HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-09-11~~E IDIAN:---
CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP
MEETING AGENDA
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at 3:00 PM
1. Roll-Call Attendance
X David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun
O Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Adoption of the Agenda Adopted
4. Consent Agenda Approved (Pg 2-3)
A. Approve Minutes of July 17, 2012 City Council PreCouncil
Meeting
B. Approve Minutes of August 28, 2012 City Council PreCouncil
Meeting
C. Approve Minutes of August 28, 2012 City Council Regular
Meeting
D. Approve Minutes of September 4, 2012 City Council Regular
Meeting
E. Memorandum of Agreement with City of Boise and Ada County
for Shared Use of Countywide Address Data
F. Approval of Award of Bid and Authorize the Purchasing
Manager to Issue and Sign a Purchase Order for "900 MHZ
SCADA Radios to Applied Technology Group" for aNot-To-
Exceed Amount for $52,592.00
G. Storm drain Easement with Ada County Highway District
(ACRD) for the Meridian Parks and Recreation Maintenance
Facility
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, September 11, 2012 Page 1 of 3
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.
5. Items Moved From Consent Agenda None
6. Department Reports
A. Police Department: Strategic Plan Update (Pg3-10)
B. Mayor's Office: Resolution No. 12-869: Re-Appointing Robert
Corrie to Seat 2 and Cheryl Caldwell to Seat 3 of the Solid
Waste Advisory Commission Approved (Pg 10-11)
C. Mayor's Office: Resolution No. 12-870: Re-Appointing Matt
Stoll to Seat 7 and Kent Goldthorpe to Seat 8 of the Parks and
Recreation Commission Approved (Pg 10-11)
D. Community Development: Energy Grant Completion (Pg 11-
13)
E. Legal / Community Development / Public Works / Parks
Department Report: Downtown Core Sidewalk Facility
Standards Update - Proposed Draft Title 8, Chapter 1
Ordinance and Proposed City of Meridian Improvement
Standards (Pg 13-16)
F. Purchasing Department: Update of Construction Review
Committee Findings and Recommendations (Pg 16-20)
G. Legal Department: Discussion Regarding Standard Operating
Policy and Procedure Number 4.3.1. Leave Pool for Family
Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Qualifying Event (Pg 20-23)
H. City Clerk: Discussion on Process for Approving Alcohol
Related Licensing and Permits (Pg 23-25)
I. City Clerk: Discussion on Update to City Clerk's Fee Schedule
(Pg 25-29)
J. Legal Department: Discussion and Resolution No. 12-871:
Declaring the Intent of the City of Meridian to Convey to the
Ada County Highway District for Right of Way Purposes a
Portion of Certain Real Property Located at 1700 E. Lanark
Street, Meridian, Idaho; Instructing the City Clerk to Establish
and Notice a Hearing to Review the Proposed Conveyance;
and Providing an Effective Date Approved (Pg 29-30)
7. Future Meeting Topics None
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, September 11, 2012 Page 2 of 3
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.
Adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, September 11, 2012 Page 3 of 3
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 September 11, 2012
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:00 p.m., Tuesday,
September 11, 2012, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, David Zaremba, Keith Bird, and Brad
Hoaglun.
Members Absent: Charlie Rountree.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Bruce Chatterton, Pete Friedman, Bill
Parsons, Warren Stewart, Steve Siddoway, Jeff Lavey, Mike de St. Germain, Keith
Watts, Mark Niemeyer, and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun
Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: Okay. I will go ahead and call the regular meeting or workshop for City
Council to order. For the record it is Tuesday, September 11th. It's two minutes after
3:00. We will start with the roll call attendance, Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Well, the date is September 11th and certainly that puts new meaning or
extra meaning behind the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will 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: A couple things to note on the agenda. Under Item 6, Department Reports,
6-B is resolution number 12-869. 6-C is resolution number 12-870. 6-J is resolution
number 12-871. So, with those noted, Madam Mayor, I move adoption of the agenda
as printed.
Zaremba: Second
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 2 of 30
De Weerd: I have a motion and second to adopt the agenda as printed. All those in
favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 4: Consent Agenda
A. Approve Minutes of July 17, 2012 City Council PreCouncil
Meeting
B. Approve Minutes of August 28, 2012 City Council PreCouncil
Meeting
C. Approve Minutes of August 28, 2012 City Council Regular
Meeting
D. Approve Minutes of September 4, 2012 City Council Regular
Meeting
E. Memorandum of Agreement with City of Boise and Ada County
for Shared Use of Countywide Address Data
F. Approval of Award of Bid and Authorize the Purchasing
Manager to Issue and Sign a Purchase Order for "900 MHZ
SCADA Radios to Applied Technology Group" for aNot-To-
Exceed Amount for $52,592.00
G. Storm drain Easement with Ada County Highway District
(ACRD) for the Meridian Parks and Recreation Maintenance
Facility
De Weerd: Item 4 is the Consent Agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move approval of the Consent Agenda and the Mayor be authorized to sign
and the Clerk to attest.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Madam
Clerk, will you, please call roll.
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 3 of 30
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 5: Items Moved From Consent Agenda
De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 6: Department Reports
A. Police Department: Strategic Plan Update
De Weerd: We will move to Item No. 6 under Department Reports. We have the chief
here with us to give their strategic plan update from the Police Department.
Lavey: Madam Mayor, Council, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. As you
alluded to it in the Pledge of Allegiance I would just like to offer this slide before I start
my presentation today. As you know this morning we did a 911 ceremony for our fallen
brothers and sisters in police, fire, EMS, and in the military service who have given the.
ultimate sacrifice and we'd just like to recognize the fact that they have not been
forgotten. And as my colleague asked me from the fire services earlier today about
whether I had put in a slide on the Fire Department as we try to one up each other, I
think he was a little paranoid that I was going to put something bad. But this was sent
to me from a colleague from the national academy from their ceremony that they did
today in Arizona and at first I put the slide in there because I saw the fire engines and,
then, I realized that there is police cars to the left and to the right of the engines and
going along with our partnership that the police and fire share, I just thought it was an
appropriate picture, especially for the date today. You want to object?
Niemeyer: No objections, Madam Mayor.
Lavey: Now, Mayor and Council, the other thing that my colleagues have been asking
me today is how long is your presentation going to be. I think they looked at the agenda
and realized it was probably going to be a pretty short Council meeting and they were
worried that the chief was going to talk for an hour or an hour and a half. I will tell you
that my presentation is approximately one half of what Public Works usually is and it's
20 slides. But out of those 20 slides only about 15 of them have substance. Really the
purpose today is just to give you an update of what's going on in the Police Department
and, then, give Council an opportunity to ask questions. But first I need to brag a little
bit about the department. It's because of the men and women that work for the police
department that their demonstrations, their pride and professionalism they display to our
community is what equally makes me successful and I can tell you that I would not
survive without them and really the thanks and the gratitude goes to the men and
women that work for the Police Department. About the team. As Meridian has rapidly
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 4 of 30
grown over the years I can tell you that when I came to Meridian there was, in 1997,
approximately 31,000 people and I was the 34th police officer. Today you have 87
police officers serving the community, 24 support members, and four part-time
members, which make up 115 employees in the Police Department. We are broke
down into four major divisions. Administration, patrol, criminal investigations, and
community services. Your command staff is made up of myself, Deputy Chief Tracy
Basterrechea, Lieutenant John Overton oversees community services, Lieutenant Scott
Colaiani -- Scoot. I just saw that. We call him Scooter. And he's not here to hear it.
Uniform patrol. Lieutenant Jamie Leslie in uniform patrol. And, then, Lieutenant Mike
de St. Germain who is sitting to my right in investigations. Give you a little update on
staff allocations. We currently have one open animal control position that we are getting
ready to interview for. We have two open patrol positions. Out of those open patrol
positions I have offered a conditional job offer to a lateral from Owyhee county. He
accepted and I just got word from HR that he's going to start on the -- I wrote the 25th,
but I believe he's going to start on the 24th. And one patrol position is in the
background process. It's an individual lateral officer from California. And, then, one
position has not been posted yet. Out of all the other positions they are currently filled.
Included in a packet I put at your workstation I provided some crime rates, crime
statistics. I provided the 2011 yearly statistics and I have provided the first half of 2012
crime statistics and the one thing that really stuck out was that crime against persons is
down approximately 1.2 percent and that Meridian continues to -- continues to maintain
a low crime rate within our community. As you go through those numbers if there is
specific questions you may have either from today's presentation or later on feel free to
just shoot me an a-mail or ask me when you see me. These are the types of crimes
that we deal with. These are the number one -- or top few is property and society
crimes. Crimes against society are the drug-type crimes, the DUI-type crimes. But
theft, DUI, simple assault, which is usually out of domestic. Drugs and DUI are the most
common crimes that we respond to within our city. The impact team. You have heard
me talk about this probably in the past and this is probably one of our -- my proudest
units. They are all equally special, but this one was a -- an implemented team that --
kind of a new strategy that we put together to provide proactive problem solving and
proactive enforcement within our community. This was implemented in October of 2001
after we received a federal grant for a hundred percent of officer wages for three years.
Out of that unit we have the four officers, plus a sergeant, a corporal, and a crime
analysis person -- crime analysis person assigned to that unit. To date -- oh, let me
back up just a minute. In your packet you will also have some -- some Impact Team
statistics from September to April of 2012, then, I also have some additional updates
here of what we have done since April. But to date the Impact Team has far exceeded
the expectations of the Police Department. They have served 26 search warrants, they
have made 171 arrests, recovered approximately 54,000 dollars in property, seized 50
pounds of marijuana and have seized approximately 15,000 dollars in cash. Also this
past weekend they were also able to shut down a jewelry and precious metals coin
buying operation where the guy decided he didn't want to follow the Meridian rules. We
made contact with him several times before he finally got the idea that he might want to
leave town. I apologize now to Caldwell, because that's where he went. Since April of
2012 we have recovered approximately 19,000 dollars in prescription medications,
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 5 of 30
18,000 dollars in marijuana, 13,000 dollars in Methamphetamines, asmall amount of
heroin, and a small amount of bath salts. So, I believe it goes without saying that our
Impact Team is successful. I want to talk a little bit about what's happening within the
Police Department. For several years we had apart-time bicycle unit. The bicycle unit
was made up of SROs in our schools on summer vacation, so we would put -- split
them up, put some in investigations, put some on bicycles during the summer vacation.
They were so successful that we saw a need that maybe we should have bicycle units
out there full time and this year we have actually been able to implement afull-time
bicycle program. So, they will run approximately the same time frame that our
motorcycles run. There will probably be about six weeks to eight weeks out of the year
that they will not be out there because of inclement weather. Other than that they will
be out there at all times. A couple things for the community, just to announce. The
Public Safety Day that we have done every October for the last several years will be
coming. Chief Niemeyer, do we have a date for that yet? I put to be announced,
because him and Iwere -- our staff hadn't told us what the date was yet, so as we get
that we will publicize it in our newsletter and others. And, then, I had to go -- I put this
stat in there because I can hardly believe this, but we are going to be starting our 11th
public safety academy in the spring. Time goes by real fast.
De Weerd: And if you haven't taken it, we would encourage you to sign up.
Lavey: And it's free. A few other things. With the Council approval of the part-time
volunteer position, moving into full-time for FY-13, we are implementing our volunteer
park patrol program and if Council recalls and others -- and the audience may not recall
-- really what we are doing is we are going to put citizen volunteers within our parks to
be our eyes and ears to provide feedback to both the Parks Department and to the
Police Department as far as happenings that are going on and really to kind of act as an
ambassador to the city while they are in the parks as well, making sure people know
where they need to go and what the rules are and such. Barbara Hatch is actively
recruiting. In fact, today at Coffee With The Mayor I saw a poster that she was seeking
recruits even this morning. You have heard us talk about ITS in the past. ITS stands
for Incident Tracking System. This is an in-house report writing program that was
written by Mike Tanner with our IT Department and I will put the pitch in now, we cannot
lose Mike. He has been phenomenal in what he has done for not only the city in
general, but as the Police Department. But Mike Tanner wrote a report writing program
where a vender had quoted us approximately 600,000 dollars to sell us one and Mike
wrote that. What's unique about that is that we now share that same program with Ada
County and with Boise police and so all three agencies are operating on the same
report writing system and have the same access to all records. As I mentioned I believe
during the budget process we had put together a proposal to have an interface between
our records system -- I mean report writing system and our records management
system. Excuse me. New World is a third -- is another vendor that provides our
records management system and we have started to write a program where the two of
them will actually talk with each other. This significance about that is once you put the
data into one, you don't have to enter it ever again, it transfers to the next -- next
program. Then I want to talk a little bit about the e-ticketing mobilization. We had
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 6 of 30
attained a grant from the Office of Highway Safety to start an electronic ticketing
program and, essentially, what this is a paperless ticket program -- mostly paperless
and I'll explain in just a moment. This grant was 80 percent funded. However, they had
-- we saved them so much money they pretty much covered all of the cost. We didn't
have to use the match. Oh, let me back up to the ITS interface system. The city had
approved approximately 27,000 dollars for that interface, which was one-third of the
cost. I went back and found that I still had monies for a grant that I had not spent and it
totaled about 26,000 dollars. So, I think it's only going to cost the city about 1,000 or
1,200 dollars for that interface. Back to the e-ticketing. We had been testing those for
several months and traffic unit has been operating with it for the last several weeks and,
then, just this week we have started training so the entire department will be on the
e-ticketing program. The way this works is that it's tied into our records management
system, tied into our computer system and we have a scanner in the car that scans the
bar code on the back of the ticket, captures everything that's on that card and puts it
onto the computer. The officer can go onto the computer with a mouse and make a
couple little clicks as far as citation code, everything else -- fines and everything else is
built into it, populates the entry and it prints out a paper copy that kind of looks like a
Costco receipt. It's about that long and that is what the violator is given and there is no
other paper on that process. What's unique about that is once the officer gets back to
the station the wireless system automatically downloads that information into our
records system, which, then, downloads it into the iStar system, which is the, state court
system. There is no data entry on the part of city staff. There is no data entry on the
part of Ada County staff to get into the iStar system. The unique thing about that is that
we also can do crashes through e-ticketing and we are finding that we are writing tickets
on crashes and we are getting calls from the prosecutor asking where is the report and
the officers are still on the scene of the crash. That's how fast it is transferring the data
now. The nice thing about it is it's not only us cutting back on the paper, but it also cuts
back on errors in data entry. So, that should be up and running real fast. I can tell you
that the fastest ticket is 47 seconds right now. So, hopefully, we won't see an increase
in tickets, that's not the point, but that just illustrates how simple this system is. Some
process improvements within the police department. Last year at the budget process I
asked for an enhancement to revamp our policy manual and I was expecting this to be
about a six or eight month process, excuse me, but it's been delayed by a couple
months. Part of that has to do with the lieutenant that was in charge of the project
decided to break his leg while skiing, but the other part of it is we have not revamped
our policy manual for multiple years and the nice thing about this one is we can call it
ours. It's not one that we have inherited, it's not one that we have patch worked
together, it is our policy manual. It's been about a year long process by the time we
finish next month. The nice thing about it is that it coincides with state accreditation. I
sit on the state accreditation board for the police department in Idaho -- or the police
association in Idaho and one of the embarrassing things for me is that I sit on this
committee, yet my department is not accredited. So, we have worked really hard to get
this done and we anticipate that will be completed by spring of 2013. Really part of the
delay there is you have to implement some of these policies and follow some of these
policies in order to be accredited for them and so I can't get accredited at the same
time, because we haven't implemented the policies yet. This is one of the -- one of our
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 7 of 30
proud moments as we have a current plan to -- I put in here partnerships between code
enforcement and community development and we have really had that partnership for a
long time. With the joining of that department and it being one entity we felt that it would
be beneficial to get the leaders of the police department code enforcement and
community development together to really strategize how to improve, how to become
more efficient, to be proactively compliant and -- and proactive in enforcement and we I
believe are scheduled to meet in the morning on that one. I know it was delayed once
because of something, but I believe the meeting is at 10:30 tomorrow morning to work
on being better. I was going to talk just briefly -- I know that ought to be a surprise, but
it is briefly on the training center. There has been a lot of developments on partnerships
with ISP, with POST, some of the things that they are doing as far as some property
purchases, some strategizing between the city and them. The Mayor and I recently met
with some -- another potential partner and made a proposal to them to maybe join us.
