HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole December 8 20151
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WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
Committee Of The Whole
December 8, 2015
CALL TO ORDER
Council Chair Carl Weimer called the meeting to order at 6:15 p.m. in the Council
Conference Room, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington.
ROLL CALL
Present: Barbara Brenner, Satpal Sidhu, Rud Browne, Barry Buchanan, Ken
Mann, Pete Kremen and Carl Weimer
Absent: None
COMMITTEE DISCUSSION - CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC
1. DISCUSSION WITH PUBLIC WORKS STAFF REGARDING A POTENTIAL
PROPERTY ACQUISITION FOR THE FLOOD CONTROL ZONE DISTRICT
(AB2015 -018) Attorney Present: None
(Council acting as the Whatcom County Flood Control Zone District Board of
Supervisors.)
Weimer stated that discussion of agenda item one may take place in executive
session pursuant to RCW42.30.110 (1)(b). Executive session will conclude no later than
6:50 p.m. If the meeting extends beyond the stated conclusion time, he will step out of the
meeting to make a public announcement.
Kremen moved to go into executive session until no later than 6:50 p.m. to discuss
the agenda items pursuant to RCW citations as announced by the Council Chair. The
motion was seconded.
The motion carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Sidhu, Brenner, Browne, Buchanan, Mann, Kremen and Weimer (7)
Nays: None (0)
(Clerk's Note: The Committee came out of executive session at 6:43 p.m.)
COMMITTEE DISCUSSION - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
I. DISCUSSION REGARDING WORK ASSIGNMENT PROPOSALS FOR THE
COUNCIL'S LEGISLATIVE ANALYST (AB2015 -341)
Forrest Longman, Council Office, gave a staff report on his assignments, including a
review of the various boards and commissions, how they want to handle hearing examiner
contracts, and learning about jail issues and water issues.
Committee of the Whole, 12/8/2015, Page 1
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2 Brenner asked how many of the approximately 60 boards and commissions meet.
3 Longman stated most meet at least occasionally. A handful don't meet at all. He will
4 prepare and present a full report soon.
5
6 Councilmembers asked that Mr. Longman's report includes information on how often
7 each group meets, the last time they met, the last time they gave a report to the Council,
8 and whether the scope of any committee overlaps with another committee.
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10 Longman stated he has the capacity to take on more work assignments. Issues he's
11 seen come into the Council Office include water issues and the Comprehensive Plan. He
12 asked if there are any specific jail issues he should start looking into and if the
13 councilmembers would find it helpful if he started doing some type of legislative policy
14 review.
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16 Brenner stated she would like Mr. Longman to regularly go over budget amendments
17 that come to the Council.
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19 Mann stated he would like to know about the behind - the - scenes budget and
20 supplemental budget request process.
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22 Kremen stated he would like to know where the money is coming from, including the
23 cost center, department, and fund.
24
25 Weimer asked if the Committee wants to assign to Mr. Longman a review of each
26 budget and supplemental budget request that comes forward from the administration.
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28 The Committee concurred,
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30 Brenner stated she would like to know if the Executive is obligated to implement
31 programs that the Council specifically puts into the budget.
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33 Weimer stated the Council allocated money in the budget for certain activities that
34 the administration never carried out. Longman stated he can follow up on those items
35 throughout the year.
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37 Mann stated the Council is often told, when contracts come to the Council for
38 approval, that the Council approved the project through the budget process. He has no idea
39 if that's true. Figure out a better way to present that information. When contracts come
40 forward, he would like to know where and when exactly they authorized the project in the
41 budget.
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43 Kremen stated that in time, when Mr. Longman gets to know the budget documents,
44 he'll be able to determine which budget amendments and contracts need a little bit of
45 scrutiny. He could set up a periodic meeting with Tyler Schroeder to go over those kinds of
46 issues.
47
48 Longman asked the best way for him to share his information or concerns.
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50 Kremen stated he could present a report to the Council Chair.
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52 Kremen stated the Executive has a lot of staff who can answer questions from Mr.
53 Longman. Put the onus on the administration to be upfront and divulge information.
Committee of the Whole, 12/8/2015, Page 2
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2 Browne stated he would like to know if the administration has executed past Council
3 resolutions. Also, the administration was asked to provide performance metrics. It would
4 be useful to identify the metrics, and then ask for regular updates from staff. Also, he
5 would like Mr. Longman to create a calendar of critical dates, such as the last date to make
6 budget amendments.
7
8 Mann stated the Comprehensive Plan review is a big issue.
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10 Browne moved to review a list of resolutions that the Council has approved and
11 provide a quarterly report on their progress and to provide a calendar of key dates that they
12 need to be aware of during the course of the year. One example is the budget thing. The
13 other example is the contract that they gave to the Port as the associate development
14 organization (ADO), which has a two -year window before the County can do it again. The
15 motion was seconded.
16
17 The motion carried by the following vote:
18 Ayes: Sidhu, Browne, Buchanan, Mann and Weimer (5)
19 Nays: None (0)
20 Absent: Kremen (out of the room) (1)
21 Abstains: Brenner (1)
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24 OTHER BUSINESS
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26 There was no other business.
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28
29 ADJOURN
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31 `1 The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
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33 ��� �'{'kTlie, Coun' %O approved these minutes on February 23, 2016.
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35 A �CI0" A- WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
36 = ,r 4( - WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
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38 r
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41 Dana ��gyY�nDbvi�, u n c i I Clerk Carl Weimer, Council Chair
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44 �I
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46 Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription
Committee of the Whole, 12/8/2015, Page 3