2020-01-21 Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session January 21, 2020.
A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, January
21, 2020, by Mayor Robert Simison.
Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Brad Hoaglun
and Liz Strader.
Members Absent: Jessica Perreault.
Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Kyle Radek, Garrett White, Jamie Leslie, Joe
Bongiorno and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Liz Strader _X_ Joe Borton
_X_ Brad Hoaglun _X_Treg Bernt
Jessica Perreault _X Luke Cavener
_X_ Mayor Robert E. Simison
Simison: Call this meeting to order. Recognize Clerk for roll call attendance.
Item 2: Adoption of Agenda
Simison: Item 2 is adoption of the agenda.
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I move we adopt the agenda as presented.
Hoaglun: Second.
Simison: I have a motion and second to adopt the agenda as published. All those in
favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 3: Consent Agenda [Action Item]
A. Approve Minutes of January 7, 2020 City Council Work
Session
B. Approve Minutes of January 7, 2020 City Council Regular
Meeting
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C. Approve Minutes of January 14, 2020 City Council Work
Session
D. Approve Minutes of January 14, 2020 City Council Regular
Meeting
E. Apex Offsite Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 1
F. Apex Offsite Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 2
G. Apex Offsite Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 3
H. Apex Offsite Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 4
I. Blackstone Building Water Main Easement No. 1 & 2
J. Final Order for Castlecreek Subdivision (H-2019-0130) by
Northwest Ventures, LLC , Located at 2432 E. Amity Rd.
K. Final Order for Rapid Creek Subdivision No. 2 (H-2019- 0116)
By Trilogy Idaho, Located at 4435 N. Black Cat Rd.
L. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Ten Mile and
McMillan fka Verona Commercial)(H-2019-0126) by Northwest
Development Company, Located off the Northeast Corner of
N. Ten Mile Rd. and W. McMillan Rd.
M. Professional Services Agreement With Via Partnership, LLP
For Public Art Survey And Work Session for an Amount Not to
Exceed 9,450.00
N. Approval of Purchase Order#20-0190 to GeoTek, Inc. for FY20
Commercial & Residential Building Inspections for the Not to
Exceed amount of $200,000.00.
O. Fiscal Year 2020 Grant Carryforward Budget Amendment Not
to Exceed $ 851, 926. 00
P. AP Invoices for Payment - 01/14/20 - $159,335.29
Q. AP Invoices for Payment - 01/22/20 - $362,882.98
Simison: Item 3, Consent Agenda.
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
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Simison: Councilman Bernt.
Bernt: I approve the -- I move that we approve the Consent Agenda. For the Mayor to
sign and the Clerk to attest.
Hoaglun: Second.
Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda, with the Mayor
to approve and the Clerk to attest. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All those
opposed nay. Need a roll call vote on that one? The ayes have it.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 4: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda
Simison: There were are no items moved to the Consent Agenda for fourth.
Item 5: Department / Commission Reports
A. Solid Waste Advisory Commission Annual Report
Simison: So, we will move right into Item No. 5. Department/Commission Reports and
our first one for 5-A will be our Solid Waste Advisory Commission Annual Report. It will
be presented by Steve Cory.
Cory: Mayor, Members of the Council, thank you for this opportunity to speak together.
1, Steve Cory, am chairman of the Solid Waste Advisory Commission. I stand before you
representing the Commission to report on our activities from calendar year 2019. The
Commission again enjoyed nearly full and continuous membership this year. Thank you
for your understanding and support as Meridian implemented a paid solid waste
professional, Tom Otte, and, furthermore, the addition of two citizen commissioners will
greatly assist the commission in performing the activities before them. One of our prime
responsibilities is stewardship of the community recycling fund program. At the beginning
of 2019 the balance was $60,370.93. Through the year we received revenue of
$1,605.84. Five hundred of that was from Public Works as a result of the Public Works
Expo. Thank you, Dale. And the balance, $1,105.84, came from the Hand In Hand We
Recycle program. That's Meridian's innovative program that's in its third year and Hand
In Hand We Recycle continues to generate modest revenue for this CRFP. Both Republic
Services and the city continue to market the program and use it as an educational platform
in a variety of forums. Moving on we had actual distributions, mostly reimbursing people
for FY-18 projects of $24,789.75 and we have an approved project, which hasn't been
carried out. It will be carried over to FY-20 of 2,750 dollars and I will itemize all those
projects in the next slides. The CRFP's non- encumbered balance at this point is nearly
-- well is $34,431.02. That compares to at the end of last year it was $32,912.68. So, it's
barely a little higher, but that reflects the poor recycling markets. There is not a lot of
income coming in from recycled materials. Those projects that we are in the -- that were
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fund expenditures included the Recycle A Bicycle project -- for FY-19 SWAC was
approved the use of 500 dollars from the account, but only used at $87.50, the sum of
our expenditures for calendar year and '19. We used that to co-host with Republic
Services the third annual Recycle A Bicycle program held in conjunction with the city's
Unplug And Be Outside event held at Kleiner Park. Thirty-two bicycles destined for the
landfill were retrieved from the Meridian Transfer Station, cleaned up, repaired, and
repurposed for the benefit of Meridian citizens. SWAC Commissioner Mark Nelson
chaired the committee that worked so hard to make the event the hit it was. We plan to
participate again at the event this year. Meridian Parks and Rec Department purchased
and installed 35 trash receptacles in FY-18 for $9,702.25. Those were made from
recycled plastic and are placed in Meridian's Discovery Park. Those are the receptacles
that are on the right side of the slide. SWAC has funding approval to purchase one
Catalpa leaf shaped bench made from recycled materials for 2,756 dollars as part of the
effort with Discovery Park. That is held over until FY-20, since they haven't been installed
yet. And, then, the final project was the Meridian Library District's installation and opening
of the NFY-18 of the mini mobile library with 15,000 dollars from SWAC and as you all
may know that innovative and creative project has won several awards. As to SWAC's
projects, the Trash Or Treasure program, the City of Meridian staff and SWAC
successfully expanded year three of this innovative program. This year's event was
citywide. The event occurred the weekend before the commencement of the 2019 spring
collection week. Residents set out at the curb unwanted items, allowing others to come
by, pick up the -- pick them up and give them a new home, thus diverting items from the
landfill. Post-event feedback was positive and this year's event is going to be held the
first weekend in May. Well, first week of May. So, like May 2nd through 8th. Talking
about this slide, in the upper left-hand you see a picture of someone's stuff in the morning
and you can see a few things were removed in the lower slide on that left side and that's
probably more than normal, as opposed to -- it seems to be generating its own life. The
slides on the right is what people set out in the morning and you can see more material
was out in the afternoon, but I think they probably spent the day in a cleanup activity and
that's always encouraging and I wanted to go ahead and document what may be the
largest item that gets transferred on Trash Or Treasure. It was someone in my area, so I
do know it went from one house to another house and I imagine it's getting good use.
SWAC hosted its booth for the third year at the annual Public Works Expo event at City
Hall. That was --that effort was chaired by Commissioner Meg Larsen. This year's booth
focused on the cost of contamination of the recycle stream and tested people's ability to
identify three types of contamination in a bin commingled -- of commingled recycled
materials and much thanks to Republic Services for helping us and the staff and supplying
the swag to go ahead and hand out for the successful quiz contestants. SWAC continues
to provide advice to the county through the county solid waste advisory committee. There
has been significant discussion this last year on the county's disposal fee structure. I
continue to represent the City of Meridian's interests on the Ada County Solid Waste
Advisory Committee. In regards to the annual rate adjustment, SWAC reviewed and
recommended to City Council approval of Republic Services proposed FY-20 annual rate
adjustment report. The rate adjustment for both commercial and residential services was
comprised of the contracted Consumer Price Index adjustment and the continuance of
the recycling processing fee reimbursement, which is shared by our citizens and
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ratepayers for another year as set forth in a separate contract amendment. The county's
household hazardous waste program continues to provide a cherished service to the
citizens. Commissioner Nelson attends the quarterly meetings that guide this activity.
This year SWAC has worked to maintain and improve Meridian's residential and trash --
trash recycling services included SWAC with staff and Republic Services input and
assistance continuing to maintain the curbside services chart as a handy reference to the
public on what services they can get for their use. Second, SWAC requested and assisted
Republic Services and the city staff to improve the marketing of the spring cleanup
program. And, third, SWAC vetted two inquiries related to container location on collection
days and, of course, over the year we ended up having to work through an ordinance on
bin placement and we hope we have supported you as that decision had to be made.
