City Council - Regular Meeting

[Music] Welcome everybody to the April 14th, 2025 regular ME meeting of the Bellingham City Council. I will call this meeting to order. First, before we begin, we acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional and unseated territory of the Lummy, Noosack, Samish, and Simyamu people who have cared for and tended this land since time of memorial.

Truth and acknowledgement are crucial to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. We begin this effort to acknowledge what has been buried by honoring the truth.

We pay respect to their elders, past and present. Please take a moment to consider the many legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and settlement that bring us together here today. And please join us in uncovering such truths at any and all public events.

The Bellingham City Council provides Spanish interpretation at all regular evening meetings. Interpretation can be accessed by in-person attendees by utilizing the headsets located at the front of the room.

Remote viewers can log on to co.org.org/cczoom and clink click on the language icon at the bottom of the screen to listen listen in Spanish. And I will go ahead and let our interpreter repeat that. Birmingham.

Thank you. And first up, we have a presentation. Uh, the Bellingham Municipal Court State of the Court address. Uh, Bellingham Municipal Court Judge Deborah Lev and Court Commissioner Nicholas Henry will deliver the state of the court address to council.

The presentation will include a review of the 2024 case loads, therapeutic courts, and additional programs. Go ahead and take it over, Judge Lev. Good evening. Thank you, President Huffman, members of city council.

Thank you, honored mayor next to me. Thank you. And those here in the community, this is the state of the court 2025. Our court would not be possible without the hard work of our court team members. We do have some of our team members here.

I'd like to ask them to please stand to be recognized for their hard work and dedication to our community. Welcome. I'll start with the mission of the Bellingham Municipal Court. It is to administer the operations of the judicial branch of city government in a neutral and effective manner to ensure justice for all individuals.

We are a court of limited jurisdiction. That means that our jurisdiction covers gross misdemeanors, which the maximum sentence is 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. We also cover misdemeanors. The maximum sentence is 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

infractions, which are not punishable by a jail sentence, but rather fines only or community service, and civil appeals, the hearing examiner on certain parking issues, and the Watcom Humane Society on animal control issues.

I would be remiss if I didn't first introduce you again to very important team members of the Bellingham Municipal Court. We have our court director, Tammy Bennett. And we also have our chief criminal chief deputy criminal clerk, sorry, Rebecca, who's sitting sitting right here behind us.

As far as cases filed in 2024, we had 2490 almost uh 2500 gross misdemeanor filed. 76% of those case individuals were eligible for a public defender. We had 14 a little over 1,400 infractions filed, parking citations, 19,778 parking in uh citations were filed.

So, we had total cases filed in 2024 just under 24,000. This is a 33% increase from 2023. And just to give you an idea, um, 392 of those cases were DUIs and 355 of those cases were domestic violence. So, those are pretty serious cases in our jurisdiction.

Commissioner Henry has some more information for you. Good evening, um, members of city council. Thank you so much for inviting us here tonight. Just a couple of additional things, uh, in regard to this.

I wanted to give some context about the charges that we deal with at Bellingham Municipal Court. Judge Leb did indicate we deal with gross misdemeanors. We also deal with simple misdemeanors. Those are punishable by a maximum penalty up to 90 days in custody and a $1,000 fine.

So, lesser charges. In some examples that of the most common cases we deal with, we deal with DUIs. So driving under the influence, physical control, which is similar to driving under the influence, but doesn't necessarily include the driving aspect, assault for non-DV and DV, so including domestic violence, harassment, and then thefts, violation of protection orders, shoplifting, disorderly conduct, criminal trespasses.

These are some of the most common um criminal charges that we see. And recently within about the past 12 months with the changes uh with Blake, we're now seeing possession of controlled substance charges as well.

And those are starting to come in actually pretty frequently. So those are the types of charges we typically see. And as Judge Lev indicated, uh we've really seen an increase across the board. One of the biggest increases that we've seen actually is in parking infractions.

It experienced the largest increase of anything we see within the last 5 years. So, we're frankly seeing a lot more parking tickets getting issued. Beyond that, I think that's about it as far as case numbers go.

All right, I'm going to turn this uh next slide over, I believe, to our court director. Did we miss something? Oh, hearings held. I'm sorry. Okay, I thought I thought Yeah. Okay. So, uh just to backtrack a little bit, uh we have some numbers on how many hearings we have held.

This is for 2024. So it looks like uh we had 482 infraction hearings. We had over 11,000 actually just under 12,000 criminal hearings held. It was 11,736. So as that might indicate to city council, uh the court is spending the vast majority of its time on criminal hearings, which um well for many reasons, but the main reason being of course civil infractions.

No one's liberty is at stake. We prioritize criminal hearings because it is that much more important uh when someone is facing a potential loss of liberty. So that's where the court tends to put most of its resources.

We have heard about 890 parking hearings last year and as I know as I mentioned the increase in parking hearings at the end of 2024 we had 500 outstanding online parking appeals that the court was not able to get to.

Um, so that has certainly been an issue as well. Since we prioritize criminal matters, um, we're frequently spending our days on the bench. Um, so it's hard to get to the parking. Um, commissioner handles most of that.

Um, so it is difficult. Uh, it's a stressful job as many of these jobs are working in city government. We have our bring a pet to work uh Fridays and so Liberty is there on up on the slide. That was Rebecca's one of Rebecca's dogs that came in and it just kind of helps to have that soothing uh companion uh at work.

So now I'll turn it over to our court director Tammy Bennett to explain because our philosophy has always been at Bellingham Municipal Court as much as we can to avoid sending people to jail for a variety of reasons we can talk about later.

Friendship Diversion Services is a nonprofit organization that provides active GPS to keep offenders out of certain areas. DHM home detention in lie of jail and SCRAM which is a 247 alcohol consumption monitoring.

Scram and active GPS are often ordered as an alternative to incarceration for individuals that continue consuming alcohol while on supervision as an act extra layer of protection for alleged victims. Watcom County District Court Probation Department monitors all individuals that are on scram and active GPS.

In 2024, we had almost 20,000 days served on Scram and a total of 9,172 days on EHM. If that total amount the total amount for both services that was total build to the city was 657,222.70. If those days just the 9,172 days of EHM were served at the Watcom County Jail, it would have cost the city 1 million77,952.

Since we've used the service since 2016, we have saved the city almost 10 or I'm sorry, $11 million that are on FDS and other monitoring is done through the Watcom County District Court probation. They provide pre-trial and postconviction supervision.

Probation officers monitor court conditions, including good behavior, absence from alcohol and illegal drugs, weapon restrictions, and requirements for treatment of mental health, substance abuse, anger management, and domestic violence.

Last year, we had an average of 630 individuals a month on active proation supervision. That's actually a 22% increase from 2023. We are seeing just in the early parts of 2025 that we're having an added average number of 702 people being monitored per month.

So we will be seeing numbers for probation supervision more than likely increasing as well. therapeutic courts at Bellingham Municipal Court. We have had um great success in my opinion with uh therapeutic courts and our court director Tammy is going to give you just a a summary of what a therapeutic court does.

Therapeutic courts are specialized courts that give the opportunity for a participant to engage in a closely monitored program to address the reasons for their involvement in the criminal justice system as a way to build lasting whole person health and recovery with the goal of having their changes dis charges dismissed and avoiding further involvement with the criminal legal system.

We have had our domestic violence court as a specialty court back since around 2003. It was the first specialty court in Bellingham and the first DV court in the area. Uh we do uh started this out with regular judicial compliance reviews.

We've found in recent years, well, the the research certainly suggests that having regular judicial compliance reviews has a very positive effect not only on the defendant, but on the other people that are in the courtroom hearing either good news or bad about the person's progress.

Unfortunately, we've had to cut back the in-person judicial compliance reviews. We used to have all stars be called at the top of the calendar and everyone could hear. Basically, what happens if you're doing well in the program is that you get to go first.

You get the kudos from everyone and it has that kind of uh positive effect on the others that are listening um that are waiting for their cases to be called. But we have so many crowded calendars that we've had to drop certain things and that's recently been one of them unfortunately.

Um it does uh we have a multidisciplinary approach to this. The there are specialized probation officers assigned to these DV cases. they're there in court and we hear about the progress or we hear about the violations and we uh do what we can to um incentivize the people to do the program and be successful at probation.

We had 355 DV cases in 2024 in our court. That's a 20% increase from 2023. You can see in this photo that's Cassie. She is one of our team members and she's the main therapeutic court clerk. She's has specialized training and she's also the backup to Andrew who's our court services manager in charge of therapeutic courts.

Wellness court. All right, I'm going to handle wellness court. So, as I think uh everyone here uh I think to some degree has probably attended one of our graduations at some point. So, you all know how the wellness court works.

otherwise known as mental health court. Uh everyone in our mental health court has to have a diagnosed behavioral health issue and essent essentially what this court does is provide wraparound services to these people and takes them through in a non-confrontational uh court system essentially.

So um it's between 18 and 24 months. So 18 is really the fastest you can get through. We have five phases for every single member of our mental health court and they have to meet certain benchmarks as they progress along those five phases.

For example, just the first phase is establishing care, getting connected with services and essentially, you know, if there is co-occurring disorder, if there's substance use, it's essentially getting established with that treatment and hopefully uh not having continued use.

So it's that's the first first phase and then by the end of it it's giving back to your community. It's having a job or volunteering or going to school and essentially planning for the future. So it's in my opinion it's a great program.

It's honestly probably my favorite calendar that I do at our court. Um we currently have five members in our mental health court because it does provide such wraparound services. It's uh it's more intensive and it is harder to get more people to get into the program because it's frankly a major commitment for them 18 to 24 months and they're required to do treatment essentially until it's been completed and uh report to probation frequently during those um 18 to 24 months.

Uh we keep doing continual trainings on it. I'm actually uh heading out to Idaho Falls with Judge Anderson from Wakom County District Court and our program manager Robin Willins uh and one of our specialized probation officers, Danna Andrios.

We're actually heading out to a model court in Idaho Falls tomorrow for a two-day visit to essentially view um this court in Idaho Falls that is considered to be, you know, above and beyond. It's the best in practice sort of.

And so we're going to go check them out. Beyond that, we are looking at about three or four more people who are ready to get admitted into the program. We go through a process every other week when we do staffing and we determine whether someone is eligible for the program and whether we're going to accept them.

I believe we have three currently pending and we are just waiting to see if they get established with treatment before we admit them. So, our numbers should grow uh pretty quickly. We do have a graduation on the 22nd.

So, I think I have invited everyone here. I would love to have anyone who can come come celebrate Evan who is going to be graduating on the 22nd. I'll add that it's our 10year anniversary for the mental health court established back in January of 2015 and it is a joint uh city county partnership.

Good news, really good news. community court. We have launched, it's a pre-trial diversion program launched in January of 25. We had our first enrolled participant in March of 2025. Connecting participants to service providers for various needs.

It's very individualized. So, Andrew, our um court services manager, along with Cassie, his um basically his uh main uh court clerk that assists with that and being trained for to take over when he's not available.

Um they uh they basically um it's not interview. What's screen? Screen. Yeah, screen. Uh this is for individuals that don't have a diagnos diag diagnosed uh behavioral health condition but rather have have other challenges.

And so this is kind of those individuals that fall through the cracks that don't get into aren't aren't really meant to be in the um mental health court. But this um we connect with the service providers.

We hold the participants accountable while addressing their root causes of criminal behaviors and we meet their individual needs as quickly as we can get them connected with the objective to resolve the cases without jail.

So it's focused to reduce recidivism, community harm and improve lifestyles. The charges are dismissed upon successful completion of the case plan which is again an individualized plan depending on what each person uh needs.

Currently we have five participants enrolled and we have six pending entrance uh three on for tomorrow morning and another three for two weeks from from tomorrow. We have this every other week. So it's alternating with the mental health court every Tuesday morning.

It's a um it's a really interesting forum for court. It's not like your traditional court. We all sit around a round table and don't wear robes and we talk about the plan. We talk about the support that we can give to the person.

Say if they have a driving while license suspended thirdderee charge or numerous is usually the case. Um we help them establish uh what they need to do to get rellicensed and insured and then we have you know we have those with uh control or possession of controlled substance uh use downtown and we try to get them connected with services.

So we're off and running and we're really excited about it and it seems as though the participants are enthusiastic and and happy to have our help so far. So that's really exciting for us. Yeah, I think you covered it all.

Yeah. Okay. So, um, fun facts. Swear in 11 Bellingham police officers in 2024. If you haven't been to a swearing in, which I think most of you have. I know some of you come regularly to that. But Chief Mertzik has transformed this event into this extraordinary experience and I just you know this has really kind of morphed into a wonderful ceremony and also a renewal of the oath that the officers take and it's just it's a really very cool event.

So, if you haven't been and you can join us, we're having one tomorrow morning at 9:00. And I will have the honor of both uh Commissioner Henry and I will have the honor of swearing in four new Bellingham police officers.

through our security screening station, we had 13,337 individuals screened by the wonderful individuals that are downstairs tonight. Um, and in those screenings, we've had 2,110 prohibited items preempted from entering entering the courthouse.

