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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-04-28 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session April 28, 2026. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:32 p.m., Tuesday, April 28, 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, Steve Siddoway, Christena Barney. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE X Liz Strader X Brian Whitlock Anne Little Roberts _X_ John Overton _X_ Doug Taylor _X_Luke Cavener X Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call this meeting to order. For the record it is April 28th, 2026, at 4:32 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item is adoption of the agenda. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: We need to remove Items 11 and 12 from tonight's workshop agenda. Other than that I move we approve the agenda with those modifications. Little Roberts: Second. Simison: Have a motion to approve the agenda with Items 11 and 12 removed. 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 as amended. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the April 14, 2026 City Council Regular Meeting 2. Brundage Estates Subdivision No. 2 Pedestrian Pathway Easement (ESMT-2026-0081) Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 2 of 18 3. Briar Ridge Subdivision No.1 Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No. 1 (ESMT-2026-0094) 4. Records Apartments Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement No. 3 (ESMT-2026-0095) 5. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for CenterCal Expansion Subdivision (SHP-2026-0003) by The Land Group, located at 3395 E. Longwing Ln. 6. Fiscal Year 2026 Net-Zero Budget Amendment in the amount of $31,200 for Alive @25 Instructor Grant Funding 7. Fiscal Year 2026 Net-Zero Budget Amendment Request in the Amount of $10,000.00 for Fire Prevention Education Materials 8. Resolution No. 26-2585: A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Meridian Appointing Brad Hoaglun to the Meridian Utility Billing Review Committee; and Providing an Effective Date 9. Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Audit Report Simison: Next is the Consent Agenda. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: I move 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. DEPARTMENT REPORTS [Action Item] 10. Parks and Recreation Commission Annual Update Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 3 of 18 Simison: So, we will move on to Department Reports. Our first item up will be our Parks and Recreation Commission update, which will be delivered by Chair Woman Greer when she is ready. If she needs to take a moment to get ready that is perfectly fine. Appreciate you being here, Jo. Greer: Are you going to be moving the slides for me, Chris? Oh, I can still use it? Okay. I don't have a screen, so -- good afternoon, Mayor, Council Members. Thank you for your -- this opportunity to present the Meridian Parks and Recreation Commission update for 2026. 1 am Jo Greer, I am the chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission and I'm honored to share the progress we have made and our goals for this year. I don't think -- okay. Just want to make sure, because we may have updated this slide, so I want to make sure. Each year the Meridian Parks and Recreation Commission updates its list of goals for the coming year and we have currently identified ten goals we are actively working towards. In this presentation I will briefly tell you about some of the progress we have been making. Okay. Before we review the goals I want to take a moment to recognize a very special member of our Commission family. Last week we lost one of our longest serving commissioners John Nesmith and John served nearly 20 years starting in January of 2006 on the Parks and Recreation Commission. He was recognized just last fall with a plaque for 19 years of loyal dedicated service. John was a true Meridian native born and raised right here in the Treasure Valley. He was a successful businessman with Meridian Automotive, Nesmith Brothers Towing and Gem State Diesel. He was also a passionate race car driver, No. 11. Three time late model champion at Meridian Speedway and a fierce competitor in the regional series. What I remember most is the personal way that John touched my life and the lives of so many others around him. Throughout my entire time serving on the Commission since 2015 John was on the Parks and Recreation -- Recreation Commission. He nominated me vice-chair which follows up with being chair and was incredibly supportive of my growth and leadership and before I was on the Commission I was part of the Christmas in Meridian committee, which I'm still part of, and so he also sponsored some of the trophies and some that he was -- we had to get sponsors back in the day. So, he was helpful with that. He personally mentored me in running a car show over at the College of Western Idaho. He helped me with some car repairs, recommending the right shops and also guided me when I went to purchase a new vehicle. Giving me sound advice on maintenance needs and the ability to not be tied to a dealership. He stayed after meetings when I faced many losses. Offering understanding and comfort during times of grief. He even asked me to help with the landscape design and some of his site work after you updated his building in the Quonset Hut, as you probably all know. He was a person I always looked for at every meeting or event and one I could always visit with here. He was my mentor, my comrade and a very dear friend and I just never imagined to stay in Meridian without a John Nesmith. So, he was also actively involved in pathway related efforts as part of the Parks and Recreation Commission and he participated in the Meridian Pathways strategic advisory work, including the Urban Land Institute panel and Presentation on Pathways. He also served on the City Impact Fee Advisory Committee where he helped review and recommend impact fees to ensure growth pays for its share for parks, pathways and other infrastructure. So, his contributions were significant to many Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 4 of 18 of the accomplishments we are going to be highlighting today. I'm getting through this. Okay. John's steady presence, his practical wisdom and his unwavering commitment to our community will be greatly missed and on behalf of the entire commission I want to extend our deepest condolences to his family and thank them for sharing John with us all through these years. We will carry his spirit forward in everything we do. And while this is my own experience I know there are thousands of stories like this because he was there for everyone in the same way. That's just who he was though. I was really rattled by hearing of this news. So, he was really proud of the work we were doing. And I know that he was specifically part of pathways. We had committees way back when I started on the commission where we would have to meet and go over different areas of the city that we were dealing with and he was on pathways and I know that he was part of the signage for the pathways. So, if you see the signs he was part of that existing, so -- okay. Moving on. Got through it without tears. That's good. Goal number one. It is our top priority this year to participate in the design and programming of the new community center. We have been actively involved from the very beginning. I was even on -- I think the original block -- whatever the -- what we were going to be doing downtown that didn't happen. Our commissioners have attended design meetings, provided resident feedback and participated in the groundbreaking and the project is moving forward beautifully and we are excited for what this will mean for our community. I just drove by there. Dirt moved. So, that's a good sign. That's exciting. And it's been a long time coming. Goal two is to support the development of a connected pathway system across the city with special attention to user experience, amenities and improve connectivity. We are happy to report the progress that we have made so far. I wish I would have brought some more photos. The pathway section under Highway 16 is now finished and we just had a pathways tour last week -- last week -- two weeks ago. Our last meeting. We were on bikes and we rode from Owyhee High School -- right? Owyhee. Down to the trail hub and back I think. But we got -- and my big thing was going under Highway 16, because having, you know, an underpass is kind of a new concept and pretty exciting and my big thing -- I grew up on a farm and it makes me think of like a canal bridge and the canals were always full, so we were not allowed around them, but when the water was out I always liked to go explore, because -- so, I was fascinated with going underneath this overpass or underpass and if you have not been down there I would just recommend that you take a stroll. The construction is massive. There is a lot of concrete. So, I'm a construction nerd. It was pretty exciting to see. Also construction started on the Rail With Trail Corridor segment. Again this is something from way back when I started that was -- it was spoken of and mentioned. There was a lot of -- there were a lot of people involved in getting it going, but it hadn't really made any progress at that time and, honestly, when I would listen to people present it didn't sound like it was going to move anywhere. So, to be standing there -- we actually went to that site to check it out and there is construction. There is a part of the segment for Rails With Trails started. So, it's really exciting. And, of course, the Five Mile Creek Trail Hub restroom will be installed in the near future. They also had that cleared and ready to go for the restrooms. So, these improvements are already making our trails safer and more enjoyable for everyone. I think -- just wanted to make a note that Kim Warren is our pathways specialist. I know that she had a lot to do with most of these things happening, so we are really fortunate Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 5 of 18 to have her. Goal three is feeding off of that one. It is to participate in the development of the Pathways Master Plan update and the updated plan is in its final stages. It was presented to the commission for our feedback and final edits are being completed. This plan will guide pathway developments of course for years to come. Goal number four is to continue providing feedback for ongoing park improvements and enhancements. This year we have already seen a new sidewalk in Fuller Park that creates a much safer walk to school. The brand new Ninja Style Challenge course at Discovery Park and expanded Discovery Dog Park and a new shade structure at Kleiner Community Garden. Shade structures was also one of the committees that was with pathways way back then, so it's exciting -- this is just an addition to the other shades out there. So, it's -- I don't know. It's pretty remarkable to have been here from the beginning of some of these things just being in the discussions. Each of these enhancements came directly from resident input and commission recommendations. Goal five is partnership with the Meridian Arts Commission to add theming and identity -- identity reinforcing art in our parks and along pathways. We are pleased to see new themed public art installed at Chateau Park and one of our parks commissioners continue to serve on the art selection committee for the new community center and, then, if we do have art or anything that comes up for the art selection committee or the commission typically whoever is chair gets to be part of that. So, I have been able to participate in some of the art pieces, which is really exciting. It's just another avenue that you get to be part of. You know, I love Meridian. And so these pieces are already becoming beloved landmarks. And goal six to support future improvements at Lakeview Golf Course. Pond improvements have been completed and on course restrooms are now installed and coming very soon is a new iron fence