SEQUIM — The city’s police station is simply too small to fit Sequim’s needs, two city officials told a business audience as balloting continues on a sales tax measure.
Police Chief Bill Dickinson and City Manager Steve Burkett outlined plans for a new police headquarters if voters approve a 10th of a cent sales tax increase request that’s now before voters.
Voting in the all-mail primary election began last week and continues through Aug. 7.
Sequim city voters are considering Proposition 1 to fund a custom-built police station and emergency communications center on land already purchased by the city.
Such a headquarters would become a section of what would eventually become a $12 million to $14 million civic center complex in downtown Sequim, Burkett said.
The additional tax, if approved, would cost shoppers 1 cent for each $10 spent on retail purchases.
The civic center would be built at the corner of Sequim Avenue and Cedar Street, and police headquarters would move from a corner of the J.C. Penney shopping mall on Washington Street.
The new police station would have a secure basement to transfer prisoners from their vehicles to holding cells, Dickinson said.
Currently officers and prisoners use an insecure public entrance — a dangerous situation, he said.
Building a shooting range in the basement of the new station would save the city $15,000 a year in overtime and travel costs for officers to practice on a range west of Port Angeles, Dickinson said.
Burkett said the savings from overtime, plus $200,000 the city pays in annual rent for the police department and public works offices, would pay a portion of the cost.
Other funding sources for the civic center include cash the city has been saving for a new city hall, the sale of bonds and other tax funds available to the city.
Meanwhile, at Monday night’s City Council meeting, real estate agent Steve Smith, representing Dick McNish, the owner of the shopping center buildings, asked the city to stop making claims about the structural integrity and safety of the corner building, a former cinema, in which the Police Department is now headquartered.
Such claims have been made by city officials in community meetings on the proposed sales tax increase as well as at City Council meetings.
“We are disturbed by your public testimony,” Smith said at Monday’s council meeting.
City representatives have said that the building is “crumbling” and has mold in the cinder-block walls, he said.
Smith said that if the sales tax increase passes and the police station moves, he will need to find a new tenant — and the city’s talk makes it difficult to rent out the space in the future.
According to a November 2011 engineering report by Gene Unger, a Clallam County engineer, the cracks are cosmetic and easily solved using a filler that can expand and contract with the natural movement and settling of the building, he said.
Smith also said the “mold” are minerals leaching from the concrete.
“I don’t think the building is unsafe,” Burkett agreed.
“However, there are different standards for a commercial strip mall versus an essential public facility.”
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
