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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-01-28 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session January 28, 2020. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 28, 2020, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Jessica Perreault, Brad Hoaglun and Liz Strader. Members Absent: Joe Borton. Also present: Chris Johnson, Adrienne Weatherly, Bill Nary, Caleb Hood, Keith Watts, Clint Dolsby, Jamie Leslie, Joe Bongiorno and Dean Willis. Item 1: Roll-call Attendance: Liz Strader Joe Borton _X_ Brad Hoaglun _X_Treg Bernt X Jessica Perreault _X Luke Cavener _X_ Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Thank you, Council. It is 4:31 on Tuesday, January 28th. We will call this meeting to order with roll call attendance. Item 2: Adoption of Agenda Simison: Item 2 is adoption of the agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: We need to take off Item 5-A and reschedule it for a future meeting date. Unfortunately our good director is a little under the weather, so we hope that she gets better soon and recovers well and so Item 5-A will now be the shared vehicle report. And other than that I move that we adopt the agenda as changed. Hoaglun: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as changed. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 3: Consent Agenda [Action Item] Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 84 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28,2020 Page 2 of 11 A. Final Plat for Millbrae Subdivision (H-2019-0148) by Trilogy Idaho, Located on the Northwest Corner of N. Black Cat Rd. and W. Cherry Ln. B. Final Plat for Oaks North No. 5 (H-2019-0137) by Toll Southwest, LLC, Located at 6060 W. McMillan Rd. C. Final Plat for Sky Mesa No. 3 (H-2019-0138) by Sky Mesa East, LLC, Located West of S. Eagle Rd. and South of E. Amity Rd. D. Final Order for Creason Creek Subdivision No. 2 (H-2019-0139) by CS2, LLC, Located on the East Side of N. Linder Rd., South of W. Ustick Rd. E. Final Order for Oaks North Subdivision No. 4 (H-2019-0136) by Toll Southwest, LLC, Located at 6060 W. McMillan Rd. F. Final Order for Three Corners Ranch (H-2019-0141) by Sweet Land Development, Inc., Located at 1890 E. Dunwoody Ct. G. Final Order for Verado Subdivision No. 4 (H-2019-0132) by C17, LLC, Located at 3090 N. Locust Grove Rd. H. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Bach Storage (H- 2019-0121) by Bach Homes, Located at 2480 N. Eagle Rd. and 3280 E. River Valley St. I. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Blingey Condominiums (H-2019-0131) by KM Engineering, LLP, Located at 37 W. Archerfield Dr. J. Acceptance Agreement for Display of Artwork in Initial Point Gallery 1. Idaho Watercolor Society: 10/2/2020 - 10/29/2020 K. Irrigation Crossing License Agreement with Settlers Irrigation District L. Development Agreement for Waterwalk (H-2019-0111) with Adler AB Owner V, LLC (Owner) and DeBoer Opportunity Zone Fund, LLC (Developer) Located on the West Side of N. Eagle Rd., North of E. Franklin Rd. M. Approval of Task Order 11146 to Mountain Waterworks, Inc. for Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 85 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28,2020 Page 3 of 11 WRRF Dissolved Air Flotation Thickener (DAFT) System Upgrades for the Not-to-Exceed Amount of $117,520.00 N. Approval of Purchase Order#20-0204 for seven (7) Police Vehicle Builds with Boise Mobile Equipment for the Not-to- Exceed amount of $82,489.87 O. City of Meridian Financial Report - December 2019 P. Resolution 20-2187: A Resolution Of The Mayor And The City Council Of The City Of Meridian Updating The City Of Meridian Public Meeting Space Reservation Policy And Regulations; And Providing An Effective Date Q. AP Invoices for Payment - 01/24/20 - $643,110.67 R. AP Invoices for Payment - 01/29/2020 - $1,390,861.36 Simison: Item No. 3, Consent Agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Hoaglun: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 4: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda [Action Item] Simison: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. Item 5: Department / Commission Reports A. Shared Vehicle Response Report Simison: So, we will go right into Item 5-A, shared vehicle response. That will be presented by Keith and Caleb. Watts: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council. Caleb and I are here today to talk about the process of going through the vehicle sharing program solicitation, the RFP that we issued, Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 86 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28,2020 Page 4 of 11 and I will go over the procurement phases and, then, I will turn it over to Caleb for some more detail. At Council's direction we issued an RFP on December 13th. We posted it on our website the same day. Caleb also sent the notification out to seven specific vendors who we thought might be interested in it. Had showed interest in the past. The RFP was left open for 31 days. On the 8th of January we received a letter from Bird, our vendor from last year. Bird thanked the city for embracing them, but stated that they would not be proposing at this time. That the ridership was not enough to sustain a nonsubsidized model. We did open proposals on the 10th. We did not receive any proposals to the seven vendors we sent it to, but one from the southeast had picked it up off our website. They did propose. The name was Slider. We held an evaluation meeting on January 22nd. We had seven folks. Three city employees and four from the private sector. While the evaluation committee gave Slider a passing score, they did overwhelmingly recommend that we not issue a contract. They didn't believe that it was the right time. And that pretty much wraps up our solicitation efforts. I will have to turn it over to Caleb to provide a little more detail from the evaluation committee's prospective. Hood: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, yeah, just