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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-10-26 Work Session MinutesMeridian City Council Work Session October 26, 2021. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, October 26, 2021, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Jessica Perreault, Brad Hoaglun and Liz Strader. Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Steve Siddoway, Keith Watts, Berle Stokes, 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 the meeting to order. For the record it is October 26, 2021, at 4:30 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's City Council work session with roll call attendance. /_110129 [a]► [*] alw 4 ki I B711 Simison: Next item is the adoption of the agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: There is a change to the adoption -- or to the agenda this evening. We are going to -- we are going to add -- Item 12 was added due to pending 11/3 meeting cancellation. So, with that I make a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Hoaglun: Second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as amended. Is there discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item 1. Approve Minutes of the October 12, 2021 City Council Work Session 2. Approve Minutes of the October 12, 2021 City Council Regular Meeting Page 7 Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 2 of 12 3. J.L Towne Cherry Blossom Place Partial Release of Utility and Drainage Easement 4. TM Creek Subdivision No. 5 Pedestrian Pathway Easement No. 2 5. TM Creek Subdivision No. 5 Pedestrian Pathway Easement No. 1 6. TM Creek Subdivision No. 5 Pedestrian Pathway Easement No. 3 7. Final Order for Pura Vida Ridge Ranch No. 1 (FP-2021-0043) by B & A Engineers, Inc., Located at 3727 E. Lake Hazel Rd. 8. Development Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Maureen Miller and Richard Price (Owners) and Michael Miller, HomeFound Group (Developer) for Ambles Run Subdivision (H-2020-0124) Located on Lot 26, Block 1 of the County Dunwoody Subdivision, Approximately 1/4 mile East of N. Locust Grove Rd. and 1/2 mile South of Chinden Blvd. 9. Agreement Between Ada County Emergency Medical Services District and City of Meridian as an American Heart Association Training Site 10. Agreement Between the City of Meridian and the Idaho Humane Society for Extension of Term of Fiscal Year 2021 Animal Welfare and Enforcement Agreement Through December 31, 2021 11. Donation Agreement Between City of Meridian and Together Treasure Valley to Support a New Cornhole Amenity in Settler's Park 13. Resolution No. 21-2295: A Resolution of the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Meridian, Reappointing John Nesmith to Seat 5 and Spencer Martin to Seat 6 of the Meridian Impact Fee Advisory Committee; and Providing an Effective Date 14. Preliminary City of Meridian Financial Report - September 2021 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. Borton: Can we pull 12 to a discussion item? Page 8 Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 3 of 12 Bernt: Pull 12? Okay. I was just going to have that done during the discussion. Okay. So -- Simison: I don't have a second, so motion -- Borton: Second the motion. Simison: Okay. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? Borton: If the motion maker would be willing to pull Item 12 for a brief comment from Keith Watts. Bernt: Yes. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? And this is in relation to Item 12? Borton: Correct. Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you. Bernt: Does our motion maker amend their motion to approve item -- approve the Consent Agenda, but remove Item 12? Bernt: Yes. Simison: Does second agree? Borton: Yes. Bernt: That was a long process to get that done. Simison: Yes. Exactly. So, I have a motion and a second approve the Consent Agenda with the removal of Item 12. Is there a discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. The Consent Agenda is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 12. Approval of Purchase Order 22-0104 to Hughes Fire Equipment for three (3) new Fire Engines for the Not -To -Exceed amount of $2,059,641.99 Simison: Item 12 was pulled from the Consent Agenda, so Item 12 sits before you. Council, do I have a motion or discussion on Item 12? Page 9 Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 4 of 12 Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Keith Watts is here. I would love to hear just a quick snapshot outlining what it is in light of discussions that have been going around. Couldn't hurt. You're here. You're the pro and -- Watts: Sure. Thank you, Councilman Borton, Mr. Mayor, Council Members. So, the reason this was added, of course, was because next week's Consent Agenda is a possible cancellation. We have gone through the process for the last -- many years, I guess -- well, three or four fire engines that we purchased we purchased off of this HDAC cooperative contract that's been competitively bid. The fire truck quote was due to expire at the end of this month and the process that we get is once the requester has me start the procurement process, then, we actually get a quote from the manufacturer for the vehicles. We, then, send it into the governing body of the cooperative contract. They double check it against the contract to make sure that everything is correct and the pricing and the terms are per the agreement that was officially bid and awarded. That took a little longer than expected. Actually, the last two trips that we have ordered have taken quite a while for them to get back to us, because I assume they are busy as well. But they just got back to us a couple of days ago confirming that everything was approved and per the contract and that's at the point when we actually print the PO and put it on the agenda. I tend not to do that until I have confirmation of the correct pricing. That's the urgency of getting this -- I actually got them to extend it one week through next week, but, then, when I heard the agenda was possibly cancelled, I didn't want to risk the value of those trucks going up, because like every manufacturer every week they have increases and they could not hold their price past next week and that's why -- that's the urgency for coming to you today. Simison: Council, are there questions or comments? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Mind hearing from chief or someone in the department -- about these replacements or they are -- I think they are for the new fire stations and -- Watts: And I can let you know -- I know one of them is a replacement. There is one replacement and one for Station 7 and one for Station 8, just for clarification, and the replacement was scheduled. Hoaglun: And, Mr. Mayor, follow up. Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 5 of 12 Hoaglun: And the time frame to get these trucks is quite far out; correct? Watts: Correct. It's 12 months to 18 months. We are -- we are hearing longer and longer lead times every week. It's -- as you can imagine, the pandemic has really put a bind on the supply chain. We have products that are just getting cancelled with no delivery dates. That's -- that's pending. So, getting on the schedule and getting them actually in the queue is critical. Hoaglun: Thank you. Borton: That's a good question, Mr. Mayor. Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Along with that are the prices that were set with the PO -- are they locked? Watts: Correct. They are. So, that's -- the reason for getting it is we -- if it takes longer to deliver that's on them. We are locked into our price today. Simison: Council, any further questions or comments? Or a motion? Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we approve Purchase Order 22-0104 to Hughes Fire Equipment for three new fire engines for the not to exceed amount of $2,059,641.99. Perreault: Second. Hoaglun: Second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second. Is there discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it and the item is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 15. Parks and Recreation Department: Fiscal Year 2022 Net -Zero Budget Amendment in the Amount of $9500.00 for Together Treasure Valley Grant for Cornhole Boards at Settlers Park Simison: Next up is Item 15 Under Department/Commission Reports, which is Parks and Recreation Department fiscal year 2022 net zero budget amendment in the amount of 9,500 dollars. Turn this over to Director Siddoway. Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 6 of 12 Siddoway: Thank you, Mayor, Members of the Council. This is a net zero budget amendment to add a grant into our budget. Earlier this summer we had the opportunity to apply for a grant from Together Treasure Valley and several -- four months went by, we thought they must have selected something else, but we were just recently notified that they liked the idea of adding cornhole boards into Settlers Park, which is what we had requested the grant for. They are heavy concrete -- smooth concrete cornhole boards. We would like to add them into where we have our currently underutilized horseshoe courts. There are grass strips in between each of those and we would simply add them to one of those pods. So, they wanted to make an announcement of award recipients later this week and I didn't want to attend that without coming to you first. So, appreciate the quick reviews by Legal by Jessica, Mayor, Finance to get this on tonight. Lots -- lots more details were in the memo that I sent, so I think I will just stand for any questions. Simison: Council, any questions? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: When can we expect the first Meridian cornhole tournament to take place? Siddoway: They are already happening. We started cornhole leagues during COVID last year and we have got a -- we have got a tournament -- I will just put in a plug -- coming up at the -- the HomeCourt using for cornhole -- it's one that benefits the -- the Christmas gifts that we buy for children in the community and we actually have -- it's both volleyball and cornhole as two separate tournaments that benefit the same thing. Our list of -- of cornhole -- or, sorry, the volleyball side is bigger than it has been in the past and we are still looking for cornhole players, but out here, specifically in the park, you know, we will get these installed next spring and have them open next summer. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: First I would just like to say thank you to the Parks and Rec staff for just, you know, researching the different opportunities and to have a grant come to us is fantastic. I know you all keep your ear to the ground about different ways that we can make these small improvements and they all add up over time and so appreciate the staff's attentive -- attentiveness to these kind of opportunities and, then, although Together Treasure Valley isn't here, we really appreciate that they were -- that they approved the grant request from Meridian. So, thank you for -- for doing that. Siddoway: Thank you. And if I -- you know, assuming this is moving towards approval, when I see -- if I see -- I'm planning to see them on Thursday. When I do I will pass that on. Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 7 of 12 Perreault: Thank you very much. Simison: Council, any further questions or comments? Or a motion? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I move that we approve the fiscal year 2022 -- a net zero budget amendment in the amount of 9,500 dollars for Together Treasure Valley grant for cornhole boards at Settlers Park. Cavener: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 15. Is there any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Roll call: Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Bernt, yea; Perreault, yea; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carried and the item is agreed to. kTA1009IM 01[N_1VV121OW-11I W-IVd26"] Siddoway: Thank you. 16. Valley Regional Transit (VRT) Presentation on Transit Development Plan (TDP) and Service Update Simison: Thank you, Steve. Next item on the agenda is Valley Regional Transit presentation on transit development plan and services update. I will turn it over to Stephen. Hunt: Good evening, Members of the Council. Glad to be here. Stephen Hunt with Valley Regional Transit. Development director. So, tonight's presentation is in follow up to the 2022 budget development process and in an effort to be in front of the Meridian Council more often, keep you informed about plans for and the performance of transit services in Meridian. There will be two things on the presentation tonight just talking about the development timeline for the transportation development plan and how that's integrated with the streamlined FY-23 budget development process. We will also review the most recent service -- or performance for services and -- and an update on the Route 30. So, the -- the Valley Regional Transit Board of Directors approved the FY-23 to '27 transportation development plan and FY-23 budget development calendar at their October meeting and the slide here, as well as what was in your packet includes a brief outline of what that development calendar looks like by quarter. The calendar directs the VRT staff to review the projects that are in -- that are coming up in future years and Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 8 of 12 facilitate that -- a discussion about investment priorities with the -- with our stakeholders, with the regional transit team, the Regional Advisory Council and the VRT executive board will be presenting what the current priorities are with the board next month in the November meeting and we will be preparing a recommendation for what prioritization should be further considered -- consideration in the January meeting. As part of that process we will be meeting with members of each of our different jurisdictions, their stakeholders, and getting input on both near term and long term investment priorities and we will consider how those will impact each of those different jurisdictions and service investments, capital investments, and investments in specialized services as well. So, for Meridian the TDP would address service and capital needs for both specialized services, like Harvest Transit, the -- the VA shuttle and Rides To Wellness. It also would look at continuing and enhancing services, such as the Route 40 to 42 and the 30. It would also look at potential connections to other communities. There is interest both to the north and to the south. Kuna is looking at connections, as well as Eagle and Highway 44 communities about how they can have better connections into the employment and other opportunities here in Meridian. So, the TDP would be looking at -- look at all those types of -- of opportunities. Any questions about that so far? Because I'm going to go on to just the performance review. Perfect. So, as stated in the -- in the memo, if we look at September performance, September is up 14 percent over August, which is a positive trend. We see that kind of growth often when -- as we go into the fall. It's good to see that ticking back up in light of the experience we have been having with COVID. Twenty- three percent increase on Routes 40 and 42 and so those are outpacing the -- the overall growth. That's in part because they fell so far. So, Route 40 is a -- is a commute express service into town -- into downtown Boise, serving Nampa, Caldwell, and Meridian and that ridership fell off dramatically during COVID by as much as 75 percent. So, we are starting to see that come back up. It's growing faster -- it's recovering a little bit faster than the overall, but that's because it had farther to come back up. In September we had 3,200 boardings on Routes 40 and 42, with about 20 percent of those coming from the stops here in Meridian. Bernt: Mr. Mayor. Sorry. What's route number 42? Hunt: Route 42 -- let me jump back to this map here. Is -- is a route that -- it also serves Nampa, Meridian, and Boise. It makes more local connections here in Meridian. It comes down Franklin to Ten mile, Ten Mile to Overland and, then, Overland all the way down to Maple Grove to Town Square Mall and so make stops largely along Overland through -- through Meridian. And that one actually has maintained its ridership better than the 40. It's a little bit more like the other services in -- in the network, providing all day connections. It dropped about 20 -- or 30 percent, whereas the -- the Route 40 dropped as much as -- as I said 75 percent initially with -- with COVID. But it's good to start to see those -- those things come back. Harvest Transit in the month of September had over 900 boardings and the VA shuttle, which continues to -- that was the service we started just this past year and it's been slowly growing in terms of ridership. We -- we pay only for the services that are provided, so that's an important note with that one, is that even though we only had 14 boardings in the month of September, each one of those were important trips and those are the trips that we pay for. So, the other takeaway that I wanted to bring out is Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 9 of 12 when we talked about delaying the launch of the Route 30, it was in light of the delta variant coming and the impact that that had on ridership. As you can see on the chart to the right here we haven't seen a strong recovery in ridership as yet, but we do -- we are hopeful that this trend in September will continue to go up as we go into the fall and we should start to see us climb back out of the impacts of COVID. On the year in terms of the Routes 40 and 42 in Meridian, we are down about 40 percent compared to where we were in 2020. And that is my report and I would be happy to stand for any questions. Simison: Thank you. Council, any questions? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: A couple of comments and maybe a couple of questions. So, first, Stephen, thanks for the memo. I think that that helps and I appreciate that you are going to be coming more frequently and I think you are going to refine the memo to start answering some of the bigger questions I think will make this presentation conversation a little more efficient and I appreciate you being here today. So, you touched on the 30 Pine. At this point is it a case of that VRT is going to continue to evaluate and, then, say, okay, 90 days from now we are going to start the route? I know that the -- the target launch date has been -- naturally become a little bit of a moving target. Just help us understand what will be the decision point for when VRT will make the decision to launch 30 Pine and how much notice will the Council and the public be given before that route will begin? Hunt: Thank you, Councilman Cavener, Mr. Mayor. The -- as -- when we delayed that service it was, again, in light of the unknowns of COVID -- of the delta variant of COVID and not knowing where we are going into the fall. We talked about not wanting to start that service when ridership was continuing to decline. So, what we are happy to see is if -- we think we are at the bottom now and starting to climb back out in terms of our ridership. We had -- we had discussed potentially getting to the target of 90 percent of pre-COVID ridership as -- as a -- as a good marker for when we could restart the 30. Looking at the charts that were here on the -- on the screen that might be a hard -- that might be a high target. If we see consistent ridership growth month over month I think we will revisit that -- that assumption, but our goal was to make sure that we are launching the service at a time when we see ridership growth and not put it in -- not launch it at the same time we are seeing ridership continue to decline; right? As far as the amount of time that we need to -- to do that, three months is -- is a good window between the time that we decide and when we would launch, but we are trying to be as responsive as we can and one of the reasons that we want to come back to the Meridian Council as frequently is just to make sure that you are all stay -- stay aware of where we are and we will be taking those conversations to the -- to the VRT executive board as well as to when we would relaunch that service. Last time we spoke we didn't anticipate launching before January. I don't see that changing. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, one more. Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 10 of 12 Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Stephen, just maybe -- back to the conversation with the memo, maybe just a couple of requests as you are kind of refining your process. I appreciate in your presentation you showed -- it looks like a monthly breakdown of Harvest. I think your memo is a quarterly. It would be really great to know kind of this is where we are this quarter versus where we were last quarter versus where we were last year. So, if that's not too much work incorporating that in your memo before each time you come before us, it helps me kind of understand what programs are being successful, which ones we might want to take another look at. So, as much information that you are comfortable throwing at us I think it would be appreciated. Hunt: We can do that. Cavener: Thanks. Simison: Council, any additional questions for Stephen? Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: I have got one, because you are here, and maybe it's one to noodle on, but when we look at the matrix you are showing, is it important or valuable to us to see something like the ratio of revenue per rider in relation to the total cost of that route or -- or just the rider matrix. Something that we could use to gauge that this route is successful. Understanding it doesn't cover the cost. I get that. But if it's -- if the sweet spot is five percent or seven percent or whatever it is, that -- or certain ridership above which this is a successful route and below which at some point there is routes that should be canceled, we have -- do we have that benchmark established from Meridian that you think would be valuable to us to know whether a route is successful or unsuccessful? Hunt: Council Member Borton, Mr. Mayor, the -- we typically try and set standards that are maybe the entire route and we would talk about performance in boardings per hour is usually the -- the matrix that we are talking about. That has a component of input, right, so the -- the amount that you are putting into the service is the hourly service and what you are getting out of it is the number of boardings. You -- and one reason that we typically use that, as opposed to a cost factor, is because our costs -- when we square up all the costs over the year usually we get a good number, essentially, like once a year, so you can get that on a more infrequent basis in terms of a cost per rider. Usually what we use to track our performance is boardings per hour on the route level. So, we can certainly come back and report on what the performance of the Route 40 and 42 and 30 are on a -- on a boardings per hour ratio on a frequent basis, with some -- some conversation about cost per boarding I think is the matrix that you were trying to get at earlier. What's the -- what's the cost per -- per boarding on a -- on an annual basis when we have all those financials complete. Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 11 of 12 Borton: Mr. Mayor, if I can -- Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Not -- if you think that's not a valuable matrix I would want you to say, no, that's -- you are looking at the wrong thing, because that doesn't provide you valuable information. Here is why. But, conversely, if you think that -- something like that is helpful to determine -- I don't know when a route is no longer successful versus successful -- unsuccessful. If -- if that's the type of -- kind of line in the sand that would be helpful. Great. If you think it's not, then, you can -- we can talk offline, too, to help me understand here is why that's not the matrix you should be looking at, but you should be looking at something else. Money seems to need to tie into it somewhere. So, I just don't know how to gauge that yet. Hunt: Yeah. Councilman Borton, I would say it's -- it's perfectly appropriate to talk about cost per boarding. The frequency of that reporting might be less than being able to report on say cost per -- or boardings per hour. So, used together I think that would get you at the end. Those are both, like I say, good matrix. The kind of industry standard would be boardings per hour and, then, you -- whenever your financials are complete you can be able to report on what the cost per boarding are. It's hard to dig super deep on that, because your costs don't necessarily vary -- well, generally speaking you could say what's the cost per boarding over the system. It's harder to get it cost per boarding necessarily for individual routes. Sometimes you -- the way to get at that is just relatively speaking what's the cost -- or what's the boardings per hour of a route. What does the system cost per boarding, if that makes sense. Borton: Yes. You have that. Hunt: We can get -- we can provide that. Borton: And the last question on that point -- Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Are other cities that are utilizing these services asking a similar question or -- if there is another city who utilizes some matrix to determine successful or unsuccessful, I wouldn't want to reinvent the wheel. Hunt: Councilman Borton, yes, our other jurisdictions are asking very similar questions and our responses help -- tend to be consistently back to them, which is the -- the challenge that VRT has is we connect communities. Jurisdictions tend to talk about resources within those communities and a lot of the time us trying to meet exactly the way a jurisdiction wants to see those -- those costs broken out works at exactly the opposite purpose of what we are trying to do, which is connect them to other communities. So, we try to show those costs in terms of like what's the whole route cost? What's the system costs. And, then, we can talk about your share of it. It gets tricky when we drill down to Meridian City Council Work Session Item #2. October 26, 2021 Page 12 of 12 say what's Meridian's share of -- like if you were to say what is Meridian paying per boarding on those routes in Meridian, that's where it gets a little bit more difficult to tease out. Borton: Thank you. Simison: Council, any additional questions? All right. Thank you very much. Hunt: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council. Simison: Council, we have reached the end of our work session agenda. Do I have a motion? Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we adjourn. Simison: I have a motion to adjourn the meeting. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. We are adjourned. uIs] 19I L[N_1VV12193I_1IW-IVd26"] MEETING ADJOURNED AT 4:56 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK 11-09-2021 DATE APPROVED