HomeMy WebLinkAboutCriminal Justice Sep 9 2025Whatcom County
Council Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105
Bellingham, WA 98225-4038
(360)778-5010
Committee Minutes - Final
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
11:35 AM
Hybrid Meeting - Council Chambers
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COUNCILMEMBERS
Barry Buchanan
Tyler Byrd
Jon Scanlon
CLERK OF THE COUNCIL
Cathy Halka, AICP, CMC
Council Criminal Justice and Public Committee Minutes - Final September 9, 2025
Safety Committee
Call To Order
Roll Call
Committee Chair Barry Buchanan called the meeting to order at 11:55 a.m.
in a hybrid meeting.
Present: 3 - Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, and Jon Scanlon
Also Present: Todd Donovan, Ben Elenbaas, Kaylee Galloway, and Mark Stremler
Announcements
Committee Discussion
1. AB2025-619 Discussion of the Justice Center Project with the Executive's Office, Facilities
Management Division, and the Justice Center Owner's Representative
Rob Ney, Administrative Services Department Facilities, read from a
presentation (on file) about where they are with the Justice Facility Project.
He answered questions about the preferred design build team
Scanlon thanked Ney for using some local workforce on this project.
Ney answered whether there was language that stated that not only union
subcontractor shops could apply, and stated as of right now, the contract
they have in place is just for the design services, and the construction part
of it will come later next year. As of right now there are no conditions on
any of these sub -trades. The way it is written is wide open so they can find
the absolute best candidate that is going to fill each part of the contract.
Kayla Schott-Bresler, Executive's Office, stated that STV is also online and
has additional slides to share if there is time.
Ashley McClaran, STV, spoke about creating a Joint Advisory Workgroup
as the mechanism to keep the process moving forward and to get any needed
input between scheduled Finance and Facility Advisory Board (FFAB) and
Council meetings. She spoke about the makeup of the workgroup (members
of the FFAB, Council, IPRTF, small cities, and the City of Bellingham) and
stated that group would join the design meetings so that when there is a
Council or FFAB meeting, some of the information has already been
socialized.
She spoke about what the process of scenario development and selection
might look like in the next few months, in order to get to a final scenario by
Whnlcom County Page [
Council Criminal Justice and Public Committee Minutes - Final September 9, 2025
Safety Committee
February or March of 2026 and program/budget approval in March or April.
She spoke about what factors would be considered in developing scenarios.
Schott-Bresler spoke about upcoming presentations to the FFAB and
IPRTF, including one on a proposed model for the Behavioral Care Center.
That presentation will also be brought to Council in the coming weeks.
Buchanan stated they are also trying to set up a meeting to start talking
about what town halls might look like as a form of public engagement. They
will hopefully have more information on that in a couple weeks.
This agenda item was DISCUSSED.
Items Added by Revision
Other Business
Adjournment
There were no agenda items added by revision.
There was no other business.
The meeting adjourned at 12:14 p.m.
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WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WA
Barry Buchanan -via email 9/22/2025
Meeting Minutes prepared by Kristi Felbinger
Wha[com County Page 2
Barry Buchanan, Committee Chair