HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010 03-09Meridian City Council Workshop Meeting March 9, 2010
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, March
9, 2010, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Keith Bird, Brad Hoaglun, Charlie
Rountree and David Zaremba.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Pete Friedman, Tracy Basterrechea,
Ron Anderson, Tom Barry, Steve Siddoway, Clint Dolsby, Kyle Radeck, Stacy
Kilchenmann, and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun
Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: I will go ahead and start tonight's meeting. Thank you all. This is a different
format than we have had and we have gone back to a format on workshops, which are
information sharing that allows those sharing information to sit around the table, so it's a
little bit less formal and more intimate and I can see it's very intimate. So, thank you for
being with us today. For the record, it is Tuesday, March 9th. It's 6:00 o'clock. We will
start the meeting with roll call attendance. Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Thank you. Item No. 2 is our Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all join us in
the pledge.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Adoption of the Agenda.
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is the adoption of the agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Just have an addition on the agenda. After the Consent Agenda we'd like to
hear a golf course update from Dick Davis and, then, Item 8-A under ordinances, that
ordinance number is 10-1443. And with that I move the adoption of the agenda.
Zaremba: Second.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 2 of 48
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion
carries.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 4: Proclamations:
A. Girl Scout Week
De Weerd: Okay. I do have -- our next item are two proclamations and the first one is
the Girl Scouts Week. I believe that Audrey -- is Audrey here? Okay. Well, is Mark
Egner here? And I don't think I saw Mark either. Well, I will go ahead and read these
two proclamations. The first one I will read is the Girl Scouts. Whereas Julian Gordon
Lowe founded the Girls Scouts of the USA on March 12th, 1912, in Savanah, Georgia,
and whereas girls develop the skills and lessons through the Girl Scouts leadership
experience that will serve them throughout their lives and whereas Girl Scouting
increases girls' awareness of the opportunities in math, science, sports, technology and
many fields of interest that can expand their horizons and whereas more than three
million current Girl Scout members nationwide will be celebrating this American tradition
and welcome girls from every background to join. Therefore, I, Tammy de Weerd,
Mayor of the City of Meridian, do hereby proclaim that the week of March 7th, 2010, is
Girl Scout Week in Meridian, Idaho, and call upon the people of Meridian to honor the
commitment of the Girl Scouts in our community and across the country. So, this is
signed the 9th day of March.
B. Skills USA "Team Renaissance"
De Weerd: The second proclamation is for Skills USA. Whereas the City of Meridian is
proud to recognize deserving citizens of this community, especially students who
accomplish great things on behalf of their community, and whereas Skills USA Team
Renaissance willingly performs numerous hours in planning and the construction of a
home within School District No. 2 during class time and weekends for a family in need
and whereas Skills USA Team Renaissance has reached out to other community
organizations, such as the Lions Club, by constructing a child's playhouse at no cost to
that organization and whereas the Mayor and City Council of the City of Meridian
acknowledged Skills USA Team Renaissance and the effort of their classmates in Mr.
Mark Egner's residential construction class; therefore, I, Mayor Tammy de Weerd, of the
City of Meridian, do hereby proclaim that March 9th, 2010, is Skills USA Team
Renaissance Day in Meridian and call upon the people of the Treasure Valley to
celebrate the accomplishments of these skill students of Skills USA Team Renaissance.
So, thank you and I will give these, Luke, to you in case they slip in and they thought we
started at 7:00.
Item 5: Consent Agenda
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 3 of 48
A. Agreement with Ada County Highway District for NW 4~' Street
Water Main Replacement.
B. Change Order #1 to Original Contract for $210,300.00 Dated
April 7, 2009 with JC Constructors, Inc., for Unforeseen
Upgrades Associated with Dissolved Air Flotation Thickener
(DAFT) Retrofit Project for aNot-to-Exceed Amount of
$8,859.45.
C. Modified Development Agreement: MDA 10-003 Julius M.
Kleiner Memorial Park by City of Meridian Parks and
Recreation Department Located NEC of the intersection of E.
Fairview Avenue and N. Eagle Road.
De Weerd: Okay. Item 5 is our Consent Agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, there were no changes to the Consent Agenda, so I move
approval of the Consent Agenda and the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda as
presented. If there is no discussion, Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Amended onto the Agenda: Golf Course Update from Dick Davis.
De Weerd: Okay. Per the amended agenda we did move Dick Davis with the golf
course update at this time. Mr. Davis, thank you so much for joining us.
Davis: Well, thank you, Madam Mayor and Councilmen and guests. We -- the golf
course I think did fine last year. We -- we got up to about 37,000 rounds of golf played
out there this -- this last year, which was about a 3,000 round improvement over the
previous year. It's not where we want to be, but with the economy the way it is we felt
pretty well that -- that we increased when most of them didn't and, you know, our
philosophy towards the golf course, you know, it's got to be total -- the total experience.
You got to have a decent restaurant. You got to have good people. And you got to
have a good product to sell in the golf course. And that's what we are trying to do. This
last year we rebuilt -- we rebuilt both the men's and women's tee box on number four,
along with the irrigation and seeding and everything, and those -- those are really
coming along well. Number four is getting to be a really gorgeous golf course. We
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 4 of 48
rebuilt the men's tee box on number five. We built the -- or rebuilt the ladies' tee box on
number 12, along with the irrigation and everything that goes along with it. We have --
we have expanded our driving range just a little bit. We took a tree out of there that was
kind of in the road and it gives us a better view out of the clubhouse and just a little
more area of driving range, because we think we are going to really have a youth
program this year. We have been kind of struggling along with that and we have got --
we have got some really good teachers lined up that are working with your parks and
rec department and Bill Cole, who is a past president of the Idaho Golf Association, and
also an employee of ours, which we feel really fortunate about, has got his teacher's
certificate, so he's going to be working with the youth, along with -- we have -- we have
three other people that -- that will be helping, all professional golf teachers. Carl Haus,
who was in McCall for years and years. Rich Stanwood, who actually works for Golf
Galaxy right now, and I can't remember where Rich worked, but he's been in the golf
business around the valley for a long time. And John Stein, who was at Broadmore and
over at Homedale at the golf course over there. And now John is head of the First Tee
of Idaho. So, it's all going to kind of tie together. We are -- we are going to try and bring
these kids in and get more of them involved in it and, then, take them right into the First
Tee, which is a completely separate thing in our golf course. It's -- First Tee is a
national organization to get youth interested in golf and -- and we are the -- the real
young kids are going to be at Foxtail, on the par three course over there, and, then, as
they grow -- you know, get a little more skill why, then, we will bring them over to
Meridian and work them on a little bigger golf course. So, I really think we are going to
have a really good youth program this year, at least I hope so. So, we got a little more
driving range for them to work on and I think that will be a good thing for the youth. We
are putting up a new --anew score board right now. It's 33 foot long and has panels
that swing around. It's kind of like you see on some of the big golf tournaments and
going to be a real nice score board that we are putting up there and -- for toumaments
and this and that and the other thing. So, we are really excited about that. We tried
something new last year. It was kind of an experiment and this was on -- on hole
number four again. We have a cart path around the lake and -- and it was really muddy
and not a good situation, so we got some reground asphalt and put down and it has
worked fantastic. It's almost like asphalt. Soak it down, it sheds water, it's really, really
good. So, this year we are going to -- we are going to put cart paths on about five or six
different holes with -- with this reground asphalt, because it works well and we actually
traded a guy that brings it for food. His wife likes to come over and eat a lot and it
makes a good deal for him and a good deal for us. So, anyway, we are going to -- we
are going to put -- we are great traders, you know. We traded -- our alarm system we
traded for and we traded for reground asphalt and had a guy putting anew -- new
speaker system in the clubhouse. The old one was very inadequate, you couldn't hear,
and we had people say, well, you called me, but I didn't hear you and so he actually
should finish that tomorrow. Brand new speaker system in the clubhouse and here,
again, we are trading him for golf and so it works good for everybody involved that way.
And, then, this year, you know, along with the golf -- with the cart path we are going to
do and the score board, why -- why we are going to do the tees on number six and
number eight. We are going to redo those. We may peel off a couple other tees and try
and flatten them up, but six and eight definitely are going to be redone this year and,
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 5 of 48
then, we are going to do cart paths on probably five or six different holes that are pretty
rough and dusty and so, anyway, that's what we are planning this year and, hopefully,
why, we keep a few golfers coming out there. They are starting to show up, so anyway,
any questions?
De Weerd: Thank you, Dick. Any questions, Council?
Zaremba: I was just going to say that the golfers that I see go by my backyard seem to
be happy, so that's a good thing.
Davis: And they never did ask you was the -- was the dinner they had out there all right
the other day that --
Zaremba: Absolutely. I was going to mention that. Paula, I think her name is, was
tremendous --
Davis: Oh, yeah.
Zaremba: -- in helping. It was a last minute put together, actually, for a funeral
reception --
Davis: Yeah.
Zaremba: -- and she put it together within a couple of days and, then, on the day I
called her up and said the funeral's running early, they are going to be there an hour
earlier than you thought. She handled that very smoothly and it went beautifully.
Davis: Yeah. She --
Zaremba: So, thank you very much.
Davis: Yeah. We were actually out of town when all this came about and we kind of
arranged it over the phone and -- but we have got some really, really good people
and --
Zaremba: She stepped up and I went over and took a look. The food looked great and
I can't say everybody was happy, because that wasn't the purpose, but everybody was
satisfied.
Davis: Yes.
De Weerd: Dick, I had had an a-mail yesterday about some of the neighbors that live
on the backside of the driving range and they are getting hit as people are starting to
come out again. Their houses are catching balls. Any plans on reinforcing or raising
the height on the net or moving the line --
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 6 of 48
Davis: You know, we -- it would be almost impossible to raise that very much. What we
-- what we try to do is -- is, you know, keep an eye on people. If anybody is capable of
doing that, which there probably isn't three or four percent of the golfers in the valley
that can get a ball over that net.
Anderson: I could.
Davis: But we really try and watch that and I know Doreen and Bill has called us a time
or two and -- and we have got right on it and we just watch it, because these darn kids
anymore with the equipment they have got, they can hit the thing into the middle of next
week.
De Weerd: Well, Chief Anderson isn't a kid, but I'll be glad to pass your name onto
them and let them know who to call.
Davis: Yeah. Well, we really really try -- you know, we instruct all our people in the pro
shop to watch that very carefully, that, you know, you see somebody out there that you
think is capable of hitting a ball that far, for gosh sakes take the wood out of their hand
and make them hit an iron and, you know, an iron is not going to get over there. But
these young kids can -- and not so young kids -- they can belt it pretty good, so -
anyway, you know, that is a -- that is a -- something that we continually fight and, I don't
know, somebody we just don't allow drivers out there.
De Weerd: So, Dick, what do you suggest to tell them to, just call you when it happens
and they are --
Davis: And they have -- Glen and Doreen have been, you know, very good about it and
we -- they -- somebody tried to, you know, hit the ball over the net and we get right on it
and so it's -- you know, those houses, they are just unfortunate. Yeah. We spent
30,000 dollars putting that net up and it's just -- they still hit it over the darn thing. One
thing about it, you know, when we get -- when we get the floater balls back out -- in the
wintertime we don't use the floater balls, which are -- which are about 75 to 80 percent
flight, compared to the regular balls, and we will be getting those out right away, so
there would be less people that are capable of doing that. But there still will be some
and so -- it's one of those things we really have to police. We have had -- and, you
know, while we are talking about this, you know, I -- maybe I guess I need to ask you
guys. We have had some instances of people, you know, just parking and taking off
playing golf and we have got signs up at every entrance, no trespassing and all this and
that and the other thing, and people will continue to do that and we caught a guy the
other day going right down to -- right before he got to your place, Tammy, and he said,
oh, I'm just -- we saw him get out of the car and get his bags out. He was parked clear
down by the one green and he got out and he took off and so Bill Cole went out and
talked to him and, oh, he was just going to visit a friend and he said, well, listen, you
know, I know what you're out here for and he says -- he says you are actually
trespassing and we are not going to call the police or anything right now, but -- but we
think we could, because they are trespassing. They are sneaking on when they
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 7 of 48
shouldn't be and -- you know. And I don't want to -- I don't want to get people in trouble,
but it really fouls things up for us when that happens, especially when we are busy,
because, then, other people that have paid have to wait and they get upset and -- and
so we may at a time or two call the police department to come and talk to some of these
people. And I will say another thing about your police department. I am so happy -- last
summer -- last summer we had some major problems -- major problems and those guys
come out there and they did a marvelous job of rectifying the situation. We had some
kids that did about 3,000 dollars worth of damage out there in two nights. It was the 3rd
of July and the 4th of July. But my wife and I -- it happened -- the worst of it happened
on the 3rd and my wife and I went out there after the fireworks at the speedway and we
were driving around at midnight and I caught these kids, but I didn't catch them doing
anything wrong, I just caught them running around out there at 4:30 at night and -- and,
then, it turned out to be the same kids when your -- your police people got them
cornered and questioned them and they did a marvelous job. So, I just want to
commend you on that. They -- or commend the police department. They did a fantastic
job helping us catch these kids. They went out there and dug up a chunk out of a green
-- two chunks that big around and about four inches deep and just scattered the grass
all over the green. Luckily, we have made a nursery green that we have just for those
situations and so it took our guys about three hours and we went over and cut chunks
out of the nursery green and transplanted them and three days later you couldn't even
see it hardly. But -- but they really did.
