HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-05-12 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session May 12, 2020.
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:33 p.m., Tuesday, May
12, 2020, by Mayor Robert Simison.
Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Treg Bernt, Jessica Perreault, and Liz
Strader.
Members Absent: Luke Cavener and Brad Hoaglun.
Also present: Chris Johnson, Adrienne Weatherly, Bill Nary, Mark Niemeyer, Joe
Bongiorno, Jason Korn and Victoria Cleary.
Item 1: Zoom Meeting Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685789213
Item 2: Roll-call Attendance:
Liz Strader Joe Borton
Brad Hoaglun _X_Treg Bernt
_X_ Jessica Perreault Luke Cavener
_X_ Mayor Robert E. Simison
Simison: Okay. Then we will call this meeting to order. For the record it is Tuesday, May
12th, 2020, at 4:33 p.m. We will begin this meeting with roll call attendance.
Item 3: Adoption of Agenda
Simison: Perfect. Thank you. Item 3 is adoption of the agenda.
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we adopt the agenda as published.
Borton: Second.
Simison: I have a motion and a second by Councilman Borton to adopt the agenda as
published. Is there a discussion on the motion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying
aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it.
MOTION CARRIED: FOURAYES. TWOABSENT.
Item 4: Consent Agenda [Action Item]
A. Approve Minutes of April 28, 2020 City Council Work Session
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B. Approve Minutes of April 28, 2020 City Council Regular Meeting
C. Approve Minutes of May 5, 2020 City Council Regular Meeting
D. Final Order for Burlingame Subdivision No. 2 (H-2020-0034) by
Engineering Solutions LLP, Located at 1923 N. Black Cat Rd.
E. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Allmon Subdivision (H-
2019-0135) by Todd Campbell Construction, Inc., Located at
5885 & 5875 N. Locust Grove Rd.
F. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Lavender Heights
Subdivision (H-2020-0009) by Westpark Company Inc., Located
East of S. Locust Grove Rd. and North of E. Lake Hazel Rd.
G. Approval of Construction Contract to Treasure Valley Drilling,
LLC for the "Well 9 — Test Well Construction" Project for a Not-
to-Exceed Amount of $308,355.00
H. First Amendment to Professional Services Agreement for Event
Coordination Services: 2019 and 2020 Meridian Main Street
Market Between Eventageous Idaho, LLC and the City of
Meridian
1. Finance Quarterly Update
J. AP Invoices for Payment - 5/7/20 - $847,501.36
K. Resolution No. 20-2210: A Resolution Authorizing the Second
Continuance of a Local Disaster Emergency Declaration and its
Terms for an Additional Thirty (30) Days; Authorizing the
Continued Immediate Expenditure of Public Money to
Safeguard Life, Health and Property; and Providing an Effective
Date.
Simison: Item 4 is the ConsentAgenda.
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda. For the Mayor to sign and for the
Clerk to attest.
Borton- Second.
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Simison: I have a motion and a second by Mr. Borton to approve the Consent Agenda.
Is there any discussion on the motion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed nay. The ayes have it.
MOTION CARRIED: FOURAYES. TWOABSENT.
Item 5: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda [Action Item]
Simison: There were no items move from the Consent Agenda.
Item 6: Community Items / Presentations
A. Ada County Assessor Annual Report
Simison: So, we will move right into Item 6-A under Community Items/Presentations and
we are pleased to be joined by Mr. Bob McQuade, the Ada county assessor, for his annual
update to the City of Meridian. So, with that we will turn this over to you, Mr. McQuade.
There you go.
McQuade: Can you hear me okay?
Simison: Yes.
McQuade: Okay. Good. Good. Well, we are sending out our assessment notices this
-- the 22nd of May and it's going to be very different this year than years in the past.
Hopefully, not too different, but it's -- the assumptions that we are operating under are
going to be considerably different. I just wanted to start out with just a couple of important
things and that is how close are our values to actual selling price. Last year we were at
98 percent--that is as of January 1 on single family residential, 95 percent on commercial,
and I'm just -- I have got my stopwatch going here, I'm just going to go ten minutes. So,
that's a really important number, 98 percent of the -- our assessed value is 98 percent of
what the expected selling price would be and that varies 96 to 98 percent. By statute we
have to be a hundred percent, plus or minus ten percent. The second thing we need to
keep in mind and that is the value we put on the roll, those are the values as of January
1 st this year, but we know our world has completely changed since the 1 st of March and
those values -- those events really do not affect the value that we have for January 1 st in
general. I'm going to make one exception and we will talk about that in a minute. What's
happened in the -- in the marketplace -- residential marketplace and commercial
marketplace -- that is going to show up in our January of the 20 -- 2021. That's really --
and I will get back to that and, then, I -- I think you will see why I stressed that. Just
moving along, the total market value for the City of Meridian at 16.2 billion, that's up 12
percent over last year's 14 and a half billion, and that's the market value, not the taxable
value. To get the taxable value we have to take out the homeowner's exemption, which
is 2.8 billion, any outstanding exemptions. We have about 110 million of outstanding
exemptions. The commissioners by statute have to get that to me by April 15th, so I
imagine that will be going down to just almost zero, but as of right now we will take out
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the outstanding exemptions and, then, we add back in operating property. Of course,
that's the utility property, the railroad tracks, telephone wires, pipelines are what -- that
gives us a net potential taxable value about 13.3 billion dollars. That's a 13 percent
increase over -- over the last year. The residential parcel count is 43,000. That's a -- a
four percent increase over last year's 4,100. This is market value, not taxable value of
residential, but it's 12.4 billion. That's an increase of about 11 percentoverthe lastyear's.
We are getting into the -- to the important thing and -- and that is what has happened with
single family residential prices. MLS has reported about a ten percent increase. As I told
you before, our value is at 98 percent. It's been 96 to 98 percent historically. Earlier this
year I got a phone call from someone who has property taxes in one of the large
corporations here and they expressed concern over what would happen if we were to
assess value at ten percent of the MLS value and very concerned that people are really
distressed, they are out of work -- again, this is going back to -- to the first part of March.
