CARLSBORG — Construction crews have nearly finished an $8 million building to house the main offices of the Clallam County Public Utility District.
The district will open its new Carlsborg offices, which will consolidate the present Port Angeles and Sequim offices, on Nov. 24, it announced this week.
The 29,496-square-foot main office at 104 Hooker Road will join other PUD facilities on the property.
A public grand opening of the building will be held Dec. 12.
“We are excited about the new efficiencies this will bring to the PUD and the one-stop-shopping opportunities for our customers,” said Doug Nass, PUD general manager.
The current Port Angeles office at 2431 E. U.S. Highway 101 and the Sequim office at 502 S. Still Road will close at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, to begin the transfer of equipment and personnel to the new building.
Payment centers
New PUD payment centers will open Nov. 24 in both Port Angeles and Sequim.
They will be open from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
The Port Angeles location will be inside Country Aire Natural Foods at 200 W. First St.
The Sequim location will be inside the Co-op at 216 E. Washington St.
Customers can use the centers to pay bills, sign up for new services, transfer service, make payment arrangements or ask billing questions, said Mike Howe, spokesman for the PUD.
Customers also can use online or pay-by-phone options.
For more information about online payment options, go to www.ClallamPUD.net. Phone 888-402-0663 to pay by phone.
When the PUD talked to the Clallam County permit office to discuss expanding the current 15,000-square-foot administration office, the PUD learned that, to build to current codes, an expansion would cost about half the price of a brand-new building and still have many of the issues of the old building, PUD officials said in 2014.
What prompted move
Combined with maintenance costs of the current facility, that estimate prompted the move to build new offices.
“It became obvious that this was the right time to address our infrastructure needs,” said Will Purser, PUD commission president.
“Favorable interest rates, decreased commodity prices and competitive construction costs reaffirmed our decision.”
The existing PUD administration office in Port Angeles, which was built in 1966, likely will be sold after the move is complete, while the Sequim office on Still Road is located in a rented space, officials have said.
Construction crews working under the supervision of the contractor, Neeley Construction & Cabinet Co. of Puyallup, broke ground on the new building in October 2014.
The new offices were designed by Lawhead Architects P.S. of Bellevue.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
