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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-06-02 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:32 p.m., Tuesday, June 2, 2020, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Jessica Perreault, Brad Hoaglun and Liz Strader. Also present: Chris Johnson, Adrienne Weatherly, Bill Nary, Warren Stewart, Dave Miles, and Crystal Ritchie. Item 1: Roll-call Attendance: __X__ Liz Strader __X__ Joe Borton __X__ Brad Hoaglun __X__ Treg Bernt __X__ Jessica Perreault __X__ Luke Cavener __X__ Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: So, with that I will call the meeting to order. For the record it is Tuesday, June 2nd, at 4:32 p.m. We will begin this meeting with roll call attendance. Item 2: Adoption of Agenda Simison: Item No. 2 is adoption of the agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we adopt the agenda as published. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as published. 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: ALL AYES. Item 3: Consent Agenda \[Action Item\] A. Approve Minutes of May 19, 2020 City Council Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 2 of 29 B. Approve Minutes of May 19, 2020 City Council Regular Meeting C. Approve Minutes of May 26, 2020 City Council Regular Meeting D. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Andorra Senior Living (H-2019-0127) by Sawtooth Development Group, LLC, Located at 715 & 955 S. Wells St. and 971 E. Wells Circle E. Master Professional Services Agreement with Colin Yates for Tactical Emergency Casualty Care Training F. Second Addendum to Development Agreement for Graycliff Estates (MDA-H-2019-0129) with Star Development, Inc. (Owner/Developer), Located Southwest of W. Harris St. and S. Meridian Rd. (Parcel No. S1225418957) H. City of Meridian Financial Report April 2020 I. AP Invoices for Payment - 05/28/20 - $462,612.66 J. AP Invoices for Payment - 05/29/20 - $158,045.36 Simison: Item No. 3 is Consent Agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda, for the Mayor to sign, for the Clerk to attest. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Is there any discussion on the motion? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I do have a question about one of the agenda items. Is this the -- is this an appropriate time to ask? I assume so. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 3 of 29 Simison: Are you looking for -- Mr. Nary, is there normally discussion on the Consent? Nary: Only if you want to remove it or just had a question. It's okay. Simison: Okay. Perreault: I -- I do just have a question. Simison: Yes. Perreault: It's regarding Item 3-G, the Ada County Highway District bid. I'm wondering if maybe our Council liaison could give us some information as to why the STARS program did not fund that or what changed, I guess, from ACHD's original plan to fund the streetlights. Simison: I'm sorry, you're talking about Item 5-A or -- Perreault: Hold on a second. Let me pull it back up again. Make sure I'm in -- Cavener: 3-G. Simison: Okay. Nary: So, Mr. Mayor, I would recommend, then, removing that from the Consent Agenda to Item 4 for discussion. Simison: Okay. Would the maker of the motion like to amend their motion? Bernt: Yes, sir. Would love to do that. I move that we approve the Consent Agenda, minus moving 3-G to Item 4-A. That looks like we took care of it. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Second agree? Hoaglun: Second -- second agrees. Simison: I have got a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda by moving Item 3-G to Item 4-A. Is there further discussion on the motion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Oppose nay. The ayes have it. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 4. Items Moved From the Consent Agenda \[Action Item\] A. Approval of Ada County Highway District Bid Results for the Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 4 of 29 Ada County Highway District Ten Mile Rd. Utility Improvements – Ustick to McMillan Project for the Not-To-Exceed Amount of 518,303.75 Simison: So, with that we will move to Item 4-A, regarding approval of Ada County Highway District bid results for Ada County Highway District Ten Mile Utility Improvements. Warren, is this something that you are able to speak to? Stewart: Yeah. It's related directly to the budget amendment, which is the first item on the regular agenda, so I will probably just -- if you're okay I will -- just a second, I'm getting some more clarification on what that one was for the -- okay. Just -- Al's here with me and he's trying to give me some -- some update -- I wasn't familiar with the one that was on the Consent Agenda. I thought it was related to the streetlights, but he's saying it's -- it's not related to streetlights. So, maybe -- Al, do you have something you can share with us real quick? Christy: Yeah. Stewart: Come over here. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Let me say I apologize if I got those two confused. I might have made it -- written it down wrong in my notes. Simison: Well, we have pulled it off, so at least we will let you know what this one is about. Perreault: Okay. Christy: Yeah. And I'm not up to speed a hundred percent, but the item that was 3-G appears to be in regards to an ACHD project on Ten Mile Road from Ustick to McMillan and so these are kind of standard utility adjustments that are required on an ACHD project. So, it will be water and sewer, raising and lowering. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Excuse me. In regard to the STARS project, that was done on -- on Chinden Boulevard between -- if I'm remembering -- Linder and out to Highway 16. Simison: Yeah. We can -- we can speak to all that and 5-A -- Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 5 of 29 Bernt: Okay. Simison: -- specifically. Yeah. I don't believe this has anything to do with streetlights, to my knowledge. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault -- Strader. Strader: We will definitely talk about the streetlight installation in 5-A and the reasoning for that, but before we get to that, just wanted to point out from working with the Public Works Department, from what I understand anytime ACHD is doing any kind of roadway improvements we need to do utility improvements at the same time, because, otherwise, it's not efficient for us from a cost perspective and so we basically get forced to align those projects together and my guess is that that -- that is the reasoning for that. Thank you. Simison: Are there any other questions on Item 4-A? Okay. With that do I have a motion? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I would move approval of Item 4-A, approval of Ada County Highway District bid results for the Ada County Highway District Ten Mile Utility Improvements, Ustick to McMillan Project, for the not to exceed amount of $518,303.75. Strader: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 4-A. 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: ALL AYES. Item 5: Department / Commission Reports \[Action Item\] A. Public Works: Budget Amendment in the Amount of $196,185 for Streetlight Installation for the Chinden WinCo Project Simison: So, Item 5-A is Public Works, a budget amendment of 196,185 for streetlight installation for the Chinden Winco project. I will turn this over to Warren for comment. Stewart: Okay. Thank you, Mayor and Council Members. The Public Works Department is requesting a 196,185 dollar budget amendment to fund the installation of streetlights in conjunction with a Chinden -- Chinden Boulevard roadway improvements being done as part of the Winco project. This amendment is similar to the one Council approved a few Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 6 of 29 months ago for the Costco project and will provide continuous lighting along a busy segment of roadway and greatly enhanced vehicular and pedestrian safety in this corridor. We originally believed that the funding for this lighting project would come from the STARS agreement between the state and Winco, but as the Costco design was finalized and the project was sent out to bid ITD informed us that streetlighting would not be an eligible reimbursement expense under the STARS agreement and that the City of Meridian would have to fund the streetlights if they wanted them to go in. The Winco project has been bid and the cost for the streetlights have been identified and this amendment will allow the city to enter into an agreement with Winco to install the lights as part of the overall project and with that I will stand for any questions. Simison: Thank you, Warren. And I know that there were several meetings held with the district three engineer on this topic to try to get a better understanding of why streetlighting has been allowed in other STARS projects and not be allowed in the Costco or this one and at the end of the day their answer was because. And they would not allow it. Sorry. Mr. Nary, did I -- Nary: Well put. Simison: That's about as much as they would actually say. Nary: I would agree. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just a few comments. So, I mean this is a very important area to do streetlight improvements, especially now. Like we can't go back and do it later and we want to have that continuous lighting, especially for safety reasons, so it's very similar to the Costco decision. I did want to say, you know, maybe a preview for budget discussions, I think we have got something like 4,000 lights that at some point makes sense to convert over to LED and so, you know, I would love for us to have kind of a wider budget discussion in the future about the budget that makes sense to convert those over. Right now I think for -- for simplicity part of the funding for this is coming from the, you know, future financial plan, but I think during budgeting will be a great time to have a discussion about how much Council wants to put toward these conversions. Most of them, you know, are a payback period of like five years. It's a technology we understand and at the current rate that we are converting them with -- with the 75,000 now, that would take us like 21 years. It's a big ROI. So, I just -- I -- you know, I'm comfortable making a motion to approve this, but -- but I do think it would be great during the budget discussion for Council to talk about, you know, how many LED conversions we want to do, so -- Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 7 of 29 Perreault: I'm in agreement with the budget amendment. I just -- I was surprised to read that -- I would assume the STARS program works by a set of standards, but -- and we work -- you know, we have worked with the STARS -- the STARS in the past, we -- like -- like you mentioned, there was one that -- that has been a part of the Costco project and I'm curious how -- you know, where it's late I guess in the game and just finding out that the state wasn't going to fund that as part of the STARS program and I just was curious how -- if there is any information that could be shared about how we got here. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just to comment. So, the same issue actually happened to us on -- on Costco. Perreault: Okay. Strader: So, this isn't that we just found this out. Unfortunately, you know, we found out before the Costco streetlights and that also had to have a budget amendment is my understanding. I don't know a ton about the direct discussions on it, but from what I understand I think Warren had mentioned that a lot of great reasoning wasn't given to us, but, unfortunately, it looks like that's the decision that they have made pretty consistently going forward. Simison: Warren, you want to talk specifically about what you may have heard other than this is -- I don't know why -- why streetlighting is an expense that's approved by the legislature. Stewart: Yeah. So, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, we had a good conversation with them. They had previously in The Village project allowed streetlighting in the STARS agreement. We pressed them to see if they had a -- an answer as to why they allowed it in that project and they weren't going to allow it in this project and, honestly, the answer we got is we are not sure why they allowed it in The Village project. But based on their assessment of ITD policy currently they didn't believe that streetlighting was an allowable reimbursable expense and they weren't going to include it in the STARS agreement for the Costco or the Winco projects, even though for the several months in the design process that we had with them the communication was always that they would be allowed. When the Costco project finally got to essentially final design and went to the powers that be at ITD, they changed everybody's mind and said we won't allow it and we have had conversation -- we had conversations at that time with the district engineer and Robert pretty much summed up the conversation we had at that time. We have had follow-up conversations with the new district engineer about this Winco project to see if there was an opportunity to maybe change course and although the dialogue was -- I would say was much more cordial and -- and productive at the end of the day we -- they still came back and said no. So, that's kind of where we are at. Perreault: Mr. Mayor, a follow-up question if I may. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 8 of 29 Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: So, whether it's part of the STARS program or not, I assume the state has standards for their highway development that streetlights are typically required and so -- is that not the case? Stewart: Actually, you would be surprised and this is something that they actually admitted to us. ITD doesn't deal with urban highways very much. If you can think about all the roadways that they have to administer throughout the state, most of their roadways are very rural in nature and so urban highways and especially urban lighting is not really covered. There is not a whole lot of information in their policy about that. Their policy at present is that they light intersections and that's it. They don't light anything else and we -- we pressed them that, you know, this is a -- this is not your -- your rural country road, this is going through the middle of our town and they admitted that they may have to look at that in the future, but right now they are not really prepared to address that. Nary: And Mr. Mayor? Simison: Yes, Mr. Nary. Nary: Yeah. I could add to what Warren said. I was in the same meetings and they used all their -- the crash statistics that they use to make these decisions are based on rural highways and the crash statistics on Chinden don't bear out the need for this lighting, but the crash statistics are all related to a 55 two lane highway and this is a five lane roadway that's going to be completely different, but they have no statistics to support that and the only urban highway they have locally is Eagle Road and nowadays crash statistics on Eagle Road are significantly lower, but not because of just the lighting, but because of the islands down the center of it. So, they just don't have the data to support it and, like Warren said, they agreed that that's probably an outdated model, but they don't have any other way to do it right now. So, the only give that they were willing to do on the Costco project was I believe the conduit was allowed to be included, because they told us this issue very very late in the project and so the district engineer conceded that the conduit would be part of it, but the additional lighting had to be on the city and they have made it clear in that conversation more than once that would not be the same for Winco. They were telling us at that point Winco's design was outside of that, so they wouldn't have to include it, the city would have to do it if they wanted more than the intersection lights. Simison: And I think the larger issue -- I don't think that they want to get into the issue of lighting streets as a general practice and if they allowed it in the STAR agreement it helps, then, others set a rationale for why they should be part of roadway project requirements or otherwise. Plus you have people on the other side of the street in another community that didn't want lights on the section as well, so I think there is a whole host of reasons. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 9 of 29 Cavener: Question for Mr. Nary. Bill, what level of involvement or sign-off or support do local jurisdictions have with STARS agreements for future agreements? Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Cavener, not a great deal, because, again, it is a contract between the property owner and the state. Cavener: Okay. Nary: And it's all based on the sales tax reimbursement. So, we get input on standards, requirements. We were fortunate on the -- on the Costco side that we had collected some fees for lighting along there by the other projects, so we dedicated some of that to that project. I don't know if we have the same on this one, but Warren would know that. But, yeah, we don't have a whole lot of input, other than the standards that we have. Cavener: Thank you. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: So, will the lighting only be on the south side of -- of the highway or is Eagle going to be required to do the same for the north side of the highway just east of Linder? Stewart: So, that's a very good question. The set -- the lighting will only be on the south side of the highway, but for a five lane roadway -- or is it five? Five lane roadway that they are proposing or building now, that will be okay, because we have mast arms on those lights that project those lights out far enough that we can get good coverage for five lanes. Sometime in the future when they go to seven lanes that we will have to address what happens on the north side of the road. But for now lighting on the south side, which is ours, is all that we are proposing, even on the section where the City of Meridian has both sides of the roadway, we are only proposing it on the one side, because that's adequate. With the mast arms on the lights that's adequate to light the whole road. Simison: And I think that like anything ITD makes decisions based upon the current leadership of the community, not the future of leadership or the long-term needs of what a community may want. So, I think that those are future discussions for another date and time with city of Eagle leadership. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I move that we approve Item 5-A, a budget amendment in the amount of 196,185 dollars for streetlight installation for the Chinden Winco project. Bernt: Second. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 10 of 29 Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the budget amendment. Is there any discussion on the motion? If not, clerk will call the roll. Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, yea; Perreault, yea. Simison: All ayes. And the amendment is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. B. Mayor's Office: 2020 Citizen Survey Simison: Item 5-B is the Mayor's office, the 2020 citizen survey, and I will turn this over to Dave Miles. Miles: All right. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council Members. Appreciate a little bit of your time this afternoon. This is department report for our 2020 City Meridian Citizen Survey. So, for those that may not know, we have run this -- this survey for several cycles, the last being in 2017, and the first being 2014. Spread them out over three years and we are at a time where we will run this survey again with the goal of understanding really the community's perspective on the quality of services that are offered in Meridian, both from Meridian directly, so our water and sewer and other services that we offer, as well as those services provided by our service provider partners, whether it's ACHD or the school district or other agencies as well. As I have provided in our memo, we do try to track these questions consistently with prior years and of the 34 questions -- 35 questions, 32 of them are the same, if not identical from 2017. With the new questions we did add related to transportation and related to -- we asked a COVID service question as well. Wanted to get your feedback and take on the survey itself, if there is any additional points that you have in mind that you as a body think are important in asking. We do plan on rolling this survey out over the summer with reports and results coming back at the end of the summer or early fall. So, maybe I will stop there and have discussion with you all about any questions you might have. Simison: Thank you, Dave. Council, yeah, we -- this survey has been used in the past to ask residents other types of questions and I think that's really one of the main issues. We want to get your feedback and if you don't have any immediate comments right now, we can always take that at a later point in time, but Mr. Miles will be happy to take any thoughts you may have as we consider the next steps. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I just would like to make a recommendation to question number three. There was a question about quality of housing in Meridian and I would like to suggest that we also add a -- an option in that section about affordability of housing. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 11 of 29 Miles: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Perreault, thank you for the suggestion. We can certainly add an option in as a line item, whether that be, you know, a line item underneath or make a tenth option asking about affordability if that's wanted. Simison: And I guess the question for Council is -- yeah. In -- sorry. I got to try to move my screen around so I can look and see what's going on. Would you prefer a one to ten or a separate question if we were to include something on housing for affordability in a different light? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I think my suggestion would probably be to ask that question separately and I -- the only reason that I tend to lean that way is I think in the past few months that we have all been on Council together we have had applicants come before us that talk about the affordability of their product that they are planning to sell in the open market ranging anywhere from I think 200, all the way up to a half a million dollars and claiming that it's affordable housing. So, I worry about just that -- the term affordable housing being a little confused by -- by the public. So, maybe a separate question with a -- maybe a stronger set of sideboards might help to get us a clearer picture as to the public's opinion on that subject. Simison: So, Councilman Cavener or anybody else, would this be -- would we want to ask them would they consider housing in Meridian as affordable or give them a range of prices to what they think housing affordability should be? We can also work with the company, because I'm sure that other communities have asked affordability housing questions and see what they would recommend. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I would be really supportive of asking those that run the survey as to what they suggest in terms of the question that yields the best or most clear response. Simison: Okay. We can definitely reach out to them on that element and see what type of recommendations they have. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just a quick one. I spoke with Dave Miles earlier and I was comfortable that a lot of other things on my mind are being asked in different surveys and one thing I forgot to ask -- did we get a lot of feedback on our open space survey. Hoping that we did, so Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 12 of 29 we don't have to re-cover that ground again. But if we didn't somehow, this might be our last shot to get feedback on that. Simison: I believe we have gotten close to 600 responses as of my last element. You know, like anything with the open space survey it's not a scientifically valid survey, but, you know, if you ask that one and, then, you ask this one, which one do you want to give more credence to. I guess that would be the question. But -- food for thought. But there has been about 600 responses the last time I heard. Miles: Mr. Mayor, to that point the -- we just had an update today -- this afternoon, actually, from Community Development. They have reported over 1,300 completed responses to this point. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Question about that for clarification or from you or from Dave. If I am correct, the open space survey that is being conducted by Community Development is not a scientifically validated survey, but this one here -- this -- the overall city survey is; is that correct? Simison: That is correct. We strive to get a cross-section of different parts of the community, different age groups, you know, to make sure it's in theory representative of the full community, not one sector of the community that's being asked the question. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, for follow up. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: To that point, then, I guess I would encourage Council -- if -- if there are a couple of questions that we think are really critical in the open space survey, that we want to look to also have added into this, I'm certainly supportive of that. I know you try and find that right balance of not asking too many questions, but ask the right questions, but I think Council Member Strader brings up a valid point about that data being helpful. But I think that if there are a couple of questions that we think that are in there that are really mission critical that maybe we look to incorporate that in the survey as well. Miles: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Mr. Miles. Miles: Councilman Cavener, we -- we certainly have space the way the survey is administered when it's issued by the consultants it's -- one of the versions is in writing, so we are limited to page space, but we do have page space available. It all depends on Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 13 of 29 how long a question is as to how many questions we can actually add. So, that's my only caution. But we have space to add a couple of questions for sure. Simison: And my -- my recommendation that I gave to Dave I would give the same for the open space, is if I recall the open space is a sequence of questions to get to -- to get the information. It's not one question, it's not two questions, but many. But looking at the results of that data if there are some issues which have not been resolved or it creates the need for an additional aspect, you know, to me that's probably the approach and that was the same direction I gave Mr. Miles regarding results from the survey that was done by Public Works, is if there is unresolved issues to look at asking them, because to the point we can't ask the entire survey from -- from that standpoint. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I appreciate Councilman Cavener's suggestion and as I'm sitting here thinking about what he suggested regarding housing affordability, I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea if this new section is going to be created that we just have a cost of living section, not just about affordable housing, but just, you know, how do you feel the cost of living is in Meridian overall. Because I know there are people moving out of the city because the cost of living has gotten too high for them and most of it is related to housing, but some of it's not, and, you know, vehicle insurance rates are -- are related to location and there are -- there are different cost of living concerns that the public is having and so we currently have the highest rents of any other city in the valley. So, curious what my fellow Council Members would think about that. If -- if we are not going to add another section for affordable housing then -- then I wouldn't worry about it. But if we are going to go ahead and do that, we might as well have some cost of living questions. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I like the recommendation of finding out what other survey questions have been asked on that topic for other cities. Like I think that makes sense and that might give us something to start with. I agree with you that it's an issue and I think it would be appropriate to have a section of our survey to take a look at that. For the open space, I -- you know, I would defer to the open space I guess committee or folks who are working on that to look at the data they have so far and just let us know if -- if a follow-up question or two is needed. Certainly not to readminister the whole survey, but it's a pretty critical issue, too, so if there is one or two that we need to follow up that makes sense to me. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 14 of 29 Cavener: I guess one other ask if there is space. I believe in 2017 we asked our citizens their feedback on a clean indoor air ordinance. To me it would make sense, because there hasn't been any action necessarily taken about that, to -- if the space allows to ask our public their opinion on that again. Miles: Mr. Mayor and Councilman Cavener, we can certainly look at that in the spacing. Simison: And you know -- and I will speak to that one. I did have Dave remove that question from this survey. While we got the information to your point no action was taken, but we have seen several businesses opt to go smoke free of their own accord and the -- the question I would encourage all Council on any of these issues that we ask is -- to Councilman Cavener's point, you asked a question about housing affordability. What actions may you want to take related to housing affordability or clean air or open space? You know, it's one thing to get the information, it's another thing what you want to do with that information when you get it. So, food for thought as you consider what all -- what this looks like in the questions that we receive. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: You will like mine, because it doesn't take extra space, it's already an existing question, and looking at some of the subjects that it entails -- number 16, you know, asks to please rate the city's effort in the enforcement of the following codes and ordinances and that's done two ways. You know, one is through our code enforcement group and the other it's our police department patrol division. I asked Rich of our -- our code enforcement, you know, what are -- what are our top six issues that they deal with and it was parking violations, nuisance weeds, signs, abandoned vehicles, UDC or land use violations and, then, just general nuisance junk, trash, sidewalk obstructions, that sort of thing. He did let me know, because I told him -- this is a result -- you know, with the survey, you know, trying to match things up, make sure we are asking the right things. He said dilapidated houses, buildings are a very rare occurrence for us. He says illegal dumping and graffiti are investigated by patrol officers and it's the property owners' responsibility to abate the ensuing nuisance conditions is where code enforcement usually gets involved. He said thankfully neither is a common occurrence. And, then, what I was getting at what -- when I was doing work from home for a couple months and, of course, school wasn't going on, you know, working from your office -- your home setting and it was interesting to note -- and I have had a few people ask me during the campaign about what do you do about these noisy cars and -- and I noticed in our neighborhood, yeah, we have got some noisy cars. I can hear them go by and I can have the TV on and they are going down the street -- I was thinking we could take out removal of graffiti or dilapidated houses or buildings and put in a question about motor vehicle noise or something like that and just doing some reading on -- on sound in general, it's very interesting what particularly the European countries are doing to mitigate sound and how that impacts humans and workspace, both indoor and outdoor. So, I was thinking if there is something we could do with vehicle sounds or that sort of thing and, then, just -- I think Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 15 of 29 that's a little more relative to what people deal with, rather than some of the things, like dilapidated houses or buildings. We are not -- we are not that community yet. Or someday maybe -- we will be old, but right now they are downtown and we are taking care of that right now, so -- Simison: So, here will be my suggestion. This list came from the Police Department, what they felt were the main issues. I will admit I doubt that we sent them back to them and asked for an update of the issues they felt were good. I would ask Mr. Nary if he's available to speak to the -- I know the car exhaust system issue is very specific. I think it's a state law in terms of -- you know, so, again, it's limited in what we can do about it. You know, is perception the -- the issue or is enforcement the issue. Mr. Nary, are you aware that -- I think this has come up, even in the last two weeks. Nary: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I mean you are correct, there is a state code regarding that. The majority of cars are going to meet -- meet the state code requirement. They may seem noisy to the average person, which I get, especially in a daytime setting where you are normally not even there, that that does seem very loud and distracting, but it's likely not going to violate anything. From an enforcement standpoint it ends up very much like the discussion we had on air compression brakes and trying to enforce that. Again, I think a lot of it is perception. We occasionally get calls regarding cars that are leaky -- older cars that may leak a little oil in the street. Again, we don't regulate that type of thing, so that's not really something code deals with. I think the illegally parking of vehicles on driveways is probably another area we have talked about with the Council a number of times over the years and that is certainly a complaint. But I -- I don't know how much enforcement we would have beyond the state code in regards to noise from vehicles, because we don't really have the capability to enforce decibel readings and decibel meters in regards to cars. So, that would be the problem in asking a question that I don't know we could do much with the information. Simison: Did I -- did I hear Mr. Hoaglun say he wants us to add something about the speedway noise from cars and -- Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, no. We know that's an issue and there is nothing we can do about it, so -- Simison: I'm sorry. Hoaglun: Well, Mr. Mayor, it's just -- yeah, it is a difficult one to enforce, but, you know, when I'm sitting here and -- and the car goes by and I can hear it on Ustick, which is almost a quarter mile away, I can't imagine what those folks along Ustick Road, whose backyards are backed up to that are hearing and -- but it is difficult to enforce. It is a patrol action. They have to have an officer dispatch, it has to be caught, there has to be a complaint. I'm just curious as to noise -- if that is even an issue and it might not be an issue. People don't -- don't notice it or anything, it's just -- I did have a couple people mention it to me, but it was, you know, very neighborhood specific in another neighborhood to that. So, just curious about that. But I would like to see if we can at Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 16 of 29 least update this to go with more of the -- the top issues that they are seeing to better match what the complaints are and get a sense of, okay, are we responding to those adequately, so that -- that would be something I think we definitely need to look into. Simison: And I agree we should get an updated list from the Police Department about their code specific items. I think -- and