Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-12-15 Work Session Minutes Item#1. Meridian City Council Work Session December 15, 2020. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, December 15, 2020, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Jessica Perreault and Brad Hoaglun. Members Absent: Liz Strader. Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Kyle Radek, Vince Koontz, Jeff Lavey, Joe Bongiorno and Dean Willis. 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: Council, I will call this meeting to order. For the record it is December 15th, 2020, at 4:30 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item is adoption of the agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: The only change to the agenda this evening is that we are adding an additional item to Executive Session, which is 74-206(1)(a). Other than that, I move that we adopt the agenda as amended. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as amended. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. Motion is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the December 1, 2020 City Council Work Session Page 4 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 15,2020 Page 2 of 10 2. Approve Minutes of the December 1, 2020 City Council Regular Meeting 3. Approve Minutes of the December 3, 2020 City Council Joint Meeting with Ada County Commissioners 4. Final Plat for Brody Square (FP-2020-0010) by Ian Connair of Kimley- Horn & Associates, Located on the Northeast and Southeast Corners of N. Black Cat Rd. and W. Daphne St. 5. Development Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Baron Black Cat LLC (Owner/Developer) for Modern Craftsman at Black Cat (H-2020-0022) 6. Acceptance Agreement for the Display of Artwork in the Initial Point Gallery 7. Agreement and Purchase Order for Benefits Brokerage Services to Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. for the Not-to-Exceed Amount of $65,000.00 Per Year and Authorize the Procurement Manager to Sign 8. Professional Services Agreement with Mountain Waterworks for the Final Design of the WRRF Phosphorus Removal Project for the Not- To-Exceed Amount of $545,210.00 9. Resolution No 20-2247: Adopting the Extension of Changed Application Fees for Alcohol Catering Permits, Temporary Use Permits for Promotional Sales Units, and Limited Duration Sign Permits; Authorizing City Departments to Collect Such Fees and Providing an Effective Date 10. Resolution No. 20-2248: A Resolution Approving a District Office Lease Agreement Amendment Between the City of Meridian (Lessor) and Congressman Russell Fulcher (Lessee) for a Two-Year Lease Term for Approximately 1,812 Square Feet of Office Space at the Meridian City Hall, 33 East Broadway, Meridian, Idaho to be Used for a Local Congressional Staff Office Simison: Next item is the Consent Agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we adopt the Consent Agenda. For the Mayor to sign and for the Clerk to attest. Page 5 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 15,2020 Page 3 of 10 Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, I second the motion. Simison: Have a motion and a second to adopt the Consent Agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it and the Consent Agenda is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There are no items moved from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 11. City Clerk: FY2021 Budget Amendment in the Not-to Exceed Amount of $885.00 for Purchase and Installation of a Wireless Digital Display to Post Agendas and Legal Notices at City Hall Simison: So, we will go into the Department/Commission Reports and our first item up, Item 11 is the City Clerk FY-21 budget amendment. I will turn this over to Mr. Johnson. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, before you tonight is a budget amendment in the amount of 885 dollars to purchase electronic equipment, which will allow my office to digitally transmit and display agendas and other legal notices at City Hall. The challenges this last year proved the upgrade to be necessary in order to meet the requirements set forth by Idaho Code, while increasing efficiencies by allowing the postings to be done from anywhere a member of my staff has internet access. The request includes the hardware and software necessary to achieve this goal. Simison: Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Council, any questions for Mr. Johnson on -- on this request? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I just curious where this will be located at City Hall. Johnson: Mr. Mayor, Council, Council Woman Perreault, if you are approaching City Hall and seeing the front atrium, it is on the far left window adjacent to where the bulletin board is now. It will actually be placed in that window area, so it won't block the view of City Hall, it will just be one panel taken up by the television. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Page 6 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 15,2020 Page 4 of 10 Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Chris, did I hear you right? Did you say it was for 850 or did I mishear you? Johnson: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Cavener, 885. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, unless there is any other questions, I'm happy to make a motion. Simison: I see no one speaking, so go ahead, Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the budget amendment -- fiscal year 2021 budget amendment for 885 dollars for the Clerk's Department for the purchase and installation of wireless digital display. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the budget amendment in the amount of 885 dollars. Is there any discussion on the motion? If not, clerk will call the roll. Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, absent; Perreault, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the budget amendment is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Simison: Mr. Nary, is it a conflict of interest to have the clerk do his own roll call on his own amendment? Nary: I think it's okay. 12. Mayor's Office: Adoption of 2021-2025 Strategic Plan Focus Areas and Goals Simison: Okay. Just want to make sure, so -- all right. Next item up is from the Mayor's Office which, is the -- it says adoption of the 21-25 strategic plan focus areas and goals. Honestly, I don't think we are going to do the adoption this evening, I think it's the presentation with the intention to bring this back next week with -- with a resolution, but I am going to turn this over to Mr. Koontz, who you all heard from last week when I wasn't here and it's a kind of a continuation, but a brand new process. So, Vincent. Koontz: Yes. The question is first can you hear me? Okay. Well, then, Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, I got used to, you know, Treg being there last week, so -- I'm here to discuss the 2021 to 2025 strategic plan focus areas and goals adoption or discussion for tonight. I sent to you the strategic plan focus areas and goals for reference on Page 7 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 15,2020 Page 5 of 10 Monday. I apologize those didn't go out in the agenda. Unfortunately, I was -- I was out on Thursday and -- and Friday, just miscommunication on that. So, this should be very familiar to you, because you have seen it and it has not changed since the last time you saw the focus areas and goals, it just looks a little bit prettier, it looks a little bit more dressed up and it's -- it's -- it's in its current form. So, as a follow up from our previous discussion I will share with you our community and partner feedback to support adopting our strategic plan. I will share with you how our focus areas resonated with the community via the NextDoor survey that we sent out and our Town Hall. Why we should feel comfortable with these focus areas and goals by adopting them and, then, what work the plan entails after Council adopts the plan. So, again, it's -- we are kind of getting close to the finish line on this. You know, I wanted to provide you with, you know, kind of what -- where we have gone, where we have got to, what we have heard and why these focus areas make sense to adopt by Council and by leadership, so -- so, stakeholder feedback. As part of the strategic plan development we needed to get feedback from our partners in the community. We didn't do this with our previous strategic plan, so that was one of the changes that we decided to make with this new one. We did this in order to form partnerships, introduce our high level focus areas and goals, and look to offer -- look for opportunities to collaborate. We spoke to Ada county, West Ada School District, Meridian Development Corporation, the Meridian Downtown Business Association and the Meridian Library District and we heard our plans share many common themes. Our partners are eager to collaborate where possible and they are excited about including -- being included in the process this time around and they plan on engaging with staff as initiatives and action items are developed in the next phase. The community feedback. Community input has helped shape the focus areas and goals in the plan and, indeed, our community -- our community survey is important to that. We found this information in a variety of ways and validated the strategic plan throughout several methods. The citizen survey is first and foremost. Our community's input forms how we ultimately are measured by and we heard from -- about citizen concerns on roads, school, and growth. During the Comprehensive Plan outreach we spent over a year gaining feedback from our community and we heard about growth, identity, the desire for a vibrant community and, of course, an evolving community and elected officials that were elected. During last cycle we heard about transportation, growth, public safety and taxes. During our Town Hall in October we had over 600 citizens participate in our virtual Town Hall regarding the strategic plan and citizen survey. Some of those people participated in polling and we didn't -- but we didn't have a lot of participation in that, because I believe it was the -- the ones that were on the Zoom call, so -- so, I won't want to talk about that, because there wasn't a lot of information. But we engaged and we asked our community how the strategic plan resonated with them through a NextDoor survey that we sent out and listed for two weeks. So, I will share with you some of the results from that on the next slide. So, we asked how did our strategic plan focus areas resonate with our community. All of them received a score of at least seven out of ten or higher on our NextDoor survey that ran for over two weeks. Responsible growth scored a little bit lower at seven out of ten, but this topic is something that many people have a strong opinion on and so -- and I think that was reflected in the community survey as well. Public health and safety scored highest, not surprising given our pandemic and our community support and public safety Page 8 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 15,2020 Page 6 of 10 personnel. We did our homework in developing this plan by listening to our citizens, our partners, and our leadership, which gives me confidence that this strategic plan is a community focused plan. This strategic plan represents almost a year of work to create high level focus areas and actionable goals for our community. After that work, collaboration and engagement, we are now at a point where we have a strategic plan that we can feel comfortable with. You as Council have been involved from the beginning in this process on purpose, because that was a lesson learned from last time from the previous strategic plan. We want to make sure our leadership, Mayor, Council, directors and personnel in departments have a clear direction on where we are going and so we are all on the same page as an organization and as a community. Our community engagement confirms that these are the right priorities for our community over the next five years. By adopting this strategic plans focus areas and goals we are confirming the direction for our city and starting work on this plan, so I hope we can get it over the finish line and start doing the work of action in this plan. So, what action is needed? Well, to move forward I -- we will want Council to adopt this plan. The focus areas and goals were developed through a consensus from our leadership. It also will -- by adopting will give our departments a clear direction on the goals and the focus areas for our community and I will give them the flexibility to create plans for initiatives, actions and work. In the future state we will be developing key initiatives and actions to support the focus -- the adopted focus areas and goals. As referenced last -- last week we will also evaluate initiatives from our previous strategic plan that were not completed for relevance in the new work plan. We will be developing key performance indicators with departments to measure success of the initiatives and relating them back to the goals. I will work with City Council to develop Council specific initiatives. I know you have expressed interest on legislative engagement, housing -- housing affordability, growth and other policy issues and -- and, then, we will -- we will have regular reporting on departmental reports, budget requests and updates. I will provide Council updates on the plan at a high level. We will also be launching -- launching a public facing dashboard to show progress to our community and provide our leadership and our staff the plan in order to ensure accountability. It's taken a lot of time to get here and I thank you as Council and as your -- for your leadership, your input, your expertise on this and it's taken a lot of time, but we have done it the right way. We have gone through the right steps to get to this point and I -- we are ready to get to work on -- on the future state. So, with that I will stand for any questions. Simison: Thank you, Vincent. Council, if I could just take a brief moment and say -- as someone that was involved in the hands-on level in the creation of the last strategic plan and saw the -- the good parts and the bad parts and the challenges and the successes, I hope that you have enjoyed the creation of this plan, which is different even in the -- how it was developed, where -- where -- where it is in the development stage. You know, there is -- the details are still to be worked out, but we really want to get working on those with the departments, so -- so, my goal is hopefully by the end of March that we can have many initiatives laid out for what this looks like in the future. But we are happy to take any feedback or comments or questions and if -- depending on where this goes we would love to bring back a resolution next week to adopt this and we will have a nice pretty document that we plan on putting up on the website as well, which -- which Page 9 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 15,2020 Page 7 of 10 captures some of the -- what's occurred in this -- much like we did last time. So, any questions? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I agree so much with what you had to say and, Vincent, I appreciate your great work on really improving both the process and the intent behind this plan. You touched on something that I wasn't aware of that I appreciate you sharing, which was about your level of community engagement, both our citizens and in groups and I noticed when you were going over the groups -- I guess with the exception of the Downtown Business Association, the other groups that we engaged were -- were governmental or quasi-governmental agencies and I'm curious because of the value that it sounds like that you found from engaging these groups if there is an opportunity to maybe engage a few more folks in the private sector around what we are intending to do. I think that we could gain a lot from their feedback, perspective, and buy in and I know that we are trying to kind of bring this project here to the finish line, but just because you said it was so beneficial -- I don't know if that's something that you discussed or evaluated, if there is an opportunity to reengage before formulating a final plan. Koontz: Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, Councilman Cavener, I did omit the fact that I did talk to the Meridian Chamber on that. So, I did speak with Meridian Chamber. You know, that -- that was kind of my list of engagement personnel, because they probably had the most direct impact or influence or collaboration that we would have on -- on some of those things. I think that's a valid point. You know, I think it's possible to engage on the individual initiatives that come up under -- under those and by all means, you know, sharing that -- sharing our adopted focus areas and goals with other business -- with other businesses is probably beneficial. But I do believe, you know, the engagement is going to continue as we develop with the departments the strategic initiatives and action items and tactics and so I don't look -- I don't think that the engagement will stop, but I also don't know if it would change anything with the -- with the plan based on what we have heard, because I did take input from what we heard from the conference of plan. The business community was involved with that at that point and so I do think there is room to -- to have conversations about it, but I don't know if we -- you know, if we need to do much more than that at this point. If that answers your question. Simison: Maybe Mr. Cavener -- Councilman Cavener, who do you believe was omitted that should have been engaged maybe would be a question. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, appreciate the question. For me I think there is -- there is a couple of folks that I think their -- their feedback would be beneficial and I look at who are our big employers and who are some of our large community stakeholders. So, St. Luke's for one -- I mean is one that bubbles up to the top and, then, I think of some of Page 10 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 15,2020 Page 8 of 10 our other larger employers in the area. Scentsy. Blue Cross of Idaho. Paylocity. They are active stakeholders in our community and I think if -- and only because we heard from Vince about how beneficial it was to engage those previously identified -- mostly in governmental stakeholders that I think that we could gain additional benefits by -- by reaching out to some of our large scale employers. Especially around the community health piece with St. Luke's. Koontz: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Members of Council and Councilman Cavener, I know that, you know, we have talked -- we have talked about that on the engagement piece. There -- there is that strategic goal that's related to, you know, the public -- the public health initiatives and my intent was to engage with some of those providers and even some of the economic -- the economic vibrancy goals when we get to the initiative piece was to engage with any external stakeholders at that point based on the initiatives that we come up with underneath those goals. But I appreciate your feedback on that. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: There is a lot that I like about this process and the end result. It seems to be much more manageable to facilitate and operate in going forward in it's more summary design. I think that's really well -- well placed. The one item that -- and you and I have talked about this. It's come up before -- maybe the last time we discussed this was the inclusion of -- of transportation. I'm not -- I'm not going to be at the next meeting, so I have expressed -- maybe it's a philosophical concern. I see the inclusion of transportation as -- as the Linder Road overpass and everything else. So, it notes in there some commitments to fund -- facilitate transportation improvements. I'm not necessary -- I'm not seeking any change to the plan itself, but just wanted to be clear I think the -- spending our funds on roadway improvements -- I'm not close to being there yet. It's probably where this is heading in the spring in furtherance of the strategic plan. I think that's a challenge that we will address at that time. So, I bring it up because it's included here and it references really funding transportation improvements or trying to do so with city dollars and ACHD's got over ten million in foregone, they have elected year after year to not fund transportation when it's squarely within their purview. So, I just raise the concern for -- you may discuss it next week as well, that the city could ask its citizens concerns about transportation and tackle funding like that, similar to asking citizens, you know, is there a challenge with schools and school overcrowding and -- and the city, then, funding schools. All worthy considerations, but it's in someone else's ballpark. They should be held accountable to fund it and facilitate it. So, I understand why it's in the strategic plan. I understand Linder Road and think of that overpass and everything else being much different. So, I just want -- I know you and I have talked about it and it's worthy of putting it on the record for all of us to consider what we are and are not committing to with regards to transportation funding specifically, because I think that's what's certainly coming down the road this spring and summer. But appreciate the good work on the plan and how you got here, Vince. So, well done. Page 11 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 15,2020 Page 9 of 10 Simison: Thank you. Council, any further questions or comments? I'm seeing general handshakes of no at this point in time and just to address Councilman Cavener's comment from my perspective, I do think Vincent has the right idea. I do think that anything that comes out of this will involve, you know, maybe some individual specific businesses moving forward, but I think this plan captures what we have heard from the community about the direction that we should be going. You know, perhaps there is some individual initiatives or some areas, but it is my intention to bring this back next week to you all with the resolution for approval, so we can get our departments working on this. I think it's an important part of where we are headed at least for the next three years and one month while I am here. So, hopefully, we can have your support next week for those that will be present for that opportunity. If you have any further questions or comments before then, please, don't hesitate to reach out. All right. Thank you, Vincent. Appreciate it very much. Koontz: Thank you. EXECUTIVE SESSION 13. Per Idaho Code 74-206A(1)(a) To deliberate on a labor contract offer or to formulate a counteroffer (amended) and 74-208(1)(a) to consider hiring a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent, wherein the respective qualities of individuals are to be evaluated in order to fulfill a particular vacancy or need and (Amended on to Agenda) 74-206(1)(a) to consider hiring a pubic officer, employee, staff member or individual agent, wherein the respective qualities of individuals are to be evaluated in order to fill a particular vacancy or need. Simison: Next item is Item 13. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we go into Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206A(1)(a) and 74- 206(1)(a). Wait a minute. Yes. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, I second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to go into Executive Session. Is there any discussion? If not, clerk will call the roll. Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, absent; Perreault, yea. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Page 12 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 15,2020 Page 10 of 10 EXECUTIVE SESSION: (4:53 p.m. to 5:54 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: Mr. Mayor, second the motion. Simison: Motion and second to come out of Executive Session. Any discussion on the motion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. We are out of Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we adjourn the meeting. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and second to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:54 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 1 / 4 / 2021 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK Page 13