June 25, 2023 Dena Jensen

It will be good to pay attention to this special meeting for the Whatcom County Council on MONDAY 6/26/23 at 10:30 a.m, (same day as Bellingham City Council meetings for this week,) as it relates to conditions surrounding a new jail and also to people campaigning to fill Whatcom County government positions during the 2023 elections (Meeting details are here: https://whatcom.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1109912&GUID=E6B2D3F9-57C3-4CA0-BAF2-CA77423B70D0&Options=info|&Search= )

This 6/26 meeting date is for the final County Council workshop on the ordinance to propose a sales tax to build a new jail and provide some behavioral health services. How much the sales tax will do to provide those services depends a lot on what Council Members decide tomorrow. 

When they are done amending the ordinance during the meeting, ‼️they will be introducing it as well‼️ This means they will be in a position to approve the ordinance on their next regular meeting date of July 11th. 

I listened to the Council’s last workshop during their Committee of the Whole meeting on June 20, 2023. Of particular interest was an amendment related to the make-up of a proposed “Finance and Operations Advisory Board, which shall provide financial oversight of the funds collected from this sales and use tax and make recommendations on the finance and operations of the jail, behavioral health, and supportive housing facilities and services, aligned with a population health report on public health and safety.” 

21 members were proposed for this board in an amendment that was made to the 6/6/23 draft version of the ordinance. That amendment has not yet been approved.

In the 6/6/23 version of the draft ordinance proposed by the Whatcom County Executive
( https://whatcom.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12032737&GUID=F2C9757B-842A-412E-935B-FDCA7E119B98 ), there would be 9 voting members to this oversight body, anywhere from 5-7 of whom would be people holding either executive or law enforcement positions, leaving anywhere from 2 to 4 positions for city or county council members. (the positions in question were “two elected representatives from the remaining cities within Whatcom County,” which could be either council members or mayors).

It was clear that most of the more conservative Whatcom government officials favored this type of make up for this board that would oversee the spending of the tax. 

In the amendments to the ordinance proposed by Council Member Kailey Galloway, here is the what the list of proposed voting members looks like so far:

• the Whatcom County Executive,

• one Whatcom County Councilmember,

• the Whatcom County Sheriff,

• the Mayor of Bellingham,

• one Bellingham City Councilmember,

• one elected representative from the remaining cities within Whatcom County,

• one public defender,

• at least one representative from each federally recognized tribe within Whatcom

County,

• two criminal legal system utilizers with preference for formerly incarcerated and

BIPOC individuals,

one community-based behavioral health provider,

• one community-based treatment provider,

• one reentry specialist,

• one paramedic from EMS.

• one recovery subject matter expert,

• one youth representative such as from teen court programs,

• one supportive housing subject matter expert,

• one representative from the Racial Equity Commission, and

• the chair(s) of the IPRTF/LJC. 

Council Members Ben Elenbaas and Kathy Kershner voiced their greatest opposition to a youth representative being on the board, however they also generally were wanting the membership to remain small and apparently to be dominated by executives and law enforcement officials. Council Member Tyler Byrd wanted the youth representation gone but favored a larger membership on the board. 

Here are some key remarks by 2023 candidates you might want to keep in mind during election season: 

Council Member Elenbaas: “I want this group to be as inclusive as it needs to be, but it also needs to be effective. And as I look at this group, I don’t know how effective it is as it stands. There’s – I’m using the youth representative as a very stark difference, but: the youth representative has the same vote as the mayor of Bellingham. The youth representative has the same vote as a county council member. A youth representative, weighted-ly, has the same vote as the Whatcom County Sheriff. And so, I guess, not only as a council member, but as a voter and tax-payer, I look at that and I think, we’re not going to get the outcome that we’re looking for if this is the case. So I would highly recommend not adopting these edits. I’m not saying we can’t add a few people into what was already there, but I think this has gone to the point where folks that may not be as informed on incarceration or mental health and may be going of emotion or feelings may outweigh the folks who are actually subject matter experts.”

Council Member Kershner: “I was going to make a motion to amend that to replace the youth representative with a police officer, since we only have one law enforcement representative on that committee that would be doing that oversight, if we’re going to keep this long list of people. That would be a motion to amend.”

County Executive Satpal Sidhu who proposed the original list of 9 voting members, of which he will potentially be one, said: “I just wanted to suggest that when we talk about EMS, we have a TAB committee, Technical Advisory Board, which is part – advises the EOB [EMS Oversight Board]. I think LJC [Law and Justice Council] can have a committee of the people who have lived experience, some of the people listed here, we can have eight or ten people who could actually advise the IPRTF [Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force] or LJC, we can make a subcommittee and they have on certain topics, whatever we are trying to achieve, that they inform them and they are part of official committee. And that’s where we can have the treatment provider, behavioral health provider, BIPOC individuals, and, you know, the re-entry specialist, paramedic, all these people can be a committee of that.” 

In other words all those positions would be relegated to a subcommittee of the IPRTF that would not have any vote on how funds from a sales tax is spent. It’s valuable context that it was the County Executive office which proposed a financial plan for the tax that delays spending funds on services for 4-6 years and then offers a possible amount somewhere at 50% or lower of only the remaining funds for services.

Following the remarks above, here was the response of Council Member Galloway:

“I’m obviously sitting with a lot of feelings about the sentiment around a youth voice. Obviously, I take great pride in being the youngest ever elected to Whatcom County Council. And I take great pride in thinking about: the decisions we make as a body will need to last for a life-time beyond our own. And I just think it would be a huge disadvantage to not have a youth perspective. And again, as Council Member Donovan mentioned, youth – an ability to sit on our boards, committees, and commissions is dictated by folks who are eligible to vote or are registered to vote, and so that would obviously be a factor into the person ultimately appointed to this. So I don’t mind us adding a law enforcement officer. I would strongly vote against replacing our youth representative with a law enforcement officer, when frankly, this jail is building for their generation, not ours.”

Below are details about tomorrow’s 6/26 special Whatcom County Council meeting:

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Whatcom County

Council (Special)

Monday, June 26, 2023

10:30 AM

Hybrid Meeting – Chambers/Remote

HYBRID MEETING ((PARTICIPATE IN-PERSON, SEE REMOTE JOIN INSTRUCTIONS AT http://www.whatcomcounty.us/joinvirtualcouncil, OR CALL 360.778.5010)

COUNCILMEMBERS

Barry Buchanan Tyler Byrd Todd Donovan Ben Elenbaas Carol Frazey Kaylee Galloway Kathy Kershner

Call To Order

Roll Call

Announcements

Individuals who require special assistance to participate in the Council’s meetings are asked to contact the Council Office at 360.778.5010 at least 96 hours in advance.

Announcements – Lunch Break Council may take a lunch break after noon.

Discussion

1. AB2023-304 Justice Project workshop

Break (to revise ordinance prior to introduction) Introduction

1. AB2023-415

Ordinance providing for submission of a proposition to the qualified electors of Whatcom County pursuant to RCW 82.14.450 authorizing the collection of a local sales and use tax of two-tenths of one percent for the purpose of providing funds for costs associated with public health, safety and justice facilities and services, including behavioral health, supportive housing, public safety, and criminal justice facilities and programs

Items Added by Revision 

Other Business 

Adjournment

Link to agenda: https://whatcom.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=1109912&GUID=E6B2D3F9-57C3-4CA0-BAF2-CA77423B70D0