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2020-12-22 Work Session Minutes Item#3. Meridian City Council Work Session December 22, 2020. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:32 p.m., Tuesday, December 22, 2020, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Brad Hoaglun and Liz Strader. Members Absent: Joe Borton and Jessica Perreault. Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Caleb Hood, Jeff Lavey, Joe Bongiorno and Dean Willis. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE Liz Strader Joe Borton _X_ Brad Hoaglun _X_Treg Bernt Jessica Perreault _X Luke Cavener _X_ Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, I will call this meeting to order. For the record it is Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020, at 4:32 p.m. We will begin this afternoon's work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item is adoption of the agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Brent. Bernt: Mr. Mayor, I move that we adopt the agenda as published. Cavener: 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: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the December 8, 2020 City Council Work Session Page 69 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 2 of 18 2. Approve Minutes of the December 11, 2020 City Council Special Meeting 3. Final Plat for Chukar Ridge (FP-2020-0012) by Kristen McNeil of The Land Group, Located at 4005 N. McDermott Rd. 4. Final Order for Brody Square (FP-2020-0010) by Ian Connair of Kimley-Horn & Associates, Located on the Northeast and Southeast Corners of N. Black Cat Rd. and W. Daphne St. 5. Final Order for Hensley Station No. 2 (FP-2020-0011) by Kent Brown Planning Services, Located at 462 N. Black Cat Rd. 6. Findings of Facts, Conclusions of Law for Ada County Coroner (H-2020-0085) by Lombard Conrad Architects, Located at 173 N. Touchmark Way 7. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Goddard Creek Subdivision (H-2020-0092) by Conger Group, Located in the Northwest Corner of W. McMillan Road and N. Goddard Creek Way 8. Findings of Facts, Conclusions of Law for Landing South (H-2020- 0005) by Jim Jewett, Located at 660 S. Linder Rd. 9. Development Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Jarron Langston for Epic Storage (H-2020-0058) 10. Development Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Corey D. Barton (Owner) and Southpoint Estates LLC (Developer) for Sagewood West (H-2020- 0038) 11. Development Agreement Between the City of Meridian and Smith Brighton, Inc. for Apex (MDA H-2020-0066) 12. Approval of Grantee Agreements for the Meridian Small Business Grant Program 13. City Utilities Reimbursement Agreement Between the City of Meridian, Idaho Transportation Department, and CenterCal LLC for City Water Utility Improvements Necessitated by Meridian Town Center (Village) STAR Program Phase 3 Improvements 14. Memorandum of Agreement for Contribution to Streetscape Improvements Between the Meridian Development Corporation and the City of Meridian Page 70 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 3 of 18 15. Memorandum of Agreement for Contribution to Historic Banners Between the Meridian Development Corporation and the City of Meridian 16. Resolution No. 20-2249: A Resolution of the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Meridian Approving City Council President's Appointments of City Council Members to Serve as Department Liaisons, Committee Members, Commission Ex-Officio Members, and Providing an Effective Date 17. Resolution No. 20-2250: A Resolution of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Meridian Adopting the City of Meridian Strategic Plan 2021-2025 18. Resolution No. 20-2251: A Resolution of the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Meridian Approving a Farm Lease Agreement Between the City of Meridian (Lessor) and Louie Asumendi (Lessee) for Approximately 40 Acres of Real Property Located on N. Ten Mile Road, North of W. Ustick Road for Wastewater Treatment Expansion, Authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to Execute and Attest Said Agreement on Behalf of the City of Meridian; and Providing an Effective Date Simison: Next item is the Consent Agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda. For the Mayor to sign and for the Clerk to attest. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. Consent Agenda -- all items are adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: Moving on. There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] Page 71 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 4 of 18 19. Police Department: Annual Report Simison: So, we will go right into Department/Commission Reports and first up is Item 19, our Police Department Annual Report and I will turn this over to Chief Jeff Lavey. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Chief, there is no crying tonight, buddy. Lavey: I wouldn't cry for you. Mr. Mayor, Council, thank you for the time. As you know every December it's the time for the Police Department's annual report and what's unique about today is this will be my last annual report, as I leave the city for my next chapter. So, really, the purpose today is to just talk about what's been going on and -- and where we are heading -- and I had not used this new system, Chris. So, do we just -- there we go. This mission is here just for you to read. I will share with you that this was adopted about 16, 17 years ago, maybe just a little bit longer. We had a command staff meeting several years ago to discuss whether it should be updated and we left it as it is. It really is what we are all about. A three pronged approach. It's not just about throwing people in jail. It's about preventing crime. It's about educating our citizens. But one of the things that we learned over the years is that we cannot do this job alone, that we have to rely on everybody within our community to make it a great place and, then, our vision there as well is the Meridian Police Department is a premier organization, valued for our innovation, positive culture, community partnerships and core values. This may change with the new leadership, but that's currently where we are at with our vision. So, every year we update you on some key performance indicators and one of the most important things that we always discuss first is our response times. That's really what's critical. How long do you have to wait until you get a police officer at your door. We break it down into priority one, priority two and priority threes. Priority ones are the least priority and priority threes is the most serious and so as you can look