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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-02-01 Work Session Item#1. Meridian City Council Work Session February 1, 2022. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:35 p.m., Tuesday, February 1, 2022, 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, Crystal Ritchie, Jeff Brown, 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, we will call the meeting to order for the record is February 1 st, 2022, at 4:35 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's City Council work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item up is the option of the agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move approval of the agenda as published. Borton: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as published. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the January 18, 2022 City Council Work Session 2. Approve Minutes of the January 18, 2022 City Council Regular Meeting Page 4 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 2 of 15 3. Apex Southeast Subdivision No. 3 Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No.1 4. Apex Southeast Subdivision No. 1 Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 2 5. Ada County Emergency Medical Services District Five Mile Pathway Easement 6. Brodin Subdivision Sanitary Sewer Easement 7. Frontline Subdivision Private Road Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No. 1 8. Frontline Subdivision Storage Facility Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 1 9. The Oaks North Subdivision No. 9 Full Release of Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement 10. Final Plat for Victory Commons No. 2 (FP-2021-0054) by BVA Development, Located Near the Northeast Corner of S. Meridian Rd. and E. Victory Rd. 11. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Fast Eddy's at Eagle (H-2021- 0068) by Steve Eddy, Located at 3775 N. Eagle Rd. 12. Development Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Tony Tseng, Applied Media, Inc. for Pera Place Subdivision (H-2021-0056 & H-2021-0091), Located at 4600 W. and 4546 W. Daphne St., Near the Northeast Corner of N. Black Cat Rd. and W. McMillan Rd. 13. AIA A141 Design-Build Agreement for the Design Phase of the Discovery Park Skatepark to Evergreen Skateparks, LLC for the Not- To-Exceed Amount of $20,250.00 14. Professional Services Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Eventageous Idaho, LLC for Event Coordination Services: 2022 Meridian Main Street Market 15. Purchase Order for Water and Sewer Improvements in Accordance with the Interagency and Cost Share Agreement with Ada County Highway District for the Not-to-Exceed Amount of $469,192.96 16. Purchase Order for Water and Sewer Improvements in Accordance with the Interagency and Cost Share Agreement with Ada County Highway District for the Not-to-Exceed Amount of $396,652.44 Page 5 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 3 of 15 17. Restated and Amended Joint Powers Agreement for the Coordinated and Cooperative Provision of Emergency Medical Services in Ada County for Fiscal Year 2022 18. Task Order for Waiver of Fees for Meridian Library District Orchard Park Tenant Improvement Project (C-TI-2021-0050) 19. Resolution No. 22-2307: A Resolution of the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Meridian, Re-Appointing Andrew Seal to Seat 3 of the Meridian Planning and Zoning Commission; and Providing an Effective Date 20. Resolution No. 22-2308: A Resolution of the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Meridian Approving City Council President's Appointments of City Council Members/City Staff Members to serve as Interagency Boards, Committees, and Initiatives Representatives; and Providing and Effective Date Simison: Next up is the Consent Agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: We have no changes to the Consent Agenda. I move to approve the Consent Agenda with the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest. Borton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve 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 agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There were no items removed from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 21. 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 Page 6 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 4 of — Simison: So, we will move on to Item 21 under Department/Commission Reports, which is Resolution No. 21-2300 and ask Mr. Nary or Ms. Ritchie to come up and speak. Nary: Nice to be back in front of you on this discussion. The Mayor asked for us to provide an update and we had sought feedback from all of you in regards to our presentation a few weeks ago and we did get some feedback, so we have some documents in front of you and we did also have those sent to Council Member Strader, so she has them as well. So, here is kind of where we have landed since our last conversation. I did point out that I thought if you could read the new revised preamble that would maybe answer some of your questions, because we did add a provision in there -- a line that says all policies and any financial procedures with any fiscal impact must be approved by the City Council to be effective. So, we had added that at the last iteration that you had since November, I guess, or October as a way to address some of the concerns that had been expressed earlier about the potential -- potential opportunity for changing policies that may be -- or procedures that might be something that Council should be reviewing. Council Member Borton did provide us with a list. I think it's the same list. I remember, Councilman Borton, this is the same ones we spoke about at the last meeting. So, based on the Mayor's comments saying, you know, if there is particular ones that you have concerns with or would like to see changed, not -- not put into this new structure like the way it's been proposed, point those out, let us have that conversation. So, Councilman Borton did point these to say, hey, these are the ones that I had the concerns with. We did talk about them a couple weeks ago. I would still like to explore that option. So, what