HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001 03-13Meridian City Council Workshop March 13, 2001
The Tuesday March 13, 2001 Meridian City Council Workshop was called to order at 6:32 p.m. by President Keith Bird.
Members Present: Keith Bird, Cherie McCandless, Ron Anderson, Tammy De Weerd
Members Absent: Robert Corrie
Others Present: Gary Smith, Bill Nichols, Shari Stiles, Bill Gordon, Ken Bowers, Will Berg, Jim Johnson, Steve Bravo, Mike Ingram.
Issue #1 Discussion of Appraisal of Ten Mile Fire Station Land:
Bird: Mr. Kenneth Bowers, Chief of the Fire Department.
Bowers: The Mayor’s set is over there?
Bird: We do not care, sit right there.
Bowers: Good evening President Bird and City Council members. Tonight out in the audience we have the Rural Commissioner, Steve Bravo, who will set in and listen.
De Weerd: Steve do you want to join us?
Bowers: Do you want to come up and join us or stay? The Rural Commissioners had approached myself and Ron Anderson in one of our meetings in talking about what they could get with
the property out at Ten Mile. They did not feel very comfortable about owning a percent of the building and not owning a percent of the ground. They wanted kind of a whole package
out there so I had contacted Mountain State Appraisal to come out and give us an appraisal on the property at Ten Mile. Mr. Darrel Matthews came out and gave us an appraisal on it.
Many years ago that property was donated to the City of Meridian for a Fire Station lot by Mr. Teeter. We appear before the Planning and Zoning and City Council to have zoning changed
to L-O and had the lots surveyed. We have water and sewer and the appropriate bowels constructed on the property from Ten Mile Road before they come in and overlay Ten Mile Road, because
once they overlaid it then we would have to wait 5 years before we could hook in. Our cost to have all of this work done was $9,698.50, and the Meridian Rural Fire Protection District
paid their portion of that. The appraisal was done at the current market value for land with water and sewer to the lot. The estimated appraisal value is $98,000. The Meridian Rural
Fire Protection District would like to pay their appropriate percentage of the property.
Bird: That is what the $9,698.50, that has already been paid for so the total appraisal their percent would be –
Bowers: Would be $88,301.50.
Bird: And what is their percent right now?
Bowers: They are 26 percent at this time.
Bird: $19,000-$20,000.
De Weerd: Mr. President?
Bird: Yes, Tammy.
De Weerd: Well I was acknowledging the president that just came.
Bowers: And I did not know if the Rural had approached you guys on any different type of percentage, 30-70, 50-50, so I did not put a percent down on this.
Bird: Councilman Anderson.
Anderson: I had had a conversation with Steve and after we got your memo there was the only fallacy. I see with that if you say that they paid their proportion of the $9,698, and so
that was 30 percent?
Bowers: Thirty percent.
Anderson: And so we should not deduct that full amount from the $98,000 that they only pay 30 percent of that.
Bravo: We do not even want to bother, just take the 10 off. We will just take what we have already paid both ends off of the appraisal value and just pay our percentage and call it
the 26 percent.
Anderson: So you are saying take the $9600 off of the $98,000, or what?
Bravo: Yes, which came out with the original numbers that Kenny had here the $88,301.50 would what -- we would pay our 26 percent of and just call it 26 percent all of the way through
and not worry about that 4 percent on the improvements, that is pocket change.
Bird: So is our agreement going to stay this year at the 74-26?
Anderson: Well, that will be re-evaluated for the next budget year.
Bird: Okay.
Anderson: But we do not know what those numbers are yet, we need the planning and the demographics.
Bravo: It was our just opinion it would be simpler if we just make each project a certain percentage all the way through, so that 10-20 years from now, it is real easy to know that
(inaudible) percentage, unless you guys have any other ideas.
Bird: Mr. Nichols.
Nichols: The one you are talking about is just like a sum-sorted formula. If you take the $9,698.50 off and then do the 26 percent on the $88,301.50 and call it a 26 percent ownership
between the land and the improvements that reasonable one with the circumstances fixes that interest and that land and improvement so that if anything is ever done with it later on at
any time. You decide to sever you Joint Powers Agreement and buy that interest from them and have the thing reappraised and buy the 26 percent.
Bird: Do we have to do that in a form of resolution or just a contract?
Nichols: That is a good question. I think it is a contract. We would just probably reflect it as an indendum on the existing Joint Powers Agreement or somehow reflects what the Rurals
are paying and they are getting in return.
(Inaudible Discussion)
Bird: Would you do that Bill?
Nichols: You bet.
Bird: Then let the Mayor know and we get it on the deal.
Bravo: And we write that personal check to you, right Kenny?
Bowers: Yes.
Bird: We have that. Item No. 2 is the – oh, Mike?
Ingram: One quick thing that I want to interject while we are talking about the Fire Station is, have you had a chance Keith to talk to Doc Johnson on –
Bird: I have not had a chance to talk to Dr. Johnson.
Ingram: Would it be possible to at least make contact with him before our meeting next Wednesday.
Bird: Yes, I will try and get a hold of him. He is back in time.
Ingram: Okay, thank you sir.
Issue #2 Discussion of Surplus Fire Department Vehicles:
Bird: Mr. Bowers.
Bowers: Okay, thank you. Councilman Anderson and I and the Rural Commissioners sat down one night and kind of mapped out what we are going to need for the future for trucks. At that
time we decided we that we have too many vehicles at this time so we need to start surplusing some of our older equipment, old vans, stuff that we do not use weekly or monthly. At this
time we have a 1973 Ford American (inaudible) truck that the City bought in 1972 or 1973 around in that area. This is a City owned truck, this is not a 50-50, and the City owns it all.
I had talked to Mr. Nichols about if there is anyway that we could gift or exchange a piece of fire equipment to another Fire Department, and he has checked through and went through
a lot of the state laws and basically said that is not a problem doing this. The Lowman Fire Department is just starting out; they are starting to start a department with trucks, wild
land trucks. They do not have anything. They are starting from scratch, and they are the first ones -- basically about 8 months ago had come and talked to us about if we had ever any
trucks available to put them on our list. They were the first ones on our list. I got a hold of them yesterday; they are still interested in a truck, so we had the truck appraised.
The appraisal came in at $8,000 for the truck. Basically the first thing the letter says is these trucks are not very popular. Caldwell Fire had one similar to it and it took them
several months to get rid of theirs, and I do not even know if they sold it or gave it away. I did not ever hear. Like I said in that last sentence right there, I would think that
if the City would be able to gift this truck to Lowman. We have a lot of people that travel up to Lowman and live up in that area. Possibly that truck would be servicing them up there
at Lowman also. I thought I would just bring it to you and get any ideas you guys have on it.
Bird: Tammy what are your thoughts on it?
De Weerd: I think we need to help out a fellow community.
Bird: Okay, Cherie?
