IPRTF steering committee finalizes annual report layout, clarifies action-plan approval and reporting cycle

Members of the Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF) steering committee reviewed and suggested edits to the IPRTF 2025 annual report and the related implementation action plan during a virtual meeting that began at 11:02 a.m.

Steering members agreed the packet should present two distinct deliverables: a transmittal-ready annual report for presentation to elected councils and a separate, internal action plan and implementation progress report for the task force’s own use. The group asked committee chairs to confirm their sections before the documents go to the full IPRTF for approval.

The committee discussed how the two documents fit together and asked staff to make the titles and structure clearer so readers can distinguish the statutory annual report required by Whatcom County code from the Justice Project implementation-plan progress report authored by JPOP. Steering agreed to continue timing the two reports together for the current cycle but to present them as separate recommendations when the full task force votes.

Steering approved a recurring planning calendar to govern the cycle: January–February updates to the action plan and calendar; March–April committee input gathering; May–June preparation and approval of the annual report and implementation progress report and presentation to councils; September committee reports on accomplishments; October identification of shared priorities; and November–December preparation of the year-end report. Members asked staff to add an explicit feedback loop from county and city councils into the May–September window so council comments can be received and shared back with the IPRTF before committees finalize priorities.

The committee also debated how to represent smaller, informal work groups in the annual report. Several members said the report should reflect this “depth of work” and proposed a dedicated page listing work-group names and participants, with a clear notation that many of those small work groups currently do not meet as public meetings. Staff agreed to include either a sidebar or a referenced page listing the work groups and to add a statement explaining their meeting status and pathway back to the formal committee process for public review.

Steering discussed responsibilities and communication channels. Committee members asked staff to loop in communications staff from the County and the City of Bellingham: Jenna Grenard (county communications), Riley Sweeney (executive office communications), and City of Bellingham communications staff (including Jackie). STV’s stakeholder-engagement work was noted as an upcoming public-facing effort. Steering noted that JPOP will continue to author the implementation-plan progress report and that quarterly implementation updates are appropriate for full-task-force meetings.

Finally, steering scheduled a series of next steps: committee chairs will review and submit final edits to staff before the June packet is sent to the full IPRTF; staff will revise the report cover and the second-page committee listing per members’ requests; and a calendar update will incorporate an explicit council-feedback bubble between May–June and the September committee reporting period. No formal motions or votes were recorded during the meeting.