BELLINGHAM CIVIC
Meetings & Decisions
Budget & Finances
City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City Council - Committee Of The Whole

Mon, May 18, 2026

Agenda items
Vote records
Discussion summary
Transcript
Meeting summaryAI-generated

City Council – Committee of the Whole — May 18, 2026


This was a brief afternoon Committee of the Whole session with no substantive public business on the agenda. The meeting lasted only a few minutes before moving into closed session.


Old and New Business


Council President Hannah Stone called for any items from council members under old and new business. No members brought forward any items.


Executive Session — Litigation Matter


The Council moved into executive session to discuss a litigation matter identified as *Scopaletti v. City of Bellingham et al.* The session was conducted with Phillips (likely the city attorney or outside counsel — the transcript does not clarify further) and was expected to last approximately 10 minutes. No decisions or reportable actions were announced before adjournment. Stone noted that any outcomes from the executive session would be reported out at the regular evening meeting, set to reconvene at 7:00 p.m.



Key Takeaways


This was a very brief procedural session; no policy items or votes were taken.
The sole substantive matter was a closed executive session regarding the *Scopaletti v. City of Bellingham* litigation — details are not public, but any action taken would be reported at the evening council meeting.
The full City Council meeting was scheduled to continue at 7:00 p.m. the same evening.

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

Old/New Business

The Committee of the Whole convened with one agenda item: Old and New Business. The chair asked council members if they had any items to raise under this category. No council members presented any items for discussion under Old and New Business at this time.

Agenda items (1)

Procedural (1)
1ProceduralOld/New Business
This is a time set aside for council members to bring up any other business items that weren't scheduled earlier on the agenda, or to address follow-up matters from previous meetings.

What happened

The Committee of the Whole convened with one agenda item: Old and New Business. The chair asked council members if they had any items to raise under this category. No council members presented any items for discussion under Old and New Business at this time.

Verbatim transcript available

9 transcript segments indexed

City of Bellingham Committee Of The Whole minutes May 18, 2026, 2:40 PM Chair: Hannah Stone Phone: 360-778-8200 Members: Hollie Huthman, Daniel Hammill, Email: ccmail@cob.org Edwin H. "Skip" Williams, Lisa Anderson, Web: cob.org/council Michael Lilliquist, Jace Cotton 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.
Okay, welcome back. So, this afternoon in Committee of the Whole, we just have one item, which is old and new business. Any items from council members for old and new business? Okay. Seeing none at this time, we have one item for executive session.
There is no public comment period during committee sessions. Call to order and roll call Council President Stone called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m. Present: Council President Hannah Stone, First Ward Council Member Hollie Huthman, Second Ward Council Member Edwin H.
Again, executive session um will be reported out later this evening, but we have one item before us. This is a litigation matter. I believe it's Scopaletti um versus City of Bellingham et al. This is with Phillips for approximately 10 minutes.
"Skip" Williams, Fourth Ward Council Member Lisa Anderson, Fifth Ward Council Member Michael Lilliquist, Sixth Ward Council Member Jace Cotton, At-Large Excused: Council Member Daniel Hammill, Third Ward Committee Of The Whole 1.
So, we are looking at current time at 3:02. We'll come back at approximately um 3:15 to adjourn, but for the rest of you, we will reconvene this evening at 7:00 p.m. So, thank you very much for joining us, and we will see you later.
Old/New Business Summary: There were no discussion items for Old/New Business. Council moved into Executive Session at 3:05 p.m. to discuss one item until 3:15 p.m. 1. Litigation: Scopeletti v. City of Bellingham, et.