Guy Cole remodeling bids to be requested this fall

SEQUIM — Construction bids are expected to be requested this fall for remodeling the Guy Cole Convention Center in Carrie Blake Community Park.

Joe Irvin, assistant to the city manager, told Sequim City Council members and city staff of plans for upgrading the center, which was built in 1983, during a tour of the building and of the Water Reclamation Facility in the park last Monday.

Completion of remodeling the gathering hall and bathrooms, and replacing the roof, is tentatively set for the end of March, he said.

The city will work with a $436,500 budget from the 2015-17 state capital budget through the Department of Commerce Direct Grant Program. Original estimates were upwards of $1.2 million, but plans have been changed.

This phase of remodels includes dropping the ceiling between 18 inches and two feet to improve acoustics and lighting, which David Garlington, Public Works director, said will look similar to the lighting at the Sequim Civic Center, which opened in March 2015 at 152 W. Cedar St.

The stage will be removed and all fixtures will be changed in the bathrooms. New flooring, lighting and windows will be installed, Irvin said.

Leftover funds will go to kitchen improvements, City Manager Charlie Bush said.

Artist Millie Harrell has offered to accept $8,730 in pledges in exchange for her 6-foot by 8-foot elk glass window. Originally, members of the city arts advisory commission sought $25,000 to purchase and install the window, but the campaign fell short.

However, Harrell donated the rest of her expenses and time.

City Council members have agreed to have the window installed in the center of the north side of the building.

During the tour, council members and city staff also saw the process of how waste is treated at the reclamation facility.

They toured the Gebhardt Zwicker Trail, south of Carrie Blake Community Park on Blake Avenue, where city staff recently removed brush.

Tentative plans are to plant trees along Bell Creek.