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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-09-22 Work Session Minutes Meridian City Council Work Session September 22, 2020. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:34 p.m., Tuesday, September 22, 2020, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Treg Bernt, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Jessica Perreault, Brad Hoaglun and Liz Strader. Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Todd Lavoie, Crystal Ritchie, Vincent Koontz, Brian Harper and Joe Bongiorno. ATTENDANCE: Liz Strader _X_ Joe Borton _X_ Brad Hoaglun _X_Treg Bernt X Jessica Perreault _X Luke Cavener _X_ Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, I will go ahead and call this meeting to order. For the record it is Tuesday, September 22nd at 4:34 p.m. We will begin today's afternoon meeting with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item is the adoption of the agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we approve the agenda. Cavener: Second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and 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: ALLAYES. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the September 8, 2020 City Council Regular Meeting 2. Final Order for Victory Commons (H-2020-0086) by BVA Page 5 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 2 of 24 Development, Located at 130 E. Victory Rd. and 3030 S. Meridian Rd. 3. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for 1625 E. Bentley Drive (H- 2020-0078) by Clint Hansen of Land Solutions, Located at 1625 E. Bentley Dr. 4. Renewal of Agreement for Fire Department Communication Dispatch Services Between Ada County and the City of Meridian for Fiscal Year2021 5. Animal Welfare and Enforcement Agreement with Idaho Humane Society for Fiscal Year 2021 6. Finance Department: New Building After Hours Inspection Fee 7. AP Invoices for Payment - 09/23/20 - $945,386.97 Simison: Next item 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 for the Clerk to attest. Cavener: Second the motion, Mr. Mayor. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Any discussion on the motion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 8. Human Resources and Finance Departments: City Benefit Recommendations Simison: Moving on to Item No. 8 is under Department/Commission Reports. First item up is from our Human Resources and Finance Department as city benefit recommendation and I will turn this over to Director Ritchie. Ritchie: Thank you so much. Good afternoon, Council. Can everyone hear me? Okay. Page 6 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 3 of 24 Perfect. Just want to make sure before we get started. So, Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, thank you for having Todd and I this afternoon. We are here today-- let me share my screen. To share -- let me know if you can see my screen, please. Thumbs up. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. So, Todd and I are here today to share with you some benefit recommendations on behalf of the 2020 compensation committee. So, we are going to talk about high level who those members are, the purpose and scope of the committee's focus this year, the benefit recommendations that we have provided to you in advance of our time together today. We will be seeking your approval for these recommendations and, then, we will talk about next steps. So, here are this year's compensation committee members. You will see that they represent different individuals and departments across the city. There is a total of seven members this year. The purpose and the scope of the compensation committee was to review our current employee benefits outside of the medical, dental and vision offerings that we currently have in place for market competitiveness. In addition to that, it also is in alignment with our city's organizational strategies to develop a cost effective benefit plan and the summary is there for your review. So, a compensation -- or competitive benefit package just become more and more and more important for prospective employees, as well as our current employees. Having a competitive benefit package is key in our ability as an employer to attract and retain talented, high caliber employees to the city. It also provides the city an opportunity to differentiate ourselves as a player in the Treasure Valley and position ourselves in a competitive way for employment amongst other public sector employers in the area and through that process the compensation committee reviewed local government agency offerings for each of the benefits listed there for you today. We did provide you more detailed information for each of those benefits for your consideration attached to the Council memo that you received for today's meeting. We are seeking your approval today for the recommendations that we have put in front of you to become effective October 1 st and if we receive your approval, then, Todd and I will come back with the implementation documents at a future meeting, but no later than October 13th. That would include like the policies and things like that that we would need to bring forward to make these changes effective and so with that Todd and I stand for any questions. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. Thank you very much, Crystal. One of the things I wanted to understand on vacation leave, certainly it appears at the outset that our vacation accrual is low based on tenure for entry level workers, but can you walk me through kind of the comparable cities in terms of the maximum of 18 hours per month that that would implement? I mean that -- I think I figured out -- worked out, you know, for a regular 40 hour week employees get 27 vacation days and I just wanted to understand how that compares to Boise and some of our surrounding cities. Ritchie: Certainly. Thank you very much, Council Member Strader. So, in reference to your question how it relates to Boise, currently Boise's maximum is 16 hours. We are proposing 18 hours, which would be two hours, about that, to give us a competitive edge Page 7 Meridian City Council Work Session September 22,2020 Page 4 of 24 for an overall total compensation package. In addition to that, another local government employer in the area also offers 16 hours per month for their maximum accrual. So, we took that under consideration in our recommendation and offered two hours above that, so that we could have a competitive edge. Strader: Mr. Mayor, a quick follow up. Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: And maybe you could walk us through a little bit how long someone would need to be employed here or the equivalent service to get to that full vacation accrual. Ritchie: Certainly, Council Woman Strader. I believe -- I -- I can't see everyone, but I believe Todd has that information and would be happy to share that with you on our behalf. Lavoie: I do have that for us, Crystal. So, for the maximum, Liz, that you were requesting it would take the 25th year of employment here, you would be able to start obtaining an 18 hour accrual per month. So, 25 years for City of Meridian and I believe the two comparables that Crystal mentioned were 20 years. So, it would take us five more years to get to our cap, whereas the other two comparables are at 20 years. Strader: Thank you. Lavoie: You're welcome. Thank you. Borton: Hey, Crystal? Richie: Yes. Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Oh, sorry. Apologize, Mr. Mayor. Another component of this for the Council to -- among everything else I guess to weigh in on is the 5.4, the education reimbursement, and the -- you know, the current practice is to require that the education sought to be focused on something that relates to that employee's job with the city and the -- the committee's recommendation was to remove that. Maybe, Crystal, you can comment on that and see if Council has any questions or concerns with that recommended change. Ritchie: Certainly. And thank you so much, Council Member Borton. So, yes, the committee is making a recommendation to make a change from current policy, as Council Member Borton stated. Currently today the education reimbursement is available for courses taken towards a degree through an accredited institution that are work related at this point in time. We discussed that we would like to invest in our employees. We want to invest not only in them while they are here with us, but we want to invest in their professional development and growth as well, as long as it is towards a degreed program through an accredited institution, we would be bringing that forward for your Page 8 Meridian City Council Work Session September 22,2020 Page 5 of 24 consideration, so that it doesn't necessarily have to be strictly related to the job that they are in today. Borton: Okay. Thanks, Crystal. Ritchie: You're welcome. Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: And to piggyback on Councilman Borton's question in regard to education reimbursement, I noticed that if one request -- if a -- if a city employee requests a number that's more than what we have to offer, in the past it's came to us for approval and also the Mayor, but I noticed that was only changed to the Mayor. Is -- does that have -- I guess, multiple questions in regard to that. Does that -- how often does that happen and is -- what's the -- I guess what's common practice in regard to how much more would we be willing to pay or is that a case-by-case basis? Simison: Crystal, would you like me to take this one? Ritchie: Certainly, Mayor. Simison: Okay. So, this is -- part of the rationale for this is we are changing the time frame in which people can actually do an education reimbursement. Currently they can come at any point in time, but that process is is what happens once a year, happens before the budget process. So, any of these will actually be in the line item section of the -- what Council will see. So, if there was -- if there was ever a recommendation for something to be built above the 3,000, it would be in that area of the budget for the line item for HR. Now, I can only speak for myself, but when we discussed this the only time that I would ever consider an allocation above 3,000 is that there is a person who has been put in place for succession planning and it's a requirement for that job. So, for example, if Laurelei was going to be the next Public Works director and it was the chairman, but she's got to go get an MBA and it takes two years to do that and that's the -- that's the type of situation where I would suggest that we pay more, because we have identified the person, we have identified the requirement for that person to take the position and, then, the use would be accelerated maybe more so than what you would normally do for that, but it will still show up in the budget and Council would see them and have to approve it as part of the budget process. Just saying you don't need to come to Council and to get approval to put it into the budget for consideration. No different than, really, any other amendment or enhancement, that you will still see it. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Makes sense. If we can -- if I can just make a recommendation of maybe just giving us a heads up so that we are definitely aware. That's not something that we -- we will miss. I guess I -- it's sort of vague in the -- in the sense also -- you know, I don't know Page 9 Meridian City Council Work Session September 22,2020 Page 6 of 24 what that number could be or the potential of that number could be. I mean I think it's substantial. I think, you know, Council should be involved in that discussion, but at the minimum some type of a heads up so it's not missed in -- in the budget process. Simison: That's easy enough. I really don't expect that this is going to come up, to be honest with you, but -- Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Your comments about kind of an annual basis of which employees are applying is -- is interesting. I'm trying to kind of wrap my head around the timing of that, because if I recall this reimbursement -- is it part of the base budget on an annual basis? Simison: It is. It shows up in the line item under human resources. Cavener: So, Mr. Mayor, follow up. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Does that then come -- are we having employees apply, then, before those base budget meetings on -- Simison: Yes. Cavener: -- January, February, March'ish? Simison: It would -- it would be in the -- in that portion and if it wasn't in that portion, then, it would not be in it and move forward through the budget process. Cavener: Different approach. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Simison: I did -- and, like I say, to your point, it is a different approach, that's why we also removed the Council part, because you are going to see it through the budget process and have final sign off that way or not. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Quick follow up for Crystal on the -- in the example of an MBA. I have seen that frequently in previous jobs that I have had where a corporation will pay for somebody to get an MBA, but, then, typically there is like a work commitment period where they need to work for that organization or have to pay that back. Is that part of our common practice with those large line items if they come up? Page 10 Meridian City Council Work Session September 22,2020 Page 7 of 24 Ritchie: Thank you, Council Woman Strader. No, at this point in time the current policy and the proposed policy that you have in front of you would not include any type of work contract or work commitments following the receipt of the MBA. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: To that end, Crystal, was -- did the committee have conversations about implementing that kind of restriction -- and -- and was there a decision not to for any particular reason? Ritchie: So, we did have discussion around this benefit in great detail and if you look at our five year history and utilization of this program over the five years -- I will say in 2015, '16 and '17 those that participated in the education reimbursement program, we did not have anyone resign from the city within 12 months of receipt of the reimbursement. If you look at 2018 we had one individual who had left the city after receiving a reimbursement within 12 months and in 2019 and 2020 and we had two individuals who have left after receiving that benefit. So, our numbers are fairly small at this point in time and historically have shown to be small. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: There is no question on the tuition reimbursement for Crystal. So, we have seen this number increase incrementally over the past I think six to eight years. I'm just trying to wrap my head around -- what's the 3,000 dollars based on? Is that the average cost of tuition at Boise State or ISU or an accredited online program? Is that a -- is that a median dollar amount? Help -- help me understand why we have settled on 3,000. Ritchie: I believe that was -- Council Member Cavener, I believe it's -- if not I apologize, it's a little hard to hear. So, Council Member Cavener, that's an average based on local offerings of three municipalities in the local area. Competing against Boise is one of those. They have a benefit that is right up there in that range. Also looking at -- I'm looking at my information. It was a direct competitive with Boise. So, the federal government allows us to do up to -- I think about 5,000 dollars and so we want to remain fiscally responsible with our dollars. We want to remain competitive with this benefit. It is an attractive benefit that not all municipalities in the local Treasure Valley do offer at this point in time. We are seeing an increase in utilization. We entered into making recommendations to the Council to start increasing this benefit to see if we would get more participation within this benefit from our employees and over the last few years we have seen that as we have incrementally increased that, being responsible with those recommendations, we are seeing more utilization from our city employees who are looking to develop themselves and achieve that education for themselves in their future. Page 11 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 8 of 24 Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Hoaglun --just real quick. But just -- I think it's important for you all to hear my -- my viewpoint and philosophy. I mean it doesn't mean it matters, but at least that you are aware. But, you know, I have always taken the position and Councilman Cavener can correct me as someone who I used to supervise, my view is that we are here to help our employees get to where they want to be in life. It's not about necessarily even where to get a job here in the city, but to me education reimbursement or having people go to school while they are here has a lot of benefits. A, as long as they are going to school and getting that benefit they are likely not looking for another job. So, we may be retaining an employee --you may--you may call that a retention cost for several years while they are going to school. They are also learning other things that, you know, whether it's critical thinking and learning to read and write better, other aspects