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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-07-18 Work Session Minutes Meridian City Council Work Session July 18, 2023. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 18, 2023, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Brad Hoaglun, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Jessica Perreault, Liz Strader and John Overton. Also present: Joy Hall, Bill Nary, Jamie Leslie, Kris Blume and Dean Willis. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE Liz Strader _X_ Joe Borton _X_ Brad Hoaglun _X_ John Overton _X_ Jessica Perreault _X—Luke Cavener X Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call the meeting to order. For the record it is July 18th, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item up is the adoption of the agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we adopt the agenda as published. Cavener: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is agreed to -- or adopted. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Gander Creek South No. 3 Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 1 (ESMT- 2023-0090) 2. Torino Locust Grove Subdivision Water Main Easement No. 1 (ESMT- 2023-0092) Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 2 of 24 3. Final Plat for PAW Subdivision (FP-2022-0034), located at 1680 W. Ustick Rd, by Kent Brown Planning Services 4. Approval of Construction Contract to Alloway Electric Co., Inc. for the Streetlights Linder Road-McMillan to Chinden (LED Upgrades) for the Not-To-Exceed amount of $240,020.55 5. Task Order for Fabrication and Installation of Discovery Park Artwork: The Hole Ball Game Between UrbanRock and the City of Meridian for a Not-to-Exceed Amount of $45,000.00. 6. First Amendment to Commercial Lease Agreement Between ReSurge Church and the City of Meridian 7. Amendment to Subrecipient Agreement between City of Meridian and Ada County Housing Authority for CARES Act Community Development Block Grant Funds Simison: Next up is the Consent Agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we adopt the Consent Agenda and -- approve the Consent Agenda and that the Mayor be authorized to sign and Clerk to attest. Cavener: 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. Opposed 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 were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 8. Mayor's Office: Neighborhood Grants Program Simison: So, we will go on to Item 8, which is Department/Commission Reports from the Mayor's Office regarding the neighborhood grants program. I will turn this over to Mr. Cluff. Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 3 of 24 Cluff: Thank you, Mayor and Council. I'm here on the behalf of the Mayor's Office to talk about the great program of the neighborhood grant program. The memo distributed to you is outlining the 2023 neighborhood grant program. As we talked about last year, the intent of the program is to beautify the community and get input from the stakeholders and take the aspects of volunteerism and creating Meridian as the premier -- premier community to live and work and raise a family. The selection panel and the grading system came to Council and was done on several items. Project description. The evaluation of volunteers in the group, timeline effectiveness, project impact and project budget. Below that you will see the staff recommendations for this item. These items -- we have three staff recommendations. The compiled scores. Each one of these come in as community events, a cleanup project and a maintenance project at the senior center. Going into a little more depth. The community -- or the connection is the Cure event. This is going to be an educational program for high school students in the valley -- or in Meridian. Talk about mental health awareness. This engages many of the volunteers in our -- in our community and as well as grows with our group and our -- our vision. The I Heart Treasure Valley cleanup. This is looking at any items or any areas that we possibly need some cleanup items, such as high schools, any areas that might have noxious weeds, as well as credit lots and, then, also neighborhoods that might need some help just to maintain. And, lastly, the senior center needed repairs upon the senior center, too, as well and we can go down the list that's just staff recommendations for these items. I'm seeking guidance and approval from -- from Council and I would like to have a better conversation on what this would look like in the future with the allocated -- with the recommended budget items or the recommended fund request we were at 9,000 dollars or a little under 10,000 dollars out of the 50 grand that was given to us or allocated for the program. As we move forward we would like to have some guidance on some items for that, whether its partnership with private stakeholders, such as HOAs and other companies, as well the additional guidelines of how large of a cap we would like to have. Something that has been in the program for a while is the request to not exceed 25,000 dollars and we had a couple of -- we had a budget item -- or not a budget item, a request -- a grant request to clean up the area near Franklin and Meridian and we all can know the intersection that we are talking about. It is a needed section that needs to have some repairs. But we have -- we have some shortfalls that we need to understand of whether that would be guidance for other people or other entities whether we can do that and whether these private stakeholders would be willing to do it and the private property owners in that area. With that this is in front of you as a needed conversation and I request the approval of Council and I stand for any questions. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Thank you, Jake. Council, questions? Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. Thank you, Jacob. I -- I must say I am admittedly a bit disappointed to see Golf View in the bottom this year again. I feel like that they have done an excellent job of presenting their need and having justification for it. So, a couple of questions. One, is it a hard and fast that we are only limited to granting to a Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 4 of 24 maximum of two? And also in that regard could we not, then, spend the balance of the funds on some of the other applicants this year? I guess I'm not understanding why we wouldn't be able to spend the balance of those funds. Cluff: We also need to look at whether that's a property that is going to be privately owned and an HOA. If that's the will of the committee I -- we could definitely put it back out there. And, of course, this is just staff recommendations and you have complete control and make motions as you feel. Did that answer your question, Council Woman? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. Help me understand how the privately owned property affects our decision. Cluff: I would -- Perreault: Liability concerns? Cluff: Sorry. Mayor, Council, I would have to yield to probably the attorney on that to understand whether we can or can't. It did not exceed and was -- when we were graded in this program we had the four applications from Golf View and did not exceed the mark above the -- if we were going to go down an allocation. We have the Boise Meridian RV Resort, which is the southwest corner of Meridian and Franklin would be next on the list and that would take up the majority of those funds. Again, you can -- oh, sorry about that. But I would yield to an attorney on that -- or the city attorney to understand whether we can give that to private property owners. Simison: Mr. Nary, would you like to weigh in on that question? Nary: So, I didn't completely hear the entire question. Is it can we give grant funding to a private source? Is that what you are asking? Simison: Essentially the conversation is -- to this point in time there has been a direction by Council and others to not utilize these funds on private property. It's been limited to city property to my knowledge. Cluff: I do have somebody coming in for that. Miles: Mr. Mayor, Council, Council Woman Perreault, generally the guidance that we have received in the initial years is that wouldn't use city funding unless it was on public property or right of way. Now, we can work with the Attorney's Office and Finance, but generally we haven't funded private improvements that are on common lots of HOAs or private property of HOAs -- Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 5 of 24 Simison: Dave, if you want to get into the mic. Miles: If it's established right of way we have considered those. The negotiation comes into if you have a property, like an HOA, are they willing to go that level of creating an easement or creating right of way or creating a public property to receive the funding, but that's where we have gone so far. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I was under the impression when we started the program that it was for organizations like homeowners associations and so I guess that's maybe where some of my confusion was. I understand what -- what you are saying and, obviously, the attorneys would need to discuss whether -- in my mind the way I'm seeing this is we are granting funds to that organization and beyond that I'm not sure where our liability would lie. So, I would be interested in hearing more about -- if that's something -- as Jacob has asked, if that is a limitation of ours, then, maybe we take the homeowners associations -- or we clarify that when the applicants are making their applications in the future. Miles: Yeah. Mr. Mayor and Council, Council Woman Perreault, I agree and I think the level of engagement this year was disappointing to say -- Perreault: Okay. Miles: -- we are always looking at how do we improve and how do we get more applications that are viable and manageable. So, that's something that we will take back to the group and look at and I think it's important to hear the feedback from the Council to say if that's someplace that you are comfortable going, then, we need to know that and so that we can make sure -- Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I'm very comfortable going that direction, because I feel like that was the whole purpose of the neighborhood program. I don't feel like we can call it a neighborhood program and, then, just say it's on public property, to be fair. But, in addition, for item number four -- so, that is on right of way, but my understanding is there was -- there was some concern about the fence -- removing the old fence from the current residence properties and, then, that's not public property and so was that issue ever worked out with the applicant how that would work without having to affect private property of the owners? Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 6 of 24 Cluff: That was -- that was a conversation piece that we had talked about. They were seeking approval from them and that would be a conditional -- a part of being able to fulfill it. We -- we talked with the applicant and saying that the individual would need to -- to get granted permission to be able to remove that type of fencing, garbage, other -- other items. But, again, that would -- that would have to be done by the approval of them. So, that was part of the condition. Nary: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman -- Mr. Nary. Nary: So, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, so the rationale here is, again, we as the city cannot gift something to a private entity. So, we can't buy something for an HOA that is for them to own, because, then, we will be, essentially, turning over a city asset to a private party and we can't do that. So, that's the reason why it's always been in public areas, public access. The secondary reason is access. So, you are taking public funds and you are putting them in a place that only a limited amount of people can actually go use it, play on it, see it, because it's a private HOA property. So, those are the two reasons. Well, again, we can't just buy something for another entity -- for another group, an HOA. And, again, you are limiting the access for people to be able to use it or -- or be able to see it. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just some feedback. Yeah, I have -- I have concerns about that, just to offer a different perspective along the lines of what Mr. Nary was saying, just -- you know, if -- if a -- the primary benefit of the use of taxpayer funds is for a neighborhood HOA and those property owners, it doesn't really affect Meridian at large. I just think it's hard to justify using taxpayer funds for that. I think it might be interesting to explore, though, the difference of, you know, this main intersection here by the RV resort. I mean that -- that feels a little bit different, because it's, you know, a big kind of focal point for the whole city. What were some of the things you are grappling with in terms of how to get your arms around a project like that and where does that stand if we -- if we were interested in pursuing that? Cluff: Mayor, Council, Council Woman, thanks for the question. We had an extensive talk with the applicant. They are still interested no matter what happens with -- with what happens for this decision. They view it as a beautification of the area for all of the businesses and all the residences. That being said, they understand the challenges that there is some ACHD property, there is private property and they have a letter that was attached to part of the application that talked with ACHD. Again, I would probably talk to Legal about that or the city attorney on whether that was something that could be enforced and would be standing, but they are working hard and would like to continue to work with us on -- on that item. But this was just how it was scored and it was just Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 7 of 24 scored below and did not have -- we didn't have enough funds to continue on and as the guidance says until that's fulfilled. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just one more question. Would they be interested in pursuing it with us, you know, with other sources of funding besides the city neighborhood grant program? I mean if, you know, there was a smaller allocation of funds, are they interested in discussing that further? Cluff: Mayor, Council, Council Woman, I don't want to speak for the applicant, but with how they have continued to follow up and what they would like to do, I would -- I would like to reach back out to them and follow up with you on that. I just wouldn't want to put words in somebody else's mouth. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Maybe to Council Member Strader's question, just maybe a little flavor. think, too, one of the biggest challenges with that hard corner project is just the amount required, but I think the intention was from the committee is to not exceed 25,000 dollars and so when you are looking at the totality of all the requests we could do, this one, which had some concerns and other jurisdictional challenges, or there were others that were maybe free from some of that burden, because I think there was some conversation from the committee really liking that project, but feeling like with the limitations that they had they were -- they were maybe hamstrung from being able to pick that particular one. But I think there was a lot of support for that project, there just were some limitations. So, I think a continued conversation about that makes sense and I would just maybe ask Jake, Mayor, City Attorney, you know, let's continue to find some -- some solutions to some of these challenges of not city owned projects that -- that have an impact on our community and I know when this was first envisioned I talked a lot about the Settlers Canal, there is that spot between Ten Mile and Black Cat, but all the homeowners technically own that dirt along the way. It's not even controlled. They don't have a homeowner's association. So, again, I don't know that -- how we -- how we solve that challenge, but I see this program as a -- as a way to do that and so I know we are baby stepping this a little bit. We have made some great strides from where we were last year, but I think next year is really the time where we take that big leap and start doing some things that are bold, things that have a real impact on our community. Jake, I did have a question, though, for you. In your recommendation -- the recommendation that came was the funding request for the connection is the Cure event. They are asking for like close to ten grand and we are recommending nine -- about 900 bucks. Am I reading that right? And, if so, maybe walk me through that. Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 8 of 24 Cluff: Mayor, Councilman, so if you look there is actually one more piece. They had two applications. Cavener: Oh. Okay. Cluff: They had battle of the bands, which would not have fit within the time frame that we were trying to administer this grant and the other one was the -- Cavener: Okay. Cluff: The other one is just -- Cavener: That's right. Perfect. Cluff: Yeah. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Just to weigh in, I think if we look at neighborhood projects, just to kind of continue that discussion, because there -- if there is some sort of substantial public usage and it's on -- through homeowners association property and those types of things -- now, again, Mr. Nary would say, okay, what does substantial mean and all those good things, which that -- that should be something that they have to prove to us that there is substantial usage by others, it's not just their own -- own enjoyment and pleasure that they have to do that, because I know like in our subdivision there is a drain that has a pathway through the whole thing that -- and everything around it is all HOA, but because of the substantial use by public there was something that needed -- they wanted benches along there to rest. Okay. You could make that argument, but you have to say that they are for public use and -- but, yeah, that's -- I think staff needs to talk about some things and maybe come back with some recommendations. We can kick it around some more and -- and see what we can do with that, so -- but I'm -- you know, the three that are outlined here are good -- good projects and does some good for the -- for the community and gets involvement by volunteers and different things and in the southwest corner I think same thing, what can we do, that is a -- kind of an eyesore and making it work for everybody, so -- Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you, Councilman Hoaglun, for bringing that up, because my impression of the Golf View -- at least one of the applications it's on the -- the trees that are over extended that are breaking down a block wall is on the public's -- I mean it's next to the public sidewalk and there is a public element to that, which is that those Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 9 of 24 trees are jetting out onto the sidewalk and, then, the fence that is being affected is by the sidewalk. So, I agree that there may be some situations where it might overlap. In addition, I think there was one that was a bridge and I think that bridge went over a walkway that's connected maybe in our pathway system. I'm not sure. But if that -- that to me also is another element. If there is a pathway that's part of our pathway system that goes through a neighborhood and there is some improvement that needs to be done to that, then, maybe we do have an overlapping conversation. So, at least on those two I felt like that there was reason -- reasonable -- so, I think that he brings up a really good point we need to look into that. Like is there something in the neighborhood that's a public use but the HOA -- and I -- as a realtor I regularly run across pieces of land that an HOA maintains, but it's -- it's not deeded to the HOA. Just -- just like what happens with canals. So, yeah, that's a good -- a good point to bring up. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Jacob, I -- I support the recommendations. I understand the rubric you are -- you are working with. Not all programs make sense everywhere and -- and I think the type of solution that -- that Councilman Cavener was talking about is really the -- I think the bigger genesis of why this program was created to try and tackle projects like that, which don't have a singular structure to help organize and plan. So, it's definitely not a solution today to try and solve, but -- but if a program like this were to continue down the road it would -- I think it would be nice to see how that type of kind of public visible -- really an eyesore is what he is describing. I know exactly what you are talking about. How we can help bring folks together and address it or similar type projects. So, the way you have presented I'm supportive. I understand the scoring and what you were presented and the work of the group to score the application, so I don't have any problem telling you what you have got on the board here in front of us, but it would be nice to take a step back. We kind of do this with participatory budgeting. It's a great idea, but round peg square hole doesn't fit in every community, which is fine, and we just got to make sure that we are -- we are confident enough to pivot if it doesn't really fit for how our community is designed, the age of our neighborhoods, et cetera. So, that's the next 12 months something for the group to ponder. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Jacob, are you looking for recommendation, are you looking for action? Do we need a vote? What do you -- what are you looking to -- to get from us? Cluff: I'm looking for your recommendation, sir. And if -- if that is something where you would like me to -- I can see three different options for the carried over money and for the options that we can have and taking it as what's the path forward for it to approve -- either approve the recommendated -- recommended projects and move forward with Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 10 of 24 those and coming back to Council and working with you on whether that's the other allocated money to possibly fund other projects as well. There is also discussion that the motions can be carried by you and however you would like to change the recommendations. Cavener: So, Mr. Mayor, I'm supportive of the recommendations. I'm happy to -- if we need a vote to vote in favor of that and, then, again, I think kind of to your point a request to maybe go back to the applicant for the Boise Meridian RV Resort. Let's see if we can work through that and if that results in a future budget amendment know that would be received friendly on my part and it's something that I think would be open to the conversation. Simison: Is that a motion to accept the committee's recommendations? Cavener: Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to accept the committee's recommendations. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to accept the committee's recommendations. Is there any discussion? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: The only point of discussion in my mind is that -- if I remember correctly last year when we were having conversation there -- there wasn't as much favor for that. I was kind of surprised to see that be the number one, because there wasn't as much favor for events as there was for projects, because the events there isn't a way for us to really like, you know, know the result -- to really understand what the result is. So, don't know if there has been a change in that perspective from -- from the program or from fellow Council, but that was kind of what we -- we threw around last year was concerns over not really being able to see what the results of the event were. So, guess I was -- I just want to bring that point up and if -- if it's something that Council would like to clarify. Simison: Further discussion on that topic or the rest of the -- or on the motion from Council? Okay. Then all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the direction is given to go do the rest of the work that will require contracts and agreements that will come back to Council one by one. Thank you. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 9. Mayor and City Council Compensation Committee: Report and Recommendation Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 11 of 24 Simison: Next item is Item 9, which is the Mayor and City Council Compensation Committee report and recommendation. Invite Mr. Evarts up for a presentation on behalf of the committee. Evarts: Yes. Mr. Evarts. Josh. 303 East 8th Avenue, Old Town, Meridian. 83642. 1 love doing this. This is I think my favorite thing that I get to do in front of you guys. So, this has been my -- I think third, which means six years of doing this -- this review. So, just as background, city code I believe calls for a group of public servants, mix of business owners and city staff and council -- former council people that can sit on this and talk about compensation and make recommendations to you guys for consideration. So, we went through that process again this year. So, what we are going to go through today is a little outline of who served this year. We got some new folks and a lot of old folks on there as well. I feel like I'm becoming one of those. We are going to look at a little bit of market data. Staff did a great job of pulling this together for us, again, not as anything but interesting data points to look at. We will talk a little bit about that. Some of our observations. Mayoral recommendations. City Council recommendation. Overall I actually think we updated this contents correctly. It's in a different order than what I'm going to talk about, but I don't care. It will be fun. So, here is the makeup of the committee. So, you can see the names there. A great group of people. What's been nice is we have maintained a lot of continuity. So, a lot of these things that we have wrestled with for a decade we have had the same names on there. I am a landowner in Scotland. So, that's the appropriate lord title will be acknowledged by the City of Meridian during this hearing. Thank you for that. So, some market data. We did have a series of -- Counselor Nary, was it three meetings that we did over the last -- over the last three weeks -- where we got together, spent a lot of thoughtful time, wrestled with a lot of thoughtful things. But as some data points, this is some market data that Meridian staff put together for us in terms of whether -- what other municipalities are doing. So, we have our current mayoral salary at just under 120,000. Boise's at 150. And, then, we just have a hodgepodge of other municipalities. Nampa being a bigger one. Caldwell being a bigger one. Idaho Falls. But just kind of gives you an idea. I think that what's to note in both mayoral compensation and city council compensation and this is something that we should probably, Bill, add in the future is the trend in all those municipalities is up. So, they are all passing raises. They are all setting raises that go on into the future. So, the recommendation that is -- part of our recommendation that we are making that is not outside of what's happening around the rest of the state, so we are not an oddball in one and we need to see our elected officials be compensated fairly and appropriately. City council salary data. So, currently Meridian Council Members are at 17 three. Council President has a ten percent uplift on that, so they are 19. But you can see Boise is at 27 and, again, you kind of have a mix that's -- that's right in that kind of ten to 13 range for everybody else around the state. So, I do believe that Meridian in general -- one of the things that's just been an observation of the committee is we have been really, really excited about our city council members, like we don't feel like you guys are a group of people that show up on Tuesday nights and aren't visible the rest of the time and, you know, throw some thoughts out there and make some people happy, some people mad and, then, go home the rest of the week. Like we see a lot of activation in the community. We see a Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 12 of 24 lot of time being spent. Clearly you guys can't bring the kind of value that you have been bringing without doing work outside of the hours that you are in here. So -- so, we feel that -- that the work and the challenges of Meridian -- as I said I think the last six years, you know, as Boise sneezes we catch a cold. So, we are -- we are dealing with a dynamic valley where we have things that are happening all over and land use issues and just change and I think we are asking a lot of you guys as a city council member and so, therefore, we would like to compensate you. Committee history. So, number one, we want to maintain this. So, we talk about that all the time to kind of kick off our meetings, like do we really enjoy doing this? Is it appropriate? Should we recommend a different methodology? We love it. So, just on behalf of all of us that serve on it we enjoy getting together. Bill keeps buying lunches for us. I don't think he's getting quite the participation that he would like in the lunches that he's doing there, but lots of participation on the Zoom calls. Thoughtful. So, we want to continue that in the future. In 2019 the committee recommend was approved. Increases for city council. And, then, just a cost of living increase for the Mayor. So, that was in 2019. In 2021 it was recommended improved increases the city council and mayoral compensation beyond just cost of living adjustments. So, we appreciate that. It feels good. We do put a lot of hard work into it. So, the fact that you guys are hearing us and -- and approving those things makes us feel valued. So, we appreciate that. So, mayoral recommendation. So, we believe pretty -- pretty strongly that the salary is out of line with current market conditions. So, what we are recommending for you guys to approve is a ten percent increase in 2024. So, just -- just the nature of this, the way our -- our cycles work, because it's outside of the cycle of the normal city budget. So, this gets approved -- Bill, help me out here. It gets approved by you guys now, but it doesn't go into effect until January 1. It's on a calendar year; correct? Yeah. So -- yeah. So, calendar year 2024 would see a ten percent increase, 5.8 percent increase for 2025, and just to describe a little bit of how we got to those numbers. A little bit of this is we are playing catch up. Like we don't have a crystal ball, we don't get to forecast inflation, we don't get to forecast things that are -- that are happening in the valley and growth and things of that nature. So, we are a little bit reactive and that's certainly been the track record. Kind of being a storyteller. Over the last 20 years we have really transitioned our city council. It used to be a lot of retired people that had time to donate and so they didn't want raises and they worked for very little and we have just had a lot of conversations over the last eight years that I have been doing this that we want to incent, you know, great people willing to step up and serve and we realize compensation has to be a part of that. We just can't rely on rich people that have time to volunteer, we actually want to get the best and the brightest and -- and kind of widen the -- the base of people that can serve. So, that ten percent figure really comes from the fact -- city staff just in -- just cost of living adjustments has received about 13 percent over the last two years and so, really, that ten percent -- we are just trying to play a little bit of catch up. The 5.8 is actually the -- the current inflation rate, the CPI, Consumer Price Index rate that we are operating under right now and we just as a committee felt like that was our -- that was our best number that we could come up with as far as something that we could recommend that we thought that you guys would be able to -- like we want to be very sensitive to numbers that we put in front of you and make sure that those are reasonable and thought out and that was the best number that we could come up with for that. So, what Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 13 of 24 that means in actual dollars is that from '23 to '25 we would be moving the mayoral salary from 119 to 131 and, then, ultimately 139. City Council we feel the same way. We think salaries are out of line. We are going to recommend that same ten percent in 2024 and a 5.8 percent increase in '25. In real dollars -- I know these percentages sound big, but when we start talking about city council as a percentage it looks big. In real dollars it's -- it's not that much. It's not that we don't appreciate you, but we just -- we want to make sure that -- that we are being consistent across the recommendation. But it does add up. So, in 2023 we are seeing you guys at 17,000. That would be moving over 20,000 dollars by 2025. So, some analysis, some thoughts that we kind of organized. We really have gone on this journey and really, you know, over 20 years I think played catch up. I think when I first talked about this six years ago we had a really big discrepancy. When we talked about eating the elephant one bite at a time and I think we have done that. I think you guys have made some -- some incremental approvals, so that this year was actually I think the easiest year as far as there wasn't a lot of negotiations. There was a lot of thoughtful inputs. But overall everybody felt very very good that we were -- we were in a good place and it was looking like the compensation was -- was -- was reasonable. We did have lots of discussions about comparing city leadership to managing a small, you know, company and this would not be a small company. So, I'm kind of specifically speaking about mayoral compensation right now. You know, if we were running a company that had a couple hundred million dollars in a budget and hundreds of employees. I'm not taking that job at -- at the current mayoral pay, but, then, we talked about some of the other attributes of that position and -- and so there were lots of -- I guess the point is there were lots of thoughtful conversations, but we felt very comfortable with the recommendations made. The one thing that I highlighted -- highlighted in there that, you know, a desire to ensure quality and, then, broad participation actually came from Dom serving on our commission and Dom made the observation of, you know, I think it's important to continue to incent young people participating in sort of this elective process and there are a lot of families and young professionals here in the city that the compensation specifically as we talked about it for City Council really does matter. Like I'm an old washed up guy, you know, so I don't have kid stuff in the evening and I'm not, you know, trying to, you know, go to sporting events and stuff like that, so I have lots of flexibility. But some young families that might want to serve in this capacity -- Liz -- they are giving up something. So, we want to make sure that we are compensating that time and rewarding those people for the sacrifices that they are making. Recommendation. These increases are smaller as a percentage than our '20 -- what would have been the 2021 recommendation. So, that's not -- the year is wrong in there, but -- so as a percentage we are getting closer. Like we are getting -- we are narrowing the gap here. We feel strongly that they are -- that they are in line, but -- but the bite of the apple that we are taking is getting smaller. These increases were factored against, again, like talked about the raises that were given to city staff. We are only recommending that ten percent from two years ago while general city staff have seen 13 percent increase during that same period. Proposed increases only result in appropriate corrections based on, again, this idea of inflation that's occurred, as well as expected value like we -- we appreciate the work that's been done we want to reward you for that and we expect it in the future. Like I would love to be the guy that -- I love coming and talking Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 14 of 24 about raises, but I will also be the guy that comes and talks about cuts if it's warranted. But I don't expect that. I always put this at the bottom of my things. Failure to approve these things only hurts us. We are going to get further behind if you guys choose not to approve these recommendations. So, it's obviously your choice and you guys get to make the call, but, you know, trust -- trust us, you know, trust the work that we are doing. It's -- it's good. And -- yeah. And we get to revisit all this stuff in two years. So, with that I will stand for questions. Simison: Thank you, Josh. Council, questions? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: A couple of questions. Josh, thanks. Appreciate you being a glutton for punishment coming back to us with this every two years. So, the last time you were before us -- and, again, no surprise I get a little cantankerous about this particular issue. I like the recommendation for the Mayor. But two years ago you brought a recommendation to us and it's kind of a common -- I had asked, you know, why this amount and you said, well, we thought it was an amount to like thread the needle that Council would support it and we said, hey, go back and bring us what you -- what you really think the recommendation should be and you and Gretchen and the team went back and met again and came back with a final revision. It doesn't appear that that's the case this particular year, that you feel like this is the right number and so my -- my question is does this get us back to where you think that we should be in terms of being on track with compensation or do you feel that we are still behind where we need to be? Evarts: Yeah. Mayor, Councilman Cavener, I feel like a lot of the discussions that were happening with our committee we are really talking about a lot of inflationary things and feeling like we had not kept the compensation up like we were taking care of other city staff, but really most of the talks were about inflation. We felt like we have gotten the number -- the number is feeling more healthy right now I think from the mayoral seat. I think that that's something that -- that we talked about. We felt very comfortable with this recommendation. I do feel like there were some strong sentiments on -- on the committee that -- that probably needs to be one that -- that we look at two years from now as a -- as a possible adjustment up. But, really, most of the -- most of the increases were really in relationship to inflation and just economic things. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, follow up if I may? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: So, one -- thanks to the committee. And I appreciate you kind of spotlighting Dom's comments about a broad representation, because I think that is -- it's -- I think all of us -- our vision, our hope is that we have always been a citizen led city council and -- and you and Gretchen really hit the nail on the head with that two years ago. That Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 15 of 24 argument has resonated with me for two years. As I saw it was on the agenda I went back and watched you guys' presentation, because it shifted my -- my perspective. So, this question comes from, then, you know, I think it's important that we recruit great people to be on our city council. The piece that I struggle with is what's -- by how many dollars we invest what does that -- what does that result in a better person; right? Like is there -- if -- if -- if we doubled this amount do we double the quality of people that would, then, apply for city council? If we -- if we cut it in half do we lose 50 percent of the people that would maybe want to serve in this role? That's the piece that I'm struggling to connect is how salary is going to equal better quality people on the city council. Evarts: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Councilman Cavener, actually to further kind of expand on Dom's comments, one of the things that he was sharing was some anecdotal things that a lot of -- a lot of younger people are not working one job or two jobs, they are working three jobs, right, to like make ends meet. You know, my son down in California just moved in with multiple people just to make a rent work in California. It's just -- it's very -- cost of living, especially in the valley here, is way up. So, I don't know that I have some empirical data as to if the Council compensation was 40 instead of 20 are we going to get a better candidate? I don't know. But what I do believe is that the number -- we do want to incent people that are of quality that might be able to exchange that third job and serve as a city council member where the compensation, you know, would be as -- as a second or third income, 20,000 dollars is material. You know, nobody can live off of that as a single thing, but as a -- as something where a young person who would go, boy, I would be willing to give up my night job so that I could serve as a city council member, I -- but beyond that I don't know that I have any empirical data. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. So, I'm just trying to remember the last couple of years. I think -- I think there was an eight percent in 2021 and a five last year. Is that how you got to the 13 percent? Evarts: So city -- yeah. I think so. Perreault: Uh-huh. Okay. And that's -- and so where did the ten percent, then, come from? Was it just kind of like, well, we want to stay under 13 or it's -- it does -- to me it still seems like a bit of a high percentage in one year relative to how we typically make decisions regarding -- Evarts: Sure. Mayor, Council Woman Perreault, it was -- it was a -- it was a -- what's the right word? It just keyed my brain. It was a -- a compromise. As we sat down and looked at it and we did not only look at staff's pay increases, but we looked at what was happening with the other things that don't fall under staff, like Fire and their compensation is different. The number just felt right. I know that ten percent sounds Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 16 of 24 like a lot, but -- but, you know, it is less than what's happened over -- and, again, we are just playing catch up; right? And we have to do this and kind of project this over two years. So, it just was the number that felt right for the group. We did have members of the group that said, look, if we did 13 for staff let's do 13 across the board and -- and we wrestled with that and said, well, instead of doing that let's -- let's take -- let's -- let's make it ten, but, then, let's throw the current CPI index of 5.8 on the second year, so that over this two years it would be 15.8. So, if we had done over the last two years 13 percent for city staff we are projecting more pain in the economy and it was universally agreed to by the group and we have some good business people on there that said, look, we are in this -- this inflation and cost of capital is not going down in the valley. So -- so that's part of it. So, I think the challenge is if -- if we want to take a smaller rate, again, we are just -- we are going to be further -- further kind of in the red down the road. Perreault: I appreciate you sharing that with us. To Councilman Cavener's question, I know for me I give up a lot of income to do -- I'm self employed and the only way I could do this position is if I'm -- is because I'm self employed from a time commitment standpoint and I give up a lot of personal income to do this and so taking that into consideration, you know, it sounds like that the -- the committee talked about all the different variables for folks that will run for a council seat and I know that while -- while we may be moving away from kind of a retired person's pursuit, I think I'm seeing it, then, lean a little bit more towards folks that have a little flexibility in their -- in their day job and that's still a limiting factor, then, for anyone and so while it may not bring a better quality candidate it may bring more candidates and in that you would hope that, then, your quality would increase just by sheer number. But I think that I really appreciate the -- the pursuit of wanting to open up that opportunity for folks, because, like I said, there is a lot of people that couldn't do this just because they don't have a position that's flexible enough and it really does limit people. So, on average, you know, some of us are putting in 20 plus hours a week to city council. It's a lot. And so thank you that the - - for the -- you know, thank you to the commission for just taking all those factors into account. Evarts: Yeah, Mayor and Council Woman Perreault. It's -- it's really fun to kind of wrestle with these things and I guess the point that I would make is we still look at this and we talked about this point as public service, right, and we don't want to lose that. Like you are -- there is an aspect of this that -- like the mayor is always the mayor. There is something of that that comes with the job; right? And so -- so, we don't want to eliminate that and make this a business. Like that's not the purpose of this, you know, committee or, you know, trying to get the salaries to a range that -- that, you know, you are going to, you know, attract necessarily the high -- like we just want to be very thoughtful, you know, but not lose that public service part of it, because we do appreciate -- like nobody -- it's not lost on any of us. Like we were all laughing that even if we were doubling the salary some of us on there, myself included, is like I would never take the job. It doesn't make sense, probably because I don't want to serve anybody. So, other observations. Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 17 of 24 Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just a comment. I think you are trying to strike the right balance between making sure people are doing it for the right reasons, but at the same time it does acknowledge the inflation, you know, environment that we have been in the last few years. So, I think that makes sense. I guess a question I have -- with the five percent in the subsequent year, do you guys envision -- and I think we are all hoping that inflation starts to go back to the long-term average of like closer to three percent. Do you guys envision going forward that this is the sweet spot and it will, you know, sort of stay in that three to five percent range or what was the discussion looking forward? Evarts: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, I don't know that we talked a lot about -- or not that I can recall of what we think it looks like two years from now. In general we just talked about the spirit of this kind of committee and that we get to wrestle with it and we felt like the hard work that had been done over the last ten years made this one a lot easier then -- then historically. I don't -- I don't know what the future holds. I do feel that -- you know. And we are not trying to compare ourselves -- and I will just talk about Boise, like this isn't an effort and, you know, well, we need to be 75 percent of where Boise is. That's not the -- the effort. Like I was more interested in are these municipalities doing raises and they are. Like that was the data point that I wanted to see. It's a different city, it's a different job, just like all these other municipalities are. So, I don't think that we had any specific discussions about what this might look like two years from now, other than we are very very convinced that the committee as it's organized under code and the work that we are doing is really good and a great way to approach this, even though we play catch up. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: That's my job. I kind of have to speak. Josh, great presentation. I have sat where Lieutenant Leslie is sitting tonight for many many meetings listening to previous City Council's discuss this topic and it always interested me that if -- if a number is sitting there at that time most of them would say due to their commitment and service to the city it's not about the money, don't give me a raise, and I heard that, but it's because of you and this committee to take that away from us and should you do what's needed, making sure everybody's compensated correctly. I thought the most important thing is looking at where we need to be in the future and taking care of that for future leaders that are going to follow us. I applaud what you guys did. I think the numbers are fair. It's hard to sit up here and now from a different chair and say, oh, I think that's great or that's not enough. I know how many hours I put in some weeks. My wife reminds me when I forget. But it's -- it's -- we do it because of that commitment we have made. Every single person up here has referenced that and I appreciate hearing your comments and the committee's comments on what you think that value is. Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 18 of 24 Evarts: Mr. Mayor and Council, thank you, I appreciate that and I will make sure that that sentiment gets back to the group. But the other thing that we did talk about that I guess I didn't share in my comments is, you know, the city designed this to go down in an election year every year and so we do talk as a group about what pressures are we putting on you guys to vote on compensation and I guess my encouragement to you is you got to separate the two. Like at the end of the day I think -- I think, John, your comment about we are taking care of the future just as much as we are recognizing the work that's been done and I think that it's just important to do the right thing, because there is going to be -- you and I are going to wear off this mortal coil and there is going to be another generation that -- Simison: And, Council, if I could -- I understand my -- my role is that this is my day job is different. I just want to speak up for your -- what is here for you all, because each person here I know gives up something different and unique and no less important than anybody else from that standpoint. Councilman Cavener, you may not travel on a Tuesday to another location, because you need to be here. So, you have to get up at 5:00 a.m. and do a hard turnaround. Councilman Hoaglun has to take vacation days from his job and give up, you know, that type of compensation in order to be here for some of our all day events. Councilman Borton could be billing these hours right now and -- you know. And making up for other lost needs within his family and I think Council Woman Perreault talked about it and Council Woman Strader, just for the most obvious with their family, giving up that time and that's value added as well. So, whether it's for the value you receive or for the recognition there is a cost to everyone's time, energy and effort on the Council side in that regard and to the point the money may help, may make up for some of that, it -- for some it's different. It's everyone's perspective. But there is cost to everybody in that regard. So, just -- I appreciate you guys trying to put a value to that cost as best you can, not knowing who will be serving here next at any point in time and that's I think the other thing. No one here is entitled to what this compensation will be. The voters will decide who was entitled to whatever compensation is set. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you for clarifying that. I wasn't using my life example as a reason to say it's not worth it, because it's a hundred percent worth it. It just was an example to show how much I appreciate the consideration and I know that you were doing the same. So, thank you for sharing that about all of -- because all of us -- I don't have a single doubt in their commitment to public service and so I think all of us gladly -- gladly do it. So, thank you for sharing that. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 19 of 24 Borton: Lord Evarts, I appreciate the work of the committee as well. To understand the task you have been given and the data that supports the decision, I -- if you want to plant the seed and challenge you -- and I would love to discuss this with you offline, too, but one of the purposes behind the compensation that you referenced is to try and attract new candidates and not necessarily tethered to doing this thing -- things the same way, even if other communities do them as well. So, I would be curious maybe for the next two years one of the challenges that impedes the ability to get younger candidates or new candidates is incumbency and we have limits now, but I would be curious the committee's discussion on perhaps after three years of service, a fourth year, a compensation for a council member is either cut in half or it's eliminated, the salary, and services in a term four and onward would be at no salary at all. You might still receive city benefits, which needs to be acknowledged, but to try and kind of extract the value of institutional knowledge, but also facilitate the proper turnover of those who serve and invite opportunities, incumbency is an elephant in the room in every single community. As a four termer myself I know exactly what it's about. So, I think that's an interesting unique no one does it part of the equation I would love to have the committee chew on and see if that might also be a recommendation. I'm not necessarily opposed to it if it reduced or eliminated compensation and whether it's the third term or fourth term, maybe some benchmark. If you are going to serve a fourth term you are doing it for the love of the game. Evarts: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Borton, I think it's really interesting. It's not something I thought about. I do believe there are other factors that probably prohibited people from running for -- for city council. I think many people don't really understand what a city council does. I would -- I would have to put myself in that category 12 years ago as far as not really understanding municipal governance. So, my baptism was serving as a historic preservation commissioner and the rest is sort of history. So, I don't know how you incent including more people in things like that, so that they could get a taste and they could, you know, be a part of the process and by extension, then, want to participate. I would hate to lose the institutional knowledge that you guys bring, because I think -- I think that is important as we are leading where there are districts. I think there are unique things that are taking place, but it certainly would be something worth chewing on from a compensation committee. Joe, we will just have to get some coffee and talk about it, because it's fascinating. But, yeah, thanks for the observation. Borton: Yeah. Mr. Mayor -- I'm not -- not for -- not to throw this off the rails. I'm fine as well with my fellow council member proceeding with how -- how you and the group have recommended, but it really would be an interesting conversation. We see when there is an open seat six people run. When there is a body in the seat oftentimes there is one or no challengers and has nothing to do with compensation, that's incumbency. So, there may be some value in -- certainly there is some value in that turnover as well. So we will get some coffee. Evarts: Great. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 20 of 24 Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. That's -- that's an interesting concept and I think some committee can dig into a little bit and maybe other -- other items like that. I always look at this as spousal compensation. We are up here doing it because we enjoy being involved in our community. It's -- it's -- it's the policy and being engaged in that and making things better and it's the spouse who goes you are going to another meeting and it's like, well, there is a paycheck I think at the end of the month don't you get -- I mean that's how I view it. I don't do it for the money. So, it's kind of helped -- helped on the homefront to make things a little better. But it is interesting when you talk about when compared to city employees full time, that's their job, because that is -- I -- I view people who want to serve on city council as a -- it's a smaller subset of people. It's not a wide spread thing. It's people who have to have -- enjoy going to meetings, which is a small -- small amount, but also who are willing to dive in and have a group that when you leave at night half of -- half of them is mad at you and the other half is happy, but -- and so sometimes I get a little anxious when we talk about, well, we looked at the -- you know, this is what the general employees are receiving, so we are trying to keep up with that when I'm going, yeah, I don't know if that's quite comparing apples to apples at times, because of that uniqueness of the position. I think we need to have compensation. I think we need to keep up to a degree, but I don't think it has to be the same. It's also -- I think it's kind of a fallacy to say, well, the more people you have the odds may increase, but if you have five people going for a seat, all five could be like, you know, do they really have the skill set to do it and you could have two people in the same district going they are both fantastic. Anyway. So, it does -- we do need to have the compensation. It does have to kind of keep up. Do we have to keep it up with -- rate of inflation I get to a degree. Keep up with general employees. It's a hard one. You guys spend a lot of time on it and I appreciate it. So, you know, I'm inclined to support that, because that's why we have you do it for us to step back and go, okay -- because there is a vested interest to some degree and, really, you never know what happens in election, so the next year, you know, it's going to be somebody else, you know, that's collecting that money for the -- for the amount of hours they put in there. So, anyway, just -- just a couple thoughts. But I think exploring further with Joe's idea, that's -- that's an interesting concept. Evarts: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Councilman Hoaglun, I appreciate it and don't get hung up too much on the comparison of what city staff got and everything. The -- the logic that we were really using is we asked ourselves, you know, why were these adjustments made for the city and it was because of external economic factors. Everything's costing more. Fuel is costing more. Housing is costing more. Everything's costing more. And so we appropriately made the adjustment, you know, for staff and we felt it was appropriate to make the adjustment in these recommendations as well. As far as the -- the future, I just think it's one to chew on. I will absolutely -- and when I say I -- Mr. Nary will take a note that for two years from now after my coffee with Joe and whoever else wants to join -- bringing up other concepts. I think it's appropriate to explore that. It's a good group to explore that with. So, I'm happy to take that back as work to do in the future. I don't want this -- well, I don't want the committee to become, as you know, just Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 21 of 24 some, you know, what are the micro adjustments. I like tackling bigger thoughtful things. I think Joe provided something that -- you know, that's a little more meaty that we can chew on and -- because I believe in life you get what you incent. So, what are we incenting through this compensation. What are we incenting through the process and make sure that we are doing the right thing. Perreault: Mr. Mayor, a quick question. Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: So, in your slide you said that you discussed the proposed increases. As a result is the only -- even if the present increases only resulting in appropriate corrections based on inflation rates and expected value. Is that value that the public expects from their elected officials or what -- what did you mean by that? Evarts: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Perreault, yeah, this is a topic that I think I have touched on the last two times. This is expected value. This is the -- this is the high standard that you guys have set for yourselves, the fact that we are seeing you in the city, the fact that we know that you guys are putting in a lot of time outside of city council meetings. You guys aren't sitting up here obviously seeing the things for the first time. You know, you have done research, you have read staff reports, you are coming with thoughtful questions, you are doing research on your own, you are showing up at city events. So, this expected value is the -- is the sum total of this is -- this is kind of -- that -- that's the standard that you have set and we want to continue to invest in that standard. We -- we don't want to pay less, we want more of those kinds of activities and we feel that by making these recommendations we are going to continue to get that. Be a much different conversation if we thought you guys were all just short time in it and looking for spousal checks. Simison: Fair enough. Council, any further questions or comments? Or would you like providing direction to Legal? I feel like I have heard general consensus, but I would rather have someone from Council say it, so that Legal knows what to bring back for your consideration. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. I think, you know, it would come back as a resolution. Is that correct, Bill? Nary: So, Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, so this comes back as an ordinance. So, we can put it on for next week if you would like. You can put it on for the first reading if you want to have a public hearing opportunity the next opportunity to be the 8th. So, it's really your call. I mean you can put it on for one meeting or you can put it on for a Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 22 of 24 hearing next week if you want. I don't know if we can get the word out that quickly, but certainly you can. Evarts: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Yes. Evarts: I think it's very appropriate to allow for public comment. So, if you were -- I'm going to just speak on behalf of the committee. We didn't talk about that, but I think it's appropriate to agenda and put it out there. If nobody shows up that's fine. But I do think that this is in the category as you guys are being thoughtful to allow the public to weigh in. Nary: And if that's the case, Mr. Mayor, I would recommend that we put it on next week's agenda for just the first reading only and, then, the second reading on the 8th could be a public opportunity to participate and, then, again, whatever that comes out you can pass it that night or put it on for another week if you want. We just need to have it done by that 15th date to meet the statutory requirement of when it has to be done. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Question for Mr. Nary. Bill, are they -- is it two separate ordinances, one for Mayor and one for Council or are they tied together? Nary: They are two separate. Cavener: Okay. Thank you. That was my recollection. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: It sounds like I think everyone is in agreement with moving forward with those two ordinances and having that as he laid out for that plan. I agree. I don't think Councilman Cavener would disagree having public input, so -- Simison: Then we will have the recommendations coming back in the form of ordinances for the public process moving forward. Evarts: All right. Thank you. Simison: Josh, thank you very much and, again, kudos to everyone on the committee. Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 23 of 24 EXECUTIVE SESSION 10. 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). Perreault: Second. Simison: Motion and 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: ALLAYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:35 p.m. to 6:02 p.m.) Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman 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: I move that we adjourn our work session. Borton: Second. Meridian City Council Work Session July 18,2023 Page 24 of 24 Simison: Have a motion to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and we are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:04 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 8 / 8 2023 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK