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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil November 14 20001 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Regular County Council November 14, 2000 The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Council Chair Marlene Dawson in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Also Present: Dan McShane L. Ward Nelson Connie Hoag Barbara Brenner Sam Crawford Robert Imhof ANNOUNCEMENTS Absent: None Dawson announced that there was discussion regarding the 2001 Unrepresented Resolution (AB2000 -370) and discussion with Whatcom County Prosecutor Dave McEachran and Senior Deputy Prosecutor Dave Grant regarding pending litigation (AB2000 -018) during Committee of the Whole in executive session. Also, a property issue was brought up. Dawson also announced there would be no infectious waste hearing because it had been rescheduled for the December 12, 2000 meeting, and that Williams Pipeline had withdrawn their request for Council consideration for an exemption on their loop line. Crawford welcomed the Western Washington University journalism class. OPEN SESSION The following people spoke: Marion Beddill, 3600 Seely Street, Bellingham, invited the Council and the public to an awareness meeting regarding Sumas Energy 2 (SE2) next Saturday night in Glen Echo Hall. She submitted a request for a timeslot at the December 12, 2000 meeting to give a presentation. She invited Council and public to an event by League of Women Voters this Saturday regarding election methods in the State of Washington. The State of Washington League of Women Voters just concluded a study of election methods and alternative ways of voting. Their workshop will evaluate specific questions on Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 1 1 what options are available and their pros and cons. The workshop will be held at 2 the Fairhaven Library at 9:30 a.m. on November 18, 2000. 3 4 Roy W. Nicholas, 8194 Birch Bay Drive, discussed the Sheriff's Office budget. 5 6 Brenner stated there will be a public hearing on the budget later in the 7 meeting. 8 9 Mike Kaufman, Huntley Road, seconded Ms. Beddill's request for a timeslot to 10 present the presentation on SE2 at the December 12 meeting. 11 12 Dawson questioned the length of time needed to give the presentation. 13 Kaufman stated they could do any length. 14 15 Dawson questioned who would speak to the issue. Kaufman stated he 16 certainly would be and maybe a few others. 17 18 Dawson questioned whether this should be addressed in committee. 19 Kaufman stated he would like to make the presentation to the public. 20 21 Dawson stated the Council would take that under consideration. 22 23 Hoag asked Mr. Kaufman to contact the chair in the next week. 24 25 Jack Reimer, Clearbrook Road, Abbotsford, British Columbia, spoke on the 26 Judson Lake mining proposal. He represented citizens from both sides of the 27 border. He thanked the County Council for supporting the opposition to the mining 28 proposal. The proposal was to mine two million tons of gravel from the Canadian 29 side of the lake, which represents 27 out of 100 acres. On the American side, 80 30 acres would remain. The proposal promotes mining to a depth of 60 feet. The 31 concerns include the lake level. Mining that deep would dry up the American side 32 of the border. Another concern was groundwater contamination. There is a 33 filtration system naturally built into the base of the lake. By removing that barrier, 34 they are immediately into groundwater. Any contamination that happens during 35 the mining operation and during any future activity will immediately contaminate 36 the groundwater. That groundwater flow pattern is to the south, which means that 37 any impact is directly to the well water on the American side. There are also 38 environmental impacts. Every environmental agency on both sides of the border 39 has opposed the project. 40 41 He has a letter from the Whatcom County Planning and Development 42 Services Department stating that there are no objections to the project. 43 44 Dawson stated that Councilmember Hoag met with the Planning Department 45 staff. The individual was trying to work with some limited information. The 46 Planning Department is taking corrective action as it relates to that letter. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 2 1 Hoag stated the County Council responded to the concerns out there. In 2 addition, the state Department of Ecology, Fish and Wildlife, and Congressman 3 Metcalf all expressed concerns about the impact to the lake there and to the 4 constituents on the U.S. side. The County Council voted to have Councilmember 5 Dawson represent its interests at the Abbottsford Council. They did listen to the 6 County's concerns and denied the project. She was surprised at the letter from 7 Planning and Development Services when she received it. She notified the 8 department, and they had been given limited information. They are now taking 9 corrective action and will send out a letter to correct and replace the original letter. 10 11 Reimer stated the original letter was sent to Mr. Wilms, the proposal's 12 proponent. He has used this letter in a current application to B.C. mines. He asked 13 that the corrective letter be sent to B.C. mines. 14 15 Hoag questioned whether this is coming before the Abbottsford City Council. 16 Reimer stated it is not currently before the Abbottsford City Council. 17 18 An unidentified citizen stated the meeting on the alternate voting systems 19 meeting will be at Best Western Heritage at McLeod Road from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 20 p.m. 21 22 23 CONSENT AGENDA 24 25 Nelson reported for the Finance and Administrative Services Committee and 26 moved approval of Consent Agenda items one through seven. 27 28 McShane withdrew item two. 29 30 Motion to approve items one and three through seven carried unanimously. 31 32 1. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO AWARD BID #00- 33 101, RENTAL EQUIPMENT RATES, TO THE LOWEST RESPONSIVE 34 APPROPRIATE VENDER, BASED ON EQUIPMENT AVAILABILITY AND 35 SUITABILITY, IN AN AMOUNT THAT COULD EXCEED $35,000 36 (AB2000 -383) 37 38 2. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A 39 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY 40 AND PAUL SCHISSLER ASSOCIATES, INC. FOR COORDINATION AND 41 ASSISTANCE IN IMPLEMENTING THE REPETITIVE FLOOD LOSS 42 ACQUISITION PROJECT IN AN AMOUNT OF $52,866 (AB2000 -384) 43 44 McShane stated he would abstain from voting on this item. 45 46 Motion to approve carried 6 -1 with McShane abstaining. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 3 1 3. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A 2 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT AMENDMENT BETWEEN 3 WHATCOM COUNTY AND URS CORPORATION FOR THE DESIGN AND 4 PERMITTING OF A SEDIMENT TRAP AND PREPARATION OF A 5 MONITORING PLAN IN THE AMENDED AMOUNT OF $49,752 FOR A 6 TOTAL AMENDED AGREEMENT AMOUNT OF $84,752 (AB2000 -385) 7 8 4. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A 9 CONTRACT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY HEALTH AND HUMAN 10 SERVICES DEPARTMENT AND THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 11 TO PROVIDE THE NECESSARY INFORMATION TO CONDUCT SOURCE 12 WATER ASSESSMENTS ON GROUP A PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS IN 13 WHATCOM COUNTY, IN THE CONTRACT AMOUNT OF $27,600 14 (AB2000 -386) 15 16 5. RESOLUTION ORDERING THE CANCELLATION OF WARRANTS MORE 17 THAN ONE YEAR OLD (AB2000 -387) 18 19 6. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO AN 20 AGREEMENT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY HEALTH AND HUMAN 21 SERVICES DEPARTMENT AND THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH - 22 NUTRITION EDUCATION TO PROVIDE GRANT FUNDING FOR 23 NUTRITION EDUCATION CLASSES TO FOOD STAMP ELIGIBLE 24 PARTICIPANTS AND FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLICATION OF A 25 RECIPE BOOK THAT INCLUDES RECIPES WITH FOODS AVAILABLE AT 26 THE FOOD BANK, IN THE CONTRACT AMOUNT OF $17,024 (AB2000- 27 388) 28 29 7. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO AN 30 AGREEMENT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY HEALTH AND HUMAN 31 SERVICES DEPARTMENT AND WHATCOM COUNSELING & 32 PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC TO PROVIDE ONE -TIME GRANT FUNDING FOR 33 "'INNOVATIVE CO- OCCURRING DISORDER SERVICES" TO MEET THE 34 NEEDS OF THE MOST AT -RISK MENTALLY ILL AND CHEMICALLY 35 ABUSING ADULTS IN WHATCOM COUNTY IN THE CONTRACT AMOUNT 36 OF $43,726 (AB2000 -389) 37 38 39 OTHER ITEMS 40 41 1. COMMITTEE REPORT ON UPDATE FROM THE PORTAGE BAY 42 SHELLFISH PROTECTION DISTRICT (AB2000 -381) 43 44 McShane reported for the Natural Resources Committee and stated a there 45 was also an addendum to the committee agenda to discuss repairing sewer line 46 and manhole problems as a mechanism for reducing fecal coliform levels in 47 Drayton Harbor (AB2000 -399) from the City of Blaine, across Semiahmoo 48 Harbor, and to Semiahmoo. That proposal for funding is in the Water Resource Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 4 1 Inventory Area (WRIA) process currently. He wanted the presentation and 2 discussion for information only. It may come back to the Council. 3 4 2. COMMITTEE REPORT AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON PROPOSED LEASE 5 AGREEMENT WITH LUMMI INDIAN BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR FERRY 6 VEHICULAR TRAFFIC PARKING AREA (AB2000 -382) 7 8 Nelson reported for the Finance and Administrative Services Committee and 9 stated the committee moved approval of a proposal to continue with a study to find 10 a lease agreement, the dollar amount, and the ramifications for the County. He 11 moved to support the actions of the Public Works Department in their negotiations 12 with the Lummi Indian Business Council on this lease agreement. 13 14 Imhof stated the entire agreement would come back to the Council at the 15 end. The process takes a lot of manpower to get these kinds of things going, and 16 the department wants to make sure that the County Council supports continuing 17 the process. 18 19 Motion carried unanimously. 20 21 3. CONSIDERATION OF HEARING EXAMINER'S RECOMMENDED 22 APPROVAL OF A PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT, FILED BY DOUG 23 CAMPBELL FOR "WEST CORDATA GREEN" (PUD90 -0002 AND BSP94- 24 0005) (AB00 -379) 25 26 McShane reported for the Planning and Development Committee and moved 27 approval. 28 29 Motion to approve carried 6 -0 with Hoag abstaining. 30 31 4. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE WHATCOM COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE 32 PLAN'S SIX -YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM, CAPITAL 33 FACILITIES CHAPTER AND TRANSPORTATION CHAPTER (AB2000- 34 347) 35 36 Dawson stated they deleted the portion related to Initiative 695. There were 37 also renovations to the Northwest Annex that were added. 38 39 Brenner moved to adopt the ordinance with the stipulation that there are 40 some areas that they want to revisit during the year. 41 42 McShane questioned whether they need to vote for all the Comprehensive 43 Plan amendments concurrently, or just consider them concurrently. 44 45 Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Manager, stated they just need to be considered 46 concurrently. They are each a separate ordinance. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 5 1 McShane emphasized that the Councilmembers should consider items four 2 through seven together. 3 4 Goodwin stated they also need to consider the Sandell rezone that the 5 Council already approved. 6 7 Hoag asked about the renovations to the Northwest Annex. Goodwin stated 8 some items were going to be done this year. They are not all done. This year, the 9 generator work was completed. Next year, the parking lot and landscaping will be 10 done along with some groundwater remediation, boiler replacement, drainage 11 system improvement. These were things that were going to be done and are 12 continuing. It is not a change from what was going to be done. 13 14 Hoag stated page 22 of the draft November 2000 version talks about the 15 Sheriff's facilities and adding 12,000 additional square feet in the consolidated 16 services building to house sheriff patrol offices. She was not familiar with where 17 the consolidated services building is. Goodwin stated at this point there is not a 18 site for it. It is a concept they are working forward on to eventually consolidate 19 those services. 20 21 Brenner stated she understood that the proposal was to do it at the Smith 22 and Northwest roads location. That was the recommendation. 23 24 Hoag stated she questioned whether they were talking about an existing 25 building. Goodwin stated no. 26 27 Sam Ryan, Building Services Manager, stated the administration proposes to 28 put the facilities out at the Northwest Annex, but there is no real proposal. 29 30 Hoag stated she wanted to make sure the patrol offices are located out in the 31 county. Ryan stated they are not. 32 33 Hoag stated page six of exhibit two talked about amending chapter six of the 34 Comprehensive Plan, policy 6A -5. She didn't understand the difference in terms of 35 impact. Goodwin stated that page is packet page 265. Rather than going with a 36 level of service D, which is a volume of capacity ratio, used to be for peak hours. 37 Now they've split it to a level of service C for the rural state roads, not the urban 38 state routes. It provides for a lower level of service for the urban routes and a 39 higher level of service for the rural routes. 40 41 Imhof stated the County doesn't have any control over the state routes, 42 which are getting more congested. The County is trying to improve the ones the 43 County has control over to a level C. 44 45 Brenner stated the County doesn't have a choice over this. These are state 46 roads and the County is required by state law to do this. Goodwin stated that was 47 correct. 