HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-08Meridian City Council May 8, 2018.
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:00 p.m., Tuesday,
2018, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Tammy De Weerd, Joe Borton, Genesis Milam, Luke Cavener, Ty
Palmer, Anne Little Roberts and Treg Bernt.
Others Present: Bill Nary, C.Jay Coles, Warren Stewart, Caleb Hood, Bill Parsons,
Scott Colaianni, Joe Bongiorno, Cameron Ariel, Bruce Freckleton, Brent Bjornson, and
Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll -call Attendance:
Roll call.
X Anne Little Roberts X Joe Borton
X Ty Palmer X Keith Bird
_X Genesis Milam _X_ Lucas Cavener
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: Okay. I will go ahead and start tonight's meeting -- or today's meeting.
Welcome to our City Council workshop. For the record it is Tuesday, May 8th. It's 3:00
o'clock. We will start with roll call attendance, Mr. Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is our Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join us in a
pledge to our flag.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Adoption of Agenda
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is adoption of the agenda.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I move that we adopt the agenda as published.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda all published. All those
in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
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MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 4: Proclamation
A. Neurofibromatosis(NF ) Awareness Month
De Weerd: And I will ask Shannon if she will join me at the podium and Carson -- does
he want to join you as well? You want to come up, too? Well, I'm pleased to -- to have
Shannon and her two kids up here with us today. The goal is as many of these
proclamations around the state as possible; is that right? As -- oh. The country. So, I
-- I underestimated her lofty goal. So, I am very pleased to be a part of it, the City of
Meridian is pleased to -- to stand beside you on this. So, thank you for joining us.
Whereas the Children's Tumor Foundation is observing May 17th as World
Neurofibromitosis Awareness Day to educate the public about this rare genetic disorder
and whereas NF affects all populations equally regardless of race, ethnicity or gender
causing tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body, which can affect development
of the brain, cardiovascular system, bones and skin and whereas as the Children's
Tumor Foundation leads efforts to promote and financially sponsor world-class research
aimed at finding effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure for NF and whereas the
Children's Tumor Foundation provides patient and family support through its information
resources, youth programs and local chapter activities and whereas much remains to be
done in raising awareness of NF to help promote early diagnosis, proper management
and treatment, prevention of complications and support for research. Therefore, 1,
Tammy de Weerd, hereby proclaim the month of May 2018 to be NF Awareness Month
in the City of Meridian and encourage all of our community members to become
informed and involved in the fight so we can imagine a world without NF. And I'm going
to give this to Shannon and ask her to say a few words.
McNall: Thank you, everybody, for giving us this proclamation. Mayor Tammy, we
really appreciate it. I just came back from a 40 -- or the Children's Tumor Foundation
National Conference. It's our 40th year that we have been doing this and in the
beginning there was no cure, there was no way to treat these tumors that grow with our
kids and in our adult population and now they are finally starting to have trials that are
shrinking the tumors about 50 percent and these are pretty big tumors. So, the more
awareness we get out there for this disorder, which is a rare disease, but it's also one in
3,000, which is actually more common than you think. The more awareness we get out
there the more we have a chance of creating a cure. So, thank you.
Millie McNall: I love my brother and I hope we find a cure for him soon.
Item 5: Consent Agenda
A. Approve Minutes of April 3, 2018 City Council Special Meeting
B. Approve Minutes of April 24, 2018 City Council Regular
Meeting
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C. Approve Minutes of May 1, 2018 City Council Regular Meeting
D. Normandy Sub No 3 Sanitary Sewer Easement
E. Permanent Easement to ACHD for right-of-way purposes for a
new roadway to the East and South of the South Meridian
Regional Park
F. Permanent Easement to ACHD for right-of-way purposes for
Lake Hazel Road at the South Meridian Regional Park
G. Final Order for Caven Ridge Estates East Subdivision No. 2
(H2018-0034) by New Cavanaugh, LLC Located East of S.
Standing Timber Way and South of E . Victory Rd.
H. Final Order for Movado Estates Subdivision No. 2 (H-2017-
0005)
by DevCo, LLC Located South Side of E. Overland Road,
Between S . Topaz Way and S . Cloverdale Road
I. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Oberg Subdivision
(H2018-0012) by DevCo, LLC located at 2855 N. Wingate Lane
J. Development Agreement for Fast Eddy's (H-2018-0006) with ST
Investments, Inc., site is located at 3775 N. Eagle Rd., in the
southeast'/4 of Section 32, Township 4 North, Range 1 East.
Parcel #: R4582530280 & S0532417375)
K. Recycle Water User's Agreement - Citadel Self Storage
L. Equipment Parking Agreement with Rwp Meridian LLC for
Public Works Week Expo 2018
M. Mini Heavy Equipment Rodeo Agreement with Coastline for
Public Works Week Expo 2018
N. Agreement to Accept Payment in Lieu of Installing Streetlights
at Trilogy Subdivision No. 1
O. Agreement between Ada County Highway District and City of
Meridian for Funding of Street Lights along Cherry Lane
P. 2018-2020 Kleiner Park Concessions Stand Lease Agreement
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Q. Resolution No. 18-2076: A Resolution Of The Mayor And The
City Council Of The City Of Meridian Approving City Council
President's Appointments Of City Council Members To Serve
As Department Liaisons, Committee Members, Commission
ExOfficio Members, And City Area Contacts, And Providing An
Effective Date.
R. AP Invoices for Payment 5/9/18 - $1,484,284.96
De Weerd: We will wish for a cure as well. So, Item 5 is our Consent Agenda.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda as published and the Mayor to
sign and the Clerk to attest.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Mr. Clerk,
will you, please, call roll.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 6: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda
De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 7: Department Reports
A. Parks and Recreation Department Annual Report
De Weerd: So Item 7-A, we will start with that and that's the Parks and Recreation
Department annual report. And remember you saw it here first.
Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I am pleased to be
before you today and give our annual strategic presentation with a view of where we
have been, where we are, strategic goals, current challenges, and current activities.
This is a unique year for me. This is the tenth year I have as director. I was appointed
officially director -- thank you. What I wanted to do because of that was step back
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myself and share with all of us what we have accomplished together over that ten years,
due in large part to this group you see behind me on my left. So, we put together a ten
year retrospective of 2008 to 2018. Starting in 2008 we dedicated the Heritage Middle
School ball fields when we started the partnership with the school district and expanded
our sports leagues to include girls fastpitch, women's volleyball and basketball. Even
adult volleyball, which we had let it slide, because we have moved on, but it was fun
while it lasted. We started our first Independence Day Festival that year and it's been
an annual event since then. We opened Renaissance Park that year and we opened
and dedicated Heroes Park phases one and two, that fall. Also in 2008 we won an
award -- I'm going to try not to read every one of these to you, we will post a lot of the
awards as I go through, that previous fall and the fall at 2007 1 was the interim director
and, then, we did a ceremony that year for the MYB complex in Settlers Park and in
2008 it won an award. On this whole page probably the one that I like the most is that
bottom left one. Nikelodean did a parents' pick award for the entire Treasure Valley and
Settlers Park won the parents' pick award for the best park and playground in the -- in
the whole Boise area. So, that -- that was a lot of fun to be recognized that way that
year. 2009 we opened the Gordon Harris Park. We also finished and commemorated
the Adventure Island Playground with a ceremony in June. We opened the Meridian
Community Center and changed its use that year from the Boys and Girls Club when
they moved out to the community center we use today. And, then, the Settlers Village
Square, which is code for the -- the horseshoe pits. Phase two the tennis courts that we
will get to later, but phase one was the horseshoe area. That was also dedicated in
2009. We did our first bark park thanks to the police department. That's not the bark
park at Storey Park. That was when we took over public use of the canine area and
opened that for a dog park as an interim fix until we got the dog park we know and love
today at Storey Park. We purchased the land for the south Meridian property that we
are currently starting construction on. So, I thought that was a unique milestone. We
changed the -- the youth teen activities council. The model changed completely with
Ken Corder and Patrick Dilley kind of leading that charge and our Movie Night program
received not just local or even regional, but some national attention at National
Recreation and Parks Association notational magazine that we thought was worth
celebrating. 2010 dedicated the Centennial Park amenities and including memorial
dedication to Terry Smith when he passed away. The third phase of Heroes Park was
open, which included the playground and the shelter between them. A picnic shelter
was added to Gordon Harris Park and our very first community block party event kicked
off that year. So, started in 2010. This is 2018 now. It's grown and grown. Also in
2010 we did our initial concept planning for the -- what we call the Borup property and
we expanded our sports needs to leagues to include girls flag football and, then, that
bottom one in the middle, the Children's Winterland Festival, which we still do today,
started. 2011 we did some upgrades to that Community Center and we put in new
drinking fountains, new entryway, new flooring in the community center and -- and got
those items upgraded. Smoke free parks was a big initiative that we did that year that
we did together and got all of our parks designated as a smoke-free zone. We started
our first annual holiday classic charity volleyball tournament. That's the volleyball
tournament that raises funds to purchase Christmas gifts for children in need in
Meridian. We opened the Rock of Honor that year at 11:11 on November 11th, 2011. A
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lot of elevens. And we dedicated the Diane and Winston Moore Pathway section down
at south Meridian and also won some awards for -- for Kleiner, which is coming. We
also did some -- some key pathway connections. We were focused on making -- you
know, where can we make an impact with some small -- small improvements
connecting existing pathways. We did a couple of those that year. And if I had to pick
one highlight of my ten years here this would be it, so it gets its own slide, but in 2012
we opened Julius Kleiner Memorial Park. Its grand opening was on June 9th, 2012. 1
like the picture of Treg up there on the left.
Bernt: So young.
Siddoway: But the community really came together. We included the photo of Dirty
Harry's carwash. These signs were all over town where people were saying thank you
Mr. Kleiner for -- for the park that you're giving to us. I mean what -- what a tremendous
gift it has been and what an amazing way this community has just loved and enjoyed
that park since it was given to us. As if that wasn't enough, also in 2012 we opened the
first segment of that Five Mile Creek pathway we call H1 between Pine and Badley.
That's significant to us, because you will see that phase two was just dedicated earlier
this year. We did our first site visit out to what we hope will be a future park, the
Margaret Aldape Park with Sherry Ewing. Talk more about that site later. And, then,
the Bottles property was purchased next to the Borup property, which gave us 17 and a
half more acres to -- to add on to that future park, which will come. We also
implemented a new pathway directional sign program, so that people could start better
wayfinding along the pathways. Probably still -- well, we continue to improve it. We
made improvements to it even this last year, but that was the year we got the new sign
standards adopted. Unplug And Be Outside Week. Let me say this week is Unplug
And Be Outside Week. If you haven't seen the list of activities, there are many, many
free activities this whole week. We had a great kickoff event in Kleiner Park on
Saturday. 2012 was the -- was the inaugural event for Unplug And Be Outside and we
have done it every year since then. We also initiated our -- our pilot program for the first
recycling project in coordination with SWAC. We added an outdoor musical theater at
the Kleiner Park bandshell as part of our summer camps and, then, we jump to 2013. In
2013 we passed a proclamation that made every second Saturday in June Gene Kleiner
Day. We will do that again this year. We celebrate it with the Meridian Symphony. We
did several park upgrades that year in the park, including the fountains that you see in
that photo. We did electrical upgrades that year in the event area and at the bandshell.
We opened the park maintenance facility on May 29th, 2013, and I thought it was
significant to point out that that was also the year we were able to get the agreement to
be able to construct the MYB overflow parking. That's been key to the parking
management at that location and something we need to -- to keep an eye on until we
figured out what the school district will do with that site in the future. Our traditional
summer day camp, Camp Mer -IDA -Moo here on the lower left was expanded to its
second site. That was significant to me, because this year we expanded to a third site.
So, this is the progression from one site to two sites to three sites. We have got our
mutual fee waiver approved with the school district that year, so we are no longer
paying for our time with schools. Our park ambassador program kicked off at -- with its
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first year in 2013 and we started our goose management program. Also in 2013 was --
that was the year that the Chamber of Commerce stopped doing the Christmas parade
and we took it on. So, the -- the new Winter Lights Parade -- we moved it from a
Saturday parade to an evening light -up parade and we have been doing that annually
since 2013. The split corridor got landscaped. Lots of additions to our camps. Sports
Camp. Outdoor volleyball league. The red-eye men's softball tournament, which is a
unique one. It goes all night long at Storey Park and people love it. Fall softball league
tournament was added. And upgrades to our water features at splash pads in
Generations Plaza and Settlers Park happened that year. The next year 2014 we
actually worked in conjunction with Planning and took on the Idaho Avenue sidewalk
improvements project. Luke Cavener was our -- our liaison that year and as we
dedicated the 8th Street Park amenities with the new restroom, picnic shelter, and
playground. We got our -- featured water rights for the south Meridian park, which is
Bedke -- progression and its development. Added a new spring basketball league and I
love that lower right one with dedicating that Five Mile Creek Pathway at Bridgetower.
Also in 2014 we added the restroom in Centennial Park, which was a great addition.
Launched the Kleiner Park live concert series and partnered with the library for reading
programs in our summer camps. 2015 we opened the Bark Park. We moved out of the
canine facility at the police station and we opened the -- the Storey Bark Park on August
12th, 2015. That year -- earlier that year we also opened the tennis complex in Settlers
Park and dedicated the Ben Kleiner statue in Kleiner Park that summer. Also in 2015
this was the year we did our master plan update. This was a huge year for us in looking
at what our community wants out of Parks and Recreation now and in the future. It was
adopted in December of that year. We started our AED program in conjunction with the
Fire Department. Drilled a well in south Meridian and built the -- the awning at the front
of the concession stand in Kleiner. Moving forward to 2016. The Youth Farmers
Market debut out here in front of City Hall. We did improvements to the block party and
Gene Kleiner Day, but I think a key one for me is that lower left where we -- we got to
dedicate and have a grand reopening of the Meridian Homecourt after we bought it from
the YMCA just a little before Christmas on 2016. We also, with our partnership with the
-- with MYAC kids, opened the Tully Park outdoor gym and cut the ribbon on that in
November of that year. Also in 2016 we added the Kleiner disk golf course, which has
been really popular. But we got a great agreement with the Boys and Girls Club where
we use the gym across the street here for are leagues. We upgraded lighting at the
Cox ball field in Storey Park. This is the year we added the amphitheater trees in
Kleiner Park in order to give the shade to the spectators and we have been talking I
know about the -- the shade at the bandshell. We resurfaced Adventure Island
Playground that year and held a special memorial ceremony for Eldon Gray when he
passed away that year. So, now we are up to last year. We upgraded Storey Park
restrooms. We changed our registration software at the end of that year. We upgraded
the irrigation well at Storey Park. I'm going to not hit too much on Rita Huskey or Keith
Bird on this slide, because I do have some things to -- photos and some time laps
videos to show you later on those. But we also completed the audit of the ADA as
required and as you know we have been working on those items moving forward. Also
in 2017 we dedicated the time capsule at Rock of Honor. We added some shade with a
picnic shelter at Bear Creek Park next to the ball fields. We did some improvements at
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the Homecourt, including some branding with the Meridian logos and that Y sign that
you see in that photo is going to be switched out here soon to a Homecourt logo for
Meridian. We started -- we got our indoor pickleball and badminton and open gym for --
for everyone in the community started at the Homecourt last year and, then, this spring
we have already had three to celebrate. We opened the Journey of Heroes art
sculpture in March. Then in April we opened that pathway segment H2 from Badley to
Fairview completing that half mile and, then, just last week we dedicated the Kleiner
Memorial Plaza in conjunction with the MYAC participatory budget program. We are
working on South Meridian Regional Park phase one and you know that Pine Avenue
just down the road is -- is under construction as well. We just recently received some
awards that I think are worth celebrating. Keith Bird Legacy Park won Idaho Recreation
and Parks Association's outstanding park award for the state and our park ambassador
program received the outstanding innovative program award for the state. We haven't
put a lot of staff awards on here, but I will mention for this one there was a third award
from IRPA to Colin Moss as the outstanding recreation professional in the state. So,
that was excellent as well.
De Weerd: And last year wasn't it Rachel? Rachel got recognized.
Siddoway: Rachel received the award last year.
De Weerd: Yes.
Siddoway: Tree City USA. Councilman Cavener was there with us as we received our
16th year as a -- as a Tree City USA designation. We have many pathway
improvements underway this year that we are working on as -- and as I mentioned
earlier, we have a third summer camp site at Discovery -- Discovery Elementary that we
are opening up. So, before I move to that, if -- if anyone back here that's with the Parks
and Rec Department would you, please, stand up for just a moment. This is the group
that I give the credit to that has made this happen and as well as some of their
predecessors. So, thank you guys very much. That's been rather rewarding for me to
look at as -- looking back ten years at what we have accomplished together. It's
extremely rewarding to think about where we have come. So, an update on some of
our strategic plan goals. This one was presented to you by the Mayor last fall as
complete. It is identifying desired public sports facilities. It's -- it originally included
things like the Homecourt and was updated to have its tactics take us through when we
got the construction project signed to move forward for the south Meridian phase one
program. So, that is under construction. Objective 5-A-4. This one is about fostering
the development of Discovery Park. Now this is the one we have talked about, you
know, that also was originally tied to south Meridian and its Discovery Park theme, but
was, then, expanded by Council to say let's -- let's make this more about theme and
unique identity branding at our existing parks, particularly our neighborhood parks. We
have -- we have done that with the new parks we have built with Rita Huskey, with Keith
Bird Legacy Park. We are doing it with Hillsdale. But going back and adding it, the
ones I really wanted to celebrate here was that Heroes Park Journey of Heroes art that
we dedicated earlier this year, that was specifically a focus of adding identity and
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theming to that park after the fact, so you can reinforce its name and it's been a great
addition to that park. The commission -- the Parks and Recreation Commission has
discussed where they want to go next with this project and their vote was that they
would like to see Champion Park be the next neighborhood park on the list for identity
reinforcement and theming. So, we -- our next step tactic three under that objective is
to score partnerships, most likely, again, with the Meridian Arts Commission to see what
we can possibly do together there and what timeline it might be on for funding to do
something at Champion Park. 5-B-4 is also underway. This is related to our recreation
division. It's to set targets, identify gaps, and deploy programs for family -centered
recreational opportunities. It started inventorying everything we have looking for gaps
and right now there is a phase going on researching what other communities are doing.
That will be a gap analysis and that research that we are doing will go to the Parks and
Recreation Commission on June 12th and that is our next step from the next tactic on 5-
B-4. That is our update on the strategic plan items that we are directly in charge of.
The next thing I wanted to give you an update on is our south Meridian name. We -- it's
been open for two months. It closed last week on the -- at the end of April and so we
have tallied the results of the surveys and here they are. Out of the votes that we
received Discovery Park received the most votes at 25 percent. Exploration Park at 19
percent. Innovation Park at 16 percent. Highland Park at 12 percent. Under the other
category, which did have a lot of votes for a variety -- for a lot of different names out of
all of those there was definitely three that were near the top are Parky McParkface had
a strong showing with ten percent of the vote. STEAM Park received eight percent of
the vote and Meridian Park received eight percent of the vote. So, we don't need an
action from you for tonight, but -- unless you feel inclined to do so later, but it's not really
noticed for that, but I wanted to give you the results, since they are available and
recently closed, so those are the results of our outreach and survey process on south
Meridian park. Current challenges that we are working on. As you know we are
working on the Homecourt improvements for Bay 5. The YMCA is preparing to move
out at the end of this month and we are preparing to take over that space and start
programming it. The South Meridian Regional Park phase one is under construction. I
took that photo on the top right just last week with Kaycee with using the drone, so that's
a recent photo and you can see the status of the road getting cut in and the playground
area in the -- in the back. On the Rail With Trail pathway -- continues to be a priority
and a challenge both in terms of the larger regional effort to try and get a regional Rail
With Trail pathway in the corridor and our phase one project where we are working to
get from Meridian Road over to 7th or 8th Street on the west side of Meridian. And,
then, Margaret Aldape Park, which I mentioned earlier, we had our first site visit several
years ago. During the spring runoff of Snowmageddon there was a breach of the river
bank and now it's flowing through the neighbor's pond to the -- the Margaret Aldape
pond and that is still the condition today and they are actively seeking resolutions and I
just wanted to give you the update of the -- the challenge that exists out there today.
We are also -- I think we had a presentation by Kim Warren that talked about the Five
Mile Creek Pathway trailhead at Ten Mile Road that we would like to partner with ACHD
on. We have talked recently about bandshell shade at Kleiner Park and the shade sails
that might go out in front of there. And, then, we have been very, very actively working
on those park system ADA upgrades. I took these particular photos on Friday. This
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was out at Chateau Park and getting the ramps done in the playground and the -- the
handicap parking access into the park to meet grades and we are actively working on --
on that list as well. So, that brings us to recent park construction for our three newest
parks, Keith Bird Legacy Park, Rita Huskey Park and Hillsdale. So, Keith Bird Legacy
Park we -- so it opened in the beginning of November and, Rachel, if you would go
ahead and start the video. We have worked with Kaycee and I got some time lapse
videos put together on these three parks. They are less than a minute long. So, I just
want to share each of them with you. We came down and tested this and it worked right
off, so, of course, now that it's go time it's going to -- it's going to hang up. Well --
C.Jay, it's not because of the way we are running it separately through the system, is it?
Let's try it again. Well, let's -- let's try the next one and see if it -- maybe it's a problem
with -- with YouTube. Here we go. So, that was Keith Bird Legacy Park. Let's -- if we
can go to the next slide. That one is Rita Huskey Park, which we opened at the end of
October of last year and I really appreciate Kaycee and her interns help producing these
short videos to see the parks together in such a short time span. And, then, last, but not
least, is our Hillsdale Park, which we are just getting ready to open in a matter of weeks
and we will show you a short video of its construction. There was water on the sidewalk
there because we were watering the new sod recently. So, please, go to the next slide,
Rachel. You probably have it on your calendars already, but I want to make sure you're
aware of the Hill grand opening on Friday, May 25th at 10:30 a.m. That is the ribbon
cutting of the partnership out in front of the YMCA and, then, later that evening is when
we will throw what we are affectionately calling the Marty Party, but it's the grand
opening celebration for Hillsdale Park. The event will go from 5:00 to 8:30, but the main
event -- there is a concert by the Southwest Surfers will begin at 6:00 and run until 8:30.
They are a great band and Marty's favorite band out of Arizona. A Beach Boys tribute
band and they are really quite good. So, we hope that if you're in town that you will
mark your calendars, come out, help us thank Marty and help us enjoy this -- this new
park together and with that I thank you for your time and attention and stand for any
questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Steve. Council, any questions?
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: Not a question just a -- just a comment. Good job, Steve. Fantastic. Each time
you get up to fill us in on what's going on with your department -- excuse me -- it just
makes me remember my roots when I was a commissioner back in the day. It's
fantastic. You do a great job. You have the best staff. Rachel is amazing and she
does wonders for -- for your group and you're a great director and just wanted to say
good job.
Siddoway: Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I will echo Council Member Bernt's praises. Your department and your team
is second to none and do a great job of putting out a wonderful face in our community.
Appreciate the historical retrospective. I noticed in some of those pictures I have less
hair now than I did when I was younger. Your hair has gotten a little grayer.
Siddoway: We had fun with a few of those photos.
Cavener: It was great to see all that your department has accomplished. You touched
in one of the photos about our relationship with the Boys and Girls Club and, it's funny, I
was -- I was just wondering about that when I was driving passed the other day and I
saw they had the new air and repair station and I just was curious how is that
relationship going with the Boys and Girls Club? How often are we using their facility?
What are we using it for? If you wouldn't mind maybe just give us a quick snapshot as
to how that partnership has been progressing.
Siddoway: You bet. I might put Tyler on deck to come up and help me, but -- so, we
are actively using their space. So, we run our adult sports programs in their gym in the
evenings, particularly volleyball I believe is the main activity we participate in. I'm going
to have to have Tyler come up and fill us in on numbers of weeks and things like that,
but, you know, we check in fairly regularly with Collen Braga and the local staff there.
It's recently changed and I'm forgetting some names --
De Weerd: Schneehagen.
Siddoway: Thank you. But we have -- we feel like we have a great relationship with
them and that partnerships is going really well for us. So, Tyler, if you would just come
on up and fill in the gaps for me if you would.
Roberds: Yeah. So, September through May we are in there four days a week from
about 6:30 to 10:00 o'clock at night. Besides Christmas break and spring break we are
in there, so we fill it up with volleyball programs pretty much every season. So, that's
one of my easiest courts to use, so I use them almost every time I can.
Siddoway: Any other questions?
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor. Steve, just thanks to you and to your amazing team. It
never ceases to amaze me what all you accomplish and how you really make Meridian
fun and so just -- I hear time and time again how much people love our parks and all the
events that we put on for our citizens. So, thank you very much.
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Siddoway: Thank you. You know, it's been -- I made this more about what we have
done than the numbers. I couldn't help but look at a few numbers before I -- I came
comparing ten years ago to now, but sports league participation back in '07, the year
before I started, 2,136. Ten years forward to 2017, last year, which was the last year
we have a full year data on, 5,617 participants. So, you know, more than double --
almost triple. Activity guide enrollments jumped from 1,800 to more than 4,700. Picnic
shelter reservations jumped from 2,900 hours to over 8,000 hours from serving over
26,000 people to serving over 76,000 people in those reservations. The only matrix we
have a hard time losing ground on is our acres per thousand and that's because we are
growing so fast. You know, I looked at the numbers for last year and even with the
parks we added, we have, basically, stayed the same. We actually lost ground a little
bit even with adding two parks because of the rate of growth. So, the acres per
thousand matrix is still climbing down, even with the parks that we are -- are adding.
Specifically if you want numbers we are currently at 2.76 as of last year. I ran a new
calculation adding ten acres for -- for Hillsdale Park, but jumping the population, if the
106,000 population holds over the 98,000 that last year was based on, even adding the
ten acres, it would still push it down to 2.65 percent because of the increased
population. So, we are adding parks and we have increased from 146 acre 274 acres
of developed park land over that same time. So, we are adding parks. We are -- as
you can see from the ten year information, we are -- we are actively and aggressively
adding parks, but we are growing faster and that's kind of the -- what the numbers tell
me. So, thank you for your time and I appreciate the opportunity to come and give you
that -- that overview.
De Weerd: Thanks, Steven. And I know when I come and talk to your staff I -- I tell
them how much they are appreciated and I wasn't going to do that, but it should be on
the public record. All of our recognition states -- specifically calls out the events and our
quality parks and it's because people love to talk about them. They love the pride that is
shown from the groundskeeper to the person that is in charge of each of the -- the
larger parks and -- and even the -- the ones that travel from small park to small park.
The quality that you keep our -- our facilities, the pride that they have and the amenities
in all of our parks and the look and feel, it's second to none and we appreciate all of
you. And -- and that goes for our recreation programs, our special events, just quality
and pride is -- is exhibited in everything that your department does. From the minute
someone calls our department to concluding their experience at the parks. So, thank
you and thank you to the team, you are amazing. So, thanks for being here.
Siddoway: Thank you.
B. Community Development: Report on Community Development
Block Grant Applications Received Requesting Program Year
2018 Funding
De Weerd: Okay. Item 7-13 is under our Community Development Department and we
will talk CDBG with Chris. Chris, it's been a while.
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Pope: It sure has. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you're going to get sick of
me over the next few months, so enjoy -- enjoy your vacation from me. So, as is kind of
the pattern that we have traditionally done over the years, after we get through receiving
all the applications for any given program year I want to make sure you know what we
received. So, hopefully, we will get to this real quick and just kind of review -- review
what we got. There is also a few changes to the program that are coming for this
upcoming year that I want to make you aware of as well. So, first and foremost, this is
our funding amount for 2018. It is up 73,000 dollars -- 37,017 dollars from the previous
year. Depending on your political philosophy that is either great or it is terrible. I know
there are members in this room who are on both sides of that aisle. I won't make any --
any plug for -- for that being good or bad, just know that our number is going up. There
are reasons that they are going up and I don't -- I'm not going to speculate or talk about
what those are in this presentation. We can have that conversation later as we get
more in depth in some future presentations moving forward. Just know that we are
receiving an extra 73,000 dollars this year. That will give us more room to do more
projects in the community. To show you kind of in comparison to across Idaho where
we were lying in comparison to last year and also all the others cities -- you can see that
we are -- we are still the lowest funded community or municipality in the Treasure
Valley, though we did make up a fair bit of ground on Caldwell this year. In terms of
comparison between this year and last year, I want to draw your attention to these last
two columns here. Aside from Boise we saw the largest total growth in real dollars
coming to the program and we saw by far the largest percentage of relative growth
year -over -year. Time that to why this is happening, what's going on. At the federal
level the program was increased by ten percent, so everybody kind of expected to get at
least a ten percent boost to their budget. Again, good or bad, we can argue that later.
We saw double that. We saw double the amount expected for our budget this year and,
again, why that's happening we are not entirely sure. We can speculate and have
conversations about it. But just know that this is kind of the reality of the situation we
are in. As the program continues to get funded there is -- there is a pretty strong
bipartisan support at the federal level for continuing to -- to increase the budget year
over year, particularly as I'm putting a clause into the -- the appropriations bills that will
allow for inflation adjustment on a year -over -year basis. Who knows what will happen
with the federal budget as time moves forward, but all indication from the partners that
we have in DC, the advocates that we work with and some professional groups that I'm
a part of, a lot of it is -- is basically saying the growth that you're seeing is going to keep
on. So, what that means for our city as we continue to grow, both in population, the
services that we offer through Parks and Rec, through Public -- Public Works, whatever
it may be, the indication is that this program will continue to grow as well. Again, for
better or for worse. So, this year applications that we receive -- we received 21
applications for funding this year. You can see the context of the last three years that
we have received. This is more than double than we have ever received and I will kind
of -- I will jump into each of these applications that we received, but I want to make it
clear here these are not proposals for funding in this presentation today, these are just a
list of the applications that we received. In terms of the total dollar amount that's being
requested this year, there is more than a million dollars being requested than what we
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have in our budget. So, most of these -- the vast majority of these projects aren't going
to be funded or will be funded at a much reduced rate. But, honestly, we just barely
started the application review and scoring process, so I don't have a clue where our
scoring committee is going to end up in terms of making a recommendation to you. I
don't have a clue how you're feeling about it this year. So, we will see where we --
where we go as time moves forward. So, first, the public services projects. There is
seven of them this year. We have a few familiar faces in Meridian Food Bank, Jesse
Tree, and the Boys & Girls Club. We also have Neighborworks Boise, whom we have
partnered with in the past for home buyer assistance program. We have worked with
them to move towards a homebuyer education course idea that works on credit
counseling and home buyer -- homebuyer education class essentially and that's kind of
what they propose this year. We also have the school district coming in and if I could
put like kind of a micro theme to this year's applications, youth homelessness is a big
theme. A quarter of our applications that we have received in one way or another are
focused on addressing youth homelessness issues in the community. So, the housing
plus high school equals success is a program that the school district uses to provide
basically housing vouchers for students who are unaccompanied youth who don't have
housing, who don't have parents, who maybe just have a car to live in, they can go to a
motel and stay in a motel. Again we are kind of -- we have to vet through some of these
projects and have more of a conversation about -- about what these would actually look
and the complexity of the application isn't really what I want to cover today. These are
just kind of some high level ideas of what we have. The school district also has
requested funding for two programs they have that help remove barriers to
transportation and housing issues for homeless students, whether that's getting to and
from doctor's appointments, to and from school, just a place to stay -- again, in a motel
or at a friend's house or to help subsidize costs of -- of whatever -- whatever that
homeless student is needing in terms of housing or transportation, they have requested
funding for these as well. Public Works has made a pretty good showing of our
application cycle this year and I won't cut it too much short, I want to make sure you
guys get the lip service you deserve here. But we have had such success over the last
few years with our -- with using CDBG money with street lights, that Al Christie in the
Public -- Public Works Department has kind of run with this and we are kind of excited
for some of the things that he's talking about. There is a -- as we kind of go through this
there is the construction of new street lights in a few different subdivisions and areas of
the low -to -moderate income areas of our community, which are supported here with
your request, but there is also some movement towards some cost savings and energy
efficiency with LED upgrades and -- and retrofitting of lights in certain areas, which will
be better lighting, longer term lighting, and more cost savings for the city moving
forward and those are some -- some of those ideas that -- that are being presented
here. Again, I can give you some more details on this information as we move forward.
In -- in terms of addressing slum and blight in our redevelopment area, the Meridian
Development Corporation has two projects that they have requested funding for for
right-of-way improvements along East 3rd Street in the ProBuilt area and also along
South Broadway Avenue. So, real close to the downtown area. In addition, Main Plaza,
LLC, which is the property owner or LLC that owns the -- the kind of strip mall that's on
Main and Fairview -- has requested funding to help with some of the -- the rehabilitation
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of that property that they are looking for as well. And, then, there are a couple other
projects that we have. The Meridian Library District is requesting funding for ADA
accessibility improvements for their bathrooms. The Foundation For Family Life is
requesting some funding for their Mentor -- Mentor Works Transitional Housing
Program. They are an organization that is working to expand their programs throughout
the Treasure Valley that focuses on -- on -- on homeless in the community that have
substance abuse issues and that can be a transitional housing where those individuals
can stay and get rehabilitation and, then, exit the program. This particular model has
had a lot of success down in Salt Lake City and across Utah and they are looking to
bring it into the Treasure Valley here. In addition, we have the Ada County Housing
Authority with their perennial request for the down payment assistance program for new
Meridian home buyers and, then, I also -- the City of Meridian will be using some
money for grant administration and fair housing activities as well. So, that's the 21 that
we have. Again, to break it down in summary, seven projects for public services, seven
public facilities, four redevelopment areas slum and blight projects and, then, three
other projects that we have and you can see here the total requested is 1.4 million. We
only have a little over 400,000 dollars for it, so we will vet this and we will go through it
and bring recommendations to you. The scoring committee that will review as listed
here, there is myself, Caleb, Karen and Jenny from Finance, Hillary from the clerk's
office, and Jodi from the Mayor's office, Council Member Palmer and, then, two
members of the senior Advisory Board from the Mayor's office Jim Luker and Frank
Marcos will be there with us as well. To give you a quick timeline of how this is going --
so, right now everybody is reviewing all the applications, we are creating scores. This
year we -- we instituted a new kind of best practice software called Zoom Grants that is
helping us to kind of manage this grant in an easier, more fluid and efficient way as it
comes to the scoring of these applications. That's ongoing now. At the end of the
month we will have our scoring committee meeting where we will develop our
recommendations. You will get a memo somewhere near the end of that week letting
you know what those recommendations are and, then, on the 19th of June I will come
and present our action plan for the year and we will start the public comment period
and, then, in July we will have our public hearing. I'm hoping to get the applicants that
we recommend in front of you to give you a little two or three minute pitch this year as
well to let you know more specifics about the project before you make a decision, aside
from what I'm just -- what you hear from me on Tuesday nights.
De Weerd: Chris, will the scoring committee have those presentations on each of the
projects, so they have an opportunity to ask questions and -- and that sort of thing?
Pope: Madam Mayor, they will not. But I'm hoping to facilitate -- the robustness of our
applications, without getting too deep into it, is -- is pretty complex. Hopefully, all the
answers will be clear there. If there are any questions we definitely have this -- a line of
communication that's open between the applicants and the scoring committee
members. We won't have specific application presentation this year to the scoring
committee, though, I do want to note that with the number of applications that we
received this year, again, being twice -- more than twice the amount we have ever had
before, the scoring committee as we know it is -- is kind of under a lot of burden to
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review all of these applications. So, we are definitely going to need to revisit the
committee structure to see how we can best and most efficiently review these in the
future and that's definitely something that we have talked about that's on the table of
having the applicants come and give a presentation, rather than having all the
committee -- the committee members spend all month long on their computers digging
into the data of the complexity of some of these things. Again, that's -- that's way
preliminary. Didn't expect to say anything about that. But, yeah, there is a bit of a
burden with this many applications, it's just -- we didn't expect it -- the capacity. We
weren't really prepared for it. So, we are definitely seeing how we can move forward
with it. So, with that any questions about what we have here?
De Weerd: Thank you, Chris. Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Just one, Chris, because I asked this question a few weeks ago and I have
had a chance to share with you. Are there cities across the country that refuse the
funding or to take less and, if so, what has kind of the response been for municipalities
who choose to do that?
Pope: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, so there is the option to do so. Very
few do so, mostly because the community development function of a municipal
government can be so varied and -- I mean as we recognize on an annual basis when
we go through our budgeting process that there is limited funds, but an infinite need,
that generally speaking communities will recognize this as an opportunity to help out, to
subsidize some of the costs that are needed in the community, particularly for the low -
to -moderate income residents of the community and because of that it's not common
practice generally to refuse the grant amount. Also -- I mean I think we have had this
conversation before, but philosophically if we were to refuse as a city, the money
doesn't go back into -- into the treasury, the money just gets redistributed. But along
those lines, there is always an opportunity for us to refuse the grant amount, to refuse
the grant on an annual basis. I know that we have had conversations as well about how
do we make up the -- how do we fill in the holes if we were to leave this grant by the
wayside and that's it. That's a question that we can address as we move forward. But it
is an opportunity, it's not common, it's very uncommon I should say. I would say far less
than one percent of municipalities refuse the grant and most that do you are not city's,
most that do are states -- are not really states, but what counties or higher level of
recipients of the grant.
Cavener: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions? Your committee has a tough job ahead.
Pope: Yes.
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De Weerd: So, thank you for the presentation and the information you shared.
Pope: If I also may add, Madam Mayor, feel free to let me know, because this year is
complex and we have such a higher volume of applications, if there are any preliminary
comments, concerns, questions you have about any of these applications, please, let
me know and I can let the -- the committee know as well. I know that over the past few
months I have had the chance to talk with each of you about your vision for the program
and that's been very helpful and will help inform our process moving forward, but if there
is anything relevant that you're concerned about or that you like or any comments at all,
please, let me know through this process, because we -- we need any help we can get
this year.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Chris -- yeah. Thank you. And on that note, then, can you e-mail us all that
presentation?
Pope: Absolutely.
C. Community Development: Potential Process, Code and Fee
Changes
De Weerd: Okay. Item 7-C is also under Community Development.
Hood: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. There is three different
topics that Bill and I would like to address with you. They are not really related, but we
had the opportunity, so we thought we would throw it all together into one master
presentation. The first topic is codes and processes and some follow-up from -- not just
the joint meeting that you all had in February with the Planning and Zoning Commission,
but -- but some that kind of came to a head, if you will, during that meeting. There has
been some other topics that we will cover that -- over the last several months you have
also brought up just at various times in development review applications. So, we
wanted to take this opportunity to touch base with you on some potential code changes
and process concerns and what we have been doing on that front. Then I wanted to
provide a brief overview update on where we are with the new Comprehensive Plan
and, finally, a couple of the new applications and fees that we would like to run by you
before putting it on an agenda for your consideration and adoption to amend the fee
schedule. So, with that being said I think I will go ahead and let Bill take the first part of
the presentation and talk about open space and amenities.
Parsons: Thank you, Caleb. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, a pleasure to be
this afternoon with you. This -- this continues to be a topic that -- I think this is probably
the third or fourth time that I have come before this body to talk about amenities and
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open space and so I will -- I will do that in my first part of the presentation and, then,
there is some -- two other items that I want to share with you, one in regards to irrigation
facilities and the other one in regards to -- that we are trying to revamp our staff reports
in the future, so that we can get you the most pertinent information as you guys make
decisions on land use applications. But my first part of my presentation is part of the
amenities and the open space. I think we heard from this -- this Council -- you can see
that the city is experiencing a tremendous amount of growth and every City Council
hearing -- P&Z hearing, City Council meeting, we keep getting these subdivisions that
our Council may not necessarily want to approve subdivisions with bare minimums,
some do, some have a different opinion, and so we want to kind of lay out some context
for you as to kind of where we started with our open space when we first adopted the
UDC and what changes we have made throughout the 13 -- 13 year life cycle and share
with you what's currently regarded as an amenity in our -- in our ordinance. Talk with
you about some potential code changes that are -- again, they are in rough form, but
ultimately we want to meet with our UDC focus group and share those changes with
them and get their buy in and their input as part of those changes and, lastly, share with
you what others in our -- our neighboring cities are doing around us as far as their code
requirements for open space. So, quickly, on an our open space and a quick overview
of what we have done the last 13 years since the adoption of the UDC. So, when the
code was first adopted we only required a minimum of five percent open space for
subdivisions that were five acres or greater. In 2007 when I first came on board with the
city we did process another code amendment and realized that that may not be enough,
came before this body and we asked that you approve that code amendment and
increase it to ten percent and that is current -- the current standards that we apply
today. In 2016 we actually had a developer that came before you, proposed a larger lot
subdivision, and as part of that development they also proposed an amendment to the
code that when you had larger lots that you could take advantage of a reduction in open
space, but you still have to provide the -- a certain amount of amenities and as part of
that amendment we didn't allow them to count the -- any arterial street buffers or
collector street buffers. And, then, recently through -- as you and I and staff have had
discussions about our common open space and site amenities, we decided on a point
system -- many different ideas on how we could better assist the community on getting
more consolidated amenities, plus better open space and a better amenity package for
our subdivisions and so we recently opened up our open space and amenity
requirements to be eligible for what we call an alternative compliance process. So, that
means that gives the developer flexibility to do something -- either less open space, but
a greater amenity package, or more open space and less amenities. Again, it was open
to staff level approval whether it was equal to or better than what current code is and so
this is current and so this is currently how we are operating today. When I go -- I won't
go through all of the amenities, but in the UDC it broke down into two types of
amenities, recreation -- or quality of life amenities and, then, recreational amenities. So,
everything on this table before you this afternoon is what would be counted towards an
amenity under our current code standards. I would let the Council know that I did not
look at the other communities as far as what they required for amenities. Again, I was
tasked with looking at open space primarily, but at least I thought this would give you a
clear picture of what we require as part of an open space and some -- or as amenities
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and as we have discussed at previous meetings, we all agree that certain amenities
have a higher price tag than other amenities. So, how do we adequately put a certain
weight to that and what makes it better than more -- one better than the other and I think
that's where we kind of got bogged down into the weeds and we came up with that
alternative compliant process. As I go to the recreational amenities, again, it's almost
the same thing. There is what's kind of looped into -- grouped in with this is we have
private amenities, along with some of our public amenities, so in our code we do allow
developers to count public amenities and that would be fire stations, school sites, parks,
that can also count towards somebody's amenity package or their open space as part of
their development. In this next slide is -- is some of the changes -- I think consistently I
-- Council Woman Milam, we have heard that you want to have more open space and
consistently have developments that meet the bare minimums and so my first blush at
looking at what we currently have on code -- and I have some examples to kind of
explain what I'm -- I'm doing here with these proposed changes. So, I won't go over
every word for word what I'm proposing here, but what I'm trying to -- attempting to do
are -- or staff is trying -- attempting to do is trying to take out the context of a street
buffer -- I mean we all want beautification along our streets, but necessarily that's not
really a usable space for a subdivision. So, that -- is that really something that we
should count towards open space. So, in these proposed changes a lot of the things
that I have struck out and underlined or -- and added would remove the requirements to
count open space along arterial roadways and collector roadways in certain instances.
The other thing that we have always struggled with as staff is when we have those open
detention ponds as part of a subdivision. Our code does allow us to count those swales
as part of open space if they are designed in an appropriate manner. That -- that's
worked well in -- in some cases and it's worked poorly in others and, again, I have some
examples to share with you to kind of explain why we are going this direction. The other
reason why we think eliminating the collector roads and the arterial street buffers as part
of the open space, as it may allow for a greater flexibility or a greater consolidation of
open space. Internal within the development that those residents can recreate on. So,
if that isn't part of that equation, then, by virtue of eliminating those two items a
development may have an increase in open space. So, I have to give kudos to Brian
McClure in our office. Again, I think you guys hear that on a regular basis, but he does
a fantastic job for us. So, as he and I and the rest of the staff here worked on coming
forth with some of these changes, we are trying to demonstrate exactly what would
count as open space. So, the example on the left-hand side would be an example
where a collector street buffer and an arterial street buffer would not count towards the
open space. It doesn't guide anybody to a place of recreation. The example on the left
-- or the right-hand side you can see here that there is a connected pathway that gets
you to a more centrally located entry, so now that we have a boulevard or street buffer
look into a central usable open space, staff believe this gives clear direction and it
shows -- it adds value, because it's kind of part of that beltway to get you there. It's
guiding you to something that's part of that amenity. I also have some examples of
some subdivisions that would comply under these standards and some -- some of the
things that we are trying to avoid and some of the things that we support it and kind of
support what we are saying with these proposed changes. So, this example here is
what we -- what's called Chester Subdivision. It came before you in 2012. 1 have
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highlighted a majority of the common open space lots that were approved as part of this
development. It didn't meet the ten percent open space as we currently have it in code
today. You can see by this example that a lot of the open space is disjointed, not very
well integrated, not very well connected, so in our opinion this isn't a very good use of
open space for our community, but it still met the intent and met the landscape
ordinance and the amenity section of the code. What I would point out to the Council --
Mayor and Council on this particular exhibit, too, this larger lot along Pine Avenue and
the one along the southern boundary are those detention facilities that I mentioned that
we are striking and removing -- or not really striking, but it has to be designed in
conjunction with a larger open space, so that it's integrated, not just a standalone
detention facility. You can see here that this isn't a very attractive open space for the
residents. Here is a good example of what we are trying to do. So, this is the
Kingsbridge Subdivision that was approved in '13 or '14, 1 believe, and this particular
project does have a collector street that comes into the development. It does terminate
in about a quarter mile within the development, but it does lead you to a centralized
open space for the residents to use. Also in this example you can see where there is a
club -- or a pool and another recreational open space for the residents to use. So, this
is a good example of what we are trying to do or what I'm sharing with you today as far
as -- as an open space and, then, here is another one as well. So, again, some pros
and cons to this. We still have to vet this out a little bit more with our UDC focus group,
but I at least wanted to give you some examples on how -- at least we envisioned those
code changes to look moving forward. I would also mention to Council, as I was
preparing for today's presentation, I did a quick survey of our City of Meridian
subdivisions. You know, we have GIS, we have the ability to look at an aerial and even
Google Earth. If you look -- I looked at developments that predate UDC, developments
that post date UDC, and what I'm -- what we tend to find -- and I think what the Council
could -- would possibly agree with me that if we look at a Lochsa Falls or a Paramount,
if that's something that we truly like for our community, those -- those particular
subdivisions were approved under a planned unit development. So, a different code, a
different process. Everything that we are getting now under our current code and the
way it's written, sometimes we have developers that go the extra mile and go above and
beyond our expectations and sometimes we have those that meet our minimums. So, I
think my recommendation at some point we probably would want you to look at how we
can incorporate our PUD standards and how we can make that a better tool for our staff
to use in the future to get the open space and maybe a better, more innovative design
for the community than just the bare -- bare bones subdivisions with possibly disjointed
open space. I will stand there for any questions that you have before and, then, get to
my next -- if you have any comments on -- on that -- on what I have shared with you so
far.
De Weerd: Council, any feedback at this point? Okay.
Parsons: Okay. So, now the last point -- caveat for this is what are other jurisdictions
doing. So, today I was tasked, I went through some of the other subdivisions
throughout the community -- or some of the zoning ordinances throughout the
community and I was able to -- our neighbor to the west is actually requiring 15 percent,
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but only with the planned unit development. They do not have an open space
requirement for a regular subdivision. I went to the city of Eagle, our neighbor to the
north. They require 18 percent for all of their residential districts and 15 percent of it
has to be open -- developed as active open space and they specifically defined that in
their code and I have that printed off is you would like me to go through that or provide
that to you after tonight -- today's presentation. The city of Boise is a little bit different.
Their code is pretty lengthy and cumbersome. But in reading their code they also have
a PUD process and they require a minimum of ten percent open space. If you go
through just the subdivision review process they do require landscaping along their
streets for beautiful long local -- excuse me -- collector roadways and arterial roadways,
like our ordinance, but what's different with them is they actually require that you set
aside ten percent of the net lot area as part of open space. So, they count buildable lots
towards open space as part of the development. And, then, Kuna, they didn't really
specify any specific open space, but their code says that their commission has the
discretion to determine whether or not there is appropriate open space in the amenities
of a development. So, that's kind of a broad opened term as what is appropriate for --
for a community. So, with that that's all I had to share with you today regarding the
open space and amenity package or some of the proposed changes and kind of where
we have been and, hopefully, where we are going and what other jurisdictions are
doing. I will stand for questions on that portion and, then, share the other two items with
you.
De Weerd: And they don't have definition of sufficient or suitable.
Parsons: Madam Mayor, I did see that. No. I would point out that I think this Council
also as staff -- and we haven't gotten to this, but it's something that we should share
with our UDC focus group moving forward -- is a lot of times a community will base
open space on the number of units that's proposed for a development. So, for example,
if we have a large -- whether it's multi -family or a joiner lot subdivision, is ten percent
adequate or is 15 percent adequate? I don't know at this point. But certainly that's
something I think was thrown out and put on the table at one point as well. So, we are
looking for a little direction from Council as we proceed through some of these code
changes.
De Weerd: So, Bill, your conversation with Council is first, then, you will take it to your
stakeholder group with the UDC?
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, that is -- that is correct.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any comments?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Thank you, Bill, for doing the work on this and I know you didn't find out about
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what the other neighboring communities are doing about amenities, but it seems if we
are going to -- if we are opening this up and we are going to make some changes, we
really should look at the entire broad spectrum of -- of what we are doing, what
everybody else is doing. So, if you could get that information that would be really
helpful. I like the way Eagle does it.
Bernt: Two questions. Thank you, Bill. Two questions. First question is on the
average -- and I know you can't get exact and I understand that, but on the average how
many -- what's the percentage of open space when -- when we include like that the
beautification along the roadway -- arterial roads and such?
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council --
Bernt: On the average.
Parsons: A good question. Yeah. It just depends on how much street frontage you
have.
Bernt: Think like a medium-sized subdivision. You know, nothing like Paramount size,
but nothing, you know, smaller, but just average'ish.
Parsons: Well, the way the code is written currently, 50 percent of the arterial street
buffer counts. So, you -- if you have a quarter mile of street frontage and say it's -- it
can count towards the -- you only can count 7,500 of it. So, that could be a quite a bit of
open space for that subdivision.
Bernt: Okay.
Parsons: The collector road you count all of it currently. So, again, we don't have a lot
of midsize subdivisions that have a collector running through it, so it's --
Bernt: That's true.
Parsons: But on average it -- I don't even want to try to speculate on that for you,
Council Member --
Bernt: That brings more clarity. Madam Mayor, one more follow up.
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Bernt: So, the second question that I have -- I just lost it. What was my second
question? Let me think. It will come back to me, hopefully.
De Weerd: No worries. Any other questions or comments?
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Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Bill, can you pull up the -- the neighboring jurisdictions and talk about their
open space? The requirement from Eagle about active -- what's to be developed as
active open space. At first blush that seems very intriguing and I don't know if you can
share -- are there any pitfalls or areas of caution that we need to be aware about maybe
entertaining something along those lines where you have a certain amount of open
space, but a percentage thereof be allocated as -- as active open space? And the only
reason why I asked because I think we have seen -- I think at least twice in the past
year kind of a drainage area kind of identified as part of their open space and maybe it's
a volleyball court, maybe it's a -- I don't know, a facility for cats. I mean talk to me a little
bit about any concerns that we need to have if we were to be wanting to entertain
something along those lines.
Parsons: Sure. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, currently our code doesn't
define what -- we define open space, but we don't define -- break it down as to what's
active and what's passive and I think if -- it's hard to get back to the text, but I will go
back to my slide and I think that's -- that is some of the concern that we have,
Councilman Cavener, is that a lot of times too often we do see a detention pond that's a
stand-alone pond, but because it's designed appropriately it can count and so if you
look at item number seven and in the lower right-hand corner, you can see that if -- if we
are going to count a detention facility it has to be designed appropriately. But also
incorporated into a larger open space, so that we don't get that same -- that same
situation, because we don't -- we want to try to avoid that. So, we think 20,000 square
feet is a good number in order to have some active open space or active activities to do
stuff. But, again, we also want it visible from the street. Or if it's a multi -family
development it's visible where you could see it from -- so, it's not walled off from the
police or we don't have any CPTED issues with them. We went eyes and visibility on it.
I don't think there is any fatal flaws, but I certainly believe we should probably add to our
definition section what we want to see for active open space and what we consider to
be passive open space.
Cavener: Mr. President?
Borton: Councilman Cavener.
Cavener: One other additional question. Bill, did you or staff or anyone that you
worked with on this project discuss separate open space requirements for, you know, a
higher density, so, you know, a higher threshold for apartments versus single family
homes or anything along those lines?
Bernt: That was my question.
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Parsons: Council Member Cavener, we touched on it briefly, but nothing was really
discussed that we could bring forth with you today. As I mentioned to you, that's
something that we were looking for you on some guidance on that, as I mentioned, I
mean typically if you have a 200 unit apartment complex it's -- again is ten percent
enough or is 15 the right number? We don't know, but we sure want to get our take
from our stakeholders, too, but we would like some direction from our Council moving
forward.
Hood: Mr. President?
Borton: Yes.
Hood: The other thing I would just throw out there along those lines, if -- we had a
conversation and, again, like Bill said, we didn't spend too much time on it, because we
weren't quite sure how to -- how to measure that or what -- what would be appropriate if
you base the amount of open space or amenities on -- on a density or on number of
units, but we did talk about it. The other thing that's sort of along those lines, again, that
you all have talked about before and asked us to look into that we did -- and it still may
show up as we get working with the UDC focus work group is when the projects are
located next to larger parks does it still make sense to have ten or 12 or 15 percent
open space if you are co -located next to Settlers Park. Maybe we say, hey, up your
amenity game, we recognize you're sitting next to a, you know, Hillsdale Park say. So,
those type of things where there is a public parks. So, we haven't incorporated that. it's
something we talked about. I would like to vet that a little bit more with the development
community and see if they have some ideas, if it's a quarter of a mile, instead of ten,
five. But the expectation is another amenity or something. I don't know. So, I just
wanted to also throw that one out there that we didn't have a solution, but it's still out
there and we will still, you know, kick the tires on it and see if we can -- if that isn't part
of the solution, too, so --
Bernt: Mr. President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: Mr. Cavener actually asked the question that I forgot, so thank you. I appreciate
that. But I did think of something else as well. Any -- any thought or any vetting on the
difference between, you know, high density, you know, developments in urban areas
versus suburban areas? And what I mean by that is it would be difficult to require, you
know, ten, 15 percent open space in a development in an urban area downtown
Meridian, as opposed to something that's out in more of suburban areas, maybe
something to think about as well. Something I just thought of.
Hood: So -- Mr. President and Councilman Bernt, yes, we have talked about that. Not
so much as we were looking at the amenities section -- actually, I'm going to touch on
that a little bit later in this presentation. We are talking about infill incentives potentially
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and I will also just -- just call to your attention as a refresher -- this wouldn't kick in
unless you're five acres or greater.
Bernt: Yeah.
Hood: So, if you're really -- some of these smaller in -fill pieces we don't require open
space and amenities. It's only for five acres -- five acres or larger. But, again, when we
get to the in -fill section we got a little bit more on that, so --
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
Milam: Madam Mayor? Oh.
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. It's easy for Council to imagine a world in which we had
greater requirements and better -- bigger, better projects just kept coming before us with
those greater amenities or greater open space. Whether that is or isn't the reality after
we were to make a change, one thing that is for sure is that if we reduce the profitability
of a particular piece of open land, we are also devaluing that property for our Legacy
residents who have been here longer than any of us and so as we go through this
process I would just ask Council to keep that in mind, that if -- if we are going to reduce
the profitability by increasing the requirements of a piece of property, we are lessening
the property value.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Bill, as we go through this as well, something else that I have mentioned in the
past is -- on amenities and densities. So, as opposed to just looking at acreage, the
higher the density I think there should be extra amenities and -- otherwise, you have too
many people trying to use those couple of things that they are required to use.
Parsons: Council Member Milam, just for clarification on that, I want to share with you
that typically under our specific use standards for multi -family development, the more
units you add the more amenities you provide and the more open space you provide
based on the number of units you're increasing. So, is it -- is it your intent to look at that
for single-family developments specifically?
Milam: Both.
De Weerd: Well, in light of some of the conversation I -- I look forward to hearing from
your stakeholder group some of the discussion on these different elements and finding
that balance of what is fair and reasonable. The city has a vision statement and focus
areas with definers that have been a priority -- priority to former councils and -- and the
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current Council and so in order to be that premier community and as we look at
development we want to make decisions that are the good of the whole and -- and
those have been the guiding focus and strategic areas that decisions have been made
and should be made. So, how you can find balance to that in using the feedback from
our stakeholders will -- will be very important to seeing what -- what is reasonable that --
that meshes with the direction that -- that we are going as a community and maintaining
that character that has been important to the residents that live here and have moved
here. So, there is a balance.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Just a couple of quick comments for what it's worth. The work is clearly ahead
of us on this. Your -- at first blush the proposed changes with regards to the -- the
buffer and the inclusion of the pathway segment and the directive to open space I think
is a great -- more restrictive, but practical kind of repurposing of those uppers for
applying as available open space. Same with the storm water detention facilities as to
what should and shouldn't qualify. Those both seem to make more sense and try to
capture what, really, the intent of the open space amenity requirement is, so those both
make -- make good sense. On the -- one of the items that seemed important not to
dilute or lessen the requirements necessarily, at least from my perspective, but to
provide additional flexibility wherever we can and I want to -- you know, the list of active
or passive intended uses, you know, has the included, but not limited to language, but,
you know, there is communities in the valley and, you know, throughout the west in the
country which might have additional, you know, baskets of goods that you -- you can
choose from to incorporate into a community and the more we can encourage flexibility
and innovative design, but still capture that fundamental goal, like the Mayor said about
a quality designed community for the benefit of all the residents, that would be really
helpful to capture and we have seen some of that come in in some of these types of
amenities, whether it's a pickleball court or bocce ball or Lord knows what. But include
that type of flexibility in addition to the rest of the changes that you're -- you're
proposing.
De Weerd: And I think that's the bottom line is getting that flexibility to be more creative
and maybe offer more quality in the amenities that -- that we are getting. Certainly I
wouldn't want to take away, too, from the -- the curb appeal on what the -- the
landscaping buffers are, so it's seeing how you can encourage different developments
than we have seen through that creativity and flexibility that Council Member Borton
noted, so -- and I did think that the -- the change that was done in 2016 to -- to
recognize that the lower density does have that usable open space, it's just privately
used and I -- I think we need to -- to continue that, because I -- I do believe that we had
this conversation in the directors meeting today that these estate lots as we attract
different corporate partners and -- and larger business have a desire for their executive
team to live closer to where their business is located and if we don't have that kind of
opportunity for that, we -- we could lose that corporate headquarter as well and I can
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think of two incidences where that has happened. So, we do need to keep that in mind
as well. So, how we can encourage more estate developments and protect the
investments that, you know, then, get a higher density or -- or something that's not
compatible locating next door to us. If that makes sense. Any other comments? Okay.
Well, I think you got a lot of dialogue and -- and you can have further dialogue with the
stakeholder groups that some of them are listening to this conversation.
Parsons: Just one clarification, another -- just one comment and, then, just one -- some
more clarification from Council as we -- as I move to the next two items. But, first of all,
I know we spoke with you a little bit at the joint P&Z hearing -- or Council-P&Z meeting
on the -- on February. Always keep in your mind that when annexation and rezones --
you have that discretion to require more with those types of applications. So, if there is
a subdivision that's coming through concurrent with any other rezone or an annexation,
if it doesn't meet your -- your design criteria or your amenity package or your open
space that you had hoped for something or thought that it didn't meet the community's
values, you always have the option to -- how to prove that or give you greater flexibility
to -- you have more discretion with that type of land use application. So, I know our
P&Z is -- is taking to that a little bit more and paying a little bit closer attention to those
to have that flexibility as well.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill.
Parsons: So, the next item that I wanted -- oh. And, then, the last -- for clarification
would you like us to look at our PUD process as well or are you comfortable just
focusing in our amenity and open space?
De Weerd: Frankly, I loved the PUD. I don't know what the development community
felt about it, but you got a bigger look, you had a larger picture, and I think it did give
more flexibility to the development community to do something a little bit different than --
than they would have otherwise. So, I -- I'm a fan of the PUD, but that's probably
because I have been around here -- I have seen how it works.
Parsons: Fair enough. Thank you. So, the topic that I quickly want to brush over -- or
at least discuss with you is in our code -- in the UDC we -- we have certain parameters
where staff can make some decisions, Council has the ability to do some waivers as
well and so one came to our attention from this body as far as -- a lot of times you will
have a developer that comes forth with a subdivision, he has a pretty -- he has an
irrigation facility on his property and the code allows you to grant a waiver and so we
direct the applicant to -- in their narrative to you and in the staff report, we -- we share
with you that they requested a waiver to tiling a facility, because of either its size or they
want it as a -- an open amenity or water amenity. So, I'm looking at the code where in a
couple instances it wasn't explicitly approved by Council that way and so it -- the project
-- the findings had to be pulled off that Consent Agenda, so that we could clarify the
record, so that we wanted to make sure that it was Council's intention to have either
leave that -- to leave that facility open and so this particular item -- currently the way it's
written in code, the City Council has the ability to grant the tiling of ditches when it's a
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large capacity facility. So, typically a 30 inch -- 38 -- six inch pipe facility or greater is
what we use as -- as -- as a gauge for that and so we would like to get -- to try to
streamline that process a little bit we would like the -- at some point to, again, vet this
change with our UDC focus group and, then, maybe give the director the ability to waive
those larger capacity facilities as part of their process as they go through their
subdivision approval with the P&Z Commission and the city. Any concerns with that
request from staff?
De Weerd: Any comments from Council? No?
Parsons: And, then, my last item to cover for you today is in -- I kind of touched bases
on it -- is we are currently -- you will hear a lot of exciting things this afternoon about
what we are trying to do in our department and so it is a good segue and we take this as
an opportunity to say, you know, what can we do better as a department? How can we
streamline processes? How can we improve processes? And so this has always been
on our radar for a long time since the inception of Accella and we have always wanted
to create a staff report writing feature out of our Enterprise software, one, to help our
staff; two, to help increase consistency and, three, to get you accurate information so
that you can make the right decision on land use applications and get you the right
information to make that and so currently I'm working with IT on some of our
administrative staff reports that you necessarily don't see, it's just we do have -- based
on whatever is allowed, whether grant -- authority is granted to the director through the
UDC, but we have recently discussed revamping our hearing level staff reports. We
have had an active ticket in with our IT Department for almost two years now and we
feel given the change in climate that we are going to share with you this evening that it's
maybe an opportunity for us to look at this and take it seriously and see what we can do
to bring back a template for you guys to look at. Nothing's generated yet, but we
certainly want to bring it back to you, get your buy in on it before we implement anything
specifically, but I did just want to share that with you, that we are trying to streamline
that and help you get that information on the forefront of our pages and not inundate
you with a 50, 60 page staff report. We all have busy lives and busy schedules to try to
get that information sooner and quicker in the staff report, so that you all have the right
information.
Hood: So, Madam Mayor, I'm going to continue the rest of the presentation and talk
about parking a little bit. That's another one of the issues that has come up over the
past several months. Working with both Joe Bongiorno and in fire, as well as our -- our
planning division staff over the last several weeks, just as way of background we
currently require for multi -family projects for one bedroom units one and a half car
parks. For two and three bedroom units two. For four or more three. We don't get too
many four plus bedrooms in multi -family units, but there they are. So, that's one thing is
multi -family is an issue and, then, also restaurants and bars -- or, excuse me,
restaurants -- what we -- yeah. Restaurants and/or bars I guess I should say. It's not
always restaurants and bars. But those are the two main parking issues. So, I'm -- I'm
going to kind of jump in here a little bit on multi -family. And so we -- we took the
opportunity actually, again, the fire marshal looked a lot at what other communities were
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doing, discussed it, it seems like we are in pretty good alignment with our multi -family
car parks. If you -- again, if you look at kind of what we are doing in the valley and even
in the region. The one change we would propose -- and I don't have anything to show
you -- but where it really seems to be an issue is where we allow garages to count
towards those required car parks, because we -- we see people tending to use those for
storage and, then, not for cars. So, then, they still have to park a car, but, yet, their stuff
is in the place that we counted as a parking spot, but they can't use it as a parking spot.
So, what we are going to propose to the UDC working group is a clarification. We don't
want to discourage garages, because that can be a nice amenity for a project. A lot of
times they can look nicer than -- than carports and those types of things, but we need to
have some assurance, then, that they -- they are policed and get -- you know, are
maintained for that. Or when garages are proposed have a higher requirement for car
parks for that. So, again, we don't necessarily have the solution and as far as numbers
that I can show you, but that's kind of our approach, where our approach will be -- will
be to address projects that have garages for multi -family, because that seems to be
where the offenders are there. Then moving into the -- the bar -restaurant issue. So,
again, by way of background, the city currently requires one car park for every 500
square feet of gross floor area. Just a little bit of philosophy on this. When we
developed the UDC back in the day we didn't believe that as government -- and this
goes for a lot of the things we do, quite frankly, that we know better than the property
owner what they need. So, we put one per 500 as like a, hey, you need to think about
parking. You at least need to have one per 500, because that's not very many car
parks. We are getting way more than that on most of our projects. Again, as the
business owner, developer, you generally have a good idea of how many car parks you
need and that's what you are going to provide. We shouldn't be telling you how many
car parks you need for your business. You know what type of business you have.
Some businesses do require more than others. Generally you should supply that. So,
again, one per five is light. Granted it is. And that's, again, our philosophy back in the
day was why would we tell everybody how much parking they should have. They
provide the parking they need or else they are not going to probably run a very
successful business. We have run into some issues with that with some successful
businesses, because they were maybe not expecting to be so successful. One of the
other common things we see where there are these issues sometimes is in multi -tenant
buildings. So, it doesn't tend to happen when it's a standalone restaurant building and
they are the only tenant. It does tend to happen when it's -- again, it's strip mall type of
a place and a restaurant takes up a tenant space or two in there and, then, there is a
crunch at lunchtime and dinnertime. I have got some pictures I will show you about that
-- with that real quick. Just to kind of cut to the punchline -- will you post that exhibit,
please, Bill? Just to kind of cut to the punchline with restaurants and bars, what we
would propose is to change our standard -- again, if you looked at that table, it's also
in -- in the packet prepared for tonight, but one per 250 is really still in alignment and
really still on the lighter side of what everyone else is doing in the region for retail,
restaurants, bars. In Kuna they actually do require more. The one that's less is in
Caldwell. Caldwell requires one per 300. Everyone else is either one per 250 or less.
So, we are not proposing super restrictive or more car parks with going to one per 250.
Again, we are pretty much in alignment with what peers are doing that way. I'm not
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going to spend too much time, but I do want to show you just a couple of pictures to
illustrate this and, Joe, feel free to jump in if you want to narrate some of these as well.
I will just -- so, the first one is the Heron Village project. So, this is off of Meridian Road
just north of -- of Cherry Lane -Fairview. Garages -- again, this is one where garages
are being used for storage instead of parking. I just want to give you a little bit of
context here. So, there are 27 one bedroom units, 83 two bedroom units, which means
that there should be 207 car parks required. They actually are providing 244. The
problem really is that 68 of those are in garages I don't know how many of those are
actually being parked in, but I'm going to say, just because of the parking problem we
know, that a large portion of those are not being used to park cars. So, you were
getting spilling out in to the drive aisles and parking, which were fire lanes, and you had
fire trucks that couldn't get by in case of emergency. There is parking on Blue Heron
and so that's where -- where cars are parking. You can see them in the aerial there.
Which is okay. I mean parking alongside of the street is okay for overflow. That is a
legitimate tactic to address, you know, when there are visitors and things. You do not
want them parking in your fire lanes. Not a good idea. Or double-parking, those types
of things. So, again, this just, hopefully, drives home the point of garages, nice amenity,
maybe not so good when you're looking at it for counting towards your required number
of car parks. Did you have anything you wanted to add?
Bongiorno: No. I think you hit it great, because Blue Heron was one of the first trouble
areas that we had and we ended up having to go in and get management to paint all the
curbing red, because we had two instances where the fire trucks were going and
responding to calls and they couldn't get through, because the people were parking
everywhere. If it looked like a parking place they were there. So, now people go by
Friday night or Saturday night, you know, at 8:00 o'clock Blue Heron is completely
packed with cars.
Hood: So, just moving on -- and, again, we have a couple of successful restauranteurs
here. You have got Gino's and Rudy's. It looks like there may be should be enough
parking, especially when you look at this aerial, but, again, there is a -- there is another
issue with overflow parking being used currently, because this parking lot fills up,
particularly in the evening times when most all these businesses are still open and there
is that -- the conflict or the fight for -- for those limited parking stalls. I'm not going to
spend time on all these. The Curb is another one. Again, multi -tenant. A lot of parking
going on. The new Cap Ed building along this -- this private drive, which isn't wide
enough, and dirt parking lots that aren't improved or intended for parking out there.
Bongiorno: This -- that particular one is the one we are having problems with right now.
You have two successful businesses. You have The Curb and you have Red Pavilion
Restaurant, which is right there also. Not very many parking places in that spot. So,
typically, on almost any evening now that back road there behind The Curb is parked
both sides and we had a Meridian police officer go back there and he measured
between the cars. It's like ten feet and it's -- it's not enough for the fire truck to make
that corner to do that and, then, plus when it starts filling up they fill up Spring Valley as
well going up to Overland, which is also a fire lane. So, I'm working with the owner of
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the -- the complex to paint and sign those curbs back there. I highly recommended that
he -- that undeveloped dirt lot back there turned into a parking lot and he's like, oh, no,
I'm going to put another building there. So, that's the kind of stuff that we are hopping
that we can avoid.
Hood: So, again, I said I wasn't going to highlight all of these that are in the packet, but
I do want to just highlight one more, because they aren't -- it doesn't seem to be
attributable to being restaurants or -- or bars and that has to do with Everest Lane. This
last year we had some -- a new project come in here. In this aerial there is some
assisted living units going in there. But already in this complex -- I didn't pull the parking
calculations for square footage, but they are going to be near our minimums and people
are parking out on Everest, which, again, is not wide enough to accommodate that
parking and they are spilling out into the streets. I believe even into this just adjacent
neighborhood. So, a case could be made. This is -- this is the one outlier that I'm
aware of where it's not restaurant or -- or food service generated issue, this is
chiropractor, music studio, gym.
Bongiorno: Those three tend to take up the whole space.
Hood: But for the most part -- again, if you look at most of Meridian this seems to be an
outlier where I don't -- I don't believe it's necessarily warranted to change our car
parking requirements for every nonresidential to everybody needs to do one per 250,
because you may have some chiropractors office or optometrists or others that really
only needs one per 400 or 500 even. But it does happen occasionally. I mean you can
get -- get them underparked. So, if we wanted to go there and just change our standard
across the board for all commercial businesses to say one per -- one per whatever you
wanted to say -- one per 250, we potentially could go there. It's not what we are
recommending, again, because most of the issues tend to be tied to food service and
multi -tenant buildings. The other thing I will -- I will just close with this that -- that could
be an issue that I just, again, kind of -- playing this out a little bit, if we do change it, is
we do oftentimes do get restaurants moving into multi -tenant businesses that weren't a
restaurant before and the footprint is set, the lot is developed out, now all of a sudden
we say you need twice as many car parks as what are there, are you as Council
prepared to support us as staff to tell businesses -- restaurants you can't go there. You
don't have enough parking per our current parking standards. So, for example, it's built
out as an office building and they built it one per 400. It's served them fine. Now all of a
sudden you get a deli moving in there and we say, oh, the standard is one per 250 now.
They don't have anywhere to put any parking. It's built out. So, we will say, no, you
cannot -- as a business in that district you can't go there because you don't have
enough parking. So, that's just an issue we have identified. We think it's -- it's fine for a
Greenfield development or where -- you know, where ever we have got vacant lots, but
what do we do about where a new restaurant wants to go into a vacant tenant space
and how do we retrofit those? Do we still use those standards or are we okay
grandfathering them in with whatever is on the ground. So, some things to think about.
We will bring that up again with the work group, so I don't need -- and I will take
feedback now if you have it, but those are some things that we are kind of -- similarly
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with the shell and core, we get -- we get developers that will build a whole building out,
not knowing who the tenants are going to be, and build it to a -- just a regular standard
of, you know, one per 300. Well, if they didn't build it with enough and they get
restaurants going in there, are we going to say, no, you can't occupy that for a
restaurant. It's got to be -- so, again, somewhat rhetorical. If you have any feedback,
though, I would take it at this point. So, again, I will -- so, if you have anything else you
want to -- there is more information in the packet, just to -- this one is important, but kind
of just blow through it. So, just to take to Mr. Bernt's -- there is some information in -- in
this section as well in the packet about suburban versus urban developments, too, and
how we would treat that for -- particularly for multi -family, so --
De Weerd: Well, Caleb, you -- you bring up a good point on the new business coming
in, not knowing what the parking situation is or what they built it to. I think it should be
grandfathered, but there should be some kind of statement that they should at least be
cautioned on or with certain uses to work with the building owner to find alternative
agreements, what's nearby property owners, or to address parking situations. And I
think that's what happened over there by where Rudy's -- I think still is on Overland or
even you look at where you have the Subway sandwiches and -- and Dutch Bros, there
has been a conflict in -- in that regard and it causes business -to -business strife and --
and, of course, they come to the city looking for some remedy and -- and what do you
do. So, I don't know what the right answer is to that, but there needs to -- you working
with the building owners and maybe some buyer beware type of conversations, too. I
don't know.
Bongiorno: I agree. And that's -- the picture he's got up here is -- is an excellent
example of -- this one is way under parked, because you have got the -- Fat Guys Deli
is there, which is super popular, plus all the other shops that are in there that are doing
very well and people basically -- right now they are spilling over into that -- what used to
be the Broadmoor parking lot, which they are now turning into a school. So, that's no
longer going to be an option. So, this particular area -- I mean maybe we need to redo
some of the green space and turn it into a parking lot, because we -- it's underparked.
Just throwing that out there. But -- so, I do appreciate Caleb and the whole planning
staff working with me on it, because my -- my one year anniversary as the fire marshal
was last week and that first week I got hit with Everest. Like I all of a sudden became
the parking guy and so we have been working through this, working through this,
working through this and I finally asked Caleb, like can we change this? How do we do
this? So -- and I appreciate him working with me to try and help come up with a solution
to some of these problems that we are having.
De Weerd: You always -- parking problems are -- are nice to have because it means
good business.
Bongiorno: Yes.
De Weerd: But when there is a critical incident or event. It's -- it's not so good.
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Bongiorno: Right.
De Weerd: So, it's trying to find that balance.
Bongiorno: And do have -- we have some great businesses. You know, Homestead
Bar & Grill is another one. That place is packed and they are doing phenomenal and
they have great food and -- I mean there is just many, many examples in our city.
De Weerd: So, if people think of any comments or -- or ideas that -- that come up,
please, feel free to -- to share.
Hood: So, moving along, then, zoning designations and names. So, as you all know,
this is something that -- it's been a struggle for us. We don't have the solution, but I just
want to give you a little bit of an update that -- that we think maybe it's helping some of
the confusion about comp plan, feature land use designation versus zoning and that
correlation. So, since the February joint meeting staff has made the title slide for each
Council and Planning and Zoning Commission. That table matrix that I'm sure you're
familiar with now is here today again and we also have a handout on the back table that
is available to folks that are here to testify, so that, hopefully, they can educate
themselves while they wait. We also use in our office for people that have questions
that way. So, we are ever trying to educate folks on the understanding how that
relationship works. We also are going to be talking -- furthering our conversation with
the UDC focus group and even individual developers on what we can do potentially to
either change or -- or better align our zoning names and numbers with the comp plan,
so maybe it's more intuitive. We have had this conversation before. But I just wanted to
let you know it's still a work in progress. We don't have that solution, but -- but continue
to have the dialogue about, you know, does R-4 mean four dwelling units per acre or if
it's low why is there a range. Why can't it be this and trying to figure it out, so it isn't so
confusing. So, again, if you have comments I will take them. I'm not necessarily
looking for any feedback there, that was just to let you know we are -- actually tomorrow
I think meeting with a developer to talk some more about this and we will put it on the
agenda for the UDC work group. Infill incentives and density bonuses. I think this is
actually something more that the Planning and Zoning Commission -- one of the
commissioner members brought up, but just wanted to let you know that we hope to
address this somewhat through the upcoming Comprehensive Plan process. We do
have some thoughts on this. I touched on it a little bit or alluded to it a little bit earlier
when you were talking about open space and amenities. In traditional neighborhood
districts -- so, take Old Town, for example, here downtown, maybe encouraging more
amenities, less open space, without doing the alternative compliance that Bill was
talking about that we implemented in 2016. So, just something as a given in a
traditional neighborhood district, understanding we can get less open space, but we still
want some amenities. We still want something, because you are in a downtown
environment, still something where people can recreate or otherwise gather that maybe
isn't just a green spot, but -- could be green. I'm not saying you couldn't, but that could
potentially be an incentive. This is one we struggle with, though. If it's not monetary
and like direct waiver of fees or those types of things, it's tough to have real incentives.
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Parking is another one, though, downtown where we can look at parking some more.
We already do what we can, particularly, again, in Old Town to limit the amount of
parking required, you know, separate from in -- in suburban development. We have
some -- but there is more things we could do with parking and, then, also to -- to get
maybe some additional dwelling units. Right now in code we allow accessory dwelling
units, secondary dwelling units, mother-in-law's quarters up to 700 square feet. We
have had a few people approach us about maybe wanting to do something a little bit
bigger. So, maybe we can make that 850 or something a little bit larger. There is some
prototypes out there now that, you know, still one bedroom, but it allows your nicer
kitchen, sitting living area type of a thing. So, maybe bumping that up a little bit more.
And, then, again, so it doesn't become so difficult to retrofit those, maybe only require
one car park instead of, you know, what we currently have. So, maybe some incentives
to maybe it's not additional lots, but having more accessory dwelling units on an existing
lot with an existing single family home. So, just thoughts. Again, we need to vet those
a little bit more to get density up, units up, but maybe not totally change our code.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Caleb, for something like that is it -- is there an opportunity to carve out that
type of change and make that quicker than the Comprehensive Plan, which, you know,
has another 18, 20 months to it? The accessory dwelling, for example.
Hood: So, the accessory dwelling wouldn't actually be done with the comp plan. That's
a thing. We can do that more with the code. So, yeah, that's something if you wanted
us to accelerate we could either -- so, I was going to end with this, but -- I mean we are
talking probably six months or so to go through this process, if -- you know, this
feedback and you're generally comfortable with us engaging with the UDC focus group,
I envision probably at least a couple of meetings there. Goes to the Planning and
Zoning Commission, comes back to you, ordinance is done -- I mean we are still talking
a six month'ish type of time frame here. So, if you want us to pull this out and rush it
through, I mean we could do it in still three months or four, but -- but it won't be 18
months I guess is my point there. We -- it's not -- that doesn't have to go with the comp
plan.
Borton: Okay.
Hood: We will continue to look for other incentives with the comp plan. And, then, just
in conclusion, we continue to work and be more proactive with ACHD, the school
district, and even ITD. We have grown a lot with ITD. They are sending staff to our pre -
apps on a more regular basis, which I think is really helping, instead of later in the
process. Them disclosing what they need earlier I think has really helped. It kind of
hurts the developer sometimes to have them there and they are like you want us to do
what? But it's better than them being surprised six months later at the time they are
going through our hearings. So, I think that's been an improvement. There is still
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improvement to be had in this arena with coordination with other agencies, but I think
we have even made some strides just the first part of this year. Continuances. I will
just let you read that in here. I'm not going to -- I'm not going to highlight that. So,
again, if -- if there is a general consensus that we can engage with the development
community and start to put this together and really get the underlines and strike
throughs kind of more polished, we will do that and, then, you will see us here in three,
four months, five months, something like that probably, so -- I have a couple more items
on -- again, this is a -- three unrelated items. That's just one. But the other two are
really quick, so --
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further on that? Thank you, Caleb.
Hood: So, a 30 second comp plan update. We did have a selection committee that
meet and selected a consultant. That is Logan Simpson. They are out of Colorado.
We are working with them on the scope and finance and I believe it's up to Legal
actually now, the contract language. We are really close. So, my goal is next Tuesday,
actually, to bring you a draft scope of work, talk a little bit about how that plays out and,
then, the following week brings you the budget amendment and the scope of work that
you, basically, have previously signed off on that matches that budget. So, on the 22nd
bring that before you. So, just a real quick -- well, I won't read them. They are in there.
The folks that are on the steering committee, I thank them for their time and
engagement in reviewing the proposals that were submitted. We had three great
submittals. Really -- it was really a competitive process. So, that went really well in my
opinion and we -- as the director likes to say, saddled a good horse. That's his phrase
for Logan Simpson. So, he's -- and I am, too. I'm impressed with them so far, even
though they aren't technically under contract yet, they have been real responsive, so
that's the quick update there. We would like to kind of piggyback with Steve's event on
May 25th at Hillsdale Park ribbon -cutting and the Hill and Beach Boys thing and -- and
have a booth there, a table set up that advertises this for the community saying, hey,
look for us throughout the summer at Concerts on Broadway and wintertime during our
winter festivals and those types of things and kind of start putting it out there, so -- that's
-- that's more than 30 seconds, but a minute update on the comp plan.
De Weerd: Thank you, Caleb.
Hood: And, then, finally, we do have two applications that we would like you to just be
aware of that we would like to add to the stable -- now I'm on horse analogies -- for our
-- in planning applications, so they are highlighted in yellow on the screen now. We
already have two certificate of zoning compliance applications. Our code requires
whenever a new user goes in and your use goes in, that they obtain a CZC. So, we
have two levels of that now. We would like to add a third level. It's a very -- it's
relatively simple for us, but it does still take some level of effort. So, that would be a
133 dollar application. It would be intended for things like daycares, so if -- using the
restaurant example, a tenant space is vacant and a daycare wants to move in, there is
specific use standards for a daycare that we need to look forward to make sure they
comply with. Outdoor play areas that are screened or drop-off, pick-up areas or those
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types of things. So, we issue a permit to them saying, yep, you're good for that use,
because you comply with our specific use standards. Another example would be
anyone that's selling motor vehicles or an animal care facility. We condition them. You
can't just put your dog -- kennel dogs don't just go outside. You can have them outside
when you're actively exercising them and we put that in their condition and if they don't
comply and it's a code enforcement issue, we can revoke the permit. But this is the
permit we would issue them to say you must comply with these specific use standards.
So, 133 dollar fee. Again, it takes us about -- we anticipate about two hours of research
putting the application -- you know, the permit together. So, that's -- this shows you how
we come up with that fee. The other application is for a portable sign. So, we have a
new sign, which think of most of the signs you see -- and, then, we also have a limited
duration sign. The difference between a portable sign and a limited duration sign -- a
portable signs -- think A -frame sign downtown, those types of things. We -- we have
been process -- processing them under limited duration. That's not technically what
they are. So, it's the same fee as what we have been doing, it's just correctly aligning it
up with our code and it's technically called, the right name of it, so -- so, those two fees
we would -- we would ask. Emily Kane has already been working on this and Brad
Purser is Finance. I have the resolution ready next if you're all okay with me putting this
on the agenda for next week, these two new fees.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions? Concerns? Comments? It sounds more
cleanup than anything; right?
Hood: It is.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I'm hoping Dave might be here to testify. Give us some comment on it?
Awesome.
Borton: Caleb? Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Caleb, on the -- these fees, the one -- the CZC, the 133 --
MIN
0 ROM WN IT fig M 11
Borton: -- without that -- without that addition would an applicant who would fall into that
category otherwise pay the 173?
Hood: We have that conversation. That's usually -- or the 453, kind of depending. We
have -- I think we have done it both ways. But, yeah, the TIP -- if we have a CZC on
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file, that's the prior approval, we could do the 173. So, yeah, it's a lesser fee than what
we would charge them now.
Borton: Is that -- Madam Mayor? Is that kind of the intent to try and carve out some of
those areas where the existing fee could be lowered to try and capture less work
necessary?
Hood: It certainly -- yeah. I mean we want to be -- we want -- you know, where that's
our philosophy is to recoup or charge the amount of time or a level of effort it takes to
process these permits, so, yeah, if we save -- you know, it's almost an hour or less of
time to do those. So, yeah, we don't feel like it's appropriate for us to charge more if it's
not taking us that much time to do them.
Borton: Yeah. Madam Mayor? Yeah. So, it's not -- it's not a -- a new fee that would be
applied to somebody who might otherwise not have to pay any fee --
Hood: Correct.
Borton: -- it's perhaps a reduction for certain types of --
Hood: Madam Mayor. Like you said, it's more of a cleanup. We have been charging
fees for these things, it's just they haven't directly aligned. We have to issue a CZC. All
we have in our toolbox now is two options for CZC, so we have to charge them one of
those two. This adds a third that more reflects -- same with signs.
Borton: Thanks.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Anything further? Okay. Item is 7-C is also under
Community Development, but a different division, and I will turn this over to Cameron.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Just real quick. Caleb, this report is a fantastic. It's really helpful to kind of
guide these process improvements. It's very helpful.
D. Community Development Evolution Plan
De Weerd: Well -- and really appreciate the heads up opportunity to comment before
you start into the process. So, then, if we have a builder or developer in -- in passing
say what are you guys thinking on X, we at least know you're even doing it. So, thank
you. Cameron.
Ariel: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, it's a pleasure to be with you this
evening. I want to just quickly, because I know we are getting late in the day, but just
take the opportunity to thank a lot of our staff who is here with us, that have put a lot of
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work into this and also a lot of grace and space, if you will, Bruce likes to call it, as we
have tried to go through what is a significant change in our -- our department and just
want to appreciate staff here and -- and their -- their hard work and you will see a lot of
that in this presentation, just the value that -- that our staff brings. Also want to thank
members of the -- the city management team. They have been an integral part of this.
Finance. Public Works. IT. Just up and down. There has just been a great support for
what we are presenting to you tonight. But I also want to recognize our stakeholder
groups. We have the BCA -- Dave's here with us. And others. But that's been a critical
input in this. So, just want to thank them up front for that. So, we are going to dive in
here. This section of the agenda is the presentation portion. We also have prepared
the amendments as the next item on your agenda if you so choose to -- to take action
tonight. So, just be aware that's -- that's available. Real quick just want to start with,
you know, why we are doing this, what's the -- what's the vision and what's the
underlying principles that are guiding all the decisions that we have -- we have made to
bring this to you and -- and, essentially, what if -- building the cake that we have
baked here. So, obviously, we want to be -- have a desire to be -- a commitment to be
the best community development in the west and that -- that's our goal that we are
driving to. Some of the principles that are behind that is we have the commitment to
excellence and, you know, what that looks like to our stakeholders, to our customers is
timeliness and quality and you will see that kind of throughout the presentation that --
that that principle in particular is one that is a concern of the status quo, but is also an
impetus for what we are designing. Of course we are -- as you heard from -- from Dale
earlier, we are committed to continual innovation and process improvement and so it's
been fantastic to take a really hard look at the current model and what other models
may be out there and doing that due diligence to -- to -- to bring this before you. And, of
course, we are -- we are very mindful of the impacts that has on our customers, our
stakeholders, and the community at large. You know, this is -- a new venture. We are
building a new business, if you will, that the city has never done, but we are committed
to building a high quality program and one that, you know, there is going to be
improvements along the way. So, just want to -- to put those guiding principles in front
of you as we discuss this now going kind of down into it. So, this next slide really is just
kind of the -- let's see here. A little bit of the history and status. So, as you all know, we
won't get into terrible detail here, but the contract model has been the city's model and
that's worked very well for us. As you know, we were a small community and, then, as
we grew that contract made sense. We were able to outsource that to the -- the private
sector and they were able to flex with our needs. In 2015 it was decided to RFQ again
for that, just to see how things were going, maybe try to improve it again and we
decided to go again with a contract, but this time with a public contract, that -- in the
Idaho Division of Building Safety and that was in large part due to the private sector
contracts and ability to -- to meet our -- to meet our need. As you are aware from the
information in April, early April, DBS has sent us a similar signal that they aren't -- they
aren't able to meet our needs as well and, hence, kind of pushed forward what we had
already kind of known, that we needed to head this direction. So, with that, you know,
just kind of giving you a status of where we are as far as the revenue structure and fee
structure, we haven't really touched that at all since 2007 and we are near the lowest, if
not the lowest in the valley, and that's evidenced by the fact that we don't charge a
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residential plan review, where all of the jurisdictions do. I would want to be clear, too,
that we do not anticipate increasing fees for this. We have adequate revenue as it
stands now to -- to fund this and -- but we do -- because it is a new venture, if you will, it
make sense to do an impact analysis with Finance and our stakeholders to make sure
that this is -- is properly funded. But that being said, we had constant communication
with those stakeholders and, you know, they are on board with -- with that idea and
understand that, so -- next slide. We -- excuse me. Just a -- just a quick overview of --
of some of the limitations of the -- of the status quo and I think this is important just to
kind of give you an idea of where we hope to go with this. So, really, the -- the bulk of --
of the work is in the building plan review and inspection. I think that's -- that's somewhat
known and, really, we are struggling with the current contract to staff to what we need
and -- and, of course, the volume, but also the -- the quality and so, again, you will hear
that theme throughout. And, you know, one of the things that reflects a little bit on us is
the -- you know, we want to provide a quality service. We want to provide the Meridian
Way care value structure, but that -- we are limited in our ability to do that, simply
because of the contract. There are other demands from -- and expectations, really,
from our -- our stakeholders that we are not able to meet, things like AM/PM, you know,
foundation inspection and things like that. And, you know, another, of course, is over-
the-counter plan review. Simple plans, modifications, and resubmittals. Fortunately, if
you're resubmitting a plan and you got that done, but now you need to resubmit
something, you may be back of the line again behind a big commercial development
and who knows when you will get that done. We want to improve that.
De Weerd: Cameron, can you lift your microphone a little bit more, so --
Ariel: How about there? Thank you. Spoke on this briefly, but it's difficult for our
customers, the builders, to know -- you know, they assume it's the city and it's hard for
them to understand that -- that we don't necessarily control that and, then, also just the
-- the fact that we can't dictate those means and methods, how these things get done,
how do we innovate, how do we make sure it's a -- it's a quality service. So, with that --
due diligence. Sorry. I will let you click, Bruce. So, this is some of the due diligence
that we have done. Again, I touched on this briefly in the intro, but it's been -- it's been
really awesome to -- to really dig in. What -- what is going on out there? What are the
best practices? What are we seeing in other jurisdictions that makes sense? And really
having a heart-to-heart with our stakeholders. What do they want? What do they see in
other states? Those types of conversations have been fantastic. So, you can see there
we have done a host of due diligence to make sure that what we are bringing to you is
not out of the realm of -- you know, it's -- it's fully -- fully vetted, fully explored. We feel
this is a quality program that we are presenting and really does, you know, in my
opinion, represent that commitment to excellence and that, you know, a lot of this isn't
new per se, but we are bringing it all together in a Meridian package. So, we are
bringing in all the best practices that we have observed and implementing it in a way
that is unique to our -- to our municipality. So, just some of the numbers and we
wanted to -- this is a lot of information here, but I will just walk you through, because I
think this really highlights a lot of the -- the need to -- to go this direction. So, you see
here at the top, this is us via DBS. Our population. Our footprint. And what is currently
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being done. Of course, this is residential inspections. We wanted to try to give you an
apples -to -apples here. So, you see that we are doing about 30 inspections per day per
-- with -- per inspector, with three to four inspectors. So, an incredible volume, you
know, and you just kind of click through there. Nampa, obviously, is -- is pretty hot. But
the thing that we consider there is they have inspectors that have cross -certification.
So, it's a little bit -- a little bit of an apple and orange there. But, really, we are hot,
incredibly hot when it comes to the levels here and you will see the totals. We will get
you that slide here in a moment. As far as plan review goes, again, just to highlight the
volume here. We see here -- again, we are just speaking residential plan review and
we have the commercial by day range. But if you look at that total for the permit, I just
think that that kind of puts it into perspective as to just the incredible volume that -- that
our city is -- is experiencing. We did get the Hillsborough information, but as of this
presentation it's -- it's not available, but it -- it reflects, essentially, the same, but we --
we are hot as far as that -- that goes. And, again, I think it speaks volumes to our -- to
our staff who handles a lot of these permitting processes and what have you. It's just --
it's incredible. So, just a quick summary for you all. You know, I want to just touch base
on this, that, you know, as we have observed and done that due diligence, we feel, with
the innovations that we are proposing, if we can get to a 15 inspection -- per inspector
per day, that's a healthy volume. You know, arguably, industry is below that, best
practice, but we feel like with the improvements that we are proposing that that is a --
that is reachable. You know, again, just to confirm, DBS, via their termination letter, as
well as just their communications, they are just not able to keep up with -- with the
volume. You know, comparable cities, they have full departments, staff, and we were
unable to find any jurisdiction of our size that is under the contract model. So, we are
confident as a department that we can build a superior model and we are committed to -
- to doing that. This is just a quick summation to digest a lot of information quickly for
you, but this is what we feel our pre -- our proposal gets you as far as, you know, the
expanded. So, you can see what's currently being provided, what I would call an
average level of service, and what we are proposing via this plan. So, this gets us to
why we are proposing it. This slide -- you know, I think, is -- the purpose of this is
obvious. It's growth. So, won't beat on that too much. You know that. To get into the
volume again, this is one that I think speaks to the current, but also to the projected.
You know, we know what this is based off of, you know, the financial, as well as the
other models that we have, as well as other information. So, if you can kind of see
here, at least into 2000 -- you know, into '18, you know, through the end of the year.
That's kind of what we are -- we are going to be. So, it's, again, hot and so we want to -
- we want to make sure that we are conservatively building this model, that it's not
overbuilt, we are not building something that, you know, if there is a -- a retraction in the
economy that, you know, we are -- we are caught off -- overbuilt, I guess, but at the
same time is something that will meet the demand of our -- of our customers. And now
the how. So, this is -- this is kind of the meat here and we can -- we can discuss it at
any level that you would like here, but -- so, we do plan to maintain our -- a hybrid for
now. There is a -- we have incredible contracts with the great contractors in the private
sector with Mechanical Fire and Plumbing. Some of them are here tonight. We
appreciate them. It's a quality service. We are not hearing from our stakeholders
issues with -- with this. We plan to now bring a new contract with the structural
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engineering component. This was subcontracted by DBS. So, now that that's gone
away we will have to have a contract there as well. It's a specialized service, but we
feel an innovation there is -- is warranted. We have done some due diligence there
where instead of just hiring one firm to do that, we will create a pool -- a pool that will
help us with costs, as well as competitiveness. We feel like that -- that will help us also
flex with volume as well. We do plan to do all we can to help with the -- the transition.
Therefore, do a short-term extension with DBS to make sure we are not just all of a
sudden out of services, but do all we can to -- to extend that and, then, of course, we
are going to be bringing in house building and electrical plan review and inspection. We
do plan to phase this. I think this is important, because, again, we are driving to, you
know, this goal, which will take time to get there, but there is the reality of -- of the
implementation that -- that's going to take a lot of work. We like to use the analogy of
building a plane while in flight. So, we are strapping on an engine, you know, windows
here and there. So, we want to make sure that that is phased properly, that we are --
it's bite size, that it's done. We would rather implement things well, as opposed to
quickly and, then, spend years and money trying to fix them. So, that's the idea there.
So, we will -- we will RFQ for -- for -- for services to help us in the interim and we will be
defaulting to paper submittal while we are trying to get the software component up and
going. That is the backbone of this and it's just the reality of -- of IT and trying to
implement that well. We have talked to her stakeholders about that. It was a concern
of mine as we move forward with this and they understand. I think it's fair and it's not
unfamiliar to them. Other jurisdictions in the valley do it. But it is -- in a lot of ways it is
what it is and -- but we will do all our best to -- to make that as -- as smooth as possible.
Just quickly on space planning. We plan to have plan review up in the AARP space up
on the second floor and, then, repurpose the video production space just here off the
City Council chambers for the inspection bay and move that just here in this storage
closet here on the first floor. So, good use of space and worked a lot with Public Works
and others to -- to make that work and think that's a good solution, having that
inspection right off the back, the muddy boots through the -- you know, though the City
Hall and whatnot. With that also comes parking. We plan to -- in our amendment we
plan to re -haul the Bower Street facility for -- for parking of our fleet, as well as to house
city fleet vehicles as well, to get them out of the east -- the east and west. Dale is here
to -- to speak more to that if we need him to. But that's the idea is to get all of these
FTEs off -- off the current parking load and, then, of course, the financial plan. So, to,
again, the meat and potatoes here, it's -- so, this is our ask. You see here are the
ongoing expense and how that -- how that totals out. You also see the one-time
expense and, again, it's -- their is -- it's costly. It's costly to get vehicles. It's costly to
get computers and some of the innovations that we are looking at and, of course, the
total, which will become part of our base budget going forward and, then, on the far
right, which is really the ask tonight and the amendments, is to the FY -18 budget, which
represents, essentially, the last three-quarters of the fiscal -- or three months of the
fiscal year and we vetted that. We feel like this is conservative, but we want to be able
to move quickly and efficiently and if we get all of the positions, you know, filled, we
want to be able to fund them. So, this isn't the full ask of that money. So, with that it's
been a fantastic process. I have been thoroughly impressed with our team, our
leadership team, and all involved and just, again, the support, it's been -- it's been great.
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We -- we feel like we have a good product here and it's been a pleasure working with
our stakeholders as well to make sure this is a workable system for -- for them and
making sure that we are building a -- a program that our stakeholders and our --
community could be proud of. So, with that, Madam Mayor, I will stand for any
questions that you may have and look forward to them.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, questions? So, you are so impressed with all the thoughts
and detail and speechless --
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: -- with the efficiency of that presentation. Mr. Borton.
Borton: There is a lot to digest. Cameron, in -- I don't think you showed it here, but in
the packet you had the proposed org chart.
Ariel: Yes, sir. Yeah. We can pull that up if you would like. Yeah.
Borton: Okay. Is that coming up next? I can hold my questions.
Ariel: No. We -- we -- again, because there is so much to digest, we -- we can -- we
can go there if you would like. No problem.
Borton: Okay. Let's do that.
Ariel: Okay.
Borton: A question for you while that -- I will ask it slowly while it comes up. There is
reference in the initial data as to how many employees, inspectors, that DBS has
allocated or has available to allocate towards servicing the contract. I might have read it
wrong, but I think it said three or four DBS employees was what was allocated --
Ariel: Right.
Borton: -- which has been challenging, but when I look at the org chart it says current
DBS employee and there is, obviously, much more than four. So, I'm missing some
connection with -- with available DBS employees that were allocated to the contract in
relation to how many were proposed to come on board with the city.
Ariel: Sure. Great point. Madam Mayor, Councilman Borton, so its important to note
that -- and I don't remember exactly the slide, but it's likely that it was just the inspectors
that we were looking at. So, inspectors per -- number of inspections per inspector per
day, that was the three to four --
Borton: Uh-huh.
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Ariel: -- and so -- so, with that said if you do look at the org chart -- if we are looking at
a building in particular, you see their that they do --
De Weerd: And was that per discipline? So, three to four in electrical and three to four
in building or --
Ariel: That's a good question. Is there -- can I get some help there from Bruce or Brent
on that? Do you understand the question? Trying to get some help.
Freckleton: Sorry, I was multitasking with C.Jay. Question again?
Borton: Yeah. Madam Mayor? So, when we are looking on the peer -- the peer
comparison inspection data reference in Meridian, DBS was allocating three to four
inspectors to accomplish 30 inspections per day per inspector, so three to four
inspectors, is that the -- the total number of inspectors DBS had allocated to servicing
Meridian?
Freckleton: Correct.
Borton: Both disciplines a combined total of four?
Bjornson: That's just building.
Freckleton: Yeah. That's just building, not electrical. That's just building.
Borton: Madam Mayor? Is there a peer comparison data that shows for electrical how
many inspectors DBS had allocated? I was trying to see if we were really apples to
apples in number of employees necessary to service the contract. If that slide
references only --
Freckleton: Council Borton, Brent said that there are four electrical inspectors. So,
what is on the slide in front of you is just building and, then, an additional four inspectors
for the electrical trade.
Borton: So, they -- Madam Mayor? So, they were allocating eight full-time inspectors?
Bjornson: Madam Mayor, Councilman Borton, the Division of Building Safety currently
has four electrical inspectors and I believe that's our -- our model as far as -- the
building inspection side they are running -- what you see there, three to four. Our
proposal at six.
De Weerd: We have three and half.
Bjornson: So, ultimately, we would be adding --
De Weerd: Two and a half.
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Bjornson: Correct.
Borton: So, Madam Mayor? Brent, when you say they have four building inspectors, is
that -- DBS has four that were allocated and used all by Meridian or just -- or Meridian is
one of many they serve?
Bjornson: Madam Mayor, Councilman Borton, Members of the Council, yes, that's
correct. DBS is currently using three as of today -- and, by the way, we had pretty much
a high on inspections today for building, but currently using three that went out on a
medical issue. So, a total for building inspectors committed just to Meridian.
Borton: Okay.
Bjornson: And they have also got four electrical inspectors committed just to Meridian.
Borton: Okay. That's -- Madam Mayor? That's helpful. So, when we go back to the
org chart it looked like -- I was trying to count -- four electrical would carry over or that's
the assumption?
Bjornson: That's correct. We are not -- we are not adding any new electrical
inspectors, other than the four that they currently -- we feel we can staff it with that with
no increase. The building inspection side is where we are significantly short and
services are not being met on the building inspection side given the volume there.
Borton: So, Madam Mayor? Is there some -- what's the data that you use to conclude
six versus four versus seven in the building inspector in order to -- to justify that type of
budget amendment?
Ariel: So, the thought there is that it is a little bit -- I hate to say it, that it is a little bit of a
feel. We know that the current is inadequate, so we can't do the same, so we feel like
an increase there is warranted. But at the same time what you're seeing here is --
represents, you know, a little bit of a -- an estimate, because we want to make sure that
we are meeting to the -- to the volume, as well as the commitment of quality and
timeliness and so we are -- we are feeling that. We are also comparing that against the
data that we see from other jurisdictions and on what they have done and done well and
so we feel like this number gets us where we could provide that quality service, as
opposed to, you know, what we have now.
Bjornson: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, if I could add one thing to that if I
might. We are introducing AM/PM inspection that the development community greatly
desires in the residential sector. So, that amount of scheduling, the specific times, that's
a -- that's a need that's going to change the staffing requirement, too, and increase it.
We are also looking at potential stem wall inspection that may happen down the road on
the second trip. Contractors are for it, as long as we can provide inspection in a timely
manner. So, that all just means even more trips, more resources necessary.
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Borton: Madam Mayor. If we had that stem wall inspection; right?
Bjornson: Even without it, you know, what we are looking at -- AM/PM is one of the big
drivers as well and just sheer volume, as Cameron said. Look at the other jurisdictions,
look at what Boise is doing, looking at what the Division of Building Safety is doing
currently, you know, 30 inspections a day per inspector, you know, what does that work
out to be, four minutes per inspection? You know? And that's -- you know, certainly
that's a peak day, but, you know, I think the industry lends itself to more towards eight to
ten. Many are running longer hours and -- and trying to push those -- those resources
and so I think you see the numbers increase to like 12, 15, 18 and we would like to be in
that 15 range to where we could do a good quality inspection, not get too far into the
weeds, but -- but make sure we are giving it the attention it needs for public life safety.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. And, Councilman Borton, maybe some context. I was talking
to a builder today who -- I was kind of explaining that we plan on -- you know, if this
works out, upping the -- the number of staff and -- and his biggest thing was to be able
to have an extra couple minutes with an inspector would be huge in reducing them
having to come back, because if they are there and they are going to give you a red tag
and you have got an extra three minutes, say, okay, point to me why or the ability to be
able to contact the inspector and not have them -- the next minute they are already on
another inspection and you don't have a chance to -- to be able to get a hold of them
and so, okay, what exactly is it, so that you don't have to come back three times, so you
can tell me what it is. Having that extra staff will not only free up themselves, but
increase the -- the level of performance exponentially I feel, especially after talking to
this builder today and understanding what they have to go through in this process.
Borton: Madam Mayor. And that very well may -- very well may be some of the type of
data that helps us understand, you know, six versus five versus seven, understanding
that, you know, it's an additional expense in trying to grow -- grow that cautiously to
make sure there is that daily -- you certainly have and you guys have done a lot of work
to help us understand that there are these specific either service level improvements
that we can gain from this -- understanding we are kind of, you know, standing on the
cliff, don't have a lot of choice right now with -- in light of the circumstances, but to take
it as an opportunity to improve and if AM/PM inspections -- and to Councilman Palmer's
point is one of the -- the takeaways that there is a better service provided, that's -- that's
fantastic, just so long as we have got the right matrix to support that.
Ariel: With that, Madam Mayor and Councilman Borton, just a little bit more context.
We do -- it's certainly not -- certainly we do have data -- albeit it's not quantitative, it's
qualitative. We have letters from BCA, we have letters -- many from builders,
developers that want these services, that want -- that have concerns with the current
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staffing levels and so, again, that's -- you know, that's a big part of why we are asking
for more. The other is, you know, we are -- we are assuming this is -- this is assuming a
lot of improvement as well, not just adding on to the current. We are saying, look, if we
can get people dual certified, if we can, you know, use our tech more wisely, you know,
control those means and methods -- so, for example, especially inspection, since we
are talking about that, if we can essentially have remote capability where they are not
having to come to City Hall to get their workload, go back out, come back for lunch, go
back out and, then, come back at the end of the day to report, they can just stay out in
zones around the city, those types of innovations will go a long way to -- to Brent's point
to get us to 15 inspections with, you know, in our view a limited number of inspectors to
meet that volume and to provide a higher level of service. So, hopefully, that helps.
Additional context.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Cameron, I have no doubt that we need this and -- I mean you have, obviously,
been doing your homework. It is scary. It's a lot of new -- new employees and, you
know, I just wonder, well, if building slows down a little bit, you know, having excess
people that are only doing ten a day, you know, that we are paying for, it's a lot harder
when they are employees. But my main -- I guess, if anything, I'm having a hard time
with this actually understanding your budget amendment and I don't know if you want to
talk about that or -- unless people have other questions about -- we shouldn't even talk
about that until we get to that item. But just as far as -- there is two -- you got two
budget amendments that both show 21 employees, different amounts, and the first one
looks like it makes sense for partial year, but, then, there is the whole -- another large
amount on the other one, that each of them show 21 FTEs, so --
Ariel: Walk you through that?
Milam: Walk me through that, please.
Ariel: You bet you. And I appreciate the -- the comment about being fiscally
responsible. We are trying to do that to the extent we can. We are not trying to build --
overbuild, but trying to be reasonable with those projections and, really, what we know
is already going to happen this year and into next year, but beyond that it's -- it's really
hard. I mean if I -- if I could -- had a crystal ball I would probably be on a sandy
beach somewhere. I don't. So, we are very cognizant of that and we -- we want to
make sure that we, you know, don't overbuild this. But, yeah, let's definitely dive into
the amendment, I think that's appropriate and hopefully we can get a -- there we go.
Okay. So, in specific --
Milam: So, on this -- at the top it says full time equivalent. You have 21. And, then,
you have for wages -- is that total personnel costs 377,000 dollars.
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De Weerd: Councilman Milam, what the thing is is the -- the first one with 925,582, is
for this budget year. The second one -- it will reflect at the full-time, 12 month
equivalent to what the full cost is for -- for this, if you looked at it for the entire year.
Milam: Madam Mayor? Thank you. That's what I was clarifying, because it looks like --
it looks like a partial -- few months of the year, but the other one says 2018 budget
amendment on it, therefore, that's why I asked the question, to make sure we are just
approving the budget amendment for the top part.
De Weerd: And -- and that's the -- it should have -- and maybe yours doesn't have that
footnote. It -- it should say for informational purpose only. This is the annual
commitment. So, it includes your one-time expenses, your -- your one-time and your
ongoing -- it just gives you a whole one year look at it versus just for a partial year. I
know it made it --
Milam: Madam Mayor? Yeah. I -- and I was assuming that's what it was, but I don't
like to assume anything and if this would have just said 2019 for informational purposes
only, well, you know, when we know it's going to be part of the regular -- the regular
budget process, that would have been -- made it real clear. But thank you.
Ariel: Yeah.
De Weerd: Other questions? I guess I would just like to make a couple of comments to
some of the -- I think aspects that Councilman Borton is struggling with and possibly
others. DBS has 14 FTEs and three halftime FTEs. So, 17 people that they have
working on the building plan -- examining our building plans, the electrical, and the
building. The city would be looking for 19 in those three areas. It is -- one of the
frustrations I think for DBS in being able to perform to the contract they have with the
city is they don't have enough personnel, they don't have spending authority to add to
that, and they are not meeting the criteria that the contract spells out, because of the
demand that -- because we are at the height of our -- our building. So, that's -- these
numbers are worse -best case scenario. So, we are trying to bring the highest impact
that -- highest cost that you -- it possibly could be, but there is still a lot truthing to these
numbers. Our hope was to bring you the worst case scenario as to what the -- the cost
impact was going to be and how many positions potentially would be needed. As they -
- they look further at this, their hope is maybe a few less FTEs. But at this point this
seems -- in light of the amount of activity that we have going on today, this can tackle
the -- the aspects and the work demands that DBS has not been able to perform to,
because of the workload. It is also to make reasonable the amount of inspections and
the quality of those inspections that we should expect from our inspection team and,
thus, you need more people. So, there is a couple of things that this model is trying to
address in both meeting demand and -- and delivering on the quality that our customers
are paying for, as well as taking some of that stress and -- off of the inspectors that is
unreasonable and we don't think that they do spend enough time, as Councilman
Palmer said, with our customers giving them the kind of quality inspection that they --
they should expect. So, there is a couple of things going on. The two additional
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positions are going to help in both building services and the planning division to meet
the -- the demand that they are finding at the front counter and that's one of the
positions. The second one would be overseeing, implementing, and tracking the new
electronic plan submittal or records management. So, those are the -- the two
additional. So, that's -- I hope that gave a little bit more clarity to why not 17 and why 19
and -- or, in reality, it's -- it's -- yeah. I'm not going to do the math in my head, but -- so
there you go.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I'm going to back track to the beginning of your presentation. You mentioned
there was no changes in fees since 2007 and -- and we have the lowest fees and you're
not planning on increasing them, but we are taking on this huge financial burden, so that
we can probably better service and I'm curious why you don't plan on increasing our
fees to be at least what everybody else is to recoup some of this extra money by -- we
are growing faster than our -- our infrastructure can keep up with and I'm wondering why
we have to be the cheapest. I would like to be the best, but that doesn't mean we have
to be the cheapest.
Ariel: Madam Mayor, Council Woman Milam, great question. So, just to -- just to
clarify, we -- we do not anticipate raising fees now. We have it built it. We don't know --
it's kind of -- unfortunately we -- without getting into it we don't know. But we know that
we have adequate revenue now to build what we are asking. But that is why we are
going to be working closely with our stakeholders, with Finance, to do a -- a detailed fee
-- fee study to see if this is -- is workable under the current fee structure. We have
discussed that with our stakeholders. You know, I think they are -- they understand that
that is a possibility. Obviously, you know, being -- you know, wanting to make sure that
we are limiting that to the extent we can, but they understand that -- that there is
potential for -- for an increase if -- if needed. But we want to make sure that -- to the
extent possible we -- we don't have to do that. But that's why we are going to do the --
the detailed fee study.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Follow up. The -- the cool thing about this is that it's not the sky is falling, we
are firing DBS because they can't do it, any kind of thing like that. It's -- it's DBS came
to us and said the demand to be in Meridian is so high that we don't have a mechanism
to adjust our processes to be able to keep up and so we have now this opportunity
where we have so much excess revenue from this department that we are sticking it in
other funds to spend it later on things that have nothing to do with community
development. So, the excess revenues are there. The current revenues are there to be
able to supply the level of service that the customers are paying for and not receiving.
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We require them to go through a process and to pay certain fees for the service. If they
want to do business here, this is what they have to do and so they are paying it and we
are taking that money and we are putting in other places, because we have so much of
it and we are not -- we are not providing the service that -- that they deserve. This is
our opportunity to take some of that money to -- to build the infrastructure that's needed
to be able to provide the service that not only do they deserve -- well, no. That they
deserve. And so it's -- this is a -- this is a good thing. This isn't a our hair is on fire, we
don't know what to do now. This is a plan that will get us to the point that we should be
at and you all know how I am about spending money, but I am -- this is the most excited
I have ever been to spend money, because this is -- this is the point and we are not
using anyone's tax dollars, we are using dollars that we are just requiring other people
to pay to -- to do business in Meridian and it's going to be not only a better service for
them, but we are going to be able to provide better quality inspections to be able to
have a higher level of safety for those that are -- are the end-user of the services.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Councilman Palmer, I agree with you and I agree that this is a needed service
and we do have to do everything that -- I guess I'm saying that to make sure that we are
very careful when planning this, because we have had other departments come to us
and say we haven't changed our fees in five or six years and, oops, we are about three
million dollars behind now. So, all I'm saying is make sure that -- that as we have pay
increases, as we have, you know, things that are happening that -- that staying on top of
it to cover the services, because we -- we do owe the building community better service.
I have had complaints ever since I have been sitting here. So, I'm glad that this is
happening. It's a good thing. I just want to make sure that we don't realize too late that,
oops, we didn't collect enough. That's all. Thank you.
De Weerd: You know, Councilman Milam, I think you asked a great question and while
it hasn't been increased since 2007, they have been monitoring it. It -- it has been a
hard fee to totally work through, because up until now we have had a contract and so
with base numbers -- with real numbers we will be able to -- to work with Finance and
the stakeholder group to bring back what the -- the fee calculation was about and what it
was all based on, because it is -- this impacts others that that key calculates time on
behalf and other impacts. So, this will be something that there is no fee increase today,
because we are -- we are just building the model, but that model would be something
that Finance and the stakeholder groups will work to -- to bring back what that fee
should be.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
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Bernt: Thank you, Cameron, for your presentation. You know, these are -- we are
blessed to have these problems and these are good problems to have. I'd rather much
be in these -- having these discussions and than -- than the opposite. So, I'm truly
grateful, as is everyone in this body. I'm also a realist and I realize that these good
times won't last forever and there will be a time when you will have to scale back and do
some reorganization maybe -- I'm not saying that that's a guarantee, but it's something
that we need to have in the back of our heads when we are making these decisions,
that we are not -- and this goes back to what Councilman Borton said, that we -- that we
get it right the first time. We really think about it, that we need to be real prudent when
we are devising this organizational structure, because the last thing I want to do is lay
off a bunch of people, you know, and put a bunch of good working employees out in the
streets, because we may or may not have planned for such a -- and I get it's really
difficult to plan for a downturn, but just -- and I know that you will. I know you're thinking
about this. I know that you have the same thoughts. And so just something that I want
-- wanted to reiterate this evening as well.
De Weerd: You are saying things that they heard before and certainly that's why we
hope you also hear that this is -- this is the ultimate model. We hope that it -- this is
something a little bit scaled different.
Bernt: I hope this lasts forever, Madam Mayor. I hope this -- this doesn't -- I hope that
this continues to grow and grow and grow. I mean it's a great problem to have, but --
De Weerd: And -- and I think that Finance has been working with Building Services,
too, to -- to kind of give an average to plan to, so we -- we do it right and they -- they
may start this model stressing their employees at the high end of what that -- that
expectation would be, so that when it does slow it's back to normal expectations and, if
not, then, they have to discuss retracting as well, so -- but that's -- that's the -- the
difficult balance that they are going to be challenged with.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Appreciate the good dialogue from our Council on this subject this evening.
Cameron, there was one piece that I wanted to touch on that you addressed through
your presentation and I want to get some better clarity and that's related to the paper
submission of documents that we are going to have to do in -- in the interim and -- and I
was under the impression that we were looking at maybe just going ahead and
purchasing a piece of software versus having something developed in house, so I heard
you say developed in house, which was different than what I kind of thought the
direction we might be headed and so I'm hoping that you can give Council an
understanding about what direction we are headed and what that timeline -- how long
we are going to be asking your customers to go away from electronic document
submission to having to go in and do paper again.
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Ariel: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, great question. This is one that is -- is a
stress point for us. So, just to clarify, we are -- we will be -- we have under our current
contract with DBS through September 30th we have access to the electronic plan
review that we are currently -- so, kind of a quasi -electronic plan review, but we -- we
will have that through September 31 st. After that point we are planning that that may go
away and we -- and they have said as much, that that will go away. So, in the interim
we are trying to ramp up our own software implementation. IT has given us some --
some timelines on that. They are saying eight to ten months for that. Obviously, we
want to -- to scoot that forward to the extent we can, because that's -- that's a big --
that's a big deal, that's a big boulder in the path, and it is the backbone of -- of the -- of
the program. But with that said, we are -- we are looking to, like I mentioned, phase, so
we would look just at -- excuse me -- just at building plan review first, so that we are
biting off an IT bite that we can perfect and get right before we roll that out to electrical
and planning, for example. So, we are trying to really do all we can to mitigate that time
frame. We feel like -- not to use another cliche, but we feel like we are -- we are
saddling the right software horse there as well. They have been very responsive, very
easy to work with, they have given us case studies of other jurisdictions that use our
similar customer interface software Accella and also this plan review software
ProjectDox and so we are -- we are not reinventing the wheel, but we feel like we -- we
are going to do all we can to -- to limit that time frame. So, in the interim -- again, this
transition is -- you know, we have asked for -- for some patience already to our
stakeholders and to everyone, really, but we are trying to work through that
implementation as quickly as we can, but it's one of those things where, you know, from
-- from the directorship I feel -- we want to make sure that we go slow to go fast. I
would rather implement the software well than battle trying to fix it ongoing for years.
So, that's the -- the -- the ugly, quite frankly, of the interim piece of this.
De Weerd: So, ProjectDox is -- is a -- a purchased system. It's similar to what we just
did in Finance. It took us two years to convert. We want to make sure that it
communicates with Accella and all of the different aspects. It's not -- it's not a stand-
alone piece. So, it's going to integrate with other -- with the Accella document and IT's
hope is to deliver that with as few complications as possible, because of how
complicated this is. IT did go on the -- the visit to Hillsborough. They -- they use
Accella and the ProjectDox and they have -- they have had an opportunity to talk to that
IT support team on how they -- because they just recently -- or not recently, but they
also had to add ProjectDox into their existing Accella system. So, it -- it's -- it's
complicated and they want to do it right, so they don't spend the next couple years fixing
-- fixing unanticipated issues.
Ariel: Madam Mayor, if I might, just one quick follow up to that. There is an
implementation plan, you know, coming into effect as well. How do we test this? How
do we kind of continue what we are doing, but also test it as well, so that there is --
there is a smooth launch to it. So, that's -- that's a -- that's kind of what it is. I wished it
was quicker. I mean I see it as the -- as a stress point.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Cameron, to that point, you have got a -- a fairly sizable couple of budget
amendments that are in front of us and potentially later on this evening and so
recognizing that this piece is a stress point, I feel sometimes we as Council don't ask
this enough. What is it that we as Council and the city can do to help accelerate that,
because we have some of the best software developers in the country that work for the
City of Meridian and their talent, in my opinion, is second to none. They have a lot of
other projects that they are juggling and a lot of other demands from our growing city
and I guess I'm one to say that I don't want our development customers to have to wait
potentially eight to ten months, knowing that in my four years on this Council when we
hear eight to ten months that probably means ten to 12 months, just the nature of life,
but I would want to tell you that I'm supportive of whatever we can do to accelerate that,
so that our development community does not have to change their business practice to
accommodate our liability and, then, relearn a software that it sounds like that we are
developing.
De Weerd: It looks like we have two people who can speak to it and particularly Dave.
Tiede: Good evening, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Councilman Cavener,
to speak to your point, at this point most of the implementation is going to be managed
by a third -party Avolve, which is a provider of the software ProjectDox. They have given
us a timeline at four to six months, but knowing software projects and implementation
timelines always faltering in the IT industry, if you talk to any organization about their
software implementation, meeting timelines is not the strong point for -- so, we want to
be prepared for that and make sure that we can accommodate that on the business side
or community development side, so that they can still manage their processes and
needs, but at the same time we don't want to be at the point where we are anticipating
six months and miss it and, then, we extend two months and miss it and keep doing
that. So, we have talked to them about doing a simple process up front, so that they
can do some basic plan review without having a whole lot of work flow or integration into
other products and they said that they could do that in as little as two months, but we
want to see what that looks like, especially because the various types of plan review
that they have can vary from, you know, residential to commercial in complexity, so --
De Weerd: Keith.
Watts: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, to try to expedite it, we actually placed a
publication advertisement in the Meridian Press Tribune Friday -- last Friday for a sole -
source request. That's all pending coming before Council and requesting a sole -source
in the budget approval. If that goes well today, then, we will -- we are planning to come
back next week and ask Council to bless that sole source procurement. The
negotiations have taken place. We are pretty much -- have a contract ready to go that
we will be able to bring next week so we could do the sole source and the contract right
behind it and move forward as quickly as possible.
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De Weerd: So, we appreciate you asking that.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I guess a follow up question for -- for Cameron then. So, again, I'm not bright
when it comes to this stuff, but you said that our agreement with DBS for electronic plan
review expires in September -- end of September. Where are our limitations in our
ability to extend that for six months, potentially a year, while we are developing our
system, so that our customers aren't going to have to suffer? What's holding that back
from occurring?
Ariel: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, that's a great question. In fact, many of
Council have the same concern. Is there any way we can extend that. Can we
continue it or modify it. We -- we have asked that as well on numerous occasions. In
fact, asked it again just to confirm yesterday of DBS. We have a weekly meeting with
them to make sure that we are managing this transition well. The short answer is is, no,
they are not able to extend beyond that. They will try, essentially, is what they have
said, but they -- they just cannot meet our demand and so we are trying to -- there may
be a possibility there at a diminished level. We just want to make sure that we are
planning for what we know, as opposed to what we hope.
De Weerd: They have challenges as an agency and have had some -- they are having
a couple of staff members that have been injured or lost and they can't -- they cannot
continue with the contract and they have told us that. They have -- they have graciously
offered where they can to -- to help out. They -- they don't know how much of that they
can do, though, because of the limitations and they are looking at the end of the
contract at the end of September to redeploy personnel to other parts of the state.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, I appreciate that. I guess a software piece I'm still unable to
wrap my head around -- recognizing they have got staffing limitations, but from a
software standpoint if -- if we are going to hire the staff, we just need access to the
software. What I'm hearing is they won't or they can't and if they won't, okay, that's
great, but if they can't, I still -- I haven't received any information that tells me why they
can't.
De Weerd: They said they wouldn't.
Cavener: So they won't.
De Weerd: Yes.
Ariel: You know, Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, we have -- we have asked again
and again. It's been a little bit. I understand the position they are in. They -- they want
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to be helpful, they want to help us transition to the extent possible. Again, I guess
can't force them to answer that question. They have just been pretty adamant that they
-- they need to move away from the contract.
De Weerd: Councilman Cavener, I think you have asked a good question. We have
asked them in terms of the whole package, the plan review, inspections, and plan
submittal. So, what we haven't done, I don't think, is to say can we continue to use your
-- your software or your plan submittal until we get ours up and going. I --
Ariel: We --
De Weerd: I may be wrong. Have you asked it in that fashion?
Ariel: We have. Yes. We have explored that. We explored that with DBS and the
software provider, the vendor, to see if that's even possible. Unfortunately, no.
De Weerd: And even at that point I think that the ProjectDox and the Accella did not
communicate well and there was a lot of band -aiding going on between our staff and --
and theirs to even make that work.
Ariel: Yeah.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think -- to what Councilman Cavener is now
just questioning and to the point that you just made, is that this would be a true
implementation of the software in its full capacity to where it would have expanded level
of service that is now offered through the contracted version.
Ariel: Madam Mayor, Councilman Palmer, that's correct, so --
Palmer: The extra time and the clunkiness of trying to continue, but doing as much they
will allow, but at the end we are going to fully implement it in it's true availability to
provide a better service?
De Weerd: Well, the secret weapon we have is Kristy, because she has been in that
department, she works with Accella, and she's in charge of this project. So, I know she
is more than aware of the urgency and I -- I have full confidence of how we will do this
and -- with as little pain as possible, but we have talked to the stakeholder groups to --
to forewarn them that there may be a period -- and we are going to try and make that a
short period, but there may be a period where it will be plan -- paper submittals.
Freckleton: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I just maybe want to interject that
defaulting to a paper submittal process is something that we did vet with the
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development community. It is something that they are very open to and -- and thought
that it was a good solution. It is our intention to replicate as closely as possible what
they are doing currently. Currently they bring in electronic files on a -- on a thumb drive
or a disk, submit them to us, we, then, transmit those over to DBS. They do the review.
It comes back. We do a lot of back and forth to the Mayor's point about a quasi -
electronic process. We are still going to require them to give us the thumb drive or the
disk with the electronic files on it, but they are going to give us a paper copy, which they
currently do. We would, then, do the review in house on that paper copy and transmit
comments back. So, it really -- like I said, it replicates the process that they are
currently used to and the building community is -- is open to it and welcomed it. Big
unknowns with doing the out-of-the-box solution that Avolve has -- has suggested that
Dave talked about, just a lot of unknowns and a steep learning curve we believe. So, it
became our -- our preferred default process was to go to the paper. Dave Yorgason is
here with -- he's the government affairs director for BCA. He is here, he may be able to
speak to the building community's view of -- of going to a paper process, if -- if you
would like.
Yorgason: Good evening. My name is Dave Yorgason for the record. I'm here to
answer any questions you have.
De Weerd: Well, in light of the -- the conversation that's going back and forth, you
know, just -- you know, that there will be a transition here, is the paper document
something that it is -- something that your -- your client or the people that you represent
something that they are willing to do on the short-term?
Yorgason: Madam Mayor, I will give a couple of quick points. First of all, I am
extremely excited that the city is considering this. I used to be in the world of software
implementation, business process improvement for a different world, prior to coming to
real estate, so I have a little bit of knowledge of what the city is looking at today. Yes, it
was 20 years ago, but the concepts of what you're going through today -- I see your
eyes wrestling through it. So, I understand it and these are all very, very healthy, good
questions you're asking. I cannot say I have talked to every builder. I have talked to
more than a dozen builders that build in your city and every one of them have
expressed the same comments you have heard tonight, there is concerns and
frustration that just basic levels of inspections are not happening. Duplicate inspections,
those types of things, where you're not getting them all done right the first time, then,
they come back after they got the whole punch list done and they come back for a
second inspection and, well, now here is a second list of things and, oh, by the way,
here is a fee you get to pay, because we had to come back to inspect a second time.
There is some frustration in the building community with the current process. And, then,
you hear what DBS said that says they can't meet the current demand. So, yes, the
building community is prepared to -- at least the builders I have talked to are prepared
and they understand that if there is some interim, short-term paper process, then, yes,
that's what we need to do to get to the best solution that's not that far away. In my prior
world experience I recall something called transition management. I refer to Cameron
about that. Just get to the transition wave as quick as you can, while you're at the
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bottom of the wave it's painful and it will be -- there will be some speed bumps that you
will see and the builders will experience. Cameron refers to them as big boulders. I call
it a big crater that's out there in that road and we just -- there are more building permits
coming every day and the more they come and the quicker you process them, that's
great. If you have some big roadblocks and that time to review a plan gets longer and
longer and longer, there will be some tremendous frustration by everybody, including
you all, and so that's what I see, recognizing that -- and I have talked to some of the
most willing to express comment, I will say it that way, of builders and they, too,
acknowledge and express -- at least the ones I have talked to -- that, yes, okay, this
fall -- we are looking at September, whatever it is, okay, might be a little bit of
frustration, but if we can -- if that's all we are looking at and it's going to get better after
that, okay. So, that's what the builders that I have talked have said and I hope that
helps bring a little clarity to you. I -- sorry, Madam Mayor. I have committed to assist
and support however I can to your staff and I know of a several other builders who have
done the same thing.
De Weerd: We have appreciated how the building community has really stepped up
and said we -- we applaud the direction you're going, we want to help, and we will be
patient. And maybe not in that order. Did that help answer some of your questions?
Okay. Any other questions for Mr. Yorgason? Thank you, Dave.
Yorgason: I got away with it. All right. Thank you. I will get away.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I do have a question for Cameron. Maybe it was in your presentation and I
missed it, but is there anywhere that you reference the contract cost savings
specifically?
Ariel: Madam Mayor, Council Woman Milam, the -- I think -- I believe you're mentioning
-- so, the difference between what we are paying currently to DBS and, then, what --
what we would be paying ongoing. There isn't a specific mention of that, although
Bruce, do you have the -- we can pull up that number for you. I apologize.
Freckleton: Looking it up.
Ariel: It actually is not a savings, there is an additional cost to bringing that in house.
So, we will get that for you.
Borton: About a million a year.
Milam: Uh-huh.
Borton: Madam Mayor? I think it's a million a year paid to DBS?
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Milam: Madam Mayor. Cameron, I wasn't saying it was going to be less to bring it in
house. We all know it's going to be more. My -- my point is when -- if you reference the
cost savings, that we are not going to be paying DBS, it makes the going look a lot
lower than what it appears on paper, because it's additional to what we are paying.
Ariel: I see. So, essentially, if we net out the DBS expense, what is -- what is the actual
number --
Milam: Yeah.
Ariel: Yes, annually it's been roughly a million dollars. I think the three -- a three year
average is around 1.2 million, roughly. So, when you net that out that's -- that's where
we are at. But, Bruce, do you have that actual number? Jenny?
De Weerd: So, your -- your base ongoing is 1.8 and right now they are -- they are
paying, on a three year average 1.57.
Milam: Madam Mayor? When you look at it that way it looks great. See my point?
Ariel: Thank you.
Milam: From the -- from the improved service and, you know, having the actual
employees who are going to be working and living the Meridian Way and -- there is so
much good that can come from that and so when you compare the difference, it's really
not as much as what it looks like on paper.
Freckleton: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, the DBS payments -- the three year
average of DBS payments is 1,054,625 dollars.
De Weerd: We missed it by three thousand.
Borton: Madam Mayor? So, we are looking at a million dollars with a lot of
assumptions built in. A million dollar added net cost ongoing.
De Weerd: Around 750,000.
Freckleton: Seven seventy-four three hundred. About a million.
De Weerd: You rounded up. You round it up. We will round it down to a half million.
Borton: I'm being a realist. Madam Mayor, some of the -- the concern, at least the
reason that this gets kind of painful. The service level improvement is fantastic and we
kind of, again, don't have a lot of choices, so we are making the best of a difficult
situation. But the reality is -- to Genesis -- to Council Woman Milam's point, there is
going to be cost recapturing. We don't anticipate fee changes, but the reality is they are
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probably coming to some extent. This pace won't keep up. It wasn't like this seven,
eight years ago and it won't be in seven or eight years, so as long as we go into this
with our eyes wide open and a lot of great benefits that are going to come from it, but
the two difficult decisions that will come down the road is staff reductions, which have
happened before and they are extremely difficult to do, or fee recapture, with -- with
perhaps additional expense to the development community to pay for this as a service
level. Or a third option is you deny they are in the -- general taxpayer kind of covers the
difference, just as they did nine or ten years ago. So, as long as we understand and
when we question, you know, six versus five employees, that added employee, that is
an expense that we may have to address in eight years or seven years. So, it just takes
-- I think it's responsible to kind of grind a little bit to make sure that the growth is, you
know, the least amount necessary to -- to add the service level improvements you're
trying to describe. I mean I just don't know. I have got great faith. I can imagine that --
that our department can run and manage these same employees perhaps better than
they were before and perhaps find efficiencies that serve better with the same number
of employees. That might be a bit -- even naively optimistic, but that -- one initial pause
I had on this was do you -- do you do a budget enhancement to transfer all of the
existing employee count from DBS to us and a second one might be, you know, the
added development permit tack and two additional building inspectors, as sort of a
separate consideration. We might not have that luxury right now, but that's one of the
reasons for my questions. If there is a way to perhaps start smaller, see if there is some
internal efficiencies and management technique that allows them to improve service
levels and, then, down the road, whether it's July or November and you say, well, here
is how this has kind of worked, we actually -- we might only need one additional building
inspector, not two, and here is why and, if not, you say here is why it doesn't work and
we need two. All right? We tried and we brought one in house and it turns out that
there is not inefficiencies or an ability to add AM/PM without adding additional people,
that sixth person, so --
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: If I could preempt Cameron and try to field that. So, right after Cameron was
hired, you know, in our conversations with him and he had his whiteboard and he had
his list of -- because I said, okay, when we had you in that room we said figure it out and
bring it to us on how to make this work and so he had a list on his whiteboard of here is
everything that it would take and he said so, you know, what shall we bring, you know,
this year and, then, what should we have for the next year and I said, no, bring it all right
now. Bring every single thing that you think it's going to take to make the level of
service what is the Meridian Way, what should be expected and, then, when we got to
this conversation it's, you know, kind of the same thing and I said what -- whatever --
you know, the worst case scenario is, that's what needs to be on the amendment, so
that we all know up front this is what we might end up having to get to. But the process
that you're looking for is going to be forced anyway in that we can't hire all these people
tomorrow, it's going to take time to even find qualified people to fill the minimum number
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of positions, let alone as many as we may need, whether it's eight months, a year, or
two years down the road to even be able to get to this level. So, we will have all kinds
of data as to the necessity of filling all those positions long before we even have the
possibility of doing so.
Borton: Madam Mayor? I -- I have a somewhat different philosophy on that that. If that
were to be true, then, that would support the position of hiring fewer employees and if
it's 12 months down the road when you might actually either higher or need the fifth or
sixth, you bring a budget amendment. But if you do it the other way and we authorize
spending authority prior to its necessity, then, the door is open with regards to fiscal
responsibility and control spending. So, that's the reason that at least I have some
initial concern with authorizing the worst case scenario and funding anything and
everything possible before we really know if we need anything and everything possible.
But it's not going to go down.
Ariel: Madam Mayor, Councilman Borton, if I -- if I might. I have to admit I have the
same concern. I think that that's important to express. We have not gone into this --
again, like I mentioned before, feeling like this is an overbuild. I think that this is a
conservative build, but with the efficiencies that we are talking about and the -- and the
fully load with the software and -- and, hopefully, what we can get via hiring, we will be
able to get to that expanded level of service at a minimal FTE count. Ongoing cost. I
have that same concern, Councilman, because that's my responsibility. It will be me as
having to manage that or have those tough decisions. The concern I have, though, with
an incremental approach or starting small and, then, going big is that's really going to --
that's really going to I feel hurt our stakeholders, especially in that interim. Like
Councilman Palmer stated, you know, even if we hit it out of the park and we are hiring
everybody high quality right out of the gate, that is still going to be a process to on board
them. The reality is is that's going to be somewhat, you know, delayed to get them. So,
I think that is going to be that natural phasing, if you will, but I think if we are -- if we are
coming back to you let's say in June or July when we -- when we know -- we absolutely
know we need more employees, that may even be a further impact to our stakeholder,
because, then, we have to go through that process and, then, the hiring process then.
And so I -- I as a director and having fully vetted this, feel that this is a conservative ask.
We are asking for what we feel can be a good quality service. We get this flex and
stretch through the efficiency of tech and not through additional FTE. But I do -- that's
what keeps me up at night with this is how do I know -- what am I building to and
making sure that that is efficient and we are responsible with that taxpayer dollar.
De Weerd: I -- I believe that the struggle has been building to your core and -- and this
is -- this is the best guess with some time to refine -- they got to start recruiting. We
have one chance to do this right and I think the building community is -- is putting faith
in that and to -- to build it already undercutting service expectations is not the way to do
it either. So, we are -- we will continue to try and define what that building to the core is
and -- but this is what the team has as a recommendation to -- to bring services to the
level that we think the fees they pay and the expected level of customer service should
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be and we are hoping to -- to see fewer FTEs, but at this point this is -- this is their
recommendation.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I know the hour is getting late for many of us, but I think it's important for
Council to take into consideration this is probably going to be one of -- if not the most
important decision we as a body are going to probably make this year in my opinion and
I was going to wait to talk about the budget amendment when we got to that item, but
since the conversation is moving that way, I want to provide a couple of points of
context and just maybe more of a comment. The challenge for staff when we say bring
us the worst case scenario and, then, we also are saying, well, let's bring what we think
is most fiscally prudent, because oftentimes those two don't mesh. At the same time I
think that we as a Council have been more open to budget amendments than maybe
previous councils have been and we see less budget amendments come from -- from
directors and so I have to say, Cameron, I echo a lot of the comments that Council
Member Borton has made and not in an effort to have you start small and build out, but
to do many of the things that you have identified in your comments about this transition,
is coach people up to the Meridian Way, to take advantage of the efficiencies that
maybe local government has over a state-run operation and really allow our people to
shine and I think we all believe that we can do that with less people than more people. I
appreciate you wanting to bring this before us, with the caveat that it hasn't entirely
been truthed and there might be some opportunities for less -- I'm one councilor that
when it comes to such a large dollar amount, I am not comfortable in approving a
budget amendment where it's said on the record that the numbers haven't been truthed.
That causes me significant pause. I think that the one -- I applaud where I think you're
going. I think that this approach is the only path that is in front of us. I have got some
small concerns that we have talked about here tonight and -- and some questions. I'm
-- I'm relatively in favor of you moving forward, but I don't think that tonight I'm in favor of
approving a budget amendment for this amount of people until we have some additional
data as to the comments that have been made that the numbers have been truthed,
because I think it's important for you to be aware.
Ariel: Madam Mayor? If I might. Councilman Cavener, just to -- it would be helpful to
know what -- what exactly we can truth. I mean there is -- there is some of this that we
just simply can't and I don't know what I could supply you, unless I had maybe a little
more detail. But there may be stuff that we just don't know, for example, in the hiring
process and, then, obviously, that's where the bulk of this -- especially the ongoing cost
is. We hope to be able to hire these people. We feel like we have got a reasonable
wage range. We don't know. And so in order to truth that number, that is impossible. I
can't hire people unless I have the authority to do so. So, it would be helpful to know
exactly what you need truthed and maybe we can help you understand whether or not
that's even possible.
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Cavener: Madam Mayor? So, again, I think for -- for me it's really about the staffing
plan and the implementation plan for all 21 FTEs and what your recruitment plan would
be and how we would attain and hire those people, that would all need to occur within
this short cycle and why that needs to be for 21 and not 17, recognizing that you as the
director always have the opportunity to come back before the Council for a budget
amendment to require or request additional staff. So, to me that -- that's step one, is
currently with DBS it's 17, let's -- let's replicate what they are doing, let's apply our
processes, let's let you as the leader lead the department, and if we are seeing even
then because of the demand, even with our operational efficiencies, we still need one,
two, five, seven -- again, whatever you as the department -- once you have got your
people hired and implemented, then, you're able to come back to the Council and like
we are tonight, share the merits of the position, discuss the value and render a decision.
Ariel: Madam Mayor, if I might just clarify. So, Councilman Cavener, your staffing
recruitment plan, implementation plan -- and we can certainly talk about that. We -- we
have that detail if you -- if you would like, if the Council would like us to go through it we
can do that now, because that is -- that is information that we do have. So, if -- if you
would like we can discuss that and, hopefully, that can help answer your question or
your lack of data.
Cavener: Madam Mayor. And, Cameron, I don't mean to interrupt. I don't want to -- if
I'm the only one that has those questions or those concerns, I don't think it's appropriate
for the entire Council to -- to go through that process. If there are similar questions or
concerns from Council about that, then, I think it would be appropriate. But I -- I would
hate to -- for a conversation that could happen one-on-one between you and I, to
belabor the Council with significantly added detail if the Council already has enough
information to render a decision.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
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Bernt: Madam Mayor, thank you. This is -- this is -- this is a toughy, especially when
you're -- we are discussing whether or not -- you know, we are discussing an entirely
new process that we have never had at the city. So, I completely respect the discussion
that's going on within this body, pros and cons, concerns that we may or may not have.
I think it's healthy. And, you know, we all have our personal budgets, those of us who
own businesses, we have those budgets as well and the last thing that we want to do is
just sign a blank check. I mean we don't do that in our own personal business or our
own personal finances, so I get that. I get that concern. I do feel like we -- we have, to
a certain degree, proved this because of what we are experiencing and what we have --
the business association that we had with DBS and so we have seen DBS in what they
have -- what they have done for us over the years and the amount of resources that
they have put toward their business and -- which, in turn, has helped our -- you know,
our department and so I get that we need to dot every I and cross every T. I completely
understand that. Especially when we are using taxpayer money -- in this case fees, I
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guess, that are paid from those in our development community. However, I do feel like
this has been vetted to a certain degree, as much as it possibly can through the
business that we currently associate with. I mean we see what they are doing on a
daily basis and what they provide us and so it shouldn't be that big of a surprise, in my --
in my -- in my opinion.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Short of, you know, the mention of a teleporter, there is no level of efficiencies
that could be found that would make 30 inspections per day for a single person safe.
De Weerd: Yeah.
Palmer: The number of inspections per person has to come down. The only way to
make that happen is with more people. There is hours and hours of detail that could be
discussed and I'm up for it about the efficiencies that they do have planned from -- the
ones that they have mentioned about, you know, have them having the technology in
the vehicles that they need to reduce or eliminate almost the amount of time that has to
be spent in City Hall, to the very positioning within the building where they will be for
simple quick access to the quickest door out -- just so many details in maximizing the
efficiency of the employees that we will have to get as much productivity as we can out
of them, so that they can, you know, spend an increased amount of time, but 30 per
person is just not -- doesn't work.
De Weerd: Yeah. And -- and I think Council's asking you to hire to a model that doesn't
work and -- Bruce, can you bring up the slide in plan reviews and -- and I guess -- I
cannot remember if it's in your slide. What is -- what is the model you're building to?
What is your premier service level that the customers are going to expect? I know they
expect a plan review done in less than ten to 15 days. When Nampa is taking seven
days, we are taking twice as long, and if we are going to design to the model that is
currently here, well, that's what you can expect. Is that your premier level of service that
you want our customers to -- to expect? I have heard differently and so that's why we
are not building to a model of what DBS is currently doing. Your other slide shows an
unattainable inspection level to expect any one person to do with any efficiency -- with --
with quality work and with customer service. So, if you want to build a model to what
DBS does with the number of people they have, don't expect anything better. Maybe a
little bit better, but what you don't see in the DBS model is some of the -- the things that
we and our customers expect that they are not getting, in addition to the workload they
already have, which is one of the reasons they are pulling out. They can't continue to
do this or expect their employees to do this, which is why they said, you know, we are
going to terminate our -- our -- our contract with you. So, I -- I think that they have
truthed these as -- as much as they can. I do believe that there can be better
efficiencies that maybe you can reduce this number down, but we have never built a
building division department before and until you start getting into it -- and I will tell you
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what, they have to hire now, they have to -- or at least post it, so we can start getting
applications. They need to -- to get out the sole -- whatever that -- that Keith talked
about. We have to do that now or it's going to be even more time. So, some of this we
need authority to just move forward. I have told them they can't post this job -- these
jobs until you guys have given the nod, as we could have posted them before now, but
that is not the way we do business. So, I just -- I am saying -- you're looking at numbers
and these are the outcomes with those numbers and I don't think that that is acceptable
to this Council. I know it's not acceptable to our department. That's not the level of
customer service they want to be known for.
Bjornson: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the first thing I will say to that is
thank you. That was well stated. I'm going to go ahead and tell you that I'm boots on
the ground, I'm connected with the people in the field, I hear it, I see it, I work with them.
This organization in our department is at risk and there is a threat and it's real. To the
Mayor's point earlier, we do need to recruit right now. What we have built in our opinion
is a minimum that will be a conservative roll out in our approach, as Cameron indicated.
If we start small, if we go to your timeline, if we build the DBS's model right now, the
timelines will push. Services, even within our department, will suffer. We can't do it with
less people. We know for the last two years that the division of building safety has
underperformed. This is nothing new. We have met with Bruce Chatterton on several
occasions. We have met with the Mayor. I have done a swat. We have met with our
administrator. They can't staff in building services. What they have currently is grossly
understaffed, irresponsible, and negligent in the way that the service is being provided
to the city and that's on the record for building plan review and building inspection. My
opinion. So, to fix this we -- to staff appropriately we need to get boots on the ground
and get people in with a conservative approach, fiscal responsibility, but we have a
significant threat and the longer we delay and wait the more imminent that becomes.
Fifteen inspections a day is very conservative. I'm sorry. Not conservative. It's -- to me
I would rather do eight to ten. Let's look at Bend. Boise. The reason Nampa could turn
around their plan reviews, they have got five plan reviewers in building. We are talking
about three. If we build to the DBS model we will not be successful. We need to be
premiere. We know -- the last thing I will say is we know that the DBS contract -- we
have been working on a modified contract to June 29th through September 30th. We
have already seen a degradation in services. It's just getting worse. That's real. You
can talk to the ladies up front, our permit technicians -- Sam and I take the calls, it's just
-- it's going to get worse. DBS has told us that between that date of June 29th and
September 30th it's just going to go downhill. Sure, they would like to do better, they
are great people, but they don't have the resources. And so my message to you, as we
talk about this tonight and noodle this is that I truly have spent the time with our staff -- a
lot of good people, as Cameron said, and the threat is very real and we need to take
action and this model -- you know, I don't want to make -- make light of this, but
seemingly from what I'm hearing we should ask for 30 and settle for 20 or 21. And I
mean that in a responsible way, because we are taking a conservative approach to
what we feel is the minimum right now and we will build it over the next 12 months, 18
months, whatever that takes, but we do need to get up to speed as quickly as we can,
being fiscally responsible and as Councilman Borton said, we want to -- we want to
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keep staff at a minimum. We know that overbuilding, you know, results in layoffs and
we don't want to design for peak, we want to design for what's realistic, doing business
the Meridian Way, giving our customers the service they deserve, with the volume that
we are seeing. Volume can change. We get that. But I think our push needs to be
smart and conservative and I think we have given you that. So, I appreciate you
listening. Thank you for letting me say my peace. But we know this threat is real.
De Weerd: So, what is the model that you built the number of FTEs on? What is
premiere? How many days do you want a commercial plan and a residential plan
review to take? How -- how many inspections -- I know you -- you mentioned 15. 1
don't remember the slide. But what -- what -- what did you build your model to, with
some fluctuation so that as -- as you build to a core and to an average, that you can
absorb some extra numbers. But what -- what is that?
Ariel: Madam Mayor, so, again, we have goals and I want to make sure that that --
that's important, that you all know that we want this to be a very premier level of service.
We anticipate with this, you know, being implemented that we would be able to have 15
inspections per inspector per day and, again, that's via the technology, as well as just
being able to properly staff that, as well as the efficiencies that we will gain through our
-- through our model. The other is on plan review. We would hope to be -- again, it's
difficult, because you don't know, you know, the difference between residential and
commercial and what kind of applications are coming in. There is variables there. But
we would hope to be in the eight to ten day range and, eventually, getting even more
efficient than that. Of course the variable -- and I think this is the caveat -- is volume.
With increased volume that just naturally will impact those numbers and -- and so --
and, then, of course, the other variable is who we can hire. If we have highly skilled
dual certified inspectors and dual certified plan reviewers, that could -- that could be
better or worse, it just depends on who we are able to hire. But that's the goals that we
are looking to do and we feel is a -- you know, comparably speaking would be a premier
level of service that our customers would be happy with and proud of that -- that we can
obtain, but there are -- there are variables -- real variables that we -- we don't know at
this time.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Borton: This is extremely helpful. This discussion. You guys have vetted this for
weeks, for a long time, and not all of us have been in the weeds on it. It sounds, as you
described it, that there is also an opportunity -- and I would make an ask that in
conjunction with something like this that that -- some defined levels of service --
measurable come forward and perhaps be adopted. If we are going to celebrate some
new standards that the city is going to live -- live up to that we want to hold ourselves
accountable to with regards to permit turnaround time, let's do it. Let's measure it and
track it and celebrate when you're successful.
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De Weerd: And I will -- I want to hear what that is next week. I thought I was going to
hear it tonight. So, I think --
Borton: That would be great.
De Weerd: -- you know, I thought we -- we built a core to meet the expectations of what
premier is and so that is what you have to have unequivalently in advance before you
hire one person, an expectation to what -- what the performance is expected to be and
you owe that to your customers to -- that is what our -- system is that we are designing
to. So, if we can have that conversation next week. Council, we have -- we have tried
not to bring a budget amendment and asked you to act on it in the same day or the
same week, but there are certain things that need to start rolling out as soon as
possible, because, as Brent had mentioned, DBS put us on notice and we are starting
to see them already unwind our contract and -- and we are hitting summer months
where we are going to see numbers not slow, but build. So, we do need -- we do need
some direction. We hope action. And we will bring items back next week to -- to maybe
give you some more information on how that model was built.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: So, then, are we on 8-A?
De Weerd: Well, if Council is comfortable to be 8-A, we can certainly -- yeah, we
have --
Item 8: Action Items
A. Community Development Evolution Plan Budget Amendments
1. Budget Amendment for Building & Electrical - Plan Review
and Inspection Services Not -to -Exceed $925,582
2. Budget Amendment for Tenant Improvement Not -to -Exceed
284,868
3. Budget Amendment for Community Development
Technology
Improvement Not -to -Exceed $546,903
Palmer: Then Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
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Palmer: So, this budget amendment has a lot of manure and as Dave Ramsey says,
when you pile up a bunch of manure it stinks. But when you spread it out it helps things
grow. We have 146 days until October 1st. We could chew on this for another week.
We would be down to 139. So, since we are on it -- can I do it all in one motion? I
move we approve the budget amendment for building and electrical plan review and
inspection services not to exceed 925,582 dollars and a budget amendment for tenant
improvement not to exceed 284,868 dollars and a budget amendment for community
development technology improvement not to exceed 546,903 dollars.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Well, this might be your first budget amendment and I just wanted to let you
know that when we do these not to exceeds and you come back and you're under, that
gets us really excited. I'm just throwing that out there.
De Weerd: Significantly under is even better.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Cameron, again, kudos to you and your team for
putting this together. My opposition to this motion is focused solely on item one and not
on item two and three. I appreciate your good work. I think there is more discussion
that we need to have. Appreciate Council Member Palmer's comments about manure
and trying to make it grow and to try and expedite this. To me I'm just not completely
comfortable under the given plan to be supportive of number one.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: To the flip side, I am supportive, but the condition that I would place upon it is
before the month is over that we have those -- those levels of service that we are going
to abide by and -- and hold ourselves accountable to. If -- if what we have discussed,
which sounds fantastic and a great improvement to our building community and to our
existing staff and we trust it will be successful, but we are going to -- we are going to
meet those levels of service that we can -- as you are held accountable to and difficult
times make difficult decisions and celebrate the success. Hopefully that can come back
maybe the 22nd of May before.
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Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Next week. Yes, Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I guess I would also just like to add -- as this does move forward and a lot of the
-- the hold up that -- or some of us have is with the number -- the sheer number of
employees and the unknown that -- you have a -- you have a range of the level of
service and if it -- the level of service is too good, you know, I don't think we need to be
at eight. I think that 15 is a reasonable good number. So, I think, you know, if it goes --
if it gets too low, if we have less applications and less inspections, then, you need to act
on that as well and I think you should have that -- it should be somewhere in writing --
this is -- we are going to be with it between here and here over such and such a period
of time and that's how you will be able to measure when it's time to -- hopefully never,
but if you want to let people go or change the way that -- because at that point it won't
be funded by itself anymore. If we get too low we are going to be funding it with
taxpayer dollars.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: And I think an adopted level of service should work both ways. You know, if
you're exceeding it too far and, then, adjustments need to be made to be more fiscally
responsible. I completely agree.
De Weerd: One other thing that I -- I have talked with Bruce and Cameron is a monthly
update. This is new and it -- it's fluid. We -- we want to be here giving you updates and
answering questions as -- as we roll this out and we will -- we will do this monthly. If
there is a desire to do it more frequently or a reason to, we certainly can, but we thought
a monthly update would -- would keep everyone in -- in line with in the know and -- and
up to date with how it's rolling out and maybe we can even talk about numbers and
especially after we get these posted and we see what's happening in -- in the market.
Okay. Any further questions, comments?
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: I just want you to know, Camera, that I have faith in you and I have faith in your
-- in your -- in your staff and I know that this is going to be an awesome addition to City
Hall and to our community and -- and we just need to be prudent along the way and I
know that you will do that. Thank you.
De Weerd: So, first update is next week. If you will put that on the agenda and I will
ask for roll call.
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Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, nay; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: Okay. The ayes have it.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: To the team now the real work begins, as if it hasn't been work up to this
point. But thank you for the presentation. The thought that's been put into it. Now, let's
roll up our sleeves and -- and get her done. We will be back next week with the sole
source on the electronic plan review software package and as we can get our teams
together to -- as well as what is the expected level of service that we will be measuring
to and accountable to and, you know, maybe next week we can -- we can talk
specifically about what those touchpoints will be on a monthly basis. Okay. Anything
further?
Ariel: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, thank you. We appreciate your support
and, Councilman Cavener, look forward to working with you to understand and educate
you as needed. But this is a big deal and we understand that and we appreciate the
support. We got some good -- good notes here. I won't throw him under the bus, but I
did ask someone to have these ready, but we will get them to you, all those
measurables ready. Also just want to make sure -- you have my commitment that this
will be tracked, that we will measure it well, that there is a level of prudence that is
deserving of our community and, ultimately, we want to be exactly where we want to be
in premier level of service. So, thank you.
De Weerd: The other thing that -- if you can bring back next week is the recruiting plan,
too. I think Councilman Cavener brought that up and -- and I know that HR has been
looking at how best to roll it out working with you guys.
Ariel: Ready to go tomorrow.
De Weerd: So, we will bring that as well. Okay?
Ariel: Thank you.
B. Ordinance No. 18-1774: Fast Eddy's H-2018-0006
An Ordinance (H-2018-0006— Fast Eddy's) For Annexation Of A
Parcel Of Land Being A Portion Of Lot 2, Block 1 Of Jasmine
Acres Subdivision (Book 59 Of Plats At Pages 5,829 Through
5,830, Records Of Ada County, Idaho) And A Portion Of
Unplatted Lands, Situated In The Northeast '/4 Of The
Southeast '/4 Of Section 32 And The Northwest'/4 Of The Southwest
1/4 Of Section 33, Township 4 North, Range 1 East, Boise
Meridian, Ada County, Idaho, As Described In Attachment
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"A " And Annexing Certain Lands And Territory, Situated In
Ada County, Idaho, And Adjacent And Contiguous To The
Corporate Limits Of The City Of Meridian As Requested By
The City Of Meridian; Establishing And Determining The Land
Use Zoning Classification Of 1.862 Acres Of Land From
Rut To C -G (General
Retail And Service Commercial) Zoning District In The
Meridian City Code; Providing That Copies Of This Ordinance
Shall Be Filed With The Ada County Assessor, The Ada
County Recorder, And The Idaho State Tax
Commission, As Required By Law; And Providing for a
Summary Of The Ordinance; And Providing For A Waiver
Of The Reading Rules; And Providing An Effective Date.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item 8-13 is Ordinance 18-1774. 1 will ask Mr. Clerk to,
please, read this ordinance by title.
Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 18-1774, an
Ordinance file H-2018-0006, Fast Eddy's, for annexation of a parcel of land being a
portion of Lot 2, Block 1 of Jasmine Acres Subdivision (Book 59 of plats at pages 5,829
through 5,830, records of Ada county, Idaho) and a portion of unplatted lands, situated
in the Northeast '/4 of the Southeast '/4 of Section 32 and the Northwest '/4 of the
Southwest '/4 of Section 33, Township 4 North, Range 1 East, Boise meridian, Ada
County, Idaho, as described in Attachment "A" and annexing certain lands and territory,
situated in Ada county, Idaho, and adjacent and contiguous to the corporate limits of the
City of Meridian as requested by the City of Meridian; establishing and determining the
land use zoning classification of 1.862 acres of land from RUT to C -G (General Retail
and Service Commercial) Zoning District in the Meridian City Code; providing that
copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County
Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required by law; and providing for a
summary of the ordinance; and providing for a waiver of the reading rules; and providing
an effective date.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, you have heard this read by title. Do I have a motion?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Move we approve ordinance number H-2018-006 with suspension of rules.
Bernt: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-B. Mr. Clerk, will you call
roll.
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Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 9: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Item 9 is Future Meeting Topics. Council, anything for future agendas?
Just a heads up on the town hall tomorrow at 6:30 at St. Ignatius School. The Bosnian
Heritage Day is May 12th at Kleiner Park from 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. It's just a drop by
thing. And the fire department has their Fill The Boot on May 17th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
at Locust Grove and Fairview. So, go and support our Fill The Boot activities and if you
do that once, avoid that intersection the rest of the day.
Bongiorno: Also, Madam Mayor, June 8th is the Light My Fire Golf Tournament for
those people that play golf and I know the Council have supported Light My Fire in the
past, so get your clubs out, dust them off, and that's June 8th.
De Weerd: Okay. And that helps the Burn Out Fund and it was prevention activity?
Bongiorno It's a public education and our Burn Out Fund. That is correct.
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)(J ): To Consider Labor Contract Matters
Authorized Under Section 67-2345A [74-206A](1)(A) And (B ), Idaho
Code
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Okay. Item 10 is Executive Session.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I move to go into Executive Session pursuant to Idaho State Code 74-206
(1)(a), (b), (f) and (j).
Cavener: Second.
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De Weerd: Did you forget any of the alphabet? Okay. I have a motion and a second.
Mr. Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll. Call: Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (7:07 p.m. to 7:36 p.m.)
De Weerd: Do I have a motion?
Borton: I would move we come out of Executive Session.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Borton: Move to adjourn.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor? All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:36 P.M.
(AUDIO RE RDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
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