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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works Jul 23 2024Whatcom County Council Public Works & Health Committee COUNTY COURTHOUSE 311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105 Bellingham, WA 98225-4038 (360) 778-5010 Committee Minutes - Final Tuesday, July 23, 2024 11:15 AM Hybrid Meeting IIYBRID MEETING - ADJOURNS BY 12:00 P.M. - MAY BEGIN EARLY (PARTICIPATE IN -PERSON, SEE REMOTE JOIN INSTRUCTIONS AT www.whatcomcounty.us/joinvirtualcouncil, OR CALL 360.778.5010) COUNCILMEMBERS Kaylee Galloway Jon Scanlon Mark Stremler CLERK OF THE COUNCIL Cathy Halka, AICP, CMC Council Public Works & Health Committee Minutes - Final July 23, 2024 Committee Call To Order Roll Call Committee Chair Jon Scanlon called the meeting to order at 11:29 a.m. in a hybrid meeting. Present: 3 - Kaylee Galloway, Jon Scanlon, and Mark Stremler Also Present: Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Todd Donovan, and Ben Elenbaas Announcements Special Presentation 1. AB2024-292 Presentation of the Child and Family Well -Being Task Force Healthy Children's Fund Report Card The following people reported: • Ray Deck IIl, Child and Family Well -Being Task Force Co -Chair • Colton Kaltenfeldt, Child and Family Well -Being Task Force Co -Chair • Sallye Quinn, Child and Family Well -Being Task Force • Vesla Tonnessen, Child and Family Well -Being Task Force Co -Chair Deck introduced the discussion. Kaltenfeldt updated the Councilmembers on developments since they were last before them, and stated that presentation has really improved the working relationship between the task fore and the County and sped things up in a way they are very pleased with. Some of the changes since then include a monthly communication report from Health and Community Services to the task force, conversations with the Administration about improving the request for proposal (RFP) process, a contract with a local communications agency who will help the task force spread the word and develop a strategic communications plan, meeting with a new hire that will be working on the part of the fund that pertains to supporting vulnerable children, and the move of a general evaluator in the Health Department so that they can specifically evaluate the Healthy Children's Fund. Quinn spoke about how great the Health Department has responded since the last report card presentation and spoke about things the task force still wants to see happen. She stated they think the Administrative funds need to be used, not just with the Health Department, but to expand the County's Wkntcom County Page t Council Public Works & Health Committee Minutes - Final July 23, 2024 Committee infrastructure and more global capacity to help fill in the gaps and relieve log jams. And they would like for the Administration to help unstick the log jams and figure out how administration can go more smoothly. Tonnessen stated, though they have been getting more information since the last report card report, they would still like more information around some of the ways these projects can be funded. While they work with staff in the Health Department and Executive's Office, they are pretty in the dark about what happens with legal and Finance and they need help to figure out if there are capacity needs that need to be boosted. They have questions about the County's contract process, why certain things require an RFP, the gift of public funds, and whether any of the finance processes can be streamlined. They are fully supportive of the Health Department shepherding the fund for now. Sarah Simpson, Health and Community Services, gave a summary of recent investments that the Healthy Children's Fund has been able to make. Deck stated there are two major funding buckets for the Healthy Children's Fund. One is early learning and care (the majority of the fund) and the other is vulnerable children and families, which is a minority but important aspect of the fund. The majority of the funding opportunities have been in that second bucket. The early learning and care bucket is new to the County so it is taking more work to get those things ready. The written reports they receive from the County differentiate the funding in those two buckets and the administrative dollars and that has been helpful. Kayla Schott-Bresler, Executive's Office, answered how the Council can help with the administrative funds. She stated increasing capacity within the Administrative Services Department through a cost allocation plan is a priority for the biennial budget process. She stated as far as a set -aside within the Healthy Children's Fund to potentially support an FTE in the Finance Department, she would have to discuss that further with Director Lautenbach. She answered whether it is true that the task force has to present RFP documents in hard copy form to Finance, and stated it is, and it is something they are looking at. The speakers answered how many co-chairs there are (four), and whether they received both sets of questions posed to the task force by Councilmembers, and they stated they did. They answered whether there is an amount of money each family can receive and whether that can be tracked, and stated there is no cap on how much Healthy Children's Fund Whatcom County Page 2 Council Public Works & Health Committee Minutes - Final July 23, 2024 Committee money can be given to a given family. They answered why they feel there are discrepancies between the task force and Health Department reports, and stated there were discrepancies in perspective, since the task force just did not know everything. But now they are getting monthly reports from Health and Community Services. They addressed the question of whether the Healthy Children's Fund was actually implementable when it was passed, and stated that speaks to a legal question that the task force is not qualified to answer, but they would say that fundamentally, they do not think it would have made it on the ballot if it was not implementable. Kaltenfeldt thanked the Councilmembers and stated the success of this fund really requires the engagement of all of our leaders. This agenda item was REPORTED. Items Added by Revision Other Business There were no agenda items added by revision. Scanlon stated the naming resolution for County -Owned Public Buildings, Properties, Parks, and Facilities (AB2024-314) is tentatively set to come back at the next meeting. The Parks and Recreation Commission took a look at that and recommended that Parks have their own process, so they are going through a process to develop that for naming things like trails and parks, and that will come back to Council separately. The naming resolution for County -owned buildings, properties and facilities (minus Parks) will probably come back at the next Public Works and Health meeting. Adiournment i00%111110I/;;, The mi�>itollu3^ealg�`:3 p.m. AT. SO: .Ty v ;y 1 N U�� Cathy Halka, Council Clerk Kristi Felbinger, Minutes Transcription WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL, WHATCOM COUNTY, WA Jon Scanlon -via email 8/1/2024 Jon Scanlon, Committee Chair Rhatcom County Page 3