2016-11-09Meridian City Council November 9, 2016
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:05 p.m.,
Wednesday, November 9, 2016, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Joe Borton, Keith Bird, Genesis
Milam, Luke Cavener, Ty Palmer and Anne Little Roberts.
Others Present: Bill Nary, C.Jay Coles, Caleb Hood, Warren Stewart, Jeff Lavey,
Mike de St. Germain, Mark Niemeyer, Steve Siddoway, Mike Barton, Brian
McClure and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X_ Anne Little Roberts __ _Joe Borton
X__ Ty Palmer X_ Keith Bird
__X__ Genesis Milam __X__ Lucas Cavener
__X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: I would like to call this meeting to order. Thank you for joining us
today. For the record it is Wednesday -- we don't meet on Wednesdays, but we
also don't meet on Election Day, so this was set over to Wednesday. It is the 9th
of November. It's five after 3:00. We will start with roll call attendance, Mr. Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Thank you. Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all 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.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: On the agenda Item No. 6 -- or 7-A the ordinance number is 16-1711. And
on 7-B the ordinance number is 16-1712. And also we need to add an Item 9,
which is an Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 74-206(1)(f). With that I
move we approve the amended agenda.
Milam: Second.
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De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to amend the agenda and a pprove it.
All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT.
Item 4: Consent Agenda
A. Final Order for Paisley Meadows (H-2016-0117) Located
at 2180 Amity Road by Hayden Homes, LLC
B. Final Order for TM Crossing (H-2016-0116) by Brighton
Investments, LLC, et al., Located Northeast Corner of S.
Ten Mile Road and I-84
C. Final Order for Browning Plaza (H-2016-0008) by SLN /
Boise-Waltman, LLC Located 505, 521, 615, and 675
Waltman Lane
D. Development Agreement for Roundtree Place
Subdivision with Corey Barton Homes and Trilogy
Development, located at 755 Linder Road, in the NE 1/4
of Section 14, Township 3 North, Range 1 West
E. Development Agreement for Little Creek-H-2016-0076
with In Perspective, LLC located at 1470 N. Locust
Grove Road, in the northwest 1/4 of Section 8, Township
3 North, Range 1 East
F. Recreational Pathway Easement – Five Mile Creek,
Segment H2 - Yuan
De Weerd: Item 4 is the Consent Agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda as published and for the
Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Just
want to give a shout out -- Mike. Pass on my congratulations for Item F finally.
Are you on agreement? So -- Mr. Clerk, will you, please, call roll.
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Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, absent;
Little Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT.
Item 5: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda
De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 6: Department Reports
A. Public Safety Department Annual Update
De Weerd: So, we will move into Department Reports with our Public Safety
annual updates. Who drew the short straw?
Lavey: Madam Mayor, Council, I don't know if I drew the short straw or not. I
actually volunteered, so that could be good or that could be bad. We will see
how that goes. Madam Mayor, Council, thank you for the opportunity to speak
today. I know it's always asked. I have 22 slides today, but about five of those
slides we will not be covering, but they are in your -- your paperback copy I gave
you so you can just refer to them for later. First and foremost, before I begin, I
just -- I actually -- reflecting back on this past year, I really need to thank the men
and women of the police department for all of our successes . Because without
them we would not be what we have and it's their commitment to both the
Meridian Police Department and their commitment their community that makes
Meridian such a great place to be in and -- and that really is that in a nutshell. I
can give little coordinates to go left or go right, but they are the ones that actually
take it and push it forward and so I just need to make sure that the thanks go
where it is deserved and, then, I also have to thank you, Mayor and Council, and
for all the years that I worked in the city, which is -- I'm now on my 20th year and
my tenth year as chief, I have always had the support of the Mayor and whoever
was in the Council seats. I know that many faces have come and gone, but they
have always given me and our department the support that was necessary to --
to be successful. But thinking on this past year and the budget workshops and
prior to the budget workshops I asked a whole heck of a lot from this group in
front of me and you listened and not only did you listen , but you gave us what we
wanted and more and I just need to say thank you for that. Not only for the
Police Department, but for our community. You truly believe in what we are
trying to do and what we are trying to achieve and trying to maintain and that
can't help -- that can't happen unless we have true positive partnerships and for
that I just need to say thank you. The next couple of slides are just our mission.
You have seen this before. Our vision -- this vision is -- is in draft form right now.
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We are really kind of redefining who we are and who we want to be and we are
working on passing this through the entire department, so that's why I say it's a
draft form, because only the command staff has seen it. And, then, the CARE
values are the values that we as a city have taken on many, many years, but we
have taken it to heart and during a recent management checkout that we had a
consultant working with us and she really expressed how we were a values-
based organization and different than most other departments in the area and we
truly believe that, but it's nice to hear a third party say that and see that and so I
just share with you those first couple of slides in there, so you can refer back to it
if -- if you ever have questions on it. But, really, what this person -- this
consultant did was challenged us to celebrate our successes and I realize that
we have had so many that they are hard to remember all of them and so today
it's just a very brief highlight of some of the things that have been occurring in the
-- in the police department over this past year and if there is -- at the end or I
guess whenever if there is questions about things that you may have heard about
and not seen in the presentation just ask and we will talk about them. But I
wanted to start out with our Impact Team. Our Impact Team is something that
started out with the COPS grant several years ago. Actually, four years ago.
The COPS grant was for three years and I'm here to tell you that the city is one
hundred percent funding that now. It's not -- not a grant anymore. That's really
our proactive enforcement team that can -- that can go after problem areas within
our neighborhoods and try to prevent problems before they get out of hand .
Currently they are chasing all over Meridian looking for our shooter from last
night. So, you will probably see them on every corner out there. They are quite
-- quite busy. We have an awesome community that's calling in tips left and right
and so they are very, very, very busy today. They were working all night and
they are working all day as well. Our SRO team. Mayor and I have actually
talked about this team and their supervisor a couple times this year and over the
last couple of years we have really seen a major improvement in our leadership
with -- amongst our SROs, our youth interaction with our SROs, our partnership
with the schools and, believe it or not, it's gotten even better and the relationship
now with -- under the supervision of Sergeant Shawn Harper, has taken it to -- to
new levels and not only has it increased the youth interaction , which makes you
smile, but it's recognized across the community, their work that they do within our
community. So much so that they recently just got a community service award
from the Department of Justice from the U.S. Idaho Attorney Wendy Olson and
that was awarded to them as well for their work. So, we are very proud of what
they do. I know the Mayor hears it, I hear it from the principals of that group of
people in the schools and -- and so this is their moment to get additional
recognition for their work.
De Weerd: And, chief, I just met with one of our school principals and he highly
praised their NRO --
Lavey: Yeah.
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De Weerd: NRO. SRO. And as someone who collaborates, engages and
brings people to the table to find solutions and so they see the city as an active
partner in addressing a number of the issues in this particular high school and --
and in developing important relationships with the students that will come -- come
around and pay dividends in being a part of the solution . So, kudos to your
SROs, NROs, and certainly to Sergeant Harper.
Lavey: Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate hearing that. Also, just so Council is
aware, is we don't have SROs that are permanently assigned to the elementary
schools and there is a reason for that and it goes -- there is a long history we
don't need to get into today, but -- but we have our current SROs that realize that
they may be assigned to the school, but their responsibility is the entire school
district and we see our SROs in the elementary schools now. They are going in
there and responding to calls. They go in there even when they are not
requested to show up and so we are trying to do everything that we can to -- to
deal with our schools. There is about ten of them in the group, but there is like
38 high schools -- or -- 38 high schools. That would be crazy. Thirty-eight
schools within our city and so it's just -- it's kind of crazy, but they do a
remarkable job. MADC. I believe you got an update from Kendall last week on
that, so I don't want to go into too many details and be redundant , but there is a
couple things that I do think that -- that are worth mentioning it again and that's
our prescription take-back program and we have been -- I don't remember how
many years ago that it was implemented, but about six and it started out with a
small safe that we had convinced the department of equality to give us after they
did a demonstration here in Meridian and I will tell you now we have three and a
half safes that we use for the take back of prescription drugs. We are still the
highest capacity in the Treasure Valley as far as drug take back and every year it
keeps getting busier and busier and so I have some figures in there for you. We
took back 2,980 pounds in the entire 2015 and for the first ten months of this year
we are at 3,467 pounds of painkillers and narcotics and other prescriptions that
are not being flushed down the drain or being put into our landfills and if -- I don't
know if I have ever told this Council what happens to them, but we actually
deliver them to a certified incinerator down in Utah and they burn them and it's --
it's got the HEPA filters and the screeners, so that -- that smoke doesn't get back
up into the air and gets filtered out. So, it costs about 140 dollars a load that we
go down there about three times a year and dispose of it. So, it's -- it's well worth
it.
De Weerd: And I guess it's also behind the -- why the prescription drug costs on
the street are so high is they are not readily available and now they are turning
the heroin, which is never a good thing, but I appreciate the work that MADC
does. This is a legacy of Lieutenant Overton.
Lavey: It is.
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De Weerd: And certainly of Alicia Figueroa and Brenda Murdock, but it's exciting
to see that it's been such an exciting and successful program for our community
and our community has really stepped up and really embraced it and I think it's
also an important partnership that the Police Department had with Public Works
to remove constituent that often finds its way into our -- our discharge and it's
really hard to remove. So, this is a win-win-win.
Lavey: It is. And it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. So, the other thing that
I want to talk about is our evidence department. This was on the KTVB news a
couple weeks ago, but we were not mentioned by name, so I will publicly mention
us and they were talking about the sexual assault kits being submitted into the
crime lab and how it was a daunting process and how some departments were
pretty close to being compliant and other departments were -- still had work to do
and if you recall in that story -- because I do believe that K.C. sent it out to you
and if you read the link it's just one department in the state is a hundred percent
compliant and that is Meridian. So, that's another kudos for our two gals that
work in -- in the evidence room. I briefly mentioned to you a couple months ago
that we got recredited. Well, one of the key standards -- or several of the key
standards in accreditation is -- is the evidence room and the property room and
the work that they have done to clean that up and an account for every single
piece of over 10,000 items of evidence in their room is just remarkable and so
that was just one factor that -- that helped us there. It's one factor that usually
has departments not passing at first and that wasn't the case for us. Analytical
services. This is going to mean -- this means more to analytical services than it
does to maybe this group here and even to me. I can't wrap my head around
exactly what it means, because I'm not the one doing the data entry and the
work, but if you want to look at that, they processed 33,470 police records, police
reports for entry, arrests, supplements, accidents, scanning of the documents, FI
cards, validations processed and public records. They have absolutely been
busy and those numbers -- although I don't have the previous year's numbers, so
we can't really benchmark that, I will tell you that they -- they increase every year.
And I do have some numbers that I will show you here later in the presentation to
show you their -- their increase. And, then, the other thing is analytical services
has been an active participant in the records retention with the city and the city
task force and that's -- that's involved many people over the -- C.Jay is probably
involved now, but it was Jaycee and the other Jacy and our -- our job was to take
ten years of documents and go through each and every one of those documents
so we could prepare those for -- for destruction. So, they have been busy. I
gave the Mayor this update just a couple days ago about how many officers we
were going to hire on December -- I think it's December 7th. I have December
5th in here. You can see it's crossed out eight down to seven. Someone just
lost. We are going to get into this a little bit more later on in the presentation, but
we screen each and every one of our applicants very hard to make sure that we
have the right people and we discovered some things on one individual that he's
better off to stay where he's at and not becoming our problem here. So, on
December 7th we will have seven police officers that are starting in Meridian.
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They are the first group. We have another group that we are currently
processing and we are in our third day of interviewing in this week. We have
gotten applicants from Dallas PD. We have gotten applicants from San Diego
Police Department. We got applicants from other parts of California. Long
Beach, California. Some departments here in the state that are going to have a
wanted poster put out on the Mayor and I, because we have five of theirs. But
we are getting a lot of -- of applicants. They are not all quality applicants, but we
are getting a lot of applicants that we are screening through. We have had a
couple of -- or, excuse me, we have had a couple of retirements that you are
aware of this past year. Earl Sharp and SRO Mike and we have a couple of
others that are coming up and one the Mayor just mentioned was Lieutenant
Overton. Lieutenant Overton has been with the city for not quite 25 years and he
has decided that his grandson is more important than we are and he's going to
be his -- his caretaker while his son starts a new career. So, he's going to retire
next month. And there is someone in the room here over my right shoulder to
your -- to your left that's got that big smile on his face and there is a reason for
that as well, because he's decided that after two department s, San Bernardino
County and then -- in California and retiring there and, then, coming up here and
working another ten years, that's probably enough time in uniform . So, he's
going to retire as well.
De Weerd: Yeah. What is it with that retirement word. I mean Gempler -- C.
Gempler every time I see him he has his internal smile. What is it with that. It's
looks nice on you, Mike.
Lavey: Not everyone is retired from the Meridian Police Department over the
last 20 years and been able to smile like that, so that is -- it is truly gratifying to
see that people are actually leaving here because they want to leave here and
they are leaving on their terms and they are really happy about it and they still
want to be a part of this department , just in a different way. So, it's -- it's really
nice. So, thank you, Mike. Because of all the upward mobility of bringing on new
people and command staff members leaving, it requires us to jiggle a lot of
internal promotions. We have two lieutenants. We have -- because of those two
lieutenants we have two sergeants. We have another sergeant, because you
gave us a sergeant position over the budget year , so three sergeants we are
promoting. Three corporals we are promoting and, then, new bodies in and it
really is challenging for us to keep track of all that movement and we have it
plotted on our whiteboard. But our current plan right now is to bring all of those
new hires -- all seven of them -- cross your fingers that it's not six by then -- and
those promotions before you on December 20th and just do a celebration, kind of
swearing in, a recognition, and I guess it's a pre-Christmas celebration. So, that
is the current plan. If you recall, we talked about a staffing allocation study that
was funded for FY-17. That is in full force working with the agency that is
working on that with us. Looking at our patrol calls, our staffing needs, looking at
our detective staffing, looking at our non-sworn staffing, records, code
enforcement, evidence -- really just kind of capturing all the calls for service, all
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the workload that's -- that's coming in and the bodies that we have and trying to
come up with future projections that are based upon a third -party opinion and not
an internal opinion. So, it's really just an expansion of the -- of the report that I
shared with you back in -- I believe April -- April or May, somewhere in there. So,
that is currently in force right now in its very, very early stages. Some of the
things that we are also looking at is our organizational structure, the makeup of
the department. As we keep adding officers we have to make sure that there is a
proper span of control and supervision. Captains we will have to look at. Is it --
is it necessary? Can it be done differently? Patrol lieutenant. Right now we
have two patrol lieutenants that work a very, very, very -- very flexible schedule
trying to -- to achieve the greatest response out there, but nobody can work 24
hours a day and so there is -- there is not that supervision out there when there
should be. Hence we get called at 1:30 in the morning on shootings that occur.
So, we deal with that. We are really going to have to -- and I know this is
probably a point argument -- talking about our public information officer. The
amount of requests, the amount of media and social network requirements that
are occurring and being placed on us are unbelievable and at some point in time
for us to do quality work and timely work, we are going to have to have
somebody doing that and dedicated to doing that all the time . Deputy Chief
Basterrechea does a phenomenal job on the news , but he also is the one that
fields the dozens of phone calls a day and writes the media releases and
responds at midnight at night to make us look good and one person can't do it all.
