Name: Bellingham City Council - Parks and Recreation Committee meeting, Jul 13, 2026
Start: 2026-07-13
End: 2026-07-13
Location: City of Bellingham

City Council - Parks and Recreation Committee

Mon, July 13, 2026

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City Council Parks and Recreation Committee — July 13, 2026

This Parks and Recreation Committee meeting, chaired by Council Member Skip Williams, covered two items: an annual update from the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition (WMBC) on Galbraith Mountain operations, and a contract award for tree trimming services. Council Members Dan Hammill and Jace Cotton also participated, along with non-committee member Michael Lilliquist.

Galbraith Mountain Annual Update — Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition (Item 24982)

Parks Operations Manager Steve Janashefsky opened with brief context: the city has contracted with the WMBC to manage the mountain biking trail network on Galbraith Mountain since 2018, when the city acquired a recreation easement and, jointly with the Whatcom Land Trust, a conservation easement from Galbraith Tree Farm. He noted the partnership has been consistently positive over eight years.

WMBC Executive Director Eric Brown then delivered the coalition's annual report, covering 2025 activity. Key highlights:

Trails and maintenance: The coalition built several new trail connectors on Galbraith, including a new area called the "Bro Zone," named in memory of Nate Bro — a community member who died in a fire in Fairhaven — whose family donated funds for its construction. A major maintenance overhaul was completed on the "Molly" trail, which connects to the Geneva neighborhood via Oriental Avenue, with drainage improvements done in partnership with the city's Natural Resources department.

Usage: Trail counters recorded approximately 38,000 visits in 2025 across key access points, with usage split roughly 50/50 between the Galbraith Lane (south side) entrance and north side neighborhood access points. Brown noted this is a conservative count, as many neighborhood connector trails lack counters.

Logging coordination: Roughly 330 acres on Galbraith are currently permitted for timber harvest. The Department of Natural Resources owns the top of the mountain and plans to begin logging in September, which will require the WMBC to rebuild several trails that converge at that hub area. The coalition coordinates directly with Galbraith Tree Farm and logging crews to manage trail impacts.

Youth and community programs: The coalition served 700 participants in 2025 programming. Highlights included 389 students in fall after-school bike clubs and 486 in spring programs. The "Flying Squirrels" girls elementary group, Youth Dig and Ride (a middle school trail-work-and-ride program), and a partnership with Vamos — which includes an earn-a-bike program through which over 100 kids received bikes this spring via a WSDOT and Cascade Bicycle Club partnership — were all highlighted. The coalition also launched a new Family Mountain Biking Day in October 2025 and runs 10 weeks of summer camps.

Finances: WMBC brought in approximately $920,000 in revenue in 2025 against roughly $870,000 in expenses. A significant portion of revenue comes from a Cascade Bicycle Club grant. About 54% of expenditures go toward trail building, advocacy, and outreach. The Northwest Tune-Up festival (a separate organization) generates approximately $60,000 gross for the WMBC through beer garden management and Enduro race support.

Economic development angle: Brown noted that bicycle industry companies — including Shimano, which recently opened an office at Haskell Business Park — are relocating to Bellingham partly because of the mountain biking community, and suggested the city and port continue supporting industry attraction events.

Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Oliver added that since the annual report was submitted in January, the city has expanded the WMBC's management license to include trails at the Birch Street trailhead and Lake Whatcom watershed properties within Galbraith Mountain that were not previously covered. She highlighted this as a sign of the strong partnership and the coalition's careful approach to sensitive watershed areas.

Council members thanked Brown for the presentation. Hammill noted he regularly hears questions about the relationship between WMBC and the Northwest Tune-Up and appreciated the clarification that they are separate organizations. This was an informational item; no vote was required.

Tree Trimming and Removal Services Contract Award — Bid No. 12B-2026 (Item 24981)

The city solicited bids for an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract for tree trimming and removal services. This is a renewal of a contract the city has used previously. The contract covers difficult or specialized tree removals beyond what the city's urban forestry crew can handle, as well as emergency response during wind or snow storms. Public Works can also draw on it for street tree work.

