Blaine City Council roundup ...

The latest news from the June 12 city council meeting … 

Transportation public hearing

Blaine City Council held a public hearing on the six-year transportation improvement program for 2024-2029. Two members of the public asked questions during the hearing.

The slated transportation improvements include Boblett Street channelization and corridor improvements; signalization at Peace Portal Drive and Bell Road; Semiahmoo Parkway Shoreline Restoration; Peace Portal Drive revitalization; phase three of the Peace Portal Drive community trail from Hughes Avenue to Bell Road; city-wide pavement preservation; bi-annual sidewalk safety program; the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) transition plan development; and D Street improvements from 16th Street to SR-543.

The city will hold a second public hearing on the transportation improvement during its next meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, June 26, remotely and in council chambers, on the fourth floor of city hall at 435 Martin Street.

City hall furnishings

In a 6-0 vote with councilmember Eric Davidson excused, city council unanimously authorized the city to spend $56,300 on furnishings for the city hall’s second floor where Blaine Police Department and public works leaders will relocate in July. The police’s evidence room will also be moved from a shipping container behind the police station to the second floor of city hall. The furnishings include two conference tables and chairs. 

Plover restoration contract extension

City council unanimously approved city manager Michael Harmon sign a contract extension for the Plover passenger ferry repairs. The extension will push the now-expired contract’s deadline of March 31 to end August 31. 

Alex Wenger, the city’s tourism and economic development coordinator, said during the meeting that the contract extension will not impact the city’s budget. Wenger said about two-thirds of the Plover repair funds have been used and the Plover’s shipwright was working to finish the repairs before the end of summer. 

City council previously approved allocating $30,000 for repair expenses in the 2023 budget. Blaine nonprofit Drayton Harbor Maritime has been in charge of repairs since the U.S. Coast Guard discovered soft spots on the vessel’s wooden hull and stem post last fall. Plover captain Richard Sturgill has previously said that the repairs are more extensive than the original restoration in the mid-’90s.

The Plover is one of the state’s oldest foot passenger ferries operating and transports people from Blaine Harbor to Semiahmoo Spit every summer.

City refunds $200,000 to east Blaine builder

City council unanimously approved refunding just over $200,000 of water general facility fees to a contractor building homes in east Blaine after it was discovered that an old easement agreement exempted the builder from paying those fees. 

Council authorized Harmon to refund the money to DJ & DJ Contracting, a Ferndale-based company building homes in The Ridge at Harbor Hills. Easement documents allowed for a water main to be installed where the subdivision is being built in agreement that water general facility fees would be waived to whomever developed the lots. The city will pay for the refund through public works’ water department reserves.

Harmon said another contractor may be entitled to a refund for building about four homes. He added the city will not charge water general facility fees for the impacted area going forward. 

Senior center HVAC replacement

City council unanimously approved city staff to spend another $10,000 on the Blaine Community Center HVAC replacement in addition to the $30,000 currently budgeted.

Council rubber-stamped the increased funds to pay for a $33,100 contract, excluding taxes, with Andgar Mechanical LLC to replace the HVAC system at the community center with two HVAC units. 

Gary McSpadden, of public works, said the city had prepared to only replace one HVAC unit but realized after further inspection that the second unit needed to be replaced as well. 

McSpadden said the installation will only take a few days and the city will work around the hours of the Blaine chapter of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Whatcom County’s operations in the community center. He added that public works is building a new maintenance system that will be proactive instead of reactive to repairs. 

Staff updates

Public works director Harpiar Gandhi attended his first council meeting after starting the position June 1. Gandhi previously served as public works director of Clatskanie, Oregon, a city of 1,700 people. He has over two decades of public and private engineering experience. 

Blaine police chief Donnell Tanksley said the police department is hiring for three vacancies it’s had since last November. A panel of police officers and civilians interviewed 11 candidates in late May and moved five onto the next round of interviews. Tanksley said he approved three candidates to go through an extensive background check, and during that phase, one officer dropped. Tanksley said candidates are applying to multiple agencies as police departments across the U.S. are understaffed.

Stacie Pratschner, director of the community development services department, said the downtown ad-hoc advisory committee has agreed on downtown zoning recommendations for council that will include parking reductions and increasing building height by 12 feet in each downtown zone. Pratschner is expected to present the downtown zoning recommendations to council at its June 26 meeting.