We know a lot more todaythan we knew back then. But just felt that this would just create
a firestorm if we assess properties at -- at the ten percent. There was a discussion of
freezing values at the 2019 level. This is first adjusted -- I work with the Association of
Counties, the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho, and members of the industry and other
assessors and we had a discussion about freezing values at the 2000 level and for several
reasons it was decided that really was not feasible and it talks about maybe going to the
governor, having a legislative session, but it was just a special legislative session, but that
was just not going to work at all. So, what we decided to do -- and we have been -- 1,
other assessors throughout the state, members of the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho, city
-- county commissioners and some industry leaders had a discussion that probably the
best thing to do, since we weren't going to use the 2019 values, freeze that value, that
the best thing would be for us not to be quite so aggressive with our valuation that we
have been using in the past. So, rather than being at 98 percent on -- on the residential,
maybe 94, 95 percent and, believe me, that was three discussions over an hour each with
all of these different members to come to that conclusion. There were some reasons we
would not want to do it. One of the reasons was that all we are doing is kicking the can
down the road. It was up ten percent this year, but we only go at 94, 95 percent this year,
that means we are going to have a 95 -- a five percent catch up the next year and that's
assuming that the market is going to be as strong as it was last year. There are some --
there is no signs of the strength of the market. I know it's up 13 percent last year over
April of this year, so that shows there is still some strength there, but some economists
nationally are predicting residential values drop between -- or rise one percent to a drop
of three percent and if those predictions come true, then, next year we should just be right
about market value as of January 1 st, 2020. One thing, too, that was in mind -- and when
we went into the recession of 2008 we still had values that went up for 2008 -- 2007
through the recession in 2008. We had a lot of appeals that year, because people couldn't
understand how their assessed value went up when, in fact, their -- their value had really
significantly dropped by the time we sent out assessment notices. So, when we sent out
assessment notices all discussion was about what is going to be the psyche of the people
at the end of May and we did the very best we could do and there could be arguments
that we should have gone -- you know, kept it up at -- tried to shoot for 98 percent like we
have done in the past. Someone -- I was talking to someone the other day and they said
why don't you go a hundred percent. Well, the -- the 98 percent estimating, that's median
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value and if we are at a hundred percent that means that half of the people are assessed
in excess of a hundred percent and I would rather be on the low side at 98 percent,
thinking maybe by far a large number of people are close to a hundred percent, but not
over that one hundred percent. So, with that all having been said, is what -- MLS had a
ten percent increase last year. That was countywide. But for Meridian we are increasing
the existing value by four percent. Again, we are just not being as aggressive as we have
in the past and one thing I might add to that, too -- and we are getting way -- way off the
track and way into the weeds of this, but by statute single family residential we have to
be again a hundred percent plus or minus 90 -- 90 percent. We are at 98 percent. The
tax commission looks at that in various categories. Other categories are commercial.
Commercial we are usually right around 94 or 95 percent. So, when you look at inter-
category relationship, single family residential is being assessed at a higher level than the
commercial is -- has been assessed. So, if we bring that down to about 94, 95 percent
commercial, residential and others, we will be right around the same level. I'm just going
to quickly move on and wrap this up, as my ten minutes is just about up. Talking about
commercial real property, that's up 3.6 billion. That's about a 15 and a half percent total
market value of commercial and personal property is 3.8 billion. I want to spend just a
minute on new construction. That's what we can increase budget capacity by. Taxable
value is 890 million. That's a 17 percent increase. Residential is -- we have a hundred
2,000 new units. That was about 28 percent over the previous year and the value on
on residential is 469 million. Commercial is up 213 million. New sub change of status,
that's a new subdivision goes in or some ag land goes into your development land, we
recapture that under new subdivision status. That's 211 million and that's off-- or, excuse
me, up -- up 14 percent compared to the previous year. I'm going to take one last
comment and -- make one last comment and, then, open it up for questions and we can
bring this to a close. Now, as urban renewal is 402 million, that's up 42 percent, and,
lastly, I just want to talk about tax burden. That's who's paying the property taxes, the
residential payer or the commercial payers. Residential is 70 percent this year. Last year
it was at 68 percent and the year before that it may have been about 66 percent.
Commercial has gone down from 32 to 30 percent. This is concerning to some people,
but I think it needs to be looked at in perspective and that is in Meridian we have 43,000
residential parcels. That's seven times -- 17 times the number of commercial parcels and
that's -- residential parcels are at 12.4 billion and that's three times the value, again, as
the commercial. So, commercial we have about 2,500 parcels at 3.6 billion. So, it's what
we have. Residential is a great big piece of the total -- total value and commercial is a
much smaller piece. So, just the fact that it goes up two percent doesn't mean that
commercial is being treated favorably, that really more has to do with the fact that -- that
there is just such a larger base on commercial and the -- it's been a much hotter market.
So, with that I'm just going to close with a couple of observations. In 2019 that has slowed
down somewhat from 2018 growth in residential values. It went from 17 percent increase
for 2018 to a ten percent increase in 2019. The parcel counts grew at a slower rate and
the new subdivisions were down 28 percent compared to 2018 and the new lots -- the
number was down 16 percent, so -- so things have slowed down over 2018, but in spite
of all the economic bad news, as I said a minute ago, values tend to increase. April 2019
compared to April 2020 we are seeing values up at 14 and a half percent. We are seeing
some cracks in the real estate market. There have been some cases where they are not
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getting what they were asking for. Last year, early this year, the offers were over the
asking price, but now that has slowed down a little bit, although number of days on the
market is still very low. We just don't quite know where we are going to end at this year.
So, Mr. President -- or Mr. Mayor and Council President and Members of the Council,
those are my comments for this year and sorry for -- for going a little bit long, but I think it
was just really important to say why our values probably aren't going to get to 98 percent
for '20 as they were, but more in about the 95 percent. It was just really concern of all of
the residential property owners or a lot of them who are suffering distress of the
uncertainty of Coronavirus, as well as unemployment and whatnot. So, Mr. Mayor, with
that I would be happy to answer any questions, as long as it's not too hard.
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Thank you, Mr. McQuade. One quick question for you -- and I don't expect for
you to be able to answer it now, but the urban rural district -- the downtown urban renewal
district has a fairly high increase in value. Is there any way to provide feedback on what
that was a result of? Just an overall increase in property value for that area or other stuff?
Because I'm not aware of specific projects that may have been added to that area, but I
don't expect you to answer that now, unless you feel like you could.
McQuade: Mr. Mayor, no, I don't have that, but I will get a breakdown on that and get that
to you. Should I send that to you via the city clerk?