De Weerd: Well, thank you. I'm sure Deputy Chief Basterrechea will pass that on. Do
you have any comment about the trespassing and --
Basterrechea: Yeah. They could -- we certainly could -- they could certainly be
charged with trespass or even theft of services.
Davis: Okay. We like to warn them a time or two, but if it persists -- there is a certain
number of people that, you know, that's just a challenger for them, so --
De Weerd: Well, thank you, Dick. Any other questions from Council?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: I think the course looks great, Dick.
Davis: Thank you.
De Weerd: You do a great job. If you will pass that on, too.
Davis: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item 6 under Department Reports, we will turn this over
to Mr. IWary with our Legal Department.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 8 of 48
Item 6: Department Reports
A. Legal Department: Approval of new Beer/Wine/Liquor for
Sunrise Bakery and Cafe; located at 805 N. Main St.
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. The only reason this item is
on the regular agenda, rather than the Consent, is the state code requires that if you're
going to approve a liquor license within 300 feet of a church, then, you need to
specifically do that. A business is not prohibited to do that, but this is a liquor license, a
new liquor license at the Sunrise Cafe, which is within 300 feet of the Church of the
Harvest, so -- there is no prohibition to, its --
Zaremba: Is it served liquor? Is it just really beer and wine and it's all one license?
Nary: It is a liquor license, do they serve liquor by the drink.
De Weerd: Have you talked to the church?
Nary: We haven't talked to the church. There is a disconnect I think -- and this is
something internal we need to address. Liquor licensing is one phase of the process.
It's not required because it's a restaurant and not a bar, for them to do a Conditional
Use Permit type of process like they would if it was just a bar only. So, the church
doesn't have any notice of it, because there is no requirement to do that. Planning and
our office had a discussion about it last week, because they would -- they did not
require to go through a CU process, because it's predominately a restaurant and it's just
an accessory use, so -- so, no, the church hasn't been contacted.
Zaremba: But it's a morning restaurant. Are we talking about beer and pancakes?
Nary: Yeah. The state code I mean has restrictions on when service can -- serving can
occur and I don't recall -- I didn't go look what time Sunrise closes in the afternoon.
De Weerd: It closes at 9:00.
Bird: Yeah. Except on Fridays and Saturdays it goes a little later, but they serve liquor
to try to built up their night business. They certainly don't need the alcohol for the
breakfast business. We have not talked to the -- to the church at all, Bill?
Nary: No. That wouldn't be our --
Bird: I know when we took that Hidden Door one across the street next to the Reading
Room there, you personally, I believe, contacted these people and made sure they had
no objection.
Nary: Actually, Council Member Bird, when -- you're talking about the one where Felix
Kegger is?
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 9 of 48
Bird: Yes.
Nary: And they had contacted -- they had actually done that. They had contacted them
directly to see if they had any objection or any concerns. But it's not required. The
statute doesn't require that for a liquor license. The statute's a little archaic, because it
doesn't -- it doesn't create anymore duty or responsibility or anything different than any
other license, other than the way I interpret it is that you have to specifically know your
granting a license within 300 feet of school or a church, but that -- other than that it's not
barred or prohibited to do that.
Bird: The church is -- it hasn't got a day school or anything over there? Are they a
nursery or anything during the week?
Hoaglun: Not that I'm aware of.
Zaremba: I don't see much over there during the week, because I go by, but I don't go
by every day.
De Weerd: They do have a youth foundation and their focus is on youth. Right now
they continue to do their -- their youth programs out of their old site until I think the end
of the year and, then, they are moving them over.
Bird: And, then, they are moving in here?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Bird: Because I was going to say, I don't see a lot of -- I don't see a lot of that, but I
don't go by.
De Weerd: Yeah. Not right now, but --
Bird: Will that be a one night a week or will it be nightly or daily or --
De Weerd: It's a school.
Bird: Oh, it is an actual school?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Bird: For teenage kids?
De Weerd: For 18 and above. I think it's after --
Bird: Oh, 18 and above.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 10 of 48
De Weerd: -- after graduation, but they may still have some younger students. I don't
know. Luke might be able to tell you, but -- Robert, is Luke outside?
Simison: He will be back shortly.
De Weerd: Okay. Yeah. I would have concern --
Nary: And it wouldn't apply to the school that comes after the license is granted. So, if
a license is granted and they put a school in next door, it doesn't matter.
Bird: They will have to get a CU then.
Nary: Who?
Bird: Won't they?
Friedman: Madam Mayor and Council Members, no, because -- again, the CU is
required specifically for a drinking establishment. As Mr. Nary said, because the
primary use of the space is for restaurant purposes.
Bird: No. I mean the school. If they move a school into the church it's not part of the
church?
Friedman: I'd have to double-check the code, but it's an accessory use part of the
church and --
Bird: Okay. That's --
De Weerd: And it's going to be in the old theater, so it's going to be right next door.
Right now Southside Church is using it and so they wanted to wait until they found
another place, so they just delayed moving their youth program over. Otherwise, it
would be here right now.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor and Bill, denial of a beer and wine and liquor license -- is it
predicated on certain -- certain things? There has got to be specific reasons for a
denial.
Nary: Yes.
Hoaglun: So -- and just proximity alone does not negate, it's just a matter of a process
of saying, well -- and we have got an established restaurant that wants to get it. We got
a church that's established. Neither one are moving, so how do you -- how do you
make it work, so --
Nary: The statute specifically, Council Member Hoaglun, says no license shall be
issued for any premise in any neighborhood which is predominately residential or
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 11 of 48
without 300 feet of any public school, church, or any other place of worship measured in
a straight line to the nearest entrance to the licensed premise, except for the approval of
the governing body of the municipality. You have to approve all of them anyway, so it's
-- it's an anomaly in the state code, but the way we have handled these, at least as I
have been here, when they are within 300 feet of a school or church, we put them on
the agenda, so you're aware of the approval. But that by itself, again, is not prohibited
to be within 300 feet of a school and there is nothing else in our ordinance that prohibits
that.
Bird: And it's 300 from their main entrance?
Nary: Right.
Hoaglun: Actually, the main entrance is --
Bird: I was going to say, the main entrance --
Hoaglun: -- around the corner from --
Bird: Yeah. From the deal. Maybe they don't -- maybe their -- the main entrance might
not be within 300 feet. Might not be within 300 feet.
Nary: Three hundred feet of the nearest entrance to the licensed premise.
Bird: Oh, the nearest licensed --
Nary: Yeah.
Bird: Of the licensed.
Nary: Right.
Bird: Well, that's the back door.
Nary: If it's going to be in that southside church it's right behind that. It's right behind
the --
Bird: Now -- but is that -- is that the main building of the church?
Nary: No.
Bird: No.
Nary: But that's going to be the school.
Bird: But it doesn't say the main entrance of the church?
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 12 of 48
Nary: No.
Bird: Or the school?
Nary: No. It's measured 300 feet from -- measured in a straight line from the nearest
entrance of the licensed premise.
De Weerd: The entrance.
Bird: Okay.
De Weerd: Yeah.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Zaremba: This is a new license. If we approved it, it has to be renewed again every
year; is that correct?
Nary: Yes.
Zaremba: If the church or the school objected, would that be grounds to deny it a year
from now, even if we already had it approved?
Nary: You'd probably have to weigh whatever the denial is. I mean you certainly have
the right, if you would like us to, to provide notice to the church and consider that if they
have any comment. There isn't anything in our statute that says just objecting to it, I
mean they have to have some logical reason why you would object to that.
Zaremba: Well, my thought was if we approve it, they'd have to notice it for -- I mean
they'd have to observe it being a problem before they would raise an objection.
Nary: Sure. Yes.
Zaremba: And if they don't even know it's there, then, they are not going to raise an
objection.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary, is there an immediacy to this? Are there plans that they need to
move forward with --
Nary: Not that I'm aware of.
De Weerd: -- urgently?
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 13 of 48
Nary: Not that I'm aware of.
De Weerd: If Council would consider -- you know, I think in the past either the person
who is trying to get the license notifies their neighbors or -- or we do, if we could put this
on the next agenda, let the church know and allow just an opportunity to comment if
they so desire.
Nary: Certainly.
Bird: I could certainly agree to that. I think -- in fact, I think it's a dang good idea. At
least let them -- let them have knowledge that it's coming.
Nary: Yeah. That's not a problem. We can take care of that, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: Okay. All right. I mean I -- they moved into the community to be part of the
community and they certainly know there are drinking establishments close by, so I
would imagine that just the notification and the opportunity to comment would be greatly
appreciated.
Bird: Madam Mayor. In fact, don't the EI Tempe right across caddy corner have a
license?
De Weerd: Beer and wine.
Bird: Beer and wine?
Nary: I'm not certain if there is a liquor license there or even at --
Holman: I don't know if they are beer and wine or if they have liquor. I'm not sure.
Bird: They don't have beer and wine?
Holman: I don't know if they have liquor.
Nary: And it only applies to liquor. It doesn't apply to beer and wine.
Bird: They have beer and wine. I know that.
Nary: I think they moved to Flat Bread. I don't know if they have beer and -- I think they
only have beer and wine as well.
De Weerd: They only have beer and wine.
Nary: Yeah.
De Weerd: Okay.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 14 of 48
Nary: But we can -- we can do that. We can contact Church of the Harvest and advise
them of --
Zaremba: And I would be satisfied if they talked to you or -- I mean the staff response
back to us --
Bird: Yeah. That's --
Zaremba: They don't necessarily need to come here and testify.
Bird: They don't need to come talk to us.
De Weerd: Okay. So, put this on the next agenda.
Hoaglun: The 23rd?
Bird: The 23rd. Yeah.
De Weerd: Yeah.
Nary: We will do that.
B. Parks Department: Settlers Park Tennis Facility Discussion.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Nary. Our Parks Department. Mr. Siddoway.
Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I'm here tonight to
discuss a possible partnership for the next phase of the tennis courts in the Settlers
Village Square, which is in Settlers Park. You will remember that we've had our first
year of operations on the first phase, which opened last year. The tennis courts and the
horseshoe pits and the two new picnic shelters that are out there. Just about the time
we were working on and wrapping up that first phase I came in contact with Jo Ann Kurz
-- will you raise your hand, Jo Ann. And Jo Ann has a vision and a goal for promoting
tennis and specifically looking for a site to do an indoor tennis facility. We looked last
summer at possibly including a tennis facility in Kleiner Park. The space, based on
everything else that was programmed there, wasn't possible. We looked at their
business plan, we did have that reviewed, it did look solid enough to continue pursuing.
We started thinking -- brainstorming other ideas and we were -- started asking, well,
could this be the next phase of the tennis courts in Settlers Park. What I will hand out --
and if Jaycee could put this up on there, so everyone has a copy. But I will hand around
-- and I have a few extras. This -- this up right now is the -- you should be fairly familiar
with this. This is the phasing plan for what we call Settlers Village Square. You can see
on the left -- it's a little out of focus. Jaycee, can we focus that a little better?
