North Bend reviews cost of its own police force, delays RFP schedule after Snoqualmie requests more time

Martin Shaw, North Bend finance director, told the City Council on March 18 that the city is still weighing three options for policing: continue contracting with the City of Suquamish, contract with King County Sheriff’s Office, or create a city-operated police department. Shaw presented an outside architecture firm’s schematic and a cost estimate for a stand‑alone municipal police facility.

The Integris Architecture summary Shaw shared estimated a roughly 6,500‑square‑foot building to house about 20–25 full‑time employees and support roughly 10–12 FTEs per shift. Construction and “soft” costs together were estimated at about $6,000,000 — roughly $4.5 million in construction and $1.5 million in soft costs (design, permitting, furnishings). If financed through a 20‑year general obligation bond at 5 percent, Shaw said annual debt service would be about $500,000.

Shaw and councilors also reviewed operating cost comparisons included in the packet. The staff memorandum and slides showed per‑FTE and per‑capita cost estimates under different staffing models and providers; one published number in the packet was an estimated cost of about $353,000 per FTE (including operations and debt service) and $644 per capita under one modeled scenario.

Council members asked how mutual aid and regional task forces would fit with a local department. Chief Bergen (Snoqualmie/North Bend partner agency, as referenced in the packet) and staff described that major‑crimes task force resources and other mutual‑aid assets (K‑9, helicopter, forensic teams) are available across the region but are governed by coalition rules and are not always at local discretion. Staff emphasized that contracting can include access to some of these resources but does not provide the same local control as a city‑run department.

A substantial portion of the discussion focused on scheduling the request‑for‑proposal process. Shaw said Suquamish requested an extension to submit its written proposal, and staff recommended accommodating that request. Councilors debated options that would preserve sufficient time to score written proposals, hear presentations and allow adequate council deliberation. Proposed calendar adjustments included moving written responses to April 11, presentation dates in late April (April 20 or April 29 were discussed) and a tentative council decision window in early May (May 6) or, if further extension were granted, a possible May 20 decision. Councilors expressed concern about compressing the review and scoring timeline and the budget implications of extending the existing interlocal agreement (ILA) past the current June 1 deadline.

No formal contract award or ordinance to form a new department was voted on. Council directed staff to continue negotiating schedules and report back with the financial impacts of any scheduling changes, and to work with Snoqualmie and King County on accommodating the revised timeline if possible.

The matter will return to council once proposals are received and staff scoring is complete; council members discussed whether to consider the item in a committee of the whole or on the regular council calendar to allow full participation.

Ending: Council did not select a preferred policing model on March 18. Staff will circulate updated RFP dates and cost impacts to council after following up with Suquamish and King County; a tentative decision timeline discussed in the meeting put a council deliberation and potential direction to the mayor in early May, with the understanding that dates could shift if Suquamish’s request is granted.