Simison: Yes, please. Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McQuade. Isn't one of the challenges -- I guess
what I'm trying to wrap my head around -- we are in kind of an unprecedented time, as
you noted, and I'm assuming, you know, similar to economic data, this is probably
somewhat backward looking data. And so is there any room for you to -- to make further
adjustments or further, you know, inform your assessments with more recent data, just
because, you know, we are --we are clearly -- even if there is a catch up later, people are
in a time of unprecedented hardship, so I just want to understand how you are thinking
about that.
McQuade- The -- our assessment is based on what happened in the market last year
and we -- we have some wiggle room and that is through the assessment ratio. Like I
said, we are at 98. We decided to not be as aggressive. These were decisions that were
all made back in -- in March -- in the very first part of April, maybe the second week of
April is when we land upon this decision. There were so many uncertainties out there
that it was just -- we did the very best we could. At this point in time there really is no --
we really can't do anything else at this point in time. We are going to be printing assessed
notices in just a couple of weeks -- probably about a week we going to have to start that.
The whole system has been locked down. There is just -- there is really nothing else we
can do at this point in time. I wish we could just keep waiting longer and longer as we get
more information, but we just don't have that luxury. It's a very good question.
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Simison: And maybe -- Council Woman Strader, I don't know how -- because taxes to
value is always a big question mark and just because the tax -- the value goes up doesn't
mean people's taxes necessarily will. So, it may be proportionally, but I know the values
can give some people concern, but it doesn't -- it's not necessarily reflected on what will
happen to their taxes on their property.
McQuade: Mr. Chairman, that's so correct. What goes on from this point in time is in the
hands of the different taxing authorities, what they want to do with their budgets.
Strader: Mr. Mayor, a follow up?
Simison: Councilman Strader.
Strader: Yeah. I think it's just -- I'm sure it's a normal instinct I think for -- for a residential
homeowner or a commercial owner, particularly in some businesses where their specific
use has been directly impacted by the pandemic, I'm -- I just imagine it would be hard for
them to wrap their head around the idea that the value has increased. Again especially
if they are in a specific use that, you know, may -- may not be doable.
McQuade: Mr. Mayor, if I could just respond to the Councilman's comment. This is what
we agonized with for -- for several weeks in many conversations and I was talking to
someone yesterday and it --they --they run a different -- a different mindset than you and
I are and that is what -- the value has to be at a hundred percent January 1 st, that's what
you should have gone with and really didn't quite agree with what we had done by saying
we weren't going to be as aggressive. So, I really do appreciate that. At least I know
there is somebody on our side out there.
Strader: Thank you.
Simison: Council, any further questions? Okay. Well, Mr. McQuade, we appreciate your
time and the information you provided and we always value the data as we go into our
budget season and to see the growth of the community and appreciate your time tonight.
McQuade: It's all my pleasure and every time I visit with you I get a lot out of this and,
Mr. Mayor, I still need to stop by your office and just have a visit. I -- I have met you
before, but just -- after -- maybe in the summer or something when things slow down we
can get together.
Simison- Look forward to it. Thank you.
McQuade- Goodbye.
Simison- Commissioner Bernt.
Bernt- No. I was just thanking the assessor for--for being here this evening. Thank you.
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Item 7: Department / Commission Reports [Action Item]
A. Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance Repeal and Replacement
Simison: Okay. Thanks. Okay. We will move on to Item 7-A, Department Reports, for
Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance repeal and replacement and I see that we have
Jason on the line. I assume he will be the one presenting.
Korn: Yes. I'm here. Right. Hope it all works. See if I have control. Okay. I do. Thanks.
Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, with this staff report I would like to briefly introduce
the floodplain program and review the revised floodplain ordinance revisions before we
get to the -- the reading later this evening. So, I -- okay. Stop there. I hope you all had
a chance to review the --the Council memo and the story map I put together, kind of gave
a brief background of the floodplain program and the ordinance changes. So, this
presentation is kind of going to briefly go over some of those same points. What is the
flood risk in Meridian? We have four mapped creeks that have mapped floodplains. Five
Mile Creek. Eight Mile Creek. Nine Mile Creek. And Ten Mile Creek. Now, many people
wouldn't know that they are actually creeks. Nonetheless, that they actually had
floodplains mapped by FEMA, because they don't look like normal creeks or rivers, which
you normally associate with flood risk. So, our creeks have been heavily altered for
irrigation and drainage use. So, they have been widened, deepened. They usually have
steep banks. You can see that Nine Mile Creek in this picture up here, they have 90
degree turns in them and are underground in a lot of areas. So, it makes it interesting to
try to communicate the flood risk when most people think it's a ditch or just another drain,
because they do look similar. We had our first flood insurance rate map in 1991 and we
joined the National Flood Insurance Program in 1992. Advance. That is why we have a
floodplain ordinance and it's because of the National Flood Insurance Program,
specifically a 1973 law that required flood insurance for all buildings located in identified
flood hazard areas as a condition of federal aid, loans from federally insured banks and
eligibility for disaster assistance. So, anyone that gets a mortgage from a bank that is in
an area in the floodplain is required to purchase flood insurance. Flood insurance is only
available through the federal government, mostly through the National Flood Insurance
Program, and you have to be a member of the NFIP to be eligible to get that insurance.
