[0:00] Good afternoon. I would like to call the order. This walk in county council, public works in health committee meeting. Today is Tuesday, August 11. It is now 1 o'clock PM and we're meeting in a hybrid format. Could the clerk please call the roll.

[0:12] Elizabeth Boyle. Here. Here if you can't in.

[0:17] Ben Ellen Moss.

[0:20] President.

[0:21] Gaila Galloway here.

[0:23] Jessica Reenstra.

[0:24] Here.

[0:25] John Scanlan.

[0:29] Mark Stremler.

[0:30] Here.

[0:32] Let the record show the all council members are present with John coming around the coroner.

[0:38] Council member Scanlan was coming soon.

[0:42] We have a full meeting today, so we'll jump right into it.

[0:46] On today's agenda, the first item is a special presentation AB 2026-607

[0:52] and update from the public works department from the river and flood division.

[0:57] I think we have Gary and Julie both here.

[1:00] And we have about 30 minutes, I believe, allocated for this piece.

[1:03] Thank you both so much.

[1:04] I know this is a very important conversation that we've all been waiting for.

[1:07] Yes, it is.

[1:08] we can could hear me, right? Yes. Okay. Like you said, I'm Julie Anderson, Reverend Flood Manager,

[1:14] and Gary is also here with me to discuss what we've been up to and kind of given a broad update

[1:21] about all Reverend Flood activities, particularly the planning activities that we've been up.

[1:29] Oh, is this better? Okay. So I will jump right into it. We wanted to start off by giving an update

[1:36] on the flood repairs. Hold on. There we go. We had after the 25 flood. We had another flood, the

[1:48] mini flood. I would say in January, truck road was already in jeopardy. I would say after the 25

[1:56] flood. And so in 2021, our stop. And so the miniature flood started to put our work in danger.

[2:05] So the project changed and we ended up doing a different project, the little bigger project, so that is something that's complete and we are on schedule for like finishing up the pending, like the final permits and permit conditions because it was an after the fact permit.

[2:25] We have three levy repairs that are being done by the Army Corps this year.

[2:29] Han again, Billsma and Ritter Road.

[2:32] There are no schedules yet, but they anticipate construction starting like late August.

[2:38] And then the levy inspections and other minor repairs are being finished up and plantings are being done.

[2:44] So that should be all wrapped up.

[2:48] We have ongoing flood capital projects that many of you have heard about, maybe some of our newer members haven't, so I'm just going to run through them and kind of give a brief explanation.

[3:01] The Ferndale Levy Improvement Project, with initiated in 2020, they are right now, it's a two-phase project, and they're at 90% design on the first phase.

[3:13] It's currently implementing, they've still got right-of-way negotiations and utility coordination to work out and they're hopeful for 2027 construction of that first phase.

[3:24] Glacier Gallup Aluvial Fan Restoration is undergoing a feasibility study and selection of a preferred alternative.

[3:33] They anticipate that to be completed by the end of this year.

[3:36] And we'll go out to bid for design work next year, aiming for 60% design next year.

[3:42] And construction would be anticipated 2030 to 2031 dependent on wash dots bridge project that they're replacing.

[3:51] Abbott-Levy Improvement Project is, the first phase is complete. Phase 2 is kind of

[3:58] in put on hold since the 21 flood and the widen the corridor concept is now starting

[4:04] to be the bigger focus. This project will probably work its way in once that's more

[4:15] It's at 60% design right now, permanent applications have been submitted and we're hopeful for 2027 construction.

[4:24] That's going to be dependent on funding because right now we have it budgeted as 100% FCCD.

[4:33] Then fish camp integrated fish blood project, this is an integrated project with an

[4:38] exact tribe, it's a restoration project primarily, but the county is involved in the

[4:46] blood components and right now those are still up in the air, but they are at 60%

[4:52] designed for phase one and concept level for phase two. And we don't know about construction,

[4:58] and it's pending there.

[5:00] Permitting timeframe. Hudson Road Bridge Replacement, the temporary project was done two years ago, I believe, and they have a consultant that is going to recommend a preferred alternative by the end of this year for a permanent solution.

[5:18] Pull under Levy Repair, there was Levy Seapage in 2021 and in 2025.

[5:25] We started the in-house design for this project and we're currently at concept design.

[5:30] We anticipate construction in 2027.

[5:34] And the Everson-Nooksack flood mitigation berms were in preliminary engineering right now.

[5:41] And we anticipate the feasibility analysis and concept design by the end of this year.

[5:47] So that's a rundown of projects and I know that was a lot, so if you have questions about that, we can stop a second.

[5:53] Any council members have questions at this moment?

[6:00] Uh, could you tell us about the Dolberg site?

[6:03] I'm, that is one I'm not familiar with.

[6:06] Well, I too have not been there, but I know that it, this was purchased in 2019 and they demolished the home that we're building that was on there in 2020.

[6:16] and they conducted groundwater monitoring from 2021 to 2024 to determine whether it is indeed

[6:23] a wetland and the contract with the consultant was executed last year to begin the design work

[6:30] and that sort of thing. And that's what I know. So if you want more detail, I can get that for you.

[6:42] Okay,

[6:46] on to funding.

[6:47] This is where Riveran Flood gets to brag a little bit.

[6:51] We're very good at going out and getting funding for our projects.

[6:56] Our current grants are amounting to 69 million right now that's in house.

[7:01] There are three floodplains by design grants.

[7:05] A amounting to about 30 million.

[7:07] We have the Proviso Grant that funds technical work out reach and coordination, flip work,

[7:15] working to gain consensus to move forward on the widen the corridor.

[7:19] That's kind of the purpose of that.

[7:22] And then we've got four female HMGP grants, which you've heard me talk about many times,

[7:27] two elevation grants and two acquisition grants, those amount to about 19 million.

[7:32] We've got two CDBG grants.

[7:36] One is a match grant that matches up with the HMGP grants, so it pays the 5% match for those two grants.

[7:46] And then the CDBG resiliency planning grant includes two tasks.

[7:51] One is the preliminary engineering for the Everson Nixack Burms and the others for the city of CMS flood mitigation planning and then we have some FEMA public assistance funding for this recent December flood almost a quarter million and finally and last but not least the 13 million dollar legislative proviso that was announced earlier this year.

[8:18] So, that's what we have in house, then we've got applications out for funding,

[8:24] amounting to roughly 30 million.

[8:26] Again, flood planes by design, which is our bread and butter.

[8:30] FEMA FMA acquisition grant and the 2027 legislative capital budget request.

[8:38] And the FMA acquisition grant I'll just mention, I've looked at the application that was submitted by the state.

[8:46] Lockham County had seven properties on there out of 13, I think, so we had more than 50%.

[8:55] And then finally we're going to talk about capacity.

[9:01] Oh, wait. How do that skip? Where did it go? Oh, that's the last one. You're up next. Sorry.

[9:09] Just going to skip right on through. All right. Thanks. Good morning, Gary Stoica.

[9:15] Natural Resources Manager. I wanted to spend a couple of minutes to also tell you about some other things that are going on with the flood program, which are probably actually more of what you're interested in hearing about today.

[9:27] We continue to participate in the Nook-Sack Transmoundary Flood Initiative and for those that don't remember.

[9:36] That's an initiative. It was started after the 2021 floods by the Governor and the Premier of British Columbia to help us coordinate better across the border.

[9:44] The members include Washington, BC, Lockham County, City of Abbott'sford, both of our local tribes and three first nations north of the border.

[9:54] it's structured and we have three kind of levels. There's a leadership level.

[10:00] They call them tables, leadership table, a policy table and a technical table, which all are dealing

[10:06] with those exact items. Executive seduce sits on the leadership table, I said, on the policy table.

[10:13] And Paula Harris sits on the technical table. The primary goal here is to coordinate what we're

[10:19] doing on our side of the border, our collaborative planning, the flip process, with the process

[10:24] that they started after we started this initiative. And there's this called the Sumas river watershed

[10:29] flood mitigation planning initiative or SRWFMP as they say really quickly includes those same entities

[10:37] plus the city of Chilawak. A big development in this process is in June that SRWFMP group

[10:46] put out what they call the strategic concept plan of the things that they're looking to do north of the

[10:52] border and they caution that this is not a final design implementation plan and that it's not a decision

[10:59] tool for Wacom County quite yet, but it gives a good flavor of the things they're looking at

[11:04] north of the border. They're looking at levee setbacks, they're looking at buyouts, they're looking

[11:09] at building berms, building huge pump stations, doing a lot of habitat restoration. So if you're

[11:16] interested in seeing more of that, they've got a nice, real nice graphic that explains it all.

[11:21] I can provide that link to that site and you can take a look at that.

[11:29] I wanted to spend a few minutes to talk about flood communications and community engagement.

[11:35] You know, we've always had our annual flood communications after the 2021 floods.

[11:41] We kind of stepped up our game and started doing more communication.

[11:46] And then particularly after the 2025 flood, we tried to step up our game even more.

[11:52] So I feel like we're doing a lot better job on communication that we used to.

[11:56] but we also know that we've got room for improvement. There are a lot of people that I hear from

[12:00] that feel like that they don't know what's going on. So a few of the things that we've done recently

[12:06] to handle that is we've hired a consultant using some of the grant money we got that just was

[12:13] contracted this month and they're set to go. They're going to be active plant excuse me. They're

[12:20] to be working on all kinds of messaging.

[12:25] Messaging work for us, videos, websites, one-pagers,

[12:29] all kinds of things to help us get the information out about what we're doing with flood

[12:34] and preparedness. We've also increased our staff support. We've transferred a little bit of time

[12:42] from a person in our natural, primarily in our natural resources group, Jenny Baxter right here.

[12:47] So we've dedicated more of her time towards flood communications and getting just getting the

[12:53] word out more about what the issues are, what we're doing, what we're up to and what people

[12:58] can do to be prepared.

[13:00] A couple of things that we're starting this year is we're going to host a flood preparedness

[13:05] week, October 12th through the 19th, where we're going to be able to go out to tell people

[13:12] how to be best prepared for flood, what we're doing out there in the community, and where they can find resources.

[13:20] Another activity we're working on is planning a community event during that flood preparedness week.

[13:27] And it's an active planning we don't have a gender or anything yet, but we're looking at something where they'll be a presentation

[13:36] and then followed by an open house where people can ask questions.

[13:41] And we're looking to do a lot across agency collaboration, so we're hoping to have participation

[13:46] by the Department of Emergency Management.

[13:48] They can talk about what they do and how people can be ready as well as the welcome long-term

[13:54] recovery group so that they can be there to answer questions from people who are still going

[13:58] through recovery and might still need assistance.

[14:01] So, there'll be more information about that.

[14:05] We're going to do kind of a tiered approach.

[14:10] There'll be an executive proclamation.

[14:12] We will have some press releases and social media publication of that.

[14:17] So, look more for more from that in the coming weeks.

[14:25] Next up.

[14:28] Well, I know probably need to tell you guys, but I will just, in a nutshell, tell you what the big problem is, the big issues that we're dealing with in the Nuxac River Flood.

[14:37] You know, Paul Harris has been here over the years telling you all kinds of things.

[14:41] But the biggest, the big problem is, is we've got the Nuxac River produces a ton of sediment coming off the flanks of Mount Baker, and our historic river constraints, our levy system being really tight.

[14:53] That is caused the accumulation of a huge amount of sediment, particularly it ever

[14:58] sent, which is...

[15:00] Constricting the river and causing overflow at much lower levels. In addition to that, we've got climate change, which is leading to bigger and more frequent atmospheric river overflow events. So not only do we have the constriction in the river, the rain events are bigger, and then we have the historical noosec channel overflow is essentially the CMS river. That's just naturally where the noosec has been going for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

[15:27] And so when it gets overflows, that's where it heads.

[15:31] It just heads into that old channel.

[15:35] A bigger issue that's on the regulatory front,

[15:39] more so than the natural system,

[15:42] is the issue we have with the FEMA

[15:44] no rise permitting and mitigation requirements.

[15:48] And that is an issue that says,

[15:50] a FEMA regulation that says,

[15:52] you can't have any measurable rise in the river

[15:55] in the floodway and by measurable they mean 0.00 feet or you need to mitigate for that.

[16:04] So the reason that's a big issue is for instance all of this sediment that's accumulated in

[16:09] ever since if we go in there and try to remove that that's going to cause more water to go down

[16:14] stream which is going to cause a rise on people further down stream and we need to mitigate for that.

[16:19] So that's part of the constraints that we've got that I don't was not an issue for 30 years

[16:25] to go, but it's an issue we have to deal with now.

[16:27] So that's why we can't, there's no real,

[16:30] the quick fixes that a lot of people would like to see.

[16:34] And yeah, I understand that they want to see that quicker.

[16:40] So what are we doing?

[16:41] We've got a strategy or a suite of strategies.

[16:45] You've heard of widen the corridor, formerly widen the funnel,

[16:49] which is to provide the more capacity

[16:51] from ever seen all the way downstream

[16:54] so that when we do increase the river capacity at EverSON, it has a place to go all the way down

[16:59] stream. Julie mentioned that EverSON looks at berms. We are in a early preliminary engineering where

[17:07] we're looking to build berms to protect those two communities so that when the water does go over the

[17:12] over the overflow there, which it will in high events, we can protect those communities.

[17:18] We are involved in a city of Sumas flood mitigation planning and projects.

[17:26] We are helping the city of Sumas work through their process locally to come up with a suite of strategies for them.

[17:35] They don't really have a complete strategy at this point.

[17:39] And it could be building a berm.

[17:41] It could be elevating and moving structures.

[17:43] It could be a host of things that they could do locally, so we're helping them go through that process and

[17:50] Identify what their strategy is going to be

[17:53] As Julie has mentioned, we're doing acquisitions and elevations all over the place for people who aren't

[17:58] It's voluntary either to get their homes completely out of harm's way or elevate them. So it minimizes the impacts

[18:06] We are also working particularly with lumbionation on a couple of other infrastructure improvements

[18:12] raising slater and haxton roads so that those roads aren't inundated and cut off access to those areas during a flood.

[18:21] And we're also looking at other short-term and long-term hazard reduction actions.

[18:26] Particularly we're looking for short-term actions that we could implement like in the next couple years that will at least provide some relief to people in certain areas.

[18:35] As Paula mentioned a couple months ago, you know, the back of the envelope costs is $480 million to implement all these.

[18:44] I'm sure that that is a really rough estimate. It'll probably go up from there. So we're talking big dollars to handle this problem.

[18:54] I wanted to take just a few minutes to tell you about what flipped, flood-grade, flood-plained, integrated planning, the steering committee is up to.

[19:04] And for those that need a reminder, it's a technical committee consisting of the county, the main small city, so ever since Nuxax, Sumas, Lyndon and Ferndale.

[19:16] Both our tries, agricultural, community representation, and the Department of Ecology

[19:22] participates.

[19:24] The big thing that we've been working on in the past few months is as Julie mentioned,

[19:28] we got a $13 million proposal.

[19:30] We are working through the committee to how to allocate that money.

[19:34] So they recently came up with a recommendation.

[19:37] Also as Julie mentioned, we are working with the ecology in this group to come up with

[19:42] our next funding request.

[19:43] we are looking something in the neighborhood of 18 to 20 million dollars in the next session that

[19:48] starts this fall or this winter. And we're also working on developing a government structure.

[19:54] This is a really good collaborative structure, but it's staff-level folks and we need to

[20:00] The structure that allows it to go up to a more higher level people like mayors or city councils

[20:07] or tribal councils. And so we're working on a structure that will allow us to take those recommendations,

[20:12] work it through the proper channels so that we get buy in from all of those entities. And then, of

[20:18] course, ultimately, if we're implementing it, it'll come through our structure here, which it'll

[20:23] go to the Flood Control Zone District Advisory Committee, and then come to the Board of

[20:27] you guys as the Board of Supervisors before we implement anything.

[20:36] So the Flip Steering Committee, this is what they've come up with with their allocation

[20:40] of the $13 million.

[20:42] They are recommending allocating $4.25 million to the ever-synooksack berms, $4 million to

[20:49] widen the corridor, $3 million that we've been working with the city of Sumas on coming

[20:55] out with, as they developed their big strategy, we said, you know, what are some things that

[21:00] you guys think you could do like in the next year or two that might help things. So they're

[21:04] working through that process over the next month or two and they're going to come back with us

[21:08] with projects. We're also doing integrated floodplain acquisition and restoration, restoration

[21:16] has to be a component of all of this or at least mitigation in many cases. So 750K there.

[21:23] And then we're also put out of small pots of money, 500,000, to look at other early actions that we could do outside of Sumas that might be helpful to people in certain areas.

[21:34] And then the Nooksack Tribal Community Flood Access, there's a few areas where they're tribal members get caught off during floods and they wanted us to look at possibly alleviating that.

[21:44] Again, additional steps here, we're just starting to work with the State Department of Commerce.

[21:51] to go through the contracting process.

[21:54] We don't know if we'll have a governance structure in place to run it through,

[21:58] but we will reach out to all those entities,

[22:01] and then of course, come back to you guys for approval of that grant.

[22:14] Well, all of this to say that we are going to be taking on some very chunky projects,

[22:20] a very huge concept that's going to take decades,

[22:24] I think to fully execute, and we are looking at our capacity, both short-term and long-term.

[22:31] We currently do not have the resources to implement the strategies that are being considered.

[22:37] We want to set ourselves up for success, so when the funding happens, we have all hands

[22:41] on deck to do the work and spend out the funding we have.

[22:45] We're currently looking at the entire program and considering what resources we need to be successful.

[22:51] So if you look at this slide, we've got some project delivery needs, we're going to need technical consultants, project and grant management help, construction management, property acquisition and structure elevation, that's going to be a very large piece that has to be accomplished before we can actually build something and community engagement and outreach.

[23:11] We're also looking at our internal capacity for river and flood, and, as Gary mentioned,

[23:17] we're assigning some natural resources staff to river and flood in the short term.

[23:25] So if there's any questions about that, you may ask.

[23:35] And lastly, we're almost done for if you're keeping time there.

[23:39] So the river and flood budget and staffing constraints, we're working on the budget right now.

[23:45] Of course, you guys will get that next month, but I can tell you that the flood fund is extremely tight, if we had to live within what we're currently bringing in, we would have to cut back considerably on what we're doing, and what is causing that, well, rising construction costs inflation, so and plus the size of the projects we're doing are getting bigger and so in cases where we have a 20% match for instance,

[24:15] the bigger the project, the more expensive, the bigger our 20% and that's taking up more more

[24:22] more and more of our budget. Not all secured grants cover stat county staff time. The 13 million

[24:29] dollars we just got it does essentially cover zero staff time. So we're having to cover all of that

[24:36] with flow control zone district funding. And then furthermore, you know, we've got limited capacity

[24:43] across the entire divisions that are funded by the flood funds so natural resources and storm

[24:50] water are also very tight so we're having a hard time moving people into places where they

[24:55] could help out more. So what are we doing in the short and long term?

[25:00] Well, we have left one natural, we have one natural resources position that's been vacant for a while that we are reassigning to the river and flood division and reclassifying that.

[25:11] That's, we're working with the Executive Office right now to get that into place so we can get that extra position as soon as possible with basically our current funding.

[25:21] And in our budgeting process, both last year and this year, we've had to delay a few projects

[25:27] because we just didn't have the money for it.

[25:30] One of the projects that Julie mentioned, for instance, the mitigation, the Wetland

[25:34] mitigation project, Dalburg, that's going to help us out a lot when we start construction

[25:40] because we need to do wetland mitigation and having a site that's all set up is going to be great,

[25:44] but we have to front all that money ourselves.

[25:46] We might be able to charge back to the grants later, but we'll have to see.

[25:53] And then in the long term, we continue to request additional funding from the state every

[25:59] year where requesting additional money in this $18 to $20 million ask so that we can fund

[26:05] more of our people and projects.

[26:08] And we've been working with the Executive's Office and they will be seeking to take some

[26:14] the bank capacity and the flood fund this year just so we can keep on track with all of these

[26:18] commitments and community expectations. So you'll find out more about that when the executive

[26:24] releases the budget by September 1st. I think that's all we have. So we have time for questions.

[26:33] I think we still have about five minutes. Yes, Councillor. I'm standing. Thank you.

[26:40] Gary, what do you think it would take to get to something like what they've done in BC?

[26:44] with their level of planning.

[26:47] I mean, we're essentially doing that through our strategy that I mentioned here earlier.

[26:53] They were basically just playing catch up to us because they didn't have any sort of a collaborative process going.

[27:00] So I think we have it there.

[27:02] The part that they have done very well if you look on their websites.

[27:05] They've done a good job of communicating what that is.

[27:08] And that with this consultant and with Jamie's help, we're hoping to get that sort of materials out there,

[27:13] so that the community knows that what we're up to.

[27:17] And then do you have a list of like the sticky questions

[27:21] that you really need elected officials

[27:22] to answer and decide on?

[27:26] Well, one of them is budget.

[27:28] So you'll be getting that.

[27:30] I think I'm not sure, I fully understand your question.

[27:33] I mean, we certainly have some regulatory hurdles

[27:36] on a lot of these things with these FEMA no rise

[27:40] being as rigid as it is.

[27:42] that might eventually, might really prevent some of these projects from going forward.

[27:48] And we have been working with the executive's office, you know, we've been talking to

[27:53] Congressman Larson and our senators about that need for some regulatory reform there.

[28:00] And it's not just us, other jurisdictions have the same issues. So we are working through those.

[28:07] I mean, anytime you're talking about changing a federal regulation, it's not a,

[28:12] It's not an easy task, but yeah, we are.

[28:15] Did you have something?

[28:18] If I could.

[28:18] I'm John Holmes from the County Executive Office.

[28:21] We've been looking at, there's been some bills at the federal level,

[28:25] that are looking at least for, like say, wet land recovery projects

[28:29] to eliminate that no riser or address kind of that technicality.

[28:34] That would help in part, but maybe even a more broader review of some of those

[28:39] regulations would be helpful when we're having those conversations. Thanks, Gary.

[28:45] Yeah, I'm thinking about, you know, within the first week after the December flood, I wrote

[28:51] to the executive and I said everything should be on the table. And, you know, there's a number

[28:56] of things that I think haven't come to us in some degree, you know, and one is there have been various

[29:03] conversations about terminology changes from what to do about the sediment. And I'm wondering

[29:09] do you need some type of direction from the council on the appetite on sediment?

[29:16] I mean, part of the issue I think with that is just further with communications, just

[29:21] better communicating to the community, what the issue is and how we can solve it.

[29:28] I think that that's a big piece that we're working on getting that out.

[29:33] Um, I guess I'm trying to think of terminology.

[29:39] We talk about directing. We talk about scalp.

[29:41] We talk about, you know, some of the areas where things are building up.

[29:45] And I don't know if you, one of the things I always hope is that

[29:51] folks do come to us when they say, hey, there are some decisions that have consequences.

[29:56] And sometimes you do need elected officials to make those decisions and to own

[30:00] Those decisions, and I signed up for that, and I think my other colleague stood as well. So if there are decisions like that that are difficult to make at a staff level, I would want to know what I mentioned by their colleagues, we would want to know so that we can help give that direction.

[30:14] Sure. I mean, I think widen the corridor or the whole concept, it's going to, if you're going to be setting back levies and providing the river more room, you know, that takes land, and that's going to be controversial. We don't.

[30:27] we don't have a map yet of exactly where we need to go, but those are going to be certainly

[30:33] difficult conversations with people if we need to take, if we need additional land to make

[30:40] that work.

[30:41] So there's plenty of issues like that.

[30:43] We're just not to a point where we have something to present that we need quite direction

[30:49] on, but if you're thinking, I think as we work through the steering committee, those issues

[30:56] are going to be more articulated better that we can bring that and say, hey, here's, for

[31:02] instance, you know, here's just a strategy that we're, that we're coalescing around, you

[31:08] know, an endorsement of that strategy perhaps.

[31:11] Yeah.

[31:12] I think about that with the white and the corridor and the overflow, right?

[31:15] Because if ever soon a nooksacker building their berms, if Sue Mass makes their decision

[31:20] on what they want to do, that potentially does put more water that's stain in that channel.

[31:26] and then impacts the properties there, which there's a mix of residential,

[31:31] agriculture, some other uses in there, and we would have to do something for those properties.

[31:38] Right. So I mean, those are types of decisions that, you know, we'll have to make at some point

[31:42] if it helps to have some direction sooner rather than later. I think you'd find an interest in that

[31:49] discussion on this council. Sure. Sure. I'll definitely keep that in mind and work with the

[31:56] Related to that wasn't wondering, um, do you want to address that because I have one other question?

[32:02] I don't think so.

[32:03] But if you're other.

[32:04] It's related to the EverSON overflow corridor.

[32:07] How does the FEMA no rise come into play with that?

[32:10] So if, if EverSON and Nuxack are moving forward with berms,

[32:14] when the water jumps, the banks.

[32:17] More water will stay within that corridor because it's not going into the cities of EverSON and Nuxack.

[32:22] So how does that come into play?

[32:24] Well, the, what we're working on right now is seeing if we can design the berms in a way is that it doesn't increase.

[32:31] It doesn't lead to more water in more places north of there.

[32:36] So, that's one thing that they're working on with, with, with the studies they're doing right now is to try to find, can we do it without creating a rise?

[32:45] And if we do create a rise, then how do we mitigate that?

[32:47] We know that, I mean, if we even if we protect

[32:51] and looks at an ever-scent, and Canada is able to protect

[32:55] their areas, you know, we've got the Sumas area

[32:58] that we have to come, it's got to be dealt with somewhere in there.

[33:02] So, but the first choice right now is to try to do it without having

[33:05] a rise so that we don't have that regulatory problem.

[33:13] Deputy Executive Scott Bessler, and then we have Councilmember

[33:16] we can and in Strumler, and I think we need to wrap it up.

[33:18] Thank you.

[33:19] I'll be brief.

[33:19] Yeah.

[33:20] Councilmember Schimmel, and thanks for the question.

[33:21] I hear that in the community, and from other elective officials, as well, we want the major

[33:26] decision points to be elevated.

[33:28] I hear this a lot, particularly when we're talking about potential downstream impacts,

[33:31] as a result of flood mitigation projects.

[33:32] I think our office can do a better job signaling to the Council in the community when federal

[33:37] and state regulatory processes, preamplocal decision making, and when there is an actual

[33:42] decision to make for mayor's county councils and other leaders.

[33:46] So we'll try to be more clear about that going forward.

[33:49] But yeah, I definitely want to signal that to some extent, many of these things are

[33:53] outside of our control and it's a matter of navigating these really complex regulatory

[33:57] processes.

[33:59] Thank you.

[34:00] Councilmember, we can't in.

[34:03] Not a question, but Gary, I just wanted to give you a cool dose.

[34:06] You're on the right track with all this communication.

[34:08] I think keeping ahead of it on the communication side is critical to you know for the public to really get a good feel of what we're doing

[34:17] So thank you for that.

[34:20] Sure.

[34:20] Thank you.

[34:21] I'll remember strongly.

[34:22] Yeah.

[34:22] Thanks.

[34:23] What was that awareness week?

[34:25] What was the date on that?

[34:26] 12 through the 19th.

[34:29] Okay.

[34:30] Is that community?

[34:31] Actually, I should say it's preparedness week.

[34:33] Yeah.

[34:34] Oh, prepare.

[34:34] Okay. I think yeah. Is the one community event probably going to be within that week? That's what we're trying to schedule. Yes. Okay.

[34:43] And then also hopefully this doesn't get too technical, but you mentioned, you know, BC with their pump stations and what they're doing there is.

[34:53] Since everything is hopefully on the table, is that something we can do here?

[34:58] Well, the issue that they...

[35:00] I just think we do that here. Yeah, so they have an old lake bottom that they've

[35:06] diked off. And when, so it gets all the drainage, you know, during a rain event, all that drainage

[35:13] goes to a low point that has to be pumped back into the river. They are trying to be able

[35:18] in the 2021 flood, they're a levee failed and then just tons of water went into that old lake bed that

[35:26] had to be pumped out through these pump stations.

[35:28] So we don't have a situation like that.

[35:30] I mean, they've got an old lake bottom with no outlet

[35:32] in the outlet is the pump station.

[35:36] So, and they're also looking at a pump station.

[35:41] They have a complicated situation

[35:44] in that when the Fraser River is high,

[35:47] they have to close the floodgates for the sumas.

[35:50] And that means that all the overflow just backs up.

[35:53] And if they could have because it's they didn't close the gates then the Fraser would flood up them out. So they they're looking at a pump station there as well. So they just have a different situation because they've got those flood gates.

[36:08] Was there.

[36:09] I think we need to wrap it up.

[36:11] I think we need to wrap it up.

[36:12] And that link and we plan to do these somewhat on a quarterly basis.

[36:20] Great.

[36:21] Based on what's going on.

[36:22] Thank you so much. Thanks to you and your team.

[36:24] Okay, we have three upcoming committee discussions.

[36:28] The first is AB2026-596.

[36:31] Discussion regarding the public work six year

[36:32] transportation improvement program TIP for the year's

[36:35] 2027-2032.

[36:38] And we have done raining business.

[36:39] Thanks so much.

[36:40] Are you going to be leading all three of the next?

[36:43] No.

[36:44] The next two will be engineering manager Josh C.

[36:47] Okay. Perfect.

[36:49] Thanks.

[36:50] Hello Council, Doug Ranny, public works engineering.

[36:54] Thank you for the opportunity to be here before you today.

[36:57] For this work session on the 2027-226 year transportation improvement program,

[37:02] or the tip.

[37:05] All of our engineering managers are either in the room or watching online.

[37:09] In case I can't answer any questions you may have.

[37:12] What's the purpose of today?

[37:13] Just to give you a little bit of the background on what this six year tip is,

[37:16] and then to go over some example projects on it,

[37:21] what we plan to get up to over the next couple of years.

[37:25] I'm here today, approximately a month before introduction,

[37:30] and then with the public hearing following that,

[37:33] just to give the council enough time to take a look at this review,

[37:36] and ask me any questions, hopefully to make any revisions

[37:40] by the end of the month before introduction.

[37:44] Okay, so what is the tip?

[37:45] It's a planning document planning level document that we work off of for projects within the

[37:51] right of way.

[37:53] All of our engineering sections are included in the creation of this document, along with maintenance

[37:58] and operations, our stormwater group, and our river and flood sections.

[38:04] There's a public input process that goes along with this, along with speaking with the

[38:10] school agencies, school districts, other agencies and advisory committees.

[38:17] I've actually already

[38:17] sent this out to that list of people. I haven't heard anything back yet, but that's on the

[38:22] street for public comment.

[38:26] This works in tandem with the budget. The first year of the six year

[38:30] becomes our annual construction program, which is the authority for us to spend money.

[38:39] Okay,

[38:39] So the document is broken into five major sections.

[38:44] It's the road section, bridge, and fish passage section,

[38:49] a ferry section, a multimodal section, and then a yearly capital section.

[38:56] The key projects on here include most of our deficient bridges,

[38:59] our active transportation projects, ADA priorities from our transition plan,

[39:04] and some stormwater and river and flood capital projects

[39:08] if we're participating in those.

[39:13] Some other documents that you'll see with introduction

[39:17] of the six year is the 2025 annual bridge report

[39:21] are 14 year ferry capital plan anticipated revenue

[39:26] and expenditure chart along with financial distributions

[39:29] by year.

[39:33] Okay, I'd just like to go through the document quickly

[39:36] to point out a few projects that I'm excited about.

[39:39] I'd like to start with our one, which is our Drayton Harbor Road Slide Repair Project.

[39:46] That's a FEMA-funded project that we're going to be going to construction with likely in March of 2027.

[39:53] We also have our Birch Bay Lyndon Blaine roundabout project.

[39:57] We're about to obligate federal funds for that and go.

[40:00] About to add and construct that one next year. Here, the community is very excited about that one. The stop signs there back up quite significantly sometimes.

[40:11] Another one I'd like to bring to your attention is our 17, which is a chief martin road. We applied for the new county road administration board, crab, local road, grant project.

[40:27] And this project scored quite highly on their priority list.

[40:33] So we're likely to get funding on that.

[40:35] That's not shown on this document yet because we don't know if we're actually going to get that or what amount of money we're going to be getting there.

[40:47] Our bridge projects are also shown.

[40:50] We're not going to construction on any bridges in 2027,

[40:54] But we're heavy into design for some upcoming projects there.

[41:00] Then there's our fairy section, which for the capital project shows no local funds.

[41:10] And then in our multi-model capital section, M3, our Alderwood Elementary School,

[41:17] safe routes to school project. We're also likely to be funded on that project for construction.

[41:25] And then item M4 shoulder improvement for active transportation. That was a suggestion that came

[41:30] out of the transportation element of the comp plan that Chris Komo suggested. Some easy roads

[41:37] that already meet the shoulder width for bike routes. And it's just basically widening the

[41:46] are yearly project. Most of that is eliminated due to budget concerns, but I've got

[41:53] our uninticipated site improvements pretty high. That's setting that money aside for our local

[41:59] match of any of the grant applications that are currently out there. We would come back to you with

[42:05] a supplemental budget request to move money from that into those projects. And then, overall at the bottom,

[42:12] You can see that the local share is shown at $3.155 million.

[42:17] That's a $3 million capital spend proposed for 2027.

[42:22] And the extra 135 is the small amount of money in some of the placeholder projects.

[42:29] In case we need to move money into those.

[42:31] And so the maintenance and operation and road capital share the same pot of money.

[42:39] So three million may seem low, but maintenance is very important, and they're taking up a majority of our money on this, because they can't leverage their dollars against these grant funds, and all of their money is local.

[42:59] We have a really good options of obtaining grant money, and we go after them aggressively in order to leverage the money that we do have for capital.

[43:09] Okay. Next steps for the council. This will be distributed to you for introduction on the 15th of September, and then for public hearing on the 29th of September.

[43:24] I ask that you take a look at this and come to me or any of my staff with questions, concerns or suggestions, hopefully before August 28th, so I have time to get it into Granicus.

[43:37] I think that's what I wanted to, let's y'all know, do you have any questions for me at this point?

[43:43] I'll remember the jump there and then it's Kimway.

[43:45] Yeah, thanks.

[43:47] Doug, you mentioned the Alderwood area.

[43:51] Is that including the Bennett Road, where the community out there has been asking for some crosswalk,

[44:00] maybe improvements around the school area,

[44:03] what might be happening with that?

[44:06] There's a sidewalk extension thought plan for the south side

[44:11] of that school triangle.

[44:14] And then we're working on the crossing there.

[44:21] I don't think it's part of that program.

[44:23] This is a safe route to school,

[44:26] so like sidewalks and off road pedestrian paths.

[44:29] But we have a plan in place and a timeline to get those the crossings in that you're speaking of.

[44:37] Okay. All right.

[44:38] Thank you.

[44:39] Pamlyn.

[44:41] Doug, one of the things we did you might recall in the comp plan is that I'm goal the 5% of funding in the tip.

[44:47] That gets towards the active transportation network.

[44:52] Does this plan get us to that for the 27 to 32 timeframe?

[45:00] Yes, it depends on how you define that 5%, but built into all of these projects, our sidewalks and crosswalks and bike facilities.

[45:11] And just looking at the M, the multimodal section,

[45:17] we've got 120,000 in year one.

[45:23] But yes, this, the inclusion of all of these projects, the act of transportation portions of the larger projects, total greater than five percent.

[45:35] Okay, and I recall at one point we had a conversation at some point I think last year about how based on road design standards that generally that's also a good way to get to some of this in addition to the standoff or standalone projects.

[45:52] Yes, new roads are built to our development standards, which, depending on the classification, includes

[45:58] bike facilities and average daily traffic, how many cars drive on at a day, so road

[46:08] rehab projects, we don't really modify our existing roads to add five feet of bike

[46:15] on both sides, but if we were to reconstruct a rotor, build a new road, it would include

[46:20] bicycle facilities as appropriate in accordance with the standards.

[46:24] Okay. And do you have a list of those roads that you mentioned that Chris Komo suggested

[46:29] could potentially be widened a little bit, or at least the shoulder could be widened a little bit?

[46:34] I think his point was that the shoulders are already wide enough. We just need to designate them.

[46:40] I'll just hop in my head. I don't know what those roads are. Okay. And again, some others.

[46:48] And then, what is the process if, you know, majority of the council says, you know, we'd rather see this project or another move into move up and another one move down. What is the process for doing that?

[47:04] I would say come to me early before August 28th so that we have an opportunity to adjust

[47:13] this document. This is ultimately engineering's professional recommendation to you and

[47:20] you can make changes to this. As you see fit, I would offer a recommendation for against

[47:28] But ultimately, it's the council that approves this document, sets priority based on engineering

[47:37] judgment.

[47:39] Thanks.

[47:39] And then, you know, we've been in some conversations about Demaine in some of the work being

[47:46] done kind of near the school.

[47:48] We had that conversation here in council, you know, when community members asked for some

[47:53] of that work.

[47:54] I don't know where things are out with the tribe with their plans for the roundabout, but

[47:58] Is there any work that we would have planned to coincide with that in any of the county maintain roads in that area?

[48:08] No.

[48:09] The state is doing a fish passage replacement project next summer, and they're going to be detouring traffic onto Deming and Mitchell.

[48:19] The status of that roundabout is kind of in flux we haven't heard much recently on that.

[48:26] and they've had some transition at the tribe and we we're not sure the status of that.

[48:33] Okay, they're been in other conversations with the school about some of their requests.

[48:39] I haven't had any, we directed them to the state because the highway is at the state responsibility.

[48:45] I think the state was looking at alternatives and analysis or a study at that intersection.

[48:52] I coordinate with the local wash-out office quarterly.

[48:58] I'll be sure to ask her next time.

[49:00] We have that if anything's come to that.

[49:02] Okay, yeah, maybe we can reach out to them again to see,

[49:05] as I know, they were trying to get something together

[49:08] for this past legislative session,

[49:10] didn't get everything together in time,

[49:12] but maybe we can reach out to see what they need

[49:16] to get things ready and just given that.

[49:19] You and your team have more familiarity with that process and might be able to give some good professional advice to the school district about how to get their things in order so that they could get those funds.

[49:34] And then I do need to spend more time with this list just to see where things are at.

[49:37] I do too.

[49:39] There's a lot there.

[49:39] Yes.

[49:41] Thank you so much, Doug.

[49:42] I really appreciate your information today.

[49:45] Any other last minute questions?

[49:48] Great.

[49:50] is there a associate map

[49:52] you have asked for that in the past

[49:55] I consider let's see

[49:57] I don't think we put that together

[50:00] I will make sure that we have it for the 15th. Okay. I think that's helpful just to just help us

[50:05] right to visualize it and then also to think about, are we supporting the whole community? Are there

[50:13] more projects in one place that may be back to historical decisions, right? That, oh, one part of the

[50:19] community had more work this year or so. We're going to focus somewhere else. But I think that's also

[50:24] helpful just to think about, are there areas of the community that we're prioritizing more than others?

[50:31] Thank you.

[50:32] Thanks Doug.

[50:33] Okay.

[50:34] Thanks.

[50:35] Next on our Community Discussion is AB2026-600.

[50:40] Discussion of a Resolution Modifying the Public Works Six Year Transpiration Improvement

[50:44] Program for the Year's 2026-2031.

[50:47] And this is also on our Council agenda for an introduction tonight.

[50:50] And we have Josh here with us.

[50:52] I counsel Doug Ranny Public Works Engineering.

[50:55] I'd like to introduce Josh C. H. The Engineering Manager for the Design Construction

[50:59] section to tell you the what and why. Thank you.

[51:03] Good afternoon council.

[51:05] I'm going to go ahead and present on both this item and the next because they're directly related.

[51:10] So I'll Doug's coming to you today with the future step, the 2027-2032.

[51:15] I'm here to hopefully get an amendment to the current one, the 2026-2031,

[51:20] as well as the 2026 annual construction program.

[51:24] So both of these amendments are related the same.

[51:26] I just need to read it into the records.

[51:29] That's okay. Thanks, Josh. We'll also be discussing AB2026-601 discussion of a resolution

[51:34] in Mending the 2026 annual vote program. This is also in the council dinner for introduction

[51:38] this evening. Thanks, Josh for that. No problem. So, both of these relate to the same project.

[51:43] This is the Everton Goshen and Smith Road intersection improvements project. It is listed in the 2026

[51:49] and beyond six year. It's not listed in the current year in 2026. And so, it also does not show

[51:55] up on the current 2026 annual construction program.

[51:59] This project, we do want to get something done here.

[52:02] There's a little background on this.

[52:03] You may know this intersection, maybe not.

[52:05] The state built a undersized compact roundabout here

[52:08] as part of a detour for the state highway back in 2015.

[52:13] That roundabout, not having a lot of the features,

[52:16] we would typically have in a roundabout

[52:18] and that being one of our highest collision intersections

[52:20] in the county and was removed afterwards.

[52:23] So it's back to a four-way stop.

[52:24] This has been on our radar as one we'd like to do an improvement to get back to you

[52:28] there around about where another intersection that flows better than that

[52:31] always stop. But if we do around about putting in the chicanes and the illumination

[52:36] and the other things it will actually make it a safe and great intersection.

[52:41] So this has been on our step. This is one that we've had our eye on. This year the

[52:45] Wattcon Council of Governments had redistributed STBG funding available since

[52:49] some of our other partners did not meet their federal targets as they were

[52:53] looking for new homes for STBG money.

[52:56] We were very happy to take on some new funding.

[52:59] We took on $300,000 of STBG for the preliminary engineering phase.

[53:04] And that came to council, the obligation for that came to council back in June.

[53:08] And was executed by the state on July 14th.

[53:12] So we already have that executed.

[53:14] But now in order to spend this money and get started on this design, I do need to modify

[53:18] the 2026 ACP and the step to show this project having money in the current year. So I need a commitment of

[53:26] about $10,000 of local funds to match about, I'm figuring we can spend about $70,000 of that $300,000

[53:33] STBG this year, this calendar year, and we'll spend the rest of it in subsequent years. This project

[53:39] also shows up in Doug's proposal in the 2027 and beyond following the trend that I've laid out for it.

[53:48] So tonight this will get both of these we'll get introduced tonight, and then they will get voted for

[53:53] or hearing and vote on September 15th.

[53:57] Important to note the ACP modification does need a unanimous vote of council per state law.

[54:04] And that's all I've got any questions.

[54:07] And council members, Chandler?

[54:09] Yeah, thanks.

[54:12] So there must be quite a lot of information that goes into deciding, should we put around about in, or should we do something else, or whatever the solution would be for any particular, let's say intersection.

[54:31] So obviously that data showed that this particular inner section says this is the best alternative.

[54:39] Is that good?

[54:41] So we have not completed the alternatives analysis or the intersection control evaluation.

[54:45] Those will be some of our very first items of work once we do get the preliminary engineering phase started.

[54:51] So I am saying that I predict this will be around about we have not determined that to be 100%

[54:57] we will go through the steps to make sure that another...

[55:00] Control system doesn't make more sense here. But in general, I'd say around about going to be the top solution for most of our county intersections, especially in the rural area.

[55:10] And how do you determine, let's say when it comes to intersections, which ones you're going to look into and say we need to evaluate this particular one?

[55:22] Yeah, so the way that intersections get onto our radar and then mentioned on to the step is either they are a high collision intersection.

[55:31] So we do track all the collisions on county roads and key track of those.

[55:36] Or it's a low level of service. So level of services related to the amount traffic.

[55:42] And a stop sign, for example, our birch bay lended and blame road around about that we're about to install.

[55:46] We're placing stop signs that have a level of service of F, which says that at peak hour a lot of people are waiting to get through that intersection.

[55:55] So those are generally the two things that we see that put an intersection on our radar is either we're not getting good mobility through the intersection or there's a safety issue.

[56:08] Any other questions from the council?

[56:10] Yes, Councilmember Skimmy.

[56:12] I just want to clarify because we've had some email traffic on this.

[56:15] The unanimous vote requirement is only when council goes to vote at our next meeting,

[56:21] not an introduction.

[56:22] It's on the final vote, and it only applies to the annual road program item,

[56:27] not the update to the tip.

[56:32] So it also means it's a good time to ask questions now.

[56:35] Anybody who has concerns who might not be able to get to, you know, this vote

[56:42] any questions from our online council members?

[56:48] I think thank you so much for saving here. Thank you

[56:53] We have one last item on our agenda for today. It's a committee discussion and recommendation to the council

[56:59] It's AB 2 0 2 6 5 5 9 ordinance and mending what can county code 24 0 3 food super swirls regulations and we have Tom with us again. Thank you so much for being here

[57:10] I'm curious. We've had discussion last time. We'd be great if you'd come up. We did discuss

[57:15] this last time, but we had to reintroduce it because we had an error in the title, but if anybody

[57:20] has any questions, we certainly want to make space for that today. If you want to give us a brief

[57:26] reminder of what we're discussing about right now.

[57:28] I have nothing further to offer. My name is Tom Kunish, food safety supervisor for within the

[57:34] Environmental Health Division. I welcome County Health and Community Services. I don't have anything

[57:38] further to add from my presentation a couple of weeks ago. But if you have questions, I am here

[57:46] to answer that. Any questions from the council?

[57:52] Well, that could be smooth. Great. Can I entertain

[57:55] a motion? Yes, go ahead. Come from Steve. I was just saying thanks Tom for spending time with us

[57:59] at the Health Board meeting. I had your voice in my head over the last week and just thinking about

[58:04] just that reality check you gave us on where foodborne illnesses actually come from. That was just

[58:11] really helpful. So thanks for doing that.

[58:14] Mm-hmm.

[58:17] Would any of you like to entertain a motion or

[58:19] and propose a motion for movie this month?

[58:21] Maybe 2026-559 in the full council.

[58:24] Well second.

[58:25] Oh.

[58:26] Thanks Jessica as well.

[58:28] I have a motion by Council Member Scanlan with a second by

[58:31] Council Member Galloway.

[58:33] I need a discussion before we call the roll.

[58:36] Okay. Can I click please call the roll?

[58:38] Barry Buchanan.

[58:40] Yes.

[58:40] Ben, Ellen Boss?

[58:46] Yes.

[58:49] Okay, the Galaway?

[58:50] Yes.

[58:50] Jessica Reenstra?

[58:52] Yes.

[58:53] John Scanlan?

[58:54] Yes.

[58:55] Mark Stremler?

[58:55] Yes.

[58:56] Elizabeth Boyle?

[58:59] Okay.

[58:59] Well, that motion carried 70.

[59:01] Thank you so much.

[59:02] And we'll move that to the seed needs agenda for the recommendation to the book council.

[59:07] Any items that are by revision or other business?

[59:11] Okay.

[59:11] Well, thank you. We are adjourned at 2 o'clock. And I believe we are scheduled to start at 2-10.

[59:18] I think we can.

[59:18] Can't you conclude?

[59:19] 2-5 instead?

[59:20] 2-0-5 vote.

[59:21] We can be in it 2-0-5 for the Council Planning and Development Committee.

[59:25] Thank you.

Council Public Works & Health Committee on 2026-08-11 1:00 PM - HYBRID MEETING - ADJOURNS BY 2:05 P.M. (PARTICIPATE IN-PERSON, SEE REMOTE JOIN INSTRUCTIONS AT www.whatcomcounty.us/joinvirtualcouncil, OR CALL 360.778.5010)

Agenda

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