we did, in talking with Crystal, is looked at it in two -- two ways and you have two different documents in front of you of the same policy of 5.6. One of them, basically, states under the procedure section, there's a red line at the top of that page that basically says changes to these procedures requires Council approval. So, pretty easy fix, a pretty quick fix to add that into the way the structure is currently. So, that's one way to do it. The only other way when Crystal and I talked about it that we thought could work, if that's your preference, that's fine, too, is we basically, essentially, push them back together the way they were previously, so it does say policy and procedure, instead of just policy as the other ones say. So, for these 13 they would say policy and procedure and they would all be in that section of the book that's policy. So, if you look at the other document you have for 5.6 you will see on the front of the page it says retirement match program, purpose, policy, authority, responsibility and you flip it over, all the procedures and related information. So, they would all be in that section of the manual under procedures. So, either one we could do if that suits your pleasure, if that's what you want. If you have another idea or another thought on that or you have a different -- other-- other policies that you think you would prefer in that, again, I would like to hear whatever concerns you have and maybe if we can address those we can do that, so -- I don't know if you had anything else to add, Crystal? Ritchie: No. You covered the three options that we wanted to share and get their feedback. Nary: Okay. Page 7 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 5 of 15 Simison: Council, questions, comments, preferences? Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: If I could summarize this -- certainly, but -- thank you. Option one. Moosh it back together or don't make any changes. Keep it as is. And the three options. Ritchie: That would be a fourth option. So -- may I? Borton: Yeah. Please. Ritchie: Okay. So, we have the first option, which is to approve what we have put in front of you already without any changes. The second option would be to accept the policy manual the way that we have presented it to you with the updated preamble and that updated preamble has a statement in there on the back, the second page on the back that says any changes to policies and procedures -- specifically procedures of a financial tied to them has to come back in front of the Council and if that addresses your questions, concerns, and comfort level, we can move in that direction. The third option is you have 13 policies. It's the third page of your packet. In front of you where we take those 13 policies and we have blended the policy document and the procedure document back into one, we titled it policy and procedure. Therefore, if anything changes in any of those 13 documents, whether it's in procedure or not, it's embedded in the policy, we bring that back forward in front of you for any changes and approval. The fourth option is to keep the separation of policy document and procedure document as presented on the procedure document at the top for those 13 policy -- or those 13 procedures. It says changes -- any changes to be made to this procedure require Council approval, which means we would have to bring it back in front of you for discussion, consideration, and approval. Four options. Or, as Mr. Nary stated, anything else that you would like to suggest that we consider. But we were hopeful to come forward with some options to address the concerns in an effort to continue to move the policy manual forward. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: So, just for clarification, the number two and number three that are proposed, the procedures that are described here, you believe all of those will address the concerns on the pages that you provided that Joe had sent -- Councilman Borton had sent with questions? They -- you have matched them up such that you -- you believe that these are the procedures that would be addressed and -- so, is this -- is 5.6 a new section or you just--you are taking the existing section and modifying it to address the specific items that Council would like to make sure are reviewed? Page 8 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 6 of — Nary: So, Council Members, Council Member Perreault -- so, Council Member Perreault, Members of the Council, so 5.6 was one of those that was pointed out. It has been altered already in the last year, because we added the retirement match program that didn't exist previously. So, it's -- it's in a format like this and so it -- this is simply -- because, again, Council Member Borton wanted to be sure that the Council got to review both the policies and procedures for -- for all 13 of these. This was just one of them. Yeah. Example of either one that we could do. Again, we would just do the same thing. We had the other 12. We either push them back together or we create that statement on every one of the procedures. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: It might -- at first blush it sounds like it could be appropriate to do both. The preamble edition makes great sense and having the -- kind of the red top at the top of the procedures also just makes it crystal clear that the -- as to those -- I think there is 12 of them -- specific items, those portions of procedure do also certainly require Council approval to be changed. I think both of those can be part of the solution. Nary: Mr. Borton, Members of the Council, I would agree, because I think at least from a readability standpoint when we are talking a year or two, whatever, from now, if you don't understand in the preamble which financial policies we are talking about we highlight it in the section of the procedures that tells you it's this one. So, I would agree with you, I think it does help make it clear to everyone which ones are -- require that additional level of review. That's okay. Ritchie: Yeah. Nary: That all works. Simison: Option five work for the Council? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Borton: Mr. Mayor? Go ahead. Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Sorry. Could you run through that one more time? Nary: So -- yes. Certainly. Council Member Perreault, Members of the Council, so what we will do -- and so that preamble is already there. We already wrote that in a while back. So, we will just leave it the way it is and, then, we will take all 13 of these policies that we have identified and label every one of those procedures with that label that this procedure requires Council approval to be changed. Page 9 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 1 of — Perreault: Mr. Mayor, if I may? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: For consistency sake wouldn't you then -- I guess I -- I wasn't under the impression that-- that these 13 are the comprehensive list of things that will need Council approval in the -- in the procedure and policies manual or are they? Nary: These are the only ones that have been raised to us as a concern, that because they all had fiscal impacts. They didn't have -- they didn't have anything else that would be --what I would consider the operational needs. They were all -- had a fiscal component tied to it, because of -- of retirement match or vacation days or whatever. That was why those were identified. Simison: And for clarification, every policy would -- that's in the policy section would be -- Council, these are just the procedure ones. Perreault: Yes. Correct. So, does that mean there is going to be a red title over every procedure and every section of the procedures? Because the procedure and policy manuals are going to be separated now into two manuals; correct? So -- Nary: Over every procedure. Perreault: I think that could then -- if somebody is reading through this and they are not aware, it could look -- feel inconsistent to -- to tag some procedures that require Council approval and others that do, but we are not tagging them, because they are not on this list of 13. Nary: So, the -- the intent of the project from the outset was to separate out procedures that don't have -- only have operational impact and no fiscal impact. Because, again, the previous years tend to change a lot of times, because the law changed, regulations changed, rules change, court changes, changes that require us to be able to change them quickly to meet that standard and it doesn't have any fiscal impact to the city in filing this document, not that one. Meeting this IRS reg, not this one. So, that's why the intent of the project from the outset was to take out procedures that don't have any real need for the Council's review, because there really are administrative functions on how the city runs and not on what would somehow impact policy or impact the policy decisions in the Council, it's simply how to administer some of these things that don't have a fiscal impact. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I understand that. What-- I might not be asking my question clearly. Are these 13 procedures the only ones in the procedure manual that are going to have this label and are the only procedures which Council -- is this a comprehensive list of procedures? Page 10 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 8 of — That's what I'm trying to find out. This is the comprehensive list of procedures which Council -- which will come before Council as a review in the procedure manual? Nary: Yes. Perreault: Okay. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: So, I understood some of it might be changes in law that come up. I guess I'm kind of surprised we don't have another option to have the Council liaisons approve procedure changes outside of this list with the highlighted, you know, all caps require Council approval. I think like small fee procedures, procedures outside of that maybe should run through the Council liaison -- maybe just for trial period, so we could get an idea for the volume of-- is this a huge amount of administrative changes that are coming on a regular basis or is it something that a Council liaison could approve similar to a budget amendment? So, if it's outside of this discrete list of the 12, then, at least, you know, there is still kind of a -- I'm just trying to respond to what I feel like is a Council concern about checks and balances and I just feel like maybe there is a more incremental way to do this. I'm pretty amenable to the will of the group, but I -- I'm just kind of wondering, you know, why we couldn't use the Council liaison as kind of a point for procedures outside of these 12. Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Strader, I mean we could certainly come up with some way to make sure the Council is aware. I mean there is no intent here that -- anything you are not going to be aware. So, like I said, I don't know how many of these change annually on the procedure side. I -- I couldn't tell you five or ten or even that many. Because, again, most of it's driven by external forces or internal needs. We had this department handle this and this particular position. Now we would like this position to handle that documentation or that workflow. So, that's usually what's changed is just -- instead of going to person X it goes to person Y, because person Y now their job has changed slightly and that's what they are doing, instead of the other. So, that's predominantly what it is. It's not -- again, as the law changes, whether or not we get it in front of you next week or week after, we are going to follow what the law is tomorrow. So, we are going to do whatever the law requires us to do regardless of that. What we thought, from an ease standpoint, from the Council's perspective, again, if you want an update periodically, if you would like to have the liaison updated, hey, we are looking at changing this procedure, here is why. If you think of any concerns you want to bring to the Council -- that's -- that's fine. I mean with the support departments and it has to predominantly run through HR and, secondarily, through Legal, if we are -- our liaison is the Council President, we would give the Council President a heads up. Hey, they have raised this issue, we need to change the procedure -- again, I mean I don't want to make it sound like it's very mundane, but it kind of is. I mean a lot of times it is. Here is the form we used to use, here is the form you now need to use. It used to be electronic -- or Page 11 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 9 of — it used to be written, now it's electronic. So, I mean that's really a lot of the procedural changes we have done in the last couple of years. We have tried to create fillable forms. It wasn't very long ago where we had a form we have, we printed it, wrote on it, scanned it back and e-mailed it. Now we can just do it online and e-mail it. We don't have to do that, because it's silly. So, that's a lot of the procedures that changed is just the processing of things. It has nothing to do with any impact on finances or anything else. It's simply this goes now to -- it doesn't go to Jenny, now it goes to Brad. I mean that's really a lot of them. So -- but if you want us to make the Council President aware or -- our liaison and they say, yeah, nobody's going to care about that or I will -- I will talk to the Council about it, I will let you know if that's a big deal. That's fine. I mean, again, it's not a -- we aren't trying to hide anything, we are trying to create some ease on the operation. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Or sorry. Strader. Strader: Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. I think that -- to me it would be the right -- I will just -- it sounds like a good compromise way of handling it. I don't think --you know, for example, when we need budget amendments I don't think that City Council has been a huge obstacle to getting business done. I know we try not to be. I would love to just -- you know, let's have this list of bolded changes that require Council approval or maybe change the preamble and, then, if it's something outside of this list I do think running it through the Council liaison for approval makes sense, so we can see -- it's hard to like -- predict for me all of the areas in which you might have an issue with a change in procedure. I can't do that. I don't have a crystal ball, you know. I mean we are -- it's all hypothetical. A future mayor, maybe not as wonderful as you, Mr. Mayor, or something like that; right? I can't predict all that. It's just too hard for me to and I just want to respond to concerns of other Council Members. That to me seems like a good double check. But that's just my opinion. Simison: Council, again, I'm fine with whatever direction you want to go. The reality is at some point in time someone built a car and they put it all under the Council's purview and it shouldn't have be put all under Council's purview. I think that's the reality. But it is under your purview right now with your approval and a change has to be done this way, even though the reality is it really doesn't or shouldn't have to in a lot of ways. But we can also just leave it as is, move on, and anytime we want to just bring back in front of Council and you can all hear it if it's relevant. So, we just want to move on, quite frankly. So, whatever direction you can, please, provide would be awesome. Nary: I literally had a nightmare about this presentation last night, because I couldn't find the list. And Crystal is here to hand me the list, so -- Ritchie: End the nightmare. Page 12 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 10 of 15 Nary: Yeah. So, I agree, I get a lot of -- I get a lot of the stuff -- it really was meant to make it easy for things that really don't have any impact to city's budgets and city's finance, city aid, Council's concern is again -- most of the time it's centered here, not there. Don't bring a receipt. Bring a receipt. That kind of stuff. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: This is a comment and a question. A comment to your comment. I mean none of this task came from Council. So, this whole exercise we didn't request or ask. So, if you are not -- if you don't have a dog in the fight as to which way we go, that's kind of why we are a little rudderless with five different options, quite frankly. I know we want to get this thing over the finish line, but we didn't create this. The question is -- Simison: Just on that -- I mean it was discussed with Council. You just don't remember. It was over three years ago when this conversation started and it predated two members of the Council that weren't involved in it, so -- Borten: No. I remember that crystal clear. I'm just saying the task came from the executive branch, not the legislative branch, the reason why we struggle with how to get this over the finish line. We are going to get there. Part of the process to get us to this stage -- the preamble references the local -- and I might have -- it would be the -- about what the local --they were provided all of this and what input, if anything, did they provide, any comments that helped come up with the final -- Nary: Oh, yeah. As our -- as our collective labor agreement requires, we did provide it to them for comment. They do have a time window to comment. There is two different tests in the contract. If it is a mandatory subject of bargaining, which is also a discussion point with the --with the collective labor group of what falls in that category, then, they get to comment if they don't agree. We have agreed to disagree. They may not be bound to that policy until the next contract we will make it part of the contract negotiations. If they have no comment or they -- it doesn't follow through a -- like it's literally a piece of paper. You got to file this one, not that one -- so, it's not a mandatory subject of bargaining and they can comment, we can say, no, thank you, or thanks for the input, yeah, we will change or not change or whatever. Or they have no comment and, then, we move on. I have it provided to them. They have had more than 30 days to review it. They have not provided comment. I have reached out to the president and he assured me if he had a concern he would tell me. I haven't heard back. So, that piece of -- of the approval process is complete with the union. Borton: So, the consequence of that is any portion of their -- of the changed policy that isn't addressed in their collective bargaining agreement they are subject to. Nary: Yes. Page 13 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 11 of 15 Borton: Want to make sure they have had the time to comment and -- Nary: And to be -- and to be fair, I mean as a -- as a -- as an entity they have commented in the past. We have had discussions about policy changes and have followed that exact process of either we don't apply it to you now, we will discuss it at the negotiation time or we have negotiated through it, come up with a reasonable solution we all can live with and we are gone. So, yeah, they definitely pay attention. They definitely review it. They definitely will comment if they have a concern. As I explained to them, as I explained to all of you, most everything in that book, although it's a lot of pages, is virtually the same as it is today. It's just divided differently. The words have changed slightly only because of language, not because of change in process or procedure, so -- or policy. So, I think they were -- there, again, they didn't respond, so I assume they are satisfied and so that piece has been taken care of. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I was just thinking through what Council Woman Strader had brought up about, okay, what about the other ones, do we do something with Council liaisons and you can make a case either way. I was looking at 5.3, you know, under PERSI and if there is a change by PERSI on what they define as employee eligibility, we will follow that no matter what and so it's like okay -- and something that big we will hear about, because it's going to be a big deal if they are changing that, because that does eventually have a financial impact one way or another on -- on -- on our employees and our city budget. So, yeah, trying to go back with what you were saying, Bill, the fact that, you know, a lot of it is very very minor or it's something that we have to do no matter what and -- but I want your feedback, Council, on this, do we for the next six months, maybe a year -- well, let's say for the remainder of this year we say, okay, liaisons and working with the Mayor, tell the department heads that if there is a procedure change, they run it by their Council, if it's not the red version, you know, where that's not saying it has to come before Council and, then, we just see, okay, what's this like? Now, as Council President, working with HR, Finance and Legal -- and I might get me going waving the red flag later on going this is ridiculous. This is just a bunch of mundane stuff that -- don't do this to me anymore. But -- but just -- just to see if that's -- is that an option and, Mayor, would your department heads be willing and -- Simison: Well, I'm -- I was hoping this would respectfully die without a lack--for a second. Because really at that point in time you have created six mini mayors and as a body you are -- that's really the only time you are able to act and if you are giving yourself authority to act within approval of underlying processes, procedures, or other things, you know, Council delegating other people's votes to go determine that something is okay, no disrespect, that's solely my purview. You can either delegate it to me that's appropriate, but I wouldn't delegate it to individuals to make those decisions, because that's really not where you guys reside as a body. Page 14 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 12 of 15 Hoaglun: And, Mr. Mayor, I -- I understand your argument, but you used the term mini mayors and that kind of sounded appealing, so, yeah, you didn't help your argument out at all. Simison: I can get a baton and deputize. Well, let's have a conversation. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: In seriousness. Yeah, I mean that's -- that's the dilemma is what is it that really is under the purview of the administration to say we handle the day-to-day stuff. We put it forward and I do want to make sure what Council is active in and I think it's been expressed very well, that it is those major things and those pieces that relate to budgetary items and to pieces that really should be a full elected body response. Now, sometimes we may differ on that, but I think what we have here, what Bill has brought forward and Crystal, have -- as proposed, you know, get us to that point and, you know, it doesn't give me any heartburn not to do that with the mini mayor system. It's just if that's something we want to try, but, you know, to your point I don't think it would be something that we would find useful, because it is an administrative function, if it's either required or it's very -- very routine that we really don't need to be involved in that. So, I'm -- I'm happy -- and I know Council Woman Strader likes to, you know, trying out tests and I appreciate that about her, but that is something I --we can do without,just move forward with the --what's been put in the preamble or the intro section and read on those other procedures and, then, we can -- we can move forward. Any other thoughts? Anything different from that? Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: I think -- that sounded like it might have been option five, was basically the preamble plus the denoted 12 items in the procedures. Do both of those. I think Councilman Strader -- it's kind of a collaborative suggestion and is a really -- is a really good one and -- and perhaps going forward approval of procedure changes -- approval might not be the right word, but let's be collaborative and work with your liaison and if you are going to change a procedure at least talk to them about it, keep them in the loop. If it's something that sounds a little sideways we can bring it up for us to discuss and say this one might seem -- we don't anticipate it, but if there is something that sounds sideways let's have collaboration with your Council liaison talk about it, so it's not a mini mayor authority change, but that seems to be a very reasonable development. Strader: You are fading a little bit, Joe. Borton: What's that? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Page 15 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page 13 of 15 Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Sorry. You kind of trailed off on the audio a little bit. I guess to play devil's advocate a little bit, currently Council has review and approval of all policies and procedures and so if it's not broken do we really need to fix it? I don't -- I think asking for an approval is important or at least a proactive affirmative need for the Council to inform their department liaison, otherwise, just saying let's try to do this. I don't know if that serves the same purpose. I don't have the same concern about creating mini mayors. I don't think that we currently have that happening with other processes that are the exact same process. I just think this should be a unanimous vote or very close. If it's something where there is a lot of-- if you guys can live with just the bolded change and that preamble and I -- I'm happy to go along with it, but if half of us are not on board I don't think we should make a change to an issue that has repercussions for the checks and balances of the city. Just kind of -- so, I mean I'm trying to be flexible, but, yeah, I guess I just don't have the same concern that the administrative branch does, but I have -- I have the other concern, which is just -- it's always been this way and Council has always had the approval over both. Maybe we should just divide it up for additional ease of reading. The Council should maintain approval of policies and procedures and we could just see how many come in front of us. Simison: If Council wants no changes we are fine and --well, I say I'm fine. Sorry. Three years of your work, you know, is what it is. Again, I don't want to beat this up from -- from all these areas. I just want a decision to go forward one way or the other. Nary: So, here is -- here is the only thing I would think about before -- if that's the direction you want to go. If you noticed when you got the procedure -- or policies -- there are policies that have changed, mostly because of the law. They are not changed yet. If we leave it the way it is they are not changed. They are all going to have to come back. I have to send them back to the union again and there is another window of time before we can come -- before our policies comply with the law. Our practice complies with law, but the policy doesn't. So, if we start over we are not over. We are going to come back to you again and again to fix all the policies that this one fix would fix. So, again, I -- not that that -- you can't do that unless you want to do that that's fine, but be aware that's -- that's the impact. You will not see this again. You are going to see it probably five or six more times. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I think Councilman Borton hit on a solution and that's -- we would hope you would encourage your directors to discuss all important things with liaisons and keep them in the loop and -- and whether it's procedures or whether it's other things, I think that's the way to go and depending on the liaison and department they are in, it might be that, hey, you know, just keep me in the loop and -- and I think we will be fine that way. Usually directors are very good about making sure liaisons are -- are well aware of things Page 16 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. February 1,2022 Page —of 15 that are happening, whether they are procedures or not, which is very helpful. You know, having served in parks, as many of you have, you know, Steve keeps us up to date on all sorts of things of what's going on and whatnot and those are helpful and able to provide feedback and -- yeah. And if there was something that I would go, oh, you guys are doing that, well, I might want to talk to the Mayor about that, because that -- that -- that impacts the park I live by and I know my neighbors wouldn't like that type of thing. But that's just kind of a normal course of business, if you will. Simison: The reality is the only person that it's going to impact is you, because the only policy changes are going to come from HR, Legal, Finance and IT. That's the only people that have policies. So, all the other -- Hoaglun: I will make a -- Simison: I made conversation with Councilman Borton about anything in the Fire Department -- on any changes that are going to be initiated by the Fire Department. So, that's really what it does come down to. Hoaglun: And I think that's fine. We can have those agreements and these directors know very well what -- what's important and what isn't and they got the experience to do that. So, I'm -- I'm fine with moving forward as -- as we have outlined from a standpoint of do we need to change and separate out policies and procedures? We do. I mean it's time to do that. Update them. Make sure now it's -- and I think we have settled on a good course that Councilman Borton laid out for how we do that with the intro and the marking and, then, I just get to chat with you guys from time to time and go do you want to know about this or not. So, we can do that. Nary: It will probably take us -- the 15th would be the next one we could put the final resolution on with the changes for final approval. So, that would be what I would propose to do is bring it back on the 15th. Simison: Council, do you feel comfortable starting with it on the 15th or do you want another department report discussion on the 15th based on what you have --the direction you have seen and heard? Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: I guess consent would be sufficient. Not a report necessarily. And if someone wants to provide some context you could pull it from Consent, but that would be it. Simison: Okay. Thank you. With that we have reached the end of our agenda. At least the last one I saw. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Page 17 Meridian City Council Work Session February 1,2022 Page 15 of 15 Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we adjourn the work session. Borton: Second. Simison: I have a motion to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Oppose nay? The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:09 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 2 15 / 2022 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK Page 18