Impact Fee Schedules; and providing an effective date. De Weerd: You have heard this read by title. I don't think anyone wants to hear it read in its entirety, unless you do, Ralph. Okay. Do I have a motion? Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 38 of 39 Cavener: Don't we bring this back another week. I don't think that we are doing any motion -- De Weerd: Oh, yes, that -- thank you for that. This is the second reading of the ordinance and Ralph doesn't want to hear it read in its entirety and so I don't need a motion to continue this. This will be the second reading. Third reading we will have the public hearing next week. Item 9: Future Meeting Topics De Weerd: Anything under Item 9? Item 10: Executive Session per Idaho State Code 74-206(1)(f): To communicate with legal counsel for the public agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation, or controversies not yet being litigated but imminently likely to be litigated and 74-206(1)0): To consider labor contract matters authorized under section 67-2345A [74-206A](1)(a) and (b), Idaho Code. De Weerd: Okay. No. 10 is Executive Session. Do I have a motion? Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: I move that we move into Executive Session per Idaho State Code 74- 2061(f), as well as (1)0), (1)(a) and (1)(b). Borton: Second. De Weerd: Did you leave any alphabet numbers out of there? Cavener: I don't believe so. De Weerd: I think we got all of them covered. I have a motion and a second. Mr. Clerk, will you call roll. Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. (Executive Session: 4:59 p.m. to p.m.) De Weerd: I would entertain a motion to come out of Executive Session. Meridian City Council Workshop January 9, 2018 Page 39 of 39 Milam: So moved. Cavener: Second. De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. De Weerd: Do I have a motion to adjourn? Milam: So moved. Cavener: Second. De Weerd: All those in favor. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR T ATTEST: C. JA COLE DE WEERD ITY CLERK - /Z /� / Q// DATE APPROVED 5V, NX, 3 _�i