City Council - Special Meeting

City of Bellingham City Council Special Meeting Minutes 09/09/2015, 6:00 PM Mayor Kelli Linville Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Council Members Jack Weiss, Gene Knutson, Daniel www.cob.org/council Hammill, Pinky Vargas, Terry Bornemann, Michael Lilliquist All meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers at and Roxanne Murphy 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA, unless otherwise noted. Call to Order Roll Call Gene Knutson Michael Lilliquist Pinky Vargas Dan Hammill Terry Bornemann Jack Weiss and Roxanne Murphy excused Committee Of The Whole 20959 1. Discussion of City of Bellingham Proposed Jail Facility Use Agreement City Attorney Peter Ruffatto and Mayor Kelli Linville presented the proposal that was previously put forward to the County Executive in June 2015, which includes a few revisions. At the last Council meeting, Council asked staff to create a proposal. In October, “all in” is what was proposed: 1/10 for existing jail and 2/10 for the new jail. That, plus additional bed costs, would be difficult for the City to fund. The County Council, with a majority vote, accepted the Jail Facility Use Agreement. The Mayor reiterated that she believes we need a new jail. She feels that it is unsafe and does not adequately allow for mental health programs and diversion. City Attorney Peter Ruffatto reported that this current draft before them now was not written to include the small cities that already signed an agreement. He noted that in Section 2, there is a provision that if the agreement is signed and the ballot measure does not pass, there will be an extension of current jail services. Mr. Ruffatto highlighted some changes as follows: Section 3 - Revised to read 15 percent of the cost of the capital rather than a set amount. The overriding principle is equity-based. Bed capacity is the driving need, not an inadequacy of booking facilities. Given these factors, the City felt comfortable going to 15 percent, which is higher than the City's base use historically. Capital costs will be paid consistent with bond documents. Section 5- A closed capital fund trying to separate capital and operational with lump sum payments except for some entities who will pay on a per diem amount, such as Lummi 1 Nation and Dept. of Corrections. The City is forgoing the ability to levy, but can levy after capital is paid off. It went from $97 million to $91 million. The sally port ($6 million) is not to be included since it does not serve the City. Terry Bornemann began by thanking the staff for listening and for crafting this document that deals with many of the concerns previously expressed by Council. Dan Hammill pointed out that the figure of 521 beds is still in this document. The alternatives that the criminal justice system will be pursuing should result in a lower jail population. Ideally, the size of the jail will be determined by the success of diversion programs. This proposal as is does not speak to equity. He would support a smaller size, through beds or dollar amount. Terry Bornemann shares concerns about size, which ties in with County Council Member Carl Weimer's memo. The City is not locked into a number. The City Council should come up with a basic agreement to send to County now that sets basic financial terms, then it can support the levy with the caveat that the City will continue negotiating the proper sizing of the jail. Peter Ruffatto said this is possible-- to insert a negotiation caveat. Michael Lilliquist spoke about an "all in" proposal. He would like the all in proposal to be put forward again. He said that a 450-person jail was justified by the current data, which would cost approximately $80-85 million. He said that our fair share of the jail is 15 percent. Terry Bornemann said that the Mayor already proposed this to County. If the City negotiates bed size, that could free up money to fund task force programs. He is supporting the one proposed by staff tonight. Pinky Vargas asked about the possibility of grants for capital costs. Brian Henshaw replied that grants could be a possibility, but there is not a lot of funding for jails any longer; he is not optimistic. Council Member Vargas would like to change the verbiage to reflect a smaller jail. She believes 15 percent is a fair number. Mayor Linville said that this proposal separates the capital costs from the operating costs. Some operating costs are fixed, however, and will not be affected by jail size. Terry Bornemann/Pinky Vargas moved to approve the Mayor's agreement, modifying page 10 to read "450 beds," and send it to the County for their consideration, and to direct staff to bring this forward at Monday's Council meeting. 4-1 MOTION CARRIED. Lilliquist opposed. Adjournment at 7:05 PM 2