# A Day of Progress Reports and Forward Momentum The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee of Whatcom County Council convened on July 8, 2025, at 10:40 a.m. in the County Courthouse council chambers, drawing a full house of council members and stakeholders for what would prove to be a substantive session focused on the intricate machinery of justice administration. Committee Chair Barry Buchanan called the hybrid meeting to order with all three committee members present: himself, Council Member Tyler Byrd, and Council Member Jon Scanlon. Also joining the discussion were Council Members Todd Donovan, Ben Elenbaas, Kaylee Galloway, and Mark Stremler, underscoring the broad interest in criminal justice issues across the council. ## The Superior Court Clerk's Office: A Portrait of Judicial Administration The first presentation came from Raylene King, Superior Court Clerk, who delivered what amounted to a master class in judicial administration. King began by outlining her organizational chart, revealing the complex web of responsibilities under her purview: 26 full-time employees in the Clerk's Office proper, plus oversight of the Office of Assigned Counsel (2.5 FTE), court facilitators, the law library, and the newly established Conflict Office with three full-time attorneys and a legal assistant. "Under the Constitution, we're required to be at every court hearing," King explained to the committee. "So, we have five judges and five commissioners. So, you can imagine there's always got to be 10 clerks available to be in court." The challenge of staffing became a recurring theme as King described how it takes six months to a year to properly train a court clerk for the specialized nature of each type of hearing. King took particular care to explain a point of confusion that arises regularly: the distinction between Superior Court and other courts regarding their relationship to the judicial branch. "Superior Court is a different animal. It's a constitutional position that exists outside of the judicial branch and doesn't report to the judge. It reports to the county executive," she clarified, referring to an ethics opinion from late 2023 that established clear separation between judicial and executive functions. The caseload numbers King presented painted a picture of steadily increasing demand. Whatcom County's caseload now rivals that of Kitsap County, but King warned of a potential tsunami ahead: the water adjudication case has generated 38,000 potential civil claims that could be filed by the May 2026 deadline. To put this in perspective, Pierce County typically sees about 11,000 civil filings per year, and Whatcom County has just two clerks assigned to handle water adjudication. "Right now, we only have about 750 claims that have been filed with water adjudication," King noted. "So, there's a potential for us to be having a tidal wave at the end of the year or prior to the deadline." When comparing staffing levels to similar counties, the numbers revealed potential challenges ahead. Kitsap County employs 39 clerks compared to Whatcom's 26, while Cowlitz County—with about half the caseload and less than half the population—maintains 25 clerks and doesn't have the additional burden of water adjudication. ## The Human Side of Court Services King's presentation took on a more personal dimension when she discussed the court facilitators and the packets of legal forms they help people navigate. Passing around thick stacks of paperwork to the council members, she explained how facilitators assist with everything from minor guardianships to protection orders to family law matters. "A lot of these people have a seventh-grade education level," King observed, referencing feedback from a recent conference. "So, to be able to help these people is very important." The facilitators have become increasingly crucial as attorney shortages make legal representation harder to obtain for many residents. The numbers tell a compelling story of community need. Protection order filings jumped from 203 in 2022 to an expected 575 in 2025. The Domestic Violence Commission partnership, established in March with advocate Marvin Barkone positioned adjacent to the clerk's office, has streamlined the process for those seeking protection orders. "The difference in the DV partnership and the clerk's office is we are neutral," King emphasized. "So, we have to help both parties." This neutrality requirement means they must provide equal assistance to all parties in legal proceedings, while the DV commission can focus specifically on victim advocacy. Council Member Byrd, who had recently observed court proceedings firsthand along with Council Member Stremler, asked about the hiring process for court clerks. King's answer revealed the complexity of the position and the emotional toll it can take. "We need individuals that are detail oriented because we need to make sure the record is accurate," she explained. "But we also need to explain to people that, oh, I want to be a clerk. It sounds so interesting. I want to sit there. You have to be fast and you have to be able to listen to some really hard stuff and you have to understand that people aren't going to love you." The psychological impact on clerks became evident as King continued: "If you have to sit through a murder trial and take exhibits, if you have to see a rape trial or child molestation trial, those things are not easy and it impacts the mental health of clerks. So unlike law enforcement, we don't have a psych eval." ## The Success Story of the Conflict Office Ryan Swinburne, the senior attorney in the Conflict Office, stepped forward to present what emerged as one of the meeting's success stories. The office, essentially launched in 2024 under King's guidance, has dramatically reduced the county's reliance on expensive outside counsel for conflict cases. "In 2023, 100% of class A felonies were represented on a conflict basis by outside counsel," Swinburne explained to the committee. "What that means is typically the county's paying private attorney an hourly rate and those rates are close to two to three maybe even four hundred dollars an hour at this point." The transformation has been remarkable. In 2024, 43.75% of class A felonies were handled in-house. By 2025, that figure reached nearly 90%. Similar improvements occurred across all case types, with district court cases going from 30% in-house in 2023 to almost 93% in 2025. "This is one of those rare instances where creating an entity has proven to be not only beneficial to the people who are seeking legal representation but also to the county in coming up with the amount of money necessary to meet your obligation for indigent defense," Swinburne noted, adding with a touch of political philosophy, "Personally I'm one of those I'm an advocate for smaller government. But this is one of those rare instances where creating an entity has proven to be..." beneficial. The timing couldn't be better, as King pointed out the ongoing challenges with finding qualified outside counsel. "We've also had two class A qualified attorneys retire recently. And then I had a third attorney recently advise me that he was giving up his bar license. And with him giving up his bar license that's 47 cases that we potentially have to find counsel for." ## Innovations and Improvements King highlighted several technological and procedural advances her office has implemented. Working with state archives, they've digitized all court documents from 2005 to present, making them available for online purchase. The system went live recently and, without any advertising, generated about $500 in revenue for June alone. "We didn't advertise that we were live yet until just recently because we wanted to make sure that everything was uploaded before we did that," King explained. "We didn't want a bunch of phone calls of angry people. Why can't I find my document?" The security screening project, approved by the council with $50,000 in funding, came in significantly under budget at about $23,000 and was scheduled for completion on July 12th. The multilingual staffing in both the Clerk's Office and Conflict Office, with fluent Spanish and Russian speakers, reflects the county's diverse population needs. Council Member Scanlon inquired about the impact of the expected surge in water adjudication filings on other court business. King's response revealed the complex balancing act her office faces: "It may slow the process down if we don't have enough staff to process them because criminal proceedings come first. If somebody is incarcerated, that's going to be heard before a civil proceeding." ## The Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force Report Following the clerk's presentation, the committee received its annual report from the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF) co-chairs Heather Flaherty and Peter Frazier. Chair Buchanan prefaced their presentation by explaining the unique nature of this advisory body. "You'll notice that there's quite a bit more in these reports than what we get from other advisory committees," Buchanan observed. "The advisory function carries across the whole criminal justice system, prosecutor's office, the sheriff's office. So it's much broader than what a lot of other council-created advisory committees do." Flaherty opened with three observations that struck her while preparing for the presentation: "The enormous opportunity and potential we have in this moment with the justice project, the complexity of the system, and the thousands, the endless stakeholders that are involved." The gratitude she expressed was palpable as she thanked various officials, including Buchanan for "years of leadership on this and your willingness to really listen deeply to community and try to get it right," and Jill Nixon, whose organizational work "keeps us organized. She keeps us on task. She keeps us following the rules." ## A Decade of Collaboration The task force, established in 2015, marked its 10th anniversary in 2025. "So a decade of that really incredible work getting us to a place where genuinely other communities have called to ask questions about how is it that Whatcom County is so forward-thinking about what is needed for real collaboration and progress," Flaherty noted. Peter Frazier outlined six key strengths of the IPRTF: serving as a trusted table where all justice and behavioral health players meet, maintaining steady focus on long-term vision, supporting policies and improved outcomes, ability to go both broad and deep on issues, providing a framework for measuring what matters, and maintaining commitment to both the council's work and community values. "We help make this complex work more visible, coordinated, and rooted in community values," Frazier emphasized. "We focus on solutions, and we know that lasting change depends on relationships, trust, and persistence." ## Realignment and Renewed Focus Both co-chairs described the major realignment effort undertaken in 2024 to align the task force's work with the justice project implementation plan. "We spent months working with our stakeholders and with the task force members to set the groundwork for real action planning," Flaherty explained. The realignment resulted in a formal 2025 action plan, reinforced committee infrastructure with expanded membership, and ensured adequate community representation. From this work emerged 10 priorities, with three receiving top focus. ## Three Critical Priorities Frazier detailed the task force's three primary areas of concentration. First, smart design and operation of the jail and behavioral care center, including the launch of a behavioral care center work group bringing together prosecutors, public defense, sheriff's office, health department, and courts. "A facility built to the highest and best standards with trauma-informed and biophilic design throughout, direct supervision for safety and best outcomes, behavioral health supports integrated throughout, and robust re-entry programs that begin on day one of incarceration," Frazier outlined as the vision. The second priority, strengthening diversion programs, prompted honest self-examination. "Are we truly diverting people from the legal system or just sending them down a different path through it?" Frazier asked. "Many of our current programs still involve arrest, charges, and court. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean we haven't yet built the kind of true diversion pathways that keep people out of the legal system entirely." The third priority—measurement and accountability—represents perhaps the most ambitious undertaking. Working with multiple partners, the task force completed an evaluation performance measurement plan that defines success across the entire system. "We're spending millions of dollars every year on justice and behavioral health interventions, often on a very small number of people with complex repeated needs," Frazier noted. "And right now we still can't answer some basic questions. What's working? What isn't? Are we spending in the right places?" ## Financial Realities and Future Challenges Council Member Donovan raised critical questions about funding, particularly given federal Medicaid cuts. "The state's now losing billions of dollars in Medicaid dollars, and we use Medicaid dollars to run the Ann Deacon Center mostly for operating stuff," he pointed out. "Just a heads up that the council, I think we're going to be blindsided by the effects of this Medicaid dollars going away on a lot of levels if we don't start talking about that now." Flaherty acknowledged the complexity: "I think what's interesting about questions like that is how many people need to be involved in creating the answer." She emphasized the need for structured agenda items to address financial uncertainties while maintaining focus on core values. Council Member Scanlon expressed interest in budget and policy recommendations from the task force, noting the expertise they've developed. "I would be interested in recommendations from your committee on budget, both this year, as we look at the mid-biennium review, and then next year, as we look to set our next biennial budget." Frazier confirmed the task force's willingness to take on this advisory role: "I think that that is something that IPRTF should be doing. We are a policy body and we're here to help you." ## The Charter Question The meeting's final agenda item addressed the Justice Project Stakeholder Group Charters, which had been held from the previous meeting to allow for additional council input. Council Member Donovan noted satisfaction with the changes made in response to his earlier concerns about collaboration language between executive and council branches. Council Member Scanlon raised the question of whether the task force needed additional authority to provide budget advice, suggesting this could be addressed in future charter discussions. After brief discussion confirming that the charters had been reviewed by multiple committees and incorporated feedback from task force co-chairs, Chair Buchanan moved for recommendation of the substitute charters. The motion passed 2-1, with Council Members Buchanan and Scanlon voting in favor and Council Member Byrd abstaining. ## Looking Forward The meeting concluded at 11:55 a.m., five minutes ahead of schedule, but not before establishing clear themes for the work ahead. The Superior Court Clerk's Office faces the dual challenge of managing increasing caseloads while preparing for a potential deluge of water adjudication filings. The success of the Conflict Office provides a model for cost-effective service delivery, even as changing caseload standards create new pressures. The Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force enters its second decade with renewed focus and ambitious goals for the justice project implementation. As Flaherty noted, they're holding "a 10-year arc of transformation" steady while working to "keep the vision alive, and to work moving forward, keep that work moving forward always, and keep the public involved and getting their voices and then reporting back out and having that feedback loop always." The challenges are significant—funding uncertainties, federal policy changes, increasing caseloads, and the complexity of coordinating multiple stakeholders—but the meeting conveyed a sense of pragmatic optimism. Systems that took years to build are showing results, new approaches are proving their worth, and the collaborative infrastructure appears robust enough to navigate the uncertainties ahead. With the justice project implementation moving forward and the task force realigned for maximum impact, Whatcom County's criminal justice system appears positioned for the kind of transformation that other communities are calling to learn about. The foundation has been laid; now comes the work of building upon it.

### Meeting Overview The Whatcom County Council's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee met on July 8, 2025, to receive annual reports from the Superior Court Clerk's Office and the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force, and to review Justice Project stakeholder group charters. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Water Adjudication:** A legal process where the court determines water rights for approximately 38,000 claims in Whatcom County - potentially the largest such case in Washington state history, requiring specialized court staff and procedures. **Conflict Office:** A new county department with three attorneys that handles criminal defense cases when the main Public Defender's Office has conflicts of interest, saving significant money by keeping cases in-house rather than hiring expensive outside counsel. **Caseload Standards:** State-mandated limits on how many cases public defense attorneys can handle annually, with recent reductions meaning fewer cases per attorney and potential need for more staff. **Court Facilitators:** Non-attorney staff who help people navigate court processes for things like divorces, guardianships, and protection orders without requiring full legal representation. **IPRTF (Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force):** A collaborative advisory body bringing together all criminal justice stakeholders to coordinate reforms and plan the new jail and behavioral care center. **Diversion Programs:** Alternatives to traditional prosecution and incarceration, like LEAD, GRACE, Recovery Court, and Mental Health Court, designed to address underlying issues rather than just punish. **Involuntary Treatment Act (ITA):** The law governing when people can be held for mental health treatment, requiring court hearings within 48 hours and legal representation. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Raylene King | Superior Court Clerk | | Ryan Swinburne | Senior Attorney, Conflict Office | | Heather Flaherty | IPRTF Co-Chair | | Peter Frazier | IPRTF Co-Chair | | Barry Buchanan | Committee Chair, Council Member | | Tyler Byrd | Council Member | | Jon Scanlon | Council Member | ### Background Context The Superior Court Clerk's Office is experiencing unprecedented growth due to the massive water rights adjudication case affecting virtually every property owner in the county. Meanwhile, state-imposed reductions in attorney caseload standards are creating budget pressures across the criminal justice system. The county is simultaneously planning a new jail and behavioral care center while trying to expand diversion programs that keep people out of the system entirely. These interconnected challenges require careful coordination between multiple agencies and careful attention to funding, especially with potential federal Medicaid cuts looming. ### What Happened — The Short Version Clerk Raylene King reported that her office is handling increased caseloads across all case types, with the water adjudication potentially bringing 38,000 new civil cases. The new Conflict Office has successfully saved money by handling serious felony cases in-house rather than hiring expensive outside counsel. IPRTF co-chairs presented their annual report showing progress on three key priorities: planning the new jail and behavioral care center, strengthening diversion programs, and developing better data systems to measure what works. The committee recommended approval of Justice Project stakeholder group charters that had been revised based on previous council feedback. ### What to Watch Next • Four more water adjudication public forums coming up before the May 2026 filing deadline • IPRTF will present budget recommendations to council for mid-biennium review • Potential budget supplemental request for additional court staff to handle water adjudication • Planning continues for new jail and behavioral care center design and operations ---

**Q:** How many attorneys work in the new Conflict Office? **A:** Three attorneys plus one legal assistant, representing a significant expansion from zero in 2023. **Q:** What percentage of Class A felonies were handled in-house by the Conflict Office in 2025? **A:** Almost 90%, compared to 0% in 2023 when all went to expensive outside counsel. **Q:** How many water adjudication claims could potentially be filed with the court? **A:** 38,000 claims, making this potentially larger than Pierce County's entire annual civil caseload. **Q:** What is the deadline for water adjudication filings? **A:** May 2026, creating potential for a "tidal wave" of filings as the deadline approaches. **Q:** How many people attended the first two water adjudication public forums? **A:** About 170 people, many unrepresented and needing help with calculations and filing procedures. **Q:** What does ITA stand for and why does it matter for courts? **A:** Involuntary Treatment Act - requires court hearings within 48 hours when someone is committed for mental health treatment. **Q:** How much did the county get reimbursed for overtime during a court system outage? **A:** About $17,000 from the Administrative Office of Courts for the November outage. **Q:** What are the IPRTF's three main priorities for 2025? **A:** Smart jail and behavioral care center design, strengthening diversion programs, and developing measurement systems. **Q:** How many protection orders is the Clerk's Office processing daily? **A:** About 4-5 per day, with laws changed in 2022 to make filing easier for victims. **Q:** What security improvement is happening July 12th? **A:** Security screening installation, coming in at $23,000 under the approved $50,000 budget. **Q:** Who provides domestic violence support services in the courthouse? **A:** Marvin Barkone from the Domestic Violence Commission, stationed adjacent to the Clerk's Office five days a week. **Q:** How does Whatcom County's clerk staffing compare to similar counties? **A:** 26 full-time clerks versus 39 in Kitsap County and 25 in smaller Cowlitz County. **Q:** What is the current vacancy situation in the Clerk's Office? **A:** One vacancy with 59 applications, after a Spanish-speaking clerk transferred to the Conflict Office. **Q:** How much revenue did the state archives partnership generate in June? **A:** About $500 without advertising, for providing online access to court documents from 2005 forward. **Q:** What does the committee mean by "true diversion"? **A:** Programs that keep people out of the legal system entirely, rather than just sending them down a different court path. **Q:** How long does it take to train a new court clerk? **A:** Approximately six months to one year, with each type of hearing requiring specialized training. **Q:** What major federal funding concern was raised? **A:** Potential loss of Medicaid dollars that help fund programs like the Ann Deacon Center. **Q:** Who will present budget recommendations to council? **A:** IPRTF plans to provide recommendations for both mid-biennium review and next biennial budget. **Q:** What was the committee's vote on the Justice Project charters? **A:** 2-0 approval with 1 abstention (Buchanan and Scanlon yes, Byrd abstained). **Q:** How many committees have reviewed the Justice Project charters? **A:** Three committees: Finance, J-POP, and the IPRTF have all provided input. ---