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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-07-11 Work Session Minutes Meridian City Council Work Session July 11, 2023. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 11, 2023, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Brad Hoaglun, Joe Borton, Liz Strader and John Overton. Members Absent: Luke Cavener and Jessica Perreault. Also present: Joy Hall, Bill Nary, Laurelei McVey, Shawn Harper, Kris Blume and Dean Willis. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE Liz Strader _X_ Joe Borton _X_ Brad Hoaglun _X_ John Overton Jessica Perreault Luke Cavener X Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call the meeting to order. For the record it is July 11th, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next up is adoption of the agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Just to go into the adoption of the agenda, for our Consent Agenda we had a request to remove Items 15 and 16 and we will move those down to items removed from the Consent Agenda, so they will not be on the Consent Agenda, but we will hear them in order. We talked about do we do them after 21 , but I think we can just take care of those in a timely fashion to not impact anything else. So, with that change noted, Mr. Mayor, I move adoption of the agenda as amended. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to adopt agenda as amended -- as amended. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the Consent Agenda is -- or the agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 2 of 22 CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the June 20, 2023 City Council Work Session 2. Approve Minutes of the June 20, 2023 City Council Regular Meeting 3. Approve Minutes of the June 27, 2023 City Council Regular Meeting 4. Approve Minutes of the June 27, 2023 City Council Work Session 5. Approve Minutes of the June 29, 2023 City Council Budget Workshop 6. Outer Banks - Elk Ventures POD3 Development Water Main Easement (ESMT2023-0086) 7. TM Creek Subdivision Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement (ESMT-2023-0089) 8. Final Order 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 9. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Artisan Victory Market (H- 2022-0066) by Kindi Moosman, Horrocks Engineers, Inc., located at 2820, 2910, 2960, 2990 and 3020 S. Eagle Rd. 10. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Compass Pointe Subdivision (H-2023-0004) by A Team Land Consultants, located at 3245 and 3247 S. Locust Grove Rd. 11. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Ringneck Place Subdivision (H-2023-0009) by RiveRidge Engineering Company, located at 2315 E. Ustick Rd. (Parcel No. S1105212448 and Parcel No. S1105212449) 12. Modification to Development Agreement (AAA Oregon/Idaho H-2023- 0017) between the City of Meridian and AAA Oregon/Idaho for Property Located at 1139 and 1065 E. Fairview Ave. 13. Task Order for Design, Fabrication, and Delivery of Discovery Park Artwork: Wildlife Benches between Colin Selig and the City of Meridian for a Not-to-Exceed Amount of $25,000.00 14. Task Order for Fabrication and Installation of Discovery Park Artwork: Fanfare Between Steven Parker and the City of Meridian for a Not-to-Exceed Amount of $50,000.00 Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 3 of 22 17. FY24 Renewal Agreement for Dispatch Services between Ada County and City of Meridian 18. Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Amendment in the Amount of $9,370.00 for City Hall Gym Treadmill Replacement 19. Fiscal Year 2023 Net-Zero Budget Amendment in the amount of $16,195.00 for Community Risk Reduction Education Supplies 20. Fiscal Year 2023 Net-Zero Budget Amendment in the Amount of $13,000.00 for Addition of Flowering Cherry Trees at Kleiner Park Simison: Next up is the Consent Agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move approval of the Consent Agenda and for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest, with the exception of Items No. 15 and 16, which will be moved off the Consent Agenda for separate consideration. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the Consent Agenda is agree to. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 15. Master License Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Crown Castle Fiber, LLC, for the Use of Licensor Property in Connection with the Operation of a Wireless Network Simison: So, next we will move on to Items 15 and 16, which were removed from the Consent Agenda. First up will be Item 15. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Maybe it would make sense just to make a quick comment. I was the person that requested that we remove the items from the Consent Agenda. So, you know, I reviewed the agreements and I also reviewed the photographs of the 5G small cell Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 4 of 22 examples of what those would look like. I don't agree with how they look aesthetically and I also have an issue, because I feel like our agreement authorizes the use of our streetlights for these cell towers, but it doesn't really restrict their appearance, their location, with the exception of referring to the UDC and from speaking with Legal the UDC is not very descriptive on how to handle them and so I think it would make more sense to take a look at updating our UDC and in the meantime certainly the providers have the ability to continue to use all of the, you know, ACHD right of way and the intersections as they have been. So, I -- I don't think it would be too restrictive to take a look at that a little bit more. So, I just wasn't ready to approve it on the Consent Agenda. Simison: Thank you. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: A question on that concern. Was there any direction from Legal in that discussion that says there is an opportunity to -- to add language to it or to provide some clarity on design elements or -- or any suggestions that might address the concerns you have raised? Strader: I didn't feel that there was an opportunity to -- to address those concerns at this point, but -- Nary: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, Council Member Strader and Borton, so in speaking with planning -- I mean we have -- we -- we already have an existing UDC code that they are already having to apply with on aesthetics and things like that. Could they be better? Yeah. I think they have been working with -- my staff and -- and -- and Planning are working on that as an iteration for the UDC. But we have been applying the UDC now on the requests that are being made in commercial areas. So, certainly that's an ongoing conversation, but it -- it didn't -- it didn't feel to us or to Planning that it was imperative to do that before this master agreement would be in place. But it's certainly your folks call. Borton: Mayor, one other follow-up question on that. Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Bill, is the -- the obligation for these to meet the requirements of the UDC, is it requirements of the UDC as it exists at the time of each installation or are they somehow grandfathered into its current status today? Nary: No. It would be a new application, Councilman Borton. So, it would be whatever the existing UDC requirements are at the time they apply, because it's an individual application each time. Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 5 of 22 Borton: Okay. So, if there is changes into our UDC that provides some more specifics on design parameters, a lot of these licensees will be subject to and have to comply with that? Nary: Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah. The existing ones, obviously, would remain, because they have already been permitted. But anything -- a new application -- if the standards have changed those would be what they would apply. Borton: Okay. Thanks. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. It sounds like -- so, if -- if we have that discussion and things change those -- those would apply and -- and move forward, so I -- I -- I don't have an issue with the -- with approving the master license agreement right now and, then, having those -- those discussions and seeing if there needs to be any -- any changes. So, I would move that we approve the master license agreement between the City of Meridian and Crown Castle Fiber, LLC, for the use of licensor property in connection with the operation of wireless network. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve what was Consent Item No. 15. Is there discussion on the motion? Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: A couple quick things. I appreciate Council Woman Strader bringing it up and -- and that review -- holding it for this discussion is helpful and like it's not there is -- unless there is concern from Council that Planning staff is -- this is on the UDC update radar to see what language, if any, that might be helpful before the horse is out of the barn too far for design elements, that will happen sooner rather than later, I presume. Am I correct? Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Borton, I'm not sure what the timing is, but certainly I will talk to Planning. Borton: Okay. Just making sure it's on the radar. Thanks. Simison: Is there further discussion on the motion? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 6 of 22 Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah, I -- I think it's just the horse getting out of the barn is my concern. So, my comment was going to be either way, whether it's approved tonight or not, just that we have, you know, focus on the UDC updates for this. I would not want to walk out my front door and see one of these next to my house, so I'm just trying to kind of come at it from a practical level of, you know, the aesthetics and kind of what they look like and understand, you know, the density of how many can be located in a neighborhood, et cetera. So, some of those were my concerns and I felt like didn't get addressed, because I just received the -- sort of depictions of them yesterday that I have been asking for. So, understood if it gets approved tonight, you know, I'm sure we will tackle it either way, but it does really seem like something that we are going to need to focus on. Simison: All right. Any further discussion? Okay. If not, Clerk will call the roll. Or do you want a voice vote? Would Council like a voice vote or roll call? Strader: I'm going to vote no, so -- Simison: Okay. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? Strader: Nay. Simison: The ayes have it three to one. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE NAY. TWO ABSENT. 16. Master License Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Verizon Wireless for the Use of Licensor Property in Connection with the Operation of a Wireless Network Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Item 16 is basically the very same thing with just a different provider name on there. So, I move approval of the master license agreement between the City of Meridian and Verizon Wireless for the use of licensor property in connection with the operation of a wireless network. Overton: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve what was Consent Agenda Item 16. Is there discussion on this topic? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 7 of 22 Strader: Nay. Simison: The ayes have it three to one and the items are agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE NAY. TWO ABSENT. Simison: Thank you. And while I don't see anybody from community development here I'm sure Legal will be conveying that part of the conversation or myself when I meet with them, so -- okay. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 21. Gowen Thunder Airshow & Open House Presentation Simison: With that we will move on to our Department/Commission Reports. First item up is Item 21, which is Gowen Thunder Air Show and open house presentation. Jake, do you want to introduce -- or would you -- would you just like to have Lieutenant Colonel come up and take the mic? All right. And we will -- we are joined tonight by the Lieutenant Colonel Tony Vincelli. So, the -- the stage is yours. Vincelli: All right. Thank you, Mayor. Simison: And if you can just state your name and address and speak into a mic, so those remote can hear you well. Vincelli: Roger that. Mr. Mayor, Council Members, thank you very much for the opportunity to come and share some information with you today. My name again is Tony Vincelli. I'm a 26 year member of the -- the military. Served at Gowen Field in Boise for about 23 years now and I am the -- I am fortunate enough to be the director for Gowen Thunder 2023. 1 just wanted to spend a few minutes just to -- to share some information about the air show and our event with you and certainly be available to answer any questions. Is there slides? Am I able to -- I can't see them, so I just want to make sure -- okay. Perfect. As long as you can see them that's all that really matters. I have got paper copies right here. So, Gowen Thunder -- first of all, were any of you able to attend the 2017 event -- our first air show that we had in 2017? Okay. So, this might be new -- new to many of you and that's great. So, Gowen Thunder is a joint military open house and air show event. So, what we mean by joint is that it is an Army National Guard and Air National Guard event. Responsibilities are shared. Expenses are shared. Everything is -- is jointly planned between those two agencies and we also have a nonprofit foundation on -- on the installation in Boise called the MWR program that helps service members and families with various resilience activities, recreational programs, things for children and families. So, it's a -- it's an outstanding organization that we have internally at Gowen Field. Our mission and vision is, obviously, to host a -- a free family friendly event in the community, something that's extremely unique. We are only going to be doing it about once every four years in -- in the Treasure Valley area and we want to do that primarily to say thank you to the citizens of the Treasure Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 8 of 22 Valley and all of Idaho for -- for all of their support. We have a lot of friends in the National Guard and we just want to take an opportunity to spend some time with community and thank them for their support. We also want to celebrate some achievements in -- in the military and in aviation and probably most near