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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-07-23 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session July 23, 2024. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, 2024, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Luke Cavener, Liz Strader, John Overton, Doug Taylor and Brian Whitlock. Members Absent: Anne Little Roberts. Other Present: Tina Lomeli, Bill Nary, Jenny Fields, Garrett White, Warren Stewart, Hether Hill, Tracy Basterrechea, Kris Blume and Dean Willis ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE X Liz Strader X Brian Whitlock Anne Little Roberts _X_ John Overton _X_ Doug Taylor _X_Luke Cavener X Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call the meeting to order. For the record it is July 23, 2024, at 4:30 in the afternoon. We will begin this work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next up is adoption of the agenda. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Looking I don't see any changes that are needed to the agenda, so I move that we adopt the agenda as published. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a 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 adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the July 9, 2024 City Council Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 2 of 14 2. Approve Minutes of the July 9, 2024 City Council Regular Meeting 3. Jump Creek Subdivision No. 7 Pedestrian Pathway Easement (ESMT- 2024-0056) 4. Gander Creek North No. 2 Pedestrian Pathway Easement (ESMT- 2024-0093) 5. Hadler Subdivision No. 1 Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No. 1 (ESMT-2024-0097) 6. Findings of Fact, Conclusion of Law for Rosalyn Subdivision (H- 2023-0056) by Givens Pursley, LLP, located at 200 E. Rosalyn Dr. 7. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Two Mustard Seeds Women's Resale Shop (H-2024-0009) by Arlene Hardy, Expansion International, located at 817 N. Meridian Rd. the existing home into a women's resale retail store 8. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Vanguard Village Subdivision (H-2023-0074) by Adler Industrial, located at 1085 S. Ten Mile Rd. 9. Final Order for Graycliff Estates Subdivision No. 5 (MFP-2024-0001) by KB Homes, generally located south of W. Harris St. and west of S. Meridian Rd. 10. Final Order for TM Creek Subdivision No. 7 (FP-2024-0010) by Brighton Development, Inc., located at 153 S. Benchmark Way 11. Approval of Service Order for Internet Services with Syringa Networks, LLC for the Not-To-Exceed monthly cost of$1,980.00 for a 36-month term 12. Approval of AIA 13133 Design Agreement with ZGA Architects and Planners for the Final Design Agreement for the Meridian Community Center project for the Not-To-Exceed amount of $763,360.00 13. Resolution No. 24-2463 A Resolution Approving Submission and Adoption of the Community Development Block Grant Program Simison: Up next is the Consent Agenda. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 3 of 14 Strader: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda, for the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Is there 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: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There are no items moved from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 14. Approval of the Fiscal Year 2024 Amended Revenues and Expenditures in the Amount of $241,358,902 Simison: So, we will move on to Department/Commissioner Reports. First item up is Item 14, which is approval of the fiscal year 2024 amended and revenues expenditures in the amount of 241,358,902 dollars. Jenny, is this item for you? And by my notes you get the next three as well. Fields: Hello, Mayor and Council. Item No. 14 is approval of our amended budget. Throughout the year these budget amendments came before you. This is a formalized process, so that we can publish in the newspaper for our final fiscal year '24 amended budget. Simison: Thank you. Council, any questions? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I move that we approve Item 14, the fiscal year 2024 amended revenues and expenditures in the amount of 241 ,358,902 dollars. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve Item 14. Is there any discussion? If not, Mr. Nary, can this be a voice or does it need to be roll call because there are dollar figures? Nary: Mr. Mayor, you can do a voice vote. Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 4 of 14 Simison: Okay. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the item is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. 15. Tentative Approval of Fiscal Year 2025 Proposed Revenues and Expenditures in the Amount of $255,534,110 Simison: Next up is Item 15, which is approval of fiscal year 2025 proposed revenues expenditures in the amount of 255,534,110 dollars. Fields: Okay. This is a -- the next step for our fiscal year '25 proposed budget. This will allow us, again, to publish our budget notice in the paper for our public hearing in August. So, this number is a little higher than the value that was presented during budget workshop and the reason is 76 million of that is a continuation of projects carrying forward from fiscal year '24 to '25. Simison: Thank you. Council, have any questions? Then, if not, do I have a motion? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I move that we approve Item 15 and move forward with a tentative approval for the purposes of publishing it for the public hearing on August 20th of the fiscal year 2025 proposed revenues and expenditures in the amount of 255,534,110 dollars. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve Item 15. Is there any discussion? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just real quick. I want to thank Council Member Strader -- Council Vice-President Strader for the leadership tonight while I'm in Orlando. Just a brief comment, Mr. Mayor. I think there has been a little bit of chatter in the news over the past week since our last budget hearing and I just think there is a couple of points to mention. Some would characterize this as -- as the Mayor's project. I will put some chatter within City Hall and this is now the City Council's budget. I think it is important that we acknowledge that this is our community's budget and I am supportive of this motion to bring forth the budget to the public for their comments. Every year we invite the public to make their feelings known about this budget, but I think this year more feedback is going to be incredibly critical. So, I appreciate the motion maker and appreciate the second and really look forward to hearing from our community between Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 5 of 14 now and August when we formalize the budget to see what our community's feedback is on this proposed budget. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate your hard work, staff's hard work and appreciate the motion maker for bringing forth this item for consideration. Simison: Thank you. Council, any additional comments? Okay. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and Item 15 is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. 16. Declaring the Intent to Collect Forgone Property Taxes for Fiscal Year 2025 in the Amount of $504,546 Simison: Next item is Item 16, declaring the intent to collect foregone property taxes for fiscal year 2005 in the amount of 504,546 dollars. Fields: Mayor and Council, just a side note. This amount was a little different than what we presented in the budget workshop and the reason is we received updated values from Ada county just right after our budget workshop. So, as you recall during our budget workshop it's around 470 million -- or 470,000, now it's 504. Simison: Is there any questions for staff? 17. Resolution No. 24-2464: A Resolution Declaring the Intent to Collect Forgone Property Taxes for Fiscal Year 2025 in the Amount of $504,546 Simison: Okay. Then next up would be Item 17, which is Resolution No. 24-2464, a resolution declaring the intent to collect foregone property taxes for fiscal year 2025 in the amount of 504,546 dollars. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I'm happy to make a motion on this based on the work that we did in our -- in our workshop sessions for the budget. I believe our collective intent was to declare the -- our intention to collect forgone property taxes for fiscal year 2025. 1 move that we approve this resolution in the amount of 504,546 dollars. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve Item 17. Is there discussion? Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 6 of 14 Overton: Don't know how to start this. If you would have asked me last year if I would have been voting in favor of foregone collection I would have told you absolutely not. I have participated in budgets for the city at different spots within the city for 20 years and I have never seen a year come up like this year. It seems like every spot that this Mayor and City Council could get hit from everybody wanted more money and when we got hit with a SAFER grant that none of us saw coming, it put us in a position that I have never seen a city council before this one placed into. It would be easy for me to stand up on principle and say no to this. It would be very easy. The problem is I made a promise that I don't want to see anything affect the value of our public safety. Anything affect our employees training, travel, their goals coming forward. We need to make sure that not only we hire the best, but we retain the best and we don't get that by trying to go through and trying to cut everything to the bone to try to make this work. We have to make sure that we still have the best employees for the city, that we take care of them. We have to make sure that when the handle goes down the toilet flushes and when the faucet gets turned the water goes on and when they call for public safety they get not just public safety -- but they get the best public safety in the state of Idaho. We take care of the small things, because we take care of our police department and our fire department. So, I don't know that it can be said too often that we are a group of six people up here and we all look at this just slightly different, but on this matter I think no matter what the vote is we all agreed that there was no amount of money that we could try to cut away from this budget this year that got this topic off the table and we are here because of things beyond our control that this year we have to take and pass and I do this never thinking I would be placed in this position and knowing it's the right thing for the city going forward, but it needs to be said on why we are doing it. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. I think that was very well said and I will add to that. You know, part of my thought process going into this budget was that given the challenges that Council Member Overton has mentioned that it was very important that we go through a process of not only taking a look at the resources available to help us absorb the SAFER -- the SAFER grant opportunity, but that we also are looking for opportunities to economize and I came away from our budget workshops very encouraged that not only did we find opportunities to economize in that process, but that that process will continue for the next couple of weeks and, again, not looking to slash budgets, but looking for any opportunities that we may have missed between now and August 20th. So, with that rigor around that proper process, I am in favor of declaring our intent to collect the foregone revenue and I would note similar feelings that I never wanted us to be in a position to have to do this, but I do feel that it is the fiscally responsible path that we must take. Simison: Any additional comments from Council? And I know this is not the decision making point, that will still come at a later point in time, in that context, but I did have a conversation last night with the members of the legislature, not wanting to do an op ed, Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 7 of 14 but others -- and I went through and I showcased zero, 1.93 and 1.6. That's what we have taken the last four years as a city, not even up to the full three percent, and we had a great conversation about the purpose of the foregone. Last year the budget could have come forward with three percent, just to save for something else in the future, but we chose to ask for the money when we felt the money was appropriately needed. So, that's what this foregone is there for. It's -- we have had very fiscally prudent budgets the last four years -- at least in my perspective and this is helping address issues that came after our last year's budget process. So, I just want to put that back out there as we move into the dialogue moving forward and, yes, we all may have different opinions on whether or not foregone should even exist in our society, you know, from a policy standpoint, but I think that there is a -- it's important to showcase that the city has been fiscally prudent in this decision point and if the foregone were to go away as a tool and a lever, I think any city would be hard pressed to never -- to always just take the three percent, you know. It just becomes part of that thing as compared to identifying revenue when you need it to meet shared goals and objectives and that's what this is really about from my perspective. So, appreciate your understanding that that would be the conversation to get to where we need to be as a community together. So, with that ask the clerk to call the roll. Roll Call: Cavener, nay; Strader, yea; Overton, yea; Little Roberts, absent; Taylor, nay; Whitlock, yea. Simison: Three ayes, two nays, and the resolution is approved. So, thank you, Jenny, thank you team. Appreciate you all to get us to this next step and we will see you before too long. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. 18. Public Hearing for Proposed Fall 2024 Fee Schedule of the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department Simison: So, with that we will continue doing our financial discussion and go to Item 18, which is a public hearing for proposed fall 2024 fee schedule for the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department. Mr. White. White: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, thanks for having me tonight. Like Mr. Mayor just said, in front of you are our fees for the next activity guide we plan to put out. A couple of notes here is that all these fees do meet our cost recovery philosophy that we have established in our department for all of our fees and some other -- I guess notes is there is a couple other significantly increased and that's kind of false leading to the fact of, yes, there are increases, but that's added classes and added hours. So, one went from just having one day a week to now five days a week type of thing. So, that's why you see that huge increase there. It's just a matter of more classes offered is really what it comes down to. So, with that I will stand for questions. Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 8 of 14 Simison: Thank you, Council, any questions for staff? Okay. This is a public hearing. Madam Clerk, do we have anyone signed up to provide testimony on this item? Lomeli: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No one has signed up. Simison: Okay. Is there anybody present that would like to come forward and provide testimony on this item or online use the raise your hand feature? Seeing no one coming forward or raising their hand online, do I have a motion? Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: I move that we close the public hearing. Whitlock: Second. Simison: 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 arena is closed. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. 19. Resolution No. 24-2462: A Resolution Adopting the Fall 2024 Fee Schedule of the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department; Authorizing the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department to Collect Such Fees; and Providing an Effective Date Simison: Next item up is Item 19, which is Resolution No. 24-2462, a resolution adopting the fall 2024 fee schedule of the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department, authorizing the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department to collect such fees and providing an effective date. Do I have -- Whitlock: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Whitlock. Whitlock: I move that we approve Resolution No. 24-2462, a resolution adopting the 2024 fee schedule of the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department, authorizing the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department to collect such fees and providing an effective date. Strader: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve Resolution No. 24-2462. Is there any discussion? If not, Clerk will call the roll. Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 9 of 14 Roll Call: Cavener, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea; Little Roberts, absent; Taylor, yea; Whitlock, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the item is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. 20. City of Meridian Public Works Department Design Standards Update Simison: Next item up is the City of Meridian Public Works Department design standards update. Mr. Stewart. And as Warren comes forward we just celebrated his 15 years of service with the city yesterday, so thank you, Warren, for what you have given to our community and thanks for being here. Stewart: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. And it's been a pleasure serving with all of the employees and Council and Mayors at the city. It's been a lot of fun over the past 15 years. So, Mayor, Members of the City Council, grateful for the opportunity to meet with you tonight and talk about this topic. So, there are kind of in the Public Works Department three major documents that kind of control how things are constructed and how we do things and -- in the water and sewer and even streetlight world and they are the item standards for public works construction, which are established by the state of Idaho and, then, we have the City of Meridian supplemental specifications, which supplement or modify certain things in the Idaho standards and, then, there is the design standards, which I'm here to talk about tonight. The design standards are sort of the City of Meridian's preferences on how we like designers who put together plans to do things and to organize things, so that when we are -- well, the systems are all constructed, they are easier to operate and to maintain. So, we go through a process about every three to five years to update the standards, because technical requirements can change and in our preferences and what materials are available can change and we have just completed that process. The last time we did this was in 2019. So, it's been a while and we have created this document, we went through a pretty robust we feel public outreach effort and I think you in your packets got a letter from the BCA kind of outlining that and, of course, as developers -- I'm sure they will never tell you that they are giddy about any kind of regulation, but we had a good discussion, I think they felt pretty -- like things had gone forward in a pretty fair way. So, I'm here tonight to seek your feedback and, hopefully, get your nod to go ahead and put together a resolution, which we can bring back in the next couple of weeks to actually make these official. With that I will stand for any questions. Simison: Thank you, Warren. Council, any questions? Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 10 of 14 Overton: Warren, I don't have a question, it's more of a kudos to you, because that wasn't just a letter from the BCA, that was a, wow, Meridian stood up and came to us where other communities are and involved us in a process and we didn't have to and we did and I think that's kind of what sets us apart from some other communities around here and my hat's off to you and the hard work you did building those relationships, including the BCA and what the 500 groups that they represent within the BCA, that's a tremendous opportunity for us to show what we are as a transparent form of government and how we operate. Don't ask me to try to critique what's in those standards, I leave that to the subject matter experts, but you guys have done a fantastic job and kudos to you for all the hard work done by you and your staff. Stewart: Thank you. Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Warren, this is great. I learned a lot more about design standards than I thought I would. I'm just still trying to understand some of it. But could you kind of tell on what Councilman Overton asked -- could you highlight maybe one of the bigger issues that some of the industry folks outlined in terms of, hey, we would like to see a change here. Could you kind of just give us a sense of some of the accommodations that -- that you had made to incorporate some of their -- their comments into the final product? Stewart: Yeah. The initial -- when we initially went out with the design standards I think they came back with a list of comments. I want to say there was probably over 40 comments that came back. I was going to look and see if I had that, but I don't have it actually numbered, but there is a -- there is pages of comments. We worked through all of those comments. At the end of the day there was five basically things that were on the last round. So, I went through three different rounds of discussion and revision and discussion and revision and some of the things that were in that last five was easement widths for certain depths of sewer. So, in other words, as the sewer gets deeper and deeper into the ground it requires a wider and wider easement, because the trench that you are going to open up gets bigger and bigger and so there was some debate and discussion about that. Trying to think what some of the other ones were off the top of my head. I read it earlier today, but, of course, you get up here and you forget everything you read. So, that was one of them. One of them was about distances for common driveways or common -- or driveways in particular. Like if you have a sewer line down a ditch how far they can go without having to put a turnaround, so that we don't have to back out for 500 feet, which is pretty dangerous with some of the big trucks and stuff that we have to do. So, we