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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-09-05 Work Session Minutes Meridian City Council Work Session September 5, 2023. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 5, 2023, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Brad Hoaglun, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Jessica Perreault, Liz Strader and John Overton. 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 September 5th, 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 adoption the agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move the adoption of the agenda as published. Cavener: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as published. Is any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the August 15, 2023, City Council Work Session 2. Approve Minutes of the August 15, 2023, City Council Regular Meeting 3. Approve Minutes of the August 22, 2023, City Council Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 2 of 31 4. Approve Minutes of the August 22, 2023, City Council Regular Meeting 5. Artemisia Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement (ESMT-2023- 0116) 6. Aviation Subdivision Pedestrian Pathway Easement (ESMT-2023- 0100) 7. Brightstar Care Overland Water Main Easement No. 1 (ESMT-2023- 0113) 8. Final Plat for Graycliff No. 4 (FP-2023-0012) by KB Home Idaho, LLC., generally located south of W. Harris St. and west of S. Meridian Rd. 9. Final Order for Kingstown Subdivision No. 1 (FP-2023-0007) by Kimley-Horn & Associates, located at 2610 E. Jasmine Ln. 10. Final Order for Sessions Parkway Subdivision (FP-2023-0002), by KM Engineering, LLP., located at 2700 N. Eagle Rd. 11. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Sessions Parkway Subdivision (H-2023-0030) by KM Engineering, LLP., located at 2700 N. Eagle Rd. 12. Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Eagle View Landing Apartments, LLC to Accept Deposit of $12,000.00 for Installation of Streetlight 13. Animal Welfare and Enforcement Agreement between the City of Meridian and the Idaho Humane Society for Fiscal Year 2024 14. Development Agreement (Alden Ridge Subdivision H-2022-0059) Between the City of Meridian and Ryenn Holdings, LLC and Prabhjot Kaur Sidhu and Abninder Singh Sidhu for Property Located at 6870 N. Pollard Lane and the three parcels to the north and east, directly east of SH-16 and directly south of the Phyllis Canal at the northern edge of the Meridian area of City impact 15. Development Agreement (Newkirk Neighborhood H-2022-0088) Between the City of Meridian and Lansing Farm, LLC (Owner) and Conger Group (Developer) for Property Located at 4250 W. Franklin Rd. 16. Fiscal Year 2024 Cooperative Agreement between the City of Meridian and Valley Regional Transit Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 3 of 31 17. Recipient Agreement Between City of Meridian and I Heart Treasure Valley for Fiscal Year 2023 Neighborhood Grant Funds 18. Recipient Agreement Between City of Meridian and Meridian Senior Center for Fiscal Year 2023 Neighborhood Grant Funds 19. Resolution No. 23-2407: A Resolution Reserving the Forgone Amount for Fiscal Year 2024 for Potential Use by the City of Meridian in Subsequent Years as Described in Idaho Code § 63-802, et seq.; and Providing an Effective Date 20. City of Meridian Financial Report - July 2023 Simison: Next up is the Consent Agenda. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda and for Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest. Cavener: Second. Overton: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the Consent Agenda is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 21. Idaho Transportation Department: Eagle Road/State Highway 55 Safety Group Speed Review Recommendation and Discussion Simison: So, we will go right into Item 21, which is a department report from the Idaho Transportation Department regarding Eagle Road, State Highway 55, Safety Group Speed Review Recommendation and Discussion. I will turn this over to -- okay. It's -- it's going to be Dan McElhinney with the Idaho Transportation Department. Dan, welcome. Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 4 of 31 McElhinney: Thank you, Mayor, Council Members. We appreciate this opportunity to update you on the State Highway 55, Eagle Road, safety corridor planning and today with me, of course, is our District Engineer Caleb Lakey and I will just give some opening comments and turn it over to our district engineer. Let's see. We have got for the -- the mouse. Maybe I will draw your attention to the handouts in front of you, Mayor and Council Members. The one is called the scope of work, which was developed last fall with city and ITD staff and our working group with ISP and other team members and I just gave an outline of at least as of December the background of objective and the approach moving ahead to look at speed, crash and sign data on the corridor from 1-84 to State Highway 44 on Eagle Road. Second handout out is entitled speed limits, which was probably drafted around 2013, 2014 after the 2012 House Bill 619 passed in Idaho and Code 49-207 was updated regarding setting speed limits on state highways and city streets. And the third handout is part of the proposal and it's an engineering drawing of speed limit feedback signs and an advisory speed limit sign, which is -- Caleb will go through that in the proposal. Thank you. Great. Thank you. So, just an update on the 55 working group is what I will cover and talk about some of the options that were reviewed and we will cover the proposal and benefits for your questions and comments and talk about the next steps ahead in looking at traffic safety on State Highway 55. The working group consisted of Meridian, Boise, and Eagle staff, Ada County Highway District, Idaho State Police, as well as ITD staff and traffic operations, engineering at the district and headquarters level. We had meetings in the fall and through the winter and developed a -- the safety plan, which is one of your handouts as far as the scope and we are able to have a couple updates with David Miles of your team, as well as the Mayor and getting some suggestions and feedback and the possibility of taking the traffic speed limits to 45 miles an hour from 84 to State Highway 44. The handout regarding speed limits fact sheet is summarized here as well from Idaho Code 49-207 and you will hear a lot about the 85th percentile of free flowing traffic. Well, that -- that's a guidance at the federal level as well for traffic engineering -- is to consider free flowing traffic versus the posted speed limit and posted speed limits cannot be set arbitrarily as guidance. This helps determine a safe and reasonable speed as determined by a vast majority of the drivers based on the highway conditions drivers are experiencing. So, during a -- a speed study review you are taking a look at free flowing traffic queues, particularly during the a.m. and p.m. peak hours morning and evening and we are looking to avoid speed variance between vehicles where drivers may be driving for conditions, while others may be driving the posted speed and that's why the majority of drivers is what the studies are based on. Now, national research has shown fewer accidents using this -- this guidance and based on the review revising the speed limits is not apparent as we presented at the last meeting and you asked us to take another look at it from a few angles, in particular to context sensitive solutions on the corridor and the 85th percentile speeds observed during our review and during peak hours, as well as off peak hours were below the posted speed limits and here are the speed zones that we have. The posted speed limit from 1-84 to Fairview is 50 miles per hour. In the St. Luke's Hospital zone to Fairview and, then, Fairview to Boise River North Channel is posted at 55 miles an hour and, then, at the intersection zone of 55 and 44 it's posted at 40 miles an hour near the river. I will introduce Caleb Lakey to go through this in more detail and also go through the proposal. Thank you. Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 5 of 31 Lakey: Dan, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, Caleb Lakey, District Engineer for District Three, ITD. I just want to continue on with what Dan has shown you here as far as what we have looked at and leading to our recommendation this evening. You might recall from our last presentation Eagle Road carries over 57,000 vehicles per day. It's certainly a high volume and high mobility corridor for the area. We have a peak hour volume over 4,200 vehicles. So a lot of traffic moving on Eagle Road and the other thing I want to point out here is projected to be over 73,000 by the year 2040 with the growth rates and the current NPO model. So, you know we -- we have a lot of traffic today and we expect that not to slow down at all moving forward in the future. So, as we consider any options for Eagle Road we -- we need to consider the balance of what we have today and what we have coming in the future and the -- the role Eagle Road plays in our valley here and, then, just for information we -- we did run some travel times. We -- we did hire a consultant to go out and collect some speed data and also some travel times. What you can see here on the screen is what you expect. Travel times drop a little bit in the morning, they drop significantly in the afternoons and they pick back up in the evenings and so the reason I want to emphasize that is we -- we don't have a consistent usage on Eagle Road, meaning throughout all hours of the day. There are peak hours and the peak hour we see congestion. When we have congestion we do see speeds slow due to the high volume of traffic and all of the merging and diverging movements taking place, but there are periods of time where the road flows very freely and functions very well as a thoroughfare north and south in the valley, which is critical to overall mobility and transportation needs in the valley. As we looked at crash data, the number of crashes, and this is no change from last time. The number of crashes -- crashes is fairly consistent year over year. We always like to see less crashes, of course, but the idea that the crashes are consistent tells us there is not some sort of outlying influence taking place on the highway. There is -- there is still bad decisions being made and we will continue to work towards trying to mitigate those, but overall the -- the number of crashes we see is fairly consistent and relatively low considering the percentage of traffic and the fact that it's a six lane highway as a regional arterial road. We -- you know, again, we always like to see less, but the numbers that we see are not -- are not showing us a need to say there is a significant crash problem here. The vast majority of those crashes are intersections. If the roadway functions with much more limited access we will reduce a lot of -- a lot of the crashes and that makes sense as people are slowing to turn or joining traffic or just generally making lane changes that causes a lot of our crashes. Unfortunately, 31 percent are distracted driving. That's a continuous campaign in partnership with the law enforcement and, then, a small percentage failure to yield. There is a pretty high crash rate down by St. Luke's. There is a high volume there and there is a high crash rate. But the majority of crashes really happens between Franklin and Chinden and that's a high volume section as well. So, none of that should be surprising. That's what we would expect and -- and what we found and why I'm saying this to you is what we found in looking at the data confirmed what we have observed generally on the operations of the highway. So, you know, since we last met what has the city done? The city dedicated staff time to participate in this working group and we appreciate that and the city invited us back to -- to meet today and we met a couple of times also with -- with the Mayor and chief of staff and we also recommend that moving forward that the city host Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 6 of 31 with ITD maybe an open house or some way to communicate what the plan is for Eagle Road, what that looks like, and so our community members and stakeholder members know what we are working on and what the plan is. ITD actions. So, we completed a signage review and did some updates. You can see those on the bottom of the screen here. We added these that are mid-block terms. The left turn yield through, additional placard was added and the do not block intersections was added for the through movements the north and south. The third lane widening on Eagle Road was completed and that was completed through a partnership with the developer of The Village they completed that third lane, that's been a great enhancement to the corridor overall and help smoothing with -- help smoothing some of our traffic and, then, most recently we repaved the whole corridor and so now you have some -- we call it nice black and smooth pavement out there. That came with enhancing the striping, right, refresh the striping as well. That's been completed. We changed over into that project a small U-turn project to both Ustick and McMillan, so there was observations that some vehicles making a permissive U-turn there would have troubles making that corner, especially if they are in a vehicle any larger than a sedan and so we bulbed out the pavement slightly on those corners to allow for a smoother movement and that's important as we talk about the potential to restrict access moving forward. You have to provide an opportunity for those vehicles to turn around and access businesses along the corridor. So, those U-turns become really important and since those U-turns were a modification after the original of the highway we further modified it in this last project and have gotten positive feedback about that. The other thing I wanted to highlight is that we did do an enhance enforcement in September of last year that was in partnership with ISP. Your PD also participated. I believe Boise Police Department was there. Ada County Sheriff. And did an enhanced enforcement in September. Made 79 traffic stops -- majority of the traffic stops, I should say. There were a couple speeding violations in there. Equipment violations. Non-moving violations. But, again, it was -- there was no large overarching or -- or jump off the page at you contributing factor. I did participate in that. I did a ride along with ISP that day just for an hour or so as my schedule permitted and was able to observe several traffic stops, participate in a couple ourselves. My observation is that the highway largely regulates itself given the nature of the highway, the sequencing of the signaling along the highway and the way traffic behaves. In large part traffic is -- is self regulating given the capacity of the highway. That does not mean there is not opportunity for drivers to make poor decisions, just offering as my observation and being part of this enhanced patrol. So, our proposal summary. We evaluated the corridor for traffic speed, travel time, crash information and did some field reviews. We did consider the mid-block unsignalized left turns and what those -- how they are operating and how they could be further modified to operate. Was their opportunity to add more signals? We have 16 signals already and, you know, what would additional signals look like. For example, signalization like we added at The Village where you had a signalized left in. What kind of opportunity would that provide? There is always a trade-off, so what that would also do. Again, that goes back to my comment about U-turns at the current signalization. Where we -- where we have landed, Council, and what our recommendation is based on the feedback that we have gotten and what we have observed, we would like to enhance the corridor with watch for stopped traffic signs and I have an example of that behind me here, with an advisory 45 Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 7 of 31 mile an hour sign placard below that. We would like to enhance these signs further with flashing yellow beacons that would be timed. So, in the morning hours, 7:00 to 9:00 and in the afternoon 4:00 to 6:00. Those lights would be activated, thereby drawing the driver's attention to them and emphasizing their concern of congestion. As I mentioned the majority of our crashes are happening at intersections to kind of alert the drivers be looking for that. So, will that change the speed limit? No. That's not changing the speed limit. However, it's advising the drivers, which is what we have heard and what we have seen, is the problem is driver's expectations on the highway by driving at night and I can drive 55 and, then, I come out there in congested hour and one lane is moving and one lane is not, what's the expectation of the driver. I like this recommendation, because simply changing out a -- a speed limit sign I believe would have limited impacts to the driver. There is lots of signs out there already and I bet if you stop most drivers and ask them what signs they passed they are not going to be able to recite for you what they are seeing on the highway. A sign that's adaptive to some degree, that's not always flashing, but can flash and we can modify that further, does tend to grab -- grab attention further and draw an emphasis to what we are trying to communicate and educate to the drivers. We also would like to install vehicle speed feedback signs on all of our posted speed limit signs for the 55 mile an hour zone. So, just to give you a little bit better feel for what that means, here is our -- our engineering drawings and what those would look like. You have a copy of that as well. The details there. More detail than you need, but I just want to provide you that we have drafted that up as far as installation would go. But probably more pertinent is, you know, what would it look like. Again, I have the sign behind me here for watch for stopped traffic. This illustration just shows with the alternating beacons on top. Again here I think the big benefit is we -- we talked about and we looked into what does a variable speed zone look like. We steered away from that is because it's -- it's very difficult to communicate a variable speed when you don't have a -- say a captive audience. Like on a freeway when you get on at one ramp and you are going to be going the same direction for several miles with the same group of people, you can communicate, hey, the speed for the next five miles is -- is X. On a road like Eagle Road where you have so many opportunities to be on and off it would be very very difficult to communicate effectively a variable speed. However, something like this where we can make it adaptive to say, hey, there is certain times a day that there was value to that idea of a variable speed. There is certain times of the day when we want you to really pay attention for stopped traffic and we are recommending that you slow down. I think this is a really good approach to do that. And, then, as I mentioned, the speed feedback signs. You have seen these. But we would like to enhance the speed zone with these on our current 55 mile an hour zones. Thank you. So, just give you a general idea of what we are proposing, as I have described it -- and this is not an exact -- exact drawing of what we intend to do, but gives you a feel. You know, the blue dots represent the watched for stopped traffic signs. The red dots represent where we would install the feedback signs. Predominantly between Franklin and McMillan we would install the watch for stopped traffic on both sides of the highway. Again, with those -- those zones in the morning hours and evening hours those can be adapted or enhanced and, then, the 55 mile an hour zones with the feedback signs as well. So, you know, the exact location of these we can work further on what exactly those look like. I just wanted to give you a feel of Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 8 of 31 what we thought that could look like and the benefits that would bring. So, again, benefits are enhances driver awareness and safety. A sign that's adaptive or active is going to grab their attention more than a static sign. It's adaptable as traffic conditions warrant. So, as I started with we expect to see continued growth on Eagle Road, that's not a surprise to anyone. This won't be the last time we are going to have to consider what Eagle Road looks like. These signs can be adaptive as that goes to extend the hours, modify the hours, et cetera. We believe that those feedback signs and advisory signs will have mobility and operational benefits to the users on Highway 55. And safety emphasis. We will have a -- we will have higher visibility and the corridor will be monitored by ACHD, ISP and ITD. So, we -- as we install these we can continue to monitor them and see if it makes any difference. Is it having an impact on the behavior of the drivers. So, as far as next steps go, certainly if you have any suggestions or requests from today we can -- we can consider those and provide a summary by the middle of next month. We have an ongoing signal retiming project with ACHD that will continue as far as the coordination of the signals. In addition to that ITD and ACHD are meeting in late September to review the current signal timing and travel speeds on the corridor, as well other corridors in Ada county. We can work with the working group to develop our final details on our proposal and, then, we would like to update the Idaho Transportation Board later this fall on the current status of the corridor. So, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, that is our recommendation and our proposal to you and our report back on the speeds and information we looked at since we last met and, Mr. McElhinney and I will certainly stand for any questions or comments you may have. Simison: Thank you, Dan and Caleb. Council, they have heard enough from me, so I'm going to turn this over to you for the conversation. Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Mr. Mayor, thank you. I'm encouraged by what I heard today. I think this is very well thought out. The question I have is just what interaction that you have had with the business owners -- property owners along 55, how they have been involved in the process, what feedback you have gotten from them, if it's been helpful and if there is any concerns that the innovation of left-hand turns and the slowing will cause traffic to start utilizing parking lots as cut throughs and things like that. Lakey: Mayor, Council, I have not had any engagement with the business partners on modification. We have heard some anecdotal feedback. Yes, we like to engage the partners, we like to work that through the city as far as businesses go. To your question a couple -- a couple thoughts I have. You know, there is always concern of -- of cut- through traffic. That's something we would want to consider if -- if we are going to be influencing that. What other options can we provide to encourage traffic to stay on the highway for U-turn movements, et cetera, and -- and just to be clear we are not currently proposing to close any mid-block access points. This is an option we could still certainly consider in the future moving forward. That would have big impacts and -- and that was something we need to coordinate very closely with the city and the business owners. Simison: And for the record Council Woman Strader joined us at 4.35. Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 9 of 31 Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: If I could have a few minutes. Simison: The time is yours. Overton: First off, thank you, ITD and your work group. A tremendous job you have done. But I'm going to give you a little different reality that I have. I have lived here long enough that I remember when Eagle Road was a two lane road with a stop sign at Fairview and I have watched it grow and I have watched the interchange go in and I have watched as the businesses have come and the houses have gone and shopping centers have gone up. I now represent the district that represents that area from 1-84 all the way to the city limits on Eagle Road and I am consistently hearing the same thing. The speeds need to come down. I was worried about commerce. It's Highway 55. We are worried about vehicles coming through. You gave times of 11 to 16 minutes, 16 to 23 minutes, ten to 14 minutes, different times of the day. If it was a perfect world we had two cars starting at Chinden and driving five miles, basically almost a part of -- we have in Meridian, five miles of Eagle Road and there were just two vehicles on the road and one of them was going 45 miles an hour and one was going 55 miles an hour and they had all green lights all the way through, something that would never really happen in the world, the 45 mile an hour car would get there in six minutes and 40 seconds. The 55 mile an hour car would take five minutes and 27 seconds. This is simple math. The difference between those two cars is only a minute and 13 seconds. As you can tell I'm a proponent of only having 45 miles an hour 24 hours a day. We are not affecting commerce. We are not affecting the average driver. If you are telling me that the times are taking 11 to 16 minutes and those other times, then, they are, obviously, not driving 55 miles an hour all the way through the corridor. They are not even driving 45 miles an hour through this corridor. The average vehicle runs just over 4,000 pounds. The average commercial semi empty with a trailer weighs 35,000 pounds. The average commercial semi with a full trailer is 80,000 pounds. We have got to deal with some really big rigs coming down Eagle Road at a 55 mile an hour speed limit, when we are putting in medium and high density residential and a lot more business that are opening out onto Eagle Road -- I think parts of this plan are really good, but I think for simplicity's sake this must be a 45 only zone from the city limits -- I would like to say Chinden, but that's outside of our city. But at least from our city limits all the way through to the interstate. We can reduce, because stopping times on vehicles -- you have to remember you have reaction time, so -- and I know I have got ISP in the house and MPD in house and if you don't know I spent 27 and a half years with Meridian police, so I have studied and lived in and read this stuff for years. We could have a 25 percent reduction in the amount of time it takes for a vehicle to stop by simply dropping it by ten miles an hour and that doesn't go into the fact that now we have got to talk about the kinetic energy each one of those vehicles has at a higher speed versus a lower speed when we have a collision. My ultimate goal is to see a reduction in accidents, but specifically a reduction in the seriousness of injuries and fatalities and I Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 10 of 31 think the only way to do that is to not put up temporary signs, not put up another sign that people got to watch depending on the time of the day, but to simply make this a 45 mile an hour road. We are not going to disturb the overall amount of time it takes people to come through our city. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you. I apologize being a bit late, but I was listening in. I agree with Councilman Overton and I -- I think the piece that's missing for me -- and I appreciate that you are looking at things holistically, but it's really the crash severity to me that is a big concern and that I think is the element that we are trying to address. It's -- it's not just, you know, the -- it's -- it's really trying to weigh the crash severity from having, you know, 55 miles an hour plus. People especially exceeding the speed limit and I think going down to 45 would make a huge difference. I appreciate the thought about the advisory signal. I mean it is a step in the right direction, but I just don't think it goes far enough. That's my feedback. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Dan, Caleb, nice seeing you. Appreciate you guys being here. You know, we may have different resolutions that we would recommend, but one thing I think is important I just want to say thanks. Because I know you guys are in the business of moving people as efficiently and safely as possible. We are in that same place. It's kind of like we are on a road trip, we have just got different ways that we get there and so that's where some of my questions are coming from is that you are the engineer, I trust your expertise, but it's kind of the other side of the coin that represents the community, some of this doesn't land right and so this is where some of my thoughts are going to be coming from. You -- you mentioned the significant amount of work that you all did kind of leading up to this and it looked like that you engaged with other jurisdictions, City of Boise, City of Eagle. So, my first question for you is -- is Boise saying 55 makes sense? Is Eagle saying 55 makes sense? Or are they kind of the similar vein of Meridian saying that maybe 55 is too high? Lakey: Mayor and Council, so, yes, Boise and -- and Eagle were on that working committee with us. They -- there was no consensus of, yes, it has to drop to 45. They would be supportive of that, but they had different objectives. They -- they don't have the highway -- they don't have a majority of the highway like you do in Meridian; right? So, Eagle's -- Eagle's perspective is, you know, hey, we are kind of at the end of the line -- now they did not make any, you know, overt, hey, we want to keep it as high as possible to get to Eagle as fast as possible. Never said or implied at all. But their perspective is a little bit different. And, then, Boise, obviously, they are pretty removed as well. Boise in the conversations we had talked about sidewalk connectivity. There was talk about PEDs and bikes and we actually had -- as a result of the input from both Boise and Eagle expanded our -- when we -- when we do our -- safety we look at Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 11 of 31 crashes; right? We literally draw a polygon around the area and pull -- queries all the data. We expand that out about a quarter mile each side of Eagle Road to capture any -- what you might call ancillary accidents and we still were unable to find any sort of uptick of, you know, ancillary pedestrian or bicycle related accidents that were recurring because of Eagle Road or proximity, even trying to make the connectivity that because they were a quarter mile off and they are heading to Eagle Road, et cetera, we didn't -- we didn't see that. So, again, I -- I think overall Eagle and Boise go along with whatever is decided and would be supportive of what -- what Meridian is saying. But they also were not coming out and saying this is a must have from -- Cavener: Sure. Lakey: -- what I heard. Cavener: I appreciate that. Mr. Mayor, a couple more questions if I may. Simison: The time is yours. Cavener: My next round of questions kind of deals with this advisory speed limit and you will have to forgive me, that was something that when I was reading through this stuff I was like, no -- now, what's that? And you actually kind of confirmed my concern about it when you were talking about the amount of signs on Eagle Road and how overwhelming it can be and so maybe can you present to the Council where these advisory traffic or speed limits being posted and what has been the impact, positive or negative, of them being placed? Because, again, as just a driver that would be really confusing to me that I -- I drive for a little bit and I see 55 and, then, I see a yellow sign that says 45 and trying to figure out what my speed limit is, someone who wants to follow the law it can be confusing. Lakey: Certainly. Yeah. So, the best example I can give you to illustrate where we typically use advisory speeds is on curves. So, you are on a -- you are on a highway and the speed limit let's say 55 miles an hour and come up on a curve that's not necessarily speed rated for 55 miles an hour, we would post that at a lower speed to say we advise you to slow down around this curve specifically for larger vehicles. So, that's where you would see it most commonly. This application is a bit unique and they arrived there after considering what a variable speed could look like and how we would implement that and we got to a point where we struggled, as I explained earlier, we don't know how we would adequately explain or inform the driver on a regulatory speed given the nature of Eagle Road and so we -- we backed off of that and we said what else can we do to communicate the same need that, hey, there are certain times of the day when you should pay closer attention to potential for a road hazard and we arrived at this idea of posting an advisory speed. So, the advisory speed does not change the regulatory speed. Regulatory speeds are black on white signs. Those are ones that you can write a ticket against that for speeding. However, an advisory speed is a recommended speed that says there is some sort of road hazard that you should be considered -- considering as -- you as a driver and although you might not write a Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 12 of 31 citation against it for speeding, there is certainly still opportunity for saying, hey, you are not driving for conditions as -- as recommended on the highway. To your question about sign clutter, that's always an ongoing battle. You know, I -- I think the light package would enhance that, but there may be an opportunity to remove some more signage. That's a conversation we have had with several communities of, you know, what signs can we consolidate or remove to emphasize the ones that mean the most to us. Everybody wants a sign, especially on the frontage road. Businesses want frontage signs along there. It's -- it's an ongoing challenge. You have a valid point about how these things stick out and this is just another one and the educational part of this I think is very valid as well and, hence, my comment about potential for maybe an open house or community outreach to say, look, here is what this means and here is why we are doing it. This is driven from not so much a desire to enforce the speed limit, that was never our motivating desire. It was always to educate desire -- educate drivers and improve safety. So, the idea that the sign technically is not the regulatory speed I'm not so wound up about. It's the idea of communicating to the drivers of, hey, here is the speed you should be driving and we are going to try and emphasize that to you. Cavener: And I think, Caleb, that's -- that's where I come from is because I think we are on the same page, but I worry that this is going just to add additional confusion on an already kind of busy road for our drivers. Caleb, my -- my last question for you is -- and I -- sometimes I pose this question when we have people before us when -- when I'm struggling to kind of see through the same set of eyes that you all have and so it's kind of a simple question, but it helps me see through your expertise. How does our community benefit by keeping 55 miles per hour on Eagle Road? Lakey: Councilman, I would answer that question by saying there are times when you can drive 55 miles on that road no problem. There is -- there is no reason not to. And to Council's excellent description earlier, there is times when you cannot. The road is already self-regulating. So, if -- if we were to change the speed limit arbitrarily down to 45 miles an hour to try and better match what we see during some peak hour concentration or congestion hours, why is it that a driver at 9:00 at night can only drive 45 miles an hour? Why -- why can't they drive 55 miles an hour? The road is designed for it. The road is built for it. There is no reason -- there is no obstruction why they shouldn't be. So, we are -- we are put in a driving situation where there is no reason why they can't, the data says they should be able to, but we are arbitrarily restricting them down and putting them in a position to where they are going to be potentially in -- in violation of the law by driving a speed that's reasonable and safe otherwise. So to me that's the benefit. I -- I -- I guess I might even flip the question, Councilman, and say what's the benefit of dropping the speed. If the cars are already traveling that speed on their own, they are self-regulating due to traffic signals and congestion, what good does 45 miles an hour post? We are not changing anything. Cavener: I would love to buy you a cheeseburger and have that conversation and not have to have everybody -- because I have strong feelings about that and I go back to -- we have a -- a ranch in Montana. I remember when Montana did away with speed limits; right? You are driving down the interstate and the speed limit was -- I remember Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 13 of 31 reasonable and prudent, except for at night. Oh, but the -- the roadway can handle that type of traffic capacity, but they slowed cars down at night because there are things that sometimes drivers can't see at night, which is -- I would almost reply back to your question when you are talking about just because the -- the roadway is designed to handle speeds, it doesn't always mean that those are reasonable and prudent speeds for people to be driving. So, appreciate the insight, appreciate the education. For what it's worth I'm in support of all of your recommendations but one and I appreciate the thought and consideration that you brought to us today. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Yeah. Caleb, I need a layman's approach and understanding to this. I don't have the expertise, experience Councilman Overton has, so when I hear you talk about the 85th percentile and, okay, that makes sense to me, because we have all had that experience -- like on the freeway someone's going way below the speed limit, cars zooming by, I mean that's a hazard. Get that. People going way too fast that's a hazard. Okay. The 85th percentile makes sense. And, then, when I -- when I looked at the chart you had up there and it's 50 miles up here by St. Luke's, then, it's 55 and, then, 40 at Eagle, okay, well, this is the same stretch of highway and, then, the majority of the crashes are between Franklin and -- and Chinden, which is the 55. So, I get all this data and, then, I try to make sense of it and I'm a little confused. So, can you walk me through that 55 corridor majority of crashes, 85th percentile, when looking at the same stretch of the road. There must be differences, but I -- I'm just not -- I don't have much clarity mentally on that. So, walk me through that if you could. Lakey: Mayor, Councilman, I think the -- the clearest point I would point to -- clearest indicator would be that on both ends the highway is essentially ending; right? You have -- you have a major point with the freeway on the south and you with Highway 44 on the north and so the idea the speeds are dropping is not because you are entering in the city limits of Eagle and it's not because you are leaving the city limits to the south and leaving the city limits to the north, it's that you are coming to a major decision point; right? Traffic headed north on Eagle Road for the most part is going to turn left or turn right and head east or west on 44. Same thing headed south. They are going to for the most part turn left or turn right on 1-84. So, the fact that the majority of the traffic is making some diverging movement is a large part of why the speed limits have been modified on both the north and the south end. Now, there was some crash data on both the north and the south end that influenced decisions that were made several years ago, but I guess back to your full circle to your question, if there was a speed limit 55 it would be 55 miles an hour. There has been modifications made on both the north and south there. So, it wasn't so much that we went through set individual speed limits as you went, it was -- there is a speed limit and there were modifications made on both the north and south end after that. Simison: Councilman Borton, I saw you unmute a few minutes ago. Are you -- Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 14 of 31 Borton: The comment was made that there wasn't consensus amongst -- perhaps it was the electeds on this issue. So, my question to you is what if there was? If you had consensus from the electors that this should be 45, would that drive your decision? McElhinney: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member. I -- I appreciate that question. This is Dan McElhinney. I'm the Chief Deputy Director of ITD, Chief of Operations. We do get -- we do get great feedback from our stakeholders, our cities, our counties in guiding us, but we are also guided by the Idaho Code 49-207, which is also federal highways guidance on the 85th percentile. So, from a traffic engineering perspective we have got to evaluate free flowing traffic as the guidance goes and what is the majority of the drivers -- you know, their experience and many of our experience is -- some are new drivers on that route every day on a -- a four and six lane highway. Most of 55 for that stretch is now six lanes and 55,000 vehicles a day and -- and Councilman Overton -- I mean that -- that volume has probably doubled in the last 15 -- 15, 20 years. So, they are experiencing that during congestion and the average speeds are about 45 to 48 and during off-peak hours it's 56 to 58. But the -- so, that majority experience drives the -- the evaluation of the speed limit. What's really good about this proposal is we are going to do our best -- and these are going to be very visible and it's a great opportunity for us teaming with the city and all of our partners on the corridor for a safety corridor and there is no stronger message than a couple flashing beacons at key points as -- as the district engineer Caleb has presented, to draw -- hopefully improve driver behavior that helps reduce those crashes and many of them are vehicle damage only crashes and some not. Unfortunately, some are very serious crashes. So, if we were able to arbitrarily change signs as a community we may not get as much effect as putting this proposal in place, because drivers are going to notice. As we went through our reviews -- even our team members originally said, well, what's the posted speed limit. A lot of drivers don't think about that in a congested area. So, this is a great opportunity to really help change driver behavior and we will -- we will see those speeds drop. Borton: Mr. Mayor, follow-up. Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Just some reaction to -- to it. You -- you used the word arbitrary. That's probably the wrong word choice. I think some of the individuals behind you and some of the comments you have heard from electeds -- our concern is anything but arbitrary and, candidly, it sounds like it really is some analysis of an efficient number -- an acceptable number of crashes and deaths and that's really the figure that we -- we are willing to accept what's occurring right now is, quote, not bad enough and when I look at the matrix presented I don't know if there is a number of people that would die turning left on Eagle Road that would be high enough in the -- in your calculations to -- to address this in its entire route. So, I share the concerns of my Council Members on the decision. It's frustrating and it sounds like the -- the electeds, through whose city the the road goes, really don't have any -- any weight to the decision, unfortunately. So, I -- I take issue with arbitrary. I don't think our concern is arbitrary and our ask is arbitrary Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 15 of 31 and I respectfully take issue with this -- this concept that there is an acceptable number of crashes and deaths on Eagle Road that -- that warrant keeping the status quo at 55. McElhinney: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council Member. We are right with you on that, Councilman. We -- we are not happy with the number of crashes on Eagle Road. I used the wording from -- and -- and -- maybe you don't have a fact sheet in front of you, but from Idaho -- Idaho Code 4927, guiding us not to set it from an engineering perspective arbitrarily and I was not describing the Council or -- or the -- or the -- our stakeholders' approach to this. So, we want to get there as well. This proposal for advisory speed -- most drivers are already doing a great job on speed limits and as -- as a speed study shows and that's the 85th percentile and the opportunity to give them guidance during congested times to address that -- that higher crash zone with the advisory speed of 45. It's just a great opportunity for all of us to affect safety. That's -- that's my encouragement. I -- I really appreciate you, Mayor and Council Members. Thank you. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Borton. Borton: Just one -- one -- sorry. One final question. Do you think that the way Idaho Code is unfairly handcuffs your ability to address the concern in a way that you wish you could, but you are unable to do so because of those constraints? McElhinney: Mr. Mayor and Councilman Borton, well, it is probably based on the Federal Highway guidance through -- for highways and the national traffic manual -- uniform traffic control devices and national guidance on traffic engineering. So, it's not just here at the state level, but it is based on that national perspective. We -- nationally we have been given at least, you know, some support in being sure to balance the context sensitivity and knowing it's not just the -- the engineering and the education of our drivers, but the enforcement and the environment overall on the corridor, which actually helps us come to this proposal and justify investment in making a change on the corridor and sometimes the traffic operations -- you have to take very positive support from -- from your city councils, from your mayors, and -- and deliver results that try to address the -- the driver behavior on the core and this has a great chance of doing that. Maybe even a greater chance than just changing the signs. At least that's the team's proposal. That's a great question. Thank you. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: You had mentioned earlier in the presentation that about 75 percent of the crashes are at intersections. Did I understand that correctly? So, given that that's the majority, do you track what the average speed limit is of the vehicles at the time of the crash and how that's related to -- it sounds to me like -- if I'm understanding correctly -- Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 16 of 31 and I apologize if this is really simplified, but that speed is not necessarily the primary factor in -- in the crashes. So, help me connect the dots between that understanding and the conversation we are having. And I apologize if that's a real simple question, but I just -- I just want to make sure I'm clear on what I'm hearing. McElhinney: Mr. Mayor, Councilman, great question and -- and if I speak out of turn certainly law enforcement can correct me on how this is done on -- on police reports, but on any crash report done to the police there is contributing factors to that to cause that accident and speed is one of those things that can be a contributing factor. Data pulled for 55, speed is not the predominant contributing factor for crashes. Following too close, distracted driving, impairment. So, again, if that was different, if -- it -- if speed was the largest contributing factor I think we would be changing this conversation. The fact that we looked at the crash data -- and there are crashes. They are happening predominantly at intersections. But people are following too close. They are distracted or they are impaired. I don't know if that points a gun at the speed limit for being the causation of those facts. Now, to the comment made earlier, speed does play a factor in severity of crashes, but it's very difficult to -- to draw a linear line between less speed equals less severity. In general you can, but it's not necessarily a one to one on what that's going to be, unfortunately. So, I hope that helps answer questions to -- to -- do we track it discretely? No. But as we look at crashes and look at what causes them, yes, it's -- it's part of the report we look at. Perreault: Mr. Mayor, follow up? Simison: Could we -- do you mind if we throw that a little to our police department as part of the follow up to maybe get their perspective on the impacts of speed on the crashes, since they are currently the ones who are enjoying all the work created by the traffic. Harper: Mayor, just to follow up on that, I don't have the exact data. I would have to do some follow up on it. But we do -- anytime we investigate a crash we do put in the contributing factors that we can determine based off of the interviews. Sometimes it's multiple. It could be following too closely and speed. It could be distracted driving and speed. So, it -- it's not just usually one, there is usually multiple from time to time, but at times there is just one. But to get that data I would have to follow up with you guys and -- and provide that data, which I'm sure our CAU team could come up with. Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. So, of the proposals that were made I didn't really see anything specific in regard to signage or recommendations for the issues specifically at intersections and I -- I don't know if there are any possible, you know, changes that can be made to folks following closely. That's -- I mean everyone knows you don't follow closely. There is -- I don't know what else you can do. That's just -- you know, that's -- or the distracted driving. There is already significant efforts being made to that. So, Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 17 of 31 were there any additional conversations by this group to address those two things or two or three things that are causing the intersection accidents? McElhinney: Mayor, Councilman, there was quite a bit of discussion about what else should we do and, you know, as you pointed out the answer was kind of got -- what else can we do at the intersections to try and emphasize, that educate that more. Overall from a corridor perspective, you know, there could be efforts made to further restrict access along the corridor. If you remove access you can remove those movements. People are slowing the turn in. If you remove that you are going to remove the opportunity to have the rear-end crash or whatever would be happening there. There is a balance there; right? We have created a corridor that has a lot of access, a lot of commerce going on, I don't think we have the opportunity to go back now and say, well, this is a restricted access corridor, like we would on a freeway or like the intent is on the new Highway 16; right? So, that -- that ship has sailed in some -- in some regards as far as completely restricting access. Now, could we -- could we reduce some access? Yes. And -- and do I think that would have some improvement? Yes. But without being able to make a wholesale change on the whole corridor, it comes down to the -- kind of this back and forth of -- of how tolerant are we of that and -- and what are really the benefits of doing that. So, it's a very difficult question. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Kind of a comment I didn't say the first time. Back before the center medians were on Eagle Road Mayor Tammy de Veered asked me, who was the lead for the police department, to help present information on why we needed to have center medians from 1-84 to Franklin Road. The very first ones that were put up. There was a large contingency of people that said no to that. They didn't want to see them. What brought to them was something pretty simple, 34 injury crashes from vehicles turning left from Magic View Drive onto Eagle Road. The center medians went in and 34 went to zero. We did our job. We took care of our community. We caused them a little bit of inconvenience, but we prevented any more future injury crashes from people turning left. That's all we are talking about today. You have -- I'm going to -- I'm going to read this. This is right off National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website. The extent of crash damage depends upon the amount of energy present. Not what the roadway can handle. The vehicles. The faster a vehicle is moving the more kinetic energy it takes into a crash. The amount of kinetic energy increases greatly with only slight increases in speed. As the amount of energy increases, the chances of a fatality increase. A collision at 60 miles an hour is 50 percent more likely to result in fatality than just 45 miles an hour. It's not just a little bit more, it's a lot more. Ten miles an hour lowering that speed limit doesn't like a lot. It's not slowing people down. In the scheme of things under the times you are talking about at most if they had all green lights it's taking a minute and 13 seconds out of their day. My goal -- and I think what we hear from other Council Members is to try to make our roadway safer for the people that use it, because we got a lot of drivers and a lot of human error that cause most of our Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 18 of 31 accidents. We can't do anything about the human error. Back in the days when they used to teach us accident investigation -- do you remember it was the three E's. It was engineering, education and enforcement and the least effective was enforcement. The number one most effective thing we could do to those roadways was our engineering and how we set the roadways up and how we built them. Education was number two. It's still that way today. The number one thing we can do is not put more cops on Eagle Road trying to write tickets. Not put up more signs advising them they should slow down. It's changing that speed limit and making those permanent changes, so it's consistent for everyone. I believe that from my heart. I always have. Thank you. Lakey: Mr. Mayor, if I may. Councilman, again, I really appreciate your insights and your sincerity. Absolutely. A couple -- a couple thoughts. If -- if Council is proposing modifying access, that's a conversation that can continue about restricting further access on Eagle Road. We are focused today on human input. So, that's something else that could be -- we can follow up on. But the other thing is when we talk about the -- the enforcement, if we change a sign -- and to use the words we used earlier -- arbitrarily, meaning we just pick a number, not trying to dismiss the concern, but pick a number, it doesn't make sense to the driver. He or she is not going to adhere to the speed limit unless we continually enforce it. It starts this vicious cycle of -- of where we don't really want to be. We -- we want the road for the most part to be self regulated. So, again, I go back to the comment I made earlier to -- to the Councilman here about, you know, if -- if the road already is -- traffic is already slow, we see that in the numbers we -- we have already, I don't know what we are changing with the speed limit. People are already -- people are already traveling that. We are putting up a sign and asking law enforcement to enforce it when people are already driving that speed. Overton: Mr. Mayor -- Simison: Yeah. You -- Overton: I don't want to go back and forth on this. I wasn't talking about restricting access. When Overland Road was first completed and it was made five lanes and it was the smoothest new blacktop in the City of Meridian and ACHD had just completed it, we had vehicles going 75 miles an hour down there, because it was the neatest, slickest roadway in the city and the roadway handled it just fine, but it was 40 and they got tickets. I'm really not interested in what the roadway can handle. It's human error that's the factor for these crashes, not what the roadway can handle, and now we have more distractions in vehicles than we ever had before, with navigation systems and cell phones and map programs, so when we had a one and a half second delay for people's reactions before they ever could start applying their brakes and we have the braking distance, plus the reaction time, I believe it's probably even greater today than it was back then. So, I absolutely fault on the side trying to figure out the safest way. It's also still a way we can move traffic quickly through the city. I don't think you are going to see a slowdown in vehicles moving through the City of Meridian by making that change. I also don't like to just try to confuse them with a sign that's advisory only, because it doesn't give our law enforcement teams any opportunity, other than to watch people Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 19 of 31 ignore it and continue to drive 55 miles an hour. But, then, you will have some people that will take it under advisement and drive 45 miles an hour and now I got two different groups of people, some driving 55 and some driving 45, because some people are looking at your signs and some people are taking it under advisement and others are just flat ignoring it. I think it's going to cause confusion. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I actually think in the interest of making sure you have good feedback, I -- I would be open to us doing like a voice vote just on our opinion about whether it should be 45 miles an hour and I feel like that would provide a lot of clarity to you, so you could understand where the majority of the Council is. So, I -- I am in favor of it being 45 miles an hour. Full stop. Simison: And I would be happy to do that. I had been holding my -- you guys got me riled up a little bit, so I want to get some things on the record first just for clarity. I'm going to be happy to throw it up to a voice vote if that's what Council would like to do. Just so we are clear, I want to start with where Councilman Overton talked about, you know, I look at that corridor and the City of Meridian has spent more than -- in my opinion than any other city has done to improve safety along the corridor. I get really frustrated when I look down at the city of Eagle, which has no center medians, which -- and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is you modified a speed zone by moving a -- a speed limit sign from one location to another, because of concerns over access around the river, which, again, is during the day, not at night. So, the city that is taking the least amount of interest in preserving safety along the corridor actually gets better treatment towards speed reductions in that area compared to ourselves. The most problems we have are up near the Interstate currently, which you have not reduced down to an adequate level, but at least from my perspective, my conversation was reduce whatever the speed -- whatever the sign currently says, reduce that sign down ten miles. So, 55 doesn't start until you get to The Village. So, from my perspective 45 from The Village, 40 further back working your way up to the interstate, it was never about -- at least from my perspective leaving that at 45, because that doesn't even address the place where you are currently having some of the biggest problems with crashes. You are basically saying, yeah, let's -- let's leave it at 45 at that location. So, just so we are clear, my perspective is that we reduce whatever the current sign is down ten miles an hour along the corridor through Meridian and, yes, elected officials -- at least the Mayor will be one hundred percent supportive in the city of Boise. I can't speak to the council in that regards. They -- they -- they have no concerns from that standpoint. So, at least you understand the council heard -- has heard what I have tried to advocate for and the conversations and I wasn't on the -- on -- my office was represented and -- and -- that hopefully was clearly conveyed in terms of what we were trying to achieve. But we -- we have all -- we have been the most proactive city when it comes to safety along this corridor. We -- we have had limitations put in in development applications. We have tried to be good partners. You know, the Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 20 of 31 conversations that I have had over and over of talking about, you know, what is our community expectations. We -- we -- we talk -- the same -- going back to the same thing. Schools zones. You know, those roads you can drive 45 miles per hour, but we allow them to be reduced during the day despite how well they can drive in that regard. That is, you know, a great example -- and have had these conversations with members of our transportation commission who are engineers, who work for ITD. Sometimes you just set a standard that is what your community expects some values and you do it. And I -- I know the state law changed. We are in after the state law your -- you're handcuffed to a certain extent. But I think this is just one of those things that will continue have to work with the state legislature, so we can try to have an ability to have a reasonable speed limit through our city along these roadways. Just so you know, I have already started getting people complaining about Chinden speed. Now that we have got this nice beautiful road that's 50 -- is it 55 along Chinden right now? Yep. Guess what, complaints are coming in about the speed and -- and the turning movements that are there and that's even less limited of a turn area than what you have or access on Eagle in that regards. We want to be good -- good community partners. We see the same thing on, you know, Highway 69 in terms of a reduction as you get down into those choke points from that standpoint. The hospital is a very unique animal, but there doesn't seemed to be -- no one seems to care in that regards about the access, amount of lights which are tripped on a continuous basis that impact turning movements and speeds and, you know, we -- we all could be engineers when we drive and we understand what are -- how we see, but, you know, the faster you go on the road the more likely you think you can make that light before it turns red in a permissive state and, then, what happens? They call our office, complain about people running red lights, whether it was legal or not, and there is very limited enforcement that we can do in those situations and feedback signs on a three lane road -- come on. Who -- who is going to know who -- who that speed limit -- who that radar is touching for their number in that regard with how congested it really is. Maybe that's great for at night when no one's on the road and you want to see how fast the -- oh, I need to see how good my speedometer really is. It's really not going to provide any realistic information to three lanes of traffic traveling north through the city in that regards. No different than when you drive down the interstate and you are in a construction zone and they have got a sign there and you are like, oh, is that me? Is that not me? And there is only two lanes of traffic in that regard. So, I appreciate our dialogue. I appreciate you coming here and presenting. Unfortunately, I have never seen someone work so hard to leave the speed limit the way it is over the last 18 months. That's on -- that's my honest feedback on this is I -- I feel like that's what this has been is how do we do something without actually doing anything to meet the community expectations and you guys, you know, I love you, but of our conversations and our dialogue and our intellectual conversation -- not over burgers, but in meetings in that regards, but it's -- it's seriously disappointing from my perspective that that's -- this is where we are today and the outcomes that we are trying to maintain, even if you are hamstrung by the state law, I wish that -- I wish -- I cannot -- can't done -- that ITD would stand up to the legislature and sometimes understand what -- communities needs and wants are different than what the state law is and if you agree with it that's a different story. Then I will come out -- then we will have different conversations, but I -- I know where your hamstrings have been in our Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 21 of 31 dialogue, so thank you for letting me rant for a few minutes, but I feel like it was something I needed to at least get on the record. If there is anything you want to reply back to you, go ahead, otherwise, I'm going to have -- I don't have any expectations, because these are our conversations. McElhinney: Well, we appreciate you, Mayor. Thank you. And you have been right in there helping guide us and we all have the same goal and I know -- I know as Mayor and Council Members is you want safety on 55. So, we got some great feedback and we have committed in our PowerPoint to give an update by October 15th, at least in a summary from Caleb. We will work closely with your staff and we are going to take another look at a few things. So, I -- I commit to that for us as ITD. Thank you. Simison: Thank you. So, per Council Woman Strader, by show of hands, is there a preference for 40 -- a maximum speed limit of 45 along the corridor from the Council? Borton: Yes. Simison: And so at least five out of the six that would be the preference from that standpoint. There is -- 40 to 45. 1 think it's 40 -- is it 45 when you get to the interstate right there? Or is it 50? 1 -- it's 50 right when you get off. So, yeah, 40 to 45 would be my hope, so -- Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. I -- I just want to clarify why I didn't raise my hand and it's not because I'm a no. This is -- you know, I -- I only know what you have presented to me. I'm not an expert in this capacity. I feel a little bit out of my element with -- with this kind of decision and I -- my preference for -- for me, what feels comfortable to me for us to implement the proposals that have already been made and, then, take it in more of like a step by step -- okay. If that's not working we assess it for so many months and, then, we maybe take for -- that was my understanding of -- of how the committee wanted to move through this process, that it would be -- we would sort of test things out until we found, you know, solutions that are more workable and so that -- that's -- I just want to clarify that I am not a no, I'm -- if -- if the state decides to change those and lower those speed limits I'm a hundred percent okay with that, but I -- I -- I feel like it would be more comfortable to kind of go through the process that was already proposed, which is to just kind of implement some things, let's test it, implement more things, let's test it. That's what my preference is and maybe -- and I don't want to speak for my fellow Council, maybe, that that's also what they have in mind and they are just saying, hey, our end result respects this, not that they are suggesting a different route that you take to get there. They can clarify that and -- and not me. But I just -- you know, I would like to see a real -- I would just like to go through this really methodically. At the same time I agree with the Mayor that it is highly just -- what's the word -- disappointing is not even a strong enough word that -- that a city can't have more say and influence in these Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 22 of 31 decisions in their own city. I mean it's just -- it's just -- it's just bothering to me that -- that there isn't an opportunity to do any more than what we have been able to do and that there isn't more ability to have some control over that. McElhinney: Mayor, if I may -- Mayor and Council Members, again, Dan McElhinney. A couple of ideas. I think we mentioned earlier that in traffic operation -- traffic engineering to be able to step into a new driver behavior like this proposal could get us to that next step. You know, if we could see speeds begin to drop that helps that 85th percentile study adjust. So, that -- that thinking is smart and it also helps us address the -- you know, the overall federal and highway guidance and state law as well. But -- but also Idaho Code 4927 allow cities to also initiate, you know, independent speed surveys based on the 85th percentile. I think the working group thought about that as well, knowing that you collect the speed data and it kind of tends to be what it is. We will have -- and we mentioned it in the presentation. We do have a couple of teams with ACHD, a couple opportunities for -- to signal timing and signal synchronization, which also will address travel speed. So, we were thinking about, well, if we can get to a point where we all agree, let's -- let's at least implement this first step, knowing that it may take us some time on the signal synchronization, which potentially travel -- you know, speed limits may be part of that equation as well. That -- that will help us overall on the traffic engineering side. So, just to try to -- and I -- I think I reminded you of that a while back, Mayor. You may not remember that, but just step through some of this could really help us as -- as safety leaders for the corridor. Simison: Trust me I just -- you know, if we use a speed study, because you guys pretty much handcuffed how we can do the speed -- we still have to deal with your standards, but we could put officers on every corner at night and run our lights and I think that would slow people down along the corridor and we could get a better result for the speed study. So, it might take a little bit more resources, but we can be very ingenuitive in how we reduce people's speed on the corridor when we conduct a speed study. So food for thought. Harper: Mayor, a follow-up question? Simison: Yes, we will pay overtime for that. Harper: Okay. With -- with Eagle, the chief is -- is -- I believe listening in and wanted me to ask a question, but with Eagle Road being a state highway, is ISP prepared to handle enforcement of that roadway with it being a state highway? Simison: We would welcome ISP's comments on that, if they would like to. And I did mention it to the sheriff today as well. Just in case. If you can wait until you get to the microphone. Jussel: Tyler Jussel, Lieutenant, Idaho State Police. Mayor, Council Members. No, our staffing is limited. That would -- district three patrol patrols ten counties on this side Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 23 of 31 of the state. They have approximately 40 troopers that do that, including supervisors as well. So, adding Eagle Road would be a big burden. Simison: Thank you. The governor's office is also aware that that could be an ITD burden in the future if we maintain the speed limit. McElhinney: Mayor? Simison: Yes. McElhinney: Mayor and Council Members, don't -- don't give up on the three E's, as Council Member Overton reminded us. Education, engineering and enforcement. All those three come together and it's so important for -- for us working together with the Office of Highway Safety and providing that enforcement factor. So, I don't want you to forget about the importance of that. Simison: We -- we don't. But -- and -- and it goes back to maybe you need to look at how you can engineer the road down to over speed limit, which you know you can. You put up some vertical barriers along the roadway and all of a sudden you get people going slower in certain areas. You can influence the speed on this road if you want to influence the speed through engineering. You can influence it with more enforcement from ISP being there doing a lot more work. You know, state -- state law does give this authority to the sheriff through the state police. It's not a city responsibility to enforce on this road. So, ISP -- or if the state thinks that the three E's are that variable, you have the ability to control all three -- three E's. It is your roadway as we are made abundantly clear through the state law and -- and you have your hands strung and so do we, so I encourage you to take a hard look at all three E's from the state's level, because, yeah, you -- you can -- you can reduce the speed if you would like to put up more things. ACHD said the same things to us about other roads that they have built out that they now we are talking about going back and putting in some mechanisms to reduce the speed through engineering efforts. So, food for thought. Council, anything else? All right. Thank you. 22. Compensation Committee: General Employee Salary Administration Guidelines Simison: With that we will go on to Item 22, which is the Compensation Committee general employee salary administrative guidelines. Turn this over to Christena. Barney: Mayor and Council, thank you for having me this evening. I am up here on behalf of the compensation committee to talk with you about phase two of the general employee compensation plan. So, as you hopefully have seen there was an e-mail that went out to all employees outlining what we have been working on the last several years, phase one and, then, also phase two. Just as a reminder, I want to point out a couple of things. So, with this new compensation program that we have implemented for the general employees some of the goals that we were trying to meet were to Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 24 of 31 increase employee tenure, foster career growth and opportunities, attract top talent and maintain market competitiveness. So, in building these guidelines, building the step plan, which was part of phase two and you should have a copy of those guidelines and also frequently ask questions and we feel that that adequately meets those goals and will help us maintain a flexible plan going forward. So, I am here today to stand for any questions that you might have as we look to roll this out effective October 1st. Simison: Council, questions? And Christena kind of drew this -- she came in late into the committee's efforts, but she's been very integral into the development of these. Been connecting with Gallagher and working alongside Todd, who is, unfortunately, gone this week. I don't know if he planned that or not, but we do have a couple other members of the committee who are present, Lieutenant Colaianni and back there we have Bruce and Laurelei, as well as myself, so -- sorry. Council, questions? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I took a little -- what I was going to say. So, I appreciate that. And, Christena, I appreciate you jumping in and nice to see so many of the committee members. The only question is is has there been feedback from employees since that e-mail went out and what has been -- kind of the response been? Barney: I have received two e-mails, both positive. Thank you for the work. We know you are doing a lot in the background is what I have gotten so far. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: My only I guess question slash concern was the CPI year over year as a benchmark to determine the COLA amount that was referenced in the FAQs. That does feel like a departure, at least from the process that the Finance Department was using with like a 20 year average. So, I just wanted to clarify is it an average or is it a year over year calculation? Simison: I -- I can probably answer that one. We -- we -- typically we do a year over year. We have showcased the 20 year average just for information, but we do full year over year information. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. That's the only piece that to me I think we just keep in mind, just depending on the economic environment if those amounts fluctuate wildly. The city is Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 25 of 31 not structured in a way that its revenue side can adjust to wild swings in CPI. So, it just -- it creates an inherent conflict in future years. Just employees need to keep that in mind, because this is a program we are putting in place, but it gets appropriated year to year. Simison: And I think the best way to put it, that's the secondary piece of each of this and it -- it will depend upon the financial ability to meet that, depending on what it may or may not be. But a great point for the employees. Council, any other comments or questions? Okay. Well, we look forward to implementing this and we will be going out and sitting down with all the departments. I know as part of the plan this could go a little roadshow and go out and talk to the staff with some of our leadership in that regards and implement this here real soon. So, thank you, Christena, and thank you. I know this has been several years for some people to get to this point and I just want to say thank you in that regards. Appreciate you all. So, Scott, now I think you can officially retire. You said once this happened you -- you were -- you were happy to -- no? Barney: Thank you, Mayor, Council. Simison: Okay. Thank you. ACTION ITEMS 23. Public Hearing for Proposed Solid Waste Fee Increases Simison: Okay. With that we will move on to Item 23, which is a public hearing for proposed solid waste fee increase. We will open the public hearing with staff comment. No? Laurelei? Okay. McVey: Mayor and Council, we did not really have anything additional to present, but just refer back to the Republic Services' presentation. The majority of the increases, the normal allowable per contract increase, so nothing really out of the ordinary this year. The department has received no feedback since the presentation, so open to questions or -- Simison: Thank you. Council, any questions for staff? Thank you. This is a public hearing. Mr. Clerk, do we have anybody signed up to provide testimony on this item? Johnson: Mr. Mayor, we did not. Simison: Okay. Is there anybody present who would like to come forward and provide testimony at this time or if you are online if you would like to use the raise your hand feature. Seeing no one coming forward and no one raising their hand, Council, what's your desire? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 26 of 31 Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I'm happy to make a motion that we close the public hearing on Item No. 23, proposed solid waste fee increase. Perreault: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the public hearing is closed. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. ORDINANCES [Action Item] 24. Ordinance No. 23-2023: An Ordinance in accordance with Idaho Code Sections 50328, 50-329 and 50-329A granting a franchise to Idaho Power Company, a corporation, and to its successors and assigns, to construct, maintain and operate in and upon the present and future streets, highways and other public places within the corporate limits of the City of Meridian, Idaho, electric utility property and facilities for supplying electricity and electric service to the City, the inhabitants thereof, and others for a term of 10 years, including the nonexclusive right to physically locate and maintain telephone, cable, fiber optics or other communications facilities; setting forth an agreement not to compete, but reserving the power of eminent domain; providing for the payment of franchise fees; specifying other limitations, terms and conditions governing the exercise of said franchise; and establishing an effective date of November 1, 2023. Simison: With that we will move on to ordinances for the evening. Okay. Then first item up is Item 24, which is the second reading of Ordinance No. 23-2023. Ask the Clerk to read this ordinance by title. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's an Ordinance in accordance with Idaho Code Sections 50-328, 50-329 and 50-329A granting a franchise to Idaho Power Company, a corporation, and to its successors and assigns, to construct, maintain and operate in and upon the present and future streets, highways and other public places within the corporate limits of the City of Meridian, Idaho, electric utility property and facilities for supplying electricity and electric service to the City, the inhabitants thereof, and others for a term of ten years, including the nonexclusive right to physically locate and maintain telephone, cable, fiber optics or other communications facilities; setting forth an agreement not to compete, but reserving the power of eminent domain; providing for the payment of franchise fees; specifying other limitations, terms and conditions governing the exercise of said franchise; and establishing an effective date of November 1, 2023. Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 27 of 31 Simison: Thank you. Council, you have heard this ordinance read by title. Is there anybody that would like it read in its the entirety? Hearing none. 25. Ordinance No. 23-2034: An Ordinance of the City of Meridian, Idaho amending Ordinance No. 22-1993, the appropriation ordinance for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2022 and ending September 30, 2023 (FY2023), by decreasing total appropriations from $219,724,039 to $217,401,857, increasing total revenue from $136,628,580 to $151,310,494, and decreasing the use of fund balance from $83,095,459 to $66,091,363; and providing an effective date. Simison: We will move on to Item 25, which is Ordinance No. 23-2034. Ask the Clerk to read this ordinance by title. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's an Ordinance of the City of Meridian, Idaho, amending Ordinance No. 22-1993, the appropriation ordinance for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2022 and ending September 30, 2023 (FY2023), by decreasing total appropriations from $219,724,039 to $217,401,857, increasing total revenue from $136,628,580 to $151,310,494, and decreasing the use of fund balance from $83,095,459 to $66,091,363; and providing an effective date. Simison: Thank you. Council, you have heard this ordinance read by title. Is there anybody that would like it read in its entirety? If not, do I have a motion? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I move that we approve Ordinance No. 23-2034, which is amending Ordinance No. 22-1993. Hoaglun: Second the motion. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve Ordinance No. 23-2034. Is there any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Roll Call: Hoaglun, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Perreault, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the item is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 26. Ordinance No. 23-2035: An Ordinance of the City of Meridian providing for the adoption of a budget and the appropriation of $233,617,299 to defray the necessary expenses and liabilities of the Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 28 of 31 City of Meridian, in accordance with the object and purposes and in the certain amounts herein specified for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2023 and ending on September 30, 2024. To levy all such appropriate taxes and levies as authorized by law upon taxable property; and to collect all authorized revenue; to provide for a waiver of the 2nd and 3rd readings pursuant to Idaho Code §50-902; and providing for an effective date and the filing of a certified copy of this ordinance with the Secretary of State. Simison: Next up is Item 26, which is Ordinance No. 23-2035. Ask the Clerk to read this ordinance by title. Johnson; Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's Ordinance in the City of Meridian providing for the adoption of a budget and the appropriation of $233,617,299 to defray the necessary expenses and liabilities of the City of Meridian, in accordance with the object and purposes and in the certain amounts herein specified for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2023 and ending on September 30, 2024. To levy all such appropriate taxes and levies as authorized by law upon taxable property; and to collect all authorized revenue; to provide for a waiver of the 2nd and 3rd readings pursuant to Idaho Code §50-902; and providing for an effective date and the filing of a certified copy of this ordinance with the Secretary of State. Simison: Thank you. Council, you have heard this ordinance read by title. Is there anybody who would like it read in its entirety? If not, do I have a motion? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I move that we approve Ordinance No. 23-2035. Overton: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Ordinance No. 23-2035. Is there any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Roll Call: Hoaglun, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Perreault, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the item is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 27. Ordinance No. 23-2036: An Ordinance (Alden Ridge Subdivision — H- 2022-0059) annexing a parcel of land lying in the southwest quarter of Section 21, Township 4 North, Range 1 West, Boise Meridian, Ada Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 29 of 31 County, Idaho, more particularly described in Exhibit "A"; rezoning 24.8 acres of such real property from RUT (Rural Urban Transition) to R-4 (20.35 acres) (Medium Low-Density Residential) zoning district and R-8 (4.45 acres) (Medium-Density Residential) zoning district; directing city staff to alter all applicable use and area maps as well as the official zoning maps and all official maps depicting the boundaries and the zoning districts of the City of Meridian in accordance with this ordinance; providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County Treasurer, the Ada County Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required by law; repealing conflicting ordinances; and providing an effective date. Simison: Next up is Item 27, which is Ordinance No. 23-2036. Ask the Clerk to read this Ordinance by title. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's an Ordinance related to Alden Ridge Subdivision, H-2022-0059, annexing a parcel of land lying in the southwest quarter of Section 21, Township 4 North, Range 1 West, Boise Meridian, Ada county, Idaho, more particularly described in Exhibit "A"; rezoning 24.8 acres of such real property from RUT to R-4 zoning districts and R-8 zoning district; directing city staff to alter all applicable use and area maps as well as the official zoning maps and all official maps depicting the boundaries and the zoning districts of the City of Meridian in accordance with this ordinance; providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County Treasurer, the Ada County Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required by law; repealing conflicting ordinances; and providing an effective date. Simison: Thank you. Council, you have heard this Ordinance read by title. Is there anybody that would like it read in its entirety? If not, do I have a motion? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I move that we approve Ordinance No. 23-2036. Overton: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Ordinance No. 23-2036. Is there any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Roll Call: Hoaglun, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Perreault, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the item is agreed to. Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 30 of 31 MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 28. Ordinance No. 23-2033: An Ordinance (Newkirk Neighborhood — H- 2022-0088) annexing the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 10, Township 3 North, Range 1 West, Boise Meridian, City of Meridian, Ada County, Idaho, more particularly described in Exhibit "A"; rezoning 22.667 acres of such real property from RUT (Rural Urban Transition) to TN-R (Traditional Neighborhood Residential) zoning district; directing city staff to alter all applicable use and area maps as well as the official zoning maps and all official maps depicting the boundaries and the zoning districts of the City of Meridian in accordance with this ordinance; providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County Treasurer, the Ada County Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required by law; repealing conflicting ordinances; and providing an effective date. Simison: Next up is Item 28, which is Ordinance No. 23-2033. Ask the Clerk to read this ordinance by title. Johnson: Thank you, Mayor. It's an Ordinance related to Newkirk Neighborhood, H- 2022-0088, annexing the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 10, Township 3 North, Range 1 West, Boise meridian, City of Meridian, Ada county, Idaho, more particularly described in Exhibit "A"; rezoning 22.667 acres of such real property from RUT to TN-R zoning district; directing city staff to alter all applicable use and area maps as well as the official zoning maps and all official maps depicting the boundaries and the zoning districts of the City of Meridian in accordance with this ordinance; providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County Treasurer, the Ada County Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required by law; repealing conflicting ordinances; and providing an effective date. Simison: Thank you. Council, you have heard this Ordinance read by title. Is there anybody who would like it read in its entirety? If not, do I have a motion? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I move that we ae Approve Ordinance No. 23-2033. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve Ordinance No. 23-2033. Is there any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Meridian City Council Work Session September 5,2023 Page 31 of 31 Roll Call: Hoaglun, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Perreault, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the item is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION 29. Per Idaho Code 74-206A (1)(a): To Deliberate on a labor contract offer or to formulate a counteroffer. Simison: Next up is Item 29. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move that we go into Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206A(1)(a). Cavener: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to go into Executive Session. Is there any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Roll Call: Hoaglun, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Perreault, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and we will move into Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:55 p.m. to 6:33 p.m.) (Motion to come out of Executive Session - Hoaglun. Second - Cavener.) (Motion to adjourn - Hoaglun.) MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6.33 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON 9-19-2023 ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK