City Council - Committee Of The Whole

old and new business uh Michael go ahead um director Lon if I may have your attention please so under old and new I'm going to call this old it has to do with an idea brought forward a while back and added to the the list for your staff to explore having to do with uh requiring uh older apartment buildings to um satisfy the same rules that apply to new ones that is provide locking safe and secure mailboxes the last time was having an in-depth discussion on this you said you want to roll that idea into um changes of the programs that have to do with rental safety and inspection um and I know that later on in the meeting we're having ordinance relating to rental safety and inspection to make a number of improvements however they're focused on different things so that wasn't included so can you tell me when will that idea be taken up uh for both by staff and by the council to consider certainly thank you um in discussing this uh issue with Curt Abel with our uh development services division um the changes that you're seeing right now are in large part um response to former council member Martin's requests and so we address those specifically and then uh we're working on additional changes to that rental registration and safety inspection program um part of what we need to do is get the two positions in place that you authorized for us that rental coordinator uh then the rental inspection and that rental coordinator work is going to be this will work effort will flow out of that

uh that person's uh responsibility so we're looking at probably uh middle to later this year is so is re realistically when we think we might be able to bring it forward to you well so but you seem be talking about operational improvements capacity improvements I'm talking about an actual change in policy and law uh which it seems to me could be if we had the time energy we could enact it now and have an effective date being six months or a year I frankly this is the sort of thing that it would take a while to come to compliance with so it seems to me that there's we don't need to wait for these operational improvements to consider rule changes agreed but it's simply just the bandwidth of actually writing that ordinance that's the piece that I'm trying to get to is get some capacity within that staff and since we're going to be working through the improvements to that program already with the coordinator then we'll have that additional capacity that we don't have at the moment that's been the so I've been you've been patient I've been patient I think we're going on two years or more when do you think you will have that uh capacity to to write a serious good ordinance that you know could be easy to enforce and comply with I'm I'm working on getting those positions that you authorize filled the first quarter of this year that will be part of the work program for that particular individual so again if you can give me to second half of this year then we'll Christmas going to have

us by Christmas yeah we'll try to get it to you before Christmas thank you council member Anderson thank you now I'm nervous to ask my question if it's Christmas um so for a director we've had this conversation I think it's come up to council and since I'm chair of planning I'm going to bring it up um short-term rentals when that did get passed it was before you uh there as a fee and that was to hire a company who would monitor to ensure that people were in compliance of the limitation of how often the the overall goal was that it could be economically viable for snowbirds or people when students left their apartment during the summer that they could rent it out shortterm but not in a capacity that would limit our rental stock and I'm hearing from a couple individuals whose family members out of state have have purchased homes and they're renting them full-time on short-term rental so I'm hoping to get some data at some point um infractions are the company what what do things look like um I it concerns me when I tell a Community member oh no that's not possible because we have this and they're like oh no that's how I'm paying for college so it's happening I'm not sure if it's getting skirted or not caught so at some point would you be able to bring that information forward like how successful is it are is there infractions if so um any suggestions we might need to look at that ordinance in order to uh secure it a little bit better so people aren't squirting it fair enough I

will look into that thank youone sorry actually my comment maybe it's a question for you um president Hamill but in light of council member liquis and council member Anderson's requests and understanding the bandwidth and know we have a new staff member coming on in the Council Office our policy analyst um and so it doesn't have to happen today but perhaps a conversation among the council about how that position will be utilized and how that work would be deed up just thinking about if there are items that are of priority for Council that staff doesn't have the bandwidth for how we would best utilize and leverage that that resource coming on board so thank you and that's a good segue into the items that I have uh here for old and new business um first I'd like to um make an announcement here that uh Jackie Lasser has accepted the position of office manager for city council like to congratulate her and welcome her on board thank you as you know Jackie's been with us us for a year and uh does just outstanding work on behalf of the council and therefore the the community and then the second item is um I want to welcome uh Iris not who will be here on February 1st she will be the new policy analyst my intention is to meet weekly with um Miss Lasser Miss not to uh go over workflow to establish kind of a routine as to how we introduce um the the workflow into the policy analyst position uh so that's thank you for bringing that up I appreciate that that's uh super helpful and I just

want us all be mindful that whenever we're making requests of our staff that um there are seven of us and there's one policy analyst so we just need to be be mindful that we uh create a good workflow for for that position my third item is um I'll make a motion here to request to the admin the administration in particular the legal department to provide an agenda bill um that allows us to explore making the atlarge position a 4-year term at the next municipal election in November 2024 second motion's been made by the chair and uh seconded by council member Williams any further discussion on that one seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstentions recusals motion carries 7even Z One abion um six 01 okay uh good call on that one c c and then lastly I know the chief isn't here um Chief Mig is not here but I wanted to acknowledge the invitation from her staff and um from her for several council members to go that attended the SWAT training out in Lyon a couple Fridays ago uh it's always educational to um to go and talk to the um police officers and you know firefighters if around on on those kind of calls so I just wanted to acknowledge that um that um we're all part of a big team and it's important for us to understand the stresses and the and the good things uh that happen with our Frontline uh staff who we asked uh so much from other items for old and new CC M question um I might as well bring it up now if we have the time um I have a uh research

project for our new policy analyst um it our voters uh saw fit to approve a higher than um a minimum wage higher than the rest of the state um when similar actions were taken say in the Seattle or CCH area um there were some uh serious professional academic studies conducted to look for the economic impacts if you recall the debate around raising the minimum wage is whether or not it would have unintended economic consequ consquences whether or not it would actually decrease the number of available slots at lower wage levels or benefit lower wage levels well it seems to me that we need to as a city look into the long-term consequences um of that law and what I mean long term the results might not be known for a year or two what I would like to ask our new policy analyst to do and I've already our previous policy analyst started this work actually is to look into what sort of expertise might be needed to run along term economic impact study of the effect of the minimum wage increase and then potentially that would lead to an RFP process and an actual study the city could sponsor but at this point it would be the uh working in into kind of scoping what what the appropriate economic impact study would look like so I would move that we request our new policy analyst look into that question second a motion's been made by council member liquis second my council member Anderson further discussion to this topic go go ahead so I have hopes what our analysis is going to find but we

really are not sure and I know that there are members in the community and businesses that were very concerned and I I think they'll be looking at it too and I think as we look at um sometimes what we think is best for the community it's some it would be really good to have the data to prove some of this assumptions I know that I have that there will be a benefit because of the wage increase but I would like to be able to have data that says this was the pros and this is the cons and then help lay to rest a little bit of the concern that Community had so I do think it was because it's very longitudal study it's not going to be something that is done quickly it would be something over several years so I don't think it would monopolize a tremendous amount of time it'd be just something to you know identify and our analysis will have that ability and then kind of touch those data points and file it and then come out with a report so um I think it is a long range project that won't be too consuming until maybe the end of the report writing but I think get it early so that when we look back it doesn't become a bigger project than it needs to bether discussion go ahead I maybe you all may know this um one of the reasons why Iris chose was Rose the top as an excellent candidate is that as part of her background she has done and work with people who do economic impact studies so even if she is not herself an economist I think she's very well suited to help in this work okay forther

discussion mayor microphone thank you it may be helpful um just to make sure that that work is complimentary or that there's coordination to make sure that um we're working with that other study so point taken thank you Miss ler does that make sense as her supervisor okay uh C Anderson just to share yes I I was at a meeting because I'm the liaison for Chamber of Commerce and I believe uh the chamber is Contracting with uh Western Washington University and so that's another thing that I think would be a reduction of work is because there could be coordination um to be able to assist with collection of that data and it would be good to be able to have our our uh legislative assistance uh Insight on um helping steer the information that we might want thank you council member further discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed extensions recusals motion carries did you get the motion Miss guts okay okay uh further um items for old new okay seeing none get a little bit of a break here it's 242 i' ask that Council return to Chambers no later than uh 255 just a brief announcement but I just want want us to be ready to move into Committee of the whole thank you we'll recess m okay let's go ahead and resume our final committee this afternoon is committee of the whole and prior to commencing with our uh committee I'd like to read the following statement we have live simultaneous Spanish language interpretation at this meeting please keep this in mind as