worked through all of those. I think even in that last five we were able to get to a point that -- pretty much resolution on three out of the five and there were, essentially, two of them that I said, well, I have gone as far as I'm going to go and they are like fair enough, we have -- we have hammered out a lot of things and made some good progress. So, if you are interested in seeing the comments I'm happy to provide those to you and whatnot, but -- Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 11 of 14 Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Just a quick follow up. I -- yeah, I would be interested in just kind of seeing the comments. I always find the process of working with those who are to follow the rules and regulations that are set forth how to incorporate their input, so I would be interested, but I would just echo what Councilman Overton was saying, I think it's -- it's great to know that there was significant outreach and effort to accommodate, to listen, to understand. As we all know that those who have to -- when you are actually doing the work and it might be a little bit different than those who have to oversee and ensure the safety of it, so it's -- really happy to see that there was a -- sounds like we found a sweet spot in terms of ensuring a safety and consistency in the design of the -- you know, the city and the infrastructure and meeting the needs of those who do the work. So, I appreciate that. Whitlock: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Whitlock. Whitlock: Warren, you mentioned it's been since 2019. Since we have updated these. If we hold that same schedule it's -- we are probably just on the eve of turning the calendar to 2030 if we do an update again in four or five years or six years. Do you think as you step back and look at the city and the growth that we anticipate and the desirable place that Meridian is to live, work and raise a family, have you incorporated the right things to get us to 2030? Stewart: Well, I guess the short answer to that -- we have incorporated everything that we are aware of. You don't know what you don't know and so the future, you know, even in the world of public works infrastructure, pipe materials, construction methodologies, things like that can change, even in things that you -- tools that you have in your toolbox to address different things. So, we -- I think we have had experience over the past five years with the existing design standards. We saw what was working, what wasn't working, where there were gaps that needed to be addressed and we have tried to address all of those and we have tried to look at how we want to do things in the future and so my answer is we have done everything that we can think of, everything we know, but I don't know if there is going to be something out there. We may get five years, we may only get three and we decided, oh, there is a few issues we need to update the design standards again. So, we will see. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you, Warren. I also just want to provide the feedback that I appreciate your outreach process and working closely with stakeholders to ensure that we are getting a great outcome and listening to concerns. That's the right way to do it. So, thank you. And are you looking -- do you need a motion tonight, just a head nod from everybody to bring a resolution? What's kind of the process that you need to get this forward? Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 12 of 14 Stewart: I will look to Bill, but I think just a head nod, but -- Nary: Yeah. So, Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, Council Member Strader, we are looking for direction to move forward. Yeah. We will bring back a resolution probably on your August 13th meeting, basically adopting these standards and we look back and that was '19 was when we did it last, so it would be similar to that. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Right. It sounds like everyone is in favor of that happening; right? Okay. Stewart: Thank you. 21. Draft Integrated Five Year Work Plan (IFYWP) 2025-2029 Simison: All right. Thank you. Our next item is Item 21, which is the Draft Integrated Five Year Work Plan. Hether. Hill: All right. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council Members. So, I'm here as a follow up on the discussion of the Integrated Five Year Work Plan from ACHD. Their draft is currently in the public comment period. It was released I believe on July 11 th and is open through August 14th and, originally, my plan was to share with you my draft letter and that was my plan this morning, just kind of reiterating some of our priorities and addressing any questions or concerns that we have with the draft, but I received some additional information just a couple hours ago, so I'm going to need to kind of reevaluate that. So, instead, I'm just going to kind of go over the list that I have been working on and just call your attention to a few items instead. So, overall you will see a lot of delays which are in orange. So, 14 road and intersection projects that we had originally programmed were delayed on this new draft work plan. Nine of those -- or just nine out of the top projects were deferred and are no longer being programmed. So, three of these identified here in red on the screen, those are in our top ten and -- overall and the entire list -- and I can kind of scroll through -- four of those are in south Meridian. So, some of this is just going through and we will emphasize this in our letter just calling attention to some of the changes. So, I will just kind of scroll -- just show you the delays and some of those that were