HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-06-21E IDIAN~--
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CITY COUNCIL REGULAR
MEETING AGENDA
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 7:00 PM
1. Roll-Call Attendance
X David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun
X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
2. Pledge of Allegiance (Pg. 1)
3. Community Invocation by Bishop Wheeler with the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints (Pg. 1-2)
4. Adoption of the Agenda Adopted (Pg. 2-3)
5. Consent Agenda Approved (Pg. 3-4)
A. Final Order for Approval: FP 11-005 Spurwing Orchard by
SWG Brighton, LLC Located North Side of Chinden Boulevard;
East of N. Tree Farm Way Request: Final Plat Approval for 38
Residential Building Lots and Four (4) Common Lots on 12.98
Acres in an R-15 Zoning District
B. Water Easement for Fast Eddy's Chevron Located at 1725 East
Overland Road
C. Award of Bid Campbell Tractor for Mower Purchase for aNot-
To-Exceed Amount of $84,813.00 and Authorize the
Purchasing Manager to Issue and Sign a Purchase Order for
Same
D. Approval of Bid Award and Resulting Contract for "Waste
Water Treatment Plan (WWTP) Lighting Replacement" Project
Bid #PW-11-6007-10186 to Berry Electrical Services, Inc for the
Not-To-Exceed Amount of $16,000.00
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Page 1 of 4
All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian.
Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing,
please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
E. Professional Services Agreement with Larry Limm for
Marketing Consultation Services for the Mayor's Anti-Drug
Coalition for an amount not to exceed $3,600.00
F. Professional Services Agreement with Kevin Patrick Kirk, Inc.
for Musical Talent for Concerts on Broadway for an amount
not to exceed $3,500
G. First Addendum to the Whitman & Associates, Inc.
Professional Services Contract
H. First Addendum to the RIMI, Inc. Professional Services
Contract
I. First Addendum to the Harold's Electric Company, Inc.
Professional Services Contract
J. First Addendum to the DMH Enterprises Professional Services
Contract
K. First Addendum to the Jackson Code Consultants, Inc.
Professional Services Contract
L. Amended onto Agenda: Nullification Agreement between City
of Meridian and JLJ Enterprises
6. Community Items/Presentations
A. Public Works Department: Donation to Meridian Food Bank
(Pg. 4-6)
B. Appreciation Presentation to Anna Canning, Planning Director,
for Years and Dedication of Service (Pg. 6-7)
7. Items Moved From Consent Agenda (Pg. 7)
8. Action Items
A. Public Hearing: ZOA 11-002 Unified Development Code (UDC)
Text Amendment by City of Meridian Public Works Department
Request: Amend the Surety Section, UDC 11-5C to Include
Clarifications, Increase Surety Amounts and to Provide for
Bonds as a Form of Surety Continued to June 28, 2011
(Pg. 7-30)
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Page 2 of 4
All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian.
Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing,
please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
B. Public Comment: Ordinance No. 11-1485: An Ordinance of
the City of Meridian, Enacting a New Section, Title 8, Chapter
6, Section 2, Relating to Performance and Warranty Surety for
Public Infrastructure (First Reading) Continued to June 28,
2011 (Pg. 7-30)
C. Public Hearing: CDBG Program Year 2011 (PY2011) Draft
Annual Action Plan-Open Public Hearing and Comment Period
Continued to July 26, 2011 (Pg. 30-44)
D. MFP 11-002 Una Mas by Tamara Thompson Located
Southwest Corner of E. Ustick Road and N. Allys Avenue
Request: Modification to Note #9 on the Final Plat for Una Mas
Subdivision Regarding Direct Lot to N. Allys Avenue Approved
(Pg. 44-45)
9. Department Reports
A. Public Works Department: Streetlight Conversion Project
(Pg. 45-47)
B. Public Works Building Services Division: Budget Amendment
for Building Repair for a Not-to-Exceed Amount of
$1,883,700.00 Approved (Pg. 47-60)
Amended onto Agenda: Budget Amendment for
$2,300,000.00 for Fees, Costs and Damages Approved
(Pg. 60)
C. Mayor's Office: Discussion on Idaho's Citizen Commission for
Reapportionment 2011 Motion approved for Mayor to sign
letter (Pg. 60-62)
10. Future Meeting Topics (Pg. 63)
11. Amended Executive Session onto Agenda -Per Idaho State Code 67-
2345 (1)(f) -To Consider and Advise its Legal Representatives in
Pending Litigation (Pg. 62-63)
Into Executive Session at 10:36 p.m.
Out of Executive Session at 11:31 p.m.
Adjourned at 11:31 p.m.
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Page 3 of 4
All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian.
Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing,
please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
Meridian City Council Meeting June 21, 2011
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 7:07 p.m., Tuesday, June
21, 2011, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Brad Hoaglun, David Zaremba, Keith Bird
and Charlie Rountree.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Anna Canning, Pete Friedman, Jamie Leslie,
Mark Niemeyer, Tom Barry, Warren Stewart, John McCormick, Lori den Hartog, Robert
Simison, and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun
X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: Well, we thank you for your patience and we welcome you to the City
Council meeting of -- for the record it is June 21st. It's 7:07. We will start tonight's
meeting with roll call attendance. Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. Tonight we will be led in the pledge
by Tyler and Aden. They are with Troop 28. So, if you boys would like to come forward
and if you will all rise.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
De Weerd: That was pertectly done. We appreciate you two coming back. They were
here at 6:00 o'clock for a special meeting and I said, well, that one won't be very
interesting, so they agreed to come back and lead us in the pledge. So, thank you so
much.
Item 3: Community Invocation by Bishop Wheeler with the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints
De Weerd: Okay. Item No. 3 is our community invocation. Tonight we will be led by
Bishop Wheeler. He is with the Silver Leaf Ward. If you will all join us in the community
invocation or take this as an opportunity for a moment of reflection. Bishop Wheeler.
Thank you for joining us.
Wheeler: Our Father in Heaven, we bow our heads before thee this evening at the
beginning of this City Council meeting with gratitude in our hearts for the wonderful
nation that we have the blessings of being a part of, for this great community of
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
Page 2 of 63
Meridian, for the members of this City Council and our Mayor and those who work with
them and work together in making Meridian such a wondertul place to live and the great
community that it is. We have so very much to say thank you for, Father, in the midst of
the challenges and difficulties that we do face. Help us to always remember thy many
blessings in our lives and to remember the wonderful -- the wonderful things that are in
our lives as we strive together to make this a better place to live. Father, we pray that
thou would bless with wisdom and understanding the members of our City Council and
the proceedings of the meeting tonight, that they may be guided and directed in making
decisions that will be for the betterment of our community and making us stronger as a
community and as individuals and as families. Again, we are grateful and pray that thou
would watch over and bless the proceedings of this meeting, we pray in the name of
Jesus Christ, amen.
De Weerd: Now, Bishop Wheeler, is this your first visit?
Wheeler: It's been a little while.
De Weerd: Have I given you a city of Meridian pin?
Wheeler: I think I have one.
De Weerd: You didn't wear it. Oh, no, it's not a requirement. Well, thank you so much
for being with us.
Wheeler: Thank you.
Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: Thank you. Item No. 4, adoption of the agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: On tonight's agenda just a couple items to note. Under Action Items, 8-B is
ordinance number 11-1485. And also let me jump up here. I missed my notes here.
Under the Consent Agenda, Item 5, we are going to add a 5-L and that's a nullification
agreement of the city and JLJ Enterprises and that will be added to the Consent
Agenda, Item L, and, then, 8-B is the proposed -- is the ordinance number 11-1485.
And under Department Reports there is going to be a part of B -- I guess I'll call it 9-B-1
-- is a budget amendment in the amount of $2,298,892.74 for fees and costs and
damages that we will add to Item 9. And with that, Madam Mayor, I would move
adoption of the agenda as amended.
Bird: Second.
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
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De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as amended. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 5: Consent Agenda
A. Final Order for Approval: FP 11-005 Spurwing Orchard by
SWG Brighton, LLC Located North Side of Chinden Boulevard;
East of N. Tree Farm Way Request: Final Plat Approval for 38
Residential Building Lots and Four (4) Common Lots on 12.98
Acres in an R-15 Zoning District
B. Water Easement for Fast Eddy's Chevron Located at 1725 East
Overland Road
C. Award of Bid Campbell Tractor for Mower Purchase for aNot-
To-Exceed Amount of $84,813.00 and Authorize the
Purchasing Manager to Issue and Sign a Purchase Order for
Same
D. Approval of Bid Award and Resulting Contract for "Waste
Water Treatment Plan (WWTP) Lighting Replacement" Project
Bid #PW-11-6007-10186 to Berry Electrical Services, Inc foe the
Not-To-Exceed Amount of $16,000.00
E. Professional Services Agreement with Larry Limm for
Marketing Consultation Services for the Mayor's Anti-Drug
Coalition for an amount not to exceed $3,800.00
F. Professional Services Agreement with Kevin Patrick Kirk, Inc.
for Musical Talent for Concerts on Broadway for an amount
not to exceed $3,500
G. First Addendum to the Whitman & Associates, Inc.
Professional Services Contract
H. First Addendum to the RIMI, Inc. Professional Services
Contract
First Addendum to the Harold's Electric Company, Inc.
Professional Services Contract
J. First Addendum to the DMH Enterprises Professional Services
Contract
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
Page 4 of 63
K. First Addendum to the Jackson Code Consultants, Inc.
Professional Services Contract
L. Amended onto Agenda: Nullification Agreement between City
of Meridian and JLJ Enterprises
De Weerd: Item 5, Consent Agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: As noted earlier 5-L has been added, nullification agreement between the
City of Meridian and JLJ Enterprises. With that I move approval of the Consent Agenda
and the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and second to approve the Consent Agenda as changed.
Madam Clerk, will you, please, call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 6: Community Items/Presentations
A. Public Works Department: Donation to Meridian Food Bank
De Weerd: Okay. Item No. 6, under 6-A is our Public Works Department. I will turn
this over to our Public Works Director Tom Barry.
Barry: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Let me see if I can turn this around. Madam Mayor,
Members of the Council, it's my pleasure this evening to present a check to the Meridian
Food Bank on behalf of the Public Works Department in the amount of 2,700 dollars for
funds raised by one of our Public Works Week events, the Poop Scoot -- 2011 Poop
Scoot. This was an activity that was initially conceived by Public Works staff years ago
and was expanded this year by the tenacity and vision of those staff and become a
wonderful event that we had no idea would grow to the size it's grown and have the kind
of support that we have been able see it have. A couple quick numbers here, just so
folks know. We have had 72 participants this year in the Public Works Poop Scoot,
both runners, walkers, families. This has been an outstanding event. We had six
different sponsors for the event. I'd like to read those sponsors off, because they were
absolutely instrumental in not just supporting the concept of Public Works Week, but
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
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this particular event itself. HGR Engineering donated 500 dollars. FPF Water
Engineering donated 500 dollars. Brown and Caldwell donated 500 dollars. Murray
Smith and Associates donated 500 dollars. CH2M Hill donated 500 dollars. And JUB
Engineers donated 200 dollars. These are our partners in crime, if you will, in the
development, the design, implementation, the construction, the consulting of public
works infrastructure, projects, plans, programs and services and it was our delight to
have them join us in supporting our event and it's our pleasure also to have those from
the community and certainly those on the staff -- and not just Public Works staff, these
are staff from all over the city who participated in this particular event, raising the pledge
money to 2,700 dollars. So, we went through apretty -- as you might imagine in Public
Works a pretty big process to identify who the recipient of these funds would be and I'm
pleased that it's the Meridian Food Bank. We -- we agree that the mission of the Food
Bank is an important one and is vital in our community. It was important to us in Public
Works to return, as we have been trying through our vision and mission of our
department to return our services and -- back to the community and we are grateful that
the Food Bank, for what it -- for what they represent and for what they do in our
community. So, without going on further and further, if I could ask Liz and Dan to come
up, I'd like to present you the check. Liz Warner is the executive director of the Meridian
Food Bank for those who don't know, and Dan Clark is chairman of the board. Dan has
been with the Meridian Food Bank I understand from its inception back in 1999; is that
right? Well, Mayor, I know you normally do these things and I don't if you would rather,
but it's certainly a great pleasure if I could do it, if you wouldn't mind.
De Weerd: I would love that.
Barry: Fantastic. So, on behalf of the Public Works Department and the City of
Meridian, we are grateful to give you this 2,700 dollar check for your efforts in the
Meridian Food Bank. Thank you so much.
Warner: I'd like to say a quick thank you to the Public Works Department and to the
sponsors who helped make this happen. We -- a few of the folks in the Food Bank
participated. One of our board members is actually a retired nurse, but she used to be
a race walker in her younger days and so she really race walked right through that
whole thing and she -- we all had a great time and this helps us so much continue, you
know, the hard work we have all been putting in trying to help take care of people and
we appreciate it so much and thank you so much.
Barry: Thank you.
De Weerd: Well, I can tell you that our Public Works staff not only during Public Works
Week -- and I congratulate all of the -- the employees that were part of that planning
team and went out and aggressively sought sponsorships, but also in their service
project in Paint The Town. Our Public Works Department really has shined in fact of,
you know, taking our goal of being a caring community or a caring city out into the
community. So, they have shown that they care well beyond their 8:00 to 5:00 jobs.
They have gotten themselves some -- put themselves out into the community and in this
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June 21, 2011
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fashion, but also in helping one of the neighbors in need. So, we are really appreciative
of all of your efforts in showing that -- that caring attitude of our employees goes well
beyond. It's not just a job, it's a passion. So thank you.
B. Appreciation Presentation to Anna Canning, Planning Director,
for Years and Dedication of Service
De Weerd: Okay. Item No. 6-B. And I -- I didn't see you back there. It's like where is
Anna. So, this is to -- I will come down and embarrass Anna, so she has to come up
front. Anna Canning is going to be exploring new ventures in the private sector and this
is just really a small token of our appreciation for the years that Anna has given the city
and she's given the city more than just years of service. She has given -- she gave the
city a passion, a vision, and truly a commitment to making sure that we grew gracefully
during a very high growth period. It was very amazing and very gratifying to see how
we grew as a community and it was through the vision that was really directed by our
planning director and making sure that we saw improvements and that growth brought a
more esthetic look and it brought a lot of order and it -- it had -- it had reason behind it.
Anna directed all of that. She brought a sense of humor and certainly a voice that will
be very missed at our senior management team meetings. She has not only been a
great leader, she's been a friend and an inspiration to a lot of people. So, a small token
on behalf of the City Council, myself, the directors. She likes little trinkets and this star
is not only that she was a star in our city and that she let -- left a shining example, but
this is also that star on our city logo and we want her to remember us as fondly as we
will remember her. So thank you.
Nary: I have a little token from the directors that I was going to bring up, but I hate to
follow the Mayor, she always says all the right stuff. So, I'm not going to add more to it.
I think I'd echo the same for some of the directors that are in the room that, you know,
we aren't just losing a colleague for you running away from us, but we are -- we feel we
are losing a friend. But we know we are still going to be friends. You're not moving to
Mars, just Idaho Power, and so we have a little thing from all of the directors for you.
De Weerd: And the Mayor
Nary: And the Mayor.
De Weerd: Senior management team.
Nary: This one we felt was more --
De Weerd: More Anna.
Nary: More Anna'ish.
De Weerd: More Anna like.
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
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Canning: It's got to be a hat.
Nary: Anna is known for her hats.
Canning: Oh, oh. Two of them.
De Weerd: A pirate, because she gave up the ship.
Canning: I just wanted to say thanks and it's been more than great working here for the
last eight years and it really has been a wonderful opportunity and the Mayor was
supposed to cry before I did, so I don't know how that happened. And the hat totally
appropriate. I love all of them. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Bird: Thank you, Anna.
Rountree: Thank you.
Zaremba: Thank you, Anna.
De Weerd: Council, anything further on this item? Okay. Thank you again and
appreciate your mom and Joe being here with you.
Item 7: Items Moved From Consent Agenda
De Weerd: Okay. There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 8: Action Items
A. Public Hearing: ZOA 11-002 Unified Development Code (UDC)
Text Amendment by City of Meridian Public Works Department
Request: Amend the Surety Section, UDC 11-5C to Include
Clarifications, Increase Surety Amounts and to Provide for
Bonds as a Form of Surety
B. Public Comment: Ordinance No. 11-1485: An Ordinance of
the City of Meridian, Enacting a New Section, Title 8, Chapter
6, Section 2, Relating to Performance and Warranty Surety for
Public Infrastructure (First Reading)
De Weerd: Item 8-A under Action Items, we have a public hearing for ZOA 11-002. I
will turn this over to Pete.
Friedman: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I'd like to preface my
remarks by saying that the propose amendment before you tonight is intended to, in
essence, bridge to the next item you will be considering for Title -- amendments to Title
8 having to do with the warranty sureties. These go hand in glove, so that if there are
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
Page 8 of 63
changes to Title 8 we will need to incorporate those back into this proposed text
amendment should you choose to adopt it. So, that being said, the Public Works was
the applicant. Tom will be carrying sort of the bulk of the presentation. We did have a
public hearing before the Planning Commission on May 26th. Tom Barry was the
applicant representing the Public Works Department. The amendment proposes to
distinguish -- do a couple of things. We are proposing to amend the UDC to distinguish
our sureties for those essential public facilities, such as sewer and water, from
development amenities, such as landscaping and fencing. It also intends now to
include bonds as an acceptable form of surety and it adds language regarding the
inclusion of warranty sureties as a necessary requirement for the release of
performance sureties that have been submitted for the installation of city infrastructure.
Again, Director Barry made a presentation to the Planning and Zoning Commission. He
was the only person speaking that night. There was no other opposition or neutral
comments. We hadn't received any written comments at that time. The Commission
did recommend to the Council approval of the amendments. The only item of
discussion -- there was some discussion among the Commission about the adequacy of
the amounts that were being proposed, specifically moving from the current 110 percent
for performance surety to 125. They wanted to make sure that the Public Works
director was comfortable with that amount or should it be more. He said he was
comfortable with that amount. Other than that there really were no other points of
discussion, so they did recommend to the Council adoption of the UDC amendments.
As you will note from our notes that Dave Yorgesen from Capital Development did
submit written testimony after the public hearing and so you have received that and as I
understand it you have also received further written testimony with regards to tonight's
consideration. So, with that I would turn it over to the applicant and let him provide you
with the details of what's being proposed. And I would be happy to answer any
questions in advance of that.
De Weerd: Thank you, Pete. Any questions for Pete right now?
Bird: Not right now.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Pete, the language in the proposal indicates that the surety amount --
performance surety shall not exceed -- shall not equal to not less than 125 percent of.
By passage of -- and acting on this ordinance change we, in effect, have not had a
debate on whether or not that's the right amount, do we want to proceed with that
amount at this point in time? My suggestion, if we are just acting on an ordinance to
make it possible to do this, that the language be changed that performance surety shall
equal to and not more than -- or shall not be more than 125 percent.
Friedman: Council Member Rountree, Members of the Council, Madam Mayor that
would be fine. I think that's in keeping with the intent and I would rely on Mr. Nary's
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June 21,2011
Page 9 of 63
guidance on crafting the final language there, but, again, largely the outcome will be
determined by your consideration and action on the next item.
Rountree: Well, I say that because if we act on the ordinance and don't act on the other
item, at least the ordinance is in place to establish the surety and what the limits would
be if we proceed at some point in time in the future.
Friedman: Okay.
Rountree: This way it kind of locks in it.
Friedman: Okay. Understood.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further from Council before I turn this over to Tom?
Barry: And, Madam Mayor, because this particular agenda item is related to the next, I
wanted to maybe offer as a suggestion, since both require public hearing, to suggest
that the Council open both hearings, since the matters are related to one another and
actually are dependent upon one another, if you should so feel that as appropriate.
De Weerd: I think they are very compatible and probably tied, but as Councilman
Rountree has pointed out, the UDC change does not necessarily assure the next item
either. But it's testimony on the same type of discussion. So, I will go ahead and open
Item 8-B for public comment on the ordinance proposed 11-1485.
Barry: Thank you, Madam Mayor. We have been before the City Council several times
on this issue, so I will try to keep this brief. However, I do want to be -- give the topic a
little bit of background for those who may not have been a part of the process or been
following it to -- with regard to where we are today. Let's see here. Okay. So, as you
know owners or developers that wish to subdivide land for development purposes are
required to meet minimum requirements prior to legally subdividing the land. To do this
they can either construct the improvements on the land or post a surety for those
improvements, known as a performance surety in this case, as a guarantee that they
will eventually construct the required improvements. After construction the
improvements must be warrantied. By far the majority of the city's sewer and sewer
infrastructure is constructed by private developers contracting with private contractors,
which upon completion that infrastructure is turned over to the city to own, operate, and
maintain. In the past there has been no financial protection or assurance that the
relinquished infrastructure would perform as designed or constructed after installation
and transfer to the city. The absence of these protections have cost the city over
100,000 dollars in corrections within the last year alone. Warranty sureties and
inspections are the best way for the city to insure that installation of water, sewer, and
other infrastructure performs as designed and constructed after installation and with
reasonable use. Liken it to owning a new car. Most new cars come with a three or a
five year warranty and during that time of normal wear and tear you have peace of mind
that your investment will still perform as expected. That's essentially what we are
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June 21, 2011
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talking about here. We currently lack this peace of mind or protection and it has cost
the city a lot of money and continues to threaten us financially into the future. In
response to increased maintenance and operational costs the newly constructed
infrastructure, which we have been tracking lately, the Public Works Department began
conducting a warranty inspection in a little less than two years ago and began finding
problems. Water and sewer installations has not met specifications as little as ten
months after their initial installation. In light of two particular cases, with more likely to
come, the department began reviewing its performance and warranty requirements for
new construction and we found a couple of different things. Firstly we found that the
Meridian -- the City of Meridian does not require the posting of a surety to cover the
warranty period following completion of private construction projects, despite the fact
that the project is conceived, designed, installed and otherwise led by the developer,
who is the beneficiary of the improvements the developer is absent when required to
fulfill any warranty obligations as our codes are currently written. Rather the developer
has passed those responsibilities for warranty to his contractor, who is required to honor
a one year warranty on behalf of the developer. There is no financial guarantee to
cover the installation of those improvements during the warranty period and this creates
several impacts for us at the city, impacts and complicates the building permitting
process, as well as the certificate of occupancy process and impacts purchase and sale
agreements with developers and their potential homeowners or builders. It creates
legal and financial exposure for the city, as you know much of which we have dealt with
in the very recent past. The other side of the coin is performance surety and upon our
analysis in the department we found that the existing performance surety amount of 110
percent, which is the recommended amount per the UDC, is not adequate and so we
are making a recommendation to modify that amount as well and we are also in our
proposal asking for the bond option in both warranty sureties and for performance
sureties be allowed in addition to the existing forms of surety, such as letters of credit,
cash, or cash equivalents. Now, the initial surety working group was comprised of staff
representing eight distinct divisions and four separate departments in the city and half a
dozen industry specialists and subject matter experts in the finance, bonding, and
insurance, and legal fields. This working group met on numerous occasions to talk
about these issues and we also met with developers, the BCA, and the planning
commission on this as well, in addition to meeting with you a few times. So, there were
quite a few people involved. We have worked through these issues over a nine month
period, having a total of 30 different meetings, 18 were internal meetings with staff, four
were with industry specialists, three were additional industry specialists and developer
stakeholders. Three with the City Council. One with the BCA. And, then, one with the
Planning Commission. And so we have taken a lot of time on this particular issue and
vetted as many of these issues and concerns out as we could. There were several key
actions taken in our work. First we reviewed statutes and policies to determine the
options available to us. We also evaluated the development projects that we currently
had and those in the past to assess the level of exposure to the City of Meridian. We
surveyed practices in regional cities and highway districts, that's referred as our
benchmarking study. We formed across-functional team to address these situations
and problems, evaluating both current and future conditions. We defined the surety
process for the construction and non-construction scenarios. The process is outlined
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
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again in the packet that we provided for you tonight. We held communication sessions
with Council members, engaged subject matter experts and held multiple focus group
sessions, as I mentioned before, with the developing community. The benchmarking
survey that I mentioned just 'a second ago is a survey that was conducted by our
engineering division of 25 different entities, comprised of 19 regional cities, five highway
districts, and one sewer district. Fourteen of those locations were in Idaho, three in
Oregon, five in Washington, three in Utah. Twenty-one of those jurisdictions require
warranty surety or bond ranging anywhere from ten to 50 percent of the actual
construction cost. The regional average for warranty surety or bond is 34 percent. Ten
of the jurisdictions require performance surety or bound in excess of 110 percent,
ranging anywhere between 120 to 150 percent, with the regional average for
performance sureties or bonds being around 127 percent and, then, their average
warranty period regionally was about 1.2 years. So, our recommendation this evening
is, essentially, to require the developers to secure a warranty surety in the amount of 20
percent of actual construction cost, extend the warranty period from one year to two
years in length, add a warranty inspection at around the 20 month period into the
warranty period. Increase the inspection fees to cover the warranty inspection costs and
allow the following surety option, essentially all the options we have currently available
under our surety program, with the addition of a bond. Under the performance side
we'd like to increase the performance surety amount from 110 percent to 125 percent of
the itemized contractor's bid and allow, again, the performance bond as a viable surety
for our program. With that I would also propose that the Council consider favorably the
position of the Planning Commission as they have recommended approval of the UDC
changes that are necessary as one component to move this particular item forward. I
want to talk briefly about change implications. Certainly we are talking about the first
two. Currently we need to revise the Uniform Development Code, that's before you
tonight, that's what we are talking about. As well as develop the new surety ordinance,
which is before you as well under consideration this evening. Should we move forward
on these items my recommendation would be to provide a three to four month period for
implementation, should this move forward, to allow staff to get back with the developers
and communicate the new intentions, revise our bid documents, create our
development and surety agreements, revise our supplemental specifications to the
ISPWC and revised independent contractor agreements, as well as our inspection fee
schedule. That will take us a little bit of time to get through. While this particular
proposal, as you know, is not necessarily widely supported by the developing
community, there are benefits, nonetheless, to the developing community and there are
also some requirements. The benefits to the developing community include the fact that
the surety bond, if so chosen to be an option by a developer, is an unsecured resource,
meaning that, essentially, it does not tie up or reduce the developer's source of funding,
which allows the developer to use those freed funds to either construct the
improvements on the site that are required or to acquire another property or start
another project site, currently not something developers can do is leverage those funds,
because they are either tied up in cash, surety under performance, or they are tied up
under letters of credit. Also the surety bonds claim department, if a developer wanted to
choose the option of a bond, would work to facilitate resolutions between not only the
developer and the contractor, but any other problems that might occur during
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construction or after construction and would not merely just forfeit the owner or
developer's security without working through those issues. Also there is increased
protections provided to developers under this program, particularly when they want to
go and buy a new property that is fairly young, as has been the case lately, we have got
a lot of property shifting hands, because some property is not -- either not been
completed or they have been completed, but abandoned or the banks have taken over
them, there has been bankruptcies, so for developers to walk onto a project that has an
existing guarantee in the form of a warranty surety, whether that surety be a bond, a
letter of credit, a cash equivalent or something else, is actually a benefit to them and
would have potentially helped in the case -- one of the two cases I mentioned to you
earlier. So, a developer can walk onto a new project, as long as it's less than two years
old, with this program and have no construction or completion encumbrances and,
therefore, no delays in the issuance of building permits or C of O's, because the
infrastructure would have been guaranteed by the previous developer. We can't
overlook, of course, the benefits to the City of Meridian. Certainly there is peace of
mind. Surety bonds provide prequalification, opportunities for the developer or owner
through the underwriting process if bonds are to be used. Irrespective of how much the
owner-developer may have spent to complete the improvements up to the time of
default, the full amount of the bonds are available to the city to complete all the
remaining work. Bonds also provide protection to the city against the contractor or
developer in the case of defaults or bankruptcies and if there is a claim made, as I
mentioned earlier, the benefits to the city is that the bond company will take the lead on
resolving and managing the completion or correction of the improvements without staff
having to get involved or spend resources and time administering contracts or doing any
project management. So, it saves staff time and administration costs. Deficiencies and
corrections also do not cost the taxpayers and rate payers, as has been the case at
least recently. We also see this as an improvement to the quality and reliability of newly
constructed infrastructure guaranteeing those improvements during that two year period
and we also see this as a shifting of the risk and the cost of development back to the
developing community. Therefore, supporting the growth pays for growth policy. Also
we see it as a pretty important update to our antiquated development standards, which
align the city with industry standards and best management practices for these kinds of
programs and although it is fairly new, as the developers have mentioned, with regard --
and the bond agents as well, to being done in the state of Idaho, we certainly know that
our neighboring states and states all around the country are well underway with
decades of experience in these kinds of programs. So, in summary, Council asked for
and staff conducted a review of the city's surety program and our recommendation to
you tonight is also in the best interest of the city's taxpayers and rate payers. While
there area some minimal costs to the developing community, I believe that this
recommendation best corrects our current infrastructure challenges and appropriately
shifts both the risk and the cost of development away from our existing citizens and
back to the developing community. With that I will entertain any questions that you
might have before we turn it over for public comment.
De Weerd: Thank you, Tom. Council, any questions?
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Bird: I will wait.
De Weerd: Okay.
Rountree: I have some, but I will wait.
De Weerd: Thank you, Tom.
Barry: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. At this time I would like to open it up to the public, anyone seeking to
provide public comment on this item, I would invite you forward at this time. Council,
you did get some public comment since our last -- since last week. You should have
received a letter from Brighton Corporation today in your packet.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: If there is going to be no further testimony, I have some questions for Tom.
Tom, with respect to Item 8-A, I indicated my preference for a language change as it
related to the surety bond or -- yeah, the surety bond not to exceed 125 percent, as
opposed to having it be 125 percent or whatever it might be beyond that. So, is that an
issue?
Barry: No, sir. I appreciate you allowing me an opportunity to comment on it. It is not
an issue. I would say our recommendation to the Council would be to -- for it to be 125
percent, no greater, no less than. We do not want to get in a situation where we are
having to decide on an amount less than 125 percent on aproject-by-project basis and,
therefore, would just rather have it be a set amount that doesn't put us in a situation
were we are having to make those decisions. I'm not sure how we would -- could really
defend those. So, that's not a problem for other us.
Rountree: There has been input on this particular item and there is one stakeholder
that has indicated their involvement in -- in this effort and a couple have indicated that
they are comfortable with what's going on. One in particular feels, however, that
through the process towards the end was left out and unheard and still indicates that
there might be some other options to explore. I believe one of them that he was
pursuing was that the builder's warranty on the behalf of the -- or the contractor's
warranty on behalf of the city, that was bought up the last time we talked about and
staff's basically said no, but, again, we hear from folks on the outside that, yeah, that --
that can happen and we have your bond experts here this evening and, gosh, she's
made several trips out here and we haven't heard from her, so maybe -- maybe we
could hear from her tonight on that particular topic, because it seems to me that that's
the rub and -- and if there are other potentials -- I know there is down sides to all of
these, but the -- my concern is -- and I believe it was expressed by David in his most
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recent letter, is that Meridian used to be kind of a difficult place to do business and we
have fought long and hard and staff has done great jobs in changing ordinances and
taking strides to make us very customer friendly and I don't want to digress or move
away from that position if we can. So, I want to explore this stuff to the nth degree
before we make a final decision. So, I just have that question on that particular item.
And, then, my final question is we have -- you have explained why you want a two year
warranty period and I understand that. You know, in some cases that might not be
enough. In some cases one year might be sufficient. But it always seems to boil down
that we need to have somewhat of a life cycle gone through on the system to see what
it is and to me that language is upon completion of the project and receipt by the city
that the project has to cycle through one full year of seasonal cycle, as opposed to a
calendar year, which doesn't make sense, or, obviously, two years does that, but, you
know, after 18 months is it really required. Do you gain that much. You might, but that's
an additional cost to the -- in this case it would be additional cost to ultimately the
developer, because he's going to be paying the builder to get those warranties. So,
anyway, those are my three areas of concern.
Barry: Thank you, Councilman Rountree, and, I agree, I would like to invite Stephanie
Barnes, if you allow that. It sounds like you're amenable to that. To address some of
the developer's concerns as it relates to the contractual relationships and the workings
of these bonds. I have a number of slides -- I appreciated you saying you would want to
explore that to the nth degree. I'm prepared to do that tonight, but I'm not sure you're
going to like the outcome with regard to time. But I'm certainly willing to do that. Suffice
it to say I think Ms. Barnes, representing All American Insurance, who has been an
instrumental resource for us on this, may have a more straight forward and easily
understood answer. So, without further adieu if Ms. Barnes would join us, I'd yield that
question to her and if there are any additional follow-ups to that I'm happy to take those
on.
De Weerd: Okay. Stephanie.
Barnes: Madam Mayor, Council. Yes, we actually have --
De Weerd: If you will -- if you will state your name for the record.
Barnes: Stephanie Barnes. All American Insurance here in Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Barnes: We did investigate the opportunity for the contractor to post a bond to the city.
That is not impossible. That can happen. We did also talk to bond brokers, bond
underwriters, the professional liability company for the City of Meridian, and the majority
said -- well, all of them actually said that they have never seen it done. They have
heard of assignment letters that have been done with some problems that have
happened with like dual obligee situations, things like that. There is a couple of different
things that come into play. For the contractor to post the warranty bond it would have to
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be agreed to up front. The financial aspects for that contractor at the time are looked at
and reviewed and the underwriter for the company say, okay, at this time I can say that
we would be willing to post a warranty bond come time that the job is complete. That's
not to say that they will be eligible by the time the subdivision is complete, which, you
know, can take many years. So, you can run into problems there. The other thing is
because the city does not have a contract that, contractor, you have to develop that
yourself and that is something the professional liability carrier's legal counsel suggests
that you not do, trying to build a relationship that doesn't exist and, then, trying to build
the protections into that that's going to cover the city and I think Bill actually might have
even spoken with the legal counsel for that. There is just so many reasons why they
recommended you don't do it. Yes, it is possible, with the larger contractors that have
the financial adequacy to post the bond, but it's not recommended by most of the
resources that I went to and Mr. Turnbull did actually go to one of the resources we had
on the board -- or on the focus group, sorry, and I did talk with him again today and he
did again mention his concerns about it. He said, yes, it is possible, but he's not seen it
done and he's been unable to find sample bonds or sample contracts that have been
drawn up for that to happen.
Rountree: Thank you.
Barnes: Other questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor, can I ask Stephanie a question?
De Weerd: Yes. Put the microphone closer to you.
Bird: Stephanie, on the bonding agents, they can't issue an additional insured like is
issued all the time. You know, you issue -- if you're doing a job you issue it to the -- to
the owner, who will be the city, it's going to be the owner and I have checked with two of
them and they said that while is not the -- the biggest problem might be a two year, but
you can have one year with a renewable. But it's like any other bond. If somebody's
financially not stable aren't going to get the bond to start with. So, I don't see where if
you get an additional assured to the city, who will be the owner in the long run, why that
-- why that can't happen.
Barnes: An additional insured is a different type of insurance that you're talking about.
It's not bonding. Additional insured is something that you have on the liability side, the
general liability that's not going to cover a contractor's work performance. That is
something that's specifically excluded under their liability policy. So, it's not going to
cover their work and that's what you're trying to do by doing the bond is trying to do that.
Bird: And I misquoted what it was
Barnes: Okay.
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Bird: But we could be -- the city as an owner could be listed on the bond the same as
the general -- or the developer who is doing it, as I understand from two bond sources
that I talk to.
Barnes: Right. If there is a contract drawn up between the contractor and the city,
that's what you bond on. There has to be some kind of an agreement that the bond
actually rides on and follows that performance or that warranty. So, yes, it can be done.
Like I said, it's just not recommended.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Stephanie, thank you for trying to clarify this. It's alittle -- it's complicated and
convoluted. If -- you said if it's -- it is possible, but it's rarely done. Who makes that
determination whether or not they are going to do that? Is that the bonding company?
Barnes: The underwriter for the bonding company makes that determination. They look
at the contract, decide if it's something that's feasible, something that they can perform
on if something happens and, then, looks at all of the underwriting criteria for the
contractor and, then, makes that decision. And, like I said, they want to look at it in
advance of the job happening, but, then, they are going to also look at it again when it's
time to post the bond.
Hoaglun: So, Madam Mayor, to follow up on that, we could put this in our ordinance,
say this is another avenue, but it's up to the company to make that determination when
that developer comes and says this is how I want to do it, they may say, no, we are not
going to do it that way, you need to find another vehicle. And, then, Ihave -- the follow-
up question, then, some of these developments are large and they are done in phases,
just because it takes several years to complete them. As those different phases are
completed do they look at the complete project or can they do that in the phases that
they are being worked on?
Barnes: It depends on how the contract is written. Like I said, the bond follows that
contract. So, yes, there can be different phases. That's another issue that you brought
up that there could be multiple contractors that you would be trying to get bonds from,
too, and, then, the city has to, of course, administer that and track all of that and keep
track of those bonds for those contractors.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, just about -- a question about cost to the contractors. When
the underwriter looks at it and decides is this good or not good or something, is there a
range of cost -- I mean if they think somebody has a real good solid history and they
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perform every time, do they charge them less for a bond than somebody they don't
know anything about or who has had some problems?
Barnes: That is true. Yes, there is a range of the bond premium and it can range from
1.75 percent on up to five percent on what they --
Zaremba: And that developer's history --
Barnes: And they could require letters of credit be put aside for the bond, things of that
nature, depending on their financial --
Zaremba: Thank you.
De Weerd: Anything further for Stephanie?
Bird: No. Thank you.
Barnes: Thank you.
Zaremba: Thank you for coming. Several times
Barry: So, I guess I would ask the Council if you wanted any additional information
other than what's been shared. I have quite a few other pieces of information we have
worked with other resources on with regard to answering those questions that have
been asked. If you feel you need additional information I'm happy to share that at this
point. If you don't feel like you need that information I'm happy to leave it as it is and
move to Mr. Rountree's third question.
Rountree: I have got a question, but it's not coming out, so go ahead.
Barry: Okay.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: It's not formed yet. Yes, Mr. Bird.
Rountree: It's not formed yet.
Bird: Tom, run me through -- when developer A is putting in the utilities and stuff, who
is out there doing the inspection, making sure that they are put in the ground at the right
level, the right way, the joints are put together right, they are using the right pipe and all
that? Who is responsible for that?
Barry: Well, the IFPWC says that the contractor's responsible for installing the
infrastructure and meeting the specifications. Now, the city does have an inspection
division that does send inspectors out to projects to inspect as well. Those inspections
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are on behalf of the city and are not representative or intended to be directional with
regard to the developer. However, that's oftentimes how they come out, simply
because if there is something that doesn't meet specification we will make that -- that
contractor aware and, then, they generally end up fixing that, so -- but the ultimate
responsibility as it's identified in ISPWC rests with -- and generally with our own
contracts rests with the contractor doing installation. They are required to meet those
specifications.
De Weerd: Tom, I guess my question -- and I will say for the record Mr. Turnbull did call
our office, wanted to talk about this process. I said I couldn't talk about the content, but
he sent his letter. So, that sufficed on that. Certainly he felt this process hasn't been as
other processes, it's -- we have invited them to the table, but he didn't believe the
communication was good. But that aside, the question that I got after reading his letter
and seeing the other comments, you have -- you held a lot of meetings and you sought
to comment. My -- what -- what is this a result of? If it was a result of a recent incident
that also happens to be the person who is most opposed to this, he doesn't feel that it
would have protected him in that regard. Is there more than just that one experience?
Is this a knee jerk reaction or is -- is this a needed improvement? Do we see this
happening often that we haven't had the tools to recapture losses? Can you give a little
background on that?
Barry: Yes, Madam Mayor. The -- the first question -- you asked several. The first
question, if I remember them all, was in reference to do we expect this to happen a lot
and our -- we don't expect it to happen a lot, we don't want it to happen a lot, but it's a
matter of risk management and as I mentioned before to you, it's how much insurance --
how much life insurance do you want and when do you get it and what kind of terms
and conditions do you want, depending upon your health, depending upon your age,
and those kinds of things. One of the problems that we have had in Public Works in --
and you can draw any conclusion you want and I'm not asking for you to, but we simply
have not done warranty inspections in the past. So, I think it would be misplaced of us
or misguided of us to suggest that this is an isolated incident based upon recent events,
i.e., the economic times, because, in reality, in my particular opinion, because we
started these warranty inspections 18 to 24 months ago and we have already got two
projects in a time period where there is not a lot of development going on, the first
project cost us 114,000 dollars to fix. This next project looks like it's going to cost us
around 90,000 dollars to fix --suggests to me that two in a year's time is a big deal and I
can't tell you if we are going to have ten in the next year or one in the next year or zero,
but the idea here is that we -- we -- if the city is going to take the ownership of these --
of this work and the materials and those sorts of certain things, we want to make sure
when we take it on we don't take on the financial liabilities that come with that due to
either poor installation or design or any of these sorts of things. So, we are trying to
protect ourselves and our citizens from having to spend or pay twice, if you will, for
these improvements, when if we had a very modest program like we are talking about,
that puts in place warranty requirements that are, you know, again, pretty -- there is a
cost, but they are pretty low cost. We talked last week about those costs being --
averaging about 25 to 30 dollars per lot for two years worth of coverage if you're
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seeking just a warranty bond. And, again, just as a quick aside, the bonds are not
required. It's one vehicle. You can put a letter of credit, cash, any of those things as
well. But the idea here is that we don't want to get stuck, as we have been in the past
and it looks like we are going to be here in the very near future, having to pay for
infrastructure that's brand new. I mean I send my water and wastewater guys --
particularly my wastewater guys out and they come back complaining that they can't
even get the fetter through the line, because the line's got problems and we say, well,
how old is the infrastructure. Well, you know, it was constructed, you know, a year and
a half, two years ago, whatever the time frame, and we just shake our head that we
have to go back and dig it up and redo it. I mean it's not fair, we don't think, in Public
Works for our rate payers and taxpayers to have to pay for that reconstruction on brand
new infrastructure. So, we are trying to propose improvements to that. Again, it's a
matter of risk. I can't tell you how frequently these problems might happen. We are just
trying to put in place the assurances and the financial guarantees for when it happens
and you're dealing with one of these problems right now in the building that we are
sitting in for many of the very reasons we are talking about trying to put protection in for
these water and sewer infrastructure projects. Those same protections could have
been a benefit as it relates to this building. So you will hear more about that later this
evening. I know you have it on your agenda. But that's what we are trying to protect
against. We are trying to protect the citizens, we are trying to protect our department
from impacts that are caused by development. Mr. Turnbull I will say is -- has been an
important and very strong partner in the -- with the city for years and years and we very
much appreciate his involvement, as well as his out-of-the-box thinking. And believe
me when I say I, more than anyone, wanted to find awin-win situation that would
protect the city, protect the developer, be no cost, but there is not that. We have to
make a decision here as to whether we want to do anything and if we do something
there is going to be an impact and the impact is going to be felt one way or the other.
We feel that many of Mr. Turnbull's ideas -- and the biggest idea was this one that he
mentioned in his letter and testified last week on, which is in relation to the contract
relationship between either the developer, i.e., the bond relationship between the
developer and the city, or the contractor and the city, is something of -- something we
should explore more and after nine months of exploring that all the different folks that
we have explored it and getting the same answer from all of these different industry
experts and researching not just legal counsel's opinions with regard to ICRMP, but also
the International Risk Management Institute, everybody says the same thing. It's not
advisable and in some cases they said it could violate state and Constitutional
provisions and I'd rather not go there either. I think it would be beneficial -- and I'm
really saddened that Mr. Turnbull is not here, because I wanted him to hear this as well,
but I do have information with regard to many challenges associated with this
relationship he's trying to propose and the problem here is that, quite frankly, as a
Public Works director I could care less where the bond comes from. I mean, honestly, I
have no preconceived notions or desires that it come from one person or another. The
problem is the obstacles with doing what he suggested are so great and the risk is so
great and the potential for being a co-obligee and getting wrapped in to legal problems
and getting wrapped into lawsuits and all of those other risks, quite frankly, to me in my
personal opinion, are far greater than if we just do nothing at all. And I think that would
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be sad to do nothing at all. But, like I said, depending upon how thorough an
explanation you want on those subjects, I'm prepared to give that tonight, but as you
know this is complicated subject matter and could take a little time getting through it,
which I'm happy to dedicate to you. But, like I say, Mr. Turnbull is -- I really appreciate
his comments and his challenging of the staff. It's been healthy for us, it's been
important in the process. I'm sad that we haven't been able to achieve what he was
after.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Tom, a couple of things. The first thing -- and I -- and it really frustrates me when
we have not only one, but two that sit in on the committee that feels that the train had
already left the station and I -- I -- it's hard to believe, but, you know, these people have
-- have put out a lot of time in out of their busy days to go and when they get that feeling
it's -- it's kind of sad in my -- in my opinion. Maybe -- maybe we need to do more on site
inspection up front to save costs on the backside. I mean I realize we can't see every
two-by-four that gets shoved down in the manhole into it, but if our inspectors are out
there looking at the joints and stuff like that, it's like -- it's like your building inspectors,
you know, they are to make sure that they are -- whatever is in there is made -- put in to
code. Save and to code. And if we are going to take something over and we are going
to own it, which very few sewer projects or water projects within our city limits that we
shouldn't own or, you know, in the end, we should be very involved in the inspection as
they are put in. That is my opinion.
Barry: I appreciates your comments, Mr. Bird. I did want to add the two -- the two sort
of case studies, if you will, that I have mentioned tonight. Both were inspected by staff,
both were television cameraed and both passed the initial inspection. The problems
came after the inspection. I don't know if our engineering manager Mr. Stewart wants to
add anything, but I just wanted to point that out. We are not dealing, in those two cases
at least, with an improper or poorly done inspection. We run cameras down the sewer
line when it's initially constructed and we get those systems that pass and, then, we run
the camera down ten months later and they don't pass and I can't tell you what's
causing those problems, all I can tell you is that it does not meet specifications and is --
is aproblem for us in Public Works.
Bird: Follow up, Madam Mayor
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Bird: Tom, you're saying the cameras -- what is the problem? Are they -- are they
swaying or what's happening?
Stewart: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Bird, the most common
thing that occurs is, you know, they put a pipe in the ground, they put the bedding in
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underneath it and they do -- our specifications require compaction testing every so
many hundred feet along that line to verify compaction and, you know, when it's initially
put in everything is pristine and in good condition. Sometimes we have had -- in one
particular situation we know, in fact, that there was an irrigation line that broke at some
point after we had done our inspections, but before the asphalt was placed and that
there is a good chance that that saturated that zone and that perhaps that caused
subsidence in the -- or bellies to occur in that line. It also happens -- you know, we
really can't go out and compaction test every lineal foot of that trench to determine
whether every foot of it is compacted and some of those things you just don't know, they
have to be in service for awhile before they settle enough to really show up as -- as
deficiencies for the specification. So, when you go in there for the initial cameraing it
looks fine. But after 12 months of service and going through the freeze and thaw cycle
and so forth, you will see bellies in that line that were not apparent.
Bird: Madam Mayor? Warren, how often -- how far apart are we testing? Or are they
supposed to be tested? Excuse me.
Stewart: I wouldn't be able to tell you that off the top of my head. I believe it's about a
hundred -- 125 feet, if I recall.
Bird: You know, in concrete you have tests for it every -- but you don't -- it's -- it's just to
pour it, it's not in every square foot of the building and if you compact it -- and I
understand you can have a water line break or something and I'm sure Councilman
Rountree has had this happen on road projects before when the based has been
saturated or something. But I -- I just wondered who gets the tests from all these tests?
Are they actually testing them or are they just going down there and looking at them and
saying, yeah, they are being --they are packed down enough?
Stewart: You know, there are -- they are supposed to submit tests. They are actually a
testing company that goes out with a new geometer and does testing. I don't -- but it's
just at a periodic interval.
Bird: But who gets the results?
Stewart: Well, if it's a project that we are doing we would get the results. If it's an
ACHD project, ACHD gets those results, but I think we can get those from ACHD and I
think we do on most occasions.
Bird: Well, I mean we are talking about -- there is a lot of times we are putting in utilities
that don't have anything to do with --with ACHD's roadway.
Stewart: Right.
Bird: We are out of that. So, we should have those -- we should -- as being the owner
-- or soon to be owner, we should have those on file from the testing.
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Stewart: Correct.
Bird: Okay. Thank you very much.
De Weerd: Anything further from Council --
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: -- on this?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Question for Tom. One of the issues that the developer wrote about was the
performance bid increase to 125 percent and you saw an example some cities it's 110
percent, some it's 125 percent. Probably need to explain why -- why it's not just 100
percent, which I think I understand, but why 125 versus 110?
Barry: Thank you, Mr. Hoaglun, for your question. I want to -- crank this thing up again.
I have a slide that speaks to that. Okay. Here it is. This is Exhibit C in your -- in your
packet this evening. On the left hand -- two columns here. Generally on the left-hand
side is the column that describes the basis for the 20 percent warranty surety and that
you -- if you will allow me I will walk through that. The rework amount -- meaning --
what we did is based on some projects that we had experience with, both public
projects that we have managed ourselves and both private projects we have had
problems on, we have, essentially, estimated that about -- of an entire project 15
percent of that may have problems. Okay? Some of those problems might be minor,
some of those problems might be major. I mean every project is totally different. It
depends on a lot of circumstances, i.e., the site conditions, the contractor -- I mean you
could go on and on. But, essentially, we had to come up with -- based upon our
experience what we felt was reasonable and as you have mentioned to us in the past,
these numbers might be too low, but we want to start it -- we wanted to start low
intentionally. We think that from a risk standpoint these numbers make sense, however.
But we said of an entire project maybe 15 percent of that might need some rework,
might have warranty problems associated with it. And, then, we said, okay, if 15
percent of that project does require some sort of rework, how would we go about doing
it and what would the cost be. So, what we have are called add-ons. That's that next
little section there. It says add-ons. So, we said, okay, there are some variables that
will impact the cost of the correction or the rework and we have listed those out here.
Economic or inflationary costs -- who is running this? Did I do that? Okay. Here we go.
I didn't know that was touch screen. So, economic or inflationary costs, we said there
can be variability in bids, right, for work. We have seen variability in the last three years
be pretty darn big. We said kind of, all right, on a normal year what would we expect,
on a year-by-year basis. Maybe five percent or so, based upon what we have studied
on our own projects. We said also project management, we looked at the costs and the
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time it takes us to manage projects, which is about 15 percent of the total project cost.
So, that is an additional add on. We also looked at the restoration, that is other things
that go beyond the actual problem itself or if it's restoration, curb and gutter, sidewalk,
you know, trees, landscaping, those things -- restoration related, that's a cost. And,
then, we looked at construction contingency. This is sort of one of those things that
says who knows what's going to happen when you uncover the earth. Maybe the
problem is bigger than you thought. Maybe there is additional problems or a different
cause, so on and so forth. So, we came up with a ten percent construction contingency,
which, quite frankly, I would have rather seen it 20 percent, but to start out I think ten
percent is probably reasonable. So, then, we have our formula underneath that we take
the rework amount of 15 percent and we take of that 15 percent, whatever that cost is,
five percent of the inflationary economic variable and, then, 15 for project management
and so on. So, the example down below says, okay, if you have got a million dollar
project, okay, that million dollars would be about 200,000 dollars worth of warranty
coverage that you would need and we have identified how we have come up to that.
The rework amount is 150,000, because, essentially, that's that rework amount of 15
percent. And, then, we took of that 150,000, five percent for economic inflation, which is
very modest, at 7.4 -- seven thousand five hundred dollars. Project management is
22,500. Restoration 22,500 again, because those are 15 percentile of the rework
amount. Construction contingency 15,000 dollars, because that's ten percent. And,
then, so the total surety cost would equate to 202,500 dollars and we said, you know,
we are not going to argue about pennies and stuff, so we are going to round it down to
20 percent and that's how we came up with the number for warranty surety. We applied
the same methodology for the basis of the performance surety and that's where we
came up with the 125 percent. So, that's what we have to offer you. We are basing that
on our experience, both managing projects ourselves and also looking at private
projects that have come our way as well.
Hoaglun: One other question, Madam Mayor. Tom, we heard from Stephanie earlier
about it's possible that contractors post bonds to the city, but it's highly unlikely that they
will do it and the decision is made by the bonding company and those folks. Thoughts
on allow -- having that in the ordinance that it's allowed, knowing that the chances a
bonding company doing that are slim to none. But -- and does it -- what does it impact
your department if a developer were able to get one?
Barry: Okay. I'm grateful for the question and I'm going to jump off, as I have
threatened to do a couple times tonight, and address those particular issues and talk
about the contractual relationship and I'll ask Stephanie to either correct me -- but we
have both talked about these in the past -- or offer additional insights on this. This idea
-- and it's -- it's fairly straight forward when you understand how bonds work, but,
essentially, what we are asking in this proposal is that the developer be responsible, if
they so desire, to choose a bond as the surety vehicle, we are saying they should be
the one that posts the bond with the city as beneficiary, okay, instead of the contractor
posting the bond, which is what the developer in question would like to see happen.
And this is -- I have developed three areas for why this would not be advisable and
some of them do brush up against the legalities and Mr. Nary may offer additional
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information as we go through it. But suffice it to say that, essentially, if you look at the
contractor's perspective if they were forced to have to get the bond, that is bad for them
for the following reasons: The risk and the liability would be higher for the contractor
than would otherwise be required of them and I will quote to you the International Risk
Management Institute's response on this. They said if the general contractor posts the
improvement bonds in favor of the public agency, the general contractor is obligated to
complete improvements and to pay for all of those improvements, irrespective of
whether the developer paid him. So, that's a problem, because if the developer decides
I don't want to pay you anymore, I don't like you anymore, walks away, that contractor is
responsible, because they hold the bond for finishing those improvements. That's a big
problem for contractors. So, there is additional costs and administration and regulation
for the contractor, because the contractor would be required under that scenario to
enter a contract with the city, who they have no obligation to enter a contract with at all.
So, we would, essentially, be forcing the contractor, without a contract of any kind, we
would be forcing them into a contract with us, which Mr. Nary commented last week
might be virtually impossible. Now, maybe a developer could have in their contract you
have to enter into an agreement with the city, but we don't want to police those third-
party agreements and assure the language is in there. Additionally, the contractor
would be required to administer and likely pay for the bond, we think that's not the
contractor's responsibility. If the developer wants a bond from the contractor, they
would get their own bond, but the city wants a different kind of bond to guarantee the
overall work. Additionally, the contractor may take on more responsibility than they own
and here is -- here is kind of the problem. If you get into contractor confusion -- let's
take a private development. Okay? Let's take a -- a Paramount Subdivision. All right?
Huge subdivision. Hundreds and hundreds of lots. Lots of infrastructure. Lots of
contractors. Lots of subcontractors. Now you get this situation where each of those
contractors and likely subcontractors -- because the contractors will do what the
developers want you to -- want you to do right now and that is pass that obligation to
their subcontractors. Now, the city has to administer all of these third-party agreements
with all of these different contractors and figure out who is responsible, what's the
amount, where are we going to get the dollars, and there is a failure, guess what
happens? Whose fault is it? Did your contractor cause my contractor problems? Did
your installation impact my -- we got water and sewer lines crossing all over the city.
We have got all sorts of different scenarios that can come up where under this -- under
this suggestion we would have to referee every single scenario and every single third-
party contract, which I don't think is something that the city wants to do and would
definitely impact our staff workloads and administration costs. Also, the contractor's
bonding capacity would be impacted, because they would be bonding for something
that they shouldn't have to bond for. They can bond with the developer. That
commonly happens. But those bonds are different. Those are get-the-work-done
bonds, okay? We call them performance bonds, they take on a little bit different -- and
that's what makes this whole subject matter a little bit complex, but a little bit different
kind of bond than the one it is that we are after. Additionally, if the contractor were
obligated to provide the bond to the city, contractors could unfairly be disqualified --
good contractors, for that matter, could be unfairly disqualified by the underwriting
process whereby a bond company in southern California says, you know, I don't know
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this little contractor -- they could be a great contractor and I don't know them, they don't
have enough history with us or whatever, so we are going to say, no, we are not going
to bond you and now the developer says, well, you can't get it, I'm going to go to
somebody else, even though that contractor might be a suitable contractor. For those
reasons -- and there is more -- essentially it's bad for the contractors. Now, let's talk
about developers. Why is it bad for the developers, because I don't think there has
been given enough consideration to this. First of all, the risk and the flexibility concerns
impact to the developer and what I mean by that is that if the contractor-developer
relationship deteriorates -- okay? So, imagine, for instance, a scenario where the
contractor has posted the bond with the city and the developer is kind of directing the
work, okay, if the -- if the developer says, you know, I don't like what you're doing, I
don't like how fast you're doing it, I don't like that you're not following my direction or
what -- if that relationship between the contractor and the developer deteriorates and
the developer says I don't want you on the project site anymore, get off, I'm going to get
a different contractor, now we have got a -- a three-party agreement that has to be
negotiated whereby this particular contractor, if this was even allowed, is in an
agreement with the city, who is financially and legally obligated to finish that work, that
the developer no longer wants to have done. So, what do you do in that situation? I
mean you can see this thing has hair all over it. And we have investigated these time
and time and time again. It's bad for the city also, because the developer is a regulated
entity and the developer has the contract and the permits with the city to do the work.
The developer retains full control over their contractor. The city does not get to choose
the contractor, it doesn't get to influence that -- it shouldn't influence that, because that
could be an interference issue and we have had threats like that in the past, as you are
well aware of. Also, the city does not and cannot select or hire the developer's
contractors or subcontractors, again, nor do we want to. Idaho state statute also only
allows the city to place the development requirements on the developer and not the
contractor. So, we can't place any requirements on the contractor under the Idaho state
constitution -- or statute I should say. And that's a big deal, because we are having to
have to do that if we are going to let this thing go the way it's being proposed by the
developers. Also, the developer is the best risk rewards stakeholder and the developer
is the appropriate, therefore, bond principal. So, for all of these reasons -- and don't
take my word for it, I mean we talked with a lot of people about this. The city's private
insurance agent, the Idaho county's risk management program and their attorneys. We
have talked to the International Risk -- or not talked to, but we got information from the
International Risk Management Institute that says the same thing. All bonding and
industry specialist representatives that we talked to have said don't do it. So, as well all
the staff who have worked on this project and are well familiar with it have said the
same thing. So, could it be done? You know, how much risk do you want to take on
and who wants to fight through the legal issues and who wants to check every time we
have an agreement if it violates state statute. I certainly don't want to do that and I don't
know that we have the resources to do that either. So, appreciate you bearing with me.
There is a lot of reasons not to do it. And, again, to Mr. Turnbull I would say he doesn't
have to get the bond anyways. He could post a letter of credit or cash or something
else that is currently accepted and we would take that. So, we are not requiring him or
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any other contractor to get a bond. It's an option. So, with that I will pause for any
additional questions.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Just acomment -- and this is to repeat something that Mrs. Barnes touched
on that I think would make it a bad idea for the city to pursue this idea and that is the
unlikelihood that the contractor would get a bond for more than a year and, then, at the
end of the year it might be subject to renewal, but the renewal could be no from the
underwriter. And I can see the reason for that. The contractor comes in, does some
work and leaves. The developer owns the property, theoretically, and that to an
underwriter probably is much more secure than somebody who doesn't leave anything
behind that could be captured. So, I can understand why underwriters and bonds would
say to a contractor, okay, I will do this for a year and maybe renew it, would be able to
say to a developer I can do it for two years for you. And Ithink -- I think the city needs
that. It's just too risky to deal with the contractor and take the risk that it might not be a
two year bond, even though that's what we require. Am I getting that right?
Barry: Councilman Zaremba, I appreciate your comment. I did want to make sure that
we are factual in our dialogue here and we would be requiring, regardless of who gets
the bond, for it to be a two year period. So, on the performance side if a developer was
going to get a performance bond, that pertormance bond would require a two year
warranty period, so it would be no option for, you know, only one year and, then, renew
the next. We wanted to avoid that risk all together. The same thing is true in the
warranty side, it will be a two year premium, a two year bond, if they so choose that
bond option. So, your scenario, actually, is not a risk in our current proposal, because
we are proposing a two year period and nothing short of that for warranty.
De Weerd: Council, I don't want to rush on this. We do have a public hearing after it
and I suspect that's why most of the people are here, outside of staff and Stephanie.
So, I know -- I know it's a very complex subject and I don't want to diminish all the time
that staff has put into this if you continue -- if you need further information or questions.
So, I would put it out there. I don't want to limit the questions or the information that
staff has to provide, but I do want to be sensitive to those that are -- are staying awake,
but --
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: I know they are riveted on this particular topic. Yes, Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: To pick up on your suggestion, what if we continued the public hearing until
after Item D, as opposed to continuing it to another night?
De Weerd: I would be open to any suggestion.
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Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I don't believe the rub's with the public hearing on the Unified Development
Code. I haven't any problem, as long as we can change the language about the125
percent. We just have acomment -- public comment period on Item 8-B. That's not a
public hearing on the ordinance at this point in time. I assume that that will have a
public hearing advertised at a future date.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Rountree, you're not
required to take any public testimony on an ordinance.
Rountree: On that ordinance.
Nary: Though we did list it as a public comment opportunity and if we -- and this is,
really, a first reading. You can continue the first reading to take additional comment and
that's not a problem. You can continue tonight or to another week.
Rountree: I would suggest we take action on the first item and continue the second.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I agree with Councilman Rountree, I'd hope you will close 8-A and we take action
on it and 8-B is -- as also as far as I'm concerned we can continue it for -- until we get
some things straightened out. I have still got questions to get answered before I'm
ready to vote on any ordinance.
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you can close A and continue it, but
there is no need to take action, because if you don't do B you don't need A. So,
approving A to go forward -- and you folks have already stated the intent of A is not to
approve it and essentially set that in stone for B.
Rountree: Right.
Nary: So, you can close the hearing, so you don't need to take additional comment on
the zoning regulation and, then, continue it to whenever you want to discuss Item B at a
future meeting.
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Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: And, Mr. Nary, that would be because B would dictate what is needed on A.
Nary: Correct.
De Weerd: So, further public comment would not be needed then?
Nary: Further public comment wouldn't be needed on the zoning ordinance.
De Weerd: Okay.
Nary: Just on whether or not B would be something the Council would approve
De Weerd: Just wanted to make sure that people were clear.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird
Bird: Bill, for my clarification I thought the UDC change -- all we were doing was
changing from 110 to 125 -- or as Councilman Rountree said, up to 125 or something. I
didn't realize we -- and I -- and this is my fault for not, I guess, reading word for word,
but I thought that was the change we were doing in the -- in the deal. I didn't realize we
was doing the two year warranty and all that stuff.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Bird -- but you wouldn't
-- if you're comfortable with 125 percent, that's also part of B and that's what I guess is
-- from your discussion I thought there was still some discussion on whether that 125
percent was what you were comfortable with.
De Weerd: Because the proposed language is -- shall be equal to, not less than 125
percent of the cost. That's the proposed language we are considering.
Barry: Madam Mayor, if I may, there is also language changes in there with regard to
the warranty surety and period. So, they are, again, both intricately involved and I
concur with Mr. Nary's advice that you may want to consider both together later and not
take action on the UDC changes without considering both together, because the one
impacts the other.
De Weerd: So, Council, I guess we can continue this after Item 8-C or we can set it to
another Council date, whatever your preference would be.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
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Zaremba: I guess I'm not sure what we are unclear about. Are we discussing whether
125 is the right amount and whether two years is the right amount? We have had those
discussions. What is it that we are not making a decision on?
De Weerd: Councilman Bird mentioned he still had a couple of questions that needed
further clarity. We don't have anything really set for July 5th, if -- if that's -- in looking at
our City Council agendas. Next week also looks light. We have -- so --
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we table -- no. Continue Items 8-A and 8-B until June 28th.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to continue Items 8-A and 8-B.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Zaremba: Discussion?
De Weerd: Well --
Zaremba: Is there anything that staff should be working on during that time?
De Weerd: This is -- well, let's see how this passes and, then, ask for clarity. Okay. I
have a motion to continue these two items. All those in favor say aye. Any opposed?
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: And I think it would be helpful for staff to -- to get some direction on what
would you like specifically discussed at our next meeting. If you can provide that.
Rountree: Madam Mayor, I just need some more time to think about what I have heard
again and what I'm reading now and, hopefully, that question that keeps running
through my mind and isn't formulated yet will get formulated.
De Weerd: Tom, it might be helpful to get hard copies of your PowerPoint and the
additional slides that you -- I don't know how many of the additional slides you used, but
if you can print those off for City Council in hard copy, that might be helpful. Any other
comments or suggestions?
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Bird: Madam Mayor, I'm kind of like Councilman Rountree, Ijust -- I have got to do
some thinking and I want to do some more checking with some outside sources.
De Weerd: Okay. So, if you will print that off I think that will be very helpful, Tom.
