City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City of Bellingham Committee of the Whole Minutes August 2, 2021, 1:00 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 Lisa Anderson, Fifth Ward Council Member Michael Lilliquist, Sixth Ward Council Member Hollie Huthman, At-Large Excused: Council Member Pinky Vargas, Fourth Ward 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. 23071 1. City Council Appointment of an Alternate Council President Pro p. 4 Tempore for August 16-23, 2021 Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 1 August 2, 2021  Council President Stone, introduced the need for an alternate to be appointed to serve as City Council President Pro-Tem for the week of August 16 -23, 2021. Gene Knutson / Michael Lilliquist moved to recommend Council Member Anderson to serve as City Council President Pro-Tem. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. 23045 2. A Resolution Related to Initiative 2021-01, Which Expands Tenant p. 5 Rights to Include Rental Relocation Assistance Gene Knutson / Daniel Hammill moved to recommend approval of the resolution. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. This is a follow up item that would place the measures before the voters of Bellingham in November. A resolution is required to be passed by Council that appoints committee members to both the "for" and "against" committee writing statements for the Voters' Pamphlet. Sage Jones, the petition sponsor, indicated that she would like to serve as the chair on the Pro writing committee. She expects two other names to be delivered to Council's office by the end of the day. Gene Knutson / Dan Hammill moved approval of Sage Jones to the Pro writing committee. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. Lisa Anderson / Gene Knutson moved approval of Jim Henderson, Bret Beaupain, and Jon Neville to the Against writing committee. Lisa Anderson / Gene Knutson amended the motion to include Jim Henderson to serve as the chair of the Against writing committee. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. 23047 3. A Resolution Related to Initiative 2021-02, Which Concerns the Use of p. 9 Facial Recognition Technology and Predictive Policing Technology Michael Lilliquist / Gene Knutson moved to appoint Sage Jones as the chair to the Pro writing committee and engage in further correspondence to appoint the other two names before the end of the day. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. Gene Knutson / Dan Hammill moved to appoint Phyllis McKee, David Charleston, and Sean Brogan to the Against writing committee. Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 2 August 2, 2021  Gene Knutson / Dan Hammill moved to amend the motion to appoint Phylliss McKee as the chair to the Against writing committee. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. Daniel Hammill / Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval after the names have been finalized and added to the resolution. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. 23048 4. A Resolution Related to Initiative 2021-03, Which Concerns Recipients p. 13 Using City Funds to Discourage Unionization Efforts Dan Hammill / Hollie Huthman moved to approve Sage Jones, as the chair to the Pro writing committee, with two other names to be provided to Council by end of day. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. Dan Hammill / Gene Knutson moved to appoint Dan Dunne as the chair of the Against writing committee and appoint Dave Onkels to the Against writing committee, and the third name to be determined. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. Michael Lilliquist / Gene Knutson moved to table the resolution and come back before Council at a later time for further determination. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. Daniel Hammill / Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval of the resolution with confirmation of the name to be added to the Pro and Against writing committee. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. 23049 5. A Resolution Related to Initiative 2021-04, Which Concerns Employee p. 17 Rights for Hourly-Wage Employees and Gig Workers Michael Lilliquist / Hollie Huthman moved to recommend approval of the resolution with the names proposed during discussion. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. Lisa Anderson / Dan Hammill moved to approve Sage Jones as the chair of the Pro writing committee and identify two other names to serve on the committee. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. Dan Hammill / Hollie Huthman moved to approve Chelsie Acton, Kerri Longergan-Dreke and Dave Onkels as the Chair of the Against writing committee. Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 3 August 2, 2021  Lisa Anderson requested Sarah Rothenbuhler to be added to the Against writing committee because she has experience in the construction industry. Michael Lilliquist added that because Dave Onkels is already appointed as a chair to a writing committtee, perhaps it is best that Sarah Rothenbuhler be added to the Against writing committee. Dan Hammill / Lisa Anderson amended the motion to appoint Chelsie Acton to serve as the chair to the Against writing committee, with Kerri Longergan - Dreke, and Sarah Rothenbuhler serving on the committee. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. 23050 6. A Resolution Appointing Committees to Prepare Statements For and p. 21 Against a Proposed Charter Amendment to Reduce the Number of Signatures Required to Amend the Charter by the Petition Method Michael Lilliquist indicated that he would like to join the Pro writing statement committee. He is offering this service as a private citizen and not as a representative of the City Council. James Erb, Assistant City Attorney, noted that the Auditor's office prefers that a municipality should indicate by a statement that Council supports the proposed measures. Council President noted that due to the passage of Resolution 2021- 15 last month, which states that the Council proposed an amendment to Article XIII, Section 2 of the Charter, that statement should serve as support. Council President indicated that Council supports the measure. Lisa Anderson / Gene Knutson moved to appoint Michael Lilliquist, as the chair, and Andrew Reding, and Cindy Madigan to write the Pro statements on the Committee. MOTION CARRIED 5-0-2, Pinky Vargas excused, and Michael Lilliquist recused. Gene Knutson / Hollie Huthman moved to recommend approval of the resolution with committee names identified to serve on Pro committee and made a formal request in both to solicit volunteers to sit on the Against committee. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. 23051 7. A Resolution Appointing Committees to Prepare Statements For and p. 24 Against a Proposed Charter Amendment to Reduce the Number of Signatures Required to Propose an Initiative Lisa Anderson / Gene Knutson moved to appoint Michael Lilliquist as the Chair, Andrew Reding, and Cindy Madigan to the Pro committee writing a statement in favor of the charter amendment. Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 4 August 2, 2021  MOTION CARRIED 5-0-2, Pinky Vargas excused, and Michael Lilliquist recused. The City Council did not receive any persons looking to write in opposition of this measure. Daniel Hammill / Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval with the inclusion of the names to be added later to the Council office. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. 23072 8. Letter to State Officials in Response to House Bill 1310 p. 27 Dan Hammill expressed concerns about HB 1310, especially with urban levels of service provision. He spoke with both State Representatives Alex Ramel and Sharon Shewmake. After speaking with them he decided to withdraw the letter. He feels that concerns are being heard. Legislators would have to go into a Special Session and that is unlikely. Michael Lilliquist would like to focus on improving the crisis response system to meet the needs. 23073 9. Work Session: Council Discussion Regarding Video Platform Options p. 29 Marty Mulholland, I.T. Director, provided an overview of the process for how YouTube is working with our meetings. She reviewed the current issue as well as the challenges and action steps to follow. The current issue is based on YouTube's policy that violated their terms of service. There are two accounts. One is the City/BTV account that has fifteen years of video content as well as the BTV Livestream that is provided. The second is the City’s Meetings account. This account is where the Council meetings are integrated (by Committee) with agendas since January of 2018. They are also livestreamed during meetings. YouTube has a "strike" system. Meaning if there are three strikes or violations, warnings are issued before they may remove the account entirely. Because of that, the City risks removal of content and library access to meetings if more strikes are issued due to violations of their terms of service, meaning "medical misinformation" is discussed during a Council meeting. Remedies that were discussed include the following: 1) platform change 2) request clarification on the recent policy amendment issued by YouTube 3) add content to meetings which include providing a COVID-19 report during Council meetings (City would insert content, provides medical information Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 5 August 2, 2021  based on Public Health Department's guidance to counter comments made during the Public Comment period). 4) change the public comment period Janice Keller, Communications Director, has reached out to contacts at YouTube to gain clarification on their policy, but has only received form responses. Council Members discussed options and made suggestions. Gene Knutson / Hollie Huthman moved to maintain the City's YouTube presence in lieu of exploring other video options. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. 23074 10. Work Session: Council Discussion Regarding Public Comment Options p. 30 Options to hold Public Comment were discussed. Gene Knutson feels that the Council should have a Town Hall type meetings in Council Chambers, but not televise it so that it could provide a platform to constituents to be heard by Council. Council Members agreed they like the idea. 11. Approval of City Council Committee and/or Special Meeting Minutes Hollie Huthman / Lisa Anderson moved approval of the Committee Meeting minutes of July 26, 2021. MOTION CARRIED 6-0-1, Pinky Vargas excused. 12. Old/New Business None. Two items were presented for Executive Session. Committee of the Whole moved into Executive Session at 3:32 PM for approximately 45 minutes for the following items: 1. Potential Property Acquisition 2. Litigation: Lev v. City of Bellingham Adjournment Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 6 August 2, 2021  Council President Stone recovened the Committee of the Whole to adjourn at 5:03 PM. Committee of the Whole Minutes Page 7 August 2, 2021