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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-01-14 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session January 14, 2025. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 14, 2025, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Luke Cavener, Liz Strader, Doug Taylor, Anne Little Roberts and Brian Whitlock. Members Absent: John Overton. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE X Liz Strader X Brian Whitlock _X_Anne Little Roberts 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 January 14th, 2025, 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 of the agenda. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Not seeing any changes for today's workshop, I move we adopt the agenda as presented. Strader: Second. Simison: Motion and second to adopt the agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Amity Storage Water Main Easement No. 2 (ESMT-2024-0070) 2. Chase Bank - Eagle Amity Water Main Easement No. 1 (ESMT-2024- 0179) Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 2 of 23 3. Final Plat for Gander Creek South No. 4 (FP-2024-0021), by Bailey Engineering, generally located south of W. McMillan Rd. on the S. side of the Five Mile Creek, west of N. McDermott Rd. 4. Resolution 25-2497: Approving the retirement of police canines from active duty; authorizing the transfer of ownership of retiring police canine Arco to Sgt. Bryan Albers; authorizing the transfer of ownership of retiring police canine Gus to Officer Peter Glynn; authorizing the transfer of ownership of retiring police canine Griz to Sgt. Taylor Aja; authorizing the transfer of ownership of retiring police canine Wyatt to Officer Tyler Marston; authorizing the Chief of the Meridian Police Department to effectuate the transfer of ownership of the retiring police canines to their respective handlers; and providing effective dates. 5. City of Meridian Financial Report - November 2024 Simison: Up next Consent Agenda. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest. Strader: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Is there any discussion? Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Little Roberts. Little Roberts: If I may just take a moment, I would like to acknowledge our K-9s that are retiring and I would like to thank Brandon Frazier. I asked for some information on the K-9s and I ended up with a paragraph on -- or a few sentences on each one. I think it's so important that we honor these dogs that have served us so well and their handlers that are responsible for them. So, we had three K-9s retired at the end of September. One retired shortly before Christmas. All of them were around the age of eight. This is a typical life service between seven and nine years, depending on a number of factors. All the K-9s were adopted by their former handlers and are now living their best lives. As you know each of them have been deployed on hundreds of calls, locating drugs leading the way for our officers with their nose, loyalty and bravery to keep us all in Meridian safe. They were among the best trained, best performing Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 3 of 23 dogs in the Pacific Northwest and probably beyond. Arco was handled by Officer Albers his entire career. His retirement age coincided with Albers being promoted to sergeant and he could no longer handle a K-9. He is now the sergeant of our K-9 unit. Arco won multiple awards in his career, including best dog at a tough competition at Mountain Home Air Force Base in 2021 . Gus was handled by Officer Voight most of his career, then, went on to Officer Glynn for about a year before retiring. Gus was generally mild mannered and clear headed, but if you loved on him too much he thought he wanted to climb on your head. Wyatt was handled by Officer Marston his entire career. Wyatt was cool as a cucumber and seemed more like a goofy pet than a police dog until it was time to get serious. He was then second to none in his skills and determination. Griz was handled by Officer Cushing most of his career, then went to Officer Aja. He was just retired as Officer Aja became sergeant late this fall. Griz was -- is gigantic with a huge -- huge head and pause. He usually looked comically confused most of the time until it was time to go to work. These K-9 officers have worked enthusiastically along the side of their handlers and I just wanted them to have our appreciation on record as we -- I know that we all value the work that they have done. So, thank you to our K-9s and thank you to their handlers. So, thank you for giving me a few moments to do that. I have had the privilege of riding not with any of the K-9s, but seeing them work when I have been on ride alongs and we have been blessed to have very very impressive dogs and I think we have got three more that are just now on active duty I understand. Simison: Thank you very much. Council, any additional comments as pertains to the Consent Agenda? 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 were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 6. Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Amendment in the amount of $311,000 for Ustick Road - Ten Mile to Black Cat Streetlights Simison: So, we will go on to Department/Commission Reports. Item 6 is the Fiscal Year 2025 budget amendment in the amount of 311,000 for Ustick Road - Ten Mile to Black Cat streetlights. Oh, turn this over to Warren. Stewart: Mayor, Members of the Council, I have the opportunity to stand before you tonight and present this budget amendment. So, this is a budget amendment that's necessary to install streetlights on the south side of the Ustick Road widening project that ACHD is currently underway doing. This project was moved up from '27, kind of late in the game and we didn't have the opportunity to put the money for the streetlights in the budget for last year. So, the only opportunity we have to include those lights is Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 4 of 23 through this amendment process. So, I'm here to answer any questions that you have, but, essentially, this will cover streetlights from Ten Mile to Black Cat on the south side of Ustick Road. The ones on the north side of Ustick Road will be installed as development alongside the Ustick Road on the north side actually occurs. Right now there is mostly open fields on that side. So, I will stand for questions. Simison: Thank you, Warren. Council, questions for Warren? Okay. With that do have a motion? Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Make a motion that we approve the Fiscal Year 2025 budget amendment in the amount of 311 ,000 dollars for Ustick Road - Ten Mile to Black Cat streetlights. Strader: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve the budget amendment in the amount of 311 ,000 dollars. Is there discussion on the motion? Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Make a comment. When I was looking at this this is -- obviously it's not an insignificant amount, but it's one of those situations where in working with our partner agencies and entities in the valley makes a lot of sense to -- to bump this up. So, I think it's a -- of course we have talked about the importance of streetlights and getting stuff out and the safety component that comes with it. So, anyway, I just think it's a -- it's a -- it's good to move along now so we can take advantage of the construction schedule of ACHD. Simison: With that any additional comments? If not, clerk call the roll. Roll Call- Cavener, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, absent; Little Roberts, yea; Taylor, yea; Whitlock, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the item is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Stewart: Thank you. 7. Approval of ACHD Bid/Contract amount and resulting Purchase Order to ACHD for the Water and Sewer Construction/Roadway Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 5 of 23 Construction, Ustick-Black Cat to Ten Mile Road Improvement project for the Not-To-Exceed Amount of $3,483,280.82 Simison: Thanks, Warren. Next up is Item 7, which is approval of ACHD bid contract amount and resulting purchase order to ACHD for the water and sewer construction -- roadway construction, Ustick - Black Cat to Ten Mile Road improvement project for a not to exceed amount of $3,483,282.82. Warren. Stewart: Mayor, Members of the Council, so this is the balance of that same project. So, this includes the streetlights that we -- you just approved, but it also includes the water and the sewer portions of that project and I will stand for any questions. Simison: Council, any questions? If not, do I have a motion? Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Make a motion that we approve Item No. 7. Strader: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve Item 7. Is there a discussion? If not, clerk call the roll. Roll Call: Cavener, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, absent; Little Roberts, yea; Taylor, yea; Whitlock, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and the item is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Stewart: Thank you. 8. Parks and Recreation Department: Meridian Youth Baseball/Softball Update Simison: Thank you, Warren. We just spent some money. With that we will move on to Item 8, which is Parks and Recreation Department, Meridian Youth Baseball/Softball update and we will begin this conversation with Mr. White. White: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, thanks for having us tonight. I'm here to -- really just to introduce three of the current board members from MYB, starting with Ryan Bias. Ryan became the MYB president about three or four years ago and in those conversations with Ryan over the past three or four years I have got to know kind of what they do for the community, get to know them a lot better and kind of what they Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 6 of 23 provide and some of the programs they have inside that might be -- that really we don't get to see a whole lot of. Last year we asked them to come to our commission -- Parks and Rec Commission to give a kind of an update on that and it was a really good presentation. It was awesome. And this year we had them do it again just two months ago and knowing all that we said, you know what, this would be something really good for the Council to see and to hear and to kind of get to know some of those other sides of MYB that we don't get to see every day. So, with that that's why they are here and I would like to introduce Ryan Bias, who is a past MYB president. Travis Young, who is the new MYB president coming up and, then, David Laing, who is also a board member and their treasurer. So, with that I will turn it over these guys. Simison: Welcome. Young: All right. Thank you. My name is Travis Young. I am the new upcoming NYPD president. This is Ryan Bias and this is David Laing, our new treasurer. So, I just wanted to thank you guys for the opportunity to come here and share with you guys what we have been doing with MYB and the league. I will let David start off here with the presentation. Laing: Okay. Well, thank you again for the opportunity. We recognize that you are busy folks. You have got a lot of information to consume and what we wanted to do is give you a sense of what MYBS is and the value it brings to the City of Meridian, because we believe -- now we are, of course, passionately involved in it -- we believe we built a shining star here within the Parks and Rec Department and within the state and even many would argue within the Pacific Northwest in terms of a -- an elite public league for baseball and softball. So, we serve kids from the ages of five to 16 years old. We offer everything starting with T-ball and coach pitch to machine pitch for the younger kids. Then as they get older we get into rec league, which is where most kids play Little League, what, you know, people would consider to be Little League baseball and softball. We are the only option in Meridian for softball where there are some other options for baseball for other people, we are the only option really for softball for girls. For the kids who want to get a more competitive experience we offer our All Star League in the summer that competes against other All Star teams from around the state and the region and for our kids who really want to take it up another level and compete year around they compete in our select level. These are the kids who are really training to become high school players and hope to maybe even go on beyond to college. Okay? We also, as a fundraiser to help pay for our -- our league, we host a number of -- of tournaments. Keith Bird is the biggest baseball tournament in the state of Idaho every year. We bring in 101 teams mostly from the valley, but quite a few from as far as Nevada and Colorado. Dairy Days is another big one -- is a part of the whole Dairy Days event. Then, because we have some of the premier facilities in the Pacific Northwest at Settlers Park, we very often are asked to host regional and state level competitions. The great news about that is we are bringing in even more teams from out of state and with the upcoming stadium district opportunity we have been asked to be the regional host for the Pacific Northwest on potentially a permanent basis, which would bring in 50 plus teams from all over the Pacific Northwest every summer to play Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 7 of 23 at -- at Settlers Park. So, we are really excited about how we have got kids involved. We have 2,200 kids participating in our league. They play on 184 teams and if you are like me I'm always doing things to try to get my kids off their screens and so I found that baseball and softball are awesome, because between all the practices and the prep that you do and games, these kids don't have time to play games and so they -- I calculated it out to be almost 230,000 hours. Those kids are -- are doing practices and games and really participating in -- in a physical activity. We are a league that doesn't have any paid employees. Everything is done through volunteers and we have a -- a tremendously passionate group of volunteers who have built a culture that's really unique in the valley in the way we handle baseball. Meridian Youth Baseball and Softball does it right. We handle situations with parents, with competition and with athletes with integrity and respect. You won't hear some of the language and some of the yelling and screaming at officials and other things that you might hear in other places at our facilities and at our tournaments. We do it right. And as a result people want to come join our -- our -- our league and we have parents who are passionate about participating. Because we have such a large league with that many athletes we need a lot of board members, because we have a lot of work to do. Between all the field work, the financials, the coaching, the -- managing the umpires, the concessions -- we are a big organization, so it takes a board. Well, I think we are up to 23 now on the board, all working passionately through the summer. Gee, some of those folks are there 40 hours a week it seems like and between that and the parents who are donating time to help prep fields, clean things up -- we have, you know got folks donating almost 26,000 hours to MYBS and so we are really proud of the fact that people are so willing to volunteer for our league because they see that their work, you know, comes back in in really good activities. So, if you look at our league -- people around the Pacific Northwest look to our league as an example for what they want to be. They do that for two reasons. Number one is our facility. Our facility at Settlers Park is amazing. We are unique in that we have separate baseball and softball fields. Most facilities have one multi-purpose field, which when they play baseball on they drag out a plywood mound with Astroturf on it for pitching. Well, that's not exactly a real baseball experience. A real baseball field has a grass in field and a dirt mound. We are fortunate to have separate baseball and softball facilities, which allows us to have, you know, grass in fields and tremendously maintained facilities with the help of the city as well, which is what makes our facility so unique. The second thing that draws people to us, in addition to our facilities, is our culture. There is a lot of baseball coaches and a lot of different leagues and -- and even some softball opportunities around, but they tend to get super competitive and they can lose sight of what the real intent is of -- of what people are trying to do in terms of developing people and developing the habits and -- and skill sets of our youth and so what really makes us unique and why we think we are the premier league is our culture and our facilities. All right. If we go to the next slide. All right. So, how are we different? We are a nonprofit organization. As I mentioned we run off completely volunteers. We host those interleague games around the city and, then, we host a lot of different tournaments. There is a lot of work for us to host those tournaments, but we are very conscious of the financial impact that they can make on our registration