# An Evening of Budgets, Encampments, and Post-Election Concerns On a cool November evening, the Bellingham City Council gathered for their regular meeting on November 18th, 2024, to address a packed agenda that would span from routine municipal business to profound questions about the city's values in the face of federal political changes. Council President Dan Hammill called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM, with six council members present and Councilmember Hollie Huthman excused. The evening would prove to be one of both administrative accomplishment and emotional reflection, as the council adopted their 2025 budget while grappling with concerns about federal immigration policy and its potential impact on Bellingham's immigrant community. ## Appointments and Mayor's Focus on Encampments Mayor Kim Lund began with two appointments, including Jerry Richmond to the Planning and Development Commission. The appointment sparked a brief clarifying discussion when Councilmember Hannah Stone raised questions about potential confusion with Indigo Real Estate, a property management company that has been a source of community controversy. Mayor Lund assured the council that Richmond's company, Indigo Enterprise Northwest, has no connection to the property management firm. The bulk of Mayor Lund's report focused on the city's ongoing efforts to address unauthorized encampments, particularly two high-priority locations that have drawn increasing community concern. At the Eastport Road encampment near Walmart, the city was preparing to begin cleaning and fencing operations in collaboration with the owners of the nearby Tallwood Apartments. "This first and specific step was chosen to help the residents of the Tallwood Apartments, who lived with the impacts and within the impacts of encampment activities," Mayor Lund explained, describing it as the beginning of "a multi-phase, multi-year effort necessary to clean up and repair the environmental damage to the 20-acre property." Perhaps more concerning to the mayor was the situation at Northwest Avenue and West Baker View Road, where an encampment spanning multiple privately owned properties has generated "continued and increasing community concerns, and a growing list of allegations about criminal activities." Mayor Lund revealed that she had convened the property owners three times this fall, "urging them to work together to clean up and secure their properties...or face enforcement actions for public health and safety violations." The mayor emphasized the city's commitment to balancing enforcement with compassion, noting substantial investments in addressing root causes. She highlighted that the city spent nearly $15 million in 2023 on affordable housing projects and announced that she would reveal additional initiatives later in the week, including directing staff to identify a new location for another tiny home village. ## Squalicum Creek Restoration Moves Forward In the Public Works and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Councilmember Stone, the council advanced a significant environmental project with regional importance. The interlocal agreement with the Port of Bellingham for the Squalicum Creek Estuary Restoration design phase addresses what Stone called "three partial fish passage barriers at the mouth of the Squalicum Creek, blocking access to 32 miles of upstream habitat." The project holds particular significance as part of the city's commitments under the Fish Barrier Culvert Remediation Project Memorandum of Agreement with the Lummi Nation, Nooksack Indian Tribe, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The three barriers requiring attention are the city-owned Roeder Avenue culvert, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad-owned culvert, and the Port of Bellingham-owned bridge. Stone emphasized the broader implications beyond fish habitat, noting that the constrained channel contributed to flooding issues, most notably during the November 2021 hundred-year flood event. "Not only was there negative impact to obviously businesses and losses in the area, but also thinking about the water quality and how that's impacted and suffers when there are floods," she observed. The project has been elevated as the number one priority for fish barrier remediation in the region. ## James Street Roundabout Project Gets Green Light The committee also approved a $4.25 million contract with Faber Construction Corporation for the James Street and Baker View Road intersection reconstruction project. The initiative will replace the existing traffic signal with a new roundabout, including sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, street lighting, and stormwater facilities. To minimize traffic disruption in the King Mountain neighborhood, the council also approved a noise variance allowing 24-hour construction work for 50 consecutive days, with construction expected to begin in April or May 2025. ## Tourism and Housing Updates The Community and Economic Development Committee, chaired by Councilmember Jace Cotton, moved through several budget-related items, including approving the 2025 Tourism Promotion Area budget and the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee's recommendations. The committee also received an informational presentation on the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), detailing the city's housing and services accomplishments using federal HOME Investment Partnership and Community Development Block Grant funding. ## Parks Projects and Paramedic Training The Parks and Recreation Committee approved a noise variance for the Boulevard Park Shoreline Enhancement Project, which requires tide-dependent work between November 2024 and February 2025. The Committee of the Whole then addressed several significant items, including an interlocal agreement with Whatcom County for paramedic training that will fund five Bellingham firefighter students and five students from other regional agencies in the 2025 cohort. ## YWCA Shelter Exemption and Budget Adoption Among the evening's more complex approvals was a resolution exempting the YWCA's interim housing facility at 315 Lakeway Drive from state building code requirements. The shelter, serving women and children, received approval for the exemption through November 18, 2029, facilitating its February opening with more than $1 million in city funding support. The council also addressed two ordinances affecting city finances. First, they approved increasing the solid waste utility tax from 11.5% to 17.25%, generating approximately $1 million in additional revenue for the Environmental Remediation Fund. The increase, costing the average residential customer less than $2.50 per month, will help fund debt service for remediation of the former Cornwall Avenue Municipal Landfill and R.G. Haley site, enabling the eventual construction of Salish Landing Park. Second, they approved changes to how the city manages investment income, expanding the practice of directing investment earnings to the General Fund except where otherwise required by law. The centerpiece of the evening's legislative action was adoption of the 2025 budget, with operating expenditures of $392,057,194 and capital expenditures of $156,940,883. The budget represented months of difficult work sessions and public input, reflecting challenging financial decisions in an era of constrained resources. ## Executive Session Property Acquisitions During executive session, the council authorized two Lake Whatcom Watershed property acquisitions totaling more than $1.25 million. The first involved purchasing 0.27 acres from the Max and Hueih-Hueih Hurlbut Trust for $230,000, with closing scheduled for November 22, 2024. The second authorized acquiring 0.23 acres from the Graney Trust for $1,026,000, with closing planned for December 6, 2024. Both properties contained one potential development unit each, reflecting the city's ongoing efforts to protect the watershed that supplies Bellingham's drinking water. ## Recycling Confusion and Immigrant Community Concerns As the formal business concluded, the evening's most emotionally resonant moments emerged during Old and New Business. Councilmember Stone first raised practical concerns about recycling guidelines, highlighting confusion created by the single-use plastic ban and composting requirements. She noted learning that recycling requires leaving lids on containers, but expressed frustration about clamshell containers that can neither be recycled nor composted through city services, likely destining them for landfills despite claims of compostability. Then Stone shifted to weightier matters, her voice carrying the emotional toll of the recent election results. "I wasn't going to make this emotional, but I am feeling an extreme weight right now," she began. "Following the election results, we haven't met since then. And as an immigration attorney, the response from our community is profound and understandably so." Stone's concerns centered on how federal policy changes might test Bellingham's commitment to its stated values of protecting all residents regardless of immigration status. She referenced the city's existing policies preventing local law enforcement from engaging in civil immigration enforcement, but wondered whether these were "policies of convenience because it's the PC thing to do and it makes us feel good, or those policies that we're going to stand by, even if it hurts, and even if that has some pretty significant financial repercussions for our community." Her words reflected deep understanding of the complexities facing mixed-status families and individuals who are "lawfully present although lacking legal status." She worried about the "slippery slope" of community members making assumptions about others' legal presence based on "language or appearance or other things." With federal promises of mass deportations beginning "day one" of the new administration, Stone emphasized that such actions "cannot happen without the support of local law enforcement and communities." Drawing on her experience as an immigration attorney, Stone shared the daily reality of fielding calls "from the school district and families" about their fears. She reminded colleagues that "the immigrant community doesn't live in isolation" and emphasized immigrants' contributions to jobs, businesses, and the broader community, noting potential ripple effects including inflation if mass deportations occurred. Stone referenced previous city resolutions from Trump's first term, including Resolution 2019-13 honoring the Sikh community, Resolution 2017-34 supporting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and Resolution 2017-10 affirming the safety of all Bellingham residents. "I've always been somewhat critical about resolutions because I feel like, you know, we say them and that's supposed to be a testament to what we believe," she said. "But I feel like over the next couple of years, and maybe sooner than that...those resolutions are going to be tested about what that means for our community and where we fall on some things." ## Appreciation and Looking Forward Mayor Lund responded by encouraging community members to apply for the city's Keep Washington Working compliance workgroup, noting that applications were still being accepted for those interested in this area of policy. She then shifted to gratitude, thanking both staff and council members for their collaborative work on the challenging 2025 budget process. "It was hard decisions that went into those reductions that we put forth for your approval tonight. And we really took that one city approach as a city's leadership team," she said, expressing appreciation for the "lot of work sessions, public hearings" and council's "thoughtful questions" and "commitment to being good stewards of the city's budget." ## Routine Business and Adjournment The council concluded with routine consent agenda items, including agreements with WhatsComm Communications Center and Washington Service Corps for AmeriCorps park restoration work, along with standard payroll and accounts payable authorizations and meeting minutes approvals. The final item was third and final reading of the tax levy ordinance establishing the amount to be raised in 2025 on assessed property valuations within the city. The ordinance passed by roll call vote, with all six present council members voting in favor. As the meeting adjourned at 7:42 PM, the evening's dual themes remained prominent: the careful, methodical work of municipal governance represented by budget adoptions and infrastructure projects, set against the larger questions of community values and federal policy that would challenge local governments in the months ahead. The juxtaposition of routine business with profound concerns about protecting vulnerable community members captured the complexity facing local officials as they navigate both immediate municipal needs and broader questions of social justice and community safety in an uncertain political climate. The next regular council meeting was scheduled for December 9, 2024, leaving council members and the community to wrestle with Stone's challenge to move beyond symbolic resolutions toward concrete actions that might genuinely protect immigrant community members in whatever federal policy changes lay ahead.