HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-10-01 Work Session MinutesMeridian City Council Work Session October 1, 2019.
A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, October
1, 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.
Also Present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Caleb Hood, Kyle Radek, Mark Ford, 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: Okay. I'm going to go ahead and start today's City Council work session. For
the record it is Tuesday, October 1. Happy October. 4:30. We will start with roll call
attendance, Mr. Clerk. Okay. We have just one brief thing for all of your enjoyment. Hit
it.
(Video played.)
Borton: The bar has been raised.
Item 2: Adoption of Agenda
De Weerd: Just remember they were responding to a challenge and that was already --
they are just responding. Just saying. Item No. 2, adoption of the agenda.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I move we adopt the agenda as published.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as published. All those in
favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
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Item 4: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda
Item 3: Consent Agenda [Action Item]
A. Approve Minutes of September 24, 2019 City Council Work
Session
B. Little Creek Subdivision No. 2 Sanitary Sewer & Water Main
Easement
C. Partial Release of Touchmark Meadow Lake Village Village
Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement
D. Final Plat for Gander Creek North No. 1 (H-2019-0096) by Trilogy
Idaho, Located on the South Side of W. McMillan Road
E. Ada County Dispatch Services Renewal Agreement
F. Agreement for Connection to Pressurized Irrigation Line for Fire
Station 6
G. Animal Welfare and Enforcement Agreement for Fiscal Year
2020 by and between Ada County, the Cities Of Boise, Meridian,
Kuna, and the Idaho Humane Society for an amount not to
exceed 520,536
H. Approval of Master Subscription Agreement with Granicus, LLC
for Boards and Commissions Software Solution
I. License Agreement With A To Z Sprinklers And Landscape
J. City of Meridian Financial Report - August 2019
K. AP Invoices for Payment - 10/02/19 - $469,387.86
L. AP Invoices for Payment - 09/27/19 - Special - $18,883.00
De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda, so we will move to
Item 5-A and ask Christena to come on up. Oh, I'm sorry. I probably should do the
Consent Agenda.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
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Borton: I move we approve the Consent Agenda as published. For the Mayor to sign
and the Clerk to attest.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. See, I knew you were going to do that. 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.
Item 5: Department / Commission Reports
A. Human Resources: Benefits Self-Funding Quarterly Update
De Weerd: Thank you for being here, Christena. We are at 5-A.
Barney: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you were just so excited to get me up
here, weren't you?
De Weerd: I -- I really was.
Barney: All right. So, I'm here this evening to provide you an update on where we are
with self funding. I am pleased to announce we are on track. I was on the phone this
morning with Department of Insurance, so we have supplied them with the majority of the
required documents, 18 required steps in their -- their plan and we are making our way
through that. I reached out to Mercer. There are a couple of things that are required from
them. They are working on the final documents that are needed . I have communicated
that with the Department of Insurance. We have acquired the fidelity bond that's required
for the Department of Insurance and sent that over to them. The trust agreement that's
come in front of you and been approved has also been sent over. So , a lot of work has
been done. A lot of work still to do though. So, what will be coming before you here in
just a little bit is a budget amendment for spending authority for the reserve amount and
I will be back in front of you here in just a little bit for that. But , then, we also have
submitted a check request for the registration fee for the Department of Insurance to
officially review the documents that have been submitted to them , which was presented
to you, Council, when I first came to you with this idea of self funding. Then I have met
with Mercer to make sure that we have met all of the requirements of the Department of
Insurance and completed all the documents needed. I also have a meeting scheduled
with the Department of Insurance on October 8th to make sure they have received
everything that's required and address any issues, concerns or questions that they may
have. I didn't want to wait until they have reviewed the documents and, then, see if they
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had questions, I want to engage in that conversation ahead of time and make sure that
we keep that open dialogue as we go along, so that I'm aware of any obstacles, hurdles,
or questions that they may have hopefully ahead of any issues.
Borton: Madam Mayor? One real quick question. Is -- remind me. Is Mercer the entity
that will help facilitate some of the administration?
