WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com)—On Tuesday night, the Opportunity Council was awarded over $4 million in contracts to support Whatcom County’s homeless population.

In a series of votes, the Whatcom County Council approved three contracts that assist the Opportunity Council in their operations running housing services in the county.

The first vote passed 5-2 compared to the final two, which passed in two 4-3 votes.

Council member Tyler Byrd flipped his vote in favor of Opportunity Council for the first vote because he found the council’s presentation earlier that day to be compelling.

“I just want to make a point that if you come forward and you can give us clear information and you can be transparent and open with us and respectful, then that can actually change minds,” Byrd said during the evening council meeting.

Council member Ben Elenbaas voted no on all three contracts along with Mark Stremler.

Elenbaas says that even though his proposal to defund housing project 22 North did not garner as much support, he found there was a change in how Opportunity Council handled the facility. He was less appreciative of how the council responded to his efforts to defund 22 North.

“The response I hoped to get was ‘We’re sorry, we’re going to do better and here’s how we’re going to do better,'” Elenbaas said. “But the response we got was ‘We didn’t do this because you didn’t give us enough money, so you need to give us more money.'”

Elenbaas wanted to renegotiate the contracts to be shorter-term because he says they do better when held to a higher standard of accountability. Council member Kaylee Galloway suggested that instead of renegotiation, the council asks for regular check-ins with Opportunity Council.