at the chart, priority threes are at the bottom and it's 3.34 minutes and that seems pretty good, especially when you look at 2019 and it's definitely an improvement. But this is how long you have to wait for a police officer to come to your door after calling 911. That three minutes could be a lifetime to people that are in distress. So, we strive to keep it around three minutes, but if we are in that three to five minute range we are doing really really well. And, then, priority twos are just a little bit more important type calls. Priority threes -- I mean priority ones are report-type calls. So, if you call police -- the police department on average you have got to wait about ten minutes to get an officer to your door to take a police report. I will stress that these are averages. So, some people may get immediate results, some people may have to wait a little bit longer. So, you are going to see a trend over these next couple of charts. One of the things that we have been faced with this year for the last ten months or so -- actually, maybe it's a little longer than that -- is the pandemic and the pandemic has had an effect on calls for service and as you can see there last year we were at 57,896 calls for service. This year we are trending at 53,171, which is approximately an 18 percent decrease due to COVID. I guess if you are going to see a positive in what we Page 72 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 5 of 18 have been going through, the fact that we are actually having less need for police officers is -- is about the only positive. Crashes. Again, you are going to see -- the average is around 18, 19 percent. It fluctuates back and forth. But if you just look at -- there is -- there is a trend of about an 18 percent increase on a lot of our key performance indicators. Last year 17 -- or 17,185 crashes. This year we are at 14,055 crashes. Citations. Again, you will see the trend 19,177 last year, 15,602 this year. And, then, there is our effect on the actual reports that we have written. Also a decrease. Well, one of the things that has not decreased, though, is the public records requests and this figure always seems to blow me away when you compare the rest of the city to the police department and we have seen an area of increase here. But we had 8,163 public records requests for the year 2020 so far. It's an increase of about 40 -- can't do the math here, but 45 or so increase over last. Simison: Chief, before we move on, just curious. Are you making any correlation -- your reduction in time to get places, because you had fewer places to go and is that a safe assumption or were we that much faster in the cars or what would be your -- Lavey: So, I -- there is always -- when we do our trends we always have to make assumptions analysis, our best guesses. That would definitely be one of the reasons. I don't know if it's the only reason, but, yes, that is a fair assumption. Hands free driving in Meridian. This is one of our proudest moments. I wanted to -- we talked about this last year, because we were successful in getting a city ordinance and you know that it didn't come without a fight and I realize that there was people that supported it and there was people that didn't support it. But since, then, it became state law and we worked real hard -- and when I say we -- law enforcement and other stakeholders worked really hard trying to get the legislature to come up with a state law so we were consistent across the state of Idaho. Then the pandemic hit and this was still tied up in the legislature and I didn't think it was going to make it out and they suspended some of the rules. Senator Winder pushed it forward, they voted on it, and the governor signed it approximately five days later. What's unique about this is that the last six months has been the educational period under the state law and we have written -- under the city ordinances we wrote 166 warnings, 254 citations, and, then, we have given out 179 warnings so far under this new state -- state law through -- actually, no. Two hundred and eighty-three warnings from July when this law went into effect until now. The reason why I wanted to mention this is because enforcement starts under the state law January 1 st. So, we are going to be doing a campaign to advise our citizens that it's coming, because, unfortunately, people still don't get it. We have seen a major major improvement, but still we see people on the phones creating distractions every single day. We are going to get into a little bit on the PAM model, patrol allocation model. We have to set some goals in there as far as what we would like to see as far as public initiated calls, officer initiated calls, and, then, administration. On the right hand side you are going to see a 30 percent public initiated calls, 55 percent officer initiated. Those are subject to our -- our decisions. You know, that's just one of the things that we came up with and said we would like to see proactive versus reactive enforcement in the city. The 15 percent is not determined by us, it's determined by the courts, how often we are in court, how often we are writing reports and stuff like that. The graph on the left is what our current stats are charting. Our public Page 73 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 6 of 18 initiated calls for service are 47 percent and our officer initiated are 40 percent -- 43 percent, which means that we are responding more to citizens requests than we are on officer initiated, which means our proactive enforcement is dropping. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: If I could ask a quick question about that. I probably would forget later on. Is that -- is that really a goal or is it just sort of a function of what's going on? Right? Like I -- just coming in without a lot of background in it, I would think that citizen initiated calls isn't a bad thing. Does it mean that we are giving up on something else or -- give me a flavor for that goal. Lavey: So, it's both. So, one is actual a goal. The other one is actual results. One of the things that we pride ourselves on is having one of the safest cities in the state. In order for us to do that it involves a lot of proactive type enforcement. So, when the officers are tied up on calls for service and not available to go out there on their random patrols, ultimately it's going to affect the status of your safe city. So, it's -- it's a fact of life is that's what we are dealing with, but if you can trend and have more time for proactive enforcement, then, there is less need to respond to citizen's calls for service. It's not a bad thing, but it's