2017-06-20 Budget WorkshopMeridian City Council Meeting Agenda Tuesday, June 20, 2017 – Page 1 of 1
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1.
BUDGET WORKSHOP AGENDA
City Council Chambers
33 East Broadway Avenue
Meridian, Idaho
Tuesday, June 20, 2017 at 1:30 PM
1. Roll-Call Attendance
X Anne Little Roberts X Joe Borton
X Ty Palmer X Keith Bird
__X___ Genesis Milam __X___ Luke Cavener
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
2. Adoption of the Agenda Adopted
3. City of Meridian FY2018 Budget Presentation Workshop
Two department presentations continued to June 27, 2017 Special Meeting
Adjourned at 5:50PM
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Meridian City Council - Budget Workshop June 20, 2017
A Budget Workshop meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at
1:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 20, 2017, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Keith Bird, Genesis Milam, Ty
Palmer, Luke Cavener, Joe Borton and Anne Little Roberts
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X_ Anne Little Roberts X _ _Joe Borton
X__ Ty Palmer X_ Keith Bird
__X__ Genesis Milam __X__ Lucas Cavener
_X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: For the record it is Tuesday, June 20th and I appreciate all of you
joining us. The first item is roll call attendance, Mr. Clerk. All right. Council, just
before we get started, I do want to let you know those cookies are in appreciation
for your leadership through the citywide survey. Certainly we wanted to
celebrate success and this is one of those that we are really excited to take a
moment, sit back and to say thank you. So, thank you for that. I did print out a
summary of how you played a role in it and I will pass it around. We will e-mail it
out to you, but we did similar deliveries today. Again, just to make sure that --
that we know that everyone -- every employee in this city had a role in the
success that we had in the citywide survey. So, my thanks.
Little Roberts: Thank you, Mayor.
Item 2: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: Okay. Item 2 is adoption of the agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve the agenda as published.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. All those in favor
say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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Item 3: City of Meridian FY-2018 Budget Presentation Workshop
De Weerd: Item 3 is continuation of our budget workshop, so I will turn this over
to Mr. Lavoie. To Ms. Fields. Mrs. Fields. To Finance.
Lavoie: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, again, appreciate your time
today for our budget workshop day number two. We want to start off by saying
again appreciate you guys all finding time in your busy schedules. I know it takes
a lot to get this done, so, again, we appreciate that. Just like yesterday, we are
going to have the departments present to you, they are going to provide, a lot of
information and so, please, interact with us, ask us questions, that's what we are
here for. And, then, with that our goal again -- our end game goal is to inform
you and make you as comfortable as possible with the budget as proposed by
the Mayor and folks in front of you today. So, our first presentation today will be
the Fire Department. We will do our best to stick to the schedule, but with that
we will go ahead and start with the Fire Department and I will hand it to Chief
Niemeyer.
Bird: Madam Mayor, before we start --
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Where are we putting Legal in?
De Weerd: We are going to put Legal right after Other Government.
Bird: Thank you.
De Weerd: Uh-huh. Sorry to interrupt.
Niemeyer: Madam Mayor and Council, good afternoon. Hopefully we can keep
the energy going that you just displayed. That's a great thing. I don't know if it is
good to be first or last, but we are first, so we are going to roll with it. This is my
seventh presentation. It's hard to believe it's been that long. I think there is one
other director that outranks me and it happens to be a chief as well. So, over the
years certainly appreciate the environment that we have here as far as the
roundtable. I think it allows for better questions, discussions. As we go through
the presentation -- and you do have a hard copy in front of you . I like to have
that in the front of all -- all of you that you can make notes on. If you see a spot
or a slide or a conversation or a topic that you want to stop me on and have a
discussion, by all means, please do, interrupt me, I won't be offended -- in seven
years I don't get offended by it. So, as we kick this off, in light of our mission
statement that the fire department developed in 2011, to protect and enhance our
community through professionalism and compassion, the programs we offer, the
services we provide -- and, then, it goes into the budget, the needs that we have
or trying to meet that mission with the fire department. So, just kind of an
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June 20, 2017
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overview. In 2016, the year that we had our last full -- full set of data and
statistics, the fire department responded to 6,500 calls for service for fire and
medical and other. Based on the calls of service to date we are anticipating
anywhere from five to seven percent increase in call volume. That's very
consistent and you will see this in another slide over the years with the
population increase. We tend to have our call volume mirror the population
increase that we see in the city. On average over the last five years have had
about an eight percent increase in calls for service on an annual basis and I think
as Bruce alluded to, that's very similar to what we are seeing in the population
increase of our city and in order to meet that increased demand , while
maintaining current levels of service, most of it identified by the adopted
response time standards. We as a department team and the administration, we
thoroughly evaluate where efficiency and effectiveness can be gained using the
resources we currently have in place, that may be redeploying a program or a
staff member, but also identifying what we need to meet the demands of the
future and that's presented to you in the budget packet. In addition to that, with
those increases we also increase -- the increased demand on our commercial
side with our inspections, as well as public education and some citizen inquiries .
So, looking at the next page, just a budget overview and review of your dollars at
work from this current fiscal year. You approved the hiring of two training
officers. We got that done in October. They spent the first four months in the
joint recruit academy conducting that academy. We also were able to conduct a
six week training on acquired structures. We have conducted several required
on-duty training sessions. We significantly reduced our instructor overtime costs
for previous years in compliance with training requirements currently about 98
percent. The second item was our EMS JPA shared QA-QI position. This was
through the EMS joint powers agreement. Our cost to that was 11,250. A
position was hired by Ada county in November. The fire department now is fully
compliant with state EMS quality assurance requirements. If we had to put that
position on ourselves that would have cost an additional 79,000 dollars to meet
that need, so our cooperation there has paid -- paid off. The three full firefighter
positions, we hired three for the recruit academy. As many of you know, we gave
an update, we had one recruit that did not make it through the academy and so
ended up with two out of the three that we asked for. They completed the
academy on December 9th and, then, they completed their field training task
book on April 1st. So, both of those -- two out of the three are now working on
shift as full firefighters, able to fill the firefighter vacancies and just a note there,
we did have a total of eight firefighters that were put into that fall academy last
year. The remaining five out of the three that you have approved were vacancies
that we had in the department, to try and get us up to fully -- fully staffed. And so
as of right now we are still not fully staffed in the fire department. The fourth item
was command training headsets. This was a fairly low cost item, but has allowed
for much better learning -- enhanced learning for elimination of distracting noise
when we go to do our command training and simulations. And, then, the last one
was our response analytic software. I recall I presented this to Council about
three weeks ago roughly. This is the Interra software program. One of the -- the
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June 20, 2017
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items mentioned by Councilman Borton was to meet with our IT Department to
see the possibility of what they could build for us. We have had a couple of
meetings now with them, along with Chief Butterfield. Quite honestly, Interra is a
very deep and complex program -- analytics program. We met with Mike Tanner
and his staff and they believe that they can build it. So, we met to establish
some timelines and some basically scope of work items. They are about four
months away from being able to begin in earnest that project and it will take
about four to six months to build it. However, they are going to be able to provide
us in the very near future with the response data that we need to be able to
report our response data to you and so there is a phased approach to this. We
are certainly willing to give them that opportunity to build it if they can and meet
the needs, there is significant savings there, and so that is an update on where
we are at with the Interra GIS data analyst project.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Chief, can you remind us what that significant cost saving is over a five
year or a ten year period?
Niemeyer: So, it's 60,000 dollars a year. Obviously, the concept was sharing
that with our partners. We had a commitment from the partners to do that, but
there still is -- even if we had fully shared our cost was going to be about 18,000
dollars a year. So, over a five year period -- again, I'm not a math major, but --
Cavener: I got it.
Niemeyer: Moving on to the next -- the next slide -- if I remember to change the
slide here. Just some items that were not funded that we did bring forward las t
year that did not make the funded list. One is a logistics manager. There is a lot
of logistics need within a fire department from fleet maintenance and
management, the station maintenance and repair management, to equipment
and supplies, maintenance repair and purchase. Yes. Currently in the fire
department those roles are being filled by the folks that you see at this table,
quite honestly. I'm overseeing our fleet management and maintenance,
anywhere from an hour to two hours a day. Chief Butterfield is overseeing our
station maintenance and repairs, so it takes him away from his job. Judy and
Chief Jones are involved as well. So, that is still a need that we, quite frankly,
need to come -- keep in front of Council that it's a need for the fire department
and it will be a need as we continue to grow. The station WIFI -- we are the only
department in the city that does not have WIFI in our facilities. Working with
Dave Tiede we recognize that need and he certainly from his standpoint would
like to be consistent throughout the city as far as our buildings and what we have
in those. It was agreed, though, to wait for Station 6 to go online to put WIFI into
the station. A big part of that is what is called station alerting. That is an alerting
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June 20, 2017
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system that ties directly to the dispatch center. It gets us the calls a whole lot
faster, anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute quicker than what we are getting
right now over the voice activated system and dispatch. That will require a WIFI
connection to make that system work. Outside of that we didn't have a huge
need at the time to have WIFI for the fire department and operability of the fire
department. Certainly station alerting will drive that need very significantly. So,
we agreed with holding off on that, working with Dave Tiede we have a plan
moving forward. Another position that we did ask for last year was an admin
one. In our department we do not have an admin one currently. We have a
records clerk position. We have an admin two, which is Christy and she supports
operations and prevention and training and the logistical and support work that
they need. We do have a need for an admin one. Essentially somebody at the
front desk that can take the phone calls, schedule the appointments, schedule
the tours, schedule the car seat inspections, a number of other things that are
needed in the fire department. That position was not funded. And, then, we had
some operations and fire investigation equipment requests that we pulled in an
effort to try and balance the budget. We were able to absorb that into this year's
base budget and find a way to get that done and so we pulled that request last
year. A quick update on some of the capital replacements from last year , moving
to the next page, the next slide. You have to remind me. We had a
malfunctioning phone system on Brush 35 for 6,000 dollars that was approved.
That has been completed. That phone system is working properly now. We had
several broken fire sprinkler heads in multiple stations. That's kind of ironic it
was in the fire department. Six thousand dollars we got that fixed. That work is
completed. We had the worn extrication tools that needed to be replaced. About
80,000 dollars. That has been completed. We had two malfunctioning thermal
imaging cameras. That is in process. We are just finishing up a study, an
evaluation of the best brand and the best one -- tool to use. Chief Jones is
overseeing that project. That is nearing completion. We had outdated firehose
and ventilation fans. Pretty much every year we have fire hose that we replace.
We have to test it on an annual basis and any of that hose that does not pass
inspection must be replaced. That has been completed. And, then, we had
some repairs on the training tower roof in the burn room. That burn room has
very specific specialty tiles that are in it as far as when you do a live fire training
and so we have a plan to repair -- to inspect those and, then, replace them when
they don't pass inspection. And so that is -- that work has been completed as
well. The item from last year that was not approved was the replacement of a
2007 response vehicle. It's MS020. This was actually the original response
vehicle that I was assigned when I was hired here as a deputy chief back in
2007. About 84,000 miles with about 93,000 engine miles on it. We do a lot of
idle time when we respond to emergency scenes. There is a lot of idle time on
the engine. Best industry practice -- we have contacted several fleet managers.
When you look at hours that an engine has on it, one hour equals 30 miles of
engine wear and that's what every fleet manager here in the valley utilizes and
best practice nationally to calculate engine hours. So, moving to this year's
budget. We have two enhancements. One is currently in the funded list that you
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June 20, 2017
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have before you, as Todd alluded to. The funded list. And that is to complete
the heart safe Meridian AED program in the amount of 27,676 and we have
brought back the request for a part-time admin one that is currently not in the
funded list. So, as we move into the next slide, the completion of the heart safe
Meridian AED program -- before I get into detail, you can see the cost there. I
will stand by -- this has been a great program for our city, not just for the fire
department, it's been a partnership with the police department, it's been a
partnership with the parks department. We are now looking at those agencies as
part of our first response community when it comes to cardiac arrest and that is a
great thing for our community. If we can increase survivability, get those AEDs to
a patient, even maybe before we arrive, that's a great thing. I know that the
police department has responded to a few of those calls. The last I was told they
have actually hooked the AED up, but the rhythm wasn't a shockable rhythm, so
we didn't initiate the defibrillation. But, nonetheless, it was there ahead of us,
which was the goal, to get an AED there as quickly as possible. So, we believe
this is a good program. Definitely worthy of funding. What this does -- if you
recall when we brought this original Heart Safe Meridian program to you, we
presented it in the budget and we said let's cut it in half and bring the other half
next year, which was last year. Last year we cut it in half again and so this is the
last quarter of the funding. The AEDs that we need to purchase will finish out the
police department program and get those in the patrol cars t hat currently don't
have an AED. Now, we have completed our work with parks. We have
completed the work for the fire department. We are just wrapping up the police
side of things. So, we feel it's definitely a worthwhile program. As far as any
ongoing base budget cost, we have that built into the program already, so it's
really the purchase of the AEDs that we are looking at here. And, then, the part
time admin one position that is not funded , you can see the one-time cost. The
ongoing cost of 16,780. Really what we have seen since 2008 when we last
added some administrative support is the number of our phone calls have gone
up about 200 percent in that -- in that time frame. The public is asking for more.
We have had to tell them no, certainly, but taking those phone calls and inquiries
still happens at an increasing pace. Right now as I mentioned our records clerk
position, if you go upstairs you will see Emily sitting up front. She is our records
clerk. She is spending a good amount of her time answering phones, setting up
stations visits, setting up car seat inspections, setting up station tours, et cetera.
And so even a part-time position, if the funding is available, would certainly help
us out to where we could get our records clerk managing some of the mandatory
things that she is required to manage, in addition to some of the additions that we
have had as far as our new RMS system, ESO, our data management system for
fleet is Manager Plus and some of those additional items that she has been
asked to do, as well as our customer survey. And what I want to mention on that
is it was great and I appreciate the Mayor stopping by the stations today. It's
greatly appreciated by our troops to say thank you. You know, if you saw the
citizen survey -- the citizen survey, the city survey, you saw that folks are pretty
happy with us. What we do in addition to the citizen survey that's done by the
city is we will collect the calls that we go on, collect those addresses and, then,
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June 20, 2017
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we have a very specific card that we send them and ask how did we do . Did we
meet your expectations. And the result that we are seeing match what you all
saw in the city survey. The feedback has been very good. Folks are happy with
our firefighters, which is a great thing. Somebody has got to do that work. So,
that is the request. You can see the total estimated projected cost at the bottom
for the ongoing part-time wages. Moving to the next slide. I know this is a
replacement, but I would be remiss and kind of dumb if I didn't bring it up, quite
honestly. This is a big ticket replacement item. This is Engine 34, 550,000 and
fifty thousand dollars to replace this engine. This has been brought the last two
years. We held off last year on bringing it. If you recall two years prior you
approved the purchase of two replacements, because we could get some cost
savings and the agreement was we will try and hold off on Engine 34 for another
year. So, we are bringing that back. This engine has 9,113 hours on it. That
equates to over 270,000 engine hours on that engine. More alarming for us is
that this engine has been placed out of service a considerable amount of time
already this year with ongoing maintenance and repair issues. We had our
mechanic look at it and give his assessment and, basically, what his comment
was you're going to continue to chase these issues with this engine. It's old
enough that you're going to have wiring issues . We have had wiring issues with
this engine. The challenge with wiring issues, as opposed to a broken axle or
anything else that could happen, is trying to hunt down that wiring issue and
locate it and, then, fix it is very time consuming. It adds significant cost to any
repair. So, we are requesting consideration of this engine to be replaced. Our
typical life span on a fire engine is anywhere from eight to ten years, depending
on the station it's assigned to and the use that it gets. Typically at that point if we
replace it we put that one in reserve and we get rid of one that's typically 15 to 20
years old and so that's kind of the situation that we are in as far as the need to
have this engine replaced.
Cavener: Mark -- or Madam Mayor. Sorry.
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Cavener: Chief, I have been pressing staff the past two days to try to do less --
arbitrary terms, so when you say a considerable amount of time, can you
articulate for us what is considerable? Is it --
Niemeyer: So, for this end it's been about 28 days in this fiscal year.
Cavener: Thank you.
Niemeyer: And the challenge for us when a primary first line engine is out of
service those crews are going into a backup engine and those backup engines
are typically in worse shape than the primary engine, if you can imagine. So,
there is -- there are some challenges there and just having that engine out of
service, decreasing the availability of our reserves.
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June 20, 2017
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Borton: Madam Mayor? On that point, chief, can you circulate to us at a later
date an update of the -- the engine by engine analysis. We have got that
objective for scoring, that probably ran through one of the current score of this
one, which --
Niemeyer: Absolutely.
Borton: -- to kind of keep track of the other engines.
Niemeyer: Absolutely. So, moving to the next slide, the discussion really is what
we have evaluated to try to project upcoming needs. I know you have heard
from other departments, too, some of their challenges moving forward and I think
what you will see in our presentation -- and this was not a coordinated effort, I
can tell you that. What you saw from Bruce Chatterton as far as the growth on
those maps and those heat maps of where the next growth issues are coming, I
think you will see it matches completely in line with what we have evaluated as
future needs. So, south Meridian is certainly a need for a response station. As
you know, we had the joint meeting with the -- the district commissioners, but just
to reiterate that we brought up then, the growth -- you can drive around and see
the growth, but there is some real hard numbers to put to it as well. You have
4,300 active residential parcels that are in process, 714 residential building
permits for new construction issued since the start of 2016, 17 commercial
building permits issued for -- I just lost the --
De Weerd: You want to borrow my PowerPoint?
Niemeyer: I did not plan that. I promise. That commercial -- that commercial
growth is adding 239,000 square feet of commercial response for us. We do only
have one station south of I-84. If you consider that our last fire station was built
nine years ago, in a period of the previous eight years -- since 2000 and 2008 we
built five fire stations and staffed five fire stations. Some could argue the growth
we are seeing now is comparable to the growth that we saw in 2000. For the
folks that have been around I noticed talking to Kenny Bowers and his anecdotal
assessment was it sure seems like we are growing now about like we did back in
2000 when the need for expansion of services happened. So, we have had quite
a span where we have not added response capability, yet our call volume, as I
mentioned earlier, has increased about eight percent a year. So, as our call
volume increases -- you can see it there -- since 2008 the call volume has
increased 47 percent. The growth in the population of the city in that same time
frame is increased 48 percent. So, again, the theory of our -- our response
demand grows with the city is a true statement. We do have an offer --
De Weerd: Chief, I think it would be accurate to say that as we annex down the
1,300 acres, that that was a commitment to serve as well. So, that's all going to
increase the pressure in the south Meridian area, too.
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Niemeyer: Absolutely.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Some of the 1,300 acres is covered by (unintelligible).
Niemeyer: It will all be covered by us because of our relationship --
Bird: Once we annex?
De Weerd: We already did.
Bird: You mean the ones (unintelligible).
Niemeyer: Just to cover it -- and you heard this in our -- in our special session
joint meeting. The fire district has offered to cover us to a little bit over a year, up
to 1.5 million dollars, to hire the 12 firefighters needed, along with the operational
start-up costs, the turn out gear, the training, some of that stuff that is
incorporated as cost whenever you add a station and add new firefighters.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Mark, why are we hiring 12 instead of nine when we put on a new station?
Niemeyer: So, even when -- back in Chief Anderson's days we looked at hiring
12 for certain stations. When you add nine that just covers the spots at the
nation. Three captains, three engineers, three firefighters. At some point you
need to add an extra float person , because that float is meant to cover some of
the overtime vacancy costs that you have when you add a station . So, as we
analyzed it, we are at three full fire -- three full personnel. When you add the
station you're going to need to have an extra float personnel to help cover the
vacancies that occur when folks from that station take vacation time or sick time.
Bird: Follow up. Mark, did you find out since 2008 how many float people we
have hired? We hired three last year.
Niemeyer: Since 2008?
Bird: And I know we have hired some more.
Niemeyer: Okay. So, moving on to the next slide, just some basic cost
estimates when discussing Station 6 -- at least one of the questions that I've
been asked is what would be the city's ongoing commitment. Certainty I know
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June 20, 2017
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Todd and Jenny have an interest in that as they look at future budgets. That is
just an overview of the potential ongoing costs . Our impact fee balance is
projected at the end of FY-17 to be about 4.3 million dollars and our impact fee
balance and that -- those impact fees can go for the building of a station, as well
as the fire engine that needs to be purchased. Just something to mention on the
fire engine there. Same as you heard two years ago, we contacted Pierce, who
is our manufacturer that builds our fire engines. If we ordered two that cost
would go from 550 that you saw in the replacement to 530. Very similar pricing
structure as far as when you buy more than one there is a price reduction. Other
challenges we have coming -- and this is where you saw this -- this is what Bruce
presented. We know that growth in the northwest section of Meridian is going to
challenge us. We have very a large subdivision that's going to bring in a lot of
residential homes. That increases call volume. We have the highway extension
-- Highway 16 extension that's being discussed and, then, we have some
planned schools and parks. We know that's going to drive demand for service.
That's an area that we are focusing on and keeping track of . The Mayor
mentioned earlier the growth in southeast Meridian, which is consistent with the
e-Map you saw in Bruce's slide. We have the addition of a YMCA, the school, a
77 acre park. If you look at the development that's proposed going around that
77 acre park, again, a lot of residential lots are going to be built out there. That
will probably be our next area of need as we look forward . Training will continue
to be a challenge as we add staff. You have training requirements. We are
currently meeting that challenge, but there will be a need probably to add some
training assistants. Logistics I mentioned already and that has not changed.
That is certainly a very real need for us. The other challenge is -- and we put
together a working group, if you will, that consisted of the Mayor, Councilman
Cavener, our liaison. We had Todd from Finance and Crystal from HR. We are
entering a period where we are starting to see retirements. It is something in are
department, specifically it's someone unprecedented. We had some one offs in
the past. We are anticipating in 2018 anywhere from three to six retirements of
personnel. Those three to six retirements create vacancies. If we don't have a
plan in place to get those vacancies staff ed at the time of those retirements, that
is going to result in overtime, because you have to back fill those vacancies, you
have no ability with the extra staff to put those folks in. This is a real issue for us.
It's not going to end this year and we are now entering a phase as we look out
over when folks were hired and when they hit their rule of 80 that retirements are
a very real issue for the fire department and without a plan in place it's going to
be real difficult to keep up. So, we have been keeping a very close eye on that.
Inspections are eventually going to become another challenge as our commercial
development continues to expand within the city. Those number of inspections
required will exceed the capacity of our inspectors. That is something coming in
the future and, then, quite honestly, the ability to be innovative, to find solutions
maybe not typically seen in traditional fire service deployment . We have unique
challenges in today's day and age that don't always get answered by old
solutions and so that ability to think outside the box, have discussions outside the
box -- I know we have discussed ARVs as a concept and for us it's very new. If
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June 20, 2017
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you look throughout the west and throughout the nation, fire departments are
figuring out how do we still respond, meet the community needs, but maybe do it
in a way that's more cost effective and efficient and I think that is our challenge
and those are solutions that we need to work on together . We all need to be a
part of that discussion, part of that solution as we move forward. So, with that
our vision really is in line with the city's vision. We want to be that premier
department. What that means -- that it's what we decided to meet and if you look
at the city's vision it is the same. By 2035 we are a little more specific, they want
to be the community in which to live, work, and raise a family. Our intent is to
meet the city's vision and mission in what we are trying to do here in the fire
department to provide that service to our community. So, with that I would open
it up for any questions.
De Weerd: Chief, this year City Council approved a level of service. So, how is
the department right now meeting that level of service?
Niemeyer: That's a great question. That's exactly what that Interra software was
going to provide us. I gave you the update on where we at with the IT
Department, which we are supportive of. What IT is going to give us -- I believe
they said three weeks, if I’m correct, is they are going to be able to at least give
us that information. As you recall, our response time, our travel time standards
were based on density, square mile densities, and the more dense you are the
better response time you can expect. What they are going to be able to provide
us is an entire map of the city with those densities outlined per square mile and,
then, we will be able to say what is our travel time currently to those densities
and we should have that within about three weeks.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Mark -- and we also was going to get some kind of a -- how many calls are
being from the station and how many calls are being in the area and how many
calls are being out of area.
Niemeyer: So, that is part of the first phase. We asked also from IT to give us
the -- it's called the liability factor of these sub districts. So, what's the reliability
factor of Station One's area, what's the reliability factor of two --
Bird: I know there has got to be some technology that can kick all of that stuff out
-- I'm not smart enough to read it, but --
Niemeyer: There is. It's just a big cost, unless you build it yourself.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Chief, when you were going through your slides you identified four
enhancements from last year that weren't funded. I think you did a fine job of
kind of sharing with us the reasons why or how you have moved forward on
numbers two, three and four. I'm just curious if the logistics manager was an
enhancement you requested last year that wasn't funded, I just am surprised to
not see that back here and I'm hoping you can share with us the reason why.
Niemeyer: Part of that is -- and I give the Mayor a lot of credit. We -- we as
individual departments had a CIP in our individual departments. For the first time
since I have been here we combined all those department CIPs into what's called
now the CFP, consolidated financial plan. The goal of that plan was to be able to
say how do we approach growth and needs of the departments and still keep it
balanced with what the anticipated revenue is going to be. The logistics
manager position was pushed to 20 19. Quite honestly, if I had to compare that
position, for example, against the replacement of a half million dollar fire truck,
right now I will have to take million dollar fire truck. It's a greater need. Although,
certainly the logistics position -- we are making do, but it's taking away from all of
our jobs and so that will be an enhancement request next year for sure.
De Weerd: Well, chief -- and I think, too, we talked about how this mutual
agreement would work with other agencies in shared por tions of the logistics
needs and the desire was to get a little further along in really seeing how much
can be realized through those partnerships to -- to see if that could become some
of it.
Niemeyer: And that's a good point. You know, I think our citizen survey at least
gave us some reassurance that they should make it all one fire department in this
valley, nor do we right now, but areas that we can cooperate in some of these
specialty areas, but we can find cooperative efforts -- I think we heard from our
public they support that. Logistics is one of those areas. When you talk about
purchasing there is no reason why we should all be purchasing different stuff if
we can find cost savings like we are seeing in some of those basic concepts. So,
we are still exploring that with our partners on how we can somewhat collectively
do this, while still meeting the needs of Meridian and our department moving
forward.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Chief, I just had a question regarding fire engine for station six.
Niemeyer: Yeah.
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Milam: There is 720,000 dollars, as opposed to 550,000 dollars.
Niemeyer: Got that, uh?
Milam: So, you -- we are talking about if we bought two at the same time
reducing it to 530, but how come that one goes up 200,000?
Niemeyer: Great question. When we replace an engine we are able to take the
equipment that's on the old engine and transfer it to the replacement of an
engine. When we add a new engine we have to go buy the hoses, the deck
guns, the chain saws, all the equipment that goes on it and that's what increases
the costs for the --
Milam: And you couldn't take that off of an engine that you're retiring?
Niemeyer: No, because a retiring engine, all that equipment goes to the
replacement engine. It's a swap.
Milam: Okay. Thank you.
Niemeyer: Good question.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Procedural question. We are not talking about replacements
individually, but in terms of next steps, these replacements in this department or
any departments that maybe we have got some concerns about that aren't quite
there, how and when do you want us to articulate that?
De Weerd: I think at the beginning of yesterday's workshop, even though they
are not part of the specific presentation, if you have questions about it now is the
time. So, as each department is in front of us --
Cavener: Sure.
De Weerd: -- they can talk about the process they can go -- they go through and,
fire, one of the only that has the residential piece to it as well, they added another
process to do their evaluation with Judy going out and physically inspecting and ,
then, the chief and I actually did as well, so -- but if you have specific questions,
please, now is the time for that.
Cavener: And -- and I don't know if I have a specific question, more maybe a
specific comment, at least to bring to the attention of Council is there is a request
in here from five stations to replace existing fitness equipment that's a result of
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June 20, 2017
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the CLA. I'm still hoping to get more information on that particular piece and it 's
something that I would encourage the Council to take a second look at. We
talked yesterday with -- with PD about the inconsistencies of office furniture and
so I'm hoping that by the time we get to our final hearing we have got some
consistencies on that and that what works for PD, works for Fire, works for Public
Works, works for the Mayor's office. But not a question, more of a comment. But
I do have one actually additional question of something that you brought up in
your presentation, chief. How many thermal imaging cameras do we currently
have?
Niemeyer: I will look down and defer to my ops chief.
Jones: Madam Mayor, Mr. Cavener, right now I believe we have nine thermal
imaging cameras in the fleet.
Cavener: Follow up, Madam Mayor? How -- is there a replacement cycle for
those and what is a -- what is the life cycle of a thermal imagining camera?
Jones: So, currently those are on a ten year replacement cycle. That's when we
are putting -- what I will tell you is that technology, like any other technology, is
moving so fast that at five years we are seeing a significant advancement in that
technology, so we are kind of behind the curve. Right now we are still at ten --
ten cameras -- or still at a ten year replacement cycle.
De Weerd: Well -- and, chief, I would say I would like to hear the answer to the
fitness equipment question, because there were to be some changes in that and
I think you need to give some background.
Niemeyer: I guess to refresh -- when we refer to the collective labor agreement,
the language in the most recent collective labor agreement, the department unit
shall develop a fitness and exercise program for all firefighting personnel.
Programs shall be based on identified best practice and shall include the
following components: Education, department standards, success factors, and
department mod and remediation if necessary. The program may be managed
by a peer directed program or managed through a separate vendor or both,
jointly agreed upon by the department and the union, depending on the
availability of funding. Participation in the program shall be mandatory for all
personnel that respond to emergency scenes. So, to that the update I can give
you at this point is as far as the program itself goes, that was evaluated and
compared against best practice in the fire service on what fitness programs serve
the members the best to be prepared to go into a fire , respond to -- to calls, but
also ones that would decrease -- or hopefully decrease the amount of injuries
that are a result. As you know right now we have free weights in our exercise
rooms. Big dumb bells. Big barbells. We know that those cause injuries. We
have seen the injuries. And so, certainly, we want a program that would try and
minimize that. To the extent of further information, absolutely, Councilman
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Cavener, we have asked the local to provide a synopsis of that program. This
was part of our retreat in which the local said we would like to take the lead in
doing the research for this and bring the program to you and get your blessing .
So, they have done that and we have asked them for a comprehensive review of
that program to present to you.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Chief, based on the comment you just said -- I want to argue with that a
little bit. Dumbbells and barbells do not cause injuries, people cause injuries and
education would prevent injuries. I use dumbbells and barbells at home in my
exercise and I would get injured if I overloaded them and try to do too much . You
can also injure yourself the same way using other types of fitness equipment. It's
about the education and properly using the equipment .
Niemeyer: And that's part of this program is to bring that education on how to
safely and effectively workout, essentially, so that you are in shape to be
prepared to go into a fire. So, that is part of this and it certainly is part of the
contract and so --
Bird: Madam Mayor?
Niemeyer: -- what we ask for is that education piece.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Mark, it's a mandatory training -- every station, every captain makes sure
that -- how much do we do a day or a week or shift or what?
Niemeyer: Typically an hour a day every day our crews are utilizing that workout
room in the morning. The captain is responsible for ensuring that. So, as we
stop by the stations in the morning they are in the gym working out. So, as far as
mandatory participation, as the language in the contract explains, that's up to the
captains in the station to insure that's getting done, as well as the peer fit, the
instructors of this program that go out and instruct.
De Weerd: Well, chief, I -- I think that between now and the third workshop you
can have -- you bring back your report in detailing what this program is, what --
the anticipated cost associated with it and how it can be phased in, so that
information is available in consideration when they set the budget.
Niemeyer: Will do.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions from Council?
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Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: (Unintelligible) and we as a Council and Mayor are going to have to do this
by the 19th of July we have got to make our decision on what the (unintelligible)
percentage was. I'm sure we can, but --
Niemeyer: Yeah. And I guess just to add to that --
Bird: That's going to affect the budget.
Niemeyer: To add to that timeline, it does coincide -- the job offers, if we are
going to get these folks into this fall academy -- job offers are going out on the
21st -- is that right? July 14th. We have to push that back. So, the 19th would
be kind of our deadline on --
Bird: By tomorrow morning you will have 200 (unintelligible).
Niemeyer: We have already tested -- we have already gone through the CPAT is
a physical agility test, that's this Saturday, and, then, interviews are next week
and so we will have all that testing phase done, it's just a matter of making job
offers.
Cavener: Madam Mayor? Oh, go ahead.
De Weerd: Well, I was just going to ask -- I know that we have a really tight job
market. Are you seeing that in -- in the number of people that have an interest in
the fire service?
Niemeyer: So, our last test it was the joint testing that we did, we had --
A Voice: 492.
De Weerd: How many?
A Voice: 492 applicants.
De Weerd: Holy moly.
Niemeyer: So, the answer is there is a lot of interest in the fire departments.
De Weerd: Oh, there is no impact from the low unemployment rate.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
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Niemeyer: We had -- we had more applicants than we have ever had in the
history of our fire department.
De Weerd: Oh, my goodness.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I guess maybe a question for Mr. Lavoie. The slide that I saw that was
up indicated that the rural was going to cover what equated to 14 months of
salary, which, essentially, would allow us to make the decision now or whenever
and have from before the end of this fiscal year -- and in addition to all of next
fiscal year. So, talk to me about impacts to the 2018 budget, aside from the
station, that we need to be aware of as we contemplate this decision.
Lavoie: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, from what it -- you know, I'm
learning -- getting the information with you as well. If we go with the August hire
date, in theory it actually becomes a fiscal year '17 issue, because you have
August, September to make salary payments. For us as a city we now have an
obligation to make payroll payments to 12 individuals or nine, however many
individuals. So, actually, the decision you guys are considering may actually
have a fiscal '17 impact that we need to consider and if that's the case we do a
budget amendment to get the funding necessary to make the payments to these
12 individuals and, then, that carries into fiscal aging, so we will do a budget
amendment that covers the 14 months that you spoke of . So, in theory it could
smell like it's a '17 amendment from what we are hearing if we move forward with
an August hire date. So, that's -- it will impact us, but if Rural is willing to pay one
hundred percent of it, '17 and '18 funding won't be too much of a concern from a
funding standpoint, it's your commitment to fiscal '19 and beyond is what we
need to really be concerned with, because that puts an automatic 1.31'ish million
dollars that we need to make sure we have revenue for starting fiscal '19.
De Weerd: So, chief, I guess in follow up to that, I -- I know that the Rural
commissioners came and spoke to Council. Do we have something in writing?
Niemeyer: I do have an update on that. They had their Rural commissioners
meeting last Monday. They discussed it, this offer of 1.5 million dollars. They,
too, would amend their budget for this current year to get that August 21st
deadline. They did take a vote. It's on the record. They did vote to approve this,
to have it presented to Council. Their direction to me was if Council does have
an interest in this, they would form a resolution -- a formal offer and present that
to Council. So, they did take a vote to support funding for 15 months at up to 1.5
million.
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De Weerd: I think it would be good to have something in writing and what we are
talking about for Council to even consider, so that we know we are all on the
same page and I guess I would ask in the meantime if we can come up with what
would those costs be with nine versus 12, not just the personnel, but you're going
to have to equip them, even going through training. So, what are the total costs
in doing that and is the 1.5 -- did I just say 1.5 million -- their -- their contribution
is that for personnel only or does that include to fully equip and overtime, those
kind of considerations, just to get further detail on what we are specifically --
Niemeyer: And I can -- I can answer that. It will be included in the offer. That
1.5 million is to cover the personnel costs, the wages, benefits, as well as the
operating costs in that first year and so you see that number there , the first year
wages and benefits is about 1.276 million . The first year operating costs to get
the PPE, the equipment they need, is about 148,600. The ongoing costs after
that for those 12 personnel, which would be the city cost that you would be
looking at subsequent years for operating is about 28,020 dollars for those 12
personnel that you're bringing on.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: That's operating -- or that personnel cost don't include overtime.
Niemeyer: That has it -- that as -- I will get you a spreadsheet. It does have an
overtime factor built into it for both training and for staffing and we work ed very
closely with Finance to try and determine -- as you know, overtime has some
variables, but we spent time together trying to get a number that we felt fairly
comfortable with. So, that cost does include the overtime.
De Weerd: Okay.
Cavener: Madam Mayor? Chief, talk to us about timelines. The date is August
24th, if we made a decision August 23rd that you're able to move forward, so
what is a -- I think Councilman Bird indicated the July budget meeting. Does that
give you enough time to be able to move forward if we are supportive of this --
this offer in any capacity?
Niemeyer: It's tight. But the academy starts August 21st and that first week is
spent in each department -- in other words, our folks would spend time in
Meridian getting Meridian work done and paperwork and all that. The following
week is when the joint academy begins. We tend to like to give candidates at
least 30 days notification, because job offers still, then, need to be made. So, if
you march backwards, July 21st is really our absolute drop dead -- can't get past
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that deadline to make job offers, get those accepted and, then, get the process
started. There is some background check process that needs to happen prior to
the academy the candidates do with HR and that type of thing. So, July 21st is
really our drop dead deadline.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. Sorry, Councilman Bird. Chief -- and I -- to
the Mayor's point, I think having something that is formalized and while the
meeting is on the record and a vote was taken, I think we have all been in a
meeting where we have been on the record on something and, then, have come
to learn that maybe it wasn't quite everything that we thought it was. So, the
ground rules that we are all on the same page on and getting that to us sooner
rather than later, because I would -- I would hope that this body could discuss
this issue at a future Council meeting and to your point not waiting until the
absolutely last minute to make a decision.
Niemeyer: At that point, Councilman, that the commissioners are willing -- we
have discussed this, to have a special meeting if they need to, to formalize that
letter.
De Weerd: Okay.
Cavener: One follow up, Madam Mayor. Chief, you and I have discussed a few
times about logistical challenges with bringing 12 people into an academy. Do
those concerns of yours still exist? Has the department had an opportunity to
look at some type of resolution that would make -- to bring on 12 if we can only
train --
Niemeyer: At breakfast Saturday morning -- in fact -- and so there is -- there are
a couple options we are looking at. Out of these 12, four of them have to be
paramedics and if you look at what Nampa is doing right now for their paramedic
position specifically, they are lateraling in the position. We met with our union
president this morning to discuss this issue. They are very supportive of that.
That would -- that would alleviate the logistical issue you and I discussed as far
as the academy and the numbers. So, we have found a solution. We believe it's
a good solution that we can use moving forward.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, one more follow up if I may. Chief, any added cost?
Niemeyer: No.
Cavener: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Any further questions from Council? Okay.
Bird: Thank you, Mark.
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Niemeyer: Okay.
Bird: And within the time.
Niemeyer: Absolutely.
De Weerd: You had a minute to spare.
Niemeyer: I practiced many times.
De Weerd: Thank you. And congratulations, Bill.
Lavoie: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Lavoie: Madam Mayor, I just wanted to bring (unintelligible) on your discussion
about timelines. I just want to point out that on July 25th we as a city propose --
will be proposing to the citizens our final fiscal '17 budget amount. So, I think --
so, we need to also take that into consideration that we have an obligation to the
citizens and that's our presentation to you on the 26th. So, if the discussions by
you and the Fire work on a 19th, then, that's good for us, but after the 26th -- I
apologize. 25th. That is when our deadline is from a financial obligatio n to the
citizens and the state. So, it's going to be tight on their side and on our side as
well. So, I just wanted to give you a timeline from our perspective.
De Weerd: And that is -- and that is for the budget amendments.
Lavoie: That's for the fiscal '17 final budget.
De Weerd: Okay.
Lavoie: Correct.
De Weerd: Okay. One last thing, Judy -- before Judy goes. At the award
ceremony last -- last week Judy was recognized as the employee of the year for
nonprofessional employee of the year. And -- and Joe Bonjiorno, was not only
sworn in as deputy chief in the fire prevention, but he also won -- and he's
standing right there.
Niemeyer: He received our distinguished service award for many years of
service.
De Weerd: Well, congratulations. I had to -- not just embarrass you, but
recognize you -- both of you for your service to the fire department. Thank you.
Okay. Next up is our Parks Department. Welcome.
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Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Thank you for
having us here today to discuss the proposed FY-17 -- '18 -- '18 budget. I
wanted to acknowledge a couple things from yesterday. One, I thought that
Bruce Chatterton -- is he here? Yeah. Did an excellent job in presenting the --
the growth story and a lot of what you will see today is as a result of that growth
that we are all experiencing and, then, I wanted to just also mention what Chief
Lavey mentioned and that is the process that we have been through this year
has been really quite excellent and my hat's off to the Mayor and the other
directors for what could have been a very difficult few months in processes and
prioritizing and tearing out, you know, what's in the base and what's in tier one,
tier two, tier three. It's been a collaborative effort and it -- I was glad to be a part
of it and compared to budget processes from a decade ago it 's really come a
long way. As with most other departments -- and we wanted to show how we tie
in to the city's vision. Mark ended with this. We start with it. But the city's vision,
as you know, is to become the premier community to live , work, and raise a
family. We love our role in that. You know, we think that Parks and Recreation
has a major role to play in that -- in that vision and our -- the words we put to that
is providing family focused opportunities for the Meridian community and
responding to that growing and changing population, because the demographics
are changing, the people we are serving are changing, not just in numbers, but in
the types of services that they want and demand. So, our presentation today will
follow the same format you're probably familiar with now. We begin with the FY-
17 budget dollars at work, reporting back to you on what we have done with the
money that you have approved for us in the current fiscal year. We will, then, go
over our FY-18 budget enhancements and, then, talk a little bit about the road
ahead and some of the -- the big ticket items that are -- are coming to Parks and
Recreation in the City of Meridian. So, current fiscal year. Last year we
presented the enhancement for Home Court staffing and operations. We
showed you the full picture of everything that was going to be presented and ,
then, we asked for just the first year's part of that. Now, on the staffing side we
did fill the site supervisor position with Ross Cipriano and we have the three
Home Court facility specialists, Jane Curtis, Kolton Gammie and Ryan Johnson
there. Now we have also been hard at work on the tenant improvements out
there. HVAC. Security upgrades. The moisture barrier up in the ceiling and
changing out the signage on the building, things like that. So, we have been
hard at work this year and we held the -- the grand reopening back in December.
The second enhancement for this year was the MPR software, the Meridian
Parks and Recreation software. This is a software that we use for taking
registrations and one of my -- my biggest pet peeves with the current registration
software is that if you want to register or reserve a picnic shelter, you have to call
us. You know, in this day and age you ought to be able to do it on the -- online
by yourself and so we are looking for better solutions that will allow us to do that.
Our current contract with Active Network goes through September 1st of this year
and will be extending that slightly to have a go live date for some new software
that coincides between our two activity guides. The time has been a blessing for
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June 20, 2017
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us, because as we have been looking into the various software solutions that are
out there for us, the one that we thought we might be going toward a year ago
has become unresponsive. Others in the state have gone away from them. So,
we are now -- Colin gets the credit for really weighing all these options out there
and we are currently focused in on a -- a new solution. It's called Rec One that
we are looking at implementing.
De Weerd: It's a good thing Colin is agreeing, right? Is it possible, Rachel, that
you could print us out a copy of this PowerPoint, so that we can take notes and --
Siddoway: Be glad to. Yeah.
De Weerd: We have a number of slides or enhancements and so it is helpful to
have that in front of us.
Siddoway: If that's helpful, sure.
Palmer: Madam Mayor? Question for you. Will the new software not try to sell
new magazine ads? Or magazines?
Moss: The new software also won't charge customers online convenience fees,
which they currently pay right now and so it's all a part of trying to push more
traffic online, because even though you can register for a class online right now,
we often get people that get all the way to the checkout point and , then, cancel,
because they were going to have to pay a convenience fee and end up calling us
instead to save the two bucks. And sometimes it's a lot more than that.
Palmer: Yeah. I was worried that I ended up at some (unintelligible) site
accidentally, because --
Siddoway: Mike can tell you a similar story. He registered for a race and went
with the same thing. That's part of their program that we will be getting away
from.
Palmer: Sweet.
Siddoway: Okay. We have several parks underway. Bellano Creek or which
used to be called -- well, is Reta Huskey. It was Bellano Creek when we
budgeted for it. What is the one that we budgeted for in FY-17, I would be quite
remiss, though, if I didn't mention the other two, which were technically budgeted
for in FY-16, but, then, their budgets were updated in December of this fiscal
year for Keith Bird Legacy Park and Hillsdale Park. This spring has been brutal
with all of the -- the wet, rainy weather on construction. So, we are very grateful
for the hot, sunny weather that seems to be coming. All three of these projects
are -- have really the same bullet points you see up there . The construction
contracts were bid and awarded, the bid process being over the winter, when we
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got in a favorable bid process. The crews broke ground on all three parks in
March. That construction is progressing as weather has allowed. We still have
the goal of fall completion and the parks will be open to the public after the grow-
in phase, because, you know, day one after the construction finishes there is still
grass seed that has to germinate and things like that. So, they won't be open
immediately upon finishing construction, but they are in progress and on
schedule and moving forward. We did have an enhancement for a
groundskeeper one and Terin Clark was hired to fill that position in February. We
also had an enhancement unrelated to the new parks coming on, just to demand
-- just to fill the demand of the growing population and the increased -- increase
in shelter reservations and field reservations and parks maintenance and
upkeep, but we were able to get two additional six month seasonal employees
that are out there helping us as part of the -- the larger seasonal team. We also
have a shade structure that is budgeted for this year . It's in the form of a picnic
shelter and is going in Bear Creek Park. That contract has been awarded. We
are on their construction schedule, but that construction will happen at the latter
part of the summer, August, September time frame, but it is still on schedule to
be done prior to the end of -- the end of the fiscal year. Pathway connections is a
big focus for us and we had an enhancement this last year to do construction
documents along what we call Segment D, I believe, and that is from Black Cat
to Ten Mile along the Five Mile Creek. Kind of in the neighborhood of the
wastewater plant, kind of the easiest way to put it. The deal was we could get it -
- construction documents ready in the event that we identified, you know, a grant
or some other funding source and just have that one be a shovel ready project
when it's time. Those construction documents are underway and expected this
summer. Another pathway project that I'm excited about is the directional signs
along the pathways. As we have done pathway tours with the Commission and
others, one of the things we have noticed is some of the turns and things to stay
on the pathway network aren't always intuitive and so there is a series of
pathway signs that are being installed this month and -- in fact, are the first phase
of those in now, Roger? I know they were starting work on them last week.
Norberg: They are done. I think there are only three left to install.
Siddoway: Okay. So, the ones that have pathways are done. So, those were --
those have just recently been installed and are available along Five Mile Creek
pathway. There was also a proposed connection along an ACHD storm drain
facility that's currently on hold, because ACHD is doing heavy maintenance work
within that facility. So, moving to the FY-18 proposed budget. These are the
enhancements that we will be presenting and discussing with you. You can see
the unfunded ones on the -- towards the bottom and we will be covering those as
well. We also have a couple that involve impact fees and -- we will make sure
those are pointed out to you. We have all of these on separate slides, so I'm
going to move forward to the first one, which is -- I think are certainly our biggest
and I believe our most anticipated enhancement, the idea of a south meridian
park -- a larger south Meridian park. We have -- we have south Meridian parks
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right now, but they are the smaller, neighborhood park size. We have long heard
that south Meridian feels underserved, because they don't have a Settlers or a
Kleiner or something like that and through a number of south Meridian outreach
meetings and town halls -- I know there has been a lot of growing interest, even
the last Coffee with the Mayor, which was in north Meridian at RC Willey, there
was an amazing amount of interest just from people coming up and wanting to
see the plans. We have 77 acres out there. As you can tell from the graphic, we
are not going to develop it all at once. We can't afford to develop it all at once.
But we would like to build a first and very significant phase . It's about 25 acres in
size. And, then, like Settlers Park, this one will continue to be constructed over
multiple phases and multiple years. You know, Settlers Park didn't come in one,
two or even three phases. It was -- it was a number of phases with, you know,
the initial park construction and adding Adventure Island playground and adding
more to the Adventure Island playground --
De Weerd: Fifteen years.
Siddoway: Fifteen years worth of -- of various phases. So, you know, the tennis
courts were their own phase. The horseshoe courts were a separate phase.
Adding additional picnic shelters were a phase. So, we see this one coming to
fruition in the same way as people get excited about the park and maybe identify
future partnerships, but this is an enhancement to get us going on -- on phase
one. There was concept planning done probably two and a half years ago with
the park system master plan and those plans have been adapted over time. This
last year the City Council approved the design development and construction
documents funding, which is underway. We did begin the -- that design
development and construction documents this fiscal year and we are rolling into
the construction documents phase right now, excuse me, with the goal of being
ready for bid by December, so that we can do, again, what proved to be a good
strategy this last year and get this project out to bid in the winter, in the
December or January time frame, so that we can be ready for -- to start
construction in the spring around March of next year. The budget that's being
requested is -- is not a -- the budget that's being requested is not a specific line
item budget, it is an acreage times multiplier and we are trying to design to that
budget with our construction manager. The construction budget we are asking
for is six million dollars of what you see there and that is split between impact
fees and the fund reserve -- or the CIP fund from the General Fund. This is a
good time to point out that these are the -- this is the kind of thing that we have
been anticipating for years and saving for. You know about the fund balance.
This is one of those projects that we have been -- we have been saving for over
a number of years. We will utilize the impact fees that we can from -- we have
three -- those three projects that were mentioned before for this year , Keith Bird
Legacy Park, Reta Huskey, and Hillsdale are all using impact fees and this one
will use about just under three million dollars of impact fees for this phase and,
then, the other just over three million dollars would come from the SCIP Fund.
So, we have been setting aside money for -- yes, Keith. Oh, sorry, Mayor.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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Bird: Madam Mayor?
Siddoway: I saw his hand go up.
Bird: In looking at your enhancement here, we got 60 acres for 5.9 million and
you are -- and, then, we are -- we are approving 25 acres 6.5 million? Look at
your -- if you add it up it's showing 30 and 30.
Siddoway: Thirty and thirty. So, it's 77 acres. What am I looking at?
Bird: We gave 60 in '17 the number --
Siddoway: Oh, right. When we originally put the enhancement together we -- we
said the phase line followed that -- the Williams pipeline straight across. Since,
then, we have been pulling that in, so -- it still comes out to about 240,000 per
acre at 25 acres to reach the six million. That is right in line with the -- the recent
budgets that we received, especially for the front end of the project where we are
putting in all the initial infrastructure to serve the entire park. Power. Water.
Sewer. Likely have a few more things to add.
Bird: (Unintelligible) throw in a couple of semis or --
Siddoway: Not at all. Not at all.
Barton: And, Councilman Bird, just to follow up a little bit, so that the phase line
that you see where there is a couple of softball fields and the grass -- and that's
25.2 acres and, then, there is some overflow gravel parking lot, because we see
the need for that overflow lot to -- to do two things, to compensate for -- if we
have an event in phase one and , then, also if we utilize that sod farm that's back
there, so the gravel parking lot will be building a section that we can pave over at
a later date and the gravel parking lot is a little than two acres, so the total
development is approaching 27, 28 acres, so I think our 30 was -- we kind of
carved some off the bottom and -- and that's where we came up with the 30 acre
number.
Bird: I was just adding your number one.
Barton: Yeah.
Bird: For 25, what shows 60 years.
Barton: So, it actually goes a little bit beyond --
Siddoway: It should be 60.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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Barton: -- the 25.
Siddoway: Yeah.
Barton: 25.2. There is another couple acres of gravel.
Bird: Understand.
De Weerd: And I imagine after doing phase one similar to Settlers Park, once we
did phase one it was a lot easier to get interest from potential partners and those
that have -- that bring money and in kind to the table in bringing about the rest of
the vision. We certainly went into our partnership with Meridian Youth Baseball
after phase one was built. We had a partnership with the Police Activities
League as well for some of that -- that open space. Adventure Island came in.
It's -- once people see that first phase it's easier to communicate the vision and
translate into potential partnerships.
Siddoway: They then see the potential of that park --
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Siddoway: -- for what it could become.
De Weerd: Right.
Siddoway: Any other specific questions on this one or --
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Bird: On the baseball field -- and I maybe missed it, but are we -- we are going to
light them, aren't we?
Siddoway: Yes.
Bird: When they are put up they are going up with lights; right?
De Weerd: Before the neighbors come in.
Siddoway: That is planned. We did -- we did hold a neighborhood meeting two,
three weeks ago and we did present -- Councilman Cavener was there. There
was a specific question asked about the lighting. We did have some depictions
of the LED lighting we plan to use. Our thought is that if we are going to do a
field somewhere, this is the time, because it's got to go in before the subdivisions
come around it.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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Bird: Thank you.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: No workmen's comp. Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Can you guys break down for me, I guess, the -- the demand of
baseball-softball fields versus soccer-football?
Siddoway: Absolutely.
Palmer: Because Settlers they go (unintelligible).
Siddoway: You know, Colin, is our rec coordinator that -- and he's done some
great research into this for -- for me and knowing that, you know, this question
might be coming, you know, what is the demand for softball, how does it
compare to other sports programs that we run. Do you want to take that one,
Colin.
Moss: Sure. Sure. So, I just -- I prepared a few, you know, bullet points. Our
softball program is -- I mean it's by far the most participated in program that we
have in our department. It accounts for approximately half of all the participants
we have in our adult sports program . I mean specific numbers we had 2,650
participants in 2016, of a total of 5,358 participants in our field sports programs.
And so, you know, we have -- we have three volleyball leagues. We have three
basketball leagues throughout the year. And the two softball leagues accounts
for more participants than all six of those leagues put together and, then, you
know, we have -- the last time we put in softball fields in 2002 at Bear Creek Park
and the city was only about half the size -- less than half the size that it is right
now at that time and we have had to cap our -- our sports leagues -- our spring
softball league capped out in 2011 at about a hundred teams and in 2014 we
capped out the fall league and just doing a little research on the -- the trend --
the growth trend leading up to that point if -- you know, in 2017 if we wouldn't -- if
we had adequate fields, then, we would have kept just the trend of growth that
we experienced from about 2004 to 2011, we would have about 170 teams in our
league this year if we would have continued that growth , but we have been sitting
at a hundred since 2011 in our spring league and so it's -- it's one of those things
that once we hit 2011 and we capped out at a hundred teams, we kind of
stopped advertising our softball leagues, so that we -- because we didn't want to
get just an overflow of people that we had to turn away. So, we stopped
advertising our leagues and we continue to get a hundred teams per year and
there is just -- there is a huge demand for -- for people participating in our softball
leagues.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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De Weerd: Well -- and I think if you went to any of the public meetings during the
master planning of this park and updating the ten year plan, there was a lot of
expressed need for the softball fields and I think that in Meridian with the open
space requirement in the subdivisions, they are putting in open space and that
green space that you see our youth leagues utilizing -- overutilizing in some
cases and you can't play softball or baseball on those. These are more
specialized. But I also see the little -- the younger leagues and soccer using the
outfields in the -- in the softball areas. So, they do have versatality -- or --
Siddoway: Versatility.
De Weerd: Yes. Thank you. And where a grassy open space does not
accommodate the -- the need for the softball. Of not only the adult leagues, but
the girls and the youth leagues, as well as what came out in spades was the
senior softball league as well, saying we need space.
Palmer: Follow up. What's the cost on the lights?
Barton: Madam Mayor, Councilman Palmer, there is -- the cost -- I would -- I can
give you a number, but it won't be exact, because it wouldn't be based on any
bids and it's not based on Idaho Power engineering costs and, you know, real
numbers.
De Weerd: Don't worry, we will hold it --
Barton: But hold me to it, because I will be wrong and I will say I was wrong, but
there is -- to light two fields it's in the 200,000, 250,000 range and that would be
fully loaded with, you know, conduit in from the street and an additional sector
box, the poles, the heads, the whole thing, so -- I mean if -- that's not the cost of
the field, but that's the cost of bringing lights to those fields and with that -- that
multi-use kind of concept, too, the lit fields at Storey Park, we have our adult flag
football uses those lit fields in the fall to play flag football under as well. So, there
is -- our lit fields are in high demand, you know, especially during the summer the
lights are on for maybe -- maybe not as long as you think they would be, but in
the spring and fall it's huge, because, you know, we are still getting dark at 8:00
o'clock. So, you can extend your -- your games and provide that service longer
into the evening and, then, in the fall after softball is done we can run flag
football, we can have other uses, so --
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: We -- Steve, you could help me on this and, Joe, because he was on the
Council, what did we pay for the lights out at Heritage, 298,000?
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June 20, 2017
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Siddoway: I think it was right at 200, wasn't it?
Bird: My -- my opinion on lights is it -- it enhances your program, because let's
face the facts, 6:00 o'clock to 7:00 o'clock in the summertime is hot. You don't
like going out there and playing. We can keep them later. I hope that you guys
from now on, whenever you put in a softball field, will put the lights in with it,
because as far as I'm concerned an unlighted softball field it's just for somebody
to go have a pick up game.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I'm -- this is not lights related, but I was kind of going back to Councilman
Bird's question about the acreage and I don’t know if I just didn't understand you
or I was like reading and listening, but you're doing 27 acres or are you doing 30
acres and -- and does it really cost 200,000 dollars per acre for a gravel overflow
lot, the same as it would --
Siddoway: Not all acreages are created equal, but there are some acres that are
more than that and some acres that are less than that. Where ever there is a
structure or a restroom, a concessions building, it's going to be much more than
that, whether it's graveled over for parking or just grass, it's less. So, that 200 to
240 thousand an acre is an average across an entire park.
Milam: Okay. So, are you -- because you have your 30 acres.
Siddoway: Yes. So, 30 acres is what it was -- for consistency sake we maybe
should have left this at the 30, but, really, this number represents the -- the latest
iteration of our most recent meetings where that area along the bottom , which is
really the -- the west side, has been carved off, so we are not including the gravel
overflow and the road out, we are right -- like Mike described, about 25 acres.
When you add that back in we are in the 27, 28 acres.
Milam: But you still have 30,000 at your -- or 30 acres that you're wanting
funding for at 200,000 an acre.
Siddoway: So, just keep the number the same and change the acreage.
Milam: Well, that's just going to raise the price of the rest of the acres when you
come back for the rest of it -- I mean we are just adding to the cost of the per
acre, so next -- next year or the next phase when you want to do more, we are
going to have to pick up the acreage that didn't get covered under this --
Siddoway: There will be additional acres. That's correct. Yes. That's absolutely
correct.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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Milam: So, why not adjust it to the proper amount of acreage?
Siddoway: So, we get the -- there are future roads that we need to wait for to be
able to put in some of the infrastructure in those areas , so we need to -- we need
to postpone some of the infrastructure in that area, waiting for future half mile to
quarter mile section roads that are coming.
Milam: Okay. They are still going to be part of phase one?
Siddoway: They are not part of --
Milam: That's what I'm saying. But I guess my question is why not adjust the
budget to reflect what you're actually doing?
Barton: If I can jump in real quick, Madam Mayor, Council Woman Milam. So,
we are -- these numbers are based on bids and right now -- right now the parks
are over budget. So, we need to cut something. So, really, the -- the request is
a budget to go to bid day with. If our bids come in less than that six million
number, we will spend less. Absolutely. I mean it's not -- if it -- if they say that
the sum of all the parts is five or five and a half, then, we will -- we will leave that
500,000 dollars on the table. We will do our best to be under. This is a budget
request. This is just a -- you know, an advanced thought of what -- and based on
the best information that we have right now of what it's going to cost . But if we
get -- and I hope that with our strategies that we bid in the wintertime, that we
can do 25 acres or 30 or 40 for five and a half million, then, we will leave -- we
will leave the 500,000 dollars on -- on the table and leave it in our budget and
leave it in that -- that -- you know, unspent impact fees for the next phase or
another park of some kind. But it's not -- really, it's not attached to -- this is a
guideline. It's not specifically attached to acres, because we don't -- these aren't
bids. These are -- these are opinion -- it's just an opinion of cost based on
industry trends from both our consultant, from the knowledge we have, and also
our construction manager, that that's where these numbers are coming from.
Does that help?
Milam: It does. I'm just going by the numbers that you provided to us, so based
on your numbers --
Barton: We were hoping that -- we were hoping that this request would build 30
acres. If it -- I mean we are hoping that it -- we are hoping that it builds the 25 or
27 with the gravel and, honestly, the gravel parking lot is 200,000 an acre. But
it's expensive to start -- the road section to support a fire truck is about two feet
thick and it's -- and it's grading and geo tech fabric and sometimes gravel and it
is that much. The acre we did at Settlers Park was 150,000 for behind MYB and
that was years ago, so --
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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Milam: Okay. And I understand this is how much it's going to cost and I'm not
trying to argue, but I'm just saying I'm going by your numbers it's kind of like me
saying I will sell you five shirts for 20 bucks, but I'm only giving you four shirts
and the other one you can buy again next week. You know. A similar analogy
based on the numbers that are related.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I think -- Steve, I think the question could help us -- how big is the first
phase? How many acres?
Siddoway: Twenty-seven, 28 acres.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. If it's 27 or 28 acres why does our budget
menu list --
Siddoway: Because when we -- it was 30 when we developed it with the
enhancement.
Cavener: So, we get an updated version for us that incorporates the correct
amount of acreage --
Siddoway: We changed the acreage.
Cavener: Okay. Mayday Mayor? Madam Mayor, thank you. And perhaps
maybe this issue is worthy of a future Council meeting, but, Steve, can you walk
us through what our revenue is that we bring in from the adult softball league and
what our costs are related to that league? If you don't -- I don't expect you to
have those numbers now, but look into the bigger question that I think that I may
touch on through some of the other budget enhancements . I think it's important
for us as Council to know how much revenue is brought in from some of these
programs that the parks department offers and what our costs are associated
with it, because if our baseball program is so successful that it can carry the lion's
share for 200,000 dollar lights when the baseball league will be the lion's share of
the user, I'm all for it. If it turns out, though, that they are not able to cover the
lion's share of that cost, but they are a major user I think that we would need to
take a better look at what we are charging for it. So, that will be a recurring
theme I think in some of the other enhancements, so that's something that we
cover here or before our July meeting as part of a general Council presentation,
that information is going to be really critical for me in making me not a decision.
Moss: So, Councilman Cavener, just -- I don't have any specific numbers that I
can provide at this time, but generally speaking we have a -- we have a cost
recovery model that's been adopted through -- as a part of our parks master plan
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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process that shows that we are going to -- our goal is to break even with the adult
softball program, with -- without including the rec coordinators salaries and that's
our goal and we meet that every year and then some. The softball program does
finish in the black every single year. I don't know, like I say, again, what those
specific numbers are, but that's the approved cost recovery model is to attempt to
break even.
Cavener: Madam Mayor? Colin, does that number incorporate the cost of
capital construction, such as park space, lights?
Moss: It doesn’t.
De Weerd: And it never has and certainly if we look at this in -- in every amenity
we do -- for instance, the lighted tennis courts, we don't get anything for the
tennis courts, except for the few times we -- we do rec programs and charge for
lessons. But there is no recovery on that for our lit tennis courts. That would be
a policy discussion. I think that this Council would need to have to look at a new
cost recovery program or policy and I guess -- the train is out of the station on
this. This is something that we have already brought to the -- this is several
years in the planning that we have taken to our citizens so -- and that we have
collected impact fees regarding. So, I -- I guess I'm not sure why we are having
this conversation here in -- in the design that has already been approved and has
designed -- that we paid for design this last year. So, I -- are we talking about
taking these things out? I guess I'm --
Milam: Madam Mayor? Based on my questions I just wanted clarification on --
based on the numbers that are presented to us. They don't match up. That was
-- I'm not just saying I'm not doing this, I just wanted to the numbers to
match what --
De Weerd: I agree.
Milam: -- was presented.
De Weerd: And we will get you an updated --
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Regarding fees and stuff -- and I -- I think we do need to have a policy on
that. I think we need to get our costs -- and our cost is also administration cost.
Moss: They include that.
Bird: And -- it does include all your administration, your help and all that stuff?
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June 20, 2017
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Moss: Madam Mayor, Councilman Bird, the cost recovery model includes
breaking -- breaking even includes a 20 percent administrative cost.
Bird: Okay. You didn't say that.
Moss: Oh. Sorry.
Bird: But other than that, you know, we have impact fees and we have -- we pay
taxes and we are charging extra for nonresidents to play in these leagues, so
they are paying -- they are picking up their share of that capital. I don't know. I
guess I was raised in a city that had all these nice amenities and everything and
put a baseball field in you got it lit and so as a little leaguer going right up we got
to play under the lights. I just think that if you're going to put something in put it
in right and over the years it will pay for itself. There is -- we can have
tournaments, we can have a lot of stuff if we got lighted fields.
De Weerd: But I think in the past we haven't and that is the problem. It is more
expensive and generally there is built community around it and, then, instead of
building your house next to lit fields, you're now adding light, because of -- yeah,
to existing fields, even though it was a long-term plan, people aren't going to
understand that and I -- I understand why they want to put them in now, so that
you avoid -- you're not kicking the can down the road for future councils to have
to stand on why did -- why did we not put it in to begin with if it is in the plan,
so --
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: And I think for sure if we are going to put in the field, then, better light
them. My concern is with the fields themselves. I feel like there is a larger more
built-in lobbying effort more or less from the league participants to ensure that we
are putting baseball fields in like crazy, whereas I don't know if it's -- but I would
argue that the skate park has more year around usage per acre than any of the
baseball fields. Every time I have driven by the one at Tully that place is just a
crazy Lord of the Flies and teenagers and we have got one. I mean I don't know
what the maintenance is on it or what -- what the cost compared to doing a
baseball field with lights would be, but I imagine we would have a lot more people
per hour on doing another one of those or a BMX track or any kind of other thing,
other than another baseball field, after another baseball field, after another
baseball field, despite how popular they may be and though we may be able to
continue to grow the league, I would want to change it up a little bit.
Siddoway: Madam Mayor? I know how much we want to get into the
programming in the interest of time, but there is a great question out there is, you
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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know, is this -- is this primarily a softball park or is this the Discovery Park that
has softball in it and I would say clearly to us this is a Discovery Park with softball
in it, not a softball park with discovery elements in it and what that means to me
in light of what you were just describing is you were focused on the softball thing ,
but that's three'ish acres of the 27, 28 acres that's out there. There is a whole lot
of other acres that is in these types of general amenities with the se discovery
elements that we are very excited about. You know, a destination playground,
declining wall in the shape of Idaho that teaches kids the different cities . There is
different gardens going in, like, you know, a pollinator garden and -- and to the
point about the skate park, I very much believe that that age group and
demographic needs some additional amenities. Given the layout, they fit best in
phase two. I don't have the phase two drawing here, but just on the other side of
that line we are -- we are planning for a challenge course. You know, I don't
know if it rises to the level of an American Ninja Warrior course, but it's -- it's an
obstacle course that that age group and demographic will be very much in love
with. So, you know, we -- we are not just focused on softball here. If I could
show you our programming concept for this park, softball is this much of it. It is
so much more than that.
De Weerd: Well -- and you have shown that in the last four parks. The three that
are currently under construction don't have softball and the big Kleiner Park
doesn't have one skin as part of that design . We haven't addressed the growing
demand for softball leagues and -- and this has gone through the public process
and so there is an expectation, but if there are different needs that -- I know it's
fluid, it can change. We have additional park land that maybe needs to be
revisited to a design and consideration for what those parks -- even though they
have gone through a conceptual plan, maybe they -- they look to be updated, but
for this one it's kind of late, but --
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor, if I may?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Councilman Palmer, I was honestly, when I heard the process,
really surprised when I started digging deeper about how popular the softball was
and is and how successful it is and we start talking to people how they are not
always getting to participate in things and so I was kind of like where you are
now, is that -- and I think they have done an absolutely fabulous job of meeting
the needs of really what our community is looking for and the other opportunity to
have these touched on that we are starting to do some research on, is looking
out for other tournaments that can bring revenue into the city because there is
tournaments -- traveling tournaments out there that we haven't had the fields to
do -- to have them that we will actually be able to host something here in
Meridian and have the fields to do it, so, yeah, I have kind of done -- I wasn't
completely 180, but I have really learned a lot through the process of putting all
this together.
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June 20, 2017
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Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Councilman Little Roberts is a hundred percent right. We can bring in
tournaments. Look what the baseball field -- the little league baseball fields --
and Joe has been involved very heavily with a lot of this, tournaments that's
brought in and look at the people that have come in here, ate in our restaurants,
stayed in our motels, camped in stuff, that's just one phase. And as far as the
skateboard -- you know, you are looking at two of us that got that skateboard
park in. We had a couple people that didn't want the skateboard park.
De Weerd: We even raised money for it.
Bird: And we -- yeah. We raised money for it. And I'm not saying that we don't
need to maybe put another skateboard park somewhere . I will tell you what, you
better hang onto your pocket book with all the concrete that's in one of those if
you think 200,000 is expensive.
De Weerd: Council, we are on enhancement number one and I am concerned
that we blowing the --
Bird: Blowing our time.
De Weerd: But I would say that if -- if we need to talk further about this we can
schedule it onto a Council agenda. My concern is this is already designed and
this is the next phase. In fact, they did notice on your enhancement form it
probably should have said year two of multiple years, because we -- and the cost
of the design should be under a year one.
Siddoway: Sure.
De Weerd: So, just a -- just to --
Siddoway: Yeah. We were focused on construction --
De Weerd: Yeah.
Siddoway: -- phases.
De Weerd: So, would that be -- the desire of Council to set this separate, just
about the -- update the -- the plan, but this has construction documents that we
have spent money on. Do we need to redesign something that we have already
conceptually designed through public process and -- and we have spent money
on it, now we are going to redesign it?
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Cavener: Madam Mayor? To answer your question I don't think I heard anybody
say we need to redesign the park, unless I misheard. I think that, rather, there is
some questions about some specific comments that are going to the park and to
your point I think would be better addressed in a separate meeting.
De Weerd: Is that the will of the Council?
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor, hasn't it already been before Council? Didn't we
approve --
De Weerd: It has.
Bird: It has. It's been approved.
Little Roberts: Okay.
De Weerd: Well, we will bring that up later.
Siddoway: Come back with a design development update, maybe with the July
workshop. That's before the next budget meeting; correct?
De Weerd: It is a designed park. I just -- if there is a majority that would like to
consider removing elements, certainly I would take a vote for the Council, but at
this point let's just move forward with the rest of your enhancements.
Siddoway: Okay. Enhancement number two is the Home Court. Last year we
presented the -- the full Home Court cost enhancement and, then, we did -- we
split it, as was already mentioned. We acquired the Home Court on September -
- sorry -- October 1 of this year. Signed off on September 30th. And we are now
in the -- we are now operating that facility. The YMCA is still there in what we
call phase five, which is their exercise area, and will be there until the South
Meridian YMCA is completed. When they leave we lose access to their staff that
help us operate the facility in the morning. So, as has already been presented
last year, we had five total part-time staff proposed last year, three that were to
be in FY-17, two would be in FY-18. We are asking for those two additional staff
in FY-18. We are also looking at the -- the construction of what will convert that
bay five area when the YMCA moves out to -- to change that from what it
currently is to additional three classrooms, office, and storage space for an
expansion of what we currently do at the community center here in downtown.
That -- originally we had a placeholder to try and construct that in our -- and we
were talking about this last year. I don't think that's the right sequencing,
especially since they are going to -- since the Y is still going to be there for most
of this next fiscal year. So, what we are proposing is to request -- to the design,
construction documents for that day in the next year and, then, we will have
really good cost estimates going into the next FY-19 fiscal year that we can use
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to talk about those improvements. There is also a fiber connection and we
budgeted for part of that in the last one. In fact -- I don't know if Dave Tiede is
here, but originally that was projected to be about 175,000 dollars. We budget
50,000 of that already in the current fiscal year that's to be carried forward. That
number has dropped by 100,000 dollars and we now only expect it to be 75. So,
this enhancement only asks for an additional 25. And, then, the hardwood floor
resurfacing, we talked last year about how every 12 to 15 years the hardwood
floor is due a complete sanding down and refinishing. You only get about three
or four of those in a lifetime of a -- of a floor, so you don't want to do that very
often. But it's had a lot of heavy use and it's now 13 years old and just noting the
condition of the floor, we think it's time to give it that -- that full sanding. You will
notice the deduct in there of 20,000 dollars for the annual floor maintenance,
because we don't need both, so either -- you know, we don't need -- we have an
annual amount just to do the annual floor servicing. This is the bigger one that
you only do a few times in the lifetime of a floor, so --
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Steve, can you give us a little bit more of an explanation about the --
the fiber project, why it's needed and what --
Siddoway: The what project?
Cavener: The fiber.
Siddoway: Oh. So, the communication between the HVAC system is there and
City Hall for the building maintenance folks to be able to run -- to not
communicate and we -- that would solve that. It's also to be used for just better
connectivity into our computer systems, because we do intend to take
registrations there. So, the -- our card readers. We can install card readers.
Garrett, you -- you got to come up here. Come on up and help us out with
specifics. And Dave Tiede, we may want to get some additional -- Dave can get
that to you.
Cavener: In the interest of time, I think that's fine. I just would like a better
explanation in how it compares to the unfunded requests from PD for fiber as
well.
Siddoway: Okay.
Cavener: So, whoever -- I think that would be helpful for me to see what one
does that the other doesn't, why one unit is funded and I think the other is not.
Siddoway: Okay. And the big ticket items that the fiber does for us.
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De Weerd: Well -- and I would just say PD hasn't -- doesn't have a request in
front of Council for fiber or WiFi and neither does Fire. Not for this year.
Cavener: Sure. It has been -- there has been a request in the past. So, I'm just
trying to follow apples and oranges is all.
White: Councilman Cavener and Mayor and Council, to maybe add one more
thing on there, we have security cameras and talking with -- keeping things here
at City Hall, to better oversee IT and things like that, David Tiede would probably
do the better one to answer that question.
Siddoway: We can get the details from Dave. Maybe we could do it that way.
Bird: Anything else?
Cavener: Mr. President? I have a question. Steve, again, maybe in a follow up
report to us, how much revenue we have gained from the public since we have
opened the facility, to have a good understanding of that amount. And, then, Mr.
President, one other you might be able to answer, is when is the projected date
of the YMCA going to be out and how does your request for staffing align with
that?
Siddoway: Great question. So, we don't have anything near a hard date for
them to be out. What they have said is they expect the south Meridian facility to
be complete in spring of 2018. So, I expect to have them out by summer of 2018
and, you know, which month that is I don't know yet. As we -- the closer we get
the more we will know, but that is the -- the general time frame we are on.
Cavener: Okay. Thank you.
Bird: Any others? Go ahead, Steve.
Siddoway: Okay. Item number three is a recreation camp coordinator. This is a
seasonal position and not a year round, full-time position. Basically runs from
February through August. This -- well, this is just in response to the increased
demands from living in a growing city. Last year our summer -- we have two
summer camp sites currently. One in south Meridian, one in north Meridian.
When I came on we had one summer camp site in north Meridian. We split that
few several years ago to be one in north, one in the south. Those camps are
filling up. We have an existing agreement -- in fact, not just filling up, we -- we
maxed out the -- the north site multiple weeks. In fact, our average -- I think it's
the enhancement -- 42 in the north and 40 in the south respectively. We -- we
have a maximum number of 50 that we can take for staffing levels . We did max
out that 50 and had a waiting list for the first time. We would like to add a second
summer camp site in north Meridian and so this position comes with additional
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revenues that would offset the cost of adding that -- that position. Will we fully
offset it in year one? I can't promise that, but by year two, three -- as that third
summer camp site fills, it's designed to pay for itself. We have an existing
agreement with the school district to allow us to do this with no additional cost for
facility costs. We have the mutual fee waiver facility agreement that I think you're
familiar with and that agreement allows us to expand into an additional site at
one of their school locations. This position would help out not only with that
traditional summer camp that we call Camp Mer-IDA-Moo, but also outdoor
adventure camp and sports camp and, you know, they are growing and right now
we have a one man shop with Jake that oversees the whole thing. This position
would come on to assist with the staffing and the day-to-day operations of those
camps.
Bird: Any questions?
Cavener: Mr. President?
Cavener: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Steve, on the -- the revenues from the program covering the cost, I
assume that factors in the furniture, computer, depreciated over X amount of
years or does your cost analysis incorporate computer, office space as well?
Siddoway: It does not. If you need us to run -- if you -- what you're describing is
a different type of cost recovery philosophy than what the adopted philosophy is
that had been approved by Council in the past. It sounds like what we need to
do is maybe talk about a revised cost recovery model, but that's a whole
philosophy change.
Cavener: Okay. Thank you.
Siddoway: Colin may be able to --
Moss: Well, if I could just comment really quickly, Councilman -- Councilman
Bird, Councilman Cavener. In this specific one the -- the furniture and
furnishings -- it includes not only -- the cubicle is a very small portion of that
10,000 dollars. Right now we are at the point in that back room where if we add
any more cubicles we have to add another power junction box and lighting and,
hence, the majority of that 10,000 is to finish out the power and lighting needs for
that room and so that -- that would finish out that room for lighting and power and
it's -- so, it could -- you know, it's going to cover the, you know, future -- future
position.
Bird: Thank you.
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Siddoway: Item number four is the Rail With Trail construction and pathway
connection projects. There has already been an agreement entered into
between the city and ITD through COMPASS for federal funds that are coming
beginning FY-18. We have plans to connect a -- the first half mile segment from
Meridian Road over to West 8th Street. The federal match is the majority of what
the project will cost at 92.66 percent. The city's match is 7.34 percent. Having
said that, the enhancement does ask for the -- the entire amount, not just -- that's
in both years, just so I'm clear. We are asking for all of the funds up front, since
we will have to contract for that and the way these ITD reimbursement projects
work is the city has to budget for and pay for the contract up front and, then, ITD
reimburses you. So, we will budget for the full amount, but at the end our -- our
portion is the 7.34 percent. There is another portion to that one and that is our
own pathway connection projects, there is some bank erosion going on along an
existing pathway, called Blackstone Pathway near Fuller Park. We would like to
address that. We also have an existing cost share agreement that's already
been through Council for the Pine Avenue construction project. The city is
responsible for the pathway portion of that, those Pine Avenue improvements,
from about the location that the existing pathway comes out and meets Pine over
to Locust Grove and so our portion of that is included in here. As well we don't
know what will come of this, but we would like to do some initial planning and see
what it could be and that is that -- kind of across the street from the wastewater
treatment plant, across Ten Mile, along Five Mile Creek, ACHD has a large storm
drainage pond that had some access land next to it. There is a -- there is a
potential opportunity that we could have access to that land to develop a trail
head for the Five Mile Creek pathway. We would like to do some initial planning
work just to determine the feasibility of doing that. Item number five is parks
maintenance capital equipment. We have submitted an enhancement that
included two snow blowers, two snow plows and turf sprayer. What you will see,
though, is in the -- the proposed -- well, baseline is not the right word. But the
proposed tier zero, if you will, that was funded, would be one snow blower, one
snow plow and the turf sprayer. We have been taking on additional locations,
such as the Home Court, helping the police out of the public safety training
center. We know there is a future fire station coming. We don't have that one
this year. We have been taking on additional help during snow events with the
Meridian Food Bank, Boys and Girls Club and, then, we have three new parks
coming along online this year. We could use the additional equipment -- and to
be clear, we already have the trucks and the tractors, all we are asking for is the
attachment. So, we are not asking for any vehicles as part of this, we just need
the snow blower, attachments, and the -- the snow plow attachments for existing
equipment that we have. So --
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Steve, on that I think you are able to use that existing equipment with
the same staffing levels?
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Siddoway: Yes.
Cavener: So, he drives the truck from one park to another -- uses the
attachment and, then, moves onto the next one, is that --
Siddoway: Yeah. Roger, do you want to take that?
Norberg: Council Cavener, yes. The additional -- so, with the additional
groundskeeper, one that we got this year, he would occupy that position.
Cavener: Great. Thank you.
Siddoway: So, the second half of this is just to show that there is a portion of this
that is in the unfunded category and part of , I believe, the tier two proposals for
enhancements at -- if the -- some of the additional property taxes taken and the
additional snow blower and snow plow would be requested at that time. Item
number eight is the -- the Borup property well. Council has previously allocated
money to us to do some water rights work out there, which -- which has been
done. Our permit was approved in May of 2015 and we were given a five year
window in which to develop that water right or lose it . We would like to build it
this next year in advance of the deadline. This is the exact same process we did
out at the 77 acres in south Meridian. Council did authorize us to develop that
well ahead of its park development and it has proved -- proven beneficial and
also it doesn't -- well, one, it's cheaper now than it will be in a couple of years and
also it allows us to put to beneficial use and demonstrate that before the -- the
deadline comes. This would be an impact fee project. So, impact fees -- this
was an impact free eligible project and impact fees would pay for this. The next
one is the Pine Avenue cost share. This one quite simply is a pass through, if
you will. The net to us is -- ends up being zero on the construction side. We do
have maintenance -- ongoing maintenance that you can see in the ongoing
years, but the City Council has already entered into an MOU with the Meridian
Development Corporation. The -- ACHD is coming in to do a series of
improvements along Pine Avenue. Since we as the city will take over the
maintenance of a lot of the landscaping along it , as we do throughout the -- you
know, in other areas of downtown with the downtown street trees and such, the --
the idea was we wanted to be in control of what's going in , so that -- but MDC
has agreed to pay for that and they have already agreed to that in an existing
agreement that has been before Council. So, this item is really to say, okay, we
are going to budget for it, we are going to contract for it. MDC will reimburse the
city for that. Number seven this one is a -- an unfunded. There has been a lot of
discussion in the last couple of years of adding shade to the front of the
bandshell. It's quite a brutal place to be -- to play when it's hot. We have -- if you
-- if you have been out there in the last year -- you probably noticed it last year,
we added trees in the amphitheater area for the spectators. It's still a very hot
proposal to be the one up on the stage . We are looking at -- this draft concept is
one. We are developing others right now and we don't have a hard number for
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you in terms of cost. Thirty-two thousand is not enough, I can tell you, to build
that draft concept. However, 32,000 is what we have in the CFP, it's what was
planned for ahead of time, so that's the amount that went on there and we are in
-- currently in the process of developing additional concepts and will be bringing
those forward to the commission and Council if there is still interest.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Steve, what's the number of reservations you have had on the amphi-
theater in a year?
Siddoway: We can get that. I don't have it off the top of my head, but -- I don't
want to venture a guess, but --
Cavener: Great. Thank you.
Siddoway: Okay. Okay. And, then, a late entry -- and, Councilman Cavener, I
would offer to present this, but a late entry that Councilman Cavener contacted
me about a month ago and asked about what it would take to do a flagpole at the
corner of Main and Fairview. There used to be a 60 foot flag pole there. A lot of
people missed it. It was removed when that intersection was widened several
years ago. That flag pole was originally donated by Jim Fuller. There was a
plaque at the base of that flag pole that thanked Jim Fuller for that donation.
When the flag was removed, I want to point out that that plaque did go to Fuller
Park which is the same Jim Fuller and sits at the base of that -- of the flagpole in
Fuller Park. That corner has since been repurposed with new landscaping and
public art, but there have been several requests to -- we miss the flag. Can we --
can we put it back? So, this enhancement would -- would put a -- a flag pole
back up at that corner. For comparison, the -- not as tall as the 60 foot flag pole,
the ones out here in City Hall are about 30 feet, so this would be twice as tall as
what's been in front of City Hall. The one in Storey Park is about 80 feet. So,
this is about 20 feet shorter than what you see in Storey Park and it's what was
there. So, that's what we based it on. So, it's on the unfunded list currently and
available to be added as you see fit. Questions on that one? This one -- not
necessarily an enhancement, but I wanted to point it out. We do have funds in
the budget proposed for the ADA compliance repairs. There was a settlement
agreement at an audit that was -- per the agreement had to be completed no
later than August of this year. We are ahead of schedule on that. We want to
move forward with the -- as many items as we can. We don't have a specific line
item budget request, it's based on actual numbers, but this is to give us a budget
to start work and start picking away at it. There is a 100,000 dollar line item in
the unfunded category, so as you're discussing the potential improvements that
are part of that tier two and tier three -- I think this one is in tier three. This is
part of that list for your consideration.
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De Weerd: Well -- and I will not lie, but it pains me to put this in the fund it part, a
portion that is in the tiers. Again, I think it's really unfortunate the cost of a fourth
of an inch in many regards in -- and not having one person even expressing
concern of where a toilet role is or -- I could go on. So, I do know that it is part of
an agreed upon plan that --
Siddoway: And, Madam Mayor, legal continues to look into tolerances and
things that we might need to reduce the impact on this. So, now I was looking
out to what we anticipate coming in the future. We do anticipate those Home
Court classroom tenant improvements coming. The additional pathway
connections is the annual item. At some point we do anticipate splitting the adult
sports coordinator duties. This may or may not be -- it's currently in the CFP for
next year, but we are talking about the timing of that and whether that can be
postponed. We are always looking out for, you know, how we can be as efficient
as possible. Additional work on the shade. I will just mention that shade is -- I
meant to mention this on the slide, but the shade is a top priority for our
commission and I wouldn't be doing them justice if I didn't at least mention that,
even though it currently sits -- I believe in terms of priority rightly so on the
unfunded list, it continues to be a very high priority for them. And, then,
additional replacement for vehicles and equipment. Next to the last slide. I was
asked to put -- thanks to Finance for helping us with this, but just a snapshot for
you of foregone impact fees. These are impact fees that would have been paid
by development if we had adopted the fully allowed impact fee . It totals to just
over half a million dollars just in the last three years, '14, '15 and '16, since it was
adopted. The -- the commitment from the Council was at the time that, you
know, we are going to reduce the impact fees and those fees will be made up by
the General Fund. So, that's the number that I wanted to bring forward to you
and at least report back that those are the four impact fees that we have had
over the last few years. This is a topic for a future meeting, but I know that the
impact fee committee has been discussing coming forward to Council and
discussing should we, you know, consider taking the full impact fee or not to
avoid having those impacts going to the General Fund, as opposed to the impact
fee fund. So, maybe just a primer for that and let you see some of the numbers,
because here is what's coming and we have a -- you know, there is a lot more
projects in the CFP than just this, but these are what I call the big rocks, right?
This is the big ones that are coming. The Borup-Bottles property, which is 47
acres in west Meridian, near the corner of Cherry Lane and McDermott, that is a
future park. We also anticipate the addition of our first Boise park project up in
north Meridian with the Ewings and we have concept plans that have been
developed with the master plan a couple years ago and presented to Council, but
those are coming. I don't have a year for you yet, but in very rough numbers I'm
thinking five years, ten years. But, then, of course, there are the future phases of
that south Meridian regional park, which, by the way we hope to get a real name
for soon and be coming forward to Council with the name proposal once we take
it to the commission. So, we do have -- we do know that -- that that south
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Meridian park will be built in many future phases and these are just some of the
big ticket items that we think are coming and I will stand for any questions.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I would just like to point out that those foregone impact fees are almost
the same amount as a two percent budget increase. It's got to come from
somewhere.
De Weerd: Yes. But those are one time only and --
Milam: There are ongoing.
Siddoway: Thanks for your time and your questions. I will just offer right now, if
there are follow-up questions, let's not wait until the middle July. Feel free to
reach out and we are happy to answer any questions you have.
Milam: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor, I -- before Steve leaves, I want to say hi to the parks guys.
I tell you, show me a city that in 17 years has got the quality of parks and the
acreage of parks that Meridian, Idaho, has got. Most cities have 50 and 60 years
doing what we have done in 17. I'm proud of you.
Siddoway: Thank you.
De Weerd: Well -- and the city survey really shows there is a huge appreciation
and expectation for our parks, the quality that -- you set a standard. Certainly the
-- many other communities do not meet, but it is now an expected standard.
People are proud of their parks and all of the recognitions that we have received
as a city. It's had a huge nexus to the parks, the quality, certainly safety -- and
safety in parks was also mentioned in the survey as well. So, this is certainly a
team effort. You have a great team, but coupled with Police and Fire and -- and
our utilities, those primary services that we offer our citizens , it is lending to that
great place to live. So, thank you. I know I say it often, but I don't think you can
say it enough. So, thank you to you and your team.
Siddoway: Thank you. It's a lot of work and this team really steps up and
appreciate them.
Bird: The Council -- the Mayor and the Council have always built everything first
class and you guys have made sure it stays first class.
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Siddoway: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Council, I -- I will say we can reduce our recess
by five minutes and reconvene at five to 4:00. We will make up the five minutes.
(Recess.)
De Weerd: Okay. We will go ahead and start this meeting again. And I
apologize, we have two Council members that are still on their own, so we will go
ahead and -- and start this section with Community Development. Thank you,
Bruce. Ruth and -- oh, not Ruth.
Chatterton: Mayor and Council Members, thanks -- thanks for listening. You
know, we have already had a presentation about growth . Thanks for listening to
that. Not going to go over any of that ground, at least not directly, but we are
going to talk a little bit about that information as it affects specifically Bruce's
division and Caleb's division. But first let's talk about what we did with the budget
dollars at work last year. Last year we had one enhancement. There it is. And
we are -- we are critical for it. We don't ask for much, but -- so, let's talk about
this project. It's a hundred percent complete last year. We got in under budget.
Our customers are very grateful for it. And our hydration levels -- and among
Community Development staff are way up and I could try to get percentages on
Council Member Cavener, but just to say it's significantly improved.
Palmer: How far under budget?
De Weerd: What does significant mean?
Bird: Does it have a filter on it?
Chatterton: It does. It has a filter. Makes hot water. And everybody else has
one. Finally, we do. All right. Some important themes as we get into this. The
Mayor doesn't like me to repeat this, but I will again . According Todd Lavoie,
Community Development has had the lowest growth in staffing of any General
Fund department in the last 14 years. Our customers -- and we do talk with our
customers and we convene them from time to time -- that's the development
services advisory committee -- have told us consistently that their -- our
bandwidth is -- is their concern. They want to make sure that that critical ratio of
work to staffing in both planning and -- and in Bruce's land division section, is -- is
not out of balance. But it is getting increasingly out of balance to the point where
levels of service may begin to slip if permitting staff are not increased and when I
say permitting staff I'm talking about just those Community Development folks
that -- who actually process the important permits. We know that growth is going
to be continuing even if the bottom falls out of the real estate market during the
worst real estate recession in American history and for seeable -- in recent
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memory. We didn't tank. We continued to stay busier than others. So, we know
that Meridian will be continuing to grow, but as we talked about during the growth
presentation, those are easy pickings, those greenfield projects, are -- be less
and less. In fill will be more. And so because of that the nature of our -- of our
staff work will be changing. It will be more intensive for each application, even
though the applications over time will be small . So, we have four enhancements
that we are requesting. First, in the Planning Division an associate city planner.
An associate city planner is basically a counterpart to Sonya or Josh, the folks
you see at just about every City Council meeting, the folks that -- that are the
project planners, effectively, the city's consultant for most of those planning
projects. A growth goals consultant. Now, this is part and parcel of the strategic
plan. Caleb is going to talk about that. Dealing with some of those impacts of
growth and where we want to grow, what we want to incentivize, what we want to
de-incentivize, that's all part of that proposed scope of services. In Bruce's
group, the Land Division, an addressing technician, and Bruce will talk about the
duties there. But we currently have one addressing technician and she -- she is
maxed out and then some at this point and, then, a development analyst one.
These are the folks that basically take -- we mentioned this yesterday in the
discussion of the Enterprise Fund, that these are the folks that take the technical
direction of our engineer and apply it to the actual development applications to
make sure that things are being done correctly and smoothly. So, let's get right
into it. Caleb, you want to go ahead and advance your slides there. The right
hand -- right hand arrow.
Hood: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, thank you for the opportunity. As
Bruce just mentioned, I have two enhancements to present. First enhancement,
again, as Bruce mentioned, is for an associate city planner. Another Josh and a
Sonya, like Bruce just kind of put it. This new hire -- it would be the third
associate working in the current division of planning . So, we do have one other
associate city planner, that's Brian McClure, but he doesn't process development
applications. So, he does play a different role in our department. This is a full-
time position. Assist the public and city staff by communicating ordinances,
policies, procedures and analyzing land use applications for conformity with
established plans and codes. That's straight from the job description for the
associate city planner. Again, they prepare staff reports and recommendations.
Present those to you and the Planning and Zoning Commission. They also work
on administrative staff reports. Some of what Bruce just mentioned, too, there is
less and less low hanging fruit. You may have noticed -- I certainly have -- an
uptick in the recent past of more public involvement on applicat ions. It's not just
greenfield development and in-fill, but we are getting more people in our area
and more people that seem to be interested in what's going on on the field next
to them or the parcel adjacent to them and they are participating. That's a good
thing. But the downside of that is we need to communicate with them and it
takes more time to process these applications on average. So, we need to not
only work with the development community and process their application, but we
have kind of the other side -- and it's not always -- they are not always at odds
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with each other, but sometimes different points of view, but, again, that takes
time and so one of the reasons for this request is our workload has remained
pretty steady at a high level, but the amount of effort it takes to process those --
that same number of applications, is regularly increasing. So, that's -- that's one
of the justifications. So -- the other -- the other thing I think that will help with this
-- and I think we have done a good job and I'm proud of our staff thus far -- is we
have done a good job of limiting mistakes and errors, but we are -- again, we are
getting to that critical point where we don't have enough time to spend -- the right
amount of time to spend on those applications to really do a comprehensive look
and review and make sure all the conditions are covered , that way we ensure
that all the conditions of approval after you all approve them are actually done in
the field. Spending time out there on site making sure that fence went up the
way it was supposed to or that this was paved the way it was supposed to. I'm
not -- I'm not suggesting to you that we cut corners now, but we are -- we are
pulled in a lot of different directions and we do rush through a lot of those steps a
lot of times. So, having this will definitely help not only Josh and Sonya and Bill
to a certain degree, but the overall process and hope to limit some of those
mistakes going forward. The other thing I will just plug -- and I know you haven't
officially accepted the results yet, but there was a concern about growth from the
survey and I'm not -- I'm not here to tell you that if you give this position that all
those concerns go away, but I think this would help some of that , again, some of
the reasons I just mentioned, I'm hopeful that this person can help spend more
time with our existing residents and those that want to move here and develop
here, can give them that level of service that everyone's kind of come to expect
from our -- from our department. So, just a -- just a side note as I go to the next
chart that kind of I think documents this need a little bit. This is the first
enhancement I have asked for since I have been the planning division manager.
So, since 2013. This is the first enhancement. We have been hobbling along --
again, I'm proud of our staff with what we do now, but we are kind of -- the
breaking point is way too strong. But people are stretched and help is needed.
So, I think these -- these couple of graphs help kind of paint that picture. The top
graph shows revenue from the applications or permit sales since 2000. So, it
may be kind of small, but the far left is fiscal year 2000. It shows total staff. So,
including the director, our admin staff, CDBG administrator and others, like Brian.
So, it's the baseline. So, that's our staffing that is the line and, then, the actual
bar is our permit sales, the revenue. You can see that the economy is
recovered, but, really, our planning staff that hasn't. So, we have maintained
steady and if you look at FY-13 we have had six or seven staff, that correlation --
and I'm not going to take any credit for this, but the bars went up. I started with
the city in 2003 and you can see how much our permits started to increase the
last time we really got to some of those levels with our staffing. The bottom --
De Weerd: Oh, so you're to blame.
Hood: Yeah. The bottom left graph is our expenses since 2009. So, it's
personnel and operating. Again, we have been doing more with less since 2013
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and, really, since 2009, you know, overall our expenses and costs have gone
down. So, even if this position is funded we still won't be back to the 2012
expense levels for operating or personnel. I'm not saying that's the benchmark,
I'm just giving you a frame of reference that -- that -- to kind of say, hey, this is
2004, 2005, we had these kind of staffing levels. We have doubled our
population and we will be back to those same staffing levels we had in 2004,
2005. And, then, the bottom right graph, it's similar to the top graph, but it shows
total applications, so not revenue, but total applications processed -- is the blue
line and the purple bars represent planning staff that actually work ed on
processing development applications. So, again, we have -- we have an
assistant planner, two associates and Bill Parsons supervising. That's what we
have now. So, four people effectively that work on those applications with the
director, the CDBG administrator and Brian and myself being the others in our --
our division. You can see how we have remained flat, but the workload has
remained high, so, again, I don't know if you can read those numbers, but
approximately 150 development applications per planner per year. One hundred
and fifty right now is what we are -- we are doing. So, that's the first -- first
enhancement.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: On this, Caleb, I don't know if you know the answer, but percentage of our
fees will cover the cost of this new planner?
Hood: I know if I -- you know, I know I can't exactly answer that question, but I
can -- I can let you know that we have returned revenue back to the General
Fund year over. So, we have a balance at the end of the year that certainly will
cover this. It's in excess of the 80 some thousand dollars a year that this position
would cover. So, hopefully, it answers your -- I can't go to the percentages.
Bird: That's just what I wanted to point out that our -- our revenue is going to --
would cover --
Hood: Exactly.
Bird: -- this extra planner and it would let our existing planners be more efficient
in their job, even though they are efficient now.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Not a question, just a comment. Caleb, thank you for presenting this
position in this manner and bringing it forward really kudos to you and Bruce and
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June 20, 2017
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the Mayor for bringing this position forward. I -- I know that all of our directors
need staff positions and they bring them to us, but outside of non -emergency I
think this is a very critical position and knowing that and you still did your due
diligence and provided a significant amount of information to make it for me at
least the decision very simple. But as kudos to you and your team for doing that.
Hood: I'm going to move on to the -- our second enhancement. This is for -- as
Bruce again mentioned -- in direct alignment with the city's strategic plan and it's
Subjective 1-B-1, define and articulate the city's growth goals. So, the idea here
of the goal is to create a growth management system, foster the growth goals of
the city in alignment with the Comprehensive Plan. What the request is is we
need some help -- I just asked for some more staff, but this is again -- this is
more on the longer range plan -- planning side of that equation. So, this isn't --
doesn't have anything to do with, you know, processing development
applications, but it's setting us up to process those development applications
after we understand what our growth goals as a community should be. So, just
reading a little bit more from the strategic plan itself , it's to assist in defining the
ten, 25 and 50 year growth goals of the city and we need some help, again, to
synthesize and evaluate policies and related growth and , then, market those
growth goals. Essentially doing a SWOT analysis of kind of some of the existing
documents we have. I'm not under any preconceived notion that we actually
have any targeted growth goals, but I think it's a good discussion to have with the
community and I would envision the City Council being a -- a large part of that. It
could be everything from targeting areas to targeting markets, to saying we are
going to grow no more or no less -- you know, we don't control a lot of that. A lot
of it's market driven. But we can have some policy statements that direct where
we go. We have a future land use map, we have a Comprehensive Plan, we
have some of these documents, but we are very reactive. Do we want to be
more proactive? Do we want to develop some incentives. If we really want to
have some things happen downtown, for instance , or at Ten Mile, for instance, is
there something we want to do that can encourage or add some more, again,
incentives to our processes or -- or disincentives to those areas we aren't ready
to grow in yet, where our services -- that really stretches some of our other
services. Fire, police, for example. You want to put some disincentives, you
know, if you're going to develop on our fringe and we are not quite ready to go
there yet. So, again, I don't have any real preconceived notions or answers to
those questions, but that's what I think this process is about is to have a dialogue
about defining and understanding what our growth goals as a community should
be. Obviously, would have those other service providers and Public Works be at
the table. This, again, I'm going to tie it in with the survey, since that's pretty
recent, but I think that our community expects some things and so this ideally
could help build that expectation for what they can expect in ten or 20 or 50
years. They don't have as many projects coming in for development agreement
modification or rezoning a property we thought was going to be this, I think this
can help somewhat with -- with those concerns over time. But, again, this is a
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June 20, 2017
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longer range -- mid to longer range planning exercise and with that I will stand for
any questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I'm still trying to understand what this 50,000 dollars is. So, it's an
outside company you hire to create a plan or they are working with -- I mean
you're like we are all here at the table, they are at the table, they are at the table,
what is -- what costs 50,000 dollars? It's not us making a plan, it's some
specialty company that does this specifically?
Hood: That's a good question and I will be honest, I haven't developed a scope
of work yet and it would be a do not exceed fifty, but hopefully we can do it for
less than that. But I -- the first task within this objective is to develop a scope of
work. What do we need help with. Some of -- some of the tasks I need help with
is organizing, herding those cats, bringing the right players to the table, setting up
those meetings, taking notes, communicating, maybe setting up a website, you
know, some of those things that really help facilitate this discussion . We are
definitely involved in that. We will be at the table, but we need some help, again,
in some of the tasks of keeping it moving forward and on schedule. I don't have
the resources to do something like this right now. Again, it's Brian and I and I -- I
could go full time and do this and we would probably get it done in a year, but
that's, basically, all I could work on. So, I need some outside help. So, we would
ask them to write up the report at the end of the day and, again, do some of
those tasks. But largely as an outsider gathering that information that they are
hearing and documenting it for the city.
Milam: Sounds like a really good job for an intern.
Chatterton: Madam Mayor, Council Member Milam, right now we -- I think it's
way beyond the work -- work an intern could do. It would have to be a really
super intern. Right now we -- with a couple of exceptions, we really don't have
any preferences or growth goals. It's, basically, you can develop within Meridian
at a certain level if you can find an annexation path , if you can get infrastructure
extended and the question is is that what -- is that what we want? And that's fine
if that's what we want and what the community wants, but with the exception of
say the urban renewal district -- districts, downtown and Ten Mile, we really don't
incentivize or de-incentivize development. So, what -- what is it we want to be?
What -- what is the Meridian of the future? Yesterday I showed those three
growth areas, south Meridian, Ten Mile, and the northwest. How do we really
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June 20, 2017
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want those to build out? And we have the ability to make choices. What choices
should we make as we -- as we -- as we begin to watch those -- those build out.
Do we want to help developers? Do we want to perhaps not help them so much
under certain things? It's an exercise in choices. We want to know what those
choices ought to be from you all in the community.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I share some of Councilman Milam's -- confusion is not the right word.
I just -- I would like to see something more flushed out, a scope of work
specifically by our July meeting, if that is possible. I think the intent is correct
behind doing this. I'd just like more details and that's not to say that if we are not
able to bring it in July that I wouldn't be entertaining it as a budget amendment in
the future, I just think a little more detail would be helpful for me.
Chatterton: I think we would be happy to do that.
De Weerd: Okay.
Chatterton: Next item?
De Weerd: Any other questions?
Freckleton: First thing I want to do is just kind of -- there was some questions
yesterday about Enterprise Fund and General Fund on the presentations of the
individual items. The two enhancements that I'm going to present our Fund 60 or
Enterprise Funded positions that I'm asking for. As Bruce mentioned before, the
land development section works very closely with Public Works and we take a lot
of the technical direction from Public Works and the city engineer, but it is --
these are individuals -- employees that are in our department under my -- under
my group. I think next year in talking to Todd I think presentations are going to
be a little bit different and we probably will be doing these positions or any
enhancements as part of the Public Works presentation, instead of --
Chatterton: But we also told him it was important -- and I agree, I think you can
slice it either way.
Bird: Yeah.
Chatterton: We thought it was important that you know what community
development is asking for not pretend that it's not a community development
request for the -- to change our staff.
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Freckleton: So, for these positions if you will -- it will be under the Public Works
tab in your -- in your binders. I think you're going to hear some common themes
with everything that we -- we have already talked about with Bruce and Caleb.
We do run a very lean staff. Had a lean staff for many years. I have gave a lot of
weight -- not that weight. The staff has done a tremendous job of keeping up
with the growth demands and demands for services. Extremely proud of every
one of them. The building section, the land development section, I think they
have done a phenomenal job of trying to -- they have kept a good attitude and
plowed through. This first enhancement is for an additional addressing
technician. As Bruce mentioned, we only have one and we have always only
had one for the city. The addressing technician for the City of Meridian assigns
all addresses for all new development that goes on. So, we related a lot that
happens or -- you know, there is a boundary line adjustments and that sort of
thing, they assign all the addresses. They maintain and update addressing
databases and review new subversion plats to make recommendations for street
names to be in compliance with the Ada county street naming standards and the
NNNA, which is the 911 National Noticing Number Association, standards. The
addressing technicians also do review all new commercial development --
building development to calculate the sanitary sewer and water assessment fees.
So, they are looking at those to try and make sure that the assessment fees are
there and paid to cover the impact on the sanitary sewer and water system. So,
as you can imagine, what the growth we have had going on, it's a big task. A
couple of graphs just to try and illustrate. The one on the left is meant to
illustrate just the workload against the staffing level. It's just kind of hard for you
to read the small text, but the addressing staff is the green bars on the bottom at
one. Commercial assessments are the red line. Address verifications are the
blue line. And new subdivision addresses are the purple down below. So, the
aggregate of those -- I mean you can tell looking at that that definitely the
workload has increased over the years and the staffing level has remained static.
The graph on the right is basically a breakdown of -- of time. We did some time
tracking in different categories and this is how it breaks down for the amount of
time that they dedicated. This graph on the left basically shows the population in
the blue line compared to staffing levels. As Caleb has mentioned and Bruce
has mentioned, because as our population has increased, the involvement of our
population has -- has also increased. We get just a lot more phone calls, people
coming to the counter asking questions. So, it's kind of a drain. Since 1999 our
population has grown 231.25 percent. However, our staffing level, as you can
see, has remained static. The ability to continue to operate with the high levels
of customer service is starting to outgrow the abilities of our staffing level. We
feel that the addition of an additional addressing technician is necessary to
prevent further degradation of that service model. So, you might be asking
yourself why now. You know, we went through the recession -- or prior to the
recession we had one staff member and we were operating at those high levels
and now we are through the recession and back up to high levels, still have one
staff member. But there has been a lot of things that have changed. Prior to the
recession there was no specific addressing database at all. The emphasis at the
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time was on information and building permit applications, rather than the
accuracy of addressing. We had multiple versions of the same address entered
in various ways. We had -- all the departments in the city would have addressing
that they would do, but it would be entered differently. I mean even in our own
databases we would have people who write out Northwest Linder Road or -- you
know what I mean? You would have other pieces -- people that would
abbreviate and in the computer systems they try and match those up and so it
was a real mess. The address technicians, prior to the recession, would create
the new addresses, send the information to Ada county for the GIS address point
placement and maintenance in the Ada county system. Our retention was
literally a paper map book at one to 300 scale, where we would hand annotate
the paper maps. As you can imagine, too, with multiple addressing sources
there was inconsistent communications between the Ada county assessor's
office, 911, and other agencies. Wow, that text is small. So, addressing now,
through the recession or -- you know, things slowed down a little bit. We had
some time to work with IT, the Excel Enterprise software necessitated a different
approach to addressing. We -- the approach that we had before was what was
called a many to one. So, you would take all these data sources and they would
feed into a single -- a single source. IT Department created a new database
called the MEAD system, which is the Meridian Enterprise Addressing Database,
and we have reversed that process to where it's a one to many. We have one
person, our addressing tech, is the one who assigns all the addresses and, then,
it's -- that information is pushed out to everybody. So, it eliminates a lot of the
inconsistencies and confusion. Emergency response issues regarding address
anomalies can be corrected immediately with the new system. The address tech
provides address verification for all new building permit application s and provides
partial verification on all new planning applications, thereby streaming --
streamlining previous application processes. By having correct and accurate
information entered into our system in the very beginning, we can eliminate a lot
of confusion and errors as those projects develop out. Additional responsibilities.
So, the direct -- address technicians, as I mentioned, they also do calculate the
assessments for all new commercial projects, provide assessment estimates to
the general public and to potential applicants coming into the city. Meet with
stakeholders. They do research on previously unpermitted work to determine if
assessments are due. You know, we have a lot of turnover in our tenant spaces
and it's going back and researching what was paid by previous tenants versus
what the proposal is for the new applicant and making sure that we give credit
where credit is due, but also bring us current on assessment fees that need to be
paid. The address technician has also been involved in a lot of special projects
that have taken quite a bit of time. We have a -- a new -- as you know, the new
MUBS software. Prior to it being implemented we had -- the address technician
was involved in reconciliation of all those individual data sources to try and have
one set of accurate information. They also have been working with the Public
Works Department in the assessment project. Most recently it was dealing with
the multi-family and to make sure that we charge multi-family developments
accurately for the consumption that they have.
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De Weerd: So, Bruce, why -- why is this an addressing tech, instead of a permit
tech?
Freckleton: Permit techs deal with the applications as they come in for building
permit applications, for instance.
De Weerd: Because it seems like addressing is a one time only, you know, get it
in the database and even though the growth it's entered once and you don't have
to touch it again, unless maybe you do. I was just talking to one of our
volunteers and she had two of Meridian's finest show up at her door last night
and they said, well, we got a call from this address. Well, it wasn't from that
address. She said I didn't call them. But she wondered if it came from east -- the
east side, instead of the west side. They both have the same house address and
there was one on the east side as well. So, would this find these kind of things?
I'm just trying to get a better idea of how this isn't currently being done by the one
person you do have and what is new over and above that you're only inputting an
address once.
Chatterton: And maybe I will just step in here real quick, Bruce. Mayor, that sort
of error that you're talking about with emergency responders is exactly what we
need to avoid and it's quite, frankly, what a lot of cities have not done a good job
of. In Boise they not only had over the years a lot of inaccuracy and in this
function of addressing, they actually had to go and take a big chunk of -- I believe
it was Vista Boulevard and readdress it and that was such a big effort that they
had to hire two technicians and a public information outreach person just for that
project we don't want to -- we don't want to go there. That -- that was horrendous
and it took them well over a year to get that straight and so -- so, this is -- this is
to eliminate and create greater efficiencies in a lot of other services, not just this.
Freckleton: Exactly. Exactly. There is -- we have found a lot of problems.
Meridian Speedway, for instance, when you look at the Ada county grid for
addressing Meridian Speedway, it's not addressed properly. We do find those.
You know, we -- I think we brought forward a couple of years ago Washington
Street. There was several errors in the street signage out there, you know.
There was the pre-directionals on the street signs were wrong in several
locations or several segments of Washington Street. So, it --
De Weerd: Having this additional -- I'm sorry to interrupt you. We are really
behind schedule, but having this position is going to address that and -- and
there is enough workload that it continues to be well above one position.
Freckleton: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.
Chatterton: Maybe if there aren't any other questions about this specific one, go
onto the next -- the next enhancement.
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De Weerd: Council, any other questions on this?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay.
Freckleton: Okay. The next one is for a development analyst one. Again, an
Enterprise Funded position. This position is -- is one that receives and reviews
all of the engineered drawings for new development. There are currently three
development analysts in our department, two level two positions and one level
one. The position performs semi-professional engineering, subdivision and
commercial planner via periodic field inspection. The person needs to have the
skills and knowledge in connection with civil engineering, land surveying,
mapping, land development, site evaluation. In addition, they do a lot of
customer contacts. There is a lot of front counter -- front counter consultations,
phone consultations. You know, people are always wanting to know where the
sewer and water is with regard to their property and that sort of thing. Similar to
the -- to the other position I have shown, the graph on the left is just meant to
show the number of projects compared to our staff level . The blue line is the
project. Green is staffing level. The pie chart, breakdown of their time. Planner
blue segment, that's how much time, actually, they can dedicate to doing plan
review. This graph, again, population, climbing up there versus our staffing level.
Similar to the other slide, the growth is -- has -- has continued to climb when our
staffing level has remained flat and the staff has been pretty -- pretty stressed.
Why now? Again, increased administrative work with volume of new projects.
Once they review the projects they red line, they send them back to the
consultants, consultants have to , then, turn them back in. They have to be
reviewed again for compliance and, then, they are approved and to go
construction.
Chatterton: Bruce, if I could jump in real quick. When we convened the
development services advisory committee about a year ago, this was number
one, the -- the bottleneck around these applications was their number one
concern. The speed at which the plating process would move. They were
overall happy, I think, with -- we made some changes to the planning process.
They were overall happy with -- with other areas that we were working on. This
was the one that came out first and foremost and when we told some of them
that we would be seeking additional staffing, they said, okay, you know, you
saved us having to come in and advocate for that. You never want your
customers to come in and advocate for more staffing. It makes us feel like
maybe -- make you feel that we put them up to it, so -- but they have certainly
acknowledge the need.
Freckleton: Pre-recession we also had a supervisor -- land development
supervisor that oversaw this group of employees. In 2012 that -- that person left
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and we didn't back fill the position, because the -- the workload just wasn't there
to justify it. As the workload started to increase, we convert ed that position into a
development analyst position and that's where we got the third one.
Unfortunately, in doing that what we lost was that land development supervisor
was the one that was doing the staff reports for planning commission and
Council. I absorbed that task, so I have been doing those staff reports. I have
attend the preapplication meetings. So, it kind of bogs my -- my time down from
being able to do other things. What my goal is if you fund this position, would be
that the development analyst staff will be turned -- I will have them attend the
preapplication meetings alongside the -- the planning -- or the planner that's
doing the project. They will also be the ones that will write the staff report. They
will do the planner review. They will carry the project from -- from the very
beginning to the very end. I think -- I think we can gain a lot by having that
continuity with a project -- basically a project manager carrying the project
through. Just -- I will touch on one thing, just to highlight or illustrate Bruce's
point, and that's the snowball effect. The goal as the development analyst staff is
to have plans ready to approve by the time Council approves the project. So,
that, you know, basically the next day we could issue of the plan approval and off
they go. We have not met that timeline. In fact, it's gone -- you know, it can go
two to four weeks after Council approval before we have a project ready to
approve for construction. So, I really want to work on getting that timeline down,
but the only way we can really do it is by -- by having additional resources. And
we just lost our video.
Chatterton: Well, it was -- that was it. It was thank you and questions, so --
Freckleton: Yeah.
De Weerd: Any questions from Council?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay.
Chatterton: Thank you for listening. We really appreciate it.
De Weerd: I think we will probably skip the Mayor's office unless --
Bird: No. No.
De Weerd: Okay. Yeah. We need to make up some time . Yes.
Simison: Yes. I won't -- I won't do the presentation, I will just talk to a couple
quick things from that standpoint. I'm not going to use the presentation.
De Weerd: Okay.
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Simison: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, thank you. We didn't have
any enhancements last year. We don't have any enhancements moving forward
this year, so that part is good. We did give you an update earlier this year that
talked about what kind of -- what, you know, we are doing, the programs that is
our focus and highlighted is where the sponsors are really helping carry a lot of
our costs of our programming and events and activities that we are doing to the
tune of 35,000 dollars last year for the State of the City, walking club, book club,
MYAC, a lot of those type of things. What I wanted to focus on and touch on real
quick, just as with the other government folks to come in, is what's that road
ahead and, you know, where I see things from the Mayor's office and standpoint
as we just finished up the city survey, I'm sure there will be conversations about
some of the -- what other people's takeaways were from the city survey, but I
think that there is a lot of some -- some funding questions that were in the
survey, if you look at what the citizens really had to say, look at the city, and
there really is a lot of things that aren't city functions, but the city in the past has
looked at roads and helped provide funding for overpasses and those type of
things. So, I would encourage you as you consider the survey today, adopting it
or accepting the results, looking at those types of future things whether it's
schools, roads, and other infrastructure needs, but that the road ahead really
also is our relationship with the county is really the courthouse issue and things
like the Allumbaugh House funding, you know, there is a slight increase in the
Allumbaugh House in the base, but how the counties and others are looking at
that, I think that's important for the City Council to start being cognizant of the
relationship and where the county is on different issues and how it impacts the se
budgets and these amendments, those types of things. And, then, of course,
legislative issues just moving forward as we continue to have those
conversations about how that could impact, you know, our partners, like the
school district and what the city can do to help them through that process to try to
look at, you know, bonding for the same need as well. So, with that the only
thing I wanted to end up with was say I sent you all an e-mail about a month and
a half ago. We need people to play in the city versus chamber softball game on
August 2nd. Right now we have got three people committed. If anybody else is
going to -- it's August 2nd, that Wednesday, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. It may or may not
be under the lights -- it may or may not be under the lights at that point, but 6:00
to 8:00 p.m., so if you can play, if I haven't heard from you, let me know. So, with
that I will -- if anybody has any questions I'm happy to answer. If not I will let you
move on to the next one.
Emery: All right. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, thank you for having
me here today. I'm going to talk about the Other Government communications
budget, but first we are going to talk about the vision, which Robert just went over
as well. Our vision is to be the west's premier community to live, work, and raise
a family. So, my job is to communicate that to everyone and to make sure that
people know that that's our goal and our vision for them. We have a lot that is
great to communicate about our city. Number two best city in America, followed
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by number one the year before. So, really we are the top city in America and so I
have a lot to brag about when it comes to communications. So, here is a look at
the agenda for today. Budget dollars at work, FY-17 enhancements, and, then,
FY-18 enhancement and, then, I'm going to talk to you about the road ahead.
First of all, FY-17 budget dollars at work, we have continued with the quarterly
newsletter and we get so much good feedback about that . It just proves that
when it comes to communications, there is not one avenue we can use to reach
everyone. We have to use social media, we have to use the website, we have to
use different ways. This one is great, because it's right in the utility billing, so we
get a lot of people that read this. It's 30,000 households every three months. So,
it's a great way for us to reach out to people. And, then, we post it to our website
and, then, share it via social media. We have also increased our presence on
social media. As I spoke to you guys about two months ago, we have up the
advertising on Facebook and a little bit on Twitter. Our e-newsletter has 8,741
subscribers and we just really revamped that and now we are sending our news
releases through that same subscription service, so that's been a great way to
check how many people are opening our news releases. So, now we can have
more analytics on that stuff. And, then, the communications process and
branding protocol that we have been able to streamline with departments across
the city and that's really important. So, now we will talk about the fiscal year '17
enhancement Welcome to Meridian. We sent the first six months of postcards to
new residents and the numbers were much higher than anticipated from last
year. When I talk about numbers I mean the numbers of new residents were
much higher than anticipated. So, we split the program up again. We had
budgeted for 1,500 total for the entire year and we had 1,850 new residents just
in the first six months. So, because we saw so much, we did decide to do a little
bit of a different pilot. Our first pilot we sent just a post card with a QR code to a
site and, then, we have been tracking the hits on that site. Our second round will
go out probably in September and, then, we will track -- that will be thumb drives
to different -- so, we will send the thumb drives to the different new residence
then and, then, we will track the hits on that website, because we just have one
site there. If you open that thumb drive it just says click on this link to get your
welcome information and that goes to a different site . So, then, we can compare
the two and see did people respond more to the post card or did they respond
more to the thumb drive. So, that gives us a really good way to track that. All
right. So, now let's talk about the enhancement for fiscal year '18. I would love
to be able to mail our annual reports to every household in Meridian. We will
continue to -- we would continue to print the report in house and hand that out at
the State of the City. So, this would be a separate print and it would be on
newspaper print. So that's easily sent through postal service and a lot less
expensive. So, that it would be a different print that way, but we still print the
ones in house for the State of the City and I think even this year we will expand
that print job a little bit, because we have room to do that and hand them out to
local businesses as well, so they can hand those out. But we are talking just
about the mailer today. So, this enhancement compliments the goal of being
more transparent and the strategic object -- the strategic objective 3-A-2 that
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calls for improved citizen access to government, what better way to give them
access to government and be transparent than to get our report of everything we
have been doing, with our financials, with our updates about what's gone on in
the past year, what's to come in their mail boxes. We have seen such a good
response to the utility billing newsletters, so we thought this would be a good way
to get that really important information to them once a year. It would go out in
February 2018 following the Mayor's State of the City address. So, this number
that you're looking at right here, this includes the printing, the assembling, and
the mailing of all the annual reports on that newspaper print. And, then, we move
on to the road ahead. Moving right along. So, if you have questions feel free to
stop me. I will have time for questions at the end as well.
De Weerd: Any questions from Council?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: So, Kaycee, I see on here you have 30,000 households, but don't we
have like 33,000 households? So, which 3,000 are you going to leave out?
Bird: Might be 33, though, includes the commercial and stuff (uni ntelligible).
Milam: Oh, is that what it is?
Bird: Yeah. That is the building (unintelligible).
Emery: Yeah. I think that's the -- so, the 30,000 was utility billing accounts. Do
we have a number for the annual reports? That is the number we had, the 30 --
okay. We will leave some people out. No, I'm just kidding.
Milam: Well, the people -- whoever shows up at the State of the City.
Emery: Yeah. No. That’s all the utility billing.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Question either for you, Madam Mayor, or Kaycee. What's your
excess revenue from the State of the City each year on average?
Emery: Good question for Robert.
De Weerd: No. It's around that.
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Simison: Well -- so, two different numbers to a certain extent. The cost to do the
State at the City costs about 8,500 dollars for the actual State of the City, Taste
of Meridian component. The scholarships, which have always been funded
through that is an additional 4,000 from that standpoint. So, it is typically 12 -- 12
to 13 thousand is your cost. This last year our revenue was 27,000.
De Weerd: And I will just tell you that that -- that was the highest it's been, so it
has covered all costs, including the scholarships, as well as some youth
programs and in addition to MYAC.
Emery: All right. So, looking at the road ahead. I will be working on the strategic
plan, specifically 3-A-1, evaluating the strategies we use to market city activities
and how we can improve those, and contributing to 3-A-2, looking for ways to
increase citizen access. Again, I think this is one way we can really do that and
the way -- the reason I got this idea for the annual report mailer was when I got
my water report last year and I thought as a resident in Meridian that was so
much great information to receive and I was -- and I was so happy to have it in
my mailbox and I thought, well, I'm feeling this way, I'm a -- you know, I'm a
resident, you know, they might appreciate seeing their annual report in th eir mail
boxes, too, so they know what we have been up to. It might be our -- it might be
our only plan of communication with them, you never know. So, it just might be a
good way to update them on all things happening in the city. I would also like to
update our graphics manual this year. That's one of my goals. And, then, I
constantly am looking to increase outreach via social media. Of course the
annual report mailers would be fantastic and more live streaming. We also want
to increase video capabilities and that's already in motion with the drone . We are
working on drone protocol for employees with Legal and I'm currently studying for
my certification. And it's a lot of studying. All right. Are there any other
questions or comments?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Kaycee, how is the My Meridian hashtag use going this year so far?
Emery: It's fantastic, Council Palmer.
Palmer: Is it 90 percent me or is anyone else doing it?
Emery: No. We get a lot of My Meridian hashtags. But I appreciate you using it
as much as you do. I love your Meridian Monday pictures and posts.
Palmer: It's too hot out now. I'm done.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Kaycee, when Council was exploring the City Hall AV remodel project,
the Mayor's chief of staff had shared an idea about taking testimony via Skype,
which I think is a phenomenal idea, something I would hope that we would work
towards doing. I'm just curious, has there been any further discussion on that as
we talk about the road ahead? Anything either you or the chief of staff would be
able to share with us on that plan and if that's something that is in process.
Emery: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, he brings it up daily. It's definitely
something we talk about when we talk about increasing citizen access, but it's
not something we have talked about for the immediate future.
Cavener: My two cents, I think it's something we should be talking about for the
immediate future. I think that citizen access is important and it's a great way to
meet our citizens where they are. So, I would hope that there is further
discussion about that.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Kaycee, I don't know if there is any way to track the mailer, it's kind of
hard to track a mailer, but you have done some good things with the Welcome to
Meridian, so one thought on that, you know, on the annual mailers if you --
maybe the bottom of it if you like receiving this, please , go to this website or
something very simple that they can do , just to kind of see what kind of feedback
we get back to find out if it should be a continuing program or something like that.
Emery: Great idea. Yeah. We definitely want to add something like that.
Milam: Thank you.
Emery: Thank you for that input.
De Weerd: Any other questions?
Bird: I have none.
Emery: All right. Thank you. Have a great day. Thank you,
De Weerd: We are still in a meeting. Thank you.
Lavoie: Well, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I know we are running
pretty quick on time here, so we will try to make this as quick as possible. Mr.
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Borton and I will present to you the participatory budgeting request. This is
located in your Other Government tab. There should be an enhancement in
there that represents this request for 20,000 dollars. This is a request that you
have heard from us for the past two years. You just had a gentleman by the
name of Lance from the Meridian Youth Advisory Council that presented an
awesome presentation to you guys a couple of weeks ago. He sold it, he told the
story, I don't really have much more to add. You know what's been successful.
The kids love it. We love it. They are doing great things. Again, you have seen
it. You have heard it. Mr. Borton, if you have anything you want to add . Mayor,
if you want to add -- and to, again, expedite this. But, again, it's a 30,000 dollar
request. Here is what we want to do. We want to continue with it -- with the
Meridian youth. Mr. Borton, if you have anything.
Borton: Nothing other than Lance addressed it perfectly I thought. One of the
highlights that he shared was the improvement to the process itself. Not only is
the outcome beneficial to the city as a whole group, but the youth group has
developed this as intended, so each year the process itself becomes more
objective, more in depth. They learn more and the outcomes become better. So,
the idea makes sense to continue with the -- the same financial parameters and
let them continue to improve it.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I think it's a great program, so I'm definitely in favor of continuing it. I
think as it -- as it grows and improves that we should even consider expanding it
and adding another group, maybe have the seniors have a nother -- not take
away from the youth, but also have another budget item for the seniors or -- look
at that for more participation. Chicago Alderman. There is 50 of them a nd they
have a million dollars apiece to spend. I'm not trying to increase our budget by
that much, I'm just saying it's a great program for our community that does some
wonderful things for our community, so I would like to see it expanded.
Borton: Madam Mayor, one of the things that they address that they could be
tasked with is the next stage that this could grow to is the area high school and
initially it was envisioned could this roll out to a high school by high school and
members of each high school become the voting population it would really
expand the reach of the youth voice. The seniors is another pretty well-
established organization that could implement this. Give a participatory
democratic voice to different segments.
Milam: Yeah. Great.
De Weerd: Well -- and certainly I could -- at the next senior advisory board
meeting have a discussion with the members and see if that's something that
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they would be interested in leading and figure out a vehicle to reach out. The
Meridian Senior Center are not all Meridian residents, but if they could find
different venues to engage our citizens -- our senior community. Several of them
represent senior living communities, so that is a possibility. I could bring it back
possibly on the 19th at our workshop number three, if interested.
Borton: Madam Mayor? As I understand -- yeah. As I understand this, this is a
status quo to re-fund the existing program that goes with the youth. That -- it
sounds like that would be a discussion -- not as time sensitive to this budget that
can come back anytime.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: I was just offering. Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: More I guess on a procedural question. When we first envisioned this
it was designed to be a pilot program. To Council Woman Milam's point about
expanding it, I think it's worthy of a discussion. The questions about it being
placed as an enhancement, if this is something that we are doing -- if this is an
ongoing plan and that's something -- I can't remember of the Council giving that
direction, but if we are, then, let's memorialize that so that it becomes just a part
of our budget, as opposed to an enhancement that we are talking about every
year.
Lavoie: Madam Mayor and Councilman Cavener, July 19th if you wish to, you
know, communicate that amongst the team here and we can decide to make this
an ongoing for you, so that it's automatically 20 ongoing or we can always
present it -- it's really, like you said, it's a policy decision amongst the Council.
Borton: Madam Mayor? Just real quick. I think part of the reason, as I recall,
was what we communicated to the youth is it's not a blank check. You have got
to present it, like Lance did, and if that group was to drop the ball and not perform
as we have expected, Council would -- that's all right if they don't want to fund it if
we don't think the purpose is being met. So, you have to come and justify your
process and your result and if the Council feels that it has done what's intended,
you very well may fund it. I think -- I agree with where you're headed, but that
was the initial intent to kind of put their feet to the fire .
Milam: Madam Mayor? So, maybe in between ground. I like the idea that it
should be an ongoing -- I think that -- I think it should be ongoing period. If the
youth don't live up to their expectations , then, we give it to somebody that -- this
isn't for the youth council. This is a participatory budgeting. If they don't live up
to their expectations, then, we just give it to somebody else by another group
that's willing to take on the project.
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Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: And to Council Woman Milam's point, I think that's -- that's ultimately
where I'm getting at is this isn't 20,000 for the youth council, it's 20,000 dollars for
participatory budgeting and whether it is the youth council or the senior advisory
group or Rocky Mountain High School or Boy Scout Troop 115, if someone
wants to take that on and present a project, that's where I see these monies
being available for, not a program necessarily within the youth council. At least
that's how I think when we initially presented it in long term that's what we
thought and the youth council was a great beta test to work out some of these
kinks. It sounds like that we have worked out some of those kinks and look for
further clarification. If not -- but to at least move towards opening this up to the
community as a whole, as opposed to just a program only to the youth council.
De Weerd: I -- I would recommend that it come back every year and we get --
we get the discussion when the -- the current project is being proposed. It's to
have a conversation at that time. Certainly the youth council is excited about the
opportunity to continue to improve and to establish a legacy in our community.
