City Council - Regular Meeting

Um, I will go ahead and get us started with our work session um with a roll call. I think the mayor's should I wait. Okay. Yeah. I noted for the record that I would have waited here. Hi Burton here. Morales. Nash. Yes. Steed. Yes. Will four present, two absent. Okay, thank you. Uh we'll move into the interim budget changes um from Alicia. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Thank you, Council President Ste. Council members, we have one interim budget change this afternoon. Uh the Department of Finance is requesting a one-time budgetneutral appropriation increase of $125,000 to update the city's development impact fee plan and capital facility needs plan. This update is required by state law every 5 years and it and it ensures that our impact fees remain compliant and aligned with Boise's current growth and infrastructure needs. It is fully funded through a 1% sir charge that has already been collected on development impact fees and it can only be used by law for costs associated with updating the fee plan. The work will be led by city staff across multiple departments with support from a consultant uh with experience in Boise um and has worked previously with the city on updating impact fees. Uh this is a routine but essential update that allows us to continue responsibly managing growth and infrastructure planning for police, fire, and parks. That is the only interim budget change for April. I am happy to stand for any questions you may have. Madame Mayor, um Lisa, thanks so much for this. Um can you confirm is this plan done every what's the cadence of the plan? Uh, Council Member Corass, the plan is updated every five years. Thank you.

All right. If there's nothing else, I should take a motion. Uh, Madame Mayor, I move to approve the interim budget changes. Second the motion. Clerk. Corus. Yes. Hi Burton. Yes. Nash. Yes. D. Yes. All in favor? Motion carries. Thanks, Alicia. Alrighty. Next up is the airport capital improvement plan. Wonderful to have you both here. Excited to get the update, share it with council in the community. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I should first say um happy birthday. Is that what you say? Happy anniversary. Happy anniversary to the airport.

To the airport. 100 years. Yes. And I'd encourage anybody, Donde, to go check out the the one person in here right now, but he's he's writing for the community to when you're flying, give yourself an extra 15 minutes or so to check out the exhibit that's been installed at the Boyisey airport. Um the history exhibit on the hundred years. There's one um one panel in particular that I think all all women um will know which one I'm referring to once they see it. Uh once upon a time women had to pay to use the bathroom at the airport uh because they built bathrooms for men and then women had to pay for a bathroom and there's a piece on that on the panel which I found fascinating but great exhibit. Encourage everybody to to visit it when they can in in the months to come and well done on the celebration. Thank you both and to the team that put it all together.

All right. Well, thank you. When did we start? That's a good question. We already have a question for you. Um director Hup when Excuse me. When did we stop charging women to use the restroom? Not soon enough. I can research that and get back to you.

All right. Well, I'm going to go ahead and kick it off. Um, Madame Mayor, members of the council, thank you for having us here. Um, I'm going to be joined here by our deputy director of engineering planning of planning and development, Beth Sumner. She's going to go over the specifics of our capital uh development program, but I'm going to provide some background, history, context, and give an overview of what the program is and then how we pay for it. And then Beth's going to get into the specific details of the things that are actually coming up. And our I'm really excited to show this to you because our team has been very hard at work over the last several months and the last couple of years uh getting ready for this important moment. And I think it's a really great time for us to be making some transitions and changes as we look back on the previous hundred years and we look forward to meeting the needs for our community over the next 40, 50 and 100 years. So uh you have all seen this before but it bears repeating. We have seen just tremendous growth in our region and at the airport. So we are growing at about four times the national average as a region and as a community which has resulted in over 2 million increase in passengers using the Boise airport just since co just since 2019. So pretty dramatic increases in the number of travelers that we're trying to accommodate through our facility. And this slide here underscores it just a little bit more but last year we exceeded 5 million passengers for the first time. And we are expecting that this growth will continue uh into the foreseeable future. We're predict predicting a 3.1% growth rate. Previously we were at 4.2. So 3.1 maybe seems a little aggressive. However, when you look at past history, it may or may not be. So we again this is a forecast. This is what we think is the most likely scenario. uh it could be

higher, could be lower, but the point is we do expect to see continued growth in our community and therefore at the airport. So as we are looking at making sure that the airport can meet the needs of the region and of Boise, we are looking at a 20-year planning horizon and beyond because as you know, these projects don't happen overnight. And so we need to look ahead five and 10 years, even 20 years for what we think the future needs of the airport will be. So we're making good decisions today that line us up for success in the future. And so we are in the current process of doing a master plan. And this will be brought back to council at a future point in time for review and approval. There's two pieces that get approved by the FAA. The first piece is the forecast and that is been sent to FAA for review and approval. Uh the forecast that was developed is within the FAA guidelines for what they deem to be reasonable and acceptable. So we expect that that will be approved. And then the other thing that they approve is our airport layout plan which shows how we're going to use our property and also how property was acquired. If it was acquired with airport revenue or with grant fund um if it was part of the initial parcel. So all of those things come together in our airport layout plan and shows how we will use the land in the future. So those are the two pieces that FAA approves, but we will will be bringing it back to council for your review comment. Uh we have members of our airport commission and council member Morales is on our technical advisory committee for the master plan. So more to come on that, but that is our 20-year planning horizon. Our capital improvement program is our plan for the next five years. So it's the near-term actions that we need to implement the master plan. So it lists specific projects, timelines, and

costs. It identifies different funding sources and then it prioritizes the projects based on both urgency, how important they are, and also funding that's available. And then we update the capital improvement program every year's and priorities may shift within the program from one year to another. So the master plan sets the vision. Uh the CIP, which is our five-year plan, make sure that we're doing the things in a timely manner. You've probably heard me joke that our last master plan became our five-year work plan because most of the things that were in the master plan in the 2017 2018 master plan are projects that are in process today. So funding sources the airport as all of you know but I'll reiterate it here just for anyone who may be uh watching or writing about this. The funding sources for uh our projects we are an enterprise fund. So we are funded solely through airport revenues. There are no local property tax dollars that are contributing to the airport. So the primary way that we fund capital are through grants uh from the FAA, but we may receive grants from other entities as well. uh airport revenues that come from fees that we charge users. Things like parking, aircraft landing fees, concession fees, the passenger facility charge, which is a fee that gets charged to an airline ticket um and then can be used for capital and then bonds. So that's how we fund major capital programs where we pay the full amount in bonds upfront and then pay it back over a period of years. And I would note that tenants are responsible for providing improvements in their own areas. And then we do have a couple of unique situations where we may have a tenant or a stakeholder that may also pay for a

specific improvement. So for example, the FAA will pay for helping us move Navads. Like we don't have them actually moving things as we're doing the runway project. So we would do it as part of a reimburseable agreement. Um, we also have what we call other transaction agreements with TSA where we will install their equipment in our facilities, but they will pay for it through the military. We can have what's called a military cooperative agreement. So, if they need something specific, so for example, on our runways, if they need to have concrete instead of asphalt and the landing zones, we would do the work, but they would pay for it. And the most recent example that we have is uh Micron. we are working with them to enter into an agreement to widen a taxiway to accommodate one of their aircraft. So if there's a specific tenant need for something on the airfield, we do the work but then have an agreement uh with the tenant to actually address whatever that specific need is. So this is a pretty big number, but we're going to take it in time year by year. Uh, and there's a number of different things in here, and Beth's going to get into some of the specifics, but we've divided them into some of the key areas. So, concourse A enabling projects, 823 million. That's more than the number that council may remember approving and the construction manager at risk. That's because it includes other things that are not in that contract. So that contract is uh the Seymar contract is for the building itself, the central utility plant and the baggage handling system. This includes also some paving, it includes design, it includes project management. So this number is a broader number. Uh we also will be doing a roadway project coming up in the next couple of years

that will be replacing the terminal roadway but also the bridge at the airport. And when I say bridge, I'm talking about the elevated roadway. As you think about it, it's it's a roadway, but it truly is a bridge because it's elevated like a bridge. Uh we have $272 million in runway reconstruction. Beth's going to talk about that as well. other airfield. Those are things like apron, taxiways, uh $90 million, uh a small improvement to the economy law and expansion. And then when we're done with concourse A, we know that concourse B is quite old. And so we're going to have about hund00 million in concourse B that we'll need to do. So that's the overview of the capital program. I did want to touch on our airline use and lease agreement because that's obviously central to the work that we're doing here. We're building a concourse and it's important that we get input from our stakeholders and I wanted to do a refresh for our council because the airline use and lease agreement will be coming back to council at some point in the near future. Our current agreement was negotiated in 2122. So, it's a three-year agreement that we've extended one year. And so, we're in negotiation today for what the next airline use and lease agreement will be. Back when we did it not that long ago, we were a small hub and receiving full funding through the FAA AIP program. Now that we're a medium hub, we actually receive less FAA funding, which is an interesting and other story alto together. Um, and the other the previous agreement was substantially unchanged since 2020 2006. So when we did this, we did a shorter term agreement knowing that we had a substantial capital project coming up. So, I will not read all of these to you because you can all read, but these are the airport goals and objectives that we outlined and the

