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County expands on-call architect contract and approves additional facilities design funds amid deferred-maintenance discussion
Summary
Cowlitz County extended and increased an on-call architectural services agreement and approved an amendment for facilities professional services to address deferred maintenance and planned capital projects, including a high-cost juvenile-detention roof replacement.
Cowlitz County commissioners approved an increase to the county's on-call, countywide architect services contract and separately approved an amendment to professional services for general facilities work.
Savannah Clement of Public Works explained the county opened the on-call architect contract in April 2023 with an original value of $150,000 and asked the board to increase the ceiling by $200,000 to a new total of $350,000. "The original contract was for $150,000. And so today, we're asking to increase that amount by 200,000 to a total of $350,000," Clement said. Staff told the board that about $100,000 of the existing contract had been spent to date on feasibility and design work for several projects, and the requested increase would allow completion of additional tasks ranging from juvenile feasibility and Hall of Justice studies to park and annex projects.
A related facilities amendment (item number 22) was presented as part of the county's strategy to address deferred maintenance across county buildings. Staff described the juvenile-detention roof as a particularly large deferred-maintenance item, with engineering and architectural work estimated at about $100,000 and potential construction costs in the millions. One county official told the board that the Hall of Justice HVAC and electrical upgrades could cost roughly $10 million, and that about 70–80% of the county's five-year facilities plan consists of deferred-maintenance items.
Why this matters: increasing the on-call architect budget and approving facilities design funding gives county staff the contract authority to proceed with design and engineering for multiple high-cost maintenance and capital-improvement projects. Commissioners emphasized the need to prioritize large items and continue presenting options and cost estimates to the board.
Both approvals passed by voice vote; staff will manage individual project scopes and return to the board with specifics and, where required, future contract actions.
Ending: The board approved increased design capacity for facilities projects, and staff said they will proceed with prioritized deferred-maintenance work while tracking potential capital needs and future budget requests.