The city received three bids, publicly opened April 15, 2026. Two were found non-responsive for failing to provide required documentation or use proper bid forms. The single responsive bid came from Stumpy's Tree Care of Lynden, which was awarded the contract. The initial term is three years, not to exceed $450,000, with an optional one-year renewal not to exceed an additional $150,000. The contract is not subject to apprentice utilization requirements.

Lilliquist, attending as a non-committee member, asked about the two non-responsive bids; Janashefsky confirmed they failed to submit proper documentation but did not have details on the exact deficiency.

Vote: Hammill moved to approve; Cotton seconded (implied). Williams called the vote; all committee members voted in favor. Motion carried. Williams noted he would report the action at the full evening council meeting.

Key Takeaways

Galbraith Mountain is heavily used: Over 38,000 counted visits in 2025, with the WMBC managing a complex trail network on an active commercial tree farm — an ongoing logistical challenge that the coalition handles well, according to city staff.

Expanded management agreement: The city recently broadened the WMBC's license to include the Birch Street trailhead and Lake Whatcom watershed trail areas, deepening the partnership.

Upcoming trail disruption: DNR logging at the top of Galbraith is planned for this fall, which will require significant trail rebuilding by WMBC staff in the fall and winter.

Youth programming is substantial: Hundreds of Bellingham-area students participate in WMBC bike programs annually, including equity-focused efforts through the Vamos partnership and the earn-a-bike program.

Tree trimming contract approved: Stumpy's Tree Care of Lynden awarded a three-year, up-to-$450,000 contract for as-needed tree removal and emergency storm response work beyond the city's in-house crew capacity.

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

A contract award for indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity tree trimming and removal services, Bid No. 12B-2026

The city awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for tree trimming and removal services to Stumpy's Tree Care of Lynden, the lowest responsive bidder. The contract is valued at $450,000 for the initial three-year term with an optional one-year renewal at $150,000, with work performed on an as-needed basis. Steve Jamashesky, Park Operations Manager, explained that the contract is essential for handling exceptionally difficult tree removals requiring specialized equipment and for emergency situations like windstorms or snowstorms when the city's urban forestry crew is overwhelmed. Council Member Loquist asked about two non-responsive bids, and staff clarified they failed to provide proper documentation and did not fulfill RFP requirements, though exact details were not specified. The motion to approve passed unanimously.

An update on Galbraith Mountain from the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition

# Galbraith Mountain Update Summary

The Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition (WNBC) presented a comprehensive update on Galbraith Mountain operations, with Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Oliver noting the city's expanded license agreement this year to include previously unmanaged trails at Birch Street trailhead and Lake Wacom watershed properties. WNBC Executive Director Eric Brown reported strong community engagement through 38,000 annual trail users, diverse youth programming serving 700 participants across multiple initiatives (including the Flying Squirrels, Youth Dig and Ride, and Vamos programs), and events like the Wednesday night race series averaging 150 riders and the new Galby Grooves concert celebrating the organization's 40th year. The Coalition outlined their strategic priorities of world-class trail networks, inclusive community programming, and organizational strength, supported by revenues exceeding $920,000 with 54% of their budget dedicated to trail building, advocacy, and outreach. Current projects include new trail construction on Galbraith Mountain, logging rebuilds coordinated with Department of Natural Resources activity, and maintenance work at multiple locations including Larrabee State Parks, with plans for fall harvest activities on 330 permitted acres managed to minimize trail disruption.

Agenda items (2)

Procedural (2)

24981ProceduralA contract award for indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity tree trimming and removal services, Bid No. 12B-2026

The city will award a contract for ongoing tree trimming and removal services, allowing the contractor to perform this work as needed throughout the contract period rather than for a single fixed project.

