City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City of Bellingham Committee Of The Whole Minutes July 15, 2019, 3:00 PM Mayor Kelli Linville Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Council Members Gene Knutson, Chair www.cob.org/council Terry Bornemann, April Barker All meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers at 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 Please be advised that if the City Council is ahead of schedule, they may start with old/new business before the official Committee of the Whole meeting time. 22368 1. Briefing on the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force p. 3 2019 Annual Report Jack Hovenier and Stephen Gockley, co-chairs of the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force, presented the 2019 Annual Report. Information only. 2. Approval of City Council Committee and/or Special Meeting Minutes Gene Knutson / Pinky Vargas moved to recommend approval of the July 1, 2019 Committee Meeting Minutes as submitted. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 1 July 15, 2019  3. Old/New Business Councilmember Bornemann requested approval from Council to use Policy Analyst Mark Gardner's time to research a City-run buy back program for guns. He would like him to research other city's programs for gun buy back, how they work, and if they would be feasible for our community. Council had no objections. Councilmember Lilliquist brought up the issue of safe parking, which can mean different things in different contexts. He expressed that there was no clear direction on if the administration should be exploring safe parking in our community. He wanted to gage if there is enough interest for looking toward a safe and protected parking area as an option for people who are homeless to sleep in their car. Mayor Kelli Linville agreed with this request and expressed that City staff would do the research. Council had no objections. Councilmember Barker thanked previous BTV Coordinator Dal Nietzel for all of his work. She would like to meet the new BTV Coordinator Ben Skudlarek at an upcoming Council meeting. Councilmember Barker provided a Library Board update. The Library is currently in the process of looking at their remodel. They have also been working on their strategic plan update. She shared the goals and concerns garnered from a community survey the library solicited. She will report back when the strategic plan is done. Adjournment Committee of the Whole entered executive session at 3:55 PM to discuss the following items: 1. Litigation: Juarez v. City of Bellingham et. al (Brady, approx. 10 minutes) 2. Litigation: Robert Fox v. City of Bellingham (Brady, approx. 10 minutes) 3. Potential Property Acquisition (Stamps, approx. 5 min) 4. Potential Property Acquisition (Stamps, approx. 5 min) Council President Daniel Hammill reconvened Committee of the Whole to adjourn the meeting at 4:08 PM. Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 2 July 15, 2019