Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Facilities topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
College Place update: downtown association push, community center plans, staffing openings and police station options
Summary
College Place city staff provided a range of civic-facility and staffing updates including plans for a downtown association and a replacement community center, staffing openings, and continued exploration of police facility funding after a failed bond.
College Place city staff provided a range of civic-facility and staffing updates in an April 2025 briefing, including plans to form a downtown business association, advance a replacement community center, recruit staff, and pursue alternatives to a failed police-station bond.
Rizztello said the city clerk’s office, working with staff member Mary Elizabeth, is organizing a downtown association the city hopes can become a 501(c)(3). He said that if the downtown association becomes fully operational, business owners could direct certain local business-tax pledges to the association and receive a tax credit; the association would use those funds for events, storefront improvement grants and other local investments. Rizztello said College Place is already an affiliate of the State Main Street program and said a functioning downtown association would help keep more money local.
On civic facilities, Rizztello said the city’s advisory group is advancing plans for a replacement community center using state and federal earmarked funds for architectural plans and that the new two-story facility would include a community room, community kitchen, childcare space and a permanent branch of the county library on the second floor. He said funding for architectural plans includes county contributions and a state pass-through grant connected to the Walla Walla YMCA.
Rizztello described Lions Park work and said the city aims to have improvements completed in time for the starter farmers market the last Thursday in May. He said an advisory group is coordinating the community-center project and partner contributions.
On staffing, Rizztello said Human Resources is hiring for multiple positions, including a financial grant analyst in finance and stormwater maintenance and stormwater permit coordinator positions in public works; firefighter recruitment is expected later in the summer to support ambulance-utility staffing goals.
Regarding police facilities, Rizztello said the bond the city put before voters in November did not pass. He said staff are pursuing congressional earmarks and partnership opportunities — including coordination with Walla Walla County and the City of Walla Walla — to locate an emergency-management/911 function and explore future facility options adjacent to the high school. He said an energy-efficiency upgrade of an existing facility (boilers, lighting) is scheduled for the fall with state-directed legislative spending.
Rizztello also noted community programming: United Way funding will support a youth recreation program run by the YMCA at Coahuas Park this summer, and the city will study whether to continue contracting with the county district court or re-establish a municipal court, with assistance from the National Association of State Courts.
Why it matters: These items affect downtown economic vitality, community services (childcare, library access), public-safety facility planning and city staffing capacity. Funding approaches and partnership agreements will shape timelines and services.
Rizztello closed by inviting interested residents to apply for open jobs and to follow project notices online.
