HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-06-16 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session June 16, 2020.
A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:35 p.m., Tuesday, June
16, 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, Todd Lavoie, Warren
Stewart, Kim Warren, Jamie Leslie and Joe Bongiorno.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Liz Strader X Joe Borton
X Brad Hoaglun _X_Treg Bernt
X Jessica Perreault _X Luke Cavener
X Mayor Robert E. Simison
Simison: I will call this meeting to order. For the record it is Tuesday, June 16th, at 4:35
p.m. We will begin this meeting with roll call attendance.
Item 2: Adoption of Agenda
Simison: Doesn't this just feel right? Doesn't this -- it did. Okay. Thank you. Item 2 is
adoption of the agenda.
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we adopt the agenda as presented -- as published.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: 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.
All ayes. The agenda is adopted.
MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES.
Item 3: Consent Agenda [Action Item]
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A. Approve Minutes of June 9, 2020 City Council Work Session
B. Approve Minutes of June 9, 2020 City Council Regular Meeting
C. Baraya Subdivision No. 4 Sanitary Sewer Easement
D. Lavender Heights Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement
No. 1
E. Linder Village Water Main Easement No. 1
F. Final Order for Hensley Station No. 1 (H-2020-0050) by
Northern Land Development, LLC, Located at 462 N. Black Cat
Rd.
G. Production Services Agreement Between the City of Meridian
and Amplified Production Group for Concerts on Broadway
Sound Production
H. Finance Department: Agreement Between the City of Meridian
and Drive Payments/Card Connect to Enter Into a Contract for
Credit Card Payment Processing
I. Resolution No. 20-2215: A Resolution of the Mayor and the City
Council of the City of Meridian Authorizing the City Clerk to
Destroy Certain Paper Originals of Permanent Records
Retained in a Nonpaper Medium, Semi-Permanent, and
Temporary Records of the City of Meridian; and Providing an
Effective Date
J. AP Invoices for Payment - 06/10/20 - $662,597.31
K. AP Invoices for Payment - 06/17/20 - $2,479,711.94
Simison: Item 3 is the Consent Agenda.
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda. For the Mayor to sign and the Clerk
to attest.
Hoaglun: Second the motion, Mr. Mayor.
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Simison: I have a motion and a second 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: ALLAYES.
Item 4: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda [Action Item]
Simison: Item 4. There are no move items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 5: Department / Commission Reports [Action Item]
A. Public Works: Budget Amendment for Fiscal Year 2020 in the
Amount of$284,000 for the Wastewater Resource Recovery
Facility (WRRF) Capacity Expansion Construction Project
Simison: So, we will move on to Item 5-A and we will turn this over to our Public Works
Department for a budget amendment for fiscal year 2020. Mr. Stewart.
Stewart: Mayor, Members of the Council, the Public Works Department is here tonight
requesting your approval for a 284,000 dollar budget amendment in order to complete the
remaining elements of the capacity expansion project on the wastewater treatment plant.
This was a multi-year 44 million dollar project that will conclude this fall. Although this
budget amendment is not insignificant, this amendment represents less than a one
percent increase to the overall budget request that we originally made. This project has
been very successful overall. We have started the commissioning of this treatment plant.
We started it last Tuesday and things are working very well. There was a few minor
hiccups and whatnot, but I think overall everybody's very pleased at how smoothly things
went and how well things are working. Some of the reasons for the cost increase were
unforeseen site conditions, unexpected soil conditions, equipment problems, primary
power improvements that had to be made because of the Idaho Power buyout and delays
due to COVID-19. So, with that I will stand for any questions that you may have.
Simison: Thank you, Warren. Council, any questions?
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: I move that we approve Item 5-A, a budget amendment for fiscal year 2020, in
the amount of 284,000 dollars for the Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility Capacity
Expansion Construction Project.
Cavener: Second.
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Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Item -- Item 5-A. Is there 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. Motion passes. Thank you, Warren.
MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES.
B. Finance Department: OpenGov Dashboard Overview
Simison: Item 5-B is from our Finance Department, OpenGov dashboard overview, and
I will turn this over to Mr. Lavoie.
Lavoie: Good afternoon, Mayor, Members of the Council. Good to have you back home.