What happened

24982ProceduralAn update on Galbraith Mountain from the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition

The Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition will provide an update on activities and conditions at Galbraith Mountain, a local recreation area used by cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts.

What happened

Additional votes recorded in minutes

Award tree trimming and removal services contract to Stumpy's Tree Care

aye 1

voice voteaye

Verbatim transcript available

109 transcript segments indexed

City of Bellingham Parks and Recreation Committee minutes July 13, 2026, 1 p.m. Chair: Edwin H. "Skip" Williams Phone: 360-778-8200 Members: Daniel Hammill, Jace Cotton 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.

Good afternoon and welcome to the Bellingham City Council committee meetings. Continuing this afternoon, we will first convene the parks and recreation committee. That committee is chaired by council member Williams.

So, I will turn it over to him at this time. >> Thank you, President Stone. Uh today, we're joined by council members Hamill and Cotton and everyone else. But, uh we have two items on our our agenda today.

There is no public comment period during committee sessions. Call to order and roll call Council President Stone called the meeting to order at 1 p.m. Present: Committee Chair Edwin H. "Skip" Williams, Fourth Ward Committee Member Daniel Hammill, Third Ward Committee Member Jace Cotton, At-Large 24982 1.

An update on Galbraith Mountain from the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition Summary: Nicole Oliver, Parks and Recreation Director, Steve Janiszewski, Park Operations Manager, and Eric Brown, Executive Director of the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition, presented the 2025 annual report on Galbraith Mountain from the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition.

The first being agenda item 24982, which is an update on the Galbreth Mountain Projects from the Watcom Mountain Bike Coalition. And uh we are going to receive the report from Eric Brown, executive director of the mountain bike coalition.

And he will present the annual report which will include annual goals, key accomplishments, statistics, and everything else. So, at this point, I will turn it over to our to Steve Janis Januzki, our parks operations manager, and Eric Brown when he comes up.

Council Members discussed the report and asked questions. 24981 2. A contract award for indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity tree trimming and removal services, Bid No. 12B-2026 Summary: Nicole Oliver, Parks and Recreation Director, and Steve Janiszewski, Park Operations Manager, presented the contract award for indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity tree trimming and removal services.

This contract allows work to be performed as-needed over a maximum of three years, with the option for a one-year renewal. Council Members discussed the contract award and asked questions. Action: Daniel Hammill moved to award contract No.

>> Thank you, Council Member Williams. Again, Steve Janashesky, park operations manager. Just a brief introduction before we turn it over to Eric. Back in 2018 is when the city entered into a contract with the Walk Mountain Bike Coalition to manage the mountain biking network on Galbreth Mountain.

12B-2026 for indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity tree trimming and removal services to Stumpy's Tree Care, which is not to Page 1 of 2 exceed $450,000 during the initial three-year term with an optional one-year renewal up to $150,000.

And at that time, two easements were acquired for the from the Galbreth tree farm. A recreation use easement by the city and a conservation use easement held jointly by the city of Bellingham and the Watcom Land Trust.

Over the last eight years, we have had a very positive working relationship and partnership with the WNBC. while they have maintained and managed a very diverse trail system located on a commercial tree farm which creates its own unique challenges.

The WNBC was also instrumental in getting donations for the construction of the Galbreth trail head in Lake Paden Park which is used by thousands of mountain bikers every year. So with that I'm going to turn it over to Eric Brown who's the executive director.

just press at the base. Yeah, >> my bad. Sorry about that. Hi everybody. Eric Brown. Um, thanks Steve Jay for the for the intro. Um, that parking lot also gets used by dog walkers and trail runners and other people that use Patent Park too, just to make sure we clarify on that.

Um, but uh, every year as part of our agreement with with you all, um, I give a report to Nicole and Steve. We do a a kind of a a meeting in January typically. Um it includes Rob Janicki and the and the folks from Galver Tree Farm.

We talk about what we've done this past year and what we're going to do for the or the previous year and what we're going to do in the future year. And then Rob gives an update on timber management plans on the mountains.

