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Tenino council approves interlocal agreement with Thurston County for court services
Summary
Council approved an interlocal agreement with Thurston County estimated at $24,731 ($25,000 rounded) for 2025 to provide court services; prosecution and jury-related fees remain the city's responsibility and county arraignments are expected within one day.
Tenino's council voted June 10 to enter an interlocal agreement with Thurston County for court services, a move city staff said is expected to reduce costs and stabilize operations that have been difficult for the small city to maintain.
Staff presented a county estimate of about $24,731 for court services in 2025, which the council rounded to $25,000 for budgeting. The estimate covers judge and court-services functions but does not include prosecution services, public-defense arrangements, or jury-related fees, which the city will continue to fund separately.
Council members raised questions about cost comparisons to previous local operations, whether jury arraignments would add jail-hold days and how fine and fee collections would be allocated. Staff said the county expects to arraign defendants within one day and that any fines or judgments collected under county administration would still be remitted back to the city as spelled out in the contract.
"They said, no. There'll be arraigned within 1 day," the presiding official said when recounting the county's assurance about arraignments. Council members noted the arrangement should provide operational stability and potential savings compared with maintaining a separate city judge and full court infrastructure.
The council approved the interlocal agreement by voice vote during the regular meeting. Staff said an implementation start date was being targeted for July 1 but that an August start was more likely given scheduling and administrative needs.
