SEQUIM – Where to put the big new City Hall: That topic was to be discussed publicly during Monday night’s Sequim City Council meeting.
Then, at the start of the session, it was whisked off the agenda and made the subject of a closed-door executive session.
After Sequim resident Judith Parker heard that announced, she stood up to ask why.
“Discussion in the public forum might increase the price” of property the city’s looking at, answered Craig Ritchie, Sequim’s attorney.
If it became known that the council is leaning toward a particular building or parcel of land, the owner could respond by adjusting the price substantially upward, he added.
The City Council has been wrestling with where and how to pay for the construction of a new City Hall for well over a year.
The members talked about building it on West Cedar Street, where the current, tiny City Hall sits; they also mulled moving it to the Water Reuse Demonstration Site north of Carrie Blake Park.
Then the cost – a projected $8 million, even if the city builds on land it owns – drove them back to the drafting table, Mayor Walt Schubert said Tuesday.
“We’re trying to look at every possible alternative: leasing a building, purchasing a building,” he said.
“We need to do more investigation.”
