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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-09-19 Work Session Minutes Meridian City Council Work Session September 19, 2023. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:31 p.m. Tuesday, September 19, 2023, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Jessica Perreault, Liz Strader and John Overton. Members Absent: Brad Hoaglun. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE X Liz Strader _X_ Joe Borton 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 19th, 2023, at 4:33 p.m. Open this City Council work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item up is adoption of the agenda. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I move that we modify the agenda to add an Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(d). Perreault: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to modify the agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is modified. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: With that amendment I move that we adopt the amendment as -- amended agenda. Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 2 of 12 Strader: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to adopt the amended agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the amended agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the September 5th, 2023 City Council Work Session 2. Eagle View Landing Building 4 & 5 Water Main Easement No. 1 (ESMT-2023-0121) 3. Eagle View Landing Building 4 & 5 Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No. 2 (ESMT-2023-0122) 4. Eagle View Landing Building 4 & 5 Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No. 3 (ESMT-2023-0123) 5. Elderberry Subdivision Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No 1 (ESMT2023-0126) 6. Elderberry Subdivision Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No. 2 (ESMT2023-0129) 7 Elderberry Subdivision Water Main Easement No. 4 (ESMT-2023- 0127) 8. Red Aspen Water Main Easement (ESMT-2023-0125) 9. Stapleton Emergency Access Easement No. 1 (ESMT-2023-0101) 10. Final Order 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. 11. Fiscal Year 2024 Recycling Processing Fee Contract Amendment 12. Addendum No. 21 to Agreement Between the City of Meridian and the City of Boise for City Prosecutor/Criminal Legal Services Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 3 of 12 13. Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Meridian and Valley Regional Transit for Installation of Public Artwork on Transit Stop Shelters in the City of Meridian 14. Approval of Purchase Order#23-0399 to Hughes Fire Equipment for Two (2) new Enforcer Pumper Trucks for the estimated amount of $1,737,708.00 15. Resolution 23-2408: A Resolution Adopting the Fiscal Year 2024 Rate Schedule of Solid Waste Collection Services Simison: Next item up is the Consent Agenda. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Move that we approve the Consent Agenda as published. For the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest. Strader: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the Consent Agenda is agree to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 16. Declaration 23-0001: A Declaration of the City Clerk Establishing the Election of John Overton to District 4, Seat 4 of the Meridian City Council Simison: So, we will move on to Item 16 under Department/Commission Reports, which is Declaration 23-0001, a declaration of the city clerk establishing the election of John Overton to District 4, Seat 4, of the Meridian City Council. I will turn this over to Mr. Johnson. Johnson: Thank you, Mayor. This is really just an informative declaration. Idaho Code Section 50-405(2) was amended in July 2020 directing the city clerk to cancel any election in which there is only one candidate. Our District 4 election, Council Member Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 4 of 12 John Overton was the only person who filed the declaration of candidacy. There were no write-ins. So, following Idaho Code I am simply declaring the winner of that and he will not appear on ballots in District 4. Simison: Thank you. Mr. Nary, do you have anything to add? Nary: No, Mr. Mayor. Like I said it's just kind of a new wrinkle that was added to the code in 2020. There is no discretionary action on the part of the city. The statute is very specific. It says when this occurs no elections will be held and the clerk shall declare the election over. So, really, the declaration doesn't even require Council approval. It really is just a public notice that there will be no election for District 4, Seat 4, for Meridian City Council in the upcoming election. But everyone in that district will still be able to vote for the mayor. So, they will be able to vote, just not for the district. Simison: Council, any questions? Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Not a question, but a comment. It's a declaration. But I think we can still throw in our two bits. The district process is certainly new to us, but it's not necessarily surprising to me that somebody didn't file to run in this seat. I think Councilman Overton has had decades of service to this community. He's known by most everybody already even before he started to serve and he has certainly jumped in to fill shoes and done an admirable job. You are an excellent councilman. It's no surprise the community support you and those in your district have had no concern with you continuing to serve in that capacity. Your fellow council members love serving with you. You just do an excellent job. So, we are -- we are proud and happy to have you and I'm excited that this declaration happened. It's a bit anticlimactic, but I really think it's a testament to the fact that people are pleased and proud of your service and happy to have you continue to do so for two more years. Nary: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Mr. Nary. Nary: One more note for the record -- and we did put in the declaration, but for the public's purpose Councilman Overton was appointed to serve the remainder of Councilman Bernt's term, so that's why he would have been on the ballot, according to the statute -- it was required for him to be on the ballot for the remainder of the two years. This being called now simply is just, again, for the remainder of the two years and, then, his term will be up in two years if he wants to run again. Simison: Thank you, Mr. Nary. Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 5 of 12 Strader: Mr. Mayor? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Councilman Overton, I just want to say I look forward to spending the next couple years with you if I'm lucky enough to be back, but either way we are happy to see you up here. Appreciate you. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I echo the comments from my colleagues, but I think there is -- there is one more piece that I think is worth noting. As to, you know, Mr. Mayor, you -- when Council Member resigned you interviewed candidates, people submitted, you went -- we went through a whole process before this appointment happened and the fact that nobody else challenged to run for this race I think is a good validation that you made the right selection. I'm certainly proud and pleased to have Council Member Overton as a colleague. I have learned so much from him the past few months. But I think it's also a good reminder that we have this public process that allows for people to be appointed and you, obviously, made the right pick and we are really proud to have him in that seat. Simison: Thank you, Councilman Cavener. But pat yourself a little on the back as well, too, please, for that -- helping make that known at the time. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, I just bring good suggestions. I can suggest we have pizza for dinner, but it's ultimately up to you to choose and you picked the best one. So, I'm excited. Simison: Thank you. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I shared my congratulations earlier with Councilman Overton and absolutely agree with my fellow Council that he jumped in just running as fast as he could and have taken a lot of crazy things thrown at him as he stepped into the position and handled it with grace and kindness and I appreciate that very much and it is so clear that you love this city and I appreciate how much that you show that as you interact with the members of our community and it's very fitting that you sit in Treg's seat, because he did the same, he -- he really wore on his sleeve how much he loves Meridian and I appreciate that same quality from you. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 6 of 12 Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Having said all of that, a couple of things -- no, I won't -- Simison: Fair enough. I will save my comments for when you actually get sworn in hopefully at that point in time, but kudos, John. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Thank you for the kind words. It's been a pleasure to serve this first year. This is not exactly how I pictured running for an election was going to be. Had other thoughts in mind. My wife is quite pleased that I have a little bit more time to spend with the family now and quite honestly now I can focus more attention on business at hand for the City of Meridian. So, that's a bonus in my book. So, this is a neat process. We are first experiencing it. I know other cities are as well and I can't wait to continue to get back to work. 17. Presentation and Review of Interactive Pathways Map Simison: All right. Thank you very much. With that we will move on to Item 17, which is presentation and review of interactive pathways map. Turn this over to Kim. Warren: Thank you, Mayor Simison, Members of the Council. I'm pleased to be here to formally introduce our updated pathways map. We were here a couple of months ago to do a pathways update and during that time we talked a little bit about the fact that we were working on this map and what this map could be and we were looking to simplify to come up with a tool that was more friendly and more effective to connect people to the pathways. We have been working with GIS and they have been really wonderful just for the record, Cindy Anderson and Teresa Grange, not only great experts, but patient with our changes and iterations. So, we really appreciate their help. So, when we did allude to this map a couple of months ago and talked about it with you to get some feedback, some things we heard -- I specifically remember from Councilman Cavener and Perreault that there was some interest in cutting down the timing of proposed pathways, that it was kind of hard to tell like how soon things were coming. There was an interest in having a mobile app, so we have some thoughts on that. Maybe we show amenities on this map. And, then, we did invite Liz for a meeting. Excuse me. Councilman -- help me -- Councilman Strader. Because her -- we were concerned that maybe her input got cut a bit short when we presented the first time. So, we had a quick meeting with her and I will just jump into presenting the map now. So, there are two ways to get to the map online or on your phone. You can navigate through the city website or you can search for Meridian pathways. So, if