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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-06-09 Work SessionMeridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:31 p.m., Tuesday, July 9, 2019, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Members Present: Tammy de Weerd, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Genesis Milam, Ty Palmer, Anne Little Roberts and Treg Bernt (phone). Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Warren Stewart, Tracy Basterrechea, Charlie Butterfield and Dean Willis. Item 1: Roll-call Attendance: Roll call. X__ Anne Little Roberts X _ _Joe Borton X__ Ty Palmer X__ Treg Bernt _ X___Genesis Milam _X___Lucas Cavener __X__ Mayor Tammy de Weerd De Weerd: Well, I'm going to go ahead and start today's meeting. This is the work session for City Council. Thank you for joining us. For the record it is Tuesday, July 9th. It's 4:31 and we will start with roll call attendance, Mr. Clerk. Item 2: Adoption of Agenda De Weerd: Item No. 2 is adoption of the agenda. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: Item 4-A on the agenda is coming off and with that change I move we adopt the agenda as amended. Cavener: Second. De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as amended. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 3: Consent Agenda [Action Item] A. Approve Minutes of June 25, 2019 City Council Regular Meeting B. Final Order for Alicia Court Subdivision (H-2019-0065) by Riley Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 4 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 2 of 22 Planning Services. Located at 4036 E. Granger Ave. C. Development Agreement for Gander Creek North & South (H- 2019-0013) with Union Square, LLC/RWK Investments, LLC /Heartland Townhomes Property Management, LLC and Kenneth P. Goldbach Melynda A. Maxwell (Owners) and Trilogy Development, Inc. Developer) located at the Southwest corner of N. McDermott Rd. and W. McMillan Rd. ( Parcel # s: S0432110450; S0432110100; S0432110565; S0432141800; S0432110500) D. Development Agreement for Pollard Subdivision (H-2019-0021) with Tomlinson Family Trust, Dated April 7, 1982 (Owner) and Brighton Development, Inc. (Developer). Located off the NE Corner of SH-16 and W. Chinden Blvd. E. Development Agreement for Villasport (H-2018-0121) with Sadie Creek Commons, LLC., (Owner/Developer ) Located at the SW Corner of E. Ustick Rd. and N. Eagle Rd. F. Williams Pipeline Specific Encroachment Agreement for Water Main Extension W. Victory Road and S Ten Mile G. Franchise Agreement between City of Meridian and Bird Rides, Inc. for Operation of Shared Vehicle Sharing Program H. 2019-2021 Discovery Park Concessions Lease Agreement I. Memorandum of Agreement for Shared Use of Countywide Address Data J. Acceptance Agreement for Display of Artwork in Initial Point Gallery with Shawn Hubbs K. Professional Services Agreements for Artwork for Traffic Box Community Art Project 1. Holly Badke, Allegretto 2. Nicole Branham, Unicorn Ice Cream 3. Ava Gardiner, Hopeful Bunny 4. Anne Watson Sorensen, Meridian of Time (aka Funky Town #10) L. FY-2019 Budget Amendment in the Amount of $61,071 for Legal Services M. AP Invoices for Payment - 06/27/19 - Special - $10,550.76 Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 5 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 3 of 22 N. AP Invoices for Payment - 06/28/19 - $112,950.63 O. AP Invoices for Payment - 07/03/19 - $789,533.59 P. AP Invoices for Payment - 7/10/19 - $642,218.07 De Weerd: Item 3 is our Consent Agenda. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: I move we approve the Consent Agenda as published. For the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest. Cavener: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. If there is no discussion, Mr. Clerk, will you call roll. Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea; Ber nt, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 4: Action Items A. Appeal of Denial of Vehicle Immobilization License Continued from June 25, 2019 by Nathan Nuno De Weerd: Item 4-A was vacated. B. Mayor's Office: Resolution No. 19-2155: A Resolution Appointing Ryan Lancaster and Tom LeClaire to the Meridian Transportation Commission. De Weerd: So, we will move to Item 4-B, which is under the Mayor's office, Resolution 19-2155. In front of you is a resolution reappointing Ryan Lancaster and appointing Tom LeClaire, who is here with us today, to the Meridian Transportation Commission. I know that you're familiar with Ryan and he has been a dependable commissioner and we appreciate his interest to continue to serve. New in front of you is -- is Tom LeClaire, but for some of you you probably know -- remember Tom. He served on our Parks Commission and he's also served Ada county on their planning and zoning . We appreciate his interest in the Meridian Transportation Commission and I think Mr. Ballard Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 6 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 4 of 22 and I have already finagled him to agree to help on a new project we are kind of endeavoring in. So, Tom has tackled some meaty issues when he was with the Parks Commission, so we are just really excited to have him interested in -- in the transportation world. So, Council, if you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them. Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: No questions. My opinion a great reappointment and a great appointment to the Transportation Commission. So, I would move that we adopt Resolution 19-2155, appointing Ryan Lancaster and Tom LeClaire to the Meridian Transportation Commission. Little Roberts: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 4-B. Mr. Clerk, will you call roll. Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea; Bernt, (No Response). De Weerd: The ayes have it. I'm not sure how to count Mr. Bernt, but -- MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE (NO RESPONSE.) De Weerd: Tom, would you like to make any remarks? If you would come on up to the podium. LeClaire: Thank you for showing confidence in me and I will work hard on this commission. It's -- the Mayor talked about some of my experiences. I look forward to coming back to the city and -- and re-engaging with our community and it's going to be really great. De Weerd: And welcome back. LeClaire: Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you, Tom. Okay. Item 5-B under Community Items/Presentations. Yes. Oh, Ryan, do you have anything you would like to say? Yes. I see you brought a guest. Lancaster: So, you guys ought to be careful giving -- who you give an open mic to. But thank you for reappointing me. So, I have been a commissioner on the -- first the Traffic Safety Commission and now the Transportation Commission for -- I guess this is eight years now. So, thank you for reappointing me for '9 '10 and '11 . So, this is my daughter, Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 7 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 5 of 22 Edith. She's one and she gets to -- she gets to tag along on our commission meetings every now and again with mom and big brother. So, it's fun for me to be able to bring my education and experience to the Transportation Commission . You know, by profession I'm a traffic engineer and so this is fun for me. I do this on my own time, on my -- yeah. I take time off for this. So, it's a pleasure to serve our community and I appreciate you reappointing me. So, thank you. De Weerd: Thank you, Ryan. And thank you for your service. Your contributions have been greatly appreciated. Lancaster: Well, thank you, Madam Mayor. Item 5: Community Items / Presentations A. Mayor and Council Compensation Committee: Presentation of the Recommendation of the Mayor and Council Compensation Committee [Action Item] De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. 5-A is under Community Presentations and I see that we have HR here and Josh here and Bill here. I don't know who I'm turning this over to. Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Josh is going to do the presentation for the committee. You do have the presentation in front of you in the smallest font I could possibly find, but it is in your -- it is in your packet, so it is on your screen as well in a much more readable form, so -- De Weerd: Okay. Thank you and welcome back, Josh. Evarts: Thank you. Josh Evarts. 303 East State Avenue, Old Town Meridian. Meridian. 83642. So, thanks for having me back. Per your instruction last time we met, we did get back together as a committee, had some great discussions. I would say that the general sentiment was gratitude from you guys that it definitely felt like as we -- as I made the last presentation on behalf of the group, we heard you guys loud and clear that it was appropriate for us to go back and revisit this and come with a real recommendation. So, that -- that felt very encouraging as a group. Definitely our spirits were much, much higher. It allowed us to actually look at some market data and come back with something that we think is much more in line with -- with something that we feel good about, so -- the presentation is up there. Sweet. I don't see it here. Do I need to or do I care? Is that all you -- moving it. Am I doing something? I'm advancing it. Okay. It doesn't matter. I wrote it. I should know. Here is the commissioners -- are the committee members. Just an FYI, we did have all of us in there for this discussion, which was really, really great , because there were a couple times where we didn't have all of us , so everybody got to provide input on this last little bit. So, thank them for all of their work on this. Again, a quick recapturing of market data, kind of where we sit right now as far as how we compensate our Mayor and how we compensate our Council Members. So, again, this is more for review. Some of the observations -- I won't burden you guys with these again, Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 8 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 6 of 22 but we believe that the nature of -- of what City Council looked like specifically, we just felt that that was where we had some deficits and -- and -- and we needed to make those things up and not anybody's fault, but certainly an opportunity to make a correction here, so that we are not kicking this can further down the road and having a bigger makeup later on, as well as wanting to encourage participation and be at more of a market rate for our Council Members. So, our adjusted mayoral recommendation is -- is -- is identical to what we made before. So, we didn't make any changes here and kind of as we discussed last time, we felt some market based adjustments were appropriate. What we have recommended in here is about -- and I'm not going to be able to read this either. Is it 1,820? Yeah. So, 1,820 over -- in year one with 1,856 in year two. This represents a couple percent increase. We feel that this will keep up with the rest of the m arket. We feel that those are appropriate recommendations. I do want to emphasize again, though, the thing that we talked about last week, which is that yellow item, we do believe that putting a statute in place that when we make market based adjustments and wages for all city employees, that City Council and the Mayor would be included in that. We think that that would provide a mechanism outside of what our committee does every two years to make sure that cost of living is -- is being reflected in compensation for -- for -- for elected officials, as well as their city employees. So, no changes to that mayoral recommendation. Where we do see a change is when we get to our revised City Council recommendation. We felt that we wanted to take this in two parts. We felt that our goal was to target something that's a little bit more in line with the market and the rest of the cities and just the additional workload that you guys are taking on as City Council members. Our recommendation was a 3,500 dollar increase in 2020 and a 1,500 dollar increase in 2021. The expectation would be that the compensation committee would get back together in two years, look at what the rest of the valley is doing, look at the workload that you guys -- we were going to probably tap into Patty again at -- at Meridian Press and encourage her to go do our research for us. In the absence of that, we felt that it was really good data that we will probably volunteer some more time. If she doesn't do the work for us, then, we are going to go do the legwork, because we felt that that was a really, really important thing to have there and have that data as to what's happening in the market in general. Along with -- I anticipate that we would probably do some interviews with you guys individually in the -- in two years to get an understanding of , A, how many hours are you spending? What's your perception of the value of that time? Is the -- is the compensation just that we will probably go do that legwork a little bit of ourselves next time around in two years to really assess, you know, are we where we need to be, as well as look at data and the other cities are really, really great. This is all open and -- and, you know, they have been asking us for data about what we are going to do and I think everybody wants to grow the valley and be healthy. So, I don't think it will be difficult to get at that data. But that's our intent as a committee is that we would go get that research ourselves in two years from now. But our recommendation for right now is that. Again, that yellow item, we feel that that's important for City Council, as well as the Mayor, that when we are doing these kind of adjustments that they be included in that as well. Lastly, as far as the committee analysis, even with doing this we -- we maintain a ranking behind Boise after two years as far as Mayor goes and, again, we don't know what these other cities are intending to do, but we believe that that Mayor position would stay in that position. It does move our City Council more in line -- moves them closer. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 9 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 7 of 22 Again, we don't know what these cities are going to do, but by the end of that two years, we feel like it would be close to a number two position. Not that we are trying to keep up with the Joneses, we are trying to keep up with the marketplace, as well as we looked at the breakdown of the hours that we believe you guys were working , which we think averages, you know, probably 15 hours a week and we are trying to make sure that the compensation is appropriate for that time and certainly you guys are still public servants; right? This is not a job by any stretch. It's not a living wage, but it is something that we are trying to be fair to compensate that time and make -- make it worthwhile, as well as to attract those new City Council members in the future that might want to volunteer and would be willing to give up that 15 to 20 hours a week in exchange for that and be able to have some offsetting income coming in. This is a course correction to adjust for many years of failure to increase. We talked about this the first time that over 20 years you guys have accepted pay increases four times. So, that environment's what's created where we are today. So, it's appropriate to catch those dollars up, do it in a phase kind of approach. We did have Mr. Nary go ahead and -- on budgeting that's been done in the last -- Mr. Nary, is it the last week that got submitted. We did make sure that there was a placeholder in there for these dollars in anticipation that this was the right thing going forward and, then, we will come back in two years and take a look at this based on what's happening in the market, what's happening with our workload and making sure that we are doing things that are appropriate. Last slide. The need for our citizens committee meeting every two years on this topic to gauge the community's perspective and performance of our elected officials, again, will determine the value of the correction recommended two years from now and we love the fact that we as citizens get to participate in this. It was a very revealing cycle, even though it was my first one, I felt that some of the old inputs -- certainly I tried to stir things up a little bit, but -- but everybody was unanimous and that it's -- it's -- it felt really good to have you guys come back and put us to work one more day, that I would say going into this process it did feel like a little bit of a beat down room, that, you know, hey, we are going to do this work, we are going to submit a recommendation, they are going to deny it. Like that was literally our attitude and when we had this makeup meeting, it was very forward thinking, we were looking at market data, we were excited about the prospect of being able to present something to you and everybody felt like it was of value. So, thank you for doing that. Any questions? De Weerd: Thank you, Josh. Council, any questions? Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Josh, if I hear you correct, the committee's recommendation is to take for the Council a tiered approach for year one, an additional amount year two and, then, moving forward apply a cost of living like we would do for all other employees? Evarts: No. Cost of living is a separate thing. We believe that that should be something statutory, that you guys would have Mr. Nary's office write that up and vote on that as a separate thing, that just when we do cost of living adjustments for city employees that we Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 10 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 8 of 22 -- that absent our committee that those would just be cost of living adjustments that you guys would benefit from. The committee -- our responsibility, then, is looking at more of a bigger picture. We actually talked about this today, that -- that we anticipate that the adjustments that we would be making in the future might be little to nothing, that by making this correction and with including statutes for cost of living, we might see that the compensation just is right in line with the rest of the valley and what's going on. What we would be responsible for is doing the due diligence to look at what's happening in the valley in other cities, as well as to interview you guys and look at what your workload is and what you guys are really -- you know, what does the job look like and, then, make an assessment that do we need to do anything additional or do we need to take away. I think the committee can recommend both; right? If we feel like the workload decreased or we have made some adjustments or we feel like it's not as big a demand or we see some -- you know, it would be appropriate for us to come back and go, hey, we think a -- you know, an adjustment down would be appropriate. We certainly as a committee are -- are fine with that as well. We all run businesses and -- and sometimes have to make cuts, so -- but it would just be our job to look at a bigger picture kind of view and we believe that this kind of gets us back to a market rate for the work that you guys are providing. Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. Josh, when you were here last time we talked about, again, that tiered approach and it sounded like the committee recommended that, because they thought it was a -- maybe a way that the Council would accept kind of an increase. Evarts: Yeah. Uh-huh. Cavener: I'm curious, is that the same rationalization behind why the tiered approach for Council again as well? Evarts: No. I will be transparent. So, originally, there was a thought that, look, why don't we just catch up the 5,000 in year one. We were concerned about setting a precedent of a big catch up and, then, a zero year and that would we somehow set standard in the future of doing, you know, kind of a -- you know, a big amount with, then, a zero year. So, we felt like it would be appropriate to -- to take this in a tiered approach. Also it's an election year, we felt like making sure that that first year, you know, is -- is -- it's a 35 percent increase in your compensations. So, it's a big number. Like when you express it as a percentage, it -- it feels -- it feels big. When you talk about it in dollars in comparison to what's happening in the market it's not at all, it's completely appropriate. So, we wanted to make sure that we took sort of a graduated approach, because we felt that that was the best for the city. We felt it was the best for you guys and it got us on a path to be healthy two years from now. Is that fair? De Weerd: Any other questions? Evarts: And, actually, Mr. Nary, is that a fair representation of our -- Nary: Yes. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 11 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 9 of 22 Evarts: Okay. De Weerd: Okay. Evarts: I have been known to make things up, so I just want to -- my fact checker here. Except in front of this body. De Weerd: So, next steps is we need direction from Council on -- Evarts: Thank you. De Weerd: -- if you want to approve the recommendation from the committee and thank you, Josh, and certainly thank you to the entire committee. Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: A thought. I appreciate the committee bringing this back. I, for one, would like some time to -- I guess marinate on this. It is a large increase and typically any increase I have not been really warm to, but I really appreciate the feedback that we heard from the committee. I think -- and this is, I guess, something that I guess I would like to float out there to get Council's feedback on. Because the proposed increase to Council compensation is so high, I guess I believe both in terms of dollars and percentage , I would like to maybe have a public hearing on this and let the public have the opportunity to come in and weigh in. Again, it's their dollars. I, for one, would like time to marinate, to hear from the public before I would want to render a decision. The piece, too, that I'm struggling with is the tiered approach to -- to making a decision. This body is going to make a decision that will impact a future Council financially and I would rather this just be one number now or a number now and the Council could look to make that decision a year from now if they would want to take that secondary increase . So, those are some of my thoughts. I really do appreciate the work of the committee and I think that made compelling arguments three weeks ago when you were here a bout the importance for providing appropriate compensation, not just for this Council, but for the councils in the future. De Weerd: Okay. Any other comments? Bernt: Madam Mayor, can you guys hear me? De Weerd: Yes, Treg. Bernt: I would like to take a second to thank Mr. Evarts and the -- the committee -- their committee for taking the time to reevaluate this. My thoughts haven't changed since we spoke last in regards to this. I think it's important going forward that we have the talent necessary in -- in order to have people on Council that are good decision makers, who Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 12 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 10 of 22 have the time and the resources available to be great leaders in our city, and so we asked Mr. Evarts to go back and take more time with this. I'm in -- in agreement with Mr. Evarts and his committee and very supportive of it. So, unlike Mr. Cavener, I would like to -- I would like to move on this and -- and -- and vote on this this evening and -- and come to a resolution whether it be yea or nay and -- and get the ball rolling. So, that -- that would be my recommendation. And, again, I appreciate Mr. Evarts and the committee for the time they have taken to -- to evaluate this and for their -- their dedication to the city. So, thank you so much, Josh and committee. De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Bernt. Other comments from Council? Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: I'm kind of pondering what Councilman Bernt said and also Councilman Cavener. Thinking about if we wait I don't think I would feel any different. I really appreciate the committee going back and -- and kind of the committee's change in how they felt about doing it, that it gave them some enthusiasm to think that we were on board with what they would come back with. So, I support that we accept the committee's recommendation. I think they have done a lot of work, many of them over many years and we have a recommendation for a reason. We trust our citizens committee, although I'm not completely opposed to having a hearing, so -- but I do think that the recommend -- I would not have a problem with moving on tonight and accepting the recommendation as well. It has been on the agenda, people could be here if they had chosen to . Cavener: You have a point. Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Milam. Milam: Josh came to us last time with a smaller number and we unanimously asked him to go back and give us a real number and that's what he did and I am -- I would like to see once in the six years I have been sitting here for us to listen to our citizen committees and actually do what they recommend . So, I'm in favor of taking the recommendation and truly appreciate all of the hard work that has gone into this and an extra work on top of the regular job by going back and reevaluating to bring us the real number they did. So, I'm -- I'm in agreement with the numbers that Josh has brought forward tonight . I might have to reconsider my thoughts of not running. Just kidding on that last part. Palmer: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Palmer. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 13 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 11 of 22 Palmer: And for all the reasons cited, both in the article and -- and in all my conversations with anyone who has asked me about this, I do believe that the position warrants higher compensation than it presently has. I don't feel as bad saying that, because I am leaving, but to -- to be able to attract younger people like myself , so that hopefully someday I don't hold the record for the youngest Meridian City Council member. But I think a 50 percent increase over two years, while I really appreciate the value that the committee has placed in the efforts that we put in and while that very well may be commensurate with the work that we put in, still as a public service position I feel like it should be lower than what the position really deserves and I put a lot of thought in the time since I had had that conversation with Patty, because I had kind of put the number out there of 12 to 12 five and I feel really comfortable with that number, maybe even over a tiered approach of moving into 12 in '20 and 12 five in 2021. But a 35 percent increase, followed by another 1,500, I think is a little steep for the position at the moment. I don't want that to feel like I don't appreciate the effort you guys put in, because I really do. But I wouldn't want to have to figure that out, because I can't be unbiased enough. I know that if I was on the committee I would be like, oh, they are elected officials. No raises. But the reality is to attract the kind of people that we want up here it does take a little bit more, but not quite that much. De Weerd: Well, I appreciate the citizens committee every two years coming here and hearing some of the same conversation. I think you have heard from the citizens. That's why we put the citizen committee together and to be thoughtful on the recommendation. The reason why the increase is coming back at the percentage it is is because it's already an insanely low amount that any increase is going to seem big and the Council hasn't approved the increases in the past. So, it gets bigger every two years trying to make up for a workload that is really being accomplished by City Council representatives and you have to take yourselves out of the seats and think for those that will -- will serve and help offset -- and this certainly doesn't even come close to offsetting the time spent and the time invested in continuing to make Meridian a good place to live. You're elected to make some tough decisions. This is not one of the toughest decisions that you have been asked to make, you just have to take yourself out of it and look at it fo r future councils as well that will come. So, I think it's time that the Council salaries come into alignment more so than they have been in the past. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: That was very well said and with that I will make the motion that we accept the recommendation from the compensation committee. De Weerd: Okay. Milam: Second. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 14 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 12 of 22 De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the compensation committee 's recommendation in full. Any discussion? Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Council Member Roberts, I assume your motion includes that tiered approach? Little Roberts: Yes. Cavener: Madam Mayor. I'm not opposed to the amount personally, but, Mayor, you said something that I think has really sat with me is taking ourselves out of the seats and for me that's looking at it through the eyes of a taxpayer and a 5,000 dollar increase for a public servant I think invites the opportunity for the public of which we serve to come and comment on this. So, while I don't think that I'm opposed to the number, I am opposed to this tiered approach. I would -- I won't be supporting this motion, not because I oppose the work of the committee, it's because I think it's incumbent upon us to invite the public to come in and comment on this. Nary: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Nary. Nary: So, mechanically, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we will have to bring an ordinance back with both those changes and to the wages both for the Mayor and for the Council positions for the next two years. Statutorily it has to be done at least 60 days prior to the election. So, it has to be done by about the end of August, first of September. The opportunity for public input is certainly there with the ordinance . So, that's an opportunity, if that's the Council's desire, we can schedule, you know, the first hearing of it to be a public hearing and, then, the second and third reading could be passed or amended as -- as you direct. So, there is the opportunity if that's what you would like. Since it is an ordinance you can open that up for public comments. Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Milam. Milam: I support the idea of having a hearing on this and getting input from our citizens . I think we can go ahead and make the recommendation now to approve it, with the public hearing before the ordinance. De Weerd: Mr. Clerk, will you call roll. Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, nay; Little Roberts, yea; Bernt, yea. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 15 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 13 of 22 De Weerd: The ayes have it. And we will bring that back in ordinance form and, Mr. Clerk, to list the first reading as a public hearing. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE NAY. B. Legal/HR: Continued Discussion of Self-Funded Trusts and Trustees [Action Item] De Weerd: Okay. And thank you again to our committee . Item 5-B is under our Legal Department and I will -- I will turn this over to Mr. Nary. Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I would like to introduce Kevin West of the firm Parsons Behle and Latimer. The committee of -- the benefits committee and the benefits trustees met to discuss outside counsel helping prepare the trust agreement for the self-funded trust. Walking through the process with the Department of Insurance. Mr. West has a great deal of experience in this area. The committee was really impressed with him and his firm's ability to help us manage through this process. I asked Mr. West to come and help provide a little more information. We talked a few weeks ago about the trust and the trustee makeup and how that's done and Mr. West can help explain a little again how the trust operates and functions and what the purpose of it is. We did get some information back from Department of Insurance , basically saying they have not made a definitive position on the question about elected officials , but their response was we have not allowed any elected officials to this point. That's basically the best they would tell us is that to this point they have denied any requests by elected officials to be part of a benefits trust, but they weren't telling us that they were prohibiting it either. So, they have sort of left it on the fence. But I thought Mr. West could help us understand a little bit about the process and how this works and what the -- how the trust functions and if you had any questions he could answer those. De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Nary. Mr. West, welcome. West: Well, it's an honor to -- a rare honor for me to be in front of this group, so I appreciate this opportunity and hope I can be helpful. I don't know if it's best just to entertain questions or whether you want to hear anything more formal than that. Obviously, a self-funded health plan is -- has become very popular in recent years. Many -- not only government entities, but private companies are moving to this arrangement. There is Idaho law that governs the formation of a self -funded health plan with a trust and has numerous requirements. Title 41 of the Idaho Code governs the formation, registration of a self-funded health trust and has requirements for the formation of that. I know -- I listened to your minutes of your last meeting. Bill was good enough to give me that heads up, so I -- I know Mr. Borton had questions about what are the duties and responsibilities of trustees and I went through various sections of the code and I just thought I would list those for you if that's helpful. De Weerd: Thank you. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 16 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 14 of 22 West: So, the responsibilities of trustees are to receive contributions for the trust and these are contributions both from the city and from the employees themselves to the extent that you require contributions from them . Secondly, to hold, manage and invest trust assets according to the terms of the trust. Third, to make distributions from the trust for covered benefits of plan participants and for any trust expens es. Fourth, to be responsible for the trust's long term financial stability and that primarily involves maintaining sufficient reserves as established by a qualified actuary and that's both an annual and I believe a quarterly process of determining that s ufficient reserves exist. Fifth, to keep records and accounts of all trust transactions, trust board decisions. Six, to furnish employees with copies of the plan. Next, to ensure that the various filings are made with the director of the Department of Insurance and I think those are the main ones. And I should add the trustees don't have to do all of these things personally, they can certainly delegate and get others to assist them in these different functions , but the ultimate responsibility as fiduciaries remains with -- with the trustees, even though they may delegate some of these things to others. I know that you would have a third party administrator who would be very involved in -- in assisting the trustees with -- with these functions and so I would be -- I would certainly entertain any questions. I will also add I know there was discussion about City Council Members being trustees and it's interesting that ten years ago another city that I won't name, but another city in Idaho asked my firm for a legal opinion on that and our opinion was that it was not appropriate for a city council member to be a trustee and that's -- the code says that an employer shall not be a trustee and so the employer here is the City of Meridian and while it's -- it's not entirely clear, our feeling was that the city acts by and through its city council and in effect, the city council is, in some sense, the employer. So, it was our opinion that both the sense and spirit of the statute was that city council members should not be trustees . We also felt that there was a potential for conflict of interest that might exist in terms of, you know, allocation of finances to the trust fund and as opposed to using city funds for other purposes and that's maybe a bit of a stretch, but we felt that there could be potentially a conflict of interest as well. So, that was the opinion that we gave in 2010 to another city. The statute has not changed. It's not been interpreted to my knowledge and that was our opinion at the time and it sounds like the Department of Insurance is having a hard time making up its mind on which way it's going to go. So, I think that reflects the fact that it's not crystal clear. But, anyway, I would -- I would be happy to entertain any other questions. De Weerd: Thank you. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor. Mr. West, we also had some discussion regarding the number of trustees. Do you have an opinion on -- what we agreed on was an odd number is best, but three, five, seven -- West: Yes. I -- I really think that's a matter of preference. I think having an odd number to break a tie is probably a good idea, although I understand from Mr. Nary in listening, Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 17 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 15 of 22 you know, to the discussion, that it's very rare that there is much of a dispute, but I still think having an even -- an odd number is a good idea, whether -- whether it's three or five or seven I don't really have an opinion on. I think five is certainly an adequate number. Little Roberts: Thank you. De Weerd: Any other questions from Council? Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Mr. West, appreciate you being here and for your expertise as well. Do you know how many municipalities in -- in Idaho have a similar trust plan like what we are proposing in Meridian? West: I don't. I, again, have worked with a major university in the state, a major city in the state, some major companies in the state, some of the largest employers in the state who have them, but I don't have like a statistic to give you . Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. I have been told that it's -- it's not many, but -- I mean is if someone were to say there are not many cities that do this in Idaho right now, is that a fair and accurate statement to make? West: I don't know. Cavener: Okay. Madam Mayor, maybe one -- just one. If you read the minutes I think you're well aware that I'm a -- I'm a large supporter of having a council member on this and when someone, who is an expert like you, brings up the issue of risk, that's something that perks my ears up. I -- I'm keenly interested in that. And help me understand what -- what risk would pose to the city by -- by having somebody that's serving on the city council also being a member of this trust. West: Yeah. And I -- I'm not sure I said there was a risk, I said there was a potential -- potential conflict of interest. Okay. You know, there may -- there may be one interest in -- in guarding city funds and using them and safeguarding -- well, not safeguarding, but -- but -- but keeping them back for other purposes, as opposed to devoting them to the trust. So, there -- there could be some inherent conflict in -- in that. That's -- as we looked at this almost ten years ago, that was a potential that we saw and Idaho Code says the trustee shall not have any conflict of interest or any appearance of such. So, you might say, well, that's a pretty small risk, Mr. West, and I might agree with you, but there was, nevertheless, that potential there. Cavener: Great. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. De Weerd: Okay. Other questions? Thank you for joining us this -- this afternoon. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 18 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 16 of 22 West: All right. De Weerd: It's not evening yet. West: Thank you. De Weerd: Okay. Council, any further information needed from -- I know Christena is here, Mr. Nary or Mr. West. Cavener: Madam Mayor? Cavener: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: It's listed as an action item. What's -- what's the action that you were or HR or city attorney or -- are looking for? De Weerd: Mr. Nary. Nary: Madam Mayor, I can answer this. So, what I wasn't sure of is if there was a necessity to take an action. What has already been directed previously was to begin the process of the application, which that's something between HR and myself and Mr. West and we will get that information to them. The trustees that have proposed to move forward right now are four. The last discussion was three to five. One of the suggestions at the last discussion was that, again, to take action is going to require a majority of the trustees. So, you're going to need a minimum of three -- if you only have four you're going to need a minimum of three people to take any action to move forward. So, you're not really going to have a tie, because you -- as with this board, if you had to tie, then, it fails. So, I didn't know if there was any further action, I just wanted to make sure we were covered if the Council wanted to direct anything else, we are beginning that process. If the Council's desire is a Council Member apply to be a trustee, we will submit that with the paperwork and if that's -- if the Department of Insurance approves it or denies it, that's up to the Department of Insurance. So, I think -- I just wanted to make sure you had enough information about how this worked and what the functions of the trustees really are and why, you know, they have in the past separated out elected officials from trustees fo r -- for reasons that the Department of Insurance now seems to be unsure of, but had been -- up until we asked the question had been fairly sure of. So, I didn't know if you need to take action, I just wanted to make sure it was labeled properly in case there was a direction to do something. De Weerd: So, because it has -- there already has been action taken, there is not action necessary tonight. Nary: It isn't required, no. De Weerd: Okay. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 19 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 17 of 22 Cavener: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: I do think, though, it's -- if there are questions about -- I guess if this body believes it's five members, that we should probably make some type of action about that. I would hate that there be any ambiguity from staff's perspective on least where Council stands on this. I think specifically to have any Council Member on the trust board. And no one's surprised, it's my opinion that we should continue with the path of putting a Council Member on there, unless the Department of Insurance says you can't. I think five is an appropriate thing. That's where the conversation has been. I don't have any opposition to that. I think in terms of making sure that it continues to move forward we should -- if -- and because it's asked for action and to Mr. Nary's points I think we could at least comment in about where Council is so at least staff's aware as they move forward. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: I'm still comfortable and in agreement with the direction from our in-house counsel and now our out-of-house counsel that's framed it well, that the principles behind the employer's prohibition upon being a trustee apply in spirit at least with an elected official. I think the remarks about the code's prohibition on an appearance of a conflict, as well as an actual conflict, would prohibit an elected official being a trustee. I think the appearance of a conflict is clearly there, even if an actual conflict doesn't exist, and the direction from those two legal professionals with that code principle makes me believe that a Council Member should not be a trustee on this trust, that that appearance of conflict will exist can't be cured. Palmer: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Palmer. Palmer: I lean towards agreeing. Left kind of with the only thing leaving me uneasy about it was the acceleration in the process, but not to the point of not wanting to move forward. I am confident in our staff's competence in the acceleration. So, not super pumped about it, but I'm fine with it -- to address them. De Weerd: Okay. So, unless anyone has anything in particular, we don't need anything specific on this item tonight, so -- Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Milam. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 20 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 18 of 22 Milam: Yes, it's something -- you know, it is something we have discussed -- we discussed a lot last time, it came up today, and Mr. West even pretty much confirmed that five is the magic number. So, I always said three to five or whatever it was, but I, for one, feel comfortable with the number five and I think I heard Mr. Cavener say that he felt comfortable with the number five. So, I don't know if we want to change that or just leave it. I'm not going to push too hard, but if anybody's with me -- Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor. I don't know if I can pose this question to Mr. Nary. If -- if it's already in process what does it take to add a fifth person and is there a fifth person in mind, assuming we do not submit a Council person. Nary: So, Madam Mayor, Members of Council, Council Member Little Roberts, I think that was kind of the rationale between the three to five. We have trusts that have operated with one. We don't recommend that. That person gets hit by a bus you're kind of in trouble. The concern is if -- if the requirement it has to be five, then, nothing can happen if you can't get a fifth person or the fifth person retires or leaves the city and it takes us a couple months and you can't move forward , because now you don't have a legally constituted board and so that's why many of our commissions say up to a certain number, so that way you have a minimum, but you don't have a maximum. So, that way you can still function when you don't have your maximum number. Five is an ideal number. At the moment the four people that have volunteered off of the benefits committee are the only four people in the benefits committee that were willing to do it. So, at the moment we would be recruiting somebody who to this point has expressed no interest in wanting to be one of the trustees. So, I'm not saying it's impossible. We certainly can. I think part of our intent with the committee is to start getting some new members to the committee to educate them on how the process works, what the long -term goal is, that way there is a good deep bench for when people s eparate or retire or whatever. So, at the moment we just don't have a fifth person that has volunteered to do that. So, I would hate to stifle the whole process over one person. But, again, we could craft the agreement to make sure it's clear that a minimum of three need to approve any action by the board in moving forward and that if there is an available position for a fifth and , again, as we work on this and get it up and running we can help recruit that fifth person, because I think ideally that would work, it's just that the moment we don't really have that and I would hate to stall everything for one -- one position. Little Roberts: Thank you. Makes sense. Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Milam. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 21 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 19 of 22 Milam: That made a lot of sense I guess. Then I would -- I would feel comfortable knowing that the goal is to have five -- to have that at least confirmation from the -- from the committee members that we are -- our goal is to have five. That way, if somebody does drop off we still have four, you know, and, then, always try to keep it at five, but maybe not mandate it to be five for those reasons that we don't want to stall anything if somebody does leave. I do have a question. Are -- are all of the members employees under our compensation committee? Do you have any -- is there a potential for any citizens to be on that committee or does it need to be set up as only employees? Nary: Well, historically it has only been employees on the benefits committee. Again, we talked to other entities on whether a third party or an outside consultant or an outside member -- and, again, for the same sort of reasons, it didn't make a lot of sense to most other trusts of having people who have no stake in the outcome, no role in the benefi ts. Again, it's -- part of it's that learning curve, part of it's the investment into a part of it. It is a benefits committee for the employees and so it hasn't made sense to other people that have that -- I'm not aware of any trusts that have nonemployee members on the trust and there is -- again, I -- maybe go back to Mr. Cavener's earlier question, there are a number of them in the state of Idaho, but generally they are larger cities, larger employers. On the public sector side it isn't very large, because we don't have a lot of large cities or large employers. But there aren't any that I'm aware of that have nonmembers being on their boards. De Weerd: Mr. Nary, can you, then, build in the requirements to move forward anything regarding the trust it would need to have the affirmative vote of three that would help with the concern of the even and no tiebreaker and it will also help if you lose the fourth or don't have all five, you will always have to have five or three people voting in favor. Nary: Yes, ma'am. That can be crafted with the trust agreement. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: Can I booger it up just a little bit? A majority actually does the same thing. In the off chance you one day have three commiss ioners -- or three trustees, someday in the future, your -- De Weerd: Unanimous. Borton: Still want that? De Weerd: Uh-huh. Borton: Okay. Never mind. I won't booger it up. De Weerd: Okay. Anything further on this item? Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 22 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 20 of 22 Item 6: Department / Commission Reports A. Budget Amendment for FY 2019 in the Amount of $464,147 to Purchase Additional Water Meters / MXUs Supporting City Growth [Action Item] De Weerd: Okay. Moving on. Thank you so much. Item 6-A is under Department Reports. We have in front of you our Public Works director to talk to you about a budget amendment seeking approval. Bolthouse: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, thank you for the opportunity to -- I think present the last and final amendment of the year. I think we probably might have presented the first one back in October, but before you, hopefully, in your information packet and memo it was appropriately explanatory of what we are looking for and that is additional spending authority to purchase MXUs and meters, which we, in turn, pass through, sell and install to development community and we vastly underestimated the growth that we were anticipating this year and we now need that additional spending authority and it's set -- it's offset nearly dollar for dollar for every extra meter we have to buy we will turn around and -- and sell and pass through. So, I will stand for any questions. De Weerd: Thank you, Dale. Any questions from Council? Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Madam Mayor, hearing no questions, I move that we approve the budget amendment to the amount of 464,147 for the purchase of additional water meters. Cavener: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 6-A. If there is no discussion, Mr. Clerk, will you 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. De Weerd: Thank you. Bolthouse: Thank you. Enjoy your evening. Item 7: Executive Session per Idaho State Code 74-206 to communicate with Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 23 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 21 of 22 legal counsel for the public agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation authorized under section 74- 206(1)(f) ; and (1)(j) to consider labor contract matters authorized under Section 74-206A (1)(a) and (b) De Weerd: Okay. Item 7 is Executive Session. Do I have a motion? Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: I move we go into Executive Session pursuant to Idaho State Code 74- 206(1)(f),(1)(j),(1)(a) and (1)(b). Cavener: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adjourn into Executive Session. Mr. Clerk, will you call roll. Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea; Bernt, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:26 p.m. to 6:02 p.m.) De Weerd: Okay. I will entertain a motion to come out of Executive Session. Borton: So moved. Milam: Second. De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. De Weerd: Do you know what you were saying aye to? Borton: I do. De Weerd: Could I have a motion to adjourn our work session? Borton: I move we adjourn. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 16, 2019 – Page 24 of 147 Meridian City Council Work Session July 9, 2019 Page 22 of 22 Milam: Second. De Weerd: Thank you. I have a motion and a second to adjourn our work session. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:02 P. M. (AUDIO --RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) – MAYOR TAMMY DE WEERD DATE APPROVED ATTEST: D AU(wsl 's G o1V of CHR16-J-OIF0N�Y—C l G l�pAMO (� SEAL .c �U! rhi, TPV �.