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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-06-27 Work Session Minutes Meridian City Council Work Session June 27, 2023. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:32 p.m. Tuesday, June 27, 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, Crystal Campbell, Todd Lavoie, Dave Tiede, Caleb Hood, Vince Koontz, Tracy Basterrechea, Joe Bongiorno 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 27th, 2023, at 4:32 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: First up is the adoption of the agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Move adoption of the agenda as published. Borton: Second. Simison: Motion and second to adopt agenda as published. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the June 15, 2023 City Council Budget Workshop 2. Aegean Estates Subdivision No. 3 Emergency Access Easement No 1 ESMT-2023-0080 Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 2 of 24 3. Final Plat Modification for Biltmore Subdivision No. 4 (MFP-2023- 0001), generally located in the north 1/2 of Section 25, T.3N, R.1W., by Engineering Solutions 4. Final Order for Pine 43 Commercial (FP-2023-0005) by J-U-B Engineers, Inc., located at 2145 E. Fairview Ave. 5. Final Order for Pollard Subdivision (TECC-2023-0001) by Brighton Development, Inc., generally located on the north side of W. Chinden Blvd., east of SH-16, in the south 1/2 of Section 21, TAN., R.1W. 6. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Promenade Cottages Subdivision (H-2022-0013) by Steve Arnold, A-Team Consultants, located at 403 E. Fairview Ave. 7. Development Agreement Modification (King's Congregation Church H-2023-0013) Between City of Meridian and King's Congregation Church for Property Located at 1150 E. Pienza St. 8. Addendum to Master Agreement with Nampa Meridian Irrigation District (NMID) 9. First Amendment to the Meridian Senior Center Ground Lease Between the Meridian Area Senior Citizens Association, Meridian Senior Center, and the City of Meridian 10. Resolution No. 23-2394: Approving First Amendment to Meridian Senior Center Ground Lease Between the Meridian Area Senior Citizens Association, Meridian Senior Center, and the City of Meridian 11. Resolution No. 23-2393: A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Meridian, Idaho, Setting Forth Certain Findings and Purposes to Declare Surplus Property and Authorizing the Donation of Certain Computer and Equipment to Computers for Kids 12. Resolution No. 23-2395: A Resolution Vacating the Northern 5 Feet of the 10-Foot Wide Public Utilities, Pressure Irrigation and Lot Drainage Easements Along the Southern Boundary of Lot 13, Block 5 of Graycliff Estates Subdivision No. 2, Being More Particularly Described in Exhibit "A"; and Providing an Effective Date 13. Resolution No. 23-2396: A Resolution Vacating the Northern 5 feet of the 10-Foot Wide Public Utilities, Pressure Irrigation and Lot Drainage Easements Along the Southern Boundary of Lot 21, Block 5 Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 3 of 24 of Graycliff Estates Subdivision No. 2, Being More Particularly Described in Exhibit "A"; and Providing an Effective Date 14. City of Meridian Financial Report for May 2023 Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda and for the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest. Borton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Oppose nay? The ayes have it and the Consent Agenda is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There are no items moved from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 15. Meridian Youth Advisory Council Quarterly Update Simison: So, we will go into Department/Commission Reports. First item up is Item 15, which is the Mayor -- Meridian Mayor's Youth Advisory Council quarterly update. Sahand, I don't know who -- I will turn it over to you for starters. Rahbar: Mr. Mayor, City Council Members, good afternoon. As the advisor for the Meridian Mayor's Youth Advisory Council it's my pleasure to introduce two bright and inspirational students who are going to present some updates on the various activities that MYAC has been a part of over the past few months, as well as a road map of what lies ahead. Before I do that, though, since we have reached the end of another school year, I just wanted to provide a few MYAC statistics that present some of the milestones that we have uncovered over the past school year. In the period between September 2022 and May 2023 our MYAC held 16 general council meetings. Our MYAC engaged with 24 guest speakers, who presented either individually or as part of a panel or as part of a tour and our MYAC completed over 20 service projects. The average number of attendees at those general council meetings was 33 students and that's an increase from our average in the previous 2021 to 2022 school year, which was in the low 20s. Our MYACers this past year collectively completed just over 2,200 hours of volunteer service. That's 2,200 hours in a wide range of projects, everything from Rake Up Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 4 of 24 Meridian, to being in charge of the decorations for the Holiday Helper event that the United Way does, to putting on another Meridian Senior Prom at the Meridian Senior Center. Just a wide variety of events that they have had a lot of success with and these really wouldn't be possible without the incredible hard work of our executive council officers. These are the students who are elected by their peers every spring and entrusted with the task of steering the group and making sure that they maintain their focus throughout these meetings and projects that they have. So, we have two of those executive council members here this afternoon, one who is familiar to you from past presentations and one who is brand new. This is her first time. So, today we have Kurt Robbins, who is our outgoing MYAC chair, meaning graduated MYAC chair, but also socially outgoing as well. Kurt has been the MYAC chair for the past two years and just last month graduated from Renaissance High School, so this will be the last MYAC update you receive from him. We also have Valeria Avila, our incoming MYAC communications coordinator. So, one person who is about to leave and one person who is brand new and coming in. And, finally, just because I enjoy embarrassing them, want to mention that Kurt and Valeria, like many of our MYAC students, are heavily involved in our community. They are doing a thousand things at once, like so many of the other bright students in Meridian and while they do all of these things they are still maintaining the highest possible standards for themselves when it comes to their schoolwork and their academic performance and last week the West Ada School District released the superintendent's list and that recognizes West Ada students who completed the year with a high GPA. They either get highest honors, high honors or honors and Kurt and Valeria were both recognized with the highest honors, meaning they ended the year with a GPA above a 4.1. A 4.0 isn't good enough for highest honors it has to be a 4.1 or above. That's incredible and it is an honor for me to get to work with them. So, I hope you will enjoy hearing a little bit more about what MYAC has