Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-12-14 Work Session Item#1. Meridian City Council December 14, 2021. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, December 14, 2021, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, and Brad Hoaglun. Members Absent: Jessica Perreault and Liz Strader. Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Shawn Harper, 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 the meeting to order. For the record it is December 14th, 2021, at 4:30 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's City Council work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item is adoption the agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we adopt -- no. Kidding. We have some issues -- some changes with the agenda this evening. I spoke too soon. Item No. 8 from the Consent needs to be pulled. Do I need to state why? Okay. So, Bill Nary has -- oh. Item No. 12 is to be tentatively scheduled for -- pulled from the agenda and rescheduled for January 18th, 2022, and -- do we need to talk about the details, Bill? Bill will be available if we need to talk more about that. But other than that, with those changes, I move that we adopt the agenda as amended. Hoaglun: Second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as amended. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it and the changes to the agenda are adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. Page 5 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 2 of 14 CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the November 30, 2021 City Council Special Meeting 2. Holiday Inn Express Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement 3. Holiday Inn Express Water Main Easement 4. Skybreak Subdivision No. 1 Emergency Access Easement Agreement 5. TM Creek Apartments Private Road Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No.1 6. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Fast Eddy's at Eagle (H-2021- 0068) by Steve Eddy, Located at 3775 N. Eagle Rd. 7. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Denial of Regency at River Valley Phase 3 (H-2021-0059) by Bach Homes, Located at 3270 and 3280 E. River Valley St. and 2480 N. Eagle Rd. 9. Resolution No. 21-2299: A Resolution by the Mayor and the Council of the City of Meridian, Idaho, to Provide for an Intergovernmental Agreement for roles and Responsibilities Under Idaho Code Section 50-2906(3)(B) Between Ada County, Idaho and the City of Meridian, Idaho; Providing for Areas Outside the City Limits to be Included Within an Urban Renewal Area; and Providing an Effective Date 10. Resolution No. 21-2301: A Resolution of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Meridian to Amend the Future Land Use Map of the 2019 Comprehensive Plan for 3.5 Acres Known as Intermountain Wood Products, Generally Located at 255 and 335 South Locust Grove Road and 1.32 Acres Located at 381 and 385 s. Locust grove road in the Northeast '/4 of the Northeast '/4 of Section 18, Township 3 North, Range 1 East, Meridian, Idaho; and Providing an Effective Date Simison: Next time up is the Consent Agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor, other than Item 8 that was struck from the -- earlier, 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 with Item 8 removed, as earlier done. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying Page 6 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 3 of 14 aye? Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the amended agenda is adopted -- or is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There are no items removed from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 11. Mayor's Office: Meridian Youth Advisory Council Quarterly Activity Update Simison: So, we will move on to Item 11, which is the Mayor's Office MYAC quarterly activity update. Ask Sahand to come forward for the introduction. Rahbar: Mr. Mayor, City Council Members, good afternoon. It is my honor and privilege to introduce two members of the MYAC Executive Council. We are here to provide a highlight reel of some of the activities that MYAC has been up to over these past few months. We have with us tonight Jacob Madsen, a junior from Renaissance High School, who currently serves as the chair of community service for MYAC. We also have with us James Leckie, a sophomore at Kuna High School, who serves as our communications coordinator. Come on up. Simison: And, gentlemen, if you want to just recognize yourself so they know who is speaking. Leckie: I'm James. Thank you for having us. Madsen: And I'm Jacob. Good evening. So, just to begin, we recently had the City Council candidate forum back in the week that was the middle of October and during that the public got to come in and ask questions to all of the City Council candidates and as far as I'm aware, considering that I could only participate in part of the event, it went pretty well. And, then, next up we had our annual trunk or treat, which we also participated in on October 21 st and what we did is fishing for votes. Kids would come up and they would toss a line over and get candy from that and at the same time we would hand out flyers to adults regarding registering to vote and voting and such. Also we participated in Rake Up Meridian. We went to three different houses and managed to rake up approximately 50 or so bags of leaves from each of those houses and got a pretty good attendance from that regarding just the amount of people who showed up for the service projects. Leckie: So, our next event was a holiday helpers event and this was actually a pretty big event for MYAC. It was over three days. The first day we went to the Meridian library and we made decorations and, then, the second day we went to the actual building and set up those decorations and prepared for premier night. And, then, on the premier we Page 7 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 4 of 14 packed -- or hygiene boxes for the event. And, then, our next event was on October 26. We volunteered at the Idaho Botanical Garden and we ran various stations throughout the garden, greeting guests and assisting them along the path throughout the lights. Madsen: Just a really quick change. I meant to say November 26, but -- Leckie: Oh. Sorry. Madsen: Totally fine. Okay. And, then, we also last Sunday to the Interfaith Food -- or Interfaith Drive-Through Food Drive where we helped take in donations from the community and sorted them and MYAC members all participated in getting all of that food ready for the Food Bank. Okay. So, recently on Monday we had our holiday party December 13th and we organized activities with the rest of the general MYAC council, such as a white elephant and general trivia, et cetera, just some fun things to get everybody in MYAC to know each other, to get to know each other better and to get more interaction between the Executive Council and the General Council for the Meridian Youth Advisory Council. Leckie: And, then, one other thing that's not in the presentation, but we have actually had four General Council meetings since the last time we presented to the Council on December 6th, November 8th, October 25th, and October 11th and we had guest speakers about project management, stopping out drama. We heard from the Mayor about local government, which was really cool, and we had another speaker talking about time management and we are going to have sort of a break for the holidays, but our next General Council meeting will be on January 31 st and, then, here are some goals MYAC has moving forward. First is increasing membership, especially before COVID we had a really strong membership and since COVID it's sort of dwindled. Now we are receiving about 30 round numbers every meeting, so that's one of our main goals is to increase involvement and, then, our second goal is to improve meeting organization. So, one thing we have noticed is with General Council meetings we are a little under time and Executive Council meetings we are actually going a little over time and so that's something we want to improve efficiency moving forward is possibly switching the times of those meetings or switching how that is and, then, our third goal is to improve coordination with General Council. So, we want to receive more input from the General Council about events that they are interested in or ideas or things like that, instead of just Executive Council essentially planning those things. Madsen: Okay. And some of our upcoming events. So, sometime in January, probably at the January 31 st General Council meeting we are going to do a bring a friend contest and this will probably continue on for the next -- or I mean the following month or so and people who bring friends and such will possibly receive prizes or some other recognition in some other way to get the MYAC numbers back up. We are also planning on doing a mock city planning session, I believe with ICCU, as well in January, if not a little later regarding that -- I'm actually not sure on all the details on that to be a hundred percent honest. I am not working on that directly. Do you know anything on that? Page 8 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 5 of 14 Leckie: So, it's -- or our government affairs that's pointing out, but we are going to have an event where we like essentially have a mock sort of city planning thing to learn more about like that process and so we are reaching out to some people about that. But that's something that -- Madsen: Okay. Also in either February or March hopefully working with CapEd Credit Union. We are going to be doing something called Mad City Money, which is a financial sort of simulation to prepare MYAC general council and the executive council for the future of financing. I mean everybody is going to eventually go out into the real world and have to experience that, so it's best to get the youth started as early as we can and, then, sometime in either April or May we are planning on working with a nonprofit in the Treasure Valley to set up a 5k fundraising for both MYAC and for the nonprofit that we work through. Leckie: All right. Thanks. Are there any questions? Simison: Thank you. Council, just -- and I don't know if these are for you or Sahand, but a couple things to note. This last general meeting we talked about increasing MYAC. I think another thing we are trying to do is diversify membership. You know, its been very Renaissance heavy, which there is nothing wrong with Renaissance, but this last year I know there has been a concerted effort to reach out to the other schools in this last meeting. It was great to see some more Mountain View students there and I think there was at least one other school that had represent -- represented there. So, trying to do a little diversification. The other event that didn't know -- are we doing anything with the Suicide Awareness Prevention event that's occurring out in Nampa? Madsen: Let's see. Are you referring to connection is the cure and such? The January 5th event? Okay. Leckie: We are having an event where we are like helping out at like -- it's like a concert event, bringing awareness to suicide, and we have been working with the senior advisory board to plan -- essentially see what stuff we can do for that. So, that's something we are doing -- Simison: You hit directly where I was hoping you were going to touch on that last point, so -- thank you. Council, any additional questions or comments? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Guys, great presentation. And don't beat yourself up about the -- the lower numbers. It's clearly -- with the numbers you have you guys are making a big impact in Meridian and appreciate you coming and giving us these updates. I'm just curious as I think this is the first time you have been before us. Do you mind telling the Council why Page 9 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 6 of 14 do you guys get involved with MYAC? What's -- what's the appeal? There is lots of ways to spend your time. Why are you spending some time in MYAC? Leckie: I personally am just interested in city government. I think it's important that people are involved in their community and I think MYAC is a -- it's a really good organization for bringing -- bringing like youth closer to the community and also bringing valuable life skills to the youth. So, I feel that with MYAC I have learned a lot of skills I'm going to use and it's also allowed me to make a difference in my community and it's really great to meet other youth that are passionate about things similar to me. Madsen: For me personally I feel like it's a really nice way to get in touch with the community. I mean you are working directly with the local government on a lot of different things, both government related and community service related, and I really like that I can actually go and with the rest of the General Council, Executive Council, and with everybody together make an impact on just everyday people within the community. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Good job, guys. Great job. So, this morning I had the opportunity to speak with Ms. -- Ms. Danielson's government class at Mountain View High School and made sure someone gave -- gave some -- some brochures and some lit that spoke about MYAC and -- and during that hour class it was definitely touched on -- on MYAC and -- and it's really cool to see you guys and what you guys are doing and the interest that people have amongst your body and the engagement that people have at -- you know, at your age, the youngsters, because you guys are future and very grateful for what you guys do and for your interest in community, because it's a really big deal for a lot of different reasons, so -- but I wanted to -- I wanted to give a shout out to -- to the class -- Ms. Danielson's class at Mountain View. It was great. Cavener: They are watching right now. Bernt: What? Cavener: They are watching right now. Bernt: Oh, I doubt it. Maybe they are, but my stepson Cole is in that class and -- and I wanted to give a shout out to Miles, too. Miles -- he was sort of tired, because it was earlier in the morning and I told him -- I told him it was my goal -- you know, because we talked about goals as well. It was my goal to keep him awake the entire class period and every time he put his head down I was, Miles, question and so it was -- I want to give a shout out to Miles. He's a good guy. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Page 10 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 7 of 14 Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: A question, guys. Do the schools still require hours of community service or is that kind of gone away with COVID for a while? Is that no longer required? Leckie: I think that's sort of gone away. I know like I'm an Honor Society and that requires community service, but as for like a graduation requirement -- I know my school doesn't have that, so -- Madsen: Yeah. Almost the same with Renaissance. We have a National Honor Society program and that does require community service hours, but the actual school itself, the program -- it depends on the program that you go through, because Renaissance does work a little bit differently than most of the other schools in the Treasure Valley. Hoaglun: Follow up, Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: So, when you do community service work through -- through MYAC are they able to use those hours -- are you able to use those hours to count towards Honor Society work, so -- Leckie: Yeah. Madsen: Yep. Hoaglun: -- process to certify or whatever -- Leckie: The hours for Honor Society or whatever is coming from MYAC, so -- Hoaglun: And that's -- you know, thinking of marketing, you know, MYAC, that's a good selling point to help -- hey, you can get your community service hours if you are on the Honor Society, that sort of thing, but -- it sounds like you guys are on the right track, got some energy and enthusiasm and good planning in place, so I wish you the best of luck. Leckie: Okay. Madsen: Thank you. 12. Resolution No. 21-2300: A Resolution of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Meridian to Repeal and Replace the City of Meridian Standard Operating Policy and Procedure Manual to Establish a New Standard Operating Policy Manual; and Providing an Effective Date Simison: Thank you very much, gentlemen. Appreciate you being here. So, Item 12 was pulled off the agenda. Page 11 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 8 of 14 13. Legal Department: Discussion of Draft Ordinance Concerning City Council Districts Simison: And so we will move on to Item 13, which is our Legal Department discussion of draft ordinance concerning City Council districts. Mr. Nary. Nary: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council. So, this one, if you have had a chance to review the packet, we worked on it and you may recall we had a conversation with you a year ago about changes we were going to suggest to the legislature to change the state statute on the subject. As we all have learned since then that rarely happens. So, it -- basically the way the current statute reads is once you have a city that's certified as 100,000 people you do have to have districts and it allows each city to determine how they want to do that. There is no set method by the code. There is no mandatory requirement other than it has to be driven by the census -- census and so we came up with this, which was, essentially, the product of both Ms. Kane from my office and myself a year ago, then, Kurt Starman came on board with us in July. Kurt's picked up the mantle of it as well. We have talked through a bunch of this and so today was really simply an introduction of the topic, opportunity to weigh in if you wished. Obviously, it's going to be one of more than -- more than a few discussions with you about this before we went forward for passage or approval. Obviously, we want your feedback and your thoughts on it. Our goal and objective -- we have -- you know, we have a tremendous amount of time, because we have to have this done for the '23 election. So, we have the time to do this, but, you know, all things being equal we would like to get it done within a reasonable period of time. It gives people a lot of advance notice what the districts are, where their districts are. It lets the current Council Members -- the incumbents know where their districts are and how -- whether or not they fit in them or there is two people in the same district, so they will have plenty of advance notice. So, our objective is try to do that, but there is a timing issue and part of it is it's driven partly by the state districting and we are probably all aware of that. That's at the Supreme Court currently. I think they are hearing it the first week of January. So, once that gets finalized and the next step it goes down to the counties and the counties also, then, have to certify that as well and, then, it goes to the county clerks and, then, they have to create the precincts. So, once all those things happen, which should be done by spring, our thought process was to, then, begin our public process of doing this. So, if you have had a chance to review the ordinance, our suggestion in here was to have a committee made up of citizens. Because the districts aren't formed yet we can't pick them out of the districts yet, so we did have some that were basically geographically located and some that were going to be at large at the recommendation to come from the Mayor on who the committee will be. Our thought process on that was, again, the Mayor is voted on by the entire city. So, the Mayor doesn't really have a dog in the fight on where the districts are necessarily and so that was kind of our thought process. But, again, all thoughts are -- are welcome. I mean, again, we are trying to create some order out of a state statue that doesn't give us any guidance on what order they would like it to be. So, they really left it up to the cities. You may recall last year in Boise it was required to district. By the time that was all decided it was very late in the game, because the districts have to be done by July before the election. So, they just went and did it. I mean I don't think they had a whole lot of Page 12 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 9 of 14 input, they went head and made them, because they didn't have time. So, I don't know if they are going to do it different before the next election cycle. I don't know. I haven't spoken with them. I know Nampa is also evaluating that as well. I don't know what their -- what their thought process is yet. They have reached out to us for our ordinance and asked to see what we are doing. But I haven't had any conversations with them at this point on what method they may choose. Any other questions? Obviously, there is only four of you here today, but, like I said, we don't -- we welcome all your input. E-mail is fine if you want to send me an e-mail or you want to set up a time to meet and discuss it with -- with my office and with you, that's perfectly fine. Whatever you would like to do. Simison: Thanks, Bill. Council, questions? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: One of the questions I had, Bill -- I understand the reasoning under Item C-5 and that's someone who serves on the districting committee -- shall be eligible to run for Meridian City Council seat for five years following such service. I was trying to think through -- is that after they completed that term that clock starts ticking or, basically, it's to prevent, you know, self interest from kicking in and either running in '23 or '25 under -- and having set the boundaries and using that information, whatever, but -- so, the clock would start ticking following the end of their service and once it's been transmitted and accepted and -- and, then, the five year term kicks in or should we say, you know, through -- ineligible through 2025 as a more certainty? I don't know. Simison: Or the next two elections. Hoaglun: The next two elections, yeah. Nary: Yeah. We certainly can -- can amend it to that. Yes, you are exactly right, that was the thought process was that it prevents anybody from sort of creating a system that they are a part of and, then, suddenly they want to, then, run for office, too, because now they helped set those boundaries, but if we want to make it more generic to say the next two city elections, that's certainly fine. We can build it out. That's fine. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: And to your point, you know, there might be changes -- further changes by the state legislature, so I think, you know, protecting that -- whatever those changes are, but still making sure that what -- what the intent is -- is kept is -- is probably a good thing. Nary: Makes sense. Page 13 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 10 of 14 Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: A couple of observations. Six versus seven, even number versus odd number, whether there is a reason to keep it even -- perhaps odd might be better. Seven is better maybe. There is a reason behind the six -- was an initial observation. And the other one, which I appreciate, is in G -- the tail end of this ordinance, it talks about the Council's approval of it is based upon its compliance with code and it reads as though it's a directive. The Council shall upon it being code compliant, which is kind of nice. It doesn't-- it doesn't relieve and empower the Council to object or want to change the work of the committee. I presume that's the intent of-- of this, keeping the electeds out of the mix and just making sure that it truly does meet state code and comment on that if that's the intent of that. I thought that was a nice feature. Nary: No, you are exactly right, Mr. Borton. So, yeah, the intent was -- on that piece was simply to make sure that ultimately--again, someone has to ultimately approve --approve it and we wanted to make sure it was transparent and visible to the public and the Council is at least going to hold the committee accountable to follow the ordinance properly and to follow the state statute properly. On the six, we had a great deal of discussion about that and, again, I understand -- it's -- it's generally been my experience on these kinds of things that you don't generally get a four to two of split and people try and get consensus, because that's really the objective when we have had these types of committees. The compensation committee is the only example I can use, but the compensation committee -- they have never brought anything forward that wasn't the unanimous consent of the group. They always wanted to have consensus as a group. But certainly we are not married to it. If you think seven -- an odd number is better, that's perfectly fine. Borton: No, just the -- Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: That explanation is helpful. I figured there was some -- certainly some thought behind it. The other question is -- maybe for a future date is there consideration of pros and cons of having the -- the residency requirement for membership on the committee, does the process benefit from having somebody who has resided in that area for a particular period of time and is there a reason to have maybe a longer -- even up to a few years, somebody who has been in that region for a period to be part of it or is that irrelevant to the work that they are doing? Nary: Mr. Borton, I mean that's -- that's a great point. I mean there are -- you know, on some of our other commissions there are sometimes specific requirements that they have to meet, whether it's professional expertise or something like that, but there is also residency requirements for some as well. So, it's certainly not unheard of that we have done that on certain commissions. So, it's certainly an idea. I don't have any issue with that. I think whether it's one year, two years, I don't know that you probably want much Page 14 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 11 of 14 more than that. Again, I guess the question gets real granular; right? Do you want it to be two years within that district? This one where we don't really have it, it's two years within north or south, east or west, that's fine. I mean we are open to all ideas. Simison: And, Councilman Borton, just to go back to your first questions, I think that the model that was used was the state redistricting model. You know, absent a lot of clarity -- or direction, we figured that that was safe to do things as they have tended to do them. So, I know that was part of the conversation. It doesn't mean you have to, but that was kind of the model. Borton: Okay. Sounds good. I'm glad you got it out early for people to chew on. Very helpful. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Thanks, Bill. Question. Walk me through the pros and cons in regard to using a committee-based approach to -- to drawing these lines -- these districts versus hiring a consultant to come in and do it? Nary: Great question, Council Member Bernt, and we had a lot of discussion about that as well. I mean -- and not to make it sound like it's elementary, because it's not, but I mean at the end of the day it's really a math problem. I mean you have a certain number of people. You have to divide the city up by that population base. So, that's certainly something that our GIS people can do that and we can do that based on the precincts. I don't think it's going to be that complicated to do. So, it really is going to be the citizen input and I think our belief was it provides a greater level of transparency to the public, because it doesn't look like we just made it up the way we wanted it, we simply -- all citizens and process -- got citizen input, but certainly -- I mean I don't know the expense of a -- of an expert is really that necessary, because I think you are going to pay a lot of money for something that probably could be done pretty easily by our IT Department on the --on that side of it. It really is just where do you want these lines to go. At the moment I don't know if we know specifically where the population bases specifically are. That's the next thing I think we need to determine from the state to determine, again, are we still heavier on the north side of the interstate with the population? My assumption is yes, but I don't know that. You know, you look at the basic number that we have in the census, each of the districts is going to need to be somewhere in the area between 19,000 and 20,000 people and so if you divide that by six, you know, that's easy, you can do that. So, in trying to figure all of that out I don't know that it's worth the money to hire an expert. It's certainly your decision if you wish. We can certainly do it that way. We felt the citizen method -- and we have looked at other models. Kurt's done a lot of research on this and other models on how these are done in different places. Obviously not in Idaho. And there is certainly no magic formula. There is -- there is ones where it's a committee. Sometimes it's -- sometimes it is the elected officials. Sometimes it is an expert. It varies by a community and what the community feels means the most to them. So, we are Page 15 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 12 of 14 certainly not married to this. We thought this seemed fair and transparent. We certainly don't have any objection to some other method if -- if that's the desire of the Council Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Yeah. I would agree. I think that also, you know, the ultimate -- the ultimate important -- you know, point of importance of this is I believe is to keep it as transparent as possible and to keep it in front of the public and keep the electeds a mile -- you know, a million miles away from it. You know, we don't want to have anything to do with it. We don't want any -- you know, even imagery and the thought of impropriety or, you know, gerrymandering or whatever you want to talk about. So, I think that what you have been talking about has been good and appreciate Kurt -- I know Kurt has spent a lot of time on this, so -- thank you, Kurt. Nary: We will give it -- oh, sorry. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Mr. Mayor. Bill, maybe walk us through kind of the timeline, then, in terms of approving this versus we would want to have the maps kind of finalized and approved -- is it kind of like starting it December 31 st, '22, and working backwards? I appreciate the desire that we want to have this out as soon as possible, but we are constricted by any action of the legislature or response if the state with -- with our district maps and, then, precincts at the county level. Can you maybe walk us through the timeline of how this would all play out? Nary: You know, I'm going to ask Kurt to come up on that particular step, because he has done probably the most research on the timing. Because, again, you are right, we are driven a little bit by -- well, first the Supreme Court and next the county and next the precincts. Tentatively I think most of that's going to be done by April'ish. I don't know. Kurt, maybe you -- Simison: It's got to be done in March. Nary: Oh. Starman: Mr. Mayor -- Simison: You have the filing periods. Nary: Yeah. Starman: Mr. Mayor and Council Member Cavener, I think Bill's accurate in terms of the time. What we are thinking -- we have plenty of time to get this in place and so if the Page 16 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 13 of 14 Council wants to go quicker or slower, that's fine. I think the tentative thinking is that once the litigation is resolved at the statewide level on redistricting the county, as Bill mentioned earlier, the county, then, will establish the selection precincts and that will be the -- the point in time when the city can actually start to work in earnest on its districting process. So, we anticipate usually in most nonredistricting years that happens in January, but because this is a redistricting year and because there is litigation that the Idaho Supreme Court will consider, that likely will happen more in the spring time frame. We are tentatively thinking March. And so once the precincts are established, then, our thought processes is we would have the ordinance in place, select committee members if that's the Council's desire, and, then, the committee would work through 2022. We don't think it's an extensive process in the sense that as Bill mentioned really it's a mathematical problem of how you distribute the population amongst three geographic boundaries, but our tentative timeline would envision the committee completing its work by the end of 2020 and probably sooner, but no later than the end of 2022, pardon me, and be -- at that point those individuals that choose to run for office in 2023 would have plenty of time to plan accordingly to know what district they are going to serve in if they choose to run for election. So, I think it gives everybody lots of advance notice on what the lay of the land will be. Simison: Councilman Cavener, if you will -- my answer would be to try to do this in March. Start -- start trying to do the ordinance by March, whatever that ordinance is. If we do appointments, have them appointed by June 1. Let them work through the summer and have this completed by the time that one year in advance of what would be the filing period for the next year. So, really, looking to wrap it up -- my hope would be by August -- end of August. Cavener: And starting kind of one year out and work backwards. I like it. I appreciate that. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Question. Bill alluded to a math problem and the precincts are mathematically established and, you know, with this court -- with the challenge before the courts, does that have any bearing on the precincts and their numbers? I mean the boundaries -- and the courts may say go back and make some adjustments in -- whether it's congressional or legislative districts, but the numbers are the numbers. The precincts are still established. Our boundaries don't change for elections. Could we still have the precincts in January and move forward no matter what the courts are doing on the legislative and congressional fronts? Starman: Mr. Mayor and Council Member Hoaglun, my understanding -- excellent question. My understanding of the process is that the county -- Ada county in our case -- will not begin the precinct process until the redistricting process is complete. So, I'm not sure if that is a legal requirement or a practical consideration, but my understanding Page 17 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. December 14,2021 Page 14 of 14 is that the county won't begin the process of establishing new election precincts until the statewide redistricting issue has been resolved by the Idaho Supreme Court. Simison: If I could add. The current county clerk would prefer that we create our boundaries based upon the precincts that they draw and adopt. The new ones, not the old ones, so that -- that is the process that -- we expect to see 50 additional precincts in Ada county created. How many of those are Meridian we don't know, but -- yes. Nary: Yeah. And the only other direction from the county clerk that we have received is not to split the precincts either. So, with those two kind of caveats in mind, you know, we do kind of need that process done, but as the Mayor stated, I mean they have to have it done as of the primary in May, so they have to establish this for the legislature. So, I anticipate whatever the court decides will be decided pretty quickly in January and, then, they will begin that process, you know, to move that along and get it done, so -- all right. So, we will give you some time to review. Give you some time to take a look at it. Give us some feedback. I will work with the Mayor and the Council President on scheduling another session to discuss kind of where we are. Simison: And, hopefully, we can shoot for in mid to late January to come back for any additional -- give you about a month to get anything to Legal for any additional feedback. Nary: Okay. Simison: And, then, we can schedule after that when we bring forward for an actual consideration. Nary: Great. Thank you. Simison: Council, we have reached the end of our agenda. Do I have a motion? Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we adjourn the meeting. Simison: I have a motion to adjourn that I don't need a second for and I forgot. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FOURAYES. TWOABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5.05 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 2022 01 / 04 / MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK Page 18