Council confirms appointments, restructures committees and adopts temporary right-of-way permit ordinance

The Bellingham City Council approved a slate of appointments, reorganized standing committees and gave final passage to an ordinance updating temporary right-of-way use permits.

In the mayor's report, the council approved reappointments and new appointments by voice vote: Sarah Gardner to the Greenways Advisory Committee (reappointment), Katie Scherer to the Bellingham Transportation Commission (reappointment), Sharon Rice as the city's hearing examiner (two-year appointment), and eight inaugural members for the Keep Washington Working Act Group (Rebecca Ajijewicz, Eamon Bollinger, Ian Garcinette, Catalina Hope, Holly Pye, Scott Powell, Crystal Rodriguez, Abigail Sanutti). The council also approved a slate of ex officio and advisory nonvoting staff assignments to the Keep Washington Working Group as presented by the mayor.

Council also voted to dissolve the Climate Action Committee and create a Finance and Budget Committee, moving Climate Action topics into standing committees and the committee-of-the-whole to reflect integration of climate work across departments. Council voted to keep most council assignments to outside boards and commissions unchanged for 2025 while committing to further review of the assignment list. The motions on committee structure and assignments passed by recorded voice votes (one reported member excused for one vote) and were logged as passing (motion language and vote counts recorded in the meeting minutes).

Finally, council gave start-and-final passage to Agenda Bill 24,397, an ordinance amending Chapter 13.14 of the Bellingham Municipal Code regarding temporary right-of-way use permits. The ordinance passed a roll-call vote with all seven members recorded as voting "Aye." The consent agenda and other reported routine motions also passed by unanimous voice votes.