Holman: Sure.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 15 of 48
Siddoway: The phase one on the left is what we completed last year, the first two
tennis courts. On the left it says phase one complete at the bottom. That's what we
worked on last year. Phase two is -- remains to be done. You can see that second
phase was planned to have five additional tennis courts. Four just like the two that are
out there and, then, the fifth one would be the championship court. We have worked
through possible site plans for the structure. What we came -- have come up with for
discussion tonight, if we can put that one up. Looks very similar to what we -- what we
have on those plans, but it takes those next four tennis courts that are in line and would
put those inside a -- inside a building, so they could be used rear around. One of the
strengths of this concept is that it is very much in line with what we have had planned,
simply takes that next phase and puts four of those tennis courts inside. We have been
meeting with Jo Ann and her partner Allen, talking about various things, like some
shared use and she will talk some more about that. What we are here for tonight is just
to allow Jo Ann an opportunity to present some of her skills, experience, and
background with tennis, share with you some of the vision and goals that she has for
this facility and, then, to simply ask you if this is a partnership that you feel is worth
pursuing and giving them an opportunity to do some fundraising for them. I will mention
that last month we did make the same presentation to the parks and recreation
commission. They did review this and discuss it and gave me direction that they felt like
this was worth considering and to take it forward to Council as well. So, with that, Jo
Ann, I introduce you and give an opportunity to introduce the others that are here with
you tonight and, then, feel free to share with us your vision.
Kurz: Okay. Well, thank you, everybody, for the opportunity to come and speak with
you. Really appreciate that. And I also thank Steve and Tammy, just over the last year
working with me and some other people just trying to get this together. My name is Jo
Ann Kurz and I'm a USPTA, United States Professional Tennis Association, tennis
professional. I have been one certified for over 20 years and I have been in the tennis
business for 30 years, so it's really my love and I brought some people that are strong
supporters of this project. I just wanted to introduce Jim Meldrum, who has been -- he's
my score counselor, he's been helping me all the way. Helping me on the business
side. Barb Chandler, she's the first lady of tennis. She brought tennis to Idaho. Most of
you know about her. Matthew Warren, executive director of the Idaho Division of United
States Tennis Association. Toni Sinclair, Tennis Service representative for the United
States Tennis Association for this section. And, then, Wendy Nielson and she's the
marketing representative for Idaho branch of the United States Tennis Association.
They are all behind this project, so that makes it a little easier to talk about this. It's
been a life long dream of mine to be part of a community tennis center. Most of my
career has been in the private sector. That's where the jobs were, so you can't blame
me there. I have pretty much gotten a lot of experience in the tennis business, know
how to make it work as a lot of fun, but also how to make it work so it's paying the bills.
So, as life long sports, what I try to promote all the time and as a bridge for all ages, the
idea of a community tennis center is that it would be affordable and a lot of times that
can be a problem for clubs, it tends to be a little on the expensive side. So, that's the
goal. We talked about convertable courts. I will talk about that in a little bit. Quick Start
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 16 of 48
Courts, that's also with the USTA, the new movement, smaller courts, and to build up,
just kind of like the same thing with golf, building up on a smaller course and working to
a bigger course. Same idea. Want to have an education component of the tennis
center. The plan is experienced professionals and also community backing. And I have
been -- again, quite a background in tennis. The last 14 years before the last year I was
at the Boise Racquet Swim Club and a tennis director and also general manager. The
club was very successful. Oversaw four indoor courts -- four new indoor courts that
were built, so -- and as tennis director starting in 1994 the club increased its profits in
the tennis side and, then, when I became manager in 2002 the club also became
profitable. So, it was -- it was a very good experience for me and I want to take that
onto the community side. I have the backing of Sandy Moore, who is -- well, actually,
several racquet club members. I'm still a member of the racquet club. Past president of
the Boise Racquet and Swim Club. She's behind this project. Nice to have that. I have
the backing of Matthew Warren with this project, seeing that it's going to be quite the
addition for this area. I have the backing of a coach most people know about in this
Area, Greg Patton and, of course, he wants more indoor courts. It showcases his tennis
team and he's a great promoter of the sport, too. D.A.R.E. is behind it, because we
know that it -- the more active the kids are in tennis the better chance they are going to
stay out of trouble. This is just apicture -- maybe a show of hands of people who have
been at the racquet club or been members in the past, Boise Racquet and Swim Club?
Anybody in here?
Bird: I have been to it.
Kurz: You have been?
Bird: I haven't played there. I have been there one time to watch tournaments and
stuff.
Kurz: Great. Great. So, you know what I'm talking about. Okay.
Bird: That lady over there is the one that started it.
Kurz: Pardon?
Bird: That lady over there is the one that started it.
Kurz: She started it. Great. So, you know her. And this is just a picture of kind of a
stucco version of the indoor courts that were just built. They were eight already and we
added four just last year in 2000 -- 2000 -- well, two years ago in 2008 and worked with
the city and also worked with the neighbors to make it beautiful, so that made -- that
carried a lot of weight. Also the look of the indoor courts, which will be very serious --
not serious -- very similar to what we will be doing with the four indoor courts at Settlers.
Some things different, possibly, would be making it a little bit more airy, you know, just a
chance to add some lighting in or open up some windows and, you know, make an
indoor-outdoor type facility and, of course, we have already talked about Settlers Park
Meridian Ciry Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 17 of 48
and this would be the area here and the beauty of doing a tennis center -- year around
tennis center is making the -- kind of a year around use of this facility, so that we could
be showcasing and having other things to advertise or sign up year around and I really
-- with indoor tennis year around that's one use of it, but we could also be doing some
other things, which I will be mentioning here. One idea that -- that I had not considered,
but we began considering came from -- came from Tammy saying that there was a
great need for converting courts and making it more useful for basketball and volleyball
and at first it was, you know, as a tennis player Iwas -- my reaction was I was horrified,
but --
De Weerd: I know. Sorry.
Kurz: Yeah. But I started thinking about it and started realizing that as a coach for
many years I have always encouraged people to play a lot of different sports that come
into tennis, so -- and also because tennis is an individual sport, team sports kind of
balance out with tennis, so that people don't think they are all that just by playing tennis,
just an individual. So, it actually started to grow on me and that is going to be part of
our -- we are endorsing it, talking with the tennis association, we are open to that,
because we want -- we want to do things differently than how clubs have done it. We
want to do it -- we want to do it so that we are going to be unique and I think that would
be a great way to be very very unique. What we would do is -- I'll go back to this -- this
is a -- basically a mezzanine area here up a bit from the courts and this could be a
divider lane, we could have two courts that are convertable, two courts that are tennis --
we could have tennis going the whole time and -- but we could also separate it at some
times and just have -- sometimes just having tennis and sometimes basketball or
volleyball and, of course, it would be a scheduling key to get this all together, but we
would also decide to have tennis year around, we would be able to take the pressure off
of the basket -- the basketball and volleyball having to go over to the schools. So, we
are behind this idea and we want -- we want tennis players, we want athletes, we want
people to really get into the sport and I'm just real excited about it. I wanted Matthew to
say a few words on behalf of the tennis association if you could.
Warren: Thank you, Jo Ann. Madam Mayor and Members of the Council, thank you for
having us. My name is Matthew Warren. I am the executive director of the United
States Tennis Association here in Idaho and, simply put, if you build it they will come.
The Treasure Valley ranked number two in the western half of the United States in
player per capita -- tennis players per capita. That includes Denver, Salt Lake City,
Seattle, Las Vegas, and so -- so, it's kind of unbelievable when you think about that.
This last year we had over 11 percent league growth across the entire state of Idaho for
adult league play. Last year we started a new program called Tennis 101, which is a
family friendly program on Saturday morning for kids and adults of all ages and we had
over a thousand people show up for that and it was just a pilot program. So, the
number one complaint that we get in our office all the time is a lack of indoor courts in
this area and in the Treasure Valley. I can't even get some of my own staff members
court time in the winter, so the need is there. So, if you build it they well come, because
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 18 of 48
they are already here and I will be happy to answer any questions later on in the
program. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you, Matthew.
Kurz: And, then, Toni, did you want to talk about Quick Start, because Quick Start is a
new thing with the USTA and it's the courts that start out a little bit smaller and it's a
progressive type -- go ahead.
Sinclair: If you can see that, it shows how, just like soccer, they have taken the courts
and the equipment and minimized it for kids to be more successful, so they are not just
hitting it once and, then, going and chasing the ball all the time. So, this is - we actually
put four courts in a normal size tennis court and, then, 36 feet and so the kids use a
foam ball and aracquet -- it looks like a racquetball racquet and you stand on the
baseline and hit to their buddies back and forth and you use a modified scoring, so they
don't have to remember 15, 30, and all the complicated stuff. So, we make it fun and
successful and they are not standing in lines anymore, we are making it a lot of hand-
eye coordination and really interactive with doing different skills sets and so that's just a
picture of Quick Start tennis. It's a national program. Of course, the guys in Europe
have been doing this for ages and that's why they are rock stars. So, the U.S. is
catching on and the USTA is also helping giving matching grants for facilities that start
building Quick Start components and also give free equipment to those places that do
so. Thanks, Jo Ann.
Kurz: And, then, Toni showed the Quick Start courts on active regulation courts, but
there is actually incentives from the USTA to -- at the national level to build the smaller
courts and the -- what I like about these scaled down is that they will be right by the
playground and kids will see it and they will run over and they will jump in on the action.
The other thing is adults just scaling it down for beginner adults, it's -- it's a new way to
teach, as well as seniors who maybe don't want to -- or maybe not just seniors, people
that may be injured don't want to run as much, but they still want to have the fun of
playing tennis and we also with these courts have what's called compression balls --
decompressed balls, so that it's a little bit easier to hit. I remember playing so long ago
when I started at seven years old with a wood racquet that it hurt to hit a tennis ball, but
these balls it doesn't hurt and they don't go as far, but you learn control. Okay. So,
anyway, does anybody have any questions for me?
Zaremba: Council, any questions?
Bird: I would like to know what the plan is. Now, what -- what partner -- what
partnership of the city? Are we just supplying the land and this is being done and how
is it going to be ran and stuff?
Kurz: Well, the -- the plan would be to have a person that would contract through the
city to have this -- to run it, okay, but it would have -- it would also be a partnership with
-- there is going to be city programs that go on. Okay? We are going to keep the cost
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 19 of 48
low. That's the plan. It's not to make it like a club, but this is going to be a pay-as-you-
play type of facility.
Bird: Who is going to put the facility in, Jo Ann? That's what I'm saying. Who is going
to fund the cost of the facility?
Kurz: Well, what I'm hoping is that a combination of fundraising from our side and also
in combination with money from the city. That would be greatest --
Hoaglun: So, Jo Ann, what -- could you just give us a ballpark. What does something
like this cost for something like maybe Boise Swim and Racquet Club did or what
figures have you looked at?
Kurz: Well, the four -- let me just explain. I mean I know the numbers pretty well. The
four indoor that we just built in 2008, 1.6 million. Right there. Not sure what the pricing
would be two years later. Probably pretty close to that, because --
Bird: Could be less.
Kurz: -- it's very competitive and the whole thing very -- and counting the parking and
the clubhouse of two levels with also classrooms available for arts and crafts, you know,
with the parks and rec department. Approximately -- on the high side would be about
2.4 million for this whole property, counting the parking exhibition court -- but that's on
the high side. You could have a range anywhere from two to 2.4.
Siddoway: So, it's about double what the -- our cost estimate for the outdoor courts that
we put into the enhancement last year was about 1.2 million for the outdoor courts,
including the four there, plus the champion court and, then, the grounds around it. It
included lighting the championship court, things like that. So, it -- at 2.4 million, if that's
the number, it would be about -- about double, compared to what the outdoor ones
alone would be.
Hoaglun: Are you looking at doing this -- this would be trying to do it all at once? Is
there a phase concept, do the outdoor ones and, then, the indoor ones or vice-versa or
trying to get it all at once?
Kurz: Well, I mean the idea would be to do it at once. If we had to do it in stages, I
think -- I think the outdoor would be the easiest and affordable way to go first, plus it's
very visible and, then, the indoor could come in second. Some people -- or another way
to do it would be even to get the outdoor done and have a temporary structure of a
bubble and give the vision of let's go for an indoor center. And, then, the beauty of a
bubble would be that it can come down in the summer. But that's -- my goal would be to
have -- if we went for the endorse to go all the way and get it done, start out with maybe
an outside. I'm open to phases. I mean I think anytime there is a building it creates -
creates interest and, you know, what's going on and we can talk about it more and say
this is what's happening, here is the thermometer and we are fundraising and we -- with
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 20 of 48
the USTA they will help out with -- Toni as a representative and, Wendy, with marketing,
they are able to help us with grants and -- as part of this. So, that's a great association
to have.
Hoaglun: In fact, that was my next question was, you know, where are you looking for
money? Is it coming from the local community? Is it coming from across the U.S? Is it
-- are there association grants? Give us a little insight into -- how does that -- how do
you envision that happening for fundraising?
Kurz: Well, the -- already the -- the United States Tennis Association has -- this is
their 9th drawing and they have put these together for us at no cost and that's great
right there. The -- they said that once we have 80 percent funds raised for our project
they will put in 50,000 dollars at the national level. What did you say, Toni, with the cost
and the equipment?
Toni: Just the public facilities
percent of the total cost and,
permanent courts they donate
teach Quick Start. So, there i
and that initiative.
Kurz: So, it's --
grant she's speaking of is 50,000 dollars up to -- as 20
then, as well as adding Quick Start courts, if there is
equipment, and Idaho Tennis can help train people to
s a partnership with the USTA, especially with the youth
Bird: Jo Ann, (still -- is there any strings attached with this grant that comes from
USTA?
Kurz: Well, that's --
Bird: Like how many -- how many -- how often we have to open it up to their deals or
anything like that and (really -- how is the business plan going to -- how are we going
run it? That's my concern. How are we going to run it? I don't see the city being
capable of running --
Siddoway: Right.
Bird: So, I want to see -- I want to see your business plan.
Siddoway: We do have a business plan that I can share with you that we had Jo Ann
submit. In general terms, we would see Jo Ann operating it with her staff, but as a
nonprofit organization, and in partnership with us, so that we have some priority use
times for our needs as well. We would want it to be a budget neutral situation for the
city in terms of, you know, us not putting money into the day-to-day operations of the
facility.
Bird: 1(es.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 21 of 48
Siddoway: At the same time we are also concerned that it not feel like a -- an exclusive
private club in a public park and so that's -- so, we need to make sure that the fees are
affordable, like Jo Ann was saying, that this is publicly accessible and, you know, the
details of that -- of that agreement still need to be worked out, but before we spend a lot
of time on an agreement we want to see if the concept makes any sense to the Council.
Bird: Steve, I have one concern on the fee system to our taxpayers. There is going to
be taxpayers out there that think they are entitled to go in there, because they pay
taxes, and I'm not saying they are not right. I might not agree with them, but Ihave --
I'm saying they are not right. Do I think it's something to look into? This is one
councilman that's very interested in looking into something like this, but it's got to be
worked out on a -- on a very very tight clad business ran business that did not hurt our
taxpayers.
Siddoway: Well, we charge fees for all of our softball, you know, and all of our other
programs, so the idea that it be --
Bird: But if I want to come play agame -- if I want to go excluding Brooks Field and if I
can usually jump over the fence I can get in there and play baseball, too, and -- without
a fee. The fields are open to it. Well, these tennis courts are not going to be open to
the public unless they are a member.
Siddoway: Well, not truly a member, but they would have to pay --
Bird: They would have to pay a fee.
Siddoway: Yeah.
Kurz: For the indoor, at least.
Siddoway: But the outdoor ones -- one of the conversations was could they put those
existing ones indoor and we have asked that they not, that they keep the existing two
tennis courts outdoor, so that they are just available for the public.
Bird: In the wintertime if there is an indoor tennis facility, our people are going to want
to play in it, as well as their people, let me assure you of that. But I think you can work
out a business plan.
Siddoway: Yeah. We can.
Bird: We have got -- we have got to be fair to our taxpayers first, I'm in favor of going
and seeing what we can do. I think it's a great idea.
Zaremba: Councilman Rountree, welcome.
Rountree: Thank you. Sorry for the tardiness.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 22 of 48
Zaremba: I would note for the record that he is here.
Rountree: I was in South America. I managed to escape. That's another story. I agree
with Keith. My concern, though, is -- is prior to that. I think for the concept to go
forward I need to be assured of the commitment on the part of the situation. I don't want
to get into Heroes Park or something like that or a commitment and it doesn't come
through and we have committed and you came through and, then, we pick up the
commitment on the part of somebody else.
Siddoway: By commitment you mean funds.
Rountree: Yeah. I mean we are talking about multiple millions of dollars here and the
concept I think is grand. Okay. And I have talked about this with other constituents, but
it's always down to what's it going to cost, who is going to commit to do what and when
are they going to commit to get it done and, then, if that happens what's the trigger to do
the next thing. So, I'd like to see that all worked out up front before we spend a whole
lot of time doing business planning on how you are going to run the thing. How do we
get there?
Siddoway: And that's one of the reasons we are here tonight, quite frankly, is that they
need to be able to do fundraising and before I turn them loose on fundraising, I don't
know if there is at least a level of comfort that this site plan could work with your vision
for -- for that park.
Rountree: And I guess what I'm saying is that go ahead and fundraise, but it's tough
right now, we all know that. If it doesn't happen -- it's not going to go forward.
Siddoway: Then we go back to outdoor courts.
Bird: Steve, it -- and I agree with Charlie a hundred percent. This is one partnership
that's not going to be 99 and one, our taxpayers aren't going to be 99 and one -- 99
percent and one percent for somebody else. I agree with Charlie, let's go forward, let's
get -- see if we can raise the money and, then, we sit down and decide how we are
going to run it.
Siddoway: Okay.
Zaremba: I would chime in with that as well. One of my concerns was -- and maybe
this was an issue for legal -- is can we have any amount of exclusivity within one of our
public parks and that's -- I'm interested in this -- this is a park that has a lot of public-
private partnerships in it that have gotten it built. However, the operational use did not
become necessarily a partnership, it's run by our Parks Department.
Siddoway: Yeah. But there are priority use times. For example, MYB in their fields
they have times that they --
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 23 of 48
Zaremba: Okay.
Siddoway: -- schedule their fields.
Zaremba: That we don't have access to.
Siddoway: Correct. Well, we only have access when they are not using it.
Zaremba: When they are not using it. Okay.
Bird: Same thing at the Legion Field., Dave, and we do charge there, too.
Zaremba: And I don't necessarily need Mr. Nary to answer right this minute, but it
would be one of the things in the mix that I think we need to consider as we move
forward, is what we are proposing legal in Idaho and, yes, I would support moving
forward at least to the next exploratory level. I would make one comment. It would --
this is a beautiful park and has a lot of very nice facilities in it. It would disturb me a little
bit if this were just kind of an industrial looking building and I think it needs to be in the
budget to beautify it some way and I --
Bird: Not even temporary.
Zaremba: And I even think -- I have made the suggestion that that round circle that you
see to the right of this, which is a water tower, I think that needs to be spruced up and
we should get our arts commission involved in doing a mural of an aquarium or
something on the -- on that water tower, but -
De Weerd: Or all the different uses on the -- you know, in the park.
Zaremba: Some kind of mural to dress that up. But I wouldn't want this just to be an
industrial looking building or it needs to be something that's pretty and appropriate to
this very beautiful park.
De Weerd: And, Jo Ann, you're not responsible for the mural, so --
Kurz: Thank you.
De Weerd: Just wanted to answer that question.
Zaremba: Yeah.
Kurz: Well, I'm happy about that. Well, that wouldn't be a problem and I just want to
assure you that I'm not trying to operate this as a membership. It's going to be fee
based and indoors there are cost for the lights and the heat and just to keep it going.
We would work out details for outdoor if there were outdoor reservations, but the plan
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 24 of 48
would be to -- court can be anywhere from eight dollars all the way up to 16 dollars an
hour and still a pretty good -- decide on the same day do I go to a movie or do I go play
tennis. I mean that's the idea is that it's going to be more accessible to people and,
then, on top of that there is still times, like as an example, over at the racquet club
Friday at 8:30 used to be a very -- Friday night at 8:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Saturday
night used to be pretty dead time, but we ended up renting out time to the -- to the
spring mixed league and that became a real social club and brought more people in,
brought more interest in. So, I think the partnership with the tennis association would
be to fill some of the times that are the dead times to pay the bills. So, that would be my
goal is, obviously, it couldn't lose money and the whole idea to get the money so that
there is no mortgage -- I mean it takes all the pressure off. I mean I have seen -- with
the club go from under a million down to 300,000, back up to 1.6 and I see where the
pressure, you know, comes when all of a sudden it's got this note to carry. My goal is to
make this work and make it affordable is not to have a mortgage, so --
Bird: We won't have a mortgage in the city as long as I sit here.
De Weerd: Now, isn't this kind of similar to the West Y in the city of Boise in a
partnership in a facility that you charge fees, if you would have the opportunity for youth
that were disadvantaged, if there were discounts, you know, I guess there is a couple
models out there that we could look at --
Bird: West Y and this is not the same. The YMCA is not a taxing entity and Yonke built
that and give it to them and they charge fees for --
De Weerd: No. I mean in Boise.
Bird: West Y? That isn't a taxing entity over there.
Nary: The city of Boise owns half of the West Y facility and the Y owns the other half.
Bird: Owns the other half and they are partners in it.
Nary: So, could we craft something like this? Yeah, I think we could. I mean, again, I
think the difference is that the fees for here are going to be -- be governed by the laws
on fees in regards to public facilities versus a private facility, they can charge whatever
the market will bear. We may have some differences in that and that may be part of the
agreement as how we determine that or how -- who owns a portion, that's certainly
another method to do that. A portion may be owned by -- by the tennis association and
there may be some things -- like the Mayor is talking about where you may have some
discounts for certain things, things like that. So, yeah, there are certainly models out
there. I mean I don't think there is any legal impediment to proceeding forward, it's just
whether we can work those details out. We will see:
Zaremba: And I would add one more and that would be also consulting with the police
department. Is the building ever going to be open when there is nobody there
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 25 of 48
supervising it? How do they surveille both behind and around and inside the building?
Keep them in the loop.
Siddoway: So, if I could summarize what I'm hearing. The looming question can Jo
Ann and her team raise the funds to build this partnership and -- but it sounds like there
is enough interest in the idea that it's worth giving them the opportunity to do so and so
with -- if there is --
Hoaglun: I just wanted to say, what I see this as -- as a parks department we are going
to provide more outdoor courts and all we are looking at now is we are going to provide
outdoor courts, is there a way to provide indoor courts to expand the opportunities for
people to play tennis and if we do a partnership and if we do that, someone else is
going to have to manage that and operate -- do that sort of thing. How can we make
that happen and make it fit within this nice paid box, which I think we ought to explore.
That would be nice to give people a year around opportunity to play tennis.
Siddoway: If we explore it and it can't happen, our fall back is we could still build the
outdoor courts.
Hoaglun: Still build the outdoor courts.
Siddoway: But we have an opportunity to look at a partnership here and see if we can
build the indoor facility.
De Weerd: Which makes it a year around use.
Hoaglun: I do have to say I'm biased in that, because my shoulder still hurts, my
hamstring still hurts. My son was home from college and we played Sunday afternoon.
If I could do that year around I won't hurt when he comes home from college.
Kurz: Could I have Jim Meldrum say a few words?
De Weerd: Yes.
Meldrum: First, a confession. I'm -- I'm not part of Meridian. I'm not a citizen here. I
was at one time. I live in Boise after the big land grab a few years ago.
De Weerd: I'm sorry, sir, you will have to sit down. I'm kidding.
