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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCounty Council for August 16 1979WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING Minutes of meeting August 16, 1979 The Whatcom County Council meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. C. J. Johnson was absent, all other members were present. Minutes were approved as corrected, EXECUTIVE ITEMS Executive John Louws showed the preliminary drafts of the proposed road district consolidation. Presently in Whatcom County there are three road districts. He is proposing that they be consolidated into one, with the central office to be located at the corner of Smith and Northwest roads. New facilities to house all of the equipment and personnel would have to be built, with the funding coming from the sale of County -owned land located at the Bakerview Spur. The revenue made from such sale would be from five to six hundred thousand dollars, and the new facilities would cost from four to five hundred thousand dollars to build. Louws stated iat a good deal of money would be saved in the overall picture from such a consolidation- possibly as much as 10% of the operating costs of the current three- district system. OTHER BUSINESS Alex Gitts was nominated by Thompson and appointed to serve on the Public Health Board by unanimous decision. Mr. Gitts will serve for an indifinite term, replacing Gilliam Mize who resigned. Shirley Van Zanten was nominated by Roehl and appointed to serve on the Whatcom Museum Board by unanimous vote. The motion to confirm the Executive appointment of Judge David Rhea to the Alcoholism Board passed unanimously. He is .replacing•C. J. Johnson. Confirmation of the executive reappointments of Gomer Owens, Jr. and James Bell to the Appeals for Building and Codes board were made by unanimous vote. Paul Kenner, 229 E. Wiser Lake Road addressed the Council on the issue of a grant request to Clean Up Washington Lakes, specifically, to -lean up Wiser Lake,- located about eight miles north of Bellingham. He stated that the 123 acre lake is filling with silt and vegetation. According to Kenner, Huxley College of Western Washington University has done a Whatcom County Council minutes of meeting August 16, 1979 page 2 study on the lake, and estimated that the lake would be non - existant in 15 -20 years. Two of the ideas for eliminating this problem are dredging the lake and building a watershed around the lake. There is a two -phase grant program available through the State of Washington and the Federal Government. Phase one is a study to identify the particular problems of the lake and prepare a restoration plan, and Phase 2 is the actual implimentation of the chosen method of correction. David Morentzy and Pat McCullough from Entranco Engineering of Bellevue, transportation consultants and engineers, were present to answer questions from Council= David Morentzy spoke, giving information on the funding available. Phase 1 would entail the Federal Government providing about 70% of the money needed, which sould be channeled through the State D.O.E. Phase 2, the implementation part of the program would be through funding consisting of 50% from the E.P.A. and 40% from the D.O.E. The other 30% in Phase 1 and 10% from Phase 2 would be through local agencies (Whatcom County). The final cost estimates are about $60,000 for Phase 1 and from $500,000 -0 $1,500,000 for Phase 2. Bob Muenscher spoke against the proposal, stating that changing the level of the lake could result in the flooding of farmland located near the lake on the East and West sides at different times of the year. A motion was'made to-send this issue to Public Works. Motion passed unanimously. A copy of the Grant request will go to the Parks Department since adequate public access would have to be made to the lake in order that this project be eligible for governmental grants. The following bid awards were authorized: Computer training program for CETA Title II of $54,884.11, the training to take place at Bellingham Vocational Technical Institute. An award of $28,900 to Harper -Owes to provide the engineering ser- vices to Nor -Bell Sewer Facilities Plan. $19,543.95 to Benner Corporation for the renovation of the Forest Street Annex. John Louws said that the money would eventually be repaid by the rental money received from the agencies using that building. The budget revision for the Tort Claims Fund of $15,000 from Insurance 'emiums to Professional Services was passed unanimously. Preliminary Plat of Cedarbrook. A motion was made by Muenscher to add a condition to the plat, CC19, "that the corner lots #1 and #14 be Whatcom County Council page 3 minutes of meeting August 16, 1979 redesigned so that each lot shall contain the same net area after allowing for setback as the average net area of the other lots." This addition to the plat was moved to be amended by Roehl to read, "that the corner lots #1 and #14 be redesigned so that each lot has the same buildable area (less setbacks) as the smallest buildable area of any lot abutting one street." The amendment to the addition was approved. Thompson made the motion .to send the amended addition back to Planning, and,consider the preliminary plat at this time, but withdrew his motion. The motion was made to include the addition to the Plat, and this was passed by a four to two vote. Muenscher moved to reconsider the vote on the added addition, and this was unanimously approved. Then, in revote, the addition to the Plat was rejected, and by unanimous vote, the Council approved the Preliminary Plat of Cedarbrook as originally presented.by the Hearing Examiner. HEARINGS & FINAL CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCES After allowing for Public Hearing, the vacation of Bayview Avenue ,.n the Plat of Seacrest with Public Works recommendation of "do pass" dnd Engineering Department approval, was passed unanimously. The two vacations - one of Limestone Road, located in Section 15, Township 40 North, Range 5 East and one of an unnamed county road right of way in the Bakerview Addition were both postponed due to incorrect legal descriptions. When the legal descriptions are corrected and duly published, these will then be considered by the Council. The ordinance establishing procedures for the sale or refunding of bonds (continued from 8/2/79) with Finance Committee recommendation of "do pass" was passed by unanimous vote. The ordinance establishing procedures for the processing of claims against Whatcom County was postponed, as the Finance Committee is awaiting an opinion from the state Attorney General. The ordinance related to the establishment of procedures of Initiative Referendum and Recall had seven amendments: 1. Striking entirely Section 2.1 and inserting: "Initiative and Referendum - Time Limits for Filing "Initiative and Referendum measures proposed to be submitted to the People must be filed with the County Auditor and, furthermore, Ref- erendum measures shall be filed within forty -five (45) days after the Whatcom-County Council minutes of meeting ugust 16, 1979 page 4 ordinance is passed by the County Council. Mini - initiative petitions proposed to the County Council must be registered with the County Auditor." 2. Section 2.2 line 15, after the word may, insert the words "prepare and." 3. Strike the original section 2.7 and insert: "Petition - Acceptance or Rejection by Auditor " €J9r$. V. '$ ' af- 3. LuLt at- tVe <= 1 rs - e1tL_ tL_Qr_" '_^ - zzz=+-�i Auditor slia11 verify the sufficiency of the signatures on the petition and, if it is validated, submit the proposal or measure to the people at the next general election that is not less than one hundred twenty (123) days after the registering of the petition or measure, unless the County Council enacts the proposal or measure without change or "Decisions to refuse to validate petitions may be reviewed by the Superior Court within ten (10) days after the:,refusal." 4. On page 5 line 1.6.; strike "adopt or." 5.. On page 7, add a'section 3.3: "An initiative proposal which fails to obtain the required number of signatures but does obtain a number which would be sufficient for a mini - initiative may be treated as a mini - initiative at the request of the proponents." 6. Strike all of Section 4 on-Recall and insert the charter's language on Recall - moved by Thompson 7. On page 2 line 21 after the word `each petition" add: (comma) "except a mini - initiative petition." moved by Hansey. All amendments were passed by unanimous decision. The Chair directed the staff to clarify the language regarding the differentiation between "f_;_ling," "registering," "measure," and "proposal" throughout the Ordinance. MI -iis ordinance with all amendments, was enacted by unanimous vote. Speaking from the audience on the Ordinance were Bob Stewart and Jim Vander Mey. The resolution adopting standard specifications for utility construc- tion within County Road Right of Way was tabled to September 6 to allow Public Works to review. The resolution amending the adopted 1979 Whatcom County Annual Trans- portation Improvement Program recommended "do pass" by Public Works was ssed unanimously. The ordinance amending the Whatcom County Interum Zoning Ordinance to clarify and update certain sections with Planning Committee recommended "do pass" was passed unanimously. Whatcom County Council minutes of meeting 'august 16, 1979 page 5 The ordinance providing for the establishment of a revolving fund to be used as working capital within Central Stores Revolving Fund - State Control Area Network (SCAN) recommended with "do pass" by Finance was passed unanimously. An ordinance providing for a supplemental budget of $30,000 for the Prosecuting Attorney's 1979 annual budget with Finance recommendation of "do pass" was approved unanimously. INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS The resolution dealing with the consolidation of the road districts, the same issue that was presented by the Executive was introduced by Thomp- son and referred to Public Works by unanimous vote. Thompson stated that Public Works will possibly deal with this in conjunction with the one -year Road Plan due soon. The ordinance regarding the placing of stop signs in the Plat of Birch Bay West End Estates, Addition Number 1 was introduced by Thompson and y unanimous decision, sent to Public Safety. The two resolutions regarding authorization and filing of the Whatcom County credits of said disbursements for the months of May and June were introduced by Don Hansey and by unanimous vote, referred to Finance Committee. Bill Hodges from the Northwest Community Association made an appeal for public hearing on the Nor -Bell sewage issue. Chairperson Van 7,anten advised him to have an informal meeting with one or more Council members prior to formal action (such as public hearing). The Chair was to make arrangements to meet with him. meeting was adjourned at 10:47 p.m.