removed. So, there is quite a few and we anticipate this is probably due to inflation and increased project costs and their budgetary constraints. It's not all bad news, though. There are ten projects that remain on schedule with no changes to design, right of way, or construction years and many of these are within the top 15 and so you will see these here in yellow that there were no changes proposed to any of these projects, which is a good -- is good news. Linder Road, the overpass, as we continually emphasize as being important is -- still remains the same. I do want to call your attention to two projects specifically. Number 16 here is the Black Cat- Franklin to Cherry, this project was originally programmed for design in 2028-29 and it has now been removed from the integrated five year work plan. Instead it appears that Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 13 of 14 they will be making changes only to the railroad crossing in 2029 and those are in coordination with some of the state's programming and there will be no other capacity improvements and I believe this is one that Councilman Cavener has brought up several times and I know he is not able to join I think anymore, but we are going to call it out on the -- our letter, just kind of asking why. The second project is Amity, Locust Grove to Eagle. This was also removed from the program list and originally this was scheduled for design in 2025 through 2026. So, just a couple projects that kind of stood out as having concerns over and I can continue or we can stop there before I just go over some of the community programs. That's just kind of a high level review of the roads and intersection projects. Simison: Council, any questions so far? Hill: Okay. And, then, on the community programs front, which are shown here, six projects have been removed from the program list. Three of them will be combined, like the Linder Road community program projects, they will just be combined with the regular road intersection improvements. So, that will kind of bump around this list for the next iteration. We did have two projects advance, which is good news. So, those are in green. The first is the Main Street and King Street pedestrian crossing, that will just be deployed as part of the Rapid Project Implementation Program in 2026. So, that one advanced and the other one that advanced is the sidewalk near Cole Valley Christian School that we had identified. So, that one did move forward. But other than that there was a lot of delays. There were some that didn't change, but, again, it's -- I don't have a ton of -- to share with you that advanced. So, that's really my high level summary and I will put together a letter with some of the revisions from the updated information I have and circulate that and include any comments that you might have after this discussion. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you, Hether. When they have removed projects did they provide a rationale for those decisions? I would be curious to get more feedback. Is that kind of part of the process you are hoping will happen? Help me understand that -- that part. Hill: I'm hoping that will happen as well. We -- I have the same questions. Obviously, this is my first time going through this, but at this time we don't have any information as to why they were removed from programs. The list just says deferred, not programmed. So, I don't have any other reasoning at this time and part of the letter emphasizes that this is important, we would like to understand the shift in priorities, how this impacts just all of our corridors. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Meridian City Council Work Session July 23,2024 Page 14 of 14 Overton: Hether, thank you very much. I mean you are delivering some kind of bad news to the community on some of our important projects that have been either delayed or removed. In particular nature was number 16. We have talked about it -- not just this year, we have talked about it in years past and it's only going to get busier and if I understood you correctly, they have removed the roadway construction project and are only going to be focused on the railroad crossing, but that sits at five years away in 2029; is that correct? Hill: That's correct. Overton: That's disappointing to say the least. Thank you. Simison: I can tell you this, two of them were removed around the square mile I live in, so maybe I did something to piss them off. It's the best -- as good ideas as anything. But, in reality, I met with the director. Obviously costs are escalating, which means they have to make decisions at least in -- in relationship to a couple of those projects. I know there has been some other requests from the city at least putting some temporary signals in the short term to help address issues. They also have some additional items to review. A roundabout to maybe make some changes and improvements and I think that they are -- they might be trying to write up some areas initially, but costs, obviously, are a factor. They are just -- the cost have gone to the point where they can't leave everything in that was programmed and there are some impacts. Okay. Well, we look forward to bringing -- maybe more information and a letter back that in that concept and see where they go from here. Hill- Okay. Thank you. Simison: Council, we reached the end of our agenda. Do I have a motion? Strader: Mr. Mayor, I move that we adjourn the meeting. Simison: Motion to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:05 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON 8-13-2024 ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK 8-13-2024