Cowlitz County begins second-floor renovations; staff outline moves, noise plans and building facade review

Cowlitz County facilities staff reported Wednesday that interior construction began on the courthouse second floor and described steps to reduce disruption in occupied spaces. Savannah Clement, with Public Services, said work started the same day and crews were removing ceiling tiles in the clerk’s office.

“They're taking down the ceiling tiles in the clerk's office,” Clement said. To improve day-to-day communication during construction, Clement said staff and court representatives will hold brief morning huddles with one person from each division to preview daily work and reduce surprises. She said the first phase of three moves is complete, and the prosecutor’s office is likely to move to the annex building because it provides space suitable for attorneys and confidential meetings.

Clement said the project team built buffer weeks into the schedule so groups can overlap without conflict, but she noted one set of close construction dates in early January — January 5 to January 10 — that could require careful coordination. “There's only, I think, 1 date range that I'm a little bit worried about, and that's due January,” she said.

Facilities staff also provided a facade update: the team and envelope specialists plan to open and inspect the building’s southeast interior corner where the elections office is located to determine wall structure and finish conditions. Staff warned the work will require invasive interior access and will be noisy; they will coordinate with elections staff to avoid peak election season. Separately, maintenance staff raised concerns about stormwater flow at the courthouse south steps and drainage around the annex courtyard; facilities said that the annex moat area has active root-removal, scoping and lining work to keep water out and that courtyard drainage may be added to upcoming scopes.

Why it matters: The work affects many county departments and court operations. Staff emphasized daily coordination to minimize operational disruption and said they will return with layout and move details as they finalize phases.

Next steps: Facilities will continue the phased moves, convene daily huddles among affected divisions during occupied construction, finalize layouts for the prosecutor’s move to the annex and return with additional updates on the facade inspection and any drainage projects. No budget figures or firm move dates beyond the January window were provided at the meeting.