along Black Cat Road. Smoothing out Club House Drive and rebranding the new signage and these upgrades will enhance both the player experience and appearance of this community gem. I don't know if you guys are golfers. I am, so it's pretty exciting. Goal seven is to pursue a future park site in northwest Meridian's Fields District and we are pleased to report that the land purchase for this future site has been completed. This is a major step towards serving the growth -- or the growing northwest part of our city, which is where I live, so for me it's -- these are all kind of great for me honestly. Goal number eight. So, this is to engage other task force commissions, entities and agencies through workshops and outreach to partnership opportunities. We have strengthened relationships with the Arts Commission, Meridian Library District, Meridian Food Bank, Idaho State Parks, as well as other cities, other agencies with their parks and rec. We get reports from them and I know there is a lot of communication between our parks and rec department and the other cities to try to bring together -- especially like the pathways, so that we have interconnectivity between the different areas, so those are always kind of fun, because it also -- if you sit in on one of those meetings you actually get to see like how far ahead Meridian is and all of this just from all of the effort that's been put forth to connect both sides. Okay. Number nine. This is to support ongoing operations at the Meridian pool. This year the team has rebuilt the starting blocks, refurbished the old pool motor, reduced operational costs and had one of the best staffing years ever and the pool continues to be a favorite summertime destination for families in Meridian and it also is a lot nicer to look at since it was being handled by -- I know Garrett White usually gives a lot of reporting on the pool, so I know he is really involved. Goal ten. This is to Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 6 of 18 pursue improved communication tools and opportunities to engage the community in diverse interests. We recently added an interactive pathways map to the city website making it easier than ever for residents to find and explore a trail system. So, if you have an opportunity to go look at that. Race through that one, but -- so that is -- those are our community goals, our -- are all commission goals for this year and every year we go through these and kind of re-prioritize depending on kind of what's happening. So, if something didn't happen last year we pushed it to the next list or sometimes something doesn't happen and it gets removed or it's not relevant any longer, so -- yeah. So, do you have any questions? Simison: Thank you -- thank you, Jo. Council, any questions? Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor. Jo, first of all thank you so much. The commission does an amazing amount of work and is greatly appreciated and appreciate your work as chair. And thank you for the tribute to John. That was greatly appreciated. So, can you tell us any more about rebranding Lakeview? Greer: That would probably be a Steve answer. Siddoway: Test. Test. Okay. We did take this to the Commission back in March with the presentation. We are zeroing in on a -- a new logo and things to do some new signage with that will be coming to the Council, but we are -- we got some feedback from the commission. We have taken that back to the consultants. We are not completely settled internally that we are ready to bring it forward. So, there is still some -- some ongoing work, but I would expect to see it in the coming months. Simison: Council, any additional questions? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Chairman Greer, again, thanks -- thanks for being here. One, for the report and, two, for a great tribute. It was just -- it was great. Really really great and your ability to continue on amazes me. I would have been in a puddle, so I appreciate that. My question is just very simple. I love our parks commission and they are always enthusiastic about kind of the next big thing, some of the things that you guys are kind of dreaming of, conceiving of, can you give Council a flavor like what are the things that gets Chairman Greer excited about our parks commission moving forward? Simison: Microphone is not working. Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 7 of 18 Greer: Chris is really on it. So, you are getting a test today, Chris. Honestly, when we have things brought to the commission that we have a request for input, that's probably the thing that gets us going the most, because, you know, as a commission we hear from a lot of different agencies or we hear staff reports and so we have a general idea of what's going on. So, things that are new or upcoming that's when we get excited I think. A new park is exciting, because when -- when I started we were opening parks -- I don't know how many. We have opened quite a few. Which I always go take pictures, photos of the plaques; right? Because on the restrooms if you are on the commission you need one there. Same as City Council, but -- so, yep. Which I took one at the last -- at our last trip. So, I think -- I mean it's mainly just knowing that even though we have a really good system set up and it -- just a good parks situation in general, that there are still future parks, you know, in -- that are in the planning or as part of the future overall planning. Simison: Council, anything -- anything else? Okay. Thank you, Jo. Appreciate you. Greer: Yeah. Thank you. I -- I didn't -- I held it together, because I was -- I had already been crying for two days, so -- I was worried, but -- Simison: We -- we appreciate you -- yes. Okay. Council, we are going to take a five minute break, so we can reset some of the AV issues in the room. So, standby. (Recess) 13. Employee Benefits Plan Trust Update Simison: All right. We will go ahead and come back from our break and we will move on to Item 13, which is the employee benefits plan trust update, which I'm not sure if this would be done by Mr. Howell or Christena or who wants to kick it off? Okay. Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Just before this just wanted to -- quick disclosure. I do some contract work with Regents Blue Shield strictly related to state level lobbying services. I did have our city attorneys do a conflict of interest check and analysis, which we have done today and found no conflict of interest. So, I'm comfortable participating in the discussion and any future votes. But wanted to disclose that and if you have any questions happy to answer any. Simison: Thank you. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Mr. Cavener. Cavener: Just real quick is -- I think it's been consistent when we have had a -- a trust presentation I would just like to put on the record that my wife is the director of Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 8 of 18 government affairs for Regents. Her responsibilities include representing Regents on state issues and lobbying at the state level on public priorities on behalf of Regents and their industry. Her tasks do not include soliciting business from local government agencies responding to RFP -- RFPS on behalf of Regents or making decisions about whether to pursue new accounts. Her role does not put her in position to vote or otherwise influence any decisions to bid or accept a bid on a particular account. She has a set -- a fixed salary and receives no commission salary, increases or bonuses when Regents obtains new accounts. I think, Council, I have committed to providing that disclosure after meeting with the city attorney's office last year. I will continue to do that at every point that we have a trust presentation. If any member of the Council feels that I need to recuse myself, I'm -- I'm happy to take that under advisement as well. Simison: Thank you, Councilman. Anyone else? All right. We are good. Barney: All right. Thank you, Mayor and Council, for having us this evening. This is our quarterly trust update. We committed to you last year to provide quarterly updates following the quarterly submissions to -- submissions to DOI. So, as we move through this this first slide is a snippet of the actual filing with the Department of Insurance. So, what you are looking at is a reconciliation of our surplus. So, it shows the total surplus at the beginning of the year and, then, it also shows the prior year in comparison. The total net gain or losses for that period, any additional surplus that's received -- so that was the 1 .5 million that the Council approved and, then, the total surplus at the end of the quarter, which is at 2.5 million. And, then, the next slide is the adequate -- adequacy of the surplus. So, it's showing the total surplus at the quarter end, the minimum surplus required and, then, any excess or deficit in that surplus. Howell: So, that's the first update in a while where there has been an excess there. So, thank you for working with us last year on -- on that contribution to surplus. Just as an update on the utilization so far this plan year, our medical and pharmacy claims are down and this is just in the two months January and February of the current plan year. Medical and pharmacy claims are down 15 percent compared to the 2025 plan year. Medical on its own is down 23 percent. Pharmacy is up five and a half percent. We just have two claimants so far in this plan year who have exceeded 50,000. Neither of them have exceeded our stop loss. They are -- they are both still under a hundred thousand. Yeah. I think it went -- between the improved claims experience and also some increased funding for the 2026 plan year and some minor benefit changes that were made, our loss ratio that is our expenses, claims and administration expenses, compared to our funding, is at 89 percent. Anytime that number is below a hundred we are adding to surplus, which is a refreshing start to -- to the year. It's hard to tell too much of a story based on two months of experience, so looking at the -- at the last rolling 12 months our total costs are up 1.3 percent. Claims costs are up 4.9 percent. Those numbers are both -- they both smoothed out a lot in recent months. We had some more extreme volatility than that with large claims as you will recall in the -- in the prior period. Primary cost drivers continue to be outpatient services and high cost specialty medications. The highest cost of those continued to be cancer related, looking back at -- at the past 12 months. This slide is a summary of the 2025 plan year Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 9 of 18 experience where our -- our net loss ratio, again, the plan costs compared to our funding was at 117 percent. Yeah. Which we have -- yeah, we have talked through the -- the reasons for that in the past. Again with the funding changes, some benefit changes and just some improved experience down to 89 percent so far this plan year. This chart just represents the -- the Department of Insurance required reserve and surplus. The blue line that for the most part floats above that green shaded area. The green shaded area is the -- represents the total required reserve and surplus by DOI. The blue line is our actual -- the actual assets of the trust. Again, with the claims experience, taking a -- a sharp turn last year we dipped below that, but as Christena presented as of the last quarter we do have a -- we are in excess of the surplus requirement. The department does require that we maintain that -- that surplus and that we stay in excess of their -- of their requirement on a -- on a monthly basis. We file with them every quarter. So, that's -- that kind of coincides with the updates that we make here, but the goal is to -- and the requirement is to maintain that surplus month to month. Going into this next section, just want to define a few terms that we will use. Each year as we work with the trust to make decisions on benefits and funding for the upcoming year, a few things that we consider. One of them is benchmarking where we compare our benefits and our benefit costs to other agencies in the area. That's work that Gallagher does on behalf of the trust, as well as other agencies that we represent. Actuarial review. So, Gallagher actuaries perform an actuarial analysis of prior claims, apply trending to -- to project funding needs for the coming year. Those numbers are used to set rates and are approved by the Department of Insurance each year when we file. Market check. We had some discussion on this a couple of meetings ago. The last time we -- we did this process was 2019. This is where we will approach other carriers or third-party administrators in the market to make sure that we are receiving competitive rates on our administration fees, on our stop loss premiums, that -- the network discounts that we receive by partnering with them for access to their provider network are competitive. Just to ensure that -- that we are getting the -- the best deal possible, that our partnership with -- with that administrator and that carrier are a benefit to the trust and to the participants in the plan. So, we use the term market check. I will say that in our office the terms market check and RFP often are used interchangeably. However, in a -- I think especially in a government setting or in any -- any entity that -- that has a procurement department, RFP can kind of take on a -- a little bit of a bigger meaning and so that's -- that's why we kind of distinguish those terms here. When we talk about a market check we are -- we are talking about a process where we approach other carriers in the market to give us the intelligence of an RFP without some of the disruption and cost and -- and risk that can come with -- with what we often think about as a full blown RFP involving, you know, procurement. What the market check does well is testing the competitiveness of the admin fees, stop loss rates and network discounts that we are receiving. It validates some assumptions on trend and claims performance. Allows us to get some benchmarking from the carriers that we talked to. It applies pressure on our current vendors to -- to sharpen pricing if we find that there are other partners in the market that are willing to -- to be a little bit more competitive and it targets those specific levers of stop loss, pharmacy benefit management, third- party administration fees, instead of, you know, opening up the entire contract. Those -- those three in particular are where we find all of the savings to -- to be driven through Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 10 of 18 the process. Again the -- that full blown RFP that we often think about, especially in -- in government setting, that formal procurement and public bid process can invite proposals from vendors that aren't realistic options in our market. The rules of that process will often limit the ability to interact with vendors throughout the process and have meaningful dialogue and -- and questions and negotiation throughout the process. Creates lengthy questionnaires, administrative work on issues that our team already understands and, lastly, with the trust being a separate entity from the city, a procurement style RFP is typically not the best fit for this kind of review. So, our plan is to move forward with a -- with a market check where we do request proposals from -- from those vendors, but -- but with that more focused efficient data-driven process that -- that's typical of us with our clients, the -- through that process we can demonstrate due diligence, work with our actuaries to validate results and projections and get the best -- the most competitive rates that are available in the market through that process without some of the unnecessary disruption of -- of the full -- full blown RFP. So, our plan is to complete that market check over the next month and use the results in the projections that we will be making this summer for the 2027 plan. Anything you would add, Christena? Any questions? Simison: Thank you. Council, questions? Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you. Interesting. It's changed. Okay. I do have a number of questions, but one thing I -- I thought was important -- I was really glad and, actually, from some discussions with my colleagues that we asked for some of the correspondence back and forth between the trust and the Department of Insurance, because that to me -- to me I think these quarterly updates -- at least as a decision maker or someone who has input, right, that -- I understand that the trust is a separate entity from the City of Meridian, but certainly we have I think an important role in oversight. I guess my -- my expectation for quarterly updates is that it's not just a continuous discussion of market check versus RFP, but that like if you have some significant findings from the Department of Insurance, like an audit finding or other issues that that would be surfaced regularly and we should -- I don't think --just to provide candid feedback and in the spirit of being collaborative, I don't think we should have to request that. I think that those pieces of information should just be surfaced in a very transparent way, so that we can get our arms around it. I wanted to understand the audit process better. It's a five year audit. Does that mean it's done on a rolling five year basis and it's an annual audit or is it an audit every five years? Can you walk us through some of the findings around governance? And I have more detailed questions about our financial counterparties and stuff with finance, but if you could start there. Barney: Council Member Strader, so to be abundantly clear, I -- I thought I had put it in the e-mail. The findings are preliminary. So, we are still in the audit process. They are going through our records doing checks on various different claims and how they are processed, our internal processes as a trust, so some of those things may not actually make it to the final determination. It is absolutely our intent to bring that final determination and any findings in that to the Council for them to review. We do -- also do an annual audit. So, Eide Bailly does an annual audit on our trust. DOI does require Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 11 of 18 a five year audit, so it is every five years they go through and they hire a third party. So, that third party is not only auditing us as a trust, but DOI's practices and how that applies to our trust. So, some of those findings may be related to us and our processes, but it also may be related to DOI and their processes. Does that help? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: It -- it does help. I -- I guess when would we have -- when would the appropriate time be to have this conversation, then, regarding the audit findings? Like when will the audit be finalized and when do you think is the right time to have that conversation? Barney: We are hoping to get the audit finalized for the next couple of weeks. We are waiting for some of our vendors to provide the claim information that the auditor is requesting. As soon as they get that they can finalize that and, then, we will bring it back before you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: The timing is a little bit odd to me, just because I feel like if we are going to receive some audit findings and that's material to me, that's a material due diligence item as a decision maker, wouldn't it make more sense to do this kind of a quarterly update after we have those findings, so we could have a discussion about them? Do you feel uncomfortable discussing the preliminary -- and just be honest about where you are at? Do you feel uncomfortable discussing the preliminary findings? Should we revisit this in a couple of weeks once you have a chance to work through that? I just wanted to get everybody's opinion about that, because some of the preliminary findings are significant and raise questions for me. Barney: So, it was our intent to come back after the quarterly report that we file with DOI on the financials. That was the commitment that we made to Council. We were hoping that the audit would be completed by the time we came to this meeting. However, it has not. We are experiencing some issues with some of our carriers getting the claims that they are requesting. So, we are working through that. Ideally we would have been able to bring both before you and have this conversation, but because they are preliminary and they may not make the final I don't know that I can speak to that right now on behalf of the trust, because I am only one member of that trust board. Simison: And I think just to be fair, since we don't control when it's done, we -- they can say two weeks, it could still be another month. We can hope, but not guarantee. Barney: We were hoping the end of February, but we are now in the end of April. Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 12 of 18 Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: And just so I understand, the -- maybe what would be helpful is -- I think we will have a chance during open meeting topics, but this will come up in open meeting topics for me as a follow up for sure. I -- I don't want to put you in a position of discussing preliminary findings that you are not prepared to discuss. I don't think that that would be fair. But I do expect -- I think it's quite reasonable -- like some pretty detailed follow up about the governance, things that have come up in -- in the communication back and forth, as well as understanding how -- you know. And I'm hoping at least the finance team is looped in to some of the trust's work with some of the concerns around, you know, where our accounts are held, our counterparties, FDIC limits, like some of these questions. So, can -- can you talk about that? Is Todd Lavoie's team looped into this? Where are we at with that? Barney: So, from the very beginning the Finance Department has decided that they were not going to be a part of this trust. So, that's the reason that I did not loop the memo on this. That being said, a lot of these findings we determined we needed legal counsel to help us navigate. Unfortunately, about six months ago our trust legal counsel left us and so we have been in the process of finding new legal counsel who is actually here today. Allan Bosch. So, as we get that counsel on board now we can start to address some of these findings and absolutely will bring, you know, whatever resolution that is back to Council. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Is there any background on the departure of our previous legal counsel? Was that -- was -- was that for any specific reason? I hope it's not because of us. Like I just want to make -- make sure I understand the background on why our previous legal counsel is not supporting that. Simison: Counsel Nary. Johnson: Bill, your microphone -- sorry. I don't think your microphone's on. Nary: Oh. Strader: Our new system. Sorry. Nary: There we go. I thought I had them on. Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Strader, so we had a disagreement with our prior counsel over a billing issue and he sent us an e-mail saying I'm -- I'm going to step away and separate from the trust. So, that's why we have been in the process. We just hired Mr. Bosch at our Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 13 of 18 last meeting. So, he has been on board with us now for a few weeks and so we -- he is aware of some of this. He was at our last meeting. He is aware of the questions that were raised by the Department of Insurance, that they needed answers to, which we have provided. So, he has been involved for the last few weeks with us, so -- Strader: Uh-huh. Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just to react to all of that, I -- I think it would be more appropriate to have this discussion in a couple of weeks when -- when we have a -- a better sense of the audit and can ask follow-up questions. I -- I just -- I think that that's really important and I'm happy to take this off line with you all. And -- and with -- I would like to still discuss it with the finance team. I understand that they have opted out. I know if they are allowed to opt out from things like this, but we definitely want to chat with them as well and get their take on a couple things. Thanks. That's it for me today. Simison: Okay. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Recognizing that we are going to be talking about DOI at a later point in time, I do have a -- maybe a handful of questions about commitments that have been made by the trust over the past year and just trying to get an update on all of them. So, I can take them maybe one at a time if that's helpful. I know on April 22nd trust committed to improving outreach to employee dependence. I'm just curious how that's going and what the results are. Barney: I don't directly deal with that. That's something that I coordinate in my office. So, I will have to get back to you on what the status is on that. Cavener: Okay. Mr. Mayor, how about -- can you give us an update on the employee satisfaction survey? What were some of the top line results? What are the things you guys are most proud of? Barney: We are still processing those results. I believe the survey was -- ended about a week ago, so we are still processing those results, but we can bring that back to you as well. Cavener: Do you know when that survey was initially conducted? Barney: About a month ago. Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 14 of 18 Cavener: Okay. Mr. Mayor, how about -- can you give us an update on the GLP drug utilization data? Howell: Yeah. I'm just flipping to the -- to that information in our latest report. So, in this plan the GLP ones are not covered for weight loss, just for diabetes. Looking at our top drugs over the last 12 months, Mounjaro, which is a GLP, is our number three -- the number three top high cost drug spend with 169,000 dollars and 147 prescriptions over the last 12 months. Ozempic comes in at number nine with 55 prescriptions and just under 60,000 dollars in the last 12 months and those are the only two that I see off the top here. Cavener: Thank you for that. That's really good data. I appreciate that. I know one of the things that came up I think in our October hearing was about some proactive outreach to employees who work on shifts to be able to attend trust meetings. What's been the result of that? What's been the communication and has that resulted in greater employee attendance? Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I -- I guess I'm not -- I'm not totally sure what that commitment was. I mean we do notice all of the meetings, but I don't know. We -- we don't -- so, we didn't do anything more than that. I don't know what other -- I don't know other -- I don't know. We have never discussed what else we would do to -- to reach out to that. So, I don't know. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, in the -- in the January 24th meeting -- so, Council, for your benefit through a course of actions I spent a significant time going through all the minutes today and what came to me is -- is a handful of I think of commitments that have been made to the Council that either -- they -- they occurred and they just weren't circled back or maybe didn't happen. So, Mr. Nary -- and it's okay, I wouldn't expect you to recall almost a year ago, but during the -- the June 24th I think it was Council Member Little Roberts inquired about being able to support employees that don't work a traditional 8.00 to 5:00, for their ability to participate and attend and I think you and your office committed to doing some proactive outreach to find a mechanism to support those employees who work on shift work and I'm happy to highlight that and send it to you offline. I just was going through the list and trying to keep track of all the bouncing balls in terms of commitments that have made that likely have -- have occurred, but we just maybe haven't been informed about them. Nary: And we can certainly add that to our agenda for our meeting for a discussion on how would we do that, because, again, we notice all of the meetings and we do provide that notice publicly, but individually are separated to those that work off the normal 8:00 to 5.00 type of shift we haven't done any of that. So, we could add that as a conversation. Cavener: And, then, in October there was a request made to evaluate cancer specific cost management program for 2026. How is that program coming along and when do you anticipate being able to share the results with Council? Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 15 of 18 Howell: We are currently evaluating cancer and other cost management programs for the upcoming plan year. We are -- we have presentations scheduled with -- it's actually with the committee I believe with a number of vendors, so we should have updates on -- on those presentations over the next month or two. Cavener: Okay. Then I guess maybe my last question just -- can you give us a little bit more of a flavor about the timeline around this pulse check process, when it's set to begin, when conclusions will be made, when those conclusions will be shared with the Council? Howell: Yeah. So, the -- I think we were waiting for this meeting to just confirm that our intent on the market check. Our intent is to start that probably this week and have it completed within about a month after that. So, we have updates to the -- to the committee and the trust and for Council I would say by end of May, first of June on -- on those results. Cavener: Great. And those results will be provided to us at that time or will those results be held and, then, provided at the next quarterly update? Barney: I would ask what the Council's desire is. I'm happy to provide that information as it becomes available or we can hold off until the next quarterly meeting. That being said, we expect that -- the audit to be done soon and so we could couple it with that if the timing's right. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, just -- Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: -- my quick response on that is I think timeliness should be the default. Particularly related to the -- the -- the findings from the Department of Insurance and I would hope that when those results are received that those are sent to the Council immediately expedited. Likewise when it comes to the pulse check and whatever recommendations that the trust is looking to fall through on, I think those should be shared with the Council immediately, especially because that will have a budgetary impact as we move into the budget season. I would hope that we are, again, defaulting to expediting this information in a very transparent and an expeditious manner to the Council. Simison: Well, I -- I can speak on behalf of the -- I think the trust understands that this is one of two major issues impacting this budget and the budget when it gets delivered to Council will be scaled, because we won't have the answers to these questions going into when a budget book would need to be printed with information. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, if -- if I may. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 16 of 18 Cavener: I -- I agree a hundred percent with you. Feedback I -- I received today is that maybe Council isn't as deliberate providing that directness about what communication flow should look like. So, I'm trying to be responsive to that feedback that I have received and make sure that there isn't any question about that I think the Council should have that information ASAP and not held to a later presentation or to a -- a quarterly update. Simison: Council, any additional questions at this time? Okay. Thank you very much. Barney: For clarifying, then, so -- Simison: Yes. Barney: -- when we provide that information is it just simply sending an e-mail to Council? Do you want it on the agenda? What format would you like that in? Cavener: Both. Sorry, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, I -- I think that this is a matter of -- of the public's interest as well. So, certainly an e-mail to the Council, but that being included as part of the -- the agenda packet for the public to be able to review is to me a best practice. Barney: Thank you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I think it would be good for us to have an in-person meeting. I mean I think we can all discuss offline with the City Council president and the Mayor about future agendas, but it -- it just -- it feels to me like this is a pretty normal process like in the sense that we are in some growing pains, because we have established a newer entity and a new approach and it's been a couple of years, but I think we are having some growing pains that are pretty normal, but that are important around our governance and how we are managing the financials and the trust and just a lot -- kind of a combination of factors that make it so that it would be really smart for us to have a meeting. I think when those audit results are ready and hopefully around the same time you have this market update kind of feedback. Maybe we could just have a discussion on an agenda. That would be my suggestion, just so we could really get our arms around it. It's not about -- I -- I just want to kind of reset it. For me at least it's not about, you know, we all have things you can improve and the City of Meridian is indirectly responsible for this entity and it's hard, because we don't govern it directly, we govern it indirectly, creates some frustrations and some challenges, but I think it's still really important that we get our arms around these things as a team and it's not about blaming anybody, but it's really about I think accountability and transparency and just we are all going to level up together, but it -- it's very obvious to me at least from just the preliminary communications that we have things we can improve and that that's a great opportunity. Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 17 of 18 So, I think having an in-person meeting is a -- is a great idea and hopefully we have time to add it to an agenda. I know things are really busy, but that would be my suggestion. EXECUTIVE SESSION [Action Item] 14. Per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(f): To communicate with legal counsel for the public agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation, or controversies not yet being litigated but imminently likely to be litigated. Simison: Okay. Well, we will see you back at some point in time in the near future when we have the information to share. Okay. With that item 14. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Nary: Mr. Mayor, do you want to take the exec session now? Mr. Castleton is here or we can do it at the -- Simison: That's -- that's what we are doing. Nary: Okay. Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Mr. Mayor, I move that we move into Executive Session for Idaho Code 74- 206, subsection (1)(f). Little Roberts: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to go to Executive Session. Is there discussion? If not clerk call the roll. Roll Call: Cavener, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea; Little Roberts, yea; Taylor, yea; Whitlock, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries. We will go into Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:30 p.m. to 6:36 p.m.) Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Meridian City Council Work Session April 28,2026 Page 18 of 18 Overton: I move that we come out of Executive Session. Whitlock: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to come out of Executive Session. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and we are out of Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: I move that we adjourn our workshop. Whitlock: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to adjourn our workshop. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Those opposed nay? The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6.36 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON ATTEST: 5-12-2026 CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK