HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-02-15 Work Session Item#1.
Meridian City Council Work Session February 15, 2022.
A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday,
February 15, 2022, by Mayor Robert Simison.
Members Present: Robert Simison, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Jessica Perreault, Brad
Hoaglun and Liz Strader.
Members Absent: Joe Borton and Jessica Perreault.
Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Kyle Radek, Crystal Ritchie, Jeff Brown, Joe
Bongiorno and Dean Willis.
ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE
Liz Strader 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 February 15th,
2022, at 4:33 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session with roll call attendance.
ADOPTION OF AGENDA
Simison: Next item is the adoption of the agenda.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: One change for tonight's agenda. I know that Item 13 under the Consent
Agenda, we wanted to remove that from the Consent Agenda and just have a quick
update on some changes just to make sure everybody's on the same page on that. So,
with that one change I move adoption of the agenda as amended.
Cavener: Second.
Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda with that change. Is there
any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have
it and the agenda is adopted as amended.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT.
CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item]
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1. Approve Minutes of the February 1, 2022 City Council Work Session
2. Approve Minutes of the February 1, 2022 City Council Regular Meeting
3. Final Plat for Prescott Ridge No. 1 (FP-2021-0053) by KM Engineering,
LLP, Generally Located 1/3 Mile South of W. Chinden Blvd., on the East
Side of N. McDermott Rd.
4. Final Order for Victory Commons No. 2 (FP-2021-0054) by BVA
Development, Located Near the Northeast Corner of S. Meridian Rd.
and E. Victory Rd.
5. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Denial of Alpha Development
R-15 MDA (H-2021-0094) by Alpha Development Group, Located at
Parcel S0427438410, on the North Side of W. McMillan Rd. Between N.
San Vito Way and N. Vicenza Way, Near the Northwest Corner of N. Ten
Mile Rd. and W. McMillan Rd.
6. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for 1160 W. Ustick Annexation
(H-2021-0092) by The Housing Company, Located at 1160 W. Ustick
Rd., on the North Side of Ustick Rd. Between N. Linder Rd. and N.
Venable Ave.
7. Revised Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Apex East
Subdivision (H-2021-0086) by Brighton Development, Inc., Located on
Parcel S1405120902, South of E. Lake Hazel Rd. Between S. Locust
Grove Rd. and S. Eagle Rd., in a Portion of Government Lot 2 and a
Portion of the SW '/4 of the NE '/4 of Section 5, Township 2N, Range 1 E.
8. Addendum to Development Agreement (Instrument No. 2018-042029)
Between the City of Meridian and Steve Eddy for Fast Eddy's at Eagle
(H-2021-0068) for Property Located at 13984 W. Jasmine Ln.
9. Development Agreement (H-2021-0066 Red Aspen) Between the City
of Meridian and Aspen Grove Holdings, LLC for Property Located at
the Southeast Corner of S. Linder Rd. and W. Overland Rd.
10. Farm Lease Between the City of Meridian and Louie Asumendi for
Farming of 40 Acres of City-Owned Land Adjacent to the Water
Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) for 2022
11. Encroachment Agreement Between the City of Meridian and
Northwest Pipeline, LLC for Right-of-Way Through the Undeveloped
Portion of Discovery Park
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12. Professional Services Agreement Between City of Meridian and
Treasure Valley Children's Theater for 2022 Sponsorship of Theatrical
Season
14. Resolution No. 22-2313: A Resolution Approving a Farm Lease
Agreement Between the City of Meridian (Lessor) and Louie Asumendi
(Lessee) for Approximately 40 Acres of Real Property Located on N.
Ten Mile Rd., North of W. Ustick Rd.; Authorizing the Mayor and City
Clerk to Execute and Attest Said Agreement on Behalf of the City of
Meridian; and Providing an Effective Date
ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item]
13. 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: Next item is Item 13, which has been removed from the Consent Agenda, which
is Resolution No. 21-23100. Ask Mr. Nary to explain the changes to this item.
Nary: So, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, Crystal is here as well and she can talk
about kind of the HR piece of this. What is in your packet is the -- what is in your packet
is the final version that would, then, go from this approval to our intranet for the employees
to see. So, Council Member Borton had asked -- you know, the red lines are no longer
there, because, again, this is the final version that the employees would be seeing. But
you will note, again, all the red lines were done and Crystal could talk about that. But I
just pulled up one. One of them is about the policy and having the language in there that
Council approval is required. If you want to go to your packets, 7.5 is the procedures
regarding standards of conduct. So, that section if you were to scroll down to that you
will see as the header on that section of procedures that changes to those procedures
require Council approval. So, all of those ones -- and it was either 12 or 13, 1 don't
remember the number, that -- 12 that all have that added to it based on our prior
conversation. We also changed or added that language that we had discussed in regards
to the preamble that sort of calls out the same thing and, then, again, Crystal's office was
in charge of taking all those red lines -- so, Crystal's office -- again, she is going to explain
kind of that the red line process and how they handled that part from our last meeting.
Simison: Okay. Council, what's your pleasure?
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
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Hoaglun: I think -- I think we are all on the same page. Those questions that Councilman
Borton had were -- were fixed in that and Crystal if you want -- defer to the Mayor to give
you permission for the podium, but --
Simison: Go ahead, Crystal.
Ritchie: I'm just here in case there is any additional questions. Like Bill stated, we walked
away from our last meeting time together, incorporating the options you requested, which
was to have the updated preamble, which has the language in there stating that any
procedure that has a financial impact to that cannot be changed without coming forward
for Council approval. So, that has been in there in the preamble. And, then, secondly, to
that on the 12 policies that Council Member Borton brought forward we have the
statement Bill just read to you at the top of each of the procedures for that. Those
procedures also may not be changed without prior Council approval. So, what was
submitted to you was the final version, no red line. The red lines were provided back to
you on November 9th for you to review and take a look at and answer -- ask us any
questions that you have, so we are here to request your approval of the updated manual
in the format you requested and move that forward for approval tonight.
Simison: Thank you. Council, any questions?
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move that we approve Resolution No. 21-2300.
Bernt: Second.
Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Resolution No. 21-2300. Is there any
discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it
and the resolution is agreed to.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT.
Simison: Thank you.
Ritchie: Thank you.
DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item]
15. Mayor's Youth Advisory Council Quarterly Program Update
Simison: Next we will move on to Department/Commission Reports. Item 15 is the
Mayor's Youth Advisory Council quarterly program update. Ask Rahand to come forward
and do some introductions.
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Rahbar: Mr. Mayor, City Council Members, as always I'm delighted to be here to introduce
two of the amazing student leaders that make the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council the
incredible group that it is. This year in particular. After taking a pause for the winter break
and holidays, MYAC has resumed its regular schedule of meetings in January. So, over
the past month and a half we have had two general council meetings and some exciting
developments and plans for the immediate future. I don't want to steal the thunder of the
two presenters, so I will welcome Jimena and Audrey to come up and introduce
themselves and tell you a little bit more about it.
Simison: Thank you.
Thompson: Mr. Mayor, City Council Members, a personal introduction is in order. My
name is Audrey Thompson. I am a senior of Renaissance. Graduate 2022. 1 am in the
associate's program and today I am presenting with Jimena.
Guzman: Mr. Mayor, City Council Members, my name is Jimena Guzman. I am a senior
at Renaissance High School and I am the vice-chair for MYAC.
Thompson: Perfect. Let's begin. Do you know any good jokes?
Guzman: I can't say that I prepared any today. Have you?
Thompson: Perfect. So, just to reiterate, this is covering everything that we have done
January through February, including just yesterday's meeting. All right. Regular
business. So, January 31 st we had our guest speaker Bill Parsons. Bill Parsons is part
of the Planning and Zoning committee and he helped brief us and the general council on
the general actions that happen in Planning and Zoning and how that functions and the
importance of it in our community. We plan to have him as a speaker, because specifically
we want to incorporate some of his message into future meetings, which I will cover.
February 7th we had an executive meeting where we covered and met with Peer. Peer
is a wellness center that offers free peer based recovery support services, specifically for
mental health, which is an item that ourselves and MSAB, Mayor Senior-- Senior Advisory
Board, wanted to cover in future meetings and dates. What we hope to do is plan a 5K
that will be all inclusive to the community. It's specifically uniting MYAC with our
community where we will call it The Road To Recovery and it will focus on mental health
and road to recovery and wellness. Next, just yesterday celebrated a very romantic
Valentine's by having a MYAC meeting. We had everything from snacks, cookies, to
talking about how we can be more civically engaged in our community. Specifically we
wrote Valentine's Day cards for our seniors -- local seniors and senior centers and we
also were briefing on future things that we can move on into the future.
Guzman: All right. Community service update. So, recently we collaborated for the
Connection For The Cure suicide awareness concert. Council Members Sophie Robbins,
Jacob Masson, Grace and an external member, Sophie's sister, all handed out stickers
and greeted thousands of guests as they entered this concert.
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Thompson: Recruitment efforts. So, in an effort to diversify our group and get a little bit
less than Renaissance High School and a little bit more of everybody -- every other
school, we are trying our best to recruit other students from all ages from -- in high school
to come and join us. We have been doing this by having and hosting incentives, such as
if you bring a friend, an incentive, then, you will get your name into the raffle for a Dutch
Bros card. Seems to be popular amongst the kids. We have already had a lot of people
come and collaborate in that. We are also still collaborating with principals of other
schools all in Meridian, some in Boise as well, for their students to have on their
announcements to come back and advertising that as well. So, we are very active in that.
Also, I personally spoke with Kiwanis and Council Member Luke Cavener and we also
advertised the importance of student engagement, civic engagement and talked about --
a little bit more about how to inspire and get your kids passionate and that included -- one
of the items was being involved in MYAC and being involved in local government.
Guzman: All right. And now for future events that MYAC is planning for. As for social
events, we find that the social aspect of MYAC is something that has been missing in
recent years. So, we are putting forth an effort to try to increase that social engagement
aspect. We will be having a murder mystery party during one of our meetings. It will be
centered around problem solving, that sort of bonding event, and it will have an '80s
theme. And, then, after our meeting on February 28th the general council will be engaging
in a financial -- financial simulation called Mad City Money. Next as for leadership
development, we are hosting an event planning themed MYAC meeting that -- on March
-- March 14, our chair Sophie Robbins will be putting together an event planning guest
speaker, as well as a nonprofit panel, again, led by our chair Sophie Robbins and is
putting together a panel of nonprofit executives planned for the date of March 28th.
Thompson: I just want to reiterate that panel that Sophie Robbins, our chair, it is going to
be centered on leadership.
Guzman: All right. As for government affairs we are planning a Planning and Zoning
activity. Government affairs chair Audrey Thompson is putting together a Planning and
Zoning activity for our general council members on February 28th. It will be an interactive
simulation of the dynamics between citizens, Planning and Zoning, and the ordinance in
place for that. In addition to that we will be having a youth lobby day. The MYAC members
will be able to send in and record videos for the American Heart Association's this year
asynchronous and virtual youth lobby day. These videos will specifically discuss the
impact of vaping.
Thompson: Perfect. And just a little sneak peek into the Planning and Zoning activity. I
have been working on this for the past couple of months in hopes to create and bring
general council -- council closer to an activity and -- and engage in local government that
is applicable to their lives. I have noted that when general council and when we debriefed
in our government meetings they were talking about the glamours of being a politician
and talking about how fun it could be and how dramatic it could be and, of course, those
are all relevant, but I wanted to talk more about what affects everyday life and what do
our city council members actually do for us and one thing that Mr. Mayor Robert Simison
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mentioned was Planning and Zoning, talking about that, because, obviously, it's very
relevant in our community with the growth that we are experiencing. So, I created a
simulation, interactive game that is strategic, creative and has a competitive factor in it. I
introduced it to our general council and they came up with a name for it. The city that will
be featured, which is Meridianidian, it's like Meridian, but with more idan is how they put
it. Going forward if you will note that I made a fake district map for Meridianidian and it is
themed very closely to Meridian's actual district borders in hopes that it will create a very
lifelike and at the same time entertaining game and activity for them as we go through.
In the game there will be campaigning, propositions, city code and ordinance, districts,
randomize factors. It will be very fun. There will be a place for everyone, whether you
want to talk, whether you want to be a city council member, part of the planning and
zoning or being a citizen. There is a place for everyone in this game and this game will
be featured on the 28th if anybody is interested.
Guzman: Audrey, would you say that this map has more idian in it, the Meridian one?
Thompson: Definitely more idian.
Guzman: Fantastic. All right. As for community service events coming up, we are
planning on doing something for Do The Right Day, which is coming up on April 7th. We
are planning to develop an outreach plan with local businesses to see how we can
contribute with this. In the past MYAC has interacted a lot with Do The Right Day, so we
are hoping to sort of revive that interactive aspect. This next one is my personal favorite.
We will be hosting a senior prom for the Meridian Senior Center. This is specifically with
leadership development in mind, as the executive council has put on general council
members to be forming a committee, leading and planning the development of this prom,
which will be taking place someplace in April or May.
Thompson: Perfect. To conclude, what MYAC has done as a collective in January to
February has focused very much on team building, collective work and including raising
awareness for mental health, which will also be featured in future months. As we go
forward we want to reiterate that we are also focusing on leadership skills as well. I would
like to open it up to the Mayor and City Council Members if there are any other questions.
Simison: Thank you, Audrey and Jimena. Council, any questions or comments?
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Just a comment, Audrey and Jimena. Wow, I'm just blown away by how -- this
is a hive of activity, all these different things you are focusing on it's really great. Thank
you.
Thompson: Thank you.
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Cavener: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Cavener.
Cavener: If you can book a member of MYAC to speak at any public event do it. Audrey
mentioned she spoke to our Kiwanis club. Thanks to Pam Orr for scheduling that at the
start of January. It's one of the best speakers we had all year and not just talking about
MYAC, but it was really beneficial I think for that club to hear about what goes on in a high
school student's life, particularly highly motivated students like MYAC members. So, as
you are out and about you are hearing people saying, hey, we would like someone to
come speak to our group, book MYAC as we should have like a MYAC speaker series.
Audrey did really great. I will also put in a plug. I will be volunteering at Mad City Money.
If you have never volunteered at this event it's a great activity and it's a great way to
interact with MYAC. So, if you are free on Monday night stop by, it's well worth your time.
I'm looking forward to it in two weeks.
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: You guys are best of the best.
Thompson: Thank you.
Bernt: Really good at what you guys do and -- and, you know, it's just really interesting
how even when you guys are involved with commissions and the -- the -- just what you
project and your insight, it's -- you know, most of the time you guys do it better than the
adults, so we appreciate everything you do.
Thompson: Thank you so much.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I have a question. You know, we -- we face this thing when we do
comprehensive plan map changes or anything like that, you know, you want Council --
citizen input and Council wants to hear from people and it can be hard to get -- to get
people engaged and, you know, you are trying to do the same thing. So, what do you
think are some of the obstacles you have for kids participating in MYAC? Is it just the
amount of things that they have to do, other activities, just lack of interest or -- and how
are you overcoming that you think that where you can be successful?
Guzman: Mr. Mayor, City Council Members, I think that one of the top issues that is facing
MYAC members in terms of engagement and engaging in a lot of these social activities
has to be that it can be very intimidating to be within the City Council chambers, especially
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-- well, even if it is every other Monday and especially when MYAC has been down for so
long, trying to reinvigorate that social aspect and reinvigorate that focus on community
service. We have faced this obstacle of trying to get us to come together as a group and
release the general council's energy on a lot of these community service activities that we
are pushing. I think that one of the things that we are trying to do to overcome that is to
try to make MYAC more of a community through these social bonding activities and
through community service efforts that are not only collaborative with different
organizations or nonprofits in the area, but that also focus on having the general council
take a role and so the engagement is -- was the main inspiration for having the general
council lead that committee for the senior prom to try to get those leadership development
skills that we have been working on put to work.
Thompson: I would just like to also add to that -- a little thing. I play the violin as well
and one thing that my teacher tells me is that when you are going to be practicing things
are going to be fighting for that time. Your family is going to be fighting for that time. Your
friends are going to be fighting for your time. That homework that you have. The test that
you have to study for tomorrow is going to be fighting for that time. So, lots of times while
we are in MYAC as the executive board, a lot of those things -- we feel like salesmen
sometimes, because we are incentivizing these types of programs and at the end of the
decision to show up and there is the decision to be motivated, passionate about local
government, but all we can do is tell them this is going to better your life and it's not just
going to be a scholarship opportunity or resume, something you can put on your resume,
it's going to be something that's going to better you as a person and help you build those
soft skills that's going to help you in the future.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Just a follow up. That's -- that's fantastic and -- and also I just want to
encourage you to keep at it and, you know, you may set goals and look at things and, you
know, when you graduate, walk out and go, boy, we didn't meet that goal or something,
but you don't realize the seeds that you plant that can help for future success and you
can look back and say, oh, I think we were part of that and we do the same thing on this
Council. There are things that we do now that, you know, down the road, years from now
people won't remember our name that we -- we did something that setup up for success
in the future. So, it's always -- you always want to plant seeds where ever you go. You
may not harvest it, but it's always great to plant those positive seeds.
Cavener: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Cavener.
Cavener: I just want to share, too, because I got notification about this this week. So, in
a former life I was fortunate enough to be a MYAC advisor and the students that I worked
with that met in MYAC have now gotten married and have now had a child. So, it is
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possible in our future that you could have a MYAC participant as a child of two MYAC
graduates and I just think that's really cool. Just kind of speaks to all the opportunities.
You can even start a family -- maybe later in life -- as a result of attending the Mayor's
Youth Advisory program.
Simison: For the record there is no fraternizing of that nature that is part of MYAC that
I'm aware of.
Thompson: Like I said yesterday -- our meeting yesterday was very romantic.
Hoaglun: If Councilman Cavener knows the name of the baby -- by chance is the middle
name MYAC? So --
Guzman: Mr. Mayor, City Council Members, I would just like to put on the record that that
was a missed opportunity and -- yeah.
Simison: Well, thank you both. I don't want to burst your bubble, but if the game turns
out to be successful, unfortunately, as it was developed under the city's program,
technically I think it belongs the city and -- but maybe we can talk about that in another
life. But we look forward to that. Thank you.
Thompson: Thank you. We appreciate you.
Guzman: Thank you.
16. Public Works: City Code Update - Maintenance Responsibility for
Sewer Services on Private Property
Simison: So, Kyle, let's talk about sewers.
Radek: Mr. Mayor, I would love to.
Simison: With that we will move on to Item 16 this evening, the Public Works city update
from Mr. Radek.
Radek: Mr. Mayor, Council Members, normally this is a job for Clint Dolsby. I guess I will
be playing the part of Clint Dolsby tonight. The purpose of this code update is to eliminate
confusion about who is responsible for maintenance of a sewer service at what locations.
The vast majority of sewer services in this city go from a home out the front -- under the
front yard to the street to the water -- to the sewer main and the code is written to support
that and says until that sewer line gets to the right of way line or the property line it's the
responsibility of the property owner to maintain that and, then, once it gets past the right
of way line it's the responsibility of the city to maintain that. There are, however, a lot of
sewer services that don't go from a building across private property to right of way.
Commercial the sewer services a lot of times will never get to right of way. They will go
through a parking lot and get to a sewer main that's in an easement. Another example
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that we are seeing a lot of now as private drives and that sewer service will leave the
property when they go on to the private drive, which is not right of way, and, then, go to
right of way. So, this proposed code update clarifies that until the sewer service gets to
a -- gets to either right of way or a public utility easement -- public sewer easement, then,
it is the responsibility of the property owner to maintain it and once it gets to that easement
the city is responsible to maintain it and that is the entire update and I would be happy to
stand for any questions you have. We are asking for some guidance tonight and if -- if
everybody is okay with it move forward in a few weeks with putting it on the regular
Council agenda for a hearing, if -- unless you have some other -- other guidance back
and work some of the things out that you can think of.
Simison: So -- so just what I heard using the private drive as an example, the house
would be responsible until it gets to that place and, then, someone else would be
responsible, potentially, if they are not the owner, if it's an HOA, which means that -- who
owns a private -- who would own a private drive that would be responsible for that section
before it hit the street?
Radek: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, good question. Because I know it's not the city. So, depending
on how that -- that private drive was written and I guess dedicated as it is -- technically
I'm sure it's HOA property. It doesn't belong to those three homeowners that use it, but I
would imagine -- and I'm just guessing, maybe looking for some help from Bill here -- that
the property owner is going to be responsible for maintaining that service until it gets to
city responsibility. So, I don't --
Nary: There we go. Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, so, yeah, I would agree with
Kyle, I mean, again, we are trying to create some clarity on where that service belongs
and, again, between the owner of the service, the property that it crosses and, then, a
public -- or a public right of way that we have acquired, that's what we are trying to clear
up here in this particular instance. So, I don't have, I guess, a -- to what Kyle said. I
mean it really is trying to make sure that the property owner understands, again, we are
only responsible to this point. We have the same issue with water, although that's --water
has been a little different, but where -- you know, again, we cover to the meter and, then,
everything beyond the meter goes to the property owner. So, I think this really is just a
cleanup to me. But, again, if you have other questions we certainly can answer those.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Basically, Kyle, what we are doing is ensuring that the city is not going to be
responsible for anything on private ground. Whether it's a single property owner or -- it's
going to be covered by a homeowner's association or a private drive, maybe it is the three
homeowners that are on a private drive, but it's clear that we won't be going in there,
because that's not our property, that's not our public easement, it's their issue.
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Radek: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Hoaglun, that's correct. We just want to make it clear
that unless -- unless it's a city easement with city infrastructure in it, it's not our -- it's not
ours to maintain and fix.
Simison: So maybe going to the next step, stay with the private drive. When the HOA
goes away maybe the private drive gets redistributed back to those three property
owners. My real question is if there is a third party in between where the city -- someone
else in between, what is their obligation to do something? Do we have the right to go
force that middle person to do something for the benefit of the person at the end of the
line? Because it's one thing to tell the owner you got to fix it and we are not going to do
it, but to tell somebody else that there is a problem in between that they got to go fix it for
the benefit of another person.
Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I would see this playing out in a situation like
that where the middle property owner is going to say, look, I'm not -- I'm not paying for
any of it. I don't need it. There is nothing that affects me with this. All -- we don't have
the right to access it. That's our biggest problem is that we don't have an ability to just
drive a truck into their driveway and dig up the driveway. So, we are going to need some
level of permission to do that. I would anticipate -- I don't know if Kyle has had experience
with these -- where, again, most of those other property owners, they get it that as long
as they are not paying they don't care. So, the other party is going to have to pay for that
cost, because they are the ones that need the service restored. But the middle one I don't
know if we have had a lot of issues with that, Kyle, and that would be kind of like you
guys.
Radek: Mr. Mayor, Council Members, it's an interesting question, because it goes beyond
water and sewer, it goes to pavement as well and it's one of the things that certainly we
are not--we are not responsible for pavement, but that's going to be an eventual question
for 40 years down the road, no pun intended, when the pavement is all cracked up. It's
not ACHD's pavement, that payment belongs to the HOA and it's the three or four homes
that use that private drive that need it. So, who is going to pay for that? I don't know. I
-- I believe our position would be that -- that the only person benefiting from that service
that goes from the home across the private drive to the city main is that homeowner and
that homeowner will be responsible for that service.
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Yeah. So, you know, here so much of our city is new; right? I had the pleasure
of renovating a one hundred year old home in a suburb of New York where I had to replace
the clay pipe that ran from our house to the street. I guess my question would be -- I think
it makes perfect sense to go from the homeowner to the public right of way. I guess my
question would be in the case of a private drive is there any city infrastructure underneath
that drive that is not specific to one homeowner. Like is there a trunk? Is there anything
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that multiple homeowners share that you could argue is like a piece of city infrastructure
or does each home have an individual line that goes to the public right of way.
Radek: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Strader -- Council Woman Strader. Sorry. Sometimes
we do have a water or sewer main in a private drive. Only if it benefits the city is the
exception to the rule. But if we do we have an easement over that and so the vast majority
of private drives do not have any public infrastructure that serves everyone. That's why
we have -- we stopped -- we generally stopped the water main and we stopped the sewer
main at the entrance of the private drive and, then, it's just services beyond that.
Strader: Thank you. Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Maybe just to -- I think -- are you looking for feedback, Kyle?
Radek: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, yeah, just --just any feedback, any guidance
and then -- yeah. We don't -- we don't need a vote or anything like that, so --
Simison: Clint is looking for feedback. You are just a straw man in the middle.
Radek: That's right. Nobody asked about water services.
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: That makes sense to me. I guess I'm just worried about kind of a set of
circumstances that, yeah, have we thought through everything. Like this carve out that
-- I guess it would fall under a public easement, but, you know, we -- I think we want to
minimize conflicts between neighbors, so I'm supportive in general of the idea, if we could
just look into somebody tells them areas where there could be a conflict. The private
drive sounds like one. You know, maybe looking at examples where we have seen
conflicts in the past and people coming into the city later to -- where they have had their
own services and we have had to go back and put them in, how that would play out under
this new approach.
Simison: Yeah. I'm kind of in place. I mean I just -- the one that scares me is anything
that denies responsibility. I mean we have HOAs on Cherry Lane, which were there at
one point in time and people responsible for the weeds, then, the HOA went away, now
no one is responsible for the weeds, when technically someone is responsible for the
weeds, but nobody wants to enforce who is responsible for the weeds to do that stuff and
so when you start putting stuff into common share -- it's one thing to do a parking lot in a
-- in a shopping center that's owned by -- private land that is owned by somebody, even
if it is a corporation, but when you start getting into communal ownership of property that
could go away and, then, what is the result of that going away, how does that impact
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something in the future --when this is likely going to be the issue 30 years, 40 years. Just
make sure we have thought through that to the best of our ability if this addresses that.
Otherwise, we are just kicking it to somebody else when these pop.
Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I mean we certainly can have this conversation
with Public Works and with Planning, because, you are right, I mean the narrow
circumstances are pretty narrow, but they do exist, and so we want to make sure -- most
platting will have utility easements listed on the plat, so the person does know there is a
utility easement in that driveway for all utilities, just -- the cable and everything else
probably running through that as well. But we can certainly make it clear. I mean, again,
it may be a requirement that we decide from the city that if you have a private driveway
you have to dedicate the entire driveway as an easement to the city for the utilities that
are placed in it.
Radek: I guess, if I -- if I can just respond to that. I'm sorry, I thought you were done, but
your mic was off. I guess this is just kind of a continuation of the private drive
conversation, because we don't want to go into a private drive, we don't want to have
anything to do with a private drive, because there is no guaranteed access in a private
drive. There is cars there. Trucks there. RVs there. We don't want our Public Works
infrastructure in a private drive. That was -- that's kind of a major point about this.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Then a question I think if -- for those rare instances something might crop up.
Do we have a mechanism, Bill, where we can place it on the property, something needs
to be done, there is a serious situation, we can go in, take care of the problem, but place
a lien on the property -- there is going to be an owner of that property and -- and, then,
when that time comes -- at some point in time they will see -- the Enterprise Fund will be
reimbursed for that cost.
Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, we don't currently have that in place. That's
certainly something we could look at as an option in trying to create that -- these types of
private drive issues.
Radek: I guess I will take this conversation and head back to Warren and Clint and Ted
to -- to go over some of these, you know, cases and certainly the -- certainly the private
drives are great examples of where the property owner is responsible for a much longer
water and sewer service than -- than a house on a cul-de-sac or a street. So, we will
definitely discuss it internally. I guess we will come back again for more discussion.
Simison: That would be -- that would be great. Especially when we have our -- another
attorney up here. Thanks, Kyle.
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17. Legal Department: Draft Ordinance Concerning City Council
Districting
Simison: Okay. So, Item 17, Legal Department draft ordinance concerning City Council
districting. Mr. Nary.
Nary: There we go. So, I'm going to do this short, because Kurt's here as well and he
can explain it. What we done, Members of the Council, is that the ordinance that's in front
of you has a few changes in prior discussions, as well as conversation with the Mayor
and Council Member Hoaglun, about the direction this ordinance wants to go. I'm going
to let Kurt, since this is probably going to cut me off in about ten seconds, come up and
explain the specific changes and kind of where we are with it now. We are ready to move
it forward when you are ready to bring it forward.
Simison: Kurt.
Starman: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of Council. So, this is an item you have seen
before -- actually on a couple of different occasions. So, last time you saw this was in
December of 2021 and we just made a broad presentation, asked for feedback and we
received some feedback from the Council as a whole. So, what you have before you
tonight reflects the changes that we heard from various Council Members and from the
body as a whole. They basically fall into three categories and they are fairly minor, but I
want to just point them out to you. So, the changes that are in the draft ordinances before
you this evening, as compared to the December 2021 version, are as follows: First, the
-- we have modified the language that talks about the appointments of members to the
committee to make that clear that just like our other committees and commissions that
the appointments are made by the Mayor, subject to approval by the City Council. So,
we have added language to make that more clear. Secondly, we have added some
additional language and requirement that the ex-officio members of this committee,
essentially staff members, as well as a member from Ada county, would develop three
draft maps in advance of the committee -- in advance of deliberations of the committee
to sort of prime the pump. So, the idea would be that from a staff perspective we provide
three potential disrupting maps, so that when the committee does assemble and begins
its deliberations it has a place to start, but we also have added language that makes it
clear that the committee is not bound by those three scenarios. They can choose one of
those three or they can discard all three and do something completely different. The idea
simply was to give the committee a starting point. And, then, lastly, in terms of changes
to the ordinance from the last time you saw this is that we -- the initial version indicated
that there would be a minimum of one public hearing after a draft districting map had been
-- once the committee had gravitated toward a preferred draft. We have changed that to
say a minimum of two public hearings and the reality is the committee may have many
more public hearings, but we wanted to have a floor and so that says it would be a
minimum of two public hearings. Those are the changes from last time and, then, I'm
going to transition to a second topic, which is -- we didn't have it ready for this evening,
but I just wanted to let you know -- the Council know that between today and next time
you see this one we will make one additional change to the ordinance and that is there is
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a section -- it's just like in our current code, there is a section that pertains to vacancies
on the City Council and it occurred to us sort of late in the game, quite frankly, so shame
on us -- is that the way it's written currently is it contemplates the districts are in place and
ready to go, but there is a possible -- because the ordinance will be adopted and the
districts will follow some months later, there is a possibility is how I characterize it, that a
vacancy could occur sooner before the districts actually exist and so we will likely modify
that language just slightly to indicate here is what happens if-- if a vacancy occurs before
the districts exist and here is how it works after that point in time. So, we will just make
that clear, so we can pick up both eventualities or the possibilities of those things. So,
that -- that's something that's not in the version that's before you today. It will -- some --
some modification will be likely in the ordinance when you see it at our next discussion.
Then the last thing, just to report to the Council, I wanted to make the Council aware that
Ada county has notified the new precincts based upon the defenses and, of course, the
litigation regarding statewide redistricting has now been fully resolved as well and so the
pieces are in place for -- once this ordinance is adopted the pieces are in place to begin
the districting process for Meridian, have the precinct kind of make the building blocks, so
to speak, for the districting process. So, that's what we have before you tonight. Again,
as before, no action for the Council this evening. Really an opportunity to touch base with
the City Council, receive additional input if that's -- if you have some additional thoughts
for us and, then, our goal would be to have an ordinance before you for consideration for
actual action soon, so that we can get going and the Mayor and others have talked about
a timeline where we would like to have this ordinance in place soon, seat the members
of the committee and have these districts in place this year, so that everybody has ample
time to plan for the 2023 city general election. With that I would be happy to stand for
questions.
Simison: Thank you, Kurt. Council, questions?
Cavener: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Cavener.
Cavener: Kurt, you touched on some that -- as I was kind of reviewing things over the
weekend kind of crept into my mind and I don't know if we -- if we do this on other
resolutions, but I think timing is really critical, particularly as we are communicating this
to the public. So, if it's worth considering that we will have a -- you know, a map presented
to the public by this particular month and, you know, to try and have this process
completed by this particular month. I'm just more offering that as -- as flavor for -- for
consideration. I think kind of roadmapping this out and trying to have some deadlines in
place lets the committee know that we are serious about moving forward on this thing
and that sort of thing. So, that just would be the only addition that I would include is to
maybe have certain benchmarks would be --
Starman: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and Council Member Cavener. I think that's an excellent
suggestion. We are in a better position today than we had been previously, because, of
course, we have had a number of unknowns up until just --just the last few weeks, quite
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frankly, in terms of when is the census information going to be available, when will the
litigation relative to the statewide redistricting be complete, and, then, when would the
county have the precincts in place and so now we have better answers to all those things.
So, we are in a better place to map out a timeline and if that's the Council's judgment or
preference, we certainly could do so. My one thought I would offer is that, remember, this
is -- this is an ordinance that's intended to develop initially, which would happen this year
in 2022 in advance of the 2023 general city election, but also this is the ordinance that is
going to be as part of the Meridian City Code on a going forward basis as well. So, there
may -- I may offer just a thought that to put a specific line -- timeline in this specifically to
2022, the ordinance is going to be in place on a going forward basis, it would be -- it would
become dated very quickly and we could amend the ordinance later to remove it, but
perhaps a different idea is that maybe outside the ordinance process with the Council
could establish a timeline for the work.
Simison: That's what I was going to suggest, since the code already dictates the time
frame for us by which to have -- to have it done. So, that's already determined. You
know, I have -- I have been on record with you all to say we have to spend a year in it --
of the opening of that, so we do have a tactical time frame of August, we could look at
that, but if Council wants to do a resolution to memorialize that expectation, that's going
to be my conversation with anybody that I'm looking to bring on this. We are going to try
to get this done and have something, you know, finalized by August. So, that's my
expectations. If you feel necessary to put it in code or resolution, but I don't think the
code -- I don't think code on this one is where it makes sense, but there could be other
things if we want to formalize it, like when we appoint them -- in the resolution that we
appoint them -- a date expectation.
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: I just wanted to say thanks a lot, Kurt and also to Bill Nary's whole team for their
work on this and I appreciate that -- it seems like you have set up a really good citizen led
input process that there is going to be plenty of public hearings, that it will be impartial
and informed by experts to get the existing City Council out of the weeds where we don't
want to be, so I appreciate that. This is a really good resolution to me. I think it is a ticket
-- or ordinance I think it's in a good spot.
Simison: Council, any other questions? Okay. Then we will work to bring this back in
the next few weeks looking at how things are set up. So, thanks, Kurt.
Starman: Thank you.
EXECUTIVE SESSION Per Idaho Code 74-206(d) (d) To consider records that are
exempt from disclosure as provided in chapter 1, title 74, Idaho Code
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Item#1. February 15,2022
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Simison: So, with that, Council, we have reached Item 17 on the agenda -- or I'm sorry,
we just completed Item 17. Next item up is Executive Session. Do we have a motion?
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move we go into Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206(d).
Cavener: Second.
Simison: I have a motion and a second to go into Executive Session. Is there any
discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll.
Roll call: Borton, absent; Cavener, yea; Bernt, yea; Perreault, absent; Hoaglun, yea;
Strader, yea.
Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and we will move into Executive Session.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:19 p.m. to 6:02 p.m.)
Simison: Council, do I have a --
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, I move that we come out of Executive Session.
Simison: Motion to come out of Executive Session. Do I have a second?
Cavener: Second.
Simison: Motion and second to come out of Executive Session. All in favor say aye.
Opposed nay? The ayes have it. We are out of Executive Session.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT.
Simison: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, I move we adjourn.
Simison: I have a motion to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay?
The ayes have it. We are adjourned.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:02 P.M.
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(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
3 / 1 2022
MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED
ATTEST:
CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK
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