fees. We want to keep our registration fees as low as we possibly can for our disadvantaged kids. So, we put tournaments -- and we have a -- a concession -- Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 8 of 23 set of concession stands to, essentially, allow us to generate revenues that offset the cost of our participation. We would have to double our cost of participation almost if we didn't host tournaments and have a concession stand to help subsidized those -- those costs to play. Now, we have scholarship opportunities. We never turn a kid away if they can't afford to play, but we are very conscious about how we spend our money. All right? So, with that I'm going to turn it over to Ryan. Oh, our volunteers -- I'm sorry. So, as I mentioned we have a -- a board that spends 20 -- actually 23 board members now averaging 15 hours a week. From a financial perspective if the city wanted to take that on and run it out of Parks and Rec we -- you know, calculating how many hours we are putting in that's the equivalent of seven full- time employees, which at the cost that they provided us and what those employees cost would, you know, total up to about 721,000 a year. So, that's the value of the time and energy that our board members are putting in. I would tell you that I think that number is way low. If I look at these two gentlemen here they probably spend 40 hours a week in addition to their day jobs working on our league and there are many people like that in our board. Parent volunteers are really important. When you have got 2,200 kids playing you have got a lot of teams, when you have got ten to 12 kids per team. So, we get 184 coaches. We train those coaches. We have parents that help with field prep and tear down. We have to chalk the lines. We have to, you know, level the dirt. We have to move the bases. We have to do a lot of things to keep our facilities as pristine and perfect as they are and our parents are more than willing to jump in and grab a rake and -- and help out and so if you take the time that those parent volunteers are putting in and if you had to hire City of Meridian employees to do that kind of field work, it would come out to almost 600,000 dollars in donated time. So, our -- our volunteers in total value between the board and the parent volunteers who are helping, you know, run the -- the games and the tournaments, we are -- we are talking 1.3 million dollars in volunteer time that's being contributed to this league. So, that's not an insignificant number for anybody and we are proud that their volunteers are so excited to be involved. Bias: So, I get to follow that. Thanks, David. He is our numbers guy. He does a great job with it. But what I want to cover is kind of the improvements that we have been making with -- with regard to the league and the facility. So, one thing that we have been struggling with -- and this is a nationwide struggle, not only in baseball, but in all sports, is there is a lack of umpires. For one they just get drug through the weeds every time they make a bad call that us as fans and parents tend to ride them a little bit hard and they don't want to -- they don't want to participate in that. So, one of the things we do is there is a zero tolerance policy within MYBS. If you get kicked out of the game you are done coaching in our league. We -- without question. We are done -- we are done with you. You got to be able to control yourself, control your actions. You are being an example for the whole team. One of the major things we preach is that mind game of when something bad happens you got to be able to come back from it and not focus on it and, then, it's a bad example of when we have a bunch of parents that can't control themselves. So, we try and police it as -- as best we can. But -- so, to combat the -- the lack of umpires we started an umpire training program. So, we allow 12 year olds and above the opportunity to go and learn how to umpire and we take them through a training course. We have an umpire in charge who runs multiple trainings. Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 9 of 23 We will, then, put them on a scrimmage and he will be there with them or a very skilled umpire will be with them to help them to learn where to position themselves and how to hold themselves and how to make it through a two hour game being able to squat down without burning yourself out and, then, once they have gone through that training they will, then, be allowed to coach the younger games and as they prove that their abilities are up to that level, then, they are allowed to go up and up and so there is continual training throughout the year and as they get on to those higher level games, the older kids, they have more opportunity to make money. So, what's really cool is we also have a work and pay program and so for the older kids that usually are able to drive themselves, they will come to the fields and they practice before everybody else. So, usually right when they get out of school they will go to the parks, practice and, then, they are ready to go umpire after they are done practicing when all the other games start and a lot of them use that to offset the cost of -- of their team fees. So, they will be able to pay for their uniforms and be able to pay for their participation fees by umpiring games and offset it. So, for one we are saving money. Two, we are training these kids to have skills, so they can go out and -- and do this really for the rest of their life, which is pretty cool. If you look at the -- the picture that young man that's umpiring there, he is a high school kid named Christian. He plays at Owyhee. He came through our program. So, started at nine, went all the way through the program, played on our All Star teams, went to World Series did all that stuff, is playing at the high school, now he has come back and he is giving back to the -- it's just cool to see it go full circle; right? And it kind of can tell you how much it means to him to -- to be part of the league. Laing: Well -- and what Ryan always leaves out -- as the treasurer I always want to point this out. There are umpires and there is a union of umpires in the valley that we can hire to do games. They do adult level softball and other things. Simison: Can you get to the mic just so people are hearing, those on YouTube. Laing: That's fine. We could hire umpires, but they cost about 130 dollars a game. That would -- if we look at our umpire expense, it's our second largest expense and in this idea of keeping our cost to play as low as we can, developing our own umpire program allows us to pay about 60 dollars a game. So, we cut our umpire costs almost in half by training and building our own umpires and using them to help with our league. The other thing that we are proud of is other leagues come and have copied our umpire program as a result and try to borrow our umpires -- rent our umpires for different tournaments and other things as well. So, it's a real cost benefit to us to have our own empire program, as well as, you know, the benefit to our youth and others. Bias: Thank you. I guess we -- before he stops did you guys have any questions on anything that he covered so far? We are good? So, kind of the projects that we have been working on through the last -- last year and this year. The first one Meridian Middle School. So, I don't know if you guys had ever been out there to the softball fields. So, if you took one step on it your foot would be so full of goat heads that it would -- it would be a disaster. You wouldn't be walking on your shoe, you would be walking on goat heads. So, we went out there a few times and tried to take ground balls Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 10 of 23 and every bounce it would pick up 30 goat heads and, then, the kids were -- they couldn't throw it, because it was stuck in their hand. So, we went out there and restored those fields. So, we scraped off a hundred yards of dirt. I mean it was crazy how much dirt we -- we pulled off of there and, then, brought in new dirt and filled it back up. So, now kids aren't getting goat heads in their hands. We have got two fields that they are able to practice on and what's super cool is I see other teams out there, I see kids going out and practicing in the offseason and using those fields where before they were just -- just a waste. Nobody was out there. And so -- so, there has been a field -- fields -- baseball fields are -- are very hard to come by. They are -- there is not a ton of them and so adding two fields to the community has been a huge help. So, we did that, added new -- new dugout benches, removed some of the -- the