So, that's -- that's really why we have these rules put in place. We have the mapped
floodplain and to get mortgages or any type of loans on those we have to have the
ordinance. Go ahead. We also participate in a community rating system and this is a
FEMA program. It's voluntary. That provides discounts for flood insurance policies in
Meridian based on scoring of 19 different credited activities. We joined this program about
five years ago and we achieved a class eight rating, which provides a ten percent
premium discount and to move forward there are certain pre-requisites that may inhibit
us from getting a further discount, but I will get into one of the -- the ordinance changes
impacts this rating slightly, so I thought I would bring it up, that we do have some things
that are above and beyond the minimum NFIP requirements and we are currently
undergoing a five year recertification on that program. Go ahead. One of the reasons
we are changing the ordinance -- or the main reason is to incorporate the new flood
insurance rate map and what was changed in this most recent flood insurance rate map
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for Ada county and for the City of Meridian is the Nine Mile Creek. That was studied
starting in 2015. They remapped it and made some changes. You see the changes on
here on the slide. Seventy-three buildings will be removed from the floodplain or there is
120 buildings that will be added to the floodplain. Thirty-eight were in it before and they
will remain in it. You can see on this map there are some significant changes in the areas
which are floodplain and which are not and that was also added in the interactive map
that was in that story map. We can see some more of those changes. Go ahead. Public
outreach for these map changes started in 2017. 1 sent letters to all the impacted property
owners. We had two open houses with FEMA, with Ada county, with a few of the other
cities. This was when we were targeted to have these maps adopted in 2018, but that
was stalled, so here we are in 2020. We started that process again at the beginning of
this year, sending letters to all the property owners. A social media outreach. We sent
postcards again to all property owners inviting them to open houses, which were pretty
well attended with Meridian residents and can see where we are at now with the
presentation and we need to have these new maps adopted through ordinance by June
19th or we get kicked out of the NFIP and that's an immediate process. If they don't have
the revised ordinance by June 19th you are out. So, that is a firm date. Go ahead. And
so what are the changes that we have in there. Well, the first and most important is
updating the flood insurance rate map and the flood and study referenced from October
2nd, 2003, to the June 19th, 2020, effective date. We also revised definitions based on
state and FEMA review. So, they reviewed our draft ordinance, gave us feedback on
what we needed to change in there to match the current Code of Federal Regulations
and the state guidance documents. One thing they identified was a section in there -- we
had an exemption from the -- the ordinance requirements where we determined a
negligible impact and that was a little too vague, so we figured there is other ways to
implement the same -- the same idea there without having that language in there. Next
slide. Substantial improvement definition, we are modifying that to remove the added
definition of 20 percent of gross floor area and if you remember last week we addressed
this very question and kind of brought it to our minds if we really didn't need that in there
and if it was causing more trouble than trying to enforce it. If it were, you know, why do
we have it in there. So, we made a decision to remove that. The reason we had it in
there was for that CRS credit. Talking with our CRS coordinator we have determined that
that will have no impact on a rating. We have extra points. We have some buffer room
to get through that. Next slide. We had a section on general floodplain irrigation
development permit. This is a result of a memorandum of understanding between FEMA
and the state of Idaho, how to regulate irrigation in the floodplain. So, all four of our
creeks are actually operated by Nampa-Meridian Irrigation District, so they are heavily
involved in the creation of this program and we have been implementing already for a
couple of years. This is just putting that language in the code. We modified a lowest
finish floor definition to be more consistent with state and FEMA regulations. Next slide.
And those are the major changes that are in the new ordinance, again, which will be
brought up later this evening in the regular session and I will stand for any questions.
Simison: Thank you, Jason. Council, any questions?
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
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Simison: Councilman Borton.
Borton: Jason, can you talk briefly -- what's the -- the significance on inclusion of a new
property into the designated area. The Nine Mile was the example that made me think of
the -- the concern for a property owner that changes how they might utilize the property.
Korn: Mr. Mayor, Council Member Borton, that's a good question. So, when they are
added to the floodplain, if they have a federally backed mortgage they may be required
to obtain flood insurance. It's not an automatic process necessarily. It usually comes up
at the time that they refinance their property and, then, they find out I'm in the floodplain
and they need to get flood insurance. They can do periodic reviews, the lenders and,
then, they find out that, you know, property is in the floodplain and they don't have flood
insurance, they could require it, but -- it would be required, but, again, the bank would
have to press that issue with them.
Borton: Okay.
Korn: But by -- by law it would be required that they obtain flood insurance and if they
get it right now before the -- the maps are effective they get a preferred policy rate and so
they-- they get rated as if they weren't in the floodplain, because they started off and they
weren't and, then, they are added when it--when it was built and it wasn't in the floodplain,
they do get a discount. Significant discount the way the program is now. Now, this could
all change when, you know, at the federal level when they decided to revamp the whole
flood insurance program, because it -- it doesn't work in some areas of the country, but
it's kind of spread out.
Borton- Okay. One quick follow up, Mr. Mayor.
Simison- Councilman Borton.
Borton- Jason, did you have any -- or many Meridian property owners participate in those
public hearings and contest inclusion? Anything specifically you can share?
Korn: Mayor, Councilman Borton, We did not have anyone protest inclusion, but as a
city we did have a consultant review all the technical data after the maps were released
originally in 2017 and I think we agreed with the conclusions, except for one exception
and this we worked on it with MIDC on modifying some flow rates through the downtown
section of Meridian and through that process they slightly reduced the floodplain, but there
was no significant change to what the floodplain actually was. So, there is really a
technical modification of what kind of flow was going through the pipes, but it didn't affect
which areas were in the floodplain. Other than that I don't know of anyone that is -- has
contested it in Meridian.
Borton: Okay. Thank you.
B. City Hall Reopening Update
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Simison: Thank you. Council, any further questions? Okay. Thank you, Jason. Look
forward to the 6:00 o'clock meeting. With that we will move on to Item 7-B, an update on
City Hall reopening. Turn this over to Chief Niemeyer.
Niemeyer: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council. Good evening. Mayor, if you could give me
a head nod that you can hear me I will move -- awesome. We do want to provide you an
update where we are at today, both in the county and in our -- in our city with regards to
COVID and more specifically what we are doing within our City Hall and our external
facilities now that we are opening up to the public. Chris, I'm going to try and move to the
next slide. If not I might need your assistance. Perfect. So, in my previous presentation
you heard me talk briefly about the Ada County Emergency Operations Center, as well as
the Treasure Valley Multi-Agency Coordination Group. Basically the planning group that's
looking at several different functions to ensure we are ready and able to meet the needs
of not only our community, but because this pandemic is more than just our community,
it's -- it's within our state, we look specifically within our county and within the Treasure
Valley to ensure we are meeting the needs. So, this is a very common organizational
structure. You see it in any natural disaster or manmade disasters, so think Katrina and
9/11, the wildfires that we tend to go on to assist, you see an organizational structure like
this very often. This is referred to as an ICS or an incident command structure. Within
our EOC and valleywide efforts you see the command group, the box at the top. From
the City of Meridian I participate in that command group, along with Joe Lombardo, who
is the director of Ada County Emergency Management. That group, then, helps
coordinate the policy group, the elected officials, the mayors and the county
commissioners that are on our calls twice a week getting updates, not only from our group,
but from the health districts, from the hospital CEOs. At times we have guest speakers,
such as Tommy Ahlquist or Chris Ball from the state and, then, other representatives from
the governor's office from time to time. Our public information from the City of Meridian,
we have Shandy Lam, as well as Stephanie Galbreaith participating in the joint public
information group. They have done a tremendous job of making sure that the
communication going out with regards to our efforts, both within the county and the valley,
are consistent and, then, below that you have the four primary divisions or sections,
planning, operations, logistics and finance. There is several other people working within
these various branches. I'm not going to go into detail, I know time is somewhat limited,
but that is how we are set up as a -- as a county to ensure that we are meeting the needs.
