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County increases on-call architect contract amid deferred-maintenance projects
Summary
Cowlitz County approved a $200,000 increase to its on-call countywide architect services contract, citing work on juvenile facility roof assessments, parks designs and Hall of Justice upgrades tied to deferred maintenance.
The Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners approved an amendment to increase the on-call Countywide Architect Services contract with EATA from $150,000 to $350,000, adding $200,000 in budget capacity for architectural services.
Savannah Clement of Public Works said the county has spent about $100,000 on the contract since it began in April 2023 and asked the Board for the second extension. Services completed or proposed under the contract include a juvenile feasibility study, a Hall of Justice (HOJ) feasibility study that staff said is on hold pending related millwork work, annex and jail-lobby work, juvenile roof engineering, parks design (including a possible pump track), and other tenant-improvement projects.
Clement told commissioners that the juvenile detention-center roof represents a large deferred-maintenance item and that the engineering and architectural cost for that roof alone is approximately $100,000. She said some larger facility projects—HVAC, electrical and LED upgrades at the Hall of Justice—could be in the multi‑million‑dollar range; during the discussion a commissioner noted the HOJ overhaul was being scoped at about $10,000,000 as a building-wide estimate. Clement said roughly half of the potential work tied to the contract increase is deferred maintenance, with the remainder related to planned capital projects and tenant improvements.
Commissioners voted to approve the amendment. Clement and facilities staff said the $350,000 total does not guarantee spending to that level; several items remain on hold pending further decisions and capital-project planning.
Why this matters: the amendment provides architectural capacity to move designs and feasibility work forward on high-dollar deferred‑maintenance items that affect building safety and operations, including a juvenile roof and major systems upgrades at the Hall of Justice.
Next steps: staff will proceed with design and feasibility tasks as directed by the Board and will return if projects advance to construction and require additional procurement or budget action.
