### 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 ---