City Council - Regular Meeting

okay we'll go and get started here good evening everyone thanks for coming today um today is November 18th this is a city of Bellingham um Regular meeting um go ahead and call this meeting to order got some announcements here prior to roll call um Bellingham city council meets all requirements of the state of Washington open public meetings act and before we begin I'd like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional and unseed territory of the lumy noac samish and Samy AMU people who have cared for in tended this land since time IM Memorial truth and acknowledgement are critical 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 brings us here together today and please join us in uncovering such truths at any and all public events and with I'd like to move to the uh language access announcement thank you uh roll call please Hannah Stone here skipe Williams here Lisa Anderson here Michael lillquist here Chas cotton here Dan Hamill here all right six council members are present with council member Huffman excused okay thank you we will go to the mayor's report good evening to council to staff and members of the community that are here tonight uh I have two appointments this evening and one is for your

approval and I am seeking to appoint Jerry Richmond to his first partial and full term which will end on January 11th 2029 to the planning and development commission move approval second motion's been made by Council M Williams and second by council member cotton any further discussion on this item go ahead council member Stone just in reviewing the application I had just made note in I wasn't familiar with Jerry Richmond so beyond the um information that was provided in the packet just doing some um yeah background research and understanding that um his company Indigo Enterprise Northwest Inc right is involved in development um locally which is exciting and I just wanted to confirm that there wasn't any connection with Indigo real estate which I understand if you just said Indigo I feel like that might Dre a response from some people so it's an important distinction and I appreciate you bringing it up and offering uh that opportunity for clarity though Jerry Richmond has no connection to the property management company that goes under the name Indigo I just want to confirm thank you thank you motion's been made by Council M Williams second by council member cotton any further discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I I opposed exensions recusals motion carries um 60 six in the affirmative the next appointment is to the mayor's neighborhood advisory commission and is for information only and that is that I'll be reappointing April marwitz to her first

full term as the samamish neighborhood primary representative tonight the mayor's report is mostly focused on encampments and I'd like to provide both the council and the community some updates on our work to resolve encampment impacts there have been long-standing concerns in recent court action that compels us to begin taking actions at the East Stewart Road encampment near Walmart where this week we will begin cleaning and fencing a portion of that area this work is in collaboration with the owners of the tullwood apartments this first and specific step was chosen to help uh the residents of the talwood apartments who lived with the impacts and within the impacts of encampment activities a longstanding problem for this location these activities are just the first step in what is anticipated to be a multiphase multi-year effort necessary to clean up and repair the environmental damage to the 20 acre property and surrounding areas we are working closely with human services for outreach in advance to offer services to people living where our crews would be working and we plan this upcoming work for after the opening of the new Mission and the way station also demanding our attention is the encampment at Northwest Avenue and West Baker viiew Road this location is drawing continued and increasing Community concerns and a growing list of allegations about criminal activities the encampment spans multiple privately owned properties and I have convened the owners of these

properties now three times this fall urging them to work together to clean up and secure their properties as the ecosystem that it is or face enforcement actions for public health and safety violations we share the concerns we are hearing from community members we are acting on the significant impacts on authorized encampments have on area residents businesses and the people who live within them or spend time in them we are acting with diligence and compassion using both Humane and supportive approaches while pursuing enforcement crime prevention and cleanup activities in addition to working with the property owners I've directed additional law enforcement to the area and we are working with Fred Meyer and other area businesses on measures to reduce retail thft and other criminal behaviors more details about the work in both of these locations and elsewhere is available on the city's website we also continue to make significant investments in the community solutions that address the root causes of homelessness substance use disorder and other behavioral health issues which are often factors that lead people to these encampments the city plays a vital and critical role in affordable housing in 2023 the city spent nearly $15 million in local and federal funds to support affordable housing projects across the community we remain committed to expanding shelters like the new YWCA shelter that will open in February and received more than $1 million in city funding and later this

week I will announce other new initiatives and actions designed to address our urgent need for housing in Bellingham including directing staff to identify a new location for another tiny home Village these are just a few examples of the ways we are working to resolve encampments and the complex and unfortunate factors that lead to them our community is calling on all involved to address these legitimate concerns swiftly and compassionately and we are doing this work in ways that balance both public health and safety private property rights and responsibilities and the well-being of the people who live in or are affiliated with these encampments and that's the end of mayor's report tonight thank you thank you mayor okay that will take us to our standing committee meetings for report outs our first meeting this afternoon was Public Works and natural resources and that was chaired by council member Hannah Stone thank you very much president Hamill um on the public works and natural resources committee this afternoon I was joined by council member Anderson um joining us remotely and council member Williams was filling in for council member Lila Quist who was absent this afternoon but it's with us this evening um so we had a couple of items before us the first was agenda bill 24326 this is an inter local agreement between the city of Bellingham and the Port of Bellingham for Squalicum Creek Estuary restoration design phase project so squalicom Creek Estuary restoration project

design phase addresses three partial fish passage barriers at the mouth of the Squalicum Creek blocking access to 32 miles of Upstream habitat the three barriers are the city-owned rotor Avenue Culvert the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad owned cul and the Port of Bellingham owned Bridge these barriers are named in regional and local fish barrier prioritizations as highest priority the city received Federal funding for design and plans to Begin work in early 2025 the project helps fulfill the fish barrier covert remediation project memorandum of agreement and builds on prior planning work to complete and alternative analysis and 60% design for fish passage and Estuary restoration the interlocal agreement between the city of Bellingham and the Port of Bellingham defines responsibilities for the design project um noting that this afternoon we were joined by the interim Public Works director um Joel fun as well as Renee Lacoy assistant director for Public Works um and natural resources and Analise Burns habitat and restoration manager um just wanting to highlight a couple of things so this interlocal agreement before the council this evening is with respect to the city and um the port specifically but we are looking for another interlocal agreement with um BNSF Burlington Northern Santa Fe to be coming forward as well um because addressing these three individual locations needs to be handled in um just in coordination and needing all three of those projects to go forward um

together um again to improve atorian habitat um and this narrow channel really constrains water um to a great degree and just noting the inability to carry the capacity to the Bay has been noted with flooding um most prominently in November of 2021 with the 100-year flood just wanting to highlight that Not only was there you know negative impact to obviously businesses and losses in the area but also thinking about the water quality um and how that's impacted and suffers when when there are floods um so this has been elevated as a number one priority and just wanting to mention as well that the fish barrier Culvert remediation project memorandum of agreement that was noted in the summary um is with Lumi Nation noac Indian tribe and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife um and so wanting to elevate that work in the um prominence and important of this importance of this particular um passage so before us um is a motion that was brought forward unanimously by the um committee this afternoon and also move to approve the interlocal agreement between the city and the Port of Bellingham is so move okay second okay motions been made by the chair second by council member cotton any further discussion on this item seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I I opposed extensions recusals motion carries UH 60 so the next item before the committee was agenda bill 24327 this was a contract award for James Street and Bakerview Road intersection reconstruction this is es

473 bid number b-224 so just noting that this bill number is um connected to the next one as well in the same location so with respect to the summary statement the James Street and Baker viiew Road intersection reconstruction project will replace the existing traffic signal with a new roundabout including new sidewalk pedestrian Crossings Street lighting and storm water facilities the city received four bids which were publicly opened on October 23rd 2024 Faber Construction Corporation was the responsible bidder who submitted the lowest responsive bid of 4 million2 51,8 including any applicable Washington state sales reuse tax the engineer estimate was $3,515 725 and includes an apprenticeship of our requirement so this afternoon we were joined by Public Works interim director Joel fun as well as Mike Wilson assistant director for public works and Engineering um and Kyle Carlson who is the project manager and project engineer for the city with um respect to this project presented um just the information in the packet as well as um information about the roundabout as well as the potential award just noting that this project was included in the 2020 3 2028 Transportation Improvement program the tip um and construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2025 to be completed in early summer so looking for construction to begin around April or um or May so this afternoon there was a motion um unanimous motion from the committee to award the contract to favor Construction

Corporation and I so move second motion made by the chair and second by Council Mar Williams any further discussion on this item seeing none all is in favor signify by saying I I I I opposed exensions recusals motion carry six in affirmative so the next item and final item before the committee like I said was related so this is agenda bill 24328 this is regarding a noise variance for James Street and Baker viiew Road intersection construction um reconstruction so es 473 the James Street and Baker viw Road intersection reconstruction project will replace the existing traffic signal with a new roundabout as previously stated um the project is planned to be completed in an accelerated timeline to reduce the duration of significant traffic impacts in the King Mountain neighborhood during construction in order to facilitate the accelerated timeline the project envisions allowing the contractor to work 24 hours a day staff is requesting a variance from the noise restrictions contained in BMC 10.24.13 C4 for a duration of 50 consecutive days during the project um this after afternoon we heard from interim Public Works director Joel fun as well as again Mike Wilson and Kyle Carlson um were with us for this item as well and there was um a unanimous recommendation from the committee to move to approve the noise variance and ISO move second motion made by the chair and seconded by council member Williams any further discussion on this item seeing none all those in favor signified by

saying I I I opposed abstentions recusals motion carries uh six with one excused that was the end of committee and I'll send it back to you president haml thank you next committee was uh community and economic development that is chaired by uh council member jce cotton thanks council president uh we had three agenda items before us today I was joined on that committee by council member Stone and council member Williams who is substituting for uh council member Huffman who was excused um our first item was Bill number 24329 um consideration of Bellingham Wacom County tourism's 2025 tourism promotion budget area uh the city and county councils formed a tourism promotion area or TPA as authorized um by state law after receiving a petition from affected businesses the collections received from qualified businesses in the city and unincorporated wam County are deposited with the city of Bellingham and um pursuant with the ordinance that establish the TPA um the city uh contracts with Bellingham wam tourism to conduct um activities consistent with state law and um uh Dylan Dean Bole with um the Bellingham Wacom uh County tourism uh uh presented a draft budget and um the city council uh committee uh unanimously recommended adoption and Isa move second motion made by the chair and second by council member Williams any discussion on this one seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I I opposed exensions recuse motion carries six with one excused our next item was um bill

number 24330 that's consideration of the lodging tax advisory committee's 2025 budget recommendations um at uh October 30th uh 2024 um the lodging tax advisory committee uh met to review and make recommendations on the 2025 expenditures um the city council is required to act on this budget recommendation um as part of our role as the legislative Authority um in that committee uh there was a unanimous recommendation to approve and Isa move second motion been made by the chair and second by council member Williams any further discussion on this item seeing n all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed exensions recusals motion carry six and affirmative one excuse our final item was for information and discussion only that's bill number 24331 this is the Consolidated annual performance performance and evaluation report um Housing Services and related accomplishments between July 1st 2023 and June 30th 20124 um a Consolidated annual performance and evaluation report um shorthand keeper is due annually to the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development which outlines the spending and accomplishments associated with the federal home investment partnership the Community Development block grant and local funding sources um contributing to housing and services um spending that benefit low-income households in Bellingham uh we heard a great presentation from uh Samuel Lutz housing and services program manager and um encourage people to watch that um presentation online

