HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008 08-26 SpecialMeridian City Council Special Meetina August 26, 2008
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 5:00 p.m., Tuesday,
August 26, 2008, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Joe Borton, Keith Bird, Charlie Rountree
and David Zaremba.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Anna Canning, Kyle Radek, Stacy
Kilchenmann, Todd Lavoie, Rita Cunningham, Shelly Houston, Jeff Lavey, Scott
Colaianni, Steve Siddoway, and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X David Zaremba X Joe Borton
X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: I will go ahead and open tonight's City Council Special Meeting agenda. It
is Tuesday, August 26th. It's 5:00 p.m. We will start tonight's meeting with roll call
attendance.
Item 2: Adoption of the Agenda:
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is the adoption of the agenda.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I move we adopt the agenda for the Special Meeting as published.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as published.
All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 3: Discussion Regarding Nominated City Council Appointee:
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is a discussion regarding the nominated Council appointee. It
was just an agenda item to give Council an opportunity to kind of have a meet and greet
type of -- an opportunity to meet the appointee and ask questions, have dialogue, and
so we did plan this over dinner, so we will go ahead and move into the Mayor's
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August 26, 2008
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conference room. It still will be on the public record, but it is a more appropriate setting.
So, Mr. Nary, do we have to like do something?
Nary: I think you can just go ahead and go.
De Weerd: Okay.
Nary: And I think Ms. Holman is just going to record the --
De Weerd: Yeah.
Holman: The question is do we want Dean in there with us or he's willing to wait in here
until we come back.
Nary: Yeah. He doesn't have to. If you just record it I think that's fine.
(Mayor's Conference Room.)
De Weerd: -- to give you an overview, we had ten applicants and I did interview all ten
of them and I appreciated that opportunity. It was very insightful. Found a number of
things that they all seemed to have actually talked off the same script and -- and that's
good. So, in messaging it looks like things are known and appreciate it. So, I did want
to give kudos to that. If you want, I did kind of write down a number of points or
comments that were made if you have an interest. I believe that at the last Tuesday
night meeting I gave you eight. There were two that came in late and those were
James Fontz -- I think that's how you say the last name. And Wayne Hammonds. And I
did fit them in at the last minute as well. So, they had an opportunity. One thing I did
want you all to know, too, is if they have a willingness to put their name out there and
put themselves out there and an interest in being involved in our city, I am extending the
opportunity to get involved in -- in however we can work with them. There were only a
couple that I did know specifically what they might have an interest in and so I have Will
following up with them on a couple of options that he will try and work with them and
see what closest resembles their interest. So, whether it's a subcommittee or -- I know
that our Arts Commission has a number of opportunities for subcommittees, as does our
Parks Commission. Yes, David.
Zaremba: I think you made the point that most of them had a positive interest. Did
anybody raise anything that said, oh, the city needs to fix this or --
De Weerd: You know, there were a couple of observations. One -- I probably should at
least tell you what some of my questions were. So, I will first tell you what my questions
were.
Zaremba: Okay.
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August 26, 2008
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De Weerd: That kind of sets up to some of the comments that we got. What is your
vision for Meridian and what do you believe your role of the city is in reaching this
vision? What would your role as a councilman be? What should the city's role be in
economic development? What are your thoughts on the city's current standards for
residential subdivisions? What is your opinion of the city's police and fire department?
Rank the role of funding for parks. What are your thoughts of the role of partnerships?
Are we doing enough? How should we be working with the school district? What are
your thoughts on impact fees? Do you believe growth should pay for itself? How do
you believe Meridian is perceived by the media, our citizens, our business community?
Traffic. What is the city's role, if any, in traffic improvement? Do you know what the role
of Council is versus the Mayor? As a Council member of Meridian what would your roll
-- or what is -- what would your view be on the role you play in the region's success?
What is the importance of downtown redevelopment? And, Shaun, that was for you.
Zaremba: A bunch of good questions.
De Weerd: Yeah. And we had 30 minutes for each interview. So, I told them at the
beginning I have a long list of questions. You have to be concise in your answers. On
the perception of Meridian, it was -- it was across the board, very well perceived by the
citizens. That the citizens really view this as a good place to live and work and raise
their families. The business community views us also favorably, that they see it as a
place of opportunity. It's pro business. It's a good place to a good system to work
within. As far as the media, pretty common across the board as well. Believe that we
were largely ignored by the media. Kind of the middle child treatment. Well, hi, there.
Hoaglun: How are you doing?
De Weerd: Oh, you saved me.
Hoaglun: Sony I'm late. I planned for that Eagle to Meridian Road delay. When. it
starts between Maple Grove and Five Mile you know you're in trouble.
Zaremba: Yeah.
De Weerd: Have a seat. So, I believe, Brad, you know everyone sitting around the
table, but we will introduce ourselves and we will start with Councilman Zaremba.
Zaremba: David Zaremba .and I have been on the Council for almost two years now.
Was Planning and Zoning for five or six years before that.
Zaremba: Joe Borton, soon to be off Council.
De Weerd: Soon to be off leave, actually.
Nary: Bill Nary. City attorney and HR director.
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Rountree: Charlie Rountree. City Council.
Holman: Jaycee Holman, city clerk.
Hoaglun: Hi, Jaycee. I don't think we have met officially.
Holman: No, we have not.
Canning: And I'm Anna. We have sort of (unintelligible) --
Hoaglun: Yeah.
Canning: I'm the planning director.
De Weerd: Craig is with the Valley Times. I think you probably know Craig and Shaun
Wardle.
Hoaglun: Oh, Mr. Wardle.
Wardle: I'm just a concemed citizen here.
De Weerd: concemed citizen, our administrator for MDC.
Zaremba: Craig is also on the Historic Preservation Commission.
Hoaglun: Okay.
De Weerd: So welcome.
Hoaglun: Thank you.
De Weerd: You know, since this is your agenda item, I'll just tum it over to you.
Hoaglun: Well, I just have to say I'm pleased and honored to -- to join this body. I think
most of you know -- probably seen (unintelligible) different things, I grew up in Meridian.
Moved here in 1970 and I won't tell too many stories about Keith Bird, but he was my
optimist football coach. So, there are afew -- I will hold it for other times and --
Bird: (Unintelligible.)
De Weerd: Not while we are on the public record, of course.
Hoaglun: So, you know, it's a wonderful community. It's grown a lot over the years.
We have got challenges, but I have been pleased with the Mayor and City Council in
how you have taken on things and worked through things and I just want to be part of
that team and keep making it better. It's a good place and we just keep tweaking it and
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August 26, 2008
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moving forward, so -- sorry to see Joe go, but I guess that's -- he will still be around.
That's a good thing. So, look forward to working with you folks.
Zaremba: Great.
De Weerd: We will make sure he has your number, Joe, so -- I told Brad that, you
know, after sitting through our meeting last week and that lengthy presentation that we
had, if he could sit through that and actually be captivated by the presentation, he was
in.
Hoaglun: Well, when you find enterprise funds kind of interesting and going, gee, yeah,
how would you treat that and make that -- you know, I guess there is a little bit of a
sickness there, isn't there? And you all have it.
Zaremba: Yes.
De Weerd: That is how it's been coined, a sickness. So, this is an opportunity to kind of
get to know who the person was that I appointed. You can ask him questions and
certainly, Brad, I would offer that you can ask them questions as well. Don't all start at
the same time.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Rountree: Let me chew a little bit here.
Hoaglun: I did want to say one other thing and that is to thank you folks. I'm a delegate
to the National Republican Convention next week and that's why I couldn't start and it's
kind of one of those - my first time as a delegate. It's kind of like the super bowl of
politics and for a poly sci major it's like, wow, I'm going to go. And so --
Zaremba: Congratulations.
Hoaglun: I appreciate your indulgence in that with a --
De Weerd: You could have gone this week instead.
Nary: I don't think they are interchangeable. (Unintelligible).
Hoaglun: It doesn't fit quite as well, you know.
Bird: Well, if he went this week you would have a no vote.
Canning: Now, Keith, you have got to remember not everyone in the room is a
Republican.
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August 26, 2008
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Bird: I don't really care.
Rountree: It doesn't matter to him.
De Weerd: He doesn't care.
Zaremba: Are we supposed to be nonpartisan?
De Weerd: Uh-huh. We are nonpartisan.
Borton: Councilman Rountree had a question.
Rountree: Yeah. I have a couple for Brad. Having entertained us last week or having
us entertain you last week, just a small sampling of the kinds of issues that we are
facing and even though it's a small sampling, it's a large issue. My first question deals
with that in that we have some pretty significant issues we have to address. Are you
comfortable coming in new and becoming a liaison with the department and getting up
to speed rather quickly and voicing .an opinion and/or some guidance or whatnot as it
relates to some of the issues and not the least of which is the funding issue that we
addressed last week?
Hoaglun: Sure. Well, Madam Chairman, Councilmen, yeah, that is not a problem for
me, because as you may have seen in my resume five years I spent working for the
Mayor of Boise and the City Council. I was assistant to the Mayor and City Council
when Dirk Kempthome was first elected. So, for five years I attended Council meetings.
I worked with departments. Didn't have to cast vote. I mean that's the new part in all of
this. You got to stand up and say aye or nay. But in terms of the issues, I'm not coming
in without some knowledge of how agencies and departments work. Now, there are
some nuances that I have to get up to speed on and unique situations, whether it's
Planning and Zoning or Public Works and different things like that. You know, I went
through that Enterprise Fund issue and I thought, oh, great, if I get selected one of the
first votes I'm going to have to do is vote to increase sewer and water rates.
Rountree: Good.
Hoaglun: Well, I mean when you look at that Enterprise Fund and where it is -- and to
me that's a foundational issue. You know, police, fire, water, sewer are foundational
issues for a community and you have got to make sure you're solid on that. I'm not
looking to go out and raise fees and taxes on people, but at the same time you got to be
able to provide those services, because they can't get them anywhere else. And I like
the discussion we had about, okay, if we are going to do this, what's the best way to do
it and the value of money and what you lose over time, (thought -- on Todd's
presentation, the finance director's participation -- and, then, that's probably how you do
it is where the issue is and there are several options and that's something I'm willing to
get involved with and ask questions and see what is the best way to do that, so --
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August 26, 2008
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Rountree: Recognizing your involvement at the state and also your political
involvement, do you feel that you're going to have enough time to give us every
Tuesday night or most every Tuesday night and the homework assignments that we
come up with? And I guess not to follow up, but the next step beyond that, are you
committed to be a candidate in the next City Council election?
Hoaglun: Sure. Councilman, those are good questions. And absolutely. Yes. One of
the things I did, number one, was, you know, take a look at my time schedule, discuss it
with my wife, talked to my boss Donna Jones and said can we make this work. It does
require me to resign on a position on my church board and I'm going to have to give that
up, but I'm on a long range planning committee, but we are finishing that and some
other things just to free up time. It was a good time for me, because our youngest
daughter just went off to college this last weekend. Our older son is in college already
and, you know, so no more -- no more volleyball games -- so, you know, yeah, I did give
it some thought to make sure -- because this is not something you can be hit and miss
and if you commit to this you got to be there, you got to dig in and you got to be
available to go to meetings and meet with departments as a liaison and as of right now I
do plan on running. I told the Mayor I'm committed to that and unless you guys just beat
me up something fierce --
De Weerd: And I would tell you, Charlie, those were two of my first questions. Do you
have the time? If you're wanting to be appointed, are you willing to go out and ask the
citizens as well. And the answer was (unintelligible).
Hoaglun. Thank you.
De Weerd: Because I agree with you, those are very important.
Hoaglun: Now, it will be interesting, you know, I do have campaign experience over the
years, but it's always on behalf of someone else. It's much easier selling someone else
than it is yourself. That's going to be a whole new dynamic.
Bird: It's not your skeletons.
Hoaglun: Well, that's going to be the fun part. So, we will see how that goes.
Zaremba: I would comment that I'm song that we don't know each other well before
this. I hope we do get to know each other well. But I have seen you at other regional
meetings on other subjects and I'm impressed that you bring that with you to this
association and it's -- it's important to me -- I feel that when I'm out at other meetings I'm
the voice of Meridian in that meeting and I bring things back to us that -- that we need to
hear about what other groups are doing and I'm impressed that you participate in
regional things as well. So, I think that's a good thing.
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Hoaglun: Well, thank you. You know, to me I enjoy -- you know, what I really enjoy is
making government work and that's Ithink -- and especially at the local level. I mean
you aren't doing this for the money that's for sure. I mean it's -- it's a lot of work and
there are meetings where half the room is going to be mad at you for the decision you
make and that's just -- just the way it is and -but you do what you think is right for the
citizens and the folks that put you there and make this community a better place. So,
that's my goal is to make this community work. It's working well, but I'll do what I can to
help all of you make it even better. So, you know, I do enjoy those things. You get
home and you think about those things and, gee, you know, spend way too much time
thinking about those things sometimes, but -- but it helps for answers down the road,
though.
Gorton: I don't have any questions. I just comment-wise, Brad, I have known you for
awhile and mostly from the party, but the extent of my looking into the bid and your
involvement and asking around -- not necessarily asking you directly, but. asking, you
know, friends and associates that we have in common about your role and how you'd fit
on Council and it's resoundingly positive. I know your work ethic and your character is
phenomenal, from what I have seen and those that I have called around and kind of get
their two bits and try to dig up any dirt I could on you. I have been totally unsuccessful.
Hoaglun: I'm pretty boring, unfortunately.
Gorton: But it confirmed what I already knew. Ithink it's just a fantastic pick.
Hoaglun: Just don't ask Bill Nary any questions about me, so --
Nary: We did go to college together.
De Weerd: I almost counted that as a black mark, but --
Nary: What -- I assume that Brad would take over the liaison positions that Joe's had
for the rest of the year.
Rountree: Uh-huh.
Hoaglun: And that is one of my questions, what are those liaison -
Nary: The fire department, legal, and HR and --
De Weerd: Sony. I didn't tell him.
Rountree: Which is a good fit.
Hoaglun: Yeah. No. I'm looking forward to that. And I'm assuming you -- recollect in
mind your fiscal year is October 1 -- starts October 1?
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De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Nary: Uh-huh.
Bird: It's a little different than the state.
Hoaglun: Yeah. And the city of Boise.
starting -- you're hearing budgets tonight.
with you and going through those, so i
Tonight is the formal budget presentation?
But what's the process -- I understand you're
They have been working on those probably
s it the formal presentations? Is it informal?
Bird: We were presented two days --
Nary: The departments have already presented their budgets.
Bird: Yeah. The departments have already presented theirs and we kind finalize it and
published it.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Bird: We can't -- we can't add to it. We can delete it tonight. Or we can move items
around.
Hoaglun: So, just give me a preview. What's the outlook for finances? We know what
the economy is doing, you know, the growth of this community, what's -
Bird: Which one do you want to -- it isn't rosy out there, but drive through the
subdivisions and look at the for sales and the foreclosures.
Hoaglun: Yeah.
Rountree: I would say our budget manual and preparation, though, take into account a
very conservative view of what we have got before us and Keith's right and as you well
know, it's not gloom and doom, but it's not great out there, and I think we are looking at
a budget that takes in a considerable slow down in terms of development and growth --
or no growth, if you will, and I think we can live within it and certainly we can belt tighten
if push comes to shove as soon as we get into the year.
Zaremba: The budget that is proposed is balanced, according to the conservative
projections of what our income is likely to be, so it does balance at the moment. We
may need to just adjust as we go along.
De Weerd: You know -- and, Brad, we have always had -- been conservative in our
projections and, you know, at the end of the year we see how conservative and we have
always been in the black revenue wise. We prefer it that way. It's better to be on the
conservative side than to over project and, then, find yourself short. So, our finance
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August 26, 2008
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team works with each of our departments and -- on doing the line by line item and in,
then, projecting out what -- what revenues we might have for enhancements and so,
then, we start the process. This year we did it a little different where the senior
management team sat at the table together and balanced the budget to bring to
Council. Council, then, vetted it through their process and, then, what we have
published has been what they have recommended for the public noticing, which is what
you will see tonight.
Borton: A perspective that could be helpful that you may or may not have that I will
throw out could be, you know, we are conservative, it's a balanced budget, but I think
it's helpful to have a dose of, you know, we spend too much already. Even if it's
balanced. We spend too much. We waste here and there. And look at things with that
eye. I think, Tom, you know, for better or for worse, has done that really well with Public
Works and you heard -you know, making those tough decisions and poking in the right
comers trying to avoid future problems with the budget I think is bad, but look at each
department in each area and say, really, why are we doing that, why are we doing that.
They are good questions. We get great justification for why certain things are done. It's
always healthy to have a little bit of skepticism and a trade off there.
De Weerd: And that is what I meant by vetting it through that budget workshop process.
Hoaglun: We just went through a process with our payroll division in the state
controller's office. We did a bench marking study (unintelligible) came in and with other
states and major corporations to find out how well we do what we do and how efficiently
we can do it and we were the only state to receive a top category in effectiveness and if
Branden, our deputy controller, had not counted people in other agencies when he
found out how other states did it, we also would have been in efficiency. I mean in the
top -- I mean we are beating major corporations. So, you always try to look, you know,
do we out source this and what are the outcomes if you do. Do you actually save
money. Is it better in house? I mean you're always asking those questions to try and
tweak and make it better and, you know, that's -- and staff can respond and you get
feedback and always try to give that fresh eye, you know. Coming in I told the Mayor --
I says -- I says, you know, I don't think it my place as a councilman to micro manage,
but at the same time you're a policy maker, you know, so you're trying to, you know, ask
good questions and not tell them exactly what they have to do all the time, but bring that
perspective in there and that's something I need to team as I go along.
Bird: And if it's money or policy, it's going to be your rear that's on the line, nobody
else's.
De Weerd: And I told him that.
Hoaglun: I just thought we'd blame the Mayor.
De Weerd: No. I told him that.
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Rountree: We do, but we are still accountable.
Bird: When Frank wants to (unintelligible) it's us. It's not the department head. It's not
the Mayor, it's us.
De Weerd: Yeah. Even if it's not (unintelligible.).
Bird: I get to take all her blame, too. I keep trying to push it on her, but they won't --
shewon't take it.
Nary: I would say something, really, from the staffs perspective that the Mayor and the
Council and the directors of the city has a very good working relationship that is not
common in other cities. Certainly some cities have that, but not all. And one thing Keith
always says, as long as I have known him -- or on the Council is, you know, whether
you -- whether Council members or Council members and Mayor agree or disagree, at
the end of the meeting it's over and you move on and the city keeps going and the
support goes on and this Council and the Mayor have always been that way. I mean it's
a very good place to work for the employees, from the director standpoint, the Council's
always been a very good sounding board and a good voice from the community's side
and the Mayor in being the CEO has been a good leader for the city. I mean it's just
been a very good city to work in and work for and, you know, I think that's a real, real
positive and, like I said, we see around the state a lot of times it's not quite so functional.
Sometimes it's very dysfunctional in other cities and we just don't seem to have that.
Hoaglun: And that's something I teamed, you know, being a legislative advisor, being a
lobbyist in the legislature and working with the American Cancer Society as a
government relations director and working with legislators, you know, 105 of them, you
go to them and sometimes you couldn't get them to see it your way, but that doesn't
mean you're my enemy for life, it's just, well, next time around it's -they will be on my
side, you know. I make my best pitch. And I think it's the same here, you know, you
have an idea and you make that best pitch. If it doesn't happen, well, okay, next time
we will be working on something else together, but -- so, that's - that's a little easier for
me, because I have been through that. I don't take it personally, because, you know, to
survive in that environment you got to just keep plugging away. So, it's -- and I'm glad
to see -- you know, I have been impressed with the staff that Meridian has assembled. I
mean that's -- that's really important, because they are doing it day in and day out and
they have got to take those calls on a daily basis and that's what -- that's a lot of times
what the citizens -yeah, you may get your name in the paper for something you do or
don't do or should have done, but they are the ones having to deal with it on a day-to-
day basis.
De Weerd: You got that right.
Bird: That's your employee's, too.
Hoaglun: Yes.
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Bird: Now, they are the ones out meeting the public a lot more than we are and, you
know, we have great employees or we wouldn't -- we didn't build a 20 million dollar City
Hall without borrowing a penny if it wasn't for employees that starting back in '85 or '80
or whenever. You know, that's -- that's the thing and I'm like Bill, you know, we don't
agree all the time, but we leave our disagreements out there and walk out of here as
friends still, I hope.
Zaremba: Well, I would say that I actually value that. I mean we come with a diversity
of experiences that brought us all here and we often don't start agreeing a hundred
percent, but we all respect each other enough to listen and learn from each other and
we usually I think end up making a decision that's best for the city and walk away happy
about it and friends and not a problem.
Bird: They think I got corny sayings, but they are just old time ones.
De Weerd: Yeah. Real old. But, you know, I guess it's the diversity of this Council that
helps to really have good policy making. You know, that dialogue is critically important
and having different perspectives and bringing different experiences to the table is
important. So, then -- and that is -- you know, for Council that is what I had hoped for in
this appointment is to bring a perspective that wasn't necessarily present today and
make sure that we continue to challenge ourselves and to have those dialogues, so that
we can continue to say we do come out with better policies and I truly believe that we
do.
Hoaglun: I'm just kind of curious just to get your insights real quick, especially while
Joe's still apart of it, is what are the -- I mean growth, traffic -- the big issues in this
community. And, of course, growth now, who knows what's going to be happening long
term, but near term it's slowed down some, but what are the major issues facing the
community that you think these are -- these are -- these are the critical things we really
need to be looking at. I know that may be reflected in the budget a little bit, but there's
never enough money to tackle them and, again, it might not be reflected in the budget.
So, what are some of the things that you see as the issues that maybe concern you the
most, but, yet, maybe some of the issues that we are really doing this well for the city.
Any thoughts on that?
De Weerd: Downtown development.
Bird: Well, Brad, I -- I don't know, I think issues e you know, you get issues that come
and go and you solve the problems. Looking around and, you know, being involved in --
around other cities and stuff, because of the management of this city over the last few
years and, you know, I hope I have been an asset instead of a liability, but, anyway, I
think we have been pretty fair with our -- you know, the employees have been top notch.
You're always going to have problems, but they can come from all over. I think the main
thing is we make sure -- you hit it on the head, you make sure your sewer and water,
your fire and your police stay up. Parks is nice. You got to have parks. I don't believe
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August 26, 2008
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that we will ever see the growth that we have seen between '96 and 2006 again in
Meridian. Hopefully, we are prepared if we do. Better than we were then. Those poor
people were just treading water to keep their eyes out of it. So, I feel that, basically,
you're going -- you know, you're going to have different problems, you know, come up.
We've had -- we've had problems come up within the last year that we weren't
expecting. But that's what -- that's what the Mayor and the four Councilmen are for and
that's what you have got directors for, to bring in their wisdom to tell you what to do.
But, basically, I feel real comfortable the way we are set up. If we get hit with another
growth, we are ready. We are a heck of a lot better ready than Charlie's first Council
was in '96.
Rountree: '96.
Bird: I can guarantee you that. But I don't think we will ever get hit with that growth
again. I mean, you know, it's just not feasible. I don't think Idaho's going to grow that
fast, you know, unless the economy -- but, you know, we have four or five years, maybe
six years of getting the economy back up to what it was in 2004 and 2005.
Rountree: I think -- I think we have done great strides in recognizing the importance of
employees and putting together some policies and some pay schedules in response to
the need to maintain the employees, keep the good ones, hopefully get them trained
and interested in staying in Meridian. There for awhile we were a training ground and
people were coming and going on a rather frequent basis. We also have made great
strides in the area of the financial aspect of the city. We know our cash flow. We have
got a good idea of where things are pretty much all the time and that's important for us
as a Council. We are a very working, cooperative -- I wouldn't say congenial, but group
of councilmen that I think reflect Meridian philosophy anyway in terms of can do. If
there is a problem, we try to find the solution. Several of those problems that relate to
more money and General Fund issues, we try to find work grounds as best we can and
accommodate those things. I think that the real issues I see in the future are regulatory
issues. We don't know what we are going to be facing with our Enterprise business in
the future in terms of EPA requirements, air quality, water quality, and wastewater. It's
an unknown. Climate change legislation could really throw a monkey wrench into the
way we do business. But we will have to address that and I think that's another good
thing with the city, we seem to be not necessarily resilient, but we are able to respond to
those changing conditions. You know, we have got -- we have got warts, you will find
out, once you get into some executive sessions, some outstanding issues that need to
be dealt with, as any company or any government entity has. We have learned to
address conflict and move forward, as opposed to avoid it, which is a great stride in the
ten, fifteen years that I have been involved with the city, so -- I mean I think we are as
conservative as we are from a financial standpoint, we are pretty progressive and we
seem to be pretty willing to look at innovation and different ways to approach things and
we are doing a piece that's important, I think, to all of us in terms of projecting the
quality of our community with a design review piece that planning is putting together,
which is unique in the country, in my opinion, and if it works as well as it looks like it
might work, it really and truly wouldn't -- shouldn't and we won't let it become a
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 14 of 40
cumbersome bureaucratic process, but it will result in less of our time dealing with
issues of architectural control, design details, and that sort of thing and have that
resolved at the preliminary application stage with applicants. So, we got a lot of good
things in the mill. We are doing a lot of good things and, hopefully, we can resolve
some of our legal issues that upon employment you will find out about.
De Weerd: Yeah. We are not going to tell you yet.
Hoaglun: Yeah. Well, I'm sure there always are those issues out there, you know. But
I hear if you have a good attorney they aren't that bad.
De Weerd: Well, that's --
Bird: (Unintelligible).
Rountree: And I say there is some skepticism, but I don't know whether it's about the
good attorney or whether we are out of trouble, but --
Zaremba: I think I would comment that this all brings up one of the opportunities that
makes me interested in the job and wanted to do the best for Meridian is that each step
in our growth seems to give us another horizon to look over and sometimes they are
good horizons and sometimes they are not. I mean the police department deals with
new kinds of crime that we didn't have ten years ago. We are beginning to approve
taller buildings, so now the fire department needs a ladder truck and, you know, we do
things that --
Rountree: We do and they are going to go get it.
Zaremba: Yeah. We are going to have one. You know, we need more parks and
definitely more recreation for the youth, so that we don't have to have more police to
chase unoccupied youth. But to me and to some extent I guess I disagree with Keith a
little bit. I have lived places that thought growth was over and, then, all of a sudden it
came back double and it would not surprise me if several years from now we take off
again, depending on how the economy goes. Just because that's been in my
experience before to have seen it when there was no reason for it happen again and it
does anyhow. But, to me, that also is an opportunity to think about what do we want
Meridian to be, to have -- you know, community centers and cultural centers when we
have 120,000 people, you know, because we -- I think the only disagreement is about
how long it will take us to get there. I think we will get there. And the opportunity now is
to start thinking about those things, the same as they started thinking about needing a
new City Hall, previous Councils and Mayors, and preparing for it. That's an opportunity
to have the vision.
Hoaglun: Planting the seeds now. You may not be around to harvest them, but --
Zaremba: Yeah.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
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Canning: And Joe talked about always finding a different way or maybe there is a better
way to do things and Charlie talked about being resilient and being able to
accommodate change and they are really the same thing. I mean I think the reason we
are able to take on new situations quickly is because part of our work ethic is to respond
to change if we need to and to find a better way to do something. I mean we are just
always -- I'm always looking for that opportunity to do it better, whether it's, you know,
staff gaining a certain level of experience and now we can shuffle things around and
make things better, then, you know, let's do it. So, I think we are always looking for that
and trying to do things better.
Rountree: A perfect example is in the area of transportation and you fully understand
that the city hasn't anything in that particular game, other than the citizens that are
griping about it, but we have worked with developers and most of the intersection
improvements you have seen around here of late have been in cooperation, because
the city's worked with the developers to get them to fund them in advance and to work
with ACHD to get impact fees and some future dedicated for repayment. We are the
only city that I know of in the state that did a partnership with the Idaho Transportation
Department and ACHD and actually put up money to get something done, which was
the Locust Grove grade separation. So, when we see something out there we try to find
some innovative way to get it done. Fire stations. You know, you can remember the
fire station right over here. You know, it was a terrific partnership with our fire
department. We now are the proud parents of five brand new fire stations and a training
center. I can tell you 1996 we were scratching our head trying to figure out what are we
going to do. We know we are going to grow, but how do we fund that particular critter
out of the General Fund. Over time it came together through a lot of open
communication and dialogue and cooperation and willing to take a little bit of a chance
occasionally.
Hoaglun: Those are the types of things that I don't know if citizens really realize that
they open that -- that rating changes and if you talk to your insurance company, if they
don't do it for you, you get lower homeowner's insurance, because there is a fire station
-- it's a different classification or rating and that -- that helps.
Bird: This ladder truck will make a big difference.
Hoaglun: So, those are little things, but --
Bird: You got to make sure your insurance agent knows it, because you call an
insurance agent, 90 percent of them will tell you, no, it don't matter.
Hoaglun: Yeah. It matters.
Bird: But you convince them that -- that it really does.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 16 of 40
Borton: But I think it kind of dovetails on what Anna talked about as far as a clear and
present opportunity in the next five years (unintelligible) Meridian's relationship with
Eagle, Kuna, and the McDermott comdor, the planning areas between these cities
become overlapping in some cases and that relationship, to make sure that the city's
planned properly and develops how it should with proper planning on the front end.
That's a sticky situation and it's definitely within the next five years. Or two.
Hoaglun: Yeah. I have read a little bit just in the paper, so I take it with a grain of salt
and -- not Valley News, but the Boise one that --
Borton: (Unintelligible).
De Weerd: We don't read that one.
Hoaglun: There is some issue with Kuna and Meridian and some things there that --
Borton: It's not necessarily bad, but it's just things that need to be dealt with. You
know, when the cities used to be ten miles apart it wasn't an issue.
Hoaglun: Oh, lots of farms in between. Yeah.
Borton: But both Eagle and Kuna are on the map and that relationship's critical and,
you know, I made reference to the McDermott corridor, because that's a huge
opportunity from a planning perspective as well.
De Weerd: Eagle. Star. Kuna.
Bird: Joe will be singing a different tune when he comes before us representing
development.
De Weerd: I know. That's why we are writing everything down he says.
Bird: He'll have another (unintelligible).
De Weerd: Oh, we have it on tape.
Bird: (Unintelligible).
Hoaglun: (Unintelligible) developers are supported in all of their efforts.
Zaremba: Well -- and if I can throw in a plug. Meridian's different from some of the
other cities around, has taken the attitude that the other agencies that we need to work
with, ACRD and ITD and Valley Regional Transit and stuff, are our friends. They have
goals that we need to have as our goals and we desire to work together with them to
accomplish things that are positive, as opposed going off and suing them as some other
cities have and, you know, we don't always get everything we want from them just
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 17 of 40
because we are friendly, but it's still a positive relationship that benefits Meridian in the
long run and I think benefits the other agencies that we have to work with as well and I
think those relationships are important.
Canning: Although we always think we are better than them, I have to admit.
Bird: We are a community, not a city. That's the main thing.
De Weerd: Well -- and I think what everyone has been saying is we know who are
stake holders are and we have worked hard to build those coalitions to make sure that
the vision for our community today and in the next 20 years is known in common and
we are working in concert with each other, rather than, you know, in opposition. And so
I think it's important that you have those -- those key people in place. We do have a
common vision with the downtown working to move that vision forward for the benefit of
that next growth curve that we hope moves downtown that adds to the ambience and
the vibrancy of the heart and soul of our community. So, you know, those partnerships
are key. We also are very aware and each of the Council members have a role on a
regional board. We take our regional responsibility of leadership very serious and we
may have a few disagreements, but we are very determined and dedicated to work
those out and to work for the success of the entire valley as well. And I think that's
important and it's not just because we are the center of the valley and we are
surrounded, but it -- as important as downtown redevelopment is, because we
recognize the health of our community is determined by the downtown, same with the
health of the Treasure Valley, and will be determined in our community, because we are
the center.
Hoaglun: What was that old slogan, the hub of the Treasure Valley, something like
that?
Bird: We are the hub of the Treasure Valley. We still do a lot of things on volunteerism,
but you know as much about it as anybody, because of your dad. When he coached
here he didn't have an athletic budget that allowed him to have weight rooms and all the
fancy stuff, so he went to people -- and, in fact, I donated a set of weights to him and a
bunch of us did. But Stan figured out that you need to be in a weight room to be
competitive and he goes out and kicks doors, but (unintelligible). Did you know that her
dad was a coach at Borah?
De Weerd: (Unintelligible).
Hoaglun: Yeah. My parents, who have lived out towards the Homedale area for I think
the last 16 years, they are coming back to Meridian, you know, and you said something
that is very important. Meridian is still a community. I mean that's why when I moved
back from Washington D.C. -- and I was back there for four years and -- great
experience, but I don't want to live there forever. Meridian was my choice. I didn't have
to move here. But it's this community. I mean this is where you see families coming to
and people talking -- saying good things about this place, because it is not a city in that
Meridian City Council Special Meetlng
August 26, 2008
Page 18 of 40
sense. We are maybe population-wise, but in terms of how people interact and how we
want them to interact, it is community and that's --
Bird: You know, Brad, I think the biggest -- and I know Charlie is the same way,
because he's been around here a long time. The things I'm proudest of is the fact that
-- well, he's been here almost as long as Brad has. The thing I'm proudest of is like
Storey Park. Those fields and everything was put up without a penny to the city. The
swimming pool was put up without a penny to the city.
Hoaglun: I remember when that opened.
Bird: You know -- yeah.
Hoaglun: It was a big deal.
Bird: You know. It's stuff like that that makes me really appreciate this community and
what's been done and what continues to be done.
Hoaglun: That's what's neat to see what you guys do with the developers and
partnership. I mean if you want to build here, be a part of this community, you're going
to have to join and do some things -- it's not -- you just don't come in here and take, but
you have got to give in return. And I think they see the benefit, because it's better for
their bottom line. I hope it is by having a partnership that you can develop those things.
You know, there is challenges as you get land for parks, well, where is the money going
to come to develop the parks and different things, but those are the -- you just go out
there and figure it out.
Bird: You got the land and you will get it done. You know, people -- people will step
forward and help. Meridian Youth Baseball. PAL. The rodeo club. All them people.
For the Lions, help us develop parks and facilities. So, I -- I don't -- I personally don't
want to ever see this community lose that. I don't. You know, I don't care if we are
floating in money, we can do things with it.
De Weerd: Well, Council, we are nearing 6:00 o'clock where --
Bird: We have our budget hearing.
De Weerd: Where our hearing begins, so if there is no further questions or discussion,
we appreciate, Brad, that you are here and -- and we are anxious to get Council's
confirmation so we can work together.
Hoaglun: I hope it goes well.
Zaremba: Would we want to do that in this room or back in the --
De Weerd: It's on our regular agenda.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 19 of 40
Rountree: It's on our regular agenda.
(Council Chambers.)
Item 4: Public Hearing: 2009 Fiscal Year Budget:
De Weerd: Okay. I will go ahead and call the meeting back to order. Item No. 4 is our
public hearing on fiscal 2009 budget year and we will start with our finance -our chief
financial officer.
Kilchenmann: Good evening. We have a lot of public here, so it's important. We have
an important public and two important employees and Steve is here. He's here to guard
his --
Bird: Did we advertise this?
Kilchenmann: We did. We even put it on our website.
Bird: Well, we didn't get one department mad at us or something, I guess.
Kilchenmann: So, I will -- on some of the things that we have gone over alot Iwon't -- I
won't linger long. See if I can get the clicker to work. Okay. I need my technical - we
stole this from the police.
Bird: Madam Mayor, can I -Stacy, in the budget for finance do you have larger print
for --
Kilchenmann: Talk to Todd.
De Weerd: It works fine for Todd.
Bird: When you're 30 years old you can get away with that, but when you're 67, let me
tell you, you need bigger print.
Kilchenmann: Well, we are working on him.
De Weerd: That's why I'm trying to appoint a younger Councilman.
Kilchenmann: Don't feel bad, I can't read it either. Okay. So, here we go.
Bird: And you're only 20.
Kilchenmann: Yeah. Twenty-five. Okay. The first -- our total budget request for FY-09
is just slightly over 80 million dollars and the first break out we look at is breaking it
down by the major objects, so we can see that personnel is 30 percent of our budget.
Meridian City Council Special Meetlng
August 26, 2008
Page 20 of 40
Operating is 28. And cant' forward -- that ever illusive carry forward is almost -- is over
a third at 34 percent. And, then, this year we have a fairly small capital outlay request
at eight percent. If we look at -- breakdown our total budget by city wide, you can see
that a big chunk of that is the use of the Enterprise Fund balance and, of course, again,
that represents the amount that we are carrying forward. The other major player is
utility usage fees, sewer and water fees at 16 percent. And, then, property tax at 22
percent, with most of the other sources being fairly minor if we look at the big picture. If
we look at just new revenue, if we take out all the carry forward use of fund amount,
property tax goes up to 36 percent of our total revenue, with utility usage at 27 percent
and our state revenue sharing is fairly significant on the General Fund side and of the
total pie is 11 percent. If we look at e we usually like to talk about take the capital
component and the cant' forward component out of the budget and just do the
personnel and operating, which we refer to base budget, so if we look at this for city
wide and see water and sewer is the biggest percentage. Public Works at 43 percent.
With public safety comprising the next biggest chunk and the other three departments
being fairly minor and about the same size. Our capital outlay request is this year,
again, fairly small. It's -- most of it being water and sewer, still fairly small, at 2.8 million.
And, then, parks is just slightly over one million. And fire, due to the ladder truck, is just
slightly over one million. This is a breakdown of our carry forward request, as we
always see water and sewer is the biggest portion of that at 16 million. The city
administration, that's actually the City Hall and, then, we have some parks projects
carried over and, then, smaller amounts for the other two funds. The first fund we are
going to look -- we are going to talk about this by fund, so the first fund we will do is
General Fund. General Fund -- 77 percent of the General Fund is public safety. So,
that's a pretty significant amount. And 65 percent of General Fund revenues from
property tax. And lalways -- our -- the revenue number we have now for property tax is
just 30,000 different from the number that we originally projected and put in the budget.
We don't have the final, final number, but I always give that caution, but I don't expect
there will be much difference. So, if we look at the General Fund revenue, we have got
some use of fund balance and when we are looking at just the General Fund, the
property tax is 62 percent, with our next biggest percentage being the government
revenue sharing and the other sources being, again, much smaller. If you look at this
budgeted revenue, there is new revenue, not excluding the use of fund balance and
cant' forward. Again, that's 65 percent. The percentage we talked about for property
tax and, then, followed by our revenue sharing at 20 percent. And when we talk about
revenue sharing, we always -- I try to be very conservative with that projection, because
that projection is dependent largely on the economy, number one, and also can be
affected by legislative action that changes our -- the percent that we share. So, we
have the state come out with the lower number than they originally came out and that
number is still higher than the number that we went with. So, we will. watch that through
the year. Since property taxes are a major portion, we had talked just -- just highlight
property tax for a minute. As we have discussed in the past, the big part of our property
tax increase comes from growth and new construction. You can see how it grew and
how it's dropped. So, it's dropped a little bit from '07 to '08 considerably from '08 to '09.
If we look at our levy rate history, we can see our levy rate has also dramatically
dropped. We did experience a little bit of an increase through '09 because as the
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August 26, 2008
Page 21 of 40
market value -- total market value went down, although our taxable market value has
been -- it's been on a fairly steady decline, although, of course, less in the last period.
And a word of caution. I expect that in '010 that amount of new construction increase
will be much, much less, even than it was this year, because the slow down -- we are
almost two years behind in what happens in actuality and when it's reflected in property
tax revenue, so I think for '010 we can expect a very conservative increase in our
amount of property tax. I'm going to talk about the three impact funds just briefly,
because they are -- we keep them separately and this is the first year of the full year
that we had fire and police. So, the police impact fund balance -and, again, you can
use these materials for reference, but we really haven't -- we -- because our commercial
revenue permit sales were high and fire and police collect commercial fees, police and
fire impact fees have been well, they have done at or exceeded budget. So, this is just
what the fund balance is for us to start the year and what we expect it to be for the end
of the year and in '09 we did not budget anything out of the police impact fund. The fire,
again, has done well. We -- we budgeted to start reimbursing the rural fire for the fire
truck fund and this fund we are showing it as a negative balance, simply because we
have obligated to repay rural fire and owe them right now for the -part of the ladder
truck and, then, the training tower. So, it will probably be a couple years, just depending
on how growth -- how building growth does before we are ready to -- to budget
something out of that fund. And, then, the park impact fund actually did better this year
than we thought it was going to be, because we had some multi-family units go in,
which really helped boost that up. So, the loss that we are projecting is considerably
less. The loss that we are looking out now we think -- in the fund is considerably less.
And by loss I just mean what we have budgeted to spend out of the fund, which also --
which includes that large park land purchase account of 1.2 million that we haven't used
and so we consider that, although we haven't spent that. So, if we look at the General
Fund base budget, this is 23 million, you can see, again, public safety is 77 percent and
this is just looking at the base of each -- each of our major function or program areas
side by side and tells you how much their base increased over'08 and this is how much
their base increased over the amended '08 budget. Okay. The first fund -- the first
program for public safety, again, we have talked about what percent it makes up of the
total budget and the General Fund. The operating budget request for police this year is
-- for'09 is ten million. That's a 3.7 increase over the original FY-08. Fire at 7.2 million
is 11.65 percent over the original FY-08. I think one of the most important
accomplishments of this budget year is that we have decided to establish a public safety
capital fund for significant capital purchases and we are starting off this year by adding
about 300,000 to the fund and I think that we can expect, when we get to the end of '08
and look at where we end the year up, that we will be able to make some additions to
that fund, even just out of savings from those public safety funds themselves. So, that
used to be -- we used to call it our fire truck fund and it kind of dwindled into a very
small savings account, but we are reestablishing it as our public safety capital fund.
Okay. The Police Department, their request is fairly small, 340,000, and they have
asked -- the largest item is just 90,000 specialty assignment pay and, then, they have
asked for a couple positions and, then, some very small things, the Faces contract and
some small pieces of equipment. The Fire Department request is 31 percent of the total
General Fund. Their budget request is 1.5 million enhancement request and that is
Meridian City Council Special Meetlng
August 26, 2008
Page 22 of 40
principally the aerial ladder truck at just over one million. Other very very small
enhancements, increasing a position, a small remodel, and a small software addition.
Okay. The Parks and Recreation. They are nine percent of the entire General Fund
base budget. Their requests are 1.1 million. And they also -- we always -- I always say
Parks Department -- Parks and Recreation Department. So, that includes lots of
classes, camp programs, special events. I have to say as we were looking at results for
just -- just up through July, the Recreation Department has absolutely been record
setting. I mean the amount of revenue they earned has exceeded what we expected,
what we amended the budget for, so that program has really taken off this summer.
Okay. For enhancements they have some phase additions to some of the projects that
are already established. Some small additions and shop renovations, some furnishings
for the community center, park door, something that will make us at City Hall very
happy, a four wheel drive truck and snow plow. Well, at all city offices. So, City Hall
and downtown holiday decorations, a small contribution to the Meridian Middle School
and a ball fence. And, then, again, expand the sports revenue, which that's a total loss
of revenue and, then, a couple small electronic requests. Okay. City administration has
lots of legs. We have Department of Financial Management, Human Resources,
Information Technology, those three support services are all split equally with the
Enterprise Fund. Then, Mayor, Council. The City Clerk will split 25 percent with the
Planning Department and legal, which is split with Development Services. So, their
budget request, 14 percent, their base. And their enhancement request is one million
and that is principally the Enterprise software. Personnel, the impact to the General
Fund is 118,000 and there is three positions. They are all positions that are split with
other funds. , An HR analyst, an IT program, and legal receptionist. Then, again, we can
see that big piece of Enterprise software and that software is being funded by the
General Fund, but it -- a lot of what the software will do initially will deal with permitting
and the building department. So, now we have several electronic enhancements that
are fairly minor in dollar amount. We have renewal of a Human Resources contract that
we have had that's been existing. We have some money allocated for the Meridian Arts
Commission. Some small pieces of fairly minor software for the clerk's office. Small
amount of travel for the Mayor's Youth Advisory Committee. Big thing like a laptop.
And, then, the CDBG grant, we are just appropriating that, also it's appropriated on the
revenue side and we currently have that as an ongoing. We do this breakout as a kind
of a way to look at the fund in maybe a little more of a different way to summarize and
look at it, so you will find one of these for each of the funds. We look at what's new
revenue, what are we spending on personnel and operating and what, really, is the net
impact to the fund balance. Try to take that carry forward out, because I think it kind of
confuses the picture, tells you what's going out of the fund and how much fund balance
we are using. So, in this case the transfer is out of the fund at 734,000. Capital
Improvement Fund, we are not predicting any new revenue, because we are not
planning on an increase in the Development Services Fund. So, I'll -- and we are not
appropriating any new revenue, we just have that carry forward for the City Hall. Again,
this is the Impact Fee Fund. And the new Public Safety Fund. Okay. The next fund is
the Development Service Fund and those are programs that the City Council has set
aside to our -- programs that are just related to serving development services, which is
principally economic development, the Planning Department and the Building
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
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Department. And as we know, any excess is transferred to the Capital Improvement
Fund and between 2003 and 2007 that fund has transferred 8.2 million dollars.
Development Services kind has a checkered history. They -- initially it was just the
Building Department and the Planning Department. Not bad checkered history. Then,
we added street lights and code enforcement in '02 and, then, we cut them out. We
added economic development in FY-04 and in FY-09 we are taking dues, like Treasure
Valley Transit that are just city dues that we are going to pay no matter what condition
growth is, we took them out of the Planning Department and moved them to the General
Fund, because they -- it really clouded the Planning Department when you tined to look
at just the essence of those functions. In FY-09 we have conservatively projected that
there will be -- they will not be able to fund themselves by 441,000 in the General Fund
-- or in that fund, so we have covered that with the General Fund. That's one of the
transfers you see in the General Fund. If you look at just a little history that you -- you
know, we have every month in the financial statements, you can see how residential
permits have fallen with -- I guess it's the blue turquoise line being the current year.
Then, if you look at the commercial building permits revenue, you can just see it goes all
over the place. So, it's very difficult to project that, at least for me. Maybe somebody
else can and I should recruit them, but -- so, you can see it just goes up and down, up
and down. This year it's been great, it exceeded budget. So, I always try to keep the
budget amount fairly low, just because it is so unpredictable. So, again, if we look at
that revenue to base, this is the whole fund. You can see how it peaked in '05, starting
'05, '04, '06, the revenue peaked and, then, it's kind of narrowed down to meet its base.
And I expect for this year that it will break even. So, this is the two principal functions,
the Building Department, the revenue to base, you can see how that building growth
really spiked the revenue up over the cost and, then, it's kind of coming to base. And,
then, you see when we take those dues out of the Planning Department in the bottom
graph that brings their base back down. And they have a big 33,000 dollars worth of
enhancements. One of them is their share of legal's enhancements and they are
getting some GIS license and not a front counter that should say front counter
computer. So, pretty minor there. And here is what their fund looks like. With that
transfer of 441,000 being the -- that's transferring from General Fund, if they should
need it. Okay. Our final fund is the Enterprise Fund and I know you have talked about
that quite a bit recently, so you know that two components, the operation side that you
have talked a lot about, those are the revenue and costs associated with water and
sewer usage. And, then, the construction side, the capital infrastructure. So, if we look
at the Enterprise Fund as a whole, their total budget is 40 million dollars, with a big
chunk of that, again, being the carry forward, followed by wastewater and water and,
then, the two support departments being smaller players. If we look at the new revenue
and this shows the new revenue and the use of fund balance and, then, the bottom,
again, breaks it into the objects of personnel, operating, and capital outlay. If we look at
the operation side and look at the base and I think you have been talking about this
quite a bit, the base, again, being the personnel and operating costs, you can see how
that base is pretty close to the operating revenue and actually has been since 2002, it's
just riding right along there. We are looking at in '08 it -- actually revenue falling further
behind and, then, as we look at the '09 budget it's significantly lower. A lot of that big
change in that budget -- in that operating side is because of those CIP transfers. Utility
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 24 of 40
accounts. We used - we used to look at 15, 20 percent increases. They increased
about 2.3 percent in the last period, compared to the period before about five percent.
But even if we looked at the years where the increases were big, you can see the
operating revenue just really was just barely covering there. Then the construction
revenue and the capital outlay, again, that -you know, there is not direct correlation
between those two, because when a project is budgeted and when it's actually spent
isn't -- we don't try to match that exactly to the revenue. So, you know, A, we have
come down significantly and in the budget for'09 it's fairly small. And these are just the
overhead departments. Public Works, utility billing, and, then, we have added, as Todd
mentioned, in the budget hearing, each -- each fund has a new Other Government that
their City Hall costs, et cetera, will be in. That's just how the departments stack up
against each other. That -- again, that cant' forward being a big portion. And, then, you
can see the size of the two departments with, again, wastewater being the largest.
Public Works has a great big old storm water program enhancement, so they have one
enhancement. Pretty small. The Water Department at 3.3 million. And the biggest
portion of that, again, is that capital investment transfer, with some fairly minor
programs. We always expand the radio reprogram, we do that every year. We always
do water line extension and water main replacement, so that's over half a million. We
always generally add some money to the downtown renewal. Then, there is an aquifer
blending amount, some well rehab and, then, interFund transfers and small
enhancements for 330,000. The wastewater is at 4.2. Again, the big part of that is the
capital investment of three million. The biggest one that's actually a new program is the
sewer cleaning and camera crew for 757,000. A lot of these -- again, the consulting, the
chemicals, were increased in the chemical amount. That's probably some of -it's
almost a necessary addition to base. The downtown renewal we usually do. Sewer line
project and some smaller miscellaneous projects. So, other than the capital investment,
not a lot of increase to base, except for the new sewer cleaning and camera crew
program. So, that's what the Enterprise Fund looks like. So, you can see their -- their
net change to balance, if we leave out the carry forward, is 5.8 million and the next part
Todd is going to do the amendments. Oh. Wait. We have to close the public hearing
on the budget.
De Weerd: Well -- and it is a public hearing, so --
Kilchenmann: Oh. And ask the public for input.
De Weerd: Council, do you have questions for Stacy at this point?
Bird: I don't have any.
Rountree: No.
De Weerd: It is a public hearing. Does the public have any questions? We see a
couple of public members. No? Okay. Seeing no questions or comments --
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council Special Meetlng
August 26, 2008
Page 25 of 40
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I would ask one. I need to find it first, but it's on -- it would be on the property
taxes, where ever that is.
Kilchenmann: That's page six on your handout.
Zaremba: I think have it. And I -- okay. What -- I'm looking at the levy rate history. Am
I understanding that, that property owners will see their property tax go up a slight bit?
Kilchenmann: No. Actually, it depends on the market value of your house, because it's
just like we take that pool and, then, it just levies against whatever the value of your
house is. So, it depends on how much our request is, I guess, if that makes sense.
Zaremba: So, basically, because of the growth, probably, even though it slowed we had
some growth last year or --
Kilchenmann: We did -- we did for this year. Yeah. So --
Zaremba: And that covers --
Kilchenmann: Yeah. I guess they will go up a little bit.
Zaremba: But that mostly covers any greater expense?
Kilchenmann: Uh-huh.
Zaremba: We are not anywhere near pushing the three percent limit on property tax
increase; right?
Kilchenmann: Well, we always take our base of last year. So, last year our property tax
was 15 million, about, and we multiply that by three percent and, then, we can take that
number and that's called our three percent increase. So, that's like one component.
And, then, we have another component that is the amount we allow for new
construction. So, say our new construction six billion and we can multiply -- actually, it's
more like 400,000 million. And so we can multiply that by the prior year's levy rate,
which is -- you know, whatever it was. .00266. And so that -- that amount comes out --
I can't remember. I think it was like maybe five or six hundred thousand. So, that's
where most of our increase comes. And, then, whatever 15 -- or three percent of 50
million is, is the three percent part.
Zaremba: But that's spread over the new taxpayers as well, so --
Kilchenmann: Right. Overall -- whoever is in Meridian at the time the new levy is done.
Meridian City Council Special Mee~ng
August 26, 2008
Page 26 of 40
Zaremba: Okay.
Kilchenmann: And I, actually, have in some charts I can slow you and the revenue
manual has the years, like that shows the blocks and what the three percent increase
was. Did that answer your question at all?
Zaremba: I think so.
Kilchenmann: Or just confuse it?
Zaremba: It was a comforting answer, if I understood it. Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Any further questions?
Rountree: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Well, Council, if there is no further questions, no public testimony, would
entertain a motion to close the public hearing.
Rountree: So moved.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on Item No. 4. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Discussion from Council?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Seeing no discussion, I move that we adopt an ordinance and bring it back on
September 2nd for a vote for the fiscal year'09 budget request of 80,253,015 dollars.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to instruct staff to prepare an
ordinance setting this budget. Any discussion? Madam clerk, will you, please, call roll.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 27 of 40
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Gorton, yea.
De Weerd: Okay. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 5: Public Hearing: Amendments for 2008 Fiscal Year Budget:
De Weerd: Okay. Todd, I guess you're up on Item No. 5, amendments for the 2008
fiscal year budget.
Lavoie: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Council Members. You have a handout that should
consist of five pages, headed off with fiscal year 2008 Proposed Budget Amendments.
You have one that's in kind of a smaller print, that's the print that was -- that's the notice
that is on the intemet and was publicly put in the paper and behind that is a larger print,
with more detail.
De Weerd: That's for you, Mr. Bird.
Bird: I see our young appointee, though, wears cheaters, too.
Lavoie: What you have in front of you is our amendments -- are the amendments that
you have approved throughout the fiscal year this year. You have seen everything that
has been approved -- or has been published. The middle column is the column that is
the most important or what we are going to talk about tonight. It's broken up into three
funds. At the top is revenues, with the General Fund, followed by the Capital
Improvement Fund, followed by the Enterprise Fund. And all those amendments in the
middle column have been presented to you. Down below would be your expenditures
broken out by General Fund, Capital Improvement Fund, and Enterprise Fund as well.
In your monthly reports this report is given to you, so it should look somewhat familiar.
If you have any questions about any of the items on there, I'm more than happy to try
and answer them for you. I'm going to show you five slides that depict the numbers in a
different view, but they all come out to the same answer. The General Fund is on the
screen. This shows that we are going to have a net change of fund balance of a
negative six million for the General Fund with all the amendments that we processed
throughout the year. Any questions about this one?
De Weerd: Okay. Seeing none.
Rountree: No.
Lavoie: The next slide is your Impact Fund. We are going to have a net change to the
fund balance of 123,000. Any questions on this one? All the data -- all the numbers
here you should -- you have approved them all throughout the fiscal year. The next we
have Development Services Fund. We are only going to change it by 24,000 for the
fiscal year in amendments. Enterprise Fund. Throughout the year we have made
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August 26, 2008
Page 28 of 40
changes to the fund balance of negative 4.8 million. And the Capital Improvement
Fund.
De Weerd: Whoa. That's a good color.
Lavoie: That's a good one. We have made changes to that fund of 19 million and all
those funds are mostly associated with the City Hall. And you have all the detail on the
attachments in the pamphlet. Any questions regarding any of the amendments for fiscal
year '08?
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: No.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Todd.
Lavoie: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to provide
testimony on this item? Council, seeing no public testimony or further comment, I would
entertain a motion to close.
Rountree: So moved.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on Item 5.
All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we have staff prepare an ordinance that outlines our 2008
amended budget in the amount of 115,698,556, which is the sum of adding 30,248,236
dollars to our approved 2008 budget of 85,450,320 dollars.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: Thank you. I have a motion and a second to ask staff to provide the
ordinance on this item. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
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August 26, 2008
Page 29 of 40
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 6: Public Works Rate Discussion by Tom Barry:
De Weerd: Todd didn't need to look so excited to leave. Okay. Item No. 6 is a Public
Works rate discussion by Mr. Bany.
Bany: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll first begin with passing out a handout to the
Council and Clerk for the record.
De Weerd: Mr. Barry, while you're up, can you move the podium back to its place, so
we can actually look you eye to eye. Thank you.
Bany: Thank you. Madam Mayor, Mr. President, Members of the Council. It's my
pleasure to report back to you this evening with regard to some direction that was given
to myself and staff from finance regarding the rate discussion that we have had. Last
week you may recall that I had presented some information regarding the rate model
and, essentially, the results of the rate model with the information and inputs that I had
shared with the Council the last time we met. I have provided you a handout and would
like to step you through this handout this evening to help bring some clarity to some
issues, as well as to demonstrate that we have incorporated your suggestions and
inputs and to show you exactly what the model is suggesting with those inputs. So, the
first page of the handout that I have given you is scenario one, it says original proposal,
one time adjustment. This is -- this is exactly what was presented last week during the
presentation. Nothing on this particular page is new and it is just a synopsis of the
actual adjustments with regard to current proposed rates, how that looks in percent
difference and dollar difference and, then, what happens as a result with our six year
projection model in the years following fiscal year 2009. So, that was -- with all of the
assumptions and inputs we talked about last week. Now, from that conversation last
week Council has asked for a couple modifications and I'd like to point out sheet two of
page two, also entitled scenario two. This particular scenario incorporated a couple of
changes. Now, the first one was to reduce the operating reserve from a six month
reserve in both the water and wastewater utilities to a four month operating reserve to
match what we had in the General Fund as an operating reserve and, then, to also
incorporate an inflationary adjustment in the operating reserve to insure that we were
keeping pace year by year as our budgets grow with our operating reserve. So, I'd like
to point out that this particular scenario only includes those two changes and it is a one
time adjustment and if you will look between scenario one and scenario two, you will
see that there is, essentially, very, very little difference, particularly there is no difference
in rates and the only real difference is in ending cash values. Over time you will see
that there is approximately, oh, 400,000 dollars more in the remaining cash for water in
the year 2014 and only about 300,000 dollars more -- close to 400,000 dollars more in
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August 26, 2008
Page 30 of 40
the wastewater remaining cash. This is largely because it's -- the monies that we are
trying to establish for the operating reserve are really just a set aside, so it doesn't really
impact the fund, it's money we already have currently. We just want to set it aside so it
doesn't really impact overall ending cash position, except on the books as a set aside
and so the difference is going from a six month operating reserve to four month
operating reserve didn't really do anything with regard to rate adjustments. So, I just
want to report back on that particular item. Now, scenario three is one where 1
incorporated the suggestions just discussed, which is that we went from a six month
operating reserve to the four month operating reserve and we added the inflationary
factor to the operating reserve and, then, instead of taking a one time adjustment to the
rate, which we discussed last week, I wanted to project that for you over multiple years.
I think Mr. Borton had requested that. And so in projecting that over three years, what
we see here is -- in the upper left the -- not the graph, but, essentially, the table and that
describes what the proposed rate would be in dollar difference and percent difference
and you need to keep in mind that that is per year for each of the three years. So,
remember last week we had talked about a -- let's see here. We talked about a 24
percent rate increase for water and a 60 percent rate increase for sewer. Doing this
over three years minimizes the increase for each of those three years and water now it
would only need to beaten percent increase and in wastewater it would only need to
be about a 25 percent increase. Keep in mind that is an increase that needs to occur
each of the three years starting whenever this was implemented. What you will notice
here is that we still spend down the remaining cash balance in the water and the
wastewater funds up until 2012, at which point we finally are able to achieve the
correction we are after and what's nice about this particular scenario is that the
correction is a bit more rapid. You will see the up tum in wastewater beginning in 2012
into 2013 and 2014 and, then, also the up tum starting in 2013 for water, so that's an
extra year delay and that is a result, largely, of the differences in percentages over that
time. Remember, we had talked last week about if you didn't want to lose revenues, but
you wanted to incrementally institute the rate increase, that means over several years,
that that would end up costing a little bit more in the long run and that's -- and that's
what you see here. There is a little bit more revenue generated in the long term under
that scenario. What's nice about this particular scenario is -- is in the short term it is
easy on and therefore benefits the rate payers. In the long term it helps to bring about a
mid course correction that has some meaning as it relates to solvency of both the water
and the wastewater utilities. I'd like to point you back to scenario two now and -- and
just remind you that this particular scenario included the one time adjustment and in that
adjustment it does correct financially where we are and allow us to remain solvent over
the next six years, but the challenge here is that you will -- you don't see an up tum,
you're actually still going to have trouble unless you institute some sort of interim
increases, meaning interim between 2009 and 2014. Council's made it very clear that
they do not want to take on debt and that -- and that we want to continue the pay-go
policy that we have and to do that we need to insure that we have enough funds in the
ending fund balance for remaining cash to acquire whatever it is, capital or operating or
whatnot, whatever the needs are for utilities. So, I don't want to suggest with scenario
two doing it one time that you're out of the woods for the next six years. You will need to
institute some periodic increases. We can adjust those and look at those on a year-by-
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August 26, 2008
Page 31 of 40
year basis, which is what we have heard loud and clear from the Council as well and we
intend to do that. So, I just want to present those three scenarios -- each of those
scenarios are based on the same solvency needs, but just show you what the
adjustments are with your -- with your input. Moving onto the rate restructuring, which is
the page four of four. I want to have Todd help us with some of this, because he's done
a really nice job, he and Rita and other staff in finance have done a really nice job of
looking into more closely the rate restructuring option. You remember that last week I
presented this page four of four here and we -- I understood loud and clear that Council
wants to -- wants fixed costs, which is, essentially, personnel and operating, to be
covered by fixed revenues and that usage would cover the remaining. It's a bit more
complicated when we look at the rate structuring to just -- to just re-allocate the pie, if
you will, or cut the pie differently. It's not as straight forward as that may initially appear.
If we were to do that, we see that the lower usage water users and sewer users are
penalized more than those at the top end of the rate and so we wanted to make sure
that that was brought to your attention and to explain that more I will ask Todd to
provide some additional information.
Lavoie: Thank you, Tom. Madam Mayor, Council Members. The sheet that we are
talking about, page four, with the three options that were presented last week and
continuing on with the discussion of putting more of our expenses in the base rate and
less in our variable rate. As you can see on the page on option number two, that was
one of the options that I believe Council is kind of interested in. It would have increased
their rate to $8.25, which is a 104 percent increase on this sheet, just so you can figure
out where I'm looking, and the usage was actually going to go down five percent to
$1.31. Do you see where I'm -- is everybody following where I'm looking? I apologize.
The -- so, if we went with that direction, through some of the analysis that we have
done, like Tom said, the low users would actually have a larger hit to their monthly
usage bill than the big users, like let's say Boondocks or any other wholesale
manufacturing company. Now, it comes down to you to give us guidance if you want to
do that. We don't believe that's the best direction at this time. We would like to not
penalize the low consumers, because we have other supporting documents that will
show that the city, on page five of your handout, the very colorful one. What we did is
we worked with our utility billing department and we actually got 12 months of data that
shows the customers and how much they are using in water -- in gallons pumped for the
city. As you can see the top -- is that green? The top green section shows 74.8 percent
of our total users use less than 8,000 gallons pumped average. So, from that
perspective you can see that the citizens of Meridian are pretty conservative on what
they are doing with the water. That only leaves 25 percent of the customers are using
more than 8,000 gallons. So, with that information we need to kind of take a step back
and retook at how we are going to approach the rate model. Rate restructure. I
apologize. So, with the fact of 75 percent of our customers using less than 8,000
gallons on average, we can assume that our pressurized irrigation is helping with that.
We have done some analysis with some other cities without -- within the state and we
think -- we are finding that a lot of the state's cities do not have PI, pressurized irrigation,
to all the customers like we do. I mean if you just look next door to Boise, the
comparison of PI to customer base, we are much higher than they are. If you look at
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August 26, 2008
Page 32 of 40
Hailey, they are -- I don't even believe they have too much PI. Their average customer
user is 22,000 gallons a month where we are eight. So, you can see that pressurized
irrigation is assisting the citizens of Meridian with keeping their low usage on their
waters pumped. So, with the fact that we have 75 percent under 8,000 we would like to
recommend that a rate restructure to this option two that we talked about last week,
we'd like to recommend that we put it on hold until further research. We have been
doing tier block ratings. I think Mr. Borton asked us to look into that. It's only been five
days, but we have been doing as much as we can. In tier block rating what we are
finding is, really, to promote conservation and if we have 75 percent of our customers
already using 8,000 or less, the question comes to Council what is our conservation
number? Are we going to go for 80 percent of our customers? Ninety percent? We
have to kind of figure that out, so we can give you a better tiered system that would
support the current usage of our customers in the City of Meridian. Any questions
regarding any of the numbers we are presenting to you?
De Weerd: Great information, Todd. Council, any questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Just a comment. I appreciate, Todd, what you and Rita have done and Tom.
I for one I realize we need to get these rates going. We also need to get them right.
So, I would agree to hold off and do more research. Let's get something in the -- that
we can all be happy with and is right for our citizens. That's my opinion.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: My only comment is that we are doing a great job if we have got that kind of
percentages in that volume of water. What I see, though -- and what I would like to see
is that number increase, but as that number increases, then, we are going to have to
bite the bullet, because it's still going to cost what it costs to deliver that water, whether
you use a thousand or eight thousand gallons. So, if we defer at -this point, which I
suspect we will, we need to keep looking at this and figuring out how we are going to
ease into that situation, because at some point in time users are not going to bear the
burden of the cost of our system, I would guess.
Bany: Mr. President, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Mr. Rountree, that is
correct, we feel that we need to look at this rate structure more closely. At first glance --
we wanted to just present it last week, so that you would see how things were working
in the utilities. We felt that in all fairness when we are talking about rates we really
should at least inform you of what the structure currently looks like. Having taken your
direction and looked more closely at the rate structure, what we realized is, as I
mentioned earlier, it's not as straight forward as we maybe had hoped it might be. The
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August 26, 2008
Page 33 of 40
real key for the utilities right now as it relates to solvency is not rate structure, it is
revenues. And so my suggestion would be that we continue to move forward on the
rate work that we have been doing, but as far as the structure goes, we postpone that
work for another time. Right now what we are saying, you know, it's a matter of revenue
versus expense and it doesn't matter how we get the revenues. If 60 percent is from
usage and 40 percent is from base, or any segregation of that pie, what matters is that
we achieve the revenue goals that we have to hit in order to remain solvent in the
utilities for the foreseeable future. To that end, again, my recommendation would be
hold off on the rate restructuring, let us do some more research, you know, maybe we
wait six months before we start that, because there is still a lot of work to be done on
the rates themselves. Once we get the rates and the revenues associated with the
rates set and instituted, should we move that direction, then, we can take the time
necessary to move forward with the full analysis of the rate structure and bring back a
variety of options at a later date that Council can look at and discuss. So, again,
revenue is the big issue right now, not structure and for that reason I would recommend
we move forward with the rate discussion.
De Weerd: Council, any other questions?
Rountree: Madam Mayor, I don't have anymore discussion. I agree with what Tom just
indicated, that we need to continue to look at and analyze the rate structure, but I think
they have given us an option to pursue as we look at rates and the increase of rates to
maintain our revenue stream.
Bany: Madam Mayor, if I may also add, the Council was interested in the public
process piece of this, you know, having us provide you an indication of timing and
process as it related to moving forward on whatever it is the Council chose to do with
regard to rates and I wanted to just outline some processes and some timelines to help
give you some additional information, so that you can provide us the direction to move
forward. There are two types of processes, one which is mandatory for us to move
forward on modifying our rates and I will let Todd speak to that. I'll speak to the first one,
which is a voluntary public involvement or education component. And this is the
development of some sort of citizen committee or focus group. Should the Council
desire, they can direct staff to develop a focus group of a variety of different citizens and
business owners and folks that are going to be impacted by these rates and I was
thinking generally these things are around eight to 15 folks, from a variety of different
sectors that would be impacted. If we were to develop a focus group to go through this
particular process, the timing of that focus group, from start to finish, is on the order of
eight to 12 weeks and that is -- that time frame is composed of the following activities:
Essentially, it would take us two to three weeks to set up the focus group, identify the
folks, put the meetings together, get schedules arranged and this, actually, is a very
aggressive schedule, I might add. So, after that two to three weeks of setting it up,
then, it would be another four to six weeks of weekly meetings, we would imagine, with
this focus group and, then, two to three weeks after that to wrap up the focus group and
consolidate a recommendation, we hope, and to prepare for Council. So, again, that --
that time being about eight to 12 weeks. I think that's a very aggressive schedule. I do
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August 26, 2008
Page 34 of 40
have -- while there are benefits to having a focus group move -- you know, move with us
through this process, it is not required and it will delay the implementation of whatever it
is Council so chooses. The rate hearing process is one that is mandatory and is also a
fairly lengthy schedule, equating to about 12 weeks itself for that particular process, of
which there is inclusion of public comments and testimony, since it is a public hearing.
For that -for the full process I'd like to tum it over to Todd for just a second and, then, I
will touch base as it relates to the incorporation of both concepts.
Lavoie: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the -- along with his -- the public
process, we have the process that we will work with the clerk to make notifications to
the public. Our first notice we would have to actually put it in the paper for three weeks,
after that we would actually have a public hearing based on the notice that we published
in the paper for three -- two to three weeks there. After the public hearing we would
have the option -Council would have the option either to adopt the notice at that time
or actually create a second hearing for the adoption, so that could create an extra week.
Then, after that you have two weeks of publications of that resolution. Then, after that
you can implement the rate 30 days after the final day of that notice. So, what that
process -- that would take about ten to 12 weeks. So, those ten to 12 weeks, plus the
public process that calculated eight to 12 weeks, you're looking at 18 to 24 weeks. So,
basically, almost six months minimum is how soon you can get this rate adjustment
implemented if we went with a public process.
Bany: All right. I might just add the - if you go with the voluntary public process, in
addition to the rate hearing mandatory process -- so, if Council so chose to move
forward with just the rate hearing process, we are looking at about ten to 12 weeks, but,
again, if we did roll in that focus group piece, then, that does lengthen it quite a bit
longer. So, I just wanted to report back, because I know that you were interested in - in
the process, as well as the timing of the institution of these rates and I wanted to give
you a couple options as it related to that. So, with that information we are, essentially,
done with what we had to present to you this evening. We would like, however, to offer
you an opportunity to ask us any additional questions and, then, we certainly would like
to solicit your input and direction as it relates to moving forward if you'd like us to pursue
a focus group, if you would like us to just move forward with the one time or the multiple
year implementation or what exactly you would like for us to do at this point in time, we
are available for any variety of options. So, with that I will tum it back over to you.
De Weerd: So, Mr. Bany, what are you recommending?
Barry: Well, I think, Madam Mayor that instituting a multiple year rate increase makes
the most sense and is the most sensitive to our rate payers. I would recommend for
that reason a three year rate increase that was -- that was equal every particular year
representing the numbers I presented in scenario three and as it relates to the public
process, it's really just a matter of what Council's comfortable with. The rate hearing
process is a public process, it is open by design for public input and involvement,
testimony. That may be -- that is certainly sufficient to move forward with any
modification in rates, but the focus group -- my suspicion is that we are going to hear
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 35 of 40
the same recommendation from the focus group, so I'm not certain that there is an
enormous amount of benefit if we pose the question to the focus group do you want to
bite the bullet and take a big hit all at once, particularly in this economy, or would you
like to have it phased in over multiple years. My recommendation also includes not
dealing with the rate structure right now, just focus on the revenues, as I mentioned
earlier, and, then, for us to, essentially, begin this work as soon as possible, as you
know that time is of the essence on this particular issue.
De Weerd: Mr. Barry, I guess my question, as a follow up, would be when we look at
assessment to assess new growth, we go through a pretty lengthy process to get
feedback from the stake holders and so in my opinion vetting it through a citizens focus
group as that group of stake holders is exactly the same process we have approached
any other increase. So, Council, any questions?
Rountree: Madam Mayor, I don't have any questions, but it's a comment on process
and I don't see why the two recommended public processes, if you will, couldn't go
concurrently. It might make the statutory required process go a little longer, depending
on how long the citizens group might take to provide input, but there is no reason why
you would have to do that first and, then, enter into the statutory process. So, I think
you could do them consecutive -- or together not following one another. I guess my
recommendation would be let's get staff moving forward with the -- the three year
phase-in approach and take a look out how they can meld the two public pieces
together and move on with this.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I don't know if I'm alone in this, but my feeling is in your earlier discussion of
this you certainly made the case to me that we should have already raised the rates and
as unpleasant as it may be, I have no problem with going forward with having to make
that decision. I would see -- I would see it would be very useful to have a focus group
get involved in the rate restructuring idea. I don't see that there is much doubt about
having to generate the revenue that we are looking for and I think we need to move
forward with that as fast as we can, but I think the questions that you have raised and
that we have thought about, about what the restructuring should be is certainly an
opportunity for a public focus group, but (wouldn't -- I wouldn't wait for the raise. That's
a change we can make in a couple of meetings from now in the regular meeting. And I
guess I would add a question. My feeling was that in your earlier discussion when you
showed a phase in of perhaps -- and we have identified what we need to raise the rates,
if we only raise it a third this year and a third next year and a third the year after, you
identified the loss in revenue that that would have, as opposed to raising it all at once.
And my recollection was that that put us below negative. It didn't stop the fall soon
enough. So, I -- I don't know. It's distasteful, but I think we need to be looking at the full
rate. Personal opinion.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 36 of 40
Bany: Mr. Zaremba, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Mr. Zaremba, you are
correct and in moving forward with a multiple year rate increase that was nearly -- that
only the division of the number of periods the rate increase was to be implemented
over. There were significant revenue losses, especially if that period was to extend
further into the future. The rate that I have put together in scenario three counter those
particular increases -- and remember the slide last week I said you can make up those
revenue losses by tacking on a couple of extra percentage increase, if you will, to insure
that you didn't lose that revenue over time and that the impact was at the time you were
able to achieve in the short term incremental increases over time, but in the long term at
the end of that particular period there was going to be the net effect of a larger rate
increase than that taken if it was all at once. So, you're correct in your thinking. I have
rectified that in the model by adjusting the differences in the rate, so that we would not
go negative and that's what you see in scenario three. The total difference, I believe,
was -- let me do this really quickly. So, 23, 10, 34 -- six percent in water if taken over
the three years. That means, essentially, instead of the 24 percent it would be a 30
percent at the end of the three year period. And, then, for wastewater it's about 16
percent additional. And so the total net increase, instead of being a 44 percent increase
over three years between water and wastewater was 11 percent. So, that was the
difference, meaning it would be -- instead of 44 percent, it would be 55 percent at the
end of the three year period by delaying the rate and phasing it in over multiple years,
i.e., three years in this particular scenario. Again, short term, better, perhaps, on the
rate payers as it relates to incremental increases over that three year period. In the
long run higher rate increase over that three year period. So, that's the only way that
the model will balance, so --
Zaremba: Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I agree with Councilman Rountree's assessment. Let's -- bring us back
something that we can look at and let's get started on the thing. I agree with the three
year implementation and we want to be fair, but we also want to meet our costs.
Because I'm one of them rate payers under the 8,000.
Rountree: On a fixed income.
Bird: On a fixed income.
De Weerd: Well, Council, I would just go back to defending the public process and I
don't think that when we have gone into the impact fee committee, which is our citizen
committee that vets our capital improvement plans, evaluates our processes that we tell
them what the outcome is that we are expecting before they go into it. So, I almost
think we are getting the cart in front of the horse. If we want a focus group that gives us
unbiased feedback that you have to have that before you post what your expectations
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 37 of 40
are and so if we want a true public process, we have to be willing put some time into it
to do it right and so either you want a public process or you don't and that may sound
somewhat harsh, but we do this on every other fee and capital improvement plan in the
history of this city. I think that this type of approach and the kind of increase we are
looking at demands the same process and, of course, you have the vote and I only
implement, but if we really believe in the public process we need to follow it.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I think that's what Mr. Rountree said and I agreed to.
De Weerd: I think, then, I misinterpreted, because in order to go forward with public
hearings you have to already set a fee and the numbers in advance and that is -that is,
Mr. Bird, what I'm commenting on. If you want -- if you want the stake holders to help
vet this process and bring -- bring advice back like we do with our citizen impact fee
committee, then, that pre-determination that they start with is not there and that's not the
process we do with our impact fee committee on the General Fund.
Rountree: Madam Mayor, I guess I would comment that it seems to me that that's kind
of a steel trap approach. My approach would be we are having a public hearing on rate
increases for the Enterprise Fund. Start the education process in the public hearing and
the public hearing surrounds itself around the public vetting. The end result is what the
public input is. At the same time the statutory time requirement to publish a public
hearing and to deal with this are going on and at some point in time when we have a
number -- we might only gain a month. We might gain two months. But I guess by my
way of thinking Idon't -- I don't see that we -- we have an independent public process
to, then, come up with a number, then, to go through a statutory public process that the
public that didn't participate in the process doesn't like, so not only do we take 24
months, but we don't have an answer. I'm just suggesting staff take a look at that as a
possibility. You know, it's a bit of ingenuity there, but if that's a way to streamline this --
Igot to tell you, on the other side out there the public's just as much interested in not
spending anymore time in meetings than we are. So, to me if it isn't going to work, fine,
but I'm not going to say right now that it won't work, because in my mind I can make it
work, unless when Mr. Nary starts looking at the process and the statutory requirements
there is something in there that won't make it work and I'm just asking staff will it work
and take a look at it.
De Weerd: Well, Mr. Rountree, I guess we could use the impact fee committee, who
already understands capital improvement plans and I can tell you the outline process
that you got tonight, they have not taken that much time. So, the process -and if we
change it on this end, I guess we reevaluate how we do our impact fee committee as
well, but I'm just saying we have a process and it is to engage stake holders to vet it
through a public process and I would like to maintain the integrity of that process. How
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 38 of 40
we work it through that we can bring back next week and unless, Mr. Nary, you have
comments at this point or, Council, it is your decision, I'm just raising the process for the
CIP and Public Works shouldn't be any different than the CIP for the General Fund.
Bird: Madam Mayor'?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I don't recall any rate increases that's been within the limits that you have to have
a public hearing that we haven't went to the tax payers beforehand and explained to
them and had public input on it.
De Weerd: That's my point.
Bird: And we didn't do it -- we didn't have to do every one of them by committee. I don't
know. You know, you got to have the public process definitely in the play, but I don't
think we need to be three years from now having the same conversation, so I'm like
Councilman Rountree, let's -- staff sit down, see what you got to have and come back to
us. I think that's what you stated, come back in weeks. There is no sense of us sitting
here for another half hour arguing amongst ourselves.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I mean I guess to cut to the chase, I
mean raising the fees for sewer and water rates don't require different process than
raising a dog license fee. So, the process is similar to what you're used to. I
understand from discussion that you want more citizen education and input before
setting what those fees may be, to, then, have the public hearing that's required by
statute. So, maybe that's something the Public Works staff and my ofFce and the
finance staff, we could meet this week and bring back next week a proposal as to how
we can do that to make sure the public has an opportunity to both be educated and
informed, as well as an opportunity for realistic input as to how to implement that and
whether you want that in front of you in a workshop setting with some of you, whether
you want that with just staff and reported back to you, but we would maintain it like we
would any other type workshop with attendance and minutes and those types of things,
so there is meaningful dialogue that you can review, then, when Mr. Barry and his staff
come up with a -- what they consider to be the appropriate rates and the methodology
of how to do it and implement it and, then, that recommendation comes to you and,
then, we set it for the statutory hearing requirements and the implementation of that, as
all of you know, is not -- is not that complicated. I think what we are talking about here,
at least if I was .understanding you correctly, is really more of how do we get to those
numbers, how do we make sure the public has a piece of that and participation and
some understanding of why we are -- why this is occurring, that's probably the area
where we could come back to you next week with a proposal about how we think that
could best be done and, then, we could get that recommendation and direction from you
and go forward. Am I on the same track with you, Mr. Barry?
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 39 of 40
Barry: Mr. Nary, thank you. I think you are and it would be helpful for us, because there
are a number of ways that you could run this -- this additional public process. One of
them, as you have indicated, is merely an educational slash informative opportunity for
the public, one in which, you know, we present the information we have and get their
feedback and incorporate that into the public hearing. Alternatively, however, there is a
more robust process, which is involvement, actually. involving the community, the
citizens, and securing their input as it relates to what they believe we should be doing
with rates and whether -- what those rates should be and how they should be instituted
and that kind of a process and my suggestion is that if you are going to run a public
input slash involvement campaign, that we need to be sensitive to the expectations of
that particular group, because they are going to be expecting to provide input and for
that input to be taken and so if we are going to run a public process where that is the
expectation of the members of the committee and we are not going to be in a position,
because of the simultaneous process of taking into account that actual input and
modification, that could compromise the integrity of that -- of that group.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Rountree: Excuse me. I give up. You know, innovation, apparently, or thinking about
innovation is not on the plate for this evening. I'm not pleased where this is going.
Bird: Bring back a plan. I mean we spent an hour sitting here discussing something
that should have been a five minute discussion. We have always had public input on
every fee we have every raised and we will do the same thing. We don't have to have
two hours of debate. With that I -- I don't know what you want to do.
De Weerd: You don't need a motion, Mr. Bird.
Item 7: Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 67-2345(1)iU) (To engage
in communications with a representative of the public agency's risk
manager or insurance provider to discuss the adjustment of a pending
claim or prevention of a claim imminently likely to be filed. The mere
presence of a representative of the public agency's risk manager or
insurance provider at an executive session does not satisfy this
requirement:
Bird: I know it. I do have one motion. I move that we take Item No. 7 on this
Pre-Council meeting and move it to the end of the regular session.
Rountree: Second.
Bird: So, that we can have a five minute thing and get our regular meeting started.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
August 26, 2008
Page 40 of 40
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to remove Item 7 and put it onto the
regular agenda. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carves.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: I would entertain a motion to adjourn.
Bird: So moved.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor?
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Okay. We have adjourned our Special Meeting. We will take five minutes,
then, reconvene.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:25 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
MAYOR TAM De WEERD DATE APPROVED
ATTEST:
JAYCE . HOLMAN;' C ER
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