Presentations that SWAC received this last year included the regular Republic Services
quarterly and annual reports. Reports on the Hefty energy bag program. Reports on the
Ada County Landfill tipping fees. Reports on the FY-20 proposed solid waste rates and
fees. Reports from staff on solid waste program metrics and data. And also reports on
the community solid waste and environmental survey. And so we updated our knowledge
of what the citizens want from what used to be --from 1999 to now current understanding,
which was very helpful to us. This upcoming year SWAC is looking forward to working
with Republic Services and city staff on the following projects: Acting on results from the
city survey or survey regarding trash and recycling services and developing strategies
and programs using those results. Further improving recycling efforts including reviewing
-- reviewing third-party needs and opportunities to reduce contamination and evaluating
improved material separation technologies. Third. Promoting Meridian's Trash Or
Treasure, Hand In Hand We Recycle and Recycle A Bicycle programs. Fourth.
Expanding educational outreach to decrease contamination in the commingled residential
recycling stream. Fifth. Monitoring yard composting market trends. Sixth. Continuing
leadership role in the Ada County Solid Waste Advisory Committee and reporting back to
SWAC and the Mayor and City Council as appropriate. Attending the quarterly Ada
County Hazardous -- Household Hazardous Waste program meetings and reporting back
to SWAC, the Mayor and City Council as appropriate. The commission will continue to
focus on reducing contamination of recycling streams and we hope to work with Ada
county to resolve their desire to simplify the landfill rates. In conclusion, it has been a
productive year for SWAC. Our commitment is steadfast to work in partnership with staff
from Republic Services to identify and recommend to you improved fiscally sound trash
and recycling services and programs for the benefit of Meridian residential and
commercial customers and with that report I can stand for questions. Thank you.
Simison: Are there any questions?
Strader: Sure. I have a couple, Mayor Robert.
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Yes. Great. Hello. Thank you so much for coming and presenting and it was
really nice speaking earlier with Steve and I wanted to just ask a question, Mr. Mayor, if I
can, which is -- I was curious if the results from the public survey explored the topic of
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composting -- an expanded composting program, if there was any support for that in our
public survey or what kind of -- if you can give us a flavor for the types of improvements
in recycling that we are considering.
Cory: Council -- Council Woman Strader and Mr. Mayor, I'm going to get some assistance
from our staff member, because, yes, it did and my memory is going to be a little hazy on
the specifics. Tom can be better at it than I can.
Otte: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, we did ask specifically questions about how
much support people would have --we had a whole section of diversion programs. I can't
give you the specific numbers right now. I can get those for you from the survey. In fact,
I can give you the whole survey if you would like. But we specifically asked people what
ways in which they would like to reduce that, if we are -- if they were concerned about air
shed effects, amount of volume in the landfill, an actual composting program itself or a
few others. As to what types of programs we are considering, that is currently in a SWAC
subcommittee. They are looking over what they want to work on and what they want to
focus on in order to -- to determine those improvements.
Strader: Thank you. Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: If I can ask another question. I -- well, maybe it's not quite a question, but a
comment. But I was thinking for the benefit of Council and the Mayor it might be helpful
just to give everyone a quick overview without getting too much into the weeds on the
issue with the county landfill fees that they are charging and how that could impact our
residents negatively if that structure were to change.
Cory: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, thank you. Obviously, this is a -- has been a
very ongoing activity. I hate to admit it, but it is costing Tom and I sleep, which is
unfortunate, but we hope as a result of that we are kind of keeping it from hitting you as
hard as it could. A little background. The city -- the city has been working with the county
for well on five years in relationship to their fee structure. The last major activity a couple
of years ago was one where they went ahead and approved setting a rate of 33 dollars
per ton for all waste coming to the landfill. In background, back in 1999 -- sometime in
the '90s a program was set up to go ahead and charge Meridian based on its cubic
yardage of material delivered up to the landfill and, then, SSC and as followed up by
Republic Services, went ahead and collected waste from our residents at the same rate
per cubic yard, compacted it and delivered it up. Obviously, it would have less volume
and that difference between what they were charging the customers and what they were
being charged by the landfill was enough to build and allow operation of the transfer
station in Meridian. That number of 33 dollars per ton that was put in place would have
been very onerous to us, because -- and we pointed out some deficiencies in the process
at that point and the -- the county commission went ahead and agreed to a rate of 21
dollars per ton for Meridian's delivered waste and that's been in place for a couple of
years. Now, the county, particularly the county staff, has been continuing to discuss the
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fact that they have a problem with waste being delivered and being charged at a
volumetric rate and I must admit that didn't sink into me. It turns out that there is still a
great deal of waste coming out of Boise that is charged on a cubic yard basis. But 96
percent of Meridian's waste, both commercial and residential, goes to the transfer station
and the transfer station vehicles -- transfer trucks are going up to the landfill and all of
those are being charged on that per ton rate of 21 dollars per ton. So, the issues that are
associated with getting rid of the volumetric rate don't apply to Meridian. In response to
that 33 dollars per ton offer, the county went ahead and agreed to perform what is referred
to in the business as a cost of services study. Meridian has made it very clear that they
wanted that to get down into individual streams and determine what the cost of waste
being received from transfer stations versus waste that's coming directly up in a
residential collection truck versus waste that's coming up by the citizens in a pickup truck
or in the back of the trailer and all the other various streams. County staff chose to issue
a RFP that directed its contractor to go ahead and come up with a single number that
would be a rate that would be applied to all types of waste regardless of anything else
and as a result of that it came up with the number 29 dollars per ton. So, believe it or not,
we celebrate a small win having gone down from 33 dollars to 29 dollars. But Meridian
has testified that that 29 dollars has some problems. Most glaringly within the material
the engineer provided to the county it identifies that in regards to expanding the landfill
gas to electricity project, there were three options. Two of them involve the county
acquiring more generators directly and incurring the capital costs and the engineer made
it very very clear that those capital costs are substantial and inappropriate in that the
county should contract out that effort. Having done that they would avoid three million
dollars in capital costs and the estimate would be that the landfill would increase its
revenues by 750,000 dollars per year in salable electricity. That plus a couple of other
loose items got us to the point where their own spreadsheets justify a 27 dollar per ton
rate, which would really be nice if we could get the county down to that level, us coming
from 21 -- 21 dollars to 27 dollars. It has an impact on our customers that I can speak to
you shortly. But one of the things that did come out of the study was identifying that
already the amount of waste coming up from the transfer stations, that being Meridian's
and also the one in Boise that's out by the airport, is about two-thirds of the waste going
up there. So, the relative -- well, assigning costs probably isn't as valuable as it maybe
once was, since there is -- Republic Services is moving to the use of the transfer stations.
It's more economical for them to use those specialized vehicles for going across the
valley, instead of taking a route truck off of the routes, which are geared differently and
have other reasons why they aren't meant for long distance hauls. But the impact -- roll
down impact to the rate tier in the city -- in the City of Meridian is roughly about three
dollars per household per month. So, an increase from 21 dollars to 27 dollars would be
about a dollar per household per month. That's -- that's -- most households are paying
about 19 dollars per month for their trash services. So, it's a five percent increase and
that's the unfortunate thing on our part is that based on our survey the citizens of Meridian
said they would be willing to take a five percent increase on costs if they were getting
more services and, unfortunately, this isn't an increase in service, this is just an increase
in cost. We are continuing to have the discussion. I guess we are rather concerned,
because many discussions that we have heard in county meetings with county staff have
indicated almost an absolute commitment to the 29 dollar amount and we are not really
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feeling like our identified errors in the report and, then, the identified errors in the
spreadsheet process are being addressed. For example, of course, all of this is
predicated on cost per time and in the report the amount of waste that the county claims
they got from transfer stations is actually lower than what Meridian said on its own. We
have made it clear that, you know, when you have errors of that magnitude there needs
to be an effort to go back and look at the documents and as a result of that the county
SWAC did not endorse the study and as far as the model they said, well, they would
endorse the model, but only if corrections were made to the model coming up with a rate.
Whether the county is going to follow through on that I don't know. I must admit I'm very
disappointed, I'm very frustrated. We will continue to have our discussion, but the first
public hearing associated with these rates is tomorrow evening. I will be down there
tomorrow night. But there are no particulars. You know, there is an opportunity for public
testimony, but there is nothing given to us as to what rate is there or anything else and --
and I'm not real sure -- I feel like I need to go ahead and put our foot in the door, so to
speak, that we need to testify, so that we are continuing to be part of the conversation,
but I really don't have much I can talk about, which is the situation on it. So, with that I'm
going to step back. I will answer questions about everything I said and -- and I really
appreciate the opportunity to update you on that issue.
Simison: Are there further questions?
Cavener: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Cavener.
