Sammamish departments outline mid‑biennium work plan changes; Building 120 feasibility and Reid House repairs added to scope
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Summary
City staff updated council on the mid‑biennium work plan and budget amendments/adjustments, highlighting schedule shifts across Public Works projects, a feasibility study and short‑term transition costs for Building 120 after Central Washington University vacated the site, and an estimated $200,000 allowance for repairs at the Reid House.
City staff presented mid‑biennium work‑plan updates Tuesday to the Sammamish City Council and previewed budget amendments and adjustments to be considered in coming meetings, including new items tied to Building 120 and the Reid House (formerly under lease to a local heritage organization).
The update covered multiple departments and was presented as a package intended to inform the November budget amendments and the city’s 6‑year capital improvement plan. Vicky Carlson, finance director, said staff will return on Nov. 5 with formal legislative items and recommended adoption on Nov. 18; the packet will distinguish budget amendments that change fund totals from adjustments that reallocate existing fund dollars.
Public Works and capital projects: Audrey Sarci, Public Works director, reviewed operational and capital highlights and explained several schedule adjustments. She said staffing vacancies and added scope on some projects — and unplanned responses such as boardwalk repairs after a storm and extended support during the solid‑waste strike — contributed to timing shifts. She identified projects with adjusted schedules, including a short delay to the fish‑passage barrier assessment and the Intelligent Transportation Systems master plan (now expected to start in late 2026), and noted completed work such as ADA barrier removal and overlays on Beaver Lake Drive. Sarci also said contractors installed landslide monitoring devices on Sahali Way and that fieldwork and designs for East Lake Sammamish Parkway stabilization are advancing.
Parks and Building 120: Anjali Meyer, director of parks and recreation, described operations and new items added to the parks work plan after Central Washington University terminated its lease of Building 120. Meyer said staff have drafted a request for qualifications for a feasibility study and community planning process and plan a three‑phase study: an initial building and site evaluation (structure, ADA and code issues, wetlands), a community engagement and programming options phase, and a concept‑level phase analyzing capital and operating costs and funding options. “We plan to complete this work in 3 phases with touch points with council at every phase,” Meyer said. She added staff will ask council for funding to make the building operationally functional in the near term (security cameras, basic utilities and furniture) and will return with further requests after the feasibility work.
Meyer also reported Reid House (the historic house formerly operated by the Sammamish Heritage Society) reverted to city responsibility after the society’s lease ended. She said staff estimate an allowance of about $200,000 to complete interior plumbing and electrical work, install a security alarm, and cover initial staffing and policy development to open the house to the public.
IT and finance items: Jim (IT) briefed council on ongoing technology projects — SharePoint migration, a Microsoft Teams phone system rollout and a permitting‑system replacement — and said the permitting work will be sequenced to avoid conflicting large IT implementations. Vicky Carlson reminded council the mid‑biennium amendments (where new revenues enter a fund) and adjustments (reallocations) will be in the Nov. 5 packet with detail and timeline to adoption on Nov. 18.
Council questions and next steps: Council members asked for fuller public‑facing summaries of shifted work‑plan priorities and the tradeoffs that led to schedule changes; staff said the November materials and the six‑year CIP will include project lists and funding reallocations. Staff also emphasized that some items were paused at 30% design as a practical checkpoint (for example Issaquah Falls City Road and certain stormwater projects) so council can prioritize remaining work.
Ending: Council received the presentations; staff will return with detailed amendment and adjustment ordinances and the Building 120 feasibility contract/requests as the study advances.