So um when I did that in January, Rob and or sorry, Steve and uh Nicole both asked me to come here. So that was in January. So it's a little little delayed, but thanks for uh listening. I'll try to be brief, which is not exactly my strong suit.

Uh, really quick, I just want to give you an update on who's on our board of directors. Actually, this has changed since then. We've added a new board member already, um, named Julie Gomen who works for the Department of Natural Resources.

Um, but a diverse crew of folks from university professors to civil engineers to, um, graphic designers, small business owners, um, people that work for the university, etc. So, and [clears throat] Department of Ecology and and, um, so yeah, a little bit about our mission.

You know, our mission is to preserve bike access in Wom County. Our vision is to create a world-class mountain bike community. And we're building healthy and vibrant community through biking. Um, we now have a pretty large staff.

There's 10 of us, including myself. We have five trail builders. We have some um admin staff and then program staff. So, you know, that's really that allows us to keep up on trail maintenance, not only on Galbreth, but in the other areas that we that we work in.

So, I'll talk a little bit more about that here in a second. Um, a little bit about the trail um trail construction that we've done in this past year. Um, we created a new area called the Bro Zone. It's kind of a funny play on words.

We're not talking about bros. We're talking about Nate Bro, who unfortunately passed away in the in the fire in um in Fair Haven a couple years ago in owned the Hair Street Cafe. And Nate's family from Anchorage, Alaska, um donated a bunch of money to the Walker Mountain by Coalition, helped raise money, and we built the new Bro Zone and actually um even had help from some folks here um with some of the work on that, including the signage, etc.

Uh but these are the new projects that we've been worked on in this past year um on on on Galbreth right there. So a bunch of projects, most of them are fairly short um trail connectors or pretty short trails, but um with with some plans coming up here.

Uh some of our big key maintenance projects we did this year V uh Molly, which is a trail that actually ends on uh off Oriental Avenue, and uh Michael Perilkin's group at Natural Resources actually managed that.

We did a big maintenance overhaul and we worked we partnered with them actually with the city on that uh to try to clean up some drainage. That's that project that you see the with the gravel on the top left and that's a big neighborhood connector for the people in Geneva.

Um so as most of you may or be may or may not know there's the north side of the mountain and the south side of the mountain. The north side extends all the way down to the lake in Geneva all the way over to Wakom Falls and all the way to to um Ust Street along Ust Street down all the way to Patton.

So if you think about Gworth Mountain, it's kind of uh there's like a sea of neighborhoods around it. Um shape and then even a uh folks from Sutton Valley come up from from uh Lake Louise Road as well.

Uh some pretty key stats for you all. This is pretty this is from 2025 as you would guess, but um 38,000 folks we counted on our trail counters. That doesn't include all the various neighborhood connectors that that we don't have those on.

Those are all the key trail areas. But as an example, my neighborhood which has 17 neighbors, we have our own trail network that or trail that connects into the trail network and lots of people off Ust Street use my my my neighborhood as an access point and there's a lot of those around the neighborhood.

So this is a conservative number. Interestingly, Galbreth Lane, which is the south side, and all of our north side north side access points are about 5050 and that's pretty much traditional. It's pretty I think a lot of people, you know, obviously locals tend to access it from the north side of the mountain.

Uh a lot of folks that live either out in the county or Scadget County or or tourists tend to tend to access it from this from the parking lot off Samishe. Sorry for this map. This is just sort of a little bit information, but these are all the future harvest plans on the mountain.

Um and this is this is uh items that are that are given to us by uh Gree Farm and Rob Janicki. And some of this is already happening with some of the city um um thinning that's happening on the city-owned watershed properties where they're basically thinning a lot of that for fire and for better um just to to create a better forest environment.

Uh and that's actually happening as we speak. But so there are, you know, as you can see right here, this is what 330 acres um currently permitted for the year. So lots of lot of those acres have trails that run through them and so we coordinate that with the logging community and the loggers.

I mean, we have direct access to Rob's cruise and to the Jankee logging crews. So, these areas are already planned and some of them um are happening and some of them will be happening here coming into the fall into into the next year.

[snorts] Um we finally got our donor bricks at the parking lot. Uh this is for the we had almost 1,800 people donate to the parking lot. I don't know if anybody realizes that, but WNBC when we originally came to this project, we worked with the land trust, the city, and uh you know, original calculation on the parking lot was going to be somewhere around $300,000.

And of course, it ended up being $656,000 with $180,000 of inind donations from people like Graham Construction, um uh Freeland and Associates Civil Engineers. Like we had 10 of our members basically donated their professional services for that.

So finally got the bricks done to commemorate our all our donors there. Uh 2025 our programs we had 700 participants that includes many many of these which are after school bike clubs. So we had 389 students in our fall rides that actual number.

So I'll just give you a clear to give you a little indication our spring program because this was done in the winter right our spring programs had 486 elementary school students and middle school students in our in our spring programs.

So, our biggest bike club still is the is the Flying Squirrels, which is a girls group, girls elementary school ride group. Um, and um, lots of our friends and lots of our our kids have gone through those programs.

That's the group that's on the bottom left there, the Flying Squirrels. Um, and there they are right there. So, in the fall we had 50 girls. This year we had we had elevated in spring. It it it kind of es and flows depending on um, parents involvement and that sort of stuff.

So, this spring we had a bigger group. Uh we do a middle school program called Youth Dig and Ride and that gets middle schoolers. We kind of found the sweet spot. You know, kids get into high school, they start driving, they find a girlfriends or boyfriends and they like we kind of they kind of fall off for us.

So we've really kind of identified that middle school age is kind of the right spot. They're not too whiny like my, you know, fifth grader is and they're old enough that they can kind of do some work.

And so um so we've and we really target on that. So Youth Dig and Ride gets them out. They work in the morning. They do some trail work. we identify projects and then they have lunch and they go for a ride in the afternoon.

It's and we actually the bro family is actually helping us with this program now. So the bros with their fundraising actually are helping support this now. Um and then of course our program with vamos which gets Latin youth out um on bikes outdoors and we have a earn a bike program.

Over 100 kids this spring have earned bikes through that earn a bike program and that's through a partnership with Wash Wash DOT and [snorts] Cascade Bicycle Club. Summer mountain bike camps actually we've elevated that.

We actually had uh nine weeks last year we have 10 weeks this year that actually happening. Um right now we have I think a small group this week. It's only 10 kids this week but last week we had or the week before last we had 30 kids in our in our after school bike clubs.

And that's varies between sometimes four days a week, sometimes three days a week. Uh and then our joy riders which is our female uh our female group ride group and um that's actually actually quite blossomed and we do stuff on mountain gal birth and off mountain too now which which has just started last year which we go ride on uh Chuckod or Olsson Creek which is over on Y Road uh or at uh Lake Walkan Park.

So, and then for the first time, we started a new program last uh last October called Family Mountain Biking Day, which is exactly what you would think. It's just a reason to get families out riding together.

So, we're going to we're we have that happening again this year. I believe it's uh third weekend or fourth week. Third weekend in September, I believe, is when we're doing that this year. Uh and then our volunteers, of course, we don't do we're a small staff.

We really flourished because our volunteers we just I mean I'm just coming off the busiest week of our whole year with the tuneup and we had [snorts] you know 500 volunteers out volunteering at the festival grounds and up on Galbreth and um so you know the fact that I'm even if I'm not if I look a little crossside that's why um and then our budgets here uh you know we we f you know obviously we really we we're we're supported by our members by and large um you know we we get our our donors and our local businesses are supportive us.

And um so last year we we you know brought in a little over $920,000. Our expenses were about $870. Um you know obviously um you know a lot of that's tied to the Cascade Bicycle Grant because that's a big part of our revenue.

That's why you're seeing a big jump in the last several years because we get a bunch of money from the from that grant. Um, and it kind of you can kind of see what it goes to. Our trail building is typically where a lot of this goes towards because that's our that's our big staffing and that's our big focus is building trails, world class trails.

So, um, and then our fundraising and events, you know, sponsorships, businesses, trail adopters. We have 75 trail adopters. I don't know if anybody's seen this, but when you go on Galbreth, we um, actually this is numbers actually gone up quite a bit, but local businesses and they're diverse there.

it's WEU or it's BP or it's uh you know the hospital or it's you know local it's not just mountain bike uh not just mountain bike organizations I think if local what a lot of local businesses now have figured out is to attract and retain really good quality you know employees use the recreation aspects of this community and mountain biking being obviously a big big part of that now so a lot of those folks support that they do trail days with their staff they use as you know sometimes team building days or something like that that's or or they do it as part of their, you know, their they get their customers out there with them like like a bike shop might do that, etc.

So, um a little bit more about our financials there, but 54% of our budget goes towards um trail building advocacy and outreach. Um so, a little bit about this year to 28, we our strategic plan is three goals.

Worldclass trail networks, inclusive community programming, organizational strength, and we've been working on all three of these this year. and our three-year plan. Um, happy to talk to you. And by the way, you can always reach out to me directly if you have any questions about this.

I'm happy to answer those whether it's today or any other day. Um, but we're we're working on a bunch of new trails, not only on Galbreth, but also um we're currently building over off the Y road um because we're in that tight watershed window.

Um, and then we have a bunch of logging rebuilds because the top of Galbreth is owned by the Department of Natural Resources. A lot of people are unaware of that. They're going to start a logging activity in the fall.

So, as you would guess, it's kind of if you think about a wheel, that's the hub of the wheel. And so, there's a lot of trails that start and end there. So, we're going to be real busy from fall into the winter rebuilding those um with with our with our staff after that logging happens in September.

So, that's going to keep us real busy. Um and then as I mentioned, Olsson Olsson Creek trail development. We have some trail development happening in Wakom County Parks. We're working on a new trail uh extension on trail called Brown Pal over by the lake right now.

Um we have obviously are always working on the pump tractor jumps down at the waterfront and at Walker Falls Birchwood and Civic. Uh we're working on planning with Maple Falls. Finally got that uh permit checked off recently.

Um Grad and Phil permit and then of course we have you know lots of trails on uh I'm working with state parks. Um we got some funding from state parks this year to do some maintenance on up on uh Larabe.

So we'll be doing that uh going into fall into winter. And then we're working on some adaptive trail inventory for for people on uh whether they're on a a three-wheel bike or four-wheel bike, etc. So, um and then just some more stuff about new programming with our with, you know, working with um different different communities here in in this area.

We currently have a program out at um Everson at NooKack Junior and High Senior High School with Vamos. Um that's a new one to us this past year or so. Um, and then we're working on a bunch of new programs with our programs director this year.

Uh, organizational strength. We just, you know, we kind of offered, we brought a couple folks into full-time employment this year that were previously part-time. Uh, we're working on some stuff, you know, obviously living within our means.

I I always like to do that because we all individually, family, all have budgets that we have to work within, and we're no different. And so we really kind of pride ourselves on being fiscally conservative and making sure that we're always, you know, staying oop, sorry, that we're always staying in in in the green there in in the black.

Um, and then our summer camps, as you can see, this is what's happening. So, we have one that that's, you know, that's beginner and intermediate. We intentionally don't try to be advanced. Advanced riders already have their their little things that they do.

So, we intentionally try to focus on beginners and intermediates with our bike camps. Um, and then this again, this was all this was all uh, you know, slated back in January, so I apologize. Some of these dates have already come and gone, but we do a Wednesday night race series up on Galbreth.

Um, that gets about 150 riders. Uh, everyone from 5-year-old up up into their 70s this year. Um, and we average about 150 racers on a Wednesday night. Um, and then we did did the thing at the Bells game, Northwest Tuneup.

Just finished. That's why it looks look the way I do. Uh, and then yeah, we've got Shoot the Trails, which is our photo and video contest, um, awards, and then we have Bike Day, and then this is our 40th year.

I guess I should have said something about that. So, we just did a big celebration on Galbreth that actually wasn't on here called Galby Grooves, which was a concert. And actually, huge thank you to the mayor who came up and gave a real a real impassion um, speech there.

And um, it was great. It was super fun and hopefully something that we can do into more annual thing. We called it Galby Grooves. Um, and we had two bands and two DJs. It was great. It was super familyfriendly.

It was a super fun event. And, uh, based on that, we're hoping to do something like that in the future up there. So, um, and then of course, how to get involved, donate, volunteer, ride with our youth, etc.

So, and then if you want to learn more about us, if you're not following us on social media, um, I give these trail updates all the time. You can listen to me blather on uh, website, social media, email, physical.

Obviously, you can come and talk to us. We do stuff on the mountain at kiosks, trail signage, etc. So, that's it. Thanks for all your support. Um, questions for anybody. Mr. Lo, Chris, you usually have something for me.

I'm just calling out Dan. What do you got? >> Well, our uh protocol goes to the committee members first. >> Oh, sorry. Sorry. My bad. >> That's okay. That's okay. >> I forgot you're running this meeting, Skip.

>> All right. [laughter] Sorry. >> So, um, thank you very much for that, uh, report. That was a wonderful piece of information, but does any of the committee members have any questions or comments, Chase?

No, not Go ahead, Dan. >> Yeah, I just want to thank you for the report. I always look forward to this one. Um, and it's you've got a lot going on. I appreciate like you're giving us a lot of information.

One thing that I kept hearing over the weekend is what is the the connection or the nexus with tuneup and Galbreth and your and the mountain bike uh group. So what can you just maybe >> it's a great question.

So the tuneup is a different obviously it's a totally different organization. Um for folks that don't are unaware there was a big festival down at the waterfront this weekend 3 days really almost four days really at this point and uh the tuneup is a separate organization.

The WNBC benefits from that. We manage the beer garden side things. We make roughly we gross a bunch of money from it. I don't know what the final numbers look like, but the WBC gets a big as as a big fiduciary beneficiary of that along with a lot of other nonprofits that benefit from that that are part of the uh festival, but the WBC is actually not running that event.

We also help with the Enduro race that's on Galbbert that weekend. The WBC is as part of that. We get some funds from doing that as well, but they are separate and totally separate entities. So yeah. Yeah.

And and just to give you an idea, we raise WBC from the tomb gets roughly around gross around 60K 60. So yeah. Okay. >> Council member Cotton, any comments? >> Thank you for the presentation. >> Okay.

Anyone else? >> Anna, nothing. [laughter] >> Okay. Well, this was a presentation for our information and discussion. So no further action is necessary. But Eric, I just want to thank you for all the work that you and your organization do making this a a success and working with elements in our community to bring all these kids and students and everything to realize the wonderful um activity bike riding could be.

So, thank you very much. >> I appreciate Thanks, Skip. And I I want to make sure that everyone understands we have a lot of volunteers, a lot of staff, a lot of people do this work. And I obviously get sometimes, you know, how it is, you get the praise and sometimes you get the arrows in the back.

And I take both of them and with like I want to basically make sure people understand I'm not in charge of everything all the time. But I want to say thank you to all you for your support. Thank you to the mayor for coming to the couple events we had this weekend.

Um, you know, there's been a couple bike brands that have moved offices here in the last couple years and we're trying to get more people to come here to start businesses here and we did an event on Wednesday night that the city and the port both supported and uh I'd love to if we do that again in the future.

I'd love to have you all show up as well. Um, and and I it's on me. I didn't send that invite. That was we were just trying to see how it went and it went really well. I think there was about 170 people from the various people that that came to the tuna and uh you know we're trying to get more economic development happening here because of the bike industry and it's starting to happen.

So I think we've you know we've seen that Shimano just opened an office here in Haskell Business Park and they brought in five people from other networks to come here. Another company from BC just moved an office into up by um Irongate.

So you know I think we have a lot of opportunity ahead of us and uh I just want to say thank you all for your support. appreciate you. >> All right. >> Okay. Well, thank you very much, Eric. Um, >> thank you.

Um, I just wanted to mention one one other thing. Nicole Oliver, the parks and recreation director. Um, I just wanted to mention that this year we expanded the license that we have with WMBBC to manage Galbreth Mountain to include trails that had not previously been part of that management agreement, including the Birch Street trail head and the um, Lake Wacom watershed properties that are within Galbreth Mountain um, and have trails on them.

And I think it's a great example of our commitment to our partnership. Um how well the WNBC has been able to um communicate with user groups and make sure everyone is informed of what's what's going on on the mountain um and and are working together to to better delineate where the watershed is and make sure that activities in there are being done really carefully and according with their to their permits.

So, I just want to make sure that was another little piece that happened between the annual report being delivered to us and um this meeting. >> Okay. Well, the next item on our agenda is the agenda bill 224981, which is a contract award for indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity tree trimming and removal services bid number 12B 2026.

The city solicited bids for an an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract for the trimming and removal services. Work will be performed on an as-needed basis over a maximum term of three years with an optional one-year renewal subject not to exceed contract amount of $450,000 during the initial term and $150,000 for the optional renewal year.

The uh city received three bids for this project that were publicly opened on April 15th, 2026. And Stumpy's Tree Care of Lynen was the responsible bidder who submitted the lowest responsive bid. This contract is is not subject to the to the to the apprentice utilization requirements.

So, I will turn it over to Nicole Oliver and Steve Jenniski for um discussion. Um >> thank you, Council Member Williams. This is a renewal of an Idiq contract that we've had in the past. Um Steve can talk a little bit more about the details of why we need this um extra help beyond our own urban forestry crew who manages an incredible amount of um the tree work that happens all around um the city.

So, I'm going to turn it over to Steve to explain a little more. >> So, Steve Jamashesky, park operations manager. Yes, this uh contract is very important to our crews. It's for situations when we have exceptionally difficult tree removals where we don't have the right equipment.

Um, we also depend on a contract like this for wind storms or snowstorms when we're overwhelmed by the number of tree removals that have to happen. So, it's it's important to us. Um, I wanted to make a slight note.

In your packet, it shows three um, submissions and the asterisk means uh, they were non-responsive or they didn't provide the proper documentation and I just didn't want that to be confusing in the chart.

Uh, there was something missed on the bottom part of that page. So, we're just looking for your approval to award this contract. It would be for three years and um I believe public works can also use it as well for street trees um in situations.

>> Okay. Thank you. Are there any questions from the committee? Council member Hamill. >> Yeah, this makes uh total sense to me. I'd move to approve. >> Okay. Council Council Member Cotton, you have any comments?

>> Nope. Okay. Council member Loquist. >> Yeah. M committee. Thank you for like letting me ask this. I did notice that there were two lower bids that were nonresponsive. Can you just give me a general indication what the nature of the nonresponsiveness is?

>> In talking with our purchasing uh manager, it sounds like they didn't provide the proper documentation. I don't know what that was. If their numbers weren't submitted correctly, they didn't use the proper forms.

I don't know the exact details, but they just did not fulfill the requirements of the RFP. >> Thanks. >> Okay. Any further any further discussion? Anyone? Seeing none, uh we have a mot we have a motion to award the contract number 12B for tree trimming and removal services to Stumpy's Tree Care of Lynden in in the amount not to exceed $450,000.

Any further discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. All opposed. Motion carries and I will report this at the evening meeting. So seeing no further business on our agenda, the meeting is adjourned and I'll pass it back to Council President Stone.