HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole Aug 5 2020Whatcom County
Council Committee of the Whole
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105
Bellingham, WA 98225-4038
(360)778-5010
Committee Minutes - Final
VIRTUAL MEETING - MAY BEGIN EARLIER/LATER THAN 2:30 P.M.
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
2:30 PM
Virtual Meeting
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 August 5, 2020
Call To Order
Roll Call
Council Chair Barry Buchanan called the meeting to order at 2:30 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
Announcements
Committee Discussion and Recommendation to Council
1. AB2020-334 Resolution establishing County Council budget goals and guidelines
Byrd and Frazey briefed the Councilmembers on their proposed substitute
Resolution (on file).
Kershner moved that the substitute Resolution be approved. The motion
was seconded by Byrd.
The following people spoke about the status of County revenue, how it
relates to revenue projections, and how that should affect budget formation:
Tyler Schroeder, Executive's Office
Brad Bennett, Administrative Services Department
Satpal Sidhu, County Executive
Councilmembers and staff discussed the percentage of budget reductions
that would be necessary, whether the Administration has considered
whether there are departments that can cut more than 20 percent and
departments that should not cut 20 percent, looking at layoffs if budget
reductions need to be made beyond ten percent, whether the County could
reach out to representatives in Olympia to ask them to take action to release
restrictions on some of the siloed funds so that they could be used in other
ways, what projections documents the Administration is working from and
whether those have been updated since June.
Councilmembers and staff discussed the motion and the proposed substitute
Resolution.
Browne moved that the substitute Resolution be amended with his proposed
changes as presented to Councilmembers via an email.
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Council Committee of the Whole Committee Minutes - Final August 5, 2020
Buchanan moved to hold the motion until tonight and to forward the
substitute Resolution to the Council without a recommendation. The
motion was seconded by Frazey.
Buchanan's motion that the substitute Resolution be FORWARDED TO
COUNCIL WITHOUT A RECOMMENDATION carried by the following
vote:
Aye: 6 - Browne, Buchanan, Byrd, Donovan, Frazey and Kershner
Nay: 1 - Elenbaas
Absent: 0
Committee Discussion
1. AB2020-219 Discussion and update on strategies and other items related to COVID-19 (Council
and Health Board)
Tyler Schroeder, Executive's Office spoke.
Clerk's note: Health Department staff was no longer present at the
meeting so Councilmembers discussed what questions they would like
answered or information they need. They included:
• How many tests we will be able to do
• Meeting information for a group of local physicians and other health
agencies which meets on Mondays and considering whether this
group could be used as an additional advisory body
2. AB2020-234 Discussion regarding goals, guidelines, and approach to updating current and future
budgets
Clerk's note: Councilmembers briefly discussed this item and what to do
going forward but stopped when Health Department staff joined the
meeting.
1. AB2020-219 Discussion and update on strategies and other items related to COVID-19 (Council
and Health Board)
Clerk's note: Health Department staff returned to the meeting.
The following staff spoke:
Erika Lautenbach, Health Department Director
Greg Stern, Health Officer
Lautenbach addressed questions and spoke about the following:
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Council Committee of the Whole Committee Minutes - Final August 5, 2020
The Health Department's social marketing campaign
• The next steps of the Health Department and Public Health Advisory
Board (PHAB) in their work with businesses
• Coordinating with Skagit County for doing low barrier COVID-19
testing
• A community health assessment done by the Health Department and
other partners which looks at all the factors that impact our
community
Stern spoke about the Health Department's work with the school
superintendents and the recently released guidelines for whether to open
schools to in -class instruction in the fall. He and Lautenbach answered
questions about whether distance learning is a recommendation from the
Health Department or a medical order, whether there was discussion about
adequate school staffing levels, and whether there was discussion about the
scenario of a child who is exhibiting symptoms but a parent has no choice
but to send them to school.
This agenda item was DISCUSSED.
2. AB2020-234 Discussion regarding goals, guidelines, and approach to updating current and future
budgets
Councilmembers spoke about next steps and continuing discussion on this
tonight or having another work session.
This agenda item was DISCUSSED.
Other Business
Adiournment
There was no other business.
The meeting adjourned at 4:24 p.m.
The County Council approved these minutes on September 15, 2020.
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Council Committee of the Whole Committee Minutes - Final August 5, 2020
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