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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-10 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session January 10, 2023. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:33 p.m., Tuesday, January 10, 2023, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Brad Hoaglun, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Jessica Perreault, Liz Strader and John Overton. Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Miranda Carson, Vincent Koontz, Shawn Harper, Joe Bongiorno and Dean Willis. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE Liz Strader _X_ Joe Borton (a:aa p.m.) _X_ Brad Hoaglun _X_ John Overton X Jessica Perreault _X_ Luke Cavener Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will go ahead and call the meeting to order. For the record, it is January 10th, 2023, at 4:33 p.m. We will begin this City Council Work Session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item is adoption of the agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move adoption of the agenda as published. Cavener: Second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as published. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Oppose nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Modified Final Plat for Skybreak Subdivision No. 1 (MFP-2022-0001) by Conger Group, generally located South of Lake Hazel Rd., East of S. Eagle Rd., and North of Columbia Rd. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 2 of 37 2. Development Agreement (Slatestone Subdivision H-2022-0039) Between the City of Meridian and Charles and Maria Rauch (Owners) and Lasher Enterprises (Developer) for Property Located at 2707 S. Stoddard Rd. 3. Development Agreement(West Valley Emergency Center H-2022-0065) Between the City of Meridian and West Valley Medical Center, Inc. for Property Located at the Southwest Corner of N. Levi Ln. and N. Rustic Oak Way 4. Dog Licensing Designee Agreements Between the City of Meridian and Meridian Veterinary Hospital, Pet Care Clinic, and Settler's Park Veterinary Hospital 5. Professional Service Agreement with Hull Film for Meridian Historical Virtual 360 Tour for the Not-To-Exceed amount of $1,800 6. Professional Service Agreement Between City of Meridian and Joshua Binder for Traffic Box Wrap of Terry Binder's Artwork Near Ten Mile and Pine Simison: First item up is the Consistent Agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move approval of our Consent Agenda and for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest. Cavener: Second the motion. Simison: I 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: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT REPORTS 8. Community Development: WASD Student Population and Community Programs Projects Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 3 of 37 Simison: And as we are still waiting for one person to show up for the proclamation, we are going to go ahead and move on to the first item under Department Reports, which will be the Community Development W-S —West Ada School District, student population and community programs projects. Turn this over to Miranda or Marci or someone else, whoever would like to — Miranda, you may -- do you want to turn the podium around for her, please? Thanks for joining us, Marci. Horner: I am Marci Horner. I am the planning and development administrator for West Ada School District. In my role I get to analyze enrollment of the schools and their capacity. Today I'm going to update you on enrollment for the schools in Meridian and also share with you some projected enrollment for upcoming school years. First, I just want to review some capacity terms. Building capacity is based on the number of general education classrooms a school has and is established at the time a school is designed. Program capacity is determined after a more detailed analysis of how those classrooms are being utilized. So, if a classroom that is designed to be a general education classroom, but is being used by a special program, such as maybe an E-L classroom or a gifted and talented classroom, then, that program capacity is adjusted. Here is a list of the traditional elementary schools in Meridian, their program capacities and their enrollment for the current school year. The map on the right shows the location of those schools, as well as their attendance areas, which are differentiated by the different colors. All of these schools are currently below their program capacity. Here is a list of the middle schools in Meridian, their building capacity and their enrollment for this school year, as well as a map showing the locations of those schools as well. And here are those high school — or the high schools in Meridian. Going back to the elementary schools, I have added the projected enrollment for the 23-24 school year and highlighted those projected enrollment numbers that are approaching or exceeding the program capacity and, then, here I have added the projections for the 24-25 school year and forecast trend. Here for the middle schools and the high schools, again, are the enrollments and the projected enrollment for the 23-24 school years and, once again, adding the 24-25 projected enrollments, as well as a forecasting trend. And with that I will turn the time over to Mr. Gillen. Gillen: Thank you. So, just for the record, Jonathan Gillen. I'm the chief of operations here at the school district. What I kind of wanted to walk you through a little bit is when is school is identified as —we will use the term hotspot. So, essentially, it has either some enrollment projection concerns or we are getting close to that program capacity. I kind of want to just educate you a little bit on the process the district takes and so once Marci and I have visited, as we continue to look and evaluate enrollments, as we have identified a school that may need some additional, you know, checking on, we will send a team, Marci and myself, along with our chief academic officer Marcus Myers, and, then, if there is any program specific content person, so as if affecting the GT program or special education, we will identify those individuals and we will actually go out and visit the school. So, we will walk the entire building. We will make sure that our enrollment projections, our capacity usage is aligning with the maps that we have. Essentially just verifying that what we say is program capacity actually is. And, then, we will start taking a look at the building and saying are there things that we can do differently. So, education has Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 4 of 37 changed with the change in COVID and so now every student has a laptop. So, I will often take a look and say if you have a computer lab maybe that's something that we could repurpose and so we will go through and evaluate that we will visit with the program directors, obviously, visit with the principal and the administration in the building and will start trying to identify how we can further maximize our building and, then, if there are options identified, part of what I come is to be able to look at funding streams we have available to -- if we need to make any building modifications, so that we can do that to make it as easy as possible. So, a couple of the schools were identified already on your list and so Chaparral -- this PowerPoint is a -- a couple days old. We have actually met -- the enrollment team went out and reviewed Chaparral and what we were able to do was identified -- in that case they are using a computer lab and so we will have that teacher travel, to provide computers as part of the specials in the school and, essentially, that computer lab will be repurposed and so that's kind of the process we will go through. That's usually the step one before we start identifying other facility options. In the case of Hillsdale, our belief is that we should move a portable out there. So, we have a portable in another site we are going to move and so currently we have an architect working through that process and the permitting process. So, shouldn't be surprised in the case of Hillsdale or Pleasant View if you actually see these things come up and you start hearing about them. Pleasant View is much the same. The site was already built with identification for a portable already on it, so we are just going to use that spot and we will be moving a portable from another facility that's currently open and, then, Mary McPherson is one that has been identified as a hotspot. Really for that one we are kind of evaluating the enrollment. A lot of that has to do with the growth in the area and how many students move in. So, we will continue to keep an eye on that. Right now they have the ability to handle the managed enrollment and the increases we project and we will just continue to keep an eye on it. So, that's like a hotspot that really, quite honestly, it's going to kind of stay an ember and we are going to keep -- keeping our eye on it. And, then, I did just want to share a little bit about the other things that the district is doing. So, a lot of that discussion was really short-term solutions; right? We have identified an enrollment increase. Here is how we are going to either move a portable or shift a change in the classroom to be able to meet those needs. The district is also undertaking a pretty large capital planning process and identifying and looking at all of our buildings, really, for those deferred maintenance needs, which also, obviously, affect our enrollment management. So, we have been evaluating each of our buildings, identifying needs across those buildings, whether it be hardscapes, parking lots, playgrounds, those kind of things. You may have started to hear some of this discussion. And so I just wanted you to know that's really kind of our medium term planning in addition to continuing to evaluate enrollment and see if there is additional facility needs that we have. And with that we can stand for any questions you have. Simison: All right. Thank you, Jonathan and Marci. Council, any questions? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 5 of 37 Hoaglun: Yeah. Jonathan, I don't know if this is a question for you or Marci, but I -- I want to make sure I understand. There -- there is a funnel that goes to the high schools or comes down and you start with lots of elementary schools, come to middle schools and, then, you go to the high school, but there is not necessarily a correlation of people look and see, oh, the elementary school is below capacity. Oh, the middle school is below capacity -- that doesn't necessarily mean the high school that they flow to will be below capacity; is -- is that right? Or -- because there is other factors that come into play for some of the other high schools that are outside of our city boundaries and some things like that. So, I just want to make sure I understand that there is — if there is capacity in other schools, does that mean or does it not mean there is capacity -- will be capacity at the high school that they go to? Horner: Well, it doesn't necessarily correlate, because each -- each school is going to be analyzed separately and individually. We have feeder patterns, but -- but, really, we really just have to -- to analyze those schools separately and individually, if I understand your question correctly. Hoaglun: I think Dr. Bub does. Bub: Councilman, I think I -- I hear where you are going. You are right, it is a funnel. We -- right. We have more elementary schools. If all of our elementary schools that were feeding into a high school were lower in capacity, then, obviously, that would feed into that high school at some point. But we don't have any situation in which all of our elementary schools — so, if we have an elementary school that's lower in capacity, we also have three other elementary schools that are at or over capacity, if that makes any sense. So, by the time they come up, because the high school will be comprised of students from seven, eight maybe ten feeder elementary schools at one point where those kids went and, then, we also have to take into consideration average age that people are moving here, average age of kids coming in. A lot of students at younger ages will end up -- will opt -- and I say a lot -- a portion of our students will opt to go to charter schools and, then, by the time they hit high school they want to play high school sports, they want to be part of high school programs and so they enter into our -- our high school. So, we -- we see that transition a lot when they get to high school. If that answers your question. Hoaglun: Yes. Mr. Mayor, Dr. Bub, thank you. It -- it does. And, you know, that's the thing, because it's always a moving target, it doesn't necessarily have that correlation of, oh, in the perfect world if everything did it would, but that -- you just can't look at it that way; is that correct? So -- okay. Thank you. Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thanks, everyone. Marci and Mr. Gillen and Dr. Bub. I really appreciate — I wanted to just say, first of all, I feel like your data has come a long way and I just really appreciate that. I feel like this is a huge improvement from where we were two years ago in terms of really understanding where the district is at and the trends. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 6 of 37 So, thanks for that. A couple of questions. I guess my first question is about a year ago you guys did a presentation where you had built your projection model and that had led you to conclusions about your capital planning in terms of the number of elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. Given the trends do you still feel like those are the same in terms of your needs? So, that's my first question. And, then, my second question is do we specifically have a high school issue? And it looked to me like the trends in the high school were a lot higher. Maybe it's the population moving, maybe it's, you know, moving from charter schools. But I just wanted to understand how you are going to address the challenges of overcrowding in high schools specifically. Thank you. Gillen: I will start with answering both of those and, then, Marci can chime in. Yes, we did come and present us -- what I will tell you is that those conversations are still ongoing and our needs as we continue to kind of evaluate the enrollment and kind of look at -- if you remember the last time we spoke we talked about the fact that, hey, this is a new projection process for us and so now we are starting to get our first chances to really look at data and be able to say is it working and so we are identifying some places where the projections were -- were right on and that's great and we are identifying some places where -- you know, that might need some more work and so with that I think comes, then, our continued analysis of what that means and what that short-term impact looks -- looks like and that medium term impact and I think you will start to see us have more of those conversations as we kind of roll into, then, what are our needs and, then, how we are going to evaluate those needs and so that's really the first one. In the second question -- I think what a lot of it has to do with, as you look at high schools, is we have a little bit more ability to manage enrollment and -- and just how we maximize the facility. So, for us, really, next steps are doing that capacity analysis, both at the middle schools and the high school levels, so that we can further identify ways we can maximize our facilities. So, in this case where we maybe have a -- what looks like an overcrowding issue, we are able to manage that through teachers traveling and so that gives us a way to basically manufacture some additional capacity within the building and so we will be going through the steps now of trying to do that at the secondary level. It's just much more difficult at the secondary level. It's not as easy. The elementary kids kind of all stay in the same classroom. We know middle school and high school kids move. And so that, along with the CTE programs and the other shifting of students, kind of makes the calculation a little more complicated. But we are working through that process now, so that we can identify are there ways as enrollment increases or as it stays steady that we are able to manage the enrollment as we look at whether we need additional facilities going forward. Simison: And maybe just to piggyback on that a little bit, I think one of the things is Mountain View on your capacity numbers -- but that's been its operational number for 15 years as far as I'm aware. It's always been at that number, whether you put capacity or enrollment, that's how it's functioned, you know, and I -- right, wrong or indifferent, I -- it does stand out, but that's what the -- you know, at least my kids who go there that's what they have become accustomed to and I think the administration and teachers are accustomed to -- to a certain extent. Right or wrong or indifferent, it is what it is in that regards. But, sorry, Council Woman Strader, I just want to have that in since we were on the high schools. Didn't know if you had any other additional questions. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 7 of 37 Strader: Yeah. I -- I mean so I guess, you know, are -- I understand that the -- that you are in the middle of a process, so you have updated your enrollment projections. Do you -- when do you expect to have your needs identified in terms of that update, in terms of what additional schools are needed or, you know, your more medium and long-term, guess, you know, approaches? Bub: Yeah. Council Woman, this is Derek Bub, superintendent. I just wanted to touch base. We are consistently looking at this. We are working with our board. Obviously, we know what our needs are and we know we are --this is a -- a storm that's starting to brew, as far as we not only have capacity needs, but we also have refurbishment needs and how do we maintain the current facilities that we have and we are consistently working with our board to keep them informed and come up with creative solutions to be able to, obviously, fund those needs and make sure that our kids continue to have great educational opportunities within West Ada. Strader: Thank you. Appreciate that. It sounds like there is no specific timing at this point in terms of guidance of when we would expect that. Bub: Yeah. I'm just -- I guess what I would say right now is I'm not prepared to speak for the board. That's really a board decision as far as how we go forward. But what I will say is that we continue to have conversations with our board and make sure that they are apprised of what's going on. Obviously, there is some changes within the legislature, there is some funding that's going to come from there and so we are -- we are anxiously awaiting to see how that all pans out here in this upcoming legislative session. Strader: Thank you. Mr. Mayor, if you don't mind -- Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Understood. And I think it's fantastic -- I mean listening to the governor talk about the investments in education that are planned and, obviously, we are all really hoping that, you know, capital needs can become a part of that and we are all on the same team, you know, so we appreciate you looking at the data, appreciate you working with the board and everything. I guess just a simple question and we asked -- I think we asked you last time -- I mean do we need to do anything differently in terms of how we are growing or how we are working with you to help support you as you are looking at these trends or do you guys feel like, you know, we are managing -- it's looking fine, let's continue as we are. Bub: Well, I would say this. I mean — and maybe we should have started out with this. We are very appreciative of the relationship we have with our city and with our Council. We feel like you guys are all available to us, very supportive to education. I think we hold -- we all hold education as a high priority in Meridian and -- and it's something that we can work as a team on. As we get closer on a bond or some type of fund -- funding mechanism, we will absolutely touch base. I know that we have talked about having a joint -- a joint meeting here -- Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 8 of 37 Simison: February 23rd. Bub: February 20 -- like I said, February 23rd. I don't look that far ahead on my calendar. So, February 23rd it sounds like we are going to have a joint meeting and we will probably be able to have more in-depth conversations regarding what our direction is and we will, obviously, know more about the upcoming legislative session. Strader: Fantastic. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Thanks. First, Marci, I just -- I want to say thanks again for all your hard work. I feel like that you are an unsung hero in our community that not a lot of people know about and I just -- I appreciate every week the good work that you put to give us the opportunity to make the best decision available and I know we were talking about this is our first time we have ever been face to face and I just -- I want to start with that and I appreciate this presentation. The slides that you were going through the schools that were showing the trends to me were really interesting and I'm hoping one of the three of you can maybe speak to a little bit about how -- what the methodology is in determining that trend and -- and what is a fluke for one year versus an ongoing — and, then, superintendent, I will have a question for you here in a minute. But just trying to understand the methodology behind the trends would -- would be really beneficial to be marked. Horner: So, there is several factors that go into projecting enrollment. One of them is the developments and the growth. So, I gave a presentation about student generation rates and even more specifically what is that student generation rate for newer homes, so that we can identify if we have a newer home and I think even one time Council Woman Strader had said like let's -- let's compare newer -- I think we were -- at the time we were discussing apartments, but let's -- let's compare those newer apartments with -- and so that's something that I have really taken to heart and done. So, we are planning those student generation rates to the developments and being able to identify what we can anticipate -- and that's what you see in those letters, what we can anticipate as far as student counts from those new developments. So, that -- that's one factor, the growth factor. Another factor is taking away the growth and what is happening with our students not-- not considering that growth. So, our students -- leaving it at a certain grade -- grade level, are they coming at a certain grade -- grade level, which -- which Dr. Bub alluded to in 9th grade we see a jump, a spike. So, we will call that mobility and -- and it's different in every area. So, we kind of -- we get to a -- not district wide, but more of— I like to look at that at an elementary attendance area level and look at that residential base mobility to see what -- what are the trends that are happening. Elementary we add in another factor, which would be birth rates to anticipate kindergarten and future years lower level. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 9 of 37 So, all of those three factors can produce this projection, if you will. Now, again, these projections, what I'm learning as we continue to do this, is feeling confident about -- and learning more about the projections and taking a look and say did we -- did we -- did we project accurately. If not what went wrong? What is different? Is the mobility accurate. In some areas we look at the mobility and we say we can't --we don't have a large sample area for this mobility, because we have so many new homes. So, we have to do -- maybe do some adjustments and that's a learning process that we are going through. So, all of this look -- as we look forward we can -- we can project into the future, but too far into the future there is too much change as we -- we have noticed that even growth is -- is -- is slowing down a little bit. So, we have to look far enough ahead, but not too far ahead, if -- if that makes sense. And so that's where those -- those forecasting trends come from, looking at what those projections are with those three factors and, then, even maybe an additional factor of just the institutional knowledge of what particularly goes on at -- in a certain area, because we do have some schools of choice options, we have -- looking ahead we -- we had full-time kindergarten. Did that affect our numbers. This year we have a -- a charter school coming in in this area. How is that going to affect -- so, that fourth factor of just that institutional knowledge of what -- what is happening. So, all of those get combined and we come up with this — so, I come up with this projection and I will look at a couple of years in advance and -- and come up with that trend and I feel confident that the -- while the numbers are not going to be a hundred percent accurate, the trends are -- are -- I -- I believe are going to be accurate. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, maybe one more. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Perreault: Superintendent Bub, because we are so lucky to have you here, I -- I -- I do have kind of an interesting question for you. There is a very small part of Meridian that is within the Kuna School District and we had an annexation request that came in a few weeks ago and representatives of the Kuna School District came with a letter saying that they didn't support this annexation unless the developer was willing to, essentially, write the district a check and it was a little bit of a head scratcher for me and I'm just curious from a policy consideration process is that something that West Ada is considering to emulate? Has there been any discussion from the board? Are those -- is that part of your SOP that you guys are exploring and should we expect to see any of those types of requests from you guys in the future? Bub: That's a great question. And, no, we have not explored that. That's just not a policy that we have -- Cavener: Okay. Bub: I will just say we believe for West Ada that that's not a road that we are ready to go down — one that — that that's going to be on and we work hand in hand with our developers. Our developers have done a great job of donating land when we need it or giving us land at -- at -- at an affordable cost to be able to build schools and -- and we Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 10 of 37 work hand-in-hand with them and we will continue to do that. We will provide really good feedback to the Council on some of those zoning applications. But, overall, we -- we -- we anticipate continuing to work hand-in-hand with our developers. Cavener: Thanks. Appreciate it. Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. And just a couple of comments and, then, a question. Sorry for my voice. I'm under the weather this evening. So, if I understood correctly from Dr. Bub and Marci, that the numbers jump headed into high school. I know as a realtor I have had many clients that have decided to wait to move their families until their children are at that age. Also have had families that have moved locally from different areas, Caldwell, Nampa, Boise into the district when their children are in high school, because they want to take advantage of certain programs or certain athletic opportunities. So, I assume, though, that there is some of those elements as well, which, of course, are really hard to quantify. My question related specifically to the high schools is has there been conversation with the board about moving boundaries? You know, I know that it's been a hesitancy of the parent committees, but it seems to me like you have this continual opening in Meridian High of about 300 students and -- and we -- there hasn't been an adjustment to either the north or the south to accommodate some of the extra students in Mountain View or Rocky Mountain. Bub: Yeah. Well, let me start with -- I think those are two -- I will cover both schools. So, Rocky Mountain we feel like our projections -- with the opening of Owyhee High School our projections are actually that Rocky Mountain is going to reduce enrollment -- continue to reduce enrollment. The way we opened up Rocky — Owyhee High School, we -- we expect that this year will be probably the largest Rocky Mountain is over the next couple years. I think that was the last time I looked at those projections. As far as boundary changes, yes, we always consider boundary changes. I think it's really difficult to move kids from one school to another school. Socially it's difficult. Obviously, we have gone through some -- some challenging times with the pandemic and everything else and so that's -- that is always an option that we look at. I think it's -- it's a difficult option, but it's something that is always a consideration as we move forward and I agree with you, I do think that we do see a large mobility rate when it comes --when it hits high school. People move into the area in high school from outside -- outside communities for a variety of different reasons, from outside the state for a variety of different reasons. We will continue to see our high schools with large numbers I believe. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Just one follow-up question, Dr. Bub. So, is -- you -- your team has done a great job of starting to identify the process by which they will decide to increase the space or use of classrooms or add a portable, all those things that we discussed this evening Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 11 of 37 and so it seems to me like you have a checklist now, an order -- order of priority that you go through. Is there something like that -- that -- that exists for the boundary changes as well? Is there -- do we wait until all of the facility capacity is met and, then, the boundary change conversation is had or how does that work in -- in terms of priority of what you go through to accommodate additional students? Bub: Yeah. Great question. So, we actually have a policy on -- around boundary changes. So, if we wanted to go down that road we would have a parent committee, we -- we would bring in the community to be able to have input on those -- on boundary changes. It is one of the factors that we look at to mitigate any growth issues that we may have. So, it -- we can't just -- as part of our policy we -- we can't just make boundary changes quickly. It takes a committee of individuals that look at all -- all different options and look at the possibilities to be able to make decisions for kids. Now, that being said, I will say boundary changes are always an option for West Ada. They -- they -- they will always be an option for us to look at as we try to accommodate all of our students. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Either one of the two of you can answer this question, whoever is brave enough. I know boundary changes are not something that are looked upon fondly when they have to happen and several times they have been proposed and rescinded. With these numbers climbing are you still looking at -- and it's elementary and secondary -- keeping your classroom ratios of student to teacher the same? Bub: Yes. Really direct, yes, we are looking at keeping those classrooms teacher -- that student-to-teacher ratios the same. We don't want to overpack our classrooms. You are absolutely correct, boundary changes are -- are wildly unpopular for a variety of reasons, including the fact that people don't want their child, who has established themselves as a sophomore at Mountain View High School, to end up at a different school. Regardless. And that's not one school versus another school, that's just really -- you have established your social setting there. We -- boundary changes are -- are always really difficult. We also will -- are committed to maintaining the teacher-to-student ratio. We feel like that's a prime area for our students to be able to learn. It's important for our teachers to be able to give individualized attention to our students and that becomes difficult. Again, the high school -- working my entire career at high schools, the high schools you are able to manage a little bit more. I was -- I spent time at Mountain View High School. I served two years at Mountain View High School. And you are able to manage that a little bit more by having teachers move classrooms throughout the day. There is just some -- some different opportunities there. We also bus kids for CTE programs where they are not on campus. There is -- there is a lot of variables at a high school that you just don't see at -- when you are in an elementary school. So, we feel like it's -- it's less of a -- we have more tolerance there. How is that? Simison: Council, any additional questions? Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 12 of 37 Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Stader. Strader: So, comment. One of our members of our planning staff -- I believe at a -- one of our meetings on a development had made a comment about hearing through the grapevine that maybe we didn't find your letters as useful these days or something along those lines and I just wanted to make sure we just directly dispel that. That we read that letter every time we consider approving a new development and it's incredibly important to us that you -- you know, I -- I think you understand that, but I just want to make sure we are just really upfront about how important that letter is and the, you know, projected students from new development in the area is very important to us and just so you understand how important that feedback is. I know we all look at that. So, just wanted to make sure there is not any misunderstanding about the usefulness of that. Bub: Yeah. I appreciate that. We -- we -- we do take the time to make sure that we are trying to inform the Council as they make these decisions and -- and we appreciate that feedback. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. Just along those lines of what Council -- Council Woman Strader was mentioning -- and I appreciate her saying that, because I completely agree. We have -- we have had some of our development -- development community come to us and say, well, you know, the schools in your priority growth areas are really full and that's true, our priority growth areas — Owyhee is already full and Mountain View is full and those two areas are -- are where our priority growth has gone and so with Marci's projections showing that those two schools will continue to have increased enrollment, it does make sense that that's the case, the benefit I think to all parties is that you also have an understanding of our intention, where our growth is going to be and, hopefully, that helps the district to make some of those decisions and we certainly don't want to -- you know, we are -- we are -- we are basically telling the development community, hey, these are the areas we want you to expand and, then, if or when we come back and say, yes, but, then, there is not enough enrollment -- or, excuse me, there is not enough school capacity in those areas, so we would rather not put a development there, we have a little bit of those conversations going on. I think as we continue to get more refined with what you are doing and what we are doing, it will -- it will start to really work itself out. So, that's where I see some of this data becoming really important for our entire public and not just for us as a city and how we plan. I think this is going to be important for all of our community, development community, our parents and everybody. So, just wondering if you all will publish these slides or something similar to it on a location on your website. Bub: We -- I don't know that we had plans to -- to publish this. I -- I think that this will be part of a bigger plan when we start talking about a long-term facilities plan. And it's not Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 13 of 37 that it's secret -- it's, obviously, part of an open meeting right now. It's just -- I don't know that we have a spot on the website as I'm -- as I'm walking through that. Simison: All right. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate it and we will -- we will see you on the 23rd of February, if not before in other ways. Bub: Thank you. Simison: Thank you. And for the record, Councilman Borton joined us at 4:44 p.m. Let the record note that, please. Carson: So, Miranda Carson, community development here at the city, doing comprehensive planning. It's nice to meet you, Councilman Overton. I wanted to piggyback, while we were talking about schools and talk a little bit about our community programs and our safe routes to school and how those safe routes to schools are identified, how we identify community programs. There was some questions that came up regarding just how we are keeping our kids safe and our community safe around schools. Those are sites that are used both, you know, morning and afternoon as students come and go. Those are also sites that are often used after school for events or even just used as community parks for people to go let their -- I know I have taken my toddlers to go run around a -- a school playground before, so we want to make sure they are safe for all ages. So, first I want to talk a little bit about the State Department of Education and what — what steps they have taken for reporting for those safe routes to school. So, school districts are required to report any hazards -- any areas that are hazardous for students within a mile and a half that they are going to be busing students. Those are called safety busing anytime that a student within a mile and half of their school is bused and the school district is required to come up with some kind of scoring element to look at the one and a half mile buffer around a school and determine where it's not safe for a student to walk. So, when a school district is going through that process there are a few considerations. This isn't the full list, but a few of the considerations that they are looking at are the widths of the shoulder, the traffic counts, how old are the kids. Of course, we would expect a high school student to be able to navigate a situation a little bit differently than a kindergarten student who is walking with their parent. Are there trucks. Farm equipment. We even look at -- it's even suggested to look at temporary hazards. So, there has been cases where there is construction and there might be temporary safety busing. So, this is what the State Department of Education requires every three years. As far as how West Ada handles this requirement, I'm not going to speak to that. I don't want to speak for them. But I did just want to let you know that requirement is in place. So, how do we identify the hazards? So, as a city we do identify hazards. West Ada does their process through that walk through committee to identify hazards. ACHD has a process to identify hazards through their neighborhood pedestrian and bike plans. Here at the city we are working with West Ada to what kind of input are they getting from parents and school administrators. We also get residents -- this year we had a Girl Scout troop come and speak to the Transportation Commission about a concern that they had as a troop. So, we get requests from community members. You all got a request and passed it to the Transportation Commission and they vetted it and Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 14 of 37 spoke to residents. So, that is a -- a vital part of the process to look at. Our transportation network, not just for cars, but for every mode of transportation -- bike, feet, bus. Maybe one day trains. We also do some site visits. So, we have gotten -- we get requests occasionally that there is an issue and I might go out and look at it or transportation commissioners might go look at it prior to a meeting. So, that's how we identify areas. The ACHD neighborhood pedestrian bike plan process is also extremely lengthy. They bring in stakeholders from multiple groups. They go out into the community with pop-up meetings. Community meetings online. They go into schools in the past and ask the students themselves where do you feel safe? What keeps you from feeling safe when you are walking to school. So, these are how we identify those -- those areas that we can make improvements or those areas that currently have hazards. So, I wanted to give a couple of examples. So, I brought two schools to give examples. Excuse me. So, first I want to orient you all a little bit to this. So, the purple is the Mary McPherson attendance boundary and, then, if you can see the kind of light orange is a one and a half mile -- this is just a point buffer, not a walkout buffer, but just to kind of give you an idea. And, then, a one mile buffer here. This small area is the actual walk zone from Mary McPherson. So, based on the one and a half miles that the State Department of Education says students