It's been a while, my friends. Today I'm going to work with you guys on something called
OpenGov. It was asked of me to present to you our financial transparency system and
the next steps that we are taking with the power of OpenGov. For three years we have
been using OpenGov for our transparency site for all of our financial information for our
citizens on a daily basis. We are now integrating OpenGov platform, which you allowed
us to do this fiscal year with a budget request last -- or this fiscal year and now I'm here
to show you kind of what we are doing with the dollars that you appropriated to us for the
OpenGov platform. This year we instituted dashboards. It's a different mechanism within
the OpenGov platform for us to communicate our financial information to our customers
and currently we present Council with a monthly report that kind of looks like this cover
sheet and I believe is about 62 pages. So, again, we give you this static report that's 62
pages on a monthly basis. We print it out and put in your offices upstairs. It has very
detailed information about our financials and our conditions. We are going to look to
transition you from a hardcopy static 62 page report to what we are going to call our
OpenGov dashboard platform. What you have on the screen here is an example of what
I would like to move the Council team for the financial access moving forward after we do
some introductory training and things like that. So, instead of getting this 60 page -- 62
page report from us on a transparency -- or on -- on our transparency we would like to
use technology and allow you access to our financials at your fingertips, on your mobile
device, on your laptop, on your Pad from your house, from your cabin in McCall, wherever
you want to be we will get you access to our financial data. Business trip on --for Council
Members in DC, you will have financials at your fingertips, as opposed to a 62 page report
that is static back in your office. So, with dashboards what we can do is we can convey
certain financial information to you based on the inputs that I received from you. What I
would like for you to do over the next couple months is utilize -- continue to utilize this --
this document that we submit to you and find the key measures or the key financial points
that are important to you. That way when I build this dashboard those key components
are available to you, easily accessible on this dashboard site. Until then I have created
kind of an example of what I believe you should be kind of looking at when you analyze
our financials on a monthly, daily, or weekly basis. In this example here that -- we are
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going to call this a Council dashboard. What we will be able to do is give you user
accounts on OpenGov, so when you log in from wherever you are this will show up on
your internet browser. You will, then, be able to access this data that we determine going
forward, it's a living document, and, then, you can analyze the data accordingly. One
example we have here -- again, we can change the terminology on some of this, but the
first one is -- is what is our position from revenues to expenses for the General Fund.
This is updated every single night, so you can see right now the General Fund has excess
revenues, which is a great position to be in, and you can ask us any questions on any of
these dashboards at anytime and we can work with you and get the answers. But from
a quick, you know, reference we want to know how is the General Fund doing, that's
always a question that we get, how are we doing. Here is your answer. You have excess
revenues. That's fantastic. How is the General Fund personnel budget to actuals as of
today. So, right now we have spent 81.74 percent of their actual budget. So, the dark
color is the actuals and the shaded or lighter black color is your budget. So, you can kind
of see where you are from an overall General Fund personnel to budgets to date at any
moment in time. Another example is how are we doing on a police overtime. You are
currently sitting -- you have spent 389,000 dollars of your budgeted 789, or 50 percent of
your police overtime budget as of last night. So, again, what we are trying to do is provide
you the financial data at your fingertips wherever you are. Another one is how is the
operating fund budget. Again, the smaller bar is the actual, the shaded bar is the budget.
We can design these graphs to look differently and if you would prefer only two years,
three years, we can do that. If you want seven years we can do this. These are examples
of different ways we can convey the information, but when you guys kind of work through
these documents kind of take note of what's -- really what catches your eye, what's
important to you, so I can build these dashboards to meet your needs, because this will
be one dashboard for all of you, so that way if, you know, Liz likes something, well, Brad
-- oh, that -- I didn't even think about that. That's great. Or Luke likes something and
Treg goes, well, that's fantastic, I didn't even think about. It's going to be a shared
dashboard for all Council Members. We are utilizing this technology for all of our
directors. All of our directors have these dashboards available to them. I have sat down
with each one of them and created a dashboard for them, so that they can see their
financials where ever they are, updated nightly, at their fingertips. So, our goal here is to
utilize OpenGov as our financial transparency report for both internal and external, which
we have been doing for three years plus, but this is kind of an introductory to you guys on
a homework assignment I'm giving you guys for the next month or two, look at this monthly
report, find what's important to you, that way I can build this report for you going forward
and let's say eight months down the road, you know, Jessica goes, hey, can we add this?
The answer is yes. I can add another piece of information to this system. Or let's say,
you know, Brad's looking at this and goes I want to see what's really inside this, so, he
clicks on that particular tile, it's going to take you straight to our details. It's going to tell
you exactly what we are doing with police overtime. It shows you by month what we have
spent and tells you the different departments over here off to the right -- we can't really --
move that. There we go. So, you can see it by department if you wanted to. If you just
want to look at records, if you click on records it will tell you just record -- actuals, year to
date versus the total budget. Again, if you want to look at the transactions, you can
actually look at the transactions down below. This is all live. You can see everything
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there is. If you hover over these, you know, this description it tells you what it is. So,
again, you have access to our checkbook, basically, at your fingertips for every single
transaction for the City of Meridian. This is what we provide our citizens right now. We
are just now going to empower you guys with the same technology, instead of utilizing
this and I believe we print out about 80 pages of transaction details every single month
for you. Now we are going to eliminate that process by -- the transactions are actually
updated nightly, so instead of being 30 days in arrears, you are now timely. So, that's
kind of our goal with OpenGov trying to empower you guys with technology and
information, instead of us supplying you information you will demand the information at
your fingertips. Quick tutorial over what OpenGov is. I stand -- or sit for any questions
that you have.
Simison: Thank you, Todd. Todd, quick question. Is there anything in that paper
document that is not accessible electronically or is there everything in that that they will
be able to see here?
Lavoie: Fair question, Mayor. We will be continuing to produce a monthly paper version.
By state statute we have to submit some information to you, i.e., fund balances, i.e.,
investments and cash positions. Those are not inside open. gov, so we will still meet our
state statutory laws, you will just have a one page version of this, which will meet our
state statue -- state statute regulations.
Simison: And everything else can be an in OpenGov.
Lavoie: In my opinion the answer is yes.
Cavener: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Todd, is there a -- I know that we can create and change
and add at any point in time, but for the sake of operational efficiencies is there a timeline
that you would want us to get you our thoughts? Do you mean 30 days from now? Two
weeks? What -- what's a targeted date for you so we all know to respond in kind, so you
can at least believe, okay, we have heard from the Council and can move forward.
Lavoie: Fair question, Luke. Again, I'm comfortable with two months. If that's enough
time for you guys to kind of digest two months of financials, I'm -- I'm okay with it. Again,
this is a tool for you guys, so the sooner you tell me the sooner it's available to you, so I
really rely on you, but I'm comfortable with two months, giving you guys that much time
to digest. You guys have a budget that's going to be pretty involved right now, I would
rather you guys focus on the budget and work on this maybe in July.
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Borton.
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Borton: One quick question. Todd, is it -- the format you showed us right here with the
actuals is the budget component, the year-to-date budget, or fiscal year --
Lavoie: Yes.
Borton: -- the way it's currently set up?
Lavoie: To answer the question we can set it up any which way you wish. So, we can
set it up year to date or we can show more budget versus actual today. It's up to you how
you want to visualize it.
Borton: How is it shown right here?
Lavoie: This one here I have it year to date.
Borton: Okay.
Lavoie: I show -- that's just how we look at it, say how are we doing year to date, the
exact same time frame for the last five years. Are we on the seasonality approach I
guess? Are we on the same seasonality line that we have been and that's -- to us that's
more important than here is our total budget. Again, we can design it any which way you
so desire. Where you are talking about, Joe, it's going to look like one tall bar and, then,
each month you just have one little bar against that one tall bar. It's up to you. Your
personal preference. I can design it any which way you guys so desire.
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Borton.
Borton: The --the year-to-date approach is I think the right way to go. I was just clarifying
the option to do a year.
Lavoie: We are flexible. We can go either way, Joe, for you. This would be your full
budget versus current actual. So, that's what that one would look like. That's my total
budget. This is what I have spent to date, as opposed to year-to-date.
Simison: Council, any further questions for Mr. Lavoie? Thanks, Todd. We appreciate
your efforts to reduce paperwork and eliminate work other people have to do.
Lavoie: Perfect. Thank you guys.
Cavener: Thanks, Todd.
Lavoie: Thank you.
C. Parks and Recreation Department: 2020 Pathways Update
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Simison: Council, up next is Item 5-C, Parks and Recreation Department 2020 Pathways
Update. I'm going to turn this over to -- it looks like our director is going to defer to Kim.
Warren: Mayor Simison, Council Members, thank you for your time today. It's nice to see
some new faces. It's been a while speaking in front of you. So, thank you. I would like
to give you a bit of a pathways update in terms of the current pathway projects, active city
run projects that we are doing right now, as well as some projects that have been
proposed for next year. So -- what's my advance? Okay. Sorry, it doesn't seem to be --
okay. So, these projects that we are working on that are actually under construction are
along the Five Mile pathway. It's one of our priority pathways. It's where we have spent
the most energy and money building connectivity since I got here a few years ago. The
first of those is the Ten Mile trailhead. It's the Five Mile pathway at Ten Mile and just to
give you a little context, this is Ten Mile Road looking north. The trail head site is off to
the east. It's an ACHD parcel that they weren't using, they just kind of offered to us --
offered to cost share. Okay. That's fine. If we wanted to -- if we wanted to use that for
anything. The Five Mile pathway runs just north of--the Wastewater Resource Recovery
Center is over here. We said, yes, thank you. Thought we would want to do a trailhead
and so it's been kind of an exciting project. We first pitched it to Council a couple of years
ago a gateway to the system. It's been one of our priority pathways. We envision parking
and basic trailhead amenities, but I think most importantly we wanted to increase visibility
for the pathway system. It's kind of a nicely kept secret in Meridian that we have. It
doesn't look like we have pathways and there is really a lot more out there than the
average driver might know. So, could we start to build a brand and this could be like a
door into the system. We -- we did a cost share with Ada County Highway District. So,
as part of the Ten Mile Road widening they are building a wider section of pedestrian --
there is a pedestrian bridge, if you can see my arrow, that goes north and off to Reta
Huskey Park and also parking and, then, the street frontage improvements. So, there is
some cost savings to us to let them do that because of their economy of scale, just with
the entire Ustick, McMillan road widening. So, our current status -- or project status is
that easy to -- if any of you have driven down there, they are underway with the roadway
widening. They have been working on the bridge. Right now Ten Mile Road kind of takes
a roller coaster detour through our trailhead site. Not through the middle, but there is not
much to see now. We are excited for that to be complete and in the meantime -- this has
been the oddest project, because we have split it in two pieces. So, kind of bid and
constructed part of it with Ada county and we have a separate in-house project -- CDs are
almost complete for the design and we plan to bid the rest of it, which is trees, landscape,
all the site amenities, site furnishings, there will be future plans for art not part of this bid.
We are going to bid that late fall, this winter, and look to construct our portion of that site
when ACHD is complete. So, hopefully sometime in the next construction season that's
our plan. And I said there were art opportunities at that site, so we have been staying in
touch with Audrey and the commission just to -- to see what can be integrated there. The
second project on the Five Mile pathway that we have got going and we are really excited
that it's under construction, because it's been in the works for a while, is the James Court
sidewalk widening. This is connecting the Bud Porter Pathway west of Meridian Road
with the Jackson Drain segment and we are just north of Fairview sort of where it turns
into Cherry where it turns into Fairview. So, this is, essentially, a wider sidewalk. Here
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was our ask to -- for a lot of the easements and the nearby property owners. You know,
there is some existing five foot sidewalk, we needed some additional space behind the
sidewalk to create a ten foot attached sidewalk that functions as our ten foot multi-use
pathway. That's kind of our minimum standard. And, then, that is going as well. We have
got a great contractor on that. They have done a couple of stretches. This is the Jackson
Drain here and they are just working their way on down. There is a bit of a bridge with
the Meridian roadway widening, just when we get to the end we have got our final
easements, so we have full access to make that connection, but there will be some --
some coordination with -- with their roadway project. The Pine Avenue rest stop also on
the Five Mile pathway is east of downtown on Pine. It's just west of the county building
where the mosquito abatement program is, if that rings a bell for you. So, it's where Five
Mile pathway crosses to the north and we had to envisioned, again, on an ACHD parcel
that they allowed us to use, a bit of a trailhead amenity. This one is smaller, not quite as
much as design. There is a stormwater basin back here, so we are coordinating some
plantings at the edges with the plantings that will be there. This is just another spot along
the pathway system to pause, rest, and it's -- I was just over there earlier today, it's nearly
complete. We do have plans to wrap this traffic box with some signage just to identify it
and because it's right in the middle of the trailhead. So, those are our projects under
construction. It feels good to have some momentum. I think we have been doing
groundwork the last year and so to feel these kind of be hitting the road, so this is current,
but -- so -- and, then, I also -- during -- during some of the COVID lock down we met with
Mayor Simison and Dave and I think Robert came out of the gate wanting to make some
real progress with pathways and what can we do better or faster or, you know, is there
anything that we are missing, you know, and we know the system pretty well. I look at
these maps a lot and -- but we did step back and take a closer look and do some mapping
and see what opportunities might exist and I think that, you know, because we --we have
a great system along canal banks, but I think our real opportunities for connectivity
between -- where the really good start is some existing stretches of pathway. So, we
identified a list of projects -- it's about a dozen and based on three criteria. Where the
land ownership is simple. Is it either one owner who is likely to be agreeable. Is it publicly
owned, so we know we can probably get permission to use the property. Also a segment
for a project that would make key connections between existing pathways, like James
Court where we have Bud Porter and we have the Jackson Drain and it's just not very
good in between and I know when we were on our pathways tour last week, you know,
you ride along in a really beautiful pathway and we came to a point at one point where
we just absolutely stopped and there was no pathway and 50 feet on there is a perfect
beautiful pathway. So, there is -- that could happen anywhere, but -- but that's some of
what we are trying to overcome. And the third criteria was pathway segments that might
not otherwise happen with development through an established neighborhood where
there is an HOA, but maybe they are not funded well enough to, you know, initiate a
project on their own, but where, again, the ownership is simple and we can get
permission. So, you know, we do rely on the development community in emerging areas.
They have built miles and miles of pathway for us since -- since I have been here, but in
some of the neighborhoods that were developed prior to our master plan, yeah, there is
some connectivity issues. So, where there was an opportunity we put those on the -- on
the list as well. So, I'm going to run through them quickly and -- yeah. And time for
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questions at the end. So, again, Five Mile pathway. This is the square mile where the
wastewater treatment plant is, from Black Cat to Ten Mile, and this has been kind of a
sleepy area for a while where we wanted to get through that pink pathway line that you
see, but just had owners that weren't really moving and didn't want to make changes, so
-- but that's changed a lot recently where a couple of stretches of pathway are now
conditioned through developing properties and we would like to take on the rest of that.
Once we connect this stretch -- and, again, our trailhead is over here, so it's even better
and, then, on beyond is the Oaks and we actually -- there is a lot of pathway there and
there is a great connection plan to the new high school. So, this is a key mile or most of
a mile to really get us out a long ways to the west.
Johnson: Mr. Mayor. Pardon the interruption. We are getting -- I'm getting tons of e-
mails from staff. They cannot hear. It's cutting in and out.
Warren: Sorry.
Johnson: I know it's awkward to speak directly into it.
Warren: Okay.
Johnson: So, just -- yeah, if you can do that hopefully we can correct it, but it seems like
it's just -- it's natural movement.
Warren: Okay. So, I will try to be more robotic. The Creason Lateral -- this is north of
8th Street Park and I have actually gotten several calls about this one, that we have some
existing pathway and people want to be able to connect to Bud Porter, which is a pretty
prominent stretch and gets us to the system at large. So, we have identified an HOA
parcel and actually talked to the homeowners. They seem interested. We need a
crossing of the Creason Lateral there, so that's another project that gets us some big
gains in terms of connecting to the system at large. So, Linder Road is one of our key
connections north as identified on the master plan. Some of this stretch of pathway is
already conditioned. I think this is Winco over here. We would like to get from Cayuse
Creek, which is part of our Meridian loop route, as far north as the improvements have
happened. And, again, with Locust Grove. It's another priority connection north. There
is sidewalk quite a bit of the way. Not our ten foot standard pathway. So, to pick up the
stretches that aren't already there down on McMillan there is just a bit of a missing piece.
It's a single owner of two parcels. It really looks like it needs finishing. We have some
new pathway that we built last year right here along the Lemp Canal, so a few more pieces
there. Is that any better? Can you tell? Meridian High School is one where along the
Nine Mile Creek we have easement and permission to go. So, that's -- that's on the list
just to enhance walkability. There is also some development happening up here. We
should get as close to -- whatever's north of Pine. I'm not remembering right. Cherry.
