Sheriff’s office reports drainage issues at new morgue, work on dispatch consoles and Molson site design

Sheriff’s Office staff reported construction progress at the new Okanogan County morgue and sheriff storage building but described outstanding drainage and slope issues that require contractor corrections. Mike Warden, Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office, said floor drains are not sloping as designed; the county has asked the contractor to provide a correction plan and demonstrate the corrected drainage in a field test. The south end of the building also had an originally planned short retaining wall that now appears unnecessary because the driveway grading will change; staff said they expect to negotiate cost implications as vendor responsiveness required a vendor change for parts of the project. The sheriff’s office also reported system improvements for dispatch consoles are moving ahead. Staff said the Board previously signed USDA grant pre-application documents and that the county had an updated console upgrade quote. The sheriff noted national chatter about potential federal funding pauses for such systems and said the county would not execute a contract until funding was assured. Sheriff staff discussed the Molson radio site, saying the existing surplus camper-shell solution is insufficient and that the county will pursue an appropriate site design and likely select architectural services for the work. County staff advised they will decide whether to amend the existing architect-on-call contract to include Molson work or to procure a separate contract; costs for the Molson redesign were first quoted around $80,000. Ending: Sheriff’s staff said they will hold the contractor to a corrective drainage plan for the morgue, finalize dispatch console quotes pending funding confirmation, and proceed with a procurement decision for architectural services for the Molson site after verifying existing contract expiration dates and options.