48 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 6 1 Hoag questioned whether this change is to reflect state law. Goodwin stated 2 it makes the County Comprehensive Plan consistent with the state plan. There is a 3 law this year that the state passed that says counties have to be consistent with 4 the state traffic plans. 5 6 Hoag questioned whether there is an impact on County roads. Goodwin 7 stated there is not a direct impact. The County is just acknowledging that it is a 8 state route and the County is consistent with what they are doing. 9 10 Brenner stated it would have an impact because it requires upgrades. The 11 state would probably have to do the work. Goodwin stated the County could charge 12 mitigation fees. 13 14 Hoag stated these are state roads, and questioned whether the cost for 15 upgrades comes out of the County's pocket. Goodwin stated it is possible, if there 16 was a proposed subdivision that impacted a state route, that the County would 17 have to require traffic mitigation fees from that developer to help improve those 18 routes. 19 20 Hoag questioned whether the County is required by law to have this 21 language. Goodwin stated the County plan needs to be consistent with the state 22 plan. 23 24 Motion to adopt carried unanimously. 25 26 S. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE OFFICIAL WHATCOM COUNTY 27 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN MAP TO BRING CONSISTENCY TO THE 28 SOUTHERN UGA BOUNDARY FOR LYNDEN AND THE COUNTY 29 (AB2000 -323) 30 31 Imhof moved to adopt. 32 33 Motion carried unanimously. 34 35 6. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE UNINCORPORATED URBAN GROWTH 36 AREA AND SHORT TERM PLANNING AREA POLICIES OF THE 37 WHATCOM COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN (AB2000 -344) 38 39 Imhof moved to adopt the ordinance. 40 41 Hoag stated changes were made during Planning Committee that didn't show 42 up in the packet. Since it all has to come forward with the other Comprehensive 43 Plan amendment items, they are going to have to fix it. One amendment was on 44 page 4 of 7, packet page 342, top line, "...remaining smaller cities and independent 45 unincorporated Residential /Recreational...." That came forward from committee on 46 a vote of 2 -0. That amendment was for clarification. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 7 1 Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Division Manager, stated she remembered the 2 amendment and apologized for not making the change. 3 4 Hoag stated there was an amendment to Goal 2N1 on the same page, 5 "Ensure that independent unincorporated Residential /Recreational..." 6 7 Nelson questioned what an independent unincorporated area is. Goodwin 8 stated the only difference is to clarify that these are urban growth areas not 9 associated with cities. That is what the word "unincorporated" means. The only 10 two are Birch Bay and the Columbia Valley. 11 12 Nelson stated that if those are the only two areas, they should just specify 13 those areas. Goodwin stated the County might adopt more. 14 15 Hoag stated the summary statement talked about independent non - industrial 16 urban growth areas, which are Birch Bay and Columbia Valley. It defined 17 independent as not associated with a city. That word wasn't in this language. 18 Those were the only changes that didn't come through. She moved to amend by 19 adding those two changes. 20 21 Nelson questioned whether the word "independent" was added to the 22 definitions. 23 24 Hoag stated Ms. Goodwin gave them that definition. It may already be an 25 existing definition. 26 27 Goodwin stated the word didn't need to be added as a definition. The word 28 "independent" may or may not be necessary because that is what an 29 unincorporated residential /recreational subdivision is. That's what the committee 30 agreed to. It doesn't hurt. 31 32 Hoag stated the discussion at the time made it much clearer. There were 33 areas in which it looked like it might apply, but really didn't. 34 35 Nelson stated he couldn't support it without a definition. They should not put 36 in arbitrary terms without understanding what they mean. Goodwin stated that, to 37 be precise, they could say, "unincorporated residential /recreational urban growth 38 areas not associated with a city" which is only those two areas. 39 40 Dawson stated she preferred that language. She questioned whether 41 Councilmember Hoag would accept that as a friendly amendment. 42 43 Hoag questioned whether "independent" has an existing definition of not 44 being associated with city. Goodwin stated it does not. 45 46 Hoag stated she would accept the friendly amendment. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 8 1 Dawson restated the motion to amend language in Goal 2N, "...smaller cities 2 and unincorporated residential /recreational urban growth areas not associated with 3 a city..." and Goal 21\11, "Ensure that development of unincorporated 4 residential /recreational urban growth areas not associated with a city 5 is of..." 6 7 Brenner stated it seems that anything in the future that is an unincorporated 8 residential /recreational urban growth area would not be associated with a city 9 because the County is not supposed to create these areas for the cities. Any that 10 the County does would only be these little pockets. 11 12 Hoag questioned where Sudden Valley falls. Goodwin stated it would be an 13 unincorporated urban growth area if it becomes an urban growth area. 14 15 Hoag questioned whether it would not be associated with a city. Goodwin 16 stated that was correct. 17 18 Brenner stated it is not a recreational one. 19 20 Hoag stated the language also says recreational. 21 22 Brenner questioned whether the language intends that the area be both 23 residential and recreational. Goodwin stated the area has to be either one or the 24 other. 25 26 Hoag stated there are things in the future that could fall into this designation. 27 28 Goodwin stated that at some time Point Roberts might. 29 30 Hoag stated there isn't any reason for not being clear here. 31 32 Motion to amend carried unanimously. 33 34 Motion to adopt carried unanimously. 35 36 7. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE OFFICIAL WHATCOM COUNTY 37 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, MAP 20, AND CLARIFYING THAT AREAS 38 DESIGNATED RURAL FORESTRY (RF) AND COMMERCIAL FORESTRY 39 (CF) ON MAP 20 ARE FOREST RESOURCE LANDS WHICH HAVE BEEN 40 DESIGNATED FOR THE PURPOSES OF LONG TERM COMMERCIAL 41 SIGNIFICANCE PURSUANT TO RCW 36.70A.170 (AB2000 -345) 42 43 Imhof moved to adopt the ordinance. 44 45 Motion to adopt carried unanimously. 46 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 9 1 Hoag questioned whether the Council needs to take any action again on the 2 Sandell rezone, because it has to be considered concurrently with the other 3 Comprehensive Plan amendments. 4 5 Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Manager, stated the Council already took action on 6 the ordinance, but may want, for consistency, to consider whether these five items 7 have any impact on Sandell, which she didn't think they would, and reaffirm in their 8 own minds that they've considered them all concurrently. If the Council wants to 9 pass a motion to reaffirm their earlier vote on Sandell, then they would be sure that 10 they've all taken a look at it. The main issue is whether any of the ordinances 11 adopted at this meeting would affect the Sandell review, which they wouldn't. 12 13 Nelson moved to reaffirm the earlier vote of the Ordinance amending the 14 Whatcom County Urban Fringe Comprehensive Plan and the Whatcom 15 County Zoning Map To Rezone Approximately 24 Acres in the Bellingham 16 Urban Growth Fringe from UR4 To LII Zoning (AB2000 -346), the Sandell 17 rezone after considering the impacts or lack of impacts of the other Comprehensive 18 Plan amendment items. 19 20 Motion carried 6 -1 with Hoag opposed. 21 22 8. APPOINTMENT TO THE WHATCOM COUNTY LAW AND JUSTICE 23 COUNCIL (AB2000 -364) 24 25 Dawson stated that Tom Spanos and Greg Rustand have applied for the 26 position. 27 28 Imhof voted for Rustand. 29 30 Hoag voted for Spanos. 31 32 Nelson voted for Rustand. 33 34 Dawson voted for Rustand. 35 36 McShane voted for Spanos. 37 38 Brenner voted for Rustand. 39 40 Crawford voted for Rustand. 41 42 Dawson stated that Greg Rustand was appointed. 43 44 9. RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING DATES FOR 2001 WHATCOM COUNTY 45 COUNCIL MEETINGS (AB2000 -380) 46 47 Nelson questioned whether any of the dates are on election days. They don't 48 want to have a Council meeting on election days. Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 10 1 2 Imhof stated there are not. 3 4 Imhof moved to approve the resolution. 5 6 McShane suggested dropping the May 1 meeting. It would be nice to have a 7 longer break there. Typically they meet twice per month, and that month has three 8 meetings. 9 10 Dana Brown - Davis, Clerk of the Council, stated the Council meets every 11 other week. 12 13 Pete Kremen, County Executive, stated the administration is supportive of 14 the motion. 15 16 Dawson questioned where they would replace that meeting. 17 18 McShane stated they would not replace it, and skip one meeting. 19 20 Dawson stated they have to have a meeting every other week. 21 22 Brenner stated it is very confusing to the public to have meetings every other 23 week. They have to memorize this schedule. They should have meetings either 24 the first and third Tuesday or the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. They 25 really should have meetings every week, like they used to have. She asked 26 Councilmember McShane to take her suggestion as a friendly amendment. 27 28 McShane declined the friendly amendment. 29 30 Hoag stated she did not support the motion, however November has three 31 meetings, each one week apart from the other. 32 33 Imhof stated that is due to the budget. 34 35 Motion to amend failed 2 -5 with Brenner and McShane in favor. 36 37 Brenner moved to amend the resolution so the Council meets every Tuesday 38 like it used to. That way they don't get so backed up with stuff. 39 40 Dawson stated they already end up having meetings every Tuesday. She 41 would not support that motion. 42 43 Hoag stated she'd talked to the Bellingham City Council members, who meet 44 every week. They've said it is very hard to be prepared for a meeting because they 45 are finishing up the business from a previous meeting and preparing for the next 46 meeting. They've said that it puts staff at an advantage over the councilmembers 47 because they have plenty of time to prepare for these things. She didn't Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 11 1 recommend the motion. Now, when they meet every other week, they are having 2 other meetings on the off Tuesdays. Her calendar is already full. 3 4 Brenner stated it never used to be a problem. They did it for years. Since 5 they are already having day meetings on off Tuesdays, if they finish business at a 6 public evening meeting, they wouldn't have large packets all the time. It is much 7 harder for councilmembers to keep up with stuff when they have to read the entire 8 packet at once. The packet comes less than a week before the meeting. It would 9 be a better service to the public. 10 11 Motion to amend failed 1 -6 with Brenner in favor. 12 13 Hoag moved to amend the resolution to drop the November 20 meeting. It 14 is near Thanksgiving, and they would have meetings three weeks in a row. Doing 15 two weeks back -to -back is one thing, but three weeks around Thanksgiving is going 16 to be difficult. She wanted to drop either the November 20 or November 27 17 meeting. 18 19 Crawford stated he would support that motion as long as they are coming up 20 with an official calendar. They could add another meeting if necessary. It is 21 premature to anticipate the workload at this time. They did not schedule an extra 22 meeting for budget purposes this year, and the format worked very well. 23 24 The Council concurred that they preferred to remove the November 20 25 meeting rather than the November 27 meeting. 26 27 Brenner stated she was against the motion. 28 29 (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) 30 31 Brenner continued to state that she wanted more meetings. 32 33 Dawson restated the motion to delete the November 20 meeting. 34 35 Motion to amend carried 4 -2 -1 with Dawson and Brenner opposed and 36 Nelson abstaining. 37 38 Brenner moved to amend the resolution to meet the first and third Tuesdays 39 of every month. 40 41 Hoag stated she did not support the motion because it was easier for her to 42 remember every other Tuesday. 43 44 Brenner stated this isn't about what the Councilmembers can remember. It 45 is about making it easy for the public to know when the Council meets. Unless the 46 public has a schedule, they aren't going to know which weeks the Council meets. 47 In fairness to the public, the Council should have a set schedule. 48 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 12 1 Motion to amend failed 1 -6 with Brenner in favor. 2 3 Main amended motion carried 6 -1 with Brenner opposed. 4 5 10. RESOLUTION AMENDING RESOLUTION 2000 -045 TO CHANGE THE 6 DOLLAR AMOUNT OF THE APPLICATION FOR A COMMUNITY 7 DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) (AB2000 -362A) 8 9 Dawson stated this was amended to change it to $260,500. The change was 10 necessary to scale back on the number of houses to be built from 30 to eight or 11 ten. The idea is that, once the Kulshan Land Trust has an established record, they 12 will apply for the additional houses under a separate grant. 13 14 Imhof moved approval. 15 16 Motion carried unanimously. 17 18 PUBLIC HEARING 19 20 1. ORDINANCE AMENDING WHATCOM COUNTY CODE 24.06, SOLID 21 WASTE DISPOSAL STANDARDS, IMPOSING LIMITS ON ACCEPTANCE 22 OF INFECTIOUS WASTE (AB2000 -024A) (COUNCIL ACTING AS THE 23 BOARD OF HEALTH) 24 25 This item was withdrawn and rescheduled to December 12, 2000. 26 27 2. ORDINANCE CONTINUING A MORATORIUM ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF 28 CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT APPLICATIONS FOR REGIONAL 29 TRANSMISSION PIPELINES OF PETROLEUM, PETROLEUM PRODUCTS, 30 AND NATURAL GAS; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY (AB00 -216B) 31 32 Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Manager, stated this is an ordinance to continue or 33 extend the moratorium on regional transmission pipelines for petroleum, petroleum 34 products, and natural gas. The County Council adopted this once as an emergency, 35 and then extended it as a regular ordinance. The County Council has to have a 36 public hearing if it wishes to continue, and adopt findings to extend the ordinance 37 another 180 days. The Council appointed a committee, which meets regularly and 38 is making progress on establishing the standards for natural gas pipelines siting 39 criteria, but they need more time to work on it. The County Executive and the 40 Planning and Development Services Department recommend extending it for 41 another 180 days. 42 43 Dawson opened the public hearing and the following people spoke: 44 45 Mike Kaufman, Huntley Road, Bellingham, stated he is a member of the 46 Utility Planning Committee. They are having their third meeting the next day. 47 They intend to elect a chair. As a member of the committee, he asked the Council 48 to extend the moratorium and give them an opportunity to do their work. Good Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 13 1 things will come of this committee as it discusses the issues. Their time will be well 2 spent. A yes vote by the Council will be taken by the committee as a show of 3 support for the work the committee intends to do. 4 5 Hearing no one else, Dawson closed the public hearing. 6 7 Nelson moved to adopt the ordinance. The committee is going into their 8 third meeting. He questioned whether there is a timeframe the Council can expect 9 to have a full ordinance. Goodwin stated she could not answer that question right 10 now. They are still trying to determine exactly what their parameters are. There 11 are complications with federal preemption on some of these issues. 12 13 Kaufman stated they are into a territory most people know nothing about. A 14 question is where all the different jurisdictions lie. Another question is the 15 difference between the pipeline utilities and the electric utilities. They are heading 16 in the direction of addressing the pipeline criteria first. There are many things to 17 learn and discuss. As they come back later on, they would either be heading in a 18 direction, making progress, and coming to consensus, or they would not be. This 19 committee would make progress. 20 21 Nelson questioned whether all the members are appointed. Goodwin stated 22 they are. They have had three meetings. By the time these 180 days are up, the 23 Council would have a pretty good idea of the direction the committee is headed, 24 and could decide then whether or not to extend it again. 25 26 Motion carried unanimously. 27 28 3. ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE LEVY OF TAXES FOR COUNTY AND 29 STATE PURPOSES IN WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON, FOR THE 30 YEAR OF 2001 PURSUANT TO HOME RULE CHARTER SECTION 6.10 31 (AB2000 -373) 32 33 Dawson opened the public hearing and, hearing no one, closed the public 34 hearing. 35 36 Imhof moved to approve. 37 38 Brenner stated this ordinance leaves the taxes at last year's level. 39 40 Motion carried unanimously. 41 42 4. ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE 2001 WHATCOM COUNTY UNIFIED FEE 43 SCHEDULE (AB2000 -374) 44 45 Nelson stated there was an amendment for a fee increase for open space 46 applications. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 14 1 Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Manager, stated the proposed fee is $150 if an 2 applicant is transferring from one type of open space to another type of open 3 space. A new open space application would be $250. 4 5 Hoag stated they are creating a new category. Previously, the County didn't 6 charge an applicant for a transfer. Goodwin stated the current fee of $30 was for 7 either a transfer or a new application. 8 9 Dawson stated the proposal is due to the extended amount of staff time that 10 is involved. Goodwin stated it takes a lot of staff time, Planning Commission time, 11 Council time, and then follow -up with the Assessor's Office and Auditor's Office to 12 get them recorded. 13 14 Dawson stated the County fees are based on staff time. 15 16 Nelson moved approval of the ordinance with the amendment as presented 17 by Planning and Development Services at the Planning Committee meeting earlier 18 in the day. 19 20 Dawson restated the motion to add the amendment. 21 22 Motion to amend carried unanimously. 23 24 Dawson opened the public hearing and, hearing no one, closed the public 25 hearing. 26 27 Crawford questioned the ferry fees compared to the cost. He questioned 28 whether the fees support the ferry or if the County is subsidizing the ferry. 29 30 Jeff Monsen, Public Works Director, stated they are still working under the 31 County policy that they will recover approximately 55 percent of the operating cost, 32 which they are doing. This year, they were close to 60 percent. They will see some 33 increased costs. He prepared a preliminary draft of a long -range study he wants to 34 pursue. He is working with the Lummi Island Transportation Committee to flush 35 out some of the details of how to look at the kind of services that would be desired 36 in the future and the financing options to deal with those issues. His goal is to, in 37 the near future, bring that information to the Council, and then finish the evaluation 38 prior to the report coming to the Council next June. A year from now or sooner 39 they would be implementing the recommendations from that report. 40 41 Crawford questioned whether there has been any discussion on the parking 42 arrangements and negotiations. He questioned whether the costs for parking would 43 be implemented into the ferry fee. Monsen suggested that they talk about that 44 information when he has the discussion with the councilmembers on the long range 45 planning. They don't have the numbers clear enough to even suggest what that 46 means. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 15 1 Crawford questioned whether there is no increase in the ferry fee this year. 2 Monsen stated there is not. He does an annual report in June, and that 3 recommendation carries into the unified fee schedule during the budget process. 4 5 Nelson clarified the amendment, which was that the current rate of $30 per 6 open space application would change to $150 for transfers and $250 for new 7 applications. 8 9 Motion to adopt the amended ordinance carried unanimously. 10 11 S. RESOLUTION APPROVING THE WHATCOM COUNTY 2001 SIX -YEAR 12 PHYSICAL PLANT AND FACILITIES CAPITAL PROGRAM (AB2000 -375) 13 14 Dawson opened the public hearing and, hearing no one, closed the public 15 hearing. 16 17 Imhof moved to approve the resolution. 18 19 Hoag stated page 428 of the Council packet, under Parks, talks about Cherry 20 Point industrial area access. She questioned what they are doing with the $30,000 21 for that item. 22 23 Crawford thought it had to do with a component of the additional pier. They 24 were to provide some beach access. 25 26 Imhof stated the funding is only $5,000 this year. 27 28 Hoag stated next year and the year following the funding is $10,000. The 29 fourth year it is $5,000. A description of this item is not included. 30 31 Roger DeSpain, Parks Department Director, stated this project is part of a 32 program with the expansion of Cherry Point. A donation would come to the County 33 first, then the County would ask for that $30,000 to match the donation and pay for 34 restrooms and a parking area. That donation hasn't happened, so the County may 35 not see that. It would be done only if the County is given the public beach access. 36 37 Brenner stated they discussed this in committee. She asked to see all the 38 County, state, and federal parkland in Whatcom County. When they look at the 39 amount of park space per capita that the County should have, they need to figure 40 in how much is available. Otherwise, it makes it seem like the County is 41 responsible for more parkland than it actually is. She would like to see a list of all 42 the parklands in the county. 43 44 Hoag asked about the Consolidated Services building on packet page 437, 45 item seven. It looks like the Parks Department and Cooperative Extension would 46 be included. It says that the County has enough square footage to serve the 47 population for the next six years based on the Comprehensive Plan. If these new 48 things are built, they are going to have an additional 45,000 square feet. However, Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 16 1 if the Health and Human Services space on Girard and State Streets, the Forest 2 Street Annex building, and the Parks and Recreation Department building weren't 3 used, the net increase would be 14,027. Item six shows the County health center 4 building. She questioned whether the administration plans to get rid of the existing 5 one and building a new one, but this would not be a part of the Consolidated 6 Services building. From the document, it looks as if the County is planning to build 7 an $850,000 new health building that is not a part of the Consolidated Services 8 building. She questioned whether that was correct. 9 10 Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated this has to do with the Civic 11 Center building. This is a placeholder. The County established $850,000 in a fund 12 to potentially address the issues with the Civic Center building. That money has 13 not been appropriated or requested for appropriation until they finish the plans. 14 Furthermore, the Consolidated Services building as referred to in the document is 15 an idea that was discussed two or three years ago by the County Council. 16 However, the desire of the administration is to move forward with master planning 17 before making final decisions on this. No money has been appropriated in the 2001 18 budget to do any of these items, other than this requirement of the Growth 19 Management Act to put in a placeholder. 20 21 Hoag questioned whether the Health Department is in the Consolidated 22 Services Building. Desler stated it is not. 23 24 Hoag questioned whether they envision moving the Health Department into 25 the Civic Center Building. Desler stated they are. They've talked to the Council 26 committees about this. They are still laying out the appropriate plans for that. 27 They will discuss with the Council over the next few weeks about how to properly 28 address that. 29 30 Hoag questioned whether they are talking about using $850,000 to acquire 31 another building in which to put the Health Department. Desler stated no. 32 33 Brenner stated that they foresee building an addition or a new building at 34 Smith and Northwest roads. If they add up all the departments that would go 35 there, it totals all that space. They are not committing to this. They are saying this 36 is something they are going to look at. They have questions that haven't yet been 37 answered. None of this is set in stone. 38 39 Motion to approve the resolution carried unanimously. 40 41 6. RESOLUTION APPROVING THE WHATCOM COUNTY 2001 ONE -YEAR 42 ROAD CONSTRUCTION PLAN (AB2000 -376) 43 44 Dawson opened the hearing and the following people spoke: 45 46 Diana Anderson, 5609 Doren Road, Acme, stated she is an employee of the 47 Mount Baker School District and the bus driver for the school district that drives the 48 Park Road. School Superintendent Jerry Hunter was unable to attend the meeting. Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 17 1 He asked her to read his letter (on file). He asked that the road improvement work 2 continue. Anderson continued to state that the road is deteriorating every day. 3 When a bus went off the road a month ago, an area of the road was filled in by the 4 next day. Now, that area has potholes. When she stops to drop off or pick up a 5 child, she has to put her bus wheels on the yellow line to allow the child enough 6 room to enter or exit the bus without going into the ditch. There has been an 7 occasion where the back end wheels have caught the edge of the road, and she has 8 had to over - correct, which throws the kids around in the bus. She asked that the 9 Council approve this to avoid any further incidents. 10 11 Dawson asked that the Public Works Department make note of the problem 12 and check it out. 13 14 Brenner stated the department already knows. 15 16 Anderson agreed. Going even 25 miles per hour with a load of 12,000 17 pounds is very difficult. Every year, they hear that something will be done. It is a 18 road that needs to be torn up and redone. 19 20 Dawson stated a lot of water comes down that hill. 21 22 Anderson stated she has never seen any water on the road. When the road 23 was first constructed, her grandfather said that the old timers cut the stumps flat 24 and then put the gravel down. In the meantime, the stumps have deteriorated. 25 She is aware that they are trying to get permits. She asked that the County finally 26 do something. 27 28 Ross Wood, 2011 E. Hemmi Road, Everson, stated he has been a bus driver 29 for 12 years. He currently is a bus driver on Park Road. Mount Baker School 30 District travels that road 26 times per day. It is the only way in and out of the 31 Glenhaven and Cain Lake areas. Neither he nor the previous speaker was involved 32 in the accident, but they could have been. Recently he drove the road and a 33 flatbed semi truck approached from the opposite direction and was across the 34 centerline. The truck had a load of concrete blocks, and he wondered if the truck 35 would get over. The road is scary and needs work. Get past the permit process 36 and get on with it. 37 38 Jeff Monsen, Public Works Director, stated Park Road is number two on the 39 annual construction program. The completion of the Yew Street Road project is 40 number one, but is a formality because it is to finish a project that is nearly 41 complete right now. Park Road, in essence, is the top priority out of the next 28 42 projects in the program. He recognized the support of the Executive's Office and 43 the Council Office to make sure this remains the priority. 44 45 Dawson questioned whether they are still filling the holes as they develop. 46 Monsen stated they are still doing routine maintenance. Geologically, the area is 47 unstable. They will continue to see those kinds of problems occur out there. 48 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 18 1 Hearing no one else, Dawson closed the public hearing. 2 3 Hoag asked about Double Ditch Road. She received a memo from Mr. 4 Monsen awhile back. There were concerns about buses ending up in ditches there. 5 There, too, the fog lines are dropping in. She questioned the status. Monsen 6 stated that the Road Construction Program is focused on bringing the arterial 7 system up to standard first. The segment of road that Councilmember Hoag 8 referred to is part of the access system. They have, including Park Road and 9 Double Ditch Road, 315 miles of road that is 18 feet wide or narrower. This 10 program doesn't represent anything near that. They are prioritizing the 11 reconstruction of the arterial system, those roadways that have the highest volume. 12 They will get to every road in the county as soon as they can. 13 14 Dawson stated they addressed the arterial roads versus the side roads last 15 year. 16 17 Hoag stated that is the same thing that has prevented Park Road from being 18 fixed. 19 20 Dawson stated Park Road is an arterial. 21 22 Hoag stated she didn't believe so. 23 24 Monsen stated Park Road is an arterial road. 25 26 Hoag stated she needed to see that coming forward on something soon. It is 27 not just a matter of that road only being 18 feet wide. 28 29 Dawson asked for a motion. 30 31 Hoag asked if a road can't be on the annual construction program if it is not 32 an arterial road. Monsen stated any road in the county can be part of the program. 33 His efforts to prioritize the work has been to focus on the reconstruction of the 34 arterial system first, to bring it up to standard. 35 36 Hoag moved to add the Double Ditch Road to the program. Certain roads on 37 the program do not put school children in peril. No one is going to fall off the road 38 into a ditch. Fog lines are not falling into the ditch. They have shoulders and are 39 adequate. It is not a safety issue. Double Ditch is not even making the list. One 40 of her constituents showed her the part of the road where the fog line was missing 41 and where the road was unstable. Each time she's brought it up, she's been told 42 that few people use the road, so the County doesn't look at it. In the system of 43 prioritizing, safety needs to be figured in. If a road is unsafe, even though fewer 44 people use it, it has to move up on the priority list. It is a difficult road to address 45 because there are fish in the ditches. They have to look at proper fisheries 46 windows. It needs to be on the list if it is going to get the attention in the 47 permitting process. It has to get going. 48 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 19 1 Imhof stated all the councilmembers have roads in their areas that they 2 could include on the list. They have to look at the ability to fund. There are certain 3 criteria to get matching funds from the state and federal governments. There is a 4 difference between road construction and road maintenance. Double Ditch Road is 5 more of a maintenance issue than a reconstruction issue at this time. It is not a 6 priority at this time. 7 8 Nelson stated he appreciated Councilmember Hoag's concern, and echoed 9 Imhof's concerns. There are roads in his area that fall off the cliffs. They've 10 argued over Lake Whatcom Boulevard, where there are no shoulders whatsoever 11 and buses are competing with a high traffic volume. They deal with the issues 12 through the Six Year Road Program. 13 14 Hoag stated half the roads on the list do not have matching funds, so it isn't 15 a reason to not include Double Ditch Road. The County Council's charge is to 16 protect the health and safety of their constituents. They have a health and safety 17 issue here. She asked the councilmembers to take the risk seriously and get this 18 on the list. It is going to be an involved process to get the problem fixed. She'd 19 brought it up under every program they've mentioned, and it doesn't get fixed. 20 21 Motion to amend failed 1 -6 with Hoag in favor. 22 23 Brenner stated that Park Road definitely needs to be fixed. This has not 24 been the County's fault. There has been poor communication with the public about 25 where the problems have been. She supported fixing the road. Everyone has 26 pointed out that the road is very dangerous. If the road is that dangerous, the 27 buses shouldn't be on it now. She made a motion in committee to put a weight 28 limit on the road until it is fixed. She spoke to Jerry Hunter, who said there are 29 alternative routes out of Glenhaven. They are longer routes, but they are there. If 30 the people are so concerned about the safety issue, they should take more time to 31 get the kids to school. Her motion failed because they were also told that the 32 school district could enact a change in route to take care of that. The Council didn't 33 have to. She supported getting the road fixed, but it is throwing good money after 34 bad. There is water under that road. The road will never be stable. The best they 35 can hope for is to temporarily stabilize it until the next time this happens. She was 36 very concerned about that road being an arterial road. 37 38 Monsen stated there is an ordinance on the agenda to do a temporary speed 39 limit change on Park Road, as a result of that discussion. 40 41 Nelson questioned whether there are certain requirements on roads for 42 vehicles, and whether the road is safe for larger vehicles. Monsen stated the 43 quality of the roads vary significantly from roads that have been recently 44 reconstructed to the full standard to those roads that were originally put in at the 45 turn of the century and have only improved slightly since then. They are all safe 46 for their intended use. They can be misused. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 20 1 Hoag asked about roads in Marietta. They've had some complaints in that 2 area that the roads are in bad shape, and questioned what is happening. 3 4 Bruce Mills, Assistant Director of Engineering, stated they received some 5 complaints this year. They have done some pre -level work in that area. Some of 6 the roads didn't get pre - leveled, but they took care of any potholes that are out 7 there. The County has Marine Drive on the Six -Year Plan. Sections of it are on the 8 one -year plan. 9 10 Imhof questioned whether Marietta is getting chip - sealed next year. Mills 11 stated he didn't recall whether it was on the list. It is not too rough; he drove it 12 himself. 13 14 Monsen stated that, to really deal with the situation in Marietta, they are 15 going to have to do substantial reconstruction on the drainage. Before they can 16 correct those issues, they will have a tough time making that situation any better. 17 It is important to find ways to deal with that. It is not on the annual construction 18 program, but they expect to identify ways to improve the situation in the next year. 19 He hoped to have more detailed discussion when they do the Six -Year Program 20 discussion next spring. 21 22 Motion to approve carried unanimously. 23 24 (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side B.) 25 26 7. ORDINANCE IN THE MATTER OF THE ADOPTION OF THE FINAL 27 BUDGET OF WHATCOM COUNTY FOR THE YEAR 2001 AND 28 RESTRICTING THE EXPENDITURE OF CERTAIN FUNDS THEREIN 29 (AB2000 -363) 30 31 Pete Kremen, County Executive, stated this is the fifth year in a row the 32 administration has submitted a balanced budget with no property tax rate increase. 33 Whatcom County is the only county in the state that has done that for five years 34 running. Only one other county has held the line on property tax rate increases for 35 three years. The most notable aspect of the budget is that it includes an increase 36 of eight additional sheriff deputies, which is a 19 percent increase of the patrol staff 37 and the largest increase in Whatcom County. The budget includes $1.8 million for 38 criminal justice. The $1.8 million has been set aside for prioritization by the Law 39 and Justice Council, with $1 million going to ongoing expenses and $800,000 for 40 one -time expenses. 41 42 The budget also includes nearly $2.5 million for water resource issues. That 43 is a major commitment to very important issues such as protecting the Lake 44 Whatcom watershed, improving salmon habitat, better quantifying the water 45 available in Whatcom County, and assisting in shellfish recovery in the bays and 46 estuaries. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 21 1 He thanked the County Council for its members' cooperation and 2 collaboration. This has been a team effort and a collective work. It works very well 3 that way. He also thanked Deputy Administrator Dewey Desler, who did an 4 excellent job working with the councilmembers, department heads, and elected 5 officials; Debbie Adelstein, Administrative Assistant to Mr. Desler, who is productive 6 and instrumental in getting them to where they are with this elaborate document 7 that has received accolades, and; and Finance Manager Brad Bennett. He 8 introduced Quenby Peterson, their Budget Analyst. 9 10 The document garnered recognition by the Government Finance Officers 11 Association of the United States and Canada. They received an award for 12 distinguished budget presentation for the third year in a row. There are only three 13 other counties that have ever received this award in the State of Washington. He 14 was pleased that they've been able to get this recognition. It is well deserved. He 15 congratulated all those who helped to prepare this document that he hoped the 16 Council would be able to approve. 17 18 Dawson explained that a budget session was held and many 19 recommendations for changes were made. The County has not increased property 20 taxes for five years. The one year that she was on the Council when it was 21 increased was to put the funds into a reserve to keep the County's bonding rate 22 down. She was pleased with the conscientiousness of the Council and the working 23 relationship they've had with administration. The monies they are spending in the 24 water resources area have put the County in a leadership role for water resources 25 and conservation, endangered species, and improving the environment. It can all 26 be done by working conservatively in the finance area. 27 28 Dawson opened the public hearing and the following people spoke: 29 30 Roy Nicholas, 8194 Birch Bay Drive, stated the consultant reported that the 31 Sheriff's Office is short by 25 deputies. The report also states that the national 32 norm is 12 officers per 10,000 population. He interpreted that to mean that the 33 Birch Bay citizens are being shorted 4.2 deputies in the winter and 12 deputies in 34 the summer. When the Sheriff's Office is looking for drug dealers and murderers, 35 they come to Birch Bay, and usually find them. During the summer, there are 36 roaming groups of vandals, young people, and drug dealers. In addition, there are 37 more traffic violations on the streets and violations in the water. From personal 38 experience, it is futile to call 911 for an officer because they are so understaffed. 39 Quite often, other law enforcement agencies will respond for the Sheriff's Office. 40 41 He invited tourists and vacationers to come to Birch Bay to enjoy the 42 recreational and shoreline amenities, but at this time they aren't offered police 43 protection. He realizes that adding 25 officers at one time is not realistic. 44 However, Mr. Kremen's request for an additional eight officers is reasonable, and he 45 does support that request. With the addition of eight officers this year, he expects 46 that Birch Bay would receive some benefit. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 22 1 Jessica Staten, 2217 Woburn Street, Bellingham, spoke on behalf of 2 WomenCare Shelter. There is a small line item in the budget asking for $15,000 for 3 support of their administrative offices. She encouraged approval of that allocation. 4 It is important to them as an agency to have public access to their programs and 5 services, because the shelter location is confidential. They can only do that by 6 having a separate facility they call their administrative office. Programming does 7 happen there, such as walk -in services and volunteer training. They have 42 active 8 volunteers, which is one of the reasons they can provide their services to Whatcom 9 County as cheaply as they do. They would not have those volunteers if they did not 10 have that facility as a location to train them. The state has rigorous training 11 requirements for their program that include 40 hours of initial training and 30 hours 12 of continuing education. All of those services occur at their administrative office. 13 they also use the office in a cooperative manner with other programs in the 14 community that provide domestic violence services for this continuing education 15 requirement. They put out training opportunities for staff at Lydia Place, Whatcom 16 Crisis Services, and Dorothy Place. This is a small item for the County, but it is 17 critical for them. She encouraged approval, and thanked the Council for its support 18 in the past. 19 20 Imhof stated no item is small. 21 22 Carolyn Jensen, Mayor of the City of Ferndale, spoke on behalf of the 23 Bellingham / Whatcom County Commission Against Domestic Violence. She thanked 24 the Council and County Executive for their forethought in supporting the 25 commission in 1999 and in 2000. The commission is charged with the important 26 mission to provide leadership in the community in an effort to reduce and prevent 27 domestic violence. Achieving this mission requires coordination, collaboration, and 28 education throughout Whatcom County. It requires building relationships and 29 encouraging new and coordinated responses to domestic violence from the clergy, 30 schools, law enforcement, neighborhoods, elected officials, prosecutors, employers, 31 health care providers, and everyone. The commission has important work ahead of 32 it as it begins to implement its comprehensive plan. From her past work on the 33 commission, her awareness changed on just how serious domestic violence is. 34 Many of the small cities mayors that she represents need the information that 35 comes from this commission, not just the police departments, in order to play an 36 active role in stopping this closed -door secret. It impacts them terribly. She hoped 37 the Council would support the request. Without it, none of them would be able to 38 look at their neighbors and friends and say they did their best, because everyone 39 knows someone who has been touched by domestic violence. 40 41 Kathy Washatka, 2607 Lakeridge Lane, stated she is also on the Commission 42 Against Domestic Violence. She represented the other 26 volunteers on the 43 commission and thanked the Council for the support over the last two years. She 44 was proud to be a member of a county where both the city and the county councils 45 are supporting this work and coming together so the community can address this 46 problem. The past year has been a busy one for the commission. They have been 47 actively putting together a comprehensive plan that involved people from across 48 the community. For the first time in Whatcom County, they've brought people Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 23 1 together to the same table to plan and strategize how they can address this issue. 2 Their work has just begun. They are looking at a two to three year plan to 3 implement the work they've put together this year. They are asking the Council to 4 continue supporting the commission and this important work. 5 6 Steve Gatterman, Whatcom County Sheriff's Office Deputy, stated he spoke 7 on behalf of the Whatcom County Deputy Sheriff's Guild. They support the 8 Executive's proposed budget, including the addition of the eight deputies. They 9 commend the Council for considering that request. They are glad that there is 10 broad support for the addition of those positions. They are thankful that the need 11 for more deputies has been recognized. Everyone has a role in providing a safe 12 community. They need police who are responsive to the community's needs, 13 citizens that are involved, and government leaders that are willing to provide the 14 resources. These new positions will in some cases improve call response times. 15 They also hope to solve more crimes. They do know that, with the addition of 16 these positions, they would be more responsive to the community. The patrol 17 sergeants will have to tell fewer people that the deputies would not respond to their 18 minor crime, even though the crime is major to the citizens. The detectives will not 19 have to have a backlog of child abuse cases. The traffic deputies will be more 20 available to respond to neighborhood complaints about speeding, rather than be 21 tied up on other calls. They can't guarantee they will solve all crimes. That is not 22 possible. They do need the additional positions so the deputies can tell the 23 community they are doing the best they can. The community needs to know that 24 the deputies are doing the best they can for them, and they need to know that the 25 councilmembers are also doing the best for them. 26 27 Sharon Roy, 8026 Birch Bay Drive, stated she is a member of the Birch Bay 28 Traffic Committee, which is a subcommittee of the Coastal Zone Management Grant 29 of the greater Birch Bay community. She thanked Mr. Kremen, Mr. Desler, Mr. 30 Sandell, Mr. Brandland, and Councilmembers Imhof and Brenner for their attention 31 to the widespread concerns of the Birch Bay citizens related to law enforcement 32 issues. Everyone has stories of reckless driving, close calls for pedestrians, 33 disturbing the peace, and vandalism. All the councilmembers have a copy of the 34 600 - person petition requesting more law enforcement for Birch Bay. She urged the 35 Council to approve the eight additional deputies. It would be the first step toward 36 adequate staffing for the Sheriff's Office, which would benefit them and the county 37 with increased law enforcement presence. 38 39 Katy Montfort, 8026 Birch Bay Drive, #224, supported an additional law 40 enforcement presence at Birch Bay, which is almost impossible without more 41 deputies in the Sheriff's Office. She supported the increased numbers requested. 42 43 Janet Crook, 2317 Broadway, spoke on behalf of Lydia Place. This year 44 they've been recommended to receive $7,500 in the budget. It is the first time 45 that Lydia Place has been recommended for funding through the County. She 46 appreciated it very much. She thanked the Council for the opportunity to have that 47 kind of support from the County, and asked for continued funding for Lydia Place. 48 This will be a benefit. They serve people throughout Whatcom County. The women Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 24 1 come from all over Whatcom County. When the women leave, they are dispersed 2 throughout the county and into permanent housing. It is a great benefit to the 3 county. 4 5 Gerald Larson, 5045 Alder Street, Birch Bay, supported the request for 6 additional sheriff's deputies. The roads around Birch Bay have historically been 7 multi -use rights -of -way. At one time, the summer speed limit on Birch Bay Drive 8 was ten miles per hour. There was a local deputy on duty, plus additional sheriff 9 support as needed. As a child, he felt very secure in this environment. Since then, 10 Birch Bay full -time residents have increased dramatically. The summer speed limit 11 on Birch Bay Drive was increased to 20 miles per hour. There is no longer a full - 12 time deputy, and the recreational use of Birch Bay Drive almost disappeared. A 13 couple of years ago, the road was resurfaced, adding a small shoulder to the road. 14 With the addition of this shoulder, recreational activities have increased and people 15 are starting to feel more secure. Approving the request will provide traffic 16 surveillance and closer adherence to speed limits. 17 18 In addition, the County needs to plan a rerouting of commuter traffic off of 19 Birch Bay Drive. He grew up in the Bellingham and Birch Bay areas, but he spent 20 his working years in south King County. Recently, the city manager of Des Moines, 21 Washington said that his city council just decided to buy property on the waterfront 22 next to their boat harbor. Their council decided to buy this land regardless of the 23 price because it was an important resource for the community. He was proud of his 24 old council. They made a decision that generations will enjoy. There are places in 25 Whatcom County that should be set aside for future generations to enjoy. There 26 are two parcels of land on Birch Bay shore that fall into this category. They should 27 not let this land disappear like the saltwater marsh on the Birch Point side of the 28 bay or the shoreline construction that limited access to parts of the bay. Birch Bay 29 is very unique and needs the Council's support. 30 31 Cathy Cleveland, 7373 Birch Bay Drive, Birch Bay, stated she is also on the 32 Birch Bay Citizen's Committee. She supported Mr. Kremen's request for eight more 33 deputies in the Sheriff's Office. In 1972, the cabin across the street from her home 34 burned down. The White Rock Fire Department got there before the local fire 35 department. That doesn't happen anymore because there is a local fire department 36 out there. Having more deputies will make it more likely that there will be more 37 control over the issues that they police in Birch Bay. 38 39 Mauri Ingram, 2110 New Street, stated she represented the Downtown 40 Development Steering Committee for the City of Bellingham. They are working 41 with the community to revitalize downtown. There is a $30,000 line item requested 42 for the way finding system, which is being coordinated by the city. She 43 encouraged the Council to include that funding in the 2001 budget. The downtown 44 is made up of numerous and diverse tenants and visitors. The city government is 45 an important resident of this neighborhood. She appreciated County Executive 46 Kremen's support in including it in the administrative budget. There are a number 47 of circuitous routes downtown because of the fusion of three different communities 48 into the City of Bellingham. This way finding funding will go a long way to help Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 25 1 downtown as a whole and also simplify the routes for people looking for County 2 facilities. 3 4 George Astler, 4815 Alderson Road, Birch Bay, stated he is a member of the 5 Sheriff's Advisory Council. He's tried to work hard in that role. He's been on the 6 speed watch team. They have worked to help watch the traffic patterns. They 7 don't just do it in Birch Bay. He's also been to Sudden Valley, Lynden, and many 8 other places. He's turned in six reports on speeding and activities throughout all 9 these areas. He found that there are many law- abiding citizens out there. The 10 concern comes to the flagrant violators. In Birch Bay, they are heading to 11 problems that can be worse. There is a new activity of drag racing with high - 12 performance vehicles. He supported the additional eight deputies. 13 14 Patrick Alesse, 4825 Alderson Road, Birch Bay, welcomed the addition of the 15 additional eight deputies to the area. The County officers are very good. This will 16 also benefit the Foothills area. He's recently discovered that they may be able to 17 do some things in terms of road design to benefit speed control. Alderson is on the 18 road plan to be widened to 12 -foot lanes. He has documentation that shows people 19 go slower on 10 -foot lanes. Also in the budget is $2,000 for parking fines. They 20 can collect all of that at Birch Bay this summer. 21 22 Claudia Hollad, 8240 Birch Bay Drive, Blaine, thanked officer Kevin McFadden 23 and supported the eight additional deputies. Deputy McFadden epitomizes what a 24 peace officer should be because he brought peace to the beach through his attitude 25 and demeanor. He was very strict and had zero tolerance, but he also had a sense 26 of humor, which went a long way in dealing with angry residents, drunks, and kids. 27 He is a role model. She also thanked the officers who put their lives on the line for 28 the citizens. Domestic Violence is a real issue. There should be two deputies that 29 go out. It's frightening to go out in the County on one's own. They are requesting 30 more officers at Birch Bay is because they believe a police presence will prevent 31 crime. The plan is to study the issue and get the team together, but that puts 32 them two years out. They need help now. They need protection. If the build out 33 occurs on the points, there will be a lot of traffic. This is the first time they've had 34 a real team effort in Birch Bay that includes the Port Economic Development Group, 35 the Coastal Zone Management, neighborhood groups, and special interest groups. 36 These groups are talking and uniting. The priority has been for more police 37 presence. They are requesting more. She wants and requests 50 more police 38 officers in hopes of getting what they actually need. 39 40 Kim Vloss, 8837 Guide Meridian, spoke on the starling control funding. Her 41 office, the Whatcom County Agricultural Preservation, was remiss in getting the 42 budget request information into the Executive's Office for the starling control 43 program. Executive Kremen has been very supportive of this program to control 44 the starling bird population in the county. There has been some discussion of 45 funding again this year in the amount of $10,000. She asked to increase funding 46 from $10,000 to $15,000. They want to increase the program. They now do a 47 summer trapping program in the county on farmers' land. They want to get into a 48 winter baiting program to allow them to better contain the growing population. Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 26 1 Skagit County has had a program in place for the last 20 years. The Whatcom 2 County program has been in place for about four years. They need to be more 3 aggressive to reduce and manage the population. They have economic loss to the 4 farmers as a starling can eat its body weight every day. It is a problem to the 5 farmers and is also a health issue to people from bird droppings. She asked the 6 Council to fund the program in the amount of $15,000 so the program can continue 7 through the winter. 8 9 Hoag stated one of the councilmembers said Henry Bierlink asked for 10 $10,000 this year, which would be just fine. That doesn't match with what Ms. 11 Vloss said. She asked for clarification. Vloss stated they had a contract this year 12 with the Department of Wildlife for about $20,000 to do a summer trapping 13 program. $10,000 of that funding came from the Council and $10,000 came from 14 her organization, which collected it from farmers, to support the program. They are 15 barely managing the flock size. In order to do a better job, they need to extend 16 the program into the winter months for better management of the flocks. The U.S. 17 Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services said that they've had better success in 18 reducing the flock size by engaging in winter baiting in addition to summer 19 trapping. 20 21 Hoag asked if $10,000 would be enough for this year, as Henry Bierlink of 22 the Conservation District stated. 23 24 Imhof questioned whether the farmer's are coming up with another $5,000 25 to match the requested funding. Vloss stated they will ask for an increase also 26 from the farming community to do winter baiting. They've had several farmers 27 come on board, but it is difficult to match those funds. 28 29 Hoag said there was a problem in which some of the starlings were baited 30 with poison, and the eagles ended up dying. Vloss stated that was done from 31 farmers. The winter baiting is a program done by wildlife services, who trains her 32 technicians. The USDA hires the employee and they manage the program. That 33 person gets some additional training on how to bait the starlings. That person is 34 the only one in charge of doing baiting. 35 36 Dawson questioned whether this is a one -time expense for training. Vloss 37 stated it is a yearly program. 38 39 Dawson questioned whether they would be asking for $15,000 every year. 40 Vloss stated they would ask for that funding to be considered as a permanent line 41 item in the budget. 42 43 Hoag stated the Conservation District recognized Ms. Vloss and her family as 44 Cooperator of the Year. When looking at all the activities Ms. Vloss is involved in, it 45 is no wonder she forgot to get this into the Executive's Office. 46 47 Dale Brandland, Sheriff, urged the Council to support the additional eight 48 deputies. He thanked the County Executive. The increase this year is Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 27 1 unprecedented. They've had support from the Council and the Executive in the 2 past, but they've really stepped up to the plate this time. This increase will be felt. 3 He also thanked the deputies and corrections officers for attending this meeting. 4 They will also hopefully approve three additional corrections officers. There is as 5 much danger for a corrections officer as there is for a deputy. The addition of three 6 people is going to be a great help. The most gratifying thing is to hear the citizens 7 of the community recognize the quality of the people working in his organization. 8 They have good deputy sheriffs and corrections officers. 9 10 Bob Knutsen, 6070 Saxon Road, Acme, stated he is retired from the 11 Bellingham Police Department. There are other remote areas in the county besides 12 Birch Bay that need law enforcement. The bodies that are on the line are half 13 enough of what is needed. There is no way to say what it feels like at alone 2:00 14 a.m. with no backup. He was in favor of the additional eight deputies. They need 15 more. 16 17 Terry Stach, Corrections Officer, thanked the Council for allowing the 18 corrections officers to express their concerns. The Sheriff has requested five new 19 corrections officers to begin with. That has been dwindled down to three. They 20 would like to start by requesting five. The minimum staffing requires are six 21 officers and one sergeant on the day shift. The afternoon shift they have six 22 officers and one sergeant. On the night shift they have five officers and one 23 sergeant. Monday through Friday they also have two to three transport officers 24 who handle court appearances, medical emergencies, and appointments. They also 25 have four officers and one sergeant, which take care of the alternative programs 26 Monday through Friday. On weekends and holidays, the day and night shifts are 27 reduced to five officers and one sergeant, while the afternoon shift stays at six and 28 one. The jail has three floors. The first floor houses females with an average 29 occupancy of 37, but has been as high as 32 within the past week. There are also 30 nine individual cells on the first floor that are utilized for special needs such as 31 medical, suicide threats, mentally ill, and those suffering from drug and alcohol 32 withdrawals. Often, these cells are double- manned, which means they have to put 33 two inmates into one cell. This floor has one primary officer with one or two that 34 assist throughout the jail where needed. 35 36 The second floor is used for general population. They can house 128 up 37 there. They generally average about 120 inmates. This floor has one primary 38 officer. The third floor is used for special needs inmates, such as high -risk, sex 39 offenders, disciplinary, and medical inmates. They can house 68 individuals, and 40 average about 60. This floor has one primary officer. Altogether, the jail averages 41 about 200 to 225 inmates per day. Staffing issues are the staffing levels. The 42 violent offender ratio to general population has jumped from 41 percent to 59 43 percent since 1995. This represents a safety and security issue. The numbers of 44 offenders with mental health issues are on the rise. The national average is 16 45 percent of the population that have mental health issues. A doctor comes in 46 weekly, and two mental health counselors come in daily, including weekends to 47 help with mentally ill offenders. Ten years ago, this wasn't the case. In June of 48 1999, the jail alternative personnel were tasked with setting up the District Court Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 28 1 commitments. This was previously done with two to three District Court clerks, but 2 was added to the jail alternative staff with no additional staff added. This 3 presented a safety and security issue. 4 5 (Clerk's Note: End of tape two, side A.) 6 7 Officer Stach continued to state that mandatory overtime becomes a major 8 issue. Jail staff work 50- and 60 -hour workweeks. That is what they are currently 9 tasked with. Factors impacted by the level of staff include the security and safety 10 of the inmates, which is a liability issue, and security and safety of staff, which is 11 another liability issue. Using the guidelines of the National Institute of Corrections, 12 they are currently working short - staffed by five officers. Therefore, he requested 13 five new corrections officers at this time. While there are many other issues related 14 to community safety and the restrictions of the facility, the first place for 15 improvement is the understanding and acknowledgement of meeting staffing needs. 16 17 Brenner questioned the percentage of mentally ill in the jail. Stach stated 18 the national average is 16 percent. 19 20 Brenner stated the nationwide statistics of the Mental Health Advisory Board 21 are much higher. She was surprised to hear 16 percent. 22 23 Jon Ostlund, Public Defender, supported the Executive's budget and the 24 request for additional sheriff deputies. He also supported additional corrections 25 officers. He's been practicing criminal law in Whatcom County for 25 years and 26 been the Public Defender for 18 years. During all of that time, he has been 27 continually amazed at the quality of the people working in the jail. It is only 28 because of the quality and commitment of these people that the County hasn't had 29 more incidents. They are heavily overworked. They need the additional staff that 30 is requested. 31 32 Dawson closed the public hearing. 33 34 (Clerk's Note: The Council took a short break from 9 :30 p.m. to 9 :40 p.m.) 35 36 Nelson thanked the councilmembers and Council staff for their hard work. 37 He moved to adopt the 2001 budget. 38 39 Dawson asked Nelson for recommendations from the Finance Committee. 40 41 Nelson stated a work session was held on November 7, and several motions 42 were made at that time. 43 44 Dawson stated those motions were approved by the full Council during the 45 work session. She suggested reading those motions into the record. If a 46 councilmember wants to withdraw one of those motions, he or she could. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 29 1 Nelson questioned whether it is the wish of the Council to act on the motions 2 by Consent. 3 4 The Council concurred. 5 6 Nelson stated the packet of information submitted by Deputy Administrator 7 Dewey Desler included a list of those amendments in his memo dated November 8 14, 2000 regarding the budget changes pursuant to the work session. That list 9 includes a list of technical adjustments recommended by the County Executive, and 10 amounted to a $3,000 difference. He listed the amendments made during the work 11 session: 12 . Increase the Hearing Examiner's salary and wages by $5,700 13 • Include the starling program in the amount of $10,000 14 • Include the Rule 9 legal interns for the Public Defender in the amount of 15 $6,937 16 • Include the Law Library expenses for the Public Defender in the amount of 17 $4,100 18 • Remove overtime for the Sheriff's Office - Investigations by the amount of 19 $5,675 20 • Remove the cost of a laser printer for the Public Works Department in the 21 amount of $3,000, for a new total of $165,899 22 . Include two additional new full -time equivalent (FTE) employees, in 23 addition to the third FTE recommended in the budget, for the Public 24 Works Department - River and Flood Division in the amount of $189,500 25 • Include capital expenses for the additional River and Flood Division 26 personnel in the amount of $60,500 27 28 These changes total $250,000 for flood work and $26,637 for the General 29 Fund. In addition, there was an amendment to remove $110,000 budgeted for the 30 Northwest yard waste facility. 31 32 Several technical corrections were made, and had a total difference of $3,000 33 in Current Expense. He moved approval of all the amendments. 34 35 Brenner asked that the starling program be removed from the motion. 36 37 Motion to approve all amendments except the starling program carried 38 unanimously. 39 40 Brenner stated she made the motion on the starling program because she'd 41 received calls. During committee, they designated $10,000 because they weren't 42 aware of any other needs. They wanted to get a presentation from the Ag 43 Preservation Committee on their needs. The citizen made a good case during the 44 public hearing. She moved to add $15,000 to the starling program instead of 45 $10,000. 46 47 Hoag stated she supported the motion. The number of starlings that they 48 are still seeing out there is a real concern. They carry and spread disease in Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 30 1 addition to eating the crops and cattle feed. One of her farmer neighbors wants to 2 see this extended because the time period the starlings are being trapped covers 3 when his berries are ripe, but they are eating the buds earlier in the year, which 4 destroys the following year's crop. There is no trapping going on at that time. 5 They would like to see this program extended. She is a penny - pincher when it 6 comes to the budget, but this is an important one. 7 8 McShane asked that a friendly amendment be considered that $5,000 would 9 only be available after a presentation at Natural Resources Committee. He hears 10 this every year. He is supportive, but would like to have some questions answered. 11 12 Brenner accepted the friendly amendment. The County would set aside 13 $15,000 for the starling program, with the ability to access $10,000 right away, 14 and the other $5,000 after a presentation in Natural Resources Committee. If they 15 can handle starlings in a less humane way, and save money, they should do it. 16 17 Motion to amend carried unanimously. 18 19 Brenner moved to change the Solid Waste Specialist position to Technical 20 Solid Waste Specialist, with a minimum requirement of a four -year degree in civil 21 engineering or environmental science and additional recommended qualifications to 22 be determined by the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. Increase funding to 23 $63,000. 24 25 Motion carried 5 -2 with Imhof and Crawford opposed. 26 27 Brenner moved to return the Superior Court Commissioner salaries from the 28 proposed 85 percent back to 80 percent of Superior Court Judge salaries. Their 29 salaries and benefits come to $104,000 per year, plus. The Council never saw the 30 comparison with other counties. There may be counties that get more and may be 31 others that get less. She understood that the Superior Court judges get cost of 32 living increases (COLA's) as well as their salary. If they do, the Commissioners are 33 also getting COLA's. They make an incredibly good salary. This has come up year 34 after year with District Court and Superior Court, and the Council always says no. 35 36 Hoag acknowledged the letter the councilmembers received from the courts 37 regarding this request. She appreciated their concerns, but she agreed with 38 Councilmember Brenner and supported her amendment. 39 40 Motion failed 3 -4 with Hoag, Dawson, and Brenner in favor. 41 42 Brenner moved to add two additional sheriff deputies to the eight proposed 43 by the administration, to be paid out of the Road fund. Deputy Administrator 44 Dewey Desler provided information on what the requirements are to provide road 45 deputies out of the Road fund. With the eight deputies that were already 46 recommended, the two more would be an increase of 20 percent. It has been 47 shown in the past that at least 20 percent of the deputies' duties involve road -type 48 issues. The County would be justified. Finance Committee Chair Nelson questioned Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 31 1 whether the County is really getting any bang for its buck on the revenues. She 2 appreciated being provided that information. It looks like it is at least a wash. 3 4 Nelson stated that revenue includes the state patrol. 5 6 Brenner stated they are making pretty good money, but that isn't the reason 7 the County should do this. The County should do it because it is an important 8 need, and they have money set aside in the Road fund for that. 9 10 Imhof stated the money that comes out of the Road fund to fund the 11 deputies, and the fines generated, do not go back into the Road fund. He 12 suggested paying for the deputies with the fine revenues. Second, the Road 13 Department has to justify to the County Road Administration Board (CRAB), who 14 has to justify to the legislature, the amount of money that comes out of it. The 15 County is now over the average of most counties of a similar size. The legislature 16 wants to know why the County needs more road money, if in fact they are dipping 17 into the fund to pay for sheriffs. Every time the County goes to the legislature in 18 Olympia, that is a question. The County has to be concerned that it cannot 19 continually dip into Road funds to pay for the deputies. If the County is going to 20 add deputies, add them to where they should be. 21 22 Dawson stated the Council added two deputies three years ago. 23 24 Imhof stated there is now almost a half million dollars coming out of the 25 Road fund that goes to the Sheriff's Office. Out of $4.5 million, that is 20 percent 26 of the budget that comes from the Road fund. 27 28 Brenner stated more than 20 percent should come from the Road fund, 29 because that is what they do a lot of. She would entertain a friendly amendment 30 that the cost would be subsidized with fines. She didn't want the positions to 31 depend just on the fines, because it creates the situation that the public would be in 32 an uproar while thinking that the deputies have to make this fine money to justify 33 their jobs. She was not interested in that. 34 35 Imhof stated he did not want to accept that friendly amendment. 36 37 Brenner stated this has been around for a week and a half. She hadn't seen 38 anything that supports Councilmember Imhof's comments. If he has reasons to 39 support those comments, he should bring them around in the future. That is 40 exactly part of the reason they are supposed to have Road fund money, to build the 41 roads and also ensure that they are safe. 42 43 Nelson questioned whether Councilmember Brenner supported the criminal 44 justice tax. 45 46 Brenner stated she did not. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 32 1 Nelson stated that Councilmember Brenner just said she wanted adequate 2 funding, but she wouldn't support the tax they use now and that funds the eight 3 new deputies. 4 5 Brenner stated the criminal justice tax was a rip -off. Most of it doesn't go to 6 the County. All the jurisdictions get to decide how they are going to spend it. The 7 County ends up being a tax collector for others. She liked to use money as the 8 Council sees fit. She didn't like throwing money at other jurisdictions for them to 9 do with it what they like. She didn't support the way that tax was. 10 11 Nelson stated they don't operate in a vacuum that other jurisdictions don't 12 matter. They operate together as a community, and the criminal justice tax was to 13 address the issue as a community, and he hoped that they would address the issue. 14 He shared the concern about having deputies on the roads, but they need to do 15 that in a comprehensive approach to make sure they are not impacting other 16 systems. He shared Councilmember Imhof's concerns about the Road fund. 17 They've already heard from people concerned about their road projects that would 18 require that funding. As soon as the County gets ahead with the Endangered 19 Species Act (ESA), the County may not have enough in that fund, even. 20 21 Hoag stated that some of Councilmember Imhof's comments have not been 22 brought up in previous discussions. When the Council talked about it earlier, the 23 councilmembers talked about a time prior to when she was on the Council and 24 when the Council approved two deputies to be paid for out of the Road fund. The 25 fines were supposed to cover the cost. She didn't understand how they could do 26 that if the fines weren't going back in the Road fund. Also, she asked if the County 27 is still funding the two deputies out of the Road fund. 28 29 Nelson stated approximately a half million dollars is going out of the Road 30 fund and into the Sheriff's Office. The money is spread across all the deputies, 31 because they all share activities on the road. 32 33 Imhof stated the cost would pay for an equivalent of eight deputies that are 34 funded out of the Road fund. 35 36 Brenner questioned where the fines go. 37 38 Imhof stated part of the fines go to the state, if the state patrol did the 39 arrest. All the court costs go to the state. The County doesn't get 100 percent of 40 the fines that go through the court system. What the County does get doesn't go 41 back to the Road fund to supplant the money used to pay for the deputies. It goes 42 into the General fund. 43 44 Brenner stated the Council uses the General fund as it sees fit, so it doesn't 45 matter whether or not it goes back to the Road fund. 46 47 Hoag stated Councilmember Brenner said that the money is in the Road fund. 48 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 33 1 Brenner stated the money is available in the Road fund. 2 3 Hoag stated she heard a comment that it only matters if they want to build 4 roads. She questioned whether roads would not be built or maintained if the 5 Council supports deputies out of the Road fund. 6 7 Brenner stated they've never used all of the Road fund money, to her 8 knowledge. Every time she's looked, there has been a surplus. 9 10 Dawson stated that when it comes to the state providing the County with its 11 allocation, it looks at what the County is spending. 12 13 Imhof stated there is a revolving fund in the Road fund. There are ongoing 14 projects, so there is carry -over to following years. They are large capital 15 expenditures. The fund looks like it is a cash cow, but the County would put itself 16 in jeopardy at the state level. 17 18 Hoag questioned the amount in the Road fund. 19 20 Jeff Monsen, Public Works Director, stated that the Road fund has now an $8 21 million fund balance. He estimated that he needs about $5 million solely for cash 22 flow relative to project activity. The other three million would move up and down, 23 depending on the year and size of projects. The way he is designing the Road 24 Program, primarily a capital program, is to have a balanced Road fund. Therefore, 25 he is scheduling projects in line with projected revenues. If the Council takes more 26 money out of the Road fund, it would have an impact on the projects that would be 27 done in the future, but that is a policy matter of how to prioritize its use. 28 29 Hoag questioned whether the legislature only looks at the amount the County 30 is allocated, or whether they look at the amount sitting in the fund balance. 31 Monsen stated the only questions he recalled are about how he uses the funds. 32 33 Hoag questioned whether the legislature would question the use of putting a 34 traffic officer in Birch Bay, for example, to address the concerns of the citizens. 35 Monsen stated that Councilmember Imhof has a better handle on that because of 36 his role on the CRAB Board. The questions he'd been asked regarding County 37 expenditures are generally about how the funds are used and whether he's 38 exercised all local authorities relative to revenue - generation. If the County hasn't, 39 it shouldn't go to the legislature for more. 40 41 Imhof stated that the legislature then asks why more money is being asked 42 for if the County is giving it to the Sheriff's Office. 43 44 Hoag questioned whether the legislature would frown on the County using 45 Road fund money to address a problem such as Birch Bay, where there are traffic - 46 related incidents. 47 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 34 1 Imhof stated the legislature looks at the percentage of Road fund money put 2 towards other purposes, not whether there is a local concern that needs to be 3 addressed. That is what the General fund is for. Road fund tax is supposed to go 4 to certain endeavors. When the County has a certain percentage of its Road fund 5 that is going to the Sheriff's Office, the legislature looks with interest at why the 6 County comes to the legislature for Road fund money when it spends it all on things 7 other than constructing roads. 8 9 Brenner stated that when the County hires deputies, it gets two bangs for its 10 buck. The deputies are not just about solving crimes and helping to control what is 11 going on. They also help prevent crime. The Blue Ribbon Panel suggested a bare 12 minimum of ten additional deputies. She appreciated what came from the 13 Executive's budget, but this is a time when they have a funding source and can do 14 this. Start at the bare minimum. 15 16 Crawford questioned whether Councilmember Imhof was of the strong 17 opinion that, if the Council approved the amendment, it would jeopardize the 18 funding from the state for roads. 19 20 Imhof stated he couldn't say that it wouldn't jeopardize the funding. There is 21 concern right now about the amount of money that the County is spending on 22 things other than roads. 23 24 Motion to amend failed 1 -6 with Brenner in favor. 25 26 Brenner stated the corrections officers put on an excellent presentation. 27 There may be money available to fund two more corrections officers. The Council 28 should approve a total of five. The corrections officers are under much stress. The 29 deputies and the corrections officers are front -line, and it is important. She moved 30 to add two more corrections officers, for a total of five, with the stipulation that the 31 funding is available. 32 33 Crawford agreed. When they had a presentation, the Sheriff said he 34 requested five. In the course of the discussion on the additional Sheriff's deputies, 35 they didn't spend much time talking about the corrections officers. He asked for 36 clarification on how the administration decided on three officers. 37 38 Pete Kremen, County Executive, stated that the criminal justice needs need 39 to be addressed. They are taking a giant step in doing that. There are $1.8 million 40 for the Law and Justice Council to prioritize where that money could best be spent. 41 Of the $1.8 million, $1 million would be allocated to ongoing expenditures, such as 42 two more corrections officers or two more sheriff deputies. It is important for the 43 Law and Justice Panel to look at the system system -wide rather than try to put 44 emphasis in one area that would create a problem somewhere else. That was the 45 rationale behind the administration's proposed budget items. The administration 46 contemplated recommending five deputies and letting the Law and Justice Panel 47 look at the system in its entirety. He suggested that the Council take that into 48 consideration as it deals with the issues. There is $1 million for the Law and Justice Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 35 1 Panel to spend in 2001. It may very well appropriate the money necessary for two 2 or more corrections officers in addition to the three that the administration 3 proposed. 4 5 Hoag stated an additional three were going to the Law and Justice Council, 6 which is supposed to come back to the Council in March. They have to sort through 7 the priorities. She wanted the corrections officers to know that she supported 8 increases on this in each budget. Last year and the year before, she asked for 9 them to help reduce the overtime, which it did somewhat. She had been pushing 10 for that. She would like to see the Law and Justice Council give them more than 11 just the three, but it is important to look at it system -wide. It is not being ignored. 12 13 Kremen agreed with the statement made by Mr. Ostlund earlier. Because of 14 the dedication and commitment on the part of the people working in the jail, they 15 have been able to get by with less than the bare minimum. The County owes a 16 debt of gratitude and appreciation to the people who have been staffing the jail for 17 the past several years. They have really been working under extremely stressful 18 conditions. The County is fortunate to have the output and production from these 19 very dedicated and talented individuals. 20 21 Brenner stated she recalled that the committee already recommended ten 22 deputies, not the eight. The bare minimum number of deputies was ten. She 23 recalled that they recommended more than three corrections officers. She 24 assumed five was the bare minimum, because that amount was requested. She 25 questioned the bare minimum that was recommended. 26 27 Kremen stated the Law and Justice Council didn't make the 28 recommendations. The consultants made the recommendation. The County 29 couldn't implement every single recommendation of the consultants. Neither the 30 administration nor the Council should usurp the charge of the Law and Justice 31 Council. Let them take a look at the system holistically so the County is able to get 32 the best and most benefit from the dollars it spends. 33 34 Brenner suggested funding two more deputies and two more corrections 35 officers because it takes eight to ten months to get the guys out on the road. For 36 the rest of it, leave it to the Law and Justice Council. These are bottom line needs. 37 She moved to increase the corrections officer request to five from three. Several of 38 the councilmembers have pushed for more corrections officers. 39 40 Motion failed 1 -6 with Brenner in favor. 41 42 Hoag stated she supported the eight deputies that are recommended. 43 44 Dawson asked for the motion. 45 46 Hoag stated she would make a motion, however she wanted the deputies to 47 know she pushed every year for additional deputies and the Sheriff has not 48 supported it. Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 36 1 2 Dawson stated this was not a time to politicize. The Council has a job to do. 3 She'd asked for motions. They are not there to politicize their positions. 4 5 Imhof called for the question if no more motions were going to be made. 6 7 Hoag stated she was gong to make motions. Councilmember McShane 8 supported adding a second Probation Officer immediately, rather than referring it to 9 the Law and Justice Council, but he withdrew the motion in the work session 10 because he couldn't recall his original reasoning for it. She supported that motion. 11 The revenues generated by Probation more than pay for it. It isn't something the 12 Law and Justice Council has to prioritize because the officers are generating their 13 own revenue. She moved to add another Probation Officer in District Court. 14 15 Imhof stated it goes back to the need to look at it holistically. 16 17 Hoag stated the funds are generated to the court. Their revenues are 18 exceeding their cost. 19 20 Imhof stated that doesn't give a priority. 21 22 Hoag stated the officers are generating revenues that more than cover their 23 fees. It is not appropriate to put it into a system where it is being prioritized 24 among other needs, because the revenues are more than covering their costs. 25 26 Motion failed 2 -5 with McShane and Hoag in favor. 27 28 Hoag stated $15,000 is allocated to go to the Economic Development Council 29 (EDC). She did not support that funding. The EDC is duplicative at what it does, at 30 best. The Port of Bellingham has been making major efforts to bring economic 31 development into the rural parts of the county. The Bellingham Chamber of 32 Commerce works to bring developments into the Bellingham area. The EDC is at 33 least giving them regular reports, however the majority of their efforts are 34 duplicated by other organizations that exist. In addition, they are fighting what the 35 public brings forward and tends to encourage smokestack industry on the rare 36 times it does make a proactive effort. She expressed her concerns, and received a 37 rude letter in response. They should not have $15,000 of taxpayer dollars. 38 39 Crawford questioned whether that is a motion by Councilmember Hoag to 40 remove the $15,000. 41 42 Hoag stated it was a motion. 43 44 Crawford stated that, as the Council's representative to the EDC, he was 45 impressed with the efforts of the EDC. They just had a membership luncheon last 46 Thursday. They were given high marks by three new high -tech industries that have 47 come into town and that are going to provide a healthy employee base. There are 48 many exciting programs that the EDC is working on now that he is encouraged Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 37 1 about. Because of this controversy of funding last year, he has been particularly 2 attentive to what the EDC is doing, more so than any other function he's had in the 3 community, except for his work on the Council. He's had lengthy discussions of the 4 concerns he's heard on the Council with the EDC administrators and Board of 5 Directors. They understand the Council's concerns and are willing to address those 6 concerns. He is optimistic about 2001. The EDC is on the right track. He 7 encourages the Council's full support of that organization. 8 9 Dawson concurred. They are working with a company now that is involved in 10 energy cells and employee high- income engineers. They are cognizant of looking 11 for clean, high -tech industries. 12 13 Brenner stated she supported Councilmember Hoag's motion. The Council 14 used to have the Fourth Corner Economic Development Council. That was the focus 15 of how they should move economically. The fellow in charge was very attuned to 16 the community and worked to help promote small businesses and keep the existing 17 small businesses in business. There was a real change in direction when it became 18 the EDC. She doesn't like the direction they are going. There have been a lot of 19 promises of family wage jobs, but it never happened. She was encouraged that 20 Councilmember Crawford was on the board, and hoped things change, but wouldn't 21 support any funding until she sees a change. 22 23 Hoag stated she sent a letter to the EDC recently. 24 25 (Clerk's Note: End of tape two, side 8.) 26 27 Hoag continued to state that the companies contacted Whatcom County, and 28 were referred to the EDC, not the EDC proactively going out to get the companies. 29 The list included some tremendously undesirable industries which they don't have 30 to spend taxpayer dollars to attract. They are the types of things that people don't 31 want in their community, and the companies are hunting for a place to locate. She 32 sent a letter to the EDC expressing her concern and reiterated their mission to help 33 local businesses expand. They've lost sight of that part of their mission. Also in 34 the mission was to attract clean industry to Whatcom County. When she sent that 35 letter of concern, Councilmember Crawford sent his own letter saying he didn't 36 share her concern. The EDC sent her a response, which said it wasn't their mission. 37 They included in their letter a copy of their response to Councilmember Crawford. 38 That response said that Councilmember Crawford obviously had a better 39 understanding of the EDC than her. 40 41 In addition, it has been brought to her attention on a number of occasions 42 that the EDC has claimed credit for bringing companies to the county, including her 43 friend with a software company. Her friend had never even talked to the EDC. Her 44 friend just happened to end up locating here because he liked the Christian schools 45 and community in Lynden. Because he located in Whatcom County, the EDC added 46 him to their list of accomplishments. She's tried repeatedly to get the EDC to help 47 out farmers in terms of trying to attract industries that support farming. The EDC 48 won't do it. They don't deserve taxpayer funds. Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 38 1 2 Motion failed 3 -4 with Hoag, Brenner, and McShane in favor. 3 4 McShane moved to increase funding to the Bellingham /Whatcom Chamber of 5 Commerce and Industry Business Service Center to $15,000 total. They requested 6 $15,000, and the administration recommended $7,500. He has a great deal of 7 confidence in their approach toward economic development. They are truly tapped 8 into the community. 9 10 Hoag stated she would support that motion. 11 12 Motion failed 3 -4 with Hoag, Brenner, and McShane in favor. 13 14 McShane moved to strike the funding for the position of Legislative Specialist 15 in the Council of Governments for transportation issues. Apparently, the job was to 16 do lobbying purposes on transportation issues. He asked some questions about the 17 position, but no one had any real sense of what this position would actually do. 18 19 Imhof stated the County Council has not has much contact with the person. 20 The cost in the budget is the County's share of the COG funding for that position. 21 The person is very instrumental in getting certain Road funds for the county. One 22 in particular was the Samish Way overpass on the south side of Bellingham. The 23 person was very instrumental in getting excess funds over and above what should 24 have been allotted by the legislature. It is money well spent. He's had some 25 contact with the person through the COG and the CRAB Board. 26 27 McShane withdrew his motion. 28 29 Brenner moved the same motion, to strike the funding for the position of 30 Legislative Specialist in the Council of Governments. 31 32 Hoag questioned the amount the cities are contributing. Kremen stated the 33 contribution is proportional to the population, based on the same formula that the 34 County uses to pay its dues. 35 36 Dawson stated it is difficult to monitor how successful these people really 37 are. Kremen stated this person is producing. If the person wasn't producing, the 38 smaller cities would not be willing to ante up. The cities of Blaine, Lynden, and 39 other entities within Whatcom County are pleased with the production of Mr. 40 Parker, who is the person in that position. He is a legislative specialist, and has 41 generated a lot of revenue that Whatcom County would not otherwise realize. He 42 also works closely with their legislative delegation. From his observation, he 43 believed that Representatives Erickson and Linville and Senator Gardner would 44 speak extremely well of Mr. Parker. He is held in high regard by the entire 45 legislative delegation. 46 47 Brenner stated this is nothing personal about the person filling the position. 48 She was concerned about how his success is distributed out. The amount of Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 39 1 revenue received is not proportional to the amount contributed. It is in the interest 2 of the small cities, because they are so much smaller, to proportionally fund so 3 much less and conceivable there could be more gain. They can go ahead and fund 4 it. It was not clear to her that what the County receives is proportional to what it 5 gives. Kremen stated that the cities in Whatcom County are a part of Whatcom 6 County. They are constituents of the County officials as well. There are projects 7 that are for the incorporated and unincorporated areas in Whatcom County and that 8 benefit from the work of this legislative specialist. The most important thing to 9 bring to the surface is that, if the County were to decide not to fund the position, 10 the smaller entities would not have the financial wherewithal to continue to fund 11 this individual, and therefore might end the work on behalf of the entirety of 12 Whatcom County. 13 14 Brenner stated she was aware that the County officials represent every single 15 citizen in Whatcom County. The unincorporated areas have no other 16 representatives other than them, whereas city residents also have the city 17 representatives. The cities are municipalities. They are taxing districts. When the 18 County pulls the money, it should be pulled for the entire County and not replacing 19 things that the cities are responsible for doing. The unincorporated areas have 20 needs. The cities have needs within the city areas. If the proportional share could 21 be redistributed so they know how it is working out, that is one thing, but it doesn't 22 happen that way. 23 24 Motion failed 1 -6 with Brenner in favor. 25 26 Dawson stated there are technical changes to Exhibit B that the 27 administration needs to address. Then they need to have a motion. 28 29 Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated that, given the changes to the 30 Flood fund and Solid Waste fund, the administration be allowed to make the 31 technical changes to Exhibit B of the budget, which relates to position control. They 32 will prepare that for Council review at the next meeting, but it is part of the budget 33 document and the administration asks that it be adopted as well. 34 35 Imhof moved to adopt the technical changes to Exhibit B of the budget. 36 37 Motion carried unanimously. 38 39 Dawson stated the motion on the floor is to adopt the budget with 40 amendments. 41 42 Motion carried unanimously. 43 44 Crawford stated he was impressed with the way Finance Committee Chair 45 Nelson handled this. Councilmember Nelson obviously has been through this 46 process a number of times. As a result, he was organized, firm, fair, and had a 47 sense of humor throughout. 48 Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 40 1 2 INTRODUCTION ITEMS 3 4 Brenner moved to accept the Introduction Items. 5 6 Motion carried unanimously. 7 8 1. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE OFFICIAL WHATCOM COUNTY ZONING 9 ORDINANCE, TITLE 20, CHAPTER 20.80, TO INCLUDE ACCUMULATIVE 10 IMPERVIOUS SURFACE THRESHOLDS FOR STORMWATER SPECIAL 11 DISTRICT ON -SITE STORMWATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY FACILITY 12 REQUIREMENTS, AND TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL CLARIFYING 13 LANGUAGE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE PURPOSES (AB2000 -390) 14 15 2. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE OFFICIAL WHATCOM COUNTY CODE, 16 TITLE 20, CHAPTER 20.80.730, LAND CLEARING AND 20.971 17 DEFINITIONS (AB2000 -391) (HEARING TO BE SCHEDULED) 18 19 3. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE OFFICIAL WHATCOM COUNTY ZONING 20 ORDINANCE, TITLE 20, SECTION 20.42.150 TO ALLOW PUBLIC 21 HEALTH AND SAFETY FACILITIES AND ROAD MAINTENANCE 22 FACILITIES WITHIN THE RURAL FORESTRY ZONING 23 CLASSIFICATION AS A CONDITIONAL USE (AB2000 -392) 24 25 4. ORDINANCE REGARDING ESTABLISHMENT OF SPEED LIMITS WITHIN 26 A SCHOOL ZONE (AB2000 -393) (HEARING TO BE SCHEDULED) 27 28 S. ORDINANCE REGARDING ESTABLISHMENT OF SPEED LIMITS ON 29 CERTAIN COUNTY ROADS (AB2000 -394) (HEARING TO BE 30 SCHEDULED) 31 32 6. ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY SPEED LIMIT CHANGE 33 FOR PARK ROAD (AB2000 -395) (HEARING TO BE SCHEDULED) 34 35 7. ORDINANCE REGARDING ESTABLISHMENT OF SPEED LIMIT ON 36 LOOMIS TRAIL ROAD (AB2000 -396) (HEARING TO BE SCHEDULED) 37 38 S. ORDINANCE REGARDING INSTALLING STOP SIGNS ON CERTAIN 39 COUNTY ROADS (AB2000 -397) (HEARING TO BE SCHEDULED) 40 41 9. APPLICATION TO REZONE APPROXIMATELY 50 ACRES FROM RURAL 42 ONE DWELLING /TEN ACRES (R10A) TO RURAL ONE DWELLING /FIVE 43 ACRES (RSA) (AB2000 -398) 44 45 46 OTHER BUSINESS 47 48 There was no other business. Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 41 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 REPORTS AND OTHER ITEMS FROM COUNCILMEMBERS McShane stated he was grateful the meeting ended early because he had to drive to Olympia. Beginning at 8:00 a.m. the next day, he has deliberations on the Sumas Energy power plant for three days. Hoag questioned whether they expect to make a decision in three days. McShane stated he couldn't say. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 10:38 p.m. Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription These minutes were approved by Council on December 12 , 2000. ATTEST: Dana Brown - Davis, Council Clerk WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Marlene Dawson, Council Chair Regular County Council Meeting, 11/14/2000, Page 42