Just a couple of highlights. This includes a data and information unit. This is the data
branch working directly with Central District Health to provide the needed data information
to our -- to our policymakers, our elected officials, specific to the governor's data sets or
criteria to move from stage to stage. We are also using that same data to look at our own
internal City of Meridian operations, understanding are we ready to move to the next
phase, and I will get to that in just a little bit. Tom Miller and Doug Green from our IT
Department are part of that data and information unit. They have been great assets in
helping to work directly with Central District Health to look at the data needed to
understand where -- where we are at today and knowing if we are going to move into the
next stage moving forward. We also have worked directly with the hospital system. You
may have heard in the news the term medical search. That term is used when we extend
beyond the capacity of the hospital system, specifically to ICU bed capability, as well as
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ventilator capability. So, we have had some of our folks working within that regional
medical search support group, working directly with the hospitals. We do have two
identified off-sites preplanned. I can tell you today the hospital systems are doing great.
We will get into that a little bit as we look at the data that I'm going to share. But in the
event that we see any increase and we extend beyond the capacity of our St. Luke's, St.
Al's, and even over to the Canyon side, our West Valley Regional ICU capacities, we do
have offsites search set up and planned for. Next slide. Sorry, Chris. If you can get to it.
Thank you. A little bit of current data and current trends. This first slide is from a District
Four Health District perspective, so, again, that's Central District Health, they cover the
four counties I alluded to earlier. So, this is not specificjust to Ada county, but to the entire
health district. Our positive cases to this point by gender you can see just a little bit over
50 percent of females have tested positive, a little bit under 50 percent of the males tested
positive. To the right you can see the hospitalizations by age group, 50 to 59 and 80 plus,
in the age groups are leading in the hospitalizations. Those are admitting patients. And,
again, this is from the start of this COVID crisis to this point today. The deaths by age
group are very pronounced and you probably kind of seen this trend in the national news
if you are following any of that. The older population that have a higher risk and they have
more COVID comorbid factors are the ones greatly affected by this virus. Now, you can
see in the health district, in District Four, we have had nobody under the age of 60 pass
away from this disease. If you compare that against the age breakdown of positive cases,
you will see by far the age group that is most significantly affected as far as testing positive
is the 18 to 29 year olds. Typically a healthy age group that recover very well from this
virus. You can see the 60 to 69 to 70 to 79 and the 80 plus age group tend to test positive
in fewer instances, but certainly have a more detrimental outcome. Next slide. In Ada
county, specifically looking at some very specific Ada county information, this is confirmed
and probable cases by week of onset. You can see that we reached our peak around
March 15th -- the week beginning March 15th in Ada county where we had 162 confirmed
COVID cases and two probables. If you compare that to the most recent data set,
beginning the week of May 3rd to the week of May 10th, we had six new cases in Ada
county, with four probables. So, certainly we are trending in the right direction within Ada
county. Next slide. If we look at Meridian specifically -- again, March 15th was a high
and that went around throughout the entire county. If you go to the week of May 3rd to
May 10th we have had one confirmed case of COVID. Next slide. So, some other --
some other data and trending -- some data that is not publicly released, but we get
updates in general format. You know, the emergency department visits are down for
COVID symptoms specifically and if you look at the state's website they use a program
called Tableau and you can get a lot of this data off the state's website, which data is
being reported to the state. So, a good sign that our COVID symptoms are down and our
emergency department visits. Our hospital capacity currently in our county is very good
and strong. Our ICU bed capacity and our ventilator capacity remains very strong. In
looking atourfire and EMS responses overthe lastweek, ourCOVID symptom responses
are down significantly and they have continued to trend downward. So, the flattening of
the curve, if you will, that statement that you have heard a lot about, we definitely do it --
did a good job. But we need to be very cautious to say that we did a good job getting to
the point we are at, but we do have to stay vigilant and I want to share a couple of slides
as comparisons of an area that took good precautions and an area that didn't and what
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-- what effects that can have. So, Chris, next slide. Thank you. So, this is the John
Hopkins website. Many of you might have seen this. John Hopkins has done a terrific
job of collecting data and putting that data out. What you see here -- and I apologize for
the slide not being a little bit bigger, but this is Ada county in the John Hopkins system
and what you are seeing there is a stair climb up of the death toll within Ada county and
you can see a gradual climb where we plateaued at three and, then, we did have some
increased cases. But what you are seeing at the top of that in today's day is a plateau.
We have maintained at 19 deaths in Ada county for quite a while now. If you look at the
next slide we are going to compare against South Dakota and this is Minnehaha county.
I hope I said that right. Dave Miles will correct me if I didn't. But this county took far less
precautions. They did not really push the social distancing measures. They didn't push
some of the measures that even in Idaho we have taken and oftentimes are pointed to as
why couldn't we have done what South Dakota did, not taking the precautions we did.
