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2020-06-17 Budget Hearing Meridian City Council Budget June 17, 2020. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 1 :02 p.m., Wednesday, June 17, 2020, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Jessica Perreault, Brad Hoaglun and Liz Strader. Item 1 : Roll-call Attendance: X Liz Strader _X Joe Borton X Brad Hoaglun _X_Treg Bernt X Jessica Perreault _X Luke Cavener X Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call this meeting to order. For the record it is Wednesday, June 17th, 2020, at 1 :02 p.m. We will begin this workshop with roll call attendance. Item 2: Adoption of Agenda Simison: Item 2, adoption of the agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt? Bernt: I move that we adopt the agenda as published. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as published. Is there any discussion on the motion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. The agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Item 3: City of Meridian FY2021 Budget Presentation and Discussion Simison: Item 3, City of Meridian FY-2021 budget presentation discussion. I will turn this over to Mr. Todd Lavoie. Lavoie: Thank you, Mayor, Council. Good afternoon. First of all, I want to say thank you Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 6 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 2 of very much for taking time out of your busy days to join us to discuss the fiscal year '21 budget workshop day number one. We have provided you the budget workbook, the Mayor's balanced budget proposal. We did that I think, on, the beginning of the month, so you have had it for a few weeks. Today what we are going to do kind of an agenda approach is we are going to deliver to you in person a presentation of your budget requests or what used to be called as enhancements, we are calling budget requests. They are inside your workbook. You will have each director present to you the budget requests throughout the next four hours. During that time please engage us with questions. We are here to answer those questions. If we cannot answer the question today we will get back to you with an e-mail. If there is any outstanding questions Brad will summarize them and send them to you via e-mail. So, you guys are all in the loop of the answers. Again, you do have the subject matter experts here. Please engage us. We did set up this room kind of that discussion comfortable setting. So, again, hopefully this works for us to engage each other with questions. You guys please engage each other as well. That's why we got everybody together, so you can ask each other questions or liaisons for independent departments. So, some might not have the answers to each other, but you guys can help each other. That's what we are here for. From a delivery standpoint of growth and demographics I delivered to you those documents over the last two weeks, about ten pages worth of information for you guys to digest before today's presentation. We used that data in developing this budget. Again it is the balanced '21 Mayor's proposal for you. We also used that data to develop our five year CFP. We wanted to make sure you guys had that data before today's presentation, so you can kind of digest that information and we also presented to you some of the property tax calculations from a zero percent to a three percent, so you guys can see what those impacts are to your taxpayers on average to the best of our ability. With today's presentation we are going to want to say thank you to Brad and Jenny. They put in a lot of time and effort to get you the budget book as it sits today. I want to thank the Mayor. The Mayor put in a lot of time as well to get us where we are at and, again, this is a balanced budget for you guys. That is our goal every year is to deliver you guys a balanced budget for your consideration. Council, you guys have been involved since February, March, April, May. You have been working with us on the base budget, on budget requests, on questions you have already been sending us. So, again, appreciate your dialogue up to this time. And, then, obviously, big kudos to the directors and the staff. They are our subject matter experts. We leaned on them heavily to develop this budget for you. They are the ones that tell us kind of what they need to make the services successful. And, then, at the end of the day, you know, the whole city is a huge thing for this budget book. I mean it takes all of us to make this happen. It's not just Robert. It's not us. It's not just you. Everybody. Again, I'm going to take the opportunity to say thanks to everybody for the time and effort that they have put into this budget and, hopefully, you guys are proud of it. We are proud of the balanced budget that we propose to you. I will be handing this off to Brad. Brad's going to run this budget for you this year. He is going to lead us in the direction. Mayor and myself will get some more talking points later on in the agenda. But, again, I just want to thank Brad and Jenny and with that I will hand it off to Brad. Purser: Thanks. Thank you, Todd. Okay. So, since we delivered the budget book to you Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 7 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 3 of back at the end of May there have been some changes that have happened. So, each of you guys have a packet that's -- the first page is labeled budget changes. So, we will go through and we will update the book. So, when we begin here we will -- we are kind of all starting from the -- from the same spot here. There are some things in there I will just walk through here real quick and just to advise you kind of what has changed and, then, there are also some things that we will need to pull out of the book and some other things to add to the book. So, we will work through that. So, to begin with if you look at the budget changes page, you can kind of see where I'm going. We did make some adjustments to the revenue. Now, this revenue plays out on the very first tab, the summary tab in your -- in your budget book. We had some assumptions in there that, obviously, this is a living document. As we get more information we make those adjustments and changes and so -- Berns: All of it? All of it? Purser: Yes. So, the budget -- yes. It's about 11 pages of the budget summary we will be swapping out. It looks like -- kind of looks like this. From a revenue standpoint, while you guys are swapping that out, you can see that we increased the overall revenue budget by 558,000 dollars. That was based on some updated information we had on new construction. We also decreased it a little bit later by about 8,000 dollars due to some more input we got from Ada county and, then, just yesterday we got some more information on a -- on a grant where we have increased the revenue for grant money by a little over a thousand dollars -- about 1 ,800 dollars. That constitutes all the revenue changes to the budget summary. From an operating there -- there has been some changes since we have issued the book from an operating expense standpoint. We have got some more information, some RFPs and whatnot finalized on our janitorial, which increased the cost citywide, so multiple departments are impacted. We didn't print off a new summary for each department, rather we just -- this is kind of categorizing and telling you, you know, what changed overall. So, it increased the budget by about 61 ,000 dollars and change. The second item we added 500 dollars in a one time per person bonus for all activities of the -- of the city. You can see in that -- in the -- in the page there that, you know, the impact to the General Fund was 176,500. Community Development was impacted by 22,500. And our Enterprise Fund was impacted by 63,500. For a total city impact of 262,500. That is also notated on a separate item on -- on your -- on your -- on your -- on your budget summary. Just continuing on down the list. We also updated in our other government -- they have a -- had a professional services line. We increased the budget by 24,000. A contract update that hadn't been captured. We also reduced on a related matter the professional services budget for our Public Works Department by 12,000. You guys have the budget book -- or the budget handout, so that's -- now, can we turn to the HR tab of your budget book. There was some performance management software. It's a green piece of paper in the HR section. We -- originally when we handed the book out we had a budget request, which is something new for the budget we hadn't had before. Or performance management software. If you guys could pull that out or put an X on it, we are not moving forward with that budget request. Now, there is in your packet that I handed out to you the only green page in there is for dental, vision, healthcare funding reserve. If you see that, if you could put that in the place where -- or Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 8 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 4 of behind the -- the performance based software. Then the performance based software you can do what you like with it. Throw it away. It won't be part of this -- this year's budget. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Mr. Borton. Borton: Just kind of a point of process. If there is a quick question on a point that's just said, we just ask it right there? Brad, is this a request that's being kicked to a later year or it's just being removed and reconsider to do something else? Purser: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Borton, it's -- it's moved for a different year. Borton: Okay. Purser: So, it's not this year, in a future year. Borton: Okay. Thank you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Rationale. Naturally driven -- maybe we will get into that during that department presentation, do you prefer that or -- Lavoie: We can answer that question for you. The -- we have inside of our comprehensive financial plans we have software upgrades for the HR Department. We felt that aligning that performance with that software update was a better decision than trying to do two separate projects at two separate times. Strader: Thank you. Todd: Yeah. Purser: Thank you. The very last thing here, we actually updated the -- and there is a -- you will see -- you will find a new worksheet -- that goes at the very end of your budget -- budget book in the auxiliary supporting documents section. The VRT, which is the ValleyRide, we actually reduced their cost by 52,000 dollars. We got an updated quote from them and it should be probably one of the last pages in the overall budget book. If you could pull out the old one and, then, replace it with the new one. It should be in the supporting documents section. And, then, there is a couple more things you will see -- it's got the graphs -- is that the computer replacement? Yes. That also goes in the supplement area in the very back of the book. You could put that behind the -- the dues sheets that we just brought and all that goes in the back of the book. I think that captures Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 9 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 5 of everything. Did I get everything? Did I miss one? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Purser: This is an addition to. Correct. Cavener: Thanks, Dean. Sorry. Purser: With that we have -- you know, that, basically, is the -- the update extensively. Issued you the -- the book. I will pass the time over to the Mayor for -- for his comments. Simison: Thank you. And I'm not going to reiterate everything that Todd said. I want to try to keep us on track as much as we can, so sum up in about 30 seconds. I'm going to take a few more minutes on that, though, just to kind of walk through at least so you have an idea. I know I have spoken with many of you throughout this process in terms of what type of budget and some of the principles that I have tried to follow in that process, but I just want to say them publicly, so that other people know, but I think we have prepared a budget that follows some important principles and -- and -- and addresses potential impacts to our budget as we move forward that follows are save before we spend mentality. Preparing for the future. Sometimes that's dollars and capital, that is in personnel costs, that we have to prepare for future costs that we can absorb in only one year. It meets our long-term goals regarding growth, especially for -- for additional public safety needs that we will have in the future, in my opinion. I think the biggest thing out there from my perspective is not -- recommending not taking the three percent. I don't believe now is the time. I think the economy is hurting. People are out of work. Our businesses are trying to figure out how they remain open and meet their ongoing needs. Personally I think we all have our own opinion, but I don't think we have seen the worst impacts of COVID-19 yet on our economy, on our state, on our communities. I think -- I think we will see -- see more happen as we get into the fall and I don't know what the impacts will be quite frankly and I don't think any of us do. But I don't think the -- I don't think the worst is behind us. I think it's still yet to come. And by not taking the three percent we have an opportunity to participate in the CBack program and I will talk about that in a second. The three percent budget -- by not taking it we are not growing our base from that standpoint. As -- as you are aware it does not include an increase in employees, besides a one time -- one time increase for this year. You can call it a bonus. You can call it whatever you -- you would like, but that's what this is. It's not growing the base, which is where I correlate the three percent. If you are going to grow the base and do an ongoing, then, you need to look at taking the three percent, in my humble opinion. But as our HR director will probably share a little bit, the -- the 500 dollar one time is tracking roughly, if you look at the mean of employees, where the CPI is at this point in time, which is about .8 percent. That is going to fluctuate up and down probably for the next year in COVID. So, it does at least provide something that can either address keeping them whole or help offset some of those costs that may be occurring to the economy at this point in time. It's also a way to show our appreciation to our employees. If we want to Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 10 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 6 of show that we are mindful to the community by not taking the three percent from the struggles that they are facing, yet at the same time provide a way that we can say -- we let our employees know that we appreciate them, but at the same time we can't ask our residents and taxpayers to pay more for the services that they are currently receiving, which is what we would be doing by growing -- providing more than a one time increase in salaries. Throughout the -- the times when we sat down and we went through all the base budgets, I think we worked hard to lower the delta between the budget and the actuals using those three and five year projections. I think that that really helped us get more in line. I know that our CFO has often talked about our spending rates to the actual rates. We have projected to actuals. I put a real emphasis on that when we go through. Sometimes they were down. Sometimes they were up. There is always a question if those are even appropriate to be in the budget, but from my perspective if they were in the budget we try to get it closer to what the actuals were, you know, whether that was Idaho Power, Intermountain Gas, I think that they kind of got tired of me saying take that down by ten dollars, because that's not where it is. It's more than ten dollars. But that's what it was. We adjusted our training and travel quite a bit in this budget, to follow the -- to meet the following principles. We maintain training for employees. I did not tell departments they could not allow their employees to be trained. But we did eliminate nonessential travel and training out of the state. If it was something that is required for them to keep up a certification or license that is included in this budget. We are not telling people they cannot do that, but much of the travel training is being modified and budgeting for conferences that likely won't even happen in 2021. 1 don't -- I just got an update from my college, they moved our reunion from October to next June. Will it happen next June? I don't even know if it will happen then. But people are already making those things where they are pushing out their gatherings and they will likely be online or otherwise throughout the year. So, I don't think that the travel impact is going to be as much, because I think we would be budgeting for things people would not actually be doing in my viewpoint. There has also been a reduction, in my opinion, equivalently with the anticipated in sales tax revenue. So, last time Todd and I spoke the travel training was reduced by about half a million. That's about what we have had to reduce down our expected sales tax revenue in this next year's budget. Was it meant to be a direct correlation? No. But it does keep in line and to me in shows that this is a -- we have seen a downturn in revenue, so we have made a downturn in our company's spending. It's something that we can continue to bring back on in future years as the sales tax revenue rebounds in a proper way and I'm hopeful that by 2022 we will be seeing that. We have found other ways to show our employees they are valued in this budget in my opinion and you will hear about those from HR. We talked about some of the changes and recommendations from both benefits and compensation. I'm just going to touch on a couple of those very briefly. But we propose additional vacation -- additional vacation hours each month that you work. A reduction removal of copays in our healthcare benefits through a new element to -- to that. It can either be a reduction or elimination. It depends on who your doctor is. And we focus on changes for employees that they have access -- ability to not be here during times when they are either -- the most exciting, such as the birth of a newborn, or trying with the loss of somebody. So, those are some of the things you are going to hear. But these are ways that we can try to support our employees during times and I think there is some other things you are going to hear, but I just want to focus on those. This budget, Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 11 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 7 of at least in the requests that you are going to hear, does include funding for roads. I will talk about that one a little bit more when we get into it, but this is included in the CFP and why this has not been a traditional effort for the city. We have done it in the past, a one- time project on Locust Grove. We have shown a history of investing. I just think with where we are with the needs for our community that showing that commitment is an important part of where we are going to need to be if we want to help address the issue sooner rather than later and allow growth to continue or, quite frankly, just to meet the expectations that our residents have to connect roads, sidewalks, pathways to schools, parks and other things, which currently doesn't exist in our community. I said this before, I'm just going to reiterate it, if Council does wish to pursue raises for employees in terms of an ongoing budget, I am going to request you to do that through looking and taking the one, two or three percent, whatever correlates to that number. I don't -- I don't believe -- and I know-- I'm going to speak for Todd, he definitely would not support doing an ongoing expense without providing an ongoing revenue offset from that standpoint. He is going to tell you to take the three percent anyways regardless of what this budget says or whether -- what is out there. So, just so we are clear on that. I'm not trying to take your thunder. Lavoie: You're good. Simison: And why -- I think new construction should not fund the current ongoing costs, but it needs to help us prepare for our needs for the future that we have as you all are aware in the conversations we have had about the need for new fire stations and that's going to correspond to additional police personnel and other things. That's what new construction should cover. It's incumbent upon us to support our employees today and look at doing that through the one, two or three percent. My opinion. Next slide and, then, I will be quick. So, why -- and why does this also matter not to take the three percent? Well, it allows us to participate in the feedback, the Coronavirus financial advisory committee opportunity for our city, which, essentially, takes nine months police and fire personnel and allows that to be rebated back to our tax payers in the form of a credit on their property taxes later this year. It does not impact new construction the following year, which was my big hesitation towards saying that I think we should participate in it, but by not impacting new construction -- I'm not going to say the interim committee won't impact that, but this program won't impact new construction next year and I think it's a wise thing for us to do to again support the community, which is -- is and will be likely struggling from the ability to meet all their financial needs in their households. So, with that I appreciate your indulgence allowing me to get on my soapbox for a few minutes, but I would be happy to entertain and answer questions throughout this, but I will leave it primarily to the directors to respond to your inquiries, but there is a handful that I have my direct finger on that I will touch on. So, with that I'm happy to answer questions now or turn it back over and we will get going. Lavoie: Thank you, Robert. For my next few slides I'm going to go over the assumptions in the Mayor's budget proposal and these are the assumptions that we use to propose to you the next workshop and this workshop. This is where you have the opportunity to talk to us, discuss it, engage us, change some of the assumptions if we need to, but I'm just Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 12 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 8 of going to give you a quick overview of what we use to develop the budget as it is presented to you today. Property taxes. We are proposing, as Robert stated, zero percent of our allowable three percent tax increase. This is just a slide that shows you what our current levy rate is right now at 308. That is as of today. Again we are proposing a zero percent in this budgetary document, which generates zero -- zero new revenues from a zero percent allowable. If we did adopt that approach we project our levy rate to be at 295. Again -- so, that is what we project. Again, it will change as soon as Ada county gives us the final, final, final numbers, but that's our projection, where we think it would be based on the proposal. As Robert stated, you know, that I promoted to you to take the three percent. I have made that comment to three of you over the last number of years. I believe three percent is necessary for cost of doing business here at the City of Meridian. If you were to consider that that would be about a one million dollar addition to the city's revenue stream. We project that to be about $8.23 a year for every 100,000 dollars of property tax value for the average homeowner or 69 cents a month and we project our levy rate to be about 303 if we were to consider the three percent. So, again, informational purposes only there. Just wanted to make sure I supplied it. I provided this information in the e-mail two weeks ago to you guys, so nothing new here. I just want to kind of go over the assumptions. We are presenting a zero percent on this particular budget. Some other assumptions that we have in here from a revenue standpoint we increased our water and sewer sales by 3.74 percent based on our growth data that we provided you a couple weeks ago as well. We did reduce our development revenues from a growth standpoint and also COVID-19 impact. So, we did reduce development revenues by five percent. Robert touched on sales tax. And, then, liquor revenue we increased by 8.14 percent annual year over year and that's based on the guidance that we have received from the state and other agencies as well. Some other assumptions in regards to expenditures. And Robert touched on the 500 dollars per employee. Brad touched on it as well. So, that is inside the base budget or the budget proposal that you have today. Robert also did touch bases on the other three, so we have zero market or merit adjustments in this budget proposal today. Zero changes to the police STEP plan. Zero changes to the fire union STEP plan. So, that's the proposal that we have with the assumptions and, then, the medical benefits are tracking about 5.8 to 12.1 percent in the base budget -- in the budget that you have today. So, these are the -- some of the budgetary assumptions that we wanted to touch on for you for today's presentation. Again, with that that is my portion of the assumptions presentation for you guys. I'm happy to answer any questions now or later if they come up later. We are here for you. If there is no questions I will hand it back to Brad to kind of start the meat of the presentation for you guys. Purser: All right. For my portion just a couple of housekeeping items, kind of what to expect over the next remaining time. We are going to have each of the directors present their related budget requests. So, they will come and join us here and, you know, when it's appropriate to talk through, answer questions about any of the budget requests that they are bringing forward. We don't -- we will not be presenting any of the base budget items. Those are the pieces that we went through in February -- or March and April in our base budget meeting. We have gone through those. We will not be presenting any -- any of the information in there. It is in your books and you have it by department. We Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 13 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 9 of are also not going to be presenting any portion of the replacements. Those items have been previously approved by Council. Those are items that are generally end of life and need to be replaced. You guys, if you will -- you are welcome to ask questions about any of it, but we are not going to be touching on those things. The meat of our discussion today is going to be surrounding the budget requests that we have. There is -- there is a good number of them and which the department directors will be presenting those. From an agenda standpoint we are going to go a little bit over the base budget as an overview. We are going to summarize kind of what we are seeing year to year and where we are at as far as, you know, the base versus replacements and budget requests, so you will be able to see some numbers that way and then -- then we will bring up the department directors, you know, as -- as -- as needed to go over their individual budget requests. So, paraphrase the movie Shrek -- you know, there -- there is a lot to the city budget that people don't realize, you know. There is -- there is a lot to it. So, I would like you to kind of think of it like an onion. It's not going to -- it doesn't stink. The budget doesn't stink. It -- it's not going to make you cry -- or shouldn't make you cry. Hopefully it won't make you cry. It better not make you cry. The budget is not going to grow little white hairs if you leave it out too long thankfully. But what it does have in, you know, common with -- what the budget does have in common with an onion is layers. There are a lot of layers. And we will be going into the layers and coming from a formatting standpoint, you see kind of the bigger overall layers we are going to talk about. We have the General Fund. We have Community Development. And we have Enterprise Fund. We are going to be talking about each of those individually and, then, within each of those layers there is also a component of base budget. There is replacement. And, you know, there is budget request. Again, base budget, those are the items we went over in March and April during our base budget meetings. We combed through them in detail. You know, when we add on top of that replacements, those -- you know, those are computers that need to be replaced, those are vehicles that are up for replacement, those type of things. And, then, layered on top of that you get all of the budget requests for the departments. For the -- for the fund. So, for General Fund -- the total General Fund you will see makes up all three of those components. So, to get to our first graph from a total city standpoint you will see that our budget has grown about 13.68 percent. It's gone from about -- you will see about 94 million up to about 107 million. Now, we will peel this back and you can see exactly what is behind this. It should be pretty evident. If it's not please -- please let me know and ask. So, to peel it back to the first layer, let's talk about the General Fund. If you would like to follow along you are welcome to. In the budget summary in the front that we just switched out you can see the different layers that we are talking about here. Highlighted in yellow you will see that -- that is the base budget on page one of that document. That kind of corresponds with what we are talking about here and, you know, when we get into the different areas we can -- you can follow along. So, for the total General Fund budget that includes all the base, the replacements, and the budget requests, our total budget General Fund is going down by 3.77 percent. So, let's go down a layer. So, if we look at the base budget from the General Fund, that actually increased slightly by 5.27 percent. Just over -- it went from about just under 45 million to about 46. That's mainly because we hired 17 and a half people last year. When you look at our replacements, our replacements you can see are 2,064,000. You can see what makes -- what makes up that number. That's actually down year to year by six percent. We are Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 14 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 10 of replacing some cars. There is some fire equipment, some police cars. We get to the budget requests. So, these -- these represent items that are new, something we typically haven't seen yet. Budget requests are, you know, at 6.8 million. The majority of that are in capital requests, which are typically one time in nature. We also have, you know, one time and there is some personnel that we are adding. Borton: So, on page five of the new summary sheet, the yellow stripe is where that 6.8 million is? Purser: Yes. So, on page five, the 6.8 is right there. You can see -- good question. Thank you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Is this kind of an informal format where we are able to -- Simison: Yeah. I was going to suggest that. Do you guys feel like it's necessary to go through me or just -- just talk. Borton: Until we screw it up. Simison: As long as you guys don't mess it up, you don't need to go through me to -- Strader: I have -- I know we are not specifically going to talk -- we weren't planning on discussing all the replacements, but I would like to have kind of a holistic discussion about some of the replacements. Purser: Sure. Strader: Whenever that is a good time. Maybe -- maybe not right now, but at some point I wanted to just sort of talk about that. Purser: We can talk about that if you like. That's -- that's fine. You know -- go ahead. Strader: Yeah. Okay. Cool. So, I appreciate the analysis on replacing the computers. Maybe when we get to the IT Department would be the right time to get into that a little bit. Purser: Sure. Strader: But some of the things that I'm curious about -- we talked about the average life computer replacements. I want to understand if we are sort of practically driving replacements or if -- let's say, you know, people get a little bit longer time frame out of something, if you have the ability to sort of wait to replace it. In other words, people need Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 15 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 11 of to make your request and I want to just understand is that five year time frame kind of an industry standard and is there a savings opportunity there or how to look at that. Purser: That's a good question. Thank you. I know on the very end -- at the end of the budget book we added the computer replacement. I believe that's typically every five years, worked on with -- you know, Dave provides that; right? Dave, you want to address that? Welcome. Tiede: Okay. Council Woman Strader, can you repeat your question for me as far as -- there was multiple facets to that question, so -- Strader: There were. Yeah. So, I don't want anyone to see anything the wrong way, because I'm just maybe going to be pressure testing a little bit, which I think is our role. So, what I wanted to understand was is our average life of five years for computers and IT equipment, how does that -- contextualize that for me. How does that compare to the industry as a whole? Do you feel like that is an appropriate average life? Are we proactively replacing equipment or are we having people, you know, hold up their hand and say this just isn't working anymore, it's more than -- is it like when it's over five years you're eligible for replacement? Just give me a flavor for how we -- Tiede: Okay. So, going back to industry standard, for the most part if you look at most organizations you are typically somewhere in the three year range. So, being government we have tried to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and so we have extended that, but on the flip side we also buy an extended warranty to help cover if we have problems with the hardware. So, that's kind of where we are at. We are pretty comfortable with that at this point. We have contemplated changing things up a little bit there, but not in the way of lengthening out further because of problems. So, to give an example of how we handle things when they are due for replacement, they hit that five year mark, typically we are looking at how the hardware is performing, how it's working for the user, if we are seeing lots of problems, whether that's performance related problems that are impacting an employee's ability to do their job or whether that's actual failures of the hardware that we have to send in for repairs. In this specific budget our -- our replacement budget for computers this year has a lot of what we call MDTs, which are the ruggedized units that we use in police and fire vehicles and I would say half the cost, if not a little bit more, of our replacements for this year are going in fire apparatus or police vehicles and those are due to hardware failures that are happening almost daily. To give an example, there was one point -- I think last month where we had seven police vehicles down because of computers dying in them. So, while we are comfortable with it the way it is and don't anticipate any changes, that is an area that we are a little concerned about, because we don't like seeing emergency service vehicles out of commission because of hardware. I'm not sure if that answered you fully, but maybe you can -- if there is follow up -- Strader: I think it helps me a little bit, you know, or you can get back to me, but what is associated with the warranty portion of what you are talking about. Is that individual warranties on specific pieces of equipment or are these warranties on classes of equipment as a whole, i.e., all of the police equipment have one warranty -- Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 16 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 12 of Tiede: Got you, Council Woman Strader. So, what we do is we purchase a five year warranty with our computers up front and those are individual warranties tied to each individual machine, but that's been our standard for a number of years just because we do intend on keeping the computers for five years. If we go beyond that it becomes a lot more costly. Because we buy it up front and we are usually buying computers in bulk, the cost is substantially lower. For a desktop on average we are under a hundred dollars. Somewhere in the 60 to 90 dollar range for that extended warranty. For laptops it's a little bit more. But usually somewhere around 150 or so. So, for MDTs it's closer to 300 1 think, but sometimes as high as 500. Those units, however, on -- individually run usually around four to six thousand dollars. So, a 300 dollar warranty on a 5,000 dollar piece of hardware doesn't seem that bad in our case. Strader: Just to push back a little bit, I guess my request would be if you could look as a -- probably isn't going to make a lot of sense to me at the scale that we have today, but if you would just go back and take a look at the total for the warranty that we have and whether we are now at a scale that we can predict the number of replacements that we need to do on equipment and if, in fact, it would save us money to simply take care of those replacements or, in fact, the warranty is paying for itself, if that makes sense, on certain types of equipment. Tiede: Got you. I can definitely evaluate that, but I know that we have done analysis on MDTs specifically a few years ago and we -- yeah, there was -- there was actually before we moved to this latest generation of hardware we were talking about two to three times we were sending the average unit back to -- for repair. So, considering most of those repairs ranged from 600 dollars to 1,300 dollars, it was well worth it, so -- Strader: And one more replacement oriented -- Purser: You're good. Go ahead. Strader: Slightly different, but I'm just going to get them all out of the way, so we will be done with the replacement thing, at least for me. Have we thought about -- is there a synergy centralizing the management of all of our vehicles, i.e. -- and I understand some of them are very specialized, it may not make a ton of sense, like the fire equipment and -- but have we thought about, you know, at some point is there a synergy to trying to centralize at least maybe the nonspecific use vehicles for repairs, procurement -- Simison: Yes. We have thought about it. Purser: Yeah. Strader: Okay. Simison: And we are tracking and monitoring and eventually there will reach a point in time where it makes sense, but to my knowledge we have not yet gotten there. Otherwise you would see -- as soon as it becomes cheaper to do that -- Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 17 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 13 of Strader: Yes. Simison: -- or more effective than just -- Strader: Okay. Yeah. Okay. It just surprised me. We have so many now it just surprised -- okay. That's something that I'm curious about. Thank you. Purser: We are also looking at, you know, there are opportunities -- because, you know, there are -- there is fleet services in Nampa and our surrounding communities that we can take advantage of or partner with. We are looking at that as well, as opposed to bringing -- or creating our own shop as well. So, that -- we are tracking all of that. Yeah. Hoaglun: While Dave is here I wanted to follow up on Council Woman Strader's questions about updates and whatnot. How much of that, Dave, is driven by software updates, where the hardware is no longer compatible or can't handle the load. I mean oftentimes it seems like that's really what drives and -- is five years too long sometimes or it's just really dependent how often they make updates and changes? Tiede: Councilman Hoaglun, it does depend a lot on what software we are utilizing and what solutions we are looking to implement at the city. But we have found that that five year does tend to meet that sweet spot where we are not playing catch up. As an example, the -- the computer-aided dispatch system that Ada county hosts, when they went to implement that system years ago there were many agencies that found, hey, look, we need to go out and replace a bunch of hardware because it will not -- the software will not run on this hardware and we didn't -- weren't in that situation. We actually were okay. Our hardware is up to date. We can run it and it works well. So, we feel pretty comfortable at this point where we are at. But falling behind that we could get ourselves into that situation where we are incurring costs kind of based off of that, the software is updating and we aren't to that level, so -- Hoaglun: Okay. Thanks. Pursuer: Any other? Cavener: One more just based here on replacement. I have seen in multiple departments we have got Acrobat Pro listed as a -- as a replacement. I recall in the past when we have had kind of large scale software replacements they have come as an enhancement as I recall, so I'm just curious why replacement -- the replacement this year -- and I know you have talked in many years about software as a service, I just wanted to understand is this a software piece that we will focus on or is that a piece that will have an ongoing maintenance or service cost in future years budgets? Tiede: Fair enough. Thank you, Councilman Cavener. So, in general if we are talking about replacing existing functionality in software with something that provides the same thing, we typically do that as replacement, unless we are directed otherwise by the Finance Department. So, over the last few years we have had a number of them. We Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 18 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 14 of had an Office -- Microsoft Office Suite here last year, the year before. We have had Windows. We have had whatever. Most of those have come through as replacements where we have had a couple come through as enhancements just because they are almost a separate cost. Windows 10 was one that we did last year that was an enhancement. But most of the time we do them as replacements. Going back to that subscription piece with Adobe Acrobat specifically, that is going to the subscription based option and because of that we actually work with all the department directors throughout the city to say, okay, where is there a need, where do you need to do this -- have the software to do -- you know, for people to do their jobs versus where is this something -- or where people had it and not really need it -- need it for their business function. So, we did streamline that a lot and reduce the amount of costs that were projected on that front, so -- Cavener: Just a follow up if I can. Dave, is it to be, then, assume that future -- won't see future replacements for this software tool because it's an ongoing cost subscription, it would be viewed as a subscription cost, built in as part of the base budget moving forward? Tiede: That is correct. Moving forward it will be part of the base budget. Cavener: Thank you. Tiede: We felt it was important to call out this year specifically -- Cavener: I appreciate it. Perreault: Can you hear me now? Okay. I will restate my question for Dave. I assume you track the support tickets for all of the software and hardware concerns. How much does that play into the decisions for -- for the replacements and the timing and whatnot? Tiede: It plays into them a lot. We tend to be -- after about the four year mark, sometimes the three year mark we tend to see a lot more software and hardware-related issues on computers in general and so that's something that we take into consideration. Not only that, but we also tend to track which employees are reaching out to us more frequently for related issues and those tend to trend as well with software that's older and has more problems. So, that's definitely part of our evaluation criteria. Purser: Any other questions? All right. So, thank you for those questions. That was really helpful. Moving on to budget requests. So, looking at budget requests, we have about 6.8 million dollars in budget requests that we will be reviewing individually here. You can see they are listed actually in the budget summary. We will make -- we will go into those individually. It's actually down from 11 million last year. That makes up the General Fund. Moving on to our Community Development, there is not a lot going on here. So, from a total standpoint our community development actually is increased by 2.66 percent. This is basically, you know, due to wages -- our operation where we are pretty flat operationally. You know, wages increased year to year is what you will find Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 19 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 15 of here. You will see from a base standpoint, which includes the wages, you see it's up by 2.3 percent year to year just from -- just under six million to just over six million. Replacements. We are actually down year to year. We only --just have some computers we are replacing. You can see the details of those on -- on page six of that budget summary that I gave you guys. That's --that's actually down year to year. We were about 27,000 last year, so -- and, then, the final layer is the budget request. They have one budget request, which we will cover here in a few minutes. It's for one person, so we will go into that here in detail. Moving forward to Enterprise Fund. The total Enterprise Fund budget year to year went up 49 percent. Right. But, you know, you will see a lot of that is from budget requests. If you look at the base budget, the base budget increased by about 4.8 percent. Majority of that is, you know, increase in wages and whatnot. From a replacement standpoint -- sorry. We are actually flat from a replacement standpoint. About 2.4 million this year. We had about the same last year. So, we are kind of even keel from a replacement standpoint -- 2.2 of the 2.4 is in infrastructure projects. Utility infrastructure. The rest are made up of, you know, a vehicle and, you know, some software, replacements, computers and whatnot. And, then, from a budgetary standpoint I think we have about 26 budget requests, you know, totaling 21.5 million dollars. That is year to year a lot higher. We were around 14, 15 million last year. So, that's the bulk of the increase that you -- that we saw a few slides ago. With that I will, you know, stop for any questions. Simison: I'm just going to make a comment, because one of my challenges when I was looking through the budget is the enhancements from last year show up in this year's base budget would show the increase to the base budget. So, you know, we went back and forth, like that should show up in FY- 20, not '21, because FY-21 is my budget, but you guys did it last year, but -- anyways, that's what you see a lot of this increase is the significant investment in personnel that was made last year, why it -- especially in the General Fund why that -- those numbers are showing up more so in the -- in the operational or other costs for this year. So, I at least got that off my second soapbox. And I would just like to point out who has the best socks in the room -- anybody have socks that have a cape attached to them. I think a demonstration during the break is going to be necessary, but -- Purser: So, I will give you -- we are going to transition over to the budget requests. We are going to start with the Enterprise Fund, then, whoever is coming up for that you are welcome to come up now. As far as kind of procedure, what -- what -- what to expect, we are going to start off with Public Works, work through water and, then, the wastewater budget requests. The budget requests you will see are going to look somewhat like here, you are going to see, you know, the name of the budget request and if you want to follow on, these are actually in order in Public Works, so the first one you should see in the Public Works will be the inspection software and, then, we will go to the next one. So, we tried to keep them in order and on your budget summary when you are looking at your budget summary you should also see them kind of in the -- in the order that way. So, it should be hopefully easy enough to look at. If you want to follow along we would encourage that, because here you -- you have the different bullet points that departments will be going over, but there is also, you know, the narrative and some of the other Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 20 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 16 of information that is any to the budget request. You know, you are welcome to follow along if you would like. So, with that kind of what to expect, all the slides look like this in one way or -- you know, one way or another. You know, obviously, content is going to change, but the format should be similar to what you are seeing right here. With that I will actually turn it over to Dale. Simison: And for the record I don't think Public Works has had one question asked by Council in the last two years in your budget. So, I encourage you to -- to break that trend. Bernt: Hey, Dale. We will give you more money if you can give us an enhancement under a hundred bucks. Bolthouse: Under a hundred bucks? Bernt; That's the trade off. Bolthouse: The challenge is on. I can't -- I can't get there. I can't get there this year. Mayor, Members of Council, thank you very much for the opportunity to present the FY- 21 budget requests and enhancements to you today. I appreciate the Mayor's comments that the base budget used in the previous slides did not include the enhancements that you approved last year for us and we did have some incremental labor that was associated, you know, with that that made up a good chunk of that 4.5 percent that you saw. We also had and have now trued up the infamous water meter issue. So, we had the amendment this year for the additional meters we under budgeted last year. That also was reflecting. So, you got a couple of things like that that bring that in to explain that and, actually, we are down -- we have actually went down in our -- in our total base budget requirements if you exclude those items, but before I -- before I begin I want to just tell you that this is a large and complex department, running multiple utilities, engineering support and services and environmental and so we -- we touch on a lot of things and the preparation of this effort actually starts each year in our CFP discussions, which go back to last August and September where we try to spend appropriate time, particularly defining the next fiscal year. That, then, picks up again in February and -- and brings us to this point in time. Obviously, cannot do it without a tremendous amount of help and assistance from staff. I have got behind me our division leadership with Warren in engineering, Laurelei over at operations. Alex overall budget and finance and business division and -- and, of course, anchoring the entire process for budgets is Connie Moon and we appreciate all of her work in getting there. We attempt each year to start from a zero base budget approach. So, we look at what we have done, but we try to use that only as a guide. One of the reasons why you see a significant increase, particularly in the capital, is the city has now for I guess generations instituted the spend then -- or save then spend kind of methodology and so what you see is years like the last couple where we have seen substantially declined capital spending and now we are on the upswing again and -- and those are always typically in support of either growth related initiatives or in this case substantial regulatory initiatives that we must -- we must face. So, we will -- I will do my best to answer those questions and, if not, the subject matter lies behind me or up -- up not far away and we would be happy to get to the level of detail in answering Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 21 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 17 of those questions as -- as necessary. So, we have 26 requests this year that I'm going to walk you through that cover the wastewater, water, City Hall, and eventually the streetlight department. So, with that I will start with the first one here. So, this is supporting our inspections division, construction management. These are the folks that are out in the field. They are watching both the city capital infrastructure projects, as well as all the development projects that are occurring in our community and the request here is for some software that allows them to have better access to the various pieces of information and data required. It gives them that access in the field. It puts it all in one location. Allows each of them to upload information that's accessible by the broad audience and offers shared documentation. It's a request for 6,700 dollars to get it initially set up and, then, it's a little over 6,000 dollars annually for that -- for that software service. So, we looked at it as an efficiency improvement that really offers great access to the information that they need in the field. So, with that I guess I would stand for questions on that project. Perreault: Is this a -- this is a new software subscription. Bolthouse: Correct. Perreault: For this year; correct? Bolthouse: It's a new one. Perreault: Is there any way to get an idea of -- or quantify how much staff time that actually changes or how much -- an estimate of time saved on the staff's part by having a service like this if it's going to be a request that's made annually for subscription and not a one time -- Bolthouse: I suppose you could probably make a -- an estimate. We are talking about seven individuals who are out in the field scattered around the city, so we have extensive -- expense in this. This would prevent the requirement for them to be coming back into City Hall and gathering some of the documents that they have to gather today. So, really, it's -- it's a -- it's a -- it's an efficiency improvement, cost avoidance kind of improvement. We did not go through an exercise to estimate that this was going to save X amount of dollars, but when you look at several hundred thousand dollars worth of labor that's being expended, 6,000 dollars is pretty minimal and I assure you that we will gain those efficiencies in -- you know, in the field and in the opportunity to do more inspections, more complete inspections, while they are out in the field. They rarely come back to City Hall for a lot of the things today and this will further that effort. Okay. The next -- any questions? The next Public Works project is actually not in the department that I manage and that it is in the land development group and Bruce is going to go ahead and come up and speak to that now. Bruce. Freckleton: Mayor and Council, thank you for -- thank you for this opportunity. It's a good question, Councilman Bernt. The land development division of community development is funded out of the Enterprise Fund. We do primarily the -- the sanitary sewer-water, reclaimed water plan reviews for Public Works through our -- through our plan review Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 22 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 18 of process. It's -- it was -- that division used to be part of Public Works. We, then, formed Community Development, we brought planning, community -- or excuse me -- Development Services, so that's building and land, together just for better continuity on projects. Okay. So, Mayor and Council, this request is for the third and final phase of a software implementation for ProjectDox software. We began in 2018 as part of our -- what we call the project pivot and that's when we brought the building section -- much of the building section in house. We purchased ProjectDox, which is an electronic plan review software. We --the initial phase one was to get the building section up and running on the software. We did that. We completed that in 2019. We rolled into phase two of the plan, which was to bring the planning division into -- into that software. That project is finishing up this year and so phase three, which is subject to this budget request, is for the third and final phase, which is to integrate the landed development section into that software. This software allows our customers to apply for, communicate, do basically all of their plan submittal electronically from their offices. We do our plan review electronically. Customers can track anytime of day and night the progress of their -- their projects, plan reviews, that sort of thing. So, with that I would stand for any questions right now. Simison: Bruce, just to refresh my memory, there is funds being carried forward that are left over from this year's project and this will supplement those funds to enable them to do it. So, it's a much larger cost, the money that -- using the majority of funds. Freckleton: That is correct, Mayor. We do anticipate that we are going to have -- what was the number -- 19,631 dollars left over from the planning portion of the project. So, this would supplement that to complete phase three. Hoaglun: I do have a question, but it's going to be directed towards Finance based on this. This is because we see it from time to time. There is contingency built in and often that is not needed. Is that just swept back into -- back to the Enterprise Fund in this case or General Fund depending on where it is? That was my assumption, but I just wanted to be sure. Lavoie: Great assumption. Freckleton: Correct assumption. Hoaglun: Thank you. Bolthouse: Thanks, Bruce. Okay. So, we are going to walk you through now the water utility and the budget requests associated with that. The first one is a request for 15,000 dollars for an arc flash study. This is a required effort that must occur anywhere where we have high voltage panels in place. This money provides for a full evaluation of those, assessment of the risk and proper labeling and ultimately training for our employees on how to approach those kinds of instrument panels. So, we do this now on a five year basis. This is the year that we need to get it done and there is a companion project on the wastewater side that you will see. So, what we did is we have estimated the cost and Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 23 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 19 of divided it between the two utilities evenly. So, with that I will stand for any questions. Okay. The next in the water portfolio is the category that we call water main extensions or adjustments. This is kind of the -- Lavoie: Dale? If you guys want to follow -- I apologize, Dale. We are now into the water category. If you guys flip to your water section. Dale, just to make sure they can follow you. Under the water tab within the green section under request this is where you will be able to follow Dale if you would like the detail. Sorry about that, Dale. Bolthouse: Shoot. I was trying to confuse them. You are thumbing through Parks looking for where this is at. I know you are. Strader: I'm right where you're at, Dale. Bolthouse: Okay. Thanks, Liz. All right. So, are we all on the same page? All right. Great. So, water main extensions and adjustments. This -- this category, you know, historically was titled for those times where the city truly just extended our service out. Now it largely encompasses not only projects occasionally that come through for those extensions, but any of the efforts that we need to make as it -- as it's associated with road and other utility type projects. So, ITD, ACHD type efforts where we have to go in and we have to make the adjustments to our systems to accommodate the modified roadways and those kinds of things and in this case there are three ACHD projects that are being planned for next year that require funding for those utility adjustments and they are listed as Eagle Road, Amity-Lake Hazel, Amity to Victory and at Ten Mile and Amity intersection. So, this is an aggregate pool of funding that we traditionally project forward at a historical rate. It's actually up a little bit this year because of those specific projects. We work closely through our transportation and utility coordinator to understand what's going to be necessary from us as a water or wastewater utility doing work in the right of way that the highway district controls and these reflect our best estimates based on what is known about these projects today, so -- Strader: I think one thing that may be helpful for people that -- maybe half Council already is aware, but at least for me as a new Council Member was understanding that alternative methods of putting our infrastructure in, you are not saving money, like you would have to buy the right of way and there was a lot of synergy with putting these things in the same place that ACHD and ITD are -- are doing things. The challenge is that they completely control it and we are required to adjust it based on what they do, so -- Bolthouse: Well said. Strader: -- appreciate the coordination to try to plan as much as possible. Bolthouse: The other thing on both extensions and on replacements, to the extent that we can coordinate with a road or a highway project it saves the city from having to do a large portion or the majority of surface restoration and that is extremely expensive when you go and tear up the road and have to bring it back to its -- its original state. So, there Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 24 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 20 of is a measure -- significant measure of coordination with those utilities to make sure that we are in sync with them. Hoaglun: Dale, real quick, just another process question. I looked in the base budget water construction projects, the 3490 code, you know, it's those ongoing operating 18,000. Is this pretty much kind of a -- there are going to be amendments coming along because of -- you are dealing with third parties, other government entities that may all of a sudden change or add to their budget situation. So, it seems like to me and my recollection is -- of course last time I served there was a recession going on, so it wasn't a lot of activity. So, can you guide me a little bit on what we can expect down the road. There will be more budget amendments, things will change, or -- I mean this is a known item coming up for this fiscal year, but -- Bolthouse: It is. And I tell you as we get -- as we get better in planning and coordination we put in the best information that we can into our ten year UP, but you are right, Brad, there is -- there is an ongoing expectation that every year we will have some level of activity that is in this account, as well as in replacements that we need, and we are right now in a bit of a higher level of roadwork and so you are seeing it both here and on the sewer side and we have a significant number of efforts. That's good on the transportation front, but it forces us to --you know, to respond and put the money in and make it available to do what's necessary to keep our infrastructure intact and servicing the -- the areas. Now, if you look at the CFP I believe after next year this -- this particular account line comes back down and it's estimated at roughly 300 to 350 thousand dollars. I guess time will tell if our -- if our city or county's appetite for road projects continue at the level it is. We will be looking carefully and may have to adjust that number up, but it is an annual item that we try to look at and we try to project what our needs are and if we don't know we will plug in an historical level of spending to -- to make sure that it gets into the modeling and gets into our rate structures, those kinds of things, and if we are not surprised by it at the time. Hoaglun: We just have to be prepared as well not to be surprised. Bolthouse: You do. Yeah. And, you know, in some cases we get surprised and we had an experience like that early in the year where you approved an amendment, particularly as it related to the Linder Road -- excuse me -- Ten Mile Road projects where the ultimate design and plans had a much greater significant impact on our infrastructure than what we were originally told and what we experienced. So, we had to add incremental money to -- to satisfy that one. Hoaglun: Thanks. Lavoie: Dale, if I could add. Brad, to assist Dale and his team with these -- as you call surprises or projects, we do have a fund balance policy and we work with Dale and his team to make sure that we have appropriate funds available for these ad hoc projects or surprise projects so that we can react in a positive manner for the system -- for the community. So, when we work with him to make sure he has funds on an annual basis Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 25 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 21 of that he can go to you guys -- go ahead, we have funds available, can we react and, hopefully, the answer is always yes on a timely basis to meet what we are talking about, let's use synergy and work with the proper agency. Hoaglun: That's great. Thanks. Bolthouse: Okay. The next project before you is in our -- in our water department. We currently use a drive around mobile meter reading system that generates the usage that automatically uploads to the city's water billing systems. That unit is approaching an age where we are starting to see some issues. Last year I think we had -- or last year we have had five mechanical breakdowns of that unit and it creates tremendous stress in the organization to try to get things repaired, try to get out, get the reads done and we feel it's prudent that we request a second unit as a redundant unit, anticipating that the current unit is going to fail, we have no backup, and so in order to keep our billing systems intact with a mobile reading unit, the request here is for an additional unit that we will use and take our aging unit off site and use that as a backup for a number of years. In total, we are probably in that eight to nine years away from a fixed base reading system and we will be back to talk to you more about that as we enter winter this coming year. We have a current contract relationship with our -- with our meter reading company that has them paying for and allowing us to learn a little bit more about fixed based reading systems, but we are currently on a -- on a slow conversion process to get to where ultimately we will have a fixed base reading, but we are still going to need, you know, this unit to be bridging that gap and if we are lucky maybe this -- this will carry us through that -- the balance of that time frame. Cavener: Dale, is it your intention, then, to run two mobile readers? And this is -- this is more than just -- sounding more than just replacing one that could potentially go bad, it's -- it's utilizing both -- assuming this -- the current one you have continues to function. Bolthouse: Our intention is to have a second unit, which is -- offers us a redundancy in the event that we have continuing failures with the current unit as it continues to age. So, we are not going to run another reading unit, if you will, or -- or employee going around. But this just gives us the redundancy in order to make sure that we can reliably get the reads when we need them. This is an activity that takes several days every two weeks for each billing cycle and we just don't have backup capability to get it done and -- Cavener: Thanks. Bolthouse: So, the next budget is Well 17 -- budget request for Well 17 water treatment. This is a project that we brought to you requesting an amendment in FY-20 to get initiated. This came as a result of us getting very high ratings for manganese in particular on Well 17. It required us to take this well offline and move quicker than what we anticipated in getting iron and manganese treatment on it. So, this is listed as year two of two, because earlier this year it was approved to move forward with the -- with the first step. This offers a treatment facility improving water quality and as mentioned allows us to operate wells without the concern or issue of having a regulatory noncompliance as it relates to, you Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 26 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 22 of know, these constituents of concern. In the first year on a typical treatment facility we do all of the analysis of the water and we design and order the processing vessel that's required. It's a substantial piece of equipment. And in the second year we, then, install and construct the actual facility that contains the treatment and comes online. So, you -- or Council had approved 900,000 for that design and equipment order. This request for the 1 .1 million completes that and we will bring this on at the conclusion of FY-21 . Just a couple of facts I guess about well treatment in general. We currently have five treatment facilities that are online and over the course of the next several years and in the five year CFP we are looking at six additional well treatment facilities coming online, which includes this and five others that are -- that are being scheduled and that will bring us to a -- the bulk of our horsepower wells having treatment capability to take care of the constituents that are of concern in those wells. This is the leading contributor to discolored water that we have in the city, so with high mineral content and -- and the addition of residual chlorine creates chemical reaction, causes a precipitate, and that precipitate shows itself as a water discoloration issue throughout the city. So, this is a big commitment that we have started four or five years ago to try to get the bulk of the city supply wells converted with treatments. Perreault: Dale, may I ask a question? Bolthouse: Yes. Perreault: So, to understand correctly, this was -- there was a plan or it was already in the CFP to do construction of this well, but you are advancing that because of some condition issues that were found -- Bolthouse: That's correct. Perreault: -- in the well itself and the water -- Bolthouse: Yes. Perreault: -- that was being treated? Okay. Bolthouse: We are obligated by regulation to do sampling under the UCMR program dictated by EPA and the results of that program result -- determined that this particular well, which we had had scheduled for treatment, was dangerously close to a level that would have required us to make significant notification to all citizens and those kinds of things and so it was prudent for the city to move this up, accelerate it, get it started and get that particular issue taken care of. The balance of the wells that are on this site are not quite as -- as critical, but certainly are important and are scattered across all five zones in our water systems -- our, you know, supply system that we have, so -- okay. The next project, Well 18, was originally planned and this particular request is for year two. Very similarly we had 800,000 dollars in FY-20 to do equipment design and procurement and the balance of this effort, then, allows us to complete that facility installation and construction. Slightly higher than the other. Prices do vary between site to site based on Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 27 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 23 of its capability, its output, the chemistry of the water that's required, the level of treatment that's required, so this one in -- in total is about 2.2 million dollars to -- over two years to complete the treatment facility, but it's a -- it's a large high output well that's supporting our zone three supply, which is one of our two largest zones in the city, so same -- same kind of effort there. Any questions? Okay. Well 25 liner upgrades. So -- thank you. Kyle -- Kyle's probably the one that -- that can speak in the greatest detail on this, but we have had -- on some of our older wells we have had challenges with chemistry changing over time. One of the solutions is to go down into that well and put a liner in, which allows you to more select the particular aquifer that you are drawing from. In 2014 this particular well had a temporary sleeve put in to select to a particular aquifer. That worked very successfully. It was about a 30,000 dollar investment. It was a black iron sleeve that fit down in there and that sleeve is now deteriorating. So, this particular project is requesting 200,000 dollars to remove the temporary pilot fix for that and replace it with a stainless steel sleeve that will allow that well to serve for -- for many generations to come. This is also a zone three particular project and so we are just trying to now put in a more permanent solution that will serve the city for many years to come. Questions? Bernt: Hey, Dale? Bolthouse: Sir. Bernt: So, going forward would it make more sense to do a permanent fix, so that we can save money. Bolthouse: I believe that you would find that the well construction techniques today resolve a lot of this. PVC columns -- a lot of the infrastructure that goes down now today is -- are stainless steel. So, on new wells we have -- I think we have better opportunity for that, but if -- if and when we get in and if we can't -- if we can't solve it through our test well and we have to go to this method, I'm not so sure that this still isn't a viable option for the minimal amount of money to at least prove that we can take care of it with a -- with a lower cost thing. But I'm sure that that's very -- very possible. Bernt: That was my one question to you, by the way. Bolthouse: It was? Okay. That's it? All right. A new a high score. Simison: And you really took it to heart. Thank you. Bolthouse: Yeah. Yeah. So, a good effort. You know, sometimes, you know, this -- this stuff with wells, as I'm learning, is just -- it -- you can rely on sound science as much as you can, but there are just things that are happening out, you know, in the aquifer and different things that we can't predict and so we get zingers and we just have to kind of work through them in the best manner as possible. In this case very similar to 20-B, we had the exact same situation. It worked well. We saw that same deterioration. So, it's been resolved here a year or two ago. But, yeah, it's -- in this case was a good -- good strategy to put in and try to salvage the aquifer and the well supply, so -- questions? Okay. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 28 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 24 of Next one is Well 9 replacement. So, this is year two of a three year project. Typically when we build or replace wells it's -- it's kind of a three part series. One is building a test well and confirming what aquifer we want to tap for that. That's usually in year one. The construction of the actual production well falls in year two and in year three it's followed by the completion of the full pumping facility and bringing that on -- online. Well 9 is -- is over here off of Franklin between here and Linder Road. It's back in a little area. The city purchase some additional property to give a better well lot size. This thing is not much more than a Tuff shed stuck over -- stuck over a well, so it's -- although it's served us well, it's not a very safe and certainly not a long term facility for us. So, the overall intent here was to secure some land and expand the site. We did that a few years ago. We are now concluding the test well this year and this -- and in this particular case it will build the production well and this is a 1977 well, so it's served the city for a number of years and it's located in a good location and we want to continue to -- to utilize the site. So, with that it's a -- it's about a 1 .95 million three year project to completely build a new well on this well site. Questions? PRV SCADA. So, as the -- as you are aware we have multiple pressure zones within the city and along those pressure zone breaks we utilize a -- a piece of equipment or infrastructure called a pressure reducing valve and these go in along that boundary. They serve a purpose of regulating pressure from one zone to the other. We can also transfer water from one zone to other as -- as called for or needed and in this case these particular PRVs were constructed at a point in time where they were -- there was no electricity and things available to the site. With growth and other things we now have it. We would like to bring those into our overall SCADA system, so that we can manage and monitor those pressure reducing valves from our central command system that we have, offering real time pressure zone monitoring and ultimately control by the Water Department. So, this will take care of pressure -- or PRV 2935. There are some others that will be coming down the road and we will just budget for those and kind of step our way through and get those -- get those brought online, so that we have access -- access control the way that we would ultimately like to have. Borton: Do you have any reason why we wouldn't get those done now? Why wait? Bolthouse: Other than the budgetary thing. I guess I would ask Warren if there is any specific reason one of those other sites -- it may be -- it may be the other sites do not have electrical power yet, but -- Stewart: Okay. And I don't know that I have a tremendous answer for you, but some of them are -- still not got power associated to them. So, as power -- we can -- we can see power getting closer, there is developments that are occurring around them, we know that those developments are going to, you know, build out in the next few years and so we will bring them on and so we have a few of them that are that way. We also have a few of these that have -- you know, to kind of go along with this there is a few that we have put in that we are going to removed. As we have developed the pressure zone some of them will be removed. But the bottom line is we are -- it's just opportunistic as growth comes in around those and allows us the opportunity to bring power in economically, we will go ahead and take care of them. That and budget. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 29 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 25 of Borton: So, one -- I think this is a good question example on our process, Mr. Mayor, is there will be questions that might come up in today's discussion, which don't maybe necessitate an answer right now, we are not trying to catch anyone cold, but there will be questions where the director may say -- and get that, we will take a look, and, then, share that with us over the coming week or two in preparation for June 30. So, I didn't mean to -- not trying to catch you cold there, but -- Bolthouse: Yeah. Borton: If there is questions that we asked that cause any director to say let me chew on that and get back to you, that's totally acceptable. Bolthouse: Okay. Borton: Thanks. Bolthouse: So, let me chew on that and get back to you. So, here is -- so, here is the flip side. So, as -- as we over time build our water system out and the robustness of it and you see changes in pressure and zone boundaries and those kinds of things, we actually have some PRVs that are no longer needed and, in fact, they kind of present a risk. They are there. They are operating. They are not needed. They require maintenance, those kinds of things. And so this next budget request is for 30,000 dollars to actually remove and take offline three that have outlived their utility to the system and what we will do is to the extent we can we will try to salvage some of the guts out of them, but, basically, we go in, remove the piping, bury them, and nobody will know they were -- they were ever there I guess in the future and so we actually have three of those that we are requesting funds to go ahead and abandon them and that -- that does happen periodically where we -- where things have changed to where they are no longer necessary, so -- -trader: Hey, Dale, there is still secondary market where we get the -- Bolthouse: Not really. You know, like anything, you know, the technology and some of those things are changing so fast, but we will -- we will take the guts out of them. We will utilize them ourselves or any maintenance repair needs, sometimes they can be re -- reused. Our arrangement on getting new ones built are that the developer will build the vault and bring in the necessary power and things if available and, then, the city actually specs and constructs out of our Enterprise Fund balance the -- the actual PRVs, so that we make sure that they are done, they are done correctly, they are done with the equipment that's necessary and that we put in the SCADA and -- and the logic that's -- that we would desire, presuming the power is available, so -- Cavener: Dale, on this -- either now or in the future, depending on time, I would like a little bit better understanding about how many more of these that we have out there that could potentially be abandoned in the future and how you as a department determine if it's no longer useful. Still you make a decision based on kind of where we think the growth is going to be, it comes faster, it comes slower, you make your determination. Do you Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 30 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 26 of have any good understanding about how you derive that, how did you come to that conclusion and how many more of these could be out there just for future years I think would be of benefit. Bolthouse: Okay. We can -- and we can get to that. A lot of this stuff is master planned. Unfortunately, growth doesn't necessarily occur exactly the way you think and, then, you know, secondly, it depends upon the opportunity and how robust the water system kind of builds around this particular area. That may render it no longer needed in that case, but I would be happy to get you the information and our best estimate of what we see coming down the road. Bernt: Our friends to the west might want to buy our old stuff. Bolthouse: It's always for sale. Okay. The next water is -- in fact, it's our final budget request for water -- is that we have another relatively old well, Well 11 . It's located down Lanark. So, if you were to go past to the east of the parks maintenance facility and go down towards the end of Lanark, we have a well. We call it Well 11 . It's on a very small parcel of land. It requires an easement with the school district property in order for us to meet the necessary setbacks for DEQ for where wells can be located at other facilities. It was built in -- I believe 1979. It's on our list for a well replacement starting in 2025. The problem is is that we cannot rebuild that well in its current location and this particular request is to secure some funding to buy a piece of property. We have identified some potential candidates that are in the area. The well is in the general location. It is located where we need it and this request is for approval to pursue that. We need approximately one acre for, you know, a modern well site and that would allow us the opportunity to not only build the well, but also add, if necessary, a treatment facility in time. So, as I mentioned this well is scheduled to start the replacement process in 2025. So, development pressures and other things are consuming property and so we feel like we have got to make an opportunistic move to try to secure a well site in that area. This is all commercial basically in here. So, it's not like we are tapping a development to say, hey, you know, would you donate a lot to this kind of thing. So, good project. We are trying to plan ahead. And this would give us the opportunity to go and try to seek a piece of property in the area for -- for a new well down the road. Simison: Okay. As we move into the next one, to try to -- I'm going to give us all a five minute break. This is -- you are looking at this and you can participate. So, real quick take whatever you need to do, restroom, et cetera, come back when -- (Recess: 2:37 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.) Bolthouse: So, we will -- we will start rolling through the wastewater budget requests. The first one, which was a companion to the -- our clash on the waterside, I would imagine there is probably no question. So, I will flip over. I don't see any eyes rolling or anything. So, second one for the wastewater plant is following the -- the successful conclusion of our most recent capacity expansion project. Sorry. I'm -- I'm not very good at multitasking here. We need to get started on the next -- the next step, so we -- at our wastewater Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 31 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 27 of treatment plant we have a series of projects that all kind of make up the capacity and capability of that facility, allowing us to meet our growth needs and our ultimate requirements that were issued in our 2017 permit. We have a ten year runway to get those things done and this is one of the next particular projects and it -- this really is now addressing the processing horsepower. It goes in and upgrades the facility that we are currently abandoning with the new treatment process, converts that process to the -- to the new and, interestingly, I -- this retrofit and upgrade to the existing plant saves the city 19 million dollars, as opposed to constructing from new and getting the same kind of capacity and horsepower. So, great project. Next step. Not sure it ever ends, but I will stand for any questions if you have any on this particular project. Perreault: Dale, I have a couple of questions. What year are we in in the ten year requirement? This is a -- a federal requirement -- Bolthouse: Correct. Perreault: -- to do these upgrades; right? Bolthouse: That's correct. Perreault: What year are we in and are there -- are there federal funding to complete some of this or is that all the responsibility of the city? Bolthouse: I will take those one at a time. So, we -- our new permit went into place in August of 2017. So, we are concluding the third year of our permit, moving into our fourth. We will get a new permit in 2025. 2022. I'm sorry. So, every five years. So, we are anticipating a new permit in 2022 and a new permit in 2027. However, our 2017 permit gave us a ten year compliance schedule to implement everything that's required in the 2017 permit, so -- and, then, to answer your question, the financial situation of the City of Meridian likely will not enable us to secure any kind of federal funding, which largely goes to communities who truly can't afford the required upgrades that are necessary. Perreault: Is there requirements -- Bolthouse: Yes, there is. To date if you look at all the projects we are about 81 million into 150 million dollar portfolio of projects to meet growth and regulatory compliance associated with that 2017 permit requirement and stay tuned for what we get in 2022. Hoaglun: Dale, real quick on this. I was just curious if I could get a high level response. You know, this year the request is for two and a half million. Next year it will be five million and, then, 2023 it shows over 11 million dollars for this project. Is that construction? I mean what makes the third year so much higher? Bolthouse: Yes. That is -- that's the bulk of your construction. So, likely on how this lays out for three years is that next year will be spent on project design. Second year you will have some construction and some procurement. And the third year is the heavy Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 32 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 28 of construction. Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you. Bolthouse: Okay. The next initiative that we are requesting funding for is the side stream phosphorus recovery project. This is also a compliance effort. This removes phosphorus, which is a critical nutrient that is part of our NPDES permit compliance requirements. This is the second year. This year we have 550,000 dollars that you have approved that are going towards the design of that system and that's going quite well and year two here will give us the actual construction of the necessary equipment to do that. Of interest here, this will remove phosphorus and actually dispose of that with our landfill solids. Down the road we are reserving the right and are constructing what we have today that would potentially allow us to actually harvest that material and could potentially be used as a commercial fertilizer type product down the road. But that is -- that in itself, all being -- although being planned for, is not included in this dollar amount. It just does not make economic sense to install that part of that particular equipment today. Strader: So, I think it's like -- kind of our discussion may be good for the rest of Council to sort of get -- get a summary of -- so, this is -- this is modular in the sense that the construction that you are going with to meet the regulatory requirements will be able to harvest the phosphorus to potentially sell it later. So, nothing about how we are approaching this would stop us from doing that as a project. Bolthouse: Correct. Otherwise -- other than the fact that it will require more extensive machinery to actually extract it to the point where you have a saleable product, which is like a fertilizer pellet that you might find in your retail products today. Strader: And at what point would this project be completed where it's an appropriate time for us to check it on that next stage? Bolthouse: I think we will continually check that, because at some point in time if the -- if -- if either the disposal of our landfill product gets excessively expensive or the retail or commercial value of that phosphorus material increases -- Strader: Right. Bolthouse: -- you will -- you will likely hit that nexus where it makes sense to consider that investment. So, we will -- we will do it often to keep tabs on that. Next project is -- I went the wrong way. The next project is to secure some funding to assist as we prepare for our 2022 NPDES permit. Leading up to 2017 the city leveraged significantly outside resources to assist in all the necessary steps in preparation for the permit. In fact, spent over 500,000 dollars. In doing so we have a very experienced and talented staff today, many of which went through that process, but there are a number of things that we do need help on. So, this is a two year request, 75,000 dollars in '21 , 75,000 dollars in the early part of '22, seeking outside assistance for stream modeling, reasonable potential analysis, permit compliance planning. So, significantly reduced from past efforts, but we Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 33 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 29 of do think we need some outside resource to assist us in putting together everything and negotiating the best permit in 2022 in the City of Meridian. The next project is the continuation of our digester construction. So, a lot of the effort that you have seen us in a hurry here to talk about has largely been associated around the liquid stream processing and in '20 you approved the initial effort to design our new digester. We have two today of this same nature. We need a third. It's largely a capacity driven project. This is year two that would allow us to continue that actual initiation of equipment procurement and construction. It does carry on for -- for the third year as a total project cost of about 11 million dollars and positions us for digester -- or, excuse me, for solid processing for -- in excess of ten years at the current growth rates that we are seeing. Likewise, the next project is for the DAFT retrofit. That's the dissolved air flotation thickener. Before solid materials are sent to the digester we try to remove as much liquid as we can. That's done through the DAFT. We have two of those today. We can expand the capacity of those and we are doing the first part of that project this year in '20. This is year two of that effort. For a million dollars. We are looking at the avoidance or elimination of adding a third digester, which is a three million dollar project and we are anticipating that this also will delay that further investment for approximately ten years of a third unit. So, again, rebuilding and retrofitting, a good financial decision for the city now. Next project is for a particular pump in the facility. The internal mixed liquor recycled pump. And just -- just -- just so you can really bone up on your nitrification cycle, Laurelei has added this nice chart down here. Actually, the pump that's shown is what we are actually procuring, but it does play a very significant role in recycling and reusing and -- and moving product within the aeration basins where it's needed and we have identified a -- a bit of a risk in that we do not have a spare of these procured and we are eventually in this permit cycle getting to the point where not having that capability to -- to fix something very quickly actually could lead to, you know, considerations of permit performance and nonconformance. So, we look across the facility and look for these kinds of opportunities where we feel like we have high risk and this is certainly what's been identified this year for 50,000 dollars, so -- okay. Struvite. Periodically we need to remove struvite. It's a -- it's a chemical crystalline compound that builds up in our pipes and things. It's a result of the perfect combination of -- of environment and pH and chemical constituents that are in the system and it is as hard as concrete and it blinds off various vessel -- vessel pumping and pipes and those kinds of things. We have found a chemical treatment that we can put into the system, circulate, and it breaks it back down and we are doing that on roughly a every two years cycle and it's time to do that again and so our request here is for 50,000 dollars to do -- and remove that and -- and by doing so on a regular basis we are avoiding significant maintenance downtime and -- and other costs by -- by being able to chemically treat and remove struvite buildup in our facility. Strader: Quick question maybe for Todd. This is something that we need to do clearly to keep our infrastructure in place. It's a regular occurring request. It sounds like it's going to be happening regularly. At what point does this just get added into the base budget and is no longer an enhancement? Or Brad. Lavoie: That's a fair question, Liz. We can -- we always work with the directors and departments to see if we want to add it to the long term replacement schedule and if this Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 34 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 30 of is something we want to add kind of like infrastructure utility replacements, you will see in the Enterprise Fund we can add this going forward. We just have to put some notes in the book to add it for 50,000 this year, then, zero for next year, then, 50,000 the next year. Again, it's something that the director can ask us and we can do that going forward. We will just work with them going forward. Bolthouse: It hasn't been an every year event. In fact, last time is when we found and -- researched and found the chemical that was available to be using it, so this is kind of our second cycle in doing that. Projects like sidestream phosphorus will help reduce this and so we are hoping that when that project comes online the need for this will reduce. It won't go away, but it will reduce and it's -- it's just not an every year event right now. Now, we keep track of it in our CFP, so when you look at that you will find these kind of periodic operational expenses are included there so we don't lose sight of them. They are included in all of our rate modeling efforts, those kinds of things, they are just not -- they are just not being built into the base yet. So, the next couple of requests are associated with FTE and these are -- these are kind of concluding efforts that we started three to four years ago as we knew we were growing and building and expanding our wastewater treatment facility and have been slowly adding both operations and mechanical support and the first position that we are requesting is for an operations supervisor. The little pictograph does kind of depict where we are at with two supervisors. We do not have the capability to cover the facility 24/7, seven -- you know, 365 a year. This request is for a frontline supervisor that will be largely focused on coverage for nights and weekends and give us the oversight. You know, as that operation becomes more and more complex, you know, our -- our recovery time on any kind of an issue is -- is declining rapidly and we are -- we are going to need the -- the oversight. This has been planned. It's been planned for a number of years when we put together the staffing strategy for the facility, so this is a request for that supervisory position. I will go ahead and I will talk about the next one. Although they are not directly related, the next one is -- is also to help support that 24/7 operation. This request is for a lead mechanic. So, it's not a full supervisory role, but it's a higher level mechanical skill and a position that can also offer lead responsibilities for particularly the weekend work now that we have seven day a week maintenance coverage for the -- for the expanded facility. So, with that I will stand for any questions as it relates to labor. Again, these have been both planned for and part of our plan for a number of years and complete -- completes the effort to get coverage we need for seven day, 24/7 operation. You will see additional positions in the CFP coming and that will largely be a result of the facility just nearly doubling in size as we retrofit and bring the full operation on that it's just -- we are covering -- we are covering a lot of area and -- and the technology is becoming very complex, so -- Hoaglun: Dale, you will be off the hook on this one. Question for Finance. This -- again process. When you look at total budget request for personnel lifetime, each fiscal year it is the same amount, even though we know it gets adjusted -- usually up depending on CIP, different variables, but it doesn't look like there is any adjustment or guesstimate as to what's requested. Todd: Fair question, Brad. So, the database that we use to maintain these particular Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 35 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 31 of documents are at cost today. We don't do inflationary adjustments in the database itself or compute -- eliminate the confusing factors to ask all our directors to figure out what inflation rate to use and what growth rate. So, we ask them to imagine a cost. When we do our forecasting within our forecasting model we, then, apply appropriate inflationary rates to that forecast. So, you see cost -- because we just wanted to pick what the cost is and at a later date we will adjust accordingly. Hoaglun: Okay. Great. Thanks. Dale: The -- the next request is for year one of a two year project to complete the undergrounding of the wastewater power line system. With the variety of projects that we have had in the last few years we have been successful in undergrounding about 60 percent of the wastewater power distribution system and that carries with it a significant reduction in risk of power loss. We have had a handful of power outages over the course of the last few years. Every one of them have been associated with the overhead line system. Bird strikes. Weather. People banging into power poles or the tension guide wires and those kinds of things. And, unfortunately, that loop system integrity is what allows us to get power distributed around -- even backup power and so we actually had a situation where we couldn't even distribute our backup power on the system. So, something we have been talking about for a number of years. We have now concluded the components that we can with our recent expansion project. This is the first year of a two year project to design -- spend funds to design that and ultimately next year seek funds to bring all of the power distribution to our wastewater facility and the loop that's created, put it all underground and reduce that significant risk of disruption. We have about 40 minutes from the time our power goes out until the time that we have liquid flow happening in areas that we don't want it happening and so it's very critical. Our backup generation system is excellent, but if it has no power line or no system to run on, it creates a significant risk. We have a high voltage contractor that is on contract and represents our emergency response and they do a good job, but if they are ever faced with a case that cannot be immediately resolved, we are -- we are into a significant issue and the few that we have been involved with are not -- they are not fun. So, this is -- this is a project to really reduce that risk and have a very robust system with our backup power generation. Perreault: Dale? Bolthouse: Yes. Perreault: I have a question for you. So, this is just on the wastewater facility site; correct? Bolthouse: That's correct. Perreault: So, how does this -- does this help or how does this help if -- if power goes out at a different location? I mean is that -- is there any infrastructure that's going to be put in that's going to help that or that's going to increase the -- the capability -- or the -- you Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 36 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 32 of know, time in which you have to start the generator? Are you going to have some additional time before you have to do that with the improvements that are made? Bolthouse: So, this project is just for the wastewater treatment facility. All other critical infrastructure have directly connected backup power generation systems at them. Wells. Pump stations. They all have their own backup generator system and it's not relying upon overhead infrastructure to -- to actually connect to and -- and -- and run the system, so -- okay. Wastewater SCADA. Very -- very critical part of our SCADA system is the alarming capabilities that we have and we are requesting 30,000 dollars to upgrade probably one of the most important parts of that and that's our 911 call out system. So, anytime we get alarming systems -- and there is thousands of them that are throughout the facilities -- our -- our knowledge of those events come first through -- many times this 911 SCADA system and our current system is cumbersome, we have had some challenges. It requires significant intervention with our SCADA administration staff and we have an opportunity to upgrade that for 30,000 dollars and feel it's a very important project for us to do, so this is a software upgrade effort for alarm calls. Sewer line extensions, adjustments just like on the water side, this actually has one significant effort that is going to be upgrading the Five Mile trunk sewer and relieving a -- a backup or overload area. That's about -- that's about 60, 70 percent of this project. The other is two ACHD projects that are kind of sister efforts of the ones we talked about on the water side. This one also has a tendency to go up and down depending upon what's necessary, but these are -- these are three -- three particular projects that make up that portfolio of money. The last wastewater project that we have identified here is a continuing effort to secure property around the wastewater treatment facility. So, we very much appreciate your support for our most recent effort to secure some of the land. I'm pleased to say that we are 99 percent of our way through that process. Closing would be not later than July 6th on that property and, in fact, my discussion with legal today suggested that we are going to probably be targeting June 25th to complete that -- that acquisition. So, thank you for doing that. I think we have some great strategies on how we want to utilize that. There is another piece of property in the photo that we feel makes a very significant strategic acquisition and this request is for the funds that if we can and if we are successful in -- in negotiating for that, we think it's in the city's best long term interest to go ahead and procure that piece of property as well, thus giving the city complete control of the contiguous property that abuts the facility and offers the opportunity for growth for -- for that buffer spacing, et cetera. So, I will -- if you can see in that drawing -- I should have pointed out for -- with -- with -- with the current and planned expansion projects that, you know, the property that we own is -- is quickly filling with process equipment and capability and, really, what we are trying to do here is make long term efforts on behalf of the city, so that this one single site will serve the city for really decades out in front of us by having enough property to -- to expand, so -- Perreault: Dale, I have a question about the amount. Is that based on a preliminary conversation with the owner? How did that figure come to be? Bolthouse: So, that -- that price came to be based on the prices paid recently for all the properties around there, including the property that we recently acquired. On a per acre Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 37 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 33 of price that is actually lower than what we just recently paid and so it's -- it's based on our best estimate today of what it would cost to secure that particular piece of property. Simison: Thank you, Dale. Council, any final questions before we move onto the next group? Bolthouse: I will be back to talk streetlights. Purser: So, this next one that you will find -- find in the community development is actually located in the economic development tab. If you want to open up that. It's the only green slide in that section. Arial: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, good to be with you. We have one request before you. This is for our economic development administrative assistant. This is a position that many of you will recall from last year was a -- was a topic of discussion and appreciated the support then and certainly appreciate -- would appreciate the support now. This is one that I think given the times becomes more and more critical in not only the overall health of our economy and our community, but also just a service that we need to take to the next level. We see this position as being a great support for a rockstar hire in Tori Cleary. She's done a fantastic job for us as the economic development administrator and this will enable her to elevate her focus to more of those critical retention and attraction efforts. So, you know, with that this -- this position is before you and we would appreciate your support. Strader: I have a few questions. Help me understand the exact need that this position meant to fill and why you feel it is an administrative position. Kind of what I want to push on a little bit is do you really need an administrative assistant or do you need something else. Maybe you want to wait another year. There is real budget -- I don't know, but what I'm talking about is that are you really getting what you really need and understand the -- the exact skill that is needed to fill the need. Arial- Council -- Council Woman Strader, I -- I appreciate that question. I think this is in an effort to -- you know, like I mentioned, really elevate our efforts from this kind of more or less just kind of trying to put out fires and address every need that comes in, because it's actually quite numerous and graded, you know, right now, as you can imagine. This would aid us in actually building out an economic development program and getting it to that next phase. I think it is safe to say that we have definite, you know, grander visions of what we could do with -- with additional investment in our economic development efforts, but I -- we felt like, you know, in consultation, you know, as an internal thing, as well as, you know, the administration that this was a good -- this was a good way to approach the times and address the -- the wolfs if you will. So, I don't know if that's a direct response, but I think we have -- we have needs there. We could do a lot with more investment, but we are -- we are grateful for what we can get and we feel this would be a good -- good way to go. Strader: So, I -- I guess I -- is the amount of work being done in economic development Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 38 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 34 of different because of COVID-19 and our -- do we have someone who has higher order skills spending an unusual amount of time fielding questions that we think that's associated with the pandemic or like is this really an ongoing like -- because like -- and the only reason I'm pushing a little bit is I see -- administrative assistant to me is a little bit of red flag at times, because I sort of see that as, you know, this is, you know, someone who is maybe taking calls, doing data entry. Is that really what you need as like -- I'm hesitant to fill a plug for something that you really need maybe in two years is another really highly skilled person doing economic development with an administrative role. Because I think there is a little bit of a trade off, you know, to get this head count -- I don't want to speak for anybody else on Council, but it gets this headcount today and you have gotten another position and it's going to be harder to come back later -- I want to make sure you are asking for what you really need. It doesn't mean that it would happen. And I'm not saying you are not. But just want to understand a little bit the -- maybe -- Simison: I would be happy to jump in from my perspective, because this was done under my -- you know, what I was willing to support. Last year this came up with this -- with the half different Council where they tried to give Cameron this position and at that point in time the Mayor said no. Economic development has traditionally been supported half time with the Mayor's office through an administrative assistant from our office to do that work. It hasn't been fully utilized. It all depends upon the person who was asking the work to be done and who was there to do the work. My conversations with Cameron have been moving forward we need to separate this out from the Mayor's office. You need to have this need filled in and by your department. Because of where we are in the budget this year I was not willing to support more of a higher level of service in the department, but I would be willing to support that need, which to whatever level has been supplied by our department, to be supplied in his department. Would he like more? I'm sure he would. So, would our police department, so would every other department in the city. They would like more than what they have in this budget from a personnel standpoint, but I didn't feel appropriate to say, no, not only have I taken away that support, but I'm not going to support you in asking for it, but -- so, that is where it lies from a practical standpoint and to your point, yes, I mean could this position be converted in two years to a greater need? It very well may from that standpoint. But this was a direction -- half this Council last year seemed to support in providing this position, so I said I would support this one. But I could have supported a similar type request from several of our departments. Perreault: Along -- along those lines had a lot of conversations with Cameron and Tori about the department and their vision for it and -- and I think I'm in agreement with -- with Council Woman Strader's line of thinking and questions. I mean I'm the liaison for the department, so I would love to see us approve that position this year and not wait until next year based on the conversations -- many conversations I have had with him about the significant amount of need that's coming in -- requests that are coming in. It's been difficult for Tori to meet those and to really do what I believe that position -- her position and her department is meant to do, which is to go out and seek -- seek, you know, understanding of what our -- the economic development needs are in our community to really be able to proactively do that, but, instead, she's spending a lot of her time Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 39 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 35 of responding and so there really is sort of two roles that need to be played in -- in economic development, a response role and -- and a proactive role and one person just can't do that and so I agree and I'm just going to be really honest in my opinion, I'm going to advocate for that second role for this year, which we can talk about at our next hearing, but -- but -- and all -- all of you are welcome to ask me specifics on the financial piece of that, but I appreciate Cameron saying, hey, we will -- we will work with what we are able to get if Council will support us, but I'm going to actively -- I mean Kuna has an economic development department. One FTE. Meridian only needs one FTE? We are four times the size of that city and there is other cities that are -- that have full-time economic development employees and so that's -- that's my thought on that. But I just wanted to say that I'm -- I understand the line of thinking that you are moving forward with. Strader: Can I throw one quick question out there, which is if we think there is an administrative need, but we are not sure how great it is, if it arises we will deal with it. Unclear. If someone was working on it half the time, like when you look at a temporary contractor to establish the true workflow and see if COVID-19 is contributing to a lot of the -- like I'm just wondering is there -- is there like a baby step in here before you go for a full -- to -- to really figure out like the true administrative part of the work, as opposed to different -- like I don't want to be disparaging that -- like higher level work, but there is really a difference in my mind between like administrative work that we can get it at lower costs, perhaps even outsource it for a contractor say versus like a full-time position. Simison: And, conversely, you could go the opposite way. Strader: Sure. Simison: You know, could you -- you could contract out. We often have -- we have had an economic development contract out to the city for many years. You could contract with somebody else for that higher level need if that need exists. Because it goes both ways. I would love to see the justification for a full second time position as to what that would look like. I can't say that I would support, you know, doubling our economic development efforts based on what I see and the activity at this point in time. All I know is that they -- they have a need for administrative support from that standpoint, but it is an ongoing conversation, but I leave it in Council's direction on what they think this should or should not be. Joe, you have a question? Borton: No. I think you answered it. It sounds like there is more bandwidth now to interact with stakeholders, whether it's face to face, through social media, or any other means of communicating. Kind of opening it up Tori's ability to do more. Cavener: Cameron, would you anticipate that the job duties of this role would be outside or in addition to what our normal job duties are for an administrative assistant position? Arial: Council, we -- Councilman Cavener, the way we kind of put together the job description was actually pretty specific to economic development efforts. So, it's a lot of, you know, particularly to database management, you know, outreach, a lot of the -- to Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 40 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 36 of Council Woman Perreault's point, it's more of your response type --type efforts, you know, low level coordination in that regard. The way that I -- I kind of envisioned this is kind of maybe it is that baby step to a -- to a more built out program where you can start to get into things like, you know, business liaison or project management type stuff. You have, you know, a big project coming in, we want to -- you want to handhold that through our entire, you know, planning, building, you know, occupancy process. So, there is -- there is some of those processes with it that would require high level, you know, building expertise, planning expertise. This isn't quite -- certainly not that. Maybe baby steps. Perreault: I realize that this -- that we are just hearing a presentation today and not flushing this out today. I do want to say that there is -- this has been a request for a project manager from multiple of our -- multiple developers and multiple groups that have come forward have asked that of the city. I don't have any idea what -- what specifically need is not getting filled and we can have that conversation another day, but if that's something that you are interested in knowing more about I would -- Cavener: I think for me it's just -- maybe we are getting wrapped up around the title of the thing that is before us. I mean Dale brought forth engineers, mechanics, I trust those are exactly the people that he needs to do the job for his department. No question. This is a position that you are bringing that you think you need for the department. Great. I think the difference is you have got a county that -- a city that's very invested in economic development, so we want to make sure we are putting forth the best resources and what I heard from Council Woman Strader was I'm not opposed to this and I don't want to put words in your mouth. It is -- I want to make sure that if we are adding the full time employee that we are adding what is going to meet the demands that the market is bearing right now and the needs of yours and Tori's department and so I think that's just a clarification. I think everybody -- I have been supportive of this position for a long time being in this position. I just want to make sure that what you are hoping to achieve is what's being brought before us -- before us. Perreault: Very well said. I appreciate that. Cavener: You're welcome. Simison: Yeah. I think positions evolve and change and even with the title of administrative assistant that varies from someone who answers the phones at the counter to -- I believe does Judy have an administrative assistant? I know there is various levels of work product at the administrative assistant level. So, this is not viewed as a front counter sit at a desk position. It is more of a back office assistant position that can be various levels of expertise. Cavener: It sounds like you have got a job description flushed out that's going to meet the needs of the department, so -- Simison: And if the workload changes we have a process through HR that allows for that title change and pay to be performance with the work that is being done by the person. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 41 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 37 of Strader: So, we could kind of evolve with it as -- as we really flush out -- Simison: And as they figure out what their true needs are. Bernt: Cameron, this will be morphed into a more high level position? Arial: You know, it's -- I think in my mind the answer is yes, although a lot of it will depend on who you hire; right? So, if we are looking at a high level building liaison, business liaison, you are looking for someone that has at least the capacity to gain, you know, planning expertise, building certification, those are really what your ingredients are going to need to be able to create kind of a true liaison position. So, yeah, I think the answer is in who you hire. If we were just to get exactly what we need without that future view, then, the answer would probably be, no, it would have to be another person, but I think we hire well and we tend to do that in our department, we can grow this -- and that would be my goal is to grow this position. That's really what we -- what we need to see in that department. Purser: Any other questions? Thanks, Cameron. We are going to move off of General Fund. The next one that we have is in our administration, starting off with the streetlights. Welcome back, Dale. Bolthouse: So, this is a General Fund project that is administered by Public Works through our streetlight and utility coordinator role. This particular effort is a request for 45,000 dollars for new capital investment streetlights. This is a project that's been going on for a number of years at differing levels of financial support, but is largely dedicated to install streetlights in areas that we would consider today are underserved and is largely focused towards walking to school routes, areas where there may be high crime or just a need for better vehicular or pedestrian safety. So, we have -- we have identified the need for 45,000 dollars. Al is here and he -- he legislates the program. He maintains a list. We probably have, you know, close to a million dollars worth of areas identified in the city that are in priority that we could be instituting and putting in streetlights. We have about 8,000 streetlights in the city that we are responsible for. Al gave me a fact that when this city builds out and if it -- if it complies to the city streetlight standards, we will have 38,000 streetlights in our city. A lot of this effort is -- is earmarked towards those areas before the city had streetlight standards for, you know, the older parts of town, those kinds of things. Unfortunately, this gets you somewhere between eight and ten streetlights by the time you purchase the -- the equipment and deliver electrical service to the location and things, but money well spent and we do have some areas -- some priorities that we have identified for this particular money and look for your approval to continue that effort to add streetlights to these underserved areas and with that I would stand for any questions or be happy to have Al step up and address any of those. Cavener: Dale, for either you or Al. What's our outstanding I guess liability in terms of the -- converting the sodium lights to LEDs? If we had a magic wand, so let's change them all this year, what -- do we have a ballpark cost about what that looks like? I know we are kind of taking it a little bit -- a bite of the apple every year. I'm just curious -- Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 42 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 38 of Bolthouse: Yeah. Cavener: -- how big this apple really is. Bolthouse: So, that -- that's a little bit different conversation. So, we do LED light conversions as part of our replacement program. So, that falls into the replacement budget area. But I just so happen to have some ballpark figures for you, anticipating that this would come. So -- so, if -- if -- if we rest on approximately 8,000 lights that the city is responsible for, some component of it, we have about 1 ,400 lights that are in HOA and Idaho Power. Our responsibility is just for the electrical power. So, we have no maintenance and those kinds of responsibilities. So, that leaves about 6,600 lights balance. We currently have about 1 ,700 of those that are converted to LED. That leaves the balance of about 4,900 lights. It costs about 400 dollars a light to convert and with my liberty to round, it's about a 1 .9 million dollar investment for the city to take all streetlights that are currently high pressure sodium and replace those to LED. Long answer, but -- Strader: So, a topic very close to my heart. So, I believe -- please confirm. At the current rate at which we are funding replacements, they will take -- I believe we sat down and noodled out it would take approximately 21 years for us to get all of the sodium lights replaced over to LED. Is that around accurate? Bolthouse: So, that being -- yeah. I think anywhere between 20 and 25 years to do that at the rate at which we are doing it, which this year that request is at 75,000 dollars. To do that that does 188 lights, roughly, but if you looked at -- at that same rate, yeah, it would take you over 20 years to make that conversion. Cavener: Dale, on your replacement form it says that these sodium lights have a lifespan of five years. Bolthouse: Sodium lights have a lifespan of approximately five years and at that point -- at that point in time you need to have the bulb replaced. Cavener: So, maybe there is a disconnect here. Simison: Yeah. That's -- aren't they replaced when they go out? Cavener: Right. Why would it take 25 years for us to replace all the sodium lights if -- Bolthouse: I'm saying from a conversion. It's far less expensive to replace a bulb than to make a conversion to an LED fixture. Cavener: So, again, forgive my ignorance. I unscrew an incandescent bulb in my house, plug in an LED and I'm good to go. It's not that way? Bolthouse: It's not that simple. That's correct. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 43 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 39 of Cavener: I was hopeful. Bolthouse: It requires a complete fixture change out -- or the head on the unit. Cavener: Okay. Perreault: Once these are all converted what's the estimated savings in power? And is some of that as -- as -- as you have a schedule for replacing these, if we start having power costs we are going to be able to contribute more of our budget to replacement. Bolthouse: I don't know if we have added up the full cost of that, but I will give you -- so, a 250 watt high pressure sodium replaced with an equivalent illumination LED, you have approximately a five year rate of return or payback. A hundred watt is a little bit closer to seven years, so -- and power is a big component of that, as well as LED today has approximately a 20 year life in between your maintenance cycles and replacements, as opposed to every five years and so when you go out on a burned out high pressure sodium, your bulb is not the most expensive part of it. It's the bucket truck and electrician who has to go up and actually replace that. That's -- that's a good part of the cost of that maintenance and when you factor those in, LED versus high pressure sodium, you are looking at a five to seven year return on investment to convert to LED and that's been continuing to come down as technology and costs and things play into it. Cavener: Dale, if Council wanted to move more aggressively on replacements, it sounds like we are handling that -- managing that mostly through contractors, as opposed to our staff. So, if that was something the Council wanted to become more aggressive on, would that result in a significant impact to Al's time with everything else he has going on? Bolthouse: All of that work is outsourced. The city does not have the equipment nor the resources. It takes an electrician and those -- and the bucket trucks and those kinds of things to do that. I think it would -- it would take more of Al's time to coordinate, but I can't tell you that it would overwhelm him. Would you care to address that, Al? Christy: Mr. Mayor, Council, sorry about that. It would be some additional time just in project development and project management on that, just to make sure we prioritize enough areas where we have funds for. Cavener: Now I don't mean to put you on the spot. I think, you know, lots of us have talked about our desire to accelerate this and I guess I kind of look to you as a subject matter expert. Are we -- are we moving fast enough? Should we be more aggressive? Are we being too aggressive from your -- your standpoint? I mean what's -- what do you -- are there other recommendations or other scenarios for us to look at from your perspective? Christy: Well, the good news is with LEDs having, you know, roughly a 20 year lifespan, I will be retired by the time the LEDs need to be replaced, so -- so that's -- that's good. Some other cities have had some issues where they kind of put all their eggs in one Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 44 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 40 of basket and did a massive upgrade at one time. I would probably recommend not doing that just for fear of getting a bad batch of fixtures. So, if you could increase, you know, maybe instead of 20 years, go to ten years. Five years is very aggressive, but that would -- that would work. I wouldn't go less than that. Cavener: Okay. Thanks. Strader: If it's at all possible to -- because I guess that's a proposed enhancement that -- that could be discussed by Council. So, could we like earmark that for the workshop where we set our priorities? Does that make sense? I have never done -- Bolthouse: You guys can give me all the money you want. Simison: And spend down the fund balance. Just note every dollar we spend has an impact for something else long term. Strader: Yeah. I'm assuming there would be some trade-offs that we would want to talk about and perhaps there could be milestones with enhancements, like if we end up, you know, collecting -- collecting more on the sources side, perhaps use and we adjust and we have -- maybe we double our spending on LED replacements, that would cut that down to ten years and, then, perhaps we could revisit throughout the year if we were, you know, to be ahead of our plan, so to speak. Lavoie: So, to address when you approach it again, we -- this is the budget process, so you have -- Strader: Right. Lavoie: -- every right to -- it's not an enhancement in this case, because, as Al and Dale have mentioned, this is already a process that they already perform. It's now a funding level. So, it would not be an enhancement, it would just be -- Strader: Got it. Lavoie: -- we would like to adjust the budget request -- or the replacement value of -- I think it's, what, like 75. So, right now it's in your book. If you go -- I would like to increase this to X value. You as the Council get to say yea or nay to that value, but there is a balance and, like Robert said, if you increase it by X, we need to reduce something by X. So, we always have that balanced budget. Simison: And I fully anticipated that Council was going to put more money into this program. When you have a budget amendment -- I know that there wasn't -- didn't like the fact that I told him so. Take the money out of future budgets and I -- I do that on purpose, so that we force the dialogue at the right time, you know, because it is -- there is a give and take and a decision was made and just -- this is for the supplemental projects. It's not a conversion element. This is stuff where -- where the stuff currently Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 45 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 41 of doesn't exist, which is another component. If you think this is too low you could increase the funding to put in more lights in addition to the conversion. Perreault: I know little to nothing about this kind of technology, but is there a possibility that we will get however many years down the road and replace these light heads and, then, we have a new technology now that is -- you know, that we are looking at? I mean where is that possibility? Simison: You mean like CFLs? CFLs were here for like four years to be converted to LEDs. LEDs are -- I don't know if there is anything specifically that is better than LEDs, but it could. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Yes. Borton: This might be an item where it sounds like there is general consensus to enhance this process, this program, if -- between now and June 30 there might be a recommendation knowing that the Council has an appetite to possible add funding to it, send out a suggestion of what could be done, so we are not trying to create it on the fly here, but purely is a desire to try and do this program quicker and leave that as one of the follow ups. Bolthouse: As a matter of strategy we try to identify the 250 watt high pressure sodium as candidates for conversion, because you get your biggest bang for the buck in terms of energy savings. It's not that clean when you go into an area, though, because you will find a mix, even though we can identify them, a majority of them are 250, you have got some hundreds mixed in there, you got other things in there, so it's not fully clean, but we -- we have got over 700 of the 250 high pressure sodium lights that still exists in our inventory and it would be those geographic areas and projects that we would target to try to spend whatever money we allocate to get our biggest return on investment. Simison: So, simple math from what Al has said is 200,000 dollars, if you want to do it ten years or 400,000 dollars if you want to do five years, I mean there is -- there is your -- your balance from what they said. So, you can determine what if any of those does that. I look at it more that that has a two million dollar impact to your CFP over the next five to ten years, so that's where I'm looking at it for some -- not the one year is the cumulative impact. Bolthouse: All lights are LED. So, we are not adding to them. Purser: Any other questions? Thank you. Our next item that we have is from Chris over here and our clerk. If you would turn to the -- I believe it's the clerk's tab, you will -- you will be able to find this specific revenue budget request. Again, in the green. Johnson: Mayor, Members of Council, we are hoping to replace the conference room Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 46 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 42 of tables in meeting rooms A and B. Currently they are older wooden tables with very very heavy legs, require two people to move. When we have to move them into here for a special meeting they are very cumbersome. We require two or more people. We had roughly 50 meetings -- 50 reservations in those rooms per month the first six months of this fiscal year. It's obviously been delayed the last two months, but sometimes multiple meetings in a day and it's up on the public, whoever is using that room, to move the furniture around. So, in order to make it a little more versatile we want to replace them with tables like this. We are going to keep the chair, which are very similar to the chairs we use in Chambers, because those are in good shape around the tables. They are just getting a little older, a little beat up, but they are very happy. So, we are hoping to spend right about the 5,000 dollar mark to buy 18 tables very similar to this that we can, then, put in there and we have found homes for the 18 tables there between our Parks Department facilities and my office, we can repurpose those, so we are not sending anything to -- thank you. Purser: Any questions? Okay. Let's move on. If you turn to the HR tab we will have our HR director come down. Crystal. There are two requests here. One actually belongs in the Other Government. I know when we first started I said put it in HR. Well, we pulled out the performance software and I told you to put this benefit fund reserve in there. That one should actually go into the Other Government. My apologies for that. But Crystal and Christena will be talking about both of those, so it will be good for our discussion right now. Ritchie: Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, thank you for having Christena and I this afternoon to represent both HR requests, as well as the compensation committee. I would like to first cover the compensation committee benefit recommendations, which is the slide that you have in front of you in your books and up on the screen. Currently the compensation committee comprises of Bruce Freckleton, Laurelei McVey, Scott Colaianni, myself, Todd Lavoie, as well as Mayor Simison. The purpose of the compensation committee is to annually review our current total compensation program which we have been doing and will continue to do and because of those efforts I'm here in front of you today to discuss some benefit recommendations that we would like for your consideration. So, the first five that I'm going to cover with you are high level. They do not have an enhancement in your book tied to them as an enhancement was not required. So, the committee would like to propose the recommendations for our vacation leave benefits that's currently offered, which is policy 4.2. Currently today the accrual rates -- I see some confusion. Shall I stop? Well, I'm going to cover it high level, but I can come back at a later date if you have questions. It doesn't require an enhancement for the first five. So, currently today we have vacation accruals that are within the policy manual that at a minimum for general employees is eight hours per pay cycle, all the way up to your 25 year of experience employee earning 16 hours per month. That has not been updated in at least ten years that I have been with the city. The compensation committee took a look at that. We looked externally across other municipalities to see what was being offered to ensure that we were in a competitive spot in regards to our goals. So, what we would like to propose for consideration for FY-21 would be to adjust those accrual earnings from a minimum of 12 hours per month to a maximum of 18 hours per month. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 47 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 43 of That's the first aspect of that benefit. Bernt: One more time. From what? Ritchie: From a minimum of eight hours to 12 hours and a maximum of 16 hours to 18 hours. Strader: Can you do us all a favor -- and I'm really sorry, but can you convert it for like an average full-time employee into days. Simison: It goes from a day a month to a day and a half a month. Ritchie: There you go. Strader: Okay. Simison: That's for new employees on a -- on a graduated basis up through 25 years of employment. Strader: Got it. And -- and is there a thing where -- a lot of places like you have been there for five years you get extra vacation. Do you have any kind of -- Simison: Every -- every two years and it adjusts -- Ritchie: Every two. Simison: -- a small fraction. Strader: Okay. Ritchie: So, that is a range from date of hire for a brand new employee to a 25 years of service plus employee is that range from 12 hours, a day and a half, to 18 hours per pay cycle. Hoaglun: Crystal, want to make sure I understood you. Is it eight hours per pay period or eight hours per month? Ritchie: Same thing. Hoaglun: I was thinking of a buy back. Ritchie: In HR terminology they have asked us to shift to pay cycle, so that's -- Hoaglun: Okay. Ritchie: -- what I'm making an effort to do to support them. Okay. The additional request Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 48 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 44 of that we have for the vacation leave benefit -- currently today we do not recognize as an organization external hires to the city and any prior relevant and applicable experience that they have in the job that they would be entering into the city and so the committee would like to recommend that in conjunction with the department director, as well as myself as the HR director, that we have the ability to recognize prior experience in a job when coming into the city and place them appropriately into the scale. So, what that means is rather than asking, for example, a police officer from Nampa who may -- or another entity, excuse me, that chooses to come to Meridian and they have been a police officer for five years, that we are not asking them to join the City of Meridian and come in at the very bottom of zero, but we would, then, in conjunction between the two department directors evaluate that and consider and approving bringing them in at the five year level of the job experience that they have here at the city. Okay. Cavener: Is that only for Police and Fire? Ritchie: Nope. Cavener: Okay. Ritchie: On any position. Cavener: When you said two directors I didn't know if you meant just -- Ritchie: No. The department director and the HR director would make that -- that decision. Cavener: Okay. Ritchie: Okay. Hoaglun: Crystal? Ritchie: Yes. Hoaglun: Question on that. Are there any other accruals -- I'm trying to run through my head real quick -- that are also based on length of service that you could, then, say, well, if you are doing it for vacation we can do it -- you should do it for this. Ritchie: No. The other accrual -- or, excuse me, Council Member Hoaglun, the current accrual that would be applied to sick leave is a standard eight hours per month regardless of years of service, with a cap of 720 hours. Hoaglun: Okay. Ritchie: So, it's not based on tenure or years of service, other than the vacation leave that I recall off the top of my head. I get the thumbs up from -- from our city attorney. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 49 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 45 of Hoaglun: All right. Can you tell me if -- how common a practice this is based in area businesses? Is this normal? Is it becoming normal? It's not something I have experienced in any place I have gone, but -- Ritchie: Normally as far as accrual rates or as far as increasing -- Hoaglun: Or having coming in and -- getting credit for experience gained elsewhere and coming in -- Ritchie: That has not been a standard or normal practice across employers previously. We are starting to see a small shift in that area. For us to be able to do that will allow us even greater opportunity to -- to obtain or attract some talent -- skilled talent, expertise talent to here at the City of Meridian. It is something that we are starting to see a shift towards in the employment landscape and certainly give us a competing edge, if you will, with the market and in hiring and attracting that top talent that we are working towards each and every day. Simison: And people don't want to give up their 20 years of tenure with their vacation and come back here and start brand new. We actually had an offer to an employee and their job offer may be contingent on whether or not you approve that portion of the policy, you know. So, that's -- because they are moving from out of state and they are coming from a place where they have got five weeks of vacation and they don't want to come into a job where they get a day. Hoaglun: And, Mr. Mayor, I completely understand that. It's -- it's -- I see it, though, as it's becoming a -- an arms race, if you will. Usually it was reward if you -- the length of time you stayed with an employer you were gaining these benefits, so it -- it was attractive not to leave. Now it's going to be -- well, now, I can -- I can move to the City of Meridian, I can get this experience and I can go in, but, then, if someone else is doing that and, then, I can hop over here when our time is -- and you don't build any of that security. Not to say that that is there anymore like it used to be, but it's just -- it's just an interesting dynamic that's occurring out there. Ritchie: It's a shift in focus for the employment landscape. You are absolutely correct. However, if we are doing our due diligence, which is my role and my staff's role to ensure that we have a competitive approval rate or vacation leave benefit in front of you that we offer to the city every year, we should be able to maintain and keep that top talent that we pursue and bring on board. So, it's one of those employment challenges that is shifting and changing and we are in full step. Hoaglun: It definitely is changing. Ritchie: Yes. Hoaglun: Appreciate that, Crystal. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 50 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 46 of Ritchie: You are welcome. The final aspect of this particular benefit -- currently today there is an introductory period of employment for employees that join the city. General employee has a six month introductory period of employment. Our recommendation to the Council would be that we eliminate the director only approval of vacation time during their six months -- during the first six months of employment and allow the hiring supervisor, who is more in touch and in tune with the employee and their performance and their ability to pick up the job and move along and understand the city's processes and things of that nature, actually understand their job and put that authority back into the supervisor's hands, because operationally they know whether or not that employee can -- can be away from work and still maintain the learning that they are achieving at the city that's expected within the first six months of their employment. Strader: So -- sorry, I just want to rewind a little bit and make sure I understood. So, like sort of length of service bonus, if you will, and someone's vacation or pool, how long do they have to be here to get that currently? Ritchie: They start earning date of hire. Strader: No. But for extra accrual. Ritchie: As the Mayor mentioned, every two years our accrual rate will adjust. Strader: Okay. And what is the maximum? Ritchie: Currently today it's 16 hours per pay cycle or per month. Strader: Okay. Ritchie: We are proposing 18 hours per pay cycle per month. Cavener: Crystal, do we have an -- I mean this last piece about only the supervisor approved vacation time, there is no budgetary impact on that I guess. Ritchie: They have earned it. It's in their -- Cavener: I appreciate where -- I'm trying to understand how this is couched within the conversation around the department budget. Help me connect the two. Ritchie: It's not. I was asked to at least give you an overview of the recommendations for the FY-21 budget that the Mayor alluded to when he opened to the conversations. The last two that I have are directly related to the budget. I'm happy to -- Simison: We can skip over the rest of them. Ritchie: Skip over them and bring them back later? Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 51 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 47 of Simison: This is one that actually Councilman Borton and I have talked about. I think the policies itself doesn't have a budgetary impact. The back end of it could. Cavener: Sure. Simison: But it's an important part of our conversation and -- and especially as we go into other elements. Hoaglun: And, Mr. Mayor, a question I would have is this -- is this policy or is this procedure? Simison: Well, that's where our -- Borton- For the sake of time, to have these nonbudgetary ones -- they are going to come up and it's in a separate council meeting or discussion, they come out, sent to everybody so we can see them in advance and, then, chew on it then, because there should be some good discussion of each of these. So, I think if we go through them today it's going to invite that discussion that we don't -- Simison: It will at least give you a flavor, though, especially as I -- as you alluded to -- the three percent and not doing employee adjustments. I think is important for you to take into consideration the other things we are proposing for the employees as part of that process. Borton: Got it. Ritchie: So, continue or move to the enhancements and bring this back later? Simison: Move to the enhancements. Ritchie: Thank you. Okay. So, the two enhancements that you have in front of you, the first one I'm going to speak directly to -- or the first two and, then, Christena is going to speak to another one. So, one of the current benefits that we offer today is around education reimbursement. Currently the policy -- the policy and the benefit offers, regular full-time employees the opportunity to be reimbursed up to 2,600 dollars per accounting fiscal year and we are proposing that we increase that to 3,000 dollars for accounting fiscal year. Perreault: Crystal, does the -- the education that they are seeking have to tie to their position? Ritchie: No. Perreault: Okay. Ritchie: Not directly. It can be their position. It can be professional growth. It can be Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 52 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 48 of growth in the city. It can be a number of different things. We want to support and encourage the development of all of our staff in the interests that they have. Cavener: When was the last time it was increased and from what level? That's all right. Let us know. Ritchie: Last year; right? Last year. Yes. This -- FY-20 we went -- we increased it. We doubled it from 1 ,000 to 2,000. Simison: And I think this is one that you will see each year potentially moving forward. So, a different number. We will see how much there is an appetite for Council on this one. Strader: I would love to see the average cost of a class at Boise State or something as a comparison, if that's at all possible. Just down the road. Barney: I happen to have a college age son and -- Strader: Okay. Barney: -- and he just went to a community college and a full load is approximately 3,000 just in tuition at a community college. Strader: Per -- Barney: Per semester. Strader: Semester. Okay. That helps me -- thank you. Ritchie: And our benefit covers the cost -- or contributes to the cost of tuition, fees, books, registration, not just the course credits. Strader: Okay. Cavener: Crystal, just because I'm making sure that I -- this hasn't changed. No obligation from the employee, once they take advantage of this, to provide anything of benefit to the city. Semester ends, they can quit the next day. Ritchie: That is correct. We have been tracking and monitoring that over the last several years, but specifically since 2017, and we have seen very few individuals who participated in this program leave the city. Cavener: Great. Ritchie: Over the course I think it's been four. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 53 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 49 of Cavener: Sharing that analysis I think would be really helpful. Hoaglun: And, Crystal, is there a minimum GPA they have to maintain while attending or anything like that? Ritchie: Yeah. They either have to have a C average or higher for the course in order to be reimbursable and/or a pass-fail depending on the requirements of the course itself. Council Member Cavener, in our information, to answer your question, from 2020 we have not had anyone leave who is currently participating in the program. Cavener: Sure. Ritchie: In FY-19 we had three. Cavener: Of how many? Ritchie: Out of 16 participants. For FY-18 we had one leave the city out of 12 participants. And for FY-17 we had nobody leave out of five participants. Cavener: Is that tracked within the year or is that within a 12 month period? Within a 24 month period? Eighteen months? Ritchie: It's within the -- Cavener: Revolving calendar. Ritchie: -- the fiscal year is how we track that. Cavener: Perfect. Ritchie: Any other questions on education reimbursement before I move on to our next recommendation? Okay. I'm going to refer a little bit more to notes on this one, because I simply don't want to miss anything. So, the second enhancement that you have in front of you is for the establishment of a new program which we would like to explore. A employee commuter reimbursement and incentive program. So, this would be for employees use of shared service and/or nonvehicular modes of transportation to and from work, rather than just their personal vehicle. The program would support the city's goals to reduce traffic congestion, curb air pollution, and minimize parking constraints that we are experiencing here at the city. We would develop an employee survey and send that out and solicit feedback from our employees if there was to be a program what value they would find and would they utilize that. The program itself we would like to consider options such as van reimbursement, bus pass reimbursement through VRT, carpool incentives, biking, walking, just different methods to and from work and so with your approval what we would like to do is secure some funding to be able to establish a program in FY-21 to address the city's goals and provide different options to employees for their commute to and from the workplace. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 54 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 50 of Perreault: Crystal, to clarify, is that the 20,000 dollar miscellaneous contribution request? Ritchie: That is the 20,000 dollars, yes. Perreault: I just want to say I love this idea. This is something I have thought at length about and would like to see our -- our private sector do this as well, especially around transportation hubs, like the Ten Mile interchange, love to see that happen and if the city sets a -- if the city is able to successfully implement it and sets an example for our private sector I think that would be fantastic. I don't have a way to really judge whether that 20,000 dollars, however, will -- will be used or how -- I mean can you give us -- how did you come to that number and -- Simison: I will speak to that, because it was -- it was just pulling a number out as a placeholder starter. So, when I have looked at this I have looked at doing up to 50 percent reimbursement for Commuteride, 50 percent for bus pass. Maybe a set dollar amount for people that want to carpool. We would have to develop that. We would need to do a survey, find out what the -- what the employees may be willing to do and see the value. This number to me would be a first come first serve, if even at all used, but, then, we would evaluate moving forward from that standpoint. But to give you an example, if you lived out in Caldwell and you want to participate, it's a hundred dollars a month for Commuteride, so it could be a 50 dollar times 12 or 600 dollar benefit if we have people that want -- wanted to take advantage of it. I don't know how successful it will be, but I think it's worth exploring. This is something we could work on and by August if we have zero interest from employees we can remove it from the budget if there is not a -- an interest from employees. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Sorry. I think that's where -- I'm super supportive of the concept. I think like my fellow Council Members that I was trying to figure out the 20,000 -- without a plan it's hard to say if 20,000 makes sense. Maybe it's ten. Maybe it's 50. 1 think for me right now this is a little premature. If we have got better answers by the time for me -- ideally, I mean this is something that I am not opposed to, but I'm not supportive of it being in our current budget right now without more information. So, if we can attain that I think it's easier for -- Simison: I didn't want to put it out to the employees and start asking them if there wasn't general Council support for even the concept. Cavener: The chicken and the egg situation. Totally get that. I think I'm supportive with the details that show us how it's going to be -- Perreault: I'm supportive as well. I was wondering if there was a per account per employee, if that would be -- if you could come back and -- and -- you know, versus the first come first serve element, I would expect that there would be more of like a cap for per employee and that -- and that this 20,000 would -- would allow for so many employees to utilize it or something along those lines. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 55 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 51 of Ritchie: Okay. Strader: I would love it if you could check if there is a way for people to leverage that into a pre-tax spending account, because I know in some states it's possible to do that, because, then, it would go farther. Simison: I guess I would turn to we -- is there any reason why we couldn't add it? I know it's offered through our benefits program. They have the same capabilities. But we have never offered that. Ritchie: We can look at that. I captured that. Thank you very much. Perreault: Is this going to be a scenario where that employee would submit their cost to the city and be reimbursed and, if so, is that going to be -- is there going to be a heavy administrative element to the -- to filling the reimbursement? Is that something Finance is going to do? Ritchie: So, to answer that question -- then I'm going to throw some of that to Todd. To answer your question, Council Member Perreault -- it's both; right? So, you are asking one or the other. What we are looking at is reimbursement -- the aspects of it and incentive for the other aspects of it, to flush out some of those logistics. Administratively it would be to be a partnership between Human Resources, but primarily with Finance. We generally facilitate reimbursement and incentive type processes. They are the ones that actually handle the financial aspect of that. Borton: A little budgetary Judo it sounds like. Simison: Yes. And also an expectation from my standpoint. Participation may require them not being eligible for a parking permit at City Hall. You know, if they are going to ask for a reimbursement if that's what they get, they can still come in on days where they have got to drive and get a temporary, but from a general standpoint, you know, it's a trade off, because the end result is -- for me the biggest value to the city is reducing our parking spaces here that we are taking up. Buying more land. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor, just to kind of throw an interesting wrinkle in this and -- years ago when I worked in DC I took advantage of this to use Metro of actually getting a metro card -- pretty much covered my weekly commute to and from and -- and that's always a nice deal, but you are in a densely populated urban area back there, as you well know yourself. And our -- and our goal here is we need density to create better public transportation and different things. Are we encouraging people now by this to move out of Meridian because of affordability and those types of things and, you know, I mean now you are doing -- and you are going against one of your stated goals of what we want to accomplish. So, I don't know. I -- I don't think there would be that many that would do that, but at the same time with the way our cost of housing goes up, we might have to -- have to look at that. I don't know. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 56 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 52 of Simison: The cost of replacing them would be a fraction. They are willing to stay because of this. Because if they are going to move they are going to move already. Perreault: I don't think a small reimbursement of 300 a year or something is going to -- I mean it would -- it wouldn't affect my decision to move or not, but it could affect some individuals. Cavener: I was an employee here, lived in Old Town. If this was offered to me and I left my truck at home and walked to work, I would do it in an instant. I mean so -- when I lived down here. Hoaglun: It is just a thought, you know. It's just one of those things that it's interesting how people -- you know, you see it in the federal government. The federal government does something and people respond in a way that you go -- they go, oh, whoa, we didn't see that coming. I mean it can happen here, too, you know. Simison: So, our goal is to see if we can get a more flushed out program by the time we get to the August number. So, if you can leave this in until then and if it needs to drop down and out we will do it if we don't have enough interest or details. Bernt: Just -- just one thought. I think -- we are all doing it. I think that, you know, this is a great program with a bus system that's robust and can get, you know, people from A to Z. We have one bus route from Ten Mile that goes to The Village. I think that our -- our busing program isn't quite substantial enough to dedicate resources to this quite yet personally and, number two, I think it's less expensive to do telework and I think that we have noticed this during COVID that -- I think it's been proven that, you know, there are -- there is a segment of our workforce that can work effectively from home. So, if you are -- if you are worried about congestion or parking at City Hall, then, keep them home and let them do their jobs at home. So, I -- I won't be supportive of this no matter how -- I mean I shouldn't say no matter how -- I mean it's very unlikely I will be supportive of this going forward. I just think it's -- I think -- I think it's premature. Simison: I think it's all part of the plan and we have some employees who we have proven can't and shouldn't work from home and this is perhaps to their benefit to be able to use these types of services. You can't have someone whose job is frontline customer counter for walk-ins do that job from home, unless you close City Hall, which is an option. Bernt: I smell a vote coming. Simison: So, we could -- we could just close City Hall and we would solve a lot of these issues. Perreault: But the remote -- and to that note, the remove work program only allows for those individuals to work at half or less of their time off site. So, it's none of these positions that we have are going to be full time off site. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 57 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 53 of Simison: It's all -- it's all part of the larger goals. Not one is going to solve any of these issues. Strader: I'm open to hearing more. Ritchie: Well, we will be more than happy to bring back more. Okay? Any questions on the two that I have presented before we move to the last one from Christena? Hoaglun: Yes. My last question is don't you wish you were Public Works and they don't get hard questions like that. Ritchie: Yeah. HR seems to be the one that -- but that's okay. We enjoy the conversation and the support and -- Borton: Will there be a well with this program? Cavener: If SCADA is involved, sign me up. Barney: All right. Mayor, Council Members, thank you. The next request in front of you is funding for reserves for dental, vision, and self funding. For those of you that were on the Council last year and the year before, I was in front of you quite a bit talking about self funding. It is the funding mechanism behind our benefits programs. We are realizing some savings, although COVID has thrown a little wrench into really defining what those projections are for our first year at self funding our medical plan, but we are realizing some savings moving -- and definitely some flexibility in our medical plan moving to self funding. So, the benefits committee has vetted this process out, made the recommendation to the City of Meridian employees benefit trust. The trustees have approved moving forward with self funding dental vision. Department of Insurance does require three months of claims reserve -- projected claims reserve in a trust account in order to cover any claims that may come in, so that's what I'm in front of you requesting. We may be in a situation at the end of the year where we have enough cost savings in our medical plan to cover this, but I needed to have a plan B to ensure that we can make it through the Department of Insurance's requirement. So, I will stand for any questions. Perreault: Christena, I -- I just want to understand -- when you say self funding, are you talking about the city supplementing the difference between what insurance exists and what the employee pays or is it -- or is this entire -- is this funding the entire cost of the employees benefit? Barney: So, let me give -- for those of you that are new on the Council, let me give you a kind of a high level view of fully insured, which is what we currently are for our dental, vision, and self funding. So, under a fully insured plan the city and the employee pays premiums to the carrier. So, in this case Delta Dental or VSP, they pay all of the claims from that. If there is excess they have made a profit. If there is not enough, then, they have had a loss. What we are doing is we are pulling that into our trust. The city and the employee are paying those premiums or those contributions into the trust and, then, we Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 58 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 54 of are paying claims out of that. We have done a study to show where we would sit and we think -- I mean we can project out that we would have a plus in that reserve and it gives us greater plan flexibility. With a fully insured plan you get the canned plan and you don't have the ability to make a whole lot of adjustments with it. With the self funded you get kind of a menu of options and you can decide what you cover and what you don't. So, it gives us flexibility, allows us to incur some cost savings, which we, then, can put back into additional benefits at a future date. Perreault: Are the funds that are accumulated in the trust being invested? Barney: Not at this time. Perreault: Because they are not liquid enough or would they be able to be? Barney: They could be at a later point in time, but right now we are in our first year and so we haven't realized enough to even consider investment. Perreault: Okay. Cavener: Christena, what are some of the high level benefits to our employees by moving to this route? I think you kind of touched on some flexibility that comes to the city. Potential cost savings, which I appreciate. But how does this positively impact our employees by moving this direction. Barney: For the dental-vision specifically we are hoping to realize cost savings that we can enhance the benefits. So, for instance, Delta Dental right now has a maximum coverage of 1,500 dollars per year. If we have a cost savings we can use the dollars in that trust -- those cost savings to maybe raise that to 2,000 dollars a year and cover the cost in whole out of the trust, rather than having the city and the employee pay the additional increase that that would incur. Perreault: How did you get the preliminary date -- not knowing the health concerns of the individual employees -- I assume that's private data -- how did you come to vet these numbers? Where did you get assessments from based on really not knowing -- do -- I assume you know the number of employees that are using the services based on reports you get from the provider, but how did you come to those figures? Barney: Yes. The carrier has provided us what we call renewals. So, that's what our projections for the premiums or the contributions will be for the next year. We multiply that out by three. Those are just estimates. What we will do before we finalize this number and before we submit that to the Department of Insurance is we will have an actuarial study done that will truly assess where this number should land. But it shouldn't exceed 130,000. Perreault: Thank you. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 59 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 55 of Purser: Any other questions? Okay. All right. Move on to our next with IT. Dave. Tiede: Thank you, Mayor and Council Members. I'm back. We have two budget requests in front of you today. One is for -- this first one is for communications infrastructure extensions. This is part of our ongoing efforts to improve connectivity among city facilities for public safety needs, general city government business. This request specifically will be leveraged to help us with a couple opportunities we have to work with ACHD on their projects to get infrastructure in the ground while they have the roads open and whatnot. So, Ten Mile to Eagle, Linder, all to help with redundant connectivity needs for our fire stations. I think we are going to be able to provide redundancy to the wastewater treatment plant. Those are a couple of areas that we are looking to hit with the funds this coming year. So, with that I will stand for any questions on this budget request. Okay. The next budget request we have in front of you is for what we are calling enterprise content management. This is a multi-year project as well. We started this last year and this is -- this is what we are going to call phase two as we continue to expand this solution out to other city departments. This coming year we are planning to expand it to our Community Development and Public Works Departments. To give a high level overview about enterprise content management, this is really -- document management, handing workflows and forms and records retention all in an umbrella system, which is a system that the clerk's office uses for records management currently, which is called Laserfiche. So, we upgraded the system this year, added some new bells and whistles, features, that we can use to create new processes, electronic processes throughout the city, and we are going to continue to expand that. So, with that I will stand for questions on this budget request. Strader: So, is the -- how much more investment in future years is required to a hundred percent convert to like whatever end state you are trying to achieve? Tiede: Council Member Strader, we -- this is year two of about a hundred thousand dollars. Next year we anticipate another hundred thousand dollars to cover most of the other departments, which does not include police officers, firefighters, things like that. But for staff that are in the office that regularly touch city records, next year with another hundred thousand dollars we will cover the rest of the city. Strader: Is this a cloud based system? Tiede: The option that we went with is not a cloud based system. They have a cloud based option if we wanted to go that direction. However, the cost is substantially more. So, we chose to go with the on premise system, knowing that if we wanted to transition that direction we could. Strader: Got you. And does it come with, you know, some kind of backup -- I'm using like a personal computer as my analogy for this, which is probably not an appropriate comparison. Bernt: A little zip drive. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 60 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 56 of Strader: Okay. Tiede: So, it's handled by -- it will be handled -- or it is currently handled and will continue to be handled by the citywide backup system that we use. Strader: Okay. Tiede: So, if you would like details on that at some future point I would be happy to provide that. Purser: Anymore questions? All right. Move on to -- this is the realm of Parks and Rec, because the position for maps currently sits in there. You will find the enhancement I believe in your Other Government. So, with that we can turn it over to Steve to talk through. Siddoway: My first time making this presentation, but this is a -- an annual request -- frankly probably could become part of the base budget based on previous discussions, because it is based on ordinance. So, this is per City of Meridian Ordinance 1-9-4, 50 cents per capita and 50,000 max, so it's -- we have been at that for a while now. This is the annual request for the public art budget. The actual projects it's going to be used for will come to Council. Right now they are updating their -- the art master plan and so, you know, there will be future discussions about what the -- the funds will be spent on, but this is just to get the spending authority per the existing ordinance and I will stand for any questions. Strader: How long -- sorry. How long has it been set at 50,000? How many years at this level? Siddoway: Ever since we reached a hundred thousand, which -- do you -- five years ago we were at 91,000. So, somewhere in the three, four year range. Strader: Okay. Simison: This would required an ordinance change if you want to change that amount. Strader: I got you. Yeah. I'm just trying to understand that. It's just seemed a little different than the way the rest of our budgets are working. Siddoway: Yeah. It is different. Strader: Ordinance created this, therefore, it is capped by ordinance. Siddoway: Correct. That is correct. Strader: It requires changes to change -- Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 61 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 57 of Siddoway: Yes. Strader: Got you. Okay. Cavener: Does -- and this is either for the Mayor of Mr. Nary or Steve, I don't know who I'm --this kind of popped in my head. Does the ordinance allow Council or -- I guess does the ordinance prohibit Council from directing a theme or potential content or a piece of art that would be funded? Siddoway: No. I don't think there is anything that restricts that. There is a -- you know, a capital improvements planned that the subcommittee of MAC updated last fall that would have some of the carry forward funds from this year be spent next year toward the -- some art for the trailhead project and, then, this would be one of two years going toward a more significant art project in Discovery Park. But, again, I would say hold off until the update -- the Arts Commission finishes updating their master plan and, then, they will come back to you with a recommendation for that. Strader: Can you leverage -- like I think what's interesting is there is private foundation funds and private philanthropists that could donate to the Meridian Arts Foundation and they can leverage that. I would be curious if they could -- it sounds a little out there, but just my assumption -- a really cool crowdfunding class and I'm curious if our funds could be leveraged with crowdfunding by the public to view additional artwork. Siddoway: I suppose any of that's on the table for future discussion. I would never say no to additional public, you know, private funding. Strader: Just throwing that out there. Siddoway: All right. Thank you. Purser: Moving on. This is also found in Other Government. Transportation projects. This is the Mayor. Simison: Yes. So, originally I had not planned on putting any transportation funding into this year's budget. Earlier this year when I was meeting with people from ACHD it was suggested that we might have some projects which would fall off due to shortfalls in their budget funding. So, I worked with Todd to put in some funding just to help make sure that the projects would not be delayed if there was a lack of funding for ACHD. This is part of the larger conversation that I have been having with many of you in terms of using our General Fund dollars to advance or keep on track our ACHD projects. My intention is for these to be done through reimbursement agreements. So, these are funds that we would have to expend that we would be repaid back at a future date. That is what is in this -- in this enhancement request. As of right now I'm not aware of any of our projects that are planned to fall off. I will not be upset if you guys don't fund this. It is already funded with fund balance. It would be something that one way or the other we would come back to Council at the appropriate time, either with an agreement or with the budget amendments, Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 62 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 58 of if there was something specific during this next fiscal year. I think I'm looking more concerned about stuff that's in -- in budget years '23, '24, which if we can identify any road improvement projects that's likely how long it will be before they could be -- utilize our funding to help move them forward in a realistic manner, but I at least wanted to put this out there for part of our conversation today, so that you are aware of the concept and if for any reason we hear from ACHD about one of our projects that may be delayed, knowing that from fund balance what I would be looking to -- to you to help fund. So, I will leave that conversation there. I think I have talked to all of you about this as a general concept, but I will leave it to you whether or not you have a desire to put it into the budget or not. It really won't matter that much, because it's already coming from fund balance and there is nothing specifically tied to this project. So, we can move on unless there is further conversation. Bernt: I think I would be more inclined to do like a one off, you know, as when you mentioned -- or that the Mayor mentioned in regard to if the need arises and there is a specific project and a specific amount, I think I would be more interested in the budget amendment process than one lump sum. Simison: And if that's how Council would like to prefer it with any transportation stuff is budget amendments, I won't bring these forward in future years as part of the enhancement or, sorry, request process. but just -- again, just want to get it on the record for future conversation. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, appreciate hearing from my colleague. That's why I love this process. I'm on the opposite side of the coin. I think this is a great use of fund balance. It's a great plan. I think identifying it early as part of our budget process -- and, again, maybe this is part of our annual budget process we are talking about this on a regular basis. I think planning -- again, let's use the fund balance. Ideally those dollars to be repaid at a later point in time seems to make sense. I get it. I typically get a little -- like are my details, you know, and when you are talking about a million dollars I would typically like a lot of details, but I think the plan that you have laid out seems to make a lot of sense. I'm supportive of it as it's presented, to bring it back as a -- as an enhancement at a later point in time. I mean I would be supportive of that as well. But I just -- I think this is a good use and it's appropriate. Simison: Well, there is 15 million in the CFP, roughly, give or take a hundred here or 500,000 there for the -- for this. This is likely what will compete -- road projects will complete with your streetlights. That's -- and maybe they both coexist, maybe they don't. But that's where your -- that's what I have said is the money that I have put in the CFP I wouldn't want to hamper other needs or requirements of the city, but, anyways, we can move on from that standpoint. But I won't be upset if you choose not to have this in the budget. Perreault: One question. This being my first year doing this and how -- how is the approval process -- so -- so, an expense comes in and it's still coming in and being reviewed before Council to do -- it just goes on the Consent Agenda and -- Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 63 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 59 of Simison: This would require a -- this would require a contract of some sort. Perreault: Okay. So -- Simison: It would likely be a department presentation of an amendment contract. You are going to see it three or four times before anything would ever move forward, even if you put this in the budget. Perreault: Okay. Borton: Mr. Mayor. I -- I tend to lean towards Councilman Bernt's thought on it as well and the devil is in the details I guess. If and when that project comes forward and if it's lined out with a budget amendment, we have -- we address it at that time, seems to be a more prudent path. Simison: That's my intention. My intention is either have budget amendments or a plan. But this was for discussion purposes for this year based upon previous discussions I have with ACHD and I want to make sure we had something to have the conversation as needed. But it's not looking that way right now. Bernt: And that reimbursement process is legal. We have checked that box; right? Simison: Yes. We will have to work with them, but I have had those conversations. Borton: See if I got a Mr. Nary nod. Simison: So far no one has pointed to any reason why we can't do a reimbursement agreement with ACHD. They actually have to learn more about it. They haven't done them in a while. Their new leadership has not been doing them. But we are working -- we are working in conversations with them. Borton: Interesting. Good question. Strader: My only -- my only hesitation -- I think having the discussion is really good. I wouldn't want to stop us from doing that. I hesitate a little bit to earmark one priority without making consistent methodology for similar priorities, because I do think there is that give and take. I think I could get on board almost either way, though. Like if -- if it's with the understanding that transportation and will, then, necessarily be cut in order to pursue other priorities as the result of earmarking that that's okay or looking at projects as they come up. But it sounds like either way we are saying that. Cavener: My assumption would be if we -- we decide we don't want to go this way, a million dollars is pulled from fund balance it goes back to, so -- Simison: Yeah. Right. It never gets spent if you don't see a contract or -- or projects. And it was just roll back in the following year. But, again, I just want to make sure we had Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 64 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 60 of a conversation, because this is an important part of my say of the city budget at the State of the City when you watch it next week, so -- Borton: So -- Mr. Mayor. So, the city can -- can allocate capital funds in advance to another governmental entity, whether it's ACHD, for their construction projects. It could happen for the school district as well? Simison: If you have -- if you have that fund balance -- Borton: The same structure that permits that decision to enter into a relationship with the highway district would also allow a municipality to do the same thing with the school district or an irrigation district? Simison: Ora fire district. Borton: Or a library district. Simison: Or ACHD district or -- Ada county. Yeah. There is nothing that prohibits from having relationships -- and everything has its own level, meaning our CFO talked to ACHD -- so, they have to carry the balance on theirs -- they have to carry this debt on their books and they have to be willing to do those things. So, there is -- there is always those levels of discussion, but as much as I would like to build schools we don't have enough fund balance to do that. Public Works does, but I don't think we can -- Strader: I'm curious -- I'm curious the answers to that question, because I -- I think regardless of the amount of -- no -- and no worry, I'm not going to throw a hand grenade out there. I think it would be important to know that, because we do have a -- maybe we can't -- it's not realistic. City of Meridian can't afford to build a high school. Simison: Or an elementary school. Strader: I'm with you. I'm tracking, but -- right? I -- there are other competing priorities and things we need to look at. I would like to hear the answer to that question. Just holistically if that can be done with ACHD where do we draw the line? Who else can it be done with? I would like to know that. Simison: From my perspective there are no lines. It's just a matter of priorities and decisions. This is something that we could have done with the Library District had they not got their levy passed if we wanted to do that and have them -- in my viewpoint everything's in the details. But I -- the school district budget compared to our budgets they are not even in the same realm, but -- Strader: They are not -- they are Meridian kids, though. Bernt: Some are Boise kids in there. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 65 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 61 of Strader: And I hear you. Bunch of Meridian kids in there. Purser: Are we good to move on? Perreault: Is there any concern that there will be a precedent set such that other -- that the groups will want to start coming to us and making requests proactively? Simison: We have the money and we could get paid back, I don't know what the problem is. I go with those two things. If we have the money and if we get paid back. I'm not interested in starting to give them money to build roads. So, that's -- that's a different story. This is all about how legal it can be done and we -- and it has to be paid back. The difficulty will be when will it be paid back. Bernt: Right. Simison: And where we invest and which road projects will make all the difference in that when we answer that question. Bernt: If it's a year from now? If it's ten years from now? Simison: I think you are probably looking three to seven years and -- and it may be gradual over that time frame. Depends on how much you are talking about. If you are talking a million dollars, that's one thing. If you are talking 15 million and expecting it to be paid back next year, that's another thing, so -- Purser: Shall we move on to the next one? Are we good? This is also the Mayor's realm. Community project funding, 20,000. Simison: So, this one real quick. This is -- you may have -- you have heard the presentations regarding participatory budgeting over the last several years in conversations with Councilman Borton. We have thought about going a different direction in terms of instead of doing a participatory budgeting project, looking at doing more of a community grant program. So, we have been working on what a community grant program might look like. This is the same dollar figure that was in participatory budgeting and I think from a practical standpoint you could have either, A, people come forward and say we want to do a participatory budgeting project. You could have MYAC or MSAP come forward and say we think we have done a good job, we would like to request 20,000 dollars to do a participatory budgeting program in one of our parks. Conversely, it could be an HOA that wants to see an amenity added. The details aren't there. I'm first to admit the details are not there. I'm also the first to admit that Boise's program is 800,000 dollars and this is 20,000. So, kind of going back to -- we always don't do what our neighbors can do, despite our size, similarities or dissimilarities, but this is a start of that conversation. We do have a draft of some elements that we would love to share with Council. So, I would like to have a -- just encourage you to think about this. This would be another one that if you don't feel comfortable by August with the program -- but we would come before Council at a workshop and share with you what we have in mind for Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 66 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 62 of further conversation. Cavener: On that note, I guess, Mayor, where I'm coming from is I love that we are saying how can we level up when it comes to this. If we don't have the details for this year I would hope that we would still keep the participatory budgeting program, but open it up to the public. If we are going to evolve it to more of a neighborhood or a community grant based program -- the Mayor and I have talked about it. I don't know if 20,000 is enough to get it done, so we may want to have a conversation about a few more additional dollars. So, I don't know what you have got and when you are prepared to share it. I know we were on a -- more of a compressed timeline. I would -- I would like to feel more comfortable before we head on this piece by the end of June. If we can't, then, that's fine. But this is something that -- Simison: I imagine what you would see is a presentation in July. Or June. Again, you can set your number in June and you can always go below for the following one. If your intention would be to give this more money, rather than 20,000 -- and that would be a question mark, but, you know, it -- in August you could make that determination if it's not there to remove it. Cavener: And that's the hard part is I think that the -- kind of getting a good sense about where this program could go to me would maybe dictate if -- if the 20,000 is -- is appropriate. One project for one group 20,000 dollars seems appropriate. If we are wanting to invite four or five organizations, 20,000 dollars split between, you know, four other organizations, 5,000 bucks and, boy, I think we have all been here long enough to know that when government gets involved 5,000 dollars is just almost enough to pay for the power to bring everybody together. So, we have got to make sure that we can achieve the outcome that the program would hope to. Simison: And even to that point -- I mean if you are talking only construction projects and parks -- yes. If the requirements are it's got to be spent on public property, then, you really are talking to that's where it all -- if you look at everything that's been done for participatory budgeting it's a project in a park. I don't know that this is what this should be. Should this be services? Should this be, you know, allowed on private parks? You know, private open space in communities? Those are the questions I think we have with Council to determine what type, if anything. Perreault: I would like to say that I'm fully in favor of considering an increase. If -- if it is a grant based scenario where the -- there has to be an application made and there has to be sufficient information provided. You know, I -- again, this my first year, but having been on the steering committee for the Community Development Block program -- and now that is very specific and that is not as broad, but there is -- I mean there is an -- there is more funds that are being applied for and the -- and some of those funds can be used for community programs. The Meridian Senior Center applying for funds for -- for food boxes. It's -- I'm wondering if the first year if -- if we are going to even have enough traction to get the community to making -- be making the applications and maybe the 20,000 is appropriate for the first year, because you have got to get the word out, you got Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 67 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 63 of to get people that are able to bring the -- the information for applying for it and whatnot. It depends on how strict it's -- you know, the requirements are. Simison: So, we will bring this to the Council in a July workshop for your consideration whether or not you want to do that or not or if you want to leave it participatory budgeting, but we wanted to put it out there for a revised way of thinking. Purser: Any other questions? Okay. Next up. I know this is listed in Finance, but this actually -- I consider it Todd. Lavoie: Council, this request is for 56,000 dollars to allow the city to conduct an impact fee study. We conduct these every two -- two to five years. The last study we did was in 2018. That was the completed study, so we started in 2017, finished in 2018 for you. The impact study allows us to analyze the Fire, Parks, and Police needs for the next ten years. It allows us to develop and establish an impact fee for development for new growth. The current study that we have in place right now expires in 2023 and I'm happy to answer any questions on this. Purser: If you are looking for the enhancement you can look in the -- Parks and Rec will have it. It would be the very last green sheet on that. Or Fire or Police. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Bringing this back quicker was the specific direction following the last one when we adjusted the impact fee was to do this fast. We had historically done it every five years and what happened with our growth rate is it was just too late; right? We were making wild pivots every five years and this ensures a more accurate impact fee -- more fair impact fee quite frankly, because it's going to reflect our actual capital position more regularly, so -- Perreault: So, it -- okay. So, the 6,000 is all three departments. Purser: All three. Yes. Perreault: Okay. Is that -- is that, then, by the same contractor? Pursuer: Right. Lavoie: It can be. We can go out to bid again if we wanted to or we go with the same vendor who we used last time. It's up to us. We have the -- that decision. Perreault: Okay. Purser: Any other questions? Okay. Let's turn it over to Fire. Mark. Niemeyer: Dean, can you hear me? Excellent. I don't want to get in trouble. So, Mayor, Council, good evening. I am going to zoom through this, no pun intended. So, feel free to blatantly interrupt me as I go through it. I want to thank the staff and the Fire Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 68 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 64 of Department that's here and also the firefighters that aren't here. They helped us navigate through some of these requests. So, kicking off the first request for a fire inspector investigator. This has been in our CIP for the last eight years. We knew the time would come when we would need a third inspector. Thirty-three hundred inspections scheduled. We are able to do about 270 a month. That includes all the re-inspections we have to do, which is about 120. So, the reality is we are getting further and further behind. The time has come to add a third inspector as we move forward. Again, just feel free to interrupt me. Ladder truck. Again, this has been in the CIP for ten years. We knew as growth happened and we are seeing the growth, our plan is to have a ladder truck at Station One and Station Six to be able to cover the entire district for those call types. It is a big request, 1 .7 million dollars. It is all impact fee eligible and we have been collecting impact fees for it and Dale said if there is any shortage that Public Works would cover that. Narcotics vaults. We have narcotics on our fire engines. It's what the paramedics give for pain. The DEA changed the requirements on that as far as how we need to store them, so, basically, the narcotics need to be tracking -- this is kind of the opiate crisis driving this. They need to be tracked from the time they are made to the time they are destroyed. So, J.D. Hendrick, our EMS chief, has been on -- on top of that looking at the requirements. These narcotic vaults would be in the engine and they track the individual specifically who gets into them to get the narcotics and, then, also tracks who destroys them when they are done. So, that's a DEA requirement coming down upon us. Heart saver alarm phones at five stations. As we build Station Six I think as we wrap that up I presented all of you -- there is some things we learned with Station Six that we really like and one of them is the heart saver tones. At all five of our stations, minus Station Six, when those tones come on it's a glaring, blaring, in your face wake you up right now, as opposed to Station Six where it kind of ramps up and we have got studies that we can get together with you on it to review those that show that is less stress on the cardiac aspect of an individual when those tones ramp up, as opposed to the right now, middle of the night, jump you out of bed tones. So, there is a lot of studies that Chief Butterfield has that we can review if you have questions about that. But our firefighters love this. It's not a glaring, blaring, 2:00 in the morning wake you up massively quick tone. So, that's 14,000 dollars to get those heart saver tones at the remaining five stations. Purchased land to the northwest for Fire Station No. Seven and I don't know how well you can see it in the picture, but the land that we are looking at is just north of the new Owyhee High School. We met with the developer about a year and a half ago. This is the Gander Creek Subdivision. They would like to sell us two acres and they are also willing to donate two acres. Originally we thought four might be too big, but we are working with the Police Department on a potential shared location in partnership with a police substation precinct. So, the request is for 90,000 dollars. That includes two acres for 78,000 dollars, roughly, plus some permitting and going through, so the request is for 90,000 dollars with the land in the northwest corner. We are requesting 12,150 for nine new AEDs. This is an expansion of what we currently have as far as our AED heart safe program. Six of those AEDs would go to the Parks Department. One unit would go to the wastewater expansion. And, then, two would be in reserve in case we have one that fails we have two reserve units that we can deploy immediately. Status monitor for fire station fire admin. This is, again, something that we found in Station Six. I want to thank Dave and his team. When you go to Station Six when you are in the dining room there is a TV there, it shows the system. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 69 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 65 of It shows all the calls, it shows where the units are. Firefighters love it, because they know exactly kind of what's going on right now in the system as they look at that monitor. We would like to do that at our other five stations and one in fire admin. The total cost is 3,600 dollars. Really, it's a TV monitor and, then, Dave, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a dongle. It's basically a mini computer that plugs right into the TV and captures that data and captures that information. So, again, feedback from the firefighters, they love this, and so we want to try and get that in the other five stations. And, then, I'm going to touch on two at the same time. Again, impact fee eligible and we do have the impact fees to do this and that would be designing Fire Station Seven and the very next slide is going to be to --to design Fire Station No. 8. We picture identical station layout, floorplan, everything. No difference. And so, really, it's a matter of looking at the land and how you place it on the land. We talked to the firm that we used for Station Six. That's going to be the template that we are going to use for Station Seven and Eight. We would like to get those designed now, so that step is done. Six hundred thousand dollars is what we have in the CIP for each one of those, but we are looking at about 150,000 to 200,000 dollar cost savings if we do them both at the same time and we felt that's worth it. So, the price that you see -- the amount you see is what we have budgeted in the CFP and in our impact fee study we anticipate it being less, but I don't want to present that to you until we have the actual approval and, then, the quote from the architect to make sure that I can say the right thing on that. But we have talked to them already and there is a -- definitely a cost savings if we do them at the same time. Bernt: Chief? Niemeyer: Yeah. Bernt: So, we do the same for Fire Station Seven and Eight or -- one of those. That we get at Six -- maybe with some minor modifications is it really going to cost 1 .2 million dollars? Niemeyer: We were going to make them sharpen their pencil. This is what we have budgeted, so I wanted to present what we have budgeted in the impact fee fund, but we anticipate a greater savings than what you see up there. Bernt: Is it a lot? A big savings? Niemeyer: Until we get hard numbers and the final written proposal -- Strader: Will we have revised estimate for the design cost by the time Council is approving the budget? Niemeyer: Council Woman Strader, I don't know if we will have the revised cost, because until -- and certainly Todd and maybe Keith would have to answer this as well. But until we enter into a contract with them to do the design work and they go through and we work through that whole process to get a firm final cost, I don't know if we could get that to you by July. That's why we are telling you extreme case 600,000. That's what we budgeted. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 70 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 66 of But we anticipate much less. Simison: And, Mark, is this all impact fee eligible. Niemeyer: All impact fees. Impact fees are going to pay for all of this. And we do have the funds in our impact fee funding. Simison: And so, Council, this goes back again -- both of these stations and I have shared with all of you my belief that we need to open up Station Seven and Eight together as quickly as we can. This is part of that process. We believe that by designing and building at the same time we will see savings through that process. I know the chief has been working on the staffing and how to make that happen. I would like to think that we have got a solution that will enable us if we move forward with both of these projects over the next three years we could open them both by fiscal year '23. So, this would -- this would be purchasing two engines at the same time, which will save us money. Designing two stations at the same time, which will save us money, and constructing two stations at the same time, which will all save us money. Strader: I very much buy into the idea of co-designing and getting synergies between the two stations. I think it might be good to push on firm that giving the design to -- Niemeyer: Yeah. Strader: -- dial that in a little more before the budget gets approved. Niemeyer: Mayor, Council, let me clarify -- let me clarify some -- and I didn't even have to look Chief Butterfield to do this. The 600,000 -- and we will bring that down, but that's for multiple phases of the design process. So, it's not just drawing -- the drawing that design piece. It also includes when you start constructing there is pieces within that design piece as well. So, by July I can come back with that kind of a breakdown and the phases that include or in -- or are captured in design. Strader: So, it's design -- it's design and project management -- Niemeyer: Yes. Strader: -- and other things. Niemeyer: Yeah. There is things that happen within that 600,000 or less -- Strader: Okay. Niemeyer: -- that happen in the construction phase. So, it's not just the actual architectural drawings that cost that. Yeah. My apologies. Did I get that right; chief? Yeah. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 71 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 67 of Perreault: Chief, how dependent are those numbers on this -- on the location? Depending on the design, the numbers on -- and are those locations tentatively identified? Niemeyer: Yes. So, Station Seven you saw that request. Station Eight is already bought. The fire district bought Station Eight land already. It's in the corner of Discovery Park. So, really, the only difference in those two stations will be how the architects place it on land and, then, you know, landscaping and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. We expect those two stations to be identical. Purser: Any further questions for Fire? Okay. Simison: Council, it is 5:00 o'clock, which is what we had on here. I'm going to give you two options. We can continue moving, if people would like, or I -- we have been able to clear off a workshop next Tuesday, if people feel like they need to leave, and we could continue this part of the workshop next Tuesday. Borton: I'm good. Strader: I'm in favor of -- Hoaglun: Staff are here. We have got two more items. Perreault: I'm good either way. Cavener: Two more sections. So, I'm good to go. If staff is comfortable with that. I know staff also have obligations at night, too. We don't want to get in the way of that either. Simison: Yeah. And that's why I didn't know what Council's obligations were or otherwise. Siddoway: I'm good. Thank you, Council. Parks and Recreation has five budget requests to present to you. The first one is regarding pathway connections and Kim did a great job giving you an update last night, so our pathways do need to be top priority for -- from our -- from our public surveys and from parks and rec commission. This enhancement basically has two halves. The first half is a construction project along the South Slough. It is also known as the Finch Lateral. It's a project that Council approved for design this last year and we are proposing that it move forward into construction for next year. The second half is the concept design survey work and easements for the 12 priority -- priority connections that Kim presented to you last night. Again, just to be clear, the -- this fund does not build the 12, but it does allow us to do the -- the concept design -- the research -- the research, the survey work, the outreach needed to turn them into real projects. With that I will pause. Okay. The second item is Heroes Park parking -- yes. Perreault: Question about that. So, how likely is it that all 12 of those will stay on the list or get, you know, moved around and does that -- how -- how could that affect the budget -- the actual expenditure over the year. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 72 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 68 of Siddoway: Yeah. So, some will show themselves to be lower hanging fruit than others. It allows us to move forward with approaching property owners, et cetera, start doing concept design to be able to approach them for here is the easement that we would need. So, some -- all will -- will move forward, but not all may become construction projects at the end of the year, which ones will, which ones won't, will be, you know, to be determined. So, these are the funds that we would use to -- to approach those. Hills Park parking expansion is the second one. We have an existing agreement with Meridian Police Activities League, from Meridian PAL. That agreement was signed last year and allowed us to go into design. Design phase is wrapping up. They are already splitting 50 percent of the cost of that design. The agreement also contemplates them spending 50 percent of the cost of construction. The -- the capital cost is 800,000. The total request is 400, because they will -- they will reimburse us half of whatever it is and that reimbursement is not a one-time lump sum, it is much like we have been doing with the previous Heroes Park improvements, they pay us back in bi-annual increments with an additional fee with the registrations. That has gone very well I will add with the last ones that we did as a partnership and they paid off that agreement ahead of schedule. So, Ten Mile is currently under construction. We are -- there -- if you go out there today there is usually cars parked along Ten Mile. Curb, gutter, and sidewalk. You know, we need to either expand the parking on site or reduce the number of games allowable for the youth out there. We would prefer to expand the parking lot, so -- the third item is a couple of capital purchases that we have been planning for some time. These are for long term maintenance and rehabilitation of our growing park system. The first item is the deep tine aerator and -- we already have the -- the tractor that this would go on, so it's really just that front piece that we are looking for. That deep tine aerator allows -- it penetrates deep into the soil to maximize water percolation, stimulate root -- root growth, improve air flow to the root system. You know, what we are starting to see is with the increased demands on our event areas in particular, like car shows on the grass at Kleiner Park, just using an example, that -- you know, they get -- they get compacted over time. We need the ability to reduce that compaction. The intent is to get, you know, healthier plants, get them to withstand drought and the high temperatures over the summer. As mentioned it would go on an existing Kioti tractor that we have today and we purchased the tractor anticipating attachments like this in the future. The second part of this one is a -- not an attachment, but just a walk behind slit seeder. That allows us to renovate turf. These high -- high wear areas -- for example, where goals are often put, need to be rehabilitated regularly. So, this slit seeder makes a -- makes a cut in the lawn and drops grass seeds and just helps with germination and would be improved -- give us an improved ability to maintain those areas. Cavener: Steve, question. How are we aerating the grass now? Do we have a piece of equipment or are we contracting that out? Siddoway: I will turn to Roger if you have -- can come up, Roger. Norberg: Sorry. This is my first time addressing you -- Hoaglun: Just sit down and chat with us. It's all good. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 73 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 69 of Norberg: So, currently we have a unit that's called a -- an Airway and it has star-like teeth on it and when we first bought it it had a tow bar. We pulled it behind a pickup and we would drive amongst the sprinklers and do that. It was very difficult. And, then, we modified it and put it on a three point attachment on the current tractor that we are going to use there and it has teeth about this deep and we have been using it for about -- I'm going to say seven or eight years now and it only goes that deep and what we really need to do with this attachment is to try to get down eight, ten, 12 -- maybe 18 inches in a pipe dream. So, to really get down at -- the thing that this does that the other one doesn't do, it -- it goes down and it shatters here -- it actually creates more pore space, instead of just slicing it. Strader: Okay. How can we develop the estimate for the capital cost of these two machines? It seems like a lot to me, but I don't -- I'm not well grounded in, you know, what these are, so -- Siddoway: Yeah. They are actually based on reaching out and getting a sample. Strader: Okay. Okay. And -- Norberg: But to be clear, we are not going to just -- so, you know, when it comes time to actually purchase them, we will each either go out with an RFP and take the best price or we will often -- now that we have the ability to go off of some of these natural -- national co-ops often you will get better pricing off those. Strader: Okay. Siddoway: So, these are -- these are based on real prices. Strader: Okay. And I guess there is not a different attachment to the existing aeration machine that would achieve the depth cutting that you are trying to get to? You have to get this -- Norberg: No. This -- this is a really specialized piece of equipment that -- to be honest, Boise parks has them. All golf courses do. The school district has them. Strader: Okay. Norberg: We are a little bit behind the curve in getting one. Strader: Okay. Norberg: We have tried to get off with the current airway system that we are using, but we are only -- like I said, we are only getting this deep and it is not something you can rent either. It -- you have to buy it. Strader: Okay. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 74 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 70 of Siddoway: So, this one came out this spring in the -- in the memo from the Planning Department and we -- it went out to all the Council Members. We became aware of it. We are like, well, it probably lives with us, so we added it to our -- our original list. So, there are planned roundabouts at Locust Grove and Victory, Eagle and Amity, and Eagle and Zaldia and as we know, ACHD doesn't do land -- landscaping in or around the roundabouts, but they do allow cost shares and there is an existing cost share agreement between the city and ACHD that will allow us to propose something. Right now they at a minimum put in conduit for -- for electricity and water to be able to run some irrigation, assuming that we will want something in there. So, again, this amount does not build anything. It's not intended to. What it's intended to do is -- just based on 3,500 dollars per site for some concept planning and -- and, you know, whether or not we need the whole amount. We will just spend what we need. But the idea is -- is some seed money to do some design work to come back to Council in the next fiscal year and say, you know, confirm what you -- how far you want to go and what you want to do. Bernt: I know that Council -- Councilman Hoaglun has mentioned this in the past about how ugly these things can look. The one over on Pine is getting worked on right now. It's so much better, so -- I mean it's just like it's unbelievable how cool these things can be, you know, when they are maintained and look good, put some art on there, you know, do something cool. Siddoway: So, these give us the initial concept design funds, not construction funds, but these -- this money is meant to allow Council to decide what you want. Simison: And if you want these in north Meridian you can have them. Bernt: Can we name one after Mayor Simison? Mayor Simison Roundabout. Siddoway: Our last item is the -- a proposed update to our current master plan. So, I can't hardly believe it, but our current master plan is five years old this year. It kind of blows my mind. But as I was looking at it, you know, we have added nearly 30,000 people to the city since it was done. If you look back five years ago the population was just over 90,000. Now they are estimating somewhere around 120. So, we would like to update the survey. We have also added, you know, five significant new parks in those five years, so we have been busy. We would like to get the -- what they call the grass needs analysis updated and, then, it seems like there has been some interest in revisiting the cost recovery model, so that could be part of this as well. Perreault: Steve? Siddoway: Yes. Perreault: We have been doing a lot of surveys and there is -- we have got open space surveys and we have got surveys happening with Community Development. What --what information is this providing specific to parks and -- I mean I -- I'm curious. It seems like parks has a very good handle on what -- what the city owns, you know, whether it's Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 75 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 71 of sufficient, the amount of parks that we have, the future amount of the future parks that we need sufficient for our population. What does this provide that the city doesn't have? Siddoway: Right. So, the survey would be a statistically valid random sample survey that we could rely on as reflecting our community. Frankly, we don't feel directionless. You know, we have got -- we have a good plan, but given the amount of growth that we have we think it's time to just test those assumptions and see if they -- if those priorities have changed for -- for the community in the last five years. So, it's a significant survey. Goes much much deeper into Parks and Recreation amenities, programs, events than any of the other types of surveys that we have. Be glad to share with you the results. In fact, they are online if you wanted to look them up from the existing master plan, but it's a -- it's a very in-depth look at the Parks and Rec system. Perreault: One more question on that. So, is that information -- is the city using that information to update the plan or is this -- is the contractor going to update the current plan? Or is this just the survey? Is this just the survey that's being paid for? Siddoway: Oh, no. It's -- it's much more than that. The survey would -- and the public outreach would be part of it. If we want to do the cost recovery model that's a significant piece and, then, the GIS base grasp analysis is a major component as well that the -- the contractor would have significant roles in all three of those pieces. Now, to Council Woman Strader's question that came out last week that I, you know, responded to. So, I don't -- don't think I need to dwell too much on it, but for those elements that -- that we can do in-house, we will do in-house. In fact, I reached out early on to test a number, got a scope back that was just under a hundred thousand and I said there is pieces of this that we can do. We can cut this back. The 75,000 is half of what the original plan cost. So, the original plan was 150. I'm just looking for an update. Can we update it and add the cost recovery model for half of what we did it last time. I have been told yes. Strader: Hello. Okay. That's on. When is the last time we did an impact fee study -- which I'm assuming is the same as a cost recovery model? Siddoway: Different. Strader: Okay. Please explain how that is different and what that specifically does. Siddoway: So, impact fees were just updated last year. Strader: Okay. Siddoway: And it -- impact fees look at your existing level of service at a very basic level in terms of acres per thousand or in terms of indoor facilities, square feet per thousand. Project that. You use population projections and cost projections and say based on growth here is what your -- what you can charge per building permit for the construction capital only for impact fees. Cost recovery is more about our fees for our programs. Fees for rentals and it -- there is the whole pyramid methodology saying certain things should Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 76 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 72 of be subsidized a hundred percent and certain things should be subsidized zero percent and there is a spectrum in between based on the -- the public versus private benefit and so it would be a deeper look at that. Strader: So, when is the last time we did a cost recovery report, update, whatever it's called? Siddoway: So, with the last master plan we documented our currently adopted philosophy by Council, but there has never been an in-depth model done. Just last fall Finance adopted the -- the policies that would establish the basis for an analysis like this and, then, we would take this through that model. Strader: Okay. I kind of am tracking with where Council Woman Perreault is maybe getting at or thinking. It sounds like you are really working on synergies. I know -- we have talked on this. I know you have been working on trying to drive the cost down and do a lot of it in-house if you can. I -- I guess what I'm a little struggling with -- I feel like we have a lot of public input on some of these priorities coming from the Comprehensive Plan work -- I mean from the open space work and I guess I'm kind of wondering why not wait a year, because -- Siddoway: If Council wanted to wait a year, frankly, I don't think anything falls apart from my perspective. Strader: Okay. Siddoway: This is the fifth of five for a reason. I have it on the list because I think it's important that we talk about it. We are halfway through as of this December the -- the anticipated ten year lifespan of the overall plan, so I feel it's my duty to say, hey, Council, we are five years into a ten year plan, we think it's time to update it. We have had a significant growth in our community and we think it's time to test the assumptions. If Council wanted to wait a year, let me know. Purser: Okay. Siddoway: And I think that is my last slide. Thank you. Purser: I will turn this over to Chief Lavey. You guys know by now, you know, budget requests are in the police section. Lavey: I know that Joe is our liaison and he told me he would be in there on the phone. I don't know if you wanted to step out or not, so -- Chris, do you want to pop in there and see if he wants to join us and can. So, Mr. Mayor and Council, has -- as I sat through today I told Dean that I would bring him a paintball gun next time and that anybody that didn't turn their microphone on he could just like acknowledge them from his seat, instead of having to yell at everybody. He thought that was a pretty good idea, so -- thank you for your time. I want to open up with just a brief statement and, then, we can proceed. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 77 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 73 of So, turbulent and stressful times does not adequately describe what our department has faced for most of 2020. Despite that, each member pours out their hearts and souls to be the most professional police department they can be for our community. We as a command staff and I as their chief are proud of what our members do day in and day out. The outpouring of public support these past few weeks has been unbelievable and is a great indication of what we are getting -- what we are getting is right in providing the service that they want. This type of service has not come quickly, nor does it come cheaply, but what we see on the national front validates why we cannot lower our hiring standards or our expectations we have set for the employees that we hire. It is their hard work and dedication that provides the primary reason people are moving here and that is because of public safety and the quality of life, giving us the pleasure of being the second safest city while also being the second largest city in the state of Idaho. On Friday I supplied you with information on our budget requests. We have eight of them this year. They are on the slides that you will see. I don't intend to go over the slides and talk about them any further. I guess what I would do is I have the subject matter experts here, if you have a specific question to any of the slides we are here to answer them if the executive summary did not answer them. So, with that I stand for any questions. And that is a first and the briefest I have ever been. Perreault: Can I just say that it would be awesome if every department did that. I don't know what the history has been, but that -- those -- having that information before this was exceptionally helpful. I was able to get the same thing for my own department and maybe one other and it was very helpful. Lavey: It's the third year we have done it. It is the first year we shared it with all the Council. So, first year I shared it with just the Mayor. And, then, the second year I shared it with Mayor and the liaison. And, then, this year I shared it with everyone. It really just puts it in context. It tells you what our thought processes are, where we are coming from, creates a dialogue and, then, whatever happens happens. So, if you want to run through those slides real quick just so they can see them and refresh them -- that's our corporal position. Self explanatory. Dealing with the span of control with our SROs. We currently are going to have ten with the new high school. Hoaglun: Okay. SRO, you know, there has been talk about going to four day school week. I don't know if it will happen, but does it -- how does that change things or will it? Lavey: So, Mayor and Council, that's a -- that's a great question in that I can say that it was a very good indication of how do we adapt and we had a contract in place that says you will pay this amount of money and this will be the service that we provide. We just pro rate it. So, what we will do -- our contract allows us for that flexibility. The contract that's now in front of West Ada School District allows for flexibility for that, schedule changes, any act of God, any pandemic, anything. So, that's all we do is we just addressed it, currently amend it. Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 78 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 74 of Bernt: Chief, so we were out of town this weekend and we were talking and -- you know, and the subject of this -- this individual that I was speaking with, she works at a -- at a middle school and her SRO quit and she -- I believe she went to a different organization -- law enforcement organization in the valley. Talking about that, are you seeing some issues with that? Are you seeing some -- I mean I know this person. She was fantastic. It makes me scratch my head, you know, why -- why are they leaving Meridian when we are the best. Lavey: It took me a few minutes to -- to grasp what -- who you were talking about. Unfortunately, that is a life example of Meridian. This officer in particular was an over ten year veteran for our department. Was an SRO. Was -- I believe the school that Councilman Borton's wife is the principal at. Victory Middle. And she got actively recruited by a neighboring police department and they put her in that position in the same school district, but working in their jurisdiction and not ours. Bernt: Why? Lavey: Well, I believe you would have to ask that person, but it's a variety of reasons. It does have to do with pay. It does have to do with benefits. Where we are sitting. Where we are at. There may be other reasons as well. But those are the ones that were related to me. Bernt: Well, I mean if anyone were to tell me, Treg, you make enough money, match is going to be -- one hundred percent of the time, but I'm -- I'm going to cough. So, I mean it causes me concern a little bit. Makes me want to know why and if we are doing something wrong I want to fix it and if we can do better than we need to have that discussion. Lavey: Mayor and Council, that -- that could be a very in-depth discussion that I would love to have. I don't know if this is the venue or not. I can tell you that we should have that discussion, because as you have noticed over the last few weeks some of the difficulties law enforcement as been enduring. What you see on the news is not what we have here, but we are not alienated from that. It's really we are -- we are put in that -- that group whether we want to or not. We already have the -- and it really kind of goes into a -- another slide or two -- just go on to the recruiting. So, actually, go onto the recruiting slide. The Mayor and I discussed this particular position and I think Councilman Bernt, you even questioned me on it, whether it's needed, and I believe it's needed more now than it ever was and the reason why is we have a very small applicant pool of people that want to be in law enforcement and, then, out of those that want to be in law enforcement only a very small fraction of them are qualified to be in law enforcement and, then, when you have that small of pool of people and everybody wants them, you have to do everything in your power to be as competitive as you possibly can be. Otherwise, they are going to go why should I go here and not go there. The days of people coming to us because they want to work for us no longer exists. Yes, you might get one or two or more of the people that aren't qualified. You have got to go out there and actively seek these individuals, convince them why they are good at their job or why they have the traits Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 79 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 75 of that we are looking for and, then, convince them to take on a job, frankly, that they are going to be targeted, they are going to risk to die for, they are going to be called every single name in the -- in the book sometimes and you got to be able to dangle something in front of them and say, yeah, come work for us, so -- Perreault: So, a couple of questions related to that. What -- this is -- I'm going to play a little bit of Devil's -- Devil's advocate here. Why not take these funds and -- and -- and increase the -- the offerings to the positions that -- that -- you know, to some of the positions -- instead of -- instead of hiring this, why not take those funds on an annual basis and increase the pay or offer more benefits, which I imagine was why Crystal is up here. Ritchie: I'm up here for two reasons, actually, and I want to be respectful. Perreault: So, that's not -- I'm not making any particular statement about this position or not. I'm just trying to understand the thinking behind it. You know, the military has used recruiters for years and they need them, because you are -- you are -- you know, there is an element of asking somebody to come into a situation that's not safe and that sounds to me like that's the similar concept here for this. But the other question I have is how long has -- has there been a situation where you have not been able to recruit the amount of staff or -- and/or officers needed and how long do you anticipate that to continue such that this position would need to be a permanent one? Lavey: Mayor, Council, I would like to point out, first of all, that we discussed this position has to be a certified officer for a couple of reasons. One is they have to understand the job. But more importantly if this is -- if this not needed or it's not effective, they are already a police officer and they can go fill the role of maybe open slots that we already have -- Perreault: Okay. Lavey: -- or they could fulfill a role in a -- a training position within our academy. So, it wouldn't be a waste of a resource, it would just be a reclassification of their job assignment if it was not effective. How long do I anticipate it being needed? Forever. I really do. I think you are going to see more and more people leave this profession that says I want absolutely nothing to do with this job period and we have to be able to offer them something, because we right now are the ones that -- that reap the benefits and those benefits are going to go away if we can't attract quality people and so I do believe the position is going to go on forever. Will it be a recruiting position full time? Who knows. It could be three positions recruiting full time, because we are currently actively seeking to fill about 12 slots and before we became full, we have lost three more since then. To take the story just a little bit further about the person you are alluding to, is we have lost two to that agency in the last ten months. Strader: That leads me to -- Lavey: So, why are you here? Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 80 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 76 of Ritchie: Well, I want to make sure that we are not entering into a personnel discussion at a budget hearing. So, I'm here to help assist with a conversation and navigate as we should appropriately. Strader: I will try to keep us out of trouble, Crystal. Thank you. Crystal, how -- give -- give me a context for -- I don't know if we want to use the example of that competing police program, but clearly that -- it appears that's an issue. So, how does our -- how does our pay compensation, our benefits, how do those line up with -- let's just take that other agency as an example, because clearly they are a competitor for the same talent pool. How do those things line up? Ritchie: So, to address the question about how do we prepare and assess our compensation program and our benefit program. So, our benefit program is across the board for all of our employees and we do annually assess that. We take a look at that. We do post checks with other agencies. We speak to and obtain information and we take a look at what we are currently offering. It's also a balance of Meridian and what we want to do versus what we can afford to do. We have separate case studies that are done for the general employee pool, police STEP plan. HR Department partners with Lieutenant Stokes and his team in regards to compensation and pay. We have a structured system where we take a look at different pay plans alternately every other year. When we have negotiations we take a different approach to that as well to assess our competitiveness in the valley. You will see at times that we come forward with recommendations that may or may not at that time be able to be supported, but we are still constantly monitoring and pulsing where we are in relation to said agency or any other agency deemed to be a competitive recruitment for us -- or recruitment agency away from us. Simison: And just talking about our neighbors to the east, I don't think there is one job in our city that honestly competes at their level in any sector in any department. So, that's a challenge citywide to me from that standpoint. Strader: So, I guess maybe a follow-up question. From -- we are in an exceptionally difficult year from -- from an economic standpoint; right? Like just completely an outlier to -- in my mind. Our unemployment rate is multiples even of Boise. So, our community is experiencing a lot of hardship. That creates a very challenging environment. We have got the pandemic. We have got one in four families going to get -- either skipping meals or getting assistance. I mean nationally. There is just a really, really tough environment and I -- I'm tracking with the Mayor's thinking of consistency. I'm tracking with the idea of, you know, your -- your base and kind of reflecting ongoing costs, but I'm also -- I'm trying to really dial in on is there something specific within this department that you have an HR recommendation on in terms of, you know, what you think -- what you -- what -- what you recommend in terms of how to approach compensation, et cetera, in the -- in the upcoming year and, then, are there noncompensation related benefits, you know, that we want to go through that also move the needle. Just -- I would like to hear the HR kind of market perspective on that. Lavey: Boy, they are putting you on the spot. Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 81 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 77 of Ritchie: That's okay. That's what I'm here for. So, no problem. So, I will give you -- it's actually a partnership, to be honest with you, and so it was a partnership between HR and the Police Department, specifically Lieutenant Stokes, who leads that effort on behalf of the Police Department. Every other year we go through a police STEP analysis. We evaluate our current STEP plan. We evaluate it against several other entities that collectively we have identified to be our market competitors, if you will. The Police Department -- it's very difficult. I understand what you are saying and it's something that we have had great discussions about as well. It was not an easy decision for the Mayor or the leadership team to come forward after doing an analysis with a number of positions that the department is facing to fill, in addition to the challenges alone that the chief has simply stated. The second pool of anyone who would opt into law enforcement and of that limited pool those that would be qualified. Compensation, pay and benefits are always going to be a challenge when you are faced with other organizations who have their own budgets, that have their own approaches, have their own philosophical strategies. From the HR perspective we want and encourage all of -- we want to have a competitive compensation program for any employee here at the city and that's what we strive for. There is a balance that comes along with all of that. This year was very very difficult. I feel had we not had the pandemic, had we not encountered the current issues that we have today with our unemployment, with the hardships based on our citizens, we may have been in front of you today simply with a different recommendation. Bernt: Sorry to interrupt. Specifically for the police or for the -- for the city as a whole? Ritchie: I think maybe for the city as a whole, honestly. We tackled -- Simison: Would have had a different recommendation. Ritchie: We talked -- Bernt: I just didn't know which -- which way you were talking. Ritchie: Well, she was asking about the Police Department, so I was trying to stay focused on that, but across the whole for the city, yes, we would have had a different conversation. You would have seen different numbers in your budget and we would have probably engaged in a different conversation. But we had to take all of those factors into consideration as well and the decisions that you make this budget cycle will have an impact on next year's budget cycle as well and we know that. We have engaged in those conversations. We have answered those questions and we are -- we are transparent with that and we want you all to have the information you need to make a solid decision, but we are where we are, we are where the economy is, our citizens are in a situation that unemployment, the hardships, feeding their families, we have -- we looked at other ways, including the Police Department, that we could show that we value our employees by trying to keep their benefits whole, that we have knowing that we still need to continue to do more, hopefully, later -- sooner rather than later. Looking at pay and those types of things. We haven't had layoffs. Our employees are all still employed. I mean there is a lot of factors when we talk about total compensation. So, it's -- it's a struggle and a Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 82 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 78 of challenge at best to come forth with the best recommendation that we feel at this point in time for any employee across the city with our current state and the uncertainty of what we are facing over the next year to 18 months. Simison: And I will say -- I mean from my place that -- where Dave is sitting now, you know, what I have seen the city and the Council do for the last 12, 13 years is treat all employees equally. If there is -- if this Council wants to go a different direction and start treating employees with different work groups, I think that's a separate conversation for you all to have and take that into consideration, but, you know, I think the one -- the decision you have right now, the way we treat -- you treat one, you better treat the next and the next and the next like -- likewise, unless we go a different direction. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? So, I could be wrong -- most of the time I am. But I was under the impression that, you know, obviously, firefighters have their union and so that's negotiated separately and the Police Department is a STEP plan and so I thought we had those -- sticking with the police, I thought we had the STEP plan in place so we -- there wouldn't be like a negotiation or any -- it would -- Lavey: So, we have tried to be fair and consistent with all employees across the board in regards to benefits. Frankly, we are different. We do put our life on the line. We worked when everybody else was at home on COVID. We are facing the things that we are facing today -- we are different and we should be treated different and this puts me in a difficult situation trying to respect those I work with and those I work for, but you talk about transparency, we hired a consultant to come in and review the work. The consultant makes a recommendation. We calculate that recommendation -- Berns: When was it done, chief? Lavey: The last ten months. Pre-COVID. So, the problems that existed existed pre- COVID and are going to be faced post-COVID. If we don't take the consultant's recommendation into effect, you are 15 percent below market on the entry level, some as high as 20 percent below market in the officer level, 17 percent below market on the top level. That problem doesn't go away, it just gets bigger next year. So, we get all the struggles. We look at the perceptions externally, but you also have to look at the internal perceptions as well and what you are asking your employees to do and what they are facing and what they continue to go through and if I give them nothing they have no reason to continue to provide the services that they provide for you today. That's why you are going to see them go to those other places. Now, to be just a little bit more transparent, that's only on wages. When you want to throw the benefits in there as well, we can't even compete. Perreault: So, I don't have the history on this. So, you had a consultant come in, assess the wages, give you an analysis of the differences between what is currently offered and what -- what should be expected to be offered. A couple of questions. Is that base -- is there an inclusion of cost of living in that? It sounds to me like what Crystal is describing is sort of, hey, let's compare Meridian and its size of a city and the expectations and here Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 83 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 79 of is -- here is the job description. Let's compare it with a job description similar sized city. Is their cost of living taken into what you do and, then, the cost -- and, then, your consultant. The other question is if you receive that information from the consultant was it not reflected in the budget request? And, if not, then -- then share with us why not. Other than the general understanding that there has been economic changes. Lavey: It was considered through the whole process and it was decided that based upon the current situation -- I think you were the one that mentioned it -- the highest unemployment rate -- or might have been Council Woman Strader. Highest unemployment rate in the history of Idaho. People out of jobs. People struggling to get their -- their unemployment benefits. Still to this day. But we all stayed whole. The city treated us well and we are all employed and we are all healthy and all safe and, then, the unknown of what the budget might look like in the future. You have seen some of the revenues drop and some of that stuff. And so a hard decision was made to not push forward on those recommendations. I had the same conversation that we continue to have right now and, then, people get paid to make those decisions. Strader: So, I -- personal question. And I -- well, I will start by saying like at least in my conversations with the Mayor and how I was thinking about it, I very much do think that the consistency of treating employees consistently -- I think that's important. The only thing that I think would make me look at that a little differently is if -- Crystal, if you are telling me that citywide we are 15 percent lower than our competitors from a pay perspective, that sounds consistent. But if the Police Department specifically is exceptionally below market for what they are doing, that might make me think about it a little bit differently. If one department is particularly far off their market benchmarks compared to the percentage for the rest of the city, I think we need to know that. Ritchie: Council Woman Strader, so what I would like to do is answer this -- Council Woman Perreault's question about the market -- the market aspect and whether or not HR does a separate market study in conjunction with the Police Department or does the consultant do that and thank you so much, Lieutenant Stokes for -- Perreault: And the cost of living. Ritchie: And the cost of living. We call it the market. We don't -- we don't observe COLA under policy here at the city. It's the same thing. So, thank you for the correction. And we assess the COLA or the market as a whole for the western region specifically. A lot of factors that go into that. The CPI, things like that. So, the -- the consultant that was hired -- which we hire every other year to take a review of the STEP plan is looking at the actual STEP plan, the actual wages of those STEP plans. There is some discussion in regards to -- in place, but we are not -- at that point in time when we started the process ten months ago to where we were five months ago when we landed with the end product of a recommendation and an analysis to where we are today so much has changed. But we do look at that citywide and apply that consideration across any compensation program we offer here at the city. Does that answer your question? Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 84 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 80 of Perreault: Yes, it does. I -- I really want to get -- I mean I'm self employed. I have been self employed for ten years and so my metric of what is considered fair wages and what is a living wage in our city is probably different than my fellow Council Members and maybe others, but in general I am struggling with just the wages across the board that they are too low. I mean just -- just what it costs to live here -- I'm just going to be really candid and say I -- I couldn't live on some of these wages. I mean I'm just being really candid to say that. Ritchie: Uh-huh. Perreault: And so that doesn't mean that I'm recommending any -- any particular change to the budget. I understand why the budget is set the way that it's set. But I -- I can understand why there would be a difficulty in hiring in many of these positions at the wages that they are set up. Ritchie: So, that to have a fair market -- market competitive wage you are looking at a ten percent spread either direction from the market value of a job. Okay? So first of all. And we assess all of that whether it's through the STEP plan, whether it's through the general employee compensation program. I'm going to blend an answer both of the Council Members questions, so if I don't answer it all specifically, please, refresh me with the remaining part of your question. So, when we take a look at that -- no, not all of our positions across the city consistently are outside of a fair market competitive wage for a position, because we assess that every year through the general employee plan and the separate analysis for the Police Department. Specifically as it relates to the Police Department, what the chief is communicating is correct based on the analysis that has been completed and depending on the level within the STEP plan you have significant differences as far as falling -- not falling behind what we would consider our competitor. From a recruitment perspective, from an attraction perspective, and potentially we are seeing some and could see -- don't know what the future holds -- or retention perspective. There is a lot of moving parts to that -- to that piece. But I will let the chief speak further on that or I'm happy to or we can certainly ask the Mayor to weigh in as well. So, if your concern is we have something across the city that we are ten, 15, 20 percent, no, we are not. We post that every year. Strader: Sorry. Maybe I could clarify just for a second. What I want to know is where the average -- I would like to know for the average employee in this general plan what the discount -- the percentage discount on average to market for those positions compared to the average discount to market for the Police Department. What I'm trying to figure out is -- is the Police Department exceptionally far off their benchmark relative to the general employees at the city. Do they have an exceptionally bad place they are starting from that's different. Ritchie: So, I don't have that full analysis in front of me. Based on the information that I have seen and the studies that I have been involved with and/or led myself is that they -- yes, the Police Department has a significantly steeper challenge in regards to compensation, in regards to maintaining a competitiveness against other law enforcement Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 85 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 81 of agencies specifically. You might have some numbers. I'm not sure. Stokes: Thank you. Yes. So, just a couple of clarifications. The police STEP plan is -- has been looked at historically every other year. So, every two years. And different things happen with the general city employees and, then, Fire does their thing. Crystal could speak more to how often the general city employees wage is looked at. I think it's every year. Ritchie: Yes. Stokes: And so we are not every year, we are every other year we do an analysis. We have talked over the last two cycles about, hey, we need to look at this every year so we don't get so far behind. I think we were in a good spot before earthquakes and pandemics and everything else. I don't know what the future holds. There is a lot of data here when you look at this and I have been a part of this I think 12 years -- ten or 12 years. But the five agencies that we look at -- we lump ourselves in and, then, we grab four more that are local. We are the lowest paid for starting officer of all of them. That's a problem. Yeah. And I think I can list the agencies that we use for comparison. Is there any issue with that? So, it would be -- the ones that would come to mind, Ada County, Boise city, Garden City and Nampa. So, we are the lowest starting wage of -- of those. As we sit today we are nine percent below market right there. Where we think we need to be is that 15 percent that she's talking about and it changes as you go through our STEP plan. With what we came up with, the recommendation using the consultant and our workgroup, there is some places in our STEP plan that would only see a one percent growth, because they are end market; right? So, it's not -- it's not a one size fits all. We have seen significant moves in the last two years at the bottom of the market, which are a clear indication of how hard it is to hire police officers. I believe -- and Scott or Brian can answer this. I think we are still trying to fill positions you gave us in 2017. That's pretty telling. So, there is a lot there. We have room to make up at the bottom, we have some adjustments to make in the middle and we have room to make up at the top. I'm often asked why does the top matter. Well, a STEP plan has to work from beginning to end for all kinds of reasons. At the bottom it hinders recruitment, hiring, all those things. Retention at certain points. At the top you have to fill these positions as they come open throughout, you know, somebody's career and people retiring and, honestly, we have trouble promoting positions and we are facing an exchange of command staff. We have talked about this in years past. Almost this entire command staff is under five years. So, you have to start preparing and drawing people to take these positions. But they can't take a significant pay cut to take on the extra responsibility and that's honestly where we sit. So, that's the top and the bottom. Yes. Bernt: Did you just say -- so, are you saying that there are lieutenants that get paid less than those that are -- don't have as much responsibility as -- Stokes: Yes. That's -- that's correct. So, not at an hourly rate, but when you promote to the rank of lieutenant you become exempt. So, there is a lot of things that a top tier sergeant has that a lieutenant loses and -- and, honestly, where we sit today is not ideal Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 86 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 82 of and it's -- it's --we are here now, but we are here because in past cycles we have honestly neglected the top to make the bottom work and that's why you only need a one percent adjustment in some of these sergeant ranks, where you need 17 percent at the top, because --you know, Crystal's been there the whole way. We have foregone adjustments in certain places to get the adjustments where we thought we needed them. But, yeah, so -- so, you promote today from a top STEP sergeant to a bottom STEP lieutenant, it's like an 85 cent an hour raise and, then, you become exempt. So, that's -- you know, just things that I think human beings and especially cops look at. Holiday pay. Overtime. Instructor pay. All of that is gone. So, it -- yes. Lavey: For 850 dollars. Stokes: Right. So, you know, those issues exist and we -- we try to -- try to fix them, but, you know, we can only work with -- what we have. There has been some cans kicked down the road over the years that -- that happens. I get it. What we are dealing with now with the STEP plan is we need to fix the structure. That's kind of step one. And, then, adjust to put ourselves in what we believe is a competitive position and our competitive position -- it doesn't make us -- it would probably drop us about in the middle of that agents -- all those agencies that we have analyzed. So, it would drop us right there in the middle. But, you know, we are -- we are still -- like for that recruit officer, we are still, you know, below the highest by a pretty good margin, but we think at least it would make us a little more competitive. We feel we have the best -- you know, best place to work; right? And that does have value, but you got to get people in the door and they have got to see it, you know. And, then, keeping them here -- and, honestly, I do worry about retention. I really do, because a well-trained qualified police officer, even in today's world, is -- you know, you look at other agencies, you know, around here or across the country they are such a premium there is -- there is an attraction to stealing them, because they are largely trained. They are plug and play. Our officers that have left recently are going to positions -- they are not starting at the bottom of that organization, they are being plugged into a lateral or better position than they left us for and I don't blame other agencies for doing that. It's -- it's -- it's tough sledding and it has been for 20 years and it's not going to get any easier, even during the recession, you know, back in the late 2000s, there was no uptick in police applications or people interested in this work and it just gets worse every year. Simison: So, Council, just some food for thought, so maybe we can bring this to a close and we can always come back and have a more in-depth conversation if needed. So, chief and I talked when we went through this process. We could go in and make certain adjustments within the STEP plan at certain levels without doing the full thing. Other options -- all of these positions he did say he would do the STEP plan. You have a third option. You have a lot of unfunded positions in the Police Department that you could defund or take out of the budget and use those funds to bring in alignment to STEP plan and wages to -- without having an ongoing budgetary impact, but balance out where the needs are. Those are options if you want to consider them. You know, I think at the end of the day my only caution to you is you have got 400 other employees here in the city that are going to be mindful of whatever actions you take and how you value that, because Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 87 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 83 of this conversation -- I see Dale over there with his -- his engineers. Where is Cameron? Cameron with his planners. They all have the same -- the same concern with losing people to other entities. So, while this maybe a very specific one that you do think should be treated differently, it's not an isolated conversation within the city within every department and I could have every director come and give me a reason why every single position in the city they think they should be paid more. On a personal level -- and this will not make me popular, but I am concerned about an escalating cost of services where we are -- every agency is trying to one up the next agency in the valley to get the best. That is going to have ongoing costs. If we raise up ours, Boise, Nampa, Ada county are going to do the same and that's -- that is going to be an ongoing cycle that has no end to it, because we are always going to be trying to raise our -- our level to be competitive and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we all keep raising above and above in a market system and that -- and it will have a long-term financial impact that it may be difficult for us to provide other services in the city. So, just be -- I wanted to be mindful and put that out there for your consideration. I didn't think this was going to be the last time we had heard this conversation that we are having today, but I would suggest that if Council wants to have a more robust conversation continue, we can do this next Tuesday and have Crystal present the STEP plan information that you guys are -- that was not brought forward. I do support doing this every year, not every other year. But every other year the impact of the budget is very difficult to go across the board for everybody. So, every year adjustment that is what I support and what I believe. This is the reason why I have stated if you don't take the three percent this year, next year you -- I would encourage you to look at foregone to make up this -- this ground. So, that has always been my -- my proponent that this is a one year don't take the three percent, but next year consider if the economy is back at a place where people are working, to make that ground up. It may not be popular, but from a -- but from a recommendation standpoint that's -- that's where I have been coming from. So, unless there is something specific I would like to let people get back to their evening at this point in time and we can talk if you would like to bring this up at the -- at the workshop on Tuesday. Even though the chief may not be there, I'm sure he can have someone that can be present for that conversation. Perreault: Mr. Mayor, I would be in favor of that, as well as if there is a comfort level with -- maybe some more information about what that consultant shared. I don't have a way to compare what's requested here and what sort of the ideal -- the ideal request would be based on the information received. I would like to see the two sides so that we can fully make a decision about numbers, because that's ultimately what we are trying to do and -- and that would be -- whether we use that information or not, that would be helpful for me as a brand new Council Member to get a -- to get a bigger picture and get a perspective. I agree with you that you -- your positions -- I understand what the Mayor is saying about all of the -- all of the employees in the city, but I think there is some consideration to be made for the fact that there is a safety element involved in what you do. There are in other -- in other departments as well. You are not the only department that has safety concerns for sure, but -- but I -- what I wanted to say is thank you very much for coming and answering these difficult questions. I know from my perspective these are not intended to try to -- how do you justify things as much as just getting an understanding of what's going on and how we can actually help solve these challenge -- Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 88 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 84 of you know, how we can be -- create a solution for you and not make it harder for you to do what you do versus -- it's definitely not -- at least for me an intention of an element of justifying your -- your pay. So, I wanted to say that. I am in an industry where there are four service people for every one product. So, I'm in a phenomenally competitive industry and every single time I sit down with a customer I'm justifying my paycheck. I'm justifying the service I provide. So, I know, it's hard to do. It's hard to come every year and say, hey, this is -- I need to justify my paycheck. It's very difficult. I do it -- I do it every time I sit down with a client of mine. So, kudos to you for doing that. We know -- I know it's hard to do, so -- Lavey: So, Mayor -- Mayor and Council, I would just say that I wasn't prepared to have this discussion today. It kind of caught me by surprise. So, anything that the Mayor shared with us today was already shared with us. So, nothing is a surprise. I'm just left with trying to figure out what to do, because although I understand everything he said and we have said, is right this minute I have agencies actively recruiting our people and so -- then I just have to roll over and say, okay, have them. That's all I have for right now and so I have to -- I have to fight -- fight for them and that's what I'm here for and we would love to have that discussion. Berle is the expert. He has the figures. But everything we have talked about -- and this has been awkward, because my liaison was supposed to be here, because we have shared everything -- all that data that you are requesting he has, yet he's on his other job, so, you know, you got to be mindful of that, too. So, I appreciate the dialogue we had today. We will have it more, just let us know what you want. It's a difficult conversation for me to have, but I will -- I will have. Simison: And I don't think the chief has ever heard me suggest defunding current positions to help cover -- Lavey: No, that -- that part was new to me and that won't be popular either, but that's -- you know, whatever. Simison: It's easier to bring them on each year when the need is there, but if you can't fill them to keep the ones you have from losing more, but -- yeah. Lavey: I did say that I would give up all those positions for that. I think that was in the executive summary as well. There is one position in there that we probably shouldn't give up, though, and that's the record specialist position. I know we didn't talk about it today. And that's because we have 645 public records requests citywide for the city, with the exception of the Police Department. The Police Department had 8,500 alone. And, then, we are also mandated to put out tow impound letters to both the registered owner and to the Iienholder 24 hours --within 24 hours of impounding their vehicles. We need an admin person to do that, because currently the way we were -- we need more help, because we are backed up. We are paying overtime to do public records request to meet state law. We are using code enforcement officers to do the impound sheets and they can't be out in the field and I'm down three code enforcement officers and that's a whole different topic, so -- Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 89 of 814 Meridian City Council Budget June 17,2020 Page 85 of Perreault: Chief, would you be comfortable -- Lavey: That would be a position we would need. Perreault: Would you be comfortable when you come -- or if whoever comes on Tuesday to -- or send us some communication about your preference of the three options or some feedback on those three different proposals that the Mayor mentioned. Or none of them. But just some -- your -- your feedback on it. Lavey: I think in fairness we need to share those with the Mayor and I would -- I can include you as well, as we could talk about those within our group and, then, give you our thoughts. Strader: I -- this might be dying. Just one more thing. If -- maybe Crystal you and I could follow up afterward, because, again, I think what I'm really looking for is trying to have a -- a comparison of the average -- somehow -- somehow a common measurement tool to understand how individual departments may compare to a market average for the city. And, again, understanding it's not about treating a group differently, but if a group is in a very adverse position relative to market that the others do not share, then, that -- that doesn't seem fair to some extent. So, I want to -- I want to contextualize a little bit more and I just wanted to say I appreciate the really candid, difficult discussion and -- yeah. I have to also probably apologize to the Mayor, because I may thrown a little bit of a curve just because it's a little different than our discussions, but I -- I started to think about it -- some part of the comparison across the whole city versus an individual department. I'm not saying that's where we are going to go necessarily, but I think we have to have that information. Simison: With that do I have a motion? Bernt: I move that we adjourn the meeting? Hoaglun: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting. Is there discussion on the motion? If not all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:11 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 7 / 7 2020 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda July 7,2020— Page 90 of 814