City Council - Regular Meeting

CITY OF LYNDEN CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING July 21, 2025 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Scott Korthuis called to order the July 21, 2025 regular session of the Lynden City Council at 7:00 p.m. in the city council chambers. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE ROLL CALL Members present: Councilors Gary Bode, Lee Beld, Gary Vis, Brent Lenssen, Nick Laninga, Kyle Strengholt, and Mark Wohlrab. Absences: None. Staff present: Community Development Director Heidi Gudde, Finance Director Laura Scholl, Fire Chief Mike Noonan, Parks Director Brent DeRuyter, Police Chief Steve Taylor, Public Works Director Jan Hutchings, City Clerk Pam Brown, and City Administrator John Williams, City Attorney, Luke Phifer and City Attorney Bob Carmichael. OATH OF OFFICE - None. SUMMARY REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS - None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Councilor Vis moved and Councilor Bode seconded, to approve the July 7, 2025 regular council minutes. Motion approved on 7-0 vote. CITIZEN COMMENT Cynthia Ripke-Kutsagoitz, Lynden • Veterans Day events • Flag information • POWs 2. CONSENT Berthusen Tenant Lease Agreement - Perez (August 1, 2025-Julv 31, 2026) The house at 8837 Berthusen Road continues to be desired by Abner and Abbey Drury-Perez and they have agreed to lease the house for a period of one year. The rental shall continue to be $1,300 per month with the addition of the leasehold excise tax required for a total of $1,466.92. The Parks Department, city legal counsel, and the City Administrator reviewed the 300 4th Street, Lynden, WA 98264 www.lyndenwa.org Page 1 of 6  CITY OF LYNDEN CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING lease agreement before the previous term and recommend bringing it to full council for approval Landfill Property Lease On December 1, 2018, the City entered into a ten-year lease agreement with Carlos Becarra, operating as MMS Holdings LLC, for exclusive use of the City Landfill Property. During the ensuing years, MMS Holdings paid $53,803 in rents and in-kind services to the City, and sought no active use of the property until now. MMS Holdings is currently in arrears in the amount oftwo-years' rent, not including 2025. On May 26, 2023, MMS Holdings changed their name to Oracle Investment Group, LLC and sought to remedy the arrears to activate their use of the property. Public Works sought a new lease agreement, clarifying uses, adding an indexed escalation, providing a clear off-ramp should Oracle Investments be unable to make future payments, and requiring immediate payment of all arrears by in-kind site improvements. The term remains ten years. RES-25-1126, Request to Cancel Check RCW 39.56.040 states that any registered or interest bearing warrants of any municipal corporation not presented within one year of the date of their call, or other warrants not presented within one year of their issue, shall be canceled by passage of a resolution of the governing body of the municipal corporation, and upon notice of the passage of such resolution the auditor of the municipal corporation and the treasurer of the municipal corporation shall transfer all records of such warrants so as to leave the funds as is such warrants had never been issued; and RCW 35A.40.020 provides code cities with the ability to pay claims via warrant or check and additionally states: "Wherever in this title, reference is made to warrants, such term shall include checks where authorized by this section." Check Number 33079 has not and will not be presented for payment; and should be canceled. ORD-25-1710, Amending Annexation Area and Ordinance of the SW Lynden Annexation On October 7, 2024, the City Council approved the annexation of approximately 279 acres referred to as the SW Lynden Annexation. Annexation of portions of Flynn Road were included in this action. However, it was later discovered that another 43,419 square feet of Flynn Road also needed to be added to the action as it had not been previously incorporated through the 2018 Stuit Annexation. RCW 35A.21.210 authorizes the governing bodies of a county and a code city located within that county to revise the city's corporate boundary to fully include or exclude a portion of public right-of-way. Whatcom County has agreed to approve, by resolution, the revision of the City's 300 4th Street, Lynden, WA 98264 www.lyndenwa.org Page 2 of 6  CITY OF LYNDEN CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING corporate boundaries to include this portion of the Flynn Road right-of-way. State reviewers have also asked that the final ordinance be amended to include specific language "Now therefore, the City Council of the City of Lynden ordains as follows . . .". Staff now seeks to amend Ordinance 24-1692 which approved the SW Lynden Annexation by: (1) adding the requested language; and (2) including most northern portion of Flynn Road on the map exhibit. ORD-25-1711, Amendina the Wea Annexation Map and Incorporatinci Omitted Languaae On July 1, 2024 the City Council approved the annexation of approximately 45.11 acres referred to as the Weg Annexation. The annexation action was reviewed by the WA State Office of Financial Management (OFM) and the WA State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). These agencies requested that the City amend the Weg Annexation ordinance to incorporate specific language that was omitted from the original ordinance, that being: "Now therefore, the City Council of the City of Lynden ordains as follows . . .". WSDOT also found that the legal description and the exhibit map did not match as the map inadvertently included a 75-foot strip of land along eh east side of the property that was not part of the Weg Annexation. Staff now seeks to amend the Ordinance 24-1687 which approved the Weg Annexation by: (1) adding the requested language; and (2) replacing the map exhibit. ORD-25-1712, Amending the Gosal Annexation to Incorporating Omitted Lancjuaae On March 3, 2025, the City Council approved the annexation of approximately 21.35 acres referred to as the Gosal Annexation. The annexation action was reviewed by the WA State Office of Financial Management (OFM) and the WA State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). These agencies requested that the City amend the Weg Annexation ordinance to incorporate specific language that was omitted from the original ordinance, that being: "Now therefore, the City Council of the City of Lynden ordains as follow". Staff now seeks to amend the Ordinance 25-1707 which approved the Gosal Annexation by: adding the requested language. ORD-25-1714, Amend LMC 3.28 Utility Occupation Tax Ordinance 25-1714 includes updates to Lynden's Municipal Code for the following changes: 1. Increases the tax base limit for amounts subject to tax on high volume users, as discussed in the City Council meeting on July 7th. Rates are as follows: - Currently the limit is $5,000 of monthly sales, with a reduced rate of 1% over the threshold. An additional limit for natural gas customers in excess of $50,000 in a month, reduced to 0.5% rate over the threshold. 300 4th Street, Lynden, WA 98264 www.lyndenwa.org Page 3 of 6  CITY OF LYNDEN CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING - Effective Sept 1, 2025 - raise the limit to $10,0000; with 5% over the threshold - Effective July 1, 2026 - raise the limit to $25,0000; with 5% over the threshold - Effective July 1, 2027 - raise the limit to $50,0000; with 5% over the threshold 2. Removes the requirement of a Utility to have an additional annual utility license on top of the standard Business license required to operate in Lynden. This requirement was deemed to be an unnecessary administrative burden due to licensing processes now available through the state Department of Revenue Business Licensing that the City participates in. 3. Provides clarity on when tax remittances are due and providing an option smaller utilities (i.e. telecommunication companies) to remit on an annual or quarterly basis to reduce administrative impacts. 4. Updates wording related to City-owned utility remittances to remove language that was no longer required due to technological and process improvements. Councilor Bode moved and Councilor Wohlrab seconded, to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion approved on 7-0 vote. 3. PUBLIC HEARING - None 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS ORD-25-1716, Guide Meridian Sewer Latecomers Assessment The City constructed approximately 900 linear feet of 8-inch sewer main along Front Street west of Guide Meridian, extending north along Guide Meridian to the AM/PM gas station, then crossing to the east side of the Guide. RCW 35.91.060 and LMC 13.28.180, authorize the City to establish an assessment reimbursement area, finance the costs associated with a utility system improvement, and become the sole beneficiary of reimbursements from future development. After hearing input from affected property owners and City Council during Public Hearings held April 7, 2025, May 5, 2025, May 19, 2025, and July 7, 2025, Public Works reviewed suggested alternatives against the legal basis for fair and equitable allocation of costs. On that basis, Council instructed Public Works to calculate property owner assessments using a methodology of 50% based on total lot area, and 50% based on street frontage, and to further discount the reimbursable amount. On that direction, with an additional 20% discount, the total reimbursable amount is $773,532. 300 4th Street, Lynden, WA 98264 www.lyndenwa.org Page 4 of 6  CITY OF LYNDEN CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING Mayor Korthuis re-opened the public hearing at 7:08 pm. Duane Scholten asked to be on record as to his opposition to Ordinance 25-1716, Guide Meridian Sewer Latecomers Assessment. After some discussion Mayor Korthuis closed the public hearing at 7:15 pm. Councilor Vis moved and Councilor Beld seconded, to adopt Ordinance 25-1716 to create a latecomer assessment for the Guide Meridian Sewer Project and authorize the mayor to sign. Motion approved on 7-0 vote. 5. NEW BUSINESS Amendment to Department of Enterprise Services Contract for Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade - Construction Change Order Proposal No. 3 (Amendment No. 5) modifies the existing contract between the City of Lynden and the Department of Enterprise Services authorizing construction funding in the amount of $23,873,665. This amount is the guaranteed maximum cost to complete all upgrades, including ten separately priced add-alternatives. It supplements previously authorized final design and early equipment procurements for a total contract amount of $28,584,211. Councilor Bode moved and Councilor Strengholt seconded, to approve the Department of Enterprise Services Change Order Proposal No. 3 for construction of the Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade and authorize the Mayor to sign the associated Change Order and Funding Authorization. Motion approved on 7-0 vote. 6. REPORTS Councilor Strengholt reviewed items discussed in the Finance Committee meeting held previously in the day. • Discussed presentation by Public Works director Hutchings. • Reviewed the items before Council this evening. The Finance Committee is planning to schedule an additional meeting either this week or next week with the understanding that the meetings will be scheduled for a longer period of time to accommodate the current and upcoming financial issues. Payroll Certificates (June 15, 2025 through June 28, 2025) Claims Listing (June 26, 2025 through July 16, 2025) Claims Check on Demand (June 1, 2025 through June 30, 2025) 300 4th Street, Lynden, WA 98264 www.lyndenwa.org Page 5 of 6 CITY OF LYNDEN C\JY COUNCIL MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING CouncilorVis reviewed items discussed in the Parks Committee meeting held previously in the day. • Due to current financial and budget constraints the City will have to respectfully ask that some generous donations be delayed because of the City's responsibility for the costs of insurance and maintenance of those donations. • Challenges with motorized bikes and electric scooters due to dangerous use of those vehicles on trails and sidewalks. Councilor Vis reported on the Razz Festival. This year some of the numbers were a bit down but all leaders in different divisions agreed that there were fewer issues, maybe due to the difference in numbers. It was a very successful community event. 7. EXECUTIVE SESSION Council did not hold an executive session. July 21, 2025 regular session of the Lynden city council adjourned at 7:58 pm. ]\y u/-» Scott Korthuis, Mayor PbnJl^ D .'&Kynn Pamela Brown, City Clerk 300 4th Street, Lynden, WA 98264 www.lyndenwa.org Page 6 of 6