What you see there is a much more rapid spike in the number of deaths. They have
exceeded our deaths here in Ada county and they are continuing to climb while we have
plateaued. So, what that says is the precautionary measures, although tough and painful,
they have helped to plateau the death rate as compared to other areas that did not take
those same precautions and they continue to climb and we continue to plateau in the
same number of deaths. Next slide. So, talking specifically really to our city facilities
plan, the reopening plan, we have a four phased approach, very similarly aligned with the
governor's staged approach. We are using very similar data to look at can we move from
phase to phase, but if you look at what we have currently in phase one, it's what we are
currently doing. We reopened our facilities. With that and bringing employees back, we
are taking some precautionary measures that we think are good. They meet the best
practice, so we are doing daily temperature checks and health screenings for all
employees. This includes our off-site facilities. So, Fire Department staff has been not
only at City Hall, but at our wastewater, our water, our parks maintenance facilities and
every morning we do a health screen. We are happy to report everybody's healthy. They
are happy. We have had no positive test. I will get to that in a little bit as far as the tracing
that we are doing if we do have a positive test, but to this point we have no positive tests
with our city employees. We are wearing masks, face coverings at all times when we are
in common areas. When folks are by themselves, like I am right now in my office, my
face covering is off, but when we are -- when we are in common areas, hallways, etc.,
bathrooms, we are in face coverings. Currently right now in phase one our conference
rooms and our break rooms are closed. That's areas where people can congregate. So,
in phase one we are eliminating that. We have increased our airflow and improved
filtration in all of our facilities, including City Hall. We have been doing enhanced cleaning
within our facilities. As I mentioned before, we do have a process in place that if any
employee does test for COVID we immediately start contact tracing. We are doing this
in collaboration with the health district, not against them, but in collaboration with what
they do. Right now in phase one we have all business travel locally prohibited. So, we
are doing all of our work and we are encouraging and strongly recommending to continue
to use technology, such as this, to conduct businesses with other departments, with other
municipalities, prior-- it's just as we were prior to COVID-1 9, only we are doing it through
technology and that's been working very well. Our City Hall and other facilities are open
to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. We are doing that to allow employees to get in
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and spend that first hour ensuring that their work area and the public areas are clean and,
then, in the evening we are also doing the same before we go home. We feel that's a
good precaution. Right now in phase one any employee traveling out of state overnight
is required to self quarantine for 14 days. That is meeting the governor's direction, as
well as the best practice recommendation from the CDC. In addition, we are offering
health screenings to the public when they come into our facilities. I will tell you as
somebody who has sat down in the lobby of City Hall and -- and spent my time doing that,
the public has been very receptive to our efforts. Not too many people say no when we
offer them a health screening and we offer them a face covering, they have been very
receptive. To that end City Hall public traffic has been pretty minimal. Most folks in the
community are still doing a lot of work with the city online, which is good to see. That's a
good practice. Shandy and her group put out a great video that we posted to our website,
the City of Meridian website, talking about what to expect when you do come visit City
Hall. So, we have had very good reception from the public and from our employees. Next
slide. So, as we consider moving into phase two and, again, we are waiting to see this
week what the governor says with regards to moving into stage two of the -- of the state
plan. Looking at the data it looks like we will be moving into stage two under the state
plan and that will move us into phase two under our city facilities plan. We will move away
from regimented health screenings and that will become an employee self check. We will
have all the thermometers readily available at all locations. Our department directors
have been advised on how to conduct health screenings. We also have that on our
intranet as far as the health screening checklist. So, we will continue to do that more in
a self check manner. The employees understand there is an obligation to report if you
are not feeling well, so we can get you home and that testing will continue. For those that
test positive we will continue to do contact tracing through phase two. Face coverings
will continue to be worn when six feet of separation cannot be maintained. So, a lot of
those common areas. If you can't maintain that six foot of separation face coverings will
still be required. Our conference rooms and our break rooms will open up in phase two.
Again, though, maintaining that six feet of social distancing. Consistent with the
governor's plan we -- we can now have groups up to ten congregating indoors with
appropriate distancing in phase two. Local travel will be allowed in phase two. However,
we are still going to strongly continue to urge folks to use technology whenever possible
to conduct business. Our City Hall gym, as well as the city passport program will open
up in phase two working with -- with Chris. He's got a great setup to get passports going
again. We looked at that plan and he's got a great plan moving forward for that.
Employees traveling out of state in -- in phase two will still be required to self quarantine
for 14 days and that also meets the governor's direction on folks coming in from out of
state and other areas. Next slide. Some additional items that we are tracking and keeping
a very close eye. On one is the CARES funding reimbursement and what that process is
going to be as far as allocations and, then, the guidance for reimbursement. A second
item that we still don't have great definition to -- and I know this has caused Steve
Siddoway a lot of sleepless nights -- and that is the -- the large venues tournaments, et
cetera, when we get to stage four of the governor's plan of the Idaho rebounds plan.
There is still some unclear direction from the state and they haven't been able to give us
clear direction on whether or not large tournaments -- for example, baseball tournaments,
rodeos, et cetera, will be allowed to happen in stage four. Part of the message we got
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that we are trying to pass on to folks and give them as much information as we can is
don't necessarily count on that, but until we get close to that stage and the governor's
office gives us clear direction on what this means, that's one that is still out there and up
in the air a little bit. There is a state testing strategy committee working currently. Dr.
Rob Silvers, he does all of the first responders health screenings annually, and there is a
lot of our work comp work. He's on that committee. I talked to him on Monday. They are
-- they are making the final recommendation to the governor this week. So, hopefully, we
will see something pretty soon. There is a lot of discussion on the testing that's available
and as I mentioned in my last update there is two types of tests right now. There's the
PCR test, which is the nasal swab test. That's what you see most often. At the hospital
systems they are testing symptomatic folks with that PCR test. With crush the curb they
are testing even asymptomatic folks through that PCR test. Lots of different discussions
and opinions on should we be doing more testing or not. We are hoping that this
committee, in which crush the curve does have a committee member on this, comes out
with very clear testing strategy for the state of Idaho that we can look at even here locally
to understand how we move forward with testing. The other item that we are in touch
with is health contract that the state of Idaho has. This is the ability to sanitize medical
grade masks or N-95 masks or KN-95 masks up to 20 times using the vapor phase
hydrogen peroxide. This is available to government entities free of charge. We have
registered for this. That contract -- that facility is down in Idaho Falls, but they even pay
for shipping. So, we are working on that as a -- as a city and also as an EMS system and
make sure we are saving those N-95 and KN-95 mask. This technology has been proven
to be very effective in sanitizing those masks. We know that it's -- it's still a challenge
trying to get some of those KN-95s or N-95 masks in for our first responders, so we want
to make sure that we continue to have a good supply of those moving forward. We
continue to work and assist with Meridian Chamber. They have a great program in place,
one of the best I have seen in the state of Idaho, and kudos to Council President Bernt
and the Mayor for being involved in that. They have done a great job. There is a great
message out there in our business community and so whenever we can help we -- we try
to help out with that effort. And, then, just want to thank IT staff. One of the things that
we are required to do under the FEMA guidance is to track our PPE usage. It's known in
the FEMA world as burn rates. How quickly are we going through things, so that FEMA
can help assist and the state can help assist in getting us more when we need to. Chris,
if you want to go to the next slide. This is just -- it's not going to mean a whole lot to you,
but -- but, really, to the level that our IT folks can set something up very quickly and on
the fly, they had this set up within two days. So, each department in our city is entering
daily what they have on hand as far as sanitation and PPE, whether it's N-95 KN-95,
gloves, hand sanitizer, et cetera, they are making that daily entry and, then, on the
backside in a dashboard this is just one snapshot of what I get to track. How are we
doing. Are we getting low. If we start to get low we coordinate with Dale Bolthouse and
his team to get more supplies ordered and on the way and, Keith Watts, got to give him
a lot of kudos as well, he's doing a great job of staying on top of that, making sure we
have all the right vendors to get equipment quickly if we need it. So, it's just a snapshot.