and dear to my heart is to inspire patriotism and ignite the imagination of the next generation and I will talk about how we are planning to do that. Next slide. All right. So, in 2017 we actually were pretty surprised with the attendance that we had. We had close to 125,000 people there over the two days about 65 on -- on Saturday of that weekend and 60,000 on Sunday. You can see the -- the breakout and that's just an estimate, but we did do some sample polling, about 500 or so folks, and that's the -- the percentages that we came up with. So, really good representation from the City of Meridian, along with the other communities across the valley. We are expecting an even bigger event this year. It's going to be over 150,000 and we base that off of a couple of things. Number one nationally air shows are beating attendance projections. I think people are kind of tired of being inside the house. They want to get out and -- and be out in the community and certainly as a free family event like this I think will -- will draw big crowds. We do have some other events that we are competing with that weekend. The Albertsons Boise Open is that weekend, as is the final weekend of the Western Idaho Fair, but I think that we can share the audience with those other events and -- and expect a great turnout. And as you can see there are economic impacts as assessed by the Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau is just short of five million dollars. So, that's a really great thing for area businesses and area nonprofits as well. Let's see. There we go. All right. So, leading the show this year is going to be the Thunderbirds. If you have ever been to an air show before you know about the -- the Thunderbirds. Just a -- a really great performance team and certainly draws a lot of crowds. We are also going to have various military performers and civilian performers there as well. I won't detail all of them, but you can see the list there. It's pretty extensive. It's going to be about a six hour show with a couple of short intermissions on both Saturday and Sunday and, then, we are going to have a whole variety of things going on on the show grounds ramp and I will show you a map of that here in just a second. All right. So, this is just kind of a -- my version of what the other ramp looks like. I will show you what it actually looks like on the next slide. But folks will -- will park at parking areas within a few miles of Boise -- of Gowen Field and, then, be bused onto the field and, then, once they enter they are going to be able to freely walk the ramp and see the performances once they start at about 11 :00 o'clock on both Saturday and Sunday. We are expecting -- well, we are -- we are planning for up to 160 buses to bus all of the folks, because what we want to have happen is we want to make sure people have a great time and, then, are able to leave in a timely manner. We don't want to have them having to hang out for an hour or two waiting for a bus to get them back to their cars. So, we are making every effort to ensure that that wait time is going to be as short as possible. Here is what the ramp actually looks like and this is still very tentative, but it's -- you don't see any airplanes on the ramp yet. Trust me there will be many airplanes and -- and other exhibits on the -- on the showgrounds ramp there. But that's kind of how it's oriented in that east ramp. So, straight up is north and so that ramp to the east is going to be prime viewing area for the -- the performances that are happening. Any questions on the layout of the -- of this -- probably have several questions. You can ask those at any point if you have Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 9 of 22 questions. Next slide here. Our budget is just -- just over three quarters of a million dollars this year. So, it's -- it's quite expensive when you factor in all of the travel for the performers, the fuel that goes into the -- the aircraft, all of the -- all of the hospitality and arranging for -- for water and beverages and food and all that sort of thing, it is -- it gets -- the -- the bills add up quickly. So, we do rely quite heavily on sponsorships. About a third of the cost comes from -- is covered by the military and the rest must come through sponsorships and, then, through our ticket sales and vendor sales and that's how we are planning to pay the bills and, then, anything that's left over will be put into a fund to fund our -- to help partially fund our next air show, which we are planning for in 2027. As you can see the Guard is a -- is a vital member of the community and of the state. Total economic impact is -- is just over six hundred million dollars and, you know, I'm happy to say I'm -- I'm a Meridian resident as well and 534 of us, plus our families, currently reside in Meridian. So, certainly any support that you provide to this event will -- will not be lost on -- on those of us that are -- are citizens of this great city. And, then, you know, there is multiple ways that we are asking people to support. Specifically for you, though, I see a few different potential -- and I spoke with Jacob Cluff and -- and David Miles about this, but we are really concerned -- or not concerned. We are really interested and excited about the STEM Expo Center, which is going to be really an opportunity for kids to come in and get hands on with a lot of different exhibits and we are -- we are enlisting the support of Boise State University, some other universities as well and area businesses to provide exhibits for the kids to kind of get in there and -- and get excited about science, technology, engineering and math. That -- the location of that expo center is -- is also pretty advantageous, because it happens to be shaded and it will be cool or -- or at least cooler than being out in the ramp in late August. So, I think it will be a -- a well attended venue on the -- on the air show ramp. And, then, I mentioned buses earlier and this may just be nothing more than public awareness, but we are looking for qualified bus drivers and we are certainly enlisting the support of area bus companies, because 160 buses, as you can imagine, with drivers, is quite expensive. In fact, it's over 150,000 dollars of our budget comes from busing alone. So, anything that you can do to help us in that regard, again, just maybe reaching out to -- to bus companies and -- and pledging your support to the event and asking them to support us by providing those buses and drivers at a -- at as reasonable a cost as possible that would be certainly appreciated and, then, of course, you got to pay the bills. So, cash sponsorship is always -- always welcome to the extent that you are -- are comfortable and -- and want to support the event. With that I -- I'm kind of at the end of my slideshow. So, if there are any questions so that I -- or any other information that I can provide I would be happy to do it at this time. Simison: Thank you. Lieutenant Colonel. Council, any questions? I'm -- I'm seeing no questions. I know this was an item that the City of Meridian did financially support four years ago. I believe it was either with a five or ten thousand dollar donation in support of the STEM center, bussing, and I think it was -- at the time it was to bus Meridian students to participate in the STEM activities on Friday. Is that still something that is going to exist in the current scenario? Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 10 of 22 Vincelli: One hundred percent. That STEM expo center will be open all three days. It is -- the timing this time around is a little bit of a challenge just because the kids are getting just back into school; right? So, unfortunately, we were at -- at the mercy of the Thunderbirds' schedule when they were available and late August was about all we could do this year. So, we are going to make lemonade out of lemons and -- and go with it, but, obviously, if any kids want to get out of school and attend they are more than welcome on Friday. But, obviously, Saturday and Sunday we expect a good amount of kids to come out and -- and participate at the STEM center. Hoaglun: So Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Thanks for the presentation. So, it is a great event. I know community members really enjoy it. So, is there particular sponsorship levels that you have? Is that on your website we can go to -- Vincelli: It is. Yes, sir. So, if you go to gowenthunder.org and, then, click on the sponsors button and scroll down half the page there is a -- a link to view the whole packet. I can briefly summarize it. So, sponsorships start at -- our -- our one star sponsorship starts at 3,500 dollars and, then, we have two star is 5,000 and the three star at 10,000. And there is -- you know, there is various benefits that go along with that and we -- we tailor that more towards private companies, you know, who want to entertain clients or -- or bring business associates out. For -- for city officials you are, obviously, welcome to attend the tags tent and -- and, you know, you could -- any tickets that we provide to the city you could pass out to your employees or to whomever you feel is -- is wanting -- you know, needing those tickets. But that's -- that's just kind of how we structure the different levels of sponsorship. Hoaglun: And, Mr. Mayor, one last question. Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: What's -- what's the deadline? When would you like to have a decision by? Vincelli: Really at any point is -- is fine. We are pressing forward full steam ahead. We don't see any issues that will prevent us from having this event successfully, other than busing, but we have a solution there. We are going to actually train a lot of our soldiers and airmen to drive the buses ourselves and actually that will cut down on some costs as well, so -- but to answer your question, sir, at any point really. We are -- we are not under a time crunch. Hoaglun: Thank you. Vincelli: Yes, sir. Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 11 of 22 Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Colonel, thank you for a great presentation. I was looking down while you were talking, because I probably sent it out to about a dozen people. Vincelli: I appreciate that. Overton: To get the word out. Vincelli: Absolutely. Overton: As I'm looking forward to this event. It's been a long time. Thank you. Vincelli: Thank you. Thank you very much. Simison: Well, Council, I don't want to be the -- I mean -- okay. I'm going to do the hard ask right now, just to make sure that we -- this technically is the last day we can do budget amendments in this year. This is not a budgeted item within our current budget. So, if Council is interested in supporting this financially I feel like -- unless someone else has -- knows another way to pay for it that's not part of our budget, if the city is interested we probably need to make a motion today and I don't even know how that works if you don't have the official budget amendment form in front of you, but I have been told we can't do budget amendments next week, because we have to publish the numbers for the year. So, I will leave that right there for any direction or non-direction. Vincelli: And -- and if it would be better if I exited the room and you guys discussed it that is totally up to you, sir. Simison: And I don't think that's necessary. They -- they -- they often make fund conversation decisions with other people in the room who -- sometimes they like what they do and sometimes they don't, so -- Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: I'm comfortable for certain continuing to support this event in a manner which we have done in prior years. I would love to get it on the radar in anticipation of continued support in future years, so it fits into our budget discussions, but -- but the mechanics of how we do it, in light of the timing, if it's -- if it's funded and -- and the funds are delivered in the next fiscal year, because that's what it takes and, then, so be it. We still want to make sure we can provide the financial assistance. Simison: And our CFO just showed up. Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 12 of 22 Borton: Fantastic. Simison: So, he can at least maybe weigh in on this topic. Borton: Okay. Lavoie: Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, this event is occurring confirmed before October 1 of this calendar year. So, with that that is a fiscal '23 item. So, fiscal '24 we don't need to worry about. So, the question is, you know, where do we have the money in this year's budget? Sorry. I was running down the hallway. So, in this case we don't need a budget amendment per se. You have the spending authority up to a certain amount of dollars. We will have the bandwidth in your budget to make the contribution that you wish, if you wish, to -- for fiscal '23. So, no forms needed. Just give me direction. We can draft up some paperwork. Sorry. We can draft up the paperwork for you. Get the contract signed up. Procurement. Legal. You just tell me how much money -- how much you would just write up a contract and we will make sure we have the funds available for fiscal '23 to satisfy your needs. Simison: Perfect. So, we don't need spending authority, because we have spending authority, which is under most budget amendments. We have funds left over from savings of some sort someplace, likely police personnel. There is always a little bit of extra there. We know that. So, do you want a week to think about it and come back next week, since we don't need to at this specific time? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: No. No. I mean we could do that. There is not a rush to do it, but I -- I'm in agreement with Councilman Borton's proposal that, you know, we do it -- what we did before. I think that was a good amount. I believe it was 10,000. Is that what you would -- anybody recall? Simison: It was either five or ten. I don't recall. Hoaglun: And maybe we -- you know, we can take a look at that and -- and make a decision next week or something. Soon enough to let you know where we are coming down on and -- since we don't need any forms or anything officially done today, we might -- might be okay with that, so -- Vincelli: What I will do is I will -- I will share the -- the packet -- the sponsorship packet with David -- with Mr. Miles and, then, he can -- Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 13 of 22 Strader: I just -- I do have some concerns and I have -- and just my -- my concerns would be -- I think is probably a huge amount of external events that we could support as city and so I think we need to be thoughtful about what we pick and choose. This is a fantastic event to support, but I wouldn't, for example, want us to provide the same level of financial support to this event that we provide to, for example, Dairy Days, which is held within our own city; right? So, I just think we need to like -- just through kind of the amount of the contribution and make sure it makes sense. It sounds like we did it previously. It directly benefited, you know, Meridian students. So, if that opportunity is available. So, I just -- I have a couple concerns I would like to -- Simison: Okay. All right. Well, I guess you will be hearing from us soon. Vincelli: Okay. Thank you very much. Simison: All right. Thank you. And thank you for bringing this event to the community. 22. Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Amendment in the amount of $48,950.00 for City Hall Tenant Improvements Simison: So, with that we will move on to Item 22, which is fiscal year '23 -- 2023 budget amendment in the amount of 48,950 dollars for City Hall tenant improvements. Turn this over to Laurelei. McVey: All right. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council Members. So, the reason I'm bringing this forward is my team is responsible for facilities at City Hall and tenant improvements. So, I will kick it off for us. So, this is for a budget amendment for the design of nine additional hard walled offices in City Hall. So, six of those would be in the Fire area and three of those are in the IT area. So, this tenant improvement request does meet the design guidelines that we have put into place for tenant improvements in City Hall. The primary purpose of these is to put supervisors into hard walled offices, so that they can conduct supervisory duties in a private space. Just a reminder. I know it seems like just yesterday, but we moved into this building in 2008, so it's about 15 years old and so that's, you know, quite a bit of time that's past and some changes in staffing have pushed this forward. But this tenant improvement would allow us to meet the needs of our staff in several of these areas. And, again, this budget amendment is just for the design of those areas, so that we could move forward with actually procuring construction costs. But this is just for the design piece. Simison: Thank you, Laurelei. And we do at least have -- I see Dave -- Laurelei: Dave's online, I believe. Simison: Okay. We have IT and fire chief here for any questions that you have in regards to this. But this is part of the ongoing conversation, especially as we have seen the Fire Department grow and the challenges that are there. I think we have one person who we don't actually have a physical space for within the -- within the Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 14 of 22 department. So, this will help alleviate that, but also, you know, try to get people aligned with what expectations we have for positions, the best of our ability. Now, we are always not going to be able to meet that goal, but we do have a way that we -- we can and we -- we have been putting off TI. The Mayor's office had a TI that we were hoping to do when we were -- as we did a realignment of personnel, but, you know, costs are not what they used to be and -- you know. But that's why it's -- it's tough to look at these numbers and say this is the -- this is the cost, but, apparently, we just don't understand construction to be able to look at these numbers and have -- have faith in them and what takes place to, you know, LEED certified building and with air handling and moving things and lighting and everything else. But I will -- I will let you ask any questions you have for the team. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: As somebody who sat on the sidelines and watched our police department get fuller and fuller as we grew, I have witnessed what we have had to do in restructuring spaces and I have seen what you are looking at and I totally agree that it's needed -- or past being needed and it's not even the -- the last one you are going to have to do in the future to keep up with the needs of an ever growing city and I fully support it. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I -- you know, I'm just blown away by the cost, frankly. You know, I mean this -- the professional services are 50,000, but it looks like that, you know, kind of leads us down the path of half a million dollar renovation. It's just a huge amount of money it seems like for nine offices. Like 60,000 dollars per office. It's like I'm really sort of struggling. Does that -- does that just meet the needs of existing personnel who are supervisors? So, do we have nine supervisors who don't have an office currently or is that also meeting future needs? Like help me understand who -- kind of the breakdown of who will be using those offices. Simison: I can -- I can speak for -- well, never mind. I'm not going to speak for either one of them, Chief or Dave, I will let you answer. Blume: All right. Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, Council Woman Strader, currently in Fire situation we have five supervisors at the division chief level that are in cubicles and they do not have an office with a door. We have a vacancy for a training division -- chief of training position that we have been unable to fill. But if that person were to come to the Meridian Fire Department tomorrow we do not, in fact, have an office available for that person or a cubicle for them to sit in. We have additional cubicles which we have three people -- in -- in one instance we have one cubicle that is shared by three people. But those aren't supervisors and so the ask with TI is for the division chiefs and, in fact, Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 15 of 22 one of our deputy chiefs, the deputy chief of operation, is in a cubicle and is in dire need of a private place to have confidential, executive level discussions, conversations with members of staff, members of the city, surrounding agencies, as well as members of the organization. So, it's -- I think to Councilman Overton's point it's overdue, so -- does that help, ma'am? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: A comment a little bit on it, because I think it's just healthy for everybody to be challenged on it. Why not have a hotel desk concept where we have supervisors able to book, you know, a private conference room, maybe one or two are sharing it and can have those -- like how many -- just challenging it a little bit. Like how many confidential conversations are needing to happen in a day, because I -- I don't know -- I used to work on a trading floor where we used to share offices for those kinds of conversations and it really wasn't an issue. Blume: Council Woman Strader, fair question. I don't really know where to look, so I'm just going to look at your seat, because I'm staring down the -- fair question and that's definitely an innovative idea that I think that we could look at. To put a number value on the number of conversations that happen is -- is kind of challenging. Oftentimes they are spontaneous, other times they are booked or scheduled. There are also -- with, you know, the advent of teams and Zoom meetings and stuff -- when you have three people on different Zoom calls or a phone call in a narrow hallway with three people it's a bit of a distraction. We have used some adaptive technology where people are wearing headsets in their -- in their workspaces. We -- we have thought about putting up shower curtains just to kind of isolate, so that people can feel a sense of a little bit of privacy. But to -- to put a number on how many private conversations need to take place or do take place in a day -- in one day maybe it's three and the next day it's ten and, then, the third day it's zero. So, I don't really have a definitive answer on that one for you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I understand and I'm sorry you can't see me. It must be weird. I'm like a little voice looming above you. I don't mean to do that. You know. So, if I were to make a suggestion -- my concern would be -- we are going to -- we are going to do this half million dollar build out and every supervisor gets an office, but that really doesn't set us up going forward; right? If every supervisor has to have an office. And so what I would suggest for the team as -- you know, looking at the renovation is, you know, there is a concept where you can have these kind of -- they are like small booths and they are soundproof where people can book them and it's kind of like a hotel desk that you can book, so a private conference room, and just making that available to city employees generally to have confidential conversations. So, you know, we could build out some Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 16 of 22 offices for supervisors. It makes sense to me that we need to do that as part of the renovation. But think a little bit about, you know, shared spaces that could be used for confidential conversations, so that we are not just constantly building offices every time we hire a new supervisor, because we are going to run out of space and it seems like we need -- we need a concept that's going to be a little more scalable. Simison: Well, and -- and what we have tried -- we have tried to -- to your point, we -- we have tried to put into what is the appropriate level for each department. Is it okay for some departments to have supervisors or not or to treat our -- our different employees equally and so we try to come up with a proposal that, you know, size of space, those elements through that process and this is one of those things. To your point, that's what IT is currently doing with their three supervisors. They have a conference room across the hallway that they go and utilize for these conversations. Fire does have a small conference room or a large conference room that they can use for these conversations and the costs are -- I mean this has been my biggest struggle. You can ask the team. have been struggling with all of this, because I don't believe the numbers. I cannot personally believe that these are the real costs to do what we are talking about doing. It blows my mind just from a very frank standpoint. And I -- I -- but I feel like if we don't proof up some of this, then, we will never know and part of the conversation that we are not having today is we do want to look at this at a larger on -- on -- say, for example, the entire third floor or looking at different segments to help have these larger conversations. I have seen the booths that you talk about. C Squared Social has these awesome booths that you can use that are phone booths. They are not -- you can't put two people on them, but for -- to do a private meeting I think that those are things that maybe are in addition to the cubicles that exist, so people can step into them. So, don't know what the final answer is, but engaging an architect is the way to try to help define some of this and, yeah, I'm -- I struggle with the cost every -- every time I -- I look at TIs in this building and that's why we put off TIs in the Mayor's Office for the last two years, because we -- I just couldn't stomach the -- the -- the cost of bringing stuff forward. But the fire department does seem to be in a little bit different situation where we don't have enough space and part of this is to space plan that entire -- if I'm correct does this get the entire fire department suite space planned or just the offices. So, this is just for the offices, but you would likely see a budget amendment in 2024 that could do the entire fire space. But we didn't have a good number for you and I know Council doesn't like things that aren't a good number, so I could only bring forward a good number for you today, because the architects couldn't get us the real number for the rest to do the entire Fire Department in a timely fashion, for example. So, I'm trying to respect the budget time frames that we are under, Council's desire to have real costs and not guesstimates where we can, but at the same time move the conversation forward if we can and if -- if Council says no, then, we will figure out stuff over the next five months and -- or four months at least and see if we can come up with a better approach or cost. But the cost are a struggle for me every time I -- I have the conversation over TI. Just ask anybody on the team. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 17 of 22 Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Sorry. And, then, I will stop talking, because I feel like I'm the only one right now. But I -- I would feel better about it if the plan was, you know, we have agreement every director should have an office and, you know, every -- I don't know two supervisors, three supervisors, whatever the matrix is, should have access to, you know, a department level private conference room to have those conversations. I'm just -- I'm kind of hoping that out of the process if we had kind of commitment to look at shared spaces as part of this I would feel a little bit better about it. I -- I -- I'm okay with the 50,000 to study it, but I hope that we can look at shared spaces as part of the work. I'm just -- it's the 500,000 dollars that I'm really choking on and having a really hard time with, so --just like you are, so -- McVey: And we can certainly, as part of the design process, ask them for some cost estimates for some of those shared spaces and -- but it would likely be, you know, if we are talking about building walled conference rooms it's -- it's going to be in that similar price -- similar, you know, to what the Mayor shared. We do our best getting price estimates. However, without a bid set or drawings contractors have a really hard time giving us a price estimate. So, we have -- we have reached out, we have utilized resources and we keep getting these ballpark numbers and so, really, we are kind of at that sticking point of -- we have to at least get through the design to be able to come back to you guys -- and go out to bid to be able to come back to you guys with a real construction budget. So, we definitely have a stopgap in place where we can have more conversation about the actual construction. But we need to get through the design phase. Simison: Yeah. We -- we won't get any construction until -- came in and do a budget amendment until October in that regard. So, there will definitely have to be more conversation about what is found or done and whatnot and it's -- we -- when we built out the second floor space where the Congressman's office currently is, I think that was a 90,000 dollar TI for the entire space in 2009. 1 just -- it -- it -- it blows my mind when we were talking about this and I have -- I have offered to come in and do the demo work myself, but they say we are not allowed to do that. I'm serious. I'm like we can't demo, we can't do anything to reduce the cost and the answer is, no, we are not allowed to. I don't understand it, but I suppose if I run through a wall on accident does that count? So -- sorry. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. I -- I think we all agree it -- it is perplexing about the cost. I think we can look for other options that might help we hope save some dollars, but we have to begin this first step. So, I -- I -- I would move that we approve the fiscal year 2023 budget amendment in the amount of 48,950 dollars for City Hall tenant improvements. Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 18 of 22 Overton: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the budget amendment. Is there further discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Roll Call: Hoaglun, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, absent; Perreault, absent; Strader, yea; Overton, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the item is agreed to and we hope we can bring costs and efficiencies down, just put it that way. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. 23. Public Works: Cost of Service Study and Proposed Fiscal Year 2024 Water and Sewer Fees Simison: Okay. With that we will move on to Item 23, Public Works cost of service study and proposed fiscal year 2024 water and sewer fees. McVey: Okay. All right. Well, we are working on pulling up some slides, so my presentation is twofold for you tonight. The first is to discuss the results of our cost of service study and, then, the second is to give you guys the proposal for the water and sewer utility rate increase for FY-24. So, the first question is what is a cost of service study. So, essentially, we worked in 2022 with FCS. They are a national consultant that has expertise in municipal rates. We worked with the city's Finance team and the Public Works Department to essentially look at our projected revenues, our projected expenses, make sure that our rate structures are legally defensible -- defensible and, then, make sure that we are capturing and allocating costs fairly. So, one of the things that was really important for us to achieve with this was the assessment fee -- you may have heard of the Loomis method. It was a case law that happened in Idaho related to assessments and make sure that our assessment fee is lined up with the way that that case concluded and, then, we also had the group look at a couple of special interest topics related to Finance, but they were -- what would it look like if we developed customer classes in Meridian? So, currently all customers, whether you are residential, business, sprinklers, everybody is charged the same rate structure. What would it look like if we split the funds? So, currently today we just have the Enterprise Fund and should we split that into a Water Fund and a Sewer Fund? And, then, our third one was do we need to start looking at funding significant infrastructure replacements. So, you may hear on the news sometimes that, you know, infrastructure is failing around the U.S. Do we need to start saving for huge future water and sewer line replacements. The good news on that one is our system is still very new and very young and the consultant did not think that we needed to start investing in that significantly today. Okay. So, slide two, please. Okay. So, hopefully, you guys can see those, because I can't up here, but -- so, what did the cost of service study show us? Well, the good news is the Enterprise Fund is healthy. That's great news for us. But we will likely need rate increases to maintain that over the next period. Part of that is just the cost of Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 19 of 22 keeping up with inflationary cost of doing business. It did look at our processes and methodologies for establishing rates and fees and determine that those are also legally sound, especially after we updated our assessment fees back in 2022 to align with the Loomis method, we are on sound ground as far as our rates and fees. The other thing that was really great is it validated that our city rate model tool is very accurate and a very good predictive tool to show us what revenue is coming in, what expenses are going out and what potential rate increases could look like. So, the cost of service study recommended a few things. So, the very first was update our assessment fees. We completed that in November of 2022, because it was the highest priority item. It also recommended that we review and update our rates annually to maintain fund solvency. We did bring you a rate increase in June of 2022 last year and I am proposing one today. A couple of the other things that recommended was considering a fund split and it says consider, because it's important to know that isn't required, but it is a good financial practice. It also told us to consider looking at changing what fees go into the base rate versus the use rate. So, there is some fees -- or some costs that vary depending on how much water we produce or how much sewer we treat. Some costs are there no matter what we -- no matter what we process and so for stuff that is not volumetric dependent you could put that on the base. The more cost that you put on the base the more stable your revenue source can also be. The study also recommended looking at considering customer classes. Again this is a recommendation, not a requirement. Like I mentioned, currently all of our customers are -- are charged the same way, which is -- is probably okay. So, 73 percent of our customers are residential. So, that's the bulk of our customers. One of the things -- and we have -- we have a plan to look at this, but one of the things is a challenge with our billing software. So, the more complex you make your rate structures the more of an administrative burden it is to -- to split these up to make sure that you are assessing things the right way. We are unsure if our current billing system is even capable of creating these customer classes. So, those are some things we need to look into over the next several years. So, our implementation plan for cost of service -- do -- I see it now. Do you want me to -- if I click on it in here -- okay. All right. So, our implementation plan -- so, for FY-24 we are coming forward with a rate increase proposal. Also important to know that our ten year EPA fee sunsets at the end of FY-24. The study recommended, as is our Finance Department and our recommendation, to let that fee sunset. It was a ten year fee. It did accomplish what it needed to accomplish, but their recommendation is if we need additional revenue because of regulatory requirements we just build that into our regular rate structure. And, then, in FY-24 we would also like to evaluate the customer class and the base versus use costs. Dig a