Bellingham City Council

Shall the council:

96. Authorize the mayor to enter into a $100,000 settlement with ACE American Insurance Company of Philadelphia, PA? ACE is the second of five insurers to settle in the case of the city of Bellingham v. Granite State, et al. The city is suing companies for reimbursement of cleanup costs associated with the Holly Street landfill, Cornwall Avenue landfill, Central Waterfront, Little Squalicum Park, Boulevard Park and Taylor Avenue site. ACE insured the city from 10/1/76 to 10/31/77. Approved 6-0, Bob Ryan excused.

97. Establish a bank account to fund the city’s workers’ compensation plan? The administering of the self-insured plan is being outsourced (Eberle Vivian Inc. of Kent) to improve the efficiency of increasing complex claims. The account will initially have a $30,000 limit that might increase to $60,000 with increasing claims. The city accounting department will reconcile the account monthly. The contract with Eberle Vivian runs from 3/1/06 through 3/30/09. (AB 16951) Approved 6-0, Bob Ryan excused.

98. Authorize the mayor to award the low bid of $191,509 to Ebenal General of Bellingham for window restorations at the Whatcom Museum? The project will repair 108 windows in the old City Hall building. The project is being financed by a state grant of $130,837 (12/12/05 meeting, vote number 278) and city real estate excise taxes. Sixty-four bids were solicited and three were received. (AB 16966) Approved 6-0, Bob Ryan excused.

99. Appropriate $2,844,757 for goods and services checks issued from March 24 through April 14, 2006? (AB16967/16968/16969) Approved 7-0

100. Appropriate $2,521,014 for city payroll checks issued from March 16 through March 31, 2006? (AB16970) Approved 7-0

101. Set May 24 as the public hearing date to consider vacating rights-of-way within the preliminary plat of Padden Trails? The Bellingham Hearing Examiner will consider a petition to relinquish public ownership on portions of: Broad, College, Wilkin, Victoria, University, Church, Union, Richard, Rainer and Macon streets as well as 32nd, 34th, 36th, 37th, 38th, and 39th streets and associated alleys. AB16964 (Resolution 2006-11) Approved 6-0, Bob Ryan excused.

102. Set May 24 as the public hearing date to vacate portions of 34th Street and Byron Avenue? The Bellingham Hearing Examiner will consider a petition to relinquish public ownership on portions of 34th Street and Byron Avenue between Haggen’s grocery store and 32nd Avenue. If the streets are vacated, the city will receive $16,000. AB16965 (Resolution 2006-12) Approved 6-0, Bob Ryan excused.

103. Establish a transportation management program in accordance with the Growth Management Act? The program prohibits traffic generated by new development from exceeding council-adopted traffic standards. Should a proposed development exceed the traffic standard, the developer must provide mitigation on arterials or the project will be denied. AB16872 (Ordinance 2006-04-41) Approved 6-0, Bob Ryan excused.

Shall the council:

104. Appropriate $1,101,299 for goods and services checks issued from April 14 through April 21, 2006? (AB16977) Approved 7-0

105. Appropriate $2,363,423 for city payroll checks issued from April 1 through April 15, 2006? (AB16978) Approved 7-0

106. Determine which rezone requests should be forwarded to the planning commission to be included in the 2006 neighborhood plan amendment process? The council denied rezone requests for Birchwood–Area 15, Fairhaven–Area 4, Guide Meridian Areas–23, 26A and 28 and Whatcom Falls–Areas 8E and 11. The Birchwood denial was approved 5-2, Barbara Ryan and John Watts opposed. All other denials were approved 7-0. The council approved rezone requests for Fairhaven–Area 9, Happy Valley–Area 7 and York–Area 5. (AB16934B) The York rezone was approved 6-1, John Watts opposed. The other two were approved 7-0.

107. Add a chapter to the Bellingham Municipal Code on initiative and referendum procedures? The city charter allows initiatives and referendums but doesn’t give specific procedures. This leads to confusion by the public and government workers. This chapter is designed to provide clear guidance to petitioners, city and county employees. A group called Protect Our Charter has filed a referendum (City of Bellingham Referendum Number 1) to place this measure on the ballot. To qualify for the ballot the committee needs to file petitions with the signatures of 1,460 registered voters who live in the city of Bellingham. June 15 is the filing deadline. AB16833 (Ordinance 2006-05-42) Approved 7-0

108. Reclassify a position in the planning and community development department? Duties added to the housing program specialist’s position resulted in a job audit. The joint classification committee changed the job title to development specialist 2 effective January 1, 2006 with a pay increase of $2,578 for 2006. AB16944 (Ordinance 2006-05-43) Approved 7-0

109. Transfer $2 million from the general fund to police and fire pension reserves? Revenues in 2005 increased the 2006 general fund by $2,100,000. Recent increases in pension obligation will require large annual contributions. Transferring excess reserves from the general fund now will reduce the amount needed later. This transfer covers both pension and medical benefits. AB16952 (Ordinance 2006-05-44) Approved 7-0

110. Create a school impact fund? With the passage of park impact fees (2/27/06 meeting, vote number 48) all impact fees (3/6/06 meeting, votes 56, 57 and 58) are placed under a new chapter, Title 19. The city collects school impact fees and transfers them with interest to the Bellingham School District. AB16953 (Ordinance 2006-05-45) Approved 7-0

111. Authorize an intercity loan of $3,080,000 to purchase property in the Lake Whatcom watershed? The council recently spent $3,427,500 (2/27/06 meeting, vote number 38 and 3/27/06, vote number 79) to purchase 132.2 acres as part of the watershed acquisition program. The wastewater fund will loan the water fund the money at an interest rate equal to the rate it would have received from investing it. AB16954 (Ordinance 2006-05-46) Approved 7-0

112. Revise the storm water code? This update brings the storm water code into compliance with federal and state law, which encourages using low impact development techniques. Developers using low impact techniques are eligible for a 50 percent credit on their storm water development fee. The state will review the final code. The proposed low impact credit could cut the present $400,000 in storm water revenue in half. AB16957 (Ordinance 2006-05-47) Approved 7-0

113. Amend the Bellingham Municipal Code on the mayor’s Neighborhood Advisory Commission? The commission was established in 1976 for input on the original Comprehensive Plan and has since been a communication link between the city and neighborhoods. The amendment will: 1) Allow the mayor to select a neighborhood representative when there is no neighborhood association or the association doesn’t provide a list of names; 2) Increase the term for representatives from one to two years; 3) Expand the commission’s role to include communication between neighborhoods and the city and include neighborhood plans in their review work. AB 16961 (Ordinance 2006-05-48) Approved 7-0

114. Amend the Bellingham Municipal Code on membership qualifications for city boards and commissions? Current code, adopted in 1944, requires members to be a Bellingham resident for at least two years prior to appointment. Today’s boards and commissions can require certain professional qualifications, making it difficult to fill vacancies. This amendment give the City Council the option to relax residency requirements when it creates new boards/commissions. These changes won’t affect membership on existing boards and commissions. AB16962 (Ordinance 2006-05-49) Approved 7-0