They have to do some penciling some numbers and everything else and really have
given them a deadline of -- of March. Come March of 2013 it really is kind of the drop
dead date where we need to really decide what direction we are going to go. So,
sometime between now and March of 2013 I will probably come in front of Council and
give you an idea of where we are sitting and where we propose to go or not go. I
believe -- this may be one of the last slides and the purpose is is this may -- it may
generate some discussion, but first I wanted to tell you that our animal shelter that we
currently, have within the City_of Meridian is too small. We have outgrown it. We are
also in the process of -- I won't say being evicted, but it's definitely in the -- in the way of
the site plan for the Public Works Department to expand the facility out there. I know
with the current expansions I think we are taking up parking space, but eventually we
are also going to be taking up building space. So, we have really been trying to figure
out where do we go, where do we head. But first I want to tell you that we could not do
what we do without the citizen volunteers that we have out there. We have
approximately 70 volunteers at any given time and when you calculate the hours that
they put into that facility it would equate to about seven full-time positions for the City of
Meridian. Now, the problem that we have had is that we get a lot of people that get
burned out and it's a constant struggle to keep good people out there. It's a constant
struggle to keep that shelter running. So, the question is what do we do for the future.
One of the things that the Mayor and I and the police staff have done is gotten together
and kind of strategized some things to possibly do, but we really have come to the
understanding -- the agreement, I guess, or kind of leading toward the fact that it doesn't
make any sense to build a new shelter if IHS is going to build a new shelter, which they
have talked about. Idaho Humane Society. IHS. So, trying to get a commitment out of
them, we have a rough idea of what their plans are, what their thoughts are, but -- or
visions are I should say, but it really all is based upon fundraising and community
support. So, I wouldn't see a new facility anytime soon, but once they do build a new
facility I would say that that facility is -- there is a great chance that it's going to be right
near or in Meridian, which would not make any sense for us to have one and for them to
have one. The other thing that we have done in the negotiations with our discussions
with them is based on the current number of dogs that we take in, IHS has current
space for. So, they could take us over today -- it really just comes down to dollars and
cents. One thing in our discussions is that if they were to take over shelter duties they
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 8 of 30
would also like to have control of the animal control part of it, too, to be as efficient as
possible and -- and do all of it. They gave me about six months before they would --
they would feel comfortable in giving me some numbers and stuff and so I throw that out
there, a possibility of outsourcing IHS. One of the things that you have to look at is that
we probably do it cheaper right now, but we only do it cheaper because we have seven
full-time positions that we don't pay for. In order to be efficient and effective we really
need to do something, whether it's outsourcing or whether we do it in-house and I dare
mention this, but I will mention this, is that if we did outsource it they would do cats,
which I know is a hot topic of discussion a couple times --
De Weerd: Maybe we should have a leash law.
Lavey: A couple times a year. We will have one as soon as we find someone else to
outsource it. That is the conclusion today with what I wanted to talk about, some of the
happenings going on in the Police Department. I open it up for any questions that
Council may have, any comments Council may have, either what was discussed today
or anything else that you would like.
De Weerd: Thank you, chief. Council, any questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: I don't have a question, I just want to compliment the chief and his staff for the
way they have conducted business and taken care of watching the community in rough
economic times, it makes it tougher on you guys. I just want to thank you and all your
employees for a well done job in my opinion.
Lavey: Thank you. I will pass that onto them.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I would add to that that as I talk to people out in the community there is a
great deal of respect for our police department and they appreciate the way that the
department works and the attitude of the people they run into and it's going great.
Lavey: As much as I would like to think that we are perfect I know that we are not, but I
do appreciate those comments. Thank you.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 9 of 30
Hoaglun: Not getting off so easy with me. No. What they have said is very true. We
have some great -- great police officers, great city employees, and really appreciate
what they do. Just to bring up the topic, because I just want to get your feedback with
our police dogs and training facility also doubling as a dog park, how are we doing with
that. Still a struggle? Sorry. I had to ask.
Lavey: Madam Mayor, Council, I was going to put a slide in there that said dog park
and I decided not to, because it had been quiet and it seemed like it was going fairly
well and I didn't want to bring up any controversy that wasn't there. But I will share with
you that the dog park is on a piece of property that is adjacent to the police department
that will someday not be there, it's a part of the expansion of the facility and there has
been a lot of rumors out there about when that's going happen and somebody decided
to go post signs up that said this dog park is closing and contact the Parks Department
and voice your complaints. Now, I accused Scooter Scott Colaiani of that -- that sign,
but he was in Italy at the time, so it wasn't him. It's not working well, because the
intended purpose of the space was to train the police dogs. Anytime we make any
adjustments or close the park it involves complaints and we have decided that it's just
not worth using that space anymore for the canine facility, because it generates
complaints. So, as a dog park it is working quite well. For the intended original purpose
it's not working well. I will also tell you that we had a federal grant that purchased about
15,000 dollars in physical agility equipment for the canines and for canine competitions.
Those are still sitting in the crate, because I have no place to set them up. So, it's
working. It's not working the best, but it's working.
Hoaglun: Okay. Different question, Madam Mayor and chief. What is accreditation?
You talked about that and different things. What does accreditation do for us? Can you
give me some examples or -- I mean these guys are a good department, they operate
very well, will we operate even better or what does it do for us?
Lavey: You know, really it comes down to a sense of pride and you can say that we
have adopted a certain set of standards and we follow those standards. These are the
standards that leaders in the community agree that this is the best practices and that we
follow those best practices. It talks about uses of force, it talks about missions, and all
those -- equipment and those sort of things. So, it really comes down to a sense of
pride. When it comes down to a sense of liability, you can actually say that we are
operating in a manner for which has been adopted as the best practices for the state or
for the region or whatever else. It's not really going to have any significant liability
savings, but it may have something -- some savings in fiscal risk management down the
road. There is several types of accreditation. One is CALEA standards and, forgive
me, I forget what CALEA stands for, but it's based upon about 400 different sets of
criteria, including what color your police department is, what color -- what -- how many
shrubs you have out front and everything else and it involves about 11 or 12 thousand
dollars and so the state of Idaho recognized that, you know, it's not about how many
trees we have planted out front and it's not about what color the building is, it really
comes down to substance about do we have plans in place to deal with emergencies,
do we have rules in place and policies in place on proper procedures and arrests and
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 10 of 30
those sort of things and so they dwindled it down to about a hundred standards that we
must follow in the state and these are really kind of the most important standards and
the key thing is they have done it for less than 400 dollars for five years. So, it really
comes down to a fiscal management sense. You can go through a lot of hardships and
a lot of money to get CALEA and be nationally accredited, but on a state level we can
do it much much cheaper. But it really comes down to a sense of pride, a sense of
quality mainly and that it might have some sort of risk management impact lesson that's
down the road.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you, chief.
De Weerd: Anything further from Council? Thank you, chief.
Lavey: But the tough questions come then. Thank you.
B. Mayor's Office: Resolution No. 12-869: Re-Appointing Robert
Corrie to Seat 2 and Cheryl Caldwell to Seat 3 of the Solid
Waste Advisory Commission
C. Mayor's Office: Resolution No. 12-870: Re-Appointing Matt
Stoll to Seat 7 and Kent Goldthorpe to Seat 8 of the Parks and
Recreation Commission
De Weerd: And those will come from Ralph. Okay. Our next item is Item B and C.
Council, you do have two resolutions in front of you to reappoint members to our Solid
Waste Advisory Commission, as well as two seats to our Parks Commission. On the
Solid Waste Advisedly Commission both are returning, that's why it says reappointing.
