City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City of Bellingham Committee Of The Whole Minutes November 8, 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 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. 23000 1. Update on Implementation of Interim Housing Strategies (i.e. Shelter) p. 3 for those Experiencing Homelessness Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 1 November 8, 2021  Tara Sundin, Planning and Community Development Manager, provided Council with an update on winter shelter opportunities. The updates included the following eight shelter options (with strategies and on progress made to build additional capacity since last winter): Tiny Homes - Gardenview, a 36-unit tiny house village (30 by this Winter), began accepting guests the last week of October, 2021. As of November 1, 11 guests have moved into the village with more expected every day. Referrals are from the Whatcom Homeless Service Center and Road2Home. This village, located on City property and funded primarily by the City of Bellingham, is operated by the Low-Income Housing Institute with case management provided by Road2Home. Funding is included in the Community Development Division’s budget for 2021/2022. The target demographic for this village are seniors and medically fragile. Youth Shelter - Northwest Youth Services has purchased a large home to relocate its shelter for minors, known as the PAD. The City used CDBG program income to assist the NWYS and the State in purchasing this home, as well as utilizing Housing Levy funds for minor rehabilitation work, and providing short- term bridge financing to be repaid by funds from WA State Commerce. This project is currently on hold as an appeal on the land use permit was received by the City of Bellingham. Young Adult Shelter - The current PAD shelter space, located on State Street adjacent to 22 North, is planned to be converted to a shelter for up City of Bellingham 210 Lottie Street Bellingham, WA 98225 - 4 - 2 to 16 young adults. NWYS received funding from the State for the remodel. Staff will work with NWYS on operational needs – operations is currently unfunded. This project is currently on hold as the permit for relocation of the PAD has been appealed. For this upcoming winter season, NWYS will operate a young adult shelter at the City’s Civic Field locker room. YWCA - the Y has added 10 additional beds for senior women. 5 were added last year with another 5 additional for this winter season. Referrals come from the Whatcom Homeless Service Center. Motel Stays for Families with Children – City and County are utilizing federal funds to extend the motel stay program and are allocating funding to support approximately 70 families throughout the year. Case Management and Rental Assistance – Lydia Place and Opportunity Council have received increased funding for CM and RA from the City and County in order to create more capacity for additional families in need. As federal dollars Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 2 November 8, 2021  go away in a couple of years, local funding will be required to continue this level of service. Interim Housing for Families with Children – The City, County, Lydia Place and OC, with financial support from the Mt Baker Foundation, are currently scoping and conducting a feasibility analysis for a purpose-built facility for families experiencing homelessness. Funding would then shift (or be reduced) from motel stays to operating and providing services to the families. Capital and operations currently unfunded but both the City and the County have identified ARPA funds as one potential capital source. Low-Barrier Shelter Expansion – As of October 17, Christ the King (CTK) began offering nightly shelter service at 1013 Holly and will continue to do so through March as long as volunteer capacity remains strong. CTK hired staff to operate the shelter with the support of trained volunteers. No financial support from the City. With 1013 Holly and Base Camp, our community has 240 low-barrier shelter beds this winter season. On Saturday, October 30, approximately 58 beds were available and on Sunday, October 31, 46 beds were available for additional guests. Information Only. 23162 2. 2022 Legislative Objectives p. 8 Brian Heinrich, City Administrator, presented the 2022 legislative objects (joint objectives of the City of Bellingham, Port of Bellingham, and Whatcom County). McBride Public Affairs wil continue to represent the City in Olympia.The objectives included the following: Capital Budget Priorities: preserve MTCA funding for environmental cleanup projects and brownfield redevelopment efforts, increase funding for countywide broadband infrastructure, and provide funding for the proposed Families with Children Shelter. Transportation Budget Priorities: advocate for new transportation funding package, support the 2015 Connecting Washington transportation projects slated to receive future state funds, and increase state funding to remove fish passage barriers. Economic Development: extend the .09% local sales and use tax for public facilities (since 1997, Whatcom County’s Economic Development Investment Program has stimulated private investment and facilitated the expansion, retention and attraction of businesses and increased employment opportunities). Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 3 November 8, 2021  Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability: continued fiscal and policy support for energy efficiency and clean energy transition and development, and sustainable funding enhancements to DNR’s Derelict Vessel Removal Program. Housing Affordability and Child Care: advocate for policies and funding that increase housing affordability measures, provide prudent flexibility in County Investment Pool Funds to invest in Affordable Housing projects, and increase and stabilize funding for childcare facilities and operation, including subsidies. Fiscal Sustainability: protect and enhance local revenue sharing options and preserve shared tax revenue for local governments. Criminal Justice and Social Services Funding: support funding for criminal and civil justice assistance and alternatives, increase funding for behavioral health services and homeless serving efforts, and improve upon legislation intended to address law enforcement response and access to behavioral health services. AWCs priorities include the following: ensure basic infrastructure funding, pass a transportation package, and protect Transportation Benefit District (TBD) funding authority. Brian Heinrich reminded the Council that this list is not exhaustive. Information only. 23163 3. A Resolution Setting the Dates and Times of the 2022 City Council p. 11 Meetings Daniel Hammill / Hollie Huthman moved to recommend approval to the calendar as presented in the packet. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. The 2022 City Council Calendar was presented and voted on by resolution. 23164 4. An Ordinance Amending the Bellingham Municipal Code to Exempt p. 15 Qualifying Non-Profit Cinemas from Admissions Tax Pinky Vargas / Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. The ordinance amends Bellingham Municipal Code 4.74 to exempt qualifying non-profit cinemas from the admissions tax. Qualifying cinemas consist of non- Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 4 November 8, 2021  profit cinemas exclusively engaged in or devoted to any religious, charitable, scientific, literary, educational, public or other like work. The admissions tax is a 5% tax levied on admission charges to an event or establishment. It is collected for the City by the business charging the admission, similar to the sales tax. City code currently exempts most non-profit activities from the tax. This ordinance extends that exemption to non-profit motion picture screenings. The Finance Department estimates this change will reduce General Fund revenues by $30,000 to $40,000 under normal economic activity levels. All admissions taxes go to the General Fund. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 23150 5. Budget Work Session p. 18 Deputy Finance Director, Forrest Longman, introduced IT Director, Mayor’s Office, Communications, City Attorney, and Library Director as they each addressed mid-biennium adjustments in their department budget. IT (made up of five divisions) is adding 3 technical focused FTEs to include: a library technology infrastructure specialist, fourth person to the network operations team, and systems process analyst (applications division). Alan Marriner, attorney, discussed changes in the litigation fund. Due to insurance changes (general liability policy), self-insured retention (deductible) moved from $1million to $2million and premiums tripled. Communications and community relations: 3.75 FTEs (1 with the Bellingham Police Department – Public Information Officer, 1 in the Planning Department, focusing on communications and community relations), 1 assistant communications director in the Mayor’s Office, and 1 part-time position in Public Works to focus on communications and outreach. Library Director, Recebba Judd, shared that the proposed changes would include $30,000 to the library materials budget (ebooks, digital audio, and streaming services), $24,000 increase to fully fund the annual cost for 75 wifi hotspots (increase of 20 from current count), $9,500 to fully fund the annual cost of two digital platforms (my libro and mecca S - digital archive platform), $6,000 to fund the custodial service of the Barkley Branch (assuming in 2022), 2.5 FTE in the library assistant team (increasing 4 positions within the team to 25 hours), and .25 (10 hours per week on the clerk team - splitting 40 hour Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 5 November 8, 2021  position to two 25-hour positions), gift fund increase ($100,000 spending authority). Council discussion lead to the topic of a salary commission. Brian Heinrich shared that this would be included in the Nov 22 packet. 6. Approval of City Council Committee and/or Special Meeting Minutes 7. Old/New Business Council President Hannah Stone would like to bring forward an agenda item before the end of the year for a preliminary discussion about the Council Office resources and staffing. Creation of a Climate Action Fund Mayor Fleetwood discussed the importance of climate in the Bellingham community and reminded everyone that COP26 is currently occurring in Glasgow (leaders from around the world are discussing and putting in place action plans to take meaningful steps to address the most critical challenge of our time). Mayor Fleetwood requested everyone join him in beginning an important conversation in the City of Bellingham around moving forward to create a Climate Action Fund (a priority in the existing Climate Action Plan and an opportunity to meet our own climate ambitions in the City of Bellingham). Mayor Fleetwood reminded everyone that the 2018 Climate Action Plan addresses emission reduction targets in the City of Bellingham, which was amended to incorporate work of the Climate Action Task Force. Mayor Fleetwood stated that we must do our bit (just like governments at every level throughout the globe must be) to reduce emissions so that we can stay below 1.5 degrees warming. There is a need to take serious climate action in our community during this consequential decade. The IPCC recently came out and indicated that we have about 6.5 more years before we exceed the climate budget that will lead to dire effects throughout the world. Mayor Fleetwood mentioned the necessity to dramatically increase the rate at which we meet our climate ambitions. The Mayor is asking staff to explore how the City can set up a dedicated funding measure (via commercial buildings, residential buildings, transportation, etc.) to adapt and be more resilient to the changes that are already happening. Mayor Fleetwood concluded by requesting that the City support this important work of exploring an initiative (eventually a ballot measure within the first half of the following year). At the next meeting, Mayor Fleetwood will request Council to entertain a motion to authorize outside Counsel to assist with the Climate Action Levy and related spending programs. Pinky Vargas followed up with a request that Mayor Fleetwood identify where the funding would go. Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 6 November 8, 2021 Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:35 PM. Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 7 November 8, 2021