you are going through. I need to get my full screen and I'm not sure how to do that. Pardon me. Okay. So, once you are at the site on Parks click on the interactive pathways map and it comes in at a reasonable scale. It will give you a full screen option. There is a tool to Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 7 of 12 -- a you are here tool. So, this -- I'm okay now. I'm sorry. Yes. Thanks, Steve. So, you know, it shows us our location here at City Hall Plaza. We have some legend items over here. You can scroll through and you can see it's very simplified compared to what it was previously. The city limits are showing in light gray. The area of city impact in -- with the dark gray line. I will show that later. And this map shows existing pathways only, so that people, when they tune in, get an idea of what's actually out there. So, as you zoom in, kind of like any map online, more detail shows up. So, micro pathways -- you know. Sorry, I'm zooming in and out. I'm going to go down to Bear Creek, because it's a good example. So, as you zoom in a little closer micro pathways show up. We have school properties, Parks properties. Ada county bikeways are overlaid on this map. So, where there might be gaps in our system it's easy to get an idea at least of what might be a reasonable route to take to kind of connect between pathways. One thing that's really neat about this map is you can click on any of the features and, you know, it will tell you this is Victory Middle School. There is limited school information. For Bear Creek Park, though, it will tell you a size, that it's a community park and, then, there is a link option to go to the web page for Bear Creek and there are photos and you get a sense of what amenities are there. So, that connectivity is kind of useful -- or that's a fun feature. And, then, the other thing you can do is click on the pathway segments themselves and they will tell you a -- you know, what the length is, so if people -- people often call Parks and Rec asking like how long is the loop in Bear Creek Park or how -- so, this would be one way of getting that information themselves. So, then, as we zoom back out -- and I will point out that it does go all the way to the area of city limit with the dark gray line. Again, city limits are with the shaded area. So, it does give you a much better sense of what's there and if you wanted to go for a long ride, you know, what is your best option and typically with us it's the Five Mile Creek. So, in addition to existing pathways we pretty much just left off proposed pathways, but it's possible to toggle those on for -- you know, if you want to get a sense of what is ultimately proposed. We intend these future pathways as more of a long-term plan than anything pending. Council Woman Strader, we did add all of Linder as a north-south spine through Meridian. I think on the map it's called the Eagle Island Route, but to connect north and south. So, we thought that was a good suggestion and that's showing up in the -- this red line. So, the toggle option and, then, we also have four pathways like this new segment that's under construction now by the wastewater treatment plant showing its coming soon. We are still working out some of the symbology in GIS terms for this. We are able to show -- sometimes the application itself isn't -- or it can be hard to show things exactly like we want. So, in this case we have the dashed lines for pathways that are actually under construction coming soon, say within the next couple of years and those are highlighted, so they stand out on the map. Those are generally city projects. But there are a few where, you know, they were approved through development and once those easements come through -- for now I'm just manually changing that on the map and, then, we have had some projects that are under construction up here at Locust Grove, but some on Linder that were recently completed, so I'm able to change the map relatively easily and keep it a bit more current. That's going to depend somewhat on availability. But it's a more versatile tool. So -- so, we -- we talked about an app with GIS and we are certainly open to that idea, but we were pleased to learn that this was a bit more mobile friendly. Like if you are on Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 8 of 12 a tablet or a phone it will show up and be reasonably navigable, if that's the word. And so we provide pathways data to Google and it is possible to actually navigate using Google Maps. Our pathways are on there and let me turn it over to Steve who has more first-hand experience with actually putting in a destination and navigating, but with a few little glitches that works -- it's starting to work and I think -- yeah. Steve. Siddoway: I don't have much to add, other than I was excited to find out that you could, in Google Maps, if you are navigating you could switch from vehicle to bicycle or walking and, then, it changes from just road routes to incorporate pathways. So, we do share the pathway information with Google and Google navigation will actually use our pathway data if you are walking or riding a bike. Warren: Okay. Thanks, Steve. And I believe we shared that information -- well. I don't know. It's either -- I think it's annually with Google. But it's also possible to put -- you know, I have submitted information before, say for the Ten -- the trail hub on Ten Mile Road. You know, if it's not showing up maybe, you know, this -- but it's possible to just submit to Google and they will add it to the map once they -- once they confirm it. So, I guess I would ask you to -- if you haven't already -- take a look and maybe try this either in the field or otherwise. We can continue to talk about an app if that's needed, but I wonder if -- is that something we should be doing as a city or would that be a tool that we can link into that provides a good option. So, something for consideration. And I have done a bit more -- we don't currently share this pathway information with other sites, but there are a comprehensive trail and pathway sites online, like AIITrails. It does show some of our pathways in Parks, but it doesn't identify the major routes. It needs an update. And, then, there is another one called hikingproject.com. There is several actually. So, I have been researching those a little and I think it's possible to share our information. Maybe just -- we might need a means for deciding who and how we share that or just to make -- make it widely available so people can find us, because there is quite a bit. There is quite a bit here now. So, I would open -- stand for questions or just any comments or input you might have. Thank you. Simison: Thank you, Kim. Council, questions? Comments? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Well done. I love the new map. I think it's great. I -- I guess what I'm wondering with an app -- may not be necessary -- might also not be very difficult. I guess the only piece you could -- that I think you could save people on would be going to meridiancity.org/parks where like I did, I went on my phone, had to go through departments, find the Parks Department, find the pathway. It's just a lot of steps. Whereas I think if you were -- when I say an app I think it could be something very simple, which is like just a direct link to this map. That would save people time, but I agree that this map definitely now serves the purpose of what someone would need and to your point I did try that Google workaround and it worked by bike with most of the Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 9 of 12 pathways. So, I think if we are updating it regularly to Google people could use that, which I think is fantastic. I think just showcasing it where people is really good to, right, and kind of publicizing. So, I feel like if it was in an app it's easier to publicize that people could download something, but we could publicize the map, too. I think this is fantastic and people can see the results of the investment that we have made here, because it really is starting to move forward to a point where you could really get around a lot of places via pathway. Thanks for all your hard work on it. Warren: Thank you, Mayor Simison, Council Woman Strader. I did forget to say one thing. I appreciate your -- your comments and I think that the Google option will continue to get better as we give them more data and just refinement over time. Another thing we added to the question of amenities in parks -- and we kept this very simple, but as you zoom in there are some icons that show up for restrooms and bike repair stations and I think we could make this more complex, we could have trash receptacles or drinking fountains, but for now we have these two things. So, that's an added detail that I didn't mention in the first introduction. But feel free to offer any thoughts on what else we might show either amenities or otherwise. Thank you. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Thank you. So, if someone wanted to find the pathways near their home you are saying they could go to Google and search for the streets that are close to the pathways, because we don't have a search option by street or intersection on our website; is that right? Warren: So, Council Woman Perreault, I think that with the you are here -- this tool, provided your location is turned on say on your device or your computer, you know, it will kind of center you on your area. I don't think we have a search option on this map and that's a good comment, because I know like on our city -- you know, the -- the GIS map we use for plan review you can type in Ten Mile and Franklin and it will take you to roughly that area just like Google Earth or Google Maps will. So, I do think that's an interesting comment and something for us to look into, but I think that once you -- you know, the information is on Google once you -- you have to click to sort of a different base -- the base bid shows active recreation -- I don't know -- I don't remember what it's called, but rather than traffic or satellite. So, I think that this would locate us on the map and a search is a great option. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: I might recommend the possibility of publishing to The Ways app as well. A lot of folks here locally use that when they are commuting, because people can put comments in, so this may even help -- if there is like a tree limb that fell over one of the Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 10 of 12 pathways and bikes can't get over it, you know, just people can put comments in there that could be even helpful to us as a city in maintaining them, especially if folks are going to start using this as another transportation option for commuting. So, I would encourage publishing it to everywhere that we have the means to publish it to. Most places you can do it for free. I use AIITrails. I'm a paid member of AIITrails and it's a phenomenal app. Also allows people to go in and make individual comments on the different, you know, pathways and dirt paths and whatnot and so, yeah, I have -- I -- I would be in favor of publish it to get everywhere that we could get it onto, so that we -- personally I think we utilize the resources like AIITrails, like Google Maps and not need an app. Like I think we could say -- we could create links to those apps and just encourage people to use what already exists. Personally I don't know that there is a necessity for us to create an app from scratch if we can utilize other apps that are widely recognized. Warren: Mayor Simison, one more comment to -- to acknowledge Council Woman Perreault's comment and also to go back to Council Woman Strader's comment about just quick access via the website. I think we talked about this a little bit as a group, but know that I go to -- sorry. Just if we are at -- or members who -- of the community who want to access the portal there is this citizen access that has a few quick links -- commonly used links. So, again, we -- we don't want to add too much complexity to the website, but maybe this is a place where we can have a quicker access to the pathways map. It's a pretty quick search online. But this might be an option for where to put it, so it's a couple of clicks instead of several. Siddoway: Mayor, if I may? Simison: Mr. Siddoway. Siddoway: Comments to a couple of them. One, Council Woman Strader, I'm very much on target with your comments and I have been using as my -- I think one of the most popular and better online map tools regionally is the Ridge to Rivers Map. It's not an app, it is an interactive map on the web like this one, but I do like that when you Google Ridge to Rivers it comes up at -- with -- the first thing that comes up is just online interactive map. You can click on and it goes straight there. That's one thing that I have already brought up with IT and we are trying to do what we can, so if someone searches Meridian pathways map there can be just a click that takes them straight there without having to navigate through the website. So, very much trying to do that. And, then, I have also asked IT, since they are the ones to share the data with Google Maps and others specifically, I have asked them to look into what are the most popular trail apps. AIITrails being one of the obvious ones. But there are others and saying how can we push the data to them and we could add, you know, ways to that list as well. So, thank you for the comments. Perreault: Mr. Mayor, just a couple more thoughts quickly. Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 11 of 12 Perreault: So, the only other suggestion I have is -- I know when I have been, you know, walking our pathways sometimes it will end and you are supposed to pick it up at a sidewalk, but because we don't have signage everywhere you kind of look around and you are like -- do I pick it up at the sidewalk? Does it start back somewhere else? And so I'm wondering if we shouldn't color code the sidewalks and the -- and the actual pathways separately perhaps, just so that folks know, okay, I am leaving a pathway going on to a sidewalk and, then, picking up a pathway again somewhere else. Just a thought on that, because I know for me it's been confusing sometimes. Like I think I take this sidewalk, but I don't know which way I would go to pick the pathway back up. And, then, I -- I like the idea of actually buying our own domain, like meridian pathways.com or meridiantrails.com or something along those lines, so that when there is a Google search it will pick up the actual request, because I do agree with Council Woman Strader that it's too clunky to get to it. So, if there is an opportunity of picking up domains -- they are pretty inexpensive -- inexpensive on an annual basis and publishing that -- and -- and -- and it's designed to look at in a mobile view, then, again maybe our own app isn't necessary. Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Had the opportunity last week to do the Parks and Rec tour. Three hours. And part of that was a presentation by all different people within the Parks Department and part of that was Kim's presentation and we were out at Five Mile Creek and Black Cat when she spoke and, of course, most of us on the bus picked up our phones and pulled up the map and looked and what I was impressed with the most, since we first started talking about this, is the fact that that map was a hundred percent accurate on that section of Five Mile Creek to exactly where it's approved, but not yet built, to where it starts again all the way back to Ten Mile. I understand this is always going to be a work in progress until all these pathways are done, but I was really impressed with how far it's come and where it sits right now and totally blown away with artwork, the monuments a Ten Mile, Five Mile Creek, everything they have done to make the city better and give us more options for people for pathways. Hopefully to get them off the roadways. Simison: Okay. Council, any further questions, comments? All right. Thank you very much. EXECUTIVE SESSION Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I think we are at the point in the agenda that I move that we go into Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(d). Meridian City Council Work Session September 19,2023 Page 12 of 12 Perreault: Second. Simison: Motion and second to go into Executive Session. Do I have any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Roll Call: Hoaglun, absent; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Perreault, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and we will move into Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:04 p.m. to 7:20 p.m.) (Motion and second to come out of Executive Session: Strader/Perreault) (Motion to adjourn: Strader) MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:21 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON 10-3-2023 ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK