HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-06-12E IDIAN
CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP
MEETING AGENDA
Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at 3:00 PM (3:03 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
3. Adoption of the Agenda Adopted
4. Consent Agenda Approved
A. Professional Services Agreement with Kevin Kirk &
Onomatopoeia for Musical Talent for August 11, 2012 Concerts
on Broadway for aNot-to-Exceed Amount of $3,500.00
B. Approval of Agreement for "Access Control System at the
Wastewater Treatment Plant - Headend, Mechanical, Blower
and New Filter Buildings A & B" to Apex Integrated Security
Systems for aNot-To-Exceed Amount of $89,023.41
C. Approval of Task Order 0759b for "Well Monitoring and Aquifer
Testing 2012" to Hydro Logic, Inc. for the Not-To-Exceed
Amount of $80,000.00
D. Approval of Change Order No. 1 to Task Order 10312a for
"Well 16 -Test Well Design" to Hydro Logic Inc." for the Not-
To-Exceed Amount of $26,000.00
E. Agreement with Nampa Meridian Irrigation District (NMID) to
cross the Hunter Lateral
5. Community Items/Presentations
A. Continued From June 5, 2012: City Scholarships Presentation
(Page 3-5)
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, June 12, 2012 Page 1 of 2
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. Annual Update and FY2013 Budget Request by Kelly Fairless,
Executive Director of Valley Regional Transit (Page 15-19)
6. Items Moved From Consent Agenda None
7. Department Reports
A. Parks Department: Strategic Plan Update
Moved to Item 5A1 -Following the Scholarship Presentation
(Page 5-15)
B. Community Development: COMPASS Communities in Motion
2040 -Growth Scenarios Discussion (Page 19-31)
C. Police Department -Code Enforcement Division: Proposed
Updates to Nuisance, Solid Waste, and Noise Codes
(Page 31-33)
D. Police Department -Animal Control Division: Proposed
Updates to the Animal Control Code (Page 34-37)
E. Public Works Department Report: Draft Memorandum of
Agreement with City of Boise and Ada County for Sharing
Countywide GIS Dataset (Page 37-39)
8. Future Meeting Topics
9. Other Items
A. Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(a)(f): (a)
To Consider Hiring A Public Officer, Employee, Staff Member
Or Individual Agent, Wherein The Respective Qualities Of
Individuals Are To Be Evaluated In Order To Fill A Particular
Vacancy Or Need. This Paragraph Does Not Apply To Filling A
Vacancy In An Elective Office Or Deliberations About Staffing
Needs In General, and (f) To Consider and Advise Its Legal
Representatives in Pending Litigation
Into Executive Session at 5:22 PM
Out of Executive Session at 6:20 PM
Adjourned at 6:20 PM
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, June 12, 2012 Page 2 of 2
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 Workshop June 12, 2012
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:03 p.m., Tuesday, June
12, 2012, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, David Zaremba, Keith Bird, Brad Hoaglun
and Charlie Rountree.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Jacy Jones, Bruce Chatterton, Bill Parsons,
Tracy Basterrechea, Eric Strolberg, Mark Niemeyer, Steve Siddoway, Warren Stewart,
Robin Jack, 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: Okay. Well, thank you for all joining us this evening -- or this afternoon. So
used to evening meetings. We do appreciate you being here. For the record, it is
Tuesday, June 12th. It's three minutes after 3:00. We will start with roll call attendance.
Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join us in the
pledge to our flag.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is Adoption of the Agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun
Hoaglun: One item we need to move on the agenda, 7-A, the Parks Department
Strategic Plan update, will fall under 5-A. So, it will be after the city scholarship
presentation. So, we will call it 5-A-1. And with that change, Madam Mayor, I move
adoption of the agenda as amended.
Rountree: Second
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 12, 2012
Page 2 of 41
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as amended. All those
in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 4: Consent Agenda
A. Professional Services Agreement with Kevin Kirk &
Onomatopoeia for Musical Talent for August 11, 2012 Concerts
on Broadway for aNot-to-Exceed Amount of $3,500.00
B. Approval of Agreement for "Access Control System at the
Wastewater Treatment Plant - Headend, Mechanical, Blower
and New Filter Buildings A & B" to Apex Integrated Security
Systems for aNot-To-Exceed Amount of $89,023.41
C. Approval of Task Order 0759b for "Well Monitoring and Aquifer
Testing 2012" to Hydro Logic, Inc. for the Not-To-Exceed
Amount of $80,000.00
D. Approval of Change Order No. 1 to Task Order 10312a for
"Well 16 -Test Well Design" to Hydro Logic Inc." for the Not-
To-Exceed Amount of $26,000.00
E. Agreement with Nampa Meridian Irrigation District (NMID) to
cross the Hunter Lateral
De Weerd: Item 4 is our Consent Agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: There are no changes on our Consent Agenda, so I move approval of the
Consent Agenda and the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Madam
Clerk, will you, please, call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 12, 2012
Page 3 of 41
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 5: Community Items/Presentations
A. Continued From June 5, 2012: City Scholarships Presentation
De Weerd: Well, it is with pleasure that I have an opportunity to introduce our
scholarship awards. This scholarship program was started a number of years ago and
we used funds raised through the State of the City, through sponsorships to fund these
youth scholarships and these youth scholarships are to recognize our students that are
not only strong academically, but they are strong in citizen and community involvement.
Those that really have in their own right left a legacy on our community. Today we have
three of the four scholarship winners that are here tonight and I will read a little bit about
each one of them and, then, ask them to come forward to receive just a certificate, not
the actual check. We will send that to the colleges that they are attending, but just to
show our appreciation for what they have done in our community. Now, the selection of
these students are done by a panel and they are represented by the city, the senior
community, our Chamber of Commerce and our nonprofit sector and we redact all
identifiers, so the panelists don't know who they are rating, but they are rating them on
the basis of their academic performance, their school involvement, their community
involvement and their leadership traits. So, these are the cream of the crop, in our
opinion, and we certainly appreciate them being here tonight and also wish them well in
the future. And one of the things that I do want to leave with the three of you that are
here, you may leave to go off to get your higher education and it is our goal that you will
come back and continue to serve our community that you have already invested your
time and your talent in and raise your families here. So, certainly we have a selfish goal
here, because we hate to lose our talent and we hate to lose those that are already
passionately involved in our community. So, that is my -- my goal and my challenge to
all of you. Okay. First I would like to recognize Brady Clark. He just graduated from
Meridian High School and will attend BYU-Idaho where he intends to earn a bachelor's
degree. His primary interest of study includes education, law enforcement, and
business. Brady was a member of the National Honor Society, varsity choir, and tennis
team. He has been extremely active in scouting for many years and he earned his
Eagle Scout rank by assembling more than one hundred hygiene kits for disaster
victims and others in need. In addition to working at an appliance shop, he is active in
church activities and involunteers regularly for community service projects, such as he
has donated his time to causes such as the Red Cross blood drive and the breast
cancer prevention pink out. He has helped with the Special Olympics, distributed
Thanksgiving dinners, volunteered at food banks and also regularly rakes up leaves,
picks up trash and cleans up yards to help beautify our community. So, at this time I
would like to ask that Brady come forward and -- so we can recognize you. So, Brady,
this is for you, your education, and your future and as we invest in your future we hope
you come back. Thank you. Okay. Brynja Reynisdottir-Jonsson is our next awardee
and she also just graduated from Meridian High School. She will go on to college where
she plans to study biology, history, leadership and Spanish, with the ultimate goal of
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June 12, 2012
Page 4 of 41
becoming a pediatric oncologist or a hematologist or something like that. You know,
blood person. So, she's very ambitious and you will see that from her engagement.
During her high school years Brynja maintained an ambitious academic class load while
completing 230 hours of community service for a variety of local nonprofit organizations.
These include the Meridian Food Bank, Idaho State Veterans Home, Habitat For
Humanity, Toys For Tots, the Idaho Humane Society, Chief Joseph Elementary
School's kindergarten program and others. She is taking 18 credits this summer alone
at BSU. She is a member -- or was a member of the Leo Club, National Honor Society,
Treo Club, Link Crew and completed the Leadership Boise Academy. She was also a
member of my Meridian Mayor's Youth Council, for which I certainly also thank her, and
would ask her to come forward and receive appreciation. Anything to say? And, Brady,
certainly if you want to say anything I'd welcome -- okay.
Reynisdottir-Jonsson: I just want to say thank you for the scholarship. It means a lot to
me. It will help this summer definitely with all my student loans and financial aid. So,
thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Brady, did you want to say something? Come on up. I'm sorry.
My --
Clark: I'd also like to say thanks, because this is a great opportunity and every bit
counts and this is a big bit. So, thank you.
De Weerd: Well, good. Thank you. Okay. Our third student that we will recognize is
not a stranger to Council chambers or to the city. Eli Nary has recently graduated from
Rocky Mountain High School. I think his mother is still in tears on that one. He will
soon begin his -- he will soon begin his studies at the College of Idaho where he plans
to pursue English and theater degrees and also to study history, education, and national
-- national -- natural sciences. Although national would be pretty consistent with what
he has been involved in. Throughout school he has excelled in theater, debate, choir,
and La Crosse. In addition to working part time, he is an active community volunteer
and student leader, participating in programs including the Gem Boys State, Meridian's
Promise, the Idaho Education Forum, Rake Up Boise, and many others. Eli was a five
year member of the Meridian's Mayor's Youth Advisory Council. I think he's been the
only five year member that we have ever had, because he kind of slipped under the
radar there. He turned 14, was eligible, and he was still in middle school. That's when
we had to clarify that it was for high school students. But we have enjoyed his
participation and he was very engaged. He has served as our chair person for two
years. Eli is also interested in local and state government and has advocated for
several pieces of legislation and volunteered on many city and state election
campaigns. At this time I'd like to invite Eli to come forward, please.
E.Nary: I really have a hard time being brief, so this will be a learning experience for all
of us. First off, I'd like to thank the city, really, for this opportunity and for all the
opportunities that they have allotted, all of our Councilmen and our Mayor have been
Meridian Cily Council Workshop
June 12, 2012
Page 5 of 41
fantastic and really have advocated for youth participation, so I greatly thank them for
that and this scholarship will go to great use. So, thank you very much.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, do you have any comments that you would like to
make at this time?
Hoaglun: Well, Madam Mayor, just thanks to these young people for their involvement
and activity within the city. We certainly appreciate it and as the Mayor said, we
certainly want you to come back and continue your contribution in future years as you
come back to your hometown and we hope that happens, but life has a way of holding
lots of adventures out there, so who knows where you end up for awhile, you will always
come back home. We know that. So, congratulations to all of you. Well deserving and
it's a great group of young people. Thank you.
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Just congratulations to all of you. It's nice to put names and faces and what
you have done together. Appreciate all of the efforts that you have shown to the
community, as well as your school. I wish you all well in your education pursuits and
hope all your dreams come true.
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor. I would add that it's impressive the list of accomplishments
that you already have and on behalf of all of us we are very proud of you and look
forward to hearing more about your successes in the future and congratulations to all
three of you.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Congratulations to all of you. You kids really earned it. Worked hard at it. I know
a couple of you. Watched Brady play basketball for a few years and stuff. It's really
good and I'd like to see you at Christmas breaks come in and see us. Come to a
Council meeting and tell us how it's going. We appreciate that and good luck to all of
you on your endeavors at school.
De Weerd: So, we won't make you wait through a City Council meeting. You, actually,
are excused. But we do appreciate you joining us here today and, again, hearffelt
thanks for everything that you have done up to this point for this community. I think that
is truly one of the reasons that it continues to be recognized as a best place for young
people. It's the engagement of our youth in creating a very livable and a community that
people are proud to call home. So, we do hope that you come back home. But we wish
you success on your -- this next chapter in your lives. So, congratulations.
A. Parks Department: Strategic Plan Update
Meridian Cily Council Workshop
June 12, 2012
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De Weerd: Okay. Our next item is our Parks and Recreation Department strategic plan
update and I'd like to welcome Director Steve Siddoway and I'll turn it over to you,
Steve.
Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have been in front of you on a regular basis for
years and I still find myself getting nervous, because I care so much about what -- what
we do as a department and I know you do, too, and I hope that you can sense the
passion we have for -- for what we do in this community. We chose as our back drop
for our slide show our future vision for the Kleiner Park Pond 50 years from now when
all the trees are grown up. Very happy to be able to show the Kleiner Park image on
our parks map green and not gray as a future park for the first time. It is -- it is on our
map and we are getting a really good distribution of parks throughout the community
with a variety of types and sizes. Kleiner Park is now off the list of future parks. We
really have two main future parks, the next of which will be the Borup Bottles property
out on our western edge and, then, in the future our 77 acres down on the south, in the
south Meridian area. We do have a Willy Martin Park that we currently own. It's
undeveloped. We are waiting for the development to come and happen there as a
neighborhood park and, then, we have some additional neighborhood parks, location
not yet identified, to be part our capital improvements plan. Before I give you the
statistics of what we have today, Mike Barton and Roger Norberg, would the two of you
stand for just a moment? Mike Barton is our parks superintendent. Roger Norberg is
our parks foreman. And together they form the -- the top of the team, if you will. There
is many underneath them that are abig -- there is a big team and a big crew below
them, but they oversee the group that takes care of these statistics I'm about to go over.
I just want to recognize you and thank you for all your work. Thank you. With Kleiner
Park now on our books we now own 242 acres of developed park land, 193 of it is on
our regional community parks, 41 in our neighborhood parks and seven acres in our
smaller mini and special use parks. In addition to that we take care of a little over 35
acres of other maintenance areas, 13 miles of pathways, which includes both those in
the community and those in the parks. So, it's a combination of both of those. Our
current level of service just jumped. We are now over three. We have been hovering
around 2.4, 2.6 for some time, but with the addition of Kleiner Park we now have 3.2
acres per thousand in our community. That's based on a 75,000 population number. If
anyone has a more updated number then we can plug that in. But that 242 acres and
75,000 people, that gives us the 3.2 acres per thousand number today. We do have
that 142 acres of undeveloped park land that we talked about primarily in the Borup
Bottles property, the south Meridian portion, and, then, we have some smaller ones at
the William Watson, the Settlers tennis area, and a small undeveloped portion of Storey
Park that we hope to develop in our CIP as well. If all of these lands were developed
today, with our current population, we would be just over five acres per thousand, which
has been our formal goal for some time. If all of it's developed in ten years and the
population within that ten years were to grow to 100,000, just so you can see the
impact, we would be at just less than four acres per thousand. The CIP, though, does
not develop all of that out and if the CIP were developed and the population grows, we
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 12, 2012
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would be right at about three acres per thousand. I want to take just a moment and talk
about our staff, but before I do that I'd like to introduce our admin staff. Rachel, Janice,
and Hailey, would the three of you stand for just a moment? Rachel is our
Administrative Assistant II. Janice sits at the front counter. And Hailey is our new part
time seasonal front office assistant that is helping with the great influx of calls and
shelter reservations and things that we are getting and appreciate all that you do.
Thank you. And just a quick special note for Rachel, with all of the craziness of getting
ready for the Kleiner Park grand opening, she still found time to help me put together
this slide show that you're watching right now. So, thank you. We do have about just
over 20.5 -- half person somewhere walking around, apparently. No. We have apart-
time person, Terry Whipple, that is the .5, but 20 -- 20 year around employees, 60 total
employees during our peak season and in addition to that our independent contractors
are those that teach classes in our activity guide and you have a copy of that activity
guide at your desk and for anyone in the audience there are copies in the back. So,
recent key staffing changes, Roger Norberg was brought in as the maintenance
foreman in the past year. Dan White and Jeremy Anselmo are the team that were hired
to care for Kleiner Park. So, you go out there and see them, the -- the efforts that you
see going on are led by them and they have a couple seasonals as well. And, then,
Ross Cipriono -- let's see. Skipped one. Patrick Dilley, who I will mention more later,
but he's also here as our recreation coordinator. Allison Kaptain, as I think everyone
remembers her, while we miss her, she was just in town this past week for the -- Luke's
wedding and things like that, but she moved Wyoming and Patrick is our new
recollection coordinator and Ross Cipriono assists Garrett as our three-quarter site
supervisor in the field running back and forth between a whole lot of gyms.
De Weerd: Hey, Steve?
Siddoway: Yes.
De Weerd: Just would like to take a moment and congratulate you and your staff. It's
very rare for a city to have the opportunity to have a 25 million dollar gift like we
received this last weekend, the Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park, and time and time
again the trustee group commented on the quality of the people they interacted with
from certainly Steve on down. The ownership that our parks crew has taken -- all of you
and all of the involvement has been greatly appreciated and noted for a city to --
certainly it's an unusual circumstance. to have a gift the size of a 25 million dollar park
and a turn key park at that, which is exciting. But you have been involved from the
visioning and the turnover every step of the way and you were partners at the table. It
was their park. It was their land, they developed it, and they turned it over, but every
step of the way you were at the table working elbow to elbow and -- and taking
ownership and looking at how can we create a park that was not a burden to our
taxpayers, that was easy to maintain, that looking at the longevity of the materials being
used, that the design and all of that --what you did really added to an amazing park that
I think will be the grand daddy of the park system in the Treasure Valley and we saw a
lot of pride from our citizens that braved the blustery weather and was out there to enjoy
Meridian Cily Council Workshop
June 12, 2012
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and partake and to show their appreciation to Gene Kleiner who donated. You have so
many reasons to be proud of yourself and I just want to make sure that you know how
appreciated your efforts were and they were noticed and I want to thank you. And I
think I do speak on behalf of Council as well. That was a red letter day that only
happens in people's wildest dreams and we actually saw it happen, so thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor, could I just interrupt --
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: -- and add one thing? Steve, you and your staff on Saturday with the conditions
that you were under and everything I don't think I have ever been to a better opening or
function that has been so smooth with what conditions you guys had to work with and
can't thank your staff -- every one of them enough for the way they represented the City
of Meridian and I'm proud of it. Thank you.
Siddoway: Thank you. Well, the staff does a lot of varied things from sports, to summer
camps, to special events, to volunteers, to parks and all of the issues and craziness that
comes with them and I know it feels a little bit like herding cats to them sometimes. We
have been working I think, as you know, on a department video and I thought we would
show you just a little preview of some of what we have come up with so far, featuring
some of our parks department's finest. So, if you would, Rachel.
De Weerd: I would like to talk to you about that green water, you know. Is that algae?
(Video played.)
De Weerd: Hey, Roger, I recognized you.
Siddoway: Wouldn't do nothing else. I think that's the sentiment shared by our staff. It
does feel a bit like herding cats sometimes and I just got a chuckle when I saw that and
thought I would share that with you. But I do want to take just a moment and talk about
the Kleiner Park that was just mentioned. I'm not going to read all these numbers to
you, you have seen them before, but I just ask you to remember this snapshot, if you
will, because I'm going to come back to it at the end. But this represents to a sense all
of the civil engineering work that goes into a park. A lot of people think of a park as
grass and sprinklers and, you know, maybe a restroom and a playground, but there is a
lot of the park that remains unseen that is underground. I thought I would just -- now
that we are to the end I thought I would just share with you a quick montage of not all
but some of the aerial photos. July 2010 was our ground breaking out there, just --just
under two years ago, and you can see the progress just a few months later with the
parking lots in and the ponds being created in October. Winter came early that year in
November and put a halt to things in November, but by January things were back
underway and you can start to see a little bit of water in those -- in those ponds. Now,
the last two slides I picked were September of last year as we were -- you can start to
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June 12, 2012
Page 9 of 41
see some of the grass coming in, the ponds are now full, the senior center is under
construction and, then, just last month the bottom right photo was taken May 2012 with
at that time a nearly complete park and the arboretum area hadn't quite been seeded
yet when this photo was taken, but it has now. The senior center or the Center On The
Park as they are calling it, held its grand opening on May 25th, just a couple weeks ago.
You were there. But I just wanted to acknowledge that and the remarkable event room
that they now have available in that facility. The Rock of Honor Plaza is a fantastic
element of the park. We had what for me will be an unforgettable unveiling ceremony
last November 11th. Gene Kleiner and Mike Kleiner were in town. We had the fly over
at that time and I know that Mr. Kleiner was extremely moved by that -- by that event.
The active recreation complex, if you have been out there, on or since the grand
opening you know active is the correct term for that. It is very very busy. Lots of people
out there, unlike this photo, which was taken before the grand opening. But full of kids,
full of people, which is, you know, what we love to see. The signage and furnishings
have come together. The signs themselves are pieces of art. We have got the benches
throughout the park that are built just for this park with the J.M. Kleiner Memorial Park
logo on it and, then, this honor bench is one from the Rock of Honor. Art in the park.
The obelisks and -- I think everyone knows now we have talked to, but just in case there
is any questions about the wind turbines on the top of the obelisks, they did have to
come down for safety reasons. They were up. We had a couple fail over the winter and
between the trust and ourselves we just decided that although we miss very much the
motion of those wind turbines on the top, they needed to come down and we will see if
another solution presents itself. But for now they are down. And the statute that Jay
Warren designed in the center of the park of Julius M. Kleiner. So, the park is now
open. We are moving from construction mode to operation and maintenance mode.
The park is proving not to -- not to be without its own set of operational challenges, but I
have a team that is ready as any, anyway, to face those head on and address them.
Now, I want to refer back to that -- the slide with all numbers and I want to pass this
around. It goes with the photo that's on the top there, but last month the project was
submitted for and was awarded the Civil Engineering award -- you might have to help
me with the -- the ASCE, is that the American Society of Civil Engineers?
Rountree: Uh-huh.
Siddoway: They recognize this project because of those numbers on that -- on that
slide as not only an incredible park, but an incredible civil engineering achievement and
it was up against other projects across the state, including up one that's also near and
dear to our heart, Ten Mile interchange was in the running, but they recognized the --
the incredible civil engineering achievement that is in this park. So, I just wanted to take
a moment and mention that. Colin Moss, would you stand for just a moment. Colin
Moss, as I know you all know, oversees our special events program and he does a
phenomenal job, especially given the number of events that he helps coordinate, many
that he puts on himself, and, then, others that community partners put on, but, then, we
have to coordinate with. So, thank you, Colin, for all of your efforts. We do the special
events to help build a strong sense of community. Examples. The Ignite Youth one is
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June 12, 2012
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through the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council. The Cable One Movie Night in Meridian
has been his baby for five full years and we are starting our sixth; is that correct? So, it's
great to see the success of that program and to see it moving forward. Dodge ball
tournament, golf scrambles -- this year we did the unplug and be outside week and we
were very pleased to be able to partner with that statewide effort and offered several of
our activities free of charge through our contractors to be a part of that -- that week.
The Barn Sour Fun Run is coming up in just a couple weeks, so no rest for Colin. He's
going from one event to the next and the Independence Day celebration on the Fourth
of July. Later this summer we will have the community block party and, then, of course,
at the end of the year we hold Christmas in Meridian. Last year through the help of
Garrett we also started this holiday classic volleyball tournament and raised money
there for needy children. So far -- last year we had 31 temporary use permits and 83
event days just over the course of the summer. 2012 we are only on the 12th day June,
we have already had 17 TUPs come in with 33 event days so far. So, more still coming.
And we have been working quite a bit on the special event criteria as you know. Colin
also oversees and helps to coordinate our volunteer efforts. There is others across the
department, notably I know Elroy does a lot with our Eagle Scout projects, but the parks
crew helps to identify and help with most of these projects. But last year I just want to
mention was a record breaking year for us for volunteers in our department. I think the
year before was also, but we beat that -- that number last year again with over 4,400
volunteer hours, which represents 68,000 dollars in savings for labor and things that we
didn't have to pay for in our department. That next number is pretty remarkable to me.
Over 2,300 volunteer hours just at Kleiner Park since June of 2011. So, the past year --
the past 12 months we have had numerous Eagle Scout projects helping us with things
like picnic tables, trash cans and church groups and others have helped plant trees,
spread bark, and things like that and we are really appreciative of the groups that have
come out and helped us out as volunteers. Moving on to the landscape maintenance. I
think it's notable just to show that in addition to our parks, which we maintain, we also
through contract also maintain 31 remote sites today with approximately 35 acres total
in them and we know that we have additional sites coming to maintain in the future,
such as Franklin, Ustick, and split corridor projects. Jay Gibbons, would you stand for
just a moment. Is Jay -- there is Jay. Thanks, Jay. Jay Gibbons is our parks and
pathways project manager and having Jay join our team has been a real boon to our
group. We had desired for some time before him coming on to really advance the
construction of pathway projects and Jay has taken that bull by horns and has got a lot
accomplished, so thank you, Jay. Jay did a pathways master plan update. Worked on
it last year. Beginning of this year that was adopted and approved by Council. The
Jackson drain pathway, which is east of Bud Porter, was -- there was a small section --
again, we are not talking about long lengthy sections of pathways here, we were looking
for small connectors, but that one was completed. Fothergill pathway same thing,
completed. And, then, a Heroes Park pathway on the east side of the park was also
completed. If you have been driving down Pine you probably have seen this next one,
which is the Five Mile Creek pathway segment H-1, the Badley to Fairview section is
still a future piece that we hope to get, but the Pine to Badley is the one that's nearing
completion and they have been paving out there last week and I think this week they
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are pouring extruded curb and there is only about a week's left of work out there and
that project should be wrapped up as well. They continue to work on the section of Five
Mile Creek pathway that's in front of Bridgetower Subdivision. We are working on
easements out there with the HOA and others that are adjacent. The Ustick-Linder-
Bridgetower connection is the piece right next to that that's on the ACHD property and
they have been working with us on a connection to get that connected all the way to the
Ustick-Linder intersection. Just some construction photos from the past weeks. Of the
-- these are all of the Five Mile Creek Pine to Badley construction project, with a section
of culvert that had to be replaced, a water line section that was under the pedestrian
bridge. You can see the hollow core panel that became the pedestrian bridge being
installed and installing some of the gravel that became some of the base for the
pathway, but it's been a -- it's been a big project of its own and appreciate Jay's work
there. So, we have 13 and a half miles that have been accepted and are being
maintained by the department right now. About eight of it is in our park system and
about five and ahalf -- 5.6 miles are in other areas, like the Bud Porter Pathway or in
subdivisions that have completed projects that connect. There are about 12 miles of
additional pathway out there that are maintained by others today, so we think in the city
there is just over 25 miles of pathway out there. Patrick Dilley, would you stand for just
a moment. As I mentioned earlier, Patrick joined us earlier this year when Allison left
and Patrick has been drinking from the fire hose and he's had a lot to learn in a short
period of time, but he also has just taken ownership of this program better than I could
have expected. He digs in, he figures it out, he gets it done. He was in charge of the
activity guides that you have copies of and I love that he used photos that we have of
our own parks and recreation system in this activity guide and so he's been working
actively with all of the contractors that help teach the classes that are in here and
summer camp started for him that he oversees just last week and it's a very very busy
time for Patrick, but we sure appreciate your efforts as well. Thanks. The community
center gets a lot of use. The AARP tax date actually came to City Hall this year, but the
winter spring and summer camps have all been held out there. It's used six days a
week with -- between one and seven classes a day. I think you were telling me today
we had not only summer camp, but art camp and a couple of violin camps and
something else out there. But it's being heavily used. Those activity guides come out
three times a year and he also has a significant roll with the Mayor's Teen Activities
Council. That's a sub committee of the Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission? Council?
Committee? Council. The community center has seen some upgrades. Electrical
upgrades. We came to you just a month ago with a -- an amendment that was
approved to get us some needed improvements. We have a new furnace in. The AC
units are being assessed and going in. The roof repair is scheduled. They say they are
busy on another project called City Hall right now for some reason. But they will be over
there shortly and we will be doing repairs to the roof of the community center as well.
I'm pleased to announce that the activity guide participation is starting to trend upward
again. When we started the downward -- when the economy turned down we started to
see a downward cycle in the registrations, noting that the pay-to-play activities were
being impacted by the economy, but last year we did go up in 2011 as compared to
2010 and this year you can see from the winter guide we had -- which is the purple part
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of bar -- oops. What just happened? I was trying to circle -- it doesn't want to --
De Weerd: I'm sorry to have to interrupt you, but it's Dairy Days princess contest and
I'm a judge, so I have to leave, so I'm going to turn this over to Councilman Hoaglun to
run the meeting. I apologize, but, again, I would like to reiterate how much I appreciate
your staff and yourself for what you do to maintain that focus on family and family
friendly and our youth, so --
Siddoway: Thank you.
De Weerd: -- thank you
Siddoway: So, I was just trying to point out that the -- the winter guide portion of those
bars went up in 2012 compared to 2011. Elroy Huff, would you stand for just a
moment? Elroy, as you know from last year's strategic presentation Elroy agreed to
take on the role of the arborist. He's also had a critical roll in Kleiner Park and I think I
have recognized that roll before and definitely appreciate that. But we have multiple
tree projects going on. The downtown trees that this slide represents is just one of the
many things that Elroy does overseeing our tree program, the golf course tree projects
that have gone on recently have been coordinated by Elroy and just really appreciate
your work as well. As you can see we are at 40 percent of the downtown tree boxes
being replaced today. We have 12 more that are currently under construction. You
have probably seen the boxes in front old City Hall that have been torn out just in the
past weeks and are being actively worked on. We got a grant for tree pruning projects
throughout the city and got that complete and I have one other award to pass around,
which I think Elroy's name should be on here, but this year as part of the Arbor Day
celebration the city received its ten year award. So, the City of Meridian has now been
a Tree City USA for ten consecutive years and that is thanks to the efforts of Elroy. He
submits the application every year, oversees the tree projects that they are based on
and I think it's really worth noting that this is our ten year anniversary for receiving that
award. Garrett White, would you stand. Garrett oversees our sports leagues and if
anyone has been in sports leagues you know that they come with their own set of
challenges, but no one handles them better that I have ever seen than Garrett White
does. He's been growing the leagues, he has been looking for ways to make them
better and has been actively involved the checking of resident and nonresident -- this
Thursday he's doing more check I know. So, appreciate all your efforts with the sports
leagues and the growth that we realize there and some of the new activities you brought
to us. You can see here the growth that's been realized in recent years of our sports
teams and our sports participation. We are reaching the point where it can't really grow
anymore, because the facilities that we have are -- are maxed out both in terms of gym
space and softball fields and the gyms use both our basketball programs and our
volleyball programs. You can see here that the -- our spring softball field space is full.
There are certain times of the year where they don't have this type of usage, but if you
look at our spring softball season, we have got 103 teams this year in spring softball.
You can see right here in 2012 those are the extent of use on available times, that little
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bit of -- that 36 at the top is the spaces that are held open just for rain outs and I think
most of those are going to be taken up this year with the weather. How may days?
One day left. One day left in that -- in that schedule. You can see the gym usage also
on the right. Too bad the Mayor left, but I think she knows this, because she asked for
the numbers a couple of weeks ago, but just to let you know, Garrett helped to put on a
girls fast pitch tournament last month and it brought in 24 local teams, as well as five
traveling teams from other states. He did some asking around about amounts spent, so
these are -- these are estimates, but they are estimates based on actual feedback that
we got from -- from players and teams that were coming. We estimate that one
tournament resulted in over 63,000 dollars spent in Meridian over the Memorial Day
weekend as part of that -- that tournament. So, good job. I want to recognize the
efforts of our Parks and Rec Commission. They have set their priorities -- and I'm not
going to read them all to you. They were presented to you by our President Phil O'Dell.
Just looking behind me to make sure I don't have any commissioners to recognize. But
we have a very active and, frankly, awesome commission. They always come, they are
always engaged, they are passionate, they love what they do. There is a group of them
meeting upstairs in about eight minutes. They are our parks amenities group and they
-- they do a lot for us and their -- their priorities are updated yearly and shared with
Council. I will just mention at the bottom of this slide the committees that are involved.
We have three committees that that group divides into. Our recreation and special
events committee, our parks amenities and signage committee, and our community
liaison committee and that community liaison -- the issue of the dog park task force
that's mentioned there, they have recently taken on an actual video that they are filming
clips of our activities this summer.
Hoaglun: Phil is just coming in the door, Steve, just if you want to acknowledge him.
Siddoway: Well, let me take a moment to acknowledge our president, Commissioner
Phil O'Dell who just walked in. I was just going over your 2012 priorities. We
appreciate our volunteers -- citizen volunteers on that commission very much. They
donate their time and they give us a significant amount of time on a monthly basis. We
are to the last few slides. We are not going to -- each one of these could deserve a
slide or two of their own, but we are not going to take the time to cover them, but we
have realized several additional accomplishments since our presentation this time last
year. There has been a second round of golf course trees that have been coordinated
and planted out at the golf course. We also held our second parks and recreation
community golf scramble. The funds from that one benefit our care to share program.
The recycling pilot program at Settlers Park, Mike Barton has helped to coordinate that
and we got funds through the Solid Waste Advisory Commission and we have been
very excited and grateful to get that underway and it's been going great. I can't say
enough about the maintenance shop property purchase and how important and excited
we feel about that. Efforts are underway heavily right now and that project's moving
forward in grand measure. The Cherry Lane property purchase next to the Borup
property, about 17 and a half acres there, we are grateful for. We finished the
agreement with the Rock of Honor, in addition to the Rock of Honor project itself. Movie
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night improvements, including some electrical work that was out there to keep circuit
breakers from tripping. Last year after our presentation we did receive an AIC award for
the Heroes Park reclaimed water partnership that we have with Public Works
Department. We have a community garden partnership in Kleiner Park and that
agreement came through Council just a few weeks ago. This winter we were able to do
some improvements to the Tully Park dugouts and get the roof on that that you see in
that right-hand picture there. Those improvements have been incredibly well received
and we have had just a ton of great comments come back to us on that. Appreciate the
parks crews' efforts there. The improvements out at the -- additional improvements at
the Mo Brooks field, you saw many of them when we were on our tour last fall. The Ten
Mile interchange landscaping has been being coordinated -- or portions of it that ITD is
still working on in order for us to fully take that over. But you will see some additional
improvements out there by ITD soon. We help coordinate with ACHD the storm water
facility landscaping out at Linder and Chinden and we have been actively engaged with
both the fire department on their continuity of operations plan, as well as the Public
Works accreditation. We had a whole set of section to do there and appreciate the
efforts of Mike, Roger, and others in helping to put together -- and, Jay, you were
heavily involved in that as well. But many people have taken part in the completion of
those plans. Our smoking in the park policy has gone into effect since the last
presentation. Just so you know, it's been submitted for an AIC award for this year.
Haven't -- haven't heard back yet whether or not it's been accepted, but it has been
submitted and just wanted to make you aware of that. Present Challenges and
Opportunities, we are actually working on our Storey Park master plan and the land and
water conservation fund conversion. There was meeting today, in fact, to talk about the
selection of an appraiser for that project to praise the properties involved. The field
house concept plan we hope to move forward to help address the gym space needs
and we have land to do it on. The MYB overflow parking is adjacent to Settlers Park on
school district property. We hope to put some additional temporary parking here. The
skate park in Tully Park has its operational challenges. The police department has
been a great partner recently and just want to acknowledge their efforts with their
bicycle patrols and others out there. They have been really making great effort to help
us take that back and -- and make it a more family friendly place. The dog park we
know at the police department -- we will lose sometime soon, when the planned police
department improvements move forward, so we are trying to make plans for that out at
the Borup property. We have challenges associated with large events in Kleiner Park
figuring out how to deal with our softball field and gym space and the increased event
coordination. Major current projects that we have underway going to design and soon
to development. The tennis project in Settlers Park we hope that -- the partnership
there that was going to build us an indoor facility will not be able to build us an indoor
facility. We are planning to move forward with impact fees to build the outdoor courts
that were originally envisioned there. Pathway projects, the ACHD cost share and,
then, our -- my favorite the -- maintenance facility design and construction and you see
the concept plan of the elevation there, but a lot of work has happened since these were
created and we gave you the update about a month ago. Mike Barton has been
working with the project manager, working closely with Kreizenbeck and the architects
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and there are at least weekly meetings, sometimes more, and they have been through a
number of issues and we should be getting to detailed plans and construction
documents in short order. In fact, I think they have about a 70 page plan set ready for
us this week I understand. So, appreciate all the efforts there moving that forward.
Well, with that I thank you for your time. Like the video at the beginning, you know,
there is so much that we feel at times a bit like herding cats, but we love being cat
herders and we -- we love what we do. Hopefully that shows and we appreciate your
support for the things that we do. We know that you have real passion of your own for
parks and recreation issues and many of you have done it for longer than we have, so
thank you for your help and we will stand for any questions.
Hoaglun: Thank you, Steve. Are there any questions, comments from Council
Members?
Bird: I have none. Very good
Rountree: Good job.
Zaremba: Mr. President, I would just add my thanks to what has been said before for all
of you and all of the effort that you put in and Steve as your leader, all the effort that you
put in. As I-drive around I try and swing by parks as I'm on my way other places and I
see them full and people enjoying them all the time and that's really what it's about is
the community out and interacting with each other in our parks as a place to be out and
about and I'm just thrilled to see what I see and I know how much work goes in behind
that I don't see, so I appreciate all of you and thank you.
Siddoway: Thank you.
Hoaglun: Thank you, Steve. Appreciate the presentation, the work of your staff. Parks
commission, Phil, if you could pass on our thanks for everything they do. It's agreat --
great effort and you can see the -- the results out there and it's wonderful everywhere.
Thank you.
Siddoway: Thank you very much
B. Annual Update and FY2013 Budget Request by Kelly Fairless,
Executive Director of Valley Regional Transit
Hoaglun: Next item on the agenda is annual update and budget request by Kelly
Fairless, executive director of Valley Regional Transit. So, welcome, Kelly. Glad to
have you here today and your presentation.
Fairless: I have got a handout I'll -- Mr. President, Members of the Council, thank you
for the opportunity to be here. I keep saying that I can't believe a year has gone by, so
-- seems like I just blinked my eyes and here we are. The graphic I handed out -- and
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June 12, 2012
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I'm going to apologize for anyone who will be at the MDC meeting tomorrow, because
you will hear the same presentation. But maybe I'll do it better tomorrow having had so
much practice. So, the handout is really to kind of guide the presentation. I'm going to
walk through some of the -- and highlight some of our activities. I am going to spare
you some of the details from things that are probably more relevant to the other cities in
our jurisdiction, so I will just kind of get through this fairly quickly. First I want to
recognize that the board did adopt the change in our governance structure that we
talked about last year. Councilman Rountree was the leader in that effort and I'm proud
to report that we have seen a higher participation at the two annual board meetings than
we had been seeing before, so that was a very positive result. And also it's given staff
time, which is what we were hoping would happen, to be able to get in the communities
and work more closely in each of the jurisdictions on the projects that will benefit those
jurisdictions. One example that I have spoken with several of you about is our senior
ride project and I will have a little more to share with you on that as I go through the
presentation. We did finalize Valley Connect and this graphic represents all of the
products and services that are under that. It's really the first time we pulled together all
of our planning under one -- one document to tie together not just the services that
Valley Regional Transit is directly responsible for, but also the services throughout the
valley that are being operated by other providers as well. The ride line, which is at the
center of the graphic is our signature project for the next couple of years. We are
putting together a one stop shop customer information center. We are excited that the
-- moving into the new building is one of the -- was one of the milestones we needed to
reach, so that we would have a call center location and one wing of the building is
dedicated to the call center. We have also set up the staffing to administer and
coordinate transportation services throughout the region. We are developing an
implementation plan that will continue through the phases of developing and implement
ride lines. We are making a lot of technology investments. The phone system in the
new building is part of those investments as well. We instituted travel training in the
organization as a paid staff function. It had been being under the Americor program
and we have now two travel trainers in the last years. They have been -- they have
travel trained 158 individuals and we have enrolled six travel ambassadors and these
are people who just create a buddy system for folks who may be nervous about riding,
don't require the real intensive travel training that's offered. We have also been
expanding our outreach to employers in the region and developing bus path contracts
and that not only helps us increase our revenue, but it also increases our ridership as
well. On our traditional Valley Ride public transportation services, the services -- the
inter-county routes we are seeing a slight increase in ridership from last year. The other
services we are seeing stay fairly level. The Canyon county local service is down
slightly. We are excited to report that all of the inter-county routes now have 40 foot
CMG buses on them, so we have been able to increase our capacity and that might be
one of the contributing factors to why we are seeing more ridership on those -- those
routes. These buses are more designed for those longer distance and the capacity is
going to help I think build ridership. We have also been installing shelters, bus stops,
and benches. We received federal funding a couple of years to do Americans With
Disabilities Act bus stop improvements. We have 36 standard shelters that are going to
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be installed in 2012. Fourteen of them are in Canyon county, 22 are in Ada County.
We use a combination of rider hoardings at a location, as well as serving particular
activity centers where shelters are important. We have 155 bus stop improvements that
we will be completing in Ada County and we have also been working with the College of
Western Idaho on a bus lane for their campus, a park and ride, and we will be installing
more infrastructure at the CWI campus as that develops as well. We have been
installing benches in -- 150 advertising benches are now located throughout Ada and
Canyon counties. We also have been installing historic benches in the historic areas of
each of the communities where service is -- is available. The system that runs our inter-
county service, it's anchored out of Nampa and that facility is very undersized for -- as
the system grows and we have completed an environmental document and appraisal on
anew location in Caldwell for a transit and operations facility that this -- the service that
comes through Meridian will be utilizing if that project gets completed. We are feeling
really confident about that. It did -- at least it's the two major milestones for first federal
funding. One is we do have the initial phase is funded at 500,000 federal dollars and
we were able to get our environmental document and our appraisal done. So, that
location that we have identified for that is the Happy Day Ford lot that's -- facility that's in
Caldwell. So, we think it's a great utilization of that space. We won't have to build it
from scratch, we can remodel the building, so we are excited about that. The last area
I'll touch on is our Go Ride program and those are more community based
transportation services. We have been developing a volunteer driver pool. We have
about 28 volunteers in the region right now. Seventeen of those are in Ada County, 11
are in Canyon county. Just in the month of April we had 128 rides on the volunteer
program. We are developing a vehicle sharing program, which is where we have
vehicles that are in a pool. Some of them are retired vehicles from the transit system.
We have been using retired vehicles from Ada County Highway District. We have been
able to develop memorandums of understanding with certain human service agencies.
Some examples are Parma Senior Center, Kuna Senior Center, Create Common Good,
and the International Rescue Committee. And they are able to access those pool
vehicles, rather than -- for example, Kuna, their vehicle, their existing vehicle, is broken
down quite a bit, so they are able to access a vehicle that, then, can keep their service
whole. So, they are using it as much for continuity of service and for special events that
they may be hosting. Create Common Good has been using it as job access vans for
their workers at the farm out off Federal Way and the International Rescue Committee is
also on to use it to help with job access and resettlement of refugees in the Boise area.
We have also working with -- we are going to be working with Catholic Charities, Easter
Seals, Life Church, and some other churches to try to develop and expand the
opportunities for transportation to their populations. We are in the process of
developing a job access van pool. We have been working with Nunhems Seed
Company out in -- in Parma area and looking at serving employers there in somewhat
difficult places to serve with a more traditional public transportation system. So, we
have also been working with Simms Fruit Ranch and the Idaho Office on Refugees.
They are struggling, from what I understand, with finding employees to pick fruit and
they are looking at using the refugee population to pick fruit and we are also providing
the vehicle as a job access van. So, we are excited about that opportunity. With that
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June 12, 2012
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will stop here and stand for any questions that you may have.
Hoaglun: Thank you, Kelly. Any questions for Kelly?
Bird: I have none.
Hoaglun: Councilman Rountree?
Rountree: Mr. President. Kelly, first, I'm pleased to hear that the governance change
has resulted in what we thought would happen and that's great. I'm excited about that.
You mentioned the vehicle sharing and the partnership with ACHD. Have you reported
success to them and have they reciprocated on being more open to provide those
vehicles in the future?
Fairless: Mr. President, Councilman Rountree, we met with them a couple of months
ago and reported on how the program is going and I think it's helpful that we are
bringing additional vehicles, we are not just relying on their vehicles, and we requested
for up to four more vehicles and they seemed favorable to that. We are just working
through the -- the bureaucracy to make it happen and so I was encouraged by the
meetings.
Rountree: Great. Thank you.
Hoaglun: Anything else for Kelly?
Bird: I have none.
Hoaglun: Done? Okay. Well, thank you for that update, we appreciate that, and it
sounds like these are moving forward in fine fashion. Not herding cats at all like parks;
right?
Zaremba: Mr. President?
Hoaglun: Councilman Zaremba.
Zaremba: I was understanding that you were going to have a budget discussion as
well, though. I appreciate the early part of the presentation.
Fairless: So, the budget request was sent several weeks ago and I was just -- if you all
have questions. It's our pretty standard budget request, so we did include in that -- we
needed to make an adjustment in the budget request to make the per capita dues. We
were flat in our request the last couple years. Unfortunately, the populations didn't stay
flat, so it threw us out of whack with our per capita request. So, the request that you all
got did two things. One, it made that adjustment on the per capita dues, so that
everybody's got the same rate again and, then, it did include a two and a half percent
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 12, 2012
Page 19 of 41
increase in the request that you all are asked to consider in your budget process and
that -- we have had three fiscal years without any increases and we can't kind of
continue to hold that. We have been really fortunate to be able to -- for a variety of
reasons to be able to keep our budget at that level, but there is only so long that you
can do that and we have kind of reached that point.
Hoaglun: Good. We will take that up when -- during the budget sessions and
appreciate that update, Kelly. Thank you.
Zaremba: Thank you. I would comment that Kelly and VRT do an excellent job with
next to nothing coming in. I mean this is not a secure business to be in under the
present funding scenario and you do a wonderful job with what you have got and to
keep your requested increase so small after several years of not asking for one at all is
appreciated and I know we will consider that. But thank you for all your work.
Fairless: Thank you. And I do want to -- I guess reserve the opportunity -- the board is
going to consider the outcome of that senior ride project I was telling you about and to
maybe come back and talk about that in more detail once that's adopted and we are
going to be looking at each community as parts of zones, so we will have some
recommendations for each jurisdiction and that's something that the executive board will
see in July and, hopefully, the board will adopt it in July and, then, we will be back in
and it will seem like the year went by really fast that time.
Hoaglun: Yeah. We look forward to hearing that report as well, Kelly. Thank you.
Item 6: Items Moved From Consent Agenda
Hoaglun: We had no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 7: Department Reports
A. Parks Department: Strategic Plan Update
Moved to Item 5A1 -Following the Scholarship Presentation
Hoaglun: 7-A was moved to 5-A-1, so that one is completed.
B. Community Development: COMPASS Communities in Motion
2040 -Growth Scenarios Discussion
Hoaglun: So, we are to 7-B, Community Development, COMPASS, Communities In
Motion 2040. Is that you, Caleb?
Hood: Mr. President, it is, and with your approval I would like to just stay seated over
here. I have got some larger version of some of the maps I'm going to show you, so I
can read my notes and kind of flip through charts as we go through the PowerPoint
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presentation.
Hoaglun: That would be great, Caleb. Thank you.
Hood: It seems like I was just here asking you all to endorse the Communities In
Motion 2035 project with COMPASS, but it's time again to update that long range
transportation plan. Because I was here not too terribly long ago -- a year so ago, 18
months ago, asking you to endorse the 2035 plan, I'm not going to go through a lot of
the background information. I will assume at this point that you all know what the CIM is
and does for the most part, that it is the long range transportation plan for Ada and
Canyon counties. COMPASS is currently at the gross scenario stage, which I think you
all were invited. I don't remember who participated here at the end of February, first of
March. There were three workshops held in Ada and Canyon counties . Again, I know
you were all invited, but they are at the point where they are trying to choose a preferred
growth scenario for the valley, so I wanted to run through that with you a little bit today.
Before I get into some of the details Ijust -- my thoughts on this are -- I'm trying to see if
I can get some consensus from the Council on this and, then, put a response back to
COMPASS under the umbrella of it being a response on behalf of the city. So, if you
would rather do it individually, that's fine, too. I would just encourage you to submit --
we do only have a couple of more days. Sunday at midnight is the deadline for getting
our comments over to COMPASS. So, again, with that in mind, if we can -- I'm going to
pause in a couple of locations and, then, share those comments with COMPASS,
reflecting your all's thoughts, so I'm going to move forward. There is a lot to get
through, but I'm going to try to do this in 20 minutes or so. So, maybe to start I will let
you know that the -- that I did host a meeting and a BAG with Meridian's transportation
task force here last Thursday. We didn't have everybody in attendance. I was hoping
for a few more, but just quickly to give you a synopsis of how that meeting went, the
preferred land use scenario -- and I realize you haven't probably seen these yet, but
most of the members that were present at our meeting last week preferred the
hometowns and the town and country option of the four the most. I will put a caveat to
that. We were -- we spent most of the time just looking at the land use designations
and comparing them to the -- to the city's comprehensive plan, which we will do a little
bit of this afternoon as well. I kind of want to take a little bit of different approach with
Council and kind of bring you back out to the 40,000 foot level and look at it as a
regional plan. You know, we will also zoom in and look at our -- our future land use
map a little bit, but more some of the themes that seem to arise with some of these
options. Some of the discussions that we had with the task force, they did like -- like the
option to preserve farms, but realized there aren't a lot of tools in our tool box if we are
going to pick something that preserves ag land. There was some realization that
housing options and choices need to change or will change over time, i.e., there will be
some -- a need or a want for some smaller lots and homes that are closer in, maybe
even integrated with other types of uses close to parks and shopping opportunities. So,
with that assessment of the task force discussion last week I think we will get into this.
So, again, in February, March, there was participation -- I think it was about 170 or so
folks from the area from a vast range of expertise and backgrounds that -- that
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participated in COMPASS's workshop. From those 27 table scenarios COMPASS has
worked with their consultants to narrow that down to four land use scenarios. They vary
pretty significantly and we will see that here in a minute. There are some things that are
the same that I would like you to remember as we go through this. The horizon year is
2040 for all of these. The overall population is one million 22 thousand and there are
466,000 jobs. The difference, really, is how those jobs and the population are allocated
throughout Ada and Canyon counties. So, again, COMPASS synthesized all those.
They used some of the comments that were filled out from the workshop participants in
coming up with the themes for these four scenarios, again, that we will look at here in
just a minute. These are the most important things that were identified by the
participants of the Meridian, Boise, and Nampa workshops. I did want to just pause
here and see if you concur with what our most important -- and particularly the Meridian
ones -- or if there is another group that you seem to identify with as being the most
important moving forward, if you would share that. That is one of the explicit comments
that COMPASS would like feedback on and if there are any others that aren't listed here
or if you have any issues with these indicators, but, again, the context of this is moving
forward in the future, one of the elements on the right are most important and maybe if
you have the top two or, again, if you can just say, you know, if you like the distribution
of these better amongst one of the three workshops more than the other, I would ask for
some input on that if you have any.
Hoaglun: Caleb, real quick. What do you mean by health? Health jobs? Health --
health?
Hood: It would be community. So, just a healthy community. So, a lot of that has to do
with walkability even. Access to doctors, medical services. I'm not -- that one I'm not
exactly sure what all is included in that health element, but it would be something along
those lines. I don't think it goes back to the health of our economy or jobs, but is a
quality of life type health.
Hoaglun: Well, from my perspective, you know, economic development and
transportation kind of go hand in hand. I mean if you're looking at retail operations or
even workspace where you have manufacturing or service jobs, you want to develop
those and expand what we have currently and transportation is a key factor in that,
because of people moving to and from work, goods being transported to and from. So,
that looks pretty good for Meridian. I could see where that would be the top two and it
looks like economic development is a little stronger and yet transportation is very
important component of that, so --
Hood: Any other comments or any indicators that you don't see listed here that maybe
should be considered as we move forward in the transportation planning realm? If there
is not that's fine, too.
Zaremba: Mr. President? I would just add that I -- the way the Meridian one is
distributed works very well for me. I like how that came out.
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Hood: All right.
Zaremba: And as Councilman Hoaglun pointed out, even in this case, transportation
and economic development make up over 60 percent of those who rated them as top
interest and I agree with that as well.
Hood: Okay. So, a couple of things on this slide and as we get into the scenarios, you
don't need to swallow any of these scenarios whole. I will -- I will point out certainly
some shortcomings as I see them in some of these, but it is more, again, to provide
feedback as a preferred scenario is drafted and if the baseline from one of these can be
used as we tweak that to more represent what the future looks like, that's the idea here.
So, I'm not going to dwell on this slide too much, but -- but I'd like to hammer that point
home that you don't -- you don't have to choose one of the four and say we endorse this
one, it can be a combination of the options as well. So, getting into the first option on
the table, active corridors, let me just read a little bit of -- about what this scenario
contains as far as themes. So, it locates new housing, jobs along transit corridors.
High capacity transit would serve State Street and a route parallel to I-84. Much of the
new growth would be higher density and mixed use. The goals include minimizing
congestion and improving housing and transportation affordability. I will -- as you try to,
you know, wrap your head around, you know, the colors on the map, yellow does
represent medium density residential. Green -- I know it's kind of hard to see here is
lower density residential. The darker browns are higher density residential. The key
you can kind of see on the left and I've got another map here that we will look at that
kind of synthesize this and compares it to -- you know, zooms it into Meridian
specifically, but, again, a lot of the growth is congregated along transportation corridors
in this scenario. With this scenario --
Hoaglun: I think, Caleb, that was true when the wagon trains were rolling through, too.
Hood: Yeah. It is typical of development. Transportation opportunities certainly attract
and will drive new transportation opportunities, too, so -- in this scenario the population
for Meridian -- and this includes the -- our areas of impact, too. The population would
be 181,562 in 2040. Nice round number. And jobs would be 61,688. Those rank three
and four respectively out of the four alternatives, the third lowest population, and the
fourth highest number of jobs in this scenario occur within Meridian in our area of impact
in 2040. Just to kind of put that in context a little bit today, I heard a little bit of Steve's
presentation. In our area of impact our population right now is actually estimated at
88,431. So, 78,000 being within current city limits, but 88,000 just including our area of
impact in the county. So, jobs are about 29,000 jobs currently within Meridian in our
area of impact. So, again, just to kind of -- as we go through these that's a today
scenario, is a 2010 number. So, what we have put together -- I have gotten some help
from Brian McClure -- actually, a lot of help in putting this map together. He did all the
work and what he's done is he's overlaid Meridian on top of our future land use map.
So, you can kind of see where, one, the growth is allocated. So, if you look at the black
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-- I'll try to point this out here with the -- the mouse. But any of the figures that are black
outlined, the land use has got a black outline -- that's where growth is anticipated
between now and 2040. So, you can see again -- not surprising, you know, most of the
things between -- you know, just south of I-84, north to about Ustick, that's where you
see most of the growth in Meridian occurring in this scenario. The areas that are shown
as cross-hatch would be redevelopment. Basically, either wiping whatever is there on
the ground away and it's going to be rebuilding new within those -- those shaded areas.
As we kind of look at this comparison, it's -- it's a little unfair. It is a little apples and
oranges, because, again, our future land use map doesn't have a build out year, it's just
build out. However long it takes us to get there, those are the land uses we assume.
This does have that horizon year of 2040. You know, it's a little unfair, too. A half day
workshop to a two county plan versus our plan, which has been evolving for the past 25
years and we know some of the details of what's going on, our infrastructure plans, and
having people that are -- maybe not familiar with Meridian designate land uses on here,
you know, again, that's what I see as what should come, but just to kind of keep that in
mind. It's not a real fair comparison to critique these two heavily. But we will do a little
bit of that. So, I just want to point out a couple of things on this -- on this active corridor
that I find interesting anyways. If you look in the northeast part of town, really, they
haven't allocated any growth up there. It's kind of -- you know, our plan still shows up
there, but they haven't outlined them -- any of them in black, which I find odd, because
the city of Boise comes right up there. So, you- know, the services are there, Boise is
there, we have growth occurring there, but, basically, in that area just south of Chinden
and east of Meridian Road, very little -- no growth, essentially, up in those couple
square miles. I find that interesting. I'd also carry that thought forward into north
Meridian. If you look there, there is, basically, no growth north of Ustick, you know, east
-- or west of Linder, which I don't see that as very feasible in 2040. I mean that's where
we are growing now and we are going to trend to grow there. So, you know, it's pretty
intense in the rail corridor again, which isn't surprising with some of the key themes from
this one. It's probably a little too intense. They have some high density residential
going in the Ten Mile area where we don't really have it planned even north of there
where, you know, we may see some in-fill in those areas, but it's pretty intense on those
areas. The Ten Mile area stuff that they have is actually pretty close to the Ten Mile
interchange specific area plan. I mean with the interchange there what you see here
pretty much is what our vision for Ten Mile is. So, that one actually matches up pretty
nicely. A weird outlier with all of these -- the Winco, Home Depot, commercial area, you
know just at 1-84 and Meridian Road, Progress, all four of the scenarios show that being
scraped and an office park being put in there, which I just find very odd. I don't know --
and Idon't see that being feasible. So, if you look here, again, Storey Park, the
speedway, they all go away and it's office parks. So, a little concerning on that -- on
that front. But, anyway, just some of my observations. I'm not trying to influence you
too much in your comments, but just kind of compare and contrast type things with
active corridors. So, are there any comments or do you want to spend anymore time on
active corridors at this point?
Hoaglun: Yeah. Unless members have comment, keep rolling along. I mean I just
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think, Caleb, my observation is when they do things like that I'm thinking we are
spending time with people in the community, developers who have purchased property,
are looking long term, we get a feel for what's going on and we kind of do the zoning
based on what is coming down the pike and what works and we look at transportation
corridors, I kind of trust our local involvement process a little better than other folks
coming' in and just doing that half day workshop. I appreciate their effort, but at the
same time we kind of get a little more involved in that and a lot more details, so --
Hood: And I appreciate the comment. Again, I think we will bring this back, if we can,
at the end of the themes, because we could shoot holes in these scenarios all day, but I
will keep going through these and I will move on to the second one.
Zaremba: Mr. President?
Hoaglun: Councilman Zaremba
Zaremba: I would just add a comment. I went to one of the workshops and I enjoyed it
very much. It was a good exercise. But I think Caleb has captured -- at the table that I
was at one of the instructions that we were given is don't be constrained by what's
already there and don't be constrained by what it might cost. So, these scenarios are
wishful I think. Certainly on the one we just- looked at if you wanted to say active
corridors and let's pack all of the growth along the existing highways and railroads,
that's what you would get, but -- and they did come up with some good ideas generally,
but they were not constrained by reality as part of their instruction.
Hoaglun: So, it would be like my wife -- me telling her, honey, where do you want to go
on vacation, no matter the cost, it would be good. So, yeah. In your dreams.
Zaremba: I think the good work came out of it and we can, you know, look through it
and express opinions, but Caleb is correct, that they were not feeling constrained by
existing conditions.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you for that, Councilman Zaremba. Caleb.
Hood: Okay. So, scenario number two is titled Hometowns. Some of the themes from
this -- it builds upon the existing cities and makes them sort of independent complete
communities, with local jobs, housing, parks, and schools, most single family homes are
built as in-fill within existing neighborhood and are located near existing parks and
schools. New jobs, including industrial, commercial, and office space are concentrated
near the rail line. The scenario potentially supports new highway development, given
the new development in rural areas. They include short commutes and lower
infrastructure costs with more consistent jobs to housing balances. So, that's -- that's
kind of the background information on this synthesized theme. You can -- and it's really
kind of evident if you look at some of the smaller communities as you compare these.
Some of the scenarios certainly impact some of them in these themes, more than
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others, like a Parma that doesn't get many jobs or additional growth along active
corridors per se or some of these other ones, so some of the smaller communities
certainly are effective again, greater than like a Meridian or a Boise. So, just to put this
in -- back into terms that are a little bit easier to understand, the population in Meridian
under this scenario would be 174,182. There would be 77,979 jobs in 2040. Again,
those rank number four and number three respectively across the four scenarios for
population and job growth. So, to compare it to our current plans for land use, this one
actually matches up fairly well with our current comp plan, future land use map, with --
with both land use designations and probably where those growth areas will be in
Meridian. You can see north Meridian, certainly there is a lot more growth actually
made -- you know, I don't know how much -- depending on when 16 goes in, getting
those -- you know, starting to bleed across the west side of McDermott Road. It may
be, you know, 2040, probably, within the realm of possibility. So, again, looking at the
designation, they seem to match up pretty closely to the city's vision. Even Ten Mile --
Ten Mile is, you know, not the exact plan, but the intensity and kind of scale of a lot of
the land uses and the growth in that area certainly match up. The corridor -- Ten Mile
corridor heading south is a little more intense than what we are envisioning currently
with -- through the South Meridian Plan and, you know, right now we don't have any
designations out there. This is really a trend type scenario, if you will. I mean it's kind
of the way we have been growing and would just sort of expand that out 28 years. So,
kind of an outlier, too. There is a huge park in south Meridian that isn't surrounded by
any development, so those are the two square miles you see down there ,which is just
a really large park. And, again, the intensity I think along Ten Mile and, then, again, the
commercial park at Meridian Road and I-84 being scraped and redeveloped with office.
So, those are some of my comments on this one, but, again, it's some of the same if
you will. That's what we have now. So, any comments on -- on this one at this point in
time?
Hoaglun: No.
Hood: Okay. Option number three. Town and country. So, the town and country
enables cities to become denser and more walkable, while smaller rural towns would
see minimal growth. This scenario includes a variety of housing choices, with the
highest density options and the most new multi-family development. They are both
transit system of support, the higher density walkable communities. Key goals include
protection, walkability, and access to a mix of uses in central areas. So, some of those
themes shared across these different options. This one in the active corridor actually
shares some -- some similarities as well. Walkability is a little bit higher theme here.
So, doing the comparison -- I guess I should give you the number, since I have been
giving it for the other ones. Population in town and country would be 186,433 for
Meridian, with 82,657 jobs. Those both rank as number two across the four scenarios
for that 2040 horizon. So, in this one, you know, north Meridian I think is probably pretty
accurate. You can see some of the -- where the Tree Farm is currently, showing some
of that being developed even further. I think that's pretty -- probably pretty high
likelihood in north Meridian and the land uses match up pretty well with what we have
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got planned. Again, they have left kind of that area between us and Boise. They aren't
allocating any growth there, which I just think is a little odd, with utilities being there and
it being, you know, closer in to things. I will call out, you know -- it's some of the office
park expansion stuff where you have got on Meridian Road south -- between Overland
-- south of Overland, there is -- there is homes in there and it's showing office in the
whole section, which is just odd. I don't know -- you know, Meridian Greens and some
of those other subdivisions, they aren't going away, so even in-filling them I could see
some of that maybe along Meridian Road, but to take that all the way internal to that
section just seemed a little bit odd to me. That's a lot of office to even be in-filling with
and the location, Ijust -- I didn't understand. There seemed maybe to be -- and I will
follow some of that through as you move back to the west and south of the interstate,
scraping some of those homes and things that are in there I don't see -- you know, there
is certainly some opportunities for some in-fill, you know, there is some one and some
five acre lots in there. But I don't see those homes going away and building higher
density residential and even some of the mixed uses that they have shown in this
particular scenario. So, it's pretty intense, too, which we aren't necessarily envisioning
at this point for those areas. So, kind of a head scratcher there. Again, that huge --
there is a huge park shown in southwest Meridian that takes up, you know, two square
miles, which is just enormous. So, I don't know how they synthesize that in. We don't
have any plans, so I didn't compare this against all the 27 tables during the workshops,
but, again, that -- that seems to be not very feasible there. But, again, that's just some
of my things comparing the two that I saw were pros and cons to this scenario, so --
Hoaglun: From my perspective, Caleb, your -- your observations are spot on. Anybody
else, Council?
Bird: I have none.
Hood: Okay. The fourth and final option at this point, outdoor playgrounds. So, I will
read -- this one is a scenario that maintains the region's agriculture and recreational
opportunities with farmland presentation, regional open space, and robust trails and
parks network. The scenario provides for density in major centers and lower density in
areas outside of environmental constraints. Key goals include better access to parks
and maintaining agricultural and environmental resources. The numbers for outdoor
playgrounds for Meridian, the population would be approximately 198,321. The jobs
86,339. That ranks -- those are the highest ranking of the four scenarios for jobs and
population in this scenario of outdoor playgrounds. So, this scenario -- some of my
observations anyways -- get to that slide here. They have placed in this -- in this
synthesized scenario large area of -- working from north to south -- of office north of
Chinden there that Ijust -- that's probably not how it's going to develop anyway. At
least that's not consistent with our plans. We have got some new residential going in
there now. Spurwing. So, having it be that intense with office just doesn't seem like
where that's going. So, that jumped out to me immediately. If you move just south of
there a mile and a half or so, they have redevelopment of some residential
neighborhoods near the intersection of Ustick and Linder, north of Ustick there, that,
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again, I mean most of the homes in there are fairly new and I don't see them wiping out
entire subdivisions to build just slightly higher residential cities. Certainly some in-fill,
maybe some mother-in-law quarters, some things like that, but the cross-hatch
represents scraping of whatever is on the ground currently. So, that kind of stood out to
me as well.
Hoaglun: And I think, Caleb, that includes my house, so it ain't going to happen
Hood: Get ready to move. Yeah. So, this -- some of those things didn't seem to be
real feasible. The Ten Mile area, again, it doesn't jive with what our plans are for Ten
Mile. There is quite a bit of office there, which isn't inconsistent, but the land use types
don't align as well as some of the other scenarios do, particularly south of the interstate
along Ten Mile. It's pretty intense with commercial and we just don't really envision that
was for commercial or office. There is residences that are there, a lot of them on larger
acreages that -- you know, Icould -- I'm not saying that we won't see any office there,
but it won't probably be largely office in those areas. The low density towards -- towards
our boundary are shared future city limits with Nampa. That does seem to be
appropriate low density residential there along that boundary. It is a little bit odd. You
can see the growth coming up from Kuna north and a band of white in there where there
isn't really any growth, so I just find that, you know, interesting to point out that the Ten
Mile corridor isn't as developed in this scenario that it is in some of the other ones where
they show it being seamless, basically. It's that connection point between us and Kuna
and here there is a gap in that growth for jobs and housing by the year 2040. So,
anyway, just a couple of my observations on -- on that scenario and I don't know if there
is any comments on that one or not. If not, I'm going to move on.
Hoaglun: I guess, Caleb, maybe white means there is lack of sewer. I don't know.
Councilman Zaremba, do you have a comment?
Zaremba: Mr. President. Caleb, both of these last two had I think a little higher
emphasis on preserving ag land and as was discussed at the table that I was at, if that
is to be your point, we are taking as a given that in 2040 the population of the entire
valley was going to be 1.5 million or something like that or one --
Hood: Just a little over a million
Zaremba: Yeah. 1.28 or something like that. So, the point that we all made among
ourselves was, okay, if you're going to set aside all these square miles for ag, then, that
growth has to be compacted into other areas and so Meridian's own vision of what our
growth is likely to be and -- and what we are already planning on, in my opinion, is a
little closer to the possibilities than any of these projections. I just -- from my own
experience of living other places, preserving that much ag land when there are
development pressures is difficult. But you can certainly understand in the last two
scenarios, the town and country and the outdoor playground, what they are trying to
preserve means that you have got to put pressure on the other areas to have the growth
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condensed. So, you ask to see that as the result comes out here, but I just wanted to
point out that that's what makes it happen that way in these scenarios.
Hood: Thank you. So, I won't spend really much, if any, time on this. This is in your
memo. It compares -- this is a comparison done by COMPASS and a consultant that
just sort of compares them, but I don't want you to put necessarily a lot of stock in this.
You know, as was the point made earlier, I think our plan probably does it best at this
point. So, I don't know, you know, how we are going to form comments, if that's -- there
is consensus there among the Council, but maybe we will visit that in just a second. I
just want to cruise through real quick the -- these heat maps. So, there is active
corridors and where the population density -- so, again, red being the most intense,
white being very low. Hometowns for population. Town and country. Outdoor
playground. Here is the employment heat maps. Employment density. Active
corridors. Hometowns. Town and country. So, there is the information. I hope you
have a chance to -- you know, to review the staff memo and I know some of you have
already participated in this process being on the COMPASS board and being hit from
different -- different directions to participate in this, but, you know, as we get to maybe
some -- some final comments I think for the comments at this point I'm supposed to ask
you to imagine life in 28 years, where are you living, where are you working, what does
the transportation look like. Do you drive? Do you bike? Do you walk? Are you taking
a bus? And, then, which if any of these futures do you see yourself living in, if any.
And, again, you don't have to swallow them whole. There can be, you know, concepts
from these that you like the best. So, with that I have kind of put my preferred scenario
at the top of these, but, again, as we -- as we comment back to COMPASS, you know,
the ag preservation comment came up again from Councilman Zaremba, are there any
other things that you have heard today from any of these that -- or baselines of any of
these themes that you can -- that we can get behind. We see ourselves getting behind
and really supporting and maybe even coming up with the tools to implement it as a
region as we choose a growth scenario for long range transportation planning.
Rountree: Mr. President?
Hoaglun: Councilman Rountree.
Rountree: To your last point in 28 years, if I'm on the right side of the grass, I hope I
have all my faculties, but I'm not going to be concerned about most of this. A point I
made at the start of this with COMPASS -- and it's not been heard and I will make it
again. This exercise was about a two hour exercise with people who didn't know
anything more than the parameters that were given to them and they played games to
make the parameters come out and match the number of jobs with the numbers of
people and manipulated land uses to get there. My opinion when this all started and my
opinion now is that every land use plan that every community has now should be
reflected in a trends that's to be analyzed to predict what it is that are going to be like.
We did a much better job in this community developing our Comprehensive Plan and
the plan we have now than this thing reflects. I'm sure Boise has done the same thing.
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I know Eagle is in the process of doing it. Nampa has -- in the process or just
completing this same process. I do not see a scenario that addresses that and that was
to be done, in my recollection. At this point I see we are spending a half a million
dollars to play games and not reflecting what we have all spent a lot more time in trying
to develop with our own area of impacts and our own comprehensive plans. To me if
we adopt any of these, are we going to, then, turn around and change our comp plans
to reflect them? I don't think so. At least not some of these things we know are not
going to happen. We know we are not going to have two sections of park. We know we
are not going to scrape some of the finest neighborhoods we have in the community.
To me the message back to COMPASS is, fine, we have gone out, we have seen that
there is some emphasis on these multiple emphasis areas that people want to preserve
farmland, they want this for help, they want this for economic development, they want
this for transportation. But our own planning processes need to be brought together
and consolidated in another scenario and if that tells us that we -- we are going to have
way too many people or we are not going to have enough jobs, then, we need to think
about our collective planning processes. But just to do another blanket process to meet
the parameters that somebody picked, to me is -- I just get frustrated with these
exercises and that's all they are.
Bird: Mr. Chair -- President?
Hoaglun: I think if we were the British Parliament there would be a lot of hear hear
going on. Councilman Bird.
Bird: Hear. Hear. I agree. I hope we didn't spend a half a millions dollars on --
Rountree: That's what this project's costing.
Hoaglun: Yes . But, Councilman Bird, that's free money, because it's federal --
Bird: I know it's -- it's federal money. Federal money that we got to spend. I would
think if they want to -- if they got that kind of money they can turn it back to us in our
dues and we can use it for something good. I'm like Councilman Rountree, this is a
waste of people's time, in my opinion. I -- your development is going to be determined
by jobs, development of the developers, and the money. We can sit here and wish all
we want. Until we put our pocket book out there we are not going to determine a lot of
stuff .
Hoaglun: Councilman Zaremba, did you have a comment?
Zaremba: Well, I think I'm in line with what's already being said. You know, I make a
point many times that cities are reactive. We don't create or control growth. We make
plans for how we would like to see it be balanced and how we'd like to encourage
people to go, but it's the land owner that really makes the decision and comes to us and
says they are going to do something. I was kind of thinking, you know, that maybe
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there was a way to blend all of their scenarios and say, well, even though it doesn't
match what -- what we are saying, it would still justify the correct transportation system
on the major corridors at least -- any one of these four corridors or for any one of these
four scenarios or blending all four scenarios -- certainly shows that need for continued
transportation infrastructure and the growth for that. As the other Councilmen would
say, just speaking for Meridian itself, it would be more effective to drop our
comprehensive plan into there instead of the open -- open book that we really were
given. You're right, the parameters were fit this many population in, fit this many jobs in,
and other than that there weren't very many rules and I agree with the discomfort with
that, but I do want to promote whatever gets us enough transportation infrastructure.
That's what we need as a result of this.
Hoaglun: Further comments?
Rountree: Well, I -- David's last point and I think that's important, we do need to have
the transportation system reflect what we anticipate's going to happen and I think we
have done a better job with our own comprehensive plan anticipating what's going to
happen than what the scenario -- these four scenarios do. And to me that's what we
ought to be analyzing and that's what we ought to end up at the end of the day with if --
well, enough said.
Hoaglun: And I think, Councilman Rountree, you said something very important when
you were talking earlier about taking our comprehensive plan and looking at the trends
and we work with staff, we work with the Planning and Zoning Commission, we listen to
our citizens on where the community is going, what direction growth is, where it's
happening and how it's happening and looking at trends in that direction and that's what
should be submitted and as Councilman Zaremba said, dropped -- dropped into this
thing, because that's -- that's the process is we listen to people, what's going on, and
develop it from there. And so -- and, Caleb, you guys are on top of that, you're in it
every day, and -- and put these things together, so I -- I agree with what's been said up
here, to take what we have developed and say this is -- this is what we want. And, you
know, my wagon train comment is -- is still true. I mean that's -- the transportation
corridors that exist now and that were planned in the future are going to be high growth
areas. That's -- that's the way it's been since early times, since man started traveling
and that's -- it will not change and so I know we have to look at where are those --
where those corridors should be and kind of a little chicken and egg thing, you know,
gee, am I going to buy land here because there is going to be a highway or the highway
is going in here, so I am going to buy land here, if you're looking at developing a
business or some sort of major development. So, what's existing and will expand is
certainly hot and, then, things like the Highway 16 expansion will create new corridors.
So, it's kind of a -- kind of a process here that we are familiar with, it's just a matter of
making these maps reflect that. So, was that clear as mud?
Hood: It's very clear. No, it really is. I do make just a couple of -- it sort of water under
the bridge now, but we did send -- the Mayor signed a letter and sent it to COMPASS
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before the board action to hire a consultant to go through this process and it said
essentially what you all said. Why are we doing this? You could get a consultant and
this is where I'm going to go with my comments in working with their staff is --
everybody's comprehensive plan that doesn't have a constrained year of 2040 and
figure out where that growth is going to go in the next 28 years, not -- you know, land
use designations, but where are we going to grow as a region and allocate those jobs --
use the same cap number, but figure out where is that growth going to go. Don't mess
with the land uses that the communities have planned for, but where is the next hot spot
going to be or the next few as a region. So, try to get there if we can, but, again, the
board voted, this was something that they wanted to go through this process of -- some
of them are you. So, anyways, that's where it is and --
Hoaglun: Well, we don't win all the votes all the time, so --
Hood: Yeah. So, I will carry those thoughts forward and thank you for your time today
Hoaglun: Thank you, Caleb. Well, that was 45 minutes, just so you know.
hood: I think I was only about 20, though.
C. Police Department -Code Enforcement Division: Proposed
Updates to Nuisance, Solid Waste, and Noise Codes
D. Police Department-Animal Control Division: Proposed
Updates to the Animal Control Code
Hoaglun: 7-C. Police Department. We have our next two items, in fact, the Police
Department, Code Enforcement Division and, then, Animal Control Division. So, Eric,
are you doing this one? All right. Eric Strolberg, come on up and tell us what you have
in mind today.
Strolberg: Well, Councilmen, I have two things to deal with. The first one is a nuisance
code update. That's something that comes about in the last year with my dealing with
code enforcement and we found some things in the nuisance code that we could work
to improve, so we could utilize those codes better. This will kind of divide the code in
two different areas. One would be abatable nuisance and nonabatable nuisances. It
also brings in graffiti, which we have learned that the only way we could control graffiti
by code in the past is if it was on a fence. It didn't address anything to do with buildings
or alleyways. So, I bring that in. It also brings up an illicit dumping code, which is
something didn't have in the past where if you were to discharge something out on the
street, oil, there was no code for that. And also talks about constructing sidewalks. In
the past the nuisance code had its -- a five day notice attached to it and a right to
appeal before Council and we have had good luck with the weeds and the process that
was set forward in that and dealing specifically with private property versus public
areas. So, we have tried to wrap that together with private property issues to be
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June 12, 2012
Page 32 of 41
respectful of those. Those would be abatable nuisances that would require the five day
notices. More on the public property side of things there would be specific things that
were not -- wouldn't require the five day notice and you can immediately address those,
whether it would be with a citation or abatement. And, then, there was a couple of
clean-up items for the waste -- solid waste recycled material, that was something that
was an oversight in the previous code and we needed to pick that up. And moving the
hours around in the nuisance code and noise code. That's it in a nutshell. Is there any
questions that I may answer?
Rountree: Mr. President?
Hoaglun: Councilman Rountree.
Rountree: With respect to the noise code, are our code enforcement people carrying
around instrumentation that they can actually detective noise levels at or above the
levels we have established in our ordinance?
Strolberg: Councilman Rountree, no, they don't have any specific instrumentation to do
that and the way the code's written it's very --deals with the instrument that does it, but
not anything in a decibel rating. There is nothing in the city code for decibel rating, so
we don't address that. It was more of a -- there is the city code nuisance disturbing the
peace code and they also have the same similar language for the time that it would
occur in the nuisance code, so we kind of put them together so that they mirror each
other, but it's not something that code enforcement deals with a lot in the nuisance
areas, but handled by the police department.
Rountree: Okay.
Hoaglun: Eric, I had a question on the snow removal. That is a nuisance now? It's
becoming a nuisance? I mean I know there is a requirement for snow removal, but it's
going to be in the nuisance category that if it exists and it's a nuisance and -- but do the
requirements for amount of time to get that off remain or does that change that -- the
timing?
Strolberg: Yeah. Council Hoaglun, that was, actually, in Chapter 8 was its own stand
alone chapter where the snow removal ordinance was and the language has been
brought pretty much over verbatim, but rather than going specifically into half inch or an
inch or immediately as soon as it stops snowing or any of those types of things, we
addressed it as a nuisance, because it's more broad and it also is one of the abatable
nuisances, so it will be something that you would be required to notify the person that
they need to abate it, which would give them time to comply before -- if we had
circumstance where the ice and snow stays, give them time to comply before the city is
going to step in and clear those sidewalks or do this type of thing.
Hoaglun: Which probably will work, because if we have that snowstorm overnight and
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June 12, 2012
Page 33 of 41
by mid afternoon that -- that day it probably will likely have melted off, so, you know, on
those cases, then, the nuisance has been abated, so --
Strolberg: Yeah. With a five day notice I think that's reasonable for someone to remove
it by that time. Getting keeper into it, there was some discussion about, you know, at
what point is it required to start abating? Immediately when it stops snowing or is it a
half an inch or the three inches. So, again, it's kind of a general reasonable rule that it's
a nuisance when it gets to that point and we send out a letter for the abatement.
Hoaglun: Okay. I think that will work. Thank you.
Zaremba: Mr. President?
Hoaglun: Councilman Zaremba.
Zaremba: On that one subject, I would maybe refer to ACHD and ask them -- since the
sidewalks -- maybe not people's driveways, but the sidewalks are actually in ACHD's
right of way, I know we are enforcing -- we enforce state law and we enforce county law,
even though they are in ACHD and ITD rights of way. But I think ACHD has some rules
about ice on sidewalks and since they own the right of way we might just want to look at
what they say and make sure that we are compatible with what they say.
Strolberg: Yes, Councilman. We did review that, because that was a big question that
came up and the way it come -- especially to the illicit dumping in the storm water drain,
because they do -- they own the right of ways and I have worked with Emily Kane on
that to make sure that we don't infringe on anything that Ada County does and this code
would be compliant with that.
Zaremba: Good.
Strolberg: They also have no enforcement branch with Ada County.
Zaremba: Right.
Strolberg: So -- the highway district. So, they definitely are -- work with us very closely
for these types of issues. They -- and we can't enforce their codes. So, it works hand in
hand with that and it was reviewed to make sure it was in compliance.
Zaremba: Great. Thank you.
Hoaglun: Anything else for Eric on --
Bird: I have nothing.
Hoaglun: -- this one? Okay. All right. And you have animal control as well?
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June 12, 2012
Page 34 of 41
Strolberg: Yes.
Hoaglun: All right. Go ahead into that one.
Strolberg: So, taking a different approach with the animal control revision, rather than
present that in an ordinance update, we'd like to present that as this is a discussion
item. As you see there was -- in the handout there was options -- two options in a
couple of areas. A little bit of background. The current animal control code was
updated in 2010. I don't believe the area with the vicious dog ordinance, which is what
we are specifically dealing with today, was part of that update in 2010. I believe that
that was already -- nothing was changed in that area in 2010, let's put it that way. In
this last year I have had the opportunity to work with a couple of cases that would --
came near to or could be represented as a vicious dog and what we found is the current
code had some provisions in it that we were not allowed -- we were not able to enforce,
one of which being that the person had to apply and obtain a vicious dog license, which
we don't have. Administratively we could have created the forms, created the license,
but the next step in that was that they would have to -- the dog owner would have to
obtain insurance. What we found in research is that it was not possible. So, if we have
something written in the code that they can't obtain, which would lead them not to be
able to get a vicious dog license, then,-the code doesn't work for us. There has never
been a vicious dog label or license in the city under this code either and I think part of
the reason for that is the problem with the code. So, with that said, we have three
options to look at and, again, as a discussion item from the Council today would be
which of the three different options would be -- option one would be to require the dog,
once it is declared vicious, secured in the standards and similar to what we have in
ordinance today in that we wouldn't license them per se, but they would be declared
vicious. They have the process to go through, they could appeal that to the chief of
police and, then, also appeal it to the Council. The difficulties with that is the
management of it. If we have declared dogs that are vicious, then, that falls to code
enforcement, animal control, somewhere in there to follow through with those -- the
belief by the citizens that we would be checking in on them, then, we could write
administratively into the codes more that would allow or require -- if your dog was
licensed, it would allow us to come visit, make sure that your kennel is secure and those
kinds of things. That would be a very onerous task and there would be a lot of man
hours spent on that. This second option was -- after speaking to the chief and the
deputy chief, and staff we believe it's probably the best option at this point would be to --
basically, once the dog was declared vicious that you have the 14 days and, then, you
remove it from the city or it be euthanized. Rather than bring up the point of harboring
vicious dogs in our city, let's encourage them to leave or be euthanized and that
seemed to work well with most of the scenarios as they played out when a situation like
this arises and that's most of the time what people seem to want is they don't want them
around. That would be something that would be very -- much easier to administrate
within the department and also track with animal control. The third option would be
simply removing the vicious dog element out of the code completely and addressing the
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June 12, 2012
Page 35 of 41
behavior of allowing a dog to attack and those things that we already have a code for
currently. In doing that we would be at the point where we would rise to the level of
vicious dog we would utilize the code and there is a state code that talks about vicious
dog and the definition thereof. It gives you the second or subsequent violation it says
the judge may order the dog destroyed. So, basically, one bite is free. It is a
misdemeanor, so the judge could order it as such, but it's an option on -- it's quite a step
back from where we are now. The options that we have right now don't work very well,
but it's quite a step back to go completely away from having nothing. I guess my main
points are those three options.
Hoaglun: Eric, I'm trying to remember -- the animal control officer can declare the dog
vicious, but what are the -- I can't remember what the -- what has to take place. I mean
a dog bite doesn't necessarily mean the dog is vicious, because the human could be
completely in the wrong on that -- in that situation. So, I know it's not just because a
dog bit someone. But how do they get to that point and determine is that dog vicious? I
can't recall all the details of that.
Strolberg: In the proposed draft, Councilman Hoaglun, the language is about the same
and the language is also very similar to surrounding jurisdictions and the state code.
But it talks about if an animal control officer can declare the dog as vicious, the dog's
behavior would have to fall within an unprovoked or vicious or terrorizing manner when
it approaches somebody, which doesn't necessarily mean it bites somebody and it's one
-- it's one or more of the following. It's under 626, declaration of a vicious dog. They
also have the unprovoked attack or bites another person. Entire history are
documented -- I'm kind of summarizing here.
Hoaglun: That's fine
Strolberg: And, then, any dog that's harbored or -- for the purpose of fighting or
attacking. Then, there is some exceptions that I think are very reasonable. The dog is
declared vicious if the injury sustained when the dog was being tormented or teased or
assaulted, if it occurred because someone was trespassing on their property, those
types of things. Those are the exceptions. Also law enforcement dogs. Or if the dog
was protecting or defending you. So, that's the criteria that would still be used and
internally that would obviously be reviewed by command staff. The greater part of that
is we still have the options for a person to appeal.
Hoaglun: Right. Okay. I glad -- I like those conditions. It's --those are reasonable and
allows for some -- you know, especially -- I don't have a dog anymore. For 13 years I
did and if someone came on in the middle of the night so they would have gotten bit --
even though he's chained up at the back door, but -- and, you know, that's just their
fault, not the dog's fault.
Strolberg: Yeah. You need to have reasonable provisions
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June 12, 2012
Page 36 of 41
Hoaglun: Yeah. So, definitely want those protections in place, but -- Council, other
comments?
Zaremba: Mr. President?
Hoaglun: Councilman Zaremba
Zaremba: I'm inclined to lean towards the state requirements and part of my thinking on
that is early on with the Parks Department I was aware of what -- the dog park task
force and all were doing. Out of what they were doing they discovered that probably
only a quarter or less of the dogs that probably are in the city, according to our
population, are registered in the first place. So, if people are not coming into register
their dog, I don't know how much cooperation we would get asking them to come in and
register a vicious dog.
Basterrechea: Can I respond to that?
Zaremba: Yes. Go ahead, Terry. Or Tracy.
Basterrechea: The one thing I would say is with option two that gives us the ability to go
and take that dog. Right now we do not have that ability and we have run into that
problem where we had a vicious dog, but under the current ordinance we can't actually
go onto the property to see if that dog is still there and taken that dog. We actually tried
to get a search warrant written and we couldn't get it, because the code doesn't cover
that. Under the state code you have to realize if you have a terrible dog bite they still
get one freebie and we have got to explain that to the victims of a three year old little kid
who had its face halfway torn off, well, they get one freebie before we can really take
any action. That's why we are really leaning towards option two where we can say that
dog can't even come in the city and if we get it in the city we will take the dog.
Zaremba: I can see the sense to that. Thank you.
Hoaglun: Yeah. That makes sense. And especially -- I don't know if the state code
gets into the details like our code gets into in terms of how that animal control officer will
determine and the reasonable situation was and those types of things. So, I -- it's just --
and oftentimes state law can't get into that stuff, they just don't, it's alittle -- a little
broader. So, I much prefer having the opportunity for us to take that dog, to euthanize,
to have it moved out of the city Ithink -- was that option two? Was that part of option
two?
Strolberg: Yes.
Hoaglun: Was to euthanize or take it out of the city and I think that
Bird: I'm for that.
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June 12, 2012
Page 37 of 41
Hoaglun: Any -- I think we are in agreement on that. After that explanation,
Councilman Zaremba?
Zaremba: Yeah. Thank you.
Hoaglun: Okay. Okay. So, I guess you got an answer for that, Eric.
Strolberg: No, that was -- that was it. Under F on the -- page 11 would be the basic
language for that, which talks about the process after what we discussed of how it
would be declared, the criteria to get it declared -- the criteria to get is declared vicious
and, then, the second -- I'm sorry. The second option, that's the bottom one, would talk
about the 14 days and, then, that would give the time for appeal and, then, the fact that
it could be -- could be harbored and that would also allow us to season impact, so that
would be the draft language.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Rountree: I agree with that.
Hoaglun: Sounds good. Great. Thank you, Eric.
Strolberg: Thanks very much.
E. Public Works Department Report: Draft Memorandum of
Agreement with City of Boise and Ada County for Sharing
Countywide GIS Dataset
Hoaglun: All right. 7-E. Public Works Department. Warren? Who is -- oh.
Zaremba: Mr. President, before we move on --
Hoaglun: Yes. Councilman Zaremba.
Zaremba: The process is that that comes back to us as an ordinance from the legal
department and --
Strolberg: Yes. We will clean up the language and bring it back.
Zaremba: Thank you.
Stewart: Robin is going to do the presentation for Public Works.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thanks, Robin. Welcome.
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June 12, 2012
Page 38 of 41
Jack: Thanks. Thanks for having me. So, I just -- I'm just here before you -- I have
been serving on a COMPASS committee for the last several years called the regional
geographic advisory committee and one of the goals of the committee is to work on GIS
data sets that can be shared across both Canyon county and Ada County and that data
can be used for -- from the stuff that you have seen with the planning -- transportation
plans. If we work cooperatively with our data at all it gives people the opportunity for
better analysis . So, this is the beginning of working on a data set that we have been
working on or addresses for both counties and I came before you quite some time ago
and we kind of touched bases on some of the street naming issues around addresses
and this is the next step to get a memorandum of agreement between these agencies
that we are sharing and working with on this data. And I'm just coming before you not to
ask for a signature on this today, but just so it will give you time to review it and this will
be presented with -- to Boise city and Ada County and, then, by the GIS managers for
each of those entities. And if they choose to sign it, then, this would come back to you
on a Consent Agenda. So, that's kind of what I'm here for. So, I have been working on
this memorandum of agreement with Emily Kane for the last few weeks and she's not
with other GIS staff from Ada County and Boise city and they have all reviewed this and
agreed with the -- the memorandum. So, I'm going to kind of briefly give you the bullet
points of what the agreement says, even though I know that you can read it yourself if
you would like. And I'm not an attorney, so if there is any true legal questions I'm going
let Bill answer those. So, the bullet points of this memorandum is that it authorizes the
city staff to disclose the information to the city of Boise and to Ada County GIS staff, as
well as to Compass and other utilities that are subject to the applicable laws. It
authorizes GIS staff to disclose this information to the public pursuant to public records
request, subject to legal descriptions and under cover of language limiting the use of the
information disclosed. It also protects the staff by requiring that a uniform disclaimer
accompany the publically disclosed information. It acknowledges the provisions of the
Public Records Act that says a government agency cannot disclose a list that will be
used as a mailing or a phone list. It also disallows the disclosure of sensitive
information, including address points that would jeopardize public safety. It protects the
city from liability for problems that may arise due to errors in the data.
Hoaglun: Robin, on that public safety, is that -- I guess how broad does that go? What
was that --
Jack: That is in there because there is one piece of information that's attached to the
addresses and for certain addresses we have well houses, we have lift stations, we
have some of our utility infrastructure and so what has been agreed upon is that those --
that piece of information that gives that specific utility information, that would be taken
out before that would be distributed to the public, but it would be left in for emergency
services. So, this data could go to dispatch. It is currently being used in the police RNS
systems and in the ITF system and it will be available to anyone who needs it, that is
using it for that particular purpose.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you.
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June 12, 2012
Page 39 of 41
Jack: Is there any other questions or comments?
Hoaglun: Council, any other questions?
Bird: No.
Rountree: I have none.
Hoaglun: Have none?
Zaremba: Sounds good to me.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Bird: Sounds great.
Jack: Great. Thank you very much.
Hoaglun: Thank you, Robin.
Item 8: Future Meeting. Topics
Hoaglun: We are to Item No. 8, Future Meeting Topics. Council, anything for future
meetings that you want to cover?
Bird: I don't have anything.
Rountree: I have nothing.
Item 9: Other Items
A. Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(a)(f): (a)
To Consider Hiring A Public Officer, Employee, Staff Member
Or Individual Agent, Wherein The Respective Qualities Of
Individuals Are To Be Evaluated In Order To Fill A Particular
Vacancy Or Need. This Paragraph Does Not Apply To Filling A
Vacancy In An Elective Office Or Deliberations About Staffing
Needs In General, and (f) To Consider and Advise Its Legal
Representatives in Pending Litigation
Hoaglun: Okay. Item 9-A is Executive Session. Do we have a motion to go into
Executive Session?
Bird: Mr. President?
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 12, 2012
Page 40 of 41
Hoaglun: Councilman Bird.
Bird: I move we go into Executive Session as Idaho State Code 67-2345(1)(fl, (1)(fl.
Rountree: Second.
Hoaglun: We have a motion and a second to go into Idaho -- into Executive Session.
Madam Clerk, would you, please, call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
Hoaglun: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Hoaglun: We are adjourned into Executive Session.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:22 p.m. to 6:20 p.m.)
Zaremba: Move to adjourn Executive Session.
Rountree: Second.
Hoaglun: Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Zaremba: Move to adjourn the meeting.
Rountree: Second.
Hoaglun: Motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor say aye.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:20 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
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Meridian City Council Workshop
June 12, 2012