This Bellingham program targets trash downtown, takes litter control away from police
Bellingham may address trash and litter downtown and homeless encampment removal by moving a code-enforcement officer from the Police Department and shifting those duties to the Public Works Department.
City Council members are being asked to create a new Sanitation and Solid Waste Division by funding three new positions and approving the personnel reassignment.
Discussion about the plan is set for 1:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28, during an online meeting of the City Council’s Committee of the Whole.
According to a report from Public Works Department Director Eric Johnston, the new Sanitation Division would have six employees — including the three new positions — and be part of the Public Works Department.
Initial cost for the new division would be about $430,000, according to a funding request.
“The city is experiencing a significant increase in service requests for litter control, graffiti, illegal camping, illegal dumping and similar requests,” Johnston said in the report.
Requests for litter cleanup total about 10% of all service calls to Public Works, Johnston said.
Complaints about litter, abandoned cars and homeless camps began rising in January 2021, about the same time that the city dismantled a protest encampment at City Hall that involved about 100 people without permanent shelter and their supporters, according to the report.
Since then, complaints about litter, graffiti and illegal camping began to rise to about 50 a month through the spring and summer of 2021, the report said.
Johnston said the new approach to litter cleanup is part of Mayor Seth Fleetwood’s recent measures to address crime and support businesses downtown, including hiring private security patrols and creating the Downtown Ambassador program.
Moving code enforcement to Public Works allows the short-staffed Police Department to focus on crime, the report said.
Meanwhile, the city has been working to establish an unarmed 911 response service for people suffering a mental-health crisis that doesn’t require a police response, and has been working to help a growing homeless population with housing and other services.
But city officials acknowledge that the number of people without a place to live far exceeds available shelter capacity, and the homeless population rose sharply during the new coronavirus pandemic.
Further, rental housing remains expensive and difficult to find in Whatcom County’s tight real estate market.
“In addition to the growing need to manage litter, the number of reports of illegal camping, both occupied and abandoned, is increasing,” Johnston said in the report.
“The unsanitary conditions and litter associated with illegal camping is a public health threat to both the individuals living in the camp and the general public. These sites are located in public rights-of-way, in parks, and along other public properties. The illegal dumping associated with these types of sites presents a threat to critical areas along streams, wooded areas, and wetlands,” he said.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 10:40 AM.