That's contingent on having the right leaders and by having it as an enhancement
every year it will help identify what that working group or that group might be, so
that as you're looking to approve the budget coming up you know who that group
is and -- and what -- what is anticipated in coming back to you for the project
approval. That would just be my -- my recommendation and always having that
conversation during this budget workshop.
Lavoie: Well, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I guess that's my last life
for -- I think we will bring up that topic again on July 19th for clarification for us to
make sure we carry the -- or manage the 20,000 dollars correctly for this year
and/or future years if it goes ongoing. Yeah. So, we will show that for July 19th.
So, appreciate your time. You have three minutes and 50 seconds per
department. Five departments.
De Weerd: Do you have Other Government -- oh, that's -- okay.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I know you have been waiting all
day for this, so -- the most exciting part for you. That's your dollars -- that's your
budget dollars at work.
Milam: All right. Time's up.
Nary: I wanted to highlight just for a second, you know, some of the different
things that we do. I did put on there from the opening of the Meridian Home
Court, that was a very big transaction we did over the last few years and got it
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culminated this past year and we are very proud of that. Again, very, very briefly,
we have one request this year. It's currently unfunded. It's related to the
courthouse project. We began the planning process of that with the LCA. We
have had one meeting with them. Getting the scope narrowed and focused on
what we are doing. They will -- they are gathering the data. I have sent them
some data. We have asked for additional data. They're going to take that and,
then, start the process of talking to stakeholders. So, the next thing that comes
after that -- and I gave a timeline to the court and to LCA and they agree, there is
a period of time to do this planning. Following that there will there be a necessity
to design this proposed building. There is some other steps with the court that
have to come in between them, but I anticipate that the p otential could be in FY-
18 and that's why it's currently unfunded and the number is just a placeholder. I
have no idea if that amount for design is high or low, but we wanted to make sure
it's in front of you now to know that that's kind of what -- what we are looking at in
timing. I did explain to the court that the city's normal funding, if the funding is
available -- a big if -- there is time between both planning, design, and
construction, that it does take a number of budget years to make that happen, if
the funding exists to be able to do that. So, that's our one enhancement to make
sure we stay on track with that process with the court. And the road ahead. We
continue to use the city of Boise for prosecution services. Our increase this year
was a three percent increase. Basically has the same level of services that we
had for the last number of years for the prosecutors. One and a quarter of
support staff. Police advice -- police advisory team that staffs their position over
at the police department and they provide 24/7 on-call service. In their review --
and this has been year over year since '07 on the contract itself and the cost
that's been, but if you want to know what that advisory team does, they help
address these and, then, you will notice that the first one, cases received, have
gone down from '15 to '16 in the city of Boise. I think you noted yesterday when
Chief Lavey was talking that part of the reason the patrol needed increases
because the cases have become much more intensive and complex and time
consuming. Something that might have taken one or two police officers three
years ago or five years ago, now may sometimes take three or four or five to deal
with the issue. So, that affects citations. That affects all the other things that go
on with it. You will notice the numbers were all slightly lower in '16, so the
amount of citations that are getting sent to the prosecutor for prosecution for
misdemeanors or infractions that aren't simply paid over the counter have gone
down and this is not a trend that we are alone in. This is happening countywide
and they are actually seeing it on the statewide level as well and so there is a lot
of discussion at the court level, as well as other prosecution agency levels of how
to addressed it in police.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
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Milam: I would prefer not have any questions to take up time, but our fees went
up. The cases went down, but our costs went way up.
Nary: Our cost --
Milam: The previous slide. Is that prosecution --
Nary: Right. Yes. Because you're still paying for the personnel to process those
cases. So, you still have the same amount of personnel that are still managing
those types of cases, even though -- again, because they take so much time in
court, they still have to show up for hearings and things like that. So, if you
notice on this one, they have got -- they have got 3,778 cases, which included
5,700 charges, so that's slightly lower, but the charges disposed are not much
different. There is a little -- a little tiny bit of gap. You didn't really lose any
prosecution staff time in having to manage those.
Milam: It's higher.
Nary: What's that?
Milam: The price was a lot higher.
Nary: Three percent. The cost of trying to provide this service by hiring our own
personnel to do this at this time would be greater and you would lose some
service. Now, again, in the future that may change in regards to this court
facility, but at the moment trying to reproduce that at our own cost is higher than
that. Again, just briefly, again, the police advisers are on site at the police
department and they are reviewing 6,400 public records requests. So, that's an
increase of over 3,000 from last year. So, that's a very time intensive activity that
has to be done. It's very time sensitive, it has ramifications if they get done
properly. They have created some new processes -- and we could have them
come to a future workshop to kind of explain that, but they have been able to
create some better processes so they don't have to touch every single one of
them and as long as it follows a process it can be done at a staff level , but it is a
lot of work and a lot of time to take on that responsibility. Again, they do speak to
witnesses and, again, they are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for
the police and I feel comfortable speaking for the police and Lieutenant Leslie I
think would -- if he disagreed with me he would tell me, but our police department
is very satisfied with the services they get. They get good training. They get
hands-on contact and they really appreciate the level of service that we receive
and it -- and it goes both ways. The prosecutors say all the time it's much better
working with our department than it is with the other departments they work with
and I won't mention who those are. That's it.
De Weerd: Any questions?
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Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Just one question, Bill. You in your presentation indicated that the
courthouse design is unfunded in our budget book. Is it not marked as
unfunded? I'm just curious. Either you or Todd to provide some clarification on if
it is or is not and if that number is reflective in our total budget.
Nary: It could be totally my error. I thought it was unfunded. I thought it was a
tier three.
Fields: It's unfunded.
Milam: It's not marked as unfunded.
Nary: It's a tier three.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Okay. Clerk's office.
Coles: Thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Council, although you're very
-- quickly, there is no enhancements to report on from last year from the clerk's
office. We are not asking for any enhancements for the coming year, but I did
want to quickly go over the city's mission and our vision in the clerk's office of
where we feel like we fit in and we can see the mission there, but our vision in
the clerk's office is we believe we are a committed business partner to each
individual department and the citizenry of the community, providing
administrative expertise through the legislative process and we support this body
and all of the commissions and committees of the city by providing expertise
through that process. And real briefly, your -- our budget dollars at work that you
have allocated to us is through the staff and the assigned tasks that we
complete. So, you have in front of you some -- what I call key indicators of our
office. This is with everything that we process, this doesn't highlight everything
that we do, but I consider these to be key indicators of what we do and the
services that we provide to the citizens of our community. You can see
passports year to date from last year to where we are this year. It's 218 more
passport applications we have processed with no increase in staff . That's an
increase of almost 5,500 dollars in revenue to the city. Now, public records
requests, there is 45 more PRR that we are -- we have processed year to date
this year than we did last year. Again, no staff increase. Machelle Hill in our
office, she processes a majority of those with the help of staff throughout the city.
Licenses issued. You can see we are right on par there. This year we are 578.
Last year we were 571. Nancy, that's her main job and that's a lot of licenses
and permits to issue out of our office, but we do a pretty good job there. And,
then, notices mailed. The clerk's office is responsible for public hearing notices
for the meetings that we hold right in this room . So, you can see year to date
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2,200 and I showed the cost comparison there. The old way that we used to do
it, it would have cost us 3,700 dollars. Right now it costs us about 1,200 dollars.
That's a 68 percent cost savings in a change of process we had a few years ago.
And, then, I also put NextDoor there at the bottom. We don't have any matrix to
compare yet in terms of how NextDoor is working. June 6th was the first meeting
that we sent out notices for through NextDoor, but I can tell you it is working and
citizens are paying attention, because we are getting some e-mails that are
coming in that I know are from the NextDoor and some posts as well. So, I do
know that citizens are paying attention to that. What I wanted to show real quick
here is the clerk's office road ahead. Three main items. Records retention. We
have a citywide policy and schedule that was enacted last year. In January
came for the first citywide resolution to destroy records. That included every
department in the city. The first time that had ever happened. We are in the
process of destroying those records right now. July 11th I have that date up
there, because I plan on coming before you again at that workshop to update or
make updates to the records retention schedule. As we have gone through this
process with each department, some departments have realized, oh, this timeline
is not long enough or it's too long or we want to change the category from semi-
permanent to permanent or we actually need to include more records as we
didn't realize we actually had this record type. So, we have to update that policy,
so we capture every record type within the city. So, July 11th I will be coming
back with some recommendations there. Novis Agenda. That was the software
to replace Agenda Manager to create the agendas for Council meetings. Its
intention was to also create the packets for the Council meetings and to do a
whole host of other things for Council meetings. When I came on board about
ten short months ago into this position, we were in the midst of just starting with
that project. It's been a difficult project to navigate through . It was -- it's a
completely different software than Agenda Manager, but the way it was designed
citywide -- or citywide for us was to kind of mirror Agenda Manager and it doesn't
work that way. So, I have had to go through and kind of revamp with the help of
every city department in terms of -- to be sure that this software meets our needs
and does what we intend and want it to do. Which is why Council hasn't seen it
yet. You're not logging into Novis Agenda to view packets, because we haven't
been able to do that. We haven't been able to create the packets, because Novis
wasn't working the way it was intended to work. We wanted it to work a different
way. But we actually need it to work the way Novis has intended it to work and to
work for us. So, I have a strategy call with novice next week, hopefully it's my
last strategy call with them. Knock on wood. And, then, shortly after that -- I'm
hoping very shortly after that I will come back before Council and show you how
to log into the software, get the pack of materials and we can start using it the
way that we intend and that we want it to be used . And, then, public records
requests software application. We have been diligently working with IT, Mike
Tanner and his team, to create a public records request software that citizens
can use to log into our website, submit a records request to us, we grab it, we
track it, we sign a number to it and send it to whatever department has those
records. They, then, upload those documents into the software, communicate to
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us in the clerk's office the documents are in here and, then, we can send out
responses through that software. So, it's a better tracking software for us
number wise, but also document wise, so we know what we are sending to
requesters more efficiently and effectively. We have started to use it internally,
we just haven't launched it externally yet. We are working out all the bugs, but,
Machelle, she's been working really hard on that in our office and she believes
within the month we will be launching that to the citizenry to, then, start logging in
and submitting requests that way. So, with that that is the clerk's office
administration portion. Hillary is sitting next to me, because as the Mayor was
asking, she works diligently with the Arts Commission and the historic
preservation commission, which is funded through Other Government, so you will
flip to that portion of your book here in just a second, but if you don't have any
questions for me I can turn it over to Hillary to move on.
De Weerd: Okay. Any questions? Thank you.
Bodnar: Oh, my gosh. All right. So, the Meridian Arts Commission, including
their funds appropriation, ask for the Public Arts Ordinance of 15-1642 and that's
the Meridian Art in Public Spaces ordinance that you all approved. This is going
through the enhancement process, the method that we have been using to
appropriate those funds. We did discuss if that's the best way to do it, if it should
be included in the budget or if this is the best way to do it. So, that's another
thing for you to consider, but I'm here before you today to talk about MACs for
FY-18. MAC is driven by the current COMPASS population estimate, which for
2017 is 98,300. So, that brings us to -- on another thing. Forty-nine -- yeah.
Forty-nine thousand one hundred fifty dollars for FY-18. But getting budget
dollars at work. These funds go to primarily traffic boxes and public art
installations. So, everything that MAC's money goes to is public properties. We
work with ACHD as a public agency and primarily on city sites for public art . The
traffic box wraps that we have completed so far include this list here. Those are
with the specific MAC dollars. We have completed more traffic boxes than that,
but those were pre MAC. I just want to give you a list of what you're looking at
and the current MAC project as far as the public art installation is Heroes Park,
the Journey of Heroes by Ken McCall and you may recall he came before you
earlier this year and we have been working with him. He has completed his
detailed plan, so he has funds to start fabricating. We have also been working
with local schools to identify the trail markers at Heroes. Those are the trail
markers that are going to be spaced throughout the park and these are the
schools that we got to participate and the heroes that they recommended. Off to
the right that picture is actually what the hero recommendation form looked like.
We sent this out to a number of schools. We were able to get these five to
respond and participate with us, which was exciting. It was something new that
we haven't done before, directly targeting them for input on a major installation.
Anyway. So, we said what's your school name, what's your process like for who
you nominated. What do you see as a hero? We kind of let that be a very open
question, because that's the intention of the public artwork was to include who is
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June 20, 2017
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a hero and how do you identify with heroes and, then, we took a
recommendation and, then, also a secondary recommendation. The Arts
committee and Parks committee that were working on this decided to forward the
primary recommendations from all of the schools to the Ken McCall, so that he
could try to get permission for those images and rights for use and the images
themselves. So, we will be coming before you guys and presenting those
images that he's identified and these recommendations hopefully here in the next
few weeks. Oh. And that project is still on track for anticipated installation at the
end of September in Heroes Park. So, this is what we are asking for next year is
49,150 based on the current COMPASS population estimate. This is part of
many strategic plan objectives, but we are really working on infusing art in public
spaces. Our plan for FY-18 currently includes more traffic box wraps. We
usually do five, but this year we are going to do ten and, then, a mural campaign.
So, we are -- we are trying to focus in on location in kind of the downtown core to
work on that downtown revitalization side of the city's strategic plan as well. But
also working with parks to get their sites, if possible, for parks murals, so -- you
will see at the bottom the project life. In FY-19 and on I put 50,000 dollars,
because we are really close to that threshold for MAC, so it can never be above
50,000 dollars that would be funded in any fiscal year . And I just outlined some
Comprehensive Plan goals and strategic plan goals that applies to the MAC
ordinance, specifically provide both permit and rotating works of art in City Hall
and other public spaces. Provide local artists opportunities to showcase their
work, which is an ongoing task and which is why we try to enervate different
types of public art. And promote existing arts offerings within the community.
Under the strategic plan to develop a plan to infuse art in public spaces. We
work on organizing the match funds planning by way of our strategic plan. So,
currently the MAC strategic plan goes through FY-19, so we have planned
projects through FY-19 and we will start that process over for the next five years.
That five year time frame is kind of what they settled on in order to give th em
some flexibility when there is new demands or a new interest at the city level or if
we get feedback from the community that's asking for something in particular.
But five years is a good amount of time , so we stop getting distracted by every
opportunity that comes up, so we can say this is what we have got in the works .
This is what we are sticking to and stick with that. And that's all I have got. Do
you guys have any questions?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: I just have a -- to get a handle on what we are talking about. Since this is
an ordinance, is an enhancement the right way to have it in the budget?
De Weerd: As part of that was it would come back as part of the budget process,
I believe.
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Milam: In the ordinance. Okay.
Bodnar: And that would be appropriated every year and this was the method we
chose to get that provision.
De Weerd: Any questions? Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. HR.
Ritchie: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, thank you for having me this
afternoon. As I was so politely advised by our CFO, I have two minutes to keep
on track. So, I am going to try to make this as brief, but as informative for you as
possible and, of course, give you opportunity to ask any questions that you would
like. So, with that -- I know you have seen many presentations over the last
couple of days. Again, just to bring forward to you at the city's vision, which, of
course, for Meridian by 2035 to be the west's premier community in which to live,
work, and raise a family. Our roll in that is that our department takes great pride
in supporting the -- what we consider to be the city's greatest asset, which is are
our employees, with their needs on a day-to-day basis and they are the ones that
are out there who are working hard every day to accomplish the vision that we
have today. So, what I'm going to cover with you, succinctly and briefly, is the
budget dollars at work, the enhancements that we are asking for for FY-18, the
road ahead for Human Resources and, then, sit in this case for any questions
that you may have. So, last year we did not bring any enhancements forward to
you for approval through the FY-17 budget year, so I don't have anything to
report on this year. I will next year, pending your approval of our request, but I
wanted to just let you know that where your budget dollars are working for you at
this point in time in the Human Resources Department is in each area that you
see on this graph in from of you, operationally and functionally on a daily basis
we are serving our employees in and around many of these components each
and every day. So, what I would like to bring forward to you today are three
enhancements for FY-18 for your consideration for approval. The first one that I
will talk further about is some Peak Academy training, specifically focused for our
senior leadership team. A succession planning consultant as we move forward
to work our strategic plan. And, then, a citywide annual meeting. So, let's take a
look at the first one. So, as the first enhancement that you have is Peak
Academy training and this is under our strategic plan goal of responsive
government. As you will see there -- excuse me -- I'm not going to read it in full
detail, but you will see that a successful government in the 21st century is service
driven and one of the things that we need to work at is how to improve our
efficiencies, utilizing technology, and by utilizing the Peak Academy and the
training that they offer, we feel that we can work on and meet that goal. So, the
enhancement itself for 16,550 dollars, which would be funded through 50 percent
of the General Fund and 50 percent of the Enterprise Fund, would actually bring
instructors from Denver from the Peak Academy here to Meridian on site to
deliver a three day training to our leadership team that would consist of the
Mayor, the City Council, and department directors. We anticipate no more than
20 individuals participating in that three day training. The training does focus on
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providing information to us as a leadership group to improve the way government
works through innovation, which results in continuous improvement, improving
efficiencies by utilizing current technologies. One of the things that we foresee
by bringing this training to Meridian is that it will give us an opportunity, as a body
of leadership individuals, to really participate and receive the full benefit of the
training, while assessing and determining the value of the city at a citywide level,
rather than sending a few individuals to the Peak Academy in Denver and, then,
bringing back the information and summarizing it for us.
De Weerd: And I guess just to add to that, that this is for up to 20 people and it's
-- it's a team building, but it's also a very relevant training on -- as was
mentioned, finding efficiencies and learning the processes together. So, it
averages out to around 830 dollars a person for a three day training, which is a
great value for that investment and we think that that investment will be paid
forward in -- in learning that a way to look at efficiencies in a different light.
Ritchie: And with your approval of this enhancement we would anticipate
participating in that training in the spring of 2018. Thank you, Mayor. The
enhancement that you have in front of you is for a succession planning
consultant. This directly feeds into the HR strategic plan objective of 3-B-3,
which is specifically to develop a formalized succession planning program. What
we would like to do is hire a consultant to partner with Human Resources to
develop a formalized city program that we can, then, in Human Resources
implement -- have a strong communication plan, implement citywide, and, then,
maintain and monitor going forward. The program, as I mentioned, would
support not only the strategic objective for HR, which feeds into the city's
strategic goal of 3-B, responsive government, to establish a comprehensive
workforce development and retention program for the city. Succession planning
is a key component of a successful leadership . Successful leaders in an
organization look ahead by planning and positioning the city for their future and
that's one of the things that we feel is very important and we value the talent that
we have hired here at the city and we want to make sure that we continue to
grow that talent as we move forward. Upon your approval we would look for and
anticipation -- excuse me -- anticipate a completion date of a formalized program
for October 2018 and as you can see on the graphic that I have , a succession --
succession planning program ensures leadership continuity and building talent
from within. We feel that that's very important. So, that would be funded 50
percent from the General Fund, 50 percent from the Enterprise Fund, for a one-
time cost of 3,500 dollars. The last enhancement that I'm bringing forward to you
today for FY-18 is for a citywide annual meeting. This feeds into our strategic
plan objective 3-B-4, in which we are looking to develop an employee
engagement program. This would be a component of that program. The focus
and purpose of a citywide annual meeting would be to conduct an all employee
engagement event that allows our leadership team to communicate a consistent
and shared message to all. They even would focus on the city's current vision,
their growth, the direction of the city's strategic plan updates, employee
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recognition, city's culture, etc. It does cover a lot of different key components of
the things that we would want to engage our employees in . At that event we
would like to also introduce the city's innovation award, which is something that
we are working to develop and bring forward at this meeting and one of the
things about annual meetings is that they can be time consuming, they are
considered a best practice and they do play a significant role in reinforcing our
culture, which is a key element of our city's success and that would also be
funded 50 percent from the General Fund, 50 percent from the Enterprise Fund.
The initial cost is for 8,000 dollars, which is the estimate that you perceived in
order to support an event of this type. You might ask yourself how did we come
up with this kind of information or an event of this nature and so I have been
working with Brian Pike, who is the deputy city manager in Twin Falls and a
couple of years ago they actually did a pilot of a citywide employee annual
meeting or employee event and found that they had huge significant success
with that event. They started their event by bringing their employees together
and developing their core values and their leadership philosophy , so that they all
created that together with buy in from everyone and they have continued to
promote that year over year going forward. In speaking with Brian at the city of
Twin Falls, they have had such great success and feedback from this event that
they have incorporated this on an annual basis and so what we would like to do
is to bring that to Meridian and move it forward. For the road ahead for Human
Resources, you will see there that we anticipate, obviously, the completion of
some of the strategic plan objectives that we have ident ified for Human
Resources. In addition to that, we will be starting new ones over the next period
of time as well. We will be working on years two and three of our internal
alignment initiative, which I have communicated to you previously, which is an
opportunity for us to review a third of our job descriptions every year by
partnering with the hiring managers in each of the departments that we support
to ensure that we have accurate updated job descriptions for individuals to
perform against. We will continue compensation analysis both for the general
employees -- we will have a STEP plan slated for another review, along with the
Fire Department. One of the things that we are excited to look at is -- when we
talk about improving efficiencies is what can we be doing better, what technology
can we be utilizing to automate some of the manual processes that are time
consuming, yet important in the Human Resources office. We will continue our
policy or SOP manual revision. We have spent this past year really separating
out the policies from procedures and, then, we will be reviewing each of those
policies and making recommendations to all of you for your consideration and,
then, of course, one of the things looking down the road is that as the city
continues to grow, as the departments ask for more staff, as they get those
approvals, we will need to also consider growing our department to meet
conservative -- that each of the departments will need from us to move forward to
ensure that they are successful in the things that they need to accomplish as
well. And with that that is everything I have for you today and , of course, I sit for
any questions.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
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De Weerd: Any questions from Council?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: This isn't exactly -- well, partially related to yours, but I have noticed on
-- on almost -- if not every department, that there has always been a personnel
reclassification and I think that to a point what -- here is what I -- we are not
talking about it at all, no one's -- it's been on there and no one's brought it up at
all. It's been like an assumed, yeah, that's just what we do. Can you maybe fill
me in a little more on why it's so extensive? I don't know if I just didn't notice it
last year or it -- there is just a ton that needed fixed.
Ritchie: I can answer part of that and, Todd, if you would like to jump in as well.
So, previously last year with having new members on the Council, I could stand
before you and give you a rather lengthy presentation in regards to those efforts
of reclassifications, equity adjustments, things of that nature and, then, bring
forward to you each individual department's reclassification enhancements.
Rather than taking the time to go through all of that information again we have
partnered with Finance, along with the leadership team, to discuss whether we
needed to go in great depth again or we do have the information in each area of
the binders under each department and, then, of course, if you have any
questions we are available at any time to visit with you and walk you through
those and answer any additional questions that you may have by July 19th.
Anything you would like to add to that, Todd?
Lavoie: Madam Mayor, Councilman Palmer, you know, we decided to -- in our
discussions we decided not to bring up the personnel issues in a public forum.
Some of the personnel issues to acknowledge individual people with salaries, so
we are trying to be somewhat conscious of that. Be more than happy to discuss
anything that's provided to you in the budget documents and some of the
discussions that we have and some of the items are directly associated to
specific people that would have been brought out in a public forum, so we are
trying to be conscious of that.
De Weerd: I think, Crystal, if you could kind of give a general overview of the
equity process and what you do in coming to the recommendations that are in
the binders.
Ritchie: Certainly, Madam Mayor. So, what you have in front of you in the
different areas of your binder will be equity adjustments that were requested from
department directors and reviewed by Human Resources, utilizing the
compensation and salary administration guidelines that we have. For an equity
review to take a look at the individual in that position , we take a look at the
knowledge, skills, and abilities that they bring to the position and, then, we also
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June 20, 2017
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look at any other individual in a like job to ensure that each individual is
appropriately placed in a salary range based on their contributions and the
experience that they bring with them to the position.
Palmer: Follow up. Is it initiated by Human Resources or by a director?
Ritchie: Well, we have a few different -- excuse me, Council Member Palmer.
We have several different initiatives that we manage throughout the annual
process. When it relates to your budget we, obviously, do a market review. We
do a salary review and specifically in front of you departments can -- the
department director can request a specific review of any individual that they feel
may be needs to be evaluated , in addition to the standard processes that we use
in HR.
Palmer: One more questions if I may. So, these may pertain to a specific
employee, not necessarily the position itself?
Ritchie: Uh-huh. Yes, that's correct, because it's based on what skills and
experience they bring into the job, which is what places an individual in the salary
range of the position that they fill to maintain market competitiveness.
Palmer: So, it's more of a -- an opportunity for a different kind of merit raise?
Ritchie: It's not an opportunity for a second kind of merit, because merit is, of
course, performance based and that's the annual review process that we go
through once a year based on performance. This is to take a look at where they
fall within their salary range. It is not performance based. It is simply based on
what experience that they bring to make sure that they are hired in at the right
level for placement of that range to ensure that we are retaining the employees
that we want to retain here at the city and pay them appropriately against that
market for their job.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. So, the merit is performance, while market adjustment
is potential employment?
Ritchie: You said market. I'm sorry, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: I think it's qualification.
Ritchie: It's qualification --
De Weerd: And skills to the job.
Ritchie: But I am happy to meet with you or anyone on the Council if you would
like to meet at your convenience and walk you more through an in depth review
of that process at any time.
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Cavener: Madam Mayor, question?
De Weerd: Pardon?
Cavener: Madam Mayor, question. Crystal, shouldn't the skill set background,
experience, et cetera, isn't that taken into consideration when the employee is
hired? And I'm curious why we are making adjustments after the employee has
been hired, as opposed to when an employees has been hired.
Ritchie: Councilman Cavener, that's a really good question. We make every
effort in partnering with the department director and /or the hiring managers to
evaluate an applicant or a candidate for hire qualifications and experience and
align them appropriately within the salary range. Although we do have our best
efforts to do that, things cannot always go a hundred percent correct and it's our
opportunity to double-check that. Sometimes we have some budget constraints,
because when we hire in positions of an existing employee, positions are only
funded up to a certain dollar amount, so we have a lot of different factors that we
take into consideration. One of the things that I can tell you is that the number of
equity reviews and recommended adjustments has decreased year over year,
because we do a very good job aligning individuals appropriately within the ir
range. In previous years you have seen multiple requests for more enhancement
dollars to make hiring corrections.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. Does the department equity adjustment
happen for a particular employee that's maybe eligible that in lieu of the three
percent merit or is the three percent merit factored before the equity adjustment
is applied or after the equity adjust is factored?
Ritchie: So, an individual who may or may not be -- who may receive an equity
adjustment based on the recommendations that we make to you during the
budget process, that is applied to a merit based wage and, then, they are also
eligible for any merit increase through the annual performance cycle every
October and I believe we have built in three percent to each of those numbers as
well -- Todd's nodding yes. We did build that into the figures that you have in
front of you, so that it's not a surprise between the two.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, just one comment. Just from one Council Member's
perspective. I would hope that we aren't offering employees a lower wage
because it's not based on the budget and that directors would be able to come to
us and ask for a budget amendment to pay the employee based on what they are
worth and we are not short changing any employee simply because of a budget
allocation.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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Ritchie: And I can assure you that the department directors when they need that
funding to do that they do come forward with that to make sure that we do it
correctly.
De Weerd: I do think, too, that the practice has been -- and as Crystal said,
these are fewer than we have seen in the past, it's because they have or that
they are hiring in and wanting to have that experience in a job before that is
adjusted, so, then, they have a process that they can come to to bring that up to
where it would -- should -- could have been had they had the experience.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, additional question if I may. Crystal --
Ritchie: Uh-huh.
Cavener: I apologize for so many questions about this. I appreciate hearing that
we have less of these -- and maybe just the way that it's laid out that it feels like
there was more and so I think Council Member Palmer's concern is one that I
share, it just seems a lot -- without having to go through and count each one in
each department, how many of those do we have this year and how many have
we seen in years past?
Ritchie: I don't have the information in front of me, so I'm going to give you my --
my gut. I can certainly follow up with you with more specific information. I would
say this year we had a request for a review of maybe eight to nine and you have
in front of you a recommendation for I believe three, maybe four. We did a
thorough review on all of them and saw that some individuals were -- like for an
exit interview review and reclassifications are different.
Cavener: Okay.
Ritchie: Okay? Reclassifications occur when the department has an opportunity
to review the job description, update that job description to accurately reflect the
needs of the position and, then, we have to review that for an appropriate
classification, which could result in either a job maintaining their current
classification, elevating the classification or downgrading the classification. If a
job elevates in classification, then, under our salary administration guidelines an
individual, depending on where they are placed in their salary range, is eligible
for a specific percentage of increase under those guidelines and you have those
in there as well. But rather than mislead you with numbers that may or may not
be correct, what I would like to do is follow up with an e -mail to all of you and let
you know -- to answer your specific question, what you have in there now and,
then, previous years and I guess my questions would be how far back would you
like me to go.
Cavener: Madam Mayor. Five years and, then, Madam Mayor, I -- I try not to --
it's really hard to not direct staff. I don't know if it's the hour or that it's getting
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June 20, 2017
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close to dinner time and that it's been a busy 48 hou rs, that information that
Crystal shared sounded very in depth and I would take about five percent of it.
So, my apologies. So, maybe, Madam Mayor, if you would be willing to at least
have it as a memo that describes the two to us, then, I could have a b etter
understanding and incorporate the data that Crystal is sending that would be
really helpful for me, if that's possible.
De Weerd: Most definitely.
Ritchie: Be happy to do that.
Cavener: Thank you.
Ritchie: Uh-huh.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, as you mentioned, we have been here since 1:30
and we have a City Council meeting ahead. We still do have IT and Finance to
report. We can break for 15 minutes and have them at the top of our agenda.
What would be your pleasure?
Bird: Madam Mayor, it sounds like we (unintelligible). If it's going to take a half
an hour I (unintelligible) at 6:00 o'clock we start the meeting and, then, take a
recess to go eat or -- get this over with. John has got to break this down.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: I think we should adjourn and set this on (unintelligible) 15 minutes
start our meeting.
Milam: (Unintelligible) start of our meeting, you can get this cleaned up.
De Weerd: And my apologies to IT --
Milam: If we need to eat while at the meeting we could do that I think. I mean
we have had to do that before.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, in light -- I think we have had some public hearings this
evening and while I think the public would like to maybe wat ch the budget
process, I don't want to be disrespectful of staff's time. Is it possible that we can
continue this element of our budget hearing to a later date, so that we can better
assist the public that's going to be here for a public hearing, many of which have
had to come for hearings multiple times. I want to be as sympathetic to those
that have --
De Weerd: We could make IT right now and do Finance after -- at the end of the
meeting.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
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Lavoie: Madam Mayor and Councilman Cavener, I mean I -- to Mr. Nary, is there
a noticing issue if Finance or IT, you know, presents their budget at a different
date? These are both noticed to last two days.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, so you -- you can certainly
renotice them for another date. That -- that's not a problem. If you want to
extend it -- I think you indicated on the notices that it can be moved or extended,
so you certainly could do that. I would agree there is one item on here that may
have a fair good turnout of people for the third time on this public hearing, so,
again, it's your pleasure, Council. You can set it to a new date if you wish. You
can put it to the end of your agenda, whatever your pleasure.
Milam: Madam Mayor? Oh, sorry.
De Weerd: Yes.
Milam: Well, I was going to say in lieu of breaking we can just move during this --
right now and keep going, but just move back further, so they can get this
cleaned up.
De Weerd: I wonder if that would be distracting to IT.
Milam: Oh.
De Weerd: I think that -- Dave, what would you prefer? Would you prefer
presenting while we are up at -- up here if things go on behind you in tearing
down the room?
Tiede: (Unintelligible).
De Weerd: Okay. Council, if we continue it until next meeting we would be up
there and not here and so if you're good with that, then, we can just start next
meeting early at 5:30 and hear from IT and Finance. Does that work?
Cavener: Madam Mayor, don't we have an early meeting scheduled for next
Tuesday on the strategic plan at 4:00 o'clock?
De Weerd: Oh, is it at 4:00?
Cavener: I believe so. So, for what it's worth, I can work with my schedule to be
here at 3:00. We could do it then.
De Weerd: We could even start the meeting at 4:00 and, then, strategic planning
right afterwards.
Meridian City Council Budget Hearing
June 20, 2017
Page 80 of 80
Cavener: That's fine as well.
Milam: There is only two, so --
De Weerd: Okay. I would entertain a motion to adjourn our budget workshop.
Bird: So moved.
Milam: Second.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:50 P.M.
(AU O-REGORDING-oN OFF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
MAYOR T(PqMY DE WEERD DATE APPROVED
FY2018 Budget
Workshop
Fire Department
“To Protect and Enhance our
Community through
Professionalism and Compassion”
In 2016, the Fire Department responded to 6500 Fire or Medical calls for service. Based on calls for
service to date, we are anticipating a 5-7% increase in demand for 2017. This matches trends over
the past 5 years in which calls for service have increased 8% on average. In order to meet that
increased demand while maintaining current levels of service, as identified by the adopted response
time standards, the department thoroughly evaluates areas where efficiency or effectiveness can be
improved with existing resources as well as what resources are needed that do not exist today.
In addition to response increases, the Fire Department over the past 4-5 years has seen consistent
increases in the demand for building inspections (with the significant addition of commercial
growth), as well as increased demand in other support areas such as Public Education and Citizen
inquiries. In order to meet that increased demand while maintaining current levels of service the
department thoroughly evaluates areas where efficiency or effectiveness can be improved with
existing resources as well as what resources are needed that do not exist today.
Fire Department
Update on FY17 approved expenditures (Enhancements)
1.Hired 2 Training Officers (Hired in October). First 4 months instructed at Joint Recruit Academy; Conducted 6
week training at acquired structure; conducted several required on-duty training sessions; has significantly
reduced instructor overtime costs from previous years. Compliance to training requirements is currently 98%.
2.EMS JPA shared QA/QI position ($11,250). Hired by Ada County in November. Fire Department is now fully
compliant to State EMS quality assurance requirements. Savings to Meridian through cooperation-$79,000.
3.3 Float Firefighters (Hired 3 for Fall recruit academy). 2 of 3 completed the Academy on December 9th.
Completed Field Training taskbook April 1st. Both are now working on shift as float firefighters able to fill
firefighter vacancies.
NOTE: A total of 8 firefighters were hired for the fall academy. 3 from the enhancement request and 5 to fill vacancies in th e Department as a result of 2
promotions to Training Captain and 3 employees that resigned to take positions in out of state departments.
4.Command Training headsets (purchased). Headsets for Command Training Center simulations allow for
enhanced learning through the elimination of distracting noise.
5.Response Analytics Software (in process). Right tool was identified-Intterra (recommended by IT staff). Offset
to cost increased was identified through collaborative solution. Council requested further research and
commitment. Currently Fire Department staff working with IT to evaluate viability of in-house solution.
Potential carry-forward request.
Fire Department
FY2017 Budget review
Update on FY17 (Enhancements not funded)
1.Logistics Manager-Request for an individual able to manage Fleet, Station maintenance and repair, Equipment
maintenance and repair, and response supply purchasing/inventory/distribution. Position was in place in 2012
but was eliminated as part of the request Division Chief command program. Current logistics duties being
performed by Fire Chief, Operations and Planning positions, and Administrative Division Manager. This position
is still a need in the Department.
2.Station Wi-Fi-Requested by IT and support by Fire. Only department in the City whose facilities don’t have
wireless capability. Decision made jointly to delay and pursue with the building of Station 6 and the
implementation of “Station Alerting” which will require a Wi-Fi connection for the system to function.
3.Admin 1 (receptionist) Position was and currently is being staffed by Records Clerk position. Records Clerk
position not able to complete job specific workload due to number of phone calls, citizen inquires, scheduling
tours and ride alongs, etc.
4.Operations and Fire Investigation equipment requests-Pulled and absorbed into Fy17 base budget through
savings realized in other areas.
Fire Department
FY2017 Budget review
Update on FY17 approved expenditures (Capital Replacement)
1.Replace malfunctioning foam system on Brush 35-$6,000 (Completed)
2.Replace broken fire sprinkler heads in multiple stations-$6,000 (Completed)
3.Replace worn Extrication tools-$80,000 (Completed)
4.Replace 2 malfunctioning Thermal Image Cameras-$30,000 (in process)
5.Replace outdated fire hose and ventilation fans-$16,000 (Completed)
6.Repair Training Tower roof and burn room-$14,000 (Completed)
Replacement item denied from FY17 replacement request-2007 Response vehicle MF020 (Requested to
bring back in FY18 budget).
84,000 miles, with approximately 93,000 engine miles (300 responses/hours x 30 miles/hour meter= 9,000 engine miles)
Fire Department
FY2017 Budget review
Fire Department
Enhancement Summary
Enhancement Title (in priority order)Service Level (increase or maintain)Amount
Complete HeartSafe AED program Maintain $27,676
Hire Part-time receptionist (Admin 1)-CURRENTLY NOT
FUNDED
Maintain $19,780
Total $47,456
Enhancement Description:
•In 2014, when the Heart safe Meridian program was started, we requested funding to outfit every Meridian
Police Department patrol unit with an AED. However, the direction of the Mayor and Council at that time was
to implement that program in phases. The funding requested in this enhancement represents the final phase
of the Meridian Police AED portion of the Heart safe Meridian program based on the current number of patrol
units. Enhancement request is for 14 Zoll AEDs and accessories.
Project Life: N/A Funding Source:General-No Rural
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $27,676 $0 $0 $0 $0 $27,676
One-Time Cost:$27,676 On-Going Cost:$0 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: Meets the Safe, Healthy, and Secure focus area. Partnering with Law
Enforcement and Parks to improve access to life saving technology and resources.
Fire Department
Complete Heartsafe Meridian AED program
Enhancement Description:
•Call volume has increased from 15 calls per day in 2008 to upwards of 50 or more calls per day today (200% increase).
•The increased call volume and requests for service does not allow our Records Clerk to complete all duties of mandatory
reporting to State and Federal agencies in a timely manner.
•Due to the addition of many software and database programs we have added additional responsibilities to the Records Clerk
position. Some of these programs are: managing the data for Manager Plus, ESO/RMS Reconciliation, Customer Survey Cards,
monthly & quarterly training reports, vehicle service tracking, and reporting on NFIRS reporting issues.
•The workload for the front desk position and for the Records Clerk position requires two employees.
•We are now at times at a 48 hour turnaround to citizen responses. Lack of a front desk (Admin I) support has greatly hampered
our ability to provide fast and thorough service to our customers.
Project Life: N/A Funding Source:CURRENTLY UNFUNDED-General Fund with 11% Rural
contribution
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $19,780 $16,780 $16,780 $16,780 $16,780 $86,900
One-Time Cost:$3,000 On-Going Cost:$16,780 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: Meets Response Government focus area. Specifically improving citizen
access to government and maintaining expected service levels in response to citizen inquiries.
Fire Department
Part-time Receptionist (Admin 1)
Description: 2006 Pierce Dash. Original fire engine purchased with the opening of Station #4. This engine was originally scheduled for rep lacement in FY17 but
extended an additional year. To date during FY17, this engine has been out of service for a total of 28 days due to maintenan ce issues. The replacement of this
engine will mirror the recent replacements of Engine 32 and 35 (Pierce Enforcer) Typical life of a fire engine used as a front line apparatus is 8-10 years.
Hours-9013.7 (270,411 ‘engine’ miles)
Condition-Poor (per mechanic) “This engine is continuing to see significant wear and tear, in addition to ongoing electrical is sues which take considerable time to
diagnose and repair. Based on NFPA safety standards, I would not recommend running this engine in a front -line, everyday capacity”.
FY17 repair and maintenance costs to date-Gathering
FY17 Number of days out of service to date-28
NOTE: IF Engine replacement is combined with Purchase of E -36 (utilizing Impact fees) the cost is projected to reduce to $530,00 0 per engine.
Project Life: N/A Funding Source:General Fund with 11% Rural contribution
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $550,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $550,000
One-Time Cost:$550,000 On-Going Cost:N/A Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective:
Fire Department
Engine 34 replacement
•Growth in South Meridian
•Need for Station #6-(From Community Development) “In addition what is currently developed:
4,300 active residential parcels in process; 714 residential building permits for new construction
issued since start of 2016; 17 commercial building permits issued for south Meridian comprised
of 239,612 square feet of commercial building space.”
•Only one station South of I-84. Last fire station was built and staffed 9 years ago, as compared to
5 stations built and staffed within an 8 year time frame due to rapid growth (2000 -2008) which
the City is experiencing again.
•Call volume since 2008 has increased 47%
•Population has increased 48% in that same time frame
•MRFPD has confirmed (through vote) their commitment to fund up to $1,500,000 to cover
personnel/equipment costs for 12 firefighters beginning Aug. 21 2017 through Sept. 30 2018.
Fire Department
Looming Need: Station #6
•Cost Estimates
–Personnel/equipment: Year 1 (covered by MRFPD)
–Station 6 design/construction/furnishing/finish cost is still being researched. On-going cost approx. $65k/year
–Fire Engine 6-$720,000 (equipped) ready to roll
Projected FY17 ending impact fee balance= $4.137 million
–Land-Current land located on Overland (Linder); discussion with Parks to relocate to Bear Creek Park
Fire Department
Station 6
Prior Year(s)Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year
Funding 2018 2019 2020 2021
Personnel Costs 1,276,487$ 1,291,227$ 1,360,241$ 1,408,095$
Operating 148,600$ 28,020$ 28,020$ 28,020$
Capital -$
Total -$ 1,425,087$ 1,319,247$ 1,388,261$ 1,436,115$
•Growth in Northwest Meridian. The Oaks subdivision, along with Hwy. 16 extension and planned
parks/schools will drive demand for service increases.
•Growth in Southeast Meridian. New schools, YMCA, 77 Acre Park, local residential development will drive
demand for service increases.
•Training. As EMS license training requirements increase, along with required Fire/Leadership/Human
Resources training, staffing to meet the training requirements will become increasingly challenging.
•Logistics. The department will not be able to sustain the current practice of managing the components of
Logistics with existing office staff (Niemeyer-fleet, Butterfield-facilities, Jones-equipment, Gerhart-supplies).
•Retirements. The department is anticipating 4-6 retirements in FY18 with subsequent retirements in
subsequent years. Without proper planning, to include the early hiring of replacements, these known
retirements will put significant burden on the overtime budget.
•Inspections. With the significant growth in commercial development approval, the number of buildings
requiring inspection will exceed the capacity of our existing Fire Inspectors.
•Innovation/Solutions. The department and the City must work together to find solutions to maintain
maximum efficiency and effectiveness while meeting the community’s service demands. These items include:
response planning, staffing/overtime, station relocation, cooperative partnerships, etc.
Fire Department
Coming challenges
Questions/Discussion
Fire Department Vision-
“A premier organization recognized for providing a safe
community through professionalism, innovative actions, and
community involvement.”
City of Meridian Vision-
“By 2035, Meridian will be the West’s premier community in
which to live, work, and raise a family.”
FY2018 Budget
Workshop
Parks & Recreation
Department
Steve Siddoway, Director
Parks & Recreation
Vision
MPR:
Meridian Parks and Recreation is a premier
department that provides family-focused
opportunities for the Meridian Community and
responds to a growing and changing population.
City:
By 2035, Meridian will be the
West’s premier community in
which to live, work, and raise
a family.
Parks & Recreation
Today’s Presentation
Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Dollars at Work
Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Enhancements
The Road Ahead
•Enhancement –Homecourt Staffing & Operations
–$322,220
–Status
•Ross Cipriano filled the Site Supervisor position. Also hired
three Homecourt Facility Specialists –Jane Curtis, Kolton
Gammie, and Ryan Johnson.
•Completed some tenant improvements, HVAC and security
upgrades; fixed interior moisture barrier issue; and purchased
miscellaneous equipment and signage.
•Enhancement –MPR Software
–$12,332
–Status
•Current contract expires 9/1/2017; formal termination letter
mailed to ActiveNet.
•MPR staff members continue to vet best option for software
replacement.
Parks & Recreation
FY2017 Budget Dollars at Work
Parks & Recreation
FY2017 Budget Dollars at Work
•Enhancement –Bellano Creek (Reta Huskey) Neighborhood Park
–$1,375,554
–Status
•Construction contracts were awarded.
•Crews broke ground in 3/2017.
•Construction is progressing; goal of fall completion.
•Park to be opened to the public after grow-in.
Keith Bird Legacy Park
Hillsdale Park
•Enhancement –Groundskeeper I
–Status: Hired Aaron Clark on 2/21/2017.
•Enhancement –Seasonal Parks Labor
–$25,496
–Status
•Hired two additional six-month, seasonal employees
to mow, edge, trim, irrigate, pick up litter, empty
trash cans, clean restrooms, etc.
•Enhancement –Shade Structure
–$32,000
–Status
•Project underway; it is our goal to have a new
16’x16’ picnic shelter located between the two ball
fields in Bear Creek Park before 10/1/2017.
Parks & Recreation
FY2017 Budget Dollars at Work
•Enhancement –Pathway Connections
–$80,000
–Status
•MPR staff is currently working with the
consultant on construction documents
regarding the segment along Five Mile Creek,
between Ten Mile and Black Cat Roads. We
anticipate receiving the CDs by the end of
FY2017.
•Pathway directional/informational signage is
being installed in key locations Citywide.
•Pathway connection across an ACHD storm
drainage facility is currently on hold, due to
ACHD’s maintenance work on the drainage
facility.
Parks & Recreation
FY2017 Budget Dollars at Work
Parks & Recreation
Enhancement Summary
Enhancement Title Service Level Amount
#1 South Meridian Regional Park Construction –IMPACT FEES Maintain $6,527,848
#2 Meridian Homecourt Improvements Increase $186,400
#3 Recreation Camp Coordinator Increase $24,619
#4 Rail-With-Trail Construction & Pathway Connection Projects Increase $173,024
#5 Parks Maintenance Capital Equipment Maintain $79,250
#8 Borup Property Well –IMPACT FEES Increase $87,900
#9 Pine Avenue Cost Share Increase $7,850
#5 Parks Maintenance Capital Equipment –Snow Blower & Plow
-UNFUNDED
Maintain ($14,250)
#7 Kleiner Park Bandshell Shade Structure -UNFUNDED Maintain ($32,000)
#10 Flagpole on Main & Fairview -UNFUNDED Increase (32,375)
Total $7,086,891
Enhancement Description:
•Through the master planning process, 77-acre property
identified as City’s next Regional Park; citizen survey revealed
South Meridian is underserved.
•Funds would construct roughly 25 acres.
•FY2016 –Began development of construction documents.
•FY2017 –On schedule to have completed set of plans by
12/2017.
Project Life: Year 1 of Multiple Phases Funding Source:IMPACT FEES (PRIMARY)/GENERAL FUND
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $6,527,848 $278,348 $278,348 $278,348 $278,348 $7,641,240
One-Time Cost:$6,249,500 On-Going Cost:$278,348 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: 5.A.2. -Development of public sports facilities; and 5.A.4. -Development of discovery
parks.
Parks & Recreation
#1 South Meridian Regional Park Construction
Enhancement Description:
•Two additional part-time staff.
•Bay 5 construction documents/design.
–Create 3 classrooms, office space, and storage for
community education classes.
•Fiber connection.
•Hardwood floor resurfacing.
Project Life: Year 2 of 3 Funding Source:GENERAL FUND
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$322,022 $186,400 $26,400 $26,400 $26,400 $26,400 $614,022
One-Time Cost:$160,000 On-Going Cost:$26,400 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: MPR Objective 1.4 -Maintain existing quality standards for facilities and amenities;
MPR Objective 3.1 -Increase year-round recreational programming and activities; and MPR Objective 4.3 -Add
indoor recreation space.
Parks & Recreation
#2 Meridian Homecourt Improvements
Enhancement Description:
•New seasonal position; would generate additional revenue.
•Help expand the summer day camp program from 2 to 3 sites.
•Work under direction of the Recreation Coordinator over Classes & Camps.
•Assist with recruiting/hiring summer camp staff; staff training and supervision; plan
schedules/field trips; and oversee day-to-day operations of Day Camp, Outdoor
Adventure Camp, and Sports Camp.
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:GENERAL FUND
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $24,619 $12,539 $12,539 $12,539 $12,539 $74,775
One-Time Cost:$12,080 On-Going Cost:$12,539 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: MPR Objective 1.8 -Staff appropriately to meet demand and maintain established
quality of service.
Parks & Recreation
#3 Recreation Camp Coordinator
Enhancement Description:
Rail-With-Trail Construction -
•City secured Transportation Alternatives Program grant funding to
construct initial ½ mile segment from 8th Street to Meridian Road in
FY2018 and FY2019.
–FY2018 -$442,000 (federal portion = $409,557) -$32,443 (City portion)
–FY2019 -$69,000 (federal portion = $63,935) -$5,065 (City portion)
•City funded FY2016 budget enhancement for CD development; CDs will be
complete in 7/2017.
•Funds reimbursed to City by ITD at a rate of 92.66%; City’s match portion is
7.34%.
Project Life: Year 1 of 2 Funding Source:GENERAL FUND
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $173,024 $7,016 $7,016 $7,016 $7,016 $201,088
One-Time Cost:$166,008 On-Going Cost:$7,016 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: MPR Objective 4.2 -Expand pathways and connectivity.
Parks & Recreation
#4 Rail-With-Trail Construction & Pathway Connection Projects
Enhancement Description:
Pathway Connection Projects -
•Residents continue to express pathway connectivity is a top need within the City.
•Potential projects to address missing gaps and improvements:
1)Engineering and bank stabilization measures along the Blackstone Pathway.
2)City’s cost-share agreement for multi-use pathway extension from Five Mile
Creek to Locust Grove Road on Pine Avenue; and construct pathway rest station,
including benches, drinking fountain, and bicycle repair station.
3)Initial planning level design, cost data generation, and environmental scan for a
trailhead/park ‘n ride facility on Ten Mile Road adjacent to Five Mile Creek.
Project Life: Year 1 of 2 Funding Source:GENERAL FUND
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $173,024 $7,016 $7,016 $7,016 $7,016 $201,088
One-Time Cost:$166,008 On-Going Cost:$7,016 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: MPR Objective 4.2 -Expand pathways and connectivity.
Parks & Recreation
#4 Rail-With-Trail Construction & Pathway Connection Projects (cont’d)
Enhancement Description:
•Requests driven by the addition of the Homecourt, Public Safety
Training Center, future Fire Station, Meridian Food Bank, Boys & Girls
Club, Hillsdale Park, Keith Bird Legacy Park, Reta Huskey Park, and
South Meridian Regional Park.
•Purchase 1 snow blower and 1 snow plow.
–Effective on walks, paths, and lots.
•Purchase 1 turf sprayer tractor.
–Would take over primary responsibilities for parks turf weed control.
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:GENERAL FUND
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $79,250 $0 $0 $0 $0 $79,250
One-Time Cost:$79,250 On-Going Cost:$0 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: MPR Objective 1.4 -Maintain existing quality standards
for facilities and amenities.
Parks & Recreation
#5 Parks Maintenance Capital Equipment
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:UNFUNDED
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $14,250 $0 $0 $0 $0 $14,250
One-Time Cost:$14,250 On-Going Cost:$0 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: MPR Objective 1.4 -Maintain existing quality standards for facilities and amenities.
Parks & Recreation
#5 Parks Maintenance Capital Equipment –Snow Blower & Plow
Enhancement Description:
•Requests driven by the addition of the Homecourt, Public Safety
Training Center, future Fire Station, Meridian Food Bank, and the Boys
& Girls Club.
•Purchase 1 snow blower and 1 snow plow.
–Effective on walks, paths, and lots.
Enhancement Description:
•Request to fund the construction of an irrigation well for the future park
on Cherry lane.
•Water right permit was approved 5/2015.
–Gives a 5-year development period.
–Proof of beneficial use due on 6/1/2020.
•Would like to develop the well prior to the 2020 deadline to aid with
productivity of the farm and construct at 2018 pricing instead of 2020
pricing.
Project Life: Year 2 of 2 Funding Source:IMPACT FEES
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$71,000 $87,900 $2,900 $2,900 $2,900 $2,900 $170,500
One-Time Cost:$85,000 On-Going Cost:$2,900 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: MPR Objective 1.1 -Maintain existing level of service goal.
Parks & Recreation
#8 Borup Property Well
Enhancement Description:
•City Council approved MOU with MDC allowing City to select and cover costs of
certain improvements along Pine Ave inside the URA.
–MOU states City will enter a cost-share agreement with ACHD for these
improvements and will be fully reimbursed for the costs.
•City will have significant control over the project design.
–Historically, we’ve taken over the long-term maintenance of similar landscaped
areas.
•Right of Way acquisition and sidewalk expansion.
•Landscape repair, landscaping, and trees.
•5% ACHD administration (except trees).
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:GENERAL FUND
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $7,850 $7,850 $7,850 $7,850 $7,850 $39,250
One-Time Cost:$0 On-Going Cost:$7,850 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: To have improved boulevards with detached sidewalks and landscaping. MPR
Objective 4.2 -Expand pathways and connectivity.
Parks & Recreation
#9 Pine Avenue Cost Share
Enhancement Description:
•Citizens (through stakeholder focus groups regarding MPR Master Plan) and the MPR
Commission have identified lack of shade as a critical deficiency in our parks system.
•MPR Commission’s high priority.
•MPR added 25 large shade trees to grassy amphitheater slope to increase comfort of
audience last fall.
•Bandshell faces west, and mid-summer is extremely hot making it unacceptable for
performers.
•Request would be to fund the addition of shade to the front of the bandshell.
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:UNFUNDED
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $32,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $32,000
One-Time Cost:$32,000 On-Going Cost:$0 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: MPR Objective 4.1 -Maintain and improve existing facilities; and MPR Objective 4.8 -
Upgrade comfort, convenience, and cultural amenities to existing facilities.
Parks & Recreation
# 7 Kleiner Park Bandshell Shade Structure
Draft Concept
Enhancement Description:
•Was a 60-ft flagpole on the corner of Main St. and Fairview Ave.prior to intersection
widening.
•Flagpole removed to make way for the road widening.
•Original flagpole donated to citizens of Meridian by Jim Fuller.
–Recognition plaque placed at the pole base thanking Mr. Fuller is currently under the Fuller Park flagpole.
•Corner has now been repurposed with upgraded landscaping and public art.
•In response to several citizens requesting similar flagpole to be installed on the
corner.
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:UNFUNDED
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $32,050 $325 $325 $325 $325 $33,675
One-Time Cost:$32,050 On-Going Cost:$325 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: This request aligns with our expectation that the City will be responsive to citizen
requests.
Parks & Recreation
# 10 Flagpole on Main & Fairview
•8/2016 City entered into a settlement agreement with the Dept. of Justice to
audit and bring into compliance the common areas of City Hall and 14 park
sites.
–Settlement identified a first step of completing an audit no later than
8/2017.
•Per terms of the settlement, we entered into an agreement with an
independent licensed architect to audit 14 park sites.
–Completed report received which identified several items (some very
simple and others very difficult) to be corrected in order to be ADA
compliant.
•Funding request is to start on the list of items that are simple and a
professional services budget to prepare for those that are more difficult.
–All repairs must be completed by 8/2019.
Parks & Recreation
ADA Compliance Repairs Replacement
•Total Funds Needed -$300,000
•$200,000 Included in G100 –
Capital Replacements
•Additional $100,000 UNFUNDED
(Tier 3 Budget)
Parks & Recreation
Future Funding Needs
•FY2019 CFP Total: $1,174,000
Description General Fund Park Impact Operating Personnel Total Cost
Homecourt Classroom Tenant
Improvements
$790,000*$790,000
Pathway Connections $150,000 $5,000 $155,000
Recreation Coordinator 1 –
Adult Sports
$67,000 $67,000
Shade Structure in Existing
Parks
$32,000 $32,000
Replacement
Vehicles/Equipment
$130,000 $130,000
*Updated cost estimate
Parks & Recreation
Foregone Impact Fees
2014 2015 2016 Totals
Single Family
Units (units *
2,210 SF)
$24,694.20 $31,957.20 $44,159.04 $100,810.44
Multi-Family
Units (units *
1,127 SF)
$208,669.92 $155,466.00 $64,950.24 $429,086.16
Total
Calculated
Cash Flow
$233,364.12 $187,423.20 $109,109.28 $529,896.60
•Borup/Bottles Properties –West Meridian
•Margaret Aldape Park –North Meridian
Parks & Recreation
The Road Ahead
•77-Acre Park –South Meridian
Future Phases
Questions?
Thank you!
Parks & Recreation
FY2018 Budget Workshop
Your Budget Dollars at Work
Your Budget Dollars at Work
Your Budget Dollars at Work
Project Benchmarks
•Project 100% complete
•Delivered under budget
•Thirsty customers grateful
•Community Development staff hydration significantly
improved
Important Themes:
•Community Development has had the lowest growth in staffing of any
general fund department in the last 14 years
•Our customers tell us that our bandwidth is their concern
•Volume of work to staffing is a critical ratio in both Planning and the Land
Section–ratio is getting increasingly out of balance
•Levels of service may begin to slip if permitting staff are not increased
•Growth is projected to continue
•But, the “easy pickings” are drawing to an end–less greenfield and more infill
development
Community Development Department
Community Development Department
Enhancement Summary
Enhancement Title (in priority order by fund)Service Level (increase or maintain)Amount
#1 -Associate City Planner –(General Funded Position)Maintain $86,568
#2 -Growth Goals Consultant –(General Funded Position)Increase $50,000
#2 -Addressing Technician –(Enterprise Funded Position)Maintain $62,135
#3 -Development Analyst I –(Enterprise Funded Position)Maintain $70,924
Total General Fund $136,568
Total Enterprise Fund $133,059
Enhancement Description:
This request is for a full-time Associate City Planner. The new hire will be the third Associate in Current Planning. This mid -level
planning position involves completing both routine and complex current planning tasks and duties such as assisting the public and City
staff by communicating ordinances, policies and procedures and analyzing land use applications for conformity with establishe d plans
and codes. This position involves researching and preparing staff reports and recommendations on development proposals to the P&Z
Commission and City Council as well as administrative staff reports. The volume and complexity of development applications ha s
steadily increased over the last several years and another planner is needed to keep up with demand and service level expecta tions.
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:General Fund
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $86,568 $83,778 $83,778 $83,778 $83,778 $421,678
One-Time Cost:$2790 On-Going Cost:$2845 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: This enhancement is not explicitly listed in the Strategic Plan, however, the position is listed in the City’s 10 -
year Comprehensive Financial Plan for FY18.Further, this position aligns with the "Responsive Government" Strategic Focus Area, in
that it is customer service driven request.
Community Development Department
Associate City Planner
Community Development Department
-
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
-
1,000,000
2,000,000
3,000,000
4,000,000
5,000,000
6,000,000
FY2000 FY2001 FY2002 FY2003 FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017
St
a
f
f
Re
v
e
n
u
e
Development Activity to Planning Staff
Total Sales Number of Planning Staff
$-
$200,000
$400,000
$600,000
$800,000
$1,000,000
$1,200,000
FY2009FY2010FY2011FY2012FY2013FY2014FY2015FY2016FY2017
Planning Department Base Budget -Personnel
and Operating Expenditures
PERSONNEL COSTS OPERATING COSTS
Enhancement Description:
$50,000 is requested to hire a professional to assist in defining the 10, 25 and 50 -year growth goals of the City. A consultant is needed
to synthesize and evaluate existing policies related to growth, survey stakeholders, and then create a growth management system that
articulates and fosters growth in alignment with the plan. Hiring a consultant is the first tactic listed to begin this Stra tegic Plan
Objective.
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:General Fund
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $50,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $50,000
One-Time Cost:$50,000 On-Going Cost:$0 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: 1B.1 –Define and articulate the City’s growth goals. Goal: Create a growth management system to foster the
growth goals of the City in alignment with the Comprehensive Plan.
Community Development Department
Growth Goals Consultant
Enhancement Description:
This request is for one additional Addressing Technician position in the Land Development Section of the Community Developmen t
Department. Addressing Technicians assign addresses to all new residential and commercial buildings, maintain & update the
addressing database, and review new subdivision plats and makes recommendations for street names in accordance with City
ordinances and Ada County standard addressing guidelines and NENA (911 National Emergency Number Association) standards. The
Addressing Technician provides addressing and assessment information to the general public as requested and calculates water and
sanitary sewer assessments on new commercial projects.
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:Fund 60 Enterprise
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $62,135 $59,505 $59,505 $59,505 $59,505 $300,155
One-Time Cost:$2,630 On-Going Cost:$59,505 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: This position aligns with the "Responsive Government" and the "Safe, Healthy, and Secure" Strategic Focus
Areas, in that it is customer service driven, approachable, and responsive, and is responsible for the compliance review of s anitary
sewer and water infrastructure improvements.
Community Development Department
Addressing Technician
Community Development DepartmentCommunity Development Department
Since 1999, Meridian's population has grown from
28,679 to 94,999 equating to a 231.25% increase,
however the Addressing Technician staffing level has
remained at 1 employee. The ability to continue to
operate with high customer service levels has outgrown
the abilities of one existing staff member. This is
evident by a number of calls and inquiries regarding
extended timelines. These concerns were also a topic
of consideration during the recent Development
Services Advisory Committee (DSAC) held by the
Community Development Department and local
Developers and Design Consultants. An additional
Addressing Technician is necessary to prevent further
degradation of, and to improve the Land Development
Section’s customer service levels. With continued
growth each year, the magnitude of the impact on the
single Addressing Technician staff members associated
tasks will only increase.
Community Development Department
Community Development Department
Why Now?
Pre-Recession Addressing:
•No specific addressing database
•All emphasis was on building permit information, rather than accuracy of address
•Multiple versions of the same address entered in various ways
•Difficult to research because permits could be tied to one of many address versions
•Other city departments entered addresses in their own systems, increasing the odds for
more discrepancies
•Address Technician create new addresses, then sent to Ada County for GIS address point
placement and maintenance in their systems, our retention was literally hand annotated
1”=300’ scale paper map books
•Due to multiple addressing sources, there were inconsistent communications between the
Ada County Assessor’s Office, 911 and other agencies
Community Development Department
Community Development Department
Addressing Now:
•Accela Enterprise Software, necessitated a different approach to addressing
•Meridian IT Dept. created the Meridian Enterprise Addressing Database (MEAD); the City’s first addressing database
•GIS address points placed for each front door, whether commercial or residential
•“One-to-Many Process” implemented, MEAD transmits address information to city systems, reducing potential errors and
duplicated work
•Emergency response issues regarding address anomalies can be corrected immediately
•Address Tech. provide Address Verification for all new building permit applications, and provides Parcel Verification on all
new planning applications; thereby streamlining previous application process
•City’s population has increased since pre-recession days by about 30,000 –40,000 people. Maintaining the database for the
increased population requires more time. Inquiries from the Ada County Assessor’s office, 911, general public, developers,
contractors, utilities, title companies, etc. have increased exponentially with the city’s growth
Additional Responsibilities:
•Calculate Water and Sewer Assessments on all commercial projects. Also provides assessment estimates, meeting with
stakeholders, and doing research on previously “unpermitted” work to determine if assessments are due
•Work on special projects is also necessary
•Prior to implementation of new MUBS software, AT spent hundreds of man hours on address verification, onsite visits and
reconciliation with existing Caselle software
•The recent Public Works Assessment project required hundreds of man hours reviewing years of residential and commercial
assessment data
•Upcoming 2020 Census will most likely be labor intensive, ensuring all addresses are accounted for and verifying information
with the Census Bureau
Community Development Department
Enhancement Description:
This request is for an additional Development Analyst I position in the Land Development Section of the Community Development
Department. There are currently three Development Analysts; two Level II and one Level I. The person in this position perfo rms semi-
professional engineering, subdivision and commercial plan review, and periodic field inspection. Work within this class invo lves the
application of skills and knowledge in connection with civil engineering; land surveying, mapping, land development, and site
evaluation. In addition to the technical work noted above, this position involves considerable contact with customers; there fore
quality customer service is essential for this position.
Project Life: Year 1 of 1 Funding Source:Fund 60 Enterprise
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $70,924 $68,094 $68,094 $68,094 $68,094 $343,298
One-Time Cost:$2,830 On-Going Cost:$68,094 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: This position aligns with the "Responsive Government" and the "Safe, Healthy, and Secure" Strategic Focus
Areas, in that it is customer service driven, approachable, and responsive, and is responsible for the compliance review of s anitary
sewer and water infrastructure improvements.
Community Development Department
Development Analyst I
Community Development DepartmentCommunity Development Department
Since 1999, Meridian's population has grown from
28,679 to 94,999 equating to a 231.25% increase,
however the Development Analyst staffing level has
remained very flat. The ability to continue to
operate with high customer service levels has
outgrown the abilities of these existing staff
members. This is evident by a number of calls and
inquiries regarding extended timelines. These
concerns were also a topic of consideration during
the recent Development Services Advisory
Committee (DSAC) held by the Community
Development Department and local Developers and
Design Consultants. An additional Development
Analyst I is necessary to prevent further
degradation of, and to improve the Land
Development Section’s customer service levels.
With continued growth each year, the magnitude of
the impact on the Development Analyst team and
associated tasks will only increase.
Community Development DepartmentCommunity Development Department
Community Development Department
Why Now?
Post-Recession Development Analyst Tasks:
•Increased administrative work with volume of new projects, projects coming back, and projects in construction phase
•At times, a DA can have 10-20 projects in queue, while also working on 10-20 projects in various stages
•Overwhelming workload increases the potential of overlooking items that may increase costs for the City or developer
•Unable to do prep work for and attend meetings due to limited time. The Development Services Manager attends meetings
leaving less time for his own workload
•With the loss of the Land Development Supervisor in 2012, the Development Services Manager has taken on his work, along
with some DA work in order to bridge the gap
•Limited available time for site visits to confirm conditions to ensure design engineers have not omitted items from plans
•Review goal is a 10-day turnaround. Land Development has been the weak link; often not meeting goal
•Snowball effect is common. Goal for DA’s to have plans approved when Council approves final plat. This timeline goal is
rarely met. During the heaviest period of workload, the construction plan approval isn’t finished until 2 -4 weeks after
Council approval
•Inability to meet timeline goals = frustrated developers, frustrated DAs, low morale, and ultimately unsatisfactory levels of
customer service
•DA’s have worked overtime hours, as well as engaged in a rotation “Do Not Disturb” mode to try and focus review efforts
•Vacations, illnesses, unexpected emergencies can set us back with the lean staff we have
Community Development Department
Community Development Department
FY2018 Budget
Workshop
Other Government -
Communications
Population
–98,300 (COMPASS)
–95,263 and 4.5% Growth
(US Census)
2016 –#2 Best City in America (24/7 Wall St, USA
Today)
2017 –13th Fastest Growing City with a Population
of 50,000 (US Census)
Communications
Vision -By 2035, Meridian will be the West's premier community in which to
live, work and raise a family.
•Budget Dollars At
Work
•FY17
Enhancement
•FY18
Enhancement
•Road Ahead
Communications
Agenda
•Quarterly Newsletter (FY16 Enhancement)
•GOAL: One more way to reach audiences-build
awareness and external reach
•30,000 Households Every 3 Months
Posted to website
Shared via social media
•Increased presence on social media, advertising on
Facebook/Twitter.
•E-newsletter (8,741 subscribers)
•Communications process/branding protocol
Communications
Budget Dollars at Work
FY17 ENHANCEMENT–Welcome to Meridian
Communications
FY17 Enhancment I’m so happy
Meridian sent me
a Welcome
Packet!!
Why This Program?
-Immediately welcomes new residents to our community and gives
them information at their fingertips (Responsive Government)
2017
-Sent 1,850 (new residents from Sept. 1 –Feb. 14)
-First round received postcard with website
-Website numbers: 80 unique views, 92 total
-Second round (Feb. 15 –Aug. 31) will receive thumb drive with
letter
-GOAL: Figure out the best possible process for this program and
what works best for residents.
-GOAL: Make this an ongoing program for our community
Communications
Enhancement Summary
Enhancement Title (in priority order)Service Level (increase or maintain)Amount
Annual Report Mailer Increase $14,912
Total $14,912
Enhancement Description:
•This enhancement is for the purpose of mailing annual reports to every household in the City of Meridian.
Project Life: Ongoing Funding Source:General Fund
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $14,912 $14,912 $14,912 $14,912 $14,912 $74,559
One-Time Cost:$14,912 On-Going Cost:$14,912 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: Strategic Objective 3A2 calls for Improved Citizen Access to Government –by
delivering the annual report to homes –we are delivering critical information about City projects, spending and
future plans right to their doors.
Communications
Annual Report Mailer
Communications
Road Ahead
1.Communications Strategy
•Strategic Plan
•Work on 3.A.1 –Evaluate and define the objectives of, and adapt new
strategies to elevate participation in, City Activities
•Contribute to 3.A.2 –Increase Citizen Access
•Update graphics manual
2.Increase Outreach
•Social Media, Annual Report –Mailers, More LIVE streaming, Bolster
Welcome to Meridian, More views of e-newsletter, Implement PR Log
•Additional video capabilities such as DRONE
Communications
Questions/Comments
FY2018 Budget
Workshop
Other Government –
Participatory Budgeting
Participatory Budgeting
Budget Dollars at Work
•City allocated $20,000 in FY2017 for the
Participatory Budgeting Process (PBP)
•This year was the second year, the City
utilized MYAC to gain the insights and
preferences of the high-schooled aged
members on the needs and desires of the
community.
•Top voted project was Memorial Plaza at
Kleiner Park.
o Estimated cost of $18,851.25
Participatory Budgeting
Enhancement Summary
Enhancement Title (in priority order)Service Level (increase or maintain)Amount
Participatory Budget Increase 20,000
Total $20,000
Enhancement Description:
•To our community the Participatory Budgeting Process (PBP) process says:
Your Money, Your Community, Your decision.
•Community members directly decide how to spend a small part of a public budget.
•MYAC will brainstorm spending ideas, volunteer budget delegates develop proposals based on these ideas,
vote on proposals, and present the completed findings to the City to implements the top project(s) within pre-
established budget parameters.
Project Life: Year 3 of on-going Funding Source:General Fund
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$0 $20,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $20,000
One-Time Cost:$20,000 On-Going Cost:$0 Service Level: Increase
Strategic Plan Objective: Strategic Focus Area #3 (Responsive Government) looks to improve efficiency and
transparency within our government functions, which would include our budgeting.
Participatory Budgeting
Participatory Budget
FY18 Budget Workshop
City Attorney’s Office
City’s Vision
“Meridian will be the West’s premier community in which to live, work, and raise a family”
•Partnership Agreements
•Land Acquisition Agreements
•Legal support to Economic Development, Urban Renewal,
Arts, Recycling, and more
•We assist with orderly development
through the crafting and review of DAs,
utility easements, agreements for well lots
and lift stations, etc.
•Manage Risk
Protecting the City is what we do!
Agenda
•FY18 Request
•The Road Ahead
•Questions
Enhancement Description:
FY17 –Engaged Lombard-Conrad Architects (LCA) to begin planning process.
FY18 –Budget Enhancement for FY18 for additional funding is requested to
begin the design process of a Court facility.
One-Time Cost:$100,000 On-Going Cost: $0 Service Level: New
The Fourth District Court panel recently issued their opinion and ordered that Meridian's compliance
with a 1994 Court Order must increase from a single courtroom to a full service facility for jury trials
and including holding cells. This request is for the complete planning and construction design of the
facility by a qualified architectural firm.
Budget Enhancement for FY18
Courthouse Project
Unfunded
The Road Ahead:
Prosecution and Police Services Contract
Office of the
Boise City Attorney
3% increase for
FY18
What does that include?
•The contract includes the equivalent of:
–2 FTE prosecutors
–1.25 FTE support staff
–Police Advisory Team (3)
–24/7 access to our on-call team
Prosecution Services
•2015 Cases Received:3,935
•2016 Cases Received:3,778
•2015 Charges Received:6,175
•2016 Charges Received:5,776
•2015 Charges Disposed:5,853
•2016 Charges Disposed:5,573
Prosecution Services
Police Attorney Services
The Boise City Attorney’s Office has 3 attorneys
from their Public Safety Team assigned to the
Meridian Police Department to serve as legal
advisors. Those legal advisors are onsite at the
Meridian Police Station 3 half-days/week.
(Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday)
Police Attorney Services
During their weekly visits the police attorney team:
•Review public records requests
–In 2016, the police attorney team reviewed over 6,400 public records
requests for MPD. That is nearly 3,000 more requests than the prior
year.
•Assist with projects from Command Staff and the Records
Division
•Answer officer questions regarding cases and subpoenas
Police Attorney Services
•Meet with Meridian Police Department Victim Witness
Coordinators
•Regularly provide legal update training for the officers
•Process evidence, property, and weapons dispositions
In addition to the three legal advisors that rotate out to MPD
weekly, there is a team of attorneys that are on-call and
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Questions??
FY2018 Budget
Workshop
City Clerk’s Office
Strategic Vision
Our Mission:
We love Meridian; it’s our town and our mission is to cultivate a vibrant community by
delivering superior service through committed, equipped employees dedicated to the
stewardship of our community’s resources.
Our Vision:
The City Clerk’s Office is a committed business partner to each internal department and
the citizenry of the community, providing administrative expertise through the legislative
process.
City Clerk’s Office
By the Numbers –Budget Dollars at Work
•Passports Processed:
–YTD 2016 = 1649
–YTD 2017 = 1897
–218 MORE passport applications processed in YTD 2017 than same time frame in 2016 ($5,450+ in revenue)
•Public Records Requests:
–YTD 2016 = 90
–YTD 2017 = 135
–45 MORE PRRs processed YTD 2017 than YTD 2016.
•Licenses Issued:
–YTD 2016 = 571
–YTD 2017 = 578
•Notices Mailed:
–2,253 YTD
–Previous method = $3,762.51
–Current method = $1,194.09 (68% savings)
–NextDoor
City Clerk’s Office
The Road Ahead
•Records Retention –July 11th
•NovusAgenda
•Public Records Request software application
City Clerk’s Office
The Meridian Arts Commission is requesting funds appropriations as outlined per the Meridian Art in
Public Spaces Program Ordinance No. 15-1642
•“City Council shall, on an annual basis, appropriate for the MAPS program an amount from the general fund
equivalent to fifty (50) cents per resident, as estimated by the current annual population estimate adopted by
the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho. Annually, no more than fifty thousand dollars
($50,000) of general funds shall be appropriated for the MAPS program. Nothing contained in this section shall
preclude funding of art by grants, matching monies, donations, or other means.”
•Current COMPASS population estimate is 98,300 (2017)
Meridian Arts Commission
Meridian Arts Commission
Budget Dollars at Work
•Traffic Box Art wraps
–A Time for Planting by Bonnie Peacher
–Bang!by Susan Elle
–Faces by Dwight Williams
–Golden Pond by Susan Elle
–Happy Elephant by Andrew Clifford
–Passing Passerines by Karyn deKramer
–The Old Ways by Laurel Lake McGuire
Meridian Arts Commission
Budget Dollars at Work
•Heroes Park “Journey on Heroes” installation
–Currently being fabricated
–Trailmarker Heroes were nominated by local schools, Ken McCall is
currently working on acquiring image permissions for the nominees
•Rocky Mountain High School, 1 mile from park
-Alex Fox
•Paramount Elementary, 2 miles from park
-Dean Brigham
•Heritage Middle School, 2.5 miles from park
-Gregory “Pappy” Boyington
•Pioneer Elementary, arts-based school, 5 miles from park
-Kristin Armstrong
•Chief Joseph Elementary, arts-based school, 5.5 miles from park
-Chief Joseph
–Anticipated installation: End of September
Meridian Arts Commission
Enhancement Summary
Enhancement Title (in priority order)Service Level (increase or maintain)Amount
Meridian Art in Public Spaces Maintain 49,150
Total $49,150
Enhancement Description:
•MAC is requesting spending authority for $49,150 as derived from, and to be used in accordance with, the
MAPS Ordinance. Enhancement is requested annually to reflect current population, in accordance with the
MAPS Ordinance.
–FY17 MAPS Projects include traffic box art and Heroes Park “Journey of Heroes” public art installation
–FY18 MAPS Projects include traffic box art wraps (10) and multiple murals.
Project Life: Year 3 of on-going Funding Source:General Fund
Prior Year(s)
Funding
FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Total Estimated
Project Cost
$87,820 $49,150 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 Multiple projects
One-Time Cost:$49,150 On-Going Cost:$0 Service Level: Maintain
Strategic Plan Objective: Develop a plan to infuse art in public spaces
Meridian Arts Commission
Meridian Art in Public Spaces
Comprehensive Plan Goals: (where MAC is the lead)
•Provide both permanent and rotating works of art in City Hall and other public places. (on-going)
•Utilize percent for art ordinance funding to raise awareness and appreciation of the arts. (medium)
•Provide local artists opportunities to showcase their work. (on-going)
•Raise awareness and promote existing arts offerings and artwork within the community.(on-going)
Strategic Plan Goals: (where MAC is the lead)
•Research and identify a catalog of long-term funding mechanisms and contributors for supporting arts and
culture (low)
•Develop a plan to infuse art in public spaces (medium)
•Connect to the artisan community and promote the education of utilitarian art forms and their historical
significance (low)
Meridian Arts Commission