City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City of Bellingham Committee Of The Whole Minutes November 4, 2019, 1:25 PM Mayor Kelli Linville Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Council Members Michael Lilliquist, Chair www.cob.org/council Gene Knutson, Pink Vargas 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. 22452 1. An Ordinance Establishing 2020 Property Taxes p. 3 Budget Manager Forrest Longman presented the ordinance. Gene Knutson / Pinky Vargas moved to recommend approval of the ordinance. MOTION CARRIED 6-0. Daniel Hammill excused. 22473 2. Authorize the Mayor to Enter into an Interlocal Agreement with p. 8 United States Geological Survey for the Puget Sound Coastal Storm Modeling System Interim Public Works Director Eric Johnston presented the interlocal agreement. Assistant Public Works Director of Natural Resources Renee LaCroix provided Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 1 November 4, 2019  more information on the interlocal agreement. Council asked questions and had a discussion following the presentation. Pinky Vargas / Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval of the interlocal agreement. MOTION CARRIED 6-0. Daniel Hammill excused. 22447 3. An Ordinance Amending the 2019-2020 Biennial Budget, Providing for p. 19 Adoption of the Mid-Biennium Adjustments to the Biennial Budget Pursuant to the Terms of RCW 35.345.130 Budget Manager Forrest Longman presented the ordinance. Information only. 22474 4. 2020 Legislative Agenda p. 31 Deputy Administrator Brian Heinrich presented the 2020 Legislative Agenda. Council asked questions and had a discussion following the presentation. Information only. 22475 5. Safe Place Project p. 34 Bellingham Police Chief Doll introduced the presentation. Bellingham Police Lieutenant David Crass presented the Safe Place Project. Council asked questions and had a discussion following the presentation. Information only. 6. Approval of City Council Committee and/or Special Meeting Minutes Gene Knutson / Terry Bornemann moved to recommend approval of the October 21, 2019 Committee Meeting minutes as submitted. MOTION CARRIED 6-0. Daniel Hammill excused. 7. Old/New Business Councilmember Bornemann reported that the Housing Authority had their groundbreaking ceremony for the Aloha property and it was really good to see so many people from the York and Sehome neighborhood out showing their support for this really important project. He was really happy to see this project finally starting, and can't wait to see the building up there and people moving in. Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 2 November 4, 2019  Councilmember Knutson wanted to respond to a lot of emails, cards and letters he's been getting congratulating him on his upcoming retirement from the Bellingham City Council. He wanted to let the community know that he will not be retiring this year. Councilmember Lilliquist asked Council what days and times would work best for an accessibility ettiquite training in January. Council decided to postpone this discussion until December. He also mentioned that people may have recieved an insert with their ValPak coupons which talks about a City effort to require houses to convert from natural gas at an estimated cost of $32,000 to $82,000 per home. This was put out by a number of industry groups that are concerned with the recommendations of the City's Climate Action Task Force. He wanted to make clear that nothing has been decided by the City Council yet. There are serious ideas on the table and there may be costs involved, but the City Council has not yet recieved those recommendations, have not yet discussed what the costs will be, and have not yet discussed the timing or transitions. To the people who have recieved this and are concerned about what the City may require of you, City Council will be discussing this and there will be an open process. Please pay attention to that public process and understand that nothing has yet been decided. Councilmember Barker wanted to revisit the discussion of the $1 million deficit Lydia Place and the Opportunity Council experience in their need for upstream prevention of homeless before families aactually fall in to homelessness. She wanted to discuss this item before the end of the year in the Planning and Community Development committee to find more ways to go upstream in regards to homelessness prevention. Council had no objections. Adjournment Commitee of the Whole adjourned to Executive Session at 2:45 PM to discuss the following items: 1. Potential Litigation: Claim No. 2019-17 (Brady, approx. 15 mins) 2. Potential Property Acquisition (Marriner, approx. 15 mins) 3. Potential Litigation (Stamps, approx. 30 mins) Council President Pro Tempore Michael Lilliquist reconvened the Committee of the Whole meeting at 3:38 PM to adjourn the meeting. Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 3 November 4, 2019