City Council - Special Meeting

City of Bellingham City Council Special Meeting: Public Comment Session Minutes December 27, 2021, 7:00 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 Council President Stone opened the Public Comment Session at 7:00PM. Roll Call Present: Council President Hannah Stone, First Ward Council Member Hollie Huthman, At-Large Mayor’s Office, Janice Keller Announcement of Upcoming Public Hearings Bellingham City Council meets all requirements of the State of Washington Open Meetings Act. Throughout the holiday, we have been monitoring weather conditions and shelter availability so that additional options can be made available as needed for our unsheltered community members. We are fortunate that we increased shelter capacity in the past year and that has served us well. Availability remains in our shelter system, including at Base Camp, its drop-in center, and the Northwest Youth Services site at Civic Field. On Monday, December 27, in light of the extreme weather conditions, we opened additional daytime and overnight warm spaces that are anticipated to remain through the current period of severe weather: o The Lecture Room in the downstairs of the Central Library is available 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today (12/27/21) and during the cold days ahead, as a daytime warming space. o An overnight warming space opens at 7:00 p.m. tonight (12/27/21) in the Garden Room at the Civic Building (322 N. Commercial) for individuals who are unable to City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 1 December 27, 2021  utilize existing shelters, when the daytime warming space at the Central Library closes. It will stay open overnight until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow (12/28/21) and during the cold nights ahead. o The Central Library daytime warming space will be open again 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 28, as well as in the days ahead as temperatures remain extremely low. For warming space schedule updates, please check this City webpage: https://cob.org/services/housing/homeless/winter-actions. We also will continue to make shelter availability known through the Homeless Service Center, the HOT team, the shelter hotline at 360-788-7983, to various service and advocacy organizations, and via City and County social media. There were no upcoming Public Hearings reported. Public Comment Session There was a minimum of 20 people in attendance at the Public Comment Session. Attendees who wished to address the Council were given 3 minutes to share their comments. A total of 15 attendees elected to speak publicly. Included below is a list of speakers and a summary of the topic(s) addressed during their comment periods: 1. Dena Jensen – land acknowledgment, importance of communications related to warming spaces, limited options available, be clear and wide spread with communications, helpful to offer scheduling information in advance and have warming spaces available for an extended number of days to allow for outreach, sign-in requirements are unclear, there is no information on the front page of the COB website regarding shelter options, important to consult with experts and those engaged with outreach efforts to provide pointers regarding the information that needs to be shared with those in need, the information on the hotline was said quickly, it is unclear what amount of belongings guests are permitted to bring to the warming spaces and guests need to know limitations in advance to make necessary preparations. 2. Misty Flowers – hope there is no bullying or discrimination regarding vaccines at the warming spaces, there need to be warming spaces available for everyone, thank you to the city clerk Elisabeth Oakes who served the community well and always had respect for everyone, she did not receive a farewell and wish there could be kind words said about Elisabeth. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 2 December 27, 2021  3. Susan Prosser (iPhone) – request to open council chambers and have public comment sessions available during regular council meetings when all city council members are present, request to record public comment sessions, farewell to Elisbeth Oakes who needs to know that we appreciate her, regarding the current challenges related to COVID restrictions it would be better to meet in person. 4. Kainui Rapaport – the current temperature outside is 0 degrees with the windchill and 12 degrees without the windchill factor, thank you for sharing information about the warming centers, hope that people will volunteer, volunteered at the Depot Market last year and it takes a while for community members to learn about available spaced, language access is needed for outreach efforts, disappointment that the warming centers opened so late, resources are limited after people responding to the flood, works the night shift as a nurse at the hospital, new opportunities needed. 5. Ken Domorod – speaking as a private citizen, recent CDC announcement is good news that the required quarantine time reduced from 10 days to 5 days, people who are more than 6 months past their second Pfizer or Moderna dose and those who are more than 2 months past their Johnson & Johnson dose are considered to be unvaccinated (shared link in the chat - https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation- quarantine-guidance.html), question regarding how will Mayor Fleetwood respond to the new information from the CDC, need sound reason and compassion, the goal post keeps moving, CDC Dr. Walensky highlights need to establish reasonable guidelines for the end of the pandemic, concern regarding mental health impacts for children who have a 99.1% survival rate, call for reasonable reaction, call to reopen council chambers, wishes for a Happy New Year. 6. Melissa Wisener (Gragg) (on the line with Kevin Burke) – there is no information out there, helped to get the warming sites set up, press releases are not accessible to those in need, along with Markis doing the best they can but need additional outreach services on the street because it takes 2-3 days for people to know that they are not banned and there are spaces available for them, you can drive through yelling out your window if you don’t want to interact directly, contact SOS to volunteer, weather is not survivable, thank you to Lisa Anderson for showing up at the library warming center. 7. Kevin Burke – none of the council members come or watch public comment, none of the council members listen, it is a mockery to not have public comment recorded or during council meetings. 8. Doris Smith – apocalyptic time due to climate change but there is no concern or talk about that, what is the cause of homelessness? how many of the people are on drugs or addicted? need rehabilitation programs, why don’t people have meaningful work or hope? dollars and City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 3 December 27, 2021  financial trade equal wealth instead of people using their minds, need for higher forms of nuclear energy, people will go to Mars and yet a large part of population are depressed. 9. Jen Durant – Happy Holidays, extreme weather is the focus, thank you for the update, thank you to Lisa Anderson for volunteering, many would rather believe what they hear on the news rather than peer reviews, the government is not being honest, overwhelming data regarding increased deaths, mandates regarding vaccines, masks and other medical devices while under an emergency is against the law, kids have a 0.001% chance of dying of COVID, vaccine is more dangerous than the virus but the narrative being pushed is to get the vaccine, look forward to meetings in person, stay safe and warm. 10. Natalie Chavez – thank you for listening, thank God 2021 is almost over, division and segregation has grown creating tension, stress and division, people’s behavior is at its worst and tolerance is at a minimum, witnessed at Village Books, WECU, and the Co-op where an employee named Jared was harassing shoppers not wearing a mask and didn’t want to have a discussion or look at exemption paperwork, brainwashing by the government, discussed COVID-19 PCR testing and 37 cycle threshold amplification, do you believe that we had a pandemic in Whatcom County? 2020 mortality rate unavailable although the WA State DOH has that data it is not available on the dashboard, nonsense because we have seen lowest mortality rate in decades when the rate should have doubled or tripled but that is not the case. 11. Sara Rose – COB has been in a state of crisis for almost 2 years, people have lost their businesses, their livelihood and loved ones, government incompetence in connection with unlawful and criminal acts of coercion and firing, the council is too tired or too busy to listen to public comment, violation of WA state constitution and U.S. constitution to fire employees based on illegal mandates, do you believe people believe these lies, must keep chambers closed due to totalitarianism and have to fire employees due to totalitarianism, need courage to open chambers without restrictions and restore jobs, public employees who re using resources for unlawful means should be fired. 12. Melissa Bird – homeless advocate, encouraged warming sites were brought online so quickly but as a community can we plan in a better way, need a comprehensive plan in place now for the future, thankful for the expansion of space this year, recommendation to partner with neighboring counties in the future and create a comprehensive plan together. 13. Enoch Mann – when will we reopen chambers and meet face to face? all of us are talking to you without feedback, nothing is working or getting better, all headed in the right direction, people with vaccine are getting COVID and spreading COVID to others so why aren’t they fired also, City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 4 December 27, 2021  makes no sense, the narrative and agenda are falling apart, ruining lives, stay defiant, Let’s Go Brandon. Duplicate Speaker (who had not used allotted time): Misty Flowers – there is no liability for vaccines, have met with Hannah before I know you are a mother and your care about our community, wish you would stand with us, disappointed that you have chosen this side of history. 14. Maya Morales – People First Bellingham, contributing comments on behalf of houseless neighbors, make sure no one freezes to death, word of hopefulness for new mobilization efforts, need plans in place further in advance, burn out on the part of partners and volunteers who try to bring things to fruition that then don’t work out, lots of love and time needed to mobilize quickly, need better, smoother, and more equitable balance between officials and volunteers, need volunteers to be heard regarding their suggestions about what is needed and what works, stay safe and warm. Adjournment There being no further comments, the session adjourned at 7:56PM. “God Bless America” (Misty Flowers) Additional speaker arrived late, and President Stone offered them an opportunity to share comments with those still present. 15. Markis Stidham – convenient timing, on the way home after risking life and limb, grateful for city and county volunteers, SOS available to help with outreach to prepare people for the storms ahead, keep working together. There being no further comments, President Stone closed the session at 8:04PM. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 5 December 27, 2021