Street tenant improvement designs, and Public Defender tenant
improvement design), and specific projects that have been completed or are
underway (including the fifth superior courtroom and the I.T. move to 400
North Commercial Street, other courthouse office improvements, and the
courthouse exterior).
He answered what the timing is for occupancy of new Sherriff's office and
the 32nd Street building (Planning), and stated they had to use outside
architects and the process took longer than expected. He spoke about
potentially having a phased approach to occupancy for the Sheriff, and what
still needs to be done for the 32nd Street building. The latter could be done
by the end of the year.
This agenda item was REPORTED.
Committee Discussion
1.
Discussion of an ordinance to establish a Ferry District to fund and manage the Lummi
Island Ferry System
Elizabeth Kosa, Public Works Department Director, read from a
presentation (on file) about an overview of the ferry system, the County’s
legal obligation to maintain ferry service, ferry fund revenue sources, that
the Road Fund cannot sustain payments to the ferry system or afford new
infrastructure debt service payments, benefits of county roads to all county
residents, the health status of the Road and Ferry Funds, other options if
they do not establish a ferry district, what the revenue from a county-wide
ferry district tax could pay for, the two-step process being proposed today
(form the ferry district and governing body first, then set the levy rate), a
timeline for the two steps, consequences if no action is taken, and next
action steps (approval of district formation, work sessions, setting a levy
rate, updating governing code, and preparing to borrow for the bond).
Kosa and Roland Middleton, Public Works Department, discussed with
councilmembers that the ordinance is proposing that the councilmembers
and county executive would be the board of supervisors of the district
(similar to the Flood Control Zone District), that the Revised Code of
Washington (RCW) states that the legislative body is essentially the board
of supervisors and that the executive was also added to the proposed code
for administrative action, that the executive does not have a vote or veto
authority and the duties of the council and executive would be apportioned
according to the Whatcom County Charter, that there are specific State laws
for the advisory committee which reports to the board of supervisors, that
the RCW allows for the tax to be county-wide and this would be an
additional amount layered on top of the Road Fund tax for the
unincorporated county, that having a ferry district will put back levels of
service that are desperately needed and protect those in the future, that the
hope is that ferry expenses coming out of the Road Fund would be paid out