been up to from Kurt and Valeria. Come on up. Robbins: Yeah. Hi, you guys. Thank you so much for having us. So, I'm Kurt, as a Sahand said. I graduated this past May. I'm going to be an incoming freshman at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. So, I'm going pretty far. Avila: Hello. My name is Valeria Avila and I am still going to Renaissance and I'm going into my senior year. Robbins: Okay. So, to kick us off I'm going to be talking about government affairs. Okay. So, the first thing -- one of the super fun things we did in this past period since February that we last presented is we had an urban planning workshop. So, the executive council actually got experience with this group in doing an urban planning workshop in the AIC from the summer of 2022 and we had a ton of fun. Basically you are given Legos and you have to build a functional like city couple of blocks and renovate it and find out -- you know, make a mission statement, figure out what you want your city to look like and come up with a plan and so we were able to work with urban plan to make a -- sort of abridged version of that project that we could have at one of our meetings. So, that was a ton of fun. Kids were split into small groups and we got to make our own little city blocks. So, next, as some of you hopefully know, we Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 5 of 24 had a City Council panel where we invited City Council members to answer some prepared questions and, then, also some questions that student hads -- that students had while you were all presenting. This was something that we had two years ago. Everybody really liked it. So, of course, we had to do it again this year and that was a huge success. Next -- so, we came up with a way to incorporate the Mayor's My Meridian Podcast into our meetings by encouraging our members to listen to the My Meridian Podcast, so that they could score high in My Meridian Kahoots that we had every week on each of the episodes and the person who scored the highest got a little prize. We had like some gift cards, things like that. Avila: So, now moving on to community service. So, MADC reached out to MYAC and said they had funds for the -- from the Office of Drug Policy and so MYAC reached out to MADC to see if we could partner with them and create a volunteer event and help with drug prevention and so we created these drug prevention packets where they included a little pamphlet to raise awareness and as well as a drug test as -- in case kids were tempted to do drugs, then, they would be like, oh, no, my parents have a drug test, so it was kind of an excuse and they would be able to resist drugs and we created over 500 of these packets and they were distributed in many events and, then, for Do The Right we had two kinds of activities we did. So, we did chalk art at the front of the City Hall building where we did inspiring and uplifting messages in order to bring positivity to the world around us. And, then, for this there were -- it was warm hugs and so basically these bags were filled with corn that could be heated in order to pretty much give a warm hug to someone and resemble that -- that warmth that -- that someone can give you and it had a little kind message to give positivity to others. And so this was our senior prom and there went a lot of planning into this. Kurt can probably attest to this and I would say for those of who went it was really fun. It was black and white themed and many decorations as you can see and I know the seniors had fun. Robbins: Yeah. This is our second year of doing a senior prom with the Meridian Senior Center and it is just so much fun. Kids love it. The people at the Senior Center love it and it's a ton of fun to be able to decorate and plan out. You can see -- we had it all catered. So, that's just a really important super fun event we do. Okay. So, now just some leadership development. First of all we had a MYAC classic, Mad City Money. So, this is like a financial simulation event where students are paired up, put into like a couple and you have to go through and budget for clothes, food, children, if you have them. You are given different salaries and you can see me there. This year I was the fickle finger of fate, because the Mayor was gone, unfortunately. So, I got to go around and hand out good things that would happen to people where they get money and, then, bad things where they have to spend money. This is a super important and fun event, because it shows kids what balancing a checkbook is like. It teaches you the difference between credit and debit and also just like what real world consequences are if you say buy a cruise before you buy groceries. Okay. And, then, we had our executive council elections. So, this year we had 14 general MYAC members run for our eight positions, which was super exciting. Part of the election process is that everybody has to give a speech and, then, we do a vote in our meeting. It was super awesome. A lot of great candidates and a great council this year. Then we had our end-of-year recognition Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 6 of 24 party. At this event we put together a couple different awards for MYACers who have like stood out throughout the year. So, I know we have an award for who is the most likely to be the next mayor of Meridian. We have best community service. Like most involved in government affairs. Asks the best questions. Because we just really want to celebrate our MYACers and the hard work that they do, even if they aren't in the executive council. Avila: And so this was the AIC conference. Sadly, Kurt could not attend, but five out of our new eight executive members were able to attend this event and in the middle is a picture of our service project. We replaced new wood chips on the Veteran Memorial Park and I thought that was a really cool experience. We also played this Jenga game, which pretty much -- we have a bad apple in our teams always that can deter from pretty much our -- us being able to progress and productivity and so by every like bad apple situation we would have to take out a Jenga and this made our team more unstable until we would ultimately fail if the bad apple was not fixed. So, that's what that simulation was pretty much representing. And also for the Meridian MYAC we were able to win an award for our senior prom at AIC. And so looking ahead on what we are going to do this next year. So, in July we are planning to do an all day executive council training to create more bonding experiences, such as AIC. Next in August we want to continue planning from last year's of the friendship K and try to get more recruitment from different schools. Right now we have a lot of people coming from Renaissance and we try -- we are trying to engage and get more people to come from other schools. So, we are trying to go to the West Ada registration fair, as well as high school welcome fairs around each different home school and also having our MYAC kickoff in late August and being able to meet all of our new members. In September -- in September will meet -- meet regularly -- start meeting regularly for MYAC meetings and I'm pretty sure we have this every year, the Treasure Valley Youth Safety Summit, where we learn about alcohol and how it is dangerous to drive behind