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Mayor's Neighborhood Advisory Commission

BEL-MNA-2025-10-15 October 15, 2025 Committee Meeting City of Bellingham 50 min
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The October Mayor's Neighborhood Advisory Commission meeting served as a comprehensive update on the city's financial challenges and emergency preparedness efforts, while highlighting the persistent issue of volunteer recruitment across nearly all neighborhood associations. Mayor Lund presented the proposed 2026 budget featuring 40 staff reductions and a new 0.1% sales tax, emphasizing the city's structural deficit and the need to live within its means. The meeting took place in the newly renovated Mayor's Boardroom, reflecting the administration's effort to dignify important civic conversations despite budget constraints. Emergency Management Director Greg Huff outlined the city's three-pillar approach to emergency preparedness and announced upcoming tsunami siren testing. Most significantly, nearly every neighborhood association reported difficulty recruiting board members and maintaining volunteer engagement, with several losing longtime presidents and struggling with funding for meeting spaces. The discussion revealed a community-wide challenge in civic participation that extends beyond any single neighborhood. Administrative changes were announced, including a partnership with Whatcom Community Foundation to administer small grants and upcoming transitions in staff responsibilities. The meeting demonstrated both the city's fiscal constraints and the ongoing vitality of neighborhood-level civic engagement, despite volunteer challenges.

The meeting was primarily informational with no formal votes taken. Mayor Lund reported that City Council had already approved the 0.1% sales tax on third and final reading "the other week," representing approximately $4 million in additional annual revenue. This action was taken to avoid deeper service cuts that would have affected 25-35 filled positions rather than mostly vacant ones. The administration announced a shift in grant a…

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**Budget Crisis and Structural Challenges:** Mayor Lund provided extensive detail on the city's $10 million general fund deficit heading into 2026, explaining how the city had exhausted "fiscal tricks" used in previous years. The 2025 budget required 6% reductions across departments, and the city instituted mandatory position reviews for all vacancies throughout the year. The proposed 2026 budget eliminates 40 positions, though most are currently vacant due to the position review process. **Sales Tax Implementation:** The 0.1% sales tax, authorized by the state legislature, was specifically intended for public safety expansion including behavioral health officers and alternative response programs. However, the $4 million generated only allows the city …
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**Neighborhood Associations:** Nearly universal concern about volunteer recruitment and retention, with specific mentions of board member departures in Columbia, Cordata, Fairhaven, Happy Valley, and other neighborhoods. Multiple associations expressed frustration with meeting space costs, ranging from $40-225 per meeting. **Katie Herson-Horvath (Birchwood):** Raised concerns about school district facility rental increases from $25 to $100 per meeting, significantly impacting the neighborhood's small budget. Also noted confusion about the annual neighborhood stipend process. **Stephanie (Cordata):** Advocated…
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**Mayor Lund, on budget reality:** "We are at the point where we have to live in our means today. We can spend some more time on a graph that really paints that picture." **Mayor Lund, on employee reductions:** "That's been the hardest part of this, because our city employees are... They are the city, so this has been a lot of very challenging decision-making." **Mayor Lund, on infrastructure investment:** "It does not get cheaper. It's kind of like not paying your taxes to the federal gover…
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- November 19, 2025: Next MNAC meeting - October 16, 2025: Great Washington ShakeOut at 10:16 AM with statewide tsunami siren testing - Early 2026: Public engagement process on potential public safety levy or lid lift - December: City Council budget adoption on "third and final at the first meeting in December" - Weekly budget work sessions continuing through Octo…

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The city formally moved from deficit spending toward structural budget balance through staff reductions and new revenue. The 0.1% sales tax implementation provides $4 million annually but only maintains current service levels rather than enabling expansion. Neighborhood grant administration transferred from city staff to Whatcom Community Foundation, providing upfront funding and potentially enabling larger collaborative projects. The Mayor's Boardroom renovation was completed, updating techno…
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# Mayor Lund's Community Check-In: Budget Challenges, Emergency Preparedness, and Neighborhood Resilience The October 15, 2025 meeting of Bellingham's Mayor's Neighborhood Advisory Commission opened with Mayor Kim Lund's characteristic warmth, acknowledging that many attendees likely had "part of their brain" on Game 3 of the ALCS, which Toronto was leading 6-2 against the Yankees. Despite the baseball distraction, the room in City Hall was notably full — perhaps drawn by the urgent budget discussions on the agenda, or simply the welcoming atmosphere of the newly renovated boardroom. ## A Space Transformed Before diving into the evening's substantive business, Mayor Lund took time to address the room's transformation. Gone were the decades-old spinning chairs that had become a ritual for commissioners to test before each meeting. In their place sat comfortable couches arranged in a more conversational setting, complemented by upgraded technology that finally retired the "nest of wires" left over from pandemic-era remote meetings. "I want to dignify the important work that happens in this room," Lund explained, noting that the space hosts not only neighborhood representatives but also state and federal officials, including Senator Patty Murray. The renovation, budgeted for 2025, was scaled back from originally planned security improvements due to the office suite's lack of emergency egress. But the mayor was clear about the investment's purpose: "When we're hosting Senator Murray in here, we want this to reflect the great city that we are." Commissioner Jan Keller from Fairhaven captured the change's impact: "I really feel like the people who then sit there are part of it, versus being on chairs like an audience. So I really like that, because it expands — you know, everybody feels part down." ## The Budget Reality: Living Within Our Means The meeting's centerpiece was Mayor Lund's comprehensive presentation on the city's 2026 budget challenges — a frank discussion that laid bare the structural financial pressures facing Bellingham. The proposed budget includes 40 staff position reductions, though fortunately most are currently vacant due to a mandatory position review instituted throughout 2025. "We stepped into this with some of the work front-loaded," Lund explained, describing how the city had been evaluating every unfilled position since July. "But since July through August and September, it's been a lot of very challenging conversations with t…
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### Meeting Overview The Mayor's Neighborhood Advisory Commission met on October 15, 2025, in the newly renovated Mayor's Boardroom at City Hall. The meeting focused primarily on the city's challenging budget situation for 2026, emergency preparedness outreach, and updates from neighborhood associations across Bellingham. ### Key Terms and Concepts **0.1% Sales Tax:** A new sales tax approved by City Council that will generate approximately $4 million annually for public safety, authorized by the state legislature as one of the few tools available to cities facing budget shortfalls. **General Fund:** The city's primary operating budget that pays for essential services like police, fire, and basic city operations, currently facing a structural deficit. **Position Review:** A mandatory evaluation process implemented for all vacant city positions to determine if they can remain unfilled, helping reduce staffing costs during budget constraints. **ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act):** Federal pandemic relief funds that temporarily boosted city reserves but have now been fully committed, contributing to current budget challenges. **Emergency Reserve Target:** The minimum amount of money the city should maintain for catastrophic events like earthquakes or flooding, currently below recommended levels. **Project Neighborly:** A Whatcom Community Foundation grant program that will replace the city's Small and Simple Grants, providing upfront funding to neighborhood associations. **Great Washington ShakeOut:** An annual statewide earthquake preparedness drill including tsunami siren testing and drop-cover-hold exercises. **Community Resilience:** Emergency preparedness approach that emphasizes neighborhoods working together to support each other during disasters, rather than relying solely on individual preparation. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Kim Lund | Mayor of Bellingham | | Janice Keller | Deputy Mayor | | Kate | Mayor's Office Staff | | Greg Huff | Emergency Management Coordinator | | Lindsay | Downtown Bellingham Partnership | | Stella Keating | Western Washington University Representative | ### Background Context Bellingham faces significant budget challenges heading into 2026, with a str…
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Budget & Finance Government Operations Public Safety Birchwood Elementary City Of Bellingham Cordata Park Pavilion Western Washington University Whatcom Community Foundation Greg Huff Jake Charlton Janice Keller John Kane Ronning Katie Herson Horvath Kim Lund Stella Keating Budget Finance Civic Engagement Emergency Management Emergency Preparedness Grant Administration Infrastructure Investment Meeting Costs Neighborhood Associations Public Safety Sales Tax Volunteer Recruitment