you will have to forgive my memory, but if there is a question about enforcement of moving violations in this list, I -- I don't recall, but, you know, speeding, running red lights, loud vehicles, those are all moving violations that I think would be better grouped together if we need to go into perception of that. And, Mr. Miles, do you -- do we have a question on traffic violations? Miles: Mr. Mayor, no, there is not a moving violations question currently, but we can certainly look at it, work with code enforcement and PD and have them give us any updates to the list on question 16, as well as consider whether or not and what criteria you would use for potentially as a secondary question related to moving violations. Hoaglun: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Simison: Thank you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I would be interested to take a look at question 22 where people can rank the priority of different issues and maybe even Mr. Miles wants to comment on it. I know we did a Public Works survey that I think was pretty robust. I mean a lot of good feedback on clean energy and sustainability and support for that and we could talk about that in later meetings, but I was curious does it make sense to identify how that priority is ranked here as well or do we feel like the -- the survey results that we previously did give us a lot of direction on that? Sorry. I wasn't sure how -- like how many people actually completed that survey. Miles: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, the survey that was done in 2019 for the environmental and solid waste survey was actually administered by the same -- for instance, under the statistical process it was -- I believe -- I will get you to the actual numbers, but it was a fair amount of replies back to get a statistical set of north of 500 respondents to ensure a 95 percent confidence interval. So, in terms of how many people took it that addresses that. Reached out to the Public Works Department in the development of these questions around whether or not an environmental question was left, to the Mayor's point, sort of unanswered or unacceptable that we felt we needed to take, they felt like the survey at that time addressed and gave them enough support to move forward with the sustainable efforts that the city is making and seeking feedback and guidance from Council. One of the questions had responded north of 80 percent or at 80 percent of the people felt environmental topics were important. I think they felt comfortable at that point that that survey provided enough current information. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 17 of 29 Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you. Then, I agree, it sounds like that was a statistically significant confidence interval that that gives us enough direction going forward that I don't think we would need to add that to this survey. Simison: Council, any -- any further feedback or comments at this time? Okay. Well, thank you, Mr. Miles. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Oh, Mr. Borton. Borton: Just a comment. I -- I really appreciate this being done year over year or every three years. Some of the great value in it is not making a lot of changes to the data that we gather to see what fluctuates and the list in '22 is one example of I think a good snapshot of changes in focus from our community on issues that are of interest and important to them. Based on that we can drill down and discuss policy that might fall from it. So, I appreciate the work that continues with this every three years. Simison: And the one thing that I would note -- it is my intention to move this to an every other year survey, you know, to provide a little -- as our community grows and I think it just provides a good snapshot. I think Boise does it every year and I don't think we necessarily need that, but I think it's good for any new Council that would check in on, you know, what they heard during the election cycle and, then, follow that up with some actual information from the community on what they feel. So, that will be the intention. So, you will see this again in 2022 under the Mayor's budget at that time. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: What is the process from here on out? There are a couple more -- does Dave go back and talk to the company administering the survey and there is a few more drafts done and, then, we approve the final version and what's the timeline? Simison: Well, I -- there won't be a Council approved version from that standpoint. We will take this feedback and make modifications, especially for any new questions that are added we will share a final draft at that point in time and, then, as far as administrative timeline, Dave, you want to give an update on where you believe we are. Miles: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Council -- Council Woman Perreault, to the Mayor's point we will make the changes and additions that I have heard this afternoon. Talking with the consultant we are trying to get this in their hands in the next few weeks and that would Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 18 of 29 allow us to have survey results back -- a completed survey by early to mid August with a report back sometime hopefully before the end of August. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I just don't think there is much more that we could extrapolate from this report, so well done. Miles: Thank you, Mayor and Council. Appreciate the feedback and we will keep you in the loop with the changes that we add to it. C. Human Resources: Separation of Policies and Procedures Simison: Thank you, Dave. All right. Item 5-C, Human Resources Separation of Policies and Procedures. I will turn this over to Crystal with -- assisted by Bill, I believe. Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I told Crystal I would kind of kick this off, since I'm the one that started this. Back in 2017, Council, we did a presentation as we updated our travel policy and part of the discussion with the City Council at that time was separating out policy and procedure. Back in 2002 when the city passed the current policies and procedure manual, the attorney that created that for the law firm that was under contract at the time felt it was best to combine policies and procedures in one form. What we found over the years is that procedures changed periodically based on changes in the marketplace, changes in form, changes in process and trying to marry up procedure and, then, constantly bring that back to the Council was problematic and so what's happened is the procedures just changed as we did it and if we had a reason to update the policy, then, we brought the whole thing back. That seemed kind of unnecessary and, really, the Council's purview is policy and so what we felt was we would bring policies, show you the procedures so you know what they are doing and what they are and if there are any budgetary impacts those are all addressed in the policy. But, again, they are normally contemplated by the budget. So, it's not something that's a surprise. But that -- so that way the policies would -- would always be in front of the Council for approval. The procedures could change internally based on, again, need changes in market. And the reason it came up in the travel policy context initially was between 2007 when the initial policy was crafted and 2017 when the updated policy was crafted, the world of travel has changed tremendously. How hotels get paid for. Uber never existed in 2007. Baggage fees didn't exist in 2007. I mean there is so many changes to procedure and reimbursements and such. So, there was only a few of you that are still here that were there at '17 and the Mayor felt as we are moving this project along to its conclusion this year, wanted to make sure everybody else was in the loop on how did we get here, how do we begin this, because since '17 when we have had a few policy changes -- like the recent one, for example, on remote policy, we have split that into a policy and a procedure and there are two separate pieces of the same policy, but one is for the policy handbook and one is for the procedural handbook. So, that's kind of how we got here and that's Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 19 of 29 why we are here tonight just to update you where we are and, then, Crystal can talk about where the project is and what's the progress and the completion. Ritchie: Great. Thank you, Bill. Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, as Bill mentioned, HR and Legal have been working on this effort to continue to move it forward. The director team will be reviewing these policies and procedures in June, July, and August. Once the director team has reviewed the documents and their feedback has been finalized, then, we are going to be bringing forward for your review these policies and procedures and that will happen over the course of the fall and winter. Our goal will be to complete this initiative and adopt a new policy manual by January of '21 and Bill and I stand for any questions that you may have. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Crystal and Bill, I -- I think I get the -- the intent behind it from what you described, Bill, as where it started and trying to I think make it easier for us to keep focused on what is really within our purview and not the -- maybe some of the day-to-day how -- how those policies might be implemented specifically, but I think one of the questions was -- will be probably answered at a later date when we start seeing what it looks like -- what are those details. It's just a -- it's a little -- we just don't know yet the spectrum of minute procedure, which is clearly an internal operation issue that doesn't need us versus procedure that really does get really close to the policy end that -- or even if we call it procedure, it's still something that the Council would want to review and approve. You can think of something substantive, like a particular benefit, maybe something that if a benefit changes for our -- for our employees one way or the other, if that falls on the procedural line it's still something that the Council would want to review and approve or not and so as I understood where this was headed, I know at some later date when we see those specifics we will be able to articulate probably better direction from the Council to say ferreting off these as procedures makes sense, but some of these procedures still might -- they might fall on the policy side, which is sort of a vague way of saying I don't -- I don't know yet if we can give any clear direction kind of until we see those specifics and understand if, you know, what Brad thinks is procedure and I think is procedure, the same as what Liz thinks or -- right? And once we see those details we probably can provide more productive direction, but I think the intent makes sense and is a good purpose. Ritchie: So, if it would be helpful we can certainly send out to you tomorrow a sample, as Bill referenced in his introduction to this, recently the Council approved the remote work policy. That particular policy was all embedded in procedure into one document that we have split out into this new template. We can send that out to you tomorrow to give you more of a contextual and visual of what you will be receiving after the director team has reviewed the proposed changes. The changes that we are about are going to be more along the lines of formatting changes, some verbiage consistency and, then, updating the information with current city practice. So, that's -- and, then, when we provide that information to you in the fall with the information to review, we are going to provide you a Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 20 of 29 cover sheet or an overview of what the changes are that you're looking at. But we can certainly send out a sample tomorrow if that would be helpful. Borton: Thanks, Crystal. Nary: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, in speaking with Council President Bernt, totally understand, because it does provide you a better context of what the policy is. So, we can send that out to you. Again, many of the policies that you will see ultimately in the final product have no procedure to them, because you just can't do it. The policy prohibits certain behavior or certain actions, so there is no procedure in how to do it. So, there are very limited ones. Travel was one that has a fairly lengthy procedure, because there is reimbursements for travel, reimbursement for the transportation, reimbursement for hotel and how that all gets processed. So, that's another example of why -- there is a lot of procedure. The policy is pretty clear on how we can travel and what we do. But, yeah, we could set out a template to show you what it looks like, so that way you have a better idea, like you were saying, Councilman Borton. Simison: And, Council, this is part of the reason I want to have this conversation. As you know, I have got nine directors who have been instructed to go through and review 70 some policies that have been worked on for three years. If Council is not going to be comfortable with this direction I want to stop Legal and HR from working and I don't want to ask my directors to go and -- or your directors -- our directors to go and do that work, because that will be a significant investment of their time and resources as well to evaluate for HR and Legal to take those comments and feedback and adjust them. So, if whatever we need to do to either get Council comfortable with what's being proposed or not, that's what I would like to do before we proceed too much further as -- as a working body group to get that accomplished. Nary: And, Mr. Mayor, I was advised today there is 160 policies that we are reviewing. Ritchie: There is 78 policies -- write those down into a policy and procedure document, you're looking at, you know, 160 plus documents. Nary: Right. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I think Councilman Borton summed up pretty well about the -- definitely agree with the intent and the direction that you're trying to achieve. I would just suggest that maybe if there are some procedures that are being separated from the policies that they just talk to their Council liaison if there is any doubt or just an FYI type of thing and keep -- keep that moving forward. We definitely want to be involved with the policies, but, yeah, the details and how it's implemented -- it's kind of like the state of Idaho. The legislature passes the law, the governor signs it and, then, departments, you know, administer -- put Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 21 of 29 in place rules. This is a little less at that level, but sometimes there are questions. Where is -- where is the line and I just recommend they talk to their Council liaison and kind of get some feedback and I would be comfortable if, you know, Council Woman Strader was asked about that and she said, no, this is fine. You know, I trust her judgment on something like that and it's been vetted that way. Simison: Council, any further comments or questions at this time? If not, we can have Crystal provide a little bit of a -- and Bill a little bit of information to you all and, if necessary, we can bring this back for further conversation or if Council even would like to nominate one of your own or two of your own to work alongside to look at them in a little greater detail, so at least two of you know what is being contemplated before we get the rest of the directors fully engaged. But we will start with the e-mail from Crystal and Bill with that information. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: One quick question for Crystal. And I apologize if I missed this. How frequently do the directors review the procedures? Is there a consistent calendar that they follow for that? Ritchie: No, it's not on a consistent -- consistent calendar, it's as a process comes up for discussion or for review, if the department or HR even has a recommendation, it is vetted out at the director level ongoing throughout the year and as needed. It's not something that's calendared per se that we would look at a certain procedure each year. Procedures can operationally change as the current needs change. As, for example, we have a recruitment policy that talks about who does references and who does background checks and those types of things can evolve and change sometimes over time, sometimes more often than others, and so we want to make sure that we have a document that is available out to our employees to give guidance, that has accurate and updated information for them as they are moving forward through their work day. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I appreciated Councilman Borton's point. I think it's hard to know, right, exactly where that line is and so, agree, I don't think anybody here wants to get super bogged down in procedures that are like administerial in nature at all. I just think are there -- are there ones that are kind of on the line where either Mr. Nary or -- or someone says, yeah, this -- this is kind of a gray area. This might be something that Council would like more involvement in. Sort of hard to know what might fit that category, but I guess is there something we should watch out for maybe just some feedback on -- if you're running into things like that we can talk about it? Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 22 of 29 Simison: Yeah. And I know this wasn't your intention, but I think the -- the -- some of the issue right there is even in that comment, what Council would like more feedback on, you know, that -- that -- that is the gray area between policy and procedure. You know, whether or not these are changed or not from policies to procedures, you know, that line between Council authority versus implementation versus where you want to weigh in, that's not always clear and sometimes it should be best defined however we can to avoid where Council just wants to weigh in. Should versus want. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: A couple points on that. The process will go through this, we will be doing so with the mindset -- Simison: Someone take a screenshot. Cavener: You lost him. You're back. Simison: That was brilliant, but we didn't hear any of it. Bernt: That's funny. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Perhaps if Mr. Borton wants to maybe turn off his camera I have found in some other Zoom meetings that when you turn off your camera it allows your audio to at least come through and stop some of the buffering that he's experiencing. Just a thought. And he may have already left, so -- Bernt: I'm just -- I'm just kidding, Joe. Don't get mad. Hoaglun: But Councilman Borton left us hanging at the mindset and, you know, I was -- I was into it. I wanted to find out what's the mindset. Simison: Councilman Borton is the liaison to Human Resources, so I think that if -- having him have that conversation may continue to work with Legal and HR and being the attorney on the group and having his very own opinion about where that line exists is a great conversation to have. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: And he's not here right now to oppose, so I don't know if we need to make formal action of voluntelling him, but I'm definitely supportive. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 23 of 29 Simison: I think that we should just encourage him to work with Legal and HR and he can update the Council President as needed from his viewpoint about how we move forward, if Council could be agreeable to that. Of course you will have your own ideas -- time to look at it, but -- perfect. All right. We will make it so. Thank you, Mr. Borton. D. City Council Discussion: Council Meeting Format Simison: Mr. Bernt, shall I turn 5-D over to you or is this Mr. Nary? Bernt: Mr. Mayor, I can handle it, with the help of Mr. Nary as well. So, we are sort of reaching the end of, you know, Zoom meetings. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and wanting to get feedback from Council in regard to how much longer we have these Zoom meetings and what this looks like, you know, after we are back in Council Chambers and so I know that there are some restrictions on how many people can be in a room at the same time. I don't know the details of what that looks like, but just wanted to kick off a quick discussion. We are a little bit past 5:30, but what your thoughts are as a Council. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I'm happy to chime in. I have been putting quite a bit of thought around this and I think it's important that whatever path that we go down that that includes an option or an opportunity for any Council Member or staff to be able to continue to participate virtually in some form or another. I don't want any staff member or Council Member to feel like that they have got to, essentially, put their or their family's health in jeopardy. We all have different timetables that we are comfortable in kind of matriculating back into whatever the new world is, but I think that we should move in terms of -- if we are going to do away with Zoom at the speed of whatever Council Member is comfortable with that -- with that that laps. I think that we have learned quite a great deal during this time and I have really appreciated the length that staff has went to allow the public to testify remotely and I would hope that we continue to utilize this as a solution to allow the public to be able to testify from home, whether they have concerns about COVID or they have concerns about putting their kid to bed, they are going to -- should be able to have a way to be able to participate remotely. Those are just my thoughts. I'm -- I feel comfortable coming back into City Hall for these meetings, so if we want some folks to stay home and some folks to come in, I'm happy to volunteer for that. I also have enjoyed holding these meetings from -- from my office and so if -- if we want to continue this longer I'm also not opposed to that. Simison: Councilman Bernt, did you want to touch on the item that Councilman Cavener mentioned about the ability to continue these meetings? Bernt: Right. Yeah. We -- we -- we spoke about this as well. That was my concern as well, Councilman Cavener. We are on the same page and so -- I don't know if I'm going Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 24 of 29 to go as far as to say I have really enjoyed these meetings on Zoom. I mean I certainly -- it's just sort of reality, but the reality is, you know, we all go on vacations and we all want to be involved and you don't want to watch YouTube videos or get up to breast, you know, the next day, you know, calling each other on the cell -- on cell phones getting up to speed and so I -- I -- I spoke with Mr. Clerk and there is absolutely one hundred percent a way to do this going forward, not only for us as staff members or, excuse me, us as Council Members, but as elected officials, but also staff and the public who would like to chime in virtually as well. So, I think that it's very -- very doable, we just need to make sure that, you know, it works well with the inner workings of Council Chambers. But Mr. Clerk is very -- he's a pro. I mean there is no one that's done a better job than he has and Adrienne with this -- with this virtual meeting system and so that they seem to be fairly confident that we -- we can do this going forward on all levels. Simison: If I could just temper Council President's unbridled passion in the one hundred percent, it's been conveyed that we believe we can -- we can hold meetings in the room and also simultaneously hold the mobile testimony through a Zoom platform and, then, we can -- through a few items we can solve the issues that have plagued us by trying to do this previously, you know, where we -- we believe we can now take remote testimony and could have a combined meeting situation and so I guess that's really where we are is we can go fully back into the room, but we can try to do a split between the two, or we could fall under the governor's order as long as we can and just continue to meet in this version. Just looking if Council would like to try the middle road, we can move towards that direction, then, one of the questions becomes when to make the -- Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Like Councilman Cavener, I don't have any concerns about personally attending the meetings at City Hall. I think the city's done a phenomenal job of taking great care about social distancing and making sure that people are not -- that people are interacting appropriately, but I am wondering about the public and when -- the few meetings that we had in person where we had all of the chairs at six feet apart, they were not meetings where we had a lot of -- of the public that attended, but what -- I'm curious what will happen if we do have one of those meetings and if -- if we are still under the governor's orders to stay six feet apart, how do we accommodate those members of the public. Simison: My -- my belief is that we would have the chairs set up and only allow people in -- no different than if we had a meeting where we had 250 people show up, we have occupancy levels, we have got Police and Fire present, that we will use that to help enforce that. I mean that's -- whatever we set we need to abide by it, whatever that turns out to be, and we -- that's why we have overflow, that people could go into to watch. You can rotate people in and out of the room as testimony requires. I think that there is ways to accommodate it. But, yeah, there -- there will be times where not everyone can be in the room or should be in the room. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 25 of 29 Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. You know, that -- that might work, because I know early on we were talking about the option of having people out in their car and, then, they are retrieved to be brought in. You know, stage four, if we go to the next stage, doesn't begin until June 13th. So, that -- our next meeting would be 14th, 15th, 16th -- the 17th. But we may have to have -- if we -- we still -- even under stage four there is appropriate physical distancing requirement. So, you know, we have got to make sure we have that in place. You can't put everybody in overflow. You still -- it's going to take up a lot of room to have social distancing. So, I'm fine with doing this for a few more meetings to just make sure we are through the -- through this and -- and we keep people safe and, hopefully, we are into stage four or if we have to go beyond whatever and we can resume almost normal function. I think it's a great idea to have this as an option for folks to be able to come and testify in a meeting, but it -- I do look forward to the day where we can be in person and have these discussions face to face and -- as well as allowing people come into -- to -- to Zoom or whatever platform we use. But I think we are still a couple weeks away from that, unless staff can come up with a way to have people put around and outside of City Hall, if it's a big hearing, and be able to do that adequately. So, we can -- we can discuss further. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Would there be a way to communicate with members of the public who would like to attend that the priority -- priority will be given to individuals who are planning on testifying to be in the -- the room with us and anyone who is there to watch, to just observe perhaps that we can encourage them to do it via video or on Zoom? Is there a way for us to do that? Simison: I think we could try, but we have no way to enforce that. Nary: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Mr. Nary. Nary: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, so what we are operating under right now is the governor's directive that has suspended the open meeting law requirement that requires that we have open access into the room. That order is actually going to expire on June 11th. I anticipate the governor extending it, because it's related to his emergency order from back in March that is tied up in funding and other issues of the state. So, I anticipate that being continued. Again, it only allows us to do it. It doesn't require us to do it. But you hit on the right note there, Council Member Perreault, is I don't know how to -- if -- if -- without that order in place I'm not sure how I can limit people Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 26 of 29 coming in the room, other than by size, and so can we limit people in the building? If the -- social distancing has always been a recommendation, not a mandatory requirement, so I'm not sure yet how we limit access. Again, we are providing a lot of other access, but I'm not sure how we limit access with -- with that -- if that provision of the law is reinstated by the governor we will have to work through that to figure out how to create a safe environment, but also allow people to participate. Johnson: Mr. Mayor? This is Chris. Simison: Chris. Johnson: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Perreault, one thing we attempted to do before we moved to Zoom was put start times for agenda topics on the agenda. They will not start before time, so that we could limit people in the room. So, if that was the direction of Council and the Mayor we could do that as we try transition back in. Just wanted to state that. Thank you. Perreault: Thank you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. I think the format has been great and I -- I love that we are giving the public an additional way to access their local government. I think that's great. I, you know, kind of -- kind of following where I think Councilman Hoaglun is going, which is -- it doesn't feel like we are quite ready. I would love to have a solid plan for how people could attend in person and get the word out and how that's going to be implemented and, then, you know, make sure we are really moving into stage four and that this kind of fits with what the governor is doing and I'm a little hesitant to go totally back in person if we may be changing directions in a couple weeks anyway. We have opened up a lot and I think we will want to see what happens to the numbers. Rather than have everyone change how they are attending now, I would rather wait a little bit, maybe a few weeks, and -- and, then, evaluate again. But, meanwhile, prepare a plan for how we would do it in person. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Mr. Mayor and Council, forgive me, I always thought that maybe at a Council meeting we had talked about doing this virtual meeting through June. Did I -- did I mishear or am I misunderstanding? Because I guess to me I have been looking at this as July moving forward, not necessarily next week. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 27 of 29 Simison: All I know is that we have been operating as long as the governor's order has been in effective. That's as far as we could go. So, we can do next week if we choose in this way, but after that -- and let's say it changes, then, we don't have an option under state code to not hold it in person. Cavener: Okay. Mr. Mayor? Simison: Have everyone in the room. Cavener: Yeah. Simison: Mr. Nary -- or Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Well, then, I think this is good that we have got the conversation going, but it doesn't sound like we need to make a decision necessarily tonight. We know that we eventually will move back to being in the building in some form or another, but in terms of setting a date specific, is that something that we can wait to determine after we hear whatever future action is going to be taken by the governor? Okay. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. I think that's a good course of action. We need to know what the next step is and see what happens and see what the level of comfort is with -- among the community members. I know for our house of worship that they are talking about going back in a couple weeks and there is still a hesitancy, so I think it's -- we will know it when the time is right I'm afraid. It's not something we can set arbitrarily, but there has got to be a confidence level in the public that -- that will work and I think we can just do this -- maybe, Councilman Bernt, we -- it should be a topic every week or, you know, what does it look like for next week, you know, are -- when are we ready? What's the feeling? And just check the temperature each week and we will -- we will probably finally we go, yep, it's time next -- next week, so -- but it wouldn't hurt to -- for our city clerk and others to kind of be prepared and have, you know, contingencies and like you mentioned, having these won't start before time frames, because if this is still going to be an option, then, let's -- let's continue giving some certainty that way as well. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: One of those side benefits -- if we have got members of the public who are -- you know, there is long-term greater accessibility for our public to participate, we have always been focused on trying to capture that. If that's part of it, we would -- accordingly -- that's important. Meridian City Council Work Session June 2, 2020 Page 28 of 29 Simison: Again I think we just heard some brilliant remarks by Councilman Borton, but he was the only one that heard them. Borton: Did you hear that? Simison: No. Borton: Nothing works over here. Cavener: That's better. Bernt: We can hear you now. Hoaglun: I heard that. Borton: I apologize. Simison: Okay. Well, we will leave this in the hands of your Council President to help determine how and when we move forward, assuming we have that flexibility from the governor at least, to re-engage in the conversation with you all, whether it's in this format or another format per se. Item 6: Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206(d): To consider records that are exempt from disclosure as provided in chapter 1, title 74, Idaho Code Simison: Okay. With that we are at the -- nearing the end of our agenda. Do I have any motions? Bernt: Mr. Mayor, do we -- do we want to maybe close or adjourn the meeting and maybe move the Executive Session after the 6:00 o'clock meeting so we have more time? Simison: I don't know if our -- I know our person is waiting for us. We could go in and see and if we need to come back afterwards, if they are available, we can do that. Bernt: Okay. Simison: Our 6:00 o'clock meeting is very quick, to my knowledge, but I can't -- I can't speak for how much you all want to talk on those items, so I don't know, but -- Bernt: I guess we can go into Executive Session and see how it goes and if you have to, you know, have another one after the 6:00 o'clock meeting we can do that. Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we move to Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-026(d). Meridian City Council Work Session June 2,2020 Page 29 of 29 Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to go into Executive Session. Is there any discussion on the motion? If not, clerk will call the role. Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, yea; Perreault, yea. Simison: All ayes. Thank you. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:48 p.m. to 6:03 p.m.) Simison: Council, do I have a motion? Mr. Bernt, you need to unmute yourself. Bernt: Sorry about that. I move that we come out of Execution Session. Hoaglun: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to come out of Executive Session. Any discussion on the motion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Bernt: Mr. Mayor, I move that we adjourn the meeting. Hoaglun: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second -- a motion and a second to adjourn our first meeting. Any discussion on the motion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:03 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 6 / 9 / 2020 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda June 9,2020— Page 34 of 318