Thurston commissioners declare ‘emergency’ to address recent power problems

Thurston County Commissioners approved an emergency resolution Tuesday aiming to further evaluate and possibly repair some aging power lines that serve the three-building county courthouse campus in west Olympia.

One of three primary power lines that serve the courthouse complex failed last Wednesday, leaving county offices and services largely in the dark, Central Services director Martin Casey told the board on Tuesday.

The 40-year-old power line, which is about as old as the courthouse complex itself, burned through its insulation housing and failed, he said. Power was supplied by the two additional power lines, but to repair the failed line, power needed to be shut down, Casey said.

Power was out for most of the working day, he said. An emergency generator powered emergency lights and the jail, he said, but county services were disrupted. He said the Auditor’s Office provided some limited services.

County Manager Ramiro Chavez said the county commissioners continued to work and “pushed through the day.”

The emergency resolution allows the county to waive the competitive bidding process, which could take months, Casey said, and begin the work of finding someone who can evaluate those power lines and “make sure we don’t have a larger problem.”

Commissioner Gary Edwards asked Casey if one blowout could mean future blowouts.

“That’s a reasonable risk assumption and that’s what we want to check,” Casey said.

Edwards also asked Casey to quantify the outage in terms of lost productivity and service to the public.

Casey didn’t have an immediate answer, but Commissioner John Hutchings had an example: A mistrial was declared in a Superior Court case that day.

Hutchings and Edwards also bemoaned the overall state of the county buildings.

Hutchings said he had seen some recent ceiling tiles on the floor, which reminded him of the former Kingdome in Seattle. At one time, the Kingdome shed its tiles, too.

Edwards gestured at the windows behind him and said they were single-pane.

“We’re trying to do the best we can with a building that is a bit outdated,” he said.

Thomas Architecture Studios has been hired to evaluate three sites for a new county courthouse and civic center.

This story was originally published October 9, 2018 at 5:05 PM.