City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City of Bellingham Committee Of The Whole Minutes March 11, 2019, 2:00 PM Mayor Kelli Linville Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Council Members Daniel Hammill, Chair www.cob.org/council April Barker; Gene Knutson; Pinky Vargas; Terry Bornemann; All meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers at Michael Lilliquist; Hannah Stone 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA, unless otherwise noted. Call to Order Roll Call Council Standing Committee Meetings: Open to the public to attend. Note: there is generally no public comment period for Committee sessions. Standing Committee Members receive reports and information, ask questions and, when appropriate, vote on a recommended action for consideration by the full Council at the Regular Meeting. The notice of Committee Meetings identified below also serves as notice of Special Meetings of the City Council at the times identified as Council Members who are not members of the committee routinely attend and participate in the Committee Meetings. Committee Chairs give a report of the Committee Meeting at the Regular Meeting in the evening prior to deliberation and formal vote in the order shown below: Committee Of The Whole Daniel Hammill, Chair April Barker; Gene Knutson; Pinky Vargas; Terry Bornemann; Michael Lilliquist, Hannah Stone 22245 1. Discussion of Financial Guidelines p. 3 Deputy Administrator Brian Heinrich introduced the item. Budget Manager Forrest Longman presented the general financial management guidelines. Police Cheif Doll and Municipal Court Administrator Darlene Peterson spoke about their respective departments. Council had a discussion. Information Only 22230 2. Shelter Update and City Response p. 47 Council President Dan Hammill introduced the item. Community and Economic Development Manager presented a proposal for a Whatcom County Housing Advisory Committee subcommittee on Severe Weather Responses that support the Homeless Population. Planning Director Rick Sepler spoke about the issue. Whatcom Homeless Service Center Director Mike Parker provided context and Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 1 March 11, 2019  statistics regarding Whatcom County’s homeless population and identified gaps in coverage. County Councilmembers Browne, Donovan and Buchanan joined in the conversation as City Council had a discussion. Michael Lilliquist / Gene Knutson moved to offer support for the County's proposal with the amendment of adding aTribal representative on the subcommittee. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 3. Approval of City Council Committee and/or Special Meeting Minutes Michael Lilliquist / Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval of the February 25, 2019 Committee meeting minutes as submitted. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 4. Old/New Business Councilmember Dan Hammill is requesting City Council and the Mayor write a joint letter of support for House Bill 1590 (HB 1590) to the Senate committee processing this House Bill. Bellingham passed a Home Fund via a vote of the people to generate funds to provide housing to those in need. HB 1590 has the same effect, but it makes the housing funding accomplishable by a councilmanic vote. Councilmember Hammill has been working with representative Doglio from Thurston County. He is asking Council to write a letter of support to make that 1/10 of 1 percent which, if its county-wide, is $4.7 million. Sixty percent of that is required to go toward housing and the rest can go towards services that also address substance use disorder as well as mental health illness. Gene Knutson / April Barker recommended approval of the joint letter of support for HB 1590. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. Councilmember Pinky Vargas had an update on the Alaska Ferry. There was a rally on Friday in partnership with the Port and our Maritime Unions. Many of our legislators have sent letters of support for ferry to the Alaskan Legislature. The Port is sending a representative to Alaska to discuss this with them. Alaska is having a public comment period on this issue tomorrow. What may have been presented originally that this was a financial burden might be pushed more by privatization. Because of this, the level of public support has increased particularly because that would mean union jobs would go away, it would affect a lot of access for people in Alaska and Washington and affect our Alaska Marine Highway. Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 2 March 11, 2019  Councilmember April Barker attended the Seeds of Injustice, Roots of Change: Right Relation workshop and it was amazing. It was a real education on what actually happened in our community and across the nation with indigenous folks. It wasn't just a sit and learn, it was a stand and learn. Councilmember Barker recommends it to anyone who gets the chance to attend. Adjournment Committee of the Whole adjourned at 3:18 PM. Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 3 March 11, 2019