better if we have less need for our services, I guess. So, hopefully, that answers the question. Strader: Yeah. I think it answers my question I guess. Yeah, it sounds like we will have a future session next month to dig into a bunch of details on a lot of different topics, but I appreciated the overview. I didn't necessarily take it as a bad thing, but -- but I guess if -- it sounds like -- to repeat what you just said -- if -- and make sure I'm understanding -- really what it means is we are getting so many calls and our resourcing -- resourcing is such that we are not able to do as much of the patrol work and community facing work as we would like to ideally. Lavey: That -- Mr. mayor, Council Woman Strader, that's -- that's an exact fair statement. I don't believe I put the stats in here, but you are going to see our community programs that we often do has also dropped this year, just because we haven't had the time to -- or the officers to do those sorts of programs. I believe it was also one -- one area for the first time ever that we took a -- took a hit in our community survey where we actually saw a drop in the number of programs that the police department provided this past year and that is another area of why. Strader: Thank you. Lavey: You heard me talk about the PAM model. I know there is a couple Council Members that aren't quite as familiar with it and I know that the Mayor has also asked for some additional information on it. So, I'm -- this is going to be the very quick executive summary portion of it is it is an Excel program that was developed in the 1970s to measure Page 74 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 7 of 18 patrol staffing in cities. It takes a series of inputs that we program in there. Some of those inputs are predetermined, such as how many hours officers train. How many hours the city gives them in vacation. Some of those inputs vary and they change year by year by types of roadways, speeds of the roadways, calls for service and such. When you put all those together it produces an output and the output indicates how many officers it will take to be able to service the city. Last year we were sitting at 88 officers under the model, but because of COVID we are down to 85. So, it's -- what it does is it looks at your calls for service and all those other inputs and says this is how many officers we need for our city. We will tell you that we are currently appropriated for 82. So, the model would indicate three additional officers based on COVID standards, but you are probably going to get faced with the need for six additional officers in the near future if we ever get past this pandemic and the PAM model was adopted by City Council a couple years ago. It's the most conservative model out there. There is a couple other models -- well, there is three other models out there. Two of the models involve benchmark cities and officers per thousand. The other one takes five particular -- I don't recall what they are. It takes five input areas -- or inputs only and makes a determination. Both of those models will show you a higher amount of officers. And, then, the third model is swag or just a guess. You know, whatever you feel is -- is the right for your community. So, we have adopted this. We are going to give the Mayor a presentation on January 5th and have him have an in-depth review and have the ability to do questions and answers at that time. I already told you this, but this is just a chart of how many officers -- it's actually 85.4, but I haven't figured out how to get that .4, so we rounded it down. I should have rounded it up. I had nothing to lose. Just some of the things that we want to talk about as far as some of our proud moments. You will recall several years ago we came in front of you to introduce a Meridian-Nampa joint police academy. We are currently in class number three. We have eight officers in that class. We are still in the hiring process though. We are hiring three openings. Actually, soon to be four. Nonsworn we have seven openings and, then, we have six potential employees and backgrounds for those positions. There is an academy graduation coming up and we will get that to you on your calendars. So, if you want to -- if you want to show up. I think this one's here in Meridian. Yes? Yes. It's here in Meridian. It will be at the -- at the school district, as long as we can get in there. Meridian-Nampa police academy number four is slotted for April of 2021. We have two to three officers slotted for that. That is two openings that we currently have and, then, the third is the -- the slot that's currently frozen. So, wanted to share this with you all. I know you are aware of this and, really, it's in here mainly for our citizens that go back and -- and watch this later on. Our public outreach has increased drastically after hiring a PIO. She's in the back of the room. Stephany Galbraeith. I just want to thank her for expanding on the great foundation that we already had. Deputy Chief Basterrechea did a great job with the media. A group of us would stay in touch for the social media, but since Stephany's taken over it's just been unbelievable the positive results. Kind of humanizing the badge and other great stories out there. The feedback has just been phenomenal. But we do have a Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter. We still operate off of NextDoor and, then, a partnership with the Ring program as well. Lastly on the public outreach, we -- a couple years ago -- I'm not sure how long it's been. We approached you on having Nixle and it's an opt-in program where you can get messages from the police department. So, we send all of our important messages and our media releases out via Nixle and, then, how you Page 75 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 8 of 18 specify to get -- you want the report, you can get it either text or a phone call or e-mail or all three. I figured this was probably a good time to highlight our command roles with the -- the changing of the guard as you would say. We did an assignment change a few months ago and so this is our current assignments. Lieutenant Brown, Caldwell, Ford, and Leslie are assigned to the patrol division. Lieutenant Stokes -- Stokes is -- is the detective division. Lieutenant Harper is over the community service division and Lieutenant -- Lieutenant Colaianni is office of professional standards, who oversees training, internal investigations, and hiring. If you recall over the last budget year we had a series of capital projects listed in there. A couple of small ones and a couple of larger ones. I can say that the parking lot expansion at the police department is complete. That was one of the smaller ones. We are in the process of building our public safety scenario village. Most of you were there for the ribbon cutting. I can tell you that they were doing fill-in yesterday. Last week they put the steel girders in for the basement. Block is supposed to come within the next two weeks and you will start seeing walls on the site. So, right now they are estimating they are about two and a half weeks ahead of schedule. That always will change. They could be behind, they could be ahead, but right now they are two and a half weeks ahead, which is good and the most awesome thing is we are still within budget. There is -- if you recall, the -- the building remodel of the headquarters building. It was tabled until we got far enough along on the scenario village and our architects -- I believe they -- right after the holidays they have a meeting scheduled to start on the design work of the remodel within the headquarters building. And, then, we have discussed this before. We are in the design stage of the precincts. I have seen the footprints. I have seen the layouts on the land. I do know that an agreement has been presented for some of the property up north. I think you will hear about that later. And that our intent is to have something -- it won't be quite shovel ready, because we are not going to that extent on the plans until we know timelines. We will have some best guesses of costs for the 2022 budget discussions. That is the last of my formal presentation. Had a couple of additional remarks. I know that Council Woman Strader had asked me some of the challenges that we face in law enforcement and I know that we are going to have that discussion I believe in two weeks, January 5th, but I just wanted to highlight a couple of things for you as -- to put on your radar. Some of you may have heard the story that my retirement is about four months earlier than I anticipated, just because of an opportunity that was presented. So, I happen to be retiring before any of my fellow coworkers were going to retire and they have been giving me a bad time, because we currently have six that have stated they are retiring in the next six months. So, you are going to have a major gap in experienced officers and I bring that up, because we are having a difficult -- not -- difficult enough time filling those positions, this is going to be even worse, because one of the other challenges that we are facing is do people really want to be in police work anymore and it's really based upon the national rhetoric that you hear -- that you hear. The good thing is is that we are kind of in a bubble here. That national rhetoric that you hear is -- is not really here. But, unfortunately, we have some people that move into the area they think it is and want to create issues and it's causing those that are contemplating retirement to say I'm done and it's also difficult to attract people to that profession. Now, I will say that we have had great results. We have had -- it comes in waves, so we don't always get a lot of good candidates. We weed out quite a few. But it does come in waves and we have a group of people that want to still be a Page 76 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 9 of 18 part of this profession and so it takes us eight or nine months at best to fill these positions, but we are trucking along because one of the things that we as a command staff have agreed on -- and I can say with one hundred percent surety that it will continue when I'm gone -- is that we will not lower our standards. It's very difficult to get hired on at Meridian, but when you do you are brought into a -- a family of caring people, yet we will hold you accountable to our expectations and if you can't meet those expectations you are gone. That's it. That's what our -- our community expects, that's what they deserve and that's what allows us to maintain that positive culture and that reputation that goes beyond the borders of the state of Idaho. So, those are just a couple of the things that -- that came up to mind that I present to you out of my own voice and, then, we have a list of -- of things to discuss in about two weeks. So, with that being said, Mr. Mayor, Councilman Bernt, there is no tears. I stand in front of you one last time for any questions or comments. Simison: Thank you, Chief. Council, any questions or comments? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Chief, I think Council President Bernt said no tears more probably for himself than for -- for anyone in the room. Thank you for the report and thank you for your dedication to our city. I have enjoyed being able to work alongside you with you in a number of different capacities. I have always found them to be rewarding. I appreciate the candid nature in which you conduct yourself. I know that we always don't see eye to eye, but I love that we are always wanting to try and see each other's perspective and I think that's something that is not found in very many communities across this country. You have done a masterful job of leading a department and there is no beating around the bush, the most challenging time in law enforcement history, and I'm proud to say that you are our chief and it's going to be very hard to say goodbye to you. I'm very grateful, though, that you still kind of are going to be working for us and I am glad to know that we are going to have you as a -- as an asset and as an ally. You have done a great job of leading the department. I think you have always been a strong advocate for the Meridian Police Department, both our sworn and nonsworn officers, and really shining a light on both of them. Most importantly you have just been a strong advocate for our community. I appreciate it. And best of luck in your new chapter. Lavey: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Cavener, so now you are going to make it challenging for me, but, you know, you and I will probably be the two that see each other the most, because, you know, my new job has a lot of time at the Capitol and as it stands right now it looks like the legislative session is going to move forward. So, we will probably cross paths down there. But like I have told everybody is -- is I'm not leaving. I'm still there. I'm still available. I'm still kind of playing in law enforcement, just on the other side. But one of the things that -- just even in a meeting today on the sheriff's side, I realized that everything that we do -- it doesn't matter whether you are chief or whether you are sheriff, it's really kind of all the same and for the right reasons and tried to -- to make it better for Page 77 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 10 of 18 law enforcement and ultimately for our citizens in our -- in our state. So, I will still be rooting for us. I'm sure I will still be helping out the city side, even though I might have the county in my title. So, thank you for those words. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you so much, Chief. I have asked you a lot of questions and have a curious mind and have never let up, but I have gained such a huge respect for you and your team in that process and I hope you know it always came from a place of recognizing that we are doing a great job, but not wanting us to mess it up during this transition. I think you are leaving a great team behind you and I'm excited for you in this chapter. I hope you are still available, you know, as a resource and I guess I would just ask that, you know, if there is anything on your mind about the transition or concerns that you let us know. I have all the faith in the world that you are leaving us in great hands with your team. I just wanted to thank you for serving the community. Lavey: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, thank you for that. I will share a real quick story. As I walked by the deputy chief's office today I said, what, are you writing a book? And he said, no, I'm just preparing for the presentation next week. So, that's the kind of work that we do. We take it serious and when you have questions there is not a greater honor we have in answering those questions, because we have been an agency that has been proud of what we do, but not afraid to admit when we make mistakes. So, no apologies necessary for asking those questions. Much appreciated. Strader: Thank you. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I just want to compliment you, chief, just what you talked about there. You know, not afraid to answer questions. If mistakes are made you admit it. Stand up to it. But that -- creating that culture of service and that accountability is not easy and -- and I think that's a testament to your leadership and you set the example for the officers. You set the standards high. You expect to have those results and that's a good thing and our community is better off for it and I really appreciate that and I know the next chief that we hire has big shoes to fill and -- and, of course, there is always ways to improve and we will expect that as well. But I just want to thank you for -- what was it, 35 years in law enforcement. That's -- that's a heck of an achievement. Twenty-four here at Meridian and 14 as the chief and we have had a lot of challenges. You know, when I first came on the Council the first time we were -- we were down -- in a downturn in the economy and the challenges of-- of keeping officers while funding is not available, trying to meet those needs in that type of economy and now we have got this huge growth and trying to keep up with the service calls and everything that's -- that's needed is -- and you have -- you Page 78 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 11 of 18 have been up to the task in all situations. So, thank you. I'm glad you are staying involved in the -- the challenges that face our state and that is greatly appreciated, because I think you have something to offer and we look forward to some good things that you are going to be doing for the citizens here in Idaho and law enforcement in particular. So, thank you, Chief. Lavey: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Hoaglun, yeah, we see --we have been reminiscing these past couple of weeks about how far we have become. This was a small tiny community of -- of -- and I know we are going to laugh when I say 28,000, but, you know, 28,000 to 120,000 today -- I was the 31 st officer in Meridian and now we have 128. We have seen a major growth in our city and it has not come without challenges. But I will say that every single year we have gotten better and better and better and what makes us successful is our expectations start before we even hire you and it starts with a screening and a background and boots on the ground, talking to your neighbors, talking to your spouse, talking to your coworkers before we even decide to let you in the door and, then, on day one we talk about history, expectations, and our CARE values and we hold everybody to those. So, that's what made us successful. I do know that it's much easier to not hire someone and than -- than get rid of someone that we shouldn't have hired and I have all the faith in the world that your command staff will stay on that trend, because it's -- it's -- it's not a fun process when you have to weed someone out that should have never been hired and so we do a really good job of -- of trying to get it right the first time. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Here come the tears. You know, Council Member Cavener knows me well. I -- I only tear up about things I love. I only tear up about things I'm passionate about and -- and tonight's a bittersweet day for me. For the city. I have a lot to say. My mind has been racing. But just some thoughts. Recently I was hit up on -- on social media by a gentleman I have never met and he used to work for the city in the police department. He no longer does. And he told me that there is not a day that goes by that he doesn't wish that he was working for this department and he -- in the -- the admiration that he -- that he has for you, for the deputy chief, and for this department and, honestly, I -- I -- I hear that all the time. I understand why you are leaving. You have other opportunities and I don't blame you. Something that you have been wanting to do for a long time. You are heavily involved with other legislative issues. You have made a difference down at the Capitol and it's the next step and we joke, we have fun, and I want you to know that -- that we are always close. I'm always close. The City of Meridian will always be close. Chief, you have done a great job. Stellar job. You have -- you have a lot to be proud of. It was said that, you know, you have been doing this for 14 years as the chief and you have seen the growth and you have seen where we were and where -- where we are at -- where we are at now and it's -- we are not the same city and -- and every city survey since then until now, the Meridian Police Department has high marks. You know that. And you know how I feel about first responders, the police department, the fire department and what the badge means to me and the citizens of this great city and so we are grateful Page 79 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 12 of 18 for you. Even more grateful that we have a succession plan in place that -- that -- that makes it so that there is confidence that moving forward the -- the city is -- is only going to get better and is going to be a city that -- that those that live here want and -- and with the services that they -- that they expect. But from your deputy chief, the command staff, your department, the family culture, the -- the community culture that you have made, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Lavey: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Bernt, I will share with you that I have worked for three chiefs of police here in Meridian and each one of them left under some sort of drama. Not bad, but some sort of drama. And I said today there is not a greater gift than to be able to leave on your terms without drama and that I better leave before I screw it up. So, thank you. Simison: Hey, chief, you and I have talked, you --we will have another opportunity to talk, but I'm just going to keep it simple, because I don't -- I'm learning I'm never going to follow Treg, you know, quite frankly. We are just going to let Treg go last or first and you can all follow him from that standpoint. But just a very simple thank you. I -- I have been here for the entire time you have been the chief and when I came on is when you became the chief and, you know, we have -- we have been able to both grow together personally, professionally through that time frame. It has been my honor to work with you and we will continue to work together I have no doubt. I have a strange feeling we will continue to grow more personally as well in ways that I still hope that will challenge us outside the halls of government and life and growth and on a very personal level you have been a chief with grace to show how you can do your job, be dedicated to it, raise your family, spend time with your family, step away and be a mentor to other people. The fact that your children are interested in your profession and are looking at that just says what -- what you do here you take home and you share it with them in a way that it's positive and building the next future leaders of your profession. So, congratulations to you on what am sure you would say -- you can throw out everything you have done every day that you come to work for the last 35 years and see what you have done at home with -- with your family and know that you have lived a life well and you have -- what you have done has made a huge impact across the board. So, appreciate you immensely and look forward to Jeff Lavey 2.0. Lavey: Mr. Mayor, I -- actually I will say I got it half right, because I got one son that's in the law enforcement field and the other one wants to go into the health -- health field. So, I don't know if that's 50 percent right or 50 percent wrong, but it's only 50 percent. I have a gift I would like to share with all of you as well. So, I thank you for your time today. Thank you. Simison: Thanks, Chief. And thank you for the rest of those from the department that were here to help answer any questions that may have come up, as the case may be. Bernt: We love you, too, Caleb. Page 80 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 13 of 18 20. Community Development Department: Service Accessibility Tool Update Simison: With that we will move on to number -- Item 20 on the agenda, Community Development Department, Service Accessibility Tool update, and I will turn this over to Mr. Hood. Hood: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of Council. Yeah, I was going to make a comment that, Mayor, you got to follow Treg, I got to follow that whole -- that whole thing. So, bear with me a little bit. This is important, but that -- but that was pretty awesome. So, congratulations, chief. Thank you for your service. So, the service accessibility tool may be a new term for you. We have actually kind of retooled the -- the term. We had talked about this tool as a serviceability tool, but it really is about access to services. Let me back up a little bit. We started talking about this as we were developing our Comprehensive Plan in 2019. We had our consultant at the time Logan Simpson help us put together the bones of this tool that I'm going to run you through here in a minute. Our IT Department has since helped take those bones and put some more flesh on it and -- and really the meat of what we are going to be reporting out to you in the staff report, at least that's the proposal that we would like to make tonight. So, Doug Green in IT and Tom Miller both have been working with us over the last several months to get this refined. I will go into some more details about what they have done and what some of the inputs and outputs are. Brian McClure has been part of the process since the comp plan and through today and, then, Miranda Carson's picked it up and sort of inheriting this to some degree at this point. So, a special shout out to them for all their help to get this tool kind of to where it's at that now. So -- and part of this was -- was -- as we were talking about where those priority growth areas were in the city. So, you will -- you will see a map at the end of the presentation that will kind of bring -- bring back some of that. This isn't that map, but it is kind of what's in the name. It's -- it's, again, where parcels have access to services. So, let me run you through it. So, I'm not going to read this slide to you, but it does, again, identify the accessibility to those needed infrastructure or services in -- in the city. There is a lot that goes into this. I'm not going to get into all the details of what IT has going on behind the scenes in GIS, but it does do that parcel level analysis. So, each parcel within our area of impact has distances to these types of services and, then, will spit out if it's a green, yellow, or red ranking of how accessible that -- each service is. There is 12 elements that we have included in this table that I'm going to show you here in a few minutes. We worked with each service provider. So, working with the police department on their three different service level calls. What is acceptable and what's not. So, level of service five minute response times, those types of things. So, we worked with each service provider to say what is -- for lack of a better term acceptable and not acceptable. So, if a sewer service line is within 500 feet, Public Works says that's reasonable. That's a reasonable extension. If it's 2,000 feet that's pretty far -- a pretty long drag to go and pick up that sewer trunk line and bring it to that parcel. That's pretty far away. So, again, we worked with them to come up with parks, with all these other -- other service providers. So, it's based on the current on-the-ground condition, but also future plans. So, for example, our parks department has a master pathways plan. So, if there is an existing pathway there it shows that, but it also shows if it's not there that it's Page 81 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 14 of 18 in a plan and you will be within a quarter mile or so of a future pathway. The nice thing about this is we can maintain the information relatively easy. Many of you have probably heard the term, you know, garbage in, garbage out. We need to maintain this. So, when a new pathway segment is built we need to make sure that's represented in GIS. That way we know that the next parcel down the road is now that much closer to that service or when that sewer trunk shed goes in the next one goes in and we know, you know, that -- that -- that is being extended. So, we are prepared to maintain this data set, so that we have -- have accurate information that we are reflecting. I think a big point here though -- and it's the last point on this slide. This is not though -- and I don't think you will use it this way, but you can't just look at this table I'm going to show you and go, oh, we should approve a project at that location or not. It doesn't tell you if it's a good project. It doesn't even really tell you if it's prime developable land or not. But it is a snapshot and some more data for you to consider and that's what we have constantly been hearing, at least for the last year if not more, that you want more information. So, we are just trying to give you more information, put as much stock into it as you want or -- or don't want to, but we are trying to share that information with you and we have the data now, so we are going to share it with you. So, again -- and we will -- we plan to begin putting this table in all hearing level staff reports going forward here after the first of the year. So, let's get into those 12 elements. This first one is not really an element, it really is just a yes or no. Is it already within city limits or is it within a half mile of existing city limits. I will just say, again, most of these are services. However, I start with one that isn't a service, this is just a -- it is or it isn't. So, you won't have anything that's red in this table. We do have a red layer, as I will show you at the end there is an overall city wide map and so this factors in. The weights that you see on the side factor into that overall developability or -- again, just use the term, you know, priority growth area type factor. That's where the weight becomes important. But really focus in on is it red, yellow, or green and what that service provider says is the appropriate breakpoint for-- if it's red or yellow or green. Floodplains is the other one that I will call out. The other ten are really services, but floodplain, the last one there, isn't a service necessarily. It's just something to know. Is it within the floodplain or not. So, not a big -- not a big deal, but the score -- but just, again, a data point, something to be aware of. Is this property in a floodplain or not. So, these are the first four. Emergency services. So, this should look generally familiar. Response times. Less than five minutes. Five to nine minutes. And nine minutes. The police -- again, chief in his annual report went through the three different priorities and this is, again, how you will see those in this table will be how each parcel does with their response times based on the variance call for that service. Pathways. I mentioned that, too, and kind of my opening remarks there. Is it within a quarter mile of a current pathway, which is a typical kind of walk distance. People are comfortable walking to within .25 miles of a future pathway or is it just--we don't have any future pathways planned near this property or not. Transit I will mention is based on VRT's Valley Connect 2.0. So, you won't get a whole lot of greens right now. We don't have a whole lot of transit routes. But based on Valley Connect 2.0 you can get some yellows certainly occurring on some of these tables that you will see in the staff report. And, then, the arterial road build out status is based on ACHD's integrated five year work plan. So, does the -- does the roadway exist in its planned number of lanes. So, do you have a five lane roadway there in most cases on -- on the arterial. Is it still a two lane roadway or maybe a three lane roadway, but it is Page 82 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 1 of 18 planned to be widened in the near term, so in the next five years, or is it so far out it's not even in the five year plan for widening. So, those are the criteria for transportation. And, then, the last kind of subsection are community connections. So, walking to school. This is a big kind of health -- health thing. This doesn't have anything to do with capacities or that -- some of these other discussions we have had with schools, but just proximity from the parcel to a public -- and I just want to clarify these are public elementary, middle, and high schools. It doesn't include like prep academies and those types of things or any private schools, but just your -- your public schools -- how close is this property to an existing or planned school even and the drivability. And, then, park walkability. Again, distance -- distance to park, basically. Is a regional park in close proximity. So, those are the 12 criteria. So, I mentioned before, this is where those scores that I told you -- the kind of the weight that I told you to kind of disregard, this is where they come into play. This-- and these are subject--and I will take comments on that if you have any comments on what is the higher score or not and, again, this is -- there is nothing -- we aren't going to use this. You aren't going to see this in staff reports. This is just to show the composite compilation of if you put all that together this is what our area of city impact would look like for access to those services that's -- that generally are a consideration when -- when a property develops. That kind of gives you an idea. This next slide is really something -- you will see something very very similar in a staff report and this is just a hypothetical. This isn't in any one parcel, we just put a few reds in and a few yellows and a few greens. But we will have the definition, so you will know that in this case the location it's -- it's within .5 miles, but it's not an on -- it's not in-fill. It's not already annexed, it's -- it's in the county. This -- this parcel in particular. Sewer lines are relatively close. So, between five hundred and two thousand feet. I won't read all of these, but this is, essentially, again, the -- the table you would see in a staff report. It should draw your eye a little bit; right? Red. So, you are going to go, wait a minute, okay, it's in the -- it's in the -- it's in the floodplain. I know that at least. So, we are sharing that information. Again, you won't see this composite rank, so that probably won't be in the -- in the table. But all these other things we wanted to share that information with you. So, the purpose of this really is kind of twofold. Again, I will take any feedback if you want to go back to any of those ranges of these, you know, if you don't like that this is, you know, the split here and you want it to be 1.5 miles and, then, this -- you know, .5 to 1.5 is yellow and 1.5 above is red. That type of comment we will take. This is more -- at this point in time anyways, just to let you know, they are coming in staff reports and if you don't like how it's working we can take that feedback and change this over time. Again, it's a tool we have created and built. So, if there is something in here you don't like or want to see in addition, we can evolve with -- with those comments. So, with that I will stand for any comments you may have or -- or -- or questions. Simison: Thank you. Council, maybe just for -- to be purposeful with our comments, rather than getting into whether or not you agree or disagree with any of these specific items, perhaps I will encourage you to look at this in your off time and providing feedback directly to Caleb that he can look at, but any other general questions or comments on the tool? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Page 83 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 16 of 18 Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Just maybe a clarifying question for Caleb. Caleb, is it staff's intent to use the -- a rank as a determining factor in recommending approval or denial of a project? Hood: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Cavener, no. Again, it is just a data point. Sometimes you may be, you know, this close from being green, but you are yellow or this close to yellow, but -- but -- but red. And so it is -- you know, there is a line because it is geospatial and we got to have cut off somewhere, but it should make you think and maybe dig a little deeper into those things. Again, like the floodplain example, okay, it's in the floodplain, what are they proposing to do to mitigate that. Cavener: Right. Hood: Just because the sewer line maybe 2,000 feet -- maybe they are building a lift station and can mitigate that. So, there -- this isn't -- again, it doesn't tell the whole story, it just tells geospatially where those things are at. So, we aren't relying on this and, again, we would ask you not to rely on this to say, well, there is no park within walking distance, therefore, we are going to deny your project. But maybe there is a park plan and it's coming or other circumstances. So, no. Cavener: Perfect. Thank you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you so much, Caleb. I really appreciate the tool. We will dig into it and look at the composite and the maps and probably test it like a hundred different ways one day, but I appreciate that instead of guessing about where services are at or digging through a lot of information, that there would be a way to quickly assess the total -- totality of the accessibility of all these services. I think this is great. I think it will lead us to a lot more consistency and I just appreciate that type of approach. So, thanks for all the work and to the whole team for -- for working on this. Simison: Mr. Hood, it is possible or probable or make sense at all to include a picture of the parcel with -- where each one of these locations are -- a way that would make sense. I mean sewer line you can do the parcel, here is the nearest sewer line. Here is the newest park. Here is the nearest pathway. I don't know that they all make sense, but just something to think about if -- if -- if an actual visual picture of the parcel with these elements would make sense or not. Food for thought. Don't even answer. Hood: So, Mr. Mayor, we can probably include some of that. Like you said, some of them maybe it doesn't make sense, especially if it doesn't exist. Transit. But -- but some of those we can maybe add a layer -- you know, you will have a series of maps already in the staff report and some of that may even be evident where schools are at and those Page 84 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 17 of 18 types of things and this is that same general location of the staff report. We will play with that a little bit and see if that-- if that seems to be helpful and maybe shoot some examples your way. Simison: If it adds value would be a good thing. I'm not saying it needs to. Council, any other questions? All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Hood. Hood: Thank you. Simison: We appreciate you. Bernt: Just because I didn't choke up about this doesn't mean I don't -- I'm not passionate about what you -- I don't know about -- EXECUTIVE SESSION 21. Per Idaho Code 74-206A(1)(a) To deliberate on a labor contract offer or to formulate a counteroffer. Simison: Do we need to go to Dean and ask him to replay that? Council, we are at Item 21 on the agenda. Do we want to do that now or following -- Mr. Nary? Nary: Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, I anticipate a fairly lengthy discussion. So, it would probably be best not to break it up, you could have just one conversation. On the regular agenda I know there is a lot of hearings, I don't think there is a lot of length to any of them. They just will take a little bit of time and I did tell our team that we could anticipate either a really short session now, but probably best at the end. Everybody else is remote, so I don't think it will be an impact to most anybody else. Simison: Okay. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: I move that we vacate Item No. 21 on the agenda. Cavener: Second the motion, Mr. Mayor. Simison: I have a motion and a second to vacate Item 21 on the agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Page 85 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#3. December 22,2020 Page 18 of 18 Bernt: I move that we adjourn. Cavener: Second the motion. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:38 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 1-5-2021 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK Page 86