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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-20 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session February 20, 2024. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 20, 2024, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Liz Strader, John Overton, Ann Little Roberts and Doug Taylor. Members Absent: Luke Cavener. Also Present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Laurelei McVey, Scott Colaianni, Joe Bongiorno and Dean Willis. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE Liz Strader _X_ Joe Borton _X_ Doug Taylor _X_ John Overton X Anne Little Roberts Luke Cavener X Mayor Robert E. Simison Borton: Good evening. We will call the meeting to order. For the record it is February 20th, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: First item up is adoption of the agenda. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: There are no changes, so I move that we adopt the agenda as published. Strader: Second. Simison: Motion and second to adopt the agenda as published. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the January 29, 2024 City Council /ACHD Joint Meeting Meridian City Council Work Session February 20,2024 Page 2 of 7 2. Approve Minutes of the February 6, 2024 Meridian City Council Work Session 3. Stapleton No. 3 Sanitary Sewer Easement (ESMT-2024-0016) 4. The Oaks North No. 13 Sanitary Sewer Easement (ESMT-2024-0027) 5. Final Order for Graycliff Estates Subdivision No. 5 (FP-2023-0029), by KB Home, generally located south of W. Harris St. and west of S. Meridian Rd. 6. Memorandum of Agreement between Ada County Highway District and the City of Meridian to implement a cloud based Opticom Program 7. Memorandum of Understanding between Idaho Transportation Department, Office of Highway Safety and Meridian Police Department for Alive at 25 8. 2024 Season Agreement for Priority Use of Fuller Park and Storey Park Mo Brooks Field Sports Facilities Between Meridian Youth Baseball (MYB) and the City of Meridian 9. Utility License Agreement between Pioneer Irrigation District and the City of Meridian 10. Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Amendment in the amount of $6,300.00 for Idaho State Liquor Division Mini Grant award to the Meridian Anti- Drug Coalition 11. Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Amendment in the amount of $22,450.00 for Alive at 25 Grant, funded by Idaho, Department of Transportation, Office of Highway Safety Simison: Next 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. Meridian City Council Work Session February 20,2024 Page 3 of 7 Simison: 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 agenda -- or the Consent Agenda is agreed 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] 12. Solid Waste Advisory Commission Annual Update Simison: So, we will move on to Department/Commission Reports. Item 12, which is Solid Waste Advisory Commission annual update, and will be presented this evening by Commission Chair Steve Cory. Cory: Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, I am Steve Cory and chair of the Solid Waste Advisory Commission. I stand here representing the Solid Waste Advisory Commission and bring you their greetings and thanks. Last year we had three commissioners complete their terms on the commission and you have appointed two additional commissioners for us, so we are staying strong and fresh and I really appreciate your support for what we do. We currently have two openings, so if there is anyone else that's interested in joining our group we are looking to welcome them. One of our primary responsibilities as the community -- community recycling fund program -- the balance at this point is roughly 82,000 dollars. Revenues and expenditures last year were roughly equal. SWAC is currently looking at refining a proposal to use the remainder of the funds, but we aren't looking at it like really quick, but we hope to come up and give you some kind of a recommendation for how to go ahead and use these funds efficiently to support the goals and desires of the city. Another of our ongoing activities is monitoring the supplemental services that are currently being provided to the ratepayers through a subscription system. We are always looking to see whether those reach a threshold where maybe they need to be brought into the overall program, instead of just a subscription process. In both cases, for grass and glass, the number of subscriptions jumped quite a bit. Still not significant compared to the number of -- of households that we have got in this city. So, at this time we have no recommendations for changes to either of those two programs. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you. I do have some feedback for you regarding the subscription services. So, one thing I noticed when I was expanding my own service to add one of the subscriptions is that the city is not able to bill directly for that additional service and Meridian City Council Work Session February 20,2024 Page 4 of 7 so, you know, customers end up having to pay Republic separately on a quarterly basis for those and I just -- I think it's worth having a discussion about at least seeing if the city can just add that into the billing process. So, that customers aren't signing up for a separate bill that they have to then remember every few months. I just -- I think it would improve the amount of people that -- that would be interested in the ongoing services, because it's just -- it's a real hassle to have to address that just a few times per year, instead of just having it added to your bill. So, I just -- I thought I would just provide that feedback. Cory: Thank you very much for that. I know that's something that billing goes ahead and considers and such and so we will make sure that they are aware that that feedback has come in. SWAC participated last year in, essentially, all of our -- well, all of our legacy activities. We did add this last year an art contest and participated in the art week. Of course, Trash and -- or Treasure has been a very beloved activity for this city and city staff makes it happen. Basically all that SWAC members are doing is providing reports from their neighborhoods. But this continues to be something that people identify as something they love. SWAC participated in the Public Works Expo and had a booth there to go ahead and ask -- answer questions about recycling and what's acceptable in recycling and how do you get rid of the things that are outside of the realm of recycling and normal waste pickup. We had about 70 visitors stop by our booth. It's a good outreach activity for us. Recycle a bicycle is growing by leaps and bounds as you can see in the report. We got a significant number of interest -- interested parties. By the time we were ready to hand out bicycles we had 32 ready and a couple of people showed up and learned about the program and while we had 29 of them picked up we pretty much got rid of all the bicycles that day. Commissioners Nelson and Walters spearhead that program and do an excellent job with it. But we wouldn't be able to do that without Republic Services. They make it possible and I couldn't miss the opportunity to thank Timber Creek for actually staffing that and being able to put slime in the tires and get the bikes on the road in best condition. The new outreach activity we did last year was over at Art Week. We put together a booth and had a contest for someone using recycled or repurposed materials to make some artwork. You can see the artwork over there on the right side of the photo. And, again, it's just really nice to be there with the public and be able to answer their questions. They seem to continually be wanting the basics presented, so we know that that's something we always have to think about is how are we communicating with the public. Other activities with SWAC is attending the County Solid Waste Advisory Committee meetings. I chair that committee. Conversations there drift towards the life of the landfill and cost of operating the landfill and they are likely to go ahead and dominate our conversations over the course of the next year. There is a new director just started up there, so we are excited to go ahead and see if we can get an improved information flow there. Also SWAC attends the household hazardous waste meetings to be informed on that and be prepared for any potential changes that come with that program. Annual rate adjustment this year was pretty much routine with the CPI adjustment and continuing the cost sharing for residential recycling. The one change we decided needed to be done was to move the cost of the glass recycling out at the transfer station into the -- the budget for waste and go ahead and have that as part of Meridian City Council Work Session February 20,2024 Page 5 of 7 the monthly bill rather than coming out of the community recycling fund and we appreciate your support on that one. Thank you. SWAC received numerous presentations throughout the year. They pretty much boil down to monitoring waste and recycling, CFRP management and outreach and monitoring of rates and for this coming year basically it's the -- generally the same thing as far as improving and protecting the city's waste and recycling practices and systems and being mindful of their ratepayers. I do want to go ahead and say that we are looking forward this year to a bit of a change. You have probably heard that Republic Services has bought Western Recycling and while there is a bit of a period here, a grace period here, we are looking forward to them bringing in some nice changes over there that hopefully we can have our ratepayers enjoy some new opportunities or some easier opportunities and with that I will stand for questions. Simison: Thank you, Mr. Cory. Council, any questions? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you, Commissioner Cory. Really appreciate you presenting all the work that SWAC does. I did have a question. Trash or Treasure is like a beloved program. With the changes in bulk trash pickup, do we expect that that program will change. Will you be directing customers to individually schedule their bulk trash pickup at the end of that week or how are you going to try to navigate the communication with the public? Cory: I would be stepping on staff if I talked about communication on this thing. We don't expect a change per se to Trash or Treasure. Still people will be putting out the things that they think are something that someone else may be wanting to use, but you are right about that. Then after that whether they would immediately go ahead and use one of their ten opportunities to get rid of bulky items or whether they pull them back into their house, it's a little difficult to guess what individual households would do. Certainly give staff a chance if they feel like they want to talk about communications yet, but we are -- maybe at a later time. McVey: So, Commissioner Cory got it pretty much. The residents will need to use the online scheduling form for the bulky item pickup, which we did incorporate your guys' suggestion and that has been working well. So, when Trash or Treasure is over similar to in the past, they will just schedule for Republic to come and pick up their items. Strader: Thank you. Simison: Council, any additional questions, comments, feedback? Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Meridian City Council Work Session February 20,2024 Page 6 of 7 Borton: Steve, can you go back to one of your first slides on the recycled -- recycling fund? That 89,000 -- yeah. Right there. So, it's not so much a question, but, Rachele, just love this program year over year and how it's utilized and -- and we remember the long-term commitment that we have in that partnership with Republic and that there are years when it's upside down and Republic has covered it. It seems like sometimes the city gets the benefit of the good and when it's difficult your company kind of covers it. So, I love the program and how it promotes being good stewards of the environment, but it -- and I say this most years -- it embodies the -- the relationship that we have with your company. You treat Meridian like a true community partner. It comes in large share because of your leadership. So, we appreciate you and how this program is managed year over year. So, it's great to see positive funds there and it's great to see its impact in the community when it's expended for things that we all benefit from. So, just wanted to say thank you again for that program and how it's managed. Simison: All right. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Cory, and I know you guys have a lot of things on the horizon and -- and we are really getting to that point in time I think with the changes that are being made in the valley, in the western half of the United States, to think about how we are going to be utilizing the resources that we have on a larger scale or system wide changes -- individual changes. So, I look forward to those conversations in the next coming years. Cory: Thank you. EXECUTIVE SESSION per Idaho Code 74-206(1) to consider records that are exempt from disclosure as provided in chapter 1, title 74, Idaho Code and 74-206(1)(f) to communicate with legal counsel for the public agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation, or controversies not yet being litigated but imminently likely to be litigated. Motion to enter executive Simison: With that, Council, we have reached the last item on our agenda for the work session. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: Move we go into Executive Session pursuant to Idaho State Code 74-206(1)(f). Strader: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to go into Executive Session. Do I have discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Roll Call: Borton, yea; Cavener, absent; Strader, yea; Overton, yea; Little Roberts, yea; Taylor, yea. Meridian City Council Work Session February 20,2024 Page 7 of 7 Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and we will move into Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. (EXECUTIVE SESSION: 4:45 p.m. to 5:29 p.m.) Simison: Council, do I have a motion? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I move that we come out of Executive Session. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to come out of Executive Session. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and we are out of Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I move that we adjourn the meeting. Simison: Motion to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5.29 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 3 5 2024 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK