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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works Oct 10 2023Whatcom County Council Public Works & Health Committee COUNTY COURTHOUSE 311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105 Bellingham, WA 98225-4038 (360) 778-5010 Committee Minutes - Final Tuesday, October 10, 2023 11 AM Hybrid Meeting HYBRID MEETING - ADJOURNS BY 11:45 A.M., MAY BEGIN EARLY (PARTICIPATE IN -PERSON, SEE REMOTE JOIN INSTRUCTIONS AT www.whatcomcounty.us/joinvirtualcouncil, OR CALL 360.778.5010) COUNCILM.EMBERS Carol Frazey Kaylee Galloway Kathy Kershner CLERK OF THE COUNCIL Dana Brown -Davis, C.M.C. Council Public Works & Health Committee Minutes - Final October 10, 2023 Committee Call To Order Roll Call Committee Chair Kathy Kershner called the meeting to order at 11:13 a.m. in a hybrid meeting. Present: 3 - Carol Frazey, Kaylee Galloway, and Kathy Kershner Also Present: Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Todd Donovan, and Ben Elenbaas Announcements Committee Discussion and Recommendation to Council 1. AB2023-592 Resolution approving the Samish Water District Comprehensive Sewer Plan Kershner moved that the Resolution be RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL. Doug Ranney, Public Works Department, answered whether the comments in the fifth Whereas statement of the proposed resolution got incorporated or need to be incorporated into the plan, and stated he does not feel it is necessary. Dana Brown -Davis, Clerk of the Council, answered why Council should approve this before they have heard back from the Department of Ecology (DOE) and how this got on the Council's agenda, and stated the Council has 60 days to approve this once it is received. The DOE's timeline might fall outside of that 60 days. Cathy Halka, Council Legislative Analyst, stated the Council has 60 days to approve and the State has 90 days. It will not become effective until the State issues their approval, but the timeline and Revised Code of Washington (RCW) does allow for that to happen after Council approval. Galloway asked about the last Whereas statement that states "the County Council has reviewed the Samish Water District Comprehensive Sewer Plan for compliance with the approval criteria set forth in RCW 57.16.010(7) and RCW 57.02.040," and whether that review was done by the Council or whether they should change it to say that the County has reviewed it. Karen Frakes, Prosecuting Attorney's Office, answered whether there is an issue with changing that language from "County Council" to "Whatcom County," but stated she needs to take some time to look at the statute. Whatcom County page I Council Public Works & Health Committee Minutes - Final October 10, 2023 Committee Brown -Davis and Halka answered when the Council's 60 days expires and whether that 60-day time limit is in the law. Brown -Davis stated it is in the law and Halka spoke about the referenced RCWs. Frakes stated she reviewed the statute and thinks it is OK to say "Whatcom County" as opposed to "County Council." Galloway moved to amend the final Whereas clause to say: "WHEREAS, the--Whatcom County df--has reviewed the Samish Water District Comprehensive Sewer Plan..." The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 3 - Frazey, Galloway, and Kershner Nay: 0 Kershner's motion that the Resolution be RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL WITH PROPOSED AMENDMENT(S) carried by the following vote: Aye: 3 - Frazey, Galloway, and Kershner Nay: 0 Special Presentation 1. AB2023.-664 Presentation from the Health and Community Services Department regarding severe weather shelter updates for 2023-24 season Ann Beck, Health and Community Services, stated they put out two Requests for Proposal (RFPs) to find winter shelter operators to help during winter season, one of which is for outside the city limits of Bellingham and for which the respondent was Ferndale Community Services. She answered what capacity that shelter will have. For the RFP for inside the city of Bellingham, she stated they had nobody respond wanting to offer a severe weather shelter and two respondents who were will willing to operate ongoing winter shelter (Road2Home and Y.W.C.A) and Y.W.C.A is looking for a space. The County will be sharing the responsibility for the nightly shelter operations with the City of Bellingham and there is an interlocal agreement coming to share the cost of a nightly shelter at Civic. They still have no severe weather shelter operator right now, so Health and Community Services is looking to rent a space to operate a shelter. They have a first draft of a lease on a space but cannot say yet where that will be. She answered whether the operators they have in Whatcont County Page 2 Council Public Works & Health Committee Minutes - Final October 10, 2023 Committee place will operate 24/7 and stated they do not anticipate that at this point. She spoke about staffing the new location with temporary positions. She answered whether the Healthy Children's Fund could be tapped since they are offering these services for families with children and stated there are other funding sources. She answered whether these would be American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. The following people discussed with Councilmembers: • Ann Beck • Erika Lautenbach, Health and Community Services Director • Satpal Sidhu, County Executive They discussed the temporary positions and their wages and benefits, the fact that the ordinance to pass the Healthy Children's Fund is very restrictive in how it can be used, whether funding of basic needs is underrepresented in the Health Children's Fund implementation plan and should be further discussed, having further discussion about what that fund can be used for, whether this program might pull staff away from other programs that are already providing support to people in need, options for finding workers, reaching out to other support agencies with trained staff to see if they would like to work in this capacity, how much people should be paid, what Health and Community Services' role should be in responding to severe weather, whether it is possible to give Road2Home money to contract for and hire people, how late a nightly winter shelter stays open, whether it should not just be the County that steps up to offer severe weather shelter but also the cities and the state, that severe conditions go beyond just winter weather now, and a vigil held every December for unhoused people who have lost their lives. This agenda item was PRESENTED. Items Added by Revision Other Business Adjournment There were no agenda items added by revision. There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 11:55 a.m. Whatcom County Page 3 Council Public Works & Health Committee Minutes - Final October 10, 2023 Committee ATTEST�`'p� y ``�� WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL q WHATCOM COUNTY, WA GOO f a x ' 4 Kathy <s Dana Brow; Dayj ;t10outicil Cjerk Kathy Kershner, Committee Chair 1 1, E A( Kristi Felbinger, Minutes Transcription Kershner-via email 10/23/2023 Whatcom County Page 4