Committee of the Whole Jul 21 2020Whatcom County
Council Committee of the Whole
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
311 Grand Avenue, Ste 9105
Bellingham, WA 98225-4038
(360) 778-5010
Committee Minutes - Final
VIRTUAL MEETING - ENDS NO LATER THAN 3:20 P.M.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
2PM
Council Chambers
COUNCILMEMBERS
Rud Browne
Barry Buchanan
Tyler Byrd
Todd Donovan
Ben Elenbaas
Carol Frazey
Kathy Kershner
CLERK OF THE COUNCIL
Dana Brown -Davis, C.M.C.
Council Committee of the Whole Committee Minutes - Final July 21, 2020
Call To Order
Roll Call
Council Chair Barry Buchanan called the meeting to order at 2 p.m. in a
virtual meeting.
Present: 7 - Rud Browne, Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Todd Donovan, Carol Frazey, Ben
Elenbaas and Kathy Kershner
Absent: None
Announcement
Committee Discussion
AB2020-219 Discussion and update on strategies and other items related to COVID-19 (Council
and Health Board)
The following people updated the Councilmembers and answered questions.
Erika Lautenbach, Health Department Director
Chi-Na Stoane, Public Health Advisory Board Chair
Scott McCreery, Unified Command Incident Commander
Stoane updated the Councilmembers on the work of the Public Health
Advisory Board (PHAB) and answered questions about whether there is a
report to the council regarding an action plan on the response to the
COVID-19 crisis.
Councilmembers, Lautenbach and Stoane discussed whether there is a
strategy for getting to Phase 3 and Phase 4 of the state's phased approach to
reopening; whether the Council acting as the Health Board has a work plan
for the PHAB and where the board gets its direction for its next task; the
role and make-up of the PHAB and whether there is a Council
representative; how the County is putting their resources into getting past
the COVID-19 crisis and who is developing a plan to that end; crafting a
plan to coordinate the efforts of the Health Department, Health Board and
PHAB; finding ways to live with the virus as opposed to being free of it; the
success of established efforts such as the "Safer. Stronger. Together."
campaign and what became of that campaign; how to get back to normalcy
and to encourage the community to do their part by distancing and wearing
masks; what other countries that are faring better than the United States are
doing differently; and communicating more information about the context
of cases that Whatcom County is dealing with (from parties, or in certain
types of business, etc.) as opposed to general case numbers.
Whatcom County page
Council Committee of the Whole Committee Minutes - Final July 21, 2020
Lautenbach updated the Councilmembers on the following:
• A social marketing campaign initiated by the Health Department and
the Whatcom Unified Executive Board geared toward people ages 16
-21 years old in order to understand behaviors and craft messages to
them to effect behavior change
• Evolving progress of the "Safer. Stronger. Together." campaign
• A series of forums put on by the Health Department, the Regional
Economic Partnership, and the Whatcom Business Alliance for
businesses covering topics such as how to talk to employees about
masks, what to do when an employee is sick, and how to support the
mental health of employees during this time
• A new Deputy Health Officer in the Health Department
• Two community health workers on loan from Unity Care
• The recent drive -up testing pilot and statistics on who came to be
tested
McCreery spoke about the requirements of staffing the testing site, the
costs, and the efficiency of the effort. They established that this type of
testing is not sustainable for our community.
Lautenbach spoke about the plan for testing moving forward and answered
questions about whether there is a contract for the social marketing
campaign and what the cost will be for that, whether insurance can be billed
for people being tested, how many tests they will be able to do going
forward, collaborating with Skagit County, an estimate of cost for the Test
Directly mobile testing system, whether there will be access for people to
schedule a test if they do not have a phone, whether other pharmacies will
do testing like Rite Aid in Lynden, if there is data available for whether
cases have been related to large numbers of people gathering at places like
the beach, the plan for school openings, and whether businesses have been
fined as a result of the Governor's three strike rule.
This agenda item was DISCUSSED.
2. AB2020-234 Discussion regarding goals, guidelines, and approach to updating current and future
budgets
Councilmembers and Dana Brown -Davis, Clerk of the Council, discussed
what they should do next with this discussion, scheduling a special meeting,
and what should be discussed at that meeting.
Satpal Sidhu, County Executive, spoke about the process between now and
mid -September and getting a draft budget along with Additional Service
Requests (ASRs) and negative ASRs to the Council as soon as possible.
Whatcom County Page 2
Council Committee of the Whole Committee Minutes - Final
Other Business
Adjournment
July 21, 2020
Councilmembers continued to discuss how to go forward with the guiding
principles to decide what they will and will not fund. They concurred to
schedule a special meeting on July 28, 2020 to discuss this item.
This agenda item was DISCUSSED.
There was no other business.
The meeting adjourned at 3:59 p.m.
The County Council approved these minutes on August 5, 2020.
AT TSB I GO U At n
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WA
Iona Br�q,\Z cil Qk �i a Buchanan, Council Chair
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Kristi Felbinger, Minutes Transl ription
Whateom County Page 3