New Thurston County voter services center expected to open in time for August primary
Thurston County has agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million to construct a new voter registration center in Tumwater before August.
The new center will occupy a building at the county’s Mottman Complex, located at the intersection of Ferguson Street Southwest and 29th Avenue in Tumwater.
On Jan. 9, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a $1.6 million contract with Tumwater-based Construct Inc. to remodel the building. This action marked a milestone for the project which was complicated by money and timing concerns. If all goes as planned, the county expects to open the new center before the August primary election.
“It’s actually going very well,” Interim County Manager Robin Campbell said on Jan. 9. “The permit process is moving forward. Everything seems to be falling into place for this particular project. The team is doing a great job.”
Auditor Mary Hall previously said her office needed more space and security, especially during a busy presidential election year. When reached for comment, Hall said she thinks the county is making good progress on the new voter center.
“I’m very pleased with where we are financially and I really commend our community partners, especially the City of Tumwater, for really working with us and understanding our time crunch, if you will.”
County documents indicate the Auditor’s voter registration operation needs about 10,000 square feet of space and better security to “ensure election integrity” and provide more efficient customer service.
The new voter services center will feature about 7,500 square feet of office space, including a public service counter with up to 13 stations, according to county documents. Additionally, the center will have 2,500 square feet for support activities during elections.
How did the county get to this point?
The county purchased the Mottman Complex for $5.6 million in 2021 so it could remake it into an expansive election center. However, the county stalled part of those plans last year due to a lack of funding.
Hall said she wanted to prioritize remodeling the ballot processing center by 2024 but that was not feasible.
“We’ve been in that same footprint (the ballot processing center) for a couple of decades, but that is a lot more expensive project,” Hall said. “I tried really hard to raise grant money but couldn’t come up with enough to fund that project.”
Hall said the county only had enough money to build a new voter registration center at the Mottman Complex. So, the county pivoted to developing a $2.6 million voter center in time for the March 2024 presidential primary.
Though it wasn’t the first priority, Hall said the project is still needed and would help centralize the county’s elections operation in Tumwater. The current voter center is at 2400 Evergreen Park Drive SW in Olympia.
Last year, the county delayed the project past March and it was even in question whether it may be ready by the August primary. County officials also had to consider how to address security concerns and a funding gap of over $400,000.
Those challenges have seemingly been resolved. During the Jan. 9 meeting, Campbell said the county received 11 bids for the project and the bid from Construct Inc. came in at about $300,000 less than the county’s estimated cost.
Hall said she is satisfied with the security elements in the plan, which include a safe room with ballistic proof doors among many other measures.
“The challenge was how do we pay for them, but we were able to secure grant funding from a variety of sources,” Hall said.
The county awarded the contract to Construct Inc. on Thursday and construction is scheduled to be completed before the end of July, according to county spokesperson Meghan Porter.
The county is partially funding the project with American Rescue Plan Act funds and interest from those dollars, according to county documents.
The rest of the cost is covered by rent collected from remaining Mottman Complex tenants, Central Services Building Reserves and two security grants, according to county documents.
Porter said the county plans to pay the remaining $100,000 funding gap with money from its Building Reserves fund.
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
