County council approves jail-use agreement with Blaine

By Oliver Lazenby

Whatcom County Council voted on June 28 to authorize county executive Jack Louws to enter into an agreement to allow the city of Blaine to continue using the Whatcom County jail.

The agreement allows the county to continue providing jail services to the city of Blaine beyond July 1, as the current agreement expires on June 30. The new agreement will be in place until June 30, 2018.

The only difference between the new contract and the previous contract is that booking fees, which the city of Blaine pays, will increase, according to documents provided to the county council. The agreement, however, doesn’t say by how much those fees will increase.

“The city will be notified by the County by August 15 of each year of the estimated booking fee, per diem rates and fees to be charged in the next year. The estimate is not binding on the county but will be the best estimate that can be provided based on the information available by that date,” the contract states.

County council voted unanimously to approve the agreement.