FORKS — Raw sewage seeped into the state Department of Licensing Office at 41 Bogachiel Way this week, prompting the closure of the facility, said Tony Sermonti, agency spokesman.
Janet Marion, an owner of the building, said late Thursday afternoon that the problem was only a split in a line and that it had been fixed.
But Sermonti said that the office may close permanently.
Sermonti said the agency has had problems with plumbing and water in the building “for some time.”
An environmental company will be at the office at 11 a.m. today to complete a site assessment.
“I can’t speculate on what ‘fixed’ means,” Sermonti said.
“We’ll have an assessment done at 11, the office will remain closed [today], and we will go from there,” Sermonti said.
The office, which has been open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays for driver’s license and motorcycle endorsement services, was closed Wednesday when employees discovered the problem, Sermonti said.
“Employees there noticed a combination of smells and stains,” he said.
Asked if the raw sewage was visible, Sermonti said, “There was staining, and according to folks who were reporting it, some of it was visible.”
It’s “a heck of a problem, with essentially raw sewage” in the facility, he said.
“Frankly, if that space even is habitable, once you get that sort of contamination, there are significant problems.”
The problem “was not quite as dramatic as that,” Marion said.
“I just sat with the plumber all day and watched him fix it,” she said.
“It was a split in the line, so it’s fixed. So now we just do the cleanup. But we can’t do it in time for [today].”
Sermonti said he could not guarantee that the agency would look for new quarters in Forks if the Bogachiel office proves unsuitable.
“We have to work through the issues with the landlord and whatever damage was done,” he said.
“Beyond that, at this point, I don’t know.”
The Department of Licensing has viewed the Forks driver’s license office “as part of a broader office consolidation” of DOL offices that took place over the last two years to address state budget woes, Sermonti said.
Hours were cut as of Jan. 6 by two hours each day the office is open.
Staffed by agency employees from DOL’s Port Angeles branch, the Forks office averages 246 transactions a month, or about 30 a day, Sermonti said.
In November, the office issued 26 new driver’s licenses and about 50 driver’s license renewals, he said.
The office does not issue vehicle or boat registrations.
Mayor Bryon Monohon said he fears the state will shut down the Forks office for good as a result of the sewage problem.
“They’ve made a concerted effort to shut it down for four or five years,” he said.
Former Mayor Nedra Reed said she had fought to keep the office open.
Reed said that when she was mayor, she was given written assurances from Department of Licensing Director Liz Luce that Forks would keep its DOL office “because of the inability to travel in inclement weather, and issues of our senior population are demographically challenging.”
Forks is 57 miles from the closest driver’s license office, which is in Port Angeles, Reed said.
“It’s not like you can take a bus to PA to get your license,” she said.
“That’s not how it works.”
In its statement in January announcing reduced hours, DOL said drivers can “take care of most routine driver licensing transactions over the internet at www.dol.wa.gov or by mail.”
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Senior staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladaily news.com.
