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March 3, 2010

Special Council meeting of March 2, 2010 Council Retreat

This is an annual meeting held by council and staff to set goals for the city. The meeting started at 5:30PM I arrived at about 5:45PM and all Councilmembers were present by 6PM.

1st was the prioritization of the current projects.

1.     Meridian widening, this should be going to bid very soon.

2.     Sewer project is in process as we are seeing the construction being done.

3.     Jovita Realignment project. The discussion on this was that they may consider terminating the project. The staff noted that the city had received grant money and it may have to be paid back. The problem seems to be that the road would be next to Shuck’s and wipe out their side parking. It was noted that the city does not have the funds to buy out the site.  There is a possible alternative and more study is needed. Staff is working the project.

4.      Interurban Trail project. There are some problems with the design and staff is working on this. This is a grant project and will need to verify that the work gets done in time to meet the grant requirements.

5. Communication with citizens is a problem that keeps cropping up. Newsletters are costly and we don’t have the RCC connection to have a TV feed. This was dropped that out of the budget to save money between the last two councils. . It was suggested that the city gather up e-mails from citizens on a volunteer basis and send out to the e-mail list. The Fiber Optic cable was brought back up. It was noted that other cities are using fiber. (I believe there is the capacity of 4 pair. I checked on this a long time ago and was told that it was not enough to run a system. The world of technology has changed and they may have new opportunities now). Mark noted that we have a franchise agreement with Comcast to have a channel that the city could scroll and post information. Equipment would have to be purchased to get this up and running. Staff with explore these options and report back.

6. As the city moves forward with the existing projects Mark wanted to have the council consider what the city would look like and where would the town center be located. This may change other codes as this idea is developed. Mark suggested a 2010 Community & Economic Development Work Plan.

This includes, planning and land use in the core area, cost of development and development fees, infrastructure and utility planning in the core area, development process and establishing an Economic Development Advisory Board/Task Force. The discussion included having about 15 to 25 residents on the team for form the development and report back to council.

Next goal is to establish connectivity to the schools with sidewalks and trails. The information back from the school district was that they did not want sidewalks or trails that went to Meridian. They want them to only go to the housing areas. Bonnie has been working this issue and was not able to be at the meeting and will report at another time.

Jeff brought up sign codes. There was quite a bit of discussion but more in line with what the code should or could be. It was decided that this would be a possible subject for the economic advisory board.  

Parks and property was brought up. Should frontage be sold or work the park development in phases. This will be referred to the Parks Board for more work to be done.

I had to leave at this time they still had Impact fees, stormwater issues, the 2010 budget and the five year plan to discuss.

I will add more as I get the information.