SEQUIM — The newly constructed $14.5 million Sequim Civic Center officially opened for business Monday morning.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday followed city employees finishing their move to the new facility last week, a process that started in mid-April.
“I think this really makes a statement about the future of Sequim to have a building like this and one that is going to last another 30, 40 or 50 years,” City Manager Steve Burkett said during the gathering.
“It is about an investment in downtown [and] about the economic stability of the future.”
A red ribbon at the entrance of the building, located at 152 W. Cedar St., was cut by Deputy Mayor Dennis Smith.
Mayor Candace Pratt could not officiate the ceremony because she was out of town Monday.
“We are very, very excited about this,” Smith said. “It has been going on for many months . . . and watching it come to this culmination is just awesome.”
The 33,000-square-foot facility puts the police station and most other city departments under one roof, eliminating the need to rent space in buildings scattered throughout Sequim.
“It is a big change from being spread all over the city,” Burkett said.
The City Council has been meeting in the Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St.
The council will meet for their last meeting there Monday before moving permanently to the new council chambers at the Civic Center.
The new building will help city staff and residents “meet and communicate more effectively,” Burkett said.
And there is plenty of room for growth. Altogether, there is space in the new Civic Center for 20 new employees if needed in the future.
The Sequim Police Department had previously been in a cramped corner of the Sequim Village Shopping Center on West Washington Street.
This will be “the first dedicated police station in the city’s 102-year history,” said Police Chief Bill Dickinson.
To commemorate the opening of the new station, yellow police crime scene tape was cut by Pat Johansen of Sequim.
Johansen also received a Citizen’s Service Award from the Sequim Police Department commemorating her involvement “to help drive the public safety sales tax” that helped fund the construction of the new police station, Dickinson said.
In August 2012, Sequim residents voted to establish a public safety tax, which raised the city sales tax by 0.01 percent and was dedicated to building the new police station.
This increase in the overall sales tax rate became effective Jan. 1, 2013.
“If it were not for her help, we would never ever have gotten a new police station.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