Thanks. Okay. Still along the Five Mile pathway. This is kind of a project that cropped
up. The Woodbridge neighborhood near by number eight. They currently do have a
gravel pathway along the Five Mile Drain. It's a lot of maintenance time and money that
they would like to sign over to us in the form of an easement. Let us do it as a project.
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There is a bit of a pathway up north here at Locust Grove and Franklin. We have some
pathway being conditioned. So, we have got a really good start to getting us all the way
to Eagle Road and we think some likely permissions and cooperation. Number nine. The
Tuscany playground pathway connection is going to happen from the Tuscany playground
through a public works site. They were actually conditioned before my time to build
pathway and dedicate an easement and they dedicated the easement. There wasn't
really any great connectivity at the time, so they didn't build it. But this is one that we are
going to design and make happen. And, then, some improvements to connect north and
south, specifically this crossing. This is a bit of an intersection of irrigation channels and
it's less complicated than it was, but it's going to require some engineering. I think it's a
crossing that in the past we have thought, well, maybe not going to get that and I think
that it would be so key and with this push like that's when it would really make a difference.
It gets us down the Ten Mile and, then, there is a lot of pathway conditioned further on,
gets us into south Meridian connectivity and, then, chances to get -- to go west over to
Discovery Park and up to the Y. So, my apologies for the difference in graphics and some
of these are late breaking. This is a situation where, again, in the DA a developer was
conditioned to provide a pedestrian bridge and pathway is being provided as well and --
but what we didn't have was a pathway or an outflow from the bridge. So, the bridge kind
of didn't go anywhere and that's just a short piece, 80 or a hundred feet, that we -- we
need to get on the list of connections to make and, lastly, south Meridian has been a focus
both of our pathways tour and just in general with development. There is quite a bit of
pathway conditioned already that's shown in orange. This is Lavender Heights. There is
a piece that we need to get us from -- I think it's Black Rock over to Lavender Heights
and, then, on down to Discovery Park and, then, from the Ten Mile to Eagle Road and
across and, then, on down through Hill Century Farm up to the YMCA. So, those are the
-- those are the dozen connections we have identified. There is a list. So, it doesn't -- I
think each and every project, you know, isn't necessarily anything very impressive in and
of itself and yet I think they are really key, because they will have a -- they will have a big
difference in terms of effect on overall connectivity, but it's kind of picky information, there
are a lot of them, so I wanted to give you a chance to look at them in just a bit more detail.
We will -- we will wait to get through the budget process and see how that goes and I will
stand for any questions.
Simison: Thank you, Kim. Council, any questions?
Perreault: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Perreault.
Perreault: Thank you, Kim, for being here this evening. This was really informative. I
appreciated reading through this as well before the meeting. Just a couple of questions.
First has there -- has there been a conversation by the Parks Department about pursuing
some private funding for--especially the small areas that--that need connections, maybe
some sponsorship of some sort, like the public often does with -- with plazas and areas
of community gatherings? I'm wondering if there have been -- has been any conversation
of maybe pursuing some private sponsorships of those, you know, short segments. And
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-- and, then, also I'm -- when you -- when -- when you mention a section of the pathway
that's conditioned. I'm not exactly sure what that means.
Warren: Oh. Councilman Perreault, thank you for your questions. I will start with the last
one. A conditioned pathway like it's been very key for us to sit in on applications for new
development and to provide plan review, so that we can look at our pathways master plan
and say, you know, it impacts this development. Therefore, as a condition -- I apologize
for the shorthand, but this is good. As a condition of development you will be required to
build this pathway and there are usually some specifics and, then, there is another piece
of our--of our puzzle. So, I'm sorry for not explaining that better earlier, but it will probably
continue to be shorthand. As for your question about private funding, I'm not aware that
that's been pursued, but I think it sounds like an exciting idea. I might defer to anyone in
the back who has anymore history with that than I do. Okay. Yeah. I think it's a great
idea. I have had the sense that, yeah, we have been trying to innovate as you can -- or
as much as you can with these kinds of projects to see what would --you know, how could
we get a little more push behind it or make things happen more quickly. For example, we
have -- rather than just asking people to donate pedestrian easements to grant them to
us, we have started paying, you know, an identified market value price for the land only
to -- to purchase them and so approaching someone and saying we would like to
purchase your easement has been useful to help, you know, people partner more readily
with us. So, we are making payments along the way, but that's a really interesting idea I
would like to explore or talk about further. Are there any other questions?
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Borton.
Borton: Kim, is the Parks and Rec commission ranking those proposed new connections?
Warren: Councilman Borton, no, not -- they are not in any particular order that I'm aware
of. We have presented to them, but, you know, they are all good and we do that with
many of our projects, just sort of try to make them happen, but as the opportunities are
ripe for it I think we -- we tend to focus our efforts there, because some things we end up
waiting on just because we can't control.
Borton: Okay.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, Kim, I want to thank you and Director Siddoway for hosting the park
commission and -- and me as parks liaison on a bike ride last Wednesday night and the
Mayor joined us and I only took two days from my rear end to recover, but it was a nice
long, leisurely ride and looking at -- at the pathway system there in south Meridian, we
started in Tuscany and went everywhere. But my question is there were some segments
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that we saw there like an unannexed portion where there is not even a sidewalk and yet
there is two crucial pathway systems that you have to go out in the street access. How
-- if -- if those become available how do we -- just a short segment, do you have the
flexibility to grab those if the opportunity arises? You got the 12 priority projects, but if
something like that comes available or somewhere else that's very small, but significant,
how is your flexibility?
Warren: Councilman Hoaglun, I would like to think we would have that. I -- I know Mike
had an idea the other day about budget -- and, then, some amendments, as opposed to
-- we can always figure everything out per the standard process, you know, at the
beginning of the year or we -- we may come back to you and say this has emerged and
we feel like it's a need. I think there is some that actually wasn't on this list, like I said,
changes like the Meridian Road where we went across the dirt and, then, found a
wonderful pathway. You know, where we could get on the list and that was probably a
reasonable one to approach ACHD or ITD I guess to get some right of way. For the county
properties maybe just wait until the roadway is widened and improve that seems the most
likely. But, yeah, we would --we would likely come to you if we saw an opportunity. There
is one I won't speak to today, but I -- I kind of have on a back burner that would be an ask,
would be this is an opportunity. We don't want to miss it. What do you think.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, just a follow up to comment on that. Yeah. I think, you know, when
you see this list there -- it's a good list, it's been vetted, these are fantastic projects, but
there will be opportunities that pop up from time to time as listening to the parks
commission and as they go through these things that we might have budget amendments
show up and we know that's a priority for us, but, yeah, there are -- there are things out
there that are really appealing and really would help immensely of we are able to make
these connections. So, appreciate all the work you guys do and making that happen and
keeping us up to speed on it. It's -- it's a great thing.
Warren: Thank you, Councilman. It's -- it's good work.
Simison: And if I could just add -- because I have been out on my bike three times on the
pathways over the last month and two of the three I came back with goat heads. So, I
have had a --
Warren: Mayor, pardon?
Simison: Oh, I'm sorry. I have had goat heads in my tires. But my point is you got to get
out and ride them to understand them I think is an important part and I think it will also
help you identify where problems exist. One of the things that's like not on this is when
you -- to Councilman Hoaglun's point, you cross Meridian Road there at Victory and as
an aside there is no pedestrian ramp or access to -- so, you either got to force people out
against the road or, you know, get off your bike and walk through an unimproved area,
but those are little things, but they matter -- not only the pathways, but for people on
wheelchairs or pushing strollers or other things, but until you get out there and do it you
don't see them. Little things, though, can make a huge difference in impact and I think
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even from our Parks Department, you know, it has been, what, ten to 12 years since we
looked at that connection in Tuscany over several things and the parks director is like, oh,
wow, they -- we built that. It's now down below grade. We could actually make that
connection more plausible compared to when they used to have to do a 20 foot above
ground structure to get over it. So, until you get out and you see them it's hard to get a
good understanding about what type of investment might be needed to make big or little
changes.
Warren: Good comments, Mayor. I appreciate those.
Perreault: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Perreault.
Perreault: In this review did you happen to look at the pathways in relationship to the
schools and seeing how well those pathways are connected to schools specifically?
Warren: Councilman Perreault, the schools are definitely on the map when I review
applications and look at pathways. I think specifically, you know, we are making that one
link to connect the pedestrian bridge to get residents to Franklin and to get the permanent
residents down to the elementary school and I knew that we have looked really carefully
at pedestrian access as pertains to the new Owyhee High School. It's probably less of a
-- it's certainly important, but may not fall as much under the pathways as the sidewalks
and walkability. So, it's certainly important and some projects really are trying to make
that happen. Others it's -- it's a factor and less predominant. Does that answer your
question?
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Thank you very much for presenting. I think it's great. Yeah. This is kind of our
-- our community amenity. We don't have the foothills, but we have a great pathway
system. It's amazing. It's a crown jewel of Meridian. I want to make sure we are doing
everything we can to promote it, get the word out, get the maps out, people can adopt it
and make good use of it. So, any updates on sort of the marketing of the pathways or
where people can get maybe a quick plug on where people can get a map to use the
pathways even more if you are not already.
Warren: Councilman Strader, I think you make a very good point and it has been a goal
since I have been here to improve maps. We have some great GIS staff I'm working with.
So, online we are working to get them, you know, as current as possible, but in terms of
a take along, that might be something to look at. I know we have talked about -- we have
done a lot of work in looking at specific routes, where is the Meridian loop and how can
we identify that on a map. It may not feel particularly loopy and contiguous in person, but
knowing it's there I think gives you a different kind of mental structure to regard the system
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and we did, we examined routes along the Ridenbaugh in various places just to the -- bit
by bit. So, I think that -- and we talked about is there a way to provide that route
information to Google Earth. I know that came up as something that was a pretty exciting
possibility, just so that if you -- you tuned in online you might see what came up as part
of Meridian's system and I think the trailhead is another -- when we open another
opportunity to -- to try to celebrate identity and visibility. So, I have a lot of ideas. We are
working with the arts people. We talked about striping the pathway and it could be just a
regular yellow line, it could be a yellow line with this yellow star occasionally, whatever it
is, I think something that in the spots where you kind of lose the pathway for now to be
able to see up ahead I think just in terms of branding that could be -- we have a lot of
ideas. We haven't really done anything formal. I think we are waiting for some of these
projects maybe to complete and drop, although I do really -- if I get the chance, you know,
so --
Strader: Thank you.
Warren: Thanks.
Simison: Council, any further questions?
Perreault: Mr. Mayor, just one more.
Simison: Council Woman Perreault.
Perreault: Thank you. The last time that Steve presented before us I believe he
discussed or shared with us that the city is in the process of mapping out HOA pathways,
private pathways, and how it integrates with the public pathways and to get like an
overview of the percentage of actual, you know, private versus public and the real true
walkability around our city. Just wondering if there is any updates on how that's going.
Warren: Thank you, Councilman -- pardon me, I may get -- Perreault.
Perreault: It's Perreault. That's right.
Warren: I know that I -- I do work fairly closely with Brian in Community Development and
he's great in terms of walkability and so the sidewalks layer is something I think I turned
on for our pathways tour map. So, I have access to that information. I'm not smart in the
analysis of that. I guess we are working to --for a while we had data that, you know, was
visible lines on a map, but didn't have good information associated with it and that's
getting much better, so that we will be able to quickly do inquiries, you know, what is city
owned, what is not, what is this route. We are -- we are getting there. It's definitely an
objective. It's coming along. I say all the time this is not really a big city, but it's 31 square
miles, so it's kind of big. Yeah. So, we are running to keep up. Thanks.
Simison: Council, anything else? All right. Thank you very much.
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Warren: Thank you.
Item 6: Executive Session for the specific purpose of deliberating on a labor
contract offer or to formulate a counteroffer as permitted under
Idaho Code Section 74-206A(1)(a)
Simison: Council, we have reached Item No. 6 on the agenda. Do I have a motion?
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we move into Executive Session -- Executive Session per Idaho Code
Section 74-206(a)(1)(a).
Hoaglun: Mayor, second the motion.
Simison: I have a motion and a second to go into Executive Session. Ask the clerk to
call -- if there is no discussion on the motion ask the clerk to call the roll.
Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, yea; Perreault,
yea.
Simison: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:22 p.m. to 6:03 p.m.)
Simison: Council, do I have a motion?
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we come out of Executive Session.
Hoaglun: Second the motion.
Simison: I have a motion and a second to come out of Executive Session. All those in
favor signify by saying aye. Those opposed nay. The ayes have it.
MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES.
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
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Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we adjourn the meeting.
Hoaglun: Second the motion.
Simison: I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor signify
by saying aye. Opposed nay. We are adjourned.
MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:03 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
6 / 23 / 2020
Mayor, Robert E. Simison DATE APPROVED
ATTEST:
CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK
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