Cavener: Great question. My items get checked off either by your presentation or by a
fellow Council Member's questions. Steve, has -- that change in leadership at the county
commissioner level pretty dramatic over the past year -- will tomorrow night's public
hearing be the first time that the new commissioners -- or the newer commission have
had the opportunity to weigh in publicly about this or have they commented throughout
this process and, if so, has it been supportive of the staff recommendations or looking for
alternative options? What's -- what's been their commentary?
Cory: Councilman, yes, it will be the first opportunity for it to be on record. The Solid
Waste Advisory Committee of the county does have a liaison and the liaison has
discussed various activities and their expression has been that they are trying to learn
what's going on. It's one of the new commissioners. And so they have had about a year
on this and such. But, you know, we are kind of listening to the meetings and it sounds
like there is a lot of -- a lot of commitment to support the staff.
Cavener: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Cavener.
Cavener: One more question. Steve, what's changed in the -- in the years since you
have been before us -- and I appreciate you updating us all the things that the
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Commission has been working on, but, you know, at this point last year there was a lot of
unknowns about the future of recycling in Meridian and there was a lot of--you mentioned
briefly kind of some of the volatility in the markets, but there is a point that we were even
considering that maybe we wouldn't be able to recycle paper and I'm just curious has
there been any further information that the SWAC has received or heard about that? Is
that something we still need to be concerned about or no more concerned about it today
than we were a year ago?
Cory: To -- thank you, Councilman. To go ahead and update the Council on that subject,
the markets are still tough. With China not taking materials -- of course we are curious
how they intend to do that, because it was their raw material stream for a lot of their
production and I guess we know that China's economic situation is not as good as it was
when they started this and so that is what it is, but there has been minimal change in the
situation as far as the rates that we are reimbursed for materials that we collect. The
effect this last summer was that we had to adjust from 83 cents per household for recycled
materials up to 90 -- 93 cents or something like that. So, it did hit us with another ten or
15 percent increase in what we had to pay to collect materials and distribute it. Without
that additional amount, yes, paper would not have been collected. We would have had
to have told the citizens that that was no longer part of the process. There is better
reception for plastics, particularly soda bottle and juice bottle, the stuff that we do collect
for that. Even better for cardboard and certainly a strong market for aluminum and tin
cans. So, it depends on the particular commodity, but things did get a little worse. We
did have to go ahead and increase the cost to our citizens, but the amount was fairly
minimal, so we were able to continue to provide the service that we have been providing
with a minimal adjustment in rates.
Simison: Are there any additional questions?
Strader: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Thank you. I did have more of a comment, which was just to express our thanks
for the hard work that the SWAC Commission is doing, especially with volatile markets
and clearly a lot of moving parts on the fees that the landfill is charging. I know it takes a
lot of dedication and time and I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of all of us for that
and I also just thought maybe it would make sense at some point for everyone to discuss,
you know, if there is a way to reach out to the county commissioner that's the liaison or if
there is a way for us to maybe continue those discussions, but also to express -- just
speaking for myself alone -- that I do think it's a great idea if someone from Meridian is
testifying at that public hearing.
Simison: Are there any other questions? Councilman Cavener? Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Yeah. Not a question, but just a comment and a request to Tom, if possible, if
you are going to have that survey available on composting I would like to see that and go
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through it and see what citizens are saying about that and I just thank Steve for your
excellent work on -- on this and you have been doing this for a while and that experience
really helps and you represent the city very well. So, appreciate that.
Simison: If I could ask a quick question. I'm going to ask you to put on your silver -- or
your hat to try to figure this out, but since MYAC brought up the question about plastic
bags, that's their legislative proposal this year to -- to the legislation -- legislature to
remove the exemptions cities have are not regulating plastic bags and with China's recent
announcement that they will go plastic bag free at least in their cities, at least that's the
position they are taking, do you think that that's going to be a conversation in the -- what
I was going to call the SWAC world? Will China's decision have enough to impact the
United States or other markets in terms of plastic bag use and consumption? Are they --
can they lead the -- lead the conversation to maybe -- we may never get the state to take
away our inability to make that choice, but will that force the market in a different way or
is that -- from what you know about the plastic bag industry -- because it is our biggest
problem in our recyclable waste stream.
Cory: That's certainly one of the subjects that we do have on our plate and we do keep
tabs on the pulse of that. I would never endeavor to go ahead and read the tea leaves
and figure out what the legislature would do, but I would point out Albertson's Marketplace
already gives you the option -- well, they put everything in paper bags and if you ask you
can get plastic I think. But I'm not sure. Obviously, it's hidden and they are not -- but
maybe less so than China, maybe more so from the Interstate 5 communities, Seattle
through San Diego. That effect has hit Fred Meyer and Fred Meyers has already started
advertising that within a year or so they will quit offering plastic bags and we will -- I don't
know whether they are -- well, of course, they are encouraging people to use reusable
bags and such. But I'm not real sure this is really necessary to be a government solution,
because I believe the marketplace is already adjusting to it. Certainly it's kind of
surprising, but for those that have those bags and do deliver them back to Fred Meyer,
Winco, Albertson's, all those stores to the bin that's by the door, those have well into the
high 90s percent of being incorporated into Trex Decking. It's one of the most used raw
material streams to go ahead and produce something and so, you know, if people do
have that significant amount of plastic bags and do get them back to the store, they do
get used. I have no idea what that may do to that industry in the future, but that all being
said -- and especially more so things like shrink wrap and garbage bags and those -- I
don't know where we go on that. Obviously, it's one of those very smart decisions to put
waste and recyclables directly into the bins, rather than putting them in a bag and, then,
putting them into the bin. I will never do that with my waste. I prefer to keep my kitchen
clean. So, I like to take it out bagged and such, but the recycling those out uncontained
in a single stream and I'm sure we will continue to go ahead and drive that message that,
you know, there are things to do with plastic, but the less plastic we have the better.
Simison: Thank you for indulging me on that. Any further questions? All right. Thank
you very much.
Cory: Thank you.
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B. Parks and Recreation Commission Annual Report
Simison: Up next Item 5-B, Parks and Recreation Commission Annual Report, where we
will hear from the new commission president Dom Gelsomino.
Gelsomino: Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council for inviting me today to give you our fiscal
year 2019 report for the Meridian Parks and Recreation Commission. We have a -- we
voted on an 11 item, you know, goal list for fiscal year 2019 for the Meridian Parks and
Recreation Commission. Our number one top priority, as is the priority of your -- one of
your top priorities, Mr. Mayor, is pathways and so the support -- our first goal was
supporting development of a connected pathway system across City of Meridian with Five
Mile Creek pathway and the Rail With Trail pathways as top priorities. So, a few things
that we covered over the last year with regards to pathways -- East James Court sidewalk
widening, you know, we have got the plans completed, bids are due today, so we are
excited to move forward on that. Five -- the Fairview Avenue connection, we have been
working on segments of the Five Mile Creek pathway and we have been identifying the -
- which pathways are the priorities that we are going to be focusing on. We are in
coordination for final designs with ACHD. The Ten Mile trailhead is a cost share program
-- project. Design concepts and right of way procurement have been completed.
Construction of the parking lot will kick off this year concurrent with the widening of Ten
Mile Road. Finally, the Pine Avenue pedestrian rest stop, our goal is to be under
construction in the spring of this year. Regarding our local Rail With Trail pathway, we
are currently pursuing easement and landowners along the full alignment to secure
access for expanding -- expanded Rail With Trail project. The route -- regional Rail With
Trail pathway, MPR -- Meridian Parks and Recreation staff members have actively
participated in the Rail With Trail work group led by COMPASS and supported by area
agencies. I will go back and apologize. I did have a presentation today for the Council.
It was not cooperating and so it will be transmitted to you at a later time. So, further along
the regional Rail With Trail pathways and our pathway system projects and updates, the
MPR gave their presentations to the commission regarding the Five Mile Creek pathway.
The pathways in general we had our own pathway workshop and updates on the 2018
pathways workshop, as well as the Pine Avenue pedestrian rest stop update. In April of
last year we had our spring pathways tour, which was a van to the Linder Road and to --
I believe it is Sawtooth Middle School and we started at Sawtooth Middle School and we
went on our bikes all the way through The Oaks Subdivision, Black Cat corridor and --
and so forth. Our second item on our goals was coordination with city of Eagle to connect
the Boise River greenbelt and with neighboring communities for additional pathways
connections. Item number three, support and construction of-- and the grand opening of
Discovery Park. As we all know, Discovery Park phase one opened -- had its grand
opening Friday, July 26th with our official ribbon cutting and the official grand opening to
the public was Saturday, July 27th. We had a successful --- very successful turnout. We
had tons of people coming in and expressing how excited and -- and proud they were --
and especially our citizens in Meridian in the southern rim saying that they finally have
somewhere to go that they don't have to come to the north side of Meridian or central
side, they can stay in their area and in their location and have a -- an amenity that serves
their -- their needs to unplug and be outside. Finally, we are beginning the design and
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concept developments of phase two of Discovery Park and we began that in November
of last year. Item four is construction of the shade structure at the Kleiner Park bandshell.
Check. Done. Item five, engaging other task forces, commissions, entities and agencies
through workshops and other outreach partnerships. We have been in constant
communication with city of Eagle and our neighboring cities with regards to working
together as commissions, as parks and rec departments and through our pathway
system. One of our goals this year is to bring Nampa and Boise -- we haven't heard from
Nampa in quite some time and so we are hoping to bring them back and discuss how we
can connect with the Canyon county and 2C area. Item six. Pursue improved tools and
opportunities to engage citizens and stakeholders. We are just really looking forward to
what we are going to see in the Comprehensive Plan. We were thankful to have Cameron
Arial come and give us his presentation on the open space survey, as well as the master
mobility plan, and we are looking forward to seeing the developments coming along as
we see the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan. Item seven. Support the planned
improvements of Bay Five HomeCourt. We have recently -- recently finished everything
and we are planning a public open house for February 14th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
and we will hear a little bit more from Garrett White on his report with regards to
HomeCourt and our recreation areas. Item eight. Discuss the progress on goals and
objectives in the master -- Parks and Rec master plan. We are really just overlooking --
we are looking over the new goal and items for the new fiscal 2020 year and we are going
to be carrying those out as we go along. Item nine. Continue to foster greater commission
involvement, presence in communities. You know, as commissioners we like to be
involved in -- in as many items as we can and events as we can throughout the year.
Yours truly was last year's Grinch at the Christmas Winter Lights Parade and --
Bernt: Good job.
Gelsomino: I thank you so much. And -- but we are looking for other opportunities. You
know, the -- the ribbon cuttings at the -- at the new dock at Kleiner Park or at Discovery,
these are events that we want to be proactive and engaged and active with. The
community block party is a great opportunity not only for the department, but for us as
commissioners to be present and to be involved and engaged with our community. This
last year we had a very successful Santa's workshop and parade. I was also, you know,
as an advisor for the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, able to work together with MYAC in
getting as many volunteers as we could for events that they are applicable in participating
in. Item 10. Holding workshops during commission meetings to address current issues.
We will be continuing to have a few workshops throughout the year, especially on
pathways, you know, being our number one priority and goal. We are looking at a few
more other projects throughout the year and we will continue to have workshops,
especially as we get, you know, more in detail into concept and design of phase two of
Discovery Park. Item 11. Participate in the partnership with the Meridian Arts
Commission to add theme -- theming and identity reinforcing art at Champion and
Renaissance Park. We have seen the concepts and designs of the artwork that will be
going at both locations. They are beautiful, beautiful designs, very educational and
interactive designs -- not so much -- you know, you are not going to climb on and engage
and interact with it that way, but there are -- they inspire the identity of the Renaissance
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Park. We have a very beautiful rendition of the Leonardo da Vinci's work going into the
Renaissance Park and at Champion Park we have an incredible torch going in made of
the -- made of iron cast and so we will be really solidifying the identity of these two
separate parks with the artwork going in. Item 12. Support the current efforts of ADA
compliance repairs to ensure that accessibility of Meridian's Park systems. We are
always making sure that we are ADA compliant, especially with the new dock at Kleiner
Park and always making sure that there is no oversight when it comes to ensuring that all
amenities at all our parks and recreation areas are ADA compliant for our citizens with
disabilities. And with that I would stand for any questions or any comments from the
Council.
Simison: Thank you, Dom. Any questions from Council?
Strader: Mayor Robert?
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Just a quick question. I was curious as part of number six and socializing it with
stakeholders and getting folks to use the park system and pathways, if we are, you know,
making sure that all of the new pathways are accessible somewhere for citizens and they
can, you know, see them, maybe Google and apps that they are using, so we are making
sure they are getting like really great use.
Simison: Absolutely.
Gelsomino: So, with that, Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, you know, we are using
the tools and resources necessary to advertise them. I personally-- kind of stepping back
from that an official commission position, I do my monthly updates on social media and
engage the people -- even going out to the park and going out into the community and
engaging people, informing them and educating them on the new updates that are coming
through. So, it's -- it's definitely a combined effort throughout our department and
throughout the commission and, you know, throughout the -- the departments as far as
getting the education out there on -- on that.
Strader: Mr. Mayor, if I can --
Simison: Council Woman Strader.
Strader: Thank you. I just wanted to clarify if-- if we are able to update like Google Maps,
for example, maybe with the IT Department's help or if we can make sure that--that those
types of tools are registering our pathways, so if people do want to walk or take their bike
that they know they can get -- get there.
Gelsomino: Absolutely. Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, if I could I would like to defer
to our director Steve Siddoway on that particular item.
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Siddoway: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, the -- it's a great idea and I think we are
always looking for ways to improve our -- our website. We actually have an ongoing
effort, separate from the specific mapping thing that you are talking about, to make our
website more public user friendly. We are looking at a concept called story mapping,
which is much more graphic and fewer words, because right now we have a lot of words
and people like pictures, videos. We are trying to move that direction. But to your specific
point about the mapping, yes, we can follow up with IT and see what we can do there.
Thank you.
Gelsomino: Thank you so much.
Simison: Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Thank you, Dom.
Gelsomino: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor and Council. Thank you.
C. Parks & Recreation Department Report: Meridian Arts
Commission Recommendation -Artwork Acquisition and
Deacquisition Policy
Simison: Item 5-C is a report from our Parks and Recreation Department. We will see
Garrett and maybe Audrey, but we will start with Garrett.
White: Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, thanks for having us tonight. Thank you for
mentioning Audrey. Just for some of you guys that don't know, the arts and cultural
coordinator position used to be in the clerk's office and it now has moved into the Parks
and Recreation Department. So, we are learning a lot about arts and culture in our
department at this point. Audrey Belknap is our new arts and cultural coordinator. She
started January 6th and she is, as you guys all know, drinking from a firehose and learning
as much as you can and being a sponge and -- and so far she's doing awesome. So,
really appreciate her coming on. So, the policy and procedure set in front of you, the
Meridian Arts Commission, as well as our Legal Departments have been working on this
for quite a while now. In short, this policy and procedure is basically giving our staff a
roadmap and basically the procedures to add Art, to move Art, those types of things with
this. As stated in this policy and stuff, everything has to be, obviously, added to or
removed, has to be approved through you guys' Council. So, really it's just basically
formalizing the processes that we already have in place and Legal has been working with
this and presented this in front of you. With that being said, it also helps us check some
of those boxes in the Meridian Arts Commission strategic plan that they just passed in
September, so -- and getting this formatted and formalized. So, with that I can stand for
questions if you have any.
Simison: Council, any questions?
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Borton.
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Borton: Not a question, but a comment. I really appreciate this coming forward. Creating
structure and rules to process before you need to make a decision is brilliant. It's the right
way to do it. So, kudos to making this happen at this time, to make it much easier to
administer these decisions going forward, so well done.
White: Mr. Mayor and Councilman Borton, that -- we -- I can't take credit for it. It's the
Arts Commission that we just kind of got, as well as Emily in our Legal Department has
been working on this. This has helped us -- being new to this has really helped us in
doing exactly what you just said, so --
Simison: All right. Thank you, Garrett.
White: Thank you.
Item 6: Action Items
A. Resolution No. 20-2186: Adopting Policies and Procedures for
Acquisition and Deacquisition of Artwork
Simison: If there is no further questions, we will move on to Item 6-A, which is a
Resolution No. 2186 adopting policies and procedures for acquisition and de- acquisition
of artwork. Do I have any motions?
Borton: Mr. Mayor?
Simison: Councilman Borton.
Borton: With -- with my previous comments of appreciation to the whole team who has
made all this happen, I move we approve Number No. 20-2186.
Hoaglun: Second.
Simison: Have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? If not,
ask the Clerk to call the roll.
Roll call: Bernt, yea; Borton, yea; Cavener, yea; Hoaglun, yea; Strader, yea; Perreault,
absent.
Simison: The ayes have it.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Simison: With that we have reached the end of our work session agenda. Do I have a
motion?
Bernt: Mr. Mayor?
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January 21 , 2020
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Simison : Councilman Bernt .
Bernt : I move that we adjourn today' s meeting .
Hoaglun : Second .
Simison : I have a motion and a second . Hearing no discussion , all in favor signify by
saying aye . All opposed nay. We are adjourned .
MOTION CARRIED : FIVE AYES . ONE ABSENT.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5 : 22 P. M .
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