You have got a great team here working within the city and they are doing a lot of
tremendous work that sometimes you don't always see day to day, but, really, there is a
lot of great work going on and I believe that's it. I want to leave plenty of time for questions
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as you might have some. Thanks, Chris. Appreciate that. So, with that, Mayor and
Council, I'm happy to answer any questions and open it up.
Simison: Council, any questions for Chief Niemeyer?
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Yeah, I had a couple questions. Maybe just a clarification in the phase two, the
face mask being optional, and, you know, obviously, worn, when separation can't be
maintained. I mean some of the research I'm reading at least to me made it seem like
that six foot distance was a hard and fast rule, depending on whether it's aerosolized and
transmitted that way. So, how are you looking at that phase two? Is that something --
you know, obviously, people could still wear a face mask if it made them more
comfortable. If you see an increase in cases would you change and kind of go back to
more of a phase one approach? How are -- how are we thinking about that?
Niemeyer: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Councilman Strader, great question and like much of this
disease process, there is a lot of different opinions out there on things like even face
coverings. Are they effective? Are they not? Is it a comfort measure? Is it not? We
have taken the approach that it is effective, especially when you talk about coughing and
sneezing. That's really my -- you know, my medical background, it's not so much the
people breathing that's a concern to me, it's the people coughing or sneezing that is and
that's -- when you talk about aerosolization, that's what you are talking about is those
particles -- those small virus particles being out in the air. So, we are going to maintain
the face coverings when you can't maintain that six feet of separation. I know there is
some data out there that suggests that distance could be longer based on some studies
done, but really that's in a specific environment. So, we are still following the CDC
guidance, which is that six feet. To your question about if we start to see a rise in cases
would we move back potentially and the answer is potentially, yes. If we see a significant
rise -- and that's where our collaboration with the health district has been critical. We get
great information from them on a regular basis. I'm in contact almost daily with the director
over there. If not the director, we have the epidemiologist Kim Link connecting with us.
So, the answer would be, yes, if we see a significant rise over a period of time, then, yeah,
we would probably move back. We will just kind of gauge that as we move forward.
Perreault: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Perreault.
Perreault: Chief Niemeyer, I apologize if you mentioned this and I missed it, but are the
-- is the timing of the phases running along similar time frames with the state --the state's
rebound plan?
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Niemeyer: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Perreault. Absolutely. That -- we wanted
to align as best we could with the state plan, with the Idaho rebuild plan. We felt that that
was pretty well thought out and that that was something we could tie our phases to as
well.
Perreault: Mr. Mayor, follow up?
Simison: Council Woman Perreault.
Perreault: So, then, it sounds like phase two for us will start on May 16th?
Niemeyer: If we stay where we are at and things look great, that's the proposed timeline.
Perreault: Okay. Thank you.
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: I wanted to confirm if our first responders are in phase one, if there is an
expectation that they wear a face mask currently when interacting with the public?
Simison: Go ahead, chief. I will let you talk at least for Fire and I can talk to the Police
from my conversations with Chief Lavey.
Niemeyer: Sure. Yeah. Mr. Mayor. Council Woman Strader, great question. We still do
have a protocol in place. We are wearing face coverings when interacting with the public.
Some of that is called dependent. We are getting a lot of really good information from our
dispatch center, but we are still taking those precautions. I just talked to our EMS Chief
J.D. Hendrick this morning. Our supply of those masks are great. So, the answer is, yes,
in phase one we have maintained those protocols when interacting with the public. And,
then, I will let the Mayor speak to the Police Department.
Simison: And I will -- I don't know if Lieutenant Ford wants to speak to it or myself. I will
see if he unmutes, if he has anything to add. Lieutenant Ford?
Ford- Could you hear me at all?
Simison- Not really. It was very -- very low.
Ford- I was just going to say if you want to speak on it that's fine or if you would like me
to I ca n.
Simison: Well, since I can hear myself better I will go ahead and speak.
Ford: Okay.
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Simison: The conversation I have had with the chief is up to this point in time it is still
officer discretion on whether or not they will dawn a facemask for our Police Department
when they are interacting with the public. What we -- what I believe has been
communicated then -- that's why it's going to see if Lieutenant Ford wanted to speak to
this is if it's a low level interaction we have asked them to wear that covering, but that's
really an operational decision. It's hard to pull someone over if it's a warranted issue to
put on the facemask, because it can impact their ability to respond effectively. It depends
on the situation. So, that's where my last conversation with chief was discretion based
upon the severity of the interaction that's occurring with the public at the time. Lieutenant
Ford, did I miss anything or is that what -- do you have anything to add?
Ford: No. You are absolutely correct. That is what we are doing. Were you able to hear
that at all or --
Simison: Yes, I could hear that. I have lost video on a couple of our Council Members,
so I don't know if they could hear it. If they want to shake their heads yes or no. But the
-- it was an affirmative reaction from that standpoint. Okay. Council, any further questions
for Chief Niemeyer? Okay. Well, Chief, thank you very much for the information. We
appreciate it.
Niemeyer: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good to see you, Council. Virtually.
Item 8: Action Items
A. Discussion: Adopting Changed Application Fees for Certain
Permits
B. Resolution No. 20-2209: A Resolution Adopting Changed
Application Fees for Alcohol Catering Permits, Temporary Use
Permits for Promotional Sales Units, and Limited Duration Sign
Permits; Authorizing City Departments to Collect Such Fees;
and Providing an Effective Date
Simison: Next up Item 8-A and 8-B. I'm going to turn this over -- my understanding is to
Tori, she's going to be talking on this item.
Cleary- Yes, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, the three proposed fee
waivers before you this afternoon contained in Resolution 20-2209 will help assist our
small business community in their reopening and recovery efforts, especially those
businesses that are open to the public, such as restaurants and retailers that have been
heavily impacted by closure and social distancing requirements. The most recent data
from unemployment filings for Ada county shows that more than 24 percent of the claims
in the past seven weeks are from the accommodation and food services industry sector,
with another ten percent from the retail trade sector. So, we are hopeful that these
proposed fee waivers will ease some of the burden on those businesses that are most
impacted. So, let's see. As Chief Niemeyer stated, if the numbers meet the governor's
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expectations, stage two of the Idaho rebound plan will go into effect on Friday and that
means restaurants will be able to open, but they will have to maintain their distancing
requirements and so they will lose, you know, probably 50 percent or more of their dining
space. So, what the -- the -- one of the three permits that are proposed for fee waivers
are the alcohol catering permit and that's administered out of the clerk's office and that is
for businesses with an existing alcohol license. Typically the cost is 20 dollars a day
permits. Can be applied for for five days at a time and that limitation is set by state statute.