you're speaking Council and administration try to speak more slowly than you normally would and speak clearly interpretation headsets are available at the front of the room there's an interpreter in the city Council um boardroom right now that's doing interpretation services so if folks need to have um a headset they're just they're located right at the the front of the room here today so we have um we have seven agenda items this afternoon we did Cover old and new business uh earlier between the end of the parks and rock committee and the beginning of this committee so that that is the eighth item so that's already been covered our our first item is an ordinance amending the 2023 2024 banial budget amendment number 10 this ordinance increases an existing development specialist 2 position in the Community Development Division of the planning and Community Development Department from part-time to full-time the position incumbent is resigning later this year and staff believe increasing this position will add much needed capacity and improve the competitiveness of the recruitment the department will pay for the 2024 expense associated associated with this increase out of existing budget Authority accordingly this ordinance adds no funds to the budget however this change will increase expenses by approximately $440,000 and here to take us through is um director um esbjornson from the finance department thank you I think that covers it uh pretty well it's moving from 6 to a 1.0

so it's increasing the FTE for this one position the expected uh uh expenses should be covered through salary savings through the biannual budget so happy to answer any questions or director lion is here as well okay uh council member lillquist move approval of the ordinance second a motion's been made by council member lillquist and seconded by council member hman forther discussion I'll slow my language down sorry about that automatic okay uh all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstentions or recusals motion carries uh 70 our next item is an ordinance of the city of Bingham Washington suspending all future meetings of the immigration Advisory Board and its subcommittees until city council adopts an ordinance resending the suspension the attached ordinance relates to the immigration Advisory Board and would temporarily suspend all future meetings of the board and its subcommittees until the council adopts an ordinance resending the suspension pursuant to establishing the ordinance the board proposes or the board the board purpose of the IAB was to one to review and evaluate existing policies and make specific recommendations regarding City policy related to immigration matters and two to analyze city data to determine compliance with E2 SSB 5497 and three to support Community involvement in and discussion of regional issues and decisions about our City's future as it relates to immigration the purpose of this proposed action is to provide an opportunity for the

councel the mayor and designated staff to realign its work with the immigrant community in Bellingham uh council member stone is is listed here as the president or the presenter on this do you want to do you want to turn this over to Administration or do you want to go first I'm sorry I was GNA go first go ahead thank you president Hamill um Good afternoon in addition to the interpretation that's available today I just wanted to make note that um unfortunately not all of the documents included in the packet have been translated but we sent them out for translation and as we've received them back they have been included in the online packet so they're available online in English and Spanish um I first wanted to just highlight what's included in the packet so a copy of the draft ordinance that was brought forward at our meeting on January 2nd there is also a copy of the establishing ordinance so that's the ordinance that established the IAB initially in 2019 there's a copy of the amending ordinance from 2021 which made some minor changes in addition there's a copy of a dra um well correspondence from the IAB in opposition to the proposed ordinance as well as an ordinance with proposed amendments from the IAB and an outline of IAB recommendations to the city in addition to Federal contact data a cease and assist letter and the city's response to the cease and assist letter and so I wanted to explain a little bit about why those documents were included so I attended the IAB

meeting on January 16th and um council members cotton and Williams were also in attendance as well as mayor lend um and at that meeting the items that were presented are included in the packet because since all council members were not present at that meeting I wanted to make sure that that information as presented was included in the packet and shared with all of you um in addition a lot of the work of the board um as outlined in the ordinance and through the work of the board focusing on federal contact data and it's intersection with um the keep Washington Working Act so wanting to share that information with the council as well because I think it's important um one to see sort of the excerpt that's included here is just the most recent submission of federal contact data but each month the data that's been collected has been overwhelmingly if not exclusively from um interactions between our Bellingham Police Department as operators of 911 dispatch and small cities or County entities um and so that seems to be the Focus right as a city where our intersection um happens and so wanting that um to be included just for your reference because I don't know how many council members may have seen that data previously so in preparation for today's meeting also I did not present any proposed changes to the draft ordinance it's included as it was presented on January 2nd um partly that's as I just stated because I wanted the full Council to you know to be able to see what was

presented by the IAB um and to hear if there were recommendations from other council members for proposed changes but in preparation for this meeting and over the weekend going back and watching Council meetings from 2019 so when this work was first starting which was now um several years ago and just reflecting upon the um the request that was coming forward and the response from Administration and even fellow council members at that time and there were some reservations about what the scope of this work would be or what the role of the IAB would be within the city as a whole um and so wanting to take you know my share of responsibility when I've said that there is sh shared responsibility on all sides that has gotten us to the point that we're at now um as a very new council member at that time um and balancing what I still hold you know to be um a passion and desire right for this work to continue um but balancing that with the city's work and I think at that time there was a lot of discussion about sort of what needed to be done um to to form the IAB and questions that really ended up unanswered and so I'm talking about the responsibility the responsibility for me as a council member and the liaison initially to the board um to not play an active enough role in trying to um sort of do that hard work initially to make sure that we were all on the same page um and moving together in um in some really clear alignment and so wanting to highlight again that I I don't believe

that this item is coming forward um because the IAB alone has you know um has taken a direction or taken on work or um conducted business you know in a way that was counter to you know the city's interest I don't know how much we can speak to that because I don't know that it's clear where the city's coming from right and so when we talk about negotiations on next steps feel like it's a challenge right now to know where we even if it is a negotiation where we start from um if we don't know where we're clearly standing and starting from from as a city and so I do I still believe that there is um a fair amount of internal work that the city you know needs to take on to address um the the scope and and purpose and role of of the IAB within the city um and so I have re-engaged in this work and I am committed to doing what I can to help move this work forward um in a positive and you know productive way to to help support members of our immigrant Community which I think ultimately was the um you know emphasis from the beginning and why it was highlighted to be important work for the city to take on um and so I know there have been questions about next steps and what would happen if this suspension moved forward um and so wanting to take some time as well this afternoon to hear from the mayor as well as key staff members who've been um engaged or whose work overlaps with um the scope and purpose of the IAB um to speak to the proposed ordinance um as well as potentially next next

steps and I think one of the um other key pieces has been the need for engagement right and buy in from from the city so as I shared previously um when this board was initially established the um the the framing I guess to say that the board was you know Council initiated really feeling like there never was with you know this came on board under um mayor lynville and then mayor Fleetwood and now we're here with mayor lend um never feeling that there was complete Buy in to that to that work to the level that that was needed to appoint you know or assign staff and we're doing that background work to really outline the the scope of the the board um and so I think it's it's instrumental to when we're looking at things like the keep Washington Working act and that Federal contacts data I understand there's reservation from the IAB about the involvement of law enforcement um you know within that space But I think there's a huge disconnect if we're asking critical questions about our own policies and procedures as a city and being able to get those answers if the you know entities departments individuals who have that information aren't at the table to to answer those questions um and so looking at the scope of again of work and how we best move forward and who those right people and players are that really need to be um at the table to make sure that we can um can move this work forward and so finally too I think in the um initial stages of development in really um I think some

missed opportunities too to step back and look more broadly at the you know immigrant community in in Bellingham and again the you know appointments to to the board and making sure that we have broad representation um from the the city um highlighting of course you know those who are most um you know disadvantaged and and facing the biggest you know obstacles here within our city um but wanting to highlight that that bringing this suspension forward again is not to Discount the importance of this work or to um to say in any way that I'm not supportive of this work moving forward that it's actually quite the contrary that again just wanting to articulate that bringing this forward is because I care deeply about this work and wanting to make sure that it's moving forward on solid foundation and unfortunately that work wasn't wasn't done initially in 2019 um and so we are revisiting that at this time um so with that I just wanted to take an opportunity to recognize mayor lend as well as um any staff members that may or may not want to to speak to the proposed ordinance um at this time so mayor lend thank you council member Stone good afternoon Council and to everyone from the community that's here today um I'm sitting before you as the third mayor and chief executive that this matter has touched on and as the newest executive I am committed to understanding both the history the challenges and the opportunities that the IAB presents for our community and I too share the value

that this is important work indeed um I would say that this topic outside of severe weather and our snow response has received more of my attention than any other single topic in my first 29 days as mayor and I've been in a pro committed to a process of discovery um much of which has resulted in extended conversations with staff with many of you with members of the community and importantly I had the opportunity to attend the January meeting of the IAB to listen to that conversation and reflect on the documents that they provided and um I think to help inform the conversation with your permission I've invited three members of Staff in the administration to speak today in particular there was a concern at the last I about what would it look like how would we ensure compliance with the keep Washington Working act if Council were to move forward and um temporarily paused the IAB so I've asked City attorney Alan Mariner with your permission to be prepared to speak to that I've also Chief merzig to be prepared to speak speak about um especially if we look at the original establishing ordinance what was primarily a policing matter and her perspectives on that and finally I've asked Janice Keller director of communications and Deputy to be able to speak about her long um multi-year investment in the process so with your permission I'd like to begin with Mr Mariner thank you um Mike good in our office is the one who's been working with uh the Bellingham Police Department and uh and

including the police chief in ensuring compliance with the keep Washington Working act uh he's not available this week so I'm filling in um the city has taken a number of uh steps to ensure compliance since I would say the middle of 2022 the first and maybe the most important is that is that the the BBT BPD has adopted immigration an immigration violations policy which uh does a number of things not just T touch on the highlights it prohibits uh BPD uh employees from enforcing Federal immigration laws it pro prohibits them from asking for or collecting information about a person's immigration or citizen St status or place of birth unless there is a connection between that information and investigation into a violation of state or local criminal law it prohibits City attorney Mariner especially with the legal nature of this just for the interpretation if just to Remer if we can um yeah make sure to speak a little slow oh I'm sorry I'll slow down thanks I'm sorry I forgot um it prohibits um uh Department employees from providing any non-publicly available person personal information about any person including those that are uh in custody to Federal immigration authorities in a noncriminal matter and finally it prohibits employees from detaining or taking someone into custody solely to determine their immigration status or based solely on a civil immigration warrant detainer or hold request uh the second thing that the BBD has done is it's terminated watcom use of either the

custom and border patrol or ice for interpretation Services um both wat watcom and the Bellingham Police Department's uh policies have been policy manuals have been updated to prohibit prohibit contacting or using uh Customs and Border Patrol or ice for interpretation services all wcom employees have been provided training on utilizing just the approved and contracted interpretation Services which expressly uh excludes uh Customs and Border Patrol and ice and then finally and I confirm this with Mr Good before he left town is that uh watcom employees will decline a local jurisdiction request to dispatch uh for two uh cust and border patrol or ice for translation services so um another thing that the police department has done is it requires all police department and wcom employees to track all Communications with uh Federal immigration authorities the employees are required to email description of each contact to uh deputy chief Almer who maintains a log of those contacts um as uh council member Stone pointed out most of those contacts involve smaller cities calling in to dispatch uh and then the dis dispatch connection being made to the border patrol or ice so it's not uh the city of Bellingham uh police department um according to Mr Good in his meetings with the AG's office the city of Bellingham is the only local jurisdiction that maintains such a log the last thing and it's minor but it at one point was an issue is that the the watcom inter local agreement has been uh

amended to eliminate some obsolete language uh left over for from when Sumas used uh uh Customs and Border Patrol for their dispatch and and that language required watcom to facilitate that communication Sumas now contact uh contracts with the city of Bellingham and uses wcom um the last I have two other points it's important for Council to remember that uh wcom and the Bellingham Police Department need to have contact with the custom Uh custom and Border Patrol and ice in criminal matters and that's allowed under the the act and just general jurisdiction on cooperation which has to do with life safety examples would be that Mike uh good provided is for example contacting uh the Border uh customs in Border Patrol to let them know that the reason the traffic at the at the border crossing as backed up as there is a cow on the road or either Customs border patrol notifying a local jurisdiction that there is a suicidal person heading their way those aren't criminal matters but still requires that uh uh coordination between the various agencies um it but when it comes to assisting in or in the enforcement of immigration law the city's policies and procedures and training it's clear that that just doesn't happen um so just to close the city's Police Department I'm sure uh Chief merik may have other things to add uh the city ensures compliance with the keep Washington Working act through its written policies and procedures training and also the main main maintaining of that log and

I would point out that log is public information so if somebody wants to see what are the contexts anybody in the in in the anybody any Community member can seek request that log and with that I'll turn it over to Chief Merz a little more comfortable to stand thank you Rebecca merzig chief of police thank you for the opportunity to speak on this topic today I've heard a lot in the last few months about misalign values and I think it's useful to explore both values and ethics to ensure Equitable decisionmaking in this process and our Collective support for each member of our community from my perspective perspective there is some alignment and opportunity in our Collective values and ethics under my Administration the Bellingham Police Department has demonstrated a commitment to diversity equity and inclusion and accessibility almost half of the last 29 commission police officer hires are women and or people of color I value accountability my department follows policy 417 and the keep Washington Working act which provides a very clear Direction on how immigration matters should be handled since 2019 we have documented 2350 contacts with Customs and Border Protection Homeland Security investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement all of which have been in compliance with the keep Washington Working act we have and we will continue to obey the law and abide by our policy allow me to share where our values and ethics do not align the city of Bellingham values its Police

Department yet the immigration Advisory Board began its first meeting by telling the former Chief David dah that he was not welcome and kicking him out of the important dialogue the IAB refuses to invite me the current chief to any meetings or engage in any dialogue at all as a department we have always valued collaboration civil discourse and conversations to be Uninvited to a meeting that is making policy recommendations regarding the work we are doing does not align with the values of the city of Bellingham my job literally in my job description is to establish policy for BPD and yet I don't have a seat at the table for a group that has formed to make policy recommendations I have been forced to engage in these meetings via recordings where I have observe D personal attacks blaming General disrespect and no meaningful work product with no line of communication to address negative experiences misconceptions and general distrust of policing by members of the IAB I'm unable to develop the relationship and build trust I would be devastated to hear that a crime victim did not call the police out of fear of getting deported or any other fear of their safety by developing the relationship and building trust that IAB could be an excellent conduit to our undocumented Community sharing that this example would be a violation of the law our policy our values and ethics we would make every effort to have an officer who spoke their native language connect with the victim take a report

and investigate the incident as thoroughly and professionally as we would any other crime crime the person reporting should never fear deportation as a result of rep of reporting in fact we don't even ask their immigration status It Isn't Our concern the city of Bellingham has great examples of successful boards and commissions with difficult topics and agendas for example the domestic violence and sexual assault commission approaches difficult and traumatizing topics with mutual respect collaboration and constructive conflict I left the last meeting on Thursday feeling very proud of the work being done and the work we have yet to do mayor London and I share a collective vision for the city and the community to be a collective we while I agree with the critical importance of the work I'm unable to support the IAB in its current exclusionary model I don't believe this is what the council had in mind when the IAB was created therefore I support the ordinance to suspend good afternoon can you hear me okay little more good afternoon I'm Janice Keller and I have been interacting with the immigration Advisory board for um directly for just over a year now but um I've been involved since its first meeting um on zoom in June 2020 I've spoken with several of you and uh and those I've spoken with know that I have a lot to say so I'll try to keep this brief and I'm happy to answer any questions the proposed pause is intended to address the unclear purpose roles and processes surrounding

the immigration Advisory Board not change the good intentions that led to to forming it we and I recommend you approve the ordinance to pause it creating the space to solve problems and drawing a line to create standards and processes so this important work can move forward from its enabling ordinance approved despite the many reservations expressed by mayor lynville and her team to the group's first meeting during the pandemic when the chief of police was asked to leave from ordinance amendments that may made the the board's mission less clear to requests for an immigrant Resource Center to a difficult Retreat last May to board members reactions when a member was not reappointed and all of the challenges in between it all comes down to clear and unclear expectations what is this board's purpose how will it be managed and resourced how will recommendations be requested received and acted upon on how will members be appointed and who in city government will be responsible for its work this lack of clarity impacts all of us the board members the city staff the elected officials who've been involved with this work it causes misperceptions by board members leaving them to believe that the city is not committed to values that we in fact all share the value that we share includes our commitment that the city of Bellingham be a place where the rights and dignity of all residents are maintained and protected and I feel very confident that we all share that value lack of clarity has

caused us to invest in untangling misinformation and unexpected problems taking time away from work IAB members want to see completed and other top priorities that we all care about this lack of clarity has caused board members to act independently of the city possibly counter to State and local law this lack of clarity has caused confusion when appointing new members leaving some applicants interviewed with no followup or recommended for appointment without being interviewed by City staff or other concerns these problems are made worse by high turnover on the IAB board lack of clarity has caused conflict and misinformation to continue unchecked which impedes progress and makes meetings and interactions unproductive unpredictable and uncomfortable for many who wish to participate 28 people have served as IAB members since its beginning in mid 2020 no original board members remain people have resigned for a variety of reasons but more than a few have reported that the conflict and the tension they experience is not what they expected when they volunteered for a city Advisory Board hearing differing viewpoints is essential to a healthy democracy as and is important to making progress on difficult issues unmanaged conflict misinformation and hostility towards City officials causes harm and has prevailed in this group most people don't volunteer their time to have this kind of experience most volunteers dedicate their time on advisory boards to work together to solve problems

they care about so about this ordinance I've been asked by some of you and others why can't we resolve these matters while the board continues or in other words why can't we rep repair the plane while it's flying that's what we've been trying to do for almost four years these challenges have had outsized detention now from three Mayors two Deputy administrators two City attorneys three police Chiefs and and two City Council Members attention without progress without results distractions from the many other topics we all IAB members community members city council members and City staff want and need to focus on I have spent more time talking about the IAB in the past year than any other single topic which would be a fine intent investment of resources if we could point to Shared successes or results but we cannot you have three highly capable and committed women and I will add Chief merzig to that so you have four highly capable and committed women Chief merzig council member Stone former council member Martins and me who have been deeply involved two of us for several years and we're telling you this plane is damaged and cannot be repaired mid-flight please hear us please take action to pause and help us reset this board to move forward together in a better more productive way thank you does that conclude your presentation okay bring it back to council council members committee members council member list thank you um for sharing your thoughts on this topic I want to begin by

thanking council member Stone uh for helping to create the IAB to begin with and to continuing to care about the IAB um I voted to create the IAB in 2019 and I continue to support the idea I also support the work to establish an immigrant Resource Center in Bellingham and hopefully for all of Watkin County um and I think the other council members feel much the same and my goal is not to end the IAB or to reduce its role but rather to accomplish the opposite I want the IAB to become more effective and more valuable and again I think all the council members I've talked to have similar hopes what I would like to do is focus on how we can get there and I I would like to talk about that first um therefore I would move to direct the city Administration to work with the city council leadership and ie members to create an ad hoc workg group to evaluate the membership purposes procedures processes and resources to improve the IAB Effectiveness as an Advisory Board and to increase the iab's ability to advise the city on matters that affect immigrant community members I make this motion because I think to move ahead we need a small group in a room together rather than people in chairs raised up on a platform I think we need that working group and that's my motion motion been made is there a second second motion's been made by council member list and seconded by council member Huffman is there a further discussion to that motion council member Anderson sorry timing uh it's kind of the

cart before the horse I I I can support it I'm not ready to vote for it until I know the outcome of um the ordinance that was brought forward to us um so if you could speak to that um so speaking a little bit outside of the motion I um I've struggled with this because I I do work with a lot of individuals in the community that I felt uh this board would directly have a positive impact um I know the community has been asking for us to not suspend it or to to continue to work on it while they do the work forward but my concern is is that if this takes us three months or six months to realign and and and clarify our values and the process and what we want to accomplish with this board that the board will continue to do work um maybe outside of uh City leadership and then when we we get to that ending um there's going to be more hurt feelings more people being upset because they've been working on an agenda of things yet we're still trying to identify what that agenda would be and so um I do believe that the process will be working as a group to identify that but I would like to know if that was going to be with a a pause or a suspension or or is that going to be continuing down the process without that so I couldn't vote without knowing the outcome of that question here's what I would answer to that um whether you not you think the car is before the horse or horse before the cart in all situations we're going to want this work group whether or not you think we should continue to

try to fix the plane as it's flying or land it first and then fix the plane we're going to want this group whether or not we suspend the IAB or continues to meet we're going to want this group in every discussion this has been included so it isn't as if the outcome of this vote depends upon whether or not we suspend it or don't suspend it I think we're going to want to need this group regardless and so I think it's important that we establish at least the mechanisms and the general idea of where we want to go next and and then the meaning of whether how we vote on the ordinance um will be actually improved I think it'll be easier to decide whether or not it makes sense to suspend or to continue meeting when we know what we're going to do about the concerns that have been raised so I would suggest that this is actually the horse and not the cart M Williams the way I think the horse has four legs and with this motion I don't see the four legs uh What I Hear which I think the motion is speaking to several concerns that we have the one thing that I would like I I see that the um that the branch of our government that's most responsible for starting this process is the administrative branch and uh what before voting on a motion such as this um I'd like to ask the mayor does she have any sense of what the timeline would be for conducting this process um what would be the general structure of um your your sense of how this is going to proceed an idea of how long it will take I mean

just just an idea what are the outcomes we're looking for and if necessary because all we're doing if if we pass this ordinance is suspending the meetings we're not suspending the board we're suspending the meetings I have heard from a lot of people how how important this board is and I don't think there's a person sitting up here that disagrees with that concept um and if there are any interim activities that the board members need to conduct while this process is going on I would think that in the process that would be discussed and if a meeting needed to be called to have the committee deal with something on a very specific Focus nature that would be discussed and there would be some agreement to either do that or not um so my question is of Mayor lond what's your concept of moving forward thank you council member Williams um let's put some legs on that horse for you and I want to make it explicit that as mayor I I share the importance of a working group and what that would look like to move this process forward depending on how you vote so we did come um staff the mayor's office came prepared today to flesh that out a little bit on some of those objectives and goals that we would put before a working group and what that would look like I'll turn it over to Janice she has that up and can speak to that and apologies we've U put this together in short order so that we would have legs on that horse we've got planes we've got horses um so apologies this wasn't in the packet

I'm going to we've passed a document around and I'll read a bit of it to you um so we propose a couple of steps and that'd be great if you could put that on the document camera um so we have proposed the administration initiate the following steps first we'd like to identify expectation of boards and board members uh by drafting a boards and commission members expectation for Council consideration and come back to you with that this work is needed to help um clarify the work and the expectations of the immigration Advisory board but it also is needed across all of our boards and commissions will be the foundation for further Community engagement work we'd like to spend some time identifying IAB responsibilities within city government part of the part of what has been uh sometimes confusing is whether it's the city council who's directly responsible for the immigration Advisory board or whether the administration is responsible for its work um even though as someone just mentioned um most most of the most of the responses to questions and needs and most most of the impact is on the administration so we'd like to have conversations clarifying that um we uh if the whether or not the board is paused uh we see some places where the enabling ordinance and the 20 20 21 update to the enable enabling ordinance needs to be updated and that's the conversation that we'd like to have with IAB members and others we'd like to have that we'd like to do that work and come back to council with

a proposed updated ordinance once we've had a chance to work together and sort through an updated purpose and uh roles and responsibilities we'd like to do some work on the appointment process again as I mentioned we've had some uh confusion and disagreement about the appointment process and the application and the appointment process and we'd like to work within the mayor's office and with council members and IAB members on what that should look like and then importantly um we'd like to use an updated ordinance and updated responsibilities within city government to determine realistic resources needed to to to do the work of the immigration Advisory board for the remainder of 2024 and for the next bium uh we recommend that we that we not put a timeline on this and um we request that you ask us to come back in six months and report on our progress um but we have many related priorities and and there's a fair amount of work and a fair amount of conversation to be done um in this outline and uh the work should take the time that it that it needs to have a good outcome so we respectfully ask that you not give us a hard and fast deadline and finally we wanted to make sure that in this conversation it's clear that we have a a number of related priorities that um that the council's also asked us to work on um both as the result of the racism as a Public Health crisis work that the council did as well as in general to support our city as an equitable just and inclusive place to work

live and play and that work will continue so our work to support the watom racial Equity commission remains a priority uh with steps to seat members and recruit an executive director coming soon our accessibility diversity equity and inclusion program is underway and expanding as um our ADI analyst dbor Bena described in her presentation to council last September uh we are working to expand language access services including policy development and providing expanded interpretation and translation services that work will continue and uh we have on our work plan for 2024 and probably into 2025 um work to increase membership diversity and inclusive inclusive practices on all advisory boards and commissions and other steps that we that we've wished to take to increase consistency diversity and participation on advisory boards and in other community engagement activities so we have a a lot of related work underway that that won't be affected if you choose to pause the immigration Advisory Board committee come M little question so I had not seen this I noce version two I hadn't seen version one either but I would say that my motion was Broad in general and I can see this proposed next steps as being very much in harmony with my motion CC M Anderson before I comment um council member Lis could you State your motion so I can make sure it's as broad as because I saw some limitations in there want to see if I'm correct luckily I wrote it down I I would move to direct the city

Administration to work with city council leadership and IAB members to create an ad hoc workg group to evaluate membership purposes procedures processes and resources to improve IAB Effectiveness as an Advisory Board and to increase iab's ability to advise the city on matters that affect immigrant community members okay I I don't like making amendments on the Fly um I'm going to have a difficult time supporting this not the intent but some of the structural because I think it has to be more expensive than just the IAB committee members there are um a lot of organizations in our community who uh work with the Immigrant Community providing services and I think our conversation needs to be a little more expansive if we're re-examining the scope intent and process of the work um and I hesitate um I think Administration has work to do first and I have no doubt that they're not going to involve members of the IAB committee and and that work um but I would like to be able to leave things a little open-ended on when and how and in what area that involvement is happening um whether it's in development or it's review or feedback [Music] um I just don't want to I guess the question again to Administration do you think the scope of that request and also maybe to Legal is Broad enough that you'll be able to work with Council perhaps first um in some of the the visioning and identification um and then parcel in other you know the IAB and also maybe those Community organizations in order to

then really refine and ensure that um the ultimate goal will be reached or do you think as stated um it's going to be a little bit more Heming in in to be able to do the work as proposed on next steps I want to make sure we're not hindering the process being too prescriptive just broaden um we can just broaden it this was not meant to be restrictive we can just add language like and other parties and then the Administration has any the leway I think that it would might need mayor go ahead but you also identified specific work areas which I want to make sure those are work areas that Administration intended that's what they were going to work with the ieb specifically on in development versus review and that was my area of concern because there may be other areas and maybe membership might be something Administration is more comfortable working with Council on I don't want to say which way I just want to make sure that it's broad enough so that we aren't in a position 6 months from now that there's Discord and an agreement and we're looking back at this motion and some people in the community feel that we're not adhering to it that's my concern hearing this conversation I think if we were to amend the motion to broaden it so other parties could be included more expansive would be helpful and also for the specific work objectives that would be accomplishing if we said may include so that that was a subset of topics that could be the output of the working group so council member

list since I don't have the writing in front of me would you be open to amending to um add may include so that it's not as prescriptive and then expand other community organizations and partners in order to restate that c question move to amend the motion I'll just do it as a striker strike the entire last motion and substitute it move to direct the city Administration to work with the city council leadership IB members and other parties treate an ad hoc work group to evaluate topics that may include membership purposes procedures and processes and resources to improve the iab's effectiveness as an Advisory Board and increase ib's ability to advise the city on matters that affect immigrant community members second okay all right so we have a motion on a second council member Williams um even though I agree with um the concept and this uh draft for the most part adding uh part of the problem that I see um in my short interactions with this uh board is that there has been a n a very narrow focus on um some of the work now I would like to know what examples of other people you think need to be involved in this like other groups or other organizations just when when when you speak to that I just like to get a picture of what you're thinking opportunity Council Lydia play uh DV SAS um literacy counc Goodwill um institutions that work in education as a sing uh um in English as a second language um I mean this is just off the top of my head but I would like for administration to be

able to if there's an area of identified um expertise with some of our Community Partners that they'll be able to pull them in and have that discussion um to make sure I think part of um the concern in the past is really taking a look at all the services that are being provided and then having more voices be able to take a look at you know these are the areas that we see that the city could improve upon and making sure that that is part of the the work to be intended um you know we could also pull in our translators that we um utilize with and it and private it to really look at technology um web design there's I mean I know we have a lot of internal um Specialists but there may be something external that we pull in in order to get feedback c m Stone so I guess speaking to this Motion in particular um one of the concerns that I see is related to um I guess an internal City decision right about when I say the scope of this board um I'm thinking about the board's work focusing on the city of Bellingham and therefore sort of um I want say restricting but but focusing on the city limits and the things that we have jurisdiction over as a city because hearing Chief Mig speak um my concern is that in The Immigrant Community there can be um some confusion or misunderstanding understandably so about sort of the City versus the sheriff's department versus the small City you know in their law enforcement um agencies and so when the city of Bellingham has certain policies in place and

they don't extend beyond our city boundaries and then incidents happen out in the county um and there's not clear um just clear process for how right how that information is brought forward or how we identify where um those concerns are coming from and then how to you know respond I feel like we have to go one of two ways in my opinion either this is going to be focusing on the city of Bellingham which would change things um dramatically I feel like when we've heard comments from um IAB members as well as members of the public comment during the IAB meetings that Focus heavily on County issues and County concerns or we take some pretty proactive steps to try and engage with the county and to re right to look at this board in this work on a county scale and on a county level and I think that some of that work would have to happen between Executives or on administrative levels first before there was a work group um um organized and so I'm similar to what council member Anderson um expressed I have some concern about articulating specifically right now what those steps would be at the same time I appreciate what you're trying to do council member Lilo Quist and I appreciate the interest that everyone has in knowing like what's going to happen and that this isn't going to go into a black hole and just be ignored right I feel that heavily um so I don't know how we strike that that balance but I'm just I I can't even formulate what the work group would look like yet because I don't

know what that work group is going to be working on yet um so those are just my thoughts for now council member Williams then I'm calling the question I guess oh sorry I guess what I'd like to ask based on your your uh comments and yes there there is a misunderstanding we have borders and we have a jurisdiction and anything that happens outside of that jurisdiction we have no control over but there is a perception that we do um and that those things need to be discussed worked out so that there's a common understanding about the scope of the work my question would be once again to the mayor to get these initial steps going if you could Ballpark and answer um what kind of a time frame are we looking at to get the ball rolling two months one month just to start not necessarily to finish if we can go up on the draft document to the first uh bullet point so work that is ongoing currently right now within the administration is um work to identify board member expectation and standardize that um and create a working document that we intend to bring um before the end of q1 um to council so that work is underway and so for a timeline for that bullet point we an ipate that being in the next few months in terms of the other bullet points there was a lot of conversation about what that look like and I think to be honest we don't exactly know and that is where the timeline came we expect to come back with council with an update on six months on progress towards those remaining bullet

points um but a lot of that depends on how the conversations unfold and to be honest I think as we launch and invest in um the wreck the racial Equity commission that will be shaping there'll be outside factors that will be shaping progress um and informing that work as well so um certainly we will be prepared to come back in six months with an update on progress but I I am it's hard for me on day 29 being new to this issue to give you a more informed answer than that council member Williams the motion's been made by council member Lilo Quist and second by council member Anderson all those in favor signif signify by saying I I opposed exensions two uh Stone and Anderson are opposed motion carries 52 further motions um so to bring for discussion I would um move to approve the proposed ordinance as presented in the packet second motions been made by council member Stone second by council member Anderson further discussion council member cotton sorry great um thank you for the difficult but um for in conversation today council members um I agree that it is necessary and um timely for us to be having this discussion um I also remain um sure that another pathway is we have a time and space where this work can be prioritized and completed and it is a monthly scheduled meeting of the iib and um it is not ideal that this is the first time I'm seeing this it's not ideal um particularly as the leaon to the IAB um I um will just throw out maybe a few suggestions and um any that there's

desire to pick up on I I would you know be grateful and I to just throw out a a few now um one that uh we um include a shorter timeline for a report I think we we said collectively we value this work and I think one way to demonstrate that would be to um show that it's being prioritized I think six months um uh does not communicate that um the second thing I I would see if there's interest in um would be a pause on the terms of the IAB members I think that would also communicate um that um the intent is not to end the IAB um I think what we communicate regardless of our intent is important here right um and um maybe I will I'll stop there and see if there's any interest from Council on either of those proposals Council H thank you um well I'll I guess I will I'll just I'll speak to the motion to begin with um I think echoing what other council members have stated I think that the the fact that we're having this discussion um alludes to the fact that we think that the purpose of the the board is important um or we wouldn't be having it I think that that what I'm hearing in this conversation is that we all want to see this board successful uh and there's been quite a lot of discussion as to how it has not been successful um in many ways and I would say also that that that is not a fault of the board members themselves I think that that's important to say as well this is um you know this was an a new board it's a board that functions a little bit differently than other boards in

the city uh there's Parks Board Greenways Planning Commission seab um all boards that have a really natural connection with a department and very strong support from the that department staff as just a natural function of of that staff's uh work load and duties and the IB doesn't have that natural connection to departments and staff members and I think it as an outside Observer that seems to be where some of that floundering has happened um you other boards are like as I said ve very heavily supported by by staff um in and the information that is presented to the staff and the conversations that those boards are asked to participate in um and the the decision- making um that they do as well so that's just one example of of where it's really this structure and the foundation of this board that's never really given those board members a chance to to flourish um even though there has been great work that's done on these boards not to Discount that at all despite um not having a really strong foundation for this board so um I think I think that's that work needs to be done uh clearly I don't know that I've heard anybody say that this board has been functioning well and shouldn't change at all um so uh so we we talk a lot uh in city meetings about limited staff resources and that is a very real reality of of our staff we had um an abundance of funding and abundance of Interest we we could accomplish so much be uh just based on the interest and the passion but uh we don't we don't

have that abundance um and I want to see this board functioning successfully quickly uh I want to see that the you know this the next steps um focused on on the efficiency uh of of making that happen of of having a well functioning board as quickly as possible so I I think the analogy has been thrown out there a couple times I don't necessarily think that that fixing the plane while it's flying is the quickest way to get to that that function um to fixing that Foundation um so I would I would support I would support the motion that is currently on the table um and appreciate also that we are emphasizing the next steps and the importance of those next steps because that is very important to communicate as well committee further further discussion M list I want to visit the idea that uh Jace brought up I think we don't need to have the council members terms keep running if it takes us four months or five months or six months or seven months that shouldn't count against those members so I would move that we simply either strike that one sentence or revise it to indicate that their terms of office will um not be told during the suspension uh director Keller I just wanted to clarify something that Michael and Jace raised and that is the markings on the document that say draft V2 that's just my own internal notes to myself um this I I wrote this last night and I sent it to uh council president Hamill and council member Stone so they would know that we were coming with a proposed

game plan so you you you didn't miss anything thank you council member Williams um whether the whether the terms are continued or not um if if if a term expires can a person be reappointed that is the after a member's term or expires a term expires that's always an option okay so does that address your concern council member it would still be my preference that that language be removed from the proposed ordinance Stone so I guess in response to that proposed change my thought about it was if there's going to be work we hope there's be work going on right in the interim during um the time that the IAB is not meeting that by having those terms continue to run we know who the IAB members are the IAB still is an entity and still has board members and so if those terms are still in place then those are the individuals that we look to right for to represent the IAB in a work group or in those internal conversations um and so to me that's it might not be the same as the right meetings that have been taking place but there's still a role for those IAB members to serve during their term and so that's how I that's why I see those terms to continue but C mquest in the original enacting ordinance section 2.262 2 the bailing on Municipal Code says that members Shall Serve no more than two full two full twoyear terms if their terms continue to run and we take a while they won't actually get their full terms it it'll count against them so no they can't just be reappointed Anin item the

current law reads that two full terms and they're done so we need to stop that so those terms aren't used up so so rather than letting the terms run I think we actually need to pause the the terms so toll them against that time council member was that a motion previously yeah I would make a motion that we strike the section of the ordinance which says that terms of the current immigration advisor members will continue to run during the suspension and change that say the terms of the current advis members will not continue to run during the suspension motion made and second go ahead can I ask a question for legal because I I agree that if there's limitations some of our boards you could reup as many times and then Planning Commission is limited you get only so many years but if their term is suspended and then we're working with IAB is there any difficulties in calling them up to do work when they're not running through their time I mean I just want to make sure we're not having an unended consequence when we work forward with the IAB members if their term is suspended until we resume it in full scale yeah I don't think there are any legal problems the the the proposed next steps are not regulatory or codified so the administration and and council could do whatever they wanted to do okay just want to make sure we're clear okay a motion's been made is there a second second counc M cotton um just one more additional question for legal um if the suspension takes place will

members still be subject to Quorum requirements under our Municipal Code uh under the open public meetings act or would would members still be able be free from those requirements in that in that time that's a really good question um I would think one is there wouldn't be a meeting of the IAB and meetings in of the of the IAB and subcommittees would be suspended um and I would have to say during that time the IAB wouldn't be charged with conducting City business so I'm not I do not think that they would be subject to uh quorums because the city wouldn't be looking to them to conduct City business thank you okay I'm going to treat that second motion as a uh as an amendment we're going to need to vote on that first and then we'll go back to the original motion council member Williams uh getting back to your first suggestion about the timeline what is your sense of a shorter timeline I might recommend um three months and um and at least for an update to to Council on progress um so I I I think probably the the way I would Envision doing that might be a sunset Clause so we would need to vote on this again and um be accountable to progress I don't know if that makes okay we've got a lot going on here so I'm going to call on the mayor then I'm going to call the amendment and then call the original motion mayor go ahead um I'd just like to bring for consideration from Council is that um we have approved the working group which I am personally happy about because I'm deeply committed

um to making sure that that is a successful product that is my intention is that we are coming back to you with a robust progress update when that happens though will be dependent on the vote that you have yet to take on the ordinance because what has happened now is we've committed staff resources to a robust working group and if we do not move to suspend we have talked about limited staff resources we have heard from our communications director and our Deputy that this has been her single biggest issue um over the last year as a new mayor this has been the single biggest issue before me I want want to make sure that we're not doubling down on um I want to make sure that we pick a path and we are committed to that path's success okay um Anderson and then I'm going to call the amendment I I understand wanting a faster timeline and under a second term leadership I might be willing to double down and you know get the machine rolling a little faster but as a new mayor um who and plus we're not out of winter and I know when we had the inclement weather um that was a scramble and so we've talked a little bit about needing to be like work with staff to be a little bit more proactive going forward so I mean I know a few things that I have requested of the mayor and time and effort when it comes to things that I feel is very Life Safety eminent that I'm hesitant adding something with a strict timeline given if we were like August into the term and we weren't looking at the potential

of you know two more months of winter I I would be more inclined but right now I just have a hard time putting a strict timeline I I I trust knowing mayor lond and the conversations we've had that if she says that this is going to be worked on and if it's able to be brought forward before I'm sure it will be but I'm I just could not support um and one a sunset I think before covid you know if we would have put a sunset on something and then Co happened um I I I don't like sunsets um because we don't know what's around the corner and quick timeline um in a a brand new Administration who is getting their head around a lot of deep issues within our community and not to say this isn't important I just don't think it is as critical as inclement weather and Public Safety and some of the other things especially with potentially budget issues that this doesn't rise to that top to require staff to um put this at the top of their list right now it should be in the in the pile and it should be continuously worked on but it shouldn't be the most eminent thing to reach a deadline in three months so that part I could not support Scots did you get the motion or in the second on the uh membership pause yes I have uh council member loquist was the first and cotton was the second second okay so let's go ahead and vote on on that and we need to move this along uh we still have several items within our packet we have an an executive session with multiple items that that are complicated okay so

the motion's been made by council member liquis second by council member uh cotton to pause membership for IAB members all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed abstentions recusals okay motion carries 70 let's go back to the original uh motion that is to pass the ordinance in the packet go ahead council member lqu one concern I have about suspending the IAB is that that might slow down some other work that's ongo so for example there is an RFP that was released we have now finally responsive applic that will be selected uh that RFP was for a public process to further the exploration for developing uh the scope or need or purposes of an immigration Resource Center my question to the administration is can the work on the immigration resource center and that RFP continue even if the ifb is put into temporary suspension how about in the interest of time we come back with an update about the Immigrant Resource Center I I think the short answer is yes that work can continue I think some of the challenges that we've experienced with the immigration Advisory board has affected our process and progress on the Immigrant resource center and uh both mayor former mayor Fleetwood and mayor lend have asked me to hold off until on work on that project until we resolve the question that you're grappling with today that's a concern to me I think this this Council has already directed the administration to develop uh an operational model and budgeting for an immigrant resource center

and one thing we approved uh last year year in well the budget before that last year was to fund an RFQ or RFP I can't remember which one to help further that work that was voted on by the council we we've already committed to next steps my understanding is that now we actually at the point where we can actually choose that consultant to begin that work I wouldn't want that work which we've already agreed we interested in advancing and and keep in mind advancing the RFQ and having that process doesn't mean we actually build an immigrant Resource Center it means we figure out better exactly what an Immigration Center could look like would look like might look like what its goals would be I I would want to I don't want a suspension to slow that work I think they can both go forward uh because neither of them is final both of them are Midway through something um if we have to stop the work on the Immigrant Resource Center which again is exploratory that would be a big problem for me Williams I think one of the things to answer your question about that Michael is that um why are we taking the pause we're taking the pause because there are some problems in the work not in the work itself but in the Pol in in the procedures and the way things have worked up until this point and when I hear you say we need to continue the work on that it sounds to me like there's no acknowledgement that the work up until this point has been not productive and if we continue with a project in the

same way it's not in in my opinion it's not going to work um but if that's part of the development of the work of this new work and there is a acknowledgment that that needs to continue and that the affected members of the committee can focus and and the the administration can help that Focus along that would be a different picture but the way it sounds right now it's like okay we're going to pause except this project goes forward and that there's no acknowledgment of things have to change and that's that bothers me I'm I'm not saying that the work work is not important but I'm but what I am saying is things have to change part of that is taking the pause to figure out what that change has to be and there has to be an acknowledgment in my opinion of all the parties involved in this in order to make that change happen and if we keep going and dealing with a process that continues what has been done in the past the plane's going to keep on flying and it's not going to get fixed so I have the confidence that whatever comes out of this with whatever this looks like in in the next steps that work of the committee can be dealt with from a different perspective and uh and and if it takes two more months to kind of come to an agreement with the people in here that this is the way we have to do business um and that could be one thing to say okay the meetings are suspended but here's a specific project that we all agree we need to move forward on and they can move forward on that by

their choice and who by whose choice Sorry by the group that's working council member Anderson thank you um to try to be a little succinct because I know as stated we have things to move on to um I also share a little bit of your concern and I do think that we could do things simultaneously and so to do the RFP um that could be going through and we can get because it's going to take time then it can come back because I'm somebody who supported that proposal I'm also someone who supported setting the money aside in good faith to say that I believe we need this and what would that look like so um given that Jenice said that it there's no reason why it can't go forward perhaps during old and new business later tonight that question can be posed maybe in motion form or to get the nods of council there's still commitment to go forward with that RFP so that we could have a clear other than two council members a clear direction to staff that we expect that to go forward uh director Keller and then to call a question we we do feel we have very clear Direction and nothing I said was intended to uh uh indicate that we don't have clear direction we feel Bound by the direction that Council already gave so there's just a in the interest of time I was just requesting that I come back at a different time with an update about that okay Miss Gat did you the motion or was uh Stone I I didn't get catch the second on that one for the for the M that it was Anderson okay motion's been made by

council member Stone and uh second by council member Anderson to approve the ordinance that's in the packet uh Michael go ahead I'm sorry I'd like to make a another amendment I would like to strike section one section one is findings a fact for some ordinances is very important to actually adopt findings of fact following a legal model where you have a factual basis and and that's the basis for your legislation we don't need to take that formal step this time and the reason why I would strike that is that there has been some controversy and disagreement and hurt feelings over the exact language in the recital if we simply strike the fact that these are findings of fact then we don't have to argue about those facts because now they're just written documents probably true but not necessarily true right we don't have to argue about their truthfulness we can avoid that controversy so I would move that we strike section one of the ordinance is there a second second motion has been made by council member list second by council member Huffman we will as an amendment we'll vote on that right now um all those in favor signify by saying I I oppose exensions recusals motion carries 70 back to the original motion to approve the ordinance that uh is under Bill number 23971 um all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed no motion carries 61 all right let's take a two-minute break here I think um folks might want to get up and search their legs or or we're going to be moving on to

other Council business so two minute [Music] uh back in order here can you give me just one minute so I can get the streaming up again what oh you you need a minute we're ready go we're now okay all right um yeah we we started a little bit late this afternoon so the the timing on that was um it just it just took a while to get through um the next item is uh 23994 this is a resolution supporting the passage of rent stabilization legislation by the Washington State Legislature including Washington State House Bill 2114 and Senate Bill 5961 the resolution supports the passage of rent stabilization legislation by the Washington State Legislature including Washington State House Bill 21 14 and Senate Bill 5961 and here to take us through is council member codon thank you council president um this resolution um is coming uh all the way you know quite the quite the um uh the number of days into this short session and so it's coming at a timely point for um Council to add its voice to a growing chorus in our community um I will not belabor the point of the housing crisis we are in it's well familiar to everyone here um but uh the difficulties of effective local action are are hamstrung by um a lack of action at the state level that uh I think um when it comes to the question of housing stability um there's um surprising and and promising movement this session um and so um I look forward to the discussion and um and uh we'll go ahead and uh move adoption okay second motion has been

made by council member cotton second by council member William Willams uh council member list council member hutman um thank you for bringing this forward um if you don't mind i' I'd like to add a recital uh it had to do with the action the city council took at our previous meeting on January 8th I would add a recital second to last that said whereas on January 8th the Bellingham city council authorized council member Michael delist to sign in support of hb21 which occurred the following day via the Washington State legislator's web portal comma or PR semicolon and I'll accept that as a friendly Amendment okay friendly amend been amendment has been made council member hman um thank you I if if staff um director Lions would be interested I I would be interested in hearing uh a take on the the current bills in the state legislature thank you I appreciate the opportunity uh again Blake lion from planning Community Development um in reviewing this I I wanted I wanted to preface my comments with two statements one I think um at the core of all this and what's what's really most important is understanding that there are people on the back end of this that we have uh a commitment and a need to understanding and keeping our community um stably housed and I don't want to lose sight of that but I also have gone through and tried to evaluate it and think about it from the standpoint of um implementation and policy and Direction and my review of it does not constitute any any legal

analysis whatsoever it's simply just trying to look at the um at the legislation as is proposed and I think there's some real strong values that are reflected in in this um there's as mentioned earlier there's huge need across the state um there are some real solid components in terms of the model least and the noticing requirements and providing some degree of stability when you talk about uh the first 12 months of of um not being able to do rent increases and communicating tenant obligations and there's a lot of things that are very positive about it I also start going through and looking at um things that as we write legislation and your previous uh Council item was just exactly that talking about the challenges of implementation and moving things uh forward and it becomes necess NE AR and important to think through those things and try to understand the details of it and the question I think that's before you this afternoon really is do we move something forward that uh is a continued work in progress and needs uh advancement and Improvement or do we need to um be more mindful of that and a couple things that I just wanted to draw to your attention that um if you haven't taken the time to to read through the draft legislation may be of particular note there are r range of different timing uh associated with it there's 30 days 60 days uh 90 days 180 days 120 days 20 days uh and so my concern there is simply to the fact of are we making it easy for our um ownership

contingency to understand what it is and how to implement that stuff we rely on many of our community members in fact 54% of our community rely on rental housing and and we need both sides of that equation to be part of this conversation both the landlords and uh the tenants and many of those folks are um your smaller to Mid scale landlords and we want to make things that are uh efficient and that we can work through some of the um Clarity that is necessary for them to be able to operate and in the interest of time I want to just draw out a couple uh things that are of note to me um and that is as is when we start to look at some of the pieces and how it gets implemented that's that's the important piece um there's a there's for example a language in there that talks about um it let it controls the rent uh whether it's 3% with 180-day notice or 5% uh during any 12- month period you can exceed that if you provide the exemptions to that and say and indicate that there's uh reasons for that in beyond that PO where where it lacks a little Clarity is um who the Arbiter of those facts are and how that gets resolved and so it's important that as you look at this type of legislation um you know we want to make sure we can get some clarity and when you go into a scenario whereby there are penalties and it's specifically penalties associated with uh the uh Attorney General's office being responsible for that and carrying forward uh the consumer protection act that has tens of thousands

if not hundreds of thousands dollars of worth of penalties becomes important to know how those things play out and whether or not they're going to be concerns with um it's a it's a question mark right it's a question mark about whether or not there's going to be a cooling effect on the marketplace in terms of housing production because as we've talked about before in kind of our affordability component there's Supply stability and subsidy and and this is talking about creating that stability and so there are some um concerns associated with it so that's those are I'm trying to be brief in my comments there's a lot of detail in in this uh draft legislation I I have my um my personal view on these things I think there are a lot of positive things but but there are definitely things that need to be understood and tracked and monitored uh as we move forward and go through this kind of stuff that that you should be paying attention to committee forther discussion council member um Anderson then hman and I'm I'm not ready to word Smith and I just realized it kind of taking a third look at this but generally a lot of times when we have a resolution um where we're supporting or trying to communicate something to state level there's an action component that say says you know there for now you know ask staff to please forward this on to uh representatives and then listing all those am I you pointed I didn't know if I missing it in here did I yeah across Washington State okay

legislative delegation okay I withdraw that comment I did not see that counc member Huffman okay I have a suggestion um see if the council is interested in entertaining um so these these bills are um are you know we're in the early stages of the process this session um there will probably be a lot of amendments that are made they'll probably change uh significantly if they continue forward I um and and these bills also contain quite a bit more than just the the stabilization piece uh and so I'm interested in hearing from the council if it would make more sense and potentially make for a more um malleable resolution if we struck the mention of the specific bills and rather focused on section one here the city of Bellingham supports the passage of legislation that provides rent stabilization across Washington State um and leave it at that I think that that that's a statement that not only carries through in a statement about these bills but future bills um and and I and I think that rent stabilization um you know is is something personally we should be considering as a state uh if done in a in a smart way uh so I I guess I'll make a motion make a motion to amend um and strike the mention of uh the specific bills and keep it to just sections one and three which I guess would become one and two motion's been made by council member Huffman is there a second second uh motion's been seconded by council member Stone uh further discussion to the motion I'll accept that as a friendly

Amendment if it's not too late you'll you'll accept that Michael has a Michael no okay so a motion's been made to strike section two of the resolution uh in support of the rent stabilization legislation at Washington State we also need to correct the um well I guess are we saying including uh State House bills 21 2114 and 5961 or do we need to strike that as well we would would it's in the title yeah it needs to be and there's a whereas as well oh there's a we as in here too I would leave the where as in it's just more informational okay a motion's been made to strike section two of the resolution and um I guess I'll add an amendment to the amendment um and then just strike the last part of the sentence in the title including Washington State House Bill 2114 and Senate Bill 5961 is there a second to that second uh so uh Stone seconds that one let's go backwards here and um sort of voting on these so um for the amendment to strike the that second part of the sentence in the resolution title all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstentions recusals motion carries 70 the second motion was to strike section two um in its entirety um all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstentions recusals okay Mo that motion carries the first motion was made by council member cotton and second by council member Williams to pass the resolution with those changes here in the packet uh all those in favor signify by was recital I moved added or not we didn't vote on that we

didn't vote on it so it's still there so the the recital that I added the informational one oh uh was that voted on SC and cotton was the second on that one okay let's vote on that one so the recital that um coun my requist added in sorry it's getting late and um uh all those in favor signify by saying I I I go ahead clarifying the recital that you added was speaking specifically to those bills or it it it it's a factual record that I did indeed on behalf of the city council sign in favor of that specific bill it's a pass it's it's an action it's reported action I I okay um all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed exensions recusals motion carries 70 um for the next items here here's how this is going to work we still need to do the main motion then Mo we have to do the we adopted the recital sorry that's what I thought we were voting on so um a mo a motion to um adopt the resolution that's in the packet uh with those amendments all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed extensions recusals motion carries 70 okay so what we're going to do here because of interest of time uh we have 22 minutes of uh executive session uh we are going to um strike from the agenda uh bill 23995 which is the ordinance relating to to rental registration I spoke with the city attorney we're going to move that one to the next meeting so that'll that'll buy us a little bit of time as to the meeting minutes we'll approve those tonight and we've already conducted old and new business so