things that are important um to the airport and also to our airline partners and mutually beneficial, lowcost, competitive market. It's critical that we maintain a favorable bond rating, that we're fiscally responsible. We need to be flexible so we can adjust to changes in our community and we do want to reflect um our current environment. The priorities for the airlines include things like the term and extension options. So how long are we committing to with a substantial project like this? I do envision we will have a longer term on this next agreement than we did on the last agreement. They're very concerned and interested in rates and ensuring we maintain a favorable rate situation for them and what we call CPE which is the cost per inplane passenger. Um and then they also want to have a say in the capital program and the MII is the majority and interest. So they have the right depending on the terms that we negotiate to vote to approve uh the capital program. So, so far uh the airlines have voted to approve the design work for the terminal and we have a ballot to them today to approve baggage handling and um some preliminary work. So, when we talk about cost and we talk about cost per inplane passenger today, our costs are very low compared to our industry peers. This really shows two things in my mind. It shows one that we've had a substantial increase in the number of passengers who are using our facility. And so we're spreading our operations and maintenance cost over a larger pool of passengers combined with the fact that we haven't really invested in substantial capital programs that have impacted the airlines rates. So what's going to

happen is as we invest in new capital and new infrastructure, airline rates will go up. So that will be an area of interest for them. So as we look at the finance plan and I just want to put a pin on that because um we it is low and we and the airport has real costs and we're doing quite a bit of investment which makes for a one a great experience for customers both residents in the city and throughout the region as well as visitors. um and very much open to exploring what this ought to be moving forward. Um given that, you know, when we look at all of these airports, we're at the very very bottom and we offer um great service and we're looking at how we invest for the next 100 years in the airport right now. And with the capital program that is coming, we will see substantial increases again because we'll be issuing bonds for major capital projects that then we will pay back over the period of the next 20 to 30 years. But thank you mayor for making that point. So the finance plan, we will see uh later this year a request to the council for the ability to issue a letter of credit which will do interim financing and that is something that we will coordinate very closely with our finance department. Uh we've been working together on this. I think it's somewhat new for the city. I don't think that we've done it before as a city, but it is relatively common. And what that think of it is like a bridge financing. It will allow us to cash flow the projects as we go and then issue bonds when we have more information about what the total cost will be. It will save us from bonding more than we need because there's a cost associated with that. There's an expense associated with that. And also it will enable us to go out to bonds for fewer times. So we'll be able

to consolidate our bond issues into larger chunks which will be more affordable and we'll probably get more favorable rates on. So in 26 you'll see a request to be able to issue a letter of credit and then we'll also be bringing forward in 26 a request u for a resolution that authorizes us to do bonding. And just a reminder, the airport because we do not have taxpayer funds and taxpayer revenue, uh it does not require a vote of the taxpayer unlike many of the bonds that the city issues. So this is a very different process. Um and then in 27 we expect that we will have the full cost amount determined and that will be done in the budgeting. Then in 27 we'll do the first bond issuance which will be about 400 million. And then in 29 we'll do the second bond issue which we estimate to be about 400 million. I would like to stress that these are estimates based on today's pricing and where we think we are in the scope today. It could change but this is where our best estimate based on the information that we have today. So, with that, I would pause for maybe just a minute and see if we have questions from council about the things that I've talked about and then I will turn it over to Beth to get into the really fun stuff about the concourse and what it's going to look like. We have some wonderful renderings. Um, so I can take a question or two now or I would be happy to stand for questions at the end as well.

Madame Mayor, I was just going to thank you so much Rebecca. I was just going to make a comment. Um the these are really complicated funding mechanisms and projects and um I have we're putting a lot of trust in you and I um and it's earned. I mean the I said this to you at one of the recent um anniversary events, but I brag on the airport all the time that they've seen 80% growth, more than 80% growth over the last 10 years. And um I think most passengers would have no idea that that ex that that growth has been experienced because we're managing it so well. So I trust um the plans that you're making to move forward. It's a lot of money on the table. Um I think it's probably a relief to residents to know that it's not coming from their pockets that um there's other funding mechanisms for our airport and um and great job and looking forward to Beth's presentation so we can get excited about the details.

Excellent. Well, I will say you are in very capable hands with Beth and she is doing everything that she can to make sure that we deliver this project in a timely manner in a way that's affordable for our community. And with that, I'll turn it over to Mayor. Um Rebecca, before you go, yeah, quick question. Looking forward to the fun stuff, but um uh question about the master plan. So, I believe um the last master plan, maybe it was approved in 2019, something like that. Right. Right. Um and now we're doing another one. Are we getting started or almost finished in 2027? There was a 2027 date. Was that when we were going to start it or was that when we were going to kind of

The master plan is in process. It's about an 18month to two-year process. So, I would say we're not quite halfway through. Great. And so, we kind of use this as like a 20-year forecast and master planning process. But do we wait another 20 years before we do another master plan or do we do another master plan in about 8 to 10 years kind of like this last time knowing that things actually might change quicker than we thought?

We do an a new master plan when it's warranted. So we probably do an update every 5 to seven years and in this case because our inflment forecast was completely off and again there's criteria for how we have to set the forecast. Um but we had exceeded our 2025 forecast in 2019 and obviously with COVID in 2020 and 2021 we we had we stepped back a little bit in terms of employments but we are back well above what was forecast for this time and so the time is appropriate to do an update to the master plan and we're working on that. Um and Beth's team is actually leading the master plan effort as well. Perfect. Thank you.

All right, I'll turn it over to Beth. Thank you. Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be here, Mayor Council. I'm going to go through a couple of slides here, and please feel free to interrupt me if I, you know, rush through anything or it's um not explaining it in as much detail as you would like to see. So, we've broken down some of the capital program into a non- terminal projects and terminal projects list. So, that's what you'll see here displayed. We'll get into some more details on these projects as we go throughout the slides, but um this really kind of comes down to um how things are cost centers that we use at the airport. So that's where you'll see the non- terminal projects. In terms of our baggage handling system, we know the central utility plant, our current utilities isn't sufficient to be able to provide utility service to the expansion that we're going to do both with the baggage handling system as well as concourse A. Um we've got a number of the passenger facility charge projects. Um Rebecca mentioned the runways. So that um typically we those are funded with a a majority of um FAA um funds to be able to reconstruct or rebuild runways. And unfortunately these two runway reconstructions projects are literally happening in the next four years while we're trying to also expand. So that's a little bit of I think kind of the push and pull that we're feeling within the capital budget because we do have a percentage that we're responsible for as well um as a medium hub airport. So we are going to reconstruct both runways within the next four to six years. Those are major projects that I have a few slides on that I'll show you. Um we already mentioned the roadway projects and then we are bringing common use technology to the airport. I think you'll see that later this month. um the contract to be able to approve that. And what that is like is um it's going to provide more um flexibility with gate use and ticket counter use so that we

could have different airlines, particularly some of these airlines, not the major airlines that you're probably familiar with, some of the low lowcost carriers that can come in and quickly have a space that they can operate, provide service to our citizens, and then we have the infrastructure in place that allows that to happen. And then the terminal projects are the ones that you're probably most familiar with. They do get a lot of coverage, I think, in the media. And so, we've got some more slides and some more renderings to show you on that. So, I want to start with the airfield construction. So, this project is actually going on um at this point. And it is colorcoded with its phases. So, this is actually a two-year project. Um we have a 10,000 foot runway on the north runway. I'll refer to it as that for the remainder of the presentation. And um we discovered some issues um with some of the asphalt layers and they were delaminating from um each layer. And so we knew that we had to do more than just kind of take off a layer and then replace it. We needed to dig down about 2 feet and replace those layers. And so this has become a much more intensive project than we thought about a year and a half ago. Uh so that's been a lot of coordination with the FAA to pivot to be able to do this project. It is underway. It's going to take us two years. So, we'll get the the west half of the runway completed in this construction season. Typically, for us construction season, it's about March, April into about October time frame. And then we'll we'll get the runway to a point where it can be open and then we can have two runways open through the winter months. And then we'll pick it back up next spring. So, this is just the first phase that we're going to be doing. Um, with the runway, we move just north of the runway. You'll see uh concourse A apron phase two. So, we did phase one last year. Um, and what that allowed us to do is open up a couple of remain overnight spots. So, you've flown in and out of the Boise airport. We often have a big push in the morning and then we have a lot of arrivals at night and the aircraft remain here overnight. They may

go to Sky West to get some maintenance service. So, it's really beneficial if the airport has multiple places where we can park aircraft. So building phase one last summer opened up three to four more spots kind of depending on the size of the aircraft for us to be able to house airplanes overnight and then that allows uh kind of a quicker turn at the gate as well to be able to push an airplane there and then send more passengers on their way. So we're going to expand this um this summer and we'll be doing phase two. So it'll just start to move its way north. And this pavement is really beneficial because we're getting a little bit of a jump start on concourse A because all this pavement will need to be put in place when we open up concourse A. So we're doing the work now, getting to use it now and then it'll benefit us when we open up concourse A. And then the last one that's highlighted on this slide is the taxi lane SRA extension. The widening that we're doing um as Rebecca mentioned, we will be widening that to support a larger aircraft for the Micron hanger. We will manage the project um so that it'll be met to FAA standards and it'll go through our process but it'll be reimbursed by uh Micron. This is a summary of what I basically just covered on the last slide. You can see some of the funding um where it's coming from. So we are in the process of getting a discretionary grant from the FAA which is very beneficial. It's paying for the majority of the project. Um so that's helpful. And then we um in the future we're working towards a military construction cooperative agreement that will allow us to um put in some improvements and benefits that the military will need in the future. Um I talked a little bit about apron A. Um really that's just covering the southern portion of the apron and we'll look at um kind of the north part of it um in a future slide. Airport way construction. So, we already addressed some of the issues that we were seeing um in some of our storm drain infrastructure. We addressed this this past year. So, we've got the area

