City Council - Public Health, Safety, Justice, and Equity Committee
City Council - Public Health, Safety, Justice, and Equity Committee
Mon, August 24, 2026
Agenda items
Vote records
Discussion summary
Transcript
Meeting summaryAI-generated
City Council – Public Health, Safety, Justice, and Equity Committee — August 24, 2026
This was a committee meeting chaired by Council Member Dan Hammill, joined by Council Members Skip Williams and Hollie Huthman. The session addressed three nearly identical interlocal agreements related to public safety data sharing and moved efficiently through all three items.
Background: What Is WATCOM and Why Does This Matter?
Before taking up the individual items, the committee heard a presentation from Justin Ras, Deputy Director of WATCOM (Whatcom County's countywide 911 and emergency communications center). WATCOM handles all 911 calls originating in Whatcom County and dispatches law enforcement, behavioral health, and alternative response services for all local jurisdictions, including municipalities, two sovereign tribal nations, and a college.
Ras explained that beyond statewide and national databases, every local law enforcement agency maintains its own local records system. Currently, WATCOM dispatchers must check each agency's system separately — an impractical burden when dispatching for 11 agencies. WATCOM's technology manager has built a tool that allows dispatchers to query the records systems of Blaine, Ferndale, and Lynden simultaneously, because those three cities use the same records management software as the City of Bellingham. The agreements before the committee formalize that data-sharing arrangement.
The data accessible under these agreements is intentionally limited to: names and aliases, dates of birth, known addresses, phone numbers, responder safety information, known associated vehicles, prior trespasses, and prior case involvement. Full police reports are explicitly excluded. Access is also restricted to active public safety incidents — dispatchers cannot browse the databases independently of a dispatch event — and all queries are logged for audit purposes. Ras noted that the agreements also include a provision requiring compliance with the Keep Washington Working Act, which restricts sharing information with federal immigration authorities. He emphasized that none of the data covered by these agreements is shared with federal partners.
Council President Hannah Stone, though not a committee member, noted that these items had originally been placed on the consent agenda. She said she requested they come before the committee because data-sharing agreements tend to raise community questions about privacy safeguards, and she felt a public discussion was warranted. She thanked Ras for the thorough explanation.
Agenda Item 25028 — Interlocal Agreement with the City of Blaine for Public Safety Data Sharing
This agreement authorizes WATCOM 911 to access read-only data from the Blaine Police Department's records management system for the purpose of conducting person checks during dispatch. It does not grant Blaine any access to Bellingham Police Department records, and no funds are exchanged.
Vote: Moved by committee (mover not named in transcript); no second required in committee. Approved 3–0.
Agenda Item 25029 — Interlocal Agreement with the City of Ferndale for Public Safety Data Sharing
Substantively identical to the Blaine agreement, covering the same scope of read-only data access for WATCOM dispatchers.
Vote: Moved by committee (mover not named); approved 3–0.
Agenda Item 25030 — Interlocal Agreement with the City of Lynden for Public Safety Data Sharing
Substantively identical to the Blaine and Ferndale agreements.
Vote: Moved by committee (mover not named); approved 3–0.
All three items were referred forward for consideration at the full council meeting the same evening.
Key Takeaways
WATCOM 911 dispatchers will gain streamlined, simultaneous access to limited records from Blaine, Ferndale, and Lynden police departments, replacing a cumbersome system of checking each database individually.
Privacy safeguards are built in: access is limited to specific data fields, restricted to active dispatch incidents, fully auditable, and explicitly excludes federal data sharing under the Keep Washington Working Act.
No money changes hands under any of the three agreements, and no reciprocal access is granted to the partner cities.
All three agreements passed unanimously (3–0) in committee and were forwarded to the full council for final action the same evening.
Council President Stone's decision to pull these items off the consent calendar reflects growing council attention to community concerns around data privacy and law enforcement information sharing.
AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.
What happened at this meeting
An interlocal agreement with the City of Blaine for public safety data sharing
# Summary: Interlocal Agreement with City of Blaine for Public Safety Data Sharing
Staff presented an interlocal agreement with the City of Blaine authorizing the Blaine Police Department to share limited records management system data with WATCOM 911. Deputy Director Justin Ras explained that dispatchers would receive read-only access to Blaine's names file to support person checks and improve service to officers. The agreement restricts imported data to names/aliases, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, responder safety information, known vehicles, prior trespasses, and prior case involvement, with safeguards requiring queries to be run through the dispatch system in conjunction with public safety incidents. Council Member Hamill requested individual votes on the three identical agreements with Blaine, Ferndale, and Lynden, while Council President Stone appreciated moving the item to committee to discuss data sharing safeguards. The motion passed unanimously, with each party remaining responsible for its own costs and Blaine Police receiving no access to Bellingham Police records.
Staff presented an interlocal agreement with the City of Blaine authorizing the Blaine Police Department to share limited records management system data with WATCOM 911. Deputy Director Justin Ras explained that dispatchers would receive read-only access to Blaine's names file to support person checks and improve service to officers. The agreement restricts imported data to names/aliases, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, responder safety information, known vehicles, prior trespasses, and prior case involvement, with safeguards requiring queries to be run through the dispatch system in conjunction with public safety incidents. Council Member Hamill requested individual votes on the three identical agreements with Blaine, Ferndale, and Lynden, while Council President Stone appreciated moving the item to committee to discuss data sharing safeguards. The motion passed unanimously, with each party remaining responsible for its own costs and Blaine Police receiving no access to Bellingham Police records.
An interlocal agreement with the City of Ferndale for public safety data sharing
# Summary: Interlocal Agreement with City of Ferndale for Public Safety Data Sharing
Staff presented an interlocal agreement with the City of Ferndale for public safety data sharing, structured identically to a concurrent agreement with Blaine. The agreement will enable Watcom 911 dispatchers to query multiple local law enforcement agency databases in a single transaction rather than checking eleven separate systems individually, improving response efficiency across Whatcom County. Staff noted the data sharing would provide critical visibility into incidents involving Ferndale residents—such as assaults on responders—that currently represent blind spots for alternative response teams. The committee unanimously approved the motion without recorded discussion.
Staff presented an interlocal agreement with the City of Ferndale for public safety data sharing, structured identically to a concurrent agreement with Blaine. The agreement will enable Watcom 911 dispatchers to query multiple local law enforcement agency databases in a single transaction rather than checking eleven separate systems individually, improving response efficiency across Whatcom County. Staff noted the data sharing would provide critical visibility into incidents involving Ferndale residents—such as assaults on responders—that currently represent blind spots for alternative response teams. The committee unanimously approved the motion without recorded discussion.
An interlocal agreement with the City of Lynden for public safety data sharing
# Summary
Watcom deputy director Justin Ras presented an interlocal agreement with the City of Lynden for public safety data sharing as the third of three largely identical agreements designed to address a longstanding logistical challenge where dispatchers previously had to manually check each of the eleven agency databases separately. The new agreements enable Watcom's technology infrastructure to check the records management systems of Ferndale, Lynden, and Blaine in one transaction, significantly improving response efficiency and data availability. The chair noted the agenda summary statement was identical to the Blaine agreement and did not re-read it, no committee discussion was recorded, and the motion to approve passed unanimously.
Watcom deputy director Justin Ras presented an interlocal agreement with the City of Lynden for public safety data sharing as the third of three largely identical agreements designed to address a longstanding logistical challenge where dispatchers previously had to manually check each of the eleven agency databases separately. The new agreements enable Watcom's technology infrastructure to check the records management systems of Ferndale, Lynden, and Blaine in one transaction, significantly improving response efficiency and data availability. The chair noted the agenda summary statement was identical to the Blaine agreement and did not re-read it, no committee discussion was recorded, and the motion to approve passed unanimously.
Agenda items (3)
Procedural (3)
25028ProceduralAn interlocal agreement with the City of Blaine for public safety data sharing
Bellingham and Blaine will share public safety information with each other to improve emergency response and law enforcement coordination between the two cities.
What happened
# Summary: Interlocal Agreement with City of Blaine for Public Safety Data SharingStaff presented an interlocal agreement with the City of Blaine authorizing the Blaine Police Department to share limited records management system data with WATCOM 911. Deputy Director Justin Ras explained that dispatchers would receive read-only access to Blaine's names file to support person checks and improve service to officers. The agreement restricts imported data to names/aliases, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, responder safety information, known vehicles, prior trespasses, and prior case involvement, with safeguards requiring queries to be run through the dispatch system in conjunction with public safety incidents. Council Member Hamill requested individual votes on the three identical agreements with Blaine, Ferndale, and Lynden, while Council President Stone appreciated moving the item to committee to discuss data sharing safeguards. The motion passed unanimously, with each party remaining responsible for its own costs and Blaine Police receiving no access to Bellingham Police records.
25029ProceduralAn interlocal agreement with the City of Ferndale for public safety data sharing
Bellingham and Ferndale will share public safety information with each other to improve emergency response and law enforcement coordination between the two cities.
What happened
# Summary: Interlocal Agreement with City of Ferndale for Public Safety Data SharingStaff presented an interlocal agreement with the City of Ferndale for public safety data sharing, structured identically to a concurrent agreement with Blaine. The agreement will enable Watcom 911 dispatchers to query multiple local law enforcement agency databases in a single transaction rather than checking eleven separate systems individually, improving response efficiency across Whatcom County. Staff noted the data sharing would provide critical visibility into incidents involving Ferndale residents—such as assaults on responders—that currently represent blind spots for alternative response teams. The committee unanimously approved the motion without recorded discussion.
25030ProceduralAn interlocal agreement with the City of Lynden for public safety data sharing
Bellingham and Lynden will share public safety information with each other to improve emergency response and law enforcement coordination between the two cities.
What happened
# SummaryWatcom deputy director Justin Ras presented an interlocal agreement with the City of Lynden for public safety data sharing as the third of three largely identical agreements designed to address a longstanding logistical challenge where dispatchers previously had to manually check each of the eleven agency databases separately. The new agreements enable Watcom's technology infrastructure to check the records management systems of Ferndale, Lynden, and Blaine in one transaction, significantly improving response efficiency and data availability. The chair noted the agenda summary statement was identical to the Blaine agreement and did not re-read it, no committee discussion was recorded, and the motion to approve passed unanimously.
Additional votes recorded in minutes
Approve Agenda Bill 25-5028: Interlocal Agreement with City of Blaine for Public Safety Data Sharing
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve Agenda Bill 25-5029: Interlocal Agreement with City of Ferndale for Public Safety Data Sharing
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve Agenda Bill 25-5030: Interlocal Agreement with City of Lynden for Public Safety Data Sharing
aye 1
voice voteaye
Verbatim transcript available
50 transcript segments indexed
Welcome back. Um, so as I mentioned, our next committee is public health, safety, justice, and equity, and that committee is chaired by Council Member Hamill. So, I will turn it over to him at this time.
City of Bellingham Public Health, Safety, Justice, and Equity Committee minutes August 24, 2026, 2:40 PM Chair: Daniel Hammill Phone: 360-778-8200 Members: Hollie Huthman, Edwin H. "Skip" Williams Email: ccmail@cob.org Web: cob.org/council City Council committee meetings Standing committee members receive reports and information, ask questions, and vote on a recommended action for consideration by the full Council at the regular meeting.
There is no public comment period during committee sessions. Call to order and roll call Council President Stone called the meeting to order at 2:40 p.m. Present: Committee Chair Daniel Hammill, Third Ward Committee Member Hollie Huthman, Second Ward Committee Member Edwin H.
>> Uh, thank you, Council President. I am joined this afternoon by Council Members uh Williams and Huffman. They're not in the room right now, but I just got a text from Council Member Huffman. She's on her way in.
"Skip" Williams, Fourth Ward 25028 1. An interlocal agreement with the City of Blaine for public safety data sharing Summary: Justin Rasmussen, WhatComm Deputy Director, presented the interlocal agreements (ILAs) for public safety data sharing with the Cities of Blaine, Ferndale, and Lynden, WA (agenda items 25028, 25029 and 25030).
I assume Council Member Williams will be back in in here in a moment. We have um so we'll go ahead and get started. I'm just going to read slowly. So, uh, that'll provide time for the council members to to make their way into the into chambers.
Council Members discussed the ILAs and asked questions. Action: Edwin H. "Skip" Williams moved to recommend approval of the interlocal agreement with the City of Blaine. MOTION CARRIED 3-0. 25029 2. An interlocal agreement with the City of Ferndale for public safety data sharing Action: Edwin H.
Uh, we have three items before us here this afternoon. Um, they're all very similar. They're they're with three different jurisdictions. So, I want to take them individually here. So, the first one is an interlocal agreement with the city of Blaine for public uh safety data sharing.
This interlocal agreement authorizes the city of Blaine uh police department to share limited records management system data with WATCOM 911. Wattcom public safety telecommunicators will receive readonly access to the names uh file in Blaine's records management system to support person checks and provide more efficient service to Blaine officers and to other agencies they assist.
"Skip" Williams moved to recommend approval of the interlocal agreement with the City of Ferndale. MOTION CARRIED 3-0. Page 1 of 2 25030 3. An interlocal agreement with the City of Lynden for public safety data sharing Action: Edwin H.
"Skip" Williams moved to recommend approval of the interlocal agreement with the City of Lynden. MOTION CARRIED 3-0. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:51 p.m. Page 2 of 2
The agreement does not allow the Blaine Police Department uh access to Bellingham Police Department records. Each party remains responsible for its own costs and the agreement does not authorize the expenditure or collection of funds.
And I see one of my colleagues is here and the other one's on his way. Um, if we can just pause for just one moment. I want to make sure Council Member Williams is here to listen to the presentation. >> Council member Hamill, if I may.
Um I was just going to mention you indicated taking the three items you know individually but the content I believe is practically identical. Um so just noting the the multiple jurisdictions that are um addressed.
It's not all of Watcom's you know partners that are served >> yeah under Watcom but um just those three jurisdictions >> if it pleases the U president. just want to take the the votes individually. >> Absolutely.
That makes sense. >> All right. Our our members are here. So, um we are joined this afternoon by Justin Raspersonson, the um Wacom Watcom deputy director here to take us through. Go ahead. >> All right.
Thank you, Council Member Hamill, and good afternoon, council. Said my name is Justin Ras. I'm the deputy director for Watcom. Oversee the 911 center here. And honestly, you did a good job describing it.
This is uh pretty straightforward. There are three largely identical agreements before you today. uh that we're going to just briefly talk through and I'm happy to take any questions that you may have.
Um but really this is aiming to improve our level of service with the various user agencies to bring them up to parody to what we offer uh two of our user agencies as well. So I'm just going to begin by giving a quick refresher for those of you uh we're a complex topic and about what we do.
So WACOM is the countywide emergency communication center which means 911 center. We take all of the 911 calls that originate in Wakom County and process them through our center. In addition, we dispatch law enforcement and behavioral health response for all of Wakom County.
Now, all of the local municipalities as well as the two sovereign tribal nations and the college. We also have the alternative response team from the health department located inside our center now and provide dispatching support for them as well.
We're governed by a administrative board through an interlocal agreement of which council member Hamill sits on and day-to-day administration per that agreement is given to the city of Bellingham which is why we are all here today to approve these three largely identical agreements uh to increase data sharing.
And to best understand this a quick primer on what the day-to-day life looks like for our dispatchers um and specifically how these agreements will assist them. Um, one of their most fundamental roles is providing records check in an immediate capacity to law enforcement and other p public safety personnel.
And we do this through querying individuals through several different databases. Uh, two of which are fairly standardized, the national and state databases, which are a single transaction for our dispatchers.
they're a lot of uh stuff to look through, but they do uh provide us with a singular point of reference for things like warrants, uh protection orders, those sorts of files that exist. But then beyond these databases, every local law enforcement agency has the capacity to create their own local database and all of our agencies have elected to do so.
The problem with any sort of municipal government function is that everybody likes their own program and wants to do their own unique thing and we dispatch for 11 agencies now. So, uh, from a technical standpoint, checking these databases and seeing what sort of information is stored at the local level is really more a logistical challenge or it has been traditionally than any sort of a technical challenge.
uh we have the secure technological piping to get that information safely back to Wacom but you know the if any of you have ridden with the Bellingham Police Department I imagine most of you have checking long arm and which is their system is a step and doing that 11 times is just not practical so our technology manager has built the capacity to check multiple systems which would be the cities of Ferndale, Lynden and Blaine in one fell swoop and thereby provide more expansive information that's available at the local level to responders from across the county.
So that's the essence of the three agreements that are before you today. Um the scope again limited to those three agencies. And just to answer a question right off the bat, why those three and not the others?
They use the exact same piece of software that the city of Bellingham does. So it was easy for our technology manager to build that integration and keep it pretty seamless so that our staff could get additional information without uh a lot of extra hurdles.
We are purposefully limiting the imported data to the stuff that you see up on the screen there, which is names, including aliases. We have individuals who use different versions of their name all the time.
That piece of information in and of itself is incredibly valuable along with dates of birth, uh known addresses, phone numbers, responder safety information. This would be of a special value. Uh for instance, where maybe an individual up in Ferndale had assaulted a responder.
As of today, we would have no visibility into that. And especially as I think of the alternative response team and sending some of those responders into these incidents, I think that's a blind spot that I I worry about.
And I think that having this sort of information will be of immense value. Uh known associated vehicles, prior trespasses, and prior involvement in cases. We specifically limited the scope of these agreements and put in some safeguards.
Specifically, we're making it so that our folks will have to do this in conjunction with some sort of public safety incident. So, they have to run it in our computerated dispatching system. They can't just be perusing the databases for fun.
Not that anybody would ever do that, but just as a safeguard for our community. We we have that built in on our agency policies. We also didn't bring over uh access to the full agency reports. I just couldn't see a reason that we needed our staff to necessarily read a full officer report from Ferndale and Blaine.
And if they need that, there are mechanisms for that dissemination. But the information highlighted on the last slide is really what we need from an immediate public safety standpoint. So that's what we're limiting our access to.
I also saw the opportunity uh given the recent work with the keep Washington working work group to throw in a nice little provision there that all the agencies that are party to the agreements will abide to keep uh to comply, excuse me, with the keep Washington working act.
It got absolutely no push back on that at all. And it was nice to just get that ingrained in yet another place in our agreements with our user agencies. And I do want to pause there and also point out that you know these data interactions that we have have no you know interaction with the federal government at all.
What we share with any sort of federal partners is completely separate from this and almost everything on that list is completely barred and from sharing per keep Washington working anyways. So we will that will be unchanged in that capacity.
And finally, we also built in the capacity to quickly query these in any sort of an audit just thereby if if Ferndale ever had any concerns or any user agencies about what we had run, we'd be able to quickly come back and tell them what was run, who viewed it, and where.
So, with that, these are the those are the three agreements. I'd be happy to entertain any questions council has >> committee questions. Okay. Council member um or Council President Stone, go ahead. >> Yeah, I just wanted to thank um you know, Justin Rasmmanson for for coming today and sharing the information.
I know that these items were initially on the consent agenda and I realize that they're fairly straightforward. I just think about whenever there's data sharing and you know, community questions arise about sort of those safeguards and um precautions that we're taking to to safeguard that information.
So, I just felt more comfortable with this coming before your committee. So, I appreciate the the opportunity for that that space. >> Thank you, council president. Any further questions from council committee seeking a motion here to approve agenda bill 255028.
>> Okay. Motion's been made, no second as needed. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed abstensions, recusals. Motion carries 30. I'll bring it forward tonight.
The next item is 255029. This is an interlocal agreement with agreement with the city of Ferndale for public safety data sharing. The summary statement is the same as the previous one for the city of Blaine.
So I don't feel the need to read it unless it pleases the committee to do so. No. Okay. I'll entertain a motion now. >> Move approval. >> Okay. Uh motion has been made. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I.
>> I opposed. Abstensions recus. Motion carries 30. I'll bring it forward tonight. The final item is 255030, pardon me. Uh it's inter interlocal agreement with the city of Lynen for public safety data sharing.
Again, the agenda summary statement is identical to the the first one that I read with the city of Blaine. Any any reason to read that one? No. Okay. Um I'll entertain a motion now. >> Move approval. >> Okay.
Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed absentions, recusals. Motion carries 300. I'll bring it forward tonight. Thank you for coming. >> Appreciate it. Okay, that is end of committee.
>> Thank you very much, Council Member Hamill. Um, so we will take just a moment to convene the next committee, which will be committee of the whole. So, um, just a brief break to to line up the recording for that next meeting.