### Meeting Overview The Whatcom County Council held a special Committee of the Whole session on April 22, 2025, beginning at 1:02 PM in hybrid format. The meeting focused on two main items: establishing council member priorities and discussing a proposed pre-hire agreement ordinance for county construction projects. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Committee of the Whole:** All seven council members meeting together to discuss policy matters, with no formal voting authority except on procedural items. **Justice Project:** The county's planned jail and sheriff's office facilities, representing a major capital investment requiring bond authorization and ongoing budget decisions. **Pre-Hire Agreement:** A proposed policy framework requiring contractors on large county projects to meet certain hiring standards, including priority for local, veteran, minority, and women workers. **Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA):** State law requiring government meetings to be public, which the county applies to its three-member committees, creating scheduling and coordination challenges. **Community Coalition:** A proposed stakeholder group that would provide input on community benefits for major construction projects under the pre-hire agreement ordinance. **Progressive Design Build:** A procurement method used for the jail project where the county selects a contractor early in the design phase rather than after design completion. **STV:** The county's owner's representative consultant managing the Justice Project planning and communications. **IPRTF:** The Incarceration Prevention and Reentry Task Force, which provides policy input on jail-related decisions. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Kaylee Galloway | Council Chair, District 2 | | Barry Buchanan | Council Member, District 1 | | Tyler Byrd | Council Member, District 3 | | Todd Donovan | Council Member, District 4 | | Ben Elenbaas | Council Member, District 5 | | Jon Scanlon | Council Member, District 6 | | Mark Stremler | Council Member, District 7 | | Satpal Sidhu | County Executive | | Kayla Schott-Bresler | Deputy Executive | | Aly Pennucci | Deputy Executive | | Chris Quinn | Chief Civil Deputy, Prosecutor's Office | | Rob Ney | Facilities Project Manager | | Cathy Halka | Clerk of the Council | ### Background Context This meeting came after months of discussion about county priorities and a controversial pre-hire agreement ordinance. Council members have been struggling with coordination challenges due to open meeting requirements for three-member committees, making it difficult to collaborate efficiently on policy development. The county faces significant revenue challenges while planning major capital projects including the Justice Project and potentially a new sheriff's office. The pre-hire ordinance has generated substantial community feedback, both supportive and critical, requiring the sponsors to revise their approach based on stakeholder input. ### What Happened — The Short Version Council members discussed their individual and shared priorities for 2025, with most identifying the sheriff's office and justice project as top concerns. They formed three work groups: Elenbaas, Stremler and Buchanan for justice project coordination; Donovan, Elenbaas and Scanlon for comprehensive plan issues; and Galloway and Byrd for budget prioritization. The council voted 7-0 to direct staff to explore changing the Open Public Meetings Act requirements for three-member committees, and 4-3 to route all housing issues through Committee of the Whole for the remainder of 2025. Chair Galloway then presented a revised draft of the pre-hire agreement ordinance, explaining changes made based on community feedback, including raising the threshold to $15 million and clarifying that labor union participation is not required. ### What to Watch Next • Legal review of proposed OPMA changes for three-member committees • Presentations from contractor associations and other stakeholders on the pre-hire ordinance at the next council meeting • Development of work group recommendations on justice project priorities and coordination • Upcoming policy discussion on jail capacity in late summer 2025 ---

**Q:** What was the main threshold change in the revised pre-hire agreement ordinance? **A:** The project cost threshold was raised from $5 million to $15 million based on community feedback. **Q:** Which three council members volunteered for the justice project work group? **A:** Ben Elenbaas, Mark Stremler, and Barry Buchanan. **Q:** What vote was required to change OPMA policy for three-member committees? **A:** The motion passed 7-0 to have staff work with the Prosecutor's Office on code changes. **Q:** What percentage of labor hours would be targeted for priority workers under the pre-hire ordinance? **A:** 50% of labor hours would be performed by priority hire workers including minorities, women, veterans, and local/regional workers. **Q:** How did the housing routing motion vote turn out? **A:** It passed 4-3 to route housing items through Committee of the Whole for the remainder of 2025. **Q:** Who represents the county on the Justice Project as owner's representative? **A:** STV is the county's owner's representative managing communications and coordination for the Justice Project. **Q:** What was Executive Sidhu's main concern about county finances? **A:** Limited revenue options with only sales tax and property tax available, requiring growth that takes 5-7 years to develop. **Q:** What does "DLR" refer to in the context of sheriff's office planning? **A:** DLR is the construction company that did extensive planning work for sheriff's office facilities in 2016-17. **Q:** When will the major jail capacity policy discussion occur? **A:** Late summer 2025, according to Deputy Executive Schott-Bresler. **Q:** What federal courtroom option did Stremler suggest exploring? **A:** The federal courtroom in the downtown federal building, now owned by the City of Bellingham and currently used for storage. **Q:** What does IPRTF stand for? **A:** Incarceration Prevention and Reentry Task Force, which provides policy input on jail decisions. **Q:** Who defines local workers under the revised pre-hire ordinance? **A:** Local workers are residents of Whatcom County, while regional workers include Skagit, San Juan, and Island counties. **Q:** What prompted Council member Elenbaas to prioritize sheriff's office co-location? **A:** He believes it's imperative for functional longevity and job execution that the sheriff's department be co-located with the jail. **Q:** How many special Committee of the Whole meetings were proposed for 2025? **A:** 4-6 additional meetings, potentially scheduled around Health Board meeting days. **Q:** What legal exemption allows priority hiring in construction? **A:** An exemption in the National Labor Relations Act that allows priority hiring but requires a pre-hire agreement. **Q:** What was Tyler Byrd's main criticism of the pre-hire ordinance? **A:** That it includes redundancies with existing laws and doesn't actually require local hires, while adding bureaucracy and cost. **Q:** What coordination mechanism was proposed for future county projects? **A:** Annual events to review upcoming public works projects and coordinate with local contractors and workforce. **Q:** When will departments need to complete their service inventory analysis? **A:** Early June 2025, according to Deputy Executive Pennucci. **Q:** What building standard does the pre-hire ordinance reference? **A:** LEED Silver standards for sustainable building, consistent with county climate action commitments. **Q:** What was the emergency clause provision in the pre-hire ordinance? **A:** It allows the executive to waive the entire chapter during local, state, or federally declared emergencies. ---