Thurston County to spend $50 million to improve courthouse campus. Is it worth the cost?
Plans to upgrade Thurston County’s aging courthouse campus are progressing, but questions remain about the campus’ longevity.
The county is in the midst of designing the remodeling and reorganization of several buildings at the courthouse campus on Lakeridge Drive in west Olympia.
Once completed, the campus will be reconfigured into a “law and justice center” that will provide more space and security for the county’s courts and other offices. The county pivoted to this plan in 2021, about a year after it retracted plans to build a new $250 million courthouse center in downtown Olympia.
The current campus was built in the 1970s and is costly to maintain. County officials see their current efforts, budgeted at $50 million, as a stopgap measure to buy time until they can pursue a better solution.
“The goal with this is to get us seven to 10 years of additional time so that we have an opportunity to put together a long-term plan for facilities that will meet the long-term needs of the county,” Rick Thomas, the county’s capital planning manager, said during a Jan. 24 meeting with the county board.
On Jan. 30, the County Commissioners approved a $3.8 million “design-build” contract with M.A. Mortenson Company in a 4-1 vote. This contract will be awarded in phases as the project progresses.
The first phase covers design and preconstruction services while the second phase will cover construction that’s expected to start later this year and continue into 2026, according to county documents.
The county raised about $50 million through a bond issue in 2022 to finance its plans for the courthouse campus. The county intends to pay off the bond with revenue from its real estate excise tax (REET), which is levied on property sales in unincorporated areas.
As part of this plan, the county separately signed a seven-year lease in mid-2021 for the Atrium, a building at 3000 Pacific Ave. SE. The county moved general government offices from the courthouse campus to the Atrium in 2022.
Who voted against the contract?
Commissioner Gary Edwards alone voted against approving the design-build contract. He has previously opposed this project, saying he wants voters to have a say and he disagrees with spending REET funds.
“The (people) in the incorporated area are not taxed to build and finish this project, so that’s my concern,” Edwards said. “It’s for the county residents and I believe everybody should be paying the bill. So, it’s a fairness issue.”
But Commissioner and Board Chair Tye Menser said state law requires the county use REET dollars for county facilities as well as maintain facilities in Olympia, the county seat.
“That’s just how county government is set up,” Menser said. “You have a county seat and that’s where the law says you have to do the core of your business.”
Commissioner Carolina Mejia said she isn’t completely satisfied with the county’s plans for the campus. However, she said she still supports it because the county has an obligation to meet the needs of its offices and departments.
“It isn’t about me, but it’s about all of the stakeholders who will be working within those departments and making sure that their space needs are met,” Mejia said.
Judges and other court officials also requested improved security measures at the campus, Menser said. Though the current plans aren’t perfect, he said it’s what the county can afford to do at this time.
“We’ve gone through painstaking effort to upgrade the design (and) squeeze expenses where we could to meet those security needs that the court has expressed,” Menser said. “We’ve gotten a lot of them met, not all of them, of course.”
Where do the plans stand?
Thomas Strempke, a capital projects manager for the county, shared still preliminary plans for five buildings on campus.
The plans indicate Building 1 will house Pretrial Services and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Superior Court and the Clerk’s Office are expected to occupy Building 2, while District Court will be in Building 3, according to the plans.
Public Defense and the Resource Hub, a center for people with behavioral health needs who are working with the justice system, is planned to be in Building 4.
Building 5 has been reserved for the Sheriff’s Office and family support services.
Plans to upgrade Building 6 were removed from the project to stay within budget, Strempke said.
Given the state of the buildings and the cost of upgrades, Commissioner Wayne Fournier asked aloud if all this effort amounted to “putting lipstick on a pig.”
“Spending $50 million to limp along for seven years is a tough pill to swallow,” Fournier said.
Menser said the upgraded buildings may very well serve the county for much longer than seven years by necessity.
To build a new courthouse campus will require revenue approved by voters, he said. Until that’s achieved, the county will have to make do with what it can.
“I don’t know when the voters are going to be ready to increase their property tax enough to build a new courthouse complex,” Menser said. “Hopefully soon. I support it, but we have no control over that.
“We have to provide facilities for our courts, for our administration, and this is the only option that’s on the table.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