the wheel and alcohol and how it like deters -- it really damages our -- how we see the world around us, as well as pretty much a mental health and other -- other stuff like that and, then, in October we will continue with our MYAC meetings and I'm pretty sure we also do this every year, we do the Trunk or Treat and we are able to see our community. Any questions? Simison: Thank you to our award-winning MYAC. And I will start with -- just by going directly to Councilman Cavener, because he was very inquisitive of our MYACers when he was at AIC this last week and I know he loves to engage. So, Councilman Cavener, any comments or questions? Cavener: Thanks, Mayor. A couple of questions. More comments I guess than questions. One, great report. Just appreciate every time you guys come and give us an update about all the things you are doing. I love this year you are kind of forecasting where you are headed next year. Kurt, I just want to commend you. You have been just such a positive force for good in our youth council. It's been a real pleasure watching you grow and mature and just -- you have always been such a fierce leader for our community. While I get that you are going, I don't know why, to the other side of the country. They have a term. They are called boomerangers. I was one. We leave and Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 7 of 24 we go and, then, we come back and I really hope that after you have found ongoing educational success you come back and continue to make a big impact in our community. People like you are needed and I sure appreciate getting to know you. Council, let me tell you real quick. I had the chance, to Mayor's point, have dinner with our executive council at AIC and to anybody -- whoever says, oh, we have got to be worried about the next generation. I just would encourage them to have like ten minutes with our youth council. I was exhausted just by listening to all of the things that they accomplished and, Valeria, I'm excited to have you on board with our executive council. I'm really looking forward to this next year. And, then, just maybe one more comment for Council, because I think it goes without saying. I'm very fortunate that -- some of the youth council heard me at dinner. I served in a role where I was an advisor for MYAC many many years ago and we have had a lot of really really talented people who have done a very good job in being that advisor, but from my opinion, Sahand, you have just elevated this role in terms of organization and the impact that they are making. You are leading this group so well and I just -- I want to thank you for your positive impact. Often the ones that are doing a lot of the work behind the scenes aren't the ones that always get the accolades and praise and so just on behalf of the Council and Mayor you just do a great job and I'm so excited -- I'm bullish on our MYAC. I'm excited to see what happens next year and the years to come. So, thanks for everything you guys do. Simison: Thank you, Councilman Cavener. And -- and you will get your thank you note in the mail for those kind of comments to MYAC. Absolutely. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I have said this before. If there had been something like this when I was your age I -- I would have loved it. I -- taking government and having an incredible government instructor my senior year completely changed the course of my life. So, I was thankful for that and I'm glad that you have incredible mentors that are leading you in the direction that you are going and public speaking, excuse me, is something that will never fail you and I would have been scared to death to stand there and do what you are doing. So, I just want to say keep going and keep -- you know, just keep at it every day, every week and you will have an awesome future. I had the opportunity to do the urban plan workshop. It's actually taught by a good friend of mine and it's harder than it looks. It's awesome. So, I would encourage you guys to keep doing that every year if -- if ULI is willing to do that for you. It's an amazing -- like what team building and, you know, prioritization, I guess, exercise. So, I'm glad you guys had fun with it. Simison: Well, thank you very much. Kurt, best of luck to you in your future. Robbins: Thank you. Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 8 of 24 Simison: And I know we will see you around on return. And, Valeria, look forward to this upcoming year. Robbins: Thank you. 16. Public Hearing for Program Year 2023 Community Development Block Grant Action Plan Simison: With that we will move on to Item 16, which is a public hearing for program year 2023 Community Development Block Grant Action Plan. We will open this public hearing with comments from Crystal. Campbell: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council. So, as you said we are here for the PY-23 action plan. Trying to get it up right now. Sorry. So, this one is the one that will go from October of this year to September of next year. When we put together our action plan, then, it's based on the information that we find in our five year consolidated plan and that's the document that identifies our community needs and develops the goals for the upcoming five years. So, we are currently in the second year of our plan and it's from 2022 to 2026. The action plan is the annual one that we submit that tells exactly what projects we are going to be funding to meet the goals that we identified and it also acts as an application to HUD for our funds. So, we make sure that we are involved in the community when we are planning these documents and this year for planning that -- before we started with our action plan, then, we had a public hearing. We were before you on April 4th and the 18th and we were in the community on the 8th trying to get feedback from the community on the public services that they wanted to see. And, then, right now the draft action plan is open for public comment from June 15th to July 15th and we are having our public hearing tonight. We also consult with stakeholders on a regular basis and we have requested feedback on the action plan. So, this year this is what HUD is saying we are anticipated to receive and of these funds about 11 percent is going towards admin and fair housing activities, 15 percent, which is the cap for public services is going to go toward that and, then, the remaining amount will be split equally between infrastructure and housing projects. So, with the fair housing and admin funds, then, that will go towards the fair housing campaign, general administration and, then, we are working on putting together a housing study that will help connect developers with different incentives that will help them -- will encourage them to create units that are affordable to all of our residents. For public services we have three projects. The first one is Jessie Tree's emergency rental assistance program. Boys and Girls Club scholarships is another one. And, then, for the first time we are going to be working with Faces of Hope for victim services. For our housing projects both of these are with Neighborworks Boise. One is the homeowner repair program and, then, also home buyer assistance. And we are doing something a little bit different with our public facilities and infrastructure funding this year. The scoring committee recommended a walkability project for our low mod areas and this is a four year project, so it will take up the funds for this section for the rest of the con plan and we are working on an analysis to develop priority needs based on the project scoring criteria listed here. It's based on demand and under the demand category there is the Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 9 of 24 walkability index, proximity to schools, proximity to parks, proximity to public transit stops and, then, under infrastructure it's sidewalk continuity, ADA compliance, and under safety they are looking at levels of crime, crash history and street lighting. So, we are really close to being finished with that document, so you can review it. So, by the time it's finalized you will be able to see it. But they were able to give us the top two projects, which are the ones listed here. The first priority is the one that's highlighted in red and with this it's to construct sidewalk on Northwest 2nd from Broadway to Meridian Elementary on the west side with one in-fill light per block and, then, sidewalk on the east side from Broadway to Pine. We also include an alternate project in case we have some funds that we need to reallocate or if this project falls through or something and that is the one in blue and this one would be a sidewalk on Northwest 3rd from Broadway to Pine and sidewalk from West Broadway from 4th to 2nd. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you. Thanks, Crystal. I just wanted -- while you are on that one I just wanted to ask a question. It was really just to make sure and confirm that the 178,000 is for the projects themselves and not just for a walkability study. Campbell: Oh, no. This wasn't -- Strader: Go ahead. Campbell: Sorry to interrupt. You are correct. That's for the project themselves. This study is -- we are using some admin funds from this year. So, it's -- it will all go toward that. Strader: Got it. And how much was the actual study itself? Campbell: We budgeted I believe 20,000 for it, but right now it's around 10,000. But it's not complete yet. Strader: Got it. And how does that work with admin funds? Is that just like general funds that were leftover that you just reallocated or how does that work? Campbell: We do set aside funds for admin every year and we set some aside for planning. This is -- this is something that we have been looking into how we can improve the walkability in those areas and so we did set aside specifically for this and so it was -- it was designated for that. Strader: Thank you. Campbell: So, as far as next steps, the -- as I mentioned, the public comment period opened on June 15th and tonight is our public hearing and once that's complete, then, I Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 10 of 24 will ask Council to close it and, then, the public comment period will close on July 15th and I will submit the final report and resolution to you on your consent agenda on July 25th and, then, by the end of the month I will submit it to HUD. If anybody has any questions or comments they should direct them to me, Crystal Campbell, at ccampbell@meridiancity.org or they can call me at 208-489-0575. And with that I will stand for questions. Simison: Thank you, Crystal. Council, questions for staff? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. Crystal, can you go back on your slides to -- let's see. Keep going. Keep going. Okay. The -- the next one that has the total. That is less than in previous years. Can you talk to us about why that's been lessened? And, then, I have a couple more questions on some following slides. Campbell: It's based on several different criteria and one of them is the number of low income households we have and so they didn't give me an exact breakdown on why it was lower this year, but it's anticipated that that's why, because we have higher incomes in our community and less percentage of low to moderate income. Perreault: Okay. Thank you. Can you go to the next slide? Just a comment on this. I couldn't be more excited. I appreciate the time that you have taken to chat with me about this and I'm really excited about the toolbox that is going to be created for our community and I didn't -- I wasn't aware after our conversation that this is actually coming in to real -- you know, to be realized, so that's awesome. I have a question about the -- the category -- or the -- the dollar amounts in -- in both of the categories. If you could go to the next slide. So, if I remember in your memo -- it was either in your memo or it was in the -- the plan that -- like the actual full text of the plan -- Jesse Tree had a higher amount in there. I want to say it was like 47,000 and some change. Very specific amount. What has changed with their request? Campbell: Actually, it was an error on my part. It was in the memo to -- to you guys telling you how much it was. The recommendations. And I had put in the wrong amount. I had put a four instead of a three. So, when I was putting this slide together, then, I realized my mistake and the action plan should show the correct amount. Perreault: Okay. Mr. Mayor, may I continue? Thank you. So, do you have any idea how -- how many requests this will fill from Meridian residents, this amount? Did Jesse Tree give you that information? Campbell: Yes, but I cannot remember off the top of my head how much it is. I believe that they usually budget about 3,000 per household. Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 11 of 24 Perreault: Okay. Campbell: I believe. Perreault: So, it's just a one-time assistance? Campbell: Yes. Perreault: Okay. And, then, the next slide if you would. And, then, the similar question on the home buyer assistance. That -- I assume that's for like a second position for a down payment or something. That seems like it would maybe not even fill one small loan. So, is that all they are anticipating is one family to be -- or one household to be helped? Campbell: They had only applied for one household, but they had applied for a higher amount. However, they do have some funds left from two years ago and, then, they have some left from last year as well. So, the scoring committee decided that since they do have some of two year's worth of funding that we would just give them a smaller amount and if they are not able to use the funding that they currently have agreements with, then, we will use this -- these funds toward the homeowner repair. Perreault: Okay. And with the homeowner repair is there a limit per household? Campbell: It's up to 25,000 dollars. Perreault: Okay. Okay. That's great. That was all my questions. Thank you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just on that, with the home buyer assistance -- I mean we have found that they can't really be used; right, pretty -- pretty consistently -- like a couple years in a row. So, are we required to allocate something toward that or could we just reallocate all the funds for something else? Campbell: We can -- it's not a requirement for us to do that. The scoring committee does keep choosing to do that, but we have been able to use it. We were able to use it for one house last year and, then, the way that I said it with Neighborworks it was a little unfair to them, because they -- we reallocated some funds and so they just received the PY-21 funds probably six or seven months ago and so, then, they had two years because of that. So, it wasn't because they had it for a year and weren't able to spend it. So far this year they have been able to help one household. So, they have -- in the past two years they have helped two households. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 12 of 24 Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: You know, just thinking out loud -- and I apologize, because I know we have a committee and we have a whole process that we usually go through, but it does feel like we may have an opportunity that we didn't have on our horizon, which is in four years we know that there are some residents of a mobile home park that are going to be running into some real trouble with having homes that can't be moved because they don't meet certain standards with trying to move into affordable housing and I guess just thinking out loud I'm wondering if maybe the home buyer assistance could be allocated toward helping, you know, that group specifically with some pretty specific needs, because it feels like unless we come up with a solution there are at least a portion of the people in that mobile home park that, unfortunately, may become homeless. So, I'm just thinking out loud, but I'm wondering if we couldn't, you know, allocate this home buyer assistance that's not used into something more specific to help a very targeted population. So, if you have any feedback on that idea? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: If we get Crystal to answer the question -- Cavener: I didn't know if that was directed to us or to Crystal, so -- Simison: I thought it was Crystal. Campbell: So, you mentioned that it's four years down the road, so I'm not sure exactly when you -- the plans that you had would be, but we do have some timeliness requirements. So, we do need to spend our funds each year -- not all of them. Some of them can roll over. So, we would need to keep that in mind. But I -- depending on what it -- what it is, then, I think that we should definitely have conversations around that and maybe next year we do include something like that in our plan. Simison: Well, there is nothing to prevent them from accessing these funds -- or trying to access these funds now if we let them know that they are available for that purpose in that regards. Campbell: Absolutely. Simison: At least currently. Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate the -- at least the vocalizing out loud, Council Member Strader. I think it's -- it's a good conversation. I want to maybe just reiterate a couple things. I share Council Member Strader's concern about the ability for these funds to be spent. But to -- to Crystal's point, keeping these dollars in was a hotly debated and discussed item amongst the committee and so I think this is kind of striking that -- that middle ground between kind of recognizing there is some challenges, but also continue to support what the committee wants. I think to Crystal's point maybe Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 13 of 24 over the next year some flushing it out with Neighborworks or with another housing agency to maybe be a grant recipient, specifically designed to help these people make sense -- I think probably a little late in this particular process to have it be beneficial, but I think it -- what you are suggesting makes a lot of sense for maybe a -- a fiscal year '25 request. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Crystal, would -- would those individuals that Council Woman Strader referenced need to go through an organization that would manage the funds, so that they need to make an application to -- and, then, that organization would need to apply to -- for the CDBG grant or I -- I assume that's the process, but not that they would come to us individually and ask for those needs. And, then, who would we -- would it be possible for you to direct them to an organization that might be able to help them go through that? Campbell: You are accurate that we would likely not administer a program like that on our own. I'm the only staff member and that's not necessarily my area of expertise. So, I don't think I would do the program justice if they were to come directly to me. So, we would look for a sub recipient that we could work with to do that and, unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with everything that this complex is needing and so I don't have any brilliant ideas off the top of my head. So, I would love to talk more about that and see who we could get to help out in administering that program. Simison: Any additional questions for staff? All right. Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, do we have anybody signed up to provide testimony on this item? Johnson: Mr. Mayor, we do not. Simison: Okay. If there is anybody in the audience that would like to provide testimony if you would like to come forward at this time or online use the raise your hand feature. Seeing no one coming forward or raising their hand -- Council, we have a request from staff to close the public hearing. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we close the public hearing for Program Year 2023 Community Development Block Grant Action Plan. Cavener: Second. Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 14 of 24 Simison: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the public hearing is closed. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 17. Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Amendment in the Amount of $32,000.00 for GASB 96 Audit Reporting Simison: Okay. Thank you, Crystal. Next item up is Item 17, which is Fiscal Year '23 budget amendment in the amount of 32,000. Turn this over to Mr. Lavoie. Lavoie: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, and appreciate you giving us time to present this budget request to you. As the document stated, it's a budget request for 32,000 dollars for fiscal year '23. The request is for 25,000 this fiscal year, for fiscal '23 to conduct the audit that was referenced and there is a 7,000 dollar ongoing as well. I placed the 7,000 dollars in there because we are in the budget development process right now for '24. So, if I get it in now, then, I can get it into the '24 budget, then, I will present that change to you on Thursday. So, it's kind of placing the 7,000 dollars today to get into the books on Thursday -- Thursday's '24 books, because this audit is not just a one-time thing, this will be a -- for everything. So, we are going to need the auditor to continue to conduct this audit for us. The 25 grand should cover fiscal '23. Seven should be the ongoing needs that we estimate that we project we will need for this same audit ongoing. Again, we don't know what we don't know quite yet. These are estimates and as soon as we figure out what we do know, then, we can make the alterations in '25 and '26 and they will -- the audit firm will only bill us what they actually charge us. Again, I do have our audit partner here Kevin Smith. He is here to answer any questions. So, again, this is a new mandate put -- put upon the municipalities to have implemented onto our fiscal '23 financials, which we are in right now. So, when Kevin and his team is here in January he has to deploy this mandate into our financial audit report and for standing in front of you, hey, can we get some funds now, so we can get the -- to some extent allowed to continue the audit when they get here in October -- or January, but this is here to stand in front of you to say can -- asking for funding for audit services by Eide Bailly for the standardization of financial reporting for software accounting practices. So, again, happy to answer any questions. We do have our audit partner here to answer more detailed, because he has more information than I do. But we are here to help answer any questions for you on this mandate by the GASB team. Thank you. Simison: Thank you, Todd. Council, questions? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 15 of 24 Perreault: I really appreciate it that you guys are on top of all this, because I know there is constant changes in -- in that world. Just curious what -- what prompted this? What kind of transparency issues were happening with governments reporting related to software fees? Just an overview, maybe not -- not too much detail. Lavoie: Council Member Perrault, I do have the GASB at 96 overview here for you if you really want me to read it verbatim here. It says: To establish a uniform accounting and financial reporting requirements for subscription based information technology agreements, which improves the comparability of governmental financial statements and enhances the understandability, reliability, relevance and consistency of information about subscription based information technology agreements. What does that mean? That's a fair question. I'm -- I'm going to lean towards Kevin to see if he has any other reasons of why the government -- the governing board said that we as an agency in the City of Meridian or State of Idaho have to report on these. Do you have any more information other than that general overview? Smith: Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Members of the Council. I'm Kevin Smith, audit partner with Eide Bailly and just -- just to give kind of a brief explanation of what this is, you know, go back to one year prior, we had a new pronouncement, the GASB 87, which related to leases and, basically, in the GASB world and the for profit world what the pronouncement was saying is they want all these leases put on the balance sheet, so that everyone can see them as an asset and a liability on the balance sheet. So, more clear to the readers. This subscription based pronouncement is very similar. So, they want all the subscriptions that are related to software to be reported on the balance sheet, rather than just being expensed in -- in the income statement, you know, over a year. So -- so, again, it's just to -- to bring it out more clear on the balance sheet and, then, it will be disclosed, you know, also in -- in wording of -- of kind of what -- what -- what that is and so there is a process that we have to go through and -- and not -- we don't know exactly, as Todd said, how many subscriptions there is going to be, but there could be over a hundred there. Could be a hundred to two hundred. Some of the other municipalities that we have worked with it has been that -- that number. So -- so, it becomes very material to your financial statements and -- and significant and so there is a process of getting those all on the -- all recorded and there is the software that we are licensed with that inputs them. We have consultants that input all that information from all the agreements and that's kind of how we have come up with the -- with the proposed fee in that budget amendment. Simison: Any other questions? Okay. So, just blame IT again. Sorry. Since Dave was here and he was talking about subscription services. Then, Council, do I have a motion? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 16 of 24 Hoaglun: I move that we approve the budget amendment request for the 2023 budget in the amount of 32,000 dollars for the GASB 96 audit. Borton: Second. Simison: Motion and second to approve Item 17. 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 is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Lavoie: Thank you very much. 18. Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Amendment in the Amount of $175,000.00 for City- wide Phone System Replacement Simison: Thank you. So, with that we will move on to Item 18, which is a Fiscal Year '23 budget amendment in the amount of 175,000 for citywide phone replacement system. Mr. Tiede. Tiede: Thank you, Mayor, Members of the Council. As you noted from the memo we are looking to replace our citywide phone system. This is a system that we have implemented years ago at City Hall and, then, continued to grow over time to many other city facilities. We received word from our Mitel partner that this phone system is being phased out and we are given a great opportunity to move toward their -- their new platform. Moving there when -- when we choose to, which, hopefully, is now, saves the city a significant amount of money, 200,000 dollars and from our point of view seems like the best direction forward for a city phone system considering all the other options out there, including hosted services, solutions, different providers. So, this was the best direction that we found. Doing this -- or transitioning to this new system will require us to buy new handsets. That's the bulk of this cost, roughly 125,000 dollars, if I recall correctly. There are also other costs associated with moving to a new back end, professional services dollars, etcetera, included in this. So, this was originally presented as an FY-24 replacement item. If this is approved as a budget amendment we will remove that from the FY-24 budget and proceed with this sooner. The reason why we want to do it now is because it gives us more time to transition all the city departments over to this new phone system. We are kind of up against a wall a little bit with our carrier and provider on the back end phone system right now. So, with that I will stand for any questions. Simison: Thank you. Council, any questions? Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 17 of 24 Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Just real quick, Dave. Can you give us a snapshot of -- of process used to pick this vendor and product? Tiede: Absolutely. So, this original system that we have was a ShoreTel system and that was purchased through an RFP process years ago. We have -- part of this transition now is Mitel bought ShoreTel out. They were doing things with this current product line that we are on and they decided to phase that out. So, as -- when we got word of that we started looking at options. We looked at other systems that are similar to what we have, including Cisco -- I asked some of the other big providers out there. We also looked at hosted provider options. So, as you know Teams or Vonage or whatever -- there is lots of different options out there. One of the concerns that we had is making sure that we keep the total cost of ownership as low as possible, including ongoing expenses. So, as you probably know many hosted services are ongoing operational expenses and when you have an office of ten people it looks pretty -- pretty reasonable, but when you have -- I think we are up to -- I think we will end up with nearly 500 handsets. The costs are much more substantial and so that was one of the reasons why we chose to go this direction, why we think this was a better solution for the city overall is because it will keep those operational costs much more manageable and still allow us to use newer technology. So, I won't go into the details of all the different providers we looked at, but there was a decent amount of them. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Yeah. Just really was more focused on the -- just the process. It wasn't an additional new RFP, for example, that you -- that was issued to gather the data, it was more internal gathering of the data -- Tiede: Right. It was research on our part and talking with different providers. Borton: Okay. Tiede: And other customers experiences as well. Borton: Okay. Thanks. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 18 of 24 Overton: Dave, I remember when we rolled out ShoreTel in 2008 and I know you were talking about the back end on all the stuff that's going to really be in your backyard. Are we looking at a substantial different phone set and education process for new employees or for current employees? I know when we did that ShoreTel some people -- it was pretty tough to understand how to use those. Tiede: There are certainly differences on this system versus our current system. However, at the end of the day it is a phone that you can dial out, you can pick up and make calls. When it comes to some of the other features that are additional bells and whistles, such as software, such as using the phone from your cell phone and having it be your city cell phone -- or your city number, as opposed to your personal cell phone number, those are additional things that we will need to do training on and we do intend to offer training to city employees as we start rolling it out. Again, with doing this approach, how we are wanting to phase it over the next six'ish months it will allow us to do that more gradually department by department, as opposed to trying to get it all done in one shot, so -- Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: So, the hard -- the hardware having to be replaced sort of confuses me. Why is that necessary? Like why can't the existing hardware be used? Tiede: The existing phones or handsets? Strader: Yeah. Tiede: That is simply a limitation of the equipment manufacturer at this point. So, it would be nice if they would offer the flexibility to allow our current handsets to work with their new system, but, quite frankly, they chose not to do that and there is no other provider that will actually allow them to work. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: And if we continued to use ours, then, what exactly would happen? Like at some point I will just get disconnected, because they don't support it or how would that play out? Tiede: There is a -- there is a few factors there. Strader: Okay. Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 19 of 24 Tiede: The first one is, yes, key -- we will lose support for that, which is a problem when we have problems or when we need to do something. But the other component of that that's probably more lingering over our heads at this point is we are -- our current system is to a back end copper based PRI system. So, it's old technology that has been used in telecom -- in the telecom industry for a hundred years and many carriers are starting to phase that out, because the federal government had mandates in place that required them to keep pricing and keep those things available to consumers, to businesses, for, you know, the last hundred years and those laws are going away. They have started going away and carriers are starting to charge whatever they want for that and our current provider is actually moving off a copper based system right now to a fiber based system and telling us you are going to move with us and we are going to charge what we want and so in doing this, moving over to this, we will be able to move to the new IP based way of handling back end phone communication, which will also set us up better for the future. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. I appreciate the contacts. I mean, you know, newer is not always better; right? Like sometimes some of the analog works perfectly well and it's unfortunate that we need to do this. I guess my question would be if we adopt this new system and we buy new headsets and handsets and -- and everything, do they guarantee that those will be supported or functional for a minimum amount of time? Like when do we run the risk of that becoming obsolete again? Tiede: I honestly think that at this point we have a pretty solid understanding and relationship with them and they will continue to support the system in the long term. I can't guarantee -- or they can't guarantee that that's going to be the next 50 years, but I will stand in front of you comfortable and say ten to 15 years, maybe even 20 is reasonable. We were pretty lucky getting 15 years out of our current phone system. We had actually planned to replace it this year, which we went back and forth and changed gears on that a few different times, because we were trying to get more life out of our system. So, I feel pretty comfortable saying ten to 15 years minimum. But there is no guarantee from the manufacturer at this point. Simison: In fact, some of the benefits and values -- some of the things -- it's just a start. I think we have eliminated 50 handsets, roughly. Tiede: I think we are up to 65. Simison: Sixty-five. So, as the new generation is more comfortable with not being tethered to a cord, we could eventually have no handsets in the city over time if everyone has -- you know, I don't have a city issued cell phone, so handset is where I'm going to go towards as compared to using my own phone during the day in that regards. But there are ways of -- some of these costs may dwindle over time. Again, the benefit Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 20 of 24 of technology I use -- you know, in that regards, if they were 50 dollar phones that would even be better, but they are not. So, we are trying -- we are trying to do what we can, I just want to say, on our end to reduce the cost of more handsets and I don't know if Dave wants to talk about how we are buying the handsets, but we are finding great efficiencies in that process. Tiede: Another thing I would mention is we have a local partner here in town, DataTel, that we work with on our phone system currently and they have gone through great strides to provide a very good discounted price for these handsets. So, we are talking more than 50 percent off of list price on them, which is substantial, and a pretty good -- I mean fantastic deal. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Can you just refresh my memory as how much they are per handset? Tiede: Yeah. That is a great question. I don't have that in front of me. You might -- Strader: I could -- Tiede: I believe there are -- the -- the one handset is roughly 330 dollars per handset. Strader: Okay. Well, that's a hundred thousand dollars, roughly, for the hardware and 500 -- it's look like 200 bucks apiece, give or take? Okay. Just wanted to understand. Thank you. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: The last time that you were here talking about IT updates, subscription, models, whatnot, you gave the impression that sometimes the city doesn't get a very timely, I guess, notice of -- of companies that are no longer going to continue their service. So, was -- was this one of these things that we knew that they were going to discontinue servicing the product or did they, you know, let us know this just recently and -- and how do we -- how are we going to kind of manage some of those concerns in the future? Tiede: So, Mitel provided ample notice on moving -- or their direction to phase out our current phone system. They reached out to us through our partner last year. It was after the budget process had gone through and started, but at this point in time they also offered incentives to move to their new platform. So, we do have a lot of notice and time to move over, but on the flip side, the back end part of the phone system, they are able to give us a discount of a hundred percent to start transitioning now and, then, Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 21 of 24 add in the fact that we have a carrier that is saying, hey, you need to flip over between those different things. We are like this is the time, as opposed to waiting towards the end of life, because there is time before their end of life. I believe we still have another five years, if I remember right. But, again, all these things stacked up was why we needed to move forward sooner than waiting for that to happen. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Do they typically make offers for discounts within a certain time frame, as like a marketing strategy or why -- why are they putting a deadline on this offer to the city? Tiede: I cannot say exactly why they do that, but I do know that it is a pretty common practice in the technology world where they are attempting to help us move forward into the future with their technology, as opposed to, you know, letting us kind of stagnate and, then, have to find another solution, so -- Simison: Council, any additional questions? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I would move that we approve the fiscal year 2023 budget amendment in the amount of 175,000 dollars for citywide phone system replacement. Borton: Second. Simison: Motion and second to approve Item 18. 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 is agreed to. Thank you. Tiede: Thank you. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 19. McMillan Road Corridor Discussion 20. Strategic Plan Bi-Annual Update Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 22 of 24 Simison: So, Council, we have two items left on -- on the agenda. I know there is a desire for the Executive Session to get going. Vincent and I have already talked and he was prepared to do a video update to Council if we didn't get to it today and provide an opportunity for questions and we can have him come back. Part of the reason is he is going to be on vacation, so it will be over a month before we can get him back on the agenda if there are follow-up questions for Council from that perspective, between our not having meetings and him being gone. So, we are prepared to do that. The question is do we want to move on? But that 19 is their time at this point in time with everything else. I'm not sure how long that conversation is going to be. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. If Council Members don't have heartburn over waiting on the McMillan Road discussion -- I know it's something we wanted to have. But we do have a lengthy Executive Session to discuss and possibly may even have to carry over to Thursday, depending on what happens. In this discussion it -- it sounds like it may have to even -- even if we go. But maybe not. So, if -- Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Caleb, what's the timeline in terms of -- any head nodding or kind of coalescence around anything that you would need to provide to other folks? Do you have a timeline on that? Hood: Mr. Mayor, Council President, Councilman Cavener, I can simply send Council a draft letter I have for your consideration. This is a little time sensitive. It does have to do with the State Highway 16 corridor construction. We are already kind of behind the Eight Ball with timelines, so I could come back next week -- couple weeks or whenever the next meeting is, but I can simply just send you a draft letter to review, if you are so inclined to authorize the Mayor to sign it, but, again, a little time sensitive. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Maybe a suggestion. And, again, I don't know in terms of process if this works, but if Caleb could send us a letter, we have a chance to review it over the next 48 hours. If we feel there is a need for a conversation and, then, tack it onto our budget hearing on Thursday, potential items, that would make sense for everybody? That way we will -- if needed. And, if not, we can just move past that item. Simison: Mr. Nary? Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 23 of 24 Nary: Mr. Mayor -- I guess, Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, Councilman Cavener, I would suggest if you want to do that simply just add that to the agenda today for noticing purposes, because that isn't really something you can add at the last minute. I mean -- so, if we want to just add it to the agenda, Mr. Johnson can amend the agenda to add both a potential executive session, as well as this -- this discussion item. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just some feedback on the strategic plan piece. I don't love that this would be the second year in a row that we are doing a video presentation and I think that this is really important work and would suggest that if we need to wait a month we wait a month and find time at the appropriate time when this is back and has a clear calendar and -- it just feels like it's too important to just skip over it. Simison: I guess, then, Vincent, I guess you are -- enjoy your vacation. We just want to make sure you guys get the information timely. That's really kind of the main point in that regard, so -- but if you are happy to wait, we are happy to wait as well. Okay. With that -- EXECUTIVE SESSION 21. Per Idaho Code 74-206A (1)(a): To Deliberate on a labor contract offer or to formulate a counteroffer. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we go into Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206A(1)(a). Borton: 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 move into Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:29 p.m. to 6:08 p.m.) Meridian City Council Work Session June 27,2023 Page 24 of 24 Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we come out of Executive Session. Borton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and second to come out of Executive Session. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and we are out of Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Move that we adjourn the work session. Simison: Motion to adjourn the work session. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6.08 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 7 / 11 / 2023 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK