City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City of Bellingham Committee Of The Whole Meeting Minutes 02/23/2015, 1:15 PM Mayor Kelli Linville Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Council Members Jack Weiss, Gene Knutson, Daniel www.cob.org/council Hammill, Pinky Vargas, Terry Bornemann, Michael Lilliquist All meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers at and Roxanne Murphy 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA, unless otherwise noted. Call to Order Roll Call Gene Knutson, Chair Jack Weiss Pinky Vargas Roxanne Murphy Michael Lilliquist Daniel Hammill Excused: Terry Bornemann Council Standing Committee Meetings: Committee Of The Whole 20738 1. Hearing Examiner Semi-Annual Report to Council INFORMATION ONLY. Presented by Sharon Rice, Hearing Examiner. The issues that Sharon brought up on the report will be referred to the Planning Committee for discussion. 20739 2. Bid award for Boulevard Park Sewer Improvements - Bid number 14B- 2014 Presented by Ted Carlson, Public Works Director. He noted a correction in the amount of the bid, which is: $587,918.41. Jack Weiss/Dan Hammill moved to recommend approval of bid award. MOTION CARRIED 6-0. 20740 3. Presentation to Council regarding the Marine Nearshore Connectivity Final Report and update on Bellingham Bay Juvenile Salmon Assessment 1 INFORMATION ONLY. Presented by Renee LaCroix, Ecology and Restoration Manager. 4. Approval of City Council Committee and/or Special Meeting Minutes Roxanne Murphy/Michael Lilliquist moved approval of the February 9, 2015, minutes as submitted. MOTION CARRIED 6-0. Terry Bornemann excused. 5. Old/New Business Jack - Access Bellingham's Sunday night programming was off on February 15th. Gene reported the same outage from February 22nd. The Mayor said there has been no change in policy regarding AB. Brian Heinrich will research the problem and report to Council this evening. Michael - Social Media Council Workgroup Update. The proposed City policy will be modified to fit the City Council. A draft of the policy will be brought forward at the April 13th City Council Retreat. At the meeting, Michael and Pinky talked with members of the Administration about a Facebook presence for the City Council and for individual Members to have their own professional Facebook sites administered by the City in order to comply with the Public Records Act. Information that is posted on the CC Facebook Page will be linked to the City's website whenever possible. Pinky shared that this will be an additional way to engage more people. The group did not talk about Nextdoor at the meeting. Jack - Brought up concerns about Nextdoor, the online program that the Bellingham Neighborhood Police Officers are using to communicate with neighborhoods. Chief Cook reported that the BPD uses the City's website, Nextdoor, Facebook, and Twitter to communicate with the public and that he appreciates Nextdoor because it allows the communications to be neighborhood-specific. Roxanne - Is in favor of Nextdoor. Mayor - Nextdoor was suggested by MNAC. Vanessa Blackburn, the City's Communications Director, will give a full presentation to Council about the Communications Audit, Social Media Policy, and Nextdoor soon. Pinky - They received 18 entries in response to the RFP for a new signature event. She attended the Association of Washington Cities Legislative Conference in Olympia last week. Cities may be receiving more revenue from liquor tax and recreational cannabis. She thanked the City for sending her. 2 Roxanne - Asked the Mayor and Council to schedule a Committee of the Whole worksession on paid and protected sick leave. Everyone agreed to get that on the agenda. Dan - Attended the League of Women Voters event on the economic state of women in Whatcom County. To view the report, visit www.LWVBellinghamWhatcom.org. Gene - The City Council Retreat will be on April 13th 6:00-9:00 PM in the Fireside Room at the Municipal Court. Jack - Met with Ted Carlson regarding two matters related to traffic calming: the possibility of calming measures on traffic arterials and re-starting the traffic safety program. He asked if Ted can come to the Public Works Committee in the next couple of months to discuss these issues. Yes, Ted will work with Council staff. Mayor - The County Executive and Sheriff have worked on a plan for a ballot measure for a new jail. She wants Council to be informed. The City has been asked to support the proposal. We do not have jurisdiction over this. At the City Council's meetings on March 9th and 23rd, there will be worksessions about the County's jail proposal. The first will be a proposal presentation; the second the County Executive and Sheriff may attend. It will be on the ballot this November. Adjournment to Executive Session at approximately 2:40. Adjournment at approximately 3:00. 3