a little bit more on what -- what Keith just presented. So, the scoring committee was generally satisfied with Slider's proposal. As to Bird's letter, our service contractor for last year, that was the main concern that the scoring committee had is that the timing is just not right for our community to enter into a new contract. They were afraid that Slider would run into similar issues that Bird did, mainly because of the construction that's going on down here and that there will be rooftops in the next year, 18 months, two years or so, but with all the construction going on and all the roadways and in downtown and us not having entertainment venues for concerts and universities and those types of things, they just right now didn't think that now is the right time for our community to enter into a contract for this service. They did ask and Keith and I did oblige and we called Slider and had a --just a heart to heart with them and said, hey, just want to be up front with you, you scored well, but the scoring committee asked us to call you and let you know that our last vendor respectfully declined to pursue our community at this time and we just want to get off on the right foot with you and no surprises. So, kind of let you know what you are getting into. They had not been to Meridian, so they don't really know our -- our community and our layout, so we just wanted to sort of orient them a little bit with, again, the lay of the land if you will there. They did appreciate that honesty. We actually received an e-mail yesterday from them thanking us for their time and said, you know, after they have looked at it a little bit more at our community they sent us an e-mail stating that they would not be able to make it work with the current franchise fee model. So, we weren't trying to necessarily scare them away, but that was the recommendation from the steering committee, again, that we not enter into a contract and we just wanted to have that -- that conversation with them. We appreciated them taking the time to propose, but that would be our recommendation to you all this evening. The scoring committee further recommended that the MDBA kind of take it from here if you will and so Lindsey Bowshier is here. She was on the scoring committee as well. I think she agreed to kind of monitor and track and basically bring that back to the Mayor and City Council when the MDBA thinks the timing is right. Again, 18 months kept coming up at our scoring meeting, so, roughly, you know, between a year or two to maybe put -- put this back out there after we get, again, some Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 87 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28,2020 Page 5 of 11 roof tops downtown and things potentially. But that was the scoring committee's recommendation was to have the Downtown Business Association kind of monitor and say, you know what, we think we are ready now to maybe enter into that contract. So, Lindsey is here. I think -- you know, if you have any questions for her I'm sure she would be willing to -- to answer them. But that's kind of where -- what the scoring committee's recommendation was this year and what we are -- we are carrying forward on behalf of the scoring committee is that we not offer or award any contract at this time. Simison: Thank you, Caleb and Keith. Council, are there any questions? Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I don't know if it's necessarily a question, but I just want to say thank you to Caleb and your team and everyone that was involved in this process. Keith. I -- I -- it doesn't surprise me, number one, you know, from my take from the beginning, although I have always felt that these e-scooters can be valuable, you know, and they are a fun amenity, a service, whatever for the private sector to our community. I have been -- generally speaking I have had a lot of positive, you know, experiences in other cities and across -- I was even -- I rode on Lime when I was in Portugal, in Lisbon, and so I just -- at the end of the day we just don't have enough rooftops. The density just quite isn't -- it's just not there and -- and I look forward to future discussions. I think that two years probably may be a little bit early as well, but we will see, you know. We are a growing community, we will see how it's going to play out and I appreciate Lindsey and her -- and MDBA for their involvement and sort of spearheading this going forward. But I want to -- you guys spent a lot of time on this -- a lot of time on this and so I wanted to say thank you for that, because that -- that's, you know, a big deal to me and I'm sure the rest of the Council as well. Hood: Mr. Mayor? If I can just quickly respond to Councilman Bernt. I will say we I think are generally in good shape when the time is right. We have got a website. We have got a lot of the handout materials. I mean I think there was some lessons learned and -- and as staff we are -- we are generally ready. I mean I think we have some things even in the next two years or whatever that looks like to have more conversations with some of the businesses in our area to make sure, you know, we really are all the way ready, but I feel like we are in pretty good shape. We have learned some -- some lessons and -- and when the timing is right I think we can really hit the ground running, if you will, and make -- help make it a little bit more successful than it was this past year, so -- but thank you. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Caleb, again, appreciate the update. Council Member Bernt's points were spot on. You guys have invested a lot of time on this. Just maybe a couple of thoughts. One, Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 88 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28,2020 Page 6 of 11 hopefully we can also provide a similar update to the Transportation Commission at their next meeting. They were the body that initially recommended that we take this on, so I think it's important that we close the loop with them. My -- my question, though, Caleb, is if the committee had any discussion about if e-scooters are a business development, tourism resource or if it's a public transit resource, because to me I think that distinction really ultimately determines who should maybe be driving this and I am grateful to have MDBA-- they area glutton for punishment in willing to take on scooters. I just go back to I think the point that I have made a couple of times is that should the City of Meridian and MDBA be in the scooter business, if this is a public transit resource we really should be working with the highway district and VRT. Let them manage this program and, then, we can -- as a city can make the determination do we want scooters in Meridian. Yes or no. If the answer is yes, great. VRT, you manage the program. If the answer is no, then, it's not something that we have to worry ourselves with. So, those are my thoughts. Hood: So -- so, Mr. Mayor, to answer your question, that -- that did not come up with the scoring committee, especially the VRT model. I know you -- you brought that up before and I think that's something certainly I'm open to. We did, though, talk about -- and Slider's model really is -- at least in some of the other places that they are currently -- and, like Keith said, they are -- they are generally in the southern United States. In fact, they don't have any -- anything north of Arizona. They come -- they come west. They are actually in -- outside of Chandler right now, but everything basically is in the southeast, except for a couple places in Arizona. So, warm weather cities and university cities, basically, is where they are at now and those places typically have public transit and that is something we did discuss, was there a first mile, last mile type of model and so to get people to buses --which, again, Meridian, we --we are just developing our first fixed route system that will go from Ten Mile through downtown to The Village. So, again, a little premature for even connecting people to that route. So, we didn't talk about that, but we didn't really talk about should this be managed at a regional level through like a VRT or something like that. But we did talk about, again, one of the reasons -- another one of the reasons that we aren't ready is to supplement transit and -- and that we, again, essentially don't have that transit. I mean these are longer trips, then, because we don't have transit and we didn't realize people, you know, were riding it from downtown to Ten Mile all that often. It happened, but -- but the length of trip necessary just -- it's typically a shorter trip and -- and in Meridian there isn't really a lot of short trips, it's more suburban. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Watts: Mayor and Council, I just want to throw one more bit of information. When Slider sent their e-mail yesterday, just to let you know, they also stated that they did not believe they could even break even without a franchise fee. So, just to clarify, when they are -- when looking at the ridership information --just thought I would pass that along. Simison: And if I can add, I think this was alluded to in Bird's letter, if I'm not mistaken, but until some of our private -- our private business spaces allow them more readily, that, too, may become a driver in this conversation and I think that that may come with time, Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 89 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28,2020 Page 7 of 11 that may not come with time, but two of the largest locations don't want them on their property. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: A comment and a question. I read an article that was very interesting today about these scooter companies and most of them are still start-ups and they are not necessarily profitable yet, they need venture capital. I was curious if you could give us more color as to the -- the comment made by Bird. Were they saying that the fee model that the city had put forward wouldn't work for them or were they saying that the city would actually have to subsidize their business model at this point for it to be profitable for them? Watts: They are -- Council Woman Strader, Council, Mayor, their letter actually stated that they sent -- the words they used is a nonsubsidized model would not work for them in the City of Meridian. Simison: Council, any further questions or comments? Do we need to have a motion to do anything specifically as it relates to the recommendation to not -- or is that a staff level decision on not accepting the -- Nary: Mayor-- Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I think-- at least an acknowledgement that the -- that the process was completed and accepted the recommendation of staff to not issue a contract, I think that can be done by voice vote in a motion. Simison: With that -- Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I will be happy to make that motion. I guess a question either for Legal or for staff. In that do you -- do we want to set a date that this is going to be brought back to us? Do you want that type of direction from us or is it when you guys feel the time is right you will request it be added to an agenda? Watts: I believe -- I believe our conversation with the MDBA is that they would let us know when they thought the time was right. They might have a better handle on when they believe it could be feasible in the city and that's where we left it with the evaluation committee. That was the recommendation of the evaluation committee. Simison: If I could make at least a recommendation to the MDBA is once the Old Town Lofts are completed, at least internally, see if that is a point in time in which to have that conversation. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 90 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28,2020 Page 8 of 11 Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I move that we accept the shared vehicle response report from staff with our thanks to the staff and city volunteers, as well as the MDBA for taking over the next iteration of this process and to bring Council an updated report on or near the completion of the Old Town Lofts. Perreault: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? Cavener: Mr. Mayor, I guess maybe just a caveat is that did staff consider -- continue to consider VRT as the appropriate leader of scooter share as a whole, that could necessitate a different type of update from staff at a later point in time. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I don't necessarily disagree with that. Just a question for Mr. Cavener. Have you heard any discussion in regard to this at VRT meetings? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Happy to answer. I know it's -- it has been a conversation at the VRT executive board level, more as other municipalities have started to explore this. As of right now there is only the city of Boise that offers this, so it doesn't make sense I think for VRT to say we are going to take over a program that Boise is successfully running, but as other municipalities maybe explore this further I think there is a strong willingness on VRT to provide a consistent solution to the valley residents, but outside of conversation there is nothing. I had planned to update the executive committee at our next meeting following the action of-- of this process, which really just to recognize there is probably two paths. If the City of Meridian was reintroducing scooters we would probably continue to further put together an MOU that we could present to the city should they want to do it, but at this point I just don't think it's prudent for us to continue to support, unless other jurisdictions launch a program. Simison: Are there other questions? Strader: Mr. Mayor, maybe some discussion on that. Simison: Council Woman Strader. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 91 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28,2020 Page 9 of 11 Strader: I would hate for us to assume that something should go to VRT in the future if we are not at that point to make that decision. It seems appropriate to me that the Meridian Downtown Business Association come to us when they feel like the business climate will support it and at that time we can make a decision as to whether this is something that VRT should take a look at and I am sure it would have to just be a back and forth conversation at that time. Does that make sense? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Council Woman Strader, I think we have got two paths. I appreciate and applaud MDBA for looking at it, but at the end of the day they are focused on downtown and if we were to implement a scooter wide program, unless we wanted to narrowly scope it to only downtown, it could impact our -- our entire community. So, if other cities are exploring that, I think that we shouldn't wait for the Old Town Lofts to be built for us to have that conversation, I think that if other cities are bringing on -- and that's something VRT is open to, then, that would bring a separate conversation. Not from MDBA about the viability of it in downtown, but about should the city explore joining a yet to be designed hypothetical MOU around a regionwide scooter share program. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: That seems to make sense to me. It feels like two different discussions. Clearly the economically viable scooter program would come from downtown, so it makes sense to me that I think we could put the ball in the court, hopefully, as the Meridian Downtown Business Association to let them know if there is a need in the market for this. And, separately, hopefully -- and Mr. Cavener could let us know if in the future VRT wants to have further discussions with us on the topic. Thank you. Simison: And if I could just also point out, since it is an -- we do have a -- it would have to come through us one way or the other, since we do have a franchise requirement. So, you will be part of the conversation one way or the other with anybody. All right. I have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. And we will say again, thank you to staff for your work on this. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 6: Executive Session per Idaho State Code 74-206 (1)(d) To consider Records that are exempt from disclosure as provided in Chapter 1, Title 74, Idaho Code. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 92 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28,2020 Page 10 of 11 Simison: And we will move on to Item 6. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we go into Executive Session per Idaho State Code 74-206(1)(d). Hoaglun: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to enter into Executive Session. If there is no discussion on the motion, I will ask the clerk to call the roll. Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, absent; Cavener, yea; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, yea; Perreault, yea. Simison: The ayes have it. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (4:52 p.m. to 5:18 p.m.) Simison: Do I have a motion? Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we come out of Executive Session. Hoaglun: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to come out of Executive Session. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we adjourn the meeting. Hoaglun: Second. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda February 4,2020— Page 93 of 298 Meridian City Council Work Session January 28 , 2020 Page 11 of 11 Simison : I have a motion and a second to adjourn . All those in favor signify by saying aye . Opposed nay. The ayes have it . MOTION CARRIED : ALLAYES . MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5 : 18 P. M . (AIJ RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS ) MA ROBER E . S ISON DATE APPROVED o�;O Ej AUGvsT., AT7;1 o�4 w of i City or I A C ID SON - CITY CLERK AHO ' f i� SEAL the TRf 4i