little bit more into our billing software and really decide if the extra effort is -- is worth -- if there is -- you know, the administrative effort is worth splitting up those class structures and what that would look like and we can bring that information forward to you before we make any decisions there. Going forward FY-25 we would recommend we continue every year to evaluate whether we need rate increases. We recommend every three years that we look at our assessment fees and, then, we will also proceed in alignment with Finance on the Enterprise Fund split in FY-25. Going forward assessment fees every three years and, then, reviewing the cost of service study every five years, just to make sure that it's kept up to date. So, our FY-24 rate increase proposal. So, we have Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 20 of 22 -- we really haven't had many rate increases. In fact, only two over the last ten years. So, we had a two percent increase in October of 2014 and we had a two percent increase in June of 2022. We are proposing a three percent increase effective October of 2023 and this would be to both the use and the base of the water and the sewer. What this equates to is about $1.91 per month increase for the average Meridian resident and we will talk a little bit about why we need that. So, this slide is a little bit busy, but it shows you what our current rates are for the average customer and it also shows you what our current assessment fees are. This is our Enterprise Fund internal rate model graph. A couple of things. So, the orange line is our total ending fund balance and our black line is our -- our balance after we take out reserves. So, our goal with a couple of things that are really important is we maintain the save before you spend philosophy. We are currently in a -- in a planned spend period. We also think stability of the fund and stability of rate increases is really important. So, we don't want to, you know, go back and forth doing huge rate increases, no rate increases. So, what you will see here is there is a pretty significant drawdown in the first few years and the reason not to panic is we have a couple of really big wastewater projects that I really feel like need to get bid out, so we know the dollar figures. The other thing is this rate model is run with a hundred percent execution. We generally do not achieve that. Our historic is usually around 60. So, we are not going to spend all that money as quickly as -- as the model forecasts. So, we do feel like we need an adjustment if at -- for no other reason to, then, just keeping up with inflationary pressures. Things like chemicals, electricity, fuel have all gone up immensely. Those are huge costs for our utilities. But both us and the Finance Department are not significantly concerned on the capital side with that drop. We think it's prudent to ask for this small increase now, see how those projects actually pan out and, then, come back to you again next year with additional potential increases if needed. So, this is what our model looks like if we implement the rate increase. So, you will see it pushes that line out just a little bit. It still allows us to bid those large projects. This model does take into account the sunsetting of the EPA fee in FY-24 and another thing to note we are very competitive as far as utility rates in the Treasure Valley. So, these are rates as they sit today across the Treasure Valley and it will show you Meridian's rates with where we are today and, then, with the proposed three percent increase. The reason we can be in this is because of the really careful financial planning that we do with our Finance Department and Mayor is forecasting our needs for the next period, saving before we spend and not getting into debt financing really helps us stay at these low levels. However, we also recognize that any rate increase does impact some of our customers. So, just wanted to let everybody know that there are a couple of programs that Meridian offers. The first is our Meridian CARES program, which offers up to a hundred dollars of financial assistance. We partner with EI-Ada on that, but a hundred dollars per year to help pay residents who meet the financial thresholds for their water, sewer and garbage bills. And, then, there are other programs that are outside of the city that are available for utility assistance. The Boise School District has a really good resource manual that links you to different programs that can help you with utility bill payments. Just for reference in FY-22 we assisted 81 customers with our CARES program. Hoaglun: Hey, Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 21 of 22 Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: So, real quick question. Laurelei, is that one hundred dollar a figure that we create or is it some program cap? McVey: I do not know the answer to that. Todd? Lavoie: Mr. Mayor, Council Member Borton, EI-Ada is the one that's in charge of negotiating or discussing the reimbursement or the funding rates between the customer and EI-Ada itself. We will fund EI-Ada on the back end, but we let them manage that discussion between each individual unique customer situation. Borton: Okay. Good. Thank you. McVey: So, what our proposed schedule looks like -- so, we are proposing that we hold a public hearing on August 15th. We would notice that in the next two utility bills that go out, as well as in the newspaper the two weeks prior to that and, then, hold the public hearing and assuming that we received approval we would implement this rate increase on October 1st. So, with that I will stand for any questions about either the cost of service study or the FY-24 increase proposal. Simison: Thank you, Laurelei. Council, questions? Okay. Well, thank you very much. Appreciate it. And I know it won't be the last time to comment on definitely the rate side of things and others as they come forward. So, appreciate it. McVey: Thank you. EXECUTIVE SESSION 24. Per Idaho Code 74-206A (1)(a): To Deliberate on a labor contract offer or to formulate a counteroffer. Simison: So, with that we are on Item 24. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we go into Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206A(1)(a). Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to go into Executive Session. Is there any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Meridian City Council Work Session July 11,2023 Page 22 of 22 Roll Call: Hoaglun, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, absent; Perreault, absent; Strader, yea; Overton, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and we will go into Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:28 p.m. to 6:01 p.m.) Simison: So, I understand we have two members of Council on with -- so, if you -- think we can take a motion. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we come out of Executive Session. 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 of Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Move we adjourn the regular -- the work session. Simison: Have a motion to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6.01 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON 7-25-2023 ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK