City Council - Public Works and Natural Resources Committee

okay good morning staff good morning mayor good morning council members this is our May 20th uh city council meeting we're going to start with our uh committee meetings here this morning our first one is public works and natural resources and is chaired by council member Hannah Stone thank you very much president Hamill good morning um so on the public works and natural resources committee I am joined by council members Anderson and lillquist I'm not certain that council member lillquist received the memo that we were starting early this morning um so until he joins us I see that council member husman's joining us remotely and council member Cotton's here in Chambers I don't know if either of you are willing to stand in on our long committee meeting I would be willing okay great so we will have council member cotton sit in um so we have a number of items before us this morning we'll get started the first of which is agenda bill 24120 um so this is a contract award idiq on call multiple Hearth incinerator repairs so the city solicited bids for an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract for on Call incinerator maintenance and repair services work will be scoped and performed under individual work orders on an as needed basis over a maximum of four years subject to a not to exceed contract of $3 million the city received two bids which were publicly opened on April 23rd 2024 JT Thorp and Sons Incorporated from Burlington Washington was the responsible bidder who offered

the lowest responsive bid of 88,2 which was based on a hypothetical work order for bid comparison purposes the contract is not subject to apprenticeship utilization requirements because of the individual work orders are expected to be well under $1 million um so for this item I'm first going to turn to Public Works director Eric Johnston thank you council member Stone we really have nothing to further to add to this this is just regular routine maintenance onto the incinerators as we need to keep them functioning and running we're happy to answer any questions you might have but this is uh this is consistent with a couple of the previous idiq contracts we have done by the city for other services such as HVAC or for electrical services this is not replacing or supplanting work done by our our our union membership it is simply work that it does require that specialized expertise on the incinerators and happy to answer any questions you might have thank you very much council member Anderson thank you um I do have a couple of question questions and one is I just um I don't know if it was a typo and I just want to make sure I understand the financials um under the uh the paragraph that council member Stone just read it said um the responsive bid is $188,000 um when you look at the bid sheet that is the amount that is listed for parts and materials markup but the actual bid um um looks like it's uh a higher amount when you take in the the the labor and such am I reading that

correctly um it has um on another page total bid 37,8 42 so is that the actual bid that is a typo and that the actual the bid total that was compared was the 317 number so that is you correct that isn't thank you um if I might if I add to that the the that total though is a comparison between the other biders the actual uh that's so it's not really the price that we're bidding on this sat it's just a me measure of comparing one bidder to the other okay I just wanted to make sure I understood which number it would be um and then because it's not to exceed um 3 million I'm assuming that as uh the next few years go on if a much larger repair was needed we have that $3 million cap um so that you don't have to necessarily come back and get um approval from us but I apologize um if something should happen and then a much larger repair would be needed and that one larger repair um was over a million dollars is there a way that it triggers the apprenticeship at that that point and would that information come back to us that that is happening uh it would trigger the apprenticeship requirement if an individual work order exceeded the million dollars and uh if Council so requested we would report that back to the council either at the time or as part of the annual reporting that we will eventually be needed to be doing for the apprenticeship requirements I would just appreciate that if something like that did happen and it was going to escalate getting closer to the 3 million especially

if it was going to trigger the apprenticeship program even if it's just an update um announcement to us it would be appreciative to know that it's happening I try to track how much apprenticeship powers are happening through the city um for um reporting to unions so the other question sort of um related but just looking at this contract being three years with a one-year extension possible and the $3 million hoping that that $3 million carries us through the term of that contract but with inflation and increased costs that we've seen um you know as the trend recently if if that gets maxed out before the end of that threeyear the initial three-year contract does that come back as is there an opportunity to sort of raise that or does it go back out to bid so that that would come back to council at that point if we reach that $3 million Mark then we would go out to bid again to establish new contract would be a new okay perfect thank you any further discussion or questions from Council council member Anderson Y correct I will thanks my mic was off I move approval great thank you and I will note that um correction on the total and report that out this evening um so we have a motion before us if there's no further discussion I'll call the question all those in favor say I I I any opposed or extensions okay seeing none that passes 30 and I'll bring that forward this evening so the next item before us is agenda 24121 this is a request for sewer service at 968 Marine Drive so the

watom county health department has informed the owners of the existing residents at 968 Marine Drive that their septic system has failed the property abuts a city sewer Maine the property owners have applied to the city for retail Sewer Service Bellingham Municipal Code F 15.36% to the attached contract um and for this this item I'll turn once again to Public Works director Eric Johnston thank M with me is Brent Baldwin our develop man manager and he has been working with this property owner and the health department to facilitate this uh the city council has a long-standing practice that's codified in the code to prohibit sewer Services outside of City Limits except in cases where it's necessary to protect public health and then only limited to existing development as may be on the property so the contract that is attached to the agreement that the council would be authorizing if you saw so inclined would allow for the property to at their cost connect to city sewer so they pay the construction costs they pay the fees they pay the sewer charges and all the very re all the other relevant uh uh costs uh and then that contract prohibits expansion of the property Beyond its current use so staff's recommendation because the system has failed is that that they be authorized to connect to city sewer by the contract that's attached to the agenda Bill Council M Anderson thank you um I do support this but it brought up some questions um because of the the size of the property and

something that you just mentioned that um this is for the the one house and not necessarily beyond that with some of the state changes for housing and I'm not too sure how it impacts the county property but the ability to put additional dwelling units on there so if they are able and desire in the future to put like an Adu on there do they have to come back and request an additional sewer hookup or is it granted because of the housing style I mean how does that work for us um it's rather complex so Blake poed just put poked into my ear there that those rules don't apply to County zoning yeah uh and the contract would that we would execute with this property owner would prohibit them from doing that unless they were annexed into the city to be part of the city and both Blake's there and Allen's ears are picking up as well so thank you uh Blake lion director of planning and Community Development so uh as written right now house built 1110 uh we fall into what's called a tier one city which is uh opportunities for uh local jurisdictions that have 75,000 uh population and greater it does not currently apply to the county uh because we are not a contiguous uh City parameters that go over 1.5 million for the total area it would not currently apply to the county um should they choose to change their local zoning regulations then that might uh not address not be addressed by the state law but right now the state law would not trigger this and somewhat hooked to this but it's also a

good opportunity for me to learn something that I don't know um this is part of a Water Association so they're just doing the sewer hookup and it is in the ug if we eventually take that into the city do they then are the ug compelled that are part of the Water Association to then have to hook up to city water or do we have water associations within the city limit offering water because I haven't come across that and usually I would think they'd be hooking up to water to but I understand not because of cost but I'm not too sure what happens with that Water Association situation so we do have a we do have a couple of water ation that are in or near adjacent to City Limits and there's definitions within the water system planning that the state and the county and the health department and the city uh coordinate on in terms of who provides service to whom annexation does not necessarily compel a property owner to to change District boundaries but to be uh in terms of who's providing their water service um but as you know this is this this action here is not related to Water Service this is only to Sewer Service uh and it would be difficult to compel a property owner to change a service Provider from one to the other it getss more complex because many of those water districts are provided wholesale water by the city of Bellingham so they're they're is likely an advantage to an individual customer if if and when they an Annex to the city to be no longer onto the district but beond

the city but the ownership of the systems providing them is rested with the district so it gets even more complex than that so shorter answer is that this action is only limited to the Sewer they're not requesting water service we are not required to get them onto city water uh they are served by a district that district is served by the city um but annexation would not compel them to connect to city water in and of itself I appreciate that information I haven't seen where they haven't been anyway I appreciate knowing a little bit more about how that works and having that opportunity to ask the question um and with that if you don't mind I'll move approval so we have a motion before us to authorize the mayor to execute a contract to provide retail Sewer Service to 968 Marine Drive any further discussion okay seeing none all in favor we'll say I I I any opposed or obss seeing none that passes 30 and I'll bring forward that recommendation this evening so the next item before us is agenda bill 24122 this is a contract award for Pacific Street operations center phase 2 admin building and vehicle storage e f178 bid number 6 b-224 the Pacific Street operations center phase 2 improves the city of Bellingham operations center originally constructed in the 1950s the site has several buildings that no longer meet operational needs and have reached the end of useful life the work consists of demolition of old structures a new two-story all electric administration building and a new

operations building the administration building will have a new public reception area construction includes solar panels a green roof lead silver equivalent construction practices 1% for the Arts and a 15% apprenticeship requirement this project continues the work of ensuring climate resiliency for the critical infrastructure the city publicly opened four bids on May 1st 2024 Dawson construction is the responsible bidder who submitted the lowest responsive bid of 20,758 70 in including any applicable sales tax the engineers estimate is 23,9 27,25324 cific Street to a different location a downturn in the economy in around 2008 brought that project to a close uh and that but the need still existed to make sure that we have the fac facilities to operate out of Pacific Street uh in to make sure that the city's still functioning through that location so we started about 10 years ago with a couple of smaller projects that uh first first the first project dealt with our storm water treatment at location was about a $3.5 million project to retrofit that site for storm water and then sub l in years P after that we have done a couple of other projects notably the the last largest one was the construction of the admin building that five story building and the B the barn on the southwest side that replac the WTA headquarters building this is now the second part of those those structure Replacements and it's to the main admin building and the South tool sheds or the equipment sheds uh in

addition I also want to add that we are making major improvements to the fleet shop we have done some major Renovations on the interior of that building we have in the budget for the 23 24 cycle to replace the fuel Island and put a cover over that fuel Island as well as to replace the roofs on the warehouse and those roof Replacements include the addition of solar panels on that roof as well so we've made some major Investments at Pacific Street over the last last many years uh these projects are funded entirely by the utilities and by the city's Reed funds they are they are not being contributed to by the general fund so we're not competing for Parks or the police department or the court facilities for the construction of these buildings but they are funded by the utility bills and they are intended to make sure that we are operation in the event of uh things that may occur over the next 50 years not the least of which is the changes we're seeing in the climate so by converting these buildings to 100% electric buildings and making sure they're functionable and resilient and operational during heat events during smoke events during cold weather events and also large disasters we're ensuring that these facilities can be not just survivable but functional once those events were to occur so I just want to kind of put that into context that this is kind of the last not the last but a a the next in a very long series of improvements that are leading to the construction of these

buildings uh Mr Olinger the operations manager the assistant director for operations has been leading the charge on many of these projects in fact all of these projects and so U Mr Olinger will be uh going through a couple of specifics about the building in particular and be happy to answer your questions when he's done thanks Eric Mike Olinger assistant director of Public Works for operations uh G to just do a quick overview of of what we'll be doing in this phase of the project so with this map here you can see in yellow the the two areas that will be replaced as part of the pck phase 2 project so um the one at the bottom of your screen that is a vehicle storage building existing that has outlived its useful life the the building has pretty much deteriorated away to to very little left holding the structure up the the portion to the upper end there is the the what was the old admin building so that building was comprised of multiple buildings that were all combined together through remodels and expansions and things like that all the way back to the 70s with the most recent remodel occurring in the early 90s so the the project will be replacing the existing admin building with a two-story building um that will that will provide us with space to to relocate our Engineering Group from the Federal Building to Pacific Street um the vehicle storage building will be a one-story building with a mezzanine over portions of it the project will meet lead silver intent um an example of

that are are the solar the the green roofs the the higher insulation value in the building the low E windows and doors and and the the variable HVAC system and all those things will help us to meet the lead lead silver when we say lead silver intent we we are going to build to lead silver but we will not apply for the actual certification um here's a rendering of the the view of The Phase 2 admin building so this is on Pacific Street Pacific and Carolina looking kind of Southwest um you can see the new entrance to the admin area two-story building built adjacent and connected to the five-story building that was built as part of phase one so as I said this will be a two-story building about 2400 Square ft that's pretty close to what phase 1 was so that will bring us to a total of of just about 50,000 ft there the building will be all electric this this project is subject to the 1% for the Arts and and this is going through the Arts commission right now um I believe that the Arts commission has recommended a project but I have not seen it yet so so I don't know what the details of that art project are yet this will also include an IT facility so we're calling it an IT Vault um this it vault is one of the main uh fiber connections for the city So currently that's located in our Traffic Division at Pacific Street and this will move it to a a safe facility that's it's really a building built within the building it it is safe from earthquakes fires everything so that should be able

to continue an operation even under the most extreme natural disasters or man-made disasters that could occur at the facility and as I said this will also bring our Engineering Group from from the federal building over to Pacific Street and this will be the first time that I'm aware of that Public Works will all be in one location second part of this project is the vehicle storage building you'll see here it looks very similar to the vehicle Barn that was built during phase 1 it's it's more or less just a continuation of that building it will provide for about 18,000 Square ft of vehicle storage and works space for some of our Communications Group and Facilities group uh this building will have a solar array built on the roof this building will add about 48 bike parking spaces within it for those who commute to work via bicycle and ALS so this building will be set up to to accommodate our EV Vehicles as we're as our Municipal Fleet is growing and becoming more and more EV we're having a need for more EV special EV charging for bigger trucks and for specialized equipment so this this building will be set up to charge those special types of equipment and with that take any questions you guys have thank you very much Mr oler any questions from committee council member Anderson I was hoping this weekend to go take a look at the site and I didn't have the opportunity um the previous building we built it has the the Arts going along um which is supposed to be a stylized version of

the um Salish sea and Islands the current building I believe is not twostory there is any of the new building going to be blocking some of that artwork yes the new building will be blocking a small portion of it and all of that artwork is being repurposed inside the building so we'll remove those panels and they're getting relocated inside the building so it's incorporated into the design to to retain that art okay I'm I'm just kind of wondering um because we I would assume would have known this design and then considering the art we wouldn't have chosen something that knowingly I would assume that would get covered up in a few years um it it's just it's unfortunate just a statement um I know bringing those panels in is preserving it but it's a bit disjointed is there any um thought process of being able to um repurpose it to the outside on the new building if I if I might on on the the one% for Arts is a uh uh great program and it does have its challenges and not the least of which is where do we where do we place the art one of the questions is is that we have this beautiful building that well beautiful and beholders mind I think it's great but the but the interior of that building is where that 1% for so you know $24 million or $20 million project 1% of 20 is a lot of money to be placed on an art that's inside a building that's generally not very publicly accessible right and so so I think the question about how do you how do you do those things and how do you you have

that art be exposed to the to the public is worthy of a great deal discussion because you know of these buildings coming together there's roughly $50 to $60 Million worth of investment and the 1% largely inside the space so how do we find a way to make sure that that art is publicly outfacing and and accessible to the public as a whole and then how do we make Provisions for when art is put onto buildings that need to be modified at various points so we did not know that this second building would be moving forward we had a pretty good idea it was not a guarantee however uh and and and the change is really just a 10 or 15 SE foot section on the one side of the building uh it's not a it's not a whole loss of that it is a it is a taking away of that public facing side of that art but the 1% for the Arts does need some work in in my opinion to take a look at how do we make those Investments of the 1% to be more outward facing as opposed to inward facing uh so I think that maybe there's maybe a bigger higher level question than what happened about the the building in particular but it's one that's on our man on our minds mayor brought this up at a meeting the other day about how do we uh take that art and have it be more publicly facing mayor uh to director Johnson's Point there's been a lot of internal conversations about the 1% for the arts program and I've had legal looking into Bellingham municipal code and some of the restrictions around that and so I just wanted to share

with Council right now there's a lot of conversation about this currently underway um and I think as we kind of navigate through this over the next few months coming back to council with an update on how this is taking shape and how we're making sure that our um investments in public art are accessible and equitable distribution um and I'd be happy to come back with an update as we get further along president Hamill a couple questions U just related to um the mayor's comments um I don't recall the BMC in terms of like the the location of where the art needs to needs to be installed per project but i' assume that it's probably at the the subject site and I don't know if that if we could change that that might that might help is that is the discussion that's occurring about how do we how do we do that I mean part of the challenge is uh not not in Bellingham but other places end up with 1% being for the Arts being applied to the Sewer manhole lids and decorative manhole lids and that really doesn't work in that in that sense yet you you want you don't want to write a blank check and say you can have spend 1% anywhere it does need to be tied back to the source of that funding but yes that's the that's the question or one of the questions that's being tackled by the Arts commission and staff and project engineers in the mayor's office as well in light of those disc I mean I look forward to the discussion coming board and hopefully to council because um reflecting on it is chapter

4.92 I have the original right ordinance and the language about the integration into the the capital project itself in proximity um yeah is is open ripe for further discussion council member Anderson I do have a excuse me I do have another question um and I haven't always seen this in some of our contracts I'm not sure if this is something employed on all buildings but under the exhibit a um to Public Works agreement it states second paragraph the bidder agrees that they will complete all work as required within 560 calendar days from notice to proed the bidder further agrees that they will pay liquidated damages for delay and completion as specified by standard specification 1- 8.9 um I looked for that specification I didn't identify it and didn't want to spend hours trying to research it so I worked in a shipyard and working with the government um I know what happens when you didn't have a ship ready on time um there was a a pretty hefty fine process C and then paying um additional Staffing and things and I'm just kind of without great detail what would we be looking at providing it wasn't a change order on our end that delayed it what kind of um liquidated damages would this contractor be paying that really depends so the liquidated damages I mean that's a pretty standard boiler plate contract language that is in that's in all of our contracts uh we are all we excuse me we always have a uh time frame to complete the work uh rarely if ever do we see contractors bumping up

against that limit that's extremely rare for us to see that case and even more rare for the city to apply the liquidated damages to a contractor uh but that is a tool that we have in our in our pocketbook to be able to hold that trigger uh but the liquid dat damages there's a calculation that's in the specifications we could get that if you'd like that Deva detail but I don't have that available to us today so is it a internal decision made by the public works director whether or not that would be pursu sued or negotiated like that that is a process that the that the city Administration team does take forward in terms of contract Administration but uh that also is the process for change orders and that's also internal so how we apply that how we enforce that does become an Administration administrative action in consulti with our expert attorneys uh who are heavily involved in those decisions thank you for that clarification and and I would personally appreciate if maybe a link or something could be emailed to me for that just for for my own um furthering my knowledge on inner city contracts thank you president ham yeah so slide three uh second bullet point um the lead or sorry third bullet point um the lead silver intent you had started to kind of Broach that subject a little bit I just wanted to get some clarification is it a is it a cost and process issue to get the certification is is that really the reason that that is the reason so we we do all of the work that's

required to get it we we follow the same checklist we we put together the whole package but but actually applying and going through the process to get the lead certification is a staff draw and it's rather expensive to get that certification for the building thank you other questions from Council Members council member Anderson not so much a question just excited this is coming forward um our Public Works really does need the facilities to be able to serve the citizens um the tours that we did on the previous phase it was really nice to be able to see the work area for um a lot of our trades and I think um it's great that our our staff will have a good facility but also really looking forward to the fact that some of the trades will have the new facility to be working under um so um glad to see this coming forward and and I wholeheartedly approve it so with that move approval have a motion before us to move Award of the contract to Dawson Construction LLC um there's no further discussion or feedback from staff um I'll call the question all those in favor will say I I I any opposed or extensions seeing none that passes 30 and I'll bring forward that recommendation this evening thank you very much so the next item before the committee this morning is agenda bill 24133 this is adoption of the 2024 bicycle master plan so the bicycle master plan was adopted by City Council in October of 2014 the city has updated the bicycle master plan to continue to make the city's multimodal

Transportation Network more safe Equitable and connected which will encourage more people to walk and roll for their daily Transportation needs the plan includes recommendations related to policy facility design and maintenance bicycle Network programmatic actions and implementation the Transportation Commission endorsed the bicycle Master Plan update on April 9th 2024 staff and a transportation commissioner presented a summary a summary of the community engagement and key plan elements to City Council on May 2024 the plan is available at on the city website at cob.org Pro PBM P2022 staff recommend that Council pass the attached resolution adopting the 2024 bicycle master plan um for this item I'll first turn to Public Works director Eric Johnston thank you Miss stone with us is Joel fun so a couple weeks ago we did the presentations of the overview of the bicycle and pedestrian master plan in today's packet we have two items they're largely the same they're mirrors of each other but since they are two separate plans so there are two separate there are therefore two separate resolutions uh requiring two separate actions of the council but anticipating that the discussion would be uh the same with both of those we just want to maybe have the conversation together with those uh we do at at following the conversation with the council have draft resolutions in the packet uh and and if I could turn to those resolutions if we might um there are three specific actions in the

resolutions the first two are the adoption and implementation of that of those documents the third item is that the as Council requested that we would return and as the TC recommended we're staff is supportive of this return back to the Transportation Commission in 2025 to develop some specific targets and goals and then return back to the council with us at some point so uh our recommendation is to adopt the resolutions uh as present or as present or as might be modified by the council uh uh and then uh recommend approval of those two separate plans The bicyc Pedestrian master plan I will offer that if there are changes that we would like to make to the resolution we have time to do that between this morning and this evening so if there's some some SL tweaks to the resolution we're happy to do that this afternoon Joel do you have anything add okay so so as referenced um by director of Public Works just that the following agenda bill 24123 um is in reference to adoption of the 2024 pedestrian master plan um and so we will take them independently with respect to consideration and a vote um but certainly questions from both we have staff here to respond to questions so I'll turn to council any questions council member Anderson not so much a question just comment I do appreciate you highlighting um the the third um component to the um resolution as far as um the city staff going back to the Transportation Commission to work out some of the smart measurements and targets that was

something that I really felt was needed um is how are we going to measure that we're doing the work work and that we're successful at it or if we don't have that measurement how do we know how to Pivot um in order to do a better job so I'm really happy to see that in there um I think there was a lot of really great things in the plan um just lacking some of those measurement um details um so that more specific targets so I look forward to hearing what the transportation um commission uh brings forward during 2025 um I don't have any specific changes to make so I'll just move approval um to bring this forward tonight so there's a motion from council member Anderson to adopt the resolution for the 2024 bicycle master plan um council member cotton just a quick question um will those smart goals be coming back as a Amendment to the plan as an addendum I guess what what format will should we expect those eventually to come back to I think that that's something that staff is still working on how best to um to get at the Spirit of that I think there's been a couple of different solutions or ideas of how to apply those maybe it's through um integration into the comprehensive plan or maybe it is an amendment specifically to these plans or some hybrid thereof so at this point we are going to be working with uh the Transportation Commission to kind of figure that out and be open to how best to address that um those kind of details and getting that you know getting that right thank you

just wanted to um Echo what council member Anderson um shared and I think it's um it's valuable in the way that it's laid out and think about being able to right move forward at this time with implementation of the master plan um by integrating the plan as noted In You Bullet 2 on um one 65 just reads implementation right of the 2024 bicycle master plan shall begin immediately by integrating the plan into updates to the city's six-year Transportation Improvement program comprehensive plan speed limit setting policy neighborhood traffic safety program policy that there's a lot of work to be done there but then once we know right what the plan is and we can move that plan forward to be able to take the time to do that do Deep dive to say you know these are our project goals and um with respect to implementation right how will we know that we're being successful um and what will that look like as far as those goals so I appreciate that that's a large body of work of an in itself to to really go to that next step um so I appreciate the Transportation Commission right stepping up being willing to prioritize that work as well as staff um moving that moving that forward so but the plan itself looks great and really excited about the you know the next steps um to bring forward the implementation and and connecting all of those those within the city again to support that that multimodal modal shift so thank you council member Anderson any further questions or comments from other

council members okay seeing none again we have a motion before us to adopt the resolution for the 2024 bicycle master plan there no further discussion I'll call the question all those in favor will say I I I any opposed or exensions seeing none that passes 30 I'll bring forward that recommendation this evening and we'll move to um the partner agenda bill which is as I mentioned is agenda bill 24123 which is adoption of the 2024 pedestrian master plan so The Pedestrian master plan was adopted by City Council in September of 2012 so a little bit earlier um the city has updated The Pedestrian master plan to continue to make the city's multimodal Transportation Network more safe Equitable and connected which will encourage more people as we mentioned to walk and take transit for their daily Transportation needs this plan as well includes recommendations related to policy facility design and maintenance pedestrian Network programmatic actions and implementation the Transportation Commission with this plan as well endorsed The Pedestrian Master Plan update on April 9th 20124 and staff and a transportation commissioner presented a summary of the community engagement and key plan elements to city council at our last meeting on May 6th 2024 this plan as well is available on the city website at cob.org proo pbmp 2022 staff recommend that the city council pass the attached resolution adopting the 2024 pedestrian master plan um I know we already addressed it but I'll turn to you Public

Works director Eric Johnston um and Joel fun if there's anything to add before discussion I don't think we have anything further to add okay I'll turn to committee Members First um with respect to The Pedestrian master plan Council Anderson I'll just reiterate that um a lot of good work has gone into this plan much like the other we just spoke of and I'm really happy to see that the Transportation Commission will also be addressing some more specific um content of uh measurement using the smart measures so uh and I also agree we need to get this on the books so that we can plan going forward so with that um I do move approval thank you thank you very much so we have a motion adopting the resolution for the 2024 pedestrian um master plan again that resolution is on page 239 um any further discussion okay seeing none I'll call the question all in favor we'll say I I any opposed or abstentions okay seeing none that passes 30 and I'll bring forward that recommendation this evening thank you very much so the next item before us this morning is agenda bill 24124 so this is a water systems Plan update work is underway to update the city's water system plan water system planning is a requirement of state law and as a Class A water purveyor the city is required to plan for all elements of its water utility System including Source protection water rights customer service level policies treatment storage distribution technical engineering analysis climate resiliency and financial

planning the updated water system plan will include recommendations on rates and charges needed to fund utility operations and Capital Improvements staff will provide a brief update presentation about the planning process with an emphasis on staff's public engagement efforts in the spring and summer of 2024 so first I'll turn to Public Works director Eric Johnston M Stone Mr Mike Wilson our assistant director for engineering is going to go through a short Pres presentation we we wanted to make sure that the council was aware one that we were still working on the Water System plan we've talked about this a couple of times over the last year or so uh and we are just getting ready to get started on a on a public engagement process and I I the the water system plan of its nature and the way that it is required to be developed is a very technical document so it has a has a high degree of engineering that's get put into it as we decide how much pressure we need to have in the system where that water storage needs to be uh how we decide what projects need to be built to make sure that we are providing for safe reliable drinking water for the long-term future water rights is a part of that question And So It Eng developing or producing a Eng public engagement process is a bit of a it's a challenge right because we we there's not a lot of discussion about how we do the math on water pressure but but what is of great interest to think to the community should be or can be uh uh the

things that are important to us as a community as we look at the values of of the city and so Mike's going to talk about what our engagement team with the Consultants engagement team has been thinking about for the next early St of public engagement process at the end of that process we'll come back to the city council with a recommendation on a plan but we we will not be asking the C the community for input on on how big the water pipe needs to be as one as one example of that that's that's an engineering technical question but things that are of importance to us what's more important this activity or that activity how do we how do we how do we frame that that help that informs how we make decisions about recommendations for the capital Improvement list that needs to come out of the water system plan and I mentioned that because at the end of the day the water system plan really results in a conversation with the council about rates uh and how we fund our water utility how we ensure that we are financially stable for the long-term future how we ensure that we have the have rates that are affordable to all of our all of our community and how we ensure that we are are assigning the the the the are choosing to invest in actions and activities and programs and capital projects which reduce our risk and increase our res resilience and those utilities for the long-term future and so that just kind of setting the context for what we're talking about here this this presentation is

to make Council aware we're still working on this and the kickoff for that Community engagement that's going to take place over the next couple of weeks coming back to the council later this fall with the technical documents and and conversations about utility rates in particular uh into the fall and into early 2025 so uh with that I'll turn it to Mr Wilson for presentation thank you Eric M again Mike Wilson assistant director of public works over engineering uh just to build on what uh Eric's describing here the uh the the state requires once a decade or once every 10 years update to the water system plan and not only is it a requirement but it's a a good best management practice if you will to monitor where we're at as a city and as a system and what has changed over that that time and some examples we cite here uh you know we look at uh a growing system and we want it to be resilient we want it to be adaptive to climate change uh things that have come up in the past or may come up in the future harmful alal blooms or you know potential for Wildfire that would affect our source of Supply drought and how we um anticipate having the infrastructure to manage those and also uh the programs and practices to to adapt and and and move forward as as those systems change Eric mentioned the the uh technical nature of this we have a slide here that this is pretty well scripted by the state in terms of these basically show up as different chapters in the or sections in the document and

I won't read through each of them but uh these are features that are set out in state code that we should look at as a system and and uh analyze and update I will point out one thing that we've been working on on a technical level one of the benefits we're getting as a city from this process and this technical analysis is the our our model our system model of all our pipes um in the past it's been a skeleton model of just the main transmission lines and the the bigger pipelines we are now getting it aligned through this process with our GIS system and and what we characterizes a onetoone relationship so every pipe that's in our system is now part of our system model so that's been a a heavy technical lift as part of this update but it's a it's a value to the city that will benefit from as we as we analyze and review new developments uh identify needs for Capital Improvements in that sort of thing um the uh the primary purpose today is to talk about and inform you of the pending u u public engagement process secondary items were the scope that I've talked about and we'll touch on schedule uh towards the end uh We've identified these Community Values that are listed on this slide to uh to put in front of the community and try and get a gauge for what they uh feel is the most important Eric acknowledged that that uh there's not a lot of thought that's going to go into the size of a tank or size of a pipeline that that's going to really come from the community but how they um

what's their perspective on our water quality in our system are they uh even aware of it do they trust it um you know the the perspective on uh being being set up for accommodating future growth uh I mentioned resiliency and climate change adaptiveness emergency preparedness we've got a public safety element for fire protection and and those sorts of elements trying to get a a sense for where the community feels about these different uh uh items listed here on this slide so in terms of the community outreach uh we can we're ready to launch uh tomorrow May 21st uh to give you U an update on this online survey we've got questions that are developed to assess those Community Values and and uh get information that will launch tomorrow be open till June 12th and it'll be in on engage Bellingham and and uh other outlets as well we're also planning on going to community events we we hope to uh I think it's called metat truck is later this week we'll have a presence there and have some information about the water system plan and then we we hope to go to the Farmers Market um more than more than once to uh share an opportunity for people to engage in this community um Outreach as well um As We Gather that information and we dovetail it into the the technical analysis we'll be U going through uh some other processes with our Water Resources Advisory Board we'll have a we're required by the state process to have two public uh forums one is a forum to look at our efficiency plan uh and

then we also required to have a public Hearing in front of this body to uh adopt the plan so those will be coming uh forward as well after we've collected the public uh input and after we've completed the technical analysis schedule-wise um we're this spring and summer we're going to finish up that technical analysis the public engagement transitioned into some discussions in front of the Water Resources Advisory Board get a draft plan in front of everybody there's a required public comment window that'll unfold over fall winter this year and uh we'll be back in front of the city council for plan approval and then while that's there's a 90-day window where the state reviews our plan after it's submitted uh to them and then we'll be moving forward kind of in parallel with that we Telegraph to you and and uh give you um once we have all that technical analysis and the priorities built together we'll be able to identify what rate impacts may or may not be present and that'll likely lead to some discussions about affordability and uh rate structures uh strategies of that nature that will be vetting as we go forward as well so that's an update on the water plan it's it's a important effort uh for the city it's one of the bread and butter things that we do in providing services and it's um it's a timely timely to be updating the plan one one thing to build on what Mike said I appreciate the way he presented that the rav is shown here this is not a single point touch point with the

Water Resource Advisory Board uh much like we saw with the bicycle pedestrian master plan that the water the Water Resource Advisory Board will be heavily involved in the development of that plan we expect that before it comes to the council for approval that they would have had vetted through and at least hopefully have a recommendation for approval in the same fashion as we did with the Transportation Commission so the graphic is kind of funny in that way but it's not a single point in time there be multiple touch points with the Water Resource Advisory Board as that was uh uh chartered by the city council to be involved in that process thank you very much um any questions from councelor feedback no I was just going to uh say thank you for pointing that out because that was one of my main questions because I would think that the RAB would look at the plan and make a recommendation or not so um good to hear that they'll have multiple touch points on it so I guess one of my questions was was related to the engagement um piece of this and I um I know that Natalie's one is with us in the audience as well um today but so when the public engagement starts before the draft right the new draft is in place a lot of times you're looking for feedback from the community right after something's being presented asking for feedback you know prior to final approval um and in this case you know in what makes sense when we're looking to develop something new or provide updates is getting

feedback and that engagement right prior to finalizing the um the new draft um and so at this point is there a a framework with with respect to what that engagement looks like or what types of things we're asking the community about you you mentioned that a little bit right about but I'm just curious about the engagement um piece and as far as what I guess where we draw that information from as far as what we're asking the community I'll take a run of that Natalie if you want to jump in and and uh enhance it the U so what's informing that is that list of Community Values that we've identified and trying to get a sense of uh you know support for development if you will uh or Public Safety the fire protection or water quality uh needs those are so that those Community Values are what's informing the survey that's going out so the survey has questions that it will try and draw different perspectives from the the community as to what what they prioritize and so um that's primarily the survey and the the the events that we're going to be going to are going to point people to the survey to try and get them uh to engage in in in there so and so you said the survey is ready right it's going to go live tomorrow y the survey is ready to go um it's pretty simple it's pretty quick uh the goal behind a survey like this is that people are able to take it and give us input without having to have a lot of expertise in a water systems plan we want to be able to capture those Community Values

uh as they were both mentioning there's a lot of decisions that have to get made in developing a big plan like this and you know do we prioritize affordability or do we prioritize protecting the environment or are we really concerned about something else and so asking at this point allows us to build the plan based on those Community Values allowing the engineering decisions and Technical decisions to be happening kind of in their sphere but the decision points that we're making throughout the plan are based on those Community Values we will go back um where you see public comment again later we will give the community the opportunity to look at that plan but at that point it is a much more technical document you're not going to get kind of that broad Community feedback and we want to make sure that at this point we're able to allow as many people to participate as we can that's helpful just because what I think about is the work that the city does that's kind of right mundane maybe to some or behind the scenes but things that the community really depends on yeah um and Depends and sometimes I might even say takes for granted that things are functioning well and so how to engage the community get them excited or you know involved in this because it's not necessarily those technical pieces yeah um so I appreciate that highlight very okay thank you very much for that work yeah council member cotton um thank you for this presentation I'm curious if there are any um organized

stakeholder groups that do provide typically technical feedback or um is it mostly that kind of value based widespread Community feedback well if I go back to another technical utility plan the last when we updated the surface and storm water plan in 2020 2021 we had two essentially two comments from two individual groups one from an Environmental Protection Industry Group and one from a a builder Association so so those were two technical to groups that weighed into that but their their comments were not technical in nature but they were value based in nature and so it so would not expect that we will get a specific group of Advocates if you will Weighing on on the document itself um from a technical perspective uh would very much expect that we'll see questions and concerns about the things that we value most important I think that's important for us to do we might recall well maybe uh 2016 2017 2018 time as we were starting the scoping of the resource recovery project down at post point we did a very similar exercise to this we went out to the public we said here's a challenge we're facing we we developed that triple bottom line plus criteria that was very specific and narrowly narrowly tailored to an individual project and that looked at broad range of things similar to what's on the on the Community Values perspective um and and unsurprisingly everything came out equal we want everything to be the same right well as it turns out cost was very very important into that

decision-making process and so as we as we as a community as a council as a staff weighed through those decision-making processes we started with everything being equal and we ended with uh the cost is very very important and and certain elements of the Environmental Protection Al were also extremely important and that influenced heavily that decision-making process that didn't come from an individual group per se but from the community as a whole so I'd expect to see the same thing here as we're starting with Community Values uh we know that water quality and protection of the Watershed is of Paramount importance to our community it's important to us how does that compare in terms of affordability how does that compare in terms of climate change in terms of emergent responses that will help inform decision- making that that results in a list of projects that becomes a risk-based approach to the decision- making on that to uh develop our water system there are some things that we will simply need to be doing because that's required of the law we need to maintain a minimum pressure even if that's that that we have to do that no matter what but how we choose to focus our efforts should be informed by those Community Values would not expect that to be highly technical in nature would not expect to see a lot of weigh in on on that side of it but uh certainly we'll expect to see uh community members and and and certain advoc groups uh placing emphasis on one area or another at

some point the council weighs into that as well and says this is what we're going to do for our utility and balancing all those things uh like we did on the water resource recovery plant at some point point in that process you just as follow up on that as well wanting to mention um you showed the comment that there'd be a a booth setup or visibility at the farmers market um and I think that's a great location just to get information out there to the broader public as well about engage Bellingham I know that we're becoming more and more dependent upon engage Bellingham you know to play surveys and to collect Community feedback um but I'm still a little hesitant about how broadly right that resource is known about in the community and how if is it is it same people right routinely responding or um are we reaching sort of a broader broader audience so I think the presence at the the farmers market is a really great um opportunity and then just wanting to highlight in response to council member Cotton's question you know obviously the importance of the RAB and the excitement about you know having that entity in place and and thinking about um just the perspectives and experts in our community who are at that table and sort of looking at things from a lot of different angles you know um not just at the the health of the lake but considering rates and all of those other um impacts and how interconnected that work is so if Blake just poked his head in my ear here so one of the can

you go back on the slide presentation to slide number four because we're talking about so one of these bullet points is supporting our growing city and one of the challenges we're facing is uh housing and how do we support housing so one of the values that we'll talk about is how do you how do you how do you choose where and when to expand service to support housing is that infield development is that extension out into some of our other undeveloped areas how do we choose and prioritize when and where we install infrastructure that's a choice we get to make based on the values that we put forward you know affordability also connects into that so if we choose to have a very aggressive expansion of the water system that has an effect on rates but where we choose to put those improvements also has an effect on supporting different types and models of housing it also has an impact onto affordability so so you can start to see very quickly how these things be very interconnected with each other and trying to place some level of uh a pairwise comparison is this one more important that one how's it compared to the third one to the fourth one to the fifth one uh it may not be a very clean formula but it will help inform the decision- making process that we come back with a recommendation on the technical plan for when and where and how we install and pay for the system that we need to rely on one last thought as we're kind of getting close here to the end uh what's what's the the

last couple of weeks there's been some conversation in the media about water rights and uh uh and water rights out to the entire County I just want to note for the record here that that as a Bellingham customer you do not need to submit your water statement water rights to the city of to the state the city of Bellingham is on is heavily engaged in that process this is part of the water system planning our protection and preservation and uh use of those water rights to the benefit of the public as part of that we're heavily involved in that conversation but as a city of Bellingham customer if you're paying us for your water uh you do not need to participate in that process directly if you choose if you don't if you unless you choose to but you can certainly be engaged in the process but you don't have to submit this paperwork to the court I guess that's what I'm trying to say thank you very much anything else from Council okay seeing none thank you very much for the presentation I just wanted to confirm so this will be coming back to council then early mid 2025 but we won't NE he an updated later this calendar year early early next we'll have more discussion and great thank you very much all right um thank you very much if there's nothing further for um the committee I will adjourn and turn it back to president Hamill uh thank you our next committee is committee to the whole and that begins at 1M and we will uh be recessed until that time thank you