Basically, this will allow businesses to occupy adjacent outdoor space. The second fee
waiver will be for temporary use permits for promotional sales. This would allow
businesses to utilize adjacent outdoor space for special sales and promotions. Typically
that's used for weekend tent sales and things like that. That fee is 65 dollars per
application and cannot exceed 160 calendar -- 160 days per calendar year. And the third
permit is the limited -- oh, that -- I'm sorry. That's also administered out of the city clerk's
office. The third is the limited duration sign permit. That's administered out of the planning
division. That's 27 dollars per application. That will allow businesses to put up special
signage that might not otherwise be allowed under code. The application periods are for
seven to a maximum of 120 days per calendar year. I should point out that the downtown
area already has a provision for zone encroachment permits, which are also no cost
permits, also administered by the Planning Division. If a restaurant downtown is serving
alcohol they would still need to apply for that alcohol catering permit and I should also
point out these are only fee waivers. Permits are still required for all these activities to
ensure that ADA access is maintained and that conditions are safe. Landlord permission
is required for the sign permit, as well as the encroachment permits, and staff would hope
that businesses would approach their neighboring businesses in advance of applying for
these and staff will follow up and other departments as necessary. And staff has received
messages of support from the Chamber and the Meridian Downtown Business
Association for approval of this resolution and with that all I will stand for questions.
Simison: Thank you, Victoria. Mr. Nary, do you have anything you would like to add?
Nary: Just a couple things. I think Council Member Perreault lost contact for a little bit. I
think she's in the waiting room now. If we could get her back. And, then, the resolution
before you -- Tod's explained it very well. Just to give you an example, we have been
contacted between the clerk's office, Planning, the Police Department and my office, by
a number of the local businesses wanting to expand their footprint temporarily so they
can space their tables out a little bit further to meet the social distancing requirements
and that's the necessity for these three permit waivers that would allow them to both
advertise, as well as expand temporarily to meet these requirements. Again, the revenue
generated by these is pretty minimal. Again, as Tod stated, the rules are still in place as
to the time periods and the permitting that's required and permissions, but the waiver is
just waiving the fees, which we think will be a benefit to these businesses to help them
kind of get restarted.
Simison: Thank you, Mr. Nary. Council, any questions?
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
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Simison: Councilman Borton.
Borton: As part of that is there also an opportunity to have some expedited review and
approval process, whether it's some more focused dedicated attention to folks that try to
utilize these particular permits, that they also can, hopefully, gain some approval faster
than even our normal course and to make that known that we have got that sort of focus
dedication to assist them in launching these creative efforts.
Nary: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Well, yeah, I will take that one, Mr. Nary, and the clerk is on the -- on the call
from that standpoint and I think that their workload is down, so I see no reason why they
would not be able to expedite all these issues from that standpoint.
Borton: Great.
Johnson: Mr. Mayor, you are correct. We -- we do those as quickly as I can, but they do
require sign offs from various city departments and Nancy Radford in my office inputs that
as soon as she receives it and routes that to all of those that have to sign off.
Borton: That's great.
Simison: But the message is received. Okay. Council, any further questions on this
item?
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Borton.
Borton: Not a question, but a comment. However the process went to reach out and get
the Chamber and MIDBA involved and -- and they provided input, which is great to see, I
think anytime they--they provide some attention to -- to what we are up to is appreciated.
So, it was nice to see they are supportive of this, too, and they will probably be good
communicators to the business community to -- to get after it. Now that this is going to
move forward.
Simison- Agreed. And I think that's -- Tod is reaching out and speaking with them, so --
Borton: Awesome.
Simison: Okay. If there is no further questions or discussion, do I have a motion regarding
Item 8-B?
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Borton.
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Borton: I move that we approve Item 8-D, Resolution No. 20-2209.
Strader: Second.
Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Resolution No. 20-2209. Is there any
discussion on the motion? If not, clerk will call the roll.
Weatherly: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Borton.
Borton: Aye.
Weatherly: Perreault?
Simison: It looks like we may have to wait for her to come back before we can finish off
this vote.
Borton: We should probably discuss it.
Simison: Okay. I will --since we are waiting, I will just say something like this was similarly
done back during the -- the great recession, so there is a precedent for the city --
especially on the sign side of things. Not doing -- or making it so there is no cost to do
those signs.
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Borton.
Borton: To fill time I will keep talking. There is also an opportunity for us to -- say October,
November to put a little tickler on the calendar to assess whether or not reinstituting these
particular fees are necessary. We may find that removal of these fees didn't cause the
world to end and that we can survive without them, so it's just an opportunity to use this
process and perhaps permanently eliminate some -- what might be relatively minor fees.
There is that possibility I guess. We can discuss it this fall.
Mr. Nary- Mr. Mayor?
Simison- Mr. Nary.
Nary- Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Borton, a perfect segue,
because we will have to re-advertise and restart them as a new fee if we want to reinstitute
them. So, it's a great opportunity to take that data and what -- how many of these did we
do, what was the impact on fiscally, because we will have to have a new public hearing
to reinstitute them anyway. So, perfect segue to what you just said.
Borton: Okay.
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda May 26,2020— Page 27 of 616
Meridian City Council Work Session
May 12,2020
Page 22 of 22
Simison: Okay. Well, now that I see we have our quorum reestablished, we will hopefully
try to get through this roll call vote and -- and, then, we can end this work session. So,
Madam Clerk, if you wouldn't mind restart calling of the roll for this item.
Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, absent; Hoaglun, absent; Strader, yea;
Perreault, yea.
Simison: All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: FOURAYES. TWOABSENT.
Simison: We have reached the end of our agenda. Do I have a motion?
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we adjourn the meeting.
Strader: Second.
Simison: I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting. Is there any discussion
on the motion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Nays? The ayes have it.
We are adjourned. We will see you back at 6:00 at o'clock.
MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:43 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
5 / 26 2020
MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATEAPPROVED
ATTEST-
CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda May 26,2020— Page 28 of 616