HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003 10-28 PreMeridian City Pre-Council Meeting October 28, 2003
The Pre-Council Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:00
P.M. on Tuesday, October 28, 2003, by City Council President Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Tammy de Weerd, Cherie McCandless, Bill Nary, and Keith
Bird.
Members Absent: Mayor Robert Corrie.
Others Present: Bill Nichols, Doug Strong, Gary Smith, Pauline Skeggs, Stacy
Kilchenmann and Will Berg.
Item 1. Roll-call Attendance:
X Tammy de Weerd X Bill Nary
X Cherie McCandless X Keith Bird
O Mayor Robert Corrie
De Weerd: It’s Tuesday October 28th
. It’s 6:03. I will go ahead and open the
Pre-Council Meeting Agenda and we will begin with roll call attendance, Mr.
Berg.
Item 2. Adoption of the Agenda:
De Weerd: Item two. Adoption of the agenda.
Bird: Madam President.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I’d move we adopt the agenda as published.
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay it’s been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda as
published. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
Item 3. Discussion of reopening the Master Plan on Eagle Island State
Park:
De Weerd: Item three. Discussion of reopening the Master Plan on Eagle Island
State Park. I assume Mr. Strong you are covering this.
Bird: No this is supposed to be from the State of Idaho isn’t it Doug?
McCandless: That’s what I thought.
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Bird: Whoever put it on the agenda didn’t get a hold of them, Tammy. I didn’t
know - why would we be doing this?
McCandless: That’s what I thought, why.
De Weerd: Good question. I think both Will and I had that question and maybe
Mr. Strong can respond to that.
Strong: Madam President, members of the Council. Actually I was identified as
the person that should know what this presentation is about. Unfortunately, I
don’t. Although, I did follow up on whether they do intend to comment. I got
phone messages from Donna Griffin who works at Idaho Department of Parks
and Recreation. She intended to be here with another person tonight to make a
presentation on the proposed master plan changes for Eagle Island State Park.
They are going around the region, the way I understand it to let area cities know
what their plans are for some of the changes they are going to make at Eagle
Island. So, the last I heard their intent was to be here. That’s what I passed on
to the Clerk’s Office.
McCandless: She’s late.
Strong: So, they just simply are late, I think. I attempted to find out some of the
content of the presentation and was not able to. This is part of the Treasure
Valley Partnership Group, which I believe the Mayor has been going to those
meetings.
Bird: That doesn’t look like Griffin.
McCandless: No, it doesn’t. Not at all.
Nary: Is this that guy that must have been at that Gentlemen’s Club out there.
De Weerd: Well, thank you Doug. I appreciate that. We can just postpone Item
3 to the end of our Agenda. Hopefully the people will be here that will be
presenting on that. Mr. Arnold did ask to be placed on the Agenda as well, but
since he wasn’t here when we adopted it he missed his opportunity. Did you
have something to present?
Arnold: Just a little something.
De Weerd: Okay.
Arnold: It would be real quick.
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Bird: Madam Present, I’d let Mr. Arnold go ahead if it’s agreeable with the rest of
the Council people, seeing how I doubt if we have—What I am afraid of is these
State people think it’s at 7:00 and then they’ll realize it was 6:00.
De Weerd: What?
Bird: That’s what I am afraid of. I would entertain giving him five minutes.
De Weerd: Okay. Is the rest of Council okay with that?
McCandless: No problem.
Nary: That’s fine.
De Weerd: Okay, where is the timer?
Bird: We will give him five minutes.
De Weerd: We will give you five minutes.
Arnold: I will take two and I will let my brother take the rest of it. (Inaudible)
What’s that? The goofy one? Yes. Acting Mayor and Members of the Council
for the record, Steve Arnold. I don’t know how formal we need to be tonight.
The reason I came before you tonight was two-fold. One for basically
development in general and the other was I wanted to introduce you to my
brother who has opened a new business in town. My big brother. He has
opened a sign company and I thought I would put him before you tonight and let
him try to sell you on some sign business. Why I am here tonight is based on
your new sign ordinance where developers are required to post each site as a
condition on your applications. What would be nice is that the City takes control
that posting and sub it out to a sign shop. It is up to him to sell you on the cost
and all that, but, get a kind of an overall - - you know, put it in the fees up front to
where we are paying for the notification in the application process to where we
don’t have these issues where there are subdivisions being deferred to a later
date because the site wasn’t posted, whereas, you know, I would like to
encourage the City to take that on and make us pay the fee upfront. It saves me
and my clients money by the fact that I don’t have to track it. I don’t have to
coordinate with, you know, a sign company -- a brother and have you guys take
the lead on that sort of thing.
De Weerd: Did you take that to the Sign Committee as they were looking at
updating their sign ordinance?
Arnold: Sign ordinance? No this is after the fact. It wasn’t until -- I use my
brother for all my postings and it’s kind of neat because you got a little brother
telling your big brother what to do.
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De Weerd: Is his time up yet?
Arnold: I’ll be quick. Anyway, I am here introducing my brother. This is Mike
Arnold. He is with Premiere Signs. From the developers’ standpoint, it would be
nice if the City took over that posting requirement and just incorporate that into
the fees. So that’s all I have.
Nary: Madam President.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Arnold: I forgot my Krispy Kreme’s.
De Weerd: Gees.
Arnold: I knew he was going to get me on that.
McCandless: Oh, that’s what he wanted to talk about.
Nary: Mr. Arnold, have you had an opportunity to have either that conversation
with Ms. Powell from Planning and Zoning Department about amending an
ordinance or we have a mechanism in our ordinances that allows you to go
ahead and propose that if you want to and file that application basically for an
ordinance amendment. I don’t disagree with you. I think some ways there is - -
it’s more efficient to do it that way. I know that’s the way it is done in Boise
because it got to be so difficult to verify that the posting was done properly and
so it’s much easier to take on that responsibility by the City. So, I don’t disagree
with you. I just wondered if you’d had either that discussion or that thought of
proposing the ordinance yourself.
Arnold: Acting Mayor and Mr. Nary, actually I have not had that conversation.
Originally, I brought to you -- tonight I talked to Ms. De Weerd about, you know,
last night we presented to the City of Kuna the fact that my brother with Premiere
Signs could post signs up to put notification’s -- you know, here are these people
that are being voted upon and just to remind people to vote. That’s kind of what I
talked to Tammy about and for those that are running for election right now. It
would be a good idea and I will let my brother sell you on that. I won’t stay up
here too long. No, I have not met with Anna, but I think it would be a good idea
and I would be happy to meet with her on availability.
Nary: Like I said, I don’t disagree with the concept. I think in some ways it does
make it a little more efficient to do that. I just, you know -- we have two ways to
really perfect that -- well, three I guess you are telling us that we’ll do it. I guess,
the two ways that I prefer is either that you take that initiative to have that
discussion with her and if she feels that that is something that the City wants to
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bring forward and they can, otherwise, she probably will say if you want to
propose it you can do that too.
Bird: Madam President.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I thought we weren’t doing the posting now on the public hearings. I see
our men out doing it. I have seen the City of Meridian person with a pick-up
truck from Planning and Zoning over here at the Farmers and Merchants putting
the one up in the front there.
De Weerd: Really?
Bird: Yeah, Doing something with it. So, I kind of took it that we must be doing
it. I don’t know. For a fee. I agree with Bill 100 percent. I think that it would be
great, for a fee, for us to do it because it would be uniform and it would be getting
done right.
De Weerd: Well, do you know who posts the property? Is it the City?
Berg: Madam President, Members of Council according to our ordinance, which
is in the posting not in the sign ordinance, it’s a notification. It requires the
developer to post it by a certain size. We went through all that in that hearing
and so it’s their responsibility. Some projects that the City is involved with, I am
sure we have people doing it --
Bird: We wouldn’t be involved with Farmers and Merchants, would we?
Berg: No. Craig Slocum had to readjust the sign and move it to a different
corner because I think they had it on the wrong corner to begin with, whoever
was posting it.
Bird: That’s something that the City does?
Berg: No.
Bird: Well, it was a city employee.
Berg: Maybe somebody asked for some help. I don’t know, but it’s not our
standard policy to do - -
Bird: It was a new white pick up with deal and he was parked in Bower’s parking
lot and he was walking across and he was moving the sign out there in the front.
Berg: Well, it could be our - -
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Bird: I don’t know which employee it was.
Berg: -- code enforcement person that said that this sign shouldn’t have been
posted on that property to begin with and maybe did some checking --
De Weerd: Okay, well –
Bird: I have no problem with that, but I think that it’s a very good idea that Steve
brought up.
De Weerd: So, I guess the ball is in your court, Steve, to talk with Anna and see
what direction she advises. Whether our staff will take this or she will ask you to.
That is a great idea.
Arnold: Madame President, from my perspective, you know it’s not that I -- it’s a
lot of work for me to keep track of our hearings and post them on certain times.
It’s nice to be able to hand it off to someone, you know and just let them run with
it.
De Weerd: I think we all agree that it has great merit. So, go with it.
Arnold: So, my direction is?
De Weerd: You have our blessings, my son.
Arnold: Okay. Thank you. I appreciate your time and I appreciate you putting us
up tonight and I will let me brother introduce himself and give you a brief history.
De Weerd: Okay, hopefully he is quicker than you are.
Arnold: He’ll be quicker. I am much more wordy than him. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you, Steve.
M. Arnold: I will be real quick and brief. As Steve introduced me, I am his
brother, Mike. I have my new business in Meridian. Steve and I had talked a
little bit about the posting signs and I have done them for him or for Briggs.
Sounds like a good idea to me and he suggested I come down and chat with you
guys a little bit about it. Again, it’s a new business. I do vehicle lettering. In fact,
I noticed when I took my affidavit to the City there wasn’t any signs up there.
Planning and Zoning or City Hall didn’t have any. Whether it’s a pylon sign or
anything outside the building. So, that is something maybe one of you might
consider.
De Weerd: Now we have a wall sign, City Hall.
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M. Arnold: There is one now?
De Weerd: Yeah.
M. Arnold: Oh, I didn’t see that.
De Weerd: No, it’s on the building.
M. Arnold: Oh. I guess I drove around and maybe I came to the wrong side,
because I didn’t see it. I have been there a couple of times and I didn’t notice it.
Well, I apologize for that. Anyway, any sign needs that you might be aware of, I
would like to leave a card for everybody.
De Weerd: Give it to Will Berg.
M. Arnold: I guess just one? You are the man?
Berg: I’ll spread it around.
McCandless: Madam President.
De Weerd: Mrs. McCandless?
McCandless: Mike, where is your business located?
M. Arnold: It’s in the same strip mall as Norco and Sonic on Fairview.
McCandless: Oh, okay.
M. Arnold: We are going to officially open next week. We have been in there for
a little bit. I guess I thought it would be good to try and network with everybody.
That’s why I am here and Steve was good enough to bring me down, so I
appreciate the time and I again will keep it short.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mike. We all expect those Krispy Kremes.
S. Arnold: I told them we were going to, but we were late.
M. Arnold: Yeah, we had a bunch of traffic on the freeway, so I apologize. Thank
you for your time.
De Weerd: Thank you. Thank you for joining us.
Bird: Maybe you can make enough money in the sign business that you can buy
Steve some long pants, so he don’t have to have the short cut-off ones.
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S. Arnold: I came here just casual.
Bird: I don’t blame you.
Nary: Yeah, cause normally you are dressed up a lot more.
M. Arnold: You ought to see him at home.
S. Arnold: I could go home and take this abuse.
De Weerd: Okay, let’s go ahead and move on. Item Number 4.
Item 4. Discussion of Finance Report:
De Weerd: Stacy?
Kilchenmann: After that commercial interlude. I have -- I am just going to do a
brief summary. We are in the process of the year-end closing. I am going to just
talk about some key items. First, I have a couple of finance department
housekeeping type items. One of them has to do with an internship program that
Suzanne has been working on for us for the IT Department. She contacted --
she’s been working with Meridian Charters School and Terry put together kind of
a job description for the person. They would be - - I have a job description, but
basically they would be helping us with our web page development and then
because we have kind of assigned that to various people in the City and they just
don’t have time or they are gone and it doesn’t really happen. So, he would be
assisting the departments with getting their web page up and going. He would
do like some help desk functions, some of the routine functions, answer some
phone calls and so forth. The total would be about $2,000 that we would pay
him. I think he would work 280 hours. He has to do the 280 hours before he
graduates this spring, so over the course of the school year. We can pay for it --
we have enough money in our computer budget, but we need to transfer it to
personnel because we need to pay him as an employee rather than just give him
a stipend. So, I am asking if we can have permission to make that transfer from
our operating to personnel. It would be a one-time transfer and if it works out,
well, we can come back in the budget process and ask for money in personnel
specifically for the internship program. But, Suzanne has put a lot of effort into it
and I think Boise does it and they seem to be really pleased with the results and
it’s a good opportunity for us to kind of network with the school that’s in Meridian.
Maybe it’s something that we can involve other departments in if it works out.
Bird: Madam President.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
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Bird: If he is being put on as an employee, don’t you have to pay benefits then?
Kilchenmann: He will be part time, so we will just pay –
Bird: You will make sure he doesn’t work over 20 hours per week?
Kilchenmann: Yes. He’ll work like 10 to 15 hours per week.
Bird: Okay. I have no problem with that then.
Nary: Madame President.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: In fact, I was the one that mentioned this to Terry --
Kilchenmann: That’s what he said, yeah.
Nary: We have been using these kids from the Charters School and there is no
one better to design a webpage than a 16-year-old kid.
Kilchenmann: Exactly.
Nary: They can do it better than anybody. It’s been a very successful program,
so I think certainly as a pilot to try it and if that works for IT then to switch it over
to a budget item in the future that makes perfect sense.
De Weerd: That’s great. Thank you. Sounds like everyone supports it.
Kilchenmann: Okay, good. I will let you know how that goes. Hopefully you will
see how that goes when you look at the webpage. The second item has to do
with the third party billing directive with the landlords. Leslie and Stephanie had
a meeting and they had six different property owners from the city and they had a
meeting to discuss it. Everybody was in favor of it and anxious to have it back
and understood that it was reasonable that we charged a fee for it. The only
thing that they suggested that we didn’t have was that we were saying that when
they did the billing agreement that they came in and paid the fee at the time and
the property owners or agents said ‘could you just bill us with the first billing,
actually put it on our water bill’. We felt that that would work because if it didn’t
get paid because of liability goes back to the property owner they would end up
paying in the end, so that was the only real thing that the property owner’s
committee felt that they would like to add. We previously, when all this originally
started, Rick Clinton had come up with a 35 dollar administration fee for each
time it was activated. He did that by breaking down the cost of going out and
installing the meter and reading the meter and so forth and then some money for
mailing and for Leslie’s staff doing the initial set up and so forth. I didn’t know the
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history of it and if you had discussed that 35-dollar fee in previous discussions
about that and if you were familiar with it or not.
De Weerd: I seem to recall that we had an initial discussion on it and gave it
back to the department to bring a solid recommendation forward.
Kilchenmann: I think that Rick has got it calculated here and I can email that to
everyone too, the break down of it and I think he has got a solid number. So,
what we would like to do next is we have the form developed and we will make
sure that Bill sees it again. How many times do I have to say this?
De Weerd: Any time when you raise fees or put new fees --
Kilchenmann: And then if it’s okay we would like to go ahead and schedule a
public hearing on the fees so we can move forward with this.
De Weerd: Mr. Nichols, did you have a comment?
Nichols: Madame President, Members of Council just a reminder that we would
have to have the public hearing before we impose the new fees, so there
undoubtedly may be some bugs to be worked out in this thing. You may find that
it doesn’t take 35 dollars worth of time, every time there is a new renter to come
in. There may end up being a different fee --
Kilchenmann: A lower fee ---
Nichols: Yeah -- for the initial and then the subsequent fees may be last, but until
that has gone through the shakedown crews we are not going to know that for
sure.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Kilchenmann: The other thing we are getting closer to doing the split billing and I
just asked Frank and he said he would do like a couple of articles also in the
Statesman to let people know that it is coming. Because everybody north of
Cherry Lane will actually get two water bills in the same month as we make that
switch. So, we want to make sure that we let everybody know that that is
happening as far in advance as possible. So, then moving on to the year-end
financial statements. There are some entries that we haven’t completed yet. We
haven’t done the interests accruals and reversals, the payroll accruals and
reversals and we don’t have like rural fire in for September. We are still getting
invoices in from the Departments too, so that could affect, -- that will affect how
the expenses look. That is why I have a draft on top of all those. When we get
done, I will come back and give you an in-depth analysis maybe in writing, not
necessarily spending a meeting. But I will talk to each department. We will talk
about variances, why we were under/over budget and so forth. I am also
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required this year to do something called the management discussion and
analysis that will be part of our new financial statements that goes out to the
public. When I draft that I will send that to all of you too, so that you can look at
it. So, basically, just running through some of the major items in the WWTP and
Water this was our first full year of having the new rates. Brad and I actually
worked together to calculate this, so we had an engineer and an accountant and
we came out pretty close. We were four percent under on wastewater revenue,
so their revenue is like $180,000 higher than we projected. Water was almost
right on target with $58,000 under what we budgeted. The capital outlay in the
operating in the wastewater plant is under spend in collections lines and the big
construction budget we spent roughly half of that. Water construction spent less
than half of the budget so those two are going to carry big construction numbers
forwarding into next year. The general fund - - the City Hall study came in at the
end of September and we weren’t aware that that was going on. So, that made
us over in capital outlay by about $1,700 if you take just the admin together.
General fund there were overages and underages, so we don’t end up being
over budget. General fund revenue, we got a nice surprise from the State Liquor
apportionment. The last quarter they gave us an excess payment, so we
actually get five payments. It was $47,000, which is much greater than we have
ever gotten in the past. Property tax is about $92,000 under, probably due to the
slowness of collections, but then on the other hand revenue sharing came in
$90,000 over after we amended the budget. So those balance out. Franchise
fees about $16,000 over. The big number that you will see in the general fund
revenue is our park impact fees. Those are $303,000 over budget. So, with the
growth those are just skyrocketing.
De Weerd: I can see Doug already sweating over there.
Kilchenmann: Yeah. I thought you saw dollar signs rolling in his eyes. Special
Services Revenue which is billing and P&Z, they ended up, even after they
amended the budget they came in about $350,000 over budget. So again that is
that growth in all the issuances of building permits. A number just on the
expenditure side is over time. The police, there total over time was $250,000
that was $90,000 over budget. Fire’s overtime was $203,000, which ended up
being within the budget and that’s because we hadn’t opened the third fire
station. So, that will probably be something that we need to look at. So that is
just kind of a rough, first analysis of the first draft of the financial statements and I
have gone through all the line items and I don’t see anything that’s going to be
big, that’s going to make any significant variance under/over, but like I said we
will go through all those in detail. I think our fieldwork for our audit is scheduled
for, I think, the first week of December and they are scheduled for just a week.
Moving into October, I already have a budget amendment item for 2004. This is
for the purchase of the Borup property. Is that right, Doug? It ended up being
$17,400 more than initially budgeted.
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Bird: What? Why? It was $15,000 an acre. Did they have an acre and one half
more than what was - -
De Weerd: An acre and one half more?
Kilchenmann: Did Elroy initially come out (inaudible) - -
De Weerd: (inaudible)
Strong: There was a council and the budget was prepared and it was our
understanding that there was an 11-acre piece remaining and it ended up being
12. something additional acres, so there was another acre involved and there are
the closing costs on the property that amount to close to $5,000 I believe and Bill
may be able to help me with that. There was some additional costs for the
purchase.
Nichols: Madam President, Members of the Council this deal is not done yet. It
hasn’t been closed and I haven’t seen a proposed closing statement yet. The
record of survey shows that remaining piece, I think, at 12.188 acres or
something like that. It was originally talked about as a 29-acre piece, but there
was about 18 acres, I think, in the first piece and this is the left over. So, that
could account for some of it. But, I don’t think that the closing costs are that
high. There would be title insurance, which you got to have and then there is
some portion of the escrow fees. We don’t pay a recording fee, so it shouldn’t be
that high.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Madam President. Evidently, we are purchasing 30 --
De Weerd: .16
Bird: 30.16 acres when we thought it was 29, so that would add to that. I am
like Bill, there are certain closing costs that we do have to pay, but I don’t believe
it’s going to be that -- not near what Stacy was stating there.
Strong: Madam President, Members of the Council, when we did the budget we
thought it was an 11 acre piece, so we budgeted for 11 acres at $15,000 and
then the additional acreage has increased the cost and we didn’t consider any
closing costs in that budget amount. It is my understanding that it’s about six to
seven percent or somewhere in that range for closing --
Bird: Shouldn’t be.
Strong: -- when you budget, but that is, something that we will have to consider
in future purchases.
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Nary: Madam President.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: So, is that seventeen for what we think it’s going to be because, I mean,
that makes sense if it’s a little over another acre and it’s fifteen an acre that it’s
probably close to 16, so we are around $1,500 in closing costs, which seems to
make sense. That seems about right. So are we pretty confident that the
$17,400 is it? Or pretty close to it, I guess.
Nichols: Yeah. Councilman Nary, here is what I suggest we do before you ask
for the budget amendment. We can get a draft closing statement, which we
have asked for. So that we can see the actual numbers and when we have
those actual numbers then before we close and accept the property we come
back to you with a copy of the draft closing statement that would show what it is
and the costs and so forth. Because if it’s 12.16 acres the raw land cost at
$15,000 an acre -- let’s see here --
Kilchenmann: This is just -- in your packet --
Nichols: It would be $182,400.
Kilchenmann: In your packet it’s just an item under consideration so it’s not --
Nary: Okay.
Kilchenmann: So that you know – so that you are on alert.
De Weerd: Thank you Stacy. Any questions?
Bird: Madam President, I do want to clarify one thing. I know she said the over
time at the Police Department was $250,000 and there was only $203,000 at the
Fire Station, but you want to realize that the Police Station we have 56 or 57
employees where at the Fire Station we are only talking of 18 employees, so it’s
something that has got to be taken care of, the over time at the Fire Station. As
far as I am concerned it is running way high for employees compared to the
other.
De Weerd: Agreed.
Bird: I know we all agree.
De Weerd: Please take that message.
Kilchenmann: Okay. I’ll take care of it.
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Bird: I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew that - -
De Weerd: Please change things.
Bird: - - still, they have a lot more employees.
De Weerd: Okay, thank you Stacy. We will go back to Item No. 3 discussion of
reopening the master plan on Eagle Island State Park and start with Elizabeth.
Item 3. Discussion of reopening the Master Plan on Eagle Island State
Park:
Conner: Thank you Madam Chair and Council Members. My sincerest apology
for the mix-up in time. I would like to blame my secretary, but since that’s me I
guess it’s just me, so -- my name is Elizabeth Conner and I am the Executive
Director of the Treasure Valley Partnership, which some of you might be familiar
with. Mayor Corrie is a member of this. Somebody may be a new member of
coming up this next year here. It’s the Mayor’s and Commissioner’s meeting - -
Canyon County that work on regional growth issues and transportation ideas and
just get together once a month to talk about different things that are out there. A
few months ago, an option – or an idea came up from Mayor Merrill from the City
of Eagle regarding Eagle Island State Park and a couple of years ago the City of
Eagle had looked at maybe taking over Eagle Island State Park as their City
Park, but were unable to do it. As the Mayors and Commissioners were talking
about recreational opportunities in the valley, Mayor Merrill brought this back up
that the City of Eagle could not take over the State Park and the State was kind
of looking to do something cooperatively with the cities and counties. So, I
followed up with her and went through all the data and information that the City
of Eagle had gathered and it was very clear that a number of people from both
counties were interested in utilizing Eagle Island to its maximum. From the
Equestrians, Boy and Girl Scouts, fisherman, a lot of the hikers and
recreationists and things like that. So, we put it on the partnership agenda for
March and Mayor Merrill asked the members if they would be serious about
maybe perhaps, talking to the State Department’s Park and Rec and they were.
So, we had the director, Rich Collanon, come talk to us about, you know, what
might be the opportunities out there. He said the first step would be reopening
the Eagle Island Master Plan that was adopted in 2000. So, the Partnership put
together a little letter formally requesting reopening of the master plan. The first
step in talking about this and what we might be able to do as a region for this
state park was the Donna and Elizabeth show that we go around to all the
communities and talk about this opportunity and show where the park is and
discuss this a little further to kind of get you on board of where we are going. So,
I brought my favorite Treasure Valley map just to kind of give you a familiarization
where exactly in the region Eagle Island sits is right there. So, as you all well
know where is most of the growth going in the Valley, it is going up in this region
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October 28, 2003
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and it’s 560 acres on the river. It’s a phenomenal opportunity to preserve a large
chuck of land for future generations to enjoy. So, I will let Donna talk to you
about the State’s perspective on what might be able to be done for a regional
and state partnership for this park.
De Weerd: Thank you, Elizabeth.
Griffin: Good evening Madam President, Council Members. My name is Donna
Griffin. I am the fund and resource specialist for Idaho Department of Parks and
Recreation. Thanks for the opportunity to be here. We have kind of a neat
proposal on the table. What I will do is pass out a copy of a brief history of
planning activities and then also a proposed strategy that we have planned on
everybody just taking a look at and discussing here tonight for a second.
(Inaudible). Basically, this is just a brief history of what has happened out at
Eagle Island State Park. In November of 1980, the Department of Parks and
Recreation contracted with Richard and Carruthers, Associates to develop and
master plan and create a master plan for Eagle Island State Park. Since then,
based on that master plan we have the waterslide out there, the ponds, the
picnic shelters, bathrooms, and the parking facilities that are in existence now. In
November of 2000, a modified master plan was contracted for with Beck and
Baird, Associates. They worked with Idaho Department of Parks and
Recreation’s staff as well as the public to develop a new master plan -- right here
-- actually, since then too that was developed – or excuse me -- adopted by the
Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation board in November of 2000. Since
then there have been equestrian facilities placed within the park, including trails,
floating facilities, (inaudible) -- access facilities, ramps, roads and parking facility
for horse trailers. I know a part of that, for instance, was a golf course. I was
recommended modification based on one single entity being able to take care
and feeding of Eagle Island State Park. City of Eagle, after the plan was
completed and these are kind of concurrent events -- City of Eagle engaged in
talks with Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation for them to take over the
maintenance and management of Eagle Island State Park. They found,
however, that first of all it was going to be about $160,000 a year for bear bone’s
maintenance and operations for 562-acre Eagle Island State Park. Second the
found in the survey that they conducted that the use out there was actually a
regional use. It was much more than the City of Eagle residents, which we pretty
much know and was beyond their scope of being able to spend that kind of
money on a facility outside the city limits. So, after about a year and one half of
negotiations, all of sudden that was not going to be able to be a reality. As we
know, too, state parks has had to cut back on some of their expenses out of
Eagle Island State Park , among a cut in some of the other state parks as well.
There is also subsequently, some legislation that came down that directed the
Department of Parks and Recreation to work with local government agencies to
address regional recreation needs if there was an opportunity to do so. Given all
of that, Rick Collanon, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation,
engaged in talks with the Treasure Valley Partnership to see if we could bring a
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October 28, 2003
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regional perspective to the master planning process of Eagle Island State Park,
be in the location of it. As Elizabeth told you the Treasure Valley Partnership
requested that the master plan be reopened and that is where we are at today.
Also, another reason for it is because of the growth in the area. The growth has
exceeded any expectations of any planners. The recreation use in that area --
there is just not a lot of recreation opportunities in that area, nor in Ada County.
Boise City’s threatened to -- and they have been claiming for years that they are
going to increase their fees and not be able to cater some of their programs to
outside city residents and many, many residents throughout the county go to
Boise City Parks. There is just all kinds of reasons why we need to retake a look
at this thing. So, the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation Board agreed to
reopen it. This is where everybody else comes in. On the next page, is what we
developed is kind of a two-fold approach. The first is coming up with a work
group to develop a Memorandum of Understanding between all the agencies and
State Department of Parks and Recreation that would address in the end how
this process will go along and the rolls of the participating agencies in the
process. Along those lines too, at the same time, there is going to be a
proposed planning work group that we are looking at with representatives, of
course, from City of Meridian sitting on that to bring ideas to the table. Through
the planning processes we go through and want ideas from the local
governments, basically again to address the regional needs of the folks in the
area. What we are looking at is a pretty tight timeline. As you can see, the
proposed timelines are listed below. Work group members would participate in
about six meetings bringing the interest of the local governments to the table with
planning ideas. The idea is to incorporate -- come up with a master plan with
capital projects, a way to fund those projects, as well as a way to fund the
maintenance and operation of the park. Along those lines also is hopefully doing
away with the $3 entrance fee that we do charge at Eagle Island State Park for
people to enjoy for a day use. The reason being is that doesn’t necessarily fit in
a urban area for a way that people want to go and enjoy their park sights. All
these things are thrown out on the table, including everybody’s ideas. To come
up with the capital, possible modification to the master plan, make those
recommendations to the Treasure Valley Partnership. The TVP will modify a little
bit, come back to you with that proposal and all the other cities. We have eleven
agencies that are involved in this throughout Ada and Canyon County. Then go
to the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation board for a recommendation to
modification or no action - - it may be that too – as to what this thing would look
like, how it is going to be funded and how it is going to go into perpetuity. So, we
are just looking for the local governments input and then ultimately, too, public
input and participation and how this thing would look and utilize that Eagle Island
State Park as the resource that it is and be able to draw the attention to it and
get the dollars in there and have the traffic and enjoyment for everybody
throughout the Treasure Valley. So, that is kind of what we are looking at. We
are looking at a pretty tight timeline. We are looking at going back to the IDPR
Board in April or May of 2004 for the modification, possibly, and with these ideas.
We are basically just looking for some participation from maybe a staff member
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October 28, 2003
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or representative from the City of Meridian at the onset to give us your ideas and
be able to come back to you and report to you on the progress of what we are
doing with this. Eventually, you would get to see Elizabeth and I again. We will
come back to you and haunt you. Just kidding. Probably about April or so and
then go to the TVP again and to the IDPR Board. I would stand for questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: I guess, Doug, I am assuming you are the designated representative.
Nary: He is now.
Strong: Madam Chair and Members of Council, Mayor Corrie has mentioned to
me on a couple of occasions that he suggested to the Treasure Valley Group that
I be a representative to this effort. I have not been involved with any of the
meetings to this date. I would be happy to serve in that capacity. It looks like
from the form that we have that we would have to have a Memorandum of
Understanding or a Memorandum of Agreement to do that. Is that correct?
Griffin: Madam President, Members of Council, Elizabeth, and I are just going on
and putting on this dog and pony show to bring all of the counsels and
commissions up to date and up to speed as to where we are at. Then hopefully
get people on board like Doug to participate in the rest of these meetings later
on. Secondly, the work group that we would like to think it would have MOU’s
sooner than later, but we all know how that process goes. So, I think it’s going to
be more of a parallel process to bring in those MOU’s and eventually, it would be
nice to take the MOU to utilize when we do get the capital plan, whatever all
these people dream up and bring that to you all for the capital plan and
maintenance and operation. That MOU maybe would include the roles of those
participants even after the planning process. We may end up with even two
different MOU’s. One for the planning process and what the roles are for
everybody is and then what the role is after the completion of the master plan
and adoption. We don’t know where all that is going yet. That’s what this work
group will bring along and work on. It’s a big job and I think we can get it
completed, though, pretty quick.
De Weerd: Elizabeth?
Conner: Madam Chair if I may add too, as well. The MOU will not be put
through the TVP because the partnership does not have any legal decision
making authorities so it will come back to you and it could be very well that we
have multiple MOU’s depending on which entity decides to do what part or how
they choose to work with the state, so it’s going to be kind of a patchwork quilt. I
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October 28, 2003
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hope it’s not a crazy quilt, but it will be linking together like that but it won’t be
made directly with the Partnership, just for your information.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Any questions?
Bird: No.
Nary: No.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you very much for joining us.
Conner: We appreciate your time very much, thank you.
Griffin: Madam President, I do have just a brief summary brochure of the current
master plan if anybody is interested in seeing that. It’s got a nice little map in it
and I can pass those out.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Mr. Bird.
Bird: Oh, okay. I’ll go ahead and do that. I move that we go into an Executive
Session per Idaho Code 67-2345(1)(b)
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay, it’s been moved and seconded to adjourn into Executive
Session per Idaho Code 67-2345(1)(b). Mr. Clerk.
Berg: Thank you Madame President and members of Council.
Roll Call: Bird; aye, Nary; aye, McCandless; aye, De Weerd; aye.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 5. Executive Session per Idaho Code 67-2345(1)(b):
Nary: I move we leave Executive Session.
Bird: I second that.
McCandless: All in favor?
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES
(Enter into Executive Session)
(Return from Executive Session)
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October 28, 2003
Pg. 19 of 19
McCandless: I will call this meeting back into order.
Berg: We have to adjourn the pre-council first.
McCandless: Yeah. We have to adjourn the Pre-Council first, I’m sorry.
Nary: Madam Vice President.
McCandless: Yes.
Nary: I move that we adjourn the Pre-Council.
Bird: I will second that.
McCandless: All in favor.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:15 P.M.
(TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
APPROVED:
/ /
ROBERT D. CORRIE, MAYOR DATE
ATTESTED:
WILLIAM G. BERG, JR., CITY CLERK