When government officials make a statement claiming something happened, when information available in public records shows it didn’t happen, it’s a reason for concern. When such instances of faulty statements start to stack up in the officials’ process of targeting a group focused on removing dangers from a specific marginalized community, I’d say there’s good reason for folks to be as alarmed as they can be about it.
On Sunday this week, I sent an email to Bellingham officials to alert them about statements some of them had made in January of this year. According to Immigration Advisory Board meeting materials that had only become easily accessible this March, these statements mischaracterized actions and positions IAB Members had taken during the 4 years of their meetings in regard to the Bellingham Police Department. I am including a copy of that email at the bottom of this post. Plus, here is a link to a separate copy of the email: https://noisywatersnw.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/copy-of-051924-eml-re-iab-and-chief-doll.pdf
The specific remarks I was addressing in my email this weekend were made individually by the current Bellingham Police Department Chief, the City’s Interim Deputy Administrator, and one of the City Council Members. This took place during the January 29, 2024 Bellingham City Council Committee of the Whole meeting.
It was at this meeting that Council Members voted for the first time to approve an ordinance to suspend all future meetings of the City’s first and only advisory board focused specifically on government matters that impact immigrants. It will take City Council adopting another ordinance to rescind the the suspension in order for IAB meetings to resume. The City Council made their final vote to suspend the IAB on February 12, 2024.
Prior to my email this weekend, back on March 21 of this year, I had sent an email to Bellingham City Council Members to alert them about untrue claims that were made in one of the recitals included in the ordinance to suspend the IAB meetings. The information in the recital alleged actions were taken by IAB Members that was contrary to material found in an IAB meeting recording and emails responsive to a public records request. I had also posted a copy of the email on this blog site.
Additionally, I sent an email to the City Council 5 days later on March 26, which noted another recital in the same ordinance that contained untrue information according to a City of Bellingham memo and information on the Washington State Attorney General’s website. This recital was related to requirements of the IAB related to the Public Records and Open Public Meetings Acts.
In both of these March emails I had asked officials that if there was any other material which would outweigh the records I reviewed that had showed the recitals provided false information, to send that material to me. I never received such material.
Here’s the email I sent this week on May 19, 2024:
Dear Bellingham City Council, Mayor Lund, Interim Deputy Administrator/Communications Director Keller, and Police Chief Mertzig:
The remarks to which I am referring are ones that mischaracterized events that happened at the very first meeting of the Immigration Advisory Board; other ones that asserted that Bellingham Police Department officials have no way to engage in dialogue with members of the IAB; and other ones that expressed that there wasn’t a way to have law enforcement policy and procedure questions related to the work of the IAB answered unless BPD is given a seat at the table, presumably at Immigration Advisory Board meetings. Here is a link to a document that includes remarks made at the 1/29/24 COW meeting that I am addressing in this email:https://noisywatersnw.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/012924-remarks-to-address-re-law-enforcement-and-iab-1.pdf
I am addressing such remarks because, first, I feel that addressing inaccuracies in them is necessary in order for officials and members of the public to understand that potentially mistaken recollections of what happened, and/or hearsay, and/or perspectives that are overly narrow, played a part in reasoning offered by some City officials to suspend Immigration Advisory Board meetings. Some of these inaccurate remarks from the 1/29/24 COW meeting were reported in newspaper articles in Cascadia Daily Newsand The Bellingham Herald.
But also, I want to alert you that adopting perceptions of IAB members based on inaccurate information, or information lacking critical context, can bias how City officials and members of the public approach IAB members in future encounters. Such perceptions can also impact how safe IAB members are able to feel in interacting with City officials. It will be valuable to publicly acknowledge and correct any harmful inaccuracies that have been stated by officials.
The outcome of a discussion was recorded during the June 23, 2020 Immigration Advisory Board virtual meeting which was referenced by two of the officials present at the 1/29/24 Committee of the Whole meeting. The remarks they made which were specifically related to former Bellingham Police Department Chief David Doll’s attendance at that first Immigration Advisory Board meeting, did not accurately portray the outcome of that discussion during the meeting.
Below are the remarks I am referencing in regard to that first IAB meeting.
Bellingham Police Chief Rebecca Mertzig: “The City of Bellingham values its police department, yet the Immigration Advisory Board began its first meeting by telling the former Chief, David Doll, that he was not welcome and kicking him out of important dialogue.”
Bellingham Communications Director and Interim Deputy Administrator Janice Keller: “From its enabling ordinance, approved despite the many reservations expressed by Mayor Linville and her team, to the group’s first meeting, during the pandemic, when the Chief of Police was asked to leave…”
At the time of the 1/29/24 Committee of the Whole meeting, the recording of the June 23, 2020 IAB meeting was not available on the Immigration Advisory Board Meeting Materials page where links to all available meetings are posted. It seems that an error was made originally by placing a link to a recording of the July 23, 2020 meeting under the header for the June meeting that year. Additionally, no link to minutes had been posted under the header for June 23, 2020.
Community members – and to some extent, perhaps officials – would not have been able to easily verify whether officials’ knowledge or memory of that meeting’s discussions were accurate, or not, until March 21, 2024. I had contacted a City Council Member in mid February 2024 and City Council Legal Assistant Jackie Lassiter in early March about the issue of the incorrect recording and missing minutes under the June 23, 2020 IAB meeting materials header. It was on March 21, when links to both the correct meeting recording and minutes were added.
Related to Chief Doll’s attendance at the June 23, 2020 meeting, the minutes state: “Concern was raised about Police Chief David Doll being present in the Zoom meeting and he was asked to become an attendee rather than a panelist. This change was proposed to ensure that Board members and members of the community feel safe expressing their thoughts and concerns during the Board meetings.”
I have transcribed the portion of the meeting where the discussion took place about Chief Doll’s attendance and, along with linking to it, I am attaching a copy of that transcription, with a couple notes added for context, to this email.
According to this documentation of the 6/23/2020 IAB meeting proceedings, the discussion of Chief Doll’s presence did not occur until half-way through the meeting, and no one at the meeting ever told Chief Doll he was not welcome or asked him to leave the meeting.
Chief Doll’s attendance as a panelist at the Zoom meeting, which Immigration Advisory Board members had not been asked about prior to the meeting, led to a discussion that included input from numerous Immigration Advisory Board members, as well as from City Council Member Hannah Stone; then Bellingham Deputy Administrator Brian Heinrich, who said he had invited Chief Doll; Janice Keller who was serving in her position at the time of City Communications Director; and BPD Chief Doll.
Various issues related to Chief Doll’s attendance as a panelist at the meeting, along with potential impacts to proceedings and immigrant community members were explored. Chief Doll expressed that his full intent in attending was to listen on how he could remove barriers that the IAB identifies to community members being able to access police services. This intent was compatible with IAB members and Council Member Stone agreeing to have Chief Doll present at that meeting and future ones as an attendee.
Chief Doll had additionally offered he was willing to answer questions that may come up related to federal contacts data which the IAB would be reviewing. Brian Heinrich had noted that providing explanation of the reporting data was the reason the administration had asked Chief Doll to participate.
It was noted by Chief Doll and Janice Keller that changing his Zoom status to his attending as an attendee rather than as a panelist could make it more cumbersome if Chief Doll wanted to speak in this regard.
As many people who have been involved in Zoom meetings know, when a person attends as a panelist, they have the ability to unmute their microphone at any time to be able to speak. Individuals who attend as attendees rely on the meeting host to switch them to the role of panelist, usually temporarily, in order to be able to unmute themselves to speak.
Since their first meeting, the Immigration Advisory Board Zoom hosts have done this, routinely and frequently, for members of the public attending via Zoom as attendees during the IAB’s planned public comment periods – which have been held sometimes at the beginning of IAB meetings, sometimes at the end, and sometimes both – as well as at other points in IAB meetings when community members have had comments about accessing the audio, visual, or entrance to the Zoom meeting, or about other matters that seem critical to the meeting proceedings at the time.
After the IAB discussion about Chief Doll on June 23, 2020, during the very next IAB meeting on July 23, 2020, according to meeting minutes for that date, at or around 23:07 in the meeting, “The Board decided to allow community members to provide public comment with no time constraint within reason.” Over the years, IAB members have also made effort to answer/address the questions or concerns raised during public comment periods.
These are options for members of the public, as well as law enforcement officials, and other City or County officials and staff who attend as members of the public, to engage in IAB meetings – when meetings resume – along with the abilities for individuals:
to seek to arrange meetings with individual IAB members or small groups of them; and
use their access as government officials and employees to speak with City Council Members, other City officials, and IAB support staff to share with them information pertaining to the IAB
The record of numerous years of availability of these various options related to interacting with the Immigration Advisory Board also contradict remarksfrom the 1/29/24 COW meeting of Chief Mertzig’s, that indicated that there were no lines available to communicate with IAB members to address negative experiences, misconceptions, or mistrust, and Council Member Stone’s that indicated that there is no way for IAB members to get critical questions answered about the City’s policies and procedures.
I want to close with a reminder that the development of the proposal for what became the Immigration Advisory Board emerged from many conversations among community members, and between community members and City officials about safeguarding the well-being of immigrant community members and providing an ability for them to feel protected in speaking freely about mistreatment that they were facing at the hands of various businesses and agencies, including law enforcement agencies, without fear of being intimidated, silenced, or retaliated against by any members of those businesses or agencies, as the City pursued ways to address such mistreatment.
Here are some links to blog posts that provide links to some of that history:
From their very first meeting, and throughout the years that they had been gathering, it is apparent in meeting recordings and minutes that IAB members have maintained clarity in prioritizing this safety of community members to speak about such mistreatment, especially as it is related to any City policies, procedures, and practices.
At the same time, IAB members have repeatedly expressed willingness to interact individually or in small groups with members of law enforcement and other government agencies in cases where they feel it necessary to seek answers to questions in the course of pursuing their purpose of providing oversight of City policy related to immigration matters. Such policy includes, among other things, analysis of City data to determine compliance with the Keep Washington Working Act. Incidentally, all of this seems in harmony with Chief Doll’s willingness and stated full intent at the initial IAB meeting to listen to find ways of removing barriers to community members accessing police services.
Sincerely,
Dena Jensen
Birch Bay, WA
This email was sent to the following addresses:
To: ccmail@cob.org <ccmail@cob.org>; Daniel C. Hammill <dchammill@cob.org>; Jace A. Cotton <jacotton@cob.org>; Hannah E. Stone <hestone@cob.org>; ehwilliams@cob.org <ehwilliams@cob.org>; Michael W. Lilliquist <mlilliquist@cob.org>; Hollie Huthman <hahuthman@cob.org>; Lisa A. Anderson <laanderson@cob.org>; mayorsoffice@cob.org <mayorsoffice@cob.org>; Janice L. Keller <jkeller@cob.org>; rkmertzig@cob.org <rkmertzig@cob.org>
Cc: G. CC. Immigration Board <immigrationboard@cob.org>; WREC <wrec@chuckanuthealthfoundation.org>; council@co.whatcom.wa.us <council@co.whatcom.wa.us>; Satpal Sidhu <ssidhu@co.whatcom.wa.us>; IPRTaskForce <iprtaskforce@co.whatcom.wa.us>; phab@co.whatcom.wa.us <phab@co.whatcom.wa.us>; Cascadia Daily News <ronjudd@cascadiadaily.com>; denver.pratt@bellinghamherald.com <denver.pratt@bellinghamherald.com>; Robert Mittendorf <robert.mittendorf@bellinghamherald.com>
noisy waters northwest 
Pingback: ‘Things are trying to suppress it, right?’: 2021 Camp 210 sweep letter from Immigration Advisory Board, a year-long timeline / Noisy Waters Northwest | noisy waters northwest