So, we will talk about that. That's in the capital improvement plan for the future
that you will be seeing -- I believe in December. Community service officers. We
talked about this before. Bottom line is police officers are expensive. It costs a
lot of money to hire a police officer. You all know that. And is there types of
duties out there that we can relieve responsibility from the police officers and hire
somebody else to do, whether it be a traffic hazard, whether it's pick up a bicycle,
abandoned vehicle -- something of that nature where we could have a
community service officer respond to that, free up a police officer to do the
harder, more dangerous work out there. And so that's one thing that we are
looking at as well. Instead of adding more police officers at a considerable cost,
maybe we can add some civilian workers that could relieve the stress and leave
the more dangerous, time-consuming things for the police officers. That will be
part of the staffing study that we do as well. And as the city grows we have to
continually evaluate and add beat areas. We need to figure out how to better
deploy our resources so we can maintain our response times. We have had
some difficulties with the county's new CAD system -- is pulling some of those
response time data sets out, but we are able to capture some and in the last
dashboard that we sent you the response times were in there and it looks like we
are pretty much tracking normally. Not better. Not worse. It's taking us about
three and a half minutes to get to a priority three, lights and siren call. It is taking
us about seven minutes to get to a priority two, which is urgent, but not an
emergency call and it's taken us about 8.7 minutes to get to a priority one call,
which is just a normal report call. I will tell you, though, that those are from the
time that they are dispatched to the time that the officer arrives. They are not
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necessarily the time that the person called in. So, that person may be calling in
and that call sits in queue and prioritized and so they may have a longer wait, but
once the officer says, yes, I'm going to that call, then, that's what those response
times cover. Body-worn cameras. I wanted to talk a little bit about body-worn
cameras, because Meridian had decided to go to body-worn cameras way before
the uproar of Ferguson and some of those other places and really the reason
why we wanted to go to body-worn cameras was to validate and prove the good
that our officers do. I had a number of frustrating complaints that we would listen
to and I would think to myself there is no way that we did that, but I had no proof,
unless the call was recorded and oftentimes it was audio recorded, but that's only
one -- one way to hear what went on, but not necessarily see. But I actually went
to a conference and listened to a presentation on body-worn cameras and they
talked about officer complaints dropping by as high as 90 percent and I'm
thinking wow and so I just brought this in front of you today, because I was
perusing this and this is American Police Beat, it's a -- one of many publications
we get every month, but what caught my attention was it says body cams reduce
complaints -- and this was a Cambridge University study, which says that body-
worn cameras can reduce complaints by 93 percent in this study and so I asked
our staff to put together some -- some figures for me, because I, too, felt that our
complaints have gone down. I'm going to jinx myself and say we haven't
received a negative comment card in a long time, so I will probably get one
tomorrow, but -- knock on wood. So, I asked them to pull our figures up and
you are going to see those right there. Officer complaints in the last three years.
In 2014 we had 137 officer complaints. Now, when I say officer complaints, that
is everything that we get. That's someone sending me an e-mail. That's
someone calling me on the phone. That's calls for service complaint. That is
something that we might see that an officer did after the fact and go , oh, that's
not right, we need to look into that and where it's a department initiated
complaint. So, that's not necessarily 137 people complaining, that is 137
incidences that we took upon ourselves to look at on our performance. And if
you see on there that the body-worn camera program was implemented in May
of 2015 and what's key to that date is that you will see the figures of -- of our
officer complaints in 2015 dropped from 137 down to 43. So, I don't -- I'm not a
mathematician and so I can't tell you what sort of percent decrease that is, but it's
significant. And, then, we see that in 2016 we tracked a little bit higher there, that
we have had 52 complaints that come in. But they are still far less than 137. So,
I do believe that our body-worn cameras are doing what we wanted them to do
and I believe that's for two reasons. One is if we had officers out there that were
doing things that they shouldn't have been doing, I hope that they are smart
enough now to realize that they probably shouldn't be doing that when the -- the
camera is filming. If they can't figure that out, then, we will find other places for
them to go. But, conversely, though, the public knows that we are recording and
that changes their behavior as well and if it doesn't change their behavior , when
they do call up to complain and we ask them if they want to see the video, then,
they just hang up on us and that's probably why you're seeing that complaint
number is dropping as well. I have told you, though, that with every great thing
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that we do there comes those unintended consequences and one of the things
that was in the dashboards last -- last month was the public records request that
we started tracking and they have increased and this is a table that was in that
dashboard that you have seen. We didn't track public records requests prior to
2014 in some areas and separate it out and we have been working on that. So,
you just kind of see the -- at the last row body-worn cameras and audio, we didn't
track in 2014. 2015 we had 663 requests and in the ten months of this year we
have had 1,909 public records request. But, thankfully, I did request a records
analyst position, records retention position, to cover those increases and that's
one of the positions that you all approved for FY-17. So, I think we are managing
it, but you will see on there the increase that we are getting in those requests. I
put this next bullet here really for Council Borton, but he's not here today. He
and I have talked about this a little bit. On the body-worn camera program we
actually use iCloud storage. We don't store it here. And iCloud storage is really
cheap, but when you're putting a lot of videos in there it adds up fast and so our
contract that we have covers the storage costs up to a point and we constantly
look at that to make sure our numbers are staying in check. Well, one of the
significant benefits that we just had is that evidence.com just changed vendors
and they went and -- and I don't know if -- they went from one to Microsoft, from
Microsoft to Google to Microsoft or something. I don't know which vendors they
are. But when they switched they got double the capacity for storage at -- at no
additional cost to us. So, what our contract originally had has doubled and it's
free to us. And at some point in time we are going to run out of space and they
are going to want to charge us more per -- per gig, but as they had these larger
agencies, the LAPDs and the New Yorks, they realize that they couldn't add them
without having an unlimited plan and so when we signed our contract an
unlimited plan did not exist. One does exist today. It doesn't make any sense for
us to go to the unlimited plan yet, because it would cost additional funds and we
are within our capacity right now. But when we get to that point where we are
going to start paying overage, then, we will change to the unlimited plan and,
then, right now the current estimate of the unlimited plan is 10,800 dollars per
year total. So, it's really kind of a no-brainer for us. But that's ten -- that's 11,000
dollars we can save right now by not -- not doing that. So, there is no reason to
do that yet. I want to talk about the Public Safety Training Center. Mark might
highlight on this a little bit as well. I can tell you that it's been a complete
success, not only for the police side, but for the fire side, but I will let the fire side
touch on -- on theirs. We have had some very high-level courses that we have
sponsored that the benefit is that we didn't have to send an officer out of state to
go to it. So, we have saved at least 2,000 dollars per officer by not having to
send them to these classes. But I wanted to share with you some of the
comments that we have heard from instructors and one of the instructors from
Southern Police Institute out of Louisville, Kentucky, said that this is the best
facility he's ever taught at. Now, I think a lot of that has to do with the fact it's
new and the technology is great, but that's what they are telling everybody else
as they pass through the United States about how awesome Meridian is and so
that's -- that's good news for us. What it's done, though, is it's just attracted other
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high-power classes and that's a benefit, but it creates a lot more work. We have
had attendees from Pennsylvania, Missouri, Orange County, California, several
places in Colorado, Aurora, Colorado State, Denver, Spokane, Washington, and
the list goes on. So, we are making a pretty good name for ourselves across the
United States in regards to what we are offering here. We are talking about the -
- taking it to the next level and what does that mean . I don't have the resources
really to take it to that next level, so that's one thing that we are going to have to
talk about as far as if we like what we are seeing and we want someone to
coordinate the classes that are going out of there, we are going to need someone
that's dedicated to doing that. I have not talked to Mark yet, but this is really not
just a police problem, this is going to be a police-fire issue that we will have to
talk about and come forward if we want to take it even beyond it's probably going
to take additional resources for the future. Scenario village. That was phase two
of this plan. We have engaged our youth and our schools to help us plan it. We
did envision them helping us build it, but we have realized that the -- the state
and the city regulations are just too extensive that you are going to need a
general contractor to oversee that, but talking about the early stages of how to
move that to the next level. The Mayor and I have been talking about some --
some potential funding issues through some Homeland Security funds. Don't
know if it's there or not, but we are trying it and we will be talking about how to
move that to the next level over the next several months . This is an item that you
will see a lot. If you read any of the law enforcement reports or the after -action
reports of the major media events that go across the United States in regards to
use of force, you're going to see that oftentimes the person is having some sort
of mental health crisis or they are under some sort of substance abuse and you
can probably cite lack of training on the part of the officers in the departments
and that's one thing that this city and this department has never done is cut back
on our training. When we have had some difficult times -- and I -- well, I get
chided a lot from my other fellow peers that say, well, Meridian doesn't really ever
have any difficult times, but difficult times for us. When there is not as much
money there and you have to look at cutting -- cutting back, we have never once
cut back on our training, which is usually the first place that most departments
do, but we have really challenged ourselves to how to be better . Crisis
intervention training is something that we have been doing for every single police
officer in Meridian, but it involves a four to eight hour training block for each and
every officer and, then, we do a 40-hour block for a small amount of officers. We
have finally decided that although it's going to be challenging because of the 300
percent increase in mental health crisis calls that we go to and the expectations
that the public has of us, that we are going to get every officer through the 40 -
hour program, even if it takes me three to five years. It just absolutely makes
sense, because that's -- that's something that we deal with on a daily basis. And,
then, we are really looking at -- while this hasn't been an issue for us, we like to
be innovative and forward-thinking and look at increasing R&D escalation
training, so we don't get ourselves in hot water and have to go back and explain
to the community why we did what we did when we shouldn't have done it in the
first place and those are some areas that we are working on trainingwise.
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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Marketing and recruiting. I just look at -- I want to have a diverse working group
that mimics our community and our community has changed so much , but I need
to make sure that the department is a welcome place for them and, then, try to
recruit them to come work for us. We do a phenomenal job without really even
trying, so I just challenged our people to go -- if we really try how much better
could we be and, really, one of the -- the areas that I would like to see is more
females that are supervisors within our department and currently we only have
one and I would love to see more of it. Not going to force the issue, but that's
just a goal that we are looking on and how can we make that even better. One
other thing that our command staff has been talking about is -- is really listening
to the expectations and the concerns of our community is we might think we
know what the problem is, but it may not be the problem that is really meaningful
to that neighborhood and so we have to listen and hear what they are saying so
we are prepared for that. The other thing as we get larger we are talking about
building relationships and talking about having police liaisons with diverse
groups. In the city of Boise they are so large that they have different diverse
groups of people where they actually have a police liaison that shows up and
communicates with that group and can share stories back and forth and keep
that line of communication open. Whether that's ACLU or LGBT, or any of the
refugee groups or -- or anybody for that matter, we are getting to the point where
we have to do that here as well in Meridian and, really, it's a proactive move and
so we can hear what their concerns are, what their issues are, and maybe adjust
our training or adjust our -- what we do based upon community feedback as well.
So, those are the things that we are looking at as well. It's not just training what
we think we should be training, but training what our community expects their
officers to be, because I tell our officers we are only here because the community
allows us to be here. If the community doesn't want a police department, they
will convince you all up here to get rid of us and we will do something else. But
we are only here because they want us to be here and so we need to remember
that. Technology in the 21st century. With Mike Tanner in IT and Jamie Leslie in
our department, those two gentlemen have done some unbelievable things in
regards to technologies, but their brains never stop and they are thinking how do
we get better and how do we do more. I will tell you that we have a close
working relationship with IT. We are a paperless process as far as report
process, as far as taking the reports and we will scan them in and, then, send
them to the prosecutors and the courts all via electronics. It's not paper. We
have our e-citation -- electronic citation that we will print off a paper copy for the
citizen in the field. Everything else is done electronically. We used to have to
come back to the station before the car would -- would download to our
computers and, then, into the state. Now that's done right in the field, because of
Mike Tanner's work. And we are really trying to figure out how we can do more
in the field without paper and I will tell you that we have always looked at field
reporting -- field report writing -- or report writing in the field and I have been slow
in doing that, because it really comes down to officer safety issues. You see a lot
of officers are being ambushed because they are being distracted in their cars
and they are not paying attention. The last thing I want is an officer with his head
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November 9, 2016
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down in his computer typing a report and have something come up to them. So,
we are slow in writing the actual report in the car, but that's not to say that they
can't take a computer and go into a house and take the report via electronically in
a house and so really trying to figure out how -- how we can take it to the next
level. And, then, under our body-worn camera program it involves upgrades to
our computer -- upgrades to our cameras several times during the contract and
we are adding eight additional cameras for those new bodies that we are bringing
on board and it's going to be a wireless camera and so we are going to convert
all the cameras over wirelessly at the same time and so we will -- we will no
longer have to be burdened with the -- with the cords. The other plus to that is it
has a battery that can be replaced here without being sent in. If we have a
battery that fails now we have to send it in and it takes six to eight weeks to get it
back. So, there is a lot of good in that and there is no additional cost to the city.
It's all part of the contract, other than the cost to adding those new cameras and I
just saw those figures and it's -- it's under budget, but not much, by 300 dollars.
So, 300 dollars is 300 dollars. It's under budget. So, we -- actually, we guessed
pretty close. And probably our single greatest success is developing our
department culture and setting high expectations of our people and that's been
difficult at times, because when people can't meet or choose not to meet those
expectations it causes some stress upon me and -- and some hard decisions to
make and end up losing some good people. But we are focusing on maintaining
our culture -- our culture. Accountability is really important to us. This is where I
kind of hinted at when I said we went from eight to seven people is we are
looking for that -- the right people in the right places and I will tell you right now
we need bodies on the streets. We have some -- some officers that are on light
duty, we have some officers that are going through some health issues , we have
some open positions and I have some upcoming retirements and we absolutely
need help in the field and we are doing everything we can to get those people,
but I am not going to make life harder for us by bringing in the wrong people and
so when I asked Berle Stokes, Lieutenant Stokes, some successes in patrol and
he says I don't really know how to frame this and so you're not going to see this
in the PowerPoint -- is he said that despite the challenges that we are going
through right now, we have great people that are making it work. He goes I don't
know how we are doing it, but we are making it work and so that's really a
testament of -- of how our officers view this community. But hiring the right
people and make sure they are in the right places is crucial to what we do and it's
all based upon our department values and city values. It really comes down to
trying to get the most that we can for the cheapest that we can, but still
maintaining or improving the current level of service and if I could wave a magic
wand and figure out how to do that easily I would do that , but that really is -- is
what we are trying to -- trying to do. And with that I'm going to open it up for any
questions or comments and, then, defer it to Chief Niemeyer.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Chief, I'd echo your comments on culture. When I engage your staff,
sworn or non at all levels, it's refreshing to hear them reinforce that time and time
again. So, kudos to you and your team for that. Can you talk just a little bit
about the difference between the community service officers and sworn officers
and what does -- what differentiates between a sworn officer and a community
service officer?
Lavey: Sure. I could do that. So, a sworn officer would be required to go
through the police academy and would have arrest authority and would come at
a higher cost and on workmen's comp because of injuries and salaries. A
community service officer would be similar to a code enforcement officer, but
right now a code enforcement officer really does, you know, abandoned vehicles,
weeds, obnoxious things -- quality of life things and it really would just be an
expansion of their responsibilities and what they do and so they may go to a car
crash that -- that is just, you know, a rear ender or something like that where they
can -- the cars are already off the road, where they can just take a report and
transfer information, or it may be a -- you know, a traffic hazard where
something's in the roadway or something that they could just go with a truck or a
car that has an orange light on it to protect them and go pick it up out of the
roadway. But it would be non-sworn. It wouldn't require the extensive training
that we have to go through, so that's going to save us cost and, then, because
it's a non-sworn position it would also be a cheaper salary. So, really, it would
just be getting a -- a person that would not have to go through all the advanced
training and the academy and would have no arrest powers, that would just be a
citizen that's doing the duties that we assign them to do. It could be parking.
You know, it's really what we choose to allow them to do.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up with something. Chief, are there
municipalities around the valley that are using these types of officers and , if so,
who and --
Lavey: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, yes, there is two. Garden City
started it and Boise city also has them. That I'm aware of. Those are the ones
that I am looking at modeling after them. I want to say Nampa, too, but I'm not
sure on that one, but I do know absolutely for sure Garden City and Boise city
have them.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
Page 15 of 61
Milam: Chief, the answer your math question is 69 percent, approximately.
Lavey: I knew someone would do it, but I knew you -- didn't think it would be you
that would be the one that did it. Thought it would be these two guys with their
phones.
Milam: It went down by approximately 69 percent. And I just want to reiterate
that the CARE values that your team does really show and I feel like I have a
conversation on a regular basis with citizens that are in Meridian and other
places discussing this and really just talking about how -- how much better our
police force is than any other police force anywhere ever, so as far as their --
their respect and their kindness and their care towards the people that they are
dealing with.
Lavey: Thank you. I appreciate hearing that. They are not -- they are not ours
as in the police CARE values, they are ours as in the city's CARE values and
that's one thing that the Mayor probably will remember that when we first started
with the CARE values the police department has to be different, they have to be
their own island, so we have our own values and, then, we -- in a book, which
you didn't know what those were unless you went and took the book out and read
them and, then, you had the city core values and we said why do we have two
sets of values and why do we have values that we don't even know what they
are. They really have to mean something to us. We have to know what they are
and be able to remember them. That's a great thing about CARES and we
adopted those. Now, we might have tweaked them a little bit as far as what they
mean to us, because we have had that argument about customer service really
isn't something that the police department deals with customers and I said , well,
we deal with everybody professionally and if you have to call it professionalism
instead of customer service, I don't care, but that's what we are going to be doing
and it's taken us a while for that culture to be adopted and it's been a little
difficult, because you have to hold people accountable. That's hard. Especially
when you're up here and, then, you get promoted now you're supervising your
peer, but it really comes down to quality hiring, too. We used to fill positions just
because we had open positions and we don't do that anymore. We find good,
quality people that -- that have those same values, because we realize that those
are something we can't train, those are moral, ethical, family values that you
have come up with as -- as an individual and I can train you how to be a police
officer, but I can't train you how to be more and that's what we are looking for.
De Weerd: You know -- and I'm glad you brought that up the -- up front you're
looking for officers that fit the culture of the department of the city. We just got an
e-mail recently -- and I have kind of told the chief that one of those performance
measurements is when I drive down and I drive by one of our officers and they
start waving at me instead of not noticing anyone drove by. You know, it wasn't
just me it's that they are more aware of what's going on in our community. So,
we just got this e-mail from a grandmother who said that she and her grandson
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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were out in their front yard and a police car drove by and the police officer waved
and it wasn't just the fact that he waved , but he did turn around, come back and
got out of his car and gave him -- gave the little boy a sticker and she said, you
know, just that act of coming back made that little boy's day and has changed
how he sees the police department -- a police officer and, you know, those things
go a long way. They pay dividends to building relationships with our community.
It's more than just driving down the street, it's caring. And so that is
immeasurable. It's kind of one of those squishy ones, but those squishy ones are
sometimes the most impactful, so --
Lavey: Sergeant Mark Ford. That's who that was.
De Weerd: Officer Mark.
Lavey: May as well give the credit where it's due. And one last piece that has
nothing to do with the city, but just for Councilman Palmer, I think we have
located one of your cars that you have been looking for for a while and just as
soon as we are done processing it we will make sure that you can have it back.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I feel like there is confusion now. I'm working with a finance company
and there is --
De Weerd: Yeah. How many cars do you have anyway.
Palmer: And there is a couple that from what I understand they were
incarcerated somewhere in southern Idaho and had -- the car was at some
relative and we had no idea where it was, we have been trying to find it for a few
months -- about three months and, then, I -- I got my daily e-mail with the arrest
report and saw that they were on it and so I checked with them to see if there
was a vehicle involved that might have been impounded and it was our car . So,
we are super excited to have located our vehicle now and it's back in Meridian,
too.
Lavey: We aim to please.
De Weerd: Any other questions from Council?
Bird: Great report.
De Weerd: Thank you, chief.
Lavey: Thank you.
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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Niemeyer: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, good afternoon . Wait until
we get this presentation up. But the follow-up to Chief Lavey's comment -- we
were discussing this beforehand -- some of you recall back in the day when we
were a little bit younger and less gray hair -- probably more hair, we would take
the opportunity of digging at each other a little bit and throw some things in the
PowerPoints and we just realized we are getting older, because we don't even
have any of that. So, the fun is gone.
De Weerd: So, you did it right off the bat.
Niemeyer: I might have. Benefits of going last, I guess. So, with that, thank you
for allowing us to take this opportunity. This is the annual update that we do as a
public safety partnership where police and fire present some updates to you as
Council. See how to work this. I think I'm the guy that has the problem with this.
So, the four things that we are going to cover here -- 2016 successes. 2017
budget update. Where we are going with the dollars that you allocated to us to
give you an idea where we are at and where we are going with that. Some
current and future challenges and, then, lastly, needs and I only have one. So,
as far as success stories, we replaced the two engines in service, Engine 32 and
Engine 35. Your decision saved about 36,000 dollars to the taxpayers because
of the purchase of two. Again, I think you heard Tom Berry at one time talk about
how long it takes for them to build some of their apparatus. Ours takes about
nine months and so that planning process really starts about a year in advance to
make sure we get those within the budget cycle. We did get those delivered.
We thought we were going to have to carry forward those funds and we got them
here delivered for the FY-16 close out. So, we really appreciate your support
and we appreciate the Finance's help on that. They are very good to work with.
Our Saturday Public Safety Day. This is something that police and fire do
together on a Saturday in October to celebrate Fire Prevention Month and Crime
Prevention Month. This year we had 678 participants. We have been doing this
for about five years and that is a new record high . That is a lot of work for Pam
and for Stephanie and the folks that help out with that . The vendors that come in
and help out with that. Huge success. That's a lot of people packed in over at
Station One. So, a great success there. We anticipate that to continue. Part of
Heart Safe Meridian is making sure that city employees are trained in CPR. This
past year we trained 39 new employees. That's not the ones that had already
gone through and, then, refreshed on. So, 39 new employees got trained in
CPR. That's a great thing for us and for a community. Those folks are now out
in our community whether they are with Parks or Public Works or Fire or Police
and in the event that we have that cardiac arrest they know what to do and we
are helping to save lives through this program. So, we appreciate your support
on that.
De Weerd: And I guess I would ask if any of you take -- have taken that training?
I would strongly suggest it. I have, but --
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I was going to save this to the end, but while I have been trained in it I
was going to maybe ask the chief if potentially down the road the rest of the
Council could be trained in that as well.
Niemeyer: Absolutely.
Cavener: I think that would be something that we could all benefit from doing
together.
Niemeyer: Absolutely. We would be happy to.
De Weerd: We will certainly make sure that when it's offered again to let you all
know.
Niemeyer: In fact, we do have an offering to the public coming up shortly.
Director Siddoway approached. They have some staff that they would like to get
trained. So, we are going to be doing that over at the parks maintenance facility.
I don't have a date yet. They are coordinating that with Pam. So, that would be
another offering. The EEOGs. This took about a year and a half to develop. We
now have four out of the five Ada county fire agencies and three Canyon county
agencies all under the same emergency operating guidelines. That's fire ground
operations. That has bettered our communication with one another when we go
on responses together and it's bettered our fire ground effective. We are very
excited about that. That's been long overdue and was really a milestone for us.
Joint entry-level recruit academy going on right now. We have seven agencies
participating in that throughout Ada and Canyon counties. We will get to this a
little bit later as far as staffing, but we are -- that is moving forward. We are using
our training staff to teach at that academy. We are discussing how can we
potentially move this into a community college type mod el. Law enforcement has
done a very good job in the state of Idaho through POST. Law enforcement
officers everywhere in the state of Idaho go through POST. In the fire service
many jurisdictions across the country for many years have taken those
academies and put them into a community college model where the students
bear some of the cost of that and when they come out they are ready to be hired.
We kind of do it opposite. We hire them and, then, put them through training,
which creates some challenges. So, we are working on that. We think we can
achieve that. We also hired Charlie Butterfield. I'm very excited to have Charlie
on board. He replaced Chief Amenn. He was a previous assistant chief at Sun
Valley. Has about 18 years of service in the -- in the fire service. Has a master's
degree in education. His areas of focus are going to be data collection, analysis,
reporting, our dispatch and communications liaison with the Ada County Dispatch
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November 9, 2016
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Center and the sheriff's office, some of our risk management as far as identifying
our target hazards and how we can respond better. So, really happy and excited
to have Charlie on board. He's been a great fit. And, then, ACCESS, our Ada
County City Emergency Services System. This is different than ACAM, which is
Doug Hardeman's office for those of you who know Doug. This is the EMS
system. This, again, is in a fifth year and we have more success in our fifth year
than we did in our fourth. So, a couple of highlights with that. We transitioned to
a new records management system where we -- where we do all of our patient
care and fire reporting into. Everybody is using that system now in Ada county
and here is how cool the technology has become. When we arrived on scene we
take our MDTs, our motion tablets, which you have heard about, into the house
and we start documenting patient care. When Ada county gets there there is a
little special thing that happens between those two tablets , they, then, get that
information from us, they add their steps, and when they hit the hospital there is
a full report for the doctor that's now treating that patient. So, seamless
information, seamless care being given to the citizen , which is a huge benefit.
That model that we are under, that JPA, has saved us about 30,000 dollars
annually in operating costs. A lot of that is in equipment and supplies that Ada
county is now providing to us and we are no longer buying. So, we have reduced
that line item in this year's budget. The other is -- what it's forced us to do is look
at how we plan our resource deployment on medical calls. So, a couple of
highlights there. Fire is not responding to all the medical calls we used to and so
a lot of those non-emergent calls that we know historically get transported to the
hospital still, the fire department is not going unless Ada county gets on scene,
realizes they need us for some help. So, that has decreased our call volume in
that area. Likewise, the ambulances are not going on all calls either and a prime
example of that is diabetic patients. Diabetics historically we could wake up with
the treatments we have and, then, they stay at home. There is no need for them
to go to the hospital and with that system and talking about how can we better
deploy, we found a better model. So, we are very excited about that. And as
part of that we -- we also had to take a look at our fire responses, because we
had two things going on. We had ESO, which is the records management
system, the reporting system, and we TriTech CAD that was rolling out at the
same time. So, one of the discussions we have had between Mayor, the
Council, and myself in the past is automatic fire alarms . Commercial automatic
fire alarms. Historically we have sent the world, just as if we would to a fire. We
do that, because you never know what you are going to find when you get here.
The change in deployment -- and this has been done now countywide with all the
agencies -- if it's -- if it's during working business hours where we know we have
people in the building, we send one engine non-code to go check it out, because
we have somebody in the building that can tell us if something is on fire or not
through that fire alarm. And so after hours we do still send the full response.
There is nobody inside that can tell us what we are doing or what's going on in
the building, but we have changed that for the daytime hours, which has
decreased our overall resource response, so we are very excited about that.
That's a good move. Quarterly joint is going on through this access system.
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November 9, 2016
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Chief Lavey mentioned the Public Safety Training Center and I did not have that
as a talking point, but I do want to reiterate our appreciation for your support in
that. That facility has been used heavily. We have used the auditorium a lot.
We have brought in national speakers from Texas to Minnesota where we allow
our crews now to come to them, instead of us always sending them out. That
has been huge. We also really heavily use what's called the SIM room. That's
the one where it's got the two-way glass and, then, the room next to it. That's
where we do all of our command center training and we also do all over quarterly
shared EMS training. So, we have Meridian crews, we have Ada county crews,
Star and Kuna sometimes bring their crews in and so we are doing system-wide
training in that room and we greatly appreciate it. We did not have that room in
the past, so for us the training facility has been a huge addition and a huge
positive, so we appreciate your support on that. Along with some of the training,
Jeff mentioned CIT training I think is what he called it. Basically, about 30
percent spike in mental health calls. Likewise so have we, because, typically, the
calls that they are on we are on, because a lot of those patients are needing
some assistance and so our last quarterly training on mental health calls and
when those turn violent what do you do and so we work with PD on that as well .
But that is something that we are training on as a system. Also our department
master plan is completed. We presented that to Council. That was a four
agency plan that still had very specific Meridian areas for improvement in. Those
topics that we identified that the consultant recommended we look at, we sat
down and prioritized those and we built in some of those into our 24 month
tactical work plan that I'm going to get to here in just a second . So, a lot of those
were operational suggestions that we can do operationally to better ourselves
and so I will get to that here in just a second. There is still an outstanding need
for our response time adoption. So, that's going to be the need at the end for
discussion. Quick FY-17 budget update. We requested two training captains.
We thank you for your support in that. We did hire Christian Forbey and Glenn
Wilson to fill those roles. Glenn has been at the training academy since it
started, so he's there full-time. Christian Forbey, who oversees our programs
training, just completed an eight-week engineer development program course.
He's also filling in at the academy when they need extra bodies and, then, once
that academy is done Captain Wilson will be going to shift training for our daily
shift crews and Captain Forbey will begin our emergency vehicle operations
course. That's an annual certification that we do. That helps with some of our
ICRMP training as far as risk management to hold that course . So, that's an
update on our two training captains. The three firefighters that you approved --
we had a total of eight that went into the academy. We had five vacancies going
in and you added the three that -- that were approved. We appreciate that.
There is a downside similar to what Chief Lavey mentioned. They went from
eight officers to seven. We have gone from eight firefighters to seven. We did
have one that was dismissed from the academy here recently. So, we are down
one spot. Graduation for the academy will be December 9th at 4:00 p.m. at the
Idaho Center. This is going to be a really cool deal, because there are seven
agencies involved. The Idaho Center was gracious enough to say you can host it
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November 9, 2016
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here. So, we will actually have fire engines inside the Idaho Center, with our
pipes and drums collectively playing in the Idaho Center. It's going to be a really
special deal. So, we are very excited about that. So, I say that to put it in your
mind. We will do a formal announcement and invitation to everybody. Once they
graduate they will begin their field training task book out in the field. FY-17
budget also. Our EMS quality assurance position from the EMS system, that
position is filled. QA for all fire departments, including ours, as part of that
program will begin January 1st. That is something we have not done in the past
and we will begin January 1. That's a step in the right direction. Analytic
software. We talked about that during the -- during the budget hearing. We have
identified the vendor. The vendor was actually brought to us from our IT
department. They have been looking for vendors that could meet our needs.
This was something they couldn't build internally. They don't have the capacity
to build what we are looking for. So, they brought us that vendor. I can tell you
the cost was 60,000 dollars a year, which made me swallow hard. It is a very
powerful tool. It's very deep. Software is not cheap these days. But that was a
challenge. So, we sat down and we worked with some our partners, Boise fire,
Star fire, Caldwell, Nampa, Ada County Paramedics, they all have an interest in
doing the same software. Boise is actually using it right now. They got it off a
grant to do some wild land-urban interface planning. It's the same exact
software. The software is endorsed by the Western Fire Chiefs Association. So,
the company Intera is using us as a model for how to do a regional collaboration
using this and it will be valley wide 90,000 dollar cost. Our cost will be about 16.
So, from 60 to 16 all in a matter of finding partners and collaborating. That's
what we are about. So, we are very excited about that. I know Chief Butterfield
is very excited to get this software going, because it's going to make his job a
little bit easier. Final stage of 24 month tactical plan. This was not a budget
item, but it's certainly something that we have been working on once we have
entered fiscal year 2017. Our five year strategic plan we finished it. Completed
it. We wanted to have a plan moving forward that the entire organization, as well
as you, the City Council, the Mayor, knew where we were going in the next 24
months and what our priorities were. So, we went on a retreat. We incorporated
the master plan recommendations, our employee engagement survey, as well as
the city's strategic plan and developing those 2 3 tactics that we came up with.
Each tactic does align with the city's strategic plan objectives. We developed
that with the union. So, there is a partnership there. As far as those 23 tactics
go, you can see how those are broken out. We have eight short time, which is
six months or less to complete. We have eight that are going to be six to 12
months to completion and, then, seven long-term that will be up to 24 months to
complete. So, this is our next two years and our focus. In addition each tactic
has a measurable outcome. We are very big on how do we measure and how do
we articulate success. So, each tactic that we have will have some kind of
outcome that we will be able to articulate success or not. So, we are very excited
about that. There you can see the flow chart. Something that Councilman
Cavener will be getting very used to. Councilman Borton has seen it. And this is
just an update. We have been working with the Parks Department -- this is
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November 9, 2016
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something I'm very excited about and I know Mike Barton is here and so -- we
were talking with Parks about the future possibility of co-locating fire stations and
parks and on paper it seemed like a very good idea. We are merging two
services that the city provides to our community. It's providing a shared face of
the city in those locations. So, we got together with Parks Director Siddoway and
-- and Mike and what I loved is -- to start the conversation we didn't ask why not,
we said how can we do it and I really want to thank Mike. He's been great to
work with. So, we have some ideas. We are going to the Parks commission
tonight to discuss some of those ideas moving forward in the future . For us as
far as fire station locations, one thing we have learned is that putting fire stations
on the one mile roadways is not a very good idea. It's great at the time when it's
small and a little bit of traffic. As traffic grows you see what Franklin Road has
done. You see what Ten Mile has now done with the expansion. If any of you
drive Locust Grove at 5:30 at night going home you know what that's done and
all of those fire stations are on one mile roadways. So, at the half miles are
much better. Better access to the arterials, but it keeps us off the really busy
roads to get out onto. So that's one thing that we are looking at. So, with that
our Station Six property, that the rural district did buy already, is a challenge. We
have even some more challenges with access due to some ACHD constraints on
in and out, so we are working with parks on a potential partnership in Bear
Creek. That's in its very infant stages that we are discussing. We are also
talking about a partnership in south Meridian as we expand. So, we are very
excited about this partnership. For Parks it puts our guys right out there with the
community and I love that. Chief Lavey talked about waving and so did the
Mayor and that was a cool story. I loved hearing that. I had the opportunity to go
to Fire Station Three not too long ago and Captain Kiesig was on and Scottie is
not one that likes the spotlight I know, but I was just going to have coffee and talk
to the guys. They pulled their chairs out and they put them on the tarmac at 5:00
o'clock on Locust Grove. You know what they were doing? Waving. Interacting
with the folks that were going back and forth. I see that type of relationship in the
Parks. Our firefighters are right there engaging and interacting with the
community. From the Parks standpoint it puts a face 24 hours a day on the park
and so, hopefully, we will see a little less vandalism and there is some other
benefits. So, we are pretty excited about this potential and Mike's excited, we
have got some things to work through and get approved and talk and discuss,
but I think moving forward this a great concept. We are pretty excited about that.
Current and future challenges is staffing and it's not so much the needs of the
future, but staffing in that recruit academy. Right now when we have five
vacancies we hire five recruits and we put them in the academy. I just got done
telling of our last one. So, that sets us now back a year in that position
potentially filled again. Station Six when that does come online that's 12
firefighters going into an academy. Going under the assumption that you are
going to lose two, if that were to occur you can see where we are behind.
Moving forward it was great to hear about retirements coming in the police
department. We are in the same boat. We anticipate up to six retirements in the
next 18 to 24 months. Those are captain and engineer level positions and so
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through that you will have to hire back six firefighters, put them in an academy.
So, this is our staffing challenge. We have sat down and we are discussing how
we do it different. Is there a different model to use that eliminates some of these
problems. It frustrates me to no end to ask for a position and, then, say I won't
have it for another year. It's hard to swallow. But it is what it is right now based
on how we do our academies and how long they need to last to get those
firefighters ready. So, we are considering a different approach. The hiring for
the academy, we are considering an alternative to the current promotional testing
process. Looking for solutions is what we are doing. One challenge is growth
and, really, it's -- it's growth specific to some traffic increase. We have talked
about that on Locust Grove at 5:30. We all know what the traffic is in various
parts of the city. So, with that congestion it does slows us down a little bit. Some
of the medians that we are putting in, while safe, they do slow us down a little bit.
Things like that do cause us to slow down a little bit in getting to a call. Our call
volume -- station call volume is increasing at certain stations. So, Station One,
for example, we are going to be about 2,064 calls. As a comparison back in
2000, which really wasn't that long ago, I did not have as much gray hair back
then. Our call volume for the entire area that we covered was 2,069. So, one
station today equates about what we had for the entire area about 16 years ago.
Looking at Overland Road and Ten Mile with the urban renewal and also the
development of Overland Road, the commercialization of some of that stuff on
Overland Road, as well as the residential development going on to the south,
that's going to be a hotspot. And, then, looking at our southeast and northwest
corner. So, we are just keeping an eye on those. In our southeast with the
YMCA going in, the school, and, then, residential growth, we know that's going to
expand and, then, our northwest corner. Some pretty big developments going in
as well. So, we are keeping an eye on those as far as future challenges go and
try to meet those. Response coverage gaps in growth for us in Idaho is
predominately horizontal. That does create some geographical gaps for us, as
opposed to vertical growth you maybe see in the big cities. So, with that it takes
longer to get there, as opposed to getting there in a short amount of time and
going up a flight of stairs. So, that is a challenge for us. The stations are a little
bit more spread out as far as -- or the population is a little more spread out.
Station Six -- we have been talking about this for a number of years, so it
shouldn't be a shock it's in the presentation. We only have one fire station south
of I-84 right now and that causes a pretty big concern. So, that is our next need
to meet that challenge. Seven and eight, don't know when. That will be dictated
on how much growth occurs in those corridors. And that one last challenge we
continue to have is that Station One cross-staffing. I mentioned the call volume
out of Station One that we anticipate. The reliability factor is down. I know
Councilman Borton and I had several conversations about reliability. It's just the
ability of that unit to respond within that subdistrict based on their call volume and
call load. Right now we are about 74 percent. The anticipated call volume, if you
break that out of Station One, 824 of those calls are fire-related and, then, 1,240
of those calls are EMS related. So, we continue to work on how can we solve
this and how can we -- how can we meet this challenge. So, that is a continued
Meridian City Council
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challenge for us moving forward. So, the need -- try and keep this brief. I know
there is a lot on the agenda. We have talked response times several times over
the past seven years and the need for adoption of standards as far as response
times go. So, what I'm here to ask you tonight -- a follow-up from the master plan
presentation that we had -- is to consider the adoption based on our
recommendation as far as chute times go and responsive -- travel time. Let me
get to chute time first. Chute time is simply the time that the dispatch center
notifies us of a call until the time we roll out the barn. Out the station. Sorry.
Public safety talk. The standard for that is 60 seconds for EMS calls and 90
seconds for fire-related calls. And 90 seconds is the additional time so they can
get their turnouts on. We can achieve this standard. So, we would like that to be
considered for adoption. The second piece of this is the travel time standard and
I have two options on here, but I do have a preferred option. The preferred
option as what was presented to you in the master plan presentation, that is
population-based travel time. So, in the urban and metro populations per square
mile, which is 2,000 people or greater, we would like to adopt a five-minute travel
time. In the suburban populations, which is one to 2,000 people -- and, again,
we can map this through GIS on a map and, then, we can articulate our
benchmark. It would be seven minutes -- nine minutes for the rural setting, which
is 50 to 1,000 people. If you remember the master plan there was also a frontier
discussion. We don't have frontier here in Meridian. The pieces that we do are
farmland that we have no houses on and so that is option one. That's a preferred
option. It's the option that the ESCI, the consultants, recommended looking at
going to. Option B, which is harder to track, but it is an option, is to take the city
borders and say a five minute travel time in the city borders and seven minute 30
travel time anywhere outside the city borders. I can tell you it's a lot harder to
track to, then, gauge a benchmark to performance. So, I'm hoping tonight there
can be a brief discussion -- there has been a lot of time to kind of sit on this,
chew on this, that we can come out with some kind of direction on expectation.
Just file that -- that would be an overview. The one on the left is Option A and we
track that through densities. We get those numbers through COMPASS
annually, so we get updated densities and we can track that. Option B on the
right, you can imagine that's a little bit harder to track , because you have to have
a way to pinpoint that call location and determine if it's in the city or in the rural
district and the challenging part about that is you can see the little pockets of
rural fire district within the city limits as well. And with that I will stand for any
questions.
De Weerd: Council?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Mark, go back to your call numbers. You showed the truck had to respond
to 800 and some fire calls?
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November 9, 2016
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Niemeyer: Correct.
Bird: What year was -- did we have 800 and some fire calls?
Niemeyer: So, that is in anticipation. We have taken the last six month's worth
of data and, then, broke that out into a year's worth of data. So, the last six
months --
Bird: We have been responded to 400 fire calls?
Niemeyer: Yes. Four hundred calls that required a fire apparatus response. So,
that could be a car fire. It could be a structure fire.
Bird: But not a -- not a truck. A fire apparatus.
Niemeyer: Yeah.
Bird: But if you look at that -- go back to that, Mark. I think -- I might have
misread it and I apologize if I did. Eight hundred and twenty-four annual fire
requiring Truck 31 response.
Niemeyer: Yeah. So, if you look at what Truck 31 responds to -- and keep in
mind Truck 31 responds to the entire coverage area, not just Station One's small
coverage area. They are going to all extrication calls. They go on automobile
accidents within their district. They go on the I-84 calls. They go on the
commercial fire alarms, structure fires, reported structure fires -- there is an entire
list of call types that they go on.
Bird: But it isn't fire responses, all 824.
Niemeyer: They are all fire related.
Bird: All fire related.
Niemeyer: None of those have any kind of --
Bird: For Truck 31 out of Station No. One.
Niemeyer: Uh-huh. None of those have EMS calls to them, other than our traffic
accidents that we do send the truck for stabilization when they have a patient.
De Weerd: Other questions? I know the chief hopes to have feedback on the
response time.
Niemeyer: I would love feedback.
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November 9, 2016
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Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Mark, if you want to jump ahead to slide 17 and, then, to
recommendations.
Niemeyer: Visual?
Cavener: Either/or. Oh. Okay. I will get it. Sorry. I'm looking at the computer
screen and trying to talk into the mike. I guess -- I'd like you to dig a little deeper
-- to me what it sounds like is that you're -- you're -- well, not officially, but softly
recommending Option A --
Niemeyer: Uh-huh.
Cavener: -- and you have got some concerns about Option B about its ability to
track and I guess what I'm hoping you can provide to us is how it's easy to track
in Option A, but more difficult to track in Option B, because when you look at --
when you go to the visual there is pockets where it changes as well. So, both to
me appear to be challenging and not being the subject matter expert Option B
seems to be easier, so I'm hoping that you could give us maybe a little more
analysis behind your recommendation.
Niemeyer: Sure. Part of the challenge is when -- in Option A you're breaking
down the population per square mile , so you have these one mile square blocks
that those calls, then, get pinned into and you simply say did we meet the
compliance for the travel time based on what we set here within that. It's very
easy visually to capture. It's very easy from a data management standpoint to
capture. The software that we talked about, the analytic software, can do that
very easily. Under the city model you have to take that call and there has to be
an additional layer of determining is that in the city or is that in the district and we
have those -- those pockets of white -- that's an added step in the process to
evaluate.
Cavener: Madam Mayor? I'm going to make an assumption, but I also need to
make an assumption that if there is a pocket that is in the district, but is in the
metro-urban area, the fire department's not going slow themselves down to get
there. I mean it's really for evaluation purposes.
Niemeyer: And that's where Option A -- it's regardless of city or district, it's
based on that square mile population that we set the benchmark to. The other
reason I -- quite honestly I do like Option A is that from a planning standpoint,
as we get those annual numbers from COMPASS and can see the population
expansion, even in looking at future fire station planning, as the population
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November 9, 2016
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increases that's a great visual to say, okay, there has been about a hundred calls
in that area, our population is now increasing, do we need to plan for that as our
next station or does the northwest corner make more sense and from a planning
standpoint Option A works a whole lot better.
Cavener: Okay.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Mark, this isn't anything new to you. My question. But before I can get into
the times and stuff, I need to -- I need three answers that I don't seem to be able
to get and maybe now that we have got Mr. Butterfield on we can get these
answers. I'd like to know how many calls we are responding from the station.
How many from the area and how many from out of the area for each station.
And I -- yeah. I mean per area. Like three has got an area. Because that tells a
lot to me.
De Weerd: So, I think what might also be helpful -- and I think you have the
technology to do what Mr. Bird is asking, but I don't know if you have it all
plugged in to -- to know that at this point. But what is our -- what are averages
right now in each of those different than bullets under Option A and what kind of
staffing -- because I think that it is measured by the first truck on scene in
particular for the fire or how long it takes for all apparatus to get there , what are
the --
Niemeyer: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, to your point first. I can tell you
in that -- in the five minute travel time our average is five minutes 30 seconds
right now. Today. It does mark -- this is travel time for the first arriving
apparatus. We do have a separate benchmark internally where all arriving
apparatus try and arrive there within the first 15 minutes and that's an internal
benchmark that we track. So, that is five minute travel for metro urban areas,
which is really core areas, we are at 5:30. The goal is five. I can't tell you off the
top of my head what our seven and nine is right now.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Though I do think that will be helpful for this Council to make those
decisions, you know, maybe they can say Option A is preferred, but, then, we
need to talk about what your goals are and if they are achievable and how much
it costs.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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Bird: You just hit a very good statement there. But I think that while these are A
great benchmark and I hope we can reach them, you're looking at -- you know,
we are not -- at nighttimes we are not going to respond as fast as we can in the
daytime. You have to come out of bed. You have got to wake up. You're not
going get in the truck and go as fast. I think they are great goals, Mark. I hope
we can beat them. But I will tell you I believe that our safety departments
respond as fast as they possibly can safely and they do one heck of a job. I have
never read -- the only time I have ever had a complaint was when it took 45
minutes for two to get to the Meridian High School for my grandson's broken leg,
but it wasn't their fault, they were sent to Timbuktu. So, anyway, I -- while we
need a benchmark, I think let's just keep getting -- and they do, they have got
pride in themselves.
Niemeyer: They do. And I appreciate the comments, Councilman Bird, but I will
reiterate the importance of having a performance benchmark. This is the most
basic component of a fire department. And when I get questions about why our
response time is improving -- or getting worse, the question is what do you want
them to be? What are they getting worse to? What are they improving to? And
without that benchmark to measure to, it's kind of an open-ended answer and
questions. So, having that performance that we can gauge ourselves to I think is
very important. I can certainly provide whatever additional information the Mayor
and Council wants, come back again, and I will try to get you your question
answered, Councilman Bird. I know you have asked the question multiple times
and I have given the same answer. I have talked to IT staff about this. The
problem isn't necessarily technology to capture your answer, it's the manpower
and the hours it takes to get your answer. This is not an easy push the button
analysis, this is somebody sitting down and going through every call to determine
when the call occurred, where the apparatus was, where did they go and doing
that for thousands of calls takes a lot of time. So, there is no easy one push to
get your answer and that's been the concern. In the past we had no ability to get
that answer, because we didn't have those AVL's -- Automatic Vehicle Locators
in our apparatus. So, that is a matter of manpower intensive. We could do a
study for three months potentially and see if we can do that, but that's still
somebody for IT or my department going to sit down for hours getting that . So, I
know when I talked to Councilman Borton about this, instead of being very open-
ended and doing a huge study, is there an example you would like me to grab of
a call or ten calls or something that would kind of narrow the scope to get an idea
and, then, if desired we could dive into it further. But that is a big time
commitment to get that information.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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Bird: Mark -- and I think you hit upon -- on it. We need a benchmark for our
time, but, in the same token, there is so many different scenarios for those
firefighters.
Niemeyer: Uh-huh.
Bird: Our first responders. Like the police, too. That while every -- in a perfect
world everything they would be in their station and be sitting right there and be
within a mile and a half or whatever their territory is to the deal and there wouldn't
be any traffic on the road. But it isn't so. I agree with you. Let's get a
benchmark and hope -- if we can hit it, great.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a couple questions, chief. So, I like
the benchmark idea. I mean I want to say, yes, this is perfect. This is where we
need to be. But you're not meeting these, which means there is an underlying
question. So, my question is what are you really asking for? Because if we
answer, yes, we want you to meet these, you're either going to make your guys
move faster or there is something else you need that's going to cost a lot of
money.
De Weerd: Although I think the indicator is what t he chief has been talking about
is when is the -- the trigger or the tipping point for Station Six and we are kind of
at that higher end and this gives Council information as you start seeing the
average creeping up, what are some of those influences and it's -- it's tracking
where the truck is, you know, in the service area or not and it's also the influencer
of the population growth and the urban or -- yeah, urban-suburban-rural type of
influencers, too. So, it will give them a better indicator of -- and to you a better
indicator of when that additional substation is going to be needed when you start
getting at that higher end.