that we were most concerned about addressed. Um and anytime, you know, we have one road in and one road out for the airport. So, any work that we do at the airport on our roadway, we're very sensitive to the timing of it. And so, you can see we're working on plans um to be able to potentially do more construction this summer to be able to rebuild the elevated roadway. and then we'll address the rest of the roadway. We know that that's going to have um some unpleasant um impacts to passengers and how we'll navigate where uh arrivals, departures. So, that's all part of the phasing plan that we'll work through and we'll have a pretty strong communication plan to get that information out to passengers so that they can make the best decision and also plan for the timing that it might take um just increased timing to be able to get to their gates. And you can see some of the funding. We do have a PFC application in to help cover the costs. And then we submitted a um IGA um airport terminal program grant. Those were submitted back in January. And they've the f the FAA has said that the federal government basically has until October to determine who's getting the grants, how much they're getting. So we're still kind of in a wait and see pattern in terms of the f additional federal funding that we'll get for a lot of these projects. I already mentioned this the common use airport passenger system CAPS um working pretty closely with the IT department here as well and um the or effectiveness department. So it's been a a good collaboration between multiple departments in the city and um implementation will take about almost a year to do. So there's four main components to it. I think the one that we're most interested in getting online first is that last one. It's called the resource management system. And how this will be implemented is it will allow us to manage our gate use much more efficiently. And so our operations team is very excited about getting this system online. And like I said there

will be this is showing a picture of um a gate uh common use gate technology so that you know different airlines could basically plug in and use the system and then they don't necessarily have to have their own infrastructure in place. We'll also have some kiosks in the ticket lobby area for common use as well. So, um, excited to see that bringing more technology to the airport. All right, the big program terminal upgrades and the concourse A. So, we'll just kind of step through these. We'll work our start our way on the east and just kind of make our way to the west. So, we'll start with the baggage handling system first in the building. If you ever get an opportunity to tour our baggage handling system, if you would like to, more than happy to take you down there. It's a pretty fascinating system to see functional and operational. Um, but it is at end of life. We were one of the first inline systems after September 11th happened and so our team is incredible at maintaining the system and that's how we've been able to get as much life out of it as we have and so um it's time to replace it and we've determined the best option is to build a whole new system to the east of the terminal where you can see that um number one located. So intent is to start site preparations this fall. Um we do know that we'll have to lose gate B14 in order to accommodate the larger size system. Our our current baggage handling system has probably 50% or less of the uh capability that we really need or the space that we need in order to operate um for today. So expanding it is essential. Um and that's basically the timeline. It'll take us about 2 and 1/2 years in order to get through um building the building and then putting in the system. Um and then we'll have to go through a lot of commissioning and testing before we can actually make the switch over to the brand new baggage handling system because we have to keep the airport operational through this entire time. We have to keep bags moving out to airplanes. So, it's going to be uh a lot

of phasing um to be able to make this work. And this just shows you another image of um the uh makeup units is what we call them. So again, if you come out and get a tour, you'll see um where the bags after they go through the check bag inspection area. So where TSA inspects our bags, then they go out to these separate makeup units that make sure that they get out to the appropriate plane. And so um we we're going to be expanding this out to up to five makeup units that are about twice the size of the existing makeup units we have. And then um we'll be working closely with TSA. They have to approve our design. So there's a lot involved in terms of getting um the approvals and moving forward with what we um what we come up with. Um terminal improvement. So this is another area we'd like to address. Um improving the circulation as you um exit the uh um the secure side. So our exit lanes, we want to try to maximize the space. We actually, it's probably one of the most enjoyable things that I um get to experience at the airport is when I leave. Um a lot of times I will see people getting welcomed home, whether it's military members, people who have completed a mission. Um it's just a very wellused and loved space. And we've grown into that space as we've expanded the checkpoint. And so we'd like to be able to address the need that we have. Our citizens seem to really enjoy and use the space. So we want to make sure that we appropriately size that and also improve the accessibility of that space. We did put in an uh IGA grant request for the vertical transportation. So that would be escalators and elevators. So again, waiting to find out if that's a piece of equipment the government will help us pay for. And this just gives you a nice image. Um so we would be building out to the east and the long-term master plan reflected this concept of the rotunda eventually sort of becoming the center of the airport and then we would mirror the ticket lobby and bag claim all on the east side. And so that's just kind of

the beginnings of that plan and putting it in place and just gives you a nice rendering. Um this would be from the uh ground floor just kind of looking towards the southwest at the improved space and the addition on the east side of the rotunda. And then this is from the upper curb looking. We can see the rotunda as the reference space and that additional uh square footage to give us a good exit lane and help with our circulation. This is inside. So, you're coming out of the exit lane. You would have the option to be able to take an escalator or an elevator. And that's an area our safety committee has identified that we don't have our escalators and elevators colllocated. And sometimes people don't always make the most appropriate choice for their their situation. And so we think by mirroring or putting all this together that will help people make the best decision. So bringing those closer to one another and then this is coming down into the rotunda. So you can see that um the escalator off to the right side of the slide. The escalator that you see sort of in the central um part of the slide that would be escalators actually leading up. Eventually we'll be able to build out the ticket lobby towards the east. So those escalators would lead you up into future ticket lobby, but they will also bring you back up to the rotunda and then you can come through to ticketing there. And this would be the meter greeter space that we're planning on building out. Uh central utility plant. I mentioned this earlier. So um you know we we have great goals about the clean electricity for our city and the carbon neutrality by 2035. and that's part of the focus of building the central utility plant. Um, we did put in two grant requests for equipment. Um, really strategy-wise, we decided to split the new equipment as a separate grant request from the

replacement equipment so that we're optimistic that we'll be competitive for both. So, we'll see what we we can get. This would be in line with the um concourse A buildout. So, it won't start for at least another year. You may have seen these renderings. Some of these have made it into the public space. So, this is the future concourse a buildout. Um, the architects were really thoughtful in terms of the roof line and trying to mirror the foothills in the background and kind of draw to that um sense of place that we have here. And speaking of project vision, so these were kind of the main concepts that when we started the concourse project that we gave to the architect as grounding principles for us. So, I'll just give you an opportunity to read those. I think the one that we're trying to really still keep in the forefront is this accommodating for future growth and innovation. Um, whenever you get into sort of like budget discussions, it's easy to start cutting things out, but we're trying to take a really long view of the program so that can we make really smart decisions now that don't limit our ability to grow and expand in the future. So, this is if you've been out to the airport, we have a new um where the display is that the mayor mentioned and then we've got a beautiful mural up now um showing kind of the future and has some of these renderings. So, this would be the basically on the other side of that wall that is where the walkway will go to um make your way to concourse A. And the intent with this walkway is really to use the space as a transitionary point and then also an opportunity to feature art, public art. Um there may be some opportunity from like a history standpoint and then almost giving a space um of airfield views. Um I see a lot of people at the airport that really just stop and enjoy being able to look out on the airfield and see the activity of airplanes taking

off and landing. And we want to give that space um an identity here. And then as you make your way down the walkway, you'll come to this concessions node. Um it'll be at the very east end of concourse A and we'll have concessions as well as what we're planning right now is to have two outside terraces. I think that's something we've received feedback from multiple people on the program uh in terms of just bringing a sense of calm. traveling can be very stressful and if there are things that we can plan in the space that sort of allow this out access to outside fresh air um that that can bring a sense of calm to passengers and to travelers and so that's what you'll see here in this node and this is just a close-up view of the north side terrace having an outside space and then getting a look at the hold room. So hold rooms are the areas we refer to basically where you're waiting before you board your airplane. And this is um the concept that we're using here. Something we've been exploring is the idea of mass timber. We think as a city of trees that may be something that's really gives a sense of place. And you can see the trees within the space too. um when you get off the airplane, just knowing where you have landed and having this idea that yes, I'm I've either returned home, it's familiar or I'm a new visitor to the city and how would I know that I'm in the city of trees? Um and then we something we're very excited about with concourse A is it's going to be a lot wider than concourse B. So it'll give us a lot more circulation space, a lot more space for the hold rooms. And we know concourse B was designed for regional jets which are much smaller, have a lot less passengers on them. This is going to be designed for those larger airplanes um that are going to hold more passengers. And of course um we recognize the percent for art program. We're very excited about the opportunity to do more art installations in the space. And these are just a couple of the areas

that we are exploring with our art project coordinator and the arts and history team. Um we know the rotunda is an ideal location for a suspended art piece. We've already done some of the prep work to be able to support an installation there. We think concourse A also great candidate for suspended art pieces and terzo floor that's um a pretty typical material that are used in airports and there's a great opportunity there maybe to do something of an artistic nature and I do want to just highlight uh concourse B because part of why we're building concourse A. Yes, we've outgrown concourse B, but we actually have issues that we need to address in concourse B. And we can't take a gate down or a hold room down right now because we're just so over capacity. And so that's part of what we're going to get through building concourse A is be able to move a lot of activity there so we can address some of the needs in concourse B. Um, we have some significant repairs that need to occur on the apron. And again, we can't address the apron until we're able to relieve some of the capacity um at concourse B. We're still working through what the end result will be, whether we'll do a repair and a renovation or if we're going to do a complete reconstruction. A lot of that will be driven based on budget and how much revenue we have to be able to spend. So, I think it's a little too early for us to make a decision or make a recommendation of what direction we should go. We know that really both of those are really on the table at this point. um but looking to get through this program or complete this program in 2030 and then that's what will start the next iteration um of design work in 2030 and then trying to get construction started in 2032. So just never a dull moment for us at the airport.

And that was my last slide. Then I'll kick it off some with some questions. I don't know if I've gone to many other medium-sized airports and gotten off, but are we the only airport that still has like a welcome area where people are, you know, waiting and cheering when people get off the plane? I just don't see it anywhere else. Utah. Salt Lake is a large. It's like a regional cultural thing. Yeah.

