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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-03-24 Regular Meridian City Council March 24, 2026. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 24, 2026, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Luke Cavener, Liz Strader, John Overton, Doug Taylor, Anne Little Roberts and Brian Whitlock. Other Present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Keith Watts, Sandra Ramirez, Jamie Leslie and Dean Willis. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE X Liz Strader X Brian Whitlock _X_Anne Little Roberts X John Overton _X_ Doug Taylor _X_Luke Cavener X Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call this meeting to order. For the record it is Tuesday, March 24th, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. We will begin tonight's regular City Council meeting with roll call attendance. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Simison: Next item is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you would all, please, rise and join us in the pledge. (Pledge of Allegiance recited.) COMMUNITY INVOCATION Simison: Our next item up is our community invocation, which tonight will be delivered by Randy Hunter. If you would all, please, join us in the community invocation or take this as a moment of silence and reflection. Hunter: Since this is the first time this body has met since the passing of Mayor Hogaboam from Nampa, it's probably only fitting that we take a few moments of quiet reflection. If you want to pray you can pray. If you want to remember him and his family you can do that. But just a moment for that. It's a reminder for all of us, isn't it? Even someone as august as a mayor can't stick around forever. But good that we remember his family and the work that he did. You did -- so, this is the first time you have met since St. Patrick's Day; right? That was -- did you meet on St. Patrick's Day? You did? Oh, my. That's commitment. You know, a lot of people think of St. Patrick's Day as nothing more than Leprechauns and green things hanging everywhere and bar specials and -- and that kind of thing and I -- I guess I'm not opposed to any of those kinds of things, but that's not really what St. Patrick was all about. St. Patrick was not even Irish. Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 2 of 18 His name was Maewyn Succat and he was British. He was a young man when he was kidnapped from the shores of England by Irish slave traders. Druids. Took him to Ireland where he lived as a slave feeding pigs and herding sheep and after about six years he managed to find a way to escape on a ship and went back to England, vowing he would never go back to Ireland again. But Patrick became a Christian and he wanted nothing more than to help the people who had hurt him, which is very odd, but it's what Jesus did for his -- for us, so it maybe makes sense. He went back to Ireland and decided he would be a missionary to the Irish people, which he was. It was not easy, because the druids -- their -- their religion involved human sacrifice and they did not like what he was teaching and the like. So, he was on the run for his life much of the time in -- in Ireland, but, nevertheless, he stuck with it and -- but where was I in the story? He is back in Ireland after being -- yeah. I said he was kidnapped; right? So, he was kidnapped taken to Ireland. He escapes on the boat goes back to -- to England where he has this episode where he wants to go back to Ireland. He gets back to Ireland and he is terribly persecuted, but it doesn't dissuade him at all from what he went -- went there to do. So, he started monasteries in Ireland and those monasteries - -- he had a brilliant outreach plan. Those monasteries would grow to a certain point and, then, they would split off and go start more and that kind of expansion spread throughout Ireland. But that wasn't enough for him, so he also started sending those monasteries and missionaries out back to England, so -- and to Scotland and, then, finally to the mainland -- to Europe. In fact, my descendants is from Germany, so I'm here probably as a result of what Maewyn Succat or Patrick did. It's not bad to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in another way, but it's not bad also to remember what he did, how he organized people, how he sent them out to do good. How his work was rewarded and still is affecting people today. There is a -- there is a -- it's a prayer really -- a prayer of protection that is credited to St. Patrick. I have a copy of it here. I'm going to read just a part of it. It's not long. It's -- it's tiny print, so it's -- it's long, but I'm just going to read the bottom part of this prayer. It's a prayer for his protection after all he had gone through. Christ with me. Christ before me. Christ behind me. Christ in me. Christ beneath me. Christ above me. Christ on my right. Christ on my left. Christ where I lie. Christ where I sit. Christ where I arise. Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me. Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me. Christ in the eye of every eye -- of every man that sees me. And Christ in every ear that hears me. Well, that's a beautiful prayer for the Lord to guide and protect and bless us. Our prayer and hope for you is that the Lord provides and -- and protects through you, that what you are doing here makes a difference in the lives of people in -- in a very positive and a very good way. So, what you are doing -- you are not St. Patrick's -- St. Patrice, but what you are doing is very much like what he did. So, God bless you as you do it. would like to give each one of you one of these cards of St. Patrick's prayer. Simison: Thank you, Mr. Hunter. I appreciate it. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Okay. With that we will move on to adoption of our agenda. Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 3 of 18 Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: There are no changes to tonight's agenda. I move that we adopt the agenda as published. Little Roberts: 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 agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. PROCLAMATIONS 1. Procurement Month Proclamation Simison: Next up we will do a proclamation for Procurement Month. If we can have Sandra and Keith join us at the podium. So, Council, this has become an annual tradition, but when you have the best of the best in the state it's easy to get up and celebrate each year on the good work of procurement professionals here in the City of Meridian. So, with that we will go ahead and read this proclamation and, Keith, I will turn the mic over to you for any additional comments. Whereas public procurement is an essential function of the City of Meridian, providing for the purchase of goods and services for the safe and effective operations of the city and whereas the City of Meridian is supported by highly qualified procurement professionals who demonstrate professionalism on all levels and who dedicate themselves to providing the best value for every taxpayer dollar and whereas the City of Meridian Procurement Division requires specific knowledge and skills to maintain fair and ethical practices and successful negotiations for the mutual benefit of the City and supplier and whereas the City of Meridian Procurement Division is a proud member of the Idaho Public Purchasing Association, which is committed to providing high caliber strategic, logistical and operational support for all agencies associated with the chapter and whereas the Procurement Division and the City of Meridian recognize, supports and practices to the five public procurement values and guiding principles of accountability, ethics, impartiality, professionalism, service and transparency established by the National Institute for Public Procurement. Therefore, I, Mayor Robert E. Simison, hereby proclaim March 2026 as Procurement Month in the City of Meridian and urge the residents of our community to join IPPA and NIGP in recognizing the role of the procurement professional within business, industry and government. Dated this 24th day of March 2026. So, Keith, Sandra, on behalf of Mayor, Council we wanted to present this proclamation to you and say thank you for all you do and I will -- not just for the city of Meridian, but in the state of Idaho on this topic. Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 4 of 18 Watts: Thank you. I would like to see if Sandra has a few words if she would like to share. If not, I have a few things. But -- Ramirez: Well, thank you, Mayor and Council Members, and also citizens of Meridian. It is a pleasure and an honor to stand before you all. To do this every day it's -- it's just a blessing, honestly, to serve the community here in Meridian and give our best every single day. So, thank you all. We appreciate it. Watts: Yeah. I just want to reiterate -- reiterate that we get great support from you, Mayor and -- and City Council, so we are -- we are very blessed to be in the position that we are to have support from our leaders and that gives us the ability to go out and -- and do well, not just for the City of Meridian, but try to help out with the state as well and I just want to thank you and the departments throughout the city. They are also very generous and gracious to work with us and let us do our jobs properly and we want to thank our customers as well. Thank you. Simison: Yeah. Yeah. Normally it's our police and fire and parks, which are the best of the best, but who knew it was all because of our talented purchasing professionals. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 2. Approve Minutes of the March 10, 2026 City Council Work Session 3. Approve Minutes of the March 10, 2026 City Council Regular Meeting 4. Julia Subdivision Pedestrian Pathway Easement (ESMT-2026-0023) 5. Promenade Cottages No. 1 Water Main Easement (ESMT-2026-0050) 6. Sewer Main Extension (LDIR-2025-0056) Endurance Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 2 (ESMT-2026-0061) 7. Sewer Main Extension (LDIR-2025-0056) Stonehill Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 3 (ESMT-2026-0062) 8. Adero Park Subdivision No. 1 Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No. 1 (ESMT-2026-0063) 9. Adero Park Subdivision No. 2 Water Main Easement No. 2 (ESMT- 2026-0064) 10. Adero Park Subdivision No. 2 Water Main Easement No. 3 (ESMT- 2026-0065) 11. Adero Park Subdivision No. 2 Water Main Easement No. 4 (ESMT- 2026-0066) Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 5 of 18 12. Windrow Subdivision No. 1 Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 2 (ESMT- 2026-0067) 13. Final Plat for Gramercy Townhomes (FP-2025-0032) by Elton Development, located at 1873, 1925 and 2069 Wells Ave. 14. Final Order for Burnside Ridge Estates No. 1 (FP-2025-0013) by Kimley-Horn, generally located 1/3 mile south of W. Victory Rd. on the west side of S. Linder Rd. 15. Final Order for Burnside Ridge Estates No. 2 (FP-2025-0021) by Kimley-Horn, generally located 1/2 mile north of W. Amity Rd. on the west side of S. Linder Rd. 16. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Callen Condominiums (SHP-2026-0002) by KM Engineering, LLP, located at 4855 N. Cortona Way 17. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Driftwood Townhomes Subdivision (H-2025-0051) by Brighton Corporation, generally located north of W. Ustick Rd. (Parcel #R1931270100) on the west side of N. Venable Ln. 18. Agreement for Use of Kleiner Park for Capital Community Egg Hunt Special Event by Capital Christian Center, Inc. 19. License Agreement Between the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation and the City of Meridian Regarding Renaissance Park Land Encroachment 20. Release and Settlement Agreement with Idaho Petroleum Clean Water Trust Fund, on behalf of Paul's Service, Inc. 21. Approval of award AIA 13133-2019 agreement to Rice Fergus Miller for the Fire Station Remodel Design Services for the Not-to-Exceed amount of$288,415.00.00 22. Fiscal Year 2026 net-zero Budget Amendment in the amount of $4000 for Community Events Expenses 23. City of Meridian Financial Report - February 2026 Simison: Okay. With that we will move on to the Consent Agenda. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 6 of 18 Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: There are no changes to tonight's Consent Agenda. I move that we approve the Consent Agenda, for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest. Little Roberts: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the Consent Agenda is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND RECOGNITION Simison: So, we will move on to any announcements and recognition from Council? PUBLIC FORUM Simison: Okay. Mr. Clerk, anyone signed up under public forum? Johnson: Mr. Mayor, nobody signed up. Simison: No one signed up under public forum. DEPARTMENT REPORTS [Action Item] 24. Commercial Property Assessed Capital Expenditure (C-PACE) Program Guidebook Discussion Simison: Okay. Then we will move right on into our Department Reports for this evening. First item is -- up is 24, which is a Commercial Property Assess Capital Expenditure or C-PACE program. Invite up Curtis Calder for continuation of this discussion. Calder: Good evening -- good evening, everyone. Nice to be here again. Third time is a charm probably. Hopefully. On January 20th, that's the last time we met, and we had some subject matter experts on C-PACE here to answer some of the technical questions about what we were proposing. At the conclusion of that meeting and over the course of several weeks I assembled a draft document that's before you tonight, so -- Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 7 of 18 Simison: Curtis, if you can make sure you get into the mic. Calder: Okay. So, the document that's in -- that's in the packet is the result of several weeks off and on of assembling this based on a template that was available through the -- the law firm that was at the meeting, as well as looking at the other C-PACE programs that have been approved throughout the state. So, this is specific to Meridian. Has been reviewed by the city attorney's office and is, essentially, complete with a few blanks that need to be filled in. So, some of the feedback received during the January 20th meeting pertained to the proposed fee structure. In the current draft I stuck with the statutory maximums, which is a 500 dollar application fee and a one percent loan service fee, with a maximum amount of 50,000 and while I don't envision the C-PACE program would ever become a revenue generator of any consequence for the city, any of those fees generated could offset all or some of the costs to administer the program, whether it was done internally or whether we contracted it out. The language in the -- in the current document does allow the option to contract this out. Also based on my last visit to the Council there was discussion as to how a C-PACE program would be -- would be received by the development community. For example, would we go to the trouble of establishing a program and no one would use it or could it be perceived that we were establishing the program for one or two projects only? While those are valid concerns, they are kind of high -- they are hypothetical in nature. So, one of the things have -- had done is reached out to the one C-PACE project that's actually been funded in the state of Idaho and reached out to that developer to get their feedback and so Ryan Nelson, who is the founder and CEO of Sweetwater Companies, they are a development company based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are the developer of the Madison Station multi-family project in Rexburg, Idaho. Him and his team worked with the city of Rexburg to develop their C-PACE program because it was early on after the legislature passed the law and they closed on a 15 million dollar C-PACE package in early 2025. They were the first C-PACE loan closed in the state of Idaho and to their knowledge they are the only one that's actually closed on a loan. But additionally -- and probably most importantly, Mr. Nelson stated that if it had not been for the C-PACE funding phase two of that project would not have moved forward. It was that close. It was the difference in the -- the interest costs and so that brought an additional 200 plus units of multi-family housing to Rexburg, which is currently under construction right now. So, in closing, if the Council wishes to advance the C-PACE program we would need to bring back the resolution of intent. There is a draft in here for you to look at, but we could bring that back as early as April 7th and, then, we could set the required public hearing for either April 21 st or 