that might have a wide range of -- as we are asking our employees to be multi-disciplinarian in their job and in their functions, it's not always clear what type of skills you might learn through the educational process that have a benefit to the city. You also have no idea what someone might learn that might be contributed back to the city through another job that they would be interested in. Education is a tricky thing. You don't know what the outcome will be. And, yes, someone could decide that they are going to go -- go get a degree and leave the city, but, hopefully, when they go and talk about that they are going to tell the people where they left about the great place that they worked and how it helped them get a job and maybe that leads to more people wanting to work for the city. So, like I say, to me this is about the whole employee experience and helping them get to where they are going to be productive for the city or society or anything else. So, just so you understand at least my perspective on the education reimbursement program elements. And Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Appreciate that perspective and that is important that we are developing the person, that they are gaining an education. We want people to be productive in society. At the same time I look at it -- this is a benefit that we are providing. It helps us remain competitive to -- to attract good employees and to keep them within the system and it's to that point that I'm wondering if we don't have some sort of payback within a certain time period of staying within the city, are we not receiving the benefit that's mutual. That's -- that's the only thing that -- my previous employer had the -- had the same situation where, yes, where they would help pay for school, you get that degree, but if you left within a certain time frame there -- there would be a percentage paid back, just because it was seen as we are investing in you, we want investment in us as well. So, that's kind of a little bit of a perspective that I think Council is thinking about and -- but I appreciate that perspective. It's not -- it's not -- not a bad perspective by any means, but it's just one of those things -- how -- how do we make sure that taxpayer dollars are used to the best ability of their taxpayers and they get a return on that if we are investing in our -- in our employees. Simison: So, just to play the devil's advocate, we don't ask for our employees to give us commitments for any other benefit that they receive. You know, if they sell back vacation Page 12 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page g of 24 or other hours or -- you know, I will bet PERSI -- if they participate in PERSI match and they get a larger benefit that other employees decide not to choose that, I think you have to look at this as a holistic program that the employees will -- will pick and choose where they participate in our benefits based on what is in the greatest interest of themselves and we -- you could have people that go for a full PERSI match, where other people do not. They get a better financial commitment for that than other people and we don't ask them to give us a commitment to continue to save at the city for that. So, if you look at all benefits, they are not all equal, they are not all used by everybody at the same time and they--they vary throughout our employment body, especially with our collective labor folks. You get different benefits and you get different rewards sometimes. But I don't know that we ask anyone to pay back for any benefits that they receive. Nary: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Mr. Nary. Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I can give you a little historical background, too. When we originally had this program back in the early 2000s when I got here, it was very rarely used. It was very small, very restrictive. Reimbursement was very --basically enough to pay for a class and that was about it. So, it wasn't used very much. So, the prior Mayor and I talked about trying to expand it to do exactly what you said, Mr. Mayor, create a better avenue and opportunity for our employees and provide some real incentive for that and we did discuss on reimbursement and I recognized -- and what the council members have said we have talked about previously. I mean we are wanting to be responsible to the taxpayers as well. So, I understand that, but when you get down to the real brass tacks of it, how are you going to collect it? You are going to have a contract with somebody who leaves, who may not have sufficient amount of money in their last paycheck to pay back that amount and now you are going to sue them and the reality is the Council in the past has never felt comfortable with that. I think the -- again, certainly this Council has -- can have a different perspective, but the reality of trying to collect it based on some mechanism other than just a reimbursement in a final paycheck is really difficult to do and when push came to shove and that discussion was had, I think the flavor in the past was, as you stated Mr. Mayor, is this is an investment in our -- our employees and giving them an opportunity. If it provides them a different pathway out of the city, that's fine. Those are the discussions you have in making those decisions to allow it in the first place. But that's kind of where we came from and how we got here. Simison: And just to kind of -- I know it's not necessarily a benefit, but when employees go to trainings we can invest this much money or more in his actual training for an employee and there is no obligation that they are going to repay those funds for that training that they get -- that they may take and leave to go to another city as well. So, I think there is all sorts of examples through this process on why the repayment or that is not the right way to go personally, but I will defer to Council if that's something that they think is important to add. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Page 13 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 10 of— Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. No, I -- personal opinion is that, you know, 3,000 dollars, which should cover a couple of classes at Boise State is one thing, if we made an exception and we decided to invest an extraordinary amount in someone for them to, for example, go get their MBA, I would expect that they would have that commitment. I just view that magnitude differently and so that's what I was getting at with my comment. Not necessarily saying that everyone should have an obligation to repay their education reimbursement if it's 3,000 dollars, but if we decided to do something much larger than that, then, I think that would make sense. Simison: And I can say I could support that, because, again, under my scenario, as someone who has been succession planned to take a specific job with the city when someone else retires, that's the time -- that's the -- at least in my opinion I mean I don't want to get into employment law in terms of creating a contract with somebody for that very specific purpose at a city level, but that's, essentially, what you would be looking at doing. Hoaglun: And Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: A question probably for Mr. Nary. Is that something that could be negotiated in those situations? Again, they are not going to occur that often, but in that situation is that something they can negotiate a payback if they are to leave within a period of time and -- Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, certainly on a one-to-one -- or one-on-one basis prior to doing that that's certainly a conversation that can be had. It's certainly not prohibited. Again, I would caution, you know, as the Mayor's scenario is a very spot on situation, you may have somebody that you plan to move into a higher level director level position and you train them and do that and it's an appointed position and it's a different Mayor sitting in the chair and they don't want that person, so they leave. Should they pay it back? Probably not at that scenario. So, there is probably lots of situations, but having that conversation I think up front, feeling comfortable, as the Mayor said, on whether it's worth that level of investment beyond what's already offered and can it be done differently, I think all of those can be had at the time. It doesn't have to all be crafted under the policy today. I think the policy is really just to show that level of commitment to employees that we are willing as an organization to invest into those types of programs when they are appropriate. Hoaglun: Thank you, Mr. Nary. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Page 14 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 11 of 24 Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I think for Council's benefit, I would -- I would have some really strong aversion to a case by case approach to requiring years of service or a month of service for taking advantage of a tuition reimbursement. So, I think it's -- whatever we do it needs to be outlined in policy, so there aren't -- aren't any surprises. I have long advocated for tying in tuition reimbursement with a willingness to stay and serve with the city for X amount of time, something that I have benefited from in my career and I knew that when I applied for tuition reimbursement that there is an expectation of my employer that I would stay for a certain amount of time and I did that to fulfill that obligation. I know there is a lot of what ifs that we would maybe discourage that, but I think, again, we hired at the city responsible leaders, they know what the expectations are when they apply for a program and if the expectation is that you are going to stay and -- and serve our community after receiving that benefit for X amount of time, so be it. Or to reimburse the city. I agree with Mr. Nary, we don't like to make it a habit of suing former employees, but we also have policies in place to reimburse the city if technology goes missing or isn't returned at the end of our - - of our employment. I would see this as no different. So, I guess to summarize, if we want to include some years of service for tuition reimbursement, let's either do it or not, but let's not be somewhere in the middle where we take it on a case-by-case basis. I think that's inappropriate for our employees. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I view it a little differently, because I -- I view it that only the exception would warrant that type of a contract. So, like -- I'm trying to think of a scenario, like an example, but at least to me the magnitude is very different if we decided to invest in an employee for succession planning purposes and pay for an MBA, you know, that could end up totaling a hundred thousand dollars or something. Hopefully they are not that much these days, but if we did that that's a huge investment. I just view that as order of magnitude very different and so that's where I think that that type of a contract would be appropriate. But I -- I respect your opinion as well. Simison: Any further questions or comments regarding this package of items? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I wanted to -- really wanted to wait and hear what my other Council Members had to say before expressing my-- my thoughts on this. I -- I agree with Council Members Hoaglun and Cavener that -- that there should be an obligation, in my opinion, tied to this on the employee's part, whether that is time served after they have completed the education or whether there is a compensation or a reimbursement requirement if they leave or I'm comfortable with leaving the -- if we don't go that direction I'm comfortable with leaving the requirement that the -- the subject of the education be somewhat tied to Page 15 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 12 of— the employee's job -- job duties and it could be something general, you know, that it doesn't necessarily have to be something very specific, but -- but not in -- you know, not in a completely different industry. So, I am -- I can't say -- the reason I haven't suggested any -- any particular thing is that I think each one of those considerations are valid, but I really would like to see some sort of tie for the employee, whether it's time served again or -- or reimbursement requirement or something. I just -- I would be a lot more comfortable and I don't see this benefit as the same as the other benefits that are offered to an employee, I just -- I just don't. I understand what you are -- I understand the -- the line of thinking in that regard, but I -- I would say that I think this is something that a lot of employers don't provide and I think it's great. I don't -- I'm all in favor of doing it, I just think that there should be some -- some sort of requirement on the employee's part. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Kind of taking a step back from the -- the committee's work on this particular issue and the other ones, for a little context, there really was some great diversity of opinion on each and every one of these talking pros and cons and some of the unintended consequences of including a limitation or excluding it and -- and there is lots of different perspectives, all of which are valid and none of them are particularly right or wrong necessarily and this is -- this is one of those examples. I think the -- the committee recommendation with this particular language that didn't have any payback provisions, but it also, at least to me, seemed supportive of the concept that if an individual wants to leave the City of Meridian for a particular reason, that's not, you know, against their will, it's not a family move that's not of their choosing, but -- but they leave and they take their education, that our focus would be more concerned on what's -- what's making them leave and what about the environment of the city causes them to be unhappy and to seek employment elsewhere. We haven't had a history of that and to sort of leave it open ended and invite an employee who wants to -- in this case get an educational reimbursement and, then, should they choose to leave two months later, my question would be not how do we get the money back, but what is it about our work environment that caused that employee to leave. Two, three thousand dollars is a big deal, but there might be a bigger concern to try and understand why that individual would leave. So, I think one reason not to include any strings to stick around after a reimbursement is to invite employees, to the Mayor's point, want to improve you as a person and, boy, if you get a -- some education reimbursement from the city and, then, you leave the city, take that benefit with you, we got to understand why is it that our employees might not be happy. I don't think this is something that folks are going to strategically try to abuse by any stretch. I don't think that's anyone's suggestion. But I think that would be more of our focus, rather than trying to get the money back and -- because we haven't had any problem with it at all -- may be one off, quite frankly, then, leave it open for the employees to know that we have trust in how and why they utilize this benefit and that we provide it because we want them to be a long-term member of our team and give them every opportunity to choose to do so. So, that's some of the thought process of why I think it's -- I think both answers are right, but I think there might have been some consideration Page 16 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 13 of— leaning more towards leaving it open ended and see what happens. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. I think this is -- this is a very complicated issue. I think what Mr. Nary has pointed out there -- there is a lot to this, but I think Councilman Strader brings up a good point about the -- for those larger contracts, if you will, of reimbursement, that is -- is more involved. You know, the 3,000 dollars, I'm great -- I'm glad people are getting educated and they can do better with the City of Meridian or elsewhere. You know, one perspective is, you know, after a few years once I'm on Social Security I get everything back. They are going to be paying my Social Security, so be educated to get a great job, you know, keep -- keep my Social Security checks coming, I guess, when that time comes. But -- but for those -- for -- for the other types of things I would like to see the compensation committee for next year -- because this is an annual thing I understand -- is to just kind of take a review of this and -- and look at it a little closer and just check what some of our major employers are doing in the valley, because those are -- are some of the competitors as well and they offer it and -- and, who knows, they probably offer even -- even better benefits, I'm not sure, for that area, but -- and if so we need to know. But knowing that this is a complicated issue and there is a lot involved in constructing something like that in the -- in the off chance that someone is going to be getting a major degree, maybe we just can have that looked at a little closer next year. Simison: And from my perspective if you want to remove that altogether from the program -- you know, I have done what I can and worked with Crystal to