Hall of Justice enters construction; staff outlines moves, emergency power work and facade funding options

Savannah Clement, Public Services, told the board Wednesday that construction at the Hall of Justice is under way and that crews began work in the basement on the first day of physical construction. “Today was day 1 of actually being in the basement, and starting construction,” Clement said, adding that the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) has already moved out of affected space. Clement said the clerk’s office will move out next week and "won't be moving back into their space until May, or earlier of next year," and that superior court administrative staff will temporarily relocate to the building's first floor. She warned the board that a future planned electrical work — installation of a new transfer switch for the emergency panel that powers 911, records and sheriff operations — will require a brief, planned outage expected to be scheduled around December. "There'll be a lot of communications on it," Clement said. Facility coordination and power concerns: staff reported that the courthouse café was unexpectedly tied to the same panel as a third-floor jail climate unit; the cafe lost power when other circuits were switched. Clement said staff will document and label power sources and coordinate with Information Technology and the Alertus representative to preserve emergency communications during any shutdowns. Facade and funding: Clement reviewed an initial informal facade assessment with the board and described visible deterioration that requires continued scaffolding and likely repairs. She said staff have identified historic-preservation grant programs in Washington state as potential funding sources and will pursue grants after a formal scope of work is prepared. "We have actually looked at other grant funding through the Washington State historical grant programs," she said. Energy grant: Clement said the county was approved for a state Clean Buildings Performance grant of $98,000 to help pay for work tied to an energy audit and HVAC improvements. She said the grant award will come to the board for acceptance within the next one to two weeks. Annex/hoteling policy and short-term occupancy: staff described requests to occupy a recently updated annex building and said they are following the county's new policy for short-term hoteling and space requests. Clement said the Noxious Weeds group requested use of the annex and that staff expect the request to go to committee and then return to the board; she said staff are advising people that moves may be paused through June 2026 while the major Hall of Justice project continues. Ending: Clement said staff will continue communication with affected departments, courts and IT, will schedule the emergency-panel transfer work during a low-activity period, and will present the Clean Buildings grant paperwork to the board in the coming weeks.