# A New Framework for Governing Bellingham On a September afternoon in 2025, the Bellingham City Council's Committee of the Whole convened for what would prove to be a significant milestone in how the city approaches long-term planning. While the agenda items appeared routine—adopting a capital facilities plan, approving a transportation document, and receiving a budget presentation—the underlying discussion revealed a fundamental shift in how municipal decision-making would work going forward. ## Meeting Overview Council President Pro Tempore "Skip" Williams called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM with six council members present. Council President Hollie Huthman was excused. What began as a standard afternoon committee session evolved into a searching examination of when and how the city council exercises its authority over long-term planning. The meeting addressed three major items: Resolution 24673 adopting the Capital Facilities Plan, Resolution 24674 adopting the Multimodal Transportation Plan, and Mayor Kim Lund's presentation of the proposed 2026 budget—a $543 million spending plan that includes painful cuts and a proposed new sales tax. ## The Capital Facilities Plan: More Than Technical Details Senior Planner Elizabeth Erickson began the afternoon by presenting what she called a "companion document" to the city's comprehensive plan. The Capital Facilities Plan represents a sweeping reorganization of how Bellingham approaches infrastructure planning, pulling detailed technical information out of the main comprehensive plan and creating a new 20-year planning horizon. "This plan itself is primarily the same information that existed in the 2016 comprehensive plan within the capital facilities and utilities chapter," Erickson explained. "But in order to really streamline the plan itself and make it more accessible, we've pulled a lot of this very detailed information and tables out of that main document into this new plan." The document consolidates everything from fire station needs to library expansions, from water system improvements to the replacement value of significant city assets. It includes a comprehensive inventory of 266 city-owned buildings and structures totaling 1.7 million square feet, worth nearly $925 million in replacement value. ### Questions About Asset Values Council Member Michael Lilliquist immediately zeroed in on practical concerns about the document's accuracy. "I don't think we can replace the police station for $16 million," he said, questioning the replacement values listed for significant assets. "There's no way we could replace [Old City Hall] for $12.5 million. Does that matter?" Staff acknowledged these numbers come from insurance documents rather than current construction costs. The municipal court, for example, carries a replacement value exceeding $30 million, which might be accurate for building a completely new facility but not for the city's planned approach of relocating court services to an existing building. This seemingly technical discussion foreshadowed deeper questions about the precision and purpose of long-term planning documents. ### The Fire Station Gap Council Member Daniel Hammill brought a sense of urgency to the discussion based on his recent ride-along with Fire Station One. He had reviewed service provision maps showing green dots for calls fire crews could reach within the gold standard of four minutes, and red dots where they couldn't. "What was really apparent," Hammill said, "is that on the north side of our community, the Cordata area which is being built out, had a lot of red dots, had a lot of service deficiencies in that area where fire could just not get to the people in time." Staff confirmed that new fire stations are included in the 20-year improvement plan, along with remodels of existing stations. The newest station, Deemer Six, is over 20 years old, and others date back much further. ### Implementation Authority: When Does Council Decide? The discussion took a significant turn when Lilliquist posed what he called "a gigantic question" about the council's role in this new planning framework. His concern cut to the heart of municipal governance: when does the city council actually make decisions versus when does it simply ratify decisions already made through the planning process? "The city council has broadly speaking four areas where we have final sole and lasting authority," Lilliquist said. "That's on the budget, on properties that are owned by the city, passing laws and plans. This is one of the four things that we and only we can do is adopt all of these plans." He described a common frustration: projects appear on planning documents, then later appear for contract awards, but at no point does it feel like the council is making the actual decision to proceed. "When do we actually approve the project?" he asked. Staff acknowledged this as "a really good question" that deserved more consideration. The framework creates multiple layers—comprehensive plans, implementation plans, six-year capital improvement programs, annual budgets, and finally contract awards. Each step moves from general to specific, but the moment of actual decision-making can feel elusive. "I think the budget is the critical juncture point," offered Forrest Longman, Deputy City Administrator. But he admitted this may vary by project type and scale. ### The "Framework" vs "Regime" Mayor Kim Lund acknowledged the significance of what Lilliquist had identified as a "regime change" in city governance, though she preferred the term "framework." The shift moves away from making detailed project decisions within comprehensive plans toward higher-level policy guidance with more frequent updates to implementation documents. "Our commitment is to come back to you and figure out how we make sure that we do this right," Lund said. The capital facilities plan passed 6-0, but the questions it raised about governance authority would echo through the rest of the meeting. ## Multimodal Transportation Plan: Ambition Meets Reality Sydney Prusak from the Planning Department presented the Multimodal Transportation Plan, describing it as both an appendix and companion document to the comprehensive plan. Like the capital facilities plan, it moves technical requirements out of the main document while maintaining compliance with state law. The plan includes updated network maps, funding projections, and mode shift targets—goals for getting people out of single-occupant vehicles and into walking, biking, or transit options. ### Mode Shift Goals: Realistic or Retreating? Council Member Jace Cotton questioned why the 2045 mode shift goals appeared lower than previous 2036 targets. Staff explained this reflected a deliberate choice to be "ambitious but also grounded in reality." "We really need targets that are ambitious but also grounded in reality, and that are also achievable with the updated policies, the anticipated funding, and the planned projects that we have," Prusak explained. Cotton expressed discomfort with this approach, noting that transportation remains "the largest single sector source of emissions in our community and the second largest category of household expenses." He worried about setting targets based on current constraints rather than what the climate crisis demands. Council Member Hammill, quoting Wayne Gretzky's advice to "skate to where the puck is going, not to where it's been," supported the realistic approach as proper anticipatory planning. ### Funding Shortfalls and Solutions The plan identifies a significant funding shortfall for transportation improvements over the next 20 years. To address this, staff outlined various potential funding strategies, including grants, impact fees, development mitigation, transportation benefit districts, and even speed cameras (for safety, with revenue helping close the gap). One option mentioned increasing the current transportation benefit district sales tax from 0.2% to 0.3%, which would require voter approval. The transportation plan also passed 6-0, with Lilliquist noting his preference for calling the new approach a "framework" rather than a "regime." ## The 2026 Budget Crisis: Hard Choices Ahead Mayor Lund introduced the budget presentation with a quote from Mike Tyson: "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." The metaphor proved apt for a budget built around a $10 million general fund deficit. "We've saved the best for last in today's agenda," Lund said. "There is no issue that is more pressing, more present, and significant than our budget situation." ### Three Foundational Principles Lund outlined three principles guiding the difficult budget decisions: **Financial stability and sustainability:** The city can no longer rely on reserve funds to cover operating deficits. "We no longer have the capacity within our reserves to wait for a better economic outlook tomorrow. We have got to live within our means today." **Focus on work only the city can do:** As the administration considered cuts, it prioritized services that only the municipality can provide—frontline public safety, long-term planning, infrastructure for clean water and wastewater treatment. **Leverage dedicated resources:** While the general fund faces severe pressure, voter-approved levies, utility funds, and dedicated taxes continue supporting specific functions like parks, affordable housing, and environmental cleanup. ### The Numbers Behind the Pain Deputy Administrator Forrest Longman presented the stark mathematics. After accounting for current service levels and negotiated wage increases, the finance department projected a $10 million deficit. Employee costs represent nearly 70% of general fund expenses, making personnel reductions unavoidable. The proposed solution splits the pain: $4 million from a new one-tenth of one percent sales tax for criminal justice, and $6 million in cuts across nearly all general fund departments. The cuts would eliminate over 40 positions representing nearly 30 full-time equivalents. Fortunately, most positions are already vacant, but the budget includes layoffs for 12 current employees and elimination of four more positions through attrition. ### What the Public Will Feel Lund was direct about impacts on residents: "While we seek to minimize impacts to public-facing services, the reductions will be felt in reduced library hours, parks maintenance, and walk-in services. We will be navigating how to do less because there will be fewer people to do our important work." The cuts represent a fundamental shift from years of gradual service expansion to active contraction in municipal capacity. ### The Sales Tax Debate Preview The proposed criminal justice sales tax became a focal point for discussion about values and priorities. Council members emphasized that the tax wouldn't fund new police positions but would maintain current service levels, including alternative response programs and diversion services that have proven popular. "If you look at the chart, it's four frozen police positions, not four new police positions," Hammill clarified, referring to community concerns about expanding police presence. Council Member Lisa Anderson requested that the mayor use the evening's public comment period to clarify the tax's actual uses, anticipating criticism based on misunderstandings about expanding versus maintaining police services. "This tax could go towards domestic violence services and also a lot of our diversion programs, which is what I think a lot of community members want," Anderson said. ### Leading by Example Mayor Lund announced she would forgo her typical 3% salary increase, with all department heads taking the same 0% cost-of-living adjustment. While symbolically important, this represents a small fraction of the needed savings. Council Member Hannah Stone pressed on whether higher-paid positions should be eliminated first, but Lund argued that department heads carry "tremendous responsibility" and aren't redundant positions that can be easily cut. ### The Ongoing Challenge Even with these painful measures, the budget relies on $1.5 million in one-time revenues, meaning the structural deficit persists into future years. Economic uncertainty adds another layer of concern about the city's financial trajectory. "The challenge of finding fiscal stability will be ongoing," Lund acknowledged in her budget memo. ## Looking Ahead: Questions Without Easy Answers As the committee session concluded, several major themes emerged that will shape Bellingham's governance in the coming years: **Decision-making authority:** The new planning framework creates more technically sophisticated documents but may obscure when elected officials actually make binding choices about city direction. **Balancing ambition and realism:** Whether in mode shift targets or budget planning, the city faces ongoing tension between aspirational goals and practical constraints. **Community expectations:** As budget cuts take effect, residents will experience reduced services while potentially facing higher taxes, creating political pressure that could reshape future decisions. **Implementation capacity:** The elaborate planning documents mean little without sufficient staff and funding to implement them, raising questions about whether the city is planning beyond its means. The meeting adjourned after Council Member Hammill shared wisdom from a recent fire department ride-along: "Everyone that she's met on Bellingham Fire always runs toward the problem. Everybody." It's an apt metaphor for a city government that isn't shying away from difficult decisions, even when the path forward remains uncertain. The council then moved into executive session to discuss potential property acquisitions and litigation matters, private deliberations that underscore how much of municipal governance still happens away from public view, even as the city works to create more transparent and accessible planning processes. This September afternoon meeting may be remembered as the moment Bellingham's leaders fully embraced a new framework for long-term governance—one that promises more sophisticated planning tools but demands clearer thinking about when and how democratic authority gets exercised in shaping the city's future.