can walk to school as long as there is no hazards, of that -- of that buffer only this percentage -- this small section of students are actually walking to school. So, then, the next step is to say, why -- why can't the kids in this area get to school that's right here where this purple schoolhouse is? Why can't they get there safely? So, as an example I wanted to show you this -- this green path -- and I apologize this cursor is not working right. This green path here -- if there was a pathway installed there -- and this is an example. But if there was a pathway installed there, this neighborhood could access that school through neighborhood walking routes. Potentially. It would have to be evaluated, but that would greatly increase the walk zone area and the walkability to Mary McPherson. Similarly, if there were sidewalks installed at the corner of Amity and along Locust Grove, these students could walk to school. So, we have -- we have a very small portion of students that can walk. I believe it's about three houses right now that can walk, because there is a crossing at Mary Mac. Other than that, the entire school is bused in. So, the next example I wanted to give -- so, that's one example of how we would identify those are things we want to put on our community programs list. Maybe we want to put up halfway or maybe we want to put in -- request some sidewalks through ACHD. So, another example I want to give you is Chief Joe. You will notice there is not an attendance boundary on this one. Chief Joe is a school of choice, so there is a very large enrollment boundary there. But looking at the walk zone for Chief Joe, which is, again, this shaded area, the walk zone for Chief Joe is a decent size, especially compared to Mary Mac. There is still, you know, some areas that will likely never be in the walk zone. Kids are not going to be asked to cross a five lane road, especially not at the elementary level. I doubt they will ever be asked to cross it at any other level. But there is -- there is an area here that maybe could be put into the walk zone. Right now this neighborhood doesn't connect to this neighborhood. So, these students to get to the school have to go out, walk down Fairview, up Locust Grove and into the school. So, it's not a safe route to school. So, it's not included in the walk zone. It's safety bused. One program -- or one project that is on our city programs list is a small pathway connection here that would connect to a micro path and a current pathway that really just needed, you know, 500 feet Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 15 of 37 across a canal to be connected, so that students would have a safe route to school. When that's put in it can be evaluated, is it now safe to walk. And, then, potentially that area that's circled there with the green dotted line could be added to the walk zone. So, this is how we come up with a community programs list. We look at where are their sidewalk gaps, where are their pathway gaps, where -- where could we install bike lanes that maybe there is bike lanes to the east and bike lanes to the west, but this one mile stretch is missing bike lanes. So, where can we put those things in so that users from five to 95 can access the roads and the pathway system in our community through multiple modes of transportation? So, with that I want to talk a little bit about how once we identify those projects how do we prioritize those projects. So, we have identified a list in past years and we update that list every year and add to that list every year. The Transportation Commission is a vital component to updating that list. So, the prioritization starts with ACHD sending planning staff a list of our past requests, whether they have been scoped, programmed, what comments ACHD may have on those from the previous year and, then, we go through and look at if there is any new projects that have been identified over the past year and keep a running list of projects that we identify through the different processes that I mentioned. I keep a running list throughout the year and when we receive our list from ACHD from the previous year I add those to it and, then, the Transportation Commission has a prioritization subcommittee that, then, meets and this year they met for -- they had about a three hour meeting to really dive into every single project and there is about 70 projects on the roads and intersections lists and about 70 projects on the community programs list and they really dive into the projects. We look at aerials, we look at what destinations we are talking about connecting and go through the different considerations. So, some people might look at enhanced crossings more favorably than a sidewalk gap project, but we have a robust team that goes through and looks at those and ranks those. After the prioritization subcommittee meets and kind of same -- during that process I'm also meeting with the Parks Department, saying which of these might connect to your parks, where do you have new parks coming in that we might need projects, because from us requesting a project to ACHD, to ACHD actually getting it built, it might be a four, five, six year process. So, if we know a park is coming in the next six years, you might want to go ahead and start those requests. So, I meet with Parks, I meet with West Ada. Both of those stakeholders I meet with one to two times and, then, the Transportation Commission takes in all the feedback from the subcommittee and my meeting with Parks and West Ada and they do a prioritization ranking and make a recommendation to Council. So, that's where we are in the process right now. Last night the Transportation Commission finalized their recommendation to Council and you will see that in the next couple weeks, so that Council can, then, look at that ranking and see if anything needs to be moved, ask any questions regarding those projects and just work together to get those requests in and make the multi-modal system a little bit better in the city. So, I can stand for any questions on that. Simison: Thank you, Miranda. Council, any questions? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 16 of 37 Strader: I have a ton. I really appreciate it. I have been really hyped up about this, so really appreciate the information. So, I guess a couple of things. So, you know, we have this situation -- I think it's being worked on -- Pleasant View, I believe, like -- so, around Gondola and Black Cat, we had a safe crossing to school issue and it's a case of maybe we are busing students, but there is human behavior and if you live right across the street from the school you may still have children that are crossing unsafely and so I guess my first question is how do we accelerate the process if we feel like there is something particularly hazardous or how do we, you know, ensure that West Ada and ACHD can work together to make sure we have adequate pedestrian plans in place for new schools? So, that's kind of my first question. Carson: Yeah. That's a great question. Thank you, Council Woman Strader. So, the Gondola example is a perfect example. There have been other projects throughout the year. We --when the Transportation Commission gets a concern from a Council Member, citizen, a parent, any concern that they get, a business owner, they don't say, okay, let's add it to your list to look out at the end of the year when we do our prioritization, they address that concern right then and we have ACHD staff that sit as ex officios on that commission and they begin that process right then with discussing that with ACHD staff in the meeting and, then, going forward with what tasks can be done. If it was something that we needed to coordinate with West Ada we would do that. We have West Ada representation in the Transportation Commission. We have an ex officio position for West Ada. So, those things are addressed right then. When I spoke to keeping a tally of projects that came up throughout the year, sometimes the Transportation Commission's recommendation is something needs to be done now, let's get started on it, and we begin that process with ACHD. Sometimes the recommendation is that's a valid point. It's not really a pressing concern. Or the development that's nearby hasn't finished building out yet, so it's not something that needs to be done right now. It's not like a fire issue, so let's put it on the list to look at when we do our prioritization. Strader: Mr. Mayor, I have a couple more if that's okay. Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you. So, you know, with our -- for example, our Comprehensive Plan, future land use map, we make sure that we comprehensively update that every five to ten years, for example. It sounds like there is a running list of projects that the Transportation Commission is looking at. How often do they meet? How often do they review all of the school sites comprehensively? Carson: So, the -- so, reviewing the school sites is something that West Ada would do through their walk zone committee process. So, their safety busing process. Transportation Commission gets the requests from West Ada or from parents as they come in and, then, also ACHD has a process that they go through. I think -- so, West Ada does each school every three years is what the requirement is from the State Department of Education. I don't want to speak for them, but I believe they also do it more frequently as boundaries change or new hazards pop up, they would -- they would do that process Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 17 of 37 again. Three years is the -- the minimum. What -- ACHD does their neighborhood pedestrian and bike plans I believe every eight to ten years. So, they do a -- it's a larger area that they are looking at for those plans. And, then, the Transportation Commission meets monthly and takes in requests. I would say we have probably a community request — if I had to guess I would say we have eight to ten community requests a year that come in. So, we are looking at things monthly at different areas. Strader: Yeah. So, I think one concern that I have, just being open about it, is you have three different entities that have a different process and a different cadence of reviewing this information. So, there are these state requirements for safe routes to school, that includes busing, then, you have a different neighborhood pedestrian plan that ACHD is doing and, then, finally, you have citizens in Meridian that sometimes approach the Transportation Commission, but, frankly, I don't even think that that's on their radar some of the time. It would be, I think, really beneficial to us to have a way in Meridian for us to comprehensively -- you know, either hire a consultant or go through on a regular basis all of our crossings to school, even if it's every ten years or something, just some kind of regular review or process where citizens can be directed here is who you provide feedback to. We have a plan in place. Every so often we comprehensively review, because there is a component to this that I don't see, which is, you know, streetlights, for example, things like that, that are a part of safety that I'm not seeing those being captured here. Maybe they are. But I'm just worried about -- -- you know. Because like I had a group of concerned moms that was upset about this particular crossing. The only reason I knew about it was Facebook. They didn't know where to go. They had talked to the school. They had been told by West Ada one thing. They had been told by ACHD another thing and, then, the City of Meridian was nowhere really in the mix of that and now I'm really grateful to our staff for helping to coordinate. But, you know, how do the three of us -- the three agencies kind of work together to have a -- a better plan? Because this is, obviously, a huge priority. We want kids and families to feel safe getting to school. Every time we have a, you know, death of a student here in Meridian -- I mean it's a huge tragedy and pedestrian deaths are avoidable. You know, we need to really try our best, I think, to have a process. So, I don't know, that's just some feedback. I might be the only person, but I doubt it, that's kind of concerned, just that there might be things falling through the cracks. Carson: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Yes, Miranda. Carson: Council Woman Strader, that's a great point and I want to -- we could explore having a consultant. That's something that could be discussed at the staff level. I don't want to speak for my department. I will say that West Ada's process of doing it at a minimum every three years and likely more frequently as boundaries change and hazards change is a process that the city is invited to sit on and we do. Police are invited to sit on and they do. So, it is a process that West Ada leads the effort, but it's a coordinated effort between the city, police, I -- there is typically a regional director, I believe. I don't know if ACHD has been invited to those in the past. West Ada would have to speak to that. And Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 18 of 37 then -- so, granularly -- granular we are getting requests from citizens for specific areas and, then, smaller sections West Ada is evaluating -- taking -- taking the charge to evaluate those with the city on the team and, then, at a larger scale ACHD is evaluating those every ten years with West Ada and the city on the team. So, I wouldn't see it as three separate efforts, I see it as three separate agencies heading up the same efforts with different scales and different timelines. So, really, I think we have a good overlap in those efforts. Simison: With ultimately ACHD having the ability to determine what gets built on any given year throughout the entire county between West Ada, Boise, Kuna — did I miss any of the other school districts? Carson: That is correct, Mr. Mayor. We have -- we -- we make our requests to ACHD, whether it's in the Transportation Commission meeting as we are talking with staff, through requests that Council has sent to ACHD administration in the past or whether it's through this request process, we can make our requests, but short of going out and, you know, doing it ourselves, ACHD has the authority and I will say occasionally we do go through a process to go out and do it ourselves, so to speak. We have development improvements going on near Discovery Park that we felt were more pressing. So, the city went into a development agreement with the developer to get those done more -- more rapidly. West Ada, you know, saw a need that was brought to them by citizens and they moved to get the crossing in place before ACHD had the funds for that. One of the pathway connections that I mentioned earlier we are going to look at with block grants we can use to make that small connection and increase the walk zone. So, we make requests to ACHD and they ultimately hold the dollars and the decisions on when those requests get funded. Strader: Yeah. I guess I'm just a little concerned about -- like if I'm a parent and I call you, you know, or somebody in the city, what is the official recommendation on -- I don't feel I have a safe route to school for my child, what -- what would I be directed to do? Carson: So, the first thing -- Mr. Mayor? The first thing that you would be directed to do is have you spoken with the school district? If the school district has given -- you know, do you know what your walk zone is? Has it already been identified that you don't have a safe way to school and maybe you just weren't aware of that. If you are in a walk zone and you don't feel it's safe, we can talk to the school district about maybe there needs to be an intermittent safety committee that's pulled for that school. If it's an area that's not in the walk zone, but we know students are using it, because students and parents are going to do what they do, then, that's something where we have the Transportation Commission look at it and we frequently invite those people to either come and speak to the Transportation Commission and, then, I also always tell them whether you come and speak to the Transportation Commission or not, they are going to review the request. So, the citizen doesn't have to come and speak, they can just call me and tell me they have a problem and the Transportation Commission will consider it and go through the steps of—does it need to go to West Ada to have them do something -- like the Gondola project. Do we need to look to ACHD to say we need more speed limit signs? We need on-street Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 19 of 37 parking. We need more crossings at this location. So, that -- that's the process that a citizen would go through when they get put through and they call the City Hall and they get put through to my desk, because they have a Transportation Safety concern. Strader: Yeah. I mean it just feels like a big opportunity here to try to streamline that process for citizens and create a more coordinated effort between our three agencies, I guess, would be my feedback. I -- you know, I worry that we are -- we are putting our Transportation Commission as kind of an intermediary that I -- I'm unclear on, you know, kind of how -- how they are aggregating data and using it and if it's effective or if people would be, you know, better served going directly to ACHD, et cetera. I don't know. It -- it just -- it does feel like there are some that are kind of slipping through the cracks would be my concern. If the three of us, the city, ACHD and West Ada, could have a process where we comprehensively review everything together on a regular basis -- you know, I know that's a huge ask considering everyone has a different process in place, but that might -- that might be an opportunity for us. Thanks. Simison: Okay. Council, any additional questions? Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Miranda, excellent presentation. Carson: Thank you. Overton: I remember many years ago when the Traffic Commission was first brought together and at that time I believe we allowed citizens to come to the meetings and make their presentation on their concerns and we tried to have representatives of all the organizations at the table at the same time. Tell me whether this has changed. We were always a little concerned that we were going to be approaching a solution to the problem that made the most noise, not necessarily the ones that should have been the highest priority. Is there anything in place with the Commission currently to kind of sift through what the complaints are, with advice or statistics or studies, to determine what those highest priorities should be, instead of maybe getting caught up in just the one that makes the most noise at the meeting? Carson: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Overton, that's a great question. So, when -- when a request comes forward and when we have the noise for the request, that's the process where we look at and we do say, is this a request that needs to be handled right now? Is this a request that's got an immediate impact on our business community or our residents walking, students trying to get to school, or is it something that can be put on the prioritization subcommittee to make sure that we are not elevating requests, because it's the squeaky wheel and we are actually elevating the requests to have an immediate safety need and if it's not a request that has an immediate safety need or an immediate impact on -- on our business community or our students, then, the Transportation Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 20 of 37 Commission will say let's recommend that be put to the prioritization subcommittee and be ranked with the other projects that come through. So, that list of 70 projects, that's when it would get -- if it's not immediate need -- if the Transportation Commission doesn't deem it an immediate need, then, it will go on that list. If they do determine it's an immediate need -- and ACHD and West Ada sit on that commission as ex officio members and so if that group determines it is an immediate need, we work directly with ACHD, with the school district if we are not getting traction that we need, then, we will come back to Council and ask for some support, because you guys have a much bigger hammer than the Transportation Commission. So, we do go through the process if it's not -- we don't act based on squeaky wheel, we act based on what -- the Transportation Commission acts based on what the — the safety concerns are and the impact to our community. Overton: Thank you. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Miranda, just a couple of short questions. You touched on your presentation a lot of the great work that West Ada is doing. You know, as we continue to see new charter schools show up in Meridian, many of which provide busing and at least in -- in our neighborhood I see a -- three buses that come by two -- for two different charter schools and, then, the West Ada bus. So, what role and responsibility do these charter schools have in also participating in this process? You know, does -- does the burden just fall all on West Ada and our Transportation Commission? Are they active partners as well and do they have a responsibility to participate as well? Carson: So, when a charter school -- Mr. Mayor, Councilman Cavener, when a charter school comes in with an application for a development they have to go through the traffic process that every development goes through with ACHD to make sure that the infrastructure is there for their needs, which would include students walking. So, whether there is adequate sidewalks for students, whether the roads need to be widened because the traffic is going to change with the school -- so, they go through that process at that point. I think maybe there is an opportunity that when we go through the prioritization process, we reach out to charter schools as well in the future. I don't know that that's something that we have done. We do have charter schools that have -- we have had parents come from charter schools and say that there is an issue and we have addressed that with our traffic sergeant that sits on the commission as an ex officio as well. So, we have addressed that with police through the traffic and, then, we have also addressed it with ACHD and the charter school specifically. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, follow up? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 21 of 37 Cavener: You know, it's -- it's one thing about how a student can walk to school, but it's -- I mean, really, the larger picture is we want our students to be able to get to and from school safely, whether they are walking to a bus stop or walking home after they get off the bus and so certainly for students who live near a school, you know -- and -- and Chief Joseph is a great example. That school was built in an existing neighborhood, so, of course, it's much easier -- I was a Chief Joseph kid -- go Appaloosas -- and I would walk to school, go home at lunch, where Mary Mac, right, is out in the middle of -- was out in the middle of-- of nowhere and so certainly there is less opportunity to walk. But it's also about how those students, when they get on a bus and get dropped off at a bus stop, that they are able to also get home safe. So, how do we intertwine both of those things? Because I think they are — I mean the students that are walking to school is a small subsection of our overall student body in West Ada and these other schools, so how -- how far out do we go to look to ensure that when they get on and off a bus that they are also getting home safely? Simison: Miranda, you got a friend behind you, just so you know. Carson: Oh. So, real quick I want to speak to -- you are correct, students getting -- you know, walking is a small population of the students. Students in general is a small population of the city. So, really, when we get into the ACHD neighborhood and pedestrian bike plans, that's looking at how to our residents get to connections. How do they get to the grocery store? How do they get to the library? When they are at home, you know, not trying to get to school, how do they get to the YMCA? So, that process, the ACHD neighborhood and pedestrian bike plan process, brings in lots of stakeholders and that's looking at the larger network, not just getting to and from school, but getting through your community on foot and on bike. Cavener: Okay. Simison: Dr. Bub, do you have anything you would like to add? Bub: I just want to -- Mr. Mayor, Council, I just want to speak on behalf of West Ada, if can have two minutes of -- of privilege here just for a second. I want to talk about our process when it comes to busing. If there is a busing safety concern through our website, you can put a work -- work order ticket in and we will look at every single one of those work order tickets and respond to every single one of those work order tickets. Now, to put a HAWK light in is -- obviously, it takes time and -- and getting that approved through ACHD. We are paying for the HAWK light off of Gondola. We are -- we are taking on that burden. When we asked about how do you -- how do you prioritize? Is it the noisiest? No, it's not always the noisiest. Sometimes it is. We are sending a bus over for safety for a total of 15 kids. Does it make sense to have a bus over there? Maybe it makes more sense strategically to have a HAWK light there where kids can walk across the street and now we have freed up a bus, which we all know that busing in general is -- freeing up those routes is a huge concern for all of us. So, that's kind of our--our process. We look at every single one of those at the beginning of every school year. We also drive every single route, because, as you know, if we looked at things every three years, within Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 22 of 37 three years there is a high likelihood that there is going to be construction on one of these roads and probably not a safe area to put buses or to have a bus stop. So -- so, we look at them consistently. Now, we have a routine meeting every three years, but that doesn't mean we can't move --we can't change bus stops. We are very agile with --with changing bus stops. We communicate with our parents. And that could even be, hey, State Street is going to be torn up this -- this next year. We know that. So, we are going to move those bus stops with -- within a month of that. We know that there is some bus areas out where the 16 is going in out by Owyhee High School that we need to -- that we need to make adjustments to. So, we make those consistent adjustments. Not every three years. Every three years is when we formally meet with the committee of people, bring all stakeholders in, but safety is our ultimate concern. We have a process for that. Parents can put in a concern with that. We will look at those concerns and we will try to address them and one of the examples of addressing that is through the HAWK light. It just takes time to be able to get that and we will even fund that if — if needed and we are funding that HAWK light at Gondola. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, maybe one more question for -- for either of you -- Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: -- as long as you are both here. What type of funding does the state provide, you know, in terms of-- of grants or programs? Does anything like that exist? I -- I seem to remember from my lobbying days that there was somebody that was always down advocating for more funding for safe routes for schools and so I didn't know if that's a grant program or if West Ada is so big that you don't get a -- a share of that pie and maybe it goes other places. Gillen: Mayor and Council, really it's a safety busing process. We have provided reimbursement through the transportation process for that and that's really our only avenue in the case of a HAWK signal that we will be installing, we are actually using capital -- capital funds to be able to do that. So, it's coming from the district. Cavener: Thank you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. I just want to thank you for looking at having that HAWK signal installed. That's a really important project to parents in that area and I appreciate you guys, you know, accelerating that and making it happen, because it sounds like it was a very unsafe situation. So, thanks for doing that. Simison: Agreed and echo those sentiments. Council, any additional questions for Miranda? Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 23 of 37 Harper: Mayor? Simison: Lieutenant Harper. Harper: Mayor, Members of the Council, just to update on Gondola. We had a -- a conversation not too long ago with a development going in in that area and concerns about traffic speeds and I just wanted to give you guys a quick update on the record that our traffic team went out there and in one day wrote 50 tickets during school hours and I won't add on the record who the majority of those folks were that were receiving the tickets, but we had -- again, we know the importance of-- of safety of our youth, especially going to school in the morning or after school and, fortunately, you are able to be here on Tuesday nights and receive that information and take enforcement action when necessary to try to improve those -- those areas where we have safety concerns. Simison: Thank you for sharing that. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you, the West Ada team, for being here and -- and staying for the entire conversation as well and we look forward to seeing you again real soon. So, thank you. PROCLAMATIONS 7. Proclamation for Mental Wellness, Suicide Awareness & Addiction Recovery Month Simison: And with that we are going to go back to Item 7, which is a proclamation for Mental Wellness, Suicide Awareness and Addiction Recovery Month. So, if I could get September and Angela to join me at the podium, we will do that and thank you for your -- sitting through that presentation. So, Council and those -- some of you may recognize September, but I got to get that -- those words out -- from our Meridian Stars earlier this year. But I will go and do a proclamation and, then, I will turn the mic over to both of you for any comments you would like to make on behalf of the work that you are doing on this topic. Whereas people with mental illness, addiction struggle or thoughts of suicide can recover given the necessary services and support in their communities and whereas research shows that promoting connectedness between people and within communities creates a sense of belonging which can be a proactive factor against suicide and addiction and whereas people with these struggles make important contributions to our families and our communities, have many life experiences to offer so that others can find success and recovery and whereas greater public awareness about mental illness can change negative attitudes and behaviors and whereas we believe the connection is the cure and that encouraging those connections takes work and partnership in the community and whereas working with our community partners to introduce and connect people with the mental health, addiction recovery and suicide prevention resources that are available throughout the Treasure Valley is critical to the well-being of our families, communities, schools and businesses, therefore, I'm, Mayor Robert E. Simison, hereby proclaim January 2022nd -- January 2023rd as Mental Wellness, Suicide Awareness and Addiction Recovery Month in the City of Meridian and encourage residents of our community to commit to increasing awareness and understanding of mental illness, reducing stigma Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 24 of 37 and discrimination and promoting appropriate and accessible services for all people with, you know, mental illnesses, dated this 10th day of January 2023. So, thank you for -- for being here and for bringing more awareness to this issue. Angela: I would just like to say a quick note and just really my appreciation to the city for their conscientiousness and their support of this initiative and for the support in connection is the cure in our agenda for this year, really, to bring some great programs to the community and the Treasure Valley at large and so thank you so much to the city and the Council Members today. Frogley: I just want to echo what Angela said and I think when we started down this path about 18 months ago, I really felt like it was my opinion that this was important and as we have moved forward it's gone from opinion to fact. This is really important. Our community, as we are getting out there and talking to people and hearing people's stories and their experiences, so we are so thankful for the support and the backing of the city and we look forward to really great partnerships and being able to help more people. So, thank you. Harper: Mayor, if I can add a couple of comments. I just want to introduce Sam Luque and Mike Painter. They are part of CIT team. Sam is our clinician and I just wanted them here to be part of this proclamation. I think it's important to show our support and the work we are doing in the city, not only through mental health, but also with substance abuse through MADC. So, again, I'm glad we could be here to support you guys tonight. Thank you. Simison: Thank you, Lieutenant and the department. We appreciate it very much and, yeah, it is -- it is a partnership all the way around through the community. So, very much appreciated. Okay. All right. Council, are we good to keep going or do we need to take a break? I just want to make sure -- we are a little bit off -- off our normal schedule with what people normally do. ACTION ITEMS 9. Mayor's Office: Strategic Plan Update Simison: All right. Then with that, Vincent, we will do Item 9, which is the Mayor's -- Mayor's Office Strategic Plan Update and I will turn this over to Mr. Koontz. Koontz: All right. I'm excited to be up here. I haven't been up here in a while. Let's see. Yeah. Good afternoon. I guess it's good evening now. So, Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, I am here to provide the biannual execution update for our city's 2021 to 2025 strategic plan. Councilman Overton, I'm glad to have you here and look forward to working with you and collaborating with you in the future on -- on different projects. So, I'm the strategic performance analyst for the city. My main job duties are administering, managing and creating the strategic plan with the help of all the staff. I'm also in charge of our continuous improvement program. But tonight I'm going to talk about our strategic Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 25 of 37 plan. So, the strategic plan was formulated with our vision of kind of where we want to be, our mission of what we want -- how we want to do it and, then, our focus areas about what we care about and, then, the goals and those are kind of the key things. Like what do we want to achieve, how can we achieve it. Those are kind of the key framework pieces of our strategic plan. So -- and, you know, Councilman Overton, I know you are new to the Council, but I know you have been with the city in various capacities for a long time. But if you have any specific questions as we are going through the presentation, I'm happy to answer them for you. And on the agenda tonight -- so, we are going to talk about kind of a recap of what's occurred from June of 2022 to December of 2022. We are going to go through by focus areas of some of the highlighted work that's related to some of the achievement of the goals in the plan and, then, we are going to talk a little bit about some of the ongoing execution and, then, any -- any questions you might have on those topics. So, just a general update. Again, this provides about a year and a half of total execution in the plan. I'm happy to report several key stats in the plan. We have completed 59 of the 359 tactics, which represent about 18 percent of the total plan's tactics. We have work currently in progress on 85 percent of the tactics in the plan. Our departments have engaged you as a body on several key initiatives. Over the past six months you have heard from them on transportation and roadway improvements, parks and transportation, Parks and Public Works master planning efforts. The civic block and housing attainability. And these don't represent everything that -- that's associated with the plan, but these are some of the key areas that departments engaged with you as a body on related to the plan. So, I'm going to go through by focus area and talk a little bit about some of the things -- some of the key highlights we have achieved during this last six months. First one is responsible growth. That has to do with our long-term comprehensive planning efforts, prior prioritizing in-fill development and encouraging diverse and -- diverse housing options. Related to -- related to that, so -- and going to our Comprehensive Plan, planning has surveyed you over the past and -- on what you would like to have provided to --for them from data on entitlement decisions through their staff report program. They also look to improve that report and by getting input from you on what they provide the Planning and Zoning and provide you the most relevant information for the staff reports in early 2023. Both the parks master plan and utility cost of service study have been shared with Council. Parks looks to-- Parks to bring the Parks Commission and the City Council the final draft of their Parks master plan over the next few months and, then, that--the fee adjustments as part of the cost of service study were approved in November and additional recommendations are currently being reviewed by Public Works and will be brought to Council accordingly. I know you heard a lot about housing attainability and affordability over the past year. You approved updates to the UDC, including live-work, accessory dwelling units and parking standards for vertically integrated projects. That's a mouthful. Discuss -- discussions will continue with Council and stakeholder groups to identify recommended changes to code, policy or innovative ideas over the next -- over the next year. Related to transportation and infrastructure, related to the goal of improving roadways and efficient travel, Linder Road has continued to progress with ACHD's leadership having a favorable reaction to constructing the overpass without full road buildout and Keller, the project manager, is currently at about 30 percent design completion. Keller's going to be working with homeowners to look to secure right of way acquisitions in early 2023. Related to some of the pathway Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 26 of 37 connectivity. Creason pathway paving is complete along Five Mile Creek and, then, the Linder and Cayuse Creek and Linder pathway segments are ready for construction when weather allows in the spring. And our Transportation Commission, as Miranda was alluding to, is also evaluating some of the community projects in their integrated five year work plan. Related to some of the safety and accessibility services, we have also engaged our partners on Eagle Road in the corridor review study and safer study to reduce accidents and improve safety and speed along State Highway -- State Highway 55. We are also, as -- as Miranda alluded to, so I'm not going to talk a lot about it, but the -- the partnership with Black Cat and Gondola crossing that we are working on there, so she talked a lot more about that, so I'm not going to cover that. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Is it -- is it okay if we just ask questions as we are going through each one? I know you sent us this already and I think most of us, you know, had a chance to review the PowerPoint previously, but I did have kind of a comment about the transportation one. Or do you want us to wait until the end? Koontz: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, I — I can answer them now. I am happy to answer them now or at the end, whichever you prefer. Strader: Okay. Well, if you don't mind, if you can go back one slide on the school zone and safety crossings. Just an idea for us -- and I know we update our strategic plan, you know, kind of on a regular basis, but as we make progress, you know, maybe we want to add to it. One thing that occurs to me with the pedestrian safety is, you know, I think we are hearing a lot about individual efforts that we are making and, then, we are hearing about the process that each of the agencies we partner with does, but I would like us to maybe ask a different question, which is something along the lines of what would we need to do to have some of the best pedestrian safety outcomes possible for our city? Like really come at it from the other side of what are the best practices? You know, if we need to engage a consultant, that's possible, but, you know, similar to how, you know, AARP has their standard for communities, there are, you know, Vision Zero communities, there are a lot of different organizations that are focused on helping communities reduce pedestrian fatalities and have better multi-modal transportation. I'm just wondering if -- this is the comment, if -- if -- as we are doing our tactics and checking them off, I would hate to have us say, hey, we -- we are completing 85 percent of our tactics, but we are not like kind of going ahead and pushing forward on -- on things that we can do beyond the tactics that were originally set. So, that--that's just kind of a comment, but, you know, we have had a couple of really sad, you know, fatalities happen here in the city that have been just really tragic and I would hate for us to wait until 2025, you know, to expand our focus on the multi-modal safety and the -- and the pedestrian safety, so, you know, just to comment on that one. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 27 of 37 Koontz: You know, Mr. -- Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, I think that's the one thing that's been, you know, good about our plan as we plan to make it nimble and so, you know, as the tactics do get completed, one thing I have had conversations with about the directors and with the SMUs working on the -- on the projects has been, you know, what's next. You know, when we do complete something what is next? What's coming up? What's around the corner. So, it isn't just a tactic is completed and, then, we are done. The work's definitely never done and so -- and that speaks to the strategies and the goals above it. The goals aren't completed just because one of the pieces of the tactic is done, so — so, I appreciate that comment, but, yeah, that is -- that is something that's being discussed behind the scenes with the departments and that's one of the reasons they come to Council to, you know, give you those discussion topics and -- and take the input. So, I appreciate the comment though. Strader: Thanks. Koontz: And related to business and economic vitality, this focus area is -- includes work related to our downtown targeting industries, business engagement and family wage job creation. Related to the goal of business and economic and downtown development, we have kind of several key projects. The city's actively participating with the Chamber's Workforce Development Council, where we hope to provide and develop hiring and retention tools for existing businesses related to downtown development. MDC, Public Works are partnering with FEMA to work on the Nine Mile flood floodplain improvements in downtown and they have applied for a grant that would assist for that project. We anticipate a spring 2023 decision with FEMA. The city would currently be responsible for about 421,000 dollars, which -- which MDC would help reimburse the cost. MDC also secured a consultant for the future for our downtown with the next down -- Destination Downtown plan, which will help create the future of our redevelopment and community character in that -- in our urban core. Moving on to public health and safety, this one's about investing in our community infrastructure, creating clean -- clean and compliant utilities and evaluating the impact of our environmental decision -- decisions. Under the goal of improving outcomes of response and community risk reduction, the Fire Department has several key initiatives. Fire has worked towards their CFPE accreditation by sending a team for quality improvement to Colorado in October. They are also — fire is working closely with Ada County Dispatch for ways to deploy resources sooner when they receive calls for service and when they are also leaving the station, which is critical to reducing response times. The apartment's also looking at co — co- locating paramedic services and technology solutions with our partners to secure and improve response times. Related to our goal of deploying resources and utilizing partnerships to build community trust, PD is actively recruiting six SROs in our elementary schools to ensure safety and service in those facilities. They also work closely with -- to develop relationships with the staff and parents and students. PD has also been working with our partners on Eagle Road to reduce traffic accidents and improve safety through patrol saturation. Those started back in November. And more recently the city has created easy blood donation sites at City Hall to increase blood supply to the Red Cross. The north — northwest precinct has broken ground and is estimated to be completed by November of 2023. That project is on track and on budget. And, then, Fire is also actively Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 28 of 37 recruiting for the 30 personnel that will staff both Fire Stations 7 and 8. And if anybody has questions while I'm going through these feel free to ask. Harper: Mayor? Simison: Lieutenant Harper. Harper: This is three times in one night. I just wanted to add in regards to our SRO program, all six of our elementary SROs are actually fully functioning now in our schools. The last two came on as of Monday, so they are settling into their new roles and -- and in regards to the Eagle Road speed patrols, I was updated the other day in regards to that. We have -- we have been bringing on several additional officers throughout shifts during our peak hours working on our -- our ongoing traffic challenges. Simison: Thank you. Koontz: Thanks, Lieutenant Harper. Related to vibrant sustainable community, including the goal of improving offerings and livability for our community, the AARP livability initiative, the Age Friendly Survey was recently completed. We got about 524 responses and, then, insights from that survey will be included in listening sessions and focus groups later this winter. Another goal of providing premier services, Discovery Park phase two is well underway with significant construction that occurred in this past summer and fall. The infrastructure for the 520 parking stalls, as well as the collector road is in place and moving forward. The skate and bike park segments are currently in design and should start in the spring of 2023 and the park is moving along nicely to make that premier amenity in south Meridian. Related to the goal of pursuing environmentally conscious projects, the RFPs for biogas and biosolid programs using Council approved ARPA funding are also in progress with Public Works and look for more information on those in the near future. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just on the last one, Vincent, I have -- it would be great if we could just get an update on our streetlights. You know, Council had approved -- actually now it's been quite a while, you know, some LED light conversions and I understand there is a good reason for the delay, really labor challenges, but it would be great, you know, considering the return on investment, if we could get an update on -- from Public Works or through you on kind of when -- when we would see that rolled out and underway. Koontz: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, I do know that they have been working on -- there has been some delays, obviously, but I know they have been working on the master streetlight master plan and some of those projects. But I -- I can't speak to exactly when I could get that, but I can definitely work with Public Works to get you more information on that. I know Warren's been — Warren's been working on it and their team. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 29 of 37 So, happy to get that information. And last, but not least, government excellence. So, relating to innovating operations, the Innovation Change Academy, we have the -- we have been working on an internal tool called the Innovation Portal. Basically it houses all of the information for all of our process improvements and the city's been working on idea generation and completed process improvements. We have been working on -- during 2023 we are going to be rolling out reporting projects to Council and also to the -- potentially the community on what -- what wastes have been identified and what projects were -- were being worked on. During 20 — FY-2022 we worked on 12 process improvements in various stages and we completed three -- sorry -- four projects during that time as well. But, you know, we are continuing to move forward. We have trained about 80 staff members at this point on process improvement techniques and it's starting to take hold in the city. So, more -- more to come on those. Related to career advancement, the compensation committee recently completed its initial market study to determine the competitiveness of employee wages. This study allowed us to take the initial step of getting all employees below the 50th percentile up to that level, which is an important step in getting our workforce to the right level as we move forward. And there is going to be a lot more work on that in the near future, but that was -- that was that first initial step that we took, so -- related to transparency and approachable government, the My Meridian Podcast completed their first run with over 700 downloads. I think it's getting close to 900 downloads now. We heard from all of our departments, the Mayor, City Council, about our strategic plan and we are looking to expand that into our partners in the spring of 2023, which is I think a really good step forward in transparency and getting those connections made with the Community and over -- over a year of blood, sweat and tears and huge contributions from our IT Department and communications and departmental subject matter experts, we finally launched our -- our website and it was no small feat. We got -- this is the primary source of information for almost all of our demographic groups in the city, so we wanted to make sure it was the most premier experience possible and I think we have taken a giant leap forward from where we were with that website. So, kudos out to the teams that worked on that, so -- and with that -- let's see. I have got one more thing. Ongoing plan execution. You know, the Mayor has been committed through his blog posts to the community on our focus areas and we started with public health and safety and government excellence, and we will be highlighting more of the work to our community that we are doing as we move throughout the year. We are also going to be taking a more in-depth look than our citizen survey, looking for opportunities in some of those key areas that were identified in traffic enforcement, planning and zoning services and growth and transportation concerns. Our departments, like -- just like tonight with Miranda and with West Ada, will continue to engage with you as -- on Council on several key topics related to the initiatives that they are working on with the strategic plan. So, look for more to that and I'm -- I will be available at anytime to answer any questions or provide any additional data to you at any time. So, happy to do so. And with that stand for questions. Simison: Thank you, Vincent. Council, additional questions, comments? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 30 of 37 Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Vince, just one question. I'm always curious. When you set this in December I think you had 56 — Koontz: Yeah. Cavener: -- tactics complete. I noticed on your updated slide 57. Koontz: Yeah. Cavener: So, what's the new one that you were able to complete from early December to today? Koontz: I wish I knew the answer to that question. That was a check box, so -- Cavener: All right. Appreciate the update then. Koontz: Yeah. Cavener: And just -- Mr. Mayor? Perreault: Mr. -- Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: And, Vincent, you know my feelings about engaging community partners as kind of the next step. I'm really excited to hear that's the direction you are going. I think that's appropriate and -- and I'm really, really excited to hear that's where you guys are moving. Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. Good to see you, Vincent. The little small part of the screen that I can see you on. So, you had mentioned that we are about 18 percent completed and we are -- we are about halfway through. You know, we are in 2023 on this five year strategic plan. Some of these are ongoing efforts that don't really hit completion per se. I don't know what percentage of this strategic plan are ongoing efforts and which ones -- how many of them are -- are items that would be completed. But are you expecting towards the end of the plan do you like see a whole bunch of them completed at the end or-- it seems to me like we should be a little bit farther along in our percentage, but maybe there is several of them that don't ultimately get complete, because they are just ongoing efforts. Can you speak to that? Koontz: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Perreault, yes, we are -- some of the tactics in the plan were designed to be new items that were going to be completed and they would Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 31 of 37 probably be the check the box. But when we created the plan initially that was -- part of the flexibility of the plan was we -- we acknowledge that this plan may not have as many check the box moments, it may be, hey, this is a long-term strategy that's going to take five years and it may have a bunch of zigs and zags over time. But, yes, there are some items, you know, in Public Works and in Planning that are more ongoing efforts and there are -- you know, hey, we work on this for a year and, then, we make an adjustment and there are some in those same departments that are very strategic that say, hey, we want to create this program and execute this process and we are done and, then, to Liz's point, we might go back in and say, hey, we need to make an adjustment and change or add some tactics, add a strategy. So, this is really more of a living, breathing strategic plan than a, hey, we are -- we are checking all the boxes off and we are going to be -- I -- I couldn't tell you we are going to be at 85 percent, you know, when we are done with this plan, but we may not be, but I think it's more of have we moved towards achieving the goals. Have we moved towards the adopted plan goals and have we achieved those -- those items. So, there may be less of that. I mean I never established a specific amount that I would say like, hey, we are going to be done and we are going to be 70 percent, 80 percent, but that wasn't the goal in this plan, it was to make sure that it was achievable, flexible and nimble, so — if that answers your question. Perreault: Yeah. It's just -- I guess I'm not understanding, you know, why -- why sort of present the number 56 and the percentage if that's not really -- we are not trying to get to a certain -- you know, we are not trying to get to --to a certain amount completed by 2025. Is there a better way we can kind of assess our progress? Koontz: Mr. Mayor, Council -- Perreault: Not assess it, but a better way that we can -- that Council can understand our progress through the statistics? Koontz: You know, that's a good question, Council Woman Strader. I -- I think basically, you know, having these discussions on what have we achieved, are we meeting the goal. I think the -- over checking the box would probably be the best way to do so. I -- I don't want to say that we -- you know, we shouldn't have that measure, but I also think if we are going to be flexible and we say we didn't achieve these tactics, they are — but we need to -- we need to totally change the direction we are going and achieve something different, because circumstances changed and we didn't check that box, but we went in the direction our community wanted us to go -- go in or our policymakers wanted us to go in and maybe we only achieved 50 percent of the plan, but the bulk of the things we achieve are what our community wanted. Simison: Council, any additional questions or comments for Vincent? Okay. Well, thank you, Vincent. Appreciate you and really all the employees who are continuing to work. know -- I think that they really enjoy getting the reminders from you on -- on updating the plan. So, we -- we -- we can also keep track, because there is a lot of moving pieces going on that, you know, it takes the team. It's not a one person ability to track all this, it's people in each department updating the information provided and -- and it's often a Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 32 of 37 moving target in a lot of ways. But thank you and appreciate it and -- and so tell the girls hello and that's why dinner is late tonight. Koontz: I think -- I think they are dancing right now, so they are probably waiting for me to go grab dinner with them somewhere, so -- Simison: Okay. All right. Thank you. Koontz: Thank you. Simison: So, next item on the agenda, but I think we can continue moving forward, because it's -- don't know how long it will take, but, hopefully, not too long. But next item is Item 10, City Council election of new City Council officers and department liaison appointments. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I'm not sure of the process on this, if it's appropriate for me to make maybe nomination for both president and vice-president or if we need to do that separately. I'm getting a shrug from our city attorney, which -- Simison: I think this is whatever you all do and if the rest of you agree, then, we are good. Cavener: All right. Well, then, with that maybe, Mr. Mayor, I will just break them out into two separate motions. I would move -- I guess I would nominate Brad Hoaglun to continue for another year as the City Council President. Simison: Is there a second? Overton: Second. Simison: I -- I have a motion and a second. Is there discussion? If there is no discussion -- do I call the question? I will call the question then. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the motion is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Simison: Do I have another motion? Or discussion? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 33 of 37 Hoaglun: I appreciate the work that Joe has done filling in for me when I have not been able to make some meetings and whatnot. As vice-president he's done an excellent job and I appreciate that -- that help in the lift of the load at times. So, I would nominate Councilman Joe Borton as vice-president for this coming year. Cavener: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second regarding the nomination of Joe Borton for vice- president. Is there any discussion? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Real briefly. I -- I'm -- I'm excited to be supportive of both our president and our vice-president. Maybe some — some comments or thoughts is, you know, we are going to be functioning as a city much differently this year than we were last year. We functioned much differently last year than we did in the years past as a result of COVID and I just would invite both our -- our Council president and vice-president to maybe be a little more proactive in working with the Council in ways that we can engage our community this year. I think that's something that many members of this Council have expressed some desire for and we want to work with our leadership team and -- and Mayor's office to make that happen and I guess that would be my request of this leadership team over the next few months is that we -- we build out that process, so that we could be a stronger Council as we go into '23 and beyond. Simison: Is there any further comments? Then I will call the question. All those in favor signify by — all those in favor say aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the vice- president position has been filled. Congratulations to both the president and vice- president on your successful unopposed nominations and unanimous consent decisions, so — MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Simison: Then with that does the Council President have anything he would like to say about the department liaison appointments? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, before you have Resolution 23-2365 -- and this is following the process that we initiated last year to try and streamline some things. We had lots of Council members appointed to a lot of different things and it really wasn't realistic to cover everything. So, working with the Mayor we got the involvement of the department heads and others in the city to be backups and to other things and we -- we -- we reassessed all the positions that we were involved with and in some way outright chose not to become involved with because of, A, bandwidth, but also because of what -- what was the investment. Was it worth the time and effort for the investment in some of these things. So, this follows that--that same pattern of--of what we did last year with a few movement Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 34 of 37 based on the -- the liaison assignments that will be in the next one. This particular one is with the interagency boards, committees, and -- and outside groups that we interact with, so -- and, then, the next one will be for the Council members to serve as department liaisons. So, that's all I have and open to any questions. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Yes. Maybe a question for Council Member Hoaglun and I appreciate I think this last year trying to free up some of the time and bandwidth that many of the Council was experiencing, particularly those of us with -- with full-time jobs and it can often be a challenge to juggle all that and I know that we have had in many cases staff step into those roles. Should a Council member take an interest in one of these outside groups that are currently being staffed or managed by a member of staff and would want to move into that role, what would be the process for that to occur— does the request go through you, Council President, through the Mayor's office? Because it's already built into the resolution does it -- does it require a Council action? I just -- I want to make sure that we are clear on kind of the steps and if -- if this is how it's going to be for the next year or if there is an opportunity, if a Council member has an interest, that they can move back into that role. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Councilman, it's -- it's -- it's a process. Because it is a resolution we are adopting this, that is to say, though, we can always add somebody to that. If we want to change that in any way, shape or form, we certainly can do that. You know, if there is -- there is a particular place that you want to -- want to serve in any capacity we can take that up and -- and just amend that and -- and move forward at a future Council meeting. No -- nothing -- nothing too difficult about that. So, yeah, if there is something that comes up during the year and you go, oh, man, I -- I really want to get involved in that and represent our community there, certainly by all means let me know and we can -- we can work -- I will let the Mayor know and we can make that happen. Cavener: Thank you. That's the part — that was the answer I was looking for, Mr. Mayor and Council President Hoaglun. 11. Resolution 23-2365: 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 an Effective Date Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 35 of 37 Simison: Okay. All right. Anything further? Or if not we will move on to Item No. 11 , which is Resolution 23-2365. Ask the Clerk to read this resolution by title. Johnson: Thank you, Mayor. It's 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 an effective date. Simison: Council, you have heard — I guess we don't need three readings. Do I have a — Council, do I have a motion? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move approval of Resolution 23-2365. Cavener: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second, to approve Resolution 23-2365. Is there any discussion? If not all in favor signify saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the resolution is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 12. Resolution No. 23-2366: A Resolution of the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Meridian Approving City Council President's Appointments of City Council Members to Serve as Department Liaisons, and Providing an Effective Date Simison: Next item, Item 12, is Resolution No. 23-2366. Ask the Clerk to read this resolution by title. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's a resolution of the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Meridian approving City Council President's appointments of City Council Members to serve as department liaisons, and providing an effective date. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move approval of Resolution No. 23-2366. Cavener: Second. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 36 of 37 Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Resolution 23-2366. 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: ALLAYES. ORDINANCES 13. Ordinance No. 23-2008: An ordinance annexing the Northeast One Quarter of the Southwest One Quarter of Section 24, Township 3 North, Range 1 West, Boise Meridian, Ada County, Idaho, more particularly described in Exhibit "A"; rezoning 5.04 acres of such real property from RUT (Rural Urban Transition) to R-8 (Medium-Density Residential) Zoning District; directing city staff to alter all applicable use and area maps as well as the official zoning maps and all official maps depicting the boundaries and the zoning districts of the City of Meridian in accordance with this ordinance; providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County Treasurer, the Ada County Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required by law; repealing conflicting ordinances; and providing an effective date Simison: Final item on the agenda is Item 13, which is Ordinance No. 23-2008. We will ask the Clerk to read this ordinance by title. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's an ordinance annexing the Northeast One Quarter of the Southwest One Quarter of Section 24, Township 3 North, Range 1 West, Boise meridian, Ada county, Idaho, more particularly described in Exhibit "A"; rezoning 5.04 acres of such real property from RUTto R-8 Zoning District; directing city staff to alter all applicable use and area maps as well as the official zoning maps and all official maps depicting the boundaries and the zoning districts of the City of Meridian in accordance with this ordinance; providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County Treasurer, the Ada County Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required by law; repealing conflicting ordinances; and providing an effective date. Simison: Thank you. Council, you have heard this ordinance read by title. Is there anybody that would like it read in its entirety? If not, do I have a motion? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I move that we approve Ordinance No. 23-2008. Strader: Second. Meridian City Council Work Session January 10,2023 Page 37 of 37 Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Ordinance No. 23-2008. Is there any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Roll Call: Hoaglun, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Perreault, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the item — the ordinance is approved. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move we adjourn. Simison: Motion to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:25 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON 1-24-2023 ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK -24-2023