uh that's um end of committee back to you council president thanks council member cotton the next committee this afternoon was Parks and Recreation that's chaired by council member skip Williams thank you very much president ham we had one item on our agenda this afternoon and I was joined by council member cotton and council member Stone who was substituting for council member Huffman who was excused so um our agenda bill was number 24332 um which is a bill addressing the Boulevard Park Shoreline and Public Access enhancement project and they were the um the the request was to have a noise variance for that project the city of Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department along with the city's contractor for the project uh requested a variance from from the requirements of the city's noise ordinance uh BMC 10.24.19 for the the for the construction of the Boulevard Park Shoreline enhancement project it's it's an interesting variance because this project has to be done in two different phases and has to be sort of lined up with the with the tide tables and the noise variance would allow for night work when the contractor begins work in November of uh this year and February 15th of 200 uh 25 we had a brief uh presentation from uh Nicole Oliver uh director of The Parks and Recreation Department and the committee uh voted to approve the uh variant and I so move second motion made by the chair and second by council member cotton any discussion on this item okay seeing none all in

favor signify by saying I I I opposed exensions recusals motion carries six affirmative uh one excused there being no further okay thank you next uh committee meeting this afternoon was community of the whole we had several items uh this afternoon the first was an interlocal agreement for 2025 paramedic training City and wam County continue to work together to provide paramedic training for city employees and paramedic students from outside agencies while the ongoing costs of running the paramedic training program are part of our six-year Advanced life support interlocal agreement with wam County each year an additional interlocal agreement is needed to cover the actual per student cost that change based on enrollment numbers the center local agreement provides funding for the five Bellingham firefighter students and five students from other Regional agencies for the 2025 cohort the funding pays for student backfill preceptor and evaluation cost books and other consumables for the students this afternoon the committee moved to approve an ISO move second motion made by the chair and seconded by council member Williams any further discussion on this item seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I I abstentions recusals motion carries uh six with one excused the next item was a resolution to exempt an interim housing use for uh from compliance from the state uh building code requirements the YWCA a 501c3 tax exempt organization requests council's approval to exempt

the building located at 315 lway drive from State Building Code requirements the city approved an interim housing permit USC 224-2197 Lakeway Drive staff have determined that all applicable criteria established in RCW 19.27% i i i i opposed extensions recusals motion carries six with one excused next item up was an ordinance amending uh Bellingham Municipal Code chapter 4.76 to increase the solid waste utility tax from 11.

5% to 17.25% this action will increase revenues to the environmental re remediation fund by approximately $1 million and will cost the average residential customer less than $2.50 per month this increase helps provide cash flow and pay debt service on the remediation of the former Cornwall Avenue Municipal landfill and RG Haley site allowing for the eventual construction of Salish Landing Park this afternoon the committee moved approval and ISO move second motion's been made by the chair second by council member Williams any further discussion on this item seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I abstentions recusals motion carries six with one excused um next item was an ordinance of the city of Bellingham Washington regarding investment of City funds the city invests in excess funds in a common Investment Portfolio as allowed under state law and in accordance with the city's adopted financial management guidelines ordinance number 10315 adopted in 1992 directs the finance director to allocate interest earned on certain specified funds to the general fund and if adopted the proposed ordinance would expand that practice by directing that all investment income be allocated to the general fund except as otherwise direct required by law for certain funds and this ordinance implements uh in the 2025 budget this afternoon the committee recommended approval and I so move second motions made by the chair and seconded by council member Williams any further discussion on

this one seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I I hi I opposed abstentions recusals motion carries six with one um excused next item up was an ordinance of the city of Bellingham Washington adopting the 2025 budget the proposed 2025 budget was introduced to the city council on September 30th 2024 the city council has held numerous budget work sessions considering amendments and has had two public hearings on this on the budget the attached ordinance is the culmination of that process and sets the 20 25 budget beginning on January 1 2025 it includes operating expenditures of 392 mil 57,164 and capital expenditures of6 or m940 uh $883 and this afternoon the committee moved to approve an ISO move second motion been made by the chair and second by council member cotton any further discussion on this item okay seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed abstentions recusals motion carries six with one excused that'll take us to the executive uh session report out got a there's eight of these so we it's going to take a minute to to go through these first one was potential litigation with Mike good staff provided information on a potential litigation matter for information and discussion only no action was taken second one was with um Sullivan staff provided information on on a labor relations matter this is for information and discussion no action was taken the third was potential property acquisition this was with stamps uh staff provided

information on a potential Lake Wacom Watershed property acquisition this was for information discussion only no action was taken the fourth was another potential property acquisition also with Matt stamps uh U staff provided information on a potential Lake Wacom Watershed property acquisition this is for information and discussion no action was taken the fifth item was also a potential property acquisition also with Matt stamps uh staff provided information on a potential lake walkom property or Watershed property acquisition this is for information discussion no action was taken six was potential property acquisition also with stamps staff provided information on a potential Lake Wacom Watershed property acquisition totaling 027 Acres with one potential development unit and I will now entertain a motion to authorize the mayor to close the real estate trans action described in the city's executed purchase and sale agreement with the property owner the Max and huu hbut trust with the purchase price of $230,000 and with closing to occur on or around November 22nd 2024 move authorization second a motions been made by council member Williams and second by council member cotton any further discussion on this uh property acquisition all right seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed extensions recusals motion carries six with one excused the next was a potential property acquisition also with Matt stamps staff provided information on a potential Lake Wacom

Watershed property acquisition totaling uh 023 Acres with one potential development unit um 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 the grainy Trust with a purchase price of $1 million or one1 milon uh $26,000 and with closing to occur on or around December 6th 2024 move authorization second motion been made by council member Williams second and my council member cotton any further discussion on this property acquisition okay seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstentions recusals motion carries six with one excused last item for executive session was potential property acquisition this was with Mariner staff provided information on a potential property acquisition this was for information and discussion no action was taken that'll take us to consent agenda oh good so I just had a couple items for old and new but uh skipped over I'm sorry yeah go ahead yeah um so one was and then we see if anyone else has anything um so one we received this in the mail hopefully everyone's seen it I was excited just because it provides some right some guidance with respect to recycling I know that this was um put out by sustainable connections as well as the city of Bellingham watcom County Health and Community Services as well as um toward zero waste one of the things I just wanted to highlight I learned a couple of things one was that

in our recycling needing to put Lids on items before they go in recycling so lesson learned for me um but the other was it says no clamshells and it's providing me a little bit of angst on a couple of levels one is you know I think the move from single-use Plastics and asking right our local businesses to provide items um that comply a lot of things say that they are compostable and so I've had been putting them the compost but then with some uncertainty about whether or not they could actually be composted right through our um Services then I was recycling them but now I know I can't recycle them either they're likely going to be going into the trash um and so just wanting to highlight that I know it's an ongoing discussion about enforcement and what you know what's still going to be happening with um respect to those programs but so I just wanted to highlight that and put a inin in it for future discussion um I don't know if anyone else has anything old new anything else one other item but any other items for old new okay apologies cons Marone no it's okay so I have one last one um and it doesn't um said I wasn't going to make this emotional um but I am feeling an extreme weight right now following the election results we haven't met since then um and as an immigration attorney the response from our community um is profound and understandably so um and I know that we have policies right here in Bellingham saying that our local law enforcement is not going to engage in civil

enforcement things um and I believe that there are reasons to support to continue to support that policy as a community um regardless what your opinion may be about immigration um I know it can be a polarizing discussion but irrespective of someone's status my concern is that we have mixed status families in our community as well as individuals who are lawfully present although lacking legal status and it's confusing if nothing else the immigration system is very confusing but it's a slippery slope to me within a community to try and you know separate and other people um and I feel like not knowing um anything about an individual and making you know supporting stereotypes whether that's based on language or appearance or other things about someone's um quote unquote legal presence in our community is damaging on on multiple levels I also have concern because the right the threats or promises depending on your perspective of the incoming Administration right is saying that on day one there will be Mass you know deportations and I understand that that cannot happen without the support of local law enforcement and and communities you know when I first joined the council um and prior to that having you know men and men in the community and you know whether you um community members right sort of taking Federal immigration enforcement into their own own hands and so obviously not wanting to engage in that but part of my concern as well asting our budget constraints right and we're

passing the budget recognizing that that Federal support for multiple things is diminishing and possibly disappearing but on another level there's also threats or promises depending on your perspective about what individual communities are going to do in support or opposition right to Federal mandates or rollouts and I don't expect us to have a discussion tonight but I think it's important to reaffirm our policies and have some clarity about where we stand with respect to our policies and are those policies of convenience because it's the PCY thing to do and it makes us feel good or those policies that we're going to stand by even if it hurts and even if that has some pretty significant financial repercussions for our community those are they're all big questions that I don't have answers to but I know that there are members of our community who are very fearful right now about what's going to happen and if there is anything at a local level here at home that can be done to ensure that members of our community are not going to be targeted again based on stereotypes and things that we don't have enough information to right um to investigate or enforce right on a on a federal level um and so it's all just um I apologize raw right now for me because on a daily basis right I'm receiving lots of calls and calls from you know the school district and families and I mean it's just understanding the ripple effect and wanting people to understand that immigrant Community doesn't live

in isolation and the support right and contributions to our community from immigrants irrespective of immigration status um related to jobs and businesses and if you think about the impact on you know potential inflation and other things I mean it's all compounded um so just I know that when I you know shortly after joining the council that was in the middle of um president Trump's first term and I know that the city had passed multiple resolutions about you know honoring the seek community of Bellingham that was resolution 2019-13 um resolution it's prior to that you know 201734 affirming Bellingham city council support for deferred action for childhood arrivals um and resolution 2017-10 affirming the safety of all people residing in Bellingham um I don't know you know I've always been somewhat critical about resolutions because I feel like you know we say them and that's supposed to be a testament to what we believe um but I feel like over the next couple of years and maybe sooner than that in the next you know few months I feel like those resolutions are going to be tested about what that means for our community and where we fall on some some things and so I just want to bring that to light and I don't expect a response but just to to sit with that hopefully with me um and hopefully bring that forward for future discussion thanks council member Stone thank you mayor thank you council member Stone um I actually had something else for old and new business but I think all of

your words are a good segue to remind the community that while we have received several applications for the cities keep Washington working commitment or uh compliance workg group we still have space for more and so if you're listening tonight and a member of the community and this Alliance um with an area of interest that you have please do apply we're still accepting um for a short period of time we can still receive new applications so I encourage anyone of who's interested to do so uh I wanted to take a minute tonight in old and new just to say thank you thank you to the staff that worked so hard over so many months to get the 2025 budget put together there was hard decisions that went into um those reductions that we put forth for your approval tonight and um we really took that one city approach as a city's leadership team and going through that process we learned a lot together and I want to express my appreciation to all of council who joined with us it was a lot of work sessions public hearings and I deeply appreciate your engagement your thoughtful questions in those work sessions um and your commitment to being good stewards of the city's budget so appreciation all around tonight May anything else for under old and new okay all right next item is consent agenda move approval second motion has been made by council member Williams second by council member cotton to approve the consent agenda any further discussion on this item seeing none all those in favor signify

by saying I I I I opposed extensions recusals six in the affirmative uh one excused will take us to final consideration of ordinances agenda Bell 24311 an ordinance of the city of Bellingham Washington relating to the levying of taxes and establishing the amount to be raised in 2025 on the assess valuation of the property within the city third and final second uh third and final has been motioned by council member Stone and second by council member Williams roll call please Hannah Stone hi Skip Williams hi Lisa Anderson hi Michael lillquist hi jce cotton hi Dan Hamill hi the motion carries Z thank you okay with that we are adjourned thank you [Music]