Niemeyer: And, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Woman Milam,
I think -- that was a great answer that the Mayor gave, because it is a planning
tool. In addition, it gives us the ability -- if we are not meeting the standard, it let's
us ask the question why and, then, it lets us go and look at those calls that we
didn't meet the standard on to see if there is some underlying factors that we can
improve upon. So, it's not necessarily a money thing. But it is a -- if we are not
meeting it what are the causes of that . Maybe it's traffic. Maybe it's the station
ultimately long term that it wouldn't have a time, it's in the wrong location. The
majority of our calls are now on Eagle Road and that Locust Grove station
doesn't make the most sense. So, it allows us to ask the question why. I think if
consistently we identify the why, whether it's traffic or weather or we are slow or
whatever it is and we are continuing not meeting the standard, then, we have
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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another discussion. Maybe the standard was set too low. Maybe we are not
performing to the way we should. So, I don't think -- it's not a money thing and
it's not -- I need 25 more bodies, although if you want to give them to me I will
take them. But I think it allows us to ask the question why are we not meeting
the standard and really dive into why.
Milam: Madam Mayor? Chief, that was a good explanation and I appreciate it,
because it's easy to say, yes, this is good, go start doing your research. Have
you already -- you know that you're at five and a half minutes. Have you already
started looking into what some of those problems are? Have you started
answering those questions just to kind of see or --
Niemeyer: Not yet.
Milam: -- you're waiting for -- you're waiting for an answer for us? I just want to
make sure that we are not saying, yes, go do this and, then, you're like oh, we
are already over it, time for another sleep in tomorrow, you know what I'm
saying?
Niemeyer: Yeah.
Milam: So, that was kind of a --
De Weerd: What a killjoy. You take away all the -- the arguments of doing
something. Come one.
Milam: Oh. Madam Mayor. Like I can't read my notes. The o ther comment was
regarding Councilman Bird's question. You know, I understand there is a lot of
calls, a lot of information, but I think what we have done with other departments
and what other places do is, obviously, not the exact same type of circumstance,
but you do a sample search -- or, you know, a sample test, we, obviously, have
to be preferably somebody nonbias or random -- a very random sample test, but
a lot of times that will give you a good indicator of where those calls -- where the
vehicle is when those calls are made without going through every single call,
so --
Niemeyer: And we can certainly work with IT to -- the Mayor and I already had
this conversation on how to get that data and, then, run a sample analysis, if you
will.
De Weerd: Well -- and the ability is -- already exists through a different
perspective from IT that they -- they can put their heads to this and see if there is
an easier solution. It will give good data for the -- the administration to look at
how each of the different stations are performing and maybe even re drawing the
service lines because of various influencers. So, it's -- I'm excited. It's long
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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overdue and I think you need to feel comfortable with what those are and maybe
it's even let's look at this and see if it makes sense --
Niemeyer: Right.
De Weerd: -- and revisit it.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I think this is something that we have been talking about for three years
at least.
Niemeyer: Longer.
Milam: Well, my three years that I have been here. So -- and I like what you just
said. I would be interested in going forward with something like this, knowing
that we may revisit it, we may have to tweak it a little bit, but level of service is
certainly something that we have been discussing and, you know, kicking the can
down the road again and again and again and -- and coming up with kind of the
same stuff. So, in my opinion we -- it's awesome doing this and do some work
on it and see where your inefficiencies are, see what needs to be done and, then,
revisit it and see if we can --
De Weerd: Sounds to me like we are leaning to --
Niemeyer: How is this for a plan. I will -- I will come back in two weeks. I'm
going to sit down with IT and see if I can get you a little bit more information,
come back and look for a formal adoption.
Milam: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Niemeyer: Any other questions? Thanks.
E. Legal Department: Discussion of Regulation of Short
Term Rental Properties
De Weerd: Okay. Item 6-B is under our Community Development. Mr. Nary,
before you walk up. Council, would you mind -- I think we have a couple of
citizens out here more interested in Item 6-E that we have that first? Is that fine
with Council? Sorry. I should ask if that's fine with Brian, but he just got
trumped.
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, so what we have today is a
discussion -- we had a citizen concern regarding short-term rental properties in
the city. Sometimes they are referred to as Airbnb, which is actually a trade
name of a company. VRBO is another one. Vacation Rent By Owner. And
there is a few others out there that exist and to be fair , I was not aware this is a
significant problem, because I don't perceive Meridian as that sort of resort
destination. But it is an issue and it is a legitimate concern and so we decided to
talk about it internally to see what we would recommend bringing forward . I
provided all of you a memo that was prepared by Louise Reed, who is here in the
front row and who raised the concern. I spoke -- or Redd. I'm sorry. And I
spoke with her. I had coffee with the Mayor as well. So, we organized an
internal group of all these departments, planning, building, legal, fire, code
enforcement and the city clerk's office. We looked around the country and it's
kind of a hodgepodge today in different places , depending on the level of
concern in those communities. Some places have created very strict laws and
found some of those laws in either prohibiting them or creating some sort of
licensing mechanism and some have chosen not to do anything at this particular
time. So, we looked at all the different possibilities and what we could do in the
city and, again, some of the other affected people, obviously, are the property
owners and neighbors and they are here today to voice their concerns. So, we
looked at some -- and this is just one. Not going to say -- there is only 138. This
is just one snapshot that we got. This is a Boise page for vacation rent by owner.
Again there is more than one site out there for these types of rentals, but that's
approximately -- on this page this was done two days ago. Here is a Meridian
one. There is 18 on this particular page. Again, VRBO. So, what I did is I also
asked to go look at what some of these look like and they vary greatly and if you
have ever used this type of service -- best example I can tell you -- Airbnb can be
something as minor as renting an air mattress in somebody's garage to actually
renting an entire house. So, it varies tremendously out there, depending on
where you go. These are some that are in Settlers Bridge. These are actually --
they are either adjacent to one another or very near to one another in Settlers
Bridge and they are used -- I guess really extensively for vacation rent by
owners. Again, for those that may have never used this service, there is a whole
lot of -- there is a whole method to doing this and locating these and you have to
register. Some of them have reviews. You can look at the reviews of the
location. They can actually review you as a -- as a user, so they can decide
whether they want to rent to you. Most of them have deposits and cleaning
requirements and things. It's just a different experience than going to a hotel
and, again, they are certainly more common in resort communities. We see
them a lot in McCall, Sun Valley, Park City, places like that. But definitely there
is, obviously, a need in Meridian as well that they exist. So, enforcement tools.
Currently under the Idaho Code and the Meridian City Code that we -- there is a
definition of hotels that is very broad. All rentals less than 31 days in duration are
considered a hotel. So, that is a fairly encompassing definition and we currently,
as a city, don't regulate rental properties. We don't regulate them whether they
are three days or 365 days. We don't regulate those. We don't have a means to
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see agreements, we don't have any method to do that currently. So, we could, in
one method that we looked at, is you could create a licensing mechanism. A
person would register. They have to get a license. You would have -- we would
issue that through the clerk's office and that's one scheme that exists out there in
the world that they have done to try to curb the numbers of these types of rentals
out there. You can create a CUP process, so you can have a different method
for your zoning laws and requiring that you have some type of conditional use
permit to allow this type of activity to occur in the neighborhood . Again, with
those you're allowing it to occur, you're just putting conditions around how that is
done. The other one is classified as home occupancy business . The concern
we had from a group standpoint is if you start to define short-term rentals as
businesses and home occupancy businesses, there is other restrictions; right?
You have to reside in the home and only can be a percentage of that and also ,
again, there really isn't -- other than the turnover, there really isn't much
difference between a short-term rental and a long-term rental from a legal
standpoint from looking at it. There is not a significant difference from trying to
carve out a definition that separates that in the legal world and, obviously, there
are places that have prohibited the use and, to be honest, the area of law is very
new and I don't think we have a clear -- a clear picture today on how that -- how
successful that type of prohibition may succeed through the court system. And,
again, I don't know what the issues are. We have done some research. We
have looked at some cities and some areas that have addressed this type of
concern, but, again, it's pretty new. So, pros and cons. If you read Mrs. Redd's
very well written memo -- I mean she raises concerns -- and these are three of
them. It's not all of them, but they are certainly concerns on how it -- how the --
some of the change in the character of the neighborhoods can be by these types
of activities and that you don't have long-term -- either renters or owners living in
the properties, but you have a lot of turnover and there is always concerns with
turnover, that you're going to have either degradation of the property or the
property is not going to be maintained when you have different people there
constantly, it does change the character of the existing neighborhood and that's a
concern to folks and I understand that and I don't know that we as a city are
experiencing that particularly today, but I think what Mrs. Redd is telling us is that
that's the direction we seem to be heading if we don't get a handle on this type of
activity now versus waiting until it becomes the problem or becomes an issue
and, again, that's the last bullet. There are some other things that are raised in
here that, absolutely, if she wants to speak she can raise the things about hotels
and hotel taxes, things -- we don't have a hotel tax in Meridian , so it isn't
impacting that particular area. It is in other cities and that has been sometimes
the impetus to create some sort of ordinance method for regulation because of
the impact it has on the hotel industry. Again, we don't have that particular issue
here in Meridian today. The cons -- again, the problem is somewhat undefined
for us at the moment. We aren't hearing a real outcry from neighborhoods of
concern. We actually have people who have expressed very strongly that they
want to use their properties for this purpose and recently -- I mean in Rexburg,
there was an issue raised -- we haven't had a chance to talk directly to the city
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attorney, but we found some of the information on the internet and they
addressed this same type of thing and did in a town hall setting and had a fairly
equal amount of people that were for and against, because, again, Rexburg has
both the student population and a lot of people that visit that community for that
student population that's there and so this is some -- some method that they use
that deals with that transient type of traveler. Resources. This is always the --
kind of the -- the big guerrilla in the room we also have to address. Resources
and personnel. When we create regulation, whether it's through code
enforcement, whether it's through the clerk's office, whether it's the planning
department, it takes additional resources from what we have and -- and that's a
concern always and I know it's a concern for all of you. None of this is simple,
because it just isn't. Whether we create new ordinances and we, then, have to
track. Whether we create new regulatory methods through code enforcement, it
puts more burden on the code enforcement division to do that , to track that. If
you're going to create a licensing mechanism it creates some burden on the
clerk's office to do that. So, all of those have some real fiscal impacts to the city
to be able to do this. Our recommendation is at the moment we need to monitor
what's going on in our community. Again, when this first came to my attention it
surprised me. It didn't seem like Meridian is a place th at people are traveling to
to rent people's homes, but we are in the center of the Treasure Valley, there is a
lot of activities that occur and, frankly, I have used these in our communities and
in general they can be cheaper than a regular hotel, depending on when it is,
where it is, those kinds of things. I use Moscow as an example. If you go to
Moscow on an activity weekend, whether it's a U of I game or a WSU game, you
can't find a hotel for less than 200 dollars. You can find a vacation rent by owner
for less than that. So, I understand it exists out there and why it exists. But to
date we don't have a lot of data to provide you to say here is the problem that we
are getting feedback from. Police haven't received much. Planning doesn't
receive much. The clerk's and Mayor's office -- we haven't received a lot of
feedback that this is a problem we have to address today. Again, monitor
national trends. Most of that is in the legal world. Some of these companies that
do this can be very aggressive pro and con and if you want to prohibit it they are
pretty aggressive against that. If you want to prohibit it and work with them to
fashion it so it fits their business model and maybe not somebody else's business
model, they are very proactive in that regard. So, it really is something that's
very, very new in the legal world to address . Obviously, we need documentation
as they arise and, again, we haven't received a lot of data -- information on this
problem and so we would like to at least start making sure we are tracking those
things, so we have some way to have a better dialogue with either the neighbors
and the community, as well as with all of you. We need to check in with our
HOAs, because that's really -- excuse me -- part of the concern are things that
are HOA driven, not city driven. You know, the degradation of the property or the
maintenance of the property -- many of those things are not things that we as a
city track, but if they are out there and they exist and I know the HOAs
sometimes are frustrated because they are the only tool in which to enforce
those things -- again, the city doesn't actually get into the business of enforcing
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that, but that's probably a better data information that you all have if this is really
a significant issue of concern and we have some outreach through Ken Corder
and some others in being able to at least gather some of that information for you.
Then we would like to get a group together, we get some data, and, then, come
back to you again and see whether or not this is the right time in which to
address this concern through some sort of ordinance or some other method that
might exist and, again, we don't have to invent the wheel in this, there is lots of
people out there doing this. Some have been doing it a long time and don't have
quite the same level of concerns or have addressed it and kind of moved on, but
others are still dealing with the newness of it and we want to see what's -- what's
existing out there before we simply jump in to create a mechanism that will, then,
incur some increased resource needs for the city. That's all I have, unless you
have questions, and I'm sure the folks that came today would probably like to
address you if you want to do that.
De Weerd: Council, any questions for Bill? Yes, ma'am. Please come forward.
Redd: My name is Louise Redd --
De Weerd: If you will state your name and address.
Redd: Louise O'Neil Redd. R-e-d-d. 2343 Sidewinder Drive, Meridian, Idaho.
83646. Settlers Bridge.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Redd: Thank you. Thank you. Council Members, thank you. Today I Googled
-- there is 148 vacation -- when I Googled there is 148 vacation rentals by owner
today. On October the 28th of 2016 I had Googled and there was 100 -- wrong
glasses. Sorry. It's rough when you get old. Can't -- there was 121. So, from
October 28th to today's date from 121 advertised there is 148. May I give these
to the clerk? It's Boise-Meridian area.
De Weerd: Those are not all in Meridian.
Redd: Okay. Now, real quick, because I know your time is valuable. These are
single-family homes that have been zoned for single family only. We are talking
about zoning laws. We are talking about that these homes act exactly like a
hotel-motel extended stay. For example, fully furnished, all appliances, all
amenities, linens, all your cooking, big screen TVs, DVD player -- DVD players
-- okay. Sorry. DVD players. W asher and dryer. Free WiFi. Some were
Settlers Bridge which has access to the swimming pool, which we have rules, but
because these people come and go, they don't sign the rules. That's liability
issues. Now, you have to make a reservation, as the attorney said. Now, a long-
term rental you have to fill out a lease. You're there, your neighbors know you.
For example, you save all your life, you buy a home in a single family residential.
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You want to know your neighbors, you want your kids to play outside with the
kids next door. People go on vacation you watch their house, et cetera, et
cetera. In short-term rental these are advertised as three nights minimum.
Three nights minimum. In 30 days you could have ten different groups of people
coming and going. One of our neighbors Kelly Baker has a vacation rental on
both sides of her house and there is one more down the street. These are
owned by a real estate agent, the same agent owns eight of these vacation
rentals in the city of Meridian and one up in Eagle. That is a business. Now, for
example, one weekend there was four men next door to Kelly. She's a single
parent with a young daughter. And one of the guys when she went outside kind
of stared at her. Well, that's not a big deal, because there is nothing wrong with
four men renting a house. But when four men are there for the weekend you
don't know if they are sex offenders, you have no idea who they are. If they sign
a lease agreement you get to know your neighbors next door and that's what the
ideal of a single-family zone is. And these zoning laws are already on the books
that prevents this. You have got some -- Statute 67-47 -- 67-4911, hotel-motel,
means of establishment, which provides lodging to members of the public for a
few and shall include condominiums, townhouses, or any other establishment is
defined. Also 67-4900, are definitions. Sale. Sales means the renting of a place
to sleep to an individual by a hotel, motel, campgrounds for a period of less than
one continuous day. And, then, something like the Ronald McDonald house.
That doesn't count. Then it says -- Statute 67, Chapter 48, -- or 67-4917(b) as in
boy, hotel-motel room sales tax. No tax shall be imposed when residence is
maintained continuously under the terms of the lease or similar arrangements for
a period in excessive of 30 days. Most of these are rented under 30 days. Also
if you compare them to a hotel-motel, extended stay, they have all the amenities.
You get a motel you have all your appliances for like extended stay. You have
your linens, towels, everything is provided for you. Short-term rentals, vacation
rentals by owners, same thing. If you line them up -- which I have a spreadsheet,
you will see that they are exactly like a hotel. They don't have to meet the fire
department regulations, because the fire department on hotels has to have
sprinkler systems in the rooms; correct? The fire department? That is correct?
Thank you. These homes are rented out to people that sometimes are there for
a week, sometimes they will be there three days. There is no bed tax that you're
paying, but if I go down to -- what's the motel in -- I can't think of it right now. On
Eagle -- off of Eagle on the right side?
De Weerd: Residence Inn.
Redd: Isn't there a bed tax on that? Transfer tax when you pay for it?
Nary: Madam Mayor. Not unless it's on the east side of Eagle Road. That falls
in the Boise Auditorium District. On the west side of Eagle Road there is not.
Redd: Okay. Now, there is going to be a new hotel, My Place, which has 85
rooms. That is going to be in Meridian.
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De Weerd: It's in Meridian.
Redd: So, they have to pay a bed tax or do they not pay a bed tax?
De Weerd: We don't have a bed tax.
Redd: Okay. Transitory tax or transfer occupancy tax?
De Weerd: It's not -- certainly -- I have no idea.
Nary: We don't have that.
Redd: Okay.
De Weerd: Don't have that.
Redd: So, short-term rentals have been -- many cities have recognized that
short-term rentals, VRBOBs, are businesses and they are acting like hotels and
motels and by renting out a three night minimum stay, fully furnished, transit
occupancy, they provide the same amenities as extended stay and other
establishments that renter to transfer -- transit occupancy. Those cities, Los
Angeles, Wyoming -- I had a whole list of them. They have all used the zoning
code which prevents businesses acting and running the same as a hotel and
motel. You have to make reservations for getting these VRBOBs. So, the thing
-- I bought into a single family residence. I want to know my neighbors. Our next
door neighbors went on vacation for two weeks. They gave me the keys to their
house. Go inside, flush the toilets, check on everything. And the characteristics
of a single family -- I don't want to live next door to a hotel where every three
days in 30 days there can be ten different sets of people in and out. It's nothing
but a money thing. For real estate -- especially House Bill 511, no longer allows
your HOAs to do anything about it, so they can't do anything about limiting the
time factor, which they say that you buy a piece of property, you have a right to
do with that property what you want. I totally agree with that. But you are
violating the zoning codes and that is these are -- and other cities have said yes.
Cities like Los Angeles. Now, in Meridian -- actually in Meridian you only have --
last time I Googled nine vacation rentals to keep track of. That's only nine in
Meridian. But the total in the Meridian-Boise area is 148 today. It's climbing. So,
we are degrading in the lifestyle, the values of single-family zoning, and that's
why you have zoning laws is to create an area for motels, an area for
commercial, an area for single families and these are nothing but businesses of
greedy people. When you have one real estate agent that owns nine of them
and to me that is not fair to the single family people that buy a home and want to
get to know your neighbors again and they have -- living on both sides of you.
What are the chance of having two vacation rentals next door? Think about it in
your mind. Would you let your kids go outside when next door you don't know
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who is there. Would you want that next door? Would you want to live where you
have vacation rentals next door or across the street? Your kids out in front -- I
know you should watch your kids anyway. I mean today you have to watch your
kids. But think about it, how would you feel with this next to your home when
there are zoning laws that you can use, that are on the books, you just have to
get the -- you just have to get the official to enforce and right now there is really --
I think -- like I said, eight or nine in Meridian, so that's not that big of a deal for
me. I mean to me resources -- because they are on the website, you can Google
them, you can send them a letter. There has got to be a way to do this. Other
cities have stopped it. So, I think that's enough of your time. I think I have kind
of covered everything. But, basically, the HOAs -- Rule 511 just stops the HOA
from limiting. But if it's against the zoning law, the zoning code, that doesn't
matter. All Bill H-511 kind of did was saying that the HOA cannot say that you
can't rent your house out and I agree you should be able to rent your house out
as you wish, as long as you're not breaking the law or a zoning code and that's
what I'm going after is they violated my rights to live in a single-family
neighborhood and now have to live next to a hotel-motel where in 30 days ten
separate groups of people. And they charge 185 dollars a night or for a month
it's 2,600 dollars a month is what they are making on these rentals. That is also
taking single family homes off the market where these could be offered and
rented out to people. When you have these vacation rentals, 148 of them, that
are now rented for vacation rentals, you don't have single family rentals for
people and that makes the other available homes go up in value, in price for
rentals, so --
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Cavener: Question for Bill. Bill, are these properties in Meridian, are they
currently in violation of city code?
Nary: No.
Cavener: Okay.
Redd: Okay.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, then, maybe another question.
Nary: Council Member Cavener, I can add to that. So, the concern that's been
raised is the character of the homes. All of the limited information we have on
the numbers of homes -- all of the same requirements exist for these . They are
single-family residences. They are maintained like a single family residence.
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There is no signage. There is no storefront. There is -- there is nothing that
makes that house look like a business any different than a long-term rental. And
if I could add, Mrs. Redd read off of House Bill 511. The legislature this year
enacted a new law based on a court case that originated in the city of Boise
where a gentleman owned a condominium and he rented it out as a vacation rent
by owner. The HOA changed their regulations that prohibited that activity. It
went to the Idaho Supreme Court. The Idaho Supreme Court upheld the HOA's
right to do that. The legislature, then, changed the law and preempted the ability
to do that and backdated it a year and a half to predate that case. So, from the
legislator's standpoint -- to me they have made at least some indication that they
don't have an issue with this type of activity. Now, again, that's one case and
one circumstance and you can establish it only prohibits you from amending
existing HOA laws, unless everybody unanimously agrees to it. If you establish a
brand new HOA you could put that in a new one. It doesn't prohibit that. It j ust
prohibits ones that are already existing. So, I just wanted to clarify that, since
Mrs. Redd brought it up and I didn't know if you knew what that particular
reference was.
Redd: When you say that -- what they are saying -- I understand this is one of
the common threads, as they say, is if there is a single family home and it's not
operating that as a business and I -- first of all, what is your -- Idaho 67-49 --
definition of a hotel-motel. Read the definition. What does a sale mean? They
are the definition of a hotel/motel. Long-term lease will not charge a fee. They
lease it out. If you look at the sales to sleep for less than 31 days. That is the
definition of a sale. That is the definition of a hotel-motel. And, yes, they get
around this by saying this is a single-family home. It's not a business. When you
have one real estate agent having eight of them and three in one subdivision --
she had over two in our subdivision. That's a business and they are not the
primary owner. They don't live in it. And, then, yes, Senator Jim Rice of Caldwell
spoke out in favor of the bill, which was backed by the Idaho Association of
Realtors. That was 511. That was your -- Senator Jim Rice of Caldwell --
De Weerd: Ma'am --
Redd: Yeah.
De Weerd: -- we got the point. If you have a follow-up question?
Cavener: Mrs. Redd?
Redd: Yes, sir.
Cavener: The recommendation that was brought forth by the city attorney is to
continue to look at this issue and come back with a further discussion in six
months. I don't know if that's a satisfactory response for you in light of you just
bringing this issue to our attention. Okay. Great.
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Redd: The thing is is nobody knew about this. Nobody knows how many of
these are in your neighborhood, because they don't have --
De Weerd: I have four in mine. I have for VRBOs in my neighborhood.
Redd: Yeah. And, like I said, when they say you can call -- if they are making
noise call the cops. Well, if they are there on the weekend, you call the police
officers, usually they are gone -- or they quiet them down, but the next weekend
you got somebody else living there or the next week somebody else is in there ,
so, then, you call the cops again, but --
De Weerd: Well, I guess I would ask -- have we had complaints?
De St. Germain: Not that I'm aware of, Mayor.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary, in your conversations with our various departments have
you had issues that -- I did go and count the number. There are nine in our city
limits. Have there been complaints?
Nary: There have not, ma'am. None of the departments that we have met -- and
we talked about all the various issues. Fire code. Again, these are single family
homes. They are built as single family homes. They aren't required to h ave that
-- the reason many of the motels and hotels besides the commercial property --
it's also in multi-unit facilities. So, that's a little different. So, the building
department was not concerned about this from a building code standpoint . The
planning and the clerk's office had not received complaints of this type of activity
or the impact on the neighborhoods because of that . Some areas don't have any
HOAs and you may be familiar with just up here on Meridian Road on the west
side of the road, there is some homes on the corner that have been refurbished.
One is brown and two are white or one is white and two are brown, I can't
remember, but those are vacation rent by owners as well. To be honest, they
look better than they used to, but that's just them and they don't have any choice,
so there is not really an issue there from a neighborhood concern. It's a little bit
different character with that neighborhood. But we haven't received complaints
through my office. Mrs. Redd's memo and our conversation we had -- and I
talked with another gentleman at the coffee with the Mayor that didn't have a
concern, but had kind of the same notice concerns that Mrs. Redd had and he
didn't have a concern today, but he wanted the city to be aware this was out
there and that it could develop into a problem. And, again, we don't disagree, we
just don't see it today.
De Weerd: And I think since I talked to Mrs. Redd we -- we have used Airbnb. I
have to confess that I'm one of the people you're concerned about and I did talk
to the -- they live in the home that we rented a room out of and they have been
doing it for four years and I did talk to their neighbors as well and there haven't
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been -- in that particular case -- and I'm not saying it's going to be the same
everywhere, but there hadn't been concern with the use of the bedroom that --
that they rented out and so I do think it's important to -- to look at it, to monitor it.
It's a new conversation across the nation. Kind of like Uber was when it first
came up. It was a new conversation. Cities were trying to see what kind of scale
there would be concerns. We probably get more complaints and concerns from
renters in neighborhoods than we do -- so far in this and I know we only have
nine homes that are listed, but it is something that I think there is reason to -- to
look at, but right now we don't have a demonstrated problem, but it is important
to pay attention.
Redd: Well, like you said, problems. They may not occur -- the problem is they
are in the wrong zone. The problem is they are acting as a hotel. All the
amenities. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's a duck and they do
everything a hotel does. If they act like that in a single -- it's against the zoning
code.
De Weerd: At this point I'm going to listen to my attorney and at this point they
are saying that it doesn't violate our zoning code. They still are residential. That
they sleep in the bed. They live in the home. And it -- at this point we don't see a
violation of zoning code. That's what I heard our attorney say.
Redd: Even though the transit occupancy -- which is the same thing as a hotel
and even though that it defines what a hotel-motel is, it's -- it's exactly what the
single family home is now. It's a hotel. And even though a sale -- it matches
everything that your state statute, less than 31 days, 67, Chapter 47 --
De Weerd: You know, Mrs. Redd, I appreciate -- you have done your homework.
You have given us the information. You said you would come back -- collect and
bring back in front of this -- this City Council. I greatly appreciate that. We need
to work together as a community to see if there is an issue and we need to be
able to respond. At this point, because of the newness and because other cities
around the nation are trying to say this is something that there should be
interference by the local governments in. This is a state issue. Is it an issue at
all. And those conversations are being had across the nation and there are
some really extreme laws out there that this city is not going to contemplate.
Redd: Oh, I agree with you. Extreme laws. All I'm saying is you have a zoning
code. You have definitions. And it all matches up. If it quacks like a duck and
walks like a duck, it's a duck. And everything that you have. And as far as
monitoring it, there is no real way to monitor. Half the people don't know in our
subdivision of 250 homes -- they don't all know about that.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
Redd: And -- beg your pardon?
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De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. And to that point, I think that's an important key
indicator that they don't know. They haven't noticed. They are not having
problems there. I think a major difference between a hotel and what these are is
you can walk up to a hotel at 2:00 in the morning, having stumbled there from a
bar and get a room. You can't get that at an Airbnb or VRBO. You have got to
reserve it ahead of time and -- because the owner has got to prepare for you and
be planned ahead for that. So, they are vastly different in that aspect. You had
mentioned Uber. Being the liaison to legal I had spoken with Mr. Nary about this
coming up several weeks ago and I have recently been driving Uber and I have
picked up and I have dropped off a few people that have been staying at these
homes around the valley and one thing that I have noticed -- a couple of them --
the reason they have been staying at them is because they are people who are
looking at jobs here that are contemplating moving here, so they have picked
VRBOs or Airbnbs to check out the neighborhoods. Instead of just coming and
staying in a hotel to check out the job and the city, they are coming to check out
the neighborhood to know -- to spend three days or a week in the neighborhood
that they could be looking at to purchase a home in to be able to experience
exactly what it is, to be able to talk to some neighbors to see what their future
situation might be like, instead of just staying in a hotel and driving through
neighborhoods.
Redd: Well, that's not what I -- when you read the reviews on the different ones
-- especially in our subdivision, they just came up here for a wedding or they
came up whatever. It's much nicer staying here than a hotel. Now, you're taking
revenue away from your hotels. You have 148 vacation rentals are going to take
away rooms from these hotels that you have here in Meridian and in Boise.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Palmer: In follow up to that point, we live in a country where we have a free
market, where -- you look at Uber and it's competing with the taxi industry
heavily. They hate it. But, again, the free market dictates what businesses are
going to survive and which ones are going to go away and if -- if these situations
grow to the point where they are not causing problems and that they are hurting
the hotel industry, so be it. That's the beauty of living -- if they do cause
problems and it -- like it was mentioned that we need to monitor, we can monitor
it, because as we -- we know the addresses, they are -- we can pop them up in a
second and we can compare them to two different kind of situations that are
happening, but so far it doesn't look like it's happening, because we don't have
enough.
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Redd: No. You're absolutely right. It's hard to do that. But my opinion was -- or
my point was they are a hotel and if they are a hotel they don't belong and they fit
every criteria and what -- there is three in one block. What if there are 25 on one
block? Kelly has one on both sides. They were there -- had a group of people
making noise later at night. The other side -- she's in the middle. Single female
with a ten year old daughter.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
Redd: Anyway, I will let you --
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I definitely sympathize with your friend. I mean to me that's a rare
situation and it's -- I would be -- I would hate that situation. I wish I had a good
answer for you. And I know this isn't going to answer it -- it may ease your mind
a little bit. I yesterday was actually having a discussion with a person who owns
an Airbnb and one difference between what they do and what a hotel does is -- if
you walk in a hotel you give them your driver's license, you give them a credit
card and you stay. She was telling me that she probably only rents to about one
out of ten, because they do screen them a lot more than what happens in a hotel.
She said for about every ten people that want to stay at Airbnb she only rents it
to one.
Redd: I -- yeah. I agree that Airbnb -- because they are renting out a room and
the primary owner is in the house. I'm talking about vacation rentals where you
buy a bunch of houses -- I will go in a single-family neighborhood, I will buy
houses, I will turn around -- it's a vacation rental. So, the people that -- and,
again, I'm repeating myself. But the people that bought -- want to live in a single-
family zone, to get to know your neighbors, you're destroying that by allowing
vacation VRBOBs to be in your single-family zoning, operating as a business, as
a hotel, you're destroying the characteristic of a single-family neighborhood.
That's it.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Redd: So, I want to thank you for your time in listening to my repeating, but that's
how I feel strongly that you do have it on the books, you just have to use it if you
want to use it. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Yes, sir. We are -- we will treat this like testimony and
there is a three-minute time frame --
Spiwak: Sure.
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De Weerd: -- because we do have an agenda ahead of us as well. So, thank
you for joining us. If you will --
Spiwak: Yes. I'm Dr. Randy Spiwak. I live at 1458 East Loyalty Street in
Meridian in Heritage Commons Subdivision. Two hundred and ninety homes.
Residential. There are 2,944 registered HOAs with the Secretary of State in the
state of Idaho and that represents about 330,000 registered voters out of our six
or seven hundred and sixty thousand. So, a little less than half of the voters in
this state live in a homeowner's association neighborhood . Did it by choice so
they would have some protections from -- from things and also to help keep the
value of their property up. The legislature took it upon themselves -- not the city,
but the legislature with the recent -- last two sessions to take away the rights
these homeowners have to control their own neighborhoods by not allowing the
HOA -- the covenants and restrictions of the CC&Rs to say that homes in a
residential neighborhood -- in our neighborhood need to be -- if they are rented,
which is fine, need to be three months, six months, a year period of time. Those
laws that existed in our own rules were superseded back in -- nothing was
grandfathered in. Took away all that regulation that people had put upon
themselves is gone. So, the only thing that we can look for now is to go to our
cities and say uphold zoning regulations. That's why people live in Meridian and
if you think it -- that it's only one out of every two voters who lives in an HOA,
Meridian is a residential bedroom community. You have a higher percentage of
people who live in HOAs in this city than any city in this state.
De Weerd: I guess -- then why did they re-elect every single one of them?
Spiwak: Because they weren't from our county. They weren't from our voting
district. People who voted on that.
De Weerd: Our legislators did support it.
Spiwak: They didn't listen to homeowners, they listened to a couple of their
buddies who had a -- either a place up in -- one was in Donnelly, one was in
Boise. They rented it out, because they were just -- the sign out in front of one of
them said party tonight. Party tonight. This is right next to a person's home and
that's what you don't want to have. There is a place for that, but it's not in a
residential neighborhood sitting in Meridian. But I'm hoping that you will,
because we have -- we have organized a group that is going to be putting all
2,944 HOAs -- inviting them to work together to support each other and to let the
legislators know that half of the votes in this state will be controlled potentially by
people who live in homeowners associations . You just don't want to look at that
lightly. But I appreciate it.
De Weerd: I appreciate you being proactive in finding a solution, because it is
bringing voices together that are going to make a difference. So, thank you. Any
other comments? Well, thank you. We appreciate you joining us. For sitting
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there listening attentively to our public safety departments. I hope you felt the
same pride we did on their -- they are protecting your neighborhoods as well.
Thank you. Okay. If there nothing further from Council, any further questions at
this point? Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Yes. I will not deny a citizen the
opportunity to -- to weigh in.
McKnight: Thank you, Mayor.
De Weerd: If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
McKnight: Debra McKnight. 3578 East Congressional Drive in The Crossroads
Subdivision. I am a board member of our HOA. And we have 77 rentals in our
home -- in our HOA and currently I'm not aware of any VRBOs, but we are
concerned as an HBO -- as an HOA about the potential problem that this -- could
arise. I would like to be notified of when the six month study period is up. I'm
quite concerned that our legislators listened to a few individuals, the real estate
lobbyists or whatever, to pass that law. That was very concerning for us in our
HOA. I just would like to represent my HOA and say we don't want VRBOs in our
neighborhood. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. And we have your name and address for the -- on the
record, so we will reach out. So, thank you again for being here.
B. Community Development: Overland and Eagle Land Use
Planning Area
De Weerd: Okay. Brian, I will now turn this over to you as Items 6-B.
McClure: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I'm here to
discuss the Overland-Eagle future land use planning area. This is an update and
opportunity for Council to provide direction on an upcoming project in the
Overland and Eagle Road vicinity. The focus of this effort is on Jewell and
Rolling Hills Subdivisions. These are in the county. There are 68 properties on
approximately 100 acres. This is -- this area is primarily in the low density
residential future land use designation area. Access to this area is by Overland
Road only. Some properties are already proposed for redevelopment. The
intent of this project is to evaluate the potential for an area-wide future land use
map change. You can see the project here in the dash red. The planning area is
bound by the Ridenbaugh, I-84, the Elk's property, and some other commercial
land. For some history. There are some previous Council approved
developments that have already impacted this area. Zamzow's was the first.
This is a commercial zoned property in a residential land use. Tribal Fire was the
second. This is a commercial land use and a change to the zoning. Silverstone
Apartments is the most recent. This land use change will permit 300-plus new
dwelling units in the area. This is a snapshot of the future land uses for this area
of Meridian. The project area is in green. Low density residential and is
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surrounded primarily by mixed-use regional. The question kind of is low density
residential really what the city envisioned in this area. Something worth pointing
out is the county subdivision on Loder. That's to the west of Eagle Road. This
county subdivision is in the mixed-use regional future land use designation. It's
contemplated that at some point in the future -- potentially the far future, this may
redevelop. It's a lot easier to plan for road conductivity and cross-access in
advance when you know to expect it. Piecemeal redevelopment of residential
areas is more likely to create conflicts, enclaves, and other land use issues.
Here is the zoning for this area. You can see Zamzow's and Tribal Fire have
already been annexed and zoned with the city. So, there is some background.
Next steps are to engage with property owners to make sure they understand
some of context and the impacts here, to find out what they want, and, then, to
take that, essentially, and draft some land use alternatives. Follow up with City
Council. Update them. We will either then propose a formal change to the future
land use map in this area or follow up with City Council and let them know
differently. Lastly I would just note that there is no plan for a consultant to help
on -- at this point. We don't envision needing any help, but I wanted to throw that
out there as a possibility. I'd be happy to take any questions or, more
importantly, directions if you have any at this point.
De Weerd: Thank you, Brian. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Brian, who is -- who is driving this request? Are we receiving inquiries
from people wanting to redevelop? Is it just as a result of the C-G district? Is
someone expanding that we are trying to be proactive? Just trying to find out
where this is coming from.
McClure: Madam Mayor and Councilman, the -- it's a staff driven exercise.
There have been a number of changes in the area and it was just kind of the
same sort of thing.
Cavener: Okay.
De Weerd: I guess when you start seeing parcel by parcel coming in for a plan
change, you want to take a look at the larger surrounding area and see what best
fits and what the property owners feel.
Hood: Madam Mayor, if I can just --
De Weerd: Caleb.
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Hood: -- expand on that a little bit. We -- and I think Brian did a good job of just
kind of -- our initial meeting -- we just want to see if there is any want of the
property owners in this area for that change. If they are happy with the lower
density land uses currently there and the way they are using, you know, their --
their property today and into the future, that's fine. We just question it -- like
there seems to be a higher and better use here. You see what's going on. Is
there a majority of you that do see this transition into something more urban. We
are not trying to sell anything to anybody necessarily. We want to ask the
question. Say, listen, if there, in fact, is this undertone of redevelopment out
here, we are willing to facilitate that, because we think there is some potential for
redevelopment as you already can start to kind of see with the Zamzow's and the
Tribal Fire and we'd rather do that as a master plan and kind of initiate that it
being onesie, twosie and -- and at least there is some organization to the
redevelopment. But, again, we are not -- we just question. It's been low density
residential since I have been here and I imagine it's because that's what it is, not
because of what it could be.
De Weerd: And that is -- they will be grandfathered, it just changes as the use
changes. So, you're going to have that conversation --
Hood: Yeah. We will explain that, Madam Mayor. If I can just follow up. Yeah.
There wouldn't -- what we would propose would be to do the future land use map
change. Any development would be on each individual or conglomeration of
property owners if they want to get together and develop something. But we
would say is the community's vision for this area low-density. What is the
community's -- i.e. these two subdivisions -- is your redevelopment plan -- it
doesn't kick anybody out now saying, yeah, but you can't live here anymore once
we make this change, it's if you want to transition to something else, this allows
you to transition to higher intensity.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up if I may.
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Caleb or Brian, how many homes are over there now and do you have
a target of how many that you would meet with before you would come back with
any type of decision a recommendation?
McClure: Madam Mayor and Councilman, there are 68 parcels out there right
now. I think there is probably three that are Zamzow's, so that's out. I think most
of the rest of them are homes. So, maybe 64, 65 homes. That's the target.
Hood: Yeah. Some of that we haven't set -- you know, it's not a hundred
percent. It's not 50 percent. It's not 51 percent. I don't know. If you have a
target, if we have this first meeting and it's, you know, 67 percent, is that
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enough? I don't know. We are just going to kind of play it by ear and plan on
reporting back, as Brian said, after that first one. Here is what we -- this -- you
know, there is 65 people that we invited, seven showed up, three of them thought
this was kind of interesting and three of them said leave me alone or whatever.
We will tell you and say, hey, do we take the next step? Does that seem like
enough. Again, we are not really trying to sell anything. We just want to touch
base with these people and try to sort of be proactive, even though we are kind
of reacting to what already is going on out there.
De Weerd: Kind of like Montvue Subdivision, which is now Portico.
Hood: Yeah.
De Weerd: That was a subdivision that once there was a land designation on a
comprehensive plan, it gave an investor an opportunity to go in and work with
every single one of those homeowners and did it diligently until ever y one of
those homeowners were convinced to be part of that larger project. So, it's -- I
think it has several different opportunities, but if the landowners are not
interested --
Cavener: Well -- and, Madam Mayor, I appreciate Caleb's point that he's
reiterating that we are not going out there to sell them on anything, it's just an
opportunity to check and --
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Several months ago my wife and I, we were looking at -- I'm pretty sure
it was on Topaz -- a piece of property on Topaz to survive and knowing that the
potential there is huge and we talked --
De Weerd: By then?
Palmer: Yeah. It was not in the best of shape. As -- I mean it's been there
forever -- yeah. And there is a lot in that same situation where -- and when we
talked to the neighbor across the street, because he was out in his yard when we
were looking at the house and he said that he is doing the same thing, hanging
around, because he sees that there is -- it's all growing towards him and so I
think you will find a lot of -- I mean I imagine you would just by my intent there
and talking to one neighbor that you will find a lot of interest probably in that. I
would say move forward at least having the discussion.
De Weerd: Okay. It looks like there is agreement to go and have the
conversations.
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McClure: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you, Brian.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: The reason we obviously couldn't was it wasn't eligible for annexation
and we wouldn't have been able to hold to that and be in another house, so --
missed opportunity, but good opportunity for the future there.
C. Legal Department: Transfer of Real Property at Main and
Fairview from ACHD to City of Meridian
De Weerd: Okay. Item 6-C is under our Legal Department. Hello.
Kane: Thank you. Madam Mayor, Members of Council, I'm Emily Kane. I'm a
deputy city attorney in the Legal Department and I am going to give you an
update on the transfer of the real property parcel at Main Street and Fairview
Avenue. This is known as Parcel 162 on the southeast corner of -- it's on the
southeast corner of Main and Fairview. It's that -- this building here is Wells
Fargo and it's that little triangle shaped peace just right there on the corner. So,
back in 2012 we entered into an agreement with MDC and ACHD for the
Meridian Split Corridor Phase 2. In Section 5 of that agreement the city agreed
to maintain the landscaping at that parcel, so that it's a nice -- it's a nice entryway
into our downtown and, then, section -- under Section 6 ACHD agreed to
consider vacating that parcel as right of way and conveying it to the city following
completion of the split corridor project. They also agreed to waive consideration
pursuant to a 2010 fee waiver agreement. They valued this parcel at about
86,000 dollars. So, it's not really a gift, but that's the value of our -- of our new
asset. So, just a quick overview of the vacation and transfer process that we
followed to get here -- or that ACHD, really, has followed to get here. There is
two steps in the vacation and transfer process. The first is vacation and, then,
the second is transfer, of course. The first step, vacation, is governed by Idaho
Code Section 40-203 and just quickly there is a number of steps that ACHD has
the right of way authority needs to follow. First they pass a resolution where they
state their intent to abandon and vacate the parcel, whether that's in the best
interest of the public. They hold a public meeting. It's publicly noticed, of course,
by posting -- posting on the property, as well as the regular public notice. They,
then, have a -- oh. And I will say that public meeting was actually held here in
July at Meridian City Hall. We had one person that attend and it was the
manager of Wells Fargo. She just wanted to know what was going on and she
learned about it and was happy to hear. Said it was nothing. So, she didn't
really have anything else to say and she was the only person who had
commented. So, the -- then ACHD held a public hearing. Notice was given to
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the abutting landowners by mail and we were also on the mailing list. The copy
list is really long, almost a page, so everybody knew about it. The notice of the
hearing was published three times in the Idaho Statesman and after -- after that
ACHD entered a written decision to abandon and vacate the parcel and passed a
resolution according to the statute. The transfer process is in Idaho Code
Section 67-2323. It involves a written agreement -- first, that agreement is
drafted and I worked with ACHD's legal department to do that. They held a
public hearing on the draft agreement after publishing notice of that hearing
twice. ACHD executed the transfer agreement last week on November 2nd and
this step is where we are now. The city executes -- is to execute the transfer
agreement tonight and, then, the conveyance -- or the property will be ours. The
conveyance happens by quitclaim deed, which would be recorded after it's all
over. And the last step would be that we -- we own that little property -- that little
parcel. So, that is the update. That's everything that's happened so far. And the
next item on your agenda is the transfer agreement itself and I would recommend
that you sign that as it was presented.
De Weerd: Thank you, Emily. Council, any questions?
D. Interagency Agreement for Real Property Transfer -
Agreement for Transfer of Real Property on Southwest
Corner of Main Street & Fairview Avenue from ACHD to
City of Meridian
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I move that we approve the execution of the agreement as presented.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Just per tradition, whenever this property is mentioned, Councilman
Cavener and I just want to point out that we are determined that before we die
there will be a flagpole on this property again. That's one discussion I have.
De Weerd: Well, we wish you a long life. Mr. Clerk, will you, please, call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea;
Little Roberts, yea.
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De Weerd: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Kane: Thank you.
F. Clerk’s Office: Updates to the Animal Control Code and
Dog License Vendor Agreement
De Weerd: Okay. Item 6-F is under our Clerk's Department and I will turn this
over to Mr. Clerk.
Coles: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I will try to be brief. I know you
have a little bit more ahead of you tonight. I should have hit the three minute
button on the timer before I got up here, but --
Bird: You can have a half hour.
Coles: Thank you. I come before you this evening to bring some updates --
proposed updates that we would like to make to the animal licensing -- animal
control code and specifically administrative updates to the dog licensing portion
of the animal control code. In addition, we have some proposed updates to our
dog license vendor agreements that I would propose this evening.
De Weerd: They have a cat fee?
Coles: It's a redemption fee. Yes. So, what I -- what I handed out is two pages.
The first page are the redemption fees that the Idaho Humane Society chargers
when an owner of an animal goes and needs to pick up their animal that's been
picked up. The second page are the licensing fees for us and the other
municipalities in the area. So, you can see where we stack up in terms of our
license fees. You can see where I think appropriate where we want to be. We
did explore changing those fees, but when we saw that we were kind of right
where we want to be and where we need to be, we decided to -- to leave those
things alone. But how we got here this evening is a little bit of history, as I'm
sure you're aware. The dog licenses used to be issued out of the Meridian Police
Department. They were also doing animal control for many, many years. In
September 2013 we contracted with the Idaho Humane Society to do animal
control, but the police department continued to do dog licensing. A few months
ago the clerk's office, in using the Accella software system, spoke with the police
department about automating their -- the dog licenses and how they issue them.
They had been using a paper form for years and years, which upset some dog
owners when they would come to renew their dog license they would have to
prove every year that their dog was spayed or neutered, even though that doesn't
change once that happens or their rabies vaccinations was up to date and that is
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good for three years. So, they would have to show that every year. And the
paper form -- there was really no efficient way to track if they turned that in the
previous year or not. So, using Accella we can import that information the first
time and, then, not have to look at it again. We can also track the three-year
vaccination. So, that actually brought up the larger question when we talked,
okay, the police can use Accella, but why is the police department continuing to
issue dog licenses when a majority of licenses that are issued for the city are
done out of City Hall and through the clerk's office and the Community
Development building permits and CZCs and that sort of thing. So, we spoke
again with the police department and said why not transition the licensing of dogs
out of the police department and just do it in a central location at City Hall with
the city clerk's office and the police department and they had the same reaction
that you just had. Yes, they were very pleased with that. So, one of the code
changes that's presented tonight is removing the police department out of -- out
of the code in terms of where you can find or obtain your dog license and just
having the city clerk's office be designated and our designated vendors that we
contract with. Another one of the code changes we are presenting tonight is not
having to prove a rabies vaccination to the city. We met -- myself, Emily Kane,
Jaycee Holman, Matt Parsons with the police department as well, we met with
the executive director of the Idaho Humane Society and he suggested to us that
the license shouldn't be held up based on the failure to proof the rabies
vaccination. So, it's not really important that the city have that information, but
that the Idaho Humane Society have it and they can verify that if a dog is -- is
picked up. It doesn't change the requirement to have a rabies vaccination, still
required by Idaho law, will still be required by our ordinance, just that they don't
have to prove to the city when they get the license that they have a rabies
vaccination. So, in order to make sure that we educate our customers when they
obtain a license, they still need to get a rabies vaccination, we are going to hand
out an informational flyer with your license stating you're still required to get a
rabies vaccination. If you don't here is what's going to happen if the Idaho
Humane Society picks up your dog. So, those two items are kind of the big ticket
items in terms of code and administrative changes in the dog licensing code.
Switching to the vendor agreements, before I became the city clerk, Jaycee
Holman and Jacy Jones went out during the summer and met with our dog
license vendors, which are mainly veterinarian clinics. They had some feedback
for us on the process in terms of issuing licenses. One of which was the amount
of time it takes their staff to issue the license and right now the cost share we
give to them is ten percent of the license. So, it's $1.60 for an altered dog or
$2.10 for an unaltered dog. They said financially for them it doesn't really pencil
out that they have their -- their office staff issuing the license, but that's -- that's
the cost share. So, they wanted to see if we would explore changing that. So, in
our vendor agreements we are proposing to share 50 percent of the
administrative fee with them, because we are asking them to do more. We are
providing them spreadsheets so they need to input the information into -- be auto
populated or I guess use the formulas in Excel to make sure that they are all
calculated correctly and they get it back to us, but we have asked for all that
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information to be input by them and, then, they provide it back to us. So, they
are doing a majority of the work when they issue the license, we are just taking it
back and importing it into Accella and, then, we have the information. So, we
would like to share more of that cost with them, so that they may be incentivized
a little bit more to speak with their customers to get a license . So, as far as the
city is concerned I don't think we are about making money on the license, we just
want the information. The Meridian Police Department figures about there is
17,000 dogs in the city. We license roughly 4,000 of them every year. So, we
want the Idaho Humane Society to have that information as well , so that when
they get calls they know when they get to that location that they are going to see
a licensed dog in most cases. So, over the course of a couple of years, having
changed that cost share, we are hoping that that incentivizes the -- the
veterinarians to issue more licenses. The second thing that we are looking at --
De Weerd: Well -- and it gives them greater incentive to remit that every 30
days, which is what you filled in. We found one business that held the list for two
years. If that -- those animals -- the owner believes that they have registered,
they have done all the things they needed to, but it was never turned into the city,
so when that animal was impounded, then, they could have been penalized,
because they didn't have the proof of -- so, this --
Coles: Absolutely.
De Weerd: -- gives greater accountability and incentive.
Coles: It does. Absolutely. The other thing that we would like to look at doing
with -- with your blessing is changing the expiration dates of the dog licenses .
This was the other feedback we received from the veterinarian clinics , but also
from potential applicants who have come into the city for these dog licenses .
The fee is the same year around and it's always been -- or it's written into our
code that the expiration is December 31st of the year that it was issued . So, you
come in January 2016, that license expired December 31st, 2016. You come in
August 1st, 2016, the same price as it was in January and expires December
31st. So, you have only got a few months there. So, what we have found is
people that come in and they are in that situation, they may choose not to license
their dog that year, because they are paying the same price that someone did in
January, but they are getting less value to them for that license for only a few
months. So, what we would like to do and what we are proposing is changing
the expiration to be a rolling expiration based on the date of issuance. So, one
year from the date of issuance of that license is when it would expire . That
enabled us to do a few things. One is we can remove the expiration date from
the tag itself, so once a tag is issued to the dog and the dog owner they never
need to purchase a new tag itself, they just need to renew that tag every year.
So, over the course of several years and dog owners doing this and participating
with this, we can save the city money without having to mail out new tags or
purchase new tags just to give them to the dog owners that year and purchase
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new tags the next year for those dog owners. Tags are about 25 cents. The cost
of mailing is 49 cents. So, again, over the course of the long haul we are going
to save the city money in not having to purchase just tags just for that year, but
for the entire city. So, it saves us money. It also enables the owner not to have
to purchase a new tag every year.
De Weerd: Can the owner come in and get a new tag if it's lost?
Coles: Absolutely. Yes. Our -- the lost fee is five dollars if you have lost a tag
and you need to do that, get a new tag. Those kind of big ticket items and a
quick overview of our administrative changes we would like to make to the code
and also to the vendor agreements. What we are looking to do is to seek your
direction to perhaps bring an ordinance change to you maybe as quickly as next
week with your blessing with these proposed changes. The reason we'd like to
do that is because the vendor agreements are contingent upon the ordinance
changing. We'd like to go out and meet with all of our potential vendors to have
them sign the new agreement to take effect January 1st , but bring those signed
agreements back to Council for approval in the month of December, so they can
take effect January 1.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: And you were going faster than my brain was for a while there . On the
license I would sooner see the license come due -- and you say they cost what,
25 cents for a license?
Coles: Yes.
Bird: That's the cost of the license itself. Yeah. The fee -- that's the cost of the
license itself to the city, but the fee -- the application fee is either 16 dollars --
Bird: Yeah. Okay. I understand that. I have no problem with the 50 percent to
the other people. But if you're -- it's going to be a nightmare if you go on a year ly
basis like the driver's licenses or the car license is and stuff like that, how am I --
how are you going to know that this -- that I had my dog in August and I got --
and the next August I renew, how are you going to know I renewed? And am I
going to carry a piece of paper round with that dog telling us that I have
renewed?
Coles: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Bird, I
appreciate that question. So, with our Accella software system that we have that
the city clerk's office uses for all of our permits, temporary use permits, alcohol
licenses, special event permits, fireworks permits, we are able to input that
information, so, then, we on a monthly basis will get reports and alerts that say
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November 9, 2016
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these dogs at these addresses, their licenses are coming due 90 days in
advance, 60 days in advance, 120 days in advance and, then, we as a city can
mail them the reminders that here is the form, you can fill out this form or go onto
our website and renew your license. So, we at the city will track that through
Accella, because we can input that information and run the reports.
Bird: Madam Mayor, follow up, please?
De Weerd: Yes.
Bird: What -- what if I prefer not to buy -- renew my license? How are you going
to -- how are you going to know that I didn't? I mean are you going to get -- are
you going to get a monthly printout of who renewed?
De Weerd: Yes.
Coles: We will. Yes.
Bird: Okay. But -- and you will have enough monthly printout of who should
have renewed --
Coles: That's correct.
Bird: -- and compare. And, then, who do we send to get it?
Coles: If we would like to we can use animal control to -- to engage in that, but
they will also have that information, so when they -- let's say they get a phone
call for a report of a dog that they go and pick up, they can run that tag number
and they will see, oh, you haven't renewed yet.
Bird: Why don't we just adjust our fees for the year. If you buy it -- if you buy it in
August you pay eight dollars and, then, it's still January 1st of the following year
it's due. Kind of like you do on license. You don't get a break, but --
De Weerd: Well, I guess, Mr. Bird, if there are 17,000 dogs, then, anyone that
goes and knocks on doors during campaigning knows there are 17,000 dogs.
This -- this averages out so that that notification over the year, instead of
slamming staff all at once --
Bird: We can try it.
De Weerd: And they have sent out reminders. They don't go track people down
that don't come and renew their license. It really is on an honor basis. So, I don't
hear that that's going to change. Maybe at some point when you see there is a
system that works well, you -- you look at it -- at that. But right now it's just trying
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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to make the system more friendly to owners and give better notification to our
animal control.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Council Member Bird, I think that one of the best parts about the changes
on this ordinance is that exact thing. I am one of those who have waited until
August -- oh, I will just wait until January, because it took two -- the process is not
-- is not easy and this whole thing is going to make the process a lot easier . I
think based on the fact that we have 17,000 dogs and only 4,000 of them
licensed tells you that -- that that's a lot of the problem and -- and the goal I think
here is to get more of those dogs licensed. Nothing happens, but if the dog gets
picked up you get fined. So, that's when you get in trouble is if your dog gets
picked up.
Bird: And I understand that, so --
Milam: Mr. President?
Bird: Yes.
Milam: I did notice, though, on here, C.Jay, that our -- the difference between
our altered and unaltered is a lot lower than most cities, other than Boise. I
wouldn't mind seeing personally a larger difference.
Coles: Mr. President, Members of the Council, Council Member Milam, we have
internally spoken about that and discussed that . The conclusion right now that
we came to is we felt it was appropriate now where it's at, because as the city the
fee that we charge needs to reflect the actual service that we provide . Again, we
are not trying to make money on the fees, just the cost of the time that it takes to
do that. So, justifying a larger increase we at this point -- or difference I should
say between altered and unaltered, we didn't feel that we could justify that cost
difference, because as the city it doesn't take us anymore time to process altered
versus -- versus unaltared. Where the -- the issue comes into play and why I
handed out the redemption fees, plus our fee schedule, is because in speaking
with the Idaho Humane Society executive director, unaltered dogs are a larger
nuisance just in general on the public. They tend to roam more, they tend to be
out more, they tend to be picked up more often, because they are out roaming
more often. So, what we would like to do is at some point in the future, instead of
-- and, again, we will take direction from the Council on this, but changing the
altered and unaltered license fee, look at the redemption fees, if you can see
many other municipalities have a first offense, second offense, third offense and
there is differences there and that's where the Idaho Humane Society is saying --
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really comes the nuisance to the public and -- and the cost on the city and the
Idaho Humane Society for unaltered dog in the redemption portion of the fees.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further from Council? Is Council in agreement to
bring this back for -- in an ordinance form? Very good.
Coles: Thank you.
Item 7: Ordinances
A. Ordinance No. 16-1711: An Ordinance (H-2016-0081
Roundtree Subdivision) of the City of Meridian granting
annexation and zoning for a parcel of land being all of
Lot 18, Van Hees Subdivision, according to the plat
thereof filed in Book 12 of Plats at Page 688, records of
Ada County, Idaho; a portion of South Linder Road; and
a portion of West Waltman Street; situated in the
Southeast ¼ of the Northeast ¼ of Section 14, the
Northeast ¼ of the Southeast ¼ of Section 14, the
Southeast ¼ of the Northwest ¼ of Section 13 and the
Northwest ¼ of the Southwest ¼ of Section 13,
Township 3 North, Range 1 West, Boise, Ada County,
Idaho; and annexing certain lands and Territory,
situated in Ada County, and Adjacent and Contiguous to
the Corporate Limits of the City of Meridian;
Establishing and Determining the Land Use Zoning
Classification of said Lands from RUT to R-8 (Medium
Density Residential) District in the Meridian City Code;
Providing that Copies of this Ordinance shall be filed
with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County
Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as
Required by Law; and Providing for a Summary of the
Ordinance; and Providing for a Waiver of the Reading
Rules; and Providing an Effective Date.
De Weerd: Thank you, C.Jay. Good job for your official report there. Item 7 is
Ordinance 16-1711. Mr. Clerk, will you, please, read this by title only.
Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Ordinance No. 16-1711: An
Ordinance, file number H-2016-0081, Roundtree Subdivision, of the City of
Meridian granting annexation and zoning for a parcel of land being all of Lot 18,
Van Hees Subdivision, according to the plat thereof filed in Book 12 of Plats at
Page 688, records of Ada County, Idaho; a portion of South Linder Road; and a
portion of West Waltman Street; situated in the Southeast ¼ of the Nort heast ¼
of Section 14, the Northeast ¼ of the Southeast ¼ of Section 14, the Southeast
¼ of the Northwest ¼ of Section 13 and the Northwest ¼ of the Southwest ¼ of
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November 9, 2016
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Section 13, Township 3 North, Range 1 West, Boise, Ada County, Idaho; and
annexing certain lands and Territory, situated in Ada County, and Adjacent and
Contiguous to the Corporate Limits of the City of Meridian; Establishing and
Determining the Land Use Zoning Classification of said Lands from RUT to R-8
(Medium Density Residential District) in the Meridian City Code; Providing that
Copies of this Ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada
County Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as Required by Law;
and Providing for a Summary of the Ordinance; and Providing for a Waiver of the
Reading Rules; and Providing an Effective Date.
De Weerd: And that was one of the qualifications for clerk is being able to read
that very interesting stuff . Is there anyone who would like to hear it read in its
entirety?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: I don't see anyone. Yes, Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I move that we approve Ordinance No. 16-1711 with suspension of rules.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 7-A. If there is no
discussion, Mr. Clerk, will you call role.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea;
Little Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
B. Ordinance No. 16-1712: An Ordinance (H-2016-0076
Little Creek Subdivision) of the City of Meridian
Granting Annexation and Zoning for a Portion of
Pleasant Valley Subdivision (Book 12 of Plats at Page
665, records of Ada County, Idaho) Situated in the
Northwest quarter of Section 8, Township 3 North,
Range 1 East, Boise, Ada County, Idaho; and Annexing
Certain Lands and Territory Situated in Ada County,
Idaho and Adjacent and Contiguous to the Corporate
Limits of the City of Meridian as Requested by the City
of Meridian; Establishing and Determining the Land Use
Zoning Classification of said lands from RUT to R-40
(High-Density Residential) District in the Meridian City
Code; Providing that Copies of This Ordinance shall be
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November 9, 2016
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Filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County
Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as
Required by Law; and Providing for a Summary of the
Ordinance; and Providing for a Waiver of the Reading
Rules; and Providing an Effective Date.
De Weerd: Item 7-B is Ordinance 16-1712. Mr. Clerk, will you, please, read this
by title.
Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 16-1712: An
Ordinance, file number H-2016-0076, Little Creek Subdivision, of the City of
Meridian Granting Annexation and Zoning for a Portion of Pleasant Valley
Subdivision (Book 12 of Plats at Page 665, records of Ada County, Idaho)
Situated in the Northwest quarter of Section 8, Township 3 North, Range 1 East,
Boise, Ada County, Idaho; and Annexing Certain Lands and Territory Situated in
Ada County, Idaho and Adjacent and Contiguous to the Corporate Limits of the
City of Meridian as Requested by the City of Meridian; Establishing and
Determining the Land Use Zoning Classification of said lands from RUT to R-40
(High-Density Residential) District in the Meridian City Code; Providing that
Copies of This Ordinance shall be Filed with the Ada County Assessor, the Ada
County Recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as Required by Law;
and Providing for a Summary of the Ordinance; and Providing for a Waiver of the
Reading Rules; and Providing an Effective Date.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I don't see anyone waving their hand to hear it
read in its entirety, so Council?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I move we approve Ordinance No. 16-1712 with suspension of rules.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 7-B. Mr. Clerk, will
you, please, call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea;
Little Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 8: Future Meeting Topics
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November 9, 2016
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De Weerd: Under Item 8, Council, I do have a couple of reminders of upcoming
events. Friday at 11:00 a.m., 11/11/11, you will hear -- you have the opportunity
to gather with a number of veterans to honor them at the Rock of Honor in
Kleiner Park. There is an AIC district workshop on Monday, November 14th,
that begins at 9:00 a.m. in Boise at the Wyndham Garden on this stuff and as
well there is an outdoor gym ribbon-cutting in Tully Park at 4:00 o'clock on
Monday as well. You can join us at Tully. There is also a Rake Up Meridian at
4:30 by MYAC if you want to join them with a rake or whatever you have to -- to
rake up for a family in need. Thank you so much. And Todd and Councilman
Borton will be joining us at MYAC as well to have a discussion with the
subcommittee about participatory budgeting for this next upcoming process. So,
that's -- those are my updates. Any items for consideration for future agendas?
Item 9: Amended onto agenda: Executive Session per Idaho State
Code 74-206(1)(f) To communicate with legal counsel for the
public agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and legal
options for pending litigation
De Weerd: I will move to Item 9, then, and ask for a motion for Executive
Session.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we go into Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 74-206(1)(f).
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adjourn into Executive Session. Mr.
Clerk, will you, please, call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea;
Little Roberts, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS: (6:10 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.)
De Weerd: I would entertain a motion to come out of Executive Session.
Bird: So moved.
Meridian City Council
November 9, 2016
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Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Motion to adjourn?
Bird: So moved.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:45 P.M.
(AUDIO RE ORDINGa-ONJF LE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
MAYOR T Y DE WEERD DATE APPROVED
ATTEST:
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