Those items, you know, vary from blades, edged or sharpened tools, elicit drugs, and drug paraphernalia. One of the concerns we have about the uh security screening that we currently have set up, nothing to do with the security itself, but rather those unhoused individuals that are required to come to court, they don't have anywhere to put their things, you know, their belongings uh when they come through.

So certain things cannot come into the courthouse. and uh individuals uh for good reason are hesitant to leave them just you know outside the courthouse. Um so we were thinking that maybe we could consider putting I mean we have bike locks lockers so we could put in some sort of lockers for individuals so they could have a place to put their things.

Some a lot of individuals will just the security officers will say just, you know, go put it back in your car. But if you don't have that option and you don't want to leave something just open, plus it's not safe to always leave some of these items just, you know, open to the public.

We have a middle school that's not far from our courthouse. But anyways, uh we were thinking that maybe lockers would be one way to address that concern looking forward. So in this you Oh, oops. That's all right.

Um, so we've got a great team. I think you probably have heard that from me a couple times, but Oh, and I did want to mention about probation because I always like to be able to mention this in a in a public forum.

We have by far the best probation department in the state of Washington in my opinion. They care about their clients. They work with their clients. They they do everything. We do everything possible to keep them from having to serve jail time.

So, I just wanted to say again that um we couldn't do any better with our probation officers for this court. Um can I just say one thing? Yes, of course. I say our probation officers would bend over backwards to help any of their clients.

And I have seen it time and time again. They will show up to the office when they don't need to. They will let people reschedu. They will go pick someone up if they need. I mean, they will do anything for their clients.

And so, I really do agree with Judge Lab. for probation department is phenomenal and not every jurisdiction has that kind of uh supervision. So um so we have our team meetings where we check in every other week um to just touch base find out what you know just talk about what might need uh to have some in you know attention to certain things and and we learn a lot plus we get to laugh a little bit too.

Um, so we also have our awardwinning LA Day program. Do you want to talk about that? Oh, sure. I'll chat about Latte. L is also a very one of the most fun things we do at court. I also think pretty much all of you council members have probably joined us for one latte or another.

We have it starting on April 22nd this year. Latte technically is May 1st every year, but because we host about 6 to 800 8th grade students from all over Bellingham on an annual basis, we have to spread it out over two to three weeks.

So we have students from uh Fair Haven, Wacom, is Shuxton coming? Kolchin, Kolchin middle schools. Um they come, we do a program between about 75 and 100 people I believe each day and they come observe court.

Uh the judicial officers, both of us typically are able to chat with them and kind of go over, you know, what did you see here today in court and answer questions for them. We have a lot of other exciting stuff going on as well.

Uh Bellingham Police Department is going to be collaborating with us and I think doing several actual presentations. I think they have a K9 presentation, a drone presentation. I'm not sure if perhaps we did a CSI presentation one year.

I'm not sure if we're doing that this year. Um and then of course we oftentimes have council members come. Council uh member Williams, you've I think spoken to at several of them which is amazing. So we collaborate of course with the legislative branch and we've also had Mayor Lund Good evening has uh come and and present it as well.

So it's a really exciting program. Students all over the city get to see all three branches of government collaborating and see really how the system works. So I think it's pretty cool. Uh this year the theme and this is nationally syndicated.

The theme is the constitution's promise out of many one. So, we'll be certainly discussing that uh between April 22nd and what's our last day? May 5th. And um Mayor L has come in previous in the last year we had it and and she has done the um proclamation, which was really cool.

So, we're hoping she'll have time to do that again this year. Uh the kids love it. They do. They love finding out about government for the most part. We're talking eighth graders, but for the most part, um, they love finding out what's what council members do.

They they like finding out what the mayor does. And we have, uh, police officers there. You know, it's just one year they had the police brought those drug goggles, you know, the kids could put on and see what it's like at, you know, if you're intoxicated.

But yeah, the and the K9, of course, the K9 presentation is always a big hit. This is our 22nd year of doing this law day program at Bellingham Municipal Court, only missing the COVID year. So, we're really excited.

I will say this, I think eighth graders these days are so much more informed and so much more interested in this than we were at that age. You would be amazed at some of the questions these students ask.

I I honestly am impressed the vast majority of the time how thoughtful they are. It's It's pretty cool to watch. Yeah, they're really tuned in. It's It's pretty amazing. Certainly not like I was in eighth grade.

So, in 2024, I started doing an annual all day training course with all the clerks, all the staff. We take the morning after the in custody calendar. We get together and have a training session. Last year it was about civics.

This year it's about traumainformed practices within the criminal justice system. Not only how we can serve our community members better that come in that we service, but also how we can take better care of ourselves through all the secondhand trauma um that we hear on a daily basis.

After that, we break for lunch and then we go out and do a team building activity that we always try to um go to local community businesses. Last year we went to Fair Haven and painted plates together that we have displayed in our workspace.

This year we are doing resin pour um cheese plates that we'll be able to display also. So we have that sense of community and team within our work area. Also this year we have started a protein for all program.

This is when individuals come to court without having eaten emotionally reactive and univil behavior is more likely to occur. Offering food is an act of compassion that helps break the cycle of trauma.

It signals the intent to provide support and plants a seed of trust. This is a physical representation of the court being trauma responsive. So we have reached out to local retailers and manufacturers that have graciously donated high protein healthy snacks that we're able to offer individuals coming into the courthouse.

Currently, currently we only offer them at the beginning of our arraignment calendars. That's everyone's first appearance before the judge. We're hoping that through additional donations, we're able to make it um sustainable so we can expand and offer it before other higher stressed court hearings to help ease anxiety and um terror that they might be facing.

Okay. Next, um just want to give you a little bit of an update. Last year when we were before you, I think we went uh through the uptick in DUIs. And to be completely blunt, it's only gotten worse over the last year.

Um in 2024, as I believe we said earlier, we had 392 DUI or physical control cases filed within the city of Bellingham. Of course, it's only April right now, but through quarter 1, through the end of March, we are on track to have 470 DUI or physical control cases filed in the city of Bellingham.

I'm not great at math, but I think that's at least a 25% increase somewhere along those lines from last year. Um, so frankly, we're just seeing a lot of DUIs. And it it runs the whole gamut between alcohol DUIs and of course drug DUIs have have remained a very large concern within the city.

Uh whether it be fentanyl use, methamphetamine is is pretty regular and a lot of them frankly we're seeing people just passed out in their cars in the middle of the roadway. Um so these are very serious cases that we're seeing and we're seeing a large uptick in DUIs.

So the court is hoping in the future to start a DUI specific court. Um there's a number of things that would go along with that, but mainly it's intended to target the specific needs of people with these types of charges.

That would of course be substance use treatment. Um on a pre-trial basis, we can and have authority to order testing if the court makes certain findings that it's necessary to protect the safety of the community.

So that would be included as well. And as that slide indicates, 35% of our 2024 offenders had at least one prior DUI within the state of Washington. At least. There are others that are on their second, third, fourth DUIs.

And that number also does not account for people who come from out of state who have out of state DUI history. Just uh as an aside, this morning on this morning's in custody calendar, I had a gentleman appear before me who appeared to be on his first DUI and the city attorney ran an out ofstate records check and he had three DUI convictions from the state of Florida.

So, someone has their on their fourth DUI here in the city of Bellingham and that's not even accounted for in those statistics. So, as you might imagine, we have people who have numerous DUIs picking up charges in the city.

They're getting more and more serious, too. It's just that's why we have to utilize the resources. If we're not going to have them remain in custody, we have to use FDS with the alcohol monitoring, IID, of course, ignition interlock device on the on any vehicles and uh you know, everything we can to protect the community, but also we're we have a mandate to implement the least restrictive measures and the presumption is they don't remain in custody.

So we have to turn to other tools to ensure that the community is safe. So in closing, I want to let you know that um since we're 2025 is already seeing that 57% increase in criminal infraction cases filed from the same period in 2024.

And we have 15 criminal calendars per week. Both courtrooms are in session simultaneously, six times a week. And we need basically four to five additional criminal calendars per week to accommodate the increased case load.

We um have turned to a prom judge, prom court judge to review online parking appeals because we can't get to them because we're in court and doing uh criminal matters. Um, and we're also because of the increased case load and it's just the commissioner, myself essentially hearing these cases, we're unable to fully participate in criminal justice meetings, outreach programs, and projects that we would like to see come to fruition.

We would like respectfully to have a third judicial officer on board. And in my opinion, with the with the population growth in the city being what near 100,000 or so, um we should consider having two elected judges and one full-time commissioner to handle this workload.

That's what I was telling you about. That photo is a community court and how we uh have kind of an alternative courtroom scene to that. So, what I'm hoping is um in my seventh term to come hopefully uh being reelected, I hope uh that I will be able to see some of these programs that we have envisioned come to life and uh have a third judicial officer, have this community um have a sufficient courthouse house to have these hearings in.

We need a third courtroom because we're probably going to be running all three at jury trials and and all of that. um been working hard and collaboratively with the executive and legislative uh leaders to see about finding an appropriate space to have all of these court sessions and a good place for the community to come to and have other programs uh offered as well, not just court sessions.

Did I cover it all? I think I think you did. Um, I did want to briefly give a little more context to the court calendars Judge Love was referencing because I do think this is important. Every single person in a criminal case has to have their their time for trial, otherwise known as speedy trial.

If you're out of custody, you're supposed to have it heard within 90 days. When we're setting hearings out right now, because of how backed up we are, we're about 75 days in to speedy trial, which means that if someone comes back at their next hearing and says, "I want a jury trial." we have to set their jury trial within about two weeks.

And that's not normal. Normally, you're going 40 to maybe 60 days at most when you're setting setting calendars. And the fact that we're going out 75 days, I believe this morning, which is April 14th, I was setting people uh June 20th, I think, was the soonest date I had available to set people for their next hearing.

So, just wanted to give that a little extra context because that's how backed up we are right now. and our mandate, what we're required to do is give all individuals that come before the court a full and fair hearing.

When we've got a hundred plus cases on a calendar, that's really tough to get through a calendar and the time aotment that we have. Um especially if it's an in custody calendar because we are given a certain slot of time and we have to get through that calendar whether it be 50 cases or 120 cases.

We have a about an hour and a half, sometimes two to get through that calendar. You know, if you do the math on that, which I'm terrible at, but if you do the math, it's like less than two minutes a case.

And it's just that's that's this is not something that we can sustain for much longer. We are doing the best we can. Um, and I think we're doing a a decent job of it. Um, but yeah, we can't be setting cases out that far because we don't have any room on our calendars.

I don't want to end on a negative note. So, um, we really do appreciate you listening to, uh, the state of the court. It's always a pleasure to be before you and give you the information of what's happening in the judicial branch.

If you have any questions, we welcome them at this time. Thank you, Judge Lev and Commissioner Henry. questions or comments from the council and I will note uh council member Hamill is online. I'm here.

Council member Loquist. Yeah. I just wanted to uh say that one of the things that struck that stood out to me was the fact that 76% of the people filed for with um gross misdemeanor or misdemeanors were eligible for a public defender.

And it makes me wonder how many of those um how many of those offenses are related to sort of their economic station in life? Is is are those the sort of offenses that you're seeing in municipal court as opposed to say felonies which are over in the superior court?

Does run the gamut of every kind of case that we see. I think that just with the state of affairs, the economy and such, um, and just how tough it is for people to get by on on the income that they do have, we go by the federal poverty guidelines.

If they're eligible, they get an attorney. Also, uh, you probably already know this from previous presentations. We have the North County public defenders present at all arraignments. They're not yet assigned to the cases.

They're not, you know, found eligible until they apply. But we they do have an attorney at arraignment stage at no cost to them. So they have someone there at their first appearance um when they're advised of the charges and the rights and they enter a plea and also address pre-trial release conditions.

So we're seeing it on all the cases. I think what I would add, council member Liiloquist, is that it's impossible to put a hard number on it, but if you're looking at thefts, you're looking at trespasses, you're looking at possession controlled substance, many of those, yes, probably are poverty related crimes.

But certainly not all, not not everyone who, you know, allegedly or does commit that crime uh falls under the federal guidelines, but I think it would just be fair to say that a large portion of them would.

Also, if they're in custody, they'll be uh found eligible for a public defender. In custody, meaning are they're in jail. They're in jail. Yeah. If they're, you know, at their arraignment that's being held in custody.

Member Stone, a similar question, I guess, related to um who you're seeing before the court. So, you mentioned an increase in parking, right? Parking tickets and those types of violations. And I'm just curious and I don't know what type of data is collected surrounding those parking infractions, but whether we know how many of those are related to say abandoned vehicles or individuals who are living in their vehicle and right needing to move regularly or if they're parking infractions related just to parking spaces in the downtown core or I don't know if you have a sense of you know additional demographics.

So I don't believe we collect data specifically on you know exactly what you were saying. Are these people who were living in their vehicles? I don't think we collect that data. But what I can tell you, uh, Council Member Stone is I I do the vast majority of them.

It's really a mix between I would say close to half are just expired meters, something like that, which really could be anyone in the community. And then we do see a lot of um just kind of standard no parking tickets, you know, people parked in front of a yellow line, people parked perhaps in a disabled parking spot, stuff like that.

So, it's just anecdotal. I actually don't think a lot of them really are that situation, but they do come across my desk every now and then. Anything further from the C council? One more was related. I saw the numbers related to screenings and I know that there's um security checkpoint at the courthouse, but based on the number of hearings and then the number of screenings, it appears that clearly not every hearing and I think you alluded to that is happening in the courthouse.

And so um how many because I thought maybe it was during COVID right that things were remote but does that continue to be the case where and do you know what percentage of cases are in person versus remote?

We had very little we had very little um remote hearings during COVID as well. We were doing them telephonically for a while but then we opened up the courthouse and uh did them that way. So I'm not sure what whether the numbers would accurately reflect.

Currently we do not have statistics on the amount of virtual hearings versus in person. Every court session is a hybrid. So you will have a mix within the same court session of inperson and Zoom hearings.

What I can also add to that is that I would say uh at least probably threearters of our infractions are done online. People have the right to have an in-person hearing if they want it, but they have to specifically request that.

Otherwise, the standard is to just submit written documentation online. I found that most people actually prefer that because they don't have to take an afternoon off work. They can just say, "Hey, this is what I'm appealing." And then I review it and make a decision on it.

So, a large number, both of the parking tickets and just other infractions are done online. And we do offer uh Zoom hearings on all of our, as Tammy's mentioned, all of our court hearings. You can appear via Zoom.

And we have a lot of people appear via Zoom. We started it when COVID hit, but we've continued it on. And there's no reason why people can't appear via Zoom unless they're ordered to appear in person, but that's kind of rare.

it's where they we need to send them over to pre-trial supervision or have a test or something like that. Otherwise, they appear via Zoom and we have them appearing from all over the country. And I had one from Switzerland this morning or yesterday.

But yeah, so Zoom has really helped people keep their jobs, you know, child care issues, all of that. We're not there's no reason why we will stop Zoom hearings. Anything further? Okay, with that judge commissioners, thank you so much for the presentation.

Thank you so much again. Thank you. In the courtroom or next year. Thank you, mayor. And with that, there was a tiny little two-word part of the agenda that I missed earlier. Roll call, please. Anna Stone here.

Dan Hamill here. Skip Williams here. Lisa Anderson here. Michael Loquiz here. Jay Cotton here. Hi Huffman here. All council members are present. All right. Next up is the mayor's report. Good evening to the members of council, to members of city staff, and all the members of the community that are here this evening.

Uh, I'd like to begin tonight with a few appointments. The first two are for council's approval. And the first is that I'm seeking to appoint Derek Omarod to a first term to the greenways advisory committee.

Move approval. Second. Say a motion by council member Anderson, second by council member Cotton. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I I any opposed or abstensions? Passes 70. Thank you.

Next up for your approval is an appointment to the Wakom Museum Foundation Board. I'm seeking to appoint Kelsey Stein Row to a first term on the Wakom Museum Foundation Board. Move approval. Second. It's a motion by Council Member Anderson and a second by Council Member Williams.

Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I I any opposed or abstensions? That passes 70. Thank you. For information only, I'm sharing that I'll be reappointing Alana Patterman to a full term to the Bellingham Housing Authorities Board of Commissioners.

This is a joint mayor and county executive appointment and there will be a corresponding appointment from County Executive S. Paul Sadu. Tonight, I'd like to take a moment to affirm our shared values.

Many questions and calls for action in our recent months have us reflecting a nude on our shared values around creating and maintaining a self a safe and welcoming community for us all. And I'd like to speak to these values tonight, especially in light of several events that have incurred in our city since our last time together.

And since we last met, the first meeting of the Keep Washington Working Act work group convened on March 25th. There were also several trans day of visibility events held within our community on March 31st.

And there was sadly a high-profile immigration enforcement action that occurred on April 2nd, just north of Bellingham city limits. It is important to reaffirm that we are the same community today as we were last November.

And tonight, I'd like to share key portions of a policy statement adopted by the Bellingham City Council in 2017. It declares our support for our city's queer community and our immigrant community members as well as other members of this community.

Bellingham City Council resolution 201710 is titled a resolution affirming the safety of all people residing in Bellingham. And not every resolution exists in a framed document in the mayor's suite, but this one does.

So, I was able to take this off the shelf tonight. And this resolution commits that we will not turn our back on immigrants regardless of documentation status. We will continue to uphold the police department's policies of not inquiring about a citizen a person's citizenship status within the city of Bellingham.

Our police department will continue the policy of not detaining individuals for a civil violation of federal immigration laws or a related civil warrant. Our police department will continue to not conduct raids or sweeps to detain or arrest individuals on federal immigration matters.

It further resolves that we will continue to stand with and protect the rights of LGBTQ plus individuals in our city. And it further resolves that we will continue to condemn all hate speech and violence standing in solidarity with individuals and communities who are targeted for their race, religion, or ethnicity.

The full text of the resolution is posted in city buildings and is linked to in the footer of almost every page on the city's website. I share this tonight to reaffirm and uphold our essential commitments.

In times of uncertainty and unsettling actions outside of our city's direct control, we continue to champion these values and uphold the highest ground with our focus on a community where all and truly all of us can flourish.

And in the mayor's report of late, I've been trying to close this out on some good news. Uh the resolution to which I earlier spoke to also has a commitment to our ongoing commitment to our climate actions.

And I would like to share some great news. The Northwest Clean Air Agency is the local regulatory agency with the delegated enforcement authority of the Environmental Protection Agency. Several years ago, they collected a large multi-million dollar fine from a Watcom County corporation.

The Northwest Clean Air Agency decided to turn these monies into a local climate grant opportunity. More than 20 nonprofits, agencies, and other government agencies applied for this opportunity, and I'm delighted to announce that the City of Bellingham application was the highest scoring grant, and we have been awarded the full $1.7 million that we sought to construct a community solar array.

The proceeds from this community solar array will fund ongoing climate actions creating enduring good for this community. And that's the end of mayor's report tonight. Thank you so much, mayor. Thank you.

And again, uh that that resolution which was was passed by council 2017, uh thanks to that council. uh if you read it and again you can find it at the bottom of of any page on the uh our city's website.

It looks like it could have been written today. Um so very relevant. History seems to be repeating itself. Um with that we can move to our afternoon committee reports. First up we had public works and natural resources that was chaired by council member Stone.

Thank you very much President Hudman. Um, so the public works and natural resources committee actually met this morning at 10 a.m. Um, I was joined on the committee by council members Anderson and Cotton.

We had one item before us, but kind of a weighty issue. Um, so this was agenda bill 24493. This is the water system plan, nutrient reduction evaluation and utilitywide financial information presentation.

The city of Bellingham is actively engaged in long long range planning for its essential utility services through the water system plan update and the nutrient reduction evaluation. An agency review draft of the water system plan has been submitted to the department of health and other agencies for regulatory review.

The city and its consultant Corolla um also have further developed the nutrient reduction evaluation. An update of both efforts was provided this morning and is available for viewing through the city of Bellingham meetings website.

Financial information for a utilitywide perspective um was also shared as a part of the presentation. So wanting to highlight that we were joined by Mike Olinger, our interim public works co-director, as well as Mike Wilson, assistant director for public works for engineering and three members of the Corollo um consultant group.

So Orly, Susanna and um Taji helped with the presentation this morning and just wanting to note a couple of things that they're um so the recommendation at this time is to move forward with the sort of baseline capital improvement plan.

We're waiting at this time for the draft um water system plan to be reviewed again by the Department of Health and other agencies and then returned to um the city. That review time is estimated to be 90 days, but it could be longer and we anticipate there may be an additional 90-day extension um required by the agencies for regulatory review.

And while we're waiting on that, looking for um future nutrient projects to be funded when the scale and timing are better defined. So recognizing that obviously we don't want to defer work unnecessarily um knowing that costs will increase as time passes but wanting to make sure that we are clear on what the scale again in timing um would be to make sure that we're spending our you know our city funds wisely.

Um and so at this time just wanting to make note that the nutrient reduction evaluation is a response to Ecology's Puget Sound nutrient general permit which is requiring an evaluation of nutrient reduction strategies for the postpoint resource recovery plant to protect again the Salish Sea.

Um and so we'll be moving forward on that work but one big part of this work is just the costs and the price tag related to these projects. Um the projects that will be moving forward sooner rather than later include increased pump stations as well as storage capacity, reservoirs and pipeline conditions.

Sometimes needing to increase, you know, the size of pipelines and um pipes within the city to ensure that we have pressure required to um for fire suppression and um other items to keep the community safe.

But those high cost um cost projections at this time are going to require some review of our um rates. And so at this time, part of this discussion is going to be brought forward to the budget and finance committee for further discussion specifically related to those pieces um the financing and cost.

And then we will see this item come back to likely the public works and natural resources committee in the future after that 90-day or longer review process um has been completed so that then the proposed plan again for the water system plan as well as nutrient reduction evaluation um can be further considered by council.

So, at this time it was for basically information and discussion and to provide direction, but for members of the community who are interested um in the nuts and bolts of the presentation that we received this morning, I would welcome you to go to the city of Bellingham website under the meetings link where you can find recordings of all committee meetings.

So, with that, the committee was adjourned and I will turn it back to you, President Huffman. Thank you, Council Member Stone. And then next up we had the budget and finance committee and that was chaired by council member Anderson.

Yes, I get all the fun. Um joining me today we had um joining me today we had council member Hamill and Liloquist. We had three items before us. I'm going to cover them um together because they were all interrelated.

So, we had um agenda bill 24511, which was an ordinance amending the 2025 adopted budget reconciling the difference between estimated 2025 budget reserve balances and the actual 2025 reserve balances.

During the budget development process, our finance director Andy S. Borson um basically covered the finance department estimates beginning reserve balances based on our anticipated expenditures and revenues for the year in which the budget was developed.

Pursuant to city financial budget um at the beginning of each budget cycle, the city must update the budget um with actual beginning reserves and estimates of the new ending reserves. Um the finance department undertakes this in tandem with the reappropriation process to ensure the various funds reserves are expected to remain in balance at the end of the year.

The reappropriation process brings budget forwards from the previous budget cycle for programs and projects authorized but were not completed in the previous year. So that brings the second item um agenda bill 24512 which was an ordinance amending the 2025 budget increasing the appropriation authority and various funds to pay for goods and services authorized in the previous budget cycle.

The attached ordinance that we review today increases the appropriations in the 2025 budget by reappropriating unused budget authority totaling 104 million in change in expenses and 10 million in revenue from the 2023 and 2024 bienium.

At the end of the budget cycle, all remaining budget authorities will lapse and under the contract for a project, program um even if it's under contract for a project, program or product to pay these contracts and continue the projects authorized in previous budgets, the city council must appropriate the funds.

And then lastly, um we had our first amendment to the 2025 budget, which was bill number 24513. The ordinance amends the 2025 budget to correctly budgetary errors adjusting appropriation authority to provide positive estimates ending the reserve balance for all city funds and add the budget authority for items missed during the budget development or materialized after adoption of the 2025 budget.

Um and that um net reduction basically that will be about a $32 million change. Um the committee did not take action to move the budget forward with approval for this evening as a second vote. Um a motion was made to keep it in committee and give uh council members time to be able to review with the budget director any questions they have.

Um, some of this that we're reviewing are in the hundreds of millions. So, we want to give due process to make sure there's a strong understanding of what is carrying over. We went last year to an annual budget versus every two years.

So, a lot of times we have funds encumbered with contracts, but they haven't been spent or we're doing long range planning for some items that were in the 2025 budget, but it's probably going to be spent in 2026.

So, some of us wanted a little more time to review it. So, that motion was passed to keep it in committee. So, it'll be reviewed at the next session. So, with that, um, end of report. Thank you, Council Member Anderson.

Next up, we had committee of the whole. That means all of us. And first up, we had five agenda items. And first up was Is that Nope. Yes. Agenda Bill 24505, a presentation on the waterfront district project implementation.

City of Bellingham and Port of Bellingham have partnered to aid in the redevelopment of the waterfront district. City and Port staff provided an overview of both public and private projects that have been recently completed, are underway, or will be coming soon.

If you're interested to know what's happening down at the waterfront, you can check out that video from this afternoon on our website at meetings.cco.org. Next up was agenda bill 24506, consideration of the lodging tax advisory committee funding recommendation.

The city council approved the 2025 ELTAC budget with a line item for downtown actification act activation and beautifification, also known as actctification projects. A proposal for an art and lighting installation on the alley side of the light catcher building of the Watcom Museum was submitted during the 2024 request for proposals process but was not approved due to the need for additional feasibility review.

The project has been vetted and the proposal was returned to ELTAC at its March meeting for approval. Eltac recommends a $54,000 grant to Spark's design for this installation, which will occur in the summer of 2025.

And just uh for those that don't know, uh lodging tax funds are are taxes that are collected from hotel stays. And those funds um can only be used to essentially generate more hotel stays. So, um things that make our city more interesting and beautiful and um fun and potentially bring people in from out of town.

They stay in our hotels. We get more attacks to do more cool things. Um so, this was a project that you will uh see coming up in the summer of 2025. That's um there are pictures in our packet if you wanted to check this out, but they are very large metal sculpture um uh cut uh cutouts and um they'll be lit.

Um oh, you've probably seen some of them um at the fire and story event if you went to that. uh same artists, it's a collective. Um and they'll be on the side of the light catcher building down that alley.

Um both for the artist artistic value, but to give that alley some some light, which will be nice. Um next up, we Oh, wait. I think there's a there's a vote that is required. The uh the committee recommended approval and I so move.

Second. Any further discussion? A motion by council member Anderson, second by council member Lquis. Made the motion other way around. Okay. Other way around. Motion by this guy. Okay. Any further discussion?

Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Any oppos? Or abstensions. Passes 70. Next up was agenda bill 24510, health and human services strategic initiatives presentation. Jason Cornelius, the new strategic initiatives manager for health and human services in the mayor's office, provided an overview of his work and connections with community partners.

So, this is a uh brand new position that was created in the mayor's office. Um Jason has been working for six months. He gave us uh an overview of his background, what he's been doing for those six months, what he's been learning, um ways that he's been connecting with um folks in in health and human services related uh organizations as well as our our county health department um and finding out ways that the city can better partner and collaborate in addressing some of our city's most challenging problems.

Um, and again, very interesting stuff. If you want to check out that video and that conversation, um, you can find that on our website. Next up, we've got agenda bill 24501 is a work session on an ordinance relating to landlord tenant regulations relations adopting a new chapter in title six of the Bellingham Municipal Code prohibiting landlords from charging tenants unfair or excessive fees in residential rental agreements and leases.

The Bellingham City Council is weighing two proposed ordinances that define which rental fees are permitted, limit amounts for some rental fees, and promote fee transparency. As part of considering these ordinances, council directed staff to seek public feedback about the ordinances.

At the March 28th, 2025 council meeting, staff presented a summary of the public engagement findings. An executive summary and full report of this public engagement work are also available at engagebellingham.org.

This work session is in was intended to give council a chance to further discuss the ordinances, suggest amendments, and provide direction on how to move forward. Um, we made some motions, adopted some amendments.

Um, and further work on this will come back on, uh, our first meeting in May, which is May 5th. Next up was a similar um President sorry um on that last item. So I'd mentioned it this afternoon but without a formal motion but I've been thinking about it and since I know staff is going to review what was discussed earlier in the day.

I'm not certain whether the reference to family member and that definition excuse me comes from an RCW or somewhere else where it needs to be retained. But otherwise I would move to. So currently it's reading family member includes spouses, domestic partners, former spouses, former domestic partners, adult persons related by marriage, siblings, persons who are 16 years of age or older who have a dating relationship, persons with a parent child relationship, including parents, stepparents, grandparents, adoptive parents, guardians, foster parents, or custodians of minors.

I feel like we've been trying to move away from right single family housing and defining families and I don't know why it's relevant um but requesting that perhaps that be struck and replaced with household member or something that I don't know it just it feels very awkward to me to be defining the family and why those individuals be treated differently than other household members that you're living with.

So, so we'll we'll address that when we bring it back. Council member Liquist. Well, the reason why that definition is irrelevant in this case, it has to do with prohibiting a fee for adding a family member to your household.

I guess the logic is they're already a member of your household. Now, they're just going to come live with you. And I think that's an important thing to recognize. And so, if we can come up with better language to describe that situation, I think we should embrace it.

But that the reason why it was added was to protect um renters in that situation where they had a member of their family joining them in their household. So if I can just respond to that, I I appreciate that, but I don't understand why the distinction of how you define who that family member is.

Are we then wanting to make an exception for what I'm presuming to be biological or through marriage relations? or I mean if you're considering that person to be a part of your quote unquote family and your household, I don't know that I would support a distinction between whether a fee is charged or not based on how that connection's defined, but but I understand the where it's referenced.

Council member Cotton, sorry, I guess we don't have to talk about this now, but just the other uh that we we use that is in the um uh the retaliation section as well. Um, so yeah, and anyway, shouldn't even brought that up, but yeah, let's pick that up.

Mayor, I feel like I understand the intention behind Council Member Stone's direction, and we'll make sure that we have an inclusive um definition of family when we come back. Yeah. Yeah. I mean whether or not family is required or if it could just be household member or something more generic.

Right. Yes. Or household members or an alternative language that because I also think Lett's waters about how you approve that relationship if you're going to require it. Okay. Thank you. So no formal motion required.

Okay. Thank you, Council Member St. Okay. The next up is agenda bill 24502, work session on an ordinance related to manufactured and mobile home landlord tenant relations adopting a new chapter in title six of the Billingham Municipal Code prohibiting landlords from charging unfair and excessive fees in manufactured and mobile home leases uh lease agreements.

Um similar conversation, similar outcome. Um there were there were some amendments made and uh we will again be talking about this um this potential ordinance on May 5th and old and new business. Council member Liquist.

Yeah. I'd like to talk about the fact that it's April Volunteer Month and I'd like to talk about in the context of celebrating volunteerism here in this community. I'd like to start by congratulating a young man that I have the pleasure of knowing as a classmate of my daughter growing up here in Bellingham.

His name is Ethan Hunger and he's been recognized statewide. He was selected as a recipient of the Washington State Volunteer Service Award which recognizes outstanding contribution to the community through volunteerism.

Ethan is recognized for his service in helping alleviate food insecurity in Watcom County. His 18-hour hunger versus hunger personal fitness challenge has raised nearly $250,000 for the Bellingham Food Bank in 2024 and he's going to do it again.

Uh you can find out more at ethanhunger.com/hunger versus hunger. That's hunger vss hunger. Um also uh we have volunteer efforts here in the city. So for example, this Saturday, April 19th from 9:00 a.m.

to noon, you can join a community work party to remove invasive plants on Squalum Creek. Work gloves and tools are provided. The gathering location is where Squallum Parkway and Birchwood meet. You kind of go down behind St.

Joe's and where it turns. Um tools will be provided. Uh come and help out. This is actually part of an Earth Day activity. Public Works also has a volunteer litter pickup program. You can pick up your own neighbor, pick your own neighborhood or part of town.

Uh you'll get a litter cleanup kit including a safety vest bucket, grabbers for picking up litter. Um, you can just search the city's website for litter cleanup, just like you can search the city's website for community work party to find these opportunities.

And finally, I'd like to let people know that they can volunteer to help build the tiny homes uh for homes now. It's a city sponsored project on Northwest Avenue. I've been putting up walls there myself.

You can uh fill out a volunteer form on Homes Now website or just show up any day. Again, tools are provided and any skill level is welcome. Thank you, Council Member Liquist. Any others? Council member Stone.

So, I guess I'm wondering during the mayor's report, I know that you spoke to the resolution that was passed back in 2017, and I don't know from legal if there's um a formal process to I mean, obviously it stays on the books, but a formal process to reaffirm, right, when a resolution is passed by a council.

Um if there's a formal process to Yeah. to reaffirm that to have it signed a new by the sitting president um and if so what that what that would entail and then further question I guess to council is whether that's something that the council would consider.

Well, the resolution is still there, but if you wanted to reaffirm it, I think I would just do another resolution reaffirming or or whatever you want to say to um and the entire council would then vote on that.

Okay. But it wouldn't it's not customary to you're saying it would be a new resolution, a new date. There's not a process to sort of resign. You know what I'm saying? like an actual Well, I I would you could take the same resolution, but I would if you if you're going to adopt it again, uh I would have a vote of council would review it.

Okay. Um then I guess and it I don't know that it would have to be a formal vote, but I know that some of the language as you mentioned, President Hudzman, sort of resonates in reading it a new now, right?

It feels like it could have been written now versus in 2017. I would also say your whereases probably change with regards to that resolution given the current situation. Yeah. Well, there's one whereas in quote would say today, but so whether or not um obviously in reing it there may be some yeah language changes or additions that we would make, but I would be interested in taking that on for review and revision and bring it back before council if there's support in in doing so.

Council member Anderson. Thank you. Um, I support you reviewing it. I just, um, if we were to do a new one, I think it's really important to make sure that the previous council because that resolution, not that it was necessarily cutting edge, but it was a very strong statement before others were necessarily making strong statements.

and I'd want to be able to give it its due respect um historically um so that future people looking back this new resolution is not where they think the journey began as a council and as a city recognizing um the value council member Williams I know that we have done this something like this for other issues where we've passed a resolution a year or or or or we've passed a resolution in the past and then we've just reaffirmed what we've already done.

So, did you have something else in mind or you want to rewrite this one or what what are you thinking more? Well, I think if as the city attorney mentioned, I mean, if it would be a new resolution, if it would be a new resolution presented for council consideration anyways, even if it was the same language, then I would propose reviewing that language more closely to see if there are any additions or changes to be b made prior to consideration by the council for passage.

Council member Lucas, I'm quite comfortable with having Council Member Stone review the previous resolution and bring forward an updated one that recognizes the previous one, but you know, maybe addresses things in a contemporary way, especially as Mr.

Mayor indicated that the where the whereas portions, we're facing another a new reality or renewed reality. So, um, but I'd be very comfortable in your capable hands to find a way to to do that. I'd appreciate that, Mr.

Mayor. Well, I just want to be clear if if you want something in writing, it I think it is a resolution. You could certainly reaffirm it orally from the dis anytime you want. That wouldn't have to necessarily be in writing.

But if you want to do something in writing, I'm thinking resolution and it could be a modified resolution. might also add a suggestion to have uh Dborah from the mayor's office um help with the review like that.

Uh she's mayor, can you tell me her title? It's long. Uh Dborah Benza is the strategic initiatives manager with a focus on equity and belonging. Thank you. Um, but if that would be if that would be acceptable from the mayor's office, I think that would be helpful.

Okay. So, we have a motion and a second. Do we have a motion or I would make a motion. Just a head nod. I would make a motion that we request council member Stone to enlist whatever aid she needs to consider uh drafting a new resolution which affirms our previous 2017 resolution.

Second motion by council member Liquist and a second by council member Cotton. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed or abstensions? That passes 70. Council member Cotton.

Um in uh old and new this afternoon um we discussed um uh two possible letters um in response to the public testimony and um meetings that we've had with clinicians and midwives um uh technicians, service workers and nurses at Peace Health.

And um there we have two draft letters and thankful um to David Braun and the council office whose title I don't know just communications guru is what I have in my head uh for reviewing that um afternoon.

I can pass out that copy unless everybody already has it. Um, but I'll be looking for um council uh support to to to send this and um know mayor would like to make a comment. Um, but uh I just really want to thank um council member Williams um for a lot of work back and forth on um on editing um these two letters which um in short um recognize um the importance of um safe quality care.

um and um fair wages um to our whole community and and add our voice um to um yeah try and be a a um helpful cheerleader um to reach a fair and equitable agreement. Okay. I would make a motion that we um adopt these letters to S to both parties that are involved in in the to all of the parties that are involved in the negotiations process with uh peace health.

Second motion by council member Williams and a second by council member Kapotton. Further discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say I. I. I. I. Any opposed or abstensions? Passes 70. Mayor. Um I was speaking with council member Cotton before the meeting.

I had the chance to read over the letters and I intend to sign my name alongside council. Thank you, mayor. Okay. Um, I have an item if everybody else has done the legislative session update. Uh, the last day of the session is April 27th.

Our lobbyists are continuing their work to advocate for city budget requests in a difficult budget year. Many bills we support are still alive, such as House Bill 1791, which harmonizes the uses of REIT 1 and REIT 2, and House Bill 2015, which provides funding for public safety in the criminal justice system.

House Bill 1515, which supports FIFA fan zone activities by expanding alcohol service during the World Cup. Today, the council passed a motion to have our lobbyists share with legislators that the council supports the House version of rent stabilization rather than the Senate version.

Leadership from the city and the county sent a joint letter to the Senate Ways and Means Committee at the end of March about the importance of funding the recovery navigator program, and our lobbyists have since shared it with other relevant legislators.

Okay. Anything else for old new? All right. Uh, we then had executive session. We had two items. First was a potential property acquisition with stamps. Staff provided information on a potential Lake Watcom wershed property acquisition totaling 42.37 acres with eight potential development units.

I'll now entertain a motion to authorize the mayor to close the real estate transaction described in the city's executed purchase and sale agreement with the property owner Jeffrey and Rebecca Curtis and Douglas and Marilyn Curt Curtis with a purchase price of $653,500.

Closing. So moved. Second. Closing is to occur on or around April 28th, 2025. Motion by Council Member Williams, second by Council Member Liiloquist. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I.

I. I. I. Any opposed or abstensions? That passes. 70. And secondly, we had a litigation ma matter. De Bruan versus the city of Bellingham with good staff provided information on a litigation matter for information and discussion.

No action was taken. Consent agenda. Approval. Second motion by council member Williams. Second by council member Cotton. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed or abstensions?

It passes 70. And we have no final consideration of ordinances. So that concludes the regular business of the meeting and we will now move to the public comment session. If you are watching live online or on BTV, the broadcast will now end.

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