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Previous Notice is intended for citizens in Whatcom County and Bellingham who are plugged into local events, but may be too busy to take the time to read the entire agenda of the City of Bellingham and the Whatcom County governments.... and is presented in the spirit of public service.
Since the Bellingham City Council will be meeting sooner than the County Council, we shall be begin with the City of Bellingham today.
On January 10, 2011, the City Council will hold a regular meeting at City Hall.
The following public business is scheduled.
The Mayor will be delivering his State of the City Address. The address is expected to require about twenty five minutes.
The following items are not slated for final action. Since the City isn't preparing to make a final decision on the matter on the 10th, you still have opportunity to offer comment to the City even if you are unable to attend this meeting.
Agenda bill 19072.
This item is currently referred to the Lake Whatcom Reservoir and Natural Resources Committee. City Staff will be updating the City Council on Lake Whatcom. This is expected to require about twenty minutes.
Agenda bill 19073.
This item is currently referred to the Parks and Recreation Committee. It concerns the Over Water Walkway that connects to Boulevard Park. This agenda bill is an information only item, so the City is not being asked to take any official action. The item recommends a request for concurrence from the FHWA, which is the Federal Highway Administration.
Remember, the City is not scheduled to take action on the items mentioned, so Bellingham residents still have opportunity to be heard on these matters even if they are unable to attend the next meeting.
It is time to describe items that are slated for final consideration at the next City Council meeting.
The City is preparing to make a final decision on the the following matters, so if these items are of interest to you and you wish to be heard on them, you are urged to attend this meeting on Monday, January 10th.
Agenda bill 18995.
This agenda bill if passed into law will have the following effects...
- It will require retailers who sell fertilizer to provide signage and literature notifying customers of prohibited uses of phosphorus fertilizers, mulches, and soil amendments in the Lake Whatcom Watershed.
- It will extend the ban on lawns in the watershed to include all gardening and horticultural applications.
- It will extend the ban on phosphorus use to commercial properties within the Lake watershed.
- Finally, it will repeal the exemption to the phosphorus ban currently in place for lawns during the first growing season.
Agenda bill 19055.
This agenda bill if passed into law, the volume rates that the city charges for untreated industrial water will remain unchanged from 2010.
The current rate for untreated industrial water is seven cents for one unit of water. The unit of water used by the City of Bellingham is one hundred cubic feet of water, which is about seven hundred and fifty gallons.
If an industrial customer uses more than of two hundred and ninety six thousand units of water per month, the rate for that extra water goes up from seven cents to just over seventy five cents per unit. An industrial customer would have to use over two hundred and twenty one million gallons of water a month before being subject to such a rate increase.
The full text of this bill is available online at the City of Bellingham's website.
Remember, The City is preparing to make a final decision on the the following matters, so if these items are of interest to you and you wish to be heard on them, you are urged to attend this meeting on Monday, January 10th.
On January 11, 2011, the Whatcom County Council will hold a regular meeting at the County Courthouse.
First the introduction items.
The following items are not slated for action or even discussion during the next County Council meeting. Since the County isn't preparing to make a final decision on the matter on the 11th, you still have opportunity to offer comment to the County even if you are unable to attend this meeting.
Agenda bill 2011-054.
This item is intended to amend the county zoning ordinances to allow drive through service in areas zoned for Urban Residential Mixed Use and in areas zoned for Recreational Commercial uses.
Agenda bill 2011-055.
This item is in the hands of the Finance Committee, and amends the County's two thousand eleven budget to the tune of about forty six thousand dollars.
Remember, these items are not slated for action or even discussion during the next County Council meeting. Since the County isn't preparing to make a final decision on the matter on the 11th, you still have opportunity to offer comment to the County even if you are unable to attend this meeting.
Details of these agenda bills is currently available online at the County's website.
The following items are slated for action during the next County Council meeting, so if these items are of interest to you and you wish to be heard on them, you are urged to attend this meeting on Tuesday, January 11th.
Most of the items are resolutions, which are not subject to Executive veto and generally don't need a public hearing. There are no public hearings scheduled for the January 11, 2010 County Council meeting, which is unusual for the County Council. Any County citizens who wish to speak on these matters will have to do so during Open session.
What makes this County Council meeting even more unusual is the lack of "consent items", which are items that are eligible to be voted upon as a group as a matter of routine, and which are expected to be passed by unanimous consent by the County Council.
Since there are so many items, and none are slated for a public hearing, they will be mentioned briefly here without reference to the Agenda Bill Items.
- An application for a boating facilities program for Lighthouse Marine Park.
- A request to enter into a contract with the Bellingham Food Bank.
- A request to enter into a contract with the Whatcom Volunteer Center.
- A request to enter into a contract with members of the local legal community for conflict attorney services.
- A request to enter into a contract with members of the local legal community for conflict indigent defense services.
- A request to amend a memorandum of agreement with Washington State University for cost-sharing on the WSU extension.
- A request to enter into a contract with Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services for support and representation.
- A request to enter into a contract to advertise the next Sea to Ski event.
- A request to enter into a grant agreement between Whatcom County and the Washington State Department of Ecology for the purpose of establishing a loan program for the replacement of failing county septic systems.
- A Request to enter into a cooperative plan between the Sheriff’s Office and the USDA Forest Service for the provision of a Deputy Sheriff to patrol the Mount Baker-Snoqualimie National Forest
- A request to enter into a contract with the Mt. Baker Foothills Chamber of Commerce to provide funding for chamber operations and tourism promotion of the Mt. Baker corridor
- A request to enter into a contract with the Northwest Regional Council Boundary Review Board for support of the Boundary Review Board
- A request to enter into a contract with the Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center for the administration of mandatory family law mediation
- A request to enter into a contract with the Catholic Community Services for the coordination of court-ordered supervised visitation
- A request to enter into a contract with the Opportunity Council for operation of the Whatcom County Homeless Service Center
- A request for approval of the Economic Development Investment Board’s recommendations for EDI funding
- And then the Council will deal with annual appointments to boards commissions and committees.
- There is confirmation of the County Executive’s appointments and re-appointments of members to serve on various boards, commissions, and committees.
- There are Annual County Council appointments to fill vacancies on various boards, commissions, and committees
- There are also appointments to fill vacancies on various boards, commissions, and committees on the Whatcom County Flood Control Zone District, which is the County Council wearing a different decision making hat.
The details of this long long list of items is available on the County Website.
Remember, These items are slated for action during the next County Council meeting, so if these items are of interest to you and you wish to be heard on them, you are urged to attend this meeting on Tuesday, January 11th.
That's all for Previous Notice on January 8, 2011.
Awesome! Great job and thank you very much
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