remove what I call Mayor's exemptions throughout everywhere I can in the human resource's world. You know, it's nice to have a process if necessary that it's defined in case there is that one off, but, again, it's not my intention -- I don't want us to get hung up on the larger issue and I can commit to not doing it for the next year and allow the committee to look at it during that time frame. We are not -- we are an ongoing committee -- or this next year we have got a lot of work to continue to do, so -- Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Procedurally if you got direction from the Council to proceed as presented, what -- what are the next steps? Simison: I will look to our two co-chairs for this committee for next steps, how that works and procedurally what is necessary. Ritchie: Thank you, Robert. Or thank you, Mayor. Joe, could you repeat the question? Next steps if the package that we are presenting to you today is approved? Page 17 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 14 of 24 Borton: Sure. Yeah. If you were to get Council direction whether something changes or let's say nothing changes as presented, understanding there is continual work the process and review of these probably never ends, quite frankly, nor should it, but if today the Council says let's move forward as presented with the recommendations, what happens next? What do you need from the Council and, then, what's next? Ritchie: So, then, we would need to bring back to the Council -- excuse me --the updated policies and procedures that would support the recommendations and approvals that you would be providing today and we would be looking to do that at our earliest available Council meeting agenda, but no later than October 13th, so that we can make everything effective, implemented, supported by policy and communicated out to our employees during the month of October before the first payroll. Borton: Okay. Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Just one last comment, just from -- from viewing some of the committee's work. It's just -- I can't stress enough how important the credibility and validity of the output comes from the discussion of the folks that were involved. Some of you might have served on this committee before in previous years, but Crystal and Todd and the crew really did a good job in focusing on what the Council has wanted to focus on is taking care of our employees in the right way -- in diverse and creative ways and -- and addressing any problems that might have been unintended to improve those. So, it seems to be a good byproduct of those efforts and for the right reason as well. So, hats off to the -- to the two chairs there. Simison: Agreed. Thank you. So, do -- do we need to take a motion or direction at this point in time or, Todd and Crystal, do you feel like you have what you need to move forward? Lavoie: Mr. Mayor, I believe -- again, I think we have enough direction. I think we can work with the Legal Department and draft up the information for the next available Council meeting, for you guys to make these official in action and, then, Crystal and I will develop the operational administration guidelines to deploy this starting in our October paycheck. Ritchie: As well as the employee communication in addition to that. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Well, I just -- just wanted to make sure if there were any lingering questions, I wasn't trying to cut off anymore conversation, but making sure Council as a whole is on board with these or if there is something else, if any, that cause concern. Page 18 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 15 of— Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: That's what I was going to ask the Council President. Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I -- I don't have anymore questions, I just -- I wanted to say that all in all I think that these proposed changes are fantastic. I really was just reading through this and very impressed with how well thought out they were. So, like Joe had -- excuse me -- Councilman Borton had said, thank you to the committee for all of your hard work on this, because I really think that -- that these changes are fantastic for our employees and employee retention in the current environment that we are in with families needing a little bit of extra time here and there to -- to figure things out. So, thank you, I think they are - - the changes are -- the proposed changes are -- are great. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I agree with that. I -- overall I'm supportive of the changes. I think it's moving in a positive direction and I -- I like how we are trying to position ourselves. We may not pay top of the range compared to every city out there in our competitive set, but we are going to take great care of our employees and I think having that quality of life as part of the whole package of working for Meridian makes a lot of sense. Thanks for everybody's hard work on it 9. Mayor's Office: Strategic Plan Framework Discussion Simison: Any further comments? Okay. Thank you both. I do see we have Mr. Koontz on the line. So, with that, Council, we will move on to Item No. 9, the Mayor's Office strategic plan framework discussion and I will turn this over to Mr. Koontz. Koontz: Can you guys see my screen? Borton: Yes. Koontz: Okay. So, first doing a presentation on Zoom, so give me just a second here. All right, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I'm here to present our 2021 Strategic Plan planned framework for the City of Meridian. I will be discussing with you today what I need from Council, what our framework will be, how we have integrated some of our citizen feedback, answer any questions on -- did somebody says something? Okay. Answer any questions and gain clarity on certain topics and, then, gain approval of the strategic framework. So, why are we -- why are we using a framework. Well, this is an umbrella of our priorities to our citizens, our staff and external stakeholders. It will provide an external and internal platform for us to measure success and provide accountability and transparency to our citizens. Sorry. It will --from our previous strategic plan also our directors in our departments told us that they needed more flexibility in order to create strategies and tactics to complete a new plan. That was -- that was something that was clear from talking with them. In this new plan we are going to provide a clear action Page 19 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 16 of— oriented stretch plan to help achieve our city and our community's priorities. When this plan is executed we will have to tell our story, achieve results, and be honest with where we are going and this -- this plan honestly is a call to action. It's to achieve our vision for the community. This plan also helps define what we are and what we are about when it comes to being a premier community. I actually just saw in Money Magazine that we are number three for like the best place to live. So, just throw that out there. That just came out. But -- yeah. And what do I need from Council? Well, I need some feedback and have gotten that so far. It's been good. Both from the conversations over the last nine months and in discussing the framework with you one on one I'm encouraged for what I have heard so far. You know, some of you had -- had a few thoughts and a few suggestions. You had a chance to provide input previously on the -- all of the initial vision, mission and focus areas. So, most of this presentation is going to align with the goals that we have set out and really the overarching question is are you comfortable with them, so we can move forward in this strategic planning process. Again, I know some of you have had some questions on a couple of topics in the plan and we will have time at the end to weigh in further and respond on some of those and, hopefully, adoption. So, these goal statements that were created in your packet are the high level synthesized priorities from our leadership conversations. We combined key themes, priorities, and action items to create this. This framework's approval will help set the strategies, the action items, the budget requests, and the direction that we are headed over the next one to five years. So, that's kind of what I need from Council in a nutshell, so we will -- we will move on. So, what have we done to date? So, I took a really in-depth review of the prior plan. It was a good plan. It was our first to give a shot with and we got a lot of things done. I will be providing you guys with a final report on that in December, but they had a few missing pieces -- in this -- it was missing some rigid objectives and tactics that weren't developed by the departments. They -- they required to be rewritten or eliminated every year. We lacked a public facing or more community focused strategic plan. Limited staff members were involved in the development and the execution of the plan. You know, broadly speaking, the old plan and most of the vision, mission, and focus areas contained elements of the previous plan. Much of the work we are doing from a high level will continue, but there are a few tweaks and changes and modifications in this new plan from the previous plan. But some of it will carry over. But there were some areas in the previous plan that we have heard from -- through citizen feedback and -- and other feedback from our community that there are issues that need to be addressed in this new plan and so our leadership helped build consensus and developed action items in order to achieve that. Now, in order to achieve the new plan we met over a series of months, both pre- and post-COVID to develop key themes in our new strategic plan. I would have preferred to meet in a bunch of rooms with Post-it notes and, you know, talk to you guys about ideas, but some of that got -- some of that got shot, so, you know, we are where we are. So, over the last nine months we asked what was feasible, what's achievable, met with the leadership team, City Council, to take ideas and turn them into that higher level focused area. Our strategic framework, which you have before you tonight, includes our internal -- information from our internal subject matter experts, our leadership team, and elements from our survey -- our citizen survey to create a concise framework of focus areas and goals. So, this plan, like I said, took elements gathered from our Comprehensive Plan, as well as the recently completed -- completed community survey Page 20 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 17 of— and, additionally, took information from what Mayor and Council candidates heard when they ran for office last cycle and we have integrated some of that information into our plan. From the citizen survey -- you know, Dave talked to you about that a couple weeks ago - - it was clear what areas should receive attention from city leadership over the next five years. Roads, schools, and growth. Now, the citizen survey is a -- definitely a barometer and we will continue to get feedback on a variety of these topics in our strategic plan. You know, in a way the citizen survey is kind of that report card for how we are doing with our community and we wanted to make sure the citizen -- the citizen survey had a place in that strategic plan. So, we ask for their feedback every three years. So, we wanted to make sure their goals are our goals, strategies, and action items that are in -- in the plan would be aligned with those questions, so we can improve those outcomes of response from our community. Really, the question is what can we do in some of these areas. You know, what is possible. You know, it might be easy to say we don't control some of these areas or -- like schools and roads, for instance. However, we have got to come up with strategies in these areas to stretch the organization and deliver on these topics. So, again, some of this stuff is going to be review, but our vision -- it remains unchanged from being the west's premier community to live, work and raise a family. On this I have included the citizen scorecard -- report card pieces as a place to raise a family, place to live, and place to work. I'm not going to cover those metrics in depth, because, again, this is mainly review, but these are -- this is that vision. We still have a ways to go. It's - - it's a point out in time, but it's that place we want to be. That's -- that's what that vision is. Our mission. This is kind of how we do business; right? So, the mission of our organization -- again, this -- this kind of said that -- we added a little bit of language on this one. We tweaked it slightly, added a little bit from the Comprehensive Plan, tells us broadly how we are doing in business, but the -- the mission is that how we do business, how we go about doing things for our organization. So, a little visual on how our focus areas, our measures, and our goals work with this new strategic plan. The focus areas are kind of broad 90,000 foot definition of what our priorities are as a city. The survey metrics or other indicators underneath that illustrate the impact to our citizens and the goals are the actions and outcomes related to those focus areas and this kind of helps broadly defined our strategic framework, providing that clarity, the simplicity and the transparency to our -- like I said, to our citizens, to our community and to our employees and our leadership. So, the first -- first focus area deals with responsible growth and as we saw in the citizen survey it was one of the top areas that we -- that our citizens felt like we should focus on, so it's no surprises that it's number one. This area covers promoting responsible growth, priority in-fill areas, execution of our Comprehensive Plan and, then, encouraging affordable, diverse and quality communities. These metrics that I have associated with it were trending down, but that's one of the reasons we really need to focus on it, because our community is telling us something is going on here and we need to develop strategies to -- to continue to work in this -- this vital area. Some of the goals in this -- in this focus area have to do with prioritizing investment to ensure that we are maximizing the delivery of city services, that we are implementing the goals in the Comprehensive Plan, that we are utilizing tools in order to make sure the development might pay-- pay a proportionate share of services. There is a housing affordability options piece and, again, that one is really about what we make of it, the strategies that live underneath it, because this plan, if -- with these goals, these goals will define -- will truly Page 21 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 18 of— be defined by the strategies and the action items and the tactics and the metrics that are developed underneath these broad goals; right? So -- and that's where we will go back in the next phase in the departments and develop those -- those key components and those strategies underneath these five goals. So -- so, broadly, that's -- that's what those goals are and, again, you know, I know we had comments on a few of these things, so I will try to hold them until the end. I want to make sure we get through all of these and discuss them in detail. And the final one is ensuring design standards to ensure quality communities with a diversity of amenities. Transportation infrastructure. This is about listening to our citizens' desire for a connected community, partnering, and potentially using resources to move projects, pathways, sidewalks and a safe multi-modal approach to transportation challenges. Again, some of these metrics are -- come from the community survey, others are related to accomplishing, you know, our priority projects and increasing safe lighting to schools. Some of the goals. You know, the first one related to transportation projects that could involve a variety of different techniques and strategies on that. But, again, the strategies will help define what these goals are in action. So, I know some of those conversations have came up in discussions with Council, but, you know, we will -- we will talk in more detail if desired, so -- we are also going to be planning and advocating for road and sidewalk improvements to increase accessibility to key areas of community interest, enhancing our pathway network for connection points and, then, investing in street lighting and overall safety and walkability in neighborhoods. Business and economic vitality. This is about revitalizing our downtown, growing in areas that are designed to support business expansion, and, then, targeting industries, based on an industry analysis to ensure family wage job creation. Some of the goals. They are related to, again, aligning with our industry analysis, pursuing specific industries to provide a balanced economic -- economic base, supporting business development that allows to bring more people to live and work in Meridian, utilizing specific tools to try and cluster development in certain areas, pursuing development types in downtown to improve overall quality of life, and, then, figuring out what -- what happens in downtown after the end of the urban renewal district. Again, variety of topics that can be discussed in that area and strategies. But, again, these are those high level goals that those strategies that our departments will develop will flush out. Public health and safety. This one's about maintaining and investing the great work of Public Works, Police and Fire, providing time sensitive services in water and wastewater, evaluating the environmental impacts and using data to inform, partnering with our health community to ensure access of care and you can see the -- the metrics that we selected for that. The goals. You know, some of these are going to relate to investing in technology with drinking water quality, clean water, reducing the impact on the environment, engaging in our neighborhoods for public safety resources, investing in police, you know, property crime, traffic safety, enhanced education prevention efforts and, then, for Fire, loss of life and property, outcomes of response, enhanced public education and, then, working with our healthcare providers to ensure access to care and, you know, more can be flushed out on that as well. But, you know, that's -- that's the goals for public safety and health. Vibrant, sustainable community. These are some of the many reasons that people want to live and raise a family here is that quality of life piece with vibrant, sustainable community. So, sustainable places and spaces, sustainable practices, vibrant parks and recreational offerings, and, then, all art and cultural opportunities. And some of the goals here. You Page 22 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 1 g of 24 know, those amenities that, you know, we love and our community loves. Instituting sustainable and -- sustainable environmental practices and identifying public spaces, program offerings and, then, preserving our heritage and identity by partnering with our community stakeholders. Government excellence. This is -- this is -- a lot of this has to do with, you know, how are we -- how are we doing this as a -- as a body and as -- as a - - and as a government and this is -- this is really about how we are doing business internally and how we are -- how we are outreaching to our community. So, open, transparent and approachable government, utilizing our CARE values, telling our story and engaging with our employees to deliver efficient and valuable government services and being a great resource -- steward of our resources. So, this one's about account -- you know, accountability and transparency, utilizing people's voice in their decision making process, pursuing solutions by our elected officials in areas of education, transportation and other government. Empowering our employees to innovate operations and improve processes. Utilizing data and exemplifying service by investing in our employees and career path opportunities. So, some of what's next. So, we can adopt the strategic framework hopefully. Some of the next steps we would like to take would be educating our external partners and our citizens on the strategic framework, get some of their input on it. If the framework is adopted we can, then, move into the next phase where we identify our strategic initiatives and our action items and our tactics to achieve those over the next few months and, then, in January I hope to begin plan implementation on our next five year strategic plan and I know that was a lot of stuff. Any questions? Simison: Thank you, Vincent. Council, any questions for Vincent at this time? or comments? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. I have a comment and I don't think it will surprise Vincent, because I told him I was going to probably make the comment. I think this is great. I think this is a huge improvement on the last strategic plan. I really love the direction it's going overall. The one thing kind of keeping me up at night -- and I would be curious what kind of public feedback we get on it -- is the focus area of responsible growth and I think -- you know, with 41 percent saying the city is managing its growth wisely, the one strategic goal I -- I think might merit a discussion or just let's just see what the feedback from the public is, but would be, you know, do we want to have a goal about ensuring growth happens in a way that we are still maintaining adequate public services or some way of sort of talking about, you know, techniques of managing our growth and exploring those. I -- I would like to see the feedback I think from people and our stakeholders, I just -- I am concerned with how -- that trend is pretty negative and I just hope that these goals go far enough in meeting the concern, so that--that's the one comment I have. Overall I think it's fantastic. Like I said, I think it's heading in the right direction, but that -- that's one concern I have. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Page 23 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 20 of 24 Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Appreciate the presentation. Appreciate your work and engaging Council on this process. Like Council Member Strader, I think we are going to get a much better product than -- than our previous strategic plan. There is -- limitation maybe isn't the right word, but the piece that I still continue to struggle with is that the goals are somewhat subjective and what -- what I like with specific goals is that we can all collectively agree when we have achieved them. When there is subjective goals it leaves the interpretation we have actually achieved them up in the air and it may change from one person to one person and so I always struggle with that piece, because I know I have sat -- when somebody has said, well, we did all these subjective goals and I find myself saying, yeah, but did you really or you may have done a piece of it and you are claiming victory. I just don't know if you can share any conversations that have occurred about moving goals from being kind of nebulous and subjective to being more specific. Koontz: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Cavener, I think that's a great and valid point. I -- as I -- as I kind of alluded to I think the clarity you are seeking and what you are talking about will be developed in the strategies underneath each one of these goals; right? And on some of those areas that might be more nebulous and -- and might be a little more --that, you know, might be a little more nebulous or need a little bit of feedback, you know, maybe those are some areas in which we gather some additional feedback from our citizens or we utilize our subject matter experts on some of those things. But, again, you know, the goals are a little bit broad and nebulous on purpose, because they enable our departments and subject matter experts to go and create and I will go hold them accountable to the fact that -- tell me how we are going to measure success in these -- these key areas, right, and so the strategies and initiatives and the action items and the tactics are what makes these strategic goals truly, you know, to be basically held accountable to those -- those pieces and -- and to clarify them; right? You know, the -- the goals are kind of the squishy things, but I do believe that in the process of creating a strategy or a tactic or a strategic initiative underneath these, it will clarify what success looks like under each one, if that makes sense. Simison: Councilman Cavener, if I could at least give my two cents a little bit. I don't think in this strategic plan you are going to have a mission accomplished banner. You know, this is -- this is -- to me this is like, you know, building a -- building a home and I say that -- or building a family. You have a plan for your family, you know what you want, you know where you are going to go, but you are never done doing it and you are never going to get up and say we have accomplished everything that we wanted for our kids and family or whatnot. Maybe that's a horrible analogy, but that's -- that's really what this is -- this is about. These are -- these are what we are going to strive to become and we will have specific action items that we set out to do, but at the end of the day are we going to get up there and say that this strategic plan --or this goal was hit and we are done and marked off the board, we are not going to work on that? I don't think you are going to see that from this plan. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, to that point that -- that does cause a little bit of hesitation, because Page 24 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 21 of— I think speaking specifically to kind of some of Council Member Strader's comments about goals around growth, I feel like that we have a certain obligation to build a strategic plan to communicate to the public these are -- these are the things that we are going to do to address that. These are the specific things that we are going to -- Simison: And those will be the strategies. But you are never going to say that we have accomplished responsible growth, check the box, we are -- we are done. That's where I'm going towards -- at this level what you are seeing on this plan you are not going to see a done box checked element. The strategies maybe and, you know, the strategies will tell you kind of where you are going to go and what you are going to do and you may say, yeah, we successfully did that item, but at the end of the day did you accomplish the overall goal and you check it off? No. These are probably all ongoing throughout the next five years. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I -- very important document. Having this strategic plan is so important, obviously, to what we do and how we do it. I thought at the beginning that it would be very difficult to get consensus -- you know, anytime you have seven elected officials, you know, involved in a project--for the record -- not at the same time --that would create a quorum. So -- not there all the time. But also when you have, you know, the entire leadership team of the city, it -- there is just a ton of opinions and I -- I think that Vincent did probably, you know, the best job that he could with what he was working with, to be honest, but at the end of the day my question is simple. I mean, Mr. Mayor, this is your plan, do you feel comfortable with it and is there anything in it that you -- where is your concerns or do you not have any concerns or are you comfortable with what this looks like? Simison: Thank you, Councilman Bernt, because I think to your point, you know, you always try to create a plan that transcends bodies, to the best of your ability, but at the same time I will serve for at least three to five years of this plan and it definitely has my fingerprints on the plan about what I felt like from the community and what I feel is comfortable, but it also incorporates what I think we heard from Council and others. So, yes. Bernt: And it should. Simison: And I think it also is much more -- if you want to compare it to the last plan , we definitely have places with the Police and Fire, really, I think have a home in this plan, where in the last plan they didn't have that element. So, I -- I do feel like it -- it covers a lot of bases, it's a great framework for where we want to go, and it talks about what we want to achieve and we will see what strategies we can put together to achieve those goals, because that's, again, all about the goals. You know, this is where we are and what we are reviewing. Focus areas and goals. These are not the strategies of how we will get there and that really goes to what Council Woman Strader and Councilman Cavener Page 25 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 22 of— talked about is what does that mean and how does that look. But there is flexibility for the departments and there is flexibility for, quite frankly, the Council. You guys can develop your own strategies. This doesn't have to be just the department's coming up with their plans. I would love Council to develop strategies under responsible growth. Let's hear them. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Maybe just a quick question on the process. So, it seems like the strategic initiatives are going to be really important to -- to some of the Council Members. So, will those also come before us as this is more flushed out or what does that sort of look like? Simison: I will -- you know, from a certain standpoint, no, they won't come from Council for approval. You will hear -- you will hear about those either from updates from Vincent that he will give on the strategic plan or from the departments, you know, as they develop these through their -- their yearly updates to Council, but I think as we develop the strategies I think that there will be enough -- there will be -- information will be shared with Council, but we won't ask for your adoption or your sign off on those strategies, but there will definitely be information shared about them once they are developed and, of course, you are welcome to help create your own strategies from that standpoint. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. I just wanted to thank Vincent and everyone that worked on this. It's a very good framework. I think it -- it captures the very critical elements that we need to be focused on and it really does come down to those strategic initiatives. It also -- that framework allows the citizens to weigh in and -- and provide their voice to those areas that are critical to our community. So, I think it's well done that way and -- and as far as you have talked about, Mr. Mayor, and others, the strategic Initiatives really are the -- the -- going to be the meat on the bone, if you will. This is the framework, it's just the skeleton, but now the meat is going to come in and I think as our liaisons to different departments and -- and as we discuss this, it will be interesting to see -- to see how that develops further and I think that's where it's going to be critical. But it's well done. Thank you. Simison: I'm going to ask Councilman Borton -- and I don't see his picture, but I know he had some thoughts, if he wanted to share those or if he has got his questions answered. Borton: I think the questions have been answered, Mr. Mayor. So, yeah, I'm good. No - - no questions. Simison: So, Council, what -- what you would likely see coming back before you would be this -- this document in a written -- with some narrative information that would be part of it. That's what we would actually ask Council to be adopting from that standpoint Page 26 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page 23 of— moving in. Of course we want to go out to the community first, hear what type of feedback we have. If there is really no edits, then, this is what you would substantially see. If we hear a lot of feedback, then, I'm sure you will see Vincent coming back and talking about what -- what that feedback is and if we think we need to make modifications based on that feedback. Vincent was --we talked about this. The October to December time frame, we are not going to really have the directors of the departments start working on this until we get, you know, an approved plan. So, it's not likely as clean as Vincent stated with the October to December with a kickoff in January. We will -- we will start working on the strategies once we have adopted the framework and community feedback appropriately from that standpoint. We definitely have departments that are still trying to wrap up the last strategic plan, some elements and disciplines. I will update you all on that here in the next -- before the end of the year we are just going to do one final closeout with that plan. So, there -- there are still some question marks and timing issues. I don't want to give anyone expectations, but I think that's what you are -- you are looking at sometime in early 2020 before you will see strategy from departments. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I think we are good to proceed, unless other Council Members have concerns or questions. Simison: Okay. Cavener: The timeline makes a lot of sense. 10. Mayor's Office: CARES Act — Small Business Grant Program Update Vacated from agenda 11. Police Department: Discussion of Proposed Updates to Ordinance Provisions Regarding Disqualifying Criminal Convictions for Mobile Sales Unit Licenses and Vehicle Immobilization Licenses Vacated from the Agenda Simison: Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate you all, Council and Vincent, for undertaking this project. And the directors for pitching in. Councilman Bernt, what's your pleasure? Bernt: Mr. Mayor, I move that we adjourn the meeting. Hoaglun: Second the motion, Mr. Mayor. Simison: We have a second. Yes. Page 27 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. September 22,2020 Page—of" Bernt: Mr. -- Mr. Mayor, to clarify, I believe before -- I think we are going to move Items 10 to 11 to our -- to our -- our next meeting. They are scheduled at our next meeting, so I think that totally works. Weren't quite able to get it done this evening, so -- Hoaglun: That answered my question before I even had a chance to ask it. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor signify by saying aye. The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:49 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) / MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON 10 / 13 2020 DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK Page 28