Barry: I would be happy to do that. It's an important issue and I appreciate the
Council's consideration. We will take as long as you need and be happy to do so. So, I
will get that in your boxes hopefully in the next day or so and, then, we can continue the
conversation.
De Weerd: I see it won't take as long as you took to get to this point, so, you know, I
think in looking at the history of your meetings and such, I guess I understand why there
is a period of consideration needed as well. It's -- it's a complicated topic.
Bird: It's very thorough, though, Tom. Thank you.
Barry: Thank you. I appreciate your time.
C. Public Hearing: CDBG Program Year 2011 (PY2011) Draft
Annual Action Plan-Open Public Hearing and Comment Period
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. That moves us to Item 8-C and I appreciate all of your
attendance and your -- your time certainly. So, I will open the public hearing on the
CDBG program year 2011 and turn this over to Lori.
den Hartog: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I was here two weeks
ago for apre-draft prioritization meeting, so I will keep this as brief as possible. We do
have some of the applicants who applied for CDBG funding this year in the audience
and they will be available to answer any questions if you have them, so I will go through
this. We are preparing our draft annual action plan in anticipation of submitting to the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in August. Our entitlement
amount is estimated at 230,715 dollars. This is a six dollar difference from the last time
I was before you. We had the official letter from HUD that came in this week, so that
number changed slightly. Hopefully it won't change again. As I mentioned last time,
this is a 16 and a half decrease from last year, just based on the actions of Congress in
passing the fiscal year 2011 budget. As in past years, our public services dollars are
capped at 15 percent of our allocation. Administration is capped at 20 percent. We
have five applications submitted for public -- that fall under the public service categories,
for a total funding request of just over 98,000 dollars. Available funding for this program
year was 34,600 dollars. We had a working group this year who has provided
recommendations to you in the form of the draft plan and consistent with the
prioritization meeting we had a couple weeks ago. We had two applications that we
recommended for partial funding under this category. The first was for the Meridian
Food Bank and we are recommending 20,600 dollars for this coming year and the
second was the Meridian Boys and Girls Club for a scholarship program for their
extended -- for their extended program in the club. These are programs that the club
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provides on a fee and this is above and beyond their actual membership fee. So, the
scholarships would enable those students who would otherwise not be able to
participate based on the fee, these scholarships would cover those costs. Excuse me.
We did have three other applications in this category that we did not recommend
funding for. The first was a foreclosure prevention and intervention program. This was
submitted by Neighborhood Housing Services. This was to fund a staff person to
provide the counseling services. The next application was submitted by Charitable
Assistance to Communities Homeless, Incorporated. This was a proposal to provide
case management services for rapid re-housing of homeless families and so they were
proposing apart-time staff person in Meridian. We do have Mr. Greg Morris here this
evening. We have talked about this application a little bit at the last meeting. They
have been working with the Meridian School District and some of the members in the
Meridian faith community on this particular issue. And the last application that we had
under public services was the Meridian Senior Center submitted for computers and
computer classes and that was for just over 3,100 dollars and we did not recommend
funding for that application. The next group of applications that we had was for the non-
public service applications. We had six that were submitted for a total funding request
of 310,000 dollars. Available funding this program year was 150,000 dollars. We
recommended four applications at varying funding levels under this category and this is
one where we would -- our working group didn't have a solid number on one of the
applications, so any input that you would have this evening and comments that we
might receive during that 30 day comment period are going to be going to feed into the
final recommendation when we come back before you in July. So, the first application
that we recommended for funding was a down payment assistance program to
Neighborhood Housing Services. We are recommending 20,000 dollars for them. The
Ada County Housing Authority we are recommending 15,000 dollars, also for a down
payment assistance program. As I mentioned last time, this is less than the amount that
Ada County Housing Authority has received in the past, but they do have a current
balance under this program year. They have been a little slower this year in finding
eligible participants and homes in Meridian. So, that's why the amount is reduced in
that one. The next one that we have recommended for funding is the Meridian
Development Corporation for 40,000 dollars for a facade improvement program. Our
Meridian Parks and Recreation Department for the File Mile Creek pathway. I do want
to explain this a little bit. Excuse me. We had -- we had a number of applications that
have unspent funds, they have come in under budget, so I actually had about 60,000
dollars from different program years that I plan on bringing before you with an
amendment that can cover the cost of this particular pathway segment. It's been the
desire of not only the CDBG program, but the Parks Department to complete -- this is
the pathway segment that we funded over several years through this grant and this is
just the remaining segment of this pathway from Badley up to Fairview. So, we want to
get the pathway completed up to Fairview. So, even though we are not proposing
funding through this program year, there is still funding available from the grant to
complete this pathway. And the next one on there is the all abilities playground. This
was submitted by the Meridian Playground Project. This is for a playground to be
located at Meridian Elementary School near the Meridian Boys and Girls Club as well
and we have representatives here to answer any questions about that. We talked about
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this a couple weeks ago as well. And the last one that submitted a funding request was
the Meridian Development Corporation submitted a Nine Mile Creek flood plain
feasibility study. We did not recommend funding of this. We have talked with MDC and
explained our reasons why. So, that -- a couple of the reasons, it's easier for the grant
to fund physical construction versus a study. We don't get credit from the feds until we
complete a project. So, if we fund a study it could be any number of years until there is
an actual construction project that we might be able to service that we were able to --
that we, essentially, get credit for the money that we spend under that grant. And also
included -- and this is different than what I -- I hadn't
brought these activities before when we had our prioritization meeting two weeks ago. I
have been working with our Public Works Department. We have two possible
pedestrian lighting projects if we include them in our plan this year. If we have any
projects that don't move forward into funding without doing an amendment and going
back to HUD for approval. So, I have included a pedestrian lighting project along
Cherry Lane in front of the Meridian Middle School frontage for an approximate cost of
38,000 dollars and we looked at a lighting project along Camilla and Washington from
east of Linder to 8th Street for an approximate cost of 36,000 dollars. So, with that this
is our schedule. We have our opening of our public hearing and comment period this
evening, with the anticipation of closing that public hearing comment period at the end
of July and submitting to HUD the adopted plan in August. So, with that I am happy to
stand for any questions. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you, Lori. Any questions from Council at this time?
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
Rountree: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay. This is a public hearing. I would invite anyone to come and offer
comments. Any comments about projects, anything you would like to share for
Council's consideration? Don't all jump at the same time. Thank you for being here. If
you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Morris: Greg Morris. 3521 Tulare Drive in Boise.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Morris: Madam Mayor, Members of City Council, we were here last week and just to
remind you all at the bequest of members of the Mayor's staff we did go about procuring
letters of commitment and support from potential other partners that are ready to step
up in this community should City of Meridian fund Project Catch or Charitable
Assistance to Communities Homeless either with CDBG dollars or as outgoing director
Canning suggested, the potential for their being a way for the City of Meridian to
consider a General Fund contribution to this effort. So, at this time I'd like to provide the
city clerk these letters of support and I guess I really don't have anything that I would
like to add to what was presented last week. I was accompanied by regional director of
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the Idaho Department for Health and Welfare Ross Mason and Jeannie Buschine of the
Meridian School District. Jeannie is also here with me this evening if you have any
questions for the Meridian School District, who is poised and ready to be a primary
partner in this effort. And I'm also available for questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Greg. And I know certainly that Jeannie is very passionate
about this topic and it certainly has been one at the Youth Council in terms of the
homeless population of young adults that is growing. So, thank you. Any questions
from Council?
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: There was some discussion about whether this could fall under the nonpublic
service. Did we resolve that?
den Hartog: Madam Mayor, Councilman Zaremba, we did resolve that. Greg had
mentioned when we were here a couple weeks ago if Ada County Housing Authority
would be the applicant, whether or not that would change the category it would fall
under. Essentially it doesn't matter who the applicant is, it matters what the project
does. So, if the project provides case management, that has to be classed as a public
service, regardless of who the applicant is. So, it couldn't be classified as housing,
which would be -- which typically falls under a nonpublic service category. So, when
Greg --and we had talked about this through the last couple weeks, too. So, regardless
of who the applicant is it has to be classified as a public service. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Jeannie, did you want to provide any additional information?
Buschine: Jeannie Buschine. 668 North Gray Pebble Way, Eagle. Madam Mayor and
Members of the City Council, I just want to reiterate the Meridian School District's strong
backing of the Catch program. I have been involved in counting how many homeless
children our school district had for the last 15 years and for the last 12 had to report to
the federal government and never thought -- like I said last -- two weeks ago that we
would have very many. In fact, the first count was 13, I believe, that I added up and this
year I just finished my state report. Four hundred sixty-four in our district. Some of
those, like Tammy mentioned, are our homeless 17 and 18 year old students that I'm
really concerned about, but I also am concerned about families and Catch is definitely
rapid housing for families and so is it going to solve all of our problems? No. But it will
solve a large percentage of them, which are children that are living with families and
parents that are unable to find housing. In other conversations with the Mayor's
assistant Lucas we -- we broke out from that 464 how many of those students were
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living in the boundaries of -- or the city limits of Meridian, because, of course, our school
district is a joint school district, and that was 222. And so those kids are living in
Peregrine area, Meridian Elementary, Meridian High, Meridian Middle, Sawtooth,
Heritage. So -- and, again, you know, this is an -- this is the reality of our economic
times. Yes, I do believe that that has -- has had an effect and if our economy turns
around it might help, but, again, if you look at the numbers that I provided to Lucas,
those numbers have not just, you know, occurred in the last year or two. So, we -- we
have a problem and we have issues and our families that can't find shelter and double
up go to the shelters in downtown Boise or in Canyon county and -- or leave our
community. And those are not good options for kids and so we would like to see
something else and -- and, again, this would be an awesome addition to what I think a
very large hearted City Council and Mayor have as far as programs for families. So,
any questions that you have for me?
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
Rountree: No. Thank you.
Buschine: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay.
Braga: Good evening. Colleen Braga. 1150 West Greenhead Street in Meridian. I am
the executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Ada County. And Joey Schuler,
who you all probably know would be with me, but oddly enough he's at the Kuna City
Council making a presentation on why they should support a Boys and Girls Club in
Kuna, because he's running a summer program there. But I would be remiss if I did not
thank you all for the CDBG funding that we received a couple years back for
transportation for kids at Peregrine Elementary School, the Meridian Middle School, the
Meridian High School. We were actually able to stretch that money out for two school
years serving about 60 to 75 kids a day, bus transportation, getting them to the club.
Without that support they would have no other way of getting there in many cases. So,
thank you very much. Also thank you to Lori and the review group for recommending us
for funding. Clearly there were a lot of great projects and we really appreciate that.
They saw the value in ours. As you guys know, we have been providing kids ages six
through 18 services in Meridian, about 1,500 kids a year, for a very low cost, so that no
kids are turned away. For just ten dollars a year kids can come to our club every day
after school from 3:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. and during the summer for just 25 dollars for the
entire summer they can come from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. When we opened nearly
ten years ago we realized that a lot of our parents are working parents and are low
wage earners and need some extra assistance. So, we -- from ten years ago we
started offering a morning program during the summer that served kids from 7:00 a.m.
until our normal opening time at 11:00 a.m. for just 25 dollars a week. And it equates to
about 225 to 250 dollars during the summer. We have not offered scholarships for
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those programs, so there is a segment of our population that cannot be served,
because -- there are families even at that low cost cannot afford the additional fees.
Because of high need at Meridian Elementary -- we are located right next door -- for
before school programs for the kids -- I don't know, you guys -- if you have noticed or
not, but elementary school does not start until 9:00 a.m. in Meridian because of busing
issues and all that. A lot of parents that -- of the kids that we serve, like I said, are very
low income, they are not decision makers or managers at their place of business and to
say that I can work for you, but I can't get there until 9:30 is -- is a deterrent sometimes
to being hired by companies. So, for those families we started a morning program to
serve them before school. We serve them breakfast. We give them activities to do.
And, then, we take them over to Meridian Elementary School and also Peregrine
Elementary School I meant to mention, too, we have been providing those services.
Both of those schools serve a very high proportion of very low income children. So,
anyway, we would really like to have some assistance from the city in being able to
scholarship that program. The newest program we have is called Meridian Year One.
This came out of a conversation --many conversations we have had with kindergartens,
families, and the school principal at Meridian Elementary that the kindergartners go half
a day there, they needed ahalf -- a program that would serve them the remainder of the
day and on into the evening. So, we do 150 dollars a month for that program and it is
fee based, we do not scholarship at this time. So, we felt that it -- for the CDBG grant it
is primarily to improve the quality of life of low to moderate income citizens in Meridian
and I kind of wanted to give you a picture of our families at the Meridian club. Forty-
three percent of our kids come from single parent homes, the majority of the parents
work. Sixty-seven percent of our members come from families with income levels that
qualify them for free or reduced lunch program at school. And 90 percent live in
households that fall within the income guidelines for LMI. Thirty-four percent of families
have incomes of 20,000 dollars or less a year. Twenty thousand dollars, if you haven't
done the math recently, but fora 40 hour a week employee that's about $9.61 cents an
hour with a lot of people at those income levels. Another 25 percent support their
families at levels from 21,000 to 33,000 and an additional 24 percent between 34,000
and 48,000. More than 60 percent of club members live in families with -- with more
than -- with four or more people in the household. So, as you can tell we are talking
about in many cases the working poor and without scholarships we are unable to
provide the services that many of them need to keep their kids safe, to make working a
strong possibility for them. It's hard to get work when you can't start work until 9:30 or if
you have to leave work in the summer at some point in time to go pick up your kid from
home -- you bus them home there all day and you're going to pick up and take them to
the -- to the club when the regular program opens. So, this money, the 10,000 dollars
that we are requesting, would help -- we are estimating about 30 kids. We don't believe
that it's appropriate in all cases to give a full scholarship, we'd like to look at a sliding
scale, and the fact that we know the situations were relationship based, we know the
kids, we know their families, we know who is hurting and we know who can use the
services. So, anyway, that's -- that's what we are requesting, to be able to help the
families who are struggling in Meridian. These are working people. I guarantee that the
money that they can save from having to put kids into daycare situations -- it's going to
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go back into our community invested in, you know, other basic needs for their families
and that type of thing. Right on time.
De Weerd: I didn't know we had a timer.
Braga: I watched it the whole time. It was kind of making me nervous. Anyway, do you
have any questions? I'll try to -- I went through that fairly quickly, so I apologize.
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: I don't have any.
De Weerd: Any questions? Your summer program also provides food -- a food
program component; right?
Braga: Yes. Absolutely. All of our programs provide a food component. For the early
morning kids that come in the year one, the kindergartners and the ones that come in
from elementary school, they get a free breakfast every day. Every kid who comes to
our after school program gets a free dinner and a free snack and everybody in our
summer program gets a free breakfast, snack, and lunch. And that is provided through
the USDA program and the CICFP program. As a matter of fact, I have to -- we got --
we are one of the biggest providers of after school meals for children in the State of
Idaho. We not only provide for our kids, we provide for the Nampa Boys and Girls Club
and the Caldwell Y, because they lost their contract with Idaho Food Bank, so --
anyway. But also won the USDA Sunshine Award for best practices in childhood
nutrition. So, kids that come to our club not only are in a safe place with caring adults,
but they also get fed nutritious meals every day.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Myers: Madam Mayor and Councilmen, I appreciate the opportunity. My name is
Marcus Myers, I'm the principal at Meridian Elementary School, right down the street.
My address 1854 South Blacksmith Place in Meridian. Before Ibegin Ijust -- I wanted
to say thank you to the Council and especially to Mayor de Weerd, thank you so much
for our new relationship at Meridian Elementary School -- at least the strong relationship
with Meridian Elementary School. I appreciate your time. The small moments and the
little moments, stopping by the school for assemblies, allowing us to sing here at
Christmastime and for all those little moments we are very grateful. So, thank you so
much.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Myers: It's perfect to follow now and very appropriate after Boys and Girls Club. We
have a very strong relationship with the Boys and Girls Club of Meridian Elementary
School. The Meridian Elementary all access playground would help support that
relationship. Also support a relationship with our community around us. Meridian
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June 21, 2011
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Elementary School, as mentioned, many of our figures are the exact same as Boys and
Girls Club. Our students and families have been identified as -- 75 percent of those
students and families do qualify for free and reduced food. That's free breakfast, free
lunch, and free backpacks on the weekend for food as well -- that are provided by our
community. Approximately 500 students attend Meridian Elementary School. We do
have a very moving population of students who come and go and families, but typically
on average it's 500 students. So, with the all access playground project it would benefit
not only those 500 students at Meridian Elementary School, but we also serve many
schools, like Peregrine Elementary and surrounding schools. The reason that we
support those schools and over a hundred students from other schools within Meridian
attend our school is because of the number of special needs programs that we have at
Meridian Elementary School. It's exactly those students that we are looking to serve
through the all abilities playground. If the Council wishes and needs that information, I
have a digital file, which I did submit to the clerk two weeks ago, but, nevertheless, if
you would like me to bring it up on the screen I can definitely do that for you at this time.
Out of the 500 students and other -- and over a hundred students from other schools
that attend our school throughout the year, right now currently 113 of those students are
identified as having a disability with over 40 of those as being severely disabled and
severely disabled being identified as severe movement disabilities or -- or emotional
disturbant disabilities, which would limit their opportunities to be on a playground with
general education students. This would be a strong partnership with the Boys and Girls
Club and, in fact, the location of the playground itself on the east end of Meridian
Elementary School directly adjacent to the Boys and Girls Club was planned just for that
particular reason. We share a fence, if you can call it a fence. It's more of just a
common area in between the two of us and it's a very loose fence, because we do
share that school and we share Boys and Girls Club and greatly appreciate the
numbers of students who come to our school on a frequent basis, because we are all
there for the same reason, that is to help and support those students and those families.
Just this afternoon I was there at the school and there were over two hundred students
on our playground eating the food in which they provided and enjoyed our equipment
and our playground areas. This is another area I'd like them to be able to enjoy. The all
access playground includes -- and in talking with Joey and coming up with some ideas
for Boys and Girls Club, the idea of a community garden we thought would help bring
the community together that way. The Meridian School District and Boys and Girls
Club, through grant writing and through facilities money that we have, I do have
approval to be -- maybe to use the water, to be able to use the land in that area for a
community garden. Also in talking with Joey, Boys and Girls Club and the community,
when we have events to help serve those students -- those 500 students and families,
we tend to have barbecues in that playground area and the common area. The all
access playground also provides additional barbecue areas and picnic areas and areas
that the community can use at will. It's open to everybody. The playground itself meets
the needs of students with severe physical limitations and disabilities. This includes
blind, deaf, students with emotional disturbances, students with handicaps who cannot
go down a slide without assistance, who cannot climb a structure that you would find in
other areas of our school and around Meridian Elementary School. I do know -- and
this is much accolades to the Council and to the city for our parks that do provide
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June 21, 2011
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compliance for students with physical limitations, but, nonetheless, there is nothing on
this side of town to help serve that and this would do that for these students and for the
community. Like I said, it would be open to all parents, families, in the community. We
do have plans in place for security to provide a safe environment and also it has met the
approval with a playground architect to make sure that it was completely ADA compliant
and so much more above that. This would be designated -- the driving force behind this
is students with disabilities, but, nevertheless, our driving force is also families of
students with disabilities, having an area where we can all come together, sharing that
with the Boys and Girls Club and increasing those students that we can serve at this
time. And I would be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have.
De Weerd: Thank. you. You did very well getting all of that in
Myers: I practiced.
Rountree: Timing was perfect.
De Weerd: I didn't know we were timing it, so -- Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
Rountree: I have no questions.
De Weerd: I have seen the area that it's planned for and it's -- it is right there between
the school and the Boys and Girls Club, so -- and a very nice vision that you can see in
the presentation.
Myers: Thank you, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: Thank you for being here. Okay.
Warner: Hi. My name is Liz Warner and I live at 2408 North 25th Street, Boise, and I'm
the director of the Meridian Food Bank. And first of all I want to tell you all thank you
very much for the donation or the contribution you have made in the last few years
through the CDBG grants to the Meridian Food Bank. It has helped us rise to the need.
We were -- I was just looking at some statistics -- I'm so nervous talking to you guys.
De Weerd: You don't need to be nervous.
Warner: When I was sitting there -- I teach dance, I could teach you all how to fox trot, I
would be so calm, but standing here talking it's really hard.
Bird: You might have a problem there.
Warner: Okay.
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June 21, 2011
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De Weerd: Oh, no, we have two left feet times five.
Warner: Okay. Anyway. But the -- the number of people that we have been serving
has gone up 40 percent from just 2009 to 2010 and, then, 20 percent from last year to
so far this year. So, every time I go to the Food Bank I see lines of people, you know,
outside the door before we open and that just has not changed since we, you know,
moved into our new location in 2009 and your granting that money to us has helped us
be able to feed all these people. So, I just want to tell you how much we appreciate it
and thank you. And also thank you for the recommendation from your working group for
the 24,600 for this fiscal year that -- we appreciate that recommendation. If you have
any questions, you know, I can answer that, but I think you're well aware of the need in
the community and what's happening economically and so far we have been able to
meet those needs and we appreciate every can of food and every dollar that comes our
way. It keeps us going. So, having said that, if I'm not going to teach anyone to dance,
if you have any questions let me know.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: I have none.
De Weerd: Thank you. And I will say I was at the Meridian Senior Board meeting
today and they were very impressed with the presentation they witnessed at the
chamber. So, just wanted to pass that along. Good evening.
Rangel: Good evening, Madam Mayor and Councilmen. My name is Jana Rangel.
1511 East Pisa Court in Meridian. And I am a developmental pre-school teacher at
Meridian Elementary and I am -- I'm very nervous, too. I'm used to speaking to three to
five year olds.
De Weerd: Well --
Rountree: Close.
Bird: You're right there.
Rangel: So, I teach the children that this playground would definitely benefit and the
students who will truly benefit from this playground are unable to access the current
playgrounds that we have a Meridian Elementary and so what happens at recess is
these students sit on the sidelines and they watch their peers play and while we as
teachers try to interact with them and try to get their peers to interact with them, it's just
not the same as being able to access the play equipment and be able to socialize with
their peers. And while -- the playground will also benefit the community and their
families as after hours this is a place that they can come as a family to spend time
together in a park that their child is able to access the equipment and there are other
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June 21, 2011
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community members that access that park as well. And while some of these students
have disabilities that they are unable to be in large groups of people, that this is a -- in a
smaller size would benefit them as well, because they are smaller groups and those
kids will be able to work on their mobility, growing, strengthen their muscles and their
core, and be able to spend time as a family and other members of the community as
well. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor, I do have one question.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: This playground will be accessible to not only boys and girls and elementary off
hours, it is -- it will be open or will it be fenced off where the public can get to?
Rangel: It does have a fence currently there, but there is gates that can be opened and
I believe that fence is going to stay there, but there will be community benches and
garbage cans and things like that that will be invited for the community to -- to share as
well.
Bird: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: So, the gate won't be locked?
Rangel: No. No.
Bird: The gate won't be locked, there will be access to it?
Rangel: Uh-huh.
Bird: Thank you.
De Weerd: The gate needs to be there, so you can keep them in.
Bird: Oh, yeah.
Rangel: Yes. While we are out there, because sometimes you turn around and
somebody can go out of the gate.
Bird: Thank you.
De Weerd: We have had kids. We know.
Rangel: Thank you.
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June 21, 2011
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De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Now, that wasn't so bad, was it? You can be honest.
Any additional comments? Okay. Thank you for all of your comments. We know there
is a community out there that is in need and, fortunately, in Meridian we have a lot of
community partners. You know, we have a very generous community and so we are
just one aspect of that. Okay. Council, you have recommendations in front of you.
Lori, any additional comments?
den Hartog: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, one thing I would just ask you to
possibly consider in discussing and giving direction, we do leave this draft plan open for
30 days. We will come back to you the end of July. The working group hadn't proposed
an exact number for the all abilities playground and so if that's something you would like
to discuss and consider, that's something that we did not have a solid recommendation
on. The remaining amount from that category for the nonpublic service application is
75,000 dollars. So, we have the option to provide additional monies elsewhere to fund
the other projects that applied or apply some of that money to the all abilities
playground. What we are specifically proposing for that project is the purchase of
playground equipment. The group has been working on donations for other items, so
that if we do provide grant funds for that project it would specifically be for the purchase
of the playground or some portion of the playground equipment, depending on what that
dollar amount looks like. So, any comments or direction that you might have in relation
to that amount would be appreciated. And other than that, any other comments that you
might have as we move forward in preparing the plan to come back to you in July.
Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: My suggestion is if you got 75,000, put it in there. That is one of the greatest
things that we could put for this area of downtown. While Settlers is beautiful and
everything, a lot of people can't get out there. So, if we have got 75,000 dollars, that's
where I would put it.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I would first like to say I appreciate the work that you and the committee have
put into this and the recommendations that you're making and I agree with Councilman
Bird, if the Five Mile Creek pathway can be funded another way -- it was priority four,
but if it can be funded in another way I would very happy to -- to assign the remainder to
priority five, which is this project.
De Weerd: Okay.
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June 21, 2011
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Rountree: Madam Mayor, I agree with that. I think we established that in continuing the
public hearing until July 26th and take testimony as we see fit and I think when we act
on it, then, we will have been through our budget draft and workshop and there might be
some of these other worthy causes that I have seen here that we might be able to
support as well. I don't know.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: Is that a motion?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, question for Lori. The eligibility requirements -- it has to go
into the playground equipment again, because we are talking about it for planning and
that sort of thing and studies and whatnot. So, do we know what the playground
equipment request would be?
den Hartog: Madam Mayor and Councilman Hoaglun, are you asking for the specific
costs of the playground equipment?
Hoaglun: Yes.
den Hartog: I don't -- I believe one hundred thousand to a hundred twenty is the cost of
the equipment. Perhaps Principal Myers can answer the question. I don't believe the
75,000 will cover the entire cost, but I do believe they have some options in terms of
perhaps phasing a project and they are doing some fundraising efforts as well.
Myers: Madam Mayor and Council, thank you for your question. Our cost estimates --
and these were estimates that we have already received and in order to begin the
schematics with the architect and the planning portion of that, total cost estimate for the
entire playground -- now that is equipment, groundbreaking and architecture, which was
donated -- in addition to that we have raised about 22,000 dollars thus far. Total cost is
about 132,000 dollars. Now, that's everything. That's the entire bill. The playground
equipment itself is the majority of that and, again, the playground equipment, you start
at a lower amount and as you add on pieces to it -- but phases one, two, and three total
about 110,000 dollars. Between a hundred and a hundred and ten thousand dollars.
The difference in cost estimates there have to do with material costs at the time and,
then, the addition of difference sensory pieces to the playground that we can add or
take away, depending upon funding at that time.
Hoaglun: Thank you.
Myer: Thank you.
De Weerd: It might be helpful to know what is -- if you have phases one, two and three
and that total is 110,000 dollars for the equipment itself, what is -- what is the minimum
you need to get the project started as well?
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June 21, 2011
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Myers: Madam Mayor, I believe that the minimum would be about 100,000 dollars in
order to make that take place. The different -- the major cost cutting differences that we
have already moved from -- removed from that is what you would see at Settlers Park
with the --
De Weerd: The fall material.
Myers: -- fall material. We are ADA compliant with the wood chips and some of the
estimate where that changes is up to about 50,000 dollars has to do with that fall
material. The current proposed and what I sent to the clerk with the pdf, the diagrams
for that, is -- does use the wood chips and set us at about 132,000 dollars. So, the
equipment itself is about 100,000. I think that we could vary that between ten and
twenty thousand dollars based upon what we add to the playground and what we
choose not to add. A lot of that is you buy a base model, which is 100,000, and, then,
add to that. Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, this is a public hearing that will be continued to July 28th, so
no action is necessary this evening. We thank all of you for joining us here this evening
and providing your comments. Greatly appreciated. Nothing further from Council, I
would --
Rountree: I have nothing.
De Weerd: -- move to the next item. Okay.
Bird: I have nothing, Mayor.
De Weerd: I will need amotion -- do I need a motion to continue this to July 28th?
Nary: Yes, you do. To keep it on your agenda.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I didn't hear when you opened this, did you officially open the comment
period or does that need to be part of the motion?
De Weerd: I officially opened the comment period. Public hearing.
Zaremba: Okay. In that case, I move that we continue the public hearing for Item C to
our regularly scheduled meeting of -- that we had a schedule up here when we are
doing this --
De Weerd: July 25th.
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June 21, 2011
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Zaremba: July 25th. Thank you.
De Weerd: 26th.
Zaremba: 26th. We continue the open comment period in the public hearing to our
regular meeting of July 26th.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to continue Item 8-C to July 26th. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
D. MFP 11-002 Una Mas by Tamara Thompson Located
Southwest Corner of E. Ustick Road and N. Allys Avenue
Request: Modification to Note #9 on the Final Plat for Una Mas
Subdivision Regarding Direct Lot to N. Allys Avenue
De Weerd: Okay. Item 8-D is on MFP 11-002. I will ask for staff comment at this time
Friedman: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Currently you have a
request to modify a plat note from Una Mas Subdivision located on the southwest
corner of Ustick and North Allys Avenue. Currently the plat note restricts access on that
plat to certain lots -- Lots 8 and 13, and, then, access to Allys also via Tecate Lane,
Modelo Lane and, again, the shared access from Lots 8 and 13. The applicant has
requested that that plat note be modified right now specifically to add the ability to
access Lot 1, which is highlighted up here in the corner. We have issued a certificate of
zoning compliance for a new Les Schwab store there and the applicant has coordinated
with ACHD. ACHD has approved aright-in, right-out to service that lot, contingent upon
the city approving a final plat modification. So, the specific request is to modify the plat
note to allow access to Allys Avenue from East Tecate Lane, East Modelo Lane, shared
access from Lots 8 and 13, a right-in and right-out for Lot 1 and, then, others that may
be approved specifically by the -- by the city and the highway district in the future. The
applicant's representative is here to address you on this. She has indicated to us that
they are in agreement with the staff's recommendation for approval of the modification.
De Weerd: Thank you, Pete. Any comments from the applicant?
Thompson: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Tamara Thompson, Landmark
Development Group, 2462 Sunshine Drive in Boise. As Pete said, we -- we did obtain
approval from Ada County Highway District for aright-in, right-out for Lot 1 for the Les
Schwab. It meets policy -- the ACHD policy and all the spacing requirements for
access. So, they went ahead and granted that, but the plat has a specific language on
it that no other accesses can have direct access, other than the few that are listed there.
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So, we are here to ask for that to be modified and just to kind of cover in the future if
there is any others that need to be added, if it meets policy, or, frankly, in this case it
does give better fire department access also that they can pull -- excuse me -- and pull
out on Tecate that -- that that's something that we can look at specifically in the future,
that it's not just an outright approval, that it would be something that in -- if the City of
Meridian and ACHD agree, then, we wouldn't have to go back and modify the plat. So,
we are requesting that tonight and we are -- I can stand here for questions and we are
requesting your approval tonight. Thank you.
Zaremba: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: I have none.
Zaremba: All right. Thank you. Any wrap up from Pete?
Friedman: Council, no, I have no further comments, unless you have any questions of
me.
Zaremba: Okay. Council, this is not a public hearing, so we don't need to close it. I'd
entertain a motion.
Bird: Mr. President?
Zaremba: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve MFP 11-002 and include all staff and applicant comments.
Rountree: Second.
Zaremba: We have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, would you call roll, please.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
Zaremba: That motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 9: Department Reports
A. Public Works Department: Streetlight Conversion Project
Zaremba: All right. We are on to Item 9-A. Public Works Department has a
department report on streetlight converting -- conversion project.
Meridian City Council
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Curns: I apologize. Members of the Council, this evening I'm just coming here to kind
of give you a little update and check in on a project that we just bid out, which is the
Main Street streetlight conversion project, which is funded through the energy efficiency
grant -- conservation grant and as part of that project, in essence, what it does is we are
replacing either the whole fixture or, in essence, the light producing guts within the
fixtures of about 150 lights up and down the Main Street corridor. That project came in
below the budgeted amount and we are hoping to spend every dollar we can squeeze
out of it that we have in the budget and so because we came in a little bit low, what we
were hoping to do is perhaps target some of the lights that are in the City Hall plaza.
So, right now as part of the way the project was bid we would be replacing the internal
light producing parts of the fixtures surrounding City Hall along the street and the ones
that look similar to that, but they are taller down by the speedway, which is all those
black historical fixtures and the fixture itself doesn't change, it's just what's inside. So,
what we are replacing those ones with is an induction light fixture, which produces a
white light, as opposed to that kind of orang-ish color you get from high pressure
sodium that's out there right now. And, in fact, what we have in the City Hall plaza is a
metal Halide light and it also produces a white light, so what we are proposing to do is
extend the bid quantities in this project to also include the lights in City Hall plaza with
this retrofit kit, if you will. So, the color of the light doesn't change, the light output
initially is just a little bit less than what you would see out of a brand new fixture out
front, but on average it's about the same light output, we just see a reduction from about
150 watts per light pole to 85 watts. So, we have enough left over in the budget if we
extend those bid quantities to cover all the lights in the City Hall plaza out here, the
decorative fixtures. So, we wanted to check with the Council first and make sure that
you were comfortable with that idea and also if you had any questions about what that
may look like I'm here for any questions you may have.
Zaremba: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: Mr. President?
Zaremba: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Tim, what's the timing and duration?
Curns: We have bid the project out and the contract has been signed, I believe, and so
that should be awarded here shortly and we are hoping to get the project mostly
completed here within -- I want to say about two months is where we left it. I think 60
days was the contract time.
Rountree: Thank you.
Zaremba: Was I understanding you correctly that the whole area might be slightly
dimmer if all these are changed?
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Curns: Councilman Zaremba, not to get too technical with it, but these particular
fixtures operate a little bit differently than what we have out there. What we have out
there now those bulbs tend to last about three, three and half years apiece and the ones
we are putting last at least three times that duration. The ones that are out there now
start off bright -- when they are brand new they start off brighter than these will brand
new, but within a year and a half they end up being the same light output, so since they
have been out there a couple years now you probably won't notice too much of a
difference and, like I said, the color is almost exactly the same, because it's a white
light.
Zaremba: Great. Thank you. Council, any collective opinion?
Rountree: Move forward. I think that's what they intend to do anyway, so --
Zaremba: It sounds like that's a good idea.
Rountree: Get her done.
Curns: That's what we need to know.
Zaremba: Thank you.
Curns: Thank you very much.
Zaremba: All right. We will move onto Item 9-B, another Public Works subject.
McCormick: Good evening, Council. Pardon me.
Rountree: Mr. President, can we take like a five minute break, so John can get that up?
Zaremba: I think that would be a good idea while they are setting up and perhaps the
Mayor will return while you are doing that. So, let's reconvene at 9:40. It's about eight
minutes.
(Recess: 9:32 p.m. to 9:40 p.m.)
B. Public Works Building Services Division: Budget Amendment
for Building Repair for aNot-to-Exceed Amount of
$1,883,700.00
De Weerd: Okay. We will call this meeting back to order and welcome John.
McCormick: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. And I appreciate the
break and the opportunity to get ready. Tonight I just wanted to give you a few
supporting comments along the amendment that is before you tonight for $1,883,700.
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And so I realize it is some time ago as we were dealing with these repair issues that we
had a little bit of a misnomer, because we call our function building maintenance, but we
have -- in fact, I have very little opportunity to maintain this beautiful facility that we are
in, because of the emphasis that we have had on break fix, the repair work that has
been thrust upon us, it's not something that we went on scheduled, it was something
that occurred on -- some cases on a fairly emergent basis. So, I have scratched
through the word maintenance and tonight we are going to talk about repair, because
that's the basis for what this amendment is all about. Just wanted to cover three
particular areas. One is to focus a little bit on the work thaYhas been completed and,
then, focus on the repair work that is in process currently and, then, the repair work that
is to be done sometime in the near future. And, then, of course, I would like your
approval -- seek your approval to move forward with the amendments, so that work can
be accomplished. The work that has been completed thus far -- and this is not all
inclusive, I should qualify that right up front, this is a pretty good laundry list of things
that has been done. There is lots of other items that could be integrated, but this is an
overview, if you will, to the issues. It was only two days that I was on the job when I
was invited to the operations meeting with the Mayor and the directors and I found out
very quickly some of the problems that this building had. First and foremost --
De Weerd: That was a welcome meeting, by the way.
McCormick: I guess it was. Yeah. By the way, it was --
Zaremba: Anew building.
McCormick: Yeah. Nothing of that nature was divulged in the interview process that I
can recall. But it was an orientation, because it gave me some insight into what was to
come, some of which I expected, some of which I did not. The front doors had
problems and had been having problems for a long time. It turns out that it wasn't as
big a deal as we thought it was. We did get good collaboration from the vendor. It took
awhile. And what it turned out to be is we had some insulation problem and we also
had some manufacturing problems that was associated with the product that was called
a lift arm that keeps the -- lifts up the rod that goes up and down through the doors.
And we fixed that and it has been operating fairly consistently for some time now. Is
this real wood? Okay. So, it wasn't only but a matter of a couple of weeks after that
that we had the substantial event around the sewage spill and the back up of our
sewage on the first floor and the subsequent spill into the basement and, then, to lots of
different areas. In between the front doors and the sewage back up we had rain storms
and we had leaks coming through the roof. So, that kind of distracted us a little bit. So,
it kept us busy. The sewage back up was due to a faulty check valve -- actually, two of
them, a four inch and a six inch. This would be a good opportunity right now to unveil
the visual aid.
De Weerd: Only the Public Works director sighed or, no, he didn't sigh. He swooned.
You know, Frank, you can stand where ever you want to take pictures.
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McCormick: In the back of his mind he is no doubt thinking I wonder how I'm going to
top this, you know. So, the two check valves that we took out turned out to be very
problematic and since we removed them from the system we have no problems. So,
here it is. This is about 300 dollars. This is a couple hundred dollars. Together about
500 dollars.
De Weerd: Move your microphone with you.
McCormick: Oh. Sorry. I thought that close you could hear me, but I guess other
people can't.
De Weerd: Dean -- it's more important Dean does.
McCormick: Okay. So, those two items together total 500 dollars or approximately that.
Took a couple hundred dollars to pick them up. But they contributed to almost 50,000
dollars worth of cost to us in cleaning up, restoring, and taking care of the whole spill
mess.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Refresh my memory. Didn't you also in the process of taking these out and
doing the clean up discover that specified clean outs had not been put in the sewer
system?
McCormick: That's correct. We did. And that was another discovery and it's one of
those things -- Councilman Zaremba, thank you for bringing up -- that you find when you
go to repair these things -- at least our experience has been we uncover other problems
in the process. Almost invariably it has led to bigger and more challenging opportunities
to address. So, you're correct in that. We have had a number of water leaks that has
resulted from problems with a roof, which are well documented. The water main, which
was something that was a surprise to us, we also helped solve a number of problems
when we fixed that, because even though it was a surprise to us, we knew the evidence
was there, because we saw the water in the electrical room, we had water everywhere
and didn't know where it was coming from. Some of it was -- the source was rainfall,
other came directly from the water main that was seeping all that water through walls
and into the electrical room and causing a lot of concern and a lot of problems. I'll get
into that in just a moment. We had water coming through windows, doorways, we had
sinks that didn't work properly, in some cases not at all. And we had scoffers on the
exterior of the building that were supposed to be working to discharge the excess water
from the rainfall and snow melt out into a safe area. Those weren't working and we had
a well failure on our glycol, which resulted in a fairly major glycol spill. That was some
time back. But big issues with fluid, particularly water. We have had a real struggle
with the mechanical side of this building, particularly the hydronics, which we had tried
to get the contractor to collaborate with us, had no success in getting that vendor to
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respond, even though they initially were the ones to put the infrastructure in place and
the system in place. So, what we found is by within more a qualified vendor we were
able to bring that system into compliance. Now, the compliance is compliance to
specification, which has to do with the parts per million for iron, nitrites, nitrates,
phosphorus, things of that nature. And those are bad news for mechanical systems and
particularly chillers, boilers, and things of this nature, which are all dependent upon the
loops to effectively operate. So, I'm happy to say that we have effectively brought the
chilled water loops and the data afire loops into compliance, as tested by Dow Chemical
and they do come into the threshold that we expected and was very achievable from the
outset. The work that is still going on at this point in time is the restoration and
conditioning of the hot water loops, which should be completed here in the next couple
weeks.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Real quick, John. It's probably too soon to tell if there has been any long term
damage. You mentioned all these things that shouldn't be there or out of whack and if
this thing is supposed to last 20 years we may have a shortened life. It's probably too
soon to tell we are not going to get what we should out of this mechanical system.
McCormick: I think as it relates to the -- the loops themselves, I think we are probably
okay. There was certainly a lot of concern about the chiller. In fact, Trane was
threatening to pull the warranty on that chiller, because the noncompliance of the loops,
which, you know, corrosives would ruin that device and, of course, it's fairly expensive.
And it has a five year warranty is the one thing that we have got in this building that is
still under warranty and that we can call the manufacturer on and have them work on it,
so -- but beyond that some of this is kind of unknown. Hard to tell sometimes what you
run into. The hot and chilled loops were not vented as specified. They were supposed
to be, but they were not. Those are now vented with Hoffman valves that take care of
any of the whistling and stuff like that, that noise that you hear when something isn't
vented properly. Restrooms. We had a number of malfunctioning issues with
restrooms related to sinks, toilets and we also had a significant sewer gas smell that we
have taken care of and addressed effectively with a little thing called a Macintosh valve,
which is -- basically goes into the trap primer and takes care of that problem for us. We
still have issues with concrete and masonry that has crumbled and caused problems,
fallen off in some cases. We have repaired some of those issues. The electrical pad in
the -- or the pad of concrete that's under the substation in the electrical room, that has
been fixed. That was a concern because we thought we might have to actually move
that system to a different location in order to fix that and, of course, that would have
been substantial money to do that. So, we are thankful that we didn't have to incur that.
And we, of course, have had that same work being done on the plaza and that is
looking better, but still has some ways to go. So, that's what's been done in a nutshell.
Provided some photos for you, just to kind of give you some additional visual connection
to the work that's being done. These are also identified by letter, so as I refer to them, I
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will refer to them by the letter. A is basically digging out from the water leak and so this
is -- actually that hole is a little bit deceiving because it's much deeper than what it
appears. The guy was down almost up to his chest. And they sucked all of that water
out in order to dry it out, so that they could take the pipe out and remove it. B is water
that was coming down through the interior of the walls and also on the outside of the
walls. This was a problem that was identified, along with the scuffer as the culprit. So,
by the way, these are my friends. These are the culprits that we kind of picked up along
the way. The scuffer being one of them. Cis --
De Weerd: Now, John, the scuffer is the drainage from the roof were not connected to
the -- the outlet that the water was supposed to flow out of? Can you explain that one?
McCormick: The scuffer that was originally installed with the building and what would --
the drain -- the drain pipe comes into the scuffer and, then, when it -- the water comes
through the drain pipe it will force this open and will let the water cast away from the
building. That's how it's supposed to work. What happened is this is quite a large area
and the drain pipe I think is a three inch pipe, as I recall -- two and a half or three
inches. Well, this here area was not sealed, so the water would hit this and go
underneath the drain pipe and, then, down between the walls. So, it would go back -- it
would just reverse its course and that's how that -- how that worked. The cow tongue
devices that are installed on there now, they actually are fully sealed. They wrap
around the drain pipe, fully sealed to the building and to the pipe and so it's one unit and
it just casts the water away. Very easy solution. These are quite expensive, by the
way, and so it's hard to see that kind of cost associated with something that did not
work.
De Weerd: Thank you.
McCormick: And D is the -- or, excuse me. Let me go back to C for a moment if I
might. This is a big patch on the roof. This summer we did some thermography work to
identify water that might exist under the membrane in this particular area. This is
probably about 48 square feet, four by 12, and it's an area that has had substantial
amount of patches, but this was just like a water bed. It was all bubbled up and you
could just step on it and the water would squish all over the place. So, a number of
these spots were identified through that thermography process and some of that work
has been remedied since then. But major issues here with the number of patches on
the roof. You will see anywhere from these smaller patches that are, you know, maybe
four inches by two inches, to everything all the way up to several feet by several feet.
And probably in the neighborhood of anywhere from 400 to 600 patches were estimated
by the people that did the assessment with us in the evaluation of the roof. D is the --
just the visual that occurred from the glycol spill and this is where it went, down into the
subfloor. E is the affect of the degradation of that concrete pad and you can see how
that just eroded away and the water is kind of hard to see there. Water doesn't
photograph real well, unless it's on a lake or something like that, but it's ever present in
that electrical room up until the time we fixed the water main. F is a picture of the fire
riser room where we had a substantial amount of water on one particular day, we took
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15 or 20 gallons of water up. That is quite a small area. It's very compacted. And you
can see on that concrete block that supports some of that piping. You can see the
watermark that was there at some point in time. It's a very substantial amount of water
that was coming in there. This is another leak slide. So, we are dealing with more
leaks here. A and B are related slides. It's the water main. That's this pipe right here.
These I have on a very reliable expert source -- go in the ground with the intention of
being there for 20 or 30 years undisturbed. No maintenance or repair necessary. This
was in the ground for about two years. A weld broke on this outside and on the inside.
And that was distributing water everywhere. It's a little heavier and dirtier than a
stainless steel bolt, so I think I will just hang onto this if you don't mind. Cis -- that's the
area that traps the condensation from the data afire loops and, then, disperses that into
the drain pipe. Then it -- it doesn't -- normally it wouldn't involve a lot of moisture, a lost
of water, but when it's plugged up it has no place to go, it sits and it accumulates and all
this crud accumulates with it. D is the pipe that it was supposed to drain into. If you will
allow me to just step away from the mike for a moment. This is exactly as the pipe was
taken out to see what was keeping it from going places. You can see there isn't much
water going to go through this. What happened, of course, is another mechanical
malfunction that resulted in further damage, because what occurred, all that water went
down to the. fire administration area and, then, we had another clean up and restoration
issue on our hands.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Have you identified what the material is that's blocking that pipe?
McCormick: That is commonly referred to as construction debris. Concrete. Junk,
basically, fell in.
Bird: Sweep up and clean.
McCormick: Pardon?
Bird: What they didn't want to sweep up and clean.
McCormick: Normally I understand these things are covered until they are all done and,
then, they hook them up and -- but you could see why you would have a problem like
this with this kind of installation. And, of course, it resulted in several thousand dollars
of cost to fix the resulting damages. E -- I was reluctant to show E. It's a -- kind of a
gross slide. But that's this guy right here. This six inch check valve. And you can seek
that nothing is coming out. Nothing gets through that check valve, it goes up -- back up
into the floor and in the case of the first floor the vent systems are in the floor -- or were
in the floor at that time and, then, it goes into the duct system. So, this resulted in us
having to shut down the air handling system on the north end of the building, so people
didn't get contamination in the air that they breathe until it was fully cleaned up and safe
Meridian City Council
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to turn back on. And still more leaks. A is a fitting that's up in the air handling units.
We found 19 of these critters that were fitted either incorrectly with the wrong gasket or
in some cases had double gaskets, which is overdoing it and counter -- counter
productive to the seal that you need. Some cases that gaskets were incorrectly sealed
together. So, just very poor piece of workmanship in the installation of that. Nineteen of
those leaks caused substantial amount of damage in the -- under the membrane and as
it leaked in the various places. B is the home of the scuffer. This is on the west wall
and it's a -- when we pulled off the scuffer we were shocked and amazed to see what
we saw. That hole is the same hole as in C, that photo C, which is just basically an
enlargement of that scuffer hole and you can see that the pipe does not come out of the
wall. It should come out of the wall and into the scuffer. It doesn't even make it past the
membrane that's there to protect it. And, then, you see more -- in D you see more of
the fittings that were replaced because of the leaks. This -- these are in the two air
handling units, north and south units, on the roof. Again, a substantial amount of money
was required to fix that problem. So, that's the work that we have done. The work that
we are doing currently is we are still working to get our hydronic loop system in
compliance and what's left is just simply the hot water loop. We have got a side stream
filter applied -- or installed to that and we will get the glycol mixture in there and all the
chemicals that are required to prevent corrosion and once that is stabilized and
everything, it's sealed up and there is no reason to ever open it up again. What was
happening that caused it to be so far out of compliance to begin with is as it was losing
fluid through those 19 leaks, then, they just pour more glycol in it or more nitrates and
so it was just making the problem worse. We didn't know that until we discovered those
leaks and found out what was happening. And, of course, glycol is expensive, too. It's
a very expensive chemical to be just having poured out. We did an energy study awhile
back and we found a number of issues that we identified as areas that needed to be
addressed and we will be doing that in the months ahead. We have found areas that
had too many zones and some areas that required only zone had five. Some areas that
required five had one, you know. So, it was just a total imbalance across the building of
temperature capability and that's why you find extremes, hot and cold in different areas
of the building. Some people are very comfortable, other people are totally
uncomfortable.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: On that same subject I had heard that there were situations where the
thermostat in one room actually controlled a different room and so that somebody might
be turning their thermostat up and somebody else was freezing and turning theirs down,
which was affecting the other person. Were there some of them that were cross-wired
like that?
McCormick: Yes. And that's what I mean by zones, actually. So, the zone that controls
your comfort might be in my office. Well, I don't feel like it's the right temperature for
me, but, you know, you're not even a known entity to me at that point. So, like Tom
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Barry, my temperature control Tom's, so when I want to make it uncomfortable for him I
just ratchet it up or ratchet is down, depending on what's going on in his life. But that's
-- that is a real problem and what happens, of course, is you have the combination of
very discomforting environment and you have wasted energy, because you have that
energy that's being consumed that is not being applied to the right places. So, this is a
big deal. We found VAVs that were not working. VAV is a variable airflow valve. It has
a fan on it and a motor and it pushes stuff around. Not working at all. We found stats
that weren't working. Temperature gages not working. In some cases no readings and
some cases not even on. It's a fuse system. And, then, we found dampers in the sub
floor system that were leaking. So, all of those issues will get fixed as we moved
through and we are going to take care of those problems as we install the automated
logic -- direct digital control devices. Some additional work to be done and this is a lot
of the work here has not be started or has been started and parked but won't get
finished this year, we will probably continue on well into next year. Great concern about
the chiller and the mounts on the chiller that have been fixed once or twice I guess the
last time they were fixed they drilled holes wrong, they put the bolts in wrong, so the
chiller doesn't sit on the springs the right way and it causes lots of vibration problems
that make people uncomfortable and nervous, as you can imagine. Particularly those
that are sitting close by or in that area. We need to complete the work on our energy
star compliance, which we started. It takes about a year for us to complete that. The
ironic part of this is that this is work that if we had good quality workmanship on the
building to begin with, we would already be there. We would have it done. It has saved
a lot in our energy consumption just by having the wet side economizer enabled. The
enabling of that wet side economizer, which was installed, was simple a programming
exercise to program it, so that it would do its job, pulling outside air into the server room
to cool it. To give you an example, in March, April and May of this year we consumed
13 percent less electricity in this building than we did in the previous two years. Last
year and the year before. So, it is working. At what point can you reach a sustainable
level, we don't know that yet, so we are going to have to figure that out as we go
forward. But clearly there are some energy savings that are going to come as a result
of that and, obviously, some real good decisions around how we use the energy in this
building and I'm speaking specifically of electricity, not gas. We need to either repair or
replace the roof membrane. We have to make that decision at some point. We have
been very fortunate, we have had some of the leaks patched and we seem to have
taken care of some of the problems that were kind of giving us fits, but they are still
there and it's just a matter of time. Same with replacing the plaza masonry, the cap lock
and the matching accent band. That is -- it's beyond, you know, description I think. It's
something that is not very appealing to our beautiful building, it distracts from the value
and the beauty of the building and so we need to protect it I think. That's something that
needs to get done. Repair and replace the water feature infrastructure, that's probably
a next year project. Repairing the parapet walls on the roof, that's an issue that has
been up there for awhile. It's something that needs to get taken care of. We don't know
how sound that structure is, the parapet wall itself, and you hate to see anything that
might fall off of that and fall in the wrong place. We need to also investigate whether the
membrane sealant is present around the foundation and install it as necessary and
required where it's missing. This is something that we discovered again with shock and
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amazement. When we replaced the water main and dug that hole to find the pipe and
located the pipe, we did not locate any presence of sealant, which is supposed to be
there and it wasn't. So, that work needs to go on. We need to repair the concrete
problems at the heritage building and repair any discrepancy in masonry work that was
done on the City Hall building that -- at this point we haven't touched it. So, here is the
work to be done on the roof and A is the parapet wall I referred to and you can see in
the circle there just the -- that loose brick and also you can see concrete that is kind of --
or the mortar I should say, that's kind of crumbing away there in between. B and C are
kind of related photographs. That's of the membrane on the roof that is supposed to be
tucked under that sheet metal cap and secured and, of course, it is not and so where
does water find its path when it comes down from the sky, it goes right into that crack.
B is interesting, because you see a little clip board with paper on it that's stuffed into that
crack. This is something that somebody did up there while we were up there assessing
one day, just put his clipboard down into it for illustration purposes. D is a new problem
that we found this spring in March. This is on the barrel roof and it's sheet metal fascia
that came off in a windstorm. Was not secured very well. Was secured with just a little
bit of pop rivets and, of course, it was flapping in a huge way during this wind. One of
those pieces did, in fact, come off and landed in the flower bed and we can just thank
God that that's where it wound up, because it's big and it's heavy. I think it's 063 metal
-- sheet metal, which is pretty steady stuff. Then E and F, again, this is a -- the sheet
metal cap that needs to cover over the membrane. Another view of it. And, of course,
you can see that it does not. On the concrete and masonry side, lots of work here that
we haven't even started on, but very much workmanship issues all over the place. A
and B are related. That's the same -- it's the same structure, it's just a different view
and that is not an optical illusion, there is a three missing there, so if you're looking for
the 33, it's out there now, but at the time that this was taken it had fallen off. I don't
know why. But you can see that that is not a very attractive structure. C is a stone --
brick stone. It's -- this is out on the southwest corner of the building. It just fell off. And
you can see it there, it's just -- you can just simply place it in there. But there is no grout
or mortar on the backside of it, except in this one little spot. And, then, D is the
capstone -- the accent part. You can see the crumbling that is occurring there. We
have taken some preventative measures, just to let you know, to help us ward off any
reoccurrence of some of these problems. For example, we removed the check valves,
we did not replace them. So, we wouldn't expect any additional back ups. We also
moved the vents from the floor to the wall locations in the first floor restrooms. That --
are you playing with my mind there, Tom?
Barry: No. You're good.
McCormick: Okay. So, that is something that will prevent any contamination from
getting into the duct work. We do have a preventative maintenance schedule to do a
system flush every two months to insure that the sewer line is exercised and it has
enough fluid going through it that it carries the stuff out as it's supposed to, just as a
precaution. We did replace the scuffers with the cow tongue type and they seem to be
working great. Very much good solution. And actually looks very attractive on the
building I think, too. We sealed the -- the barrel roof. We had large gaps in the barrel
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
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roof and we still have a couple that need to be taken care of, but we sealed all of that
stuff and we had a nesting ground for mosquitoes, gnats, and flies and everything.
De Weerd: Thought that was Peggy's desk.
McCormick: Did you?
De Weerd: Yeah. It looked that way.
McCormick: You think she conjured it up or --
De Weerd: No. They just went into the --through that unsealed area and nested on her
desk.
McCormick: Well --
De Weerd: To irritate her I'm sure.
McCormick: I think probably most of us in this room would have been kind of skittish
about that situation, having flies falling into your hair and stuff like that. And, of course,
mosquitoes can be a real health hazard. So, we did an abatement and -- in addition to
that the sealing, so I'm hopeful that we have fixed that problem. So far so good.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: If we have got some of it sealed, why don't we have it all sealed?
McCormick: I think there is just one -- one part that we couldn't get to, Councilman Bird
Bird: Can we get to it?
McCormick: At that point in time it was an issue of the weather turning on us and
everything, so that's something that can be --
Bird: Put a can up there and get it done.
McCormick: It's on the list. We installed side panels into the air handling units. There
was only one access into those units and that was through the front. All the piping and
everything is in the back, so you had no access to see what was going on. So, when
we cut open those -- and put those access panels in is when we found the magnitude of
those leaks. And, of course, we were able to fix it. Flush the chilled water loops and
install the side stream filter and we brought about compliance there. Replaced and
sealed the gaskets and fittings on those loops to prevent any further leaking. So, those
are the preventative measures. This is the plan and, obviously, it's not easy to read, but
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
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just to show you that we do have a considerable amount of detail around here in terms
of the priority of criticality and importance of these things and what's involved, what are
the causes, what are the potential fixes, what needs to be done, what's the schedule for
getting them done, et cetera. So, we have shared this with a number of people and it's
available in a larger format if you would like to see that. This is a --just an idea of what
we have done and what we need to do and the cost of that and you can see that there
is a substantial correlation of these costs to the -- those items requested in the
amendment. And with that I would stand for any questions.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? Yeah. I'm sorry. If you can go back, John, one slide there.
On that roof membrane, you talked about repair or replace, that 300,000 dollar figure, is
that replacement? Is that repair? What is that amount right there?
McCormick: Well, at the time of the estimate and now it's very possible that with bid
variability and everything that this could be very different and the cost of materials being
what they are, but at the time it was for replacement, because the original roof cost -- I
believe it was 186,000 dollars and that was 04 -- 045 thickness. And what I was pricing
out was 060 thickness. So, a very much robust membrane, but I don't know if that price
would stand today. This was about a year ago.
Hoaglun: So, Madam Mayor and John, you're telling us be prepared?
McCormick: It's possible that there will be another amendment next year.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: On the roof, is that what you're talking about, another amendment for it? We
need -- we need to get that tore oft and replaced down right before October 1st. We
can't go through another winter. That -- that moisture that's coming down is damaging
other parts of this building. We have been -- we have been harping -- this Council and
Mayor have been harping on this for two years on that roof.
De Weerd: Don't kill the messenger.
Bird: Pardon?
De Weerd: Don't kill the messenger.
Bird: And I'm not getting on you. It's got to be done. It can't go through another winter.
Because you get inside these walls and stuff, we might have all kind of damage. Once
that water gets under there -- and I have been on that roof -- there is a lot of water
sitting underneath that thing and it's got to go somewhere. It don't go up through it.
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
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McCormick: That's right. That's absolutely correct.
Bird: I have never seen leaking water go upward.
McCormick: There is a plan to address that and I wasn't prepared to speak to that
tonight, because that's kind of being managed in a -- through adifferent --
Bird: We know. But it needs to get done. It's got to be a priority.
De Weerd: Thank you, John. Council, I know you have been asking questions along
the way, but any questions for John?
Bird: I have none, Mayor. Make your motion.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: It is with a great deal of unhappiness that I move we approve a budget
amendment for the Public Works Building Services Division, for building repairs for a not
to exceed amount of $1,833,000.
Holman: Madam Mayor? I'm sorry, Councilman Hoaglun, if I could interrupt. The
clerks did a typo on the agenda. I think what I did is I created a place holder on the
agenda for this budget amendment and when I actually got the budget amendment I
didn't update the amount. So, this -- the true amount of this budget amendment is
$1,883,700.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: It makes me even unhappier. We just increased it. I move we approve a
budget amendment for building repair for a not to exceed amount of $1,883,700 to
Public Works Building Services Division.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay. Madam Clerk.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Meridian City Council
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De Weerd: We did have an addition of --
Zaremba: My microphone wasn't on. I did say aye
De Weerd: I heard it.
Zaremba: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you, John
McCormick: Thank you very much. I appreciate the support and what this means is we
will -- we will get the job done, it's just going to be a matter of when, not if. So, I
appreciate your support. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor and Council.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Zaremba: And, Madam Mayor, I would add my thanks. You -- as you hinted at, this
was not what you expected to be doing when you signed on, but we appreciate all the
effort you put into it and appreciate that it's going forward.
De Weerd: WeII -- and I would extend those same things to Eric, who took a job with --
that he thought was going to be maintaining a building, not spending the majority of his
life repairing what -- repairing a brand new building
McCormick: Yes. He has done a great job. He's -- he's actually been very instrumental
in leading -- I think there is only one person in the room, you know, and that's me, so --
but he done a fantastic job of leading our success through some of these issues and
particularly in the HVAC and the energy issues. He has been very savvy about that and
has worked very successfully with our current vendor, so I'm quite pleased with that and
I hope and it's my expectation that we can get to the point where we take that repair off
of that slide and we do, indeed, talk about maintenance, because that's actually going to
drive our long term costs down.
De Weerd: That is -- that has been our hope as well.
McCormick: Yeah. And I think it's very possible. So, I appreciate it. Thank you very
much.
Rountree: Thanks, John.
De Weerd: Okay. Madam Clerk, now that all that discussion time has transpired, we --
have we -- you haven't called roll, please.
Bird: We already had it
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June 21, 2011
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De Weerd: Did we?
Bird: Yeah.
Hoaglun: Yeah. We need to do that B-1.
1. Amended onto Agenda: Budget Amendment for
$2,300,000.00 for Fees, Costs and Damages
De Weerd: Oh, yes. We are on B-1. Sorry. That's what I was thinking of. There was
an addition to the agenda on Item 9-B-1, on fees, costs and damage.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, this is a late addition to your agenda.
This is a budget amendment for spending authority of up to 2.3 million dollars. This is to
address the damage award by the court and the attorney's fees and costs that could be
awarded. So, this is the maximum potential. We have to review the attorneys fees and
costs that have been requested and see if any of those are challengeable and, then, of
course, there is still a decision that has to be made in the future on whether an appeal is
appropriate, but because we have to have the budget spending authority if the decision
is made -- if the decision is made to go to simply pay the damages and whatever the
judge awards as fees and costs, we need to have the spending authority of the 2.3
million dollars that's before you.
De Weerd: Okay. Council?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, just to comment before we -- I guess I will make the motion.
I'm glad we are conservative, we save our money, we don't exceed budgets, this is
tough to swallow, as we heard earlier, some many things wrong. We don't build
buildings, the city doesn't, we hire people who build buildings to make that happen and
sign a contract to protect our best interest and that didn't happen. So, it's just
exceedingly disappointing that I have to make another motion for approval of a budget
amendment for the legal department for a not to exceed amount of 2.3 million dollars.
Bird: Second. Reluctantly.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I guess what can you
make -- what can you add to yours, other than it makes you sick. Madam Clerk.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: Oh, my gosh, that visual was horrible. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
C. Mayor's Office: Discussion on Idaho's Citizen Commission for
Reapportionment 2011
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De Weerd: Item 9-C, I'll turn this over to Robert for discussion on the reapportionment
Simison: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Thank you. I will try to be brief
tonight. I was in front of you last week and where we discussed about what a letter
might look like sending it into the Idaho Citizen Commission For Reappointment --
Reapportionment. What we have done is to take the comments from last week and put
them together in a letter for your review, which gives the main points of which we
discussed last week, primarily does the City of Meridian like to have -- be kept whole or
that we would have two legislative districts that represent us and used primarily
roadways as boundaries where appropriate. Also, what you will find as an attachment
are proposed -- two proposed districts, which do encompass our area of impact and it is
almost wholly entirely Meridian, however, on the one that is labeled number two we did
extend over on into Cloverdale Road in the southern part of our area of impact to help
us get the population numbers that would be needed to get within the deviation that the
state has suggested we have. It's been produced on the low end to allow for growth in
both of these districts, which we anticipate over the next ten years and, you know, we
submit this for your review and comment. With that I will stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: I have none.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, not a question. I think it's a good thing to do.
Rountree: I agree.
De Weerd: Okay. Well, we will get -- get this sent out.
Simison: Thank you.
Zaremba: Do we need a motion to authorize the Mayor to sign it orjust nod our heads?
Bird: Just do it.
Nary: A motion is probably better. But a nod is fine. I mean --
De Weerd: A motion would be good.
Zaremba: Okay. Madam Mayor, I move that we authorize the Mayor to sign the letter
that we are looking at, addressed to the Idaho Citizens Commission For
Reapportionment.
Rountree: Second.
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June 21, 2011
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De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion
carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 11: Amended Executive Session onto Agenda -Per Idaho State Code 67-
2345 (1)(17 -To Consider and Advise its Legal Representatives in
Pending Litigation
De Weerd: Okay.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: We are at the end of the printed agenda, but we earlier in the meeting should
have added another item and I request that we do. Make a motion to add a continued
Executive Session for item of the State Code 67-2345(1)(f) and -- or actually adding it
now to continue discussion that we didn't finish in the special session that preceded this
meeting. Did I make that a motion? That is a motion.
Hoaglun: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion to adjourn into Executive Session. Madam Clerk,
will you call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (10:36 p.m. to 11:31 p.m.)
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move we come out of Executive Session.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to come out of Executive Session. All those
in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
Meridian City Council
June 21, 2011
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MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 10: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Item No.10 is future meeting topics. Does anyone have anything for future
meetings?
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 11:31 P.M.
AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
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