28th and, then, adopt the resolution establishing the program at that -- that same meeting. So, with that I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about the document or anything else related to the C-PACE program. Simison: All right. Thank you, Curtis. And, Council, if I could just add on to one component. You know, because some of this conversation was around do we contract out with somebody or do it internally and in my conversation with Curtis, you know, the basic question is if an application -- if we started this program and an application came in tomorrow is there anything in your current work portfolio that would prevent you from being able to execute that in the -- in this current term that would be delayed? While he Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 8 of 18 has got some projects that are there, we -- we felt like the best way to start this is to leave -- not do a contract, have it internal, help understand what the true impacts and ways of doing it are. You know, the -- economic development is one of those things where sometimes have something tangible output and if it's a part of a cost recovery plan for the position, that's great. But since we don't know if or when it will be utilized, even sometimes when you set up a contract with somebody and they aren't getting work from you, it's not necessarily always the best outcome either. So, until we -- until we at least get one in and see what the workload expectations -- that that would be at least my recommendation to you is to have it remain as an internal process and, then, Curtis can value proposition after -- if we get any and he does -- does one, if we need to look to outsource that to somebody. So, that would at least be my recommendation if we move this forward at this time. Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: So, I will just kind of chime in on -- on that a little bit. That was probably the -- the thing that I left from our last conversation was I would prefer -- I want to make sure that the developers are paying for the administrative cost of that, which is why it would lead me to say let's contract it out, but I think you make a valid point, we don't know how much time is going to be used and there is probably some value in Curtis, you know, spending time, like making sure that the program is set up the way it should be set up and so just as long as the fees are kind of repaying for the time for Curtis to do that probably am okay with that and probably makes some sense to -- to keep it in house. But for me that was important that there was no, you know, cost pass along to the city to do this work for developers. So, as long as they are paying for that, whether it was -- if it was contracted out that would be easier to say, well, you are going to pay for that. If we are going to do that in house I just want to make sure that we are being paid for the work that we are doing, so -- Mr. Mayor, if I may just one quick question for Curtis. Simison: Yes. Taylor: Just remind me -- and, again, I think we talked about it, but my memory is full of a lot of stuff, so I might have just forgot the detail without looking at my notes. The -- the Rexburg project was a multi-family project, but the C-PACE program is not -- can be used for any variety of commercial projects; right? It's not just for multi-family. Calder: Yeah. That -- that -- that's correct. They are -- when you research it there is a lot of multi-family that's used, but it's not specific to multi-family, it can be for industrial, it can be for, you know, even agricultural and the statute allows for that, so -- Simison: And just general commercial office. Calder: Yeah. Correct. Anything commercial. Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 9 of 18 Simison: That -- that's where -- multi-family and general commercial is where we anticipate the -- the likelihood of someone utilizing this. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Just a couple of comments. Curtis, thank you for coming back three times to help us understand how this process works, because I think it -- I think we have come to understand it a lot better and truly understand that what this creates is kind of a -- a unique funding opportunity that's not for everybody, but it is for some and the fact that you have kind of solved the one big question that we all had, that Councilman Taylor brought up, which is we don't want to bring on a new program that puts the burden or costs on our taxpayers. We want to make sure that there is a cost recovery written into it and it sounds like we have got that handled. So, I think you have -- you have answered all the questions, you have taken care of the -- the cost model, so that we know that it's going to be handled and it won't be at the expense of the city or taxpayers and, hopefully, we will find a good applicant that this will work for and we will get to see it come to fruition in the future. Calder: Thank you. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor. Curtis, thank you very much for all the work that you have put into this. As you have been kind of studying it and putting it together have you seen projects -- like what's like maybe the smallest project you have seen or things like that that we might have a variety -- I guess we are just -- where there is only one in Idaho guess I'm just so focused on we are looking at a 15 million dollar project potentially. Calder: Yeah. That -- that's a great question. I have researched it in other states and looked at some of these capital providers and what types of projects they financed and I would say on -- on the largest side I have seen projects upwards of 65 million dollars. That would be something very large. Something that's more typical is a three to five million dollar project. So, not even as big as the Rexburg. There seems to be a lot of projects in that range and there appears to be some mechanism at least in some states -- I don't know if it would apply in Idaho -- where people have refinanced projects. So, again, not sure if that's allowable in Idaho, but in other states that seems to be something they are using it for. Little Roberts: Okay. Thank you. Follow up? Simison: Council Woman Little Roberts Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 10 of 18 Little Roberts: Just would like to say that in my years in economic development -- I mean this seems to make sense. I was kind of a little hesitant probably at first, because it's a different realm of incentive if you would be and so -- but it's typical to put your incentive packages together before you have someone. So, I think the city being ready for it, with you at the helm and looking at outsourcing it if and when that needs to happen, is the right way to go. So, I'm very supportive of where we are now to continue with it. Calder: Thank you. Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. And thanks, Curtis. I appreciate you providing the information. I think with this I'm looking at it kind of like a pilot program. I'm a little bit skeptical and I'm concerned we are going to put a lot of work into something that's not going to return a lot of applicants, but I'm open to trying it since you say you have the capacity to work on it. I would just be very hesitant to put any additional resources, whether it's time or money or headcount into this program unless it's really being utilized and we can see that it's paying for itself, similar to Councilman Taylor's concerns. So, you got kind of a cautious word late from me. Go for it. From my perspective just please keep track of how much time and effort you are spending and we will make sure that it's -- you know. Calder: Okay. Thank you. Simison: And I think it just -- I think we are -- we are done with the investment in the program creation, except for maybe putting up on our website. I think really that's a -- you know, however we communicate this out we are -- we are at the done part until we get our first application. So, no more resource allocation necessary unless we get an application, then, we will find out what that looks like. Calder: Mr. Mayor, that's correct. I think all the heavy lifting is done. I think most of the -- the remainder to make it official is up to the Council in adopting a resolution and holding a public hearing and saying the program's active and, then, we put it up on our website and we have it available for developers or contractors to at least look at, research, see if it's a program they would be interested in and it's a great tool to have, but it's just one of many tools in a toolbox. Simison: Or in our case in Idaho one of the few tools in the toolbox, as I was informed earlier of this today by Curtis that even some of the tools the state has done in the past may be not even there because of the current budget situation. So, any tool may be important to development looking at Idaho. Okay. Well, Council, with that we will bring this back with the appropriate next steps with legal and you will see this in the coming weeks -- or month. Calder: Okay. Thank you. Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 11 of 18 25. Standard Operating Policy Discussion: Signature Policy Simison: All right. Okay. Next item up is Item 25, standard operating policy discussion. Mr. Nary. Nary: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council. What you have before you is a proposed policy that actually is probably one of the most common questions my office gets from a department is who can sign it and, then, where does it go? And so we have all -- we have been doing these for years. All of this practice has been done basically through repetition and all of the departments have followed policies that have been in place informally by Finance and through this Council in the past and the Mayor's office in the past and so it's always been done pretty routinely, but it's never been codified or collected into a written policy clearly so all departments can simply look at it, look at the table, look at where it would go, where does it sign and they -- and that avoids a phone call to say does the Mayor have to sign this or not? Does it have to go to Council or not? Where does it go? So, I had Ally from our team work with all the departments and Finance and procurement to basically take the existing practices we have been doing and put it all into a policy format so it was clearer, create a table that you have attached as part of the procedures, so that, again, hopefully, the departments in the future when they call and say who has to sign it, then, we can say did you look at the policy, look at the procedure that's in the table. This is where it goes. Again, the majority of the things that are on there are things that should be familiar to all of you, things that you see normally as part of Council's normal business of agreements, joint powers, leases, easements such as that. Most of the other things that you should see on the table are things that are probably approved -- many of them are approved to the Council level, either through the budgeting process or some other form and, then, this is -- this the mechanism to carry out the purchase of equipment or whatever else is necessary that doesn't require a Council level signature or approval secondarily, because the budget's already been done. So, that was the intent here was simply to capture the existing practice and we have ran it through all the directors a couple times and that's usually been the response feedback we have gotten is is this exactly how we have been doing it. I just want to know if there is anything changing. We said, no, but this is how -- we have just wanted to capture it all in a more clean format so everybody would know what we are doing and they would have a table to use and to make a little bit cleaner for everyone. So, we have run that through everything. It hasn't gone through the last step. After you folks review it, then, it goes back to the -- to the fire union for their review of policy and, then, would come back for a final approval by you. But this is just opportunity for both to introduce it to you, explain what it is. You have -- you don't have to provide feedback tonight if you want some time to think about it or -- we will be bringing it back. I -- I just want to move to the next step of the process. You have plenty of time to add more comment or any concerns or anything else you want us to consider changing we can certainly do that, so -- Simison: Thank you, Mr. Nary. Council, any questions? Council Woman Strader. Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 12 of 18 Strader: Yeah. The -- the only thing I thought of that I was wondering if we would want to clarify somewhere and I don't know if it would belong actually in this document, but you have had some confusion in the past about City Council budget amendments and if a City Council member doesn't feel comfortable with a budget amendment kind of what the process is to move that forward for discussion. It's not approving anything; right? So, it's a kind of a different signature issue, but I just wondered if we researched that, if that issue fits in here and you want to tackle that at the same time or if that's kind of a separate thing that you want to handle. I was just curious what your take was on that, should we look at that at the same time that we are looking at this. Nary: I guess maybe, Mr. Mayor, I can add some of the context of that. I mean I think the process on those has been pretty routinely informal over the years. I -- I think that hasn't been particularly one that has had any -- really been captured, because, again, it's -- it's part of the process to get it to the Council agenda, not to necessarily approve it; right? The approval still has to come to the Council ultimately. So, that step of the process is part of just the internal process. So, however the Council would like that done or if you want that added in here we certainly can. It just hadn't been thought of. Most of these contracts or agreements in here are things that come through the budgeting to purchasing through finance, through an agreement of some sort and that's just a little bit different. That's more of internal until it ultimately gets in front of this -- for the entire Council to review the amendment. But we can certainly add it if you wish or if you want to do something else that's fine. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. I was more just curious if -- if we researched that issue and we found out that there was like a policy basis for how we are doing it. It sounds like there is not. This is just kind of how the City Council is -- is running its own internal operations and that's for us to handle that way. I was just curious, like is there a policy around that, because it's something that came up recently on a budget amendment and it just kind of got me thinking. That's all. So, if -- if there is not a policy that needs to be amended around that I'm fine, I was just -- it seemed like a related topic around signatures. That's why I was bringing it up. Nary: And there hasn't been a particular policy on that particular subject that I'm aware of. Simison: Yeah. I mean that -- that's more of a routing slip I think more than anything else. It has no effect or force of law compared to all these other items, which do bind the city to a certain outcome when they are -- when the appropriate person signs. So, will -- I will leave that to the Council President if he wants to bring up a separate related topic on that -- on that, but that's -- frankly, it's a Finance -- and our Finance director is not here to really -- I think, Jenny, do you have anything you want to add on that? She Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 13 of 18 is here, so she can at least weigh in. But I want to say that was a Todd implement many years ago. Fields: Mayor and Council Members, Council Woman Strader, this is not -- the budget amendment form is not part of the -- any policy. It's an internal document. It is a communication tool is to make sure that we have acknowledgments from the proper channels, like via director, Mayor and Council liaison of that department. Then the formal process comes to Council agenda, then, you guys appropriate or deny. So, to answer your question it is not part of any informal policy. It's simply a communication tool. Strader: Thanks, Jenny. Fields: Yep. Simison: Okay. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: I don't know if you still need that input, but based upon what we just heard from Finance I think we can -- I feel safe moving forward with what you have presented so far, not including the enhancements, because I think that's a whole separate Item than what we are intending this new policy to address. Nary: All right. I will do that. Thank you. Simison: Okay. Well, we will take this to the parties to be with the local and you will see this back at some point in time in the future. Thank you. PUBLIC HEARINGS [Action Item] 26. Public Hearing for Community Input on Meridian's Community Development Block Grant Program Action Plan Simison: Okay. With that we will move on to our public hearings for this evening. First item up is Item 26, which is a public hearing for community input on Meridian's Community Development Block Grant program action plan. We will open this public hearing with comments from Ms. Campbell. Campbell: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council. I'm excited to be here to kick off another year of the CDBG program. Just a quick reminder of what CDBG is. If can get it to change. Is it ready? Okay. So, quick overview. This is a grant that we have received directly from HUD and it is to provide housing stability for our low-to- moderate income residents. Low-to-moderate income is designated by 80 percent or Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 14 of 18 less of the area median income. So, we have three guiding documents that we use to implement this program. The first one is our five year plan where we develop our goals for the next five years and, then, each year we do our annual action plan where we identify the specific projects that we are going to put the funding toward and, then, at the end of the year, then, we do our CAPER, which is the -- just shows the progress. So, when you are thinking about CDBG and you are curious about like who actually benefits from this -- so, as I mentioned it's 80 percent of the area median income from Meridian residents and what this actually looks like is for a four person household that would be a max of 85,600 dollars per year that they could make and still qualify for this program. So, it's actually based on what our incomes are here and our housing affordability, it's -- it's pretty high and there is a lot of people who qualify for it. For housing accessibility the median rent is -- according to realtor.com is 2,600 dollars a month roughly and for housing to be considered accessible, then, it should be less than 30 percent of your income. So, to afford rents here, then, you would need to make about 104,000 dollars to have it be affordable. , So typical jobs that we are seeing in Meridian -- this is based on 2025 data from Department of Labor. So, all these jobs that are listed here, the people would typically qualify for our programs. So, office and admin support, sales and customer service, healthcare support, food service, transportation and maintenance, teaching, educational support. So, it really qualifies a lot of people. So, this public hearing I'm here today to get input from the community, from all of you to make sure that we are going in the right direction. We want to make sure that our consolidated plan stays relevant. We want to evaluate what we have done in previous years and make sure those projects still work for us and we want to go with the targeted approach where if we are seeing a specific service that's missing in the community that will help with housing stability, that we are reaching out to them directly to ask them to -- to apply for our program. So, as we are looking at what we have done in previous years, this most recent year that ended in September, we funded Jesse Tree's emergency rental assistance program and they helped 22 households when their goal was 20 and they spent 43,698 dollars. Boys and Girls Club youth scholarships. They were also really successful. The goal doesn't reflect this very well though. They served 38 students, but their goal was originally 87. They had a hard time projecting what they thought it would cost and so we worked with them a lot to get a better idea of how much it would be to help the same student with the different programs that they have throughout the year. So, like the summer program and not just counting like the -- the beginning of the school year programs. So, that did drastically reduce it, but they still did really good work and they spent about -- almost 35,000 dollars. And, then, with Neighbor Works Boise they had intended to serve eight -- eight households to repair their homes and they ended up doing seven. They were a little bit under spent. Their original award was 160,000 dollars, but they couldn't really do another project for less than 10,000 dollars, so that's why that was returned. So, as far as city projects, then, we were working on the Northwest 2nd and Northwest 3rd walkability. It was mostly completed in -- in the previous program year, but we did finish the streetlights that were associated with it at the beginning of this year. So, in total it was almost 255,000 dollars that was put toward that project and we are currently working on the Northwest 7th walkability project and there is a map of it. It's kind of small, so sorry for -- that it's hard to see. But it's out to bid right now, so we are hoping to get started on that pretty soon. So far we have Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 15 of 18 invested almost 53,000 dollars into that one and any funding that we have will go towards that. As far as lessons learned -- so, this was the first city-led construction project. So, I am not typically the project manager for these, but it was something that we see -- we thought that it would be important for me to be able to learn, so that we could make these projects more efficient and just move a little bit quicker instead of trying to get other people to manage these projects for us. So, I worked with Parks and Rec quite a bit to learn a lot from them and, then, as I mentioned with Boys and Girls Club closer collaboration to increase the impact per participant and get better reporting on what we are actually doing. So, the total funding that we had available last year was 790,000 dollars and we spent almost 500,000 of that. You can see here we spent 78,000 dollars in public services, 150,000 in housing, 245 in public improvements, 23,000 on admin and, then, the remaining 293,000 is going towards the Northwest 7th project. So, we have our competitive applications opening up on April 1st. So, that's just next week. We have two separate applications. There is the public service one and, then, housing. So, they are not competing for the same funding. We always provide the maximum that we can for public services and we are guessing it's going to be around 80,000 dollars again this year. Again our current projects are emergency rental assistance and the youth scholarships, just as an idea of what we have done in the past. For housing we are guessing it's going to be right around 200,000 again and the only one we currently have is the homeowner repair one and, then, we also have our internal projects that we are guessing we will be able to put an additional 200,000 toward. So, our tentative timeline -- the application will be open the month of April. In May we will have our scoring committee recommend projects and, then, I will enter that into our action plan and that will be open for public comment. The month of June I have mostly on your -- on your agenda for June 2nd that I will be here for a public hearing at the beginning of it and, then, I will be doing community outreach throughout the month of June. And July 7th will be the final public hearing and, then, we will close the public comment period then. So, people are definitely invited to reach out to me if they have any comments on it and with that I will stand for questions. Simison: Thank you, Crystal. Council, any questions? Okay. Thank you very much. And, Crystal, are you going to want this public hearing left open? Campbell: No. That's okay. Simison: Okay. All right. Appreciate it. Campbell: Thank you. Mr. Clerk, do we anyone signed up on this item? Johnson: Mr. Mayor, no. Simison: Okay. Is there anybody present who would like to provide testimony on this item, either online you can use the raise your hand function or if you are in the room you can come forward. Seeing no one raising their hand or coming forward, do I have a motion? Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 16 of 18 Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: I move that we close the public hearing for community input on Meridian's Community Development Block Grant Program Action Plan. Little Roberts: 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 -- ayes have it and the public hearing is closed. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 27. Public Hearing for Proposed Fee Increase related to Returned Payment Fee Simison: Thank you very much. With that we will move on to Item 27, which is a public hearing for a proposed fee increase related to return payment fee and we will open this public hearing with comments from Jenny. Fields: Hello again. This is our return payment fee that we would like to formally add back to our fee schedule that was inadvertently taken off during our last fee update. don't have a presentation prepared, but I will stand for any questions. Simison: Thank you. Council, any questions? Seeing none -- all right. Mr. Clerk, anyone signed up on this item? Johnson: Mr. Mayor, nobody signed up. Simison: Okay. Is there anybody present who would like to provide any comments on this item or either online you can use raise your hand or in the room come forward. Seeing no one coming forward or raising their hand, do I have a motion? Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Move that we close the public hearing for the proposed fee increase related to return payment fee. Little Roberts: Second. Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 17 of 18 Simison: Have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. Is there any discussion? If not in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the public hearing is closed. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 28. Resolution 26-2575: A Resolution Adopting a New Fee for Returned Payments; and authorizing the Meridian Finance Department to Collect Such Fee Simison: Next item up is Item 28, Resolution No. 26-2575. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor, I move that we support Resolution 26-2575, a resolution adopting a new fee schedule for return payments and authorizing the Meridian Finance Department to collect such fee. Overton: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve Resolution No. 26-2575. Is there discussion? If not, all favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the resolution is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. FUTURE MEETING TOPICS Simison: Council, anything under future meeting topics? Or do I have a motion to adjourn? Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: I move that we adjourn. Little Roberts: Second. Simison: Motion and second to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed. nay? The ayes have it. We are adjourned. Meridian City Council March 24,2026 Page 18 of 18 MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6.44 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON 4-7-2026 ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK 4-7-2026