Cheryl Caldwell was the most recently added member and Bob Corrie has been on
there for several years. I would entertain any questions on Item 6-B.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move approval of resolution number 12-869, reappointing Bob Corrie to seat
two and Cheryl Caldwell to seat three of the Solid Waste Advisory Commission.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 6-B. Madam Clerk, roll call.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 11 of 30
De Weerd: Item No. 6-C, as you know I just had appointed Kent Goldthorpe. His seat
was up just a couple of months later, but they are both interested and eager to serve.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move approval of resolution number 12-870, reappointing Matt Stoll to Seat
seven and Kent Goldthorpe to seat eight of the Parks and Recreation Commission.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 6-C. Madam Clerk, roll call,
please.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT.
D. Community Development: Energy Grant Completion
De Weerd: Item 6-D is under Community Development and you have an update on the
energy grant and that it's been completed. So, Pete, I'll turn this over to you.
Friedman: Thank you. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Yes. I'm happy to
report that our seven energy grant projects have been completed. As you know, the city
was the recipient 608,000 dollars in energy efficiency block grant funds. To date we
have expended 606,678 dollars of those funds. We have until September 24th of this
month to complete the projects and those projects are done. The thing left ahead of us
now will be going through the Department of Energy close out process, which I don't
think we would be able to do without all the help that we have had from Todd and Jenny
in Finance. They have been real -- real good partners in this. There is just a lot of
reporting and a lot of numbers that flow back and forth and we couldn't have done it
without them. What I wanted to say is that while we left a little money on the table,
that's okay, because as you will see in a moment in my presentation we have managed
to leverage these grant funds and squeeze out another 146,000 dollars in favor of the
city through the projects that we have undertaken and that's primarily been through the
Idaho Power rebate program. Most of the projects the public aren't going to notice. I
mean they are not going to notice the motion sensors in the fire stations. They might
notice the -- replacing the light elements along Main Street, but probably not. However,
one -- and particularly one big bang for the buck was the replacement of the turbo
blowers out at the treatment plant. That was huge and the savings are just -- I mean we
are starting to realize now -- and I will share that in a moment -- that is a huge savings
Meridian City Council Workshop
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Page 12 of 30
for the city. So, all in all we tried to spread the funding around the city departments on
seven different projects giving everybody a little bit of each and I think it's been a -- you
know, we talked about stewardship, well, it's been not only stewardship of resources,
but I think a stewardship of wise use of our public dollars and being able to leverage
those and put it back into some of the city programs. So, it's hard to believe that it's
been three years to get to this point, it just has flown by, but -- particular since we were
kind of late out of the blocks, but once we got going we got going. So, as you know we
started -- hired a consultant to develop our long range energy efficiency conservation
strategy and in that we went through a process where we identified 31 total projects for
consideration. Council ultimately picked seven that we were going to use these grant
funds for. There were a number of criteria we employed and I will just start in no
particular priority. This was the last project completed and this was the recondition of
the police department building. The cost is 120,000 dollars. We anticipate the pay back
would be 12 to 13 years, although we are in the process of putting through the
paperwork fora 12,000 dollar Idaho Power incentive. One of the big advantages for this
is the contractor was Climatec, which was the same contractor that helped us out with
our HVAC system here, so we have a similar system over there, so now all our systems
talk to one another, we don't have multiple systems. Eric can monitor all of them, we
have familiarity with them, that was a big advantage, both from an operational
standpoint and since it's such a new project Ican't -- I don't have much anecdotal
evidence. One of the things the consultant said all along was, yeah, you might achieve
some efficiencies over there, but more than that you will achieve more operational and,
hopefully, I don't know, better comfort for the employees in the police department. But,
again, we have just come through the end of the cooling season, we will see how it
works during the heating season. The next one, as I mentioned, was the replacement
of the light elements in the light standards along Meridian Road -- I'm sorry. I should
say Main Street to Fairview. A hundred and seventy-five new light elements were
installed at a cost of 33,000 dollars. We are anticipating an annual dollar savings of
6,000 dollars a year, but the other benefit is the lifespan of these new types of light
elements. Whereas before the old fixtures were having a life span of about five years,
we are projecting a lifespan of 11 years. So, there is maintenance savings there. We
also were able to pick up some savings with the contractor, so we not only replaced the
lights along Main Street, we actually replaced all the light elements in the City Hall
courtyard. So, those have been included with this project. We changed out the light
switches and motion sensors in all fire stations, as well as the fire safety center.
Savings are so far -- again, most of these projects are so new, so the savings, as we
are starting to track them, are about 1,900 dollars a year. We did receive 5,200 dollars
back from Idaho Power in incentives for this project. This is probably the one where the
public will actually see something that was done with this money. We -- we spent
52,000 dollars for designing the segment of the Five Mile Creek pathway between Ten
Mile and Linder and we spent about 12,000 dollars actually connecting the Fothergill
pathway up there near the Fothergill Subdivision. So, that was a physical improvement
right there and we also now have construction documents that will allow us to move
forward with that section of the Five Mile Creek pathway. And this was, again, the really
big ticket item, this was the replacement of equipment out at the sewage treatment plant
with turbo blowers, getting rid of some of those old inefficient pumps and getting these.
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
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The cost of just the blowers alone was about 280,000 dollars. The grant provided
175,000. Idaho Power is contributing 125,000 to that through an incentive program.
Just initially we are starting to see that it's already saving over 2,000 dollars a month
and there are still getting operational out there. I talked to Clint Dolsby the other day,
they finally just finished programming what they need to program, the software on the
actual pumps, so they can actually monitor how much energy they are using with those
pumps. But that was -- that was the big ticket item in terms of not only cost for a single
project, but the largest savings, because, of course, the wastewater treatment plant is
our biggest consumer of electricity and natural gas. We also changed out the lighting at
the wastewater treatment plant. They had old fixtures and so forth. We installed 37
new fixtures. They put in 59 motion sensors. They also replaced a couple of exterior
lights and, again, based on the paperwork that we put through to Idaho Power, the
anticipated cost savings would be about 1,700 dollars a year. We did received a check
from Idaho Power for 3,600 dollars. So, the incentive (mentioned -- we have 12,000
pending for the police department. We received 5,700 for the fire station. If you
incorporate the 125,000 that Idaho Power is going to kick in for the turbo blowers and,
then, the 3,600 dollars for the lighting at the wastewater treatment plant, we have
managed to leverage that to be about 146,000 dollars. Of that amounf 21,000 of it will
actually go back into the city funds and the 125,000 will go towards the turbo blowers.
So, what's next? So, we have a spreadsheet of projects that are included in the energy
strategy that Council, adopted by resolution and so I expect that next year come budget.
time and CIP time we will probably want to take that out. A large number of these
projects will fall on Public Works, but we probably will want to dust this thing off, take a
look at it, it is intended to be -- well, now it's a seven year plan, it was supposed to be a
ten year plan, and see what -- you know, what we can do to further increase, you know,
our energy conservation program in the city. So, with that I'm happy to answer any
questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Pete. Any questions from Council?
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
De Weerd: No? I would like to extend our thanks, but as you have mentioned it was a
ten year plan, it was executed, we didn't hear any problems so to speak. But I
appreciate the execution and probably at some point it needs to be updated on some of
those projects that were identified that were not able to cover in the grant and see how
we want to have a conversation about looking at what's next.
Friedman: Be happy to set that up, Madam Mayor, and probably get a couple of the
affected departments involved.
E. Legal /Community Development/ Public Works /Parks
Department Report: Downtown Core Sidewalk Facility
Standards Update -Proposed Draft Title 8, Chapter 1
Ordinance and Proposed City of Meridian Improvement
Standards
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September 11, 2012
Page 14 of 30
De Weerd: Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. So, we can move to the next item,
which is under 6-E.
Kane: Hello. Madam Mayor, Members of Council, I'm Emily Kane, I'm a deputy city
attorney, and I'm here on behalf of the city core streetscape and community character
working group, which in addition to myself includes Caleb Hood and Brian McClure in
Community Development, Tim Curns in Public Works, Jay Gibbons in Parks and Rec.
This is a follow up to our department report provided to City Council on July 10th and
since then we have executed a license agreement with the ACHD, which conveys
regulatory authority over the downtown sidewalks to the city. Thank you, Jaycee. We
have invited downtown business owners to a meeting at City Hall and held that meeting
to gather input. We refined the proposed draft of the streetscape code to incorporate
some of that stakeholder input, as well as some refinements to make it more workable
for everybody. So, starting again, we know why we are doing this, it's to basically
enable downtown merchants to make improvements and create inviting streetscapes
downtown. We have also talked a lot about where and that's reflected in the draft
ordinance as well. Here is the geographical area or a map showing the city core, as
well as the area that we would regulate with this ordinance on the ground. So, in the
short term we talked about assuming the licensing authority from ACHD. We have done
that. We publicized our plan to allow people to do outdoor dining and different things
that they wanted to do by using the temporary use permit. We actually didn't have any
takers, but the offer still stands, of course, at least until this ordinance is effective and,
again, we would allow sub licenses as well. But, again, no takers there. The long term
plan is kind of where we are now. The next step is to implement the Title 8 update, the
draft that you have before you, and that would allow the city to regulate amenities that
are in the use zone by use of a -- or by a use zone encroachment permit. That used to
be called the streetscape encroachment certificate, but we decided that use zone
encroachment permit was a little more descriptive of what we were actually doing. It is
that slice of sidewalk that is closest to the businesses that we are dealing with. So, the
Title 8 draft establishes standards for how -- how property owners can set that up. It
enumerates amenities that would be allowed in a use zone and the implication is that
everything that is not allowed is prohibited. So -- and, really, it's because it's rather a
short list of what we would want in a use zone or what, frankly, other -- what the
business owners want as well. It would allow us to regulate improvements also in the
street furnishing zone, which is right next to the street. And those are -- there are
design standards for things that would go there, like benches and trash cans and a new
section of the City of Meridian improvements standards, which are also coming up.
That would be done by sub license, instead of with the zone encroachment permit. We
did gather stakeholder input, as I mentioned. On August 15th we had a public
workshop. We personally invited downtown businesses and we had four people come,
so a pretty good turnout. Or at least a turnout. We publicized the draft ordinance on
our website. A lot of people saw Colin's Twitter feed as advertising the workshop or the
people that did that came and overall they liked the transition of authority from ACHD to
amore local controlled at the city level. The stakeholders we spoke with asked us to
clarify whether signs on downtown sidewalks would be covered by the encroachment
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September 11, 2012
Page 15 of 30
permit or by the UDC. The answer is that portable signs would be allowed with the
sidewalk permit. Signs really are to a temporary use would be under the TUP and
limited duration signs would not be allowed. So, you either fit under the use zone or the
TUP or it doesn't fit. They asked us to clarify whether barriers would be allowed for
outdoor dining and activities that aren't related to alcohol use and the answer is, yes,
they would. There are standards for those barriers in the draft ordinance. And there
was a question regarding the short term requirements for encroachments that are not
promotional sales units, like a planter or a sign and the answer at this point is it would
be a sub license with the city. We do have regulatory control, but we do not at this time
have an ordinance. So, we are still kind of in that short-term world until we get the -- the
ordinance in place. Finally, this -- this is the timeline you did see in July. We have
executed the license agreement, worked on stakeholder outreach. There is an article in
the Valley Times and information has been in City News. Today is our kind of progress
report and the plan that we presented in July is that the first and second readings of the
ordinance would be in the next two weeks and adoption could maybe be on October
2nd. On the following, then, we would be able to accept permit applications. The final
step would be that in the -- later in the fall there would be a department report regarding
the proposed draft of the updated improvement standards, which would include the
sidewalk improvement standards. Are there any questions?
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Emily, I remember when we discussed this earlier there was a discussion at
the time about furniture and the type of material that could or couldn't be used and it
sounded like they were still working through that. Did that ever get resolved or -- and
I'm trying to remember exactly. Was it that no plastic could be there or couldn't be
metal or had to be all metal and I can't remember -- because there was some
discussion what if there -- if it's a combination of -- and there is some unique outdoor
furniture these days that -- where are we on the furniture issue, if that was an issue at
all?
Kane: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Hoaglun, we did -- we
decided to be less specific in our approach to that for those very reasons. It was hard to
define what would -- we really just want things to look nice and to some extent we can
regulate that if it's related to safety or if something is too big, if it takes up room for the
clear -- in the clear zone, but we -- in this draft on page eight we left it at chairs -- these
are allowed: Chairs, benches, seating and tables, including those which incorporate
umbrellas. So, it's pretty broad and it's certainly up to the discretion of the business
owner in that case in the proposed draft.
Hoaglun: Okay. I think that's a good way to go on that. Thank you.
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 16 of 30
Kane: Thank you.
De Weerd: Any other questions?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Just a question that I was reminded of partially from the police chiefs report
a few minutes ago and that is has code enforcement been included in this? And my
suggestion is they should read through this draft ordinance for anything that they think
might be able to be misinterpreted and -- since they are going to have to enforce it, just
maybe give them a chance to look through it before we see it next week.
Kane: Madam Mayor, Members City Council, Council Member Zaremba, I think that's a
great idea. They haven't been included in that effort, than kind of -- I would say since
it's to their perspective as much as possible, but I think that makes a lot of sense.
Zaremba: Thank you.
Kane: I will take care of that.
De Weerd: Okay. Well, good. We will look forward to hearing it back as -- in ordinance
form.
Kane: All right. Thank you.
F. Purchasing Department: Update of Construction Review
Committee Findings and Recommendations
De Weerd: Okay. Next item, Item 6-F is under our Purchasing Department.
Watts: Thank you, Madam Mayor and Council. About a year ago -- actually, probably a
little more than a year ago the Mayor had -- or after several public meetings had
requested that a construction review committee be put in place and the Mayor's office
had asked me to chair that committee and we put that committee together based -- or
comprised of Public Works admin, engineering and inspection, the Legal Department,
Mayor's office, Finance and a City Council member were on that committee -- on the
internal team. We also had I believe seven or eight external professional members from
general contractors, construction managers, and risk managers. We reviewed over a
dozen city projects that had been completed and they had varying degrees of success.
A pattern definitely emerged that we were most successful on underground
infrastructure, water and sewer lines and those associated projects and our challenges
come with above-ground construction, buildings and structures. One of the components
that made the above-ground projects -difficult is not having a single point of contact or a
specific project manager named as the single point of contact for that project. So, the
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September 11, 2012
Page 17 of 30
committee -- one of the committee's recommendations is to have a single point of
contact to be as the conduit between the construction team and City Council. There are
two different delivery methods, really, for construction, design, bid, build and design
build. And, once again, the city has been very successful with the design, bid, build with
the infrastructure -- the underground infrastructure projects. Public Works Department
has many capable project managers to manage those projects and we have been
successful doing that. The few design build projects that we have taken on have had
their issues and -- with meeting with the public folks that -- the construction managers
and general contractors that we dealt with, it was the conclusion from the entire
committee that the city should make design, bid, build our standard process. There is
also two major management styles for -- for construction. Under design, bid, build it's
either -- or for either one it's either general contractor or construction manager and it's
recommended that the city use a general contractor for its underground infrastructure
and a construction manager for the above-ground structures and buildings. And when I
say above-ground structures and buildings, that does not include things like well houses
or park structures, those would still be managed by an in-house city project manager. I
have also included in your packet in front of you -- you have got two very basic
communication flow charts for both -- one for the underground infrastructure and one for
the aboveground capital projects. The underground is very -- is a very simple process,
this is the one that's kind of worked for the city for many years and we have great
success with this. The project manager will. contract with the design engineer and
implement this to a task order -- or a public -- or a special services agreement. With
that design we can go out, we bid, and, then, we build. The city project manager is the
single liaison between the contractor and the city and the city project manager, then,
reports back to City Council with any issues or concerns or updates on that project.
Similarly, with the aboveground we have an additional component to this project and
that's with a construction manager. It's recommended that that construction manager
be brought on early on in the project before design and, then, the department's
representative, the construction manager, and the design team all work together in
creating the design for the project. The city project's capital manager, the city project --
city capital projects manager is, basically, there for design constructability. He doesn't
necessarily have input in the design, because it's for the individual departments, but he
will help with constructability issues and with the help of the project manager is Max.
And I don't want to get those two terms mixed up. We have a construction manager
who is contracted that's outside the agency. The city capital project manager is a
position within the city currently held by Max Jensen. During construction the client or
the customer, which would be the city department, will communicate only through the
project manager, which is Max Jensen currently, and, then, through the construction
manager or City Council. So, the city's project -- city -- excuse me -- the capital project
manager will be the only one reporting back to Council and communicating with the
construction manager to eliminate multiple hands in the pot and, hopefully, eliminate
issues later on down the line during construction. So, the main takeaways from the
committee was that the project manager must be a city employee and, then, updates
coming back to Council will be done by the city employee, not by a contractor, not by a
construction manager. General construction works best for the city underground
infrastructure projects. Construction manager is recommended for buildings and
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 18 of 30
structures. Design build projects haven't been successful for and they are difficult to
manage. So, we are recommending that that not be the standard. Another issue that
we looked at were the contracts that were involved. Customized contracts are difficult
to manage and they are -- and we have discovered not very likely to hold up in court
either. So, standard city contracts are the modified AIA contract for -- AIA is the
architects -- it's institute -- yeah. American Institute of Architects. Those are the
contracts that we use for the aboveground projects. A general contractor assumes risk,
a construction manager does not assume risk. At risk construction management
projects are illegal in the state of Idaho, so that's not even a consideration here.
Another -- just something I'd like to point out. I just -- I just attended the National
Institute For Government Purchasing conference and I was in a classroom with over
168 agencies I believe involved -- or in this classroom and we were discussing the
different delivery methods and only a handful would admit to doing a design build
project and none of the agencies said that they were successful, nor would any of them
recommend doing another one. So, that was an eye opener for me. And that was
across the country. That is pretty significant. With that I'd stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Kilchenmann: I just have a quick follow up. This is a preclude to -- we are going to put
together a policy working with Public Works and the other departments and bring .that,
back to you for approval. So, this is just kind of an introduction to that step.
Watts: It will be a project management policy, which will be in the purchasing policy. It
would be an appendix to the purchasing policy.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I just want to make one clarification.
De Weerd: Do you want to move that a little bit closer. Thank you
Bird: I do want to make one clarification. In the construction manager at risk deal, no,
that isn't, because the contracts are directly to the owner, whether it's the city or private.
So, you're actually getting better bonding by -- each one of them is bringing a bond in,
each subcontractor -- or, actually, their contractors and all the construction manager
does is -- and you have a -- you also have a bond on him, if I'm not wrong,.
Watts: That is correct
Bird: So, you're bonded probably better than you are in a general contractor.
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 19 of 30
Watts: Yeah. It -- you are definitely bonded -- you have a performance bond for each
of the contractors pertorming and you also have one for the construction manager as
well.
Bird: And with the general contractor you only had one.
Watts: Correct. Just for the general contractor himself.
Bird: And you hope he's got it good enough.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I just want to clarify part of the responsibility of the city employee -- the city
capital projects manager -- that person would also be the internal liaison to purchasing
and to legal and make sure all of that stuff was in order or would the department
director --
Watts: No. That would be the city project manager, the capital projects manager. That
is correct. I didn't go into detail of the whole procurement flow and everything, this is
just a basic overview, but that is correct. My recommendation and the committee's
recommendation is the capital project manager would also be responsibility for that
budget. The department would set the budget for the project and, then, they hand that
project over to the capital projects manager and he has to construct that within that
budget. If there is any design changes or anything that adds to the cost, that's when the
capital project manager goes back to the department head or the department's
representative to discuss that figure and whether or not they want to move forward with
any additional changes, but he would not do so without the department's approval.
Increase the budget that is.
Zaremba: Great. Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further? I guess I would like to commend the -- the group
to tackling a pretty complex and massive issue. I know I -- from my understanding there
was some pretty candid discussion. Certainly the staff needed to work on a couple
things before we brought members of our community in, but those committee -- or
community members were very valuable and adding perspective to what staff had
already discussed and fine-tuned it even further. I know we don't like to do the same
mistake twice and that's what we are trying to avoid and appreciate all the time and
effort that came into this.
Watts: Thank you, Mayor.
De Weerd: So, if there is nothing further from Council, this was procedural and if you
have any additional thoughts, please, feel free to share those. Okay.
Meridian Cily Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 20 of 30
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Just as an additional thought -- and I attended many of the meetings and,
you're right, they were conducted by Keith excellently and the conversation was candid
and I thought we made a lot of progress and along with -- as the Mayor says --
appreciating the public group that I think came together once to vet some of the ideas
and put in their own, I have heard from a few of them that they would like some follow
up on it also. I don't know if we want to invite them to a meeting of -- I don't mean a
Council meeting, but assemble them again --
Watts: Correct. Yeah.
Zaremba: --and giving them some follow up.
Watts: Yes. We have discussed that as a committee and that will take place.
Zaremba: Okay. Great. Thank you.
G. Legal Department: Discussion Regarding Standard Operating
Policy and Procedure Number 4.3.1. Leave Pool for Family
Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Qualifying Event
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you very much. Item 6-G is under our Legal Department and
I will turn this over to Mr. Nary.
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. What you will see in your
packet is a proposed change to city policy. It's the city policy 4.3.1. To give you some
background and history, ten, 12 years ago we had a city employee that had a terminal
illness and at the time, from what I understand, we didn't have a policy like this in place
and after the employee passed away there was a desire to create a policy to address
leave issues or concerns that existed at the time in allowing employees to use leave
time or donate some of their leave time to either the employee or employee's family
member to be able to address their health issues. In the last fire contract, the fire
department also had asked for something like that, so they wanted a policy that would
allow the donation of accrued time to an employee or to -- for an employee to either
address their own issue, but less than terminal illness. So, for a serious health
condition, but not necessarily a terminal illness. And my understanding in discussing
this with Finance from when this policy was put in place we have never used it, so we
have never unfortunately had the need to use it or had an employee with this severe a
health condition, but the fire department wanted something that was addressing more of
the serious health conditions, not just terminal illnesses. So, we put it in place in the
last contract and in this recent discussion or negotiations with the fire union we asked
them to put some more side boards on the specific policy in a contractual provision
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 21 of 30
regarding this and in the conversation and discussion it was felt by the negotiating team
that the idea was valid and there really was more of a desire to bring it to the Council as
a citywide policy and not just for one department. So, this is, essentially, the same
provision that is in the fire contract and so we are bringing it to you for your
consideration to bring it forward as a citywide policy change. So, the changes are -- as
you can notice in the documents that's in your packet, is it changes from an incurable
terminal illness to a qualifying event under the Family Medical Leave Act. The Family
Medical Leave Act can come into play, since this original policy was adopted, so we felt
that was a much more -- an existing system that had some relevance to employees that
had some parameters and sideboards that were already established as to what
qualifying events there are. The intent of the policy is to allow employees to donate
their own accrued vacation time, because that vacation time has a monetary value to
the employee that they take with them, so if they separate employment we would
normally pay them out. So, because there is value to it we felt it was important to then
allow the employees the ability to choose to donate that time if they wished to do that.
The intent was to start it at the department level, so that the department director and the
Mayor would be able to deal with the requests that are being made. We wanted to
make sure that employees have exhausted the Family Medical Leave Act requirements
that already exist in city policy and in federal law. So, this is meant to mirror that. So,
we -- the way this would work is if you had an employee who had a Family Medical
Leave qualifying .event, so whether it's a serious health condition of theirs or an
immediate family member and they didn't have adequate leave to cover the time after
they have exhausted all their accrued vacation, all of their accrued sick leave, they
would be eligible to request employees to donate time to them, so they could take
additional time as needed to deal with their health condition. The one other caveat that
we put on it is it has to be for, essentially, extended leave, so an employee has to have
been gone continuously from the workplace for a minimum of 30 days or intermittently
from the workforce based on a qualifying event for at least 60 days before they would
be eligible for this type of donation and the reason for that was, again, not to deal with
the very short-term illness, the flu, tonsillitis, a minor surgery, but really to deal with a
serious health condition or concern that employees had that they may not have
adequate time in which to address that and now we do have short-term disability and
we do have long-term disability for employees and that does cover the gap for a portion
of their costs of what their normal wages are, but it doesn't cover all of their wages. So,
would help fill that gap for up to a year and they would be eligible to receive additional
time. We felt giving the director and the Mayor some oversight into the request would
provide some sort of I guess a second or third set of eyes to review the request to make
sure it was legitimate, make sure it followed the parameters or intent of the policy, but
to, again, provide something and to be honest with you from an HR director standpoint
in my position the reason we felt this policy was a good change to bring to you is we felt
that if this existed barring a policy that we would figure out a way to do this. If we had
an employee with this serious of health concern of themselves or a family member we
felt as a city that we as an employer and we as a city would try to find a way to assist an
employee to this degree. So, it makes sense to try to put that into policy, that into
writing, so we made it clear to folks that was our intent, because although we could
probably all agree that we would probably try to do this, we also felt it was important to
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 22 of 30
make sure the employees understood there were some requirements that exist to do
this. So, that's what's in front of you. Again it's the same conditions that we have put
into fhe fire contract, so there is no difference between what the fire contract states and
as to what this policy states. I guess that's probably all I have from a report standpoint.
There is a conversion that's probably the only piece that's a little bit tricky and that was
because we felt it was important that employees, again, when they donate their own
leave there is a relationship to their leave to what they get paid and so it makes sense
that if you had an employee that -- you know, say for example you had an employee
that is requesting leave and makes ten dollars an hour and you had an employee that
was donating that had a value of 15 dollars an hour, that there is a relationship there
that we would be able to quantify and make sure that it matched up to what was being
donated to the employee. So, there is a conversion amount that's in there that's how
that's calculated. But that's just a detail that's probably not a huge issue. Overall I think
the intent again was to provide some access to people that there was a serious health
condition that they hadn't been able to address on their own and we felt this was a fair
way to address all of those types of considerations. So, I stand for questions -- any
changes or any direction that you have we would certainly make and our intent would
be, then, to bring this back to you with a resolution for approval and, then, it would
become part of our city policy handbook.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Nary. Mr. Bird.
Bird: Madam Mayor. I -- I wholeheartedly support this. I -- you know, I think that all the
employees should have this benefit. While it's only been -- and it actually wasn't a deal,
but I believe through the actions of the Council back in '99 we were able to -- some of
the employees were able to donate so that the family of the two people that were both
employees, the terminally ill husband and the wife were both employees. We were able
to take care of it. And I think by having a policy like this is -- I think is a benefit that we
hope nobody ever has to use it, but it's there for them to use and the other employees
it's a way they can give to help and I just think it's something that -- that we need to get
into the policy. If we need it we need, so --
De Weerd: Chief, do you have anything you want to add?
Niemeyer: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, not really. I -- Bill covered it all. Other
than we did, in the negotiation process feel that offering this throughout the entire city is
a good thing. We can try and bridge that gap between the fire contract and the rest of
the city employees and stay very well aware of that. So, in the discussions there was,
through that negotiation process, what is best for the city employees, not just for the
firefighters. So, I certainly applaud them for bringing it forward and, then, working
through the process to bring it to the whole city.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any other questions from Council?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, no questions, just a quick comment that, you know for folks to
make sure they understand, we are not giving out more leave to people, but we are
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September 11, 2012
Page 23 of 30
taking a pool of what's allocated among city employees and they can transfer it to
someone who might truly need it and so -- and I think that's a good policy and glad we
are doing this.
De Weerd: Okay.
Zaremba: I like it as well. I think it's a wonderful thing to offer
De Weerd: Okay. Well, Council, hearing that, I expect that you will see it come back in
front you in resolution form.
H. City Clerk: Discussion on Process for Approving Alcohol
Related Licensing and Permits
De Weerd: Okay. The next item is under our City Clerk. I will turn this over to Madam
Clerk.
Holman: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I
requested that this item be brought up on an agenda -- or I guess a future agenda after
the last few beer, wine, and liquor licenses that we have had come forward that are
.either a transfer of license or a new license and just really wanting to take a look and
revisit the way that we currently approve these licenses and how we might improve that
process in the future. Currently per our code -- in fact, I was just looking at this in the
last few days. Beer, wine and liquor licenses are under Title 3, Chapter 2 and the way
that the code is currently written it says -- it's under Item C, investigation of an applicant,
it says that the application shall be submitted to the chief of police for investigation and
report to the Mayor and City Council. The application must be approved by the Mayor
and City Council. Currently the way that we process beer, wine, and liquor applications
-- they come in, the police department sign off on those applications, but we don't do an
Idaho -- we don't do the ISP background check and fingerprinting and all of those and I
don't believe the police -- chief of police comes forward and updates you on their
investigation. So, in talking to Mr. Nary I asked if there was anything in state code that
says that mayors and city council have to approve these and Mr. Nary said that the only
thing that's outlined I believe in the state code is these establishments that are within
300 feet of a church or a school and it outlines that those come before city council for
mayor and council approval, which probably means that the assumption by the state is
that the other license and applications they do not come before the mayor and city
council. So, usually when processing the only issues we really have is they will get all
of their paperwork in time and we are holding up basically waiting to get it put on the
City Council agenda. So, in effort to improve the process and make it easier I think for
those items to be processed more quickly and not run into these roadblocks I'm
requesting that we be allowed to issue those licenses with just the clerk's signature and
not have to have them approved through a City Council -- or at a Council meeting. I
know -- I would assume you would want to be kept apprised of what's going on with our
beer, wine, and liquor applications. I would be happy to do a monthly report to Council
in paper format just letting everyone know what's happened with any transfers or new
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 24 of 30
licenses or anything like that. But it just -- I think from a customer service standpoint
this would be a great way to go and I'm just soliciting your feedback and your thoughts
on a possible process change, which would also require an ordinance update.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, discussion?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: It sounds like a good idea to me. Other permits that are issued by the city
are -- we get a report once a month and I know from own standpoint and every time
they come up to us for approval my question is do they have the police department's
approval and if everything has been signed I'm not sure that I need to be in that loop,
other than it would be nice to get a report every once in a while. So, I'm in favor of this.
I understand, apparently according to the law we'd still have to see the ones that are
close to churches and schools and that's fair. But Iwould -- I would be in favor of the
clerk being able to handle all the other ones.
Holman: Okay.
Hoaglun: Madam --
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun
Hoaglun: Thank you, Madam Mayor and, Bill, I just wanted to make sure that once all
these checks have gone through and everybody -- the police chief and others have
done their due diligence and checked their box, really, there is no -- we have no basis to
deny a license at that point, is there?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Hoaglun, you're
absolutely right. I mean there is no discretionary authority by the Council at that
juncture and the other thing to add on to what the clerk stated -- all the criminal
background checks has been done by the Idaho State Police. So, they can't -- they
can't even apply for a city license until they have state license approval -- it's even to
sell beer or wine or certainly liquor. So, all of the background checks have been done
at the state level, so what we are doing is we are -- we are verifying the location, we are
verifying the zone, we are verifying that they have a certificate of occupancy that's
necessary to operate, that that's completed, and we are, basically, reviewing their
footprint of their business. Then, again, like you said, it's actually fairly unusual that
councils and mayors issuing these licenses any longer. Most cities do have their
licensing clerk, the city clerk, issue all of them and the only ones that come up to the
mayor and council are the ones that are specifically called out in state code.
Bird: At a public hearing
Meridian Cily Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 25 of 30
Nary: Right. It's actually a public hearing for a bar, but other than that, yeah, license
themselves aren't normally issued at the Council level in the rest of the state.
Hoaglun: And I think, Madam Mayor, that, you know, this goes -- we can get rid of that
step. It's a pro forma -- pro forma approval that really it just delays the process and
really doesn't do anything at our level, so I'm in favor of that.
De Weerd: We certainly are removing a layer that has not been necessary unless it has
-- it's defined under the parameters of the law.
Bird: Basically, we shouldn't even have to do it. I mean once the state approves it,
that's who -- that's who you have to approve. I don't even know why it goes through -- I
don't even know why it goes through a city.
De Weerd: It goes through the city because we are the policing of the physical space,
so --
Bird: Well, I realize that.
De Weerd: -- that one is a necessary check.
Bird: I have no problem with it. I have no problem with it.
De Weerd: I would question why it goes through the county myself, but -- okay. Any
other discussion. Mr. Nary, is there any resolution needed for this or it's just a
procedural --
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we actually have four sections of the
City Code that repeat that the Mayor and Council issue the license or are the final
authority, so we will bring back one ordinance with the changes to those provisions that
basically will say the city clerk will issue those. So, yeah, we will bring back an order to
change. You should have it -- not next week, but by the following week.
I. City Clerk: Discussion on Update to City Clerk's Fee Schedule
De Weerd: Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. I believe that you are the next
item as well. Madam Clerk, while you're up in front of Council I -- you got a piece of
good news as well recently from the passport office.
Holman: Oh, yes. Yes. Thank you, Madam Mayor. We did. We received our approval
and our official certification to go forward. Unfortunately when I saw the certificate today
it said Meridian, Iowa. So, I'm going to have to contact them, because I have a feeling if
I don't correct that all of our forms will say Meridian, Iowa. So, yes, we have approval to
move forward and I'm drafting kind of a timeline for the Mayor and I can update the
Council also and let you know what our plan is going forward.
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 26 of 30
De Weerd: Thank you. And congratulations.
Holman: Okay. Are you ready for my next item? Okay. Madam Mayor, Members of
the Council, the next item is just a request to review the clerk's fee schedules regarding
the permitting and licensing. Last time we updated the fee schedule was June of 2011.
We have implemented Accella, which we decided to review after being -- or using
Accella for our approval system I guess or our licensing and permitting software.
Looking at the schedules about a year later, updating the time that it takes everyone to
basically process these and also Idaho State police -- we received notification from
them that as of October 1st, 2012, they would be increasing their fees for the
background check and the fingerprinting and since that is incorporated in part of our fee
schedule we needed to -- just decided to revisit the whole fee schedule at the same
time. With the Idaho State Police background check going up that affects our precious
metal dealer licensing, pawn broker licenses that had the precious metal dealer
endorsement. Mobile sales unit license. Private security service license and the
massage therapist license. We did not have to make any updates to the massage
therapist license, because as of July 1st, 2013, the state is going to take over that and
we will cease to license and permit massage therapy in Meridian. So, some of the costs
went up. Some of the costs went down. We, basically -- when I redid the fee schedule
we had some things that took a little bit less time, other things we noticed took a little bit
more and one of the departments that, was not included in our fee schedule when we
created it as far as their cross-skills was our building department or that--- that section
of our community development department. So, that caused some things to stay about
the same. Fees that went up, temporary use permits for a temporary sales unit
application fee and we are proposing an increase to 65 dollars from 50. This actually
reflects the actual time and cost of all the departments reviewing these applications.
Private security service licenses, proposing an increase to 65 dollars from 60 dollars as
an actual reflection of our time and cost. New fees. The proposed temporary use
permit for temporary indoor event application fees. Currently we haven't been charging
anything for that. The permit was adopted November 3rd, 2010. Under Ordinance No.
10-1464. It was a year pilot program. I asked Nancy Radford how many we have done
in the last two years. Approximately ten. A lot of those are -- I think there has been the
Dairy Barn and we had one other one for an indoor space. But that takes a little bit
longer as we had actually an hour of the fire department's time and development
services has time invested in that, since it's actually indoors. So, that is -- our request
for that is 100 dollars. Our proposed precious metal dealer license application fee
would be 65 dollars. This new license was adopted in September of 2011 and the one
year pilot period program will be over by the time we would go through the public
hearing process and implement these new fees. The proposed pawn broker license
with a precious metal dealer endorsement application fee would be 65 dollars, 34
dollars of that is the ISP fee for the background check. Fees that went down -- the
pawn broker license without the precious metal dealer endorsement decreased from 45
dollars to 30 dollars, because when we were going though the time that people spend
on it it just --the cost went down. Fees that we have removed -- we had a 20 dollar fee,
which I don't think we have ever charged even once, for expedited processes of
temporary use permit applications. That was resolved on the May 1st, 2012, update to
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 27 of 30
TUP code provision, because we created a TUP application deadline that's firm 30 days
beforehand. So, we don't believe we need that fee anymore. If Council is okay with the
proposed fee schedule update we would publish notice of the changes and public
hearing in Valley Times on September 17th and 24th. The public hearing would be
October 2nd with possible approval of the resolution. With that I will stand for any
questions.
De Weerd: Okay. Just a point of clarification. Does the column that says increase,
decrease, then, change the column -- the first column with the amount and so it's plus
that or that amount already includes it?
Holman: Madam Mayor, no. The fee amount is the actual update. That is the fee that
will -- would be implemented as of October 2nd. That's the total fee. It's just saying, for
example, temporary use permit, temporary sales unit was 50 dollars and it's going up to
65.
De Weerd: Okay. So, you're listing the new -- the new fee being proposed?
Holman: Correct.
De Weerd: Okay. Just a point of clarification.
Holman: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Holman: That last column, when we pass the resolution and attach this that last column
would not be there. That was just for informational purposes for you.
De Weerd: Okay. So, when you say under the pawn broker license --
Bird: It just shows 30 dollars.
De Weerd: It was zero. It's a new fee? So, it's not a 45 dollar increase, it's just a new
fee?
Holman: Madam Mayor, that's the pawn broker license with the precious metal dealer
endorsement, because we are -- that's taking effect now.
De Weerd: Yes.
Holman: Correct.
De Weerd: Okay.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 28 of 30
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba
Zaremba: Somewhere in the back of my mind in the last year or two I remember a
discussion about the legislature changing the public records rules and I thought was
going to affect what we could charge or not charge for number of pages, but I -- your
analysis indicates that we are not making any changes in the public records charges.
Did you take into account the state law changes? I'm sure you did.
Holman: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Zaremba, that was
already addressed in a previous update. At that time it also affected what we could
charge -- the Legal Department could charge for redacting and that's why you will --
well, you don't see, because you don't what I have.
Zaremba: That change has already been made
Holman: It has already been made.
Zaremba: Thank you.
.Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Zaremba, correct, on it
was 2011 that the changes came about, so we did make the change a year ago.
Zaremba: I have been asleep the whole time in between, so --
De Weerd: Any questions? Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: I would suggest -- or move that we go forward with this, get the notices out
through the paper and set a public hearing date of October 2nd.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to move forward with this. Would we need an
official motion to move this forward?
Nary: A voice vote is certainly fine --
De Weerd: Okay.
Nary: -- to bring it forward.
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 29 of 30
De Weerd: Okay. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion
carries.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT.
J. Legal Depantment: Discussion and Resolution No. 12-871:
Declaring the Intent of the City of Meridian to Convey to the
Ada County Highway District for Right of Way Purposes a
Portion of Certain Real Property Located at 1700 E. Lanark
Street, Meridian, Idaho; Instructing the City Clerk to Establish
and Notice a Hearing to Review the Proposed Conveyance;
and Providing an Effective Date
De Weerd: Thank you for your work on that. Item 6-J is our Legal Department. There
is a proposed resolution for this numbered 12-871. Mr. Nary.
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. You will see in your packet
a resolution with an attachment. There is some slivers of right of way that are
necessary on the parks maintenance facility property, there is a little bit of a turnaround
that's got to get enlarged and a little sliver of the corner that they want as part of the
right of way. Before we can, give that to Ada County Highway District we have to follow
the process of declaring it surplus and bringing it forward to you for that declaration and
transfer. So, this is just part of the process to do that. Like I said, it's pretty cut and
dried. The Building Department has even determined this is not affecting the building
plan -- or building permit that's being requested, because these don't affect the building
footprint at all, so we can get this process done and completed and they are still going
forward with the building permitting to get this facility moving forward, but just part of the
process to get it done.
De Weerd: Okay. Any questions from Council?
Bird: I have none.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move that Council approve resolution number 12-871.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve resolution 12-871. Madam Clerk,
will you call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
Meridian City Council Workshop
September 11, 2012
Page 30 of 30
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 7: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Council, we were at Item No. 1. Any items for future meeting topics?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: I would entertain a motion to adjourn then.
Bird: So moved.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 4:40 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
MAYOR T MY DE WEERD
ATTEST:
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