Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance March 14 2006WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Finance and Administrative Services Committee March 14, 2006 Committee Chair Sam Crawford called the meeting to order at 11:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: Absent: L. Ward Nelson None Carl Weimer Also Present: Barbara Brenner Laurie Caskey- Schreiber Dan McShane Seth Fleetwood COUNCIL "CONSENT AGENDA" ITEM 1. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND CASCADE BUSINESS PARK FOR OFFICE SPACE UTILIZED AS THE WHATCOM COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE NEIGHBORHOOD PATROL OFFICE LOCATED AT 5373 GUIDE MERIDIAN FOR A PERIOD OF THREE YEARS, IN THE AMOUNT OF $775 /MONTH FOR 2006, $798.25/MONTH FOR 2007, AND $822.20 PER MONTH FOR 2008 (AB2006- 136) Crawford asked if this is a continuation of the current lease. Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated it is a continuation and an expansion. Scott Rossmiller, Lieutenant, stated this is both a current and an expansion of a contract. This is for additional space to get the traffic unit moved out there. Crawford asked if this is in the current budget. Desler stated it is. Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. 2. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND WHATCOM COALITION FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WHATCOM COUNTY COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES AS DELEGATED TO THE LOCAL HEALTH DISTRICTS THROUGH THE WASHINGTON STATE PUBLIC HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PLAN, IN THE AMOUNT OF $40,000 (AB2006 -137) Sue Anderson, Whatcom Coalition for Healthy Communities Executive Director, stated this contract is to support the Healthy Community Network. It is an outgrowth of the Community Counts Project of community health indicators, which are used for planning for Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 3/14/2006, Page 1 1 healthy community issues that include the environment, economy, education, and health. 2 Another program is the Leadership of Whatcom program, which brings people from all over 3 the county to develop leadership skills and learn about community issues. 4 5 Nelson asked who they are teaching and what they are teaching in the Leadership of 6 Whatcom program. There were concerns about training leaders. Anderson stated this 7 program is funded from a small amount of the contract. The program has come out of 8 many years of stakeholder meetings. People have continually brought up the issue of 9 leadership, specifically engaging community leaders and having an opportunity to develop 10 leadership skills. In 2004, they convened people from all sectors throughout the community 11 to define a leadership program. That group became a governance committee to create a 12 leadership program, which launched in September. It brings together 21 participants. 13 14 Nelson asked how the participants are selected. Anderson stated there is an 15 application and interview process. A number of participants are from business, academic, 16 agriculture, government, and non - profit communities. They work on their leadership skills 17 and learn about community issues. It's a non - partisan program. There is a broad range of 18 participants from forestry, agriculture, business, non - profit, and government industries. It 19 brings people together to learn how to talk to each other. 20 21 Nelson stated he's never heard of this. Anderson stated it's a brand new program. 22 23 Nelson stated he's uncomfortable with funding this program. The Council has 24 already been stung on the Chamber issue this year. He's hesitant about funding without 25 fully knowing what the program entails. He hasn't heard of any selection requests going out 26 or anyone talking about this. 27 28 Crawford stated the scope of work is in the Council packet. He read from the packet 29 information. The items listed in the scope of work for this program make perfect sense, 30 except item four, which is to administer the Leadership Whatcom project. The purpose is to 31 bring citizens together to work on county health threats. Anderson stated this brings 32 together community leaders to discuss community issues. It's part of the community health 33 assessment as well as providing skills building for those participants. 34 35 Crawford stated the information on the website has little to do with health threats. 36 He is willing to rewrite the contract to make it more specific. Anderson stated they can do 37 that. 38 39 Regina Delahunt, Health Department Director, stated the Leadership Whatcom 40 project isn't as directly linked as the other projects in the Public Health Improvement Plan. 41 The Health Department's role is to convene members of the community to talk about issues, 42 not all of which are health issues. A significant portion of those classes talked about health 43 and health issues. She has no problem with using State funding for this aspect of the 44 Coalition. 45 46 Caskey- Schreiber stated this is $10,000 of County funds. She doesn't understand 47 the comparison with the Chamber, which was actively engaged in local political races. She 48 would like to know who has called the councilmembers about this issue. This is State pass - 49 through funds. If the State Health Director can justify the use of the funds, then there isn't 50 a problem. 51 52 Nelson stated this isn't about there being a problem. He's looking for clarification. If 53 the Council isn't clear on what the money will be used for, this may be the same situation. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 3/14/2006, Page 2 The community lags behind in its disaster preparedness. There is lack of coordination in helping them plan. This could be a valuable tool to facilitate that type of project. He's not interested in teaching people to be community leaders. The contract infers there is a training course. The contract needs to be clarified. If it is a training course, clarify what people are being trained to do. He doesn't know what the curriculum is. Another question is who selects the projects and checks up on the results of the training process. Anderson stated the participants implement community projects that they work on and design in coordination with the list of community issues. An agricultural preservation project and a transportation project are examples of projects. It is not at all political. For ten years, the organization has played a neutral role in the community. Weimer stated he got a lot of information on this from Kathy Berg. She sees a real need for this type of program. It organizes communities around a variety of issues. The County already supports programs like this. He is fine with supporting this item. It would be nice to see the curriculum. Brenner stated this program provides people ways to become better stewards. There isn't a close relationship to disaster planning. This is about day -to -day ways to make better stewards, which is a Health Department issue. There is no downside to this. McShane stated the Council struggles with the variety of committees that come forward. The committees are only as good as its members. The Council wants people who will be capable of taking on those issues in a constructive way. The Council needs to support people in this way. Brenner stated she would like to see some kind of a community welcome wagon throughout Whatcom County. Someone needs to take leadership on that type of project. It is a good way to get stewardship ideas into the smaller communities. Nelson stated this agency is great. However, the Council cannot forget that the things it spends money on can be perceived as partisan. The issues and concerns of this group may be counter to the issues and concerns of other groups in the county that don't receive public funding. Those other groups may have a different political opinion. Whether or not that is healthier or safer is a judgment call. It is the same with transportation issues. He is not opposed to having dialog from all parties. That's what this Council is really interested in. Anderson stated that in all of their sessions, they seek to offer a wide variety of perspectives. When they did the environment and natural resources session, they also included people in forestry, agriculture, and other industries to offer many perspectives. They include a lot of different perspective on these issues because they don't promote issues. They strive to teach the complexities of the issues. Nelson stated he has a problem with the language that says, "develop and implement program curriculum." Jerry Hunter, Whatcom Coalition for Healthy Communities Board President, stated that any time people set out to learn, they have to have a curriculum, whatever it may be. They have a program to give individuals a comprehensive view of the community. The intent was not to operate this within the Coalition. However, no one wanted to take it on. The Coalition didn't want to let the program go by the wayside. Instead, the Coalition decided it would do this as long as the program is self- sustaining. This funding is for a small percentage of administrative costs. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 3/14/2006, Page 3 1 The Bellingham Herald included an article and editorial on the program. He really 2 believes in this program. He'd be very happy if some non - profit group stepped forward to 3 run the program. It is designed to be self- sustaining except for administrative costs. 4 5 Brenner stated there are plenty of examples in the community that are learning 6 experiences. All views will be presented. The program isn't partisan and polarizing. It is 7 all- encompassing. 8 9 Nelson stated the Council must be cautious with government funding when creating 10 an idea that may be contrary to others. He needs more information on the education 11 program. Anderson submitted information on the curriculum and program (on file). 12 13 Nelson stated he will support the request, but the Council must be better - educated 14 on the process. 15 16 Delahunt stated the program is self- supporting. This funding is just for 17 administration. 18 19 Weimer moved to recommend approval to the full Council. 20 21 Crawford stated he is against the motion. He would like it reviewed without this 22 component. He is not comfortable with item four. Rewrite the contract to directly address 23 the health issues of the community, which is the intended use of these dollars. 24 25 Nelson stated he would like to fully support the program. He asked if there is a 26 problem with getting more information before approval of that program. He moved to 27 amend the contract scope of work. Delahunt stated they can delete item four in the scope 28 of work. All the County dollars can go toward Healthy Community Network. 29 30 Crawford asked if the committee could amend the contract. 31 32 Desler stated the amendment is unusual, but the administration can facilitate it. He 33 doesn't object. 34 35 McShane stated there is a misunderstanding about what this item four is about. 36 Instead, add to number four a requirement that the curriculum is presented to the Council, 37 so the Council is informed. He senses that citizens who are concerned don't know what the 38 program is about. He senses that people may think this program trains people who have 39 political agendas. He doesn't see that happening. From a health perspective, those areas 40 must be represented. This is an important scope. 41 42 Crawford stated he researched the program, so he has a fairly good understanding of 43 the intent and curriculum. His issue is not that it's a bad program. His issue is using public 44 health dollars for this program. He is not commenting on whether or not the program is 45 good. 46 47 Nelson stated some of the areas of the program are good, but other areas may be of 48 concern to others in the community. He's not sure how some of the topics are related to 49 the health community. 50 51 Brenner stated there are some buzzwords in the contract that could be changed. 52 The topics in question are topics that all groups address to become more effective and 53 better people. That is a health issue. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 3/14/2006, Page 4 Anderson stated the leadership programs include the health sector. There are a number of health partnerships that have leadership programs and are supported by the public sector. This is not an unusual request. Motion to amend carried 2 -1 with Weimer opposed. Motion to recommend approval as amended carried unanimously. 3. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND LYDIA PLACE PROVIDING FUNDING FROM COUNTY 2060 OPERATIONS FUNDS FOR AVAILABILITY OF 18 TRANSITIONAL HOUSING BEDS FOR WOMEN WITH CHILDREN AT LYDIA PLACE, IN THE AMOUNT OF $20,000 (AB2006 -138) Nelson moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. 4. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND NORTHWEST YOUTH SERVICES PROVIDING FUNDING FROM COUNTY 2060 OPERATIONS FUNDS FOR A 4 -BED LICENSED FOSTER HOME, IN THE AMOUNT OF $25,000 (AB2006 -139) Weimer moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Brenner asked if a foster home is considered a mental health facility. Gary Williams, Human Services Supervisor, stated it is not. Motion carried unanimously. S. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND NORTHWEST YOUTLJ °"�S SUN COMMUNITY SERVICES PROVIDING FUNDING FROM COUNTY 2060 OPERATIONS FUNDS FOR 4 EMERGENCY SHELTER BEDS, IN THE AMOUNT OF $52,500 (AB2006 -140) Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated this is amended to change the contractor name from "Northwest Youth Services" to "Sun Community Services." Weimer moved to recommend approval to the full Council as amended. Motion carried unanimously. 6. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND WILSON ENGINEERING, LLC TO CONDUCT A HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEY ON THE LOWER NOOKSACK RIVER, IN THE AMOUNT OF $246,125 (AB2006 -141) Nelson moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 3/14/2006, Page 5 Fleetwood asked the definition of hydrographic survey. Paula Cooper, River and Flood Division Manager, stated it is a survey that includes the area under the water. The survey is done in a boat with an acoustic Doppler that bounces sonar through the water to the bottom. McShane stated Ms. Cooper did a good job of convincing him about this survey. It will not lead to removing sediment from the river being an option. He supports it for flood modeling. Cooper stated they need to know how the river changes over time. Nelson stated the information will be valuable when they assess dikes and other mechanisms. There is no question there will be sediment loading. They must plan for that by knowing how and where it will occur. Weimer asked how this fits into the priority of all the different water things the County is doing. Cooper stated the modeling is separate from the other water resource protection items. In 1999, the County adopted the Lower Nooksack Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan, which includes seven different components. One component is to develop and use a hydraulic model to look at change to the system. Another component is to develop a sediment management strategy. The first step of the sediment management strategy is to understand how the river changes over time. This survey will feed two of the seven components in the plan. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) Weimer asked if this is as high a priority as controlling flooding upriver. Cooper stated it is all related. Next month, they will prioritize the little pieces of the work program. This was a priority in the past. Staff is implementing the priorities as they come up. Motion carried unanimously. 7. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND EXIGENT COMPUTER GROUP, INC. (WITH SOLE SOURCE DESIGNATION) FOR THE SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY TO AUGMENT THE AUDITOR'S OFFICE RECORDING SYSTEM TO PERFORM INITIAL AUTOMATIC REDACTION AND AUTOMATIC INDEXING OF THE DOCUMENTS RECORDED IN THE AUDITOR'S OFFICE, IN THE AMOUNT OF $134,072 FOR SOFTWARE AND ESTIMATED SUPPORT (AB2006 -142) Crawford stated he hopes this gets them closer to seeing deeds on the internet. He moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. S. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT ADDENDUM 4 BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND RICH ULLSMITH, DDS, INCREASING HOURS AT THE COUNTY )AIL FOR DENTAL SERVICES FROM 24 DAYS PER YEAR TO 42 DAYS PER YEAR, IN THE AMOUNT OF $15,320, FOR A TOTAL AMENDED CONTRACT AMOUNT OF $34,320 (AB2006 -143) Nelson moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 3/14/2006, Page 6 9. RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF WHATCOM COUNTY RAPID BORDER PROSECUTION INITIATIVE (AB2006 -149) Crawford stated councilmembers recently visited federal legislators in Washington D.C. Two of the legislators asked the County to have resolutions from the Council saying it endorses this and the following two Consent Agenda items. He asked if there are dollar amounts on the resolutions. Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated the resolution is a policy statement from the County Council. The County has received federal funding from government, which they want to continue. efforts. Crawford stated each of these three resolutions is in support of the Executive's Nelson moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. 10. RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF WHATCOM COUNTY MULTI - JURISDICTIONAL DATA INTEGRATION PROJECT (AB2006 -148) See Consent Agenda item nine for discussion of this item. Weimer moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. 11. RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF PROTECTING LAKE WHATCOM (AB2006 -147) See Consent Agenda item nine for discussion of this item. Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. McShane asked if it would be useful to add as a Whereas statement that describes some of the activities the County has done the last number of years. There have been significant efforts. The County has really been doing a lot on this. Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated it would be useful. In Washington D.C., they said they want additional federal funds to match State and local funds that would address stormwater issues. McShane stated there has been past discussions about capital improvement monies from the State for this very project. A conversation occurred between people at the City and State legislators in which it was said that the County wasn't doing everything it should to protect the lake and, therefore, shouldn't get any money. Therefore, any time anything comes up regarding Lake Whatcom, the County should point out its tremendous efforts to protect the lake. He will pull Whereas statements from other resolutions to include them in this resolution. Crawford stated he agreed. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 3/14/2006, Page 7 1 Nelson stated include it as an attachment, not within the resolution, so staff and 2 legislators will get right to the point. Also include information about land acquisitions that 3 the County pays for through the Conservation Futures program and about the County's 4 work with Sudden Valley. Show the concerted effort between the Joint Lake Whatcom 5 Management Committee. There is a lot of activity, but still focus on why they need the 6 money for the projects focusing on stormwater. 7 8 Crawford stated the federal legislators want to know that the County and others are 9 unanimous on these issues. 10 11 Desler stated the administration identified a federal grant program if the County can 12 come up with a 45 percent match. He will work on that grant. The administration is trying 13 to engage the federal government, and the federal government is coming to the County 14 with ideas, which is great. 15 16 Crawford stated Councilmember 17 meeting. 18 19 Motion carried unanimously. 20 21 22 OTHER BUSINESS 23 24 There was no other business. 25 26 27 ADJOURN 28 29 The meeting adjourned at 12:30 30 3 32 0 33 --} 34 Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription 35 37 ATT ``,,1111 1�CQ ,��,, 38 39 . �NAtcO.y�'': 40 • Y •� _ 41 �- 42 ' 43 Dana' wn- aviF4 un Clerk McShane can add his language at the evening p.m. WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Sam Crawford, Committe Chair Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 3/14/2006, Page 8