Yeah. That was so so interesting just because I hadn't really thought about that much that we still have a lot of people who are using that waiting area up there and you don't really see that built into a lot of airports. So kind of some couple of questions. You'd me uh mentioned some stuff about um the utility plant that's going there um which seems extremely important especially with some of our clean energy goals. I would also imagine some like some big challenges and predictability issues there as well. Could you just speak to that a little bit more as far as the challenge of getting the equipment that we need to have there kind of future planning um all the stuff that kind of goes into that area.

Yes, I can. I would say the central utility plant although probably the smallest square footage that we are designing and constructing is probably one of the more critical areas that we're trying to focus our efforts on. I think some of the challenges we're experiencing with the central utility plant really revolve around we had originally designed it trying to bring most of the equipment and try to replace what we were going to be do what we already have in existence in concourse B and the the cost got really too significant and so as we were trying to rightsize the program it became an area where we had to really focus on concourse A and what we need in order to serve concourse A and so part of our decision-m with where we've located it also is to try to take advantage of where our existing generators are and existing utility equipment so that it can tie into that larger area and then we're also sizing the facility so that it can take more mechanical equipment in the future. So that's kind of how we're trying to futureproof it, but it's really focused primarily on serving concourse A and the baggage handling system with the opportunity to grow it. And I would say it's still a little early for us to know specific equipment that we're going to install in that. But it's something that we track on our schedule in terms of lead times. And so that's I think also helpful in the sense that we're starting the central utility plant in September of or September October of 27 versus it being one of the first things that we're going to start the program with. Yeah, it's probably one of the least interesting of the slides that are up there, but like such an interesting piece, you know, kind of evaluating everything else that goes with it. Um, really appreciate the presentation. Renderings are wonderful. Um, and you know, like council president said earlier, I think that there's a tre tremendous amount of, you know, trust and that trust has been earned by our airport in being able to deliver on a lot of these projects. It it does seem just like totally wild to me to think about 20 years down the road and how you actually plan an airport for 20 years down the road because if we were

thinking about 20 years ago, how much has changed in that short period of time, you know, with technology and all sorts of other things and how we might actually expect that to look. Um, and so I think that that's the it's so exciting to see all the the photos um and the renderings and it still looks a lot like the airport looks like today. And I'm kind of just sort of interested in my own head of 20 years from now, is that actually what airports still look like or are they starting to look much different because of a variety of different technologies that are maybe coming forward. So again, appreciate it. I know that you're thinking about all those things. Um, but it's a it's it's really fun to think about.

Yeah. And I think maybe more specifically how we're trying to address the 20-year plan from an infrastructure standpoint, the baggage handling building for example, we are thinking about eventually we're probably going to want to build a second floor on that. So what are choices that we can make today that will allow that to happen much more easily for future airport operators and designers and engineers.

Madame Mayor, I'll just add really great work. It's exciting to think about the future in this regard. I, you know, I wish it could all happen overnight. I'm sure you do, too. Um, but also looking at, you know, numbers like 2030 and 2032, it's not as far away as it seems. So, um, excited to see what's around the corner and, um, will look forward to the changes each time I head to the airport over the next few years. So, thank you so much for all the work. It's a obviously complicated projects to consider, but um it looks like we're on the right track. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. I really appre appreciate the presentation. It's fun to to see the listings of all the work that is occurring. We hear about it, but then to see it in a in a presentation really shows the impact and the and the depth of work that's being done. And um I do want to just say that as part of the Boise 100 celebration had the occasion to be in that walkway from the airport to the rental car facility. Um it'll open soon and it's such a great indicator of where the airport's headed in terms of customer service, design, light, um and really creating a special experience with art for residents and visitors alike. So again, thanks for all the work that you're doing, the thought that's gone into this, and looking forward to partnering with you along the way.

And next up, some more investment for the city. Alicia's back up with the with the discussion around the capital improvement plan. All right. Thank you, mayor, uh, council members. Um, today I'm going to walk through the city's capital budget. we're going to cover um kind of what's driving it and what it means heading into fiscal year 2027. So, uh as we begin um today we're planning for future major investments um particularly in the areas of public safety and parks. Uh but the primary funding tools to support those including um updated impact fees and a potential public safety bond are still in development. And um second, most of our current resources are already committed. Our capital funding today is largely supporting ongoing programs, maintaining existing assets, and replacing equipment. And then third, what this means for fiscal year 2027 is that we will primarily be um pursuing a kind of run the business, if you will, year focused on maintaining what we have and continuing projects already underway while we position for larger investments in the future.

So, what does this mean for council priorities as we um discussed them a couple of weeks ago at the previous council work session? Um the key takeaway is that many of the investments you've identified like public safety uh facilities or new community amenities require both new fac new investments or new funding um in time. So, we are actively working um on two key tools to support those investments. Uh the first is development impact fees which we just approved. Thank you the um the IBC to help get that work underway. Um and that will help fund growth related infrastructure. And then the second is a potential public safety bond for major facility needs um in the public safety area. But both of these efforts are still in progress and they will shape what's possible in future years, but they are not resources that'll be available for the 2027 budget. So, this budget will reflect where we're at today. Um, not the full buildout of council's priorities yet. Um, so I just want to ground the conversation um in timing particularly as it relates to a potential public safety bond as as staff are exploring what that might look like. Um, so if there is alignment on moving forward with a public safety bond, there are several steps that have to occur before any funding would be made available. Um, year one is really about planning and analysis, refining scope, um, identifying costs and priorities. And then in year two, council would consider whether or not to move forward with a bond. And then if so, it would require voter approval. And then only after voter approval could the city issue debt and access funding.

And then from there, it could still take additional time for project planning, design, and ultimately construction to happen. So even under the most op optimistic timeline, um we're looking at multiple years for before facilities could be delivered. So this this timeline just kind of helps frame up where we're at and what we're looking at for um planning for future facilities. Um so this slide provides an overview of the capital fund for today for fiscal year 26. Our capital fund relies heavily on transfers from the general fund. Um for 20 fc year 26 about 63% of funding uh came from the general fund. Uh those transfers have grown over time largely due to three things. Um we have more facilities to maintain. uh those facilities are aging and costs are increasing. Uh we also have revenue from impact fees, franchise fees and smaller sources like grants and interest earnings. Just a little bit more on impact fees. Um it's one of the tools we use to support growth in the city. Um these are charges on new development that help fund additional parks, fire and police infrastructure um that are needed to serve that growth. Uh there are a couple important limitations to be aware of. One, these funds can only be used for growth related projects and they cannot be used for maintaining or replacing infrastructure that's existing. Um and they can't also they can't be fund any deficiencies that are existing. So, we're currently updating the impact fee plan and it occurs every 5 years as I previously mentioned and we expect it to be completed um in time to inform the fiscal year 28 budget.

So, our capital investments fall into three main categories. Um the first is projects and this is typically new or expanded facilities and infrastructure. Um the second is major equipment things like vehicles um and large operational equipment and then major repairs and maintenance or MRM which is focused on preserving what we already have. Um so you'll see these categories throughout the remainder of the presentation and it really defines how we spend our capital dollars and how they're allocated. Um this gives a little bit of a sense of scale of how the capital fund in fiscal year 26 is is allocated or spent. Um so of the 46 million about half or 26 million or over half um is uh allocated to capital projects. So that's for things like the Whitney pool, Alta Harris Park, other park projects um Boise Depot, 8th Street. Um, and then the rest is split between major repairs and maintenance and major equipment. A lot of the funding goes towards basics, keeping buildings in good working condition, replacing equipment, and then just making sure that it's all in good working operating order for city operations to to continue. Um, so major repairs and maintenance, you'll hear me talk about it a lot. Um it's one of the most important areas to highlight. Investment in maint maintenance is what allows us to preserve the assets um that we already have. And um the phrase that we like to say is $1 spent today avoids four to five dollars later. Um and it's very real in this space. Um so when we defer maintenance, costs increase, problems can become emergencies, and services can be disrupted. So that's what we're

trying to avoid with MRM investments. Um, so investments here can extend the life of our facilities, improve safety, and reduce reduce long-term costs. Um, and importantly, this is a city-wide need. So it's across parks, libraries, city hall, and public safety facilities. And it's a major driver of our capital budget and one of the reasons flexibility in is limited in the capital fund. Um, similarly, major equipment supports operations across the city. We maintain nearly 1,800 assets. Um about half of those are vehicles. This equipment is essential to deliver services from police response to park maintenance. Um regular replacement is critical to maintain safety, ensure reliability, and avoid higher costs from breakdowns and delays. So like maintenance, um it's not really optional. It's foundational to delivering services every day. So where we are today, um if you take a step back, um most of our capital funding is committed, as I mentioned, to maintain existing facilities, replace equipment, and continuing the ongoing programs um that are committed in the capital fund. Um at the same time, rising costs are reducing our overall capacity in the capital fund. Um we do have tools that we're exploring um like the impact fees and a potential public safety bond but those are restricted um in use um or not yet available. Um and importantly even when the funding is identified major projects can take years to deliver. So the reality is that advancing new large-scale projects will require new revenue rep prioritization or both. So just taking a moment to um kind of level set on exactly what it

takes to deliver on a large-scale capital project and kind of level set on on expectations. Um these projects take take time um often several years and in some some cases even a decade or more. Um so this timeline here um includes um what a typical project might look like. So starts with planning um funding alignment design permitting and construction. Um and each of those those phases take time to do well. Um second funding has to be carefully balanced. Capital projects are t typically um as I mentioned a mixture of funding sources such as um impact fees, tax supported funded funding um and sometimes one-time funding sources like grants or donations. Um but often those sources are limited and we have to be intentional about about their uses. And then third, the most important piece, every capital project um if it's new, can create ongoing operating costs. So new facilities require staffing, utilities, maintenance, and long-term reinvestment. Um so in many cases, these ongoing costs are bigger long-term commitments than the initial construction. So, it's not just whether we can invest and build in something, it's whether we can sustainably afford it over time and accommodate it in our long-term forecast. So, and our final goal here is, you know, can we deliver the project without reducing services somewhere else in our forecast and um somewhere else within the city operations. So that means fully understanding these long-term impacts and making sure we're not creating tradeoffs um and affecting services elsewhere. So as we move into fiscal year 27 and beyond um this is really the lens that we're looking through balancing the

timing, funding, and long-term sustainability. Um a a real world example just to bring that timeline to life was of fire station 13. Um from initial identification of need to opening the facility um this project took roughly 25 years. Um even in the more recent phases I think it was about uh 5 to seven years uh from planning to opening. So the the steps um including planning, funding, funding, alignment, land acquisition, design, construction um and ensuring that we have um the operating costs included in our general fund forecast. So this is typical for major facilities and important um context as we're thinking about expectations for new investments. So, bringing it back to fiscal year 27 capital budget, um what you see here on the slide are examples of uh projects and investments that are already programmed um for this budget. Um so, it includes several park projects. Um we have additional 8th Street improvements. Um we have a couple of fire engine replacements. um technology replacement projects um as well as ongoing MR MRM projects and pathways investments. So as we move into the proposed budget, um the focus will be continuing these commitments and carefully evaluating any additions to this um as we look at available resources as we look at the capital fund relative to um the general fund operating as well.

So based on what we've walked through, um I want to highlight three recommendations as we approach the FY27 capital budget. Um first, maintain before we build. Um our existing assets are aging and the cost of deferring maintenance only grows over time. Staying disciplined here reduces the risk. It avoids larger costs later and protects services we deliver. And as we saw earlier that the capital fund relies heavily on general fund transfers. So my second recommendation here would be uh increasing the general fund transfer as a direct way to create additional capacity helping to address mean uh maintenance needs and to begin to make room for new capital investments in the future. But it's also important to recognize that those um increases don't happen in isolation. uh they come from the same limited general fund flexibility that 1% that we saw of the of the fixed box uh that we discussed at the last work session and it must compete with other operating priorities. Um so that's why it's also important that we continue the conversation about how we use year-end funds. Um, these are one-time resources that could be strategically used here to help make meaningful progress on capital needs, particularly in maintenance without creating ongoing commitments that add pressure in future years. So, these recommendations are intended to provide a framework as we move forward into the proposed budget. And then just a few takeaways to summarize. Um capital investment is essential to maintaining uh the city and growing city services. Um but first we you know we need to maintain what we have. Delaying maintenance increases costs and uh increases risk over time. Second, our resources are constrained um

and needs exceed available funding and rises rising costs continue to reduce what we can deliver, which means prioritization is required across projects, maintenance, equipment, and our ongoing programs. And third, new investments require a long-term approach. That includes multi-year planning, developing funding tools like impact fees and a potential public safety bond and uh being intentional about how we use one-time resources like year-end funds. But taking this together, the framework will shape the FY27 proposed capital budget. So my last slide is just next steps um with respect to the budget process. Um from a council perspective, um the key milestones include um another budget work session on May 5th. Um and then on May 19th, we will um have a budget workshop which will include department presentations. Um, following that, the proposed budget will be released on June 12th, uh, with additional council work sessions on June 23rd. Um, and a public hearing in July and then leading to budget adoption in August. Um, on April 8th, we launched a public engagement process, uh, budget feedback website. Um, that'll I can gather that information and make sure it's shared with staff. And that concludes my presentation. I am happy to stand for any comments or questions. Madame Mayor Alicia, thank you so much for the presentation. And I think it's very beneficial uh to have an understanding right at the outset of what our budget looks like um what our

expenses are today and where we're looking. I think of it like I think of my own house. I really want to remodel my kitchen. Um but I need a roof first. Um so you have to set those priorities of what needs to come first and that's what we're doing for the city here. Um, I do have a couple questions I'm not sure you'll be able to answer um today, but in regards to maintenance plans, um, it's my understanding that each department would set their list of what needs to be maintained. I think of like parks and wreck, they're going to look at the uh, train depot and that's going to come under their purview and the libraries building is going to come under their purview. Is that correct?

Um, council member Corus. Um, yes. Each department looks at their own maintenance needs um and they submit those to the budget office. We also have within public work works our facilities uh maintenance department and they manage projects um such as the depot project and and others as well and help us with um the project management components.

Great. And and that just to follow up, I'll emphasize because while each department is tracking the maintenance that they have, um, public works as well as the EMT as a whole are looking at citywide what those maintenance needs are. And then when we have working with the CIP with, you know, limited resources, figuring out what and when. Yeah, you were leading, Madame Mayor. Thank you. you relating right where I was going is that I mean there's we have like you say we have a long list of items um that do need repair maintenance and do we have a team that's looking on it and and replacing that and um it might be a good idea to have maybe if we could share some of that out too so we can see that that list

great thank you madam um Alicia could you go back a couple slides I think it's two back one more there we go that's the one um couple of things Um, it never seems exciting to be investing in maintenance. I always think it's actually pretty awesome to be investing in maintenance when we've got so many great things happening, you know, within the city. Um, and we were talking about this in a in a meeting earlier today about what does population growth look like in Boisee. That's kind of a different comp conversation than what does uh population growth look like across the entire Treasure B Treasure Valley. And so a lot of times these demands on our services, it's not just the city of Boisee, which isn't growing, you know, quite as fast as far as, you know, number of residents as we actually see in the surrounding Treasure Valley. And so I do think it's really great to make sure that we are investing in maintenance. I think it's super super smart and especially when you have budget years that are really tight to make sure that the great services that we're already doing um that we're continuing to do really well and improving those. So, I just I always kind of want to push past the um the talking point that investing in maintenance isn't fun. Um because I I really do think that it is. Um the second thing on this slide is just this discuss uh approach to allocating endofear funds. And I just I want to note that when we're looking at sort of our budget prep for this year, we kind of have those things spelled out pretty well. And we talked about this in a meeting this last November of making sure that we kind of have a better system in place for how we discuss and plan for those end ofear funds as well. And so I don't know that we've necessarily got that system figured out yet, but I think now is a good time to be thinking about when do we want to have a work session? When do we actually know that those funds will come back in front of us? As we're going through these different budget hearings, how are we keeping track of some of the things that maybe we were wanting for or asking for or what the particular needs are at that time? Um, but in the same that we sort of plan for how we plan for the budget right now going into this year,

how do we plan for the end of year funds and creating a little bit of a better system and mechanism for that? Sure. I'll I'll address that because in the last budget um work session that we had um there was a model predicted amount listed for council and I can't remember now what it was. Was it 3 to6 million? Madam Mayor, um it's about $2 to3 million is what we are estimating and we'll continue to update and and staff said we'd continue to update that. So as those funds are on the table when we have budget workshops and when we come back with a deeper CIP dive in terms of where we might want to place those.

Absolutely. And then just the last thing, I I appreciate how you started out the presentation kind of talking about, okay, if we are going to be needing to make these larger investments in libraries and public safety and police and fire, what additional options we need to actually be looking at in order to get those things done because I think that's something that our council has to be looking at now because certainly those are wants and needs, but the actual ability to deliver those means thinking about what our other funding options are on the table. And again, you know, your example of fire station 13, although there were about kind of like, you know, eight years where, you know, it might have been nice for things to move a little bit faster, those types of investments do take a really long period of time. And I think making sure that we're thinking strategically about those funding mechanisms makes a lot of sense. And so, I appreciate you bringing that up. And I think that that's something that both our council and the community should be thinking a lot about is that if we want to continue these levels of service and expanding these levels of service, we need to be thinking about those additional funding options. So, appreciate um the thoroughess of of bringing all this forward.

I didn't have anything. I just said I already spent that $3 to $6 million in my head before she corrected you. It was probably good you just muttered that instead of saying it in a mic. Did you anything else? Madame Mayor, I'll add Thank you, Alicia. It's, you know, we have limited tools to um pay for the services that we need to keep up with the growth that we experience. and I appreciate um your work and the staff's work in trying to solution and bring us some options and look forward to seeing where this work goes. Thank you.

Sorry, Alicia. I just wanted to say thanks. I've I've got a cough that's been hanging on and it's coming back. um look forward to the deeper dive presentation. I'm going to leave it at that right now. All right, next up. Thanks, Alicia. Now my voice is back. Um, just as Stacy's getting as Amanda's getting Stacy set up to come up here and talk about our benefit strategy, um, I I want to acknowledge that, um, as the request that we look at M timing and what that list is as part of our CO cip discussion for the budget workshops. Um, and then yes, it's it's my intention to um to continue that discussion around year-end funds um throughout the year as we update with kind of that I mean what we've historically done and we'll and we'll put a pin in it so it's noticed is the projections quarterly but then build into the discussion at the in our budget workshops like the different needs and what I did here and I and I want to emphasize this is an interest in seeing what would be needed um funding wise beyond what we can do right now and then what those tools tools might be. So to send staff um moving direct suggesting, excuse me, directing staff to move forward and and really looking at what um just like we did with open space in the past, the the total cost of needs for the next 20 years likely are and then what the tools would could be or would be to make that possible. Welcome Stacy. It's great to have you here. You've presented to council before. Yes. Okay. I won't say welcome them for the first time. I I had thought that you I mean we can welcome you normal but not a not a don't be nervous and all the other things that appreciate you coming up here to talk about um the benefit strategy that we have and the tactics

you're using to kind of look at how we minimize the impact to our employees while providing them with um benefits that I know that they all really value. Thank you. Is it on now? Madame Mayor, members of council, I I also appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today about um the hard work that's gone in well before I ever stepped into this role and continues to happen with um the partners uh within HR, the trust, um our benefits consultants to really care for our families um and keep a strong eye on how are we creating um a space where we can have healthy and happy employees um in our organization. So, thank you for having me today. So, I want to start by saying um when I moved into this role over a year now, which is odd to say that it's gone by that quickly, moving from private private sector to public sector, I had made an assumption with that move that I was going to sacrifice to some degree um my benefit offerings, my benefit programs moving into public sector. That's that's an assumption that I think a lot of folks make. Um and in fact when I moved in I was really proven wrong um in that not only did I find a healthc care um program that was competitive but in some ways excelled or exceeded excuse me where what I had experienced in private sector um very quickly came to realize that our benefit offerings are one of the city's primary competitive advantages that really lead to attraction and retention at the city. So, first and foremost, I want to stand up here and say that as the somebody who oversees HR and works so closely on

this, it is my one of our primary responsibilities to protect these offerings and to ensure that we continue to offer a competitive robust plan that that keeps our employees again um happy and healthy as we move forward. So what a great position for me to be in to uh step into this and realize. So one of the first things um that I worked with our total rewards group and Sheena Buffy on um was a assessment from our consultants in 2025 um Milleman who was our benefit consultant to do a real deep dive into our um benchmarks. How do we benchmark against public private? how do we benchmark overall um with our total benefit strategy and and as you can see we do very well. What what that 64th percentile really means is we're well above average. Um and beyond that when we talk about where do we excel two of the most important components to our employees are um our medical and our pharmacy. So the provider I see, the services I receive, and the medications I need when I need them. Those are two of the key critical elements. And those are the ones that we pay very close attention to. And in fact, not only did we excel, but we actually came in over the 70th percentile um in how we ranked against other organizations again both in private and public, which was remarkable um and really a great a great place to be in. And further, we're able to offer these benefits at a really low cost to our employees. And I'll be hitting on that a little bit later in the presentation. Really looking at comparatively

what is the cost to our employees versus employees and other organizations again across both public and private. So there's a lot that goes into benefits, but it is a component of total compensation. And that's something that we really need to be um not only thoughtful about but very frank with each other and frank with ourselves in terms of how do we design a strategy that takes into account not only these very robust offerings um but also consider what's equally important to our employees and that's what I take home in my paycheck every single month and by and large what we hear from employees through surveys, through forums, through one-on-one sessions. There's a multitude of component or feedback components that we get from employees. What we hear is we love our benefits. We love our healthcare offerings. We rarely hear anything critical of health care. But what we do hear all the time is people who are concerned about competitiveness in pay. And that's competitiveness from the folks that help us over the summer with our pool programs and our day camps to our entry level folks to our technicians and engineers and administrative staff and managers all the way up. What I hear over and over again is we really want to ensure that we're being paid competitively for these roles. So we have to be thoughtful because as everyone knows it's not an infinite bucket. Um and so as we work on this, we have to be uh close partners with our finance folks um and really be thinking about how one impacts the other. One thing we've been looking at over the course of the last many many months is our attrition. And quite a bit

of our attrition points not to health care in any regard, but to pay. So these are factors that go hand inand when we decide how much are we going to invest in healthcare and how much do we ensure we are able to pay our employees and within that balancing act I can tell you having been in human resources for over three decades now I have yet to see a year where health care costs trended down. So health care costs continue to rise and my guess is over the next decade they will continue to rise. And when we think about those rising costs and how we're going to manage, we think about not only preserving our strong coverage, but again going back to how do we stay competitive with our pay? And then we have to consider the long-term sustainability. How do we ensure we put our organization in a position that we're doing the things that we need to do today, but we can continue to do those five years from now, 10 years from now. So, those are the three pillars that we consider in every discussion week over week, month over month, year over year when we're making decisions and recommendations. In 2025, we made a recommendation to change the contribution to the healthc care trust from 4.5 to 3%. 3% equates to about $30 million. So, pretty substantial cost there. We did that to again align with property tax revenue and our operational strategy. And at that point, we did make some small adjustments to plan design. So within um the uh not nec within both plans we made some design changes to deductible out- of- pocket maximum and some slight adjustments to um costs as well. We are making the same recommendation this year to stick with that 3% contribution and I want to say what that does not mean.

So a 3% contribution does not mean underfunded healthcare. It doesn't mean a reduction in benefits and it doesn't mean a lower quality plan. We are very confident we can deliver on this robust plan with no benefit or sorry no design changes this year to the CCO or the PO plan to either plan offering with that 3% contribution with some very clear strategy behind it in terms of how are we going to manage that that cost So there's quite a bit of data that goes into making these decisions. So it's it's not a feeling or it's not just a feeling. Um there's there's a lot of discussion um that uh really revolves around um the data that comes from our actual claims, our utilization, our plan performance, um market conditions, how are we comparing also what's most meaningful to employees, understanding what's resonating with our employees, what's creating better health outcomes for our employees. So there is a lot of data that goes into do we have the right services and the right offerings at the right time um and do we need to make adjustments. So a lot of thought and care that goes into that and as we think about what's coming up um in fiscal year 27 the reality is we are going to see an increase in cost which is no surprise to me and I hope no surprise to you. um our benefits consultants with a lot of time and care have done um an analysis and we are we are predicting an 8.5% uh increase in costs in 2027 primarily again driven by medical and pharmacy. Now the good news is we are confident that we can manage this cost through again some strategy. So,

the the plan cost increase is estimated at $2.4 million. The 3% city budgeted increase is about $880,000, which leaves us with about an $1.5 million gap. I'm going to quickly take you through a few of the strategies that we're going to employ to close that gap and also or potentially realize some additional savings as well. So our I will start with um the medical and the pharmacy. Right now our medical and pharmacy. Our third party administrator Bluec Cross of Idaho is our what we call our TPA. They adjudicate all of our claims. They do our analysis. Um we work with them very closely on on understanding our plan performance. This year we are going out for RFP both for medical and for pharmacy. Right now they are packaged together, but there is always the opportunity to carve um excuse me carve pharmacy out if we think we can have better terms and conditions and provide better opportunity for our employees. So we are looking at RFP for our third party administrator. We're looking at RFP for a pharmacy benefit manager. It's possible they could make that they could continue to be coupled, but we could also carve out and we're looking at RFP for our stop loss. What we what we're going to look at is greater flexibility, greater transparent transparency, better understanding of ROI on services, overall more control of our plan, and more decision- making in how we offer that plan to employees. It's quite possible that Blue Blue Cross of Idaho will come back with better terms and conditions that are very, very satisfying to us and they're meeting us in the middle where we're asking them to and we might just land right back with Blue Cross of Idaho. But it's a good opportunity for us to reflect on what's working really well and what we'd like to see differently through this RFP process. I've gone through a couple of

these in my experience and I will say that I think it's a good opportunity to test pressure test any type of plan that you have and generally there is always savings associated with this. Uh we're predicting between 800,000 and $1.8 $8 million in savings based on these three RFP. Secondly, we're looking at ensuring that as we've created this plan and and um and very carefully thought about the plan requirements. Um we have what's called uh plan eligibility. And it's really important that we reflect on if I'm on the plan, I should be eligible for that plan. And going into 2027, we're going to be looking at what we call a dependent eligibility audit. Also, we're going to be looking about looking at our onboarding process by which we verify eligibility as people come onto the plan. Um, a dependent eligibility audit is a best practice both in public and private. Most organizations that I've been talking to have either started down this path or already in the process. Um, our intent is to do this audit this year and then potentially look at doing this audit about every 3 to five years. And these are folks that a a simple example would be I'm an employee. Three years ago, I got a divorce. I never took the time to go to HR or update my paperwork and note that my spouse is no longer covered because we're no longer married. That's a simple example. There are a multitude of examples. Um, the process itself is done by a third party. It's done very carefully, very thoughtfully with a lot of runway for employees um to be able to meet those requirements and runway for employees who may have to consider alternate options. Um looking at a plan savings of $500 to $900,000.

Um I went through a an uh my first eligibility audit probably about seven years ago. I was skeptical when um I went through this in a previous organization and the savings that uh we saw were significant. So we know today that there are people on this plan that are not eligible to be on this plan and it's really important. We have a responsibility to this plan to ensure that everyone that is on the plan meets the requirements. So that would be the second step that we take or the second strategy. Third is vendor care coordination and this really is every program that supports my health care, your health care. So whether that is um a program that is bright beginnings which is our new parents that reaches out and helps coordinate care for a new parent or behavioral health management or a diabetes prevention program. And the list is so long in terms of all of the programs that we employ right now for our for our employees. Um, and it really is focused on improving health care outcomes, but there is always a cost savings associated with that. We are going to be looking at our present programs and ensuring that there is an ROI. And when I say ROI, I'm not just talking about the savings. I'm talking about the health care outcomes. How is the program helping our employees stay healthy? How is the program helping coordinate that care? Is it successful? Is it not successful? And what cost savings can we see with that? We're also going to be evaluating different programs that could potentially innovative, creative care that people might need. you know whether I'm I have a single health condition a coorbidity whether I have four providers care coordination is fast becoming um a critical key component of health care

plans to keeping those costs reasonable and again creating healthy outcomes. So as you look at these three strategies, you can see allin the estimated savings is between 1.5 and 3 million. So we are very confident that we are going to be able to manage that 8.5% cost increase and realize some additional savings um that we could potentially use in the future for other offerings, other programs. Um, and you might ask yourself, well, how do contributions play into that? And I'll talk about that in just a second. First, I want to talk about options because options do matter. We do have two plans right now. We have what we referenced as our PO plan, which is our blue cross of Idaho, and we have our CCO, which is St. Luke's. It is so important that our employees have these options because we have employees that are local. They're they have young families. They they they work, they live, they play in Boisee and the St. Luke's plan makes sense for them and that's wonderful that they can utilize that plan. We have folks that need that broader network that have perhaps children outside the state that are in college or living elsewhere and they need that broader network that makes sense for them. So we need to be able to con continue to offer these options as it makes sense for the employee employees needs. But the reality is that the cost savings comes from the St. Luke's plan. It is outperforming by far the Blue Cross of Idaho. So essentially, we are able to provide this option by having such a robust plan with our CCO. And so we want to continue to offer these options. We want employees to use what option makes the most sense for them. But if we have employees that don't necessarily need the broader

network, that don't necessarily have the need to be on the Blue Cross of Idaho, we absolutely want them to consider the St. Luke's plan because in the long run, it will cost them less as well um in services in out-of- pocket maximum and all of it. So that's really important as we talk about our recommendation to make a very minimal increase a 3% increase to our employee cost share to our PO plan. And this has very little to do minim minimal to do with financial savings. The financial savings are um I think roughly a little over $20,000. So it really has nothing to do with financial savings. What it really is intended is to create gradual, predictable adjustments that employees can absorb with little impact to their take-home pay. And it really does prevent the large disruptive increases when we see cost spikes, which we will. There will be years when something outpaces and we're not able to absorb it and we're going to have to share in that with our employees. If we're making these iterative adjustments, we're less likely to have to do a larger increase um that employees would find disrupted to their their take-home pay. So, an average family um in this with this recommendation would pay over the course of a year an additional $60 total. It would be about $248 per paycheck. not likely to feel that as much if it were $60 a paycheck that we might have to do in the future. So, this is a strategy that we want to ensure puts our employees in a good position and us to absorb future costs along the way. If you look at um what we've done in the past, as you can see, we did have a larger increase. Um, and again, our

intent is to be able to avoid that as much as we possibly can in the future by doing these minimal predictable um, increases with our employees. Also, I do I do want to say that when employees feel like they are a partner in their health care, that there's a connection to an increase in cost, how we are wise consumers of our plants, we're asking questions, we're talking about the services, we're vetting our own options. When I have a part in the plan and I can help determine how much those costs increase, I have a connection to that plan. If I'm not seeing any cost increase over time in any way, I disassociate with that plan in terms of my part in those cost increases. So, I do think that the other aspect is we want partners in this. We want our employees to understand that they have a stake in this. they have a part in this and they can help determine how we utilize our plan in a very responsible way. This slide I um I thought was very significant and I specifically asked that we include this because I think it's really important that we understand just how competitive we are. And if you look at how we compare nationally, both public and private, the average family month overmonth is paying $600 a month out of their paycheck. $600. Our employees are paying 165 165 total out of their paycheck for a family. For an individual in 2025, they're paying o over uh close to 150 where our average employee is paying what what is it Sheena? What is our employee paying per month? 55. Thank you. Um so I I do think that this is something we need to focus on. We want

to maintain. We want employees to understand it and we want to be proud of it. But it is substantial and it takes a lot of work to create this level of competitive advantage with a health care plan. And there's a lot more that goes into health care outside of um what we've talked about today with with medical and pharmacy. Um there's everything from our retirement to our our leave to insurance to disability. There is an array of discussions and decisions that we have to make every single day in the best interest of our employees. Whether it's ex in uh expanding vacation acral um parental leave, moving that from six to 10 weeks, maintaining our zero premium option with our St. Luke's plan, introducing adoption assistance, it goes on and on and on. There is really a lot of thoughtful hard work that has gone into this in the in the last five years to consider what is most important to our employees. Consider what our employees need to keep their families happy and healthy. Um and it's I find it to be something that we can be very very proud of in terms of creating a plan that hits a lot of these marks and then being very thoughtful about what do we do with these savings going forward. So overall our total reward strategy um I've talked about each and every one of these maintaining our strong benefits foundation that's most important what we offer and having that competitive advantage we want to hold on to. We want our employees the people that leave our organization talk to me about how strong our healthcare was and how much they miss it. the people that have left and come back talk to me about they came back because of our health care and the people that come to our organization are either shocked by the health care or they tell me that it's what brought them here. So, we have remarkable benefits. We want to protect them. Um, actively

managing our costs. So, these strategies, we're we're going to be working on a five-year forecast for the very first time with our healthcare trustees and our benefits consultants to really get a better understanding and set some expectations about what does the next five years look like realistically. Um, maintaining flexibility for employee pay. Talked about that to ensure that we can do both. We have to be able to do both. And then aligning with our workforce needs. What is most important to our employees? what is most meaningful, what creates those healthy outcomes. Um, and what do employees find most important to their families? That's something we're going to keep uh forefront when we talk about recommendations and decisions. And then how do we compare to market? We'll always look at that as well. So, with that, I will thank you and open it up for questions.

Madame Mayor Stacy, thank you for the presentation. um wanted to talk a little bit about um some of the costs that were not addressed um that increased last year. Um specifically in the PO plan, I guess there were actually in the CCO plan as well, but the family deductible uh on the PO plan increased from $700 to $1,000. The annual out-of pocket maximum for a family increased from $5,000 to $6,000. Um, and then on the CCO plan, we saw a similar $1,000 increase on the out- of- pocket, out-of- pocket maximum for the family.

Um, by my math, I'm showing 43% 20% 25% increases on here, uh, which has, um, kind of given me the impression that those types of increases year-over-year would not be sustainable for our employees. So, uh it looks like we have a an idea of what um monthly premiums to would would be, but that doesn't capture all the costs of health care for the employees under the plan. Mhm.

So when could we expect to know um when uh when could we expect to know how our deductibles would change under a 3% contribution and how do the annual out- of- pocket max and any other costs associated with these with these plans because last year what happened is we set the budget I raised some concerns about this we didn't address them and then we didn't find out till September what those plan changes were and I would to avoid that this year.

Uh thank you uh Madame Mayor Council Councilman uh Council Member Nash. I appreciate the question. Uh we did make the change from 4.5 to 3% last year and we also saw some heavy cost increases and we knew we were going to have to make some adjustments for long-term sustainability. I I um with Let me step back. This year we have made a a shift with our benefit consultants. So we we have moved from our previous benefit consultant to a new consultant with a eye for managing these costs over time um with new and different strategy. Um we feel very confident we're going to be able to do that. That isn't to say we're never going to see an increase in deductible or out-of- pocket maximum in the next five years, but I will tell you our recommendation this year is no increase to deductible, excuse me, no change to deductible, no change to out-of- pocket maximum for either plan for 2027. Um, our intent is to make the to make those changes minimal with these strategies that we're looking at with those those savings that we're going to realize to be able to manage those costs better for our employees. So yes, it was a um fairly significant increase last year. We don't foresee a significant increase like that. In the coming years with again some sound strategy, some innovation, some creativity looking at our programs, we want to make any of those adjustments to deductible or out of pocket out of pocket as minimal as we can. Um, Madame Mayor, um, Stacy, in your memo, you talk about the importance of having, uh, smaller increases over time rather than all at once. I guess how would that strategy of of keeping those flat comport with like the goals of not having big jumps um all at once over time?

Um, Madame Mayor, Council Member Nash, thank you. I um so ultimately we will make iterative adjustments to deductible and out-of- pocket maximums when we see that there are years where we know we need again need to make those iterative changes. So right now we don't see the need to make an iterative change of deductible or out-of- pocket maximum. But as we go into this 5-year forecast and we consider what's coming in the next 2 years, 3 years, four years, 5 years, we can have a better understanding of how do we have to adjust these again incrementally so that employees aren't feeling a $500 adjustment or a $1,000 adjustment to either plan. So, I can't sit here today and tell you that I know exactly what that's going to look like in fiscal year 28 or fiscal year 29, but our objective is to have a better understanding of our five-year plan and then be able to stand up in front of you and say, "We do predict in the next five years. Here's what these increases would look like over time um based on what we see as the um the forecast in uh cost increases." Madame Mayor, um this this probably more of a just a comment about how I'm thinking about this. Um what what disappointed me so much about last year is I kind of imagine an a city employee. Uh maybe they have a a spouse or a child who the household hits that out-of- pocket maximum every year. Maybe they make $50,000 a year. We give them a $1,000 $1,500 uh annual pay increase. and then we gobble all that back up with the increased um deductible and out-of- pocket maximum. That that's kind of who I'm thinking about. So my my direction would be that we're not just looking at percentages like uh we talk about the

like the 10% increase last year being like being that being a big jump in raw dollar terms. It was very nominal five and $15 on the PO plan. um I I would have stomach a much larger increase on that to avoid such large increases on the um out-of- pocket maximum and the deductibles. So I I would just ask that as conversations continue over this that we kind of consider like the raw dollar impact to the employees and not just some of those um percentage increases on that known cost which is that monthly premium. Um, Madame Mayor, Council Member Nash, I completely appreciate where you're coming from um and can tell you that our objective is to be able to um maintain what we offer today and prevent those increases in the future. And we're going to do everything we can. Um there's a lot of work that's being done right now with the forecast and innovative strategies and creative solutions um that I think that we're going to be able to employ to minimize our costs so that we can maintain um very competitive deductibles out of pocket maximum and really preserve that plan design. Um, I came in last year and and really what I will say is even not to defend necessarily the uh because I understand where you're coming from, but even with those increases um into the CCO and PO, I I did reflect on where it left the plans and it still leaves us in a very very competitive position. But we want to maintain that competitiveness. We don't want our employees to feel like their pay increases um were not meaningful because they they're seeing it come out of their paycheck somewhere else. So that is that is our number one priority. That's what we're going to

focus on. As I said, we're not we don't we are not going to recommend um changes to deductible out-of- pocket maximum actually any plan design this year. It is simply the increase to cost and that our plan over the next five years is to minimize those as much as we can for our employees. Madam Mayor, if I could one more. Um uh Stacy, when will we realize those cost savings that you're talking about? Um should should they be realizable?

Uh it would be over the course of the fiscal year 27. So, how does the h how do we use those plans in negotiation with the insurance company? Like, they just take our word for it that we're going out going to get these savings and they factor that into the recommended um out-of- pocket maximum deductible and premiums. Like, how how does that how does that work?

Well, we're you know, being self-insured, we have a lot of control in our own plan design. We decide, we decide what our plan design is. We decide what our contribution is. And we work with our thirdparty administrator and our benefits consultant to really talk through the reality of our of our cost increases. But really, we're in the driver's seat. They're telling us the reality of what we're going to feel in claims and what we're going to feel in cost increases based on um increase in uh certain services, increase in pharmaceuticals, which by the way is is kind of the biggest target for us this year is pharmacy at this point. Um and so ultimately we get to decide where we want to invest and where we want to put our um dollars to so we can maintain that plan design. The insurance company informs and explains to us what they see that like I said it's a data driven process. there's partner in that data, but we decide how much we're going to invest, what our plan design is going to be like, what we can absorb, what we can absorb, and um and as I said, our primary goal at this point is to look at solutions that allow us to minimize those those plan cost increases so that we can maintain our really healthy plan design.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um yeah, um Cece, great to see you. um really appreciate some of the creativities and trying to figure out how we can solve some of the funding gap. There's a chance that uh elig eligibility audit is scarier than it actually um

than it or is less scary than it actually sounds. Can you just talk a little bit about those safeguards because you know certainly we want to make sure that everybody who's on the plan is eligible for the plan but we also want to make sure that if somebody has made a small mistake all of a sudden their kids aren't off the plan. So, can you talk a little bit about like the runway or abilities to make sure that, you know, there isn't something that causes somebody a surprise that where they might have time to fix a problem um instead of just getting booted off a plan?

Uh, Madame Mayor, uh, Council Member Hlebertton, thank you for the question. I I was prepared. Um, I think that, um, I'm with you. the the feeling that you get when you talk about an audit when it comes to dependence on the plan that can be pretty scary. First and foremost, it's an education to employees in terms of what is what is eligible really mean? Um, and making sure employees understand uh our responsibility in that. So, we start with education. We start with letting employees know what we're doing and why we're doing it. The why is really, really important. And then when I talk about runway, I'm talking about a very very long runway where we're working with them um if there is a minor issue where there's an opportunity for them to solve through documentation or there's an opportunity for them to resolve the situation. Um a lot of times I'll be honest with you, I've seen people say, "Well, we didn't get married or they're not a um they're not a dependent because we didn't think we needed to." and they change that because they want they they need the health care that's important to them. So, we're able to with our third party who's kind of our first or our second touch point. We're the first touch point. We work with our third party um specialists that really work with them to understand each individual situation. What are we facing? Why are we facing it? And then going one step further, if somebody just simply is not eligible to be on the plan because they were never eligible to be on the plan, um it could be somebody that let's say, and this is kind of a an example that I'm aware of, but doesn't happen very often, a child that really wasn't a dependent of a parent, but their social security was put on there and we're covering them, but they're not really a dependent of that of that parent. Um, we can also talk with them about other health care options. What are their options? what can they consider for that

person? So, it can be scary um and there will be people that fall off the plan, but we can work with them to understand what are their other options, what are their other needs, and what can we do. A lot of folks end up shifting people from um one plan under a partner to another plan under another employer. So, that happens quite often. I've seen those outcomes. We've helped people go to market and understand what their alternatives there are. Um and then we are um in a and then we focus on being in a much better position from onset. So with our onboarding process, ensuring that as people come into the plan that we are setting that expectation that we're doing our due diligence so that when we get to this audit process, we're not seeing as many cases um and we're not seeing as many issues.

Perfect. Yeah, I appreciate you breaking that out, you know, as detailed as you did. I think it's, you know, nobody wants to see somebody in a really bad situation and and frankly insurance can be really hard to navigate for a lot of folks. And so, you know, no surprises is always a good thing and it sounds like there's lots of checks and balances at lots of different levels there. Um, and then the the second question, um, I just wanted to see one slide before this. I'm not sure if if you were highlighting past changes or potentially proposing some additional changes related previous

previous Okay, wonderful. Yeah, I I remember, you know, when I first came on to council, one of the very first things that the mayor does did was significantly improve our parental leave policy, which, you know, never was probably going to benefit me, but certainly meant a lot to me. Um, and I know it meant a lot to our employees as well. So, I just I didn't know if there were were changes or if that was, you know, a highlighting of something that we had done um earlier. And I guess, you know, while I'm on that point, I think anything that we can continue to do to expand or um make sure that we are having a really strong parental leave that's competitive um with a lot of our outside, you know, agencies and private sector. That's an area where I feel like we always need to make sure that we, you know, are in that top, you know, 90th percentile as far as what we're doing here at the city. So, I appreciate that.

Yes, madame mayor. Thank you. Um, I just wanted to I had a thought. Um, Council Member Hi Martin, I also was processing the audit information as I heard it on Friday and um, one of the thoughts that I had about it too was if we know that insurers often look for reasons not to cover it cover and my concern was if we if somebody filed a claim and then an insurance company we got, you know, down the road an insurance company realized that they were actually ineligible for coverage. that that would put that family or that employ employee or whoever the case might be maybe in a much more precarious position than the way the care that our team is approaching it now by trying to help them solution before it got to that point. Um so that to me was kind of another checkpoint of it's better that we identify these moments before it comes to some kind of crisis that needs coverage and then perhaps that coverage is taken away from them because they were ineligible to begin with. Um but and that's I just wanted to speak to that and also just thank you so much for your work. It's clear the um that you're approaching this with care and um obviously you are an employee as well and this coverage um come comes for you too and um but it but it's clear to me that you're really um looking at it holistically with our employees in mind and taking great care in it. And I know also in our Friday meeting you had mentioned um how great our partners had been and the administrator and the um and the who's the other partner that we have in this

our benefits. Yeah. And the benefits consultant. Thank you so much. Um so want to thank them for their partnership too and um and and the way that you have been working with them because it sounds like it's been a great partnership. So appreciate all the work that you're doing for us and for this. Madame Mayor, council members. Thank you very much.

Yeah, Madame Mayor Stacy, um, again, thank you very much for this thorough information. Um, I was one who was really critical when I heard last year that we were going to move from a 4.5 to a 3% because everyone knew that healthc care costs are rising, not just in Boise, but across the country. And I I I couldn't see how we were going to, I guess, get over that hill. Uh, but you clearly laid out here a plan, and our costs are rising. um make that clear. Um 8% and we need to have a 1.5 million and a gap to fill and we laid out a threeprong approach that we're going to meet that and not only that but it's going to provide transparency and it's going to have lasting effects um far into the future for the care of our employees. I'm um you know I have actually been through an audit before at another company and it was it was a little upset at first because we had to provide birth certificates and stuff we were never asked before. Um but as you said Stacy there was a long runway. I couldn't find one of my child's birth certificates. I had to go back to the state and ask for that and all that time they it wasn't an issue. uh even when the healthcare plan started and the and I didn't have that in there, it came in and everything processed just fine. So, I feel pretty comfortable that as we go through this dependent care audit that folks are going to be well taken care of. Um lastly, I just want to say from experience, um from working with probably every single large private and public employee here in the valley, barn none, Boise has the best benefits.

The best benefits.

And if anybody needs a job and is listening, you will want to apply. Um not just I mean the medical and the prescription is absolutely fantastic but when you look at as you mentioned the total compensation with also um how much time off we have um the health care options with the gyms and then considering that the um well like the local governments here we have a pension you cannot find a private employer that's you'd be hardressed I'll say to find a private employer employer that's going to offer a pension to any employee. So, I think some of that is just educating as we're um having people come on board. It's I think it's hard to put into words, but um and to really explain that the benefits are a big part of the total compensation and and it's also doesn't just happen. It's because the mayor and previous councils have put that effort to say our employees are worth it. We value them and we're going to do this for them and through the hard work at HR. So, thank you. Madame Mayor, uh, Council Member and Corus, I I want to um reiterate that thanks to all of you for putting us in a position and I would really be remissed. I've been in this role a little over a year. A lot of this work was was well on its way in place that we have such great expertise in our human resources and in our trustee. So, um, the the healthcare trustee was a new model to me. I had to learn it when I I stepped in and understand the framework and I've gotten to know the trustees and have been working with them. They're so incredibly engaged and passionate and caring about their employees and um what a great story that I get to stand up here and share for all the work that everybody else does. So, thank all of you. I want to thank all of you for your hard work and all of the folks behind the scenes that have made this happen. So, thank

you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much, Stacey. Um, if there are no more questions, thank you. Have a great night. We'll be back at six o'clock.