Meldrum: If I have a claim to Meridian it's that I was director of operation services for
the postal service when we built the post office in some years back. Three points just to
reenforce. The idea expanding the accessibility of tennis is one of the things that
appeal to me about this project. Those of you who love Idaho know that we have some
really rotten winter weather that's not conducive to outside. So, I see a need in that
aspect. It expands the parks utilization. Anything -- I believe anything we can do that
will increase the use of those parks in non-use time is a benefit both to the taxpayers
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 26 of 48
and particularly the young people who would be using them. Third of all, I get excited
about the idea of a joint public-private funding of something. That certainly helps
reduce the cost to the city and let me make just a point or two about -- about Jo Ann. I
met Joan at a sport counseling session at -- we partner with the City of Meridian -- not
the city, the Chamber of Commerce, who lends us their office to council occasionally
and when she came to me the -- all of this was a gleam, if you will, in her eye, a thought
that she had. She had a fire in her belly. Those of you who have had to hire and
supervisor people know very well what a fire in a belly can do. I was impressed with the
skill and the ability, background that she's had in this area and the third and final point
I'd like to make is that she's gathered some people who are very willing to help do what
needs to be done. The concern about details are -- being lacking are part my problem,
because I have said from the beginning let's not spend 250 thousand hours doing this
without even knowing that we have got a spot to do it or the support of the people that
would be -- to do it. So, maybe what we are really looking for is some kind of a nod that
says, yes, go ahead, let's start seeing what we can really do. Thanks.
De Weerd: Thank you, Jim. Okay. Any final questions for Jo Ann or Steve? I think
you're getting the nod.
Siddoway: We will take the nod and see what can come of it.
Kurz: Well, thank you.
De Weerd: But I do think it would be important to work out the agreement details to
make sure all of that aligns as you move forward, just to get all of those nailed down.
Hoaglun: We are not talking about having a formal agreement, but just --
De Weerd: No.
Hoaglun: -- having an understanding of how it would work and those types of things at
this time.
Bird: Yeah. So, we don't go down the road and, then, figure out that we have done
something that isn't legal. That's why Bill's department needs to be kept in the loop.
Siddoway: We will do.
Zaremba: And I would like to say I appreciate the people that have come in support.
That makes a difference to me.
Kurz: Yeah. I have got a strong team here. Well, thank you very much. We really
appreciate the time.
De Weerd: Thank you. And, Steve, did you have anything further?
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 27 of 48
Siddoway: Nothing further. Thank you.
C. Public Works: Water and Sewer Utility Update.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Our next item, Item 6-C, is our Public Works
Department to -- for their overview and update on the water and sewer utility service
fees.
Barry: Thank you, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: Welcome back, Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Thank you.
De Weerd: I don't know if we noted for the record when you showed up.
Rountree: Noted on the record that I was late.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Well, welcome back into the country.
Rountree: Oh, man. It's a welcome to be here.
Zaremba: Are you speaking English now?
Rountree: Si.
De Weerd: Bob, if you want to sit up at this front chair next to Pete.
Barry: Well, thank you, Madam Mayor. It's my pleasure to present to you this evening
an update on the water and sewer rates and the financial modeling. We committed to
you and the Council last year when we went through this process that we would provide
you an update on the modeling and provide insights as to how the rate increase last
year had impacted the Enterprise Fund and to stand before you and make a
recommendation as to whether that schedule that we had committed to last year is one
that's continuing to make sense for the city. Before we get too far along I do want to
applaud and make known my great appreciation for the efforts of staff who have
contributed to this analysis, as well as other presentations. Most notably the finance
director Stacy Kilchenmann, her staff, Todd Lavoie, or my staff Becky LePerry and Tom
Shoemaker, so -- there are others that were involved as well, but those folks were
instrumental in helping this move along. So, I'm grateful for all of their time. I think that
I will be giving the majority of the presentation, but Stacy will probably provide some
insights on some of the financial calculation on the onset of the slide show and so
without further adieu I think we will go ahead and just jump into it.
De Weerd: Okay.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 28 of 48
Barry: So, on our agenda tonight we will just talk briefly about the fund status and, then,
we will review the current model projection, just have a very brief discussion on the
verification of the model and some of the public out reach efforts that were undertaken
last year and, then, finally, wrap up with a recommendation and that's next steps
regarding the modeling and the rate modification. So, with regard to Enterprise Fund
status, I'll turn this over to Stacy, she can give a little bit of insight on this particular chart
and perhaps the next one as well.
Kilchenmann: Did you all read your audit report?
De Weerd: She's been asking that --
Kilchenmann: Yeah. I brought it and I could read the Enterprise portion, but I won't.
So, if you looked at your audit report -- and Kevin briefly mentioned this, but our -- this --
this graph shows where our actual ended up FY-2009. So, basically, our loss position
of the prior year reversed itself in FY-2010, so we can see the narrowing of the graph
between the sales and operating expenses and with this particular graph -- this is from
the audited financial report, so it does not include the transfers between the General --
or from the Enterprise Fund to the General Fund and it does include depreciation. So,
we used this last year in our town hall meeting, so we just wanted to update it. If you
look at 2010 it takes a big leap upwards and that's because I think Tom's going to -- has
some detail on exactly what happened, but, basically, we just didn't spend our entire
budget, we had quite a lot of open positions, so that resulted in a personnel fund
savings and, then, we had some operating savings as well. So, that's kind of -- kind of
our result for the audited financial statements in a nutshell. Are there any questions
about that? I mean it's in excruciating detail in this management discussion analysis.
Okay. No questions on that. Moving on. Do you want me to do the next one?
Barry: We can. We can tag team it.
Kilchenmann: Okay. This -- I will just -- Tom will go over the specifics and Iwill --
again, Iwill just briefly explain this. This is what we call the unrestricted fund balance
and you can see how we reached a crescendo when we had a lot of connection fees
coming in from growth and, then, how it fell off as we completed big construction
projects and, then, that little up tick we took this year, because we didn't spend as many
projects as were budgeted and we have that increase in operating income. And Tom
can go over some of the details.
Barry: Sure. Stacy really covered it. We did have to postpone some projects from
fiscal year 2009, as we have done historically, and, then, also from 2009 to 2010 it's
called carry forward and those dollars tend to be fairly large, because we work on
significant capital projects, which do have large budgets. So, as those projects move
forward those funds are obligated, but have not yet been spent and so that, in addition
to a couple of other points, certainly some savings that we were able to identify in
delaying projects in our capital improvement plan and also through a pretty significant
review of the capital program plans we were able to find close to four million dollars in
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 29 of 48
funds that we no longer need in the capital program and those funds were returned to
the ending fund balance and contributed also to this up tick that Stacy referred to.
Additionally, about 1.1 million was returned to the ending fund balance as unspent
budget for different positions that we had open. We were running about a 15 percent
vacancy rate in the Public Works Department for most of last year and that also
contributed. As well, we had about 1.3 million in operational savings associated with
the fact that we were under -- we underspent what was budgeted. So, my
understanding is that historically Public Works has a history of doing that. We are trying
to reconcile. We like to be as close we can on our budget to expenses, but at least we
fell on the right side of the fence, so to speak, as it relates to expenses and budget. So,
that's the summary of that graph. I also wanted to take just a few minutes to let the
Council know that our department Public Works has -- has taken significant steps to
curb spending and to identify cost savings initiatives and strategies and coordinate
projects and maximize efficiencies to the greatest degree we can, because we know
and do not take for granted that any increases to rates have a significant impact on our
community. To that end I wanted to report to you that some of the initiatives that are
noteworthy include returning four million, as I just mentioned, a project to the ending
fund balance and, then, also postponing about 2.7 million dollars worth of capital
construction projects, what we call noncritical projects, but certainly important projects.
Operational we saved about 250,000 dollars through a variety of different cost savings
initiatives. We presented those in the past -- I think last year -- mid year we presented
those and we have also -- sorry, I forgot to change this term. We didn't actually reduce
staff, but we realigned staff and that realignment of staff occurred with the opportunities
for automation of the wastewater treatment plant, as well as incorporation and
expansion of our radio read water metering program. As well I mentioned the personnel
savings of 1.1. And also notable are grants. We did receive about 306,000 dollars over
the last year in grants for a variety of projects and we have -- last year applied for about
36 million dollars in grants, largely for the stimulus funding that came out. We were
unfortunately unsuccessful in acquiring those funds, but we did put considerable effort
into going after them. Also we have on our planning to submit about 2.9 million for
federal appropriations for this upcoming year. So, we are serious about curbing costs.
Yes, sir, Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Well, on your capital construction, you've indicated 2.7 million dollars
postponement. If they are not essential, why aren't they eliminated?
Barry: Well, nonessential does not suggest not important. These projects here --
Rountree: Same question.
Barry: Okay. If it's not important why -- why isn't that money being put towards
important capital projects?
Rountree: Well, I don't want to suggest, again, that they are not important. What I'm
suggesting is that the timing of those projects is at the position where those projects
have -- and maybe I'll use an example, which might help. We have been looking into
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 30 of 48
treatment technology -- treatment technology at the wastewater treatment plant, like bio-
augmentation, nutrient removal and those types of things. Well, we had projects
scheduled and budgeted for some of that work this year and those projects no longer
make sense at this point in time without the completion of our facility plan and
wastewater master plan. So, those projects are important, but we don't want to put the
cart before the horse, meaning we don't want to begin to build technology that may not
in the long term make sense at it relates to what a facility or master plan might tell us is
the best type of technology or process or those sorts of things. So, when I say we have
postponed those -- and I use the term nonessential, what specifically we mean is not
critical at this point in time, but that doesn't necessarily mean not important. So, I don't
know if that's --
Rountree: I just would suggest that -- careful with the terms and the language you use
and maybe the appropriate thing to say is that you prioritized 2.7 million dollars worth of
construction projects.
Barry: Yeah. Abetter way to say it. Thank you. Any other questions on this slide?
Okay. So, we will jump right into what the model says. You have seen much of this
information. There have been a couple changes that we'd like to make you aware of
before we show you the output, but these were the inputs. Essentially our operating
reserve, which is an inflationary reserve, meaning that it adjusts itself automatically in
the model based upon the size of the operational budget that we have. So, currently for
water the operational reserve is about 2.2 million and that's on average over the five
year model period. I think the first couple of years is 2.1 and, then, it's like 2.3 at the
end of the model. So, just about the average yourself. Wastewater is a little bit more,
because the operational budget is a little higher in wastewater, so it's running about 2.6
on average over the period. Just so you know how much of the funds are being
transferred to capital projects and this is not the only source of funding for capital
projects, we certainly have developed assessment interest income and those sorts of
revenue sources, but for water between 600 and 800 thousand over the period,
wastewater one million to about one and a half million. Depreciation in financing, we
are still using the straight line approach. We still -- we need to do a better job at the
department really pinpointing what the depreciation needs are in the department. We
don't have good records of all the assets and we don't have good values of those assets
and so that makes the calculation using a straight line or any other sort of financial
calculation very difficult. Currently, just so you know, we have budgeted about 800,000
per year or so for water and about 1.7 million beginning in about 2011. I think it's -- this
-- 2010 has been modeled at around -- I believe 800 or 700 thousand. So, that ratchets
it back up to 1.7 beginning 2011, stays fairly consistent from that point on. Regulatory
reserves. This is an area that is a recommendation that we did not include last year, the
Council's decision last year was not to have a regulatory reserve. We are throwing this
out again, because as we continue with the conferences and dialogue with the EPA and
other municipalities in the region, we are getting pretty confident that the requirements
out of the EPA, although we don't know exactly when they will come, will likely come
and impact our community significantly as it relates to phosphorous and nutrient
removal requirements from our effluent at the wastewater treatment plant. So, we
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 31 of 48
have recommended and incorporated into this particular model run about a 1.1 million
dollar set aside, if you will, or regulatory reserve that will grow by that same amount
each and every year over the five year period and that's certainly something we can talk
about at the conclusion of this, but I did want you to know that that is one of the major
differences over last year's model run. The assumptions haven't changed greatly for
the modeling. The model has incorporated the three year period that we talked about.
Population growth factor for the five year period is about .5 percent. Personnel at three
percent. And that includes not staff growth per se, but growth as a perfect contribution
of benefits, wage increases, with regard to merit increases and those sorts of things
and, then, construction costs slated for our capital projects of about 3.8 percent tied to
the five year E&R rate. Our approach is the same as last year where we are using just
in time capital financing and we plan to -- or the model attempts to anticipate current
revenue needs based on a future capital operational depreciation and need. With that
this is what the model currently trending for this year, moving -- or the run this year for
the next five years. You will notice it looks somewhat similar to the model -- you may
not notice, so I'll put it up in just a moment, but the tread lines are somewhat similar to
last year's model and we will talk about the similarities and differences in just a moment,
but I'll let you have a look at this slide for a little longer. The blue line is water. The
green line is wastewater. And these lines represent what we call the nondesignated
fund to balance and I will explain that in a little more detail here in just a moment. We
anticipated that the Council would like to know the difference between last year's model
and this year's model, particularly what the trends look like and so I put last year's
model and this year's model on the graph here to show you the differences. In 2010
you can see the significant difference here -- well, let me just point these lines out. The
light green line is the model run of last year for wastewater and the light blue line is the
model run for water last year. The dark blue is this year's model run and the dark green
is this year's model run for water and sewer respectively. So, you notice the biggest --
the biggest difference here is the starting point in 2010 and the biggest discrepancy is in
wastewater. I think we are showing here almost a six million dollar discrepancy largely
in the form of those dollars that I talked about earlier in the presentation. That's the
impact here. Essentially, what it's done is the trend is similar, but we have just moved
this -- this wastewater line out almost a year and that's benefiting the modeling and it's
also benefiting the fund balance, as I'll show you in just a slide or two. So, that's ---
that's what the two models look like, one on top of another. You will notice information
for 2015 is not included for the 2009 model run, because it is only a five year run and so
it started a year previous and ended a year previous to the current model run. This is
the fund balance versus nondesignated fund balance and there is a difference, because
I'll go back to this slide and I -- it's important for the Council to know that these lines do
not represent ending fund balance amounts. These represent what we are referring to
as nondesignated fund balances or fund balance amounts. And so what that means is
that these are -- this would be available cash after all of the reserves and set asides in
the fund have been accounted for and so we anticipated the question, which might be,
well, what does the fund actually look like with those reserves and so that's these two
graphs and I threw two -- the two graphs on-here. This is -- the graph on the left here
represents the fully scheduled increase, which means if we took the rate increase this
year and again next year as scheduled and the one on the right is if we took the
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 32 of 48
increase this year, but did not take the increase next year. So, I will talk about that in
just a moment. Let's go back to this particular scenario where we do take both
increases as scheduled. This line here, this kind of orangish line, represents the sum of
the dark blue line and the dark green line, the two model runs of the slide previous. So,
this is what we will call cumulative, nondesignated fund -- ending fund balance and,
then, this line, the dark red line, which at the top, represents what is the total ending
fund balance for the Enterprise Fund. So, this is inclusive of any cash remaining --
available cash remaining or what, again, refer to nondesignated funds, plus an
operational reserve, plus a depreciation reserve, plus a regulatory reserve if the Council
so moves that we include that. And what you can see is once we -- what we do is we
have been able to up turn the declining trend by around -- in the Enterprise Fund total
balance by around FY-11, which was a target period for us in last year's run and we get
a shallow increase moving in 2012 and, then, a little bit more steep increase, which
suggests here that we would be saving an average about three million dollars a year
beginning at the end of fiscal year 2012. And this -- this line represents what happens
when you look at stability here on the lower line in overall available cash in the
nondesignated fund balance. So, the idea that you want to increase or remain stable at
some comfort level the total Enterprise Fund balance, but still make sure you have
enough cash on hand to take care of things as they come up. And so, anyway, as you
can see in this particular case, there is that trend occurring in the graph on the left. We
anticipated the question might come up. Well, what might happen next year if we didn't
raise the rates. I mean could we afford to do that. And there is some good news with
regard to that answer and while this line here, which is, again, the nondesignated fund
balance goes negative in FY-2012, its impact on the total fund is -- is not such that the
fund sinks as well. What you see here is that the total fund continues to grow, but at a
more modest rate than the fund is growing on the graph to the left. However, the
difference between the orange line and the -- I guess we will call it maroon line in both
graphs, is the reserve amount. So, what you will notice is that -- and I put the reserve
amounts over here and I broke them out in water and wastewater in the pie chart here.
Essentially, for the total fund the operating reserve by 2015 will have -- for water and
wastewater reached around 5.6 million. Again, that's a calculation based upon the size
of the budget. Depreciate the reserve would be on the order of around 15 million and
the regulatory reserve, if approved by the Council, would reach about 5.7 million by the
year 2015. So, that on the chart to the left is the difference between these two lines at
the end of FY-15. It is also the difference between the graph on the right between those
same points, but what you will notice is that because this orange line is dipping below
zero, those are negative funds. Those are funds you don't have, which means that, in
reality, you would only have from zero up until -- I think that's around 18 million. You
end up with 18 million available to cover all of these reserves, which are on the order of
I think about 26 million. So, it begs the question how much reserve do we really need to
have and you will notice that the biggest amount of set aside or reserve is related to
depreciation and I mentioned earlier that we really don't have as good a handle on the
total assets, the age, the condition of those assets and so making a calculation that is
more accurate than we have now has been difficult to do. But this particular --
Zaremba: Tom?
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 33 of 48
Barry: -- 15 million here in depreciation --
De Weerd: Tom?
Barry: Oh. Yes. I'm sorry. Councilman Zaremba.
Zaremba: This is either a question or a comment, I guess.
go around and say this building it depreciates at this rate
because much of our infrastructure that you need to
underground.
Barry: Right.
It's not necessarily easy to
and it's worth this much,
do that with is actually
Zaremba: You're talking about the pipes and everything, some of which are I guess
approaching a hundred years old at this point, at least in the Old Town area. So, if I'm
right, it isn't a matter of just being able to observe and say, okay, now we know what
appreciation ought to be. Some of this stuff is hidden and you wouldn't dig it up to figure
this out.
Barry: Councilman Zaremba, that's -- that's exactly the point and, as you know, we
have not been very good at popping manhole lids and running television cameras down
the line as frequently as we would like, which is why we modified the television
inspection program and vector truck program where we incorporated it and we now own
a television camera truck, which we received last summer, to do just that. So, those
assessments will be coming and until we get information from those assessments, it's
going to take about four and a half years to five to five and a half years to get through
the whole city just in the line. You can't run a camera down water lines, so you kind of
cross your fingers and wait for a water main break and, then, you know you have a
problem. I mean there are other things that you can do on conditions assessments, but,
essentially, until we get really familiar and comfortable with what that is, it's hard to
know how much should we really save for depreciation. I can't -- we don't even really
know what the total value of assets are on the books, to be honest with you. I mean our
recordkeeping goes back to 1988 and at that point in time forward we have been able to
account for about 205 million dollars worth of water and sewer infrastructure, but we
have no recollection or accounting after that and those don't include replacement cost
either. So, an estimate that we have come up with is somewhere on the order of
around 350 to 400 million. Oh. Excuse me. Before that. Thank you, Stacy. So, we
don't really know. We need to collect more information. But that doesn't mean that we
should overbudget depreciation or underbudget. So, that's sort of the quagmire we find
ourselves in and it is something worth discussing. But it would be my hope that we
could get additional information, maybe bring this -- this amount of the depreciation
reserve down and the regulatory reserve doesn't really change much -- or, excuse me,
the operating reserve doesn't change much, but the regulatory reserve we can talk
about later. The whole idea here, again, is if you think about how fast the city grew -- I
mean, essentially, our growth has come in the last decade or two, that's a lot of
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 34 of 48
infrastructure that over that same period theoretically would have to be replaced. So,
we would have to have that -- those dollars in the bank to replace it under our pay go
policy and so, you know, getting comfortable with having a large balance available for
those impending challenges in the future may be something that we find ourselves
having to deal with. But, in any event, we will move forward, but I did want to share with
you that the model predicting not total ending fund balance, but what we call
nondesignated funds. If we move forward this year with the three year implementation,
with the rate increase, these amounts are what we would be looking at. For water
usage an increase of about 20 cents per thousand gallons, with the water base
increasing by 57 cents. For the sewer would be an increase per thousand gallons of
sewage treated of $1.12 and, then, the base rate for sewer would be $1.75. We put
some calculations here for the total impact to the average family bill. This is based
upon use of 8,000 gallons of water and 5,000 gallons of sewer and what I wanted to
point out with the demographics pie chart is that 75 percent or so of our customers are
under that average. So, give you an idea sort of how that relates and transfer it to the
community. As you know we have been incorporating benchmarks into our Public
Works operations and one of the benchmarks we track is what's called the affordability
index, which is an index that is incorporated by a lot of different agencies around the
globe. I have taken the one from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the
USEPA has an index that, essentially, suggests that a tolerance for water services is
about 2.5 percent of median household income over the annual period, which,
essentially, means that you ought to be able to take two and a half percent of your
median household income and apply that to water services. And if you do that, then,
that is considered affordable. If you are less than that, great. So, what that does is we
have transitioned this into the percentages as you see here, so if you're greater than 2.5
percent according to the EPA threshold, then, you're not affordable. If you're between
one and a half and two and a half percent, then, you're affordable, but if you're between
zero and 1.5 percent in that equation, then, you're very affordable. What we did is after
last year's rate increase we ran the numbers on the affordability index and this is based
upon where we stand currently in our affordability index for water and it's running at .34
percent and .54 percent in wastewater. And what we did is we just took the EPA's
model -- or EPA affordability index for water and just -- and just applied directly to the
sewer. And so I wanted to mention that, because we are sensitive to how that relates to
our financial situation and rates. It doesn't mean that a rate increase tastes any better,
but it does give us at least an idea as to what the rest of ~ the - of the nation from a
comparison standpoint --gives us that benchmark to compare against, so --
Bird: What did you use for median usage and for median income?
Barry: Okay. For -- for the -- the ratio, again, is median household income and the
usage -- and so for usage we used 8,000 gallons of water, 5,000 gallons of sewer.
What that total bill would be -- you go back here it was this dollar amount here, $46.37.
per month. You take that number, you multiply it by 12 to get your annual cost and,
then, you take that number and divide it by your median household income.
Bird: And what did you use as the median income? That's what I want to know.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 35 of 48
Barry: Yes. The median household income was 63,053 dollars in the year 2007 and so
I don't have any of updated numbers from -- since then, so I don't know if it's gone up or
if it's gone down.
Bird: I can guarantee you it's went down.
Barry: Well, I anticipated someone would ask that question, Mr. Bird. I appreciate you
doing that. So, I also ran the numbers at the 2000 census rate, which was 53,276
dollars as a household median income. Okay. So, I'll just read these numbers,
hopefully, we will get a frame of reference here. Okay. So, if you use today's rate and
the year 2000 household median income, this number here goes from .34 percent --
okay. Well, this is going to be a little different, because what I did is I recalculated the
numbers based upon what they would be at the end of the three year term. So, let me
give you those numbers first. At the end of the three year term this number goes from
.34 to .45, based on 2007 median household income. However, to get to your -- to
answer your question, Mr. Bird, it goes from .45 to .53 in water. So, it's pretty
insignificant. And it's similar in wastewater. Wastewater -- this is what it currently is at
the end of the three year period using 2007 numbers you get .82, but if you use the
2000 census numbers you get .97. So, in the worst case scenario, meaning we are
using 2000 census numbers, which is a 10,000 dollar decrease in median household
income and the full three year increase, we are still under one percent in each of those
entities.
Bird: The one thing you -- in my opinion, Tom, you forgot. In 2007 we had about six
percent unemployment. In 2010 we have got ten percent unemployment. That's a lot of
unemployment and I can assume you that nobody's going to have a median income of
53,000 on unemployment benefits.
Barry: Uh-huh. That is true. However, you know, the numbers are the best we could
do.
Bird: And I understand that, Tom. At least you- got numbers.
Barry: Well --
Bird: That's a change and a nice change.
Barry: Okay. Just very quickly, just to remind you it's been some time, but most of you
may recall that we did run the model and the calculations and all that stuff through
independent third-party review. The review came back very favorable as it relates to
what we had done and the calculation and the -- the practices that we are incorporating.