Barney: Yes.
Borton: Okay.
Barney: Yeah. So, we will do the day-to-day -- the paying of the claims. Blue Cross will
be adjudicating the claims. But Mercer will assist in all of those operations as well.
Borton: Okay. Thanks.
Barney: So, that is one of the pieces that we are putting together is agreements with the
trust with Mercer legal accounting services, the admin services that HR will provide for
the trust, those are the last minute agreements that we are going to be putting together
and are finalizing currently to make sure that we have all of those in place and we have
all those services contracted with the trust.
Borton: Okay. And those come back to us?
Barney: Those agreements would not necessarily come back to the Council. I certainly
can bring them before you if you would like. We are doing a legal review of them. We
are having our trust attorney review them. The one document -- or the one agreement
that may come back before you if -- at a minimum we will have a legal review on the city's
behalf is the admin services that are provided by Human Resources, but the accounting
services -- it's a third-party provider between the trust. Mercer is a third-party
administrator in the trust, so I don't know that there is a need to bring it back before
Council, but I certainly can do so if you -- if you would like.
Borton: I'm not suggesting that, I just wondered -- trying to make sure I'm understanding
the relationship with who is hiring who and it sounds like it's the trust --
Barney: It's -- yeah.
Borton: -- hiring these entities.
Barney: Correct. We have begun preparing for open enrollment, so those
communications will start going out here relatively soon and, then, working on the logistics
of putting all of these measures in place. We will work to schedule the Board of Trustee
meetings and as soon as I am approved for spending authority for the reserve amount,
then, I have the ability to open up the trust account. So, still a lot of work to do. A lot of
work has been done, but we are on track. So, I will stand for any questions.
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Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Thank you, Christena. Yes, Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor. Christena, someone asked me if we were the first one to
go through it. I didn't realize that the legislature had just passed the bill this last year to
require registration. I didn't know if other entities were already registering or if we are the
first one that's going through the required to register or if that was even an accurate
statement.
Barney: I'm not aware that that's an accurate statement. To that my knowledge it has
been required of all government employers, because we are governed by ERISA to file
with the Department of Insurance for at least the last several years.
Little Roberts: Thank you.
Barney: Uh-huh.
De Weerd: Okay. Other questions? Okay. All right. Thank you.
Barney: Thank you.
B. Mayor's Office: Discussion of City of Meridian Business Hours
De Weerd: Okay. Item 5-B. Council, I will report from here. This is a discussion about
the business hours of City Hall. Some of the outcomes that we have been having in our
employee engagement survey and some of the result s that we are seeing in our exit
interviews are employees want greater flexible work hours and so our team started
looking at that and having discussions. Directors brought feedback also verifying that
there is a real sincere interest in flexible work hou rs and the smaller departments,
because of the numbers have a hard time with that, so it would need to have a consistent
application of what those business work hours would be. So , our team went about looking
at -- first talking to employees on what is th e desire, the interest in a more flexible work
schedule and, then, started tracking traffic throughout the week and when the high traffic
areas are, when the lows are and that sort of thing and we also had two departments
talking with customers as they came in what they thought about extended hours, so that
they could -- beyond the regular 8:00 to 5:00 work day. So, we found that Friday afternoon
had a drop off in visits and phone calls in several departments, certainly in the Mayor's
office we average just one external call or visit during the hours from 1:00 to 5:00 on
Friday afternoons. Fire averaged four phone calls and one walk in on Fridays. Legal,
HR, IT see a significant drop off and I think they are support departments and -- and that
is kind of a drop off even in the employee activity. The Community Development sees a
50 percent reduction in the -- their overall customers on Fridays. Both our primary
departments of Police or for Parks and Community Development said a lot of what they
do can be managed as well in messaging to customers on different business hours for
City Hall and those adjustments can be done. In our utility billing they are fairly consistent
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and they see that a lot of their business happens during the lunch hour and that lunch
hour -- it flexes between 11:30 and 1:30 primarily and they see a severe drop off , like to
nothing after 3:00 o'clock. So, here are some of the outcomes. So, what our team looked
at is -- said we don't want to change the number of hours that City Hall is open, but we
would like to pilot a new business hours for City Hall from 8:00 to 6:00, Monday through
Thursday, and an 8:00 to 1:00 on Fridays to give opportunities for our workforce to have
