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08/29/2007: "Work Begins On Legislative Building"

(CC Chair Myhr tries out one of the hard hats presented to the Council by County Administrator Pete Rose)

Government abhors a vacuum, so it should come as no surprise that Council staff is already looking for additional space in the new Carlson Building to store the filing cabinets that did not make it into the final space planning for the new “Legislative Building.”.

The half-million dollar renovation of the former Carlson Building has started, with the demolition of the existing offices on the first floor, where a new County Council meeting room will be constructed that, according to the County, will be a “state-of-the-art meeting room for the County Council and County boards and commissions.”

The County’s administrative offices, including the County Administrator, Human Resources, Communications and Administrative Services, along with the offices of Council Members Peterson, Rosenfeld and Knapp are already located on the second floor of the building.

It had been anticipated that the Town may have an interest in joining in on the use of a new meeting space, and County Administrator Pete Rose has stated the Friday Harbor Town Council has expressed interest in using the new facility for its meetings as well,” but pointed out that “there have been no formal negotiations yet.” The meeting room is designed to seat 37 people, plus the council and staff. Where the Council will meet when there are more than 37 members of the public showing up for a meeting has yet to be determined.



The new Chambers will be wired for video conferencing and high quality video recording of Council Meetings. And if Chairman Bob Myhr has his way, there will be interactive video connections with meeting rooms on Orcas and Lopez to enable residents to participate in council meetings without having to travel to Friday Harbor.

The move of the Council offices and meeting room to the Carlson building will help to resolve a long standing battle for space between the Council and the County law and justice departments and District Court. The current Council meeting room was originally a court room, and with the move across the street, the room will now return to that former use as the permanent home of the District Court -Superior Court remains in the same location.

The problem of where to put some of the council filing cabinets came up last week at a staff meeting. The Clerk of the Council informed the Council that there is simply not enough room for all of the filing cabinets, and asked if at least three of them could be placed in two or three of the council member’s offices.

Councilman Ranker said that they had completed a space needs study, and so was puzzled by the request. Ranker was informed that there are more cabinets than space to put them in, and staff suggested that perhaps one or two of the “off island” members could allow the cabinets in their office, since they may not be using their offices as much as the SJI members. Gene Knapp offered some room in his office, and SJI Councilman Rich Peterson volunteered space in his, but then Councilman Howard Rosenfeld said “You can put all of them in my office.”