McCandless: The first thing when I read this, the first thing that came to mind is if they had had that they would not have lost that lodge up there.
Bird: Mr. Anderson?
Anderson: I think it would be a good move. I know most of the surrounding departments that are real close that could benefit Meridian as far as mutual aide already have equipment that
is far superior to this type of apparatus, so we looked at a donation or a gift or trying to sell it to somebody around here. Like I said nobody around here would even be interested
in the truck due to the age and the condition of it. I think it would be a real benefit for the Lowman Community. They do not have a Taxing District even formed at this point, they
are just trying to solicit funds and get donations to get their district up off and running. I know at Nampa we are putting together a bunch of old equipment, bunker gear and hose,
and nozzles and stuff that we would like to throw in in conjunction with this apparatus and kind of equip it a little bit for them too. I think it would be a good deal. I think we
would get far more PR value and good will between the communities for the miniscule amount of money that we get for it. I think it would be a good deal.
Bird: Mr. Nichols, what kind of an appeal do we have to draw up or how do we –
Nichols: As long as it is – I believe the statute that Kenny referred to into this memo, it refers to a donation to any other taxing entity, so does the City of Lowman. Is the City
of Lowman incorporated is this a Fire Protection District? Do they have a, they do not have any taxes or –
Anderson: Not at this time, but they said that they are affiliated with Boise County, so it could be a gift to Boise County and then Boise County could then in turn put it on a loan
basis or whatever to this Fire District, and they would talk to their Commissioners up there.
Nichols: I would say if the donation is in Boise County with the stipulation that it be used for Lowman then I think you are okay.
Bird: Could you draw up the papers and it get them for the next Council meeting?
Nichols: I have not thought about what we would do, I suppose we could probably do a resolution, probably.
Bird: Is that agreeable with all of the Council? (Inaudible)
Nichols: Okay, Kenny I need the serial number and stuff for the truck.
Bird: Thank you Kenneth.
Bowers: Mr. Bird, City Council, we are not going to get any points from surveying Meridian Bureau Ford anymore. Thank you, I appreciate it.
Issue #3 Discussion of Urban Renewal Area Resolution:
Bird: Discussion?
De Weerd: It looks like there is discussion.
Bird: Okay, Jim come on up and sit down. This is Jim Johnson Chairman of the Meridian Development Committee.
Johnson: The acronym is MDC. The Mayor asked me to address this, and I am not too sure what he had in mind other than he kind of conveyed there might be some confusion. So I thought
what I would do is just give you a brief recap and this is kind of a repeat of what I said before. Bill and I have spent some time on the Urban Renewal law, state statute. Every incorporate
committee in the State of Idaho has an Urban Renewal Development. Some have put it into (inaudible) some do not. Currently there is a lot of Urban Renewal going on in the State of
Idaho. I thought I would start with just some basic definitions, and these all come right out of the state statue 50-2001 to 50-2031. First is Urban Renewal area of operation. Area
of operation meaning (inaudible). By statutes that is defined as in corporate City limits and area of 5 miles beyond the City limits as long as it does not overlap some other incorporated
territory. Meridian comes up to Boise so the 5-mile limit would not apply, but it might in some areas. Then the next definition I want to talk about is Urban Renewal Area and that
is basically boundaries that are set by the Council within which the Renewal has to happen. This could mean you could do that whole area, but whatever we do has to fall within those
boundaries. Then the next definition I want to talk about is the Urban Renewal Project itself. This is a specific plan, which is within the Urban Renewal area; it may only be a small
portion. It is all addressed by the act and (inaudible) as you go through each step to determining these boundaries if City Council approves to do that. Then the funding mechanism
most commonly used in the State of Idaho and currently being used by over 20 cities in Idaho is Tax Increment Financing. That falls under the Local Economic Development Act, which is
again a state statute 50-2901 to 50-2912. In there the key definition is a revenue allocation area, and a revenue allocation area is the area designated again approved by the City Council,
which the taxes are collected to pay for any developments. There are some limitations on that the area cannot be larger than 10% of the assessed value of the Urban Renewal area (inaudible).
It is not 10 percent geographic area it is 10 percent of the revenue that is collected on the taxes, property taxes. It has a life span of 24 years maximum, and as I get into the bond
issue you will see where that comes into play. This is how the tax increment financing works if I could just briefly go over that. It is all done in conjunction with the County Assessor,
approval by the City, you designate your tax revenue allocation area, taxes are frozen in other words the base. The total taxes collected at a certain time, which you determine, is
frozen at that point. So let us say theoretically you get $100,000 worth taxes, it is going to be a lot more than that but let us just us that, in this certain area this revenue allocation
area.
Those taxes continue to flow to this taxing (inaudible). Any new growth that, an increase in taxes go directly to the Urban Renewal vacancy to improve the area. Of course it has been
qualified already as a deteriorating or deteriorated area in order to get this money. Now the way this operates is throughout the State of Idaho this is taking place now, Twin Falls,
Pocatello, I have copies of their forms. The bonding company goes out and sells to investors, they are called tax increment financing bonds and they have maturities like 11 years, 12
years, or 20 years the maximum 30 years on the one, and the money comes in if we sell the bonds. The money is up front for use by the Urban Renewal agency. To purchase the land or
develop land that needs rehabilitation or even to spur the growth, start the growth itself, and then the increment tax is collected and in turn go back to pay the bonds off. Now, in
order for that to be an acceptable way of funding your area for your revenue allocation has to be large enough so that you can collect enough increment taxes in order to do something.
If it is a small area, it will sit there a long time; you will never get enough increment taxes in order to make an impact. That is why the people that are bid through this process
say two things should occur. One is that area has to include by law an area that needs rehabilitation, but the key is the area also has to include an area that currently developing
on its own because if you do not do that you will never have enough money to pay the bonds back. The bonds are not a slam dunk, the bonding company is not going to be able to sell them
or even try to sell them unless they are pretty sure that they are going to be able to pay the bonds off. You are kind of between a rock and hard place if you get to small of an area.
I am trying to lay the pattern here, because what I am going to recommend to you is (inaudible). In my opinion in order to this be successful, I really think the area that you define
in a resolution is too small to accomplish what we need to do if the route you take for money is active increment plans. There are other routes to take, there are other moneys available,
but usually those are one shot. I mean you could write up a – we could go outside and hire an expert and have them develop a presentation for a grant or whatever moneys are available.
We might – because it is very competitive out there, there are not too many of these programs available that are used to both state and federal to drastically reduce the amount of money
that is available through there. You might get lucky, and you might get a half of a million dollars or even one million dollars, but that is not going to be enough money to have an
impact. If you get it, you are going to get it once. You are not going to be able to go back next year and get it again because it is so competitive, if it was your attorney that got
it this year (inaudible). What I am suggesting to you and it is only a suggestion. That you table the resolution and let the Committee put on an informal presentation about why we
think we need a larger area that would take a minimum of an hour of your time to do it right, and then have you reconsider that and do whatever resolution you want from that point on,
but these resolutions can be amended, there are provisions for that in a statute, but in my opinion we have been at this since last June. We have the time to put it off and make our
case a little better and a little more professional than I am able to do at this point. I will add one other thing and then I will shut up. This is again my personal opinion, I think
the key to the
downtown development of Meridian is a commitment from a part of all of you, the City Council in particular that this is what you want to do and that has to include the relocation of
City Hall in downtown area. I cannot see – let me replace that, if that happens, if the City Hall relocates to the downtown area, the growth will be spurred much more quickly than it
will be at this time. If may not be spurred at all if the location is (inaudible), so there again this is my personal opinion, but I think you ought to put yourselves in a position
to look at all of the opportunities that are available right now for the downtown location for the City Hall Complex. That really is a feeling of our Committee as well. We have discussed
this at some length, so I think I am safely speaking for them as well as myself. So with that point I will answer any questions you might have regarding that.
Bird: Ron.
Anderson: Gentlemen, I am trying to understand, maybe you can help me understand a little bit better. You talked about that the taxes get frozen at the level whatever time we set in
there, and that becomes the revenue allocation area?
Johnson: Yes.
Anderson: Then you said all the taxing get their money from what they are currently getting, and then it is the new growth that is going to occur that is going to generate the moneys
for the Urban Renewal District and that they go out and sell bonds. How do they figure out or is that just kind of a guess about how much new growth is going to occur and how much bonds
they can go out and sell there?
Johnson: In order to sell the bonds, we have to provide the bonding company and the City Council and everyone else with a very detailed plan about we plan to do and where we plan to
do it at. Because without that plan we do not have a pray. It has to be very specific with blocks or areas designated that you want to improve and how you want to improve them. There
are a couple of exceptions to that freeze, by the way. The School Districts are exempted from that. ACHD was never perceptive to tax increment financing (inaudible). The reason the
Cities and some of the other tax amenities no longer fight it like they use to is because of the 3 percent cap. A 3 percent cap applies to the budget not the taxes. In an area that
is growing as fast like Meridian, you have the flexibility of either the percentage (inaudible) or the 3 percent cap, so if you have a 6 percent growth in Meridian, that is about what
we have 5 or 6 percent, the golden ponded cap, which only makes sense with the growth (inaudible) efficient services, you need that. There are exemptions for some of the tax amenities
(inaudible), so they would continue to get the new growth as well. Their portion would be (inaudible).
Anderson: And then you indicated that these Urban Renewal Districts are tax increment financing could be collected for 24 years. Do you guys have a projection on how long you are looking
at setting up this Urban Renewal District?
Johnson: We are nowhere near that point. In order to get to that point first we have to go get the designated plan and talk to the money people. We already have some people coming
in from Wells Fargo who have done this sort of thing before in Pocatello and Twin Falls. We do have to present a very detailed plan to them before they can begin to go out and sell
a bond, but I can tell with the length of the bonds in this City, they vary from a carry of 11 years up to 20 years depending on the amounts. Some of those bonds are as small as $545,000
and some are as large as $8,250,000, so they vary in size. The other thing is they do different districts and different bonds, so you could have more than one district being bonded
at the same time. Boise has kind of done theirs in stages and districts as well. Each time you go into a new district and you have to come back to the City with a new plan for approval
(inaudible) the bonding company so it is a whole new project. (Inaudible) If this whole Urban Renewal thing as I get into it – let me tell you something, I am a modern European History
thinker, I am way out in my field here, so I have just been reading about this more or less. I am not an expert on it, but the more I read about it, it takes a lot of foresight. You
have to look down the road a long time; you have to look down the road 10, 15, 20 years to try and visualize what we want Meridian to be. If this is not the mechanism you want to use
to get there then I (inaudible). We have a special axe to grind (inaudible) we are appointed by you to be here.
Anderson: I would hope that you are not grinding an axe.
Johnson: I have my own pet peeves too, everybody does.
Bird: Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Johnson?
De Weerd: I never knew you had an opinion. I think it is very reasonable to have the Committee come in and present the boundaries and the rational behind that, and I would look forward
to that presentation. I know you have put a lot of effort into this, and I do not see any urgency to set this tonight.
Johnson: We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning, and if you agree that that is the route you want to take then I would take that to the Committee in the morning and get a
Committee to give a presentation at your convenience. Probably as soon as possible.
Bird: It will be the second Tuesday in April before we can do it at a workshop.
Johnson: That will probably work.
De Weerd: You do not the fourth week? Is that already full?
Bird: The fourth week is a regular Council meeting it is not a workshop. We need to discuss this at a workshop. We can give them an hour for a presentation. I would be in favor of
bringing it back at the next workshop, the second Tuesday of April, giving them one hour.
Johnson: That would probably give us the time we need to get prepared for that. I am sure we want to bring in some overheads.
De Weerd: Mr. President?
Bird: Yes, Tammy.
De Weerd: I believe that there were some questions raised also about the lease option. Have you talked to Jim about what your questions were or the City Attorney?
Bird: No, Mr. Nichols is going to –
Nichols: We are still working on it.
Bird: They are still working on that. I am not for that lease option unless I am 100 percent sure that it cannot be sold out from underneath us or something like that. I think the
key word there is permanent.
Anderson: What does that mean?
Bird: We both have the same question. I have a real question on that, but anyway if it is agreeable with the Council we will put this on the agenda item for the workshop the second
Tuesday of April and designate one hour.
(Inaudible Discussion.)
Bird: What is the date of the second Tuesday?
Anderson: The 10th. I just feel like for me, myself, I just want to know more of the ins and outs and the intricacies of establishing one of these so that I can hopefully make a more
informed decision about whether we are doing the right thing or what.
Johnson: I read the minutes from your meeting for the resolution and I could tell from that that there was some confusion about (inaudible) we have changed our boundary to a radius
and some were concerned it might cut a lot, that is not the plan that is the area. That would never happen of course. If you have a plan come to you that cuts a lot of hands, I was
just giving that as a larger area –
McCandless: I am curious about that. When we talked about boundaries we were talking about from Cherry Lane and Fairview to Franklin and fourth to fourth. Why would you think that
was too small? I do not disagree with you, I am just wondering.
Johnson: No, it is not even my considered opinion. It is the opinion of the people that have been through this process that there is not enough within that area to run (inaudible).
That is the key to some of this development. Most of that area is by residential or small business and office that sort of thing. The guy minds that we are trying to follow is to
try to get as much as you can for obvious reasons, and that is why there are trade offs, there are going to be sacrifices for awhile. Sacrifices that are somewhat diminished by changes
in the law within the Taxing District. There is a whole behind this as to what happens because once they frozen in that area, and taxes might slightly increase in areas where it is
not frozen. If you are increasing your Mill Levy, which I hope you do because I think it is sorely needed.
Anderson: And my concerns, I mean I understand why you would want to have a large area and you want some area that is undeveloped right now so that it will generate more revenue as
we have been talking a lot here lately, we feel like the residential growth that occurs does not provide the funding quick enough for us to keep up with the City services. So we have
really been trying to make an effort clear back as far as when you were on the Planning and Zoning to get more commercial growth, and we are just starting to reap the benefits of that.
I do not want to take a big chunk of that and dedicate it all to the Urban Renewal so we do not have a catch up on those City services.
Johnson: There is always going to be separate schools of thought. I think there are people that are better equipped to answer that. (Inaudible) I know there are trade-offs.
De Weerd: There are trade-offs because it does draw other industry.
Johnson: But you have to be dually farsighted and see the benefits way down the road for the sacrifices you made now. (Inaudible)
De Weerd: And a lot of that too because of the 3 percent cap you are not going to realize it anyway. So this way it goes in and it still is benefiting the development of the community.
Anderson: Because any new growth you get above and beyond the 3 percent cap.
De Weerd: Not the following year.
Anderson: Yes you do.
Bird: Yes you do.
Anderson: Your new growth always counts.
Bird: Okay, Council with your approval we will put this on the April 10, 2001 first agenda and give it an hour. Okay, we cannot table it.
Issue #4 Discussion of General Insurance Liability Concerns:
Bird: Mr. Johnson do not leave your seat seeing how you are our Insurance representative. I asked Mr. Johnson to come tonight. I have some real concerns on our Parks and Recreation
program.
De Weerd: Keith, do you want to introduce Boy Scout troop and kind of explain what a workshop is and why we are so informal?
Bird: Which troop is that, Troop 149? This is not a regular Council meeting; this is a workshop where we discuss resolutions and all the stuff. We cannot make any decisions. It is
very informal. We have no public input unless they ask, so that is basically what we are doing here tonight. We appreciate you guys coming. Do you have any questions for us?
Unidentified: No, not at this moment.
Bird: In about 15, 16 years you will be sitting here. I have some real concerns on our Recreation program, where we are hiring – and I do not know nobody seems to have contracts or
everybody I have asked, we are taking the money in and then we are having outside people give the classes. Are we getting certificate of liability from them because they are a subcontractor?
I do not know so I asked Mr. Johnson to come from ICRMP, representative of ICRMP, and explain some of this to us. I think we might be sticking our necks out a lot farther than we would
like.
Johnson: Just a couple of basic things and then I will get to Bill Nichols waiver. We have a contractor with the provider, which is ICRMP. It says you will tell us everything you
do and that is how we arrive at pricing for the insurance. That is just basic insurance. It is my responsibility to keep ICRMP informed of everything that is going on in the City.
In that regard, one of the things that brought this to life – we do not have time for a refresher course here. I am keeping everybody advised on what is going on in the City. I was
reading through the Meridian Parks and Recreation spring/summer 2001 brochure, which is a really nice brochure. It talked about all of the programs offered and there are a tremendous
number of programs in there. Some of which caught my eye, things like kickboxing, trampoline gymnastics, and what in an insurance business is considered real high hazardous stuff because
kids get hurt and (inaudible) get
sued. So in that regard I sent a copy of the brochure to ICRMP and said hey, these things are going on. Some of them are on owned premise, most of them are on non-owned premise, tell
me what I need to find out so that these people can be informed about what is going on over here. So the feed back kind of comes back tell me what kind of contracts they have and what
are position is in these programs, are we just collecting money or are we actually out there providing instructors, what are we doing? So we need to know all of this stuff in order
to make sure that our rates are adequate. So in that regard there are two things that readily come to mind: No 1, if we are representing ourselves as providing the programs, say kickboxing,
but we really do not have any role as a City in conducting the kick boxing class, all we are doing is signing people up and taking money. Where is our liability? Mr. Nichols will tell
you that that is hard to determine until you go to court. The way you protect yourself on a standard basis is you get certificates of liability from the people who are providing the
service for the program. Showing that they have insurance and they need either the City of Meridian as a additional insurer or holding us harmless and identifying the City of Meridian
as to any liability. That is kind of a standard procedure in the insurance business, and then the second thing is to encourage or make mandatory signing a waiver on participants and
I will tell you how this came about. We have a program going on now in the City of Meridian, I think it is still going on, is youth basketball. A couple of kids got hurt playing basketball,
sprained their ankles or whatever the standard injury, and they showed up on an instant claim report which went through the Risk Manager which is Will Berg, City of Meridian. There
is no way on God’s green earth that the insurance company would contemplate paying for participant’s injury. Every policy in the world excludes participants unless you go to (Lloyds
Leonard) and buy participants coverage. Again, the necessity of having a waiver for people to sign saying basically you are on your own when you sign up for the program you waive coverage
against the City of Meridian. Anyway I have a copy of the letter here from Bill Nichols, Larry Moore actually, from the same firm, saying we have a waiver and we think it is sufficient
in order to satisfy our needs and I forwarded that on to ICRMP. So this is really a little speech on a refresher to let us know and to let Will Berg know, he is the designated risk manager
for the City of Meridian he has been to all of the classes he has gone to a multitude of seminars on claims reporting, general liability and how it extends to the City. There are some
special things in the law about facts supporting cities. We cannot be sued as readily as a private sector can because of special exemptions. So that is my basic point on that. On
those programs in particular. I do not know if any other departments do anything like this. Certainly, we need certificates of insurance and waivers on everybody that participates,
and I am hoping (inaudible), we should have in place at all times.
Nichols: We have told the Parks and Recreation Department that there needs to be some sort of waiver on each person, and I guess the question on some of the Parks and Recreations classes
though again, we have a fire fighter who volunteered time to teach a CPR class through the Parks and Recreation
Department. That fire fighter does not have a business and has not been paid any money for it. That is really not the kind of activity that you are looking for a certificate of insurance.
Johnson: No, it is just something we ought to be advised of that is occurring and those circumstances can be explained. This participant is just a fellow volunteering his time providing
CPR classes, down the road his product does not perform and somebody dies and we get sued (inaudible).
Nichols: Well, there is the Good Samaritan Act.
Johnson: Yes, I know there is a Good Samaritan Act, but those – anyway, I am just gun shy about things going on that we do not know about.
Nichols: There is one thing that arose just last week, City of Boise and their literature on – are they an ICRMP insured?
Johnson: No, they are self-insured.
Nichols: And their Parks and Recreation brochure says, our policy is that you cannot participate unless you waive us release us from liability, and we are hereby advising you that that
is our policy and that if you participate you have accepted this, it is a required acceptance of our release of liability, it is in the documents. I do not –
*** End of Side One ***
Nichols: These waivers, I am not so sure how much they have helped them. They really do not keep you from getting sued in most cases. It is just one thing that we can use as an additional
defense. If somebody is intent on suing because you are grossly negligent, something like that.
Johnson: It is kind of like buying a ticket when you go in a theatre and on the back of it is a release of liability if there is a fire in the theatre, it does not mean they will not
get sued. Anyway, that is the point I wanted to make on that, and then if I could just touch on two or three other things and then I will be through.
Anderson: Before we go on I have question. Would it be feasible to have – if you are contracting with somebody else to provide the service, if it a trampoline class or if it is basket
weaving 101 and it is off premise, is it reasonable to ask them to provide an insurance coverage for the participants that are going to come in those activities? These are kind of deep
pocket theories. If somebody trips walking up the steps to go into somebody’s house who is taking a class on aroma therapy and those people do not have any money then naturally they
are going to come back and sue the City, especially if they could not claims taken care of. I know you can buy insurance for participants. I was the Secretary of
Treasure at the Idaho State Fire School for 12 years, and every year we bought an accident policy that would cover those participants up to x amount of money if they were injured during
that event.
Johnson: Those are strictly accident exceptions. You can get into areas of liability that are much higher. Your accident policy that you provided was $50,000, $25,000.
Anderson: But that is what most people want –
Johnson: But that does not give you any coverage for loses of consortium or pain and suffering.
Anderson: I was dumb-founded even when I contacted you even with the March for Parks thing, and found out as volunteer and getting blown off of a barbecue and getting lit on fire, well
gee thanks for volunteering, but you are not covered by anything. Pay your own medical claims too.
Johnson: That is why all of the little league programs in the valley soccer, baseball, and whatever all have an accident policy. They are required to do all. It is set limit and
it helps.
Anderson: So is it reasonable to ask for something like that?
Bird: We should.
Johnson: I do not know if it is a reasonable one or not. It would probably economically discourage people for doing things. So you would have to weigh that as how important basket
weaving 101 (inaudible). Just a couple of other items we are trying to update our driver’s list. There has been some damage to some (inaudible), so what I have is just some blank forms
I want to give Will if I can and hope that the department manager will get them filled out. We need to really update that. We are behind on terminations (inaudible).
Bird: We have got 3, 4, 5 of them right here. You guys will get that taken care of?
Johnson: I will give these to Will so he can get them to you. Just quickly, any time you dispose of equipment, like a vehicle or something, we need to know that because it comes off
of your insurance costs. Often times when new vehicles are purchased and then they are designated to replace a vehicle, but some time before you sell, you call me they are both on there
and you are getting charged for two when you really should only be getting charged for one. We go back as far as we can on them, but sometimes it has been a year or so. I am working
with Rita on that, she is very good on that, so we have a better system now than we ever had before. Adding new stuff, Kenny is very good he calls me on
everything, but not all of the Department heads are in tune to that. I would just reemphasis the need for that. Land Acquisitions sometimes the City either receives through donation
land or they buy land and it just sits there, you still have a liability on it when it is just sitting there, some kid can out there and drive a 4-wheeler or a motorcycle on it, that
sort of thing could happen. It is not that remote, so I think that anytime the City acquires property (inaudible). That is basically all I have. Unless anybody has any questions.
Obviously, anytime there is an incident that you think is going to be a claim that needs to be reported as soon as possible.
Bird: Any questions for Mr. Johnson regarding our insurance?
McCandless: Land Acquisitions, does that include say a certain amount of land that in the middle of a subdivision zone or a park?
Johnson: Right, matter of fact the last 2 or 3 we put on have been near a pathway or donated by the developer to be a future park or something that was actually deeded to the City,
so as soon as that happens the City has the liability (inaudible).
Bird: Any other questions? Thank you for coming Jim.
Johnson: You bet.
Issue #5 Discussion of Area of Impact Proposed Changes:
Stiles: We kind of went over these last meeting, and I do not know really what response they are expecting.
De Weerd: Did Grant say what form of response he expected from us?
Bird: A written letter from a Council agreeing –
De Weerd: We cannot do that.
Bird: We cannot do that at this meeting now.
Stiles: Do you know what the two areas where that you were discussing (inaudible) one property that dealt with the Muir Woods and then the other one would have been that Winston Moore?
One was Winston Moore and the other Wilt Wanners Muir Woods over off of Cloverdale and Victory. The third one would be over where the Boise Lynnex Golf Course is. I meant to get with
Bill and go over this and see what you might want. Our main concern is if agree to any of this what impact is it going to have on our Comprehensive Plan and is it something the City
of Meridian should consider a change to its map. I have gotten different opinions from Boise City and Ada County on that, so I do not
know – Bill is there anybody in your office that has experience with that changing, area of impact?
Nichols: I think Terry does and Chris Ney does in terms of -- Chris was involved with the City of Homedale and their negotiation in the area of impact with Owyhee County. It would
impact the zoning map, would it not?
Stiles: The land use map?
Nichols: We are looking at a Comprehensive Plan process for the amendment of Comprehensive Plan (inaudible) to actually adopt it.
Stiles: So our approach would just be to come up with a draft for you. I do not know if we can by the next City Council meeting. Jonathon Seele back up again on that Winston Moore
piece. Do you think we will have anytime to do anything by the 20th, by Friday?
Nichols: I can ask questions whether or not I will get any answers. I may ask the questions tomorrow morning.
De Weerd: So the suggestion would be to run it concurrently with the Comprehensive Plan.
Stiles: If it will –
De Weerd: If that is what we want to do.
Stiles: -- constitutes a change in our land use map, which would normally be every 6 months.
Nichols: Actually, if you have a changing series that will impact, you will have to (inaudible).
Stiles: Trisha Nielsen seems to think it does not impact it. Al Simmons did not know. I will call Wayne Gibbs tomorrow and see if – I thought Al would have been the one to –
Bird: I have not been real clear on the take I heard (inaudible) if that is what you are discussing –
Stiles: Trisha Nielsen is a Long-Range Planner for Ada County, and Al Simmons is a long-range Planner for Boise City. Then Wayne Gibbs is Planning Director for Boise City. So I really
have been trying to find out about this will serve letter that Jonathon is asking for, and I do not know where to request is coming from because Ada County claims they do not it and
Boise City says they do not need it.
Bird: I think that basically the change of impact as understood through Grant is we have to write a letter stating that we will accept this land as our impact period, and release.
Stiles: So maybe if we can find out if we can do that and not actually change the map. It sounds like they are just going ahead with Boise City with whatever they need to do there
anyway.
Bird: I would suggest that if you get it by the 20th great if not we will have to wait until the 27th. We cannot make decisions.
Stiles: You cannot make decisions or can you?
Bird: The 27th.
De Weerd: We could do it on the 27th?
Anderson: Yes because it is not a single applicant.
Stiles: It is a true City Council meeting –
Bird: So we could do it then?
Anderson: I was thinking just a letter that would say that the Meridian Mayor and City Council are in agreement with the proposed land changes in the area of impact.
Stiles: If they all are.
Nichols: I mean yes that is the first question. All of them around the table did not say whether or not they are, and the second thing is the actual process the letter does not change
anything. Technically under the statute it is a negotiated process with regard to where those boundaries are. So here we are talking about more than just – is it just Meridian and
Boise or Eagle. So we have three cities plus the county, and I think what they are looking for is this is acceptable to us or not because if it is acceptable then the process is each
one of the entities has to change an Ordinance. That is where we get into changing (inaudible)
Bird: So you are saying we need to take the gist out?
Nichols: Yes, I mean you can see if anybody has any problems with any of these things, say so.
Bird: Cherie, Tammy?
De Weerd: Yes and no. I understand all of them I just do not know about the will serve letter is something totally different than this is. I do not mind taking the 12 acres in, but
I am still not sure if I am in agreement with what is being proposed.
Anderson: If they do not give us this letter then they do not want it.
De Weerd: Right, they do not want it.
Anderson: This 12 acres coming into here –
Nichols: That is one of the complaints on the annexation bill was that the area of impact negotiations between the political entities, the cities and the county and the owners of the
property have to have input into the classes at some stage (inaudible). So I guess what I am saying to you is if you think this is acceptable then it is very possible that this could
be done even if Mr. Moore says I do not want to be out. Possibility is to consider if as long as the property is okay with it, we are okay with it.
Bird: I think that is basically what we are asking about. (Inaudible)
De Weerd: I have not had a chance to listen to that tape deck is there (inaudible)
Anderson: No that was about something else, relating to this No. 6.
De Weerd: I just have a lot of questions, I am not sure I understand it well.
Discussion Inaudible
Bird: Council, do you want to write a letter draft –
De Weerd: I think we need to know if by changing it if we need to run it concurrently with the Comprehensive Plan because if we approve it now and does constitute a change. We cannot
do anything on that Comprehensive Plan for 6 months.
Stiles: Does the state code say that the Commission cannot make a recommended change to Land Use map more recently than every 6 months?
Nichols: I think it is that you cannot adopt a change more than every 6 months.
Stiles: I do not if it changed, but I thought before it said the Commission can recommend a change –
Discussion Inaudible
McCandless: When is that supposed to be adopted?
De Weerd: Sometime this summer.
Bird: Okay, what is your pleasure Council?
Anderson: To draft a letter for contingence upon if it does not mess up adoption of our Comprehensive Plan.
Issue #6 Discussion of Ada County Subdivision Applications:
Bird: You’re on again, Shari.
Stiles: Well, we have not seen any yet, but we are told that we can expect on in the next two weeks. Again, not having been able to get with Bill, not that I tried to call you and
you did not respond.
Nichols: Thank you.
Stiles: I guess what we would suggest is that they already have Larry Moore working on some research.
Nichols: Let me kind of tell you what I have in mind. We believe that we are going to receive a number of applications for urban density subdivision inside the area of impact. We
have not had a consistent way of reviewing those applications in sufficient timely fashions to provide meaning full comment to Ada County Planning Commission. So I talked with Shari
about – I mean that is the reason we are on here, we had a mind which was to develop an approach to take with regard to what things to look for in these applications inside the area
of impact for which state code says we can comment. The area of impact within Ada County says that we can comment, so that we can provide a meaningful response. We have had some in
the past year that I have been attending Council meetings that they tend to come to us with insufficient information and the county, I am not sure if you get a full copy of the application
or at least get a request for comment. That says you have received the application. What Shari and I have talked about is coming up with a consistent approach regarding information,
like staff needs to do, what I mean when I say staff is Shari’s office, Mayor’s office, Gary’s office, and any other affected agency with site specific, so they look at these applications
so the comments can be provide so that that is in the record (inaudible). If there are some of these that we feel are inappropriate, take it off and say so. There are none right now
that we are aware of that specifically (inaudible)
Bird: Shari do you have anything to add to it?
Stiles: (inaudible)
Anderson: Listening to that tape that one gal that you were talking about that works for Ada County. It almost sounded to me like because she is used to dealing with develops that
are outside of cities. The requirements are actually tied to existing City sewer lines, but she does not understand the significance of those lines being laid to a certain elevation
and then you just pick a spot and go out 2 or 3 miles from your existing sewer lines, she just seems to think – the impression I got from the tape is you could just put them in at any
elevation as long as they all fall one direction --
Stiles: That was Sharon Almond.
Anderson: -- and that you could just pipe to it, and then you could put in a lift station. It seemed to me like somebody needed to really spend a little time – and I did not hear Gary’s
voice on the tape so maybe he was not there. Somebody needs to explain at least to her the problems with lift stations and the reasons why you just cannot go out there in the middle
of anywhere and start a development because those elevations – if you run into some difficult terrain or whatever, they can change a few inches and if all of the sudden you have a hump
in the middle it is not going to work. That was a concern I had when I listened to that tape. I think it sound like Roger Simmons sounds like he was in supportive of the developments
waiting until they were contiguous and until the City was ready to annex them and Grant was like, go put in water and sewer and he is fine with it.
Stiles: No what he said was go ahead and annex it.
Anderson: Which did not show a lot of insight to me that – Roger Simmons was the only one that talked about and understanding that it takes more than water and sewer to make a City
and to make a community. I had concerns about the other two Commissioners and it sounded like we needed to do some addition education with them otherwise they may be prone to approve
these types of developments.
Bird: Any other comments, Council? Thank you Shari. If you want to get something drawn up for us if you want to come back to the next workshop.
Stiles: When is the next one?
Bird: The 10th of April, yours will probably be a long presentation because we are giving an hour to Urban Renewal --
De Weerd: I think that the meeting that we had with the County Commissioners last June, they were very supportive of our area of impact and that the City would plan that area of impact
and as long as we stayed with our commitment to servicing that area within that 10 year period which we have 7 years left, that they felt comfortable continuing along that line. Yes,
we have only had one
commission member change since then and I agree with Ron. I think she needs to spend some time with Gary or yourself and understand what Ron picked up in the conversation with the staff,
and maybe we need to meet with them again and really get a firmer idea of – and they said that they would meet with us on regular basis.
Bird: I think we ought to meet quarterly with them because our area of impact is becoming a busy place out there (inaudible)
De Weerd: And also to let the Development Community know what our plans are. What is the time frame on the North Slough and those kinds of things? I think by kind of setting out a
time-line that is going to help us with our relationships with the developments and maybe reducing the amount of applications and firming up our commitment to them as well as to the
county to service that area.
Bird: We can ask the Mayor to set up another general meeting. I am like Ron, on the tape it had different views then what we had sitting here in our meeting with them. They were all
going to let the City plan their deals and –
De Weerd: I know our department heads have a lot of concerns and certainly not just in our development services, in our police and fire. I know our fire services regardless, but it
makes a difference.
Anderson: It does make a difference the density because your run volume goes up tremendously there, and it is different if it is developed right now in rural because that equates to
x number of calls. When all of sudden you develop that urban density, then it is no longer a matter that you can handle to occasional call out there because then you have to have a
fire station and personnel there and that is what they all seem to be missing the concept of.
Bird: Any other deals? Thank you.
Anderson: I agree with Tammy. Maybe when we have the meeting with them it might be good to do that either at the waste treatment plant or have Gary and his staff put on a little demonstration
about what our plan servicing of those areas is. Because we know what that plan is, we sat down and went through that, but they do not know what that plan is, so like Tammy is saying,
they are kind of out there in the dark thinking if Meridian is not going to do it, then we will do something for them. So if they were informed about what our plan is then they might
be more likely to support us in sticking with us.
Bird: I agree with you Ron.
Issue #7 Discussion of Update of Water and Sewer Fees:
Bird: Gary, the Council was wondering how the update on our water and sewer fees are coming. I know you are a very busy man.
Smith: Brad has a few (inaudible) that he is putting together. (Inaudible) but I will have something.
Bird: I would prefer if Brad could get his presentation to us in writing and thus putting it on the agenda for the next planning session of the 10th.
De Weerd: Shari Stiles can you also have something available on your department’s fee increases at our next workshop? I am sorry to interrupt you.
Stiles: Inaudible
De Weerd: Do you want us to act on that? You said they were –
Stiles: If you have any comments or suggestions –
De Weerd: Well, perhaps you could present it again and if you could get any of your questions for Shari prior to that. Does everyone still have a copy of that? If you could review
and get any comments to Shari we can revisit it next month again.
Bird: Let us do that. What we are talking on the water and sewer is basically new fees, so they will not have Public Hearings anyway. Shari can you get them. We do have the paper and
everything, but can you get that so can we can have a little presentation and refresh our memories.
Stiles: We have monitored our workload and how we spent our time for two months, so we have that information. (Inaudible).
De Weerd: And Shari you were going to run that through VCA as well, were you not? Didn’t they say they would review those for you?
Stiles: I do not know.
De Weerd: We will talk about it.
(Inaudible Discussion.)
McCandless: We are not close in proximity to any other meetings.
Anderson: The other thought I have is not only Gary’s department talking about the water and sewer and the plans that they have, but I think we should instruct the department heads
from the Parks, Police, and the Fire to put together a presentation on what kind of problems is creates for their department. When you
go outside and have this little spot annexation because those department heads who do not articulate very well to us and to county Commissioners as to what kind of problems it causes
for them.
McCandless: I like that idea.
Bird: We could get that.
De Weerd: I think it is a school issue too because you cannot have a school out in the middle of nowhere either so – two huge subdivisions.
Bird: We will get our part taken care of.
Discussion Inaudible
Bird: I think we have covered our future topics for the next meeting. We have the list as to what we are going to have down there. We are going to have Mr. Johnson and his Committee
in for one hour that is going to last 1-½ hours. We are also going to have the fee structures from Gary and Shari brought before us. We are going to have I guess the discussion of
the area if we do not get that taken care of, we are going to get that taken care of the 20th.
Nichols: This area of impact, the letter—which is a corollary issue. The area of impact issue is related to that.
Bird: That is about all, because you know we are going to – Urban Renewal is going to have to be gone over with a fine tooth comb to make sure that we get everything, it is going to
last over an hour.
Berg: This comment, the Mayor asked me to set up a special meeting for next Tuesday at 6 p.m. to have COMPASS do a presentation and get some feed back dealing with the I-84 corridor.
Gary sent out a memo about an open house that ITP was going to have that Wednesday so they wanted us to have some information on Tuesday and get some input, so that will be 6 p.m.
I will send out a reminder for a half of an hour earlier.
Bird: Thank you Will, anything else from your department?
Unidentified Speaker: Will, you sent me over this private security service system, do you think it needs to be revised?
Berg: I need you to look through it because I think it some updated material there.
Unidentified: This is essentially something that licenses private security firms.
Berg: There is some confusion about security company and particular agents and control officers, some things that I think need to be cleaned up to make it clear and more understanding.
I just want to discuss that with you after you have been able to go over it. I guess I can give you some updates on elections. Bill sent you kind of a draft resolution, and I went
through it will some different things and concepts and also going back to the discussion about the county running elections. I talked to Dave Navarro today, and the county really does
not want to run elections. They will assist and help on certain aspects, but they will not necessarily contract and run the whole election. They go back to the state statutes which
say the City Clerk will be the election officer and it is up to them to make sure everything runs smoothly, so as far as hiring judges and clerks, overseeing the election, making sure
it is all set up, that is still the cities responsibility. That is how they run it with Boise and Garden City. At Boise they do a few more things, but it is a very large election for
them. At this same time on May 22, Boise is running another election dealing with the foothills issues, and they will have all 92 precincts in full force for elections. So about the
only thing that the county will do will be reprogram and count punch cards. So I am talking with Dave Navarro about that to see if it is any faster. We are going to have one ballot
issue. Obviously, he says it is cheaper to do paper ones but does not know if it would save any time placing taking them in there and having them counted. Obviously, if all we do is
just count the cards that can be done very fast. 1000 and so many minutes, but you have to get them there, you have to have them in line after Boise’s precincts, and so it may not be
as fast as what we could do. So we are still researching that out. I will get with Bill on the resolution.
Nichols: There are a couple of errors.
Berg: But there are a few other things, if we are going to have 4 precincts this time instead of 3 like we had at the last election. Dave advised me that we will probably have a bigger
turn out when it comes to your pocket book rather than Council or mayor elections. So he said prepare for a bigger turnout. We had talked before about having 4 precincts this next
time, so maybe this would be an indication of how to set those up.
De Weerd: I know that Ron and the Mayor were going to pull some strategy together. I really think we need to form a Citizens Committee. This really needs to be done by the City citizens,
and I know a number of them were talking about during the budget. I also did talk to the Parks Commission last night, and they are very interested in getting involved. Jim Keller,
who has been involved on certainly the school bonds, is more than happy to serve on focus group.
Bird: Tammy why do you not do the Committee?
De Weerd: I am not doing the Committee. I am doing too many committees.
Bird: Well, get yourself a Committee Councilman Anderson.
Anderson: I need more direction. I do not know what you are talking about. Are you talking to do –?
De Weerd: The Mill Levy, outreach, get people supporting it and those that do get them to the polls. I think Jim Keller would be a real asset since he has done the bonds.
Anderson: That was just something that I think the Mayor threw together that night and said Ron and I will work on that. He has never had any discussions with me or ideas.
De Weerd: Well, you better start with it. Time is short.
Bird: Chief Gordon do you have anything?
Gordon: No, I do not.
Bird: Thank you, Chief Bowers any thing more?
Bowers: No.
Bird: Mr. Smith?
Smith: Nothing, sir.
Bird: Mrs. Stiles, I think she has gone home. Anybody from the public with anything? A question or anything you want to ask? Thank you for coming. We appreciate you coming out and
listening to us. Council, does anybody have anything?
McCandless: I have a question.
Bird: Okay, Cherie.
McCandless: And it is merely a question because I do not how they work this. The Human Resources Budget, do they put ads in papers in different states? Do they not pay for that?
Should it not come out of the (inaudible)?
Bird: No, no it comes out of the department looking for an applicant. Fire Department, if the police is looking for someone they have to put – it comes out of their budget.
McCandless: But it was not budgeted.
Anderson: It is not budgeted in the HR either.
Bird: It is not budgeted in HR.
Anderson: So if you anticipate doing hiring or advertising you need to budget for it.
McCandless: That is the first time I have ever heard of that. They do not do that in private enterprises.
Nichols: Sometimes you do not anticipate, so you need to make sure you have something in your budget to cover it.
Bird: Cherie goes; whoever is wanting the applicant pays the advertising. HR does it for them, but they do not pay the advertising budget. It comes out of that department. That has
always been the policy that I knew of.
McCandless: I have just never heard of that before. If that is the policy then that is the policy.
Anderson: Well, we should make all of the Department heads aware of that, though.
McCandless: Absolutely.
Anderson: So they know that.
Bird: Well, I think up until they did their own thing because we did not have an HR. Each Department went out and sent out there own applications for employment, but now it is all
run through HR. I am sure some of them assume that is where it is getting paid for, but it is out of the Department budgets.
Anderson: It is one of those things that some people took for granted. They would know it and other people did not.
De Weerd: Mr. President, I am working on the newsletter that needs to go out this month. I went to the Department head meeting today and asked if they had anything to submit, to get
that to me. If there are any topics you want to have in there, I will try and have a draft at our meeting on Tuesday and see what you think.
Unidentified: This is geared to the employees?
De Weerd: The employee newsletter.
Unidentified: You should probably have something about this Mill Levy coming up, so they can pass the word on about how important it is. That may take some time.
De Weerd: Can you pull that together?
Bird: Any other topics Council?
De Weerd: Just a couple of dates that I picked up at the meeting this morning. It looks like Generations Plaza 2 will be opening late May, early June.
Bowers: They will plan the grand opening on June 2nd that is what we are talking about for the Fire Station.
De Weerd: June 2nd? I have mid-May.
Bowers: Everybody mark that out for the grand opening of the station too.
De Weerd: Finance Director interviews will start the week of March 26th. Contract negotiations begin this week, and new fire fighters will be hired on April 2.
Bird: Anything else?
Berg: Did everybody get on their calendar when the AIC conference is? Yes it is in the middle of the month.
Berg: The Mayor’s breakfast is the 21st, did everyone –
*** End of Side Two ***
De Weerd: The Chamber gave the City a set amount of tickets.
Bird: Okay, anything else?
Berg: As I mentioned before, we need to set up a date for our public hearing for our budget so we need to get your vacation schedules and kind of meet and figure out what date we can
do it. I have to have that in by April 30th. The sooner we can plan it then you guys can plan around it.
De Weerd: And speaking of the budget, I think that last year we kind of took a step that needed to be done, but we did not follow through with it. That is goal setting. I know we
have been postponing the strategic planning until we have a finance director, but I really feel strongly that we need to set some City goals and then have the Department heads set their
goals and see how they mesh together
and maybe help with prioritizing them. I am one of those people that believe in goal setting.
Bird: Council, I want to remind you –
De Weerd: But we have to do the Cities.
Bird: -- we need to make sure that we read our Ordinance, in the Ordinance each Council liaison is responsible for evaluating the Department head they are over and you do the raises.
I brought this up last year. It is not the Mayor that does it; it is the Council. You read your Ordinance.
McCandless: I just read it.
Anderson: The Mayor asked last year when he was doing them if anybody had –
Bird: That is right.
Anderson: -- and I gave him some on Kenny, but no one else gave him any input.
Bird: I gave him all of mine.
McCandless: I was told to sit in on the evaluation but never was told when it was.
De Weerd: Yes, me neither.
Anderson: I would put in writing if you have input and just give it to the Mayor, because I know they incorporated what I said with Kenny.
Bird: I think they did with mine as well, but anyone just take care of it. That should be part of budget process, is their wages. So we need to make sure we get that done.
McCandless: Well now our budget hearings, we did ones for the year from each department. We had that in the middle of the summer last year.
Bird: But we need to work with our people so that we do not come in and give a bunch of big surprises. Everybody knows how tight we are going to be. We should as liaisons help the
Department heads. Gary has always showed me the budget and they have always been very conservative. We know what we are going to have. We are not going to have much more than we had
last year.
Anderson: Well, we need to wait and see if the Mill Levy increase passes and then depending on what happens with that then we need to sit down and have a
budget workshop with just the Council and then decide what direction we are going to give to the Department heads. If we are going to say stick to a 3 percent increase and no personnel
or x number of personnel, we need to give them more direction. I think we have done a poor job of providing direction in the past.
Nichols: I would encourage you to try and do that in advance of this election, because if you can say to the voters, we anticipate this would raise x number of dollars, this is where
we would plan to spend it. Some of the high priority areas that you have. I would suspect that people are more likely to vote in favor of something that they knew for sure where the
money was going.
McCandless: You know a friend of mine said that to me the other day. That they would like to come to the Public Hearing and find out exactly where the extra was going to go to, and
if they were funding like public safety for instance better than we have. They want to know.
Bird: That is not a bad idea. I think we need to look into having a couple meetings off of Tuesday, maybe a little shorter session.
De Weerd: So Keith, we need you to then ask the Mayor not only to set up the meeting with the County Commissioners and have our presentations, but also to follow up with the focus group.
See if we can get it heavy on citizens to help rise that Mill Levy, get a goal setting session going here and we really need to have him ask the Department heads to start working on
the budgets.
Bird: Like Ron said, we need to tell them how much we are going to give them.
Anderson: We need to direct them before they spend a lot of hours working on a budget.
McCandless: As far as my schedule is concerned I will be missing the 15th of May.
Bird: Well we need to get this taken care of.
McCandless: I will be gone between the 9th and the 16th of May. Other than that I will be here until September.
Bird: Okay, anything else? If not, I would entertain a motion to adjourn.
Anderson: Second.
Bird: Moved and seconded. All in favor?
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES
Bird: We will adjourn, 8:15 p.m.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:15 P.M.
(TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
APPROVED:
ROBERT D. CORRIE, MAYOR
ATTEST:
WILLIAM G. BERG, JR., CITY CLERK