greater flexibility in those swing times and answer something that has been a desired
opportunity as an employee for the city. So , this keeps us open the same number of
hours. It does provide greater flexibility to our citizens. In those surveys that -- that both
our utility billing and Clerk's office asked is would you be able to -- would you like to see
an extended hour at the end of the day and would you utilize it. So, 72 percent would
prefer the additional hour from 5:00 to 6:00 to conduct their business from the 50 people
that did respond to the questionnaire. I'm just giving you this information to get you to
start thinking about it and what we would like to do is put a poll out to our citizens to let
them weigh in on NextDoor as to -- if they see this as an opportunity for that additional
hour of business that they don't have to take off during the work day, that they can stop
by and do any of their business with the city on their way home from work and if that
would make it more business friendly for the customers that do come into City Hall. We
-- like I said, we could do a poll and, then, have a public comment and a public hearing
per se next week and ask for citizens to come in. We -- we wouldn't want to do it until
November -- our idea of the pilot would be from November to December to give an
opportunity to really see if it works. If it doesn't we would go back January 1 to the regular
schedule and so with that I would just open it up and get initial thoughts. This is just an
informational at this point to see if Council is interested enough that we can start asking
our citizens what they think, other than those that come in our doors.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I think it's a great idea for both the public and for the employees . I know -- you
know, my husband works a shift that during the summer they get off early on Fridays and
it's beneficial for our family, so I'm sure that the employees would appreciate that part of
it. My -- my biggest concern, I guess, would be, you know, making sure that every
employee is -- is okay with it, because they -- they have a kid in daycare, most daycares
close at 6:00 o'clock, so if they are now scheduled to work until 6:00 o'clock they cannot
also pick their child up from daycare if they don't have somebody else to do that. So, I
think that -- that that would be my -- my only concern is making sure that it's okay with the
people that are being forced into this -- a different situation, even though I do believe it
would be better for most of them. I think -- I think the extra hour for the citizens to come
in is -- is fabulous, because it is hard to get somewhere by 5:00 if you work until 5:00.
Thank you for bringing this.
De Weerd: Thank you. I appreciate those comments. And we have had those
discussions among the departments with their employees on -- the directors do believe
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that they can work through any of those issues where someone would have a challenge.
They would still get their work hours in, but it would look a little bit different.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I think maybe in departments where there is the bandwidth having some in at
8:00 and out at 5:00 and some in at 9:00 and out at 6:00, as opposed to -- to be able to
have those extended hours and I would just hate to be a citizen at 2:00 o'clock on a Friday
needing to conduct some business with the city and kind of being out of luck until Monday.
Understand that there is a severe drop off, but I think it's kind of the role of government
to be available, at least during the normal business hours for the rest of the world.
De Weerd: And I -- I would say that the rest of the world is starting to transition, too, and
you see that in -- in other businesses where they are doing the four tens and Fridays off.
We -- we did discuss that originally. We kind of shied away from that, thinking, yeah, we
do need to have those business hours on Friday for -- for those that do have it and I think
we can enhance the availability of government to our citizens, not just working on a
regular business schedule, because that's the same schedule they are working on, but
being accessible to them in extended hours as well. Other comments?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: It almost sounds like you have got two issues here. One is, which is right, a lot
of you and your leadership team to say how can we best be responsive to our citizens. If
that's evolving our hours to benefit them I think that's a very important conversation, one
that should be had separate about what the executive branch can do in terms of
operations to meet the demands of our employees. Again , tailoring schedules -- that's
not Council's lane, that -- that's executive branch's lane and we have heard that time and
time again. So, that piece I don't quite know why it's coming before us. That's a decision
that you can make to best meet the needs of the city. Our citizens have expectations . I
think it's important that we meet them. At the same time I applaud you as a mayor to
respond to our employees needs that need to have changing shifting schedules . I think
that's -- that's being a responsive CEO. But they are separate from what we are doing to
meet the needs of our citizens. So, I think having a discussion with our public about what
we can better do to meet their needs, that makes a lot of sense to me, but I think it should
be held separately about how we can evolve City Hall's schedule to better accommodate
our employees.
De Weerd: Well, the reason hours of operation are in front of us is because it is a policy,
so if it was -- if it was the executive branch we would be piloting this and seeing how it
works because it is -- it is a balance between how we can best serve our citizens, but we
have a changing dynamic in workforce and workforce in looking at retention and being
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responsive to our employees that provide service to our public as well. They go hand in
glove and they go hand in glove in this particular scenario, because our operation hours
in City Hall has to be the same, because you have support services that have to be here
when employees are here and when the hours are open for City Hall and those
departments, then, wouldn't have an opportunity to flex work schedules like the larger
ones do. So, you do have to have a consistency across the board. We have tried to look
at what kind of impact they were -- we would have. They are also looking at why do
people come into City Hall and -- and get an idea of what we can be doing more to serve
them electronically or on the website to give information that they might need or online
business -- key business type of scenarios as well. So , we are trying to look first to our
customer, but we also are trying to respond to our employees and -- and in this ever
changing workforce, time with family and time with -- with doing their business with the
regular businesses that work 8:00 to 5:00, they -- they would like that time as well. So,
trying to balance both.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: I'm generally supportive of this discussion for sure. I think it's interesting at the
very least. I do have one question. When you -- you mentioned that you sent out an e -
mail to employees. Was that -- that a certain group or was that all employees or a certain
group of employees?
De Weerd: If I said that it was misstated. We did not send an e-mail out to employees.
Directors have been having conversations with their staff during staff meetings trying to
get a temperature of what we are seeing in our city surveys and our exit interviews and
truthing that first to see is there a sincere desire and there has been enthusiastic desire,
but, no, we haven't done anything officially in a survey to the employees and we haven't
done any outreach beyond the two departments that have been asking their customers
as they come in.
Bernt: Follow up? And I could have misheard as well, so certainly it could be on me. But
I -- I would -- I would love to hear what our employees have to say about this , as well as
the general public. Data and that type of information doesn't lie and it's tough for me to
be sitting in this seat having an opinion when it probably won't affect me very much and
so very interested to see what the public has to say, very interested -- even more
interested to see what our employees have to say about it.
De Weerd: Okay. Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor. I think it's a great idea. I love the fact that you're doing a
pilot program. I know when we started at 6:00 o'clock, between 5:00 and 6:00 I can't
count how many people I gave directions to two departments that were closed and so I
think it could be a great benefit for citizens and I'm excited to see what the result is with
the information you gather.
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De Weerd: Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. So, I do want to get an indication
on -- if there is interest by the City Council for us to start. I have heard from several of
you -- to poll the -- on NextDoor and -- and ask the directors to get more information, more
feedback from their staffs and -- and we can compile that in a report before City Council
meeting and certainly our directors can be available for any questions.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: It's a great idea.
De Weerd: Okay.
Borton: Gathering more information to make an informed decision seems to make the
most sense and if -- if Legal is a part of that in -- in how something like that would be
facilitated with amending policy and contemplate a pilot program, if a November 1 launch
date is a potential for whatever the change could be and that we are ready to hit the
ground running with language to review that, I think that's a possibility.
De Weerd: Okay. We will bring it back next week. Thank you.
C. City Council Discussion: Parking Standards Update
De Weerd: Item 5-C is under City Council discussion and Mr. Cavener will be leading
this.
Bernt: All right. At a boy. Some serious business now.
Cavener: Look you all in the eye.
Bernt: Eye contact. Respect.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, good to be before you this afternoon
talking all things parking in our homes. As you may recall a month and change ago I
came before you and said some constituents are confused about what they can and can't
park on their driveway, would like a change, are you as a body interested in the learning
more, much like a previous conversation, go pull together more information, come back,
and make a decision about where we want to go. So , I pulled together a committee that
included Emily Kane from Legal, Richard Everette from our code enforcement,
Transportation Commission David Ballard, who is here today. Cindi Romans, who
manages a homeowner's association Red Door property management and myself all met
a little over a week ago. We talked for about 90 minutes and covered a whole host of
topics, particularly around parking in your driveway. There is two items that I think should
be before you. One is a copy of code that we are going to be talking a little bit about. The
second one was provided by Rich, our code enforcement, and it is a -- correct. It is a
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unique photographic journey of code violations within Meridian. Everything from the very
germane, a boat parked into a driveway, a spoiler when you get to the end there is
basically parking lots existing on -- on people's residential property and I appreciated Rich
really kind of giving us a flavor as to what his department sees within their role. A couple
things that came up that I think is important for you to know. I think everybody that was
there recognizes this is an issue, but nobody quite knows how to handle it. As Emily
pointed out, the City Council in 2009 first looked at this and kind of came to a hard
conclusion that this is a hard issue to wrestle with and more information needed to be
found and we should look at this at a later point in time. Fast forward ten years later we
are having the same conversation. A couple things that I think is important for me to also
share with you, because I have been one pretty quick to talk about -- there is no real
public safety benefits with this code as written and I appreciate Ms. Kane and code
enforcement saying, well, UDC isn't really designed about public safety, it's more about
quality of life and that's why we have it in place is to create for an overall better quality of
life. One of the reasons why our code can be challenging is the distinction in our code
and UDC between storage and parking. So, storage happens on your driveway, parking
happens on the street and because of that we prohibit storing of nonlicensed vehicles or
motorcycles on our driveway and everything else under the sun. Your boats, your trailers,
et cetera. So, I think that's sometimes where the disconnect can come. We discussed
this before, like I said, for about an hour and a half without any real consensus in terms
of, City Council, you need to do X. A couple things that came up, though, that I think are
important to know is that any change could likely result in a change in enforcement. Rich
was concerned that it may require more resources on their part , larger enforcement. I
think that all remains to be seen, but that was a concern that was shared by Rich. I think
your homeowners associations would prefer to leave this as is. Many HOAs don't have
an enforcement mechanism outside of a -- of a letter trying to encourage HOAs to make
a change and thus they rely -- and you will hear -- you have heard this I think from code
enforcement, also our homeowners associations rely on code enforcement to enforce
HOA violations that are also a violation of code. So, they would prefer I think to keep
things as is. So, a couple of options. We could be done with this exercise and just leave
it as is. We could fully repeal it. I wouldn't suggest that. I think there was a lot of concern
that if that happened we would turn our driveways -- everybody's driveways into full fledge
parking lots. There was a recommendation or su ggestion, I should say, very tongue in
cheek, from Ms. Kane that says just ban all parking on the streets as well and that would
be in line with what you can do in a driveway. I didn't get a sense from this body there
would be a lot of reception to that, but that was something that came up. And the fourth
item would be -- is to modify the code and if we were there is a couple of suggestions that
I would make. One is you will see throughout this there is reference to parking, but
because it's really what we are talking about is storage, I just think some -- some word
changes to make that fall in line with , really, what the use is -- would maybe make it less
confusing for our citizens. The second piece -- and, ultimately, I think the suggestion that
I would make is that we would modify this piece of code to either prohibit the use after a
72 hour period or to grant that use for 72 hours. So, that would, essentially, mean it's the
same ability to park your boat, your trailer, your razor on the public street could then be
granted to you and your house and that would really serve what I think is the intended
purpose, is I think most people are not parking their boats or their trailers on their driveway
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permanently. They are parking them to load them up before they head up to the lake, to
service, to do this and to do that. Again, we got home from our cabin on Sunday night ,
I'm going to go put it in my storage unit on Monday, I want to be able to park it overnight.
Again, maybe it's -- we have got a big family vacation, we want to load it up for a couple
of days. I think that's a -- a modification like that wouldn't meet what I think is the intended
use of people who are unknowingly violating code. In addition, those people are going to
park it on the street. So, taking that off the street I think also provides a certain level of
increased public safety. I said that -- I know in my neighborhood a neighbor parks his RV
around a blind corner. It's really really challenging, at the end of the year, beginning of
the school year when he's moving his RV in and out , because you can't see if any
pedestrians are coming. So, I think it would actually also increase the -- the public safety.
The piece that -- that we heard from code enforcement about the challenge of -- of
enforcing is something that I would like if we -- if we were going to make a change that
we would have a public hearing and let code enforcement come in and speak to that.
They are in that day in and day out, I'm not, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to
speculate, except for to say that all of our, you know, code is largely complaint driven and
so if my neighbor has turned his driveway into a parking lot for razors, I'm going to call
code enforcement to enforce that, just like if they were parking it on the street for weeks
at a time. I don't want to -- maybe Mr. Nary can chime in there. There is a little piece of
concern about the ability to enforce those code violations if they are existing on your
driveway and code enforcement's ability to actually come onto the property to issue a
notification or a citation and so -- and, I don't know if Mr. Nary wants to touch base on that
or if that's something that if we would want to move forward we could have addressed at
the public.
Nary: So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Cavener, yeah, I mean there
is probably two things about the driveway issue that will be problematic that we would
have to work through. First, of course, the 72 hours can be problematic on the street.
People tend to sometimes move them. There is a case out of another part of the country
about chalking tires, so that hasn't been resolved countrywide yet, but the bigger concern
is if a person parked a car there on a Friday and say we took a photograph and came
back on Monday, we would have no idea whether they moved it during the weekend. So,
there may be some enforcement issues to work through. Not to say we couldn't do it, I'm
just saying that's an issue to be aware of. The other is is serving, you know, private
property. I'm not -- I'm not super concerned about serving the citation. I think that would
be okay. It would be entering the private property for any other purpose I think would be
necessary for a warrant, but I think if we are just going to the door, knocking on the door
to serve a citation, that would be fine.
Cavener: And, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I think we all know, this isn't a
silver bullet solution. I mean this is something -- again, Council was dealing with it ten
years ago and it hasn't been resolved. My recommendations are merely -- after just
looking at this, this is the best practice to solve the problem for I think the majority of
people who are unknowingly violating the law. To me it's -- it's a common sense change
and, as I mentioned when I started this process, again, I don't have a boat, I don't have
an RV and I don't have any -- I don't have a dog in this fight, this is just more of trying to
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respond to what I have heard from our citizens, who, again, want to follow the law, but
just kind of scratching their heads when it comes to this particular piece. Mr. Ballard is
here. He can -- again, both as -- as chairman of our Transportation Commission -- can
chime in if anything he thought maybe I was a little off base on . Love to give him at least
the opportunity to provide any comments or feedback. I really respect his opinion. He
does a great job as chairing that commission. But I'm also happy to answer any questions
if you have them and, if not, maybe request your direction to be able to work with Legal
to bring back something in a more finalized version that we could share with the public
and gauge their feedback.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any comments, questions, thoughts to share?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Sure. Luke, great job. From -- from the July 18th memo to today, the committee
work, I think it's a well formed option list to us on an important issue. It sounds like if the
recommendation amongst the pros and cons of the choices is to amend code to allow
parking to occur on a driveway for up to three days, similar to the street and one of the
ancillary benefits would be, once everyone knows that, that they would now choose to
park that boat and RV in that driveway for the weekend off the streets , making it more
safe with greater vision and just probably an extra benefit it sounds like, which seems to
make great sense. As you weighed those options did you and your group or Mr. Ballard
have any sound argument as to why that wouldn't make sense , the three days in the
driveway, just like three days in the street?
Cavener: Madam Mayor -- and Mr. Ballard can chime in. I think the biggest concerns
really stemmed from -- from Rich and how -- how are we going to have to enforce that
and I think there was also some concern that now folks, who knowingly follow the law,
because they have heard from code enforcement, you know, kind of schedule their travel
to get in at a point in time that they can take those , you know, property to the proper
storage unit and that potentially you would invite more of that onto the driveway than
maybe you would have had before. It's a -- it's a fair point. To me -- and this is just my
personal opinion -- I would rather have those things parked in the driveway than parked
on the street. I just think that's a better place for them. But you could have more people
-- again somebody gets home Friday night and intends to take it to , you know, their
storage unit on Saturday, now leaves it in their driveway until Monday. Possible. You
know, if Mr. Ballard -- I would like to invite him up. He's been a real valuable asset to this
process and allow him to answer any questions and chime in.
De Weerd: David, thank you for joining us.
Ballard: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Luke had -- or Mr. Cavener had invited
me to this committee and it was quite interesting and a very robust conversation, because
we did explore many avenues and I guess the one question for me was is it the role of
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city government to regulate, if you will, what happens on that part of your personal
property, whether it's storing or parking and there was -- you can go either way on that
question and part of it has to do with value of property, part of it has to do with just the
neighborhood itself and I think part of it has to do with safety. Where is a good place to
put vehicles, if you will. But I came down that part of the role of government as well as a
mechanism to protect property. Now, you invite some regulation. That goes with the job.
But overall I thought it was a very good conversation to talk about what's going on in the
neighborhoods. What's going on in the community and how to better serve the citizens.
And so Mr. Cavener invited, if you would, some more -- more conversation, because I
think it takes that. At the end of the day I kind of like some regulation, knowing what might
be parked next to me, what I can and can't do on my property and ability to have that
redressed or remedied if those regulations aren't complied with or enforced and that calls
for a bigger job for our officers, I get that, but I come down on the side of part of our
community and I think we have the opportunity to make those rules. Questions?
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Just a comment. If I understood it right, it sounds like this recommendation is a
lighter touch of government, allowing something to occur that is prohibited under our
current code?
Ballard: I believe that's correct. And maybe Mr. Cavener's suggestion would be a little
more clarity and --
De Weerd: Consistency.
Ballard: -- already approving what goes on in the sense that, okay, you're going to load,
unload, you're going to park there overnight and maybe it brings a little more definition or
clarity to that regulation.
Borton: Interesting.
Ballard: As always I appreciate the opportunity to address you. Thank you.
De Weerd: And now you know why it hasn't really been solved, as Mr. Cavener said, for
ten years, it's -- it's a conversation that can go in a number of directions and always turn
around to the very same standstill of how do you enforce it, what is the most reasonable.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, you hit the nail on the head. I get why previous councils have
just kind of waited on this is you get a what if scenario and, then, you start talking about
that for 20 minutes, which is why -- I mean I try to bring in people to the table who are a
lot smarter on this subject rather than me , which is why I appreciate Mr. Ballard being
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here to have -- and Emily and somebody who represented the HOAs, code enforcement,
people that -- Council Member Bernt kind of talked about it earlier when we were talking
about the City Hall hours. The decision is not going to impact me, it's going to impact a
lot of people, so let's bring the smartest people to the table for what we think is the most
common sense decision and, then, decide to move forward one way or another.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: This is a -- it is a hard one and you have got -- most people live within HOAs,
which have rules about this anyway, so we are really talking about a small -- kind of a
small percentage of homes in Meridian that this would affect regardless and I think for the
most part we are talking about boats, because there aren't very many RVs that are going
to fit in a regular sized driveway. So, we are talking about small things. But I don't have
a problem with it being in the driveway for three days versus on the street for three days
and having a car on the street, to me that provides a safer environment for driving. So, I
think it's definitely worth the conversation and bringing it before the public.
De Weerd: Okay. So, you will bring this back --
Cavener: Madam Mayor, I guess with -- with your permission I would like to work with the
Legal Department to draft a piece of ordinance language that we would bring back for a
first reading November -- first meeting in November maybe, second meeting in November.
De Weerd: Okay. Very good.
Cavener: Thank you.
D. Parks Department: Providing Services to the Meridian
Development Corporation
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item 5-D is under our Parks Department and we have
Mike.
Barton: Good afternoon, Madam Mayor, Members of Council. I am here this afternoon
to talk about an agreement between the city and MDC that would allow us entry into a
property that they control on Broadway. It's owned by UP. There is some irrigation pipe
that provides the surface water delivery to City Hall and some folks west of Meridian Road
that needs a volunteer tree removed and some -- probably some root augering. We are
not quite sure what needs to be done, but we need to get the keys and the permission
slip to get in there and assess it and make those repairs. The repairs are covered under
our regular operating budget. So, with that I will stand for questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mike. Any questions from Council? Thank you.
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Barton: Thank you.
Item 6: Action Items
A. FY2020 Budget Amendment - Self Funding Reserves
De Weerd: Okay. Item 6-A under Action Items we have a fiscal year 2020 first of the
season budget amendment. Yeah. On October 1st.
Barney: I thought I would bring it in.
De Weerd: I think you have a lot of directors that are going, yes, it's not me.
Barney: Yep. So, Madam Mayor, Members of Council, I'm before you with the first budget
amendment of the fiscal year on the first day of the fiscal year, but this isn't the first time
you have seen this. So, back in 2016 was when we started talking about self funding
options and I requested that you consider setting aside funds for this reserve account,
which everyone was in agreement with at that time. Todd formally came before you last
fiscal year and you all did agree to that set aside and currently I'm standing before you ,
so that I can get spending authority to actually move those funds into that trust account.
De Weerd: Thank you, Christena. Council, any questions?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: It sounds like you really don't want us to change our mind.
Barney: You certainly can.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: You're very gracious. Mr. Cavener. Sorry.
Cavener: Thank you, Madam Mayor. No, no questions. I just want to thank you again,
Christena. I know you and I have not always seen eye to eye on the pathway to get here,
but I just appreciate your professionalism, your ability to really advocate for our
employees. It's well received and very appreciated.
Barney: Thank you, Councilman Cavener.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, I don't know if somebody was -- typically the HR liaison would
make this --
Bernt: I was looking for the number, but if you are more prepared than me, go right ahead.
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Cavener: I'm not, but I'm happy to at least, Madam Mayor, move that we approve the
2020 budget amendment coming from the Human Resources Department for the self
funding reserves. Do I need to include a dollar amount?
Nary: That's what I was looking at. 1.4 million.
Cavener: -- for 1.4 million dollars.
Bernt: Second.
De Weerd: Any discussion?
Cavener: Madam Mayor, just a comment.
De Weerd: Yes.
Cavener: Christena, I know that you will do this, but I just also want to put it on the record
to send Council the agendas for these trustee meetings, so that it's on our radar as well.
I know that we have published it, but I'm sure as all Council Members can attest, we get
a significant amount of e-mail. I want to stay -- keep my eyes on this and so getting an
e-mail to me when these are would be very appreciated.
Barney: Absolutely.
De Weerd: 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: ALL AYES.
Barney: Thank you.
B. Contract For Services Between The Meridian Development
Corporation
De Weerd: Thanks for all your hard work. Okay. Item 6-B is the contract that you just
heard about. Council, certainly if you have any questions about it Mike is still here and
available to answer. If not, I would entertain a motion to approve the contract for services.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
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Milam: I move that we approve the contract for services between the Meridian
Development Corporation and the city. I'm assuming it's the City of Meridian.
Little Roberts: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any 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.
Item 7: Executive Session per Idaho State Code 74-206 (1)(c) To acquire an
interest in real property not owned by a public agency
De Weerd: Item 7 is Executive Session. Do I have a motion?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Move we go into Executive Session pursuant to Idaho State Code 74-206(1)(c).
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: (5:20 p.m. to 5:58 p.m.)
De Weerd: Okay. I would entertain a motion to come out of Executive Session.
Borton: Move we come out of Executive Session.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
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MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES.
De Weerd: Do I have a motion to adjourn?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Move we adjourn our work session.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adjourn our work session. All those in favor
say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:59 P.M.
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