City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City of Bellingham Committee of the Whole Minutes March 8, 2021, 1:30 PM Mayor Seth Fleetwood Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Council Members Hannah Stone, Gene Knutson, Daniel Hammill, www.cob.org/council Pinky Vargas, Lisa Anderson, Michael Lilliquist and All meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers at Hollie Huthman 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA, unless otherwise noted. Call to Order Roll Call Present: Council President Hannah Stone, First Ward Council Member Gene Knutson, Second Ward Council Member Daniel Hammill, Third Ward Council Member Pinky Vargas, Fourth Ward Council Member Lisa Anderson, Fifth Ward Council Member Michael Lilliquist, Sixth Ward Council Member Hollie Huthman, At-Large 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 Hannah Stone, Chair Gene Knutson, Daniel Hammill, Pinky Vargas, Lisa Anderson, Michael Lilliquist, Hollie Huthman 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. 22930 1. Part 1 in a Series of Staff Presentations in Preparation for City Council p. 4 Adoption of the 2021-2022 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Action Plan Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 1 March 8, 2021  Tara Sundin, Economic Development Manager, introduced efforts being made towards affordable housing and provided notification of topic discussions to come: March 22, will focus on families with children who experience homelessness and long-term service strategies and a funding proposal. April 12, CDAB Service recommendations. April 26, 2021/2022 Action Plan approval. Samya Lutz, Housing and Services Program Manager, explained that the Annual Action Plan is part of the 5-Year Consolidated Plan. Capital housing projects in the pipeline are: Waterfront Millworks - 70 units BHA Samish Commons - 49 units Opportunity Council Downtown Senior - 62 units KCLT Telegraph Rd Townhomes - 4 units Future Pipeline: Old Town- 70 units Committee Members asked questions. 22934 5. An Ordinance to Authorize a Sales Tax for Housing and Related p. 45 Services Council Member Hammill introduced the agenda item. Satpal Sidhu, County Executive, explained that he is glad the City took the initiative early to catch this in time for utilization. He feels it is not a Bellingham issue, but county-wide affordable housing issue. He will reach out to County Council Members tomorrow at their meeting to discuss further. Together with the County and the City, the tax could raise up to $5 million per year that can be used for affordable housing and homeless services. A public hearing will take place tonight. Committee Members support the tax. 22931 2. An Ordinance Amending the 2021-2022 Biennial Budget for the p. 17 Purpose of a Tiny Home Village Tara Sundin, Economic Development Manager, explained the City's partnership with LIHI (Low Income Housing Institute). It will cost about $500,000 annually to operate the Tiny Home village, called Garden View. Funds are allocated from Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 2 March 8, 2021  REET funds and CDBG COVID-19 funds. The village comes with case management and full staff. This is a shelter and not permanent housing. Next week a neighborhood meeting is scheduled with LIHI and neighborhood residents. Rick Sepler, Planning and Community Development Director, explained that our current ordinance allows for up to two years for tiny house encampments. The department hopes to come forward with an amendment to allow for up to five years. But it is dependant on certain performance standards for placement. Mayor Fleetwood added that the Clean Green site has many planned uses and is not likely to be a long-term use. Daniel Hammill / Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Hannah Stone abstained. 22932 3. 2020 Financial Year End Review and Updated 2021 Revenue Forecast p. 21 Andy Asbjornsen, Finance Director, shared the financial overview for 2020 and the economic overview. The numbers are not final, and several adjustments still need to be made. Committee Members provided feedback and asked questions. Information only. 22933 4. An Ordinance Amending the 2021-2022 Biennial Budget p. 39 Forrest Longman, Deputy Finance Director, shared that because revenues have come in, the furloughs have not been necessary. The proposed ordinance includes unfreezing a Parks department position as well a 1% cost of living adjustment for Local 1937. Michael Lilliquist / Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 22599 6. Renewal and Extension of an Emergency Ordinance Imposing a p. 56 Moratorium on the Processing of Applications for Detached Single- Family Development in Multi-Family Zones Rick Sepler, Director of Planning and Community Development, explained that the ordinance is before Council unexpectedly because there was an error, a moratorium on the ordinance ends today and needs to be renewed to continue Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 3 March 8, 2021  the moratorium on development in multi-family zones. It does not require public comment, or Public Hearing at tonight's evening meeting, but does require a Hearing within 60 days of passage. Lisa Anderson / Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 7. Approval of City Council Committee and/or Special Meeting Minutes Michael Lilliquist / Daniel Hammill moved to approve the Committee Meeting minutes from February 22, 2021. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 8. Old/New Business Council Member Anderson announced that last Friday, she sent to Council and City staff a draft ordinance to requiring the City establish labor standards among grocery employees and be compensated with hazard pay during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lisa Anderson/Hollie Huthman moved to direct staff to review the draft ordinance and hold a public hearing on March 22, 2021. Council Member Vargas objected to the ordinance. Council Member Knutson stated that hospital workers, paramedics, restaurant workers, have all worked during the pandement. This ordinance is not in our lane and belongs with the grocery workers' union to negotiate. Council Member Lilliquist agrees that some should be paid hazard pay but some grocery stores did pay hazard pay. He struggles with the idea that the City Council should mandate pay of grocery store workers. Council Member Huthman is also on the fence regarding the ordinance and feels a lot of people are worthy of hazard pay. Council Member Hammill explained that he did not receive the ordinance and asked about the current workload of the City Attorney's office. They are back logged and was wondering where that fits in the City's work plan? Homelessness and affordable housing are top priorities that the Council has asked the Attorney's office to work on. Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 4 March 8, 2021  Peter Ruffatto, City Attorney, explained that this is regulation that the City has never gotten into. He indicated that there are lawsuits regarding this issue already and asked if the Council is prepared to put aside other workflow items to research the issue. Lisa Anderson/Hollie Huthman amended the motion to request staff review the draft ordinance regarding their workload and report back to Council at a sooner rather than later date. MOTION CARRIED 5-2, Vargas and Knutson opposed. Council Member Vargas asked why the Chat feature in ZOOM has been disabled. She also asked if the meeting will be using the Screen Share feature for Public Comment during the evening meeting. Council President Stone, answered that the Chat feature will be disabled at the evening meeting, but participants will be able to share their video during both the Public Hearing and the Public Comment portion of the meeting. Mayor Fleetwood provided an update regarding the encampment at Geri Fields. Steps are underway to end the encampment due to the availability of reasonable sheltering options. Public use of the ball fields is scheduled to go forward this spring. Committee of the Whole moved into Executive Session at 4:40 PM for approximately 10 minutes to discuss the following item: 1. Potential Property Acquisition Adjournment Council President Stone reconvened the Committee of the Whole to adjourn at 4:50 PM. Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 5 March 8, 2021