# A Progress Report on Promise: Whatcom County's Healthy Children's Fund Shows Marked Improvement The scene in Whatcom County Council chambers on Tuesday morning, March 25th, was notably different from the tense atmosphere that had characterized previous discussions about the Healthy Children's Fund. Where once there had been sharp criticism and frustrated exchanges, this Public Works and Health Committee meeting carried an air of cautious optimism and genuine appreciation. ## Meeting Overview Committee Chair Jon Scanlon called the 30-minute session to order at 11:15 a.m., with committee members Mark Stremler and Ben Elenbaas joining virtually. Council members Kaylee Galloway, Barry Buchanan, and Todd Donovan also attended, signaling the continued high interest in this significant county initiative. The sole agenda item was a presentation from the Child and Family Well-Being Task Force regarding their 2025 Healthy Children's Fund Report Card—the second annual assessment of how the county has managed the voter-approved tax dedicated to improving childcare and early learning. The contrast with the previous year's presentation was immediately apparent. Task force co-chairs Colton Kaltenfeldt and Sallye Quinn began by expressing "very grateful" appreciation for the health department's work, a stark departure from the pointed criticisms that had dominated earlier reports. As Quinn noted, "We are very grateful for the work that the health department has done over the course of the year." ## Celebrating Real Progress in Contract Development The most significant transformation has occurred in the area that drew the harshest criticism last year: contract development processes. Quinn praised the health department's comprehensive approach, suggesting it "could probably be a model for other county departments that have similar contracting." The observation reflects a fundamental shift in how the county approaches innovative social programs versus traditional infrastructure projects. "Someone coming in for an RFP for an innovative project with the Healthy Children's Fund is the same as maybe someone doing a road construction and they're very different," Quinn explained, "and the ability to know what to do from one group to the other is pretty different." The county has responded by creating detailed guidance materials, including what Kaltenfeldt described as a "schoolhouse style rock explainer" that walks potential contractors through the entire process from project concept to signed contract. The task force highlighted concrete improvements in timeline management. The county has established a 90-day target from RFP development to fully executed contract, and according to the report, they've been "relatively good at hitting that mark." This represents a significant improvement from earlier periods when nonprofits faced uncertain timelines and unclear expectations. ## Persistent Challenges: The Gift of Public Funds Doctrine Despite the overall positive trajectory, the task force identified ongoing concerns, particularly around what they termed "roadblocks" still impacting implementation. Chief among these is the Gift of Public Funds Doctrine, a constitutional principle that restricts how government entities can distribute taxpayer money. Kaltenfeldt acknowledged the challenge of assessing this issue: "We don't know what we don't know because of course we can't have access to the finance or legal [departments] that might say, oh, yeah, we think this is the problem." The task force has heard about potential barriers but lacks visibility into specific cases where this doctrine might be preventing programs from moving forward. The discussion took an interesting turn when Quinn disclosed a potential conflict of interest—her husband is Christopher Quinn, the county's chief civil attorney. "I probably have a conflict because my husband sitting over there is the chief civil [attorney] and he was mentioned in this," she said with characteristic directness, adding that even at home, conversations about gift of public funds are "incredibly boring and we love it." The community foundation and Checking on Health had brought former Washington State Solicitor General Noah Purcell to Whatcom County for a presentation on this topic. Task force members described the session as "such an informative presentation" that provided clarity not just for the Healthy Children's Fund but for county operations more broadly. ## Communication and Transparency Improvements The task force noted meaningful progress in communication, particularly between the health department and the task force itself. However, they identified ongoing needs for better public communication about the fund's impact and clearer expectations for potential contractors. Kaltenfeldt emphasized that while the county has made strides in hitting timeline targets, "nonprofit providers might not have been fully apprised at the full actual length of that process." The 90-day timeline, while reasonable, can catch organizations off-guard if they're expecting a quicker turnaround. More fundamentally, the task force expressed concern that "the community at large is still relatively unsure about how this fund is being spent and sort of what the impact of the community is." They pushed for the health department to be "really strategic and really thoughtful about how they're communicating to the public" and to meet people where they're at in terms of understanding and engagement. "We can do good work all day long, but if citizens don't know that it's happening, there's always going to be an element of unsureness about where the fund's going," Kaltenfeldt observed. ## External Evaluation and Administrative Flexibility The task force emphasized the importance of maintaining rigorous external evaluation of the fund's impact, separate from the health department's internal assessments. They want to ensure this external evaluation is conducted by an independent group and adequately funded to provide the technical rigor needed for such an important community investment. On the administrative side, the task force proposed a creative solution to capacity constraints affecting other county departments. They suggested that unused administrative funds from the Healthy Children's Fund budget could potentially support other departments—finance, legal, HR—that create bottlenecks in contract implementation. "It's other departments and bottlenecks at other places in the county that are sometimes delaying the implementation of programming and there's nothing that the health department can do about it," Quinn explained. However, she acknowledged that current staffing challenges in both health and finance departments suggest that "throwing money at the problem isn't the answer if you can't get the people." ## Recommendations for Streamlined Contracting The task force made several specific recommendations to further improve the contracting process. Most significantly, they proposed that draft contracts be available when RFPs are published, rather than being developed only after a contractor is selected. "Right now, because of some of the capacity constraints on the finance and the legal department, it's not always possible to have a draft of that contract ready when the RFP is published," Kaltenfeldt noted. This creates "11th hour surprises" when selected contractors see contract terms for the first time. Quinn drew a comparison to traditional county contracting: "If you get contracted to build a road for the county, I think you know what the contract is when you submit your bid. So it'd be great if that was already in place." The task force also suggested expanded provisional approval authority for contracts within set limits, acknowledging that the council's monthly meeting schedule creates inherent delays. "It's just a reality that we can only meet once a month, right?" Quinn said, though she quickly added with humor, "We don't want the legislative body to stop having so much control over these contracts. We're kidding, really." ## Legal Perspective: No Current Barriers The discussion took a significant turn when Christopher Quinn, the county's prosecuting attorney, approached the microphone to address the gift of public funds concerns directly. His intervention was both defensive of county staff and clarifying about current legal barriers. "I represent the most incredible people in our health and community services department," Quinn began. "I can't tell you how hard these folks work on behalf of the community." He then posed a direct challenge to the perceived barriers: "We should be asking the question, what programs are being held up and what contracts are they suggesting aren't being funded?" Quinn emphasized that his office hadn't rejected contracts based on gift of public funds concerns: "I don't know if we've had any contracts that were rejected on that issue." He suggested that perceived barriers might exist more in people's minds than in actual legal constraints. "Please, council members, ask the question, what is being held up? What suggested programs or funding opportunities are being quashed by the county? Because I suggest to you, we are doing everything we can to honor the ordinance that says, basically we'll get this money out to increase child care in our community." ## Council Response and Future Directions Committee Chair Scanlon responded positively to Quinn's challenge, noting that he had raised exactly that question with the task force the day before. He referenced the solicitor general's presentation, particularly the observation that barriers are sometimes "almost like an internal barrier in someone's head" where government workers assume restrictions that don't actually exist. "I don't want us to be ourselves blocking progress on this just with how we're thinking about this," Scanlon said. "I agree with you, Chris. We should ask the questions, right, about, can we do this? Can we not do this? Where's the barrier here?" Council member Todd Donovan, attending virtually, sought clarification about whether gift of public funds issues had been resolved. The consensus from both the prosecuting attorney's office and the executive's office was that while the doctrine remains a consideration, it's not currently creating barriers to contract implementation. Kayla Schott-Bresler from the executive's office reinforced this perspective: "I think we are finding ways to move the work forward. The health department is doing really great work to develop programs to meet childcare quality standards to improve affordability and to help all kids in Whatcom County be ready for kindergarten." ## A Revealing Historical Question Council member Stremler raised a question that provided insight into earlier challenges with the fund. He recalled that in a previous meeting, a former health department director had been asked whether the program was "even legally implementable in the beginning" and had answered "no." Christopher Quinn addressed this directly from a legal perspective: "There's an ordinance in place that authorizes the collection of taxes and dollars can be used for certain expenditures... that's the base presumed to be a constitutional law at this time, hasn't been found otherwise." The exchange highlighted the evolution of understanding around the fund's legal framework and suggested that early implementation challenges may have stemmed from uncertainty about the program's legal foundation rather than actual legal barriers. ## Current Focus: Wage Support Challenges The discussion revealed that current gift of public funds considerations center primarily around wage boost programs for childcare workers. Sarah Simpson from Child and Family Services Programs explained that they're "having some really fruitful discussions right now at the executive's office around how we can use the rate augmentation to help raise the wages of child care workers in Whatcom County." The county is developing a combined RFP for subsidy and rate augmentation programs, scheduled to go out in the second quarter of 2025 with a six-week response period. The program would launch by late summer or early fall, potentially addressing wage concerns through rate augmentation rather than direct wage supplements. ## Council Recognition and Appreciation Council member Galloway offered effusive praise for the task force's work, particularly highlighting their report as a "road map" that made complex processes "digestible and understandable." She extended appreciation to county staff: "You are the ones that make glowing recommendations like this possible." The tone of appreciation was echoed throughout the meeting, with task force members repeatedly acknowledging the health department's responsiveness and dedication. This represented a dramatic shift from the critical tone that had characterized earlier assessments. ## Looking Forward As the meeting concluded, the overall sense was one of a program that had weathered its early implementation challenges and was finding its rhythm. The task force had evolved from harsh critics to constructive partners, while maintaining their role as "squeaky wheel" advocates for continuous improvement. The 30-minute session ended at 11:45 a.m. as scheduled, with Council member Elenbaas joining virtually at the last moment to note that his car's temperature gauge had just climbed above 60 degrees—a small reminder of the early spring weather and the seasonal optimism that seemed to characterize the entire discussion. The transformation evident in this meeting—from criticism to collaboration, from barriers to solutions, from frustration to appreciation—suggests that Whatcom County's ambitious experiment in expanding childcare access may be finding sustainable ground. While challenges remain, particularly around wage support and public communication, the foundation for effective implementation appears to be solidly in place. For a program that faced significant skepticism in its early months, the 2025 report card represents not just improved grades, but evidence that responsive government, persistent advocacy, and collaborative problem-solving can overcome initial implementation hurdles to serve the community's children and families.