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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-05-11 Work Session Minutes Item#1. Meridian City Council Work Session May 11, 2021. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:31 p.m., Tuesday, May 11, 2021, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Brad Hoaglun and Liz Strader. Members Absent: Jessica Perreault. Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Bill Parsons, Joe Dodson, Jamie Lesie, Joe Bongiorno and Dean Willis. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE Liz Strader _X_ Joe Borton _X_ Brad Hoaglun _X_Treg Bernt Jessica Perreault _X Luke Cavener _X_ Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call this meeting to order. For the record it is May 11 th, 2021, at 4:31 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session 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 -- first, before we adopt the agenda, we are going to strike Item No. 25, Executive Session. We no longer need that this evening. So, with that said I move that we adopt the agenda as amended. Hoaglun: Second. 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. The motion is agreed to and the agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the April 27, 2021 City Council Work Session Page 4 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 2 of 24 2. Approve Minutes of the April 27, 2021 City Council Regular Meeting 3. Hill's Century Farm North No. 1 Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No. 1 4. Human Bean Coffee Shop Water Main Easement No. 1 5. Sutherland Farms No.5 (Lot 90, Block11) Pedestrian Pathway Easement 6. Sutherland Farms No.5 (Lot 11, Block 20) Pedestrian Pathway Easement 7. Sutherland Farms No. 3 at Ridenbaugh Pedestrian Pathway Easement 8. Final Plat for Cache Creek Subdivision (FP-2021-0028) by Schultz Development, LLC, Located on the Northwest Corner of E. Victory Rd. and S. Locust Grove Rd. 9. Final Plat for Wadsworth Meridian (FP-2021-0030) by Wadsworth Development, Located at 3185 E. Ustick Rd. 10. Final Order for Lavender Heights No. 2 (FP-2021-0016) by LH Development, LLC, Located Approximately '/z Mile West of S. Eagle Rd. and on the North Side of E. Lake Hazel Rd. 11. Final Order for Mile High Pines (FP-2021-0013) by Baron Ten Mile, LLC, Located in the Southwest Corner of N. Ten Mile Rd. and W. Pine Ave. 12. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for TM Center/Ten Mile Crossing (H-2020-0074) by SCS Brighton, et al., Located East of S. Ten Mile Rd. and South of W. Franklin Rd. 13. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for 1450 W. Ustick Road (H- 2021-0016) by Mark Bigelow of MRS Landholdings, Located at 1450 W. Ustick Rd. 14. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Meridian South Fire Station & Police Substation (H-2021-0008) by City of Meridian, Located at 2385 E. Lake Hazel Rd. 15. First Addendum to Interagency Governmental Agreement for Waiver of Costs and Fees Between West Ada School District and the City of Meridian Page 5 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 3 of 24 16. Contract Between the City of Meridian and JC Constructors, Inc. for Public Works Construction of Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility DAFT Capacity Upgrades for the Not-To-Exceed Amount of $618,400.00 17. Memorandum of Agreement Between the State Historic Preservation Office and the City of Meridian Regarding Grant Award for Preservation Efforts in Meridian 18. Professional Services Agreements for Concerts on Broadway Musical Performers in the 2021 Series 19. Addition of Eli Daniel as a trustee to the City Employee Health Benefits Trust 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. Hoaglun: Second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the Consent Agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it and the Consent Agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There were no items removed from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 20. Parks and Recreation Department: Annual Report Simison: So, we will go right into our Department/Commission Reports. The first item up is our Parks and Recreation Department annual report and turn this over to Mr. Siddoway. Siddoway: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council. President Bernt, I want you to know that I got the message to cut the fat, keep it on point. Page 6 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 4 of— Bernt: You be you. You be the best version of you, Steve. Siddoway: I will be the best version of me. Bernt: That's all we care about. Siddoway: What you won't see tonight are org charts or our mission-vision values, because I think you know those, you know what we do, so I'm -- what I'm going to present is -- I'm going to try and answer three questions for you in the 15 minutes I have got this afternoon and one is what were some of the impacts of COVID in 2020 and what did -- what did 2020 look for us -- look like for us last year. The second question I'm hoping to answer is what are some of our main accomplishments that we have realized over the past year and, third, I want to look forward and look at some of the -- the opportunities and challenges that -- that currently face us. So, first, though -- let's see. There we go. Okay. Now, it's working. A few key awards and retirements from 2020. One, we did receive the IRPA 2020 Outstanding Park Facility Award for Discovery Park phase one. It was determined to be the -- the outstanding new park for the state of Idaho by the State Idaho Recreation and Parks Association and, then, two key retirements. I know you know these, but I just wanted to highlight them. Craig Steel, after 20 years on the commission, Treg knows him as the Godfather, retired and Elroy Huff, our city arborist, retired after also 20 years of service and so just want to express my appreciation to them. Let's jump into COVID for just a second. 2020 -- probably no surprise. I think everyone knows our department was certainly impacted by COVID and what we could do and couldn't do for events and sports and all the things that are Parks and Recreation and you can see here 2019 numbers, compared to 2020 numbers, for things like our picnic shelter reservations, our class and camp participants and our field reservations. But it's also telling to me that the numbers are as high as they are, in spite of everything that was going on. What want to share with you is that throughout the year our -- our decisions were guided -- I call them our three tenets. Our three tenets over this past year were, number one, be safe. You know, establish protocols based on whatever stage we were in at the time. Number two -- and this may have been number one based on this, but it was do what you can; right? We --we really-- really-- I didn't want to be part of the cancel culture anymore than we had to be. It was like we want to do what we can. Whatever aligns and is allowed let's -- let's do it. I always try to ask the question what can -- what can we do and, then, find a way to safely do that. And, then, number three was to, you know, stay aligned with the CDH and the governor's orders, which, by the way, we are very excited to hear that the governor just moved us to stage four this afternoon. So, that was exciting. In spite of those impacts, one of the other things that we found was people -- because so many entertainment options were closed, people were in the parks probably more than ever and the -- the chart on the right is really more of a national survey than something local, because we don't have turnstyles in our parks, I don't have numbers for you for how many people came to the parks, but -- but overall numbers are up. People have been coming out into the parks to enjoy the sunshine and the picnics and the walking and the things that they can do and have been able to do safely over the past year. So, we are very proud of what we have been able to do during a challenging year. I want to give a shout out to our Parks and Rec Commission. This is -- this is a photo from just last month. This Page 7 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 5 of— is our current crew. We did a tour of the golf course last month and this is the group of volunteer citizens that allow us to -- well, we use them as a sounding board. Treg was -- was on our commission and appreciate his efforts there and several of you have been liaisons to us, so you know what we do there and you know how dedicated this group is and very very thankful -- and you heard from Jo Greer just two weeks ago. So, I'm going to just mention that and move on. You have in front of you an annual report, so I'm not going to tell you everything that's in here. I'm going to highlight one accomplishment per slide and you can use the annual report to -- for the rest of the story. But I got to highlight the public art installations that were -- that were done last year, in both Renaissance Park and Champion Park. They are the photos at the top. Those are wonderful additions to those parks and I particularly loved that one that's in Renaissance Park. If you haven't had a chance to see it I recommend it to you. It's hard for me to believe that it was only a year ago that we finished the HomeCourt improvements to redo Bay 5 and held a grand reopening out there. That would have been I think end of January or so in 2020. So, a little over a year ago. But the -- the HomeCourt is a -- a well loved facility and pickleball has taken off in new measures there. There has been a lot of progress with -- with pathways. The Pine Avenue rest stop, if you haven't seen it, just down here on Pine Street, is completed. The James Court sidewalk widening, which has been desired four years, is now complete. We are going to tour those by bike with our parks and rec commission tomorrow night and we have made significant progress on the rest of that list that I won't read to you. In fact, we are going to start our tour at the Ten Mile trail hub, which is pretty much done and is looking great. I just drove by it this weekend. So, great year for pathways for us. You know, leaf collection bins is kind of a small and silly thing to highlight, but it gives me an opportunity to -- to highlight the partnerships that we have with -- like the environmental program in Public Works. They reached out to us and said, hey, would you guys accept some leaf collection bins in the parks, so like sure. They were so popular. Oh, my goodness. They were used and used and used and so I just had to mention that. The holiday classic volleyball and cornhole tournaments were able to happen right before things really kind of shut down again going into winter. We are so grateful that they were able to happen. People were so generous. We raised funds that bought Christmas gifts for 60 children in the Headstart program. Provided Christmas for them. And we --we had funds left over that we are going to carry forward into this coming year, so it will go towards next year's program. So, very excited about what we have been able to do there for the community. I think everyone knows about the golf course, so I won't spend a lot of time on this, but this has been a big lift over the past year and kudos to Mike Barton every -- every chance I get for the -- the heavy lifting that he has done and continues to do out there. He had a full time job before we got to the golf course and it's -- it's a lot, so -- but I think everyone knows about that. So, I'm going to move on to -- if you haven't been to the Main Street Market, it's now open and is running every weekend into the fall and I came to it just this past weekend to check it out myself and it was a fun vibe. Lots of people come, live music, and more vendors than -- than ever. So, it was a great -- great turnout, great event. If you -- if you haven't been able to make it out yet you have plenty of opportunities to do so over the course of the summer. And, then, I have to mention Christmas in Meridian. This team saved Christmas for me in my book. They -- and, Renee, kudos to you in particular. But you can see Jo Greer and her little elf costume down there. But handing out -- we couldn't do the Children's Winterland Festival that we Page 8 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 6- — -- the way we normally do it, so we pivoted, we provided all the crafts and activities in a bag and let people drive thru and gave it, so they could make them home based activities and we were able to stream our tree lighting with the fireworks and everything else. So, that was great to still have that happen. And, then, while our events looked nothing like they did in a typical year, we didn't just take the year off. We adapted and we re- envisioned and, again, asked the question what can we do and we came up with -- with new types of activities for our citizens that -- that worked for the times that we were in. A few numbers I will read all the numbers to you. For Council Woman Strader, I'm going to look at that 5,200 number under trees and just highlight for the Council that it wasn't that long ago we only had a few hundred trees in our -- in our public tree system and we have grown our -- our public trees that we care for by -- to over 5,000 and I was -- I think that number is now over 6,000 with the inventory that was just done out at the golf course. So, we have been inventorying. There the trees out there do have some -- some -- some challenges and some pest infestations and things that we need to help take care of, but we are very much focused on our urban forest. I think the main number I want to focus on, though, is that 2.61 . That's our acres per thousand. We track that all the time. Our -- our goal has been to try to get to four, but our historic number has -- we have always been right around three. You can see we have kind of dropped from three down to 2.6 and that's just because of the high growth that's going on with the population, you know, without building a park this last year. I did do the calculation. If we built Discovery Park today where would that take us. It would take us up into the 2.9 plus range, not quite to three, but real close to three and, unfortunately, by the time it's developed there will be several more thousand people here. So, we have got some work to do to keep up with the growth. I'm not going to read the numbers to you, but I just want to say, you know, sports did a phenomenal job and I think I just want to tell the story that--of the participants who have stopped people like Garrett in the grocery store and thanked him for giving them an opportunity to get out and be outside and participate in something with friends and the photo there is of the disc golf tournament, which we did for the first time and so that was at Halloween. That's why they are in -- in costumes and people were just so -- so grateful that we were able to hold some of -- some of these things and really appreciated my staff that -- that found a way. So, that's it for my highlights of the current -- the recent accomplishments. Let's -- let's take a look at the challenges and opportunities before us looking -- looking forward and number one right out the gate has to be the community center. So, the community center, you know, knowing with the -- with the RFP out or going out that we need to prepare for it to go away and if and when it does go away -- in order to prepare for that we have got some work to do for concept planning for some needs assessment and to determine where some of the existing amenities might relocate to from Centennial Park, particularly, which still has some good life in it, and the restroom. Just a spoiler alert. We would -- we would propose to move the restroom to the new trailhead at Ten Mile. We have a spot for it that was -- it's -- we have run sewer to it and -- or-- it's not -- and -- but we have a spot designed for it. It was always going to be phased in, but we have a place to move the existing restroom, too, if it does get moved out of -- of Centennial Park and that spot is ready to accept it. So, we want to do some design work, some concept planning, really -- really dig in and define the need for our community as part of this next year's efforts. The golf course capital replacements. You know, the irrigate or maintenance equipment is in poor shape. You Page 9 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page , - — know all about that. You recently funded, thank you, so of the most key critical items and the rest are coming with the next budget. The irrigation system, as you know, is -- is pretty much a do over and we need to make investments in there and we have got some ADA compliance to do with the on -- on-course restroom that -- that needs to happen. This -- this year you funded for us the ability to investigate about a dozen -- actually turned in, I think, 13 new projects. So, separate from the previous slide I showed you -- to see what can move forward. Where do we have, you know, willing providers of easements and where --where can we get some things done and so these 13 projects have been -- being actively investigated over the winter and the ones that are in bold are prepared to move forward to work construction documents and construction in the next year. So, we look forward to talking more about moving those forward. You know all about Discovery Park, but I can't -- not say -- not bring it up here. We are super excited about that. Costs are going up. You know, we got some bad news about, you know, where the costs are headed with everything that we want to do, but just know that we are -- we are finding a way. We are doing some value engineering and just tweaking things, keeping -- keeping all the right components in place that we have already talked to you about, but looking forward very much to this next phase of Discovery Park moving forward. I had an ah-ha moment on the -- when I was looking up numbers for the parks master plan. This is one we talked about last year but, the --- the population when -- just five years ago when -- five years and a few months we -- we adopted this plan in -- in December of 2015. So, December of 2020 would be five years and now we are a little bit into '21. We have added more than 50 percent population growth since this was done. So, it was in the 80s and now we are at 127 -- getting numbers like 82, 83 thousand I think that year and so our population has grown by 50 percent plus since this was adopted. So, I think it's time to go back out and talk with our citizens and update the surveys. There has also been a lot of interest in cost recovery and I do have a -- a proposal. This team is the experts on cost recovery and -- and can -- can help us determine what a structured cost recovery philosophy can and should look like through public involvement and involvement with the -- with the Council and our commission and us as staff. So, we look forward to doing that. MAPS is the -- the public art program and we hope it will get funded for another year. We think the -- the next location for public art -- the Arts Commission has been talking about this in partnership with us, would be at that new -- that new pathway trailhead out at Ten Mile and, then, we have an opportunity -- every once in a while we try and do -- pick off these opportunities in these neighborhood parks, which haven't had a lot of identity of their own, because there is a desire to pick off the next one, we think Season's Park would be an excellent candidate as one that has kind of a -- a built-in theme and we are -- we would like to look into that. Someone was asking about pickleball courts. I think it was Bill coming into the meeting. So, these are the pickleball courts out of Reta Huskey and -- you know. But we have a potential partnership in the works with Brighton Corporation. They recently built Bri -- kind of across from Kleiner Park in The Village area. They would love to see some pickleball courts and they are offering to pay the bulk of the cost to build four new pickleball courts in the location there. We would just have a small contribution to take care of the landscape restoration and things like that as part of -- as part of that project. So, their contribution would be about 300,000, ours would be about 25 or something like that. Other -- other challenges that we are facing. Staffing. You have heard this in the news all over the place, but it's real and it's real for us. You are going to Page 10 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 8-— hear about the Meridian HomeCourt after this, so I won't belabor that. Summer camps. You know, our -- we are full already for summer camp with a wait list and we could open a third site if we could find staff, but we don't have enough staff applying to add another site. So, we have two sites that we are -- are planning to run and we will extend those numbers as high as we can, but still be able to keep our -- our numbers right for staff ratios. Teen activity night -- well, before I jump off that, you know, golf course -- the food and beverage side of things that you hear about in the news is very true at the golf course as well. They have been, you know, really struggling to get and keep food service staff. We find similar challenges with our seasonal maintenance. We are still, you know, down several from where we would like to be and, you know, special events keep growing and as we add things like teen activity night, that's something we are just going to have to consider with how the staffing might work for some of those things in the future once we try this pilot program. Urban forestry management plan. That's something that we are very interested in and -- and Matt Perkins, our new arborist, who took Elroy's place, is a wealth of knowledge. He is a fantastic new arborist to have and we are working on an urban forestry management plan to -- we look forward to bringing forward and sharing with you. We have talked about pathway connectivity. I put down preparing for the Meridian pool with a question mark. You know, we have heard we may need to -- to start preparing for that in the coming years, but, again, that, is -- Garrett's already got a full- time job, so it's hard for me to just hand him a pool, but, you know, these -- these are future conversations I just put out there, because I know we need to talk about them in the future and, then, we know we got to build some future parks, you know, the West Meridian Regional Park, which is also known as the Borup property to some of us. Aldape Park. I know Planning has been talking with you and us about a possible new regional park idea for Fields District. There is a -- a possible neighborhood park in South Meridian, Brundage, Graycliff are the subdivision names. The actual park may have a name of its own. But that's the names more based on the location. So, those are some of the things -- the big ticket things that are on our radar and with that I'm going to pause and stand for questions and discussion. Simison: Thank you, Steve. And for the record Councilman Borton joined us at 4:40. At least that's when I was notified of that. So, he is out there. Council, any questions for Mr. Siddoway? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you, Steve. Appreciate it. I -- just want to comment. I would be really interested to maybe have a future discussion about the future park sites, in light of our discussions about The Fields and, you know, now we have this huge regional park in the south and we have Settlers Park. It feels like we need something in north Meridian. Not sure where, but I would love to have a discussion about where you are targeting these future park sites. Siddoway: You bet. Page 11 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 9 of— Strader: And, then, I appreciate your comments about the update and to any urban forestry plan. There are a lot of opportunities in the community with City Of Trees challenge and other things coming up that I have heard about, so I would love us to evaluate those as we are looking at that plan. Siddoway: You bet. I might mention that we had a -- kind of a little tree seedling giveaway just recently with some of these, you know, tree efforts. We gave away about 50 here at City Hall, then, we teamed up with a delivery service called Crave. They gave away several trees to citizens as they were delivering food and, then, the rest went out through Boise Co-op and they were -- they did a give away there. And, then, Crave also paid to have a new tree planted in Kleiner Park, which we just did a couple weekends ago. Any other questions or comments? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Steve, I -- I love your line, talking about what can we do this year. It's so simple, but it really did encompass a lot of what you did. Two comments or recommendations and, then, I guess a question. One, you touched on the leaf collection, which I know does seem like a little thing, but was a huge deal. I heard from folks in the community being so thankful and grateful for that. I, myself, also used it and so I hope that's something that retains. The other thing that I hope that comes out of this COVID year that retained -- is retained is the virtual calls with Santa Claus. I thought that, again, was something so little, but talk about creating magic in the Cavener household having that opportunity for-- for Porkchop to go talk to Santa was a huge deal and I heard from other people who love the letter from Santa, but being able to interact with him on screen was really cool. So, I hope that can continue. My question is -- our work around cost recovery, is that an organization that's solely focused on just parks department? Is there somebody who focuses on municipal government at large? I want to make sure that as we are embarking on this that we are -- I don't know -- I guess I would need to get some more information from you or from Finance about -- if there is one model for parks and a different model for the clerk's or a different model for building services and so help me kind of understand where the thought process is. Siddoway: You bet. So, the organization is Greenplay and that's who did our -- it's the same organization that did our current master plan. The Finance -- had the expertise to work with us to determine what full cost recovery means and looks like. So, we will have, you know, done some -- some great work with Finance in advance of ever engaging with an organization like GreenPlay. What GreenPlay brings to the table is a process to determine how to -- to stratify within -- if you are familiar with the pyramid methodology, it's asking the qualitative questions, so we can do the quantitative questions with Finance. What does it cost and what does full recovery mean. What Finance can't tell us and another process can. I mean we could give our own opinions ourselves, but in light of trying to be open and inclusive and transparent, we would want to talk openly about which items should be subsidized, which items should -- should make more than they cost to Page 12 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 10—— help subsidize others and there is -- there is everything in between and so it would be a process to engage in that conversation. Cavener: Thank you. Siddoway: Yeah. Strader: Looking to hear more. Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor. Question -- and probably a suggestion, Steve. Park land on this slide that you showed -- and we are down to two point -- Siddoway: -- two point six. Hoaglun: Yeah. Is the golf course counted in that or where does that -- where does that fall? Siddoway: It is not. And Rachel asked me should we add the golf course to this. Honestly, I still need to check that question with Legal. I haven't been comfortable adding it yet, because it's a different type of-- of land. But, frankly, the jury's still out on that. So, I need to -- I need to look into that further and get back to you. Hoaglun: Well, if we talk about park and recreation land and -- Siddoway: It is definitely recreation. Hoaglun: We count our ball fields, so why would we not count that. Yeah. I understand the perspective on that. So, I was just curious, because that would -- would help in the calculation and it truly is ours now, part of our park system, so -- anyway, like at Seasons Park you are looking for a refresh and what you need to do to existing parks to do some things and I may have mentioned this to you, maybe it was Mike Barton, but I notice -- we walked through Reta Huskey Park from time to time going to the Five Mile Pathway and I noticed kids there on their skateboards and they are, of course, using the benches in recycled materials -- it's very durable, by the way. You know, doing their little jumps and tricks and whatnot and I thought, you know, we don't need a full blown skate park in a lot of locations, but just having a little concrete pad -- Siddoway- Yeah. Hoaglun: --with the rails and different things, something small, but something where they could do that, not use the park benches and everything else. That might be an idea for a refresh. It's going to cost a few dollars, you can't do it right away, but just something to look into as -- as you look at an existing park site and go will it -- and, again, space and all these other things and the neighborhood. You know, if it's an older neighborhood not Page 13 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 11 —— a lot of kids, it's not going to get a lot of use, but in that particular area kids are all over that place and the kids playing pickleball surprised me, too, so -- so, just a thought on that, you know, as -- as we look at things for refresh, so -- Siddoway: I appreciate that and we have actually had similar conversations internally already and you will probably remember when Mike Barton came before you to talk about Discovery Park, originally it wasn't a skate park, it was a skate spot and this idea of adding skate spots is one that I think will -- will belong in multiple locations and they do have elements that can be added to parks now that kids want to grind on and it's good if -- it's made to grind on; right? So, I would say, yes, let's keep that on the radar of things to to -- to look for and I would just throw out there another one in that same realm is if we if we can find -- even small areas for off leash dog parks. So many people want off leash dogs and we have some wonderful dog parks at Storey Park and Discovery, but, you know, off leash dog issues continue to exist at all of -- at least the larger parks, like Settlers, Kleiner, those areas that don't have a dog park of their own and so I would like to -- to -- you know, find amenities like that that can be added as well as the skate spots. Hoaglun: That makes sense. Thanks. Simison: And just to touch on -- base on one thing Brad -- or Councilman Hoaglun said. Is the adding the park land from the golf course and issue that if it gets added somehow starts impacting impact fees or is it just -- we don't know if it seems like a good number to include right now? Siddoway: Well, it definitely gets involved with impact fees. Simison: There is two sides of this. There is a practical side of what we want our number to be and an official side. Okay. Okay. Siddoway: Yeah. That would be the reason to check with Legal. Simison: Council, any additional questions for Steve at this time? Bernt: Thanks, Steve. Siddoway: Yeah. Let me just say a final thank you to -- I have only got a few of the staff here. Many others may watch online, but I really just want to put a thank you out to my staff for all their hard work. So, thank you very much. 21. Parks and Recreation Department: Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Amendment in the Amount of $4280.00 for Teen Activity Night Pilot Program Simison: Thank you. Well, let's hear from one of those hard working staff and, then, we will hear from another. So, next item on the agenda is the Parks and Recreation Page 14 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 12—— Department Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Amendment in the amount of 4,280 dollars. Ms. White, I will turn this over to you. White: Thank you, Members of the Council. I am back as I promised that I would be. But first let me say thank you, Luke Cavener, for the kind compliment about Santa Claus -- Zoom was Santa. That was -- while 2020 was very challenging, it certainly gave us an opportunity to stand back and look at things a little bit differently to see kind of where our -- some of our holes were and kind of get back to why we do what we do and so you are going to see a few revisions to maybe some other events coming up, so that's a little bit of forecasting about sharpening our axe and making sure that we are meeting the needs of the community. So, along with that I'm back to talk about the teen night. We have taken out the movie component based on some of the things that you said last time I was here, I just want you to know we have incorporated those, gone back to the drawing board, and what we heard was that you really wanted it to be a pilot program and not impact the movie night as it currently stands. So, we will -- we have changed some of the dates. Movie Night will continue as is, which is 11 nights, June 11th through the 20th, and so it really is all summer long from the time the kids get out of school to the time they go back to school. We had some challenges with finding new releases, so we got to pick some of our staff favorites from -- from the vault. So, we are excited. That's going to be kind of fun. Yeah. We also heard some concerns about moving events indoors, bringing large groups together in -- early in the year. So, we said, okay, since this is a pilot program we can certainly move some of the dates. So, we are looking at the last movie nights of August, so we will run it concurrently with Movie Night, August 6th, 13th, and 20th. We did revise a little bit some of the activities, which we will, you know, always be doing and always be looking at what's going to be interesting to teens, what's going to get them there. So, along with that we added a virtual games component. So, the -- yeah. So, the -- the movie itself is pretty expensive, because of the licensing rights and, then, the AV needs. We looked at some video game type things. This is an Oculus Rift and so virtual video games. So, we are going to add that to the spike ball, pickleball, board games, volleyball, basketball, everything that HomeCourt is capable of doing and, then, we have also added what we think is the -- going to seal the deal to bring all the teenagers. Pizza. What did you say? Cavener: I -- Mr. Mayor? White: Sorry. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I just -- in reading the budget amendment I saw that there was pizza and I -- White: Pizza. Yes. It's pizza. Cavener: All right. Page 15 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 13—— White: Well, that's great that you knew what it was, because that means it's a -- it is the home run, that it's not an oddball activity. So, we have said for the first 50 who show up, because we have no idea how many are going to come, so, it encourages some to come early, get pizza. We have budgeted for -- I think it was 20 large pizzas a night. So, along with that I just want to, then, propose a budget amendment of 4,280 dollars for the teen activities night of 2020, the pilot program. Simison: Thank you, Renee. And thank you for taking the feedback and bringing this forward in this way for us to see how this might work or not. Well, that's the beauty of a pilot; right? White: Yep. Simison: See what the value is. Council, any questions? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Renee, appreciate you coming back. Again, it's a great example of what can we do. I love this. I was a little reluctant when it was initially presented, but I think you put together a strong plan. Can help the Council, though, understand from maybe your perspective or the department's perspective what does success look like? So, after you go do this pilot what are you hoping to achieve to justify doing this -- Bernt: Good question. Cavener: -- moving forward? White: Yeah. Well, I -- you know, I want to see the kids show up. So, you know, I would think 50 to 100 children or young adults. I would want to see them interacting and enjoying themselves. That's -- that is a good question. I just think if they are there. I would love to personally take some pressure off of Movie Night as far as the teen attendance, give them a place where they can socialize, where they can interact. I don't -- I think that's what -- you know, we talked about that the first time I was here, that the community is lacking places where teenagers can just go and hang out and -- and, you know, be safe, do something active and engage each other in a way -- you know, in a safe space. So, that's really what we are hoping to provide. So, you know, really them just coming and attending for me -- and, then, having it be -- you know, having them interact and have a good time. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, follow up if I may. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Page 16 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page ——— Cavener: Renee, recognize the pilot's not going to happen until after all of our budget hearings have been completed, have you and the department talked about budgeting for this in a full time capacity next year? Is that something you guys are contemplating, assuming it goes well? What's -- what's the thought process along that been? White: No, I would love to talk about it. I think our biggest challenge would really be staffing. So, we need to continue to figure out how that would work. Right now we are leaning on some of the Home Court staff that are in place that I will be leaning on my volunteer coordinator, who has -- you know, in her succession planning she has talked about learning some event planning and she certainly is helpful in all of the volunteer things that go on. So, really, we are leaning on current staff for these three nights and so I think long term it would be -- you know, it's a bigger discussion. Cavener: Thank you. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I just want to make sure parks -- from my perspective -- I'm not holding you to a high standard on this, because I think by us asking you to cut back to a pilot project, it's only going to be in August. One, with teens, getting them to start something, sometimes it takes a while to build and, then, it can be wildly successful and I think you guys will do a good job for August, but it doesn't address the problem that you initially came to us to -- to resolve. So, that is going to continue to exist and -- and we still might have some issues. I still would have liked to have seen a -- more of a full summer activity, but we will take the information that we get and try to figure out a way moving forward next year. And to Councilman Cavener's point, you know, having budget funds available to do that would certainly be helpful, but I'm not overly optimistic that we are going to get great information just because of that short duration for that pilot and the problems are going to exist that we are hearing people complain about and that we are trying to resolve and -- and I appreciate you coming up with a plan. So, we are -- that's going to remain and to the detriment I think of Movie Night, but we will see what happens. We will see what happens. White: And I completely agree. I would have rather I have done this earlier in the year, but, you know, there is constrictions with COVID and, you know, it's kind of a moving target at times and so we are -- you know. And I'm a planner, I work in a six, nine months -- year in advance and so it's -- it's -- it's been a challenge, but, you know, you have to step out somewhere and that's why it's a pilot program and you learn a lot from -- from just trying it. So, we are excited. Strader: Mr . Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Page 17 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page ——— Strader: Thank you. Renee. I appreciate -- especially the updated timing. I think this works well. Yeah, I had some hesitation about promoting an indoor event with a population that didn't have an opportunity to be vaccinated, but I think with the Pfizer, you know, vaccine now authorized for 12 and up, that this timing in August actually works beautifully for those that are doing that and I just feel a lot more comfortable now with that August timing. So, I appreciate there is a trade off and the timing and I -- so, I feel for you, but I do think this is the right way to do it. Appreciate that. White: There is no crystal ball and so sometimes we take our best guess about what -- what's going to happen, so -- yeah. I think it's a smart thing to do as well. Simison: Council, any additional comments or questions? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Council Member Perreault is not here. I'm happy to make a motion that we approve the budget amendment in the amount of 4,280 dollars for the Teen Activity Night Pilot Program. Hoaglun: Second the motion, Mr. Mayor. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the budget amendment in the amount of 4,280 dollars. Is there any discussion on the motion? If not, clerk will call the roll. Roll call: Borton, no response; Cavener, yea; Bernt, yea; Perreault, absent; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, yea. Simison: So, Mr. Clerk, I heard four ayes and nothing from Mr. Borton, but he did unmute. Johnson: Correct. That is what I heard. Mr. Borton, can you -- I know he is attempting to get here, so he may -- Simison: Yeah, Mr. Borton, unfortunately, we are not hearing you. It passes and we can note in the record if he would, when he gets here, how he would have voted to be the case. Thank you. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE NO RESPONSE. ONE ABSENT. Simison: Renee, one quick question. With -- with moving forward with Movie Night, how are we doing on sponsorships? Are there any available sponsorships still for any of the movie nights? Renee: Yes. There is several single night sponsorships still available. Page 18 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page ——— Simison: Interesting. Several single night sponsorships still available for this summer time frame. White: Yes. Simison: Interesting. Okay. Thank you. White: Who should I be sending the proposal to? 22. Parks and Recreation Department: Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Amendment in the Amount of $13,360.00 for Homecourt Staffing Request Simison: I think there is several people up here that just heard that. Next up on the agenda is Parks and Recreation Department Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Amendment in the amount of 13,360 dollars for HomeCourt staffing. Mr. White. G.White: Mr. Mayor -- Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, thanks for having me tonight. Like the Mayor just said, I'm here tonight for an amendment of 13,360 dollars for staffing. Quick overview. Everything I am going to go over is basically in the memo that I sent, but a quick overview of this is that we currently have two full-time employees and six part- time employees at HomeCourt and over the past four years we have had a difficult time keeping our part-time staff on. Speaking with Jake this morning -- Jake Garro, our Homecourt facilities manager, we can't come up with the last time we actually had a full staff at HomeCourt, because we are constant turnover there. Over the past four years we have hired 17 different people for these six positions. With that proposal tonight would be to convert two of those part-time -- two of the six part-time staff into one full-time site supervisor to help with -- really just to get more consistent staff on and to keep them more year round. With that, the proposal would cost 13,316 or -- three -- 13,360 dollars for this year. The good news with that is because of all the turnover we have a salary savings this year of just over 42,000 dollars for FY-21. Moving forward, the ongoing cost would be closer to 20 -- 27,000 dollars. Just under that. So, with that I respectfully request that you approve the budget amendment for 13,360 dollars for the HomeCourt staffing and with that I will stand for questions. Simison: Thank you. Council, any questions? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: In Council Woman Perreault's absence I'm happy to make a motion. That seemed pretty straightforward, the need and the request. I move that we approve the fiscal year 2021 budget amendment for Parks and Recreation in the amount of 13,360 dollars for HomeCourt staffing. Page 19 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page " of— Cavener: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve this budget amendment. Is there any discussion? If not, the clerk will call the roll. Roll call: Borton, no response; Cavener, yea; Bernt, yea; Perreault, absent; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, yea. Simison: Okay. All ayes that we know of. Motion passes and the amendment is agreed to. Thank you, Garrett. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE NO RESPONSE. ONE ABSENT. Simison: Next item is our Community Development Transportation Projects Update. See -- there she is. I will turn this over to Miranda. We can't hear you, Miranda. Johnson: Mr. Mayor, I'm checking some settings, see if I can figure this out. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Do you want to switch items and -- and have -- the folks here from VRT are here present, so we probably can hear them just fine -- while we figure out what's going on with those who are -- Simison: The only issues I think this -- Miranda was going to be the one speaking about the topic and they were here to help answer questions if there were any. Bernt: Okay. Johnson: Mr. Mayor, Jared is on his way from the basement. So, any moment he will be on his way up. Simison: Okay. Bernt: Want to recess? Simison: Yeah. Why don't we take a --take a recess for a few minutes until we determine this issue. So, we will say we will recess for five, maybe a few minutes longer. (Recess: 5:19 p.m. to 5:22 p.m.) 23. Community Development: Transportation Projects Update Page 20 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page ——— Simison: All right. Council, we will go ahead and come out of recess and, Miranda, we will continue with Item 23. Carson: All right. Thank you, Council Members, for having me here tonight. So, the first item is the project update. That's the memo that I have sent you -- I believe the last three or possibly four months. It's a brief update of some of the highlights for transportation projects that are happening in the City of Meridian. I won't read the whole report to you, but I do want to touch on a few highlights in that report. So, on page 365 of your packet -- of course, Linder Road overpass and widening Overland to Franklin -- Simison: Miranda, we lost you. Looks like you muted youself accidentally. Carson: I bumped my -- my keyboard. Sorry about that. I will move my keyboard, so I don't do that again. The Linder Road overpass project, of course, we are always working on. This week that was submitted to COMPASS for consideration for a project development grant in the amount of 25,000 dollars just to help with some of the planning for that project. On page 367 of your packet, the Lake Hazel and Eagle signal is at 95 percent design. City staff continues to have concerns with the pathway crossings behind vehicles. I believe we have discussed that with Council before. That's an issue in this project as well. We voiced our concerns to ACHD and we will continue to do so. At this point for that project it doesn't look like it's going to change, but we will continue to voice that as the city stands that we don't support those yet. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Yes, Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Why? Miranda, why aren't they support -- I don't get that. Carson: Why are they doing them or why is staff not comfortable with them yet? Yeah. Bernt: Yeah. I mean why -- why are -- why are they continuing to design these with our disapproval of it? Carson: So, this is the second one that I have -- that comes to mind for me. I could be wrong. There might be another one as well. But when I brought it up to ACHD staff, they said that they are doing as directed and for any changes to happen it will have to happen at an executive level. So, our Transportation Commission did speak to this and they will be bringing forth a letter asking Council to support kind of generally a stance against those until we can have some more data showing if they are safe. So, on page 368 of the packet, the Chinden West Corridor project continues to move forward. The Linder to Locust Grove portion is being worked on right now and there are flaggers out controlling the traffic with a temporary configuration. On page 369. 1 wanted to point out that the Calderwood and Meridian Road intersection will have some interim improvements made to restrict left turns out of Calderwood. That was spurred from the fatal accident that happened a couple months ago. So, we worked with AC -- or we worked with ACHD and Page 21 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 19—— ITD to get some things in place while we wait for the Meridian Road traffic study to be complete and that full reconfiguration to be done in the next few years. On page 370, the 2nd Street, Broadway to Pine, project was also submitted for the same project development grants through COMPASS and I will note that submitting two projects does not rank one lower or lessen the chances that we will get one rather than the other, but we did rank this one as second under the Linder project in our submittal and, lastly, I just wanted to let you all know that the veterans route started on May 3rd. So, that project has kicked off and I'm sure in the next few months you will see some updates in your project update memo that kind of speak to the success of that project as we watch for it to come to full maturity in the next year or two. So, at this time I will stand for any questions on the project update memo. Simison: Thank you, Miranda. And, Council, just one thing -- and I haven't even talked to Miranda about this, but you may or may not be aware that ITD made a decision to not build a CFI down at Eagle and State Highway 44 and so far they have not indicated if this is a system wide change to not building CFls or an individual situation, but I -- I know that this has impacts on Chinden, especially for --for our property owners and our businesses that are located in that area and that's something we probably need to put down in a letter to ITD in order to help figure out where they are going on this issue. But with that, Council, any questions from Miranda? 24. Community Development: Valley Regional Transit FY2022 Update Simison: Okay. All right. Miranda, we will move you on to the next item, Item 24, which is the Community Development Valley Regional Transit FY-22 update. Carson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, Valley Regional Transit, I was asked to come and speak to you all regarding the delays to the new service, as well as the FY-22 kind of anticipated budget amount. So, to speak to that new service first -- again, I won't read your whole memo to you. To use Steve's words -- the fat's in there, so I will just give you some of the trimming. So, VRT started working with us on this project in 2019. The city did contribute funds already in the amount of just over 367,000 dollars to some of the capital needs for that project to get that moving forward. With COVID and discussion about a decline in demand for transit services nationally, not just in our area, that launch was postponed. We didn't want to launch a service that wasn't going to be used. We really like to see any transit service come to full maturity in the first couple of years. So, we postponed that launch until October of 2021. So, our next steps will be -- VRT will be finishing the remainder of those bus stops and the final passenger amenities and beginning the outreach and promotion for that October launch. The FY-22 budget request does include that new route. So, you will see in the table there of the FY-22 budget request that is an estimated amount. VRT is still going through their budget cycle, as are we, so they will have a more updated number, but they don't expect it to change very much for our budget cycle at the end of May. The baseline request, which was for services incurred, came to around 718,000. That was about where I had expected it to be based on inflation and the new route running for 12 months, as well as adding that VA pilot program, trying to estimate what that cost might be. VRT did go out to look for some of Page 22 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 20—— those one time federal funds that are available right now through CARES and CRRSAA and that brought the request down to just around 600,595. There was some questions from Council Members for Stephen Hunt to ask him to bring forward some supplemental information. So, before we take questions I would like to hand it over to him, if that's okay with Council, to have him present some supplemental information and, then, he and I can both stand for questions together. Simison: Okay. Stephen, if you would like to come forward. And if you can state your name and address for the record. Hunt: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council. My name is Stephen Hunt, I'm development director of Valley Regional Transit. My address is 4160 Stafford, Boise, Idaho. So, the handout that was e-mailed to you today just had a couple of quick points -- or kind of four sections that I wanted to speak to. The first talks about fixed route services and, then, we go into specialized services, what those are. We also wanted to provide a little bit of an update on what -- how -- how local funds are leveraged and used with other funds and, then, we wanted to also give an update on where ridership has been post COVID and what some initial projections could be on what the new route --we would expect to see on the new route. So, page one of the -- of the handout is just a map to go along with the descriptions that were provided by staff. This shows routes 40 and 42. Those both continue to Nampa and connect with Boise. It also shows the route 30 going from Ten Mile through downtown and out to Kleiner Park. We are currently working with Meridian Dairy Days to get a presence out at the parade, because we are trying to -- as we ramp up to October make sure that people are aware of the changes, so we want to -- over the summer and into the fall work with both city staff and -- and developers, both on the residential and employment side, as we prepare to roll out that service, make sure that people are aware of that, because it will connect -- a lot of the major employment centers in Meridian, Scentsy, Blue Cross, all the businesses out at Ten Mile and at Kleiner Park. So, that -- that's in progress right now as we finalize our marketing plans for the new service. On page two we begin to outline the specialized services that are -- that are referenced in -- against staff memo. There are three there that we are proposing to continue in 2022. Harvest Transit, which was a popular service going into COVID, was experiencing a lot of growth. Provides free transportation to seniors and persons with disability in Meridian Monday through Saturday. Rides To Wellness is a program that provides important connections to -- to medical visits, to participating clinics and those -- that's supported not just by the City of Meridian, but also by those medical facilities. And, then, we did just start, as was mentioned, the Meridan Veteran's Shuttle and that interest is growing. We did get a positive response from our first rider. Again, that just started on -- on May 3rd. So, the next section is talking about how local dollars are leveraged. There are two tables in that section. One shows what our total budget is, what the different revenue streams are, whether those are federal, directly generated, or requests from local jurisdictions. That -- to show the total budget that we have, the 595,000 dollar request from the City of Meridian is part of that ten million that we receive in local -- local revenues and eight million that we receive in -- in local jurisdiction requests. On page -- table two -- or three -- no. It really is table two. It has the breakdown of all of the different local revenue sources and the jurisdictions that we are requesting from. So, just to give a Page 23 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 21 —24 sense of-- of where Meridian falls among the other contributors, it's important to note that on services like routes 40 and 42, Meridian contributes to that, as does Ada county, Canyon county, Nampa and Caldwell. So, each of those -- each of those contributions go to make the full service work. In total there is -- if we look at the federal funds that are provided to -- that match, so to speak, the City of Meridian dollars, it's about 50/50. There is a little -- little bit more federal funds to match those 500 and -- roughly 600,000 dollars from the City of Meridian come again in federal funds. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Stephen, before you move on, I was just curious, I cannot remember -- if you could break down for me the special assessment. We are showing 170,000 and I got general and service contribution, capital contribution, but I can't remember how that figure comes about, what it's used for, if you wouldn't mind -- Hunt: Yes. Councilman Hoaglun, the 170,000 dollars in special assessment, those -- the general category a special assessment would be any program -- this that VRT works on with a consultant -- with a funding partner to fund a particular program. So, this is the Harvest Transit contribution and the -- and the Rides To Wellness Program. Hoaglun: Does it also include the -- Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilan Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Does it also include the veteran's shuttle as well? Hunt: Yes. Hoaglun: Okay. Great. Thank you. Hunt: Yes. The last section that I wanted to speak to is about ridership. Just wanted to provide an update on what the impact of COVID has been on -- particularly on the services in Meridian. COVID was and remains a dynamic situation for us, so I just took two different quarterly snapshots, one before COVID hit and, then, one at this most recent quarter, the closest first quarter of 2021, which is, obviously, hopefully, on the way out of COVID, but we are still in the depths of seeing the impacts on ridership. So, going into the COVID crisis we were seeing growth on both routes 40 and 42 and on Harvest Transit, but -- so, I was mentioning earlier that it was a popular and growing service. If we fast forward a year we -- systemwide we see about a 31 percent decline in fixed route ridership, but that is not consistent among the different types of services. So, route 40 is a peak only service that's intended to get people to work in downtown Boise and you will see that one took the lion's share of the reduction -- not the reduction, but the drop in ridership, the work drop in demand, so that was down 75 percent compared to 31 percent systemwide. Route 42, which runs all day, is also down, but down significantly less than Page 24 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page 22—— the route 40. So, to be expected in terms of the impacts that COVID has had on people going to work, we see -- we see that in typically commute oriented services right now are having a larger decline in demand than -- than all day services. But you will see that the decline was across the board, including on the specialized services, Harvest Transit and Rides To Wellness also saw a decline comparing first quarter '21 to first quarter of 2020. So, next just wanted to get out our crystal ball a little bit trying to set some -- at least some parameters to what we are expecting with the rollout of the new service -- the 30 Pine route. We, as mentioned, expect services to mature over a period of time, 12 to 24 months, gives time for riders to change their -- their travel patterns and be aware of the service. So, we expect that in 24 months we would see more maturity on that route. We also recognize that there is a connection opportunity on the east end, meaning the route stops at The Village. We have been working both with Meridian staff, as well as city of Boise staff about potentially connecting that. That's a common request that we get about connections between the Town Square Mall and Kleiner Park or just the West Bench of Boise -- the west side of Boise and into Meridian. So, those conversations will continue. We expect that should that connection be made we would see additional ridership use out of that service, but the last table on here, which, I apologize, isn't numbered, shows a slow growth -- a slow start to the service. Really depends on what's happening with -- with employment at that point, whether people are returning to the office immediately. So, we are expecting, again, kind of a slow start in 2022, but by the end of 2022, having about 900 riders per quarter, by-- by a full year into -- sorry--two years into the program, having over 3,500 riders per quarter and this last column, connected and mature, meaning it's had the time to --to attract riders and we are able to connect it to services on both ends, both the 40s to Nampa and also potentially connecting it to Meridian -- or to Boise, we would see additional ridership come from that. But we know growth is happening. We are excited about the development that's happening both down -- down -- downtown Meridian and The Nodes at Ten Mile and at Kleiner Park. The Bri is an interesting development about the opportunities there to connect to more -- older adults and we see the importance of the service, but we do expect it will take a little while for ridership to grow and with that I would stand for any questions with Miranda. Simison: Thank you. Steve, one of the things -- questions, you mentioned connection to the east, but when I was looking at it today -- and I think it goes -- because I got an e-mail from someone today. Is there a reason why we opted not to connected up to the park and ride that would connect it to routes 40 and 42 as well? Has that been contemplated? Is that a reason why we said, no, don't do that. Just out of curiosity. Hunt: Yes. Mr. Mayor, the connection to the routes that you would have at the park and ride happen also on Ten Mile. There are steps -- there is an opportunity -- there will be an opportunity to make that connection at Ten Mile without going out over the freeway to the park and ride and that allows us to make that connection all the way up to Kleiner Park, without adding more time to the schedule. Simison: So, there is a connection that can occur there at the end, essentially? Hunt: Yes. Page 25 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page—of— Simison: Okay. Thank you. Council, other questions? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you, Stephen. When you are, you know, doing your research about new routes to add and how to potentially expand the service in the future, is there any way that you are checking about express routes or ways that people can have a time advantage in terms of potentially getting to Boise or down into downtown Meridian from Boise? Is that a factor in how you are pulling people or testing demand for that? Hunt: Mr. Mayor, Council Member Strader, the -- what you are talking about is speed versus access. So, the more often you stop, the more opportunities people have to get on and off the bus, but the more often you stop the slower it is and we have a combination of services in Meridian right now, so route 40 does an express routing and so it gets -- it serves Meridian on Overland and gets on the freeway and goes all the way downtown nonstop from Eagle Road to downtown. The --what's been missing in Meridian has been a more local circulation, something that serves internal to Meridian and that's what we are trying to do with this route 30, because in the end you need -- you need both types of services. You need something that connects you kind of to those more distant destinations quickly. You also need something that connects you to your more local destinations and roads -- you talk about like freeways versus collectors, you need them both to do a full transportation system. Strader: Thank you. Simison: Council, any additional questions? Okay. You will see this at the budget conversation. So, thank you, Stephen. Carson: Thank you, Council. Simison: Council, the last item was removed from our agenda, so we have reached the last element. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. \Bernt: I move that we adjourn. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. We are adjourned. Page 26 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. May 11,2021 Page——— MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE NO RESPONSE. ONE ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:43 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK Page 27