City Council - Special Meeting

City of Bellingham City Council Special Meeting Minutes October 24, 2022, 1:00 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 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA, unless otherwise noted. Call to Order Council President Stone called the Special Budget Meeting to order at 1pm. Roll Call Present: Council President Hannah Stone, First Ward Council Member Hollie Huthman, Second Ward Council Member Daniel Hammill, Third Ward Council Member Edwin H. "Skip" Williams, Fourth Ward Council Member Lisa Anderson, Fifth Ward Council Member Michael Lilliquist, Sixth Ward Council Member Kristina Michele Martens, At Large 23491 1. Budget Work Session p. 3 Don Burdick, ITSD Director, provided an overview of the 2021-2022 Department Achievements and outlined the proposed 2023-2024 budget. Budget highlights include:  Organizational changes realigning support services with FTE’s in management & direct technical support.  Adding systems resiliency and security through 24/7/365 monitoring and vulnerability detection.  Addition of one FTE of a Chief Information Security Officer to lead strategic planning, policy development and threat detention operations.  Staffing changes to provide more resources toward data analytics, representations and management.  Staffing changes to provide high-level project management/business process improvements.  Network and server replacements and improvements to support resiliency and security of our technical operations. Council Members asked questions. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 1 October 24, 2022  Elizabeth Monahan, HR Director, provided an overview of the 2021-2022 Department Achievements and outlined the proposed 2023-2024 budget. Budget highlights include:  Additional funding to increase recruitment and training focused on accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Adding a Classification position to support the growing needs of the City.  Moving the self-insured health care plan to a fully unbundled model in order to take advantage of the market and negotiate lower fixed costs based on the plan administration and maintain strong benefit packages. Council Members asked questions. Alan Marriner, City Attorney, provided an overview of the 2021-2022 Department Achievements and outlined the proposed 2023-2024 budget. Budget highlights include:  No change in FTEs.  8% increase in budget is due to higher labor and insurance costs. Council Members asked questions. Andy Asbjornsen, Finance Director, provided an overview of the 2021-2022 Department Achievements and outlined the proposed 2023-2024 budget. Budget highlights include:  Transition City purchasing and contracting function from Public Works to Finance Department.  Implement new utility billing and point of sale systems to provide for an improved customer experience and increased reporting capabilities. Council Members asked questions. Request was made to share electronic copies of budget one-pagers with City Council. The 2022 Budget Work Session meetings continue from 1:00pm-3:00pm at City Hall on the following dates:  October 31, 2022 (Police, Planning, Museum)  November 7, 2022 (Mayor, Council, Municipal Court) Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:38pm. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 2 October 24, 2022