City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City of Bellingham Committee Of The Whole Minutes January 10, 2022, 2:45 PM Mayor: Seth Fleetwood Contact: (360) 778-8100, mayorsoffice@cob.org Council Members: Hannah Stone, Hollie Huthman, Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Daniel Hammill, Edwin H. “Skip” Williams, Lisa Anderson, https://cob.org/council Michael Lilliquist and Kristina Michele Martens All meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers at Legislative Assistant: Nalini Margaitis 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA, unless otherwise noted. Call to Order Roll Call Council President Stone recognized that all seven Councilmembers were present at this meeting. 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 Hollie Huthman, Daniel Hammill, Edwin H. "Skip" Williams, Lisa Anderson, Michael Lilliquist, Kristina Michele Martens 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. 23223 1. Update on the City's Storm Response p. 3 Staff provided an update to the City’s storm response. Eric Johnston, Public Works Director, shared that the City stockpiles nearly 800 tons of salt and that the City has used roughly 85% of that with the snow and ice over the past two weeks. The City owns seven full-sized snow plows and two smaller pieces of equipment, and those trucks were running 24/7 during the storm. The City uses a rubber tip snow plow (not a steel tip – this causes damage to the roadway), which Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 1 January 10, 2022  does not remove ice as well as a steel tip. Salt works well, unless it is below 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The City received hundreds of requests for broken water lines (typical week timeframe is about twenty requests). Nicole Oliver, Parks Director, shared that staff came in to open restrooms where they could. Padden was inaccessible and one of the first times that City staff was unable to open the bathrooms, due to icy road conditions. Oliver shared photos of the storm. The fountain formed an ice dome (no bubbles, just ice). Lake Padden froze over, but not solidly. The pool remains closed. Many pipes froze that had never frozen before, including Whatcom Falls Park upper restroom, Woodstock Gates house, Squalicum Creek dog park, Maritime Heritage Park restroom, Bloedel-Donovan HVAC failure, and water loss and snow closure on the golf course. Oliver shared that there is a Yeti Scavenger Hunt going on now through January 24th. For more information, please visit: www.cob.org/playbook. Mayor Seth Fleetwood provided an update on the warming shelter that was staffed by City staff. The day warming shelter was held on the 27th of December in the library lecture room and the overnight portion was in the garden room of the civic building. The warming center opened at 9AM and closed at 7PM, at which time people would move over to the overnight site (from 7PM until 9AM). Base Camp was in operations, and Northwest Youth Services were operated at Civic Field, never exceeding occupancy. The warming shelter was operational for seven days, serving 30-40 people on a regular basis. He expressed his gratitude for those who showed up to volunteer [16:11-17:46 of the Council media, www.meetings.cob.org). Erika Lautenbach, Director of the Whatcom County Health Department, provided an update on the Isolation Quarantine Facility. IQF has been capped at 55. Staff has been stretched to assist more than 55. In partnership with the City, a second facility (isolation only, only people who are COVID-positive), at Civic Field will open on 1/11/2022. Luckenbach will provide an update on the current COVID-19 situation during the evening meeting. Tara Sundin, Interim Planning Director, shared that Northwest Youth Services is moving to Maritime Heritage Park at 10:00AM on 1/10/2022. Sundin also provided an update on extreme weather shelter and warming sites. Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 2 January 10, 2022  Presentation during Committee. Information Only. 23231 2. Mayoral Proclamation and Council Resolution in Support of Voting p. 4 Rights Skip Williams proposed that both the Mayoral Proclamation and the Resolution are sent to the following congressional representatives: Maria Cantwell, Patricia Murray, Rick Larsen, and Suzan DelBene. Skip Williams / Lisa Anderson moved approval of the resolution urging the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, and directing the proclamation to the Washington State Congressional Delegation. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 3. Approval of City Council Committee and/or Special Meeting Minutes Councilmember Lilliquist requested that the Council actions be added to the December 13, 2021 committee meeting minutes. The Council will vote on these updated minutes on January 24, 2022. 4. Old/New Business Adjournment Committee Of The Whole Minutes Page 3 January 10, 2022