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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-06-20 Work Session Minutes Meridian City Council Work Session June 20, 2023. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:31 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, 2023, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Brad Hoaglun, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Jessica Perreault, Liz Strader and John Overton. Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Cassandra Schiffler, Tracy Basterrechea, Kris Blume and Dean Willis. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE Liz Strader _X_ Joe Borton _X_ Brad Hoaglun _X_ John Overton _X_ Jessica Perreault _X—Luke Cavener X Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call the meeting to order. For the record it is June 20, 2023, at 4:31 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: First item up is the adoption of the agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Have no changes to this afternoon's agenda, so I move adoption of the agenda as published. Cavener: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. Is there discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the June 6, 2023 City Council Work Session 2. Approve Minutes of the June 6, 2023 City Council Regular Meeting Meridian City Council Work Session June 20,2023 Page 2 of 10 3. Approve Minutes of the June 13, 2023 City Council Work Session 4. Creamline Park Subdivision Codale Electric Water Main Easement No. 1 ESMT2023-0085 5. Records Apartments Water Main Easement No. 1 ESMT-2023-0087 6. Final Plat for Pine 43 Commercial (FP-2023-0005) by J-U-B Engineers, Inc., located at 2145 E. Fairview Ave. 7. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for AAA Oregon/Idaho Fleet (H- 2023-0017) by Woofter Bolch Architecture, located at 1139 & 1065 E. Fairview Ave. 8. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Bordeaux Estates Subdivision (H-2022-0062) by J.J. Howard, LLC., located at 5665 N. Meridian Rd. 9. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of law for Linder Storage Condos (H- 2022-0091) by EVstudio, located at 300 N. Linder Rd. 10. Final Order for Stapleton No. 3 (FP-2023-0003) by C4 Land, LLC., generally located in the NE 1/4 of the SE 1/4 of Section 25, 13N., R1.W. 11. Final Order for Stapleton No. 4 (FP-2023-0006) by C4 Land, LLC., generally located in the NE 1/4 of the SE 1/4 of Section 25, T.3.N.,RAW.12. Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Amendment in the Amount of $8,493.00 for the Office of Drug Policy Partnership for Success Law Enforcement Grant Simison: Next item is the Consent Agenda. Simison: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move approval of the Consent Agenda and for the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest. Cavener: Second. Simison: 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. Meridian City Council Work Session June 20,2023 Page 3 of 10 MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There were no items removed from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 13. Parks and Recreation Department: Public Art in Discovery Park Phase 2 Simison: So, we will move on to Item 13, which is our Department/Commission Reports, which will be delivered to the Parks and Recreation Department of public art in Discovery Park phase two I will turn this over to Cassandra. Schiffler: Thank you, Mayor and Council Members. So, today I am here to present three different public art projects for Discovery Park and first off I actually want to give thanks to the public art committee, the Meridian Arts Commission, and the Parks and Rec Department with various city staff, including Mike Barton, who has been really helpful. Without everyone's input, planning and participation and guidance on these projects I would not be presenting these great projects to you today. So, as you know the Meridian Art in Public Spaces Fund gives 50 cents per Meridian resident to public art projects. So, we have been saving up -- this is also one of the few budgets that carries forward. So, we have been saving up for the Discovery Park project for a while and budgeting 150,000 dollars overall from MAPS funds to go to these projects. We identified three different opportunities for projects for public art elements to become part of the parks phase two construction and each piece of the goal is to enhance the identity of the park and incorporate the themes of learning, exploration and discovery and these three projects were all recommended by the Arts Commission at their last meeting to come to City Council for approval. So, the first one we asked these artists to come up with something at the softball field area. There is three softball fields that will be built and there is kind of a little circular grassy area in the middle of those softball fields and so they were going to come up with something for that area. The artists Jeanine is a registered architect and visual artist and Russell is an artist with Urban Design Experience. They have been working together for 20 years. Here is a few examples of their past work. These have letters in them that are large sort of sculptural pieces with the words formatted in different sizes and they took the words from the community. Here is another piece that uses some of that in this piece, too. Here is a project -- these are like large viewing scopes and when you look through them you see something like in the -- in the bottom left corner you will see a graphic through them, so they are kind of view finder projects, so -- but this project is thematically to engage with the softball fields and use the park's identity. So, they took inspiration from the game itself and it says the Hole Ball Game and that's not a typo. It is the hole and you will see why in a second. So, here -- here is an overhead view of the pieces, which will make more sense when you see some of the models. So, these -- these photos were taken from a little Moquette that they have, but envision these as eight foot high pieces. Meridian City Council Work Session June 20,2023 Page 4 of 10 There is four parts to them and as you move around the pieces there is silhouettes that appear and disappear as the viewer moves around the piece and you will catch various glimpses from the different views and angles and they kind of look like abstract shapes playing with the positive and negative spaces. But when you get into the right viewing angle you will see the softball players and they -- it's kind of funny, because they thought maybe these two were Ukraine themed with the blue and yellow, but I said, actually, that's our city's colors. So, I think that works well. This project is 45,000. And I will just keep moving along. I know that there is lots of slides and I'm not going to talk about each thing, but this project -- Steve Parker is an artist, musician and curator from Texas working with salvaged musical instruments to create installations, performance work and public art. He is shown nationally and internationally and is the recipient of some pretty prestigious awards, including the Rome Prize, Fulbright Fellowship, the Pollock-Krasner Award and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. He also has degrees in both math and music from Oberlin Rice and University of Texas in Austin. Let's click on something -- here are some of his past work examples. They are all sort of music or auditory themed. This one, if you have been up to Ketchum maybe you will recognize, because this is in Sun Valley and pay attention to this piece, because it is similar to the one that he is proposing for Meridian. You will see the -- the audience members going up and listening with their ears, because what happens is these pieces amplify the existing sound, so that you can hear better the outside sounds. This piece actually made some sound. People could rotate the various objects on there and it made -- made noises. So, with that here is the piece he is proposing for Meridian. It's about 12 feet high and uses that same sort of idea of the active listening -- active listening. They act as a telescope for your ears and they are modeled after obsolete acoustic locators from the 1930s made with reclaimed and repurposed brass instruments and his intent is to get people to actively listen and be aware of their surroundings. Here a few other views, like a top view and side view. And one of the things -- wasn't sure if people would know to go up and listen, so we will add some signage to that that tells people about how to use the piece. And this one is a 50,000 dollar project. The next artist, Colin Selig, grew up in an ecologically conscious household and scavenged and repaired appliances and furniture. He studied at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and has a philosophy degree. During the time that he was getting his degree he apprenticed with a machinist, a racecar fabricator and a public art sculptor. He, then, went on to restore antique vehicles and farm equipment before focusing on sculpture. So, for this project we were looking for functional bench seating and he had a lot of examples of bench seating. Here are some of his previous pieces. One of the most interesting things about this -- his work is that it's all repurposed and made from recycled propane cylinders. So, he uses 99 percent recycled materials that are, then, powder coated. This one is not a bench, but it's meant to resemble a spider and this one is a crocodile bench. So, here are the pieces for Discovery Park. There are two trout benches and two hawk benches. I also wanted to mention that he was -- he has won some national awards for most interesting products from the American Society of Landscape Architects, Exhibitors Choice Gold Award and the Smithsonian. CODAWorx named him one of 2021's top 25 International creative revolutionaries leading change in the arts. Here are some reviews of the pieces and this one is a 25,000 dollar budget for all four benches. So, right now Discovery Park's Meridian City Council Work Session June 20,2023 Page 5 of 10 construction is going right along. I'm trying to move the public artworks along, so that they can be part of the park's opening as quickly as I can to get them to open at the same time, working on all of the moving parts and pieces and with that I will just open it up for any comments and questions. Seal: Thank you, Cassandra. Council, questions, comments? Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Cassandra, my wife will be the first one to tell you I don't get art. She does. But I got to tell you I really liked these. One question, just for the record, that these are all within our current budget? Schiffler: Yes. Correct. Overton: Thank you. I especially like the one and how it lines up in the softball fields and anytime you do art like this it's also interactive, I think that's a great thing. Thank you. Schiffler: Thank you. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Thanks, Cassandra. If I -- if I remember correctly from your memo, these are not the only projects that the Parks Commission reviewed. Was there some reason why those other projects weren't recommended by the Commission to bring forth for the recommendation? Schiffler: Good question, Councilman Cavener. Yes, there were. The first artist group proposed one project that had a lot of logistics issues. They sort of did that same thing where they lined up at certain times, but it worked with shadows, so those pieces would really only work for a couple hours a day and, then, as you walked into the site they use some text based things and the text would have read the wrong direction, so there were just -- there were a lot of logistics things. So, that one wasn't a -- that was -- yeah. So, that was not selected kind of for those reasons. There was another project that -- from the guy that does the sound pieces and it was really interesting and it made noises. There were some concerns that it's fairly close to a neighborhood, maybe the noises wouldn't be -- Cavener: Well received? Meridian City Council Work Session June 20,2023 Page 6 of 10 Schiffler: -- well received from neighborhoods and also his timeline on that -- those pieces probably would not -- it still might be a little bit tight to get all these in place, but those pieces definitely wouldn't go in for the opening of the park's construction. So, that was that project. And, then, one of the other projects was very similar with the benches, but they were more abstract shapes rather than wildlife shapes and so they chose to go with the more wildlife shapes and there was also a proposal for some bike racks, which I -- we don't have the current budget for it, but I hope will be in the future. So, I might be coming to you next fiscal year with that. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, maybe just a follow up? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Cassandra, were any of the artist's proposals -- were any of them local artists, anybody from the region or was everybody more of a national artist? Schiffler: Good question. We have on the roster -- we have a roster of artists to use for these projects. We have ten and that was -- it was a national call that went out and selected ten artists. We do have some local artists on that roster, but the public art subcommittee -- all the artists on that roster are people that we still -- we have artwork from already, so they really wanted to use artists that we don't have one or two or three pieces from already. Cavener: And, then, maybe just one more. For a logistics process, presentation for us today, are you looking for some direction from Council today, at a later point in time, what's -- what's your preference and direction? Schiffler: I need direction -- I would like to be able to continue working to get them going with the engineering and things. I am drafting agreements pending any feedback from Council right now, but I plan to have the agreements on probably two weeks from today. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, maybe one more -- Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Cassandra, with that being said, I'm happy to share my thoughts. Of the three that you presented I think the second one is more in line with kind of the vibe and feel of Discovery Park. I like the idea that it's interactive. That was a conversation I had last week as you may recall in our budget hearing is that as we are doing public art to find more ways to involve people to not just view it, but to come and experience it and so of the three that one would be my preference. Schiffler: Thanks, Councilman Cavener. And just for clarification, we are planning on all three. Meridian City Council Work Session June 20,2023 Page 7 of 10 Cavener: You are putting all three? Schiffler: All three. Yeah. Cavener: It's not one, two or three, it's all -- Schiffler: All three. Yes. Cavener: Well, that makes it a much easier conversation. Go forth and conquer. This is great. Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. Councilman Overton said love art that is interactive and functional. So, to have benches made is really -- really awesome. Just one quick little detail question about that. Do you happen to know if they will be placed in a shady area. Metal just gets really hot in the summertime and I'm concerned about little legs getting burned. So, just something to think about with a metal piece that's going to be used for seating. Schiffler: Thank you. I will check in with the construction and see if it's possible to plant some trees or something in an area that -- that will -- that will help. Right now I don't think I mentioned that they are planned for the bike park area and one of the reasons we are looking at seating right there is -- there is like a kids bike area for the kids bike park area and so these were kind of a spot for parents to potentially sit and watch kids. So, I don't think there is landscaping or shade planned at the moment, but that's something we could definitely look at. Simison: Cassandra, remind me of the very first one. Hole -- how tall are those? Schiffler: Oh. And those are eight feet tall and so the figures are roughly life size. Simison: So, they are -- also could be interactive or would the inner -- could you put your -- someone put their body in it or would that be encouraged or discouraged to this concept? Schiffler: People are going to do what they are going to do. I think they definitely will probably go up to them and sort of like put themselves in different positions, I imagine sort of like selfies and things with those ones. Simison: And that's what I assumed as well and I think that that -- to me is I -- I mean about Councilman Borton's word, like I said, this is his opinion, but I think these were outstanding. You know, I think they were great choices for a way to make art interesting, fun, engaging and unique in that regard. So, just kudos to the Arts Commission for their work, the selection and, hopefully, the moving forward. And I Meridian City Council Work Session June 20,2023 Page 8 of 10 agree with Council Woman Perreault, the element of shade in a city metal structure definitely -- I think it's important to consider -- the impact to consider. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Cassandra, can you go back to the very first one. When you started out and you were showing their works and I was slow on the uptake there when -- oh, wait, which one was his -- was the actual art piece? So, my apologies. Schiffler: Oh. Hoaglun: What was going to be the first piece? Schiffler: The first -- Hoaglun: Yeah. Was that the first -- was that the first one? Schiffler: These would be the previous ones that were in -- Hoaglun: Okay. Schiffler: -- kind of trying to give some context to other -- Hoaglun: Okay. So -- Schiffler: So, the ones that they are proposing -- Hoaglun: Okay. Schiffler: -- are these -- this is the top down view of what it would -- you know. Hoaglun: Okay. Unique -- yeah. Which I think is very ingenious. That's pretty cool, so -- okay. Okay. Just wanted to be sure. I saw some ones earlier and I go, oh, was that the first one, this was a second one and then -- okay. I'm good. Thank you. Simison: Council, any additional questions or comments? Okay. We look forward to seeing them back as agreements. Schiffler: Thank you very much. EXECUTIVE SESSION 14. Per Idaho Code 74-206A (1)(a): To Deliberate on a labor contract offer or to formulate a counteroffer. Meridian City Council Work Session June 20,2023 Page 9 of 10 Simison: Thank you, Cassandra. Item 14. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we go into Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206(a)(1)(a). Cavener: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to go into Executive Session. Is there 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 we will go into Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (4:49 p.m. to 5:59 p.m.) Simison: Council, do I have a motion? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, I move that we come out of Executive Session. Simison: Do I have a second? Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to come out of Executive Session. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and we are out Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Simison: Do I have another motion? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, I move we adjourn. Simison: Have a motion to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5.59 P.M. Meridian City Council Work Session June 20,2023 Page 10 of 10 (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 7 11 2023 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK