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Real Briefings

Bellingham City Council

BEL-CON-2026-05-18 May 18, 2026 City Council Regular Meeting City of Bellingham
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The Bellingham City Council's May 18, 2026 regular meeting was anchored by a substantive and emotionally resonant presentation from the Keep Washington Working Act (KWW) Advisory Work Group, a citizen body formed by the Council in September 2024 to review city policies and practices related to Washington's 2019 immigration enforcement law. The work group's final report — the product of more than a year of research, community engagement, and collaboration with city staff and law enforcement — offered 12 or more specific recommendations organized around four areas: federal contact data collection, Whatcom 911 dispatch operations, Bellingham Police Department policies, and dispatcher and officer training. The Council unanimously accepted the report and directed the administration to schedule a follow-up work session. Beyond the KWW presentation, the Council took action on a range of routine and substantive items during daytime committee meetings, including first and second reading of a new speed limit ordinance, authorization of a $3.7 million state law enforcement grant, approval of a budget amendment for public safety funding, and authorization to retain outside counsel in a pending lawsuit. The consent agenda — covering four sets of meeting minutes and a payroll authorization — passed without objection. The KWW work group's presentation highlighted a significant structural concern: Bellingham, as the operator of the Whatcom 911 dispatch center (which serves the entire county including Western Washington University), occupies a unique position to lead on KWW compliance across a multi-jurisdictional system. The work group found that existing federal contact data collected since 2020 lacks the detail needed to evaluate compliance — more than 25% of 527 entries analyzed lacked sufficient information to determine relevance, and current logs do not capture outcomes, making it impossible to trace whether a contact led to immigration enforcement. The meeting also include

**1. AB 24942 — KWW Act Advisory Work Group Final Report** - **Action:** Council President Hannah Stone / Council Member Edwin H. "Skip" Williams moved to accept the work group's final report as presented and request the administration to schedule a work session for future discussion. - **Vote:** 6-0 - **Staff Recommendation:** Not specified in source documents; this was a presentation item. - **Practical Effect:** The final report is formally accepted by the Council. The administration is now directed to schedule a work session at which the Council can deliberate on which of the work group's recommendations to implement and in what form. No policies were changed at this meeting. --- **2. AB 24940 — Ordinance: Vacation of Eastern Half (15 feet) of Fir Street** - **Action (Special Meeting):** Council President Hannah Stone / Council Member Hollie Huthman moved for first and second reading. - **Vote:** 6-0 - **Context:** Closed record hearing concerning the vacation of the easter…

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**Aean Ballinger, KWW Advisory Work Group (work group member; elementary school educator)** Served as lead presenter and organizer for the work group's presentation. Ballinger expressed the group's core motivation: ensuring Bellingham is a place where all residents can live safely and with dignity. He noted that the work group was inspired to join by personal and professional connections to immigrant communities, and emphasized that many current compliance gaps stem from lack of clarity and awareness rather than bad intent. **Ian Garcinet, KWW Advisory Work Group (work group member; personal lived experience as an undocumented person)** Presented the federal contact data recommendations. Garcinet shared that being undocumented was his own lived experience in the early 2000s, which motivated his participation. He walked the Council through the statistical findings from Appendix G and the work group's four categories of data recommendations. **Abby Senuti, KWW Advisory Work Group (higher education and career services)** Presented the Whatcom 911 dispatch training recommendations. Emphasized the importance of active, scenario-based learning and ongoing training as the immigration enforcement landscape continues to evolve rapidly. **Catalina Hope, KWW Advisory Work Group (ESL instructor, Whatcom Community College)** Presented the BPD training recommendations. Noted overlap with Senuti's section and emphasized that BPD currently relies on a centralized platform for training confirmation but lacks active learning components specific to KWW. **Holly Pi, KWW Advisory Work Group (local immigration attorney)** Introduced herself as a member …
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**Aean Ballinger, on the motivation of the work group:** "We were motivated to help ensure that Bellingham is a location for all to live safely and with dignity." **Aean Ballinger, on the work group's goals:** "To apply our various lived experiences to understand current practices and identify opportunities to improve clarity, consistency, and accountability." **Ian Garcinet, on his personal motivation:** "Being undocumented is a lived experience for me. It's something that, uh, early 2000s,…
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- **June 1, 2026 — Next City Council Regular Meeting** (City Hall, Council Chambers, 7:00 p.m.) - Public hearing on the 6-Year Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP). Details to be posted on meetings.cob.org seven days prior. - **KWW Work Session — Date TBD** - The administration was directed by the Council (6-0 vote) to schedule a work session for further discussion of the KWW Advisory Work Group's final report and recommendations. No date has been set. - **AB 24937 and AB 24940 and AB 24933 — Final Adoption** - All three ordinances received…

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**Before this meeting:** - The KWW Advisory Work Group had completed its work but had not formally presented its final report to the full City Council. - The work group's recommendations were in draft/report form but not officially received or acknowledged by the Council. - No direction had been given to the administration regarding next steps on KWW compliance. **After this meeting:** - The KWW Advisory Work Group's final report is formally accepted by the City Council (6-0 vote). - The administration is formally directed to schedule a work session to discuss the report's recommendations and determine next steps. This converts a completed adviso…
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--- # Bellingham City Council Regular Meeting ## May 18, 2026 — Full Meeting Narrative --- ## Meeting Overview The Bellingham City Council gathered on the evening of Monday, May 18, 2026, in Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall at 210 Lottie Street. Council President Hannah Stone called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Six of the seven council members were present — Stone, Hollie Huthman, Edwin H. "Skip" Williams, Lisa Anderson, Michael Lilliquist, and Jace Cotton — with Council Member Daniel Hammill excused. The agenda was modest in length but not in weight. The centerpiece of the evening was a formal presentation from the city's Keep Washington Working Act Advisory Work Group, a citizen body formed by the council in September 2024 to review local compliance with Washington State's landmark 2019 immigration enforcement law. The group — eight community volunteers who had spent months poring over police policies, dispatch protocols, and federal contact data — had come to deliver their final report and recommendations. It was the kind of presentation that arrives carrying both data and moral purpose. Beyond the presentation, the evening included committee reports covering a new speed limits ordinance, a multi-million-dollar law enforcement grant, a budget amendment, a street vacation hearing, and a discussion of land use fees. Eleven members of the public signed up to speak during the public comment period. The meeting adjourned at 8:59 p.m. What made the May 18th meeting notable was not any single dramatic vote — indeed, the council's eventual action on the work group report was unanimous and straightforward. What made it notable was the human texture of the presentation itself: the elementary school worker who had watched immigrant children navigate fear; the immigration attorney who serves clients navigating an uncertain legal landscape; the man who introduced himself by saying, quietly, that being undocumented is "a lived experience for me." The evening offered a reminder of why civic transparency matters, and of what government at its best can look like when it takes seriously the obligation to protect everyone in its community. --- ## The Keep Washington Working Act Advisory Work Group: Final Report and Recommendations ### Background: A Law, a Violation Notice, and a Citizen Group Council President Stone opened the substantive portion of the meeting by introducing the first agenda item — presentation number 24942 — and providin…
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--- ### Meeting Overview The Bellingham City Council held its regular meeting on Monday, May 18, 2026, with six of seven members present (Council Member Daniel Hammill was excused). The meeting's central focus was a formal presentation by the Keep Washington Working Act Advisory Work Group, which delivered its final recommendations to the Council after roughly eight months of work. The Council also acted on several items from daytime committee meetings covering a law enforcement grant, a budget amendment, a speed limit ordinance, and a street vacation. --- ### Key Terms and Concepts **Keep Washington Working Act (KWW or KWWA):** A Washington State law passed in 2019 that clarifies immigration enforcement is a federal — not local — responsibility. It strictly limits how local law enforcement agencies may participate in immigration enforcement activities and requires that they maintain the rights and dignity of all residents. **Advisory Work Group:** A limited-term, volunteer citizen body formed by the Bellingham City Council in September 2024 to review city policies and practices related to the KWW Act and to recommend improvements. The group consisted of eight voting members with diverse community and professional backgrounds. **Federal Contact Data:** Records compiled by the City of Bellingham (through Whatcom 911 dispatch operations) that document contacts between local agencies and federal immigration officials such as ICE and CBP. The city has collected this data since 2020. **Interlocal Agreement:** A formal legal contract between two or more government entities allowing them to share services, facilities, or resources. In this meeting's context, the Whatcom 911 dispatch interlocal agreement governs how Bellingham operates the countywide 911 dispatch system, and separately the council approved an interlocal agreement with the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission for a grant. **ICE / CBP:** Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are the two primary federal agencies responsible for immigration enforcement in the United States. They are distinct agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. **BPD Policy 417:** The Bellingham Police Department's specific internal policy governing how officers interact with federal immigration authorities. The work group found uncertainty in this policy and recommended it be reviewed and clarified. **Consent Agenda:** A bundle of routine, non-controversial items that the Council votes on together in a single motion, without individual debate, unless a member requests an item be pulled for separate consideration. **Public Safety Telecommunicators (PSTs):** The trained dispatchers who staff Whatcom 911 and handle emergency calls for the entire county, including routing calls to police, fire, and medical services. Under the Whatcom 911 interlocal agreement, day-to-day operations are staffed by the City of Bellingham. --- ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Hannah Stone | Council President, First Ward; also served as a liaison (officio member) to the KWW Work Group | | Hollie Huthman | Council Member, Second Ward | | Edwin H. "Skip" Williams | Council Member, Fourth Ward | | Lisa Anderson | Council Member, Fifth Ward; Chair, Budget and Finance Committee | | Michael Lilliquist | Council Member, Sixth Ward; Chair, Public Works and Natural Resources Committee | | Jace Cotton | Council Member, …
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Public Safety Social Services Government Operations AB 24933 AB 24937 AB 24940 AB 24941 AB 24942 Bellingham Police Department Cbp Customs Border Protection City Of Bellingham Department Of Homeland Security Ice Immigration Customs Enforcement Keep Washington Working Act Advisory Work Group Knox Works Consulting Lummi Nation Wa Attorney General Office Wa State Criminal Justice Training Commission Western Washington University Whatcom 911 Whatcom Community College Abby Senuti Aean Ballinger Catalina Hope Daniel Hammill Deborah Beneza Hannah Stone Hollie Huthman Holly Pi Ian Garcinet Jace Cotton Jackie Weller Janice Keller Kim Lund Lisa Anderson Michael Lilliquist Paul Knox Rebecca Agawitch Sarah Chaplin Skip Williams 911 Dispatch Bpd Policy Budget Finance Equity Inclusion Federal Contact Data Housing Immigration Enforcement Interlocal Agreement Keep Washington Working Act Land Use Policy Language Access Law Enforcement Training Public Safety Transportation Policy Water Resources