On Tuesday, May 26, members of the Tumwater City Council convened for a public work session to discuss a pressing need for the Thurston County municipality: the problem of a growing lack of space for city staff inside Tumwater City Hall.
The current city hall building is located at 555 Israel Road SW, and was constructed back in 1987, according to Tumwater City Administrator Paul Simmons.
At the time, the building was Tumwater’s population was less than a third of what it is now, at only around 8,500 residents, and there were only 65 city employees on staff. Now, Tumwater’s population has grown to over an estimated 27,000 residents, and the city government now employs 255 staff members.
Tuesday’s work session came after city staff had already asked for the council’s permission to explore options for a new city hall during a council meeting earlier this year.
Ultimately, council members told Simmons to look into one of four possible options presented on Tuesday to solve their lack of space problem — purchasing an existing building to convert it into a new, larger Tumwater City Hall.
With both limited office and parking space at Tumwater City Hall, Simmons told councilors that since starting in his position in January, he’s held 39 one-on-one meetings with city employees, and 10 of them already work outside of city hall.
Back in February, city councilors approved the purchase of a new building for the Tumwater Parks and Recreation Department, now the third city department to have to leave city hall due to the lack of space. And at other recent Tumwater City Council meetings, city staff have stated those remaining there are running out of space.
Tumwater city staff still working at city hall often find themselves sharing offices with two or three other employees, who sometimes are also their supervisors, Simmons added.
“It’s hard to be on the phone,” he said. “It’s hard to be in a virtual meeting when you have someone sitting three feet from you. It’s really hard to work through conflict in a healthy way. If you’re having something that you’re struggling with and they’re two feet from you all day, every day, it’s hard to work through that.”
Simmons added the lack of space makes it difficult to both retain staff and attract new hires.
Together with Artisans Group Architecture and Planning, Simmons presented the council with four possible options to explore moving forward at Tuesday’s work session.
Those options included:
Ultimately, the council members wanted to move forward with the final option, and they have their eyes set on the old Washington state Department of Health (DOH) office, a three-story, 95,000 square-foot building located at 310 Israel Road SE.
According to Artisans Group Senior Architect and Project Manager Lindsey Barronian, this would be the cheapest option of the four, with an estimated building acquisition cost of $15 million.
The first option, remaining in the current city hall while leasing space elsewhere and constructing a significant addition was the most expensive, costing around $48 million in the current construction market and an estimated $73.8 million when accounting for inflation over the next five years.
Constructing an entirely new city hall would have an inflated 5-year cost estimated at $69.3 million, and building an entirely new police station would have a price tag of approximately $65.9 million.
The estimated combined cost of purchasing the old DOH building and outfitting it for city staff use along with remodeling the old city hall building for full use by the Tumwater Police Department had a total estimated price tag of $32 million.
Purchasing an existing building also saves the city construction costs and design fees. The old DOH building has room for the city government to continue growing after moving in too.
In a May 27 Facebook post, the City of Tumwater clarified that no purchase agreement or contract has been signed, and city staff are simply gathering more information on the final option.
“Further council consideration of the results of this exploration will occur at the June 2 meeting of city council,” city staff stated on Facebook. The Tuesday, June 2, Tumwater City Council meeting will start at 7 p.m., inside Tumwater City Hall.
