HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works Dec 9 2025Whatcom County
Council Public Works & Health Committee
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105
Bellingham, WA 98225-4038
(360)778-5010
Committee Minutes - Final
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
11:30 AM
Hybrid Meeting - Council Chambers
HYBRID MEETING - MAY BEGIN EARLY - ADJOURNS BY 11:45 A.M.
(PARTICIPATE IN -PERSON, SEE REMOTE JOIN INSTRUCTIONS AT
www.whatcomcounty.us/joinvirtualcouncil, OR CALL 360.778.5010)
COUNCILMEMBERS
Ben Elenbaas
Jon Scanlon
Mark Stremler
CLERK OF THE COUNCIL
Cathy Halka, AICP, CMC
Council Public Works & Health Committee Minutes - Final December 9, 2025
Committee
Call To Order
Roll Call
Committee Chair Jon Scanlon called the meeting to order at 11:26 a.m. in a
hybrid meeting.
Present: 2 - Jon Scanlon, and Mark Stremler
Absent: 1 - Ben Elenbaas
Also Present: Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Todd Donovan, and Kaylee Galloway
Announcements
Special Presentation
1. AB2025-867 Presentation by Seva Workshop regarding the Healthy Children's Fund external
evaluation
Sarah Simpson, Health and Community Services, introduced the report. She
stated the official report will come out on Friday, and the plan is to come
back in January to discuss the findings.
Vivien Savath, Seva Workshop, read from a presentation (on file) on the
scope of the Healthy Children's Fund performance audit and process
evaluation, key themes that came out of the evaluation, and areas of
recommendation.
Scanlon stated it would be helpful to hear from the department (in a future
presentation) what they are doing in response to the recommendations.
Donovan stated it would be great to get a clearer sense of what capacity
would look like if they were spending more on administration, and that it is
really hard to look at $17.92 million of unspent funds.
Simpson spoke about recent requests for proposal (RFPs) that have closed
and contracts that are being developed, and that those have just taken them
more time to establish.
Savath answered what the evaluation says about capacity (that has been
increased or not) for daycare since that was a priority, and she spoke about
the slots that have been created. She answered why she thinks more slots
have not been created, and stated there were a lot of operational and legal
questions going into what the County can or cannot fund.
Wkafcom County Page 1
Council Public Works & Health Committee Minutes - Final December 9, 2025
Committee
Ann Beck, Health and Community Services, spoke about their caution in
using public funds to make sure they are using them for the best possible
use in the appropriate settings, and to make sure they got it right from the
beginning. There are big things coming but they want to honor that these are
public funds.
Scanlon stated the next Child and Family Well -Being Task Force meeting is
on Monday (December 15), and he spoke about a memo from the task force
that addresses some of these things. He stated he thinks they should address
that early next year and once the report comes in.
This agenda item was PRESENTED.
Items Added by Revision
Other Business
Adiournment
There were no agenda items added by revision.
There was no other business.
The meeting adjourned at 11:48 a.m.
ATTEST:
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
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C Jon Scanlon -via email 12/16/2025
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Meeting Minutes prepared by Kristi Felbinger
Whateom County page 2
Jon Scanlon, Committee Chair