King County Sheriff's Office to consolidate three precincts in Sammamish

The King County Sheriff's Office will consolidate three precincts into one office at Sammamish City Hall.

Due to a shrinking budget and annexations, the department has fewer employees, said KCSO spokesman John Urquhart.

Precinct 2 in Kenmore and Precinct 3 in Maple Valley will join the Sammamish precinct in the new office space on the upper level of City Hall. Urquhart said the department has signed a 10-year lease for the space.

Mike Sauerwein, the director of administrative services for the City of Sammamish, said the lease is for 30 years, broken into three 10-year segments, allowing KCSO the option for two 10-year extensions.

The space will lease for $20 a square foot, or $104,000 a year, adjusted annually to the consumer price index.

The move won't be until sometime in October as the department still has tenant improvements to complete. The space never has been occupied. Sauerwein said build-out will take about three months.

Urquhart said the department was just waiting for King County Council approval of the lease to consolidate the offices, which came Tuesday.

The Kenmore and Maple Valley precinct buildings no longer met the department’s needs. The Kenmore precinct is in a 36-year-old building and the Maple Valley precinct is housed in a 27-year-old facility.

Most of the officers have their own vehicle that they take home, so sergeants will convene weekly, for a squad-based roll call at a decentralized location, rather than the daily roll call of all officers at a single location, reducing mandatory drive time when an officer could be in their area of responsibility.

Parking is limited at Sammamish City Hall so the city is developing a 36-space parking lot specifically for the officers and office staff on what is now a gravel pad on the west side of the building.

By consolidating, the department's physical space requirement for operations is reduced from 24,000 square feet to 5,200 square feet.

Through the decentralized reporting, individual officers create connections with contract city officers and operations to increase collaboration. Urquhart said the City of Sammamish police are actually officers of the sheriff's department. He said 12 cities in King County contract with his office for police services, although they have their own cars and uniforms.

Sauerwein said not only will the city earn income from the lease, but also it is a continuation of the partnership the city now has with King County.

 

Linda Ball can be reached at 206-232-1215 ext. 5052.

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