splinter infested ones. Fertilized the grass. Reseeded some areas. Fixed one of the faucets that was just continually running and I know you guys don't do that, that's a West Ada School District thing, but we just tried to make the place better and, then, we got Franklin Building Supply to donate all the supplies to build dugout covers. It got too cold on them, so they haven't done it yet, but they got all the -- all the stuff out there and as soon as it warms up a little bit they are going to install dugout covers on each one of the fields for us, which is going to be awesome when it starts getting hot. Settlers Park. So, we got Lowe's up here on Overland to donate paint for painting the dugouts and, then, the trim around each one of the -- in each one of the dugout bricks and the -- and the lining and I have some pictures that I will show you of what I'm talking about. We installed shades on both concession buildings. So, they are electric, they come out and -- and, then, we can bring them back in, giving shade, just offering a -- a little bit better experience as people are growing up and -- on those hot days buying food. We have put dugout fencing in front of the dugouts. I will show you a picture of what I'm talking about, but there is -- the way that dugouts are facing if a kid was late or super early on a -- on a ball coming in that ball would deflect off and could possibly go in and -- and hit some of the kids that are in the dugout and they all like to congregate right at the opening there for some reason. There is a whole dugout and they are all just dog piled right at the entrance and so foul balls could go in there. We talked with the -- with the parks and recs guys and they put in some fencing to kind of protect that area and so now there is not that risk of getting hit by any of those balls. We have put -- working with the parks and rec guys we -- we put in turf in front of each one of the -- the pitching mounts and so if you guys aren't familiar with -- with baseball fields, what the really good guys, the pitchers, will stand on the -- on the mound, they never leave and they put out their glove and the catcher throws it right back to them, but these kids don't have those skills and so every time they walk halfway to the catcher, grab the ball, they walk back and so there becomes a trench of where the grass no longer grows and it becomes just a muddy mess and so we have removed that, put dirt -- some road mix in there and covered it with -- with turf, so it shouldn't wear out and, then, it won't get all flooded there and so we will be able to play more games. We have partnered up and we -- we buy in field dirt every year to -- to help out with replacing that. We have been putting park signs -- no parking signs up in the neighborhood, communicating with them to -- to try and keep people from parking in the neighborhoods, which we will address -- Travis will address that in a little bit. But that's been a huge focus that we have been trying to prevent people from parking in the neighborhood and, then, really, I -- I would commend Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 11 of 23 Garrett, he has bridged a gap where -- when I first came on as president I -- I was told that there was not a great relationship between the city and -- and Meridian Youth Baseball and Softball and I don't know why, but it was just kind of this idea of like us versus them and, then, when I started talking with -- with Garrett I -- it was very apparent that that is not the case, that we both want the same things and want the best thing for our community. So, it's been a great relationship of being able to open a communication between us and -- and work better together. So, we want to continue that improved communication. We want to just be open books and -- and know what's going on. We definitely want to finalize this agreement with -- with you guys, with the city and renew our -- our agreement, but also to help out with -- you know, with the cost of -- of what we need to do with the parking lot and help out with that parking situation. Right now we have got some new batting cages going in, so -- and that's going to be open to the community. On one side we had two really long batting cages, but we have now cut them in half and added two and so we just added a little more -- a little more function to them, so that more teams -- more people can get in there. We need to install new fascia around the dugouts, but we have plans to do that and just help to improve -- you can see right there. But our goal is to continually make Settlers Park in Meridian a better place and a better place to play baseball and softball. So, these are pictures -- I wish I had before and after of Meridian Middle School. But, yeah, the dirt is -- is pristine. It's -- it's great. You can slide on it and play baseball or softball on it. We added some gravel there to try and prevent, you know, growth and those weeds blown onto the field. But it looks fantastic. We added some backstop padding. We put in those metal benches before they were -- if you see right behind it there is a piece of wood, that's what they were sitting on and so that was just splinters in the butt, which nobody wants. Settlers Park. So, these are pictures of Settlers. On the picture on the left you can see the turf. That's the inlay that the -- that the parks and recs guys put in and it's on all of the baseball fields where there is a mound and it's -- it's going to be awesome. We got the picture of the shades in the middle that we had installed on the concessions and, then, we got our little mascot there painting on the -- on the side of the dugout there. But that's some of the improvements at Settlers. There is our no parking signs, our trying to get people to not park in the neighborhoods. We place them in that little roundabout area on the -- on the road and leave them out during the weekends, during our major tournaments and try and monitor the best that we can. We installed this fencing on the dugout and I don't know if you guys would remember, but on the dugouts before there was a netting and it flopped in the wind and all the kids would lean up against it and when those foul balls would come it -- it just wasn't protecting them; right? Like if they weren't up against them it would have been fine. So, we had this chain link installed and now they can lean against it. A ball can come and hit it and everybody's protected and safe. Here is the fencing that I was talking about to protect those errant foul balls from going into the dugout. You can see them kick out. So, if you are up to bat and you hit a ball at the dugout it's now going to be blocked by those fences and all the kids will be safe in there rather than that risk and, then, the coaches can focus on the game more, because every two minutes you return around -- get in the dugout. So, hopefully, that helps out a bunch. So, with that said we will turn it over to Travis the next part. Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 12 of 23 Young: All right. Thank you. So, as you all know we have -- we have been having -- over the last number of years parking challenges with Settlers Park, you know, with the neighborhoods. It's just -- some of it's out of our control with where people go and so some of the things that we have been doing -- you know, the problem is that -- we have had with people parking, you know, you tell them and they still would park, so -- so, as a -- as a board and the league we have been getting more proactive of having like during games just getting more practical with signs out there, walking out there and making sure -- you know, in the morning. But one of the things that we have been doing -- we are going to have -- this year is as a board we are going to do a board member on duty. So, every time -- anytime during the week, weekends, we have shifts, so there will be a board member that's out there before games start, so that we are going to be making sure and walking and seeing whoever is parking, because we do know that if some of the parking in the neighborhood -- if someone's parking there they are most likely going to be playing on one or two fields that are closest. They don't want to walk from the parking lot and so we will just be more -- you know, we have been more proactive and so that's something that we are -- we have done in the past and we will continue to do is have blocked times for different people and then -- and, then, on the weekends, because we -- we do run games all day, you know, over the weekend on Saturday and, then, some games on Sunday, so we have created shifts and so in the morning there will be somebody that goes out there and their job is to put the signs out in the proper spots and, then, paying attention to where it is and, then, also throughout the -- throughout the day the next shifts and, then, also having somebody on board at the whole time if there is ever an issue we can, you know, communicate with the neighborhoods that they can -- if something does happen that's out of our -- or we don't notice, that they can come reach out to us and we can find out who may be parked in front of their house or -- and take care of that. The -- yeah. So -- so, some of the alternatives that there were was like hiring mobile parking monitors, which would cost a couple thousand dollars a year. Parking regulations on the weekends and so -- so, think we have been pretty proactive and we have been open to any suggestions that we could continue to combat that, the parking issues with the neighborhoods, you know, because we definitely understand the frustrations of waking up in the morning and coming out, having some friends or family coming over and everybody's parked in front of your house. So, we appreciate our relationship that we have with you guys and we value what we -- what we have at Settlers Park and so we want to continue to improve that and we are -- we are really excited about the community center and the new parking lot that's going to be available there and so we are thankful that we have the opportunity to be able to contribute and be part of that, to help I think fix the solution as far as it goes and, then, also, you know, knowing that there is going to be a construction timeline, so we have been really proactive of kind of figuring out working with Garrett and everybody has that does come we have been working with the board communicating like the dirt lot is going to go away. This is what it's going to look like and, then, making sure that everybody is on the same page of moving forward of where to park. We put stuff on the website. We send out e-mails, you know, pretty frequently throughout the season to continue to let people know do not park there. So, if we do start seeing some issues arise, then, we go out there and send out e-mails again and, then, also letting the coaches know and constantly communicating that information. So, Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 13 of 23 1 think that's all we got there. And, then, going through some of the pictures here. These are just some pictures of the kids in the league. It's a lot of stuff during the summer. On the left there is some pictures of the kids celebrating eating some ice cream and -- after a tournament. They won. And, then, just some -- yeah. Just pictures of us being able to partner and do -- do a night at the Hawks and so the -- the kids get an opportunity to go out there and -- and partner with the Hawks and be able to go out on the field and participate with that and get pictures with the mascots and also along with baseball nights we -- we work with the high schools as well, so that they get the opportunity to be able to hang out with the high school teams, go out on the field and also just see the bigger picture of the community of what we are -- what we are doing here. So, there is some more pictures of our softball and more kids. Softball. It was just -- just see all the joy of these kids. I -- so, I have four kids. My oldest she is in high school. She dances. But my other three kids are -- they play baseball and softball and so when we moved here maybe seven years ago we got -- we -- we were thankful to come across MYB and -- and it's done wonders for our family and so just what the league has done, which is also why I wanted to become part of the board and volunteer and participate is because not only the memories that I have had with my kids, but what it's taught my -- my kids, you know, from my older boy that's going to be -- he is 12 now and, then, I have a nine year old daughter and a seven year old son, but the work ethic -- because they are out there with me every morning, you know, Father's Day, 13 hours at the field, that's what we are doing. But they get to see the work that we are putting in and, then, they also, you know, learn to have the work ethic and put back in the field and take care of things and so to see that each year and all the kids and, then, having them just be part of that and taking pride of the fields and knowing what to do and just being thankful to have the opportunity to play baseball and then -- but, then, also to see other families, you know, just enjoy and so they -- so, they have been able to really see the work that we put in to go out and prep the fields, because when they were younger they just show up and they played and they were like, oh, we just play and, then, now that they got older they are like, oh, somebody has to chalk and -- and drag the fields and different things and so to see them understand what it takes as a community to give back, so that they can see the younger kids just be able to show up enjoy and love the game and have fun with it. Yeah. It's just more of the pictures. But that was it. That's the end of the slide. But I do -- I do appreciate you guys' time and -- and just the relationship that we have had with you guys over the years and -- and the opportunity to continue the relationship together and continue to grow the league together. Does anybody have any questions? Simison: Thank you. Council, questions? Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Yeah. Travis and Ryan and David, thank you for your presentation. Really appreciate it. Got -- my older son played. My -- my 12 year old is currently playing and I have a -- a nephew who is one of the top freshmen pitchers now in the state and I Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 14 of 23 have spent a lot of time watching this game there, so really great facility. You guys do a really good job and it's actually really impressive and appreciate the partnership with our parks and rec and all that. It's a really really good facility. A couple of quick questions. value the relationship and I think it's -- it's good. I think it's in a healthy place and want to continue to see that. Some of the discussion with the community center coming in nearby and some of the parking situation, there was a -- on one of your slides you had a line that talked about any -- essentially that the player registration fees would be -- would be needed to be raised to kind of cover some of the parking you would have to pay for. Do you have a sense of -- can you just tell me kind of what the registration fee is today and what you think it might be if -- what we are looking at? Is this like a five, ten, 15 dollar increase in the fees or do you have any sense of that right now? Young: I can let David speak a little bit more on it, but -- but what we have been working on is to -- to not raise, so what we have been doing is really going back with the help of David and going through concessions and fundraising, we are really stepping all that up so that our -- our fees are not impacted. You can share more. Laing: Yeah. So, right now our -- our player fees, depending on when you register, are between 160 and 195 dollars. If we took the 55,000 that we are going to be contributing to the parking lot every year and added that to fees it would be between 15 and 20 dollars that we would need to increase the fees. But right now it looks like we are going to be able to offset some of those fees with a combination of some price increases, candidly, at our at our concession stand and working with the -- the parks and rec to offset some of the costs on our fields. So, right now, cross our fingers, we are going to try not to raise those fees, but we will have a better grip on that as we, you know, get a little closer to that project. Taylor: Yeah. Mr. -- oh. Bias: And I -- I really think that comment was more just so we were all aware of any -- any increase of our cost is going to be a direct relation to what the trust for each one of the families and our whole goal is to try and allow as many kids as possible to participate in the sport, whether it be baseball or softball, and so each dollar that that goes up that might be one family's decision on whether they participate or not. So, just so we are all on the same page and aware of kind of that's -- that's what we are looking at is how is it going to affect the families that are participating in the league. Laing: And as a board that's kind of the -- every time when we -- we decide whether we want to spend money or not; right? We are saying, hey, you know, are we going to raise fees for this or are we going to cut money somewhere else? And as a treasurer I have a whole bunch of experience in corporate America cutting costs, so I'm really tough on keeping the budget really tight and making sure that we are stretching every dollar as far as we can and, you know, being innovative, like the umpire program and other things that we have come up with. Right now we are -- we are -- we are getting free paint buckets from painters around the valley, so that our coaches don't have to buy buckets for all softballs and baseballs and so we -- you know, we -- we are -- I think Ryan's the Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 15 of 23 master of Facebook marketplace for getting, you know, discounted things for our fields. I think we are just super sensitive to the cost of play I think is where that comment really came from. Taylor: Mr. Mayor, quick follow up? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Yeah. And I -- I really appreciate that. I think you guys are doing a great job and we certainly -- you know, we have that discussion quite a bit with fees. You know, we are super sensitive to that, because -- especially for families with multiple kids it adds up rather quickly. Just kind of curious, you know, it sounds like you guys are trying to be innovative and forward thinking in terms of what are ways -- not just to cut revenue, but, you know, increase revenue or other opportunities. Are there any challenges or concerns or limitations on your ability to find other ways to utilize the space or activities to raise new revenue or to do more things? I'm just kind of curious what you are -- you know, I know you are volunteers and so there is a limitation on -- on time, but just kind of curious what other -- if you can speak for a minute about other things you have considered or looked at to raise revenue in -- in addition to just registration fees, because, obviously, that's something we try to avoid. I know you guys try to avoid, so -- Laing: We -- we just went through a significant effort on our concessions plan try to figure out how we can lower costs and increase profits in our concessions program and we are optimistic that we can make a substantial improvement there by being more efficient. The other thing we did is tournaments are our other big source of revenue and we had always had Keith Bird, Dairy Days and, then, the regionals and the state tournaments very often at our facility. This year we added three more tournaments from NCS, who is a local tournament, you know, for profit tournament organization who had been using facilities in Boise and they came to us and said could we use yours? Well, that's extra work and more wear and tear on our facilities. We will get more money for that, too. It's more effort for us as a board to manage that, but we took it on, because we knew it could raise more revenue, both through the fees that we charge them to use the facility and also through our concession stands. So, if you look at the utilization of that facility it's almost a hundred percent on weekends from -- from -- well, we are starting up May 1st this year or -- excuse me -- March 1st through, you know, end of October it's -- I don't think those fields sit idle. Bias: -- from vacation and if we could push winter back we would be happy to get another season in. Taylor: Thank you. Whitlock: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 16 of 23 Simison: Just to touch base -- follow up on that one, what percentage of the -- of the program is operated on those fields? What other fields are utilized here in the area or around the valley that you -- Bias: So, we utilize Fuller Park. You know, we -- we rent it out maybe -- so, 80 percent of it is played at Settlers Park and, then, the other 20 percent, 15 percent would be Fuller and, then, we -- like out -- some at Heritage, some at Storey, but the large majority could try and keep everybody at the facility, because it's so nice, Settlers Park. Young: But most of all our games -- we -- we try to just only play at Settlers Park, you know, for a rec. You know, Settlers and Fuller. In the tournaments we will use a couple other tournament -- you know, other fields by renting them, but, then, also to provide rent -- practice fields for softball and we go and rent Heritage, since they have a -- have more fields to practice on instead of going to like the middle schools where they just have -- it's not up kept, so it's hard to do ground balls and they will get hit with baseballs and stuff, so we try to give them a good safe place. So, we will be back into the field seven. Laing: Yeah. Field rental is our third biggest cost factor and we spent a little over 35,000 renting fields from different people last season. Simison: And -- and for our practices -- people use these facilities for practices or they go to other -- Young: Yeah. So, most of the time -- like with the beginning of the season before we have games scheduled, because there is so many games -- what was it, like 2,200. So, we -- it's a huge process in getting -- scheduling games, but we will -- we block out a couple weeks before games start and, then, we schedule, so that all the fields that we have, whether, you know, we are renting the fields or at Settlers Park, everybody gets, you know, an allotted amount of time, you know, evenly to practice on them and, then, once the season starts there is just not a lot of room. So, there is some open space and most of the coaches have to just go find a green space to practice on, unless -- you know. But also the cages are open to the public, as well as all the teams and so they may have one practice where they come to the fields and use -- utilize the batting cages, whether it's at Fuller Park or Settlers or have to go find a green space to practice during the week, because most of the time we are -- so, we have -- we have grown so much -- we continue to grow like ten percent every year that -- Laing: The coach finds a place to practice and, then, they have a couple of assigned slots at our facility, so they get to practice on the fields they will compete on once or twice a week, but, then, the coaches -- I mean they are pretty creative. We end up at churches and patches of grass all over the valley for practice. There is just not enough fields as you know in the valley for all the practice time that wants to happen. Thank you. Whitlock: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 17 of 23 Simison: Councilman Whitlock. Whitlock: Kind of along those lines as well, with 2,200 kids and 84 teams and -- basically I think I heard you say you are a hundred subscribed on usage of the fields right now. As we look to the future and as we build more parks, first question are you turning kids away today? And, second, at ten percent growth a year do you think that's sustainable and -- and do we need to plan for that in future park development? Bias: I can definitely talk about that. So, right now, yes, we are working on getting our schedule for max capacity on avoiding aligning how many games that we can have in the entire -- in an entire season and, then, fill that out. So, we do cut off registration. We don't turn anybody away, but as soon as we hit our limit we put a stop to registration until we can figure out another way or there is more fields or if we can move some stuff around we try and do that. We -- to answer your question, yes, we do need to think about in the future of more fields and how we can accommodate more games to be played. I don't see baseball or softball getting less popular at any point. So, some point very soon we are going to hit that tipping point and not be able to accommodate everybody. Young: Yeah. I was talking with -- I think it was north -- yeah, Northwest Ada I was talking the other day, just kind of -- because we do interleague with other -- other leagues that -- you know, in the fall. So, that's one of the things we do in the fall is we -- sometimes we get delayed and our families and our league get frustrated with that if they are scheduled right away, but what we do is we will get calls from all around the valley of other organizations that don't have enough teams or players to -- to put on an actual league and play. So, then, we -- we bring them in, so that kids -- so, I think in the fall there was probably 150 kids that probably wouldn't have played if we didn't open it up and figure it out with them. But talking with Northwest Ada Little League, they -- their huge dilemma right now is fields as well. So, they were banking on Eagle building this huge complex and, then, they -- they didn't build the fields, so now they are spread out to like I think five different locations. So, he was just telling me -- he is like that's our biggest struggle is that you have kids that want to play, there is nowhere to play. So, we are driving 45 minutes, you know, from this field, go to get chalk, they got to go back and forth and so -- so, it made me more thankful for what we have. But also, yeah, there is a limit on fields. You know, they are feeling it and they have to have four or five different locations, looking at it with us, you know, in capacity or, you know, always pretty full on the games. We get creative, so that we adjust the schedule. As the sun starts setting later. We are able to bump times around and kind of squeeze in another game and stuff like that. But, then, when it starts to get warmer get a couple more games in, so we get in as much as we possibly can, but I think future wise, the more the valley grows baseball is going to continue to grow, as well as softball. Simison: And if I could piggyback off that comment -- and Councilman Cavener I know mentioned it -- have you ROM the value of lighting in these -- of the fields? I'm just curious being from -- the way -- we have a lot of light most of the year, but there is, obviously, some parts of the year there is not. I'm just curious what that impact might Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 18 of 23 have. And I'm not saying it's a good idea, so -- so, I'm just curious if you guys have looked at that. Bias: Yeah. Every weekend somebody approaches me with a new idea of adding lights to the fields and I always say, man, we have never thought of that, but that's -- you know, there is only one location that I'm really aware of for the youth baseball and softball and it's out in Caldwell. They run a tournament, Caldwell Under The Lights, and they play their championship game at midnight, 2:00 in the morning, whenever it's dark at that time, but -- and it's one of the more popular ones, because one of the fields where they get to play under the lights -- it would be great. However, baseball it would be very difficult to play in 20 degree weather when we would need the lights, but as soon as it gets light and warm enough it's light until midnight, so we were able to -- I'm exaggerating, but we are able to do that. If we are wanting to do it at Settlers Park I would say that you can put a lot of unwanted light pollution into those homes and I don't think that -- you know, depending on where the orientation of the home -- if they would really appreciate that. That being said, if we can find a solution and put up lights we could definitely be able to play more games at those times -- you know, in between the summer. Laing: Most of our -- most of our participants are seven to 12 and, you know, at 10:00 they melt down. So, you know, we -- they -- they just can't stay up late enough to play under the lights. Simison: Yeah. I -- I mean I grew up in Pocatello. Playing under lights in Pocatello was the biggest -- we got to do it in two games a year. Biggest highlight of the year was under the lights. But, you know, when you -- when you look at the -- with the layout I mean you -- there is one or two fields that maybe could make sense. The ones that are closer to Ustick, but even then I didn't know -- does that give you any -- you know, 20 days of one more game a year -- you know, what is that -- that's kind of where I was going, if you have RON the value of it. Bias: I know the exact number, but the impact of those lights wouldn't be as -- as big as we would think it would be, just because of some of -- Simison: More other field space has a bigger impact than adding a few games later in the evening. Young: Yeah, you can pick up another -- you know, say another game on every field for a month before spring and, then, you know, before the sun starts setting a little later and, then, end of fall, you know, when it starts getting dark earlier. Laing: Yeah. Most of our load on our fields is in the spring -- or what we call our spring season, which runs March to end of May and, then, in the summer when we have more light and everything we -- we are able to accommodate it. But it -- that -- that March to May period is where we are really feeling it. Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 19 of 23 Simison: Thank you. Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Mr. Mayor. So, a few comments and some questions. So, I will kind of really couch under -- thank you. Thank you guys for being here today and for giving us this presentation. I think one of the matrix that we look at when you judge a community is what programs and, you know, offerings are available to kids and it's -- David is right, you -- you hit the nail on the head. I mean you guys are a standard for other leagues to look at and selfishly, the ten, 11, 12 year old MYB Luke Cavanaugh, who played and practiced at Meridian Middle School, thanks for those improvements. I don't have an excuse now why my game is so terrible, because now you have improved Meridian Middle School I have to come up with some new excuse and thank you for the volunteering aspect. I didn't realize until today that every one of you are volunteers and, you know, every two years the City Council has to evaluate how much we are going to pay the Council, if we are going to take a raise and every year I -- I often refer to our -- our youth baseball coaches that do this for free and all of you do this not -- just because you are, you know, selfish, is you care about the community, you care about our kids, you care about making a difference. So, thank you. Forty hours a week setting fields, that sounds really fun with my kids like week one. Week 12, boy, it's -- it's a little bit -- I'm hitting that snooze alarm maybe one too many times. So, thank you. And -- and you touched on something I think is really important. This is a long-term partnership; right? We are here on the Council because of smarter, more equipped people came before us up here. You are here because other people came before you that wanted to make an impact in -- in our community and I love the fact that -- this is my first time I think in 11 years we have had MYB come here and talk about the program and educate us. It gives me great confidence that for generations to come our kids' kids are going to be talking about the impact of MYB in Meridian and so thanks for that. Now, a couple of questions. You touched on about the charitable aspect and you don't turn away any kid, which I just commend and applaud you. Can you give the Council a flavor -- how -- how many kids a year are you guys helping to cover some of their cost, all or some, because you are -- the point of the slide about every dollar increase is one dollar less for the program. We are sensitive to that; right? We have got some big challenges that we have got to work through, but the impact on kids is, how I started the conversation, at least it's in the back of my head. So, give me a little flavor for how many players, families you guys are helping to support each year. Laing: So, right now I -- it varies by year, but I would say between 15 and 20 families. Some of those families have multiple children. We are in the -- starting to get more successful gathering donations to help offset that cost to us. The Meridian Lions group is interested in partnering with us to help sponsor some scholarships and we -- we got some -- Peterson Chevrolet contributed a big amount to us. So, we are -- we -- we are -- have been very successful getting donations over those scholarships that we need to offer. But as always, you know, we never turn anybody away. Cavener: That's awesome. Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 20 of 23 Bias: And there has -- and there has been some very generous families that will come to us as board members and say, hey, is -- if there are any families I would like to cover their costs and so we get some generous people like that as -- as well that help us out. Cavener: Great. That's -- that's huge. And, you know, again, just kind of -- no matter how big our population gets that real sense of community still remains and it's because of people like you and organizations like yours. Mr. Mayor, maybe one just an additional question. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Looking at it from a -- from a revenue standpoint, has the league explored -- are there options? I -- I go back to, you know, travel across the country in different cities and whatnot and, you know, baseball fields have different sponsorships and field ownership. Is that something you guys have explored? Is that something that maybe the well-intended city has gotten in the way of? Maybe fill us in on kind of what some of that creative thinking has been. Laing: Last year we took in 55,000 in -- in sponsorships and donations. Cavener: Wow. Laing: And we have already -- we are on track to significantly exceed that goal this year. So, we have a -- we have a member of our board whose full-time role is -- on the board is to solicit sponsorships and so we have been very successful. Baseball and softball are something that lots of people have children that do or did and so we -- we generally -- I have -- I have tried to -- I have been the president of a swim team and other things. Let me tell you it's a lot easier to find money for baseball and softball than it is for other sports and what's also amazing is this town has a lot of construction oriented folks in it and those people are willing to volunteer materials and time for us as well, which offsets our costs. So, it's really been surprising to me how -- when we ask people to show up and help us out. But we -- would we love to get more donors -- donors every year? You bet, you know, and we continue to seek that and try to find as many as we can. Bias: And you are right, there is a ton of real estate out on those fences that we haven't filled up yet, but we are always open to those. Laing: And we do have banners all over out there from our sponsorship. Bias: Yeah. Laing: And -- and more coming. Young And some of the stuff we have been working on, too, is like -- we -- as a board, you know, we have been -- over the years that our board has grown and we have gotten Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 21 of 23 some really really great people on board that just love what they are doing and really finding each person's strengths and weaknesses and let them live in that space and creating new roles for somebody that like thrives in something like the sponsorship, like that's just her -- her jam. She loves it. She's passionate about it. So, it's like that's her thing. For some of the other stuff that we have been doing, too, that's -- it's taken a number of years and a lot of Ryan's hard work is with -- with the regionals we have been hosting -- and what they do every year is they will find multiple facilities in different states and they split up the age divisions to host and so what they have been doing is -- because we hosted last year, let -- you know, each year I think we have hosted a couple age groups and so, then, they presented and said, hey, we -- we would like you guys to host every age group every year and -- and just have one prime spot where everybody comes. So, they are coming from Wyoming, Alaska, Canada -- everybody's coming here for the Pacific Northwest and so they reached out to us last week and so they said at a national level they said, hey, we are not going to make a decision yet, you know, for the next 20 years or ten years to have you guys do this, but they awarded us next year to host all the age groups here. So, now that we got that -- we got excited about that, because now we are looking at going, okay, how can we get sponsorships, not only for local businesses, but now that we are going to represent the Pacific Northwest, you know, coming up with some type of like, you know, fundraising and advertising and different sponsorships for the Pacific Northwest to draw into here. There is a lot of field space and there is just a lot of opportunities I think there. Laing: We are super excited, just like, you know, when you go to the hockey game and the Zamboni has some. We got -- we got -- we got Peterson just pay for logos on our graders that drag the fields out between games. So, we are getting creative as we can to try to, you know, match those sponsor dollars out. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: So, there is room for Cavener Corner is what he's saying. Cavener: Correct. Simison: Okay. Cavener: I'm looking forward to a phone call and looking forward to cutting that check. Mr. Mayor, just one more thing real quick and, then, I will -- then I will end it. David, you -- you touched on something that I thought was important, which is that you guys do it right and that -- that brought me tremendous joy to hear you say that and look forward to continuing to work with you guys as we build a new agreement. I would be remiss if I didn't at least acknowledge somebody else who does it right and you guys touched on it and that's Garrett White and I just -- I appreciate you guys acknowledging him. We, as a Council, as citizens of Meridian, are so lucky to have Garrett and I, too, want to just commend you for great work -- not just on this. I mean everything you touch you lean in, you go after hours, nights and weekends, to help build these relationships and, Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 22 of 23 Garrett, I just -- I want to say thanks and I appreciate you guys for acknowledging his impact as well. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Laing: Yes. We -- we -- we wouldn't exist without the partnership with you folks, with the city, with the school district, all the parents and that culture is really different about MYBS. You know, the culture of -- we do it right, we are positive -- we are competitive. We have got teams that will kick your butt if you don't come ready to play, but we also -- we do it right and we think that's really as important as learning how to catch is how to play it right. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: This has just been phenomenal and I would -- I would just encourage you to come back like every -- every four or five years to please come back, because we get new council members and -- you know, from time to time and I just think it's really eye opening to hear what you are doing. I think for me the thing that really -- I was interested to learn just the scale of what you are doing is tremendous. Like the fact that you are a volunteer organization, but if you are serving this many youngsters it's just incredible. So, thank you. Yeah. Just keep coming back to us. Yeah. Laing: I think we are the biggest league in the Pacific Northwest. Strader: I believe it. Thank you. Whitlock: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Whitlock. Whitlock: Thank you for being here. Thank you for the update. And all my kids are grown and gone, but this has been kind of a trip down memory lane for me, because my kids all played baseball, softball, soccer, gymnastics, bands, scouts, you name it they were active and involved. I just want to commend you for your umpire program, giving these kids an opportunity to learn some leadership skills. For my kids when they got involved in refereeing and umpiring that was probably the greatest part of their maturation process. It taught them how to interact with adults. It taught them how to be a leader and so to know that you are -- you are doing that, you're active and involved and you are bringing those kids in and giving them the chance -- not only to make 60 bucks a game, but to gain those leadership skills. And, again, you -- you truly are doing it right, so thank you very much. I guess one -- one question. Are there enough dandelions for the T-ballers out in center field? So, I was just thinking about that, too. Young: Only the first -- only the first two -- one or two games. Yeah. Laing: The city does a great job of spraying the weeds. Meridian City Council Work Session January 14,2025 Page 23 of 23 Simison: All right. Well, thank you very much. We -- we definitely appreciate it and look forward to next thing and if we can get a little bit more curve in the hats, so -- it reminds me I -- I would love to bring that back, but I think that's just -- 20 years ago, but that being said -- Bias: We were just talking about -- we need to get you guys all hats, so you can be part of it. I would also like to give you guys an invite and maybe we can talk about it further, but when we host state and -- and these regional tournaments we would love to have you guys come out and be part of our opening ceremonies and -- and recognize you guys for everything you do for us. Yeah. Help us with those flyovers. Laing: Yeah. We have got a member of our board who works out at Gowen and we get some cool flyovers. Simison: Thank you. Council, we are at the end of our agenda. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Move we adjourn the workshop. Simison: Have a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second? Little Roberts: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adjourn the workshop. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and we are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5.36 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 1 / 28 2025 MAYOR ROBERT SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK