HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole August 11 1988Minutes of Whatcom County Council
Committee of the Whole, August 11, 19BB
The meeting started at 7:00 pm; present were Chairman Roehl,
Councilmembers Hansey, Johnson, Warner, and Uanderpol. Also
present were Budget Director Tom Sutberry and Assistant Prosecut-
ing Attorney Randy Watts.
I. Report of juvenile detention facility location status. Pam
Cushing of the City Center Development Authority reported that
Sears had agreed to hold the Sears property open for an offer-
From CCDA until September 15. Council members discussed the real
Feasibility of moving the post office. John Brant, the postmast-
er, told the Council the money is not the only, consideration in
siting the post office, but if a new facility cost very much more
than the present one, he would not recommend a move. It was
agreed that part of next month's discussion would be in executive
session to discuss actual dollar amounts involving the real
estate.
II. Discussion of Initiative 97B. Fielding Formway, the manager
of the ARCO refinery, made a presentation to the Council explain-
ing why the state legislature's toxic waste clean up act, "97B"
is a better law than the proposed Initiative 97. A significant
problem with I -97 is that it depends for its revenues on a tax on
oil exported to Oregon. If - -as seems likely to some - -this tax is
declared unconstitutional, the revenues generated by I -97 would
be significantly less than those from 97B. Also, 97B is present-
ly working, has incentives for voluntary clean up by landowners
of toxic waste sites, and provides greater local discretion in
clean -up priorities. Locally, a tax imposed on oil exported to
Oregon would discourage refining at Whatcom County plants and
would likely cause a shrinkage in employment here.
The Council requested, before acting on any resolution
supporting 97B, to hear from proponents of I -97. Don Hansey
agreed to try to get a representative of the Washington State
Association of Counties, who is a sponsor of I -97, to speak to us
at our next regular meeting.
III. Discussion of priorities and goals for setting the 19B9
budget. Following are areas of Council interest and concern, in
the order they were discussed, not necessarily in priority order:
a. We favor continued emphasis on capital improvement as
per the 1988 Capital Improvement Plan. We feel capital
improvements will increase efficiency, and support not only
increases in actual square footage, but particularly a
continued emphasis in improving our information filing,
storage, and retrieval systems.
b. We are concerned that staffing increases might not be
sustainable, and would like to avoid the pain of lay -off in
case revenues cannot support continued employment of new
employees. However, we recognize that in some cases work -
overloads or thin staffing may create such morale problems
and scheduling inefficiencies as to warrant staff increases.
New staffing should be weighted in the law enforcement, law
and justice area, since that is a prime function of local
government.
C. We encourage the implementation of an aggressive
recycling program as part of our solid -waste disposal
policy, and would be willing to see increased funding in
that area.
d. We recognize that a large percentage of the defendants
in the criminal justice system have problems with substance
abuse, and we support continued funding and enhancement of
programs to help deal with this problem.
Submitted by: Daniel M. Warner, acting secretary.
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHI14GTCIN
ATTEST
Ramona Reeves, William P. Roehl, Chairman
Clerk of the Council