A couple things there are probably noteworthy. We -- Tom Pippen had submitted -- he's
the president and managing director of BBC Research and Consulting who reviewed
the model, came back and he actually submitted testimony last year that I wanted to
read just a few small snippets of. One of the things he said is that, you know, based on
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 36 of 48
his 20 years of experience -- and this speaks directly, Mr. Bird, to what you were just
saying. Based on the 20 years experience as a municipal public finance consultant,
which includes approximately 110 rate and fee studies completed for local government
clients throughout the western United States, it is important to note that both Meridian's
base rate and user rates for water and wastewater are still relatively low when
compared to other jurisdictions across the western United States. He goes on to say
that staff used legitimate data sources, valid calculations, and that we employed a
fundamentally sound methodology consistent with utility, industry best practices in
updating our utility rates. So, in addition to that you notice that -- or you will recall that
we front loaded the public process in this three year increase. We put significant time
and resources into reaching out to the community, holding town hall meetings,
conducting a focus group, sending out letters and fliers. Press releases and the like.
And so all of that work was done last year and, essentially, does not need to be
repeated unless the Council so desires. So, next steps, there is a couple things here
that we should discuss. First of all, we are recommending at this point in time to satisfy
the reserves to allow the scheduled rate increase to occur as it is scheduled for April
20th. Build a conservative FY-2011 budget under the current proposal, meaning the
current financials that we have developed in the model. Continue to identify efficiencies
and leverage alternative funding sources to see if we can't decrease our individual or
our city contributions for projects. Develop a formal depreciation program and, then,
revise the financial forecasting model for 2011 by February of 2011. It's our hope that
as we do that we will find that it is possible that we may not need to move forward with
as great an increase as scheduled for next year and what we would be like -- what we
would like to do in Public Works is really put our thinking cap on and get better numbers
to see if maybe there is a possibility of avoiding it all together. So, we know that that
would be something that everyone could benefit from and we are committing ourselves
to see if we can't do that. So, that's the reason, again, those graphs that you saw
earlier had both of those scenarios. Just so you also are aware, the rate ordinance that
you passed last year had three primary components to it. It was a three year increase
scheduled annually over that same period and so the rates were to increase at the
same amount each and every year for a consecutive three year period. That the rates
would increase by the same amount -- I think I just mentioned that. And also that the
increase would be justified and that is, again, why we are here before you this evening.
So, with that I'll stop and open it up for questions or discussion.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Tom, I think you got -- I think we finally got a good model. I think it's a great
model. My heartburn is whether in this economy -- I don't believe we can get any lower.
There has never been anything worse in my 69 years of life. I hope we can't get any
lower. Is this the time to implement a raise? Is there -- is there any way that we -- that
we can get by through this year without a raise and, then, take another hard look next
year, like you have done. Your model is great, Tom. Your model, in my opinion, is
fantastic. You have done everything you possibly could. And I don't disagree that you
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 37 of 48
maybe need a raise, but, boy, when I -- when I get every week something like this, there
is suffering people out there and if my -- if my raising the sewer and water is going to
take away food for some kid, I have a hard time voting for that.
Barry: You have asked a very good question, Mr. Bird, and we did not run the model in
any scenario with excluding this year's increase. Now, we could certainly do that. We
have the data, it's up to date, we could run that and report back to the Council what we
found. We could run a couple scenarios whereby we -- we take no increase this year
and, then, take the increase next year and give people a year off and see what that
does. We could run it where we take it this year and don't run it next year or we could
talk about maybe taking half this year and half next year. I mean there is -- the sky's the
limit on the types of scenarios you would like us to run. But we didn't run any of those,
we ran the model as the model was designed and as we had committed to the Council
we would when we reported back. So, if Council would like to direct us to do that, we
would be happy to.
Bird: And, Tom, I don't know, I have got one other little question. Personnel.
Employees. At the wastewater treatment plant at the facility we -- how many employees
have we increased or decreased?
Barry: I don't have that -- yeah, I mean what period do you mean --
Bird: From the last raise or --
Barry: Oh, from -- oh, in the --
Bird: The last year.
Barry: The last year?
Bird: Yeah.
Shoemaker: We have kept the same number of FTEs from the last time you had a rate
increase to now.
Bird: Water department.
Shoemaker: Same thing.
Bird: Same thing. Administration.
Barry: There, actually, hasn't been any -- any increases in staff. As a matter of fact, we
have frozen positions. We have frozen a development analyst position, we have frozen
an inspector position. I'm trying to think -- I don't have the work chart in front of me, Mr.
Bird, but we haven't increased in FTE count, we have hired vacant positions, though,
which were budgeted. So, I don't know -- that gets the --
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 38 of 48
Bird: No. That answers -- that answers -- I just -- Tom --and just to reiterate, I -- I don't
know, (really -- and to be truthful, I see the number of single -- evidently single parents
or single people in this -- it's not Mr. and Mrs. or still growing children, but I really have a
- I really I have a hard time, but I'm certainly open for discussion. By the same token
we have to be, so -- you know.
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: And the thought comes to me that in the Parks .Department and maybe some
other places around the city their summer programs have a certain fee to attend. They
have a fund that people can apply for to reduce that fee if they can show a hardship. I
don't know how we would administer such a program in the water department, but it
concerns me to have seen the projections from last year and to have seen the
projections from last year and to have seen the projections this year that proved that
last year was correct and that we needed to fix the direction that we were going, which
we have. It concerns me not to do the rate increase that you're asking. I certainly
agree with looking at again the third year, next year. To me the way not to do the rate
increase this year would mean not doing the reserves and to me that's scary. There are
things that could come at us -- we would need those reserves and some of them fairly
quickly and, then, what do we do? It - I certainly feel for the individuals that -- that are
having a struggle going on right now. I know some of them. And you never know
whether -- if my wife lost her job we would be one of them. So, I do have a great deal of
concern for them, but (wonder -- ten percent unemployment is scary, but it also means
90 percent employment. We do have people in the city who are employed and to me it
would make sense if there was a way to do it, to go ahead with the scheduled rate
increase and find some way to deal with the hardship cases, maybe -- maybe even the
county has funds that would do that, but that's a question.
Barry: Mr. Zaremba, we actually did as part of our increase last year develop a program
that offset for low income families their bills and so I will let Stacy speak to that, but we
did partner and develop a program and the Enterprise Fund did finance 20,000 dollars
last year -- was it ten? Ten thousand dollars last year, excuse me, to fund that activity
to help folks and, Stacy, I know you guys administer that. I don't know if you have
numbers off the top of your head as to how many folks used it or not.
Kilchenmann: Well, what it is is it's administered through EI Ada, because, you know,
it's complicated to administer, because you have to determine is it really a hardship, et
cetera. So, it goes through their program, so they determine eligibility and, then, they
call and check with us, so it's -- the person has -- we only allow -- I can't remember off
the top of my head how many times we allow them to use it or -- you know, if there is
somebody that has been habitually turned off for five years or something and it covers
75 percent of their bill and I'm thinking -- I don't have -- I think last year it was used -- we
probably used about 6,000 dollars of it - of the 10,000. So - I mean, you know, like
when she ran the turn off list today there were 261 people on it. So, obviously, we can't
-- if we are going to pay their bills, then, we may as well just increase it, but --
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 39 of 48
Zaremba: Well, I'm not suggesting --
Kilchenmann: -- it is -- at least it's -- and that's something we could definitely look at
increasing, like saying you're eligible for a hundred dollars, you're eligible to -- you
know, X more times.
Zaremba: Some way to prove that they need assistance, not just they are being a dead
beat and some percentage of contribution.
Kilchenmann: And it's close, they can -- I think it's right down in Garden City, so it's
close to Meridian. And they determine eligibility requirements. So, really, it is a good
program. I mean they have been a really good partner working with us, so I -- you
know, I would suggest any way that we consider increasing the minimum --
De Weerd: Councilman Rountree.
Rountree: With that discussion it seems to me that that's an issue that the Council
needs to take up and determine what level of risk they want to operate that business at.
To me we have had this discussion. We set the rates. We have set the ordinance.
And now we are going to rehash it and maybe come back to the same conclusion.
Maybe not. But we need to know that there is a risk in the operation of that Enterprise
Fund. Though the picture looks a little better this year than last, it's -- we can't afford to
let the system go. Having said that, my concern is about the reserve accounts and that
is something that we have let go and maybe we can let go some more, but -- and, Tom,
you can refresh my memory about the reserve accounts, particularly the depreciation
account is how is that used -- have we established the -- a level at such point that we
don't need to accrue anymore. We certainly don't need 300 million dollars worth of
reserve account sitting there in anticipation of having to replace the whole system. So,
what that magic number? Can we back into it a little more slowly and maybe ease up
on the rates in that regard? Is there a use of that account similar to the capitol
improvements that we anticipate failure before failure and use the depreciation account
to do that or are there some accounting rules and principles that have been established
that guide that we have seen and approved and -- or at least get guidance on, those
kinds of things?
Barry: Mr. Rountree, a very good point and very good question and I think that if the
Council were to entertain some modification other than what's scheduled as far as a
rate modification goes, that the reserve balances would be -- the choice target to have
that discussion and get comfortable with modification. The balance tier that you see on
the slide that I brought back up for you again, in reserves total on the lower right there is
26.3 million, which is -which is considerable. What we would be doing, essentially, is
saying with those set asides -- and you can probably take the 5.7 million out, so that
you're really floating somewhere around -- what would that be -- 17 million or so. What
you would be saying is that 17 million -- right?
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 40 of 48
Rountree: 20.6.
Barry: 20.6. Yeah. I'm sorry. I was thinking 23. So, 20.6 you would be, essentially,
saying that 20.6 is our new zero and you can -- you can bring the fund down to 20.6,
because that regulatory reserve would be eventually spent. That's the whole goal. It's
not an ongoing reserve, it's just to build a fund that, then, pays for whatever the -- the
EPA felt that we have to pay for. So, the two important components are operating and
depreciation. Our intent on depreciation is to figure out what is the magic number.
What makes the most sense for our community, the condition of our assets, the value
and number of assets and build a fund to that amount and, then, treat that fund as a
reserve, but any additional funds that go into that fund get spent on year-by-year basis,
so that we are, essentially, financing the repair and replacement of our assets while
maintaining a reserve in the event that we have a major failure of those -- of any one
asset. For example, if the treatment plant had a major problem with one of its clarifiers
or the aeration or something like that, we may not be able to support its replacement in
one year with just what might be financed in depreciation, as opposed to having that
fund available to, then, dip into and, then, replenish and, then, go back to the way we
had initially financed it. My gut feeling is that the dollar amount of 15 million for
depreciation is probably a little bit high as a standard set amount, but, again, it depends.
It's not -- it's probably high now, but it may not be as high as we get closer to that, you
know, period where the majority of our assets come due for repair or replacement. So,
that begs the question. Can we -- can we sort of roll into that. Can we start slow and
build that and move forward and the answer is absolutely. We have lots of flexibility.
What I would suggest that we not tinker with is the operating reserve. That is a four
month reserve for the entire fund for water and wastewater. Wastewater -- we don't
really have a ton of variability usually, but water you can have significant variability if
you have a wet summer where most of our revenues come in, for example, or our
conservation efforts really pay off, you know, you get adjustments that way. But the
depreciation reserve again is open for discussion and if we back that down and
postpone a few more projects and maybe eliminated some projects off of the five year
CIP and push them back further, we might be able to make some modifications that
would be more favorable in the position we are in right now. And, again, that's just
something that we --
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor. With all of that, when I look at that, there are things that we
can do, possibly, down the road, but we aren't to that point yet where the reserves are
established, we haven't gone underground to see what the sewer system looks like.
You have a plan to do that. You know, if we get surprised by some things and go, wow,
this is more serious than we thought, we have to be there to -- with the funding to be
able to do some replacements and those types of things. I agree we bit the bullet last
year and said, okay, we are going to do this over three years. I think we need to move
forward the second year, look at it again this time next year and say, okay, where are
we? You guys will have another year, you have looked at more systems, you have got
the determination of what's coming down maybe on regulations, although that's always
a big unknown. I think we have to stay the course. For the unfortunate folks that have
lost a job this past year, the base water increase of 57 cents, sewer a $1.75 per month,
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 41 of 48
I mean that's -- it's not going to make or break them, because they are hurting. I mean
they won't be able to pay their bill period. I wouldn't mind if staff took a look at some
other options that you could bring forward on saying, okay, if we tinker with it this way,
increase this a bit or do that, I'm willing to take a look at that to help some folks out, but I
-- my position is we will stay the course for at least another year with the increases that
we have implemented and, then, review it again this time next year.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Tom, if you could in your spare time for me, I would like to know in our
infrastructure, wells, everything else -- lines and everything that are over 20 years --
what percent is over 20 years old. Ithink you're going to find 25 is over 25 years old, 75
is under 25 years old.
Barry: Yeah. We --
Bird: Because I can tell you in 1998 we didn't have -- we didn't have a third of the water
and sewer in when I come on board and we -- and that wastewater plant was just
starting -- one of the slur -- I don't know what you call them things. And Ithink --Ithink
at that point we only had seven or eight wells. I don't know what they are -- clarifiers.
De Weerd: Thank you for clarifying that.
Barry: That could be hard to track, Mr. Bird, because -- but we can work with finance
and try to get as much of that information -- again, we don't have a lot of the information
pre-1988. So, we'd kind of be having to guess backwards. We know that the treatment
plant in some form existed, but -- and we know we had wells and lines and stuff, but
how -- I don't know that we would be able to get you as precise number as we'd like.
Well, what we have done, which is sort of a crude approach, is that, okay, what -- you
know, based on population let's attribute infrastructure -- size, for example, or assets to
population. If our population is 75,000 right now and our population is in 1990, which is
20 years in the past, was 30, 31 thousand --
Bird: Nine.
Barry: Was it nine? 1990?
Bird: Yeah. That's where everybody -- I feel that everybody's getting worried about the
infrastructure and I -- your reserve for operational, kid, I agree with you a hundred
percent there. Don't touch that. Ithink --Ithink our infrastructure -- we are very, very
fortunate that we have new infrastructure. Sure, there is old lines down here, you know.
Mine's 45 years old. But the majority -- and I don't think I'm wrong -- and Ican -- I can
go back through the records and fine out what's been put in since 1994 when the growth
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 42 of 48
started, what subdivision's been here and what's been put in and that will pretty well tell
you what's -what's out there.
Barry: Okay. Well, we --
Kilchenmann: I can tell you what your total -- 169 million in depreciation. So, 15 million
is pretty insignificant. Yeah. 170 million net of depreciation. So, we -- let's see. At two
million depreciation is like 36 million. That's how much we have taken in depreciation.
De Weerd: So, Council, I guess I'm having a sense that you would like at least further
information or -- what is -- what is the direction for staff?
Hoaglun: For me I'm good with the rate increases that we have in place for another
year and for staff I wouldn't mind taking alook -- is there a need, working .through EI
Ada, are there different formulas or increases -- increase the amount, look at income
options, different things like that that we can say, okay, we need to tweak this a bit,
because of the situation people find themselves in financially. Take a look at that. And,
of course, identify where do we get the money if we want to increase that, so --
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: You currently have -- and I'm looking here online -- it says 70 dollars a year that a
person can get for that program. That would be the one I guess is what you're talking
about is whether you increase that, but right now --
Bird: Is that on -- or EI Ada's?
Nary: That's EI Ada -that's what the Meridian Cares program -- it goes through EI
Ada --
De Weerd: That's what we said.
Rountree: We established that --
Bird: Yes.
Rountree: I agree. Let's look at that as a buffer and maybe increase the fund or
increase the level of participation.
Kilchenmann: The number of -- I think we set that up like on an average delinquent bill,
so we can increase it slightly and we could also look at letting them use it more times.
Zaremba: That would be my choice. And to me the questions we are asking are what
we would discuss a year from now. I think this rate increase needs to go ahead as
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 43 of 48
scheduled. But the discussion we are having, we would have these answers a year
from now; right?
Rountree: Right. I think the model still needs to address the things that (mentioned --
Zaremba: Yes.
Rountree: -- with respect to the reserve accounts and what's the movement we need,
how are they going to be utilized that they would be applied and how you use the
depreciation reserve account, which is a capital improvement account versus --
obviously, the operating account is fine. Is four months the right number. I think that's
pretty reasonable. I think that's what we have established for the city General Fund.
So, we know what that level is, so that's going to grow every year a little bit, but it's not
like we have to feed that every year with -- the model can take into account what minor
percentage that would be, but it's -- to me that depreciation -- if we don't establish a cap
and a rationale for that, how it's going to be utilized, we could continue to grow and
continue to force that model to have rate increases --
Kilchenmann: Mr. Rountree, one of the discussions --
Rountree: Heavy on the mister.
Kilchenmann: Mister. One of the discussions we did have, an accounting kind of
discussion this afternoon was that we don't currently now designate the funds, but we
will be required to designate funds or make designations, but that when we do start
having a depreciation fund, we would need to have a separate policy that we all follow
on what we use that fund for, so -- because we set that up and we decide that we want
to go buy a new piece of land around the wastewater treatment plant, that would not be
a use for that fund.
Bird: That's right.
Kilchenmann: So, we would -- we would need to have formal adopted policies.
Rountree: Yeah. If we are going to call it a reserve account, we need to have those.
Kilchenmann: Yeah.
Barry: Well, what -- exactly. We can refer to that fund as a restricted fund or
replacement, repair fund, or whatever you want, but Stacy is right, I mean that's what
you would designate those funds for and they wouldn't be able to be used for anything
else. I think what you're saying, Councilman Rountree, is we need to be comfortable
with what that amount is.
Rountree: Yeah.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 44 of 48
Bird: That's right.
Barry: And based on that amount, then, we run the models and we say, okay, this is
our tolerance and this is what the models say we have to do at that point. So, on those
two points, you know, I'd like to also get your input on that regulatory reserve, if we
include that or not. If you back down the depreciation reserve and you eliminated the
regulatory reserve, which places us in potentially a tough spot when EPA comes out
with what they say. Now, again, we don't know. I mean they can tell us we got 15
years to comply. Well, then, we start saving then. Or they could tell us you have got
five. We just don't know. So, it's a matter of risk again and getting comfortable with that
risk. But those are two areas that you might be able to shave off, you know, upwards of
ten million dollars or something like that, with a little more conservative approach
towards depreciation, set asides, and an elimination of the regulatory reserve and
maintaining an operational reserve, run the model and see what it does, it might
suggest -- I mean I don't know what it would suggest, but --
Kilchenmann: If I can interject.
Barry: Sure.
Kilchenmann: I think -- which I was always for doing the whole rate increase at once,
because I think if you drag it out -- like if you run the model and decide that we need to
do it three more years, because we don't have enough reserves, it's a lot more difficult
for us from a customer service standpoint. It's -- people just see that -- they see a rate
increase and they really notice it when they get their sewer bill and they are off the
average, so I --
De Weerd: They are noticing it now.
Kilchenmann: Yes.
De Weerd: Okay. And I think that's what Tom had mentioned, he was hoping that this
year they can maintain what you passed last year and shave off next year and with
some of those adjustments that Councilman Rountree had mentioned, that looks to be
doable at this point, but, again, you have to model it again and see what -- what
happens.
Barry: And that's what that graph on the upper right represents is if you don't take the
rate increase next year, we can slowly build the fund with aless -- with eight million
dollars less in reserve, so you get to choose where you'd want us to shave off eight
million dollars of reserve, but there is good news in that and that is that the fund begins
to grow even without that rate increase, so based on that -- and I think there is -- there
is a fairly good early indicator that maybe next year you don't have to do anything, but I -
-you know, it's difficult to say at this point in time and I hate to commit to anything on
that at this point in time, but --
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 45 of 48
Rountree: Are you on for lunch?
Bird: You and I will have the same conversation a year from now.
Barry: We might.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Just for clarification forme. All of those reserve amounts are the target that it
would add up to by five years from now. The reserve accounts right now are nowhere
near those figures; right?
Barry: Yeah. That's true.
Zaremba: If anything. So, we are talking about what we are trying to build toward, not
what's surplus right at this moment.
Kilchenmann: Correct. Not something we will have at the end of next year.
Zaremba: Yeah.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Bill, we have to put this on the agenda and vote on it, don't we?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Bird, no, you approved
it last year. It's already done. You don't have to revote on it.
Bird: I thought the motion said we would come back and revisit it and decide whether
we were going to go on or not.
Nary: No. What the -- the resolution's right here. What you did is you approved every
rate increase for the next three years starting last year. All you committed to doing was
exactly what's been done, is reporting on how it's going. You have the right to not
impose it, you can certainly do less if you choose, but right now you don't have to do
anything and April 20th the bills will change. That's -- that's what was already decided
last year.
Zaremba: That's the way I understand. We would have to take action for it not to go
into effect or for it to be a different amount.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 46 of 48
Nary: That's correct. You could only do less, you couldn't do more without another
public hearing. But you could do less or nothing or allow it to just continue.
Zaremba: I would propose that we do nothing.
De Weerd: Well, you're suggesting to do something in terms of looking at Meridian
Cares program and looking at the reserves and maybe bringing back a recommendation
that would work into the model I guess next year. Is that --
Zaremba: Yes to all of those.
Nary: And, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I'm looking at EI Ada's qualifying
amounts, so what they are -- just so that you know what it is. I mean a family of four
would qualify for this program with a monthly income of 2,208 dollars. So, anything that
amount or less they qualify for that, so one of the things you may want to consider -- I
know they have done some promotion in MUBs directly to folks, but you may want to
look at a little bit more promotion in addition to whatever -- if you decide to enhance the
program and I don't know where the funding for that comes from, but some additional
promotion might be helpful. I don't know what -- other than just when they deal with the
folks as they come in the door, if there is another way to promote it besides the website.
There may be other ways.
De Weerd: Okay. Okay. Anything further from Council? Thank you, Tom and Stacy
and your teams. I know there is a lot of work that goes into this.
Barry: You're welcome. Thank you. If you have additional questions or whatnot,
please, let us know and we -- Mr. Bird, with regard to your question, I will try to get you
something by a-mail. I don't know if the rest of the Council is interested and --
Zaremba: If you are going to put it together I would be happy to hear it.
Barry: Very good. It might be crude for the reasons we talked about.
Bird: That's fine with me.
Barry: All right. Thank you all.
Item 7: Items Moved From Consent Agenda.
De Weerd: Our next item, Item 7, there are no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 8: Ordinances
A. Ordinance No. 20-1443: MDA 10-003 Julius M. Kleiner
Memorial Park by City of Meridian Parks and Recreation
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 47 of 48
Department, Located NEC of the Intersection of E. Fairview
Avenue and N. Eagle Road.
De Weerd: Item 8 is Ordinance 10-1443. I will ask the clerk to, please, read this by title
only.
Holman: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 10-1443, an
Ordinance AZ 07-012, Meridian Town Center, Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park, for
annexation of two parcels for annexation purposes situated in the southwest quarter
and the west half of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 4,
Township 3 North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, Ada County, Idaho, as described in
Attachment A and annexing certain lands and territory situated in Ada County, Idaho,
and adjacent and contiguous to the corporate limits of the City of Meridian, as requested
by the City of Meridian, establishing and determining the land use zoning classification
of said lands to C-G, General Retail and Service Commercial District, in the Meridian
City Code, providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County
assessor, the Ada County recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required
by law, and providing for a summary of the ordinance and providing for a waiver of the
reading rules and providing an effective date.
De Weerd: Thank you. You have heard this ordinance read by title only. Is there
anyone who would like to hear it read in its entirety? Council, I would entertain a
motion.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve Ordinance No. 10-1443 with suspension of rules.
Rountree: Second.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve. Madam Clerk, roll call.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, aye; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Council, we are at the end of our agenda. I would entertain a motion to
close.
Hoaglun: Move to adjourn.
Meridian City Council Workshop
March 9, 2010
Page 48 of 48
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor? All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:27 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
r
MAYORC,Y~I)I(11hY De WEEFZD`~~T~q ~~~~'.
A EST: °
.3 / awl ~®lO
DATE APPROVED
~~ C ~ HOLMAN, CITY CLERK
:, ~ ~~o~ \
''~~~, ~ov~rr ~ ,.,,